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Research Newsletter2008/1Eastern Mediterranean University 2008/1

Dear Colleagues,

As the new editor-in-chief, I welcome all existing andnew readers of EMU Research Newsletter to the firstissue of 2008. EMU Research Newsletter has been animportant part of the Research Advisory Board’s goaltowards promoting and advancing the research cultureat our university since 2005. Previous editors-in-chiefDerya Oktay and Dizem Arifler have done great jobs tothis extent.

With EMU Research Newsletter, our aim is of three fold. Firstly, by highlighting theimportant research activities that take place at our university, we would like toemphasize that research is of utmost importance at EMU, as for all institutions ofhigher education which strive to be competitive at an international level. Secondly,we will serve as a platform whereby research ideas are shared and in doing so wehope to promote the establishment of new research collaborations, particularly formultidisciplinary projects. And last but not least, we would like to inform our under-graduate students about ongoing research at EMU and introduce them to the researchworld.

With this first issue of 2008, we are bringing interesting research projects to yourattention. Ecologist Burak Ali Çiçek takes us on a journey with the newborn Cheloniamydas and Caretta caretta of the Karpaz shores. Çiçek paints a picture of the currentthreats faced by these two species of endangered sea turtles. With this article, we arehoping to raise awareness about these two endangered species and the environmentalthreats that the Karpaz shores are facing.

Developmental Psychologist Biran Mertan brings interesting insights to the influenceof the order of language acquisition on spelling accuracy in Turkish-French bilingualchildren. Even though language processing in bilingual children has been a topic ofinterest for researchers for several decades now, Mertan and her colleague fromCambridge, UK, are approaching this question from an all-together new angle byinvestigating the bi-literate spelling from an orthographic transparency perspective.

Finally, Chemistry graduate student Zülal Yalınca takes us to the troubled, yet everevolving world of gene therapy. Much international effort and funding are beingdevoted towards achieving a safe gene transfer method, which promises worldwidebiomedical applications and a significant impact on medicine. Yalınca and supervisorsaim to tackle the issue of gene delivery by designing a new synthetic vector via modi-fication of chitosan.

As evident from the research articles presented in this issue, EMU is home for talent-ed researchers from a wide range of disciplines, investigating topics of interest both atthe local and global communities. I hope you will enjoy reading these articles.

Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this issue of EMU ResearchNewsletter.

With best regards,

Bahar Taneri

1research newsletter2008/1

Editor’s Message

Editor-in-ChiefBahar Taneri

Associate EditorDonna Ruzzano

Editorial AssistantsOlusegun A. OlugbadeFatih Parlak

Research Newsletter SecretariatOffice of the Research Advisory BoardEastern Mediterranean UniversityFamagusta, North Cyprus Phone: +90 392 630 1251Fax: +90 392 365 1604e-mail: [email protected]

Research Advisory BoardAyhan Bilsel (Chair)Ali Hakan Ulusoy (Vice Chair)Hulusi DemirTuğrul İlterOsman KaratepeDerya OktayŞener UysalFeryal VaranoğullarıElvan Yılmaz

EMU Research Newsletter is publishedquarterly through the office of theResearch Advisory Board. The informa-tion presented in the News Highlightsand Recent Publications andPresentations sections are as they aresubmitted by faculty members.

Cover Photograph:Burak Ali Çiçek

Printed by:Eastern Mediterranean University Printing-House T. No: 504068May 2008

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Contents

Research Spotlight: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 12Written picture naming of cognates as a function of orthographic transparency: Evidence from Turkish-French bilingual childrenBy Biran Mertan

News Highlights 3

Research Spotlight: Engineering and Sciences 9 An ecological investigation of endangered sea turtles Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta in Karpaz shoresBy Burak Ali Çiçek

Student Research Profile 15An alternative approach to gene delivery ingene therapyBy Zülal Yalınca

Fall 2007-2008 Postgraduate Degrees 17

Recent Publications and Presentations 19


Research @ EMU

� An International Symposium on UnderwaterResearch held at EMU

The SecondInternationalSymposium onUnderwater Scienceand Research organ-ized by the EasternMediterraneanUniversityUnderwater Researchand Imaging Center(EMU URIC), tookplace at EMU during20-22 March 2008.The symposiumbrought togethermany well-knownacademicians. Therewere about 60 partici-pants, from Russia to Portugal, working on different aspects ofunderwater research such as marine biology and underwaterarchaeology. Team members of the famous Captain Cousteau,Andre Laban and team leader Bernard Delemotte who are theco-inventors of underwater housing attended the Symposiumas Guests of Honour.

A wide range of topics were covered at the symposiumincluding diving physiology, diving safety and first aid, ecologyof coral reefs, artificial reef construction, marine pollution,coastal zone management, marine mapping and navigation.One of the main topics during the symposium was underwatermedicine and healing techniques. Joined by experts and doctorsfrom the Burhan Nalbantoğlu Nicosia State Hospital, the panel-lists had a vivid discussion about the implementation of under-water healing techniques in North Cyprus.

The symposium not only created an opportunity forresearchers from different fields to exchange scholarly infor-mation but also aided in raising awareness about the currentecological concerns of the Mediterranean Sea. This symposiumbrought forward the issue about species living in North Cypruscoastal zones which are protected by international agreements.Current protection and research activities about these speciessuch as Monk Seals and Sea Turtles were discussed. Symposiumparticipant Bayram Öztürk of İstanbul University and TürkDeniz Araştırmaları Vakfı (TÜDAV – Turkish Sea ResearchFoundation), emphasized that it is not enough to protect onlythe terrestrial parts of the Karpaz Peninsula and that special

attention must be given to the Karpaz shores and the seasaround the Karpaz Peninsula as part of global responsibility.

All scientists and academicians who attended the sympo-sium have agreed that in particular the Karpaz Peninsula,which has a unique wealth of eco-diversity, and the EasternMediterranean as a whole must be under continuous protec-tion. Symposium attendees aim to further extend their studiesand establish new research collaborations in line with this goal.

� EMU hosts 12th Symposium onMediterranean Archaeology

The 12th annual Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology(SOMA) took place at EMU during 5-8 March 2008. SOMA sym-posiums have been organized at different universities around theworld since 1997. EMU Underwater Research and ImagingCenter had the privilege to host SOMA 2008 where 60 papersand posters were presented. Participants of the symposiumincluded researchers coming from 14 different countries:Austria, England, Germany, Israel, Italy, North Cyprus, Norway,Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and USA.Keynote speakers of the conference were Ehud Galili and BaruckRosen of Israel Antiquity Authority, Israel, Zaraza Freidman ofZinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University, Israel andLevent Zoroğlu of Selçuk University, Turkey. Overall a widerange of topics covering Management of Archaeology, Semioticsand Archaeology, Archaeoseismology, Natural Hazards andArchaeology, Archaeogeophysics and Archaeometry were dis-cussed at the symposium. First meeting of General Associationon Mediterranean Archaeology also took place during the sym-posium. Further details on SOMA 2008 are accessible viahttp://soma2008.emu.edu.tr.

News Highlights

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� EMU Archaeologist Takes Part in HarbourExcavation of Kelenderis

Kelenderis is located on the Mediterranean coast of ancientRough Cilicia, where today Aydıncık, a town of Turkey islocated. Recent excavations at Kelenderis have proved that thesettlement there goes back to the Bronze Age. Based on thesuitable location of the town with its harbour on the sea routesbetween east and west, and between Asia Minor and Cyprus,Kelenderis developed rapidly and became one of the importantports on the Mediterranean Sea. The underwater survey of theancient harbour of Kelenderis started in 2006. The project isbeing conducted by a team of researchers under the leadershipof EMU archaeologist Hakan Öniz from the EMU UnderwaterResearch and Imaging Center. The team first undertook thechallenge of mapping the harbour area and successfully fin-ished this in August 2006. Subsequently, the team worked onremoving sand and other remnants by means of vacuum systemto uncover the stones lying irregularly on the ground underwa-ter. The whole area was uncovered and the plan of ruins wasdrawn in a short time. Based on the findings, researchers con-cluded that they uncovered the remains of a quay, which ismeasured nearly 25 meters long starting from the shore and is5 meters wide. In 2007, the team continued the process ofuncovering sand and little stones by airlifts. As of 2008, allremains of the quay have been uncovered. However, there arestill some elements of the construction around the quay cov-ered by sand and little stones. Researchers speculate that theseelements could show the destruction reasons of the quay suchas an earthquake or a tsunami. The group is currently continu-ing their field work and aim to find answers to questions aboutdate of the remains and their functions.

� International Conference on Middle East andNorth Cyprus provides a discussion platformon perspectives in political, economic and strategic issues

EMU Center for Strategic Studiesorganized an international confer-ence on Middle East and NorthCyprus during 20-22 March 2008.The conference aimed at strength-ening the collaboration betweenEMU Center for Strategic Studiesand likeminded strategic researchcenters in the Middle East with a

view to enhance the relations between North Cyprus andMiddle Eastern countries. The conference brought together

world-class researchers, academicians and policy-makers andenabled a discussion platform for their research findings andideas on political, economic and strategic status of TurkishRepublic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Among the topicsexplored at the conference were means of enhancing the statusof TRNC internationally. The conference started with thekeynote speech on “The Dual Society Between Conflict andConcord: Lessons from Iraq, Cyprus and Somalia” delivered byAli Mazuri of Binghamton University and State University ofNew York, USA.

