Final Project Report: Hydraulic Model Study Raw Wastewater Pumping Station No. 2A Wastewater Treatment Plant Detroit, Michigan

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154206/1/39015101405390.pd

Final Project Report: Hydraulic Model Study Wastewater Influent Splitter Chamber Project 88 Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant Columbus, Ohio

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154194/1/39015101405192.pd

Insights Into Today’s Real Estate Market - A Focus on Switzerland

Real estate is at the confluence of several major transformations: higher inflation, higher interest rates, and increasing ESG risks. In this Roundup, experts from academia, industry, and regulation discuss how investors and households navigate new difficult tradeoffs in the Swiss context. Will macroeconomic uncertainties affect prices and impact the financial sector? What is the proper place of real estate in an investor's portfolio? Should homeowners rethink their financing options? And will increasingly strict energy regulations impact the market

Effects of atmospheric, topographic, and BRDF correction on imaging spectroscopy-derived data products

Surface reflectance is an important data product in imaging spectroscopy for obtaining surface information. The complex retrieval of surface reflectance, however, critically relies on accurate knowledge of atmospheric absorption and scattering, and the compensation of these effects. Furthermore, illumination and observation geometry in combination with surface reflectance anisotropy determine dynamics in retrieved surface reflectance not related to surface absorption properties. To the best of authors’ knowledge, no comprehensive assessment of the impact of atmospheric, topographic, and anisotropy effects on derived surface information is available so far.This study systematically evaluates the impact of these effects on reflectance, albedo, and vegetation products. Using three well-established processing schemes (ATCOR F., ATCOR R., and BREFCOR), high-resolution APEX imaging spectroscopy data, covering a large gradient of illumination and observation angles, are brought to several processing states, varyingly affected by mentioned effects. Pixel-wise differences of surface reflectance, albedo, and spectral indices of neighboring flight lines are quantitatively analyzed in their respective overlapping area. We found that compensation of atmospheric effects reveals actual anisotropy-related dynamics in surface reflectance and derived albedo, related to an increase in pixel-wise relative reflectance and albedo differences of more than 40%. Subsequent anisotropy compensation allows us to successfully reduce apparent relative reflectance and albedo differences by up to 20%. In contrast, spectral indices are less affected by atmospheric and anisotropy effects, showing relative differences of 3% to 10% in overlapping regions of flight lines.We recommend to base decisions on the use of appropriate processing schemes on individual use cases considering envisioned data products

Assessing the impact of illumination on UAV pushbroom hyperspectral imagery collected under various cloud cover conditions

The recent development of small form-factor (<6 kg), full range (400–2500 nm) pushbroom hyperspectral imaging systems (HSI) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) poses a new range of opportunities for passive remote sensing applications. The flexible deployment of these UAV-HSI systems have the potential to expand the data acquisition window to acceptable (though non-ideal) atmospheric conditions. This is an important consideration for time-sensitive applications (e.g. phenology) in areas with persistent cloud cover. Since the majority of UAV studies have focused on applications with ideal illumination conditions (e.g. minimal or non-cloud cover), little is known to what extent UAV-HSI data are affected by changes in illumination conditions due to variable cloud cover. In this study, we acquired UAV pushbroom HSI (400–2500 nm) over three consecutive days with various illumination conditions (i.e. cloud cover), which were complemented with downwelling irradiance data to characterize illumination conditions and in-situ and laboratory reference panel measurements across a range of reflectivity (i.e. 2%, 10%, 18% and 50%) used to evaluate reflectance products. Using these data we address four fundamental aspects for UAV-HSI acquired under various conditions ranging from high (624.6 ± 16.63 W·m2) to low (2.5 ± 0.9 W·m2) direct irradiance: atmospheric compensation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), spectral vegetation indices and endmembers extraction. For instance, two atmospheric compensation methods were applied, a radiative transfer model suitable for high direct irradiance, and an Empirical Line Model (ELM) for diffuse irradiance conditions. SNR results for two distinctive vegetation classes (i.e. tree canopy vs herbaceous vegetation) reveal wavelength dependent attenuation by cloud cover, with higher SNR under high direct irradiance for canopy vegetation. Spectral vegetation index (SVIs) results revealed high variability and index dependent effects. For example, NDVI had significant differences (p < 0.05) across illumination conditions, while NDWI appeared insensitive at the canopy level. Finally, often neglected diffuse illumination conditions may be beneficial for revealing spectral features in vegetation that are obscured by the predominantly non-Lambertian reflectance encountered under high direct illumination. To our knowledge, our study is the first to use a full range pushbroom UAV sensor (400–2500 nm) for assessing illumination effects on the aforementioned variables. Our findings pave the way for understanding the advantages and limitations of ultra-high spatial resolution full range high fidelity UAV-HSI for ecological and other applications

Endmember selection procedures for partial spectral unmixing of DAIS 7915 imaging spectrometer data in highly vegetated Areas

An intensively used agricultural test site in Switzerland is covered by the DAIS 7915 imaging spectrometer in summer 1997. Three different methods of collecting endmembers for spectral unmixing are selected and compared against each other. The methods include a soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transfer approach (SVAT) based on a leaf optical properties model (PROSPECT) and a canopy model (SAIL), image based endmember selection and in-situ reflectance measurements using a ground spectroradiometer. The presented methods are discussed and verified with an extensive ground truth. A rejection procedure for classification of unmixing results is proposed on the acceptance of constraint spectral unmixing results using the uncertainty, expressed by the RMS, of the endmember selection

Scene-Based Spectral Response Function Shape Discernibility for the APEX Imaging Spectrometer

