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At least 991 records · Page 55
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Estimation, UQ, and Sensitivity Analysis for a New Diagnostic Setup [Slides]

This is for an early career talk I am giving at the Association for Women in Math’s Research Symposium. It provides a general overview of three projects: the first focuses on velocity measurements from optical laser diagnostics, the second focuses on probe alignment and location (metrology), and the third is my Site-Directed Research and Development (SDRD) which focuses on neural networks for image datasets. All three projects have strong uncertainty quantification components.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1971

Simple spectroscope used with solid state image amplifier over wide spectral range

Prism plus image amplifier panel provides visual image of many infrared spectral lines from carbon arc impregnated with metal compound. Different metal compounds generate various desired spectra. Panel also aligns and focuses simple spectroscopes for detecting spectral lines inside and outside visible region.

Brown, R. L., Sr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Spectrum-Imaging Detector Array With Integrated Filter

Proposed rectangular array of photodetectors in imaging spectrometer includes integral filter deposited directly on imaging array which would not become misaligned or misregistered as result of mechanical shock, vibration, or differential thermal expansion. Need for precise alignment and registration of filter cannot be over-emphasized.

Labaw, Clayton C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Summary of AXAF calibration requirements

The following summarizes requirements on the High Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA) and HRMA/SI calibration. The lists of calibration measurements assume that the HRMA meets the CTT requirement that the XRCF test environment shall have not more than a 10 percent effect on the encircled energy in 1 arcsec and that it can be calibrated to 1 percent. This implies that the offloading scheme has been implemented in the HRMA. It should be remembered that there are additional calibrations needed for: aspect system; tracking; gyros; other parts of the PCAS; spacecraft timing and checks on timing accuracy for all SIs after integration in the spacecraft; ficucial lights and periscope; alignments; optical metrology data: lengths and diameters with errors on mirror elements and optical interferometer data on surface figure; and throughput and imaging stability test: an end-to-end test that can be used after the XRCF to verify that the x-ray throughput and imaging quality have not been degraded. The tables presented give a summary of the integration times for HRMA and HRMA/SI calibration.

Kellogg, E.↗
NASA NTRS2004

"We Burn to Learn" About Fuel-Air Mixing Within Aircraft Powerplants

I am working with my branch s advanced diagnostics team to investigate fuel-air mixing in jet-fueled gas turbine combustors and jet-fuel reformers. Our data acquisition begins with bench-top experiments which will help with calibration of equipment for facility testing. While conducting the bench-top experiments I learned to align laser and optical equipment to collect data, to use the data acquisition software, and to process the data into graphs and images. which jet he1 is to be reformed into hydrogen. Testing will commence shortly, after which we will obtain and analyze data and meet a critical milestone for the end of September. I am also designing the layout for a Schlieren system that will be used during that time frame. A Schlieren instrument records changes in the refractive index distribution of transparent media like air flows. The refractive index distribution can then be related to density, temperature, or pressure distributions within the flow. I am working on a scheme to quantify this information and add to the knowledge of the fuel-air mixing process.

Robinson, Heidi N.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Highly Collimated Jets and Wide-angle Outflows in HH 46/47: New Evidence from Spitzer Infrared Images

We present new details of the structure and morphology of the jets and outflows in HH 46/47 as seen in Spitzer infrared images from IRAC and MIPS, reprocessed using the 'HiRes' deconvolution technique. HiRes improves the visualization of spatial morphology by enhancing resolution (to subarcsecond levels in IRAC bands) and removing the contaminating side lobes from bright sources. In addition to sharper views of previously reported bow shocks, we have detected (1) the sharply delineated cavity walls of the wide-angle biconical outflow, seen in scattered light on both sides of the protostar, (2) several very narrow jet features at distances approximately 400 AU to approximately 0.1 pc from the star, and (3) compact emissions at MIPS 24 m with the jet heads, tracing the hottest atomic/ionic gas in the bow shocks. Together the IRAC and MIPS images provide a more complete picture of the bow shocks, tracing both the molecular and atomic/ionic gases, respectively. The narrow width and alignment of all jet-related features indicate a high degree of jet collimation and low divergence (width of approximately 400 AU increasing by only a factor of 2.3 over 0.2 pc). The morphology of this jet, bow shocks, wide-angle outflows, and the fact that the jet is nonprecessing and episodic, constrain the mechanisms for producing the jet's entrained molecular gas, and origins of the fast jet, and slower wide-angle outflow.

