Diss.--Berlin--Freie Universität, 1992. / Bibliogr. p. 359-387. Index.

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Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis assesses the performance of the Naval Postgraduate School Aerosol Optical Depth (NPS AOD) model utilizing very high spatial resolution QuickBird (QB) satellite data. QuickBird derived AOD results are compared to other satellite and ground based AOD results, specifically, AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET), MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). Data is collected around Sir Bu Nuair Island, United Arab Emirates in September 2004 as part of the UAE2 Campaign. Satellite measured radiances are calibrated and due to spatial resolution differences between sensors, modal radiances are calculated for areas matching the highest resolution sensor. The AOD model is based on AVHRR wavelengths; hence, the modal satellite measured radiances are linearly extrapolated to the effective wavelengths of AVHRR. Results show application of the NPS AOD model to QuickBird data yields findings that are consistent with other satellite and ground based retrievals. In general, the NPS AOD model works well for nadir and near-nadir view angles, but not for high zenith angles. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

NAND flash memories are popular due to their density and lower cost. However, due to serial access, NAND flash memories have low read and write speeds. As the flash sizes increase to 64GB and beyond, searches through flash memories become painfully slow. In this work we present a hardware design enhancement technique to speed-up search through flash memories. The basic idea is to generate a small signature for every memory block and store them in a signature block(s). When a search is initiated, signature block is searched which produces reference of possible blocks where data might be contained, reducing the total number of read operations. The additional hardware has no impact on read access times or sequential write times but increases the random write times by an average of 8-9%. Simulation experiments were performed for flash memory of size up to 16Gb. Simulation results show that the performance of searches improve by 2000X by using the proposed technique. The signature-based technique is used to find exact matching data. A discrete cosine transform based technique is used when partial matching of data is required. The same setup is also used to increase storage efficiency of data by performing data deduplication on the flash memory. The hardware implementation of the search technique results in 0.02% increase in area, 3.53% increase in power and can operate at a maximum frequency of 0.47GHz.

This thesis examines the role of remote sensing technology in providing information to northern residents of Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay, Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, Western Canadian Arctic, for the purpose of improving sea ice trafficability and safety. The main objectives of this thesis include 1) the identification of northern community sea ice information needs that can be addressed using remote sensing, and 2) the creation of remote sensing-based products showing sea ice surface roughness information useful to community sea ice trafficability and safety. Thesis outcomes include the refinement and dissemination of information and products with these communities. Research methods involved interviews with northern community members that were analysed using thematic analysis, as well as quantitative assessments of sea ice roughness using satellite datasets. Maps of sea ice surface roughness were created using Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar and the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer, and were evaluated against fine-scale airborne LiDAR data. / Graduate / 2020-07-31

The lack of proper wastewater treatment inhibits the social and economic development in many communities. The South African town Wakkerstroom is an example where wastewater is first treated before it is released. Due to the lack of technical expertise and funding to manage the sewage disposal system, a large part of the wastewater goes directly, without any treatment, into a stream feeding the Wakkerstroom wetland. The wetland purifies the wastewater and provides clean water downstream, thus is indispensable for its detoxification capacity. One relatively cheap method to determine the absorption capacity of a wetland with respect to nitrogen loading is to investigate the nitrogen uptake by the wetland vegetation. In this study, the nitrogen uptake of the vegetation in the Wakkerstroom wetland during the growing seasons between the years 2000-2018 was investigated by using harvested biomass and its nitrogen content as a proxy. The interannual variability of Net Primary Production (NPP) was calculated using a Light Use Efficiency (LUE) model for the period 2000-2018. The NPP derived with LUE-modelling was compared to NPP based on an end-of season harvest of biomass in March 2019. The nitrogen content and carbon and nitrogen (C:N) ratio were determined in the harvested biomass by carbon and nitrogen content analysis. The annual nitrogen uptake of the growing seasons between the years 2000-2018 was subsequently determined by multiplying the calculated NPP by the fraction of nitrogen found in the harvested material. The NPPtot based on harvested biomass (NPPharvest) towards the end of the growing season 2018/2019 was estimated to be 2.01 kg‧m-2‧season-1. The NPPtot calculated from LUE modelling (NPPLUE) varied between 0.49-1.64 kg‧m-2 for the growing seasons between 2000-2018. NPPharvest was between 1.2-4 times higher compared to NPPLUE, probably due to overestimation of NPPharvest because of biomass sampling of more than one-year production, or underestimation of NPPLUE due to a low maximum radiation conversion efficiency factor, εmax. The community mean nitrogen (N) content found in the biomass harvested aboveground was 1.29 % for the Phragmites community and 1.00 % for the Typha community. The nitrogen uptake of the vegetation was estimated to vary between 6.10-20.5 g N∙m-2 per growing season between the years 2000-2018. / Bristen på adekvata reningstekniker för att behandla avloppsvatten hämmar den sociala och ekonomiska utvecklingen i många samhällen. Den sydafrikanska staden Wakkerstroom är ett exempel där avloppsvatten först renas innan det släpps ut. På grund av brisen på teknisk kompetens och finansiering att hantera reningsverket som avlägsnar avloppsvatten så läcker en stor del av det orenade avloppsvattnet ut i en våtmark i Wakkerstroom via en närliggande å. Våtmarken är av regional betydelse för sin reningskapacitet då den renar avloppsvattnet och förser användare nedströms med rent vatten. En viktig aspekt för att bestämma en våtmarks reningskapacitet med avseende på kväve (N) är att undersöka växternas kväveupptag i våtmarken. Kväveupptaget hos växterna i våtmarken i Wakkerstroom under växtsäsongerna mellan år 2000–2018 undersöktes genom att använda skördad biomassa och dess kväveinnehåll som proxy. Den årliga variabiliteten hos nettoprimärproduktionen (NPP) beräknades genom att använda en LUE (Light Use Efficiency)-modell för perioden 2000-2018. NPP framtaget med LUE-modellering jämfördes med NPP baserat på biomassa skördad i slutet av växtsäsongen i mars 2019. Kväveinnehållet och kol-kväve (C:N) kvoten bestämdes hos den skördade biomassan genom en kol- och kväveanalys. Det årliga kväveupptaget under växtsäsongerna mellan 2000–2018 togs därefter fram genom att multiplicera beräknad NPP med kvävefraktionen erhållen från den skördade biomassan. NPPtot framtaget med biomassa skördad i slutet av växtsäsongen 2018/2019 (NPPbiomassa) uppskattades vara 2,01 kg‧m-2‧säsong-1. NPPtot beräknat med LUE-modellering (NPPLUE) varierade mellan 0,49–1,64 kg‧m-2 under växtsäsongerna mellan år 2000–2018. NPPbiomassa var 1,2–4 gånger högre i jämförelse med NPPLUE, vilket troligtvis berodde på att NPPbiomassa överskattades på grund av att mer än en årsproduktion av biomassa skördades, eller för att NPPLUE underskattades på grund av ett för lågt värde på den maximala effektivitetsfaktorn εmax valdes. Medelvärdet för kväveinnehållet erhållen i biomassan skördad ovanför vattennivån var 1,29 % för Phragmites-samhället och 1,00 % för Typha-samhället. Kväveupptaget hos växterna varierade mellan 6,10–20,5 g N∙m-2 per växtsäsong mellan år 2000–2018.

