EDITORIAL: Announcing the 2007 Measurement Science and Technology Outstanding Paper Awards

Since 1991, Measurement Science and Technology has awarded a Best Paper prize. The Editorial Board of this journal believes that such a prize is an opportunity to thank authors for submitting their work, and serves as an integral part of the on-going quality review of the journal. The current breadth of topical areas that are covered by MST has made it advisable to expand the recognition of excellent publications. Hence, in 2005 the Editorial Board decided to present 'Outstanding Paper Awards' in four subject categories: Fluid Mechanics; Measurement Science; Precision Measurements; and Sensors and Sensing Systems. 2005 Award Winners?Fluid Mechanics The Fluid Mechanics working group, chaired by Professor John Foss, was unanimous in its recommendation for the paper authored by J Chen and J Katz (Johns Hopkins University, USA) 'Elimination of peak-locking error in PIV analysis using the correlation mapping method', published in volume 16, issue 8, pp 1605?1618. The essence of the following citation was provided by Board Member Dr Mark Wernet: The paper of Chen and Katz describes a technique for eliminating the 'peak locking' bias error endemic to estimating the PIV correlation peak location. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used widely in both fundamental and applied fluid mechanics. In essence, a two-dimensional velocity map is extracted from two successive high-resolution images of light scattered by minute tracer particles. The incident light is derived from two laser beams which have been expanded into sheets. A precise time delay is imposed between the two laser light sheets. The cross-correlation of the scattered light intensity within corresponding small interrogation regions in the two images gives the displacement of the particles and hence the local velocity. Typically, in PIV processing, the correlation peak location is determined by fitting a curve through the correlation peak. This process is known to suffer from a bias error where the estimated displacements are grouped around integer pixel values. Background subtraction can help reduce the tendency for peak locking, but does not completely remove the bias. Other techniques for eliminating the bias are available, but require time-consuming, iterative processing. The paper of Chen and Katz describes a processing technique that removes this 'peak locking' bias by avoiding the curve fitting process altogether. Instead, the displacement necessary to map the first exposure into the second exposure is determined via a correlation mapping operation. Several example cases using synthetic data and actual PIV data are presented. The new approach is also compatible with the Subregion Image Distortion technique to further improve the quality of the PIV displacement estimates. 2005 Award Winners?Measurement Science The 2005 Measurement Science and Technology Outstanding Paper Award in the Measurement Science category has been awarded to M E Webber, T MacDonald, M B Pushkarsky (Pranalytica, Inc., USA), C K N Patel (UCLA, USA), Y Zhao, N Marcillac and F M Mitloehner (University of California, Davis, USA) for the article 'Agricultural ammonia sensor using diode lasers and photoacoustic spectroscopy', published in volume 16, issue 8, pp 1547?1553. In making their recommendation the Measurement Science working group chaired by Professor Richard Dewhurst gave the following endorsement: This paper provides an excellent description of a novel instrumentation system used to detect agricultural ammonia. The sensor system has been designed for use in dusty and humid conditions, and a portable prototype was field-tested on several days over an eight-week period, with encouraging results. In this paper, a short theoretical section is followed by instrumentation details, with a description of the optical system, the electronics, embedded programming and algorithm development. An erbium-doped fibre amplifier was used to enhance the photoacoustic signal by boosting the laser's output power, whilst maintaining the linewidth of the seed laser source. Careful laboratory calibration tests are then described, showing benchmark results of sub-ppm sensitivity, and excellent system linearity up to 100 ppm. The final section describes the condition under which field tests were conducted, and validates the photoacoustic method by cross reference with both a Draeger sensor and an ion chromatograph. Overall, the paper possesses several innovative ideas. It is a well-structured paper, containing details of the instrumentation and techniques used. It has a careful discussion of the data and its validation, in order to realize the precision demonstrated. It is an innovative system required for a topical need within environmental protection. 2005 Award Winners?Precision Measurement The 2005 Measurement Science and Technology Outstanding Paper Award in the Precision Measurement category has been awarded to Ichiko Misumi, Satoshi Gonda, Qiangxian Huang, Taeho Keem, Tomizo Kurosawa (National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (NMIJ/AIST), Japan), Akihiro Fujii, Nahoko Hisata, Takeshi Yamagishi, Hirohisa Fujimoto (Olympus Corporation, Japan), Ken Enjoji (Olympus Systems Corporation, Japan), Sunao Aya and Hiroaki Sumitani (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan) for the article 'Sub-hundred nanometre pitch measurements using an AFM with differential laser interferometers for designing usable lateral scales', published in volume 16, issue 10, pp 2080?2090. In making their recommendation the Precision Measurements working group chaired by Dr Kenichi Fujii gave the following endorsement: This paper describes a new instrument developed for measuring the pitches of one-dimensional grating standards. In the field of nanotechnology and in the semiconductor industry, reliable one-dimensional grating standards have been solicited for calibrating length measurement in nanometre regions. In the instrument described here, an atomic force microscope (AFM) is combined with differential laser interferometers so that the atomic scale resolution of the AFM is accurately calibrated by optical interferometry, achieving an unprecedented uncertainty of 0.2 nm in measuring the pitches of about 50 nm. The instrument also calibrates the pitches in a wide scanning range. This paper analysed the uncertainty of the measurement in detail, helping to provide users with reliable certified reference materials for one-dimensional grating standards. 2005 Award Winners?Sensors and Sensing Systems The 2005 Measurement Science and Technology Outstanding Paper Award in the Sensors and Sensing Systems category has been awarded to Nicola Bowler and Yongqiang Huang (Iowa State University, USA) for the article 'Electrical conductivity measurement of metal plates using broadband eddy-current and four-point methods', published in volume 16, issue 11, pp 2193?2200. In making their recommendation the Sensors and Sensing Systems working group chaired by Professor Paul Regtien gave the following endorsement: The paper addresses two methods to measure the electrical conductivity of metal plates of various materials. In particular for ferromagnetic plates, traditional methods show relatively large measurement uncertainties. In this paper, the origins of these large inaccuracies are studied, and two alternative methods are presented that yield much better accuracies. Both methods?a broadband eddy-current and a four-point contact scheme?are extensively analysed theoretically as well as experimentally. The results are compared with other published data, for plates of brass, stainless steel and spring steel. An uncertainty analysis reveals the superiority of the newly introduced methods in the case of steel. The four-point method has the advantage of being easy to use. The paper is well-structured, with a good balance between theory and experiments, and a clear presentation of the measurement data and associated uncertainties, both in tables and graphs. The paper concludes with a convincing discussion and outlook for further research. The results are of great value in the field of non-destructive testing. The Outstanding Paper Awards, comprising a cash honorarium and certificate, will be presented to the authors of the winning papers at suitable venues in the near future. The Editorial Board would like to congratulate the winning authors and would like to encourage all researchers to think of Measurement Science and Technology as the home for your best submissions.