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The debate on change and continuity in the post-global financial crisis financial and industrial policy remains heavily contested. There is in particular an unresolved question on whether emerging powers have enjoyed increased or decreased opportunity for policy change. To explore this issue, this study analyses dynamics of post-GFC financial governance and industrial policy in Turkey. I specifically seek to identify patterns of continuity and change in organising policy and policy practices, and the balance between internal and external drivers in shaping outcomes. As well as agreeing with prominent analyses that post-GFC change dynamics should be characterized as incremental, overall I argue that a variegated agency displayed across industrial policy and financial regulation in Turkey's contemporary political economy. I find that ideational change has taken place in the global political economy, and the agency of domestic actors and domestic institutions have significant influences on adopting and implementing policies in both spheres. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that the outcome in terms of policy paradigm change in the Turkish political economy reflects a hybrid model with financial governance remaining characterized by key neoliberal principles, and the state's role in the real economy characterized by aspects of neo-developmentalism in the period between the late 2010 and the early 2018.

The Hereditary Spastic Paraplegias (HSPs) are a group of genetically heterogeneous, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases characterised by spasticity and lower limb weaknesses. Some known causative genes imply the importance of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function and morphogenesis in HSPs. These genes encode ER-shaping proteins: spastin (SPG4), atlastin (SPG3A), Receptor Expression Enhancing Protein 1 (REEP1/SPG31) and reticulon (SPG12). These proteins share a common feature of one or two intramembrane hairpin domains that can recognise or drive curvature of the ER membrane. In Drosophila, removing widely expressed members of the reticulon and REEP families leads to fewer ER tubules in axons of wider diameter, although there is no widespread absence of tubules. Therefore, other proteins must be involved in shaping the tubular ER network in Drosophila axons, and a major goal of mine was therefore to identify and assess additional candidate proteins with roles in this process. One potential source of ER-shaping proteins is other HSP genes. C19orf12 (SPG43) is an HSP gene; C19orf12 reportedly localise to ER and has a predicted intramembrane domain. It is therefore a candidate for helping to shape the axonal ER network. To investigate possible roles of C19orf12 in ER structure and function, I generated transgenic flies carrying a fusion of GFP to CG3740, which showed strong localisation to axons. I also generated loss-of function mutants of the most widely expressed Drosophila ortholog of C19orf12, CG3740, using P element excision and CRISPR/Cas9. These mutants are homozygous viable, as are quadruple mutants lacking CG3740 and all the widely expressed reticulon and REEP proteins, suggesting that these 4 proteins together are not sufficient for tubular ER formation. I did not see any overt effect in ER level due to CG3740 mutation. It also did not enhance the ER fragmentation phenotype was seen in Rtnl1, ReepA, and ReepB triple mutant. Another potential source of ER-shaping proteins is proteomic studies highlighting the proteins enriched in ER tubules. I therefore, performed proteomic analysis from previously conducted proteomic studies. These analyses identified most of the known proteins with roles in ER shaping, implying that it may also be a way to identify additional proteins with similar roles. Around 15 proteins were finalised as potential candidates for an ER-shaping role and two of them appeared as strong candidates. 8 Many HSP proteins localised in ER, but some localised in mitochondria. How might proteins in two different organelles give a similar disease phenotype? I, therefore, wanted to have a way to monitor ER-mitochondria contacts in HSP mutants. I adapted a published sensor that is based on a split-GFP strategy for ER-mitochondria contacts in transgenic Drosophila. Split GFP peptides were fused with ER and mitochondria localised proteins. When two organelles are nearby, GFP is reconstituted and becomes fluorescent. In Drosophila larval axons, the reporter showed a punctate distribution similar to that of mitochondria, consistent with localisation to contact sites. The reporter also showed alteration in different diet conditions showing that it responds to different physiological conditions.

The primary objective of my research project was to work with five worldwide dry bulk terminals to assist them to adopt and/or extend Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to improve their business performance. The project also explores the case for standardisation of KPIs within the wider Dry Bulk Terminals sector. The project aims to answer a number of business and academic research questions. On the business front, these include: does effectiveness dimension improve performance of KPIs; how does organisational culture affect implementation of KPIs; and what role do stakeholders play in planning and implementation of KPIs? On the academic front, these include: how do management style and organisational culture interact during the change process; what role do information systems play in the planning and implementation of KPIs; to what extent were planned PAR stages followed in practice; and challenges in becoming an insider researcher? In answering above questions, the project uses PAR as a research framework through a single research cycle with multiple stages. Representatives from each organisation actively participated during each stage of the project. Even though I was an outsider to participating organisations, I played a leading role and directly participated during each stage of the project. The project makes a novel contribution in a number of areas. First, it has focused on dry bulk terminals rather than ports in general, therefore bringing forward the important role of this industry sector as well as addressing a gap existed in this area in previous research. Secondly, it has introduced the effectiveness dimension into the planning and implementation of KPIs in addition to the efficiency in order to bring in key stakeholders' expectations and views into the picture. Thirdly, if focussed on dry bulk terminals which are significantly more complex and diverse in nature in comparison with container terminals where the majority of previous research concentrated. Fourthly, the project examined a large number of areas where performance KPIs are utilised, led by the participants rather than by a limited or predetermined set of KPIs primarily driven by efficiency parameters. Finally, the project worked with multiple categories stakeholders, driven by the participating terminals rather than limiting those to two or three traditionally recognised stakeholder categories. As a result of adding an effectiveness dimension to performance KPIs, the project made a positive impact at participating terminals in areas such as competitiveness, stakeholder relationships, business continuity and performance. Participating terminals made effective use of elements of their organisational culture and adjusted their management style during the project to ensure success. Stakeholders played a pivotal role in the success of the project by actively participating in it. Information systems played an important role in the implementation of KPIs in coordination with the organisational culture in each participating organisation. The level of standardisation of KPIs in participating terminals was high and this in turn provided a positive platform to explore options for wider standardisation within the industry sector.

The conditions under which a mixture of water and grains will fracture like a solid, rather than flow like a liquid, is the subject of this thesis. Flow to fracture transitions in saturated granular materials are relevant to numerous geological and engineering environments, in-cluding magma cavern activity, methane venting on seabeds, carbon dioxide storage, food processing, and innovations in body armour. To examine the flow to fracture transition, two systems are considered. The first is gas-driven fracturing of settled granular media, a slow creeping process that forms labyrinthine patterns. The second is gas-driven fractur-ing of suspended cornstarch particles, a system which exhibits fascinating "discontinuous shear thickening" behaviour, a topic of much debate in literature. Both systems are sub-ject to experiments within a Hele-Shaw cell, which enables the visualisation of pseudo-2D invasion flow or fracture patterns. Image analysis performed on these patterns led to the application of theories that can predict their behaviours. Fracture formation is found to be a friction dominated process. The invading pressure pushes on the local grains while surface tension of the receding water pulls on them until frictional forces become strong enough to maintain a front, forcing the pressure to disturb grains elsewhere, and in do-ing so extend and branch the fractures forming a patterned network. Various parameter studies are performed to uncover the variables that determine why a mixture might flow or fracture. Interestingly, the first system is found to transition from fracturing to flowing with increasing pressures, whilst the second system is found to do the opposite.

