M.Phil. / This work proposes a fast local image feature detector and descriptor that is im- plementable on a GPU. The BFROST feature detector is the first published GPU implementation of the popular FAST detector. A simple but novel method of feature orientation estimation which can be calculated in constant time is proposed. The robustness and reliability of the orientation estimation is validated against rotation invariant descriptors such as SIFT and SURF. Furthermore, the BFROST feature descriptor is robust to noise, scalable, rotation invariant, fast to compute in parallel and maintains low memory usage. It is demonstrated that BFROST is usable in real-time applications such as vision-based localization and mapping of images captured from micro aerial platforms.

<div>International development projects are a massive business, with billions invested annually in the Global South. However, such projects have an unacceptably long record of high failure rates. The problem perpetuates, in part, due to the success factors by which international development projects are judged. Often, projects are assessed on the basis of donor-identified priorities that are not aligned with local impacts. One such international development project involves the construction of small-scale water harvesting structures known as sand dams. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) continue to raise sufficient funds to build thousands of sand dams across sub-Saharan Africa, and yet 50% of sand dams are estimated to be non-functioning.</div><div><br></div><div>Sand dams are small, reinforced concrete dams built across an impermeable stream-bed. Over time, sand settles behind the dam, creating an upstream sand reservoir that fills with rainwater and surface runoff. The sand helps filter the water, protects it from evapotranspiration, and can provide water to the local community for domestic and agricultural use during the dry season. Sand dams often fail due to poor construction, inadequate siting, and siltation.</div><div><br></div><div>This dissertation explores methodologies for studying the regional and local impacts of sand dams and investigates the feasibility of developing model-based site selection guidelines for sand dams. Three objectives of this study are: (1) to develop a methodology to assess the ability of sand dams in improving the overall water availability in the region; (2) to examine claims made by non-scientific bodies about sand dam impacts by investigating how diverse sand dams influence macroinvertebrate habitat, vegetation, erosion, and local water availability; and (3) to create guidelines for siting new sand dams based on a fully integrated surface and groundwater flow model.</div><div><br></div><div>For the first objective, two multiple regression models are developed to compare (1) water storage and (2) vegetation in an area with a high density of sand dams, termed the sand dam counties (SDC), to those in a control area. The models analyze remotely sensed datasets to assess whether evidence exists of significantly increased storage in the SDC relative to the control area. The results show that the remotely sensed water storage data is unable to consistently detect higher levels of water storage in the SDC. This is likely due to the low resolution of the dataset combined with the small magnitude of sand dams' impact on regional water storage. The results of the vegetation model show that the sand dams have a consistent, positive impact on vegetation within the SDC relative to the control area. Because vegetation health and cover is often correlated with groundwater levels, these results likely indicate that the sand dams are also increasing local groundwater levels. Overall, this study shows that remotely sensed dataset can provide a useful basis to assess the impact of international development projects, particularly those that involve the natural environment. </div><div><br></div><div>For the second objective, data relating to macroinvertebrates, vegetation, erosion, and water table elevations at three sand dams were collected and analyzed during a year-long field study in Tanzania. These study subjects were specifically selected to test an NGO claim that sand dams revitalize the entire ecosystem. The results of this study show that sand dams are not a suitable habitat for macroinvertebrates due to their homogeneity. The impact of sand dams on vegetation cover can be significant, but may be limited by the slope of the surrounding land. Functioning sand dams likely have little impact on streambank erosion, but non-functioning sand dams may contribute to the erosion of streambanks in unstable reaches. Lastly, the water table is locally raised by recharge from sand dams, however, the spatial and temporal extent of the impact is more limited than conveyed by NGOs and previous studies. This study adds to the limited body of knowledge on the environmental responses to sand dams and demonstrates the importance of examining the local impacts of individual international development projects. </div><div><br></div><div>For the third objective, results from four different simulations of a watershed-based model with three cascading sand dams are analyzed to identify overland features that improve vadose zone storage and groundwater recharge and reduce evapotranspiration. Results from this study show that sand dams constructed in a low-lying area that collects surface runoff from adjacent steep slopes, such as in a U-shaped valley, will likely collect and store sufficient water for use by a local community. Watersheds with relatively more area cultivated with low-water-need crops will similarly be beneficial to sand dam performance. In addition, the analysis revealed that the volume of water a sand dam receives during a rainy season is less important for water storage than the duration of dry seasons. Lastly, the simulations showed that sand dams constructed in an area with sandier soils will perform better than those in an area with loamy soils. This study produced a set of guidelines that can be used to identify locations where sand dams are likely to capture and store sufficient water for community use during the dry season.</div>

