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The infrared emission limb sounder MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) will be operated as an ESA core instrument on the ENVISAT-1 satellite. Near real time retrieval of pressure, temperature (p,T) and volume mixing ratio (VMR) of five key species (O-3, H2O, N2O, CH4, and HNO3) from calibrated spectra will be performed in the Level 2 processor of the ENVISAT Payload Data Segment. In order to develop an optimized (with respect to speed and accuracy) retrieval algorithm suitable for the implementation in MIPAS Level 2 processor, an ESA supported study is being carried out. In the framework of this study, an optimized forward / retrieval code based on the global fit approach was implemented. In this approach all the spectra of a limb-scanning sequence are simultaneously fitted, so that error propagation in the altitude domain is avoided.The attained accuracy performances of the retrieval code are the following:Temperature error < 2 K at all the altitudes covered by the standard MIPAS scan (8-53 km)Tangent pressure error: < 3%Error on the retrieved VMR of the key species: < 5 % at most of the altitudes of scientific interest covered by the standard MIPAS scan.The run-time required to perform p,T and VMR retrieval of the five MIPAS target species from a limb-scanning sequence of 16 limb-views is less than 6 minutes on a SUN SPARCstation 20. The most effective code optimizations were implemented in the radiative transfer model and in the computation of the jacobian of the retrieval.

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This work proposes a new methodology to build an Earth-wide mosaic using high-spatial resolution (15 m) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images in pseudo-true color. As ASTER originally misses a blue visible band, we have designed a cloud of artificial neural networks to estimate the ASTER blue reflectance from Level-1 data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the same satellite Terra platform. Next, the granules are radiometrically harmonized with a novel color-balancing method and seamlessly blended into a mosaic. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithms are robust enough to process several thousands of scenes acquired under very different temporal, spatial, and atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, the created mosaic fully preserves the ASTER fine structures across the various building steps. The proposed methodology and protocol are modular so that they can easily be adapted to similar sensors with enormous image libraries.

AbstractContext: Community health centers (CHCs) are primary care clinics that serve mostly low‐income patients in rural and urban areas. They are required to be governed by a consumer majority. What little is known about the structure and function of these boards in practice suggests that CHC boards in rural areas may look and act differently from CHC boards in urban areas.Purpose: To identify differences in the structure and function of consumer governance at CHCs in rural and urban areas.Methods: Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 30 CHC board members from 14 different states. Questions focused on board members’ perceptions of board composition and the role of consumers on the board.Findings: CHCs in rural areas are more likely to have representative boards, are better able to convey confidence in the organization, and are better able to assess community needs than CHCs in urban areas. However, CHCs in rural areas often have problems achieving objective decision‐making, and they may have fewer means for objectively evaluating quality of care due to the lack of patient board member anonymity.Conclusions: Consumer governance is implemented differently in rural and urban communities, and the advantages and disadvantages in each setting are unique.

The need to substitute capital for labor-force and the augmentation of internal demand explain the forms of expansion of spanish agriculture for the last 20 years: growth of production and changes in its composition, progression of productivity, intense mecanization, increase of imports more rapidly than exports. To day several factors disturbe this model of growth, the main ones being the slow-down or rural depopulation, the inequality on land distribution, the persistent weakness of breeding. In the crisis ' cycle, we may doubt that government and agricultors can reach, beyond their short term accommodation, a new long term compromise.

The role of digital transformation in creating value for commercial banks has been interesting to researchers for a long time. While many commercial banks have significantly investigated digital transformation, researchers and managers have still met many difficulties examining the distribution of digital transformation to business performance. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of digital transformation on Vietnamese commercial banks’ performance by different sizes, from there proposing policy implications of digital transformation to improve the banking performance. To achieve this goal, we used a quantitative research method. Specifically, we applied the GMM system (SGMM) of Blundell and Bond for the data of 13 joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam in the period from 2011 to 2019. Then Bayesian analysis is performed to test the robustness of the models estimated by the SGMM method. The result shows that the digital transformation has a positive impact on the performance of Vietnamese commercial banks. Besides, we also find that the larger the banks, the greater the positive impact of digital transformation on bank performance. Therefore, the efficiency of digital transformation depends on a bank scale.

La sensibilité de sept espèces d'acacias australiens (#Acacia hilliana$, #A. holosericea$, #A. lysiphloia$, #A. mangium$, #A. sclerosperma$, #A. trachycarpa$ et #A. tumida$ à #Meloidogyne javanica$ est étudiée en faisant varier le nombre de juvéniles inoculés (100, 500 et 1000 juvéniles par pot). Ces sept espèces peuvent être considérées comme sensibles à ce nématode phytoparasite. La qualité de la plante hôte pour la multiplication du nématode est différente selon l'espèce d'#Acacia$ : #A. sclerosperma$, #A. hilliana$, #A. holosericea$ et #A. mangium$ sont de bons hôtes alors que #A. trachycarpa$, #A. tumida$ et #A. lysiphloia$ sont de mauvais hôtes pour ce nématode. Leur tolérance est aussi variable : #A. sclerosperma$, #A. hilliana$, #A. mangium$, #A. trachycarpa$ et #A. lysiphloia$ sont tolérants envers #M. javanica$ alors que le développement de #A. holosericea$ est significativement inhibé, au contraire de #A. tumida$ dont la croissance est stimulée. Un effet négatif du nématode sur la symbiose fixatrice d'azote est observé avec #A. mangium$ et #A. holosericea$ alors que #M. javanica$ favorise cette symbiose pour #A. tumida$ et #A. hilliana$. Dans ce cas, il est possible d'évaluer que 1 mg de matière sèche nodulaire provoque la formation de respectivement 98 et 88 mg de matière végétale sèche. (Résumé d'auteur)

Abstract. Water quality is an important index of the ecological environment, which changes rapidly and needs to be monitored chronically. In urban ecological environment, water quality problem is not only more serious, but also more complex in time and space. Remote sensing water quality monitoring can cover a large area in a short time. Therefore, remote sensing can be adopted to make up for the shortcomings of traditional water quality monitoring methods in space coverage and temporal resolution. In order to monitor the narrow rivers in urban area, low altitude remote sensing is needed. This paper proposes a multi-spectral water quality monitoring method based on UAV platform, which can quickly monitor an entire urban water area and conduct multi-temporal observation for key indices of water quality within one day. It is helpful to find and locate the polluted areas which affect the water environment quickly. Also, it can show the changes of water quality on the time axis. The result can provide a decision-making basis for water environment treatment.