MAS Journal of Applied Sciences

Volatility Spillover Dynamics among Green Bonds, Renewable Energy, Clean Energy, Carbon Markets, and Oil

Yunus BAYDAŞ , Ethem KILIÇ , Yaşar KÖSE — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

This study explores volatility spillover mechanisms and time-varying dependence among green bonds, renewable energy, clean energy, carbon emission markets, and crude oil using daily data from December 2014 to January 2025. A Dynamic Conditional Multivariate Stochastic Volatility (DC-MSV) framework is employed to jointly model latent volatility dynamics and evolving cross-market correlations. The results indicate that linkages between green bonds and crude oil remain consistently weak and unstable over time, suggesting limited volatility transmission from fossil fuel markets to green bond assets. In contrast, renewable energy, clean energy, and carbon markets display stronger and more persistent interconnections, particularly during periods of elevated market uncertainty. Volatility persistence is more pronounced in energy-related markets than in green bonds, reflecting their sensitivity to policy interventions and technological changes. Overall, the findings highlight the role of green bonds as a stabilizing asset that enhances portfolio diversification under energy market volatility. The study provides relevant insights for investors, policymakers, and risk managers in the context of sustainable financial markets.

Evaluation of in Vivo Wound Healing Activity of Pistacia vera L. Hull Extract on Excision Wound Model in Rats

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Several studies report that different parts of the Pistacia vera L. plant effectively heal wounds. However, there is no documented scientific report on Pistacia vera L. hull's in vivo wound healing activities so far. This study evaluates the wound healing efficacy of ointment prepared from the extract obtained from the peels of P. vera L. fruits collected from Turkey through an excision wound model. The ointment was prepared with 0.5% methanolic extract obtained from P. vera L. hull was applied topically on the wound excision created on the back of rats. Wound healing effects were evaluated by wound closure percentage. The samples taken after healing examined the effect of P. vera L. hull on the protein expression levels of TNF-α, an inflammation marker, and some growth factors involved in wound healing. Compared to the other groups, P. vera L. hull ointment showed significant wound healing on the 21st day. TNF-α showed lower protein expression levels than the untreated and vehicle control groups. Bek, VEGF, and FGFR protein expression levels were lower than all groups. These results confirmed the wound closure percentages of the relevant tissues. The study suggested that P.vera L. hull shortens the wound healing period and is a potential agent in wound treatment.

Life Cycle Assessment for Urban Solid Waste Management: The Case of Hatay

Ali BİRECİK , Ömer EREN — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to determine the environmental impacts of the Gökçegöz solid waste landfill (SWL) in Hatay Province. Within the scope of the LCA, the system boundary was defined as the processes of solid waste collection, transportation, transfer to transfer stations, and disposal at the landfill site, and 1 ton of municipal solid waste (MSW) was accepted as the functional unit. Using SimaPro 8.0.5.13 software for the LCA analysis, environmental impacts were identified across 11 impact categories based on the CML-IA Baseline model. The results of this study revealed that 536,998 tons of MSW are disposed of annually at the Gökçegöz SWL in Hatay Province. According to the LCA results, the carbon footprint was determined to cause the greatest environmental impact among the 11 impact categories, accounting for 76.92%. The carbon footprint was calculated as 553.02 kgCO_2-eq ton^-1 of MSW, and the hotspot was identified as the MSW stored at the landfill site.

Comparative Analysis of Spatial Outputs in Thematic Planning Approaches: A Case Study of Van–Edremit

Eda KOÇAK — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

In the twenty-first century, urban areas have become the intersection of climate change, uncontrolled demographic mobility, technological transformations, and increasingly deepening socio-economic polarizations. This complexity challenges the rational-comprehensive and static methods of the traditional city planning discipline. Especially in regions like Van-Edremit, where the sensitivity of coastal ecology coexists with seismic risks and the pressures of urbanization created by rapid migration, "one-size-fits-all" planning solutions remain inadequate in establishing urban resilience and social justice.The fundamental inquiry of this study focuses on flexible and strategic solution seeking offered by thematic planning approaches against the limitations of conventional planning methods in managing these complex urban dynamics. The primary argument of the study is that approaching the same urban space through different theoretical lenses—Resilience, Just City, and Eco-City—fundamentally alters the spatial configuration, strategic land-use decisions, and transportation hierarchy.In this context, three different thematic master development plan scenarios at a scale of 1/5000, developed for the Van-Edremit region within the scope of a studio course at the Siirt University Department of City and Regional Planning, were analyzed comparatively based on criteria such as urban form, equipment distribution performance, transportation network hierarchy, and spatial justice. This article discusses the effectiveness of the scenario-based method in planning education and the potential of thematic planning as a research tool in applied sciences, specifically within the case of Van-Edremit.

Development of a Vision-Based Heuristic Control Framework for Multi-Axis Articulated Robot

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Traditional robotic teleoperation in industrial and hazardous environments often relies on physical joysticks, wearable sensor gloves, or computationally intensive depth-sensing cameras. These conventional methods inherently introduce significant deployment costs, mechanical constraints, and high computational overhead. To address these limitations, this paper presents the development and evaluation of a lightweight, low-cost monocular vision-based teleoperation framework designed specifically for a 4-degree-of-freedom (4-DOF) 3D-printed articulated robotic arm. Utilizing a standard consumer-grade RGB webcam, the proposed system extracts continuous hand skeletal keypoints in real time via the MediaPipe framework. To deliberately minimize processing overhead and eliminate the need for specialized GPU hardware, the algorithm isolates only the thumb tip (Landmark 4) and index fingertip (Landmark 8). A training-free heuristic threshold engine translates the calculated Euclidean distance between these two spatial coordinates into discrete servo commands, including Grip, Toggle, and Idle. Crucially, a software-level dynamic deadzone filter is integrated to explicitly reject sub-pixel landmark noise, successfully suppressing 85% of unwanted mechanical micro-motions during stationary poses. Hardware actuation is seamlessly executed via asynchronous PyFirmata serial communication to an Arduino Uno microcontroller. Rigorous experimental evaluation across 100,000 continuous inference cycles demonstrated a highly responsive mean end-to-end processing latency of 44.2 ms, comfortably satisfying the 100 ms upper bound for seamless Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Furthermore, the system achieved a robust overall gesture classification F1-score of 95.2% across 5,472 controlled test cycles. Ultimately, this study validates that an optimized deterministic heuristic approach provides a highly efficient, cost-effective alternative to deep learning classifiers for real-time robotic teleoperation.

Planning of Ecological Networks in the Triangle of Cilo and Sat Mountains National Park and Yüksekova Nehil Reed (Hakkari-Türkiye)

Evin GEZER , Feran AŞUR — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Biodiversity is inherently valuable, and it is dangerous to view it as an asset or an engine of economic growth. However, biodiversity provides multiple values and services. Biodiversity is rapidly decreasing worldwide and one of the most important reasons for this is the deterioration of ecosystem functioning (nutrient cycling, productivity, and wildlife, etc.) and habitats. Habitats that are degraded due to different reasons decrease their natural connectivity with each other. The resulting landscape patches are an important issue in landscape planning. Hakkari has also been affected by habitat fragmentation due to human interventions (migration, population growth, etc.) in recent years, and as a result, landscape ecology and landscape sustainability are damaged. The aim of this study is to; i) determine landscape corridors between landscape patches formed in three regions between Hakkari Cilo and Sat Mountains National Park and Nehil Marshes, ii) reveal the causes of wildlife deaths in the determined regions, and iii) present recommendations in line with the survey result analyses and maps obtained by Remote Sensing methods. The habitats of small and large mammals, reptiles and birds were determined with the survey study and literature review. As a result, considering the concepts in landscape ecology and landscape sustainability science, three buffer zones were determined between three major living areas (Cilo Mountain, Sat Mountain, and Nehil Marshes), and eight ecological corridors were needed, and suggestions were developed accordingly. This study can be shown as an addition to previous scientific studies.

Comparison of Generative Artificial Intelligence Performances in Climate Resilience Simulations in Urban Landscapes

Arzu ALTUNTAŞ — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

While the global climate crisis creates ecological, economic and social pressures on urban built environments, the discipline of landscape architecture develops adaptation strategies centering on nature-based solutions to combat these pressures. Reconstructing urban landscape areas in accordance with environmental resilience and sustainability principles requires expressing complex datasets in an aesthetic and understandable language. The main objective of this research is to comparatively examine the performances of generative artificial intelligence models capable of text-to-image conversion in the visual simulation of climate crisis adaptation strategies in the urban landscape, in light of computational metrics and statistical analyses. In this study, which adopts an experimental and quantitative research design, a total of 500 images were generated from both algorithms for five different designated climate adaptation strategy scenarios. The obtained images were analyzed using Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), Learned Perceptual Image Patch Similarity (LPIPS) and Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training (CLIP) Score algorithms. In the statistical analysis of the data, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test and the Independent Samples T-Test to verify the sub-distributions of the dataset were applied and effect sizes were formulated. The findings revealed that the Midjourney v6 model was statistically significantly superior to DALL-E 3 in LPIPS and SSIM scores, while the DALL-E 3 model showed significant success in responding to complex textual prompts as measured by the CLIP score. In conclusion, it has emerged that generative artificial intelligence tools can be integrated into urban landscape design processes as complementary decision support systems depending on the context of the subject and the stages of the design process.

