Thermal cameras are used in numerous computer vision applications, such as human detection and scene understanding. However, the cost of high quality and high resolution thermal sensors is often a limiting factor. Conversely, high resolution visual spectrum cameras are readily available and generally inexpensive. Herein, we explore the creation of higher quality upsampled thermal imagery using a high resolution visual spectrum camera and Markov random fields theory. This paper also presents a discussion of the tradeoffs from this approach and the effects of upsampling, both from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Our results demonstrate the successful application of this approach for human detection and the accurate propagation of thermal measurements within images for more general tasks like scene understanding. A tradeoff analysis of the costs related to performance as the resolution of the thermal camera decreases are also provided.

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付記する学位プログラム名: 霊長類学・ワイルドライフサイエンス・リーディング大学院 / 京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第23747号 / 理博第4837号 / 新制||理||1692(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻 / (主査)教授 平田 聡, 教授 伊谷 原一, 教授 村山 美穂 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Modern Dry Low Emissions (DLE) combustors are characterized by highly swirling and expanding flows that makes the convective heat load on the combustor liner gas side difficult to predict and estimate. A coupled experimental-numerical study of swirling flow and its effects on combustor liner heat transfer inside a DLE annular combustor model is presented. A simulated scaled up annular combustor shell was designed with a generic fuel nozzle provided by Solar Turbines to create the swirl in the flow. The experiment was simulated with a cold flow and heated walls. An infrared camera was used to obtain the temperature distribution along the liner wall. Experimentally measured pressure distributions were compared with the heat transfer results. The experiment was conducted at various Reynolds Numbers to investigate the effect on the heat transfer peak locations and pressure distributions. A CFD study was performed using Fluent and turbulence models and used to corroborate and verify the experimental results. Results show that the heat transfer enhancement in the annulus has slightly different characteristics for the concave and convex walls. Results also show a much slower drop in heat transfer coefficient enhancement with increasing Reynolds number compared to can combustors from a previous study. An introductory study of the effect of a soft wall on the heat transfer on the combustor liner is also presented. / Master of Science

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) negatively impact worker's health, ability to work, and their quality of life. Non-invasive methods for assessing the physiological responses to workload may provide information on physiological markers leading to increased risk of WMSDs. The following study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using thermography to quantify differences in thermal readings of participants during and following a data entry task and assess the repeatability of thermal readings. Skin surface temperature measurements of the dorsal forearm were obtained from 12 participants (6 females, 6 males) during a data entry task (35 minutes) and a 30-minute post-task period. Participants also reported their perceived forearm discomfort during data entry and recovery. Three forearm analysis regions were analyzed based on statistical findings; Upper Left, Lower Left and Right regions. Temperature trends were found to increase during data entry and decrease during recovery. The Upper Left region was warmer during both data entry and recovery phases in comparison to the other regions. Repeatability of surface temperatures, based on intraclass correlations (ICCs), was found to be fair for magnitudes and trends during data entry, and poor for magnitudes and trends during recovery, despite higher significant correlations in the latter. Positive correlations were evident between subjective feelings of forearm discomfort trends and temperature trends in response to workload. No gender differences were found with regard to temperature measurements. This work contributes to the understanding of surface responses of the forearm during and following an applied stress, and to the literature supporting thermography as a non-invasive evaluative tool for assessing physiological responses during job tasks. / Master of Science

Master of Science / Department of Clinical Sciences / James K. Roush / Objective – To evaluate the value of thermography in a clinical setting for dogs with thoracolumbar disease. Animal Population – Thirteen client-owned short-haired Dachshunds presented to Kansas State University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for paraparesis/paraplegia and diagnosed with thoracolumbar disease via myelogram/CT and confirmed during surgical decompression. Procedures - Thermal images were obtained with a hand-held infrared camera with a focal plane array uncooled microbolometer. Images were obtained after physical exam and client consultation and prior to any pre-anesthetic medications, approximately 30+ minutes after entering the hospital. Additional images were obtained in the same manner at 24 hour intervals following surgery until discharge. Six regions of interest (ROI) were identified and recorded. The ROIs identified were right and left thoracic, lumbar and pelvic regions. From each of these regions average temperatures were taken. Results - Temperatures in the pelvic region were significantly cooler (p< 0.001) over all days as compared to the thoracic and lumbar regions and to the overall mean temperature. The lumbar region temperature was significantly greater on day 0 as compared to thoracic and pelvic regions but was not significantly different on any of the following days. The thoracic temperatures were significantly greater than the lumbar and pelvic regions on day 2 but there was no significant difference on any of the preceding or following days. There was no significant difference between left and right on any of the days. There was a correlation of the pelvic region temperatures on day 3 in relation to the presenting neurological grade. Conclusion - Although there were varied heat patterns detected in dachshunds with IVDD, these patterns did not correlate with neurological grade, lesion site or lateralization of the lesion. Although there was a correlation between neurological grades and the pelvic region temperatures on day 3, this time period is unlikely to provide clinical utility. Clinical Relevance - The results of this study suggest that thermography is not a useful tool for the diagnosis or prognosis of thoracolumbar disease in dogs in a clinical setting.