In a ceremony Norton Mezvinsky of Central Connecticut StateUniversity, USA, was awarded an honorary doctorate fromEMU. During the conference, Norton Mezvinsky chaired a ses-sion titled “Middle East and the Turkish Cypriot Experience”and delivered a speech on “Turkish Cypriots and Palestinians:A comparison of National Problems”. During the conference, aspecial session was organized in remembrance of MehmetTahiroğlu, former dean of EMU Faculty of Business andEconomics.

� EMU Researcher Participates in InternationalWorkshop Organization on Petri Net Tools

EMU Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Mathematics Departmentmember Rza Bashirov took part in the organization of anInternational Workshop on Petri Net Tools and Applications(PNTAP 2008). Petri nets are mathematical and graphical model-ing tools that are evolved from finite state automata to analyzethe problems arising in scientific, engineering and industrialdomains. Petri Nets software tools are successfully implementedin areas such as computer architecture, serial and parallel pro-

research newsletter2008/1

Conference participants

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cessing, robotics, operating systems, communication protocols,performance evaluation, discrete industrial systems, holonicmanufacturing systems, batch production systems, genetic engi-neering and bioinformatics. Bashirov served in the programcommittee of PNTAP 2008 together with 16 colleagues from 19different universities representing eight European countries,USA, Canada and Australia. PNTAP 2008 was held in MarseilleFrance during 3-7 March 2008, as one of the four satellite eventsof the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Simulation Toolsand Techniques (SIMUTools 2008). Official website of thisworkshop is accessible via http://www.pntap.org/.

� EMU Department of Architecture collaborates with the International Vernacular Architecture Unit at Oxford Brookes University

International Architectural Regeneration and DevelopmentProgramme of the International Vernacular Architecture Unitat Oxford Brookes University has an annual international fieldtrip as part of their program. This year the field trip took placein North Cyprus in collaboration with the EMU Faculty ofArchitecture between 27-30 January 2008. The field study wascoordinated by Marcel Vellinga of the Oxford BrookesUniversity, UK and Hıfsiye Pulhan of EMU Department ofArchitecture. The field trip was organized by Aylin Orbaşlı ofOxford Brookes University, UK and following members ofEMU Department of Architecture; Özlem Olgaç Türker, ÖzgürDinçyürek and Resmiye Alpar Atun. The visiting student groupfrom UK together with graduate students of the EMUDepartment of Architecture made observations and collecteddata in Akçiçek Village, Girne, one of the rural settlements ofNorth Cyprus.

The aim of the trip was to develop Architectural RegenerationProjects. Field study was enriched with a series oflectures about the Traditional Environments of Cyprus givenby the faculty members from the EMU Department ofArchitecture. This event was also supported by the Departmentof Antiquities and the District Administration of Girne Regionas a part of the current study on Traditional/Vernacular ruralbuildings in the Girne Region. The Akçiçek Village school seenon the right has been renovated by the Department ofAntiquities and the District Administration of Girne as part ofthis event. The proposed architectural regeneration projects asoutcomes of this trip are to be presented in May 2008 atOxford Brookes University where EMU Department ofArchitecture faculty members will be present.

� Journal of Cyprus Studies 33rd issue is out

The 33rd issue of the Journalof Cyprus Studies (JCS) isnow out. JCS is a refereed,international and interdisci-plinary journal publishedtwice a year by the EMUpress the Center for CyprusStudies. Editor ÖzlemÇaykent announces that thelatest issue of the journal hasthe following articles:Women, and the Pursuit ofPower in the ThirteenthCentury by Ahmet Kemal-Hilmi, Mr. Fenech’s colony:Maltese immigrants inCyprus 1878-1950 by Gail Hook, A Little Bit of History and aLot of Opinion by Madeleine Leonard and Humanities in a“Postmodernist” Cyprus by John Wall. Notes section of thejournal includes A Short Report on Three Newly AccessibleChurches in the Syrian Quarter of Famagusta by Alan Langdaleand Michael Walsh. A literature review titled Kıbrıs’taKadın/Toplumsal Cinsiyet Çalışmaları ve Kadın Hareketi Üzer-ine Bir Değerlendirme (Women in Cyprus, Gender Studies andWomen’s Movement) has been prepared by HanifeAliefendioğlu. The 33rd issue of JCS includes 2 book reviews.Nursin Ateşoğlu Güney’s book titled Contentious Issues ofSecurity and the Future of Turkey is reviewed by Akça Ataçand Gül İnanç’s book titled Büyükelçiler Anlatıyor, TürkDiplomasisinde Kıbrıs (Ambassadors Explain: Cyprus inTurkish Diplomacy) is reviewed by Niyazi Kızılyürek. Thejournal also covers the activity report of EMU Center forWomen Studies for 8 March 2007, International Women’s Day.


Akçiçek Village School

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Aydoğan Özman Symposium, an event organized in memory ofAydoğan Özman, founder of EMU Faculty of Law. The two daysymposium will start on 8 May and continue through 9 May,2008. Main aim of the event is to provide an opportunity forpresentation and discussion of recent developments in law ofthe sea related to Cyprus. Symposium topics will include jeopo-litical importance of and recent developments in the EasternMediterranean, navigation and maritime transport, protectionof environment and self-contained regimes in the contempo-rary law of the sea. The symposium committee is proud to hosteleven prominent speakers. Speeches will be given by profes-sors Ata Atun, Sertaç Başeren, Yüksel İnan, Turgut Turhan,Wojciech Forysinski, Hakan Karan, Kemal Şenocak, CavidAbdullahzade, Şule Güneş, İsmail Demir and Ali Kurumahmut.The symposium will consists of 4 sessions and will start with aflute and guitar recital performed by Mehmet Sakarya and Evren Ufuk. On behalf of EMU Faculty ofLaw, the organizing committee kindly invites all those who areinterested to attend this unique event. Further information onthe symposium is provided athttp://hukuk.emu.edu.tr/html/sempozyum/aozman_semp.htm

� Doctoral Studies on Housing, A Joint Symposium Organized by Eastern Mediterranean University and İstanbul Technical University

Eastern Mediterranean University Faculty of Architecture,Housing Research, Education & Advisory Center (EMU HERA-C) and İstanbul Technical University, Faculty of ArchitectureHousing Research and Education Center (ITU HREC) are joint-ly organizing a symposium on “Doctoral Studies on Housing”.The conference will take place between 20-22 May 2008 at theEMU Faculty of Architecture, Hüseyin Ateshin Hall. The inspi-ration for organizing a joint symposium on Doctoral Studies onHousing emerged from the diversity and richness of the themesand issues in Housing Research Area. The symposium expectsto attract many young researchers involved in postgraduatetheses, as well as academicians who have recently completedtheir studies between 2002 and 2008. Organizers aim to set upa scientific platform to stimulate discussions in diverse topicsof housing research. The symposium also aims to aid in estab-lishing a network of housing researchers for exchanging ideas,identifying shared interests and forming academic partnershipsand research collaborations. According to the information pro-vided by the organizers as of March 2008, there are applicantsto the symposium from 11 different countries includingColombia, Iran, Italy, Nigeria, North Cyprus, Norway, Poland,Romania, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom. Organizers arehonored to host the following professors as keynote speakers ofthe symposium: Gülsün Sağlamer (ITU-HREC Chair), Kemal

� EMU Cyprus Policy Center Recent Activities

Following are some of the activities carried out by EMUCyprus Policy Center (CPC) in chronological order:

� CPC organized a seminar on “Re-Imagining Cyprus: TheRise of Regionalism In Turkey’s Security Lexicon” given byAlper Kaliber of the Department of Political Science &International Studies, University of Birmingham on 8November 2007.

� EMU CPC director Ahmet Sözen delivered a speech at theEuropean Parliament on 7 December 2007 at a Conferenceorganized by Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational andTransparty, and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats forEurope (ALDE).

� Ahmet Sözen moderated a panel on 18 December 2007 ina conference titled “Stability in the Balkans: NewDevelopments in Kosovo” organized by Gregory Macris, Chiefof Political Action at the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia. The paneltook place at EMU, Faculty of Business and Economics.

� Barry Jacobs, director of Strategic Studies in the Office ofGovernment and International Affairs and associate director ofAsia and Pacific Rim Institute and Ahmet Sözen deliveredspeeches on 11 March 2008 on topics titled “The AmericanJewish Community: Turkey, Israel and the EasternMediterranean” and “A Paradigmatic Shift in Turkish ForeignPolicy Making” respectively.

� CPC hosted Şahin Alpay of Bahçeşehir University, Turkeyand Soli Özel of Bilgi University, Turkey on 14 March 2008.Alpay delivered a speech on the transition process towards lib-eral democracy in Turkey and Özel delivered a speech on thelatest developments in Turkish Foreign Policy.

� Claudia Roth, the co-chair of German Greens Party deliv-ered a speech on the relations of EU with Turkey and Cypruson 18 March 2008. The seminar took place at the StudentActivity Center of EMU.

Upcoming Research Events

� EMU Faculty of Law will host Prof. Dr. Aydoğan Özman Symposium: Recent Developments in Law of the Sea Related to Cyprus

The EMU Faculty of Law is getting ready to host the Prof. Dr.


