Digital Commons Network^™

Spectral Signature Databases And Their Application/Misapplication To Modeling And Exploitation Of Multispectral/Hyperspectral Data, Carl Salvaggio, Lon E. Smith, Emily Antoine

Articles

Spectral signature databases abound in the field of remote sensing. Scientists use these databases to assist in their analysis everyday. Many decisions are made about hyperspectral data and the observations made with this data based on the assumption that these databases contain “ground truth” representations of the signatures for materials sensed. For the most part, this is true if the team collecting the signatures that populate these databases follow sound practices when collecting this data. The data does, however, represent a very specific picture of the “truth”. Signatures found in databases represent a specific collection configuration or geometry. The source …

Performance Comparison Of Hyperspectral Target Detection Algorithms In Altitude Varying Scenes, Adam P. Cisz, John Schott

Articles

Many different hyperspectral target detection algorithms have been developed and tested under various assumptions, methods, and data sets. This work examines the spectral angle mapper (SAM), adaptive coherence estimator (ACE), and constrained energy maximization (CEM) algorithms. Algorithm performance is examined over multiple images, targets, and backgrounds. Methods to examine algorithm performance are plentiful and several different metrics are used here. Quantitative metrics are used to make direct comparisons between algorithms. Further analysis using visual performance metrics is made to examine interesting trends in the data. Results show an increase in detection algorithm performance as image altitude increases and spatial information …

Gas Plume Species Identification In Airborne Lwir Imagery Using Constrained Stepwise Regression Analyses, David Pogorzala, David W. Messinger, Carl Salvaggio, John Schott

Articles

Identification of constituent gases in effluent plumes is performed using linear least-squares regression techniques. Airborne thermal hyperspectral imagery is used for this study. Synthetic imagery is employed as the test-case for algorithm development. Synthetic images are generated by the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) Model. The use of synthetic data provides a direct measure of the success of the algorithm through the comparison with truth map outputs. In image test-cases, plumes emanating from factory stacks will have been identified using a separate detection algorithm. The gas identification algorithm being developed in this work is performed only on …

Megacollect 2004: Hyperspectral Collection Experiment Of Terrestrial Targets And Backgrounds Of The Rit Megascene And Surrounding Area (Rochester, Ny), Nina G. Raqueno, Lon E. Smith, David W. Messinger, Carl Salvaggio, Rolando V. Raqueno, John Schott

Articles

This paper describes a collaborative collection campaign to spectrally image and measure a well characterized scene for hyperspectral algorithm development and validation/verification of scene simulation models (DIRSIG). The RIT Megascene, located in the northeast corner of Monroe County near Rochester, New York, has been modeled and characterized under the DIRSIG environment and has been simulated for various hyperspectral and multispectral systems (e.g., HYDICE, LANDSAT, etc.). Until recently, most of the electro-optical imagery of this area has been limited to very high altitude airborne or orbital platforms with low spatial resolutions. Megacollect 2004 addresses this shortcoming by bringing together, in June …

Target Detection In A Structured Background Environment Using An Infeasibility Metric In An Invariant Space, Emmett J. Ientilucci, John R. Schott

Articles

This paper develops a hybrid target detector that incorporates structured backgrounds and physics based modeling together with a geometric infeasibility metric. More often than not, detection algorithms are usually applied to atmospherically compensated hyperspectral imagery. Rather than compensate the imagery, we take the opposite approach by using a physics based model to generate permutations of what the target might look like as seen by the sensor in radiance space. The development and status of such a method is presented as applied to the generation of target spaces. The generated target spaces are designed to fully encompass image target pixels while …

Henry Kandrup's Ideas About Relaxation Of Stellar Systems, David Merritt

Articles

Henry Kandrup wrote prolifically on the problem of relaxation of stellar systems. His picture of relaxation was significantly more refined than the standard description in terms of phase mixing and violent relaxation. In this article, I summarize Henry’s work in this and related areas.

Duck Shoot: Is The Fat Duck Really The World's Best Restaurant?, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

This article reviews The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray on Thames which was awarded 'Best Restaurant in the World' in 2005. The article reviews a tasting meal and discusses how the restaurant is operated, with insights from two graduates from DIT's BA(hons) Culinary Arts who were working there.

Dr. Noel Cullen: Iconic Chef And Educator, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

This article profiles the life of Dr. Noel Cullen who was influential in developing gastronomy and culinary education in Ireland and America. He was the first chef to combine a Certified Master Chef (CMC) qualification with a Doctorate in Education (Ed. D.).

