Forest mapping:a comparison between hyperspectral and multispectral images and technologies

Mapping forests is an important process in managing natural resources.At present,due to spectral resolution limitations,multispectral images do not give a complete separation between different forest species.In contrast,advances in remote sensing technologies have provided hyperspectral tools and images as a solution for the determination of species.In this study,spectral signatures for stone pine（Pinus pinea L.） forests were collected using an advanced spectroradiometer ＂ASD FieldSpec 4 Hi-Res＂ with an accuracy of 1 nm.These spectral signatures are used to compare between different multispectral and hyperspectral satellite images.The comparison is based on processing satellite images： hyperspectral Hyperion,hyperspectral CHRIS-Proba,Advanced Land Imager（ALI）,and Landsat 8.Enhancement and classification methods for hyperspectral and multispectral images are investigated and analyzed.In addition,a well-known hyperspectral image classification algorithm,spectral angle mapper（SAM）,has been improved to perform the classification process efficiently based on collected spectral signatures.The results show that the modified SAM is 9% more accurate than the conventional SAM.In addition,experiments indicate that the CHRIS-Proba image is more accurate than Landsat 8（overall accuracy 82%,precision 93%,and Kappa coefficient 0.43 compared to 60,67%,and 0.035,respectively）.Similarly,Hyperion is better than ALI in mapping stone pine（overall accuracy 92%,precision 97%,and Kappa coefficient 0.74 compared to 52,56%,and -0.032,respectively）.

Multiresidue Method for Determination of 67 Pesticides in Water Samples Using Solid-Phase Extraction with Centrifugation and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

A new multi-residue method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) with centrifugation was developed for determination and quantitation of 67 pesticides in water samples. Two SPE cartridges were tested: Chromabond C18 and Oasis HLB. Parameters that influence the extraction efficiency such as the eluent volume, the sample loading volume, the addition of organic solvent to water sample, sorbent drying and elute concentration were optimized. The innovation of this work was the examination of the use of a centrifugation technique in both the drying and elution steps. When combined with centrifugation, the volume of the elution solvent was reduced to 2 mL and the time for sorbent drying decreased also to 10 min under vacuum. Under the optimized conditions, this method showed good recoveries higher than 65% - 68% for the 67 analyzed pesticides using the C18 and HLB cartridges with relative standard deviations lower than 9.7% - 12.3%. Limits of quantification were between 2 and 20 ng.L–1. The simplicity of the described method, use of less of organic solvent, short procedure time, and good recoveries demonstrate the advantages of this environmentally friendly approach for routine analysis of numerous samples.

Optimization and Comparisons for Separation, Detection and Quantification of 12 Aminoglycosides Using 2 Chromatographic Conditions by LC-MS/MS

Aminoglycosides are a family of antibiotics with important applications in veterinary medicine. Their ionic character, the similarity structures and the high polarity due to the presence of two or more amino and hydroxyl groups cause a difficulty in separation and make these compounds poorly retained on the reversed phase column. An analytical method for the separation and detection of 12 aminoglycosides has been optimized using two kinds of chromatographic conditions (HILIC, Ion pairing). In Hydrophilic Interaction, ZIC_HILIC column was used, by which the following parameters for the mobile phase were evaluated: concentration of ammonium acetate buffer, percentage of formic acid and effect of acid type. The maximum and adequate concentration of ammonium acetate for the majority of analytes was set to 30 mM. The percentage 0.1% of formic acid increases the response for the majority of analytes. On the other side, the use of 0.1% of trifluoroacetic acid improves the response when compared with the response obtained with 0.1% of formic acid except for Spectinomycin Dihydrostreptomycin and Streptomycin. For ion pairing chromatography, the concentration of pentafluoropropionic acid was tested and the greatest value appeared to be 9.2 mM. Therefore, the comparison between the two separation methods shows that the response area of the majority of analytes tested increases when using the ion pair mode. Also, the high value of S/N and the lower detection limit (5 - 15 μg m·L﹣1 for most aminoglycosides studied make the ion pairing method more preferable than HILIC interaction.

