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The article deals with measurements carried out in three trial sections of railway lines in the Czech Republic, where different types of geocomposites were inserted under ballast during the period of 2008 to 2012. In these sections, the longterm monitoring of the durability of geometric characteristics of the track, as well as the degradation of embedded geosynthetic products and the homogeneity of the loadbearing capacity on the top surface of the ballast and at the sleeper-ballast interface level is in progress using the lightweight falling deflectometer. In each trial section, both measurements on the ballast bed with embedded under-ballast geocomposites and without them were performed. The monitored trail sections, used methodology of the measurement and evaluation of obtained data are described in the article. The benefits of the applied monitoring method are appreciated and conclusions from the operational monitoring of trial sections completed to-date made.

Introduction Andrey Kostianoy, Olga Lavrova HELCOM actions to eliminate illegal and accidental oil pollution from ships in the Baltic Sea Anne Christine Brusendorff, Samuli Korpinen, Laura Meski, Monika Stankiewicz European Maritime Safety Agency CleanSeaNet activities in the Baltic Sea Samuel Djavidnia and Jorge Del Rio Vera Oil pollution in waters of Finland Heli Haapasaari and Kati Tahvonen The German operational monitoring system in the Baltic Sea: Sensors, methods, and example data Martin Gade, Bjorn Baschek Oil pollution in waters of Latvia Juris Aigars, Evija Smite, Juris Skrube, Ojars Gerke Oil pollution in waters of Lithuania Algirdas Stankevicius, Galina Garnaga Satellite monitoring of oil pollution in the Southeastern Baltic Sea Andrey Kostianoy, Olga Lavrova, Marina Mityagina, Dmytro Solovyov, Sergey Lebedev Seatrack Web: The HELCOM tool for oil spill prediction and identification of illegal polluters Cecilia Ambjorn, Olof Liungman, Johan Mattsson, Bertil Hakansson Seatrack Web - a numerical tool for Environmental Risk Assessment in the Baltic Sea Andrey Kostianoy, Cecilia Ambjorn, Dmytro Solovyov Satellite monitoring of the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction in the Gulf of Finland Andrey Kostianoy, Olga Lavrova, Marina Mityagina, Dmytro Solovyov Conclusions Andrey Kostianoy, Olga Lavrova

For the operational monitoring indicators and confidence indicators data of a number of small and micro enterprises in Sichuan Province in 2012 throughout the year and 2rd–4th month in 2013, and based on originally identified ARIMA time series model on the original data, we blurred into an interval according to certain rules, and then were made to the lower limit of the range using identified ARIMA time series model, to get a prediction interval. Finally, based on these results, some policy proposals on small and micro enterprises in Sichuan Province are put forward.

A technical system to improve the operational monitoring of the 5th unit of the Zaporozhye/Ukraine NPP as a tool for the supervisory authority is presented. The system is mainly directed to monitoring the operational data for early detection of, and information about, anomalous events and gives input data for source term estimation. Additionally, radiological data from the site and the environment as well as meteorological data are integrated in the system for pollution transport calculations. Thus the system's information is well suited to becoming a data source for the RODOS system.

Undertaking a systematic pipeline geohazard assessment may be driven by the design and regulatory permitting needs for proposed new pipelines or as an input to the integrity management of operating pipeline assets. Yet the leading international pipeline codes do not provide explicit direction on undertaking such assessments, rather providing considerable latitude in the guidance to do so which in turn provides several options. The methods for identifying and assessing the potential likelihood and severity of geohazards vary significantly, from purely expert judgment-based approaches relying largely on visual observations of geomorphology to analytically-intensive methods incorporating phenomenological and/or mechanistic models and route, pipeline properties and, where applicable, operational monitoring data. Each of these methods can be used to assess hazard and risk associated with specific geohazards in terms of qualitative, semi-quantitative or quantitative approaches provided that associated underlying assumptions are clearly understood. Some of these methods are better suited to provide a continuous contiguous geohazard risk assessment for a pipeline system while others are better suited for localized site-specific risk assessments. Following a brief review of pipeline codes, this paper provides an overview of the range of pipeline geohazard assessment approaches and explores the “fitness for purpose” strategy that allows for continuing improvement during design stages and into operations.Copyright © 2013 by ASME

Fatigue damage accumulation and analysis methods are considered for composites and contrasted with metals. The failure of current analysis methods is illustrated and explained by the information missing in load idealization data. Detailed local strain operational monitoring with local strain fatigue data is proposed as a future approach to fatigue life assessment of composite materials under aircraft service loading.

