A Special Vegetation Index for the Weed Detection in Sensor Based Precision Agriculture

Many technologies in precision agriculture (PA) require image analysis and image- processing with weed and background differentiations. The detection of weeds on mulched cropland is one important image-processing task for sensor based precision herbicide applications. The article introduces a special vegetation index, the Difference Index with Red Threshold (DIRT), for the weed detection on mulched croplands. Experimental investigations in weed detection on mulched areas point out that the DIRT performs better than the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The result of the evaluation with four different decision criteria indicate, that the new DIRT gives the highest reliability in weed/background differentiation on mulched areas. While using the same spectral bands (infrared and red) as the NDVI, the new DIRT is more suitable for weed detection than the other vegetation indices and requires only a small amount of additional calculation power. The new vegetation index DIRT was tested on mulched areas during automatic ratings with a special weed camera system. The test results compare the new DIRT and three other decision criteria: the difference between infrared and red intensity (Diff), the soil-adjusted quotient between infrared and red intensity (Quotient) and the NDVI. The decision criteria were compared with the definition of a worse case decision quality parameter Q, suitable for mulched croplands. Although this new index DIRT needs further testing, the index seems to be a good decision criterion for the weed detection on mulched areas and should also be useful for other image processing applications in precision agriculture. The weed detection hardware and the PC program for the weed image processing were developed with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).     

Simulation and Trend Analysis of the Water Quality Monitoring Daily Data in Nestos River Delta. Contribution to the Sustainable Management and Results for the Years 2000–2002

The transboundary River Nestos in the Balkan Peninsula is a surface water resource shared by Hellas and Bulgaria. The Public Power Corporation of Hellas (DEH) proceeded to the dams' construction of Thesaurus in 1997 and Platanovrissi in 2000, to satisfy the increased needs for power production and irrigation in the Regions of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in the Hellenic Territory. DEH following the Ministerial Agreement of the Hellenic Parliament ‘`KYA 18492/19—09—1996’' funded a series of Research Projects concerned on the monitoring of the water quantity and quality data of Nestos from the Hellenic-Bulgarian borders to its estuaries in the Thracian sea. ‘`PERSEAS’' Research Group from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, carried out the research, design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the ‘`R.E.MO.S.’' (Remote Environmental MOnitoring System) networks. Three REMOS networks have been installed in the areas of (a) the River Nestos deltaic channel, (b) Thesaurus dam-lake in the intramountainous valley and (c) Potamoi (Despat) and Pagoneri (Nestos) villages close to the borders between Hellas and Bulgaria. They record water level (H), water and air temperature (T), water conductivity (ECw), Redox potential (RP) and dissolved oxygen (DO) on a 24h basis, since the beginning of the year 2000. The research carried out in this paper, is focused on the REMOS station in the final course of Nestos in the deltaic area. The continuous monitoring and the data analysis yield useful results for the quality and quantity of the hydrologic regime of Nestos after the dams' construction, as well as for the trends detected of the quality parameters (ECw, RP and DO) and the water level, using the nonparametric Spearman's criterion. The best fitted model of time trend, for each variable, was chosen. The statistical sample of each one of the quality variables consisted of about 1000 values based on daily measures on a three years monitoring program (1/1/2000—31/12/2002). Further research and analysis for the other network stations of REMOS should provide useful results for the sustainable management of the transboundary River Nestos.     

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Nutrient Levels in the Nemunas River (Lithuania and Belarus)

