Analysis of urban land use and land cover changes: a case of study in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Analysis of temporal and spatial variations of forest. A case of study in notheastern Armenia

The forest has a crucial ecological role and the continuous forest loss can cause colossal effects on the environment. As Armenia is one of the low forest covered countries in the world, this problem is more critical. Continuous forest disturbances mainly caused by illegal logging started from the early 1990s had a huge damage on the forest ecosystem by decreasing the forest productivity and making more areas vulnerable to erosion. Another aspect of the Armenian forest is the lack of continuous monitoring and absence of accurate estimation of the level of cuts in some years. In order to have insight about the forest and the disturbances in the long period of time we used Landsat TM/ETM + images. Google Earth Engine JavaScript API was used, which is an online tool enabling the access and analysis of a great amount of satellite imagery. To overcome the data availability problem caused by the gap in the Landsat series in 1988- 1998, extensive cloud cover in the study area and the missing scan lines, we used pixel based compositing for the temporal window of leaf on vegetation (June-late September). Subsequently, pixel based linear regression analyses were performed. Vegetation indices derived from the 10 biannual composites for the years 1984-2014 were used for trend analysis. In order to derive the disturbances only in forests, forest cover layer was aggregated and the original composites were masked. It has been found, that around 23% of forests were disturbed during the study period.

Characterization and Control Strategies of an Integrated Chemical-Biological System for the Remediation of Toxic Pollutants in Wastewater: A case of study

In a previous work, a hybrid system consisting of an advanced oxidation process (AOP) named Photo-Fenton (Ph-F) and a fixed bed biological treatment operating as a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) was started-up and optimized to treat 200 mg·L-1 of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) as a model compound. In this work, studies of reactor stability and control as well as microbial population determination by molecular biology techniques were carried out to further characterize and control the biological reactor. Results revealed that the integrated system was flexible and even able to overcome toxic shock loads. Oxygen uptake rate (OUR) in situ was shown to be a valid tool to control the SBBR operation, to detect toxic conditions to the biomass, and to assess the recovery of performance. A microbial characterization by 16S rDNA sequence analysis reveals that the biological population was varied, although about 30% of the bacteria belonged to the Wautersia genus.

Is the environmental policies procedures a barrier to development of inland navigation and port management? A case of study in Brazil

The main objective of this article is to discuss the Brazilian environmental legislation and policies towards the development of navigation and port management. The research illustrated some difficulties faced by the country and make suggestions to overcome it. The construction of the environmental legal framework began in the early 1960s and resulted in a very complex system, as a consequence of policies adopted by the country. Nowadays Brazilian environmental policies are developed in democratic and participative way, although with elevated degree of bureaucracy and lack of integration among the several governmental agencies, which makes the approval of environmental certifications demand several years for new port projects or improvements, which delays the economic development of the country. Efforts have been made to simplify the licensing process. As result of this research two flowchart for environmental licenses of ports installation are shown: The first shows the process until 2009 and the second shows the process nowadays. This become an important issue due the fact that inland navigation is one of the less pollutant modes of transportation, and although, the process of environmental certification was simplified, if compare with 2009, it is still complex and time-consuming, delaying the development of the infrastructure. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

What do our schoolchildren know about marine environments?. Using seagrasses as a case of study

Trabajo realizado por: Ramírez, M. C., Ariza, A., Azcárate, P., Brun, F. G.

The application of biomechanics to penalty corner drag-flick training: a case of Study

The penalty corner is one of the most important game situations in field hockey with one third of all goals resulting from this tactical situation. The aim of this study was to develop and apply a training method, based on previous studies, to improve the drag- flick skill on a young top-class field hockey player. A young top-class player exercised three times per week using specific drills over a four week period. A VICON optoelectronic system (Oxford Metrics, Oxford, UK) was employed to capture twenty drag-flicks, with six cameras sampling at 250 Hz, prior and after the training period. In order to analyze pre- and post-test differences a dependent t-test was carried out. Angular velocities and the kinematic sequence were similar to previous studies. The player improved (albeit not significantly) the angular velocity of the stick. The player increased front foot to the ball at T1 (p < 0.01) and the drag-flick distances. The range of motion from the front leg decreased from T1 to T6 after the training period (p < 0.01). The specific training sessions conducted with the player improved some features of this particular skill. This article shows how technical knowledge can help with the design of training programs and whether some drills are more effective than others.