Time Series Analysis and Forecasting of the Air Quality Index of Atmospheric Air Pollutants in Zahleh, Lebanon

During the last decades, air pollution has become a serious environmental hazard. Its impact on public health and safety, as well as on the ecosystem, has been dramatic. Forecasting the levels of air pollution to maintain the climatic conditions and environmental protection becomes crucial for government authorities to develop strategies for the prevention of pollution. This study aims to evaluate the atmospheric air pollution of the city of Zahleh located in the geographic zone of Bekaa. The study aims to determine a relationship between variations in ambient particulate concentrations during a short time. The data was collected from June 2017 to June 2018. In order to predict the Air Quality Index (AQI), Naïve, Exponential Smoothing, TBATS (a forecasting method to model time series data), and Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models were implemented. The performance of these models for predicting air quality is measured using the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and the Relative Error (RE). SARIMA model is the most accurate in prediction of AQI (RMSE = 38.04, MAE = 22.52 and RE = 0.16). The results reveal that SARIMA can be applied to cities like Zahleh to assess the level of air pollution and to prevent harmful impacts on health. Furthermore, the authorities responsible for controlling the air quality may use this model to measure the level of air pollution in the nearest future and establish a mechanism to identify the high peaks of air pollution.

Natural Antimicrobial Peptides: Pleiotropic Molecules in Host Defense

Natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small cationic molecules that display antimicrobial activity against a wide range of bacteria, fungi and viruses. AMPs are multifunctional molecules that have an essential activity in infection and inflammation: they play an important role in the innate immune response, not only as antimicrobial agents, but also as immunomodulating molecules and as an important link between the innate and adaptive immune response. In this article, we will discuss the antimicrobial activity, together with the novel properties of some of these molecules as immune modulators on the innate and adaptive immune response.

Protein Bodies in Cotyledon Cells Exhibit Differential Patterns of Legumin-Like Proteins Mobilization during Seedling Germinating States

Olive (Olea europaea L.) tree is one of the most extensive and important agricultural crop in Mediterranean countries due to its beneficial health and nutritional properties and its high economic value. Currently, olive tree constitutes the sixth most important cultivated plant in the world, spreading from the Mediterranean region of origin to new production areas such as Australia, South and North America and South Africa. However, the mobilization processes of storage materials i.e. reserve proteins during seed germination, which are largely involved in essential physiological process including plant growth and development, remain poorly understood. Morphometric and immunohistochemistry analyses of protein bodies contained in olive seed storage tissues, cotyledon and endosperm, were performed by using different microscopy techniques, including light (bright-field and fluorescence) microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, we used legumin-like proteins (11S-type globulins) as a molecular marker to study the mobilization of reserve proteins from PBs of cotyledons at germinating seedling stages by using immunofluorescence assays. Results demonstrated that cotyledon and endosperm are characterized by distinct PBs populations containing legumin-like proteins, distinctly discriminated by the number of PBs per cell and tissue, size, immunofluorescence and histochemical staining. These features reflect differential PBs biogenesis during development and maturation processes in olive seed tissues endosperm and cotyledon, in relation to proteins (polypeptides) final composition, SSPs processing and/or packaging during seed maturation. Three different mobilization patterns of legumin-like proteins were identified for the first time in cotyledon PBs during seedling germinating process. Mature proteins composition and/or processing, cell types and enzyme composition and/or differential activation have been discussed as key features determining how proteins mobilize from PBs for further degradation in the cotyledon.

An innovative intelligent system based on remote sensing and mathematical models for improving crop yield estimation

There are many crop yield estimation techniques which are used in countries around the world,but the most effective is the one based on remote sensing data and technologies.However,remote sensing data which are needed to estimate crop yield is incomplete most of the time due to many obstacles such as climate conditions(percentage of cloud cover),and low temporal resolution.These problems reduce the effectiveness of the known crop yield estimation techniques and render them obsolete.There was many attempts to solve these problems by using high temporal resolution and low spatial resolution images.However,this type of images are suitable for very large homogeneous crop fields.To compensate for the lack of high spatial resolution satellite images,a new mathematical model is created.Based on the new mathematical model an intelligent system is implemented that includes the use of energy balance equation to improve the crop yield estimation.To verify the results of the intelligent system,several farmers are interviewed and information about their crops yield is collected.The comparison between the estimated crop yield and the actual production in different fields proves the high accuracy of the intelligent system.