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Gürüz (Former Director of Turkish Higher Education Council),Han Verschure (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium),David Clapham (School of City and Regional Planning, CardiffUniversity, UK), Johannes Kramer (Berlin TechnicalUniversity) and Yıldız Sey (ITU – HREC). Different sessions ofthe symposium will include opening speeches by moderators ofeach session: Mark Swenarton (Head of Department ofArchitecture, School of the Built Environment, Oxford BrookesUniversity, UK), Magda Sibley (University of Liverpool, UK),Ahsen Özsoy (ITU-HREC Vice chair), Yurdanur DülgeroğluYüksel (ITU-HREC), Nuran Zeren Gülersoy (ITU), ZerrinYılmaz (ITU-HREC), Nesil Baytin (EMU - HERA-C Chair) andNicholas Wilkinson (EMU – Faculty of Architecture).

� EMU is getting ready to host FISER’09: AnInternational Conference on Science and Mathematics Education

EMU is getting ready tohost an internationalconference on under-graduate science andmathematics education;Frontiers in ScienceEducation Research2009 (FISER’09).FISER’09 aims to bringtogether scholars fromall around the worldwho investigate differ-ent aspects of under-graduate science and mathematics education. A wide range oftopics such as undergraduate curricula and design, teaching andlearning strategies, technology in teaching and learning, facul-ty development, teacher training and contemporary issues inthe field including native language vs. foreign language ofinstruction and misconceptions in science will be covered dur-ing the conference.

Organizers of FISER’09 are very proud to announce thatwell-known researchers in the field including LillianMcDermott, Professor of Physics from University ofWashington USA, David Hestenes, Professor of Physics fromArizona State University USA, and Cedric Linder, Professor ofPhysics Education from University of Uppsala Sweden are con-firmed keynote speakers for the conference. FISER’09 is opento professional science and mathematics education researchers,educators, students and all others who are interested. The con-ference will start on 22 March 2009 and will continue through24 March 2009 at Salamis Bay Conti Resort Hotel, one of thewell located hotels on the shores of Famagusta. On behalf ofthe EMU Faculty of Arts and Sciences, organizers invite inter-

ested science education researchers to submit their papers andall those who are interested to participate in the conference.Official website of FISER’09 can be accessed viahttp://fiser.emu.edu.tr/.

Arts @ EMU

� CD Release by EMU Music Department Faculty Member

The Brussels basedrecording label FugaLibera has recentlyreleased a CD featuringNicolas Deletaille onboth cello and arpeg-gione instruments.Nicolas Deletaillejoined the EMU MusicDepartment inSeptember 2006 as acello senior instructor. The CD features two major works; theArpeggione Sonata and the String Quintet in C and is dedicatedto Franz Schubert. For this recoding Deletaille established sig-nificant partnerships with the Viennese mastro Paul Badura-Skoda (world top specialist in both Schubert music and histori-cal piano areas), and with the highly acclaimed QuatuorRosamonde. The arpeggione instrument, invented in 1823 inVienna, is a kind of guitar played with a bow. Today, thereremain only half a dozen arpeggiones, mostly in museum col-lections. This explains why recordings of the Schubert arpeg-gione sonata played on arpeggione are very few. NicolasDeletaille, who plays on an arpeggione built recently, is regard-ed as one of the major contributors to this field. The CD is dis-tributed in more than 25 countries, including Turkey, UnitedStates, Japan, China, Australia, and all European countries andhas already been reviewed positively by several internationalmusic journals and newspapers.

� A New York Jazz Quartet at EMU

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Department of Music and Facultyof Education Music Teaching Program jointly organized a Jazzworkshop and a concert on 10 March 2008 at the EMU StudentActivity Center. Aslı Giray and Alexander Zabolotkov of theMusic Department hosted the events, which were sponsored bythe American Embassy in Cyprus. The visiting artists were theChris Byars Jazz Quartet from New York, who held an activeworkshop with students from the Department of Music and


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� Public Recital from EMU Music Instructors

Pianist Aslı Giray gave a recital with mezzo-soprano DilshadAsadova on 24 March 2008 at the EMU Student ActivityCenter. In addition to operatic arias by Donizetti, Verdi,Handel and Saint-Saens, the artists interpreted contemporarysongs from Azerbaijan, the song ‘Yiğidim Aslanım’ by ZülfüLivaneli, arranged for voice and piano by flute instructor EranRaman, and the song ‘Al Yemeni Mor Yemeni’ written byTurkish Cypriot composer Kamran Aziz, arranged by AslıGiray. The concert was open to the public and was attendedby a large audience.

Music Teaching Program. Music student Erkan Erzurumlu,and alumnus Cahit Kutrafalı attracted much attention from thequartet and were asked to participate in their concert. Theworkshop was also attended by professional Turkish Cypriotjazz musicians Ersen Sururi, Kadir Evre (also an EMU MusicDepartment alumnus), and Ahmet Elmas, who were invited bydepartment vice chair Aslı Giray with the aim of formingbridges between EMU and the community artists. The Quartetexpressed that they were impressed with the quality of music education at EMU, and the graduates of the MusicDepartment, as well as the general level of jazz performance inNorth Cyprus.

� EMU Music Department organizes a work shop at Mehmetçik primary School

Aslı Giray from the Eastern Mediterranean University Musicdepartment organized a workshop on 21 March 2008 for the 4thand 5th graders and music teachers of Mehmetçik PrimarySchool. The workshop took place in the EMU MusicDepartment Concert Room. Instructors from the Music Department and the EMU Music Teaching Program demonstrat-ed various instruments for the children. Followed by a concertpresented by Aslı Giray (piano), Marc Heeg (piano), NicolasDeletaille (cello), Hyunjin Min (guitar) and mezzo-sopranoDilshad Asadova, music department vice chair Giray providedthe students with general knowledge on music and informationabout the intruments. Giray announced that such workshopswill be carried out at other primary schools in the near future.


Chris Byars Jazz Quartet

Deletaille with Mehmetçik Primary School students

Pianist Aslı Giray in concert

Research Spotlight: Engineering and Sciences

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Today, all sea turtle species are facedwith the threat of being eradicatedfrom the oceans and shores of theEarth. On the shores of our country,there are two types of sea turtles;Chelonia mydas and Caretta carettawhich are under the same threat (Fig.1). Especially Chelonia mydas popula-tions are reported to be below criticallevels in the Mediterranean (Canbolat,2004).

In order to protect the sea turtles,countries have signed agreements toprotect these species and their habitatsall around the world. In 1975, sixteenMediterranean countries haveapproved and signed MediterraneanAction Plan under the supervision andguidance of the United NationsEnvironment Program (UNEP) andlater on in 1976, the same countriessigned a treaty titled Protection ofthe Mediterranean from Pollution.

An ecological investigation of endangered sea turtlesChelonia mydas and Caretta caretta in Karpaz shores

By Burak Ali Çiçek

This treaty is now known as theBarcelona Treaty and is signed bythe European Community as a legalagreement. In 1982 as an annex tothe Barcelona Treaty, the same coun-tries have signed the SpeciallyProtected Areas in the Mediterraneandocument (Groombridge, 1990;Laurent et. al., 1995). In NorthCyprus, even though not all agree-ments or treaties have been followed,Alagadi Beach, Ronnas Beach andGolden Beach have been designatedas important nesting areas for sea tur-tles and they are announced asSpecially Protected Areas (SPA)(Kusetoğulları, 2007; Şenol, 2003).

Same countries, which havesigned the Mediterranean ActionPlan, created a new and a more spe-cialized plan in 1989 for the protec-tion of sea turtles, titled theMediterranean Sea Turtles ProtectionAction Plan and brought forward theissues listed below for better protec-tion of the sea turtles in the region: � Protection and management of the

nesting and wintering habitats,� Minimization of accidental catch-

ing (by-catch) and banning applica-tions which might result in acci-dental killing of the sea turtles,

� Searching for new nesting areas,� Gathering information about new

nesting beaches,� Investigating and researching

species behavioral patterns.Taking a start from the statements

in the Mediterranean Sea TurtlesProtection Action Plan, TurkishRepublic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)

Ministry of Environment and NaturalResources and Eastern MediterraneanUniversity Underwater Research andImaging Center (EMU URIC) estab-lished a collaboration for investigationand protection of Caretta caretta andChelonia mydas, which use the Karpazshores for nesting. As part of thisagreement, together with my col-leagues, I have undertaken the biologi-cal and ecological investigation ofthese two species in the Karpaz shores.In Summer 2007, we started our fieldwork and conducted research onbehavioral patterns, number of nests,hatchling success of sea turtles in addi-tion to carrying out protection exercis-es.

I was fortunate to have 25 studentsfrom EMU to volunteer. In addition,volunteers coming from several univer-sities of England, Germany, Poland,Scotland, Turkey and United Statestook part in this project. During ourfield work, we have collected data onand facilitated protection of the exist-ing nests for both species (Fig. 2).

Figure 1: Newborn Caretta caretta onland in Karpaz shores

Figure 2: Protection of sea turtle nests


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In addition to the field work, studentsaided in statistical analysis of the col-lected data. Students worked hard andproduced a lot of results given thephysically exhausting nature of fieldwork.