Aprendizaje por contagio. Case of study: campus cde tecnificación proyectual 100x10

Se presenta al congreso de innovación el análisis crítico de la experiencia registrada en directo en el mes de julio en el primer campus de tecnificación de 240 horas en el centro de alto rendimiento 100x10 creado ex profeso para este acontecimiento en el que un colectivo diverso de docentes, alumnos, profesionales, artistas y otros implicados potenciarán 100 habilidades básicas de los discentes a partir de los talentos y rarezas naturales individuales mediante estrategias de extrañamiento desarrolladas en un entorno natural susceptible de ser lugarizado

Land Cover Mapping by an Optimized Object-Oriented Approach. Case of Study Mediterranean Landscapes

Remote sensing information from spaceborne and airborne platforms continues to provide valuable data for different environmental monitoring applications. In this sense, high spatial resolution im-agery is an important source of information for land cover mapping. For the processing of high spa-tial resolution images, the object-based methodology is one of the most commonly used strategies. However, conventional pixel-based methods, which only use spectral information for land cover classification, are inadequate for classifying this type of images. This research presents a method-ology to characterise Mediterranean land covers in high resolution aerial images by means of an object-oriented approach. It uses a self-calibrating multi-band region growing approach optimised by pre-processing the image with a bilateral filtering. The obtained results show promise in terms of both segmentation quality and computational efficiency.

Genetic considerations on the introduction of farmed fish in marine protected areas: The case of study of white seabream restocking in the Gulf of Castellammare (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

Human exploitation has drastically reduced the abundance and distribution of several marine fish and invertebrate populations through overfishing and habitat destruction. Restocking can potentially mitigate these impacts and help to reconstitute depleted stocks but genetic repercussions must be considered. In the present study, the degree of genetic similarity between white seabream (Diplodus sargus Linnaeus 1758) individuals reared for restocking purposes and the receiving population in the Gulf of Castellammare fishery reserve (Sicily, Italy) was assessed using microsatellites. We also inferred the spatial pattern of the genetic structure of D. sargus and connectivity along Sicilian coasts. The farmed population showed significant heterozygosity deficiency in 6 loci and an important reduction in the number of alleles, which could indicate an incipient inbreeding. Both the farmed population and the target one for restocking (Castellammare fishery reserve), showed high and significant values of genetic differentiation due to different allele frequencies, number of privative alleles and total number of alleles. These findings indicate a low degree of genetic similarity between both populations, therefore this restocking initiative is not advisable. The genetic connectivity pattern, highly consistent with oceanographic currents, identified two distinct metapopulations of white seabream around Sicily. Thus it is recommended to utilize broods from the same metapopulation for restocking purposes to provide a better genetic match to the wild populations.

A Spatial Analysis to Permanent Income as Deterrent of Homicides: the case of Medellin City

This paper studies the relationship between permanent income and homicides, estimating an income-crime elasticity. We assume that this elasticity varies across geographical areas. We estimate different specifications of Spatial Panel Models using information of urban areas in Medellin (Colombia), areas known as communes. Spatial Models consider the importance of location and the type of neighbors of each commune. We simulate an intervention over permanent income in order to estimate the income elasticity for each commune and the average elasticity of income-crime on the city. We provide evidence about spatial dependence between the homicides per commune and their neighbors, and about a relationship between homicides and neighbor’s income. In our case of study, the average estimated impact of 1% increase in permanent income in a specific commune produces a decrease in the homicide rate on average in 0.39%. Finally, permanent income plays a crime deterrent role, but also this effect of income on crime varies across the city, showing that some areas are strategically located to this kind of intervention.

Matched case-control study evaluating the frequency of the main agents associated with neonatal diarrhea in piglets

A case-control study was carried out in litters of 1 to 7-day-old piglets to identify the main infectious agents involved with neonatal diarrhea in pigs. Fecal samples (n=276) from piglets were collected on pig farms in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, from May to September 2007. Litters with diarrhea were considered cases (n=129) and normal litters (n=147) controls. The samples were examined by latex agglutination test, PAGE, conventional isolating techniques, ELISA, PCR, and microscopic methods in order to detect rotavirus, bacterial pathogens (Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens type A and C, and Clostridium difficile), and parasites (Coccidian and Cryptosporidium spp.). Outbreaks of diarrhea were not observed during sampling. At least one agent was detected in fecal samples on 25 out of 28 farms (89.3%) and in 16 farms (57.1%) more than one agent was found. The main agents diagnosed were Coccidia (42.86%) and rotavirus (39.29%). The main agents identified in litters with diarrhea were Clostridium difficile (10.6%), Clostridium perfringens type A (8.8%) and rotavirus (7.5%); in control litters, Clostridium difficile (16.6%) and Coccidian (8.5%). Beta hemolytic Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens type C were not detected. When compared with controls, no agent was significantly associated with diarrhea in case litters. These findings stress the need for caution in the interpretation of laboratorial diagnosis of mild diarrhea in neonatal pigs, as the sole detection of an agent does not necessarily indicate that it is the cause of the problem.