Accurate genotyping of sequence variation in repeated and copy number variable regions of genomes remains challenging, because of the problems inherent in mapping short sequence reads to a reference genome. A computational pipeline was designed to attempt to resolve the short-read mapping ambiguity for duplicated DNA regions mapping short-reads to reference sequence comprising of a single copy of a region repeated in the reference genome. The RHCE/RHD, the beta-defensin and the low-affinity FC gamma receptor repeat regions were chosen as initial analyses. The reliability of mapping to a reduced reference was assessed by comparing sequence read depth and known copy number across a subset of samples from the 1000 Genomes Project and a three-generation pedigree from Illumina's Platinum Genomes Project. The accuracy of variant calling was analysed by comparing variant calls at the inhibitory low-affinity Fc gamma receptor gene FCGR2B with 1000 Genomes variant calls and the variant calls generated by paralogue-specific long PCR and Ion Torrent sequencing. Both the reduced reference read approach and the 1000 genomes variant calls did not call all variants found by the Ion Torrent sequencing variant calls, with the 1000 Genomes variant calls significantly underestimating and mis-genotyping samples. Several variants in FCGR2B were found to be in strong LD with variants previously associated with complex traits by genome wide association studies (GWAS). However, these GWAS variants were in weak linkage disequilibrium with a gene conversion variant upstream of FCGR2B. Given that a coding variant of FCGR2B (rs1050501) has been previously associated with protection against severe malaria and susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus, the variation data was interrogated for signature of selection across global populations, and the genetic diversity of this locus revealed high haplotype diversity with 52 haplotypes. However, the population genetic statistics showed no evidence of natural selection at FCGR2B.

This thesis provides a class-based interpretation of social conflicts in contemporary Turkey, by focusing on a particular residential area of Istanbul, called Tophane. Tophane provides a particularly interesting context for the study of everyday social conflicts, for two main reasons. Firstly, it was home to a chain of well-publicised assaults against art galleries, known as the 'Tophane incidents', between 2010 and 2016. Secondly, as a gentrified neighbourhood Tophane hosts both working classes who had migrated to urban areas and the urban middle classes, two different social groups between which there is believed to be an Islamist-secular tension that has for too long marked political discussions in Turkey. The thesis studies whether this politico-cultural tension manifests as readable social symptoms, and on a theoretical level argues for the utility of combining Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the 'struggle for distinction' (1984) with Axel Honneth's concept of the 'struggle for recognition' (1995). These concepts are primarily used in dialogue with the original empirical data, drawn from a four-month period of ethnographic research that employed a combination of participant observation and semi-structured interviews in order to explore the everyday social conflicts present in a neighbourhood undergoing gentrification. The main finding is that the long-standing conflict stems from a lack of social interaction between the main groups in Tophane: culturally subaltern local residents and cultivated newcomers. Hence, this thesis makes a distinction between the factors that cause the social conflict and the factors that make it visible. While it utilises struggle for distinction to thematise the ways in which newcomers endeavour to transform arguably neutral class differences into recognised distinctions to claim superiority, the thesis employs struggle for recognition to account for why the lack of social interaction leads local residents to undergo such social sufferings as moral judgements, stigmatisations and ill-treatments. The thesis accordingly argues that, although the Tophane incidents appear to result from the reaction of locals, such acts of violence are outcomes of the broader yet implicit social conflict which essentially arises out of the symbolic domination that newcomers subject local residents to as a result of struggling for distinction.

In recent years, there has been an increasing concern about the disposal of high amounts of citrus residues, mainly orange-peel waste, and potential environmental and economic issues arising from this. However, orange waste biomass contains high value-added compounds, such as essential oils or natural polyphenolic antioxidants, highly demanded for the food, fine chemical and, medical applications; hence, extraction of these compounds is of great interest to valorise orange residues through bio-refinery schemes. Traditionally, petrochemical-based volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been used as solvents of choice to extract value-added components from citrus waste; however, increasing international regulations are limiting the use of these VOCs for environmental, health and safety reasons. Consequently, the search for green solvents with more benign profiles and the development of alternative extraction technologies for bioactive compounds for the sustainable valorisation of biomass feedstock are considered topics of chief importance. Therefore, this thesis has focused on the development of novel extraction technologies for deterpenation of orange essential oils, as well as the recovery of limonene and polyphenolic antioxidants from orange peel waste, using bio-renewable solvents for sustainable citrus waste biomass valorisation. Firstly, the feasibility of using deep eutectic solvents (DES) for orange essential oil deterpenation by liquid-liquid extraction was investigated. Additionally, the suitability of the quantum chemical COnductor like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) method to model the thermodynamic behavior of the systems was evaluated. The solvent performance was assessed by calculation of distribution coefficient and selectivity values (both experimental and predicted), with results showing that alkanediol-based DES were effective for selective separation of terpenoids from terpenes in citrus essential oils downstream processing. Secondly, the recovery of polyphenolic antioxidants from orange peel waste through solid-liquid extraction using polyol-based DES was studied. The total phenolic content (TPC) and the antioxidant capacity of extracts confirmed the capability of the proposed DES to extract target natural antioxidants, such as ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid, from citrus peel waste; moreover, DES seemed to promote biomass dissolution, which could be beneficial as pre-treatment for further bioprocesses. Thirdly, recovery of limonene from orange peel using bio-based solvents was investigated through experimental and COSMO-RS studies, with results showing that 2- methyl ethyl tetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF) and cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) are promising solvents for direct extraction of limonene from orange residues. Overall, the studies reported throughout the present PhD project demonstrate the potential of green solvents to replace conventional petrochemical solvents in extraction technologies to recover valuable compounds from orange residues. This will ultimately promote the development of novel biorefinery strategies for the sustainable valorisation of citrus biomass in the wider context of bioeconomy.

This dissertation focuses on the institutional change that occurred to the Scottish civil justice system after the introduction and implementation of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act in 2014. In this process, the Scottish civil justice system went through its most significant transformation in over 150 years. This reformation has created new judicial bodies, changed the jurisdictional reach of courts, significantly altered the allocations of the civil cases within the justice system. By conducting a qualitative case study, this dissertation explores how change unfolds in a highly institutionalised and potentially contested setting with multiple groups of actors. Theoretically, I draw on institutional theory and the sociology of professions, and it is to these theories that my study aims to contribute. My dissertation is comprised of three interrelated papers that appear in chapters three, four and five. Chapter Three examines the unsettlement caused by reforms due to the pronounced threats to the status of different groups of actors in the field. This paper focuses on the impact of these threats, and the varying responses among groups of professional actors. In so doing, it examines how intra-professional status differences and uncertainty hinder attempts to maintain threatened institutions. Chapter Four examines the lack of institutional disruption, and in particular asked why such pronounced change within the judicial system did not cause the expected disruption within the professional field that occupied it. This paper presents mechanisms of persistence that keep field disruption at bay and maintain the internal cohesiveness of the profession. These mechanisms are jurisdictional contentment and lack of a career bridge. Chapter Five focuses on the theorisation efforts of the change agents in the Scottish civil justice system and explains why these failed. In so doing, this paper provides a revised theory of theorisation that incorporates emotions.

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of interest in spectral properties of non-self-adjoint operators and operator pencils. This thesis is concerned with indefinite self-adjoint linear pencils which lead to a special class of non-self-adjoint spectral problems. These problems are not well understood, and, in general, many sign-indefinite problems which are trivial to state require some highly non-trivial analysis. We look at indefinite linear pencil problems from the perspective of a two parameter eigenvalue problem. We derive localisation results for real eigenvalues and present several examples. We also use different approaches to obtain estimates of non-real eigenvalues, supported by a large number of numerical experiments. Additionally, these experiments lead to various open questions and conjectures.

