a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an improved differential scanning calorimeter ( dsc ) is shown in fig1 . a calorimeter 100 such as perkinelmer &# 39 ; s diamond dsc may be used to incorporate the present teachings ; however , other models may be used such as perkinelmer &# 39 ; s power compensated pyris 1 dsc , perkinelmer &# 39 ; s dsc 7 , or the like . the illustrated dsc has a metal base 2 located in an inner chamber 4 defined by an outer wall 5 which may be a heat shield . metal base 2 may be connected to a cooling block ( not shown in fig1 ). support 6 on base 2 holds a reference cell 8 and a sample cell 10 , each similar in volume and mass , and assembled with heating elements 12 and 14 . reference cell 8 and sample cell 10 each hold a sample in this case ( not shown in fig1 ), however , one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that it is possible to leave reference cell 8 empty , and / or that the reference may be data or a sample which may have known characteristics . leads 16 connect cells 8 and 10 to a power source 18 to supply power to heating elements 12 and 14 in each of the cells , which may be independently controlled by a processor and / or computer 20 . computer 20 includes an interface 23 so that the user may provide / input specifications , and a memory 25 for storage , for example , a hard drive or random access memory . the illustrated heating elements 12 and 14 are driven by a power source 18 , so cells 8 and 10 may be heated at varied or identical rates , which are controlled by the computer 20 . the rate at which the temperature of the cells changes is referred to as the scan rate and can be specified by the user through the computer interface 23 . in some embodiments , the scan rate is between 0 . 01 ° c . to 500 ° c ./ min , although other rates can be specified . as shown , a thermal effect measuring device 22 is connected to a sensor 27 that measures the difference in temperature between the two cells 8 , 10 . sensor 27 may be two or more separate sensors capable of independent analysis . in some embodiments , the temperature control of the individual shields 24 is realized by thermal effect measuring device 22 having two independent control loops using a wire such as a platinum wire as thermometer and the resistive wire as heater . one controller measures the average temperature of the two shields and the second controller measures the temperature difference between both shields ( as in the measuring portion of the power compensation dsc ). in the illustrated embodiment , the average temperatures of the two shields 24 follows a certain function of the temperature of the measuring system ( the furnaces ) and are operated according to the different modes . typical sensors include temperature measuring devices such as wire thermometers , thermocouples or semiconducting thermocouples . the temperature differential is continuously measured as the cells are being heated during a scan . the temperature differential data is then transmitted from thermal effect measuring device 22 to computer 20 , where it is saved along with the time of the measurement in the computer memory 25 . output 75 provides data to user such as visual data showing graphs , alphanumeric symbols , and the like . the cells 8 and 10 are surrounded by a thermal shield 24 which is shown as a cylinder placed around the cells . during adiabatic operation , the thermal shield 24 aids in reducing heat exchange between the cells and their surroundings . the temperature of thermal shield 24 is monitored by thermal effect measuring device 22 and sensors 27 which are mounted on thermal shield 24 . thermal shield 24 is connected to a heating and cooling device 26 which is operated by at least one controller 28 . the signal to the controller 28 travels to and from computer 20 . the output from cell measuring device 22 is sent to computer 20 and used to determine a signal to transmit to power source 34 and subsequently onto the controller 28 . the temperature information is repeatedly stored in the computer memory 35 with the temperature differential between cells and the time of the measurement . for the illustrated embodiments , the operating range for the calorimeter in terms of the temperature at which the cells and shield can be operated is − 170 ° c . to 730 ° c . the dsc may measure the temperature of thermal shield 24 and cells 8 and 10 with a temperature accuracy of ± 0 . 1 ° c ., and adjust the temperature thereof within the precision of ± 0 . 1 ° c . although not shown in fig1 , one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the dsc may be modified with a wide range of dsc accessories and options from stepscan dsc and automatic gas switching to cooling devices and the wide variety of known sample pans . the illustrated thermal shield 24 is positioned around reference cell 8 and sample cells 10 . the power to each of these thermal shields 24 is independently controlled by the output of computer 20 . thermal shield 24 is capable of generating heat , and is used to actively reduce temperature differentials between cells 8 and 10 . the heating system is capable of heating cells 8 or 10 and the thermal shield ( s ) 24 and may comprise the same or different heating elements defined by a controller . where one , two , three , four , or more heating elements are used , the heating elements may be commonly controlled or independently controlled by the user . through the computer interface 20 , the user can select between various operational modes , in which thermal shields 24 are not used or various levels of use in which thermal shields 24 are used by computer 20 to actively minimize the temperature differential between cells 8 and 10 . modes of operation of the calorimeter having quasi adiabatic thermal shields 24 include : mode a : both thermal shields 24 ( sample shield and reference shield ) closely follow the furnace program temperature ( adiabatic conditions regarding heat exchange through the gas ). mode b : both thermal shields 24 ( sample shield and reference