Refactor code for improved readability and maintainability.

Fix bug causing null pointer exception.
Optimize function for better performance.
Update variable names for consistency.
Remove unused import statements.
Add error handling for edge cases.
Simplify logic by using built-in functions.
Update comments for clarity.
Minor formatting changes.

Author: Ivan Cao-Berg

README.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<img src="images/logo.jpg" width="150%">
+<img src="images/banner.jpg" width="150%">
 
 The Brain Image Library (BIL) is a national public resource enabling researchers to deposit, analyze, mine, share and interact with large brain image datasets. BIL encompasses the deposition of datasets, the integration of datasets into a searchable web-accessible system, the redistribution of datasets, and a computational enclave to allow researchers to process datasets in-place and share restricted and pre-release datasets.