Fluvial Processes in Motion: Measuring Bank Erosion and Suspended Sediment Flux using Advanced Geomatic Methods and Machine Learning

Excessive erosion and fine sediment delivery to river corridors and receiving waters degrade aquatic habitat, add to nutrient loading, and impact infrastructure. Understanding the sources and movement of sediment within watersheds is critical for assessing ecosystem health and developing management plans to protect natural and human systems. As our changing climate continues to cause shifts in hydrological regimes (e.g., increased precipitation and streamflow in the northeast U.S.), the development of tools to better understand sediment dynamics takes on even greater importance. In this research, advanced geomatics and machine learning are applied to improve the (1) monitoring of streambank erosion, (2) understanding of event sediment dynamics, and (3) prediction of sediment loading using meteorological data as inputs. Streambank movement is an integral part of geomorphic changes along river corridors and also a significant source of fine sediment to receiving waters. Advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and photogrammetry provide opportunities for rapid and economical quantification of streambank erosion and deposition at variable scales. We assess the performance of UAS-based photogrammetry to capture streambank topography and quantify bank movement. UAS data were compared to terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) and GPS surveying from Vermont streambank sites that featured a variety of bank conditions and vegetation. Cross-sectional analysis of UAS and TLS data revealed that the UAS reliably captured the bank surface and was able to quantify the net change in bank area where movement occurred. Although it was necessary to consider overhanging bank profiles and vegetation, UAS-based photogrammetry showed significant promise for capturing bank topography and movement at fine resolutions in a flexible and efficient manner. This study also used a new machine-learning tool to improve the analysis of sediment dynamics using three years of high-resolution suspended sediment data collected in the Mad River watershed. A restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), a type of artificial neural network (ANN), was used to classify individual storm events based on the visual hysteresis patterns present in the suspended sediment-discharge data. The work expanded the classification scheme typically used for hysteresis analysis. The results provided insights into the connectivity and sources of sediment within the Mad River watershed and its tributaries. A recurrent counterpropagation network (rCPN) was also developed to predict suspended sediment discharge at ungauged locations using only local meteorological data as inputs. The rCPN captured the nonlinear relationships between meteorological data and suspended sediment discharge, and outperformed the traditional sediment rating curve approach. The combination of machine-learning tools for analyzing storm-event dynamics and estimating loading at ungauged locations in a river network provides a robust method for estimating sediment production from catchments that informs watershed management

Nonintrusive methods for biomass estimation in aquaculture with emphasis on fish: a review

Fish biomass estimation is one of the most common and important practices in aquaculture. The regular acquisition of fish biomass information has been identified as an urgent need for managers to optimize daily feeding, control stocking densities and ultimately determine the optimal time for harvesting. However, it is difficult to estimate fish biomass without human intervention because fishes are sensitive and move freely in an environment where visibility, lighting and stability are uncontrollable. Until now, fish biomass estimation has been mostly based on manual sampling, which is usually invasive, time‐consuming and laborious. Therefore, it is imperative and highly desirable to develop a noninvasive, rapid and cost‐effective means. Machine vision, acoustics, environmental DNA and resistivity counter provide the possibility of developing nonintrusive, faster and cheaper methods for in situ estimation of fish biomass. This article summarizes the development of these nonintrusive methods for fish biomass estimation over the past three decades and presents their basic concepts and principles. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are analysed and future research directions are also presented. Studies show that the applications of information technology such as advanced sensors and communication technologies have great significance to accelerate the development of new means and techniques for more effective biomass estimation. However, the accuracy and intelligence still need to be improved to meet intensive aquaculture requirements. Through close cooperation between fisheries experts and engineers, the precision and the level of intelligence for fish biomass estimation will be further improved based on the above methods

