This dissertation examines the life and works of Jan van de Velde II, with a focus on the large body of original landscapes that he both designed and etched himself. Van de Velde was one of the most prolific printmakers of the seventeenth century, whose emphasis on creating and promoting his own designs not only exceeded the usual professional ambitions of most contemporary printmakers but also proved pivotal in the development of a distinctively Dutch landscape tradition. The fact that innovation in the landscape genre was propelled through the print medium inverted the usual relationship between painters and printmakers, in which painters were usually held as the primary artistic innovators. This study provides the first focused treatment of Van de Velde’s original landscape etchings, as well as the first critical study of the artist’s prints generally. The first two chapters offer a detailed biography of Van de Velde, and incorporate a comprehensive gathering of archival documents related to his life, network, and career as a printmaker. Chapter 1 examines his early life and training, along with the remarkable letters from his father, who actually encouraged him at the outset of his career to invent his own designs. Chapter 2 details his professional life in Haarlem and Enkhuizen, and challenges the previously held notion that he more or less abandoned the pursuit of original printmaking after his marriage, as well as the notion that he developed financial problems later in life. At stake in this reassessment is the proper grounding of his enterprise of artistic self-definition, one that has repercussions for the status of printmaking generally in this era. The remaining chapters address different aspects of Van de Velde’s original landscape etchings, particularly those produced at the beginning of his career, c. 1614-1618. Chapter 3 examines the balance of types of imagery in his landscape series, between the seemingly real and the imaginary, and between the local and the foreign. Chapter 4 is a study of the high prevalence of ruins in Van de Velde’s etchings, both as subjects in their own right, and as ones that dramatized their landscape settings and reflected a new form of visual antiquarianism at a time of peak interest in local history and antiquity. Chapter 5 looks at the significant subset of Van de Velde’s landscapes couched in the visual time-cycle tradition of Seasons and Months, and how the Neo-Latin captions found in these series offer a range of innovative commentary. It specifically examines in detail a series of Months that demonstrate how Van de Velde’s relationship with the previously unidentified humanist author Reinier Telle clearly led to a significant transformation of that tradition to reflect both local and Protestant values.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A Serra de Baturità à a regiÃo do Cearà onde à mais notÃria a presenÃa de Ãreas de instabilidade geotÃcnica envolvendo movimentos de massa e erosÃo hÃdrica. As rodovias sÃo os principais agentes deflagradores dos movimentos de massa e a ocupaÃÃo de encostas nas Ãreas urbanas e rurais, os principais agentes promovedores da erosÃo acelerada, que somado Ãs caracterÃsticas climÃticas, geomorfolÃgicas, geolÃgicas e pedolÃgicas da regiÃo, concorrem para a ocorrÃncia de movimentos de massa e perda de solos implicando em prejuÃzos econÃmicos, e por vezes, em acidentes. O zoneamento geotÃcnico elaborado na Serra de Baturità contou com recursos de geoprocessamento assistidos por levantamento de campo e ensaios laboratoriais para delimitar setores de maior ou menor risco geolÃgico. Os produtos cartogrÃficos gerados atravÃs de tÃcnicas de processamento digital de imagens e anÃlise espacial apresentaram resultados satisfatÃrios ao intuito de zonear as Ãreas de maior suscetibilidade geotÃcnica e podem servir de apoio à tomada de decisÃo de gestores e comunidade civil da regiÃo. Conclui-se que asferramentas de geoprocessamento utilizadas promoveram a geraÃÃo de dados indispensÃveis ao mapeamento geotÃcnico e quando feito com o auxÃlio de ensaios geotÃcnicos laboratoriais jà consagrados na literatura, a fiabilidade dos dados levantados pode atender a contento a expectativa de profissionais e pesquisadores e aumentar a disponibilidade de informaÃÃes sobre o quadro geotÃcnico de extensas Ãreas em uma escala regional. / The Baturità Mountain is the region of Cearà where it is more noticeable the presence of areas of geotechnical instability involving landslides and erosion. The highways are the main triggering agents of mass movements and the occupation of slopes in urban and rural areas, the main promoters agents of accelerated erosion, which in addition to climate, geomorphological, geological and soil characteristics of the region, contributing to the occurrence of landslides and soil loss resulting in economic losses, and sometimes in accidents. The geotechnical zoning established in the Baturità Mountain had geoprocessing resources assisted by field survey and laboratory tests to define higher or lower geological risk sectors. Cartographic products generated through techniques of digital image processing and spatial analysis showed satisfactory to the purpose of zoning the areas of greatest susceptibility geotechnical results and may serve to support the decision making of managers and civil community of the region. It is concluded that the used geoprocessing tools promoted the generation of essential data and geotechnical mapping when done with the aid of laboratory geotechnical tests already established in the literature, the reliability of the data collected can satisfactorily meet the expectations of professionals and researchers and increase the availability of information on the geotechnical box large areas on a regional scale.