Effective behaviour management in primary schools is an important aspect of providing successful education to pupils and it has been one of the major topics researched by scholars in the field of education. A wide range of strategies and approaches have been implemented in schools to reduce disruptive behaviours and develop positive student attitudes to learning. This research is an exploratory study and aims to offer an in-depth understanding of pupils’ behaviour from an Attachment Theory perspective. Moreover, this research examines the relevance of an Attachment theory perspective for effective behaviour management of challenging students in primary schools in Turkey and England. In this attempt, this study investigates perceptions and practices of Turkish primary school teachers (interview: n=20, questionnaire n=130) and educators (interview: n=13) in England regarding the effective behaviour management of challenging pupils. This study is guided by a pragmatic approach with a mixed-methods research design. Data collection and analysis were qualitatively oriented (semi-structured interviews) with quantitative data (online questionnaire) collected to enrich the interpretation of qualitative findings. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, and quantitative data were analysed descriptively using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings of this study present that such awareness and understanding of different social, emotional, behavioural and attachment difficulties potentially help teachers to manage disruptive behaviours of challenging pupils effectively. Moreover, understanding underlying reasons for disruptive behaviours in primary classrooms, helps schools to provide a support system for challenging pupils. As behaviour and learning are strongly linked, findings show that improving behaviour can potentially improve not only learning, but also creating an optimal classroom environment for every pupil and classroom teacher. Findings of this study highlight the need for improving the current behaviour management policies in both countries, for instance school exclusion and Sanctions and Rewards system, criticised by participants regarding their limitations for supporting pupils with social, emotional, behavioural and attachment difficulties.

SNNs are referred to as the third generation of ANNs. Inspired from biological observations and recent advances in neuroscience, proposed methods increase the power of SNNs. Today, the main challenge is to discover efficient plasticity rules for SNNs. Our research aims are to explore/extend computational models of plasticity. We make various achievements using ReSuMe, DelReSuMe, and R-STDP based on the fundamental plasticity of STDP. The information in SNNs is encoded in the patterns of firing activities. For biological plausibility, it is necessary to use multi-spike learning instead of single-spike. Therefore, we focus on encoding inputs/outputs using multiple spikes. ReSuMe is capable of generating desired patterns with multiple spikes. The trained neuron in ReSuMe can fire at desired times in response to spatio-temporal inputs. We propose alternative architecture for ReSuMe dealing with heterogeneous synapses. It is demonstrated that the proposed topology exactly mimic the ReSuMe. A novel extension of ReSuMe, called DelReSuMe, has better accuracy using less iteration by using multi-delay plasticity in addition to weight learning under noiseless and noisy conditions. The proposed heterogeneous topology is also used for DelReSuMe. Another plasticity extension based on STDP takes into account reward to modulate synaptic strength named R-STDP. We use dopamine-inspired STDP in SNNs to demonstrate improvements in mapping spatio-temporal patterns of spike trains with the multi-delay mechanism versus single connection. From the viewpoint of Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning is outlined through a maze task in order to investigate the mechanisms of reward and eligibility trace which are the fundamental in R-STDP. To develop the approach we implement Temporal-Difference learning and novel knowledge-based RL techniques on the maze task. We develop rule extractions which are combined with RL and wall follower algorithms. We demonstrate the improvements on the exploration efficiency of TD learning for maze navigation tasks.

This research explores the linkages between the breadth and depth of search strategies and innovation performance from the perspective of emerging economy firms. The unique characteristics of such firms influence the success of search and they can leverage international collaboration to increase the benefits from their search strategies. This thesis contributes to the innovation search agenda by investigating search strategies by emerging economy firms and employing international collaboration as a contingency factor. This study first distinguishes international collaboration depending on the partners' national contexts, i.e. collaboration with partners from emerging economies and collaboration with partners from developed economies, in order to examine its effects on the link between search strategies and innovation performance. Second, this research distinguishes international collaboration according to partner types, i.e. international market-based and science-based partners in order to investigate its effects on the link between search strategies and different types of innovation performance. The constructed model was tested using data drawn from the Turkish Innovation Survey, which included 659 innovative firms from 19 two digit-level manufacturing and service industries. The empirical results indicate that an emerging economy firm searching the external environment broadly and deeply is not likely to yield innovative products. It is, rather, the collaboration with international partners that enables these firms to increase their innovativeness. However, the results suggest that firms need to tradeoff across search strategies depending on which national context they collaborate with. More specifically, firms fare better if they follow a search breadth strategy when they collaborate with partners from other emerging economies. In contrast, they perform better if they follow a search depth strategy when they collaborate with partners from developed economies. Moreover, the findings also point to the importance of international collaboration partner types for increasing the benefits of search strategies on different types of innovation performance. That is, the effect of search breadth strategy on radical innovation performance is enhanced with international market-based partners, not with science-based ones. In addition, the impact of search depth strategy on radical innovation performance is enhanced with international science-based partners, whereas its effect on incremental innovation performance is enhanced when collaborating with international market-based partners.

This thesis is composed of three empirical chapters each of which examines separate segments of Turkish banking system from different perspectives. First empirical chapter investigates regional loan distribution of development banks. The findings in this chapter suggest that political connection has played a significant role in development lending. There is also geographical bias which leads to higher volumes of loans in the regions close to the capital city. Second empirical chapter examines Islamic banks and compares them with conventional banks in terms of profitability and competition grounds. The results reveal that Islamic banks earn more returns with respect to conventional banks. The results also suggest that the regulatory changes of the last decade improve market power of these banks. The last empirical chapter investigates micro structure of Repo and Reverse Repo Market of Turkey in which only commercial banks can transact. This chapter initially presents the network topologies of this market that helps one to understand the characteristics of complex network in this market. This chapter then computes a connectivity measure and investigates the drivers of connectivity out of domestic and external factors. Although results provide very rich insights, external factors dominate the behaviour of network in this market.

This research concentrates on Kurdish films in Turkey with a particular focus on understanding the political dynamics of the nation in the realm of cinema, and investigates the relationships between 'cinema and the nation', 'film and politics', and more specifically 'socio-political conflicts and film', by exploring the issues and questions regarding these fields generated by the recent rise of Kurdish films and the birth of the concept of Kurdish cinema in Turkey during a period of political transformation. While analysing the prominent political meanings in Kurdish films, as well as their public reception, my aim is to interrogate the way in which Kurdish films incorporate with the political struggle over the future direction of Kurdish conflict in Turkey, the way their meanings are affected by this struggle, and finally, how they might have an impact on this struggle. How do films that directly address contemporary social tensions and political cleavages in a certain society enter into dialogue with those areas of socio-political conflict in their immediate context? This is one of the key questions I engage with in this thesis. In tackling these issues, I develop a contextual film analysis approach in my examination of the interpenetration of film and politics in the case of Kurdish films in Turkey, and I designate three main axes for this contextual analysis. The first axis concerns the socio-political operation of Kurdish cinema as a concept, the second develops a context-specific political analysis of individual Kurdish films, and the third concentrates on the social circulation and reception of these Kurdish films. And all of these axes are developed through close references to the period of political transformation in Turkey in the 2000s.

Astronomical instruments dedicated to the study of Cosmic Microwave Background polarization are in need of optics with very low systematic effects such as beam shape and cross-polarization in an optical configuration. With the demand for millimetre wave larger focal planes comprising thousands of pixels, these systematic effects have to be minimal across the whole focal surface. In order to reach the instrument requirements such as resolution, cross-polarization and beam ellipticity, new optical configurations with well-understood components have to be studied. Refractive configurations are of great importance amongst the potential candidates. The aim is to bring the required technology to the same level of maturity that has been achieved with well-understood existing ones. This thesis is focused on the study of such optical components for the W-band spectral domain. Using optical modelling with various software packages, combined with the manufacture and accurate experimental characterization of some prototype components, a better understanding of their performance has been reached. To do so, several test set-ups have been developed. Thanks to these new results, full Radio-Frequency refractive systems can be more reliably conceived.

