A geospatial approach to assessing land change in the built-up landscape of Wa Municipality of Ghana

ABSTRACT

Urban landscapes are changing in response to changes in socio-economic conditions. Land change scientists seek to understand these land dynamics in the coupled human-environment system of urban landscapes. This study assessed land change in the built-up area of Wa Municipality between 1986 and 2016 using Landsat images. We used the Support Vector Machine algorithm for classifying the images. We recorded image classification accuracies of 97%, 95%, 92% and 96% for the 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 classified images, respectively. Our study finds that over the 1986–2016 period, agricultural land and bare land transitioned to build-up land by 9.23% and 3.79%, respectively, as compared to 2.79% for vegetation and 0.05% for water. Our in-municipal level analysis thus shows that urban landscapes could expand more sustainably by targeting other dominant land categories instead of the vegetation cover. The findings in this paper could serve as a spatial model for planning and reducing the unintended socio-ecological impacts of expansion in the built-up area.     

Texture-based identification of urban slums in Hyderabad, India using remote sensing data

This paper outlines a methodology to identify informal settlements out of high resolution satellite imagery using the concept of lacunarity. Principal component analysis and line detection algorithms were applied alternatively to obtain a high resolution binary representation of the city of Hyderabad, India and used to calculate lacunarity values over a 60 × 60 m grid. A number of ground truthing areas were used to classify the resulting datasets and to identify lacunarity ranges which are typical for settlement types that combine high density housing and small dwelling size - features characteristic for urban slums in India. It was discovered that the line detection algorithm is advantageous over principal component analysis in providing suitable binary datasets for lacunarity analysis as it is less sensitive to spectral variability within mosaicked imagery. The resulting slum location map constitutes an efficient tool in identifying particularly overcrowded areas of the city and can be used as a reliable source in vulnerability and resilience assessments at a later stage. The proposed methodology allows for rapid analysis and comparison of multi-temporal data and can be applied on many developing urban agglomerations around the world.     

基于局部运动向量时空统计的极光事件检测

极光动态过程的分析与理解对极光发生机制研究具有重要意义。本文提出了一种基于动态过程的极光事件检测方法。首先利用多尺度流体光流的方法提取出极光的局部运动场信息,然后基于局部运动场时空统计特性表征极光视频序列,最后实现对特殊极光事件的检测。实验结果表明,本文方法能够高效、准确地检索到特殊极光事件,并且检测结果不依赖于目标事件的选择。这一成果为开展基于大量连续观测的极光视频对极光动态过程进行统计分析的研究奠定了基础。     

Cosmogenic production as a background in searching for rare physics processes

We revisit calculations of the cosmogenic production rates for several long-lived isotopes that are potential sources of background in searching for rare physics processes such as the detection of dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay. Using updated cosmic-ray neutron flux measurements, we use TALYS 1.0 to investigate the cosmogenic activation of stable isotopes of several detector targets and find that the cosmogenic isotopes produced inside the target materials and cryostat can result in large backgrounds for dark matter searches and neutrinoless double-beta decay. We use previously published low-background HPGe data to constrain the production of ³H on the surface and the upper limit is consistent with our calculation. We note that cosmogenic production of several isotopes in various targets can generate potential backgrounds for dark matter detection and neutrinoless double-beta decay with a massive detector, thus great care should be taken to limit and/or deal with the cosmogenic activation of the targets.     

An economical optical cloud/fog detector

A new, relatively low cost instrument has been developed to detect the presence of fog or cloud for fog/cloud sampling applications. The instrument uses attenuation of an 880 nm light emitting diode signal to detect cloud/fog drops in the optical path between a sending and receiving arm. Laboratory and field testing under a variety of conditions and fog types were carried out to determine the ability of the optical fog detector (OFD) to accurately detect cloud/fog presence as well as to provide some measure of liquid water content. Results indicated that the OFD provided a reliable estimate of fog presence as well as a reasonable estimate of liquid water content (LWC) under several different conditions. The OFD does appear to have an interference from rain, resulting in an overestimation of LWC during rainfall. This may occasionally give a false positive indication of fog presence.     

LINET—An international lightning detection network in Europe

During the past years a VLF/LF lightning detection network (LINET) was developed at the University of Munich, which provides continuous data for both research and operational purposes. In particular, the network introduces five new features: a) total lightning capability: both cloud-to-ground strokes (CG) and cloud lightning (IC) are measured; b) low-amplitude reporting: weak lightning events from discharge channel with currents well below 5 kA are detected within the central part of the network, whereby IC events dominate; c) new 3D-discrimination: a time-of-arrival method is utilized to separate CG from IC with good reliability, provided that the sensor baseline does not exceed ~ 250 km; d) IC emission height: for each cloud event a height is determined which is thought to reflect the central region of the involved channel; and e) optimised location accuracy: due to precision and combined action of all influential network components, complemented by site-error corrections, the position accuracy of strokes reaches an average value as small as ~ 150 m, whereby false locations (‘outliers’) rarely occur. During international co-operations LINET has been deployed in four continents: Europe (initially Germany), South America (area of Bauru, Brazil), Australia (around Darwin), and Central Africa (Benin). Since the features quoted above could be verified in the tests, a 65-sensor network was established in Europe and started on May 1, 2006, in co-operation with the service company nowcast. LINET covers a wide area approximately from longitude − 10° to 25° to latitude 35° to 66°; it is available for scientific projects and officially utilized by the German Weather Service for operational purposes. Meanwhile, the network was extended by deployment of additional sites so that it comprises about 90 sensors in 17 countries.     

公路水准测量的误差来源与控制

水准测量是确定公路工程地面点高程的方法之一,是高程测量中精度较高常用方法。实施过程中,需要几个人合作才能完成。误差允许范围内的精度由于仪器和人为的影响而不容易控制,而且易出现隐蔽性错误。如果不能及早发现基础资料是错误的,水准点高程不正确,直接影响路线纵断面设计和施工。本文就水准测量的工作原理、误差来源,误差控制等几方面结合工程实例进行分析。     

平阴县孝直镇关于大村制新型农村社区建设的探索和实践

平阴县孝直镇属偏远的农业大镇,为解决村庄规模偏小、布局分散和＂空心村＂等问题,充分利用国家城乡建设用地增减挂钩政策,以土地综合整治为平台,积极推进大村制建设,合村并点建设新型社区,从根本上改变农村面貌,加速城镇化和城乡一体化进程。     

探地雷达和高密度电阻率法在围垦堤坝探测中的应用

基于抛石层与淤泥质黏土层存在较大电性差异,采用探地雷达和高密度电阻率综合法对某围垦堤坝抛石层进行探测,获得了抛石层的范围和 厚度。经钻探验证,探测结果与实际较吻合,表明利用探地雷达和高密度电阻率法可有效探测围垦堤坝抛石分布及厚度。     

一次人工触发闪电事件的定位误差分析

利用一次包含8次回击过程的人工触发闪电事件的近距离光电观测数据,分析了广东省气象闪电定位系统对其回击过程的定位结果。结果表明,回击过程探测效率约为75%(6/8),回击平均定位误差约为3768m。为了分析定位误差来源,通过对比分析的方法,逐次引入各探测子站原始记录重新进行定位计算,发现剔除误差较大的探测子站后,平均定位误差为2192m,比原来降低42%。