Joint microwave and infrared studies for soil moisture determination

The feasibility of using a combined microwave-thermal infrared system to determine soil moisture content is addressed. Of particular concern are bare soils. The theoretical basis for microwave emission from soils and the transport of heat and moisture in soils is presented. Also, a description is given of the results of two field experiments held during vernal months in the San Joaquin Valley of California

Differentials in Adoption of Improved Fish Farming Technologies among Farmers in Imo State, Nigeria: A Gender Analyses

Women are key players in fish farming and their participation is critical to achieving food security and economic well-being. The study was designed with the purpose to address the gender gap in the adoption of fish farming technologies and output in Imo State, Nigeria. The study described the socio economic characteristics of fish farmers, investigated level and determinants of adoption of fish farming among the respondents in the study area. Multistage and purposive sampling techniques were used for the selection of Sixty (60) respondents interviewed for the study. Descriptive statistics and Tobit regression procedure were used to analyze the data obtained. Results indicate that 43.3% and 30.0% of male and female fish farmers respectively, were within the age group of 41-50 years. Majority (72.2%) of the male fish farmers inherited their land, while 80% of female fish farmers had theirs through lease. About 70% of the males had 1-2 number of extension contacts, and 50.0% of the female farmers also. Results showed that male fish farmers dominated in the adoption of 5 improved fish farming technologies compared to their female (3) counterparts. Stocking density had the highest mean level of adoption (3.97) for the male fish farmers, while, feed formulation had the highest (3.67) for the female fish farmers. Important factors influencing the probability and intensity of adoption of improved fish farming technologies among the farmers include; education, extension, farm size, access to credit, membership of cooperatives, and environmental attribute. The results therefore, call for the need for policies aimed at free and affordable education, especially targeted at women to enable them access and process information on improved fish farming technologies. There is also need to increase the number of extension visits to enhance gender balance in adoption of fish farming technologies in the study area. Fish farmers should be encouraged to belong to or form cooperatives/groups to enable them ease of access to inputs and resources, especially credit and information that will enhance adoption

JPL field measurements at the Finney County, Kansas, test site, October 1976: Ground-based microwave radiometric measurements

Microwave brightness temperature measurements were made as part of the Joint Soil Moisture Experiment. These measurements are reported with a description of the JPL microwave radiometry van facility. The data will be used with ground truth data from the test site and microwave data from aircraft overflights to investigate the potential of microwave radiometry for soil moisture remote sensing under field conditions

Effect of Plant Density and Land Race on the Growth and Yield of Sweetpotato in Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria

Field study was conducted at National Root Crops Research Institute out station Nyanya Research farm located at Zhewun Jidna Nasarawa State during 2007 and 2008 cropping seasons. The aim was to determine the effect of optimum plant population Density of sweet potato land races under improved management condition. Three Land races or Local varieties known locally as Katsina, Kunkudu, Dunku and TIS 87/0087 an elite variety that served as a check were used for the trial. The populations evaluated were 50, 000, 40,000, 33, 333, and 28,570, Plants ha-1. In both years result showed that Katsina gave the highest root yield of 42.0 and 26.8 t/ha, followed by the check variety TIS 87/0087 34.98 and 24.03 t/ha. This was not different statistically ( p< 0.05) in both years. Also 50,000 plants ha-1 gave the highest root yield across board. But in 2007,TIS 87/0087 gave the highest top yield at 50,000 plants ha-1 followed by 40,000 plants ha-1. In almost all other parameters evaluated the land race or Local variety Katsina out yielded the check variety and the other land races. It can be concluded that land races or Local varieties under improved management have capacity of out yielding some elite verities. The population of 50,000 plants ha-1 is recommended for higher root yield, while either 40,000 or 28750 plants ha-1 is recommended for any other farmers need other than root yield especially when there is scarcity of planting materials.Keywords: optimum plant density sweet potato landraces and yieldJournal of Agriculture and Social Research (JASR) Vol. 11, No. 1, 201

Variability in springtime thaw in the terrestrial high latitudes: Monitoring a major control on the biospheric assimilation of atmospheric CO2 with spaceborne microwave remote sensing

