Review of computer vision in intelligent environment design

This paper discusses and compares the use of vision based and non-vision based technologies in developing intelligent environments. By reviewing the related projects that use vision based techniques in intelligent environment design, the achieved functions, technical issues and drawbacks of those projects are discussed and summarized, and the potential solutions for future improvement are proposed, which leads to the prospective direction of my PhD research.

U.K. HiGEM: The New U.K. High-Resolution Global Environment Model—Model Description and Basic Evaluation

This article describes the development and evaluation of the U.K.’s new High-Resolution Global Environmental Model (HiGEM), which is based on the latest climate configuration of the Met Office Unified Model, known as the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model, version 1 (HadGEM1). In HiGEM, the horizontal resolution has been increased to 0.83° latitude × 1.25° longitude for the atmosphere, and 1/3° × 1/3° globally for the ocean. Multidecadal integrations of HiGEM, and the lower-resolution HadGEM, are used to explore the impact of resolution on the fidelity of climate simulations. Generally, SST errors are reduced in HiGEM. Cold SST errors associated with the path of the North Atlantic drift improve, and warm SST errors are reduced in upwelling stratocumulus regions where the simulation of low-level cloud is better at higher resolution. The ocean model in HiGEM allows ocean eddies to be partially resolved, which dramatically improves the representation of sea surface height variability. In the Southern Ocean, most of the heat transports in HiGEM is achieved by resolved eddy motions, which replaces the parameterized eddy heat transport in the lower-resolution model. HiGEM is also able to more realistically simulate small-scale features in the wind stress curl around islands and oceanic SST fronts, which may have implications for oceanic upwelling and ocean biology. Higher resolution in both the atmosphere and the ocean allows coupling to occur on small spatial scales. In particular, the small-scale interaction recently seen in satellite imagery between the atmosphere and tropical instability waves in the tropical Pacific Ocean is realistically captured in HiGEM. Tropical instability waves play a role in improving the simulation of the mean state of the tropical Pacific, which has important implications for climate variability. In particular, all aspects of the simulation of ENSO (spatial patterns, the time scales at which ENSO occurs, and global teleconnections) are much improved in HiGEM.

Transport and distribution of lindane and simazine in a riverine environment: measurements in bed sediments and modelling

Aquatic sediments often remove hydrophobic contaminants from fresh waters. The subsequent distribution and concentration of contaminants in bed sediments determines their effect on benthic organisms and the risk of re-entry into the water and/or leaching to groundwater. This study examines the transport of simazine and lindane in aquatic bed sediments with the aim of understanding the processes that determine their depth distribution. Experiments in flume channels (water flow of 10 cm s(-1)) determined the persistence of the compounds in the absence of sediment with (a) de-ionised water and (b) a solution that had been in contact with river sediment. In further experiments with river bed sediments in light and dark conditions, measurements were made of the concentration of the compounds in the overlying water and the development of bacterial/algal biofilms and bioturbation activity. At the end of the experiments, concentrations in sediments and associated pore waters were determined in sections of the sediment at 1 mm resolution down to 5 mm and then at 10 mm resolution to 50 mm depth and these distributions analysed using a sorption-diffusion-degradation model. The fine resolution in the depth profile permitted the detection of a maximum in the concentration of the compounds in the pore water near the surface, whereas concentrations in the sediment increased to a maximum at the surface itself. Experimental distribution coefficients determined from the pore water and sediment concentrations indicated a gradient with depth that was partly explained by an increase in organic matter content and specific surface area of the solids near the interface. The modelling showed that degradation of lindane within the sediment was necessary to explain the concentration profiles, with the optimum agreement between the measured and theoretical profiles obtained with differential degradation in the oxic and anoxic zones. The compounds penetrated to a depth of 40-50 rum over a period of 42 days. (C) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry.

Reductions in insecticide use from adoption of Bt cotton in South Africa: impacts on economic performance and toxic load to the environment

The study reported presents the findings relating to commercial growing of genetically-modified Bt cotton in South Africa by a large sample of smallholder farmers over three seasons (1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01) following adoption. The analysis presents constructs and compares groupwise differences for key variables in Bt v. non-Bt technology and uses regressions to further analyse the production and profit impacts of Bt adoption. Analysis of the distribution of benefits between farmers due to the technology is also presented. In parallel with these socio-economic measures, the toxic loads being presented to the environment following the introduction of Bt cotton are monitored in terms of insecticide active ingredient (ai) and the Biocide Index. The latter adjusts ai to allow for differing persistence and toxicity of insecticides. Results show substantial and significant financial benefits to smallholder cotton growers of adopting Bt cotton over three seasons in terms of increased yields, lower insecticide spray costs and higher gross margins. This includes one particularly wet, poor growing season. In addition, those with the smaller holdings appeared to benefit proportionately more from the technology (in terms of higher gross margins) than those with larger holdings. Analysis using the Gini-coefficient suggests that the Bt technology has helped to reduce inequality amongst smallholder cotton growers in Makhathini compared to what may have been the position if they had grown conventional cotton. However, while Bt growers applied lower amounts of insecticide and had lower Biocide Indices (per ha) than growers of non-Bt cotton, some of this advantage was due to a reduction in non-bollworm insecticide. Indeed, the Biocide Index for all farmers in the population actually increased with the introduction of Bt cotton. The results indicate the complexity of such studies on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of GM varieties in the developing world.

