Title: A Miniature Integrated Nuclear Detector System for Homeland Security
Lewis D. Meixler, Head of Applications Research and Technology Transfer, Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University
The Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Rutgers University Center for Advanced Information Processing (CAIP) have developed a Miniature Integrated Nuclear Detection System (MINDS) for the detection of nuclear threats related to Homeland Security. Nuclear threats include those which upon triggering produce the uncontrolled dispersion of nuclear material or a so-called "dirty bomb". In a dirty bomb, an explosion is triggered with the objective of dispersing various toxic or radiologically hazardous radionuclides into an environment with the intent of causing radioactive contamination in a wide physical or sensitive area. The Miniature Integrated Nuclear Detection System is designed to detect the presence of suspect nuclear materials and identify the specific radionuclide or radionuclides in mixed ionizing radiation fields from potential nuclear threats. A fully deployed MINDS system is be capable of detecting X-ray, soft gamma, gamma and neutrons. A major feature is that the system compares, in software, the energy spectrum of the detected radionuclide with the spectrum of particular radiological materials that might be used in radionuclide based weapons, and can be programmed to spedicially respond to those signatures, thus eliminating false positive alarms resulting from the movement and transportation of approved radionuclides such as medical and industrial shipments. The presence of false positives is a major concern of security personnel. The PPPL/Rutgers team has a major portion of the system operational and is preparing for field testing of the full system and associated software. An initial proof of principle demonstration has was conducted at PPPL in August, 2002, which demonstrated the system's ability to detect and identify a small amount of nuclear material inside of an inter-modal shipping container. In August, 2003 a second demonstration at PPPL showed the capability of the system to detect a small amount of nuclear material in a moving vehicle. The system is small enough to be mobile, and uses relatively inexpensive components. PPPL and Rutgers are preparing to commence testing on the MINDS system at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Radiation Testing and Evaluation Center this fall.
Title: Impact of 2001 WTC Attack on NYC Critical Infrastructure (Poster Presentation)
David Mendonca, Information Systems Dept., NJIT
Critical infrastructure systems provide services that are essential to both the economy and well-being of nations and their citizens. It is therefore of vital importance that these services not be degraded, whether by willful acts such as terrorism or by natural or random events such as earthquakes, design flaws or human error. Yet infrastructure systems and the organizations that manage them are now recognized as components of highly-coupled systems that increasingly rely on one another in order to deliver key services. This research is resulting in methods for modeling interdependencies among critical infrastructure systems and for developing tools to assist in the management of these interdependencies.
Title: Starting Over: Cleaning Up the World Trade Center Site After 9/11 (Poster Presentation)
David Mendonca, Information Systems Dept., NJIT
Post-disaster debris removal is necessary for recovery, response and reconstruction. This research is investigating decision making during cleanup operations following the 2001 World Trade Center attack. Of particular interest is the placement and use of debris removal equipment (such as cranes and grapplers) during response and recovery. This research is intended to produce a better understanding of how innovation under time pressure can be fostered while preserving safety and effectiveness.
Title: Computer vision approaches to identifying people and possible malfeasant
behavior
Dimitris Metaxas and Mark G. Frank, Rutgers
A potentially fruitful collaboration between our previously independent
research
traditions (behavioral science and computer vision) has led to some
promising applications of computer vision techniques toward
identifying not only individuals, but also behaviors associated with
imminent attack, weapons possession, and detecting deception. We will
briefly describe our recent findings in identifying specific
individuals from gait, and how that technology can be applied toward
identifying those dynamic behaviors associated with possible
malfeasance we have uncovered using behavioral science techniques in
conjunction with our current work with law enforcement and
counter-terrorism personnel. Finally, we will discuss the potential
application of this technology for face-hand interaction and stress
level monitoring that can be useful in settings such as security
checkpoints, public spaces, and interpersonal interrogations.
Title: New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness
Glenn Paulson, UMDNJ-School of Public Health
The New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness, established
at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, is one of the nation's 21
Academic Centers for Public Health Preparedness (A-CPHP). Funding is
provided by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and
through the Association of Schools of Public Health.
The New Jersey Center develops and provides education and training
designed to ensure that public health and health care workers are
prepared to respond to any biological, chemical, radiological, or
nuclear threats or emergencies, as well as infectious disease
outbreaks and natural disasters. The Center will build upon the
School of Public Health's extensive experience in preparing
professionals to manage hazardous chemicals and wastes, and
bioterrorism events. During the next year the Center will emphasize
preparedness for chemical and nuclear/radiological threats and events,
protecting the safety and health of emergency responders, and
employing traditional and innovative training methods to provide
better education to public health professionals, medical professionals
and the general public.
Title: Homeland Security Risk Analysis, Requirements Analysis and Process Modeling, Integrated Into an Analytical, and Web-browser Readable 3D Interactive Multimedia Architecture (Poster Presentation)
Paul G. Ranky, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, NJIT
An object / component - oriented system design is presented with practical DOD applications, for the purpose of analyzing and assessing
homeland security risks, requirements, and related processes,
integrated into an analytical, and web-browser readable, 3D interactive
multimedia architecture. The presentation will include live software
demonstrations.
Title: Overview of Homeland Security Research at Rutgers
Fred S. Roberts, Director of Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) and Chair of Rutgers University Homeland Security Research Initiative
This presentation will survey the extensive homeland security research
taking place at Rutgers, ranging through work on:
*protecting the critical infrastructure (buildings, transportation
systems, communication systems, and the food, air, and water);
*detection and surveillance (using sensors, mathematical models,
syndromic surveillance, the criminal justice system, ocean monitoring;
using weather stations);
*emergency response (emergency communication, training first
responders, modeling risk and response, risk communication, evacuation).
Title: Local Needs and Preparedness for WMD Incidents: A Case Study of Kentucky (Poster Presentation)
Christine M. Scott, Cook College, Rutgers University and G. Paulson, UMDNJ-School of Public Health
In the summer of 2002, the Commonwealth of Kentucky's General
Assembly passed emergency legislation, the Antiterrorism Act of 2002.
One piece of the Antiterrorism Act requested that the Kentucky Division
of Emergency Management (KyEM) prepare an annual report on the needs and
level of preparedness for responding to possible terrorist incidents,
including responding to the potential use of weapons of mass destruction
(WMD), at the state level. Upon further examination it was decided that
local, county and regional responses to WMD incidents would be similarly
important, and that an independent survey of needs and preparedness as
perceived at the local level, while not specifically called for in the
new state law, would be a valuable addition to KyEM's knowledge base.
In four regions of the state, pertinent professionals at the local
level, such as city/town, county, and multi-county, were surveyed to
determine their perceptions of the current levels of preparedness and
also their needs to improve upon their levels of preparedness to respond
to terrorist incidents. The professionals surveyed included individuals
in fire and police departments, emergency medical and emergency
management organizations, local, county and multi-county health
agencies, and hospitals, as well as private physicians, corporate and
university safety and health officials, and also others whom provided
confidential responses to the survey. Their existing levels and needs
to enhance these levels of preparedness encompassed four critical areas
of emergency response: communication, incident command, on-scene
capabilities and needs, as well as off-site capabilities and needs.
Overall in all of the four regions surveyed, the needs for improvement
upon their levels of preparedness to respond to terrorist acts were
judged to range from high to very high, and their present level of
preparedness was ascertained as low. The overall results of this
survey, which was conducted in the early fall of 2002, have been
confirmed more recently as reflecting the general level of local
preparedness for much if not most of the United States.
Title: Intro & Transportation Security
Donald Sebastuan, Vice President for Research & Development, New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJIT's research program has historically focused on important areas or technology that contribute to the issues of Homeland Security identified at the federal level: ? border and transportation security, protection of critical infrastructure and national symbols, defense against catastrophic threats, emergency preparedness and response, domestic counter-terrorism, and intelligence and warning.. In July 2002, the university formed a Homeland Security Technology Center to integrate these efforts and to create a forum for systems integration and end-use test, evaluation, and demonstration of relevant technologies. These exercises will can guide the state and federal investment process and lead to standards of interoperability that might spur private sector development of next generation systems.
One important area of vulnerability that has received widespread attention is the security of our ports and in particular, managing inspection of containerized shipping. NJIT, in partnership with StratCom, LLC and Lockheed s engaged in developing and deploying a global freight monitoring system that uses high-altitude airships, wide-area broad band wireless communication, advanced neutron beam and terahertz spectrometry, and autonomous inspection vehicles to secure cargo from point of pickup to point of delivery. The program is rich in opportunities that depend of research across the full spectrum of disciplines and these will be discussed at the Symposium.
Title: Face Recognition and Image Data Security (Poster Presentation)
Frank Shih, Department of Computer Scinece, NJIT
Scientists have developed numerous classifiers in the pattern recognition field, while applying a single classifier is very difficult to achieve a high recognition rate on face databases. The problems occur when the images of the same person are classified as one class, while they are in face different in poses, expressions, or lighting conditioins. We will present a hybrid, two-phase face recognition algorithm to achieve high recognition rates on the FERET data set.Several fragile image watermarking techniques can not detect vector quantization attacks. We will present a new fragile watermarking technique based on genetic algorithms to embed watermarks into the frequency domain of a host image. The technique can provide a fundamental platform for other fragile watermarking techniques.
Title: A Digital Rights Management Platform for Digital Images (Poster Presentation)
Neelu Sinha, Department of Computer Scinece, Math and Physics, Fairleigh Dickinson University
In this Digital Age, all forms of digital media content are available for electronic distribution. Hence there is a need to manage, store, protect and distribute digital images, video, and audio using schemes which can protect, detect and verify ownership. This poster presents a complete Digital Rights Management System (DRMS) for digital images. One of the components in a DRMS is the information embedding technique for incorporating a digital watermark to protect, detect and verify ownership of digital data. This digital watermarking technique is based on Adaptive segmentation and Space-Frequency representation (WASSFR). Other components in this DRMS are Encryption, Channel Coding and Synchronization Mechanism. This attempts to build a complete digitalrights management scheme (incorporating these components) suitable for practical applications such as secure digital image distribution.
Title: Rutgers Center for the Study of Public Security (Poster Presentation)
Louise Stanton, Rutgers University
The Rutgers Center for the Study of Public Security (RCSPS) is an interdisciplinary center of research and outreach activities that was founded by the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers School of Law, Rutgers College of Nursing, and the Center for Global Change and Governance in 2002. The RCSPS is positioning itself as a leading national research center focused on interdisciplinary approaches to security research. It emphasizes collaboration across multiple sectors at neutral forum for public discussions, dialogue and problem-solving on security issues in the post-9/11 environment and in the broader context of social change and conflict. The main item on the agenda of the RCSPS is to understand the consequences of heightened security. Based on the very productive discussions with participants at the Health Security in NJ summit in June 2003, the RCSPS launched the Public Security Monitoring Project (PSMP) to track changes in security pre-9/11 and post-9/11. The methodology involves in-depth interviews with decision-makers in the corporate, health, and law enforcement sectors. Interviewers are probing the meaning of security, risk perceptions, risk assessments, employee reactions and involvement, management, economic impacts, and disruptions. During the course of its research and outreach activities, the RCSPS will be preparing a narrative for use by decision and policy-makers.
Title: Center For Rapid Responce Databases (Poster Presentation)
William Tepfenhart, Monmouth University
This poster shall describe the efforts that have been undertaken in the
development of a center for rapid response databases. The goal of this
center is to develop the technological tools necessary for rapid responce to
large-scale emergencies. We describe how our initial efforts concentrate on
command center tools.
Title: Emergency Response Information Systems: Requirements and Design Considerations
Murray Turoff A presentation of the current work at NJIT concerned with the design of a new generation of Dynamic Emergency Response Management Information Systems (DERMIS) based upon historical requirements. Highlights the conceptual level design and the role for such systems in all phases of emergency preparedness from planning, implementation, training, response execution, recovery, evaluation and evolution of the systems.
Title: WiNSeC a Communications Platform for Homeland Security
Pat White This talk provides an overview of WiNSeC, a new center established at Stevens Institute of Technology, focused on advanced, secure wireless communications technologies for homeland security and commercial applications.
The security of wireless signals is an important challenge, due to the fact that they are broadcast in free space and are available to attackers with appropriate listening or jamming equipment. The overall approach in WiNSeC is to focus on key pragmatic problems that have enormous payoff potential.
Particular areas of emphasis include:
A state-of-the-art wireless test bed comprised of the latest in commercial products and emerging research concepts is in place to support the Center's work program. The test bed, located at Stevens Institute of Technology in the heart of the NY metropolitan area, is uniquely positioned to model a variety of wireless environments, marine, urban, suburban; particularly the unique challenges that they pose: excessive background radio noise, shadowing by skyscrapers and multi-path interference due to reflection from buildings or water. This uniqueness ensures that wireless technologies developed or tested by the center can perform well in an array of environments.
Title: Decision Support for Emergency Response Planning (Poster Presentation)
Xiang Yao Our poster and demo is about use of Decision Support System to gather information for planning in emergency response area. SDSS allows large group of experts to contribute and evaluate their ideas by assorted voting processes.
Title: Internet-based Network for Monitoring and Display of Environmental Radiation Data (Poster Presentation)
L.S. Zuckier(1), M.J. Nappe(3), D.A. Robinson(2), R. Rego(2), S. Feldman(2), C. Duvall(2) and B. Boardman(3) In a widespread radiologic emergency, manual monitoring of radioactivity using hand-held Geiger Müller (GM) detectors is slow and impractical. Data would not be available in time for effective emergency decision making.
We describe development of a web-based network of GM detectors designed to provide near real-time measurement of ambient radioactivity within NJ. Commercially available serial-port based GM detectors have been deployed on computers on the UMDNJ network and on data loggers installed as part of the Mesonet Field Weather Stations, Office of the NJ State Climatologist at Rutgers University. Efforts are underway to integrate a county-based detector system into our state-based surveillance network. Data are shared between computers via the Internet and then displayed on a UMDNJ-based server where they are ubiquitously available for review on the Internet.
We have begun implementation of a scalable State-wide Internet-based system for monitoring and display of environmental radiation data. Ongoing development includes expansion of our detector base and graphical display of data in a map format. The ability to share and display data on the WWW makes implementation of widespread networks of GM-counters feasible, critical to emergency radiologic responses.
Panels:
Purpose: NJ Universities Consortium for Homeland Security will
demonstrate how we can use our knowledge and accumulated expertise to
anticipate and control threats to security. In addition, the
Consortium will lead us to see opportunities for how the individual
institutions can rise to the challenge of collaboration by approaching
homeland security issues using an inter-disciplinary,
inter-institutional, and inter-thematic approach.
Rationale for proposed panels: The panels will demonstrate the
opportunities for synergies among institutions and disciplines.
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Document last modified on October 28, 2003.