ADP of Multispectral Scanner Data for Land Use Mapping

The need has long existed for a capability to obtain reliable information over large geographic areas in a timely manner. Such a need is present in many discipline areas. The past few years have seen a marked increase in the awareness of our needs for accurate land use planning, and the accompanying realization that our existing capability to obtain accurate and up-to-date land use information is not adequate to meet society\u27s current and future needs. Because of the very rapid changes in the condition of agricultural crops and the influence of crop yield predictions on the world market, the need for accurate, timely information is particularly acute in agricultural information systems. It is for these reasons that, as remote sensing technology had developed over the past few years, the potentials for using this technology have received wide-spread attention

Local modes, phonons, and mass transport in solid 4^4He

We propose a model to treat the local motion of atoms in solid $^{4}$He as a local mode. In this model, the solid is assumed to be described by the Self Consistent Harmonic approximation, combined with an array of local modes. We show that in the bcc phase the atomic local motion is highly directional and correlated, while in the hcp phase there is no such correlation. The correlated motion in the bcc phase leads to a strong hybridization of the local modes with the T$_{1}(110)$ phonon branch, which becomes much softer than that obtained through a Self Consistent Harmonic calculation, in agreement with experiment. In addition we predict a high energy excitation branch which is important for self-diffusion. Both the hybridization and the presence of a high energy branch are a consequence of the correlation, and appear only in the bcc phase. We suggest that the local modes can play the role in mass transport usually attributed to point defects (vacancies). Our approach offers a more overall consistent picture than obtained using vacancies as the predominant point defect. In particular, we show that our approach resolves the long standing controversy regarding the contribution of point defects to the specific heat of solid $^{4}$He.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Twist exome capture allows for lower average sequence coverage in clinical exome sequencing

Background Exome and genome sequencing are the predominant techniques in the diagnosis and research of genetic disorders. Sufficient, uniform and reproducible/consistent sequence coverage is a main determinant for the sensitivity to detect single-nucleotide (SNVs) and copy number variants (CNVs). Here we compared the ability to obtain comprehensive exome coverage for recent exome capture kits and genome sequencing techniques. Results We compared three different widely used enrichment kits (Agilent SureSelect Human All Exon V5, Agilent SureSelect Human All Exon V7 and Twist Bioscience) as well as short-read and long-read WGS. We show that the Twist exome capture significantly improves complete coverage and coverage uniformity across coding regions compared to other exome capture kits. Twist performance is comparable to that of both short- and long-read whole genome sequencing. Additionally, we show that even at a reduced average coverage of 70× there is only minimal loss in sensitivity for SNV and CNV detection. Conclusion We conclude that exome sequencing with Twist represents a significant improvement and could be performed at lower sequence coverage compared to other exome capture techniques

Agricultural and Forest Resource Surveys from Space

The efficient and effective management of the natural and cultural resources of any country requires accurate and up-to-date information concerning these resources. People involved in the management of agricultural and forest resources at the local level, as well as in various government agencies, often have particularly urgent needs for timely, reliable information concerning the extent, condition, and potential yields of these resources. Although aerial photography has been in use for many years and for a multitude of purposes, it has only been in the past decade or so that agriculturists and foresters have been seriously researching the potentials of color infrared photography, multispectral optical-mechanical scanners, radar, and other remote sensing instruments and technique. In some cases these instrument systems have been put in to operational use, and in many more situations researchers are thoroughly investigating the capabilities and limitations of the instrument systems and our ability to meaningfully interpret the data obtained from them (4, 5, 7, 10, 11). This next decade will certainly find spacecraft data being effectively utilized for many of the current and untold additional forestry and agricultural applications

