Merve Tunalı - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Merve Tunalı

Despite the convenience that plastics provide to society, there have long been concerns regarding... more Despite the convenience that plastics provide to society, there have long been concerns regarding the risks they present to the environment. Microplastics (MPs, plastic particles smaller than 5 mm) have been found in every environmental compartment-air, freshwater, oceans, but also soils-yet the emphasis to date has been on the risks they represent to aquatic environments. The present study, therefore, aimed to perform a comprehensive risk assessment of MPs in soils. A probabilistic approach was used to account for the variability and uncertainties in the available data. Measured exposure concentrations and ecotoxicity thresholds were extracted from pertinent peer-reviewed literature. Risk characterization ratios (RCRs) were then calculated for different land uses and geographical regions by dividing the predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) distribution by the respective measured environmental concentration distribution. Using particle-number concentrations, the mean PNEC was calculated to be 82,000 part.kg − 1. The measured concentrations of MPs in soils ranged from 0 to 410,000 part. kg − 1 (median: 930 part.kg − 1). A human influence was clearly demonstrated, with higher concentrations (median: 3,600 part.kg − 1) in soils directly influenced by human activity than in natural or agricultural soils. 4.8 % of RCR calculations (median: 0.013) of the probability distribution were above 1, which is 40 and 240,000 times greater than that predicted for freshwater and marine habitats, respectively. Urban and industrial soils had the highest RCR, followed by agricultural and natural soils. The comparability of exposure and hazard datasets could be improved if the MPs tested for ecotoxicity were more representative of those found in environmental samples. There is a need for more ecotoxicity data on fibers, films, polyethylene, and weathered or aged MPs so that comparisons with real-world, observed exposure data can be built on more solid foundations.

This study aims to evaluate the environmental impact savings by different food waste management o... more This study aims to evaluate the environmental impact savings by different food waste management options of a university campus to support decision- making in the scope of sustainable campus. For this purpose, food waste generated inside the campus was characterized, and a hypothetical anaerobic digestion plant with a biogas recovery system was modeled. Two scenarios, representing the modeled plant, and current practices (landfilling and energy production methods) were formed, and life cycle assessment was conducted. For the modeled plant, the biogas and methane yields were calculated as 0.66 and 0.36 l/g VS, respectively, and generated electricity and heat were found as 92.6 and 188.9 kWh/day, respectively. Impact assessment results showed that global warming and acidification potential are the main impacts resulting from the current practices. More than 88% of impact savings can be achieved in all assessed impact categories by shifting to anaerobic digestion. In the scope of campus sustainability, 23% and 16% of the electricity and heat demand of the selected building on the campus can be supplied which results in 7%, 5%, 5%, and 4% impact reduction on campus level for global warming, photochemical ozone formation – impact on vegetation, terrestrial eutrophication, and acid-ification, respectively. Our results suggest that micro-scale changes may also provide a considerable amount of environmental impact savings

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

different anthropogenic activities on soil MP contamination. Three main categories as industrial,... more different anthropogenic activities on soil MP contamination. Three main categories as industrial, residential, and recreational areas were considered, and samples from different land-uses for each category were collected in Istanbul, Turkey, and examined. Results showed that residential areas had the lowest MP content (mean = 3378 items/kg), while the highest abundance was found in recreational zones (mean = 7956 items/kg). The abundance of MPs in industrial areas was between these groups with a mean value of 4488 items/kg. The lowest concentration was observed in one of the residential zones with 1868 items/kg, and surprisingly, the highest content was found in a forestal recreational area (Belgrad forest) with 9332 items/kg. Shape ratios of particles were different for each category. Round/spherical particles had the highest share in industrial and residential areas with 34% and 32%, respectively, and fibers in recreational areas by 36%.

Artificial intelligence gained a surge in popularity through the release of conversational artifi... more Artificial intelligence gained a surge in popularity through the release of conversational artificial intelligence tools, which enable individuals to use the technology without any prior knowledge or expertise in computational science. Researchers, content writers, as well as curious minds may use these tools to investigate any topics in question. Environmental topics, as one of the current public concerns, are covered by many different kinds of media, indicating a broad public interest. To assess the possibility of using these tools in environmental-related content writing or research, we tested the capabilities of conversational artificial intelligence tools on selected environmental topics. In particular, we tested different tools (ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing, Google Bard) and different languages (English, Spanish, Korean, German, Turkish and Chinese) via using selected questions and compared the answers with each other. Our results suggest that conversational artificial intelligence tools may provide satisfactory and comprehensive answers; however, we found some of the statements debatable and texts still need to be reviewed by an expert. Selected tools may offer specific advantages, such as providing references, although certain issues may need to be checked for each tool. The usage of different languages may provide additional points within the content; however, this does not necessarily imply that these new facets arise solely from utilizing different languages, since new aspects may also be attributed to the ‘randomness of the generated answers’. We suggest asking the same question several times as the tools mostly generate random answers each time, especially for ChatGPT, to obtain a more comprehensive content.