During the nesting period whichcovers June, July and August, wedetermined the nests in Karpaz shores.Overall, we did field work on 13 dif-ferent beaches of the KarpazPeninsula. We identified a total of 123sea turtle nests (42 Caretta caretta; 73Chelonia mydas; 8 unidentified).Once the nests were located they weretaken under protection measures. Inorder for the nesting habitats not to beaffected by human activities, high pri-ority protection areas bordered withsand dunes were identified and theseprotected zones were shown on maps.Also, information we gathered on theexisting nests enabled us to identifypotential new nesting areas.

During the hatching period whichis August, September and earlyOctober, we gathered data regardingthe total number of eggs laid. Nestswith live and dead hatchlings, preda-tion rate, survival rate and hatchlingbehavior in the sea have been moni-tored and analyzed. Based on the datacollected, we measured the successrate of Caretta caretta to be 53.9% andof Chelonia mydas to be 66.1%.Success rate is calculated based on thetotal number of live hatchlings whichreach the sea. Hatchling success givesimportant clues about success of con-servation because this rate generallydepends on the methodology. It clear-ly indicates if the methodologyapplied is adequate and conservationmeasures are sufficient against preda-tion, human impact etc. which let usimprove current applications in thefuture.

Unique to our study is the new-born turtle analysis. After their releaseinto the sea (Fig. 3), we monitored thenewborns in the sea and gained valu-able insight into their behavioral

patterns through these underwaterobservational studies (Fig. 4).

In order to be able to continueprotecting the sea turtles, in additionto international agreements, thereneeds to be a continuum in the eco-logical and biological research anddata collection. In parallel with the

field work, I have initiated the firststeps of a Management Plan for thenesting habitats of sea turtles and pro-tection of the existing population.Implementation of such a plan is vitalsince North Cyprus has become a pop-ular destination for settlement espe-cially on the shores. Human popula-tion increase in these areas has result-ed in an unexpected amount of pres-sure on both living and non-livingecological resources. Significantly, inrecent years, advancement in thetourism industry resulted in

unplanned development, over-crowd-ed settlements on the shores, non-proper usage of land for propertydevelopment and pollution due toagri-industrial and/or light industrydevelopments. Already, the negativeeffects of uncontrolled developmenton the eco-systems and the existinghabitats are evident. The ManagementPlan for protection is currently beingelaborated.

I would like to emphasize that sat-isfactory environmental protectionresults could only be obtained throughsufficient financing and collaborativework of a wide pool of experts andvolunteers. To this extent, collabora-tion of EMU URIC and TRNCMinistry of Environment and NaturalSources is a significant step towardsbetter protection. We shared our datafrom Summer 2007 studies withrespective government bodies, inter-national media and other authoritiesand stakeholders to raise awarenessabout the endangered species at theKarpaz Peninsula.

Implementation of correct protec-tion measures could only take place asresults of long-term data collectionand further biological and ecologicalinvestigations which will enable betterunderstanding of these species andtheir habitats. Our ultimate aim withthis project was to lay down the foun-dation for more comprehensive analy-ses of sea turtles and further develop-ment of the protection plans. We aimto extend our studies to populationgenetics, wintering habitats andmigration routes in collaboration withlocal and international experts inthese fields.

REFERENCES

Canbolat, A.F. (2004). A review ofsea turtle nesting activity alongthe Mediterranean coast ofTurkey, Biological Conservation,116, 81-91.

Figure 3: Newborn Chelonia mydas beingreleased to the sea

Figure 4: Newborn Chelonia mydasunderwater



Groombridge, B. (1990). MarineTurtles in the Mediterranean;Distribution, Population Status,Conservation. A report to theCouncil of Europe, WorldConservation Monitoring Centre,Cambridge, UK.

Kusetoğulları, H. (2007). KuzeyKıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti’nde

deniz kaplumbağalarının korunması. II.Ulusal DenizKaplumbağaları Sempozyumu, 36-39. Dalyan Muğla. Turkey.

Laurent, L., Bradai, M.N., Hadoud,D.H., and El Gomatai, H.M.(1995). Marine Turtle NestingActivity Assessment on Libyan Coasts; Phase I: Survey of the

Coast Between Egyptian Border and Sirte. RAC/SPA (MAP-UNEP),Tunis.

Senol, A. (2003). DenizKaplumbağalarının İzlenmesi veKorunması (Proje No: WSE-PS02-4164, UNOPS, UNDP,USAID).Proje Raporu, Turizm ve ÇevreBakanlığı, Lefkoşa, KKTC.


gual child will have an effect on theirspelling accuracy.

The question of how childrenacquire literacy has been an importantresearch topic of interest over the lastthree decades. A large body of researchis primarily dedicated to understandhow children acquire reading skills intheir native language. One frameworkassumes that spelling-sound regularityis fundamental to processes involved inreading and spelling in all alphabeticorthographies and that there are twodistinct ways of converting sound toprint (Carr & Pollatsek, 1985;Coltheart, 1980; Coltheart et. al., 1993;Coltheart et. al., 2001; Besner, 1999;Baluch & Besner, 1991; Besner &Smith, 1992).

Learning to spell is assumed to mir-ror learning to read whereby childrenacquire to map phonological represen-tations (sound) to orthographic repre-sentations (print). Conversely, the sim-plicity of the relationship betweenorthography and phonology will deter-

Written picture naming of cognatesas a function of orthographic trans-parency: Evidence from Turkish-French bilingual children

Research Spotlight: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Here I describe a collaborative studyas part of a larger ongoing researchproject on Development of Readingand Writing in Turkish, carried inpart out at EMU PsychologicalCounseling Guidance and ResearchCenter (EMU PDRAM). I am conduct-ing this project in collaboration withİlhan Raman of the Department ofPsychology, Anglia Ruskin University,Cambridge, United Kingdom.

In this study, we explored the roleof orthographic transparency on writ-ten picture naming in bilingual chil-dren whose first language was Turkish(L1) and second language was French(L2). A further variable was whetherchildren received their early primaryeducation in Turkey or in France. Thestimulus picture names were cognatesin Turkish and in French with similarpronunciation and spelling in L1 andL2 (e.g., light bulb is ampul in Turkishand ampoule in French). Our aim wasto explore whether the order of acqui-sition of writing systems by the bilin-

Experimental/cognitive psy-chologist İ. Raman (on left) &developmental psychologist B.Mertan

By Biran Mertan

mine not only the rate of readingacquisition but also spelling acquisi-tion. If spelling of words is highlypredictable from their phonologicalrepresentations, i.e. when a phonemealways maps onto the samegrapheme(s) or letter(s), then learningto read and spell will presumablydevelop simultaneously and in paral-lel. If however spelling is not alwaysdirectly predicted from phonology, asin the case of many European alpha-betic writing systems, then learning tospell will be hindered in comparisonto reading (Bosman & Van Orden,1997; Geva et. al.,1993; Sprenger-Charolles & Siegel, 1997).

In this respect, phonologicalawareness has been shown to be themost crucial determinant of normalreading and spelling developmentacross languages studied thus far(Zeigler & Goswami, 2005). That is,the learner must be able to resolve therelationship between the smallestunits of a predominately visual task(orthography) and the phonologicalrepresentation in the spoken languageto be able to ‘read’. Some alphabetssuch as English have one-to-manyrelationship between orthography andphonology whilst some alphabets suchas Spanish have an almost one-to-onerelationship between print and sound.The impact of orthographic trans-parency on acquisition of literacy isclearly demonstrated by Seymour, Aroand Erskine’s (2003) study of 14European languages who analyzedchildren’s reading skills at the end ofGrade 1. Three basic tenets have beenheld responsible for explaining cross-language differences (Zeigler &Goswami, 2005) which are consisten-cy of spelling-to-sound relations,granularity (grain size) of orthograph-ic and phonological representations,and teaching methods. Orthographictransparency, i.e. sound to print regu-larity, has therefore played a centralrole in the development and imple-


mentation of models of spelling, suchas the dual-route model of spelling(Ellis, 1984).

Cognates, i.e. words that are iden-tical or similar in form and meaningin two languages, have been usedheavily in the investigation of bilin-gual language processing. Evidencefirmly established that bilingualsprocess cognates faster than non-cog-nates (Van Hell & de Groot, 1998).

In this work, we examined spellingin two contrasting orthographies, i.e.Turkish; an extremely transparentorthography vs. French; an opaqueorthography, using cognates asdescribed below. Although Turkishand French vary greatly on the ortho-graphic transparency continuum, i.e.in the directness with which one canpredict phonology from orthography(Fig 1), there are some sharedcharacteristics. For instance, bothscripts use the Latin alphabet andboth are written and read from left toright.

The most salient aspect of themodern Turkish writing system is thecompletely transparent relationshipbetween orthography and phonologyin not only reading but also spelling.Reading and writing in Turkish relyupon a totally consistent, invariantand context independent mappingbetween orthography and phonologyin reading and spelling. In compari-son, French has an irregular orthogra-phy whereby deriving phonologyfrom orthography, i.e. reading is com-parably more predictable thanspelling. One of the problems associ-ated with difficulty in spellingFrench, unlike Turkish, is the large

number of silent letters. Therefore, whilst one can achieve

nonlexical reading from print and non-lexical spelling from sound in Turkish,the same cannot be said for French.However, this should not be taken toindicate that skilled reading and writ-ing in Turkish is nonlexical. On thecontrary, reading in Turkish has beenshown to be heavily influenced by psy-cholinguistic variables such as wordfrequency (Raman et. al., 1996; Ramanet. al., 2004) and imageability (Raman& Baluch, 2001).