Turbidity and Urine Turbidity: A Mini Review

Turbidity, the measurement for impurity and the opposite phenomenon of clarity, is described as the reduced transparency of a liquid caused by the existence of undissolved matter in the form of suspended particles. The permissible volume of light through the liquid, or light that is not dispersed or absorbed but emitted through the liquid and propagated toward the observer, provides a foundation for the analysis of various subject matters, such as liquid mass concentration and impurity identification. The turbidity of urine is increased by the presence of cellular debris, cast, and, in some cases, crystal and other debris in the urine. Blood (both red and white blood cells), hemoglobin, cholesterol, albumin, leukocyte esterase, nitrites, ketones, bilirubin, and urobilinogen are all substances that are not expected to be found in urine, the presence of which can increase urine turbidity. Owing to the principle of turbidimetry, it is not the detection of turbidity that is the cause of the turbid state of urine but the presence of suspended particles and a rough estimate of the number of suspended particles in urine. This research exposes the different methods of obtaining the turbidity of a liquid sample and the working principles of turbidimetry and nephelometry

Random Finite Sets Based Very Short-Term Solar Power Forecasting Through Cloud Tracking

Tracking clouds with a sky camera within a very short horizon below thirty seconds can be a solution to mitigate the effects of sunlight disruptions. A Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter and a Cardinalised Probability Hypothesis Density (CPHD) filter were used on a set of pre-processed sky images. Both filters have been compared with the state-of-the-art methods for performance. It was found that both filters are suitable to perform very-short term irradiance forecasting

A multi-modal smart sensing network for marine environmental monitoring

There is an imperative need for long-term, large-scale marine monitoring systems that will allow decisions to be made based on the analysis of collected data to avoid or limit negative impacts on the ecosystem. Modern marine environmental sensing technologies, such as autonomous wireless sensor networks (WSNs), provide the capability to meet the challenges of high spatial and temporal scales. However, the significant amount of data generated from WSNs is a significant challenge for manual analysis. These multitudinous data need to be automatically processed, indexed and catalogued in a smarter way that can be more easily understood, accessed and managed by operators, scientists and policy makers. Moreover, current research works show that WSNs have their own limitations, for example, reliability issues and the fact that they are passive systems and provide context-less data. Thus, it is becoming increasingly clear that in order to adequately monitor marine environments, they need to be characterised from multiple perspectives. Combining multiple technologies and sensing modalities in environmental monitoring programmes can provide not only advantages of reliability and robustness for sensing systems, but also enhanced understanding of environmental processes. In addition, considerable advances can be made if robust sensing technology can be combined with sophisticated methods of data analysis, classification and cataloguing. The aim of this work is to bridge the gap between current aquatic monitoring systems and futuristic ideal large scale multi-modality smart sensing networks for marine environmental monitoring. To illustrate this, a smart sensing system is proposed and two case studies are used to show data processing from in-situ measurements and from camera based visual sensing data automatically using machine learning techniques. Abnormal events detection results from an in-situ sensor and shipping traffic detection results from visual sensor are combined to illustrate the benefit of coupling multiple sensing modalities

In-situ crystal morphology identification using imaging analysis with application to the L-glutamic acid crystallization

A synthetic image analysis strategy is proposed for in-situ crystal size measurement and shape identification for monitoring crystallization processes, based on using a real-time imaging system. The proposed method consists of image processing, feature analysis, particle sieving, crystal size measurement, and crystal shape identification. Fundamental image features of crystals are selected for efficient classification. In particular, a novel shape feature, referred to as inner distance descriptor, is introduced to quantitatively describe different crystal shapes, which is relatively independent of the crystal size and its geometric direction in an image captured for analysis. Moreover, a pixel equivalent calibration method based on subpixel edge detection and circle fitting is proposed to measure crystal sizes from the captured images. In addition, a kernel function based method is given to deal with nonlinear correlations between multiple features of crystals, facilitating computation efficiency for real-time shape identification. Case study and experimental results from the cooling crystallization of l-glutamic acid demonstrate that the proposed image analysis method can be effectively used for in-situ crystal size measurement and shape identification with good accuracy