There are discordant results on trends in nutrient river water quality from the economical transition countries in Europe. The present study assessed the impact of these economical changes on the load and concentration at 17 monitoring stations along the Nemunas River and its major tributaries (Lithuania and Belarus). Three time periods were evaluated: the Soviet rule command system period 1986–1991, the transfer to market economy period 1992–1996 and the post reform period 1997–2002. The most surprising result in this study, was the increased area-specific load of NO₃-N from the first to the third period at almost all the sampling sites. The increase was particularly large (43–78%) at the sites in the Lithuanian part of the river. The corresponding load increase in the Belarussian part of the river was only 1–15%. The statistical analyses of concentration data confirm the strong upward NO₃-N trend at the Nemunas mouth and at 5 of the 6 tributaries in the lower part of Nemunas. Temporal and spatial analysis of nitrates transport in the Nemunas River and its main tributaries revealed that nitrates mainly originate from agricultural areas. The upward trends were most likely an effect of ploughing of pastures and unbalanced crop fertilisation in combination with large storage and accumulation of soil-nitrogen during the Soviet period.On contrary to nitrate-N, the area-specific load of PO₄-P decreased significantly from the first to the third period at all sites along the Nemunas River (31–86%). Seasonal (SMK) and Partial (PMK) Mann-Kendall tests on PO₄-P concentrations also showed significant downward trend at 14 of 16 investigated sites. The decrease of PO₄-P levels was attributed to the reduction of municipal and industrial point source emissions and to the decreased livestock numbers.The NH₄-N load showed the same pattern as PO₄-P. At the river mouth the load was 90 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ during the first period compared to only 20–30 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ in the third period. The trend test on NH₄-N concentrations detected significant downward trends at 5 out of 16 sites. The declines were explained by decreased emissions from cities and large animal breeding farms.This study showed that trend analysis at multiple sites in a river basin is crucial for the understanding of the variability in time and space. Such analysis is also important for our interpretation of underlying sources and fluxes in a drainage basin over time. This is particularly important for compounds that have different source origin.     

Texture Analysis for Mapping Tamarix parviflora Using Aerial Photographs along the Cache Creek, California

Natural color photographs were used to detect the coverage of saltcedar, Tamarix parviflora, along a 40 km portion of Cache Creek near Woodland, California. Historical aerial photographs from 2001 were retrospectively evaluated and compared with actual ground-based information to assess accuracy of the assessment process. The color aerial photos were sequentially digitized, georeferenced, classified using color and texture methods, and mosaiced into maps for field use. Eight types of ground cover (Tamarix, agricultural crops, roads, rocks, water bodies, evergreen trees, non-evergreen trees and shrubs (excluding Tamarix)) were selected from the digitized photos for separability analysis and supervised classification. Due to color similarities among the eight cover types, the average separability, based originally only on color, was very low. The separability was improved significantly through the inclusion of texture analysis. Six types of texture measures with various window sizes were evaluated. The best texture was used as an additional feature along with the color, for identifying Tamarix. A total of 29 color photographs were processed to detect Tamarix infestations using a combination of the original digital images and optimal texture features. It was found that the saltcedar covered a total of 3.96 km² (396 hectares) within the study area. For the accuracy assessment, 95 classified samples from the resulting map were checked in the field with a global position system (GPS) unit to verify Tamarix presence. The producer's accuracy was 77.89%. In addition, 157 independently located ground sites containing saltcedar were compared with the classified maps, producing a user's accuracy of 71.33%.     

我国生活垃圾的处理现状及发展趋势

生活垃圾是人类面临的一个普遍性问题,关系着人口、资源、环境是否能协调发展.介绍了城市生活垃圾的处理现状和存在问题,从各角度分析了各种方法的优缺点,介绍每种方法的最新进展.最后指出应根据本地区不同的地理环境、垃圾成分及经济发展水平采用不同的垃圾处理模式.     

基于HMM和DT的无人机异常检测方法

为了实时检测无人机异常状态,提出基于隐马尔可夫模型(Hidden Markov Model,HMM)和决策树(Decision Tree,DT)的无人机异常检测方法(HMMDT).首先根据异常致因将无人机异常分为干扰异常和硬件异常;然后结合HMM和DT建立无人机异常检测模型,定义无人机异常度衡量异常状态的严重程度,确定...     

