Showing papers by "Yaşar University published in 2015"

Religious Social Identity, Religious Belief, and Anti-Immigration Sentiment

Abstract: Somewhat paradoxically, numerous scholars in various disciplines have found that religion induces negative attitudes towards immigrants, while others find that it fuels feelings of compassion. We offer a framework that accounts for this discrepancy. Using two priming experiments conducted among American Catholics, Turkish Muslims, and Israeli Jews, we disentangle the role of religious social identity and religious belief, and differentiate among types of immigrants based on their ethnic and religious similarity to, or difference from, members of the host society. We find that religious social identity increases opposition to immigrants who are dissimilar to in-group members in religion or ethnicity, while religious belief engenders welcoming attitudes toward immigrants of the same religion and ethnicity, particularly among the less conservative devout. These results suggest that different elements of the religious experience exert distinct and even contrasting effects on immigration attitudes, manifested in both the citizenry's considerations of beliefs and identity and its sensitivity to cues regarding the religion of the target group.

Energy, economic, and environmental analysis of a flat-plate solar collector operated with SiO2 nanofluid

Abstract: To overcome the environmental impact and declining source of fossil fuels, renewable energy sources need to meet the increasing demand of energy. Solar thermal energy is clean and infinite, suitable to be a good replacement for fossil fuel. However, the current solar technology is still expensive and low in efficiency. One of the effective ways of increasing the efficiency of solar collector is to utilize high thermal conductivity fluid known as nanofluid. This research analyzes the impact on the performance, fluid flow, heat transfer, economic, and environment of a flat-plate solar thermal collector by using silicon dioxide nanofluid as absorbing medium. The analysis is based on different volume flow rates and varying nanoparticles volume fractions. The study has indicated that nanofluids containing small amount of nanoparticles have higher heat transfer coefficient and also higher energy and exergy efficiency than base fluids. The measured viscosity of nanofluids is higher than water but it gives negligible effect on pressure drop and pumping power. Using SiO2 nanofluid in solar collector could also save 280 MJ more embodied energy, offsetting 170 kg less CO2 emissions and having a faster payback period of 0.12 years compared to conventional water-based solar collectors.

Economic and Social Consequences of Population Aging the Dilemmas and Opportunities in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract: Population aging is one of the most important demographic features that has come into prominence in the twenty-first century. In general, longevity has increased while fertility has declined resulting in an increase in the proportion of the older people. Aging of the population affects all aspects of the society including health, social security, education, socio-cultural activities, family life and the labor market. Regarding the latter, a decline in the young population of working age lowers the labour force participation rate, leading to a rise in the proportion of retired people. While governments in both developing and developed countries primarily focus on the negative effects of this for socio- demographic development, they have often also considered how such labour shortages can be mitigated by increasing the retirement age. Regarding care of the elderly, if fertility continues decreasing then this will inevitably lead to a lack of care workers, both paid and unpaid, especially, for elderly people. The social and economic provision of care still creates gender dilemmas for societies by narrowing the range of employment opportunities for women. As caring responsibilities are in general better fulfilled by women, high demand for paid care workers will increase women’s participation in the labor market in place of their role as unpaid care workers in the household. This paper analyzes possible changes in several variables, including labour force participation, the pension system, retirement age and labour supply. It places special emphasis on a variety of demographic and policy forces that are vitally important for evaluating the impact of population aging on economic growth. It also considers the implications of these developments for closing the gender gap in pension provision. It ends by offering some policy options aimed at forming the active policies that are essential for coping with the world’s rapidly increasing number of older people.

An effective discrete harmony search algorithm for flexible job shop scheduling problem with fuzzy processing time

Abstract: This study addresses flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) with fuzzy processing time. The fuzzy or uncertainty of processing time is one of seven characteristics in remanufacturing. A discrete harmony search (DHS) algorithm is proposed for FJSP with fuzzy processing time. The objective is to minimise maximum fuzzy completion time. A simple and effective heuristic rule is proposed to initialise harmony population. Extensive computational experiments are carried out using five benchmark cases with eight instances from remanufacturing. The proposed heuristic rule is evaluated using five benchmark cases. The proposed DHS algorithm is compared to six metaheuristics. The results and comparisons show the effectiveness and efficiency of DHS for solving FJSP with fuzzy processing time.

Prospective comparison of 3 dacryocystorhinostomy surgeries: external versus endoscopic versus transcanalicular multidiode laser.

