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This research sought to evaluate the thermal zones of the upper body and firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE) immediately following uncompensable heat stress (0.03 °C increase/min). We hypothesized that the frontal portion of the head and the inside of the firefighter helmet would be the hottest as measured by infrared thermography. This hypothesis was due to previous research demonstrating that the head accounts for ∼8-10% of the body surface area, but it accounts for ∼20% of the overall body heat dissipation during moderate exercise. Twenty participants performed a 21-min graded treadmill exercise protocol (Altered Modified Naughton) in an environmental chamber (35 °C, 50 % humidity) in firefighter PPE. The body areas analyzed were the frontal area of the head, chest, abdomen, arm, neck, upper back, and lower back. The areas of the PPE that were analyzed were the inside of the helmet and the jacket. The hottest areas of the body post-exercise were the frontal area of the head (mean: 37.3 ± 0.4 °C), chest (mean: 37.5 ± 0.3 °C), and upper back (mean: 37.3 ± 0.4 °C). The coldest area of the upper body was the abdomen (mean: 36.1 ± 0.4 °C). The peak temperature of the inside of the helmet increased (p < 0.001) by 9.8 °C from 27.7 ± 1.6 °C to 37.4 ± 0.7 °C, and the inside of the jacket increased (p < 0.001) by 7.3 °C from 29.2 ± 1.7 °C to 36.5 ± 0.4 °C. The results of this study are relevant for cooling strategies for firefighters., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The geothermal resource is one of the great sources of energy on the planet. The conventional prospecting of this type of energy is a slow process that requires a great amount of time and significant investments. Nowadays, geophysical techniques have experienced an important evolution due to the irruption of UAVs, which combined with infrared sensors can provide great contributions in this field. The novelty of this technology involves the lack of tested methodologies for their implementation in this type of activities. The research developed is focused on the proposal of a methodology for the exploration of hydrothermal resources in an easy, economic, and rapid way. The combination of photogrammetry techniques with visual and thermal images taken with UAVs allows the generation of temperature maps or thermal orthomosaics, which analyzed with GIS tools permit the quasi-automatic identification of zones of potential geothermal interest along rivers or lakes. The proposed methodology has been applied to a case study in La Hermida (Cantabria, Spain), where it has allowed the identification of an effluent with temperatures close to 40 °C, according to the verification measurements performed on the geothermal interest area. These results allow validation of the potential of the method, which is strongly influenced by the particular characteristics of the study area.

Accurate detection of patient shift is essential during radiation therapy such that optimal dose is delivered to the tumor while minimizing radiation to surrounding normal tissues. The shift detectability of a newly developed optical surface and thermal tracking system, which was known as ExacTrac Dynamic (EXTD), was evaluated by comparing its performance with the image guidance under cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Anthropomorphic cranial and pelvis phantoms with internal bone-like structures and external heat pad were utilized to study the shift detection discrepancy between EXTD system and CBCT. Random displacements within the range of ± 2 cm for translations and ± 2 degrees for rotations were intentionally applied to the phantom. Positional shifts detected by optical surface and thermal tracking (EXTD&#95;Thml), stereoscopic X-ray (EXTD&#95;Xray), and CBCT were compared in 6 degrees of freedom. The translational difference between EXTD&#95;Thml and CBCT was 0.57 ± 0.41 mm and 0.66 ± 0.40 mm for cranial and pelvis phantom, respectively, while it was 0.60 ± 0.43 mm and 0.76 ± 0.49 mm between EXTD&#95;Xray and CBCT, respectively. For rotational movement, the difference between EXTD&#95;Thml and CBCT was 0.19 ± 0.16° and 0.19 ± 0.22° for cranial and pelvis phantom, respectively, while it was 0.13 ± 0.18° and 0.65 ± 0.46° between EXTD&#95;Xray and CBCT, respectively. This study demonstrated that the EXTD system with thermal mapping ability could offer comparable accuracy for shift detection with CBCT on both cranial and pelvis phantoms., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, LLC on behalf of The American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

The syntheses of various chemical compounds require heating. The intrinsic release of heat in exothermic processes is a valuable heat source that is not effectively used in many reactions. In this work, we assessed the released heat during the hydrolysis of an energy-rich compound, calcium carbide, and explored the possibility of its usage. Temperature profiles of carbide hydrolysis were recorded, and it was found that the heat release depended on the cosolvent and water/solvent ratio. Thus, the release of heat can be controlled and adjusted. To monitor the released heat, a special tube-in-tube reactor was assembled using joining part 3D-printed with nylon. The thermal effect of the reaction was estimated using a thermoimaging IR monitor. It was found that the kinetics of heat release are different when using mixtures of water with different solvents, and the maximum achievable temperature depends on the type of solvent and the amount of water and carbide. The possibility of using the heat released during carbide hydrolysis to initiate a chemical reaction was tested using a hydrothiolation reaction-the nucleophilic addition of thiols to acetylene. In a model experiment, the yield of the desired product with the use of heat from carbide hydrolysis was 89%, compared to 30% in this intrinsic heating, which was neglected.

