The effect of the sampling strategies on the landslide susceptibility mapping by conditional probability and artificial neural networks

This study presented herein compares the effect of the sampling strategies by means of landslide inventory on the landslide susceptibility mapping. The conditional probability (CP) and artificial neural networks (ANN) models were applied in Sebinkarahisar (Giresun–Turkey). Digital elevation model was first constructed using a geographical information system software and parameter maps affecting the slope stability such as geology, faults, drainage system, topographical elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, topographic wetness index, stream power index and normalized difference vegetation index were considered. In the last stage of the analyses, landslide susceptibility maps were produced applying different sampling strategies such as; scarp, seed cell and point. The maps elaborated were then compared by means of their validations. Scarp sampling strategy gave the best results than the point, whereas the scarp and seed cell methods can be evaluated relatively similar. Comparison of the landslide susceptibility maps with known landslide locations indicated that the higher accuracy was obtained for ANN model using the scarp sampling strategy. The results obtained in this study also showed that the CP model can be used as a simple tool in assessment of the landslide susceptibility, because input process, calculations and output process are very simple and can be readily understood.     

Cokriging for enhanced spatial interpolation of rainfall in two Australian catchments

Rainfall data in continuous space provide an essential input for most hydrological and water resources planning studies. Spatial distribution of rainfall is usually estimated using ground‐based point rainfall data from sparsely positioned rain‐gauge stations in a rain‐gauge network. Kriging has become a widely used interpolation method to estimate the spatial distribution of climate variables including rainfall. The objective of this study is to evaluate three geostatistical (ordinary kriging [OK], ordinary cokriging [OCK], kriging with an external drift [KED]), and two deterministic (inverse distance weighting, radial basis function) interpolation methods for enhanced spatial interpolation of monthly rainfall in the Middle Yarra River catchment and the Ovens River catchment in Victoria, Australia. Historical rainfall records from existing rain‐gauge stations of the catchments during 1980–2012 period are used for the analysis. A digital elevation model of each catchment is used as the supplementary information in addition to rainfall for the OCK and kriging with an external drift methods. The prediction performance of the adopted interpolation methods is assessed through cross‐validation. Results indicate that the geostatistical methods outperform the deterministic methods for spatial interpolation of rainfall. Results also indicate that among the geostatistical methods, the OCK method is found to be the best interpolator for estimating spatial rainfall distribution in both the catchments with the lowest prediction error between the observed and estimated monthly rainfall. Thus, this study demonstrates that the use of elevation as an auxiliary variable in addition to rainfall data in the geostatistical framework can significantly enhance the estimation of rainfall over a catchment.     

Seismic behaviour of shallow foundations: Shaking table experiments vs numerical modelling

The capability of a simplified approach to model the behaviour of shallow foundations during earthquakes is explored by numerical simulation of a series of shaking table tests performed at the Public Works Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan. After a summary of the experimental work, the numerical model is introduced, where the whole soil–foundation system is represented by a multi‐degrees‐of‐freedom elasto‐plastic macro‐element, supporting a single degree‐of‐freedom superstructure. In spite of its simplicity and of the large intensity of the excitation involving a high degree of nonlinearity in the foundation response, the proposed approach is found to provide very satisfactory results in predicting the rocking behaviour of the system and the seismic actions transmitted to the superstructure. The agreement is further improved by introducing a simple degradation rule of the foundation stiffness parameters, suitable to capture even some minor details of the observed rocking response. On the other hand, the performance of the model is not fully satisfactory in predicting vertical settlements. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geotechnical evaluation of Miocene gypsum from Sivas (Turkey)

Gypsum is widely distributed in Sivas (Turkey), occurring chiefly in the formations of Miocene age. The gypsum is generally of the alabastrine type with a little of the porphiroblast type and contains traces of clay minerals, anhydrite and calcite. It is a moderately strong rock in terms of its unconfined compressive strength which is related to the crystal size. Strength increases as the crystal size decreases. The strength of gypsum was reduced by approximately 55%, when the samples were kept in the water for 20 days. Most samples exhibit plastic–elastic–plastic deformation. The gypsum has a high modulus ratio, and is a moderately deformable rock. High lateral deformations and low vertical deformations are observed under the vertical stress conditions in accordance with the relationship between modulus ratio and strain.     

Synthesis of Calix[4]arene‐grafted Magnetite Nanoparticles and Evaluation of Their Arsenate as Well as Dichromate Removal Efficiency

In this study, 5,17‐bis‐[(4‐benzylpiperidine)methyl]‐25,26,27,28‐tetrahydroxy‐calix[4]arene ( 3 ) has been prepared by the treatment of calix[4]arene with a secondary amine (4‐benzylpiperidine) and formaldehyde by means of Mannich reaction. The prepared Mannich base ( 3 ) has been grafted onto [3‐(2,3‐epoxypropoxy)‐propyl]‐trimethoxysilane‐modified Fe₃O₄ magnetite nanoparticles (EPPTMS‐MN) in order to obtain 5,17‐bis‐[(4‐benzylpiperidine)methyl]‐25,26,27,28‐tetrahydroxy calix[4]arene‐grafted EPPTMS‐MN (BP‐calix[4]arene‐grafted Fe₃O₄). All new compounds were characterized by a combination of FTIR and ¹H‐NMR analyses. The morphology of the magnetic nanoparticles was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, the studies regarding the removal of arsenate and dichromate ions from the aqueous solutions were also carried out by using 5,17‐bis‐[(4‐benzylpiperidine)methyl]‐25,26,27,28‐tetrahydroxy‐calix[4]arene in liquid–liquid extraction and BP‐calix[4]arene‐grafted Fe₃O₄ ( 4 ) in solid–liquid extraction experiments. The extraction results indicated that 3 is protonated at proton‐switchable binding sites in acidic conditions. Hence, facilitating binding of arsenate and dichromate is resulted from both electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. To understand the selectivity of 3 , the retention of dichromate anions in the presence of Cl⁻, NO, and SO anions at pH 1.5 was also examined.     

