A stream including at least one of solid CO.sub.2 particles or CO.sub.2 droplets is directed toward an article including surface particles. The stream causes at least a portion of the surface particles on the article to dislodge from a surface of the article. A purge cycle to transport at least a portion of the dislodged surface particles away from the surface of the article is initiated. The purge cycle includes generating a laminar flow at a first velocity for a first time period and subsequently generating a laminar flow at a second velocity for a second time period. A determination is made of whether a number of particles transported away from the surface of the article satisfies a particle criterion. In response to a determination that the number of particles transported away from the article does not satisfy the criterion, the purge cycle is re-initiated.

A method serves for determining particles (3), in particular bacteria in fluid and operates using an imaging optical device with a light source (1), with an optical sensor (4) with a field of light-sensitive pixels and with a fluid sample, which is to be examined, arranged between the light source (1) and the sensor (4). Characteristics of at least one particle (3), which is detected with regard to imaging, are compared to characteristics of a characteristics collection for determining the detected particle (3). The image acquisition is effected with darkfield technology and a light-sensitive pixel comprises several subpixels which are used for image acquisition.

The present disclosure is directed, among other things, to automated systems and methods for analyzing, storing, and/or retrieving information associated with biological objects having irregular shapes. In some embodiments, the systems and methods partition an input image into a plurality of sub-regions based on localized colors, textures, and/or intensities in the input image, wherein each sub-region represents biologically meaningful data.

Imaging apparatus 10 for imaging nozzle section 21 of droplet dispenser device 20 includes illumination device 11 arranged for creating illumination light directed along illumination axis A1 towards an illumination range configured for accommodating nozzle section 21, and camera device 12 having imaging axis A2 directed to the illumination range. Camera device 12 is configured for collecting nozzle image(s) of nozzle section 21 arranged in the illumination range, wherein illumination device 11 and camera device 12 are arranged for dark field illumination of nozzle section 21. Illumination axis A1 and imaging axis A2 are slanted relative to each other and an illumination angle between axes A1 and A2 is selected such that the at least one nozzle image is collected with a dark background. Furthermore, dispenser apparatus 100 for dispensing droplets on a target and an imaging method for imaging nozzle section 21 of droplet dispenser device 20 are described.

An imaging flow cytometer includes: a flow channel in which an observation object flows and a length in a width direction is longer than a length in a height direction; an acoustic element configured to apply acoustic waves as standing waves to the flow channel; a light source that irradiates the flow channel with illumination light; an image sensor configured to image at least a line included in a cross section of the observation object crossing a flow line direction which is a direction in which the observation object flows in the flow channel by measuring or imaging the observation object passing through a position irradiated with the illumination light; and circuitry configured to generate an image in which the observation object is scanned in the flow line direction on the basis of a plurality of captured images acquired by the imaging unit imaging the line in a time series.

Provided is a label-free, single biological cell dielectric spectroscopy method, including the steps of: translocating a biological cell through a micropore or channel embedded in a substrate and interfaced with a coplanar waveguide while the biological cell experiences at least one RF field of at least 700 MHz provided via an RF input port to the coplanar waveguide; performing a time domain measurement of at least one RF signal reflected from or transmitted to a device under test (DUT); and determining an amplitude change and a phase change based on the reflected or transmitted at least one RF signal due to the translocating biological cell to determine an internal state or a morphological state of the biological cell. Also disclosed herein are devices for performing the dielectric spectroscopy method.

In order to secure measurement reproducibility and a measurement accuracy by making it possible to automatically execute a bubble removal sequence as needed, the particle size distribution measurement device comprises a circulation flow channel through which the dispersion medium circulates, a flow cell arranged in the circulation flow channel, an imaging device that takes a particle image as being an image of a particle in the flow cell, and a bubble removal execution part that obtains bubble information which is obtained based on the particle image and which is about a bubble in the dispersion medium and that executes a bubble removal sequence to remove the bubble from the dispersion medium circulating in the circulation flow channel in case that the bubble information meets a predetermined condition.

An optical fiber forward scatter channel in a flow cytometer is disclosed. A detector system in the flow cytometer includes fiber optic cable for receiving scattered light from an incident laser light that is directed at cells/particles passing through the flow cytometer. The fiber optic cable delivers the scattered light to a sensor system, which collects data to perform analyses on the scattered light. Such analyses may include, for example, calculating the size of a cell/particle, counting cells/particles, and so on. The fiber optic cable is an inherently efficient and accurate filter for the acceptance or rejection of the scattered light.

Techniques for processing ore include the steps of causing an imaging capture system to record a plurality of images of a stream of ore fragments en route from a first location in an ore processing facility to a second location in the ore processing facility; correlating the plurality of images of the stream of ore fragments with at least one or more characteristics of the ore fragments using a machine learning model that includes a plurality of ore parameter measurements associated with the one or more characteristics of the ore fragments; determining, based on the correlation, at least one of the one or more characteristics of the ore fragments; and generating, for display on a user computing device, data indicating the one or more characteristics of the ore fragments or data indicating an action or decision based on the one or more characteristics of the ore fragments.

A system and method for the label-free analysis of cells includes a purification device configured to receive a heterogeneous population of cells, the purification device temporarily trapping therein a subpopulation of cells from the heterogeneous population of cells and a cell analysis device positioned downstream of the purification device and configured to measure one or more cellular parameters including cell count, measured cell size, and/or cell morphology. In an alternative embodiment, the subpopulation of cells is analyzed while they are trapped within the purification device.