Relation Between Environmental Impact and Financial Structure of Cement Industry

This study aims to investigate financial structure of cement firms, which facing environmental regulations and impacts. In this study financial ratio of 16 cement firms that are listed in Istanbul Stock Exchange analysed for the years 2011-2013. The key concept of this research is related to which debt ratios and financial structure are mainly affected by environmental data at cement firms on an emerging market. We developed two equations in order to analyse the relation between environment and financial structure. We found that there is a significant relation on emission levels while there is no significant relation on carbon dioxide levels with financial ratios. Sales, gross profit margins, current ratios have positive impact on industry emission levels. Moreover, earnings before interest and tax, liquidity ratio, financial leverage ratio and accounts receivable turnover ratios have negative impact on industry emission levels. Keywords: Cement Industry, Environmental Impact, Financial Ratio, Panel Data Models JEL Classifications: C23, G30, L6

Physiological, Biochemical, and Transcriptional Responses to Single and Combined Abiotic Stress in Stress-Tolerant and Stress-Sensitive Potato Genotypes

Potato production is often constrained by abiotic stresses such as drought and high temperatures which are often present in combination. In the present work, we aimed to identify key mechanisms and processes underlying single and combined abiotic stress tolerance by comparative analysis of tolerant and susceptible cultivars. Physiological data indicated that the cultivars Desiree and Unica were stress tolerant while Agria and Russett Burbank were stress susceptible. Abiotic stress caused a greater reduction of photosynthetic carbon assimilation in the susceptible cultivars which was associated with a lower leaf transpiration rate. Oxidative stress, as estimated by the accumulation of malondialdehyde was not induced by stress treatments in any of the genotypes with the exception of drought stress in Russett Burbank. Stress treatment resulted in increases in ascorbate peroxidase activity in all cultivars except Agria which increased catalase activity in response to stress. Transcript profiling highlighted a decrease in the abundance of transcripts encoding proteins associated with PSII light harvesting complex in stress tolerant cultivars. Furthermore, stress tolerant cultivars accumulated fewer transcripts encoding a type-1 metacaspase implicated in programmed cell death. Stress tolerant cultivars exhibited stronger expression of genes associated with plant growth and development, hormone metabolism and primary and secondary metabolism than stress susceptible cultivars. Metabolite profiling revealed accumulation of proline in all genotypes following drought stress that was partially suppressed in combined heat and drought. On the contrary, the sugar alcohols inositol and mannitol were strongly accumulated under heat and combined heat and drought stress while galactinol was most strongly accumulated under drought. Combined heat and drought also resulted in the accumulation of Valine, isoleucine, and lysine in all genotypes. These data indicate that single and multiple abiotic stress tolerance in potato is associated with a maintenance of CO2 assimilation and protection of PSII by a reduction of light harvesting capacity. The data further suggests that stress tolerant cultivars suppress cell death and maintain growth and development via fine tuning of hormone signaling, and primary and secondary metabolism. This study highlights potential targets for the development of stress tolerant potato cultivars

Physiological Responses of Potato to Short-Term Drought Treatment

Bu çalışmada, patatesin kısa süreli kuraklık uygulamasına gösterdiği fizyolojik tepkilerin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla, iklim kontrollü sera koşullarında, iki farklı patates çeşidi (Desiree ve Russet Burbank) kullanarak bir kuraklık denemesi yürütülmüştür. Kuraklık uygulaması, çıkıştan 45 gün sonra (erken yumru gelişim döneminde) sulamanın tamamen kesilmesi şeklinde yapılmış ve 10 gün boyunca devam ettirilmiştir. Çalışmada stoma iletkenliği, terleme hızı, fotosentez hızı, klorofil indeksi, yaprak sıcaklığı, prolin içeriği, malondialdehit (MDA) miktarı ve hidrojen peroksit (H2O2) birikimi gibi fizyolojik karakterlerin yanı sıra ortalama tek yumru ağırlığı, bitki başına yumru sayısı ve bitki başına yumru verimi gibi verim öğeleri incelenmiştir. Sulama kesintisinin 5. gününden itibaren her iki çeşidin stoma iletkenliği, terleme hızı ve fotosentez hızlarında önemli düzeyde düşüş meydana gelmiş ve en yüksek düşüş 9. ve 10. günlerde gözlemlenmiştir. Sulama kesintisinin 10. gününde her iki çeşidin prolin içeriği iki kat artarken, H2O2 içeriğinde önemli bir değişim olmamıştır. Kuraklık uygulaması sonucunda her ne kadar MDA içeriği her iki çeşitte artmış olsa da, sadece Desiree çeşidindeki artış istatiksel olarak önemli olmuştur. Bunun yanında, kuraklık uygulaması her iki çeşidin de bitki başına yumru verimini önemli ölçüde değiştirmemesine rağmen, pazarlanabilir yumru veriminde önemli bir karakter olan tek yumru ağırlığının Russet Burbank çeşidinde önemli düzeyde azalmasına neden olmuşturThe study aimed to identify physiological response of potato to drought. For this aim, a drought experiment was carried out by using two different potato varieties, cv. Desiree and Russet Burbank, under environmentally controlled greenhouse conditions. Drought treatment was initiated at 45 days after emergence (early tuber bulking period) by withholding irrigation for 10 days. Physiological traits such as stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll index, leaf temperature, proline content, malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 ) accumulation, in addition, some yield components average tuber weight, number of tubers and plant tuber yield were evaluated in the study. While the first significant decline in stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and photosynthetic rate of both varieties was occurred at the 5th day of withholding irrigation, the highest decline was observed at 9th and 10th days of withholding irrigation. Proline content in both varieties increased two times at 10th day of withholding irrigation, however, H2O2 accumulation was not changed significantly by drought treatment. Even though MDA accumulation was increased in both varieties under drought stress conditions, the increase was significant in Desiree whereas, it was not significant in Russet Burbank. In addition, while drought treatment did not change the plant tuber yield in both varieties, it caused to a significant decline in average tuber yield of Russet Burbank, being an important trait for marketable tuber yield

