A fine ratio measuring device that measures a ratio of fines adhering to the surface of a material in the form of lumps, the fine ratio measuring device includes: an illumination unit that illuminates the material in the form of lumps; a spectrometer that performs spectral analysis on light reflected from the material in the form of lumps to measure spectral reflectance; and an arithmetic device that extracts at least one feature quantity from the spectral reflectance measured by the spectrometer and computes the fine ratio from the extracted at least one feature quantity.

The invention concerns method and an apparatus for analyzing the quality and quantity of bubbles or droplets of a dispersed phase in a construction material. The method may be used on construction materials before or during curing of the material, while in a non-solid state with the dispersed phase being entrapped therein. The inventive analyzing includes the steps of: applying a first side of an at least partially transparent plate in contact with a sample of said construction material to make a surface of said sample visible through said transparent plate; illuminating said surface of said sample through said plate from an opposite second side of said plate with at least one light source; providing a photosensitive sensor on said second side of said plate for receiving light reflected from said sample through said transparent plate, receiving from said photosensitive sensor electrical signals corresponding to said received reflected light and rendering from said electrical signals a visual representation of said surface of said sample using an imaging device; analyzing said visual representation with a computer system, by identifying bubbles or droplets of said dispersed phase from the surface of the sample by a spatial illumination encoding of the sample; and by determining the size and location of identified bubbles or droplets of said dispersed phase.

Finally, an indication of the quality of said construction material is computed, based on the size and distribution of the identified bubbles or droplets of said dispersed phase in said sample.

A device for detecting the presence of pollen in the air, including a measuring chamber isolated from external light, an arrangement configured to drive an air flow through the measuring chamber, and a light source emitting a light beam in a direction of propagation through the air flow, into the measuring chamber. The device includes at least four photosensitive sensors configured to measure the luminous flux diffused by the illuminated air flow, in four different directions, a clock, at least two meteorological sensors, and at least one computer capable of determining the nature of a pollen particle present in the air from the data measured by the photosensitive sensors, the clock and the meteorological sensors.

An optical analysis of saliva or a fluid-saliva mixture is performed in order to check whether the saliva or fluid-saliva mixture contains blood, which allows for determining whether or not a person may suffer from gingivitis or another condition affecting gum health. Light received from a representative volume of fluid (23) containing saliva is detected and analyzed. The analysis involves determination of at least one measurement value of light received by a light-receiving unit (25) for only a single wavelength of the light, particularly a wavelength that is associated with high absorption by a constituent of blood. It this respect, it is practical if the light-receiving unit (25) is configured to receive reflected light back from the volume of fluid (23). The optical analysis may be performed real-time during an action in a person's mouth involving a gum agitation effect, or after such action has taken place, for example.

A method measuring the phase transition characteristics of a macromolecule, the method comprising: generating a stream of micro-droplets comprising at least one constituent, of which one constituent comprises the macromolecule, varying the conditions in the micro-droplets; and measuring the relative concentrations of the constituents of, and the phases of the macromolecule present in, the micro-droplets.

A method, computer program product, and apparatus are provided for controlling components of a detection device. The device may detect turbidity of liquid with sensors such as a density sensor and/or nephelometric sensor. A light modulation pattern may reduce or eliminate interference in sensor readings. Readings may be performed during off cycles of an illumination light to reduce interference but to provide improved visibility of a tube. Dark and light sensor readings may be performed with an emitter respectively off or on to account for ambient light in subsequent readings. Readings from the density sensor and/or nephelometric sensor may be used to calculate McFarland values. The device may be zeroed based on an emitter level that results in a sensor reading satisfying a predetermined criterion.

A powdery material mixing degree measurement device includes a discharger configured to discharge mixed powdery materials to a filler configured to fill, with the powdery materials, a vertically penetrating die bore of a compression-molding machine including a table including the die bore, a slidable lower punch including an upper end inserted to the die bore, and a slidable upper punch including a lower end inserted to the die bore, a plurality of movable portions configured to move the mixed powdery materials to the discharger, and a sensor configured to measure a mixing degree of the mixed powdery materials in the movable portions.

A method for detecting the presence of an analyte (1) in a solution (2) comprising: providing at least a first and a second probes (A, B) different from each other, each probe (A,B) comprising a nanoparticle conjugated with a receptor specific to the analyte (1); contacting the solution (2) suspected of including the analyte (1) with the first and the second probes (A, B) to form a sample solution (3), wherein the sample solution (3) comprises aggregates (4) comprising the analyte (1) combined with the first and the second probes (A, B); illuminating the sample solution (3) with a light source having at least a first and a second exciting wavelengths (λ.sub.eA, λ.sub.eB) different from each other wherein the first and the second wavelength are chosen to get specific optical responses from the first probe (A) and the second probe (B) respectively when illuminated; detecting as a function of time the light scattered by the first probe (A) at a first detection wavelength (λ.sub.dA) and the light scattered by the second probe (B) at a second detection wavelength (λ.sub.dB) to get a first signal and a second signal respectively; and detecting temporal coincidences between said first signal and second signal.

A device (10) for detecting the presence of at least one microorganism in the contents (101, 201) of a container (100, 200) comprising a wall with a translucent zone, said detection device (10) comprising: a) at least one light source (11), such as a light-emitting diode (LED), capable of illuminating the contents of the container (100, 200) by emitting an excitation light beam through the translucent zone of the container (100, 200); b) at least one detection means (12, 13, 14, 15), such as a photodiode, for detecting at least one reaction light beam emitted in response to the illumination of the contents (101, 201) of the container (100, 200);
said at least one light source (11) and said at least one detection means (12, 13, 14, 15) being equipped with at least one connection means (105, 205), to connect said at least one light source (11) and said at least one detection means (12, 13, 14, 15) to the wall of the container (100, 200), in the translucent zone, said at least one detection means (12, 13, 14, 15) being positioned at an angle of a set value in relation to the direction of the excitation light beam, to detect the reaction light beam.

A method for sorting products and sorting apparatus with a flow of granular products moving in an inspection zone, in which a light beam is moved over the product flow to generate a reflected stream of light. At least one detector unit is provided to detect light reflected by the products to generate detection signals. This detector unit cooperates with a control unit to sort the products by these detection signals. The detector unit contains at least two sensors that are provided one after the other in the reflected stream of light so that a sensor is placed upstream of a downstream sensor. Each sensor detects a different part of the reflected stream of light.