Incidence and risk factors of aplastic anemia in Latin American countries: the LATIN case-control study

Background Associations between aplastic anemia and numerous drugs, pesticides and chemicals have been reported. However, at least 50% of the etiology of aplastic anemia remains unexplained. Design and Methods This was a case-control, multicenter, multinational study, designed to identify risk factors for agranulocytosis and aplastic anemia. The cases were patients with diagnosis of aplastic anemia confirmed through biopsy or bone marrow aspiration, selected through an active search of clinical laboratories, hematology clinics and medical records. The controls did not have either aplastic anemia or chronic diseases. A total of 224 patients with aplastic anemia were included in the study, each case was paired with four controls, according to sex, age group, and hospital where the case was first seen. Information was collected on demographic data, medical history, laboratory tests, medications, and other potential risk factors prior to diagnosis. Results The incidence of aplastic anemia was 1.6 cases per million per year. Higher rates of benzene exposure (>= 30 exposures per year) were associated with a greater risk of aplastic anemia (odds ratio, OR: 4.2; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.82-9.82). Individuals exposed to chloramphenicol in the previous year had an adjusted OR for aplastic anemia of 8.7 (CI: 0.87-87.93) and those exposed to azithromycin had an adjusted OR of 11.02 (CI 1.14-108.02). Conclusions The incidence of aplastic anemia in Latin America countries is low. Although the research study centers had a high coverage of health services, the underreporting of cases of aplastic anemia in selected regions can be discussed. Frequent exposure to benzene-based products increases the risk for aplastic anemia. Few associations with specific drugs were found, and it is likely that some of these were due to chance alone.

Efficiency and feasibility of product disassembly: A case-based study

The productivity associated with commonly available disassembly methods today seldomly makes disassembly the preferred end-of-life solution for massive take back product streams. Systematic reuse of parts or components, or recycling of pure material fractions are often not achievable in an economically sustainable way. In this paper a case-based review of current disassembly practices is used to analyse the factors influencing disassembly feasibility. Data mining techniques were used to identify major factors influencing the profitability of disassembly operations. Case characteristics such as involvement of the product manufacturer in the end-of-life treatment and continuous ownership are some of the important dimensions. Economic models demonstrate that the efficiency of disassembly operations should be increased an order of magnitude to assure the competitiveness of ecologically preferred, disassembly oriented end-of-life scenarios for large waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) streams. Technological means available to increase the productivity of the disassembly operations are summarized. Automated disassembly techniques can contribute to the robustness of the process, but do not allow to overcome the efficiency gap if not combined with appropriate product design measures. Innovative, reversible joints, collectively activated by external trigger signals, form a promising approach to low cost, mass disassembly in this context. A short overview of the state-of-the-art in the development of such self-disassembling joints is included. (c) 2008 CIRP.

A case-control study of employment status and mortality in a cohort of Australian youth

Recent studies have demonstrated a link in young populations between unemployment and ill health. The purpose of this study is to correlate mortality with employment status in two cohorts of young Australian males, aged 17-25 years, from 1984 to 1988. Two youth cohorts consisting of an initially unemployed sample (n = 1424 males) and a population sample (n = 4573 males), were surveyed annually throughout the study period. Those lost to follow-up during the survey period were matched with death registries across Australia. Employment status was determined from weekly diaries and death certificates and was designated as: employed or student; unemployed; not in the work force (excluding students). Conditional logistic regression, using age- and cohort- matched cases (deaths) and controls (alive), was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of dying with regard to employment status, taking into account potential confounders such as ethnicity, aboriginality, educational attainment, pre-existing health problems, socio-economic status of parents, and other factors. Twenty three male survey respondents were positively matched to death registry records. Compared to those employed or students (referent group), significantly elevated ORs were found to be associated with neither being in the workforce nor a student for all cause, external cause, and external cause mortality other than suicide. Odds ratios were adjusted for age, survey cohort, ethnicity, pre-existing physical and mental health status, education level, and socio-economic status of parent(s). A statistically significant increasing linear trend in odds ratios of male mortality for most cause groups was found across the employment categories, from those employed or student (lowest ORs), through those unemployed; to those not in the workforce (highest ORs). Suicide was higher, but not statistically significantly, in those unemployed or not in the workforce. Suicide also was associated, though not significantly, with the respondent not living with their parents when they were 14 years of age. No association was found between mortality and past unemployment experience, as measured by length of time spent unemployed, or the number of spells of unemployment experienced during the survey. The results of this study underscore the elevated risk to survival in young males as a consequence of being neither employed nor a student. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.