A bidding decision index for construction contractors

Results from applying the model on a sample of contractors, the majority of whom were international and operating in Egypt, reinforces the credibility of the developed methodology, claim the authors.     

School experience course with multimedia in teacher education

Abstract This paper describes an interactive and self-paced multimedia tutorial programme that provides pre-service teachers with a complete range of school system and teaching strategies. Situated learning has been used as the theoretical framework to produce the multimedia tutorial for a pre-service teachers' School Experience course. The programme allows pre-service teachers to implement approaches appropriate for teaching a K-12 curriculum. Two methods of information delivery were investigated: traditional lecturing and multimedia. The results show that using the multimedia tutorial leads to a positive difference in the School Experience course over participants in traditional lecturing. Pre-service teachers who participated in the multimedia group responded positively to a multimedia approach. This study concludes that using multimedia in teacher education enriches pre-service teachers' learning and provides them with an opportunity to view and critique various teaching methods and classroom activities collectively.     

Structural and operational management of Turkish airports: a bootstrap data envelopment analysis of efficiency

This paper explores the structural and operational dimensions of the efficiencies of airports. The two-stage procedure is suggested to assess the efficiencies of airports in this study. In the first-stage, Classification and Regression Tree, which is one of the machine-learning approaches used to divide the airports into homogeneous and thus comparable sub-groups. In the second stage, the bootstrap data envelopment analysis approach obtains more precise structural and operational efficiency scores. To illustrate the proposed framework use, we applied it to a real case associated with Turkish airports. The results demonstrate that this framework presents a more comprehensive assessment of airport performance rather than conventional data envelopment analysis models. Moreover, it provides to show the deficiencies of the structural and operational management of airports. The findings can help anywhere airport authorities as well as Turkish airport authorities.     

Historical narratives as strategic resources: analysis of the Turkish international contracting sector

The Turkish contracting sector has an enviable reputation for operating in high-risk international markets. The sector’s ability to respond to market instability could meaningfully be construed as sectoral-level capability. We aim to demonstrate how history can be mobilised in a formalised “strategy text” to create a strategic narrative on the sectoral level. The Geography of Contractors as published by the Turkish Contractors Association (TCA) ostensively portrays the strategic development of Turkish international contractors over four decades. Such quasi-historical narratives are routinely mobilised for the purposes of creating a shared memory on the sectoral level. The chosen strategy text draws from multiple narrative fragments derived from past experience to generate a strategic agenda for the future. The representation given to multiple voices reflects the pluralistic nature of strategy making praxis. The overarching strategy narrative reflects a performative intent in legitimising some practices whilst discrediting others. Narrative analysis demonstrates the way in which actors, actions and events are positioned within a plot structure, with direct implications for the enactment of future strategic practices. The findings suggest that strategic actions can only ever be identified in retrospect and that such arguments are always made with an eye on the future.     

东地中海地区局势对土耳其外交政策的影响分析

在过去的数十年间,东地中海国家土耳其、塞浦路斯和以色列之间外交关系的不断升温预示东地中海地区强权政治时代的到来。在这些国家中,土耳其以其在地区层面上不断上升的自信和地区称霸的野心使其成为在地区政治中有着重要影响力的国家。随着经济和社会的发展,土耳其在诸如塞浦路斯海洋开发权的争议问题的解决上发挥着越来越大的作用,同时,土耳其的政治家和外交官们更加关注土耳其在解决地区问题上的角色,当面对地区竞争和挑战时,土耳其应该正视其世俗的穆斯林民主政体和作为一个负责任地区大国的角色,而不仅仅是对别国进行敌视。只有与竞争对手进行合作和建设性的对话,实行更为温和和平衡的外交政策,才有助于其实现地区强国的梦想。     

Turkish validation of the Game Transfer Phenomena Scale (GTPS): Measuring altered perceptions,automatic mental processes and actions and behaviours associated with playing video games

Studies on Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) have demonstrated that experiencing altered sensorial perceptions, automatic thoughts and behaviours after playing video games are relatively common phenomena. The aim of this paper is twofold: (i) to validate the Turkish version of the GTP scale (GTPS), and (ii) to examine the prevalence and the relation between the various dimensions of GTP (e.g., visual perceptions, thoughts, behaviours) and video game players’ individual characteristics (e.g., demographics, gaming habits). A total of 954 frequent players were recruited online. Independently of the different samples used in the original validation of the GTPS and the current study, the findings obtained via confirmatory factor analysis showed that the GTPS-Turkish is reliable and valid and proved to be adequate for measuring GTP. A total of 99% of the players in the sample had experienced some type of GTP. Moreover, the correlational, univariate and multivariate analyses showed associations between various video game player characteristics and GTP. The most remarkable finding was that the prevalence of GTP was higher among minors than adults.     

A Traditional Turkish Beverage: Salep

Salep is produced from tubers of orchids that grow naturally in various regions of Turkey. It constitutes the raw material of a traditional Turkish beverage and is used for giving hardness and elasticity to Kahramanmaras-type of ice cream. Salep also is used as a raw material for some drugs. Botanists have reported that continuous and uncontrolled harvesting causes some orchid species to decrease to a critical level. For this reason, exportation of salep was prohibited by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.     

FIDIC施工合同条件中承包商索赔条款时限规定引起争议的研究

阐述了FIDIC施工合同条件中承包商索赔条款中的时限规定的法理依据以及在合同中所起的作用,分析了由此产生合同争议的原因,并根据对国际工程承包商的调研,探讨解决争议的方法.     

中国大型承包商国际建设标准应用能力维度及关键指标研究

针对目前我国大型承包商在国际承包市场普遍采用国外建设标准体系,以及对国际建设标准熟知度不足的现状,旨在为我国承包商从事海外工程项目提供国际建设标准应用能力上的建议和参考,同时给缺乏海外工程经验的企业提供国际建设标准应用上的指导。通过文献研究、深度访谈的方式阐明了大型承包商国际建设标准应用能力的五大维度及其指标构成,运用问卷调查和因子分析方法提取了关键应用能力维度,研究结果表明,大型承包商国际建设标准应用能力中最重要的是知识学习能力,其次是人才保障和外部协调能力,最后是技术支持能力和组织保障能力。