The objective of this study was to assess if new cloud datasets, namely horizontal fields of integrated cloud parameters and transects of cloud profiles becoming available from current and future satellites like MODIS and CloudSAT as well as EarthCARE will allow for the reconstruction of three-dimensional cloud fields. Because three-dimensional measured cloud fields do not exist, surrogate cloud fields were used to develop and test reconstruction techniques. In order to answer the question if surrogate cloud fields may represent real cloud fields and to evaluate potential constraints for cloud field reconstruction, statistics of surrogate cloud fields have been compared to statistics of various remote sensing retrievals. It has turned out that except for cloud droplet effective radius, which is too low, other cloud parameters are in line with parameters derived from measurements. The reconstruction approach is divided into two parts. The first one deals with the reconstruction of the cloud fields. Three techniques with varying complexity are presented constraining the reconstruction by measurements to various degrees. Whereas the first one applies only information of a satellite radiometer, the other two constrain the retrieval also by profile information measured within the domain. Comparing the reconstruction quality of the approaches, there is no superior algorithm performing better for all cloud fields. This might be ascribed to liquid water content profiles of the surrogate cloud fields close to their adiabatic reference. Consequently, the assumption of adiabatic liquid water content profiles of the first scheme yields adequate estimates and additional information from profiles does not improve the reconstruction. The second part of the reconstruction approach addresses the reconstruction quality by comparing parameters of radiative transfer describing photon path statistics as well as reflectances. Therefore three-dimensional radiative transfer simulations with a Monte Carlo code were carried out for the surrogate cloud fields as well as for the reconstructed cloud fields. It was assumed that deviations of the parameter simulated for the reconstructed cloud and the surrogate cloud field are smaller when reconstruction is more accurate. For parameter describing photon pathes it has been found that only deviations of geometrical pathlength statistics reflect the reconstruction quality to a certain degree. Deviations of other parameters like photon penetration depth do not allow for either assessing local differences in reconstruction quality by an individual reconstruction scheme or to infer the most appropriate reconstruction scheme. The differences in reflectances do also not enable to evaluate reconstruction quality. They prevent from gaining insight in local accuracy of reconstruction due to effects like horizontal photon transport weakening the relations between microphysical as well as optical properties and reflectances of the column. In order to address these effects, grids of various complexity, derived by applying photon path properties, were used to weight deviations of cloud properties when analyzing the relationships. Unfortunately, there is no increase of explained variance due to the application of the weighting grids. Additionally, the sensitivity of the results to the model set-up, namely the spatial resolution of the cloud fields as well as the simplification and neglection of ancillary parameters, were analyzed. Though one would assume a strengthening of relationships between deviations of cloud parameters and deviations of reflectances due to more reliable sampling and reduced inter-column transport of photons when column size increases, there is no indication for resolutions where an assessment of the reconstruction quality by means of reflectance deviations becomes feasible. It also has been shown that inappropriate treatment of aerosols in the radiative transfer simulation impose an error comparable in magnitude to differences in reflectances due to inaccurate cloud field reconstruction. This is especially the case when clouds are located in the boundary layer of the aerosol model. Consequently, appropriate aerosol models should be applied in the analysis. May be due to the low surface reflection and the high cloud optical depths, the representation of the surface reflection function seems to be of minor importance. Summarizing the results, differences in radiative transfer do not allow for the assessment of cloud field reconstruction quality. In order to accomplish the task of cloud field reconstruction, the reconstruction part could be constrained employing information from additional measurements. Observational geometries enabling to use tomographic methods and the application of additional wavelengths for validation might help, too. / Ziel der Arbeit war die Evaluierung inwieweit Datensätze von Wolkenparametern, horizontale Felder integraler Wolkenparameter und Schnitte vertikal aufgelöster Parameter, zur Rekonstruktion dreidimensionaler Wolkenfelder genutzt werden können. Entsprechende Datensätze sind durch MODIS und CloudSAT erstmals vorhanden und werden zusätzlich mit dem Start von EarthCARE zur Verfügung stehen. Da dreidimensionale Wolkenfelder aus Messungen nicht existieren, wurden zur Entwicklung der Rekonstruktionsmethoden surrogate Wolkenfelder genutzt. Um die Qualität der surrogaten Wolkenfelder abzuschätzen und um mögliche Randbedingungen zur Rekonstruktion aufzuzeigen, wurden Statistiken der surrogaten Wolkenfelder mit denen unterschiedlicher Fernerkundungsprodukte verglichen. Dabei zeigte sich, dass, abgesehen von den gegenüber Messungen zu geringen Effektivradien der Wolkentropfen in den surrogaten Wolkenfeldern, die übrigen Wolkenparameter gut übereinstimmen. Der Rekonstruktionsansatz gliedert sich in zwei Teile. Der erste Teil beinhaltet die Rekonstruktion der Wolkenfelder. Dazu werden drei Techniken unterschiedlicher Komplexität genutzt, wobei die Komplexität durch den Grad der eingebundenen Messungen bestimmt wird. Während die einfachste Technik lediglich Informationen, wie sie aus Messungen mit einem Satellitenradiometer gewonnen werden können, nutzt, binden die anderen Techniken zusätzlich Profilinformationen aus dem beobachteten Gebiet ein. Analysen zeigten, dass keine der Methoden für alle untersuchten Wolkenfelder den anderen Methoden überlegen ist. Dies mag daran liegen, dass die Flüssigwasserprofile der surrogaten Wolkenfelder nur geringfügig von den in der ersten Rekonstruktionsmethode angenommenen adiabatischen Flüssigwasserprofilen abweichen, so dass die Nutzung der Profile kaum zusätzliche Information für die Rekonstruktion liefert. Im zweiten Teil des Rekonstruktionsansatzes wird die Qualität der rekonstruierten Wolkenfelder durch den Vergleich von Parametern des Strahlungstransfers, wie Photonenpfad-Statistiken und Strahlungsgrößen, evaluiert. Dazu wurden sowohl für die surrogaten Wolkenfelder als auch für die rekonstruierten Wolkenfelder dreidimensionale Strahlungstransfersimulationen mit einem Monte-Carlo-Modell durchgeführt. Angenommen wurde hierbei, dass eine bessere Rekonstruktionsqualität durch geringere Abweichungen der betrachteten Strahlungsparameter aus Simulationen mit rekonstruierten und surrogaten Wolkenfeldern gekennzeichnet ist. Bei den Parametern, die die Photonenwege beschreiben, unterstützen lediglich die Abweichungen der geometrischen Photonenweglängen diese These. Weder erlauben die Abweichungen der übrigen Parameter, zum Beispiel der Eindringtiefen, Rückschlüsse auf die lokale Rekonstruktionsqualität der einzelnen Methoden zu ziehen, noch ermöglichen sie die beste Rekonstruktionsmethode zu identifizieren. Auch die Unterschiede der simulierten Reflektanzen können nicht zur Bestimmung der Rekonstruktionsqualität herangezogen werden. Durch Effekte wie horizontale Photonentransporte werden die Zusammenhänge zwischen mikrophysikalischen und optischen Eigenschaften und Reflektanzen der jeweiligen Gittersäule aufgeweicht, und folglich sind keine Rückschlüsse auf die lokale Rekonstruktionsqualität möglich. Um auf entsprechende Effekte einzugehen, wurden für die Analyse Wichtungsfelder unterschiedlicher Komplexität aus Photonenwegeigenschaften generiert, um diese zur Wichtung der Abweichungen der Wolkeneigenschaften zu nutzen. Der Anteil der erklärten Varianz konnte jedoch durch die Nutzung der entsprechenden Wichtungsfelder nicht erhöht werden. Zusätzlich wurden Sensitivitätsstudien hinsichtlich einzelner Vorgaben der Untersuchung durchgeführt. Dazu wurden sowohl der Einfluss der räumlichen Auflösung der Wolkenfelder als auch die Vereinfachung oder Nichtbetrachtung einzelner Modellparameter analysiert. Eine Reduzierung der Auflösung einhergehend mit einem zuverlässigeren Sampling und reduzierten Photonentransport zwischen den Gittersäulen führte zu keinem direkteren Zusammenhang zwischen den Abweichungen der Reflektanzen und den Abweichungen der mikrophysikalischen Eigenschaften. Folglich existiert keine Auflösung, die die Anwendung des Verfahrens ermöglichen würde. Ebenso wurde gezeigt, dass die unzureichende Einbeziehung von Aerosolen bei den Strahlungstransfersimulationen einen Fehler verursachen kann, der in der Größe dem Unterschied der Reflektanzen unzureichender Wolkenfeldrekonstruktionen gleichkommt. Dies ist insbesondere der Fall, wenn die Wolken sich innerhalb der Grenzschicht des Aerosolmodells befinden. Entspechend sollte in solchen Situationen dem verwendeten Aerosolmodell besondere Beachtung geschenkt werden. Hingegen ist der Einfluss des Ansatzes, wie die Bodenreflektion beschrieben wird, eher gering. Dies mag an dem verwendeten Modell mit einer geringen Albedo in Kombination mit optisch dicken Wolken liegen. Zusammenfassend kann festgestellt werden, dass die Unterschiede im Strahlungstransfer nicht zur Abschätzung der Rekonstruktionsqualität der Wolkenfelder herangezogen werden können. Um dem Ziel einer dreidimensionalen Wolkenfeldrekonstruktion näher zu kommen, könnten beim Rekonstruktionsteil Informationen aus zusätzlichen Messungen als Vorgaben genutzt werden. Ebenso könnten Beobachtungsgeometrien, welche die Anwendung tomographischer Methoden erlauben, sowie zusätzliche Wellenlängen zur Validierung der Rekonstruktionsergebnisse verwendet werden.

Legal Amazon, the Brazilian region where much of the global tropical forest is located, has suffered from rapid deforestation for decades, undermining the provision of ecosystem services and the conservation of biodiversity on local and global scales. In order to prevent deforestation, the Brazilian government has established priority and protected areas to ensure the preservation of high biodiversity areas and ecosystem services. This study analyses whether the establishment of priority and protected areas have an impact in preventing deforestation, thus promoting biodiversity and ecosystem services. Furthermore, this study also analyses the extent to which deforestation affects priority areas for biodiversity conservation. Deforestation datasets from 2001 to 2014 of the Legal Amazon was processed and analyzed. The total area and density of deforestation were compared across three categories of land: (1) protected priority areas, (2) unprotected priority areas, and (3) non-priority areas. Spatial methods of geoprocessing and the statistical method one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the deforestation trends. As a result, the deforestation density was found to be lowest inside protected areas than in unprotected areas and non-priority areas. This implied that land-use restrictions in protected areas had more impact compared to unprotected areas and non-priority areas. Furthermore, deforestation has been more intensive in regions of lower biodiversity importance. Despite this positive evaluation, substantial tracts of forest had been converted within regions of high biodiversity importance. Therefore, the regulation of priority and protected areas must be evaluated and improved in the future. / Den brasilianska regionen Legal Amazon, där mycket av den globala andelen av tropisk skog ligger, har drabbats av snabb avskogning i årtionden, vilket underminerar tillhandahållandet av ekosystemtjänster och bevarandet av den biologiska mångfalden både på lokal och global skala. För att förhindra avskogning har den brasilianska regeringen etablerat prioriterade och skyddade områden för att säkerställa bevarandet av områden med hög biologisk mångfald och ekosystemtjänster. Denna studie analyserar huruvida etableringen av prioriterade och skyddade områden påverkar förebyggandet av denna avskogning. Dessutom analyserar denna undersökning också hur omfattningen av avskogningen påverkar prioriterade områden för bevarande av biologisk mångfald. Avskogningsdata från 2001 till 2014 i Legal Amazon bearbetades och analyserades. Total areal och densitet av avskogningen jämfördes mellan tre kategorier av mark: (1) skyddade prioriterade områden, (2) oskyddade prioriterade områden och (3) icke prioriterade områden. Rumsliga metoder för bearbetning och den statistiska metoden envägs-ANOVA användes för att analysera avskogningstrenderna. Resultaten visar att avskogningstätheten var lägst inom skyddade områden jämfört med oskyddade områden och icke-prioriterade områden. Det innebär att markanvändningsbegränsningar i skyddade områden har haft större inverkan jämfört med oskyddade områden och icke prioriterade områden. Vidare har avskogningen varit mer intensiv i områden med lägre värden för biologisk mångfald. Trots denna positiva utvärdering hade ett betydande skogsområde omvandlats inom områden med höga värden för biologisk mångfald. Därför måste regleringen av prioriterade och skyddade områden utvärderas och förbättras i framtiden.

Heatwave events as a kind of extreme climate event, have plagued the human race for the past few years. It severely influences people’s life quality, sometimes even leads to some serious diseases. In order to alleviate the possible damages heatwave events can do, some targeted actions are necessary and forecasting heatwaves is one of them. This study focuses on predicting potential heatwave events in Sweden, replying on the correlations between multiple meteorological and surface-related features, with the help of machine learning techniques. The related remote sensing data of 21 features are extracted and implemented with features selection using a correlation heatmap and 16 of them are finally determined to be used for prediction. Five types of classifiers LR, Gaussian NB, KNN, RF and XGBoost are utilized on the training and validation datasets with hyperparameter tuning and threshold tuning methods to choose the model that has the best performance to predict heatwaves using the test dataset. The results show that RF and XGBoost both perform well on the validation set, but XGBoost is more suitable applying on the test set since XGBoost possesses a higher generality. / Värmeböljor som en sorts extrem klimathändelse har plågat mänskligheten under de senaste åren. Det påverkar allvarligt människors livskvalitet, ibland till och med leder till några allvarliga sjukdomar. För att lindra de möjliga skadorna som värmeböljor kan orsaka är några riktade åtgärder nödvändiga och att förutse värmeböljor är en av dem. Denna studie fokuserar på att förutsäga potentiella värmeböljshändelser i Sverige, svara på sambanden mellan flera meteorologiska och ytrelaterade egenskaper, med hjälp av maskininlärningstekniker. De relaterade fjärravkänningsdata för 21 funktioner extraheras och implementeras med funktionsval med hjälp av en korrelationsvärmekarta och 16 av dem bestäms slutligen att användas för förutsägelse. Fem typer av klassificerare LR, Gaussian NB, KNN, RF och XGBoost används på tränings- och valideringsdataseten med hyperparameterjustering och tröskeljusteringsmetoder för att välja den modell som har bäst prestanda för att förutsäga värmeböljor med hjälp av testdatauppsättningen. Resultaten visar att RF och XGBoost båda presterar bra på valideringssetet, men XGBoost är mer lämpligt att applicera på testsetet eftersom XGBoost har en högre generalitet.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Engineering: Electrical)) -- Central University of technology, Free State, 2013 / Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are being used more frequently in a manufacturing environment. These AGVs are navigated in many different ways, utilising multiple types of sensors for detecting the environment like distance, obstacles, and a set route. Different algorithms or methods are then used to utilise this environmental information for navigation purposes applied onto the AGV for control purposes. Developing a platform that could be easily reconfigured in alternative route applications utilising vision was one of the aims of the research. In this research such sensors detecting the environment was replaced and/or minimised by the use of a single, omnidirectional Webcam picture stream utilising an own developed mirror and Perspex tube setup. The area of interest in each frame was extracted saving on computational recourses and time. By utilising image processing, the vehicle was navigated on a predetermined route. Different edge detection methods and segmentation methods were investigated on this vision signal for route and sign navigation. Prewitt edge detection was eventually implemented, Hough transfers used for border detection and Kalman filtering for minimising border detected noise for staying on the navigated route. Reconfigurability was added to the route layout by coloured signs incorporated in the navigation process. The result was the manipulation of a number of AGV’s, each on its own designated coloured signed route. This route could be reconfigured by the operator with no programming alteration or intervention. The YCbCr colour space signal was implemented in detecting specific control signs for alternative colour route navigation. The result was used generating commands to control the AGV through serial commands sent on a laptop’s Universal Serial Bus (USB) port with a PIC microcontroller interface board controlling the motors by means of pulse width modulation (PWM). A total MATLAB® software development platform was utilised by implementing written M-files, Simulink® models, masked function blocks and .mat files for sourcing the workspace variables and generating executable files. This continuous development system lends itself to speedy evaluation and implementation of image processing options on the AGV. All the work done in the thesis was validated by simulations using actual data and by physical experimentation.

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2009 / Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) have many different design specifications, although they all have certain design features in common, for instance they are designed to follow predetermined paths, and they need to be aware of their surroundings and changes to their surroundings. They are designed to house sensors for navigation and obstacle avoidance. In this study an AGV platform was developed by modifying an electric wheelchair. A serial port interface was developed between a computer and the control unit of the electric wheelchair, which enables the computer to control the movements of the platform. Different sensors were investigated to determine which would be best suited and most effective to avoid collisions. The sensors chosen were mounted on the AGV and a programme was developed to enable the sensors to assist in avoiding obstacles. An imaging device as an additional sensor system for the AGV was investigated. The image produced by a camera and dome mirror was processed into a panoramic image representing an entire 360o view of the AGV‟s surroundings. The reason for this part of the research was to enable the user to make corrections to the AGV‟s path if it became stuck along the track it was following. The entire system was also made completely wireless to improve the flexibility of the AGV‟s applications.

O escudo Sul-riograndense tem sua importância econômica ligada às várias mineralizações de metais base e ouro como as áreas de Camaquã, Caçapava do Sul, Lavras do Sul e São Sepé. A região é objeto de estudos geológicos desde muito tempo e vários trabalhos já foram publicados a respeito, porém todos estes mostram grande complexidade tanto quanto à origem e evolução do escudo como para as ocorrências minerais nela presentes. O presente estudo utilizou um conjunto de análises multivariadas para dados aerogeofísicos e sensoriamento remoto em parte do Escudo do Rio Grande do Sul para verificar a contribuição destas técnicas para a otimização de recursos tanto financeiros quanto de tempo na execução dos projetos de pesquisa mineral naquela região. Os resultados mostraram que o uso destas técnicas contribui para a discriminação de grupos relacionados às litologias descritas para a área de pesquisa de forma muito mais clara que o uso das metodologias de forma individualizada. Embora não tenha revelado as assinaturas das ocorrências minerais pode ser utilizada para a discriminação destas dentro dos grupos formados pelas análises. / The Rio Grande do Sul Shield has its economic importance connected to the diverse gold and base metals mineralization that occurs in that area, such as Camaqua Basin, Cacapava, Lavras do Sul and São Sepé granitite intrusions. The region has been the subject of geological studies for a long time and several papers have been published about it, but they show great complexity for both the origin and evolution of the Shield and the mineral occurrences in it. The present study used a set of multivariate analysis for airborne geophysics and remote sensing data in part of the Rio Grande do Sul Shield, to verify the contribution of these techniques for the optimization of time and financial resources for the implementation of projects of mineral exploration. The results confirm that their use contribute to the discrimination of groups related to the described lithology in the area in a more clearly way that using these methodologies individually. Although the signatures of mineral occurrences have not been revealed, they can be used for their discrimination, based on the groups resultant from the analysis.

O escudo Sul-riograndense tem sua importância econômica ligada às várias mineralizações de metais base e ouro como as áreas de Camaquã, Caçapava do Sul, Lavras do Sul e São Sepé. A região é objeto de estudos geológicos desde muito tempo e vários trabalhos já foram publicados a respeito, porém todos estes mostram grande complexidade tanto quanto à origem e evolução do escudo como para as ocorrências minerais nela presentes. O presente estudo utilizou um conjunto de análises multivariadas para dados aerogeofísicos e sensoriamento remoto em parte do Escudo do Rio Grande do Sul para verificar a contribuição destas técnicas para a otimização de recursos tanto financeiros quanto de tempo na execução dos projetos de pesquisa mineral naquela região. Os resultados mostraram que o uso destas técnicas contribui para a discriminação de grupos relacionados às litologias descritas para a área de pesquisa de forma muito mais clara que o uso das metodologias de forma individualizada. Embora não tenha revelado as assinaturas das ocorrências minerais pode ser utilizada para a discriminação destas dentro dos grupos formados pelas análises. / The Rio Grande do Sul Shield has its economic importance connected to the diverse gold and base metals mineralization that occurs in that area, such as Camaqua Basin, Cacapava, Lavras do Sul and São Sepé granitite intrusions. The region has been the subject of geological studies for a long time and several papers have been published about it, but they show great complexity for both the origin and evolution of the Shield and the mineral occurrences in it. The present study used a set of multivariate analysis for airborne geophysics and remote sensing data in part of the Rio Grande do Sul Shield, to verify the contribution of these techniques for the optimization of time and financial resources for the implementation of projects of mineral exploration. The results confirm that their use contribute to the discrimination of groups related to the described lithology in the area in a more clearly way that using these methodologies individually. Although the signatures of mineral occurrences have not been revealed, they can be used for their discrimination, based on the groups resultant from the analysis.

The German Government’s Integrated Energy and Climate Programme (IEKP) and the National Biomass Action Plan set ambitious targets for the further development of bioenergy until 2020. The share of energy from biomass is supposed to reach 8 % and 9.7 % of the total power consumption and of the total heat usage, respectively. The share of biofuels on the total consumption of fuels for transportation should rise up to 12 % (energetic) by 2020. This project aims to assess the possibilities of achieving the IEKP targets for bioenergy in a regional and global context. On a regional as well as global level, the potentials of different biomasses were determined in different development scenarios until 2020. Furthermore, the extent to which remote sensing could contribute in improving the spatial specification of biomass resources and whether it could be used as a monitoring system for the early detection of land use changes was investigated. On the regional level, the spatial implications of energetic biomass use was analysed with regard to environmental impacts and land use conflicts. Depending on their significance of spatial impacts, instruments of spatial planning were assessed in order to steer the supply of bioenergy. [... from Executive Summary]