Environmental concerns comprising pollution and global warming are among the key parameters that steer policy making actions regarding sustainability. Energy industry that comprises energy generation, distribution, and transmission phases of energy loop is at the core of these concerns and faces challenges. Due to handling capabilities, present electricity grid is not robust enough to utilize desired level of renewable energy sources due to their intermittent nature. On the other hand, emerging policies are targeting the increased utilization of renewable energy sources. In the light of environmental policies and increased stability requirements of the electricity grids, a new concept called “smart grid” emerges. Smart grids are intended to eliminate the limitations of present electricity grids such as offering increased handling capacity for renewable energy, increased interaction of the consumers with the utilities, and increased supply and demand management. It is not easy to express a solid smart grid definition as each party (energy generation, distribution, and demand side management) has its own approach in line with the desires. Due to the potential environmental benefits of smart grids, some governments engage smart grid projects to their agenda. As solid smart grid definition does not exist, there is no available solid strategy for smart grid implementations. On the other hand, it is well understood that failure in deployment of smart grids (regardless of the technology) will have undesirable impacts on growth of renewable energy generation, and failure in meeting EU carbon targets consequently. This research seeks to develop a model that seeks optimization of smart grid implementations, and it assists decision makers with deciding on the priory areas for smart grid applicability. Stated areas in this case are neighbourhoods comprising of residential buildings where considerable amount of energy is consumed. A set of criteria regarding to residential energy use and renewable energy technologies, are defined in the study. Proposed model is embedded in a GIS platform, and the main process carried out is a prioritization mechanism that comprises Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and geospatial computations like clustering and regression analysis in order to evaluate the alternative neighbourhoods. Proposed model optimizes smart grid projects by ranking of alternatives in terms of smart grid applicability. Such an aid in optimizing smart grid projects has the potential to maintain progress of smart grids in a timely manner.

Metacognition helps control cognitions through the actions and interactions of metacognitive knowledge, experiences, and strategies. Since 1979, metacognition has been extensively studied and found to be an effective tool for learning. In reading, metacognition is associated with improved vocabulary, reading awareness, strategies, comprehension, and task performance. Research confirmed metacognition can be successfully taught. However, it has limited influence on mainstream classrooms; classroom instruction lacks pedagogies of metacognition. Paradoxically, teachers' practices have been assessed inconsistently and independent of students' metacognition. For these problems, this study developed a pedagogy of metacognition (PMR) and examined the structural validity of its measurement instrument (ITMR). Following a comprehensive literature review, a PMR consisted of fostering students' metacognitive knowledge, adopting goal-directedness, integrating language of thinking, scaffolding students' strategic reading, encouraging their independence with strategic reading, assessing metacognition, and prolonging instruction. Then, scale validation procedures were followed. After scale items were generated, QUAID examination, expert, cognitive, and focus-group interviews were conducted for content and construct validity. Following the ITMR's initial simulation, the data were collected from reading teachers in the United States of America. The data were collected by a computer-assisted survey method and a non-probability sampling technique. Then, the data were analyzed by a factor analysis method, Welch's, and Spearman's tests. The ITMR at elementary school level was found to have a unidimensional model accounting for 60% of the total variance (alpha.97). There were no mean differences in teachers' self-reported metacognition instruction practices at any grade levels. All dimensions of the ITMR were strongly and positively correlated. By these findings, the significance of this study was recognized and its contributions to the literature were summarized. Also, the discrepancy between the literature and the ITMR and the congruence of metacognition instruction practices across elementary grades was discussed. Assessment practices were recognized as potential aids for classroom metacognition instruction. Future studies were recommended to improve the validity of the ITMR and understanding of classroom metacognition instruction. Educational implications aimed to support both in-service and pre-service teachers as possible. Finally, limitations with scale development, scale's generalizability, data collection, and analyses were discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Traditional computational and experimental assessments of implant performance are determin- istic; each computational (usually finite element (FE) based) simulation or experiment describes a single situation. While useful information can be gained from these analyses, when the number of variables involved increases, experimental simulations becoming increasingly time consuming and complex. In these cases, computational simulations are increasingly relied upon to predict implant performance. However, even when employing computational simulations to look at the effect of a large number of variables via sweep simulations for example, the problem can become computationally expensive and unfeasible in terms of time required. In the present work, stochastic cornpu tational methods are employed to assess the effect of multi- ple variables on the performance of the cernentless hip replacement. To verify the computational simulations, at each stage of the project, selected scenarios were tested experimentally. To assess implant performance, the following metrics were used: (i) implant micromotion and migration: excessive micromotion and migration are believed to be related to the most common cause of implant failure, implant loosening, and (ii) bone strain; excessive bone strain can result in bone fracture. An initial study on a neutrally positioned stem showed good correlation between the experimental results and the computational predictions. Mesh morphing techniques were employed to allow implant position to change throughout the simulations and assess how this altered the output metrics; it was observed that micromotion and strains generated in the cortex were most sensitive to varus/valgus angle. To further reduce computational expense, a surrogate modelling technique was used to assess the effect of both loading and implant positioning, on micromotion. The surrogate model was verified by selected FE models, placing confidence in the model, and again highlighted that in addition to vertical load, the varus/valgus angle affected the micromotion of cementless implant. Experimental investigations were carried out to corroborate the results obtained computation ally. The novelty of the experimental tests was in the use of an optical system, called digital image correlation (DIC), to measure implant motions and bone strains. This technique enabled non- contact three dimensional measurements to be made. While some qualitative relationships were obtained with FE outputs, good quantitative corroboration between the strain gauge and DIC suggests that DIC is a promising technique for the evaluation of implant performance in vitro.

In this thesis, I discuss conflict in virtual learning communities in the context of a democratic pedagogy. Democratic pedagogies are underpinned with emancipatory educational values through enabling students to participate in governance of their learning processes thus taking responsibility for their own learning. In these communities, knowledge is socially constructed through interactions and negotiations. The method and content of the learning programme are loosely structured in order to fulfill the community members' wishes, interests, ideas, and so on throughout the learning process. Within this framework, my point of departure is that emergence of conflict among the community members is probable given the diverse and sometimes clashing individual differences in participation in the negotiation process; in the loose structure of the programme which brings about uncertainty; and in the nature of the technological environments in which learning takes place. To address these issues, I conducted field work with third year undergraduate students enrolled in a Computer Education and Instructional Technology programme. The field work consists of two staged studies: pilot study and main study. Respectively, a four week course for the pilot study and a fourteen week course for the main study were designed according to learning community principles underpinned with a democratic pedagogy, and students were introduced with their respective learning communities. Throughout the field work, I collected data via interviews, focus group meetings, prepost questionnaires, essays, Moodle logs and field notes. Drawing on my findings, I discuss the dynamics and the roles of conflict in learning through a model of conflict which I developed. This model identifies 3 types of conflict: intrapersonal, interpersonal and socio-cultural. I show how small groups of students in the community experienced different conflict pathways during the course of study. The findings show the importance of taking a holistic, processual view of the emergence of conflict in a learning community. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The Notch signalling pathway appears to be ubiquitous in metazoan animals, and is one of the most thoroughly studied signalling pathways. Notchmediated cell-cell communication is crucial for development: it governs the establishment of patterns of gene expression and differentiation and regulates binary cell fate choices and the maintenance of stem cell populations. In zebrafish, Notch signalling governs many aspects of embryonic and adult development and recent studies have identified the main players in different contexts. Interestingly, however, as we learn more about Notch signalling, we are starting to realize the complexity of this pathway that is put together in a relatively simple way. One source of complexity comes from the diversity of roles and functions of different Notch ligands. Among those, we are particularly interested in DeltaC and DeltaD, two major members of the Delta family of ligands, which are curiously expressed together in various contexts ranging from neurogenesis to formation of the gut epithelium and somitogenesis. Many questions remain as to the exact functions of the Notch ligands DeltaC and DeltaD in the somite segmentation process and elsewhere. To investigate temporal and other aspects of the role of these Notch ligands, I have created transgenic zebrafish lines in which we can provoke expression of either one with a heat shock, using either direct regulation by a heat-shock promoter or via GAL4-VP16. This thesis describes the work done during the creation, establishment and validation of these transgenic lines and discusses some of the applications that can reveal novel aspects of Notch signalling, focusing on somite segmentation. I believe that by using these transgenic fish lines, in coordination with other lines that we currently have, we will be able to answer important questions relevant to not only somite segmentation, but also Notch signalling in general.