Quantitative Evaluation of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) Implementation for Planetary Sun Gear Manufacturing: A Risk-Driven and Capability-Based Case Study

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Automotive driveline components require high-dimensional precision and durability due to strict torque-transmission and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance requirements. Despite this, several manufacturing programs continue to rely on corrective quality practices, which often lead to delayed problem identification, increased rework, and higher production costs. This study investigates the implementation of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) in planetary sun gear manufacturing through a quantitative industrial case study. The work combines APQP phase mapping with Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Statistical Process Control (SPC), Measurement System Analysis (MSA), and process capability assessment to establish a preventive quality planning approach. The implementation led to a considerable reduction in high-risk Process FMEA (PFMEA) issues before process freeze and improved overall manufacturing stability. Critical-to-quality (CTQ) parameters achieved capable and consistent performance, with capability values exceeding accepted industrial benchmarks. In addition, First Pass Yield (FPY) improved considerably, while pilot-stage rework was significantly reduced. Measurement system variation also improved after corrective MSA actions were introduced. The study further proposes an integrated risk-capability-gate scoring framework to strengthen the relationship between project governance and process readiness evaluation. The findings demonstrate that APQP can serve as an effective quality management methodology when supported by statistical validation and structured decision-making. Future research may focus on digital APQP systems, AI-assisted FMEA optimisation, and Industry 4.0-based real-time quality monitoring for predictive manufacturing control.

Spatiotemporal Analyses of Urban Expansion Trajectories and Landscape-Scale Land Transformation in the Samandag Coastal Delta with Future Projections

Ahmet BENLİAY, Miray Zeynep UÇAR — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

The spatiotemporal trajectories of urban expansion and land-use transformation over a 35-year period (1990-2025) within Samandağ District (Hatay, Türkiye) have been investigated in this study. For this, Google Earth Engine (GEE) has been used to generate multi-temporal Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) maps using Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. Supervised classification via the Random Forest algorithm achieved overall accuracy values ranging from 82.89% to 86.73%. Findings reveal a dramatic increase in urban areas at the expense of vegetation of 3,101 hectares. Landscape metrics indicate a shift from a homogeneous rural fabric to a fragmented, heterogeneous urban character in 35 years, with the Shannon’s Diversity Index (SHDI) rising from 1.16 to 1.30. While the period between 1990 and 2010 witnessed rapid urban development, a relative stagnation, thought to be linked to the devastating earthquakes of February 2023, was observed between 2020 and 2025. Future scenarios for 2035, 2045, and 2055, based on linear regression models, predict continued pressure on agricultural and coastal ecosystems. These results provide critical spatial information for sustainable development and regional landscape planning in the Samandağ region, one of the most important Mediterranean deltas. This information is particularly important for post-disaster reconstruction following devastating events such as earthquakes.

Prevention and Elimination of Mite Contamination in Laboratory Fungal Cultures

Berfin KILINÇ, Mehmet Ertuğrul GÜLDÜR, Murat DİKİLİTAŞ — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Fungal cultures maintained under laboratory conditions may suffer severe damage due to contaminations caused by fungivorous mites, which can result in the loss of valuable isolates. The aim of this study was to develop a practical decontamination method for eliminating fungivorous mites from fungal cultures in Petri dishes while preserving fungal viability and culture integrity. The study was conducted on Alternaria alternata cultures naturally contaminated with fungivorous mites, and the effects of low-temperature treatments on mite elimination were evaluated. Contaminated mycelial discs were incubated at −20 °C for different durations under conditions with or without 30% glycerol and subsequently transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) media with or without antibiotics. Mite viability, fungal mycelial growth, and bacterial contamination were monitored using stereomicroscopy. The results showed that mite viability gradually decreased with increasing exposure time at −20 °C. In antibiotic-supplemented glycerol treatments, mite presence was completely eliminated after 2.5 h, whereas in antibiotic-supplemented frozen mycelium treatments, complete elimination was achieved after 3 h. In non-antibiotic treatments, mite elimination occurred after 3–3.5 h. Glycerol application contributed to the preservation of fungal mycelial viability under low-temperature conditions, while antibiotic-supplemented media effectively suppressed secondary bacterial contamination. In conclusion, short-term freezing treatment supported by glycerol was demonstrated to be an effective and practical method for eliminating fungivorous mite contamination in fungal cultures under laboratory conditions.