The first results of a new approach for implementing operational monitoring tool to control the performance of forest mechanisation chains are proposed and discussed. The solution is based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) tools that are the core of a datalogging system that, in combination with a specific inference-engine, is able to analyse process times, work distances, forward speeds, vehicle tracking and number of working cycles in forest operations. As a consequence the operational monitoring control methods could provide an evaluation of the efficiency of the investigated forest operations. The study has monitored the performance of a tower yarder with crane and processor-head, during logging operations. The field surveys consisted on the installation of the GNSS device directly on the forest equipment for monitoring its movements. Simultaneously the field survey considered the integration of the GNSS information with a time study of work elements based on the continuous time methods supported by a time study board. Additionally, where possible, the onboard computer of the forest machine was also used in order to obtain additional information to be integrated to the GNSS data and the time study. All the recorded GNSS data integrated with the work elements study were thus post-processed through GIS analysis. The preliminary overview about the application of this approach on harvesting operations has permitted to assess a good feasibility of the use of GNSS in the relief of operative times in high mechanised forest chains. Results showed an easy and complete identification of the different operative cycles and elementary operations phases, with a maximum difference between the two methodologies of 10.32%. The use of GNSS installed on forest equipment, integrated with the inferenceengine and also with an interface for data communication or data storage, will permit an automatic or semi-automatic operational monitoring, improving the quantity of data and reducing the engagement of the surveyor.

As part of the Biodiversity Multi-Source Monitoring System (BIO_SOS), a new approach to the classification of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) classes from very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing data has been developed. These classes are also translated to General Habitat Categories (GHCs). Examples of the classification are presented for Cors Fochno in Wales but can be generated for any site where appropriate remote sensing data have been acquired. The system has been developed for operational monitoring of protected areas and their surrounds.

Borregaard har installert nytt renseanlegg for å redusere sine utslipp av lettomsettelig organisk materiale til Glomma. Basert på Borregaards regulerte utslippskomponenter og tidligere erfaringer har NIVA utformet et tiltaksorientert overvåkingsprogram for Borregaard i henhold til vannforskriften. Dekningsgrad av heterotrof begroing, ASPT indeks for bunnfauna og PIT indeks for begroingsalger ble valgt ut som de mest følsomme og velegnede biologiske kvalitetselementer for de ulike belastningene. Resultater for 2013 ble sammenlignet med tidligere målinger i området utenfor Borregaard i Glomma. Resultater fra 2013 viser at eutrofiindeksen PIT vipper mellom god og moderat økologisk tilstand fra referansestasjonen fram til den nederste stasjonen, hvor den var nær grensen til dårlig tilstand. Dekningsgrad av lammehaler for 2013 viste at de to øverste stasjonene var i god eller svært god tilstand, mens de resterende stasjonene var i moderat, dårlig eller svært dårlig økologisk tilstand. I 2013 var den økologiske tilstanden for bunndyrsamfunnet god for de to øverste stasjonene. Videre nedover i Glomma reduseres tilstanden til moderat ved Stasjon 3 og 4 og ytterligere nedstrøms til dårlig, med unntak av Stasjon 7A i Pæddekummen, hvor tilstanden var svært dårlig. Det er ingen klar endring i de påvirkede stasjonene siden målinger startet 2010. Resultater fra høst 2013 mot vår 2013, samt tidligere undersøkelser viser ingen endringer i økologisk tilstand. Renseanlegget har kun vært fullt operativt siden juni 2013, og antagelig vil det kreves lengre tid før de biologiske prosessene i Glomma responderer på effektene fra renseanlegget. Borregaard

Monitoring is a common, if generally implicit, part of spill response. However, there are no general guidelines for designing and carrying out spill response monitoring. With a few notable exceptions, as in shoreline assessments, monitoring rules are made up as the response progresses. Important rules of monitoring, such as those concerning adequate controls, are often left out or remain ill-defined, leading to unjustified product claims. As a result, there is often considerable debate and confusion about the effectiveness of protection and cleanup actions as well as the need to move on or terminate the response. A framework has been developed to help make monitoring an explicit process in spill response management. This framework forces (1) clear identification of the objectives of prevention and cleanup strategies, (2) selection of meaningful and useful end points, to quickly document effectiveness, (3) an appropriate strategy (statistical or otherwise) for collecting and reporting needed feedback information, (4) an often-overlooked quality assurance/quality control plan, (5) a data or information management plan, and (6) confirmation that a decision was (or was not) made based on monitoring results. The most important aspect of an explicit monitoring plan is that it forces not only clear definition of “how clean is clean enough,” but also how this measure will be operationally documented. Elements of this process are indeed covered in many past responses and in some recent documents. Nevertheless, there is a critical need to develop additional rapid response tools for chemistry, biology, and toxicology and for a more thorough operational monitoring guide for spill response.

An analysis is made of sources of methodological error encountered in the design of differential manometers and in operational monitoring of the discharge of materials and energy carriers. It is shown that these sources of error can be eliminated.

The ‘Land-Surface-Analysis’ SAF (LSA-SAF, http://landsaf.meteo.pt/), is dedicated to the operational monitoring of land surface. For this purpose, it develops algorithms to obtain near real time data products. The evapotranspiration (ET), cannot be observed directly by remote sensing and is assessed indirectly through modelling. The ET algorithm uses Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) derived data. It produces in near real time ET estimates at the SEVIRI instrument spatial resolution each 30 minutes. Validation already carried out attests the robustness of the proposed algorithm, notably over Europe. Nevertheless, research will be pursued during coming years, looking for additional validation sites and evolving towards an improved combination of remote sensed observations and models.

The Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ) system of the ATLAS experiment is a very complex distributed computing system, composed of more than 20000 applications running on more than 2000 computers. The TDAQ Controls system has to guarantee the smooth and synchronous operations of all the TDAQ components and has to provide the means to minimize the downtime of the system caused by runtime failures. During data taking runs, streams of information messages sent or published by running applications are the main sources of knowledge about correctness of running operations. The huge flow of operational monitoring data produced is constantly monitored by experts in order to detect problems or misbehaviours. Given the scale of the system and the rates of data to be analyzed, the automation of the system functionality in the areas of operational monitoring, system verification, error detection and recovery is a strong requirement. To accomplish its objective, the Controls system includes some high-level components which are based on advanced software technologies, namely the rule-based Expert System and the Complex Event Processing engines. The chosen techniques allow to formalize, store and reuse the knowledge of experts and thus to assist the shifters in the ATLAS control room during the data-taking activities.

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is regarded as a center for unbiased expertise in testing and evaluation of geophysical sensors and instrumentation for ground-based nuclear explosion monitoring (GNEM) systems. This project will sustain and enhance our component evaluation capabilities. In addition, new sensor technologies that could greatly improve national monitoring system performance will be sought and characterized. This work directly impacts the Ground-based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring mission by verifying that the performance of monitoring station sensors and instrumentation is characterized and suitable to the mission. It enables the operational monitoring agency to deploy instruments of known capability and to have confidence in operational success. This effort will ensure that our evaluation capabilities are maintained for future use.

[ES] La Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA) especifica tres programas de control para el seguimiento del estado ecológico: el control de vigilancia, el control operativo y el control de investigación. El diseño del control operativo de los sistemas pelágicos de las masas de agua costeras, tiene como objetivo determinar y controlar el estado de aquellas masas que se considere que pueden no cumplir sus objetivos medioambientales y corroborar su mejora como resultado de los programas de medidas. Sin embargo, el alto coste económico que esto supone hace necesario reducir el número de estaciones de muestreo. Para ello mediante un análisis estadístico de similitud se seleccionan las estaciones más representativas del control de vigilancia con el objetivo de reducir el número de estaciones tanto en aquellas masas que incumplen como en las que cumplen los objetivos de calidad para el fitoplancton y parámetros fisicoquímicos sin perder la consecución de los objetivos de calidad. Para la selección de estaciones representativas se utilizan análisis estadísticos de dispersión y estabilidad, análisis de similitud como el análisis Cluster, el Coeficiente de Correlación Intraclase y el diagrama de cuantiles. En la Comunitat Valenciana (España) se consigue reducir el número de estaciones de 78 a 47. Se logra por tanto un importante ahorro para las administraciones públicas, sin que esto suponga una pérdida de información, necesaria para una correcta caracterización de las masas de agua costeras., [EN] Three types of monitoring programs are specified and described in the Water Framework Directive (WFD): Surveillance Monitoring, Operational Monitoring and Investigative Monitoring. The Operational Monitoring design for pelagic systems of coastal water bodies, aims to monitor the status of those coastal water bodies, that may not achieve their environmental objectives and to corroborate their improvement as a result of the Programmes of Measures. However, the high cost of the surveillance monitoring, makes necessary to reduce the number of sampling stations. Using a statistical analysis of similarity, it is possible to select the most representative stations of surveillance monitoring with the aim of reducing the number of stations (and the associated economic costs) in the operational control in those water bodies that achieve the quality objectives for phytoplankton and physicochemical parameters without losing a proper characterization of ecological status. For the selection of representative stations, different statistical analyses are done: dispersion analysis and stability analysis and similarity analysis (Cluster, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient and Q-Q Plots)., [CA] La Directiva Marco de l'Aigua (DMA) especifica tres programes de control per al seguiment de l'estat ecològic: el control de vigilància, el control operatiu i el control d'investigació. El disseny del control operatiu dels sistemes pelàgics de les masses d'aigua costaneres, té com a objectiu determinar i controlar l'estat d'aquelles masses que es considere que poden no complir els seus objectius mediambientals i corroborar la seua millora com resultat dels programes de mesures. No obstant això, l'alt cost econòmic que açò suposa fa necessari reduir el nombre d'estacions de mostratge. Per això mitjançant una anàlisi estadística de similitud es seleccionen les estacions més representatives del control de vigilància amb l'objectiu de reduir el nombre d'estacions tant en aquelles masses que incomplixen com en les que complixen els objectius de qualitat per al fitoplàncton i paràmetres fisicoquímics sense perdre la consecució dels objectius de qualitat Per a la selecció d'estacions representatives s'utilitzen anàlisis estadístiques de dispersió i estabilitat, anàlisi de similitud com l'anàlisi Cluster, el Coeficient de Correlació Intraclasse i el diagrama de cuantiles. En la Comunitat Valenciana (Espanya) s'aconseguix reduir el nombre d'estacions de 78 a 47. S'aconseguix per tant un important estalvi per a les administracions públiques, sense que açò supose una pèrdua d'informació, necessària per a una correcta caracterització de les masses d'aigua costaneres.

Operational oil pollution surveillance has been performed in Germany for almost 30 years. Sophisticated state-of-the-art sensors are being used for frequent airborne surveillance, while satellite data are used as additional information input on a routine basis. Basic research on the imaging of marine oil pollution by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been performed in Germany since the early 1980s, and a basic understanding of the imaging of biogenic and anthropogenic marine surface films by active microwave sensors has been developed. In this paper, we provide an overview of the current operational surveillance system, and we give some historical background summarising some of the results of the research conducted during the past decades.

Rapporten presenterer en gjennomgang av norsk tiltaksovervåking i jordbruksdominerte nedbørfelt i henhold til Vannforskriften. Vannområder med tilnærmet lik problematikk mht. jordbruksbelastning kan ha vidt forskjellig overvåkingsdesign, både når det gjelder stasjonstetthet, valg av kvalitetselementer og frekvens. Overvåkingen organiseres fra lokalt plan, med begrenset sentral eller regional styring. Det anbefales at den tiltaksorienterte overvåkingen i Norge harmoniseres bedre.

The Zagorsk pumped-storage power plant (PSPP) in Russia is sited on a geologically complex bed. The bed required new design structures for the PSPP. The class of structures, complex hydrogeological conditions, and new structural designs required the development of a system for operational monitoring during construction and operation. The system and its performance are detailed in this article. 6 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

The Department of Energy and the Sandia National Laboratories Wind Power Technology Department have initiated a number of wind turbine blade sensing technology projects with a major goal of understanding the issues and challenges of incorporating new sensing technologies in wind turbine blades. The projects have been highly collaborative with teams from several commercial companies, universities, other national labs, government agencies and wind industry partners. Each team provided technology that was targeted for a particular application that included structural dynamics, operational monitoring, non-destructive evaluation and structural health monitoring. The sensing channels were monitored, in some or all cases, during blade fabrication, field testing of the blade on an operating wind turbine, and lab testing where the life of the blade was accelerated to blade failure. Implementing sensing systems in wind turbine blades is an engineering challenge and solutions often require the collaboration with a diverse set of expertise. This report discusses some of the key issues, challenges and lessons-learned while implementing sensing technologies in wind turbine blades. Some of the briefly discussed topics include cost and reliability, coordinate systems and references, blade geometry, blade composites, material compatibility, sensor ingress and egress, time synchronization, wind turbine operation environments, and blade failure mechanisms and locations.

The ZONE DOSIMETER is a high technology portable device, designed on the base of strict quality requirements. It uses real‐time digital techniques in order to enhance the quality of monitoring. The dosimeter measures the dose rate of external γ (gamma) radiation, which allows determining the dose of radiation to which the personal is exposed. In this manner, the accomplishment of the regulations of radiological protection and security in institutions where ionizing radiations are used is assured. The dosimeter is commercialized with a fixed pre‐calibration; nevertheless, it is up to the user to obtain all the certifications required by the national legislations for its operation within the system of radiological security. It may also be used in Laboratories of Nuclear Medicine.

Joint statistical processing of the values of recorded refusals of a ram and results of tests of prepared foundations by impressing loads enabled the authors to establish a correlation between the bearing capacity of foundations in rammed excavations and refusals of a ram at the end of ramming, with fixed values of the heights to which the latter are lifted. The derived correlations can be used to monitor the bearing capacity of foundations in rammed excavations during their construction.

Most of China's rice production is located in the southern provinces of the country where frequent cloudy conditions hinder the successful acquisition of optical imagery. Small field sizes and complex planting patterns pose additional challenges to crop mapping using remote sensing approaches. High resolution radar data are most suitable for operational monitoring of crops in this region of China. In this study, the suitability of high-resolution TerraSAR-X StripMap data (6 m resolution) for identification of rice was investigated for a site in Xuwen, Guangdong Province, China. An integrated decision tree and object-oriented classification approach was used. The results showed that higher rice identification accuracies can be obtained using multi-temporal TerraSAR-X data at the tillering, jointing and flowering periods. Both the VV and VH polarizations provided accurate rice identification.

Patent intelligence is an effective approach that enterprises cluster innovation network realizes through quantitative analysis. The paper builds the operational monitoring methods of enterprises cluster innovation network based on patent information and synthetically applying network and patent map analysis methods, and illustrates operation characteristics and existing problems of cluster innovation network taking Harbin equipment manufacturing industrial clusters as an example, so as to offer scientific theoretical methods guidance and empirical reference for risks monitor and management of enterprises cluster innovation network from the angle of patent.

Research needs and interests on biodiversity have drastically increased since the Rio Conference (1992). The main conclusions from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2001) carried out by the UN and the demonstration of the critical role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystems services have strengthened research interests on biodiversity. Moreover, the systemic approach generalization, complex system modeling, confluence of thematic prompting new scientific concepts, and multi-scalar – multifunctional approach have induced significant changes to the scientific context. A review of major advances on biodiversity monitoring and research resulting from Ifremer programs will be presented considering deep sea as well as coastal ecosystems and associated technologies. Development of benthic habitat mapping (e.g., REBENT), and data platforms and information systems on marine biodiversity (SINP, SIH, BIOCEAN) are all contributing to an improved spatial and temporal biodiversity observatory. Ifremer has already demonstrated its main interest in an active scientific strategy of cooperation through national research groups such as the IFB then FRB, ECCHIS GDR, European projects (HERMES), scientific coordination (REX MARBEF, Marine Genomics) as well as the European ERANETs (Biodiversa, Marinera, Marifish), and its involvement in the 'Census of Marine Life' international program. Beyond the next European Sea ERANET, an increased cooperation among scientific partners appears critical to address the three major scientific challenges regarding marine biodiversity: 1. explore and characterize marine biodiversity at various scales (landscapes, habitats, communities), 2. operational monitoring, and 3. development of functional biodiversity modeling to assess ecosystem resilience to the main trend changes of impact vectors., Les besoins en recherches dans le domaine de la biodiversité se sont accrus depuis la Conférence de Rio (1992) et les conclusions portées par le bilan mondial des Nations Unies concernant l'évaluation des services des écosystèmes et du rôle essentiel de la biodiversité dans leur maintien (MEA, 2001). La généralisation de l'approche systémique, la modélisation de systèmes complexes, la convergence de disciplines vers de nouveaux concepts et les approches multi-échelles et multi-fonctionnelles sont autant d'éléments d'évolution du contexte scientifique et technique dans ce domaine. Une revue des avancées de l'Ifremer dans le domaine de l'observation et de la recherche en biodiversité sera présentée depuis les travaux sur les écosystèmes des grands fonds jusqu'au domaine côtier tout en considérant les technologies associées. La réalisation de la cartographie des habitats benthiques (e.g., REBENT), le développement de plate-formes et de systèmes d'information sur la biodiversité marine (SINP, SIH, BIOCEAN) contribuent à une meilleure observation spatio-temporelle de celle-ci. La participation de l'Ifremer aux groupements de recherche nationaux (IFB puis FRB, GDR ECCHIS), aux projets européens (HERMES) et coordinations scientifiques (REX MARBEF, Marine Genomics), ainsi qu'aux ERANET (Biodiversa, Marinera, Marifish) et le rôle joué dans le programme international « Census of Marine Life » démontre l'importance que l'Institut accorde à une stratégie active de coopération scientifique en matière de biodiversité marine. Au delà du prochain ERANET « SEANET », l'amélioration de la coordination pluri-organismes de la recherche en biodiversité marine apparaît essentielle à court terme pour répondre aux trois enjeux de recherche que sont 1. l'exploration et la caractérisation de la biodiversité marine à différentes échelles (paysages, habitats, communautés), 2. la surveillance opérationnelle, 3. le développement de la modélisation fonctionnelle de la biodiversité pour l'étude de la résilience des écosystèmes face aux évolutions des vecteurs d'impact.

The European satellite-borne atmospheric sensors global ozone monitoring experiment (GOME), scanning imaging absorption spectrometer for atmospheric chartography (SCIAMACHY) and GOME-2 provide an important global ozone data record covering an expected time span of over 25 years. Accurate measurements of total ozone and other trace gas species have been gathered by GOME (since July 1995) and SCIAMACHY (since June 2002). This record has recently been extended with observations from the first GOME-2 sensor (fromMarch 2007). Two other identical GOME-2 sensors have been built and their future deployment in the next decade will provide global ozone and trace gas data for the next 14 years. The main goal of this chapter is to present results from the monitoring of the Antarctic ozone hole from 1995 to 2007 with these three instruments. Additionally, the algorithms currently used for total ozone retrieval and data assimilation are outlined, together with validation results and perspectives for future developments. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.

We show that for a system of N emitters, incoherently radiating single photons it is possible to associate well-defined sets of experimental parameters with multiqubit entanglement classes, allowing their monitoring in an operational manner.

Acidification of mine wastes can lead to a series of environmental problems, such as acid drainage, heavy metal mobilization, and ecosystem degradation. Prediction of acid-forming potential is one of the key steps in management of sulfide-bearing mine wastes. In this paper, the acid-forming potential of 180 mine waste samples collected from 17 mine sites in China were studied using a net acid generation (NAG) method. The samples contained different contents of total sulfur (ranging from 0.6 to 200 g kg(-1)), pyritic sulfur (ranging from 0 to 100 g kg(-1)), and acid neutralization capacity (ANC, ranging from -41 to 274 kg H2SO4 t(-1)). Samples with high acid-forming potential are generally due to their high sulfur content or low acid neutralization capacity. After the samples were oxidized by H2O2, the amounts of acid generation and the final NAG pH were measured. Results indicated that the final NAG pH gave a well-defined demarcation between acid-forming and non-acid-forming materials. Samples with final NAG pHor= 5 could be classified as non-acid-forming materials, while those with NAG pHor= 2.5 could be classified as moderate to strong acid-forming materials. Materials with NAG pH2.5, but5, had low risk of being acid-forming. The confirmation of cut-off NAG pH will be used as a rapid and cost-effective operational monitoring tool for the in-pit prediction of acid-forming potential of mine wastes and classification of waste types.

A new approach is being investigated to facilitate operational monitoring of post-launch satellite sensor performance. Airborne hyperspectral data are used to provide spatially extended ground-reference data applicable to the spectral bands of many sensors. Two rangeland sites in Alberta, Canada, were used for the first data acquisitions to test the method. This paper focuses on the data-acquisition program and the resulting data sets.

The paper highlights need for R&D in the area of Intelligent Underwater Systems and Technologies (particularly use of ROV and AUV) for Strategic Marine Ecosystem Research Goals, Environmental Monitoring of Ocean Resources and their exploitation in Croatia. Also this approach support small and medium enterprises for adoption of new technologies and development of highly sophisticated products and services of high value added. Current situation, in regard to needs for technical support linked to obligations of proclamation of the ecological and fishing zone and establishment of coast guard, points to necessity of development in this area. The paper gives an overview of modern technology in this area and possible application in the Republic of Croatia. The research project “ Guidance and Control of Autonomous Moving System for Underwater Monitoring” is presented in the paper.

Network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs) critically rely on processing a great deal of state. Often much of this state resides solely in the volatile processor memory accessible to a single user-level process on a single machine. In this work, we highlight the power of independent state, i.e., internal fine-grained state that can be propagated from one instance of a NIDS to others running either concurrently or subsequently. Independent state provides us with a wealth of possible applications that hold promise for enhancing the capabilities of NIDSs. We discuss an implementation of independent state for the Bro NIDS and examine how we can then leverage independent state for distributed processing, load parallelization, selective preservation of state across restarts and crashes, dynamic reconfiguration, high level policy maintenance, and support for profiling and debugging. We have experimented with each of these applications in several large environments and are now working to integrate them into the sites' operational monitoring. A performance evaluation shows that our implementation is suitable for use even in large scale environments

International audience; During the last decade, operational monitoring and forecasting systems have been developed in all the European seas. The exchange of data and products and the development of services for a wide community of users pose some fundamental issues, whose solution has become a priority in integrated and GMES referring projects, such as the MERSEA European project. These projects aim to develop a European system for operational monitoring and forecasting on global and regional scales of ocean physics, bio-chemistry and ecosystems. GMES system and its operational projects need to federate resources and expertise coming from diverse organizations working on different Earth Sciences fields (e.g. satellite data processing, in situ observing systems, data management, ocean and ecosystem modeling, etc.). Therefore, it is required a Marine Information Management (MIM) system capable of facilitating the regular real-time exchange of high quality information, data and products. Moreover, MIM system must provide appropriate information for a wide range of external users both in real-time and delayed mode. In this paper an architecture based on the OPeNDAP/THREDDS technology is proposed as a solution for these operational systems. In this context, a catalog merging solution is introduced for the MIM system, which results in the design and development of the THREDDS Dataset Merger (TDM): a set of services meant to merge THREDDS Dataset Inventory Catalogs, so to achieve a unique catalog service for a whole database federation. TDM service merges distributed and autonomous THREDDS catalogs in order to work out a virtual merged catalog. The TDM service was extended in order to provide automatic catalogs synchronization. This service allows extending the pull-based TDM paradigm to support push-based applications. Some security issues are also considered.

Out of the requirements of the operational monitoring systems of large steam power plants, this paper suggests a scheme for developing the intelligent control systems in steam power plants by using modern artificial intelligence techniques. Together with some practical cases of application, the idea of the design of the system's functions and its constitution are introduced in this paper. And also, the characteristics and the prospects of the application of intelligent control system in steam power plants are analyzed.

GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Space Agency, designed to establish a European capacity for the provision and use of operational information for Global Monitoring of Environment and Security. To support the development of the Ocean and Marine Applications component of GMES, the EC is funding the four-year MERSEA integrated project, which started in 2004. At the end of its first year, we present the scope of the project and some preliminary results.

An advanced algorithm capable of executing the extraction, categorization and fusion of aircraft sensor data to achieve improvements in sensor capabilities has been developed. Integration of this strategy with standard sensors results in an adaptive sensor capable of improving its functionality with time. The first of these adaptive sensors is currently undergoing developmental flight testing onboard several Navy SH-60 helicopters. Its function is to determine aircraft gross weight during steady hover conditions. This study describes the methodology necessary for the development of an adaptive sensor and its implementation, as well as the value of the adaptation process. Results from the aircraft gross weight adaptive sensor are evaluated using forty two validation flights originating from three distinct aircraft. Application of this technology to other aircraft systems is also discussed.

Near-real time QuikSCAT image products are evaluated for ice mapping from the perspective of the Canadian Ice Services Operational Environment.

The unparalleled safety and integrity of current air traffic surveillance is founded on the practice of assuring independence between sources of data wherever possible and using validation techniques to cross check reported data. Beacon surveillance in particular may be considered a form of dependent surveillance and the validation procedures in place today suggest ways to extend this practice to Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) based surveillance. The integration of ADS-B into the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) offers an instructive example of how one might implement operational monitoring of ADS-B data using existing surveillance assets.

A system to operationally monitor snow cover in the Swiss Alps using NOAA-AVHRR data is presented. The data are calibrated and normalised to allow the application of physically based classification thresholds. The results of the analysis of two time series of images dating from the years 1992 and 1996 are displayed. First experiences gathered during the real-time application in 1999 are reported.

The current work presents a methodology that can be applied to simulate the main fluxes within Mediterranean forest ecosystems. In particular, the objective of the work is the operational use of LAI maps derived form NDVI data to estimate water fluxes over wide land surfaces. This information is of interest to decision-makers dealing with the management of the whole environment and can also serve for assessing the effects of large-scale perturbations (such as global climate change and air pollution) on forest equilibrium. To obtain these estimates both the relationships between LAI and NDVI and those between LAI and the main processes have to be properly calibrated. The results obtained support the possibility of using models, ancillary data and remotely sensed information for an operational monitoring of water fluxes in different forest areas.

This paper presents preliminary results of research to improve upon an existing operational forest change detection monitoring strategy in California. Comparisons were. made between Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM scene normalization techniques (absolute versus, relative). Prior to normalization, scenes containing wildfire smoke plumes were successfully corrected using a space-varying haze equalization algorithm. Simple dark object subtraction provided improved performance over relative (pseudo-invariant feature) approaches. A decision tree classifier produced high change map overall accuracy (86%) for five categories of forest cover change.

The state of surface waters is affected by the quantity and quality of various suspended and dissolved substances. Loading from sources such as agriculture, fish farming, industry and municipalities can cause eutrophication and have other adverse effects on water quality. In Finland the quality of lake water is traditionally determined by collecting water samples and analyzing the samples in a laboratory and by making on-site measurements (e.g. Secchi depth, temperature). However, sampling is slow and expensive and does not include all lakes. Remote sensing instruments can cover large areas quickly and repeatedly and they are also relatively cheap to use once the retrieval methods have been developed into operational level. However, the revisit time for Landsat is 16 days so it is not suitable for operational monitoring especially in areas where cloud cover is frequent. Another interesting instrument is SeaWiFS. It produces daily data but only with 1000-m pixels. One of the latest spaceborne remote sensing instruments, the MODIS spectrometer, produces daily data with two 250-m channels. The objective of this paper is to assess the capabilities of MODIS for monitoring turbidity in Finnish lakes.