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Sample records for quality monitoring kit

  1. Design, Certification, and Deployment of the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeff A.; Schultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D.; Lipert, Robert J.; Flint, Stephanie M.; McCoy, J. Torin

    2010-01-01

    In August 2009, an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE) technology was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard STS-128/17A. The kit, called the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), was flown and deployed as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment on the ISS. The goal of the SDTO experiment is to evaluate the acceptability of CSPE technology for routine water quality monitoring on the ISS. This paper provides an overview of the SDTO experiment, as well as a detailed description of the CWQMK hardware and a summary of the testing and analysis conducted to certify the CWQMK for use on the ISS. The initial results obtained from the SDTO experiment are also reported and discussed in detail

  2. Development of RIA kits for tumor-markers monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suprarop, P.

    1997-01-01

    All reagents for tumor markers assays are imported from various manufacturers mainly CIS bio international. The average cost of these reagents is ranged from 80-150 bath/test (2-4 dollars test). The screening test for cancers could not be done especially in other regions of Thailand whose budgets and resources are so limited. If the reagents are made locally, many laboratories can perform the tests and use as primary diagnosis, screening or monitor the course of the disease following treatment. In addition, these reagents could help clinicians and give complementary information on the tumor status to improve quality of life in Thailand. Research objectives include: 1. Development of IRMA reagent kits suitable for diagnosing staging and monitoring prostrate and breast cancer. 2. Transfer of technology and reagent kits to relevant laboratories in Thailand. 3. Routine distribution of the reagents kits to the end users

  3. Computerized portable microwave hyperthermia quality assurance kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheung, A.Y.; Neyzari, A.

    1985-01-01

    A computerized quality assurance kit to provide precise measurement and calibration of microwave power and temperature, as well as capabilities to map SAR (Specific absorption rate) distribution in phantoms; and survey of hazardous microwave leakage has been designed. The kit is also capable of performing corelation studies on the relationship between SAR and net microwave power delivered at various anatomical sites. The kit consists of a portable microcomputer, a time-multiplexed A/D converter, a 4-channel dual directional microwave power monitor, a 4-channel thin-wire thermocouple thermometry system, an electronic thermal calibrator, a microwave leakage hazard survey meter, and a dynamic phantom tank for dosimetric analysis. Comparative performance studies were made against NBS-traceable power and temperature standards, non-perturbing optical temperature sensors, and established power and temperature measurement devices. The test results indicate that this instrument is providing its user with measurement accuracy of 0.1 0 C in temperature, 10% accuracy in power. The thin-wire thermocouple, with computer assisted error compensation, performs equally well in a strong microwave field in comparison with non-perturbing optical temperature sensors

  4. Quality control of radioimmunoassay kits of pituitary hormones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caso Pena, R.; Arranz Calzado, C.

    1997-01-01

    The present work describe the quality control procedures carried out on three RIA-Kits by the Isotopes Centre of Cuba, The subject matter of study were ;: were: LH-RIA-Kit, FSH-RIA-Kit and Prolactin- RIA -Kit. The controls have included the characterization of the 125 I labelled hormones the specific antibodies, the 2 nd antibodies, the standards curves and the control serum. For the validation of these Kits were used reference standards from the WHO (World Health Organizations) and Kits from CIS company (France) based on the IRMA assays technologies . The results obtained allow us encourage the reliability of RIA-Kits

  5. 21 CFR 866.2480 - Quality control kit for culture media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Quality control kit for culture media. 866.2480... control kit for culture media. (a) Identification. A quality control kit for culture media is a device...-dried, viable microorganism, intended for medical purposes to determine if a given culture medium is...

