Subsecond thermophysics research at the Boris Kidrich Institute Vincha

In the early eighties, at the Boris Kidrich Institute Vincha, a method for measuring specific heat and electrical resistivity of electrical conductors in the millisecond resolution range was developed for measurements from room temperature to 1900 K. Over a period of nearly 10 years, the method was applied to different materials, including pure metals, ferrous, and nickel/ chromium alloys, and to the characterization of candidate materials for thermophysical property reference standards. This paper describes the method and reviews the results obtained in specific heat and electrical resistivity studies of ferromagnetic and other materials. The paper also demonstrates capabilities of the method for describing phase transitions or anomalies in pure metals (Fe, Co, Ni) or alloys (Nichrome, austenitic stainless steel).Paper presented at the Second Workshop on Subsecond Thermophysics, September 20–21, 1990, Torino, Italy.     

Akhet Khufu: Archaeo-astronomical Hints at a Common Project of the Two Main Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

The architectural complexes composed by the two main pyramids of Giza together with their temples are investigated from an interdisciplinary point of view, taking into account their astronomical alignments as well as their relationships with the visible landscape. Combining already known facts together with new clues, the work strongly supports the idea that the two complexes were conceived as parts of a common project.     

Improvements in data reduction in direct pulse heating calorimetry

This paper describes improvements introduced in data reduction in direct heating pulse specific heat experiments. In calculations of specific heat, it is necessary to calculate the first derivative of the recorded temperature data as a function of time. The error induced by different numerical differentiation techniques can represent a significant part of the overall measurement error. Thus, different digital filtering techniques, differentiation, and smoothing algorithms were applied and tested to examine their influence on the minimization of errors induced by noise, which is unavoidable in measured signals. A minimum square error criterion was applied in designing digital filters, with arbitrary prescribed magnitude characteristics. Attention was paid to applications when one or more structural phase transitions in the specimen material occur within the temperature range covered by the experiment. The cases where the frequency spectrum of induced noise overlaps with the spectrum of temperature transient signals originating from phase transitions were analyzed in detail. The effectiveness of the methods of extracting the final specific heat data from a noisy signal using different digital filtering techniques is demonstrated.Paper presented at the Fourth International Workshop on Subsecond Thermophysics, June 27–29, 1995, Köln, Germany.     

Metric concepts and implications in describing compositional changes for world river's water chemistry

The paper is designed to give the reader an outline that is useful for understanding the importance of distance, as a metric concept, and its implications when compositional (geochemical) data are managed from a statistical point of view in a given sample space. Application examples are shown by considering the construction of confidence regions and mixing models. The analyzed data are related to the chemistry of the most important rivers of the world as referring to the GEMS/WATER Global Register of River Inputs when each sample (river) is represented as a composition. A compositional vector of d parts, x=[x₁,x₂,…,x_d], is defined as a vector in which the only relevant information is contained in the ratios between its components. All the components of the vector are assumed positive and are called parts (variables), while the whole compositional vector, with the sum of the parts equal to a constant, represents the composition. In this case data are not represented by variables free to vary from −∞ to +∞ within a Euclidean space but occupy a restricted part of it called the simplex. The d-part simplex, S^d, is a subset of a d-dimensional real space. In this context the metric of the R space, with the definition of basic algebraic operations and of inner product, norm and distance, thus giving an Euclidean vector space structure, cannot be applied since the scale is relative and not absolute.     

Specific Heat and Electrical Resistivity of 53%Niobium-47%Titanium Alloy Measured by Subsecond Calorimetric Technique

This paper presents results of measurements of the specific heat and electrical resistivity of a 53%Ni-47%Ti superconducting alloy. Both properties were measured by a contact variant of the millisecond-resolution pulse calorimeter. W5%Re/W25%Re thermocouple thermometry enabled study from ambient temperature to 2000 K. Results are discussed, and their uncertainty is estimated.     

A syntax-preserving error resilience tool for JPEG 2000 based on error correcting arithmetic coding.

JPEG 2000 is the novel ISO standard for image and video coding. Besides its improved coding efficiency, it also provides a few error resilience tools in order to limit the effect of errors in the codestream, which can occur when the compressed image or video data are transmitted over an error-prone channel, as typically occurs in wireless communication scenarios. However, for very harsh channels, these tools often do not provide an adequate degree of error protection. In this paper, we propose a novel error-resilience tool for JPEG 2000, based on the concept of ternary arithmetic coders employing a forbidden symbol. Such coders introduce a controlled degree of redundancy during the encoding process, which can be exploited at the decoder side in order to detect and correct errors. We propose a maximum likelihood and a maximum a posteriori context-based decoder, specifically tailored to the JPEG 2000 arithmetic coder, which are able to carry out both hard and soft decoding of a corrupted code-stream. The proposed decoder extends the JPEG 2000 capabilities in error-prone scenarios, without violating the standard syntax. Extensive simulations on video sequences show that the proposed decoders largely outperform the standard in terms of PSNR and visual quality.     

On-board selection of relevant images: an application to linearfeature recognition

We propose an on-board selection scheme for aerial and space images, based on linear feature detection in a feature hyperspace. The detection task is performed by means of the Radon transform (RT) and the wavelet transform; a fast algorithm for the RT computation is described, and counteractions against the discretization errors are proposed. A new, wavelet-based algorithm is introduced, which performs a fine analysis of the waveforms of the RT peaks, yielding a possibly error-free detection in images corrupted by a high level of noise. A technique, based on the feature hyperspace, is proposed, able to significantly exploit all the available pieces of information on these peaks. Results of the tests on synthetic and real images are reported, which show that this method achieves satisfactory results, making the detection task highly reliable in the presence of both noise and clutter.     

Measurements of specific heat and electrical resistivity of austenitic stainless steel (St. 1.4970) in the range 300–1500 K by pulse calorimetry

A direct heating pulse calorimetric technique has been applied for the measurements of specific heat, electrical resistivity, and hemispherical total emissivity of austenitic stainless steel (St. 1.4970), a candidate for thermal conductivity standard reference material. The specific heat and electrical resistivity were measured in the range 300 to 1500 K, and the hemispherical total emissivity was measured in the range 1300 to 1500 K. The maximum measurement uncertainties were estimated to be 3% for specific heat, 1% for electrical resistivity, and 5% for emissivity.Paper presented at the Second Workshop on Subsecond Thermophysics, September 20–21, 1990, Torino, Italy.     

Distributed Arithmetic Coding

We propose a distributed binary arithmetic coder for Slepian-Wolf coding with decoder side information, along with a soft joint decoder. The proposed scheme provides several advantages over existing schemes, and its performance is equal to or better than that of an equivalent scheme based on turbo codes at short and medium block lengths.