Three electrosurgical tissue-sealing devices (EnSeal ETSDRC-01, LigaSure LS1500 and Thunderbeat TB-0535PC) were compared regarding sealing time (ST), maximum working temperature (WTmax) and the total (MTZtotal) as well as the collateral microscopic thermal injury zone (MTZcollat) using laparoscopic handpieces 5 mm in diameter on four types of tissue (liver, mesentery, cross striated muscle and spleen) in an in vivo porcine model. LigaSure had the lowest mean ST in spleen, mesentery, muscle and liver, followed by Thunderbeat and EnSeal with significant differences between all types of tissues and devices. The significantly lowest mean WTmax was obtained for EnSeal in mesentery, muscle and liver. LigaSure and EnSeal operated at the lowest temperature in spleen without a significant difference between them. Thunderbeat produced significantly higher temperature peaks in all cases. The lowest mean MTZtotal was caused by LigaSure and EnSeal in spleen, mesentery and muscle without significant differences between them, followed by the significantly higher values of Thunderbeat. Nevertheless, Thunderbeat produced the significantly lowest mean MTZtotal in the liver. EnSeal produced the lowest mean MTZcollat in the liver, followed by LigaSure and Thunderbeat showing significant differences. EnSeal and LigaSure produced the lowest mean MTZcollat in the spleen, mesentery and muscle without significant differences between them, followed by the significantly higher values of Thunderbeat. Based on the results of this study, Thunderbeat seems to be more invasive to tissue integrity (even without the activation of the ultrasonic scissor function) than EnSeal or LigaSure, that operate at lower temperatures and were found to cause negligible collateral thermal damage.

Cold therapy is commonly used to relieve pain and inflammation and to aid in muscle recovery after exercise in human medicine. A number of applications have also been observed in veterinary practice. In this article, a critical evaluation of equine protocol applied with a new commercial concept of equine whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) was made. With this new concept of WBC, the protocol usually utilized for relieving pain and discomfort in humans has been extended to horses. The investigations described herein focus on the reduction of horse skin temperature when applying human WBC protocols. Based on infrared thermography measurements, results show that exposing a horse for 3 minutes to a temperature of -140°C, which are conventional parameters used for humans, does not induce sufficient skin thermal gradients in horses. Consequently, beneficial cold reflexes such as vasomotor, neuroconduction, and biochemical reactions cannot be triggered. Further investigations should therefore be carried out to design an adequate protocol specifically aimed at horses., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Optical poration, or drilling, of the human nail has the potential to drastically improve transungual drug delivery. However, this approach is accompanied by thermal damage to the nail tissue surrounding the laser radiation-created pore. In this paper, fluorescence microscopy has been employed to quantitatively evaluate thermal damage to the nail induced by laser ablation with 80 MHz, nanojoule, femtosecond pulses delivered via a hollow-core fibre. An empirical relation has been established between the intensity of the resulting fluorescence signal and temperature to which the nail was exposed. Using this relationship, detailed temperature maps have been created of the areas surrounding the pores, enabling the mechanism of poration to be better understood. It was deduced that plasma-mediated ablation is primarily responsible for nail tissue ablation at the centre of the pore, while cumulative photothermal processes dominate at the pore edges. It is concluded, furthermore, that temperature mapping represents a useful new tool with which to optimise the process of nail poration. The method is potentially generic and may be applicable to other biological materials.

This study analyzes the mapping of temperature distribution generated by graphene in a glass slide cover after illumination at 808 nm with a good thermal resolution. For this purpose, Er,Yb:NaYF 4 nanoparticles prepared by a microwave-assisted solvothermal method were used as upconversion luminescent nanothermometers. By tuning the basic parameters of the synthesis procedure, such as the time and temperature of reaction and the concentration of ethanol and water, we were able to control the size and the crystalline phase of the nanoparticles, and to have the right conditions to obtain 100% of the β hexagonal phase, the most efficient spectroscopically. We observed that the thermal sensitivity that can be achieved with these particles is a function of the size of the nanoparticles and the crystalline phase in which they crystallize. We believe that, with suitable changes, these nanoparticles might be used in the future to map temperature gradients in living cells while maintaining a good thermal resolution.