Hypothesis: Pelvic perfusion is the pivotal factor for the outcome of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment once clinical and embryological variables are controlled for their effect.;Demonstration of Hypothesis: In a series of three studies, the clinical aspects of embryo implantation were examined from the perspective of tissue perfusion.;Epidemiological Study: Clinical and embryological data were evaluated to predict multiplicity of implantation and ongoing pregnancy in IVF treatment. Oocyte and embryo quality were appraised and the impact of the number of embryos transferred was assessed.;Study on In-vivo Vascular Physiology: The prognostic role of utero-ovarian perfusion and its pharmacological manipulation with low dose aspirin was evaluated in the outcome of IVF treatment. Serum, follicular fluid vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) concentrations were correlated with Doppler indices.;Study on In-vivo Endometrial Physiology: Endometrial receptivity (in terms of endometrial thickness and echo-pattern) and VEGF-VEGFR concentrations were evaluated with regards to the outcome of frozen-thawed embryo replacement (FTER) during natural and hormone replacement cycles.;Results: The epidemiological study showed that the outcome of IVF treatment was closely associated with the severity of subfertility. Ovarian reserve and response to stimulation were the key factors. The probability of pregnancy was affected by the number and quality of oocytes and by their fertilisation rate and the cleavage rate of the resulting embryos. The potential to provide mature oocytes and high quality embryos was an inherent characteristic of the ovaries and independent of stimulation protocols. When embryo quality was taken into consideration, the number of embryos transferred no longer affected the chance of pregnancy. The clinical study showed that the chance of pregnancy was directly dependant upon tissue perfusion. Pregnancy rates were very low with uterine artery pulsatility index >3 (PI) and peri-follicular PI >1. Better ovarian reserve, response to stimulation, endometrial development, implantation and pregnancy rates were associated with low follicular fluid VEGF-VEGFR levels and this was also associated with good uterine and endometrial perfusion. Aspirin (150 mg/day) had no beneficial effect on Doppler indices, ovarian response to stimulation, implantation or pregnancy rates. Pregnancy rates were similar with naturally and hormonally prepared endometrium in frozen-thawed embryo replacement cycles. Higher serum VEGF and lower VEGFR levels were observed in pregnant cycles, but the differences were not significant. Endometrial echo-pattern and thickness did not affect conception.;Conclusions: Tissue perfusion plays a key role in the physiological steps leading to conception and implantation. Aspirin (150 mg/day) improved neither tissue perfusion nor the outcome of fresh embryo transfer. The type of endometrial preparation did not affect the outcome of frozen-thawed embryo replacement cycles.

Studies in adult learning have increased and better developed in the past century. From them adult learning theory emerged, comprised of andragogy, self-directed learning, and transformational learning. The main purpose of this study is to measure the teaching style preferences of trainees at a mid-size police department. The second purpose is to identify the differences in trainees' teaching style preferences depending on six factors. This study is primarily quantitative and is based on a survey design. The sample included 209 police officers, who were, at the time of study, working at Louisville Metro Police Department, Louisville, Kentucky. The researcher used the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) survey instrument for measurement and gathered demographic data using six additional questions. To understand the differences among demographic groups, he used the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) test as well as six Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests. Finally, eight t-Test analyses were used to see the difference between the score of the participants and the mean norm score of PALS. The results indicated significant differences in years of service and level of education based on the teaching style preference scores. They revealed no significant difference among demographic groups based on the overall PALS score. However, the overall mean score showed a strong tendency toward a teacher-centered instruction. This study will help police instructors and administrators in police academies create and awareness about the teaching style preferences of the trainees in police in-service training and, in turn, aid instructors in creating more effective learning environments for police officers. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation studies the effects macroeconomic policies and events on economic outcomes and welfare, using a combination of empirical analysis and quantitative modeling. The first chapter examines the effects of negative interest rate policies implemented by central banks in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The second chapter studies the timing of the Industrial Revolution and the sources of business cycle fluctuations prior to the Great Depression. Both chapters contribute to our understanding of how economic policies and events impact economic welfare. The first chapter studies the impact of negative interest rate policies on bank lending, investment, and employment, taking into account the role of capital-labor substitution in production. Using matched firm-bank data from seven euro area countries and employing a difference-in-differences approach, I find that following the introduction of these policies, firms linked to banks with higher deposit ratios receive less credit relative to their counterparts associated with banks with lower deposit ratios. These firms also invest less but tend to hire more employees, especially in industries with high capital-labor substitutability. These findings highlight the role of capital-labor substitution in shaping the effects of negative interest rate policies. To further analyze these findings in a general equilibrium framework and to quantify the aggregate effects of these policies, I use a DSGE model that incorporates bank lending and a CES production function. I find that negative interest rate policies increase lending, investment, employment, and welfare in consumption equivalent units. This model also reveals that higher capital-labor substitutability surprisingly leads to larger declines in output and bank equity following a negative capital productivity shock. Based on this insight, I show that welfare gains from implementing negative interest rate policies increase with capital-labor substitution, and even slight variations in capital-labor substitution elasticity can have significant implications for both the economy and banks.The second chapter provides quantitative analyses of two striking historical episodes, the timing of the Industrial Revolution in England, and the sources of U.S. economic fluctuations between 1889-1929. Applying data from 1245-1845 within the ``Malthus to Solow'' framework shows that the timing of the Industrial Revolution reflects a subtle interplay between large changes in TFP and deaths from plagues. We find that U.S. economic fluctuations, including the Panics of 1893 and 1907, were driven primarily by volatile TFP, and that growth during the ``Roaring Twenties'' should have been even stronger, reflecting a large labor wedge that emerged around World War I.

More than half of the world's population works full time and spends about one-third of their weekdays at workplaces (International Labor Organization, 2022). Mental disorders are one of the health problems that have emerged among working populations (World Health Organization, 2022). Previous empirical research and theories demonstrated that nature exposure positively impacts human health and wellbeing (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989). Green roofs can be one of the most easily accessible nature places for office workers in city centers. This study examines the relationship between green roofs and work-related distress, mental fatigue, and restoration. An online survey of 179 employees was used to evaluate the relationship between exposure to six different green roofs and employee work-related distress, mental fatigue, and mental restoration. The results show that the average time spent on green roofs and the frequency of visits have statistically significant relationships with the mental restoration.

