Negotiating on location, timing, duration, and participant in agent-mediated joint activity-travel scheduling

Agent-based simulation has become an important modeling approach in activity-travel analysis. Social activities account for a large amount of travel and have an important effect on activity-travel scheduling. Participants in joint activities usually have various options regarding location, participants, and timing and take different approaches to make their decisions. In this context, joint activity participation requires negotiation among agents involved, so that conflicts among the agents can be addressed. Existing mechanisms do not fully provide a solution when utility functions of agents are nonlinear and non-monotonic. Considering activity-travel scheduling in time and space as an application, we propose a novel negotiation approach, which takes into account these properties, such as continuous and discrete issues, and nonlinear and non-monotonic utility functions, by defining a concession strategy and a search mechanism. The results of experiments show that agents having these properties can negotiate efficiently. Furthermore, the negotiation procedure affects individuals’ choices of location, timing, duration, and participants.     

Land use/land cover dynamics in Umngot watershed of Meghalaya using geospatial tools

Meghalaya is a landlocked state where the progress of industrialization is very slow. Majority of the population (rural) depends on agriculture. Agriculture in the state is carried on in primitive ways with Jhumming prevailing in many parts. This practice is considered destructive as vast forest areas are cleared and burnt. Such areas are used for cultivation and left out. After a gap of few years (2–3 years as of now and 15–20 years in past) the area is revisited for cultivation without allowing to rejuvenate. The present work provides a status and trend of Land use land cover dynamics in parts (at watershed level) of Meghalaya. The geospatial tools have been used to assess (a) the changes in land use land cover since 1970s to 2005; (b) patch dynamics for understanding the degree of fragmentation; (c) changes along the terrain topography. Umngot watershed of Meghalaya is taken as experimental area, which is a representative of mid-altitudinal watershed particularly in the Jaintia hills district of Meghalaya.     

Changes in timber haul emissions in the context of shifting forest management and infrastructure

Background  

Although significant amounts of carbon may be stored in harvested wood products, the extraction of that carbon from the forest generally entails combustion of fossil fuels. The transport of timber from the forest to primary milling facilities may in particular create emissions that reduce the net sequestration value of product carbon storage. However, attempts to quantify the effects of transport on the net effects of forest management typically use relatively sparse survey data to determine transportation emission factors. We developed an approach for systematically determining transport emissions using: 1) -remotely sensed maps to estimate the spatial distribution of harvests, and 2) - industry data to determine landscape-level harvest volumes as well as the location and processing totals of individual mills. These data support spatial network analysis that can produce estimates of fossil carbon released in timber transport.     

Mapping of aggregated floodplain plant communities using image fusion of CASI and LiDAR data

Combined optical and laser altimeter data offer the potential to map and monitor plant communities based on their spectral and structural characteristics. A problem unresolved is, however, that narrowly defined plant communities, i.e. plant communities at a low hierarchical level of classification in the Braun-Blanquet system, often cannot be linked directly to remote sensing data for vegetation mapping. We studied whether and how a floristic dataset can be aggregated into a few major discrete, mappable classes without substantial loss of ecological meaning. Multi-source airborne data (CASI and LiDAR) and floristic field data were collected for a floodplain along the river Waal in the Netherlands. Mapping results based on floristic similarity alone did not achieve highest levels of accuracy. Ordination of floristic data showed that terrain elevation and soil moisture were the main underlying environmental drivers shaping the floodplain vegetation, but grouping of plant communities based on their position in the ordination space is not always obvious. Combined ordination-based grouping with floristic similarity clustering led to syntaxonomically relevant aggregated plant assemblages and yielded highest mapping accuracies.     

Generation and validation of DEM using SAR interferometry and differential GPS supported by multispectral optical data

Digital elevation model (DEM) and the derived terrain parameters e.g. contour, slope, aspect, drainage pattern, etc are required for natural resources management, infrastructure planning and disaster management. The present paper aims at generating DEM from ERS tandem pair using interferometric technique supported by differential GPS measurements (DGPS) and multispectral optical data. Validation of DEM has been carried out by DGPS measurements. Ground Control Points (GCP) established by DGPS measurements have been used to georeference the IRS-1D optical data that has finally been co-registered with SAR amplitude image. Optical data, co-registered with ERS - I SAR data has helped in locating the GCP’s and check points, precisely, for refinement of DEM and its validation.     

Using spectral information from the NIR water absorption features for the retrieval of canopy water content

Canopy water content (CWC) is important for mapping and monitoring the condition of the terrestrial ecosystem. Spectral information related to the water absorption features at 970 nm and 1200 nm offers possibilities for deriving information on CWC. In this study, we compare the use of derivative spectra, spectral indices and continuum removal techniques for these regions. Hyperspectral reflectance data representing a range of canopies were simulated using the combined PROSPECT + SAILH model. Best results in estimating CWC were obtained by using spectral derivatives at the slopes of the 970 nm and 1200 nm water absorption features. Real data from two different test sites were analysed. Spectral information at both test sites was obtained with an ASD FieldSpec spectrometer, whereas at the second site HyMap airborne imaging spectrometer data were also acquired. Best results were obtained for the derivative spectra. In order to avoid the potential influence of atmospheric water vapour absorption bands the derivative of the reflectance on the right slope of the canopy water absorption feature at 970 nm can best be used for estimating CWC.     

Stationary spatially modulated fourier transform spectro-radiometer

Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing - A stationary, compact, spatially modulated Fourier Transform spectro-radiometer based on triangular, common path Sagnac interferometer has been...     

Conjoint modeling of residential group preferences: A comparison of the internal validity of hierarchical information integration approaches

 In this paper, two approaches for measuring residential group preferences, based on the method of Hierarchical Information Integration (HII), are compared. In particular, the hypothesis that group-based preference models estimated from integrated HII experiments better predict group preferences than part individual-based group models estimated from classical HII experiments is tested. To that effect, the models' ability to predict group preferences for new residential alternatives is compared in a study of residential preferences of co-ops. Results indicate that integrated HII group experiments indeed result in better predictions of residential preferences.     

Geostatistical incorporation of spatial coordinates into supervised classification of hyperspectral data

 This paper presents a methodology to incorporate both hyperspectral properties and spatial coordinates of pixels in maximum likelihood classification. Indicator kriging of ground data is used to estimate, for each pixel, the prior probabilities of occurrence of classes which are then combined with spectral-based probabilities within a Bayesian framework. In the case study (mapping of in-stream habitats), accounting for spatial coordinates increases the overall producer's accuracy from 85.8% to 93.8%, while the Kappa statistic rises from 0.74 to 0.88. Best results are obtained using only indicator kriging-based probabilities, with a stunning overall accuracy of 97.2%. Significant improvements are observed for environmentally important units, such as pools (Kappa: 0.17 to 0.74) and eddy drop zones (Kappa: 0.65 to 0.87). The lack of benefit of using hyperspectral information in the present study can be explained by the dense network of ground observations and the high spatial continuity of field classification which might be spurious. Received: 12 April 2001 / Accepted: 7 September 2001     

Reducing the draconitic errors in GNSS geodetic products

Systematic errors at harmonics of the GPS draconitic year have been found in diverse GPS-derived geodetic products like the geocenter $Z$ -component, station coordinates, $Y$ -pole rate and orbits (i.e. orbit overlaps). The GPS draconitic year is the repeat period of the GPS constellation w.r.t. the Sun which is about 351 days. Different error sources have been proposed which could generate these spurious signals at the draconitic harmonics. In this study, we focus on one of these error sources, namely the radiation pressure orbit modeling deficiencies. For this purpose, three GPS+GLONASS solutions of 8 years (2004–2011) were computed which differ only in the solar radiation pressure (SRP) and satellite attitude models. The models employed in the solutions are: (1) the CODE (5-parameter) radiation pressure model widely used within the International GNSS Service community, (2) the adjustable box-wing model for SRP impacting GPS (and GLONASS) satellites, and (3) the adjustable box-wing model upgraded to use non-nominal yaw attitude, specially for satellites in eclipse seasons. When comparing the first solution with the third one we achieved the following in the GNSS geodetic products. Orbits: the draconitic errors in the orbit overlaps are reduced for the GPS satellites in all the harmonics on average 46, 38 and 57 % for the radial, along-track and cross-track components, while for GLONASS satellites they are mainly reduced in the cross-track component by 39 %. Geocenter $Z$ -component: all the odd draconitic harmonics found when the CODE model is used show a very important reduction (almost disappearing with a 92 % average reduction) with the new radiation pressure models. Earth orientation parameters: the draconitic errors are reduced for the $X$ -pole rate and especially for the $Y$ -pole rate by 24 and 50 % respectively. Station coordinates: all the draconitic harmonics (except the 2nd harmonic in the North component) are reduced in the North, East and Height components, with average reductions of 41, 39 and 35 % respectively. This shows, that part of the draconitic errors currently found in GNSS geodetic products are definitely induced by the CODE radiation pressure orbit modeling deficiencies.