On Importance of Acoustic Backscatter Corrections for Texture-based Seafloor Characterization

Seafloor segmentation and characterization based on local textural properties of acoustic backscatter has been a subject of research since 1980s due to the highly textured appearance of sonar images. The approach consists of subdivision of sonar image in a set of patches of certain size and calculation of a vector of features reflecting the patch texture. Advance of multibeam echosounders (MBES) allowed application of texture-based techniques to real geographical space, and predicted boundaries between acoustic facies became experimentally verifiable. However, acoustic return from uncalibrated MBES produces artifacts in backscatter mosaics, which in turn affects accuracy of delineation. Development of Geocoder allowed creation of more visually consistent images, and reduced the number of factors influencing mosaic creation. It is intuitively clear that more accurate backscatter mosaics lead to more reliable classification results. However, this statement has never been thoroughly verified. It has not been investigated which corrections are important for texture-based characterization and which are not essential. In this paper the authors are investigating the Stanton Banks common dataset. Raw data files from the dataset have been processed by the Geocoder at different levels of corrections. Each processing resulted in a backscatter mosaic demonstrating artifacts of different levels of severity. Mosaics then underwent textural analysis and unsupervised classification using Matlab package SonarClass. Results of seafloor characterization corresponding to varying levels of corrections were finally compared to the one generated by the best possible mosaic (the one embodying all the available corrections), providing an indicator of classification accuracy and giving guidance about which mosaic corrections are crucial for acoustic classification and which could be safely ignored

An innovative data mining procedure, using clean algorithm and factor analysis, for irregularly sampled temporal environmental data sets

Οι περιβαλλοντικές βάσεις δεδομένων συχνά αντιμετωπίζουν τα προβλήματα της άτακτης δειγματοληψίας στον χρόνο και της έλλειψης μετρήσεων για κάποιες περιόδους. Το γεγονός αυτό εμποδίζει τη χρήση των κλασικών μεθόδων ανάλυσης χρονοσειρών, οι οποίες απαιτούν σταθερό χρονικό βήμα ενώ ταυτόχρονα τα χρονικά κενά εισάγουν δυσκολίες στην χρήση των περισσοτέρων μεθόδων πολυδιάστατης σταπστικής ανάλυσης. Η παρούσα εργασία προτείνει ένα πλήρες μεθοδολογικό σχήμα ανάλυσης χρονικών περιβαλλονπκών δεδομένων με δειγματοληπτική ανομοιογένεια, στο οποίο γίνεται χρήση του αλγορίθμου CLEAN και της Παραγοντικής ανάλυσης (Factor Analysis). Ο αλγόριθμος CLEAN έχει την ικανότητα να αναπλάθει τις αρχικές χρονοσειρές της βάσης δεδομένων χρησιμοποιώντας φασματική ανάλυση και να δημιουργεί καινούργιες με σταθερό χρονικό βήμα και έλλειψη κενών. Λαμβάνει χώρα δηλαδή τόσο συμπλήρωση των κενών τ?/ς βάσης, όσο και «εξυγίανση» της δειγματοληψίας της. Η παραγοντική ανάλυση ομαδοποιεί τις μεταβλητές, ανάλογα με τον περιβαλλοντικό μηχανισμό από τον οποίο κάθε μια ελέγχεται και επιπλέον αποκαλύπτει τη χαρακτηριστική χρονική διακύμανση της κάθε ομάδας. Το συγκεκριμένο μεθοδολογικό σχήμα εφαρμόστηκε με πλήρη επιτυχία σε μια βάση υδροχημικών δεδομένων μεγάλης χρονικής περιόδου (1980-94) στον ποταμό ΣτρυμόναEnvironmental data are often irregularly collected in the time domain due to various reasons which affect the field sampling schedule. As a result, data sets with uneven time step and time periods with no measurements are frequently built. Many problems occur in such data sets when processed owing to that neither statistical nor spectral analysis methods can easily be applied to them without any specific pre-treatment. In our study it is demonstrated a unified methodological scheme especially designed to deal with incomplete and unevenly sampled temporal data sets. This method consists of the CLEAN algorithm and the Factor analysis. The proposed methodology is successfully applied to data sets that belong to two sampling sites of the Greek river Strimona

