Allochthonous blocks misidentified as the basement: Implication for petroleum exploration in the SW Thrace Basin (Turkey)

The sedimentary sequence of the SW Thrace Basin (NW Turkey) comprises of three major sedimentary packages: a) Cretaceous (Meastrichtien)–Early Eocene package formed as pelagic carbonate, turbidite, shelf and nearshore-fluvial deposits, b) Middle Eocene–Early Oligocene package formed as shallow marine, slope apron and turbidite sediments, c) Middle Miocene–Early Pliocene package formed as alluvial fan-fluvial and nearshore deposits. This basin is structurally complex and its southern margin is represented by a fold-thrust zone. The Westward Propagation of the North Anatolian Fault (WPNAF) intersects the Thrace Basin along its southwestern flank. In the SW Thrace Basin, there are ophiolite and limestone blocks in the sedimentary succession, which previously were interpreted as suture of the Intra-Pontide Ocean, Cretaceous aged Yeniköy Mélange or Olistostromal Unit in the Eocene sediments. In this study these rocks have been defined as allochthonous blocks facies of the Gaziköy Formation aged Middle–Late Eocene.In previous studies the Karaağaç Formation (Early Eocene) was considered to be within oil window and have an average potential for oil and gas generation. According to our data the Karaağaç Formation has a moderate TOC content, is mature and overmature. In the study area, there are potential stratigraphic traps (submarine fans and channels of the Karaağaç and Keşan Formations, fluvial channels of the Fıçıtepe Formation and reefs of the Soğucak Formation), potential fractured tuffs (the Gaziköy Formation) and, potential structural traps related to the folds, thrusts and the WPNAF. Although 17 exploration wells have been drilled in the study area and vicinity, no discovery has yet been made. The cause of this may be that the wells were terminated at depths shallower than potential targets or possibly drilling may have been terminated at the allochthonous block facies of the Gaziköy Formation, which is especially derived from ophiolite mélange and was misidentified as basement.     

Co-doped willemite ceramic pigments: Technological behaviour,crystal structure and optical properties

Cobalt-doped willemite is a promising blue ceramic pigment, but some important aspects concerning crystal structure, optical properties and technological behaviour are still undisclosed. In order to get new insight on these features, willemite pigments (Zn_2?xCo_xSiO₄, 0 < x < 0.3) were synthesized by the ceramic route and characterized from the structural (XRPD with Rietveld refinement), optical (DRS and colorimetry), microstructural (SEM, STEM, TEM, EDX, EELS) and technological (simulation of the ceramic process) viewpoints. The incorporation of cobalt in the willemite lattice, taking preferentially place in the Zn1 tetrahedral site, induces an increase of unit-cell parameters, metal–oxygen distances, and inter-tetrahedral tilting. It causes shifting and enhanced splitting of spin-allowed bands of Co²⁺ in tetrahedral coordination, implying slight changes of crystal field strength Dq and Racah B parameter, but increasing spin-orbit coupling parameter λ. Willemite pigments impart deep blue hue to ceramic glazes and glassy coatings with a colouring performance better than commercial Co-bearing colorants in the 800–1200 °C range. Detailed SEM-TEM investigation and microanalysis proved that no diffusion phenomena occur at the pigment–glassy coating interface and that willemite pigments are chemically inert during firing at 1050 °C.     

The mechanism for the colour change of iron chromium black pigments in glazes through transmission electron microscopy techniques

Black iron-chromium (Fe-Cr) bearing oxide pigments are generally utilised as effective colourants in a wide variety of applications. However, in the case of their use within ZnO-containing glazes, they yield an undesirable brown colour instead of expected black colour. In order to understand the colour change in this system, we report the use of focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation technique followed by the use of analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterisation techniques. According to the results, the formation of a reaction layer between the pigment and glaze was identified with an average composition of Zn_0.48Fe_0.79Cr_1.32O₄. Additionally, the valance of Fe was determined as 3+ in the pigment grain, whereas 2+ in the reaction layer and the glaze, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that the colour change is occurring as result of the valence variation of Fe, the formation of Zn_0.48Fe_0.79Cr_1.32O₄ compound and the outward diffusion of Fe into the glaze.     

Role of Learning Algorithm in Neural Network-Based Backcalculation of Flexible Pavements

Nondestructive testing (NDT) methods are widely used for the performance evaluation of flexible pavements. Falling weight deflectometer (FWD), which measures time-domain deflections resulting from applied impulse loads, is the most popular technique among all NDT methods. The evaluation of the FWD data requires the inversion of mechanical pavement properties using a backcalculation tool that includes both a forward pavement response model and an optimization algorithm. Neural networks (NNs) have also emerged as alternative tools that can be employed for pavement backcalculation problems relative to their real-time processing abilities. However, there have been no comprehensive analyses in previous studies that focus on the learning algorithm and the architecture of a NN model, which considerably affect backcalculation results. In this study, 284 different NN models were developed using synthetic training and testing databases obtained by layered elastic theory. Results indicated that both the learning algorithm and network architecture play important roles in the performance of the NN based backcalculation process.     

