Browsing by Subject "Surveys"

Now showing 1 - 18 of 18

Open Access
Analyzing Turkish e-government websites by eye tracking
(IEEE, 2013) Albayrak, Duygu; Çaģiltay, K.
Usability studies provide essential information about users' views and perceptions of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of given online services. Nowadays, e-government web sites become popular. Therefore, there is a need for usability testing to specify the usability problems and to make the services of the e-government more usable. The purpose of this study is to investigate usability of some Turkish e-government services. The study examined usability of five Turkish e-government web sites: Ministry of National Education - Student Information System (eokul), Ministry of Justice - National Judicial Network Project (UYAP), Turkish National Police: Vehicle Search System, Social Security Institute: Service Details and General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre. It was conducted with nine participants. This study is a case study with mixed design methodology, in which both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed and combined. Quantitative data were collected through an eye-tracker, a pre-test questionnaire of participants' demographics and previous utilization of egovernment web sites and a post-test questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected through both semi-structured individual interviews and observation during test. The study results identify the usability problems encountered while using government services. The study concludes with specific recommendations for improvement of e-government services in Turkey. © 2013 IEEE.
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Anket : Değeri bilinmemiş şair ve yazarlar
(2001)
Open Access
A catalog of stream processing optimizations
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2014) Hirzel M.; Soulé R.; Schneider S.; Gedik, B.; Grimm, R.
Various research communities have independently arrived at stream processing as a programming model for efficient and parallel computing. These communities include digital signal processing, databases, operating systems, and complex event processing. Since each community faces applications with challenging performance requirements, each of them has developed some of the same optimizations, but often with conflicting terminology and unstated assumptions. This article presents a survey of optimizations for stream processing. It is aimed both at users who need to understand and guide the system's optimizer and at implementers who need to make engineering tradeoffs. To consolidate terminology, this article is organized as a catalog, in a style similar to catalogs of design patterns or refactorings. To make assumptions explicit and help understand tradeoffs, each optimization is presented with its safety constraints (when does it preserve correctness?) and a profitability experiment (when does it improve performance?). We hope that this survey will help future streaming system builders to stand on the shoulders of giants from not just their own community. © 2014 ACM.
Open Access
Diffusion of geograpgic information system at municipalities in Istanbul
(Chamber of Mining Engineers of Turkey, 2015-04) Çavur, M.; Özturan, M.; Karaduman, C.; İçli, Abdullah Bera
This study aims to develop a better understanding of diffusion of Geographic Information Systems within municipalities and examines the infrastructure of Istanbul municipalities and whether they are ready for this technology or not. This study uses two research methods: The first one comprises interviews with the experts of GIS in Turkey. The second one comprises questionnaires conducted with Geographic Information Systems - related departments of Istanbul municipalities. Data collected online have been analyzed by using descriptive statistics, reliability tests, Anova and regression to test the hypotheses. One of the findings is that almost half of the municipalities implement Geographic Information Systems without a vision or a plan for the future. Another finding is that Geographic Information Systems is mainly used to perform registration and maintenance functions instead of supporting the decision-making process. Finally, there is an optimistic expectation of municipalities regarding the use of Geographic Information Systems in the future.
Open Access
Do computer games enhance learning about conflicts? A cross-national inquiry into proximate and distant scenarios in Global Conflicts
(Pergamon Press, 2015) Kampf, R.; Cuhadar E.
Interactive conflict resolution and peace education have developed as two major lines of practice to tackle intractable inter-group conflicts. Recently, new media technologies such as social media, computer games, and online dialogue are added to the existing set of tools used for peace education. However, a debate is emerging as to how effective they are in motivating learning and teaching skills required for peace building. We take issue with this question and have conducted a study investigating the effect of different conflict contexts on student learning. We have designed a cross-national experimental study with Israeli-Jewish, Palestinian, and Guatemalan undergraduate students using the Israeli-Palestinian and Guatemalan scenarios in the computer game called "Global Conflicts." The learning effects of these scenarios were systematically analyzed using pre- and post-test questionnaires. The study indicated that Israeli-Jews and Palestinians acquired more knowledge from the Guatemalan game than Guatemalans acquired from the Israeli-Palestinian game. All participants acquired knowledge about proximate conflicts after playing games about these scenarios, and there were insignificant differences between the three national groups. Israeli-Jews and Palestinians playing the Israeli-Palestinian game changed their attitudes about this conflict, while Guatemalans playing the Guatemalan game did not change their attitudes about this case. All participants changed their attitudes about distant conflicts after playing games about these scenarios. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Open Access
Effect of speech intelligibility on visual short-term memory performance
(2007) Kitapci, K.; Yılmazer, Semiha; Erkip F.
