Fingerprinting and Biopolitical Police Surveillance in Turkey

This paper problematises the 2007 amendments to Article 5 of the Police Powers and Duties Law (PPDL) in Turkey that categorises all citizens as ‘potential suspects’ through fingerprinting technology. The amended article requires everyone to submit fingerprint samples when applying for certain official documents such as driver's licences, passports, and ID cards. Consequently, the result has been dramatic: the police have so far proactively recorded more than 60 million people's fingerprints in the process of issuing these documents. Yet, there has been no research into this phenomenon. This paper suggests that this sort of biometric police surveillance is not a recent development, rather part of a long tradition within policing ‘Turkish’ national interests. Following Foucault's genealogical methodology, the paper argues that the governability of a large heterogeneous population across a vast territory has always demanded biometric policing technologies, addressing biopolitical proximity between the capacity building of modern security apparatus and identifying the unknown masses. Studying the historical data comparatively reveals that fingerprinting first started with recording exceptional groups such as criminals and convicts in Europe, while from the late Ottoman Empire to modern Turkey, large sections of the population have always persistently been targeted by police regulations.     

RCEV heteroscedasticity test based on the studentized residuals

All the usual heteroscedasticity tests in the statistics and econometrics literature are based on raw residuals. Although the raw residuals are heteroscedastic, studentized residuals can still be homoscedastic. In this study, the version of Çelik’s RCEV heteroscedasticity test which is based on studentized residuals is introduced.     

Gendered Aspects of Conflict,Displacement and Peace Process in Turkey

The peace process in Turkey, since its inception, has not paid any attention to internal displacement or its gendered aspects. This study analyses how displaced women remember the gendered aspects of displacement and perceive reconciliation and peace. The analysis, based on interviews with 42 internally displaced women, shows that changing domestic and international contexts have substantive impact on how displaced women remember their stories and the meaning they attach to their ethnic identities. Consequently, it suggests that if the peace process is re‐initiated, leaders need to take into consideration that each component of reconciliation (justice, peace, trust towards the state, intergroup relations and truth‐telling) has different difficulties to be overcome when the gendered aspect of displacement is taken into account and consider return not only as a realistic demand but also as a political wish.     

Remittances and Energy Consumption: Evidence from Morocco

The main purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the co‐integration and causal relationship between international remittances and energy consumption in the context of Morocco. Previous empirical studies associated remittances with various macroeconomic and social variables. To our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the causality between remittances and energy consumption in Morocco. The study finds a long‐run equilibrium relationship between remittances and energy consumption. The results indicate that remittances influence energy consumption directly both in the short run and long run, and influence energy consumption indirectly through industrialization and economic growth in the long run.     

Stabilizing heteroscedasticity for butterfly-distributed residuals by the weighting absolute centered external variable

In the current study, a new method by the weighting absolute centered external variable (WCEV) was proposed to stabilize heteroscedasticity for butterfly-distributed residuals (BDRs). After giving brief information about heteroscedasticity and BDRs, WCEV was introduced. The WCEV and commonly used variance stabilizing methods are compared on a simple and a multiple regression model. The WCEV was also tested for other type of heteroscedasticity patterns. In addition to heteroscedasticity, other regression assumptions were checked for the WCEV.     

An empirical investigation of advanced manufacturing technology investment patterns: Evidence from a developing country

Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) investment patterns in developing countries is in need of further investigation, particularly in the light of the conflicting evidence from the literature. This paper provides new evidence on AMT investment patterns from the Turkish automotive industry and develops a taxonomy by exploring the relationships between AMT investment patterns, ownership structure, firm size and performance. Analysis of industry survey data suggests the existence of three groups with different AMT investment strategies. Results suggest that AMT investment patterns are not only significantly correlated with firm performance or ownership, but also reveals significant differences in manufacturing performance across investment patterns.     

Does Stage of Pelvic Organ Prolapse Affect Female Sexual Functions? A Retrospective Study

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pelvic organ prolapse stage on sexual function in women. Methods: Prolapse stages, muscle strength, sexual function, and pelvic floor symptoms were assessed by Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification, by vaginal pressure measurement, by the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Function Questionnaire (PISQ-12), and the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20), respectively. Results: There was no difference between pelvic floor muscle strength, PISQ-12 subscales and PISQ-12 total scores based on prolapse stages (p > 0.05). When the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory and PFDI-20 scores of the women with stage 3/4 prolapse were compared with Stage 1 and Stage 2, there was a difference found between them (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Sexual function and muscular strength were not affected by prolapse stages.     

Correcting double outward box distributed residuals by WCEV

Double outward box distributed residuals are another type of non monotonic heteroscedasticity that severely violates homoscedasticity assumption. In this study Çelik's (2015 Çelik, R. (2015). Stabilizing heteroscedasticity for butterfly-distributed residuals by the weighting absolute centered external variable. J. Appl. Stat. 42(4):705–721.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) WCEV is applied to double outward box distributed residuals to provide homoscedasticity for simple and multiple regression models.     

Simulation-based estimation of threshold moving average models with contemporaneous shock asymmetry and an application to Turkish business cycles

Persistence of shocks to economic time series may differ depending on the sign of the shock or on a threshold value. Threshold moving average (TMA) models, by explicitly taking into account threshold behavior, can help discriminate whether there exists persistence asymmetry. This article considers TMA models in which both contemporaneous and lagged asymmetric effects are both present and examines the properties of simulation-based efficient method of moments estimation using Monte Carlo simulation experiments. The model is applied to analyze the persistence properties of shocks to growth rates of gross domestic product and industrial production index in Turkish economy.     

The Levels of Cortisol,Oxidative Stress,and DNA Damage in the Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Study

In this study we aimed to investigate serum cortisol, oxidative stress, and DNA damage in children who are sexual abuse victims. The study included 38 children who sustained child sexual abuse and 38 age- and gender-matched children who did not have a history of trauma. Cortisol levels reflecting the status of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, anti-oxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, natural anti-oxidant coenzyme Q, and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine as the indicator of DNA damage were analyzed in serum samples using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method. Cortisol levels were significantly higher in the child sexual abuse group compared to the control group. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of oxidative stress and DNA damage. Cortisol and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine levels decreased as the time elapsed since the sexual abuse increased. Coenzyme Q level was lower in victims who sustained multiple assaults than in the victims of a single assault. Cortisol and superoxide dismutase levels were lower in the victims of familial sexual abuse. Decreases in cortisol and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine levels as time elapsed may be an adaptation to the toxic effects of high cortisol levels over a prolonged period of time. Child sexual abuse did not result in oxidative stress and DNA damage; however, some features of sexual abuse raised the level of oxidative stress.