Optimal Measurement Setup Research Articles

Skin Cancer Detection Using Infrared Thermography: Measurement Setup, Procedure and Equipment.

Infrared thermography technology has improved dramatically in recent years and is gaining renewed interest in the medical community for applications in skin tissue identification applications. However, there is still a need for an optimized measurement setup and protocol to obtain the most appropriate images for decision making and further processing. Nowadays, various cooling methods, measurement setups and cameras are used, but a general optimized cooling and measurement protocol has not been defined yet. In this literature review, an overview of different measurement setups, thermal excitation techniques and infrared camera equipment is given. It is possible to improve thermal images of skin lesions by choosing an appropriate cooling method, infrared camera and optimized measurement setup.

Modal Analysis of the Tubular Space Frame of a Formula Student Race Car

This document presents the characterization of the dynamic mechanical properties of a racecar's frame. First, it introduces the applicability of modal analysis, then the modal analysis of a lightweight vehicle chassis will be detailed, which is the focal point of this paper. This analysis was performed to determine some of the modal parameters, in order to reduce the noise of the vehicle, the probability of a component failure and to improve the comfort. The simulation part of the applied analysis was based on dynamic FEM (Finite Element Method). The measurement part of it was based on measuring the FRFs (Frequency Response Functions), with the help of accelerometers fixed at the nodes of the frame. The excitation signals were provided by a shaker connected to the chassis. In order to provide good quality results, the processing and evaluation of the simulated and measured data has to be done properly, which is discussed in detail. However, one dominant factor of a modal analysis is to find the optimal measurement setup. For this reason, the details of the measurement setup will be included. Hence one of the goals was to improve the coherence curves of the FRFs. Thanks to the presented techniques, the coherence curves managed to be improved and the results of the simulation and the measurement were found to be in good agreement.

Practical Recommendations for Hyperspectral and Thermal Proximal Disease Sensing in Potato and Leek Fields

Thermal and hyperspectral proximal disease sensing are valuable tools towards increasing pesticide use efficiency. However, some practical aspects of the implementation of these sensors remain poorly understood. We studied an optimal measurement setup combining both sensors for disease detection in leek and potato. This was achieved by optimising the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) based on the height of measurement above the crop canopy, off-zenith camera angle and exposure time (ET) of the sensor. Our results indicated a clear increase in SNR with increasing ET for potato. Taking into account practical constraints, the suggested setup for a hyperspectral sensor in our experiment involves (for both leek and potato) an off-zenith angle of 17°, height of 30 cm above crop canopy and ET of 1 ms, which differs from the optimal setup of the same sensor for wheat. Artificial light proved important to counteract the effect of cloud cover on hyperspectral measurements. The interference of these lamps with thermal measurements was minimal for a young leek crop but increased in older leek and after long exposure. These results indicate the importance of optimising the setup before measurements, for each type of crop.

Evaluating the performance of a double integrating sphere in measurement of reflectance, transmittance, and albedo of coniferous needles

Leaf reflectance and transmittance spectra are essential information in many applications such as developing remote sensing methods, computing shortwave energy balance (albedo) of forest canopies, and monitoring health or stress of trees. Measurement of coniferous needle spectra has usually been carried out with single integrating spheres, which has involved a lot of tedious manual work. A small double integrating sphere would make the measurements considerably faster, because of its ease of operation and small sample sizes required. Here we applied a compact double integrating sphere setup, used previously for measurement of broad leaves, for measurement of coniferous needles. Test measurements with the double integrating sphere showed relative underestimation of needle albedo by 5–39% compared to a well-established single integrating sphere setup. A small part of the bias can be explained by the bias of the single sphere. Yet the observed bias is quite significant if absolute accuracy of measurements is required. For relative measurements, e.g. for monitoring development of needle spectra over time, the double sphere system provides notable improvement. Furthermore, it might be possible to reduce the bias by building an optimized measurement setup that minimizes absorption losses in the sample port. Our study indicates that double spheres, after some technical improvement, may provide a new and fast way to collect extensive spectral libraries of tree species.

