From Laboratory Spectroscopy To Remotely Sensed Spectra Of Terrestrial Ecosystems

Remote sensing of the environment is covered through spectroscopic analysis of soil and vegetation response during active and passive sensing. Fundamental aspects of spectroscopic methods for environmental applications are given. Applications range from remote sensing of saline soils, soil moisture detection, landscape evolution, weed detection, fluorescence imaging, and use of vegetation indices to measure ecosystem variables such as plant stress.

Contributed papers presented at the National Seminar on "Hyperspectral Remote Sensing and Spectral Signature Databse Management System," held on February 14-15, 2008 at Annamalai University.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Remote Sensing and Geosciences for Archaeology" that was published in Geosciences

Human-computer interaction studies the users and their interaction with an interactive software system (ISS). However, these studies are designed for people without any type of disability, causing there to be few existing techniques or tools that focus on the characteristics of a specific user, thus causing accessibility and utility issues for neglected segments of the population. This reference source intends to remedy this lack of research by supporting an ISS focused on people with visual impairment. User-Centered Software Development for the Blind and Visually Impaired: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a collection of innovative research on techniques, applications, and methods for carrying out software projects in which the main users are people with visual impairments. While highlighting topics including mobile technology, assistive technologies, and human-computer interaction, this book is ideally designed for software developers, computer engineers, designers, academics, researchers, professionals, and educators interested in current research on usable and accessible technologies.

This book presents experimental investigations and digital image processing, highlighting the interaction of polarized radiation with phase-inhomogeneous and optically anisotropic biological layers. The promising and efficient use of vector-parametric description of the formation of polarization-inhomogeneous object fields is noted. Applications of a set of Mueller-matrix polarimetry methods are highlighted. The book includes- structural and logical scheme of multi-parameter (singular, interference and layer-by-layer Stokes-polarimetric), polarization-correlation study of the structure of distributions of the number of singularities, maps of local contrast of interference distributions and layer-by-layer maps of microscopic polarization azimuth and ellipticity; determination of relationships between changes in the magnitude of statistical parameters characterizing polarization-correlation distributions and pathology of prostate tumors.

This volume addresses the physical foundation of remote sensing. The basic grounds are presented in close association with the kinds of environmental targets to monitor and with the observing techniques. The book aims at plugging the quite large gap between the thorough and quantitative description of electromagnetic waves interacting with the Earth's environment and the user applications of Earth observation. It is intended for scientifically literate students and professionals who plan to gain a first understanding of remote sensing data and of their information content.

This fourth volume of Light Scattering Reviews is composed of three parts. The ?rstpartisconcernedwiththeoreticalandexperimentalstudiesofsinglelightsc- tering by small nonspherical particles. Light scattering by small particles such as, for instance, droplets in the terrestrial clouds is a well understood area of physical optics. On the other hand, exact theoretical calculations of light scattering p- terns for most of nonspherical and irregularly shaped particles can be performed only for the restricted values of the size parameter, which is proportional to the ratio of the characteristic size of the particle to the wavelength?. For the large nonspherical particles, approximations are used (e. g. , ray optics). The exact th- retical techniques such as the T-matrix method cannot be used for extremely large particles, such as those in ice clouds, because then the size parameter in the v- iblex=2?a/???,wherea is the characteristic size (radius for spheres), and the associated numerical codes become unstable and produce wrong answers. Yet another problem is due to the fact that particles in many turbid media (e. g. , dust clouds) cannot be characterized by a single shape. Often, refractive indices also vary. Because of problems with theoretical calculations, experimental (i. e. , la- ratory) investigations are important for the characterization and understanding of the optical properties of such types of particles. The ?rst paper in this volume, written by B. Gustafson, is aimed at the descr- tionofscaledanalogueexperimentsinelectromagneticscattering.