SEMANTIC INDEXING OF TERRASAR-X AND IN SITU DATA FOR URBAN ANALYTICS

This paper presents the semantic indexing of TerraSAR-X images and in situ data. Image processing together with machine learning methods, relevance feedback techniques, and human expertise are used to annotate the image content into a land use land cover catalogue. All the generated information is stored into a geo-database supporting the link between different types of information and the computation of queries and analytics. We used 11 TerraSAR-X scenes over Germany and LUCAS as in situ data. The semantic index is composed of about 73 land use land cover categories found in TerraSAR-X test dataset and 84 categories found in LUCAS dataset

One-step preparation of nitrogen doped titanium oxide/Au/reduced graphene oxide composite thin films for photocatalytic applications

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and TiO2/Au/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite thin films were grown by ultraviolet matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (UV-MAPLE) in controlled O2 or N2 atmospheres. An UV KrF∗ excimer laser (λ = 248 nm, τFWHM ∼ 25 ns, ν = 10 Hz) was used for the irradiation of the MAPLE targets consisting of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) or mixtures of TiO2 NPs, Au NPs, and graphene oxide (GO) platelets in aqueous solutions. The effect of Au and GO addition as well as nitrogen doping on the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 thin films was investigated. The evaluation of the photocatalytic activity was performed by photodegradation of the organic methylene blue model dye pollutant under UV-visible light, >simulated sun> irradiation conditions. Our results show that the photocatalytic properties of TiO2 were significantly improved by the addition of Au NPs and rGO platelets. Nitrogen inclusion into the rGO structure further contributes to the enhancement of the TiO2/Au/rGO nanocomposites photocatalytic activity.The authors thank the financial support of the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development, and Innovation of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research under the contract PN-IIPT-PCCA-2011-3.2-1235 and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the contract ENE2014-56109-C3-3-R.Peer reviewedPeer Reviewe

Data Vaults: a Database Welcome to Scientific File Repositories

Efficient management and exploration of high-volume scientific file repositories have become pivotal for advancement in science. We propose to demonstrate the Data Vault, an extension of the database system architecture that transparently opens scientific file repositories for efficient in-database processing and exploration. The Data Vault facilitates science data analysis using high-level declarative languages, such as the traditional SQL and the novel array-oriented SciQL. Data of interest are loaded from the attached repository in a just-in-time manner without need for up-front data ingestion. The demo is built around concrete implementations of the Data Vault for two scientific use cases: seismic time series and Earth observation images. The seismic Data Vault uses the queries submitted by the audience to illustrate the internals of Data Vault functioning by revealing the mechanisms of dynamic query plan generation and on-demand external data ingestion. The image Data Vault shows an application view from the perspective of data mining researchers

Probabilistic downscaling of remote sensing data with applications for multi-scale biogeochemical flux modeling

Upscaling ecological information to larger scales in space and downscaling remote sensing observations or model simulations to finer scales remain grand challenges in Earth system science. Downscaling often involves inferring subgrid information from coarse-scale data, and such ill-posed problems are classically addressed using regularization. Here, we apply two-dimensional Tikhonov Regularization (2DTR) to simulate subgrid surface patterns for ecological applications. Specifically, we test the ability of 2DTR to simulate the spatial statistics of high-resolution (4 m) remote sensing observations of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in a tundra landscape. We find that the 2DTR approach as applied here can capture the major mode of spatial variability of the high-resolution information, but not multiple modes of spatial variability, and that the Lagrange multiplier (γ) used to impose the condition of smoothness across space is related to the range of the experimental semivariogram. We used observed and 2DTR-simulated maps of NDVI to estimate landscape-level leaf area index (LAI) and gross primary productivity (GPP). NDVI maps simulated using a γ value that approximates the range of observed NDVI result in a landscape-level GPP estimate that differs by ca 2% from those created using observed NDVI. Following findings that GPP per unit LAI is lower near vegetation patch edges, we simulated vegetation patch edges using multiple approaches and found that simulated GPP declined by up to 12% as a result. 2DTR can generate random landscapes rapidly and can be applied to disaggregate ecological information and compare of spatial observations against simulated landscapes

Baseline characteristics of patients in the reduction of events with darbepoetin alfa in heart failure trial (RED-HF)

<p>Aims: This report describes the baseline characteristics of patients in the Reduction of Events with Darbepoetin alfa in Heart Failure trial (RED-HF) which is testing the hypothesis that anaemia correction with darbepoetin alfa will reduce the composite endpoint of death from any cause or hospital admission for worsening heart failure, and improve other outcomes.</p> <p>Methods and results: Key demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings, along with baseline treatment, are reported and compared with those of patients in other recent clinical trials in heart failure. Compared with other recent trials, RED-HF enrolled more elderly [mean age 70 (SD 11.4) years], female (41%), and black (9%) patients. RED-HF patients more often had diabetes (46%) and renal impairment (72% had an estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m2). Patients in RED-HF had heart failure of longer duration [5.3 (5.4) years], worse NYHA class (35% II, 63% III, and 2% IV), and more signs of congestion. Mean EF was 30% (6.8%). RED-HF patients were well treated at randomization, and pharmacological therapy at baseline was broadly similar to that of other recent trials, taking account of study-specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. Median (interquartile range) haemoglobin at baseline was 112 (106–117) g/L.</p> <p>Conclusion: The anaemic patients enrolled in RED-HF were older, moderately to markedly symptomatic, and had extensive co-morbidity.</p&gt

Automatic recognition of facial expressions using Bayesian Belief Networks

Abstract- The current paper addresses the aspects related to the development of an automatic probabilistic recognition system for facial expressions in video streams. The face analysis component integrates an eye tracking mechanism based on Kalman filter. The visual feature detection includes PCA oriented recognition for ranking the activity in certain facial areas. The description of the facial expressions is given according to sets of atomic Action Units (AU) from the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). The base for the expression recognition engine is supported through a BBN model that also handles the time behavior of the visual features

Multiresolution Analysis of SAR Images

SAR images have shown to be of high complexity and to require dedicated processing techniques. This paper presents two applications of the wavelet and multiresolution theory to the enhancement and characterization of SAR data. The first application describes an improved method for speckle reduction. The second method uses a fractal-based texture measure to provide elements for SAR image segmentation. The methods have been applied to airborne C-band SAR images