Optimal Gaussian measurements for phase estimation in single-mode Gaussian metrology

The central issue in quantum parameter estimation is to find out the optimal measurement setup that leads to the ultimate lower bound of an estimation error. We address here a question of whether a Gaussian measurement scheme can achieve the ultimate bound for phase estimation in single-mode Gaussian metrology that exploits single-mode Gaussian probe states in a Gaussian environment. We identify three types of optimal Gaussian measurement setups yielding the maximal Fisher information depending on displacement, squeezing, and thermalization of the probe state. We show that the homodyne measurement attains the ultimate bound for both displaced thermal probe states and squeezed vacuum probe states, whereas for the other single-mode Gaussian probe states, the optimized Gaussian measurement cannot be the optimal setup, although they are sometimes nearly optimal. We then demonstrate that the measurement on the basis of the product quadrature operators hat Xhat P + hat Phat X, i.e., a non-Gaussian measurement, is required to be fully optimal.

Natural menstrual rhythm and oral contraception diversely affect exhaled breath compositions

Natural menstrual cycle and/or oral contraception diversely affect women metabolites. Longitudinal metabolic profiling under constant experimental conditions is thereby realistic to understand such effects. Thus, we investigated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exhalation throughout menstrual cycles in 24 young and healthy women with- and without oral contraception. Exhaled VOCs were identified and quantified in trace concentrations via high-resolution real-time mass-spectrometry, starting from a menstruation and then repeated follow-up with six intervals including the next bleeding. Repeated measurements within biologically comparable groups were employed under optimized measurement setup. We observed pronounced and substance specific changes in exhaled VOC concentrations throughout all cycles with low intra-individual variations. Certain blood-borne volatiles changed significantly during follicular and luteal phases. Most prominent changes in endogenous VOCs were observed at the ovulation phase with respect to initial menstruation. Here, the absolute median abundances of alveolar ammonia, acetone, isoprene and dimethyl sulphide changed significantly (P-value ≤ 0.005) by 18.22↓, 13.41↓, 18.02↑ and 9.40↓%, respectively. These VOCs behaved in contrast under the presence of combined oral contraception; e.g. isoprene decreased significantly by 30.25↓%. All changes returned to initial range once the second bleeding phase was repeated. Changes in exogenous benzene, isopropanol, limonene etc. and smoking related furan, acetonitrile and orally originated hydrogen sulphide were rather nonspecific and mainly exposure dependent. Our observations could apprehend a number of known/pre-investigated metabolic effects induced by monthly endocrine regulations. Potential in vivo origins (e.g. metabolic processes) of VOCs are crucial to realize such effects. Despite ubiquitous confounders, we demonstrated the true strength of volatolomics for metabolic monitoring of menstrual cycle and contraceptives. These outcomes may warrant further studies in this direction to enhance our fundamental and clinical understanding on menstrual metabolomics and endocrinology. Counter-effects of contraception can be deployed for future noninvasive assessment of birth control pills. Our findings could be translated toward metabolomics of pregnancy, menopause and post-menopausal complications via breath analysis.

High-speed camera measurements in the mechanical analysis of machining

In this paper, we present the application of high-speed camera recordings in the mechanical analysis of machining processes. The modelling of the workpiece-machine-tool mechanical system is a very complex and challenging engineering problem having important features at multiple scales both in time and in space. The observation and experimental analysis of such phenomena are important in terms of developing and validating the corresponding mechanical models and results. This paper is dedicated to summarize our experiences regarding the optimal measurement set-up and instrumentation of mechanical investigations using a commercial Photron FASTCAM SA5 High-Speed Camera System. Furthermore, the applicability of high-speed camera recordings are also provided via the detailed case study of shear angle estimation and chatter detection.

A mapping relationship based near-field acoustic holography with spherical fundamental solutions for Helmholtz equation

In the procedure of the near-field acoustic holography (NAH) based on the fundamental solutions for Helmholtz equation (FS), the number of FS and the measurement setup to obtain their coefficients are two crucial issues to the successful reconstruction. The current work is motivated to develop a framework for the NAH which supplies a guideline to the determination of the number of FS as well as an optimized measurement setup. A mapping relationship between modes on surfaces of boundary and hologram is analytically derived by adopting the modes as FS in spherical coordinates. Thus, reconstruction is converted to obtain the coefficients of participant modes on holograms. In addition, an integral identity is firstly to be derived for the modes on convex surfaces, which is useful in determining the inefficient or evanescent modes for acoustic radiation in free space. To determine the number of FS adopted in the mapping relationship based NAH (MRS-based NAH), two approaches are proposed to supply reasonable estimations with criteria of point-wise pressure and energy, respectively. A technique to approximate a specific degree of mode on patches by a set of locally orthogonal patterns is explored for three widely used holograms, such as planar, cylindrical and spherical holograms, which results in an automatic determinations of the number and position of experimental setup for a given tolerance. Numerical examples are set up to validate the theory and techniques in the MRS-based NAH. Reconstructions of a cubic model demonstrate the potential of the proposed method for regular models even with corners and shapers. Worse results for the elongated cylinder with two spherical caps reveal the deficiency of the MRS-based NAH for irregular models which is largely due to the adopted modes are FS in spherical coordinates. The NAH framework pursued in the current work provides a new insight to the reconstruction procedure based on the FS in spherical coordinates.

