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Metal additive manufacturing technologies, such as electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB), rely on layer heating to overcome the so-called "smoke" phenomenon. When scaled up for industrial manufacturing, PBF-EB becomes less productive due to the lengthy preheating process. Currently, only the electron beam (EB) is used for preheating in PBF-EB, resulting in increased manufacturing times, energy consumption, and in some cases limiting the applicability of the technology. In this study, a new preheating approach is suggested that incorporates a near-infrared radiation (NIR) emitter inside an PBF-EB system. The NIR unit eliminates the need for EB heating, reducing build time and powder charging. Successful builds using 316 L and Ti6Al4V precursor powders validate the feasibility of the proposed approach. The produced samples exhibit similar properties to those obtained by the standard PBF-EB process. The introduction of NIR technology also reduced build cost and increased the service intervals of the electron gun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past ten years, rates of forest fires around the world have increased significantly. Forest fires greatly affect the ecosystem by damaging vegetation. Forest fires are caused by several causes, including both human and natural causes. Human causes lie in intentional and irregular burning operations. Global warming is a major natural cause of forest fires. The early detection of forest fires reduces the rate of their spread to larger areas by speeding up their extinguishing with the help of equipment and materials for early detection. In this research, an early detection system for forest fires is proposed called Forest Defender Fusion. This system achieved high accuracy and long-term monitoring of the site by using the Intermediate Fusion VGG16 model and Enhanced Consumed Energy-Leach protocol (ECP-LEACH). The Intermediate Fusion VGG16 model receives RGB (red, green, blue) and IR (infrared) images from drones to detect forest fires. The Forest Defender Fusion System provides regulation of energy consumption in drones and achieves high detection accuracy so that forest fires are detected early. The detection model was trained on the FLAME 2 dataset and obtained an accuracy of 99.86%, superior to the rest of the models that track the input of RGB and IR images together. A simulation using the Python language to demonstrate the system in real time was performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sketch-RGB cross-modality person re-identification (ReID) is a challenging task that aims to match a sketch portrait drawn by a professional artist with a full-body photo taken by surveillance equipment to deal with situations where the monitoring equipment is damaged at the accident scene. However, sketch portraits only provide highly abstract frontal body contour information and lack other important features such as color, pose, behavior, etc. The difference in saliency between the two modalities brings new challenges to cross-modality person ReID. To overcome this problem, this paper proposes a novel dual-stream model for cross-modality person ReID, which is able to mine modality-invariant features to reduce the discrepancy between sketch and camera images end-to-end. More specifically, we propose a multi-spectrum image fusion (MSIF) method, which aims to exploit the image appearance changes brought by multiple spectrums and guide the network to mine modality-invariant commonalities during training. It only processes the spectrum of the input images without adding additional calculations and model complexity, which can be easily integrated into other models. Moreover, we introduce a joint structure via a generalized mean pooling (GMP) layer and a self-attention (SA) mechanism to balance background and texture information and obtain the regional features with a large amount of information in the image. To further shrink the intra-class distance, a weighted regularized triplet (WRT) loss is developed without introducing additional hyperparameters. The model was first evaluated on the PKU Sketch ReID dataset, and extensive experimental results show that the Rank-1/mAP accuracy of our method is 87.00%/91.12%, reaching the current state-of-the-art performance. To further validate the effectiveness of our approach in handling cross-modality person ReID, we conducted experiments on two commonly used IR-RGB datasets (SYSU-MM01 and RegDB). The obtained results show that our method achieves competitive performance. These results confirm the ability of our method to effectively process images from different modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our investigation assesses the downshifting (DS), periodicity uptransmutation as well as internal light consistency from phosphor samples of CaSc2O4 incorporated with Ho3+/Yb3+ along with up-conversion from CaY2O4 incorporated with Ho3+/Yb3+. These samples are created via precursor antecedent compound technique. The generation for the crystalline samples having orthorhombic stage is validated by the X-ray powder diffraction. The dispersal reflectance spectra exhibit several lines within the zones of ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-vis-NIR), resulting from the ions of Ho3+ as well as Yb3+. The optical band gap (Eg) results reach 5.69 and 5.58 eV, corresponding to CaSc2O4:Ho3+/Yb3+ and CaY2O4:Ho3+/Yb3+. The CaSc2O4:Ho3+/Yb3+ samples exhibit potent downshifting discharge in green hue when excited under 454 nm. CaSc2O4:Ho3+/Yb3+, as well as CaY2O4:Ho3+/Yb3+, exhibit potent discharges in green hue as well as nearinfrared up-transmutation discharges in faint blue and red hues when excited under 980 nm. The spectrum hue clarity -Sgr - for CaSc2O4:Ho3+(1%)/Yb3+(5%) reaches 0.78. The disparity in pumping force yields internal light consistency for said sample with the green discharge, being nonexistent in the CaY2O4:Ho3+(1%)/Yb3+(5%) sample. As such, CaSc2O4:Ho3+/Yb3+ may prove useful when applied to up-transmutation apparatuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infrared dichroic beamsplitter plays an important role in infrared multi-band imaging systems, especially for infrared remote sensing. This paper presents the design and preparation of a dichroic beamsplitter that is capable of reflecting near infrared (NIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR), and transmitting medium wave infrared (MWIR) as well as longwave infrared (LWIR). A single crystal germanium (Ge) sheet is used as the substrate of the dichroic beamsplitter, while Ge, zinc sulfide (ZnS) and ytterbium trifluoride (YbF3) are selected as coating materials. The average reflectance of the dichroic beamsplitter is more than 95% in bands 1.28 to 1.38 μm, 1.58 to 1.83 μm, and 1.95 to 2.32 μm, and the average transmittance is more than 92% in bands 3.7 to 6.2 μm and 7.5 to 12.5 μm at an incident angle of 45°. The dichroic beamsplitter has been successfully applied in the optical system of infrared remote sensing. It provides a technical approach for other optical systems to separate the optical spectrum from NIR to LWIR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metamaterials and metasurfaces of artificial micro-/nano- structures functioning from microwave, terahertz, to infrared regime have enabled numerous applications from bioimaging, cancer detection and immunoassay to on-body health monitoring systems in the past few decades. Recently, the trend of turning metasurface devices flexible and stretchable has arisen in that the flexibility and stretchability not only makes the device more biocompatible and wearable, but also provides unique control and