The Effect of Different Plant Wastes on Yield, Quality and Enzyme Activity in Pleurotus eryngii Cultivation

Sinan ACIÖZ , Erdal AĞCAM , Gökhan BAKTEMUR, Hatıra TAŞKIN — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the cultivation of Pleurotus eryngii in growing mixtures prepared using different plant wastes and to determine the most suitable mixtures. For this aim, ten different mushroom growing mixtures were prepared: A1(Control), A2 (2 oak sawdust + 1 wheat bran), A3 (2 almond shell + 1 wheat bran), A4 (2 walnut shell + 1 wheat bran), A5 (2 hazelnut shell + 1 wheat bran), A6 (2 peanut straw + 1 wheat bran), A7 (1 almond shell + 1 oak sawdust + 1 wheat bran), A8 (1 walnut shell + 1 oak sawdust + 1 wheat bran), A9 (1 hazelnut shell + 1 oak sawdust + 1 wheat bran), A10 (1 peanut straw + 1 oak sawdust + 1 wheat bran). In addition to evaluating the yield and quality parameters of the growing mixtures and the mushrooms obtained from these mixtures, studies were also carried out to determine the enzyme activities (cellulase and laccase) of the mushrooms grown in different mixtures at different periods. As a result of the study, the highest and the lowest nitrogen amount was found at the end of harvest (1.31%) and after mycelia development (1.15%) periods, respectively. The fastest mycelia development was observed for A1(C) (17.66 days) and the slowest was in A6 (38.66 days). The highest and the lowest yield values were determined in A5 (329.52 g kg^-1) and A6 (89.15 g kg^-1) mixtures, respectively.

Leaf Morphological, Stomatal and Colorimetric Responses of Local and Standard Pear Genotypes to Sun and Shade Conditions

Semih AYKUT, Adnan DOĞAN , Rana BAYTİN ALACI — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Light affects plant growth and fruit quality. Local pear genotypes from Muş region (Eastern Anatolia, Türkiye) have not been evaluated for their responses to contrasting light conditions. This study compared 13 local genotypes and 4 standard cultivars under natural sun and shade. Under shade, leaf area increased by 9.8–11.2%, highest in Mor Armut (55.56 cm²), Abbasi (49.12 cm²) and Santa Maria (46.66 cm²). Şuti and Pamukhala increased petiole angle. Stomatal density was higher under sun (Abbasi: 422, Mihrani: 402 mm⁻²) and decreased by 17.3% under shade. Güz‑1 maintained stomatal density but increased stomatal length (24.95→29.58 µm) and pore length (18.04→21.74 µm). SPAD showed strong genotype × light interaction: Abbasi increased SPAD under shade (52.08→56.00), whereas Pamukhala, Mihrani and Yaz Armudu decreased. Fruit weight was highest in Paşa‑2 (274.36 g), SSC in Güz‑1 (19.8%) and Mor Armut (19.7%), and flesh firmness in Van Armudu (11.01 kg cm⁻²) and Güz‑1 (9.98 kg cm⁻²). Pearson correlations revealed very strong positive relationships between leaf area and width (r=0.933) and among fruit dimensions (r>0.88) under sun; a strong negative correlation between acidity and pH (r=-0.813) under shade. PCA explained 39.4% (sun) and 38.2% (shade) of variance. Hierarchical clustering showed two main clusters under both conditions. Local genotypes (especially Abbasi, Mor Armut, Güz‑1, Paşa‑2) exhibited higher phenotypic plasticity and three shade adaptation strategies: increasing leaf area, increasing stomatal/pore dimensions, and reducing stomatal density while altering petiole angle. These findings highlight the value of Muş pear genetic resources for breeding and climate adaptation.

