Effects of environmental conditions on historical buildings: lichens and NOx gases

Environmental conditions affect human life in various ways. One of the domains of environmental conditions is buildings, and amongst them, a major and important group is the historical buildings. To keep this inheritance alive, one needs to determine the effects of environmental conditions. In this work, effects of lichens and NOx on 7 historical buildings in Erzurum were investigated. Historical buildings are readily available for lichen growth, which takes a long time, and this growth was investigated as a sample of environmental effect that occurs through long periods of time. NOx, main source of which is traffic in Erzurum, were considered as the environmental effect of daily life.     

Hydrogen gas production in a microbial electrolysis cell by electrohydrogenesis

Electrohydrogenesis is a bio-electrochemical process where organic material is microbially oxidized to protons and electrons, which in turn are reduced to form hydrogen gas (H₂). The reactor in which these reactions occur is termed a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). The microorganisms that colonize the anode are known as electricigens and behave as biological catalysts, significantly reducing the energy required to drive this process. Electricigens are capable of complete substrate degradation, leading to very high cathodic H₂ recovery efficiencies from sources previously considered organic waste. In this short review, the origination of the bio-electrochemical system (BES) is introduced, mechanisms for electron transfer between microbe and electrode are discussed, the challenges these electrochemical systems face are presented, and finally an overview of current MEC systems and their respective performance is evaluated. Electrohydrogenesis has established itself as a promising technology for sustainable H₂ production from renewable sources.     

Effects of spacing and post-planting treatments on survival and growth of Fraxinus angustifolia seedlings

This study was conducted at a bottomland hardwood site with heavy textured soil in Akyazi, Turkey to determine the effect of initial spacing (3.0 x 3.0, 3.0 x 2.0, 2.5 x 1.6 and 2.5 x 1.2 m) and post-planting treatments (untreated check, moving, hoeing, disking, and hoeing plus disking) on early survival and growth of Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. One-year old bare-root seedlings (70 +/- 5 cm in height) were hand-planted in December 2004. Through three years survival was perfect with a rate of 98% in all treatments. Spacing and the interaction between spacing and post-planting treatment did not significantly affect seedling growth through three years. However height and diameter growth increased overtime and differed significantly among post-planting treatments. The hoeing and hoeing plus disking treatments gave the highest growth, and resulted in about 31% increase in diameter and height increment, and in total diameter and height about 20%. These results suggest that post-planting treatments on bottomland sites with heavy textured soil give promising results.     

Accumulation of sulfur and heavy metals in soil and tree leaves sampled from the surroundings of Tuncbilek Thermal Power Plant

In this study, the quantities of sulfur and heavy metals, resulting from the Tuncbilek Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in Turkey, have been assessed in tree leaves and soil samples within a 10 km radius of the plant. Leaves of Salix alba L., Populus tremula L., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Quercus infectoria L., Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. pallasiana (Lamb) Holmboe. trees have been used with the aim of determining how far the gas and particles emitted from the TPP are carried, and for assessment of environmental impact. The results obtained from locations chosen at various distances to the TPP, indicate that the contaminating agents are very dense and effective; particularly in the prevailing wind direction and within 10 km of the plant. They gradually lose their density and effect beyond this distance. The sulfur and heavy metal analyses made in soils taken from these locations indicate a similarity with the data obtained from the leaves.     

