Historical analysis of the land movement in landslide area using elastic image registration and conditional statement approach.

Temporal amount of land movement is one of the important input parameter in a study of landslide detection and prediction. Automatic approach in monitoring this movement is needed to replace conventional ground surveying technique which is time consuming. An elastic image registration and change-unchanged conditional statements procedure appropriate for historical analysis of the land movement in landslide area is presented herein. Four deformation operators were used during the registration process. The similarity between two images was measured by a similarity function which takes into consideration the value of mutual information, geometric deformation and maximum overlapping area between the two images. Landslide areas were detected using the amount of pixel movement during a registration process. Two stages of four change-unchanged conditional statements had been developed to monitor landslides of future years. These conditional statements made used of the sequence of detected change images as the input parameter. It was shown that the size of pixel movement can be used to detect changes in landslide areas. The more sequences of changed images were used, the more information about the history of the area can be gathered

Oil palm physical and optical characteristics from two different planting materials.

This study discovers the uniqueness of physical and optical characteristics of the oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) and is based on two different tenera planting materials namely PORIM SERIES 1 (PS 1) and PORIM SERIES 2 (PS 2). Three methods have been done to determine the characteristics which are as follows; 1) manual approach by measuring the weight, length, width and circumference of oil palm FFB, 2) machine vision technique for color information extraction and 3) multi-band portable, active optical sensor system to determine the chlorophyll and anthocyanin content. A total of thirty bunches were standardized into a ripe grade and have been used as samples in this study. The results showed that each planting material produces different physical and optical characteristics. The correlation between the weight and linear dimensions of oil palm FFB was found to be 80%. This study gives very important information in helping researchers on the development of future non-contact and non-destruction oil palm FFB grading equipment and system

Oil Plam Fruit Classification Using Spectrometer.

Artificial neural network and linear discriminant analysis were used to detect the ripeness of oil palm fruit bunches. The proposed classification scheme categorized the oil palm fruits into three classes, namely, overripe, ripe, and under-ripe. Fruit color, presumed to be an important indicator of the ripeness of oil palm fruits, was measured with the aid of a FieldSpec 3 Hi-Res spectroradiometer in the wavelength range of 400 nm to 1000 nm. The results were then compared with the classifications made by a trained human grader

Use of geospatial technology for landfill site selection.

Growth of population and extensive industrial development had increases solid wastes and pollutants in many parts of the world (superscript [1-2]). Due to the economic and technologic limitations not all waste can be easily turn to other sort of materials or energy. As a result so, we still have to rely on the common solution to bury as to excrete urban wastes. Selection of an appropriate site for this process in a big city like Mashad in Iran is an important task which needs a cautious, strategic planning and investigations at various levels. With regards to this issue it is necessary to have a comprehensive volume of spatial information ofthe surrounding area and a proper analysis and spatial exploration need to be done. The methodology being implemented utilized geospatial technology for the management and visualization of spatial data while fuzzy logic is used in searching the best location for site selection. In this paper the basic elements of the fuzzy logic methodology as well as its potential in the specific problem are described. A case study for Mashad city is elaborated. The results drawn up by fuzzy logic are compared with that of the traditional Boolean approach in the decision making process

Particulate matter dispersion and haze occurrence potential studies at a local palm oil mill.

The emissions from palm oil industry through incineration and open burning are the major sources of air pollutions contribution in Malaysia. The consequence of increasing the particulate concentration, the particulate matter dissolves with vapour and grows into droplets when the humidity exceeds approximately 70% and causing opaque situation known as haze. This work focuses on the dispersion particulate matter from palm oil mill. Gaussian Plume Model from a point source, subject to various atmospheric conditions is used to calculate particulate matter concentration then display the distribution of plume dispersion using geographic information system. Atmospheric Stability, mixing height, wind direction, wind speed, natural and artificial features play an important role in dispersion process. Study on the dispersion of particulate matters and the haze potential are presented as a case study in this paper. The data obtained will be served as the purpose of modeling the transport of particulate matter for obtaining permits and prevention of significant deterioration to the environment

Characterization of rice (Oryza sativa) evapotranspiration using micro paddy lysimeter and class "A" pan in Tropical environments.

The relationship between the measured evapotranspiration (ETm) and evaporation from Class "A" pan (Ep) was determined in irrigated rice field in tropical Malaysia. Evapotranspiration was measured using Marriott tube type micro-paddy lysimeter (MPL) installed in ponded rice fields and the pan evaporation data was obtained using the class "A" pan. The maximum values of Ep and ETm from the study site were 6.0 and 7.3 mm/day, while the maximum estimated ET value was 5.0 mm/day. The measured (ETm) and calculated (Ep) were compared to determine the goodness of fit (R2). The study showed that the ET rate of rice increases consistently up to the heading stage and then is declined at the ripening stage. A good simple linear model relationship between the ETm and estimated evapotranspiration was also observed. From the model relationships, values of coefficient of determination R2 obtained are 0.69, 0.73, 0.90 and 0.50 for vegetative, panicle, reproductive and ripening periods, respectively. Mean pan-crop coefficients (KpKc) of 1.1 and 1.2 were obtained from the ratio of measured crop evapotranspiration (ETm) and measured pan evaporation (Ep). Evapotranspiration rates from the study area were in the range of values obtained for the major areas of rice production in Asia. Generally, evapotranspiration is affected by management and natural factors. These factors may influence crop growth and thereby, amount of water use. It may vary between different farms, season and days. The rate of water use is slow at young stage (evaporation) and it increases with crop growth (due to high transpiration). The rate reaches peak during some part of the growth period, then tapers off by harvest time