Abstract: PURPOSE To analyze the clinical outcomes of external (EX-), endoscopic (EN-), and transcanalicular multidiode laser (TC-) with dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR). METHODS Ninety-two patients with primary acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction were enrolled (divided into EX-DCR [n = 33], EN-DCR [n = 30], and TC-DCR groups [n = 29]) in this prospective study. Primary outcome measures were the anatomical and functional success of operations at the last control examination. Secondary outcome measures were the ostium size, surgical time, and complications. RESULTS The difference in mean surgical time among the 3 groups was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). External DCR required the longest surgical time (46.6 ± 15.3 minutes), while TC-DCR was the shortest (20.3 ± 7.7 minutes). There were no significant differences between the groups regarding anatomical (81.8%, 75.9%, and 76.7% in EX-, EN-, and TC-DCR groups, respectively; p = 0.824) and functional success rates (81.8%, 72.4%, and 73.3% in EX-, EN-, and TC-DCR groups, respectively; p = 0.626). Final ostium size was the largest with EX-DCR (33.7 ± 17.4 mm) and smallest with EN-DCR (19.0 ± 8.9 mm; p = 0.001). The complication rate was similar in all groups. The most common complications were the formation of granulation tissue (16.3%) and intranasal synechiae (9.8%), all of which led to surgical failure and were more frequent in the EN- and TC-DCR groups. CONCLUSIONS External DCR, EN-DCR, and TC-DCR had similar success and complication rates in patients with primary acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction. External DCR resulted in the largest ostium size. Transcanalicular DCR appeared to be effective with the shortest surgical time.

Social Values and Cross-National Differences in Attitudes towards Welfare:

Abstract: Studies on public opinion about welfare already acknowledge the role context plays in individual attitudes towards welfare. However, the much-debated effect of socially held values and beliefs on a...

A Review of Service and E-Service Quality Measurements: Previous Literature and Extension

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to show the requirement of industry-specific national service quality indices for measuring quality in both traditional and electronic services in various industries in a country. In this study, the literature about service and e-service quality measurements was reviewed, and a three-dimensional framework was developed. It was found out that the dimensions of each service quality measurement were all different from each other due to the different characteristics of the industries that each study has been conducted in. The study showed that there is a need for an industry-specific national service quality index and suggested that national customer satisfaction indices which have existed in the literature can be a model for industry-specific national service quality indices. An industry-specific national service quality index enables national companies to understand their unique industrial characteristics that needed to be improved continuously in order to increase service quality and gain competitive advantage. The index which was proposed to develop in the future was suggested for the first time in this study. Keywords: Service quality; E-service quality; Service quality dimensions; National customer satisfaction indices; Turkish Customer Satisfaction Index (TCSI).

Idiosyncratic Volatility and Expected Returns at the Global Level

Abstract: The author investigated the existence and significance of a global cross-sectional relation between idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns by introducing a global idiosyncratic volatility measure and globally diversified test assets. He found that portfolios with the highest and lowest global idiosyncratic volatility do not earn significantly different average returns, indicating no link between global idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns. His results show that global diversification is effective in stabilizing the returns of global test assets and that benefits from global diversification can be gained by diversifying across either countries or industries.

The linkages among intellectual capital, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of present study is to explore the linkages among Intellectual Capital (IC), Corporate Governance (CG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through direct and indirect empirical inquiry. Design/methodology/approach – The main setting is designed for exploring the relationship among IC, CG and CSR. Therefore, these three constructs are examined directly in which their statistical relation is evaluated among themselves and indirectly in which their possible effects are examined onto firms’ unsystematic factors such as cash flow, short-term solvency, long-term solvency, profitability and asset utilization. Findings – Empirical investigation is conducted on manufacturing firms listed in Istanbul Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2011. Empirical results do support a positive relationship among these important constructs. Research limitations/implications – The empirical research is carried out in manufacturing firms only. Originality/value – IC, CG and CSR are three demanding research area...

A model predictive control design for selective modal damping in power systems

Abstract: This paper presents a novel real-time predictive control technique to damp dominant inter-area oscillation modes in power systems. We first show that conventional Power System Stabilizers (PSS) in synchronous generators are best suited to damp only the intra-area oscillation modes, and participate poorly in inter-area damping. We then design a centralized Model Predictive Controller (MPC) to provide supplementary control to these conventional PSSs based on a Selective Discrete Fourier Transform (SDFT) approach. The SDFT extracts the energies associated with the inter-area frequency components in the output spectrum of the system, and uses this information to construct a weighting matrix Q. The MPC is then formulated as a quadratic minimization of the outputs using Q, resulting in damping only the inter-area modes of interest. In reality, however, the most dominant DFT magnitudes will not be known ahead of time since they are decided by the location of the disturbance. Therefore, we next augment the MPC design by predicting the dominant DFT magnitudes in the desired low frequency range using online measured data, and tuning Q accordingly. We illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach using an IEEE 39-bus prototype power system model for the New England system.

