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Much has been written and said about the roles, functions, and status of English and its diverse implications in local contexts and for people therein. However, Northern Cyprus stands out as a 'blind spot' as it is often annexed in studies related to Turkey or diluted within discussions focusing on Cyprus – which collectively leads to limited, partial, and tangential accounts of the complexities embedded in the local context. Departing from this premise, the current paper offers a comprehensive sociolinguistic profile of English in Northern Cyprus. More specifically, it portrays a historical account of the sociolinguistic situation with present‐day connections to statuses, roles, attitudes, functions, domains, policies, and practices in the local context. It is concluded that as the island morphed first into a postcolonial context and later into a partitioned sociopolitical entity, the linguacultural hegemony of English remained in Turkish Cypriots' linguistic repertoires, collective psyche, and educational curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the intersectional domains of power framework to examine Black Cypriot women's experiences with Afro hair in a community where black colour, hair, and features are othered. This paper draws particular attention to the interpersonal and cultural domains of power. We examine how hair prejudice has endured within families and in the Turkish Cypriot community by focusing on space and time differences. We compare the experiences of five women who were born in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. We aim to connect the history of slavery and colonialism to show how the unique experiences of Black women in Cyprus are also tied to global racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study intends to examine these misconceptions in a bid to reaching a valid conclusion. More importantly, this study intends to elicit information from instructors and preservice teachers on their experiences, successes and challenges on the sudden switch from flipped classroom to emergency remote online teaching. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a qualitative research design and the main focus of this research design which was is a form of exploratory research design was to understand the reasons opinions and viewpoints of a particular group of people concerning a situation. This paper deems this research design fit for eliciting relevant information from instructors and preservice teachers on their opinions and perceptions on the sudden shift from flipped classrooms to emergency remote online teaching during the previous semester. Data collection for this study was carried out through the use of focus group discussions where participants were asked questions based on the objective of the study. Findings: The present findings confirm that the mode of instruction delivery was not online teaching rather emergency remote online teaching. Another conclusion that was drawn was with regards to training, use of resources and issues of measurement and evaluation. The study summarized that there was little or no training for the teaching staff before the switch to EROT as instructors were only given guidelines on what to do to implement their lesson plans. Originality/value: Emergency remote online teaching is a newly emerging approach to lesson delivery, especially in an emergency situation. This study elaborates more on this new dimension of teaching and future prospects as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purposes: Alternative tourism activities are becoming more important for the future of Northern Cyprus. In this context, faith tourism, which has gained popularity in recent years, has special importance for Northern Cyprus, a country with essential structures of different religions. In this paper, the importance of faith tourism, which supposedly contributes to the tourism of Northern Cyprus, is revealed through the public's perspectives. Methodology: Data was collected through the questionnaire distributed to 60 respondents. The questionnaire consists of two sections; the first section includes two questions on the socio-demographic characteristics and the second section consists of 10 multiple choice questions to determine the opinions and expectations of people living in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on faith tourism. Findings: It is found that the Muslim people living in Northern Cyprus have a positive view towards faith tourism, and they have general information about the sites. In addition, they are tolerant of this form of tourism. Contribution: This study is significant in terms of showing the potential of faith tourism in the Northern Cyprus. In this article, a number of suggestions have been presented on how this type of tourism can be developed, especially by taking the opinions and expectations of the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intersection between architecture and ethics has resulted in fruitful debates, but the specific ethical concerns posed by architectural drawings have seldom been explored. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of observations made about architectural drawings that were submitted for a case in North Cyprus and a qualitative analysis of discussions conducted with 15 architects. These observations were made with reference to applied ethical theories and codes of conduct to validate the existence of perceived ethical problems with the drawings. The views expressed by the architects revealed a need for the introduction of new rules and regulations concerning the ethical issues posed by architectural drawings since such issues could, if left unresolved, harm the integrity of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper talks about the impact of Turkish aid on the macroeconomic development of Northern Cyprus. Since the physical division of the island of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey has been sending considerable financial aid to the de-facto state in its northern part, but the impact of this aid on local economics and politics has been controversial. We show that foreign aid has not been directly relevant for economic growth of Northern Cyprus. We suggest that persistence of aid, despite its negative impacts, can be explained by Turkey's geopolitical interests on the island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of the European Union (EU) on political party discourses in northern Cyprus. While the Turkish Cypriot community remain on the margins of the EU – with their prospects of EU integration depending on the resolution of the Cyprus conflict – an intriguing Europeaniation process has nonetheless taken place there since 2004, carrying significant potential to leave a mark on the future socio-political development of the Turkish Cypriot community. Drawing from constructivist readings on Europeanization, the paper shows that despite the lack of a resolution or substantive effects of EU policy in practice, the day-to-day articulations of Europe still play an important position within political party narratives. Revealing the ways in which political actors conceive of Europe in a context shaped by the on-going Cyprus problem, the paper also complements existing accounts of the EU's role in other conflict settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The estimation of the energy performance of residential buildings has gained importance because of the significant consumption of electricity in housing estate areas. For this aim, different approaches were utilized for robust and accurate prediction of the energy load in buildings. The use of different kind of construction materials, timely change in building parameters lead to imprecise and vague evaluation of energy consumption. For such kind of problems that are characterized with uncertainties, the use of fuzzy set theory is a more suitable approach for the modeling of energy consumption. This paper proposes a novel type-2 fuzzy wavelet neural network (T2FWNN) for modeling the energy performance of residential buildings. Based on the type-2 fuzzy rules, the multi-input multi-output T2FWNN model is proposed. For the construction of the T2FWNN model, the learning algorithm has been designed using cross-validation approach, clustering and gradient descent algorithms. During construction, the adaptive learning procedure was developed to stabilize and speed up the learning process. The proposed model is used for the solution of two problems. At the first stage, based on statistical data, the T2FWNN model has been designed for modeling the cooling and heating load of residential buildings. In the second stage, using T2FWNN the prediction model was designed for the energy consumption of residential buildings in Northern Cyprus. Comparative results have been provided to prove the efficiency of using the designed model in the prediction of the energy load of residential buildings. The obtained results indicated the suitability of using the T2FWNN system for estimation of the energy performance and prediction of the energy consumption of residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of trust regarding the trustor - trustee relationship within the service industries, this paper aims to display and describe the relations between; perceived fairness - namely procedural fairness, distributional fairness and interactional fairness -, trustworthiness and customer trust within the banking sector, for the case of North Cyprus. Data was obtained through the use of surveys distributed to banking customers and analyzed with the use of partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), a variance-based framework. Findings obtained suggest that the perception of both perceived fairness and trustworthiness are prominent contributors to the formation of customer trust within the banking industry. Results of the investigation provide a resourceful insight for both marketers and financial service providers aiming to induce customer interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islands are commonly isolated electricity systems that rely heavily on imported fossil fuels. Interconnection with a mainland power system is a solution to offset the exposure to volatile fuel prices and increase the stability of the island grid. This paper presents and discusses the main results of a case study aiming to see the economic effects of a 200 MW HVDC connection between an island grid and a mainland grid. The purpose was to see how much of the island's oil price scenarios can be overcome with this new interconnector. For this research, North Cyprus grid was modeled in MATPOWER software to do optimal power flow analysis. The results are used to compare fuel-based generation costs to importing electricity from the mainland. The analysis shows that this interconnector decreases the island's generation costs by 28% to 78%, and with the possible renewable installations, this reduction can be increased further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will examine the response of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to the COVID-19 pandemic from an ontological security approach to illustrate how critical junctures may help de facto states in their quest for status and internal legitimacy. Stressing the pandemic's role in the reconstruction of political narratives and self-legitimating practices among Turkish Cypriot elites, it sheds light on the effects of this global crisis on domestic power struggles in Northern Cyprus as well as its quasi-foreign relations with its