Using an optical electric field enhancing device including a fine uneven structure made of gold formed on the front surface of a transparent substrate, illumination light of a wavelength in the range from 400 to 530 nm is applied at least to an analyte, positional information of the analyte is detected by a position detection unit disposed on the rear surface side of the optical electric field enhancing device, and excitation light is applied to the detected position by an excitation light application unit. Signal light emitted from the analyte when the excitation light is applied is detected from the rear surface side of the transparent substrate.

A banknote is irradiated with lights of plural wavelengths. Images of the banknote for each wavelength are acquired. An IR ratio image having a pixel value that is a ratio of a pixel value of the image acquired by the visible light to a corresponding pixel value of the image acquired by the infrared light is generated. The banknote image and the IR ratio image are corrected by a coefficient corresponding to the banknote type, the banknote orientation, and the wavelength. From the banknote image or the IR ratio image, by using the information pertaining to the banknote type, the banknote orientation, and the wavelength, intermediate evaluation values are calculated for each wavelength. Mahalanobis distance is calculated based on the intermediate evaluation values, an average value and a variance-covariance matrix of the intermediate evaluation values, and a degree of soiling is determined based on the Mahalanobis distance.

A vibration detector and method of measuring vibration are described. The vibration detector includes an optical fiber comprising a reference reflector and a delay coil, and one or more sensors comprised at respective one or more locations in the optical fiber, each of the one or more sensors including a center reflector and two side reflectors on either side of the center reflector, the delay coil eliminating detection of interference among reflections from the one or more sensors. The vibration detector also includes a light source to introduce light into the optical fiber to interrogate the optical fiber, a detector to obtain interference signals, each of the interference signals being based on interference between reflections from the reference reflector and one of the one or more sensors; and a processor to process each of the interference signals to obtain vibration measurements.

A diagnostic assay strip includes a first layer that includes an iron mobile labelled specific binding partner that will bind to and iron biomarker from a sample and produce an iron complex and a vitamin A mobile labelled specific binding partner that will bind to a vitamin A biomarker from the sample and produce a vitamin A complex. A second layer includes iron and vitamin A test regions, and a control region. The iron test region has immobilized specific binding partners that will bind to the iron complex. The vitamin A test region has immobilized vitamin A biomarker that will bind to vitamin A mobile labelled specific binding partner, which is not bound to the vitamin A biomarker, passing from the first layer to the second layer. The control region has a moiety which will non-specifically bind to and immobilize the iron and vitamin A labelled specific binding partners. Methods of using the diagnostic assay strip are also discussed.

Systems and methods for testing a light emitting device are described. A processing device receives a receiving an image of a beam of light substantially free of parallax distortion and determines one or more uniformity metrics of the beam of light based on the received image.

A method for processing a substrate by using fluid flowing through a particle detector is provided. The particle detector is utilized to detect nano-particles contained in fluid. The particle detector includes a substrate and a pair of sensing electrodes disposed on the substrate. The substrate includes nano-pores, wherein the pore size of the nano-pores is greater than the particle size of the nano-particles, allowing the nano-particles contained in the fluid passing through the nano-pores. The pair of sensing electrodes are positioned adjacent to at least one of the nano-pores.

Non-contact measurement of one or more electrical response characteristics of a LED structure includes illuminating an illumination area of a surface of a light emitting diode structure with one or more light pulses, measuring a transient of a luminescence signal from a luminescence area within the illumination area of the light emitting diode structure with a luminescence sensor, determining a first luminescence intensity at a first time of the measured transient of the luminescence signal from the light emitting diode structure, determining a second luminescence intensity at a second time different from the first time of the measured transient of the luminescence signal from the light emitting diode structure and determining an intensity of the electroluminescence component of the luminescence signal from the light emitting diode structure based on the first luminescence signal and the second luminescence signal.

A sample observation apparatus includes: an optical element configured to reflect light transmitted through a sample; a moving optical system configured to move in a direction along an optical axis to cause the light from the optical element to be image-formed on an image pickup surface of the image pickup device; and driving unit configured to cause the whole moving optical system to move along the optical axis. The optical element and the moving optical system form a telecentric optical system, and are configured to adjust a focus position by causing the moving optical system to move by the driving unit and configured so that, at the time of causing the moving optical system to move in the direction along the optical axis, an angle of view is constant.

A method for setting testing thresholds applied by a testing device to products being made includes obtaining an initial lower threshold for testing the products and counting, followed by manual review, first, second, third, and fourth type product qualities as being quantities under the initial lower threshold. The method adds a minimum product parameter of defective products, the initial lower threshold, and a number of values between the minimum product parameter and the initial lower threshold into a set, repeating the application of one selected element from the set as an experiment threshold. First to fourth type quantities of the current products are counted again under the experiment threshold, an effectiveness of each element of the set is calculated, and an element of the set with the maximum effectiveness is defined as a suggested lower threshold for testing the products.

Described here are meters and methods for sampling, transporting, and/or analyzing a fluid sample. The meters may include a meter housing and a cartridge. In some instances, the meter may include a tower which may engage one or more portions of a cartridge. The meter housing may include an imaging system, which may or may not be included in the tower. The cartridge may include one or more sampling arrangements, which may be configured to collect a fluid sample from a sampling site. A sampling arrangement may include a skin-penetration member, a hub, and a quantification member.