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At least 73 records · Page 4

Nearest neighbor spacing of fair weather cumulus clouds

Histograms of nearest neighbor spacings of fair weather cumulus at 15 locations over the world's oceans are presented based on the analysis of high resolution Landsat 3 Multispectral Scanner images for amounts of cloud cover ranging from 0.6 to 37.6 percent. These histograms are found to be essentially the same at all locations analyzed, similarly to previous findings on the size distributions and the fractal dimensions of the perimeters for this cloud type. The nearest neighbor spacings are linearly dependent on the effective cloud radii, with a proportionality factor ranging from five to twenty. The histograms peak at about 0.5 km. Nearest-neighbor spacings smaller than about a kilometer, associated with cumulus clouds with an effective radius less than a few hundred meters, have a distribution of cloud centers that is almost indepedent in the horizontal plane and show a tendency for the formation of clumps. Larger spacings of up to thirty kilometers occur and are associated with the larger clouds. These latter spacings are not independent.

Joseph, Joachim H.↗

Estimation of area-averaged rainfall over tropical oceans from microwave radiometry - A single channel approach

This paper presents a new simple retrieval algorithm for estimating area-time averaged rain rates over tropical oceans by using single channel microwave measurements from satellites. The algorithm was tested by using the Nimbus-5 Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer and a simple microwave radiative transfer model to retrieve seasonal 5-deg x 5-deg area averaged rainrate over the tropical Atlantic and Pacific from December 1973 to November 1974. The brightness temperatures were collected and analyzed into histograms for each season and in each grid box from December 1973 to November 1974. The histograms suggest a normal distribution of background noise plus a skewed rain distribution at the higher brightness temperatures. By using a statistical estimation procedure based upon normally distributed background noise, the rain distribution was separated from the raw histogram. The radiative transfer model was applied to the rain-only distribution to retrieve area-time averaged rainrates throughout the tropics. Despite limitations of single channel information, the retrieved seasonal rain rates agree well in the open ocean with expectations based upon previous estimates of tropical rainfall over the oceans.

Shin, Kyung-Sup↗

Principal modes of variation of rain-rate probability distributions

Radar or satellite observations of an area generate sequences of rain-rate maps. From a gridded map a histogram of rain rates can be obtained representing the relative areas occupied by rain rates of various strengths. The histograms vary with time as precipitating systems in the area evolve and decay and amounts of convective and stratiform rain in the area change. A method of decomposing the histograms into linear combinations of a few empirical distributions with time-dependent coefficients is developed, using principal component analysis as a starting point. When applied to a tropical Atlantic dataset (GATE), two distributions emerge naturally from the analysis, resembling stratiform and convective rain-rate distributions in that they peak at low and high rain rates, respectively. The two 'modes' have different timescales and only the high-rain-rate mode has a statistically significant diurnal cycle. The ability of just two modes to describe rain variabiltiy over an area can explain why methods of estimating area-averaged rain rate from the area covered by rain rates above a certain threshold are so successful.

Bell, Thomas L.↗

The effects of cloud inhomogeneities upon radiative fluxes, and the supply of a cloud truth validation dataset

The ASTER polar cloud mask algorithm is currently under development. Several classification techniques have been developed and implemented. The merits and accuracy of each are being examined. The classification techniques under investigation include fuzzy logic, hierarchical neural network, and a pairwise histogram comparison scheme based on sample histograms called the Paired Histogram Method. Scene adaptive methods also are being investigated as a means to improve classifier performance. The feature, arctan of Band 4 and Band 5, and the Band 2 vs. Band 4 feature space are key to separating frozen water (e.g., ice/snow, slush/wet ice, etc.) from cloud over frozen water, and land from cloud over land, respectively. A total of 82 Landsat TM circumpolar scenes are being used as a basis for algorithm development and testing. Numerous spectral features are being tested and include the 7 basic Landsat TM bands, in addition to ratios, differences, arctans, and normalized differences of each combination of bands. A technique for deriving cloud base and top height is developed. It uses 2-D cross correlation between a cloud edge and its corresponding shadow to determine the displacement of the cloud from its shadow. The height is then determined from this displacement, the solar zenith angle, and the sensor viewing angle.