manipulation of the structural and geometrical reconfiguration of the metasurface in a creative manner, resulting in an extraordinary tunability for biomedical sensing and detection purposes. In this Review, we summarize recent advances in the design and fabrication techniques of stretchable reconfigurable metasurfaces and their applications to date thereof, and put forward a perspective for future development of stretchable reconfigurable metamaterials and metasurfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrared observation is a crucial tool in the study of astronomical celestial bodies. Metamaterials have a vast prospect for applications in the field of optics due to their unique electromagnetic tunable characteristics. In order to obtain an ultra-broadband high absorption material in the infrared region, we proposed a metal-dielectric-metal-dielectric-metal (MDMDM) metamaterial absorber using a titanium (Ti) nano-cross layer based on surface plasmon polariton (SPP) resonance and magnetic resonance cavity principles. The geometrical parameters of each layer have been examined carefully. The influence of incident angle from 0° to 60° is investigated for transverse electric and transverse magnetic plane-waves. Near-perfect absorption performance is achieved from near-infrared to mid-infrared region. The average absorption reaches as high as 97.41% from 2.05 to 6.08 μm. The absorber exhibits polarization-sensitive characteristics. The absorption peaks are 99.50% and 99.80% at 2.55 and 5.24 μm, respectively. The proposed material has potential applications in astronomical imaging, volcano and fire detection, remote sensing, biological monitoring, and other optical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrared and visible remote sensing image registration is significant for utilizing remote sensing images to obtain scene information. However, it is difficult to establish a large number of correct matches due to the difficulty in obtaining similarity metrics due to the presence of radiation variation between heterogeneous sensors, which is caused by different imaging principles. In addition, the existence of sparse textures in infrared images as well as in some scenes and the small number of relevant trainable datasets also hinder the development of this field. Therefore, we combined data-driven and knowledge-driven methods to propose a Radiation-variation Insensitive, Zero-shot learning-based Registration (RIZER). First, RIZER, as a whole, adopts a detector-free coarse-to-fine registration framework, and the data-driven methods use a Transformer based on zero-shot learning. Next, the knowledge-driven methods are embodied in the coarse-level matches, where we adopt the strategy of seeking reliability by introducing the HNSW algorithm and employing a priori knowledge of local geometric soft constraints. Then, we simulate the matching strategy of the human eye to transform the matching problem into a model-fitting problem and employ a multi-constrained incremental matching approach. Finally, after fine-level coordinate fine tuning, we propose an outlier culling algorithm that only requires very few iterations. Meanwhile, we propose a multi-scene infrared and visible remote sensing image registration dataset. After testing, RIZER achieved a correct matching rate of 99.55% with an RMSE of 1.36 and had an advantage in the number of correct matches, as well as a good generalization ability for other multimodal images, achieving the best results when compared to some traditional and state-of-the-art multimodal registration algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photon-to-photon conversion process has attracted great attention as it can carry out the conversion of photons in different wavelength regions and use the characteristics of different bands to achieve a variety of applications, including solar cells, temperature measurement, information security, luminous display, and biomedicine. According to the process of converting photons of different energy, the photon-to-photon conversion process can be simply divided into two categories: the downconversion process converting high-energy photons to lower-energy photons and the upconversion process converting the low-energy photons to higher-energy photons. Nanoscale materials and devices used in photon-to-photon conversion have been widely concerned and have been successfully applied in many fields, while the corresponding summaries of the representative work are very few as far as we know. In this review, recent advances and progress in photon-to-photon conversion in nanoscale materials and devices and their applications are summarized. Around this field, we then analyzed and summarized the prospects and challenges for its development in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell membranes are incredibly complex environments containing hundreds of components. Despite substantial advances in the past decade, fundamental questions related to lipid-lipid interactions and heterogeneity persist. This review explores the complexity of lipid membranes, showcasing recent advances in vibrational spectroscopy to characterize the structure, dynamics, and interactions at the membrane interface. We include an overview of modern techniques such as surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy as a steady-state technique with single-bilayer sensitivity, two-dimensional sum-frequency generation spectroscopy, and two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy to measure time-evolving structures and dynamics with femtosecond time resolution. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of multiscale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, focusing on recently developed simulation algorithms, which have emerged as a powerful approach to interpret complex spectra. We highlight the ongoing challenges in studying heterogeneous environments in multicomponent membranes via current vibrational spectroscopic techniques and MD simulations. Overall, this review provides an up-to-date comprehensive overview of the powerful combination of vibrational spectroscopy and simulations, which has great potential to illuminate lipid-lipid, lipid-protein, and lipid-water interactions in the intricate conformational landscape of cell membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Schiff base ligand, 3-((6-amino-1,6-dihydropyridin-2-yl)imino)indolin-2-one, was synthesized by condensing isatin with 2,6-diaminopyridine in this study. Elemental analysis, NMR spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy enabled confirmation of the structure of the pyridine incorporated ligand. Additional coordination compounds of this ligand with Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) metals were synthesized with metal-to-ligand proportions verified through trace elemental examinations using CHN. Various spectroscopic techniques including UV-visible absorption spectrophotometry, IR spectrophotometry, electrical conductivity quantifications, melting point determinations, and magnetic susceptibility analyses facilitated characterization of the produced complexes. The antimicrobial potential of the organic ligand and inorganic complexes was screened against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strains through the agar disc diffusion technique. Both the uncoordinated ligand and metal-ligand coordination compounds displayed appreciable antibacterial effects on the tested microorganisms. Tetrahedral configurations were proposed for all prepared complexes based on combined analytical and spectroscopic evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicinal plants are widely used in various traditional and modern medical