for determining the quality of forages, grains, and grain products, oilseeds, coffee, tea, spices, fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, beverages, fats, and oils, dairy products, eggs, meat, and other agricultural products. It is widely used to quantify the composition of agricultural products because it meets the criteria of being accurate, reliable, rapid, non-destructive, and inexpensive. Abeni and Bergoglio 2001 apply NIRS to chicken breeding as the assay method for characteristics of fat composition. Remote monitoring Techniques have been developed for NIR spectroscopic imaging. Hyperspectral imaging has been applied for a wide range of uses, including the remote investigation of plants and soils. Data can be collected from instruments on airplanes or satellites to assess ground cover and soil chemistry. Remote monitoring or remote sensing from the NIR spectroscopic region can also be used to study the atmosphere. For example, measurements of atmospheric gases are made from NIR spectra measured by the OCO-2, GOSAT, and the TCCON. Materials science Techniques have been developed for NIR spectroscopy of microscopic sample areas for film thickness measurements, research into the optical characteristics of nanoparticles and optical coatings for the telecommunications industry. Medical uses The application of NIRS in medicine centres on its ability to provide information about the oxygen saturation of haemoglobin within the microcirculation. Broadly speaking, it can be used to assess oxygenation and microvascular function in the brain (cerebral NIRS) or in the peripheral tissues (peripheral NIRS). Cerebral NIRS When a specific area of the brain is activated, the localized blood volume in that area changes quickly. Optical imaging can measure the location and activity of specific regions of the brain by continuously monitoring blood hemoglobin levels through the determination of optical absorption coefficients. NIRS can be used as a quick screening tool for possible intracranial bleeding cases by placing the scanner on four locations on the head. In non-injured patients the brain absorbs the NIR light evenly. When there is an internal bleeding from an injury, the blood may be concentrated in one location causing the NIR light to be absorbed more than other locations, which the scanner detects. So-called functional NIRS can be used for non-invasive assessment of brain function through the intact skull in human subjects by detecting changes in blood hemoglobin concentrations associated with neural activity, e.g., in branches of cognitive psychology as a partial replacement for fMRI techniques. NIRS can be used on infants, and NIRS is much more