Infrared

We live with solar radiation from birth to death and have since the emergence of life on earth. Why then does skin cancer diagnosis remain so disturbingly high in Australia? Part of the problem is the majority of the population are of Northern European ancestry. Moving closer to the equator on mass we have carried with us a polymorphic melanocortin receptor gene on our melanocytes responsible for an incomplete tanning response. We attempt to protect ourselves with clothing and creams or remain indoors but this does not seem to be stemming the tide. Occupation, recreation or both drive us outside and into the sun. We need to be more successful at negotiating the potentially harmful effects by relooking at solar radiation and instead of focusing on the most harmful wavelengths look at the overall effect of the whole spectrum. We also need to reexamine our behaviour and exposure patterns. Prolonged periods indoors under artificial light punctuated with short bursts of intense irradiation is maladaptive. Creams aim to block the ultraviolet component, ignoring 90% of solar photons, the protective effect is incomplete, yet their use encourages more prolonged exposure. Protective behaviours are necessary for the most sensitive skin types but they are still at risk. For the rest of the population evolutionarily developed natural protective mechanisms can be employed. Regular moderate sun exposure, below the burn threshold, ideally aimed at early morning or late afternoon. Augmented with clothing, hats and creams with an appreciation of the incomplete protective effect of these measures.

This paper addresses and implements a Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) transceiver for Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems based on FPGA. A transceiver was implemented including a transmitter capable of driving an array of light emitting diodes (LED) and a Pseudo-Noise (PN) matched decorrelator. The receiver architecture uses a discrete FIR correlator for data synchronization and acquisition. In this paper, a novel and simple PN code with a 10 bit sequence length is developed. This code ...

The paper shows the design of a 2 Mb/s wireless IR experimental modem using DPSK modulation. This modem is suitable for LAN and data communications in office environments using both diffuse and quasidiffuse IR beams. The paper focuses on optical transmitter and receiver design, due to the optical power and sensitivity limitations in such links

Macrocyclic complexes of Mn(II) were synthesized by template condensation using 2,6-diaminopyridine and diethylenetriamine with malonic, succinic, glutaric and adipic acids. The reaction proceeded smoothly to completion. These 16- to 24-membered N(6), but behaving as tetradentate, macrocyclic complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, molecular weight determinations, infrared, electronic, mass and X-ray spectral analyses. The elemental analyses are consistent with the formation of complexes [Mn(N(6)L(n))Cl(2)]. All the complexes are stable and monomeric in nature, as indicated by the molecular weight determinations. The spectral studies confirmed the proposed framework of the new macrocyclic complexes and indicated an octahedral geometry around the central metal atom. The complexes were screened in vitro against a number of pathogenic fungi and bacteria to assess their growth-inhibiting potential. The testicular sperm density, sperm morphology, sperm motility, density of ca...

We report the discovery of weak radio counterparts for the hard X-ray sources GX 354-0 and Terzan 1. Based on the arcsec accurate radio position, an infrared counterpart with magnitude K=15.1+/-0.2 is proposed for GX 354-0. For Terzan 1, its crowded field prevents us from a similar unambiguous identification, and at least four different stellar objects may be consistent with the radio counterpart.

In this work, the vibrational spectral analysis was carried out using Raman and infrared spectroscopy in the range 100-4000 cm(-1) and 50-4000 cm(-1), respectively, for the title molecules. The molecular structure, fundamental vibrational frequencies and intensity of the vibrational bands are interpreted with the aid of structure optimizations and normal coordinate force field calculations based on Hartee Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) method and different basis sets combination. The complete vibrational assignments of wave numbers were made on the basis of potential energy distribution (PED). The scaled B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) results show the best agreement with the experimental values over the other methods. The effects due to the substitutions of methyl group and halogen bond were investigated. The results of the calculations were applied to simulated spectra of the title compounds, which show excellent agreement with observed spectra.

A wide variety of imaging applications exist for 1K x 1K midwave infrared (MWIR) imagers and Nova's Variable Acuity Superpixel Imager (VASTM) technology1,2 has now progressed to this image format. This paper will demonstrate a variety of imagery from MWIR cameras using this large format "LVASI" device; the in-pixel processing used by the LVASI cameras represents the state-of-the-art for image size, total field of view, high frame rates, low data bandwidths and real-time spatial reprogrammability of focal plane arrays (FPAs). Using these devices, imaging systems may now be implemented that permit the operator to "zoom in" to regions of interest with very high spatial resolution, while covering the remainder of the total field of view (TFOV) at conventional resolutions. The bandwidth compression attainable using these sensors helps to make possible systems that can transmit their high resolution imagery through wireless interconnected networks. We present recent infrared image data that highlight numerous applications including missile detection/tracking, search/rescue and remote surveillance applications.

This paper comprises a comparison between the vegetation response in ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) multispectral optical imagery and possibly equivalent bedrock/regolith/soil response in airborne gamma-ray spectrometry grids, employing a tropical rainforest area in the Brazilian Amazon as a control. The applied technique comprised band ratios using a fixed near infrared band (numerator) divided by individual visible and shortwave infrared bands (denominator). These band ratios were subsequently submitted to principal component analysis, and the high frequency information is smoothed by low pass filtering. The colour compositions selected for interpretation were sharpened by the first principal component of the original ASTER bands through an IHS transform in order to add albedo/texture information lost through band rationing back to the imagery. The products show a plausible coherence with airborne gamma-ray data and field observations, provi...

Using NIRSPEC at Keck-2, we propose sensitive high-resolution observations of the coma of comet 103P/Hartley-2. We will (1) search for HDO and CH_3D, (2) measure the nuclear spin temperature of formaldehyde, and (3) perform spatially resolved measurements of the spin and rotational temperature of water in the coma. These investigations are coordinated with radio observations targeting DCN and HDCO. The