The present disclosure provides for an apparatus for measuring optical properties of liquid samples. The apparatus includes a sample chamber and a spectrometer optically coupled with the sample chamber. One or multiple sources of electromagnetic radiation are positioned relative to the sample chamber to direct electromagnetic radiation through the sample chamber to measure the color, haze, and/or clarity of the sample. Also provided is a method for measuring optical properties of liquid samples, including inserting a cuvette containing a liquid sample into the sample chamber of the apparatus, and directing electromagnetic radiation from the one or more sources and through the sample to measure the color, haze, and/or clarity of the sample. The apparatus and methods may be used to analyze various samples, such as petroleum-based fluids, including fuels and lubricants.

A system, robot and method to measure the color of an area of a sample. The system includes a light source to emit spatially coherent light that includes a broad spectrum of wavelengths; an optical arrangement to scan an area of the sample, part-by-part, with a collimated beam of said light; an optical spectrometer to receive scattered light and measure an optical spectrum for each part; and a computing device. The optical arrangement includes a collimator and/or is configured to preserve collimated said spatially coherent light. The system is configured for synchronizing the scanning of the area with the recording of the optical spectra for the area's parts, the recording of the optical spectrum of each part lasting an optical spectrum integration time equal to the duration of the scan of said part. The computing device determines color coordinates, computes and analyzes an overall optical spectrum, calculates XYZ Tristimulus values.

A system and method are provided for distributed acoustic sensing in a multimode optical fiber. The system includes a transmitter for simultaneously propagating a sequence of M light pulses through the multimode optical fiber using a spatial mode selected from a set of N spatial modes provided by a spatial mode selector for the transmitter that is coupled to an input to the multimode optical fiber, with M and N being respective integers greater than one. The system further includes a receiver for receiving the sequence of M light pulses at an output of the multimode optical fiber and detecting an environmental perturbation in the multimode optical fiber based on an evaluation of a propagation of the sequence of M light pulses through the multimode optical fiber.

The present invention relates to a method for identifying a blend of nucleators which is advantageous for providing reduced haze in a nucleated polyolefin material compared to blends of the same nucleators having different weight ratios of components. In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for identifying a blend of at least two nucleators having a weight ratio of components that provides reduced haze in a nucleated polyolefin material compared to blends of the same nucleators having different weight ratios of components, wherein each nucleator is soluble in a molten polyolefin resin, said method comprising the steps of: i) preparing a plurality of blends of the at least two nucleators wherein each blend contains the same at least two nucleators but in a different weight ratio, wherein the plurality of blends includes one or more blends in which one of the at least two nucleators is a major weight fraction of the blend as well as one or more blends in which the same one of the at least two nucleators is a minor weight fraction of the blend; ii)determining, for each of the blends prepared in step i), a minimum dissolution temperature at which a given concentration of each of the blends becomes completely dissolved in individual samples of the same molten polyolefin resin, wherein the concentration of each of the different blends in the individual samples is substantially the same and below the saturation point in the molten polyolefin resin and the same method for determining the minimum dissolution temperature is used for each blend; and iii) identifying a blend of the at least two nucleators which has a minimum dissolution temperature which is lower than that determined in step ii) for a majority of the plurality of blends.

An automatic analysis device has a plurality of types of photometers having different quantitative ranges, and an analysis control unit for quantifying the desired component in specimens based on measurement values of one or more photometers selected from among the plurality of types of photometers. The analysis control unit: sets a switching region in an overlap region of respective quantitative ranges of the plurality of types of photometers, said switching region having a greater width than does the variation in quantitative values of the desired component based on the measurement values of photometers having the same specimen; compares the quantitative value of a quantitative range portion that corresponds to the switching region and the quantitative values of the desired component based on the measurement values of the photometers; and selects a photometer to be used in quantitative output of the desired component from among the plurality of types of photometers.

An apparatus for estimating body water status includes a spectrometer having a light source configured to emit light onto an object, and a detector configured to measure a near-infrared (NIR) absorption spectrum by detecting light scattered or reflected from the object; and a processor configured to estimate an albumin concentration in the object based on the measured NIR absorption spectrum, and to estimate a body water index based on the estimated albumin concentration by using a body water index estimation model that represents a relationship between a change in the albumin concentration and a change in an amount of body water present in the object.

A system (1) for determining the characteristics of a gas is described, comprising at least one beam (10) of coherent and monochromatic light, detecting means (20) of scattered light comprising at least one photo-detector (21), at least one measuring chamber (30) within which the beam (10) and the detecting means (20) are operating, and control means (40) operatively connected to the photo-detector (21) for recording an amount of scattered light according to the Rayleigh scattering principle depending on the physical characteristics of the gas molecule and on a wavelength of the coherent and monochromatic light, the beam (10) of coherent and monochromatic light being emitted by at least one laser (11) with continuous wave. A method for measuring the characteristics of a gas through such system (1) is further described.

An automatic analysis device has a plurality of types of photometers having different quantitative ranges, and an analysis control unit for quantifying the desired component in specimens based on measurement values of one or more photometers selected from among the plurality of types of photometers. The analysis control unit: sets a switching region in an overlap region of respective quantitative ranges of the plurality of types of photometers, said switching region having a greater width than does the variation in quantitative values of the desired component based on the measurement values of photometers having the same specimen; compares the quantitative value of a quantitative range portion that corresponds to the switching region and the quantitative values of the desired component based on the measurement values of the photometers; and selects a photometer to be used in quantitative output of the desired component from among the plurality of types of photometers.

A method of illuminating and extracting scattered and transmitted light from a liquid within a sealed glass bottle, the method comprising initiating transmission of an incident light beam from a light source to the sealed bottle, directing the incident light beam to totally internally refract within a wall of the sealed bottle and thereby cause an evanescent wave within the liquid to generate scattered or absorbed light, receiving the scattered or absorbed light from the liquid contained in the sealed bottle, and processing one or more signals representative of the scattered or absorbed light, the signals indicative of one or more molecules indicative of a characteristic being present in the liquid contained in the sealed bottle.

Disclosed is a particle analysis method for identifying infections, comprising: step A of irradiating light on a measurement sample prepared by mixing a test blood specimen containing particles, collected from a subject, a fluorescent dye that stains a nucleic acid, and a hemolytic agent, thereby acquiring scattered light and fluorescence from each particle contained in the measurement sample, step B of specifying particles that are substantially not contained in blood of control subjects not suffering from infection and are determined to be neutrophils contained in blood of patients with infection, based on the scattered light and the fluorescence, and acquiring particle number information on the specified particles, and step C of determining whether the test blood specimen is a specimen collected from patients with bacterial infection or a specimen collected from patients with viral infection, based on the particle number information.