Electro-mechanical remodelling of bones

This paper is mainly concerned with an electro-mechanical model for living bones with the hope of explaining the remodelling process in bone, which is vital for bone healing and regeneration. In developing the model, it is assumed that a wet bone is composed of a charged fluid (electrolytes and bone salts) and the solid bone matrix which has the piezoelectric property. Based on this simplifying assumptions, the balance laws and constitutive relations are derived for such a mixture, and for the illustration of present model, an example problem concerning the longitudinal wave propagation in wet bones is studied and possible application of it in bone healing is indicated.     

The influence of cultural factors on scientific production

A classification of countries is made according to respective ranks in the scales of publications per million persons and GDP per capita (ppp). The result is a clustering of countries which share a common cultural attitude toward scientific research.     

SENDROM: Sensor networks for disaster relief operations management

SENDROM is a new sensor network architecture to manage the rescue operations after large scale disasters. This architecture mainly consists of sensor nodes deployed prior to a disaster and central nodes that can query sensor nodes. Central nodes are stored nearby the emergency operation centers and airports before a disaster. Following a disaster rescue teams are assigned one mobile central node and guided to a region based on the data in the SENDROM database. This paper explains the SENDROM architecture as well as our new task and data dissemination, localization of a detected person, and end-to-end reliable event transfer schemes introduced for SENDROM. Then it evaluates the performance of these schemes analytically and through simulation.     

A Comparison of Various Artificial Intelligence Methods in the Prediction of Bank Failures

The strong relationship between bank failure and economic growth attaches far more importance to the predictability of bank failures. Consequently, numerous statistical prediction models exist in the literature focusing on this particular subject. Besides, artificial intelligence techniques began to attain an increasing level of importance in the literature due to their predictive success. This study distinguishes itself from the similar ones in the sense that it presents a comparison of three different artificial intelligence methods, namely support vector machines (SVMs), radial basis function neural network (RBF-NN) and multilayer perceptrons (MLPs); in addition to subjecting the explanatory variables to principal component analysis (PCA). The extent of this study encompasses 37 privately owned commercial banks (17 failed, 20 non-failed) that were operating in Turkey for the period of 1997–2001. The main conclusions drawn from the study can be summarized as follows: (i) PCA does not appear to be an effective method with respect to the improvement of predictive power; (ii) SVMs and RBF demonstrated similar levels of predictive power; albeit SVMs was found to be the best model in terms of total predictive power; (iii) MLPs method stood out among the SVMs and RBF methods in a negative sense and exhibits the lowest predictive power.     

Influence of weathering on adhesion strength of chemically treated and coated Scotch pine

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of weathering on adhesion strength of Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) samples treated with three concentrations of Tanalith-E. Treated samples were also coated with polyurethane, synthetic and water based varnishes prior to 500 h accelerated weathering test. Adhesion strength between varnishing materials and substrate samples was determined employing pull-off type equipment. Based on the findings in this work adhesion strength values of samples decreased with increasing concentration of treatment chemical. The highest average strength value was found as 3.48 MPa for untreated control samples while 2.88 MPa was the lowest average value for the samples treated with Tanalith-E having 9% concentration and coated with water based varnish. Majority of the failures took place within the adhesion line between coating and the substrate with a very limited torn fibers. Results of statistical analysis revealed that samples coated with three different types of varnishes did not show any significant difference from each other at 95% confidence level. It was also found that chemical treatment of the samples adversely influenced their overall adhesion strength characteristics.     

An application of modified reductive perturbation method to long water waves

In this work, we extended the application of “the modified reductive perturbation method” to long water waves and obtained the governing equations as the KdV hierarchy. Seeking a localized travelling wave solutions to these evolution equations we determined the scale parameter c₁so as to remove the possible secularities that might occur. The present method is seen to be fairly simple as compared to the renormalization method [Kodama, Y., & Taniuti, T. (1977). Higher order approximation in reductive perturbation method 1. Weakly dispersive system. Journal of Physics Society of Japan, 45, 298–310] and the multiple scale expansion method [Kraenkel, R. A., Manna, M. A., & Pereira, J. G. (1995). The Korteweg–deVries hierarchy and long water waves. Journal of Mathematics Physics, 36, 307–320].