Welch, Ronald M.↗

Information-Adaptive Image Encoding and Restoration

The multiscale retinex with color restoration (MSRCR) has shown itself to be a very versatile automatic image enhancement algorithm that simultaneously provides dynamic range compression, color constancy, and color rendition. A number of algorithms exist that provide one or more of these features, but not all. In this paper we compare the performance of the MSRCR with techniques that are widely used for image enhancement. Specifically, we compare the MSRCR with color adjustment methods such as gamma correction and gain/offset application, histogram modification techniques such as histogram equalization and manual histogram adjustment, and other more powerful techniques such as homomorphic filtering and 'burning and dodging'. The comparison is carried out by testing the suite of image enhancement methods on a set of diverse images. We find that though some of these techniques work well for some of these images, only the MSRCR performs universally well oil the test set.

Park, Stephen K.↗

Generic Signatures of the Time Profiles of BATSE Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts

A new method is proposed, which allows the study of generic signatures of cosmic gamma-ray burst time histories. We average the 64 ms resolution time profiles of 275 bright bursts detected by BATSE. The profile of each burst is normalized by the maximum number of counts at the peak of the primary pulse, and individual pulses and interpulse valleys are selected from the normalized profiles by identical selection criteria. New generic temporal parameters are introduced, which characterize the duration and equivalent width of each pulse and the duration of each valley. The histograms of the total equivalent pulse width and summed pulse duration are bimodal. Bimodality is also seen in the histogram of the mean duration of individual pulses. Bursts from the short and long peaks of these distributions correspond to the two modes of the Third BATSE Burst Catalog T(sub 50) and T(sub 90) distributions. Therefore, these new burst parameters demonstrate that the observed bimodal temporal behavior results from properties of the pulsed emission of gamma-ray bursts. The long mode of the T(sub 90) histogram includes bursts with from one to approximately 20 pulses; the logarithmic mean pulse duration is 1.17 +/- 0.09 S; for the long events with more than one pulse, the logarithmic mean valley duration is 1.28 +/- 0.15 S. Bursts of the short mode of T(sub 90) are mainly single-pulse events, and the logarithmic mean pulse duration is much smaller, 0.20 +/- 0.01 s. For multipulse bursts of the T(sub 90) long mode, marginal correlations were found between the parameters of the pulses and valleys and the number of pulses. The basic signatures of the evolution of pulses and valleys along the time course of bursts are examined. Conclusions are drawn concerning the physics of gamma-ray emission by taking into account these signatures.

Mitrofanov, Igor G.↗

Statistics of Cirrus Horizontal Inhomogeneity in the Southern Great Plains

Variability of cloud properties on scales smaller than that of a GCM grid is potentially important both for realistic parameterizations of microphysical processes and for the prediction of the large-scale radiative effects of clouds, have suggested that a simple model of marine stratocumulus variability, based on the assumption of Gaussian variation statistics of cloud depth, can explain the liquid water path histogram shapes observed in Landsat data. In advance of ARM SGP MMCR ice water path climatologies, we have examined aircraft ice water content statistics for cirrus clouds observed over Coffeyville, Kansas during FIRE 2. We find similar associations of histogram shape and cloud cover for these clouds, and we show that a simple modification of the model for cirrus combined with observed mean cloud depths, their standard deviations, and ambient thermodynamic conditions predicts both the histogram shape and cirrus cloud cover fairly well. This suggests that subgrid variability of cloud properties may be similar for vastly different cloud types, and that a universal parameterization of the effects of subgrid variability in GCMs as a function of only a few parameters may be a realistic goal.

Smith, S. A.↗

A Comparison of the Multiscale Retinex With Other Image Enhancement Techniques

The multiscale retinex with color restoration (MSRCR) has shown itself to be a very versatile automatic image enhancement algorithm that simultaneously provides dynamic range compression, color constancy, and color rendition. A number of algorithms exist that provide one or more of these features, but not all. In this paper we compare the performance of the MSRCR with techniques that are widely used for image enhancement. Specifically, we compare the MSRCR with color adjustment methods such as gamma correction and gain/offset application, histogram modification techniques such as histogram equalization and manual histogram adjustment, and other more powerful techniques such as homomorphic filtering and 'burning and dodging'. The comparison is carried out by testing the suite of image enhancement methods on a set of diverse images. We find that though some of these techniques work well for some of these images, only the MSRCR performs universally well on the test set.