methods due to their therapeutic properties. Drying is a common method used to preserve the biochemical compounds of medicinal plants. Still, conventional drying methods can lead to the loss of active compounds due to exposure to high temperatures. This research aimed to design and construct an ozone generator for use in a combined dryer and evaluate the ozone, temperature, and hot air flow rate on the quality properties of mint (Mentha spicata L.). Drying experiments were conducted at varying temperatures, air flow speeds, and ozone levels. Results indicated that increasing temperature reduced total phenol and flavonoid content while increasing antioxidant capacity. Higher airflow speed positively influenced total phenol, total flavonoid content and antioxidant potency but reduced drying time. Ozone exposure increased total phenol, flavonoid content, antioxidant activity, and had minimal effect on drying time. Optimization revealed that a temperature of 52.47°C, air flow rate of 1.5 m/s, and 90.37% ozone concentration yielded favorable outcomes, including enhanced phenolic and flavonoid content, antioxidant power, and decreased energy consumption. Compared to other drying methods, the proposed ozone‐enhanced method proved superior in preserving bioactive compounds and maintaining a reasonable drying time. Overall, the research highlights the potential of ozone‐assisted drying for optimizing the quality of medicinal plants during preservation. Practical Application: The paper introduces a novel and efficient method for preserving the quality of medicinal mint. By concurrently applying ozone and infrared drying techniques, this approach aims to capitalize on their synergistic effects in maintaining the plant's beneficial compounds. Ozone acts as a natural antimicrobial agent, preserving the plant's integrity, while infrared drying expedites the process without compromising the phytochemical profile. This innovative method not only ensures microbial safety and extended shelf life but also enhances the mint's aroma, flavor, and nutrient retention. The practical application of this combined technique holds promise for pharmaceutical and herbal industries, providing a valuable approach for optimizing the drying process and preserving the medicinal attributes of Mentha spicata L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, the thin‐layer drying characteristics and quality parameters of okra pods were investigated by subjecting it to drying using an infrared drier. The drying process was achieved at three different radiation intensities of 0.167, 0.235, and 0.520 W/cm2 and included three air velocities of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 m/s. A detailed analysis of their drying kinetics (drying curve, drying rate curve, effective moisture diffusivity, and mathematical modeling), shrinkage and rehydration, and total color change were performed. Results showed the drying process occurred in the falling‐rate period. The drying time was reduced with rising infrared intensity and declining air velocity. The Midilli et al. model provided the best fitting for each drying curve (coefficient of determination (R2) > 0.99, reduced chi‐square (χ2), and root mean square error [RMSE] closer to zero). The effective moisture diffusivity values among various drying conditions ranged from 2.89 to 12.23 × 10−10 m2/s, which were within the normally predictable range for food materials. The rehydration ratio increased as air velocity increased and decreased as infrared radiation intensity increased. The phenomenon of shrinkage ratio had a positive relationship with higher levels of infrared radiation and a negative association with faster airflow. As the air velocity and radiation intensity rose, there was an observed increase in the overall color difference between fresh and dried okra. The current study's results will provide additional insights into the optimal drying conditions for preparing okra as a snack, breakfast item, or other culinary applications. Practical applications: Okra is important commodity in terms of global agricultural production. As okra is a perishable product with a short shelf life, the food industry has been forced to find methods, such as drying, that extend its storage life by months. The conventional system of hot air dying displays many disadvantages. Infrared drying intended a substitute way to improve the quality of dehydrated products. However, infrared is rarely expended alone as a drying method and is frequently combined with other drying systems. The main goal of this work is to study an innovative process to extend the storage life of okra reducing energy and time consumption and ensuring sample quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effects of ultrasonic power, drying temperature, and slice thickness on the drying rate, chromatism, water migration law, gingerol content, flavor, and antioxidant activity of ginger were investigated by using a direct-contact ultrasound and far infrared combined drying technology. The results showed that compared with single far infrared drying, direct-contact ultrasound and far infrared combined drying accelerated the free water migration rate of ginger (7.1~38.1%), shortened the drying time (from 280 min to 160 min), reduced the loss of volatile components in ginger, and significantly increased the antioxidant activity of ginger (p < 0.05). Furthermore, after ultrasound intervention, the gingerol content decreased in slices of 4 mm thickness (0.1226 ± 0.0189 mg/g to 0.1177 ± 0.0837 mg/g) but increased in slices of 6 mm thickness (0.1104 ± 0.0162 mg/g to 0.1268 ± 0.0112 mg/g). This drying technology has a certain reference significance for the drying process of ginger slices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Due to the perishable nature of food, especially vegetables, and the need for long-term storage, freezing is one of the best methods to preserve food, and thawing is often required to use frozen products. The purpose of this study was to use the combined method of defrosting using hot air-infrared radiation and the interaction effect of temperature, air velocity and infrared radiation source power on the quality characteristics of defrosted cooked carrot samples. Materials and Methods: At first, after cutting, the carrot samples were cooked at 75 °C for 30 minutes, and after placing the thermocouple inside the samples, they were frozen at -18°C for 48 hours. Then, the effect of defrosting parameters including air temperature (30 and 40 °C), air velocity (0.5 and 5 ms-1 ) and infrared power (100 and 300 W) on the quality characteristics of defrosted cooked carrots was investigated and the sample thawed at 25 °C was considered as a control sample. Increasing temperature, power of radiation and air velocity had a significant effect on thawing time, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene and thawing lost and pH (P≤0.05). Results and Discussion: Using this method, the thawing time for the control sample was reduced from 47 min to 6.11 min in the optimal conditions. The minimum pH was 5.49 for treatment 1 and the maximum for treatment 6 was 6.28. The minimum amount of ascorbic acid was 2.63 mg100 g-1 for treatment 1 and the maximum for treatment 6 was 5.78 mg100 g-1 . The amount of beta-carotene in the control sample was 29.21 mg100 g-1 in the minimum condition and 49.33 mg100 g-1 in the optimal condition. The highest amount of loss due to defrosting belonged to treatment 8 by 18.32% and the lowest amount belonged to the control sample by 44.7%. Conclusion: The use of combined infrared-hot air method is very suitable for defrosting cooked carrots. In addition to reducing the duration of defrosting, it maintains the quality of the