The aim of this study is to find out effects of speech intelligibility on visual short-term memory performance by testing 34 interior architecture students in three different sound environments. Those sound environments were composed of real office sounds and a speech sample that are mixed to achieve varying STI levels of 'continuous noise', 'masked speech' and 'speech' sound environments [2]. Test procedure had three steps: first questionnaire, computer based short-term memory test and second questionnaire. Results show that there is no significant difference of visual short-term memory performance between varying sound environments, however subjective results derived from questionnaires show that students were distracted most by 'speech' sound environment.
Open Access
An experimental study on speech interference in public leisure spaces
(Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 2010) Yilmazer, Semiha; Gezginer, Pelin Meriç
Physical comfort requirements of users in the non-acoustical spaces, leisure space, and usability of the space in long-term period should be taken into consideration in terms of sustainability of the space. The aim of this study is to investigate the speech interference of users' in an openplaned public leisure space. Bilkent Rollhouse was chosen as a leisure space because of its variance of activities in an open-plan like bowling, dart, billiards, play station and dining area. In this respect, a questionnaire was prepared to check the perception of sound of different user types in the area. The questionnaires were applied at the most crowded day of the week that is Friday and in between 18:00 to 21:00. The results of the survey were evaluated statistically. In addition to this, the equivalent continuous noise level, Leq, of the leisure space were taken in parallel to the questionnaire application to the users. Measuring of speech intelligibility via articulation index (AI) subjectively was the second phase of this study. Via application of the word list to the normal hearing users, the AI contours were prepared. Finally, objective and subjective measurements were analyzed in terms of speech interference during leisure activity in the space. As a leisure space, the relation between noise annoyance ratings and Leq did not show any significant difference in dart, billiards and play stations activities. However, in bowling activity and dining area, it was found that there is a significant relation between noise annoyance and Leq. This study reveals that users submit ambient noise of the space during leisure activity, they get in a common behaviour psychologically, they adjust their vocal noise that they create and finally these issues lead controlling of ambient noise by them. It means that users give up loudly speaking, they accept repeating or silence, focus on meal and they do not like getting in uncomfortable situation since their main activity is dining. For further study, the number of the samples in not only different leisure spaces, but also measurement points and sampling times should be increased to make clear hypothesis given above, since the study reveals completely different behaviour that is introduced in literature like cocktail party effect phenomenon.
Open Access
Identification of individuals' emotional response to the indoor soundscape in public study areas via semantic differentiation
(Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 2017) Acun, Volkan; Yilmazer, Semiha
Aims of this research is to identify individuals' emotional response to the sound environment of public study areas. The research has taken place in the public study areas of Bilkent University Campus. These study areas are located at the Dormitories, the Fine Arts Buildings, the library, and the Faculty of Science. In order to explore individuals' response to the auditory environment, a questionnaire survey and in-situ measurement of sound levels (LAeq) have been conducted. Questionnaire survey consisted of two main parts. In first part students have identified the sound source, how often they hear each one, and their satisfaction with the sound environment. Second part consisted of twelve seven point semantic differential scales (SD). Semantic scales were chosen in order to identify individuals' emotional response to the soundscape. Questionnaire survey are held with 30 student from each public study area, 120 students in total. The data gathered from the questionnaire survey are analysed using IBM SPSS 21 Statistics Software. Factor analysis was used to identify the perceptual dimensions of soundscape. Three factors were identify as a result of the analysis, which are, well-being, activity/communication and functionality. Even though the ANOVA F-Test found no statistically significant difference between the study areas in terms of satisfaction with the soundscapes, each areas has sound environment characteristics.
Open Access
The influence of sustainable design features on indoor environmental quality satisfaction in Turkish dwellings
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Afacan, Yasemin; Demirkan, H.
The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of sustainable design features on occupants satisfaction levels with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) aspects in three types of dwellings. Satisfaction level was investigated through a field survey with 240 participants, in apartments, row and detached houses in Turkey. Satisfaction level was explored in terms of overall satisfaction with IEQ, with the efficiency of daily living activities and with sleeping quality. Satisfaction level was also investigated regarding the dwellings thermal, ventilation, lighting, sound level and moisture qualities. The findings indicate that the existence of exterior insulation, a thermostat, light dimmers and control of daylighting systems through operable windows have high impacts on the satisfaction level of occupants living in all three types of dwellings. © 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Open Access
A neural network model for scheduling problems
(Elsevier, 1996) Sabuncuoğlu, İ.; Gurgun, B.
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been successfully applied to solve a variety of problems. This paper proposes a new neural network approach to solve the single machine mean tardiness scheduling problem and the minimum makespan job shop scheduling problem. The proposed network combines the characteristics of neural networks and algorithmic approaches. The performance of the network is compared with the existing scheduling algorithms under various experimental conditions. A comprehensive bibliography is also provided in the paper.