Rahman, Zia-Ur↗

Analysis of Multi-Scale Radiometric Data Collected during the Cold Land Processes Experiment-1 (CLPX-1)

Brightness temperature maps at 18.7 and 37 GHz collected at the Fraser and North Park Meso-Scale Areas during the Cold Land Processes Experiment by the NOAA Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSWA) airborne sensor are analyzed. The Fraser site is mostly covered by forest with a typical snowpack depth of 1 m while North Park has no forest cover and is characterized by patches of shallow snow. We examine histograms of the brightness temperatures at 500 m resolution for both the Fraser and North Park areas. The histograms can be modelled by a log-normal distribution in the case of the Fraser MSA and by a bi-modal distribution in the case of the North Park MSA. The histograms of the brightness temperatures at coarser resolutions are also plotted to study the effects of sensor resolution on the shape of the distribution, on the values of the average brightness temperatures and standard deviations. Finally, the values of brightness temperatures obtained by re-sampling (aggregating) the data at 25 km resolution are compared with the values of the brightness temperatures collected by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSMII) satellite radiometers. The results show that in both areas for sensor footprint larger than 5000 m, the brightness temperatures show a flat distribution and the memory of the initial distribution is lost. The values of the brightness temperatures measured by the satellite radiometers are in good agreement with the values obtained averaging the airborne data, even if some discrepancies occur.

Tedesco, M.↗

Automated Counting of Particles To Quantify Cleanliness

A machine vision system, similar to systems used in microbiological laboratories to count cultured microbes, has been proposed for quantifying the cleanliness of nominally precisely cleaned hardware by counting residual contaminant particles. The system would include a microscope equipped with an electronic camera and circuitry to digitize the camera output, a personal computer programmed with machine-vision and interface software, and digital storage media. A filter pad, through which had been aspirated solvent from rinsing the hardware in question, would be placed on the microscope stage. A high-resolution image of the filter pad would be recorded. The computer would analyze the image and present a histogram of sizes of particles on the filter. On the basis of the histogram and a measure of the desired level of cleanliness, the hardware would be accepted or rejected. If the hardware were accepted, the image would be saved, along with other information, as a quality record. If the hardware were rejected, the histogram and ancillary information would be recorded for analysis of trends. The software would perceive particles that are too large or too numerous to meet a specified particle-distribution profile. Anomalous particles or fibrous material would be flagged for inspection.

Rhode, James↗

Anvil Clouds of Tropical Mesoscale Convective Systems in Monsoon Regions

The anvil clouds of tropical mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in West Africa, the Maritime Continent and the Bay of Bengal have been examined with TRMM and CloudSat satellite data and ARM ground-based radar observations. The anvils spreading out from the precipitating cores of MCSs are subdivided into thick, medium and thin portions. The thick portions of anvils show distinct differences from one climatological regime to another. In their upper portions, the thick anvils of West Africa MCSs have a broad, flat histogram of reflectivity, and a maximum of reflectivity in their lower portions. The reflectivity histogram of the Bay of Bengal thick anvils has a sharply peaked distribution of reflectivity at all altitudes with modal values that increase monotonically downward. The reflectivity histogram of the Maritime Continent thick anvils is intermediate between that of the West Africa and Bay of Bengal anvils, consistent with the fact this region comprises a mix of land and ocean influences. It is suggested that the difference between the statistics of the continental and oceanic anvils is related to some combination of two factors: (1) the West African anvils tend to be closely tied to the convective regions of MCSs while the oceanic anvils are more likely to be extending outward from large stratiform precipitation areas of MCSs, and (2) the West African MCSs result from greater buoyancy, so that the convective cells are more likely to produce graupel particles and detrain them into anvils

Cetrone, J.↗

Damage Proxy Map from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Coherence

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to generate a damage proxy map. A master coherence map and a slave coherence map, for an area prior and subsequent to (including) a damage event are obtained. The slave coherence map is registered to the master coherence map. Pixel values of the slave coherence map are modified using histogram matching to provide a first histogram of the master coherence map that exactly matches a second histogram of the slave coherence map. A coherence difference between the slave coherence map and the master coherence map is computed to produce a damage proxy map. The damage proxy map is displayed with the coherence difference displayed in a visually distinguishable manner.