Health Benefits of Organic Food: effects of the environment

Public concern over impacts of chemicals in plant and animal production on health and the environment has led to increased demand for organic produce, which is usually promoted and often perceived as containing fewer contaminants, more nutrients, and being positive for the environment. These benefits are difficult to quantify, and potential environmental impacts on such benefits have not been widely studied. This book addresses these key points, examining factors such as the role of certain nutrients in prevention and promotion of chronic disease, potential health benefits of bioactive compounds in plants, the prevalence of food-borne pesticides and pathogens and how both local and global environmental factors may affect any differences between organic and conventionally produced food. This book is an essential resource for researchers and students in human health and nutrition, environmental science, agriculture and organic farming. Main Contents 1. Organic farming and food systems: definitions and key characteristics. 2. The health benefits of n-3 fatty acids and their concentrations in organic and conventional animal-derived foods. 3. Environmental impacts on n-3 content of foods from ruminant animals. 4. Health benefits and selenium content of organic vs conventional foods. 5. Environmental impacts concerning the selenium content of foods. 6. Contaminants in organic and conventional food: the missing link between contaminant levels and health effects. 7. Mycotoxins in organic and conventional foods and effects of the environment. 8. Human pathogens in organic and conventional foods and effects of the environment. 9. What does consumer science tell us about organic foods? 10. The beneficial effects of dietary flavonoids: sources, bioavailability and biological functions. 11. Environmental regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis. 12. Nitrates in the human diet. 13. Impacts of environment and management on nitrate in vegetables and water. 14. Effects of the environment on the nutritional quality and safety of organically produced foods: Round-up and summary.

Interactions between earthworms and arsenic in the soil environment: a review

Chemical pollution of the environment has become a major source of concern. In particular, many studies have investigated the impact of pollution on biota in the environment. Studies on metalliferous contaminated mine spoil wastes have shown that some soil organisms have the capability to become resistant to metal/metalloid toxicity. Earthworms are known to inhabit arsenic-rich metalliferous soils and, due to their intimate contact with the soil, in both the solid and aqueous phases, are likely to accumulate contaminants present in mine spoil. Earthworms that inhabit metalliferous contaminated soils must have developed mechanisms of resistance to the toxins found in these soils. The mechanisms of resistance are not fully understood; they may involve physiological adaptation (acclimation) or be genetic. This review discusses the relationships between earthworms and arsenic-rich mine spoil wastes, looking critically at resistance and possible mechanisms of resistance, in relation to soil edaphic factors and possible trophic transfer routes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genotype x environment interaction in the uptake of Cs and Sr from soils by plants

The soil-plant transfer factors for Cs and Sr were analyzed in relationship to soil properties, crops, and varieties of crops. Two crops and two varieties of each crop: lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), cv. Salad Bowl Green and cv. Lobjoits Green Cos, and radish (Raphanus sativus L.), cv. French Breakfast 3 and cv. Scarlet Globe, were grown on five different soils amended with Cs and Sr to give concentrations of 1 mg kg(-1) and 50 mg kg(-1) of each element. Soil-plant transfer coefficients ranged between 0.12-19.10 (Cs) and 1.48-146.10 (Sr) for lettuce and 0.09-13.24 (Cs) and 2.99-93.00 (Sr) for radish. Uptake of Cs and Sr by plants depended on both plant and soil properties. There were significant (P less than or equal to 0.05) differences between soil-plant transfer factors for each plant type at the two soil concentrations. At each soil concentration about 60% of the variance in the uptake of the Cs and Sr was due to soil properties. For a given concentration of Cs or Sr in soil, the most important factor effecting soil-plant transfer of these elements was the soil properties rather than the crops or varieties of crops. Therefore, for the varieties considered here, soil-plant transfer of Cs and Sr would be best regulated through the management of soil properties. At each concentration of Cs and Sr, the main soil properties effecting the uptake of Cs and Sr by lettuce and radish were the concentrations of K and Ca, pH and CEC. Together with the concentrations of contaminants in soils, they explained about 80% of total data variance, and were the best predictors for soil-plant transfer. The different varieties of lettuce and radish gave different responses in soil-plant transfer of Cs and Sr in different soil conditions, i.e. genotype x environment interaction caused about 30% of the variability in the uptake of Cs and Sr by plants. This means that a plant variety with a low soil-plant transfer of Cs and Sr in one soil could have an increased soil-plant transfer factor in other soils. The broad implications of this work are that in contaminated agricultural lands still used for plant growing, contaminant-excluding crop varieties may not be a reliable method for decreasing contaminant transfer to foodstuffs. Modification of soil properties would be a more reliable technique. This is particularly relevant to agricultural soils in the former USSR still affected by fallout from the Chernobyl disaster.