shield ) closely follow the furnace program temperature ( adiabatic conditions regarding heat exchange through the gas ) as in mode a but a specified , controlled temperature difference between the thermal shields is introduced to reduce differential heat flow in the measuring system . mode c : the temperature of each individual thermal shield 24 ( sample shield and reference shield ) is controlled separately . to reduce base - line curvature , the temperatures of each shield is adjusted such that for all temperatures the differential heat flow is reduced to , for example , a minimal base - line heat flow . additionally the heat flow between each furnace and the shield is reduced to a value that can represent quasi - adiabatic conditions . the temperature function for the shield temperatures may be obtained from an empty run and stored as an array or as a smooth function in the computer memory . the temperature function can be recalled during the scan to set the shield &# 39 ; s temperatures to minimize base - line heat flow as much as possible . mode d : both shields 24 ( sample shield and reference shield ) can be operated in a “ constant temperature ” mode , allowing operation of the dsc in a conventional power compensation mode . mode e : to increase heat losses to the surrounding , the shields can be set to the temperature of the heat sink before starting the cooling to increase maximum cooling rate . referring now to fig2 , dsc sub - assembly with a separate temperature controlled shield is shown . the quasi adiabatic temperature controlled shield 24 is shown encompassing a cell , such as sample cell 10 . shield 24 is made of high thermal conducting material such as one or more of aluminum , copper , ceramic or silver to avoid temperature gradients across shield 24 . the temperature gradient and the heat losses which are needed to allow fast cooling are defined by the connections ( feet ) of the shield ( not shown in fig2 ) and the temperature controlled heat sink at the base of the measuring system ( not shown in fig2 ). the connections ( feet ) are constructed of a metal or ceramic material to allow high temperature operation . shield 24 comprises a thin walled ( between 0 . 25 mm to 10 mm thick , preferably about 0 . 5 mm ) cylinder . gap 54 lies between cell 10 and thermal shield 24 . in the illustrated embodiment , the gap 54 has a width between 0 . 25 mm and 10 mm , and in some embodiments between about 0 . 5 mm to about 1 . 5 mm and yet in other embodiments about 1 . 0 mm to promote adiabatic processes . first cover 60 is shown disposed on top of thermal shield 24 . referring now to fig3 a thermal shield 24 in the shape of a cylinder is shown having top end 44 , bottom end 46 and sidewall 48 . first cover 60 is shown disposed on top of thermal shield 24 . sidewall 48 is covered with a dielectric layer 50 , e . g ., a glass or an alumina layer , to electrically isolate wires from the cylinder giving a very short response time . sidewall 48 has an outer perimeter and is threaded , thus groove 52 extends around the outer perimeter . referring to fig3 ( b ), wire 40 is shown placed within groove 52 extending around the perimeter of thermal shield . in some embodiments , wire 40 may be a thermometer or thermocouple disposed upon the sidewall 48 comprising a temperature resistive wire portion 54 and resistive wire portion 56 as a heater . in some embodiments , wire 40 is capable of acting as a temperature sensor . both temperature resistive wire 54 and resistive wire 56 are wound around the outside of the cylinder covering a large area of sidewall 48 to realize a short response time for temperature control . to avoid contact between the heater and sensor wires , each is contained in separate parallel grooves and may be fixed in place with high temperature ceramic glue . thermal resistant wire 54 is can be made of platinum . although not shown in fig3 , in the illustrated embodiment , the platinum wires are connected with gold braze to a platinum connector ribbon providing high temperature operation . referring to fig4 ( a ), a dsc measuring system is shown having two sub - assemblies comprising a reference cell 8 and a sample cell 10 . the subassemblies and circuitry is enclosed in metal base 2 . various leads 58 are shown entering the bottom portion of base 2 which are used to provide signals to and from the computer to the sensors and heaters positioned in the subassemblies ( not shown in fig4 ( a )). reference cell 8 and sample cell 10 are shown adjacent one another in the center of the apparatus . thermal shields 24 surround reference cell 8 and sample cell 10 and extend up and out of metal base 2 . referring to fig4 ( b ), a dsc measuring system having the same features as fig4 ( a ) is shown ; however , aluminum block 60 is placed upon metal base 12 . metal block 60 can be made of aluminum and contains two openings 62 positioned in the center of the block such that the block may be placed on metal base 2 , and snugly surround reference cell 8 and sample cell 10 , both having thermal shield 24 . fig4 ( c ) shows a second cover 64 placed over block 60 such that openings 62 become covered . fig5 shows a graph of heat flow of an empty measuring system at 10 k / min heating from 350 k to 450 k using temperature control shields surrounding reference cell and sample cell . the effect of the quasi adiabatic temperature controlled shield as operated as described herein on base - line straightness can be seen in fig5 . the temperature control of the shields improves base - line straightness . in this case , the temperature of the shields closely followed the temperature of the measuring system . one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that additional advanced control algorithms may be added to improve base - line straightness and noise level even further . obviously , many modifications may be made without departing from the basic spirit of the present teachings . accordingly , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced other than has been specifically described herein .