Preliminary study of variable rate application – organic liquid fertilizer by using SPAD chlorophyll meter on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) cultivation

Knowing actual nutrient requirements for rice plants is crucial in supplying the correct amount of fertilizer, especially nitrogen since nitrogen is one of the most key limiting nutrients in rice cultivation. A preliminary study of variable rate application (VRA) on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) planting by using organic foliar fertilizer was carried out to determine the effectiveness of precision fertilization. Foliar fertilizer was formulated based on actual nitrogen needed by rice plants using Soil-Plant Analyses Development (SPAD) chlorophyll meter measurements. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four treatments (50% fixed rate, 100% fixed rate, 150% fixed rate and VRA) and four replications for each treatment. Plant growth performances (plant heights, number of tillers, number of panicle and flower) and yield performances (grain yield, number of grain, 1000-grain weight and number of spikelets) were recorded during the study. The results showed that foliar application of VRA resulted in significantly higher yield performances; grain yield (13.65 g), number of grain (807.50), 1000-grain weight (16.79 g), and number of spikelets (7.50) compared to uniform fertilizer applications. VRA treatments had the highest SPAD readings at every planting stage during the experiment; however, a high nitrogen supply was needed during the mid-tillering stages (35 DAT) compared to other fertilizer rates. Besides, VRA application shows the most savings in term of total nitrogen supply (415 µg) compared to uniform rates application; 50% fixed rate (400 µg), 100% fixed rate (810 µg), and 150% fixed rate (1210 µg)

An agricultural investment map based on geographic information system and multi-criteria method.

The study aimed to produce an investment classification map, which shows the potential areas of investment in agriculture in Sinnar, Sudan. The spatial multi-criteria analysis was used to rank and display potential locations, while the analytical hierarchy process method was used to compute the priority weights of each criterion. The study attempted to explore the utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) to map the potential investment areas, therefore, it did not cover a comprehensive analysis of all factors that influence investment in agriculture. In addition, the analysis was limited to criteria that had spatial reference. The investment criteria for spatial analysis were defined from the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Investment, Sudan. Even with the shortcomings of the data, it was found that the results obtained were very encouraging and provided clear indicative areas for agricultural investment in Sinnar. Government agencies can use GIS to access information regarding the potential areas of investment, and minimize investment risks. On the other hand, the economic development organizations will now have the ability to benefit from the Geographic Information System (GIS) solutions by leveraging on this technology to attract and retain business from worldwide sources. Thus, the model will serve as a decision support tool for investors and decision makers at various levels

Effect of GPS tropospheric delay Neill mapping function simplification

The mathematical modeling on the mapping function models should be revised and also simplified to improve the calculation of the GPS tropospheric delay. The zenith tropospheric delay can be amplified by a coefficient factor called mapping function to form total tropospheric delay. There are many mapping functions have been established to calculate the scale factor which can affect the total tropospheric delay. Most of the modern models have separated mapping functions for the hydrostatic and the wet part. Recently, the developed tropospheric delay models use mapping functions in the form of continued fractions which is quite tedious in calculation. There are 26 mathematical operations for Neill Mapping Function (NMF) to be done before getting the mapping function scale factor. There is a need to simplify the mapping function models to allow faster calculation and also better understanding of the models. The mapping functions for NMF models for hydrostatic and wet components are given in a form of continued fraction, whereby the elevation angle is the variable. These mapping function models have been selected to be simplified, because of their ability to achieve mapping function scale factor, down to 3 degree of elevation angle

Mobile laser scanning to spatially update the city infrastructure networks.

This research discusses a more efficient geospatial monitoring technique for city infrastructure networks. It will concentrate on polyethylene city infrastructure materials, where power, water and communication networks are covered or protected by polyethylene materials. A technical comparison is conducted between current and proposed geospatial monitoring techniques in order to develop an overall performance evaluation. The mobile laser scanning technology achieved the best performance evaluation, where detailed data analysis and collection, mobile laser missions, modeling and interpretation, and system geometrical corrections for location and orientation have also been conducted. Prior to conducting the performance evaluation, the research investigates mobile laser behavior and recognition capabilities with respect to Polyethylene City infrastructure materials. After analyzing the mobile laser pulses behavior, and its correlations with the mission ground speed and exposed scanned surface, it is concluded that the mobile laser pulses response is constant for the Polyethylene City infrastructure materials. The concluded mobile laser pulses constant is utilized to develop a mathematical model for re-planning the mobile laser scanning missions to obtain the best model for monitoring the Polyethylene City infrastructure networks