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AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF NANOPLANKTON USING A NEURAL NETWORK ON COLOR FLOURESCENCE MICROSCOPE IMAGE

Award Information
Agency: National Science Foundation
Branch: N/A
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: 14405
Amount: $49,125.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 1991
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
374 Maple Ave East Suite 200
Vienna, VA 22180
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Michael S. Mort
 President
 () -
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

WHILE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE RECENTLY IN COLOR IMAGE-ANALYZED EPIFLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY FOR THE PURPOSE OFCOUNTING AND MEASURING MARINE PICO- AND NANOPLANKTON CELLS, CONSIDERABLE INTERVENTION BY A SKILLED MICROSCOPIST IS STILLREQUIRED FOR CLASSIFICATION OF CELL TYPES. THESE CLASSIFICATIONS ARE CURRENTLY PERFORMED VISUALLY USING COLORINFORMATION DERIVED EITHER FROM ADDED FLUORSCENT STAINS (FLUOROCHROMES) OR AUTOFLUORESCENCE OF PHOTOPIGMENTS. AN ACCURATE, RAPID CLASSIFICATION METHOD COULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE AUTOMATION OF COLOR IMAGE-ANALYZED FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY FOR ESTIMATING PLANKTON CELL SIZE AND BIOMASS ANDCOULD BENEFIT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGERS AND POLICY MAKERS CONCERNED WITH THE QUALITY OF COASTAL AND ESTUARINE WATERS. OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP AN AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION TECHNIQUE WHICH MIMICS HUMAN VISUAL CLASSIFICATION. THE SPECIFIC TASK ADDRESSED HERE IS THE AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATIONOF NANOPLANKTON-SIZED PARTICLES AS DETRITUS, HETEROTROPHIC, CHLOROPHYLL-DOMINANT PHOTOTROPHS, OR PHYCOERYTHRIN-DOMINANT PHOTOTROPHS. WE WILL TRAIN A MULTILAYERED PERCEPTRON NEURALNETWORK ON COLOR IMAGE FEATURES WHICH ARE DERIVED FROM THE HUE-SATURATION-VALUE COLOR SPACE TO PERFORM THIS CLASSIFICATION TASK IN REAL TIME. THE IMAGE DATA WILL BE OBTAINED FROM WHOLE WATER PLANKTON SAMPLES FROM ESTUARINE, COASTAL, AND OCEANIC ENVIRONMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN PREPARED USING STANDARD TECHNIQUES IN IMAGE ANALYZED FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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