In 2001, Turkey started an agricultural reform program which ended at the end of 2008. The major component of the reform program was to make the transfers decoupled from production. In this scope, direct income support (DIS) was the tool that has been used to reduce the price distortions. DIS received noteworthy criticisms since the first signs of it and now, even after it is over, the prejudice against DIS prevails in Turkey. On the other hand, Turkey&rsquo / s commitments to WTO&rsquo / s Agreement on Agriculture insist on replacing price supports with non-distortionary policy tools and its candidacy to the membership of the EU requires harmonizing its agricultural policy to the CAP which is shifting towards direct income payments. Criticisms against DIS in Turkey are determined in this thesis, grouped and analyzed by investigating official data to see whether the fears came true. There were both rational and irrational criticisms and consequently, they could not be justified and agricultural issues were not worse off in DIS years. Turkey will eventually have to implement direct income payments again due to both domestic and international forces. Therefore, it is essentially important to understand how it was implemented previously and which aspects of it were exposed to criticisms, and design future policies accordingly.

In the present study, within and among breed genetic diversity in thirteen Turkish sheep breeds (Sakiz, Karag&uuml / l, Hemsin, &Ccedil / ine &Ccedil / apari, Norduz, Herik, Akkaraman, Dagli&ccedil / , G&ouml / k&ccedil / eada, Ivesi, Karayaka, Kivircik and Morkaraman / in total represented by 628 individuals) were analyzed based on 20 microsatellite loci. Loci were amplified by Polymerase Chain Reactions and products were electronically recorded and converted into [628 x 20] matrix representing genotypes of individuals. Reliability of the genotyping and genetic diversity analyses were done by means of various bioinformatics tools. For the analyses, various statistical methods (Fisher&#039 / s Exact Test, Neighbor-Joining tree construction, Factorial Correspondence Analysis (FCA), Analysis of Molecular Variation, Structure Analysis and Delaunay Analysis) were used. Since, inputs of some software were not compatible with the outputs of other software some Java classes were written whenever necessary. Analyses revealed that among the major breeds Dagli&ccedil / , Karayaka and Morkaraman breeds are highly admixed but Kivircik, Akkaraman and Ivesi are relatively distinct. Among the minor breeds, distinctness of Hemsin, Sakiz, &Ccedil / ine &Ccedil / apari, G&ouml / k&ccedil / eada and Karag&uuml / l are more pronounced compared to all of the examined breeds. Since highly admixed individuals can be identified by Structure and FCA tests, results of the present study, which is part of a national project with the acronym TURKHAYGEN-I (www.turkhaygen.gov.tr), were found to be promising in establishing and managing relatively pure conservation flocks for the Turkish native sheep breeds which are believed to be the reservoirs of genetic variability.

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of Europeanization of Turkish energy policies on Turkey-EU relations. In order to do so, the thesis focuses mainly on Europeanization as a concept and Europeanization of foreign policy as important features in explaining the changes in the Turkish energy policies. While doing so, first this study tries to explore the European Union energy policies and make an overview of the EU energy production and consumption situation within the energy distribution of the world. Second, the study looks through the Turkish energy policy framework and provides a portrait of Turkey as a key player between energy producer and consumer countries. Also, the relation of Turkish energy policy and EU energy policy are evaluated with respect to the questions: &ldquo / to what extent Turkish energy policies are Europeanized? And what are the possible impacts of Turkish energy policies and their Europeanization of Turkey&rsquo / s quest for the membership?&rdquo / For the first question Europeanization is discussed mainly by Radaelli&rsquo / s definition. The review of the literature and the interviews show that Turkey has contributed much to its Europeanization process regarding the energy policies, and Turkish energy policy making reveal distinctive characteristics of Europeanization. However, for the second question, studies exhibit that there is a discrepancy of ideas among scholars and it is important to counterbalance them properly.

A comprehensive model, previously developed for a rectangular parallelepiped shaped 0.3 MWt circulating fluidized bed combustor (CFBC) fired with high calorific value coal burning in sand and validated against experimental data is adapted to cylindrical configuration and is extended to incorporate NOx formation and reduction reactions and pressure drops around cyclone, downcomer and loop seal. Its predictive accuracy is tested by applying it to the simulation of Middle East Technical University (METU) 150 kWt CFBC burning low calorific value indigenous lignite with high Volatile Matter/Fixed Carbon (VM/FC) ratio in its own ash and comparing its predictions with measurements. Favorable comparisons are obtained between the predicted and measured temperatures, pressure profiles and emissions of gaseous species. Results reveal that predictive accuracy in pressure profile strongly depends on the correlation utilized for entrainment in dilute zone and that accuracy in NO emission requires data on partitioning of coal nitrogen into char-N and volatile-N and is affected significantly by dilute zone oxygen content.

Standard employment definitions have begun to change with the impact of globalization and new concepts such as part-time work, freelance, on-call work, temporary work, fixed-term labour contracts have started to be demanded in the labour market. These new definitions which were determined in order to keep pace with new competitive market environment paved the way of new trends in various countries. Flexicurity is one of these trends which is mostly favoured in European Union agenda. The purpose of this thesis is to study whether flexicurity is suitable for Turkish labour market or not while analyzing structure of it as well as Turkish labour market legislations with perceptions of social partners on flexicurity, which has been started to be argued with the accession process of Turkey to the European Union. The thesis observes that there is no homogenous system of flexicurity for European welfare states and if Turkey is analyzed in this framework it takes place in the Mediterranean Welfare Systems of flexicurity paradigm. Some policy recommendations necessary to make flexicurity suitable for Turkish labour market are also given in order to contribute to the conclusion part.

Development and enhancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is following a high level trend promising many opportunities to the economy, environment and society. Utilizing ICTs to enable improvements in the field of energy efficiency is becoming a very hot topic across the globe in this context. In this study both the enabling role of the ICTs for ensuring energy efficiency and the carbon footprint of ICTs considering also the rebound effects was analyzed as a case study for Turkish consumer electronics sector. Desktop research and in depth interviews with representatives of the sector, aimed at assessing current situation and trends in the field, provided a basis for a qualitative analysis. In our assessment main focus was put on the enabling role of ICT in achieving energy efficiency gains and / thus, we intend to explore whether utilization of ICTs can help improving energy efficiency in consumer electronics sector in Turkey. Results of the analysis showed that there is a limited inclusion of ICT directly enabling energy efficiency in the sector. Moreover, there is a lack of awareness on the concept of ICT for energy efficiency concept in the sector. Discussion of the results was followed by policy recommendations for the enabling role of ICTs for achieving energy efficiency targets in Turkey. We argue that, by increasing the awareness on the topics, utilizing the potential strength of R&amp / D capacities of the firms and deployment of links between the sector and global context on the ICT for energy efficiency, ICT can help improving energy efficiency in Turkish consumer electronics sector.

The period from 1930 to 1946 constitutes one of the most important episodes of the history of Turkish Republic. It is the period in which the new regime was consolidated through a series of radical secularizing reforms, which aimed at weakening the role of religion in politics and society and confining it to the private sphere. In this period, the Kemalist regime tried to replace an identity based on religion by one based on the Turkish nation. It has generally been argued that the transition to multi-party regime and the subsequent coming to power of the Democratic Party in 1950 constitutes a serious break with the previous period by opening a greater space for religion in society. This thesis will try to study the construction of Turkish national identity through a comparison of the high school textbooks of the 1930 &ndash / 1950 period and 1950 &ndash / 1960 era.

International contracting services of the Turkish construction companies started at the beginning of 1970s have great importance on Turkish construction sector and Turkish economy. With increasing and decreasing annual amounts from 1970s to the present date due to several economic, political and social factors / international contracting services showed a tremendous increase compared to the 1972 level. In the 38-years period between 1972 and 2010, Turkish contractors completed a lot of projects in different countries with a great success. The success achieved in the past and today led the Turkish construction sector to expand its goals and to set quite ambitious figures as its future targets. Within this period from past to the present, in addition to the opportunities, Turkish companies also faced a lot of difficulties and problems / and gained a considerable experience from the lessons learnt from them. This study aims to investigate the lessons learnt as a result of opportunities and problems faced by the Turkish construction sector -that has serious and ambitious targets for the future. In the light of these lessons learnt, it is targeted to define what has to be done for retaining the current successful position of the sector and achieving its future goals.

