土地利用/覆盖变化是地球上最重要的景观之一，同全球环境变化高度相关。通过对全球变化的整体模拟以及综合评价研究，可以了解全球气候变化运行机制以及人地关系。同时，全球尺度的土地利用/覆盖变化及其驱动机制研究，将揭示人类在全球气候变化机制中所起的作用，使人类更好地适应全球环境的变化。目前全球尺度的土地利用/覆盖研究大多是基于现有的五种欧洲或美国开发的全球地表覆盖产品，这些产品在一定程度上满足了全球变化研究的基本要求。但是，仍然存在一些不足之处，如统一的分类系统，精度低，产品之间的不一致以及低时效性等，使得这些产品并不适合全球环境变化的对比研究，也不能满足建立更高的精度和更可靠的全球气候变化模型的要求。因此，开发高分辨率，实时的地表覆盖产品，已成为当前全球变化研究的紧迫需要。 / 目前，遥感影像已广泛被用于制作全球地表覆盖产品，但由于传感器的技术要求和资金预算的限制，影像的空间和时间分辨率不能满足更高精度和可靠的全球变化研究需要。鉴于此，迫切需要我们研究和开发更加先进的卫星影像处理方法和地表覆盖产品的生产技术，为全球变化研究提供高精度和高可靠性的地表覆盖产品。 / 因此，为了提供更多的时间和更高空间分辨率的卫星影像以及地表覆盖产品，以更好地开展全球变化研究。本文主要从技术层面上，研究利用多源遥感影像的优点，生成高分辨率和多时相的卫星合成影像，并在此基础上发展了卫星数据融合理论和方法。本文研究中，传统的光谱空间数据融合理论将被回顾和充分讨论，考虑到卫星影像的多时相特征，传统的数据融合理论在时间维度得到扩展，本文将提出新的时空数据融合方法，并应用于植被监测和土地利用制图。 / 通过对融合理论及相关方法的系统学习，本文对各种融合方法进行了系统的回顾与总结，比如基于HIS变换图像融合方法 ，基于小波变换的图像融合方法，时空自适应反射融合模型（STARFM）等，并从遥感应用的角度，提出各种方法的优缺点。结合本文的研究目标，以下为本论文的主要研究内容。 / (1)数据融合相关理论将得到系统的研究和总结，包括各种融合模型及其应用，如基于IHS变换，PCA变换，或者小波分析的数据融合方法，等等。同时，结合具体应用归纳并总结了这些方法的优缺点。 / (2)由于传统数据融合方法依赖于空间及光谱信息，很难处理多源影像数据所蕴含的时空变化信息。因此，本文中，传统数据融合理论和方法在考虑到时间信息后得到改善和扩展。本文通过结合高空间分辨率Landsat数据和高时间分辨率MODIS数据为例，提出两种不同的时空数据融合方法。实验结果也表明，他们适合于处理多时空数据集成, 并能够满足全球变化研究对高质量数据的需要。 / (3)时空数据融合建模中的主要问题有两个，第一个问题是不同数据源之间具有不一致性，如不同卫星数据具有不同的地表反射率以及不同的数据可靠性。第二个是地表覆盖的季节性或者土地利用变化规则在空间和时间的维度具有不确定性，尤其是在复杂地区。考虑这些问题，本文在基于时间和空间自适应反射融合模型（STARFM）的基础上，提出一种新的改进模型，结果表明，它将比原有模型更为有效和更为准确的生成高分辨率合成影像数据。 / (4)混合像元问题是处理卫星数据中的一个常见问题。对于多源卫星数据来说，一个低分辨率图像像素区域将包含多个高分辨率图像像素。因此，不同数据源所获得的遥感数据将会因为混合像元问题从而影响到地表反射率数据在空间尺度上的差异，并影响到最终的融合精度。为了解决时空多源数据融合中的混合像元问题，本文将提出一种改进的基于附加条件的混合像元解缠的时空数据融合方法，实验结果表明它是适合植被监测应用，特别是具有先验土地覆盖图的地区。 / (5)在时空数据融合方法产生的一系列高分辨率合成影像的基础上，时空马尔可夫随机场分类方法被提出并用于研制生产高分辨率土地覆盖产品，该方法利用影像的时空上下文信息。这种方法提供了新的策略去制作土地覆盖产品 ，在缺乏高分辨率影像的地区。实验结果表明，它的精度是可以接受的，可以为缺乏高分辨率数据地区提供高品质的土地覆盖产品。 / Land use/cover change is one of the most important landscapes on the earth and it is highly related to global environmental change, based on which an overall simulation and comprehensive evaluation of global change research can be achieved for understanding the global change mechanism and the linkages between the human and natural environments. Moreover, study of global-scale land use/cover change and its driving mechanism will reveal the human role in global change mechanisms and processes for human adaptation to global environmental change. Most of the current global-scale land use/cover research is based on the existing five land cover products that have been developed by Europe and the US, and these indeed meet the basic requirements for the global change research to some extent. However, certain shortcomings still exist, such as their unified classification system, low accuracy, poor inconsistency, weak timeliness, etc., so, it is impossible to take the comparative global environmental change research as a basis for building more highly accurate and more reliable global change models, and it is urgent and necessary to develop a high-resolution, and up-to-date land cover product for global change research. / Currently, remote sensing imagery has been widely used for generating global land cover products, but due to certain physical and budget limitations related to the sensors, their spatial and temporal resolution are too low to attain more accurate and more reliable global change research. In this situation, there is an urgent need to study and develop a more advanced satellite image processing method and land cover producing techniques to generate higher resolution images and land cover products for global change research. / Accordingly, in order to provide more multi-temporal, high-resolution images and land cover products for global change research, this research mainly focuses on the technical level, of using both advantages of satellite images from different sources to generate high-resolution, multi-temporal images and develop satellite data fusion theory and methods. In this research, the traditional data fusion theory will be fully discussed and an improved scheme will be produced, taking into consideration the temporal information from satellite images at different times. Consequently, the spatial and temporal data fusion method will be proposed and applied to the monitoring of vegetation growth and land cover mapping. / Through conducting a comprehensive study of the