Determining risk sources and strategies among farmers of contrasting risk awareness: A case study for Cukurova region of Turkey

In this paper, the results of a survey conducted in the Cukurova region of Turkey are presented. The aim of this research is to identify groups of farmers who differ in their risk sources and risk management strategies. The respondents to the survey were divided into three risk attitude groups, risk averse, risk seeking and risk neutral. Factor analysis has been conducted on information obtained from 112 farmers in 2000. From the findings of the research, risk sources were labelled as environmental, price, catastrophe, input costs, production and technological, political, finance, personal, marketing, health and social security. The dimensions of risk strategies were named as diversification, off-farm income, marketing, planning, financing and security.     

A review of considerations on seismic safety of embankments and earth and rock-fill dams

An attempt has been made to summarise the methods of approach used in assessing the dynamic behaviour and safety of earth and rock-fill dams under seismic shaking until about the present time, from the soil engineer's point of view. Shortcomings of the pseudo-static method, procedures to estimate the permanent deformations, liquefaction effects, and experience gained from the previous events have been reviewed. Observing that the most important cause of instability is the occurence liquefaction during ground motions, cyclic approach and steady-state approach in assessing the liquefaction potential have been addressed and recent practical approaches of analysis and design have been referred. It has been found noteworthy to recall that incidence of failure or serious damage to well-engineered dams has not been experienced, even under strong ground shaking.     

Kinetics of fine wet grinding of zeolite in a steel ball mill in comparison to dry grinding

Batch wet grinding of zeolite was studied with emphasis on a kinetic study in a laboratory size steel ball mill of 200 mm diameter. The breakage parameters were determined by using the single sized feed fractions of − 850 + 600 µm, − 600 + 425 µm and − 425 + 300 µm for the zeolite samples. The S_i (specific rate of breakage) and B_i,j (primary breakage distribution) values were obtained for those feed size fractions in order to predict the product size distributions by simulation for comparison to the experimental data. The specific rates of breakage values for wet grinding in the first-order breakage region were higher than the dry values reported previously by a factor 1.7 at the same experimental conditions, but the primary breakage distribution (B_i,j) values were approximately the same. The simulations of the product size distributions of zeolite were in good agreement with the experimental data using a standard ball mill simulation program. The wet grinding of zeolite was subjected to slowing-down effect in the mill at 2 min of grinding, corresponding to an 80% passing size of about 400 µm. On the other hand, the slowing down effect in the dry grinding of zeolite was also seen at 4 min of grinding. In addition, effects of some operational parameters on dry and wet grinding of zeolite were determined by simulation using the breakage parameters obtained experimentally.     

Environmental conditions and biological community of the Penzhina and Talovka hypertidal estuary (northwest Kamchatka) in the ice-free season

New data on the abiotic conditions; species composition; abundance, distribution, and migrations of fauna; and feeding interactions in an estuary ecosystem were obtained during expeditions in the mouths of Penzhina and Talovka rivers (northwest Kamchatka). It is revealed that in the ice-free season, the hydrological regime of the estuary is determined by seasonal fluctuations of river runoff, as well as fortnightly and daily variation of tides. The estuary is characterized by hypertidal fluctuations (up to 10–12 m); strong reverse flows (up to 1.0–1.5 m/s), considerable tidal variations in salinity (from 0 to 6–9‰ at the river boundary and from 6–8 to 14–16‰ at the offshore boundary), and high water turbidity (up to 1 000 NTU or more). Based on the spatial structure of the community, three ecological zones with mobile boundaries are distinguished: freshwater (salinity 0–0.1‰), estuarine (0–12.3‰), and neritic (11.2–18.9‰). High turbidity prevents the development of phytoplankton in the estuarine zone (EZ), and the local benthic community is significantly depleted due to the desalination and wide spread of aleuritic silts. Neritic copepods and nektobenthic brackish- water crustaceans generate the maximum abundance and biomass here. The species that have adapted to the local extreme hydrologic conditions dominate and form the basis of the estuarine food chain. Dominant among the EZ vertebrates are such groups as anadromous fishes (smelts, pacific salmons, charrs, and sticklebacks); waterfowl (terns, kittiwakes, cormorants, fulmars, puffins, guillemots, auklets, and wadepipers); and predatory marine mammals (larga, ringed seal, bearded seal, and white whale). The total abundance and biomass of these animals are much higher in the pelagic EZ in comparison to neighboring zones.     

Comments on Rebuttal of M. Sagir

This rebuttal was written in response to the rebuttal of the paper “choosing a municipal landfill site by analytic network process” published in 2007 by M. Sagir. This study was conducted as an application for the landfill site selection in the environmental engineering discipline. Since ANP was only the “instrument” used in our study, the details of this existing methodology were referenced, and not presented, due to page limitations and to match the content of the journal. Responses to M. Sagir’s comments are discussed within the body of this rebuttal.     

Effect of Initial Azo Dye Concentration and Biomass Acclimation on Sludge Digestion and Dye Co‐treatment

The effect of a reactive azo dye (the hydrolyzed form of Reactive Orange 107, HRO107) on the digestion of municipal waste sludge (WS) was studied. The study also focused on the effect of acclimation of the anaerobic mixed culture on dye treatment. Anaerobic batch assays were carried out in serum bottles under mesophilic conditions. Unacclimated and acclimated anaerobic mixed cultures were used for the study. Both unacclimated and acclimated anaerobic cultures completely reduced HRO107 during WS digestion. Inhibitory HRO107 concentration was found to be 800 mg/L for unacclimated mixed culture. Acclimation increased the inhibitory concentration level from 800 to 3200 mg/L. Sulfanilic acid and four other unidentified dye reduction end products were detected at the end of the assays. The results of this study indicated that anaerobic municipal WS digesters have the potential to be a cost efficient and effective pre treatment method.     

Slumping processes on the Caucasian continental slope of the Black Sea

New results of geomorphological, seismoacoustic, and lithological investigations on the upper continental slope off the Arkhipo-Osipovka Settlement are presented. Here, a large submarine slump was discovered by seismic survey in 1998. The assumed slump body, up to 200 m thick, rises 50–60 m above the valley floor that cuts the slope. Recent semiliquid mud that overlies laminated slope sediments with possible slump deformations flows down in the valley thalweg. Radiocarbon age inversion recorded in a Holocene sediment section of shelf facies recovered from the upper slope points to the gravity dislocation of sediments.