Automorphisms of the mapping class group of a nonorientable surface

Let $S$ be a nonorientable surface of genus $g\ge 5$ with $n\ge 0$ punctures, and \Mcg(S) its mapping class group. We define the complexity of $S$ to be the maximum rank of a free abelian subgroup of \Mcg(S). Suppose that $S_1$ and $S_2$ are two such surfaces of the same complexity. We prove that every isomorphism \Mcg(S_1)\to\Mcg(S_2) is induced by a diffeomorphism $S_1\to S_2$. This is an analogue of Ivanov's theorem on automorphisms of the mapping class groups of an orientable surface, and also an extension and improvement of the first author's previous result.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, revision and corrections, to appear in Geometriae Dedicat

Characteristics of Historic Areas and Buildings in the City of Uşak and Recommendations for a Sustainable Conservation Area Approach

This article is on creating a conservation framework for the historic areas and houses of the city of Uşak, which represents peculiar examples of vernacular architecture of the Anatolian region. The city of Uşak is an Anatolian city with a rich historical background. Even though the history of Uşak dates back to 4000 years, most architectural evidence of history have disappeared except late 19th and early 20th century houses. They stand as signifiers the historic identity of the city. From the ancient times many different civilizations have settled and developed in Uşak in a wide variety of ways of life, concepts and forms. Uşak has always been a most important regional location between Europe and Asia. Also it has experienced migration and settlement of various cultures and civilization through time. Through the influence of climatic and physical factors of the region and the historical variety of culture, the development of the Central Anatolian house form and culture has been comparatively significant. In Uşak, natural conditions had a direct and strong influence of the form of buildings and their construction. All factors have combined to produce a wide variety of forms and structures. Most of the traditional wooden houses are produced in the “himis” (Turkish traditional construction system which consist of wood and adobe) structural system technique. Uşak houses have been demonstrating qualities such as continuity of architectural identity, sustaining of collective memory, sustaining building techniques. There is an urgent need to include the Uşak houses as a conservation agenda to contemporary planning and design dynamics of the city. A sustainability framework for the conservation and reuse of these homes could be a major objective, fulfilling all or most environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects. In addition to this article aims to provide solution alternatives that provide measures for the conservation (and reuse) of the historical houses in Uşak

Importance of cultural heritage and conservation concept in the “architectural education”

The concept of culture includes the concept of “conservation” within itself. Conservation culture and education are two basic tools for the transfer of cultural heritage.  Education is at the forefront of activities that will contribute to the formation of conservation consciousness. People, who have a consciousness of conservation culture and consciousness of cultural heritage, will be able to both protect today and the past.In today's conditions where the impact of globalization is rapidly affecting our cities, it is fundamental to approach consciously cultural heritage and conservation culture. From this point of view, it is important to understand the conservation culture for the newly educated “Architectural students”. In this context, architectural education and curriculum are important. Are architectural course programs sufficient for students to enjoy cultural heritage and to take responsibility for protecting it? In this article, the necessity of teaching conservation culture in architectural education will be discussed. At the same time, the adequacy of the courses about conservation and cultural heritage in the curriculum will be investigated

Is the lockdown important to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic? Effects on psychology, environment and economy-perspective

COVID-19's daily increasing cases and deaths have led to worldwide lockdown, quarantine and some restrictions. This study aims to analyze the effect of lockdown days on the spread of coronavirus in countries. COVID-19 cases and lockdown days data were collected for 49 countries that implemented the lockdown between certain dates (without interruption). The correlation tests were used for data analysis based on unconstrained (normal) and constrained (Tukey-lambda). The lockdown days was significantly correlated with COVID-19 pandemic based on unconstrained (r = −0.9126, F-ratio = 6.1654; t-ratio = 2.40; prob > .0203 with 49 observations) and based on Tukey-lambda (r = 0.7402, λ = 0.14). The lockdown, one of the social isolation restrictions, has been observed to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic, and showed that the spread of the virus can be significantly reduced by this preventive restriction in this study. This study offers initial evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic can be suppressed by a lockdown. The application of lockdown by governments is also thought to be effective on psychology, environment and economy besides having impact on Covid-19