product to a great extent. This method is very cost-effective and its investment and setup costs are small and can be used for various products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystal structure and ferroelectric properties of epitaxial ZrO2 films ranging from 7 to 42 nm thickness grown on La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 buffered (110)‐oriented SrTiO3 substrate are reported. By employing X‐ray diffraction, a tetragonal phase (t‐phase) at all investigated thicknesses, with slight in‐plane strain due to the substrate in the thinnest films, is confirmed. Further confirmation of the t‐phase is obtained through infrared absorption spectroscopy with synchrotron light, performed on ZrO2 membrane transferred onto a high resistive silicon substrate. Up to a thickness of 31 nm, the ZrO2 epitaxial films exhibit ferroelectric behavior, at variance with the antiferroelectric behavior reported previously for the t‐phase in polycrystalline films. However, the ferroelectricity is found here to diminish with increasing film thickness, with a polarization of 13 µC cm−2 and down to 1 µC cm−2 for 7 and 31 nm thick ZrO2 films, respectively. Given that the t‐phase is nonpolar, the observations emphasize the influence of external factors, in promoting polarization in t‐ZrO2 thin films. These findings provide new insights into the ferroelectric properties and structure of ZrO2 thin films, and open up new directions to investigate the origin of ferroelectricity in ZrO2 and to optimize this material for future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work combines a novel multimodal spectroscopic technique, O‐PTIR and Raman spectroscopy, which allows for the simultaneous collection of infrared and Raman spectra, with traditional diamond anvil cell techniques to explore pressure induced phase transitions in a high energy material. Two phase transitions are revealed, with the first transition emerging below 0.23 GPa, to a higher order phase, followed by a broad transition to a lower order phase. Aside from the pressure studies, hyperspectral imaging was performed, confirming the homogeneous nature of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of the increasing volume of municipal solid waste is an essential activity for the health of the environment and of the population. The organic matter of waste deposited in landfills is subject to aerobic decomposition processes, bacterial aerobic decomposition, and chemical reactions that release large amounts of heat, biogas, and leachates at high temperatures. The control of these by-products enables their recovery, utilization, and treatment for energy use, avoiding emissions to the environment. UAVs with low-cost thermal sensors are a tool that enables the representation of temperature distributions for the thermal control of landfills. This study focuses on the development of a methodology for the generation of 3D thermal models through the projection of TIR image information onto a 3D model generated from RGB images and the identification of thermal anomalies by means of photointerpretation and GIS analysis. The novel methodological approach was implemented at the Meruelo landfill for validation. At the facility, a 4D model (X,Y,Z-temperature) and a 13.8 cm/px GSD thermal orthoimage were generated with a thermal accuracy of 1.63 °C, which enabled the identification of at least five areas of high temperatures associated with possible biogas emissions, decomposing organic matter, or underground fires, which were verified by on-site measurements and photointerpretation of the RGB model, in order to take and assess specific corrective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a cryogenic configurable slit unit (CSU) for a multi-object infrared spectrograph with an effective field of view of 9 ′. 1 × 9 ′. 1 that was completely conceived and designed in the laboratory at TIFR. Several components of the CSU including the controller for the commercially procured piezo-walkers, controlled loop position sensing mechanism using digital slide calipers and a cryogenic test facility for the assembled prototype were also developed in-house. The principle of the CSU involves division of the field of view of the spectrometer into contiguous and parallel spatial bands, each one associated with two opposite sliding metal bars that can be positioned to create a slit needed to make spectroscopic observations of one astronomical object. A three-slit prototype of the newly designed CSU was built and tested extensively at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. The performance of the CSU was found to be as per specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat transfer equations solved by the finite element method can be used to understand how foods' temperature changes during tempering. In this paper, the transient temperature change of frozen potato puree tempered in microwave and microwave infrared combination oven was simulated by the finite element method, separately. Maxwell equations were used to calculate the microwave power. Thermal and dielectric properties varied with temperature. Experimental temperature data obtained from the data of the same oven in a previous study for different positions of potato puree were used to validate the simulations developed for different microwave (30, 40, and 50%) and microwave (30, 40, and 50%)-infrared power (10%) combinations. The alteration of temperature according to position in the frozen mashed potato sample was simulated. Port input power for microwave heating by time was obtained. Average root mean square error (RMSE) between literature experimental temperature data and the simulation model was in good agreement with 0.76 °C for microwave and 0.90 °C for microwave and infrared combinations. Microwave and infrared powers' effects on the rate of heat transfer of potato puree were also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary physicochemical effect upon exposure to infrared radiation (IR) is the temperature increase of cells. The degradation of proteins via the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is related to cell malfunction. In this work, the degradation of proteins/peptides under the influence of IR radiation is theoretically studied. It is shown that the low value of enthalpy of peptide bond hydrolysis has two consequences: (a) the enthalpy of hydrolysis is sensitive to small variations in the bond strength, and the hydrolysis of weak peptide bonds is exothermic, while the hydrolysis of stronger bonds is endothermic; (b) the increase in temperature (e.g., due to IR exposure) changes the enthalpy of the reaction of some weak peptide bonds from exothermic to endothermic (that is, their hydrolysis will be favored upon further increase in temperature). Simple calculations reveal that the amount of absorbed energy during the overtone and hot band transitions of the H–O–H and C–N stretching vibrations is comparable to the activation energy of the (uncatalyzed) hydrolysis. A critical discussion is provided regarding the influence of different IR wavelengths on peptide bond hydrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel optical properties of the nanopatterned graphene in the infrared and terahertz can be enhanced and tailored. The underlying nature is the excited plasmon of the patterned graphene with sub-wavelength feature sizes induce high optical field confinement, low intrinsic loss, and diverse optical tunability. Thus, high-quality graphene nanoarrays with fine nanostructures and low surface roughness should be needed to precisely adjust the graphene plasmon-enhanced optical properties. Here, electron beam exposure and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching techniques were used to fabricate the single-layer graphene nanodot array (GNDA) with a minimum size of 90 nm and a surface roughness of 0.846 nm. The measured absorption spectra in the infrared and terahertz range show an enhanced absorption compared to the unpatterned graphene, and a maximum rate of 10% is adopted in the infrared spectra. The absorption peaks undergo a slight red shift with the dot size increase. The experimental results show a good agreement with the numerical simulation. The results in our work provide a path to design and fabrication of novel photodetectors based on graphene's plasmonic excitations with good light sensitivity and frequency selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruits, vegetable, and root (FVR) crops are vital to achieve food and nutrition security (FNS), especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, their perishable nature results in losses across the value chain. The review discusses the application of dehydration technologies: solar, infrared (IR), microwave (MW), and radiofrequency (RF) to produce shelf-stable dried agricultural produce. Drying technologies for example IR, MW, and RF use radiation for heat transfer and are more energy efficient compared to traditional hot air drying. Due to shorter processing times and lower thermal load, the nutritional quality and functional properties of dried materials from IR/MW/RF are often superior compared to hot air convection ovens or solar drying. Combination methods with hot air, vacuum and ultrasonication, and pre-treatments are of great interest for higher efficiency and quality. There are, however, limited studies available on the use of IR/MW/RF dehydration technologies for FVR crops in SSA, albeit these technologies have potential and further investigations are required for adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pr2NiO(4+δ) coatings of rare earth nickelate oxide were prepared through RF magnetron co-sputtering, combined with an appropriate heat treatment. The study focused on optimizing the growth conditions to enhance the thermal emittance of the coatings, taking into account the influence of thickness and roughness. The research findings revealed interesting insights. Firstly, by analyzing room temperature infrared reflectivity and studying the temperature dependence of the normal spectral emittance in the range of 500 cm−1 to 5500 cm−1, it was observed that the total emittance increased as the coating thickness increased. However, this increase tended to approach a saturation value at higher thicknesses. Additionally, the study demonstrated that a coating thickness of 2.8 μm was sufficient to effectively shield the substrate's infrared thermal response. This suggests the potential application of these coatings for thermal management purposes. Furthermore, the influence of roughness on the emittance was predominantly observed in the spectral range of 1200 cm−1 to 3600 cm−1. This finding highlights the importance of considering surface roughness when designing coatings for optimal thermal properties. In summary, the research provided valuable insights into the growth conditions and the impact of thickness and roughness on the thermal emittance of Pr2NiO4+δ coatings. These findings contribute to the development of improved materials for thermal management and related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fused deposition modeling (FDM), the cooling history impacts the bonding between filaments and layers. The existence of thermal gradients can cause non-homogeneous properties and localized stress points that may affect the individual filaments, resulting in distortion and detachment. Thermal analysis can aid in understanding the manufacturing flaw, providing necessary tools for the optimization of the printing trajectory. The present work is intended to deepen understanding of the thermal phenomena occurring during the extrusion of polymeric materials, aiming at more efficient three-dimensional (3D) printing methods. A one-dimensional (1D) finite differential method was implemented using MATLAB to simulate the temperature evolution of an extruded filament, and the results were compared with two-dimensional (2D) COMSOL Multiphysics simulations, and experimentally validated using infrared thermography. Acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) was used as a test material. The energy dissipation includes forced convection and radiation heat losses to the surrounding medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the intelligent driving abilities about the day-night situation awareness and large airspace real-time acquisition, we employ a forward-looking omnidirectional infrared (FLOIR) system and propose a FLOIR pedestrian detection strategy which consists of off-line training and on-line identification. Firstly, the basic scheme of proposed strategy is given generally, and the thoughts of off-line training and on-line identification are introduced briefly. Secondly, the principle of off-line training is illustrated in detail, in which the EHOG describer is created to extract the pedestrian feature and the FART neural network is modified to train the samples. Thirdly, the on-line identification principle is described, integrated with the proposed methods of ROI segmentation, distortion correction, feature extraction and matching. Finally, to verify the adaptability of FLOIR pedestrian detection relative to the climates, the summer and winter experiments, the contrast experiment with deep learning method and the multi-scale pedestrian detection experiment are carried out. The results show that: the proposed strategy has better robustness and detection effect than the traditional methods of FART, ARTMAP and deep learning, and the all-weather accuracy of infrared pedestrian detection is more than 83%. In the next work, the infrared pedestrian database will be improved to further increase the detection accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic foot ulcers represent the most frequently recognized and highest risk factor among patients affected by diabetes mellitus. The associated recurrent rate is high, and amputation of the foot or lower limb is often required due to infection. Analysis of infrared thermograms covering the entire plantar aspect of both feet is considered an emerging area of research focused on identifying at an early stage the underlying conditions that sustain skin and tissue damage prior to the onset of superficial wounds. The identification of foot disorders at an early stage using thermography requires establishing a subset of relevant features to reduce decision variability and data misinterpretation and provide a better overall cost–performance for classification. The lack of standardization among thermograms as well as the unbalanced datasets towards diabetic cases hinder the establishment of this suitable subset of features. To date, most studies published are mainly based on the exploitation of the publicly available INAOE dataset, which is composed of thermogram images of healthy and diabetic subjects. However, a recently released dataset, STANDUP, provided data for extending the current state of the art. In this work, an extended and more generalized dataset was employed. A comparison was performed between the more relevant and robust features, previously extracted from the INAOE dataset, with the features extracted from the extended dataset. These features were obtained through state-of-the-art methodologies, including two classical approaches, lasso and random forest, and two variational deep learning-based methods. The extracted features were used as an input to a support vector machine classifier to distinguish between