Open Access
Relationships between measured levels and subjective ratings: A case study of the food-court area in CEPA shopping center, Ankara
(SAGE, 2012-03-01) Dökmeci, P. N.; Yilmazer, S.
Physical comfort requirements of users; such as, thermal, visual, and acoustic comfort, should be considered and studied in detail when planning and designing public spaces. However, there is not enough research on the relations between the acoustical parameters, and the acoustic comfort level of users in enclosed non-acoustic public spaces, which are directly connected with a central atrium. In such spaces, evaluation on auditory perception and noise annoyance should be performed in parallel with objective parametric measurements. The food-court area of CEPA Shopping Center, with a central atrium and a glass ceiling structure, in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara is chosen for the case. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between the users' subjective ratings of noise levels and the measured equivalent continuous sound pressure levels (Leq). In addition, the demographical differences and user profile variances, as well as the auditory perception classifications are investigated in this case space. The present acoustical indices are measured and then discussed by pointing out the architectural features of the case space, which are the central atrium, glass ceiling structure and the sound reflective material applications. The research methods include, noise measurements to obtain Leq and questionnaires to assess the subjective ratings and auditory perception of the users. This study mainly concentrates on the food-court space, which is within CEPA Shopping Center and displays the significant results regarding this space. These results show that Leq values vary by different day types (weekdays and weekends) and time of day, and the subjective ratings correlate well with these Leq variances. The most dominant sound perceived by the users was found to be the hum of voices. One other significant result implies that, subjective ratings of noise level becomes significant above 67 dBA and shows a sudden increase in the ratings. Furthermore, the time spent in the food-court area correlated significantly with noise annoyance ratings.
Open Access
A survey of Reed-Muller codes from polar coding perspective
(IEEE, 2010-01) Arıkan, Erdal
A survey of Reed-Muller (RM) coding is given with the goal of establishing a continuity between RM codes and polar codes. The focus is mainly on recursive decoding methods for RM codes and other ideas that are most relevant to polar coding.
Open Access
A survey on information security threats and solutions for Machine to Machine (M2M) communications
(Academic Press Inc., 2017) Tuna, G.; Kogias, D. G.; Gungor, V. C.; Gezer, C.; Taşkın, E.; Ayday, E.
Although Machine to Machine (M2M) networks allow the development of new promising applications, the restricted resources of machines and devices in the M2M networks bring several constraints including energy, bandwidth, storage, and computation. Such constraints pose several challenges in the design of M2M networks. Furthermore, some elements that contributed to the rise of M2M applications have caused several new security threats and risks, typically due to the advancements in technology, increasing computing power, declining hardware costs, and freely available software tools. Due to the restricted capabilities of M2M devices, most of the recent research efforts on M2M have focused on computing, resource management, sensing, congestion control and controlling technologies. However, there are few studies on security aspects and there is a need to introduce the threats existing in M2M systems and corresponding solutions. Accordingly, in this paper, after presenting an overview of potential M2M applications, we present a survey of security threats against M2M networks and solutions to prevent or reduce their impact. Then, we investigate security-related challenges and open research issues in M2M networks to provide an insight for future research opportunities. Moreover, we discuss the oneM2M standard, one of the prominent standard initiatives for more secure and smoother M2M networks and the Internet of Things. © 2017 Elsevier Inc.
Open Access
A survey on optimal stochastic signaling and detector randomization
(IEEE, 2011) Dülek, Berkan; Göken, Çağrı; Gezici, Sinan; Arıkan, Orhan
In this paper, a survey on stochastic signaling and detector randomization is presented for average power-constrained binary communications systems. First, the case of a single fixed detector at the receiver is considered, and then the joint design of detector and optimal signaling is studied. In addition, the optimal receiver design is examined in the presence of detector randomization and stochastic signaling. It is observed that the average probability of error achieved via detector randomization cannot be larger than that achieved via stochastic signaling in the presence of optimal MAP detectors. Finally, a numerical study is presented to illustrate an example.
Open Access
A survey on scheduling in IEEE 802.16 mesh mode
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2010) Kas, M.; Yargicoglu, B.; Korpeoglu, I.; Karasan, E.
IEEE 802.16 standard (also known as WiMAX) defines the wireless broadband network technology which aims to solve the so called last mile problem via providing high bandwidth Internet even to the rural areas for which the cable deployment is very costly. The standard mainly focuses on the MAC and PHY layer issues, supporting two transmission modes: PMP (Point-to-Multipoint) and mesh modes. Mesh mode is an optional mode developed as an extension to PMP mode and it has the advantage of having an improving performance as more subscribers are added to the system using multi-hop routes. In 802.16 MAC protocol, mesh mode slot allocation and reservation mechanisms are left open which makes this topic a hot research area. Hence, the focus of this survey will mostly be on the mesh mode, and the proposed scheduling algorithms and performance evaluation methods. © 2010 IEEE.