• No impact was observed for 1, 5 mg/L of microplastics on Chlorella vulgaris. • Decrease in grow... more • No impact was observed for 1, 5 mg/L of microplastics on Chlorella vulgaris. • Decrease in growth and chlorophyll a content of Chlorella vulgaris was observed under 50, 100, 1000 mg/L microplastic. • Microplastic-metal combinations showed greater inhibition compared to the effect of single microplastic • SEM images showed that the mPS particles were adsorbed and embedded on the algal cells. • The inhibition rates generally showed a decreasing pattern over time.

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 2021

There is an increasing need for the investigation of recovery techniques for valuable elements, e... more There is an increasing need for the investigation of recovery techniques for valuable elements, especially for the growing waste streams. This study focuses on the biosorption of commonly found valuable elements in e-waste: Ag+ and Nd3+ from aqueous solutions by using living and dried forms of Chlorella vulgaris. Optimization of the processes was conducted by changing the process parameters. In addition, biosorption from multi-metal solution (with Ag+, Nd3+, Au3+) was also investigated. Maximum removals were found as 174.6 ± 4.83 mg/g for Ag+, 239.7 ± 3.39 mg/g for Nd3+ by dried algae, and 161.6 ± 18.2 mg/g for Ag+, 296.8 ± 30.54 mg/g for Nd3+ by living algae. Both processes were very fast, representing 60 and 5–10 min during which a significant amount of the biosorption was completed for dried and living algae, respectively. FTIR and SEM–EDS showed that the algae were able to sorb the elements. Pseudo-second-order kinetics fit better to all processes. Freundlich model suited to the dried algae process, while the linear model fit to living algae process. The biosorption efficiency of Ag+ and Nd3+ decreased when there were co-ions present in the solution. Biosorption of Au3+ was affected depending on the experimental conditions in the case of multi-metal solutions.

Research, Society and Development

Dengue has become a challenge for many countries. Arboviruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti spread... more Dengue has become a challenge for many countries. Arboviruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti spread rapidly over the last decades. The emergence chikungunya fever and zika in South America poses new challenges to vector monitoring and control. This situation got worse from 2015 and 2016, with the rapid spread of chikungunya, causing fever and muscle weakness, and Zika virus, related to cases of microcephaly in newborns and the occurrence of Guillain-Barret syndrome, an autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system. The objective of this work was to construct a tool to forecast the distribution of arboviruses transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti by implementing dengue, zika and chikungunya transmission predictors based on machine learning, focused on multilayer perceptrons neural networks, support vector machines and linear regression models. As a case study, we investigated forecasting models to predict the spatio-temporal distribution of cases from primary health notificati...

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

This paper explores the main factors for mosquito-borne transmission of the Zika virus by focusin... more This paper explores the main factors for mosquito-borne transmission of the Zika virus by focusing on environmental, anthropogenic, and social risks. A literature review was conducted bringing together related information from this genre of research from peer-reviewed publications. It was observed that environmental conditions, especially precipitation, humidity, and temperature, played a role in the transmission. Furthermore, anthropogenic factors including sanitation, urbanization, and environmental pollution promote the transmission by affecting the mosquito density. In addition, socioeconomic factors such as poverty as well as social inequality and low-quality housing have also an impact since these are social factors that limit access to certain facilities or infrastructure which, in turn, promote transmission when absent (e.g., piped water and screened windows). Finally, the paper presents short-, mid-, and long-term preventative solutions together with future perspectives. Th...

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management

Electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams. The content of this waste has criti... more Electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams. The content of this waste has critical importance for the development or adoption of new recycling techniques and safe waste management practices. In this study, printed circuit boards and screens of three different types of electronic wastes, such as old mobile phones, smartphones, and laptops were characterized for their heavy metal, precious metal, and rare earth element contents. Three different digestion methods were applied to the samples prior to ICP-OES analysis. Results showed that Cu, Fe, Zn, Ni, Pb, and Al were found to be the main heavy metals in all samples. Nd, Ag, and Au were found as the major precious metals, followed by Pt, La, Dy, Pr, and Ce in the rare earth element category. The contents indicated that there is an urgent need to develop recycling techniques for the recovery of these valuable materials. When the digestion methods were compared to each other, it was found that different methods performed better on different types of metals.

Science of The Total Environment

Plastics are now one of the essential materials widely used in daily life for consumer products a... more Plastics are now one of the essential materials widely used in daily life for consumer products as well as in industrial processes. Being light, durable, low cost, resistant to most chemicals and easy to process (Li et al., 2016; Thompson et al., 2009), they have been used in various applications since the early 1900s (Wong et al., 2015). Usage of plastics around the world has increased dramatically, especially in the last few decades, with 47 million tons, 288 million tons and 335 million tons produced in 1976, 2002 and 2015, respectively (Plastics Europe, 2013, 2017), and production is expected to double again in the next 20 years (Lyakurwa, 2017). Increasing plastic production results in increasing amounts of plastic waste in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and plastic debris can be found around the world from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and the Pacific Ocean (Lagarde et al., 2016). It is estimated that, annually, 8 million tons of plastics are released to oceans (Lackey, 2018). Marine-based plastics mostly come from land-based sources; 80% of marine plastic debris is derived from sources such as coastal recreational activities, wastewater effluents and leachates, and from solid waste

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 2021

Research, Society and Development

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management

Science of The Total Environment