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Here, we present research results on developing a compact multifunctional mobile robotic platform based on tracks. Nowadays, choosing the optimal control system for such equipment remains relevant. We have proposed a system that allows measuring thermal indicators of objects or other environmental parameters in hazardous areas and can be controlled remotely via video channels and a specially developed free-programmable console. We also suggest using a steerable two-axis camera gimbal on a moving platform to implement enhanced VR/AR/FPV technology for efficient robot control. It provides a new quality of operator immersion in control compared to common land-based mobile platforms. With this in mind, we have presented the main points related to the set of components and algorithms of the control system, which is installed directly on the moving platform, and the control system that ensures the operation of the operator panel.

In this study, the optimum temperature and thermal tolerance of postlarvae of the commercially important freshwater prawn Cryphiops (Cryphiops) caementarius were determined after acclimation to six different rearing temperatures (19 °C, 22 °C, 24 °C, 26 °C, 28 °C, and 30 °C) during a 45 day-culture period. Best growth parameter values were obtained within the temperature range of 24 °C to 28 °C, where the optimum temperature for growth was found to be at 26 °C (weight gain 81.70%; specific growth rate 1.33 %/day) but had not significant effect (p > 0.05) on survival (64%–71%) of postlarvae. Increasing the acclimation temperature significantly (p

A total of 120 rice plant samples were scanned by visible and thermal proximal sensing systems under different water stress levels to evaluate the canopy water content (CWC). The oven-drying method was employed for assessing the canopy’s water state. This CWC is of great importance for irrigation management decisions. The proposed framework is to integrate visible and thermal imaging data using an artificial neural network as a valuable promising implement for accurately estimating the water content of the plant. The RGB-based features included 20 color vegetation indices (VI) and 6 gray level co-occurrence matrix-based texture features (GLCMF). The thermal imaging features were two thermal indicators (T), namely normalized relative canopy temperature (NRCT) and the crop water stress index (CWSI), that were deliberated by plant temperatures. These features were applied with a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) for training the samples with minimal loss on a cross-validation set. Model behavior was affected by filtering high-level features and optimizing hyperparameters of the model. The results indicated that feature-based modeling from both visible and thermal images achieved better performance than features from the individual visible or thermal image. The supreme prediction variables were 21 features: 14VI, 5GLCMF, and 2T. The fusion of color–texture–thermal features greatly improved the precision of water content evaluation (99.40%). Its determination coefficient (R2 = 0.983) was the most satisfied with an RMSE of 0.599. Overall, the methodology of this work can support decision makers and water managers to take effective and timely actions and achieve agricultural water sustainability.

The Sichuan Basin is overpressured and has experienced a reduction in temperature since the Late Cretaceous due to uplift and denudation. The temperature and pressure of the central Sichuan Basin are investigated utilising borehole data. Pressure positively correlates with temperature in each overpressured system, with a coefficient of 0.851 MPa/°C for the Cambrian pressure system and 1.064 MPa/°C for the Upper Triassic pressure system. Physical simulation experiments carried out with absolute sealing conditions demonstrate that the temperature–pressure relationship in a water-filled system is linear with a gradient of 1.076 MPa/°C, similar to the observed temperature–pressure gradients in the study area. The integration of thermal indicators, including vitrinite reflectance and fluid inclusions, is used to reconstruct the palaeotemperature of the basin. Formation temperatures have decreased since 90 Ma, with a significant decrease since 20 Ma. The amount of cooling varies between hydrocarbon fields as it is dependent on the local extent of exhumation during basin uplift. The Weiyuan field exhibits the greatest amount of cooling, followed by the Moxi field, with the Bajiaochang field experiencing the smallest reduction in temperature. The maximum palaeopressure is calculated to be > 200 MPa in the Cambrian strata and ∼150 MPa in the Upper Triassic strata. The existence of gas within the hydrocarbon fields can change the temperature–pressure relationship, lowering the maximum pressure. However, we propose that temperature reduction is the primary cause of the pressure decrease since 90 Ma and that it controls the present-day overpressure distribution in the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat treatment affects the sensory, biophysical and nutritional properties of milk. To maintain and improve milk quality, an optimization of the heat treatment must be reached to ensure the microbiological safety of the product, while altering as little as possible its sensory and nutritional value. One of the major events occurring upon heating is protein denaturation. The rate of protein denaturation is governed by the immediate chemical environment of the reactants defined by the chemical composition of the system. The aim of the present work was to compare