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In urban areas, spectral mixture analysis (SMA) is a common technique for deriving the fractions of land covers within a pixel and information on the distribution of impervious surfaces. This study examined how the selection of endmembers affected the quantification of impervious surfaces using TM and ASTER imagery. Multiple subsets of endmembers derived using (1) extreme pixels from a minimum noise fraction (MNF) transformation, and (2) a manual approach usinga prioriknowledge of the study area were analysed. Two data sets were used to assess accuracy: (1) simulated image data comprising unmixed and mixed pixels of 10 typical and spectrally different urban land covers, and (2) detailed data derived from high-resolution aerial photography. The dimensionality of the imagery limited the number of endmembers, and as a result, unmixed land covers were modelled using multiple endmembers and some cells had abundance values that summed to more than one or were negative. The land covers of red roofs and concrete were the largest contributors to the error in impervious surfaces. The Sequential Maximum Angle Convex Cone (SMACC) endmember model was also used to unmix the images; however, the larger number of endmembers did not resolve the use of multiple endmembers to model the unmixed land covers and the accuracy was similar to that using SMA. The relationship between the pervious fraction estimated using the vegetation endmember and the ground reference data was stronger than that for the impervious fraction, although the fraction was underestimated. The problems in modelling highly variable impervious surfaces with a limited number of endmembers suggest that in urban environments with substantial vegetation, modelling the vegetation component as the inverse of the impervious fraction may lead to improved results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Raman spectroscopy is used to identify minerals in isolated sealed inclusion chambers in some New South Wales (Australia) diamonds and to determine the remnant internal pressure on each inclusion with values of each: 3.03, 3.31 and 3.54 - 3.62 GPa for coesite, 0.42, 1.36 and 2.3 GPa for diopsidic omphacite, and 0.8 GPa for grossular garnet, each determination for a different uncut stone. The diamond stress due to remnant pressure was found to be proportional to the maximum strain birefringence around each inclusion, as measured by the Berek compensator, with the constant (K = 1000 / 5.8, R2 = 0.93) independent of the inclusion mineral, size, orientation and shape within the limits of error. Thus, simple birefringence measurements of diamond adjacent to inclusions can be used to estimate remnant pressures on inclusions. The calibration shows that one of the stressed diamonds has an anomalously low strain birefringence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the 2003 Italian-Australian workshop on spectroscopy and imaging with synchrotron radiation. Issues discussed during the workshop; Institutions behind the event; Status of medical imaging at Elettra.