Dark Spot Detection from SAR Intensity Imagery with Spatial Density Thresholding for Oil Spill Monitoring

Since the 1980s, satellite-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been investigated for early warning and monitoring of marine oil spills to permit effective satellite surveillance in the marine environment. Automated detection of oil spills from satellite SAR intensity imagery consists of three steps: 1) Detection of dark spots; 2) Extraction of features from the detected dark spots; and 3) Classification of the dark spots into oil spills and look-alikes. However, marine oil spill detection is a very difficult and challenging task. Open questions exist in each of the three stages. In this thesis, the focus is on the first stage—dark spot detection. An efficient and effective dark spot detection method is critical and fundamental for developing an automated oil spill detection system. A novel method for this task is presented. The key to the method is utilizing the spatial density feature to enhance the separability of dark spots and the background. After an adaptive intensity thresholding, a spatial density thresholding is further used to differentiate dark spots from the background. The proposed method was applied to a evaluation dataset with 60 RADARSAT-1 ScanSAR Narrow Beam intensity images containing oil spill anomalies. The experimental results obtained from the test dataset demonstrate that the proposed method for dark spot detection is fast, robust and effective. Recommendations are given for future research to be conducted to ensure that this procedure goes beyond the prototype stage and becomes a practical application

Contribution of the European Kodak Research Laboratories to Innovation Strategy at Eastman Kodak

This study provides a new understanding of the nature of Eastman Kodak Research. The thesis considers the European context between 1891 and 1912, before the creation of the first Kodak Research Laboratory in 1912 at Rochester, New York, and between 1928 and 1950 with the opening of two additional Research Laboratories in the United Kingdom and in France. It sheds light on the technological and organisational relationship between the main Kodak Research Laboratory in Rochester and the later, related, Kodak Research Laboratories in Europe. Analysis of publications from numerous independent photochemists demonstrates that industrial secrecy during the interwar years limited the sharing of scientific knowledge and delayed developments in photographic science. The first Kodak Research Laboratory was created in Rochester in 1912 to address this issue internally. Its first director, Kenneth Mees, developed an innovative organisational model which combined fundamental and applied research in order to protect scientific facts about the photographic process that were discovered in-house and to create the appropriate preconditions for the development of new and marketable products. Qualitative analysis of unpublished research reports stresses the multi-faceted nature of the photographic research undertaken at the Harrow Research Laboratory from 1929 onwards. It shows that the British Laboratory was open to external sources of scientific knowledge and innovative technologies. Photographic knowledge was shared significantly during the 1930s between the American, British and French Research Laboratories and Production Departments, as also evidenced by the previously undiscovered personal notebooks of a number of photochemists. Analysis of the British and more recently uncovered French Kodak archives also reveals that long-term Kodak research about colour photography was interrelated with the European Kodak Research Laboratories during the interwar period. Original analyses of unpublished patent correspondence demonstrate that the editorial drafting of strategic patents during the Second World War was at the core of the scientific collaboration between Kodak Limited and independent inventors. This thesis concludes that the work of the European Kodak research laboratories was fundamental to Eastman Kodak in the twentieth century. Despite cultural disparities, the three laboratories followed an organisational model that promoted scientific collaboration. Furthermore, the modest size of Kodak Research in Europe during the early years forced the company to partially adopt an “Open Innovation” model, combining external sources of technology with in-house research. This is the first study to address the question of the European nature of Kodak Research using unpublished laboratory archives. It unveils the complete organisation of Kodak research, including knowledge transfer and scientific collaborations, as well as the actors in Kodak Research that marked the history of twentieth century photography

Environmental management

This thesis is about information1 yea