Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (Hibiskus) is a plant that belongs to the Malvaceae family and and is a rich source of anthocyanins and other bioactive compounds. In this study, the total phenolic and flavonoid content, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of commercially supplied Hibiscus sabdariffa calyx extracts obtained by two different extractors (soxhlete and ultrasonic bath) were investigated. In addition, fatty acids were analysed by GC-MS analysis, 14 different fatty acids were determined and the major fatty acid components of extracts obtained from plant calyxes were palmitic acid (15.25%) and oleic acid (32.18%) and linoleic acid (30.77%). The ultrasonic bath was found to be more effective to reveal the bioactive contents of the extracts than the soxhlete. Total phenolic content and flavonoid values of plant calyx extracts (USB) were 23.29 and 3.08 mg ml-1, respectively, and FRAP and IC50 (% DPPH) values were 47.54 µg g-1 and 0.61 mg ml-1, respectively. Antimicrobial activity experiment carried out with total of 9 microorganisms consisting of seven bacteria and two yeast showed that H. sabdariffa extracts had dose-depended inhibition on test microorganisms but S. cerevisia.

Iron (Fe) is an important trace mineral for plant development, and plants grown in Fe deficiency experience yield losses due to the leaf chlorosis. In addition to agronomic measures that can be taken to minimize these losses, new plant genotypes can be developed effectively through genetic engineering. While dicots such as Arabidopsis thaliana use a reduction-based strategy to uptake high amounts of iron from the rhizosphere, the chelation strategy has evolved in Gramineous plants including barley (Hordeum vulgare). In this study, barley NICOTIANAMINE SYNTHASE1 (HvNAS1) gene, which is responsible for the production of nicotianamine that can complex with iron, was cloned and expressed at a constitutive high level in Arabidopsis plants. The expression levels of Arabidopsis genes encoding for the proteins involved in iron uptake increased together with HvNAS1 in the T3 Arabidopsis plants. Moreover, the root lengths, root and stem fresh weights, ferric chelate reductase enzyme activities of the plants also increased in the transgenic Arabidopsis plants under Fe deficiency. In addition, significant increases in iron and zinc levels were determined in the roots and shoots of transgenic Arabidopsis plants. As a result, transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the barley HvNAS1 gene can take up more iron from the rhizosphere and carry this iron to the shoots. This study demonstrates the power of genetic engineering to develop Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the HvNAS1 gene and therefore tolerate iron deficiency.

After realizing that multi-storey buildings are contrary to human nature, the importance of natural landscape and green areas around it has been noticed. For this reason, people want to see how their environment will be in the design phase and the importance of project presentations is increasing day by day. Information technologies for spatial thinking, imagination and modelling have gradually started to be included in landscape design processes. The concept of virtual reality, augmented reality and immersive virtual reality are becoming more and more involved in our lives due to reasons such as the size of the devices getting smaller and their prices being relatively accessible to everyone. As an alternative to traditional presentation techniques and two-dimensional presentation techniques on the computer, making presentations in a virtual reality environment can be a stronger factor in people’s perception of the environment. In the study visual sets in basic, intermediate and advanced level of detail for the same landscape design and project site have been created. Each set consists of hand-drawn perspective image, computer aided perspective image, stereoscopic 360-degree VR image and an augmented reality model. In order to evaluate these visual sets, interviews were made with 10 landscape architects who are experts in the subject. As a result of the study, criteria’s for landscape presentations has been discussed and the advantages and disadvantages of landscape design presentations that will be created using virtual and augmented reality have been evaluated.

Tüketicilerin helal gıda konusunda algı ve tutumları ülkeler ve bölgeler arasında farklılık gösterebilen sosyal, kültürel, ekonomik, yasal ve politik faktörlere bağlıdır. Bu kapsamda tüketicilerin helal gıda konusunda satın alma davranışları hakkındaki farkındalıklarını, algılarını ve tutumlarını incelemek politika önerisinde bulunulması açısından gereklidir. Bu nedenle Konya ilinde tüketicilerin helal gıda konusundaki bilinç düzeylerinin ve algılarının belirlenmesi, helal gıda konusundaki duyarlılıkların ölçülmesi ve helal gıda satın almaya etki eden sosyo-ekonomik faktörlerin belirlenmesi çalışmanın temel amacıdır. Bu amaca yönelik olarak Konya ilinde basit tesadüfi örnekleme yöntemine göre belirlenen 383 kişi ile tüketici anketi yapılmıştır. Yapılan çalışmada tüketici talep yapısını incelemek için tüketicilerin sosyo-ekonomik özelliklerine göre helal gıda ürünlerine tutum ve algıları beşli likert ölçeği ile analiz edilmiş olup helal gıda tüketimi ile tüketicilerin sosyo-ekonomik özellikleri arasındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesi için Mann-Whitney U testi ve Kruskal-Wallis testleri yapılmıştır. Yapılan analizlere göre tüketicilerin gelir ve eğitim düzeyleri artıkça daha fazla helal gıda satın alacakları tahmin edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak Konya ilinde tüketicilerin helal gıda ürünlerinde bilinç düzeylerinin yüksek olduğu ve helal gıda tüketimi konusunda duyarlılıklarının arttığı belirlenmiştir.