Land Utilization and Water Resource Inventories over Extended Test Sites

During the past decade, many actual and potential applications for remote sensing technology have been determined. This past year has seen a tremendous amount of interest generated in the application of remote sensing to problem related to land-use. A key element in applying remote sensing to land-use studies involves accurate identification of basic and vegetative cover types. In work with automatic data processing (UP) techniques it is found that as information requirements become more specific, the analysis task becomes more complex. In dealing with many problems involving automatic mapping of vegetative cover types conditions, one finds that an analysis sequence similar to that shown in Figure 1 must be pursued. As is indicated, there are many possible categories of basic cover types, and within the vegetation category there are many potential subgroups. Once a particular species has been identified, there are many interrelated factors affecting the potential yield of that crop. Of course, the crop yield is of considerable importance to 8 large number of users , but since yield cannot be measured directly from remote distances, the factors related to yield and condition of the crop must be determined

Techniques for Computer-Aided Analysis of ERTS-1 Data, Useful in Geologic, Forest and Water Resource Surveys

Forestry, geology. and water resource applications were the focus of this study, which involved the use of computer-implemented pattern-recognition techniques to analyze ERTS-1 data. The results have proven the value of computer-aided analysis techniques, even in areas of mountainous terrain. Several analysis capabilities have been developed during these ERTS-1 investigations. A procedure to rotate, deskew, and geometrically scale the MSS data results in 1:24,000 scale printouts that can be directly overlayed on 7 1/2 minute U.S.G.S. topographic maps. Several scales of computer-enhanced false color-infrared composites of MSS data can be obtained from a digital display unit, and emphasize the tremendous detail present in the ERTS-1 data. A grid can also be superimposed on the displayed data to aid in specifying areas of interest, such as avalanche tracks or areas of burned-over timberland. Temporal overlays of six sets of data have allowed both qualitative and quantitative analysis of changes in the areal extent of the snowpack. Computer-aided analysis of the data allows one to obtain both cover-type maps and tables showing acreage of the various cover types, even for areas having irregular boundaries, such as individual watersheds. Spectral analysis of snow and clouds, water and shadow areas, and forest cover of varying overstory density have revealed several important results

Computer-Based Classification Accuracy Due to the Spatial Resolution Using Per-Point Versus Per-Field Classification Techniques

The 42.5 microradian angular IFOV of the Thematic Mapper will provide a linear spatial resolution of approximately 30 meters from the nominal altitude of 710 km. This study determined the classification accuracies achieved with MSS data of four different spatial resolutions using two different types of classifiers. The data were obtained on May 2, 1979 with the NASA NS-001 Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) over an area in northeastern South Carolina from a height above ground of 5945 meters. Data sets simulating three different spatial resolutions were computed from the original 15 meter nominal spatial resolution data. The classification accuracies achieved with data of each of the four different spatial resolutions using a per-point Gaussian maximum likelihood (GML) classifier were compared. The classification accuracies obtained using simulated 30 meter spatial resolution data with a per-point GML classifier were compared to the accuracies achieved with a per-field classification approach (i.e., the *SECHO, Supervised Extraction and Classification of Homogeneous Objects, classifier). The pure field , or field-center pixel , classification accuracies were determined using training fields and test fields. Accuracy comparisons were conducted with the Newman- Kuels\u27 Range Test on the arcsin transformed proportions. The use of successively higher spatial resolution data resulted in lower overall ( field-center pixel) classification accuracy. This trend was observed particularly in forest cover types, which are associated with relatively large levels of spectral variability across adjacent pixels. The use of the *SECHO classifier resulted in a higher overall ( field-center pixel) classification accuracy than was obtained with the per-point GML classifier using the simulated 30 meter spatial resolution data

Procedure 1 and Forestland Classification Using Landsat Data

Procedure 1 approaches to developing land cover classifications were compared with the Multicluster Blocks process on a 15,000 hectare forested area in southwestern Colorado. Results showed that P-1 (using the clustering processor in an unseeded, iterative mode) performed as well as the Multicluster Blocks approach on the rugged study area. The average accuracies of classification for the best P-1 method and the McB approach were 77.8 and 75.3 percent respectively; overall accuracies were 88.3 and 87.4 percent respectively. These results may interest the forestry community or any resource discipline which has available to it ground-checked or photointerpreted point (or plot) information. Procedure 1 can use this information directly to output a land cover classification with little analyst interaction