Oil Spill Detection Analyzing “Sentinel 2“ Satellite Images: A Persian Gulf Case Study

Oil spills near exploitation areas and oil loading ports are often related to the ambitions of governments to get more oil market share and the negligence at the time of the loading in large tankers or ships. The present study investigates one oil spill event using multi sensor satellite images in the Al Khafji (between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) zone. Oil slicks have been characterized with multi sensor satellite images over the Persian Gulf and then analyzed in order to detect and classify oil spills in this zone. In particular this paper discusses oil pollution detection in the Persian Gulf by using multi sensor satellite images data. Oil spill images have been selected by using Sentinel 2 images pinpointing oil spill zones. ENVI software for analysing satellite images and ADIOS (Automated Data Inquiry for Oil Spills) for oil weathering modelling have been used. The obtained results in Al Khafji zone show that the oil spill moves towards the coastline firstly increasing its surface and then decreasing it until reaching the coastline

#Halal Culture on Instagram

Halal is a notion that applies to both objects and actions, and means permissible according to Islamic law. It may be most often associated with food and the rules of selecting, slaughtering, and cooking animals. In the globalized world, halal can be found in street corners of New York and beauty shops of Manila. In this study, we explore the cultural diversity of the concept, as revealed through social media, and specifically the way it is expressed by different populations around the world, and how it relates to their perception of (i) religious and (ii) governmental authority, and (iii) personal health. Here, we analyze two Instagram datasets, using Halal in Arabic (325,665 posts) and in English (1,004,445 posts), which provide a global view of major Muslim populations around the world. We find a great variety in the use of halal within Arabic, English, and Indonesian-speaking populations, with animal trade emphasized in first (making up 61% of the language's stream), food in second (80%), and cosmetics and supplements in third (70%). The commercialization of the term halal is a powerful signal of its detraction from its traditional roots. We find a complex social engagement around posts mentioning religious terms, such that when a food-related post is accompanied by a religious term, it on average gets more likes in English and Indonesian, but not in Arabic, indicating a potential shift out of its traditional moral framing

World radiocommunication conference 12 : implications for the spectrum eco-system

Spectrum allocation is once more a key issue facing the global telecommunications industry. Largely overlooked in current debates, however, is the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). Decisions taken by WRC shape the future roadmap of the telecommunications industry, not least because it has the ability to shape the global spectrum allocation framework. In the debates of WRC-12 it is possible to identify three main issues: enhancement of the international spectrum regulatory framework, regulatory measures required to introduce Cognitive Radio Systems (CRS) technologies; and, additional spectrum allocation to mobile service. WRC-12 eventually decided not to change the current international radio regulations with regard to the first two issues and agreed to the third issue. The main implications of WRC-12 on the spectrum ecosystem are that most of actors are not in support of the concept of spectrum flexibility associated with trading and that the concept of spectrum open access is not under consideration. This is explained by the observation that spectrum trading and spectrum commons weaken state control over spectrum and challenge the main principles and norms of the international spectrum management regime. In addition, the mobile allocation issue has shown the lack of conformity with the main rules of the regime: regional spectrum allocation in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) three regions, and the resistance to the slow decision making procedures. In conclusion, while the rules and decision-making procedures of the international spectrum management regime were challenged in the WRC-12, the main principles and norms are still accepted by the majority of countries

An On-chip PVT Resilient Short Time Measurement Technique

As the CMOS technology nodes continue to shrink, the challenges of developing manufacturing tests for integrated circuits become more difficult to address. To detect parametric faults of new generation of integrated circuits such as 3D ICs, on-chip short-time intervals have to be accurately measured. The accuracy of an on-chip time measurement module is heavily affected by Process, supply Voltage, and Temperature (PVT) variations. This work presents a new on-chip time measurement scheme where the undesired effects of PVT variations are attenuated significantly. To overcome the effects of PVT variations on short-time measurement, phase locking methodology is utilized to implement a robust Vernier delay line. A prototype Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) has been fabricated using TSMC 0.180 µm CMOS technology and experimental measurements have been carried out to verify the performance parameters of the TDC. The measurement results indicate that the proposed solution reduces the effects of PVT variations by more than tenfold compared to a conventional on-chip TDC. A coarse-fine time interval measurement scheme which is resilient to the PVT variations is also proposed. In this approach, two Delay Locked Loops (DLLs) are utilized to minimize the effects of PVT on the measured time intervals. The proposed scheme has been implemented using CMOS 65nm technology. Simulation results using Advanced Design System (ADS) indicate that the measurement resolution varies by less than 0.1ps with ±15% variations of the supply voltage. The proposed method also presents a robust performance against process and temperature variations. The measurement accuracy changes by a maximum of 0.05ps from slow to fast corners. The implemented TDC presents a robust performance against temperature variations too and its measurement accuracy varies a few femto-seconds from -40 ºC to +100 ºC. The principle of robust short-time measurement was used in practice to design and implement a state-of-the-art Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) for an industry partner to measure geometrical features of transmission parts with micrometer resolution. The solution developed for the industry partner has resulted in a patent and a product in the market. The on-chip short-time measurement technology has also been utilized to develop a solution to detect Hardware Trojans

WRC-07: the Technological and Market Pressures for Flexible Spectrum Access

By examining the preparations for the 2007 ITU World Radio Conference (WRC-07) and associated developments this paper identifies practical examples of the market and technological pressures contributing towards a more liberalised approach to spectrum management. It argues that the need to find new spectrum for advanced mobile services (WRC-07 Agenda item 1.4), the growing orthodoxy on spectrum neutrality and the need to accommodate converging technologies are helping to undermine the stricter forms of command and control spectrum management. However, the need for global harmonisation of satellite frequencies and the international variation in rolling out digital terrestrial television place limits on this drive towards greater flexibility.World Radio Conference; WRC-07; mobile; IMT; IMT-2000; satellite; broadcasting; spectrum liberalisation; mobile TV; DVB-H; WiMAX; technology neutrality; ITU Radio Regulations

Distributed Information Retrieval using Keyword Auctions

This report motivates the need for large-scale distributed approaches to information retrieval, and proposes solutions based on keyword auctions