An interesting feature between thetwo orthographies is that 23 letters areshared between Turkish and French(L1 and L2) alphabets. In brief, theoverlap of orthography and phonologybetween L1 and L2 is substantial(Table 1).

The aim of our study was to exam-ine the role of orthographic trans-parency and primary language ofinstruction in spelling cognate picturenames in French and Turkish bilingualchildren. Cognates in two differentlanguages share the same etymology;they are conceptually, orthographicallyand phonologically similar. We wantedto investigate how cognate objectnames affect bilingual spelling per-formance in children.

We predicted that children were toconduct more spelling errors inFrench overall due to the opaque rela-tionship between orthography andphonology compared to the totallytransparent relationship betweenorthography and phonology inTurkish. Moreover, we predictederrors to reflect children's early lan-guage instruction in L1: those whoreceived their L1 training in Turkeywere predicted to make more spellingerrors in French compared to Turkish.Similarly, children who received theirL1 training in France were predictedto make more spelling errors inTurkish compared to French. Aninteraction between Turkish andFrench languages was also predicted inrelation to their L2 spelling proficien-cy. This is because while mappingsbetween orthography and phonologyin Turkish are totally transparent andconsistent, in French they are rela-tively opaque and inconsistent.

The participants were 10-11 yearold Turkish speaking children allresiding in France. A total of 28 chil-dren were selected from a sample of103 who were matched on socio-eco-nomic background, age and scholasticattainment. The 20 stimulus picturenames were heterographic cognates inTurkish and French with similar pro-nunciation and spelling in L1 and L2,e.g., piano is piyano in Turkish andpiano in French. In addition, all pic-tures were rated to have name agree-ment, familiarity and similar complex-ity by independent judges. In a coun-terbalanced design, children wereinstructed to write the picture namesdown in French and Turkish.

An analysis of the spelling errordata show that children educated inTurkey in their early years made moreerrors in French than Turkish[t(13)=4.58, p<0.001]. Children whoreceived their early education inFrance made three times more errorson average in Turkish than French[t(13)=11.29, p<0.0001]. There was asignificant difference between the twoeducation groups on Turkish errors

Turkish alphabet French alphabet

a b c ç d e f g ğ h ı ij k l m n o ö p r s ş tu ü v y z

a b c d e f g h i j k lm n o p q r s t u v wx y z

Table 1: Turkish and French alphabets (letters in bold are unique to each alphabet)

Figure 1: Orthographic transparency continuum based on mappings between print and sound in alphabetic writing systems (Raman, 1999)


[t(26) = 5.76, p<0.025] as well asFrench errors [t(26) = 7.08, p<0.0001].Children who received their earlyeducation in French made morespelling errors in Turkish than chil-dren who received their education inTurkish. Formal analysis confirmedthe main effect between French andTurkish errors [F(1,26) = 5.89, p< 0.02]and also showed a significant interac-tion between the disproportionateerrors two education groups make inthe two languages [F(1,26) = 101.23p<0.0001].

Our analysis of the spelling errordata showed that Turkish educatedchildren made more errors in Frenchthan Turkish and French educatedchildren made three times more errorson average in Turkish than French.Our results provide insight to a bilin-gual model of spelling from a develop-mental perspective and the transfer-ring of phonological and orthographicskills between L1 and L2.

REFERENCES

Baluch, B & Besner, D. (1991).Visual word recognition:Evidence for strategic control oflexical and nonlexical routinesin oral reading. Journal ofExperimental Psychology: Learning, Memory andCognition,17, 644 652.

Besner, D. (1999). Basic processesin reading: Multiple routines inlocalist and connectionist models. In P. A. McMullen & R.M. Klein (Eds.), Convergingmethods for understanding read-ing and dyslexia. Cambridge,MA: MIT Press.

Besner, D. & Smith, M. C. (1992).Basic Processes in reading: Is theorthographic depth

hypothesis sinking? In R. Frost& L. Katz (Eds.), Advances inpsychology: orthography,phonology, morphology andmeaning. North-Holland.

Bosman, A.M.T. & Van Orden,G.C. (1997). Why spelling ismore difficult than reading. Charles A Perfetti, Rieben,Laurence & Fayol, Michel (Eds).Learning to spell: Research,theory, and practice across lan-guages. (pp. 173-194). xv, 370pp. Mahwah, NJ, US: LawrenceErlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Carr, T. H. & Pollatsek, A. (1985).Recognizing printed words: Alook at current models. In D. Besner, T.G. Waller, and G.E.MacKinnon (eds.) ReadingResearch: Advances in Theory and Practice. AcademicPress.

Coltheart, M. (1980). Reading,phonological recoding and deepdyslexia. In M. Coltheart, K. Patterson & J.C. Marshall(Eds.), Deep dyslexia. London:Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins,P. & Haller, M. (1993). Modelsof reading aloud: Dual route and parallel distributed process-ing approaches. PsychologicalReview, 100, 589 608.

Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry,C., Langdon, R., Ziegler, J.(2001). DRC: A dual route cas-caded model of visual wordrecognition and reading aloud.Psychological Review,108, 204-256.

Ellis, A.W. (1984). Reading, writ-ing, and dyslexia: a cognitiveanalysis. London: LawrenceErlbaum.

Geva, E., Wade-Woolley, L. &Shany, M. (1993). The concur-

rent development of spellingand decoding in two different

orthographies. Journal ofReading Behavior. 25(4), 383-406.

Raman, I. (1999). Single-word nam-ing in a transparent alphabeticorthography. Unpublished PhDthesis, Middlesex University

Raman, I. & Baluch, B. (2001).Semantic effects as a function ofreading skill in word naming of a transparent orthography.Reading and Writing. AnInterdisciplinary Journal, 14, 599-614.

Raman, I., Baluch, B. & Besner, D.(2004). On the Control of VisualWord Recognition: Changing Routes VersusChanging Deadlines. Memoryand Cognition, 32 (3), 489-500.

Raman, I., Baluch, B. & Sneddon, P.(1996). What is the cognitivesystem’s preferred route for deriving phonology from print?European Psychologist, 1, 221-227.

Sprenger-Charolles, L. & Siegel, L.S.(1997). A longitudinal study ofthe effects of syllabic structure on the development ofreading and spelling skills inFrench. Applied Psycholinguistics. 18(4), 485-505.

Seymour, P.H., Aro, M. & Erskine,J.M. (2003). Foundation literacyacquisition in European orthographies. British Journal ofPsychology, 94(2), 143-74.

Van Hell, J. G., & de Groot, A. M.(1998). Conceptual representa-tion in bilingual memory: Effects of concreteness and cog-nate status in word association.Bilingualism, 1, 193-211.

Ziegler, J.C. & Goswami, U. (2005).Reading Acquisition,Developmental Dyslexia, and Skilled Reading AcrossLanguages: A PsycholinguisticGrain Size Theory. PsychologicalBulletin. 131(1), 3-29.


Gene therapy provides possible treatmentoppurtunities for many diseases that arecurrently considered as incurable in thefields of medicine, pharmaceutical sci-ences and biotechnology (Li et. al., 2002;Conwell, & Huang 2005; Park et. al.,2006). Gene therapy is an evolving tech-nique aiming to treat many diseases suchas genetic diseases, cancers, and AIDS(Wong et. al., 2007; Rissanen &Herttualla 2007). The medical procedureof gene therapy involves correction of thedisorder by replacement of malfunctionaland/or nonfunctional genes with normalgenes.

Gene delivery depends on the encap-sulation of the gene of interest and itsdelivery to the target cell. After absorp-tion by endocytosis (uptake of moleculesinto cells), the DNA must be released intothe target cell in order for gene expres-sion to take place. Gene expression is theprocess by which inheritable informationfrom a gene is made into a functionalproduct, such as protein or RNA. Geneexpression involves transcription (synthe-sis of RNA under the direction of DNA)and translation (process by which ribo-somes synthesize protein using the RNAtranscript produced during transcripton).Gene delivery systems should be designedto protect the genes from degradation inblood until they reach their target cell (Liet. al., 2002; Conwell & Huang 2005).

The current available gene deliverycarriers are mainly of two types; viral andnon-viral vectors. Viral vectors are bio-logical carriers. They are used to infectcells and thus the transfer of their geneticmaterials into the cells that they infect isenabled. Even though viral vectors have

more efficient gene expression, one of thesignificant disadvantages of viral deliverysystems is the generation of immuneresponses against the expressed viral pro-teins. As a result of the immune response,target cell is killed and the therapeuticgene product is not produced. Anotherdisadvantage is the high cost of producinglarge amounts of viral vectors (Li et. al.,2002; Conwell & Huang 2005; Park et. al.,2006; Wong et. al., 2007).

In attempts to overcome the problemsof viral delivery systems, synthetic (non-viral) vectors such as cationic lipids andpolymers have been developed as genecarrier molecules. Non-viral vectors aremore cost effective and are easier to pro-duce than viral vectors. Furthermore,non-viral vectors are less hazardous interms of antigen-specific immuneresponse.