related theories and methods related to data fusion, various methods are systematically reviewed and summarized, such as HIS transformation image fusion, Wavelet transform image fusion, the Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM), etc. The advantages and disadvantages of these methods are highlighted according to their specific applications in the field of remote sensing. Based on my research target, the following are the main contents of this thesis: / (1) Data fusion theory will be systematically studied and summarized, including various fusion models and specific applications, such as IHS transformation, PCA transformation, Wavelet analysis based data fusion, etc. Furthermore, their advantages and disadvantages are pointed out in relation to specific applications. / (2) As traditional data fusion methods rely on spatial information and it is hard to deal with multi-source data fusion with temporal variation, therefore, the traditional data fusion theory and methods will be improved by a consideration of temporal information. Accordingly, some spatial and temporal data fusion methods will be proposed, in which both high-resolution & low-temporary imagery and low-resolution & high-temporary imagery are incorporated. Our experiments also show that they are suitable for dealing with multi-temporal data integration and generating high-resolution, multi-temporal images for global change research. / (3) There are two main issues related to spatial and temporal data fusion theory. The first is that there are inconsistencies in different images, such as the different levels of land surface reflectance and different degrees of reliability of multi-source satellite data. The second is the rule of phonological variation/land cover variation in both the spatial and temporal dimensions, particularly in areas with heterogeneous landscapes. When considering these issues, an improved STARFM (spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model) is proposed, based on the original model, and the preliminary results show that it is more efficient and accurate in generating high-resolution land surface imagery than its predecessor. / (4) Mixed pixels is a common issue in relation to satellite data processing, as one pixel in a coarse resolution image will constitute several pixels in a high-resolution image of the same size, so different levels of land surface reflectance will be acquired from multi-source satellite data because of the mixed pixel effect on the coarse resolution data, and the final accuracy of the fused result will be affected if these data are subjected to data fusion. In order to solve the mixed pixel issue in multi-source data fusion, an improved spatial and temporal data fusion approach, based on the constraint unmixing technique, was developed in this thesis. The experimental results show that it is well-suited to the phenological monitoring task when a prior land cover map is available. / (5) Based on the high-resolution reflectance images generated from spatial and temporal fusion, a spatial and temporal classification method based on the spatial and temporal Markov random field was developed to produce a high-resolution land cover product, in which both spatial and temporal contextual information are included within the classification scheme. This method provides a new strategy for generating high-resolution land cover products in the area without high-resolution images at a certain time, and the experimental results show that it is acceptable and suitable for generating high quality land cover products in areas for which there is a lack of high-resolution data. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Xu, Yong. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-158). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.II / Acknowledgement --- p.VII / Contents --- p.VIII / List of Figures --- p.X / List of Tables --- p.XII / Abbreviations --- p.XIV / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research objectives and significance --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Research issues --- p.11 / Chapter 1.4 --- Research framework and methodology --- p.13 / Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of thesis --- p.16 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- Review of the Existing Image Fusion Methods --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1 --- Overview --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2 --- The multi-source image fusion method --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3 --- The multi-temporal, multi-source image fusion method --- p.29 / Chapter 2.4 --- Details of STARFM --- p.35 / Chapter 2.5 --- Accuracy of the assessment of the image fusion method --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6 --- Summary and discussion --- p.44 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- An Improved Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Data Fusion Model --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.48 / Chapter 3.2 --- Theoretical basis of the spatial and temporal reflectance data fusion model --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3 --- An improved spatial and temporal reflectance data fusion model --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4 --- Experiments with simulated data --- p.60 / Chapter 3.5 --- Experiments with actual data from the BOREAS and PANYU study areas --- p.67 / Chapter 3.6 --- Summary and discussion --- p.76 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- Spatial and Temporal Data Fusion Method Using the Constrained Unmixing Approach --- p.78 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.78 / Chapter 4.2 --- Methodology --- p.80 / Chapter 4.3 --- Experiments with simulated data --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4 --- Experiments with actual data --- p.90 / Chapter 4.5 --- Applications for NDVI and Land Surface Reflectance Monitoring --- p.96 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary and conclusions --- p.105 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- Spatial and Temporal Classification of Synthetic Satellite Imagery: Land Cover Mapping and Accuracy Validation --- p.107 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.107 / Chapter 5.2 --- Study sites and data sources --- p.109 / Chapter 5.3 --- Methodology --- p.113 / Chapter 5.4 --- Synthetic Data Generation at the HARV and PANYU Study Areas --- p.119 / Chapter 5.5 --- Land Cover Mapping with Synthetic Data --- p.133 / Chapter 5.6 --- Summary and discussion --- p.142 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- Summary and Conclusions --- p.144 / Chapter 6.1 --- Summary --- p.144 / Chapter 6.2 --- Contributions --- p.147 / Chapter 6.3 --- Recommendations for further research --- p.149 / REFERENCES --- p.151

This thesis develops and applies an integrated method of environmental assessment that couples a geographic Information system (GIS) to Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), using bioenergy combustion and CHP sites as a case study. A literature review to identify the gaps in knowledge with respect to spatial MCA and GIS-based approaches to support decision-making and sustainability assessments shows the need for an approach to identify suitable locations for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants using bioenergy combustion and to analyse spatial aspects. CHP plants can improve the efficiency and sustainability of bioenergy generation because they are capable of producing and utilising both electrical and thermal energy. Identifying suitable locations for these, typically decentralised, plants is crucial but challenging because proximity to both feedstock supply and heat demand has to be considered. The thesis develops and applies a novel GIS-based approach to identify suitable locations for CHP bioenergy plants and to analyse spatial aspects. This work stands out as the principal novel contribution of the research presented in this thesis. The science-based technical assessment can be integrated in a formal and structured decision support framework (DSF) which could aid environmental decision-making. There is no single right way to conduct a decision-making process because every process is limited by resources and timelines. The environmental assessment case study described in this thesis uses a modified version of the MCA framework proposed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (2009). The GIS-based approach is integrated in this DSF to couple GIS to MCA. Additionally, specific attention is given to reviewing and selecting sustainability aspects (covering Criteria and Indicators) and MCA methods. These processes are also integrated in the DSF and can be seen as being part of the problem structuring phase of the DSF used in the research presented in this thesis. It is shown how the DSF is applied to assess alternatives for centralised and decentralised generation in a research case study region. By applying the different stages of the DSF, including the GIS-based approach, the selection processes and a selected MCA method (Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)), it can be concluded that the decentralised alternatives should be preferred in the research case study scenarios if regional sustainable bioenergy generation wants to be archived. In the first scenario, the second alternative (A2) clearly dominates with an overall score of 71.82% (A1: 28.18%). However, the results are relatively close in the second scenario (A3: 56.62%, A4: 43.38%), which is mainly due to the similarity of the alternatives in the scenario. The sensitivity analyses show that the rankings of alternatives do not change in both scenarios unless major criteria weight variations or performance adjustments are made.

Devido às facilidades que a proximidade de leitos de rios oferece à população, muitas cidades concentram-se em torno de encostas. Por vezes, essa ocupação ocorre de forma irresponsável, alterando a cobertura original do solo, se estabelecendo em áreas cada vez mais próximas de margens de rios e sem realizar os devidos estudos sobre possíveis mudanças no volume da bacia hidrográfica devido ao aumento da precipitação média. Como conseqüência, ocasionalmente a profundidade da água supera as margens e atinge áreas ocupadas pelas construções e vias de acesso, causando prejuízos financeiros e riscos para o bem-estar da população. Para mitigar os danos, criando soluções imediatas, como a evacuação das áreas de risco, ou em longo prazo, como a reestruturação do sistema de drenagem de águas pluviais da cidade, é essencial uma análise das áreas suscetíveis a inundações. Este estudo tem como objetivo demonstrar o comportamento deste tipo de evento na cidade de Lages, Santa Catarina. Para tal, é utilizado um modelo digital de elevação, imagens obtidas a partir de um levantamento aerofotogramétrico, dados coletados no limite das linhas de ocorrências de cheias anteriores no seu volume máximo, usando tecnologia GNSS e utilizando softwares de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica Sistemas (SIG). Isto permite determinar quais são as áreas de risco de inundação na cidade, com base em informações coletadas no local e conhecimento em SIG. / Due the facilities that the proximity to riverbeds offers, many cities settle around those slopes. Sometimes it is done irresponsibly, changing the natural soil, occupying areas increasingly close to the banks and without conduct studies about possible changes that may happen on the basin's volume due increase of the average rainfall. The consequence of this is that sometimes water depth goes beyond the margins and reaches areas occupied by building and access roads, causing financial losses and risks to the welfare of the population. To be able to collect damages, whether creating immediate solutions, as evacuating the risk areas, or in long term, as city's rainwater drainage system being restructured, is essential an analysis study of areas susceptible to flooding. This study aims to demonstrate the behavior of this type of event in the city of Lages, Santa Catarina. For this, is used a digital elevation model, images captured by an aerophotogrammetric survey, collecting points on the limit of the previous occurrences flood lines at its maximum volume using GPS technology, and using software’s of Geographic Information Systems Studies (GIS). This is was possible to determine which are the flooding risk areas in the city, based on information collected on the local and knowledge in GIS.

Background: Hispanics account for more than half of the total United States (US) population growth between 2000 and 2010. To gain a comprehensive understanding of a predominantly Hispanic urban community in Northern Manhattan, the aims of this cross-sectional observational study were: (1) to characterize the actual and perceived neighborhood food environment in Northern Manhattan, (2) to understand the relationship between the actual and perceived neighborhood food environment, sociodemographic characteristics and the likelihood of consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and (3) to describe the contribution of participants’ sociodemographic characteristics and health behavior to their health outcomes. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was undertaken as part of the larger Washington Heights/Inwood Informatics Infrastructure for Comparative Effectiveness Research (WICER) project. English or Spanish-speaking Hispanic participants (n=4,019) 18 years and older living in Northern Manhattan’s five ZIP codes were recruited and interviewed by English-Spanish bilingual community health workers. Food outlets selling fruits and vegetables were identified using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) definitions obtained from the ReferenceUSA’s national business database. The neighborhood food environment was characterized by integrating the geocoded addresses of WICER study participants with external geographic-level data on food outlets present in the participants’ respective 0.25-mile and 0.5-mile residential radii. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regressions. Results: The food outlet types that sell fruit and vegetable in Northern Manhattan include small and medium/large size Supermarket/Grocery store, Meat Market, and Fruit and Vegetable Market. The majority of these food outlets (91.5%) are single location stores that have a smaller store space. The presence of Fruit and Vegetable Markets (2+ Stores in 0.25-mile: OR=1.59, p = 0.003; 1 Store in 0.5-mile: OR=2.28, p = 0.008; 2+ Stores in 0.5-mile: OR=3.10, p = 0.00) significantly increase the odds of participant’s perception that a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables is available in their neighborhood. The presence of Fruit and Vegetable Markets (2+ Stores in 0.25-mile: OR=1.51, p = 0.003; 1 Store in 0.5-mile: OR=2.25, p = 0.004; 2+ Stores in 0.5-mile: OR=3.31, p = 0.00) as well as the presence of medium/large size Supermarket/Grocery in 0.25-mile (OR=1.05, p = 0.013) significantly increase the odds of participant’s perception that the fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhood are of high quality whereas the presence of Meat Market in the participant’s 0.25-mile (OR=0.74, p = 0.002) significantly lower the odds. The presence of Fruit and Vegetable Markets (1 Store in 0.25-mile: OR=1.23, p = 0.047; 2+ Stores in 0.25-mile: OR=1.37, p = 0.020; 2+ Stores in 0.5-mile: OR=1.94, p = 0.018) as well as the presence of medium/large size Supermarket/Grocery (0.25-mile: OR=1.05, p = 0.020; 0.5-mile: OR=1.05, p = 0.018) significantly increase the odds of participant’s perception that a large selection of low-fat products is available in their neighborhood whereas the presence of Meat Market in the participant’s 0.25-mile (OR=0.83, p = 0.042) significantly lowers the odds. Variables that significantly increase the participants’ odds of consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day include having more than a high school education (0.25-mile and 0.5-mile models: OR=1.62, p = 0.004) and being foreign-born (0.25-mile model: Foreign-born in Dominican Republic: OR=1.77, p = 0.032; Foreign-born outside of the United States or the Dominican Republic: OR=2.44, p = 0.007; 0.5-mile model: Foreign-born in the Dominican Republic: OR=1.73, p = 0.040; Foreign-born outside of the United States or the Dominican Republic: OR=2.48, p = 0.006). In contrast, the participants’ perception that a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables is available in their neighborhood (0.25-mile model: OR=0.63, p = 0.011; 0.5-mile model: OR=0.64, p = 0.016) and the presence of Fruit and Vegetable Market in their 0.5-mile radius (1 Store: OR=0.32, p = 0.006; 2+ Stores: OR=0.38, p = 0.009) significantly lower the odds. Variables that significantly increase the odds of body mass index (BMI) in the overweight range were age (OR=1.02, p = 0.00), being foreign-born outside of the United States or the Dominican Republic (OR=1.76, p = 0.006), self-reported diabetes (OR=1.37, p = 0.026), and perceived weight as overweight (OR=4.46, p = 0.00) whereas being female (OR=0.67, p = 0.00) significantly lowers the odds. Variables that significantly increase the odds of BMI in the obese range were age (OR=1.02, p = 0.00), self-reported diabetes (OR=1.78, p = 0.00), and perceived weight as overweight (OR=19.39, p = 0.00) whereas having more than a high school education (OR=0.72, p = 0.021) significantly lowers the odds. Variables that significantly increase the odds of hypertension were age (OR = 1.04, p = 0.00) and self-reported diabetes (OR = 1.57, p = 0.00) whereas being female (OR = 0.72, p = 0.00) significantly lowers the odds. Education (>High School) significantly increases the odds (OR=1.43, p = 0.00) of self-report of good health. In contrast, variables that significantly lower the odds were age (OR=0.98, p = 0.00), being female (OR=0.60, p = 0.00), higher fruit and vegetable consumption (OR=0.66, p = 0.007), self-reported diabetes (OR=0.51, p = 0.00), and obesity (OR=0.64, p = 0.00). Variables that significantly increase the odds of self-report of good health include having more than a high school education (OR = 1.43, p = 0.00) whereas age (OR = 0.98, p = 0.00), female gender (OR = 0.60, p = 0.00), higher fruit and vegetable consumption (OR = 0.66, p = 0.007), self-reported diabetes (OR = 0.51, p = 0.00), and obesity (OR = 0.64, p = 0.00) significantly lower the odds. Conclusion: This study contributed to our understanding of the relationships among neighborhood food environment, health behaviors, and health outcomes in a predominantly Hispanic underserved urban community in New York City. While most findings were similar to those reported in the literature, our findings related to the relationship between participants’ perceived neighborhood food environment and actual healthy food access and fruit and vegetable consumption were in contrast to other studies in that increased perceived availability and actual availability lowered the odds of consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This surprising finding merits additional qualitative and quantitative research to examine the complex relationships among perceived access, availability, and consumption of healthy foods as well as improved measures of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Atualmente, a apicultura é aproveitada de forma econômica pelo homem na polinização das plantações, assim como na produção de própolis, geléia real, apitoxina e o mais conhecido e explorado pelo homem, o mel. A apicultura tem se consolidado como uma das atividades mais importantes do ponto de vista econômico, social e ambiental, uma vez que ao empregar mão-de-obra familiar e proporcionar geração de fluxo de renda, reduz a dependência dos produtos agrícolas de subsistência e favorece a fixação do homem no campo. Todavia, sem utilizar nenhum recurso computacional ou uma metodologia sistemática, os apicultores escolhem o local para instalar suas colméias, seja dentro dos perímetros da propriedade, ou numa região geográfica mais abrangente, como, por exemplo, um município. O Sistema de Informações Geográficas (SIG) é uma ferramenta computacional, resultado de combinação da Cartografia com a Informática, que permite efetuar análise espacial e cruzamento de informações espaciais de uma forma, antes, quase impossível de se pensar, pelo enorme esforço requerido, tempo exigido e o custo resultante. Este trabalho visa criar um SIG destinado a escolha do local que possa otimizar a produção apícola. Como conseqüência desta metodologia, surge também um melhoramento na polinização de zonas escolhidas, afetando e acelerando o processo de recuperação de áreas degradadas. As técnicas de manejo apícola desenvolvidas têm conseqüências econômicas e sociais para as populações envolvidas, como é o caso do exemplo utilizado neste trabalho, assentamento rural Padre Josimo Tavares. / Today, apiculture is economically exploited by the man in the pollination of crops, as well as the production of propolis, royal jelly, bee venom and the best known and exploited by the man, the honey. Apiculture has been established as one of the most important activity in terms of economic, social and environmental, once employing family labor-intensive and providing flow generation of income, reduces dependence on agricultural livelihoods and promotes the settling of the man in the field. However, without using any computer resource or a systematic methodology, beekeepers choose where to install their hives, is within the perimeters of the property, or a wider geographical area as a city, for example. The Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computational tool result of combining Cartography with Computer Science, that allows to perform spatial analysis and crossing spatial information in a way that, before, was almost impossible to think, by the enormous effort required, time required and the resulting cost. This work aims to create a GIS for site selection that can optimize hives production. As a result of this methodology it also appears an improvement in the pollination of selected areas, affecting and accelerating the recovery of degraded areas. The developed apicultural management techniques have economic and social consequences for the involved populations, such as the example used in this study, \"Padre Josimo Tavares rural settlement.

Ho Ka Yip. / Thesis submitted in: December 2003. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-152). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 論文摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.v / Table of Contents --- p.vi / List of Tables --- p.ix / List of Figures --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background to the Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Landscape Ecology --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2 --- Objectives of the Study --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3 --- Significance of the study --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Definitions --- p.9 / Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1 --- Landscape Ecology --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Definition --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Applications --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Landscape Metrics --- p.18 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Applications of Landscape Metrics --- p.24 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Sensitivity of the Metrics --- p.29 / Chapter 2.2 --- Feng Shui woodlands --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- General Characteristics --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Physical and Spatial Characteristics --- p.37 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Ecological Importance --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Functions of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.43 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Threats to Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.46 / Chapter 2.3 --- Summary --- p.48 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.49 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.49 / Chapter 3.2 --- Study Site Description --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3 --- Identification of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.53 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Acquisition and Pre-processing of Remote Sensing Data --- p.53 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Identification of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4 --- Extraction of Landscape Metrics and Landuse composition --- p.62 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Landscape Metrics of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.62 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Estimation of Landuse Composition in Feng Shui Woodlands' Neighbourhood --- p.66 / Chapter 3.5 --- Construction of a Geographical Information System (GIS) Database --- p.68 / Chapter 3.6 --- Analysis of Landscape Ecology of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.68 / Chapter 3.7 --- Summary --- p.70 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Results and Discussion (I)´ؤPhysical Characteristics of Feng Shui woodlands --- p.71 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.71 / Chapter 4.2 --- Identification of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.71 / Chapter 4.3 --- Interpretation of Landscape Metrics --- p.79 / Chapter 4.4 --- Factor Analysis Results of Landscape Metrics --- p.95 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.100 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Results and Discussion (II)一Interaction between Landuse Composition and Feng Shui woodlands --- p.101 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.101 / Chapter 5.2 --- Estimation of Landuse Composition --- p.101 / Chapter 5.3 --- Change of Landuse Composition in Feng Shui Woodlands' Neighbourhood --- p.106 / Chapter 5.4 --- Factor Analysis of Landuse Composition --- p.115 / Chapter 5.5 --- Interaction Between Landuse Composition and Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.120 / Chapter 5.5.1 --- Correlation Analysis --- p.120 / Chapter 5.5.2 --- Cluster Analysis --- p.124 / Chapter 5.6 --- GIS Database --- p.133 / Chapter 5.7 --- Summary --- p.135 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.137 / Chapter 6.1 --- Summary of The Study --- p.137 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Landscape Ecological Value of Feng Shui Woodlands --- p.138 / Chapter 6.3 --- Limitations of This Study --- p.142 / Bibliography --- p.144 / Appendix 1´ؤResults from Factor Analysis and Clustering Analysis --- p.153 / Appendix 2´ؤChange of Percentage of Landuse for Feng Shui Woodlands across 500 meters --- p.156

Since the damming and channelization of the lower Long Tom River in the 1940s and 1950s, the quality and quantity of habitat for coastal cutthroat trout and spring Chinook salmon in the watershed has dramatically diminished. In order to better understand the potential for stream restoration, this study uses 2D hydraulic modeling to determine the impact of reconnecting historical meander bends to the main stem of the lower Long Tom River on localized flooding, sediment erosion and deposition, and salmonid physical habitat. These models compare the current conditions to two restoration scenarios that allow for fish passage given 1, 2, and 5-year flood events at two study sites. This study reveals important variations in the impact of restoration between the study sites and the reconnection methods. It also suggests that there is the potential for a large increase in the area of accessible habitat with stream restoration.

Li Xiang. / "September 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 164-172) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Because of its potential applications, mobile localization in wireless networks has attracted much attention recently. It is essential that a mobile user should be able to know its location anytime and anywhere. In practice, however, it is not always possible to obtain an accurate location of the mobile user; the presence of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) radio signal propagation and malicious beacons could cause considerable errors in localization. Therefore, NLOS identification and the detection of malicious beacons are important issues in localization. Existing NLOS identification methods usually assume that localization involving the use of NLOS radio signals cannot be performed in a consistent manner. However, the validity of the foregoing assumption has not been properly investigated. As a result, it is questionable whether these methods can be used to identify NLOS effectively. Existing malicious beacon identification methods require the cooperation of several detecting nodes for the verification of a location claim from a target node. They all suffer from one or both of the drawbacks: (i) not able to cope with a sparse network situation, and (ii) their design being based on a particular distance measurement technique. Moreover, even if NLOS propagation and malicious beacons can be identified, the following problem could arise: if the localization systems do not use the beacons involving NLOS propagation and the malicious beacons, they may not be able to locate a mobile user because of not having enough beacons. / In the first part of this thesis, we present a theoretical analysis of localization using NLOS radio signals, and show that the above-mentioned assumption would no longer be valid when the mobile user is located outside the convex hull of the underlying beacons. As a result, existing NLOS identification methods, as well as many localization approaches, could perform poorly. Extensive experiments on different wireless networks demonstrate that NLOS in localization and the localization error caused by NLOS have been greatly underestimated in previous studies. In the second part, we propose a general location verification scheme to identify malicious beacons. It employs a node-to-node approach for location estimation, and could use different measurement techniques; moreover, it supports secure location verification in sparse networks. The proposed verification scheme has been shown able to achieve satisfactory performance via extensive real world GPS-based wireless sensor network experiments. In the third part, we present a mobility enhanced localization (MEL) scheme. By introducing the user's mobility information into the localization process, the proposed MEL can work in the area where current mobile localization systems cannot locate a mobile user for not having enough beacons. Extensive real world GPS experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed MEL scheme. With the proposed solutions to the above problems, we could obtain improved mobile localization. / Liu, Dawei. / Adviser: Moon-Chuen Lee. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-97). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

A key factor to the Scottish Governments' public policy and public service reconfiguration is collaborative working between service providers and service users in a framework of co-production. A second key factor in this reform is a place-based approach. Despite this rhetoric of co-production of health services having been used for some time in health policy, and considering the numerous interpretations of the meaning of both co–production and 'place' in the academic and professional literature, how rural dwellers experience rurality in terms of places and space, and how this may in turn affect health and interactions with co-production, remains underrepresented in health policy planning. In light of changes in health service provision, rural health care poses itself as a potentially emotive and sometimes volatile topic. A co-productive approach may encourage understanding, acceptance and better usage of health services and neighbourhood resources, by the residents registered as patients with local medical practices. This doctoral research study considered the use of participatory mapping techniques to generate, gather and capture the local voice of residents from two rural Scottish communities, regarding the self-perception of their health in relation to the place they call home. Through a participatory action research approach, using iterative co-design, residents were asked how their environment impacted on their health, and in particular their cardiovascular health. Qualitative data were collected through participatory mapping techniques and co- analysed using a thematic analysis process. The application of the concept of therapeutic landscapes revealed the importance of the 'sense of place' and its impact on health, along with the physical, social and cultural environmental aspects traditionally considered in public health disciplines. Results were digitised using geographic information systems (GIS) to illustrate the interactions between place, people and health, through a relational lens. This research demonstrates a working example of how, drawing from the discipline of health geography, a place based approach can make an important contribution to rural health service co- planning within a co-production framework.