Application of infrared vision system for potato thermal control

The article proposes a solution to the problem of determining the values of potato tubers tissue thermophysical characteristics. The solution of this problem makes it possible to calculate the optimal regime parameters of potato quality active thermal control, which can be used for automatic sorting. In order to solve this problem, we propose a non-contact non-destructive control method based on a pulsed laser heating of a potato tuber flat surface area and subsequent use of time integral characteristics of temperature and heat flow, as well as a measuring device developed on the basis of physical and mathematical models of the method. The method was used by the authors to determine the thermal conductivity, heat capacity and coefficient of thermal diffusivity of different quality potato tissues: both healthy and affected by phyto-diseases. The studies have shown that the thermal conductivity of plant tissues depends on the presence of structural disturbances in them as a result of phyto-diseases. This fact confirms the possibility of using thermal non-destructive control of potatoes tissues provided the correct choice of power and the duration of the thermal effect on the object of control

Impact of Parental Encouragement on Perceived Barriers to Exercise

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Electronic Cooling via Interlayer Coulomb Coupling in Multilayer Epitaxial Graphene

In van der Waals bonded or rotationally disordered multilayer stacks of two-dimensional (2D) materials, the electronic states remain tightly confined within individual 2D layers. As a result, electron-phonon interactions occur primarily within layers and interlayer electrical conductivities are low. In addition, strong covalent in-plane intralayer bonding combined with weak van der Waals interlayer bonding results in weak phonon-mediated thermal coupling between the layers. We demonstrate here, however, that Coulomb interactions between electrons in different layers of multilayer epitaxial graphene provide an important mechanism for interlayer thermal transport even though all electronic states are strongly confined within individual 2D layers. This effect is manifested in the relaxation dynamics of hot carriers in ultrafast time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy. We develop a theory of interlayer Coulomb coupling containing no free parameters that accounts for the experimentally observed trends in hot-carrier dynamics as temperature and the number of layers is varied.Comment: 54 pages, 15 figures, uses documentclass{achemso}, M.T.M. and J.R.T. contributed equally to this wor

Spectroscopic Measurement of Interlayer Screening in Multilayer Epitaxial Graphene

International audienceThe substrate-induced charge-density profile in carbon face epitaxial graphene is determined using nondegenerate ultrafast midinfrared pump-probe spectroscopy. Distinct zero crossings in the differential transmission spectra are used to identify the Fermi levels of layers within the multilayer stack. Probing within the transmission window of the SiC substrate, we find the Fermi levels of the first four heavily doped layers to be, respectively, 360, 215, 140, and 93 meV above the Dirac point. The charge screening length is determined to be one graphene layer, in good agreement with theoretical predictions

Time-Reversal and Model-Based Imaging in a THz Waveguide

We investigate two approaches to improving the resolution of time-reversal based THz imaging systems. First, we show that a substantial improvement in the reconstruction of time-reversed THz fields is achieved by increasing the system’s numerical aperture via a waveguide technique adapted from ultrasound imaging. Second, a model-based reconstruction algorithm is developed as an alternative to time-reversal THz imaging and its performance is demonstrated for cases with and without a waveguide.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85920/1/Fessler15.pd

Temperature Diffusivity Measurement and Nondestructive Testing Requiring No Extensive Sample Preparation and Using Stepwise Point Heating and IR Thermography

This chapter describes a modification to the laser flash method that allows determining temperature diffusivity and nondestructive testing of materials and constructions without cutting samples of predefined geometry. Stepwise local heating of the studied object surface at a small spot around 0.1 mm radius with simultaneous high temporary-spatial resolution infrared (IR) filming of the transient temperature distribution evolution with a thermal camera provides a wide range of possibilities for material characterization and sample testing. In case of isotropic and macroscopic homogeneous materials, the resulting transient temperature distribution is radially symmetric that renders possible to improve temperature measurement accuracy by averaging many pixels of the IR images located at the same distance from the heating spot center. The temperature diffusivity measurement can be conducted either on thin plates or on massive samples. The developed emissivity independent in plain IR thermographic method and mathematical algorithms enable thermal diffusivity measurement for both cases with accuracy around a few per cent for a wide range of materials starting from refractory ceramics to well-conducting metals. To detect defects, the differential algorithm was used. Subtracting averaged radial symmetric temperature distribution from the original one for each frame makes local inhomogeneities in the sample under study clearly discernible. When applied to crack detection in plates, the technique demonstrates good sensitivity to part-through cracks located both at the visible and invisible sides of the studied object

Hot carrier cooling by acoustic phonons in epitaxial graphene by ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy

We report the application nondegenerate ultrafast mid-infrared spectroscopy to investigate the acoustic phonon cooling process in epitaxial graphene. We show that the power-dependent experimental results match theoretical predictions of the low temperature acoustic cooling process. The hot phonon effect in acoustic phonon cooling is observed experimentally, and a deformation potential of 30 eV can be determined from fitting the data. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83459/1/1194_ftp.pd

Coherent Control of Ballistic Photocurrents in Multilayer Epitaxial Graphene Using Quantum Interference

International audienceWe report generation of ballistic electric currents in unbiased epitaxial graphene at 300 K via quantum interference between phase-controlled cross-polarized fundamental and second harmonic 220 fs pulses. The transient currents are detected via the emitted terahertz radiation. Because of graphene's special structure symmetry, the injected current direction can be well controlled by the polarization of the pump beam in epitaxial graphene. This all optical injection of current provides not only a noncontact way of injecting directional current in graphene but also new insight into optical and transport process in epitaxial graphene