Yun, Sang-Ho↗

Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations of Turbulent Magnetic and Electron Velocity Fluctuations in Earth's Magnetosheath Downstream of a Quasi-Parallel Bow Shock

We present statistical single-spacecraft observations of magnetic and electron velocity fluctuations in Earth's magnetosheath, likely in the vicinity of the magnetopause, downstream of a bow shock immersed in quasi-parallel interplanetary magnetic field conditions, a situation conducive to plasma turbulence in the downstream flow. These fluctuations exhibit scale-dependent behavior, wherein histograms of their Partial Variance of Increments (PVIB or PVIV(sub e)) demonstrate highly non-Gaussian forms at small scales and are reasonably well-described by kappa distributions, albeit with fitted values of the kappa parameter only slightly larger than 1.5, exemplifying their power law nature at large values of PVI. At larger scales, the PVI histograms lose their non-Gaussian nature and are well described by both Gaussian and kappa distributions with large values of the kappa parameter. The PVI histograms furthermore exhibit kurtosis that increases with decreasing scale, a characteristic that is much more prominent in the magnetic fluctuations than in the electron velocity fluctuations. This feature that is not yet explained. In both cases, the results are characteristic of turbulent intermittency.

Pollock, C. J.↗

Probabilistic Processing of Asynchronous Geiger-Mode Avalanche Photodiode Arrays for Background Rate Measurements

A system-level performance evaluation of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode (GmAPD) arrays requires accurate measurement and prediction of the background rate of the device due to dark counts and other spurious detection events. Since a GmAPD detector reports only a binary value and timestamp associated with an avalanche event, dark count rates are typically measured by averaging thousands of frames to support a statistically significant measurement. For both synchronous and asynchronous detector, the Poisson distributed background rates are referenced to the time each pixel is armed. Unlike for synchronous GmAPD imagers where all the pixels are armed to an array-wide arm signal, an asynchronous pixel operates independently from its neighboring pixels; requiring the background rates to be calculated using an interarrival histogram. For both types of imagers, the background rate is typically evaluated by fitting an exponential distribution to a fixed window within a measured histogram of time intervals between detection events However, if the statistics of the background rate are insufficient – whether that is due to low population sizes, saturation, or a large dynamic range of population size across the array, the pixel, or array-wide, performance metrics may report results with varying accuracy. This paper reports on an implementation of an algorithm that evaluates GmAPD background rates based on statistical metrics rather than fixed windows. The algorithm functions by determining the appropriate integration window within the interarrival time histogram based on a per-pixel count rate set by a predetermined tolerable measurement error. The implementation of the algorithm allows us to characterize GmAPD arrays with orders of magnitude spread in background rates across the detector using common statistical parameters.

Mumolo, J.↗

Reconstruction of Six-Dimensional Phase Space

A phase space is a mathematical representation of all possible physical states of a system. Particle beams at Fermilab exist within a six-dimensional (6D) phase space defined by three positional components, (x, y, z) and three momentum components, (px, py, pz). To reconstruct this space implies taking measurement data from detectors and mapping out particle behavior using computational methods. The beam detectors, however, are only able to detect spatial distribution among the events of the beam, therefore being limited to positional data. Also, due to the vast number of events in a particle beam, it is extremely difficult to analyze and differentiate every single one’s behavior. However, with Machine Learning (ML), which can distinguish between patterns and map out particle behavior more efficiently. We first used the particle beam software, G4beamline, to simulate a 10,000-event muon beam, adjusting parameters such as initial momentum magnitude (p¬0) and virtual detector position. Using ten virtual detectors, we analyzed p0 values such that minimum 9,990 events were analyzed by every detector. We then input the data from these beam simulations to a C++ program, that randomly selects 100 events, and creates a 2D histogram based on spatial distribution, detector position, and event intensity. This process is repeated 100 times to create 100 histograms per p0 value. These images were then input to a modified ResNet18 Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for training, and to predict p0 from some unseen set of histograms. The model was accurate when trained on momentum increments of 5 MeV/c and provided with denser training samples around highly variable test values. These results displayed machine learning being able to accurately predict p0 from being trained on different particle behaviors.

