Heavy metals contamination and ecological risks in agricultural soils of Uşak, western Türkiye: a geostatistical and multivariate analysis.

This research aimed to determine and evaluate the concentrations of As, Cu, Hg, Ni, and Pb, and the physicochemical properties of 48 agricultural soil samples, to identify potential ecological risks and their sources associated with heavy metals contamination in Usak, western Türkiye. Various methods were used to assess ecological risks, including geoaccumulation index (I), enrichment factor (EF), degree of contamination (C), potential ecological risk (RI), and pollution load index (PLI). The heavy metals concentrations ranged from 4 to 61 mg/kg for As, 8-48 mg/kg for Cu, 0.

Contamination by As, Hg, and Sb in a region with geogenic As anomaly and subsequent human health risk characterization.

Arsenic (As) is among the most harmful toxic elements to human health with severe carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects. The present study aims to (1) characterize a site with geogenic As anomaly (Emet basin) in Kutahya, Turkey via soil (urban, agriculture, forest; n = 53 total), water (n = 11), and agricultural product (n = 19) samples; and, (2) characterize human health risks for different receptors under specific exposure scenarios. Soil As levels were very high (range, 22.

Heavy metal contamination in soils around the Tunçbilek Thermal Power Plant (Kütahya, Turkey).

Tunçbilek, one of the major thermal power plants (TTPP) in Turkey running on coal, has capacity to generate 365 MW (per year) electricity. Fifty top soil samples were collected from a depth about 0-20 cm in the close vicinity of the TTPP from random points and at different distances. The samples were analyzed using ICP-MS for heavy metals.

Evidence of Brillouin scattering in an ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser.

We have designed and performed an experiment that permitted direct observation of Brillouin backscattering in an Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser. Fifteen Brillouin-shifted frequencies were observed for the first time to our knowledge. We clearly demonstrate that stimulated Brillouin scattering is directly responsible for both fast transient dynamics of the laser and reduction of the laser's pulse width.

90-fs stretched-pulse ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser.

We report ultrashort, high-energy pulse generation from a side-pumped Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser. The laser is operating in the stretched-pulse regime. It directly generates 4.

Application of the two-dimensional fractional-order Fourier transformation to particle field digital holography.

We demonstrate that the fractional-order Fourier transformation is a suitable method to analyze the diffraction patterns of particle field holograms. This method permits reconstruction of in-line digital holograms beyond the Fraunhofer condition (d2/lambdaz approximately/= 10). We show that the diameter of spherical particles is measured with good accuracy.

Characterization of diffraction patterns directly from in-line holograms with the fractional Fourier transform.

We show that the fractional Fourier transform is a suitable mechanism with which to analyze the diffraction patterns produced by a one-dimensional object because its intensity distribution is partially described by a linear chirp function. The three-dimensional location and the diameter of a fiber can be determined, provided that the optimal fractional order is selected. The effect of compaction of the intensity distribution in the fractional Fourier domain is discussed.