However, current non-viral vectorsused could lead to certain problems. Thecharacteristics of the encapsulating poly-mer or lipid, such as their chemical struc-tures (length, saturation or branching ofthe polymer) may cause toxicity in non-viral vector mediated systems. The morebiodegradable and biocompatible the vec-tors are, the less toxicity they produce.The ideal gene delivery carriers would

have desired properties such as cell-speci-ficity, minimal immune response genera-tion, efficient release of DNA into cellsand large DNA capacity (Li et. al., 2002;Conwell & Huang 2005; Park et. al.,2006; Wong et. al., 2007; Godbey &Mikos 2001; Luten et. al., 2008).

Having completed my masters degreeunder the supervision of Elvan Yılmazand Osman Yılmaz on preparation, char-acterization and metal adsorption proper-ties of chitosan tripolyphosphate gels, Ihave gained background information andsome experience on chemical and physi-cal properties and potential applicationareas of the biopolymer chitosan.Chitosan is a β-1-4 linked copolymer ofglucosamine and N-acetyl glucosamine asshown in Figure 1, and is obtained by thealkaline deacetylation of chitin, which isthe second most abundant natural poly-mer. Chitin is found in the exoskeletonsof crustaceans and insects (Sashiwa &Aiba 2004). It has been considered to be agood gene carrier candidate, because ofits low toxicity, low immunogenicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability(Sashiwa & Aiba 2004; Shi et. al., 2006).Its cationic polyelectrolyte nature pro-vides the ability to bind effectively withnegatively charged DNA molecules.However efforts to improve, the cell-specificity and transfection (expression ofa gene that has been introduced into atarget cell to change an existing functionor to introduce a new function ) efficien-cy of chitosan are necessary for itsimprovement as a gene carrier candidate.In my Ph.D. thesis work which will besupervised by Elvan Yılmaz and Osman

An alternative approach togene delivery in gene therapy

By Zülal Yalınca

Student Research Profile

Fig. 1: Chitosan structure


Yılmaz in colaboration with HasanUludağ from University of Alberta,Canada, we aim to overcome currentproblems associated with existing non-viral delivery vectors. We are workingon chemical modification of chitosan totailor a new non-viral gene carrier withoptimum transfection efficiency of thechitosan-DNA complex. Optimization ofmolecular weight, degree of deacetylationas well as achieving a balance betweenhydrophilicity and hydrophobicity arethe specific aims of my doctoral disserta-tion project.

The optimium use of modified chi-tosan as a non-viral gene carrier willexpand the application of gene therapy.We aim to design a modified chitosangene carrier with multiple propertiessuch as high transfection, low immuno-genicity and low toxicity.

REFERENCES

Conwell, C.C. and Huang L. (2005).Recent Advances in Non-ViralGene delivery in Nonviral Vectorsfor Gene Therapy. Part 1.Advances in Genetics, Edited by L.Huang, M.C. Hung, E. Wagner, 53.

Godbey, W.T., and Mikos A.G. (2001).Recent progress in gene deliveryusing non-viral transfer complexes.Journal of Controlled Release, 72,115–125.

Jeong, J.H., Kim S.W., and Park T.G.(2007). Molecular design of func-tional polymers for gene therapy.Progress Polymer Science, 32,1239–1274.

Li, S., Ma Z., Tan Y., Liu F., Dileo J.,and Huang L (2002). Targeted genedelivery via lipidic vectors inVector Targeting for TherapeuticGene Delivery. Edited by D.T.Currel and J.T. Douglas.

Luten, J., Van Nostrum C.F., De SmedtS.C., and Hennink W.E. (2008).Biodegradable polymers as non-

viral carriers for plasmid DNAdelivery. Journal of ControlledRelease, 126, 97–110.

Park, T.G., Jeong J.H., and Kim S.W.(2006). Current status of polymericgene delivery systems. AdvancedDrug Delivery Reviews, 58, 467-486.

Rissanen, T.T. and Herttualla S.Y.(2007). Current status of cardiovas-cular Gene Therapy. MolecularTherapy, 15, 1233-1247.

Sashiwa, H. and Aiba S. (2004).Chemically modified chitin andchitosan as biomaterials. Progressin Polymer Science, 29, 887-908.

Shi, C., Zhu Y., Ran X., Wang M, Su Y.,and Cheng T. (2006). Therapeuticpotential of chitosan and its deriva-tives in regenerative medicine.Journal of Surgical Research, 133,185–192.

Wong, S.Y., Pelet J.M., and Putnam D.(2007). Polymer systems for genedelivery—Past, present, and future.Progress in Polymer Science, 32,799–837.


The following is a list of students who have successfully com-pleted their postgraduate degrees in Fall 2007-2008 academicyear. The list has been provided by EMU Institute of GraduateStudies and Research. On behalf of EMU family, we congratulateour graduates and wish them continued success.

� MA �

International RelationsDilşat HüdaverdioğluThesis Title: The Concept of Self-Defence In Theory andPractice of International LawSupervisor: Wojciech Forysinski

Turkish Language and LiteratureGökçin Billuroğlu Thesis Title: Kıbrıs Ağzında Şart ve Dilek KipleriSupervisor: Vügar Sultanzade

� M.Arch. �

ArchitectureAzin Dilmaghani Thesis Title: A New Interpretation of Spatiality In Terms ofArchetypes as Transitional Elements in ArchitectureSupervisor: Hifsiye Pulhan

Sourina Mehryar Thesis Title: Division of Interior Spaces (an Assessment on FrankLloyd Wright's Buildings Interiors) Supervisor: İbrahim Numan

� MBA �

Business AdministrationMohammad Hassan Kheiravar Thesis Title: The Role of SMEs on Employment Creation: TheCase of IranSupervisor: Şule Aker

� M.Ed. �

Educational SciencesBircan Şimşek Thesis Title: The Influence of the Social Skill Education Courseon Students Character DevelopmentSupervisor: Nalan Ş. Richard

� MS �

Applied Mathematics and Computer ScienceHasan Rüstemoğlu Thesis Title: Mathematical Achievements of AncientMesopotamia, Egypt, India and GreeceSupervisor: Hüseyin Etikan

ChemistryÖzbir AkbaşakThesis Title: Fluorescence Resonance Enrgy Transfer (FRET)with Chiral Perylene DyesSupervisor: Huriye İcil

Civil EngineeringMani Zahed Anaraki Thesis Title: Comparison and Optimal Design Selection of Steeland Reinforced Concrete Framed Building Based on Life CycleCostingSupervisor: Mürüde ÇelikağCo-Supervisor: Abdulrezak Mohamed

Computer EngineeringLaika Karşılı Thesis Title: A Radon Transform and PCA Hybrid for HighPerformance Face RecognitionSupervisor: Adnan Acan

EconomicsUmut SoytaşThesis Title: Economic Convergence Analyses across the Regionsand Provinces of Turkey:1975-2001Supervisor: Sevin Uğural

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringAhmet Emre GöküşThesis Title: Object Recognition Using Video Sequence onConveyer LineSupervisor: Hasan Demirel

Industrial EngineeringMohammad Mesgarpour Thesis Title: Developing a Simulated Annealing Model toMinimize Total Flowtime and Total Tardiness in Two-MachineFlowshop Scheduling ProblemsSupervisor: Nureddin KırkavakCo-Supervisor: Hakan Özaktaş

Fall 2007-2008 Postgraduate Degrees


Mechanical EngineeringBirol Arif Pekin Thesis Title: Flow Structures Behind Bluff BodiesSupervisor: Hasan Hacışevki

Mohammed Lawal Isa Yahaya Thesis Title: Design and Analysis of a Low Pressure ThermalDesalination SystemSupervisor: Hikmet S. Aybar

PhysicsHanifa Teimourian Thesis Title: A Solution of a source free Maxwell Equation in thebackground field of a stationary cosmic stringSupervisor: Özay Gürtuğ

Tourism ManagementAlheri Bawa Magaji Thesis Title: Sexual Harrassment of Students UndergoingPractical Training: Evidence from North CyprusSupervisor: İlkay Yorgancı

Deniz Çırakoğlu Thesis Title: Social, Cultural and Economic Impacts of Second-home Owners on the Host Community: The Case of YeniErenköySupervisor: Mine Haktanır

Güven Feriha Baha Thesis Title: Percieved Organizational Justice, Trust andOrganizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB): A study of FrontLine Employees in 3,4 and 5 star Hotels of Northern CyprusSupervisor: Hüseyin Araşlı

Hakan Mutlucan Thesis Title: Social, Cultural and Economic Impact ofEducational Tourism on Host Population: A Case of EMU, TRNCSupervisor: İlkay Yorgancı

Lindsay Fishburn Thesis Title: Peacebuilding through Christian Heritage TourismDevelopment in the TRNC: Perceptions from both Sides of theGreen LineSupervisor: İlkay Yorgancı

Lorina Bekteshii Thesis Title: The Effects of Work-Family Conflict and Facilitation on Frontline Employee Outcomes: A Study in the Albanian Hotel IndustrySupervisor: Osman Karatepe

Yusuf Çocuk Thesis Title: Performance Measurement Application in 4 and 5Star Hotels in Northern CyprusSupervisor: Mine Haktanır

� LLM �

LawMine Vehit Thesis Title: Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesinin 6. MaddesindeYer Alan Adil Yargılanma Hakkı Işığında KKTC AskeriMahkemeleriSupervisor: Turgut Turhan

Rasiha ErçakıcaThesis Title: Türk Hukukunda ve Kıbrıs Türk HukukundaBoşanmada Tazminat ve NafakaSupervisor: Ali Erten

� Ph.D. �

Computer EngineeringÖykü Akaydın Thesis Title: Efficient Parallel Algorithm for Modelling OpenRegion Finite Difference Time DomainSupervisor: Omar Ramadan

Mechanical EngineeringMahdi Arhami Ashkan Thesis Title: Assessment of Mechanical Behavior of TwoDifferent Aluminum Matrix-SiCp Reinforced CompositesSupervisor: Filiz SarıoğluCo-Supervisor: Majid Hashemıpour

ArchitectureKağan Günce Thesis Title: A Method for Visual Analysis of Architectural FormSupervisor: Zafer Ertürk


� Journal Publications (SCI, SSCI, AHCI) �

The journal publications listed here are those that are listedin Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI), ScienceCitation Index (SCI), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded), or Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).

