Described is a testing system for performing specimen testing, such as residual seal force (RSF) testing and/or compression friction (CF) measurement testing. The testing system comprising a column supported by a base structure, a load cell supported by said column, a specimen plate configured to receive a plurality of specimens, a motor, and controller. The load cell is configured to move along the column toward and away from the base structure via a crosshead coupled to an actuator. The plurality of specimens comprising a first specimen and a second specimen. The controller is configured to control the motor to adjust a position of said specimen plate.

Methods and systems are presented for analyzing the blood of a living being. Equations are presented for volume-aware extension of the concept of Hematocrit. A method for calculating these volume-aware measures and using said measures to evaluate and guide possible treatments is described. A system comprising an automated analyzer and a processor and other components is described which can carry out said calculations. Methods of treatment for volume abnormalities are described which are guided by the volume-aware Hct measures. In one exemplary embodiment, a method of treatment for plasma volume excess using ultrafiltration is described. In another exemplary embodiment, a method of treatment for red cell volume excess using erythrocytapheresis is described.

A method for saving and/or restoring settings of an instrument for processing a sample or reagent is disclosed. The instrument comprises a control unit and an operating system. A storage medium is provided to the instrument. The storage medium comprises a script. The script restores data for restoring settings of the instrument. The script is encrypted and/or digitally signed. The method verifies an identity and/or integrity of the script and executes the script upon starting the instrument by the operating system with the storage medium when the identity and/or integrity of the script correspond to an identity and/or integrity of the instrument. The control unit provides an input menu for allowing a user to input a saving and/or restoring command. The instrument saves settings on the storage medium and/or restores settings of the instrument from the storage medium by the restoring data corresponding to the saving and/or restoring command.

A storage rack for receiving articles for storage is disclosed. The rack is typically for use in storing and transporting samples used in a pathology laboratory. The rack includes a plurality of weight-bearing surfaces, defined by the junction of a plurality of concentric tubes, for supporting and retaining an article at a predetermined distance from a datum surface. One or more of the weight-bearing portions defines an opening, allowing an article to extend therethrough when not supported on said weight-bearing portion. The maximum size of article that can be received on any weight-bearing portion differs with respect to the distance of weight-bearing portion from the datum surface.

Various apparatus, systems, and methods for measuring a solution characteristic of a sample comprising microorganisms are disclosed. The measured solution characteristic can be used to generate a standardized inoculum. In one embodiment, a sensor apparatus is disclosed comprising a sample container having a chamber lateral wall surrounding a chamber cavity configured receive the sample, a reference sensor fabricated as a container cap and comprising a reference electrode material and, and an active sensor made of a substrate covered in part by an active electrode layer. The active sensor can be coupled to at least part of the chamber lateral wall at a window opening defined along the chamber lateral wall. The solution characteristic can be measured using a reader configured to electrically couple to the sensor apparatus and measure the solution characteristic based on a potential difference between the active sensor and the active sensor.

An apparatus (20) for carrying out a quality control on industrial production lines (10), comprising one or more apparatuses (30, 40, 50) for the measurement of properties of a product sample (C) of the aforesaid industrial production lines (10), which supply respective one or more measurement signals, the apparatus (20) comprising a processing module configured for processing the one or more measurement signals and obtaining properties of the product sample (C), the quality control being carried out as a function of said properties of the product sample (C), said one or more apparatuses (30, 40, 50) for the measurement of properties of a product sample (C) comprising: an x-ray fluorescence apparatus (30) that comprises an x-ray source (331), which emits a first x-ray beam (XB, XBC) towards the product sample (C) in a measurement environment, and a particle detector (335), which is configured for receiving a second x-ray beam (XBR) scattered by the product sample (C) and generating a first received signal supplied within the set of said respective one or more measurement signals. The apparatus (20) further comprises an optical-spectroscopy apparatus, preferably operating in the near infrared (40), which comprises a radiation source operating in the near infrared (NIR), which emits a first optleal-radiation beam towards a product sample (C), and an optical sensor for receiving a second optleal-radiation beam scattered by the product sample (C) and generating a second received signal supplied within the set of said respective one or more measurement signals.

It is necessary to dispose a plurality of units which have different target temperatures on an apparatus in a more integrated state in order to improve analysis performance and processing capacity per unit space of the apparatus. Therefore, it is necessary to mitigate influence of temperature exerted between units. It is possible to reduce the temperature influence exerted between the units and thus efficiently control temperature by properly disposing the units in the apparatus, based on the relationship between a use environment temperature of the apparatus and a target temperature of each unit and temperature accuracy required for the unit.

The accuracy of deviation determination is based on a regression line of measurement data in an automatic analysis system that includes a plurality of first computers that display measurement data obtained by allowing a sample to react with a reagent, and a second computer that analyzes the measurement data acquired from each of the first computers and transmits results of the analysis to the first computers. The second computer acquires reference data including information on the automatic analyzers, the reagent, and the measurement data; generates, based on the reference data, integrated regression line information commonly applicable to the plurality of automatic analyzers associated with the information on the automatic analyzers and the information on the reagent; and transmits the integrated regression line information to the first computers. The first computers acquire the integrated regression line information transmitted from the second computer and display the integrated regression line information.

This disclosure concerns a method and a system for quality evaluation of a handheld analytical device, wherein the device is operable by a human user in a sequence of handling steps to test an analyte in a sample fluid applied on a test element, the method comprising the steps of (a) programming a handling cycle for a robot having at least one robot arm in order to mimic the sequence of handling steps, (b) operating the device in at least one handling cycle by means of the robot, (c) monitoring the operation in step (b) by a control unit to evaluate at least one parameter influencing the quality of the device.

A method for automatic quality inspection of an aeronautical part, includes detecting faults on an image of the aeronautical part using a trained artificial neural network; training an auto-encoder on a database, by projecting each image of the database onto a small mathematical space in which the images follow a predefined probability law; for each image of the database, calculating a plurality of metrics; supervised training of a classifier from the calculated metrics; detecting faults or anomalies in the image of the aeronautical part using the auto-encoder and the classifier.