Open Access
Transformational leadership and organizational innovation: the roles of internal and external support for innovation
(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2009) Gumusluğlu, L.; Ilsev, A.
Leadership has been suggested to be an important factor affecting innovation. A number of studies have shown that transformational leadership positively influences organizational innovation. However, there is a lack of studies examining the contextual conditions under which this effect occurs or is augmented. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on organizational innovation and to determine whether internal and external support for innovation as contextual conditions influence this effect. Organizational innovation was conceptualized as the tendency of the organization to develop new or improved products or services and its success in bringing those products or services to the market. Transformational leadership was hypothesized to have a positive influence on organizational innovation. Furthermore, this effect was proposed to be moderated by internal support for innovation, which refers to an innovation supporting climate and adequate resources allocated to innovation. Support received from external organizations for the purposes of knowledge and resource acquisition was also proposed to moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation. To test these hypotheses, data were collected from 163 research and development (R&D) employees and managers of 43 micro- and small-sized Turkish entrepreneurial software development companies. Two separate questionnaires were used to collect the data. Employees' questionnaires included measures of transformational leadership and internal support for innovation, whereas managers' questionnaires included questions about product innovations of their companies and the degree of support they received from external institutions. Organizational innovation was measured with a market-oriented criterion developed specifically for developing countries and newly developing industries. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized effects. The results of the analysis provided support for the positive influence of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. This finding is significant because this positive effect was identified in micro- and small-sized companies, whereas previous research focused mainly on large companies. In addition, external support for innovation was found to significantly moderate this effect. Specifically, the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation was stronger when external support was at high levels than when there was no external support. This study is the first to investigate and empirically show the importance of this contextual condition for organizational innovation. The moderating effect of internal support for innovation, however, was not significant. This study shows that transformational leadership is an important determinant of organizational innovation and encourages managers to engage in transformational leadership behaviors to promote organizational innovation. In line with this, transformational leadership, which is heavily suggested to be a subject of management training and development in developed countries, should also be incorporated into such programs in developing countries. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of external support in the organizational innovation process. The results suggest that technical and financial support received from outside the organization can be a more important contextual influence in boosting up innovation than an innovation-supporting internal climate. Therefore, managers, particularly of micro- and small-sized companies, should play external roles such as boundary spanning and should build relationships with external institutions that provide technical and financial support. The findings of this study are especially important for managers of companies that plan to or currently operate in countries with developing economies.
Open Access
Tutorial: Stream processing optimizations
(ACM, 2013) Schneider, S.; Hirzel, M.; Gedik, Buğra
This tutorial starts with a survey of optimizations for streaming applications. The survey is organized as a catalog that introduces uniform terminology and a common categorization of optimizations across disciplines, such as data management, programming languages, and operating systems. After this survey, the tutorial continues with a deep-dive into the fission optimization, which automatically transforms streaming applications for data-parallelism. Fis-sion helps an application improve its throughput by taking advantage of multiple cores in a machine, or, in the case of a distributed streaming engine, multiple machines in a cluster. While the survey of optimizations covers a wide range of work from the literature, the in-depth discussion of ission relies more heavily on the presenters' own research and experience in the area. The tutorial concludes with a discussion of open research challenges in the field of stream processing optimizations. Copyright © 2013 ACM.
Open Access
Understanding the tendency of software development teams to develop software over the cloud
(CEUR-WS, 2016) Çoban, S.; Uçar, Erkan; Chouseinoglou, Oumout; Sevgi, C.; Testik, Murat Caner
Today, Cloud Computing offers attractive and effective solutions for organizations which enable them to decrease IT costs, provide flexibility to ser-vices and make it easier to access IT services -Therefore enable faster market entries. For an organization that decides to make use of Cloud services, there are various factors to evaluate - similar to outsourcing. In this paper, we studied these factors through the literature and then we tried to understand the viewpoints of software developers regarding the existing and possible future usage of Cloud in software development processes. In this context, we prepared a questionnaire based on the findings in the literature and applied it to software development team members working in technoparks in Turkey. We used the dataset which is obtained from this questionnaire to observe the relationship between the tendency of using Cloud in software development processes and the factors effecting them. This research is performed as the first phase of a study with a larger scope, de-signed to forecast the Cloud needs of software developing organizations and it provides important findings. The questionnaire findings also describe the current demographics of software development organizations in Turkish technoparks to-gether with their perception of Cloud services.