Evaluation of Materials From the Deriner Dam As Aggregate in The Production of Concrete

Agregalar beton hacminin yaklaşık % 75’ini oluşturmakta ve beton özelliklerine önemli ölçüde etki etmektedir. Agregaların, betonun dış etkilere karşı direncini sağlayacak iskeleti oluşturduğu göz önüne alınacak olursa, kaliteli agrega üretimi ve beton yapımında kullanımı büyük önem arz etmektedir. Artvin ilinde 1998 yılında yapımına başlanarak 2013 yılında hizmete açılan Deriner Barajı ve Hidroelektrik Santrali 249 m. gövde yüksekliği ile Türkiye’nin en yüksek barajı olma özelliğini taşımaktadır. Gövde kazısı sırasında ortaya çıkan malzeme cinsi bazalt olup, Artvin ilinde depo edilen bu malzemeden kırmataş agrega üretimi yapılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, agregaların özellikleri (tane dağılımı, su emme oranı, tane yoğunluğu, kil topakları eriyebilir parçacık miktarı, yassılık indeksi, Los Angeles metodu ile aşınma kaybı, sodyum sülfat ile dona dayanıklılık) belirlenerek beton agregaları standardına uygunluğu tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca bazalt kırmataş agrega ile C25/30 sınıfı beton karışımı tasarlanmış olup, taze betonun çökme değeri belirlenerek 150×150×150 mm3 kalıplara dökülmüş 7. ve 28. günlerde numuneler üzerinde yüzey sertliği ile yaklaşık basınç dayanımı tayini, ultrasonik Pdalga hızı tayini ve basınç dayanımı testleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, Deriner baraj kazısından çıkan malzemelerin beton üretiminde agrega olarak kullanımının uygun olduğu kanaatine varılmıştır.Aggregates constitute approximately 75% of the concrete volume and have an important effect on concrete properties. Considering that aggregates constitute the skeleton that will provide resistance against external effects of concrete, it is very important to use it in production of high quality aggregate and concrete construction. Deriner Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant, which started construction in 1998 in Artvin province and opened to service in 2013, is 249 m. It is the highest dam in Turkey with its body height. The material that emerged during the excavation of the body is basalt, and the material is stored in Artvin province and the crushed stone aggregate is produced from this material. In this study, the properties of aggregates (particle distribution, water absorption rate, grain density, amount of soluble particles in clay pellets, flatness index, loss of wear by Los Angeles method, resistance to frost with sodium sulphate) were determined and compliance with the concrete aggregates standard was determined. In addition, basalt crushed aggregate and C25 / 30 class concrete mixture is designed the settlement value of fresh concrete was determined and poured into 150 × 150 × 150 mm3 molds. On the 7th and 28th days, the surface hardness, the approximate pressure resistance determination, ultrasonic P-wave velocity determination and pressure resistance tests were carried out on the samples. As a result, it has been concluded that the material from the Deriner dam excavation is suitable for use as aggregate in concrete production

Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of New Chiral Aminoalcohol and Benzimidazole Hybrids

New chiral aminoalcohol-benzimidazole hybrids have been synthesized from commercially available aminoalcohols. [S(+)-Phenylglycinol, S(−)- Phenylalaninol and S(+)- Leuicinol] and 2-(chloromethyl)-N-tosyl-1-H-benzimidazole. The synthesized compound were characterized by IR, NMR, and LC-MS analysis. The antibacterial properties of aminoalcohol-benzimidazole hybrid molecules 4 a, 4 b, and 4 c were investigated against both gram (+ve) and gram (-ve) bacterial pathogens by the well-diffusion method using several standarts. The cell-based biological experiment was consistent with in silico studies. Furthermore, in silico studies revealed that all synthesized compounds could be suggested as potential drugs for inhibition of both peptide deformylase for bacteria and sterol 14α-demethylase for yeast. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei

Kolorektal Kanser Riski ile Hipoksiyle İndüklenen Faktör-1 Alfa (HIF-1?) ve von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)

Colorectal cancers (CRC) are among the four most frequently seen cancers in humans and are the second leading cause of can-cer-related deaths. Hypoxia up regulates multiple genes involved in different steps of metastatic process, including angiogenesis, proliferation, migration, invasion, motility, adhesion and survival. Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1 (HIF-1) is a master regulator protein of cellular hypoxia-response and triggers the expression of above-mentioned metastatic-process genes. Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) is a protein that plays critical role in the response to hypoxia and product of a tumor suppressor gene. We studied three single nu-cleotide polymorphisms, rs11549465 (1772C T), rs11549467 (1790G A) in HIF-1? and rs779805 (5’UTR A G) in VHL, and assessed their associations with CRC risk, clinicopathologic and demographic features and lifestyle, and tumor stage and grade of CRC patients and/or healthy controls. ARMS-PCR technique for genotyping of rs11549465 C T and rs11549467 GA and PCR-RFLP technique for genotyping of rs779805 AG were used. CT/TT genotypes of HIF-1? 1772C T polymorphism were found to increase the risk of colorectal cancer in patients (OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.02-3.77, p 0.05). Additionally, it was demon-strated via statistical analyses that higher age, male gender, cancer history in family, co-existing diseases, and exposure to white soil stands to be risk factors of colorectal cancer (p 0.05). No significant relation was found between patient’s TNM stages and distributions of genotype (p 0.05). The findings from our study demonstrates that, in addition to risk factors for colorectal can-cer, scanning CT/TT genotypes of HIF-1? C1772T polymorphism can be advantageous in early-diagnosis of colorectal cancer.Kolorektal kanser insanda sık görülen dört kanser türü arasında yer alır ve ölüme götüren kanserler içerisinde ikinci sıradadır. Hipoksi, anjiogenez, proliferasyon, migrasyon, invazyon, adhezyon ve sağkalımı içeren metastatik süreçte rol alan pek çok geni kontrol eder. Birçok kanser türünün gelişmesinde etkili olduğu düşünülen HIF-1? gen proteini hücrenin hipoksiye cevabının anahtar regülatörüdür. VHL proteini tümör baskılayıcı bir genin ürünü olup, hipoksiye cevap yolağında önemli rol alır. Biz bu çalışmada, HIF-1? geninin rs11549465 (1772C T), rs11549467 (1790G A) polimorfizmleri ile VHL geninin rs779805 (5’UTR A G) polimorfizmini ve ayrıca yaş, cinsiyet, ailede kanser öyküsü, sistemik hastalıklar, beyaz toprak maruziyeti, sigara ve alkol tüketimi ile CRC riski arasındaki ilişkiyi araştırdık. Çalışmaya, histolojik olarak teyit edilen CRC tanısı almış 92 hasta ile kontrol grubu olarak 101 birey katıldı. DNA izolasyonu için periferal kan kullanıldı. HIF-1? genindeki rs11549465 C T ve rs11549467 GA polimorfizm değişimlerini genotiplemek için ARMS-PZR; VHL rs779805 A G polimorfizm değişimini genotiplemek için PZR-RFLP moleküler tanı yöntemleri kullanıldı. Hasta grubunda, HIF-1?1772C T polimorfizminin CT/TT genotipleri CRC riski ile istatistiksel anlamda ilişkili bulundu (OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.02-3.77, p 0.05). Ayrıca kanser öyküsü, ileri yaş, erkek cinsiyet, eşlik eden hastalıklar ve beyaz toprak maruziyetinin kolorektal kanser için birer risk faktörü olduğu istatistiksel analizlerle belirlendi (p 0.05). Hastaların TNM evreleri ile genotip dağılımları arasında belirgin bir ilişkiye rastlanmadı (p 0.05). Sonuç olarak, HIF-1? C1772T polimorfizminin CT/TT genotipleri, ailede kanser öyküsü ve beyaz toprak maruziyeti CRC için birer risk faktörüdür ve CT/TT genotipi kolorektal kanserin erken tanısında avantaj sağlayabilir bir risk belirteci olarak kullanılabilecekti

Blastocyst transfer does not improve cycle outcome as compared to D3 transfer in antagonist cycles with an elevated progesterone level on the day of hCG

Objective: To evaluate the association between progesterone elevation on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration and clinical pregnancy rates of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles with the transfer of embryos at different developmental stages (day-3 versus day-5 ETs)

Effect of elevated progesterone level in antagonist cycles on the day of hCG on cleavage day and blastocyst transfer

Objective: To evaluate the association between progesterone elevation on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration and clinical pregnancy rates of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles with the transfer of embryos at different developmental stages (day-3 versus day-5 ETs)