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Abstract. Target detection is the front-end stage in any automatic target recognition system for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery (SAR-ATR). The efficacy of the detector directly impacts the succeeding stages in the SAR-ATR processing chain. There are numerous methods reported in the literature for implementing the detector. We offer an umbrella under which the various research activities in the field are broadly probed and taxonomized. First, a taxonomy for the various detection methods is proposed. Second, the underlying assumptions for different implementation strategies are overviewed. Third, a tabular comparison between careful selections of representative examples is introduced. Finally, a novel discussion is presented, wherein the issues covered include suitability of SAR data models, understanding the multiplicative SAR data models, and two unique perspectives on constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection: signal processing and pattern recognition. From a signal processing perspective, CFAR is shown to be a finite impulse response band-pass filter. From a statistical pattern recognition perspective, CFAR is shown to be a suboptimal one-class classifier: a Euclidean distance classifier and a quadratic discriminant with a missing term for one-parameter and two-parameter CFAR, respectively. We make a contribution toward enabling an objective design and implementation for target detection in SAR imagery. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

Graduate writing is receiving increasing attention, particularly in contexts of diverse student bodies and widening access to universities. In many of these contexts, writing is seen as 'a problem' in need of fixing. Often, the problem and the solution are perceived as being solely located in notions of deficit in individuals and not in the broader embedded and sometimes invisible discourse practices. An academic literacies approach shifts the focus from the individual to broader social practices. This research project emerged out of an attempt to develop a graduate research-writing pedagogy from an academic literacies perspective. We present a detailed case study of one Masters' student to illustrate the results of a pedagogy that moved beyond notions of deficit and support. We argue that to be successful research writers, students need to (1) become discourse analysts; (2) develop authorial voice and identity; and (3) acquire critical competence.

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Visual cryptography is a secret sharing scheme which uses images distributed as shares such that, when the shares are superimposed, a hidden secret image is revealed. In extended visual cryptography, the share images are constructed to contain meaningful cover images, thereby providing opportunities for integrating visual cryptography and biometric security techniques. In this paper, we propose a method for processing halftone images that improves the quality of the share images and the recovered secret image in an extended visual cryptography scheme for which the size of the share images and the recovered image is the same as for the original halftone secret image. The resulting scheme maintains the perfect security of the original extended visual cryptography approach.