Thermography is probably the most used method of measuring surface temperature by analyzing radiation in the infrared part of the spectrum which accuracy depends on factors such as emissivity and reflected radiation. Contrary to popular belief that thermographic images represent temperature maps, they are actually thermal radiation converted into an image, and if not properly calibrated, they show incorrect temperatures. The objective of this study is to analyze commonly used image processing techniques and their impact on radiometric data in thermography. In particular, the extent to which a thermograph can be considered as an image and how image processing affects radiometric data. Three analyzes are presented in the paper. The first one examines how image processing techniques, such as contrast and brightness, affect physical reality and its representation in thermographic imaging. The second analysis examines the effects of JPEG compression on radiometric data and how degradation of the data varies with the compression parameters. The third analysis aims to determine the optimal resolution increase required to minimize the effects of compression on the radiometric data. The output from an IR camera in CSV format was used for these analyses, and compared to images from the manufacturer’s software. The IR camera providing data in JPEG format was used, and the data included thermographic images, visible images, and a matrix of thermal radiation data. The study was verified with a reference blackbody radiation set at 60 ${}^{°}$C. The results highlight the dangers of interpreting thermographic images as temperature maps without considering the underlying radiometric data which can be affected by image processing and compression. The paper concludes with the importance of accurate and precise thermographic analysis for reliable temperature measurement.

The paper studies relaxation modes and their corresponding amplitudes in antiferroelectric polar smectic phases made of achiral bent-core compounds. The analysis identifies two types of modes in the orthogonal $SmA{P}_A$ phase. The nature of these modes is either pure polar or quasi tilt, but they are split into phase and amplitude modes. One of the amplitude tilt modes is a soft mode and the corresponding relaxations time becomes infinite at the transition to the tilted phase. In tilted phases, characteristic modes change the phase of equilibrium order parameters, the amplitude or both simultaneously. Of these modes, two are predominately polar, soft mode and Goldstone mode are predominately tilt modes and the rest are mixed. The nature of characteristic modes is temperature independent in all studied phases.

The paper presents a detailed analysis of the effects of chiral doping on antiferroelectric $B_2$ subphases in bent core systems. The studied system exhibits the phase sequence $\text{Sm}A\leftrightarrow \text{Sm}A{P}_A\leftrightarrow \text{Sm}{C}_S{P}_A$. The chiral dopant induces the tilt in the $\text{Sm}A{P}_A$ phase or the tilt modulation in the $\text{Sm}{C}_S{P}_A$ phase, which is known as the chiroclinic effect, but it also influences the stability ranges and the order of the transition between the phases. The order of the phase transition changes from a continuous for weak effects of chiral doping to discontinuous for strong effects. Competition of interactions results in changes of the phase sequences, which are resumed in the phase diagram. The method that leads to these findings, which could be used for the analysis of other similar systems, is briefly presented as well.

Photovoltaic industry has displayed an exponential expansion rate over the past two decades. Currently, 1185 GW of the global electricity demand is derived from photovoltaic (PV) panels with more to come in the next two decades. With the growing installment rate, a concern regarding managing panels that reached the end of their life-span grows. Despite the fact that the approximate life-span of a panel is 25 years, oftentimes this interval is shortened due to weather conditions, low-quality installations, and poor maintenance. Therefore, a global attention is focused on research and law-regulation of proper recycling and disposal of the PV waste. In this contribution, recyclability of one PV panel is determined upon subjecting it to the simplest recycling process, which is manual mechanical separation using common hand-tools. In addition, an ecological-economic analysis of the panel, which yields an absolute profit of the panel is presented.

This paper presents numerical and experimental investigations of a small-scale solar chimney power plant with a tower height of 50 cm. Numerical thermodynamic analysis was carried out in the ANSYS 2022 R1 (22.1) software, and the results were compared with the mathematical model of the Manzanares prototype. The results indicate that there is a geometry limit for which boundary physics overcomes the resultant upward force. Upon obtaining initial parameters in CAD and CFD software, further experimental measurements were conducted on a physical model enhanced with fans to induce the air flow in accordance with the Nyquist criterion. The structure could not withstand the mechanical force needed for continuous turbine rotation.