Mammography is considered the gold standard for breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging; however, there is an unmet clinical need for complementary methods to detect lesions not characterized by mammography. Far-infrared ‘thermogram’ breast imaging can map the skin temperature, and signal inversion with components analysis can be used to identify the mechanisms of thermal image generation of the vasculature using dynamic thermal data. This work focuses on using dynamic infrared breast imaging to identify the thermal response of the stationary vascular system and the physiologic vascular response to a temperature stimulus affected by vasomodulation. The recorded data are analyzed by converting the diffusive heat propagation into a virtual wave and identifying the reflection using component analysis. Clear images of passive thermal reflection and thermal response to vasomodulation were obtained. In our limited data, the magnitude of vasoconstriction appears to depend on the presence of cancer. The authors propose future studies with supporting diagnostic and clinical data that may provide validation of the proposed paradigm.

Mammography is the gold standard for breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging; however, there is an unmet clinical need for complementary methods to detect lesions not characterized by mammography. Far-infrared 'thermogram' breast imaging can map the skin temperature, and signal inversion with components analysis can be used to identify the mechanisms of thermal image generation of the vasculature using dynamic thermal data. This work focuses on using dynamic infrared breast imaging to identify the thermal response of the stationary vascular system and the physiologic vascular response to a temperature stimulus affected by vasomodulation. The recorded data is analyzed by converting the diffusive heat propagation into a virtual wave and identifying the reflection using component analysis. Clear images of passive thermal reflection and thermal response to vasomodulation were obtained. Validation of this proposed paradigm through further clinical exploration may demonstrate clinical utility for the IR modality in diagnostic imaging, offering a potential solution to the current unmet clinical need.

Underwater imaging of the air environment is described with particular attention given to the optical problems of near- horizon viewing. These include severe chromatic aberration from transmission through the seawater wedge, the horizon distortion effect, and anisoplanatism resulting from the change of refractive aberrations in different areas of view. Various optical designs or schemes are presented that correct or relieve the first two optical problems. Strategies to minimize or attempt to view through the varying refraction of the surface are also suggested, and one is investigated.

The first two terms in the spherical-harmonic expansion (the $P_1$ approximation) of the radiative transfer equation yield the diffusion equation. This approximation applies to multiple scattering and results in a solution for the energy density, the gradient of which is proportional to the light intensity. In this work a higher-order spherical-harmonic expansion of the radiative transfer equation is developed. This equation applies to the radiant intensity rather than the energy density. The equation can be decomposed into two terms: a propagator term obtained from the determinant of the coupled equations describing the individual components of the intensity, and a mixing matrix that describes the cross coupling between different orders of the expansion. Using the Fourier transform, an approximation based on expanding at small wave vectors k leads to an equation similar to the diffusion equation. The equation is expected to predict the intensity for multiple scattering at earlier times and shorter distances than the diffusion equation can. The notion of an equivalent wave field is introduced.