Unsustainable urban development for Zonguldak metropolitan area (NW Turkey)

Since Turkey is located on a region that is prone to the risks of natural disasters like earthquake, flooding, and avalanche; a majority of the residential areas are facing these risks at various levels. Before determination of these risks, taking action in order to decrease the vulnerability levels of the residential areas will help keep the damage at the minimum level in case of a disaster. Urban planning decisions which are made in accordance with vulnerability studies aiming to determine natural disaster risks will not only help prevent loss of life but also help decrease negative social and economic effects of disasters. The Zonguldak city has been chosen as a case study area since Zonguldak metropolitan area has endured almost all kinds of threats that a city can face. In this study disaster-producing factors in the area are primarily considered which can be named as topography, destruction of forest lands, geological and karstic structure, mining activities, and misuse of the land, and later risk assessment is conducted with geographic information system (GIS). It has been assessed that more than half of the buildings within the study area were constructed in areas not suitable for housing. It is concluded that there is a need for urgent urban development plan for the city.     

A factor analysis study: Air pollution,meteorology, and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases

It is well known that air pollution exerts adverse effects on health and environment. Bal?kesir located in the Marmara region (Turkey) has serious air pollution problems produced by heating in the months of winter. In this study, the effect of exposure to air pollution on hospital admission for respiratory illnesses among children and adults was examined. Epidemiological data from records of hospitals, air pollutants and meteorological data were used. During July 2005–July 2007 period, there was a total of 280,426 hospital admissions for respiratory diseases. In a population-based analysis, 9 children were admitted for asthma, 17 children for acute bronchitis, and 20 children for lower respiratory diseases out of 100 children. There was a significant increase in the hospital admissions for respiratory diseases and air pollutants from October to March. It was concluded that children living in the city suffer from respiratory diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, and lower respiratory diseases. Three factors that account for approximately 90% of total variance of hospital admissions, air pollution, and meteorology were identified by means of principal component factor analysis.     

An empirical analysis of surface acting in intra‐organizational relationships

Prior research analyzing surface acting—employees' regulation of emotional expressions—has mostly focused on the interactions between front‐line employees and their customers in service industries and paid very little attention to intra‐organizational relationships. With an aim to shed light on this important yet relatively unexplored area, I developed a theoretical model analyzing the antecedents and outcomes of surface acting within organizations, by drawing on the sociometer theory and self‐presentation theory frameworks. To test the model, I conducted a cross‐level field study in a sample of 65 work groups and 478 employees in two organizations, located in a large city in Northern California. I have collected the data from two sources, including employees and their supervisors who rated their performance. Results indicated that employees were more likely to engage in surface acting when their affective traits and personal goals were less congruent with work environment. Surface acting was also positively related to perceived organizational politics and self‐monitoring. As for outcomes, surface acting was positively related to emotional exhaustion and negatively to performance. I discuss limitations, implications, and future research direction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sorption and transport of trichloroethylene in caliche soil

Sorption of TCE to the caliche soil exhibited linear isotherm at the high TCE concentrations (Co = 122-1300 mg L⁻¹) but Freundlich isotherm at the low concentration range (1-122 mg L⁻¹). Sorption strength of the carbonate fraction of the soil was about 100-fold lower than the sorption strength of soil organic matter (SOM) in the caliche soil, indicating weak affinity of TCE for the carbonate fraction of the soil. Desorption of TCE from the caliche soil was initially rapid (7.6 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹), then continued at a 100-fold slower rate (7.7 × 10⁻⁶ s⁻¹). Predominant calcium carbonate fraction of the soil (96%) was responsible for the fast desorption of TCE while the SOM fraction (0.97%) controlled the rate-limited desorption of TCE. Transport of TCE in the caliche soil was moderately retarded with respect to the water (R = 1.75-2.95). Flow interruption tests in the column experiments indicated that the rate-limited desorption of TCE controlled the non-ideal transport of TCE in the soil. Modeling studies showed that both linear and non-linear nonequilibrium transport models provided reasonably good match to the TCE breakthrough curves (r² = 0.95-0.98). Non-linear sorption had a negligible impact on both the breakthrough curve shape and the values of sorption kinetics parameters at the high TCE concentration (Co = 1300 mg L⁻¹). However, rate-limited sorption/desorption processes dominated at this concentration. For the low TCE concentration case (110 mg L⁻¹), in addition to the rate-limited sorption/desorption, contribution of the non-linear sorption to the values of sorption kinetics became fairly noticeable.     

Atmospheric ambient trace element concentrations of PM10 at urban and sub-urban sites: source apportionment and health risk estimation

In this study, PM₁₀ concentrations and elemental (Al, Fe, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Pb, and Bi) contents of particles were determined in Düzce, Turkey. The particulate matter samplings were carried out in the winter and summer seasons simultaneously in both urban and sub-urban sampling sites. The average PM₁₀ concentration measured in the winter season was 86.4 and 27.3 μg/m³, respectively, in the urban and sub-urban sampling sites, while it was measured as 53.2 and 34.7 μg/m³ in the summer season. According to the results, it was observed that the PM₁₀ levels and the element concentrations reached higher levels, especially at the urban sampling site, in the winter season. The positive matrix factorization model (PMF) was applied to the data set for source apportionment. Analysis with the PMF model revealed six factors for both the urban (coal combustion, traffic, oil combustion, industry, biomass combustion, and soil) and sub-urban (industry, oil combustion, traffic, road dust, soil resuspension, domestic heating) sampling sites. Loadings of grouped elements on these factors showed that the major sources of the elements in the atmosphere of Düzce were traffic, fossil fuel combustion, and metal industry-related emissions.     

Preparation of Chitosan with High Antibacterial Efficiency from Penicillium crustosum TZ18

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Fungi are accepted as novel sources of chitinous materials. The present study was performed to produce chitinous material from locally isolated Penicillium...     

Environmental impact assessments of different auxiliary power units used for commercial aircraft by using global warming potential approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this paper, environmental impact analysis is applied to the various auxiliary power units (APUs) used for commercial aircraft in air transportation...