diabetic and healthy subjects. The performance metrics employed confirmed the effectiveness of both the methodology and the state-of-the-art features subsequently extracted. Most importantly, their performance was also demonstrated when considering the generalization achieved through the integration of input datasets. Notably, features associated with the MCA and LPA angiosomes seemed the most relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous infrared observations of H3+ ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{+}$ and H2 emissions from Jupiter's northern aurora using the Near Infrared Spectrograph at Keck Observatory were used to measure the ionospheric and thermospheric wind velocities. H3+ ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{+}$ ions supercorotate near the dawn auroral oval and subcorotate across the dusk sector and in the dawn polar region relative to the planetary rotation rate, broadly in agreement with past observations and models. An anticyclonic vortex is discovered in H2 flows, closely matching the mean magnetospheric subcorotation when the observed magnetospheric flows are averaged azimuthally. In comparing ion and neutral winds, we measure the line‐of‐sight effective ion drift in the neutral reference frame for the first time, revealing two blue‐shifted sunward flows of ∼2 km/s. Observed H3+ ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{+}$ and H2 emissions overlap with predictions of the Pedersen conductivity layer, suggesting two different regions of the ionosphere: (a) a deep layer, where neutral forces dominate the thermosphere and symmetric breakdown‐in‐corotation currents can close, and (b) a higher layer, where the observed effective ion drift allows dawn‐to‐dusk Pedersen currents within the upper atmosphere, in turn closing asymmetric currents within the magnetosphere. This ionospheric structure aligns well with recent Juno observations of Jupiter's aurora. The detected thermospheric vortex implies the driving of neutral flows by the momentum from the magnetosphere within the thermosphere and deeper in the atmosphere to potentially 20 mbar. Jovian neutral thermosphere might bridge the gap between current observations and modelings and perhaps be significant to the dynamics of aurora on Earth and other outer planets. Plain Language Summary: We observed both charged and neutral molecules in Jupiter's northern aurora from the Keck Observatory. The velocity of the charged particles shows that they are controlled by magnetic field lines that stretch into the surrounding space environment, as expected at the top of the atmosphere. However, neutrals at the top of the atmosphere also appear to be indirectly controlled by the magnetic field, driven by impacts with the ions into a large vortex that sits within Jupiter's auroral region. Because the charged and neutral molecules move differently from one another, this can drive high‐altitude currents. Charged particles flow through the neutrals in two jets, moving toward the Sun on both sides of Jupiter's aurora, driving asymmetric currents more like the system of currents that form Earth's aurora. It suggests that Jupiter has different currents closing at different altitudes in the auroral region. This layering of currents matches recent observations made by the Juno mission and may help explain some of the apparent conflicts between different Juno data sets. Our discovery also highlights the importance of interactions between charged and neutral particles on other planets, including Earth, making Jupiter an important comparator for future studies of these interactions. Key Points: An aurorally aligned subcorotational thermospheric vortex is detected in Jupiter's upper atmosphereTwo sunward ionospheric jets flowing through the thermosphere are revealed on both dawn and duskJupiter potentially has a multilayer ionosphere driven separately by asymmetric currents and breakdown‐in‐corotation Pedersen currents [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontal polymerization (FP) is a unique polymerization technique that involves the self-propagation of heat, which is triggered by a local heat source, such as a photoinitiator. We propose here a novel method for producing colorful polymeric layers through an FP reaction using carbon black (CB) under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. In the FP reaction, CB and dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) were used as the photothermal agent and monomer, respectively. The photothermal efficiencies of the CB/DCPD suspensions were found to increase with the increase in their CB content. After photothermal initiation, the exothermic FP reaction propagated thermally, resulting in the formation of a freestanding poly (DCPD) resin. In addition, the density of the DCPD suspension in the test tube was adjusted to prepare a multilayered, colored poly (DCPD) resin. Consequently, a four-colored poly (DCPD) resin was obtained via an NIR-induced FP reaction. These results indicate that nanosized CB can be an effective photothermal agent for FP and that the proposed approach can be used for the rapid curing of polymers with multicolored layers with low energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Munguba butter has bioactive compounds such as vitamin E and phytosterols, which has valued its application in the development of new products, with advantages in its use in emulsified formulations. Therefore, the objective was to develop and evaluate the stability of a nanoemulsion containing munguba butter as the oily phase. Munguba butter was extracted by the ultrasound assisted method and its HLB (hydrophilic-lipophilic balance) was determined. Next, formulations varying the concentration of butter from 1-40% were developed and classified into liquid or solid emulsion and phase separation. Liquid emulsions were evaluated for hydrodynamic particle diameter, polydispersity index (PDI), Zeta potential (ζ), rheological characterization, and stability assays. The butter had an HLB of 6.98. The NE 1.0% formulation was selected and demonstrated to be unstable at high temperatures (45 ± 2 °C) and remained stable at room temperature, refrigeration and light radiation for 90 days. Munguba butter, because it has high amounts of saturated fatty acids, hinders its application in the development of new products. However, the success in the development of the NE 1.0% formulation is noteworthy, remaining stable when exposed to refrigeration, room temperature and light radiation.

Traditional heat treatments in the dairy industry are known for their high water and energy consumption, and more economically and environmentally friendly solutions are being sought. Infrared (IR) technology offers advantages in energy efficiency and environmental sustainability; however, its effectiveness in milk processing, particularly in pathogen inactivation, remains relatively unexplored. In this study, homogenized raw milk was subjected to IR treatment, and its impact on Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Enterobacteriaceae was assessed. Results indicate that the IR treatment effectively reduces the microbial load, achieving levels of inactivation comparable to conventional pasteurization methods (around 6 Log10 CFU/mL). Moreover, the treatment maintains milk pH levels, suggesting minimal alteration to its composition. Further research is needed to explore the full extent of IR treatment on milk sanitation efficacy, deeply exploring IR technology to fully assess its applicability and integration into dairy processing practices. Despite regulatory challenges, the Wir System Milk shows promise as a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative for raw milk treatment.

