Exploring the use of extended multiplicative scattering correction for near infrared spectra of wood with fungal decay

Extended Multiplicative Signal Correction (EMSC) is a multivariate linear modelling technique for multi-channel measurements that can identify and correct for different types of systematic variation patterns, known or unknown. It is typically used for pre-processing to separate light absorbance spectra, obtained by diffuse reflectance of intact samples, into three main sources of variation: additive variations due to chemical composition (≈Beer's law), mixed multiplicative and additive variations due to physical light scattering (≈Lambert's law) and more or less random measurement noise. The present work evaluates the use of EMSC to pre-process near infrared spectra obtained by hyperspectral imaging of Scots pine sapwood, inoculated with two different basidiomycete fungi and at various degradation stages. The spectral changes due to fungal decay and resulting mass loss are assessed by interpretation of the EMSC parameters and the partial least squares regression (PLSR) results. Including a cellulose (analyte) or bound water (interferent) spectral profile in the EMSC pre-processing model generally improves the predictive performance of the PLS modelling, but it can also make it worse. The inclusion of the additional polynomial baselines does not necessarily lead to a better separation of the physical and chemical effects present in the spectra. The estimated EMSC parameters provide insight into the differences in decay mechanisms. A detailed analysis of the EMSC results highlights advantages and disadvantages of using a complex pre-processing model.