Waste management in a university campus

In this study, we discussed how can be the management hierarchy and management process in a university campus. Erciyes University is in the middle of the Anatolia Region that has about 60.000 population. The university has faculty /institutional administrations and hospital-related buildings and research centers. It has an area of about 20 m2 for each person on the campus. The university is responsible in terms of legislative directives that are in operation. The waste directive is published by the university in 2017 that shares the responsibilities and distributes the tasks for each unit on the university campus. In Turkey, zero waste projects and zero waste legislation are also in operation by 2019. The importance of waste management strategy is important for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that is published by the United Nations and put in consideration of Times Higher Education (THE) which is one of the most confidential ranking systems for universities. There is also, environmental assessment system for university campuses, the Green-Metric. One of the grading subjects of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) in Turkey is the zero waste strategy on the campus. Therefore, the operation of a zero-waste strategy gains importance

Role of Non-Renewable Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Driving Environmental Sustainability in India: Evidence from the Load Capacity Factor Hypothesis

Policymakers and environmental scientists have proposed numerous measures toward achieving a sustainable environment. Some of these measures include the efficient use of energy and a clean energy transition. This study empirically investigates the role of non-renewable energy efficiency and renewable energy utilization in driving environmental sustainability in India over the period from 1965 to 2018. Using the approach of the Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (DyARDL) simulations, the empirical evidence shows that non-renewable energy efficiency and renewable energy utilization promote environmental sustainability through an increase in the load capacity factor. The effects of financial development and trade impede environmental sustainability through a decrease in the load capacity factor. The results further show that the relationship between income and load capacity factor is characterized by an inverted U-shape. This suggests that the load capability curve (LCC) hypothesis is not valid for India. Given the overall findings of this study, it is suggested that policymakers should promote energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies as the ultimate policy measure to mitigate the accumulation of CO2 emissions and other significant climatic changes in India.publishedVersio

Examining crude oil price outlook amidst substitute prices and household energy expenditures in the USA: A novel nonparametric multivariate QQR approach

The outlook of crude oil prices has sparsely been empirically examined especially from the critical perspectives of energy expenditure per household, retail electricity prices, and environmental indicators. Given the enormous macroeconomic and socioeconomic effects of crude oil price amidst the fundamentals, this study examines the dynamics of the oil price outlook amidst energy demand (measured by energy expenditure per household), retail electricity price i.e., substitute price, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States of America (USA) over the period 1970 to 2040. This study offers two main innovations: first, it extends the bivariate nonparametric Quantile-on-Quantile Regression (QQR) to the multivariate case. Second, the analysis incorporates projected data series, which provides useful policy insights. The empirical results show evidence of time-varying effects of energy expenditure per household, retail electricity price, and CO2 emissions across the quantiles of crude energy prices. The results further show that the effect of energy demand through household energy expenditures is positive and stronger at the lower quantiles of crude oil price, which corresponds to periods of low crude oil prices. Furthermore, the effects of retail electricity price and CO2 emissions are negative and stronger in the mid-quantiles of crude oil price. This suggests that retail electricity prices and environmental indicator dampen crude oil prices during periods of low crude oil prices. These findings are robust to multivariate Quantile regression and Kernel-based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) estimates. Therefore, our study suggests timevarying policies to dampen the effects of energy demand, retail electricity price, and environmental indicator on crude oil prices in the USA.publishedVersio

Examining the patterns of disaggregate energy security risk and crude oil price: the USA scenario over 1970-2040

Beyond the environmental drawback of fossil energy sources, energy security remains a salient concern for economic development and environmental sustainability. This explains why the influence of energy security and its components (economic, geopolitical, reliability, environmental) on the price of crude oil commodity, espe cially in the United States of America, is considered in this study up to the period 2040 (i.e., from 1970 to 2040). Using the Kernel-Based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) approach supported by the robustness of the quantile regression, the result shows an increase in aggregate energy security risk spur crude oil price by an elasticity of ~0.9. With a positive impact on oil price, the economic, geopolitical, and reliability perspectives of energy se curity risk exhibit respective elasticity of ~2.0, ~0.6, and ~0.7, thus confirming that a positive shock in each aspect aggravates the oil price hike in the country. Contrarily, an increase in environmental risk could spiral a decline and an inelastic (~− 1.5) change in crude oil price, thus suggesting a desirable net zero future and a significant crash in oil price arising from clean and alternative energy source adoption. Furthermore, retail electricity price and energy expenditures are used as control variables, and crude oil prices respond positively and negatively to the increase in energy expenditures and electricity price, respectively. Several accounts of policy insights are highlighted in these results.publishedVersio