Tropical landscapes are changing rapidly due to changes in land use and land management. Being able to predict and monitor land use change impacts on species for conservation or food security concerns requires the use of habitat quality metrics, that are consistent, can be mapped using above-ground sensor data and are relevant for species performance. Here, we focus on ground surface temperature ( Thermal ground ) and ground vegetation greenness ( NDVI down ) as potentially suitable metrics of habitat quality. Both have been linked to species demography and community structure in the literature. We test whether they can be measured consistently from the ground and whether they can be up-scaled indirectly using canopy structure maps (Leaf Area Index, LAI , and Fractional vegetation cover, FCover ) developed from Landsat remote sensing data. We measured Thermal ground and NDVI down across habitats differing in tree cover (natural grassland to forest edges to forests and tree plantations) in the human-modified coastal forested landscapes of Kwa-Zulua Natal, South Africa. We show that both metrics decline significantly with increasing canopy closure and leaf area, implying a potential pathway for upscaling both metrics using canopy structure maps derived using earth observation. Specifically, our findings suggest that opening forest canopies by 20% or decreasing forest canopy LAI by one unit would result in increases of Thermal ground by 1.2 °C across the range of observations studied. NDVI down appears to decline by 0.1 in response to an increase in canopy LAI by 1 unit and declines nonlinearly with canopy closure. Accounting for micro-scale variation in temperature and resources is seen as essential to improve biodiversity impact predictions. Our study suggests that mapping ground surface temperature and ground vegetation greenness utilising remotely sensed canopy cover maps could provide a useful tool for mapping habitat quality metrics that matter to species. However, this approach will be constrained by the predictive capacity of models used to map field-derived forest canopy attributes. Furthermore, sampling efforts are needed to capture spatial and temporal variation in Thermal ground within and across days and seasons to validate the transferability of our findings. Finally, whilst our approach shows that surface temperature and ground vegetation greenness might be suitable habitat quality metric used in biodiversity monitoring, the next step requires that we map demographic traits of species of different threat status onto maps of these metrics in landscapes differing in disturbance and management histories. The derived understanding could then be exploited for targeted landscape restoration that benefits biodiversity conservation at the landscape scale., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests. Pieter Olivier is Co-Director of the start up company M.A.P. Scientific Services.

Background: Prophylactic antibiotics are commonly prescribed intra-operatively after caesarean section birth, often at high doses. Even so, wound infections are not uncommon and obesity increases the risk. Currently, no independent wound assessment technology is available to stratify women to low or high risk of surgical site infection (SSI).Study Aim: to investigate the potential of non-invasive infrared thermography (IRT), performed at short times after surgery, to predict later SSI., Methods: IRT was undertaken in hospital on day 2 with community follow up (days 7, 15, 30) after surgery. Thermal maps of wound site and abdomen were accompanied by digital photographs, the latter used for wound assessment by six experienced healthcare professionals. Confirmatory diagnosis of SSI was made on the basis of antibiotic prescribing by the woman's community physician with logistic regression models derived to model dichotomous outcomes., Results: Fifty-three women aged 21-44 years with BMI 30.1-43.9 Kg.m - 2 were recruited. SSI rate (within 30 days) was 28%. Inter-rater variability for 'professional' opinion of wound appearance showed poor levels of agreement. Two regions of interest were interrogated; wound site and abdomen. Wound site temperature was consistently elevated (1.5 °C) above abdominal temperature with similar values at days 2,7,15 in those who did and did not, develop SSI. Mean abdominal temperature was lower in women who subsequently developed SSI; significantly so at day 7. A unit (1 °C) reduction in abdominal temperature was associated with a 3-fold raised odds of infection. The difference between the sites (wound minus abdomen temperature) was significantly associated with odds of infection; with a 1 °C widening in temperature associated with an odds ratio for SSI of 2.25 (day 2) and 2.5 (day 7). Correct predictions for wound outcome using logistic regression models ranged from 70 to 79%., Conclusions: IRT imaging of wound and abdomen in obese women undergoing c-section improves upon visual (subjective) wound assessment. The proportion of cases correctly classified using the wound-abdominal temperature differences holds promise for precision and performance of IRT as an independent SSI prognostic tool and future technology to aid decision making in antibiotic prescribing., Competing Interests: Approval was given by the Derby Research Ethics committee (2016, 14/EM 0031). All participants provided their signed informed consent to participate in the study.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This technical note describes a prototype thermally based portal imaging device that allows mapping of energy deposition on the surface of a tissue mimicking material in a focused ultrasound surgery (FUS) beam by using an infrared camera to measure the temperature change on that surface. The aim of the work is to explore the feasibility of designing and building a system suitable for rapid quality assurance (QA) for use with both ultrasound- and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided clinical therapy ultrasound systems. The prototype was tested using an MR-guided Sonalleve FUS system (with the treatment couch outside the magnet bore). The system's effective thermal noise was 0.02°C, and temperature changes as low as 0.1°C were easily quantifiable. The advantages and drawbacks of thermal imaging for QA are presented through analysis of the results of an experimental session., (Copyright © 2016 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)