Herbig-Haro objects↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-J-107: Supervised Learning Model of Aligned Collagen for Human Breast Carcinoma Prognosis

Purpose: Our goal is to develop and apply a set of optical and computational tools to enable large-scale investigations of the interaction between collagen and tumor cells. Methods: We have built a novel imaging system for automating the capture of whole-slide second harmonic generation (SHG) images of collagen in registry with bright field (BF) images of hematoxylin and eosin stained tissue. To analyze our images, we have integrated a suite of supervised learning tools that semi-automatically model and score collagen interactions with tumor cells via a variety of metrics, a method we call Electronic Tumor Associated Collagen Signatures (eTACS). This group of tools first segments regions of epithelial cells and collagen fibers from BF and SHG images respectively. We then associate fibers with groups of epithelial cells and finally compute features based on the angle of interaction and density of the collagen surrounding the epithelial cell clusters. These features are then processed with a support vector machine to separate cancer patients into high and low risk groups. Results: We validated our model by showing that eTACS produces classifications that have statistically significant correlation with manual classifications. In addition, our system generated classification scores that accurately predicted breast cancer patient survival in a cohort of 196 patients. Feature rank analysis revealed that TACS positive fibers are more well aligned with each other, generally lower density, and terminate within or near groups of epithelial cells. Conclusion: We are working to apply our model to predict survival in larger cohorts of breast cancer patients with a diversity of breast cancer types, predict response to treatments such as COX2 inhibitors, and to study collagen architecture changes in other cancer types. In the future, our system may be used to provide metastatic potential information to cancer patients to augment existing clinical assays.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Template-based CTA to x-ray angio rigid registration of coronary arteries in frequency domain with automatic x-ray segmentation

Purpose: A key challenge for image guided coronary interventions is accurate and absolutely robust image registration bringing together preinterventional information extracted from a three-dimensional (3D) patient scan and live interventional image information. In this paper, the authors present a novel scheme for 3D to two-dimensional (2D) rigid registration of coronary arteries extracted from preoperative image scan (3D) and a single segmented intraoperative x-ray angio frame in frequency and spatial domains for real-time angiography interventions by C-arm fluoroscopy.Methods: Most existing rigid registration approaches require a close initialization due to the abundance of local minima and high complexity of search algorithms. The authors' method eliminates this requirement by transforming the projections into translation-invariant Fourier domain for estimating the 3D pose. For 3D rotation recovery, template Digitally Reconstructed Radiographs (DRR) as candidate poses of 3D vessels of segmented computed tomography angiography are produced by rotating the camera (image intensifier) around the DICOM angle values with a specific range as in C-arm setup. The authors have compared the 3D poses of template DRRs with the segmented x-ray after equalizing the scales in three domains, namely, Fourier magnitude, Fourier phase, and Fourier polar. The best rotation pose candidate was chosen by one of the highest similarity measures returned by the methods in these domains. It has been noted in literature that frequency domain methods are robust against noise and occlusion which was also validated by the authors' results. 3D translation of the volume was then recovered by distance-map based BFGS optimization well suited to convex structure of the authors' objective function without local minima due to distance maps. A novel automatic x-ray vessel segmentation was also performed in this study.Results: Final results were evaluated in 2D projection space for patient data; and with ground truth values and landmark distances for the images acquired with a solid phantom vessel. Results validate that rotation recovery in frequency domain is robust against differences in segmentations in two modalities. Distance-map translation is successful in aligning coronary trees with highest possible overlap.Conclusions: Numerical and qualitative results show that single view rigid alignment in projection space is successful. This work can be extended with multiple views to resolve depth ambiguity and with deformable registration to account for nonrigid motion in patient data.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
NASA NTRS2021

Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive-Paint Shot Noise Reduction

In the study of unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) image data sets, pixel intensity values collected by Phantom cameras from multiple perspectives are used to calculate the surface pressure of an experimental model. This paper focuses on mitigation of shot noise which is introduced into the image data set by the cameras. Shot noise impacts the quality of data collected, increasing the system error in its pressure value calculations. This paper characterises statistical methods to reduce shot noise within experimental data by taking an average or weighted average across an area of pixels of their respective counts. Each combined-pixel has a higher total effective intensity value and therefore exhibits reduced noise throughout its time history. This is demonstrated by calculating the standard deviations of the combined pixel values through time, which decrease as the combined pixel area increases. Finally, these methods are compared across experimental wind tunnel conditions to examine their effectiveness at different Mach numbers. Ultimately, the results are used to recommend a blur filter type and size which will be applied to the raw image data prior to processing, as well as a minimum camera resolution for future experiments. Downstream of the filter application, the software to convert the 2D image data sets into surface pressure readings on a 3D grid use a ratio of decimation that assigns multiple pixels to each 3D grid node. This decimation ratio will also be aligned with the size of the blur filter, resulting in a more manageable data set size and compromised spatial resolution. Combined with the effect of the blur filter, the resulting pixel intensity readings will exhibit significantly reduced shot noise, reducing the magnitude of uncertainty and error in the final calculated pressure. For future tests, the camera spatial resolution must be sufficient to capture small flow and model features even after the recommended blur filter is applied. The image data set is taken from a uPSP experiment of the Space Launch System Block 1 cargo vehicle model in September 2019.