Public preferences for visual quality and management in the Kackar Mountains National Park (Turkey)

There are 37 national parks in Turkey, encompassing the most important mountain ecosystems, with high biological, natural, cultural and historical diversity. These parks also have aesthetic and recreational potential, and are valuable components within the country's nature protection programmes. Globally, a landscape can be regarded as the face of an ecosystem and constitutes a relationship between natural structure and visual features. There have been several studies on whether visual quality can provide indicators for landscape planning. Visual quality can also be assessed as a manifesto for community participation. This paper attempts to extend the understanding of visual quality assessment for national parks, using the Kackar Mountains National Park (KMNP) in north-eastern Turkey as an example. A detailed survey of visual quality preferences, landscape factors (10 main and 40 sub-factors) and semantic factors (naturalness, variety, fascination, vividness, unity, interesting and exciting) affecting these preferences was made using 30 represenative slides selected from the park. The highest preference was found to be 6.54, while the lowest was 2.30. Regression analysis enabled us to determine the relationship between visual quality and visual landscape attributes. The R2 value for naturalness was 0.482, while naturalness together with lake and fog percentage was 0.641. The assessment of preferences for the studied views in various landscape units can be evaluated and used for land-use decisions and future planning in KMNP.     

A study of a sustainable greenway approach for a part of the Silk Road in Turkey

The article describes different steps and methodologies to create an alternative greenway with recreational, scenic, historical and cultural values in Hamsiköy-Zigana, part of Trabzon-Gümü?hane former state highway. As a first step, inventory studies and analyses were carried out to determine the cultural and natural values of the area. As the second step, area analyses studies were carried out. Depending on results of expert-based visual assessment and suitability analyses for determining the suitability of greenway planning in the study area; recreational, scenic, historical–cultural and multifunctional status of the greenway having all these three functions at the same time were mapped using suitability rank in GIS and the plan square technique. As a result, the plan squares having high suitability for the above functions were dense in the determined study, in terms of old highway and neighbourhood. In the whole area (4385.25 ha), 598.00 ha were ranked as good (A), 770.27 ha as medium (B) and 3016.98 ha as poor (C), in terms of suitability value. Seasonal assessments for recreation and scenery functions of A, B and C indicate that the area has opportunities for all seasons. As a third step, the results are discussed and some proposals suggested.     

Determining recreational, scenic, and historical–cultural potentials of landscape features along a segment of the ancient Silk Road using factor analyzing

Generally, roads are structures connecting areas of special importance to each other (e.g., from urban areas to villages). In addition to functioning as transportation mediums, roads have aesthetic qualities by means of their recreational, scenic, and cultural functions. One of these unexplored roads, the Trabzon–Gümü?hane old state highway in the Northeast Turkey, the subject of this study, is quite unique for being a part of the historical Silk Road. The aim of the study is to determine the recreational, scenic, and cultural potentials of this road and to identify the landscape qualities based on these potentials. After dividing the road into three sections for comparison purposes, data gathered from basic digital maps obtained from The General Directorate of Rural Services (the governmental agency that is responsible for producing such digital maps) and field trips were entered into maps using geographic information system followed by creating demonstration films using photographs and video camera images of the natural and cultural characteristics of the area. Then, these films were evaluated by an expert team to identify the road’s recreational, scenic, and cultural potentials. The results of the evaluation process, the relationships between determined landscape characteristics for each function, and the contribution scores of different functions assigned for the artificial features were statistically analyzed. The analyses showed a very strong relationship between the sections and the contribution scores of the recreation and the scenic functions. The results of these analyses also revealed some landscape characteristics having high contribution values for all the functions. This, in turn, helped in determining a potential of the study area to become a greenway.     

Removal of selected natural and synthetic estrogenic compounds in a Canadian full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant.

The effect of a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and each of the treatment units within the stream on the removal of endocrine-disrupting compounds was evaluated by tracking 17-beta-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), and 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2). The overall performance of the WWTP compared well with other plants, as 90.5% removal of E1+E2 and 74.9% removal of EE2 were observed. A larger fraction of EE2 entered the plant in particulate form than E1 and E2, while a lower fraction of EE2 left the plant in particulate form than soluble form. The activated sludge units reduced the concentration of E1+E2 and EE2 in the liquid phase by 88.2% and 44.6%, respectively. The UV treatment process did not reduce the amount of estrogens. The aqueous phase of the tertiary lagoon solids contained higher levels of estrogens compared with the lagoon influent.