  6. Quality control of radioimmunoassay kits of pituitary hormones; Control de calidad de kits de radioinmunoanalisis de hormonas hipofisiarias

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caso Pena, R [Centro de Isotopos, La Habana (Cuba); Arranz Calzado, C [Instituto Nacional de Endocrinologia, La Habana (Cuba)

    1998-12-31

    The present work describe the quality control procedures carried out on three RIA-Kits by the Isotopes Centre of Cuba, The subject matter of study were ;: were: LH-RIA-Kit, FSH-RIA-Kit and Prolactin- RIA -Kit. The controls have included the characterization of the {sup 125}I labelled hormones the specific antibodies, the 2 nd antibodies, the standards curves and the control serum. For the validation of these Kits were used reference standards from the WHO (World Health Organizations) and Kits from CIS company (France) based on the IRMA assays technologies . The results obtained allow us encourage the reliability of RIA-Kits

  7. The Quality Lighting Teaching Kit: enlightening our future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Constance E.; Pompea, Stephen M.

    2016-09-01

    The U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Education and Public Outreach group has produced a Quality Lighting Teaching (QLT) Kit, as an outcome of the International Year of Light 2015. The kits are designed around problem-based learning scenarios. The kit's six activities allow students to address real lighting problems that relate to wildlife, sky glow, aging eyes, energy consumption, safety, and light trespass. The activities are optimized for 11-14 year olds but can be expanded to younger and older. Most of the activities can be done within in a few minutes with the exception of the Energy Activity. The activities can be done during class or afterschool and as stations (that the students rotate through) or as stand-alones (one at a time). All aspects of the program are as ready-for-use. Everything you need for the six activities is included in the kit. Tutorial videos (on the program's webpage) have been created on how to do the activities. They can be found on the webpage, www.noao.edu/education/qltkit.php. Fourteen Google+ Hangouts on Air have been offered, addressing questions on the activities and logistics. Assessments (in the form of pre- and post-surveys for the students and as post-surveys for the instructors) provide learning outcomes and improvements. Eighty-nine out of 100 kits have been distributed to SPIE, OSA, CIE, IDA and the IAU in 31 countries. The QLT Kit is a stepping-stone to bring awareness to the (younger) public on how quality lighting locally can redress issues like light pollution globally.

  8. 21 CFR 864.9650 - Quality control kit for blood banking reagents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Quality control kit for blood banking reagents... SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES HEMATOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY DEVICES Products Used In Establishments That Manufacture Blood and Blood Products § 864.9650 Quality control kit for blood banking reagents. (a...

  9. Tc99m MDP kits, production and quality control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Othman, I.; Yassine, T.; Lababidi, Z.; Kouli, M.

    1992-11-01

    MDP kits for labelling with Tc 99m were locally produced in different conditions, and the conditions for preparation were optimized. The quality control studies showed that the prepared kits were very good quality and comparable with that imported. Radiochemical purities ranged between 95-98% while reduced technetium ranged between 2-3% and free pertechnetate did not exceed 1%. Bioscan and biodistribution studies also showed high localization of Tc 99m in the skeleton of rats and rabbits. (author). 8 refs., 14 tabs

  10. Sterile kits for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals: some basic quality control considerations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Briner, W.H.

    1975-01-01

    Quality control concepts involved in the formulation of radiopharmaceutical kits, as well as all other radiopharmaceuticals, are meant to protect both the patients who receive these products and the practitioners of nuclear medicine who use these products in their practice. These concepts include the adequacy of site and facilities in which these products are formulated, the level of training and experience of personnel responsible for the formulation of the products, quality assurance procedures employed to monitor the acceptability of products, and, finally, a professional dedication to excellence in all these matters. The absence of any of these in a nuclear medicine or radiopharmaceutical program will result in almost certain disaster

  11. Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit. Second Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

    This kit contains materials to assist a school indoor air quality (IAQ) coordinator in conducting a school IAQ program. The kit contains the following: IAQ coordinator's guide; IAQ coordinator forms; IAQ backgrounder; teacher's classroom checklist; administrative staff checklist; health officer/school nurse checklist; ventilation checklist and…

  12. Quality control for a group of pyrophosphate-Sn kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isaac, M.; Gamboa, R.; Hernandez, I.; Leyva, R.; Turino, D.