MO‐F‐CAMPUS‐T‐04: Implementation of a Standardized Monthly Quality Check for Linac Output Management in a Large Multi‐Site Clinic

Purpose:This work is to investigate the feasibility of a standardized monthly quality check (QC) of LINAC output determination in a multi‐site, multi‐LINAC institution. The QC was developed to determine individual LINAC output using the same optimized measurement setup and a constant calibration factor for all machines across the institution.Methods:The QA data over 4 years of 7 Varian machines over four sites, were analyzed. The monthly output constancy checks were performed using a fixed source‐to‐chamber‐distance (SCD), with no couch position adjustment throughout the measurement cycle for all the photon energies: 6 and 18MV, and electron energies: 6, 9, 12, 16 and 20 MeV. The constant monthly output calibration factor (Nconst) was determined by averaging the machines’ output data, acquired with the same monthly ion chamber. If a different monthly ion chamber was used, Nconst was then re‐normalized to consider its different NDW,Co‐60. Here, the possible changes of Nconst over 4 years have been tracked, and the precision of output results based on this standardized monthly QA program relative to the TG‐51 calibration for each machine was calculated. Any outlier of the group was investigated.Results:The possible changes of Nconst varied between 0–0.9% over 4 years. The normalization of absorbed‐dose‐to‐water calibration factors corrects for up to 3.3% variations of different monthly QA chambers. The LINAC output precision based on this standardized monthly QC relative to the TG‐51 output calibration is within 1% for 6MV photon energy and 2% for 18MV and all the electron energies. A human error in one TG‐51 report was found through a close scrutiny of outlier data.Conclusion:This standardized QC allows for a reasonably simplified, precise and robust monthly LINAC output constancy check, with the increased sensitivity needed to detect possible human errors and machine problems.

Optimal measurement setup for damage detection in piezoelectric plates

An optimization of the excitation–measurement configuration is proposed for the characterization of damage in PZT-4 piezoelectric plates, from a numerical point of view. To perform such an optimization, a numerical method to determine the location and extent of defects in piezoelectric plates is developed by combining the solution of an identification inverse problem, using genetic algorithms and gradient-based methods to minimize a cost functional, and using an optimized finite element code and meshing algorithm. In addition, a semianalytical estimate of the probability of detection is developed and validated, which provides a flexible criterion to optimize the experimental design. The experimental setup is optimized upon several criteria: maximizing the probability of detection against noise effects, ensuring robust search algorithm convergence and increasing the sensitivity to the presence of the defect. The measurement of voltage ϕ is concluded to provide the highest identifiability, combined with an excitation of the specimen by a mechanical traction transverse to the polarization direction. Sufficient accuracy is predicted for the damage location and sizing under realistic noise levels.

Geometric sensitivity of ClearPET™ Neuro

ClearPET™ Neuro is a small-animal positron emission tomography (PET) scanner dedicated to brain studies on rats and primates. The design of ClearPET™ Neuro leads to a specific geometric sensitivity, characterized by inhomogeneous and, depending on the measurement setup, even incomplete data. With respect to reconstruction techniques, homogeneous and complete data sets are a ‘must’ for analytical reconstruction methods, whereas iterative methods take the geometrical sensitivity into account during the reconstruction process. Nevertheless, here a homogeneous geometric sensitivity over the field of view is highly desirable. Therefore, this contribution aims at studying the impact of different scanner geometries and measurement setups on the geometric sensitivity. A data set of coincident events is computed for certain settings that contains each possible crystal combination once. The lines of response are rebinned into normalizing sinograms and backprojected into sensitivity images. Both, normalizing sinograms and sensitivity images mirror the geometric sensitivity and therefore, provide information which setting enables most complete and homogeneous data sets. An optimal measurement setup and scanner geometry in terms of homogeneous geometric sensitivity is found by analyzing the sensitivity images.