The Relationship between CSR and Banks' Financial Performance: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the bidirectional relationship between CSR practices of Turkish banks and their financial performance which is proxied by ROE, ROA and NIM for the year 2013. Content analysis is used to analyze the degree of CSR level based on a CSR index calculation and the link between performance and CSR level is investigated. The results show that ROA and ROE have no explanatory power in explaining CSR, whereas there is a bidirectional relationship between CSR and NIMs. The results point to an intuition that the banks are likely to charge the costs of CSR practices from their customers

Idiosyncratic Volatility and Expected Returns at the Global Level

Abstract: We investigate the existence and significance of a cross-sectional relation between idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns at the global level by introducing a global idiosyncratic volatility measure and globally diversified test assets. We find that the portfolios with the highest and lowest global idiosyncratic volatility don’t earn significantly different average returns, indicating the absence of a link between global idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns. This result is robust to three different samples utilized; two different asset pricing models, two different data frequencies, and an alternative idiosyncratic volatility definition used to estimate global idiosyncratic volatility; two different weighting schemes to calculate portfolio returns and after controlling for the size of the global idiosyncratic volatility sorted portfolios. It also holds for four different sub-periods and eight subsamples reflecting different states of the economy and stock markets. Our results show that global diversification is effective in stabilizing the returns of global test assets as global investors don’t require a risk premium for bearing global idiosyncratic volatility and that benefits from global diversification can be gained by diversifying across countries or across industries.

A differential evolution algorithm with variable neighborhood search for multidimensional knapsack problem

Abstract: This paper presents a differential evolution algorithm with a variable neighborhood search to solve the multidimensional knapsack problem. Unlike the studies employing check and repair operators, we employ some sophisticated constraint handling methods to enrich the population diversity by taking advantages of infeasible solution within a predetermined threshold. We propose to a variable neighborhood search employing different mutation strategies to generate the trial population. The proposed algorithm in fact works on a continuous domain, but these real-values are converted to 0–1 binary values by using the sigmoid function. In order to enhance the solution quality, the differential evolution algorithm with a variable neighborhood search is combined with a binary swap local search algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported application of the differential evolution algorithm to solve the multidimensional knapsack problem in the literature. The proposed algorithm is tested on a benchmark instances from the OR-Library. Computational results show its efficiency in solving benchmark instances and its superiority to the best performing algorithms from the literature.

Local or Global: Analyzing the Internationalization of Social Responsibility of Corporate Foundations

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between the globalization/adaptation debate and corporate foundation activity within a small subset of such foundations. In the light of this debate, the study analyzes the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches of this sample of corporate-owned foundations using the tri-dimensional CSR research model of Arthaud-Day (2005) to articulate the perspective, content and strategic orientations of the companies. Design/methodology/approach – The study selects three different corporate foundations based on internationalization scale and field of activities. A content analysis methodology is applied to the data collected from the official web sites of 24 corporate foundations. Findings – The analysis results show a general compatibility between the subsidiaries and the main branches of the corporate foundations, at least on the conceptual level. However, the practices of CSR activities, targeted stakeholders or content domains differ at the opera...

Performance Assessment of a Potato Crisp Frying Process

Abstract: Frying is a common and popular cooking method, which has been widely used in food manufacturing, though it is a very energy-intensive process. Energy analysis has been commonly used to assess the performance of fryers. In this study, we attempted to exergetically assess the performance of a potato crisp frying system, which consists of three main components, a combustor, a heat exchanger, and a fryer. In the analysis, we utilized the actual operational data obtained from the literature. We determined exergy destruction in each system component and the whole system. We calculated universal and functional exergy efficiency values for the system components and compared them with each other. We also undertook a parametric study to investigate how the overall cycle performance was affected by changing the reference environment temperature and some operating conditions. We illustrated the exergy results through the Grassmann (exergy loss and flow) diagram. We calculated the universal exergetic efficiency values...

A Parametric Study of a Piston-Prop Aircraft Engine Using Exergy and Exergoeconomic Analysis Methods

Abstract: In this study, exergetic and exergoeconomic analysis methods are applied to a four-cylinder, spark ignition (SI), naturally aspirated and air-cooled piston-prop aircraft engine in the cruise phase of flight operations. The duration of cruise is selected to be 1 h. Three parameters, altitude, rated power setting (PS), and air-to-fuel ratio (AF), are varied by the calculation of the max–min values of exergy analysis. Based on the results of energy analysis, the values for the maximum energy efficiency and fuel consumption flow rate are calculated to be 21.73% and 28.02 kg/h, respectively, at 1000-m altitude and 75% PS. The results of exergy analysis indicate that all exergetic values vary from 65% to 75% PS, while this increase is not seen in exergoeconomic analysis. While the maximum exergy input rate is obtained to be 405.60 kW, exergy efficiency has the minimum value with 14.43% and exergy destruction rate has the maximum value with 168.48 kW. These values are achieved at 3000-m altitude and 18 AFs. The ...