    1994-01-01

    The quality control for a group of Pyrophosphate-Sn kits for labeling with 99 m Tc is carry out at the Isotope Center. A general discussion takes place about the instrumental techniques for the determination of the kit constituent such as ligands, Sn(II), water, etc, as well as the control table for the evaluation of the warranty time. (author). 5 refs, 4 figs

  13. INDOOR AIR QUALITY AND INHALATION EXPOSURE - SIMULATION TOOL KIT

    Science.gov (United States)

    A Microsoft Windows-based indoor air quality (IAQ) simulation software package is presented. Named Simulation Tool Kit for Indoor Air Quality and Inhalation Exposure, or IAQX for short, this package complements and supplements existing IAQ simulation programs and is desi...

  14. Preparation and quality control of ECD kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yassin, T.; Dadokh, M.; Almalki, R.

    2005-05-01

    ECD Kit for brain imaging after labeling with technetium 99m was prepared according to an optimum conditions, Each vial contains 1 mg of ECD and 0.155 mg of stannous chloride anhydrous SnCl 2 , 24 mg of Mannitol and 0.5 mg of Na 2 Ca EDTA, The prepared kit showed high quality satisfying the requirements of international pharmacopoeias from the points of physical, chemical, radiochemical and biological purities, and its validity for human injection. And the labeling yield exceeded 95 % with average value of about 97.63 ± 0.89% for 2mCi /2ml radioactivity , This study also showed that each vial content can be labeled with maximum activity of 99m Tc of about 50 mCi (Authors)

  15. Development and Certification of Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) Experiment # 15012-U, "Near RealTime Water Quality Monitoring Demonstration for ISS Biocides Using Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE)"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeffrey A.; Shcultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D,; Lipert, Robert J.; Limardo, Jose G.; McCoy, J. Torin

    2009-01-01

    Scientists and engineers from the Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group are working with researchers at the University of Utah and Iowa State University to develop and certify an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE). The kit will be launched as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment and evaluated on the International Space Station (ISS) to determine the acceptability of CSPE technology for routine inflight water quality monitoring. Iodine and silver, the biocides used in the US and Russian on-orbit water systems, will serve as test analytes for the technology evaluation. This manuscript provides an overview of the CSPE SDTO experiment and details the development and certification of the experimental water quality monitoring kit. Initial results from reagent and standard solution stability testing and environmental testing performed on the kit hardware are also reported.

  16. Studies on quality control of technetium-99m labelling kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jae Rok; Park, Kyung Bae; Awh, Ok Doo

    1987-12-01

    Various experiments for the quality control of Tc-99m labelled radiopharmaceuticals such as Tc-99m-phytate, Tc-99m-MDP, Tc-99m-Tin Colloid, Tc-99m-DISIDA, Tc-99m-DTPA,Tc-99m-DMSA, Tc-99m-Gulcoheptonate, TC-99m-Pyrophosphate, Tc-99m-HSA, and Tc-99m-HAM were carried out. Labelling yield and radiochemical purity of each of the instant labelling kit of KAERI made were determined by means of radiochromatography. Biodistribution in mice and whole body or specific organ imagings of rabbits were also carried out and discussed the relationship between the data of biodistributions and radiochemical purities. Labelling yeilds were above 98% for almost all of the labelling kits. The radio-pharmaceuticals were accumulated at each target organ with moderate specifities. In case of radiochemical purity of above 98%, the biodistribution and gamma imagings were also better. The kits of MDP and DISIDA were stable at least for four moths while the other kits at least eight months. (Author)

  17. An improved 99mTc-Aprotinin kit formulation: quality control analysis of cold kit shelf life and radiotracer stability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smyth, D.R.; Tsopelas, C.

    2005-01-01

    Aprotinin is a small protein that inhibits serine proteases and has been shown to bind to amyloid fibrils of varying chemical composition in-vitro. 99 mTc-aprotinin has demonstrated potential for imaging cardiac and pleuropulmonary AL amyloidosis and other forms of amyloidosis present as deposits in joints, the tongue or intestines and other sites excluding the kidneys and liver. Radiolabelling of aprotinin was previously achieved by addition of 99 mTc-pertech-netate to an alkaline mixture of Trasylol (aprotinin injection) and stannous chloride, followed by a necessary filtration step after 20-30 minutes. We have developed a modified cold kit formulation, utilising pharmaceutical starting materials, that provides a more convenient and efficient radiolabelling procedure where filtration is not required prior to injection. The shelf life of the cold kits was validated after storage in a freezer. The reducing agent used was stannous-pyrophosphate (PYP) and the alkaline buffer was a phosphate-glycine mixture (pH 10.5). Quality control testing of the cold kits was performed after 0, 1, 2, 3 and 6 months storage by assessing the % RCP of 99 mTc-apro-tinin by ITLC-SG. Radiotracer stability was examined in the same way 25, 85 and 265 minutes post reconstitution (pr) via a three strip system employing acetone, saline and ammonia:ethanol:water mixture (1:2:5). A rapid quality control cartridge method was also investigated. Radiolabelling of the cold kits yielded RCP > 95% at 25 mins pr and all other time points, from a formulation that avoided a filtration step. The impurities were quantified as TcO., ( 99 mTc-PYP (< 0.7%) by paper methods. The improved Tc-aprotinin kit formulation has greater convenience and efficiency in the clinical setting

  18. Minimizing the Threat of Light Pollution on Observatories through Education: the Quality Lighting Teaching Kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Constance E.; M, Pompea, Stephen

    2018-01-01

    Poor quality lighting impedes astronomy research and our right to see a starry night sky. It creates safety issues, affects human circadian sensitivities, disrupts ecosystems, and wastes billions of dollars/year in energy consumption. It also leads to excess carbon emissions. How do you change the mindset of society that is used to turning night into day? You educate the next generation on quality lighting.As an outcome of the International Year of Light 2015, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory’s Education and Public Outreach group has produced a Quality Lighting Teaching (QLT) Kit. The kits are designed around problem-based learning scenarios. The kit’s six activities allow students to address real lighting problems that relate to wildlife, sky glow, aging eyes, energy consumption, safety, and light trespass. The activities are optimized for 11-14 year olds but can be expanded to younger and older. All materials are in both English and Spanish. Most of the activities can be done within in a few minutes during class or afterschool and as stations or as stand-alones. Everything you need for the six activities is included in the kit. Tutorial videos on how to do the activities can be found at www.noao.edu/education/qltkit.php. Ninety-two out of one hundred kits have been distributed in thirty-two countries through SPIE (the International Society for Optical Engineering), CIE (the International Commission on Illuminations), OSA (the Optical Society), IDA (the International Dark Sky Association), and the IAU OAD–Office of Astronomy Development. Successful feedback is promoting a choice between commercializing the kit or gaining further grants to build more kits. A plan is being considered to distribute kits to observatories around the world, hence helping to reduce the effects of one of the three threats to observational astronomy through awareness and action.

  19. Create an Emergency Kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... models take up less space in your kit. Cell phone. Always carry a cell phone and let people know where you are going ... pump in your emergency kit. Remember that despite safety standards and careful monitoring, these devices can fail. ...

  20. Evaluation of a clinic-based cholinesterase test kit for the Washington State Cholinesterase Monitoring Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, Jonathan N; Carden, Angela; Fenske, Richard A; Ruark, Harold E; Keifer, Matthew C