Traditional foods, which are the special products that have emerged with the experience of many years, reflect the culture, identity, characteristics and heritage of a region and help the development and continuity of these regions by preventing migration from rural areas. In terms of revealing the cultural richness of societies, the place of traditional foods in social life is very important. Traditional foods have an important place in the nutrition of the people living in the region and constitute the specific taste of the region. One of the cultural riches traditional desserts are produced and consumed in various regions of Anatolia. The desserts, which have been produced for centuries from past to present, have always had an important place in our culture. Traditional desserts have a rich variety both as milky and sherbet dessert in terms of the material added and the production technology. Nevzine Dessert, which has been produced for centuries, is a traditional sherbet dessert variety prepared by using tahini, molasses and walnuts of Kayseri province. The use of sugar and grape molasses in the sherbet is a feature that distinguishes this dessert from other syruped desserts. Nevzine Dessert is served on religious holidays and its energy is quite high.The aim of this study is to give information about Kayseri’s traditional Nevzine Dessert, its components, preparation and cooking based on the interviews and researches with the locals.

The African giant rat (Cricetomys gambianus, Waterhouse) is a wild rodent in sub-Saharan Africa widely hunted as popular meat delicacy. Domestication of this rat has been poor, probably due to nutrition among other factors. Developmental studies of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum as well as investigations of diet-based structural modifications of the small intestine were carried out in the rats using neonates, juveniles and adults with the aim of providing useful research information which could lead to improved domestication. The mean body weights of the animals were 39.67±1.45 g, 225.00±25.00 g and 742.90±62.13 g, respectively for the neonate, juvenile and adult rats. Significant differences were also observed in the villus height, villus width and crypt depth between the neonates and juveniles, unlike between juvenile and adult rats. These changes in intestinal morphology between the neonate and juvenile rats could be a measure of the neonates’ adaptation to shifts from digestion of maternal milk to the consumption of solid and semisolid forages. Respectively for neonates, juvenile and adult rats, 188%, 228% and 30% increases in villus height for the duodenum, jejunum and ileum respectively, were observed. This is suggestive of larger surface area of the small intestine for digestion and absorption. This study elucidates the structural modifications of the small intestine which can be applied to dietary modifications in response to age in an effort to achieve a more successful domestication of the animal.

Organic matter (OM) content of the soils should be improved for sustainable productions. Municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) is an organic material used in several countries to improve soil OM contents. This study was conducted to determine potential use of MSWC as soil amendment. Field experiments were conducted for two years with single MSWC treatments. Experiments were conducted on 18 plots in randomized complete blocks design with 3 replications. Six different MSWC doses (0, 40, 80, 120, 160 and 200 t ha-1) were applied to experimental plots. Compost doses were calculated in dry weight basis, applied to 21 m2 plots and sunflower was sown as the experimental plant of the study. Following the sunflower harvest, disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from the experimental plots and soil samples were subjected to various analyses. Applied MSWC doses significantly increased soil OM contents, electrical conductivity (EC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC), aggregate stability (AS) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) and reduced soil bulk density (BD). Effects of MSWC on soil pH were not found to be significant. Effects of MSWC treatments were more remarkable with increasing doses. MSWC treatments increased soil OM contents about 3 folds and increased CEC by about 25%. MSWC treatments significantly increased salt contents of the soils. Such increases were found to be significant at 1% level in the first year and 5% level in the second year. Increasing OM contents also increase soil aggregation, thus reduced bulk density and increased hydraulic conductivity. Correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between OM and AS. Present findings revealed that MSWC positively influenced physical and chemical characteristics of clay-loam soils of arid and arid climates, but salt contents should carefully be monitored in repetitive uses.