我国工业SO2排放趋势及影响因素分析

分析了我国工业SO2排放量的变化趋势,以及其与GDP、工业产值、火电厂发电量等指标的变化关系;利用50个省市1998—2007年的有关数据建立了SO2排放量的影响因素面板数据模型,力求通过定量分析识别影响我国工业SO2排放量的关键因素。研究表明,我国工业SO2排放量与第二产业比重、火力发电比重并无明显关系,而GDP、发电量、一次能源转化效率、SO2去除率存在显著关系,对SO2工业实际排放量起决定作用的是SO2的去除率。     

云南干旱的气候特征及变化趋势研究

以Thornthwaite水分平衡干燥度指数为主和自定义的反映短期降水有效性和异常性特征的有效降水指数为辅构建单站干旱综合指数,并定义了定量描述云南省受旱程度的干旱面积指数和干旱强度指数。采用变率和变差系数作为长期气候特征的定量指标,用云南省1959-2005年的资料,分1-3月、4-6月上旬、6-8月、9-10月、11-12月5个时段对云南省的干旱气候特征及变化趋势进行定量分析研究。结果表明：云南1-3月干旱最严重,平均每年有约2/3的土地受旱;其次是11-12月,有约50%的土地受旱;再次是4-6月上旬,有22%的土地受旱;9-10月干旱较轻,有约5%的土地受旱;6-8月平均受旱面积不到1%,基本不受干旱的影响。云南4-6月上旬和9-10月这两个时段干旱有发展加重的气候变化趋势,且9-10月加重的趋势更明显;1-3月干旱有减轻的趋势;11-12月和6-8月干旱变化趋势不明显。     

Forest Dynamics in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu,India

The primary deciduous forests in the Eastern Ghats (EG) of Tamil Nadu (TN) India have undergone many changes owing to various need-based forest managements, such as timber extraction for industry, railway sleepers, charcoal, and forest clearance for hydroelectric projects and agriculture, during preindependence and postindependence periods (i.e., from 1800 to 1980). The enactment of a forest conservation act during the 1980s changed the perception of forest managers from utilization to conservation. This study was taken up to assess the forests dynamics in the EG of TN spatially between 1990 and 2003 and nonspatially between 1900 and the 1980s. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Indian Remote Sensing satellite (IRS) 1D Linear Imaging and Self Scanning (LISS III) data were used to assess forests during 1990 and 2003, respectively. Field floristic survey and secondary data (such as published literature, floras, books, and forest working plans) were used to assess the forest dynamics in terms of forest type and species composition among the preindependence period, the postindependence period, and the present (i.e., before and after 1980). The satellite data analysis revealed a considerable amount of changes in all forest types during the 13 years. The comparison of species composition and forest types between the past and present revealed that need-based forest management along with anthropogenic activity have altered the primary deciduous forest in to secondary and postextraction secondary forests such as southern thorn and southern thorn scrub forests in the middle [400–900 m above mean sea level (MSL)] and lower slopes (<400 m MSL). However, the evergreen forests present at the upper slope (>900 m MSL) and plateau seemed not to be much affected by the forest management. The changes estimated by the satellite data processing in the major forest types such as evergreen, deciduous, southern thorn, and southern thorn scrub are really alarming because these changes have occurred after the implementation of a forest conservation act. The dependence of local people on forests for various purposes in this region is also considerably high, which might be a key factor for the changes in the forests. The results of this study not only provide an outlook on the present status of the forests and the change trends but also provide the basis for further studies on forests in the EG of TN.     

西南地区高校冬季室内二氧化碳浓度的测试研究

以西南科技大学为研究对象,用便携式红外线二氧化碳分析仪对其冬季室内CO2浓度进行测试分析,测试大学教室课前课后及寝室有人状态下CO2的浓度,包括普查检测以及连续监测。普查检测结果显示20％的样本CO2超过国家规定的上限值（0．10％）,且超标的样本在检测时都处于通风状态不佳时;连续监测则反映出室内CO2的增长与室内人数、房间体积以及通风情况的关系,建议尽量减小室内人员密度,增强通风,以此来确保高校师生身体健康。