Pesticide and nutrient contamination in the Kestel polje–Kirkgoz karst springs, Southern Turkey

The Kirkgoz karst springs are in the well-developed Taurus karst zone in southern Turkey. Discharge is at an average rate of 15 m³/s. The large Kestel polje is 40 km from the springs and within the recharge area of the system. Utilization of the Kestel polje for agriculture as well as sewage disposal at sinkholes are sources of pollution. Water samples were analyzed for nutrients and some of the pesticides among the persistent organic pollutants. Although nutrient contamination is not critical yet, pesticide concentrations that range between 81 and 9,009 μg/l are above the international guidelines. This is the first record of pesticide contamination in karst systems in Turkey. Pesticides may be useful as tracers.     

Testing IR flux during solar eclipse

A Ridgeley, G Grayer, D Mehmet and B Sheen report on a further experiment on IR flux during the solar eclipse in Lusaka, 2001.     

Water quality assessment and the investigation of the relationship between the River Delice and the aquifer systems in the vicinity of Yerköy (Yozgat,Turkey)

The aim of this study was to investigate the pollution parameters relating to surface and groundwaters and to establish an interaction between these for the area near Yerköy. Three characteristic facies were determined based on the results of hydrochemical analyses: (1) Na⁺-Cl^- facies were greater the deeper the aquifer, (2) Na⁺-SO₄^2- facies were the greater portion of the shallow alluvium aquifer, and (3) Na⁺-HCO₃^- (SO₄^2-) facies represented the western portion of the shallow alluvium aquifer. Based on field and laboratory observations it was found that the water of the River Delice is suitable for irrigation and domestic use whereas the water from the shallow aquifer is extremely saline and considered to have been polluted by local lithological units. Active groundwater circulation and dilution between the alluvium aquifer and the River Delice was observed. Because of the short residence time of the groundwater in this area, the hydrogeochemical concentration and the salinity were found to be low. The other portions of the alluvium aquifer bear higher concentrations of soluble ions.     

Variations and trends in global solar radiation for Turkey

Summary Since measured solar radiation data in Turkey have rather high random errors, sunshine duration data covering the period from 1960 through 1994 from 34 stations in Turkey were taken to derive estimates of monthly mean global solar radiation by a quadratic correlation. The least square linear regression method was applied for trend analysis. Significant negative trends of the annual means were observed with 71 percent of the stations A 3.44 percent decrease in global solar radiation was observed over the last 35 years in Turkey. The decrease in solar radiation is an indication of increased air pollution, as statistical parameters show that Turkey is rapidly expanding economically, and thus air quality has deteriorated correspondingly.With 3 Figures     

Ar/Ar age and geochemistry of the post-collisional Miocene Yamadağ volcanics in the Arapkir area (Malatya Province), eastern Anatolia, Turkey

The Neogene Yamadağ volcanics occupy a vast area between Sivas and Malatya in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. These volcanic rocks are characterized by pyroclastics comprising agglomerates, tuffs and some small outcrops of basaltic–andesitic–dacitic rocks, overlain upward by basaltic and dacitic rocks, and finally by basaltic lava flows in the Arapkir area, northern Malatya Province. The basaltic lava flows in the Arapkir area yield a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 15.8 ± 0.2 Ma, whereas the dacitic lava flows give ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages ranging from 17.6 through 14.7 ± 0.1 to 12.2 ± 0.2 Ma, corresponding to the Middle Miocene. These volcanic rocks have subalkaline basaltic, basaltic andesitic; alkaline basaltic trachyandesitic and dacitic chemical compositions. Some special textures, such as spongy-cellular, sieve and embayed textures; oscillatory zoning and glass inclusions in plagioclase phenocrysts; ghost amphiboles and fresh biotite flakes are attributable to disequilibrium crystallization related to magma mixing between coeval magmas. The main solidification processes consist of fractional crystallization and magma mixing which were operative during the soldification of these volcanic rocks. The dacitic rocks are enriched in LILE, LREE and Th, U type HFSE relative to the basaltic rocks. The basaltic rocks also show some marked differences in terms of trace-element and REE geochemistry; namely, the alkaline basaltic trachyandesites have pronounced higher HFSE, MREE and HREE contents relative to the subalkaline basalts. Trace and REE geochemical data reveal the existence of three distinct magma sources – one subalkaline basaltic trachyandesitic, one alkaline basaltic and one dacitic – in the genesis of the Yamadağ volcanics in the Arapkir region. The subalkaline basaltic and alkaline basaltic trachyandesitic magmas were derived from an E-MORB type enriched mantle source with a relatively high- and low-degree partial melting, respectively. The magmatic melt of dacitic rocks seem to be derived from an OIB-type enriched lithospheric mantle with a low proportion of partial melting. The enriched lithospheric mantle source reflect the metasomatism induced by earlier subduction-derived fluids. All these coeval magmas were generated in a post-collisional extensional geodynamic setting in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey.     

