In order to inspect a substrate, an image information of a substrate before applying solder is displayed. Then, at least one inspection region on the substrate is image-captured to obtain an image of the inspection region that is image-captured. Then, image information that is to be displayed is renewed and the renewed image information is displayed. And, in order to inspect a foreign substance, obtained image of the inspection region is compared with a reference image of the substrate. Therefore, an operator can easily catch a region corresponding to a specific region of the image that is displayed, and easily detect a foreign substance on the substrate.

There is provided a test method for analysing a body fluid in which a test tape is used in a test device to successively provide analytical test fields stored on the test tape, wherein body fluid is applied by a user to the test field provided at a time and the said test field is photometrically scanned using a measuring unit of the device to record measurement signals. To increase the measurement reliability, it is proposed that a control value is determined from a time-dependent and/or wavelength-dependent change in the measurement signals and that the measurement signals are processed as valid or discarded as erroneous depending on the control value.

Metrology methods are provided, which comprise identifying overlay critical patterns in a device design, the overlay critical patterns having an overlay sensitivity to process variation above a specified threshold that depends on design specifications; and using metrology targets that correspond to the identified overlay critical patterns. Alternatively or complementarily, metrology methods comprise identifying yield critical patterns according to a corresponding process window narrowing due to specified process variation, wherein the narrowing is defined by a dependency of edge placement errors (EPEs) of the patterns on process parameters. Corresponding targets and measurements are provided.

A method of inspecting and performing material identification of a contaminant found in a vial may include identifying the presence of the contaminant in a lyophilized medicine within the vial, detaching a portion of the vial to create an enlarged opening in the vial, removing substantially an entire cake of lyophilized medicine through the enlarged opening, and analyzing the contaminant using an atomic emissions spectroscopy (AES) technique such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Systems, fixtures and devices associated with the method are also disclosed.

An improved method and system for analyzing multistate fluids using NIR spectroscopy. If the sample to be tested resides in a single state condition, the configuration file used in spectroscopic analysis will only be applied against a single model. However, if the sample to be tested is in a multi-state environment, an algorithm determines which model set of a plurality of model sets should be utilized based on the sample characteristics, and the configuration file used in spectroscopic analysis will be applied against the selected model. Results are generated showing the designated parameters.

A hand-held microfluidic testing device is provided that includes a housing having a cartridge receiving port, a cartridge for input to the cartridge receiving port having a sample input and a channel, where the channel includes a mixture of Raman-scattering nanoparticles and a calibration solution, where the calibration solution includes chemical compounds capable of interacting with a sample under test input to the cartridge and the Raman-scattering nanoparticles, and an optical detection system in the housing, where the optical detection system is capable of providing an illuminated electric field, where the illuminating electric field is capable of being used for Raman spectroscopy with the Raman-scattering nanoparticles and the calibration solution to analyze the sample under test input to the cartridge.

The invention provides a method for determining oil contents in rocks. The method comprises steps of: measuring a plurality of calibration oil samples having different oil contents, and acquiring a holographic fluorescence spectral intensity corresponding to the calibration oil samples; acquiring a fit relation between the holographic fluorescence spectral intensity and the oil contents of the calibration oil, according to the oil contents of the plurality of calibration oil samples and a plurality of three-dimensional fluorescence spectral intensities corresponding thereto; adding a certain amount of the calibration oil after dilution to rocks to be measured, acquiring a sample of the rocks to be measured and performing a holographic fluorescence measurement of the rock sample to be measured; and introducing the holographic fluorescence spectral intensity of the rock sample to be measured to the fit relation, thus an oil content of the rock sample to be measured is obtained. Accordingly, oil is detectable together with an organic solvent without volatilization of the organic solvent, which not only saves time, but also address a low-detection-limit problem for oil content resulting from volatilization of oil when the organic solvent is volatilized in the conventional method.

A method for identifying minerals and other materials illuminates a mineral with monochromatic light for an illumination duration and collects scattered light using a Raman spectrometer detector and an aggregated or average Raman spectrum data is determined. True Raman spectrum data is determined by subtracting a blank spectrum. The true Raman spectrum data is compared to reference spectrums to identify the mineral or material. A display or output of one or more of: (a) a name and/or chemical composition of one or more identified minerals; (b) the true Raman spectrum data; and (c) the one or more reference spectrums; are provided. The monochromatic light preferably has a wavelength in the range of about 400 nm to about 425 nm and the Raman spectrometer detector is adapted to detect a Raman-shift range of about 100 cm.sup.1 to about 1400 cm.sup.1.

Compositions and methods for increasing fluorescent signals generated by biomarkers are described. This serves to increase the accuracy of results when the biomarkers are used for the detection and diagnosis of physiological conditions, such as organ function and plasma volume.

Calibration of optical computing devices is achieved using mapping functions that map real detector responses to simulated detector responses which are simulated using high-resolution spectra of traceable optical filters and optical computing device characteristics.