<p> </p><p>Infrared (IR) imaging devices based on energy detection has shown a dramatic development in technology along with an impressive price reduction in recent years. However, for a low-end market as in automotive applications, the present cost of IR cameras is still the main obstacle to broadening their usage. Ongoing research has continuously reduced the system cost. Apart from decreasing the cost of infrared optics, there are other key issues to achieve acceptable system costs, including wafer-level vacuum packaging of the detectors, low vacuum level operation, and the use of standard materials in the detector fabrication. This thesis presents concepts for cost reduction of low-end IR cameras.</p><p>     The thesis presents a study of detector performance based on the thermal conductance design of the pixel. A circuit analog is introduced to analyze the basic thermal network effect from the surrounding environment on the conductance from the pixel to the environment. A 3D simulation model of the detector array conductance has been created in order to optimize the performance of the arrays while operated in low vacuum. In the model, Fourier's law of heat transfer is applied to determine the thermal conductance of a composite material pixel. The resulting thermal conductance is then used to predict the performance of the detector array in low vacuum.</p><p>     The investigations of resist as the intermediate bonding material for 3D array integration are also reported in the thesis. A study has been made of the nano-imprint resists series mr-I 9000 using a standard adhesive wafer bonding scheme for thermosetting adhesives. Experiments have been performed to optimize the thickness control and uniformity of the nano-imprint resist layer. The evaluation, including assessment of the bonding surface uniformity and planarizing ability of topographical surfaces, is used to demonstrate the suitability of this resist as sacrificial material for heterogeneous detector array integration<em>. </em><em></em></p><p>     Moreover, the thesis presents research in wafer-level packaging performed by room temperature bonding. Sealing rings, used to create a cavity, are manufactured by electroplating. The cavity sealing is tested by liquid injection and by monitoring the deflection of the lid membrane of the cavities. A value for the membrane deflection is calculated to estimate the pressure inside the cavities.  </p>

Energy is largely invisible to users. It has been argued that employing technologies to visualise energy will assist people in conserving energy. Energy visibility interventions have largely focussed on appliance use and electricity consumption. This thesis aims to firstly explore whether making heat visible, using thermal images, promotes heat (and thereby energy) conservation. Secondly using a multiple method approach, it explores how. Five studies were employed. Study One and Three investigated whether using thermal images as a tailored antecedent intervention would promote energy conservation behaviours. The results confirmed that the images led to a reduction in Kg CO2 emissions attributed to domestic energy use. Study One and Three indicated that householders undertook more energy saving behaviours in relation to those aspects that were visible in the images. These actions were attributed to simple, energy saving behaviours such as proofing draughts. Study Two investigated how people make sense of the images and how behaviours are promoted by the images. Study two suggested that the images provide a unique medium through which factors which contribute to energy saving can be combined and reasoned by the viewer. It suggests the psychological factors in a pathway from prompt to behaviour. Study Four established that showing the images in an information presentation was not as effective when influencing participants’ ideas about energy conservation. Finally, Study Five explored participants gaze and demonstrated how features of the images, can attract the viewer. The novel contribution of this thesis is in establishing that ‘making heat visible’ through a tailored thermal imaging prompt can increase the likelihood of a householder taking simple energy saving actions, by providing a novel medium through which householders attend to heat and energy use.

Saline water evaporation from porous media with the associated salt precipitation patterns is frequently observed in a number of industrial and environmental applications and it is important in a variety of topics including, but not limited to, water balance and land-atmosphere interaction, terrestrial ecosystem functioning, geological carbon storage, and preservation of historical monuments. The excess accumulation of salt in soil is a global problem and is one of the most widespread soil degradation processes. Thus, it is important to understand the dominant mechanisms controlling saline water evaporation from porous media. This process is controlled by the transport properties of the porous medium, the external conditions, and the properties of the evaporating fluid. During saline water evaporation from porous media, the capillary induced liquid flow transports the solute towards the evaporation surface while diffusive transport tends to spread the salt homogeneously thorough the porous medium. Therefore, the solute distribution is influenced by the competition between the diffusive and convective transport. As water evaporates, salt concentration in the pore space increases continually until it precipitates. The formation of precipitated salt adds to the complexity of the description of saline water evaporation from porous media. In this dissertation, the effects of salt concentration, type of salt, and the presence of precipitated salt, on the evaporation dynamics have been investigated. The obtained results show that the precipitated salt has a porous structure and it evolves as the drying progresses. The presence of porous precipitated salt at the surface causes top-supplied creeping of the evaporating solution, feeding the growth of subsequent crystals. This could be visualized by thermal imaging in the form of appearance and disappearance of cold-spots on the surface of the porous medium, brought about by preferential water evaporation through the salt crust. My results show that such a phenomenon influences the dynamics of saline water evaporation from porous media. Moreover, a simple but effective tool was developed in this dissertation capable of describing the effects of ambient temperature, relative humidity, type of salt and its concentration, on the evaporative fluxes. Additionally, pore-scale data obtained by synchrotron x-ray tomography was used to study ion transport during saline water evaporation from porous media in 4D (3D space + time). Using iodine K-edge dual energy imaging, the ion concentration at pore scale with a high temporal and spatial resolution could be quantified. This enabled us to reveal the mechanisms controlling solute transport during saline water evaporation from porous media and extend the corresponding physical understanding of this process. Within this context, the effects of particle size distribution on the dispersion coefficient were investigated together with the evolution of the dispersion coefficient as the evaporation process progresses. The results reported in this dissertation shed new insight on the physics of saline water evaporation from porous media and its complex dynamics. The results of this dissertation have been published in 3 peer-reviewed journal papers together with one additional manuscript which is currently under review.