Measurement and Processing of Thermographic Data of Passing Persons for Epidemiological Purposes.

Non-contact temperature measurement of persons during an epidemic is the most preferred measurement option because of the safety of personnel and minimal possibility of spreading infection. The use of infrared (IR) sensors to monitor building entrances for infected persons has seen a major boom between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but with questionable results. This article does not deal with the precise determination of the temperature of an individual person but focuses on the possibility of using infrared cameras for monitoring the health of the population. The aim is to use large amounts of infrared data from many locations to provide information to epidemiologists so they can have better information about potential outbreaks. This paper focuses on the long-term monitoring of the temperature of passing persons inside public buildings and the search for the most appropriate tools for this purpose and is intended as the first step towards creating a useful tool for epidemiologists. As a classical approach, the identification of persons based on their characteristic temperature values over time throughout the day is used. These results are compared with the results of a method using artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate temperature from simultaneously acquired infrared images. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed.

Monte Carlo modelling of pixel clusters in Timepix detectors using the MCNP code.

The track structure of the signal measured by the semiconductor pixel detector Timepix3 was modelled in the Monte Carlo MCNP® code. A detailed model at the pixel-level (256 × 256 pixels, 55 × 55 µm2 pixel size) was developed and used to generate and store clusters of adjacent hit pixels observed in the measured data because of particle energy deposition path, charge sharing, and drift processes. An analytical model of charge sharing effect and the detector energy resolution was applied to the simulated data. The method will help the user sort the measured clusters and distinguish radiation components of mixed fields by determining the response of Timepix3 detector to particular particle types, energies, and incidence angles that cannot be measured separately.

Extreme laser pulse-energy measurements by means of photon momentum.

Extreme lasers capable of short, high-energy pulses are probing the frontiers of science and advancing practical technology. The utility of such lasers increases with their average power delivery, which enables faster data acquisition, higher flux of laser-driven particle and radiation sources and more efficient material processing. However, the same extreme energies and electric field strengths of these lasers are currently preventing their direct and high accuracy measurement for these experimental applications. To overcome this limitation, we use the momentum of the laser pulses as a measurement proxy for their energy. When light reflects from an ideal mirror, its momentum is transferred to the mirror, but its energy is reflected. We demonstrate here a force-sensing mirror configuration to measure laser pulse energies up to 100 J/pulse (10 ns duration, 10 Hz repetition rate) from a kilowatt-level average power multi-slab laser operated at the HiLASE facility of the Czech Academy of Sciences. We combine a radiation-pressure power meter with a charge integrator photodiode to form what we refer to as a Radiation Pressure Energy Meter. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a high-accuracy, non-absorbing, SI traceable primary standard measurement of both single and average pulse energies of a 1-kW-average-power pulsed laser source. With this, we demonstrate a practical method for in-situ calibration of the traditional thermal instruments (pyroelectric detectors) currently used for indirect measurements of energy and power of such extreme lasers.

Medical consultations and the sharing of medical images involving spinal injury over mobile phone networks.

BACKGROUND: The transmission of medical images and other data over mobile phone networks may facilitate remote medical consultations between neurosurgeons and regional hospitals treating spinal injury patients. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of mobile phone consultations with standard hospital workstation consultations in spinal injury patients. METHODS: The images were exported over the Internet from surrounding local hospitals through the Picture Archiving and Communication System, in DICOM III format, to the central hospital server. The xVision browser was used to view the acquired images on a standard workstation. The data were also exported to the secured hospital Web server IIS60 and converted to JPEG format to enable remote physician access and consultation. The remote consulting physician connected to this server by mobile phone using the phone's Internet browser. A second physician, blind to the mobile phone results, evaluated the same images at a workstation in the hospital. The results of the mobile phone consultations were compared with the results from standard workstation consultations. RESULTS: There was no difference in the quality of spinal computed tomographic/magnetic resonance images viewed on the phone screen compared with on the workstation. More importantly, the final diagnoses made by mobile phone did not differ from those made by workstation consultations. A transfer to the department of neurosurgery was required after consultation in 11 patients. CONCLUSION: Mobile phone consultations for patients with spinal injuries was as effective as workstation consultations. Mobile phone consultations can increase the expertise available to regional hospitals, which are often the first responders to medical emergencies.

Injuries of the central nervous system - mobile phone consultations.

Transmission of visual documentation between a neurosurgery center and a regional hospital, with a mobile phone, significantly improves consultation on a craniocerebral injury. This is one of the methods of fast consultation on image documentation (CT). We reported on one year of experience (September 2007 to September 2008) of our department with this method of image transmission in 16 patients with craniocerebral injury. The images were exported, via the Internet, from local hospitals through the PACS system [Picture Archiving and Communication System], in DICOM III format, to the server of the Regional Hospital of T. Ba̕a, (KNTB). Browsing of the acquired image documentation at particular stations was possible with the xVision browser. The data were exported to a secure hospital Web server, IIS60, to enable consultation on the images, which were changed to JPEG format. The consulting physician was connected to this server with his/her mobile phone by means of the Internet browser. After establishing the connection, it downloads and gradually displays the images on the screen of the mobile phone. The whole process takes approximately 10 minutes. After comparing the images on the screen of the mobile phone and on the workstation using the xVision browser, we verified that there was no difference in the quality of imaging of the pathological lesions recorded with CT.