Interpretation of variability of rock mass rating by geostatistical analysis: a case study in Western Turkey

Geotechnical interpretation of drillholes for rock mass characterization is commonly based on the engineering judgment. This might result in misrepresentation of the rock mass at unsampled locations. This paper investigates the reproducibility of the spatial variability of rock mass quality (rock mass rating, RMR) using geostatistics. Geotechnical data from an exploratory phase mining project in Western Turkey that covers 2.7 km depth with a total of 14 drillholes composed of 700 samples was used to perform a geostatistical analysis. RMR values of positions, where geotechnical logging was missing, were estimated by applying inverse distance weighting (IDW) and the ordinary kriging (OK) methods. The validation process showed that the OK method is consistently estimating the RMR values better than IDW. The spatial variability of RMR values by geostatistical analysis could provide valuable information in the design and development of underground or surface structures.     

Source Based Characterization and Pollution Profile of a Baker's Yeast Industry

Baker's yeast industry has significant effects on environment due to significant water consumption and high strength wastewater production. Effluents from baker's yeast industry are characterized by high concentrations of biological oxygen demand (BOD₅), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total dissolved solids (TDS), sulfate, and dark brown color. The aim of this study is to provide a detailed quantitative and qualitative identification and characterization of the wastewater sources from different processes of a baker's yeast industry. It is identified that the most polluted wastewater components of the facility are coming from rotary drum filter and evaporation process. However, the highest pollution loads is identified as tank and equipment cleaning effluent due to very high flow rate from this source. The efforts should be on the way to minimize the water usage for the tank and equipment cleaning process, and to recycle less polluted waste streams back to the process.     

Operation analysis of Eleviyan irrigation reservoir dam by optimization and stochastic simulation

Rainfall distributions in Iran are spatially and temporally heterogeneous, a fact probably linked to the mostly arid and semi-arid climate of the country. On the other hand, water demand is increasing with increasing population and improving life style. At present, the optimal utilization of water resources and irrigation dams is the primary concern of water resource managers. The Eleviyan dam (with a capacity of 60 hm³) was constructed to meet the irrigation and municipal water needs of the Maraghan region (Northwestern Iran). In this study, the efficiency of the Eleviyan irrigation dam system was investigated in three phases by setting up the optimization model that maximized the water release for irrigation purposes after municipal water need were met. In the first phase, the inflows measured in the 21 years prior to the construction of the reservoir, and in the second, the inflows generated by the Monte Carlo simulation method, and in the third phase, the inflows after the construction of the reservoir were used. The results demonstrate that the capacity determined during the preliminary studies was accurate and the operation carried out in the recent periods of operation life was up to a satisfactory standard.     

Narratives of Safety on Social Media: The Case of #mysafetyselfie

This article draws on the case of #mysafetyselfie as an example of how social media can be used to highlight the social and spatial factors affecting women's experience with safety. In particular, I consider the ways in which media technology mediates embodied practice through an examination of the selfie as a form of relational place making. In the first section, I situate #mysafetyselfie as a node along a continuum of sociospatial work by Jay Pitter—the project's initiator—stemming from her personal and professional engagement with safety. I then draw from mobile interface theory to argue for the selfie as a practice of embodied implacement, which situates experience as contextually informed. In the next section, I conduct a close reading of three safety selfies from the project, in which safety is framed by the subject in intelligent and creative ways. I conclude by reflecting on the outcomes of #mysafetyselfie and the ethical responsibility of curating stories both offline and online.     

Seismic hazard analysis of Sinop province,Turkey using probabilistic and statistical methods

Using 4.0 and greater magnitude earthquakes which occurred between 1 January 1900 and 31 Dec 2008 in the Sinop province of Turkey this study presents a seismic hazard analysis based on the probabilistic and statistical methods. According to the earthquake zonation map, Sinop is divided into first, second, third and fourth-degree earthquake regions. Our study area covered the coordinates between 40.66°– 42.82°N and 32.20°– 36.55°E. The different magnitudes of the earthquakes during the last 108 years recorded on varied scales were converted to a common scale (Mw). The earthquake catalog was then recompiled to evaluate the potential seismic sources in the aforesaid province. Using the attenuation relationships given by Boore et al. (1997) and Kalkan and Gülkan (2004), the largest ground accelerations corresponding to a recurrence period of 475 years are found to be 0.14 g for bedrock at the central district. Comparing the seismic hazard curves, we show the spatial variations of seismic hazard potential in this province, enumerating the recurrence period in the order of 475 years.     

City of Bingöl in May 2003: Assessment of strong ground motion records

The main shock of Bingöl earthquake (M _W = 6.4) recorded by six accelerometers in the area occurred at 03:27 local time on May 1, 2003. The largest acceleration value of north–south component was recorded as 545.5 cm/s² at the nearest station which it is 12 km away from the epicenter of earthquake. Especially, 0.15 s short period was observed when high spectral acceleration value occurred. An acceleration value greater than 50 gal was recorded at the BNG (Bingöl) station and structural damage occurred within 6.5 s was very important for the near source and strong ground motion seismology. The recorded peak acceleration values were greater than the estimated empirical acceleration values. However, the structural damage was not as high and widespread as expected. This occurrence was explained by considering the factors of earthquake source, frequency content, effective duration, effective acceleration value, local soil conditions, rupture direction and attenuation.     

Investigation of the nature of slip surface using geochemical analyses and 2-D electrical resistivity tomography: a case study from Lapseki area, NW Turkey

The nature and subsurface structure of the slip surface of a landslide was studied on the basis of geochemical analyses and 2-D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey. Head scarp and lateral slip surfaces of the landslide marked by clear slickensided shear planes were composed of the average amounts of clayey silt (32.5%) and sand (67.5%). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) data revealed the enrichment of Si (23.24%), Fe (12.2%), Al (9.51%) and C (8.34%) in the elemental composition of the disturbed slip surface. From X-ray diffractometry (XRD) data, six main clay types were determined, such as Volkonskoite, Halloysite, Ferrosilite, Saponite, Illite and Nontronite. The ERT survey displayed that the landslide developed as a reactivation on the upper part of an old landslide body.