Pansharpening techniques to detect mass monument damaging in Iraq

The recent mass destructions of monuments in Iraq cannot be monitored with the terrestrial survey methodologies, for obvious reasons of safety. For the same reasons, it’s not advisable the use of classical aerial photogrammetry, so it was obvious to think to the use of multispectral Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. Nowadays VHR satellite images resolutions are very near airborne photogrammetrical images and usually they are acquired in multispectral mode. The combination of the various bands of the images is called pan-sharpening and it can be carried on using different algorithms and strategies. The correct pansharpening methodology, for a specific image, must be chosen considering the specific multispectral characteristics of the satellite used and the particular application. In this paper a first definition of guidelines for the use of VHR multispectral imagery to detect monument destruction in unsafe area, is reported. The proposed methodology, agreed with UNESCO and soon to be used in Libya for the coastal area, has produced a first report delivered to the Iraqi authorities. Some of the most evident examples are reported to show the possible capabilities of identification of damages using VHR images

Environmental urbanization assessment using gis and multicriteria decision analysis: a case study for Denizli (Turkey) municipal area

In recent years, life quality of the urban areas is a growing interest of civil engineering. Environmental quality is essential to display the position of sustainable development and asserts the corresponding countermeasures to the protection of environment. Urban environmental quality involves multidisciplinary parameters and difficulties to be analyzed. The problem is not only complex but also involves many uncertainties, and decision-making on these issues is a challenging problem which contains many parameters and alternatives inherently. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a very prepotent technique to solve that sort of problems, and it guides the users confidence by synthesizing that information. Environmental concerns frequently contain spatial information. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA) that includes Geographic Information System (GIS) is efficient to tackle that type of problems. This study has employed some geographic and urbanization parameters to assess the environmental urbanization quality used by those methods. The study area has been described in five categories: very favorable, favorable, moderate, unfavorable, and very unfavorable. The results are momentous to see the current situation, and they could help to mitigate the related concerns. The study proves that the SMCDA descriptions match the environmental quality perception in the city. © 2018 Erdal Akyol et al

Inconsistent use of gesture space during abstract pointing impairs language comprehension

Pointing toward concrete objects is a well-known and efficient communicative strategy. Much less is known about the communicative effectiveness of abstract pointing where the pointing gestures are directed to “empty space.” McNeill's (2003) observations suggest that abstract pointing can be used to establish referents in gesture space, without the referents being physically present. Recently, however, it has been shown that abstract pointing typically provides redundant information to the uttered speech thereby suggesting a very limited communicative value (So et al., 2009). In a first approach to tackle this issue we were interested to know whether perceivers are sensitive at all to this gesture cue or whether it is completely discarded as irrelevant add-on information. Sensitivity to for instance a gesture-speech mismatch would suggest a potential communicative function of abstract pointing. Therefore, we devised a mismatch paradigm in which participants watched a video where a female was interviewed on various topics. During her responses, she established two concepts in space using abstract pointing (e.g., pointing to the left when saying Donald, and pointing to the right when saying Mickey). In the last response to each topic, the pointing gesture accompanying a target word (e.g., Donald) was either consistent or inconsistent with the previously established location. Event related brain potentials showed an increased N400 and P600 when gesture and speech referred to different referents, indicating that inconsistent use of gesture space impairs language comprehension. Abstract pointing was found to influence comprehension even though gesture was not crucial to understanding the sentences or conducting the experimental task. These data suggest that a referent was retrieved via abstract pointing and that abstract pointing can potentially be used for referent indication in a discourse. We conclude that abstract pointing has a potential communicative function

Recognition of Microseismic and Blasting Signals in Mines Based on Convolutional Neural Network and Stockwell Transform

The microseismic monitoring signals which need to be determined in mines include those caused by both rock bursts and by blasting. The blasting signals must be separated from the microseismic signals in order to extract the information needed for the correct location of the source and for determining the blast mechanism. The use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) is a viable approach to extract these blast characteristic parameters automatically and to achieve the accuracy needed in the signal recognition. The Stockwell Transform (or S-Transform) has excellent two-dimensional time-frequency characteristics and thus to obtain the microseismic signal and blasting vibration signal separately, the microseismic signal has been converted in this work into a two-dimensional image format by use of the S-Transform, following which it is recognized by using the CNN. The sample data given in this paper are used for model training, where the training sample is an image containing three RGB color channels. The training time can be decreased by means of reducing the picture size and thus reducing the number of training steps used. The optimal combination of parameters can then be obtained after continuously updating the training parameters. When the image size is 180 × 140 pixels, it has been shown that the test accuracy can reach 96.15% and that it is feasible to classify separately the blasting signal and the microseismic signal based on using the S-Transform and the CNN model architecture, where the training parameters were designed by synthesizing LeNet-5 and AlexNet

Phase Composition and Defect Substructure of Strengthening Layer Surfaced on Low Alloyed Steel

The microstructure and microhardness distribution in surface of low carbon Hardox 450 steel coated with alloyed powder wires of different chemical compositions are studied. It is shown that the microhardness of 6-8 mm thickness surfaced layer exceeds that of base metal by more than 2 times. The increased mechanical properties of surfaced layer are caused by the submicro and nanoscale dispersed martensite, containing the niobium carbides Nb2C, NbC and iron borides Fe2B. In the bulk plates a dislocation substructure of the net-like type with scalar islocation density of 10^11 cm^-2 is observed. The layer surfaced with the wire containing B possesses the highest hardness. The possible mechanisms of niobium and boron carbides formation in surfacing are discusse

Evaluation of the health-related quality of life of children in Schistosoma haematobium-endemic communities in Kenya: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Schistosomiasis remains a global public health challenge, with 93% of the ~237 million infections occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Though rarely fatal, its recurring nature makes it a lifetime disorder with significant chronic health burdens. Much of its negative health impact is due to non-specific conditions such as anemia, undernutrition, pain, exercise intolerance, poor school performance, and decreased work capacity. This makes it difficult to estimate the disease burden specific to schistosomiasis using the standard DALY metric. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In our study, we used Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), a modular instrument available for ages 2-18 years, to assess health-related quality of life (HrQoL) among children living in a Schistosoma haematobium-endemic area in coastal Kenya. The PedsQL questionnaires were administered by interview to children aged 5-18 years (and their parents) in five villages spread across three districts. HrQoL (total score) was significantly lower in villages with high prevalence of S. haematobium (-4.0%, p<0.001) and among the lower socioeconomic quartiles (-2.0%, p<0.05). A greater effect was seen in the psychosocial scales as compared to the physical function scale. In moderate prevalence villages, detection of any parasite eggs in the urine was associated with a significant 2.1% (p<0.05) reduction in total score. The PedsQL reliabilities were generally high (Cronbach alphas ≥0.70), floor effects were acceptable, and identification of children from low socioeconomic standing was valid. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that exposure to urogenital schistosomiasis is associated with a 2-4% reduction in HrQoL. Further research is warranted to determine the reproducibility and responsiveness properties of QoL testing in relation to schistosomiasis. We anticipate that a case definition based on more sensitive parasitological diagnosis among younger children will better define the immediate and long-term HrQoL impact of Schistosoma infection