The "superficiality" of the Turin Shroud body image is a characteristic frequently described in scientific papers but too often in vague terms. Originating from a discussion among the members of the Shroud Science Group, this paper was compiled thoroughly describing the unique characteristics of the body image superficiality. This concept of superficiality is here described at the fabric, thread and fiber levels. At the fabric level, we show the importance of the geometry of the fabric. At the thread level, the very specific distribution of the color is emphasized. Finally, at the fiber level, we confirm that the color is a chemically altered layer about 200 nm thick found at the surface of the colored fibers (the inner part remains uncolored). We suggest that the chemical alteration that produced the discoloration is related to the primary cell wall of the linen fiber. The description of image superficiality here reported will be useful for the formulation of future hypotheses about the body image formation process.

The Shroud of Turin, although carbon-dated between 1260 and 1390 C.E., is believed by many to be the real burial cloth of Jesus on the basis of other evidence. Part of the controversy arises from the fact that it has proven very difficult to explain just how the image was generated and to achieve a good imitation of the Shroud by simple means. The faint image of a crucified man has pseudonegative properties, is superficial, contains three-dimensional information and consists of a discoloration of the top cellulose fibers of the linen. The authors present now a simple technique, which may explain how the image could have originated from the work of a medieval artist. Furthermore, the authors were able to obtain a good replica of the Shroud of Turin at a 1:1 scale that possesses all the above-mentioned features and the same visual and spectroscopic properties as the original.

The faint yellowed body image embedded into the linen cloth of the Turin Shroud has peculiar chemical and physical characteristics that at the moment cannot be replicated all together in laboratory. The authors present experimental results of ArF excimer laser irradiation (wavelength 193 nm) of a raw linen fabric, seeking for coloration similar to that of the Shroud image. The authors achieved a permanent yellow coloration of linen as a threshold effect of the laser beam intensity and number of shots. Most important, the authors have achieved for the first time a submicrometer depth of coloration of the outermost part of the fibers, leaving a colorless fiber medulla. The authors also obtained latent coloration that appears after artificial aging of linen following laser irradiations that at first did not generate any visible effect. The authors have recognized different physical and chemical processes involved in both coloration and latent coloration. The comparison of the Turin Shroud image with the results of our ArF laser irradiation shows an interesting overlap of the main physical and chemical features.

In this article, the authors investigate multi/hyperspectral image compression strategies when data and conditions change. In particular the authors compare the classical multi-two-dimensional (2D wavelets and 2D SPIHT) and hybrid (3D wavelets and 2D SPIHT) strategies to full 3D, for which the authors propose a new implementation based on anisotropic 3D wavelets followed by a 3D SPIHT encoder. All strategies are combined with a spectral principal component analysis decorrelation stage to optimize performance. The comparison of the proposed strategy with the other is made with regard to variations in bitrate, spatial, and spectral dimensions of the images. For consistent evaluation, the authors also propose a larger evaluation framework than the conventionally used PSNR, including nine metrics divided into four families. The authors also study the effect of compression by tiles and discuss the time and memory consumption difference between the three compression strategies. Good results are obtained for the proposed method and the benchmark shows the weaknesses and strengths of each strategy.

This article describes a method for analyzing omnidirectional color signals in a natural scene, which contains direct illuminations of daylights and indirect illuminations of the reflected lights from different object surfaces. A multiband omnidirectional imaging system is used for capturing high resolution images in the omnidirectional observations at a particular point in a natural scene. The spectral-power distributions of color signals are recovered from the captured six-band images. The authors investigate the spectral composition of the omnidirectional scene illumination based on the principal component analysis of the whole set of color signals acquired at the same location in a fixed time of day in five months of a year. It is found that all the omnidirectional color signals can be expressed in a linear combination of only three principal components. This property has the potential for high data compression. Moreover, the authors analyze the chromaticity distribution of omnidirectional color signals. Experimental results are presented for omnidirectional color signals obtained in an outdoor scene of university campus. The reliability of the proposed method is examined from various points of view. An application to image rendering is shown.

Print quality is an important factor for customer satisfaction. Resolving print quality issues poses special challenges for a manufacturer's support organization. The authors have developed a troubleshooting website to enable customers to self-solve many of their print quality issues. The diagnosis is based on images of printed test pages that contain highly accurate simulations of potential print quality defects. The authors review the process for developing the website, the organization of its content, a validation framework to efficiently verify its correctness, and the steps to simulate print quality issues. The tool has been deployed for more than a dozen color laser printers and used by hundreds of thousands of customers.

An optical filter providing color compensation for plasma display panel modules was prepared using a cyanine dye that was designed to attenuate visible light from neon plasma discharge. Two types of the optical filters were devised and their effect on the image quality was evaluated. A film optical filter eliminated the double image or reflection observed using glass filters and provided a greater bright room contrast ratio. Our results indicated the overall color purity was improved by 12.7% with a red color purity correction and that the color temperature was increased by 2500 K using the film.

A spectroscopic study was carried out on charge generation processes in a multilayered photoreceptor comprising a specific bisazo compound as charge generation material. Photoreceptors comprising a charge generation layer (CGL), composed of a bisazo compound dispersed in a binder resin, and a charge transport layer (CTL) incorporating an electron donor molecule in a binder resin, were treated as model photoreceptors for experimental and numerical analysis. Charge generation model, which had been previously described for a single layer organic photoconductor with charge generation predominately occurring at layer surface, was expanded and applied in a numerical study to a conventional dual layer system. A change in spectral response was observed as a result of variation in CGL thickness for both conventional dual layer and inverted dual layer (CTL overcoated with CGL) systems. These experimental results were compared with numerical simulations in the expanded charge generation model. Analytical results suggested that charge generation sites existed at CGL-CTL interface and that estimated energy diffusion length was much longer than exciton diffusion length reported for organic materials. Moreover, the author's proposed charge generation model showed superior agreement with experimental results compared to conventional bulk generation model.