No description available.

En 2013, l'utilisation de la technologie LiDAR en forêt domaniale de Verdun a mis au jour les stigmates géomorphologiques des combats de la Première Guerre mondiale, jusqu'alors masqués par un vaste manteau forestier de 10 000 ha. Vestiges du passé dans les paysages actuels, ces formes de relief, appelées polémoformes, possèdent une haute valeur archéologique. Il convient de les inventorier pour mieux les conserver dans une perspective de gestion durable du milieu forestier. A l'échelle de la forêt toute entière, ce travail n'est possible que si l'on développe une méthode de cartographie automatisée. Pour ce faire, la méthodologie présente trois volets : 1) analyser le modèle numérique de terrain et à en extraire les formes au moyen d'un algorithme semi-automatique ; 2) étudier la géométrie des formes inventoriées par une approche combinée d'analyses multivariées, qui permet le regroupement des polémoformes similaires ; 3) interpréter ces classes sur le terrain et grâce aux documents d'archives allemands et français. L'analyse cartographique révèle que plus de 600 000 polémoformes ont été conservées, auxquelles s'ajoutent plus de 400 km de restes de tranchées et boyaux de communication. La répartition et la diversité morphologique des polémoformes révèlent les pratiques d'aménagement du front, selon des logiques d'organisation telles que la distance au front et la configuration des paysages d'avant-guerre. Au-delà de la reproductibilité de la méthode, pouvant contribuer au développement de la recherche fondamentale sur d'autres champs de bataille, la thèse fournit des outils opérationnels pour la gestion et la conservation des patrimoines historiques, culturels et naturels de la forêt domaniale de Verdun. De ce fait, les ressources iconographiques produites seront exploitées dans la construction du prochain plan d'aménagement forestier, en vue d'optimiser la conservation des polémoformes et vestiges de guerre associés. / In 2013, an airborne LiDAR mission conducted over the Verdun battlefield has brought to light landforms from the First World War. Concealed by a large forest cover of 10,000 ha, these landforms, called polemoforms, have a significant archaeological value because they constitute artefacts from the past. They should be inventoried to improve their conservation for the sustainable management of the forest. However, at the scale of the entire site, this work is only possible if an automatised mapping method is developed. To achieve this, the methodology used is threefold: (i) It consists in extracting landforms from the digital terrain model by means of a semi-automatic algorithm; (ii) Landforms geometry is studied using a combined approach of multivariate analyses, which allows to classify similar polemoforms; (iii) Classes interpretation is carried out on the field site and supplemented by historical documents collected in ten French and German archives centres. The resulting map reveals the presence of a huge number of remaining polemoforms, approximately 600,000, in addition to more than 400 km of fire and communication trenches. Their morphological signature is rich and due to the different ways of building facilities. Their location is determined by clearly defined spatial patterns such as distance to the frontline and pre-war landscapes parameters. Beyond the reproducible nature of the method, which may contribute to the fundamental research development on other battlefields, this thesis provides operational tools for management and conservation of the historical, cultural and natural heritage of the Verdun forest. As a result, the produced iconographic and cartographic corpus will be directly used in the next forest management plan, in order to optimise the safeguarding of polemoforms and associated remnants