IntroductionOptical stimulation has been suggested for neural stimulation to improve cochlear implants. Light allows for more spatially selective activation of neuron populations than electrical current, offering more independent frequency bands along the spiral ganglion. These bands are available to encode acoustic information with anticipated better frequency resolution, improving cochlear implant user performance in noisy listening environments, tonal languages, and music perception.MethodsOptical cochlear implants (oCIs) can deliver light either directly via small emitters within the cochlea or via waveguides from external optical sources. We investigated three waveguide designs made from OrmoComp®, a polymer that cures through ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Waveguides were fabricated via injection molding and coated using dip-coating or thermal reflow, or through aspiration of OrmoComp® into polyimide tubing that served as the cladding of the waveguide. The choice of fabrication technique directly determined the waveguides' total diameter: thermal reflow yielded ≈940 μm, dip-coating produced ≈306 μm, and aspiration resulted in ≈132 μm core diameter waveguides. Given the human cochlea's small size, we focused on analyzing the 306-μm and 132-μm waveguides, evaluating their optical performance (propagation and bending losses) and mechanical properties (bending stiffness and insertion forces). Furthermore, we evaluated some of these designs in in-vivo guinea pigs experiments.ResultsFor the 100-μm core diameter waveguides, the propagation losses were 12.34 ± 1.26, 1.18 ± 0.88, 1.49 ± 0.58, and 3.43 ± 0.68 dB/cm at 534, 1,375, 1,460, and 1,550 nm, respectively. The respective bending losses at a 2 mm radius of curvature were 5.50 ± 1.32, 0.56 ± 0.26, 0.79 ± 0.18, and 0.64 ± 0.23 dB, and at 1 mm 8.54 ± 1.30, 2.05 ± 0.84, 2.11 ± 0.50, and 1.44 ± 0.37 dB. The bending stiffness of a 1 mm segment of the 100-μm-diameter waveguides was 18.9 ± 2.2 N/m. Insertion forces for the 100-μm-diameter waveguides into an acrylic human-size scala tympani model were < 25 mN. For the waveguides with 306 and 940 μm total diameter, the propagation losses ranged between 0.43 and 2.40 dB/cm at 534, 680, 1,375, and 1,550 nm, between 2.19 and 3.78 dB/cm at 450 and 1,460 nm. Bending losses for 360 degrees at 1,375 nm were 5.0, 2.4, and 0.46 for a bending radius of 2.5-, 3-, and 4-mm.DiscussionOur study demonstrated that the polymer OrmoComp® is suitable for fabricating waveguides to transmit near-infrared radiation. In-vivo experiments showed optically evoked auditory responses originating from optical stimulation in the guinea pigs' first cochlear turn while radiation was delivered. Incoming experiments will focus on evaluating long-term performance of these waveguides in guinea pigs and cats. This study will be designed to provide insights into the waveguides' performance and biocompatibility over extended periods, essential for their potential clinical application in future oCIs.

In this paper, a dual wavelength short near-infrared system is described for the detection of glucose levels. The system aims to improve the accuracy of blood glucose detection in a cost-effective and non-invasive way. The accuracy of the method is evaluated using real-time samples collected with the reference finger prick glucose device. A feed forward neural network (FFNN) regression method is employed to predict glucose levels based on the input data obtained from NIR technology. The system calculates glucose evaluation metrics and performs Surveillance error grid (SEG) analysis. The coefficient of determination R2 and mean absolute error are observed 0.99 and 2.49 mg/dl, respectively. Additionally, the system determines the root mean square error (RMSE) as 3.02 mg/dl. It also shows that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is 1.94% and mean squared error (MSE) is 9.16 (mg/dl)2 for FFNN. The SEG analysis shows that the glucose values measured by the system fall within the clinically acceptable range when compared to the reference method. Finally, the system uses the multi-class classification method of the multilayer perceptron (MLP) and K-nearest neighbors (KNN) classifier to classify glucose levels with an accuracy of 99%.

Abstract Solution‐processed low‐bandgap semiconductors are crucial to next‐generation infrared (IR) detection for various applications, such as autonomous driving, virtual reality, recognitions, and quantum communications. In particular, III–V group colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are interesting as nontoxic bandgap‐tunable materials and suitable for IR absorbers; however, the device performance is still lower than that of Pb‐based devices. Herein, a universal surface‐passivation method of InAs CQDs enabled by intermediate phase transfer (IPT), a preliminary process that exchanges native ligands with aromatic ligands on the CQD surface is presented. IPT yields highly stable CQD ink. In particular, desirable surface ligands with various reactivities can be obtained by dispersing them in green solvents. Furthermore, CQD near‐infrared (NIR) photodetectors are demonstrated using solution processes. Careful surface ligand control via IPT is revealed that enables the modulation of surface‐mediated photomultiplication, resulting in a notable gain control up to ≈10 with a fast rise/fall response time (≈12/36 ns). Considering the figure of merit (FOM), EQE versus response time (or −3 dB bandwidth), the optimal CQD photodiode yields one of the highest FOMs among all previously reported solution‐processed nontoxic semiconductors comprising organics, perovskites, and CQDs in the NIR wavelength range.

Surface temperature measurement is critical for the safety and proper operation of nuclear fusion reactors such as tokamaks, which operate at high temperature [100–3600 °C] in the presence of complex and unknown surface reflectance properties, causing a reflected flux that disturbs measurement interpretations. This paper describes a numerical approach based on machine learning techniques to estimate the surface temperature of in-vessel components from infrared images, despite the presence of reflections and the unknown emissivity of materials. Our contributions are two-fold: for the first time in the infrared domain, we generate a huge dataset of simulated images thanks to a novel GPU implementation of a Monte Carlo infrared ray tracer. This implementation offers the great advantage of enabling the generation of a very large amount of synthetic images for different plasma scenarios. Hence the second contribution of this paper: we propose an infrared inverse lighting model, based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) trained with the images generated by our ray tracer. The proposed approach is applied on a numerical prototype of W Environment Steady state Tokamak (WEST), including complex simulated thermal scenes. Using synthetic test data, and without providing the surface optical properties, the mean temperature error predicted by the CNN on ITER-like wide angle view of WEST is evaluated to 9% with standard plasma scenarios and 22% in case of exotic thermal scenes.

Infrared spectroscopy has drawn considerable interest in biological applications, but the measurement of live cells is impeded by the attenuation of infrared light in water. Metasurface-enhanced infrared reflection spectroscopy (MEIRS) had been shown to mitigate the problem, enhance the cellular infrared signal through surface-enhanced infrared absorption, and encode the cellular vibrational signatures in the reflectance spectrum at the same time. In this study, we used MEIRS to study the dynamic response of live cancer cells to a newly developed chemotherapeutic metal complex with distinct modes of action (MoAs): tricarbonyl rhenium isonitrile polypyridyl (TRIP). MEIRS measurements demonstrated that administering TRIP resulted in long-term (several hours) reduction in protein, lipid, and overall refractive index signals, and in short-term (tens of minutes) increase in these signals, consistent with the induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress. The unique tricarbonyl IR signature of TRIP in the bioorthogonal spectral window was monitored in real time, and was used as an infrared tag to detect the precise drug delivery time that was shown to be closely correlated with the onset of the phenotypic response. These results demonstrate that MEIRS is an effective label-free real-time cellular assay capable of detecting and interpreting the early phenotypic responses of cells to IR-tagged chemotherapeutics.