Agarwal RP, Djebali S, Moussaoui T, Mustafa OG andRogovchenko YV. (2007) “On the asymptotic behavior ofsolutions to nonlinear ordinary differential equations.”Asymptotic Analysis 54(1-2): 1-50.

Aldabbagh LBY, Manesh HF and Mohamad AA. (2008)“Unsteady natural convection inside a porous enclosureheated from the side.” Journal of Porous Media 11(1) 73-83.

Aliev RA, Fazlollahi B, Guirimov B and Aliev RR. (2007)“Fuzzy-genetic approach to aggregate production-distribu-tion planning in supply chain management.” InformationSciences 177(20): 4241-4255.

Aliev RA, Fazlollahi B, Aliev RR and Guirimov B. (2008)“Linguistic time series forecasting using fuzzy recurrentneural network.” Soft Computing 12(2): 183-190.

Altincay H. (2007) “Decision trees using model ensemble-based nodes.” Pattern Recognition 40(12): 3540-3551.

Bal M, Manesh HF and Hashemipour M. (2008) “Virtual-reality-based information requirements analysis tool forCIM system implementation: a case study in die-castingindustry.” International Journal of Computer IntegratedManufacturing 21( 3): 231-244.

Bengisu M, Yilmaz E, Farzad H and Reis ST. (2008) “Borate,lithium borate, and borophosphate powders by sol-gel pre-cipitation.” Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology45(3): 237-243.

Daoud DS. (2007) “Overlapping Schwarz waveform relax-ation method for the solution of the forward-backward heatequation.” Journal of Computational and AppliedMathematics 208(2): 380-390.

Duman O and Ozarslan MA. (2007) “Szasz-Mirakjan an typeoperators providing a better error estimation.” AppliedMathematics Letters 20(12): 1184-1188.

Duman O, Ozarslan MA and Aktuglu H. (2008) “Bettererror estimation for Szasz-Mirakjan-Beta operators.” Journal

Recent Publications and Presentations (October 2007 - March 2008)

of Computational Analysis and Applications 10(1): 53-59. Faustmann H and Kaymak E. (2007) “Cyprus.” EuropeanJournal of Political Research 46(7-8): 916-928.

Gharebaghi M and Sezai I. (2008) “Enhancement of heattransfer in latent heat storage modules with internal fins.”Numerical Heat Transfer Part A-Applications 53(7): 749-765.

Guler M. (2007) “Dissipative stochastic mechanics for cap-turing neuronal dynamics under the influence of ion chan-nel noise: Formalism using a special membrane.” PhysicalReview E 76(4): 041918.

Harpster M and Coureas N. (2008) “Codex Palatinus Graecus367: A thirteenth-century method of determining vesselburden.” Mariners Mirror 94(1): 8-20.

Mahmudov NI and Mckibben MA. (2007) “On a class ofbackward Mckean-Vlasov stochastic equations in Hilbertspace: Existence and convergence properties.” DynamicSystems and Applications 16(4): 643-664.

Mazharimousavi SH and Halilsoy M. (2007) “5D black holesolution in Einstein-Yang-Mills-Gauss-Bonnet theory.”Physical Review D 76(8): 087501.

Mazharimousavi SH and Halilsoy M. (2008) “Einstein-Yang-Mills black hole solution in higher dimensions by the Wu-Yang ansatz.” Physics Letters B 659(3): 471-475.

Miles C. (2007) “Modern occult rhetoric: Mass media andthe drama of secrecy in the twentieth century.”Pomegranate 9(2): 192-194.

Miles C. (2007) “The occult mind: Magic in theory andpractice.” Pomegranate 9(2): 198-199.

Mohamed ON and Deniz DZ. (2008) “Fixed and dynamicbandwidth allocation strategies for wireless mobile integrat-ed services networks.” Wireless Networks 14(1): 121-131.

Mustafa O and Mazharimousavi SH. (2008) “First-orderintertwining operators with position dependent mass andeta-weak-pseudo-Hermiticity generators.” InternationalJournal of Theoretical 47(2): 446-454.

Ozarslan MA and Duman O. (2008) “Local approximation results for Szasz-Mirakjan type operators.” Archiv DerMathematik 90(2):144-149.


Ramadan O and Akaydin O. (2008) “Efficient parallel PMLalgorithms for truncating finite difference time domain sim-ulations.” Electrical Engineering 90(3): 175-180.

Ramadan O. (2008) “Unconditionally stable locally onedimensional wave equation PML algorithm for truncating2-D FDTD simulations.” Microwave and OpticalTechnology Letters 50(1): 18-22.

Refiker HS, Merdivan M and Aygun RS. (2008) “Solid-phaseextraction of silver in geological samples and its determina-tion by FAAS.” Separation Science and Technology 43(1):179-191.

Salamah M and Doukhnitch E. (2008) “An efficient algo-rithm for mobile objects localization.” International Journalof Communication Systems 21(3): 301-310.

Sarper H and Aybay I. (2007) “A video locality basedbuffering mechanism for VoD systems.” IEEE Transactionson Consumer Electronics 53(4): 1521-1528.

Shibliyev J and Osam N. (2008) “Language policy: Hiddenagendas and new approaches.” Journal of Sociolinguistics12(1): 122-124.

Yorgancioglu F and Komurcugil H. (2008) “Single-inputfuzzy-like moving sliding surface approach to the slidingmode control.” Electrical Engineering 90(3): 199-207.

Zhang P. (2008) “Automorphisms of braid groups on S-2, T-2, P-2 and the Klein bottle K.” Journal of Knot Theory andits Ramifications 17(1): 47-53.

� Other Refereed Journals �

Aker S. (2008) “Major Determinants of Imports in Turkey.”Turkish Studies 9(1): 131-145.

Ghosh BN. (2008) “Rich Doctors and Poor Patients: MarketFailure and Health Care Systems in Developing Countries.”Journal of Contemporary Asia 38(2): 259-276.

Guler M. (2007) “Channel noise induced transition fromquiescence to bursting in the dissipative stochastic mechan-ics based model neuron.” Dynamics of Continuous Discreteand Impulsive System A, Supplement, Advances in NeuralNetworks 14(1): 664-670.

Gunce K, Erturk Z and Erturk S. (2008) “Questioning the‘Prototype Dwellings’ in the Framework of Cyprus

Traditional Architecture.” Building and EnvironmentJournal 43(12): 823-833.

Karatepe OM, Arasli H and Khan A. (2007) “The Impact ofSelf-Efficacy on Job Outcomes of Hotel Employees:Evidence from Northern Cyprus.” International Journal ofHospitality and Tourism Administration 8(4): 23-46.

Karatepe OM and Uludag O. (2008) “Affectivity, Conflictsin the Work-Family Interface, and Hotel EmployeeOutcomes.” International Journal of HospitalityManagement 27(1): 30-41.

Karatepe OM and Uludag O. (2008) “Role Stress, Burnoutand their Effects on Frontline Hotel Employees’ JobPerformance.” International Journal of Tourism Research10(2): 111-126.

Matis TI, Rangan A and Thyagarajan D. (2007) “Optimalreplacement policies of repairable systems subject toshocks.” International Journal of Industrial and SystemsEngineering 2(3): 286 - 298.

Prykarpatsky AK, Bogoliubov NN, Golenia J and Taneri U.(2008) “Introductive Backgrounds to Modern QuantumMathematics with Application to Nonlinear DynamicalSystems.” The Abdus Salam International Centre forTheoretical Physics (ICTP).

Vural Y and Peristianis N. (2008) “Beyond Ethno-Nationalism: Emerging Trends in Cypriot Politics after theAnnan Plan.” Nations and Nationalism 14(1): 39-60.

� Conference Papers �

Amca H and Celebi E. “Using Mobile Telephone as anOperator Independent, Secure Micro-Payment Tool.” inProceedings of International Joint Conferences onComputer, Information, and Systems Sciences, andEngineering (CISSE2007), California, USA, December 2007.

Atasoylu E. “Engineering Education: Globalization Efforts -Challenges And Achievements On A Small Divided Island.”in Proceedings of the ASEE 6th Global Colloquium onEngineering Education (GC 2007-106), Istanbul, Turkey,October 2007.

Badakhshan M and Arifler D. “Simulation Based Analysis ofSpreading Dynamics of Malware in Wireless SensorNetworks.” in Proceedings of International Conference onSensor Technologies and Applications (SensorComm 2007),pp. 164-169, Valencia, Spain, October 2007.