Libeskind: Memory Foundations, Noel Brady

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Review of Daniel Libeskind's lecture in Cork, 2005.

A Revised Nomenclature For Mammalian Acyl-Coa Thioesterases/Hydrolases, Mary Hunt, Junji Yamada, Lois Maltais, Mathew Wright, Ernesto Podesta, Stefan Alexson

Articles

Acyl-CoA thioesterases, also known as acyl-CoA hydrolases, are a group of enzymes that hydrolyze CoA esters such as acyl-CoAs (saturated, unsaturated, branched chain), bile acid-CoAs, CoA esters of prostaglandins etc, to the corresponding free acid and coenzyme A. There is however significant confusion regarding the nomenclature of these genes. In agreement with the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) and the Mouse Genomic Nomenclature Committee (MGNC), a revised nomenclature for mammalian acyl-CoA thioesterases/hydrolases has been suggested for the 12 member family. The family root symbol is ACOT, with human genes named ACOT1-12, and rat and mouse named Acot1-12. Several of the …

Hst [Hubble Space Telescope]/Stis [Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph] Low Dispersion Spectroscopy Of Three Compact Steep Spectrum Sources: Evidence For Jet-Cloud Interaction, Alvaro Labiano, Christopher P. O'Dea, Richard Gelderman, David J. Axon, Stefi A. Baum, Et Al.

Articles

We present Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph long-slit spectroscopy of the emission line nebulae in the compact steep spectrum radio sources 3C 67, 3C 277.1, and 3C 303.1. We derive BPT (Baldwin- Philips-Terlevich; Baldwin et al. 1981) diagnostic emission line ratios for the nebulae which are consistent with a mix of shock excitation and photoionization in the extended gas. In addition, line ratios indicative of lower ionization gas are found to be associated with higher gas velocities. The results are consistent with a picture in which these galaxy scale radio sources interact with dense clouds in the interstellar medium of …

A Polarized Clutter Measurement Technique Based On The Governing Equation For Polarimetric Remote Sensing In The Visible To Near Infrared, James Ii Shell, John R. Schott

Articles

Polarization adds another dimension to the spatial intensity and spectral information typically acquired in remote sensing. Polarization imparted by surface reflections contains unique and discriminatory signatures which may augment spectral target-detection techniques. While efforts have been made toward quantifying the polarimetric bidirectional reflectance distribution function (pBRDF) responsible for target material polarimetric signatures, little has been done toward developing a description of the polarized background or scene clutter. An approach is presented for measuring the pBRDF of background materials such as vegetation. The governing equation for polarized radiance reaching a sensor aperture is first developed and serves as a basis for …

The Advanced Camera For Surveys Virgo Cluster Survey. V. Surface Brightness Fluctuation Calibration For Giant And Dwarf Early-Type Galaxies, Simona Mei, John Blakeslee, John L. Tonry, Andrés Jordán, Eric W. Peng, Patrick Côté, Laura Ferrarese, Michael J. West, David Merritt, Miloš Milosavljević

Articles

As part of the Advanced Camera for Survey(ACS) Virgo Cluster Survey, we have measured Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) in a sample of 100 early-type Virgo galaxies. Distances derived from these measurements are needed to explore the three-dimensional structure of the Virgo Cluster, study the intrinsic parameters of globular clusters associated with the program galaxies, and compare with the galaxy distances derived from globular cluster luminosity functions. Our SBF measurements have been performed in the F850LP bandpass of the Wide Field Channel of the ACS on the Hubble Space Telescope. These are the first measurements of this kind, and we present …

Using Multispectral Information To Decrease The Spectral Artifacts In Sparse-Aperture Imagery, Noah R. Block, Robert E. Introne, John Schott

Articles

Optical sparse-aperture telescopes represent a promising new technology to increase the effective diameter of an optical system while reducing its weight and stowable size. The sub-apertures of a sparse-aperture system are phased to synthesize a telescope system that has a larger effective aperture than any of the independentsub-apertures. Sparse-apertures have mostly been modeled to date using a "gray-world" approximation where the input is a grayscale image. The gray-world model makes use of a "polychromatic" optical transfer function (OTF) where the spectral OTFs are averaged to form a single OTF. This OTF is then convolved with the grayscale image to create …

Time-Gated Topographic Lidar Scene Simulation, Scott D. Brown, Daniel Blevins, John R. Schott