Lucy Tang↗
NASA NTRS2021

Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (UPSP) Shot Noise Reduction

In the study of unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) image data sets, pixel intensity values collected by Phantom cameras from multiple perspectives are used to calculate the surface pressure of an experimental model. This paper focuses on mitigation of shot noise which is introduced into the image data set by the cameras. Shot noise impacts the quality of data collected, increasing the system error in its pressure value calculations. This paper characterises statistical methods to reduce shot noise within experimental data by taking an average or weighted average across an area of pixels of their respective counts. Each combined-pixel has a higher total effective intensity value and therefore exhibits reduced noise throughout its time history. This is demonstrated by calculating the standard deviations of the combined pixel values through time, which decrease as the combined pixel area increases. Finally, these methods are compared across experimental wind tunnel conditions to examine their effectiveness at different Mach numbers. Ultimately, the results are used to recommend a blur filter type and size which will be applied to the raw image data prior to processing, as well as a minimum camera resolution for future experiments. Downstream of the filter application, the software to convert the 2D image data sets into surface pressure readings on a 3D grid use a ratio of decimation that assigns multiple pixels to each 3D grid node. This decimation ratio will also be aligned with the size of the blur filter, resulting in a more manageable data set size and compromised spatial resolution. Combined with the effect of the blur filter, the resulting pixel intensity readings will exhibit significantly reduced shot noise, reducing the magnitude of uncertainty and error in the final calculated pressure. For future tests, the camera spatial resolution must be sufficient to capture small flow and model features even after the recommended blur filter is applied. The image data set is taken from a uPSP experiment of the Space Launch System Block 1 cargo vehicle model in September 2019.

Lucy Tang↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-528: Robustness Evaluation for Fiducial-Based Accelerated Partial Breast Proton Therapy

Purpose: To investigate the robustness of the proton treatment plans in the presence of rotational setup error when patient is aligned with implanted fiducials. Methods: Five Stage I invasive breast cancer patients treated with the APBP protocol (PCG BRE007-12) were studied. The rotational setup errors were simulated by rotating the original CT images around the body center clockwise and counterclockwise 5 degrees (5CW and 5CCW). Manual translational registration was then performed to match the implanted fiducials on the rotated images to the original dataset. Patient contours were copied to the newly created CT set. The original treatment plan was applied to the new CT dataset with the beam isocenter placed at the geometrical center of PTV. The dose distribution was recalculated for dosimetric parameters comparison. Results: CTV and PTV (D95 and V95) coverages were not significantly different between the two simulated plans (5CW and 5CCW) and the original plan. PTV D95 and CTV D95 absolute difference among the three plans were relatively small, with maximum changes of 0.28 CGE and 0.15 CGE, respectively. PTV V95 and CTV V95 absolute differences were 0.79% and 0.48%. The dosage to the thyroid, heart, contralateral breast and lung remained zero for all three plans. The Dmax and Dmean to the volume of ipsilateral breast excluding CTV were compared, with maximum difference values of 1.02 CGE for Dmax and 3.56 CGE for Dmean. Ipsilateral lung Dmean maintained no significant changes through the three plan comparison, with the largest value 0.32 CGE. Ipsilateral lung Dmax was the most sensitive parameter to this simulation study, with a maximum difference at 20.2 CGE. Conclusion: Our study suggests that fiducial-based Accelerated Partial Breast Proton Therapy is robust with respect to +/− 5 degree patient setup rotational errors, as long as the internal fiducial markers are used for patient alignment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

Dynamics Explorer measurements of particles, fields, and plasma drifts over a horse-collar auroral pattern

As shown from ground-based measurements and satellite-borne imagers, one type of global auroral pattern characteristic of quiet (usually northward IMF) intervals is that of a contracted but thickened emission region of a pattern referred to as 'horse-collar' aurora (Hones et al., 1989). In this report we use the Dynamics Explorer data set to examine a case in which this horse-collar pattern was observed by the DE-1 auroral imager, while at the same time DE-2, at lower altitude, measured precipitating particles, electric and magnetic fields, and plasma drifts. Our analysis shows that, in general, there is close agreement between the optical signatures and the particle precipitation patterns. In many instances, over scales ranging from tens to a few hundred kilometers, electron precipitation features and upward field-aligned currents are observed at locations where the plasma flow gradients indicate negative V-average x E. The particle, plasma, and field measurements made along the satellite track and the 2D perspective of the imager provide a means of determining the configuration of convective flows in the high-latitude ionosphere during this interval of northward IMF. Recent mapping studies are used to relate the low-altitude observations to possible magnetospheric source regions.