the kinetics of casein denaturation under different conditions, in order to define suitable markers to sensitively assess the degree of reaction in early stages accounting for the time/temperature effects. The results showed a clear dependence of protein denaturation on pH and calcium content, but temperature-time combination did not have a major impact on the extent of protein heat-induced changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The evaluation of heat damage in ultra-high pressure homogenized (UHPH)-treated samples has been studied by analyzing different thermal indicators such as compounds that absorb at 340nm, hydroxymethylfurfural, free sulphydryl content, furosine, lactulose and whey protein denaturation. Milk was treated at 200 and 300MPa with inlet temperature of 30 and 40°C and was compared to high-pasteurized milk (PA; 90°C, 15s) and to commercial UHT, in bottle-sterilized and pasteurized milks. UHPH samples were differentiated from PA milk, basically by the determination of absorbance at 340nm and β-Lactoglobulin denaturation. Both parameters indicated a reduced thermal effect in UHPH samples over PA milk. Comparison of UHPH samples with UHT and sterilized milks showed an increase of all heating indicators when severe heat process was applied. Overall, in spite of the increase of temperature during UHPH treatments, heat damage was lower compared to PA milk, suggesting the potential of this technology as an alternative to pasteurization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Thermal history reconstructions can help to better characterise the geological history of areas that experienced a polyphase tectonic evolution. The integration of published stratigraphic/structural data with new and pre-existing data on thermal maturity (clay mineralogy, Raman spectroscopy, vitrinite reflectance, and pyrolysis) of both surface and subsurface sedimentary successions of a wide region of Georgia including -north to south- the southern Greater Caucasus, the western Kura Basin, and the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt (FTB) provides cogent constraints on its late Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution. Overall, thermal maturity spans from the low diagenesis (60–80 °C) in the Upper Miocene section of the Kura Basin to anchizone-epizone (about 400 °C) in the central Greater Caucasus axial zone. In more detail, different maturity trends and thermal histories point to the existence of two domains formed by positive tectonic inversion: (i) the Adjara-Trialeti FTB from an Eocene rift basin and (ii) the Greater Caucasus from a Mesozoic rift basin. Multiple thermal indicators, along with stratigraphic/structural evidence, show that the Paleocene section of the Adjara-Trialeti basin fill reached the upper oil window (ca. 115 °C) during maximum sedimentary burial and that the whole basin was then exhumed starting from the late Middle Miocene. A positive correlation between thermal maturity and stratigraphic age points to a limited thermal effect of tectonic loading. In the southern Greater Caucasus, thermal maturity increases progressively with stratigraphic age, from ca. 100 °C (Upper Eocene) to 400 °C (Lower Jurassic), in broad agreement with the reconstructed thickness of the basin-fill succession, thus indicating that most of the thermal maturity was again induced by sedimentary burial. As to the flexural western Kura Basin, its Maikopian (Oligocene-Early Miocene) section reached the oil window (up to ca. 110 °C) whereas the Middle-Late Miocene one is immature. The Kakheti ridge -a highly tectonised portion of the Kura Basin- reached immature to early mature conditions. [Display omitted] • New multi-proxy thermal maturity dataset from Adjara-Trialeti to Greater Caucasus. • Thermal maturity jump from Greater Caucasus to Adjara-Trialeti FTB and Kura Basin. • Positive inversion of rift basins into Adjara-Trialeti FTB and Greater Caucasus. • Thin-skinned deformation in Kura Basin/Kakheti above pre-shortening structural high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of short-time heat-flux imulse recovery using thermal indicators data in the end-point state is presented. The solution of problem discussed is feasible if the heat-conduction equation incorporates heat-flux spatial variation. The results of computational experiments confirm the feasibility of short-time heat-flux impulse retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal indicator data are used in an inverse mode to determine ages of stratigraphic horizons simultaneously with paleoheat flux. Results from 'blind' tests on wells with horizon ages ranging from Ordovician through Carboniferous and Jurassic to Miocene indicate that thermal indicator inversions are capable of resolving such ages to within about 10% uncertainty. Results using the inversion procedure with one thermal indicator (vitrinite reflectance) were comparable to the results using another independent thermal indicator (sterane isomerization) in the same well. The activation energy for sterane isomerization was determined to be 30±15 kJ mol. In addition: (a) the age of a stratigraphic horizon, the thickness of eroded sediments at an unconformity, and the variation of paleoheat flux with time were determined simultaneously by thermal indicator inversion in a single well; (b) two neighboring wells, less than 10 km apart, provided essentially identical ages for the same formation when tested using the inversion procedure. The ability to determine stratigraphic horizon ages from inversion of thermal indicator data implies that sedimentation rates can be determined; thus, basinal evolution can