Relevance of building site categories implementation into the land use plan in underground mining area in the region of Petrvald (Czech Republic)

Deep mining of mineral resources causes extensive changes in rock environment and ground morphology and must be considered in the land use planning. Subsidence as a result of underground mining activities in terrains is one of the serious geological hazards because they can effect slopes and damage engineering structures, settlement areas, natural lakes and allow infiltration of contaminant into the groundwater. The main aim of this article was implementation of the building site categories of underground mining regions into the land use plans. This case study area was selected from the region of Orlova town within the Ostrava-Karvina Coal district, and this region is one of the most affected areas by underground mining of black coal in the Czech Republic. Certain risk categories of land, where the individual categories express generalized influence of deep mining of coal in current and planned constructions were also represented in this article. Extensive variations caused by underground mining were identified within a wide variability of risk categories. An important finding was also the extensive variability over time, manifested by spatial variations in the stated categories in the studied time periods. Moreover, technical documentation of environmental impacts related to underground mining activities was provided; importance of existing and proposed underground mining projects that may significantly impact the land use was discussed and pointed out in this article, especially.     

Monitoring of protected bands of Terkos drinking water reservoir of metropolitan Istanbul near the Black Sea coast using satellite data

In this study, remote sensing (RS) with computer-based geographic information systems (GIS) techniques are used as a tool for monitoring the water basin area and water quality in Istanbul's relatively less polluted and comparatively less destroyed catchment of the metropolis drinking water dam reservoir named Terkos. It is necessary to work with recent data to be able to identify the effects of urbanization on the water quality of the Terkos dam catchment area that supplies drinking water to the metropolis. RS is an important tool to monitor water quality and urban terrain. For this aim, a project has been initiated at the Technical University Remote Sensing Laboratory, under the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (ISKI) sponsorship in Istanbul. The project uses SPOT-PAN, XS and IRS-1C/D PAN and satellite data of 1993 and 2000 for urban analysis and Landsat-TM and LISS-III satellite data of 1992 and 2000 for water quality. For calibration and validation, ground truth samples are collected from the experimental area. The RS data was converted into the UTM coordinate system and image enhancement and classification techniques are used. Raster data is converted to vector data to assess the study area for analyzing in GIS for the purpose of planning and decision-making on protected water basin zones. As a result of monitoring land use and water quality changes, recommendations are made for planning and management of the protected environment of the Terkos catchment protected area. Measuring land use change is a very important issue for controlling the future development of the basin, GIS techniques are performed and results are illustrated in established models on the four protected zones of Terkos water basin.     

Determination of actual limit angles to the surface and their comparison with the empirical values in the Upper Silesian Basin (Czech Republic)

This study deals with the determination of the actual limit angles in the long-term formed subsidence basin in the Czech part of the Upper Silesian Basin (the remaining part lays in Poland). Here there was the most extensive underground exploitation of black coal in the north-east of the Czech Republic. A limit angle is absolutely decisive in the determination of deep mining influences in relation to the current and future utilisation of this territory. The two CSM and Paskov mine localities on the edge of the subsidence basin were selected for this study, since they could not have been affected by mining in neighbouring mines. On the grounds of the long-term levelling monitoring of points on the surface which started prior to mining, the horizontal distance between the mined out area and the undisturbed ground surface was identified. The impact of limit angle on the surface was calculated by means of the horizontal distance and the established mining depth. Such identified actual limit angles reached the values of 36° at the CSM Mine and 25° for the Paskov Mine. The calculated values are significantly lower when compared with the currently applied empirical values of 57° for the CSM Mine and 56° for the Paskov Mine. This means that the extent of the undermining effects is unambiguously wider by 611 m at the CSM Mine and by 883 m at the Paskov Mine. This study thus establishes the existence of a significantly vaster area influenced by coal deep mining than previously expected. The identified facts lead to the conclusion that regular revisions and follow-up updates of the empirically determined parameters are recommended.     

Predicting the Building Stone Cutting Rate Based on Rock Properties and Device Pullback Amperage in Quarries Using M5P Model Tree

One of the key parameters that affect the selection of equipment and the cost estimation of dimension stone quarries is the rock cutting rate or production rate. In this study, the M5P tree algorithm is used to determine the relationship between the hard rock sawability and its factors especially the physical and mechanical characteristics of rock. To achieve the research goal, a variety of eleven types of hard dimension stone were selected and nine major physical and mechanical characteristics of rock including uniaxial compressive strength, Young’s modulus, Brazilian tensile strength, equivalent quarts content, grain size, Mohs hardness, point load test, density and P-wave velocity of these samples were evaluated. The cutting rate of diamond wire for all of the Workpiece was measured at different pullback amperage with a fully instrumented cutting platform in laboratory. All operational parameters of cutting process were entirely controlled. Thus, a database containing 99 datasets was provided and it has been used for analyses. The obtained results from the pruned and unpruned tree models showed a significant relationship between cutting rate and its factors. In the end, the results of M5P tree method were compared with statistical analyses (i.e., linear and nonlinear regression). The coefficient of determination be equal with 0.92, 0.86, 0.77 and 0.63 for unpruned tree, pruned tree, linear and nonlinear regression method respectively. This comparison showed that the both method of M5P tree technique have a better performance in predicting the cutting rate rather than the statistical regression methods.