Palaeoenvironmental implications of a marine geoarchaeological survey conducted in the SW Argosaronic gulf, Greece

AbstractA marine geoarcheological survey was conducted at the southwestern end of the Argosaronic gulf in Greece, an area of archaeological importance. The survey was initiated by the discovery of a Late Bronze Age (LBA) shipwreck off Modi Islet. The survey which employed echo-sounding, sub-bottom profiling, side scan sonar systems and sediment coring extended to the area between Poros Island, Modi Islet and Argolid peninsula, aiming to evaluate the changes of the coastal zone extent in the past. The evolution of the palaeo-shoreline over the last 20ka is proposed based on the interpretation of the acquired bathymetric and seismic records, the estimation of the thickness of the marine sediments and the examination of existing datasets of the relative sea level changes in the area.The produced scenarios suggest that major changes marked the extent of the coastal zone since the Paleolithics. During the Upper Paleolithic period, the coast was larger by at least 11km2 and Poros and Modi islands were connected to the Peloponnesus. The sea level rise during the Mesolithic period formed a well-protected bay between Poros Island and Peloponessus and disconnected the Modi Islet from Poros Island. The coastal zone reached the present configuration around Late Bronze Age. The detection and mapping of scarps on the seismic profiles imply that the sea level rise presented standstills at least from the Last Glacial maximum until the onset of Holocene. However, the submerged coasts could be potential areas of archaeological interest since the examined area is habited continuously from the Paleolithic period.The acoustic data sets produced high resolution geomorphological maps at the wreck site which constitute data base for the monitoring of the site. In addition, the examination of the seafloor texture at the wreck site suggests that the seafloor characteristics were unfavorable for the preservation of the shipwreck

Matched‐pair and propensity score comparisons of outcomes of patients with clinical stage I non–small cell lung cancer treated with resection or stereotactic radiosurgery

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98996/1/cncr28100.pd

Improved predictive modelling of coralligenous formations in the Greek Seas incorporating large-scale, presence–absence, hydroacoustic data and oceanographic variables

Our understanding of the distribution of coralligenous formations, throughout but mostly on the Eastern Mediterranean seafloor, is still poor and mostly relies on presence-only opportunistic trawling and fishermen reports. Previous efforts to gather this information created relevant geodatabases that led to a first draft predictive spatial distribution of coralligenous formations in the Mediterranean Sea using habitat suitability modelling techniques. In the last few decades, the use of hydroacoustics to map the seafloor for various geotechnical and habitat mapping projects accumulated high amounts of detailed spatial information about these formations, which remains majorly unexploited. Repurposing these datasets towards mapping key habitats is a valuable stepping stone to implementing the EU Habitat Directive. In Greece, a unique volume of seafloor mapping data has been gathered by the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, Geology Department, University of Patras. It accounts for more than 33 marine geophysical expeditions during the last three decades, having collected hydroacoustic data for a total seafloor area of 3,197.68 km2. In the present work, this information has been curated, re-evaluated, and archived to create the most complete, until now, atlas of coralligenous formations in the Greek Seas and the only integrating presence–absence data. This atlas has been used to train and validate a predictive distribution model, incorporating environmental variables derived from open data repositories, whose importance has been assessed and discussed. The final output is an improved probability map of coralligenous formation occurrence in the Greek Seas, which shall be the basis for effective spatial planning, gap detection, and design of future mapping and monitoring activities on this priority habitat

Support service use and interest in support services among lung cancer patients

This study examined support service use and interest in support services among lung cancer patients (N = 165) at two comprehensive medical centers in the midwestern United States