Measurement of Anomalous Radon Gas Emanation Across the Yammouneh Fault in Southern Lebanon: A Possible Approach to Earthquake Prediction

The eastern Mediterranean region is an active tectonic setting that includes the Dead Sea Transform Fault, which forms the boundary between the African and the Arabian Plates and crosses Lebanon from south to north, striking in a restraining bend around 25–30°NE. The major structural feature in Lebanon is the Yammouneh Fault, which reaches to Syria and southern Turkey in a north–south direction. Measurements of radon gas concentration and exhalation rates in two locations along the southern segment of the Yammouneh Fault in south Lebanon were performed. Two profiles in the El-Khiam basin and Blat pull-apart basin and perpendicular to the Yammouneh Fault trace were analyzed. An approximate fault width 25–30 m wide was determined in the El-Khiam study area. Temporal increase of radon concentration was measured and correlated with stress/strain tectonic activity and stress drops along the studied fault segment boundary.Anomalous variable radon concentrations were detected during one of the measurements where an earthquake occurred in the region of Tiberias Lake in northern Palestine along the Yammouneh Fault in the study area. Measurements of radon concentration along a station’s profile in Blat village did not show any radon anomalous variation due to the discontinuity along the fault(pull-apart), and possible absence of stress and energy accumulation along the Yammouneh Fault line in that location.

Thermo-Mechanical Simulation of Self-Heating of a High-Power Diode Made of Ti_(3)SiC_(2)(MAX) Phase-on-4H-SiC Substrate

The fact that traditional semiconductors have almost reached their performance limits in high power applications,is leading to failure in high power devices.This failure results from self-heating effects,leading to higher temperature and a breakdown of the electrical contact.The good thermal and mechanical properties of 4 H-SiC and Ti_(3)SiC_(2) and their good performance at high temperatures make them good candidates for high power applications.In order to improve the performance of electrical contacts,a thermo-mechanical simulation was carried out using the finite element method to study the self-heating effects in a high power PN diode made of a 4 H-SiC substrate with a Ti_(3)SiC_(2) electrical contact and Al_(3)Ti metallization.The three-dimensional model took into account the temperature dependency of several thermal and mechanical properties of the different materials to improve calculation accuracy.To simulate the self-heating,the power loss in the diode was calculated from the corresponding direct I-V characteristic.In addition,the interfacial thermal resistances(ITR)between the different layers were varied and studied in the thermo-mechanical investigation,in sequence to determine their effects on the heat dissipation and the resulting stresses in the model.The results show that for realistic ITR values,the ITR barely affects heat diffusion mechanical stresses of the model.Whereas,ITR may cause serious problem to the functionality and the efficiency of some electronic components.On the other hand,extremely large ITR leads to a decrease in the thermal stress in the diode.Good control on the ITR may help to improve the performance of high-power devices in the future,in addition to providing more efficient electrical contacts.

Assessment of Indoor and Outdoor Radon Levels in South Lebanon

The presence of high indoor radon concentrations,Cx,is a major concern of the public worldwide.Measurements of indoor radon in South Lebanon have been achieved using CR-39 detectors.Cxvalues ranged between 30 and 122 Bq m-3 in one of the major towns in the area and are compared with measured atmospheric air Radon.Moderate seasonal variation of Cxindoors has been observed,although 90%of the obtained indoor Cxmeasurements are below 100 Bq m-3.Some homes produced Cxreadings above the permissible limit.Results showed that the ventilation effect played a major factor in reducing radon concentration levels indoors.Health assessment has been considered.Annual effective doses of radon varied from 1.01±0.10 to 8.65±0.50 m Sv a-1 in six homes in one of the four cases studied.These dosage values are above the permitted limit of 2.5 m Sv a-1.Several types of granite contained in the studied homes were identified and their contributions to radon levels indoors were calculated.