Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+), as well as greenhouse gas reporting for the agriculture, forestry and other land use sector, requires land use changes to be characterized to estimate the associated greenhouse gas emissions or absorptions. It is becoming increasingly common to generate these estimates using sample-based area estimation (SBAE). This technique has been widely used in recent years in the generation of activity data – particularly for estimating areas of deforestation – for REDD+ measuring, reporting and verification. However, implementing countries and agencies have repeatedly highlighted the lack of guidance on how to address certain frequently encountered issues with this approach. This paper seeks to enable donors, academia, and countries that currently use or want to use SBAE for generating activity data for REDD+ or for other national or international reporting purposes, to delve into current good practice and existing literature, as well as gain a better understanding of the most pressing research needs in the area. The paper moreover will give non-experts an overview of area estimation, as well as its applications and limitations. Published by FAO with the collaborative support of several partners in the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI), the World Bank and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the paper is expected to contribute to improved forest data.

A timely reconsideration of digital aesthetics

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th Chinese Conference on Biometric Recognition, CCBR 2014, held in Shenyang, China, in November 2014. The 60 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from among 90 submissions. The papers focus on face, fingerprint and palmprint, vein biometrics, iris and ocular biometrics, behavioral biometrics, application and system of biometrics, multi-biometrics and information fusion, other biometric recognition and processing.

A comprehensive guide to the essential principles of image processing and pattern recognition Techniques and applications in the areas of image processing and pattern recognition are growing at an unprecedented rate. Containing the latest state-of-the-art developments in the field, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition presents clear explanations of the fundamentals as well as the most recent applications. It explains the essential principles so readers will not only be able to easily implement the algorithms and techniques, but also lead themselves to discover new problems and applications. Unlike other books on the subject, this volume presents numerous fundamental and advanced image processing algorithms and pattern recognition techniques to illustrate the framework. Scores of graphs and examples, technical assistance, and practical tools illustrate the basic principles and help simplify the problems, allowing students as well as professionals to easily grasp even complicated theories. It also features unique coverage of the most interesting developments and updated techniques, such as image watermarking, digital steganography, document processing and classification, solar image processing and event classification, 3-D Euclidean distance transformation, shortest path planning, soft morphology, recursive morphology, regulated morphology, and sweep morphology. Additional topics include enhancement and segmentation techniques, active learning, feature extraction, neural networks, and fuzzy logic. Featuring supplemental materials for instructors and students, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition is designed for undergraduate seniors and graduate students, engineering and scientific researchers, and professionals who work in signal processing, image processing, pattern recognition, information security, document processing, multimedia systems, and solar physics.

Interest in the automatic processing and analysis of document images has been rapidly increasing during the past few years. This book addresses the different subfields of document image analysis, including preprocessing and segmentation, form processing, handwriting recognition, line drawing and map processing, and contextual processing.

Following the successful publication of the 1st edition in 2009, the 2nd edition maintains its aim to provide an application-driven package of essential techniques in image processing and GIS, together with case studies for demonstration and guidance in remote sensing applications. The book therefore has a “3 in 1” structure which pinpoints the intersection between these three individual disciplines and successfully draws them together in a balanced and comprehensive manner. The book conveys in-depth knowledge of image processing and GIS techniques in an accessible and comprehensive manner, with clear explanations and conceptual illustrations used throughout to enhance student learning. The understanding of key concepts is always emphasised with minimal assumption of prior mathematical experience. The book is heavily based on the authors’ own research. Many of the author-designed image processing techniques are popular around the world. For instance, the SFIM technique has long been adopted by ASTRIUM for mass-production of their standard “Pan-sharpen” imagery data. The new edition also includes a completely new chapter on subpixel technology and new case studies, based on their recent research.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference on Image Analysis, SCIA 2013, held in Espoo, Finland, in June 2013. The 67 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 132 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on feature extraction and segmentation, pattern recognition and machine learning, medical and biomedical image analysis, faces and gestures, object and scene recognition, matching, registration, and alignment, 3D vision, color and multispectral image analysis, motion analysis, systems and applications, human-centered computing, and video and multimedia analysis.