Roles of hydrogeochemical evaluations in estimating protection zones of Koçpınar springs in Aksaray, central Anatolia, Turkey

The present study indicates estimation of protection zones of KoçpLnar springs in Aksaray area by means of hydrogeochemical methods. Relevant hydrogeochemical studies were carried out to achieve this objective. KoçpLnar springs emerge on strike-slip Hasanda<L fault set (HFS) along the Tuzgölü (Salt Lake) fault zone (TFZ) in central Anatolia. The outcrops of volcanic origin exhibit different hydrogeological properties in the study area. The hydrogeochemical evaluations of KoçpLnar springs represent good results about the available main groundwater flow systems that exist in this area. Marbles of Palaeozoic age form the main aquifer that recharges KoçpLnar springs. The CO₂ gas content of the spring waters is significantly high. Based on the ion concentrations, the water of this spring has mainly two hydrochemical facies: Ca-Mg-HCO₃ and Na-HCO₃. Although, the hydrochemical analyses showed that waters of these springs meet the drinking and irrigation water standards, the area around the springs is continuously being contaminated by both domestic and agricultural wastes. Therefore, detailed hydrogeological, hydrochemical and isotopic investigations were carried out to accurately estimate the protection zones of KoçpLnar springs. These studies showed that three main protection zones could be proposed against external pollution effects around the spring's area.     

On the geomagnetic lunar variation at Istanbul

Summary The article describes lunar daily magnetic variation inH, D andZ components of the earth's magnetic field at Istanbul. Maximum occurs at 10.03 l.hr. (lunar hour) in theH component, 3.38 l.hr. in theD and 2.15 l.hr. in theZ component, during the period 1949 to 1968. Also, the seasonal variation of the lunar magnetic variation has been determined and it is seen that the variation of the phase inD andZ are opposite from the phase of the lunar variation inH, and the amplitudes of the lunar variation inH, D andZ are greatest during the northern solstice.     

Source apportionment of trace metals in surface waters of a polluted stream using multivariate statistical analyses

Surface water samples were collected from ten previously selected sites of the polluted Dil Deresi stream, during two field surveys, December 2001 and April 2002. All samples were analyzed using ICP-AES, and the concentrations of trace metals (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Sn and Zn) were determined. The results were compared with national and international water quality guidelines, as well as literature values reported for similar rivers. Factor analysis (FA) and a factor analysis-multiple regression (FA-MR) model were used for source apportionment and estimation of contributions from identified sources to the concentration of each parameter. By a varimax rotated factor analysis, four source types were identified as the paint industry; sewage, crustal and road traffic runoff for trace metals, explaining about 83% of the total variance. FA-MR results showed that predicted concentrations were calculated with uncertainties lower than 15%.     

A simultaneous spectroscopic and photometric study of two eclipsing binaries: V566 Oph and V972 Her

In this study, we have performed simultaneous solutions of light and radial velocity curves of two eclipsing binary systems, V566 Oph and V972 Her. We observed both systems spectroscopically with a very recently installed spectrograph on the 40 cm telescope, T40, located in Ankara University Kreiken Observatory (AUKR), for the first time. We made use of the photometric data from the Hipparcos satellite for V972 Her, while we obtained the photometric observations of V566 Oph by using the 35 cm telescope, T35, located also in our observatory campus. We derived the absolute parameters for both systems and discussed their evolutionary states. In addition to the simultaneous analysis, we have also analyzed the change in mid-eclipse times for V566 Oph, and found cyclic variations, for which we have discussed light-time effect and magnetic activity as their potential origin, superimposed on a secular change due to a mass transfer between the components of the binary.     