Bu çalışmada keçiboynuzu ekstraktında bulunan D-pinitolün 1-5 kDa ayırma sınırı aralığında nanofiltreler kullanılarak zenginleştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Zenginleştirme aşamaları ekstraksiyon, durultma, adsorban uygulaması ve nanofiltrasyon uygulamalarından oluşmaktadır. Nanofiltrasyon uygulamasını optimize etmek amacıyla Box-Behnken Cevap Yüzey Metodu (CYM) kullanılmıştır. Son aşamada elde edilen ürünün saflık kontrolü için D-pinitol içeriği, şeker kompozisyonu, toplam fenolik madde (TFM), toplam kuru madde (TKM) ve mineral madde kompozisyonları kullanılmıştır. Ekstraktlarda en yüksek D-pinitol konsantrasyonuna 5 kDa ayırma sınırındaki nanofiltrasyonda, 3 bar besleme basıncı, 25°C besleme sıcaklığı ve %83,3 permeat oranı koşullarında ulaşılmıştır. Bu koşullarda elde edilen permeat akısının D-pinitol içeriği 10,48 g/L olarak belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada ayrıca nanofiltrasyon prosesi için basınç, sıcaklık ve permeat/retentat oranı değişkenlerine bağlı bir optimizasyon modeli oluşturulmuş ve farklı koşullara bağlı olarak ekstraktların D-pinitol konsantrasyonundaki değişim yüksek doğrulukla (R2=0,91) matematiksel olarak modellenmiştir. Bu modele bağlı olarak, keçiboynuzu ekstraktlarında en yüksek sakkaroz, TFM ve TKM miktarları D-pinitol konsantrasyonunun %8,7 olduğu koşulda belirlenmiştir.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the ecological impact of groundwater recharging in the urban development area in the north of Kastamonu city. In this respect, the urban development area was examined in terms of water permeability, which is one of the functions of the landscape, and the ecological impact assessment was carried out in order to determine the level of change in groundwater recharging and land cover before and after urban development. With the methods used within the scope of the study, negative changes in groundwater and water retention capacity can be revealed as a result of other interventions on urbanization and landscape. On the other hand, it is important that landscape plans, where the ecological processes expressed as landscape function, including groundwater recharging and surface runoff potential, are considered as the priority action area of the multi-layered spatial planning process, rather than the investigation of the mentioned negativities after planning and/or implementation.

In this study, it was aimed to determine the usability of different diluents and cry protectants in cryopreservation of Peking duck semen. Semen samples were collected from five male ducks, twice a week for four weeks, using the abdominal massage method. In the study, 40 semen samples were used. Semen samples from ducks were combined (mixed) after being evaluated individually. Mix semen volume (ml), density (×109 / mL), pH, motility (%) and vitality (%) values were determined as 1.84±0.04, 1.72±0.8, 6.88±0.29, 71.55±3.28 and 74.27±4.67 respectively. In the study, as cry protectant, Glucose I (GⅠ) containing 6%DMF (dimethylformamide), Tris-Glucose I (TI), Lactated Ringer's-Glucose I (LGI), Lactated Ringer's I (LI) and Glucose II (GⅠI) containing 5% DMSO, Tris-Glucose II (TII), Lactated Ringer's-Glucose II (LGII), Lactated Ringer's II (LII) were used as diluents. The mixed semen was divided into eight equal parts and 1:3 ratio diluent was added and equilibrated in straws for 90 minutes at + 4°C. The straws were first frozen to -80°C with liquid nitrogen vapour, and then stored in liquid nitrogen at -196°C. After freezing and thawing, the highest motility value was determined in diluent LGI with 41.91%. In other diluents used, the mortality values were determined as LII (33.10%), LGII (32.80%), LI (29.00%), GI (23.66%), TI (12.91%), GII (11.22%) and TII (6.90%). Vitality (%) values were determined as LGI (44.08%), LII (38.50%), LGII (35.10%), LI (33.58), GI (30.91%), GII (23.10%), TI (20.66%) and TII (14.80%) respectively. In this study, it has been determined that the lactated Ringer's-Glucose diluent containing 6% DMF is more advantageous in terms of semen vitality and mortality values when compared to other diluents and that it can be used for long-term storage of duck sperm.