Shirlee, Jermain [Fermilab]↗

Binary Analysis with Architecture and Code Section Detection using Supervised Machine Learning

When presented with an unknown binary, which may or may not be complete, having the ability to determine information about it is critical to future reverse engineering, particularly in discovering the binary’s intended use and potentially malicious nature. This paper details techniques to both identify the machine architecture of the binary, as well as to locate the important code segments within the file. This identification of unknown binaries makes use of a technique called byte histogram in addition to various machine learning (ML) techniques, which we call “What is it Binary” or WiiBin. Benefits of byte histograms reflect the simplicity of calculation and do not rely on file headers or metadata, allowing for acceptable results when only a small portion of the original file is available. Utilizing WiiBin, we were able to accurately (>80%) determine the architecture of test binaries with as little as a 20% contagious portion of the file present. We were also able to determine the location of code sections within a binary by utilizing the WiiBin framework. Ultimately, the more information that can be gleaned from a binary file, the easier it is to successfully reverse engineer.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Juxtatumoral perinephric fat analysis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of using contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT)-based texture analysis (CTTA) metrics to differentiate between juxtatumoral perinephric fat (JPF) surrounding low-grade (ISUP 1–2) versus high-grade (ISUP 3–4) clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Methods: In this IRB-approved study, we retrospectively queried the surgical database between June 2009 and April 2016 and identified 83 patients with pathologically confirmed ccRCC (low grade: n = 54, mean age = 61.5 years, 18F/35M; high grade n = 30, mean age = 61.7 years, 8F/22M) who also had pre-operative multiphase CT acquisitions. CT images were transferred to a 3D workstation, and nephrographic phase JPF regions were manually segmented. Using an in-house developed Matlab program, a CTTA panel comprising of texture metrics extracted using six different methods, histogram, 2D- and 3D-Gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and Gray-level difference matrix (GLDM), and 2D-Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analyses, was applied to the segmented images to assess JPF textural heterogeneity in low- versus high-grade ccRCC. Univariate analysis and receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) analysis were used to assess interclass differences in texture metrics and their prediction accuracy, respectively. Results: All methods except GLCM consistently revealed increased heterogeneity in the JPF surrounding high- versus low-grade ccRCC. FFT showed increased complexity index (p < 0.01). Histogram analysis showed increased kurtosis and positive skewness in (p < 0.03), and GLDM analysis showed decreased measure of correlation coefficient (MCC) (p < 0.04). Several of the GLCM metrics showed statistically significant (p < 0.04) textural differences between the two groups, but with no consistent trend. ROC analysis showed that MCC in GLCM analysis had an area under the curve of 0.75. Conclusions: Our study suggests that CTTA of ccRCC shows statistically significant textural differences in JPF surrounding high- versus low-grade ccRCC.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Measurement uncertainty of rossi-alpha neutron experiments

Rossi-alpha neutron experiments are used to estimate the prompt neutron decay constant of a fissile assembly, a quantity of widespread interest in applications including in nuclear nonproliferation and criticality safety. This work develops a mathematical model to efficiently estimate measurement uncertainty of Rossi-alpha neutron experiments inferred from a two-exponential fit model with histogram binning. The derived uncertainty estimates were validated using repeated Rossi-alpha measurements of a subcritical, 4.5-kg sphere of weapons-grade, alpha-phase plutonium with nickel, copper, tungsten, and polyethylene reflectors. The estimates of uncertainty for the histogram data produced by the model were conservative and agree with the reference uncertainties within noise. The estimates of the prompt neutron decay constant uncertainty agreed with the reference uncertainties within one standard deviation. In conclusion, the proposed model will reduce total measurement times, ultimately reducing operational and procedural costs in application.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