Abstract Background Post-surgical macular edema (ME) is a common cause of prolonged visual impairment. Here we report on the feasibility and clinical outcomes from the use of a novel suprachoroidal microcatheter to treat post-surgical chronic ME by the posterior suprachoroidal placement of a triamcinolone acetonide (TA) suspension. Methods Two patients were catheterized with the Oxulumis suprachoroidal delivery system on two separate occasions starting 5 and 10 mm posterior to the limbus. The catheter only remains in the suprachoroidal space for the time of the drug administration. Visual acuity and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) changes were followed over several weeks to months to determine the duration of ME resolution. Results Suprachoroidal microcatheterization for posterior delivery of triamcinolone was possible in all attempts using the illuminated Oxulumis catheter. No reflux, scleral or choroidal trauma was observed. There was no intraocular pressure rise during the follow-up period. The triamcinolone deposit was visible on infrared imaging and on SD-OCT a choroidal elevation was visible. Both progressively disappeared over time. A rapid resolution of ME associated with improved vision was observed following each injection for 3 to 7 months with a TA dose of 2.4 mg or 4 mg. Conclusions In these patients with poorly responsive ME, posterior suprachoroidal TA led to a visible suprachoroidal drug deposit and prolonged visual improvement. The Oxulumis microcatheterization device performed as expected and was not associated with any complications.

Thermal camouflage is a highly coveted technology aimed at enhancing the survivability of military equipment against infrared (IR) detectors. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have shown low IR emissivity, widely tunable opto-electronic properties, and compatibility with stealth applications. Among these, graphene and graphene-like materials are the most appealing 2D materials for thermal camouflage applications. In multilayer graphene (MLG), charge density can be effectively tuned through sufficiently intense electric fields or through electrolytic gating. Therefore, MLG’s optical properties, like infrared emissivity and absorbance, can be controlled in a wide range by voltage bias. The large emissivity modulation achievable with this material makes it suitable in the design of thermal dynamic camouflage devices. Generally, the emissivity modulation in the multilayered graphene medium is governed by an intercalation process of non-volatile ionic liquids under a voltage bias. The electrically driven reduction of emissivity lowers the apparent temperature of a surface, aligning it with the background temperature to achieve thermal camouflage. This characteristic is shared by other graphene-based materials. In this review, we focus on recent advancements in the thermal camouflage properties of graphene in composite films and aerogel structures. We provide a summary of the current understanding of how thermal camouflage materials work, their present limitations, and future opportunities for development.

We exploit the DustPedia sample of galaxies within approximately 40 Mpc, selecting 388 sources, to investigate the correlations between IR luminosity (LIR), the star formation rate (SFR), and the CO(1-0) luminosity (LCO) down to much lower luminosities than reached by previous analyses. We find a sub-linear dependence of the SFR on LIR. Below log(LIR/L⊙)≃10 or SFR≃1M⊙yr−1, the SFR/LIR ratio substantially exceeds the standard ratio for dust-enshrouded star formation, and the difference increases with decreasing LIR values. This implies that the effect of unobscured star formation overcomes that of dust heating by old stars, at variance with results based on the Planck ERCSC galaxy sample. We also find that the relations between the LCO and LIR or the SFR are consistent with those obtained at much higher luminosities.

Bacteriophages are emerging as a promising alternative in combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria amidst the escalating global antimicrobial resistance crisis. Recently, there has been a notable resurgence of interest in phages, prompting extensive research into their therapeutic potential. Beyond conventional microbiology and virology techniques, such as genomics and proteomics, novel phenotypic and chemical characterization methods are being explored. Among these, there is a growing interest in vibrational spectroscopy, especially in advanced modalities such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), and atomic force microscopy-infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR), which offer improved sensitivity and spatial resolution. This review explores the spectrum of uses of vibrational spectroscopy for bacteriophages, including its role in diagnostics, biosensing, phage detection, assistance in phage-based therapy, and advancing basic research.

The effect of La, Ce, Pr and Nd ions on four Ln(ligand)3 complexes and at three DFT levels of calculation was analyzed. Four ligands were chosen, three of which were based on the 1,2,3-triazole ring. The DFT methods used were B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP and M06-2X. The relationships established were between the geometric parameters, atomic charges, HOMO-LUMO energies and other molecular properties. These comparisons and trends will facilitate the synthesis of new complexes by selecting the ligand and lanthanide ion best suited to the desired property of the complex. The experimental IR and Raman spectra of Ln(2b′)3 complexes where Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho and Er ions have been recorded and compared to know the effect of the lanthanide ion on the complex. The hydration in these complexes was also analyzed. Additionally, the effect of the type of coordination center on the ability of an Ln(ligand)3 complex to participate in electron exchange and hydrogen transfer was investigated using two in vitro model systems—DPPH and ABTS.

In the autonomous driving industry, there is a growing trend to employ long-wave infrared (LWIR)-based uncooled thermal-imaging cameras, capable of robustly collecting data even in extreme environments. Consequently, both industry and academia are actively researching contrast-enhancement techniques to improve the quality of LWIR-based thermal-imaging cameras. However, most research results only showcase experimental outcomes using mass-produced products that already incorporate contrast-enhancement techniques. Put differently, there is a lack of experimental data on contrast enhancement post-non-uniformity (NUC) and temperature compensation (TC) processes, which generate the images seen in the final products. To bridge this gap, we propose a histogram equalization (HE)-based contrast enhancement method that incorporates a region-based clipping technique. Furthermore, we present experimental results on the images obtained after applying NUC and TC processes. We simultaneously conducted visual and qualitative performance evaluations on images acquired after NUC and TC processes. In the visual evaluation, it was confirmed that the proposed method improves image clarity and contrast ratio compared to conventional HE-based methods, even in challenging driving scenarios such as tunnels. In the qualitative evaluation, the proposed method demonstrated upper-middle-class rankings in both image quality and processing speed metrics. Therefore, our proposed method proves to be effective for the essential contrast enhancement process in LWIR-based uncooled thermal-imaging cameras intended for autonomous driving platforms.