Prediction of wave parameters by using fuzzy logic approach

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between wind speed, previous and current wave characteristics. It is expected that such a non-linear relationship includes some uncertainties. A fuzzy inference system employing fuzzy IF–THEN rules has an ability to deal with ill-defined and uncertain systems. Compared with traditional approaches, fuzzy logic is more efficient in linking the multiple inputs to a single output in a non-linear domain. In this paper, a sophisticated intelligent model, based on Takagi–Sugeno (TS) fuzzy modeling principles, was developed to predict the changes in wave characteristics such as significant wave height and zero up-crossing period due to the wind speed. Past measurements of significant wave height values and wind speed variables are used for training the adaptive model and it is then employed to predict the significant wave height amounts for future time intervals such as 1, 3, 6 and 12 h. The verification of the proposed model is achieved through the wave characteristics time series plots and various numerical error criterias. Also the model results were compared with classical Auto Regressive Moving Average with exogenous input (ARMAX) models. For the application of the proposed approach the offshore station located in the Pacific Ocean was used.     

Temporal significant wave height estimation from wind speed by perceptron Kalman filtering

Significant wave height estimates are necessary for many applications in coastal and offshore engineering and therefore various estimation models are proposed in the literature for this purpose. Unfortunately, most of these models provide simultaneous wave height estimations from wind speed measurements. However, in practical studies, the prediction of significant wave height is necessary from previous time interval measurements. This paper presents a dynamic significant wave height prediction procedure based on the perceptron Kalman filtering concepts. Past measurements of significant wave height and wind speed variables are used for training the adaptive model and it is then employed to predict the significant wave height amounts for future time intervals from the wind speed measurements only. The verification of the proposed model is achieved through the dynamic significant wave height and wind speed time series plots, observed versus predicted values scatter diagram and the classical linear significant wave height models. The application of the proposed model is presented for a station in USA.     

Active control of building seismic response by energy dissipation

Active energy dissipation is proved to be very effective for abating seismic effects on buildings. The implementation of this concept in seismic design of buildings is studied by response simulations of a single storey building subjected to earthquake motion. Active energy dissipaters can be installed as part of the building lateral load bracing, and they regulate the strength and stiffness of the bracing during the building's response to the seismic events. The energy is dissipated when the bracing load exceeds the axial strength provided by the dissipater, and the bracing telescopes in and out. The design parameters of active energy dissipaters are described using the simulated response of a single storey building to ground pulse and harmonic ground excitation. The feasibility of the energy dissipater is demonstrated by the development and construction of a full-scale prototype device called an Active Slip Bracing Device (ASBD). The device utilizes Coulomb friction. The active characteristics are implemented by a computer controlled clamping mechanism on the friction interface. The ASBD's control of the strength and stiffness is investigated.     

Ensemble adaptive tile prefetching using fuzzy logic

Prefetching is a process in which the necessary portion of data is predicted and loaded into memory beforehand. The increasing usage of geographic data in different types of applications has motivated the development of different prefetching techniques. Each prefetching technique serves a specific type of application, such as two-dimensional geographic information systems or three-dimensional visualization, and each one is crafted for the corresponding navigation patterns. However, as the boundary between these application types blurs, these techniques become insufficient for hybrid applications (such as digital moving maps), which embody various capabilities and navigation patterns. Therefore, a set of techniques should be used in combination to handle different prefetching requirements. In this study, a priority-based tile prefetching approach is proposed, which enables the ensemble usage of various techniques at the same time. The proposed approach manages these techniques dynamically through a fuzzy-logic-based inference engine to increase prefetching performance and to adapt to various exhibited behaviours. This engine performs adaptive decisions about the advantages of each technique according to their individual accuracy and activity level using fuzzy logic to determine how each prefetching technique performs. The results obtained from the experiments showed that up to a 25% increase in prefetching performance is achieved with the proposed ensemble usage over individual usage. A generic model for prefetching techniques was also developed and used to describe the given approach. Finally, a cross-platform software framework with four different prefetching techniques was developed to let other users utilize the proposed approach.