Traceability of radiation protection instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Hino, Y.; Kurosawa, T.

2007-08-01

Radiation protection instruments are used in daily measurement of dose and activities in workplaces and environments for safety management. The requirements for calibration certificates with traceability are increasing for these instruments to ensure the consistency and reliabilities of the measurement results. The present traceability scheme of radiation protection instruments for dose and activity measurements is described with related IEC/ISO requirements. Some examples of desirable future calibration systems with recent new technologies are also discussed to establish the traceability with reasonable costs and reliabilities.

IMPACTS OF BOVINE TRACEABILITY IMPLANTATION IN COMPUTERIZED RURAL COMPANIES: CASE STUDIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henri Cócaro

2008-02-01

Full Text Available This study looked into evaluating the impacts that the adhesion to the bovine traceability caused in four agricultural companies that adopted or used ITs for tracked herd management. After comparing the case studies it was concluded that the adhesion to traceability caused the adoption of ITs, mainly of the management and traceability system for beef cattle and the electronic scale; the zoo technical changes that happened were, the individual identification of the animals, the control of animal stock and the possibility to determine performance and reproductive indexes; the management changes that happened were the development of new controls by filing the animal identification document (DIA, the documentation of the purchase, use and exit of inputs (nutritional and sanitarian, and the documentation of animal movements. It was not verified the return of managerial or zoo technical information by SISBOV that aided the companies in their decision-taking process.

Sandia WIPP calibration traceability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schuhen, M.D. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Dean, T.A. [RE/SPEC, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

1996-05-01

This report summarizes the work performed to establish calibration traceability for the instrumentation used by Sandia National Laboratories at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) during testing from 1980-1985. Identifying the calibration traceability is an important part of establishing a pedigree for the data and is part of the qualification of existing data. In general, the requirement states that the calibration of Measuring and Test equipment must have a valid relationship to nationally recognized standards or the basis for the calibration must be documented. Sandia recognized that just establishing calibration traceability would not necessarily mean that all QA requirements were met during the certification of test instrumentation. To address this concern, the assessment was expanded to include various activities.

Sandia WIPP calibration traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuhen, M.D.; Dean, T.A.

1996-05-01

This report summarizes the work performed to establish calibration traceability for the instrumentation used by Sandia National Laboratories at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) during testing from 1980-1985. Identifying the calibration traceability is an important part of establishing a pedigree for the data and is part of the qualification of existing data. In general, the requirement states that the calibration of Measuring and Test equipment must have a valid relationship to nationally recognized standards or the basis for the calibration must be documented. Sandia recognized that just establishing calibration traceability would not necessarily mean that all QA requirements were met during the certification of test instrumentation. To address this concern, the assessment was expanded to include various activities

THE AUTHENTICITY AND TRACEABILITY OF FOOD – CONSUMERS PROTECTION FORM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PASCU EMILIA

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The quality of food is closely related with food safety, highlighted by their authenticity and traceability. Essentially the food it is a carrier of information, his quality reflecting off the capability of the body to decode them and so to provide a healthy lifestyle. Each individual, as well as the community, is preoccupied by the great problems of food, eating and the food behaviour, seeking the right solutions to the questions: what, how, when, and where do we eat to satisfy our physiological necessities. Food and food behaviour are essential determinants of our numerous pathologies, appreciating that many of the severe diseases may be prevented by lifestyle changes where the food is playing a key role. For authentic products, in this article there are presented information regarding benefits of traceability of products. The traceability of food products can be obtained by registering the ups and downs of the physical flux obtained during the production process. The objective of traceability is to obtain total control on products by individual and group identification to intervene in case of post-processing defects or any inconvenience. In traceability the "one step back, one step ahead" principle is applied. This means that any company has the obligation to have all the necessary information regarding the product, including the nature of raw and auxiliary materials and to possess information regarding the date and delivery destination. For the accomplishment of this wish, the individual identification of the goods, products, locations and place is indispensable. The traceability of the product is based on the identification code. It is monitored the changes that have occurred during the production processes, transport, storage and distribution flux.

Managing traceability information in manufacture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen-Vullers, M.H.; Dorp, van C.A.; Beulens, A.J.M.

2003-01-01

In this paper, an approach to design information systems for traceability is proposed. The paper applies gozinto graph modelling for traceability of the goods flow. A gozinto graph represents a graphical listing of raw materials, parts, intermediates and subassemblies, which a process transforms

Ethical Traceability and Communicating Food

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Traceability – the ability to track a product from farm to plate – is now widely used in the food sector for a range of purposes: it allows companies to improve efficiency, facilitates product recall, and helps producers flag the specific characteristics of their goods. But traceability systems...... are mainly designed and used by the people directly involved in the food chain. The people at the end of the food chain – food consumers – have little say in which attributes are traced, and can rarely access the information stored in traceability systems. This book draws on philosophical discourses (like...... ethics, political philosophy and philosophy of law) around food ethics and empirical research in three important food chains (UK bread, Danish bacon and Greek olive oil) to argue that ethical traceability systems could be used to communicate food information to consumers, allowing them not only to make...

Traceable size determination of nanoparticles, a comparison among European metrology institutes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meli, Felix; Klein, Tobias; Buhr, Egbert; Frase, Carl Georg; Gleber, Gudrun; Krumrey, Michael; Duta, Alexandru; Duta, Steluta; Korpelainen, Virpi; Bellotti, Roberto; Picotto, Gian Bartolo; Boyd, Robert D; Cuenat, Alexandre

2012-01-01

Within the European iMERA-Plus project ‘Traceable Characterisation of Nanoparticles’ various particle measurement procedures were developed and finally a measurement comparison for particle size was carried out among seven laboratories across six national metrology institutes. Seven high quality particle samples made from three different materials and having nominal sizes in the range from 10 to 200 nm were used. The participants applied five fundamentally different measurement methods, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle x-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy in transmission mode, and provided a total of 48 independent, traceable results. The comparison reference values were determined as weighted means based on the estimated measurement uncertainties of the participants. The comparison reference values have combined standard uncertainties smaller than 1.4 nm for particles with sizes up to 100 nm. All methods, except DLS, provided consistent results. (paper)

Traceability Method for Software Engineering Documentation

OpenAIRE

Nur Adila Azram; Rodziah Atan

2012-01-01

Traceability has been widely discussed in research area. It has been one of interest topic to be research in software engineering. Traceability in software documentation is one of the interesting topics to be research further. It is important in software documentation to trace out the flow or process in all the documents whether they depends with one another or not. In this paper, we present a traceability method for software engineering documentation. The objective of this research is to fac...

Chapter 3: Traceability and uncertainty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McEwen, Malcolm

2014-01-01

Chapter 3 presents: an introduction; Traceability (measurement standard, role of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Secondary Standards Laboratories, documentary standards and traceability as process review); Uncertainty (Example 1 - Measurement, M raw (SSD), Example 2 - Calibration data, N D.w 60 Co, kQ, Example 3 - Correction factor, P TP ) and Conclusion

One electronic document accepted by importer and exporter authorities: Blue Path as an element of integration and traceability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scoton Maria L. R. P. D.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Blue Path (CA-e is an document created and transmitted electronically that contains all necessary data to allow the sanitary authority to analyze the requirement of exportation that will result on the sanitary clearance of the animal protein for exportation. Actually it is in use in Brazil. However, even though the data exists electronically, when it is send to the importer country some must be sent on paper, because the bilateral agreements do not allow the exchange of electronic documents. The present work proposals the extension of the CA-e, as an element of integration and traceability, that will allow the automation of the communication between private and public systems not only at Brazil, the country of the origin of the animal protein exported, but also between and at the country of destiny. Based on the number presented by the adoption of the CA-e at Brazil, it is fair to conclude that this communication machine/machine would bring great economy and optimization for the supply chain.

Traceability of radiation measurements: musings of a user

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kathren, R.L.

1980-04-01

Although users of radiation desire measurement traceability for a number of reasons, including legal, regulatory, contractual, and quality assurance requirements, there exists no real definition of the term in the technical literature. Definitions are proposed for both traceability and traceability to the National Bureau of Standards. The hierarchy of radiation standards is discussed and allowable uncertainties are given for each level. Areas of need with respect to radiation standards are identified, and a system of secondary radiation calibration laboratories is proposed as a means of providing quality calibrations and traceability on a routine basis

Traceability of radiation measurements: musings of a user

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kathren, R.L.

1980-04-01

Although users of radiation desire measurement traceability for a number of reasons, including legal, regulatory, contractual, and quality assurance requirements, there exists no real definition of the term in the technical literature. Definitions are proposed for both traceability and traceability to the National Bureau of Standards. The hierarchy of radiation standards is discussed and allowable uncertainties are given for each level. Areas of need with respect to radiation standards are identified, and a system of secondary radiation calibration laboratories is proposed as a means of providing quality calibrations and traceability on a routine basis.

Value-Based Requirements Traceability: Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Egyed, Alexander; Grünbacher, Paul; Heindl, Matthias; Biffl, Stefan

Traceability from requirements to code is mandated by numerous software development standards. These standards, however, are not explicit about the appropriate level of quality of trace links. From a technical perspective, trace quality should meet the needs of the intended trace utilizations. Unfortunately, long-term trace utilizations are typically unknown at the time of trace acquisition which represents a dilemma for many companies. This chapter suggests ways to balance the cost and benefits of requirements traceability. We present data from three case studies demonstrating that trace acquisition requires broad coverage but can tolerate imprecision. With this trade-off our lessons learned suggest a traceability strategy that (1) provides trace links more quickly, (2) refines trace links according to user-defined value considerations, and (3) supports the later refinement of trace links in case the initial value consideration has changed over time. The scope of our work considers the entire life cycle of traceability instead of just the creation of trace links.

Traceability in the food supply chain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, E.J.; Spiegel, van der M.; Prins, T.W.; Manti, V.; Groot, M.J.; Bremer, M.G.E.G.; Raamsdonk, van L.W.D.; Fels, van der H.J.; Ruth, van S.M.

2012-01-01

Traceability of food implies the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, or a food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing, and distribution. The importance of traceability has grown due to the

A false single nucleotide polymorphism generated by gene duplication compromises meat traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanz, Arianne; Ordovás, Laura; Zaragoza, Pilar; Sanz, Albina; de Blas, Ignacio; Rodellar, Clementina

2012-07-01

Controlling meat traceability using SNPs is an effective method of ensuring food safety. We have analyzed several SNPs to create a panel for bovine genetic identification and traceability studies. One of these was the transversion g.329C>T (Genbank accession no. AJ496781) on the cytochrome P450 17A1 gene, which has been included in previously published panels. Using minisequencing reactions, we have tested 701 samples belonging to eight Spanish cattle breeds. Surprisingly, an excess of heterozygotes was detected, implying an extreme departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (PT SNP is a false positive polymorphism, which allows us to explain the inflated heterozygotic value. We recommend that this ambiguous SNP, as well as other polymorphisms located in this region, should not be used in identification, traceability or disease association studies. Annotation of these false SNPs should improve association studies and avoid misinterpretations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of traceability among livestock traders in south-western Nigeria: implications for sustainable livestock industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Adesokan, Hezekiah K; Ocheja, Samuel E

2014-01-01

Livestock diseases and other animal health events are a threat to achieving sustainable livestock industry. The knowledge of trace-back and the practice of providing feedback on diseases encountered in slaughtered animals from the abattoir to the farm can help limit the spread as well as manage potential future incidents of such diseases. We assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of 200 willing livestock traders on traceability in Bodija Municipal Abattoir, south-western Nigeria. The results reveal that the majority of these traders had poor knowledge (79.5 %) and practices (74.0 %) of traceability, though 89.5 % demonstrated good attitudes. While 22.9 % knew that traceability could be an effective means to control diseases, only a lower proportion (9.0 %) knew the health status of the animals being purchased. Though 29.0 % reported the diseases encountered in their animals during slaughter to the farm, only 9.5 % followed up to ensure the farmers take steps at preventing further occurrence of the reported diseases. While age (p = 0.000; 0.014) and education (p = 0.000; 0.000) were both significant for good knowledge and attitudes, frequency of condemned cases (p = 0.000) and length of years in the trade (p = 0.004) were, respectively, significant for good knowledge and attitudes with none associated with practice. These poor levels of knowledge and practices of traceability are a threat to sustainable livestock industry, food security and human health; hence, there is an urgent need to institute national feedback mechanism on slaughtered animals in order to strengthen interventions against diseases at farm levels.

Heavy subgraph pairs for traceability of block-chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Binlong

2014-05-01

Full Text Available A graph is called traceable if it contains a Hamilton path, i.e., a path containing all its vertices. Let G be a graph on n vertices. We say that an induced subgraph of G is o−1-heavy if it contains two nonadjacent vertices which satisfy an Ore-type degree condition for traceability, i.e., with degree sum at least n−1 in G. A block-chain is a graph whose block graph is a path, i.e., it is either a P1, P2, or a 2-connected graph, or a graph with at least one cut vertex and exactly two end-blocks. Obviously, every traceable graph is a block-chain, but the reverse does not hold. In this paper we characterize all the pairs of connected o−1-heavy graphs that guarantee traceability of block-chains. Our main result is a common extension of earlier work on degree sum conditions, forbidden subgraph conditions and heavy subgraph conditions for traceability

Whole-chain traceability, is it possible to trace your hamburger to a particular steer, a U. S. perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Crandall, Philip G; O'Bryan, Corliss A; Babu, Dinesh; Jarvis, Nathan; Davis, Mike L; Buser, Michael; Adam, Brian; Marcy, John; Ricke, Steven C

2013-10-01

Traceability through the entire food supply chain from conception to consumption is a pressing need for the food industry, consumers and government regulators. A robust, whole-chain traceability system is needed that will effectively address food quality, food safety and food defense issues by providing real-time, transparent and reliable information from beef production through slaughter and distribution to the consumer. Traceability is an expanding part of the food safety continuum that minimizes the risk of foodborne diseases, assures quality and cold-chain integrity. Traceability can be a positive competitive marketing edge for beef producers who can verify specific quality attributes such as humane production or grass fed or Certified Organic. In this review we address the benefits as well as the remaining issues for whole-chain traceability in the beef industry, with particular focus on ground beef for the markets in the United States. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Expanding Role of Traceability in Seafood: Tools and Key Initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Sara G; Boyle, Mariah

2017-08-01

In the last decade, a range of drivers within the seafood sector have incentivized the application of traceability to issues beyond food safety and inventory management. Some of the issues motivating the expanded use of traceability within the global seafood sector include: increased media attention on the legal and social risks within some seafood supply chains, governmental traceability requirements, private-sector sustainability commitments, and others. This article begins with an overview of these topics in the seafood industry, and why many nongovernment organizations (NGOs), companies, and government actors have turned to traceability as a tool to address them. We discuss how traceability connects to key requirements of environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Later, we review the range of traceability services, tools, software solutions, and the due diligence measures that are currently being leveraged within the seafood sector. The paper concludes with a discussion of several NGO- and industry-led traceability initiatives that are examples of seafood traceability improvements. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

RISIKO RANTAI PASOK MINUMAN SARI APEL DALAM PERSPEKTIF SISTEM TRACEABILITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwi Iryaning Handayani

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Risiko merupakan faktor-faktor yang menghambat operasional pada rantai pasok makanan yang tidak dapat dihindari akan tetapi dapat diminimalisir atau dihilangkan dengan melakukan penanganan risiko yang tepat. Salah satu penanganan risiko dengan menggunakan sistem traceability. Oleh karena itu penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan penaksiran risiko yang terjadi pada rantai pasok minuman sari apel berdasarkan informasi sistem traceability. Dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode SCOR (Supply Chain Operation Reference. Sedangkan  penilaian risiko rantai pasok menggunakan teknik FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. Upaya yang dilakukan dalam mengetahui risiko yang dapat ditangani dengan sistem traceability menggunakan metode House of Risk (HOR. Terdapat 1 risiko ekstrime yaitu risiko terjadinya kekurangan barang dan bahan baku digudang. Sedangkan risiko sedang sebanyak lima. Risiko yang berkatagori rendah sejumlah tujuh. Risiko yang terjadi disebabkan tidak ada prosedur yang jelas, kurang memperhatikan prosedur penyimpanan, inspeksi dilakukan di akhir proses dan kesalahan komposisi bahan baku, Sedangkan penyebab risiko yang bisa ditangani dengan traceability sebanyak 75% dari semua penyebab risiko yang terjadi. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa peran traceability pada rantai pasok makanan dapat mereduksi risiko yang terjadi. Kata kunci:  risiko, traceability, rantai pasok   Abstract Risks are factors that hinder operations in the food supply chain that can not be avoided but can be minimized or eliminated by appropriate risk management . One risk management using a traceability system . Therefore, this study aims to conduct a risk assessment that occurs in apple juice supply chain traceability system based on information . In this study using the SCOR ( Supply Chain Operations Reference . While supply chain risk assessment using the technique of FMEA ( Failure Mode and Effects Analysis . Efforts are made to know the risks that can be addressed by

How to obtain traceability on optical radiation measurements?

Science.gov (United States)

Matamoros García, Carlos H.

2006-02-01

Traceability to national standards provides confidence in measurements results, granting a guaranty when carrying out governmental rules and when demonstrating conformity with quality requirements such as ISO 9000 or ISO/IEC 17025 (and the Mexican equivalent standards). The appropriate traceability contributes with confidence of the quality of products or services. This paper presents different ways to obtain traceability in Mexico for the optical radiation measurements, mentioning some applications, and highlighting the necessity of having traceability to the appropriate units of the SI. Additionally it present the national standards maintained by Centro Nacional de Metrologia (CENAM), the national metrology institute in Mexico, that give the technical support to Mexican measurements in this field and the international recognition that the personal of the Optics and Radiometry Division had gained in 10 years of development.

Traceable nanoscale measurement at NML-SIRIM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlan, Ahmad M.; Abdul Hapip, A. I.

2012-01-01

The role of national metrology institute (NMI) has always been very crucial in national technology development. One of the key activities of the NMI is to provide traceable measurement in all parameters under the International System of Units (SI). Dimensional measurement where size and shape are two important features investigated, is one of the important area covered by NMIs. To support the national technology development, particularly in manufacturing sectors and emerging technology such nanotechnology, the National Metrology Laboratory, SIRIM Berhad (NML-SIRIM), has embarked on a project to equip Malaysia with state-of-the-art nanoscale measurement facility with the aims of providing traceability of measurement at nanoscale. This paper will look into some of the results from current activities at NML-SIRIM related to measurement at nanoscale particularly on application of atomic force microscope (AFM) and laser based sensor in dimensional measurement. Step height standards of different sizes were measured using AFM and laser-based sensors. These probes are integrated into a long-range nanoscale measuring machine traceable to the international definition of the meter thus ensuring their traceability. Consistency of results obtained by these two methods will be discussed and presented. Factors affecting their measurements as well as their related uncertainty of measurements will also be presented.

Traceable nanoscale measurement at NML-SIRIM

Science.gov (United States)

Dahlan, Ahmad M.; Abdul Hapip, A. I.

2012-06-01

The role of national metrology institute (NMI) has always been very crucial in national technology development. One of the key activities of the NMI is to provide traceable measurement in all parameters under the International System of Units (SI). Dimensional measurement where size and shape are two important features investigated, is one of the important area covered by NMIs. To support the national technology development, particularly in manufacturing sectors and emerging technology such nanotechnology, the National Metrology Laboratory, SIRIM Berhad (NML-SIRIM), has embarked on a project to equip Malaysia with state-of-the-art nanoscale measurement facility with the aims of providing traceability of measurement at nanoscale. This paper will look into some of the results from current activities at NML-SIRIM related to measurement at nanoscale particularly on application of atomic force microscope (AFM) and laser based sensor in dimensional measurement. Step height standards of different sizes were measured using AFM and laser-based sensors. These probes are integrated into a long-range nanoscale measuring machine traceable to the international definition of the meter thus ensuring their traceability. Consistency of results obtained by these two methods will be discussed and presented. Factors affecting their measurements as well as their related uncertainty of measurements will also be presented.

Traceable nanoscale measurement at NML-SIRIM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahlan, Ahmad M.; Abdul Hapip, A. I. [National Metrology Laboratory SIRIM Berhad (NML-SIRIM), Lot PT 4803, Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, 43900 Sepang (Malaysia)

2012-06-29

The role of national metrology institute (NMI) has always been very crucial in national technology development. One of the key activities of the NMI is to provide traceable measurement in all parameters under the International System of Units (SI). Dimensional measurement where size and shape are two important features investigated, is one of the important area covered by NMIs. To support the national technology development, particularly in manufacturing sectors and emerging technology such nanotechnology, the National Metrology Laboratory, SIRIM Berhad (NML-SIRIM), has embarked on a project to equip Malaysia with state-of-the-art nanoscale measurement facility with the aims of providing traceability of measurement at nanoscale. This paper will look into some of the results from current activities at NML-SIRIM related to measurement at nanoscale particularly on application of atomic force microscope (AFM) and laser based sensor in dimensional measurement. Step height standards of different sizes were measured using AFM and laser-based sensors. These probes are integrated into a long-range nanoscale measuring machine traceable to the international definition of the meter thus ensuring their traceability. Consistency of results obtained by these two methods will be discussed and presented. Factors affecting their measurements as well as their related uncertainty of measurements will also be presented.

Augmented halal food traceability system: analysis and design using UML

Science.gov (United States)

Usman, Y. V.; Fauzi, A. M.; Irawadi, T. T.; Djatna, T.

2018-04-01

Augmented halal food traceability is expanding the range of halal traceability in food supply chain where currently only available for tracing from the source of raw material to the industrial warehouse or inbound logistic. The halal traceability system must be developed in the integrated form that includes inbound and outbound logistics. The objective of this study was to develop a reliable initial model of integrated traceability system of halal food supply chain. The method was based on unified modeling language (UML) such as use case, sequence, and business process diagram. A goal programming model was formulated considering two objective functions which include (1) minimization of risk of halal traceability failures happened potentially during outbound logistics activities and (2) maximization of quality of halal product information. The result indicates the supply of material is the most important point to be considered in minimizing the risk of failure of halal food traceability system whereas no risk observed in manufacturing and distribution.

Developing a Framework for Traceability Implementation in the Textile Supply Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vijay Kumar

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Traceability has recently gained considerable attention in the textile industry. Traceability stands for information sharing about a product including the product history, specification, or location. With the involvement of globally dispersed actors in the textile supply chain, ensuring appropriate product quality with timely supplies is crucial for surviving in this industry with ever increasing competition. Hence it is of paramount importance for a supply chain actor to track every product and trace its history in the supply chain. In this context, this paper presents a framework to implement traceability in the textile supply chain. A system approach has been followed, where firstly the usage requirement of traceability is defined, and then a framework for implementing intra-actor or internal traceability and inter-actor or external traceability is discussed. This article further presents a sequential diagram to demonstrate the interaction and information exchange between the actors in the supply chain, when the traceability information is requested. An example is also illustrated for data storage using a relational database management system and information exchange using XML for the textile weaver. Finally, the article discusses challenges and future studies required to implement traceability in the textile supply chain.

Forbidden subgraph pairs for traceability of block-chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Binlong Li

2013-04-01

Full Text Available A block-chain is a graph whose block graph is a path, i.e. it is either a $P_1$, a $P_2$, or a 2-connected graph, or a graph of connectivity 1 with exactly two end-blocks. A graph is called traceable if it contains a Hamilton path. A traceable graph is clearly a block-chain, but the reverse does not hold in general.In this paper we characterize all pairs of connected graphs $\\{R,S\\}$ such that every $\\{R,S\\}$-free block-chain is traceable.

Making traceability work across the entire food supply chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatt, Tejas; Buckley, Greg; McEntire, Jennifer C; Lothian, Paul; Sterling, Brian; Hickey, Caitlin

2013-12-01

The Institute of Food Technologists held Traceability Research Summits on July 14, August 22, and November 1, 2011, to address how to meet the growing requirement for agriculture and food traceability. Each meeting had a group of about 50 individuals who came from food companies, trade associations, local, state, and federal governments, 3rd-party traceability solution providers, not-for-profit corporations, consultants, and consumer groups. They discussed and deliberated the objectives of traceability and the means to develop product tracing in the food system. A total of 70 people participated in the 3 summits. These individuals were invited to participate in a small workgroup responsible for considering the details related to product tracing and presenting draft concepts to the larger group on November 1, 2011, in Chicago. During this meeting, the larger assembly further refined the concepts and came to an agreement on the basic principles and overall design of the desired approach to traceability. © 2013 Institute of Food Technologists®

Risk Monitoring through Traceability Information Model

OpenAIRE

Juan P. Zamora; Wilson Adarme; Laura Palacios

2012-01-01

This paper shows a traceability framework for supply risk monitoring, beginning with the identification, analysis, and evaluation of the supply chain risk and focusing on the supply operations of the Health Care Institutions with oncology services in Bogota, Colombia. It includes a brief presentation of the state of the art of the Supply Chain Risk Management and traceability systems in logistics operations, and it concludes with the methodology to integrate the SCRM model with the traceabili...

Proceedings of the August 2011 Traceability Research Summit.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatt, Tejas; Buckley, Greg; McEntire, Jennifer C

2013-12-01

IFT's Traceability Improvement Initiative aims to advance work in the area of food product tracing through several means including hosted events where thought leaders exchange knowledge and ideas. In August 2011, the Initiative, in collaboration with GS1 US, convened a group of 50 product tracing stakeholders, as a follow-on to a successful event the month prior. Representatives conducting pilots or implementation studies in produce, seafood, dairy, and other industries discussed the objectives, challenges and learnings. Some of the learnings from on-going initiatives included the sense that better information management provides a return of investment; data often exist but may not necessarily be appropriately linked through the supply chain; and enhanced product tracing enables better accountability and quality control. Challenges identified in enabling traceability throughout the supply chain were the distribution complexity; the need for training, communication, and collaboration; improving the reliability, quality and security of data captured, stored and shared as well as the importance of standards in data and interoperability of technology. Several approaches to overcoming these challenges were discussed. The first approach incrementally improves upon the current "one up/one down" system by requiring electronic records and tracking internal as well as external critical tracking events. The benefits of this approach are its similarity to existing regulatory requirements and low cost of implementation; resulting in a higher probability of adoption. The major disadvantage to this process is the longer response time required during a trace (back or forward). The second approach is similar to a "pedigree" approach where historical information about the food travels with it through the value chain. A major advantage of this approach is the quickest response time during a trace. Some of the disadvantages of this approach are potential for misuse of data, the volume

Development of Halal Pharmaceuticals Traceability Systems for Used with Mobile Devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abd Jalil Abd Hamid

2014-01-01

From early times, the pharmaceutical industry has had simple traceability systems, but with the increasing implementation of quality management in pharmaceutical manufacture, traceability systems have become more advanced covering more information and more steps in the production chain. Pork and its byproducts are not considered permissible (non-halal) and are forbidden for muslims to consume, along with alcohol and meat from animals not slaughtered according to Islamic law. Recently, the porcine DNA crisis and debates about non-halal substances have drawn new attention to production chain traceability. Existing guidelines on halal products, especially those issued by Jakim, and the halal standard MS2424, were insufficient to overcome the heaping problems of non-halal pharmaceuticals. An effective traceability system is essential to mitigate the risks associated with non-halal pharmaceutical and also as a tool for communication making information available along the production and supply chain. Traceability in pharmaceutical manufacturing can range from in-house traceability in production plants to traceability in whole or part of the production chain from raw material to consumer, and descriptors of the product and its history can be few or many as decided. This study is written to discuss on the approaches towards development of halal pharmaceuticals traceability systems for used with mobile devices for fulfilling muslims consumer demands. Specifically, this study discusses the conceptual architecture on halal traceability system for halal pharmaceutical product in Malaysia. (author)

Bio-markers: traceability in food safety issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Raspor, Peter

2005-01-01

Research and practice are focusing on development, validation and harmonization of technologies and methodologies to ensure complete traceability process throughout the food chain. The main goals are: scale-up, implementation and validation of methods in whole food chains, assurance of authenticity, validity of labelling and application of HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) to the entire food chain. The current review is to sum the scientific and technological basis for ensuring complete traceability. Tracing and tracking (traceability) of foods are complex processes due to the (bio)markers, technical solutions and different circumstances in different technologies which produces various foods (processed, semi-processed, or raw). Since the food is produced for human or animal consumption we need suitable markers to be stable and traceable all along the production chain. Specific biomarkers can have a function in technology and in nutrition. Such approach would make this development faster and more comprehensive and would make possible that food effect could be monitored with same set of biomarkers in consumer. This would help to develop and implement food safety standards that would be based on real physiological function of particular food component.

Traceability in laboratories; Trazabilidad en laboratorios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Palacios, Tulio [Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, Buenos Aires (Argentina). Centro Atomico Constituyentes; Peretti, Matilde; Saravi, Margarita [Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, Buenos Aires (Argentina). Centro Atomico Ezeiza

1996-07-01

The testing and/or calibration laboratories main concern in to obtain reliability in the results delivered, therefore the accuracy and precision should be guaranteed. The regulations with respect to the quality systems makes special mention to the traceability in the equipment and in the measurements. In order to obtain that goal the laboratories are organized in national as well as in international nets to maintain the traceability to the primary standards. In the present work will be given the example of a particular laboratory in this regard. (author)

[Current progress in food geographical origin traceability by near infrared spectroscopy technology].

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Dong-Hong; Wang, Xi-Chang; Liu, Li-Ping; Liu, Yuan

2011-04-01

The geographical origin traceability of food, an important part of traceability system, is effective in protecting the quality and safety of foodstuffs. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), which is a powerful technique for geographical origin traceability, has attracted extensive attention by scientists due to its speediness, non-pollution and simple operation. This paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of techniques that have been used for food geographical origin traceability. The basic principles of NIR and its applications in different food geographical origin traceability are presented too. Furthermore, problems in applications are analyzed and the future development trends are discussed.

Breed traceability of buffalo meat using microsatellite genotyping technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Kannur, Bheemashankar H; Fairoze, Md Nadeem; Girish, P S; Karabasanavar, Nagappa; Rudresh, B H

2017-02-01

Although buffalo has emerged as a major meat producing animal in Asia, major research on breed traceability has so far been focused on cattle (beef). This research gap on buffalo breed traceability has impelled development and validation of buffalo breed traceability using a set of eight microsatellite (STR) markers in seven Indian buffalo breeds (Bhadawari, Jaffaarabadi, Murrah, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri and Surti). Probability of sharing same profile by two individuals at a specific locus was computed considering different STR numbers, allele pooling in breed and population. Match probabilities per breed were considered and six most polymorphic loci were genotyped. Out of eight microsatellite markers studied, markers CSSMO47, DRB3 and CSSM060 were found most polymorphic. Developed technique was validated with known and unknown, blood and meat samples; wherein, samples were genetically traced in 24 out of 25 samples tested. Results of this study showed potential applications of the methodology and encourage other researchers to address the problem of buffalo traceability so as to create a world-wide archive of breed specific genotypes. This work is the first report of breed traceability of buffalo meat utilizing microsatellite genotyping technique.

Resolving traceability issues of product derivation for software product lines

OpenAIRE

Abid, Saad bin

2009-01-01

peer-reviewed Dealing with traceability management issues during model based product derivation in large complex industrial SPL is error prone due to the lack of tool support. As a result traceability management between connected models emerges as an important research topic. In this position paper, we discuss research challenges as scenarios from developed example product line and give recommendations on resolving traceability issues during product derivation. We also discuss initial idea...

KNOWLEDGE AND ACCEPTANCE OF RFID TRACEABILITY SOLUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoltan KATO

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In recent years the food market has become highly dynamic. Food crises in the early 90's, or those of the recent years, such as avian flu pandemic, swine flu, the cucumber or horse meat crises all had a negative impact on the Romanian food industry. Food deficiencies have led not only to contamination but also to the illness or death of some consumers. The products traceability is a prerequisite for success in the food industry. As a modern solution, RFID technology can be useful for traceability applications made with rewritable passive RFID tags. This paper aims to examine how RFID technology can be useful for traceability applications and will submit a diligent search regarding the degree of knowledge of RFID technology and the acceptance of an empirical model by the employees of Romanian companies.

Emerging applications for traceability systems and implications for consumers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frewer, L.J.; Davies, O.H.; Rijswijk, W. van; Luijckx, N.L.; Ward, S.

2008-01-01

The modified European Food Law (General Food Law) has been emphasizing on the need to increase consumer confidence through implementation of regulatory measures focused on increased traceability in food chain. The implementation of effective traceability systems can provide the basis of

Heavy subgraph pairs for traceability of block-chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Binlong; Li, Binlong; Broersma, Haitze J.; Zhang, Shenggui

2014-01-01

A graph is called traceable if it contains a Hamilton path, i.e., a path containing all its vertices. Let G be a graph on n vertices. We say that an induced subgraph of G is o-1-heavy if it contains two nonadjacent vertices which satisfy an Ore-type degree condition for traceability, i.e., with

Modeling traceability information and functionality requirement in export-oriented tilapia chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaoshuan; Feng, Jianying; Xu, Mark; Hu, Jinyou

2011-05-01

Tilapia has been named as the 'food fish of the 21st century' and has become the most important farmed fish. China is the world leader in tilapia production and export. Identifying information and functional requirements is critical in developing an efficient traceability system because traceability has become a fundamental prerequisite for exporting aquaculture products. This paper examines the export-oriented tilapia chains and information flow in the chains, and identifies the key actors, information requirements and information-capturing points. Unified Modeling Language (UML) technology is adopted to describe the information and functionality requirement for chain traceability. The barriers of traceability system adoption are also identified. The results show that the traceability data consist of four categories that must be recorded by each link in the chain. The functionality requirement is classified into four categories from the fundamental information record to decisive quality control; the top three barriers to the traceability system adoption are: high costs of implementing the system, lack of experienced and professional staff; and low level of government involvement and support. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

Consumer perceptions of traceability: A cross-national comparison of the associated benefits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rijswijk, van W.; Frewer, L.J.; Menozzi, D.; Faioli, G.

2008-01-01

Consumer perceptions regarding traceability were investigated by means-end-chain laddering. Consumers in four European countries were questioned about the benefits they associate with traceability related attributes. The benefits consumers associate with traceability are in terms of health, quality,

[Establishment of traceability system of Chinese medicinal materials' quality].

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Yao-dong; Gao, Shi-man; Liu, Hai-tao; Li, Xi-wen; Wei, Jian-he; Zhang, Ben-gang; Sun, Xiao-bo; Xiao, Pei-gen

2015-12-01

The quality of Chinese medicinal materials relates greatly to the clinical curative effect and security. In order to ensure the quality and safety of Chinese medicinal materials, a systematic and operable traceability system needs to be established. It can realize the whole process of quality and safety management of Chinese medicinal materials "from production to consumption" through recording and inquiring information and recalling defective products, which is an important direction for the future development of traditional Chinese medicine. But it is still at the exploration and trial stage. In this paper, a framework of Chinese medicinal materials' quality and safety traceability system was established on the basis of the domestic and international experience about the construction of food and agricultural products traceability systems. The relationship between traceability system of Chinese medicinal materials' quality and GAP, GMP, GSP was analyzed, and the possible problems and the corresponding solutions were discussed.

Cattle traceability system in Japan for bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katsuaki Sugiura

2008-09-01

Full Text Available To promote consumer confidence in the safety of beef and to ensure the proper implementation of eradication measures against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, the Cattle Traceability Law was approved by the Diet in June 2003 and a cattle traceability system has been in operation in Japan since December 2003. The system enables tracing the cohort and offspring animals of a BSE case within 24 h of its detection. The traceability database system also provides distributors, restaurants and consumers with information on the cattle from which the beef that they sell, serve and consume originate.

Management traceability information system for the food supply chain

Science.gov (United States)

Bendriss, S.; Benabdelhafid, A.; Boukachour, J.

2008-06-01

For a long time, the traceability was applied only for management reasons, but with the advent of new communication and information technologies more and more used in the logistic medium, the notion of the traceability became new extensive to meet the new market needs in term of information by ensuring accessibility the data characteristic or been dependent on the product throughout its life cycle. On the basis of this postulate, we tried to raise some questions of research, beginning by the presentation of the progress achieved, assumptions and objective relating to the traceability, in the second time we mentioned principal work by showing how evolved the scientific question especially the information systems integrating the traceability were developed very little in the literature. Based on what was developed in the first part, we present our generic modeling approach of communicating product "smart object", able to take into account the various essential elements for its traceability: the product in its various states, various operations carried out on the product, resources used, its localization, and interactions between the product and its environment carried out on the basis of whole of service. In order to validate our generic modeling, a case of study representing an application in a context of food industry is presented.

Making cocoa origin traceable

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Acierno, Valentina; Alewijn, Martin; Zomer, Paul; Ruth, van Saskia M.

2018-01-01

More and more attention is paid to sustainability in the cocoa production. Tools that assist in making sustainable cocoa traceable are therefore welcome. In the present study, the applicability of Flow Infusion-Electrospray Ionization- Mass Spectrometry (FI-ESI-MS) to assess the geographical origin

Molecular Markers for Food Traceability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Martins-Lopes

2013-01-01

Full Text Available DNA analysis with molecular markers has opened a way to understand complex organism's genome. It is presently being widely applied across different fields, where food takes a preeminent position. Constant outbreaks of foodborne illnesses are increasing consumer's attention towards more detailed information related to what they are consuming. This overview reports on the areas where food traceability has been considered, and the problems that still remain to be bypassed in order to be widely applied. An outline of the most broadly used PCR-based methods for food traceability is described. Applications in the area of detection of genetically modified organisms, protected denomination of origin, allergenic and intolerance reactions are detailed in order to understand the dimension of the performed studies.

Traceable calibration of impedance heads and artificial mastoids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, D A; Dickinson, L P; Bell, T J

2015-01-01

Artificial mastoids are devices which simulate the mechanical characteristics of the human head, and in particular of the bony structure behind the ear. They are an essential tool in the calibration of bone-conduction hearing aids and audiometers. With the emergence of different types of artificial mastoids in the market, and the realisation that the visco-elastic part of these instruments changes over time, the development of a method of traceable calibration of these devices without relying on commercial software has become important for national metrology institutes. This paper describes commercially available calibration methods, and the development of a traceable calibration method including the traceable calibration of the impedance head used to measure the mechanical impedance of the artificial mastoid. (paper)

Traceability and uncertainty estimation in coordinate metrology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Hans Nørgaard; Savio, Enrico; De Chiffre, Leonardo

2001-01-01

National and international standards have defined performance verification procedures for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) that typically involve their ability to measure calibrated lengths and to a certain extent form. It is recognised that, without further analysis or testing, these results...... are required. Depending on the requirements for uncertainty level, different approaches may be adopted to achieve traceability. Especially in the case of complex measurement situations and workpieces the procedures are not trivial. This paper discusses the establishment of traceability in coordinate metrology...

AUTOMATION OF TRACEABILITY PROCESS AT GRAIN TERMINAL LLC “ UKRTRANSAGRO"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. A. TRISHYN

2017-07-01

Full Text Available A positive trend of growth in both grain production and export is indicated. In the current marketing year the export potential of the Ukrainian grain market is close to the record level. However, the high positions in the rating of world exporters are achieved not only due to the high export potential, but also because of higher quality and logistics. These factors depend directly on the quality of enterprise management and all processes occurring at it. One of the perspective ways of enterprise development is the implementation of the traceability system and further automation of the traceability process. European integration laws are obliging Ukrainian enterprises to have a traceability system. Traceability is an ability to follow the movement of a feed or food through specified stages of production, processing and distribution. The process of traceability is managing by people, which implies a human factor. Automation will allow, in a greater extent, to exclude the human factor that will mean decreasing of errors in documentation and will speed up the process of grain transshipment. Research work on the process was carried out on the most modern grain terminal - LLC “UkrTransAgro”. The terminal is located in the Ukrainian water area of the Azov Sea (Mariupol, Ukraine. Characteristics of the terminal: capacity of a simultaneous storage - 48,120 thousand tons, acceptance of crops from transport - 4,500 tons / day; acceptance of crops from railway transport - 3000 tons / day, transshipment capacity - up to 1.2 million tons per year, shipment to the sea vessels - 7000 tons / day. The analysis of the automation level of the grain terminal is carried out. The company uses software from 1C - «1C: Enterprise 8. Accounting for grain elevator, mill, and feed mill for Ukraine». This software is used for quantitative and qualitative registration at the elevator in accordance with industry guidelines and standards. The software product has many

Forbidden subgraph pairs for traceability of block-chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Binlong; Li, Binlong; Broersma, Haitze J.; Zhang, Shenggui

2013-01-01

A block-chain is a graph whose block graph is a path, i.e. it is either a P1, a P2, or a 2-connected graph, or a graph of connectivity 1 with exactly two end-blocks. A graph is called traceable if it contains a Hamilton path. A traceable graph is clearly a block-chain, but the reverse does not hold

TOPICAL REVIEW: Advances in traceable nanometrology at the National Physical Laboratory†Advances in traceable nanometrology at the National Physical Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Leach, Richard; Haycocks, Jane; Jackson, Keith; Lewis, Andrew; Oldfield, Simon; Yacoot, Andrew

2001-03-01

The only difference between nanotechnology and many other fields of science or engineering is that of size. Control in manufacturing at the nanometre scale still requires accurate and traceable measurements whether one is attempting to machine optical quality glass or write one's company name in single atoms. A number of instruments have been developed at the National Physical Laboratory that address the measurement requirements of the nanotechnology community and provide traceability to the definition of the metre. The instruments discussed in this paper are an atomic force microscope and a surface texture measuring instrument with traceable metrology in all their operational axes, a combined optical and x-ray interferometer system that can be used to calibrate displacement transducers to subnanometre accuracy and a co-ordinate measuring machine with a working volume of (50 mm)3 and 50 nm volumetric accuracy.

Implementing farm-to-fork traceability in Tanzania

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Dyk, FE

2005-08-01

Full Text Available stream_source_info Van Dyk2_2005.pdf.txt stream_content_type text/plain stream_size 10949 Content-Encoding UTF-8 stream_name Van Dyk2_2005.pdf.txt Content-Type text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Copyright @ CSIR 2005 www....csir.co.za Implementing farm-to-fork traceability in Tanzania Esbeth van Dyk CSIR Centre for Logistics ORSSA/SAIIE August 2005 Copyright @ CSIR 2005 www.csir.co.za Structure • Why traceability? • Legislation • Tanzania project • Recordkeeping in coffee...

The determinants of voluntary traceability standards. The case of the wine sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefanella Stranieri

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to study the determinants leading firms to choose among different kinds of voluntary traceability standards in the wine sector. To achieve this goal, we referred both to individual and institutional-level determinants, which are identified to play an important role in the literature related to the implementation of quality and safety standards. In specific, we referred to two theoretical approaches to better understand the industry behaviour towards the adoption of voluntary traceability, i.e. the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Institutional Theory. We developed a vis-à-vis survey through a questionnaire on a sample of Italian wineries approached during the most important Italian wine exhibitions in 2016. The results suggest that when wineries show positive cognitive beliefs towards voluntary traceability standards, they will probably implement complex traceability systems, which require high investments and efforts for their management. On the contrary, when the institutional environment plays a key role in the perception of wine processors, a simple and flexible traceability system seems to be preferred. Keywords: Voluntary traceability standards, Institutional determinants, Cognitive determinants

Traceability of optical roughness measurements on polymers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

De Chiffre, Leonardo; Gasparin, Stefania; Carli, Lorenzo

2008-01-01

-focus instrument, and a confocal microscope. Using stylus measurements as reference, parameter settings on the optical instruments were optimised and residual noise reduced by low pass filtering. Traceability of optical measurements could be established with expanded measuring uncertainties (k=2) of 4......An experimental investigation on surface roughness measurements on plastics was carried out with the objective of developing a methodology to achieve traceability of optical instruments. A ground steel surface and its replicas were measured using a stylus instrument, an optical auto......% for the auto-focus instrument and 10% for confocal microscope....

Research on Food Safety Traceability Technology Based on Internet of Things

OpenAIRE

Qiang Meng; Yongfeng Cui; Hansen Wang; Shijun Li

2015-01-01

Relying on the Internet of things platform, building a traceability system ranging from the source to dinner table is the crucial issue of meat products to be solved at the moment. On the basis of knowing the current situation of domestic and international food traceability quo, the passage will put forward the feasibility of mobile query used in food traceability queries, mainly targeting elaborating the core technology like image preprocessing and decoding. It illustrates the feasibility of...

The perceived value of dairy product traceability in modern society: An exploratory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlebois, Sylvain; Haratifar, Sanaz

2015-05-01

The current study assessed the perceived value of food traceability in modern society by young consumers. After experiencing numerous recalls and food safety-related incidences, consumers are increasingly aware of the tools available to mitigate risks. Food traceability has been associated with food safety procedures for many years, but recent high-profile cases of food fraud around the world have given traceability a different strategic purpose. Focusing solely on dairy products, our survey results offer a glimpse of consumer perceptions of traceability as a means to preserve food integrity and authenticity. This study explored the various influences that market-oriented traceability has had on dairy consumers. For example, results show that if the dairy sector could guarantee that their product is in fact organic, 53.8% of respondents who often purchase organic milk would consider always purchasing traceable organic milk. This research produced a quantitative set of information related to the perceived value of food traceability, which could be useful for the creation and development of improved guidelines and better education for consumers. We discuss limitations and suggest areas for new research. Copyright © 2015 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance Prediction of a MongoDB-Based Traceability System in Smart Factory Supply Chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Yong-Shin; Park, Il-Ha; Youm, Sekyoung

2016-12-14

In the future, with the advent of the smart factory era, manufacturing and logistics processes will become more complex, and the complexity and criticality of traceability will further increase. This research aims at developing a performance assessment method to verify scalability when implementing traceability systems based on key technologies for smart factories, such as Internet of Things (IoT) and BigData. To this end, based on existing research, we analyzed traceability requirements and an event schema for storing traceability data in MongoDB, a document-based Not Only SQL (NoSQL) database. Next, we analyzed the algorithm of the most representative traceability query and defined a query-level performance model, which is composed of response times for the components of the traceability query algorithm. Next, this performance model was solidified as a linear regression model because the response times increase linearly by a benchmark test. Finally, for a case analysis, we applied the performance model to a virtual automobile parts logistics. As a result of the case study, we verified the scalability of a MongoDB-based traceability system and predicted the point when data node servers should be expanded in this case. The traceability system performance assessment method proposed in this research can be used as a decision-making tool for hardware capacity planning during the initial stage of construction of traceability systems and during their operational phase.

Maintaining Traceability in an Evolving Distributed Computing Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Collier, I.; Wartel, R.

2015-12-01

The management of risk is fundamental to the operation of any distributed computing infrastructure. Identifying the cause of incidents is essential to prevent them from re-occurring. In addition, it is a goal to contain the impact of an incident while keeping services operational. For response to incidents to be acceptable this needs to be commensurate with the scale of the problem. The minimum level of traceability for distributed computing infrastructure usage is to be able to identify the source of all actions (executables, file transfers, pilot jobs, portal jobs, etc.) and the individual who initiated them. In addition, sufficiently fine-grained controls, such as blocking the originating user and monitoring to detect abnormal behaviour, are necessary for keeping services operational. It is essential to be able to understand the cause and to fix any problems before re-enabling access for the user. The aim is to be able to answer the basic questions who, what, where, and when concerning any incident. This requires retaining all relevant information, including timestamps and the digital identity of the user, sufficient to identify, for each service instance, and for every security event including at least the following: connect, authenticate, authorize (including identity changes) and disconnect. In traditional grid infrastructures (WLCG, EGI, OSG etc.) best practices and procedures for gathering and maintaining the information required to maintain traceability are well established. In particular, sites collect and store information required to ensure traceability of events at their sites. With the increased use of virtualisation and private and public clouds for HEP workloads established procedures, which are unable to see 'inside' running virtual machines no longer capture all the information required. Maintaining traceability will at least involve a shift of responsibility from sites to Virtual Organisations (VOs) bringing with it new requirements for their

TRACEABILITY OF PRECISION MEASUREMENTS ON COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINES – TRACEABILITY, CALIBRATION AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bariani, Paolo; De Chiffre, Leonardo; Tosello, Guido

This document is used in connection with an exercise of 1 hour duration as a part of the course VISION ONLINE – One week course on Precision & Nanometrology. The exercise concerns establishment of traceability of measurements with optical coordinate machine by mean of using two different calibrated...

Molecular traceability of beef from synthetic Mexican bovine breeds.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Ramírez, R; Arana, A; Alfonso, L; González-Córdova, A F; Torrescano, G; Guerrero Legarreta, I; Vallejo-Cordoba, B

2011-10-06

Traceability ensures a link between carcass, quarters or cuts of beef and the individual animal or the group of animals from which they are derived. Meat traceability is an essential tool for successful identification and recall of contaminated products from the market during a food crisis. Meat traceability is also extremely important for protection and value enhancement of good-quality brands. Molecular meat traceability would allow verification of conventional methods used for beef tracing in synthetic Mexican bovine breeds. We evaluated a set of 11 microsatellites for their ability to identify animals belonging to these synthetic breeds, Brangus and Charolais/Brahman (78 animals). Seven microsatellite markers allowed sample discrimination with a match probability, defined as the probability of finding two individuals sharing by chance the same genotypic profile, of 10(-8). The practical application of the marker set was evaluated by testing eight samples from carcasses and pieces of meat at the slaughterhouse and at the point of sale. The DNA profiles of the two samples obtained at these two different points in the production-commercialization chain always proved that they came from the same animal.

Performance Prediction of a MongoDB-Based Traceability System in Smart Factory Supply Chains

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Yong-Shin; Park, Il-Ha; Youm, Sekyoung

2016-01-01

In the future, with the advent of the smart factory era, manufacturing and logistics processes will become more complex, and the complexity and criticality of traceability will further increase. This research aims at developing a performance assessment method to verify scalability when implementing traceability systems based on key technologies for smart factories, such as Internet of Things (IoT) and BigData. To this end, based on existing research, we analyzed traceability requirements and an event schema for storing traceability data in MongoDB, a document-based Not Only SQL (NoSQL) database. Next, we analyzed the algorithm of the most representative traceability query and defined a query-level performance model, which is composed of response times for the components of the traceability query algorithm. Next, this performance model was solidified as a linear regression model because the response times increase linearly by a benchmark test. Finally, for a case analysis, we applied the performance model to a virtual automobile parts logistics. As a result of the case study, we verified the scalability of a MongoDB-based traceability system and predicted the point when data node servers should be expanded in this case. The traceability system performance assessment method proposed in this research can be used as a decision-making tool for hardware capacity planning during the initial stage of construction of traceability systems and during their operational phase. PMID:27983654

Performance Prediction of a MongoDB-Based Traceability System in Smart Factory Supply Chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong-Shin Kang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the future, with the advent of the smart factory era, manufacturing and logistics processes will become more complex, and the complexity and criticality of traceability will further increase. This research aims at developing a performance assessment method to verify scalability when implementing traceability systems based on key technologies for smart factories, such as Internet of Things (IoT and BigData. To this end, based on existing research, we analyzed traceability requirements and an event schema for storing traceability data in MongoDB, a document-based Not Only SQL (NoSQL database. Next, we analyzed the algorithm of the most representative traceability query and defined a query-level performance model, which is composed of response times for the components of the traceability query algorithm. Next, this performance model was solidified as a linear regression model because the response times increase linearly by a benchmark test. Finally, for a case analysis, we applied the performance model to a virtual automobile parts logistics. As a result of the case study, we verified the scalability of a MongoDB-based traceability system and predicted the point when data node servers should be expanded in this case. The traceability system performance assessment method proposed in this research can be used as a decision-making tool for hardware capacity planning during the initial stage of construction of traceability systems and during their operational phase.

Design and implementation of safety traceability system for candied fruits based on two-dimension code technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHAO Kun

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Traceability is the basic principle of food safety.A food safety traceability system based on QR code and cloud computing technology was introduced in this paper.First of all we introduced the QR code technology and the concept of traceability.And then through the field investigation,we analyzed the traceability process.At the same time,we designed the system and database were found,and the consumer experiencing technology is studied.Finally we expounded the traceability information collection,transmission and final presentation style and expected the future development of traceability system.

EVALUASI PENDEKATAN PEMBANGUNAN TRACEABILITY LINK DALAM EVOLUSI PERANGKAT LUNAK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noor Fitria A.

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Traceability merupakan hal penting pada proyek perangkat lunak, terutama pada proyek skala besar. Traceability berfungsi untuk mengetahui ketelusuran antar artefak dalam fase-fase yang berbeda (analisis kebutuhan, analisis desain, dan analisis implementasi maupun antara artefak dan pihak pengembang yang terlibat. Sistem traceability otomatis diperlukan untuk membangun ketelusuran antar artefak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi sejumlah literatur pendekatan terbaru yang digunakan untuk membangun traceability link. Eksplorasi literatur mengacu pada taksonomi berbasis evolusi perangkat lunak terhadap sejumlah mekanisme karakterisasi perubahan dan faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi mekanisme. Hasil penelitian dapat digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi bagaimana pendekatan tersebut dapat mendukung evolusi perangkat lunak serta memberikan garis besar dari kriteria yang dibutuhkan untuk membangun metode traceability yang lebih baik. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah variasi faktor suatu pendekatan tidak berbeda jauh dengan pendekatan lainnya kecuali jika terdapat perbedaan pada faktor temporal.

Glance traceability – Web system for equipment traceability and radiation monitoring for the ATLAS experiment

CERN Document Server

Ramos de Azevedo Evora, L H; Pommes, K; Galvão, K K; Maidantchik, C

2010-01-01

During the operation, maintenance, and dismantling periods of the ATLAS Experiment, the traceability of all detector equipment must be guaranteed for logistic and safety matters. The running of the Large Hadron Collider will expose the ATLAS detector to radiation. Therefore, CERN must follow specific regulations from both the French and Swiss authorities for equipment removal, transport, repair, and disposal. GLANCE Traceability, implemented in C++ and Java/Java3D, has been developed to fulfill the requirements. The system registers and associates each equipment part to either a functional position in the detector or a zone outside the underground area through a 3D graphical user interface. Radiation control of the equipment is performed using a radiation monitor connected to the system: the local background gets stored and the threshold is automatically calculated. The system classifies the equipment as non radioactive if its radiation dose does not exceed that limit value. History for both location traceabi...

Tool-based requirement traceability between requirement and design artifacts

CERN Document Server

Turban, Bernhard

2013-01-01

Processes for developing safety-critical systems impose special demands on ensuring requirements traceability. Achieving valuable traceability information, however, is especially difficult concerning the transition from requirements to design. Bernhard Turban analyzes systems and software engineering theories cross-cutting the issue (embedded systems development, systems engineering, software engineering, requirements engineering and management, design theory and processes for safety-critical systems). As a solution, the author proposes a new tool approach to support designers in their thinkin

Establishing Food Traceability System Using Nuclear and Related Techniques in Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zainon Othman; Nazaratul Ashifa Abdullah Salim; Salmah Moosa; Roslanzairi Mostapha

2015-01-01

Determination of food traceability is important in quality control and safety of food. The dramatic increase in the volume of global trade and complexity of supply chains has caused a number of issues concerning food authenticity and safety. Commodities that attract premium prices are subject to fraud such as adulteration and counterfeit. This poses serious health risks due to unknown origin of the counterfeit. In addition to safety concern, the capability to certify food origin is becoming significant economic importance. In several countries, the use of geographical indications allows producers to obtain market recognition and often a premium price. In addressing food safety issues in Malaysia, the Food Hygiene Regulations (2009) has provision for traceability but mechanism on how traceability can be achieved is not prescribed. Present mechanism is mainly paper-based system that passes information along with the commodity. However, such system is subject to failure either inadvertently or deliberately (fraud). Thus there is a need to establish a science-based traceability system to support the food safety surveillance program in Malaysia. This paper presents the concept and use of nuclear and related techniques involving isotopic and elemental fingerprinting in determining the geographical origin of various food products and its potential application for traceability of Malaysian agricultural produce. (author)

Diagnostic model for assessing traceability system performance in fish processing plants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mgonja, J.T.; Luning, P.A.; Vorst, van der J.G.A.J.

2013-01-01

This paper introduces a diagnostic tool that can be used by fish processing companies to evaluate their own traceability systems in a systematic manner. The paper begins with discussions on the rationale of traceability systems in food manufacturing companies, followed by a detailed analysis of the

The calibration of spectrometers for Auger electron and X-ray photoelectron spectrometers part I - an absolute traceable energy calibration for electron spectrometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, G.C.; Seah, M.P.; Anthony, M.T.

1991-01-01

Experiments have been made to provide calibrated kinetic energy values for AES peaks in order to calibrate Auger electron spectrometers of various resolving powers. The kinetic energies are measured using a VG Scientific ESCALAB 2 which has power supplies appropriate for AES measurements in both the constant ΔE and constant ΔE/E modes. The absolute calibration of the energy scale is obtained by the development of a new measurement chain which, in turn, is calibrated in terms of the post-1990 representation of electron volts using XPS peaks with a traceable kinetic energy accuracy of 0.02 eV. The effects of instrumental and operating parameters, including the spectrometer dispersion and stray magnetic fields, are all assessed and contribute errors for three peaks not exceeding 0.06 eV and for two peaks not exceeding 0.03 eV. Calibrated positions in the direct spectrum are given for the Cu M 2,3 VV, Au N 6,7 VV, Ag M 4 NN, Cu L 3 VV and Au M 5 N 6,7 N 6,7 transitions at 0.2 eV resolution, referred to both the Standard Vacuum Level and the Fermi level. For the derivative spectrum the positions of the negative excursions are derived numerically by computer from this data and are established with the same accuracy. Data are tabulated for the above peaks in both the direct and differentiated modes for the popular resolutions of 0.15%, 0.3% and 0.6% produced by Gaussian broadening of the high resolution spectra. Differentiations are effected by both sinusoidal modulation and Savitzky-Golay functions of 2 eV and 5 eV peak-to-peak

Traceability, Liability, and Incentives for Food Safety and Quality

OpenAIRE

Sébastien Pouliot; Daniel A. Sumner

2008-01-01

Recent food scares such as the discoveries of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and E. coli-contaminated spinach have heightened interest in food traceability. Here, we show how exogenous increases in food traceability create incentives for farms and marketing firms to supply safer food by increasing liability costs. We model a stylized marketing chain composed of farms, marketers, and consumers. Unsafe food for consumers can be caused by either marketers or farms. We show that food safety dec...

Testing improvements in the chocolate traceability system: Impact on product recalls and production efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saltini, Rolando; Akkerman, Renzo

2012-01-01

hypothetical improvements of the traceability system within the chocolate production system and supply chain and we illustrate the resulting benefits by using a case study. Based on the case study, we quantify the influence of these improvements on production efficiency and recall size in case of a safety......The primary aim of food traceability is to increase food safety, but traceability systems can also bring other benefits to production systems and supply chains. In the literature these benefits are extensively discussed, but studies that quantify them are scarce. In this paper we propose two...... crisis by developing a simulation tool. These results are aimed to illustrate and quantify the additional benefits of traceability information, and could help food industries in deciding whether and how to improve their traceability systems....

Guidance on meeting DOE order requirements for traceable nondestructive assay measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-05-01

Purpose of this guide is to facilitate accuracy and precision of nondestructive assay measurements through improvement of the materials and process of traceability. This document provides DOE and its contractor facilities with guidance to establish traceability to the national measurement base for site-prepared NDA working reference materials

A PetriNet-Based Approach for Supporting Traceability in Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jiwei; Zhu, Yeping; Cheng, Bo; Lin, Chuang; Chen, Junliang

2016-03-17

With the growing popularity of complex dynamic activities in manufacturing processes, traceability of the entire life of every product has drawn significant attention especially for food, clinical materials, and similar items. This paper studies the traceability issue in cyber-physical manufacturing systems from a theoretical viewpoint. Petri net models are generalized for formulating dynamic manufacturing processes, based on which a detailed approach for enabling traceability analysis is presented. Models as well as algorithms are carefully designed, which can trace back the lifecycle of a possibly contaminated item. A practical prototype system for supporting traceability is designed, and a real-life case study of a quality control system for bee products is presented to validate the effectiveness of the approach.

Risiko Rantai Pasok Minuman Sari Apel Dalam Perspektif Sistem Traceability

OpenAIRE

Handayani, Dwi Iryaning

2014-01-01

Risiko merupakan faktor-faktor yang menghambat operasional pada rantai pasok makanan yang tidak dapat dihindari akan tetapi dapat diminimalisir atau dihilangkan dengan melakukan penanganan risiko yang tepat. Salah satu penanganan risiko dengan menggunakan sistem traceability. Oleh karena itu penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan penaksiran risiko yang terjadi pada rantai pasok minuman sari apel berdasarkan informasi sistem traceability. Dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode SCOR (Supply ...

SI-traceability of reference materials and reference measurements: From ignoring to realizing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bievre, P. de; Taylor, P.D.P.

2002-01-01

Basic principles of traceability of measurements in and to the SI system in general and for measurements of amount of substance in particular are described. Analogies with long-standing traceability schemes in physical measurements are shown and attempts are made to indicate what - as yet barely existing - traceability of amount (-of-substance) measurements could be. The recent start of the CGPM/CIPM/CCQM/BIPM involvement in the field of measurements indicated and possible tasks suggested for these scientific (and legal) guards of the international system of measurements SI (Systeme International). (author)

A PetriNet-Based Approach for Supporting Traceability in Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiwei Huang

2016-03-01

Full Text Available With the growing popularity of complex dynamic activities in manufacturing processes, traceability of the entire life of every product has drawn significant attention especially for food, clinical materials, and similar items. This paper studies the traceability issue in cyber-physical manufacturing systems from a theoretical viewpoint. Petri net models are generalized for formulating dynamic manufacturing processes, based on which a detailed approach for enabling traceability analysis is presented. Models as well as algorithms are carefully designed, which can trace back the lifecycle of a possibly contaminated item. A practical prototype system for supporting traceability is designed, and a real-life case study of a quality control system for bee products is presented to validate the effectiveness of the approach.

Technical and economic considerations about traceability and certification in livestock production chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meuwissen, M.P.M.; Velthuis, A.G.J.; Hogeveen, H.; Huirne, R.B.M.

2003-01-01

This paper focuses on traceability and certification. The goal of the paper is to analyse the status and perspectives of traceability systems and certification schemes and to review their potential costs and benefits. The following two sections describe purposes, requirements, status and

ePedigree Traceability System for the Agricultural Food Supply Chain to Ensure Consumer Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umar Farooq

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Sustainability relies on the environmental, social and economical systems: the three pillars of sustainability. The social sustainability mostly advocates the people’s welfare, health, safety, and quality of life. In the agricultural food industry, the aspects of social sustainability, such as consumer health and safety have gained substantial attention due to the frequent cases of food-borne diseases. The food-borne diseases due to the food degradation, chemical contamination and adulteration of food products pose a serious threat to the consumer’s health, safety, and quality of life. To ensure the consumer’s health and safety, it is essential to develop an efficient system which can address these critical social issues in the food distribution networks. This research proposes an ePedigree (electronic pedigree traceability system based on the integration of RFID and sensor technology for real-time monitoring of the agricultural food to prevent the distribution of hazardous and adulterated food products. The different aspects regarding implementation of the proposed system in food chains are analyzed and a feasible integrated solution is proposed. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated and finally, a comprehensive analysis of the proposed ePedigree system’s impact on the social sustainability in terms of consumer health and safety is presented.

Traceability in the pharmaceutical industry: application to radiopharmaceutical production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zanette, Camila; Melero, Laura T.U.H.; Araujo, Elaine B. de; Mengatti, Jair; Silva, Katia S. de S.

2011-01-01

The development of tools to promote the traceability of the drugs in the pharmaceutical industry during all the production chain is a necessary requisite. The traceability system is applied to enable the identification of the origin, destination and exact location of the drug. Traceability optimizes the process chain, reduces errors, is a requirement for quality process, promotes safety for the user and assists in pharmacovigilance. The health regulatory agency in Brazil (ANVISA) will implement a tracking system for medicaments with RDC no. 59 of 2009, to control distribution since the producer until the patients in order to prevent the traffic and adulteration of drugs. Thus, this study discusses the importance and impact of the new traceability system proposed by ANVISA in the production and distribution of radiopharmaceuticals from the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN-CNEN). The radiopharmaceuticals have a difference track when compared with another drug classes. In this context, this RDC would increase the price of the medicines by up to 10%, since it provides deployment of a single stamp supplied by the Mint. Considering that radiopharmaceuticals are not sold to the final consumer (patients), but only for accredited medical clinics and nuclear medicine physicians, and the transport of radiopharmaceuticals is performed by specialized companies licensed by CNEN (National Nuclear Energy Commission), the use of the stamp to ensure authenticity and prevent falsification should not be appropriated and represents and additional cost for the radiopharmaceuticals. (author)

IDENTIFIKASI RISIKO RANTAI PASOK BERBASIS SISTEM TRACEABILITY PADA MINUMAN SARI APEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwi Iryaning Handayani

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Risiko merupakan faktor-faktor yang menghambat operasional pada rantai pasok makanan yang tidak dapat dihindari akan tetapi dapat diminimalisir atau dihilangkan dengan melakukan penanganan risiko yang tepat. Penanganan risiko dalam rantai pasok sangat diperlukan agar dapat meminimalkan biaya, waktu dan kinerja dalam aktifitas rantai pasok. Traceability merupakan suatu sistem yang dapat meningkatkan transparansi dalam rantai supplai dalam mengurangi risiko klaim serta menemukan potensi risiko proses rantai pasok makanan. Oleh karena itu penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui proses yang terkait dengan traceability dan mengidentifikasi risiko yang terjadi pada rantai pasok makanan berdasarkan informasi sistem traceability. Aktivitas yang terkait dalam membangun sistem traceability antara lain pemeriksaan level stock dan produk minuman sari buah, penerimaan material dari pemasok, pembongkaran inspeksi bahan baku, penyimpanan bahan baku, penyimpanan sari buah di gudang, mengeluarkan sari buah dalam gudang untuk memulai aktivitas proses, inspeksi kualitas produk minuman sari buah, labeling produk jadi, persiapan pengiriman produk jadi, penyimpanan produk minuman sari apel di gudang, pengiriman produk ke distributor. Adapun risiko terjadi yang dapat di tangani dengan traceability yaitu, ketidak sesuaian data dengan produk dan bahan baku di gudang, kekurangan barang dan bahan baku digudang, keterlambatan penerimaan material, ketidak sesuaian barang yang dipesan, material busuk,sari buah rusak di gudang, sari buah tercampur dengan benda lain kesalahan pengangkutan produk, kesalahan dalam pengambilan galon sari buah yang tidak bersifat FIFO, kualitas produk tidak sesuai, kesalahan memberikan identitas, produk rusak digudang, produk cacat dalam perjalanan.

Importance of Requirements Analysis & Traceability to Improve Software Quality and Reduce Cost and Risk

Science.gov (United States)

Kapoor, Manju M.; Mehta, Manju

2010-01-01

The goal of this paper is to emphasize the importance of developing complete and unambiguous requirements early in the project cycle (prior to Preliminary Design Phase). Having a complete set of requirements early in the project cycle allows sufficient time to generate a traceability matrix. Requirements traceability and analysis are the key elements in improving verification and validation process, and thus overall software quality. Traceability can be most beneficial when the system changes. If changes are made to high-level requirements it implies that low-level requirements need to be modified. Traceability ensures that requirements are appropriately and efficiently verified at various levels whereas analysis ensures that a rightly interpreted set of requirements is produced.

Metrological traceability of holmium oxide solution

Science.gov (United States)

Gonçalves, D. E. F.; Gomes, J. F. S.; Alvarenga, A. P. D.; Borges, P. P.; Araujo, T. O.

2018-03-01

Holmium oxide solution was prepared as a candidate of certified reference material for spectrophotometer wavelength scale calibration. Here is presented the necessary steps for evaluation of the uncertainty and the establishment of metrological traceability for the production of this material. Preliminary results from the first produced batch are shown.

Traceability: a demand of agro industrial chain for special products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Verissimo Foggiatto Silveira

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The inclusion of agricultural products with different nutritional features has altered the relationship, the upstream and the downstream of enterprises that produce and commercialize them. Coordination in the Agro Industrial System is demanded, including traceability as a way to guarantee the conformity of products, attending external clients and agricultural industries that require quality certification. This quality tool enables the identification of some details in the productive chain, such as seeds, farming, harvesting, storage, transportation and industrialization of products. Thus, this essay describes the concept of traceability and provides information of special products from a cooperative from Paraná, which has controlled process in the productive chain, demanded by contractual partnerships done with enterprises that provide fertilizers and food processors. It was identified that this cooperative commercializes three products that need traceability: two special kinds of corn and the regular kind of soybean.

Database setup insuring radiopharmaceuticals traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robert, N.; Salmon, F.; Clermont-Gallerande, H. de; Celerier, C.

2002-01-01

Having to organize radiopharmacy and to insure proper traceability of radiopharmaceutical medicines brings numerous problems, especially for the departments which are not assisted with global management network systems. Our work has been to find a solution enabling to use high street software to cover those needs. We have set up a PC database run by the Microsoft software ACCESS 97. Its use consists in: saving data related to generators, isotopes and kits reception and deletion, as well as the results of quality control; transferring data collected from the software that is connected to the activimeter (elutions and preparations registers, prescription book). By relating all the saved data, ACCESS enables to mix all information in order to proceed requests. At this stage, it is possible to edit all regular registers (prescription book, generator and radionuclides follow-up, blood derived medicines traceability) and to quickly retrieve patients who have received a particular radiopharmaceutical, or the radiopharmaceutical that has been given to a particular patient. This user-friendly database provides a considerable support to nuclear medicine department that don't possess any network management for their radiopharmaceutical activity. (author)

Radionuclide traceability for U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Radioanalytical Services

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morton, J.S.; McIntyre, T.I.

2001-01-01

In 1999, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) National Analytical Management Program (NAMP) established a Radiological Traceability Program (RTP) as a new initiative for the radioanalytical activities related to the environmental programs conducted throughout the DOE complex. The National Analytical Management Program entered into an interagency agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish traceability to the national standard for DOE-EM radioanalytical activities through the NIST/reference laboratory concept as described in ANSI N42.23-1996. Using the criteria established by the RTP, NAMP named two DOE-EM laboratories as reference or secondary laboratories and established a program with NIST that demonstrated the concept of traceability. In order to gain and maintain traceability to NIST, each reference laboratory must meet the performance criteria as defined by the RTP and NAMP. Traceability to NIST is tiered down to each radioanalytical laboratory (monitor or service) that successfully participates in the performance-evaluation programs offered by the reference laboratories. Essential to the RTP is the demonstration that the reference laboratories can produce performance-testing (PT) materials of high quality as well as analyze/verify the radionuclide concentration to the required accuracy and precision. Elements of the RTP and the program requirements of NIST and the reference laboratories are presented. (author)

Lightweight approach to model traceability in a CASE tool

Science.gov (United States)

Vileiniskis, Tomas; Skersys, Tomas; Pavalkis, Saulius; Butleris, Rimantas; Butkiene, Rita

2017-07-01

A term "model-driven" is not at all a new buzzword within the ranks of system development community. Nevertheless, the ever increasing complexity of model-driven approaches keeps fueling all kinds of discussions around this paradigm and pushes researchers forward to research and develop new and more effective ways to system development. With the increasing complexity, model traceability, and model management as a whole, becomes indispensable activities of model-driven system development process. The main goal of this paper is to present a conceptual design and implementation of a practical lightweight approach to model traceability in a CASE tool.

Factors influencing extent of traceability along organic fresh produce value chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gichure, Josphat Njenga; Wahome, Raphael Githaiga; Njage, Patrick M.Kamau

2017-01-01

Information asymmetry is often a characteristic present in food value chains. However, high information asymmetry reduces trust and may compromise food safety and quality. Traceability enhances information sharing and disclosure thereby reducing the imperfection. Qualitative and quantitative data...... was collected from Kenyan certified farmers and organic outlets to generate empirical information on the extent and factors that contribute to traceability along organic kale value chains. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and factor.......754), certification by other quality management standards (0.711), training on food safety and traceability management (0.444) and system monitoring (0.770). Such knowledge can be used by players along the value chain to reduce information asymmetry. The results suggest need for awareness creation among stakeholders...

Automatic summary generating technology of vegetable traceability for information sharing

Science.gov (United States)

Zhenxuan, Zhang; Minjing, Peng

2017-06-01

In order to solve problems of excessive data entries and consequent high costs for data collection in vegetable traceablility for farmers in traceability applications, the automatic summary generating technology of vegetable traceability for information sharing was proposed. The proposed technology is an effective way for farmers to share real-time vegetable planting information in social networking platforms to enhance their brands and obtain more customers. In this research, the influencing factors in the vegetable traceablility for customers were analyzed to establish the sub-indicators and target indicators and propose a computing model based on the collected parameter values of the planted vegetables and standard legal systems on food safety. The proposed standard parameter model involves five steps: accessing database, establishing target indicators, establishing sub-indicators, establishing standard reference model and computing scores of indicators. On the basis of establishing and optimizing the standards of food safety and traceability system, this proposed technology could be accepted by more and more farmers and customers.

Construction of Traceability System for Quality Safety of Cereal and Oil Products

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Huoguo; Liu, Shihong; Meng, Hong; Hu, Haiyan

After several significant food safety incident, global food industry and governments in many countries are putting increasing emphasis on establishment of food traceability systems. Food traceability has become an effective way in food quality and safety management. The traceability system for quality safety of cereal and oil products was designed and implemented with HACCP and FMECA method, encoding, information processing, and hardware R&D technology etc, according to the whole supply chain of cereal and oil products. Results indicated that the system provide not only the management in origin, processing, circulating and consuming for enterprise, but also tracing service for customers and supervisor by means of telephone, internet, SMS, touch machine and mobile terminal.

Current Barriers to Large-scale Interoperability of Traceability Technology in the Seafood Sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardt, Marah J; Flett, Keith; Howell, Colleen J

2017-08-01

Interoperability is a critical component of full-chain digital traceability, but is almost nonexistent in the seafood industry. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodology, this study explores the barriers impeding progress toward large-scale interoperability among digital traceability systems in the seafood sector from the perspectives of seafood companies, technology vendors, and supply chains as a whole. We highlight lessons from recent research and field work focused on implementing traceability across full supply chains and make some recommendations for next steps in terms of overcoming challenges and scaling current efforts. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Wine Traceability with Rare Earth Elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maurizio Aceto

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The traceability of foodstuffs is now a relevant aspect of the food market. Scientific research has been devoted to addressing this issue by developing analytical protocols in order to find the link between soil and food items. In this view, chemical parameters that can act as soil markers are being sought. In this work, the role of rare earth elements (REEs as geochemical markers in the traceability of red wine is discussed. The REE distribution in samples from each step of the wine making process of Primitivo wine (produced in Southern Italy was determined using the highly sensitive inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS technique. Samples analyzed include grapes, must, and wine samples after every step in the vinification process. The resulting data were compared to the REE distribution in the soil, revealing that the soil fingerprint is maintained in the intermediate products up to and including grape must. Fractionation occurs thereafter as a consequence of further external interventions, which tends to modify the REE profile.

Traceability in the fish sector from research to commercial business

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Erling

the traceability information from the fishermen, it has been necessary to develop a new IT platform that can communicate with the official data collecting systems. At present nearly 90 % of all fish landed in Denmark is registrede in the central database, and the number of processing industries, wholesalers...... and retailers that are using the database are increasing steeply. In the near future another major step will be taken, due to an extensive investment program financed by the European Community, which will use the traceability data, from showing interactive information to the consumers to processing planning...

Seafood traceability: current needs, available tools, and biotechnological challenges for origin certification.

Science.gov (United States)

Leal, Miguel Costa; Pimentel, Tânia; Ricardo, Fernando; Rosa, Rui; Calado, Ricardo

2015-06-01

Market globalization and recurring food safety alerts have resulted in a growing consumer awareness of the need for food traceability. This is particularly relevant for seafood due to its perishable nature and importance as a key protein source for the population of the world. Here, we provide an overview of the current needs for seafood origin traceability, along with the limitations and challenges for its implementation. We focus on geochemical, biochemical, and molecular tools and how they should be optimized to be implemented globally and to address our societal needs. We suggest that seafood traceability is key to enforcing food safety regulations and fisheries control, combat fraud, and fulfill present and future expectations of conscientious producers, consumers, and authorities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethical traceability in the bacon supply chain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Thorkild; Kristensen, Niels Heine

2008-01-01

The chapter describes how Danish consumers feel a need for more information about bacon production practices,especially about some of the invisible attributes, such as origin, use of medicine and animal welfare, even though there is a long tradition for highly developed traceability systems. Trac...

A REVIEW ON LEGAL TRACEABILITY OF GNSS MEASUREMENTS IN THE MALAYSIAN CADASTRAL PRACTICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Gill

2016-09-01

Full Text Available As the dependency on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS in surveying has been growing over the years, the need for legal traceability of GNSS measurements has become a significant matter. In Malaysia, with the advent of the Malaysia Real-time Kinematic Network (MyRTKnet, GNSS surveying has revolutionised land survey and mapping. Correspondingly, the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (DSMM amended and published standard regulations and guidelines concerning cadastral survey, i.e., Cadastral Survey Regulations 2009, to include GNSS measurements. However, these regulations and guidelines has not comprehensively incorporated legal traceability of GNSS measurements; which is a prerequisite for cadastral surveys as it requires reliable and conclusive evidence for issues such as boundary disputes. The first objective of this paper is to review and discuss the legal traceability of GNSS measurements. Secondly, it will highlight the current practice and issues, i.e., with regard to legal traceability, within the present Malaysian cadastral regulation and guidelines, in relation to the prevalently adopted Network RTK (N-RTK technique, GNSS instrument calibrations, and reference stations’ accuracy. Lastly, a rudimentary best practice guideline for GNSS surveying in cadastral survey for Malaysia is proposed. It is expected that this paper will contribute to the implementation of a best practice guideline, which is inclusive of legal traceability of GNSS measurements, for the Malaysian cadastral practice.

Open problems in traceability: from raw materials to finished food products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Comba

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Even though the main EU regulations concerning food traceability have already entered to force since many years, we still remark very wide and impacting product recalls, which often involve simultaneously large territories and many countries. This is a clear sign that current traceability procedures and systems, when implemented with the only aim of respecting mandatory policies, are not effective, and that there are some aspects that are at present underestimated, and therefore should be attentively reconsidered. In particular, the sole adoption of the so-called “one step back-one step forward traceability” to comply the EC Regulation 178/2002, where every actor in the chain handles merely the data coming from his supplier and those sent to his client, is in fact not sufficient to control and to limit the impact of a recall action after a risk notification. Recent studies on lots dispersion and routing demonstrate that each stakeholder has to plan his activities (production, transformation or distribution according to specific criteria that allow pre-emptively estimating and limiting the range action of a possible recall. Moreover, these new and very recently proposed techniques still present some limits; first of all the problem of traceability of bulk products (e.g. liquids, powders, grains, crystals during production phases that involve mixing operations of several lots of different/same materials. In fact, current traceability practices are in most cases unable to deal efficiently with this kind of products, and, in order to compensate the lack of knowledge about lot composition, typically resort to the adoption of very large lots, based for instance on a considered production period. Aim of this paper is to present recent advances in the design of supply chain traceability systems, discussing problems that are still open and are nowadays subject of research.

Optimization of traceable coaxial RF reflection standards with 7-mm-N-connector using genetic algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Schrader

2003-01-01

Full Text Available A new coaxial device with 7-mm-N-connector was developed providing calculable complex reflection coefficients for traceable calibration of vector network analyzers (VNA. It was specifically designed to fill the gap between 0 Hz (DC, direct current and 250MHz, though the device was tested up to 10GHz. The frequency dependent reflection coefficient of this device can be described by a model, which is characterized by traceable measurements. It is therefore regarded as a “traceable model". The new idea of using such models for traceability has been verified, found to be valid and was used for these investigations. The DC resistance value was extracted from RF measurements up to 10 GHz by means of Genetic Algorithms (GA. The GA was used to obtain the elements of the model describing the reflection coefficient Γ of a network of SMD resistors. The DC values determined with the GA from RF measurements match the traceable value at DC within 3·10-3, which is in good agreement with measurements using reference air lines at GHz frequencies.

Method for traceable measurement of LTE signals

Science.gov (United States)

Sunder Dash, Soumya; Pythoud, Frederic; Leuchtmann, Pascal; Leuthold, Juerg

2018-04-01

This contribution presents a reference setup to measure the power of the cell-specific resource elements present in downlink long term evolution (LTE) signals in a way that the measurements are traceable to the international system of units. This setup can be used to calibrate the LTE code-selective field probes that are used to measure the radiation of base stations for mobile telephony. It can also be used to calibrate LTE signal generators and receivers. The method is based on traceable scope measurements performed directly at the output of a measuring antenna. It implements offline digital signal processing demodulation algorithms that consider the digital down-conversion, timing synchronization, frequency synchronization, phase synchronization and robust LTE cell identification to produce the downlink time-frequency LTE grid. Experimental results on conducted test scenarios, both single-input-single-output and multiple-input-multiple-output antenna configuration, show promising results confirming measurement uncertainties of the order of 0.05 dB with a coverage factor of 2.

[Traceability of labile blood products in Morocco: experience of the Ibn-Sina hospital of Rabat between 1999 and 2010].

Science.gov (United States)

Ouadghiri, S; Atouf, O; Brick, C; Benseffaj, N; Essakalli, M

2012-02-01

The blood transfusion and haemovigilance service of the Ibn-Sina hospital in Rabat (Morocco) was created 1997. This unit manages the pretransfusional tests, distribution of blood products, traceability and haemovigilance. The objective of this study was to analyze, over a period of 12years, the traceability of blood products delivered in our hospital and the measures used to improve feedback information. This is a retrospective study conducted between 1999 and 2010. Traceability rate was calculated from the feedback of traceability forms supplied with blood products (number of blood products noted on traceability forms on the total number of delivered product). To improve traceability rate, several actions were undertaken: one-time training, awareness campaigns and call phones asking for feedback information. Between 1999 and 2010, the service has delivered 173,858 blood products. The average rate of traceability during this period was 13.4 %. Traceability rate varies widely over time (5.2 % in 1999, 15.5 % in 2010) and shows a maximum value of 27.2 % in 2005. Feedback information is lower in emergency departments than in medical and surgical services. Feedback information about traceability in Ibn-Sina hospital remains very poor despite the measures used. Other actions, such as continuous education courses, low enforcement and informatisation should be considered. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Deciding to Adopt Requirements Traceability in Practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blaauboer, F.A.; Blaauboer, Floris; Sikkel, Nicolaas; Aydin, M.N.

2007-01-01

The use of requirements traceability for information systems development (ISD) projects is not very common in practice despite its often mentioned advantages in the literature. We conducted a case study in a large IT company to identify the factors that are relevant for the decision whether or not

Traceability of Software Safety Requirements in Legacy Safety Critical Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Janice L.

2007-01-01

How can traceability of software safety requirements be created for legacy safety critical systems? Requirements in safety standards are imposed most times during contract negotiations. On the other hand, there are instances where safety standards are levied on legacy safety critical systems, some of which may be considered for reuse for new applications. Safety standards often specify that software development documentation include process-oriented and technical safety requirements, and also require that system and software safety analyses are performed supporting technical safety requirements implementation. So what can be done if the requisite documents for establishing and maintaining safety requirements traceability are not available?

Traceability of Boletaceae mushrooms using data fusion of UV-visible and FTIR combined with chemometrics methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Sen; Li, Tao; Liu, HongGao; Li, JieQing; Wang, YuanZhong

2018-04-01

Boletaceae mushrooms are wild-grown edible mushrooms that have high nutrition, delicious flavor and large economic value distributing in Yunnan Province, China. Traceability is important for the authentication and quality assessment of Boletaceae mushrooms. In this study, UV-visible and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies were applied for traceability of 247 Boletaceae mushroom samples in combination with chemometrics. Compared with a single spectroscopy technique, data fusion strategy can obviously improve the classification performance in partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and grid-search support vector machine (GS-SVM) models, for both species and geographical origin traceability. In addition, PLS-DA and GS-SVM models can provide 100.00% accuracy for species traceability and have reliable evaluation parameters. For geographical origin traceability, the accuracy of prediction in the PLS-DA model by data fusion was just 64.63%, but the GS-SVM model based on data fusion was 100.00%. The results demonstrated that the data fusion strategy of UV-visible and FTIR combined with GS-SVM could provide a higher synergic effect for traceability of Boletaceae mushrooms and have a good generalization ability for the comprehensive quality control and evaluation of similar foods. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Real Traceable Signatures

Science.gov (United States)

Chow, Sherman S. M.

Traceable signature scheme extends a group signature scheme with an enhanced anonymity management mechanism. The group manager can compute a tracing trapdoor which enables anyone to test if a signature is signed by a given misbehaving user, while the only way to do so for group signatures requires revealing the signer of all signatures. Nevertheless, it is not tracing in a strict sense. For all existing schemes, T tracing agents need to recollect all N' signatures ever produced and perform RN' “checks” for R revoked users. This involves a high volume of transfer and computations. Increasing T increases the degree of parallelism for tracing but also the probability of “missing” some signatures in case some of the agents are dishonest.

The spectral irradiance traceability chain at PTB

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sperfeld, P.; Pape, S.; Nevas, S.

2013-01-01

Spectral irradiance is a fundamental radiometric unit. Its application to measurement results requires qualified traceability to basic units of the international system of units (Système international d’unités, SI). The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is amongst other national metrological institutes (NMIs) responsible for the realization, maintenance and dissemination of various radiometric and photometric units based on and traceable to national standards. The unit of spectral irradiance is realized and represented by a blackbody-radiator as the national primary standard of the PTB. Based on Planck’s radiation law, the irradiance is calculated and realized for any wavelength taking into account the exact knowledge of the radiation temperature and the geometrical parameters. Using a double-monochromator-based spectroradiometer system, secondary standard lamps can be calibrated by direct comparison to the blackbody-radiator (substitution method). These secondary standard lamps are then used at the PTB to calibrate standard lamps of customers. The customers themselves use these so-called transfer standards to calibrate their working standard lamps. These working standards are then used to calibrate own spectroradiometers or sources. This rather complex calibration chain is a common procedural method that for the customers generally leads to satisfying measurement results on site. Nevertheless, the standard lamps in use have to fulfill highest requirements concerning stability and reproducibility. Only this allows achieving comparably low transfer measurement uncertainties, which occur at each calibration step. Thus, the PTB is constantly investigating the improvement and further development of transfer standards and measurement methods for various spectral regions. The realization and dissemination of the spectral irradiance using the blackbody-radiator at the PTB is accomplished with worldwide approved minimized measurement uncertainties confirmed

The spectral irradiance traceability chain at PTB

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sperfeld, P.; Pape, S.; Nevas, S. [Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 10, 381160 Braunschweig (Germany)

2013-05-10

Spectral irradiance is a fundamental radiometric unit. Its application to measurement results requires qualified traceability to basic units of the international system of units (Systeme international d'unites, SI). The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is amongst other national metrological institutes (NMIs) responsible for the realization, maintenance and dissemination of various radiometric and photometric units based on and traceable to national standards. The unit of spectral irradiance is realized and represented by a blackbody-radiator as the national primary standard of the PTB. Based on Planck's radiation law, the irradiance is calculated and realized for any wavelength taking into account the exact knowledge of the radiation temperature and the geometrical parameters. Using a double-monochromator-based spectroradiometer system, secondary standard lamps can be calibrated by direct comparison to the blackbody-radiator (substitution method). These secondary standard lamps are then used at the PTB to calibrate standard lamps of customers. The customers themselves use these so-called transfer standards to calibrate their working standard lamps. These working standards are then used to calibrate own spectroradiometers or sources. This rather complex calibration chain is a common procedural method that for the customers generally leads to satisfying measurement results on site. Nevertheless, the standard lamps in use have to fulfill highest requirements concerning stability and reproducibility. Only this allows achieving comparably low transfer measurement uncertainties, which occur at each calibration step. Thus, the PTB is constantly investigating the improvement and further development of transfer standards and measurement methods for various spectral regions. The realization and dissemination of the spectral irradiance using the blackbody-radiator at the PTB is accomplished with worldwide approved minimized measurement uncertainties

How traceability is restructuring Malawi's tobacco industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moyer-Lee, Jason; Prowse, Martin

farming offers merchants the ability to meet manufacturers’ compliance and traceability requirements. It also offers an opportunity for process and product upgrading by smallholders, but threatens to exclude poorer growers. The article concludes by outlining current contractual practices and the possible...... role of third parties in this rapid institutional evolution....

TF4SM: A Framework for Developing Traceability Solutions in Small Manufacturing Companies

Science.gov (United States)

Bordel Sánchez, Borja; Alcarria, Ramón; Martín, Diego; Robles, Tomás

2015-01-01

Nowadays, manufacturing processes have become highly complex. Besides, more and more, governmental institutions require companies to implement systems to trace a product’s life (especially for foods, clinical materials or similar items). In this paper, we propose a new framework, based on cyber-physical systems, for developing traceability systems in small manufacturing companies (which because of their size cannot implement other commercial products). We propose a general theoretical framework, study the requirements of these companies in relation to traceability systems, propose a reference architecture based on both previous elements and build the first minimum functional prototype, to compare our solution to a traditional tag-based traceability system. Results show that our system reduces the number of inefficiencies and reaction time. PMID:26610509

Framework for Design of Traceability System on Organic Rice Certification

Science.gov (United States)

Purwandoko, P. B.; Seminar, K. B.; Sutrisno; Sugiyanta

2018-05-01

Nowadays, the preferences of organic products such as organic rice have been increased. It because of the people awareness of the healthy and eco-friendly food product consumption has grown. Therefore, it is very important to ensure organic quality of the product that will be produced. Certification is a series of process that holds to ensure the quality of products meets all criteria of organic standards. Currently, there is a problem that traceability information system for organic rice certification has been not available. The current system still conducts manually caused the loss of information during storage process. This paper aimed at developing a traceability framework on organic rice certification process. First, the main discussed issues are organic certification process. Second, unified modeling language (UML) is used to build the model of user requirement in order to develop traceability system for all actors in the certification process. Furthermore, the information captured model along certification process will be explained in this paper. The model shows the information flow that has to be recorded for each actor. Finally, the challenges in the implementation system will be discussed in this paper.

Traceability system for radioactivity standards in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hino, Yoshio

2000-01-01

The electrotechnical laboratory (ETL) is the one of the largest national research institute, affiliated with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The ETL has a role to maintain the national standards of electricity, acoustics, visible light, ionizing radiation and radioactivity. The primary radioactivity standards have been established in ETL mainly with the 4πβ-γ coincidence method. The liquid scintillation counters and multi-wire proportional counters are also used for pure-beta and surface emission rate standards, respectively. As for the traceability, the primary standard sources are transferred to the Japan Radio Isotope Association (JRIA), and the JRIA measure these sources to calibrate their secondary standard equipments such as high pressurized 4π ionization chambers, high pore Ge and Nal (Tl) gamma spectrometers. The primary sources are also sent to the BIPM and neighboring countries for the intercomparisons to keep the consistency of the national standards. In this paper, these measurement techniques for the primary standardization and transfer system will be introduced, and some results of comparisons for certificate the traceability system will be described. (author)

RFID-enabled traceability system for consignment and high value products: a case study in the healthcare sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Bendavid, Ygal; Boeck, Harold; Philippe, Richard

2012-12-01

This paper presents a case study of a hospital operating room that evaluated a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)-enabled traceability system for the management of consignment and high value products requiring item level traceability. Results indicate that the traceability system in conjunction with the redesign of replenishment processes facilitates item level traceability, improves financial controls and case costing, upgrades service levels and reduces inventory shrinkage. Other benefits include time saved from non-value-added activities that can be transferred to patient care activities. The solution can be considered (i) as an alternative to RFID-enabled cabinets used in the replenishment of consignment and high value supplies in certain operating rooms, cardiac catheterization laboratories and interventional radiology departments, or (ii) as a complementary solution facilitating the tracking of medical devices removed from RFID-enabled cabinets. In short, the end-to-end traceability of medical products in the healthcare supply chain can be significantly enhanced.

Application of the concept of traceability to the management of nuclear data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furnari, J.C.; Cohen, I.M.

1998-01-01

The connotations of the quality of nuclear data in the quality of experimental results are discussed. The authors show the analogies existent between metrological standards and literature data and propose the adoption of the concept of traceability of nuclear data. The conditions to be fulfilled for the publication of nuclear data, concerning the establishment of traceability, are discussed. Criteria for renormalization are presented. The requirements of nuclear data in neutron activation analysis and the role of the analyst are discussed

Traceability and Demand Sensitiveness: Evidences from Italian Fresh Potatoes Consumption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Caracciolo

2011-02-01

Full Text Available When a traceability system takes place, either when mandatory or voluntary, many questions arise that need to be addressed and answered. One of the firsts concerns whether it introduces new costs with no gain in efficiency or, on the contrary, the system efficiency increases lowering costs and, as a consequence, market price of the good in hand. Among others, another issue that only rarely is addressed regards the effect of a price change on the final market. The objective of this paper was to simulate the effect on fresh Italian vegetables market of prices change due to a newer traceability procedure, focusing on early potato. Reasons why early potato was the main object of our study will be explained in detail later in the paper. Moreover, this study concerns a demand system estimation that has, as main goal, the measurement of own and cross price elasticities as well as expenditure elasticities. Such estimations are not strictly related with traceability because they measure any change in quantity demanded due to price changes due to any market perturbation. However, since early potato is experiencing a peculiar market and chain change in Italy, our simulation is meant to reason in terms of a “what if” approach, formally simulating the effect of any change in price due to an hypothesis of traceability system involved. In order to estimate a demand system, real household consumption data (3,000 observations of a statistically representative sample of the Italian population of households was taken into account. Relevant measures of market variables were estimated by means of a Linear Almost Ideal Demand System implementing a large set of fresh vegetables: potato split in early and late, cabbage, salad, mushrooms, fruits vegetables, roots, asparagus, onion, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, zucchinis and others.

Application of Stable Isotope Signatures in Food Traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazaratul Ashifa Abdullah Salim; Roslanzairi Mostapha; Zainon Othman; Nor Afiqah Harun; Mohd Suhaimi Hamzah; Shamsiah Abdul Rahman; Md Suhaimi Elias; Salmah Moosa

2015-01-01

Stable isotope analysis has widely been used to trace the origin of organic materials in various fields, such as geochemistry, biochemistry, archaeology and petroleum. In past a decade, it has also become an important tool for food traceability study. The globalization of food markets and the relative ease with which food commodities are transported through and between countries and continents, means that consumers are increasingly concerned about the origin of the foods they eat. The natural abundance isotope variation such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen are use as geographic tracers or marker to determine the geographic origin of fruits, crop, vegetables and food products from animal. The isotopic compositions of plant materials reflect various factors such as isotopic compositions of source materials and their assimilation processes as well as growth environments. This paper will discuss on stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions in rice, advantages, limitations and potential of other analysis applications that can be incorporated in food traceability system. (author)

Detection and traceability of genetically modified organisms in the food production chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Miraglia, M; Berdal, K G; Brera, C; Corbisier, P; Holst-Jensen, A; Kok, E J; Marvin, H J P; Schimmel, H; Rentsch, J; van Rie, J P P F; Zagon, J

2004-07-01

Both labelling and traceability of genetically modified organisms are current issues that are considered in trade and regulation. Currently, labelling of genetically modified foods containing detectable transgenic material is required by EU legislation. A proposed package of legislation would extend this labelling to foods without any traces of transgenics. These new legislations would also impose labelling and a traceability system based on documentation throughout the food and feed manufacture system. The regulatory issues of risk analysis and labelling are currently harmonised by Codex Alimentarius. The implementation and maintenance of the regulations necessitates sampling protocols and analytical methodologies that allow for accurate determination of the content of genetically modified organisms within a food and feed sample. Current methodologies for the analysis of genetically modified organisms are focused on either one of two targets, the transgenic DNA inserted- or the novel protein(s) expressed- in a genetically modified product. For most DNA-based detection methods, the polymerase chain reaction is employed. Items that need consideration in the use of DNA-based detection methods include the specificity, sensitivity, matrix effects, internal reference DNA, availability of external reference materials, hemizygosity versus homozygosity, extrachromosomal DNA, and international harmonisation. For most protein-based methods, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays with antibodies binding the novel protein are employed. Consideration should be given to the selection of the antigen bound by the antibody, accuracy, validation, and matrix effects. Currently, validation of detection methods for analysis of genetically modified organisms is taking place. In addition, new methodologies are developed, including the use of microarrays, mass spectrometry, and surface plasmon resonance. Challenges for GMO detection include the detection of transgenic material in materials

Food quality and safety: traceability and labeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Lupien, John R

2005-01-01

This article discusses food systems in general, their development over the past 120 years, and realities and problems faced by a world population of over 6 billion people. Various food and feed problems are mentioned, and the concept of "traceability" is discussed in the context of the broader and more useful approach of using "good practices" at all levels of the food chain.

LEP Traceability

CERN Document Server

Billen, R

2000-01-01

After more than ten years of production for high energy physics, CERN's current flagship, LEP, will be closed down definitively October 1st, 2000. Starting immediately, some 30,000 tonnes of LEP materials will be removed from the tunnel to make room for LHC installation. The dismantling project is a major undertaking in terms of resources and constraints, which has to be completed in less than one year. Moreover, since LEP is classified as a nuclear installation in France (as if it was a nuclear power plant), special procedures have to be followed in addition to the normal environmental and safety issues. One major facet of the project is the "traceability" of everything that comes out of the LEP tunnel. This implies that each piece of equipment must be identified and tracked from its origin through any temporary storage to its final destination. Special procedures have to be followed for all materials even if they are not radioactive. As much of the equipment as possible will be recycled or disposed of. This...

Traceability and quality control in mammography: measurements and models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peixoto, Jose Guilherme Pereira

2002-10-01

The success of a treatment or diagnosis using radiation, depends on the optimization of the dose determination to be administered for the patient and on the beam radiation quality. It is recognized by the international guidelines that it is necessary to improve calibration services for mammography beams in order to improve the quality of clinical diagnosis. Major efforts have been made by several laboratories in order to establish an appropriate and traceable calibration infrastructure and to provide the basis for a quality control program in mammography. The contribution of the radiation metrology network to the mammography services is reviewed in this work. Steps required for the implementation of a mammography calibration system using a constant potential x-ray and a clinical mammography x-ray machine are presented. The various qualities of mammography radiation discussed in this work are in accordance with the IEC 61674 and the AAPM recommendations. This work also presents the methodology and the procedures to maintain and to disseminate the traceability at the x-ray mammography range, describing the interlaboratory comparison performed at LNMRI/IRD/CNEN and at the IPEN/CNEN using the secondary standard ionization chambers traceable with the international standard. It assesses the inter-laboratory comparison consistency and decides whether a questionable value should or not be accepted, using the residual method. This thesis discusses the uncertainties involved in all steps of the calibration chain in accord once with the ISO recommendations. (author)

Implementing traceability using particle randomness-based textile printed tags

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, T. K.; Koehl, L.; Campagne, C.

2017-10-01

This article introduces a random particle-based traceability tag for textiles. The proposed tag not only act as a unique signature for the corresponding textile product but also possess the features such as easy to manufacture and hard to copy. It seeks applications in brand authentication and traceability in textile and clothing (T&C) supply chain. A prototype has been developed by screen printing process, in which micron-scale particles were mixed with the printing paste and printed on cotton fabrics to attain required randomness. To encode the randomness, the image of the developed tag was taken and analyzed using image processing. The randomness of the particles acts as a product key or unique signature which is required to decode the tag. Finally, washing and abrasion resistance tests were conducted to check the durability of the printed tag.

Exploring the Limitations on RFID Technology in Traceability Systems at Beverage Factories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel Expósito

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The application of RFID in traceability of products in beverage factories is analyzed in terms of the electromagnetic conditions defined by the massive presence of metallic elements and liquids. Various experiments are reported to determine the maximum reading range from RFID tags installed on tanks or to read RFID information around bottles, both empty and full of wine, trying to put in context the possible problems that could appear when installing an RFID-based traceability system within a winery, a brewery, or any other beverage factory.

Establishment of Traceability of Reference Grade Hydrometers at National Physical Laboratory, India (npli)

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Anil; Kumar, Harish; Mandal, Goutam; Das, M. B.; Sharma, D. C.

The present paper discusses the establishment of traceability of reference grade hydrometers at National Physical Laboratory, India (NPLI). The reference grade hydrometers are calibrated and traceable to the primary solid density standard. The calibration has been done according to standard procedure based on Cuckow's Method and the reference grade hydrometers calibrated covers a wide range. The uncertainty of the reference grade hydrometers has been computed and corrections are also calculated for the scale readings, at which observations are taken.

Traceable calibration of hospital 192Ir HDR sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Govinda Rajan, K.N.; Bhatt, B.C.; Pendse, A.M.; Kannan, V.

2002-01-01

Presently, no primary standard exists for the standardization of remote afterloading 192 Ir HDR sources. These sources are, therefore, being standardized by a few Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratories (SSDLs), in terms of Air Kerma Strength (AKS) or Reference Air Kerma Rate (RAKR) using a 0.6 cc Farmer type chamber, set up as an Interim Standard. These SSDLs offer calibration to well type of ionization chambers that are normally used by the hospitals for calibrating the 192 lr HDR source. Presently, in many countries, including India, well chambers are not commercially available. Nor do these countries offer any calibration service for 192 lr HDR source. With the result users make use of well chambers imported from different countries with their calibration traceable to the country of origin. Since no intercomparisons between these countries have been reported, the measurement consistency between hospitals becomes questionable. The problem is compounded by the fact that these chambers are used for several years without re-calibration since no calibration service is locally available. For instance, in India, the chambers have been in use in hospitals, since 1994, without a second calibration. Not all hospitals use the well chamber for the calibration of the 192 lr HDR source. Many hospitals make use of 0.6 cc chambers, in air, at short source to chamber distances, for measuring the AKS of the source. The latter method is prone to much larger inaccuracy due to the use of very short source to chamber distances without proper calibration jigs, use of 60 Co calibration factor for 192 Ir HDR source calibrations, neglecting correction factors for room scatter, fluence non-uniformity, use of arbitrary buildup factors for the buildup cap of the chamber etc. A comparison of the procedures used at hospitals revealed that various arbitrary methods are in use at hospitals. An indigenously developed well chamber was calibrated against a Reference Standard traceable to the

Working Environment and Software Configuration Management Assimiliation using Traceability Enhancement Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, H.; Javed, A.; Majeed, M. N.

2015-01-01

Software Configuration Management (SCM) Systems are very useful in coordinating group effort in large and complex software systems. As a result of change in user requirement, market needs, tools, technology or new business goals emanate out, changes are continuously induced while developing the software product. For change management, Traceability technique and SCM are two prominent practices in the software development process. SCM helps in managing configuration items while traceability helps in tracing the knowledge about the configuration items. In this paper we propose a model of the SCM system with the working environment when changes are introduced in multiple artifacts and by which high quality products are developed. (author)

Traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development - Project report 2004

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sivertsen, T.; Fredrikson, R.; Thunem, A.P.J. [Institute for Energy Technology, Halden (Norway); Holmberg, J.E.; Valkonen, J.; Ventae, O. [VTT (Finland); Andersson, J.O. [Ringhals AB (Sweden)

2005-04-01

In 2004, the work has focused on providing a unified exposition on the issues studied and thereby facilitating a common approach to requirements handling, from their origins and through the different development phases. Emphasis has been put on the development of the TACO Traceability Model. The model supports understandability, communication and traceability by providing a common basis, in the form of a requirements change history, for different kinds of analysis and presentation of different requirements perspectives. Traceability is facilitated through the representation of requirements changes in terms of a change history tree built up by composition of instances of a number of change types, and by providing analysis on the basis of this representation. Much of the strength of the TACO Traceability Model is that it aims at forming the logic needed for formalising the activities related to change management and hence their further automation. The work was presented at the second TACO Industrial Seminar, which took place in Helsinki on the 8th of December 2004. Minutes of the seminar are included in appendix B. (au)

[Study on brand traceability of vinegar based on near infrared spectroscopy technology].

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Xiao; Liu, Jing; Gu, Fang-Qing; Yang, Yong-Jian

2014-09-01

In the present paper, 152 vinegar samples with four different brands were chosen as research targets, and their near infrared spectra were collected by diffusion reflection mode and transmission mode, respectively. Furthermore, the brand traceability models for edible vinegar were constructed. The effects of the collection mode and pretreatment methods of spectrum on the precision of traceability models were investigated intensively. The models constructed by PLS1-DA modeling method using spectrum data of 114 training samples were applied to predict 38 test samples, and R2, RMSEC and RMSEP of the model based on transmission mode data were 0.92, 0.113 and 0.127, respectively, with recognition rate of 76.32%, and those based on diffusion reflection mode data were 0.97, 0.102 and 0.119, with recognition rate of 86.84%. The results demonstrated that the near infrared spectrum combined with PLS1-DA can be used to establish the brand traceability models for edible vinegar, and diffuse reflection mode is more beneficial for predictive ability of the model.

Experts' perspectives on the implementation of traceability in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kher, S.V.; Frewer, L.J.; Jonge, J.de; Wentholt, M.; Davies, O.H.; Luijckx, N.B.L.; Cnossen, H.J.

2010-01-01

Purpose: The research presented in this paper aims at understanding the views of European food risk management experts on food traceability implementation, implementation of the general food law, and the advantages the system can offer for effective risk mitigation. Design/methodology/approach:

Traceability and measurement uncertainty in sample preparation (W5)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wegscheider, W.; Walner, U.; Moser, J.

2002-01-01

Full text: Very few chemical measurements are being made directly on the object of interest and sample preparation is thus the rule rather than the exception in daily practice. Unfortunately the operations undertaken in the course of sample preparation are prone to rendering a sample useless for the purpose of interpreting a measurement performed on it, as it might not represent the original and relevant status any longer. Sample preparation along with sampling itself constitutes therefore a procedure that leads to a loss of representation of the original specimen or population. On the other hand it is also not sufficient to confine aspects of traceability and measurement uncertainty to the ultimate measurement, as the key purpose of measuring is to supply adequate data for some kind of decision, be it in production, in health, in the environment, or indeed in any other circumstance. These considerations have led to severe confusion in the community as to what traceability really means in chemistry. CITAC and EURACHEM have only recently issued a preliminary document that clarifies these issues and gives a firm handle on the future development of quality assurance in analytical chemistry. In this talk it will be attempted to outline the general ideas and procedures that lead to traceability of analytical chemical results accompanied by valid statements of their uncertainty. It will be argued that the central element in achieving these goals is a well-designed validation study that frequently goes beyond those requirements currently laid out in official documents. (author)

Processing Uncertain RFID Data in Traceability Supply Chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong Xie

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID is widely used to track and trace objects in traceability supply chains. However, massive uncertain data produced by RFID readers are not effective and efficient to be used in RFID application systems. Following the analysis of key features of RFID objects, this paper proposes a new framework for effectively and efficiently processing uncertain RFID data, and supporting a variety of queries for tracking and tracing RFID objects. We adjust different smoothing windows according to different rates of uncertain data, employ different strategies to process uncertain readings, and distinguish ghost, missing, and incomplete data according to their apparent positions. We propose a comprehensive data model which is suitable for different application scenarios. In addition, a path coding scheme is proposed to significantly compress massive data by aggregating the path sequence, the position, and the time intervals. The scheme is suitable for cyclic or long paths. Moreover, we further propose a processing algorithm for group and independent objects. Experimental evaluations show that our approach is effective and efficient in terms of the compression and traceability queries.

Processing uncertain RFID data in traceability supply chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Dong; Xiao, Jie; Guo, Guangjun; Jiang, Tong

2014-01-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is widely used to track and trace objects in traceability supply chains. However, massive uncertain data produced by RFID readers are not effective and efficient to be used in RFID application systems. Following the analysis of key features of RFID objects, this paper proposes a new framework for effectively and efficiently processing uncertain RFID data, and supporting a variety of queries for tracking and tracing RFID objects. We adjust different smoothing windows according to different rates of uncertain data, employ different strategies to process uncertain readings, and distinguish ghost, missing, and incomplete data according to their apparent positions. We propose a comprehensive data model which is suitable for different application scenarios. In addition, a path coding scheme is proposed to significantly compress massive data by aggregating the path sequence, the position, and the time intervals. The scheme is suitable for cyclic or long paths. Moreover, we further propose a processing algorithm for group and independent objects. Experimental evaluations show that our approach is effective and efficient in terms of the compression and traceability queries.

Application of Stable Isotope Signatures in Food Traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazaratul Ashifa Abdullah Salim; Roslanzairi Mostapha; Zainon Othman

2016-01-01

Stable isotope analysis has widely been used to trace the origin of organic materials in various fields, such as geochemistry, biochemistry, archaeology and petroleum. In past a decade, it has also become an important tool for food traceability study. The globalisation of food markets and the relative ease which food commodities are transported through and between countries and continents means that consumers are increasingly concerned about the origin of the foods they eat. The natural abundance of stable isotope variation such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen are used as geographic tracers or marker to determine the geographic origin of fruits, crop, vegetables and food products from animal. The isotopic compositions of plant materials reflect various factors such as isotopic compositions of source materials and their assimilation processes as well as growth environments. This paper will discuss on stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions in rice that been determined by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, advantages, limitations and potential of other analysis applications that can be incorporated in food traceability system. (author)

Microfluidic-assisted fabrication of flexible and location traceable organo-motor.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Kyoung Duck; Kwak, Byung Kook; Sanchez, Samuel; Kim, Dong Sung

2015-04-01

In this paper, we fabricate a flexible and location traceable micromotor, called organo-motor, assisted by microfluidic devices and with high throughput. The organo-motors are composed of organic hydrogel material, poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), which can provide the flexibility of their structure. For spatial and temporal traceability of the organo-motors under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION; Fe3O4) were incorporated into the PEGDA microhydrogels. Furthermore, a thin layer of platinum (Pt) was deposited onto one side of the SPION-PEGDA microhydrogels providing geometrical asymmetry and catalytic propulsion in aqueous fluids containing hydrogen peroxide solution, H2O2. Furthermore, the motion of the organo-motor was controlled by a small external magnet enabled by the presence of SPION in the motor architecture.

Traceable calibration and demonstration of a portable dynamic force transfer standard

Science.gov (United States)

Vlajic, Nicholas; Chijioke, Ako

2017-08-01

In general, the dynamic sensitivity of a force transducer depends upon the mechanical system in which it is used. This dependence serves as motivation to develop a dynamic force transfer standard, which can be used to calibrate an application transducer in situ. In this work, we SI-traceably calibrate a hand-held force transducer, namely an impact hammer, by using a mass suspended from a thin line which is cut to produce a known dynamic force in the form of a step function. We show that this instrument is a promising candidate as a transfer standard, since its dynamic response has small variance between different users. This calibrated transfer standard is then used to calibrate a secondary force transducer in an example application setting. The combined standard uncertainty (k  =  2) in the calibration of the transfer standard was determined to be 2.1% or less, up to a bandwidth of 5 kHz. The combined standard uncertainty (k  =  2) in the performed transfer calibration was less than 4%, up to 3 kHz. An advantage of the transfer calibration framework presented here, is that the transfer standard can be used to transfer SI-traceable calibrations without the use of any SI-traceable voltage metrology instrumentation.

Traceability System Model for Quality Gelatin Raw Material of Cattle Hides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Nur

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Several criteria must be accomplished within the provision of quality products in terms of the types of materials, the processing methods and effort to get it. Traceability system involves various parties that have different needs and goals in the process of supplying raw materials. Hence, there is a need for institutional systems engineering that can organize and manage the tracking process, the procurement of raw materials that guarantee the origin of gelatin raw materials, and facilitate the industry and customer to create a standardized quality of product. The purpose of the study formulates the institutional tracking models of gelatin raw material from cattle hide based on various criteria and assessment of the expert opinion. The methods used in this study were Interpretative structural modeling to formulate a representation of institutional tracking efficiently and analytical hierarchy process to determine the tracking strategy of industrial gelatin raw materials from cowhide. The results obtained from the study were some key elements of institutional tracking model for industrial gelatin raw materials from cowhide and the traceability strategies for industrial raw materials from cattle hide gelatin Indonesia. (Animal Production 12(3: 190-198 (2010 Key Words: traceability, institutional model, cattle hide, gelatin

A study on adapting advanced traceability system between feed manufacturer and salmon farmer in a farmed salmon supply chain

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Yating; Kim, YunJin

2015-01-01

Adopting an advanced traceability system in a supply chain is crucial to solve food safety issue. It is certainly important for firms to improve their traceability to deal with potential recalls but it is up to the firms’ choice 'How much traceability' they want and on 'What level of granularity'. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how different actors in a real farmed salmon supply chain perceive benefits of implementing the advanced trac...

Development of Traceable Phantoms for Improved Image Quantification in Positron Emission Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Brian

2014-03-01

Clinical trials for new drugs increasingly rely on imaging data to monitor patient response to the therapy being studied. In the case of radiopharmaceutical applications, imaging data are also used to estimate organ and tumor doses in order to arrive at the optimal dosage for safe and effective treatment. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is one of the most commonly used imaging modalities for these types of applications. In large, multicenter trials it is crucial to minimize as much as possible the variability that arises due to use of different types of scanners and other instrumentation so that the biological response can be more readily evaluated. This can be achieved by ensuring that all the instruments are calibrated to a common standard and that their performance is continuously monitored throughout the trial. Maintaining links to a single standard also enables the comparability of data acquired on a heterogeneous collection of instruments in different clinical settings. As the standards laboratory for the United States, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been developing a suite of phantoms having traceable activity content to enable scanner calibration and performance testing. The configurations range from small solid cylindrical sources having volumes from 1 mL to 23 mL to large cylinders having a total volume of 9 L. The phantoms are constructed with 68Ge as a long-lived substitute for the more clinically useful radionuclide 18F. The contained activity values are traceable to the national standard for 68Ge and are also linked to the standard for 18F through a careful series of comparisons. The techniques that have been developed are being applied to a variety of new phantom configurations using different radionuclides. Image-based additive manufacturing techniques are also being investigated to create fillable phantoms having irregular shapes which can better mimic actual organs and tumors while still maintaining traceability

Defining and Analyzing Traceability Systems in Food Supply Chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholten, H.; Verdouw, C.N.; Beulens, A.J.M.; Vorst, van der J.G.A.J.

2016-01-01

Traceability is considered to be a vital issue for all stakeholders in food supply chains. The most important driver is the increasing societal need to guarantee food quality and provenance. Because consumers cannot know in detail what processing steps are executed in the production of food and what

Analyzing organic tea certification and traceability system within the Taiwanese tea industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mao-Chang; Yang, Chin-Ying

2015-04-01

We applied game theory to the organic tea certification process and traceability system used by the Taiwanese tea industry to elucidate the strategic choices made by tea farmers and organic tea certification agencies. Thus, this paper clarifies how relevant variables affect the organic certification process and traceability system used within the tea industry. The findings indicate that farmers who generate high revenues experience failures regarding tea deliveries, cash outflow, damage compensation, and quasi-rent. An additional problem included the high costs yielded when tea farmers colluded with or switched organic tea certification agencies. Furthermore, there could be decreasing levels of personal interest in planting non-organic tea and lowering the costs of planting organic tea and the managerial accounting costs of building comprehensive traceability systems; thus, the analysis yielded strong results and a superior equilibrium. This research is unprecedented, using an innovative model and providing a novel analysis structure for use in the tea industry. These results contribute to the field of literature and should serve as a valuable reference for members of the tea industry, government, and academia. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Decision Model for Planning and Scheduling of Seafood Product Considering Traceability

Science.gov (United States)

Agustin; Mawengkang, Herman; Mathelinea, Devy

2018-01-01

Due to the global challenges, it is necessary for an industrial company to integrate production scheduling and distribution planning, in order to be more efficient and to get more economics advantages. This paper presents seafood production planning and scheduling of a seafood manufacture company which produces simultaneously multi kind of seafood products, located at Aceh Province, Indonesia. The perishability nature of fish highly restricts its storage duration and delivery conditions. Traceability is a tracking requirement to check whether the quality of the product is satisfied. The production and distribution planning problem aims to meet customer demand subject to traceability of the seafood product and other restrictions. The problem is modeled as a mixed integer linear program, and then it is solved using neighborhood search approach.

An intelligent traceability system: Efficient tool for a supply chain sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Bougdira, Abdesselam; Ahaitouf, Abdelaziz; Akharraz, Ismail

2016-07-01

The supply chain sustainability becomes a necessity for a smooth, a rapid and a fluid economic transaction. To reach a sustainable supply chain, we propose to focus attention on products and their lifecycle. So, we consider the traceability as a major success key to ensure the supply chain sustainability. For that, we consider a supply chain design that use an intelligent products traced by an intelligent traceability system. This system identifies, restores history and properties of a product, besides it tracks, in real-time a product. This solution can, also, bring, in the product environment, appropriate adjustments to prevent any risk of threatening qualities for the product. So, it helps supply chain contributors making the sustainable adjustments and the instant benchmark of the supply chain sustainability.

Traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sivertsen, T.; Fredriksen, Rune; Thunem, A.P.J. [Inst. for Energy Technology, Halden (Norway); Holmberg, J.E.; Valkonen, J.; Ventae, O. [VTT (Finland); Andersson, J.O. [Ringhals AB (Sweden)

2005-10-01

The overall objective of the TACO project has been to improve the knowledge on principles and best practices related to the traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development. On the basis of experiences in the Nordic countries, the project has aimed at identifying the best practices and most important criteria for ensuring effective communication in relation to requirements elicitation and analysis, understandability of requirements to all parties, and traceability of requirements through the different design phases. It is expected that the project will provide important input to the development of guidelines and establishment of recommended practices related to these activities. The report provides a summary of the project activities and deliverables, discusses possible application areas, and provides a link to its utilization in the project 'Management of Requirements in NPP Modernization Projects' (NKS-R-2005-47). In the preparation of the final report, a number of application areas have been identified where the TACO deliverables, first of all the TACO Shell and the TACO Traceability Model, can be utilized. The report aims at facilitating such utilization, by defining the context and main issues, explaining the main aspects of the deliverables, discussing the challenges experienced in the different application domains with respect requirements management, traceability and communication and how can the TACO results contribute to solving these challenges. (au)

Traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivertsen, T.; Fredriksen, Rune; Thunem, A.P.J.; Holmberg, J.E.; Valkonen, J.; Ventae, O.; Andersson, J.O.

2005-10-01

The overall objective of the TACO project has been to improve the knowledge on principles and best practices related to the traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development. On the basis of experiences in the Nordic countries, the project has aimed at identifying the best practices and most important criteria for ensuring effective communication in relation to requirements elicitation and analysis, understandability of requirements to all parties, and traceability of requirements through the different design phases. It is expected that the project will provide important input to the development of guidelines and establishment of recommended practices related to these activities. The report provides a summary of the project activities and deliverables, discusses possible application areas, and provides a link to its utilization in the project 'Management of Requirements in NPP Modernization Projects' (NKS-R-2005-47). In the preparation of the final report, a number of application areas have been identified where the TACO deliverables, first of all the TACO Shell and the TACO Traceability Model, can be utilized. The report aims at facilitating such utilization, by defining the context and main issues, explaining the main aspects of the deliverables, discussing the challenges experienced in the different application domains with respect requirements management, traceability and communication and how can the TACO results contribute to solving these challenges. (au)

Development on traceability based on changes of stable isotopes in animal tissues and organs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Xianfeng; Guo Boli; Wei Yimin; Sun Shumin; Wei Shuai

2011-01-01

Stable isotope analysis is a new method in food traceability, which can be used to trace animals' geographical origin and life history. This paper reviews the recent progress of researches on characteristics of stable isotopes and turnover time in different animal tissues and organs, as well as their influence caused by feed, drinking water, geographical origin, storing and processing. The aim of this paper is to provide theoretical reference for studies on the traceability of animal derived food and animals' life history. (authors)

Dμ-A new concept in industrial low-energy electron dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helt-Hansen, Jakob; Miller, Arne; Sharpe, Peter; Laurell, Bengt; Weiss, Doug; Pageau, Gary

2010-01-01

Irradiation with low-energy electrons (100-300 keV) results in dose gradients across the thickness of the dosimeters that are typically used for dose measurement at these energies. This leads to different doses being measured with different thickness dosimeters irradiated at the same electron beam, resulting in difficulties in providing traceable dose measurements using reference dosimeters. In order to overcome these problems a new concept is introduced of correcting all measured doses to the average dose in the first micrometer-D μ . We have applied this concept to dose measurements with dosimeters of different thickness at two electron accelerators operating over a range of energies. The uncertainties of the dose measurements were evaluated, and it was shown that the dose in terms of D μ was the same at each energy for all dosimeters within the measurement uncertainty. Using the concept of D μ it is therefore possible to calibrate and measure doses from low-energy electron irradiations with measurement traceability to national standards.

Optimization of PIXE quantitative system to assist the traceability of pearl and other gemstones

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murao, S., E-mail: s.murao@aist.go.jp [National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, (Japan); Sera, K. [Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Takizawa, Iwate (Japan); Goto, S.; Takahashi, C. [Takizawa Laboratory, Japan Radioisotope Association, Takizawa, Iwate (Japan); Cartier, L. [Department of Environmental Science, University of Basel (Switzerland); Nakashima, K. [Yamagata University, Yamagata, (Japan)

2013-07-01

Full text: A recent rise of social attention towards ethical consumerism, ethical jewellery, blood diamonds and the traceability of gemstones has challenged scientists to construct analytical systems to deliver in line with such expectations by offering traceability solutions. It is important to develop traceability protocols for gemstones and pearls that are ethically traded, as this will further encourage members of the trade to engage in ethical and fair trade practices. Of various kinds of available methods, Proton/particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) seems to be robust and promising in this context because of its trace element analysis capabilities without destruction. The authors conducted both vacuum and in-air experiments to optimize conditions to identify important peaks and to quantify the signals that correspond to gemstone materials from specific geographic origins. PIXE results for cultured pearls from Micronesia and commercial-quality crystals from Pakistan, both sources of fair trade gemstone materials, will be presented. (author)

Optimization of PIXE quantitative system to assist the traceability of pearl and other gemstones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murao, S.; Sera, K.; Goto, S.; Takahashi, C.; Cartier, L.; Nakashima, K.

2013-01-01

Full text: A recent rise of social attention towards ethical consumerism, ethical jewellery, blood diamonds and the traceability of gemstones has challenged scientists to construct analytical systems to deliver in line with such expectations by offering traceability solutions. It is important to develop traceability protocols for gemstones and pearls that are ethically traded, as this will further encourage members of the trade to engage in ethical and fair trade practices. Of various kinds of available methods, Proton/particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) seems to be robust and promising in this context because of its trace element analysis capabilities without destruction. The authors conducted both vacuum and in-air experiments to optimize conditions to identify important peaks and to quantify the signals that correspond to gemstone materials from specific geographic origins. PIXE results for cultured pearls from Micronesia and commercial-quality crystals from Pakistan, both sources of fair trade gemstone materials, will be presented. (author)

The role of psychological determinants and demographic factors in consumer demand for farm-to-fork traceability systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Myae, Aye Chan; Goddard, Ellen; Aubeeluck, Ashwina

2011-01-01

Traceability systems are an important tool (1) for tracking, monitoring, and managing product flows through the supply chain for better efficiency and profitability of suppliers, and (2) to improve consumer confidence in the face of serious food safety incidents. After the global bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis affected producers, consumers, trade, and the health status of animals and humans, new systems to help confirm the status of cattle products along the supply chain from farm to fork were implemented in many countries (Trautman et al. 2008 ). In this study, people's overall food safety beliefs are explored with the main objective of measuring the link between their food safety beliefs and their attitudes toward traceability. A comparison is made among English-speaking Canadians, French-speaking Canadians, and Japanese consumers. In the study, an Internet-based survey was used to collect data from nationally representative samples of the population in Canada-English (1275), Canada-French (343), and Japanese (1940) in the summer of 2009. Respondents' interests in traceability systems are clearly linked to their sense that the industry is primarily responsible for any food safety outbreaks. Moreover, it is clear that certain segments of the population in all samples feel strongly about the importance of farm to fork traceability in beef; thus, policymakers may wish to consider extending traceability beyond the point of slaughter as a way of encouraging beef sales in Canada.

Phenolic Profiling for Traceability of Vanilla ×tahitensis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo Busconi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Vanilla is a flavoring recovered from the cured beans of the orchid genus Vanilla. Vanilla ×tahitensis is traditionally cultivated on the islands of French Polynesia, where vanilla vines were first introduced during the nineteenth century and, since the 1960s, have been introduced to other Pacific countries such as Papua New Guinea (PNG, cultivated and sold as “Tahitian vanilla,” although both sensory properties and aspect are different. From an economic point of view, it is important to ensure V. ×tahitensis traceability and to guarantee that the marketed product is part of the future protected designation of the origin “Tahitian vanilla” (PDO, currently in progress in French Polynesia. The application of metabolomics, allowing the detection and simultaneous analysis of hundreds or thousands of metabolites from different matrices, has recently gained high interest in food traceability. Here, metabolomics analysis of phenolic compounds profiles was successfully applied for the first time to V. ×tahitensis to deepen our knowledge of vanilla metabolome, focusing on phenolics compounds, for traceability purposes. Phenolics were screened through a quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometer coupled to a UHPLC liquid chromatography system, and 260 different compounds were clearly evidenced and subjected to different statistical analysis in order to enable the discrimination of the samples based on their origin. Eighty-eight and twenty three compounds, with a prevalence of flavonoids, resulted to be highly discriminant through ANOVA and Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA respectively. Volcano plot analysis and pairwise comparisons were carried out to determine those compounds, mainly responsible for the differences among samples as a consequence of either origin or cultivar. The samples from PNG were clearly different from the Tahitian samples that were further divided in two different groups based on

Phenolic Profiling for Traceability of Vanilla ×tahitensis.

Science.gov (United States)

Busconi, Matteo; Lucini, Luigi; Soffritti, Giovanna; Bernardi, Jamila; Bernardo, Letizia; Brunschwig, Christel; Lepers-Andrzejewski, Sandra; Raharivelomanana, Phila; Fernandez, Jose A

2017-01-01

Vanilla is a flavoring recovered from the cured beans of the orchid genus Vanilla . Vanilla × tahitensis is traditionally cultivated on the islands of French Polynesia, where vanilla vines were first introduced during the nineteenth century and, since the 1960s, have been introduced to other Pacific countries such as Papua New Guinea (PNG), cultivated and sold as "Tahitian vanilla," although both sensory properties and aspect are different. From an economic point of view, it is important to ensure V . × tahitensis traceability and to guarantee that the marketed product is part of the future protected designation of the origin "Tahitian vanilla" (PDO), currently in progress in French Polynesia. The application of metabolomics, allowing the detection and simultaneous analysis of hundreds or thousands of metabolites from different matrices, has recently gained high interest in food traceability. Here, metabolomics analysis of phenolic compounds profiles was successfully applied for the first time to V . × tahitensis to deepen our knowledge of vanilla metabolome, focusing on phenolics compounds, for traceability purposes. Phenolics were screened through a quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometer coupled to a UHPLC liquid chromatography system, and 260 different compounds were clearly evidenced and subjected to different statistical analysis in order to enable the discrimination of the samples based on their origin. Eighty-eight and twenty three compounds, with a prevalence of flavonoids, resulted to be highly discriminant through ANOVA and Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) respectively. Volcano plot analysis and pairwise comparisons were carried out to determine those compounds, mainly responsible for the differences among samples as a consequence of either origin or cultivar. The samples from PNG were clearly different from the Tahitian samples that were further divided in two different groups based on the different

Improving food safety in the supply chain: Integrating traceability in production and distribution planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunow, Martin; Rong, Aiying; Akkerman, Renzo

2008-01-01

on production and distribution planning. Here, we develop a methodology for production and distribution planning in food supply chains which minimizes production and logistics costs and at the same time reduces food safety concerns, limits the size of potential recalls, and satisfies product quality...... with traceability from the viewpoint of information system development and technology development such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and DNA-based techniques. However, traceability and its implications for food safety are thus far not incorporated in the standard operations management literature...

Traceability and Measurement Uncertainty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tosello, Guido; De Chiffre, Leonardo

2004-01-01

. The project partnership aims (composed by 7 partners in 5 countries, thus covering a real European spread in high tech production technology) to develop and implement an advanced e-learning system that integrates contributions from quite different disciplines into a user-centred approach that strictly....... Machine tool testing 9. The role of manufacturing metrology for QM 10. Inspection planning 11. Quality management of measurements incl. Documentation 12. Advanced manufacturing measurement technology The present report (which represents the section 2 - Traceability and Measurement Uncertainty – of the e-learning......This report is made as a part of the project ‘Metro-E-Learn: European e-Learning in Manufacturing Metrology’, an EU project under the program SOCRATES MINERVA (ODL and ICT in Education), Contract No: 101434-CP-1-2002-1-DE-MINERVA, coordinated by Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen...

Coherent double-color interference microscope for traceable optical surface metrology

Science.gov (United States)

Malinovski, I.; França, R. S.; Bessa, M. S.; Silva, C. R.; Couceiro, I. B.

2016-06-01

Interference microscopy is an important field of dimensional surface metrology because it provides direct traceability of the measurements to the SI base unit definition of the metre. With a typical measurement range from micrometres to nanometres interference microscopy (IM) covers the gap between classic metrology and nanometrology, providing continuous transfer of dimensional metrology into new areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Therefore IM is considered to be an indispensable tool for traceable transfer of the metre unit to different instruments. We report here the metrological study of an absolute Linnik interference microscope (IM) based on two frequency stabilized lasers. The design permits the flexible use of both lasers for measurements depending on the demand of the concrete measurement task. By principle of operation IM is combination of imaging and phase-shifting interferometry (PSI). The traceability is provided by the wavelength reference, that is, a He-Ne 633 nm stabilized laser. The second laser source, that is, a Blue-Green 488 nm grating stabilized laser diode, is used for improvements of resolution, and also for resolving integer fringe discontinuities on sharp features of the surface. The IM was optimized for surface height metrology. We have performed the study of the systematic effects of the measurements. This study allowed us to improve the hardware and software of IM and to find corrections for main systematic errors. The IM is purposed for 1D to 3D height metrology and surface topography in an extended range from nanometres to micrometres. The advantages and disadvantages of the design and developed methods are discussed.

Coherent double-color interference microscope for traceable optical surface metrology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malinovski, I; França, R S; Bessa, M S; Silva, C R; Couceiro, I B

2016-01-01

Interference microscopy is an important field of dimensional surface metrology because it provides direct traceability of the measurements to the SI base unit definition of the metre. With a typical measurement range from micrometres to nanometres interference microscopy (IM) covers the gap between classic metrology and nanometrology, providing continuous transfer of dimensional metrology into new areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Therefore IM is considered to be an indispensable tool for traceable transfer of the metre unit to different instruments. We report here the metrological study of an absolute Linnik interference microscope (IM) based on two frequency stabilized lasers. The design permits the flexible use of both lasers for measurements depending on the demand of the concrete measurement task. By principle of operation IM is combination of imaging and phase-shifting interferometry (PSI). The traceability is provided by the wavelength reference, that is, a He-Ne 633 nm stabilized laser. The second laser source, that is, a Blue-Green 488 nm grating stabilized laser diode, is used for improvements of resolution, and also for resolving integer fringe discontinuities on sharp features of the surface. The IM was optimized for surface height metrology. We have performed the study of the systematic effects of the measurements. This study allowed us to improve the hardware and software of IM and to find corrections for main systematic errors. The IM is purposed for 1D to 3D height metrology and surface topography in an extended range from nanometres to micrometres. The advantages and disadvantages of the design and developed methods are discussed. (paper)

Wine Traceability: A Data Model and Prototype in Albanian Context.

Science.gov (United States)

Vukatana, Kreshnik; Sevrani, Kozeta; Hoxha, Elira

2016-02-17

Vine traceability is a critical issue that has gained interest internationally. Quality control programs and schemes are mandatory in many countries including EU members and the USA. Albania has transformed most of the EU regulations on food into laws. Regarding the vine sector, the obligation of wine producers to keep traceability data is part of the legislation. The analysis on the interviews conducted with Albanian winemakers show that these data are actually recorded only in hard copy. Another fact that emerges from the interviews is that only two producers have implemented the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards on food. The purpose of this paper is to develop an agile and automated traceability system based on these standards. We propose a data model and system prototype that are described in the second and third section of this work. The data model is an adaption along the lines of the GS1 (Global Standards One) specifications for a wine supply chain. The proposed prototype has a key component that is mobile access to the information about wine through barcode technology. By using this mechanism the consumer obtains transparency on his expectations concerning the quality criteria. Another important component of the proposed system in this paper is a real-time notification module that works as an alert system when a risk is identified. This can help producers and authorities to have a rapid identification of a contaminated product. It is important in cases when recalling the product from the market or preventing it from reaching the consumer.

Wine Traceability: A Data Model and Prototype in Albanian Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kreshnik Vukatana

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Vine traceability is a critical issue that has gained interest internationally. Quality control programs and schemes are mandatory in many countries including EU members and the USA. Albania has transformed most of the EU regulations on food into laws. Regarding the vine sector, the obligation of wine producers to keep traceability data is part of the legislation. The analysis on the interviews conducted with Albanian winemakers show that these data are actually recorded only in hard copy. Another fact that emerges from the interviews is that only two producers have implemented the ISO (International Organization for Standardization standards on food. The purpose of this paper is to develop an agile and automated traceability system based on these standards. We propose a data model and system prototype that are described in the second and third section of this work. The data model is an adaption along the lines of the GS1 (Global Standards One specifications for a wine supply chain. The proposed prototype has a key component that is mobile access to the information about wine through barcode technology. By using this mechanism the consumer obtains transparency on his expectations concerning the quality criteria. Another important component of the proposed system in this paper is a real-time notification module that works as an alert system when a risk is identified. This can help producers and authorities to have a rapid identification of a contaminated product. It is important in cases when recalling the product from the market or preventing it from reaching the consumer.

Radionuclide metrology: traceability and response to a radiological accident

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tauhata, L.; Cruz, P.A.L. da; Silva, C.J. da; Delgado, J.U.; Oliveira, A.E. de; Oliveira, E.M. de; Poledna, R.; Loureiro, J. dos S.; Ferreira Filho, A.L.; Silva, R.L. da; Filho, O. L.T.; Santos, A.R.L. dos; Veras, E.V. de; Rangel, J. de A.; Quadros, A.L.L.; Araújo, M.T.F. de; Souza, P.S. de; Ruzzarim, A.; Conceição, D.A. da; Iwahara, A., E-mail: palcruz@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioproteção e Dosimetria (LNMRI/IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Lab. Nacional de Metrologia das Radiações Ionizantes

2017-07-01

In the case of a radiological accident, there are characteristic phases: discovery and initial assistance with first aid; the triage and monitoring of the affected population; the release of the affected people; forward the victims to medical care; as well as the preparation of the report on the accident. In addition, studies and associated researches performed in the later period. Monitors, dosimeters and measuring systems should be calibrated by contaminating radionuclide standards. The radioactive sources used must be metrologically reliable. In Brazil, this function is performed by LNMRI/IRD/CNEN, designated by INMETRO, which Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory is responsible for the standardization and supply of radioactive sources in diverse geometries and matrices. This laboratory has a stock of radionuclide solutions with controlled environmental variables for the preparation of sources, which are calibrated and standardized by mean of primary and secondary systems. It is also responsible for the dissemination of standards and, in order to establish the metrological traceability of national standards, participates in international key-comparisons promoted by BIPM and regional metrology organizations. Internally, it promotes the National Comparison Programs for laboratories for the analysis of environmental samples and the traceability for producing centers of radiopharmaceuticals and Nuclear Medicine Services in the country. The paper presents the demand for {sup 137}Cs related to the radioactive accident in Goiania/Brazil and the significant results for the main radionuclides standardized by the Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory for international key-comparisons and national comparisons to provide metrological traceability. With the obtained results, the LNMRI of Brazil integrates the international metrology BIPM network and fulfills its function of supplying, with about a hundred of radioactive standards, the country's needs in different applications

Radionuclide metrology: traceability and response to a radiological accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tauhata, L.; Cruz, P.A.L. da; Silva, C.J. da; Delgado, J.U.; Oliveira, A.E. de; Oliveira, E.M. de; Poledna, R.; Loureiro, J. dos S.; Ferreira Filho, A.L.; Silva, R.L. da; Filho, O. L.T.; Santos, A.R.L. dos; Veras, E.V. de; Rangel, J. de A.; Quadros, A.L.L.; Araújo, M.T.F. de; Souza, P.S. de; Ruzzarim, A.; Conceição, D.A. da; Iwahara, A.

2017-01-01

In the case of a radiological accident, there are characteristic phases: discovery and initial assistance with first aid; the triage and monitoring of the affected population; the release of the affected people; forward the victims to medical care; as well as the preparation of the report on the accident. In addition, studies and associated researches performed in the later period. Monitors, dosimeters and measuring systems should be calibrated by contaminating radionuclide standards. The radioactive sources used must be metrologically reliable. In Brazil, this function is performed by LNMRI/IRD/CNEN, designated by INMETRO, which Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory is responsible for the standardization and supply of radioactive sources in diverse geometries and matrices. This laboratory has a stock of radionuclide solutions with controlled environmental variables for the preparation of sources, which are calibrated and standardized by mean of primary and secondary systems. It is also responsible for the dissemination of standards and, in order to establish the metrological traceability of national standards, participates in international key-comparisons promoted by BIPM and regional metrology organizations. Internally, it promotes the National Comparison Programs for laboratories for the analysis of environmental samples and the traceability for producing centers of radiopharmaceuticals and Nuclear Medicine Services in the country. The paper presents the demand for 137 Cs related to the radioactive accident in Goiania/Brazil and the significant results for the main radionuclides standardized by the Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory for international key-comparisons and national comparisons to provide metrological traceability. With the obtained results, the LNMRI of Brazil integrates the international metrology BIPM network and fulfills its function of supplying, with about a hundred of radioactive standards, the country's needs in different applications

Can traceability improve consumers' confidence in food quality and safety?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rijswijk, van W.; Cornelisse-Vermaat, J.R.; Frewer, L.J.

2006-01-01

Abstract This paper investigates whether the implementation of traceability systems in line with the European General Food Law as well as food labelling laws related to allergens can impact on consumer confidence in food quality and safety. It aims to give insight into consumer demands regarding

Consumer needs and requirements for food and ingredient traceability information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rijswijk, van W.; Frewer, L.J.

2012-01-01

The introduction of improved food traceability systems has aimed to restore consumer confidence in food safety and quality, in part by being able to provide consumers with more information about the origins of foods and food ingredients. However, little is known about consumers’ opinions and beliefs

Traceability information carriers. The technology backgrounds and consumers' perceptions of the technological solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Chrysochou, Polymeros; Chryssochoidis, George; Kehagia, Olga

2009-12-01

The implementation of traceability in the food supply chain has reinforced adoption of technologies with the ability to track forward and trace back product-related information. Based on the premise that these technologies can be used as a means to provide product-related information to consumers, this paper explores the perceived benefits and drawbacks of such technologies. The aim is to identify factors that influence consumers' perceptions of such technologies, and furthermore to advise the agri-food business on issues that they should consider prior to the implementation of such technologies in their production lines. For the purposes of the study, a focus group study was conducted across 12 European countries, while a set of four different technologies used as a means to provide traceability information to consumers was the focal point of the discussions in each focus group. Results show that the amount of and confidence in the information provided, perceived levels of convenience, impact on product quality and safety, impact on consumers' health and the environment, and potential consequences on ethical and privacy liberties constitute important factors influencing consumers' perceptions of technologies that provide traceability.

Application of microsatellite markers as potential tools for traceability of Girgentana goat breed dairy products.

Science.gov (United States)

Sardina, Maria Teresa; Tortorici, Lina; Mastrangelo, Salvatore; Di Gerlando, Rosalia; Tolone, Marco; Portolano, Baldassare

2015-08-01

In livestock, breed assignment may play a key role in the certification of products linked to specific breeds. Traceability of farm animals and authentication of their products can contribute to improve breed profitability and sustainability of animal productions with significant impact on the rural economy of particular geographic areas and on breed and biodiversity conservation. With the goal of developing a breed genetic traceability system for Girgentana dairy products, the aim of this study was to identify specific microsatellite markers able to discriminate among the most important Sicilian dairy goat breeds, in order to detect possible adulteration in Girgentana dairy products. A total of 20 microsatellite markers were analyzed on 338 individual samples from Girgentana, Maltese, and Derivata di Siria goat breeds. Specific microsatellite markers useful for traceability of dairy products were identified. Eight microsatellite markers showed alleles present at the same time in Maltese and Derivata di Siria and absent in Girgentana and, therefore, they were tested on DNA pools of the three breeds. Considering the electropherograms' results, only FCB20, SRCRSP5, and TGLA122 markers were tested on DNA samples extracted from cheeses of Girgentana goat breed. These three microsatellite markers could be applied in a breed genetic traceability system of Girgentana dairy products in order to detect adulteration due to Maltese and Derivata di Siria goat breeds. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Traceability in Model-Based Testing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mathew George

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The growing complexities of software and the demand for shorter time to market are two important challenges that face today’s IT industry. These challenges demand the increase of both productivity and quality of software. Model-based testing is a promising technique for meeting these challenges. Traceability modeling is a key issue and challenge in model-based testing. Relationships between the different models will help to navigate from one model to another, and trace back to the respective requirements and the design model when the test fails. In this paper, we present an approach for bridging the gaps between the different models in model-based testing. We propose relation definition markup language (RDML for defining the relationships between models.

KNOWLEDGE AND ACCEPTANCE OF RFID TRACEABILITY SOLUTIONS

OpenAIRE

Zoltan KATO

2014-01-01

In recent years the food market has become highly dynamic. Food crises in the early 90's, or those of the recent years, such as avian flu pandemic, swine flu, the cucumber or horse meat crises all had a negative impact on the Romanian food industry. Food deficiencies have led not only to contamination but also to the illness or death of some consumers. The products traceability is a prerequisite for success in the food industry. As a modern solution, RFID technology can be useful for tr...

Recent advance in DNA-based traceability and authentication of livestock meat PDO and PGI products.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicoloso, Letizia; Crepaldi, Paola; Mazza, Raffaele; Ajmone-Marsan, Paolo; Negrini, Riccardo

2013-04-01

This review updates the available molecular techniques and technologies and discusses how they can be used for traceability, food control and enforcement activities. The review also provides examples on how molecular techniques succeeded to trace back unknowns to their breeds of origin, to fingerprint single individuals and to generate evidence in court cases. The examples demonstrate the potential of the DNA based traceability techniques and explore possibilities for translating the next generation genomics tools into a food and feed control and enforcement framework.

[Preliminary studies on critical control point of traceability system in wolfberry].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Sai; Xu, Chang-Qing; Li, Jian-Ling; Lin, Chen; Xu, Rong; Qiao, Hai-Li; Guo, Kun; Chen, Jun

2016-07-01

As a traditional Chinese medicine, wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) has a long cultivation history and a good industrial development foundation. With the development of wolfberry production, the expansion of cultivation area and the increased attention of governments and consumers on food safety, the quality and safety requirement of wolfberry is higher demanded. The quality tracing and traceability system of production entire processes is the important technology tools to protect the wolfberry safety, and to maintain sustained and healthy development of the wolfberry industry. Thus, this article analyzed the wolfberry quality management from the actual situation, the safety hazard sources were discussed according to the HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) and GAP (good agricultural practice for Chinese crude drugs), and to provide a reference for the traceability system of wolfberry. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Research on the Consumers Willingness to Buy Traceable Pork with Different Quality Information:A Case Study of Consumers in Weifang, Shandong Province

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Fan; BU; Dian; ZHU; Linhai; WU

2013-01-01

The traceability system can effectively reduce the food safety risks, however, it is confronted with various problems during its implementation. In this context, the paper carries out a case study of consumers in Weifang, Shandong Province, and studies their willingness to pay the traceable pork with different quality information. The results indicate that, the consumers show high expectations towards the introduction of traceability system, and they tend to buy the traceable pork only with breeding and slaughter information; their behaviors of purchase are greatly influenced by the following factors: the consumers education, age, income, attention on food safety and whether there are pregnant family members, etc..

EPA’s Hg Gas Traceability Approach for Source Emissions Measurement and Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Solicited presentation (special topic) at the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant on how EPA establishes the NIST traceability of reference materials used to support regulatory mercury emissions measurements.

Optimal Product Quality of Supply Chain Based on Information Traceability in Fashion and Textiles Industry: An Adverse Logistics Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaolin Cheng

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates and compares two quality control methods, that is, inspection control and traceability control, to optimize supply chain quality in fashion and textiles industry. The objective is to maximize the supply chain participants’ expected profits and to achieve a Pareto improvement of supply chain product quality. With quality as a controllable variable indicating the level of opportunistic behavior, the return is interpreted as a function of quality: the higher the quality, the lower the return. Taking into account both quality and inventory quantity, we propose and compare the optimal decision-making models for three control methods of supply chain, respectively: decentralized (no control, inspection, and traceability. Further, we use a numerical example to illustrate the relationships among quality, profits, and quality-control cost coefficients (i.e., inspection-related cost and traceability-related cost. We then analyze and discuss the differences in the applications and scopes of the two control methods. On the one hand, given the poor standardization of fashion and textiles industry in the current practice (especially in China market, the cost of sampling inspection is relatively lower as compared to that of the traceability control method. On the other hand, with the improved industrial standardization and technology, traceability control tends to gain increasing advantages in cost and popularity.

Traceability on radon measurements at the JAEA Ningyo-toge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishimori, Yuu

2007-01-01

The study on the establishment and maintenance of the traceability on radon measurements at the Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA Ningyo-toge) is illustrated in this paper. The primary standard is a radium solution provided by the National Bureau of Standard (present the National Institute of Standards and Technology) in the USA, and the secondary standard is the method with gas-filled ionization chambers calibrated with the solution. The radon reference chamber is utilized to provide reference atmospheres in calibration experiments for other monitors. Through the intercomparison experiments among the international reference institutes, it was confirmed that the reliability and consistency of the secondary standard of the JAEA Ningyo-toge have been retained since 1984. It shows that the calibration and measurement techniques associated with the traceability system constructed have been maintained well at the JAEA Ningyo-toge. Science there is no reference field as a national standard and no method regulated by the Japanese Industrial standard, this paper provides not only reliability and accuracy of the radon measurements at the JAEA Ningyo-toge, but also useful information for the standardization of radon measurements in Japan. (author)

Traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development - the TACO project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivertsen, Terje; Fredriksen, Rune; Thunem, Atoosa P-J.

2004-01-01

This paper summarizes some of the issues studied in the TACO project, a current activity partially funded by Nordic nuclear safety research through the NKS-R programme (NKS-R project number NKS R2 002 1 6). For more details, the reader is referred to the two project reports already delivered by the project (see section 9). On basis of experiences in the Nordic countries, the TACO project aims at identifying the best practices and most important criteria for ensuring effective communication in relation to requirements elicitation and analysis, understandability of requirements to all parties, and traceability of requirements through the different design phases. It is expected that the project will provide important input to the development of guidelines and establishment of recommended practices related to these activities. The overall aim of the preproject, which was carried out in the second half of 2002, was to identify the main issues related to traceability and communication of requirements in digital I and C systems development. By focusing on the identification of main issues, the preproject provided a basis for prioritising further work, while at the same time providing some initial recommendations related to these issues. The establishment of a Nordic expert network within the subject was another important result of the preproject. Further work has concentrated on four central and related issues, viz.; Representation of requirements origins; Traceability techniques; Configuration management and the traceability of requirements; Identification and categorisation of system aspects and their models. (Author)

Transgene traceability in transgenic mice: a bioanalytical approach for potential gene-doping analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogani, Patrizia; Spiriti, Maria Michela; Lazzarano, Stefano; Arcangeli, Annarosa; Buiatti, Marcello; Minunni, Maria

2011-11-01

The World Anti-Doping Agency fears the use of gene doping to enhance athletic performances. Thus, a bioanalytical approach based on end point PCR for detecting markers' of transgenesis traceability was developed. A few sequences from two different vectors using an animal model were selected and traced in different tissues and at different times. In particular, enhanced green fluorescent protein gene and a construct-specific new marker were targeted in the analysis. To make the developed detection approach open to future routine doping analysis, matrices such as urine and tears as well blood were also tested. This study will have impact in evaluating the vector transgenes traceability for the detection of a gene doping event by non-invasive sampling.

Establishing the traceability of a uranyl nitrate solution to a standard reference material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackson, C.H.; Clark, J.P.

1978-01-01

A uranyl nitrate solution for use as a Working Calibration and Test Material (WCTM) was characterized, using a statistically designed procedure to document traceability to National Bureau of Standards Reference Material (SPM-960). A Reference Calibration and Test Material (PCTM) was prepared from SRM-960 uranium metal to approximate the acid and uranium concentration of the WCTM. This solution was used in the characterization procedure. Details of preparing, handling, and packaging these solutions are covered. Two outside laboratories, each having measurement expertise using a different analytical method, were selected to measure both solutions according to the procedure for characterizing the WCTM. Two different methods were also used for the in-house characterization work. All analytical results were tested for statistical agreement before the WCTM concentration and limit of error values were calculated. A concentration value was determined with a relative limit of error (RLE) of approximately 0.03% which was better than the target RLE of 0.08%. The use of this working material eliminates the expense of using SRMs to fulfill traceability requirements for uranium measurements on this type material. Several years' supply of uranyl nitrate solution with NBS traceability was produced. The cost of this material was less than 10% of an equal quantity of SRM-960 uranium metal

Application of LogitBoost Classifier for Traceability Using SNP Chip Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kwondo; Seo, Minseok; Kang, Hyunsung; Cho, Seoae; Kim, Heebal; Seo, Kang-Seok

2015-01-01

Consumer attention to food safety has increased rapidly due to animal-related diseases; therefore, it is important to identify their places of origin (POO) for safety purposes. However, only a few studies have addressed this issue and focused on machine learning-based approaches. In the present study, classification analyses were performed using a customized SNP chip for POO prediction. To accomplish this, 4,122 pigs originating from 104 farms were genotyped using the SNP chip. Several factors were considered to establish the best prediction model based on these data. We also assessed the applicability of the suggested model using a kinship coefficient-filtering approach. Our results showed that the LogitBoost-based prediction model outperformed other classifiers in terms of classification performance under most conditions. Specifically, a greater level of accuracy was observed when a higher kinship-based cutoff was employed. These results demonstrated the applicability of a machine learning-based approach using SNP chip data for practical traceability.

A Coordinated Research Project on the Implementation of Nuclear Techniques to Improve Food Traceability

Science.gov (United States)

Frew, Russell; Cannavan, Andrew; Zandric, Zora; Maestroni, Britt; Abrahim, Aiman

2013-04-01

Traceability systems play a key role in assuring a safe and reliable food supply. Analytical techniques harnessing the spatial patterns in distribution of stable isotope and trace element ratios can be used for the determination of the provenance of food. Such techniques offer the potential to enhance global trade by providing an independent means of verifying "paper" traceability systems and can also help to prove authenticity, to combat fraudulent practices, and to control adulteration, which are important issues for economic, religious or cultural reasons. To address some of the challenges that developing countries face in attempting to implement effective food traceability systems, the IAEA, through its Joint FAO/IAEA Division on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, has initiated a 5-year coordinated research project involving institutes in 15 developing and developed countries (Austria, Botswana, Chile, China, France, India, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda, UK, USA). The objective is to help in member state laboratories to establish robust analytical techniques and databases, validated to international standards, to determine the provenance of food. Nuclear techniques such as stable isotope and multi-element analysis, along with complementary methods, will be applied for the verification of food traceability systems and claims related to food origin, production, and authenticity. This integrated and multidisciplinary approach to strengthening capacity in food traceability will contribute to the effective implementation of holistic systems for food safety and control. The project focuses mainly on the development of techniques to confirm product authenticity, with several research partners also considering food safety issues. Research topics encompass determination of the geographical origin of a variety of commodities, including seed oils, rice, wine, olive oil, wheat, orange juice, fish, groundnuts, tea, pork, honey and

Traceability and retrievability: Documentation, the bridge from science to compliance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warner, P.J.

1997-01-01

In this day of regulatory compliance, the fact that good science was practiced and documented is, in and of itself, not enough to assure a successful licensing or permitting result. A new level of documentation, that clearly walks a non-project reviewer through the traceability of all activities and decisions is required for successful acceptance of scientific results. Compliance reviewers (whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), etc.) expect to verify the results of the scientific and program activities without the physical presence of the person or persons that conducted the activity. Traceability of activities and associated decisions through the retrieval of all associated records is a must. This presentation is based on lessons learned from the various quality assurance (QA) audits and program reviews of Sandia National Laboratories, Nuclear Waste Management Programs Center, scientific and programmatic documentation. The authors build a bridge from science to compliance from lessons learned. Here now is a somewhat fictional rendition of actual scientific testing and compliance support activities

Implementing Traceability Systems in Specific Supply Chain Management (SCM through Critical Success Factors (CSFs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahbaz Khan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Traceability plays a vital role in the success of Halal Supply Chain (HSC. HSC revolve around the essential dimension of Halal Integrity (HI, whereas traceability is seemed to be medium to assure integrity. Thus, a need is felt to identify the factors which are critical to the successful implementation of traceability in Halal Supply Chain Management (HSCM. Identified Twelve Critical Success Factors (CSFs through an extensive review of literature and opinion of experts. Further, a contextual relationship among the CSFs is developed using Total Interpretive Structure Modelling (TISM approach and derived a model. The structural model is analyzed using Fuzzy MICMAC (Matrice d’Impacts Croises-Multipication Applique and Classment-cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification approach to identify the importance of CSFs by driving and dependence power. The primary result indicates towards; that improving the HSCM with the higher level of Halal awareness. Assuring HI will enhance the consumer satisfaction which leads to a competitive advantage for the organization. Academic researchers, industrial practitioners and Supply Chain executives can understand the complex interrelationship of CSFs by visualizing the TISM. It can help the management, lobbies and government to develop the policies regarding the implementation.

Traceability of On-Machine Tool Measurement: A Review

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez-Acedo, Eneko; Kortaberria, Gorka; Olarra, Aitor

2017-01-01

Nowadays, errors during the manufacturing process of high value components are not acceptable in driving industries such as energy and transportation. Sectors such as aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, nuclear power, large science facilities or wind power need complex and accurate components that demand close measurements and fast feedback into their manufacturing processes. New measuring technologies are already available in machine tools, including integrated touch probes and fast interface capabilities. They provide the possibility to measure the workpiece in-machine during or after its manufacture, maintaining the original setup of the workpiece and avoiding the manufacturing process from being interrupted to transport the workpiece to a measuring position. However, the traceability of the measurement process on a machine tool is not ensured yet and measurement data is still not fully reliable enough for process control or product validation. The scientific objective is to determine the uncertainty on a machine tool measurement and, therefore, convert it into a machine integrated traceable measuring process. For that purpose, an error budget should consider error sources such as the machine tools, components under measurement and the interactions between both of them. This paper reviews all those uncertainty sources, being mainly focused on those related to the machine tool, either on the process of geometric error assessment of the machine or on the technology employed to probe the measurand. PMID:28696358

Traceability of On-Machine Tool Measurement: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Mutilba, Unai; Gomez-Acedo, Eneko; Kortaberria, Gorka; Olarra, Aitor; Yagüe-Fabra, Jose A

2017-07-11

Nowadays, errors during the manufacturing process of high value components are not acceptable in driving industries such as energy and transportation. Sectors such as aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, nuclear power, large science facilities or wind power need complex and accurate components that demand close measurements and fast feedback into their manufacturing processes. New measuring technologies are already available in machine tools, including integrated touch probes and fast interface capabilities. They provide the possibility to measure the workpiece in-machine during or after its manufacture, maintaining the original setup of the workpiece and avoiding the manufacturing process from being interrupted to transport the workpiece to a measuring position. However, the traceability of the measurement process on a machine tool is not ensured yet and measurement data is still not fully reliable enough for process control or product validation. The scientific objective is to determine the uncertainty on a machine tool measurement and, therefore, convert it into a machine integrated traceable measuring process. For that purpose, an error budget should consider error sources such as the machine tools, components under measurement and the interactions between both of them. This paper reviews all those uncertainty sources, being mainly focused on those related to the machine tool, either on the process of geometric error assessment of the machine or on the technology employed to probe the measurand.

Traceability and communication of requirements in digital and I and C systems development - Project report 2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivertsen, T.; Frederiksen, R.; Thunem, A.P.J.; Holmberg, J.E.; Valkonen, J.; Ventae, O.

2004-03-01

The overall objective of the TACO project is to improve the knowledge on principles and best practices related to the issues concretised in the preproject. On basis of experiences in the Nordic countries, the project aims at identifying the best practices and most important criteria for ensuring effective communication in relation to requirements elicitation and analysis, understandability of requirements to all parties, and traceability of requirements through the different design phases. It is expected that the project will provide important input to the development of guidelines and establishment of recommended practices related to these activities. In the year 2003, the TACO-project concentrated on four central issues: 1) Representation of requirements origins. 2) Traceability techniques. 3) Configuration management and the traceability of requirements. 4) Identification and categorisation of system aspects and their models The work was presented at the first TACO Industrial Seminar, which took place in Stockholm on the 12th of December 2003. The seminar was hosted by SKI. (au)

Integrated analytical approaches for food traceability and pollution control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-11-01

It developed in the laboratory of Food Science of the Montevideo commissariat a regional workshop with the following aims:To evaluate the effect of vegetable matrices on the determination of pesticides through analysis by GC / M S. For the implementation and application of these tests, it was applied the Laboratory s protocol which it was distributed to all members of the working group. It worked with a matrix lettuce, chard and a mix of green leafy vegetables , evaluating the matrix effect in the following pesticides: chloropyrifos, procimidione, L-cyhalothrin, azoxystrobin, trifluralin and fenbuconazole, using heptachlor as internal standard.They carried out in five concentration levels, in triplicate tests, applying the techniques of extraction by QuEChERS (kit agile nt). Prepared samples are injected into the GC / M S equipment, an analysis of the results were evaluated by the working group. Furthermore this regional workshop was about nuclear techniques role in agricultural practice, the traceability and pollution control, laboratory services and farmers relationships, environmental, economic, social and political impact, pest prevention and animal diseases, risk, the human health, environment protection in the agricultural and the pesticides uses.

parameters affecting the calibration uniformity and traceability of gamma measuring devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Youssef, S.K.; Henaish, B.A.

1985-01-01

One of the problems which usually defeats the dosimetric evaluations performed by the health and safety experts is the absence of the reproducibility and accuracy of the used measuring devices systems. Furthermore, the traceability of the dose evaluation done by the users themselves are not achieved. Also the uniformity and homogeneity between the various users dosimeters and that available at specified central organization are not maintained. The present manuscript is scoping to deal with such various problems such as: a) dosimeter accuracy, b) traceability of the various users dosimeters and measuring devices. This paper also suggests a programme for the minimum facilities which are required for operating a central calibration laboratory. the responsibility of that central calibration lab., beside the linking chain between the different users and that calibration lab. are stated and discussed in detail. Furthermore, the authors experiences gained in operating the secondary standards calibration laboratory are also reviewed. 2 fig

Development of the management for parenteral nutrition traceability in a standard hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beatriz Bernabeu Soria

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: to develop the traceability control and the hazard analysis in the processes of parenteral nutrients (PN. Method: a standardized graphical notation was generated, describing in detail each of the stages in the overall process. The presence of hazards was analysed by sequencing decisions. The existence of Control Points (CP or Critical Control Points (CCP was estimated by Criticality Index (CI for each hazard taking into account the probability of occurrence and the severity of the damage. The threshold for the IC was set in 6. Results: a specific flow chart for the management and traceability of PN was obtained, defining each of the stages in CPs (validation and transcription of the prescription and administration or CCPs (preparation, storage and infusion pump –flow and filter-. Stages regarding the delivery, the recovery and the recycle of the packing material of PNs are not considered CPs and, therefore, they were not included in the dashboard. Conclusions: PN must be dealt with in the frame of a standardized management system in order to improve patient safety, clinical relevance, maximize resource efficiency and minimize procedural issues. The proposed system provides a global management model whose steps are fully defined, allowing monitoring and verification of PN. It would be convenient to make use of a software application to support the monitoring of the traceability management and to store the historical records in order to evaluate the system.

Comparative analysis for evaluating the traceability of interventional devices using blood vessel phantom models made of PVA-H or silicone.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Chang-Ho; Kwon, Tae-Kyu; Park, Chan Hee; Ohta, Makoto; Kim, Sung Hoon

2015-01-01

In this paper, we investigated the parameters with effective traceability to assess the mechanical properties of interventional devices. In our evaluation system, a box-shaped poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel (PVA-H) and silicone were prepared with realistic geometry, and the measurement and evaluation of traceability were carried out on devices using load hand force. The phantom models had a total of five curve pathways to reach the aneurysm sac. Traceability depends on the performance of the interventional devices in order to pass through the curved part of the model simulation track. The traceability of the guide wire was found to be much better than that of the balloon and stent loading catheter, as it reached the aneurysm sac in both phantom models. Observation using the video record is another advantage of our system, because the high transparency of the materials with silicone and PVA-H can allow visualization of the inside of an artery.

Capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of contaminants in emerging food safety issues and food traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Vallejo-Cordoba, Belinda; González-Córdova, Aarón F

2010-07-01

This review presents an overview of the applicability of CE in the analysis of chemical and biological contaminants involved in emerging food safety issues. Additionally, CE-based genetic analyzers' usefulness as a unique tool in food traceability verification systems was presented. First, analytical approaches for the determination of melamine and specific food allergens in different foods were discussed. Second, natural toxin analysis by CE was updated from the last review reported in 2008. Finally, the analysis of prion proteins associated with the "mad cow" crises and the application of CE-based genetic analyzers for meat traceability were summarized.

Ensuring the Visibility and Traceability of Items through Logistics Chain of Automotive Industry Based on AutoEPCNet Using

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel Stasa

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Traceability in logistics is the capability of the participants to trace the products throughout the supply chain by means of either the product and/or container identifiers in a forward and/or backward direction. In today's competitive economic environment, traceability is a key concept related to all products and all types of supply chains. The goal of this paper is to describe development of application that enables to create and share information about the physical movement and status of products as they travel throughout the supply chain. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the development of RFID based track and trace system for ensuring the visibility and traceability of items in logistics chain especially in automotive industry. The proposed solution is based on EPCglobal Network Architecture.

Detection and traceability of genetically modified organisms in the food production chain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Miraglia, M.; Berdal, K.G.; Brera, C.; Corbisier, P.; Holst - Jensen, A.; Kok, E.J.; Marvin, H.J.P.; Schimmel, H.; Rentsch, J.; Rie, van J.P.P.F.; Zagon, J.

2004-01-01

Both labelling and traceability of genetically modified organisms are current issues that are considered in trade and regulation. Currently, labelling of genetically modified foods containing detectable transgenic material is required by EU legislation. A proposed package of legislation would extend

Toward fish and seafood traceability: anchovy species determination in fish products by molecular markers and support through a public domain database.

Science.gov (United States)

Jérôme, Marc; Martinsohn, Jann Thorsten; Ortega, Delphine; Carreau, Philippe; Verrez-Bagnis, Véronique; Mouchel, Olivier

2008-05-28

Traceability in the fish food sector plays an increasingly important role for consumer protection and confidence building. This is reflected by the introduction of legislation and rules covering traceability on national and international levels. Although traceability through labeling is well established and supported by respective regulations, monitoring and enforcement of these rules are still hampered by the lack of efficient diagnostic tools. We describe protocols using a direct sequencing method based on 212-274-bp diagnostic sequences derived from species-specific mitochondria DNA cytochrome b, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequences which can efficiently be applied to unambiguously determine even closely related fish species in processed food products labeled "anchovy". Traceability of anchovy-labeled products is supported by the public online database AnchovyID ( http://anchovyid.jrc.ec.europa.eu), which provided data obtained during our study and tools for analytical purposes.

Traceable calibration of photovoltaic reference cells using natural sunlight

Science.gov (United States)

Müllejans, H.; Zaaiman, W.; Pavanello, D.; Dunlop, E. D.

2018-02-01

At the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) photovoltaic (PV) reference cells are calibrated traceably to SI units via the World Radiometric Reference (WRR) using natural sunlight. The Direct Sunlight Method (DSM) is described in detail and the latest measurement results and an updated uncertainty budget are reported. These PV reference cells then provide a practical means for measuring the irradiance of natural or simulated sunlight during the calibration of other PV devices.

An effective technique for the software requirements analysis of NPP safety-critical systems, based on software inspection, requirements traceability, and formal specification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Seo Ryong; Seong, Poong Hyun; Yoo, Junbeom; Cha, Sung Deok; Yoo, Yeong Jae

2005-01-01

A thorough requirements analysis is indispensable for developing and implementing safety-critical software systems such as nuclear power plant (NPP) software systems because a single error in the requirements can generate serious software faults. However, it is very difficult to completely analyze system requirements. In this paper, an effective technique for the software requirements analysis is suggested. For requirements verification and validation (V and V) tasks, our technique uses software inspection, requirement traceability, and formal specification with structural decomposition. Software inspection and requirements traceability analysis are widely considered the most effective software V and V methods. Although formal methods are also considered an effective V and V activity, they are difficult to use properly in the nuclear fields as well as in other fields because of their mathematical nature. In this work, we propose an integrated environment (IE) approach for requirements, which is an integrated approach that enables easy inspection by combining requirement traceability and effective use of a formal method. The paper also introduces computer-aided tools for supporting IE approach for requirements. Called the nuclear software inspection support and requirements traceability (NuSISRT), the tool incorporates software inspection, requirement traceability, and formal specification capabilities. We designed the NuSISRT to partially automate software inspection and analysis of requirement traceability. In addition, for the formal specification and analysis, we used the formal requirements specification and analysis tool for nuclear engineering (NuSRS)

Economic assessment of RFID coupled with open source technologies for wood traceability in Calabria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sperandio G

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work was to assess the economic sustainability of the implementation of a wood traceability system in Calabria based on RFID and open source technologies. We identified a break-even point in its implementation under different scenarios in order to highlight the economic sustainability limits, expressed in terms of m3 or tons of processed product. The results showed that the use of RFID technology along the supply chain could lead to an effective operational simplification and to a more efficient use of resources. Based on the average market prices for timber (80-120 € / m3, the implementation of RFID technology led to an increase in timber price by 8% under the worst scenarios. This suggests that the use of open source technologies for wood traceability is already feasible and economically sustainable, as 40% of private companies stated their willingness to pay a premium price (on average 3.25% higher for purchasing certified local wood products in Calabria. Moreover, we expect a further reduction of tags and hardware costs in the next future, up to half the costs estimated in this work, thus making the application of such technology to timber traceability even more affordable.

Thermodynamic Temperature of High-Temperature Fixed Points Traceable to Blackbody Radiation and Synchrotron Radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Wähmer, M.; Anhalt, K.; Hollandt, J.; Klein, R.; Taubert, R. D.; Thornagel, R.; Ulm, G.; Gavrilov, V.; Grigoryeva, I.; Khlevnoy, B.; Sapritsky, V.

2017-10-01

Absolute spectral radiometry is currently the only established primary thermometric method for the temperature range above 1300 K. Up to now, the ongoing improvements of high-temperature fixed points and their formal implementation into an improved temperature scale with the mise en pratique for the definition of the kelvin, rely solely on single-wavelength absolute radiometry traceable to the cryogenic radiometer. Two alternative primary thermometric methods, yielding comparable or possibly even smaller uncertainties, have been proposed in the literature. They use ratios of irradiances to determine the thermodynamic temperature traceable to blackbody radiation and synchrotron radiation. At PTB, a project has been established in cooperation with VNIIOFI to use, for the first time, all three methods simultaneously for the determination of the phase transition temperatures of high-temperature fixed points. For this, a dedicated four-wavelengths ratio filter radiometer was developed. With all three thermometric methods performed independently and in parallel, we aim to compare the potential and practical limitations of all three methods, disclose possibly undetected systematic effects of each method and thereby confirm or improve the previous measurements traceable to the cryogenic radiometer. This will give further and independent confidence in the thermodynamic temperature determination of the high-temperature fixed point's phase transitions.

Fluorescent graphene quantum dots as traceable, pH-sensitive drug delivery systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiu J

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Jichuan Qiu,1 Ruibin Zhang,2 Jianhua Li,1 Yuanhua Sang,1 Wei Tang,3 Pilar Rivera Gil,4 Hong Liu1,51Center of Bio and Micro/Nano Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, 2Blood Purification Center, Jinan Central Hospital, 3Department of Pathogenic Biology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 4Institute of Chemistry, Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain; 5Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaAbstract: Graphene quantum dots (GQDs were rationally fabricated as a traceable drug delivery system for the targeted, pH-sensitive delivery of a chemotherapeutic drug into cancer cells. The GQDs served as fluorescent carriers for a well-known anticancer drug, doxorubicin (Dox. The whole system has the capacity for simultaneous tracking of the carrier and of drug release. Dox release is triggered upon acidification of the intracellular vesicles, where the carriers are located after their uptake by cancer cells. Further functionalization of the loaded carriers with targeting moieties such as arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD peptides enhanced their uptake by cancer cells. DU-145 and PC-3 human prostate cancer cell lines were used to evaluate the anticancer ability of Dox-loaded RGD-modified GQDs (Dox-RGD-GQDs. The results demonstrated the feasibility of using GQDs as traceable drug delivery systems with the ability for the pH-triggered delivery of drugs into target cells.Keywords: graphene quantum dots, drug delivery, pH-sensitive, controlled release, traceable

Rollout Strategy to Implement Interoperable Traceability in the Seafood Industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Gooch, Martin; Dent, Benjamin; Sylvia, Gilbert; Cusack, Christopher

2017-08-01

Verifying the accuracy and rigor of data exchanged within and between businesses for the purposes of traceability rests on the existence of effective and efficient interoperable information systems that meet users' needs. Interoperability, particularly given the complexities intrinsic to the seafood industry, requires that the systems used by businesses operating along the supply chain share a common technology architecture that is robust, resilient, and evolves as industry needs change. Technology architectures are developed through engaging industry stakeholders in understanding why an architecture is required, the benefits provided to the industry and individual businesses and supply chains, and how the architecture will translate into practical results. This article begins by reiterating the benefits that the global seafood industry can capture by implementing interoperable chain-length traceability and the reason for basing the architecture on a peer-to-peer networked database concept versus more traditional centralized or linear approaches. A summary of capabilities that already exist within the seafood industry that the proposed architecture uses is discussed; and a strategy for implementing the architecture is presented. The 6-step strategy is presented in the form of a critical path. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Geographical traceability of virgin olive oils from south-western Spain by their multi-elemental composition.

Science.gov (United States)

Beltrán, María; Sánchez-Astudillo, María; Aparicio, Ramón; García-González, Diego L

2015-02-15

The geographical traceability of virgin olive oil can be controlled by chemical species that are linked to the production area. Trace elements are among these species. The hypothesis is that the transfer of elements from the soil to the oil is subjected to minor variations and therefore this chemical information can be used for geographical traceability. In order to confirm this hypothesis, the trace elements of virgin olive oils from south-western Spain were analysed, and the same elements were determined in the corresponding olive-pomaces and soils. The differences in the concentration were studied according to cultivars and locations. Results show some coincidences in the selection of elements in soils (W, Fe, Na), olive-pomace (W, Fe, Na, Mg, Mn, Ca, Ba, Li) and olive oils (W, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ca, Ba, Li, Bi), which supports their utility in traceability. In the case of olive oils, 93% of the samples were correctly classified in their geographical origins (96% for Beas, 77% for Gibraleón, 91% for Niebla, and 100% for Sanlúcar de Guadiana). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Portable radiation instrumentation traceability of standards and measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiserman, A.; Walke, M.

1995-01-01

Portable radiation measuring instruments are used to estimate and control doses for workers. Calibration of these instruments must be sufficiently accurate to ensure that administrative and legal dose limits are not likely to be exceeded due to measurement uncertainties. An instrument calibration and management program is established which permits measurements made with an instrument to be traced to a national standard. This paper describes the establishment and maintenance of calibration standards for gamma survey instruments and an instrument management program which achieves traceability of measurement for uniquely identified field instruments. (author)

Innovative solutions in traceability to improve the competitiveness of a local fruit and vegetable retailing system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miklós Pakurár

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of the research is to investigate the network of local fruit and vegetable products from “farm to fork”, to uncover the hidden processes in traceability and to advise innovations in the retailing system to improve the competitiveness of the sector. Traceability is an ability to track any food that will be consumed throughout the processes of production, processing and distribution. The research investigates what the customer knows about the origin and treatments of purchased products and what further information would satisfy the consumer. The study explores the flow of information amongst the chain members: producers, wholesalers, small-scale retailers, and customers. Based on interviews and questionnaires, regression analysis and ordinal regression procedure were performed. Innovative solutions to make the retailing competitive should be aligned with the precise knowledge of the consumer. The results of the research show that deficiencies in data collection, data erosion, low level of cooperation of supply chain partners, not paying more attention for more detailed information, and inadequate control are the main problems of the traceability in fruit and vegetable chains.

A Systematic Mapping on Supporting Approaches for Requirements Traceability in the Context of Software Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MALCHER, P R.C.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The Requirements Traceability is seen as a quality factor with regard to software development, being present in standards and quality models. In this context, several techniques, models, frameworks and tools have been used to support it. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a systematic mapping carried out in order to find in the literature approaches to support the requirements traceability in the context of software projects and make the categorization of the data found in order to demonstrate, by means of a reliable, accurate and auditable method, how this area has developed and what are the main approaches are used to implement it.

Improving integrity of on-line grammage measurement with traceable basic calibration.

Science.gov (United States)

Kangasrääsiö, Juha

2010-07-01

The automatic control of grammage (basis weight) in paper and board production is based upon on-line grammage measurement. Furthermore, the automatic control of other quality variables such as moisture, ash content and coat weight, may rely on the grammage measurement. The integrity of Kr-85 based on-line grammage measurement systems was studied, by performing basic calibrations with traceably calibrated plastic reference standards. The calibrations were performed according to the EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard, which is a requirement for calibration laboratories. The observed relative measurement errors were 3.3% in the first time calibrations at the 95% confidence level. With the traceable basic calibration method, however, these errors can be reduced to under 0.5%, thus improving the integrity of on-line grammage measurements. Also a standardised algorithm, based on the experience from the performed calibrations, is proposed to ease the adjustment of the different grammage measurement systems. The calibration technique can basically be applied to all beta-radiation based grammage measurements. 2010 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hg0 and HgCl2 Reference Gas Standards: ?NIST Traceability ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA and NIST have collaborated to establish the necessary procedures for establishing the required NIST traceability of commercially-provided Hg0 and HgCl2 reference generators. This presentation will discuss the approach of a joint EPA/NIST study to accurately quantify the true concentrations of Hg0 and HgCl2 reference gases produced from high quality, NIST-traceable, commercial Hg0 and HgCl2 generators. This presentation will also discuss the availability of HCl and Hg0 compressed reference gas standards as a result of EPA's recently approved Alternative Methods 114 and 118. Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) and oxidized mercury (HgCl2) reference standards are integral to the use of mercury continuous emissions monitoring systems (Hg CEMS) for regulatory compliance emissions monitoring. However, a quantitative disparity of approximately 7-10% has been observed between commercial Hg0 and HgCl2 reference gases which currently limits the use of (HgCl2) reference gas standards. Resolving this disparity would enable the expanded use of (HgCl2) reference gas standards for regulatory compliance purposes.

Application of electron beam irradiation, (1). Development and application of electron beam processors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katsumura, Yosuke

1994-01-01

This paper deals with characteristics, equipment (principle and kinds), present conditions, and future issues in the application of electron beam irradiation. Characteristics of electron beams are described in terms of the following: chemical and biological effects of radiation; energy and penetrating power of electron beams; and principle and kinds of electron beam accelerator. Industrial application of electron beam irradiation has advantages of high speed procedure and producibility, less energy, avoidance of poisonous gas, and extreme reduction of organic solvents to be used. The present application of electron beam irradiation cen be divided into the following: (1) hardening of resin or coated membrane; (2) improvement of macromolecular materials; (3) environmental protection; (4) sterilization; (5) food sterilization. The present equipment for electron beam irradiation is introduced according to low energy, medium energy, and high energy equipment. Finally, future issues focuses on (1) the improvement of traceability system and development of electron dosimetric techniques and (2) food sterilization. (N.K.)

Ensuring the Visibility and Traceability of Items through Logistics Chain of Automotive Industry Based on AutoEPCNet Using

OpenAIRE

Pavel Stasa; Filip Benes; Jiri Svub; Yong-Shin Kang; Jakub Unucka; Lukas Vojtech; Vladimir Kebo; Jongtae Rhee

2016-01-01

Traceability in logistics is the capability of the participants to trace the products throughout the supply chain by means of either the product and/or container identifiers in a forward and/or backward direction. In today's competitive economic environment, traceability is a key concept related to all products and all types of supply chains. The goal of this paper is to describe development of application that enables to create and share information about the physical movement and status of ...

Traceability information carriers. The technology backgrounds and consumers' perceptions of the technological solutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chrysochou, Polymeros; Chryssochoidis, George; Kehagia, Olga

2009-01-01

of and confidence in the information provided, perceived levels of convenience, impact on product quality and safety, impact on consumers' health and the environment, and potential consequences on ethical and privacy liberties constitute important factors influencing consumers' perceptions of technologies......The implementation of traceability in the food supply chain has reinforced adoption of technologies with the ability to track forward and trace back product-related information. Based on the premise that these technologies can be used as a means to provide product-related information to consumers...... in their production lines. For the purposes of the study, a focus group study was conducted across 12 European countries, while a set of four different technologies used as a means to provide traceability information to consumers was the focal point of the discussions in each focus group. Results show that the amount...

Metrological Traceability in the Social Sciences: A Model from Reading Measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stenner, A Jackson; Fisher, William P Jr

2013-01-01

The central importance of reading ability in learning makes it the natural place to start in formative and summative assessments in education. The Lexile Framework for Reading constitutes a commercial metrological traceability network linking books, test results, instructional materials, and students in elementary and secondary English and Spanish language reading education in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Australia

Dosimetry for electron beam sterilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, A.

2007-01-01

According to ISO 11137-1 (sect 4.3.4) dosimetry used in the development, validation and routine control of the sterilization process shall have measurement traceability to national or international standards and shall have a known level of uncertainty. It can only be obtained through calibration of the dosimeters. In presented lecture different types of dosimeter systems for electron beams (calorimeters, radiochromic film dosimeters, alanine / EPR) and their calibration are described

Nomenclature and traceability debate for biosimilars: small-molecule surrogates lend support for distinguishable nonproprietary names.

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Jingdong; Skup, Martha; Alexander, Emily; Tundia, Namita; Macaulay, Dendy; Wu, Eric; Mulani, Parvez

2015-03-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the traceability of adverse events (AEs) for branded and generic drugs with identical nonproprietary names and to consider potential implications for the traceability of AEs for branded and biosimilar biologics. Adverse event reports in the Food and Drug Administration AE Reporting System (FAERS) were compared with those in a commercial insurance claims database (Truven Health MarketScan(®)) for 2 drugs (levetiracetam and enoxaparin sodium) with manufacturing or prescribing considerations potentially analogous to those of some biosimilars. Monthly rates of branded- and generic-attributed AEs were estimated pre- and post-generic entry. Post-entry branded-to-generic AE relative rate ratios were calculated. In FAERS, monthly AE rate ratios during the post-generic period showed a pattern in which AE rates for the branded products were greater than for the generic products. Differences in rates of brand- and generic-attributed AEs were statistically significant for both study drugs; the AE rate for the branded products peaked at approximately 10 times that of the generic levetiracetam products and approximately 4 times that of the generic enoxaparin sodium products. In contrast, monthly ratios for the MarketScan data were relatively constant over time. Use of the same nonproprietary name for generic and branded products may contribute to poor traceability of AEs reported in the FAERS database due to the significant misattribution of AEs to branded products (when those AEs were in fact associated with patient use of generic products). To ensure accurate and robust safety surveillance and traceability for biosimilar products in the United States, improved product identification mechanisms, such as related but distinguishable nonproprietary names for biosimilars and reference biologics, should be considered.

Traceability of pH to the Mole

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Filomena Camões

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Free acidity of aqueous solutions was initially defined in 1909 by Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen as pH = −lgcH+ (c/mol·dm−3 or m/mol·kg−1 of the free hydrogen ions in solution, H+ soon (1910 was changed to pH = paH+ = −lgaH+, integrating the new concepts of activity, ai and activity coefficient γi, for the ionic species i under concern, H+ in this case; it is ai = −lg(miγi. Since individual ions do not exist alone in solution, primary pH values cannot be assigned solely by experimental measurements, requiring extra thermodynamic model assumptions for the activity coefficient, γH+, which has put pH in a unique situation of not being fully traceable to the International System of Units (SI. Also the concept of activity is often not felt to be as perceptible as that of concentration which may present difficulties, namely with the interpretation of data. pH measurements on unknown samples rely on calibration of the measuring setup with adequate reference pH buffers. In this work, the assignment of pH values to buffers closely matching the samples, e.g., seawater, is revisited. An approach is presented to assess the quantity pmH+ = −lgmH+ profiting from the fact that, contrary to single ion activity coefficients, mean activity coefficients,   can be assessed based on experimentally assessed quantities alone, γExp ±, thus ensuring traceability to the mole, the SI base unit for amount of substance. Compatibility between γExp ± and mean activity coefficient calculated by means of Pitzer model equations, γPtz ±, validates the model for its intended use.

Techniques and methods in nuclear materials traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Persiani, P.J.

1996-01-01

The nonproliferation community is currently addressing concerns that the access to special nuclear materials may increase the illicit trafficking in weapons-usable materials from civil and/or weapons material stores and/or fuel cycles systems. Illicit nuclear traffic usually involves reduced quantities of nuclear materials perhaps as samplings of a potential protracted diversionary flow from sources to users. To counter illicit nuclear transactions requires the development of techniques and methods in nuclear material traceability as an important phase of a broad forensic analysis capability. This report discusses how isotopic signatures and correlation methods were applied to determine the origins of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and Plutonium samples reported as illicit trafficking in nuclear materials

A mixing method for traceable air velocity measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sillanpää, S; Heinonen, M

2008-01-01

A novel and quite simple method to establish a traceability link between air velocity and the national standards of mass and time is presented in this paper. The method is based on the humidification of flowing air before the blower of a wind tunnel with a known mass flow of water. Then air velocity can be calculated as a function of humidification water flow. The method is compared against a Pitot-tube-based velocity measurement in a wind tunnel at the MIKES. The results of these two different methods agreed well, with a maximum difference of 0.7%

Services of the CDRH X-ray calibration laboratory and their traceability to National Standards

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cerra, F.; Heaton, H.T. [Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Rockville, MD (United States)

1993-12-31

The X-ray Calibration Laboratory (XCL) of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) provides calibration services for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The instruments calibrated are used by FDA and contract state inspectors to verify compliance with federal x-ray performance standards and for national surveys of x-ray trends. In order to provide traceability of measurements, the CDRH XCL is accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for reference, diagnostic, and x-ray survey instrument calibrations. In addition to these accredited services, the CDRH XCL also calibrates non-invasive kVp meters in single- and three-phase x-ray beams, and thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) chips used to measure CT beam profiles. The poster illustrates these services and shows the traceability links back to the National Standards.

Services of the CDRH X-ray calibration laboratory and their traceability to National Standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerra, F.; Heaton, H.T.

1993-01-01

The X-ray Calibration Laboratory (XCL) of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) provides calibration services for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The instruments calibrated are used by FDA and contract state inspectors to verify compliance with federal x-ray performance standards and for national surveys of x-ray trends. In order to provide traceability of measurements, the CDRH XCL is accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for reference, diagnostic, and x-ray survey instrument calibrations. In addition to these accredited services, the CDRH XCL also calibrates non-invasive kVp meters in single- and three-phase x-ray beams, and thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) chips used to measure CT beam profiles. The poster illustrates these services and shows the traceability links back to the National Standards

Metrological traceability of carbon dioxide measurements in atmosphere and seawater

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolle, F; Pessana, E; Sega, M

2017-01-01

The accurate determination of gaseous pollutants is fundamental for the monitoring of the trends of these analytes in the environment and the application of the metrological concepts to this field is necessary to assure the reliability of the measurement results. In this work, an overview of the activity carried out at Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica to establish the metrological traceability of the measurements of gaseous atmospheric pollutants, in particular of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), is presented. Two primary methods, the gravimetry and the dynamic dilution, are used for the preparation of reference standards for composition which can be used to calibrate sensors and analytical instrumentation. At present, research is carried out to lower the measurement uncertainties of the primary gas mixtures and to extend their application to the oceanic field. The reason of such investigation is due to the evidence of the changes occurring in seawater carbonate chemistry, connected to the rising level of CO 2 in the atmosphere. The well established activity to assure the metrological traceability of CO 2 in the atmosphere will be applied to the determination of CO 2 in seawater, by developing suitable reference materials for calibration and control of the sensors during their routine use. (paper)

Geotraceability: an innovative concept to enhance conventional traceability in the agri-food chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oger, R.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available With the globalization of trade, people have become enlightened and demanding consumers as regards the origin of their food and the environment in which it is produced. The concept of geotraceability described in this article responds to that requirement by combining geographical information with conventional traceability data. The inclusion of geographical information relating to the environment of the production plots is based not only on exploiting some functionalities of spatial analysis tools that exist in geographical information systems (GIS but also on developing specific tools such as a geoidentifier and geoindicators. This article also describes the characteristics and methods of implementing a geographical information management system linked with traceability information. Lastly, the potential for using geotraceability systems in supply chains is analyzed, in particular for consumer warnings in cases of food crisis and assistance for certification of differentiated quality agricultural products.

Quality transitivity and traceability system of herbal medicine products based on quality markers.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Changxiao; Guo, De-An; Liu, Liang

2018-05-15

Due to a variety of factors to affect the herb quality, the existing quality management model is unable to evaluate the process control. The development of the concept of "quality marker" (Q-marker) lays basis for establishing an independent process quality control system for herbal products. To ensure the highest degree of safety, effectiveness and quality process control of herbal products, it is aimed to establish a quality transitivity and traceability system of quality and process control from raw materials to finished herbal products. Based on the key issues and challenges of quality assessment, the current status of quality and process controls from raw materials to herbal medicinal products listed in Pharmacopoeia were analyzed and the research models including discovery and identification of Q-markers, analysis and quality management of risk evaluation were designed. Authors introduced a few new technologies and methodologies, such as DNA barcoding, chromatographic technologies, fingerprint analysis, chemical markers, bio-responses, risk management and solution for quality process control. The quality and process control models for herbal medicinal products were proposed and the transitivity and traceability system from raw materials to the finished products was constructed to improve the herbal quality from the entire supply and production chain. The transitivity and traceability system has been established based on quality markers, especially on how to control the production process under Good Engineering Practices, as well as to implement the risk management for quality and process control in herbal medicine production. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Characterisation of the IAEA-152 milk powder reference material for radioactivity with assigned values traceable to the SI units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altzitzoglou, T.; Bohnstedt, A.

2008-01-01

The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) participated in a research project initiated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to upgrade some of its existing reference materials (RMs). The aim of the project is to improve the RM metrological status by establishing traceability of their assigned values to SI units. The purpose of the work described in this article was to establish traceability to the International System of Units (SI) of the activity concentrations of the radionuclides 134 Cs, 137 Cs, 40 K, and 90 Sr in the IAEA-152 milk powder RM. The choice of the particular RM was based on the concern about radioactivity levels in foodstuff. The sample preparation and the assaying of the activity concentrations in the milk powder, the methods used to achieve instrument calibrations and measurements traceable to the SI units, the data reduction and analysis, and finally, the results obtained are presented

TRACEABILITY OF ON COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINES – CALIBRATION AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

De Chiffre, Leonardo; Savio, Enrico; Bariani, Paolo

This document is used in connection with three exercises each of 45 minutes duration as a part of the course GEOMETRICAL METROLOGY AND MACHINE TESTING. The exercises concern three aspects of coordinate measurement traceability: 1) Performance verification of a CMM using a ball bar; 2) Calibration...... of an optical coordinate measuring machine; 3) Uncertainty assessment using the ISO 15530-3 “Calibrated workpieces” procedure....

Traceable calibration for a digital real-time oscilloscope with time interleaving architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dongju; Lee, Joo-Gwang; Lee, Dong-Joon; Cho, Chihyun

2018-01-01

Impairments of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) used in digital real-time oscilloscopes (DRTO) have caused inevitable signal distortions in measurements. To calibrate these errors with traceability, we propose a novel method that consists of two steps. First, each transfer function of the ADCs is measured using pulse trains from a photodiode calibrated up to 110 GHz. Each data set of the ADCs is superimposed to convert the repetitive pulse to a single pulse to solve the under-sampling problem of the separated data depending on each ADC. Then, the signals of the device under test (DUT) are also separated and superimposed depending on the ADCs, and they are calibrated in the frequency domain based on the measured transfer functions. After a calibration process, the data set is reconverted to the time domain to achieve traceable calibration. To verify our method, we have measured the output of another 70 GHz photodiode with a calibrated DRTO. In terms of results, time-interleaved errors are suppressed by more than 24 dB up to the bandwidth of the DRTO.

Proposal of traceability chain for direct measurements of radioactive contamination in Cuba

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walwyn Salas, Gonzalo; Tamayo Garcia, Jose A.; Cornejo Diaz, Nestor

2008-01-01

The measurements of the radioactive surface contamination are common used to demonstrate the compliance with safety regulations at national level. It is mandatory that those measurements are traceable to national standards through the suitable calibration of the monitors used for survey. In Cuba, there is not a harmonized methodology for evaluation of contamination from direct measurements and no standardized calibration service for portable monitors is routinely provided to users. The Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory of Cuba has recently established the calibration service of contamination monitors in terms of instrument efficiency using the reference sources of known emission rate per unit area in accordance with international normative ISO 8769. In the present paper, is proposed a traceable scheme of direct measurements of contamination that involve the calibration at the laboratory level using multi-source method and the evaluation of contaminations at user level in terms of activity per unit area. Some improvements from the previous single-source method of calibration are explained in order to support the advantages that offer the new chain for those measurements in the country. (author)

Traceable components of terrestrial carbon storage capacity in biogeochemical models.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Jianyang; Luo, Yiqi; Wang, Ying-Ping; Hararuk, Oleksandra

2013-07-01

Biogeochemical models have been developed to account for more and more processes, making their complex structures difficult to be understood and evaluated. Here, we introduce a framework to decompose a complex land model into traceable components based on mutually independent properties of modeled biogeochemical processes. The framework traces modeled ecosystem carbon storage capacity (Xss ) to (i) a product of net primary productivity (NPP) and ecosystem residence time (τE ). The latter τE can be further traced to (ii) baseline carbon residence times (τ'E ), which are usually preset in a model according to vegetation characteristics and soil types, (iii) environmental scalars (ξ), including temperature and water scalars, and (iv) environmental forcings. We applied the framework to the Australian Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) model to help understand differences in modeled carbon processes among biomes and as influenced by nitrogen processes. With the climate forcings of 1990, modeled evergreen broadleaf forest had the highest NPP among the nine biomes and moderate residence times, leading to a relatively high carbon storage capacity (31.5 kg cm(-2) ). Deciduous needle leaf forest had the longest residence time (163.3 years) and low NPP, leading to moderate carbon storage (18.3 kg cm(-2) ). The longest τE in deciduous needle leaf forest was ascribed to its longest τ'E (43.6 years) and small ξ (0.14 on litter/soil carbon decay rates). Incorporation of nitrogen processes into the CABLE model decreased Xss in all biomes via reduced NPP (e.g., -12.1% in shrub land) or decreased τE or both. The decreases in τE resulted from nitrogen-induced changes in τ'E (e.g., -26.7% in C3 grassland) through carbon allocation among plant pools and transfers from plant to litter and soil pools. Our framework can be used to facilitate data model comparisons and model intercomparisons via tracking a few traceable components for all terrestrial carbon

Proposal of genetic traceability for Cinta Senese products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. Franci

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Cinta Senese is a white belted pig breed native of Italy. This breed is characterized by an high quality meat whereas its productive and reproductive performances are poor. The breed currently produces fresh and cured products with high market price. One of the factors associated with this high price is the quality of the raw material but consumers require that Cinta Senese be the only breed involved. There are some Cinta Senese products which are currently in the process of being recognized by European Union (PDO. Nevertheless the deceitful use of more fruitful breeds is anyhow possible, therefore the institution of a protocol for a DNA-based traceability of Cinta Senese products would be desirable. Traditionally breeds were classified by their colour or type so that over time a Standard of Excellence (phenotypic conformity was developed to define phenotype and supplemented by pedigree information. One of the main distinguishing features for pig breeds is coat colour and pattern. Two loci, Extension and Dominant White have a major influence on coat colour. The genes involved have been identified (MC1R and KIT respectively, variants have been described and associations with breed and colour determined (Giuffra et al., 2002, Johansson Moller et al., 1996, Kijas et al., 1998, 2001, Marklund et al., 1998, Pielberg et al., 2002. All the assayed mutations are causal of the investigated phenomena. These polymorphisms could play an important role in Quality Assurance programmes and maintenance of brand identity. The aim of this work was the study of these polymorphisms in Cinta Senese breed and the final purpose was the establishment of a DNA-based traceability protocol of Cinta Senese products.

Selection and use of microsatellite markers for individual identification and meat traceability of six swine breeds in the Chinese market.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jie; Li, Tingting; Zhu, Chao; Jiang, Xiaoling; Zhao, Yan; Xu, Zhenzhen; Yang, Shuming; Chen, Ailiang

2018-06-01

Meat traceability based on molecular markers is exerting a great influence on food safety and will enhance its key role in the future. This study aimed to investigate and verify the polymorphism of 23 microsatellite markers and select the most suitable markers for individual identification and meat traceability of six swine breeds in the Chinese market. The mean polymorphism information content value of these 23 loci was 0.7851, and each locus exhibited high polymorphism in the pooled population. There were 10 loci showing good polymorphism in each breed, namely, Sw632, S0155, Sw2406, Sw830, Sw2525, Sw72, Sw2448, Sw911, Sw122 and CGA. When six highly polymorphic loci were combined, the match probability value for two random individual genotypes among the pig breeds (Beijing Black, Sanyuan and Taihu) was lower than 1.151 E-06. An increasing number of loci indicated a gradually decreasing match probability value and therefore enhanced traceability accuracy. The validation results of tracing 18 blood and corresponding meat samples based on five highly polymorphic loci (Sw2525, S0005, Sw0107, Sw911 and Sw857) were successful, with 100% conformation probability, which provided a foundation for establishing a traceability system for pork in the Chinese market.

Unexplored Indoors method for pyranometers calibration traceable to SI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castillo-Matadamas, H A; Molina-Vazquez, J C; Quintero-Torres, R

2015-01-01

A method to calibrate pyranometers with direct traceability to the International System of Units (SI) is presented, the method use an electrically calibrated pyroelectric detector (ECPR) as standard and offers numerous advantages over outdoors conventional calibration methods, such as reducing the uncertainty from the reference standard and the final uncertainty of the sensitivity coefficient of the calibrated pyranometer; the measurement uncertainty achieved with this method at normal irradiance is 2.1% for a coverage factor k = 2 and could be reduce if one reduces the uncertainty level of the reference standard

Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System and Pathogen Asset Control System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom G. Wahl

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS has been used to strengthen and support monitoring and prevention of dangerous diseases within One Health concept by integrating veterinary and human surveillance, passive and active approaches, case-based records including disease-specific clinical data based on standardised case definitions and aggregated data, laboratory data including sample tracking linked to each case and event with test results and epidemiological investigations. Information was collected and shared in secure way by different means: through the distributed nodes which are continuously synchronised amongst each other, through the web service, through the handheld devices. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System provided near real time information flow that has been then disseminated to the appropriate organisations in a timely manner. It has been used for comprehensive analysis and visualisation capabilities including real time mapping of case events as these unfold enhancing decision making. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System facilitated countries to comply with the IHR 2005 requirements through a data transfer module reporting diseases electronically to the World Health Organisation (WHO data center as well as establish authorised data exchange with other electronic system using Open Architecture approach. Pathogen Asset Control System (PACS has been used for accounting, management and control of biological agent stocks. Information on samples and strains of any kind throughout their entire lifecycle has been tracked in a comprehensive and flexible solution PACS. Both systems have been used in a combination and individually. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System and PACS are currently deployed in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan as a part of the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP sponsored by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA.

Electronic integrated disease surveillance system and pathogen asset control system.

Science.gov (United States)

Wahl, Tom G; Burdakov, Aleksey V; Oukharov, Andrey O; Zhilokov, Azamat K

2012-06-20

Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) has been used to strengthen and support monitoring and prevention of dangerous diseases within One Health concept by integrating veterinary and human surveillance, passive and active approaches, case-based records including disease-specific clinical data based on standardised case definitions and aggregated data, laboratory data including sample tracking linked to each case and event with test results and epidemiological investigations. Information was collected and shared in secure way by different means: through the distributed nodes which are continuously synchronised amongst each other, through the web service, through the handheld devices. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System provided near real time information flow that has been then disseminated to the appropriate organisations in a timely manner. It has been used for comprehensive analysis and visualisation capabilities including real time mapping of case events as these unfold enhancing decision making. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System facilitated countries to comply with the IHR 2005 requirements through a data transfer module reporting diseases electronically to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data center as well as establish authorised data exchange with other electronic system using Open Architecture approach. Pathogen Asset Control System (PACS) has been used for accounting, management and control of biological agent stocks. Information on samples and strains of any kind throughout their entire lifecycle has been tracked in a comprehensive and flexible solution PACS.Both systems have been used in a combination and individually. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System and PACS are currently deployed in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan as a part of the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) sponsored by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

Traceability of 'Limone di Siracusa PGI' by a multidisciplinary analytical and chemometric approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Amenta, M; Fabroni, S; Costa, C; Rapisarda, P

2016-11-15

Food traceability is increasingly relevant with respect to safety, quality and typicality issues. Lemon fruits grown in a typical lemon-growing area of southern Italy (Siracusa), have been awarded the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) recognition as 'Limone di Siracusa'. Due to its peculiarity, consumers have an increasing interest about this product. The detection of potential fraud could be improved by using the tools linking the composition of this production to its typical features. This study used a wide range of analytical techniques, including conventional techniques and analytical approaches, such as spectral (NIR spectra), multi-elemental (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Li, Sr) and isotopic ((13)C/(12)C, (18)O/(16)O) marker investigations, joined with multivariate statistical analysis, such as PLS-DA (Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis) and LDA (Linear Discriminant Analysis), to implement a traceability system to verify the authenticity of 'Limone di Siracusa' production. The results demonstrated a very good geographical discrimination rate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive protocol of traceability during IVF: the result of a multicentre failure mode and effect analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rienzi, L; Bariani, F; Dalla Zorza, M; Albani, E; Benini, F; Chamayou, S; Minasi, M G; Parmegiani, L; Restelli, L; Vizziello, G; Costa, A Nanni

2017-08-01

Can traceability of gametes and embryos be ensured during IVF? The use of a simple and comprehensive traceability system that includes the most susceptible phases during the IVF process minimizes the risk of mismatches. Mismatches in IVF are very rare but unfortunately possible with dramatic consequences for both patients and health care professionals. Traceability is thus a fundamental aspect of the treatment. A clear process of patient and cell identification involving witnessing protocols has to be in place in every unit. To identify potential failures in the traceability process and to develop strategies to mitigate the risk of mismatches, previously failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) has been used effectively. The FMEA approach is however a subjective analysis, strictly related to specific protocols and thus the results are not always widely applicable. To reduce subjectivity and to obtain a widespread comprehensive protocol of traceability, a multicentre centrally coordinated FMEA was performed. Seven representative Italian centres (three public and four private) were selected. The study had a duration of 21 months (from April 2015 to December 2016) and was centrally coordinated by a team of experts: a risk analysis specialist, an expert embryologist and a specialist in human factor. Principal investigators of each centre were first instructed about proactive risk assessment and FMEA methodology. A multidisciplinary team to perform the FMEA analysis was then formed in each centre. After mapping the traceability process, each team identified the possible causes of mistakes in their protocol. A risk priority number (RPN) for each identified potential failure mode was calculated. The results of the FMEA analyses were centrally investigated and consistent corrective measures suggested. The teams performed new FMEA analyses after the recommended implementations. In each centre, this study involved: the laboratory director, the Quality Control & Quality

Traceability and communication of requirements in digital and I and C systems development - Project report 2003[TACO. Reactor safety

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sivertsen, T.; Frederiksen, R.; Thunem, A.P.J. [Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Kjeller (Norway); Holmberg, J.E.; Valkonen, J.; Ventae, O. [VTT, Espoo (Finland)

2004-03-01

The overall objective of the TACO project is to improve the knowledge on principles and best practices related to the issues concretised in the preproject. On basis of experiences in the Nordic countries, the project aims at identifying the best practices and most important criteria for ensuring effective communication in relation to requirements elicitation and analysis, understandability of requirements to all parties, and traceability of requirements through the different design phases. It is expected that the project will provide important input to the development of guidelines and establishment of recommended practices related to these activities. In the year 2003, the TACO-project concentrated on four central issues: 1) Representation of requirements origins. 2) Traceability techniques. 3) Configuration management and the traceability of requirements. 4) Identification and categorisation of system aspects and their models The work was presented at the first TACO Industrial Seminar, which took place in Stockholm on the 12th of December 2003. The seminar was hosted by SKI. (au)

Non-destructive geographical traceability of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) using near infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Xiuhan; Cai, Rui; Wang, Shisheng; Tang, Bo; Li, Yueqing; Zhao, Weijie

2018-01-01

Sea cucumber is the major tonic seafood worldwide, and geographical origin traceability is an important part of its quality and safety control. In this work, a non-destructive method for origin traceability of sea cucumber ( Apostichopus japonicus ) from northern China Sea and East China Sea using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and multivariate analysis methods was proposed. Total fat contents of 189 fresh sea cucumber samples were determined and partial least-squares (PLS) regression was used to establish the quantitative NIRS model. The ordered predictor selection algorithm was performed to select feasible wavelength regions for the construction of PLS and identification models. The identification model was developed by principal component analysis combined with Mahalanobis distance and scaling to the first range algorithms. In the test set of the optimum PLS models, the root mean square error of prediction was 0.45, and correlation coefficient was 0.90. The correct classification rates of 100% were obtained in both identification calibration model and test model. The overall results indicated that NIRS method combined with chemometric analysis was a suitable tool for origin traceability and identification of fresh sea cucumber samples from nine origins in China.

Practice and experience in traceability of radioactivity measurements of environmental samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Zhijian

1990-01-01

This paper discusses some aspects on radioactivity measurement traceability and summarizes the work on quality assurance of radioactivity measurements of environmental samples in the laboratory, including transfer of standards, preparation of reference materials, and calibration of efficiency for volumse surces with Ge(Li) spectrometer. Some practical activitis regarding intercomparison of radioactivity measurements and other traceabillity-related activities are also described. Some sugestions relating to performing quality assurance are made

Traceability in food supply chains Exploring governmental authority and industrial effects

OpenAIRE

Ringsberg, Henrik

2011-01-01

Traceability in food supply chains has received increased attention in the last decade. The efforts of governmental authorities have also increased to regulate and control food supply chains and product characteristics related to information to ensure safety, quality, and preservation of living resources. Previous studies in the area take an industrial focus and exclude the governmental authority focus. This thesis thus focuses on exploring governmental authority and industrial effects on tra...

The role of food chain traceability in food risk mitigation: expert and consumer outlook

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frewer, L.J.; Kher, S.V.

2009-01-01

The European Union has enforced mandatory traceability for food business operators for effective monitoring and management of risks associated with food and feed chains. The implementation of such a system needs to take account of stakeholder priorities and expectations. Expert stakeholders (such as

Traceability Assessment and Performance Evaluation of Results for Measurement of Abbott Clinical Chemistry Assays on 4 Chemistry Analyzers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Jinsook; Song, Kyung Eun; Song, Sang Hoon; Choi, Hyun-Jung; Koo, Sun Hoe; Kwon, Gye Choel

2016-05-01

-The traceability of clinical results to internationally recognized and accepted reference materials and reference measurement procedures has become increasingly important. Therefore, the establishment of traceability has become a mandatory requirement for all in vitro diagnostics devices. -To evaluate the traceability of the Abbott Architect c8000 system (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois), consisting of calibrators and reagents, across 4 different chemistry analyzers, and to evaluate its general performance on the Toshiba 2000FR NEO (Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Otawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan). -For assessment of traceability, secondary reference materials were evaluated 5 times, and then bias was calculated. Precision, linearity, and carryover were determined according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (Wayne, Pennsylvania). -The biases from 4 different analyzers ranged from -2.33% to 2.70% on the Toshiba 2000FR NEO, -2.33% to 5.12% on the Roche Hitachi 7600 (Roche Diagnostics International, Basel, Switzerland), -0.93% to 2.87% on the Roche Modular, and -2.16% to 2.86% on the Abbott Architect c16000. The total coefficients of variance of all analytes were less than 5%. The coefficients of determination (R(2)) were more than 0.9900. The carryover rate ranged from -0.54% to 0.17%. -Abbott clinical chemistry assays met the performance criteria based on desirable biological variation for precision, bias, and total error. They also showed excellent linearity and carryover. Therefore, these clinical chemistry assays were found to be accurate and reliable and are readily applicable on the various platforms used in this study.

Validation of novel calibration scheme with traceable point-like (22)Na sources on six types of PET scanners.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasegawa, Tomoyuki; Oda, Keiichi; Wada, Yasuhiro; Sasaki, Toshiaki; Sato, Yasushi; Yamada, Takahiro; Matsumoto, Mikio; Murayama, Hideo; Kikuchi, Kei; Miyatake, Hiroki; Abe, Yutaka; Miwa, Kenta; Akimoto, Kenta; Wagatsuma, Kei

2013-05-01

To improve the reliability and convenience of the calibration procedure of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, we have been developing a novel calibration path based on traceable point-like sources. When using (22)Na sources, special care should be taken to avoid the effects of 1.275-MeV γ rays accompanying β (+) decays. The purpose of this study is to validate this new calibration scheme with traceable point-like (22)Na sources on various types of PET scanners. Traceable point-like (22)Na sources with a spherical absorber design that assures uniform angular distribution of the emitted annihilation photons were used. The tested PET scanners included a clinical whole-body PET scanner, four types of clinical PET/CT scanners from different manufacturers, and a small-animal PET scanner. The region of interest (ROI) diameter dependence of ROI values was represented with a fitting function, which was assumed to consist of a recovery part due to spatial resolution and a quadratic background part originating from the scattered γ rays. The observed ROI radius dependence was well represented with the assumed fitting function (R (2) > 0.994). The calibration factors determined using the point-like sources were consistent with those by the standard cross-calibration method within an uncertainty of ±4 %, which was reasonable considering the uncertainty in the standard cross-calibration method. This novel calibration scheme based on the use of traceable (22)Na point-like sources was successfully validated for six types of commercial PET scanners.

A new simplex chemometric approach to identify olive oil blends with potentially high traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Semmar, N; Laroussi-Mezghani, S; Grati-Kamoun, N; Hammami, M; Artaud, J

2016-10-01

Olive oil blends (OOBs) are complex matrices combining different cultivars at variable proportions. Although qualitative determinations of OOBs have been subjected to several chemometric works, quantitative evaluations of their contents remain poorly developed because of traceability difficulties concerning co-occurring cultivars. Around this question, we recently published an original simplex approach helping to develop predictive models of the proportions of co-occurring cultivars from chemical profiles of resulting blends (Semmar & Artaud, 2015). Beyond predictive model construction and validation, this paper presents an extension based on prediction errors' analysis to statistically define the blends with the highest predictability among all the possible ones that can be made by mixing cultivars at different proportions. This provides an interesting way to identify a priori labeled commercial products with potentially high traceability taking into account the natural chemical variability of different constitutive cultivars. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feature Fusion of ICP-AES, UV-Vis and FT-MIR for Origin Traceability of Boletus edulis Mushrooms in Combination with Chemometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Luming; Liu, Honggao; Li, Jieqing; Li, Tao; Wang, Yuanzhong

2018-01-15

Origin traceability is an important step to control the nutritional and pharmacological quality of food products. Boletus edulis mushroom is a well-known food resource in the world. Its nutritional and medicinal properties are drastically varied depending on geographical origins. In this study, three sensor systems (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer (ICP-AES), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy (FT-MIR)) were applied for the origin traceability of 192 mushroom samples (caps and stipes) in combination with chemometrics. The difference between cap and stipe was clearly illustrated based on a single sensor technique, respectively. Feature variables from three instruments were used for origin traceability. Two supervised classification methods, partial least square discriminant analysis (FLS-DA) and grid search support vector machine (GS-SVM), were applied to develop mathematical models. Two steps (internal cross-validation and external prediction for unknown samples) were used to evaluate the performance of a classification model. The result is satisfactory with high accuracies ranging from 90.625% to 100%. These models also have an excellent generalization ability with the optimal parameters. Based on the combination of three sensory systems, our study provides a multi-sensory and comprehensive origin traceability of B. edulis mushrooms.

Feature Fusion of ICP-AES, UV-Vis and FT-MIR for Origin Traceability of Boletus edulis Mushrooms in Combination with Chemometrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luming Qi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Origin traceability is an important step to control the nutritional and pharmacological quality of food products. Boletus edulis mushroom is a well-known food resource in the world. Its nutritional and medicinal properties are drastically varied depending on geographical origins. In this study, three sensor systems (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer (ICP-AES, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis and Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy (FT-MIR were applied for the origin traceability of 184 mushroom samples (caps and stipes in combination with chemometrics. The difference between cap and stipe was clearly illustrated based on a single sensor technique, respectively. Feature variables from three instruments were used for origin traceability. Two supervised classification methods, partial least square discriminant analysis (FLS-DA and grid search support vector machine (GS-SVM, were applied to develop mathematical models. Two steps (internal cross-validation and external prediction for unknown samples were used to evaluate the performance of a classification model. The result is satisfactory with high accuracies ranging from 90.625% to 100%. These models also have an excellent generalization ability with the optimal parameters. Based on the combination of three sensory systems, our study provides a multi-sensory and comprehensive origin traceability of B. edulis mushrooms.

Establishing traceability of photometric absorbance values for accurate measurements of the haemoglobin concentration in blood

Science.gov (United States)

Witt, K.; Wolf, H. U.; Heuck, C.; Kammel, M.; Kummrow, A.; Neukammer, J.

2013-10-01

Haemoglobin concentration in blood is one of the most frequently measured analytes in laboratory medicine. Reference and routine methods for the determination of the haemoglobin concentration in blood are based on the conversion of haeme, haemoglobin and haemiglobin species into uniform end products. The total haemoglobin concentration in blood is measured using the absorbance of the reaction products. Traceable absorbance measurement values on the highest metrological level are a prerequisite for the calibration and evaluation of procedures with respect to their suitability for routine measurements and their potential as reference measurement procedures. For this purpose, we describe a procedure to establish traceability of spectral absorbance measurements for the haemiglobincyanide (HiCN) method and for the alkaline haematin detergent (AHD) method. The latter is characterized by a higher stability of the reaction product. In addition, the toxic hazard of cyanide, which binds to the iron ion of the haem group and thus inhibits the oxygen transport, is avoided. Traceability is established at different wavelengths by applying total least-squares analysis to derive the conventional quantity values for the absorbance from the measured values. Extrapolation and interpolation are applied to get access to the spectral regions required to characterize the Q-absorption bands of the HiCN and AHD methods, respectively. For absorbance values between 0.3 and 1.8, the contributions of absorbance measurements to the total expanded uncertainties (95% level of confidence) of absorbance measurements range from 1% to 0.4%.

DYNAMIC MODEL FOR THE ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF THE TRACEABILITY OF MEXICAN BEEF MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucila Herrera Ayala

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In order to point out the importance of the implementation of a traceability system in economic terms in the beef meat production activity, for the 2011-2016 period, a dynamic model was created in order to estimate the real value of the cattle inventory and to make projections of the gains and losses obtained in the implementation or not of this system with two possible plausible scenarios that affect the exports and imports. The results indicate that if the exports were increased by 53%, just like it happened in Uruguay with the implementation of this system, gains would increase 8.21% in the yearly average. In the absence of this system and considering the 80% decrease of the exports in the United States, in the presence of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE losses would increase 9.97% in a yearly average. In both scenarios a change ± of 20% in the imports was considered. Due to the results obtained and in the face of foreseeable conduct of trade, the cost of opportunity of a traceability system results positive.

Authenticity and Traceability of Vanilla Flavors by Analysis of Stable Isotopes of Carbon and Hydrogen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anne-Mette Sølvbjerg; Fromberg, Arvid; Frandsen, Henrik Lauritz

2014-01-01

Authenticity and traceability of vanilla flavors were investigated using gas chromatographyisotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS). Vanilla flavors produced by chemical synthesis (n = 2), fermentation (n = 1), and extracted from two different species of the vanilla orchid (n = 79) were analyzed...

Study of mechanism improving target course traceability in G-Vectoring Control

Science.gov (United States)

Yamakado, Makoto; Abe, Masato; Kano, Yoshio; Umetsu, Daisuke; Yoshioka, Thoru

2018-05-01

Production-type G-Vectoring Control vehicles are now being put on the market. Customers and reviewers have praised the handling quality and course traceability of these vehicles. This paper clarifies the mechanism behind this improvement in handling quality using a simple bicycle model and driver model analysis. It focuses on the residual yaw angular acceleration when the steering speed is zero and shows that GVC reduces its value. This result provides evidence for improved handling quality in GVC vehicles.

Case study on traceable, transparent documentation to support decision-making on nuclear waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McNeish, J.A.; Andrews, R.W.; Sevougian, S.D.; Dockery, H.A.; Wilson, M.L.; Gauthier, J.H.; Barnard, R.W.; Gaither, K.N.

1999-01-01

The recent assessment of the Yucca Mountain potential repository attempted to develop transparent and traceable documentation. The assessment was largely successful in this effort, providing meaningful graphics and easy to understand descriptions of the analyses for multiple audiences. While there are obviously many areas in the modeling and data collection that could be improved with sufficient resources, the document has been well received as an accurate, understandable assessment of the analyses. A few difficulties were encountered in the efforts to produce transparent and traceable documentation of the performance assessment analyses. Streamlining the text from a typical technical document to more of a layman's document, was not always easy. The data transfer steps that are proceduralized were not always smooth, as we worked out some of the bugs in the data transfer system. For some of the graphics, there was a mismatch between the analyst's hardware/software and the production hardware/software, causing difficulties in printing the graphics. One thing that was clear as the many organizations worked to pull the document together, is that relationships between people are still necessary in spite of all the technology brought to bear on the problem. A high level of cooperation and integration is necessary for the process to work smoothly. Significant effort is being made to continue to improve the processes that lead to traceability. Multiple teams are taking the sequencing of models/data apart and finding all of the transfers required as the project moves toward Site Recommendation and potential licensing. Likewise, the effort to achieve transparency is evolving and will improve with the next iteration of the analyses

Manufacturing and in vivo inner ear visualization of MRI traceable liposome nanoparticles encapsulating gadolinium

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kinnunen Paavo KJ

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Treatment of inner ear diseases remains a problem because of limited passage through the blood-inner ear barriers and lack of control with the delivery of treatment agents by intravenous or oral administration. As a minimally-invasive approach, intratympanic delivery of multifunctional nanoparticles (MFNPs carrying genes or drugs to the inner ear is a future therapy for treating inner ear diseases, including sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL and Meniere's disease. In an attempt to track the dynamics and distribution of nanoparticles in vivo, here we describe manufacturing MRI traceable liposome nanoparticles by encapsulating gadolinium-tetra-azacyclo-dodecane-tetra-acetic acid (Gd-DOTA (abbreviated as LPS+Gd-DOTA and their distribution in the inner ear after either intratympanic or intracochlear administration. Results Measurements of relaxivities (r1 and r2 showed that LPS+Gd-DOTA had efficient visible signal characteristics for MRI. In vivo studies demonstrated that LPS+Gd-DOTA with 130 nm size were efficiently taken up by the inner ear at 3 h after transtympanic injection and disappeared after 24 h. With intracochlear injection, LPS+Gd-DOTA were visualized to distribute throughout the inner ear, including the cochlea and vestibule with fast dynamics depending on the status of the perilymph circulation. Conclusion Novel LPS+Gd-DOTA were visible by MRI in the inner ear in vivo demonstrating transport from the middle ear to the inner ear and with dynamics that correlated to the status of the perilymph circulation.

Meeting the measurement uncertainty and traceability requirements of ISO/AEC standard 17025 in chemical analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

King, B

2001-11-01

The new laboratory accreditation standard, ISO/IEC 17025, reflects current thinking on good measurement practice by requiring more explicit and more demanding attention to a number of activities. These include client interactions, method validation, traceability, and measurement uncertainty. Since the publication of the standard in 1999 there has been extensive debate about its interpretation. It is the author's view that if good quality practices are already in place and if the new requirements are introduced in a manner that is fit for purpose, the additional work required to comply with the new requirements can be expected to be modest. The paper argues that the rigour required in addressing the issues should be driven by customer requirements and the factors that need to be considered in this regard are discussed. The issues addressed include the benefits, interim arrangements, specifying the analytical requirement, establishing traceability, evaluating the uncertainty and reporting the information.

Traceability System for Improved Utilization of Solid Biofuel from Agricultural Prunings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Techane Bosona

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Biomass production and supply for renewable energy generation should be managed well and carried out in a sustainable manner. An effective traceability system (TS is required to provide sufficient information and assure the quality of the biomass. The objective of this study is to define and develop a TS to assure the pruning biomass quality for the production of solid biofuels and to provide guarantee to the final user that the biomass is in good condition according to recommended quality criteria. It is designed for an agricultural pruning supply chain in which farmers, biomass traders, transporters, and end users are major actors. It is based on the biofuel quality requirements required by final users and other standards such as the new European standards EN 14961-1, EN15234:1-2011, and EN14961-1:2010, which describe solid fuel quality parameters. Traceable quality parameters include origin and source of product, traded form, bale dimension, chips size distribution, moisture content, ash content, and density of biomass. In this TS, a unique product label is introduced and integrated into a smart logistics system (SLS. The TS uses information captured at different stages of the product supply chain. It enables the management of the whole pruning biomass supply chain with the support of a centralized web-based information platform, an integral part of the SLS.

Evaluation of surface contamination based on certifiably traceable, internationally accreditable measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitlock, G.D.

1992-01-01

National Accreditation and Measurement Service (NAMAS) adopted by the EUROMET agreement requires that the calibration of monitoring instruments be traceable internationally with the objective that radiation hazard assessment be improved. This objective is achieved for Tritium surface contamination by employing calibration sources and evaluation methods which comply with ISO standards including the measurement of activity removable by Volatilization as well as dust. Consideration should be given to organic binding of tritium in the skin with its implications in the event of litigation. (author)

Technical efficiency and economic viability of different cattle identification methods allowed by the Brazilian traceability system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcos Aurelio Lopes

2017-03-01

Full Text Available We aimed to evaluate the technical efficiency and economic viability of the implementation and use of four cattle identification methods allowed by the Brazilian traceability system. The study was conducted in a beef cattle production system located in the State of Mato Grosso, from January to June 2012. Four identification methods (treatments were compared: T1: ear tag in one ear and ear button in the other ear (eabu; T2: ear tag and iron brand on the right leg (eaib; T3: ear tag in one ear and tattoo on the other ear (eata; and T4: ear tag in one ear and electronic ear tag (eael on the other. Each treatment was applied to 60 Nelore animals, totaling 240 animals, divided equally into three life stages (calves, young cattle, adult cattle. The study had two phases: implementation (phase 1 and reading and transfer of identification numbers to an electronic database (phase 2. All operating expenses related to the two phases of the study were determined. The database was constructed, and the statistical analyses were performed using SPSS® 17.0 software. Regarding the time spent on implementation (phase 1, conventional ear tags and electronic ear tags produced similar results, which were lower than those of hot iron and tattoo methods, which differed from each other. Regarding the time required for reading the numbers on animals and their transcription into a database (phase 2, electronic ear-tagging was the fastest method, followed by conventional ear tag, hot iron and tattoo. Among the methods analyzed, the electronic ear tag had the highest technical efficiency because it required less time to implement identifiers and to complete the process of reading and transcription to an electronic database and because it did not exhibit any errors. However, the cost of using the electronic ear-tagging method was higher primarily due to the cost of the device.

Implementation of a metrology programme to provide traceability for radionuclides activity measurements in the CNEN Radiopharmaceuticals Producers Centers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andrade, Erica A.L. de; Braghirolli, Ana M.S.; Tauhata, Luiz; Gomes, Regio S.; Silva, Carlos J., E-mail: erica@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Delgado, Jose U.; Oliveira, Antonio E.; Iwahara, Akira, E-mail: ealima@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2013-07-01

The commercialization and use of radiopharmaceuticals in Brazil are regulated by Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria (ANVISA) which require Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification for Radiopharmaceuticals Producer Centers. Quality Assurance Program should implement the GMP standards to ensure radiopharmaceuticals have requirements quality to proving its efficiency. Several aspects should be controlled within the Quality Assurance Programs, and one of them is the traceability of the Radionuclides Activity Measurement in radiopharmaceuticals doses. The quality assurance of activity measurements is fundamental to maintain both the efficiency of the nuclear medicine procedures and patient and exposed occupationally individuals safety. The radiation doses received by patients, during the nuclear medicine procedures, is estimated according to administered radiopharmaceuticals quantity. Therefore it is very important either the activity measurements performed in radiopharmaceuticals producer centers (RPC) as the measurements performed in nuclear medicine services are traceable to national standards. This paper aims to present an implementation program to provide traceability to radionuclides activity measurements performed in the dose calibrators(well type ionization chambers) used in Radiopharmaceuticals Producer Center placed in different states in Brazil. The proposed program is based on the principles of GM Pand ISO 17025 standards. According to dose calibrator performance, the RPC will be able to provide consistent, safe and effective radioactivity measurement to the nuclear medicine services. (author)

Towards a traceable clinical guidelines application. A model-driven approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Domínguez, E; Pérez, B; Zapata, M

2010-01-01

The goal of this research is to provide an overall framework to enable model-based development of clinical guideline-based decision support systems (GBDSSs). The automatically generated GBDSSs are aimed at providing guided support to the physician during the application of guidelines and automatically storing guideline application data for traceability purposes. The development process of a GBDSS for a guideline is based on model-driven development (MDD) techniques which allow us to carry out such a process automatically, making development more agile and saving on human resource costs. We use UML Statecharts to represent the dynamics of guidelines and, based on this model, we use a MDD-based tool chain to generate the guideline-dependent components of each GBDSS in an automatic way. In particular, as for the traceability capabilities of each GBDSS, MDD techniques are combined with database schema mappings for metadata management in order to automatically generate the GBDSS-persistent component as one of the main contributions of this paper. The complete framework has been implemented as an Eclipse plug-in named GBDSSGenerator which, starting from the statechart representing a guideline, allows the development process to be carried out automatically by only selecting different menu options the plug-in provides. We have successfully validated our overall approach by generating the GBDSS for different types of clinical guidelines, even for laboratory guidelines. The proposed framework allows the development of clinical guideline-based decision support systems in an automatic way making this process more agile and saving on human resource costs.

PGI chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) traceability by means of HRMAS-NMR spectroscopy: a preliminary study.

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Ritota, Mena; Casciani, Lorena; Valentini, Massimiliano

2013-05-01

Analytical traceability of PGI and PDO foods (Protected Geographical Indication and Protected Denomination Origin respectively) is one of the most challenging tasks of current applied research. Here we proposed a metabolomic approach based on the combination of (1)H high-resolution magic angle spinning-nuclear magnetic resonance (HRMAS-NMR) spectroscopy with multivariate analysis, i.e. PLS-DA, as a reliable tool for the traceability of Italian PGI chicories (Cichorium intybus L.), i.e. Radicchio Rosso di Treviso and Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco, also known as red and red-spotted, respectively. The metabolic profile was gained by means of HRMAS-NMR, and multivariate data analysis allowed us to build statistical models capable of providing clear discrimination among the two varieties and classification according to the geographical origin. Based on Variable Importance in Projection values, the molecular markers for classifying the different types of red chicories analysed were found accounting for both the cultivar and the place of origin. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

Authenticity and traceability of vanilla flavors by analysis of stable isotopes of carbon and hydrogen.

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Hansen, Anne-Mette Sølvbjerg; Fromberg, Arvid; Frandsen, Henrik Lauritz

2014-10-22

Authenticity and traceability of vanilla flavors were investigated using gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS). Vanilla flavors produced by chemical synthesis (n = 2), fermentation (n = 1), and extracted from two different species of the vanilla orchid (n = 79) were analyzed. The authenticity of the flavor compound vanillin was evaluated on the basis of measurements of ratios of carbon stable isotopes (δ(13)C). It was found that results of δ(13)C for vanillin extracted from Vanilla planifolia and Vanilla tahitensis were significantly different (t test) and that it was possible to differentiate these two groups of natural vanillin from vanillin produced otherwise. Vanilla flavors were also analyzed for ratios of hydrogen stable isotopes (δ(2)H). A graphic representation of δ(13)C versus δ(2)H revealed that vanillin extracted from pods grown in adjacent geographic origins grouped together. Accordingly, values of δ(13)C and δ(2)H can be used for studies of authenticity and traceability of vanilla flavors.

Soft fruit traceability in food matrices using real-time PCR.

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Palmieri, Luisa; Bozza, Elisa; Giongo, Lara

2009-02-01

Food product authentication provides a means of monitoring and identifying products for consumer protection and regulatory compliance. There is a scarcity of analytical methods for confirming the identity of fruit pulp in products containing Soft Fruit. In the present work we have developed a very sensible qualitative and quantitative method to determine the presence of berry DNAs in different food matrices. To our knowledge, this is the first study that shows the applicability, to Soft Fruit traceability, of melting curve analysis and multiplexed fluorescent probes, in a Real-Time PCR platform. This methodology aims to protect the consumer from label misrepresentation.

Traceability of Plant Diet Contents in Raw Cow Milk Samples

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Ponzoni, Elena; Mastromauro, Francesco; Gianì, Silvia; Breviario, Diego

2009-01-01

The use of molecular marker in the dairy sector is gaining large acceptance as a reliable diagnostic approach for food authenticity and traceability. Using a PCR approach, the rbcL marker, a chloroplast-based gene, was selected to amplify plant DNA fragments in raw cow milk samples collected from stock farms or bought on the Italian market. rbcL-specific DNA fragments could be found in total milk, as well as in the skimmed and the cream fractions. When the PCR amplified fragments were sent to sequence, the nucleotide composition of the chromatogram reflected the multiple contents of the polyphytic diet. PMID:22253982

Traceable measurements of the activity concentration in air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paul, Annette; Honig, Anja; Forkel-Wirth, Doris; Mueller, Andre; Marcos, Alicia

2002-01-01

The nuclear reactions induced by high energetic protons in heavy targets such as UC 2 and ThC cause a particular, complex radiation protection task at facilities like ISOLDE: the measurement of a mixture of different isotopes of the radioactive noble gas radon and the radon progenies in air. The knowledge of their respective activity concentration is fundamental for exposure assessments. Due to the complex mixture of activity concentrations in air, its precise determination is quite difficult. Therefore, a new procedure for taking reference samples was developed and implemented for the traceable measurement of the activity concentration of radioactive ions (e.g., radon progenies) in air. This technique is combined by measuring α-particles with a multi-wire ionization chamber for the parallel on-line determination of the activity concentration of different radon isotopes

Failure mode and effects analysis of witnessing protocols for ensuring traceability during IVF.

Science.gov (United States)

Rienzi, Laura; Bariani, Fiorenza; Dalla Zorza, Michela; Romano, Stefania; Scarica, Catello; Maggiulli, Roberta; Nanni Costa, Alessandro; Ubaldi, Filippo Maria

2015-10-01

Traceability of cells during IVF is a fundamental aspect of treatment, and involves witnessing protocols. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a method of identifying real or potential breakdowns in processes, and allows strategies to mitigate risks to be developed. To examine the risks associated with witnessing protocols, an FMEA was carried out in a busy IVF centre, before and after implementation of an electronic witnessing system (EWS). A multidisciplinary team was formed and moderated by human factors specialists. Possible causes of failures, and their potential effects, were identified and risk priority number (RPN) for each failure calculated. A second FMEA analysis was carried out after implementation of an EWS. The IVF team identified seven main process phases, 19 associated process steps and 32 possible failure modes. The highest RPN was 30, confirming the relatively low risk that mismatches may occur in IVF when a manual witnessing system is used. The introduction of the EWS allowed a reduction in the moderate-risk failure mode by two-thirds (highest RPN = 10). In our experience, FMEA is effective in supporting multidisciplinary IVF groups to understand the witnessing process, identifying critical steps and planning changes in practice to enable safety to be enhanced. Copyright © 2015 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Product traceability and quality as applied to the united states transuranic and high-level waste repository programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pickering, S.Y.; Orrell, S.A.

2000-01-01

As with any repository program, predictions of the performance of a site over very long time frames may often meet with skepticism from the public and decision-makers, such as regulatory and governmental agencies. Experience at the WIPP and the YMP indicate that demonstrating the defensibility of data, conceptual models, computer codes, and numerical analyses is critical. Five overarching principles have been found to be the basis of a technically and publicly acceptable repository. The principles are traceability, transparency, reproducibility, retrievability, and reviews. - Traceability allows one to understand the source and justification of data and other input that generate conclusions. - Transparency allows one to follow the logic, calculations, and other operations that produce results. - Reproducibility allows one to reconstruct the results without recourse to the originator of the information. - Retrievability allows one to retrieve documentation that demonstrate these overarching principles. - Reviews ensure that the work is technically acceptable, complete, and accurate. This paper discusses how these principles are applied to the WIPP and the YMP. By setting up quality assurance and management controls (e.g., procedures, audits, peer reviews) these principles are implemented. Without successfully applying these principles the WIPP would not have gone from research to industrial maturity. The YMP is ensuring that these are implemented for activities that support licensing. Any repository program concerned with demonstrating defensibility to the public and regulators would do well by incorporating traceability, transparency, reproducibility, retrievability, and reviews into their program. (authors)

Metrologically Traceable Determination of the Water Content in Biopolymers: INRiM Activity

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Rolle, F.; Beltramino, G.; Fernicola, V.; Sega, M.; Verdoja, A.

2017-03-01

Water content in materials is a key factor affecting many chemical and physical properties. In polymers of biological origin, it influences their stability and mechanical properties as well as their biodegradability. The present work describes the activity carried out at INRiM on the determination of water content in samples of a commercial starch-derived biopolymer widely used in shopping bags (Mater-Bi^{circledR }). Its water content, together with temperature, is the most influencing parameter affecting its biodegradability, because of the considerable impact on the microbial activity which is responsible for the biopolymer degradation in the environment. The main scope of the work was the establishment of a metrologically traceable procedure for the determination of water content by using two electrochemical methods, namely coulometric Karl Fischer (cKF) titration and evolved water vapour (EWV) analysis. The obtained results are presented. The most significant operational parameters were considered, and a particular attention was devoted to the establishment of metrological traceability of the measurement results by using appropriate calibration procedures, calibrated standards and suitable certified reference materials. Sample homogeneity and oven-drying temperature were found to be the most important influence quantities in the whole water content measurement process. The results of the two methods were in agreement within the stated uncertainties. Further development is foreseen for the application of cKF and EWV to other polymers.

Evaluation of the implementation of new traceability and food safety requirements in the pig industry in eastern Australia.

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Hernández-Jover, M; Schembri, N; Toribio, J-A; Holyoake, P K

2009-10-01

To evaluate the implementation and barriers to adoption, among pig producers, of a newly introduced traceability and food safety system in Australia. Implementation of the PigPass national vendor declaration (NVD) linked to an on-farm quality assurance (QA) program was evaluated in May and December 2007 at saleyards and abattoirs in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Four focus group discussions with saleyard producers were held between April and July 2007. Implementation of the PigPass system in terms of accurate completion of the form and QA accreditation was higher at the export abattoir than at the regional saleyard at the first audit (P 64%), and many vendors did not appear to be QA-accredited. During focus groups, producers expressed the view that PigPass implementation improved animal and product traceability. They identified the associated costs and a perceived lack of support by information providers as obstacles for adoption. Improvement in the implementation of PigPass among producers marketing pigs at export abattoirs was observed during the 8-month period of the study. There is a need for a more uniform message to producers from government agencies on the importance of the PigPass NVD and QA and extension and education targeted toward producers supplying pigs to saleyards and domestic abattoirs to ensure compliance with the traceability requirements.

Traceable calibration of hospital 192Ir HDR sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Govinda Rajan, K.N.; Sharma, S.D.; Palaniselvam, T.; Vandana, S.; Bhatt, B.C.; Vinatha, S.; Patki, V.S.; Pendse, A.M.; Kannan, V.

2004-01-01

A HDR 1000 PLUS well type ionization chamber, procured from Standard Imaging, USA, and maintained by medical Physics and Safety Section (MPSS), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India, as a reference well chamber 1 (RWCH1), was traceably calibrated against the primary standard established by Radiological Standards Laboratory (RSL), BARC for 192 Ir HDR source, in terms of air kerma strength (AKS). An indigenously developed well-type ionization chamber, reference well chamber 2 (RWCH2) and electrometer system, fabricated by CD High Tech (CDHT) Instruments Private Ltd., Bangalore, India, was in turn calibrated against RWCH1. The CDHT system (i.e. RWCH2 and CDHT electrometer system) was taken to several hospitals, in different regions of the country, to check the calibration status of 192 Ir HDR sources. The result of this calibration audit work is reported here. (author)

Traceable measurements of the activity concentration in air

CERN Document Server

Paul, A; Forkel-Wirth, Doris; Müller, A; Marcos, A

2002-01-01

The nuclear reactions induced by high energetic protons in heavy targets such as UC/sub 2/ and ThC cause a particular, complex radiation protection task at facilities like ISOLDE: the measurement of a mixture of different isotopes of the radioactive noble gas radon and the radon progenies in air. The knowledge of their respective activity concentration is fundamental for exposure assessments. Due to the complex mixture of activity concentrations in air, its precise determination is quite difficult. Therefore, a new procedure for taking reference samples was developed and implemented for the traceable measurement of the activity concentration of radioactive ions (e.g., radon progenies) in air. This technique is combined by measuring alpha -particles with a multi-wire ionization chamber for the parallel on-line determination of the activity concentration of different radon isotopes. (10 refs).

Development and evaluation of an intelligent traceability system for frozen tilapia fillet processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Xinqing; Fu, Zetian; Qi, Lin; Mira, Trebar; Zhang, Xiaoshuan

2015-10-01

The main export varieties in China are brand-name, high-quality bred aquatic products. Among them, tilapia has become the most important and fast-growing species since extensive consumer markets in North America and Europe have evolved as a result of commodity prices, year-round availability and quality of fresh and frozen products. As the largest tilapia farming country, China has over one-third of its tilapia production devoted to further processing and meeting foreign market demand. Using by tilapia fillet processing, this paper introduces the efforts for developing and evaluating ITS-TF: an intelligent traceability system integrated with statistical process control (SPC) and fault tree analysis (FTA). Observations, literature review and expert questionnaires were used for system requirement and knowledge acquisition; scenario simulation was applied to evaluate and validate ITS-TF performance. The results show that traceability requirement is evolved from a firefighting model to a proactive model for enhancing process management capacity for food safety; ITS-TF transforms itself as an intelligent system to provide functions on early warnings and process management by integrated SPC and FTA. The valuable suggestion that automatic data acquisition and communication technology should be integrated into ITS-TF was achieved for further system optimization, perfection and performance improvement. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Metrology of trace radionuclides in environment. Standardization and traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calmet, D.

1999-01-01

Widespread concern over radioactive substances in the environment regularly requires environmental and public health assessments. The credibility of an assessment will depend on the quality and reliability on measurement results that often are of paramount significance in the environmental domain. Those man made radionuclides present in the various environmental components of the French territory are however found at trace, even ultra-trace levels. This article gives an overview of standardization work and required reference materials and rules for measuring radionuclides in environmental matrices as well as the international and national systems to manage standardization and traceability. Some achievements as well as the many difficulties that the metrologist must overcome when using nuclear techniques to measure trace quantities of radionuclides are presented. (author)

Recent developments in application of stable isotope analysis on agro-product authenticity and traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yan; Zhang, Bin; Chen, Gang; Chen, Ailiang; Yang, Shuming; Ye, Zhihua

2014-02-15

With the globalisation of agro-product markets and convenient transportation of food across countries and continents, the potential for distribution of mis-labelled products increases accordingly, highlighting the need for measures to identify the origin of food. High quality food with identified geographic origin is a concern not only for consumers, but also for agriculture farmers, retailers and administrative authorities. Currently, stable isotope ratio analysis in combination with other chemical methods gradually becomes a promising approach for agro-product authenticity and traceability. In the last five years, a growing number of research papers have been published on tracing agro-products by stable isotope ratio analysis and techniques combining with other instruments. In these reports, the global variety of stable isotope compositions has been investigated, including light elements such as C, N, H, O and S, and heavy isotopes variation such as Sr and B. Several factors also have been considered, including the latitude, altitude, evaporation and climate conditions. In the present paper, an overview is provided on the authenticity and traceability of the agro-products from both animal and plant sources by stable isotope ratio analysis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Traceability and Quality Control in Traditional Chinese Medicine: From Chemical Fingerprint to Two-Dimensional Barcode

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Yong Cai

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Chemical fingerprinting is currently a widely used tool that enables rapid and accurate quality evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM. However, chemical fingerprints are not amenable to information storage, recognition, and retrieval, which limit their use in Chinese medicine traceability. In this study, samples of three kinds of Chinese medicines were randomly selected and chemical fingerprints were then constructed by using high performance liquid chromatography. Based on chemical data, the process of converting the TCM chemical fingerprint into two-dimensional code is presented; preprocess and filtering algorithm are also proposed aiming at standardizing the large amount of original raw data. In order to know which type of two-dimensional code (2D is suitable for storing data of chemical fingerprints, current popular types of 2D codes are analyzed and compared. Results show that QR Code is suitable for recording the TCM chemical fingerprint. The fingerprint information of TCM can be converted into data format that can be stored as 2D code for traceability and quality control.

Bacterial Infection Potato Tuber Soft Rot Disease Detection Based on Electronic Nose

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Chang Zhiyong

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Soft rot is a severe bacterial disease of potatoes, and soft rot infection can cause significant economic losses during the storage period of potatoes. In this study, potato soft rot was selected as the research object, and a type of potato tuber soft rot disease early detection method based on the electronic nose technology was proposed. An optimized bionic electronic nose gas chamber and a scientific and reasonable sampling device were designed to detect a change in volatile substances of the infected soft rot disease of potato tuber. The infection of soft rot disease in potato tuber samples was detected and identified by using the RBF NN algorithm and SVM algorithm. The results revealed that the proposed bionic electronic nose system can be utilized for early detection of potato tuber soft rot disease. Through comparison and analysis, the recognition rate using the SVM algorithm reached up to 89.7%, and the results were superior to the RBF NN algorithm.

Radiometric inter-sensor cross-calibration uncertainty using a traceable high accuracy reference hyperspectral imager

Science.gov (United States)

Gorroño, Javier; Banks, Andrew C.; Fox, Nigel P.; Underwood, Craig

2017-08-01

Optical earth observation (EO) satellite sensors generally suffer from drifts and biases relative to their pre-launch calibration, caused by launch and/or time in the space environment. This places a severe limitation on the fundamental reliability and accuracy that can be assigned to satellite derived information, and is particularly critical for long time base studies for climate change and enabling interoperability and Analysis Ready Data. The proposed TRUTHS (Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial and Helio-Studies) mission is explicitly designed to address this issue through re-calibrating itself directly to a primary standard of the international system of units (SI) in-orbit and then through the extension of this SI-traceability to other sensors through in-flight cross-calibration using a selection of Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) recommended test sites. Where the characteristics of the sensor under test allows, this will result in a significant improvement in accuracy. This paper describes a set of tools, algorithms and methodologies that have been developed and used in order to estimate the radiometric uncertainty achievable for an indicative target sensor through in-flight cross-calibration using a well-calibrated hyperspectral SI-traceable reference sensor with observational characteristics such as TRUTHS. In this study, Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) of Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) is evaluated as an example, however the analysis is readily translatable to larger-footprint sensors such as Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). This study considers the criticality of the instrumental and observational characteristics on pixel level reflectance factors, within a defined spatial region of interest (ROI) within the target site. It quantifies the main uncertainty contributors in the spectral, spatial, and temporal domains. The resultant tool

Si-Traceable Scale for Measurements of Radiocarbon Concentration

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Hodges, Joseph T.; Fleisher, Adam J.; Liu, Qingnan; Long, David A.

2017-06-01

Radiocarbon (^{14}C) dating of organic materials is based on measuring the ^{14}C/^{12}C atomic fraction relative to the nascent value that existed when the material was formed by photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. This field of measurement has numerous applications including source apportionment of anthropogenic and biogenic fuels and combustion emissions, carbon cycle dynamics, archaeology, and forensics. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is the most widely used method for radiocarbon detection because it can measure extremely small amounts of radiocarbon (background of nominally 1.2 parts-per-trillion) with high relative precision (0.4 %). AMS measurements of radiocarbon are typically calibrated by reference to standard oxalic-acid (C_2H_2O_4) samples of known radiocativity that are derived from plant matter. Specifically, the internationally accepted absolute dating reference for so-called "modern-equivalent" radiocarbon is 95 % of the specific radioactivity in AD 1950 of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) oxalic acid standard reference material and normalized to δ^{13}C_{VPDB} = 19 per mil. With this definition, a "modern-equivalent" corresponds to 1.176(70) parts-per-trillion of ^{14}C relative to total carbon content. As an alternative radiocarbon scale, we propose an SI-traceable method to determine ^{14}C absolute concentration which is based on linear Beer-Lambert-law absorption measurements of selected ^{14}C^{16}O_2 ν_3-band line areas. This approach is attractive because line intensities of chosen radiocarbon dioxide transitions can be determined by ab initio calculations with relative uncertainties below 0.5 %. This assumption is justified by the excellent agreement between theoretical values of line intensities and measurements for stable isotopologues of CO_2. In the case of cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) measurements of ^{14}C^{16}O_2 peak areas, we show that absolute, SI-traceable concentrations of

Early energy deficit in Huntington disease: identification of a plasma biomarker traceable during disease progression.

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Fanny Mochel

Full Text Available Huntington disease (HD is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, with no effective treatment. The pathogenic mechanisms underlying HD has not been elucidated, but weight loss, associated with chorea and cognitive decline, is a characteristic feature of the disease that is accessible to investigation. We, therefore, performed a multiparametric study exploring body weight and the mechanisms of its loss in 32 presymptomatic carriers and HD patients in the early stages of the disease, compared to 21 controls. We combined this study with a multivariate statistical analysis of plasma components quantified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1H NMR spectroscopy. We report evidence of an early hypermetabolic state in HD. Weight loss was observed in the HD group even in presymptomatic carriers, although their caloric intake was higher than that of controls. Inflammatory processes and primary hormonal dysfunction were excluded. (1H NMR spectroscopy on plasma did, however, distinguish HD patients at different stages of the disease and presymptomatic carriers from controls. This distinction was attributable to low levels of the branched chain amino acids (BCAA, valine, leucine and isoleucine. BCAA levels were correlated with weight loss and, importantly, with disease progression and abnormal triplet repeat expansion size in the HD1 gene. Levels of IGF1, which is regulated by BCAA, were also significantly lower in the HD group. Therefore, early weight loss in HD is associated with a systemic metabolic defect, and BCAA levels may be used as a biomarker, indicative of disease onset and early progression. The decreased plasma levels of BCAA may correspond to a critical need for Krebs cycle energy substrates in the brain that increased metabolism in the periphery is trying to provide.

Characterization of a traceable profiler instrument for areal roughness measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomsen-Schmidt, P

2011-01-01

A two-dimensional profiler instrument was designed and realized at the PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt). The main function of the instrument is to provide traceable results in the field of roughness measurement. It is equipped with a linear moving stylus which is guided by precision air bearings. The moving part of the stylus has weight around 1 g and is carried by a magnetic field. The contacting force of the tip onto the surface under test is controlled by a small voice coil actuator in a closed control loop. Vertical movements of the stylus are captured by two different, completely independent measurement systems, covering a range of 100 µm. The first one is an interferometer, which provides a traceable signal, and the second one is an inductive measurement system. The signal from the inductive measurement system is calibrated by the interferometer. The sample under test is carried within the x–y-plane by a linear guided table with low noise air bearings. These air bearings are preloaded by vacuum and a constant gap is achieved by gas pressure controllers. Both axes of the table are driven by linear voice coil actuators and their movement in the plane is measured by linear encoders. The sample carrier is equipped with two axes tilt compensation, by which the sample under test can be levelled automatically using the measurement system of the stylus. Real-time data acquisition, manual handling and automated procedures are managed by a programmable controller and proprietary software written in LabVIEW. After measurement, data from the system can be directly transferred into the smd- or sdf-format. Results of measurements on different samples to characterize the metrological behaviour of the instrument will be reported. To characterize the uncertainty of the instrument, a model is applied, which is in accordance with approved rules for contact stylus instruments

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent

Science.gov (United States)

Benchoufi, Mehdi; Porcher, Raphael; Ravaud, Philippe

2018-01-01

Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing for collection of patients’ informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we build a consent workflow using a trending technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient’s consent collection using Blockchain, thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each protocol revision, consent was sought again.  We obtained a single document, in an open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: a time-stamped consent status regarding each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened to remove the need for third parties, here trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer users. In the future, the complex data flow of a clinical trial could be tracked by using Blockchain, which core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not occurring in the correct chronological order, for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report form data before freezing the database. Globally, Blockchain could help with reliability, security, transparency and could be

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent.

Science.gov (United States)

Benchoufi, Mehdi; Porcher, Raphael; Ravaud, Philippe

2017-01-01

Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing for collection of patients' informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we build a consent workflow using a trending technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient's consent collection using Blockchain, thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each protocol revision, consent was sought again.  We obtained a single document, in an open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: a time-stamped consent status regarding each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened to remove the need for third parties, here trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer users. In the future, the complex data flow of a clinical trial could be tracked by using Blockchain, which core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not occurring in the correct chronological order, for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report form data before freezing the database. Globally, Blockchain could help with reliability, security, transparency and could be a

Towards Provenance and Traceability in CRISTAL for HEP

CERN Document Server

Shamdasani, Jetendr; McClatchey, Richard

2014-01-01

This paper discusses the CRISTAL object lifecycle management system and its use in provenance data management and the traceability of system events. This software was initially used to capture the construction and calibration of the CMS ECAL detector at CERN for later use by physicists in their data analysis. Some further uses of CRISTAL in different projects (CMS, neuGRID and N4U) are presented as examples of its flexible data model. From these examples, applications are drawn for the High Energy Physics domain and some initial ideas for its use in data preservation HEP are outlined in detail in this paper. Currently investigations are underway to gauge the feasibility of using the N4U Analysis Service or a derivative of it to address the requirements of data and analysis logging and provenance capture within the HEP long term data analysis environment.

Norman-based Isolated Data Systems allows users to surf the Internet with no traceable IP address

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

"Patented by Norman-based Isolated Data Systems, John Doe is an anonymous proxy server that allows users to surf the Internet exactly as before, with one exception - they are identifiable only as John Doe, with no traceable IP address, which means no tracking, no identification and no profile building" ( 1/2 page)

Species specific isotope dilution for the accurate and SI traceable determination of arsenobetaine and methylmercury in cuttlefish and prawn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumkrong, Paramee; Thiensong, Benjaporn; Le, Phuong Mai; McRae, Garnet; Windust, Anthony; Deawtong, Suladda; Meija, Juris; Maxwell, Paulette; Yang, Lu; Mester, Zoltán

2016-01-01

Methods based on species specific isotope dilution were developed for the accurate and SI traceable determination of arsenobetaine (AsBet) and methylmercury (MeHg) in prawn and cuttlefish tissues by LC-MS/MS and SPME GC-ICPMS. Quantitation of AsBet and MeHg were achieved by using a "1"3C-enriched AsBet spike (NRC CRM CBET-1) and an enriched spike of Me"1"9"8Hg (NRC CRM EMMS-1), respectively, wherein analyte mass fractions in enriched spikes were determined by reverse isotope dilution using natural abundance AsBet and MeHg primary standards. Purity of these primary standards were characterized by quantitative "1H-NMR with the use of NIST SRM 350b benzoic acid as a primary calibrator, ensuring the final measurement results traceable to SI. Validation of employed methods of ID LC-MS/MS and ID SPME GC-ICPMS was demonstrated by analysis of several biological CRMs (DORM-4, TORT-3, DOLT-5, BCR-627 and BCR-463) with satisfying results. The developed methods were applied for the determination of AsBet and MeHg in two new certified reference materials (CRMs) prawn (PRON-1) and cuttlefish (SQID-1) produced jointly by Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and National Research Council Canada (NRC). With additional measurements of AsBet using LC-ICPMS with standard additions calibration and external calibration at NRC and TISTR, respectively, certified values of 1.206 ± 0.058 and 13.96 ± 0.54 mg kg"−"1 for AsBet as As (expanded uncertainty, k = 2) were obtained for the new CRMs PRON-1 and SQID-1, respectively. The reference value of 0.324 ± 0.028 mg kg"−"1 as Hg (expanded uncertainty, k = 2) for MeHg was obtained for the SQID-1 based on the results obtained by ID SPME GC-ICPMS method only, whereas MeHg in PRON-1 was found to be < 0.015 mg kg"−"1. It was found that AsBet comprised 69.7% and 99.0% of total As in the prawn and cuttlefish, respectively, whereas MeHg comprised 94.5% of total Hg in cuttlefish. - Highlights: �

[Requirements for long-term follow-up on efficacy and safety of advanced therapy medicinal products. Risk management and traceability].

Science.gov (United States)

Klug, B; Reinhardt, J; Schröder, C

2010-01-01

Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) are an innovative treatment option. To promote timely access of the innovative medicinal product and to safeguard public health, new elements have been introduced into legislation. A key element of the ATMP regulation is the requirement for long-term follow-up on safety and efficacy of patients enrolled in clinical trials with ATMPs, which is beyond the routine requirements on pharmacovigilance. For gene therapy medicinal products, a guideline on long-term follow-up, which lays down the technical requirements, is available. A further key element of the ATMP regulation is the traceability of the starting materials used to manufacture the ATMP. A common European coding system is imperative to ensure the traceability of starting materials, especially across the borders of European Member States.

Traceability of Functional Bioactive Compounds in Fresh and Pasteurized Milk Obtained from Goats Fed with Orange Pulp

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Simona Chiş

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Traceability is the ability to identify and trace the history, distribution, location, and application of products, parts, and materials. A traceability system records and follows the trail as products, parts, and materials come from suppliers and are processed and ultimately distributed as end products (Prache et al, 2002. In this work, were studied the bioactive compounds (total vitamin C, ascorbic acid, total phenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamin A and vitamin E and antioxidant activity of goat fresh milk and pasteurized one. The goats were fed with a standard diet (control diet and then with a diet that incorporates orange pulp. The control diet (CD corresponded with a standard ration (a ration wich provide the energetic and proteic values, daily food for milking animals. From that ration, the Department of Animal Science, from Politechnic University of Valencia replaced the different proportions of the ingredients for incorporating orange pulp diet (OPD. The results of the present study show that the citrus pulp silage mixture used can be fed to goats without any negative effects on the performance of the animals. Results of this study indicate that citrus pulp silage can replace part of the conventional ration of goats, thus lowering the cost of production. The first aim of this study was to compare the two types of goat diets: a standard diet and a diet with orange pulp, by analyzing the bioactive compounds in fresh and pasteurized milk. The results demonstrate that all the bioactive compounds are bigger in the orange pulp diet than in the control diet. The second objective of this study was to analyze the bioavailability and traceability of bioactive compounds in fresh milk. 

Realising traceable electrostatic forces despite non-linear balance motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stirling, Julian; Shaw, Gordon A

2017-01-01

Direct realisation of force, traceable to fundamental constants via electromagnetic balances, is a key goal of the proposed redefinition of the international system of units (SI). This will allow small force metrology to be performed using an electrostatic force balance (EFB) rather than subdivision of larger forces. Such a balance uses the electrostatic force across a capacitor to balance an external force. In this paper we model the capacitance of a concentric cylinder EFB design as a function of the displacement of its free electrode, accounting for the arcuate motion produced by parallelogram linkages commonly used in EFB mechanisms. From this model we suggest new fitting procedures to reduce uncertainties arising from non-linear motion as well as methods to identify misalignment of the mechanism. Experimental studies on both a test capacitor and the NIST EFB validate the model. (paper)

Ethical Traceability for Improved Transparency in the Food Chain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Coff, Christian Eyde

2010-01-01

Some practices in the agri-food sector worry consumers. Consumers might for instance be concerned about animal welfare, health, environmental issues, transparency of the food chain and so forth.A question, which confronts consumers today, is how they can become capable of acting upon such ethical...... concerns. Information is often seen as an answer to the mentioned consumer concerns. Paradoxically, although consumers are bombarded with information on food - from the media, the food industry, food authorities, NGOs and interest groups – details about how foods are actually produced is often hard to find....... Much of the information available is superficial, conflicting or partial, and it is hard for consumers seeking to make informed food choices on ethical matters to know which information to trust. Food traceability, which provides a record of the history and journey of a given food, and which...

RELAP-7 Software Verification and Validation Plan: Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) Part 1 – Physics and numerical methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Yong Joon [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Yoo, Jun Soo [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Smith, Curtis Lee [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-09-01

This INL plan comprehensively describes the Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) on main physics and numerical method of the RELAP-7. The plan also describes the testing-based software verification and validation (SV&V) process—a set of specially designed software models used to test RELAP-7.

Development of a traceability analysis method based on case grammar for NPP requirement documents written in Korean language

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, Yeong Jae; Seong, Poong Hyun; Kim, Man Cheol

2004-01-01

Software inspection is widely believed to be an effective method for software verification and validation (V and V). However, software inspection is labor-intensive and, since it uses little technology, software inspection is viewed upon as unsuitable for a more technology-oriented development environment. Nevertheless, software inspection is gaining in popularity. KAIST Nuclear I and C and Information Engineering Laboratory (NICIEL) has developed software management and inspection support tools, collectively named 'SIS-RT.' SIS-RT is designed to partially automate the software inspection processes. SIS-RT supports the analyses of traceability between a given set of specification documents. To make SIS-RT compatible for documents written in Korean, certain techniques in natural language processing have been studied. Among the techniques considered, case grammar is most suitable for analyses of the Korean language. In this paper, we propose a methodology that uses a case grammar approach to analyze the traceability between documents written in Korean. A discussion regarding some examples of such an analysis will follow

A methodology for improving the SIS-RT in analyzing the traceability of the documents written in Korean language

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, Yeong Jae; Kim, Man Cheol; Seong, Poong Hyun

2002-01-01

Inspection is widely believed to be an effective software verification and validation (V and V) method. However, software inspection is labor-intensive. This labor-intensive nature is compounded by a view that since software inspection uses little technology, they do not fit in well with a more technology-oriented development environment. Nevertheless, software inspection is gaining in popularity. The researchers of KAIST I and C laboratory developed the software tool managing and supporting inspection tasks, named SIS-RT. SIS-RT is designed to partially automate the software inspection processes. SIS-RT supports the analyses of traceability between the spec documents. To make SIS-RT prepared for the spec document written in Korean language, certain techniques in natural language processing have been reviewed. Among those, the case grammar is most suitable for the analyses of Korean language. In this paper, the methodology for analyzing the traceability between spec documents written in Korean language will be proposed based on the case grammar

NGS tools for traceability in candies as high processed food products: Ion Torrent PGM versus conventional PCR-cloning.

Science.gov (United States)

Muñoz-Colmenero, Marta; Martínez, Jose Luis; Roca, Agustín; Garcia-Vazquez, Eva

2017-01-01

The Next Generation Sequencing methodologies are considered the next step within DNA-based methods and their applicability in different fields is being evaluated. Here, we tested the usefulness of the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) in food traceability analyzing candies as a model of high processed foods, and compared the results with those obtained by PCR-cloning-sequencing (PCR-CS). The majority of samples exhibited consistency between methodologies, yielding more information and species per product from the PGM platform than PCR-CS. Significantly higher AT-content in sequences of the same species was also obtained from PGM. This together with some taxonomical discrepancies between methodologies suggest that the PGM platform is still pre-mature for its use in food traceability of complex highly processed products. It could be a good option for analysis of less complex food, saving time and cost per sample. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential Applications and Limitations of Electronic Nose Devices for Plant Disease Diagnosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Cellini

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Electronic nose technology has recently been applied to the detection of several plant diseases and pests, with promising results. However, in spite of its numerous advantages, including operational simplicity, non-destructivity, and bulk sampling, drawbacks include a low sensitivity and specificity in comparison with microbiological and molecular methods. A critical review of the use of an electronic nose for plant disease diagnosis and pest detection is presented, describing the instrumental and procedural advances of sensorial analysis, for the improvement of discrimination between healthy and infected or infested plants. In conclusion, the use of electronic nose technology is suggested to assist, direct, and optimise traditionally adopted diagnostic techniques.

Species specific isotope dilution for the accurate and SI traceable determination of arsenobetaine and methylmercury in cuttlefish and prawn

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumkrong, Paramee [National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6 (Canada); Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, 35 Mu 3 Tambon Khlong Ha, Amphoe Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120 (Thailand); Thiensong, Benjaporn [Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, 35 Mu 3 Tambon Khlong Ha, Amphoe Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120 (Thailand); Le, Phuong Mai; McRae, Garnet; Windust, Anthony [National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6 (Canada); Deawtong, Suladda [Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, 35 Mu 3 Tambon Khlong Ha, Amphoe Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120 (Thailand); Meija, Juris; Maxwell, Paulette [National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6 (Canada); Yang, Lu, E-mail: Lu.yang@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca [National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6 (Canada); Mester, Zoltán [National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6 (Canada)

2016-11-02

Methods based on species specific isotope dilution were developed for the accurate and SI traceable determination of arsenobetaine (AsBet) and methylmercury (MeHg) in prawn and cuttlefish tissues by LC-MS/MS and SPME GC-ICPMS. Quantitation of AsBet and MeHg were achieved by using a {sup 13}C-enriched AsBet spike (NRC CRM CBET-1) and an enriched spike of Me{sup 198}Hg (NRC CRM EMMS-1), respectively, wherein analyte mass fractions in enriched spikes were determined by reverse isotope dilution using natural abundance AsBet and MeHg primary standards. Purity of these primary standards were characterized by quantitative {sup 1}H-NMR with the use of NIST SRM 350b benzoic acid as a primary calibrator, ensuring the final measurement results traceable to SI. Validation of employed methods of ID LC-MS/MS and ID SPME GC-ICPMS was demonstrated by analysis of several biological CRMs (DORM-4, TORT-3, DOLT-5, BCR-627 and BCR-463) with satisfying results. The developed methods were applied for the determination of AsBet and MeHg in two new certified reference materials (CRMs) prawn (PRON-1) and cuttlefish (SQID-1) produced jointly by Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and National Research Council Canada (NRC). With additional measurements of AsBet using LC-ICPMS with standard additions calibration and external calibration at NRC and TISTR, respectively, certified values of 1.206 ± 0.058 and 13.96 ± 0.54 mg kg{sup −1} for AsBet as As (expanded uncertainty, k = 2) were obtained for the new CRMs PRON-1 and SQID-1, respectively. The reference value of 0.324 ± 0.028 mg kg{sup −1} as Hg (expanded uncertainty, k = 2) for MeHg was obtained for the SQID-1 based on the results obtained by ID SPME GC-ICPMS method only, whereas MeHg in PRON-1 was found to be < 0.015 mg kg{sup −1}. It was found that AsBet comprised 69.7% and 99.0% of total As in the prawn and cuttlefish, respectively, whereas MeHg comprised 94.5% of total Hg in

The application of compound-specific isotope analysis of fatty acids for traceability of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) in the coastal areas of China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yu; Zhang, Xufeng; Li, Ying; Wang, Haixia

2017-11-01

Geographical origin traceability is an important issue for controlling the quality of seafood and safeguarding the interest of consumers. In the present study, a new method of compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of fatty acids was established to evaluate its applicability in establishing the origin traceability of Apostichopus japonicus in the coastal areas of China. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA) were applied to distinguish between the origins of A. japonicus. The results show that the stable carbon isotope compositions of fatty acids of A. japonicus significantly differ in terms of both season and origin. They also indicate that the stable carbon isotope composition of fatty acids could effectively discriminate between the origins of A. japonicus, except for between Changhai Island and Zhangzi Island in the spring of 2016 because of geographical proximity or the similarity of food sources. The fatty acids that have the highest contribution to identifying the geographical origins of A. japonicus are C22:6n-3, C16:1n-7, C20:5n-3, C18:0 and C23:1n-9, when considering the fatty acid contents, the stable carbon isotope composition of fatty acids and the results of the PCA and DA. We conclude that CSIA of fatty acids, combined with multivariate statistical analysis such as PCA and DA, may be an effective tool for establishing the traceability of A. japonicus in the coastal areas of China. The relevant conclusions of the present study provide a new method for determining the traceability of seafood or other food products. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

The Researches on Food Traceability System of University takeout

Science.gov (United States)

lu, Jia xin; zhao, Ce; li, Zhuang zhuang; shao, Zi rong; pi, Kun yi

2018-06-01

In recent years, campus takeaway has developed rapidly, and all kinds of online ordering platforms are running. The problem of distribution in the campus can not only save the time cost of the businessmen, but also guarantee the effective management of the school, which is beneficial to the construction of the standard health system for the takeout. But distribution according to the existing mode will cause certain safety and health risks. The establishment of the University takeaway food traceability system can solve this problem. This paper first analyzes the sharing mode and distribution process of campus takeaway, and then designs the intelligent tracing system for the campus takeaway; the construction of the food distribution information platform and the problem of the recycling of the green environment of the dining box. Finally, the intelligent tracing system of the school takeout is analyzed with the braised chicken as an example.

The Researches on Food Traceability System of University takeout

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

lu Jia xin

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, campus takeaway has developed rapidly, and all kinds of online ordering platforms are running. The problem of distribution in the campus can not only save the time cost of the businessmen, but also guarantee the effective management of the school, which is beneficial to the construction of the standard health system for the takeout. But distribution according to the existing mode will cause certain safety and health risks. The establishment of the University takeaway food traceability system can solve this problem. This paper first analyzes the sharing mode and distribution process of campus takeaway, and then designs the intelligent tracing system for the campus takeaway; the construction of the food distribution information platform and the problem of the recycling of the green environment of the dining box. Finally, the intelligent tracing system of the school takeout is analyzed with the braised chicken as an example.

Mercury Science Objectives and Traceability Within the BepiColombo Project: Optimising the Science Output of the Next Mission to Mercury

Science.gov (United States)

Besse, S.; Benkhoff, J.; Bentley, M.; Cornet, T.; Moissl, R.; Munoz, C.; Zender, J.

2018-05-01

The BepiColombo Science Ground Segment is developing, in collaboration with the instrument teams, targeted science traceability matrix of each instrument. They are defined in such a way that they can be tracked during the observation lifecycle.

Traceability of Opuntia ficus-indica L. Miller by ICP-MS multi-element profile and chemometric approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Mottese, Antonio Francesco; Naccari, Clara; Vadalà, Rossella; Bua, Giuseppe Daniel; Bartolomeo, Giovanni; Rando, Rossana; Cicero, Nicola; Dugo, Giacomo

2018-01-01

Opuntia ficus-indica L. Miller fruits, particularly 'Ficodindia dell'Etna' of Biancavilla (POD), 'Fico d'india tradizionale di Roccapalumba' with protected brand and samples from an experimental field in Pezzolo (Sicily) were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in order to determine the multi-element profile. A multivariate chemometric approach, specifically principal component analysis (PCA), was applied to individuate how mineral elements may represent a marker of geographic origin, which would be useful for traceability. PCA has allowed us to verify that the geographical origin of prickly pear fruits is significantly influenced by trace element content, and the results found in Biancavilla PDO samples were linked to the geological composition of this volcanic areas. It was observed that two principal components accounted for 72.03% of the total variance in the data and, in more detail, PC1 explains 45.51% and PC2 26.52%, respectively. This study demonstrated that PCA is an integrated tool for the traceability of food products and, at the same time, a useful method of authentication of typical local fruits such as prickly pear. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Chemometrics Methods for Specificity, Authenticity and Traceability Analysis of Olive Oils: Principles, Classifications and Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Habib Messai

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background. Olive oils (OOs show high chemical variability due to several factors of genetic, environmental and anthropic types. Genetic and environmental factors are responsible for natural compositions and polymorphic diversification resulting in different varietal patterns and phenotypes. Anthropic factors, however, are at the origin of different blends’ preparation leading to normative, labelled or adulterated commercial products. Control of complex OO samples requires their (i characterization by specific markers; (ii authentication by fingerprint patterns; and (iii monitoring by traceability analysis. Methods. These quality control and management aims require the use of several multivariate statistical tools: specificity highlighting requires ordination methods; authentication checking calls for classification and pattern recognition methods; traceability analysis implies the use of network-based approaches able to separate or extract mixed information and memorized signals from complex matrices. Results. This chapter presents a review of different chemometrics methods applied for the control of OO variability from metabolic and physical-chemical measured characteristics. The different chemometrics methods are illustrated by different study cases on monovarietal and blended OO originated from different countries. Conclusion. Chemometrics tools offer multiple ways for quantitative evaluations and qualitative control of complex chemical variability of OO in relation to several intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

Chemometrics Methods for Specificity, Authenticity and Traceability Analysis of Olive Oils: Principles, Classifications and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Messai, Habib; Farman, Muhammad; Sarraj-Laabidi, Abir; Hammami-Semmar, Asma; Semmar, Nabil

2016-01-01

Background. Olive oils (OOs) show high chemical variability due to several factors of genetic, environmental and anthropic types. Genetic and environmental factors are responsible for natural compositions and polymorphic diversification resulting in different varietal patterns and phenotypes. Anthropic factors, however, are at the origin of different blends’ preparation leading to normative, labelled or adulterated commercial products. Control of complex OO samples requires their (i) characterization by specific markers; (ii) authentication by fingerprint patterns; and (iii) monitoring by traceability analysis. Methods. These quality control and management aims require the use of several multivariate statistical tools: specificity highlighting requires ordination methods; authentication checking calls for classification and pattern recognition methods; traceability analysis implies the use of network-based approaches able to separate or extract mixed information and memorized signals from complex matrices. Results. This chapter presents a review of different chemometrics methods applied for the control of OO variability from metabolic and physical-chemical measured characteristics. The different chemometrics methods are illustrated by different study cases on monovarietal and blended OO originated from different countries. Conclusion. Chemometrics tools offer multiple ways for quantitative evaluations and qualitative control of complex chemical variability of OO in relation to several intrinsic and extrinsic factors. PMID:28231172

Capturing structured, pulmonary disease-specific data elements in electronic health records.

Science.gov (United States)

Gronkiewicz, Cynthia; Diamond, Edward J; French, Kim D; Christodouleas, John; Gabriel, Peter E

2015-04-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) have the potential to improve health-care quality by allowing providers to make better decisions at the point of care based on electronically aggregated data and by facilitating clinical research. These goals are easier to achieve when key, disease-specific clinical information is documented as structured data elements (SDEs) that computers can understand and process, rather than as free-text/natural-language narrative. This article reviews the benefits of capturing disease-specific SDEs. It highlights several design and implementation considerations, including the impact on efficiency and expressivity of clinical documentation and the importance of adhering to data standards when available. Pulmonary disease-specific examples of collection instruments are provided from two commonly used commercial EHRs. Future developments that can leverage SDEs to improve clinical quality and research are discussed.

Discovering disease associations by integrating electronic clinical data and medical literature.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antony B Holmes

Full Text Available Electronic health record (EHR systems offer an exceptional opportunity for studying many diseases and their associated medical conditions within a population. The increasing number of clinical record entries that have become available electronically provides access to rich, large sets of patients' longitudinal medical information. By integrating and comparing relations found in the EHRs with those already reported in the literature, we are able to verify existing and to identify rare or novel associations. Of particular interest is the identification of rare disease co-morbidities, where the small numbers of diagnosed patients make robust statistical analysis difficult. Here, we introduce ADAMS, an Application for Discovering Disease Associations using Multiple Sources, which contains various statistical and language processing operations. We apply ADAMS to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital's EHR to combine the information from the relational diagnosis tables and textual discharge summaries with those from PubMed and Wikipedia in order to investigate the co-morbidities of the rare diseases Kaposi sarcoma, toxoplasmosis, and Kawasaki disease. In addition to finding well-known characteristics of diseases, ADAMS can identify rare or previously unreported associations. In particular, we report a statistically significant association between Kawasaki disease and diagnosis of autistic disorder.

Contribution of Electronic Medical Records to the Management of Rare Diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominique Bremond-Gignac

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Electronic health record systems provide great opportunity to study most diseases. Objective of this study was to determine whether electronic medical records (EMR in ophthalmology contribute to management of rare eye diseases, isolated or in syndromes. Study was designed to identify and collect patients’ data with ophthalmology-specific EMR. Methods. Ophthalmology-specific EMR software (Softalmo software Corilus was used to acquire ophthalmological ocular consultation data from patients with five rare eye diseases. The rare eye diseases and data were selected and collected regarding expertise of eye center. Results. A total of 135,206 outpatient consultations were performed between 2011 and 2014 in our medical center specialized in rare eye diseases. The search software identified 29 congenital aniridia, 6 Axenfeld/Rieger syndrome, 11 BEPS, 3 Nanophthalmos, and 3 Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome. Discussion. EMR provides advantages for medical care. The use of ophthalmology-specific EMR is reliable and can contribute to a comprehensive ocular visual phenotype useful for clinical research. Conclusion. Routinely EMR acquired with specific software dedicated to ophthalmology provides sufficient detail for rare diseases. These software-collected data appear useful for creating patient cohorts and recording ocular examination, avoiding the time-consuming analysis of paper records and investigation, in a University Hospital linked to a National Reference Rare Center Disease.

Contribution of Electronic Medical Records to the Management of Rare Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Bremond-Gignac, Dominique; Lewandowski, Elisabeth; Copin, Henri

2015-01-01

Electronic health record systems provide great opportunity to study most diseases. Objective of this study was to determine whether electronic medical records (EMR) in ophthalmology contribute to management of rare eye diseases, isolated or in syndromes. Study was designed to identify and collect patients' data with ophthalmology-specific EMR. Ophthalmology-specific EMR software (Softalmo software Corilus) was used to acquire ophthalmological ocular consultation data from patients with five rare eye diseases. The rare eye diseases and data were selected and collected regarding expertise of eye center. A total of 135,206 outpatient consultations were performed between 2011 and 2014 in our medical center specialized in rare eye diseases. The search software identified 29 congenital aniridia, 6 Axenfeld/Rieger syndrome, 11 BEPS, 3 Nanophthalmos, and 3 Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome. EMR provides advantages for medical care. The use of ophthalmology-specific EMR is reliable and can contribute to a comprehensive ocular visual phenotype useful for clinical research. Routinely EMR acquired with specific software dedicated to ophthalmology provides sufficient detail for rare diseases. These software-collected data appear useful for creating patient cohorts and recording ocular examination, avoiding the time-consuming analysis of paper records and investigation, in a University Hospital linked to a National Reference Rare Center Disease.

Consumer acceptance of a quick response (QR) code for the food traceability system: Application of an extended technology acceptance model (TAM).

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yeong Gug; Woo, Eunju

2016-07-01

The objectives of this study are to apply the TAM using the addition of perceived information to individuals' behavioral intention to use the QR code for the food traceability system; and to determine the moderating effects of food involvement on the relationship between perceived information and perceived usefulness. Results from a survey of 420 respondents are analyzed using structural equation modeling. The study findings reveal that the extended TAM has a satisfactory fit to the data and that the underlying dimensions have a significant effect on consumers' intention to use the QR code for the food traceability system. In addition, food involvement plays a significant moderating function in the relationship between perceived information and perceived usefulness. The implications of this study for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Review: Authentication and traceability of foods from animal origin by polymerase chain reaction-based capillary electrophoresis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Ramírez, Roberto; González-Córdova, Aarón F; Vallejo-Cordoba, Belinda

2011-01-31

This work presents an overview of the applicability of PCR-based capillary electrophoresis (CE) in food authentication and traceability of foods from animal origin. Analytical approaches for authenticating and tracing meat and meat products and fish and seafood products are discussed. Particular emphasis will be given to the usefulness of genotyping in food tracing by using CE-based genetic analyzers. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Traceability of a panoramic gamma irradiator using different TLD systems as transfer instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romero, A.M.; Saez, J.C.

1994-01-01

This work shows the calibration in terms of the new operational radiological quantities Hp(10) and H*(10) for different TLD systems (Harshaw TLD-100 and Panasonic UD-802) used in personal and environmental monitoring. The irradiations were performed in the Spanish Reference Laboratory in radiation protection levels, managed by the CIEMAT Metrology of ionizing radiations Unit. With these data, different calibrations of a panoramic gamma irradiator in terms of the radiological quantity for unit of time were established, providing the traceability of the irradiator to the Reference Laboratory using the corresponding TLD systems as transfer instruments. (Author) 9 refs

Traceability of a panoramic gamma irradiator using different TLD systems as transfer Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romero, A. M.; Saez, J. C

1994-01-01

This work shows the calibration in terms of the new operational radiological quantities Hp (10) and H(10) for different TLD systems (Harshaw TLD-100 and Panasonic UD-002) used in personal and environmental monitoring. The irradiations were performed in the Spanish Reference Laboratory in radiation protection levels, managed by the CIEMAT Metrology of ionizing radiations Unit. With those data, different calibrations of a panoramic gamma irradiator in terms of the radiological quantity for unit of time were established, providing the traceability of the irradiator to the Reference Laboratory using the corresponding TLD systems as transfer instruments. (Author) 9 refs

Analysis of Traceability Optimization and Shareholder’s Profit for Efficient Supply Chain Operation under Product Recall Crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Saad Memon

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Product recall gains considerable importance in recent times; the reason may be the huge losses faced by manufacturers because of product recall issues. Furthermore, the revenue of the firm is immensely affected as a result of product recall, which may lead to serious outcomes. Huge recall cost (such as repairing or destroying the recalled products and cost of notification occurs as a result of large recall. Therefore, in order to minimize the quantity and probability of recalls the traceability systems are widely used and considered as a necessary part of product safety strategies. However, from literature it is clear that manufacturers are still struggling to obtain the significant results. This study helps the managers to understand the importance of recall cost by analysing its impact on shareholders profit. Keeping in view the importance of problem, the paper proposed an integrated optimization model to minimize the expected loss to shareholders in recall crisis using batch dispersion methodology. The analysed results show that reduction in traceability level increases the expected shareholders losses while decreasing the operational costs. This will help managers to optimally set the production batch sizes in order to reduce the product recall impact.

TRACEABILITY OF PRECISION MEASUREMENTS ON COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINES – UNCERTAINTY ASSESSMENT BY USING CALIBRATED WORPIECES ON CMMs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tosello, Guido; De Chiffre, Leonardo

This document is used in connection with one exercise 30 minutes duration as a part of the course VISION ONLINE – One week course on Precision & Nanometrology. The exercise concerns establishment of traceability of precision measurements on coordinate measuring machines. This document contains...... a short description of each step in the exercise, the uncertainty budget as described in the ISO/TS 15530 part 3 and tables from the excel spreadsheets....

Hg0 and HgCl2 Reference Gas Standards: NIST Traceability and Comparability (And EPA ALT Methods for Hg and HCl )

Science.gov (United States)

EPA and NIST have collaborated to establish the necessary procedures for establishing the required NIST traceability of commercially-provided Hg0 and HgCl2 reference generators. This presentation will discuss the approach of a joint EPA/NIST study to accurately quantify the tru...

Myofibroblasts in interstitial lung diseases show diverse electron microscopic and invasive features.

Science.gov (United States)

Karvonen, Henna M; Lehtonen, Siri T; Sormunen, Raija T; Harju, Terttu H; Lappi-Blanco, Elisa; Bloigu, Risto S; Kaarteenaho, Riitta L

2012-09-01

The characteristic features of myofibroblasts in various lung disorders are poorly understood. We have evaluated the ultrastructure and invasive capacities of myofibroblasts cultured from small volumes of diagnostic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples from patients with different types of lung diseases. Cells were cultured from samples of BAL fluid collected from 51 patients that had undergone bronchoscopy and BAL for diagnostic purposes. The cells were visualized by transmission electron microscopy and immunoelectron microscopy to achieve ultrastructural localization of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and fibronectin. The levels of α-SMA protein and mRNA and fibronectin mRNA were measured by western blot and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The invasive capacities of the cells were evaluated. The cultured cells were either fibroblasts or myofibroblasts. The structure of the fibronexus, and the amounts of intracellular actin, extracellular fibronectin and cell junctions of myofibroblasts varied in different diseases. In electron and immunoelectron microscopy, cells cultured from interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) expressed more actin filaments and α-SMA than normal lung. The invasive capacity of the cells obtained from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was higher than that from patients with other type of ILDs. Cells expressing more actin filaments had a higher invasion capacity. It is concluded that electron and immunoelectron microscopic studies of myofibroblasts can reveal differential features in various diseases. An analysis of myofibroblasts cultured from diagnostic BAL fluid samples may represent a new kind of tool for diagnostics and research into lung diseases.

Theory-based metrological traceability in education: A reading measurement network.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, William P; Stenner, A Jackson

2016-10-01

Huge resources are invested in metrology and standards in the natural sciences, engineering, and across a wide range of commercial technologies. Significant positive returns of human, social, environmental, and economic value on these investments have been sustained for decades. Proven methods for calibrating test and survey instruments in linear units are readily available, as are data- and theory-based methods for equating those instruments to a shared unit. Using these methods, metrological traceability is obtained in a variety of commercially available elementary and secondary English and Spanish language reading education programs in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Given established historical patterns, widespread routine reproduction of predicted text-based and instructional effects expressed in a common language and shared frame of reference may lead to significant developments in theory and practice. Opportunities for systematic implementations of teacher-driven lean thinking and continuous quality improvement methods may be of particular interest and value.

Perceived Traceability Costs and Benefits in the Italian Fisheries Supply Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniele Asioli

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The paper proposes a model in which it is hypothesized that firm characteristics influence both costs and benefits of traceability. The proposed model differentiates between aggregate measures and specific categories, as well as between expected costs and benefits on the one hand and perceived actual outcomes on the other, and is tested in a series of regression analyses based on a survey sample of 60 Italian fish processors. The findings indicate that firm characteristics are not strongly associated with any specific cost or benefit measure. However, expected overall benefits are highly significantly impacted by firm size and the number of quality management systems certified, while actual overall benefits only by firm size. Finally, the study also finds considerable discrepancies between expected and actual costs and benefits. The managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

Genetic characterization of Italian tomato varieties and their traceability in tomato food products-Sardaro-2012-Food Science & Nutrition-Wiley Online Library.

Science.gov (United States)

Sardaro, Maria Luisa Savo; Marmiroli, Marta; Maestri, Elena; Marmiroli, Nelson

2013-01-01

Genetic diversity underlies the improvement of crops by plant breeding. Landraces of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) can contain valuable alleles not common in modern germplasms. The aim was to measure genetic diversity present in 47 most common tomato varieties grown in Italy, 35 were varieties used for processing and 12 were landraces considered "salad varieties". Furthermore, we demonstrated the possibility that the variety traceability can be extended through the entire production chain. Diversity was measured using 11 microsatellite markers and 94 genotypes. Among the markers used, a total of 48 alleles were detected. A dendrogram based on total microsatellite polymorphism grouped 47 varieties into three major clusters at 0.75 similarity coefficient, differentiating the modern varieties from tomatoes landraces. The DNA markers developed confirmed the possibility to support the genotype identification all along the tomato production chain. The number of alleles and genotypes identified in the present work is the largest considering papers on food traceability.

Traceable X,Y self-calibration at single nm level of an optical microscope used for coherence scanning interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Ekberg, Peter; Mattsson, Lars

2018-03-01

Coherence scanning interferometry used in optical profilers are typically good for Z-calibration at nm-levels, but the X,Y accuracy is often left without further notice than typical resolution limits of the optics, i.e. of the order of ~1 µm. For the calibration of metrology tools we rely on traceable artefacts, e.g. gauge blocks for traditional coordinate measurement machines, and lithographically mask made artefacts for microscope calibrations. In situations where the repeatability and accuracy of the measurement tool is much better than the uncertainty of the traceable artefact, we are bound to specify the uncertainty based on the calibration artefact rather than on the measurement tool. This is a big drawback as the specified uncertainty of a calibrated measurement may shrink the available manufacturing tolerance. To improve the uncertainty in X,Y we can use self-calibration. Then, we do not need to know anything more than that the artefact contains a pattern with some nominal grid. This also gives the opportunity to manufacture the artefact in-house, rather than buying a calibrated and expensive artefact. The self-calibration approach we present here is based on an iteration algorithm, rather than the traditional mathematical inversion, and it leads to much more relaxed constrains on the input measurements. In this paper we show how the X,Y errors, primarily optical distortions, within the field of view (FOV) of an optical coherence scanning interferometry microscope, can be reduced with a large factor. By self-calibration we achieve an X,Y consistency in the 175  ×  175 µm2 FOV of ~2.3 nm (1σ) using the 50×  objective. Besides the calibrated coordinate X,Y system of the microscope we also receive, as a bonus, the absolute positions of the pattern in the artefact with a combined uncertainty of 6 nm (1σ) by relying on a traceable 1D linear measurement of a twin artefact at NIST.

Knowledge representation in safety assessment: improving transparency and traceability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lemos, F.L. de [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (CDTN/CNEN-MG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Sullivan, T. [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Ross, T. [University of New Mexico (UNM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Guimaraes, L.N.F. [Instituto de Estudos Avancados (IEAv/CTA), Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil)

2011-07-01

Transparency and traceability are key factors for confidence building, acceptability, and quality enhancement of the safety assessment, and safety case for a radioactive waste disposal facility. In order to facilitate analysis and promote discussions, all of the information used to make decisions should be readily available to stake holders. The information should convey a good understanding of the intermediate decisions processes, allowing examination of alternatives and 'what if questions'. In an ideal situation all stake holders, including scientists and the public, should be able to follow the path of a certain parameter, from the beginning where it was defined, its assumptions and uncertainties, throughout the calculations until the final results of the safety assessment. One of the main challenges, to achieving such a transparency and traceability, is that stake holders are a very diverse audience, with very different backgrounds. This could require preparation of various versions of the same documentation, which would be impractical. While the linguistic information is of crucial importance to understanding the reasoning, it is very difficult to convey the supporting conditions, and consequent uncertainties for the selection of parameters values. Even scientists involved in the process can become confused due to the overwhelming amount of information that is used to support parameter value selection. The amount of details makes it difficult to track the decisions, which lead to the selection of a certain parameter, throughout the calculations. This paper presents a methodology to represent the linguistic information used in the safety assessment in terms of mathematical expressions by using the fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic tools. This methodology aims to help information to be readily available while keeping, as much as possible, the original meaning of the linguistic expressions and, consequently, to be available at any time as a quick reference

Knowledge representation in safety assessment: improving transparency and traceability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemos, F.L. de; Sullivan, T.; Ross, T.; Guimaraes, L.N.F.

2011-01-01

Transparency and traceability are key factors for confidence building, acceptability, and quality enhancement of the safety assessment, and safety case for a radioactive waste disposal facility. In order to facilitate analysis and promote discussions, all of the information used to make decisions should be readily available to stake holders. The information should convey a good understanding of the intermediate decisions processes, allowing examination of alternatives and 'what if questions'. In an ideal situation all stake holders, including scientists and the public, should be able to follow the path of a certain parameter, from the beginning where it was defined, its assumptions and uncertainties, throughout the calculations until the final results of the safety assessment. One of the main challenges, to achieving such a transparency and traceability, is that stake holders are a very diverse audience, with very different backgrounds. This could require preparation of various versions of the same documentation, which would be impractical. While the linguistic information is of crucial importance to understanding the reasoning, it is very difficult to convey the supporting conditions, and consequent uncertainties for the selection of parameters values. Even scientists involved in the process can become confused due to the overwhelming amount of information that is used to support parameter value selection. The amount of details makes it difficult to track the decisions, which lead to the selection of a certain parameter, throughout the calculations. This paper presents a methodology to represent the linguistic information used in the safety assessment in terms of mathematical expressions by using the fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic tools. This methodology aims to help information to be readily available while keeping, as much as possible, the original meaning of the linguistic expressions and, consequently, to be available at any time as a quick reference. This would

Traceable accounts of subjective probability judgments in the IPCC and beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Baer, P. G.

2012-12-01

One of the major sources of controversy surrounding the reports of the IPCC has been the characterization of uncertainty. Although arguably the IPCC has paid more attention to the process of uncertainty analysis and communication than any comparable assessment body, its efforts to achieve consistency have produced mixed results. In particular, the extensive use of subjective probability assessment has attracted widespread criticism. Statements such as "Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years" are ubiquitous (one online database lists nearly 3000 such claims), and indeed are the primary way in which its key "findings" are reported. Much attention is drawn to the precise quantitative definition of such statements (e.g., "very likely" means >90% probability, vs. "extremely likely" which means >95% certainty). But there is no process by which the decision regarding the choice of such uncertainty level for a given finding is formally made or reported, and thus they are easily by disputed by anyone, expert or otherwise, who disagrees with the assessment. In the "Uncertainty Guidance Paper" for the Third Assessment Report, Richard Moss and Steve Schneider defined the concept of a "traceable account," which gave exhaustive detail regarding how one ought to provide documentation of such an uncertainty assessment. But the guidance, while appearing straightforward and reasonable, in fact was an unworkable recipe, which would have taken near-infinite time if used for more than a few key results, and would have required a different structuring of the text than the conventional scientific assessment. And even then it would have left a gap when it came to the actual provenance of any such specific judgments, because there simply is no formal step at which individuals turn their knowledge of the evidence on some finding into a probability judgment. The

Standardization of 123I and 18F for providing traceability of activity meters performed in the Radiopharmaceutical Production Service of the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, RJ, Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrade, E.A.L.; Delgado, J.U.; Iwahara, A.; Contic, C.C.

2013-01-01

The commercialization and use of radiopharmaceuticals in Brazil are regulated by Sanitary Vigilance National Agency which requiring Good Manufacturing Practices certification for all segments within the Nuclear Medicine. Quality Assurance Programmes should implement the standard requirements to ensure that radiopharmaceuticals have requirements quality to proving its efficiency. Several aspects should be controlled, and one of them is the traceability of the Radionuclides Activity Measurement in radiopharmaceuticals doses. This paper aims to provide traceability to dose calibrators (well type ionization chambers) used for 123 I and 18 F activity measurements in Radiopharmaceuticals Production Service placed in Institute of Nuclear Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. (author)

Determination of radionuclides in environmental test items at CPHR: traceability and uncertainty calculation.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrazana González, J; Fernández, I M; Capote Ferrera, E; Rodríguez Castro, G

2008-11-01

Information about how the laboratory of Centro de Protección e Higiene de las Radiaciones (CPHR), Cuba establishes its traceability to the International System of Units for the measurement of radionuclides in environmental test items is presented. A comparison among different methodologies of uncertainty calculation, including an analysis of the feasibility of using the Kragten-spreadsheet approach, is shown. In the specific case of the gamma spectrometric assay, the influence of each parameter, and the identification of the major contributor, in the relative difference between the methods of uncertainty calculation (Kragten and partial derivative) is described. The reliability of the uncertainty calculation results reported by the commercial software Gamma 2000 from Silena is analyzed.

Determination of radionuclides in environmental test items at CPHR: Traceability and uncertainty calculation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carrazana Gonzalez, J.; Fernandez, I.M.; Capote Ferrera, E.; Rodriguez Castro, G.

2008-01-01

Information about how the laboratory of Centro de Proteccion e Higiene de las Radiaciones (CPHR), Cuba establishes its traceability to the International System of Units for the measurement of radionuclides in environmental test items is presented. A comparison among different methodologies of uncertainty calculation, including an analysis of the feasibility of using the Kragten-spreadsheet approach, is shown. In the specific case of the gamma spectrometric assay, the influence of each parameter, and the identification of the major contributor, in the relative difference between the methods of uncertainty calculation (Kragten and partial derivative) is described. The reliability of the uncertainty calculation results reported by the commercial software Gamma 2000 from Silena is analyzed

Systematic review of electronic surveillance of infectious diseases with emphasis on antimicrobial resistance surveillance in resource-limited settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Rattanaumpawan, Pinyo; Boonyasiri, Adhiratha; Vong, Sirenda; Thamlikitkul, Visanu

2018-02-01

Electronic surveillance of infectious diseases involves rapidly collecting, collating, and analyzing vast amounts of data from interrelated multiple databases. Although many developed countries have invested in electronic surveillance for infectious diseases, the system still presents a challenge for resource-limited health care settings. We conducted a systematic review by performing a comprehensive literature search on MEDLINE (January 2000-December 2015) to identify studies relevant to electronic surveillance of infectious diseases. Study characteristics and results were extracted and systematically reviewed by 3 infectious disease physicians. A total of 110 studies were included. Most surveillance systems were developed and implemented in high-income countries; less than one-quarter were conducted in low-or middle-income countries. Information technologies can be used to facilitate the process of obtaining laboratory, clinical, and pharmacologic data for the surveillance of infectious diseases, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR) infections. These novel systems require greater resources; however, we found that using electronic surveillance systems could result in shorter times to detect targeted infectious diseases and improvement of data collection. This study highlights a lack of resources in areas where an effective, rapid surveillance system is most needed. The availability of information technology for the electronic surveillance of infectious diseases, including AMR infections, will facilitate the prevention and containment of such emerging infectious diseases. Copyright © 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prescribing of Electronic Activity Monitors in Cardiometabolic Diseases: Qualitative Interview-Based Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellicha, Alice; Macé, Sandrine; Oppert, Jean-Michel

2017-09-23

The prevalence of noncommunicable diseases, including those such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, so-called cardiometabolic diseases, is high and is increasing worldwide. Strong evidence supports the role of physical activity in management of these diseases. There is general consensus that mHealth technology, including electronic activity monitors, can potentially increase physical activity in patients, but their use in clinical settings remains limited. Practitioners' requirements when prescribing electronic activity monitors have been poorly described. The aims of this qualitative study were (1) to explore how specialist physicians prescribe electronic activity monitors to patients presenting with cardiometabolic conditions, and (2) to better understand their motivation for and barriers to prescribing such monitors. We conducted qualitative semistructured interviews in March to May 2016 with 11 senior physicians from a public university hospital in France with expertise in management of cardiometabolic diseases (type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia). Interviews lasted 45 to 60 minutes and were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using directed content analysis. We report our findings following the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist. Most physicians we interviewed had never prescribed electronic activity monitors, whereas they frequently prescribed blood glucose or blood pressure self-monitoring devices. Reasons for nonprescription included lack of interest in the data collected, lack of evidence for data accuracy, concern about work overload possibly resulting from automatic data transfer, and risk of patients becoming addicted to data. Physicians expected future marketing of easy-to-use monitors that will accurately measure physical activity duration and intensity and provide understandable motivating feedback. Features of electronic activity monitors

Electric field metrology for SI traceability: Systematic measurement uncertainties in electromagnetically induced transparency in atomic vapor

Science.gov (United States)

Holloway, Christopher L.; Simons, Matt T.; Gordon, Joshua A.; Dienstfrey, Andrew; Anderson, David A.; Raithel, Georg

2017-06-01

We investigate the relationship between the Rabi frequency (ΩRF, related to the applied electric field) and Autler-Townes (AT) splitting, when performing atom-based radio-frequency (RF) electric (E) field strength measurements using Rydberg states and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in an atomic vapor. The AT splitting satisfies, under certain conditions, a well-defined linear relationship with the applied RF field amplitude. The EIT/AT-based E-field measurement approach derived from these principles is currently being investigated by several groups around the world as a means to develop a new SI-traceable RF E-field measurement technique. We establish conditions under which the measured AT-splitting is an approximately linear function of the RF electric field. A quantitative description of systematic deviations from the linear relationship is key to exploiting EIT/AT-based atomic-vapor spectroscopy for SI-traceable field measurement. We show that the linear relationship is valid and can be used to determine the E-field strength, with minimal error, as long as the EIT linewidth is small compared to the AT-splitting. We also discuss interesting aspects of the thermal dependence (i.e., hot- versus cold-atom) of this EIT-AT technique. An analysis of the transition from cold- to hot-atom EIT in a Doppler-mismatched cascade system reveals a significant change of the dependence of the EIT linewidth on the optical Rabi frequencies and of the AT-splitting on ΩRF.

RELAP-7 Code Assessment Plan and Requirement Traceability Matrix

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoo, Junsoo; Choi, Yong-joon; Smith, Curtis L.

2016-10-01

The RELAP-7, a safety analysis code for nuclear reactor system, is under development at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Overall, the code development is directed towards leveraging the advancements in computer science technology, numerical solution methods and physical models over the last decades. Recently, INL has also been putting an effort to establish the code assessment plan, which aims to ensure an improved final product quality through the RELAP-7 development process. The ultimate goal of this plan is to propose a suitable way to systematically assess the wide range of software requirements for RELAP-7, including the software design, user interface, and technical requirements, etc. To this end, we first survey the literature (i.e., international/domestic reports, research articles) addressing the desirable features generally required for advanced nuclear system safety analysis codes. In addition, the V&V (verification and validation) efforts as well as the legacy issues of several recently-developed codes (e.g., RELAP5-3D, TRACE V5.0) are investigated. Lastly, this paper outlines the Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) for RELAP-7 which can be used to systematically evaluate and identify the code development process and its present capability.

Report of the consultants' meeting on traceability of IAEA-AQCS reference materials to SI-units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the present Agency's Analytical Quality Control Services (AQCS) procedure for the characterization of reference materials and to identify necessary improvements or changes needed to fulfill the requirements on traceability and uncertainty related to the property value of IAEA reference materials. This publication contains a summary of the discussions held at the meeting as well as specific recommendations made by the consultants. It also contains draft reports of two previous meetings and individual papers presented by the consultants at the meeting. These reports and papers have been provided with abstracts and indexed separately

D-mu-A new concept in industrial low-energy electron dosimetry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Helt-Hansen, Jakob; Miller, Arne; Sharpe, Peter

2010-01-01

, resulting in difficulties in providing traceable dose measurements using reference dosimeters. In order to overcome these problems a new concept is introduced of correcting all measured doses to the average dose in the first micrometer—Dμ. We have applied this concept to dose measurements with dosimeters...... of different thickness at two electron accelerators operating over a range of energies. The uncertainties of the dose measurements were evaluated, and it was shown that the dose in terms of Dμ was the same at each energy for all dosimeters within the measurement uncertainty. Using the concept of Dμ...

A Model of Traceability for Equipments Using RFID Tehnologies within an Integrated System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu LIXANDROIU

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tagss or transponders. An advanced automatic identification technology such as the Auto-ID system based on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID technology has two values for inventory systems. First, the visibility provided by this technology allows an accurate knowledge on the inventory level by eliminating the discrepancy between inventory record and physical inventory. Second, the RFID technology can prevent or reduce the sources of errors. Benefits of using RFID include the reduction of labor costs, the simplification of business processes and the reduction of inventory inaccuracies. Also, RFID technology allows an knowledge on the traceability of equipments in a organization.

基于区块链的第三代中药追溯平台构建研究%Research for Platform Construction of the Third Generation of Traceability for TCM Based on the Blockchain

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

温川飙; 赵姝婷; 陈菊; 施明毅; 高原

2017-01-01

本文回顾了中药追溯技术发展的8年历程,从基本架构、应用开发到开放平台的三个阶段,探讨中药追溯体系当前面临的主要技术问题和解决思路,重点阐述基于区块链技术的第三代中药追溯平台的开放共享架构原理和方法,讨论物联网、大数据、标准化和接口规范等关键技术对去中心化中药追溯平台构建的意义和作用,为新一代中药追溯体系提供建设思路.%This paper reviews the development of traceability technology for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) backing 8 years,from the stage of the basic architecture,application development to the open platform,to explore the main technical problems of traceability system for TCM facing and solutions,focusing on the blockchain technology of the third-generation TCM traceability platform of open architecture based on the principle and method of sharing.Finally the paper discuss the key technologies,such as the Internet of things,big data,standardization and interface specification,make great significance and function to the construction of the decentralized traceability platform for TCM,which will provide the construction ideas for the new generation of traceability system for TCM.

Next-generation services for e-traceability to ionizing radiation national standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Desrosiers, M.F.; Klemick, Mark; Puhl, J.M.; Uchida, David; Mallis, Steven

2004-01-01

An Internet-based system for fast, remote certification of high-dose radiation sources against the US national standard is being constructed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The new service will establish traceability (through transfer dosimetry) in real time at a lower cost by using automated routines and the Internet. A prototype of this service was successfully demonstrated in 2000 at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Dosimetry Workshop in San Diego. Despite this impressive accomplishment, new developments demanded that several aspects of the service be modified. The new service has been completely redesigned to address these new demands and ensure greater accessibility. A description of the hardware and software configurations of this service as well as the communication and information management aspects will be presented. The Internet-based transfer certification program will provide industry with 24-h, 7-day-per-week, on-demand certifications, immediate turnaround times, and lower cost, ultimately improving the quality of the manufacturing process

Role of Lanthanides in the Traceability of the Milk Production Chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Aceto, Maurizio; Musso, Davide; Calà, Elisa; Arieri, Fabio; Oddone, Matteo

2017-05-24

The traceability and authentication of milk were studied using trace and ultratrace elements as chemical markers. Among these variables, the group of lanthanides resulted in being particularly useful for this purpose as a result of their homogeneous distribution inside milk, which showed on the contrary to be intrinsically inhomogeneous from the elemental point of view. Using in this pilot study milk samples from a factory in Piedmont (Italy), we demonstrated that the distribution of lanthanides can be used as a fingerprint to put into relation the soil of the pasture land on which cows graze and the bottled milk produced in the factory. In fact, the distribution is maintained nearly unaltered along the production chain of milk, apart from the passage into the stomachs of the cows. Using the same variables, it was possible to discriminate between milk produced in the factory and milk samples taken from the large-scale retail trade.

Next-generation services for e-traceability to ionizing radiation national standards

Science.gov (United States)

Desrosiers, Marc F.; Klemick, Mark; Puhl, James M.; Uchida, David; Mallis, Steven

2004-09-01

An Internet-based system for fast, remote certification of high-dose radiation sources against the US national standard is being constructed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The new service will establish traceability (through transfer dosimetry) in real time at a lower cost by using automated routines and the Internet. A prototype of this service was successfully demonstrated in 2000 at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Dosimetry Workshop in San Diego. Despite this impressive accomplishment, new developments demanded that several aspects of the service be modified. The new service has been completely redesigned to address these new demands and ensure greater accessibility. A description of the hardware and software configurations of this service as well as the communication and information management aspects will be presented. The Internet-based transfer certification program will provide industry with 24-h, 7-day-per-week, on-demand certifications, immediate turnaround times, and lower cost, ultimately improving the quality of the manufacturing process.

Utilizing Dental Electronic Health Records Data to Predict Risk for Periodontal Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Thyvalikakath, Thankam P; Padman, Rema; Vyawahare, Karnali; Darade, Pratiksha; Paranjape, Rhucha

2015-01-01

Periodontal disease is a major cause for tooth loss and adversely affects individuals' oral health and quality of life. Research shows its potential association with systemic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and social habits such as smoking. This study explores mining potential risk factors from dental electronic health records to predict and display patients' contextualized risk for periodontal disease. We retrieved relevant risk factors from structured and unstructured data on 2,370 patients who underwent comprehensive oral examinations at the Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN, USA. Predicting overall risk and displaying relationships between risk factors and their influence on the patient's oral and general health can be a powerful educational and disease management tool for patients and clinicians at the point of care.

Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester

Science.gov (United States)

Lazzerini, Giovanni Mattia; Paternò, Giuseppe Maria; Tregnago, Giulia; Treat, Neil; Stingelin, Natalie; Yacoot, Andrew; Cacialli, Franco

2016-02-01

We report high-resolution, traceable atomic force microscopy measurements of high-quality, solvent-free single crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). These were grown by drop-casting PCBM solutions onto the spectrosil substrates and by removing the residual solvent in a vacuum. A home-built atomic force microscope featuring a plane mirror differential optical interferometer, fiber-fed from a frequency-stabilized laser (emitting at 632.8 nm), was used to measure the crystals' height. The optical interferometer together with the stabilized laser provides traceability (via the laser wavelength) of the vertical measurements made with the atomic force microscope. We find that the crystals can conform to the surface topography, thanks to their height being significantly smaller compared to their lateral dimensions (namely, heights between about 50 nm and 140 nm, for the crystals analysed, vs. several tens of microns lateral dimensions). The vast majority of the crystals are flat, but an isolated, non-flat crystal provides insights into the growth mechanism and allows identification of "molecular terraces" whose height corresponds to one of the lattice constants of the single PCBM crystal (1.4 nm) as measured with X-ray diffraction.

Piloting a livestock identification and traceability system in the northern Tanzania-Narok-Nairobi trade route.

Science.gov (United States)

Mutua, Florence; Kihara, Absolomon; Rogena, Jason; Ngwili, Nicholas; Aboge, Gabriel; Wabacha, James; Bett, Bernard

2018-02-01

We designed and piloted a livestock identification and traceability system (LITS) along the Northern Tanzania-Narok-Nairobi beef value chain. Animals were randomly selected and identified at the primary markets using uniquely coded ear tags. Data on identification, ownership, source (village), and the site of recruitment (primary market) were collected and posted to an online database. Similar data were collected in all the markets where tagged animals passed through until they got to defined slaughterhouses. Meat samples were collected during slaughter and later analyzed for tetracycline and diminazene residues using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Follow up surveys were done to assess the pilot system. The database captured a total of 4260 records from 741 cattle. Cattle recruited in the primary markets in Narok (n = 1698) either came from farms (43.8%), local markets (37.7%), or from markets in Tanzania (18.5%). Soit Sambu market was the main source of animals entering the market from Tanzania (54%; n = 370). Most tagged cattle (72%, n = 197) were slaughtered at the Ewaso Ng'iro slaughterhouse in Narok. Lesions observed (5%; n = 192) were related to either hydatidosis or fascioliasis. The mean diminazene aceturate residue level was 320.78 ± 193.48 ppb. We used the traceability system to identify sources of animals with observable high drug residue levels in tissues. Based on the findings from this study, we discuss opportunities for LITS-as a tool for surveillance for both animal health and food safety, and outline challenges of its deployment in a local beef value chain-such as limited incentives for uptake.

Treatment of extra-mammary Paget's disease with high energy electron beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogawa, Yasuhiro; Kimura, Syuji; Kumano, Machiko; Tsuboi, Yoshitaka; Gose, Kyuhei.

1979-01-01

10 patients with extra-mammary Paget's disease were treated with high energy electron beam. 3 were treated surgically before irradiation. They were irradiated with the dose from, 6,000 rad in 40 fractions in 53 days to 9,900 rad in 66 fractions in 90 days. 3 recurred within 2 years and 1 recurred after 4.8 years and 1 recurred after 5 years. The early recurrence was observed around the irradiated field, while the late recurrence was seen in the irradiated field. A wider area should be irradiated to control this invasive disease. (author)

Use of X-ray diffraction technique and chemometrics to aid soil sampling strategies in traceability studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertacchini, Lucia; Durante, Caterina; Marchetti, Andrea; Sighinolfi, Simona; Silvestri, Michele; Cocchi, Marina

2012-08-30

Aim of this work is to assess the potentialities of the X-ray powder diffraction technique as fingerprinting technique, i.e. as a preliminary tool to assess soil samples variability, in terms of geochemical features, in the context of food geographical traceability. A correct approach to sampling procedure is always a critical issue in scientific investigation. In particular, in food geographical traceability studies, where the cause-effect relations between the soil of origin and the final foodstuff is sought, a representative sampling of the territory under investigation is certainly an imperative. This research concerns a pilot study to investigate the field homogeneity with respect to both field extension and sampling depth, taking also into account the seasonal variability. Four Lambrusco production sites of the Modena district were considered. The X-Ray diffraction spectra, collected on the powder of each soil sample, were treated as fingerprint profiles to be deciphered by multivariate and multi-way data analysis, namely PCA and PARAFAC. The differentiation pattern observed in soil samples, as obtained by this fast and non-destructive analytical approach, well matches with the results obtained by characterization with other costly analytical techniques, such as ICP/MS, GFAAS, FAAS, etc. Thus, the proposed approach furnishes a rational basis to reduce the number of soil samples to be collected for further analytical characterization, i.e. metals content, isotopic ratio of radiogenic element, etc., while maintaining an exhaustive description of the investigated production areas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Constraints on Biological Mechanism from Disease Comorbidity Using Electronic Medical Records and Database of Genetic Variants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven C Bagley

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Patterns of disease co-occurrence that deviate from statistical independence may represent important constraints on biological mechanism, which sometimes can be explained by shared genetics. In this work we study the relationship between disease co-occurrence and commonly shared genetic architecture of disease. Records of pairs of diseases were combined from two different electronic medical systems (Columbia, Stanford, and compared to a large database of published disease-associated genetic variants (VARIMED; data on 35 disorders were available across all three sources, which include medical records for over 1.2 million patients and variants from over 17,000 publications. Based on the sources in which they appeared, disease pairs were categorized as having predominant clinical, genetic, or both kinds of manifestations. Confounding effects of age on disease incidence were controlled for by only comparing diseases when they fall in the same cluster of similarly shaped incidence patterns. We find that disease pairs that are overrepresented in both electronic medical record systems and in VARIMED come from two main disease classes, autoimmune and neuropsychiatric. We furthermore identify specific genes that are shared within these disease groups.

Metrological assurance and traceability for Industry 4.0 and additive manufacturing in Ukraine

Science.gov (United States)

Skliarov, Volodymyr; Neyezhmakov, Pavel; Prokopov, Alexander

2018-03-01

The national measurement standards from the point of view of traceability of the results of measurement in additive manufacturing in Ukraine are considered in the paper. The metrological characteristics of the national primary measurement standards in the field of geometric, temperature, optical-physical and time-frequency measurements, which took part in international comparisons within COOMET projects, are presented. The accurate geometric, temperature, optical-physical and time-frequency measurements are the key ones in controlling the quality of additive manufacturing. The use of advanced CAD/CAE/CAM systems allows to simulate the process of additive manufacturing at each stage. In accordance with the areas of the technology of additive manufacturing, the ways of improving the national measurement standards of Ukraine for the growing needs of metrology of additive manufacturing are considered.

Verification of traceability and backscattering in surface entrance air kerma measurements with detector type ionizing chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teixeira, G.J.; Peixoto, J.G.P.

2013-01-01

Measurements of doses in radiology services by ionizing chambers are easier than those made by TLD, however the protocols for measurements differ regarding the calibration. The objectives were to verify the traceability in the measures of ESAK corrected by the inverse square law, due to the difference in position between the source and IC and the influence of the backscattered radiation in bringing the detector to the table. Was defined a procedure practiced by the radiological services and designed experimental arrangements for the same technique. Was noted that the approximation of the detector to the table generated a significant backscattered. (author)

The mediated influence of a traceability label on consumer’s willingness to buy the labelled product

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bradu, Cosmina; Orquin, Jacob Lund; Thøgersen, John

2014-01-01

and purchase behaviour. This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to show that an ethical label influences consumer decision-making through activating a holistic moral affective evaluation of the offering, rather than through strengthening the consumer’s knowledge base for a more qualified...... on the dual process models of persuasion (HSM and ELM), we conclude that consumers mainly process the traceability label in a heuristic way, through a peripheral route, making a fast and frugal, affect-based judgment, rather than one based on elaborate reasoning. Being one of the first empirical studies...

Automatic prediction of rheumatoid arthritis disease activity from the electronic medical records.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Lin

Full Text Available We aimed to mine the data in the Electronic Medical Record to automatically discover patients' Rheumatoid Arthritis disease activity at discrete rheumatology clinic visits. We cast the problem as a document classification task where the feature space includes concepts from the clinical narrative and lab values as stored in the Electronic Medical Record.The Training Set consisted of 2792 clinical notes and associated lab values. Test Set 1 included 1749 clinical notes and associated lab values. Test Set 2 included 344 clinical notes for which there were no associated lab values. The Apache clinical Text Analysis and Knowledge Extraction System was used to analyze the text and transform it into informative features to be combined with relevant lab values.Experiments over a range of machine learning algorithms and features were conducted. The best performing combination was linear kernel Support Vector Machines with Unified Medical Language System Concept Unique Identifier features with feature selection and lab values. The Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC is 0.831 (σ = 0.0317, statistically significant as compared to two baselines (AUC = 0.758, σ = 0.0291. Algorithms demonstrated superior performance on cases clinically defined as extreme categories of disease activity (Remission and High compared to those defined as intermediate categories (Moderate and Low and included laboratory data on inflammatory markers.Automatic Rheumatoid Arthritis disease activity discovery from Electronic Medical Record data is a learnable task approximating human performance. As a result, this approach might have several research applications, such as the identification of patients for genome-wide pharmacogenetic studies that require large sample sizes with precise definitions of disease activity and response to therapies.

Evaluation of spatial dependence of point spread function-based PET reconstruction using a traceable point-like 22Na source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taisuke Murata

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The point spread function (PSF of positron emission tomography (PET depends on the position across the field of view (FOV. Reconstruction based on PSF improves spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy. The present study aimed to quantify the effects of PSF correction as a function of the position of a traceable point-like 22Na source over the FOV on two PET scanners with a different detector design. Methods We used Discovery 600 and Discovery 710 (GE Healthcare PET scanners and traceable point-like 22Na sources (<1 MBq with a spherical absorber design that assures uniform angular distribution of the emitted annihilation photons. The source was moved in three directions at intervals of 1 cm from the center towards the peripheral FOV using a three-dimensional (3D-positioning robot, and data were acquired over a period of 2 min per point. The PET data were reconstructed by filtered back projection (FBP, the ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM, OSEM + PSF, and OSEM + PSF + time-of-flight (TOF. Full width at half maximum (FWHM was determined according to the NEMA method, and total counts in regions of interest (ROI for each reconstruction were quantified. Results The radial FWHM of FBP and OSEM increased towards the peripheral FOV, whereas PSF-based reconstruction recovered the FWHM at all points in the FOV of both scanners. The radial FWHM for PSF was 30–50 % lower than that of OSEM at the center of the FOV. The accuracy of PSF correction was independent of detector design. Quantitative values were stable across the FOV in all reconstruction methods. The effect of TOF on spatial resolution and quantitation accuracy was less noticeable. Conclusions The traceable 22Na point-like source allowed the evaluation of spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy across the FOV using different reconstruction methods and scanners. PSF-based reconstruction reduces dependence of the spatial resolution on the

Validation of ammonia diffusive and active samplers in a controlled atmosphere test facility using traceable Primary Standard Gas Mixtures

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Nicholas A.; Ferracci, Valerio; Cassidy, Nathan; Hook, Josh; Battersby, Ross M.; Tang, Yuk S.; Stevens, Amy C. M.; Jones, Matthew R.; Braban, Christine F.; Gates, Linda; Hangartner, Markus; Stoll, Jean-Marc; Sacco, Paolo; Pagani, Diego; Hoffnagle, John A.

2017-04-01

Intensive animal farming, the increased use of fertilizers, and certain industrial processes are believed to be responsible for the observed increases in the amount fraction of ammonia (NH3) found in Europe. NH3 contributes to eutrophication and acidification of land and freshwater, potentially leading to a loss of biodiversity and undesirable changes to the ecosystem. It also contributes to the formation of secondary particulate matter (PM) formation, which is associated with poor air quality and adverse health outcomes. Measurements of ambient ammonia are principally carried out with low-cost diffusive samplers or by active sampling with denuders, with each method delivering time-integrated values over the monitoring period. However, such techniques have not yet been extensively validated. The goal of this work was to provide improvements in the metrological traceability through the determination of NH3 diffusive sampling rates. Five different designs of commercial diffusive samplers (FSM Radiello radial sampler, Gradko diffusion tube, Gradko DIFRAM-400, Passam ammonia sampler, and CEH ALPHA sampler) were employed, together with a pumped denuder sampler (CEH DELTA denuder) for comparison. All devices were simultaneously exposed for either 28 days or 14 days (dependent on sampler type) in a controlled atmosphere test facility (CATFAC) containing traceable amount fractions of humidified ammonia using new stable ammonia Primary Standard Gas Mixtures developed by gravimetry at NPL, under a wide range of conditions that are relevant to ambient monitoring. Online continuous monitoring of the ammonia test atmospheres was carried out by extractive sampling, employing a calibrated cavity ring-down spectrometer, which had been modified to account for cross interference by water vapour. Each manufacturer extracted the captured ammonia on the exposed samplers in the form of ammonium (NH4+) using their own accredited traceable wet chemical techniques, and then reported data

Monitoring emerging diseases of fish and shellfish using electronic sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Thrush, M A; Dunn, P L; Peeler, E J

2012-10-01

New and emerging fish and shellfish diseases represent an important constraint to the growth and sustainability of many aquaculture sectors and have also caused substantial economic and environmental impacts in wild stocks. This paper details the results of 8 years of a monitoring programme for emerging aquatic animal diseases reported around the world. The objectives were to track global occurrences and, more specifically, to identify and provide advanced warning of disease threats that may affect wild and farmed fish stocks in the UK. A range of electronic information sources, including Internet newsletters, alerting services and news agency releases, was systematically searched for reports of new diseases, new presentations of known pathogens and known diseases occurring in new geographic locations or new host species. A database was established to log the details of key findings, and 250 emerging disease events in 52 countries were recorded during the period of study. These included 14 new diseases and a further 16 known diseases in new species. Viruses and parasites accounted for the majority of reports (55% and 24%, respectively), and known diseases occurring in new locations were the most important emerging disease category (in which viruses were dominant). Emerging diseases were reported disproportionally in salmonid species (33%), in farmed populations (62%) and in Europe and North America (80%). The lack of reports from some regions with significant aquaculture or fishery production may indicate that emerging diseases are not being recognized in these areas owing to insufficient surveillance or testing or that these events are being under-reported. The results are discussed in relation to processes underpinning disease emergence in the aquatic environment. © 2011 Crown Copyright. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office and Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science.

A Middleware Architecture for RFID-enabled traceability of air baggage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bouhouche T.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available 1980 marked the start of a boom in radiofrequency identification (RFID technology, initially associated with a growing need for traceability. In view of the technological progress and lower costs, RFID’s area of application became much broader and, today, multiple business sectors take advantage of this technology. However, in order to achieve the maximum benefits of RFID technology, the data collected should be delivered in the best conditions to the whole applications that have need of its exploitation. For that, a dedicated middleware solution is required to ensure the collection of RFID data and their integration in information systems. The issues and key points of this integration as the description of the RFID technology will be summarized in the present paper, with a new middleware architecture. We focus mainly on components and the design of our middleware MedRFID, solution developed in our Lab, and which integrates mobility and provides extensibility, scalability, abstraction, ease of deployment and compatibility with IATA standards and EPCglobal standards. Moreover, we have developed an application (FindLuggage allowing a real time tracking of luggage in the airport, based on the proposed middleware MedRFID.

Applicability of SCAR markers to food genomics: olive oil traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Pafundo, Simona; Agrimonti, Caterina; Maestri, Elena; Marmiroli, Nelson

2007-07-25

DNA analysis with molecular markers has opened a shortcut toward a genomic comprehension of complex organisms. The availability of micro-DNA extraction methods, coupled with selective amplification of the smallest extracted fragments with molecular markers, could equally bring a breakthrough in food genomics: the identification of original components in food. Amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) have been instrumental in plant genomics because they may allow rapid and reliable analysis of multiple and potentially polymorphic sites. Nevertheless, their direct application to the analysis of DNA extracted from food matrixes is complicated by the low quality of DNA extracted: its high degradation and the presence of inhibitors of enzymatic reactions. The conversion of an AFLP fragment to a robust and specific single-locus PCR-based marker, therefore, could extend the use of molecular markers to large-scale analysis of complex agro-food matrixes. In the present study is reported the development of sequence characterized amplified regions (SCARs) starting from AFLP profiles of monovarietal olive oils analyzed on agarose gel; one of these was used to identify differences among 56 olive cultivars. All the developed markers were purposefully amplified in olive oils to apply them to olive oil traceability.

Towards absolute quantification of allergenic proteins in food--lysozyme in wine as a model system for metrologically traceable mass spectrometric methods and certified reference materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Cryar, Adam; Pritchard, Caroline; Burkitt, William; Walker, Michael; O'Connor, Gavin; Burns, Duncan Thorburn; Quaglia, Milena

2013-01-01

Current routine food allergen quantification methods, which are based on immunochemistry, offer high sensitivity but can suffer from issues of specificity and significant variability of results. MS approaches have been developed, but currently lack metrological traceability. A feasibility study on the application of metrologically traceable MS-based reference procedures was undertaken. A proof of concept involving proteolytic digestion and isotope dilution MS for quantification of protein allergens in a food matrix was undertaken using lysozyme in wine as a model system. A concentration of lysozyme in wine of 0.95 +/- 0.03 microg/g was calculated based on the concentrations of two peptides, confirming that this type of analysis is viable at allergenically meaningful concentrations. The challenges associated with this promising method were explored; these included peptide stability, chemical modification, enzymatic digestion, and sample cleanup. The method is suitable for the production of allergen in food certified reference materials, which together with the achieved understanding of the effects of sample preparation and of the matrix on the final results, will assist in addressing the bias of the techniques routinely used and improve measurement confidence. Confirmation of the feasibility of MS methods for absolute quantification of an allergenic protein in a food matrix with results traceable to the International System of Units is a step towards meaningful comparison of results for allergen proteins among laboratories. This approach will also underpin risk assessment and risk management of allergens in the food industry, and regulatory compliance of the use of thresholds or action levels when adopted.

The Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (JCTLM): A Global Approach to Promote the Standardisation of Clinical Laboratory Test Results

OpenAIRE

Armbruster, David; Miller, Richard R

2007-01-01

Clinical laboratories are moving towards global standardisation to produce equivalent test results across space and time. Standardisation allows use of evidence-based medicine, eliminates the need of method-specific reference intervals, decision levels and cut-offs, and can be achieved by application of metrological principles. For example, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers can make kit calibrators traceable to internationally recognised reference materials and reference methods.

Calibration of high-resolution electronic autocollimators with demanded low uncertainties using single reading head angle encoders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yandayan, Tanfer; Akgoz, S Asli; Asar, Muharrem

2014-01-01

Calibration of high-resolution electronic autocollimators is carried out in TUBITAK UME using an angle comparator to ensure direct traceability to the SI unit of plane angle, radian (rad). The device is a specially designed air-bearing rotary table fitted with a commercially available angular encoder utilizing a single reading head. It is shown that high-resolution electronic autocollimators in the large measurement range (e.g. ±1000 arcsec) can be calibrated with an expanded uncertainty of 0.035 arcsec (k = 2) in conventional dimensional laboratory conditions, applying good measurement strategy for single reading head angle encoders and taking simple but smart precautions. Description of the angle comparator is presented with various test results derived using different high-precision autocollimators, and a detailed uncertainty budget is given for the calibration of a high-resolution electronic autocollimator. (paper)

Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazzerini, Giovanni Mattia; Yacoot, Andrew; Paternò, Giuseppe Maria; Tregnago, Giulia; Cacialli, Franco; Treat, Neil; Stingelin, Natalie

2016-01-01

We report high-resolution, traceable atomic force microscopy measurements of high-quality, solvent-free single crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). These were grown by drop-casting PCBM solutions onto the spectrosil substrates and by removing the residual solvent in a vacuum. A home-built atomic force microscope featuring a plane mirror differential optical interferometer, fiber-fed from a frequency-stabilized laser (emitting at 632.8 nm), was used to measure the crystals' height. The optical interferometer together with the stabilized laser provides traceability (via the laser wavelength) of the vertical measurements made with the atomic force microscope. We find that the crystals can conform to the surface topography, thanks to their height being significantly smaller compared to their lateral dimensions (namely, heights between about 50 nm and 140 nm, for the crystals analysed, vs. several tens of microns lateral dimensions). The vast majority of the crystals are flat, but an isolated, non-flat crystal provides insights into the growth mechanism and allows identification of “molecular terraces” whose height corresponds to one of the lattice constants of the single PCBM crystal (1.4 nm) as measured with X-ray diffraction

New Primary Standards for Establishing SI Traceability for Moisture Measurements in Solid Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Heinonen, M.; Bell, S.; Choi, B. Il; Cortellessa, G.; Fernicola, V.; Georgin, E.; Hudoklin, D.; Ionescu, G. V.; Ismail, N.; Keawprasert, T.; Krasheninina, M.; Aro, R.; Nielsen, J.; Oğuz Aytekin, S.; Österberg, P.; Skabar, J.; Strnad, R.

2018-01-01

A European research project METefnet addresses a fundamental obstacle to improving energy-intensive drying process control: due to ambiguous reference analysis methods and insufficient methods for estimating uncertainty in moisture measurements, the achievable accuracy in the past was limited and measurement uncertainties were largely unknown. This paper reports the developments in METefnet that provide a sound basis for the SI traceability: four new primary standards for realizing the water mass fraction were set up, analyzed and compared to each other. The operation of these standards is based on combining sample weighing with different water vapor detection techniques: cold trap, chilled mirror, electrolytic and coulometric Karl Fischer titration. The results show that an equivalence of 0.2 % has been achieved between the water mass fraction realizations and that the developed methods are applicable to a wide range of materials.

MO-D-BRD-03: Radiobiology and Commissioning of Electronic Brachytherapy for IORT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, J. [Oregon Health & Science Univ (United States)

2015-06-15

Electronic brachytherapy (eBT) has seen an insurgence of manufacturers entering the US market for use in radiation therapy. In addition to the established interstitial, intraluminary, and intracavitary applications of eBT, many centers are now using eBT to treat skin lesions. It is important for medical physicists working with electronic brachytherapy sources to understand the basic physics principles of the sources themselves as well as the variety of applications for which they are being used. The calibration of the sources is different from vendor to vendor and the traceability of calibrations has evolved as new sources came to market. In 2014, a new air-kerma based standard was introduced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to measure the output of an eBT source. Eventually commercial treatment planning systems should accommodate this new standard and provide NIST traceability to the end user. The calibration and commissioning of an eBT system is unique to its application and typically entails a list of procedural recommendations by the manufacturer. Commissioning measurements are performed using a variety of methods, some of which are modifications of existing AAPM Task Group protocols. A medical physicist should be familiar with the different AAPM Task Group recommendations for applicability to eBT and how to properly adapt them to their needs. In addition to the physical characteristics of an eBT source, the photon energy is substantially lower than from HDR Ir-192 sources. Consequently, tissue-specific dosimetry and radiobiological considerations are necessary when comparing these brachytherapy modalities and when making clinical decisions as a radiation therapy team. In this session, the physical characteristics and calibration methodologies of eBt sources will be presented as well as radiobiology considerations and other important clinical considerations. Learning Objectives: To understand the basic principles of electronic

Using Electronic Patient Records to Discover Disease Correlations and Stratify Patient Cohorts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roque, Francisco S.; Jensen, Peter B.; Schmock, Henriette

2011-01-01

Electronic patient records remain a rather unexplored, but potentially rich data source for discovering correlations between diseases. We describe a general approach for gathering phenotypic descriptions of patients from medical records in a systematic and non-cohort dependent manner. By extracting...... phenotype information from the free-text in such records we demonstrate that we can extend the information contained in the structured record data, and use it for producing fine-grained patient stratification and disease co-occurrence statistics. The approach uses a dictionary based on the International...

Using electronic patient records to discover disease correlations and stratify patient cohorts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco S Roque

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Electronic patient records remain a rather unexplored, but potentially rich data source for discovering correlations between diseases. We describe a general approach for gathering phenotypic descriptions of patients from medical records in a systematic and non-cohort dependent manner. By extracting phenotype information from the free-text in such records we demonstrate that we can extend the information contained in the structured record data, and use it for producing fine-grained patient stratification and disease co-occurrence statistics. The approach uses a dictionary based on the International Classification of Disease ontology and is therefore in principle language independent. As a use case we show how records from a Danish psychiatric hospital lead to the identification of disease correlations, which subsequently can be mapped to systems biology frameworks.

Traceable working standards with SI units of radiance for characterizing the measurement performance of investigational clinical NIRF imaging devices

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Banghe; Rasmussen, John C.; Litorja, Maritoni; Sevick-Muraca, Eva M.

2017-03-01

All medical devices for Food and Drug market approval require specifications of performance based upon International System of Units (SI) or units derived from SI for reasons of traceability. Recently, near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging devices of a variety of designs have emerged on the market and in investigational clinical studies. Yet the design of devices used in the clinical studies vary widely, suggesting variable device performance. Device performance depends upon optimal excitation of NIRF imaging agents, rejection of backscattered excitation and ambient light, and selective collection of fluorescence emanating from the fluorophore. There remains no traceable working standards with SI units of radiance to enable prediction that a given molecular imaging agent can be detected in humans by a given NIRF imaging device. Furthermore, as technologies evolve and as NIRF imaging device components change, there remains no standardized means to track device improvements over time and establish clinical performance without involving clinical trials, often costly. In this study, we deployed a methodology to calibrate luminescent radiance of a stable, solid phantom in SI units of mW/cm2/sr for characterizing the measurement performance of ICCD and IsCMOS camera based NIRF imaging devices, such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast. The methodology allowed determination of superior SNR of the ICCD over the IsCMOS system; comparable contrast of ICCD and IsCMOS depending upon binning strategies.

Determination of total arsenic in fish by hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry: method validation, traceability and uncertainty evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Nugraha, W. C.; Elishian, C.; Ketrin, R.

2017-03-01

Fish containing arsenic compound is one of the important indicators of arsenic contamination in water monitoring. The high level of arsenic in fish is due to absorption through food chain and accumulated in their habitat. Hydride generation (HG) coupled with atomic absorption spectrometric (AAS) detection is one of the most popular techniques employed for arsenic determination in a variety of matrices including fish. This study aimed to develop a method for the determination of total arsenic in fish by HG-AAS. The method for sample preparation from American of Analytical Chemistry (AOAC) Method 999.10-2005 was adopted for acid digestion using microwave digestion system and AOAC Method 986.15 - 2005 for dry ashing. The method was developed and validated using Certified Reference Material DORM 3 Fish Protein for trace metals for ensuring the accuracy and the traceability of the results. The sources of uncertainty of the method were also evaluated. By using the method, it was found that the total arsenic concentration in the fish was 45.6 ± 1.22 mg.Kg-1 with a coverage factor of equal to 2 at 95% of confidence level. Evaluation of uncertainty was highly influenced by the calibration curve. This result was also traceable to International Standard System through analysis of Certified Reference Material DORM 3 with 97.5% of recovery. In summary, it showed that method of preparation and HG-AAS technique for total arsenic determination in fish were valid and reliable.

Development of departmental standard for traceability of measured activity for 131I therapy capsules used in nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ravichandran, Ramamoorthy; Binukumar, J.P.

2011-01-01

International Basic Safety Standards (International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA) provide guidance levels for diagnostic procedures in nuclear medicine indicating the maximum usual activity for various diagnostic tests in terms of activities of injected radioactive formulations. An accuracy of ± 10% in the activities of administered radio-pharmaceuticals is being recommended, for expected outcome in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures. It is recommended that the long-term stability of isotope calibrators used in nuclear medicine is to be checked periodically for their performance using a long-lived check source, such as 137 Cs, of suitable activity. In view of the un-availability of such a radioactive source, we tried to develop methods to maintain traceability of these instruments, for certifying measured activities for human use. Two re-entrant chambers ((HDR 1000 and Selectron Source Dosimetry System (SSDS)) with 125 I and 192 Ir calibration factors in the Department of Radiotherapy were used to measure Iodine-131 ( 131 I) therapy capsules to establish traceability to Mark V isotope calibrator of the Department of Nuclear Medicine. Special nylon jigs were fabricated to keep 131 I capsule holder in position. Measured activities in all the chambers showed good agreement. The accuracy of SSDS chamber in measuring 192 Ir activities in the last 5 years was within 0.5%, validating its role as departmental standard for measuring activity. The above method is adopted because mean energies of 131 I and 192 Ir are comparable. (author)

Results of the First Evaluation Exercise of the Traceability of Isotope Calibrators in Nuclear Medicine Services of the Community of Madrid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia-Torano Martinez, E.; Los Arcos Mrenio, J. M.; Roteta Ibarra, M.

2002-02-01

To evaluate the traceability of isotope calibrators in the Community of Madrid, an intercomparison exercise was organised by the Laboratorio de Metrologia de Radiaciones Ionizantes (CIEMAT). Samples of ''1 31 I and ''9 9m Tc were submitted to the participant laboratories for measurement. Values reported by the participants and reference values are discussed and compared in tables and graphs and some recommendations are made. (Author) 3 refs

Identification and Progression of Heart Disease Risk Factors in Diabetic Patients from Longitudinal Electronic Health Records

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jitendra Jonnagaddala

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Therefore, assessing the risk of its occurrence is a crucial step in predicting serious cardiac events. Identifying heart disease risk factors and tracking their progression is a preliminary step in heart disease risk assessment. A large number of studies have reported the use of risk factor data collected prospectively. Electronic health record systems are a great resource of the required risk factor data. Unfortunately, most of the valuable information on risk factor data is buried in the form of unstructured clinical notes in electronic health records. In this study, we present an information extraction system to extract related information on heart disease risk factors from unstructured clinical notes using a hybrid approach. The hybrid approach employs both machine learning and rule-based clinical text mining techniques. The developed system achieved an overall microaveraged F-score of 0.8302.

Integrity of nuclear genomic deoxyribonucleic acid in cooked meat: Implications for food traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Aslan, O; Hamill, R M; Sweeney, T; Reardon, W; Mullen, A M

2009-01-01

It is essential to isolate high-quality DNA from muscle tissue for PCR-based applications in traceability of animal origin. We wished to examine the impact of cooking meat to a range of core temperatures on the quality and quantity of subsequently isolated genomic (specifically, nuclear) DNA. Triplicate steak samples were cooked in a water bath (100 degrees C) until their final internal temperature was 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, or 100 degrees C, and DNA was extracted. Deoxyribonucleic acid quantity was significantly reduced in cooked meat samples compared with raw (6.5 vs. 56.6 ng/microL; P 800 bp) were observed only when using DNA from raw meat and steak cooked to lower core temperatures. Small amplicons (food authentication, it is less abundant, and results suggest that analyses should be designed to use small amplicon sizes for meat cooked to high core temperatures.

Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester

OpenAIRE

Lazzerini, GM; Paterno, GM; Tregnago, G; Treat, N; Stingelin, N; Yacoot, A; Cacialli, F

2016-01-01

We report high-resolution, traceable atomic force microscopymeasurements of high-quality, solvent-free single crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). These were grown by drop-casting PCBM solutions onto the spectrosil substrates and by removing the residual solvent in a vacuum. A home-built atomic force microscope featuring a plane mirror differential optical interferometer, fiber-fed from a frequency-stabilized laser (emitting at 632.8???nm), was used to measure the cr...

Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester

OpenAIRE

Lazzerini, G. M.; Paterno, G. M.; Tregnago, G.; Treat, N.; Stingelin, N.; Yacoot, A.; Cacialli, F.

2016-01-01

We report high-resolution, traceable atomic force microscopymeasurements of high-quality, solvent-free single crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). These were grown by drop-casting PCBM solutions onto the spectrosil substrates and by removing the residual solvent in a vacuum. A home-built atomic force microscope featuring a plane mirror differential optical interferometer, fiber-fed from a frequency-stabilized laser (emitting at 632.8 nm), was used to measure the crys...

Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazzerini, Giovanni Mattia; Yacoot, Andrew [National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW (United Kingdom); Paternò, Giuseppe Maria; Tregnago, Giulia; Cacialli, Franco [Department of Physics and Astronomy and London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom); Treat, Neil; Stingelin, Natalie [Department of Materials Science, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)

2016-02-01

We report high-resolution, traceable atomic force microscopy measurements of high-quality, solvent-free single crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). These were grown by drop-casting PCBM solutions onto the spectrosil substrates and by removing the residual solvent in a vacuum. A home-built atomic force microscope featuring a plane mirror differential optical interferometer, fiber-fed from a frequency-stabilized laser (emitting at 632.8 nm), was used to measure the crystals' height. The optical interferometer together with the stabilized laser provides traceability (via the laser wavelength) of the vertical measurements made with the atomic force microscope. We find that the crystals can conform to the surface topography, thanks to their height being significantly smaller compared to their lateral dimensions (namely, heights between about 50 nm and 140 nm, for the crystals analysed, vs. several tens of microns lateral dimensions). The vast majority of the crystals are flat, but an isolated, non-flat crystal provides insights into the growth mechanism and allows identification of “molecular terraces” whose height corresponds to one of the lattice constants of the single PCBM crystal (1.4 nm) as measured with X-ray diffraction.

Embedding X.509 Digital Certificates in Three-Dimensional Models for Authentication, Authorization, and Traceability of Product Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedberg, Thomas D; Krima, Sylvere; Camelio, Jaime A

2017-03-01

Exchange and reuse of three-dimensional (3D)-product models are hampered by the absence of trust in product-lifecycle-data quality. The root cause of the missing trust is years of "silo" functions (e.g., engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance) using independent and disconnected processes. Those disconnected processes result in data exchanges that do not contain all of the required information for each downstream lifecycle process, which inhibits the reuse of product data and results in duplicate data. The X.509 standard, maintained by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T), was first issued in 1988. Although originally intended as the authentication framework for the X.500 series for electronic directory services, the X.509 framework is used in a wide range of implementations outside the originally intended paradigm. These implementations range from encrypting websites to software-code signing, yet X.509 certificate use has not widely penetrated engineering and product realms. Our approach is not trying to provide security mechanisms, but equally as important, our method aims to provide insight into what is happening with product data to support trusting the data. This paper provides a review of the use of X.509 certificates and proposes a solution for embedding X.509 digital certificates in 3D models for authentication, authorization, and traceability of product data. This paper also describes an application within the Aerospace domain. Finally, the paper draws conclusions and provides recommendations for further research into using X.509 certificates in product lifecycle management (PLM) workflows to enable a product lifecycle of trust.

Implementation of a Molecular System for Traceability of Beef Based on Microsatellite Markers Implementación de un Sistema de Trazabilidad Molecular para la Carne Bovina Basado en Marcadores Microsatélites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Felmer D

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Animal products traceability has acquired considerable importance as a security measure in EEC member countries since the food crisis of the mid-nineties. This has led to reinforcing the capacity to manage cattle product quality, with traceability emerging as the main tool to prevent risks to product security and quality as demanded by consumers in developed countries. The practical application of a traceability system for beef, based on molecular markers requires the election of a panel of microsatellites, as well as the optimization of methods of sampling and DNA analysis. In this work, a traceability system for beef based on a panel of 10 microsatellites markers was implemented. Different biological samples were evaluated, such as hair, blood, tissue and meat. Hair samples were the most suitable because they are easy to obtain and to manipulate, and have a low storage cost; whereas in the food processing chain, meat samples were the most suitable due to the facility of obtaining from the maturation room. The traceability system was evaluated in a meat processing plant, confirming traceability of 150 samples of hair with their respective meat counterparts with a 100% of certainty, demonstrating the reliability of the developed method. The implemented system is an important contribution since it allows for ensuring the quality of animal products, and can be used as a tool to certify conventional traceability systems. This would allow for increasing the competitiveness of this sector and generating greater confidence among consumers.La trazabilidad de productos de origen animal ha adquirido gran relevancia como un elemento de seguridad ante las crisis alimentarias ocurridas a partir de mediados de los noventa en países de la Comunidad Europea. Esto ha reforzado la gestión de calidad en productos pecuarios, surgiendo la trazabilidad como la principal herramienta para disminuir los riesgos de seguridad y calidad de los productos que demandan los

Practical aspects of the uncertainty and traceability of spectrochemical measurement results by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duta, S.; Robouch, P.; Barbu, L.; Taylor, P.

2007-01-01

The determination of trace elements concentration in water by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) is a common and well established technique in many chemical testing laboratories. However, the evaluation of measurement uncertainty results is not systematically implemented. The paper presents an easy step-by-step example leading to the evaluation of the combined standard uncertainty of copper determination in water using ETAAS. The major contributors to the overall measurement uncertainty are identified due to amount of copper in water sample that mainly depends on the absorbance measurements, due to certified reference material and due to auto-sampler volume measurements. The practical aspects how the traceability of copper concentration in water can be established and demonstrated are also pointed out

Practical aspects of the uncertainty and traceability of spectrochemical measurement results by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duta, S. [Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel (Belgium); National Institute of Metrology, 042122 Vitan Barzesti 11, sector 4 Bucharest (Romania)], E-mail: steluta.duta@inm.ro; Robouch, P. [Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel (Belgium)], E-mail: Piotr.Robouch@ec.europa.eu; Barbu, L. [Coca-Cola Entreprise, Analytical Department, Bucharest (Romania); Taylor, P. [Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel (Belgium)], E-mail: Philip.Taylor@ec.europa.eu

2007-04-15

The determination of trace elements concentration in water by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) is a common and well established technique in many chemical testing laboratories. However, the evaluation of measurement uncertainty results is not systematically implemented. The paper presents an easy step-by-step example leading to the evaluation of the combined standard uncertainty of copper determination in water using ETAAS. The major contributors to the overall measurement uncertainty are identified due to amount of copper in water sample that mainly depends on the absorbance measurements, due to certified reference material and due to auto-sampler volume measurements. The practical aspects how the traceability of copper concentration in water can be established and demonstrated are also pointed out.

A system for traceable measurement of the microwave complex permittivity of liquids at high pressures and temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dimitrakis, G A; Robinson, J; Kingman, S; Lester, E; George, M; Poliakoff, M; Harrison, I; Gregory, A P; Lees, K

2009-01-01

A system has been developed for direct traceable dielectric measurements on liquids at high pressures and temperatures. The system consists of a coaxial reflectometric sensor terminated by a metallic cylindrical cell to contain the liquid. It has been designed for measurements on supercritical liquids, but as a first step measurements on dielectric reference liquids were performed. This paper reports on a full evaluation of the system up to 2.5 GHz using methanol, ethanol and n-propanol at pressures up to 9 MPa and temperatures up to 273 °C. A comprehensive approach to the evaluation of uncertainties using Monte Carlo modelling is used

Certified Reference Material for Use in 1H, 31P, and 19F Quantitative NMR, Ensuring Traceability to the International System of Units.

Science.gov (United States)

Rigger, Romana; Rück, Alexander; Hellriegel, Christine; Sauermoser, Robert; Morf, Fabienne; Breitruck, KathrinBreitruck; Obkircher, Markus

2017-09-01

In recent years, quantitative NMR (qNMR) spectroscopy has become one of the most important tools for content determination of organic substances and quantitative evaluation of impurities. Using Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) as internal or external standards, the extensively used qNMR method can be applied for purity determination, including unbroken traceability to the International System of Units (SI). The implementation of qNMR toward new application fields, e.g., metabolomics, environmental analysis, and physiological pathway studies, brings along more complex molecules and systems, thus making use of 1H qNMR challenging. A smart workaround is possible by the use of other NMR active nuclei, namely 31P and 19F. This article presents the development of three classes of qNMR CRMs based on different NMR active nuclei (1H, 31P, and 19F), and the corresponding approaches to establish traceability to the SI through primary CRMs from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Metrology Institute of Japan. These TraceCERT® qNMR CRMs are produced under ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO Guide 34 using high-performance qNMR.

The Legitimate Name of a Fungal Plant Pathogen and the Ethics of Publication in the Era of Traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonthier, Paolo; Visentin, Ivan; Valentino, Danila; Tamietti, Giacomo; Cardinale, Francesca

2017-04-01

When more scientists describe independently the same species under different valid Latin names, a case of synonymy occurs. In such a case, the international nomenclature rules stipulate that the first name to appear on a peer-reviewed publication has priority over the others. Based on a recent episode involving priority determination between two competing names of the same fungal plant pathogen, this letter wishes to open a discussion on the ethics of scientific publications and points out the necessity of a correct management of the information provided through personal communications, whose traceability would prevent their fraudulent or accidental manipulation.

MO-D-BRD-01: Clinical Implementation of An Electronic Brachytherapy Program for the Skin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ouhib, Z.

2015-01-01

Electronic brachytherapy (eBT) has seen an insurgence of manufacturers entering the US market for use in radiation therapy. In addition to the established interstitial, intraluminary, and intracavitary applications of eBT, many centers are now using eBT to treat skin lesions. It is important for medical physicists working with electronic brachytherapy sources to understand the basic physics principles of the sources themselves as well as the variety of applications for which they are being used. The calibration of the sources is different from vendor to vendor and the traceability of calibrations has evolved as new sources came to market. In 2014, a new air-kerma based standard was introduced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to measure the output of an eBT source. Eventually commercial treatment planning systems should accommodate this new standard and provide NIST traceability to the end user. The calibration and commissioning of an eBT system is unique to its application and typically entails a list of procedural recommendations by the manufacturer. Commissioning measurements are performed using a variety of methods, some of which are modifications of existing AAPM Task Group protocols. A medical physicist should be familiar with the different AAPM Task Group recommendations for applicability to eBT and how to properly adapt them to their needs. In addition to the physical characteristics of an eBT source, the photon energy is substantially lower than from HDR Ir-192 sources. Consequently, tissue-specific dosimetry and radiobiological considerations are necessary when comparing these brachytherapy modalities and when making clinical decisions as a radiation therapy team. In this session, the physical characteristics and calibration methodologies of eBt sources will be presented as well as radiobiology considerations and other important clinical considerations. Learning Objectives: To understand the basic principles of electronic

Development of a prediction model on the acceptance of electronic laboratory notebooks in academic environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Kloeckner, Frederik; Farkas, Robert; Franken, Tobias; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas

2014-04-01

Documentation of research data plays a key role in the biomedical engineering innovation processes. It makes an important contribution to the protection of intellectual property, the traceability of results and fulfilling the regulatory requirement. Because of the increasing digitalization in laboratories, an electronic alternative to the commonly-used paper-bound notebooks could contribute to the production of sophisticated documentation. However, compared to in an industrial environment, the use of electronic laboratory notebooks is not widespread in academic laboratories. Little is known about the acceptance of an electronic documentation system and the underlying reasons for this. Thus, this paper aims to establish a prediction model on the potential preference and acceptance of scientists either for paper-based or electronic documentation. The underlying data for the analysis originate from an online survey of 101 scientists in industrial, academic and clinical environments. Various parameters were analyzed to identify crucial factors for the system preference using binary logistic regression. The analysis showed significant dependency between the documentation system preference and the supposed workload associated with the documentation system (plaboratory notebook before implementation.

Produção segura e rastreabilidade de hortaliças Safe production and traceability of vegetables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonora M Mattos

2009-12-01

haja perda de seu valor nutritivo e com qualidade sensorial ótima.Consumers all over the world are aware about the strict relation among health and the necessity of a balanced diet, based on safe products. Nevertheless, interest in food functional properties and, especially, in its antioxidant activity has been increasing. However, the consumption of in natura food may present some risks, which are mainly related to chemical and microbiological contamination during the crop growing season. Considering the high competitiveness of the different productive chains, growers are working to offer products with superior value and quality, with emphasis in food safety and traceability. The hazards in food chain can be managed by monitoring the whole process, from production to distribution, so, in order to minimize the possibility of contamination, ,the implementation of traceability systems and procedures of quality assurance, such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points is necessary,. The application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP to the fruit and vegetable production is a prerequisite for the success of HACCP and, in this context, the Integrated Production Program main objective is to increase quality and competitiveness of Brazilian agribusiness in order to reach the levels required by international market. Its main focus are the preservation of vegetable functional properties and the utilization of techniques that ensure food safety and traceability, ensuring the previously guaranteed quality levels. The present work focuses on technologies that allow consumers to have a safe and traceable product, to prevent nutritional content wastes and to ensure maximum food sensory quality.

Proceedings of the July 2011 Traceability Research Summit.

Science.gov (United States)

Newsome, Rosetta L; Bhatt, Tejas; McEntire, Jennifer C

2013-12-01

At a discussion-based forum of 50 leaders in the area of food product tracing, participants recognized the need for the development of a common vision for a simple, low cost and implementable traceability approach. A key theme that emerged during the day's discussions revolved around not reinventing the wheel: there are many efforts underway, including numerous pilots, and these efforts should be collaborative. The group sought more information on current initiatives and felt that learning from the experiences of others could help form a realistic vision for the future. Although any forthcoming actions from the US FDA are unknown, industry fully expects that improvements in product tracing will be necessary, and expects that industry itself (through the "demand" side) will enact requirements that may surpass regulatory mandates. A chief concern is uniform adoption, which will require outreach to and support from the global community as well as small firms that may lack the resources and education to keep up. Ultimately, an approach that is global, economical, scalable, and inclusive of firms of all sizes who handles all types of food products, will have the greatest likelihood of success. While the ability to rapidly link products across the supply chain serves as an ideal goal, there are still substantial concerns to be addressed, particularly regarding confidentiality of data, and who will have access to what information under what circumstances, which was woven into virtually every discussion topic. Who will spearhead the development of the visions is a question, but there was general agreement that a joint partnership which includes all stakeholders is a necessity. © 2012 Institute of Food Technologists®

Web Application for Annual Reporting of Waste Collection and Managment of Electrical and Electronic Equipments(RAEE)

OpenAIRE

Semira Catapang, Jazzey

2016-01-01

Este proyecto trata de gestionar un tipo de residuos llamado RAEE (Residuos de Aparatos Eléctricos y Electrónicos). El objetivo principal de este proyecto es dar solución a la nueva legislación de la UE sobre la trazabilidad de la recogida y documentación de los RAEE a través de una aplicación web. This project is about a type of waste called RAEE(Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste). The main objective of this project is to give solution to the new EU legislation on traceability and...

Electronic Transport in Single-Stranded DNA Molecule Related to Huntington's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmento, R. G.; Silva, R. N. O.; Madeira, M. P.; Frazão, N. F.; Sousa, J. O.; Macedo-Filho, A.

2018-04-01

We report a numerical analysis of the electronic transport in single chain DNA molecule consisting of 182 nucleotides. The DNA chains studied were extracted from a segment of the human chromosome 4p16.3, which were modified by expansion of CAG (cytosine-adenine-guanine) triplet repeats to mimics Huntington's disease. The mutated DNA chains were connected between two platinum electrodes to analyze the relationship between charge propagation in the molecule and Huntington's disease. The computations were performed within a tight-binding model, together with a transfer matrix technique, to investigate the current-voltage (I-V) of 23 types of DNA sequence and compare them with the distributions of the related CAG repeat numbers with the disease. All DNA sequences studied have a characteristic behavior of a semiconductor. In addition, the results showed a direct correlation between the current-voltage curves and the distributions of the CAG repeat numbers, suggesting possible applications in the development of DNA-based biosensors for molecular diagnostics.

Electronic Nose for Microbiological Quality Control of Food Products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Falasconi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Electronic noses (ENs have recently emerged as valuable candidates in various areas of food quality control and traceability, including microbial contamination diagnosis. In this paper, the EN technology for microbiological screening of food products is reviewed. Four paradigmatic and diverse case studies are presented: (a Alicyclobacillus spp. spoilage of fruit juices, (b early detection of microbial contamination in processed tomatoes, (c screening of fungal and fumonisin contamination of maize grains, and (d fungal contamination on green coffee beans. Despite many successful results, the high intrinsic variability of food samples together with persisting limits of the sensor technology still impairs ENs trustful applications at the industrial scale. Both advantages and drawbacks of sensor technology in food quality control are discussed. Finally, recent trends and future directions are illustrated.

The reference peak areas of the 1995 IAEA test spectra for gamma-ray spectrum analysis programs are absolute and traceable

CERN Document Server

Blaauw, M

1999-01-01

A previously validated algorithm for absolute peak area determination was used to verify the reference peak areas supplied with the 1995 IAEA test spectra for gamma-ray spectrometry. These reference peak areas turn out to be absolute and traceable to a precision of 0.9%: The reference peak areas are possibly too low by a factor 0.992+-0.009. It is proposed to employ the test spectra and reference areas to validate the peak areas obtained with any algorithm in gamma-ray spectrometry. (author)

Risk assessment of integrated electronic health records.

Science.gov (United States)

Bjornsson, Bjarni Thor; Sigurdardottir, Gudlaug; Stefansson, Stefan Orri

2010-01-01

The paper describes the security concerns related to Electronic Health Records (EHR) both in registration of data and integration of systems. A description of the current state of EHR systems in Iceland is provided, along with the Ministry of Health's future vision and plans. New legislation provides the opportunity for increased integration of EHRs and further collaboration between institutions. Integration of systems, along with greater availability and access to EHR data, requires increased security awareness since additional risks are introduced. The paper describes the core principles of information security as it applies to EHR systems and data. The concepts of confidentiality, integrity, availability, accountability and traceability are introduced and described. The paper discusses the legal requirements and importance of performing risk assessment for EHR data. Risk assessment methodology according to the ISO/IEC 27001 information security standard is described with examples on how it is applied to EHR systems.

Traceability of peaches from integrated production in South Brazil Rastreabilidade de pêssegos produzidos no sistema de produção integrada no Sul do Brasil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Casiane Salete Tibola

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Traceability is becoming the most effective method to provide a safer food chain and connection producers to consumers. This paper report the application and validation of a traceability system on the production chain of peaches, according the rules for Integrated Production of Peach (IP and a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP systems. The harvesting plots were discriminated using a Global Positioning System (GPS device. The horticultural practices were registered in a field book according to the Brazilian IP rules. Boxes to transport the fruit, from the orchard on, were barcode labelled to identify the fruits in terms of origin (orchard and harvesting plot, cultivar, quality, picking date and time. Arriving in the factory, by an optical barcode reading device, the fruits in the boxes were assigned to homogeneous batches. Peach cans were labelled according to their corresponding batch number and monitored based on physical and chemical analysis as preconized by the IP rules and HACCP system. An electronic data base was set up and placed over the Internet. Using the batch number, the history of each peaches can could be traceable back to their harvesting plot. Therefore, manufacturers can monitor the product at any time and take any necessary action, such as product recall and/or product reprocessing.A rastreabilidade está se tornando o método mais efetivo para assegurar uma cadeia alimentar mais segura e conectar produtores e consumidores. Nesse trabalho relatamos a aplicação e validação de um sistema de rastreabilidade na cadeia produtiva do pêssego, de acordo com as Normas Brasileiras para Produção Integrada de Pêssego (PIP e Análises de Perigos e Pontos Críticos de Controle (APPCC. As parcelas de colheita foram discriminadas utilizando-se um aparelho de GPS (Global Positioning System. As práticas horticulturais foram registradas no caderno de campo, de acordo com as normas da PIP. As caixas para transportar as

Metrological traceability and harmonization of medical tests: a quantum leap forward is needed to keep pace with globalization and stringent IVD-regulations in the 21st century!

Science.gov (United States)

Cobbaert, Christa; Smit, Nico; Gillery, Philippe

2018-05-07

In our efforts to advance the profession and practice of clinical laboratory medicine, strong coordination and collaboration are needed more than ever before. At the dawn of the 21st century, medical laboratories are facing many unmet clinical needs, a technological revolution promising a plethora of better biomarkers, financial constraints, a growing scarcity of well-trained laboratory technicians and a sharply increasing number of International Organization for Standardization guidelines and new regulations to which medical laboratories should comply in order to guarantee safety and effectiveness of medical test results. Although this is a global trend, medical laboratories across continents and countries are in distinct phases and experience various situations. A universal underlying requirement for safe and global use of medical test results is the standardization and harmonization of test results. Since two decades and after a number of endeavors on standardization/harmonization of medical tests, it is time to reflect on the effectiveness of the approaches used. To keep laboratory medicine sustainable, viable and affordable, clarification of the promises of metrological traceability of test results for improving sick and health care, realization of formal commitment among all stakeholders of the metrological traceability chain and preparation of a joint and global plan for action are essential prerequisites. Policy makers and regulators should not only overwhelm the diagnostic sector with oversight and regulations but should also create the conditions by establishing a global professional forum for anchoring the metrological traceability concept in the medical test domain. Even so, professional societies should have a strong voice in their (inter-) national governments to negotiate long-lasting public policy commitment and funds for global standardization of medical tests.

ISS--an electronic syndromic surveillance system for infectious disease in rural China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weirong Yan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Syndromic surveillance system has great advantages in promoting the early detection of epidemics and reducing the necessities of disease confirmation, and it is especially effective for surveillance in resource poor settings. However, most current syndromic surveillance systems are established in developed countries, and there are very few reports on the development of an electronic syndromic surveillance system in resource-constrained settings. OBJECTIVE: This study describes the design and pilot implementation of an electronic surveillance system (ISS for the early detection of infectious disease epidemics in rural China, complementing the conventional case report surveillance system. METHODS: ISS was developed based on an existing platform 'Crisis Information Sharing Platform' (CRISP, combining with modern communication and GIS technology. ISS has four interconnected functions: 1 work group and communication group; 2 data source and collection; 3 data visualization; and 4 outbreak detection and alerting. RESULTS: As of Jan. 31(st 2012, ISS has been installed and pilot tested for six months in four counties in rural China. 95 health facilities, 14 pharmacies and 24 primary schools participated in the pilot study, entering respectively 74,256, 79,701, and 2330 daily records into the central database. More than 90% of surveillance units at the study sites are able to send daily information into the system. In the paper, we also presented the pilot data from health facilities in the two counties, which showed the ISS system had the potential to identify the change of disease patterns at the community level. CONCLUSIONS: The ISS platform may facilitate the early detection of infectious disease epidemic as it provides near real-time syndromic data collection, interactive visualization, and automated aberration detection. However, several constraints and challenges were encountered during the pilot implementation of ISS in rural China.

Identification Of Geographical Origin Of Coffee Before And After Roasting By Electronic Noses

Science.gov (United States)

Sberveglieri, V.; Concina, I.; Falasconi, M.; Ongo, E.; Pulvirenti, A.; Fava, P.

2011-09-01

Geographical origin traceability of food is a relevant issue for both producers' business protection and customers' rights safeguard. Differentiation of coffees on the basis of geographical origin is still a challenging issue, though possible by means of chemical techniques [1]. Between the most widely consumed beverage, coffee is a valuable one, with an aroma constituted by hundreds of volatiles [2]. Since the final global volatile composition is also determined by the cultivation climatic conditions, Electronic Noses (ENs) could be interesting candidates for distinguishing the geographical provenience by exploiting differences in chemical volatile profile. The present investigation is directed toward the characterization of green and roasted coffees samples according to their geographical origin.

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent [version 3; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved

OpenAIRE

Mehdi Benchoufi; Raphael Porcher; Philippe Ravaud

2017-01-01

Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing the collection of patients’ informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we will built a consent workflow using a rising technology called Blockchain. This is a...

AN INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGICAL TRACEABILITY MODEL IN THE OLIVE GROWING PRODUCTION CHAIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferruccio Giametta

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The indication of the “path” travelled by all European agrofood products has by now become compulsory: starting from January the 1st, 2005 EC Regulation 178/2002 has established the notions of food tracking and tracing as well as the concept of food safety. Food traceability and safety are becoming notions of crucial importance to those who work in this sector in view of their potentially positive influence on produce competitiveness and appreciation on the part of consumers. This specific line of research is focused on the analysis and the use of both tracking and tracing systems of olive and olive oil products throughout the entire territory of Calabria. A detailed analysis of the productive processes has been made possible through the definition of the socalled “dynamic lot”: a unit of product processed (either directly or indirectly in a time unit (usually a day, as a function of the peculiarities of the olive growing farms involved (orographic features, level of mechanization, etc.. The software architecture (which is currently being updated has been studied considering the reality of the territory in question, and the average level of computer/software literacy of the operators asked to use it.

SAGES: a suite of freely-available software tools for electronic disease surveillance in resource-limited settings.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheri L Lewis

Full Text Available Public health surveillance is undergoing a revolution driven by advances in the field of information technology. Many countries have experienced vast improvements in the collection, ingestion, analysis, visualization, and dissemination of public health data. Resource-limited countries have lagged behind due to challenges in information technology infrastructure, public health resources, and the costs of proprietary software. The Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance (SAGES is a collection of modular, flexible, freely-available software tools for electronic disease surveillance in resource-limited settings. One or more SAGES tools may be used in concert with existing surveillance applications or the SAGES tools may be used en masse for an end-to-end biosurveillance capability. This flexibility allows for the development of an inexpensive, customized, and sustainable disease surveillance system. The ability to rapidly assess anomalous disease activity may lead to more efficient use of limited resources and better compliance with World Health Organization International Health Regulations.

Study on Full Supply Chain Quality and Safetytraceability Systems For Cereal And Oilproducts

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shihong; Zheng, Huoguo; Meng, Hong; Hu, Haiyan; Wu, Jiangshou; Li, Chunhua

Global food industry and Governments in many countries are putting increasing emphasis on establishment of food traceability systems. Food traceability has become an effective way in food safety management. Aimed at the major quality problems of cereal and oil products existing in the production, processing, warehousing, distribution and other links in the supply chain, this paper firstly proposes a new traceability framework combines the information flow with critical control points and quality indicators. Then it introduces traceability database design and data access mode to realize the framework. In practice, Code design for tracing goods is a challenge thing, so this paper put forward a code system based on UCC/EAN-128 standard.Middleware and Electronic terminal design are also briefly introduced to accomplish traceability system for cereal and oil products.

Traceable size determination of PMMA nanoparticles based on Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gleber, G; Cibik, L; Mueller, P; Krumrey, M [Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Abbestrasse 2-12, 10587 Berlin (Germany); Haas, S; Hoell, A, E-mail: gudrun.gleber@ptb.d [Helmholtz-Zentrum-Berlin fuer Materialien und Energie (HZB), Albert-Einstein-Strasse 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany)

2010-10-01

The size and size distribution of PMMA nanoparticles has been investigated with SAXS (small angle X-ray scattering) using monochromatized synchrotron radiation. The uncertainty has contributions from the wavelength or photon energy of the radiation, the scattering angle and the fit procedure for the obtained scattering curves. The wavelength can be traced back to the lattice constant of silicon, and the scattering angle is traceable via geometric measurements of the detector pixel size and the distance between the sample and the detector. SAXS measurements and data evaluations have been performed at different distances and photon energies for two PMMA nanoparticle suspensions with low polydispersity and nominal diameters of 108 nm and 192 nm, respectively, as well as for a mixture of both. The relative variation of the diameters obtained for different experimental conditions was below {+-} 0.3 %. The determined number-weighted mean diameters of (109.0 {+-} 0.7) nm and (188.0 {+-} 1.3) nm, respectively, are close to the nominal values.

Traceable size determination of PMMA nanoparticles based on Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

Science.gov (United States)

Gleber, G.; Cibik, L.; Haas, S.; Hoell, A.; Müller, P.; Krumrey, M.

2010-10-01

The size and size distribution of PMMA nanoparticles has been investigated with SAXS (small angle X-ray scattering) using monochromatized synchrotron radiation. The uncertainty has contributions from the wavelength or photon energy of the radiation, the scattering angle and the fit procedure for the obtained scattering curves. The wavelength can be traced back to the lattice constant of silicon, and the scattering angle is traceable via geometric measurements of the detector pixel size and the distance between the sample and the detector. SAXS measurements and data evaluations have been performed at different distances and photon energies for two PMMA nanoparticle suspensions with low polydispersity and nominal diameters of 108 nm and 192 nm, respectively, as well as for a mixture of both. The relative variation of the diameters obtained for different experimental conditions was below ± 0.3 %. The determined number-weighted mean diameters of (109.0 ± 0.7) nm and (188.0 ± 1.3) nm, respectively, are close to the nominal values.

Traceable size determination of PMMA nanoparticles based on Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gleber, G; Cibik, L; Mueller, P; Krumrey, M; Haas, S; Hoell, A

2010-01-01

The size and size distribution of PMMA nanoparticles has been investigated with SAXS (small angle X-ray scattering) using monochromatized synchrotron radiation. The uncertainty has contributions from the wavelength or photon energy of the radiation, the scattering angle and the fit procedure for the obtained scattering curves. The wavelength can be traced back to the lattice constant of silicon, and the scattering angle is traceable via geometric measurements of the detector pixel size and the distance between the sample and the detector. SAXS measurements and data evaluations have been performed at different distances and photon energies for two PMMA nanoparticle suspensions with low polydispersity and nominal diameters of 108 nm and 192 nm, respectively, as well as for a mixture of both. The relative variation of the diameters obtained for different experimental conditions was below ± 0.3 %. The determined number-weighted mean diameters of (109.0 ± 0.7) nm and (188.0 ± 1.3) nm, respectively, are close to the nominal values.

A novel reliable method of DNA extraction from olive oil suitable for molecular traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Raieta, Katia; Muccillo, Livio; Colantuoni, Vittorio

2015-04-01

Extra virgin olive oil production has a worldwide economic impact. The use of this brand, however, is of great concern to Institutions and private industries because of the increasing number of fraud and adulteration attempts to the market products. Here, we present a novel, reliable and not expensive method for extracting the DNA from commercial virgin and extra virgin olive oils. The DNA is stable overtime and amenable for molecular analyses; in fact, by carrying out simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers analysis, we characterise the genetic profile of monovarietal olive oils. By comparing the oil-derived pattern with that of the corresponding tree, we can unambiguously identify four cultivars from Samnium, a region of Southern Italy, and distinguish them from reference and more widely used varieties. Through a parentage statistical analysis, we also identify the putative pollinators, establishing an unprecedented and powerful tool for olive oil traceability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improved Traceability of Mission Concept to Requirements Using Model Based Systems Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Reil, Robin

2014-01-01

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) has recently been gaining significant support as a means to improve the traditional document-based systems engineering (DBSE) approach to engineering complex systems. In the spacecraft design domain, there are many perceived and propose benefits of an MBSE approach, but little analysis has been presented to determine the tangible benefits of such an approach (e.g. time and cost saved, increased product quality). This thesis presents direct examples of how developing a small satellite system model can improve traceability of the mission concept to its requirements. A comparison of the processes and approaches for MBSE and DBSE is made using the NASA Ames Research Center SporeSat CubeSat mission as a case study. A model of the SporeSat mission is built using the Systems Modeling Language standard and No Magics MagicDraw modeling tool. The model incorporates mission concept and requirement information from the missions original DBSE design efforts. Active dependency relationships are modeled to analyze the completeness and consistency of the requirements to the mission concept. Overall experience and methodology are presented for both the MBSE and original DBSE design efforts of SporeSat.

Adoption of radio-frequency identification to establish traceability in Taiwanese eel exported to the Japanese market.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeng, Shu-Ching; Wu, Chun-Lung; Yang, I-Da

2013-01-01

Eel culture and export to the Japanese market is an important industry in Taiwan; however, the average amount produced by each farm is small. Eels from different farms might be mixed before export, making it difficult to determine which farm is responsible for eels containing drug residues. Therefore, the Taiwanese government uses a two-stage procedure of inspection and accreditation for validating the use of good practice in aquaculture farming. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to trace any farm that has produced eels containing drug residues. Radio-frequency identification has the potential to establish traceability in eel products. Here we suggest that Japanese eel importers should insist on the use of radio-frequency identification by Taiwanese eel exporters to enable verification of the safety of eel products being exported to the Japanese market.

[Studies on the brand traceability of milk powder based on NIR spectroscopy technology].

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Xiao; Gu, Fang-Qing; Liu, Jing; Yang, Yong-Jian

2013-10-01

Brand traceability of several different kinds of milk powder was studied by combining near infrared spectroscopy diffuse reflectance mode with soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) in the present paper. The near infrared spectrum of 138 samples, including 54 Guangming milk powder samples, 43 Netherlands samples, and 33 Nestle samples and 8 Yili samples, were collected. After pretreatment of full spectrum data variables in training set, principal component analysis was performed, and the contribution rate of the cumulative variance of the first three principal components was about 99.07%. Milk powder principal component regression model based on SIMCA was established, and used to classify the milk powder samples in prediction sets. The results showed that the recognition rate of Guangming milk powder, Netherlands milk powder and Nestle milk powder was 78%, 75% and 100%, the rejection rate was 100%, 87%, and 88%, respectively. Therefore, the near infrared spectroscopy combined with SIMCA model can classify milk powder with high accuracy, and is a promising identification method of milk powder variety.

Metrological traceability in mass spectrometry-based targeted protein quantitation: a proof-of-principle study for serum apolipoproteins A-I and B100.

Science.gov (United States)

Smit, Nico P M; Romijn, Fred P H T M; van den Broek, Irene; Drijfhout, Jan W; Haex, Martin; van der Laarse, Arnoud; van der Burgt, Yuri E M; Cobbaert, Christa M

2014-09-23

In this study, we have followed up on previous liquid chromatography (LC) multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry (MS) approaches for measurement of apolipoprotein (apo) A-I and apo B100 in serum aiming for implementation of a multiplexed assay in a clinical chemistry laboratory with full metrological traceability. Signature peptides were selected and detected by dynamic MRM, and stable isotope labeled (SIL)-peptides were used as internal standards. Five apo A-I and four apo B100 peptides were measured in serum digests with linearity (R(2)>0.992) in the physiologically relevant concentration ranges. Linearity with regard to protein concentration was ascertained at five concentration levels (R(2)>0.926 and R(2)>0.965, for the apo A-I and apo B100 peptides, respectively). Three native value-assigned sera were used as external calibrators for further method verification. Imprecision values on sample preparation and LC-MS/MS acquisition were below the established minimal specifications for apo A-I and apo B100 (5.0% and 5.3%, respectively). Correlation of LC-MS/MS results with immunoturbidimetric assay results, for normo- and hypertriglyceridemic samples, showed R(2)>0.944 for apo A-I and R(2)>0.964 for apo B100. This LC-MS/MS method has potential for clinical application in normo- and dyslipidemic patients. Measurement of apo A-I and apo B100 may offer an alternative to high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c and LDL-c) methods for cardiovascular disease risk assessment in dyslipidemic patients [1]. An LC-MS/MS method for apo A-I and apo B100 has the advantage of antibody independent and specific detection of protein signature peptides. The introduction of an LC-MS/MS method for apo A-I and apo B100 can serve as an example for many existing and newly developed (multiplex) biomarker methods in quantitative clinical chemistry proteomics (qCCP). Such LC-MS/MS methods should meet basic clinical chemistry principles with regard to test evaluation

Use of an identification system based on biometric data for patients requiring transfusions guarantees transfusion safety and traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Bennardello, Francesco; Fidone, Carmelo; Cabibbo, Sergio; Calabrese, Salvatore; Garozzo, Giovanni; Cassarino, Grazia; Antolino, Agostino; Tavolino, Giuseppe; Zisa, Nuccio; Falla, Cadigia; Drago, Giuseppe; Di Stefano, Giovanna; Bonomo, Pietro

2009-07-01

One of the most serious risks of blood transfusions is an error in ABO blood group compatibility, which can cause a haemolytic transfusion reaction and, in the most severe cases, the death of the patient. The frequency and type of errors observed suggest that these are inevitable, in that mistakes are inherent to human nature, unless significant changes, including the use of computerised instruments, are made to procedures. In order to identify patients who are candidates for the transfusion of blood components and to guarantee the traceability of the transfusion, the Securblood system (BBS srl) was introduced. This system records the various stages of the transfusion process, the health care workers involved and any immediate transfusion reactions. The patients and staff are identified by fingerprinting or a bar code. The system was implemented within Ragusa hospital in 16 operative units (ordinary wards, day hospital, operating theatres). In the period from August 2007 to July 2008, 7282 blood components were transfused within the hospital, of which 5606 (77%) using the Securblood system. Overall, 1777 patients were transfused. In this year of experience, no transfusion errors were recorded and each blood component was transfused to the right patient. We recorded 33 blocks of the terminals (involving 0.6% of the transfused blood components) which required the intervention of staff from the Service of Immunohaematology and Transfusion Medicine (SIMT). Most of the blocks were due to procedural errors. The Securblood system guarantees complete traceability of the transfusion process outside the SIMT and eliminates the possibility of mistaken identification of patients or blood components. The use of fingerprinting to identify health care staff (nurses and doctors) and patients obliges the staff to carry out the identification procedures directly in the presence of the patient and guarantees the presence of the doctor at the start of the transfusion.

Trueness verification and traceability assessment of results from commercial systems for measurement of six enzyme activities in serum: an international study in the EC4 framework of the Calibration 2000 project.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, R.; Schumann, G.; Baadenhuijsen, H.; Franck, P.; Franzini, C.; Kruse, R.; Kuypers, A.; Weykamp, C.W.; Panteghini, M.

2006-01-01

BACKGROUND: The in vitro diagnostics directive of the European Union requires traceability to higher order reference measurement procedures and materials for analytes in assuring the result trueness and comparability of laboratory measurements. Manufacturers must ensure that the systems they market

Leveraging electronic health records to support chronic disease management: the need for temporal data views.

Science.gov (United States)

Samal, Lipika; Wright, Adam; Wong, Bang T; Linder, Jeffrey A; Bates, David W

2011-01-01

The ageing population worldwide is increasingly acquiring multiple chronic diseases. The complex management of chronic diseases could be improved with electronic health records (EHRs) tailored to chronic disease care, but most EHRs in use today do not adequately support longitudinal data management. A key aspect of chronic disease management is that it takes place over long periods, but the way that most EHRs display longitudinal data makes it difficult to trend changes over time and slows providers as they review each patient's unique course. We present five clinical scenarios illustrating longitudinal data needs in complex chronic disease management. These scenarios may function as example cases for software development. For each scenario, we describe and illustrate improvements in temporal data views. Two potential solutions are visualisation for numerical data and disease-oriented text summaries for non-numerical data. We believe that development and widespread implementation of improved temporal data views in EHRs will improve the efficiency and quality of chronic disease management in primary care.

DNA markers as a tool for genetic traceability of primary product in agri-food chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daria Scarano

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The agri-food components of the Made in Italy are well known all over the world, therefore they may significantly contribute to the Italian economy. However, also owing to a large number of cases of improper labelling, the Italian agro-food industry faces an ever-increasing competition. For this reason, there is a decline of consumers’ confidence towards food production systems and safety controls. To prevent erroneous classification of products and to protect consumers from false instore information, it is important to develop and validate techniques that are able to detect mislabelling at any stage of the food-chain. This paper describes some examples of genetic traceability of primary products in some important plant food chains such as durum wheat, olive and tomato, based on DNA analysis both of raw material and of processed food (pasta, olive oil, and peeled tomato.

RELAP-7 Software Verification and Validation Plan - Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) Part 2: Code Assessment Strategy, Procedure, and RTM Update

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoo, Jun Soo [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Choi, Yong Joon [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Smith, Curtis Lee [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2016-09-01

This document addresses two subjects involved with the RELAP-7 Software Verification and Validation Plan (SVVP): (i) the principles and plan to assure the independence of RELAP-7 assessment through the code development process, and (ii) the work performed to establish the RELAP-7 assessment plan, i.e., the assessment strategy, literature review, and identification of RELAP-7 requirements. Then, the Requirements Traceability Matrices (RTMs) proposed in previous document (INL-EXT-15-36684) are updated. These RTMs provide an efficient way to evaluate the RELAP-7 development status as well as the maturity of RELAP-7 assessment through the development process.

Improving the quality of care of patients with rheumatic disease using patient-centric electronic redesign software.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Eric D; Lerch, Virginia; Billet, Jon; Berger, Andrea; Kirchner, H Lester

2015-04-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) are not optimized for chronic disease management. To improve the quality of care for patients with rheumatic disease, we developed electronic data capture, aggregation, display, and documentation software. The software integrated and reassembled information from the patient (via a touchscreen questionnaire), nurse, physician, and EHR into a series of actionable views. Core functions included trends over time, rheumatology-related demographics, and documentation for patient and provider. Quality measures collected included patient-reported outcomes, disease activity, and function. The software was tested and implemented in 3 rheumatology departments, and integrated into routine care delivery. Post-implementation evaluation measured adoption, efficiency, productivity, and patient perception. Over 2 years, 6,725 patients completed 19,786 touchscreen questionnaires. The software was adopted for use by 86% of patients and rheumatologists. Chart review and documentation time trended downward, and productivity increased by 26%. Patient satisfaction, activation, and adherence remained unchanged, although pre-implementation values were high. A strong correlation was seen between use of the software and disease control (weighted Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.5927, P = 0.0095), and a relative increase in patients with low disease activity of 3% per quarter was noted. We describe innovative software that aggregates, stores, and displays information vital to improving the quality of care for patients with chronic rheumatic disease. The software was well-adopted by patients and providers. Post-implementation, significant improvements in quality of care, efficiency of care, and productivity were demonstrated. Copyright © 2015 by the American College of Rheumatology.

Electron/photon matched field technique for treatment of orbital disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arthur, Douglas W.; Zwicker, Robert D.; Garmon, Pamela W.; Huang, David T.; Schmidt-Ullrich, Rupert K.

1997-01-01

Purpose: A number of approaches have been described in the literature for irradiation of malignant and benign diseases of the orbit. Techniques described to date do not deliver a homogeneous dose to the orbital contents while sparing the cornea and lens of excessive dose. This is a result of the geometry encountered in this region and the fact that the target volume, which includes the periorbital and retroorbital tissues but excludes the cornea, anterior chamber, and lens, cannot be readily accommodated by photon beams alone. To improve the dose distribution for these treatments, we have developed a technique that combines a low-energy electron field carefully matched with modified photon fields to achieve acceptable dose coverage and uniformity. Methods and Materials: An anterior electron field and a lateral photon field setup is used to encompass the target volume. Modification of these fields permits accurate matching as well as conformation of the dose distribution to the orbit. A flat-surfaced wax compensator assures uniform electron penetration across the field, and a sunken lead alloy eye block prevents excessive dose to the central structures of the anterior segment. The anterior edge of the photon field is modified by broadening the penumbra using a form of pseudodynamic collimation. Direct measurements using film and ion chamber dosimetry were used to study the characteristics of the fall-off region of the electron field and the penumbra of the photon fields. >From the data collected, the technique for accurate field matching and dose uniformity was generated. Results: The isodose curves produced with this treatment technique demonstrate homogeneous dose coverage of the orbit, including the paralenticular region, and sufficient dose sparing of the anterior segment. The posterior lens accumulates less than 40% of the prescribed dose, and the lateral aspect of the lens receives less than 30%. A dose variation in the match region of ±12% is confronted when

Early and late scanning electron microscopy findings in diabetic kidney disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Conti, Sara; Perico, Norberto; Novelli, Rubina; Carrara, Camillo; Benigni, Ariela; Remuzzi, Giuseppe

2018-03-20

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), the single strongest predictor of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes, is characterized by initial glomerular hyperfiltration with subsequent progressive renal function loss with or without albuminuria, greatly accelerated with the onset of overt proteinuria. Experimental and clinical studies have convincingly shown that early interventions retard disease progression, while treatment if started late in the disease course seldom modifies the slope of GFR decline. Here we assessed whether the negligible renoprotection afforded by drugs in patients with proteinuric DN could be due to loss of glomerular structural integrity, explored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In diabetic patients with early renal disease, glomerular structural integrity was largely preserved. At variance SEM documented that in the late stage of proteinuric DN, glomerular structure was subverted with nearly complete loss of podocytes and lobular transformation of the glomerular basement membrane. In these circumstances one can reasonably imply that any form of treatment, albeit personalized, is unlikely to reach a given cellular or molecular target. These findings should persuade physicians to start the putative renoprotective therapy soon after the diagnosis of diabetes or in an early phase of the disease before structural integrity of the glomerular filter is irreversibly compromised.

Quantum efficiency of cesium iodide photocathodes in the 120-220 nm spectral range traceable to a primary detector standard

CERN Document Server

Rabus, H; Richter, M; Ulm, G; Friese, J; Gernhäuser, R; Kastenmüller, A; Maier-Komor, P; Zeitelhack, K

1999-01-01

Differently prepared CsI samples have been investigated in the 120-220 nm spectral range for their quantum efficiency, spatial uniformity and the effect of radiation aging. The experiments were performed at the PTB radiometry laboratory at the Berlin synchrotron radiation facility BESSY. A calibrated GaAsP Schottky photodiode was used as transfer detector standard to establish traceability to the primary detector standard, because this type of photodiode - unlike silicon p-on-n photodiodes - proved to be of sufficiently stable response when exposed to vacuum ultraviolet radiation. The paper reviews the experimental procedures that were employed to characterize and calibrate the GaAsP photodiode and reports the results that were obtained on the investigated CsI photocathodes.

TACO - a framework for traceability and communication of requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivertsen, Terje; Fredriksen, Rune; Thunem, Atoosa P-J.; Valkonen, Janne; Holmberg, Jan-Erik; Ventae, Olli; Andersson, Jan-Ove

2005-06-01

Several cases from the nuclear industry indicate the importance of clear, complete, and stable requirements from the beginning of the system development project. Since the safety of digital I and C is a property of the system in which it is embedded, the requirements specification of the I and C also plays an important role in the safety assessment of the whole system. In the development of NPP digital I and C systems, it is important to be able to trace the requirements backwards to the safety analysis report and forwards to the implementation (for development and quality control). A practical problem to perform such a trace relates to large amounts of documentation that must be read to produce the requirements specification of the safety systems. An important research task is therefore to identify, develop, or improve techniques that simplify the development and use of the requirement specification. These and related concerns motivated the initiation of the TACO project, and have provided guidance to three years of Nordic collaborative research within the NKS-R programme. The present report summarises the project and its deliverables, first of all the TACO common approach to requirements handling, called the TACO Shell. The overall objective of the TACO project was to improve the knowledge on principles and best practices related to the issues concretised in the preproject. On the basis of experiences in the Nordic countries, the project aimed at identifying the best practices and most important criteria for ensuring effective communication in relation to requirements elicitation and analysis, understandability of requirements to all parties, and traceability of requirements through the different design phases. It is expected that the project will provide important input to the development of guidelines and establishment of recommended practices related to activities involving the requirement specification. (Author)

Desenvolvimento de um sistema de rastreabilidade aplicado à cadeia de produção do vinho Development of a traceability system applied to the wine production chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís Fernando de Abreu Porto

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Com o presente trabalho visou-se desenvolver um sistema de rastreabilidade aplicado à cadeia de produção do vinho. Foram utilizados a tecnologia de desenvolvimento JSP (Java Server Pages; o banco de dados MySQL; bem como o Tomcat, para servidor de JSP. O sistema para rastreabilidade do vinho desenvolvido é útil tanto para os produtores quanto para os consumidores por ser um indicador de segurança alimentar, visto que com ele é possível se rastrear a história da garrafa de um vinho desde o plantio da uva até o momento de seu consumo.The present work aimed to develop a traceability system applied to the wine production chain. The JSP development technology (Java Server Pages, the MySQL data base, as well as the Tomcat for JSP server, have been used. The developed system for wine traceability is useful for the producers as well as for the consumers for being an indicator of food safety, since with it, it is possible to track the history of the bottle of a wine from the plantation of the grape to the moment of its consumption.

Project and construction of energy degrading and scattering plates for electron beam radiotherapy for skin diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fonseca, Gabriel Paiva

2010-01-01

There are many radiosensitive epidermotropics diseases such as mycosis fungo-ids and the syndrome of Sezary, coetaneous neoplasics originated from type T lymphocytes. Several studies indicate the eradication of the disease when treated with linear accelerators emitting electron beams with energies between 4 to 10 MeV. However, this treatment technique presents innumerable technical challenges since the disease in general reaches all patient's body, becoming necessary not only a very large field size radiation beam, but also deliver superficial doses limited to the skin depth. To reach the uniformity in the dose distribution, many techniques had already been developed. Based on these previous studies and guided by the report no. 23 of the American Association of Physicists in Medi-cine (AAPM), the present study developed an energy scattering and degrading plates and made dosimetry (computational and experimental), supplying subsidies for a future installation of Total Skin Electron Therapy (TSET) at the Servico de Radioterapia do Hospital das Clinicas de Sao Paulo. As part of the plates design, first of all, the energy spectrum of the 6 MeV electron beam of the VARIAN 2100C accelerator was reconstructed through Monte Carlo simulations using the MCNP4C code and based on experimental data. Once the spectrum is built, several materials were analyzed for the plates design based on radial and axial dose distribution, production of rays-x and dose attenuation. The simulation results were validated by experimental measurements in order to obtain a large field of radiation with 200 cm x 80 cm that meets the specifications of the AAPM protocol. (author)

Optimizing chocolate production through traceability: A review of the influence of farming practices on cocoa bean quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saltini, Rolando; Akkerman, Renzo; Frosch, Stina

2013-01-01

Due to recent developments in traceability systems, it is now possible to exchange significant amounts of data through food supply chains. Farming practices applied by cocoa farmers at the beginning of the chocolate supply chain strongly influence several quality parameters of the finished...... studies have been investigating the influence of certain farming practices on cocoa beans and the subsequent chocolate quality parameters. However, no comprehensive analysis of the process variables in the chain and their effects on the quality can be found. In this paper we review and classify...... the available literature on the topic in terms of process variables throughout the chain, and their effects on quality and flavour aspects of cocoa beans and the eventual chocolate product. After analyzing the literature, we are able to identify potential benefits of using data regarding the farming practices...

Standardization of high-dose measurement of electron and gamma ray absorbed doses and dose rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLaughlin, W.L.

1985-01-01

Intense electron beams and gamma radiation fields are used for sterilizing medical devices, treating municipal wastes, processing industrial goods, controlling parasites and pathogens, and extending the shelf-life of foods. Quality control of such radiation processes depends largely on maintaining measurement quality assurance through sound dosimetry procedures in the research leading to each process, in the commissioning of that process, and in the routine dose monitoring practices. This affords documentation as to whether satisfactory dose uniformity is maintained throughout the product and throughout the process. Therefore, dosimetry at high doses and dose rates must in many radiation processes be standardized carefully, so that 'dosimetry release' of a product is verified. This standardization is initiated through preliminary dosimetry intercomparison studies such as those sponsored recently by the IAEA. This is followed by establishing periodic exercises in traceability to national or international standards of absorbed dose and dose rate. Traceability is achieved by careful selection of dosimetry methods and proven reference dosimeters capable of giving sufficiently accurate and precise 'transfer' dose assessments: (1) they must be calibrated or have well-established radiation-yield indices; (2) their radiation response characteristics must be reproducible and cover the dose range of interest; (3) they must withstand the rigours of back-and-forth mailing between a central standardizing laboratory and radiation processing facilities, without excessive errors arising due to instabilities, dosimeter batch non-uniformities, and environmental and handling stresses. (author)

Electronic health records and disease registries to support integrated care in a health neighbourhood: an ontology-based methodology.

Science.gov (United States)

Liaw, Siaw-Teng; Taggart, Jane; Yu, Hairong; Rahimi, Alireza

2014-01-01

Disease registries derived from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are widely used for chronic disease management (CDM). However, unlike national registries which are specialised data collections, they are usually specific to an EHR or organization such as a medical home. We approached registries from the perspective of integrated care in a health neighbourhood, considering data quality issues such as semantic interoperability (consistency), accuracy, completeness and duplication. Our proposition is that a realist ontological approach is required to systematically and accurately identify patients in an EHR or data repository of EHRs, assess intrinsic data quality and fitness for use by members of the multidisciplinary integrated care team. We report on this approach as applied to routinely collected data in an electronic practice based research network in Australia.

Metrological traceability in education: A practical online system for measuring and managing middle school mathematics instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Torres Irribarra, D.; Freund, R.; Fisher, W.; Wilson, M.

2015-02-01

Computer-based, online assessments modelled, designed, and evaluated for adaptively administered invariant measurement are uniquely suited to defining and maintaining traceability to standardized units in education. An assessment of this kind is embedded in the Assessing Data Modeling and Statistical Reasoning (ADM) middle school mathematics curriculum. Diagnostic information about middle school students' learning of statistics and modeling is provided via computer-based formative assessments for seven constructs that comprise a learning progression for statistics and modeling from late elementary through the middle school grades. The seven constructs are: Data Display, Meta-Representational Competence, Conceptions of Statistics, Chance, Modeling Variability, Theory of Measurement, and Informal Inference. The end product is a web-delivered system built with Ruby on Rails for use by curriculum development teams working with classroom teachers in designing, developing, and delivering formative assessments. The online accessible system allows teachers to accurately diagnose students' unique comprehension and learning needs in a common language of real-time assessment, logging, analysis, feedback, and reporting.

Metrological traceability in education: A practical online system for measuring and managing middle school mathematics instruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irribarra, D Torres; Freund, R; Fisher, W; Wilson, M

2015-01-01

Computer-based, online assessments modelled, designed, and evaluated for adaptively administered invariant measurement are uniquely suited to defining and maintaining traceability to standardized units in education. An assessment of this kind is embedded in the Assessing Data Modeling and Statistical Reasoning (ADM) middle school mathematics curriculum. Diagnostic information about middle school students' learning of statistics and modeling is provided via computer-based formative assessments for seven constructs that comprise a learning progression for statistics and modeling from late elementary through the middle school grades. The seven constructs are: Data Display, Meta-Representational Competence, Conceptions of Statistics, Chance, Modeling Variability, Theory of Measurement, and Informal Inference. The end product is a web-delivered system built with Ruby on Rails for use by curriculum development teams working with classroom teachers in designing, developing, and delivering formative assessments. The online accessible system allows teachers to accurately diagnose students' unique comprehension and learning needs in a common language of real-time assessment, logging, analysis, feedback, and reporting

Information management and ante-mortem inspection procedures for the emerging diseases control: Experiences acquired in the epidemiological surveillance of bluetongue and lumpy skin disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Corradini, Alessandra; Trevisani, Marcello; Dosa, Geremia; Padovani, Anna

2018-03-31

The spread of exotic, emerging and reemerging diseases, has become, in the last years, one of the most important threats to the animal productions and public health, representing a new challenge for the European Community. In a global-market framework, where trade and contacts between countries are simplified, effective and well-developed surveillance systems are necessary. Multiple factors are, in fact, associated with the emergence of new, known or exotic diseases in this new economic panorama and for these reasons controls on animal imports, traceability and timeliness detection of infected animals should be considered the basis of a sound surveillance. In this work, we focused our attention on the management of Bluetongue and on the risk of introduction of the Lumpy Skin Disease in Italy, in order to describe the national and European surveillance systems for these diseases. In particular, we underlined the crucial role of information that reach the Official Veterinarian at the slaughterhouse concerning the epidemiological situation of the sending countries. Information that are important for the management of the ante-mortem inspection and for increasing the awareness of the Veterinary Inspectors of their role in the surveillance.

Information management and ante-mortem inspection procedures for the emerging diseases control: Experiences acquired in the epidemiological surveillance of bluetongue and lumpy skin disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra Corradini

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The spread of exotic, emerging and reemerging diseases, has become, in the last years, one of the most important threats to the animal productions and public health, representing a new challenge for the European Community. In a global-market framework, where trade and contacts between countries are simplified, effective and well-developed surveillance systems are necessary. Multiple factors are, in fact, associated with the emergence of new, known or exotic diseases in this new economic panorama and for these reasons controls on animal imports, traceability and timeliness detection of infected animals should be considered the basis of a sound surveillance. In this work, we focused our attention on the management of Bluetongue and on the risk of introduction of the Lumpy Skin Disease in Italy, in order to describe the national and European surveillance systems for these diseases. In particular, we underlined the crucial role of information that reach the Official Veterinarian at the slaughterhouse concerning the epidemiological situation of the sending countries. Information that are important for the management of the ante-mortem inspection and for increasing the awareness of the Veterinary Inspectors of their role in the surveillance.

Mixture models for undiagnosed prevalent disease and interval-censored incident disease: applications to a cohort assembled from electronic health records.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Li C; Pan, Qing; Hyun, Noorie; Schiffman, Mark; Fetterman, Barbara; Castle, Philip E; Lorey, Thomas; Katki, Hormuzd A

2017-09-30

For cost-effectiveness and efficiency, many large-scale general-purpose cohort studies are being assembled within large health-care providers who use electronic health records. Two key features of such data are that incident disease is interval-censored between irregular visits and there can be pre-existing (prevalent) disease. Because prevalent disease is not always immediately diagnosed, some disease diagnosed at later visits are actually undiagnosed prevalent disease. We consider prevalent disease as a point mass at time zero for clinical applications where there is no interest in time of prevalent disease onset. We demonstrate that the naive Kaplan-Meier cumulative risk estimator underestimates risks at early time points and overestimates later risks. We propose a general family of mixture models for undiagnosed prevalent disease and interval-censored incident disease that we call prevalence-incidence models. Parameters for parametric prevalence-incidence models, such as the logistic regression and Weibull survival (logistic-Weibull) model, are estimated by direct likelihood maximization or by EM algorithm. Non-parametric methods are proposed to calculate cumulative risks for cases without covariates. We compare naive Kaplan-Meier, logistic-Weibull, and non-parametric estimates of cumulative risk in the cervical cancer screening program at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Kaplan-Meier provided poor estimates while the logistic-Weibull model was a close fit to the non-parametric. Our findings support our use of logistic-Weibull models to develop the risk estimates that underlie current US risk-based cervical cancer screening guidelines. Published 2017. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. Published 2017. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

High-resolution analytical imaging and electron holography of magnetite particles in amyloid cores of Alzheimer’s disease

Science.gov (United States)

Plascencia-Villa, Germán; Ponce, Arturo; Collingwood, Joanna F.; Arellano-Jiménez, M. Josefina; Zhu, Xiongwei; Rogers, Jack T.; Betancourt, Israel; José-Yacamán, Miguel; Perry, George

2016-01-01

Abnormal accumulation of brain metals is a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Formation of amyloid-β plaque cores (APC) is related to interactions with biometals, especially Fe, Cu and Zn, but their particular structural associations and roles remain unclear. Using an integrative set of advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques, including spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (Cs-STEM), nano-beam electron diffraction, electron holography and analytical spectroscopy techniques (EDX and EELS), we demonstrate that Fe in APC is present as iron oxide (Fe3O4) magnetite nanoparticles. Here we show that Fe was accumulated primarily as nanostructured particles within APC, whereas Cu and Zn were distributed through the amyloid fibers. Remarkably, these highly organized crystalline magnetite nanostructures directly bound into fibrillar Aβ showed characteristic superparamagnetic responses with saturated magnetization with circular contours, as observed for the first time by off-axis electron holography of nanometer scale particles. PMID:27121137

Role of Mitochondrial Reverse Electron Transport in ROS Signaling: Potential Roles in Health and Disease

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Filippo Scialò

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS can cause oxidative damage and have been proposed to be the main cause of aging and age-related diseases including cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Accordingly, mitochondria from old individuals have higher levels of ROS. However, ROS also participate in cellular signaling, are instrumental for several physiological processes and boosting ROS levels in model organisms extends lifespan. The current consensus is that low levels of ROS are beneficial, facilitating adaptation to stress via signaling, whereas high levels of ROS are deleterious because they trigger oxidative stress. Based on this model the amount of ROS should determine the physiological effect. However, recent data suggests that the site at which ROS are generated is also instrumental in determining effects on cellular homeostasis. The best example of site-specific ROS signaling is reverse electron transport (RET. RET is produced when electrons from ubiquinol are transferred back to respiratory complex I, reducing NAD+ to NADH. This process generates a significant amount of ROS. RET has been shown to be instrumental for the activation of macrophages in response to bacterial infection, re-organization of the electron transport chain in response to changes in energy supply and adaptation of the carotid body to changes in oxygen levels. In Drosophila melanogaster, stimulating RET extends lifespan. Here, we review what is known about RET, as an example of site-specific ROS signaling, and its implications for the field of redox biology.

Open source electronic health records and chronic disease management.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldwater, Jason C; Kwon, Nancy J; Nathanson, Ashley; Muckle, Alison E; Brown, Alexa; Cornejo, Kerri

2014-02-01

To study and report on the use of open source electronic health records (EHR) to assist with chronic care management within safety net medical settings, such as community health centers (CHC). The study was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago from April to September 2010. The NORC team undertook a comprehensive environmental scan, including a literature review, a dozen key informant interviews using a semistructured protocol, and a series of site visits to CHC that currently use an open source EHR. Two of the sites chosen by NORC were actively using an open source EHR to assist in the redesign of their care delivery system to support more effective chronic disease management. This included incorporating the chronic care model into an CHC and using the EHR to help facilitate its elements, such as care teams for patients, in addition to maintaining health records on indigent populations, such as tuberculosis status on homeless patients. The ability to modify the open-source EHR to adapt to the CHC environment and leverage the ecosystem of providers and users to assist in this process provided significant advantages in chronic care management. Improvements in diabetes management, controlled hypertension and increases in tuberculosis vaccinations were assisted through the use of these open source systems. The flexibility and adaptability of open source EHR demonstrated its utility and viability in the provision of necessary and needed chronic disease care among populations served by CHC.

Date Attachable Offline Electronic Cash Scheme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-I Fan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Electronic cash (e-cash is definitely one of the most popular research topics in the e-commerce field. It is very important that e-cash be able to hold the anonymity and accuracy in order to preserve the privacy and rights of customers. There are two types of e-cash in general, which are online e-cash and offline e-cash. Both systems have their own pros and cons and they can be used to construct various applications. In this paper, we pioneer to propose a provably secure and efficient offline e-cash scheme with date attachability based on the blind signature technique, where expiration date and deposit date can be embedded in an e-cash simultaneously. With the help of expiration date, the bank can manage the huge database much more easily against unlimited growth, and the deposit date cannot be forged so that users are able to calculate the amount of interests they can receive in the future correctly. Furthermore, we offer security analysis and formal proofs for all essential properties of offline e-cash, which are anonymity control, unforgeability, conditional-traceability, and no-swindling.

Date attachable offline electronic cash scheme.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Chun-I; Sun, Wei-Zhe; Hau, Hoi-Tung

2014-01-01

Electronic cash (e-cash) is definitely one of the most popular research topics in the e-commerce field. It is very important that e-cash be able to hold the anonymity and accuracy in order to preserve the privacy and rights of customers. There are two types of e-cash in general, which are online e-cash and offline e-cash. Both systems have their own pros and cons and they can be used to construct various applications. In this paper, we pioneer to propose a provably secure and efficient offline e-cash scheme with date attachability based on the blind signature technique, where expiration date and deposit date can be embedded in an e-cash simultaneously. With the help of expiration date, the bank can manage the huge database much more easily against unlimited growth, and the deposit date cannot be forged so that users are able to calculate the amount of interests they can receive in the future correctly. Furthermore, we offer security analysis and formal proofs for all essential properties of offline e-cash, which are anonymity control, unforgeability, conditional-traceability, and no-swindling.

Date Attachable Offline Electronic Cash Scheme

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wei-Zhe; Hau, Hoi-Tung

2014-01-01

Electronic cash (e-cash) is definitely one of the most popular research topics in the e-commerce field. It is very important that e-cash be able to hold the anonymity and accuracy in order to preserve the privacy and rights of customers. There are two types of e-cash in general, which are online e-cash and offline e-cash. Both systems have their own pros and cons and they can be used to construct various applications. In this paper, we pioneer to propose a provably secure and efficient offline e-cash scheme with date attachability based on the blind signature technique, where expiration date and deposit date can be embedded in an e-cash simultaneously. With the help of expiration date, the bank can manage the huge database much more easily against unlimited growth, and the deposit date cannot be forged so that users are able to calculate the amount of interests they can receive in the future correctly. Furthermore, we offer security analysis and formal proofs for all essential properties of offline e-cash, which are anonymity control, unforgeability, conditional-traceability, and no-swindling. PMID:24982931

Traceability of a panoramic gamma irradiator using different TLD systems as transfer Instruments; Trazabilidad de un irradiador panoramico mediante sistemas de dosimetria TL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romero, A. M.; Saez, J. C

1994-07-01

This work shows the calibration in terms of the new operational radiological quantities Hp (10) and H(10) for different TLD systems (Harshaw TLD-100 and Panasonic UD-002) used in personal and environmental monitoring. The irradiations were performed in the Spanish Reference Laboratory in radiation protection levels, managed by the CIEMAT Metrology of ionizing radiations Unit. With those data, different calibrations of a panoramic gamma irradiator in terms of the radiological quantity for unit of time were established, providing the traceability of the irradiator to the Reference Laboratory using the corresponding TLD systems as transfer instruments. (Author) 9 refs.

Traceability of a panoramic gamma irradiator using different TLD systems as transfer instruments; Trazabilidad de un irradiador panoramico mediante sistemas de dosimetria TL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romero, A.M.; Saez, J.C.

1994-08-01

This work shows the calibration in terms of the new operational radiological quantities Hp(10) and H*(10) for different TLD systems (Harshaw TLD-100 and Panasonic UD-802) used in personal and environmental monitoring. The irradiations were performed in the Spanish Reference Laboratory in radiation protection levels, managed by the CIEMAT Metrology of ionizing radiations Unit. With these data, different calibrations of a panoramic gamma irradiator in terms of the radiological quantity for unit of time were established, providing the traceability of the irradiator to the Reference Laboratory using the corresponding TLD systems as transfer instruments. (Author) 9 refs.

Detection of coronary calcium with electron beam tomography in coronary artery disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haberl, R.; Knez, A.; Becker, A.; Becker, C.; Bruening, R.; Reiser, M.; Maass, A.; Steinbeck, G.

1998-01-01

Purpose: Coronary calcium is a powerful indicator of arteriosclerosis and can be detected very precisely with electron beam tomography. The method can be applied in patients with known coronary artery disease or in asymptomatic patients at risk of arteriosclerotic disease. Results: At the University of Munich we performed an EBT scan of the heart in 1100 patients within the last year. In 567 patients coronary angiography was performed also (±3 days). Confirming previous reports in the literature, we found a correlation of the calcium score with the age and gender of the patients. Severe coronary artery disease (stenoses ≥ 75%) was associated with significantly more calcium than less severe CAD. The calcium score did not discriminate between one-, two- and three-vessel disease. The site of calcification does not correlate with the localization of stenoses. Thirty-three percent of the patients with significant coronary artery disease showed a normal age-adjusted calcium score; a total of 8.1% of patients with severe stenoses did not reveal any coronary calcification (score =0). With asymptomatic patients there are only a few studies available. Soft plaques cannot be detected with EBT, but in most patients soft plaques occur together with hard plaques. Our results show that spiral CT of the newest generation may also be used for calcium screening. There was an excellent correlation of the calcium scores of EBT and spiral CT at all levels of calcification. Discussion: Coronary calcium is a sensitive marker of coronary artery disease. In the clinical setting EBT is indicated in patients with known coronary artery disease (to evaluate prognosis), in patients who are unable to perform a stress test, and in patients with atypical chest pain. However, lack of calcification may be associated with severe stenoses in a minority of patients. The clinical value in asymptomatic patients needs to be defined: Randomized studies are necessary. We see a possible indication in

An imaging grating diffractometer for traceable calibration of grating pitch in the range 20 μm to 350 nm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brasil, D A; Alves, J A P; Pekelsky, J R

2015-01-01

This work describes the development of a grating diffratometer to provide traceable calibration of grating pitch in range 20 μm to 350 nm. The approach is based on the Littrow configuration in which a laser beam is directed onto the grating which is mounted on a rotary table and can be turned so that each selected diffraction order is retro-reflected in the laser incidence direction. A beamsplitter and a lens direct the reflected diffraction order to form a small image spot on a CCD camera and the spot centering is used to adjust to rotation angle, thereby giving the diffraction angle. Knowing the diffraction angle for several orders and the wavelength of the laser, the average grating pitch can be determined to an uncertainty the order of 14 pm. (paper)

Revaluation of biological variation of glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)) using an accurately designed protocol and an assay traceable to the IFCC reference system.

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Federica; Dolci, Alberto; Montagnana, Martina; Pagani, Franca; Paleari, Renata; Guidi, Gian Cesare; Mosca, Andrea; Panteghini, Mauro

2011-07-15

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)) has a key role for diagnosing diabetes and monitoring glycemic state. As recently reviewed, available data on HbA(1c) biological variation show marked heterogeneity. Here we experimentally revaluated these data using a well designed protocol. We took five EDTA whole blood specimens from 18 apparently healthy subjects on the same day, every two weeks for two months. Samples were stored at -80°C until analysis and assayed in duplicate in a single run by Roche Tina-quant® Gen.2 immunoassay. Data were analyzed by the ANOVA. To assess the assay traceability to the IFCC reference method, we preliminarily carried out a correlation experiment. The bias (mean±SD) of the Roche immunoassay was 0.3%±0.7%, confirming the traceability of the employed assay. No difference was found in HbA(1c) values between men and women. Within- and between-subject CV were 2.5% and 7.1%, respectively. Derived desirable analytical goals for imprecision, bias, and total error resulted 1.3%, 1.9%, and 3.9%, respectively. HbA(1c) had marked individuality, limiting the use of population-based reference limits for test interpretation. The estimated critical difference was ~10%. For the first time we defined biological variation and derived indices for the clinical application of HbA(1c) measurements using an accurately designed protocol and an assay standardized according to the IFCC. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mineral oil content in sediments and soils: comparability, traceability and a certified reference material for quality assurance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Becker, Roland; Buge, Hans-Gerhard; Bremser, Wolfram; Nehls, Irene [Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin (Germany)

2006-06-15

The performance of twelve laboratories with previously established proficiency in the determination of the mineral oil content in a fresh water sediment is described. The summation parameter total petrol hydrocarbon (TPH) is defined according to ISO 16703:2004 with regard to the sample preparation to be applied, the flame ionisation detection (FID) and the boiling range of C{sub 10}-C{sub 40} to be integrated. Comprehensive tests of homogeneity and stability have been carried out on the candidate material using appropriate models. The outcome of the study served as the basis for the certification of the candidate reference material as ERM-CC015a. The certified mass fraction is 1,820{+-}130mgkg{sup -1}and traceability was established by using an appropriate calibration standard certified for the mass fraction of C{sub 10}-C{sub 40}. The interlaboratory scatter of measurement results in this exercise can largely be explained by the variability of the individual calibrations based on this common calibration standard. (orig.)

[THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MORPHOLOGY OF BIOFILM OF PERIODONTIUM UNDER INFLAMMATORY DISEASES OF GUMS (CHRONIC CATARRHAL GINGIVITIS, CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS, CANDIDA-ASSOCIATED PERIODONTITIS) ACCORDING RESULTS OF ELECTRONIC MICROSCOPY].

Science.gov (United States)

Ippolitov, E V; Didenko, L V; Tzarev, V N

2015-12-01

The study was carried out to analyze morphology of biofilm of periodontium and to develop electronic microscopic criteria of differentiated diagnostic of inflammatory diseases of gums. The scanning electronic microscopy was applied to analyze samples of bioflm of periodont from 70 patients. Including ten patients with every nosologic form of groups with chronic catarrhal periodontitis. of light, mean and severe degree, chronic catarrhal gingivitis, Candida-associated paroperiodontitis and 20 healthy persons with intact periodontium. The analysis was implemented using dual-beam scanning electronic microscope Quanta 200 3D (FEI company, USA) and walk-through electronic micJEM 100B (JEOL, Japan). To detect marker DNA of periodont pathogenic bacteria in analyzed samples the kit of reagentsfor polymerase chain reaction "MultiDent-5" ("GenLab", Russia). The scanning electronic microscopy in combination with transmission electronic microscopy and polymerase chain reaction permits analyzing structure, composition and degree of development of biofilm of periodontium and to apply differentiated diagnostic of different nosologic forms of inflammatory diseases of periodontium, including light form of chronic periodontitis and gingivitis. The electronic microscopical indications of diseases ofperiodontium of inflammatory character are established: catarrhal gingivitis, (coccal morphological alternate), chronic periodontitis (bacillary morphological alternate), Candida-associated periodontitis (Candida morphological alternate of biofilm ofperiodontium).

Coronary artery disease risk assessment from unstructured electronic health records using text mining.

Science.gov (United States)

Jonnagaddala, Jitendra; Liaw, Siaw-Teng; Ray, Pradeep; Kumar, Manish; Chang, Nai-Wen; Dai, Hong-Jie

2015-12-01

Coronary artery disease (CAD) often leads to myocardial infarction, which may be fatal. Risk factors can be used to predict CAD, which may subsequently lead to prevention or early intervention. Patient data such as co-morbidities, medication history, social history and family history are required to determine the risk factors for a disease. However, risk factor data are usually embedded in unstructured clinical narratives if the data is not collected specifically for risk assessment purposes. Clinical text mining can be used to extract data related to risk factors from unstructured clinical notes. This study presents methods to extract Framingham risk factors from unstructured electronic health records using clinical text mining and to calculate 10-year coronary artery disease risk scores in a cohort of diabetic patients. We developed a rule-based system to extract risk factors: age, gender, total cholesterol, HDL-C, blood pressure, diabetes history and smoking history. The results showed that the output from the text mining system was reliable, but there was a significant amount of missing data to calculate the Framingham risk score. A systematic approach for understanding missing data was followed by implementation of imputation strategies. An analysis of the 10-year Framingham risk scores for coronary artery disease in this cohort has shown that the majority of the diabetic patients are at moderate risk of CAD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An on-site dosimetry audit for high-energy electron beams

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leon de Prez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background and purpose: External dosimetry audits are powerful quality assurance instruments for radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to implement an electron dosimetry audit based on a contemporary code of practice within the requirements for calibration laboratories performing proficiency tests. This involved the determination of suitable acceptance criteria based on thorough uncertainty analyses. Materials and methods: Subject of the audit was the determination of absorbed dose to water, Dw, and the beam quality specifier, R50,dos. Fifteen electron beams were measured in four institutes according to the Belgian-Dutch code of practice for high-energy electron beams. The expanded uncertainty (k = 2 for the Dw values was 3.6% for a Roos chamber calibrated in 60Co and 3.2% for a Roos chamber cross-calibrated against a Farmer chamber. The expanded uncertainty for the beam quality specifier, R50,dos, was 0.14 cm. The audit acceptance levels were based on the expanded uncertainties for the comparison results and estimated to be 2.4%. Results: The audit was implemented and validated successfully. All Dw audit results were satisfactory with differences in Dw values mostly smaller than 0.5% and always smaller than 1%. Except for one, differences in R50,dos were smaller than 0.2 cm and always smaller than 0.3 cm. Conclusions: An electron dosimetry audit based on absorbed dose to water and present-day requirements for calibration laboratories performing proficiency tests was successfully implemented. It proved international traceability of the participants value with an uncertainty better than 3.6% (k = 2. Keywords: Absorbed dose to water, Audit, Code of practice, Dosimetry, Electron beam, Radiation therapy

Controlul materialelor forestiere de reproducere: trasabilitatea genetică, contribuţie la gestionarea durabilă a pădurilor [The control of the forest reproductive material: the genetic traceability, support for forest certifi cation and a sustainable forest management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teodosiu Maria

2014-12-01

Full Text Available For a sustainable forest management, beside the choice of the right species in artificial regeneration, the right provenances present their own importance. The existing legal regulation on forest reproductive material moving in trade can only provide an absolute proof of identity, at an unproportionally intense level of controlling. Techniques based on the analysis of DNA markers are a powerful tool for the genetic traceability of forest reproductive material, but on a European level, the traceability systems are yet missing, excepting the two certification systems implemented in Germany (ZüF and FfV. The reference samples collected from individuals in different steps of the forest reproductive material production, and the comparison of their genetic composition, are the principle underlying the German certification systems. The seeds from seed orchards can be identified with highly polymorphic SSR markers, once the the genetic profile of the reference clone is known, without reference samples. For different pourpose, suitable DNA markers are available, and the nuclear microsatellies are the more usefull in individual identification. Different statistical approaches can still be used to assign individual or groups of individuals to a population, but this requires further evaluation for their use in traceability. The control procedures are under development at European level. Their implementation are necessary also in Romania, as connecting to the present scientifical trends, and also related to its position as seeds provided for other European countries.

Improved Traceability of a Small Satellite Mission Concept to Requirements Using Model Based System Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Reil, Robin L.

2014-01-01

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) has recently been gaining significant support as a means to improve the "traditional" document-based systems engineering (DBSE) approach to engineering complex systems. In the spacecraft design domain, there are many perceived and propose benefits of an MBSE approach, but little analysis has been presented to determine the tangible benefits of such an approach (e.g. time and cost saved, increased product quality). This paper presents direct examples of how developing a small satellite system model can improve traceability of the mission concept to its requirements. A comparison of the processes and approaches for MBSE and DBSE is made using the NASA Ames Research Center SporeSat CubeSat mission as a case study. A model of the SporeSat mission is built using the Systems Modeling Language standard and No Magic's MagicDraw modeling tool. The model incorporates mission concept and requirement information from the mission's original DBSE design efforts. Active dependency relationships are modeled to demonstrate the completeness and consistency of the requirements to the mission concept. Anecdotal information and process-duration metrics are presented for both the MBSE and original DBSE design efforts of SporeSat.

Kajian Literatur Sinkronisasi Waktu Dengan Network Time Protocol Untuk Pemantauan Aktivitas Jaringan Telekomunikasi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Budi Setiawan

2015-12-01

Abstract Network providers are providing services or networks that enable the implementation of electronic transactions. Each network operator is required to align the time in electronic transactions. The purpose is to provide time alignment of the time standard and provide a time frame for all forms of electronic transactions with the principles of accuracy and traceability. Indonesian Time Alignment System uses the principle of traceability and accuracy principles. The protocols used in the alignment of the time server in Indonesia-based Network Time Protocol. This study discusses the implementation of time synchronization with a network time protocol as a form of telecommunications network security monitoring. The method used in this study is a descriptive narrative on the implementation of time synchronization. Results of this study are input to the policy in the security of electronic transactions through time synchronization

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent [version 5; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 2 not approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Benchoufi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing for collection of patients’ informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we build a consent workflow using a trending technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient’s consent collection using Blockchain, thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each protocol revision, consent was sought again.  We obtained a single document, in an open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: a time-stamped consent status regarding each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened to remove the need for third parties, here trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer users. In the future, the complex data flow of a clinical trial could be tracked by using Blockchain, which core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not occurring in the correct chronological order, for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report form data before freezing the database. Globally, Blockchain could help with reliability, security

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent [version 4; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 2 not approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Benchoufi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing for collection of patients’ informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we build a consent workflow using a trending technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient’s consent collection using Blockchain, thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each protocol revision, consent was sought again.  We obtained a single document, in an open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: a time-stamped consent status regarding each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened to remove the need for third parties, here trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer users. In the future, the complex data flow of a clinical trial could be tracked by using Blockchain, which core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not occurring in the correct chronological order, for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report form data before freezing the database. Globally, Blockchain could help with reliability, security

Reference nano-dimensional metrology by scanning transmission electron microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dai, Gaoliang; Fluegge, Jens; Bosse, Harald; Heidelmann, Markus; Kübel, Christian; Prang, Robby

2013-01-01

Traceable and accurate reference dimensional metrology of nano-structures by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is introduced in the paper. Two methods, one based on the crystal lattice constant and the other based on the pitch of a feature pair, were applied to calibrate the TEM magnification. The threshold value, which was defined as the half-intensity of boundary materials, is suggested to extract the boundary position of features from the TEM image. Experimental investigations have demonstrated the high potential of the proposed methods. For instance, the standard deviation from ten repeated measurements of a line structure with a nominal 100 nm critical dimension (CD) reaches 1σ = 0.023 nm, about 0.02%. By intentionally introduced defocus and larger sample alignment errors, the investigation shows that these influences may reach 0.20 and 1.3 nm, respectively, indicating the importance of high-quality TEM measurements. Finally, a strategy for disseminating the destructive TEM results is introduced. Using this strategy, the CD of a reference material has been accurately determined. Its agreement over five independent TEM measurements is below 1.2 nm. (paper)

Real-time monitoring of school absenteeism to enhance disease surveillance: a pilot study of a mobile electronic reporting system.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawpoolsri, Saranath; Khamsiriwatchara, Amnat; Liulark, Wongwat; Taweeseneepitch, Komchaluch; Sangvichean, Aumnuyphan; Thongprarong, Wiraporn; Kaewkungwal, Jaranit; Singhasivanon, Pratap

2014-05-12

School absenteeism is a common source of data used in syndromic surveillance, which can eventually be used for early outbreak detection. However, the absenteeism reporting system in most schools, especially in developing countries, relies on a paper-based method that limits its use for disease surveillance or outbreak detection. The objective of this study was to develop an electronic real-time reporting system on school absenteeism for syndromic surveillance. An electronic (Web-based) school absenteeism reporting system was developed to embed it within the normal routine process of absenteeism reporting. This electronic system allowed teachers to update students' attendance status via mobile tablets. The data from all classes and schools were then automatically sent to a centralized database for further analysis and presentation, and for monitoring temporal and spatial patterns of absent students. In addition, the system also had a disease investigation module, which provided a link between absenteeism data from schools and local health centers, to investigate causes of fever among sick students. The electronic school absenteeism reporting system was implemented in 7 primary schools in Bangkok, Thailand, with total participation of approximately 5000 students. During May-October 2012 (first semester), the percentage of absentees varied between 1% and 10%. The peak of school absenteeism (sick leave) was observed between July and September 2012, which coincided with the peak of dengue cases in children aged 6-12 years being reported to the disease surveillance system. The timeliness of a reporting system is a critical function in any surveillance system. Web-based application and mobile technology can potentially enhance the use of school absenteeism data for syndromic surveillance and outbreak detection. This study presents the factors that determine the implementation success of this reporting system.

Automated Text Markup for Information Retrieval from an Electronic Textbook of Infectious Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Berrios, Daniel C.; Kehler, Andrew; Kim, David K.; Yu, Victor L.; Fagan, Lawrence M.

1998-01-01

The information needs of practicing clinicians frequently require textbook or journal searches. Making these sources available in electronic form improves the speed of these searches, but precision (i.e., the fraction of relevant to total documents retrieved) remains low. Improving the traditional keyword search by transforming search terms into canonical concepts does not improve search precision greatly. Kim et al. have designed and built a prototype system (MYCIN II) for computer-based information retrieval from a forthcoming electronic textbook of infectious disease. The system requires manual indexing by experts in the form of complex text markup. However, this mark-up process is time consuming (about 3 person-hours to generate, review, and transcribe the index for each of 218 chapters). We have designed and implemented a system to semiautomate the markup process. The system, information extraction for semiautomated indexing of documents (ISAID), uses query models and existing information-extraction tools to provide support for any user, including the author of the source material, to mark up tertiary information sources quickly and accurately.

Development of a multiplex DNA-based traceability tool for crop plant materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Voorhuijzen, Marleen M; van Dijk, Jeroen P; Prins, Theo W; Van Hoef, A M Angeline; Seyfarth, Ralf; Kok, Esther J

2012-01-01

The authenticity of food is of increasing importance for producers, retailers and consumers. All groups benefit from the correct labelling of the contents of food products. Producers and retailers want to guarantee the origin of their products and check for adulteration with cheaper or inferior ingredients. Consumers are also more demanding about the origin of their food for various socioeconomic reasons. In contrast to this increasing demand, correct labelling has become much more complex because of global transportation networks of raw materials and processed food products. Within the European integrated research project 'Tracing the origin of food' (TRACE), a DNA-based multiplex detection tool was developed-the padlock probe ligation and microarray detection (PPLMD) tool. In this paper, this method is extended to a 15-plex traceability tool with a focus on products of commercial importance such as the emmer wheat Farro della Garfagnana (FdG) and Basmati rice. The specificity of 14 plant-related padlock probes was determined and initially validated in mixtures comprising seven or nine plant species/varieties. One nucleotide difference in target sequence was sufficient for the distinction between the presence or absence of a specific target. At least 5% FdG or Basmati rice was detected in mixtures with cheaper bread wheat or non-fragrant rice, respectively. The results suggested that even lower levels of (un-)intentional adulteration could be detected. PPLMD has been shown to be a useful tool for the detection of fraudulent/intentional admixtures in premium foods and is ready for the monitoring of correct labelling of premium foods worldwide.

Healthy and diseased striated muscle studied by analytical scanning electron microscopy with special reference to fibre type

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wroblewski, R.

1982-01-01

X-ray microanalytical investigations of striated muscles in the scanning electron microscope are reviewed. The main part of the studies was performed on cryosections cut with a conventional cryostat operating at -20 degrees C to -40 degrees C. The preparation procedure including different types of attachment of the sections to the specimen holder is described in detail. The elemental changes in muscle are related to the muscle fibre type as demonstrated by histochemical methods or to histochemically demonstrated inclusions in diseased muscles. This is of great importance, because muscle disorders are often characterised by selective involvement of different muscle fibre types. The preparation methods of muscle for analytical scanning electron microscopy and the obtained results are compared with studies performed on thin cryo and epoxy sections, analysed in the transmission and scanning-transmission electron microscope. It is evident that X-ray microanalysis performed on thick cryosections provide a quick survey of the elemental composition of whole cells, and should be followed in interesting cases by close examination on the organelle level studied in thin cryosections in the transmission and scanning-transmission electron microscope

COST OF IMPLANTATION OF BOVINE TRACEABILITY USING DIFFERENT METHODS OF IDENTIFICATION ALLOWED BY SISBOV CUSTO DA IMPLANTAÇÃO DA RASTREABILIDADE EM BOVINOCULTURA UTILIZANDO OS DIFERENTES MÉTODOS DE IDENTIFICAÇÃO PERMITIDOS PELO SISBOV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcos Aurélio Lopes

2007-12-01

Full Text Available

This research had the aim of estimating through simulation the cost of different methods of bovine identification, as well as discussing some advantages and limitations of each one in order to provide information that subsidizes technicians and farmers to choose a method to identify the bovines due to the implantation of SISBOV. All the operational expenses related to the bovine and bubaline identification with ear and botton (brbo, ring and fire mark (brmf, ring and tattoo (brta and ring with different electronic device (brde (chip intraruminal  -  chip intra; sub-coetaneous chip - chip sub; and electronic ear - bri ele were checked out. It was considered in the simulation the identification of 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 animals. The cost of identification and traceability varied due to the used method as well as the number of animals, being the ring and the fire mark the ones that had the lowest cost in different production scales among the ones with less use of technology; while among the electronic device, the ones that had the lowest cost were the ring, the electronic ring, ring and sub-coetaneous chip in the lowest and highest scales, respectively. Therefore, it depends on each farmer and/or technician to define which identification method is appropriate to his production system, considering the advantages and limitations of each.

Key-words: Animal identification, beef cattle, cost of production, simulation, traceability.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo estimar, por meio de simulação, o custo de diferentes métodos de identificação de bovinos, bem como discutir algumas vantagens e limitações de cada um, visando fornecer informações que subsidiem técnicos e pecuaristas na decisão de escolher um método para identificar os bovinos por ocasião da im-plantação do SISBOV. Foram levantadas todas as despesas operacionais referentes à identifica

Automated electronic reminders to facilitate primary cardiovascular disease prevention: randomised controlled trial

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, Tim A; Thorogood, Margaret; Griffiths, Frances; Munday, Stephen; Friede, Tim; Stables, David

2010-01-01

Background Primary care databases contain cardiovascular disease risk factor data, but practical tools are required to improve identification of at-risk patients. Aim To test the effects of a system of electronic reminders (the ‘e-Nudge’) on cardiovascular events and the adequacy of data for cardiovascular risk estimation. Design of study Randomised controlled trial. Setting Nineteen general practices in the West Midlands, UK. Method The e-Nudge identifies four groups of patients aged over 50 years on the basis of estimated cardiovascular risk and adequacy of risk factor data in general practice computers. Screen messages highlight individuals at raised risk and prompt users to complete risk profiles where necessary. The proportion of the study population in the four groups was measured, as well as the rate of cardiovascular events in each arm after 2 years. Results Over 38 000 patients' electronic records were randomised. The intervention led to an increase in the proportion of patients with sufficient data who were identifiably at risk, with a difference of 1.94% compared to the control group (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.38 to 2.50, P<0.001). A corresponding reduction occurred in the proportion potentially at risk but requiring further data for a risk estimation (difference = –3.68%, 95% CI = –4.53 to –2.84, P<0.001). No significant difference was observed in the incidence of cardiovascular events (rate ratio = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.85 to 1.10, P = 0.59). Conclusion Automated electronic reminders using routinely collected primary care data can improve the adequacy of cardiovascular risk factor information during everyday practice and increase the visibility of the at-risk population. PMID:20353659

Linking live animals and products: traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Britt, A G; Bell, C M; Evers, K; Paskin, R

2013-08-01

It is rarely possible to successfully contain an outbreak of an infectious animal disease, or to respond effectively to a chemical residue incident, without the use of a system for identifying and tracking animals. The linking of animals at the time they are slaughtered--through the use of identification devices or marks and accompanying movement documentation--with the meat produced from their carcasses, adds further value from the perspective of consumer safety. Over the past decade, animal identification technology has become more sophisticated and affordable. The development of the Internet and mobile communication tools, complemented bythe expanded capacity of computers and associated data management applications, has added a new dimension to the ability of Competent Authorities and industry to track animals and the food they produce for disease control, food safety and commercial purposes.

Electron microscopy of Chytridiomycosis and the need to re-examine the disease from the gene to the cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyatt, A.; Siddon, N.; Speare, R.

2003-01-01

Full text: Over the past three decades there has been a global decline of amphibian populations. A variety of causative factors, including increased ultra violet radiation, habitat destruction and chemical pollution have been proposed; these, however, have not been correlated with all amphibian declines in the protected areas of Australia or overseas. During the past five years a network of electron microscopists, veterinary pathologists, molecular biologists and ecologists have been working on identifying the etiological agent. Examination of skin from a large number of dead and moribund frogs revealed 'a fungus belonging to the phylum Chytridiomycota and order Chytridiales. The fungus has been demonstrated to cause the disease chytridiomycosis which is now recognised as a fatal disease of amphibians and is the most common disease of Australian frogs. The fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) was originally identified by electron microscopy, and is the only member of the Chytridiomycota that causes disease in vertebrates. The fungus has a broad amphibian host range and occurs worldwide. A total of 94 amphibian species from 15 families have been found infected with B. dendrobatidis, from Australia, South America, Central America, North America, Europe, New Zealand and Africa. Electron microscopy (transmission, scanning, immuno and cryo) provided pivotal information on pathogen identification and understanding of the life cycle of the organism. However, what light and electron microscopy has not been able to elucidate is the cause of death within the infected animals. Many veterinary pathologists have examined the 'pathology' of the disease but are unable to agree on the probable causes (physiological processes) associated with the death of the infected animals. Two hypotheses exist the chytrid irreversibly affects the osmoregulatory ability of the amphibians and the chytrid releases a toxin that over time leads to the death of the animals. The cause of death

Dynamic–gravimetric preparation of metrologically traceable primary calibration standards for halogenated greenhouse gases

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M. Guillevic

2018-06-01

Full Text Available For many years, the comparability of measurements obtained with various instruments within a global-scale air quality monitoring network has been ensured by anchoring all results to a unique suite of reference gas mixtures, also called a primary calibration scale. Such suites of reference gas mixtures are usually prepared and then stored over decades in pressurised cylinders by a designated laboratory. For the halogenated gases which have been measured over the last 40 years, this anchoring method is highly relevant as measurement reproducibility is currently much better ( <  1 %, k  =  2 or 95 % confidence interval than the expanded uncertainty of a reference gas mixture (usually  >  2 %. Meanwhile, newly emitted halogenated gases are already measured in the atmosphere at pmol mol−1 levels, while still lacking an established reference standard. For compounds prone to adsorption on material surfaces, it is difficult to evaluate mixture stability and thus variations in the molar fractions over time in cylinders at pmol mol−1 levels.To support atmospheric monitoring of halogenated gases, we create new primary calibration scales for SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride, HFC-125 (pentafluoroethane, HFO-1234yf (or HFC-1234yf, 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoroprop-1-ene, HCFC-132b (1,2-dichloro-1,1-difluoroethane and CFC-13 (chlorotrifluoromethane. The preparation method, newly applied to halocarbons, is dynamic and gravimetric: it is based on the permeation principle followed by dynamic dilution and cryo-filling of the mixture in cylinders. The obtained METAS-2017 primary calibration scales are made of 11 cylinders containing these five substances at near-ambient and slightly varying molar fractions. Each prepared molar fraction is traceable to the realisation of SI units (International System of Units and is assigned an uncertainty estimate following international guidelines (JCGM, 2008, ranging from 0.6 % for SF6 to 1.3 % (k�

International system of units traceable results of Hg mass concentration at saturation in air from a newly developed measurement procedure.

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Quétel, Christophe R; Zampella, Mariavittoria; Brown, Richard J C; Ent, Hugo; Horvat, Milena; Paredes, Eduardo; Tunc, Murat

2014-08-05

Data most commonly used at present to calibrate measurements of mercury vapor concentrations in air come from a relationship known as the "Dumarey equation". It uses a fitting relationship to experimental results obtained nearly 30 years ago. The way these results relate to the international system of units (SI) is not known. This has caused difficulties for the specification and enforcement of limit values for mercury concentrations in air and in emissions to air as part of national or international legislation. Furthermore, there is a significant discrepancy (around 7% at room temperature) between the Dumarey data and data calculated from results of mercury vapor pressure measurements in the presence of only liquid mercury. As an attempt to solve some of these problems, a new measurement procedure is described for SI traceable results of gaseous Hg concentrations at saturation in milliliter samples of air. The aim was to propose a scheme as immune as possible to analytical biases. It was based on isotope dilution (ID) in the liquid phase with the (202)Hg enriched certified reference material ERM-AE640 and measurements of the mercury isotope ratios in ID blends, subsequent to a cold vapor generation step, by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The process developed involved a combination of interconnected valves and syringes operated by computer controlled pumps and ensured continuity under closed circuit conditions from the air sampling stage onward. Quantitative trapping of the gaseous mercury in the liquid phase was achieved with 11.5 μM KMnO4 in 2% HNO3. Mass concentrations at saturation found from five measurements under room temperature conditions were significantly higher (5.8% on average) than data calculated from the Dumarey equation, but in agreement (-1.2% lower on average) with data based on mercury vapor pressure measurement results. Relative expanded combined uncertainties were estimated following a model based approach. They ranged from 2

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent [version 3; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Benchoufi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing the collection of patients’ informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we will built a consent workflow using a rising technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient’s consent collection using Blockchain; thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each revision of the protocol, consent was sought again. We obtained a single document, in a standard open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: timestamped consent status with regards to each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted, and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered as a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened in order to remove the need for third parties, here the trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer-to-peer users. In the future, we think that the complex data flow of a clinical trial can be tracked using Blockchain, that a blockchain core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not to happen in the right chronological order: for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report forms data before freezing the database

First-principles calculation of structural and electronic properties of memantine (Alzheimer's disease) and adamantane (anti-flu) drugs

Science.gov (United States)

Middleton, Kirsten; Zhang, Guoping; George, Thomas F.

2012-02-01

Memantine is currently used as a treatment for mild to severe Alzheimer's disease, although its functionality is complicated. Using various density functional theory calculations and basis sets, we first examine memantine alone and then add ions which are present in the human body. This provides clues as to how the compound may react in the calcium ion channel, where it is believed to treat the disease. In order to understand the difference between calcium and magnesium ions interacting with memantine, we compute the electron affinity of each complex. We find that memantine is more strongly attracted to magnesium ions than calcium ions within the channel. By observing the HOMO-LUMO gap within memantine in comparison to adamantane, we find that memantine is more excitable than the anti-flu drug. We believe these factors to affect the efficiency of memantine as a treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Geographical traceability based on 87Sr/86Sr indicator: a first approach for PDO Lambrusco wines from Modena.

Science.gov (United States)

Durante, Caterina; Baschieri, Carlo; Bertacchini, Lucia; Cocchi, Marina; Sighinolfi, Simona; Silvestri, Michele; Marchetti, Andrea

2013-12-01

The main goal of this study was to evaluate (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio in different matrices, namely soils, branches, and grape juices, of an oenological food chain in order to develop a robust analytical strategy able to link the investigated food to its territory of origin. The (87)Sr/(86)Sr has been used as traceability marker and several aspects, affected its variability, i.e. geological features of the investigated area, the bio-available fraction of elements in the soils and the up-take of the plant, have been taken into account. Optimisation of an analytical procedure for the separation of Sr from its interferences and investigation of the analytical performances in terms of precision of used methodology have been carried out as well. This work highlighted a good match between the isotopic values monitored in the bio-available fraction of soils and their respective grape juices for almost all the investigated areas. The correlation with food satisfyingly improves when isotopic relative abundance values of branches vine are considered. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Examination of the long-term stability of radiation survey meters and electronic pocket dosemeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chida, K.; Nishimura, Y.; Sato, Y.; Endo, A.; Sakamoto, M.; Hoshi, C.; Zuguchi, M.

2008-01-01

To describe the stability of radiation survey meters (RSMs) and electronic pocket dosemeters (EPDs), we examined 28 EPDs and 24 RSMs: 12 used NaI(Tl) scintillation RSMs and 12 used Geiger-Muller (GM) RSMs. We used simple methods for the relative calibration of the 24 RSMs and 28 EPDs. The RSM and EPD measurements were compared with a calibrated RSM and EPD (reference: traceable from the national standard of exposure) using a homemade measurement device to maintain the reproducibility of the measurements with reference radiation sources (i.e. 137 Cs, 90 Sr and 67 Ga). The response of RSMs and EPDs, especially after prolonged use, should be checked periodically. In particular, GMRSMs that have been in use for many years have very low sensitivity and poor reproducibility. Our simple method for the relative calibration of RSMs and EPDs was shown to be effective for quality assurance purposes in checking RSMs and EPDs. We recommend regular checks and calibration for sustained performance of RSMs and EPDs. (authors)

Traceability of different apple varieties by multivariate analysis of isotope ratio mass spectrometry data.

Science.gov (United States)

Mimmo, Tanja; Camin, Federica; Bontempo, Luana; Capici, Calogero; Tagliavini, Massimo; Cesco, Stefano; Scampicchio, Matteo

2015-11-15

The awareness of customers of the origin of foods has become an important issue. The growing demand for foods that are healthy, safe and of high quality has increased the need for traceability and clear labelling. Thus, this study investigates the capability of C and N stable isotope ratios to determine the geographical origin of several apple varieties grown in northern Italy. Four apple varieties (Cripps Pink, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith) have been sampled in orchards located in the Districts of Bolzano, Ferrara, Verona and Udine (northern Italy). Carbon (δ(13) C) and nitrogen (δ(15) N) isotope values of the whole apple fruits and three sub-fractions (peel, pulp and seed) have been determined simultaneously by isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The δ(13) C and δ(15) N values of apples and apple sub-fractions, such as peel, seed and pulp, were significantly affected by the geographical origin and the fruit variety. The four varieties could be distinguished to a certain extent only within each district. A 99% correct identification of the samples according to their origin was, however, achieved by cross validation with the 'leave-one-out' method. This study proves the potential of stable isotopes to discriminate the geographical origin of apples grown in orchards located only a few hundreds of kilometres apart. Stable isotopes were also able to discriminate different apple varieties, although only within small geographical areas. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improving Process Quality by Means of Accurate and Traceable Calibration of Flow Devices with Process-oriented Liquids.

Science.gov (United States)

Bissig, Hugo; Tschannen, Martin; de Huu, Marc

2018-03-30

Calibration of flow devices is important in several areas of pharmaceutical, flow chemistry and health care applications where volumetric dosage or delivery at given flow rates are crucial for the process. Although most of the flow devices are measuring flow rates of process-oriented liquids, their calibrations are often performed with water as calibration liquid. It is recommended to perform the calibrations of the flow devices with process-oriented liquids as the liquid itself might influence the performance of the flow devices. Therefore, METAS has developed facilities with METAS flow generators to address the issue of measuring with process-oriented liquids for flow rates from 400 ml/min down to 50 nl/min with uncertainties from 0.07-0.9 %. Traceability is guaranteed through the calibration of the generated flow rates of the METAS flow generators by means of the dynamic gravimetric method where a liquid of well-known density and a well-controlled evaporation rate is used. The design of the milli-flow facility will be discussed as well as first measurement results of the METAS flow generators in the range of micro-flow and milli-flow using water and other liquids.

Elemental analysis of occupational and environmental lung diseases by electron probe microanalyzer with wavelength dispersive spectrometer.

Science.gov (United States)

Takada, Toshinori; Moriyama, Hiroshi; Suzuki, Eiichi

2014-01-01

Occupational and environmental lung diseases are a group of pulmonary disorders caused by inhalation of harmful particles, mists, vapors or gases. Mineralogical analysis is not generally required in the diagnosis of most cases of these diseases. Apart from minerals that are encountered rarely or only in specific occupations, small quantities of mineral dusts are present in the healthy lung. As such when mineralogical analysis is required, quantitative or semi-quantitative methods must be employed. An electron probe microanalyzer with wavelength dispersive spectrometer (EPMA-WDS) enables analysis of human lung tissue for deposits of elements by both qualitative and semi-quantitative methods. Since 1993, we have analyzed 162 cases of suspected occupational and environmental lung diseases using an EPMA-WDS. Our institute has been accepting online requests for elemental analysis of lung tissue samples by EPMA-WDS since January 2011. Hard metal lung disease is an occupational interstitial lung disease that primarily affects workers exposed to the dust of tungsten carbide. The characteristic pathological findings of the disease are giant cell interstitial pneumonia (GIP) with centrilobular fibrosis, surrounded by mild alveolitis with giant cells within the alveolar space. EPMA-WDS analysis of biopsied lung tissue from patients with GIP has demonstrated that tungsten and/or cobalt is distributed in the giant cells and centrilobular fibrosing lesion in GIP. Pneumoconiosis, caused by amorphous silica, and acute interstitial pneumonia, associated with the giant tsunami, were also elementally analyzed by EPMA-WDS. The results suggest that commonly found elements, such as silicon, aluminum, and iron, may cause occupational and environmental lung diseases. Copyright © 2013 The Japanese Respiratory Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tracers and traceability: implementing the cirrus parameterisation from LACM in the TOMCAT/SLIMCAT chemistry transport model as an example of the application of quality assurance to legacy models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. M. Horseman

2010-03-01

Full Text Available A new modelling tool for the investigation of large-scale behaviour of cirrus clouds has been developed. This combines two existing models, the TOMCAT/SLIMCAT chemistry transport model (nupdate library version 0.80, script mpc346_l and cirrus parameterisation of Ren and MacKenzie (LACM implementation not versioned. The development process employed a subset of best-practice software engineering and quality assurance processes, selected to be viable for small-scale projects whilst maintaining the same traceability objectives. The application of the software engineering and quality control processes during the development has been shown to be not a great overhead, and their use has been of benefit to the developers as well as the end users of the results. We provide a step-by-step guide to the implementation of traceability tailored to the production of geo-scientific research software, as distinct from commercial and operational software. Our recommendations include: maintaining a living "requirements list"; explicit consideration of unit, integration and acceptance testing; and automated revision/configuration control, including control of analysis tool scripts and programs.

Initial testing of the resulting model against satellite and in-situ measurements has been promising. The model produces representative results for both spatial distribution of the frequency of occurrence of cirrus ice, and the drying of air as it moves across the tropical tropopause. The model is now ready for more rigorous quantitative testing, but will require the addition of a vertical wind velocity downscaling scheme to better represent extra-tropical continental cirrus.

A prototype, glassless densitometer traceable to primary optical standards for quantitative radiochromic film dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosen, B. S.; Hammer, C. G.; Kunugi, K. A.; DeWerd, L. A.; Soares, C. G.

2015-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate a prototype densitometer traceable to primary optical standards and compare its performance to an EPSON Expression ® 10000XL flatbed scanner (the Epson) for quantitative radiochromic film (RCF) dosimetry. Methods: A prototype traceable laser densitometry system (LDS) was developed to mitigate common film scanning artifacts, such as positional scan dependence and high noise in low-dose regions, by performing point-based measurements of RCF suspended in free-space using coherent light. The LDS and the Epson optical absorbance scales were calibrated up to 3 AU, using reference materials calibrated at a primary standards laboratory and a scanner calibration factor (SCF). Calibrated optical density (OD) was determined for 96 Gafchromic ® EBT3 film segments before and after irradiation to one of 16 dose levels between 0 and 10 Gy, exposed to 60 Co in a polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) phantom. The sensitivity was determined at each dose level and at two rotationally orthogonal readout orientations to obtain the sensitometric response of each RCF dosimetry system. LDS rotational scanning dependence was measured at nine angles between 0°and 180°, due to the expected interference between coherent light and polarizing EBT3 material. The response curves were fit to the analytic functions predicted by two physical response models: the two-parameter single-hit model and the four-parameter percolation model. Results: The LDS and the Epson absorbance measurements were linear to primary optical standards to within 0.2% and 0.3% up to 2 and 1 AU, respectively. At higher densities, the LDS had an over-response (2.5% at 3 AU) and the Epson an under-response (3.1% and 9.8% at 2 and 3 AU, respectively). The LDS and the Epson SCF over the applicable range were 0.968% ± 0.2% and 1.561% ± 0.3%, respectively. The positional scan dependence was evaluated on each digitizer and shown to be mitigated on the LDS, as compared to the Epson. Maximum EBT3 rotational

Standardization of {sup 123}I and {sup 18}F for providing traceability of activity meters performed in the Radiopharmaceutical Production Service of the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, RJ, Brazil; Padronizacao do Iodo-123 e Fluor-18 para provimento de rastreabilidade das medicoes de atividade realizadas no Servico de Producao de Radiofarmacos do Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andrade, E.A.L., E-mail: erica@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Delgado, J.U.; Iwahara, A.; Contic, C.C., E-mail: delgado@ird.gov.br, E-mail: iwahara@ird.gov.br, E-mail: ccconti@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2013-07-01

The commercialization and use of radiopharmaceuticals in Brazil are regulated by Sanitary Vigilance National Agency which requiring Good Manufacturing Practices certification for all segments within the Nuclear Medicine. Quality Assurance Programmes should implement the standard requirements to ensure that radiopharmaceuticals have requirements quality to proving its efficiency. Several aspects should be controlled, and one of them is the traceability of the Radionuclides Activity Measurement in radiopharmaceuticals doses. This paper aims to provide traceability to dose calibrators (well type ionization chambers) used for {sup 123}I and {sup 18}F activity measurements in Radiopharmaceuticals Production Service placed in Institute of Nuclear Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. (author)

Electronic Nose Technology and its Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esmaeil MAHMOUDI

2009-08-01

Full Text Available In the past decade, Electronic Nose instrumentation has generated much interest internationally for its potential to solve a wide variety of problems in fragrance and cosmetics production, food and beverages manufacturing, chemical engineering, environmental monitoring and more recently medical diagnostic, bioprocesses and clinical diagnostic plant diseases. This instrument measure electrical resistance changes generated by adsorption of volatiles to the surface of electro active- polymer coated sensor- unique digital electronic fingerprint of aroma derived from multi-sensor- responses to distinct mixture of microbial volatiles. Major advances in information and gas sensor technology could enhance the diagnostic power of future bio-electronic nose and facilitate global surveillance mode of disease control and management. Several dozen companies are now designed and selling electronic nose units globally for a wide variety of expending markets. The present review includes principles of electronic nose technology, biosensor structure and applications of electronic nose in many fields.

Microfocus x-ray imaging of traceable pointlike {sup 22}Na sources for quality control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hasegawa, T.; Oda, K.; Sato, Y.; Ito, H.; Masuda, S.; Yamada, T.; Matsumoto, M.; Murayama, H.; Takei, H. [Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University Kitasato 1-15-1, Minami-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa 252-0373 (Japan); Positron Medical Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Sakaecho 35-2, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0015 (Japan); Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Central 2, Umezono 1-1-1, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8568 (Japan); Kanagawa Industrial Technology Center (KITC) Shimoimazumi 705-1, Ebina-shi, Kanagawa 243-0435 (Japan); Japan Radioisotope Association (JRIA) Komagome 2-28-45, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8941 (Japan); Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences Anagawa 4-9-1, Inage, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan); Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kitasato University Kitasato 1-15-1, Minami-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa 252-0373 (Japan)

2012-07-15

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose a microfocus x-ray imaging technique for observing the internal structure of small radioactive sources and evaluating geometrical errors quantitatively, and to apply this technique to traceable pointlike {sup 22}Na sources, which were designed for positron emission tomography calibration, for the purpose of quality control of the pointlike sources. Methods: A microfocus x-ray imaging system with a focus size of 0.001 mm was used to obtain projection x-ray images and x-ray CT images of five pointlike source samples, which were manufactured during 2009-2012. The obtained projection and tomographic images were used to observe the internal structure and evaluate geometrical errors quantitatively. Monte Carlo simulation was used to evaluate the effect of possible geometrical errors on the intensity and uniformity of 0.511 MeV annihilation photon pairs emitted from the sources. Results: Geometrical errors were evaluated with sufficient precision using projection x-ray images. CT images were used for observing the internal structure intuitively. As a result, four of the five examined samples were within the tolerance to maintain the total uncertainty below {+-}0.5%, given the source radioactivity; however, one sample was found to be defective. Conclusions: This quality control procedure is crucial and offers an important basis for using the pointlike {sup 22}Na source as a basic calibration tool. The microfocus x-ray imaging approach is a promising technique for visual and quantitative evaluation of the internal geometry of small radioactive sources.

Community Health Worker Impact on Chronic Disease Outcomes Within Primary Care Examined Using Electronic Health Records.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingram, Maia; Doubleday, Kevin; Bell, Melanie L; Lohr, Abby; Murrieta, Lucy; Velasco, Maria; Blackburn, John; Sabo, Samantha; Guernsey de Zapien, Jill; Carvajal, Scott C

2017-10-01

To investigate community health worker (CHW) effects on chronic disease outcomes using electronic health records (EHRs). We examined EHRs of 32 147 patients at risk for chronic disease during 2012 to 2015. Variables included contact with clinic-based CHWs, vitals, and laboratory tests. We estimated a mixed model for all outcomes. Within-group findings showed statistically significant improvements in chronic disease indicators after exposure to CHWs. In health center 1, HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) decreased 0.15 millimoles per mole (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.24, -0.06), body mass index decreased 0.29 kilograms per meter squared (CI = -0.39, -0.20), and total cholesterol decreased 11.9 milligrams per deciliter (CI = -13.5, -10.2). In health center 2, HbA1c decreased 0.43 millimoles per mole (CI = -0.7, -0.17), body mass index decreased by 0.08 kilograms per meter squared (CI = -0.14, -0.02), and triglycerides decreased by 22.50 milligrams per deciliter (CI = -39.0, -6.0). Total cholesterol of 3.62 milligrams per deciliter (CI = -6.6, -0.6) in health center 1 was the only improvement tied to CHW contact. Although patients' chronic disease indicators consistently improved, between-group models provided no additional evidence of impact. EHRs' evolution may elucidate CHW contributions moving forward.

Correlation between obstructive coronary artery disease and electron beam tomography coronary artery calcium scan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Hong, Yong Kook; Park, Sung Il; Lee, Hyang Mee; Choe, Kyu Ok

1998-01-01

To determine the correlation between obstructive coronary artery disease and electron beam tomography coronary artery calcium(EBT CAC) scan and to measure the difference in calcium score according to symptoms. Materials and Methods : Fifty-six patients underwent EBT CAC scanning and either coronary angiography or stress thallium 201 scanning or the treadmill test. When the results were positive, coronary artery obstructive disease(CAOD) was assumed to be present. The patients were divided into three groups : symptomatic CAOD,asymptomatic CAOD, and asymptomatic non- CAOD; those with a previous history of myocardial ischemia or who showed positive results in any of the three tests relating to typical symptoms of angina were assigned to the symptomatic group. Results : The number of cases assigned to group to group 1,2 and 3 was 19, 16 and 21, respectively; total CAC scores were 571 ± 751, 600 ± 726 293± 401, respectively. The difference in CAC score between asymptomatic CAOD and asymptomatic non- CAOD was not statistically significant(p=0.079) but in asymptomatic CAOD, the score tended to be higher. The CAC score was not different between symptomatic and asymptomatic CAOD(p>0.1). When the CAC threshold was 1, sensitivity was 89% and specificity was 14%;when the threshold was 200, sensitivity was 60% and specificity was 67%. Conclusion : When the EBT CAC score is high, further evaluation provides early evidence of coronary artery obstructive disease

Feasibility of electron beam tomography in diagnosis of congenital heart disease: comparison with echocardiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jongmin J.; Kang, Duk-Sik

2001-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of electron beam tomography (EBT) for morphological assessment of congenital heart disease. Materials and methods: Sixteen subjects were examined by EBT, transthoracic echocardiography, cardiac cine angiography and surgery. EBT scan was performed using single slice continuous volume mode to acquire high-resolution static image. Double dose contrast medium was injected by bolus technique after measuring scan delay time and calculation of proper injection rate. The results of EBT and echocardiography were compared based on the results of cardiac cine angiography and surgical findings. All anomalous components were evaluated in all subjects and grouped according to major cardiac structures. Statistical analysis was performed to compare two modalities' ability to evaluate the anomalies of major structures. Results: EBT was more sensitive to evaluate the anomalies of systemic vessels, pulmonary vessels and small systemic arteries such as coronary artery. EBT was less sensitive to identify the abnormality of cardiac valves such as valvular regurgitation. There was no difference of sensitivity in evaluation of cardiac chambers and septa between the two modalities. Conclusion: EBT assisted by transthoracic echocardiography is excellent noninvasive modality to diagnose congenital heart disease

An analytical approach to Sr isotope ratio determination in Lambrusco wines for geographical traceability purposes.

Science.gov (United States)

Durante, Caterina; Baschieri, Carlo; Bertacchini, Lucia; Bertelli, Davide; Cocchi, Marina; Marchetti, Andrea; Manzini, Daniela; Papotti, Giulia; Sighinolfi, Simona

2015-04-15

Geographical origin and authenticity of food are topics of interest for both consumers and producers. Among the different indicators used for traceability studies, (87)Sr/(86)Sr isotopic ratio has provided excellent results. In this study, two analytical approaches for wine sample pre-treatment, microwave and low temperature mineralisation, were investigated to develop accurate and precise analytical method for (87)Sr/(86)Sr determination. The two procedures led to comparable results (paired t-test, with t

A portable, automated, inexpensive mass and balance calibration system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maxwell, S.L. III; Clark, J.P.

1987-01-01

Reliable mass measurements are essential for a nuclear production facility or process control laboratory. DOE Order 5630.2 requires that traceable standards be used to calibrate and monitor equipment used for nuclear material measurements. To ensure the reliability of mass measurements and to comply with DOE traceability requirements, a portable, automated mass and balance calibration system is used at the Savannah River Plant. Automation is achieved using an EPSON HX-20 notebook computer, which can be operated via RS232C interfacing to electronic balances or function with manual data entry if computer interfacing is not feasible. This economical, comprehensive, user-friendly system has three main functions in a mass measurement control program (MMCP): balance certification, calibration of mass standards, and daily measurement of traceable standards. The balance certification program tests for accuracy, precision, sensitivity, linearity, and cornerloading versus specific requirements. The mass calibration program allows rapid calibration of inexpensive mass standards traceable to certified Class S standards. This MMCP permits daily measurement of traceable standards to monitor the reliability of balances during routine use. The automated system verifies balance calibration, stores results for future use, and provides a printed control chart of the stored data. Another feature of the system permits three different weighing routines that accommodate their need for varying degrees of reliability in routine weighing operations

A portable, automated, inexpensive mass and balance calibration system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maxwell, S.L. III; Clark, J.P.

1987-01-01

Reliable mass measurements are essential for a nuclear production facility or process control laboratory. DOE Order 5630.2 requires that traceable standards be used to calibrate and monitor equipment used for nuclear material measurements. To ensure the reliability of mass measurements and to comply with DOE traceable requirements, a portable, automated mass and balance calibration system is used at the Savannah River Plant. Automation is achieved using an EPSON HX-20 notebook computer, which can be operated via RS232C interfacing to electronic balances or function with manual data entry if computer interfacing is not feasible. This economical, comprehensive, user-friendly system has three main functions in a mass measurement control program (MMCP): balance certification, calibration of mass standards, and daily measurement of traceable standards. The balance certification program tests for accuracy, precision, sensitivity, linearity, and cornerloading versus specific requirements. The mass calibration program allows rapid calibration of inexpensive mass standards traceable to certified Class S standards. This MMCP permits daily measurement of traceable standards to monitor the reliability of balances during routine use. The automated system verifies balance calibration, stores results for future use, and provides a printed control chart of the stored data. Another feature of the system permits three different weighing routines that accommodate our need for varying degrees of reliability in routine weighing operations. 1 ref

Cattle traceability in the Mid-South region of Mato Grosso State: economic, technical and conception aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo de Andrade Ferrazza

2013-02-01

Full Text Available It was aimed to investigate economic aspects of the establishment of traceability in the Mid-South region of MT, Brazil, methods of animal identification, complains, drawbacks and degree of importance given by ranchers. During May to July 2009 were conducted interviews with 13 owners of Rural Establishments Approved in SISBOV (ERAS and the survey of economic values practiced by three certifying companies and one slaughterhouse from the region. All the farms interviewed utilized earring and bottom. The main difficulties for the establishment of tracking were the frequent changes (46.30%, the understanding of the laws (30.57%, and the choice of the certifier (23.13%. The greatest drawbacks of Cattle and Buffalo Identification and Certification System (SISBOV were the excessive delay of official audits (53.85%, the instability of differential value (23.10%, loss of identification elements (15.39% and the delay when requested earring reprinting (7.69%. The importance ascribed was ensuring the credibility and adding value to the Brazilian product (84.61%. The individual value for the tracking process was R$ 4,34. The difference of tracked animal slaughtered for the European Union was R$ 10,73@-1. The establishment of the tracking system presented economic viability and the variation of the values paid by the tracked meat despite animals aiming exportation.

A calibration facility to provide traceable calibration to upper air humidity measuring sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Cuccaro, Rugiada; Rosso, Lucia; Smorgon, Denis; Beltramino, Giulio; Fernicola, Vito

2017-04-01

Accurate knowledge and high quality measurement of the upper air humidity and of its profile in atmosphere is essential in many areas of the atmospheric research, for example in weather forecasting, environmental pollution studies and research in meteorology and climatology. Moving from the troposphere to the stratosphere, the water vapour amount varies between some percent to few part per million. For this reason, through the years, several methods and instruments have been developed for the measurement of the humidity in atmosphere. Among the instruments used for atmospheric sounding, radiosondes, airborne and balloon-borne chilled mirror hygrometer (CMH) and tunable diode laser absorption spectrometers (TDLAS) play a key role. To avoid the presence of unknown biases and systematic errors and to obtain accurate and reliable humidity measurements, these instruments need a SI-traceable calibration, preferably carried out in conditions similar to those expected in the field. To satisfy such a need, a new calibration facility has been developed at INRIM. The facility is based on a thermodynamic-based frost-point generator designed to achieve a complete saturation of the carrier gas with a single passage through an isothermal saturator. The humidity generator covers the frost point temperature range between -98 °C and -20 °C and is able to work at any controlled pressure between 200 hPa and 1000 hPa (corresponding to a barometric altitude between ground level and approximately 12000 m). The paper reports the work carried out to test the generator performances, discusses the results and presents the evaluation of the measurement uncertainty. The present work was carried out within the European Joint Research Project "MeteoMet 2 - Metrology for Essential Climate Variables" co-funded by the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.

UHF RFID technologies for identification and traceability

CERN Document Server

Laheurte, Jean-Marc; Paret, Dominique; Loussert, Christophe

2014-01-01

UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an electronic tagging technology that allows an object, place or person to be automatically identified at a distance without a direct line-of-sight using a radio wave exchange. Applications include inventory tracking, prescription medication tracking and authentication, secure automobile keys, and access control for secure facilities. This book begins with an overview of UHF RFID challenges describing the applications, markets, trades and basic technologies. It follows this by highlighting the main features distinguishing UHF (860MHz-960MHz) and HF

Wait times to rheumatology care for patients with rheumatic diseases: a data linkage study of primary care electronic medical records and administrative data.

Science.gov (United States)

Widdifield, Jessica; Bernatsky, Sasha; Thorne, J Carter; Bombardier, Claire; Jaakkimainen, R Liisa; Wing, Laura; Paterson, J Michael; Ivers, Noah; Butt, Debra; Lyddiatt, Anne; Hofstetter, Catherine; Ahluwalia, Vandana; Tu, Karen

2016-01-01

The Wait Time Alliance recently established wait time benchmarks for rheumatology consultations in Canada. Our aim was to quantify wait times to primary and rheumatology care for patients with rheumatic diseases. We identified patients from primary care practices in the Electronic Medical Record Administrative data Linked Database who had referrals to Ontario rheumatologists over the period 2000-2013. To assess the full care pathway, we identified dates of symptom onset, presentation in primary care and referral from electronic medical records. Dates of rheumatologist consultations were obtained by linking with physician service claims. We determined the duration of each phase of the care pathway (symptom onset to primary care encounter, primary care encounter to referral, and referral to rheumatologist consultation) and compared them with established benchmarks. Among 2430 referrals from 168 family physicians, 2015 patients (82.9%) were seen by 146 rheumatologists within 1 year of referral. Of the 2430 referrals, 2417 (99.5%) occurred between 2005 and 2013. The main reasons for referral were osteoarthritis (32.4%) and systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (30.6%). Wait times varied by diagnosis and geographic region. Overall, the median wait time from referral to rheumatologist consultation was 74 (interquartile range 27-101) days; it was 66 (interquartile range 18-84) days for systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Wait time benchmarks were not achieved, even for the most urgent types of referral. For systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, most of the delays occurred before referral. Rheumatology wait times exceeded established benchmarks. Targeted efforts are needed to promote more timely access to both primary and rheumatology care. Routine linkage of electronic medical records with administrative data may help fill important gaps in knowledge about waits to primary and specialty care.

Pachyonychia Congenita and Mental Deficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V Ramesh

1988-01-01

Full Text Available Pachyonychia congenital was seen in two different families. In one family the disease was present in only one child, while in the other family the disease was traceable in 5 generations involving 36 members. One individual had associated mental retardation.

[Techniques and possibilities of traceability of food: genotyping of the domestic animal population as an innovative contribution to food safety].

Science.gov (United States)

Brem, G

2004-07-01

Traceability of meat has become a very important aspect of quality assurance of food. DNA analyses could be used for identification and verification of farm animals and animal derived products. A prerequisite is the collection of qualified samples from entire populations of production animals or from regionally or specially characterised animal populations. The expenditure for conventional carrying out collection, preservation, cataloguing, and storage would be enormous. Therefore we have developed a simple, reliable, and inexpensive method for the collection using the ear tagging process and for preservation of samples at room temperature. A similar collection technology can also be used for sampling of carcasses, meat and meat products. Isolation of DNA from these tissue samples can be preformed using a new single step technology. For identifying individuals microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms are analysed. Comparison of DNA fingerprints or SNP signatures allows to traceback samples collected from products to the animals they are coming from. If the system will be established on a nationwide basis the total costs would be less than 0.05 EUR per kilogram meat sold.

Impactos Da Implantação Da Rastreabilidade Bovina Em Empresas Rurais Informatizadas: Estudos De Caso

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henri Cócaro

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This study looked into evaluating the impacts that the adhesion to the bovine traceability caused in four agricultural companies that adopted or used ITs for tracked herd management. After comparing the case studies it was concluded that the adhesion to traceability caused the adoption of ITs, mainly of the management and traceability system for beef cattle and the electronic scale; the zoo technical changes that happened were, the individual identification of the animals, the control of animal stock and the possibility to determine performance and reproductive indexes; the management changes that happened were the development of new controls by filing the animal identification document (DIA, the documentation of the purchase, use and exit of inputs (nutritional and sanitarian, and the documentation of animal movements. It was not verified the return of managerial or zoo technical information by SISBOV that aided the companies in their decision-taking process.

Methodological Framework for World Health Organization Estimates of the Global Burden of Foodborne Disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brecht Devleesschauwer

Full Text Available The Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG was established in 2007 by the World Health Organization to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases (FBDs. This paper describes the methodological framework developed by FERG's Computational Task Force to transform epidemiological information into FBD burden estimates.The global and regional burden of 31 FBDs was quantified, along with limited estimates for 5 other FBDs, using Disability-Adjusted Life Years in a hazard- and incidence-based approach. To accomplish this task, the following workflow was defined: outline of disease models and collection of epidemiological data; design and completion of a database template; development of an imputation model; identification of disability weights; probabilistic burden assessment; and estimating the proportion of the disease burden by each hazard that is attributable to exposure by food (i.e., source attribution. All computations were performed in R and the different functions were compiled in the R package 'FERG'. Traceability and transparency were ensured by sharing results and methods in an interactive way with all FERG members throughout the process.We developed a comprehensive framework for estimating the global burden of FBDs, in which methodological simplicity and transparency were key elements. All the tools developed have been made available and can be translated into a user-friendly national toolkit for studying and monitoring food safety at the local level.

Nuclear magnetic resonance system with continuous flow of polarized water to obtain the traceability to static magnetic fields; Sistema de ressonancia magnetica nuclear com fluxo continuo de agua polarizada para obtencao da rastreabilidade para campos magneticos estaticos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin, Ramon Valls; Nazarre, Diego Joriro, E-mail: ramon@ipt.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas (IPT), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

2013-07-01

We have developed a system to obtain the traceability of field or magnetic induction intensity in the range of 2 μT up to 2 T, even in the presence of magnetic field gradients or noisy environments. The system is based on a nuclear magnetic resonance magnetometer, built in streaming water. The calibration procedure of a coil for magnetic field generation is described, as well as the results obtained and the estimated uncertainty (author)

Survey of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Members About Congenital Chagas Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Morven S; Abanyie, Francisca A; Montgomery, Susan P

2018-01-01

Participants in a survey about congenital Chagas disease, distributed electronically to Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society members, perceived having limited knowledge about congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Most rarely or never consider the diagnosis in infants born to parents from Latin America. Improved awareness of congenital Chagas disease and assessment of at-risk infants is needed.

Electronic tongue response to chemicals in orange juice that change concentration in relation to harvest maturity and citrus greening or Huanglongbing (HLB) disease

Science.gov (United States)

In an earlier study, the electronic tongue system (etongue) was used to differentiate between orange juice made from healthy fruit and from fruit affected by the citrus greening or Huanglongbing (HLB) disease. This study investigated the reaction of an etongue system to the main chemicals in orange ...

Legal Time of the Republic of Colombia and its international traceability using the Cesium Atomic Clock - Time and Frequency National Standard

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández Forero, Liz Catherine; Bahamón Cortés, Nelson

2017-06-01

Around the world, there are different providers of timestamp (mobile, radio or television operators, satellites of the GPS network, astronomical measurements, etc.), however, the source of the legal time for a country is either the national metrology institute or another designated laboratory. This activity requires a time standard based on an atomic time scale. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) calculates a weighted average of the time kept in more than 60 nations and produces a single international time scale, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This article presents the current time scale that generates Legal Time for the Republic of Colombia produced by the Instituto Nacional de Metrología (INM) using the time and frequency national standard, a cesium atomic oscillator. It also illustrates how important it is for the academic, scientific and industrial communities, as well as the general public, to be synchronized with this time scale, which is traceable to the International System (SI) of units, through international comparisons that are made in real time.

Text mining applied to electronic cardiovascular procedure reports to identify patients with trileaflet aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Small, Aeron M; Kiss, Daniel H; Zlatsin, Yevgeny; Birtwell, David L; Williams, Heather; Guerraty, Marie A; Han, Yuchi; Anwaruddin, Saif; Holmes, John H; Chirinos, Julio A; Wilensky, Robert L; Giri, Jay; Rader, Daniel J

2017-08-01

Interrogation of the electronic health record (EHR) using billing codes as a surrogate for diagnoses of interest has been widely used for clinical research. However, the accuracy of this methodology is variable, as it reflects billing codes rather than severity of disease, and depends on the disease and the accuracy of the coding practitioner. Systematic application of text mining to the EHR has had variable success for the detection of cardiovascular phenotypes. We hypothesize that the application of text mining algorithms to cardiovascular procedure reports may be a superior method to identify patients with cardiovascular conditions of interest. We adapted the Oracle product Endeca, which utilizes text mining to identify terms of interest from a NoSQL-like database, for purposes of searching cardiovascular procedure reports and termed the tool "PennSeek". We imported 282,569 echocardiography reports representing 81,164 individuals and 27,205 cardiac catheterization reports representing 14,567 individuals from non-searchable databases into PennSeek. We then applied clinical criteria to these reports in PennSeek to identify patients with trileaflet aortic stenosis (TAS) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Accuracy of patient identification by text mining through PennSeek was compared with ICD-9 billing codes. Text mining identified 7115 patients with TAS and 9247 patients with CAD. ICD-9 codes identified 8272 patients with TAS and 6913 patients with CAD. 4346 patients with AS and 6024 patients with CAD were identified by both approaches. A randomly selected sample of 200-250 patients uniquely identified by text mining was compared with 200-250 patients uniquely identified by billing codes for both diseases. We demonstrate that text mining was superior, with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.95 compared to 0.53 by ICD-9 for TAS, and a PPV of 0.97 compared to 0.86 for CAD. These results highlight the superiority of text mining algorithms applied to electronic

Review of electron beam therapy physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hogstrom, Kenneth R; Almond, Peter R

2006-01-01

For over 50 years, electron beams have been an important modality for providing an accurate dose of radiation to superficial cancers and disease and for limiting the dose to underlying normal tissues and structures. This review looks at many of the important contributions of physics and dosimetry to the development and utilization of electron beam therapy, including electron treatment machines, dose specification and calibration, dose measurement, electron transport calculations, treatment and treatment-planning tools, and clinical utilization, including special procedures. Also, future changes in the practice of electron therapy resulting from challenges to its utilization and from potential future technology are discussed. (review)

Disease surveillance among newly arriving refugees and immigrants--Electronic Disease Notification System, United States, 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Deborah; Philen, Rossanne; Wang, Zanju; McSpadden, Pamela; Posey, Drew L; Ortega, Luis S; Weinberg, Michelle S; Brown, Clive; Zhou, Weigong; Painter, John A

2013-11-15

Approximately 450,000 legal permanent immigrants and 75,000 refugees enter the United States annually after receiving required medical examinations by overseas panel physicians (physicians who follow the CDC medical screening guidelines provided to the U.S. Department of State). CDC has the regulatory responsibility for preventing the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases into the United States as well as for developing the guidelines, known as technical instructions, for the overseas medical examinations. Other conditions that are not infectious might preclude an immigrant or refugee from entering the United States and also are reported as part of the medical examination. After arrival in the United States, all refugees are recommended to obtain a medical assessment by a health-care provider or a health department within 30 days. In addition, immigrants with certain medical conditions such as noninfectious tuberculosis at the time of the original medical examination are recommended to be evaluated after arrival to ensure that appropriate prevention or treatment measures are instituted. Health departments need timely and accurate notifications of newly arriving immigrants, refugees, and persons with other visa types to facilitate these evaluations. Notifications for all newly arriving refugees (with or without medical conditions) and immigrants with medical conditions are provided by CDC's Electronic Disease Notification (EDN) system. This is the first report describing EDN. This report summarizes notifications by the EDN system during January-December 2009. The EDN system is a centralized electronic reporting system that collects health information on newly arriving refugees and immigrants with Class A and Class B medical conditions. Class A conditions render applicants inadmissible and require a waiver for entry; Class B conditions are admissible but might require treatment or follow-up. Information in the EDN system is used to notify

Using nationwide ‘big data’ from linked electronic health records to help improve outcomes in cardiovascular diseases:33 studies using methods from epidemiology, informatics, economics and social science in the ClinicAl disease research using LInked Bespoke studies and Electronic health Records (CALIBER) programme

OpenAIRE

Hemingway, Harry; Feder, Gene; Fitzpatrick, Natalie; Denaxas, Spiros; Shah, Amit; Timmis, A D

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND:Electronic health records (EHRs), when linked across primary and secondary care and curated for research use, have the potential to improve our understanding of care quality and outcomes.OBJECTIVE:To evaluate new opportunities arising from linked EHRs for improving quality of care and outcomes for patients at risk of or with coronary disease across the patient journey.DESIGN:Epidemiological cohort, health informatics, health economics and ethnographic approaches were used.SETTING:2...

Uncertainty Source of Modeled Ecosystem Productivity in East Asian Monsoon Region: A Traceability Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, E.; Xia, J.; Huang, K.; Ito, A.; Arain, M. A.; Jain, A. K.; Poulter, B.; Peng, C.; Hayes, D. J.; Ricciuto, D. M.; Huntzinger, D. N.; Tian, H.; Mao, J.; Fisher, J.; Schaefer, K. M.; Huang, M.; Peng, S.; Wang, W.

2017-12-01

East Asian monsoon region, benefits from sufficient water-heat availability and increasing nitrogen deposition, represents significantly higher net ecosystem productivity than the same latitudes of Europe-Africa and North America. A better understanding of major contributions to the uncertainties of terrestrial carbon cycle in this region is greatly important for evaluating the global carbon balance. This study analyzed the key carbon processes and parameters derived from a series of terrestrial biosphere models. A wide range of inter-model disagreement on GPP was found in China's subtropical regions. Then, this large difference was traced to a few traceable components included in terrestrial carbon cycle. The increase in ensemble mean GPP over 1901-2010 was predominantly resulted from increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and nitrogen deposition, while high frequent land-use change over this region showed a slightly negative effect on GPP. However, inter-model differences of GPP were mainly attributed to the baseline simulations without changes in external forcing. According to the variance decomposition, the large spread in simulated GPP was well explained by the differences in leaf area index (LAI) and specific leaf area (SLA) among models. In addition, the underlying errors in simulated GPP propagate through the model and introduce some additional errors to the simulation of NPP and biomass. By comparing the simulations with satellite-derived, data-oriented and observation-based datasets, we further found that GPP, vegetation carbon turn-over time, aboveground biomass, LAI and SLA were all overestimated in most of the models while biomass distribution in leaves was significantly underestimated. The results of this study indicate that model performance on ecosystem productivity in East Asian monsoon region can be improved by a more realistic representation of leaf functional traits.

Implementation of Indigenous Electronic Medical Record System to Facilitate Care of Sickle Cell Disease Patients in Chhattisgarh.

Science.gov (United States)

Choubey, Mona; Mishra, Hrishikesh; Soni, Khushboo; Patra, Pradeep Kumar

2016-02-01

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is prevalent in central India including Chhattisgarh. Screening for SCD is being carried out by Government of Chhattisgarh. Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system was developed and implemented in two phases. Aim was to use informatics techniques and indigenously develop EMR system to improve the care of SCD patients in Chhattisgarh. EMR systems had to be developed to store and manage: i) huge data generated through state wide screening for SCD; ii) clinical data for SCD patients attending the outpatient department (OPD) of institute. 'State Wide Screening Data Interface' (SWSDI) was designed and implemented for storing and managing data generated through screening program. Further, 'Sickle Cell Patients Temporal Data Management System' (SCPTDMS) was developed and implemented for storing, managing and analysing sickle cell disease patients' data at OPD. Both systems were developed using VB.Net and MS SQL Server 2012. Till April 2015, SWSDI has data of 1294558 persons, out of which 121819 and 4087 persons are carriers and patients of sickle cell disease respectively. Similarly till June 2015, SCPTDMS has data of 3760 persons, of which 923 are sickle cell disease patients (SS) and 1355 are sickle cell carriers (AS). Both systems are proving to be useful in efficient storage, management and analysis of data for clinical and research purposes. The systems are an example of beneficial usage of medical informatics solutions for managing large data at community level.

[Source data management in clinical researches].

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Effie; Yao, Chen; Zhang, Zi-bao; Liu, Yu-xiu

2015-11-01

Source data and its source documents are the foundation of clinical research. Proper source data management plays an essential role for compliance with regulatory and GCP requirements. Both paper and electronic source data co-exist in China. Due to the increasing use of electronic technology in pharmaceutical and health care industry, electronic data source becomes an upcoming trend with clear advantages. To face new opportunities and to ensure data integrity, quality and traceability from source data to regulatory submission, this document demonstrates important concepts, principles and best practices during managing source data. It includes but not limited to: (1) important concepts of source data (e.g., source data originator, source data elements, source data identifier for audit trail, etc.); (2) various modalities of source data collection in paper and electronic methods (e.g., paper CRF, EDC, Patient Report Outcomes/eCOA, etc.); (3) seven main principles recommended in the aspect of data collection, traceability, quality standards, access control, quality control, certified copy and security during source data management; (4) a life cycle from source data creation to obsolete is used as an example to illustrate consideration and implementation of source data management.

AN APPLICATION OF ELECTRONIC AMPLIFIER STETHOSCOPE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alper KAÇAR

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Electronic stethoscopes are one of the important medical devices which affects the self-diagnostic or remote diagnostic in medical area. Rather the general stethoscopes, electronic ones increases the sound amplitude and quality. By filtering ambient noise, they can be used for advance analysis of heart or lung related diseases.

Rapid direct analysis to discriminate geographic origin of extra virgin olive oils by flash gas chromatography electronic nose and chemometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Melucci, Dora; Bendini, Alessandra; Tesini, Federica; Barbieri, Sara; Zappi, Alessandro; Vichi, Stefania; Conte, Lanfranco; Gallina Toschi, Tullia

2016-08-01

At present, the geographical origin of extra virgin olive oils can be ensured by documented traceability, although chemical analysis may add information that is useful for possible confirmation. This preliminary study investigated the effectiveness of flash gas chromatography electronic nose and multivariate data analysis to perform rapid screening of commercial extra virgin olive oils characterized by a different geographical origin declared in the label. A comparison with solid phase micro extraction coupled to gas chromatography mass spectrometry was also performed. The new method is suitable to verify the geographic origin of extra virgin olive oils based on principal components analysis and discriminant analysis applied to the volatile profile of the headspace as a fingerprint. The selected variables were suitable in discriminating between "100% Italian" and "non-100% Italian" oils. Partial least squares discriminant analysis also allowed prediction of the degree of membership of unknown samples to the classes examined. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Predicting changes in hypertension control using electronic health records from a chronic disease management program.

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Sun, Jimeng; McNaughton, Candace D; Zhang, Ping; Perer, Adam; Gkoulalas-Divanis, Aris; Denny, Joshua C; Kirby, Jacqueline; Lasko, Thomas; Saip, Alexander; Malin, Bradley A

2014-01-01

Common chronic diseases such as hypertension are costly and difficult to manage. Our ultimate goal is to use data from electronic health records to predict the risk and timing of deterioration in hypertension control. Towards this goal, this work predicts the transition points at which hypertension is brought into, as well as pushed out of, control. In a cohort of 1294 patients with hypertension enrolled in a chronic disease management program at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, patients are modeled as an array of features derived from the clinical domain over time, which are distilled into a core set using an information gain criteria regarding their predictive performance. A model for transition point prediction was then computed using a random forest classifier. The most predictive features for transitions in hypertension control status included hypertension assessment patterns, comorbid diagnoses, procedures and medication history. The final random forest model achieved a c-statistic of 0.836 (95% CI 0.830 to 0.842) and an accuracy of 0.773 (95% CI 0.766 to 0.780). This study achieved accurate prediction of transition points of hypertension control status, an important first step in the long-term goal of developing personalized hypertension management plans.

Predicting changes in hypertension control using electronic health records from a chronic disease management program

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jimeng; McNaughton, Candace D; Zhang, Ping; Perer, Adam; Gkoulalas-Divanis, Aris; Denny, Joshua C; Kirby, Jacqueline; Lasko, Thomas; Saip, Alexander; Malin, Bradley A

2014-01-01

Objective Common chronic diseases such as hypertension are costly and difficult to manage. Our ultimate goal is to use data from electronic health records to predict the risk and timing of deterioration in hypertension control. Towards this goal, this work predicts the transition points at which hypertension is brought into, as well as pushed out of, control. Method In a cohort of 1294 patients with hypertension enrolled in a chronic disease management program at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, patients are modeled as an array of features derived from the clinical domain over time, which are distilled into a core set using an information gain criteria regarding their predictive performance. A model for transition point prediction was then computed using a random forest classifier. Results The most predictive features for transitions in hypertension control status included hypertension assessment patterns, comorbid diagnoses, procedures and medication history. The final random forest model achieved a c-statistic of 0.836 (95% CI 0.830 to 0.842) and an accuracy of 0.773 (95% CI 0.766 to 0.780). Conclusions This study achieved accurate prediction of transition points of hypertension control status, an important first step in the long-term goal of developing personalized hypertension management plans. PMID:24045907

Electronic beam CT diagnosis of infant congenital heart disease with the comparison of echocardiogram and operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xiangmin; Zhou Xuhui; Yang Youyou; Meng Quanfei; Peng Qian; Tan Zhiyu

2003-01-01

Objective: To explore the advantage and limitation in the diagnosis of infant congenital heart disease (CHD) by electron beam computed tomography (EBCT). Methods: Eighty patients suspected or diagnosed as infant CHD underwent dynamic contrast enhanced EBCT imaging. EBCT imaging was carried out in two steps: single slice mode scanning and multiple slice mode scanning. The EBCT results of 80 cases were correlated with echocardiogram and operation records. 39 cases were confirmed by surgery. Chi-Square test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Among 80 patients, there were 27 cases in non-cyanosis and 53 cases in cyanosis. In this group including 16 types of CHD, 206 malformations were revealed with EBCT while 159 abnormalities with echocardiogram. 101 lesions were proved by surgery, which demonstrated a diagnosis accuracy of 96% (97/101) with EBCT, and 87% (88/101) with echocardiogram. A statistical significant difference was observed between the two methods (χ 2 =6.231, P<0.01). Conclusion: EBCT scanning can demonstrate the pathological morphology of CHD, especially, EBCT is helpful in the sequential segmental analysis in complex CHD. It is better than echocardiogram in demonstrating the aortic congenital disease and pulmonary artery development and anomalous pulmonary venous drainage

Analysis of SNPs in the KIT gene of cattle with different coat colour patterns and perspectives to use these markers for breed traceability and authentication of beef and dairy products

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Vincenzo Russo

2010-04-01

Full Text Available The identification of the breed of origin of farm animals has recently assumed particular relevance as increasing interests in marketing mono-breed labelled lines of beef and dairy products have created the need to protect them from frauds. In order to develop DNA based breed traceability and authentication protocols, the first step is the identification of breed specific markers with high discriminatory power among breeds. We analysed two single nucleotide polymorphisms identified in exon 2 (g.72779776C>T and exon 3 (g.72783182A>G of the KIT gene (a candidate gene for the spotting locus in seven cattle breeds with different coat colour patterns (Italian Holstein-Friesian, no. = 61; Italian Brown, no. = 60; Italian Simmental, no. = 78; Jersey, no. = 60; Rendena, no. = 51; Reggiana, no. = 128; and Modenese, no. = 52. The two alleles of both SNPs were detected in all analysed breeds making their use unsuitable in breed traceabilty with a deterministic approach. Italian Simmental was almost fixed for the most common alleles (g.72779776C and g.72783182A. Haplotype analysis showed that spotted breeds (Italian Holstein-Friesian and Italian Simmental had only two haplotypes with one of them ([C:A] with high frequency (~90% and ~99%, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA averaged over the two loci indicated that genetic variation between spotted and non-spotted groups of breeds amounted to 25.3% (P<0.05 supporting a possible involvement of the KIT gene in influencing the spotted phenotype, but probably not determining it, as we previously suggested. Pairwise Fst values indicated significant differences between almost all pair of investigated breeds. The high discriminatory power of the analysed SNPs is an important characteristic for the inclusion of these markers in SNP panels useful for breed allocation and traceability based on probabilistic approaches.

Variation of δ2H, δ18O & δ13C in crude palm oil from different regions in Malaysia: Potential of stable isotope signatures as a key traceability parameter.

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Muhammad, Syahidah Akmal; Seow, Eng-Keng; Mohd Omar, A K; Rodhi, Ainolsyakira Mohd; Mat Hassan, Hasnuri; Lalung, Japareng; Lee, Sze-Chi; Ibrahim, Baharudin

2018-01-01

A total of 33 crude palm oil samples were randomly collected from different regions in Malaysia. Stable carbon isotopic composition (δ 13 C) was determined using Flash 2000 elemental analyzer while hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ 2 H and δ 18 O) were analyzed by Thermo Finnigan TC/EA, wherein both instruments were coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The bulk δ 2 H, δ 18 O and δ 13 C of the samples were analyzed by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA). Unsupervised HCA and PCA methods have demonstrated that crude palm oil samples were grouped into clusters according to respective state. A predictive model was constructed by supervised OPLS-DA with good predictive power of 52.60%. Robustness of the predictive model was validated with overall accuracy of 71.43%. Blind test samples were correctly assigned to their respective cluster except for samples from southern region. δ 18 O was proposed as the promising discriminatory marker for discerning crude palm oil samples obtained from different regions. Stable isotopes profile was proven to be useful for origin traceability of crude palm oil samples at a narrower geographical area, i.e. based on regions in Malaysia. Predictive power and accuracy of the predictive model was expected to improve with the increase in sample size. Conclusively, the results in this study has fulfilled the main objective of this work where the simple approach of combining stable isotope analysis with chemometrics can be used to discriminate crude palm oil samples obtained from different regions in Malaysia. Overall, this study shows the feasibility of this approach to be used as a traceability assessment of crude palm oils. Copyright © 2017 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.