Environmental benefits of nonrenewable energy efficiency and renewable energy intensity in the USA and EU: Examining the role of clean technologies

Given that the United States of America and European Union are among the world’s top greenhouse gas emitting economies, it poses yet to be answered questions on whether efficient utilization of nonrenewable energy sources or renewable energy intensification in these economies account for any environmental benefit. To answer these inherent questions, this study examines and compares environmental performances of the economies in response to nonrenewable energy efficiency, renewable energy intensity, and environmental-related technologies while controlling for natural resource rent and urban population over the period 1990–2019. By implementing the advantage of Kernel-Based Regularized Least Squares alongside robustness measures, the findings posit that nonrenewable energy efficiency, renewable energy intensity, and environmental-related technologies significantly mitigates greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the economies. Importantly, while the three metrics show louder environmental impact in the EU, nonrenewable energy efficiency plays a louder and environmentally desirable role than the other two metrics. Conversely, natural resources and urbanization significantly hampers environmental sustainability by increasing GHG emission in the economies. Unfortunately, a terribly more damaging environmental impact arising from increased urbanization is noticeable in the EU. These findings afford concrete policy measures to be further devised for the USA and EU, and the entire globe given the foresight of net zero target.publishedVersio

Determining dissolved oxygen change using artificial neural networks: An example of Kızılırmak River

Bu çalışmada nehirlerdeki çözünmüş oksijen konsantrasyonun değişiminin modellenmesinde yapay sinir ağlarına (YSA) dayanan yeni bir yaklaşım sunulmuştur. Genişletilmiş delta-bar-delta ile geriyayılım  öğrenme algoritmaları bu ağları eğitmede kullanılmıştır. Bu uygulama için en basit YSA yapısını oluşturmada 5 farklı veri yapısı ve 2 farklı transfer fonksiyonu test edilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlar, YSA’nın çözünmüş oksijen konsantrasyonunu belirlemede başarılı bulunmuştur. İşlemlerin hızlı hesaplanması, basit yapıda olmaları, matematiksel modellemesinin çıkarılması zor problemlere kabul edilebilir sonuçlar sunmaları, su kalite modellemesinde ekonomik çözümler sunmaları bu zeki yaklaşımın karşılaşılan üstünlükleridir.Anahtar Kelimeler: Çözünmüş oksijen, Kızılırmak Nehri, modelleme, yapay sinir ağları. In this study, a new approach based on artificial neural networks (ANN) to determine dissolved oxygen concentration change in rivers is presented. The dissolved oxygen concentration in rivers plays dominant role in determining the water quality. This parameter constitutes a significant criterion of ecological stability and activity of water. The ANN structures with the inputs of 27, 5, 4, and 3 have been constructed. The parameters that are most simplistic and easy to measure are used as inputs to the neural network structure to be able to observe the changes in the dissolved oxygen concentration in Kızılırmak River. The Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) structure has been used in the phase of modeling. ANN models were trained with the extended delta-bar-delta and backpropagation learning algorithms. To achieve the task with simple configuration, 5 different data structures and two different transfer functions were tested. The best result of ANN applications is obtained with the neural network structure that uses the EDBD algorithm. The results obtained from the simulations have shown that, ANN models achieved the modeling of dissolved oxygen change with high accuracy. Providing fast computation, simple structure, economic and plausible solutions determine the water qualities are the advantages of ANN encountered in this work.  Keywords: Dissolved oxygen, Kızılırmak River, modeling, artificial neural network

Effects of Clarification and Storage on Anthocyanins and Color of Pomegranate Juice Concentrates

Whole pomegranates with rinds were processed into juice and then concentrate. Effects of cold clarification and storage temperatures (-23C, 5C, 12C and 20C) on anthocyanins (ACNs), ACN composition and color were determined. Major ACNs in pomegranate juice concentrate (PJC) were identified as cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside (47.9%), delphinidin-3,5-diglucoside (23.2%) and cyanidin-3-glucoside (18.5%). Diglucosides were more stable than monoglucosides during storage. ACN degradation and polymeric color formation were fitted to first-order reaction models. Higher storage temperatures increased the rate of ACN degradation and polymeric color formation in PJCs. Good correlation (r=-0.988) was found between ACN degradation and polymeric color formation during storage. Rate of ACN degradation and polymeric color formation were slower in the PJC obtained from unclarified juice than PJC obtained from clarified juice during storage. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Büyük Menderes Havzasında Organik Pamuk Üretim Olanaklarının Araştırılması