Evidence is presented from the satellite microwave remote sensing record that the timing of seasonal thawing and subsequent initiation of the growing season in early spring has advanced by approximately 8 days from 1988 to 2001 for the pan-Arctic basin and Alaska. These trends are highly variable across the region, with North America experiencing a larger advance relative to Eurasia and the entire region. Interannual variability in the timing of spring thaw as detected from the remote sensing record corresponded directly to seasonal anomalies in mean atmospheric CO2 concentrations for the region, including the timing of the seasonal draw down of atmospheric CO2 from terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) in spring, and seasonal maximum and minimum CO2 concentrations. The timing of the seasonal thaw for a given year was also found to be a significant (P \u3c 0.01) predictor of the seasonal amplitude of atmospheric CO2 for the following year. These results imply that the timing of seasonal thawing in spring has a major impact on terrestrial NPP and net carbon exchange at high latitudes. The initiation of the growing season has also been occurring earlier, on average, over the time period addressed in this study and may be a major mechanism driving observed atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycle advances, vegetation greening, and enhanced productivity for the northern high latitudes

Electrodynamics of Media

Contains research objectives and summary of research on three projects and reports on five research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-74-C-0630)California Institute of Technology (Contract 953524

Productivity and limitations of plantain (Musa spp. cv AAB) production in compound gardens in southeastern Nigeria

This paper, based on a socio-economic survey, investigates the productivity of compound plantain production and constraints to large scale production on the basis of the compound production method. The paper shows that production under the compound system results in nearly four times as much yield as in non-compound system. This is attributed to regular application of kitchen and other compound wastes, close cultural attention given by the farmer, and to nutrient recycling to the benefit of the compound plantains from deep rooted perennial tree crops inter-planted large scale production employing the compound methods is limited by supply of organic matter and by available market for plantains. Available market can be expanded by increased production during the slack period of June to September when output is low and by packaging to reduce damage in transit to take advantage of distant markets

Fostering Application Opportunites for the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission

The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission will provide global observations of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state from space. We outline how priority applications contributed to the SMAP mission measurement requirements and how the SMAP mission plans to foster applications and applied science

The Age and Sex Incidence of Keloids / Hypertrophic Scars in Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State from 2001-2006

Hypertrophic scars and keloids have been seen to occur frequently among burnt and accident patients. Keloids and hypertrophic scars result from excessive collagen deposition. They are dermal fibro proliferative disorders unique humans and occur as a complication of healing of wounds following trauma, inflammation, surgery, burns and sometimes occur spontaneously. Clinically, these scars can be disfiguring functionally and aesthetically or both. A retrospective study of patients with keloids and hypertrophic scars was carried out in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) using medical records of 41 patients that were diagnosed and / or treated. Sex, age, provisional diagnosis, manifestations and treatment procedures were extracted from their folders. The result of the study was statistically analyzed which revealed that keloids and hypertrophic scars increase with years and occur a little more in females than in males (M:F ratio = 48.8%:51.2%). The age range that was mostly affected was 15 to 45 years. Keywords: keloid, hypertrophic scar, sex, age, trib

Satellite-observed changes in vegetation sensitivities to surface soil moisture and total water storage variations since the 2011 Texas drought

We combine soil moisture (SM) data from AMSR-E and AMSR-2, and changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) from time-variable gravity data from GRACE to delineate and characterize the evolution of drought and its impact on vegetation growth. GRACE-derived TWS provides spatially continuous observations of changes in overall water supply and regional drought extent, persistence and severity, while satellite-derived SM provides enhanced delineation of shallow-depth soil water supply. Together these data provide complementary metrics quantifying available plant water supply. We use these data to investigate the supply changes from water components at different depths in relation to satellite-based enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and gross primary productivity (GPP) from MODIS and solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) from GOME-2, during and following major drought events observed in the state of Texas, USA and its surrounding semiarid area for the past decade. We find that in normal years the spatial pattern of the vegetation–moisture relationship follows the gradient in mean annual precipitation. However since the 2011 hydrological drought, vegetation growth shows enhanced sensitivity to surface SM variations in the grassland area located in central Texas, implying that the grassland, although susceptible to drought, has the capacity for a speedy recovery. Vegetation dependency on TWS weakens in the shrub-dominated west and strengthens in the grassland and forest area spanning from central to eastern Texas, consistent with changes in water supply pattern. We find that in normal years GRACE TWS shows strong coupling and similar characteristic time scale to surface SM, while in drier years GRACE TWS manifests stronger persistence, implying longer recovery time and prolonged water supply constraint on vegetation growth. The synergistic combination of GRACE TWS and surface SM, along with remote-sensing vegetation observations provides new insights into drought impact on vegetation–moisture relationship, and unique information regarding vegetation resilience and the recovery of hydrological drought