We are concerned with addressing the worst-case distributed source coding (DSC) problem in asymmetric and interactive communication scenarios and its application to data-gathering wireless sensor networks in enhancing their lifetime. First, we propose a unified canonical framework, obtained by considering different communication constraints and objectives, to address the variants of DSC problem. Second, as for the worst-case information-theoretic analysis, the notion of information entropy cannot be used, we propose information ambiguity, derive its various properties, and prove that it is a valid information measure. Third, for a few variants of our interest of DSC problem, we provide the communication protocols and prove their optimality. In a typical data-gathering sensor network, the base-station that wants to gather sensor data is often assumed to be much more resourceful with respect to energy, computation, and communication capabilities compared to sensor nodes. Therefore, we argue that in such networks, the base-station should bear the most of the burden of communication and computation in the network. Allowing the base-station and sensor nodes to interactively communicate with each other enables us to carry this out. Our definition of sensor network lifetime allows us to reduce the problem of maximizing the worst-case network lifetime to the problem of minimizing the number of bits communicated by the nodes in the worst-case, which is further reduced to the worst-case DSC problem in asymmetric and interactive communication scenarios, with the assumption that the base-station knows the support-set of sensor data. We demonstrate that the optimal solutions of the energy-oblivious DSC problem variants cannot be directly applied to the data-gathering sensor networks, as those may be inefficient in the energy-constrained sensor networks. We address a few energy-efficient variants of DSC problem and provide optimal communication protocols for the sensor networks, based on those variants. Finally, we combine distributed source coding with two other system level opportunities of channel coding and cooperative nature of the nodes to further enhance the lifetime of the sensor networks. We address various scenarios and demonstrate the dependence of the computational complexity of the network lifetime maximization problem on the complex interplay of above system-level opportunities.

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This dissertation tells the tale of al-Mahalla al-Kubra during the transition from handloom crafts to the mechanized textile industry and from a local community to a battleground for the nationalist cause in the first half of the twentieth century. By exploring the relationships between culture, politics, and modern industrialization and how subaltern groups shaped their local experiences of modernity in a setting remote from the central government and the cosmopolitan culture of Cairo and Alexandria, it unpacks the social history of men and women, artisans and workers, notables and fitiwwat who were situated between national capitalism and foreign domination. The goal is to write the history of the society from the bottom up and to write a history that is an alternative to the already established histories of nationalism and colonialism. It provides a historical reconstruction and analysis of the process of assimilation undergone by the recruited peasants into urban industrial life and explores the various ways in which they and the Mahallawiyya negotiated living together and dealt with their mutual hostility on an everyday basis. Identity is the core question in this process of assimilation. Did modern, horizontal class relations actually replace traditional, vertical communal and patronage relations? To what extent did the traditional social institutions help or hinder the process of adapting to forms of social life associated with modern industry? I argue that both vertical class and horizontal communal relations co-existed and sometimes competed. In that fluid dynamic, individuals and groups acted and interacted depending on their socio-economic status, communal commitments, conjuncture or the way that a given situation developed, and a shared, often contested, discourse. / text