Support of multispectral very high solution remotely sensed imagery for old-growth beech forest detection.

In the Mediterranean basin human activity has modified landscapes for millennia,nevertheless there are few remote forest areas relatively untouched long enough from direct anthropogenic disturbance to develop old-growth attributes. The aim of this note is to assess the potential of QuickBird (QB) satellite multispectral imagery for detecting old-growth forest stands, considering as case study a Mediterranean beech forest in central Italy. The segmentation-based analysis of QB image proved to be a promising tool to detect scaledependent pattern of forest structural heterogeneity. Values of remotely sensed attributes are compared in old-growth and not-old-growth stands: the statistical analysis showed that oldgrowthness is associated to the variability of multispectral reflectance from the image objects (polygons). Green band variability, notably, expressed by Ratio_band_2 has proven to be helpful for predicting old-growthness

Large-scale monitoring of coppice forest clearcuts by multitemporal very high resolution satellite imagery. A case study from central Italy

Reliable assessment of forest resource stock, productivity and harvesting is a commonly agreed objective of environmental monitoring programs. Distinctively, the assessment of wood harvesting has become even more relevant to evaluate the sustainability of forest management and to quantify forest carbon budget. This paper presents the development and testing of procedures for assessing forest harvesting in coppice forests by very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. The study area is located in central Italy over approximately 34,000 km2. A set of SPOT5 HRG multispectral images was acquired for the study years (2002–2007). Official administrative statistics of coppice clearcutswere also acquired.More than 9500 clearcuts weremapped and dated by on-screen interpretation of the SPOT5 images. In a subset of the study area various methods for semi-automatic clearcut mapping were tested by pixel- and object-oriented approaches. The following results are presented: (i) clearcut map developed by visual interpretation of the SPOT5 images resulted in high thematic (overall accuracy of 0.99) and geometric (rootmean square error of clearcut boundary delineation of 5.3 m) reliability; (ii) object-oriented approach achieved significantly better accuracy than pixel-based methods for semi-automatic classification of the coppice clearcuts; (iii) comparison between mapped clearcut area and official forest harvesting statistics proved a significant underestimation by the latter (65% of the total mapped clearcut area). A sample-based procedure exploiting VHR satellite imagery is finally proposed to correct the official statistics of coppice clearcuts.L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore www.sciencedirect.co

Assessing and mapping biomass potential productivity from poplar-dominated riparian forests: A case study

River systems are subjected to continuous physical changes as a result of their sediment transport. River dynamics is mainly determined by the seasonal variation of weather conditions and, together with the nature of the catchment and land management, affects flow patterns on a local scale. Riparian vegetation is well adapted to this periodical disturbance. It naturally regenerates on the new mineral soil created by the redistribution of river sediments during floods, playing an important role in the maintenance of streams and riverbanks stability. The high level of resilience and productivity of riparian tree species like Populus, contributes to the rapid biomass accumulation of riparian vegetation making these ecosystems of potential interest for biomass production for energy. This paper presents an operational methodology for investigating the biomass potential from riparian forests by coupling airborne laser scanning data and field survey. A case study on assessing and mapping biomass dynamics over a seventeen year period along a tract on the Paglia river, in Central Italy, is presented and discussed. The results highlight that the surface of the poplardominated riparian vegetation has significantly changed over the 1989e2006 period. More than 70 ha of new poplar forest were naturally regenerated during the analyzed period. The total amount of aboveground woody biomass of the riparian forest at the second inventory occasion has been estimated in 88 Mg ha!1, evidencing a large amount of technically available resources for bioenergy production (around 80% of the standing woody biomass). The innovative strategy here proposed to assess and map at a very high spatial resolution the abovegroundwoody biomass of riparian forest meets the monitoring requirements to support energy production based on modern, non-conventional biomass harvest planning options

Tree-oriented silviculture for growing valuable broadleaved tree species in Turkey oak coppices

Valuable broadleaved tree species can play an important role in mixed-forest management; in these forests, silviculture may play an important role in getting high value timber. This paper illustrates a tree-oriented silviculture approach with an application in a Turkey oak coppice stand in Central Italy. This silvicultural approach has been developed in the last decades in France, Germany, Switzerland. The rationale behind the tree-oriented approach is to select a number of target sporadic tree species with valuable timber and to support their growth through repeated thinning from above. We tested the effectiveness of this silviculture approach as an alternative to customary coppice management in Italy, which is traditionally focused on the dominant tree species and does not consider valuable broadleaved tree species. The two silviculture approaches (tree-oriented and customary coppicing) were compared through a financial evaluation of the economic convenience of the two alternatives in a Turkey oak coppice stand in Central Ital

The E-Cultural Adaption Framework (E-CAF) : adapting the local travel interface for Egyptian consumers

Although the Internet has become a global medium, which companies use to access individuals worldwide, it is argued in this thesis that cultural issues still need to be taken into account when designing Web sites. In fact, international marketers agree that culture in terms of consumers‘ values and beliefs remains a significant constraint for reaching international consumers. Professional analysts and designers generally agree that well-designed user interfaces improve the performance and appeal of the Web and help in reaching large numbers of consumers across cultures. Therefore, one way of improving the user-interface is by paying attention to users' culture, which means developing culturally adapted Web sites. The Web localisation literature addresses the users' ultural concerns by utilising some of the popular cultural models like those of Hofstede and Hall; however these tools are not appropriate for handling the cultural values affecting the online behaviour of consumers. Effective Web localisation can be achieved through an appropriate cultural framework that incorporates the cultural values that affect the online behaviour of consumers. This thesis introduces the electronic cultural adaption framework or E-CAF, as a structure for adapting local Web interfaces. The E-CAF, constructed for the travel domain, uses six cultural dimensions derived from the observation of behaviour and identifies unique cultural variables that affect online consumer behaviour. The E-CAF is constructed using grounded theory methodology and is then evaluated as a tool for adapting local Web interfaces. This includes discussing the applicability of the E-CAF as a tool for identifying online marketing strategies suitable for targeting consumers across cultures and using the E-CAF to assess and evaluate the cultural adaptation of three Egyptian local travel interfaces. Finally, the E-CAF is utilized as a means for developing questions that can help designers to collect the clients' designing requirements. This helps the designers to build an effective local interface based on an understanding of each client‘s special design requirements.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo