Ph.D., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Deep-level gold mining in the Witwatersrand Basin Goldfields (WBG) of central South Africa is characterised by the production of extensive unlined tailings storage facilities (TSFs) comprising large quantities of pulverised rock and water contaminated with salts and a wide range of other inorganic pollutants (Weiersbye et al., 2006). There are more than 200 such TSFs covering a total area of more than 400 km2 (Rosner et al., 2001), and significant contaminated “footprint” areas occur after removal and reprocessing of the original TSFs (Chevrel et al., 2003). It is estimated that the Witwatersrand Basin contains six billion tons of gold and uranium tailings (Chevrel et al., 2003), 430 000 tons of uranium (Council of Geoscience, 1998; Winde, 2004a; b; c) and approximately 30 million tons of sulphur (Witkowski and Weiersbye, 1998a). An estimated 105 million tons of waste per annum is generated by the gold mining industry within the WBG (Department of Tourism, Economic and Environmental Affairs, 2002; Chamber of Mines of South Africa, 2004). A major environmental problem resulting from deep level mining in the WBG is the contaminated water that seeps from TSFs into adjacent lands and groundwater. Van As (1992) reported on the significant environmental hazards resulting from the storage of highly pulverised pyrite rock waste in TSFs (Straker et al., 2007). Adjacent lands become polluted through near-surface seepage, and this is enhanced by the movement of polluted groundwater in shallow aquifers that are commonly 1-30 m below ground (Funke, 1990; Hodgson et al., 2001; Rosner et al., 2001; Naicker et al., 2003). The impact of the mines and the TSFs extends far beyond their localities (Cogho et al., 1990). The Vaal River catchment receives a large proportion of the pollutants from WBG mining activities, with consequent acidification and salinisation of surface and ground waters. Salt discharges to the Vaal River were estimated to be 170 000 t/annum (Best, 1985), whereas discharges from the Free State gold mines south of the Vaal catchment were estimated at 350 000 t/annum of salts (Cogho et al., 1990). Concern also exists over the spread of dangerous contaminants such as uranium, chromium and mercury (Coetzee et al., 2006; Winde, 2009). Engineering solutions to these problems are hindered by the large sizes and great extent of TSFs, the high and indefinite costs involved, and the typically low hydraulic conductivity in affected aquifers, which makes the “pump and treat” option impractical. An alternative phytoremediation strategy is to establish belts or blocks of trees in strategic areas surrounding the TSFs in order to reduce the seepage of contaminated water into adjacent lands and groundwater bodies. The major reasons why trees are likely to have a greater impact on seepage water than the existing grasslands that characterise the area around most TSFs in the WBG, are that some tree species have the potential to develop very deep root systems and to continue transpiring water throughout the year. This is in contrast to seasonally dormant grasslands. In addition, some tree species are known to be tolerant to salts and other pollutants. Trees are thus potentially able to reach deep water tables, take up large quantities of water, and remove some of the pollutants in this water. It is crucial for a successful implementation of this strategy to know on what sites trees are able to access mine seepage water, and consequently maintain a high year-round rate of water use. If this access is limited, then growth and water use will be curtailed during the long winter dry season, and control of seepage will be considerably below potential. A primary aim of this study was to develop methodologies to discriminate between water-stressed and non-water-stressed trees currently growing in three gold mining districts (Welkom, Vaal River, West Wits) within the WBG. This information was required to assess what site types are likely to support adequate tree growth and permit high rates of water use and seepage control. The tree species selected were those most widely occurring in these areas, and include the non-native species Eucalyptus sideroxylon A. Cunningham ex Woolls and Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnhardt, as well as the indigenous species Searsia lancea L.f. Various remote sensing technologies including leaf-level spectroscopy, satellite and airborne remote sensing images were evaluated for their usefulness in detecting levels of winter-time water stress. Four commonly used ground-truthing techniques (predawn leaf water potential, leaf chlorophyll fluorescence, leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid pigment content, and leaf water content) were used for localised measurements of plant water stress and for ground-truthing of remotely sensed data on 75 sample sites and 15 sample sites. This study provided a unique opportunity to test and compare the use of stress reflectance models derived from different remote sensing data acquired at different spatial and spectral resolutions (i.e. multispectral and hyperspectral) for the same geographical location. The use of remote sensing to examine the spectral responses of vegetation to plant stress has been widely described in the scientific literature. A collation of published spectral reflectance indices provided the basis for investigating the use of hand-held remote sensing technology to detect plant water stress, and was used as a stepping stone to further develop spectral plant water stress relationships for specific tree species in this study. Seventy seven spectral reflectance indices and specific individual spectral wavelengths useful for detecting plant water stress, plant pigment content, the presence of stress related pigments in vegetation, and changes in leaf cellular structure, were investigated using hand-held spectroscopy. Ground-based measurements of plant water stress were taken on 75 sample trees. In this study, the measurement of predawn leaf water potential has been identified as a key methodology for linking remotely sensed assessments of plant water stress to actual plant water stress; a reading of -0.8 MPa was used to separate stressed trees from unstressed trees in the landscape (Cleary and Zaerr, 1984). The results of the predawn leaf water potential measurements ranged from -0.56 to -0.68 MPa at unstressed sites, and from -0.93 to -1.78 MPa at stressed sites. A novel approach of using spectral reflectance indices derived from previous studies was used to identify specific indices which are applicable to South Africa and to the three species investigated in the WGB. Maximal multiple linear regression models were derived for all possible combinations of plant water stress measurements and the 77 spectral reflectance indices extracted from leaf-level spectral reflectance data, and included the interactions of district and species. The results of the multiple linear regression models indicated that the (695/690) index, DATT index (850-710)/(850-680), near infra-red index (710/760) and the water band (900/970) index performed well and accounted for more than 50% of the variance in the data. The stepwise regression model derived between chlorophyll b content and the DATT index was selected as the “best” model, having the highest adjusted R2 of 69.3%. This was shown to be the most robust model in this application, which could be used at different locations for different species to predict chlorophyll content at the leaf-level. Satellite earth observation data were acquired from two data sources for this investigation; the Hyperion hyperspectral sensor (United States Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems) and the Proba Chris pseudo-hyperspectral sensor (European Space Agency). The Hyperion sensor was selected to obtain high spatial and spectral resolution data, whereas the Proba Chris sensor provided high spatial and medium spectral resolution earth observation data. Twelve vegetation indices designed to capture changes in canopy water status, plant pigment content and changes in plant cellular structure, were selected and derived from the satellite remote sensing imagery. Ground-based measurements of plant water stress undertaken during late July 2004 were used for ground-truthing the Hyperion image, while measurements undertaken during July 2005 and August 2005 were used for ground-truthing the Proba Chris images. Predawn leaf water potential measurements undertaken for the three species, ranged from -0.42 to -0.78 MPa at unstressed sites, and -0.95 to -4.66 MPa at stressed sites. Predawn leaf water potentials measured for E. camaldulensis trees sampled in species trials in Vaal River were significantly different between stressed and non stressed trees (t = 3.39, 8df, P = 0.009). In contrast, E. camaldulensis trees sampled near a pan within the Welkom mining district, which had greater access to water but were exposed to higher concentrations of salts and inorganic contaminants, displayed differences in total chlorophyll content (t = -2.20, 8df, P = 0.059), carotenoid content (t = -5.68, 8df, P < 0.001) and predawn leaf water potential (t = 4.25, 8df, P = 0.011) when compared to trees sampled on farmland. E. sideroxylon trees sampled close to a farm dam in the West Wits mining district displayed differences in predawn leaf water potential (t = 69.32, 8df, P < 0.001) and carotenoid content (t = -2.13, 8df, P = 0.066) when compared to stressed trees further upslope away from the water source. Multiple linear regressions revealed that the predawn leaf water potential greenness normalised difference vegetation index model, and the predawn leaf water potential water band index model were the “best” surrogate measures of plant water stress when using broad band multispectral satellite and narrow-band hyperspectral satellite data respectively. It was concluded from these investigations that vegetation indices designed to capture changes in plant water content/plant water status and spectral changes in the red edge region of the spectrum, performed well when applied to high spectral resolution remote sensing data. The greenness normalised difference vegetation index was considered to be a fairly robust index, which was highly correlated to chlorophyll fluorescence and predawn leaf water potential. It is recommended that this index has the potential to be used to map spatial patterns of winter-time plant stress for different genera/species and in different geographical locations. Airborne remote sensing surveys were conducted to investigate the application of high spatial resolution remote sensing data to detect plant water stress. Multispectral airborne imagery was acquired by Land Resource International (PTY) Ltd, South Africa. Ground-based measurements of plant water stress were carried out during July and August 2005.Four individual spectral bands and two vegetation spectral reflectance indices, which are sensitive to changes in plant pigment content, were derived from the processed multispectral images viz. red, green, blue and near-infrared spectral bands and the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and greenness normalised difference vegetation index (GNDVI).The results of the multispectral airborne study revealed that carotenoid content together with the green spectral waveband resulted in the “best” surrogate measure of plant water stress when using broad-band multispectral airborne data. Airborne remote sensing surveys were conducted by Bar-Kal Systems Engineering Ltd, Israel, to investigate the application of hyperspectral airborne imagery to detect plant water stress. Six vegetation spectral reflectance indices designed to capture changes in plant pigment and plant water status/content, were derived from the processed hyperspectral images. When using airborne hyperspectral data, predawn leaf water potential with the normalized difference water index was selected as the most appropriate model. It was concluded, upon evaluation of the multiple linear regression models, that the airborne hyperspectral data produced several more regression models with higher adjusted R2 values (Ra2 range 6.2 - 76.2%) when compared to the airborne multispectral data (Ra2 range 6 - 50.1). Exploration of relationships between vegetation indices derived from leaf-level, satellite and airborne spectral reflectance data and ground-based measurements used as “surrogate” measures of plant water stress, revealed that several prominent and recurring spectral reflectance indices could be applied to identify species-specific plant water stress within the Welkom, Vaal River and West Wits mining districts. The models recommended for mapping and detecting spatial patterns of plant water stress when using different sources of remote sensing data are as follows: the chlorophyll b DATT spectral reflectance model when derived from leaf-level spectral reflectance data, can be applied across all three mining districts the predawn leaf water potential GNDVI spectral reflectance model and predawn leaf water potential water band index spectral reflectance model when utilising satellite multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing data carotenoid content green band spectral reflectance model can be used for airborne multispectral resolution data predawn leaf water potential NDVI spectral reflectance model is best suited for airborne high spatial and hyperspectral resolution data. These results indicate that measurements of predawn leaf water potential and plant pigment content have been identified as key methodologies for ground-truthing of remotely sensed data and can be used as surrogate measures of plant water stress. Some preliminary research was undertaken to evaluate if wood anatomy characteristics could be used as a non-destructive and rapid low-cost survey approach for identifying trees which are experiencing long-term plant stress. Seventy two wood core samples were extracted and analysed. Predawn leaf water potential measurements were used to classify stressed and unstressed trees. Relative differences in radial vessel diameter, vessel frequency and wood density were examined. Comparison of the radial vessel diameter and vessel frequency measurements revealed significant differences in three of the five comparative sampling sites (p <0.05). The results of the density analyses were significantly different for all five comparative sampling sites (p < 0.01). In general, trees experiencing higher plant water stress displayed smaller vessel diameters, compared to less stressed or healthy trees. Sites which were influenced by high levels of contaminated water also displayed smaller vessel diameters, indicating that the uptake of contaminants could affect the wood anatomy of plants. Trees considered to be experiencing higher plant water stress displayed higher vessel frequency. This preliminary study showed that plant stress does influence the wood anatomical characteristics (radial vessel diameter, vessel frequency and wood density) in E. camaldulensis, E. sideroxylon and S. lancea in the three mining districts. Spatial patterns of trees, mapped in the three gold mining districts, Welkom (27º57´S, 26º34´E) in the Free State Province, Vaal River (26º55´S, 26º40´E) located in the North West Province, and West Wits (26º25´S, 27º21´E) located in Gauteng, which were not experiencing winter-time water stress were correlated to site characteristics such as average soil depth, percent clay in the topsoil, groundwater chloride and sulphate concentrations, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity and groundwater water level. The spectral reflectance model derived between predawn leaf water potential and the green normalised difference vegetation index using broad-band multispectral Proba Chris satellite data was used to map spatial patterns of unstressed trees across the three mining districts. Very high resolution (75 cm) multispectral airborne images acquired by LRI in 2005 were used to demarcate and classify vegetation using the maximum likelihood supervised classification technique. Interpolated surfaces of groundwater chloride and sulphate concentrations, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, pH and groundwater table levels were created using the kriging geostatistical interpolation technique for each mining district. Random sample analyses between stressed and unstressed trees were extracted in order to determine whether site characteristics were significantly different (using t-tests). Site characteristic surfaces which were significantly different from stressed areas were spatially linked to trees which were not experiencing winter-time plant water stress for each tree species investigated in each mining district. This spatial correlation was used to make recommendations and prioritise sites for the establishment of future block plantings. Analysis of the site characteristic data and the geophysical surveys undertaken in the three mining districts which provided detailed information on groundwater saturation and an indication of the salinity conditions, confirmed the presence of relatively shallow and saline groundwater sources. This would imply that tree roots could access the relatively shallow groundwater even during the dry winter season and assist in containing contaminated groundwater seeping into surrounding lands. Keywords : airborne imagery, ground-based measurements of plant water stress, hyperspectral, leaf-level spectroscopy, multispectral, satellite imagery, spatial patterns of unstressed trees, spectral reflectance indices

Submitted by Angela Maria de Oliveira (amolivei@uepg.br) on 2017-11-30T19:05:51Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Pablo Henrique Ferreira.pdf: 12205608 bytes, checksum: a2f75e7cec618577bfd7fddda3302b17 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-30T19:05:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Pablo Henrique Ferreira.pdf: 12205608 bytes, checksum: a2f75e7cec618577bfd7fddda3302b17 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A alta dimensionalidade em bases de dados é um problema que pode estar presente em diversos segmentos, inclusive nas análises do estado de nutrientes em plantas. Atualmente essas análises são baseadas em metodologias que demandam tempo e reagentes. A espectroscopia do infravermelho próximo (NIR – NearInfrared) e médio (MIR – MiddleInfrared) têm se mostrado uma alternativa mais rápida e limpa em relação a quantificação simultânea de compostos. Os dados obtidos por esses equipamentos apresentam alta dimensão. A leitura ocorre em comprimentos de onda gerando centenas atributos para o NIR e milhares para o MIR. Uma das dificuldades está em identificar quais atributos são mais relevantes para análise dos nutrientes. Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar o ganho de correlação obtido com o emprego de redução de dimensionalidade em dados obtidos por espectroscopia NIR e MIR, para estimativa de teores de 11 nutrientes em grãos e folhas de soja, sendo eles: Nitrogênio (N), Fósforo (P), Potássio (K), Cálcio (Ca), Magnésio (Mg), Enxofre (S), Cobre (Cu), Manganês (Mn), Ferro (Fe), Zinco (Zn) e Boro (B). Para isto, 231 amostras de folhas de soja e 285 de grãos de soja foram utilizadas para geração de modelos de regressão, sendo os espectros obtidos através dos espectrofotômetros NIR e MIR. Os modelos de regressão foram gerados pelos algoritmos de aprendizado de máquina SMOReg que implementa a máquina de vetor de suporte para regressão, o algoritmo baseado em árvores de decisão com funções de regressão M5Rules e o algoritmo LinearRegression. Os resultados foram avaliados através do coeficiente de correlação (r) e o erro quadrático (RRSE). A estimativa de nutrientes para folhas foi satisfatória tanto para espectroscopia NIR e MIR, onde correlações acima de 0,80 foram obtidas para os nutrientes P, K, Mg, S, Mn, Cu, Fe e Zn. Não houve correlações para B e Ca em folhas de soja. A estimativa de teores de nutrientes foi também satisfatória para grãos de soja, mas apenas em dados de espectroscopia NIR, onde correlações acima de 0,7 foram obtidas para N, P, K, Ca e S. O uso da redução de dimensionalidade proporcionou os altos valores para correlação de P, K e S em folhas de soja, fazendo uso do algoritmo LinearRegression. Para os grãos de soja, a redução de dimensionalidade foi imprescindível na obtenção de correlações satisfatórias, exceto para N, sempre utilizando o algoritmo LinearRegression. Quando a redução da dimensionalidade não foi usada, os resultados satisfatórios foram obtidos pelo algoritmo SMOREg a partir de dados foliares para os nutrientes N, Mg, Cu, Mn, Fe e Zn. A utilização da redução de dimensionalidade junto ao algoritmo LinearRegression auxiliou na obtenção de melhores correlações para três nutrientes em folhas e para os índices satisfatórios de grãos. Os resultados observados demonstram uma maior eficiência no uso do NIR para análises foliares do que para análises de grãos. As técnicas computacionais SMOReg e LinearRegression obtiveram os melhores resultados, sendo a SMOReg indicada para grandes quantidades de atributos e LinearRegression para quantidades menores de atributos. / The high dimensionality in databases is a problem that can occur in several fields, including the plants nutrients state analysis. These analyses are currently based on methodologies that spend time and reagents. (NIR-NearInfrared) and (MIR-MiddleInfrared) spectroscopy have been shown to be a faster and clean alternative to simultaneous quantification of compounds. Since reading occurs at wavelengths generating hundreds attributes for the NIR and thousands to the MIR the data obtained by such equipment have a high dimensionality. One of the difficulties is to identify which attributes are more relevant for the nutrient analysis. This work aimed to verify the correlation gain obtained with the use of dimensionality reduction techniques with data obtained by NIR and MIR spectroscopy. The goal is to estimated levels of 11 nutrients in grains and leaves of soybean: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sulfur (S), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn) and Boron (B). For that, 231 soybean leaves and 285 soybeans samples were analysed by spectroscopy in the mid-infrared and nearinfrared region. The regression models were generated by machine learning algorithms: SMOReg which implements the support vector machine for regression; M5Rules that is based on decision trees with regression functions; and LinearRegression algorithm for linear regression. The results were evaluated by correlation coefficient (r) and the quadratic error (RRSE). Estimating leaf nutrients was satisfactory for both NIR and MIR spectroscopy, where correlations of 0.80 above were obtained for P, K, Mg, S, Mn, Cu, Fe and Zn. There were no correlations for B and Ca in soybean leaves. Estimating nutrient was also satisfactory for soybeans, but only in NIR spectroscopy data, where correlations above 0.7 were obtained for N, P, K, Ca, and S. Using dimensionality reduction techniques provided the high values for correlation of P, K, and S in soybean leaves, making use of the LinearRegression algorithm. For soybeans, the dimensionality reduction was essential in obtaining satisfactory correlations, except for N, always using the LinearRegression algorithm. When reducing the dimensionality was not used, satisfactory results were obtained by the SMOREg algorithm from foliar data to N, Mg, Cu, Mn, Fe, and Zn. Reducing dimensionality associated to the use of LinearRegression algorithm resulted in better correlations for three nutrients in leaves and satisfactory rates of grain. The observed results demonstrate a greater efficiency in the use of the NIR for foliar analysis than for grain analysis. SMOReg computational techniques and LinearRegression algorithm presented the best results, being the SMOReg indicated for large quantities of attributes and Linear- Regression for smaller quantities

La couleur est un critère important dans de nombreux secteurs d'activité pour identifier, comparer ou encore contrôler la qualité de produits. Cette tâche est souvent assumée par un opérateur humain qui effectue un contrôle visuel. Malheureusement la subjectivité de celui-ci rend ces contrôles peu fiables ou répétables. Pour contourner ces limitations, l'utilisation d'une caméra RGB permet d'acquérir et d'extraire des propriétés photométriques. Cette solution est facile à mettre en place et offre une rapidité de contrôle. Cependant, elle est sensible au phénomène de métamérisme. La mesure de réflectance spectrale est alors la solution la plus appropriée pour s'assurer de la conformité colorimétrique entre des échantillons et une référence. Ainsi dans l'imprimerie, des spectrophotomètres sont utilisés pour mesurer des patchs uniformes imprimés sur une bande latérale. Pour contrôler l'ensemble d'une surface imprimée, des caméras multi-spectrales sont utilisées pour estimer la réflectance de chaque pixel. Cependant, elles sont couteuses comparées aux caméras conventionnelles. Dans ces travaux de recherche, nous étudions l'utilisation d'une caméra RGB pour l'estimation de la réflectance dans le cadre de l'imprimerie. Nous proposons une description spectrale complète de la chaîne de reproduction pour réduire le nombre de mesures dans les phases d'apprentissage et