ABSTRACT
In an effort to validate and demonstrate response and recovery sampling approaches and technologies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), along with several other agencies, have simulated a biothreat agent release within a facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on two separate occasions in the fall of 2007 and the fall of 2008. Because these events constitute only two realizations of many possible scenarios, increased understanding of sampling strategies can be obtained by virtually examining a wide variety of release and dispersion scenarios using computer simulations. This research effort demonstrates the use of two software tools, CONTAM, developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Visual Sample Plan (VSP), developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The CONTAM modeling software was used to virtually contaminate a model of the INL test building under various release and dissemination scenarios as well as a range of building design and operation parameters. The results of these CONTAM simulations were then used to investigate the relevance and performance of various sampling strategies using VSP. One of the fundamental outcomes of this project was the demonstration of how CONTAM and VSP can be used together to effectively develop sampling plans to support the various stages of response to an airborne chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear event. Following such an event (or prior to an event), incident details and the conceptual site model could be used to create an ensemble of CONTAM simulations which model contaminant dispersion within a building. These predictions could then be used to identify priority area zones within the building and then sampling designs and strategies could be developed based on those zones.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Microscopes form projected images from illuminated objects, such as cellular tissue, which are recorded at a distance through the optical system's field of view. A telescope on a satellite or airplane also forms images with a similar optical projection of objects on the ground. Typical visible illuminations form a displayed set of three-color channels (Red Green Blue [RGB]) that are combined from three image sensor arrays (e.g., focal plane arrays) into a single pixel coding for each color present in the image. Analysis of these RGB color images develops a qualitative image representation of the objects. METHODS: Independent component analysis (ICA) is used for analysis and enhancement of multispectral images, and compared with the similar and widely used principal component analysis. RESULTS: The data examples indicate that the ICA enhancement, and the resulting RGB image combination display, can be useful in processing datacubes of cellular data where isolation of unknown subtle image elements representing objects is desired. CONCLUSIONS: ICA image enhancement can aid processing of datacubes of cellular data by clarifying subtle image elements. These parallelizable algorithms can be implemented for real-time, online analysis.