Adults with aphasia gesture more than adults without aphasia suggesting a compensatory role of gestures in aphasia communication. However, less is known about the role of gestures in different types of aphasia in varied discourse contexts that impose distinct communicative demands, particularly when compared to adults without aphasia. In this study, we analyze the speech and gestures produced by adults with fluent aphasia, non-fluent aphasia, and no aphasia (N=20/group) when telling first and third person narratives. We asked whether patterns of speech and gesture production would differ in adults with fluent, non-fluent, or no aphasia, and whether these patterns vary by different narrative contexts. Our results showed that adults with non-fluent aphasia produced the fewest amount, diversity, and complexity of speech, followed by adults with fluent aphasia and without aphasia—a pattern that was reversed for gesture production, showing a compensatory role of gestures in aphasia communication. The compensatory role of gesture also varied by aphasia type: gesture served primarily in place of missing speech in adults with non-fluent aphasia, while it largely helped with lexical access in word finding difficulties in fluent aphasia. We also found that all groups produced fewer amount and diversity of speech in third person than in first person narratives, a pattern that was reversed for gesture production of adults with fluent and non-fluent aphasia showing that gestures compensatory role increases with the higher task demands in aphasia. Overall, this study provided a comprehensive account of gesture’s role in the communications of individuals with distinct types of aphasia, with important clinical implications.

Robots, which were seen as gimmicks in science fiction stories until not so long ago, have already crossed into reality. Thanks to the ever-growing autonomy of robots and ever-expanding variety of roles assigned to them, they are becoming more integrated into the ordinary course of everyday life. With the advent of social robots that can engage human beings on personal levels, for the first time, non-human entities are emerging as social interaction partners. In that regard, from the legal perspective, it is no longer possible to treat them as mere tools. The autonomy of robots is expected to have significant impacts on various interests recognised by the legal principles that underlie existing legal instruments. However, almost none of the existing legal instruments were developed in consideration of the implications of robots' emerging roles as independent social actors. On explaining the inadequacy of existing legal instruments, I outline the prospect of a paradigm shift in the law's approach to human-robot social interactions. A comparative analysis of German, Italian, and Irish legal systems -selected to represent the EU's diverse legal families- demonstrates that robots' autonomous behaviours and emerging roles as social interaction partners are likely to undermine the legal principles expressed most notably in the domains of private law (contract law and tort law) and criminal law. The conceptual deconstruction of existing legal instruments offered by these domains reveals that legal systems overlook the characteristics of social robots that set them apart from other artefacts, namely, their relative autonomy and social agency. These distinctive characteristics allow robots to perform unpredictable behaviours and to prompt human beings they interact with to anthropomorphise them. Overlooking these characteristics diminishes the adequacy of existing legal instruments Ultimately, I conclude that the shortcomings of contemporary legal systems can be overcome by creating a new, unified legal framework that would enable the law to respond to the legal implications of robot autonomy and the phenomenon of robot anthropomorphism.

Cancer is a complex disease that harbors substantial genetic heterogeneity. Recent advances in sequencing technologies revealed large numbers of somatic mutations across human tumors. However only a small proportion of these mutations are expected to contribute to tumor growth and progression, making determining functional mutations an important challenge in cancer genomics. Missense variants are particularly difficult to understand as they change only a single amino acid in a protein sequence yet can have large and varied effects on protein activity. Numerous tools have been developed to identify missense variants with putative disease consequences from protein sequence and structure. However, biological function arises through higher order interactions among proteins and molecules within cells, and diseases are often associated with perturbations to protein interactions. Different perturbations can result in different phenotypes, and the level of impact caused by mutations to the underlying molecular interaction network may determine the likelihood of generating a disease phenotype. Thus, in this dissertation, I aim to incorporate systems-level architecture to bridge the gap between genotype and phenotype in cancer by exploring different network-based strategies to study the impact of variants on biological systems. I first integrated protein structure and network information to design variant features that capture orthogonal information to classical amino acid features and showed their potential to improve variant classification within a machine-learning framework. Next, I investigated how patterns of network rewiring of mutations on cancer genes can be informative for unearthing different selective oncogenic pressures. Finally, I examined transcriptomic effects of perturbation of distinct protein interactions as a way to better define the landscape of prospective phenotypes reachable by individual amino acid substitutions. Overall, this body of work demonstrates that variant effect interpretation can be significantly improved by incorporating information about the role of proteins and their molecular interactions within biological systems.

This dissertation aims to contribute to the existing educational research knowledgeconcerning mathematical modeling in two ways: (a) identifying and documenting how high school students engage in the mathematical modeling process in a small-classroom-setting teaching experiment using design research principles and (b) examining student–teacher interactions to support student growth in mathematical modeling capacities. The study participants included six bilingual high school students, me(teacher/researcher), and two observer researchers. A six-week-long study was conducted as an after-school math camp program for 10th graders. Design research principles (Cobb et al., 2016) were adopted to study how students engage in constructing and sense-making of mathematical models through open modeling tasks, drawing on the mathematical content of quantities. Blum and Lei ’s six-stage cycle (2007) was selected as the research framework for task design and data generation, organization, and processing. Three articles grounded in this research study focus on three essential features of the classroom learning environment: students’ cognitive styles and group dynamics (in the first article), student–teacher interactions (in the second article), and selected tasks that allow for students to follow their mathematical inquiry and collective sense-making (in the third article). The main findings of the three articles include the following: (1) Understandingstudents’ cognitive approaches to modeling problem solutions within groups can lay thegroundwork for assessing and advancing their modeling competencies; (2) thecorrespondence between teacher actions and student performance in each modeling phase can be documented to better understand the formation of a learning community in which students co-construct arguments and provide justifications for their mathematical modeling process; and (3) choosing appropriate tasks to secure students’ attention can also guide them to persevere with open-ended modeling problems, reflect on the different solutions strategies, and increase ownership of doing mathematics.

The importance of privacy has been growing steadily for over 25 years. Increasingly popularareas (such as IoT, cryptocurrencies and genomics) have attracted and fueled new types of privacy-focused attacks and exploits. This dissertation focuses on the lifecycle of secrets (or data) -- from initial entry to use, to present attacks and defenses that utilize emerging technologies. We start by presenting a side-channel attack that targets password entry. This attack uses thermal residues (that results from human fingertips touching the keyboard) to recover recently entered passwords on external keyboards. Then, we present a privacy-preserving CAPTCHA alternative that mimics the rate-limiting nature of CAPTCHAs. To skip CAPTCHAs, clients generate rate-proofs when the rate at which they have performed an action (e.g., visit a website, sign up for an email account) is below a server-supplied threshold. Rate-proofs, generated by client-side Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), assure servers that clients are not acting in an abusive manner. We also propose a scalable data ownership framework in which clients with no accounts on a website can prove ownership of data collected from them. Although data ownership proofs are possible using traditional authentication methods (e.g., passwords), there is no accepted way of achieving this for acountless clients. This framework completes the missing piece of verifiable consumer requests which are used to exercise data rights (access/modify/delete) granted by recent data protection regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. A client-side TEE can be used to store a secret that can initiate these requests. The use of TEEs, as shown in these two work, allows us to secure and privacy-protect secrets/data after entry. Lastly, we present a cryptograpy-based solution for range queries in the genomics domain. This ensures the authenticity and integrity of the genome of the individual while minimizing the exposed data to testers. It uses a variety of techniques ranging from zero-knowledge range proofs and digital signatures to continual linking of elements inspired by literature on range queries on databases. We use the genomics domain to show how privacy can be achieved if there are no TEEs.

