Reinforcement and erosion of traditional gender roles among young people in a poor metropolitan area of Turkey

This paper aims to contribute to the existing studies on the young women’s transition to adulthood in the case of Turkish women’s exclusion from the labour market. The issue is discussed largely within the boundaries of traditional gender restrictions that keep women out of employment. Herein, we argue that the gender-based control of young women, perceived as the reason for their exclusion from the labour market, may be used by disadvantaged women as a way of avoiding difficult and unfavourable employment situations. Similarly, the gender roles imposed on men could also not be fulfilled due to the same restrictive labour market conditions. Furthermore, we suggest that the poverty simultaneously strengthens and erodes the very base of the traditional gender structure for both young women and young men, while forcing the young women out of employment and the young men to the unstable working conditions. This argument is based on a study conducted in Alt?nda?, Ankara with a sample of 279 females and 340 males aged between 15 and 24. A mixed methodology, comprising a survey questionnaire followed by 60 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussions, was employed for this study.     

The effects of perceived quality of organizationally provided meal service on employees’ job performance and mediating role of organizational identification

Contemporary managers are developing alternative ways to sustain their competitive advantages. Motivation-enhancing features such as high-quality meal service provided by organizations can be thought of as one of these methods. The effect of the perceived quality of meal service provided by organizations on the job performance of employees and the mediating role of organizational identification during this process is studied. Private security-sector employees working in Turkey (N?=?597) are being focused in this study. As a result of analyses (correlation and regression analyses, structural equation model), the authors find that the perceived quality of meal service provided by organizations improves employees’ job performance significantly and organizational identification has a partial mediating role on this association. The findings of this study will be of interest to key stakeholders such as public or private organizations, labor unions and the media.     

Statistical inference for α-series process with the inverse Gaussian distribution

Statistical inferences for the geometric process (GP) are derived when the distribution of the first occurrence time is assumed to be inverse Gaussian (IG). An α-series process, as a possible alternative to the GP, is introduced since the GP is sometimes inappropriate to apply some reliability and scheduling problems. In this study, statistical inference problem for the α-series process is considered where the distribution of first occurrence time is IG. The estimators of the parameters α, μ, and σ² are obtained by using the maximum likelihood (ML) method. Asymptotic distributions and consistency properties of the ML estimators are derived. In order to compare the efficiencies of the ML estimators with the widely used nonparametric modified moment (MM) estimators, Monte Carlo simulations are performed. The results showed that the ML estimators are more efficient than the MM estimators. Moreover, two real life datasets are given for application purposes.     

The effect of different data structures,sample sizes on model fit measures

In this study, our aim was to investigate the changes of different data structures and different sample sizes on the structural equation modeling and the influence of these factors on the model fit measures. Examining the created structural equation modeling under different data structures and sample sizes, the evaluation of model fit measures were performed with a simulation study. As a result of the simulation study, optimization and negative variance estimation problems have been encountered depending on the sample size and changing correlations. It was observed that these problems disappeared either by increasing the sample size or the correlations between the variables in factor. For upcoming studies, the choice of RMSEA and IFI model fit measures can be suggested in all sample sizes and the correlation values for data sets are ensured the multivariate normal distribution assumption.     

Bayesian unit-root tests for Stochastic Volatility models

In this article, we consider Bayesian inference procedures to test for a unit root in Stochastic Volatility (SV) models. Unit-root tests for the persistence parameter of the SV models, based on the Bayes Factor (BF), have been recently introduced in the literature. In contrast, we propose a flexible class of priors that is non-informative over the entire support of the persistence parameter (including the non-stationarity region). In addition, we show that our model fitting procedure is computationally efficient (using the software WinBUGS). Finally, we show that our proposed test procedures have good frequentist properties in terms of achieving high statistical power, while maintaining low total error rates. We illustrate the above features of our method by extensive simulation studies, followed by an application to a real data set on exchange rates.     

Ambivalent sexism and attitudes toward women who engage in premarital sex in Turkey

This study examined the relationship of ambivalent sexism, political conservatism, demographic variables (age, education, and gender), and prior sexual experience to Turkish men's and women's attitudes toward women who engage in premarital sex. Participants included 124 Turkish undergraduate students and 60 nonstudent Turkish adults. Benevolent but not hostile sexism uniquely predicted more negative views of women who engage in premarital sex once other variables were controlled. Regression analyses demonstrated that for both men and women, older, more politically conservative and less sexually experienced respondents and more educated men (but not women) respondents were more likely to disapprove of women who engage in premarital sex. Similarly, regression analysis revealed that men who were older, politically conservative, and less sexually experienced expressed stronger preferences for marrying a virgin. Both hostile and benevolent sexism predicted men's preference for marrying a virgin after all other variables were controlled.     

Islamophobia in the media: a response from multicultural education 1

This paper looks at the media in Germany and Australia in order to focus on the question of how Islam is accepted in both countries, and the extent to which Islamophobia exists. It was discovered that, for the most part, the media in both countries present a somewhat biased view of Muslims and Islam. However, there were some significant differences: (1) a higher acceptance of multiculturalism in the Australian media, which is revealed in the greater number of articles on ordinary, everyday multicultural life; (2) differences in the portrayal of migrants’ roles; and (3) the terminology used to refer to migrants. The paper concludes by outlining the ways in which multicultural education could contribute to a reduction of Islamophobia.     

An online copy number variant detection method for short sequencing reads

The availability of the next generation sequencing (NGS) technology in today's biomedical research has provided new opportunities in scientific discovery of genetic information. The high-throughput NGS technology, especially DNA-seq, is particularly useful in profiling a genome for the analysis of DNA copy number variants (CNVs). The read count (RC) data resulting from NGS technology are massive and information rich. How to exploit the RC data for accurate CNV detection has become a computational and statistical challenge. We provide a statistical online change point method to help detect CNVs in the sequencing RC data in this paper. This method uses the idea of online searching for change point (or breakpoint) with a Markov chain assumption on the breakpoints loci and an iterative computing process via a Bayesian framework. We illustrate that an online change-point detection method is particularly suitable for identifying CNVs in the RC data. The algorithm is applied to the publicly available NCI-H2347 lung cancer cell line sequencing reads data for locating the breakpoints. Extensive simulation studies have been carried out and results show the good behavior of the proposed algorithm. The algorithm is implemented in R and the codes are available upon request.     

网络时代高校思想政治教育工作创新问题研究

面对网络时代的新环境,高校思想政治教育工作应与时俱进,不断创新。要重视和充分运用网络技术,使思想政治工作提高时效性,扩大覆盖面,增强影响力。需要更新高校思想政治教育工作者的理念,创新高校思想政治教育工作方式,完善高校思想政治教育工作实现途径。