Workplace violence: a study of Turkish workers

This research was conducted to address the experience of workplace violence of Turkish workers from different sectors and to investigate the impact of the exposed violence on their psychological well-being. Data were collected anonymously with printed questionnaires from the volunteer participants and depended on self-reporting. The response rate was 79.0% (1708/2161). The prevalence of workplace violence was found to be 44.8%. The most common type was verbal violence together with mobbing (bullying). Victims of physical violence were mostly males, whereas females were found to be victims of verbal, psychological and sexual violence. Most cases did not result in legal action and the victims remained silent. Psychological well-being of exposed workers in terms of depression, anxiety and stress seemed to deteriorate. Workplace violence remains a silent epidemic in Turkey. Preventive measures against workplace violence and social support for violated workers do not exist.     

Ecotoxicological risk assessment for sediments of Çavuşlu stream in Giresun,Turkey: association between garbage disposal facility and metallic accumulation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The objective of this paper was to stress the possible potential toxic element (PTE) accumulation in the surface sediments of the Çavu?lu...     

Superior incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of Mo-doped activated carbon supported CdS-sensitized solar cells

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the performance of activated carbon (AC) produced from defatted black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) by chemical activation with zinc...     

Magnetic nanoparticles coated with aminated polymer brush as a novel material for effective removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous environments

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In the present study, a poly (vinylbenzyl chloride) grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticle (Fe3O4@PVBC) was prepared by surface-initiated reversible addition...     

Inhibition effects of some pesticides and heavy metals on carbonic anhydrase enzyme activity purified from horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) gill tissues

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The gill tissue is the main site of metabolic enzymes or compensation, with the kidney tissue playing a supporting role. At the gill tissue, carbonic...     

Assessment of surface water quality using multivariate statistical techniques: a case study of Behrimaz Stream, Turkey

Multivariate statistical techniques, such as cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis, and factor analysis, were applied for the evaluation of temporal/spatial variations and for the interpretation of a water quality data set of the Behrimaz Stream, obtained during 1 year of monitoring of 20 parameters at four different sites. Hierarchical CA grouped 12 months into two periods (the first and second periods) and classified four monitoring sites into two groups (group A and group B), i.e., relatively less polluted (LP) and medium polluted (MP) sites, based on similarities of water quality characteristics. Factor analysis/principal component analysis, applied to the data sets of the two different groups obtained from cluster analysis, resulted in five latent factors amounting to 88.32% and 88.93% of the total variance in water quality data sets of LP and MP areas, respectively. Varifactors obtained from factor analysis indicate that the parameters responsible for water quality variations are mainly related to discharge, temperature, and soluble minerals (natural) and nutrients (nonpoint sources: agricultural activities) in relatively less polluted areas; and organic pollution (point source: domestic wastewater) and nutrients (nonpoint sources: agricultural activities and surface runoff from villages) in medium polluted areas in the basin. Thus, this study illustrates the utility of multivariate statistical techniques for analysis and interpretation of data sets and, in water quality assessment, identification of pollution sources/factors and understanding temporal/spatial variations in water quality for effective stream water quality management.     

National assessment of sea level rise using topographic and census data for Turkish coastal zone

Turkish coastal zone elevation to sea level rise was illustrated by using digital elevation model and Geographical information systems methods. It was intended to determine several parameters such as population, settlements, land use, wetlands, contribution to national agricultural production and taxes at risk by using high resolution SRTM topographic, orthorectified Landsat Thematic Mapper Mosaics and census data with GIS methods within 0-10 m elevation of national level. All parameters were examined for coastal cities, coastal districts, settlements and villages' status. As a result of the analysis of data set, it was found that approximately 7,319 km(2) of land area lies below 10 m contour line in Turkey, and is hence highly vulnerable to sea-level rise. 28 coastal cities, 191 districts and 181 villages or towns are located below 10 m contour line in study area. In the short term, for the struggle of negative impact of sea level rise, the findings suggest that the Ministry of Environment should declare new areas as protection areas and develop special environmental programs for national level.     

Risk assessment of distribution coefficient from 137Cs measurements

Classically distribution coefficient is defined as the ratio of solid total element concentration to surface water total concentration. This coefficient is obtained from the ion measurements in the Keban Dam, Turkey, which supplies water for domestic, irrigation and hydroelectric energy generation purposes. The measurements of 137Cs are carried out in 40 different sites and the general risk formulation and application is achieved for the distribution coefficient. The models are of exponential type and the spatial independence of the data is considered. Various charts are prepared for a set of risk levels as 5%, 10%, 20%, 25%, and 50%.     

Debriefing with teachers after the Marmara earthquake: an evaluation study1

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the debriefing meetings conducted after the 1999 earthquakes in Marmara, Turkey. The sample consisted of 265 teachers, 223 of whom attended the debriefing meetings. The personal satisfaction ratings of the teachers who attended the meetings revealed that they found the sessions satisfactory. The results of the comparison between those who reported that they benefited from the meetings and those who felt they did not indicated that the first group had lower scores on all of the psychopathology measures. A comparison between 42 teachers who did not attend the meetings and a randomly chosen group of 45 teachers who did attend revealed that the two groups differed significantly in terms of their post‐traumatic stress symptom scores. The findings of the study suggest that, in general, the teachers' debriefing sessions were satisfactory.     

Evaluation of surface water quality characteristics by using multivariate statistical techniques: A case study of the Euphrates river basin, Turkey

The surface water quality of the Euphrates river basin in Turkey are evaluated by using the multivariate statistical techniques known as factor analysis (FA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis. When FA was applied to the water quality data obtained from the 15 different surface water quality monitoring stations, two factors were identified, which were responsible from the 86.02% of the total variance of the water quality in the Euphrates river basin. The first factor called the urban land use factor explained 44.20% of the total variance and the second factor called the agricultural use factor explained 41.81% of the total variance. MDS technique showed that electrical conductivity (EC), percent sodium (Na%) and total salt are the most important variables causing difference in the water quality analysis.