Scholarship on modern Egyptian history supports a narrative that depicts Egypt emerging as an independent political entity in the mid-19th century and steadily marching towards becoming a sovereign nation-state in the first decades of the 20th century. The Ottoman cultural context, within which Egypt operated at this time, is usually nowhere to be found in this story. This dissertation remedies this gap in the literature and “remembers” Egypt’s Ottoman past between 1841, when Mehmed Ali Pasha was granted the hereditary governorship of Egypt, and 1914, when Egypt’s remaining political ties to the Ottoman Empire were severed by the British Empire. Primarily based on a variety of sources produced in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, it argues that even though the political ties between Istanbul and Cairo were weakening and a more distinct Egyptian identity was on the rise at this time, the Ottoman cultural consciousness continued to provide an important framework for the ruling and intellectual elite of Egypt, as well as the wider segments of the Egyptian public, until World War I. Taking a thematic approach to the subject, the dissertation demonstrates how the Ottoman imperial court culture provided a blueprint for the ruling elite in Egypt. Moreover, it asserts that Arabic-speaking intellectuals of Egypt, both male and female, continued to self-identify as “Ottomans” in their reactions to some of the momentous events that the Ottoman Empire was facing at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Additionally, it demonstrates how these Arabic-speaking intellectuals utilized the idea of Ottoman consciousness in their efforts to resist European imperialism, which became particularly urgent after Britain occupied Egypt in 1882. Finally, my dissertation asserts that wider segments of the public in Egypt continued to demonstrate a sense of Ottoman consciousness in their reactions to the aforementioned events that the Ottoman Empire was going through at the time.

Children show sex differences in early vocabulary development—with boys having smaller vocabularies than age-comparable girls—a pattern that becomes evident in both singleton and twin dyads. Twins also use fewer words than their singleton peers. However, we know relatively less about sex differences in early gesturing in singletons and twins, except for a few studies suggesting a female advantage in gesturing among singletons. We examine the patterns of speech and gesture production of 1;6-to 2;0-year-old singletons and twins in structured play interactions with their parents. Boys and girls were comparable in their speech and gesture production, but singletons used greater amount and diversity of speech and gestures than twins. There was, however, no effect of twin dyad type on either speech or gesture production. These results further confirm the close integration between gesture and speech at the early stages of language development in twins.

The notions of literacy and literacy instruction have changed in profound ways as new technology and the Internet become central to the use of information and the acquisition of knowledge (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Leu, Kinzer, Coiro & Cammack, 2004). The social, cultural and technological changes point out the importance of integrating new literacies into classrooms literacy instruction in order to prepare students for 21st century work, life and career opportunities (Ito et al., 2013; Leu & Kinzer, 2000). To support the development of digital literacy, a need exists to find effective ways to integrate technology within classroom instruction. Teachers play a central role in ensuring this need is met, particularly for students who attend school in low SES urban areas. This study addressed need by examining the complex situation of teachers’ understanding of digital literacy integration as revealed during their collaborative planning sessions while they designed a project-based learning (PBL) unit. This qualitative study used a case study design. Participants included third-grade teachers from an urban charter school that serves a low-income community. Data collection included observations of planning sessions, teacher interviews, researcher reflections and memos. Data were analyzed using constant comparative methods. This study indicated that the planning process was a dynamic, non-linear and an iterative process that required revisions and edits during the project planning and implementation period. Planning was a dynamic process created by multiple internal and external factors. This study illuminated the nature of the interactions of the teachers during planning meetings. Planning for the teachers was expressed in three different ways: collaborative, pair, and individual planning. This study revealed teachers demonstrated the shift in understanding of what it means to be literate in the 21st century. The third-grade team’s insights about digital literacy encompassed developing 21st century skills, changing the definition of what means to be literate, becoming a digital citizen, creating relevance to students’ lives, using technology for pleasure as well as teaching. The examination of the five teachers’ collaborative interactions as they planned to use digital technology offers insights into how to assist other teachers in those efforts.

The geospace system, consisting of the intrinsically coupled magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere (M-I-T), is in pressure balance with the solar wind. During sudden changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure, the magnetosphere undergoes rapid compression or expansion processes which significantly perturb the magnetospheric flow profiles and the global current systems. These sudden global changes are called sudden impulses (SIs). Based on the low-latitude magnetic field perturbation measurements by the ground magnetometers, the SIs are traditionally defined as positive SIs (SI+s); indicating magnetospheric compression or negative SIs (SI^-s), indicating magnetospheric decompression. The magnetospheric and ionospheric responses to the SI+s and SI-s under different IMF and solar wind drivers are not well established mainly due to the sparsity of observations. Therefore, the modelling approach was adopted to understand the geospace system response. The University of Michigan Block Adaptive Tree Solarwind Roe Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US) global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code was employed to study the generation and propagation of the perturbations associated with the compression and decompression of the magnetosphere system. The high-resolution electric potential and auroral power output from this coupled model were then used to drive the Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (GITM) to investigate the I-T system responses to the solar wind dynamic pressure variations. In this study, we investigated the SI+ and SI- processes and their effects on the geospace system. Through idealized simulations, we showed that a two-step response existed in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere. Both in the SI+s and SI-s cases, the initial response included magnetopause boundary deformation and forming vortex-like structures in the boundary. The second response was the formation of magnetospheric flow vortices with opposite senses of rotation on the dawn and dusk sectors. These perturbed magnetospheric flows were associated with Field-Aligned Currents (FACs) during both stages that mapped to the ionosphere. Moreover, the ionospheric convection response due to these perturbation FACs preserved the two-step behavior, since the transient currents reversed directions between stages. The dawn-dusk asymmetry seen in the magnetospheric flows were also maintained in the ionospheric convection patterns. We also established the role of the IMF By on the geospace response during SI+ events, through idealized simulations. We showed that even though the magnetospheric and ionospheric perturbations that formed during SI+ were very similar, the superposition of these perturbation currents with the BY controlled NBZ (Northward Bz) current system resulted in different FAC profiles. Therefore, the simulated magnetic field perturbations on the ground showed significant variability with the IMF By. Furthermore, we performed two case studies of an SI+ and an SI-. The simulations showed that the two-step behaviour was conveyed to the thermosphere, through the ion-neutral coupling. For the SI+ case, both simulation and observation results showed enhanced ion and electron temperatures, and decreased electron density. The SI- case study showed observational evidence for the simulated magnetospheric flow profiles. Within this study, the following scientific questions have been addressed: (i) the role of IMF By on the ground magnetometer response to the solar wind dynamic pressure enhancements, (ii) the magnetospheric and ionospheric responses, such as field-aligned currents and convection, (iii) the role of pressure variation in determining the geospace system response and (iv) the ionosphere-thermosphere coupled responses to the sudden changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure.

The role of robots has been increasing in machining applications, with new concepts such as robotic-assisted machining where a robot supports the workpiece while it is machined by a machine tool. This method improves chatter stability to a certain extent. However, forced vibrations or unstable vibrations such as chatter can still be a limiting factor for the productivity and quality of the machining process. In this thesis, the robotic-assisted milling approach is extended to consider an actively controlled robot arm, to suppress the chatter vibrations for milling operation. To assess the feasibility of the method, a proof-mass actuator is assembled on a beam structure that is representative of the robot system. The beam structure is designed to exhibit two degrees of freedom in its structural dynamics, thereby emulating the robots' dynamic response. Many standard active control methods are evaluated, namely direct velocity feedback (DVF), virtual passive absorber (VPA), proportional integrated derivative (PID), linear quadratic regulator (LQR), H infinity (H∞) and μ synthesis control. To optimise the controller parameters, a self adaptive differential (SADE) algorithm is used. To validate the simulated frequency response function (FRF) results, several experimental tests are carried out for each control method. It is shown that the critical limiting depth of cut can be significantly increased, compared to the scenario where the robot has no active control applied. Then, the concept was examined under the real milling conditions. The experimental results showed that the chatter stability and the critical limiting depth of cut (b_min) were considerably improved. An actuator saturation model is proposed and the predicted results are considerably matched with the experimental results.

