Is biosorption suitable for decontamination of metal-bearing wastewaters? A critical review on the state-of-the-art of biosorption processes and future directions.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Turkey: Current status and future challenges.

The last century witnessed a boom in the world population, reaching an unprecedented level. In particular, in recent decades, the population has concentrated in cities. Migration from rural areas to urban areas brings many problems to urban areas, necessitating the opening of new settlement areas. These new settlement areas that are needed are mostly determined in line with the initiatives of local authorities based on the situation of infrastructure facilities, not scientific evaluations. If the wrong places are selected, various natural events each year may cause the loss of property and lives, in addition to significant amounts of energy consumption. This study uses various parameters and creates a method for place selection based on multiple criteria. The district of Atakum in the city of Samsun, which has been subject to continuous migration and where new settlement areas have been established, is selected as the study area. Within the scope of this study, in addition to landslide and flood risks, which constitute the most important natural disasters in the region, situations of high voltage electricity transmission lines in places where the establishment of a residential area would be objectionable are evaluated. The situation of biocomfort, which is significantly important, especially with respect to energy efficiency as well as human health, peace, and comfort, is also evaluated. This study is conducted based on these criteria, and as a result, it calculates that only 15.11% of the district of Atakum is appropriate for use as a settlement area. In addition to serving as a reference for the short- and long-term area planning studies that will be conducted in the region, this study also holds significance due to the new perspective it offers regarding urban planning studies.

Integrating multicriteria decision-making analysis for a GIS-based settlement area in the district of Atakum, Samsun, Turkey

Population growth, which is the main source of the biggest problems of the world today, combined with migration from rural areas to urban centers, causes the urban centers to be even more concentrated. This necessitates the opening of new residential areas in many city centers, but new residential areas are mostly determined by the decisions of local authorities, who may not base their decisions on scientific data. With the wrong area selection, ordinary natural events can be potentially catastrophic. Such events can result in large numbers of casualties and material damage every year. In this study, an example of applying a method for location selection using various parameters has been realized. The study focuses on Bafra, Turkey (the study area). Risk maps were created in terms of floods and overflows; maps of regions and high-voltage power transmission lines that enjoy a protected area status; and maps of regions in terms of biocomfort suitability. As a result of the evaluation made according to these criteria, it is calculated that only 1.96% of the total working area is suitable for use as a residential area. In relevant literature studies, it was observed that the studies related to the selection of residential areas were carried out only depending on a single standard or criterion. Some suggested biocomfort, and others used vulnerability to risks such as landslide, flood, and earthquakes as their main principle. Studies based on multi-criteria were generally used for purposes such as solid waste site selection and determination of the road routes. The study aims to shed light on the multi-criteria method in an attempt to standardize it in regional planning studies and to inspire similar studies in which different criteria can be used to achieve the maximum efficiency.

Site selection by using the multi-criteria technique-a case study of Bafra, Turkey.

Arboviruses represent a significant burden to public health and local economies due to their ability to cause unpredictable and widespread epidemics. To maximize early detection of arbovirus emergence in non-endemic areas, surveillance efforts should target areas where circulation is most likely. However, identifying such hotspots of potential emergence is a major challenge. The ecological conditions leading to arbovirus outbreaks are shaped by complex interactions between the virus, its vertebrate hosts, arthropod vector, and abiotic environment that are often poorly understood. Here, we systematically review the ecological risk factors associated with the circulation of six arboviruses that are of considerable concern to northwestern Europe. These include three mosquito-borne viruses (Japanese encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, Rift Valley fever virus) and three tick-borne viruses (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, and louping-ill virus). We consider both intrinsic (e.g. vector and reservoir host competence) and extrinsic (e.g. temperature, precipitation, host densities, land use) risk factors, identify current knowledge gaps, and discuss future directions. Our systematic review provides baseline information for the identification of regions and habitats that have suitable ecological conditions for endemic circulation, and therefore may be used to target early warning surveillance programs aimed at detecting multi-virus and/or arbovirus emergence.

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Risk factors associated with sustained circulation of six zoonotic arboviruses: a systematic review for selection of surveillance sites in non-endemic areas.

Natural disasters such as landslides often occur in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey owing to its geological, topographical, and climatic characteristics. Landslide events occur nearly every year in the Arhavi, Hopa, and Kemalpasa districts located on the Black Sea coast in the Artvin province. In this study, the landslide susceptibility map of the Arhavi, Hopa, and Kemalpasa districts was produced using the random forest (RF) model, which is widely used in the literature and yields more accurate results compared with other machine learning techniques. A total of 10 landslide-conditioning factors were considered for the susceptibility analysis, i.e., lithology, land cover, slope, aspect, elevation, curvature, topographic wetness index, and distances from faults, drainage networks, and roads. Furthermore, 70% of the landslides on the landslide inventory map were used for training, and the remaining 30% were used for validation. The RF-based model was validated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Evaluation results indicated that the success and prediction rates of the model were 98.3% and 97.7%, respectively. Moreover, it was determined that incorrect land-use decisions, such as transforming forest areas into tea and hazelnut cultivation areas, induce the occurrence of landslides.

Random Forest-Based Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in Coastal Regions of Artvin, Turkey

The geographic distribution of cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever: Kastamonu, Turkey.

Due to the increased need for housing, Samsun province center were quickly opened construction in the last 25 years. Because of the population growth, construction progressed towards to the southern hillside of the city. Large amount of landslides observed and classified in this region by the relevant institutions. To prevent the life and property losses, it is required to evaluate pre-determined landslides and to determine probable landslide areas in the construction regions. Therefore, this study aims to create a landslide susceptibility map of Samsun province center. Frequency Ratio Method which is widely used in the literature has been used in the creation of landslide susceptibility map. The geological formation of the region, altitude, slope, aspect, curvature, plan and profile curvature, road and stream distance parameters have been considered in the landslide susceptibility evaluation.

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Cem Kilicoglu

Papers

Integrating multicriteria decision-making analysis for a GIS-based settlement area in the district of Atakum, Samsun, Turkey

Site selection by using the multi-criteria technique-a case study of Bafra, Turkey.

Random Forest-Based Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in Coastal Regions of Artvin, Turkey

The geographic distribution of cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever: Kastamonu, Turkey.

Samsun İl Merkezinin Heyelan Duyarlılık Haritasının Üretilmesi