A measurement system is provided with an array of laser diodes to generate light having one or more optical wavelengths. A detection system is provided with at least one photo-detector, a lens and a spectral filter at an input to the at least one photo-detector. The measurement system is further configured to transmit at least a portion of the output signal, indicative of an output status, to a cloud service over a transmission link. The cloud service is configured to receive the output status, to generate processed data based on the received output status, and to store the processed data, and wherein the cloud service is capable of storing a history of at least a portion of the received output status over a specified period of time.

A system for analyzing a state of a thermoset material is disclosed. In various embodiments, the system includes a source of electromagnetic energy configured to expose a sample of the thermoset material to an electric field; a detector configured to determine at least one of a dielectric permittivity or a complex admittance of the sample over a range of frequencies in response to a frequency sweep over the electric field; and an analyzer configured to assess the state of the thermoset material by comparing the at least one of the dielectric permittivity or the complex admittance of the sample against an acceptability map. In various embodiments, the acceptability map comprises a series of acceptability bands that represent a decrease in effective relaxation time from a baseline fresh batch of the thermoset material.

The invention relates to a method for determining the intrinsic viscosity [η] of an aqueous polymer solution at a temperature T, wherein the aqueous polymer solution comprises at least one acrylamide-based polymer in an aqueous solvent, the aqueous solvent having a salinity of from 6 to 250 g/L, the method comprising the steps of: —providing a single universal relation R.sub.1 between (i), the product of polymer concentration and intrinsic viscosity C.Math.[η], and (ii) specific viscosity at zero shear rate η.sub.sp; —performing a measurement of the dynamic viscosity of the aqueous polymer solution at one polymer concentration C.sub.1, at temperature T and at various shear rates; —determining from said measurement the zero-shear viscosity η.sub.0 of the aqueous polymer solution at polymer concentration C.sub.1 and at temperature T; —calculating the specific viscosity at zero shear rate of the aqueous polymer solution at polymer concentration C and at temperature T as η.sub.sp=(η.sub.0−η.sub.s)/η.sub.s, where η.sub.s is the zero-shear viscosity of the aqueous solvent; —estimating the intrinsic viscosity [η] of the aqueous polymer solution at temperature T by applying the universal relation R.sub.1 to the calculated specific viscosity at zero shear rate η.sub.sp and polymer concentration C.sub.1.

A method of producing a soft sensor for a reference morphology of multiphase latex polymer particles synthesized in a production process is provided. The method is used in monitoring and/or controlling the production process. The method may also be used for optimizing production capacities of the production process.

The present invention relates to a method for identifying a blend of nucleators with reduced haze in nucleated polyolefin material compared to blends of the same nucleators having different component weight ratios. The method comprises: i) preparing multiple blends of at least two nucleators wherein each blend containing the same nucleators in different weight ratios, wherein the blends include one or more blends in which one of the nucleators is a major weight fraction and one or more blends where the same nucleator is a minor weight fraction; ii) determining, for each blend, a minimum dissolution temperature when the blend completely dissolves in individual samples of the same molten polyolefin resin, wherein the concentration of each blend is substantially the same and below the saturation point in the molten polyolefin resin; and iii) identifying a blend that has a lower minimum dissolution temperature than the majority of the blends.

An objective is to provide a method for judging the authenticity of a product or component. Provided is a method for judging product or component authenticity. The method includes a step of determining the percentage of radioactive carbon-14 based on ASTM 6866 with respect to at least one constituent that a product or component of interest obtained has. Here, at least one constituent that an authentic product or component has and that corresponds to the constituent of the product or component of interest includes a resin comprising a prescribed percentage of radioactive carbon-14.

An apparatus for measuring a viscosity of a fluid is disclosed. The apparatus includes a Parylene coated quartz tuning fork for immersion in the fluid and an electronic circuit to excite a vibration of the Parylene coated quartz tuning fork and measure one or more vibrational parameters of the Parylene coated quartz tuning fork. A computer processor is configured to determine a non-Newtonian viscosity from the vibration of the Parylene coated quartz tuning fork based, at least in part, on a Stokes flow hydrodynamic model. The computer processor is coupled to a memory for storing a calibration curve to determine a Newtonian viscosity of the fluid from the non-Newtonian viscosity of the fluid.

A device for determining degradation rate of biodegradable polymers in soil, including a micro compressed air pump, a first CO.sub.2 absorption vessel filled with dry soda lime or an aqueous strong alkali solution, a CO.sub.2 indicator vessel filled with a barium hydroxide solution, a hollow leaching device, a second CO.sub.2 absorption vessel and a third CO.sub.2 absorption vessel connected in sequence through connecting pipes. A top of the hollow leaching device is provided with an end cover. An external water distributor filled with a leaching solution and a mechanical stirring device is arranged above the end cover. The external water distributor is in communication with an inner cavity of the hollow leaching device through a pipeline. A stirring shaft of the mechanical stirring device extends into the inner cavity. A stirring shaft is provided with a stirring paddle.

The present invention relates to a method for the detection of at least one nano or micro plastic particle comprised in a heterogeneous matrix material comprising the following steps: applying of at least one part of a heterogeneous matrix material comprising at least one nano or micro plastic particle onto at least a portion of a surface of a conductive support thereby forming a first layer onto said surface, irradiating of at least a portion of said first layer with at least one ion beam, thereby forming an irradiated layer, detecting of the at least one nano or micro plastic particle comprised in said irradiated layer by a detection method chosen from the group of Raman nanoscopic techniques, or infrared nanoscopic techniques, or charge dependent detection methods or combination thereof. The present invention allowed good detection of micro and nano plastic particles with high resolution and sensitivity.

Techniques for selecting a spectroscopic light source include obtaining a light source dataset and a spectroscopic dataset, initializing a genetic algorithm, selecting a first individual solution and a second individual solution from an initial generation of solutions, generating a new individual solution from the first and second individual solutions by combining their respective chromosome encodings, evaluating a specificity of the new individual solution to a target material, adding the new individual solution to a new generation of solutions, populating the new generation of solutions with a plurality of additional individual solutions, generating one or more descendent generations of solutions by iterating the genetic algorithm, selecting one or more implementation individual solutions exhibiting a threshold specificity to the target material, and outputting the one or more implementation individual solutions.