Retrofit of non-seismically designed beam-column joints by post-tensioned superelastic shape memory alloy bars

A series of tests on three full-scale substandard exterior beam-column joints were performed to investigate the efficiency of the proposed retrofit configuration, which is the use of externally applied post-tensioned shape memory alloy (SMA) bars. A major group of structural deficiencies resulting from lack of shear reinforcement in the joint, use of low strength concrete and plain round bars were taken into account in the construction of test specimens. While the reference specimen represents the as-built subassembly, the other two were retrofitted by the post-tensioned SMA and steel bars to compare the contribution of superelastic and conventional material on the response. The specimens were exposed to quasi-static cyclic loading up to 8% drift ratio to simulate an intensive level of seismic hazard. The reference specimen underwent a brittle shear failure as excessive cracks mostly concentrated in the joint panel while there was almost no damage in the rest of the RC components. A joint failure with enhanced response quantities was observed in the specimen retrofitted by post-tensioned steel bars. The specimen incorporating the retrofit solution via post-tensioned SMA bars was capable of performing an adequate performance and promoting minimization of the damage in the joint panel, which results in more ductile behavior. The hysteretic response of the SMA retrofitted specimen was validated with a refined numerical model in ATENA Science software. Experimentally observed response was also verified by an analytical model based on fracture mechanics considering the nonlinear behavior of plain concrete under tension. Due to inherent uncertainties in material constitutive laws, the analytical model was evolved to a stochastic level to propose a more advanced model for estimating the capacity of the reference and retrofitted joint. It is found that the experimental results were within the prominent range of Probability Density Functions (i.e. mean ± 1 SD) of the estimated joint tensile stress especially for the shear damaged specimens.     

Analysis of meteorological drought variability in Niger and its connection with climate indices

Based on a three-month-scale standardized precipitation index (SPI-3) computed from the available rainfall data of 13 stations of Niger, meteorological drought trends, periodicities and the relationships with 10 oceanic–atmospheric variables were analysed using the Mann-Kendall test, continuous wavelet transform and cross-wavelet analysis, respectively. The results revealed a significant (p < 5%) increase in drought at five of the 13 stations. A common dominant drought periodicity of 2 years was found at all of the stations, whereas significant periodicities varied from 2 to 32 years at six stations. Among the considered climate indices, South Atlantic sea-surface temperature, Southern Oscillation Index, sea-level pressure, geopotential height and relative humidity from the Atlantic basin oscillated in anti-phase relative to the SPI-3 at an inter-annual to decadal time scale from 1960 to 1990. In this period, relative humidity from the Mediterranean basin and zonal wind oscillated in phase with the drought index.     

The Relationship between Dst,IMF-Bz and Collision Parameters for O+ + N2 → NO+ + N Reactive Scattering in the Ionosphere

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The kinetic theory is particularly suitable and convenient to calculate the collision parameters in the ionospheric medium. In this study, the mean free path (λ)...     

Daily pan evaporation modelling using multi‐layer perceptrons and radial basis neural networks

This paper reports on investigations of the abilities of three different artificial neural network (ANN) techniques, multi‐layer perceptrons (MLP), radial basis neural networks (RBNN) and generalized regression neural networks (GRNN) to estimate daily pan evaporation. Different MLP models comprising various combinations of daily climatic variables, that is, air temperature, solar radiation, wind speed, pressure and humidity were developed to evaluate the effect of each of these variables on pan evaporation. The MLP estimates are compared with those of the RBNN and GRNN techniques. The Stephens‐Stewart (SS) method is also considered for the comparison. The performances of the models are evaluated using root mean square errors (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and determination coefficient (R²) statistics. Based on the comparisons, it was found that the MLP and RBNN computing techniques could be employed successfully to model the evaporation process using the available climatic data. The GRNN was found to perform better than the SS method. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of matric suction on shear strength behavior of a residual clayey soil

In this paper, the shear strength with respect to the matric suction of unsaturated soils was studied. For this purpose, unsaturated triaxial testing procedures were applied to the undisturbed residual soil specimens. An apparatus for performing triaxial tests was designed and constructed. In the tests, matric suction was controlled by using the axis translation technique, and pore water volume changes were measured by means of a volume change transducer with 10⁻⁸ m³ sensitivity. The test results indicated that the matric suction contributes to the shear strength of unsaturated soil specimens, and this contribution called suction strength varies non-linearly with respect to the matric suction. The logarithmic model needing to know the air-entry value and the internal friction angle of a soil specimen for prediction of the suction strength were presented and compared with the test results. It was found that suction strength values predicted from the proposed model were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.