Mathematical Problems in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering

With increasing requirements for energy, resources and space, rock engineering projects are being constructed more often and are operated in large-scale environments with complex geology. Meanwhile, rock failures and rock instabilities occur more frequently, and severely threaten the safety and stability of rock engineering projects. It is well-recognized that rock has multi-scale structures and involves multi-scale fracture processes. Meanwhile, rocks are commonly subjected simultaneously to complex static stress and strong dynamic disturbance, providing a hotbed for the occurrence of rock failures. In addition, there are many multi-physics coupling processes in a rock mass. It is still difficult to understand these rock mechanics and characterize rock behavior during complex stress conditions, multi-physics processes, and multi-scale changes. Therefore, our understanding of rock mechanics and the prevention and control of failure and instability in rock engineering needs to be furthered. The primary aim of this Special Issue “Mathematical Problems in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering” is to bring together original research discussing innovative efforts regarding in situ observations, laboratory experiments and theoretical, numerical, and big-data-based methods to overcome the mathematical problems related to rock mechanics and rock engineering. It includes 12 manuscripts that illustrate the valuable efforts for addressing mathematical problems in rock mechanics and rock engineering

Application of non-conventional sensor technologies to the automatic monitoring and control of the virgin olive oil production process

[ES]En los últimos años la producción de aceite de oliva ha experimentado un crecimiento desde el punto de vista cualitativo y cuantitativo, en parte gracias a la transferencia de conocimiento desde los centros de investigación hacia la planta de producción. Sin embargo, el grado de automatización del sistema productivo se encuentra de momento en una etapa inicial del recorrido que supone ponerse al nivel de otras industrias agroalimentarias. En este contexto, el trabajo que se desarrolla en la presente Tesis Doctoral tiene como objetivo profundizar en la aplicación de dos tecnologías no invasivas, espectroscopía en el infrarrojo cercano y visión por computador, para adquirir información a nivel de proceso, y en sus distintas etapas, y fundamentalmente con dos fines: (1) ayudar a determinar de forma cualitativa qué está ocurriendo en el proceso desde el punto de vista físico-químico y organoléptico, y (2) poder utilizar la información adquirida en estructuras de control automático de nivel local (subprocesos), global (proceso) o incluso en la toma de decisiones sobre el modo de operación de la planta como es el caso de la planificación de la producción.[EN]In recent years the production of virgin olive oil has experienced positive growth from qualitative and quantitative points of view, thanks to the transference of knowledge from the research centres to the production plant. However, the degree of automation of the virgin olive oil production process is at an earlier stage than other agronomic industries. In this context, the work developed in this doctoral thesis is seeking to deepen the application of two non-invasive technologies, near infrared spectroscopy and computer vision, in order to acquire information at process level, in different phases, and fundamentally with two specific purposes: (1) to assess in a qualitative form what is happening in the process from a physicochemical and organoleptic point of view, and (2) to use the acquired information in order to feed the automatic control structures at local level (sub-process), global level (process) or even in the decision making process about the operational mode of the production plant - i.e. the production planningTesis Univ. Jaén. Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica y Automática. Leída el 13 de julio de 201

Sustainable Agriculture and Advances of Remote Sensing (Volume 1)

Agriculture, as the main source of alimentation and the most important economic activity globally, is being affected by the impacts of climate change. To maintain and increase our global food system production, to reduce biodiversity loss and preserve our natural ecosystem, new practices and technologies are required. This book focuses on the latest advances in remote sensing technology and agricultural engineering leading to the sustainable agriculture practices. Earth observation data, in situ and proxy-remote sensing data are the main source of information for monitoring and analyzing agriculture activities. Particular attention is given to earth observation satellites and the Internet of Things for data collection, to multispectral and hyperspectral data analysis using machine learning and deep learning, to WebGIS and the Internet of Things for sharing and publishing the results, among others