This thesis addresses the "tuning problem" in haptics by developing a human-in-the-loop Bayesian framework to estimate precise mechanical parameters from subjective preferences. The approach utilizes Gaussian Processes that learn from pairwise comparisons of different options to model latent utility functions. An Active Learning framework is adopted to intelligently select these comparison pairs. Experimental results across stiffness K, damping B, and distance D demonstrate that the model successfully converges to reference parameters. Furthermore, the study validates how coactive feedback accelerates convergence and helps the algorithm escape local optima.

Date: 22.01.2026 / 09:00 Place: A-212

This thesis develops a modular Value-at-Risk (VaR) framework tailored for the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) equity market. To overcome the failure of normality assumptions in emerging markets, we integrate volatility filtering with semi-parametric tail modeling. We introduce a dynamic scaling mechanism (kdyn​) that adjusts forecasts based on recent violations. Empirical analysis of 28 liquid stocks (2005–2025) shows that our adaptive Filtered Historical Simulation model achieves an 82.1% success rate in Conditional Coverage tests. These findings validate that decoupling volatility dynamics from tail shape significantly improves risk estimation stability during market stress.

Date: 12.01.2026 / 13:30 Place: A-212

Predicting surgical case durations accurately is essential for operating room scheduling and resource management of healthcare facilities. While everything relies on technology recently, enabling a system that predicts surgical durations using machine learning enhances accuracy, decreases workload of the healthcare personnel and increases patient satisfaction eventually. Using RFID-derived data to develop this machine learning model is more precise because the data source is not manually recorded. By dividing the available surgical data into three as short, medium and long, predictions are made by giving an estimation interval and the results are coherent with the literature according to the error rates.

Date: 13.01.2026 / 10:00 Place: A-212

This thesis proposes a unified framework for few-shot vision-language adaptation. Addressing the limitations of holistic image matching in models like CLIP, we introduce a dual-branch architecture combining global prompts with a locality-aware pathway. This local branch utilizes Value-Value (V-V) attention and Optimal Transport (OT) to enforce balanced, discriminative alignments between fine-grained image patches and class-specific prompts. Extensive evaluation on 11 benchmarks demonstrates state-of-the-art average accuracy. Furthermore, the framework exhibits superior Out-of-Distribution (OOD) robustness, offering a configurable trade-off between task specialization and generalized robustness.

Date: 05.01.2026 / 13:00 Place: A-212

This thesis study investigates the adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies among small and medium-sized IT enterprises in Türkiye. Using the Delphi method and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM), the research identifies key barriers and examines their interrelationships to reveal hierarchical influences. The study explores technological, organizational, and environmental determinants shaping GenAI adoption. Findings provide an empirically grounded framework that supports strategic decision-making for SMEs aiming to integrate generative AI effectively. The proposed model offers both theoretical insight and practical guidance for advancing AI-driven digital transformation.

Date: 22.12.2025 / 10:00 Place: B-116

This study presents a data-driven approach for modeling strong motion data and soil characteristics using generative AI. A Conditional Convolutional Variational Autoencoder was trained on amplitude and phase spectrograms of earthquake waveforms to generate realistic strong-motion data. The model, fine-tuned with limited site-specific data, effectively captures physical patterns and soil-dependent features without theoretical assumptions or heavy computation. Validation through fundamental site frequency analysis achieved an alignment score of 0.84, demonstrating that generated waveforms accurately reproduce site-specific frequency characteristics and distinguish between different locations.

Date: 03.11.2025 / 10:00 Place: A-212

This thesis examines technical debt (TD) in AI-integrated software projects by mapping debt cases to lifecycle processes defined in ISO/IEC 5338, 12207, and 15288. A dataset of 8 main and 24 subcategories of TD was systematically linked to 25 processes, with validation by a large language model, a domain expert, and two academic reviewers. Findings reveal uneven TD distribution, particularly in AI Data Engineering, Quality Assurance, and System Requirements Definition. The study highlights the interconnected nature of processes and proposes a process-based standard-driven approach to support sustainable reliability in AI-integrated systems.

Date: 01.09.2025 / 10:00 Place: B-116

This thesis examines the adoption of cloud computing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), highlighting both its transformative potential and the challenges it presents. While cloud solutions offer scalability, flexibility, and cost efficiency, SMEs face barriers such as limited resources, security concerns, and regulatory compliance. Through a meta-synthesis of existing studies, the research identifies key success factors and proposes a tailored framework that integrates technological, organizational, and strategic considerations. By bridging benefits with practical challenges, the study provides SMEs with a systematic approach to cloud migration, enhancing competitiveness in the digital economy.

Date: 28.08.2025 Place: A-212

This thesis tackles radiographic flaw detection in aluminium castings by pairing a new high-resolution X-ray dataset, annotated according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards, with self-supervised pretraining on synthetic radiographs. Standard detectors are benchmarked to establish baselines and reveal domain challenges. To mitigate data scarcity and class imbalance, class-specific synthetic samples are generated from a few publicly available references using Stable Diffusion and are employed for multi-positive contrastive pretraining. The resulting domain-aligned backbone, surpasses ImageNet-pretrained baseline on downstream tasks on the proposed dataset.

Date: 01.09.2025 / 15:00 Place: B-116

Green Renovator is a serious game that makes city-scale energy management tangible using a real neighborhood dataset. Players act as a local authority balancing retrofit investments, energy supply, technologies, and policy under uncertainty via a random-event system. An in-game encyclopedia and optional annual quiz support reflection. Evaluated with N=55 via SUS and custom awareness/learning and engagement instruments, results show consistent good usability and positive educational effects. Thematic insights reveal an understanding of interdependencies and call for more events/policy depth. The study offers a practical, replayable design with demonstrated promise.

Date: 28.08.2025 / 10:00 Place: A-212