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This work presents a novel technique for the determination of soil moisture obtaining 2-D Soil Moisture (SM) information with a single instrument. Both the instrument and the retrieval algorithm used, which is based on inferring the reflection coefficient of the terrain by direct and forward scattering polarimetric measurements of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Signals, are briefly described. Some preliminary results of a field campaign performed on La Pobla de Mafumet (Tarragona, Spain) are presented. This instrument and retrieval algorithm can be used for different applications, such as, an input for the irrigation algorithm (Smart-Irrigation) or forest fire prevention among others. Peer Reviewed

Research indicates that aerosol optical thickness (AOT) values and particulate matter (PM10) measurements can be used as indicators of atmospheric pollution. The problem of relating AOT with suspended particulate matter near the ground is still an open question. While satellite images can provide reliable and synoptic measurements from space, comparisons with monitoring surface level air pollution continues to be a challenge since satellite measurements are column integrated quantities. In this study, in-situ spectroradiometric measurements were taken during satellite overpass using field spectrometers to obtain the reflectance values of the calibration targets used. Sun photometer measurements were taken with the Microtops hand-held sun photometer to measure AOT. Meteorological data was collected from nearby meteorological stations and PM10 measurements were collected from local mobile air pollution stations. Following, the darkest pixel method of atmospheric correction was applied to a series of Landsat satellite images. The reflectance values of the atmospherically-corrected image were used in the radiative transfer equation to solve for AOT. Thematic maps were generated in order to develop air quality indices. The image-derived AOT values were examined for a positive correlation with PM10 measurements. It appears there exists a significant correlation between AOT and PM10 measurements. 2012 SPIE.

NFIRAOS, the TMT Observatory's initial facility AO system will correct atmospheric turbulence with 50 per cent sky coverage at the galactic pole. It is a multi-conjugate AO system feeding science light from 0.8 to 2.5 microns wavelength to three near-IR client instruments. NFIRAOS is an order 60x60 system with two deformable mirrors optically conjugated to 0 and 11.2 km. Very low background is an important design driver: one DM is mounted on a tip/tilt platform to reduce surface count; the optics are cooled to - 30 C. NFIRAOS' real time control uses six sodium laser wavefront sensors and up to three IR natural guide star tip/tilt and/or tip/tilt/focus sensors located within each client instrument. To compensate errors arising from the variability of the sodium layer, to which extremely large telescopes are more sensitive, NFIRAOS uses innovative algorithms coupled with a pair of Truth wavefront sensors that monitors a natural star at low bandwidth. For calibration, NFIRAOS includes simulators of both natural stars at infinity and laser guide stars at varying range distance. It also includes an IR acquisition camera, and a high-speed NGS WFS for operation without lasers. 1st AO4ELT conference - Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes, June 22-26, 2009, Paris, France

This dissertation aims to analyze the social perception about the Technical Course in Agroecology in the technical schools of Sao Bento do Una and Sao Jose do Belmonte in the State of Pernambuco. Even though cities with economies totally focused on agriculture and livestock, it was noticed that the course of agroecology has a low demand, since, historically, education focused on agrarian sciences is associated with conditions of backwardness and little social valuation. The understanding of the perception of the community, students and teachers regarding the operation of the technical course in agroecology in the years 2016-2017 was carried out through a qualitative exploratory approach and analytical orientation, through the application of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and document analysis . Also the methodological framework composes the content analysis proposal (BARDIN, 2011) used to analyze the course plans of agroecology and agriculture. This comparison was fundamental to verify that, even though the agroecology course is of the same technological axis, its characteristics are peculiar to its philosophy. During the analysis of the interviewees' discourses, even if the perception of the rural area and its economic and social impacts indicate positive and favorable understandings of the rural identity, it is still possible to detect inclinations of resistance to the encouragement, valorization and diffusion of the professions directed to the environment of the field.

Background We examined the associations of family size and birth order with atopy prevalence in rural Poland at two time periods. Methods Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the same villages and a small town of lower Silesia at an interval of 9 years. In 2003, 1700 (88% of eligible individuals), and in 2012, 1730 (86%) inhabitants aged 5 years or more completed a questionnaire and had a skin prick test for atopy. Results There was an inverse association between family size and atopy in the village population in 2003; the prevalence of atopy was the highest for those with no siblings (15.2%) and decreased to 5.4% for those with three and more siblings (OR = 0.22; 0.07–0.66). In contrast, there was little or no such protective effect in the town population where the prevalence of atopy was much higher (7.3% in the villages, 20.0% in the town). Nine years later, the prevalence of atopy had increased in the village to be similar to that in the town (19.6% and 19.9% respectively), and the protective effects of family size and birth order in the villages were much weaker (OR = 0.64; 95% CI 0.33–1.27 for three or more siblings). Both protective effects were strongest among children. Conclusions The protective effects of family size and birth order on atopy were much stronger in children than in adults and among those living in a village. They largely disappeared with the steep increase in atopy prevalence at all ages; this followed environmental changes on the village farms.

Having a significant economic impact in country's GDP and being a major workforce, construction industry is yet characterized by low production rate, low technological advancement, minimum automation and robotic usage, and so on. With the visionary idea of Industry 4.0 that focuses on digitization of the value chain of a product and improving productivity through a variety of technologies and automated manufacturing environment, this research aims to develop a framework to adopt Construction 4.0 within a construction company. Current state of the art of the technologies in construction associated with the notion of Industry 4.0 (e.g., Building Information Modelling, virtual reality, augmented reality, Drone, etc.) is explored through extensive literature studies. The proposed framework incorporates current technological advancement related to construction industry, legislative requirements, barriers, enterprise transformation requirements and so on. Construction 4.0 would make a great impact in construction industry through improved value chain of construction projects, productivity improvement, and safe and sustainable construction. Indeed, the proposed framework would contribute to the advancement of new knowledge in the worlds' construction companies and provide potentials of new research focuses.

Numerous space-borne X-band Synthetic Aperture Radars (X-SAR) systems will be launched by European agencies in the coming decade commencing this year. Those X-SARs can measure precipitation over land, thereby significantly augmenting the sensors that comprise the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM). This will incur relatively little incremental cost because they have already been funded. X-SAR measurements are especially beneficial over land where rainfall is difficult to measure by means of microwave radiometers that depend on scattering by frozen hydrometeors associated with that rain. The improved horizontal resolution of the retrievals will match the higher spatial resolution of mesoscale and general circulation models that will become available in the coming decade.

The land surface reflectance is a fundamental climate data record at the basis of the derivation of other climate data records (Albedo, LAI/Fpar, Vegetation indices) and has been recognized as a key parameter in the understanding of the land-surface-climate processes. In this presentation, we present the validation of the Land surface reflectance used for MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 data. This methodology uses the 6SV Code and data from the AERONET network. The overall accuracy clearly reaches the satellite specifications. To understand how to improve the validation, we developed an exhaustive error budget. Results show an impact of the absorption of aerosol and of the fine mode volume concentration.