pour compenser les limitations de l'acquisition. Notre première contribution concerne la prise en compte des limitations colorimétriques lors de la caractérisation spectrale d'une caméra. La deuxième contribution est l'exploitation du modèle spectrale de l'imprimante dans les méthodes d'estimation de réflectance. / Color is a major criterion for many sectors to identify, to compare or simply to control the quality of products. This task is generally assumed by a human operator who performs a visual inspection. Unfortunately, this method is unreliable and not repeatable due to the subjectivity of the operator. To avoid these limitations, a RGB camera can be used to capture and extract the photometric properties. This method is simple to deploy and permits a high speed control. However, it's very sensitive to the metamerism effects. Therefore, the reflectance measurement is the more reliable solution to ensure the conformity between samples and a reference. Thus in printing industry, spectrophotometers are used to measure uniform color patches printed on a lateral band. For a control of the entire printed surface, multispectral cameras are used to estimate the reflectance of each pixel. However, they are very expensive compared to conventional cameras. In this thesis, we study the use of an RGB camera for the spectral reflectance estimation in the context of printing. We propose a complete spectral description of the reproduction chain to reduce the number of measurements in the training stages and to compensate for the acquisition limitations. Our first main contribution concerns the consideration of the colorimetric limitations in the spectral characterization of a camera. The second main contribution is the exploitation of the spectral printer model in the reflectance estimation methods.

In this dissertation, methods are designed and validated for the utilization of hyperspectral hypertemporal remotely sensed data in target detection applications. Two new classes of methods are designed to optimize the selection of target detection features from spectro-temporal space data. The first method is based on the consideration that all the elements of the spectro-temporal map are independent of each other. The second method is based on the consideration that the elements of the spectro-temporal map have some vicinal dependency among them. Methods designed for these two approaches include various stepwise selection methods, windowing approaches, and clustering techniques. These techniques are compared to more traditional feature extraction methods such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), spectral analysis, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The efficacies of the new methods are demonstrated within an aquatic invasive species detection application, namely discriminating waterhyacinth from other aquatic vegetation such as American lotus. These two aquatic plant species are chosen for testing the proposed methods as they have very similar physical characteristics and they represent a practical life target detection problem. It is observed from the overall classification accuracy estimates that the proposed feature extraction methods show a marked improvement over conventional methods. Along with improving the accuracy estimates, these methods demonstrate a capability to drastically reduce the dimensionality while retaining the desired hyperspectral hypertemporal features. Furthermore, the feature set extracted using the newly developed methods provide information about the optimum subset of the hyperspectral hypertemporal data for a specific target detection application, which makes these methods serve as tools to strategize more intelligent data collection plans.

The aims of this work were 1) to assess whether sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) genotypes originating from the India can be grown and analyzed in the climatic conditions of central Europe and 2) to find out the utilization potential of selected non- destructive and destructive methods based mostly on the chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements and the determination of photosynthetic pigments' content for the differentiation of sorghum genotypes based on their presumed drought tolerance. Field experiments made during 2 years compared 15 genotypes of this species (2 stay-green parental lines, 2 senescent parental lines and 11 introgression lines with stay-green loci), 2 of these genotypes were further analyzed in greenhouse conditions where the water deficit was induced by a cessation of watering for 12 days. The field-grown plants showed some differences between individual genotypes in all measured parameters; however, for the majority of the genotypes these differences were not statistically significant. The stay-green parental genotype B35 differred the most from the other ones in both field seasons, but the other stay-green genotypes usually did not differ from the senescent genotypes. No significant differences between both greenhouse-tested genotypes (presumably contrasting in their...