patron state (Turkey), parent state (Republic of Cyprus), and the European Union. The study shows that both nationalist and federalist elites of the de facto entity instrumentalized the pandemic in their legitimation strategies and engaged in opportunistic behavior amid the outbreak. It also reveals how the pandemic enhanced the ontological security of Northern Cyprus while advancing its nationalist leadership's claims for legitimate authority by enabling state-specific forms of agency and unilateral acts concerning the Cyprus dispute that may jeopardize the resumption of peace talks with Greek Cypriots. Thus, it can be assumed that advanced ontological security of the TRNC is highly volatile given the prospects of further isolation and de-engagement in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new methodology for promoting Trombe wall through DSM was proposed. • A comprehensive guideline to ensure the success of the DSM program was provided. • Energy simulations for a building comprising a Trombe wall was carried out. • LCC analysis for the developed DSM program was conducted for North Cyprus. • Sensitivity analysis for the proposed DSM program is carried out. The present paper explores the feasibility of developing a demand-side management (DSM) strategy with the purpose of making advantage of the shifted solar energy use of Trombe wall (TW) systems to the evening hours while both the electric utility and its customers enjoy economic benefits. In many countries the winter peak hours coincide with the early evening hours and therefore replacing the electric heaters with TW systems during these hours would facilitate the peak clipping strategy in DSM. The aim of the current work is to offer means of overcoming the difficulties concerned with the implementation of such a DSM program and developing a comprehensive method to determine whether the outlined DSM program can be economically justifiable. The proposed method is examined under the North Cyprus (NC) conditions. According to the simulations performed for a 35 m2 room, integrated with a TW, an estimated 355.35 kWh of electricity is saved in each house participating in the program during the peak hours in winter. A peak clipping of 17.5-MW is expected to be achieved with 6842 houses. If a rebate of 1588.25 EUR is invested by the utility per house, a net present value of 5,031,514 EUR is estimated over a life time of 20 years. The life cycle cost indicators under different conditions and risks that might befall during the project implementation are also investigated. In all considered possibilities the savings-to-investment ratio of the DSM program is greater than 1.0, implying that there is economic feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, conducted within the interpretive paradigm, aimed to understand how democratic education is constructed around the theme of 'responsible and active citizen' in the national core curriculum in Northern Cyprus. An in-depth document analysis was conducted, to examine the extent to which the learning outcomes across the curriculum are aligned with the competence descriptors in the Council of Europe's Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC). This framework was used as a guide and a tool to obtain a European and global perspective. The findings revealed that there is alignment, to a certain degree, between the learning outcomes and the RFCDC competences. This confirms that some of the major concepts of democratic education are incorporated in the core curriculum. The findings also indicated that in this curriculum, democratic education focuses on knowledge and engagement at a basic level. In doing so, it undermines the experiential side of citizenship learning, and active participation in democratic life. The study also sheds light on the use and nature of the RFCDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how everyday religious practices inform the processes of social identification, complicate presumed ethno-religious categories, and mediate local cultural differences in face of political and cultural hegemonic practices. In the context of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a de facto state recognized only by Turkey, Turkish Cypriots and Turks are considered to share an ethnicity and religion. This "overlap" has been employed to justify Turkey's military intervention and its political, economic, and cultural domination over the island. Yet the cultural diversities and "perceived" differences between and among these groups are exacerbated by power dynamics, nationalist agendas, and mutual biases. The article explains subtle discussions around "genuine" Turkish and Muslim identities, as well as the enforced coexistence and constructed brotherhood of Cypriots and Turks on the island. The competing accounts of the "correct" interpretation of Islam at a Muslim tekke reflect intragroup power asymmetries and the conflict between institutionalized Sunni-Orthodox and "heterodox" local Islam. The article focuses on two overlooked issues in the scholarship on Northern Cyprus—the relations between Turkish Cypriots and settlers from Turkey, and the role of religion in the political processes—as well as on literature on shared sacred sites and an analysis of competitive intracommunal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a technical assessment of wind power potential for Selvilitepe site in Northern Cyprus. The wind speed data was collected for 10 min intervals between years 2007 and 2014 at this site. Weibull distribution method using 3 different algorithms called maximum likelihood, least squares and WAsP was used for the statistical analysis of the measured data. Power law exponent method was used to create diurnal and monthly averaged wind speed variations at the heights of 50 m, 80 m and 90 m. Based on