Using an Evolutionary Algorithm in Multiobjective Geographic Analysis for Land Use Allocation and Decision Supporting

Usually, allocation of resources is an optimization problem which involves a variety of conflicting economic, social, and ecological objectives. In such a process, advanced geographic analyst tool for manipulation of spatial data and satisfaction of multiple objectives is essential to the success of decision‐making. The present research intends to demonstrate the application of a multiobjective optimization method based on NSGA‐II 1 (we call it HNSGA‐II), along with Geographical Information System (GIS) 2 to select suitable sites for the establishment of large industrial units. Having defined the elements of HNSGA‐II for the site selection of industrial units, the method is tested on the data of Zanjan province, Iran, as the case study. The results showed that the proposed approach can easily find a variety of optimized solutions, giving the decision‐makers the possibility to opt for the most propitious solution. Using this method, the achievement level regarding each objective function can be studied for any of the nondominated solutions.     

Decay of Limestone Statues at Mount Nemrut (Adiyaman,Turkey)

Mount Nemrut is a 2,206 m high mountain located in Adiyaman, Turkey. A number of monumental statues, a 50-m high tumulus, and a lion horoscope were constructed at the top of the mountain by King Antiochos I (69–36 bc) of the Commagene Kingdom. The site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 due to its unique character. However, the limestone statues located on both the east and the west terraces of the site are getting deteriorated. This study investigates the weathering of the limestone at Mount Nemrut based on field and laboratory studies. It is found that the dissolution occurs along microcracks developed in the limestone during geological time. It is more pronounced in the east terrace where freezing-thawing cycles are more than the west terrace. Furthermore, dissolution is more effective for the faces of the statues exposed to direct atmospheric contact. Due to harsh atmospheric conditions with dominant wetting-drying and freezing-thawing processes at the site, it is recommended that direct rain and snow contact with the statues should be minimized.     

Assessment of Construction Techniques and Material Usage in İzmir Rural Houses

The domestic architecture in the rural villages of ?zmir comprises a unique built environment with their masonry wall textures, semi-open sofas, round tiled-hipped roofs, and chimneys, and represents an important part of the cultural and architectural heritage. This assessment is mainly based on field observations that focus on the architectural and structural layout of intact, damaged, and destroyed houses. During field observation and the analysis of data certain plan typologies and relationships between the geological formations of the region and choice of materials and construction techniques were observed. While load-bearing masonry and timber skeleton systems are common, extensive use of timber laces, stone, and fired or adobe brick masonry with mud mortar and timber frames infilled with masonry materials were frequently seen. Generally, round timber elements such as wall plates, laces, lintels, posts, and frames of flooring systems are used. Architectural degenerations in authentic houses, defective details and partially due to the earthquake-prone nature of the region seismicity have been evaluated. An overall approach for the preservation and sustainability of this heritage is suggested.     

Structural Change,the Social Policy Environment and Female Employment in Turkey

Since the 1970s, a series of demand and supply related changes have led to significant labour market transformations which have brought about a sustained increase in female employment throughout the world. While similar transformations have also been underway in Turkey, the country appears to be one of the rare exceptions to worldwide trends. During the last two decades both female labour force participation and female employment rates have declined at national level. In this article, two sets of questions are posed to explore the factors likely to influence female labour force participation. One set of questions pertains to the society‐specific dynamics of structural change in employment patterns in Turkey, with particular reference to the level and composition of employment in the service sector. A second set of questions is posed to examine labour market relations and the social policy environment in Turkey, and their impact on the demand for and supply of female labour. Current changes in the prevailing policy environment are considered to highlight a certain contradiction in the attitudes of decision makers who seem to be faced with a trade‐off between continuing adherence to conservative patriarchal values and the objectives of increasing labour force participation and combating poverty.     

Obsidian sources in highland Yemen and their relevance to archaeological research in the Red Sea region

The Red Sea and surrounding area formed through dynamic uplift and rifting of Afro-Arabia, and associated volcanism (both oceanic and continental in character). As a result, volcanic landforms and products are widespread and play a vital role in the natural and cultural landscapes of humans occupying the highlands and lowlands on both sides of the Red Sea. Archaeologists have suggested for some time that Afro-Arabian trade in obsidian had its roots in the prehistoric period and that the region was very likely the source of an abundance of obsidian artefacts found as far afield as Egypt, the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia, and which do not match the well-known Anatolian, Transcaucasian or Mediterranean sources. Nonetheless, the southern Red Sea is one of the few obsidian-rich regions exploited in antiquity that has been barely investigated. In this paper, we highlight new geochemical analyses (carried out by LA-ICP-MS) of obsidian sources in Southern Arabia and beyond, that enhance our knowledge of obsidian exploitation from as early as the Neolithic period, and which enable us to evaluate the role that highland Yemen obsidian sources played in prehistoric long-distance trade. In addition, we present new evidence for explosive volcanic eruptions that likely affected the highland populations of Yemen in the 4th millennium BC.     

The adoption of culturally contentious innovations: The case of citizen oversight of police

Cultural contentiousness is defined as an attribute of innovation due to which it encounters resistance because of its incompatibility with hegemonic cultural assumptions. I argue that culturally contentious innovations are likely to be adopted when antecedents have productive symbolic force, i.e., they reveal contradictions between dominant cultural assumptions and the material outcomes of existing institutions or empower social actors to resolve such contradictions. However, antecedents with incapacitative symbolic force tend to obfuscate the above contradictions or decrease social actors’ capacity to resolve them, encouraging the adoption of less contentious innovation. Applying these arguments to citizen oversight agencies (COAs) for the police, I examine the antecedents of contentious (i.e., investigative) as opposed to less contentious (non-investigative) COAs. In support of the above argument, I find that productive antecedents (e.g., a consent decree, an increase in civil rights nonprofits) are associated with adopting investigative COAs. In contrast, incapacitative antecedents (e.g., a Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights, an increase in the violent crime rate) are associated with adopting non-investigative COAs. The findings broadly demonstrate that policy adoption scholars ought to distinguish policies in terms of cultural contentiousness and account for the symbolic force of antecedents. Further theoretical contributions are discussed.     

Trust in world politics: converting ‘identity’ into a source of security through trust-learning

In the discipline of international relations, the concept of trust has been theorised in two ways: the ‘rationalist’ approach and the ‘normative’ approach. This article aims to show that these approaches do not adequately reflect how trust operates in world politics and that trust provides a new way of understanding the identity–security nexus in international relations. It is argued that as actors learn to trust each other, this trust-learning process has a transformative effect on their definition of self-interests and identities. The elaborated understanding of trust in the security dilemma is operationalised in terms of the immigration security dilemma.     

Comparison of the Spectral Representation Method to Simulate Spatially Variable Ground Motions

The spectral representation method (SRM) is widely used when simulating spatially variable ground motions. It has mainly two formulas, i.e., the random amplitudes and the random phases formulas. There exist three methods for decomposing the cross spectral density matrix: Cholesky decomposition, eigen decomposition, and root decomposition. Therefore, there are six forms with respect to the different combinations of the simulation formulas and the decomposition methods. To provide researchers and engineers with the guidance on choosing simulation method, the six forms are systematically investigated from five aspects: the power intensity, response spectra, and stochastic error of auto/cross spectral density, Fourier spectra, and difference indexes for Fourier amplitudes and phases. Finally, we give the following advice: the characteristics of the ground motions simulated by the random amplitudes formula are independent of the decomposition method, while the characteristics of the ground motions simulated by random phases formula are dependent of the decomposition method. Furthermore, the root decomposition is strongly recommended when utilizing the random phases formula.