Sharber, J. R.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Technical Note: MRI only prostate radiotherapy planning using the statistical decomposition algorithm

Purpose: In order to enable a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) only workflow in radiotherapy treatment planning, methods are required for generating Hounsfield unit (HU) maps (i.e., synthetic computed tomography, sCT) for dose calculations, directly from MRI. The Statistical Decomposition Algorithm (SDA) is a method for automatically generating sCT images from a single MR image volume, based on automatic tissue classification in combination with a model trained using a multimodal template material. This study compares dose calculations between sCT generated by the SDA and conventional CT in the male pelvic region. Methods: The study comprised ten prostate cancer patients, for whom a 3D T2 weighted MRI and a conventional planning CT were acquired. For each patient, sCT images were generated from the acquired MRI using the SDA. In order to decouple the effect of variations in patient geometry between imaging modalities from the effect of uncertainties in the SDA, the conventional CT was nonrigidly registered to the MRI to assure that their geometries were well aligned. For each patient, a volumetric modulated arc therapy plan was created for the registered CT (rCT) and recalculated for both the sCT and the conventional CT. The results were evaluated using several methods, including mean average error (MAE), a set of dose-volume histogram parameters, and a restrictive gamma criterion (2% local dose/1 mm). Results: The MAE within the body contour was 36.5 ± 4.1 (1 s.d.) HU between sCT and rCT. Average mean absorbed dose difference to target was 0.0% ± 0.2% (1 s.d.) between sCT and rCT, whereas it was −0.3% ± 0.3% (1 s.d.) between CT and rCT. The average gamma pass rate was 99.9% for sCT vs rCT, whereas it was 90.3% for CT vs rCT. Conclusions: The SDA enables a highly accurate MRI only workflow in prostate radiotherapy planning. The dosimetric uncertainties originating from the SDA appear negligible and are notably lower than the uncertainties introduced by variations in patient geometry between imaging sessions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

GK Per (Nova Persei 1901): HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGERY AND SPECTROSCOPY OF THE EJECTA, AND FIRST SPECTRUM OF THE JET-LIKE FEATURE

We have imaged the ejecta of GK Persei (Nova Persei 1901 A.D.) with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), whose 0.1 arcsec resolution reveals hundreds of cometary-like structures with long axes aligned toward GK Per. One or both ends of the structures often show a brightness enhancement relative to the structures' middle sections, but there is no simple regularity to their morphologies (in contrast with, for example, the Helix nebula). Some of structures' morphologies suggest the presence of slow-moving or stationary material with which the ejecta is colliding, while others suggest shaping from a wind emanating from GK Per itself. The most detailed expansion map of any classical nova's ejecta was created by comparing HST images taken in successive years. Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 narrowband images and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectra demonstrate that the physical conditions in this nova's ejecta vary strongly on spatial scales much smaller than those of the ejecta. Directly measuring accurate densities and compositions, and hence masses of this and other nova shells, will demand data at least as resolved spatially as those presented here. The filling factor of the ejecta is 1% or less, and the nova ejecta mass must be less than 10{sup -4} M{sub Sun }. A modest fraction of the emission nebulosities vary in brightness by up to a factor of two on timescales of one year. Finally, we present the deepest images yet obtained of a jet-like feature outside the main body of GK Per nebulosity, and the first spectrum of that feature. Dominated by strong, narrow emission lines of [N II], [O II], [O III], and [S II], this feature is probably a shock due to ejected material running into stationary interstellar matter, slowly moving ejecta from a previous nova episode, or circumbinary matter present before 1901. An upper limit to the mass of the jet is of order a few times 10{sup -6} M{sub Sun }. If the jet mass is close to this limit then the jet might be an important, or even dominant mass sink from the binary system. The jet's faintness suggests that similar features could easily have been missed in other cataclysmic binaries.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