The effects of scale influence all aspects of spatial analysis and should be expressly considered early in research planning. Remotely sensed images provide unique landscape perspectives and possess several features amenable to dealing with scale. In particular, images can be segmented into image objects representative of landscape features and structured as nested hierarchies for evaluating landscape patterns across a range of scales. The objectives of this research are to evaluate methods for: 1) characterizing candidate image objects to inform the selection of user-supplied segmentation parameters and 2) exploring the multi-scale structure of landscape patterns for defining and describing potentially important scales for conducting subsequent geospatial and ecological investigations. I followed a recursive strategy to develop an image hierarchy using a corrected version of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVIc) derived from a Landsat ETM+ satellite image over a complex, forested landscape at Lava Cast Forest (LCF), Oregon. At each scale level, I calculated an objective function based on within-object variance and spatial autocorrelation to distinguish between alternative image objects created with the region-merging segmentation algorithm available in the Definiens Developer 7 software. Segmentation quality was considered highest for results exhibiting the lowest overall within-object variance and between-object spatial autocorrelation. I then applied geographical variance analysis to calculate the independent contribution and relative variability of each level in the hierarchy to evaluate the scene's spatial structure across scales. My results reveal overall trends in image object spatial variance consistent with scaling theory, but suggest judging image object quality without sampling the entire range of segmentation parameters is insufficient. Statistical limitations of the spatial autocorrelation coefficient at small sample sizes constrained the number of possible hierarchy levels within the image spatial extent, preventing identification of larger-scale landscape patterns. Geographical variance analysis results show patterns in vegetation conditions at LCF possess a multi-scaled structure. Three levels exhibiting high variance relative to the entire hierarchy coincide with abrupt transitions in the slopes of within-object variance and spatial autocorrelation trends, which I interpreted as scale thresholds potentially important for relating landscape patterns and processes. These methods provide an objective, object-oriented approach for addressing scale issues within heterogeneous landscapes using remote sensing.

Three Macroterrain Landtype Association classification models were developed to stratify and categorize Utah's West Desert. These models approached terrain segmentation using an energy-flow paradigm from erosional to transitional to depositional landscape. One model was developed as a slope-backed deterministic model that used slope-threshold limits to discriminate between Landtype Associations. A second model was developed as a stochastic, training-data driven supervised classification, using comparative t-values to classify the landscape to the most similar landtype class. The third model was a probabilistic algorithm, which classified the landscape to the most probable class based on multiple iterations of the stochastic model. These models were assessed for performance against Macroterrain Landtype Association classifications from three independent geographical datasets. The performance assessment involved calculating model-to-reference agreement, a piecewise assessment of errors for each Macroterrain Landtype Association class, and a measure of the modeI-to-reference performance relative to that performance expected from random chance.

The thesis is based upon research into the historical geography of the pastoral industry in the six major drainage basins in the North West of Western Australia, in an attempt to outline its early development, and to explain how the rangeland degeneration associated with the Big Drought of 1936-1946 was exacerbated by unrealistic official expectations and poor management, particularly of stations in the hands of absentee corporate owners. it discusses the failure of government agencies to appreciate the effects of overstocking in an environment characterised by climatic variability and fragile rangeland resources. It draws attention to the official reluctance to take action against the destructive activities of profit-seeking corporate owners in the period leading up to and including the Big Drought, and of speculative leaseholders in more recent times The thesis attempts to differentiate between the grassmen as leaseholders bent upon generating a sustainable income from the rangeland through conservative management, and the exploitative owners and their (often) incompetent managers. It identifies the specific characteristics of each of the basins in terms of the physical environment, the process of pastoral occupation and the resulting changing patterns of land use. It examines the changing nature of the habitat, economy and society of the Aboriginal people, from the days prior to European penetration up to the late 20th century It also considers the future prospects of the pastoral industry in each basin, with references to such issues as environmental impact, Aboriginal land rights and occupance, and the mining industry. As well as a comprehensive overview of the historical geography of each river basin, the thesis also includes a study of infrastructural elements and bf the activities of all groups of people involved in the development of the river basins.

