A method is disclosed comprising providing a biological sample on a swab, directing a spray of charged droplets onto a surface of the swab in order to generate a plurality of analyte ions, and analysing the analyte ions.

A method is disclosed comprising providing a biological sample on a swab, directing a spray of charged droplets onto a surface of the swab in order to generate a plurality of analyte ions, and analysing the analyte ions.

A hyper-velocity impact sensor is configured to probe a mass of material consumed upon impact with an object. The probe can extract density and thickness characteristics of the impacted object, which can be used to classify the object.

A hyper-velocity impact sensor is configured to probe a mass of material consumed upon impact with an object. The probe can extract density and thickness characteristics of the impacted object, which can be used to classify the object.

An Apparatus for determining and/or monitoring at least one process variable of a medium in a container, comprising: a mechanically oscillatable unit a driving/receiving unit for exciting the mechanically oscillatable unit to execute mechanical oscillations by means of an electrical, exciting signal and for receiving and transducing the mechanical oscillations into an electrical, received signal a control unit, which is embodied to produce the exciter signal starting from the received signal and to set a predeterminable phase shift between the exciter signal and the received signal, an electromagnetically oscillatable unit, an active element for producing and/or maintaining electromagnetic oscillations in the electromagnetically oscillatable unit, which active element forms together with the electromagnetically oscillatable unit an oscillator, a coupling unit, which is embodied to tap an output signal from the active element, and an evaluation unit, which evaluation unit is embodied to determine the at least one process variable from the received signal and/or from the output signal.

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a base structure and a tube. The tube has a first tube portion, a second tube portion substantially parallel to the first tube portion, an inlet portion, and an outlet portion. The tube is configured to have a material pass from the inlet portion to the outlet portion. The apparatus further includes a drive element in contact with the tube. The drive element is configured to vibrate the tube such that the first tube portion conducts vibrational movements out of phase with vibrational movements of the second tube portion. The apparatus also includes a sensing element, at least a portion of which is in contact with the tube. The sensing element is configured to sense deflections of the first tube portion and the second tube portion such that at least one property of the material is determined.

The method of predicting a formed body density includes: a correlation calculating step of obtaining the correlation between the formed body density of the formed body and the porosity of the fired body; and a formed body density predicting step including: in a case of preparing a kneaded material A from a ceramic raw material having substantially the same composition as a ceramic raw material used for preparing a kneaded material, preparing a formed body B by forming the kneaded material A, preparing a dried body C by drying the formed body B, and preparing a fired body D having a desired porosity by firing the dried body C, calculating a predicted value of the formed body density of the formed body B corresponding to the desired porosity of the fired body D using the correlation.

The method of predicting a formed body density includes: a correlation calculating step of obtaining the correlation between the formed body density of the formed body and the porosity of the fired body; and a formed body density predicting step including: in a case of preparing a kneaded material A from a ceramic raw material having substantially the same composition as a ceramic raw material used for preparing a kneaded material, preparing a formed body B by forming the kneaded material A, preparing a dried body C by drying the formed body B, and preparing a fired body D having a desired porosity by firing the dried body C, calculating a predicted value of the formed body density of the formed body B corresponding to the desired porosity of the fired body D using the correlation.

A method and system for determining a density of a fluid is provided. The method is carried out using an electrospraying apparatus connected in the system. At a first step fluid is introduced into an emitter of the electrospraying apparatus. A voltage is applied between the emitter and a counter-electrode spaced apart from the emitter for a number of intermittent time periods, wherein the duration of at least some of the time periods during which the voltage is applied progressively decreases. The current between the emitter and the counter-electrode is measured for each time period during which a voltage is applied and the shortest time period for which a current reading is obtained is recorded. The shortest time period is used to calculate the density of the fluid in the emitter.

A density measurement system for measuring the density of a material within a region, the density measurement system comprises: a plurality of electrodes arranged around the region; an energisation source arranged to apply an electrical signal to at least one of said electrodes; a monitor arranged to monitor an electrical parameter at at least one of said electrodes, the monitored electrical parameter being caused to change in response to flow of electrical current within the region; and a processor arranged to: generate data indicative of the complex impedance of the material within the region based upon the monitored electrical parameter; and generate data indicative of the density of the material based upon the data indicative of the complex impedance of the material.