Celebi SI. “An experimental study of argument strength andsource credibility on advertising effectiveness.” inProceedings of the International Colloquium on Businessand Management (ICBM), Bangkok, Thailand, November2007.

Demirel H and Anbarjafari G. "Pose Invariant FaceRecognition Using Image Histograms." in Proceedings ofThe 3rd International Conference On Computer VisionTheory and Applications (VISAPP 2008), pp. 282-285,Portugal, January 2008.

Douknitch E and Salamah M. “Simple hardware-orientedalgorithms for typical 2-d positioning problems.” inProceedings of IEEE International Symposium onIntelligent Signal Processing (WISP 2007), pp. 1-5, Wales,UK, October 2007.

Emirzade E and Bitirim Y. “Resim Arama MotorlarınınSorgu Sözcük Sayısına Göre Performans Değerlendirmeleri.”in Proceedings of Değişen Dünyada Bilgi YönetimiSempozyumu (BY), pp. 99-104, Hacettepe University,Ankara, Turkey, October 2007.

Erbilek M and Toygar O. “Reducing the Effect of PartialOcclusions on Iris Recognition.” in Proceedings of 3rdInternational Conferennce on Computer Vision Theory andApplications (VISAPP08), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal,January 2008.

Erbilek M and Toygar O. “Iris Recognition on PartiallyOccluded Images.” in Proceedings of 22nd InternationalSymposium on Computer and Information Sciences(ISCIS07), Ankara, Turkey, November 2007.

Khaddar MM. “Muslim Countries, the Middle East andTurkish Cypriot People of North Cyprus: The Organizationof the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Turkish Republicof Northern Cyprus (TRNC).” in Proceedings of theInternational Conference on Middle East and North Cyprus:Perspective in Political, Economic and Strategic Issues, pp.123-139, Eastern Mediterranean University Center forStrategic Studies, TRNC, March 2008.

Komurcugil H. “Passivity-Based Control of Single-PhasePWM Current-Source Inverters.” in Proceedings of the 33rdAnnual Conference of the IEEE Industrial ElectronicsSociety (IECON’07), pp. 545-550, Taipei, Taiwan, November2007.

Marans WR, Stimson R, Turkoglu H, Keul A and Oktay D.“A Multi-City Program of Research on Quality of Urban

Life.” in Proceedings of 8th Conference of the InternationalSociety for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS 2008), SanDiego, California, USA, December 2007.

Nadiri H and Tumer M. "An Empirical Study to MeasureService Quality for Retail Stores: LEMAR Retail ChainStores." in Proceedings of the 12th Annual NationalMarketing Conference on Competition, Marketing andRetailing, pp. 297-320, Sakarya, Turkey, October 2007.

Opiyo B, Gorpe S and Celebi SI. “Public diplomacy & thequest to end international isolation by the Turkish Republicof Northern Cyprus (TRNC).” in Proceedings of The 12thAnnual AUSACE International Conference: Communicationat the Crossroad of Globalization, Zayed University, Dubai,United Arab Emirates, October 2007.

Salamah M, Doukhnitch E and Bayramer C. “A DynamicHardware-Oriented Algorithm for Angle of ArrivalPositioning Technique.” in Proceedings of the IEEEInternational Conference on Signal Processing andCommunication (ICSPC07), pp. 201-204, Dubai, UAE,November 2007.

Shibliyev J. “Lingua-symbolic Reflection of Power: theLinguistic Landscape of Azerbaijan.” in Proceedings of The8th CESS Annual Conference, University of Washington,Seattle, WA, USA, 18-21 October 2007.

Sozen A. “New Principles of Turkish Foreign PolicyMaking” in Proceedings of the 49th International StudiesAssociation Annual Conference, San Fransisco, California,March 2008.

Sultanzade V. “Aslı Bozulmuş Aşık Şiiri Metinlerinin BirTamir Usulü.” in Proceedings of IV. Uluslararası Türk DiliKurultayı Bildirileri, pp. 1633-1637, Ankara, Türkiye, Ekim2007.

Sultanzade V. “Ünlü Uyumu Türleri meselesi ve KıbrısAğzında Ünlü Uyumu.” in Proceedings of Türk Dil veKültürünün En Eski Dönemleri - Tarihi Gelişme Çizgisi -Kırıs'a Ulaşması - Bugünkü Durumu Uluslararası BilgiŞöleni Bildirileri, pp. 104-111, Kyrenia TRNC February,2008.

Tanyeli N. "How Efficiently can Web Assist EnglishLanguage Instruction?" in Proceedings of the InternationalTechnology, Education, and Development Conference(INTED2008), Valencia, Spain, March 2008.


Tumer M and Nadiri H. "Market Orientation andCompetition: An Empirical Study in Production Sector ofthe Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus." in Proceedingsof the 12th Annual National Marketing Conference onCompetition, Marketing and Retailing, pp. 99-112, Sakarya,Turkey, October 2007.

Yorgancioglu F and Komurcugil H. “Fuzzy Moving SlidingSurface Approach to the Hierarchical Sliding ModeControl.” in Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference ofthe IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IECON’07), pp.659-664, Taipei, Taiwan, November 2007.

� Conference Presentations �

Cakal H. “I Do Not Speak Your Language: Majority-Minority Research Problems and Solutions.” InternationalConference on Studying Ethnic Minorities – MethodologicalApproaches in Qualitative Research, SFI – The DanishNational Centre for Social Research, Copenhagen, Denmark,December 2007.

Cakal H. “Accumulated contact and prejudice in Pyla,Cyprus.” International Symposium: Intergroup contact andthe Building of Trust: The case of Northern Ireland andCyprus, the AD HOC committee of the Association of SocialPsychology, Ledra Palace Buffer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus,November 2007.

Chefranov AG. “One-Time Password Authentication withInfinite Hash Chains.” International Joint Conferences onComputer, Information and Systems Sciences andEngineering (CIS2E 07), IEEE, Third InternationalConference on Telecommunications and Networking (TENE07), University of Bridgeport, USA, December, 2007.

Erhurman T. "Kıbrıs'ta Demokrasi ve Siyasal Yapı." Kıbrıs'ıAnlamak Sempozyumu, İstanbul, Mart 2008.

Erozan F. “Linguistic Landscape as a Marker of LanguagePower: Cyprus.” The 8th CESS Annual Conference,University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, October 2007.

Ilic S. “The Mawlawihane of Sarajevo and the MawlawiCulture of the 17th Century Ottoman Bosnia.” InternationalMaulana Jalal-ad Din Rumi Conference, Tehran, Iran,October 2007.

Ilic S. “The Legacy and the Influence of Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi and Mevlevism in the Post-Ottoman Bosnia.”International Symposium on the Traces of Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi in the World, Konya, Turkey,December 2007.

Kunt N. “Who are using the communication strategies more effectively?” 14th International Conference Greek Applied Linguistic Association on Advances in Research onLanguage Acquisition and Teaching, Thessaloniki, Greece,December 2007.

Onurkan G, Basri F and Unveren Z. "Error correction sym-bols: do they really work?" EgypTesol 2007: Best Practice inTEFL, Cairo, Egypt, November 2007.

Sultanzade V and Billuroglu G. “Kıbrıs Ağzında Şartın İfadeVasıtaları.” Uluslararası Kıbrıs Araştırmaları Kongresi,Famagusta, TRNC, October 2007.

Sururi A. “Friendship and Self-Love: Can the Stoic Wise beA Genuine Friend.” 2nd Global Conference, Persons,Intimacy and Love: Probing the Boundaries, Salzburg,Austria, March 2008.

Tanyeli N and Gunkan M. “Changes in the Patterns ofLanguage Teaching.” International Technology, Educationand Development Conference, Valencia, Spain, March 2008.

Wall J. “The Topology of the Marginalized Voice.” DefiningSpace Conference, Dublin, October 2007.

Wall J. “Medbh McGuckian's The Face of the Earth: theIdentity and the Indigestible Bits." IDEOGRAMA: To Be orwhat to Be, Nicosia, March 2008.

� Books �

Aliev RA and Aliev RR. (2007). Control Theory. Baku,Chashioglu.

Bayraktar N, Binbir B, Karakus C, Hurol T, Sahin Y,Tekkaya O and Poursani E. (2008). Çocuk ve Mimarlık,Toplumsal bir Eğitim Modeli. Ankara: TMMOB MimarlarOdası Ankara Şubesi ve Heinrich Böll Stiftung Derneği.


Erhurman T. (2007). Kıbrıs'ta Akıl Tutulması (KıbrıslıTürklerde Modernleşme ve Hukuk). Lefkoşa: Işık KitabeviYayınları.

Sozen A. (2007). Reflections on the Cyprus Problem: ACompilation of Recent Academic Contributions. Famagusta:EMU Publishing.

Turhan T. (2008). Avrupalı Üniversite (YükseköğretimdeGüncel Yönelimler/Eğilimler). Famagusta: EMU Publishing.

� Book Chapters �

Colak Y. (2008). “Neo-Ottomanism, Cultural Diversity andContemporary Turkish Politics.” in R. Detrez & B. Segarth.The EU & the Historical Legacies in the Balkans (pp. 143-156). Brussels: Peter Lang.

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