Non-encapsulated thermo-liquid crystals for digital particle tracking thermography/velocimetry in microfluidics

The ever accelerating state of technology has powered an increasing interest in heat transfer solutions and process engineering innovations in the microfluidics domain. In order to carry out such developments, reliable heat transfer diagnostic techniques are necessary. Thermo-liquid crystal (TLC) thermography, in combination with particle image velocimetry, has been a widely accepted and commonly used technique for the simultaneous measurement and characterization of temperature and velocity fields in macroscopic fluid flows for several decades. However, low seeding density, volume illumination, and low TLC particle image quality at high magnifications present unsurpassed challenges to its application to three-dimensional flows with microscopic dimensions. In this work, a measurement technique to evaluate the color response of individual non-encapsulated TLC particles is presented. A Shirasu porous glass membrane emulsification approach was used to produce the non-encapsulated TLC particles with a narrow size distribution and a multi-variable calibration procedure, making use of all three RGB and HSI color components, as well as the proper orthogonally decomposed RGB components, was used to achieve unprecedented low uncertainty levels in the temperature estimation of individual particles, opening the door to simultaneous temperature and velocity tracking using 3D velocimetry techniques.     

Compositional CSP Traces Refinement Checking

Compositional verification using assume-guarantee reasoning has recently seen an uprise due to the introduction of automatic techniques for learning assumptions. In this paper, we transfer this technique to a setting with CSP as modelling and property specification language, and present an approach to compositional traces refinement checking. The approach has been implemented using the CSP model checker FDR as teacher during learning. The implementation shows that the compositional approach can both drastically outperform as well as underperform FDR's performance, depending on the example at hand.     

Konferenz der Datenschutzbeauftragten des Bundes und der Länder

Dokumentation

Konferenz der Datenschutzbeauftragten des Bundes und der L?nder Entschlie?ung vom 16. April 2009     

Refrigeration and thermometry of liquid3He-4He mixtures in the ballistic regime

The ballistic regime of liquid³He-⁴He mixtures is characterized by a large mean free path of the thermal excitations compared to the characteristic dimension of the experiment. We report on investigations of the transport properties of mixtures as well as superfluid³He in the ballistic regime by means of the vibrating wire technique. In order to avoid possible sources of heat leaks into the liquid, the experimental setup was built as far as possible of pure materials only. The contribution of a Ag sinter to the heat leak as well as its influence on the attainable minimum temperature of the mixtures were investigated by performing measurements in two similar setups which differed in the size of the heat exchanger by about one order of magnitude. Moreover, we have used the vibrating wire partly immersed in the superfluid³He-B phase of a phase-separated mixture as a very sensitive, continuously monitoring thermometer for liquid mixtures in their ballistic regime. The achieved minimum temperature of a 6.8%-mixture atp = 0.35 bar and of a 9.5%-mixture atp = 9.8 bar was 130 K. This value can be considered as an upper limit for the temperature of the mixtures as the damping of the vibrating wire thermometer saturates at this temperature due to its intrinsic properties.     

Product plots

We propose a new framework for visualising tables of counts, proportions and probabilities. We call our framework product plots, alluding to the computation of area as a product of height and width, and the statistical concept of generating a joint distribution from the product of conditional and marginal distributions. The framework, with extensions, is sufficient to encompass over 20 visualisations previously described in fields of statistical graphics and infovis, including bar charts, mosaic plots, treemaps, equal area plots and fluctuation diagrams.     

An information-theoretic framework for visualization

In this paper, we examine whether or not information theory can be one of the theoretic frameworks for visualization. We formulate concepts and measurements for qualifying visual information. We illustrate these concepts with examples that manifest the intrinsic and implicit use of information theory in many existing visualization techniques. We outline the broad correlation between visualization and the major applications of information theory, while pointing out the difference in emphasis and some technical gaps. Our study provides compelling evidence that information theory can explain a significant number of phenomena or events in visualization, while no example has been found which is fundamentally in conflict with information theory. We also notice that the emphasis of some traditional applications of information theory, such as data compression or data communication, may not always suit visualization, as the former typically focuses on the efficient throughput of a communication channel, whilst the latter focuses on the effectiveness in aiding the perceptual and cognitive process for data understanding and knowledge discovery. These findings suggest that further theoretic developments are necessary for adopting and adapting information theory for visualization.     

Accountability in Child Welfare Services: Developing a Statewide Outcome Evaluation Program.

Questions are often raised regarding the effectiveness and value of treatment programs for children and families. Recently, programs have been increasingly held accountable for services offered. In response, the member agencies of IARCCA have developed a comprehensive outcome measurement program. This article describes the project, focusing on the conditions that led to its inception and how the measurement plan was developed. In addition, the article includes information on the selection of personnel, measurement instruments, and methods and on the process of data collection. Summary results are provided, including how these results are utilized to improve services. Finally, the continued expansion and future directions of the Outcome Project are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simulation of hyperspectral and directional radiance images using coupled biophysical and atmospheric radiative transfer models

Future remote sensing satellite missions exploring the earth will feature advanced hyperspectral and directional optical imaging instruments. Given the complex nature of the data to be expected from these missions, a thorough preparation for them is essential and this can be accomplished by realistic simulation of the imagery data, years before the actual launch. Based on given spectral and directional capabilities of the instrument, and in combination with biophysical land surface properties obtained from existing imagery, the spectral and directional responses of several types of vegetation and bare soil have been simulated pixel by pixel using the radiative transfer models PROSPECT (for hyperspectral leaf reflectance and transmittance), GeoSAIL (for two-layer canopy bidirectional spectral reflectance), and MODTRAN4 (for atmospheric hyperspectral and directional effects). In this way, one obtains realistically simulated hyperspectral and directional top-of-atmosphere spectral radiance images, with all major effects included, such as heterogeneity of the landscape, non-Lambertian reflectance of the land surface, the atmospheric adjacency effect, and the limited spatial resolution of the instrument. The output of the image simulations can be used to demonstrate the capabilities of future earth observation missions. In addition, instrument specifications and image acquisition strategies might be optimized on the basis of simulated image analysis results, and new advanced data assimilation procedures could be validated with realistic inputs under controlled circumstances. This paper describes the applied methodology, the study area with the input images, the set-up of the actual image simulations, and discusses the final results obtained.     

Segmentation and Restoration of Images on Surfaces by Parametric Active Contours with Topology Changes

In this article, a new method for segmentation and restoration of images on two-dimensional surfaces is given. Active contour models for image segmentation are extended to images on surfaces. The evolving curves on the surfaces are mathematically described using a parametric approach. For image restoration, a diffusion equation with Neumann boundary conditions is solved in a postprocessing step in the individual regions. Numerical schemes are presented which allow to efficiently compute segmentations and denoised versions of images on surfaces. Also topology changes of the evolving curves are detected and performed using a fast sub-routine. Finally, several experiments are presented where the developed methods are applied on different artificial and real images defined on different surfaces.