This study analyzes the technical efficiencies of Turkish electricity distribution companies (21 in total) throughout 2002 and 2009. For this aim, we used six different model specifications, all of which are generated from two different Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) models (Battese ve Coelli (1992&amp / 1995)). At the end of the estimations of the models, it has been seen that the signs and significance levels of the coefficient estimations are very consistent and satisfactory in all models. We also observed consistency between the coefficient estimations of the different models despite the differences in the magnitudes of the coefficient estimations. For example, all model specifications confirm the presence of increasing returns to scale and of a mild technological progress over time in the market. In addition, among the inputs, all inputs except the quality of the electricity delivered are important in enhancing technical efficiency of the electricity distribution companies, according to the all alternative specifications. Again, all models showed that inefficiency effects rather than random error effects are of crucial importance in Turkish electricity distribution market. As for the efficiency estimations of the alternative models, the main conclusion revealed by our study is that efficiency estimations of the Battese ve Coelli (1995) models are remarkably higher than those of the Battese ve Coelli (1992) models. The efficiency estimation differences between Battese and Coelli (1992&amp / 1995) models can be attributed to the environmental variables included into the Battese ve Coelli (1995) models, which are not generally controlled by electricity distribution companies.

ANALYSIS OF CYTOCHROME P4501A1 GENETIC POLYMORPHISMS IN PATIENTS WITH ISCHEMIC STROKE Adali, Ayse &Ccedil / inar M.Sc., Department of Biochemistry Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Orhan Adali Co-Supervisor: Dr. Birsen Can Demird&ouml / gen January 2011, 179 pages Stroke is the third leading cause of death worldwide and results in serious disabilities. Cytochrome P450 1A1 gene (CYP1A1) is a highly polymorphic gene encoding its corresponding xenobiotic metabolizing enzyme which is responsible from the metabolism of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are engaged with the formation of free radicals. Atherosclerosis is a major cause of ischemic stroke and this pathology may be associated with the disruption of vascular homeostasis due to the formation of these chemicals. The main objective of this study was to investigate the coding region (A4889G) and non-coding region (T6235C) polymorphisms of the CYP1A1 gene as a risk factor for ischemic stroke. The study group in Turkish population consisted of 226 unrelated ischemic stroke patients and 113 control subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups with respect to age and gender. Total blood samples were obtained from G&uuml / lhane Military Medical Academy Hospital, Neurology Department, Ankara. In stroke patients, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and obesity were at least 2 times more common and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly lower than controls. The frequency of mutant allele 4889G was 0.445 in patients and was nearly the same with controls. The frequency of mutant allele 6235C was 0.151 in patients and was significantly higher in controls (0.226, P=0.015). The risk of diabetic, smoker and obese individuals having ischemic stroke was significantly higher in 4889G allele carriers (AG+GG / Odds ratio / OR= 2.1, 2.4 and 3, respectively). The risk of hypertensive and diabetic individuals having ischemic stroke was higher in 6235TT genotypic people (OR= 3 and 2.2, respectively). On the contrary, the risk of smoker and obese individuals having ischemic stroke was significantly higher in 6235 C allele carriers (OR=5.3 and 3.7, respectively). Logistic regression analysis revealed that hypertension, smoking, levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and HDL-C and 6235C allele were significant predictors of stroke. In this analysis, high level of LDL-C was found to be associated with almost 1.5-fold risk of ischemic stroke. On the other hand, HDL-C and having mutant 6235C allele decreased the risk of ischemic stroke 2.5 and 2-fold, respectively. This is the first study investigating the relation between A4889G polymorphism and stroke risk. Additionally, in Turkish population A4889G and T6235C polymorphisms were analyzed for the first time in terms of its relation to ischemic stroke. The present study demonstrated that the frequency of mutant 4889G allele was nearly the same in stroke patients and control subjects / whereas the frequency of mutant 6235 C allele was higher in control subjects than in stroke patients. Consequently, we decided that carrying mutant 4889 G allele does not constitute a risk for ischemic stroke and carrying mutant 6235C allele may have a protective effect against stroke.