be inferred to a degree of resolution not previously obtainable from assumed interpolation methods applied to determine the age of horizons between a limited set of stratigraphic horizons of known ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantitative tomographic method to determine simultaneously several geological, geochemical, and geothermal parameters associated with reconstruction of the geohistory and thermal history of sediments in a well is presented. Using vitrinite reflectance data from the well Inigok-1, National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, the numerical algorithm was tested and found to be effective in delineating the variation of heat flux with time. In addition, the size and timing of a major unconformity also were bracketed. Application of tomography using apatite fission track distributions with depth as a thermal indicator enabled not only the thermal history of two wells in the NW Canning Basin of Australia to be determined, but also the chemical parameters associated with fission track annealing to be constrained. Results of both the Alaska study and the Australian study were consistent with the qualitative behavior inferred from current geological models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the logic for quantitative inversion of present-day downhole thermal indicators, the inversion procedure can be used to determine unknown, or poorly known, chemical and physical parameters as well as other geological quantities of interest which impact on burial history and thermal history of an evolving sedimentary basin. Some such quantities are: amount of erosion and timing of unconformities, paleo-overpressuring, stratigraphic age, timing of igneous intrusion and insertion temperature, overthrust timing and frictional heating, fault and slump timing, effects due to emplacement of a radiocative layer, and salt emplacement and dissolution timing. Combining a priori unknown values of these chemical/physical and geological parameters with unknown (a priori) paleoheat flux variations, a theoretical scheme, called thermal indicator tomography, is developed for the systematic determination of all parameters at the same time and on the same footing. Case histories will be discussed in subsequent papers in this series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantitative inversion of present-day downhole thermal indicator information enables (a) assessment of the effective paleoheat flux recorded by thermal indicators, and (b) determination of geological parameters related to the dynamical burial history of sedimentary strata. The logic of the general inversion scheme underlying seven thermal indicators, viz. vitrinite reflectance, sterane, and/or hopane isomers, sterane aromatization, optical rotation,Ar/Ar, pollen translucency, and fission scar tracks in apatite is presented, and their capability for resolving paleoheat flux is noted. In a second paper, determination of chemical and physical parameters, as well as several other quantities of geological interest (such as the sizes and erosion times of multiple unconformities, stratigraphic ages, paleo-overpressure, igneous intrusion timing, overthrust timing and frictional heat generation, fault and slump timing, thermal effects due to radioactive layer emplacement, and salt emplacement and dissolution timing) are discussed. Such events impact on both burial and thermal histories of sedimentary layers. Resolution problems are discussed also in the second paper, as is an attractive scheme called thermal indicator tomography for sorting out degrees of resolution, precision, and uniqueness of the relevant geological parameters for each process in combination with determination of the effective paleoheat flux. Detailed statements on the mechanics of implementing the tomographic approach are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 120 rice plant samples were scanned by visible and thermal proximal sensing systems under different water stress levels to evaluate the canopy water content (CWC). The oven-drying method was employed for assessing the canopy's water state. This CWC is of great importance for irrigation management decisions. The proposed framework is to integrate visible and thermal imaging data using an artificial neural network as a valuable promising implement for accurately estimating the water content of the plant. The RGB-based features included 20 color vegetation indices (VI) and 6 gray level co-occurrence matrix-based texture features (GLCMF). The thermal imaging features were two thermal indicators (T), namely normalized relative canopy temperature (NRCT) and the crop water stress index (CWSI), that were deliberated by plant temperatures. These features were applied with a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) for training the samples with minimal loss on a cross-validation set. Model behavior was affected by filtering high-level features and optimizing hyperparameters of the model. The results indicated that feature-based modeling from both visible and thermal images achieved better performance than features from the individual visible or thermal image. The supreme prediction variables were 21 features: 14VI, 5GLCMF, and 2T. The fusion of color–texture–thermal features greatly improved the precision of water content evaluation (99.40%). Its determination coefficient (R2 = 0.983) was the most satisfied with an RMSE of 0.599. Overall, the methodology of this work can support decision makers and water managers to take effective and timely actions and achieve agricultural water sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]