This research presents models for the analysis of textural and contextual information content of multiscale remote sensing to select an appropriate scale for the correct interpretation and mapping of heterogeneous urban land cover types. Spatial complexity measures such as the fractal model and the Moran’s I index of spatial autocorrelation were applied for addressing the issue of scale, while fuzzy set theory was applied for mapping heterogeneous urban land cover types. Three local government areas (e.g. the City of Perth, the City of Melville and the City of Armadale) of the Perth metropolitan area were selected, as the dominant land covers of these areas are representative to the whole metropolitan area, for the analysis of spatial complexity and the mapping of complex land covers. Characterisation of spatial complexity of the study areas computed from SPOT, Landsat-7 ETM+, and Landsat MSS was used for assessing the appropriateness of a scale for urban analysis. Associated with this outcome, the effect of spectral resolution and land cover heterogeneity on spatial complexity, the performance of fractal measurement algorithms and the relationship between the fractal dimension and Moran’s I were identified. A fuzzy supervised approach of the fuzzy c-means algorithm was used to generate fuzzy memberships of the selected bands of a Landsat-7 ETM+ scene based on the highest spectral separability among different urban land covers (e.g. forest, grassland, urban and dense urban) as determined by a transformed divergence analysis. Fuzzy land cover maps resulting from the application of fuzzy operators (e.g. maximum, minimum, algebraic sum, algebraic product and gamma operators) were evaluated against fuzzy memberships derived from the virtual field reference database (VFRDB). / The performance of fuzzy operators in generating fuzzy categorical maps along with the effect of land cover heterogeneity on fuzzy accuracy measures and sources of classification error were assessed. The analysis of spatial complexity computed from remote sensing images using a fractal model indicated that the various urban land cover types of the Perth metropolitan area are best represented at a resolution of 20 m (SPOT) as the fractal dimension (D) was found higher, as compared to the 25 m and 50 m resolutions of the Landsat-7 ETM+ and Landsat MSS, respectively, demonstrated the ability of the fractal model in distinguishing variations in the composition of built-up areas in the green and red bands of the satellite data, while forested areas typical of the urban fringe appear better characterised in the NIR band. Moran’s I of spatial autocorrelation was found useful in describing the spatial pattern of urban land cover types. A comparison between the D and Moran’s I of the study areas revealed a negative correlation, indicating that the higher the Moran’s I, the lesser the fractal dimension indicating a lower spatial complexity. Likewise, the results The accuracy of the fuzzy categorical maps associated with multiple spectral bands of a Landsat-7 ETM+ scene using various fuzzy operators reveals that the fuzzy gamma operator (y = 0.90) outperformed the categorical accuracy measures obtained by applying the fuzzy algebraic sum and other fuzzy operators for the City of Perth, while the accuracy measures of y value of 0.95 were found highest for the City of Melville and the City of Armadale. / A comparison of the accuracy measures of the fuzzy land cover maps of the study areas indicated that the overall accuracy of the City of Perth was up to 13% higher than the overall accuracy of the City of Melville and the City of Armadale which was found 69% and 71%, respectively. The lower accuracy measures of the City of Melville and the City of Armadale was attributed to highly mixed land cover classes resulting in mixed pixels in Landsat-7 ETM+ scene. In addition, the spectral similarity among the class forest and grassland, urban and dense urban were identified as sources of classification errors. The analysis of spatial complexity using multiscale and multisource remote sensing data and the application of fuzzy set theory provided a viable methodology for assessing the appropriateness of scale selection for an urban analysis and generating fuzzy urban land cover maps from a multispectral image. It also illustrated the longstanding issue of carrying out the accuracy of the fuzzy land cover map considering the fuzzy memberships of the classified data and the reference data using a fuzzy error matrix.

The aim of this project was to build and render digital landscape models that reflect natural element characteristics and use the resulting data sets as source material for fine art investigation and production. The project utilized 3D computer modeling techniques, selected output technology and studio facilities. Computer-generated virtual landscapes material was incorporated into studio practice by providing observed environmental content for the development of works for exhibition. An accompanying exegesis explored the relationship and tensions between digital landscape data sets and the broader use of landscape as a motif within an Australian context.

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