Agriculture has an important role in Turkey / hence automated approaches are crucial to maintain sustainability of agricultural activities. The objective of this research is to classify eight crop types cultivated in Karacabey Plain located in the north-west of Turkey using multi-temporal Kompsat-2 and Envisat ASAR satellite data. To fulfill this objective, first, the fused Kompsat-2 images were segmented separately to define homogenous agricultural patches. The segmentation results were evaluated using multiple goodness measures to find the optimum segments. Next, multispectral single-date Kompsat-2 images with the Envisat ASAR data were classified by MLC and SVMs algorithms. To combine the thematic information of the multi-temporal data set, probability maps were generated for each classification result and the accuracies of the thematic maps were then evaluated using segment-based manner. The results indicated that the segment-based approach based on the SVMs method using the multispectral Kompsat-2 and Envisat ASAR data provided the best classification accuracies. The combined thematic maps of June-August and June-July-August provided the highest overall accuracy and kappa value around 92% and 0.90, respectively, which was 4% better than the highest result computed with the MLC method. The produced thematic maps were also evaluated based on field-based manner and the analysis revealed that the classification performances are directly proportional to the size of the agricultural fields.

ABSTRACT DECISION TREE CLASSIFICATION OF MULTI-TEMPORAL IMAGES FOR FIELD-BASED CROP MAPPING Sencan, Se&ccedil / il M. Sc., Department of Geodetic and Geographic Information Technologies Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa T&uuml / rker August 2004, 125 pages A decision tree (DT) classification approach was used to identify summer (August) crop types in an agricultural area near Karacabey (Bursa), Turkey from multi-temporal images. For the analysis, Landsat 7 ETM+ images acquired in May, July, and August 2000 were used. In addition to the original bands, NDVI, PCA, and Tasselled Cap Transformation bands were also generated and included in the classification procedure. Initially, the images were classified on a per-pixel basis using the multi-temporal masking technique together with the DT approach. Then, the classified outputs were applied a field-based analysis and the class labels of the fields were directly entered into the Geographical Information System (GIS) database. The results were compared with the classified outputs of the three dates of imagery generated using a traditional maximum likelihood (ML) algorithm. It was observed that the proposed approach provided significantly higher overall accuracies for the May and August images, for which the number of classes were low. In May and July, the DT approach produced the classification accuracies of 91.10% and 66.15% while the ML classifier produced 84.38% and 63.55%, respectively. However, in August nearly the similar overall accuracies were obtained for the ML (70.82%) and DT (69.14%) approaches. It was also observed that the use of additional bands for the proposed technique improved the separability of the sugar beet, tomato, pea, pepper, and rice classes.

CAPES / Este trabalho objetiva apresentar as ideias matemáticas principais da Samambaia de Barnsley, um fractal que recria uma imagem que assemelha-se a uma folha de samambaia da variedade Black Spleenwort e tem como base quatro transformações afins elementares. Algumas mutações da Samambaia de Barnsley são também apresentadas. / This work aims to present the main mathematical ideas of Barnsley’ Fern, a fractal that recreates an image that resembles a fern leaf of the Black Spleenwort variety and is based on four elementary affine transformations. Some mutations of Barnsley’ Fern are also presented.

An autecological study of the heterosporous fern Azolla filiculoides Lamarck and its endosymbiotic blue-green alga Anabaena azollae Strasburger, based on a combination of field and laboratory studies, is presented. The taxonomy, morphology and anatomy of the fern-alga association were studied as well as nutritional and physiological aspects of the symbiosis. These studies have defined the habitat and nutritional requirements of the fern and have provided new insights into its reproductive biology, nitrogen metabolism and the nature of the association between the fern and alga. In the catchment area of the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam the availability of suitably sheltered habitat limits the distribution of A. filiculoides while the availability of nutrients, in particular calcium, phosphorus and iron, limits the growth of the fern. The multilayered mats formed by A. filiculoides are essential for spore production, cause dramatic changes in the hydrochemistry of the underlying waters and confer a great competitive advantage on the plant. Methods for the isolation of the fern and algal components of the symbiosis have been developed but recombination of the individual organisms to reform the symbiosis was unsuccessful. The development of the fern is closely linked to that of the alga and the association is maintained throughout the life cycle of the fern. Because of its specific habitat and nutritional requirements, A. filiculoides is unlikely to colonize the open waters of the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam.

Lygodium microphyllum, native to the Old World tropics, has invaded central and southern Florida, destroying native habitats, reducing biodiversity and altering fire regimes. Prescribed fire, one of several methods used to manage L. microphyllum infestations, reduces fern biomass over large areas, but its effects on spore viability are unknown. To provide tools to evaluate whether fire-dispersed spores are viable, this research determined how heat affects spore viability. Spores were exposed to temperatures of 50°C to 300°C for durations of 5 seconds to 1 hour, then allowed to germinate on agar in petri plates. Percent germination was assayed after two weeks. Temperatures of 50°C had little effect; 300°C killed spores for all durations. Results indicate that while viability of unburnt spores decreases with increasing temperature and duration of heat exposure, spores are killed when exposed to relatively low temperatures compared to those in fires.

No description available.

Biogeochemical cycle of chlorine, particularly the formation of organically bound chlorine is still not well understood. In continental ecosystems chlorides act as source of chlorine, and also as a stress factor. Chlorides originate from precipitation of marine cloud masses. Organically bound chlorine in the environment is formed naturally by biotical and abiotical way. The biotical factors are microorganisms, plants, soil enzymes and animals. Volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons (VOCl) represent one group of organically bound chlorines. Several volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons reacts with atmospheric ozone, consequently causing depletion of the ozone layer. The most important known terrestrial source of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons is the spruce forest ecosystem. Chlorine in the soil can be transformed by microorganisms into organically bound chlorine or translocated by transpiration stream in plants, where they are also transformed enzymatically into organically bound chlorine, and both of them can be emitted into the atmosphere. Too large amounts of chloride can affect the physiological functions of plants. In this thesis experiments were designed for measuring the natural emissions of volatile halogenated hydrocarbons from plants and fungi, with various periods of incubation, and also to...

<p>  </p> <p>The growth of land plants depends on a group of pluripotent stem cells in a tissue called the meristem. Seed plants initiate and maintain different types of meristems at the asexual sporophyte stage, and they generate sexual gametophytes, which are dependent on their sporophytes and are devoid of a meristem. In contrast, aside from forming indeterminate meristems at the sporophyte stage, seedless vascular plants, including ferns, also develop meristems in their gametophytes to drive gametophyte development and formation of sexual organs. To date, compared to the well-characterized cell behaviors and regulatory pathways in the meristems of seed plants, the molecular and cellular basis of meristem development in seedless ferns is still poorly understood. </p> <p>In several seed plants, the HAIRY MERISTEM (HAM) family transcription factors play important roles in maintaining the indeterminacy of shoot apical meristems and promoting the <em>de novo</em> formation of axillary meristems. In the first part of this dissertation, through constructing a comprehensive phylogeny, I found that HAM family members are widely present in land plants and duplicated in a common ancestor of flowering plants, leading to the formation of two distinct groups: type I and type II. In addition, HAM members from different seed plants and seedless plants are able to replace the roles of the Arabidopsis type-II <em>HAM</em> genes, maintaining established shoot apical meristems and promoting the initiation of new stem cell niches in Arabidopsis. Furthermore, preliminary functional studies of the <em>HAM </em>homolog (<em>CrHAM</em>) in the model fern<em> Ceratopteris richardii</em> suggest that CrHAM is required for maintaining the indeterminacy of multicellular meristems in Ceratopteris gametophytes. Collectively, these results indicate that HAM family members may serve as common regulators in control of meristem development in both seed plants and seedless vascular plants. </p> <p>In the remaining chapter of this dissertation, long-term time-lapse confocal imaging was performed using Ceratopteris stable transgenic plants, in which each individual cell (nucleus) was labelled with a fluorescent marker. Real-time lineage, identity, and division activity of each single cell from meristem initiation to establishment in Ceratopteris gametophytes were then determined. Additionally, cell fate and lineage alterations during <em>de novo</em> formation of new meristems were examined by mechanical perturbations. These quantitative analyses lead to the conclusion that in Ceratopteris gametophytes, initiation and proliferation of multicellular meristems relies on a few marginal cell lineages. Once established, the meristem maintains an actively dividing zone during gametophyte development. Within the meristem, cell division is independent of cell lineages and marginal cells are more actively dividing than inner cells. The meristem also triggers differentiation of adjacent cells into egg-producing archegonia in a position-dependent manner. </p> <p>In summary, this work provides insight into the evolution of key stem-cell regulators and advances the understanding of diversified meristem development in land plants. </p>

Assembly is a process that shapes the abundance and identity of species in a community. Niche and neutral theory explain assembly processes with mechanisms driven by either species differences, or functional equivalence and stochastic dispersal. In 2017 I sampled vegetation and environmental variables at 59 sites in the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge and Tombigbee National Forest of Mississippi to explore forest understory community assembly. I developed and assessed a framework of predictions concerning general patterns and underlying mechanism. Evidence of dispersal limitation and functional equivalence were expected under neutral theory. Local environmental characteristics, surrounding landscape variables, and fire were significant determinants of beta diversity. Dispersal was not a strong predictor of beta diversity. I found evidence of both niche complementarity and functional equivalence, as well as niche differences among common vines and an introduced vine (Lonicera japonica). Overall, the results were more congruent with predictions expected under niche theory.

This dissertation concerns the narrative and theological role of divine vengeance and saintly cursing in the saints’ Lives of England and Ireland, c. 1060-1215. The dissertation considers four case studies of primary material: the hagiographical and historical writings of the English Benedictines (Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, Eadmer of Canterbury, and William of Malmesbury), the English Cistercians (Aelred and Walter Daniel of Rievaulx, John of Forde), the cross-cultural hagiographer Jocelin of Furness, and the Irish (examining key textual clusters connected with St. Máedóc of Ferns and St. Ruadán of Lorrha, whose authors are anonymous). This material is predominantly in Latin, with the exception of the Irish material, for which some vernacular (Middle Irish) hagiographical and historical/saga material is also considered. The first four chapters (I-IV) focus discretely on these respective source-based case studies. Each is framed by a discussion of those textual clusters in terms of their given authors, provenances, audiences, patrons, agendas and outlooks, to show how the representation of cursing and vengeance operated according to the logic of the texts and their authors. The methods in each case include discerning and explaining the editorial processes at work as a basis for drawing out broader patterns in these clusters with respect to the overall theme. The fifth chapter (V) frames a more thematic and comparative discussion of the foregoing material, dealing with the more general questions of language, sources, and theological convergences compared across the four source bases. This chapter reveals in particular the common influence and creative reuse of key biblical texts, the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, and the Life of Martin of Tours. Similar discussion is made of a range of common ‘paradigms’ according to which hagiographical vengeance episodes were represented. In a normative theology in which punitive miracles, divine vengeance and ritual sanction are chiefly understood as redemptive, episodes in which vengeance episodes are fatal can be considered in terms of specific sociological imperatives placing such theology under pressure. The dissertation additionally considers the question of ‘coercive fasting’ as a subset of cursing which has been hitherto studied chiefly in terms of the Irish material, but which can also be found among the Anglo-Latin writers also. Here it is argued that both bodies of material partake in an essentially shared Christian literary and theological culture, albeit one that comes under pressure from particular local, political and sociological circumstances. Looking at material on both sides of the Irish Sea in an age of reform, the dissertation ultimately considers the commonalities and differences across diverse cultural and regional outlooks with regard to their respective understandings of vengeance and cursing.