the determined standard deviation of the wind speed, turbulence category of this site is calculated and categorized. Shear profile and surface roughness of this site has also been analyzed and determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, 47 taxa (15 Chroococcales, 20 Oscillatoriales, and 12 Nostocales) of Cyanobacteria that were collected along the coasts of Northern Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean Sea) are reported. Aphanocapsa litoralis (Hansgirg) Komárek & Anagnostidis, Coelosphaerium minutissimum Lemmermann, Chroococcus cf. turicensis (Nägeli) Hansgirg, Chroococcus varius A.Braun, Spirulina tenerrima Kützing ex Gomont, Calothrix fuscoviolacea P.L.Crouan & H.M.Crouan ex Bornet & Flahault, Rivularia nitida C.Agardh ex Bornet & Flahault, and Scytonematopsis pilosa (Harvey ex Bornet & Flahault) I.Umezaki & M.Watanabe are recorded for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea, and 35 taxa are also recorded for the first time from Northern Cyprus. Data are also provided concerning the geographical, morphological, and ecological distribution of each species. Sampling was based on 4 different localities (Korucam, Girne, Dip Karpaz, and Gazimağusa) in the Northern Cyprus marine ecosystem supralittoral zone at a depth of 30-35 m in the infralittoral zone between 2006 and 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Degree of dewatering as a consequence of the substrate/mortar interaction is studied. • Dewatering mortars by means of copper tailings were reported for the first time. • Dewatering has shown to critically affect the properties of the resultant mortars. • Improved physical and mechanical properties of dewatered mortars are attained. • Use of copper tailings in mortars supports environmental and social sustainability. The unexpected closure of the mine processing area of Lefke-Xeros generated the largest environmental disaster in the recent history of Northern Cyprus. The mining area, formed the biggest industry on the island in 1950s, was unpredictably closed and left all mine tailings and equipment behind without any preservation towards the environmental remediation nor sustainable rehabilitation for the locality. Substantial increase in the cost of energy supply, determination to decrease CO 2 emissions and to reduce the consumption of natural materials on the other hand, are the major challenges in construction practice. The paper is investigating the consequences of dewatering by means of recycling copper mine tailings in mortars both for the sustainable development of construction materials and for the socio-economic recovery of Lefke-Xeros area of Cyprus. The degree of dewatering as a consequence of the substrate/mortar interaction on the mechanical and physical properties of cement and lime mortars containing copper tailings are reported in the paper. Physical measurements provided an insight into the actual effect of dewatering on the resistance of freezing and thawing action of mortars containing copper tailings. The use of copper tailings and therefore the degree of dewatering have shown to play a substantial role in the decrease in thermal conductivity and increase in cost efficiency of these mortars in construction practice. The results reported in this paper significantly contribute in the sustainable development of construction materials through the use of mine tailings to support environmental sustainability and socio-economic development of Lefke-Xeros area of Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, power systems have witnessed a vast shift toward the integration of distributed generation systems (DGs), such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The importance of planning DGs cannot be denied as they help to improve operations in the system and reduce the reliance on fossil fuel-based power generation methods. This paper proposes a new method for site and size selection of distributed PV systems considering system active power loss and nodal voltage profiles. The novelty of this work relies on nodal voltage magnitude deviations for PV siting and sizing criteria where PV DG sizes are weighted based on the voltage deviation index. This work includes a detailed case study performed on the Northern Cypriot power system with promising results that validate the proposed method against unweighted approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the lead isotopic composition of ceramic fragments from the Kyrenia shipwreck (Cyprus), selected from three chemical groups related to the Rhodes and Alimos regions (Greece). Fragments of the lead sheathing covering the ship's hull and biogenic material formed on some of the ceramic sherds, were analyzed along with sherds from the Rhodes and Alimos source areas for comparison. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the impact of the seawater environment on the isotopic signature of the ceramics, and on our ability to use lead isotopes to source ceramics recovered from seawater. The results showed that the lead isotopic composition of the shipwreck ceramics was modified by its prolonged proximity to the lead hull sheathing. The lead signature of filtering marine organisms encrusted on the ceramics provided support for this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2nd International Fisheries Symposium (held in Girne, Northern Cyprus, 4 - 8 Nov. 2018): Special section on Turkish contributions The 2nd international Symposium on Fisheries science focused primarily on regional aspects, principally those within the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. Previously, a selection of papers from the 1st symposium in 2013 was published in the Journal of Applied Ichthyology the year after the conference, and we wish to continue this mode of dissemination. [Extracted from the article]