Estimates of abundance are critical to manage and conserve waterfowl and their habitats. Most surveys of wintering waterfowl do not use probability sampling; therefore, development of more rigorous methods is needed. In response, I designed and evaluated an aerial transect survey to estimate abundance of wintering ducks in western Mississippi during winters 2002?2004. I designed a probability-based survey using stratified random and unequal probability sampling of fixed-width transects. To correct for visibility bias inherent in aerial surveys, I conducted an experiment to model bias and incorporated correction factors into estimation procedures to produce adjusted estimates. Bias-corrected estimates were most accurate. Precision of abundance estimates of total ducks met a priori goals (CV ≤ 15%) in 10 of 14 surveys. Based on a simulation study, the implemented survey design provided the most precise estimates, yet certain refinements remained possible. I also illustrated potential applications of survey results in the context of conservation and management of wintering waterfowl populations and habitats. I described patterns of abundance within and among winters, including a comparison with surveys conducted during winters 1988?1990 that revealed mallard abundance decreased 65% from the late 1980s. I developed a method to illustrate population abundance spatially for scientific and public education. I attempted to explain temporal variation in abundance estimates relative to variables potentially representing hypotheses explaining regional distributions of ducks. I concluded the data provided stronger support for factors related to energy conservation by ducks than factors related to energy acquisition. Finally, I determined associations between duck distributions and habitat and landscape features in accordance with the habitat-complex conceptual model. Landscapes with greater interspersion and diversity of wetlands attracted increased numbers of ducks, a though other factors such as wetland area also were important. I concluded that this study advanced methodologies to survey wintering waterfowl. Although improvements were warranted, I recommend this survey design for continued monitoring of wintering ducks in western Mississippi. Furthermore, I suggest habitat management on public and private lands should include complexes of seasonally flooded cropland, moist-soil, forested, and permanent wetlands to potentially increase wintering duck numbers in western Mississippi.

Recently, automatic age progression has gained popularity due to its numerous applications. Among these is the frequent search for missing people, in the UK alone up to 300,000 people are reported missing every year. Although many algorithms have been proposed, most of the methods are affected by image noise, illumination variations, and facial expressions. Furthermore, most of the algorithms use a pattern caricaturing approach which infers ages by manipulating the target image and a template face formed by averaging faces at the intended age. To this end, this thesis investigates the problem with a view to tackling the most prominent issues associated with the existing algorithms. Initially using active appearance models (AAM), facial features are extracted and mapped to people’s ages, afterward a formula is derived which allows the convenient generation of age progressed images irrespective of whether the intended age exists in the training database or not. In order to handle image noise as well as varying facial expressions, a nonlinear appearance model called kernel appearance model (KAM) is derived. To illustrate the real application of automatic age progression, both AAM and KAM based algorithms are then used to synthesise faces of two popular long missing British and Irish kids; Ben Needham and Mary Boyle. However, both statistical techniques exhibit image rendering artefacts such as low-resolution output and the generation of inconsistent skin tone. To circumvent this problem, a hybrid texture enhancement pipeline is developed. To further ensure that the progressed images preserve people’s identities while at the same time attaining the intended age, rigorous human and machine based tests are conducted; part of this tests resulted to the development of a robust age estimation algorithm. Eventually, the results of the rigorous assessment reveal that the hybrid technique is able to handle all existing problems of age progression with minimal error. / National Information Technology Development Agency of Nigeria (NITDA)

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