Articles

The Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) model has been developed at the RochesterInstitute of Technology (RIT) for over a decade. The model is an established, first-principles based scene simulationtool that has been focused on passive multi- and hyper-spectral sensing from the visible to long wave infrared (0.4 to 14 µm). Leveraging photon mapping techniques utilized by the computer graphics community, a first-principles based elastic Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) model was incorporated into the passive radiometry framework so that the model calculates arbitrary, time-gated radiances reaching the sensor for both the atmospheric and topographicreturns. The active LIDAR …

A Universal Density Profile For Dark And Luminous Matter?, David Merritt, Julio Navarro, Aaron Ludlow, Adrian Jenkins

Articles

We explore similarities in the luminosity distribution of early type galaxies and the mass profiles of LCDM halos. The spatial structure of these systems may be accurately described by a simple law where the logarithmic slope of the projected density is a power law of radius; the Sérsic law. We show that this law provides a significantly better fit than a three-parameter generalization of the NFW profile and derive the best-fitting Sérsic parameters for a set of high-resolution LCDM halos spanning a wide range in mass. The mean Sérsic n values are 3.0 for dwarf- and galaxy-sized halos and 2.4 …

Practical Spectral Capture Systems For Museum Imaging, Lawrence Taplin, Roy Berns

Articles

Spectral imaging systems for capturing museum artwork have not moved beyond the research laboratory. System components and their selection criteria necessary to assemble a complete system are explored in this paper categorically. The final system is practical if it meets the criteria of speed cost and accuracy necessary to act as a direct replacement for the traditional RGB based digital imaging systems in museum photo studios. It is hoped that the advantages of spectral imaging will be widely recognized and adopted once a practical system is available.

A Prototype Calibration Target For Spectral Imaging, Mahnaz Mohammadi, Mahdi Nezamabadi, Roy Berns

Articles

A prototype calibration target was designed and tested for spectral imaging that consisted of 14 samples, nine of which were derived from statistical analyses of artist paints and a five-step grey scale. This target was compared with those commonly used when calibrating spectral-imaging systems. An Esser TE221 scanner target, GretagMacbeth ColorChecker DC, GretagMacbeth ColorChecker Color Rendition Chart, and the prototype target were used as both calibration and verification targets using a modified commercial color-filter-array digital camera as a spectralimaging device. When evaluating a verification target made from 30 different pigments, the prototype target had equivalent performance. Thus for spectral imaging, …

Exploring The Color Inconstancy Of Prints, Yongda Chen, Roy Berns, Lawrence Taplin

Articles

The color inconstancy of prints is related to the ink spectral properties and the lookup table for multiink printing systems. In this paper, color inconstancy was investigated for several ink-jet printers based on their ink set and the default lookup tables. A virtual model for each printer was created to determine the range of color inconstancy that a specific ink set could achieve. The color inconstancy performance of each default lookup table was evaluated by evaluating the color inconstancy of a printed test target. The optimum combinations of three- and four-chromatic inks were investigated to minimize the color inconstancy and …

Using The Matrix R Method For Spectral Image Archives, Yonghui Zhao, Lawrence Taplin, Mahdi Nezamabadi

Articles

Conventional color digital cameras can only produce three-channel images so they are limited when high-quality color reproduction is required. Alternatively, spectral imaging increases the number of channels and can retrieve spectral reflectance for each scene pixel. The major goal of spectral imaging is high spectral accuracy, while it may also be beneficial to achieve high colorimetric accuracy for a specific viewing condition. A new spectral reconstruction method, called the matrix R method, was developed to achieve both goals simultaneously. An experiment was performed to test this method. The experimental results have been very promising; average color difference for all targets …

Developing A Participatory Consultation Process For Quality Reviews:The Initial Stage Of The European University Associations Quality Review Of The Technological University Dubin, Aidan Kenny

Articles

This paper describes the evolution of a consultation process utilized by the Technological University Dubin (DIT) as part of a quality review process. An emphasis is placed on outlining: the collaborative nature of the enquiry; the guidelines and code of ethics adopted; the social research methodology utilized both quantitative (online surveys, staff n=1831, student’s n=21094) and qualitative (6 staff focus groups n=45 and 4 stakeholder focus groups n=24 and faculty board submissions 6). Instrument construction, theme sheet design and sampling procedures and response rate are detailed. The author, as consultation facilitator, provides an narrative of events and applies theory to …

Arts Festivals And The City, Bernadette Quinn

Articles

There has been a remarkable rise in the number of urban arts festivals in recent decades. The outcomes of cities' engagement with arts festivals, however, remain little understood, particularly in social and cultural terms. This article reviews existing literature on urban festivals and argues that city authorities tend to disregard the social value of festivals and to construe them simply as vehicles of economic generation or as 'quick fix' solutions to city image problems. While such an approach renders certain benefits, it is ultimately quite limiting. If arts festivals are to achieve their undoubted potential in animating communities, celebrating diversity …

Academic And Practitioner Interests Regarding Emerging Technologies In Accounting, Thomas J. Tribunella, M. Pamela Neely, Heidi Tribunella

Articles

In this paper we investigate the differences between practitioner and academic interests in emerging technologies. We compare and contrast the results of an accounting faculty survey to the AICPA's (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) Top Technology list. It appears that academics and practitioners have significantly different interests concerning emerging technologies. Furthermore, technology interests for both groups change over time. We then discuss the problems that arise from the differing points of view and suggest some possible solutions.

Friction And Adhesion In Rigid Surface Indentation Of Nitrile Rubber, Stephen Jerrams

Articles

When a rigid body in the form of a plane strain indentor is forced into an elastomer, the asperities on the surface of the indentor are filled by the softer material. As depth of ingress increases, the rubber displaced into the indentor asperities exhibits stick-slip behaviour. The rubber adheres to the rigid body and if the depth of ingress is held at a maximum, the level of adhesion remains constant despite short-term load relaxation occurring in the rubber.

This text describes the influence of a range of factors on indentation forces and adhesion in rigid indentation of hydrogenated nitrile rubbers. …

Performance Analysis Of Optimum Receivers For Differentially Encoded M-Psk In Low Snr, Venkateshwara R. Kanchumarthy, Tina Choudhari, R. Viswanathan

Articles

A recent paper has proved that the classical receiver for coherent detection of differentially encoded M-PSK in AWGN is optimum for the MAP sequence detection criterion. In this letter, we show that asymptotically, as SNR tends to zero, the MAP symbol detection criterion receiver is equivalent to the classical differentially coherent receiver, for M greater than two. An asymptotic relative efficiency figure of merit is defined in order to compare the performances of the classical coherent receiver and the classical differentially coherent receiver.

Ending Impunity: The Case For War Crimes Trials In Liberia, Charles C. Jalloh, Alhagi Marong

Articles

This article argues that Liberia owes a duty under both international humanitarian and human rights law to investigate and prosecute the heinous crimes, including torture, rape and extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians, committed in that country by the warring parties in the course of fourteen years of brutal conflict. Assuming that Liberia owes a duty to punish the grave crimes committed on its territory, the article then evaluates the options for prosecution, starting with the possible use of Liberian courts. The authors argue that Liberian courts are unable, even if willing, to render credible justice that protects the due process …

Hard Cases And The Politics Of Righteousness, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

The law of bioethics has been the law of cases. Interpreting the common law and the Constitution, judges have written the law of informed consent, abortion, and assisted suicide. Reacting to causes célèbres, legislatures have written the law of advance directives and end of life decisions. The long, sad death of Terri Schiavo eclipsed even the long, sad deaths of Karen Ann Quinlan and Nancy Beth Cruzan in the duration and strength of the attention and passions it evoked. What are Schiavo’s lessons? Hard cases, lawyers say, make bad law. Why? First, hard cases are atypical cases. They present abnormal …

Is There A Need To Debate The Role Of Higher Education And The Public Good?, Sandra Fisher

Articles

Calls for sustaining and increasing investment in higher education are often made on the basis that higher education is a `public good'. The idea of higher education as a public good is frequently conceptualized in terms of its contribution to economic development. If more people participate in higher education then society as a whole will benefit. Outside of the economic benefits of higher education there is less debate as to what is meant by `public good' in the context of higher education. This paper explores higher education as a public good and its role in realizing the public good (Jonathan …

Mike Butt... Pioneering Curry King, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

Profile of Mike Butt, owner of one of the first Indian restaurant in Dublin, Ireland and founder member of the Restaurant Association of Ireland.

An Examination Of Ethical Issues Pertaining To Educational Research, Greg Gallagher

Articles

The social sciences in general and educational researchers in particular have become more and more conscious of ethical propriety and the need for universally acceptable codes of ethical conduct in recent years. This newfound interest stems in part from criticisms of innovative contemporary research methodologies, and the fear that they may be at odds with certain fundamental ethical principles. This, in turn, has resulted in the integrity and validity of some of these new contemporary styles of research being held up to scrutiny and debated by adherents to the more conventional research methodologies. This paper begins by tracing back to …