Fast and Robust Small Infrared Target Detection Using Absolute Directional Mean Difference Algorithm

Infrared small target detection in an infrared search and track (IRST) system is a challenging task. This situation becomes more complicated when high gray-intensity structural backgrounds appear in the field of view (FoV) of the infrared seeker. While the majority of the infrared small target detection algorithms neglect directional information, in this paper, a directional approach is presented to suppress structural backgrounds and develop a more effective detection algorithm. To this end, a similar concept to the average absolute gray difference (AAGD) is utilized to construct a novel directional small target detection algorithm called absolute directional mean difference (ADMD). Also, an efficient implementation procedure is presented for the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm effectively enhances the target area and eliminates background clutter. Simulation results on real infrared images prove the significant effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.Comment: The Final version (Accepted in Signal Processing journal

Islamic Financial Structures as Alternatives to International Loan Agreements: Challenges for American Financial Institutions

In the past few decades, the Muslim countries have witnessed considerable economic growth. The markets of these countries spanning from North Africa to South East Asia, are expanding at a fast pace, and gradually are turning into important international economic centers. The expansion and sophistication of the Islamic markets, as well as increasing demand for Islamic financial products by borrowers, have spurred a movement toward Islamization of different aspects of economic activities in these markets. This movement has resulted in the creation of an Islamic financial market alongside the conventional financial markets. The data on the size of the Islamic financial market on the global level indicate that 265 Islamic financial institutions with a collective capitalization in excess of $13 billion have been formed, with assets amounting to over$262 billion, investments over $400 billion, and deposits in excess of$202 billion. American banks and other financial institutions have become interested in this growing non-conventional market for financial products, and are providing financial facilities to foreign business entities operating under Islamic principles. Their path to this market, however, is not smooth, and they need to innovate and adjust to the requirements of Islamic finance along the way. This paper aims at introducing the main features of the Islamic finance as applicable to an international loan agreement, and at addressing the special challenges that an American financial institution will face in doing business under Islamic principles in the Middle East, North Africa and other Muslim regions of the world. In Part I, the principles of Shari’a (Islamic Law) applicable to financing transactions will be explained. Two principles of Shari’a have important structural implications for a loan agreement. One is the prohibition of interest (riba), and the other is the prohibition of risk/uncertainty (gharar). Part II deals with the available contracts that can be used to structure an international loan agreement in accordance with Shari’a. These contracts include Islamic partnerships (musharaka and mudharaba), leases (ijara), cost-plus sales (murabaha), and commissioned manufacturings (istisna’). In Part III, the challenges arising from using the Islamic contractual structures for financing purposes, and the problems that an American bank encounters in this area will be analyzed. Especially, in this section, the possible legal inconsistencies between Islamic financing mechanisms and the Western approaches, and the possibility of arbitraging the two systems to one’s advantage in an integrated system will be addressed. It must be noted, although the principles and some of the analyses explained below are also applicable to the growing Islamic financial markets in the U.S., this paper primarily focuses on the challenges that the American financial institutions face in cross-border Islamic financial transactions

Cloud Ownership and Reliability – Issues and Developments

Cloud computing is a composite paradigm that provides crucial services to individuals and organisations over networked infrastructure at a cost. The Cloud provides custom built applications, made available by a CSP to customers. Several customers can access an instance of one application. The Cloud also affords an avenue for customers to build their own application in a language compatible with a CSP and subsequently deploy that application on the Cloud. In addition, massive scalable storage and computing devices are available on the Cloud. A customers expects optimum services whenever and wherever it is required. Hence, system failure on the part of a CSP must not affect the services being provided to the customer. This paper examines present trends in the area of Cloud ownership reliability and provides a guide for future research. The paper aims to answer the following question: what is the current trend and development in Cloud ownership reliability? In addition, analysis was done on existing work published in journals, conferences, white papers and those published in reputable magazines, to answer the question raised. The expected result is the identification of trends in Cloud ownership and reliability which will be of benefit to prospective Cloud users and service providers alike

Inkubationsversuche zum Einfluss von Sorte und Textur auf den Umsatz von Lupinenkörnerschroten im Boden bei unterschiedlichen Temperaturen

Organically produced legume seed meals are an upcoming alternative to established fast mineralising organic fertilisers based on plant and animal waste products with suspect origin (e.g. hornmeal). The turnover in soil was investigated with respect to the influence of legume variety and seed meal texture. Variety specific differences in net N mineralisation could be attributed to differences in C/N ratio and cellulose content. The influence of texture classes on net N mineralisation was considerably smaller than the influence of differences between the investigated species