OBSERVING GRAVITATIONAL LENSING EFFECTS BY Sgr A* WITH GRAVITY

The massive black hole Sgr A* at the Galactic center is surrounded by a cluster of stars orbiting around it. Light from these stars is bent by the gravitational field of the black hole, giving rise to several phenomena: astrometric displacement of the primary image, the creation of a secondary image that may shift the centroid of Sgr A*, and magnification effects on both images. The soon-to-be second-generation Very Large Telescope Interferometer instrument GRAVITY will perform observations in the near-infrared of the Galactic center at unprecedented resolution, opening the possibility of observing such effects. Here we investigate the observability limits for GRAVITY of gravitational lensing effects on the S-stars in the parameter space 1[D{sub LS}, {gamma}, K], where D{sub LS} is the distance between the lens and the source, {gamma} is the alignment angle of the source, and K is the source's apparent magnitude in the K band. The easiest effect to observe in future years is the astrometric displacement of primary images. In particular, the shift of the star S17 from its Keplerian orbit will be detected as soon as GRAVITY becomes operative. For exceptional configurations, it will be possible to detect effects related to the spin of the black hole or post-Newtonian orders in the deflection.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

BEACON—automated aberration correction for scanning transmission electron microscopy using Bayesian optimization

Aberration correction is an important aspect of modern high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Most methods of aligning aberration correctors require specialized sample regions and are unsuitable for fine-tuning aberrations without interrupting on-going experiments. Here, we present an automated method of correcting first- and second-order aberrations called BEACON, which uses Bayesian optimization of the normalized image variance to efficiently determine the optimal corrector settings. We demonstrate its use on gold nanoparticles and a hafnium dioxide thin film showing its versatility in nano- and atomic-scale experiments. BEACON can correct all first- and second-order aberrations simultaneously to achieve an initial alignment and first- and second-order aberrations independently for fine alignment. Ptychographic reconstructions are used to demonstrate an improvement in probe shape and a reduction in the target aberration.

techniques and instrumentation↗
DOE OSTI2014

EVOLUTION OF A MAGNETIC FLUX ROPE AND ITS OVERLYING ARCADE BASED ON NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE FIELD EXTRAPOLATIONS

Dynamic phenomena indicative of slipping reconnection and magnetic implosion were found in a time series of nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolations for the active region 11515, which underwent significant changes in the photospheric fields and produced five C-class flares and one M-class flare over five hours on 2012 July 2. NLFFF extrapolation was performed for the uninterrupted 5 hour period from the 12 minute cadence vector magnetograms of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory. According to the time-dependent NLFFF model, there was an elongated, highly sheared magnetic flux rope structure that aligns well with an Hα filament. This long filament splits sideways into two shorter segments, which further separate from each other over time at a speed of 1-4 km s{sup –1}, much faster than that of the footpoint motion of the magnetic field. During the separation, the magnetic arcade arching over the initial flux rope significantly decreases in height from ∼4.5 Mm to less than 0.5 Mm. We discuss the reality of this modeled magnetic restructuring by relating it to the observations of the magnetic cancellation, flares, a filament eruption, a penumbra formation, and magnetic flows around the magnetic polarity inversion line.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Anisotropy evolution of elastomeric foams during uniaxial compression measured via in-situ X-ray computed tomography

We have characterized the three-dimensional evolution of microstructural anisotropy of a family of elastomeric foams during uniaxial compression via in-situ X-ray computed tomography. Flexible polyurethane foam specimens with densities of 136, 160 and 240 kg/m 3 were compressed in uniaxial stress tests both parallel and perpendicular to the foam rise direction, to engineering strains exceeding 70%. The uncompressed microstructures show slightly elongated ellipsoidal pores, with elongation aligned parallel to the foam rise direction. The evolution of this microstructural anisotropy during deformation is quantified based on the autocorrelation of the image intensity, and verified via the mean intercept length as well as the shape of individual pores. Trends are consistent across all three methods. In the rise direction, the material remains transversely anisotropic throughout compression. Anisotropy initially decreases with compression, reaches a minimum, then increases up to large strains, followed by a small decrease in anisotropy at the largest strains as pores collapse. Compression perpendicular to the foam rise direction induces secondary anisotropy with respect to the compression axis, in addition to primary anisotropy associated with the foam rise direction. In contrast to compression in the rise direction, primary anisotropy initially increases with compression, and shows a slight decrease at large strains. These surprising non-monotonic trends and qualitative differences in rise and transverse loading are explained based on the compression of initially ellipsoidal pores. Microstructural anisotropy trends reflect macroscopic stress-strain and lateral strain response. These findings provide novel quantitative connections between three-dimensional microstructure and anisotropy in moderate density polymer foams up to large deformation, with important implications for understanding complex three-dimensional states of deformation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