Authors:Seden ACUN OZGUNLER; Mustafa OZGUNLER Abstract: Itis very important to research renewable energy sources for energy productionbecause of high energy consumption and global warming phenomena. The tendencyof using the building materials produced with low energy consumption andrespect to environmental conservation has been increasing all over the world.In this context, earthen building materials which are produced by the rawmaterials taken from the nature and formed by human, can be seen as ecologicand renewable building material. Secondly, earth is a traditional buildingmaterial, it has been used from past to present with different usage techniques.This material is very important not only for today's ecological demands butalso for cultural sustainability. In this study, earthen building materialswere researched in order to consider sustainable materials by presenting theadvantages and disadvantages. And also, a case study conducted on the earthenbuilding materials of rural area in Bilecik was presented. It was aimed to makea contribution to increase using the earthen building materials in our countrywith the view of environmental conservation and cultural sustainability. Forthis purpose, an experimental programme was planned to determine the propertiesand deterioration reasons of original earthen materials used in traditionalbuildings and also, to research the re-use possibilities of the originals. As aresult of all the experiments, it was seen that the earthen materials can beeasily re-used and the performance of the earthen materials can be improved byadding slaked lime %20 and %30 ratios and by obtaining the effective dryingconditions. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Mehmet Kürşat SAHIN; Murat AFSAR Abstract: The present study investigated the reptilianfauna in Amasya Province, Turkey. Reptile species were identified fromcollections made during field studies or recorded in literature, with some newlocality records obtained. Field studies were undertaken over two consecutiveyears (2016 and 2017). Two lacertid species, one skink species, two colubridspecies and one viper species were officially recorded for the first time ortheir information was updated. In addition to species locality records,chorotypical and habitat selection were also assessed and the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species criteriaincluded. Data on the distribution and locality information for each taxon isalso provided. Our findings demonstrate that Amasya might be an ecotone zonebetween the Mediterranean, Caucasian, and European ecosystems. Although thereare some concerns for the sustainable dynamics of reptilian fauna, relativelyrich and different European nature information system habitat types providebasic survival conditions for reptilian fauna in the province. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Naznoosh SHOMALI–MOGHADDAM; Nursel GUL, Ebru GOKALP OZKORKMAZ, Aydin OZLUK Abstract: Midgut cell and peritrophic membranes of grain pest Agrotis segetum larvaewere examined by light microscope. Six biotinylated lectins were used in theassays by applying histochemical methods (Avidin-Biotin-Peroxidase). The aim ofthis study was to find lectins binding on peritrophic membranes if they wereavailable as insecticidal agents. Results of the study indicated that lectinsBPA (Bauhinia purpurea) and GS-I (Griffonia simplicifolia)strongly stained whereas, PNA(Pea Nut Agglutinin) and UEA-1 (Ulex europaeus) moderately stained thetissues. However, WGA (Wheat Germ Agglutinin) and Con-A (Canavaliaensiformis) stained the tissues weakly. The common feature of two binding proteins,BPA and GS-I lectin was binding to D- galactose. Our examinations revealedthat D-galactose mostly exists in A.segetum larvae midgut cellmembranes and peritrophic membrane and this means BPA and GS-I lectins can beused as insecticidal agents against A.segetum. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Asiye Gül BAYRAKCI OZDINGIS; Gunnur KOCAR Abstract: The effects of pretreatments applied to raw materials and microorganismselection in lignocellulosic bioethanol production were investigated. It hasbeen found that the yield of enzymatic pretreatment process applied after thechemical pretreatment is about 4 times higher than that only chemical.Enzymatic pretreatment used process yield is 3.5 times higher than thatchemical pretreatment. When the microorganism ethanol production yield valuesof Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis were examined, it wasfound that S.cerevisiae was superiorto P.stipitis in chemical pretreatedreactors (about 1.7 times higher) while P.stipitis’ yield was higher about 1.2 times in enzymatic pretreatedreactors. When the reactors which have been pretreated with both chemical andenzymatic hydrolysis and P. stipitisand S. cerevisiae used separately wereexamined, it was observed that there was not a great difference in terms ofethanol production yield. C. thermocellum’sethanol yield was found about 3 times lower than the S. cerevisiae and P.stipitis. According to the obtained data, it was seen that S. cerevisiae could produce ethanol withhigher efficiency than P. stipitis.At the same time, the difficulty of C.thermocellum’s production conditions, high energy demand and high risk ofcontamination, and low ethanol production yield, it is thought that it can onlybe used in the research phase for now. But in particular, by investigatingextracellular cellulase enzyme system of C.thermocellum, genetic modifications are predicted to play an important rolein the future in the second generation bioethanol production process. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Abubakar YAJI; Stanley IHEANACHO, Emmanuel OGUEJI Abstract: Herbicide Propanil is a toxicant that canadversely affect the health of fish. The present study was conducted toascertain the toxicity effect of Propanil on hematology and serum biochemistryin Oreochromis niloticus juvenile. Fish specimens were exposed to sub-lethalconcentrations (0.0, 0.22, 0.44 and 0.87 mg/L) of Propanil derived from the96hour Lethal concentration for eight weeks. Fish specimens were sampled forhematological and biochemical analysis at 2, 6 and 8 week’s duration exposure.Significant changes and dose dependent decreases in red blood cell, pack cellvolume, hemoglobin values were observed in Propanil exposed fish compared tothe control. Progressive increase in white blood cell count and leukocytedifferentials (neutrophils and lymphocytes) were found in Propanil exposed fishcompared to the control. Significant increases in biochemical parameters(glucose, protein, triglycerides, glutamic oxalo-acetic transminase andglutamate pyruvate transaminase) were observed in Propanil exposed fish groupscompared to the control. However, cholesterol levels decreased significantlyexcept for 8th week Propanil duration exposure. Findings of the present studyrevealed that Propanil adversely affected fish health. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Filiz BALIKCI DEREKAYA; Yusuf Serkan KILINC Abstract: In this study, Rh and Ru promoted NiO-CeO2-ZrO2catalysts were prepared with different Rh and Ru loadings (3, 4, 5 (wt.%)) byusing two different methods. N2 phsisorption, X-Ray diffraction,scanning electron microscope with energy-dispersive (SEM-EDX) techniques wereused in order to characterize the catalysts. Catalytic activities of thecatalysts were tested for CO methanation. The selective CO methanationcatalytic activity tests were made over the most active catalysts. The effectof the Rh and Ru loading and preparation method on the CO methanation wasdiscussed. The Ru and Rh have different effect on the surface areas of thecatalysts and identifiable peaks for Rh and Ru not observed from the XRDanalysis. Because of the low ratio of Rh and Ru in catalysts structures, bothRu and Rh containing catalysts gave similar CO methanation activity results.The 50% conversion temperatures of the 3% Ru/NiO-CeO2-ZrO2catalysts which were prepared by the co-precipitation and surfactant assistedco-precipitation are 191 °C and 185 °C, respectively. Selective CO methanation wasmade over the 3% Ru/NiO-CeO2-ZrO2 catalysts. Catalystsgave good activity until 300 °C. Because of the reversed water gas shiftreaction activities of the catalysts were decreased after this temperature PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Umit Necmettin ARIBAS; Merve ERMIS, Akif KUTLU, Nihal ERATLI, Mehmet Hakkı OMURTAG Abstract: The forced vibration analysis of warpingconsidered curved composite Timoshenko beams resting on viscoelastic foundationis investigated via the mixed finite element method. Rocking is considered bothfor Winkler and Pasternak viscoelastic foundations. Two nodded curved elementhas 12 degrees of freedom. Problems are solved in frequency domain via Laplacetransform and modified Durbin’s algorithm is used for back transformation totime domain. Warping considered average torsional rigidities of the compositecross-sections are calculated numerically by ANSYS and verified by theliterature. After the verification of the algorithms, as benchmark examples,curved composite beams on rocking considered viscoelastic Pasternak foundationare solved. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Suresh Kumar SUDABATTULA; Kowsalya MUNISWAMY Abstract: In this paper, an effective methodology has beenproposed for optimal allocation of renewable generation sources in thedistribution system. The objective of this work is to minimize real andreactive power losses in the distribution systems. The output power of solarDGs mainly depends upon solar irradiance level. So, before placement of thesesources random nature of solar irradiance should be effectively modeled. A betaprobability density function is used to model the solar irradiance anddetermine the exact output power of these sources. Further, the best locationfor placement of solar DGs is found out using loss sensitivity factor. Theoptimal sizing of photo voltaic arrays corresponding to these locations isdetermined using firefly algorithm (FA). Different time varying load modelssuch as residential, commercial and industrial has been considered for thestudy along with probabilistic generation pattern. The developed method istested on IEEE 69 bus test system. The obtained results show that optimalallocation of solar DGs in the distribution system gives a positive impact interms of achieving better loss reduction and voltage profile enhancement. Acomparative study is made for all the load models and the importance ofconsidering different load models is projected. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Sheeba BABU; Ashok Kumar LOGANATHAN, Indragandhi VAIRAVASUNDARAM Abstract: Wind power generation capacityin India has significantly increased over the few decades and the totalinstalled wind power capacity has grown up to 32.72 GW (as on October 2017),which ranks fourth largest in the world. The scope for wind farm as assessedusing Geographic Information System (GIS) platform is found to be more than2000 GW. So there is a lot of scope for expansion wind power projects providedstudies are conducted on the selection of its components. One of the maincomponents of Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) is the electrical generatorapart from the prime mover and other structural parts. This paper introduces an experimental setupfor the study of different types of electrical generators and their feasibilityfor different wind conditions. In this setup, Squirrel Cage Induction Generator(SCIG), Slip Ring Induction Generator (SRIG), Permanent Magnet SynchronousGenerator (PMSG) and Permanent Magnet DC Generator (PMDC) are available forstudy. These generators are coupled to a Separately Excited DC motor via aportable coupling arrangement. The separately excited DC motor emulates thewind turbine. The results of the experimental setup are validated andpresented. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Tayfun OKAN; Nursel AKCAM Abstract: Solving an electromagnetic problem can behandled in two phases. These are modelling the setup and carrying out the numeric evaluations. Throughout this study, thestructure is modelled by Bézier surfaces and the antenna used is meshed with triangular patches. Forthe calculation part, the method of moments and physical optics (MoM-PO) hybridmethod is implemented. While the calculations related with antenna areactualized by using MoM equations, the ones related with structure are obtainedby using PO equations. Modified Ludwig’s Algorithm is applied to calculate thecurrent integral for the PO-region. This gives the ability to obtain successfulresults when the antenna is both close and far from the structure. Overall thestated modelling and calculation technique gives accurate results and savestime and memory in comparison with MoM. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Ayten GEZICI; Cemil YILDIZ Abstract: In this paper, weintroduce a new type of mixed fuzzy soft topological space over a fuzzy softset on initial universe set. We define countability on mixed fuzzy softtopological spaces. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Nejla OZMEN; Esra ERKUS DUMAN Abstract: The present study deals with some new properties for thehypergeometric polynomials . The results obtainedhere include various families of multilinear and multilateral generatingfunctions, miscellaneous properties and also some special cases for thesepolynomials. In addition, we derive a theorem giving certain families ofbilateral generating functions for the hypergeometric polynomials and the generalizedLauricella functions. Finally, we get several interesting results of thistheorem. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Ye SHUANG; Feng QI Abstract: In the paper, by virtue of an integral identity and the H\"older inequality for integrals, the authors establish some new inequalities of the Hermite--Hadamard type for $s$-convex functions, derives some new inequalities for common convex functions, and apply these new results to construct some inequalities for special means. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Hatice ASLAN; Hakan EFE Abstract: In the present paper, we show how to construct analgebraic sheaf by means of the toplogical generalized group defined by Molaeiin [1] by considering both homotopy and sheaf theory. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Olusegun S. EWEMOOJE; Femi B. ADEBOLA, Adedamola A. ADEDIRAN Abstract: This paper proposes anew stratified technique to address the problem involving estimation of thepopulation proportion of people with sensitive attribute(s). Studying theproposed technique under proportional and Neyman allocations shows that theproposed technique is moreefficient than (outperforms) the Singh & Gorey [1] and Tarray & Singh[2] stratified randomized response models. Applying the proposed technique to asurvey on drug use disorder also shows the applicability of the model. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Burcu CICEK; Necmettin SAHIN, Mahmut ALKAN Abstract: In this study, in order to provide heatdissipation of the high power LEDs to be used for street illumination, U-shapedcylindrical copper heat pipes are used. Thermal analysis of this system wascarried out numerically in the ANSYS Fluent software. Firstly, thermal analysiswas performed for different numbers, diameters and lengths of heat pipes andoptimum values were obtained. Afterwards, the optimum materials to be used ascomponents of LED packages were determined. In addition, the effect of thepower applied to the LED chip and of ambient temperature on the temperaturedistribution of the whole system was examined. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Barış ASIKGIL Abstract: Ordinaryleast squares method is usually used for parameter estimation in multiplelinear regression models when all regression assumptions are satisfied. One ofthe problems in multiple linear regression analysis is the presence of seriallycorrelated disturbances. Serial correlation can be formed by autoregressive ormoving average models. There are many studies in the literature includingparameter estimation in regression models especially with autoregressivedisturbances. The motivation of this study is that whether serially correlateddisturbances are defined by a different type of nonlinear process and how thisprocess is analyzed in multiple linear regression. For this purpose, anonlinear time series process known as self-exciting threshold autoregressivemodel is used to generate disturbances in multiple linear regression models.Two-stage least squares method used in the presence of autoregressivedisturbances is adapted for dealing with this new situation and comprehensiveexperiments are performed in order to compare efficiencies of the proposedmethod with the others. According to numerical results, the proposed method canoutperform under the type of self-exciting threshold autoregressiveautocorrelation problem when compared to ordinary least squares and two-stageleast squares. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:O. Ozan EVKAYA; Ceylan YOZGATLIGIL, A. Sevtap SELCUK- KESTEL Abstract: Thispaper implements copulas to identify the dependence structure betweenelectricity consumption and its cofounding indicators. To achieve this, Turkishelectricity demand, its economic and sectoral indicators are taken intoaccount. As a first step, bivariate copulas are used to identify the bestfitting copula and the degree of the dependence. Thereafter, multivariate modelis established using vine copulas using highly correlated variables. Theempirical results confirm the added value of the proposed approach indetermining numerous tail properties. We indicate that the copulas are usefulto underline, especially, the tail properties of indicators in the market fordecision makers. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Ayşe TEKEL; Aybike CEYLAN KIZILTAS, Sara AFSHAR Abstract: Man-environment relations-more specifically the aesthetic response of people to certain qualities oftheir environment- is a significant research area for urban design, as suchstudies provide for a solid ground for urban design criteria. The purpose of thisstudy is to investigate the perception criteria that have greater impact forsatisfactory streets. For this, a web-based 'virtual tour' was used to elicitresponse to scenes of three urban streets in downtown Ankara, Turkey; each oneexhibiting a range of different characteristics. The 70 subjects whoparticipated in the study were selected from undergraduate student population.Our analysis resulted in categorizing variables of perception according totheir relationship with aesthetic response to urban streets and to find outcriteria that mostly effect sense of aesthetics toward urban streets. Findingsof the study are significant as they can show urban planners and designerscriteria for designing streets to reinforce the satisfaction derived from urbanstreets. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Murat GUNDUZ; Omar Hafeez KHAN Abstract: Construction projects are of very complex natureand come along with an intrinsic but undesirable property of change orders. Thepurpose of this paper is to propose an effective framework for the change ordermanagement in the construction industry. This is achieved by investigating andidentifying various causes of change orders and their impact on projectobjectives like project duration, cost, and quality. The data for this projectwere gathered by conducting a survey among the professionals like owners,project management consultants, design/supervision consultants and contractorsin construction industry. The survey respondents were requested to providefeedback on the impact of change orders on project duration, cost and quality.Initially, the data collected from 105 professionals was analyzed throughRelative Importance Index (RII). Furthermore, multiple objective decisiontechnique of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to rank the causesof change orders according to their impact on project duration, cost and qualityconsidered collectively. According to AHP, the top three causes of changeorders with highest cumulative impact on project duration, cost and qualitywere, “Change in specifications by the owner”, “Change of plans or scope by theowner”, and “Poor project planning by the contractor”. This paper also suggestsimprovements for the existing change order management processes and ranks thesesuggestions according to their role in reducing impact on project duration,cost and quality. The proposed framework can be adjusted to suit individualconstruction projects with different relative importance of project objectives. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Esmaeel FATAHIAN; Naser KORDANI, Hossein FATAHIAN Abstract: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodcan be applied for gaining insights tothe most fluid processes and related phenomena. Applying CFD method in the investigation ofphysiological flows especially blood is one of the interesting topics for many researchers. Because of itssignificant effect on various humancardiovascular diseases and arterial diseases, extended knowledge of blood flowin physiological conditions is required. This review provided an overview ofrecent studies on the application of CFD method of blood flow inside thecorkscrew artery, arterial stenoses, human patient-specific left ventricle andarteries affected by multiple aneurysms. Also, several rheological models fordescribing the blood rheology were discussed. Based on this review, it wasconcluded that the application of CFD method can help the medical practitionersin the patients’ treatment decision in the investigation of blood flow PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Anbarasan PALAPPAN; Jayabarathi THANGAVELU Abstract: This research accesses a novel approach ofutilising an advanced Meta–heuristic Optimization technique with a singleobjective to pledge with optimal reactive power dispatch problem in electricalpower system network. The prime focus of reactive power dispatch is to curtailthe total active power loss in transmission lines. In this detailed study, the dragonflyalgorithm was realized on standard IEEE-14 bus and 30 bus systems. The outcomeof dragonfly algorithm lucidly indicate the capablity of increasing theantecedent random population size for a liable global optimization problem,focalized close to the global optimum and contributing precise outcome resultsrelated to another popular algorithm. PubDate: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +030