University of Salford

About: University of Salford is a education organization based out in Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 13049 authors who have published 22957 publications receiving 537330 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Salford Manchester & The University of Salford Manchester.

Use of a radiative transfer model to simulate the postfire spectral response to burn severity

Abstract: Burn severity is related to fire intensity and fire duration and provides a quantitative measure related to fire impact and biomass consumption. Traditional field-based methods to estimate burn severity are time consuming, labor intensive, and normally limited in spatial extent. Remotely sensed data may provide a means to estimate severity levels across large areas, but it is critical to understand the causes of variability in spectral response with variations in burn severity. To address this issue, a combined leaf (Prospect) and canopy (Kuusk) reflectance model was used to simulate the spectral response of a range of vegetation canopies with different burn severity levels. The key aspects examined in the simulations were change in soil color, change in foliage color from green to brown (burned), and change in leaf area index (LAI). For each simulation the composite burn index (CBI) was determined using the same rules used in the field to estimate burn severity levels. Statistical analyses examined the strength of the correlations between CBI and reflectance in individual wave bands in the 400-2500 nm range and CBI and a range of spectral indices combining pairs of wave bands. The results showed that wave bands in the near infrared (NIR) were most strongly related to the CBI of the simulated canopies because of their sensitivity to reduction in LAI. Spectral indices combining reflectance in wave bands in the NIR and shortwave infrared and red edge region showed stronger correlations with CBI. Forward stepwise regression with two to six terms selected wave bands in these regions and accounted for more than 90% of the variation in CBI.

Size and Local Democracy

Abstract: How large should local governments be, and what are the implications of changing the scale of local governments for the quality of local democracy? These questions have stood at the centre of debates among scholars and public sector reformers alike from antiquity to the present. This monograph offers the first systematic cross-national investigation of these questions using empirical evidence gathered specifically for this purpose. Results provide insights that offer important touchstones for reform activities and academic research efforts in many countries

Theoretical versus pragmatic design in qualitative research

Abstract: For many years, discussions of the relative merits of generic and theoretical approaches to qualitative research have divided researchers while overshadowing the need to focus on addressing clinical questions Drawing on the challenges of designing a study that explored parents’ experiences of living with children with hydrocephalus, the authors of this paper argue that over-adherence to, and deliberations about, the philosophical origins of qualitative methods is undermining the contributions qualitative research could make to evidence-based health care and suggest qualitative methods should stand alone