Use of Molasses in Milk and Cocoa Hazelnut Creams

Mehmet BİNGÖL, Esef ÖZAT , Ender Sinan POYRAZOĞLU , Pınar MURSALOĞLU KAYNAR — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Milk-cocoa hazelnut creams are widely used food products, especially consumed by children. The risk of obesity increases with the consumption of these products containing high levels of sugar, and the fact that this situation causes various health problems causes concern. Today, efforts are underway to change and improve the ingredients of foods in order not to adversely affect public health. In this study, it is aimed to examine the some properties of powdered molasses (sugar, moisture, ash, mineral and total dietary fiber amount) and four samples of milk-cocoa hazelnut cream (particle size, water activity, texture, moisture, ash, color, rheological, yeast and mold counts) obtained by using 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% powdered molasses as sugar substitutes. Molasses powder was found to have sugar (2.39%), moisture (6.93%), ash (4.12%), total dietary fiber (4.74%) and mineral values (K: 23306.01 mg kg^-1, Ca: 1174.14 mg kg^-1, Na: 6077.79 mg kg^-1, Mg: 33.12 mg kg^-1, Fe: 25.98 mg kg^-1, P: 49.48 mg kg^-1, Mn: 7.58 mg kg^-1). Analysis of the milk-cocoa hazelnut cream samples showed particle size (25.00-30.33 μm), water activity (0.210-0.225), ash ratio (1.35-4.03%), moisture value (0.89-3.43%), firmness and stickiness values (2.06-6.79 and 3.00-12.97, respectively), n and K (Pasn) values as rheological measurements (0.626-0.818 and 10.245-28.700), and color values (L*; 37.25-41.17, C*; 7.59-9.88, h*; 0.54-0.62, WI; 36.68-40.37) as given. Yeast and mold growth was <102 cfu g^-1. In conclusion, it is seen that the effect of using powdered molasses instead of sugar at different levels was considerably limited. More research is needed to obtain products with low sugar content, high fiber value and more balanced mineral substance values by using molasses wastes from different sugar factories.

A Mathematical Model for Optimizing the Transportation of Social Food Supplies under Inflationary Conditions and its Computation in the Maple Environment

Zhazira YERKISHEVA , Zhannur TURGANBAYEVA , Indira OMAROVA, Gulfarıza DUISEYEVA — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

The current global economic instability, rising inflation and logistics costs have made the efficient distribution of socially significant food products a particularly pressing issue. In particular, rising fuel prices and disruptions in supply chains directly affect the population's food accessibility. Therefore, the mathematical optimization of social food supply reserves has become one of the key instruments for states in ensuring food security. In this article, the process of transporting food products from social stabilization funds to several district social stores was examined on the basis of a transportation problem. The mathematical model was constructed using the apparatus of linear programming and solved with the aid of the potentials method and the Maple software. Transportation costs were considered not only as an economic indicator, but also as an indicator of inflationary pressure and fuel expenditure. As a result of the research, the optimal routes for food product distribution were identified and the minimum value of total transportation costs was calculated. The obtained model makes it possible to efficiently allocate logistical resources, reduce fuel consumption, and enhance the stability of the social food supply system.

Morphological and Spatial Design of Historic Urban Squares

Saide Selin ERAY — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Historic urban squares are not only significant public spaces where commercial, social, cultural, and political activities take place, but they also rank among the fundamental elements that reflect urban identity and cultural heritage. With their architectural structures, historic fabric, and traditional features, these squares add aesthetic and social value to urban life by bridging the past and the present. This study examines Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Iran and Sultanahmet Square in Turkey using a comparative spatial analysis method. The aim of this research is to investigate how spatial structure, architectural framing, landscape integration, and urban furniture elements contribute to the identity and functionality of historic urban squares. Furthermore, the study aims to quantitatively assess spatial openness and permeability and evaluate their influence on accessibility, connectivity, and the overall functionality of public space. The research methodology is based on a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative observations, visual documentation, and historical mapping with quantitative spatial indicators, including the Spatial Openness Index (SOI), Permeability Ratio (PR), and Edge-Defined Score (EDS). The findings indicate that the physical attractiveness and functional success of a city square are directly related to a high-quality architectural environment, harmonious spatial design, and appropriate urban infrastructure elements. Furthermore, cultural diversity, the facilitation of social and cultural activities, the integration of historical fabric with contemporary functions, appropriate lighting, and vibrant commercial activities emerge as key factors in the social and cultural sustainability of historic squares. The study contributes to the literature by establishing a quantitative framework for assessing urban squares and identifying the factors that support the long-term continuity and preservation of historic public spaces.