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / Traditionally, digital imaging systems rely on the use of dedicated photodetectors to capture specific wavelengths in the visible spectrum. These photodetectors, which are commonly made of silicon, are arranged as arrays to capture the red, green and blue wavelengths. The signal captured by the individual photodetectors must then be interpolated and integrated to obtain the closest color match and the finest possible resolution with reference to the actual object. The use of spatially separated detectors to sense primary colors reduces the resolution by a factor of three compared to black and white imaging. The FOVEON detector technology greatly improves the color and resolution of the image through its vertically arranged, triple well photodetector. This is achieved by exploiting the variation of absorption coefficient of silicon with wavelength in the visible spectrum. Hence, in a silicon detector, the shorter wavelength (e.g. blue) would be mainly absorbed at a shallow depth. A longer wavelength (e.g. red) would penetrate the material deeper than the shorter wavelengths and be primarily absorbed at a greater depth. By producing a layered silicon detector, all three primary colour wavelengths of red, green and blue can be captured simultaneously. This thesis aims to study the FOVEON camera's ability to image light from the near Infrared (NIR) to the Ultra-Violet (UV) range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The imaged obtained using a set of bandpass filters show that the camera has response both in the UV as well as NIR regions. / Major, Singapore Armed Forces

The measurement of plant water content is essential to assess stress and disturbance in forest plantations. Traditional techniques to assess plant water content are costly, time consuming and spatially restrictive. Remote sensing techniques offer the alternative of a non destructive and instantaneous method of assessing plant water content over large spatial scales where ground measurements would be impossible on a regular basis. The aim of this research was to assess the relationship between plant water content and reflectance data in Eucalyptus grandis forest stands in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Field reflectance and first derivative reflectance data were correlated with plant water content. The first derivative reflectance performed better than the field reflectance data in estimating plant water content with high correlations in the visible and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Several reflectance indices were also tested to evaluate their effectiveness in estimating plant water content and were compared to the red edge position. The red edge position calculated from the first derivative reflectance and from the linear four-point interpolation method performed better than all the water indices tested. It was therefore concluded that the red edge position can be used in association with other water indices as a stable spectral parameter to estimate plant water content on hyperspectral data. The South African satellite SumbandilaSat is due for launch in the near future and it is essential to test the utility of this satellite in estimating plant water content, a study which has not been done before. The field reflectance data from this study was resampled to the SumbandilaSat band settings and was put into a neural network to test its potential in estimating plant water content. The integrated approach involving neural networks and the resampled field spectral data successfully predicted plant water content with a correlation coefficient of 0.74 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.41 on an independent test dataset outperforming the traditional multiple regression method of estimation. The potential of the SumbandilaSat wavebands to estimate plant water content was tested using a sensitivity analysis. The results from the sensitivity analysis indicated that the xanthophyll, blue and near infrared wavebands are the three most important wavebands used by the neural network in estimating plant water content. It was therefore concluded that these three bands of the SumbandilaSat are essential for plant water estimation. In general this study showed the potential of up-scaling field spectral data to the SumbandilaSat, the second South African satellite scheduled for launch in the near future. / Thesis (M.Sc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

This thesis deals with the measurement of light tubes efficiency in laboratory conditions during lighting by almost direct light rays. It also deals with the measurement of the spectral reflectance of the reflective materials available on the Czech market. The comparison of the efficiency of different light routes and also the determination of the spectral qualities of different reflective materials are the aims of this thesis. The light tubes were measured by means of the cubic integrator. The light source was moved and manoeuvred by means of the automatic goniophotometer. The light source flow was determined by the method of the zonal flows. The data were calculated in the Matlab programme. The evaluation is both in the graphic and in the numeric forms. The result of the thesis is both the comparison of the reflective materials for light tubes qualities, and the evaluation of efficiency of the assigned light routes. The optimal variant can be then selected during designing of the light tubes route according to the results of the measurements.

Conifers are important both ecologically and socioeconomically, however, same parts of their biology are not that well researched. This includes genetics and breeding and partly even physiology. Because quantitative genetic analyzes applied in breeding necessitate an analysis of a large number of samples, and conventional methods of analysis are quite time-consuming, certain parameters describing e.g. the activity of photosynthetic electron-transport chain (ETC) are considered for such use. Several methods of the measurement of the activity of photosynthetic ETC exist, but there are some problems with their usage in conifers. I studied this issue from different points of view in three parts of this thesis. 1) I compared the photosynthetic ETC activity in 8 species of conifers using chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence measurements on intact needles and polarographic measurements in isolated chloroplasts. Each method brought different information. 2) I measured Chl fluorescence parameters, reflectance spectra and pigment content in 536 genetically defined trees of Pinus sylvestris L. Many parameters showed relatively high genetic variability and heritability. I have also determined the suitability of various reflectance indices to estimate pigment and water content of needles. 3) I have optimized the...

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