This thesis is presented in the alternative thesis format. The first paper presents an accurate machining feedrate prediction technique by modeling the trajectory generation behaviour of modern CNC machine tools. Typically, CAM systems simulate machines' motion based on the commanded feedrate and the path geometry. Such approach does not consider the feed planning and interpolation strategy of the machine's numerical control (NC) system. In this study, trajectory generation behaviour of the NC system is modelled and accurate cycle time prediction for complex machining toolpaths is realized. NC system's linear interpolation dynamics and commanded axis kinematic profiles are predicted by using Finite Impulse Response (FIR) based low-pass filters. The corner blending behaviour during non-stop interpolation of linear segments is modeled, and for the first time, the minimum cornering feedrate, that satisfies both the tolerance and machining constraints, has been calculated analytically for 3-axis toolpaths of any geometry. The proposed method is applied to 4 different case studies including complex machining tool-paths. Experimental validations show actual cycle times can be estimated with 90% accuracy, greatly outperforming CAM-based predictions. It is expected that the proposed approach will help improve the accuracy of virtual machining models and support businesses decision making when costing machining processes. The second paper presents a novel real-time interpolation technique for 5-axis machine tools to attain higher speed and accuracy. To realize computationally efficient real-time interpolation of 6DOF tool motion, a joint workpiece-machine coordinate system interpolation scheme is proposed. Cartesian motion of the tool centre point (TCP) is interpolated in the workpiece coordinate system (WCS), whereas tool orientation is interpolated in the machine coordinate system (MCS) based on the FIR filtering. Such approach provides several advantages: i) it eliminates the need for complex real-time spherical interpolation techniques, ii) facilitates efficient use of slower rotary drive kinematics to compensate for the dynamic mismatch between Cartesian and rotary axes and achieve higher tool acceleration, iii) mitigates feed fluctuations while interpolating near kinematic singularities. To take advantage of such benefits and realize accurate joint WCS-MCS interpolation scheme, tool orientation interpolation errors are analysed. A novel approach is developed to adaptively discretize long linear tool moves and confine interpolation errors within user set tolerances. Synchronization errors between TCP and tool orientation are also characterized, and peak synchronization error level is determined to guide the interpolation parameter selection. Finally, blending errors during non-stop continuous interpolation of linear toolpaths are modelled and confined. Advantages of the proposed interpolation scheme are demonstrated through simulation studies and validated experimentally. Overall, proposed technique can improve cycle times up to 10% while providing smooth and accurate non-stop real-time interpolation of tool motion in 5-axis machining. The third paper proposes a novel online interpolation method for 3 and 5-axis machine tools to reduce machining cycle times. Previous Finite Impulse Response filtering based methods for numerically controlled machining used the maximum feedrate command within a part program for selecting the FIR filter time constant resulting in sub-optimal kinematic performance for toolpaths with varying feedrates. This paper presents an On-The-Fly (OTF) method of NC interpolation capable of kinematically optimising each individual G01 command. The method adaptively changes the FIR filter time constant along the toolpath maximising the kinematic performance for each G01 command without violating the constraints thereby reducing the overall machining cycle time. The tool centre point and orientation blending errors during continuous machining are controlled using an Overlap-Add (OLA) method of signal reconstruction. The OLA method is analytically calculated to confine interpolation errors within user set tolerances. The reduction in machining cycle times compared to standard FIR based interpolation methods is demonstrated through simulation studies. The proposed OTF method of NC interpolation can reduce continuous and P2P machining cycle times by up to 5% and 7% respectively while generating accurate online adaptively interpolated 3 and 5-axis reference trajectories. Finally, Finite Impulse Response filtering is increasingly becoming the interpolation method of choice in modern computer numerically controlled (CNC) machining centres. The method offers significant computational advantages over polynomial based methods. Most published methods use fixed FIR filter time constants to smooth the input signal. Recently, On-The-Fly interpolation was presented using Direct Convolution methods to adaptively change and optimise the FIR filter time constant throughout the toolpath online. Direct convolution in the time domain is an efficient method of implementing FIR interpolation online, however, computational advantages can be gained by using frequency domain methods instead. This research introduces a novel on-the-fly CNC interpolation method using Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs). The presented OTF FFT method demonstrates an order increase in computational speed than the direct convolution OTF method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated in simulation based case studies.

This Dissertation consists of three empirical essays in international trade and energy economics. Chapter 1 examines whether the food market of Turkey is cointegrated with the world food market. Using an error correction model, we analyze the response of producer prices of wheat, barley, maize, soybean and rice to changes in world market prices. Results show that the rice market of Turkey is not cointegrated with the world rice market, while the other commodity markets are weakly cointegrated. Results also show that pass-through of changes in the world prices to the domestic prices is relatively low both in the short run and in the long run, and that adjustment to the new equilibrium following a shock is slow. Government intervention policies both at the border and as domestic price supports seem to be underlying causes that have weakened the linkage between domestic and international markets. Fewer protectionist policies at the border and lower levels of government support policies are necessary to increase the domestic market integration with the international market. Chapter 2 examines (i) whether the government interventions in the cotton market in the forms of border protection and as price support have weakened the integrations of domestic cotton markets with the world cotton market and (ii) how weak cointegration affects the world cotton trade. We address the first question by estimating price and exchange rates transmission elasticities using an error correction model and the second question by conducting a partial equilibrium model. Results indicate that the estimated elasticities are significantly smaller than unitary, which suggests that the cointegration is weak and the law of one price (LOP) does not hold. Furthermore, when cointegration is weak, exchange rate movements have lower impact on exports, imports and prices than they do in the case of strong cointegration. Chapter 3 examines whether retail gasoline prices in Turkey respond more quickly to increases in crude oil prices than to decreases. Using an asymmetric extension of Engle and Granger’s two stage error correction model with daily data, we find three types of asymmetries: (1) asymmetry from crude oil price to gasoline price in the short-run (2) asymmetry in the speeds of adjustment, and (3) asymmetry in the lag length. We argue that the oligopolistic coordination theory is the most likely explanation for the observed asymmetric price transmission.

The capability and importance of weather radar are proven for hazardous weathers detection, monitoring, and prediction in both research and operations. Continuous efforts have been made in improving radar performance in terms of spatial and temporal resolutions, data quality, new capabilities, etc. On the other hand, compressive sensing (CS) theory has been developed for solving underdetermined problems using l1-norm minimization. It has been shown that CS is capable of reconstructing the sparse images from a limited number of measurements. In this work, CS is specifically applied to two weather radar problems of (1) refractivity retrieval using a network of radars, and (2) retrieving reflectivity and velocity from an imaging radar. In the first study, CS is proposed to improve the refractivity retrieval since the performance of a conventional constraint least squares method can be degraded significantly by the measurement noise and the limited number of high-quality ground returns. The application of CS to refractivity retrieval is formulated using a linear model and subsequently the feasibility is demonstrated and verified using simulations. In the second study, the problem of digital beamforming (DBF) is posed as an inverse problem and formulated using a linear model for both reflectivity and velocity estimation for CS. The application of CS is investigated using both simulation and real data. In simulations, the performance of CS is quantified and compared to the traditional Fourier beamforming and high resolution Capon beamforming for various conditions. The feasibility of CS to weather observations is further demonstrated using the data collected by the Atmospheric Imaging Radar (AIR), developed at the Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) of the University of Oklahoma, on 15 April 2012.