Abstract-Scene-based spectrometer calibration is becoming increasingly interesting due to the decreasing cost of computing resources as compared with laboratory calibration costs. Three of the most important instrument parameters needed for deriving surface reflectance products are per-band bandwidths, i.e., full-width at half-maximum, band centers, and spectral response function (SRF) shape. Methods for scene-based bandwidth and band center retrieval based on curve matching in the spectral regions near well-known solar and atmospheric absorption features have been investigated with satisfying results. The goal of this work is to establish the feasibility of per-band SRF shape discernibility. To this end, at-sensor radiances in multiple application configurations have been modeled using Moderate-Resolution Atmospheric Transmission (MODTRAN) 4 configured for the currently being built Airborne Prism Experiment (APEX) imaging spectrometer in its unbinned configuration (i.e., optimized for spectral resolution). To establish SRF shape discernment feasibility, per-band MODTRAN 4 spectral &quot;filter response function&quot; files have been generated for five common theoretical shapes using APEX nominal bandwidth and band center specifications and are provided as MODTRAN 4 input for the instrument model. In several application configurations, the typically used Gaussian SRF is used as reference and compared with radiances resulting from hypothetical instruments based on the four other shapes to detect differences in selected spectral subsets or &quot;windows&quot; near well-known Fraunhofer features. A relative root-mean-square metric is used to show that discernment in some cases is directly feasible, and in others, feasible if noise reduction techniques (e.g., along-track averaging of homogeneous targets) are possible

Mutations in DNA polymerase δ subunit 1 co-segregate with CMD2-type resistance to Cassava Mosaic Geminiviruses

Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) suppresses cassava yields across the tropics. The dominant CMD2 locus confers resistance to cassava mosaic geminiviruses. It has been reported that CMD2-type landraces lose resistance after regeneration through de novo morphogenesis. As full genome bisulfite sequencing failed to uncover an epigenetic mechanism for this loss of resistance, whole genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis was performed and the CMD2 locus was fine-mapped to a 190 kilobase interval. Collectively, these data indicate that CMD2-type resistance is caused by a nonsynonymous, single nucleotide polymorphism in DNA polymerase δ subunit 1 (MePOLD1) located within this region. Virus-induced gene silencing of MePOLD1 in a CMD-susceptible cassava variety produced a recovery phenotype typical of CMD2-type resistance. Analysis of other CMD2-type cassava varieties identified additional candidate resistance alleles within MePOLD1. Genetic variation of MePOLD1, therefore, could represent an important genetic resource for resistance breeding and/or genome editing, and elucidating mechanisms of resistance to geminiviruses

Silent brain infarcts impact on cognitive function in atrial fibrillation

Aims: We aimed to investigate the association of clinically overt and silent brain lesions with cognitive function in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Methods and results: We enrolled 1227 AF patients in a prospective, multicentre cohort study (Swiss-AF). Patients underwent standardized brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at baseline and after 2 years. We quantified new small non-cortical infarcts (SNCIs) and large non-cortical or cortical infarcts (LNCCIs), white matter lesions (WML), and microbleeds (Mb). Clinically, silent infarcts were defined as new SNCI/LNCCI on follow-up MRI in patients without a clinical stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) during follow-up. Cognition was assessed using validated tests. The mean age was 71 years, 26.1% were females, and 89.9% were anticoagulated. Twenty-eight patients (2.3%) experienced a stroke/TIA during 2 years of follow-up. Of the 68 (5.5%) patients with ≥1 SNCI/LNCCI, 60 (88.2%) were anticoagulated at baseline and 58 (85.3%) had a silent infarct. Patients with brain infarcts had a larger decline in cognition [median (interquartile range)] changes in Cognitive Construct score [-0.12 (-0.22; -0.07)] than patients without new brain infarcts [0.07 (-0.09; 0.25)]. New WML or Mb were not associated with cognitive decline. Conclusion: In a contemporary cohort of AF patients, 5.5% had a new brain infarct on MRI after 2 years. The majority of these infarcts was clinically silent and occurred in anticoagulated patients. Clinically, overt and silent brain infarcts had a similar impact on cognitive decline. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02105844, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02105844. Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Brain infarction; Cognitive function; Magnetic resonance imaging; Oral anticoagulation

Resisting Sleep Pressure:Impact on Resting State Functional Network Connectivity

In today's 24/7 society, sleep restriction is a common phenomenon which leads to increased levels of sleep pressure in daily life. However, the magnitude and extent of impairment of brain functioning due to increased sleep pressure is still not completely understood. Resting state network (RSN) analyses have become increasingly popular because they allow us to investigate brain activity patterns in the absence of a specific task and to identify changes under different levels of vigilance (e.g. due to increased sleep pressure). RSNs are commonly derived from BOLD fMRI signals but studies progressively also employ cerebral blood flow (CBF) signals. To investigate the impact of sleep pressure on RSNs, we examined RSNs of participants under high (19 h awake) and normal (10 h awake) sleep pressure with three imaging modalities (arterial spin labeling, BOLD, pseudo BOLD) while providing confirmation of vigilance states in most conditions. We demonstrated that CBF and pseudo BOLD signals (measured with arterial spin labeling) are suited to derive independent component analysis based RSNs. The spatial map differences of these RSNs were rather small, suggesting a strong biological substrate underlying these networks. Interestingly, increased sleep pressure, namely longer time awake, specifically changed the functional network connectivity (FNC) between RSNs. In summary, all FNCs of the default mode network with any other network or component showed increasing effects as a function of increased 'time awake'. All other FNCs became more anti-correlated with increased 'time awake'. The sensorimotor networks were the only ones who showed a within network change of FNC, namely decreased connectivity as function of 'time awake'. These specific changes of FNC could reflect both compensatory mechanisms aiming to fight sleep as well as a first reduction of consciousness while becoming drowsy. We think that the specific changes observed in functional network connectivity could imply an impairment of information transfer between the affected RSNs