Bu araştırma Büyük Menderes Havzasında Organik Pamuk Üretim Olanaklarının araştırılması amacıyla 2003-2007 yıllarında, Nazilli Pamuk Araştırma Enstitüsünde, tesadüf blokları deneme deseninde, 4 tekrarlamalı yürütülmüştür. Deneme Konuları organik yeşil gübre bitkisi A-arpa, B-arpa+fiğ, C-fiğ(konvansiyonel ekim), D-fiğ(son sulamada ekim) ve E-Kontrol (konvansiyonel pamuk üretim), olarak ele alınmıştır. Araştırmada 2003-2004 yıllarında deneme alanını sömürtmede mısır, 2005-2007 yıllarında organik pamuk üretiminde Nazilli 84-S çeşidi yetiştirilmiştir. Parseller 67,2m² alınmıştır. Deneme parsellerine organik yeşil gübreleme amacıyla Sonbaharda arpa ve fiğ ekilmiş, İlkbaharda pamuk ekim öncesi parçalanıp toprağa karıştırılmıştır. Pamuğa konusuna göre mineral veya organik gübre ve 3-4 sulama uygulanmıştır. Hasat bir defada elle yapılmıştır. Ekim ve hasat dönemlerinde toprağın su ile doymuşluk, toplam tuz%, pH, kireç%, yarayışlı fosfor, yarayışlı potasyum, organik madde %, toplam azot ve Fe,Cu,Zn, Mn,Pb,Cr,Cd,Ni analizleri yapılmıştır. Pamuk parsellerinde fide, koza olgunlaşma, hasat dönemlerinde zararlı ve yabancı ot; %5-10, %50-%60 koza açma döneminde yapraktan; hasattan sonra gövde kesitinde solgunluk hastalık sayımları yapılmıştır. Pamukta verim, çırçır randımanı, uzunluk, incelik, mukavemet analizleri yapılmıştır. Pamuk verim varyans analizinde, konular 2005-2006 yıllarında %99 güvenle farklı, 2007 yılında farksız bulunmuştur. Verimde C-D-E konuları ön sıralarda yer almış, 3 yıllık ortalama verimler sırasıyla 285,4-309,5-293,1 Kg/da olmuştur. Organik pamuk yetiştiriciliğinde organik pamuk verimi ile konvansiyonel pamuk verimi ayni grupta yer almıştır. Sonuçlar Büyük Menderes havzasında organik pamuk yetiştiriciliğinin yapılabilir olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu durum organik tarım ve çevre sağlı açısından büyük önem arz etmektedir

Molecular characterization of pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from clinical bovine mastitis cases

This study aimed to investigate the presence and distribution of virulence determinants and their antimicrobial susceptibilities of 44 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates obtained from clinical bovine mastitis cases. In addition, selected 6 P. aeruginosa isolates were further characterized using whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Based on the presence of T3SS-related genes, 25% of the isolates were found to carry exoU and/or exoS genes belonging to invasive (exoU-/exoS+, 18.2%) and cytotoxic (exoU+/exoS-, 6.8%) strains. But, none of the isolates carried both exoU and exoS genes. In terms of other virulence genes examined, various virulence gene profiles were observed among the isolates. The majority of the isolates (72.7%) were susceptible to all tested antimicrobials. Resistance rates to ciprofloxacin and carbapenems (imipenem and meropenem) were determined as 25% and 4.5%, respectively. WGS analysis indicated the presence of different resistome, but fosA genes in all isolates, and different combinations of mutations in gyrA, parC, oprD, efflux pump, and genes playing a role in the regulation of ampC gene expression. Different sequence types (STs) and serotypes were found in representative isolates with the occurrence of the O11-ST235 clone, which is a worldwide multidrug-resistant high-risk clone representing a serious public health threat. The findings of this study provide valuable information on P. aeruginosa isolated from clinical bovine mastitis cases and current antimicrobial resistance levels and virulence determinants