    2008-07-01

    The Washington State Cholinesterase Monitoring Program for pesticide handlers requires blood draws at local clinics, with samples tested at a central laboratory. At present, workers with inhibited cholinesterase activity may be re-exposed before they can be removed from work. In this study we explored the option of on-site testing at local clinics using the EQM Test-mate Kittrade mark, a portable cholinesterase test kit. Test kit cholinesterase activity measurements were performed on 50 blood samples by our research staff, and compared to measurements on the same samples by the Washington State Public Health Laboratory. Another set of samples was also analyzed with the test kit by medical staff at an eastern Washington clinic. Triplicate measurements with the test kit had a 3.3% average coefficient of variation (CV) for plasma cholinesterase (PChE), and a 3.5% average CV for erythrocyte cholinesterase (AChE) measurements. The kit's PChE measurements were similar to PHL measurements (average ratio of 0.98) when performed in the laboratory, but had a tendency to underestimate activity when used in the clinic setting (average ratio of 0.87). The kit systematically overestimated AChE activity by 42-48% relative to the PHL measurements, regardless of where the samples were analyzed. This easy-to-use test kit appeared to be a viable method for clinic-based PChE measurements, but was less consistent for AChE measurements performed in the clinic. Absolute measurements with the kit need to be evaluated carefully relative to standardized methods. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  1. Statistical modeling of dental unit water bacterial test kit performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Mark E; Harte, Jennifer A; Stone, Mark E; O'Connor, Karen H; Coen, Michael L; Cullum, Malford E

    2007-01-01

    While it is important to monitor dental water quality, it is unclear whether in-office test kits provide bacterial counts comparable to the gold standard method (R2A). Studies were conducted on specimens with known bacterial concentrations, and from dental units, to evaluate test kit accuracy across a range of bacterial types and loads. Colony forming units (CFU) were counted for samples from each source, using R2A and two types of test kits, and conformity to Poisson distribution expectations was evaluated. Poisson regression was used to test for effects of source and device, and to estimate rate ratios for kits relative to R2A. For all devices, distributions were Poisson for low CFU/mL when only beige-pigmented bacteria were considered. For higher counts, R2A remained Poisson, but kits exhibited over-dispersion. Both kits undercounted relative to R2A, but the degree of undercounting was reasonably stable. Kits did not grow pink-pigmented bacteria from dental-unit water identified as Methylobacterium rhodesianum. Only one of the test kits provided results with adequate reliability at higher bacterial concentrations. Undercount bias could be estimated for this device and used to adjust test kit results. Insensitivity to methylobacteria spp. is problematic.

  2. Indoor air quality : Tools for schools action kits for Canadian schools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-03-01

    Few people realize that indoor air pollution can contribute to health effects like asthma. Several agencies, notably the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have indicated that levels of indoor pollutants can be significantly higher than those found outside. As such, poor indoor air quality (IAQ) could impact the health of students and staff, as well as the educational process and costs. Many factors can influence IAQ, including building materials, furnishings, cleaning agents, pesticides, printing and copying devices, and more. Reduction in IAQ can also result from tighter buildings and reduced ventilation. This kit was developed by Health Canada in collaboration with the Indoor Air Quality Working Group of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Environmental and Occupational Health (CEOH) to provide school officials with the tools to prevent, identify, assess, and address most indoor air problems while minimizing cost and involvement. It was suggested that trained professionals should perform the limited and well-defined set of operations and maintenance activities described in the kit.

  3. Establishment of external quality assurance procedures with FAO/IAEA ELISA kits. Report of an FAO/IAEA consultants meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    the FAO/IAEA ELISA kits for rinderpest sero-monitoring in Africa were sent a panel of 40 sera to assess the proficiency of each laboratory on an annual basis. The results were compiled to indicate to managers of the Pan African Rinderpest Campaign that results from these laboratories could be relied upon. In September 1994, an FAO/IAEA consultants meeting was convened with the aim of extending and further improving this EQAP for veterinary laboratories in developing countries utilizing FAO/IAEA ELISA kits. The meeting focused on establishing procedures that would recognize veterinary laboratories as competent in utilizing FAO/IAEA ELISA kits for specific diseases and tasks. In adopting the approach that is detailed below it is hoped that the system can be expanded to form the basis of a wider system that can encompass a variety of diagnostic procedures and laboratories. It is intended to seek OIE endorsement for this EQAP and it is anticipated that such an approach should improve the quality of reports being submitted to OIE

  4. Quality management system and accreditation of the in vivo monitoring laboratory at Karslruhe Institute of Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breustedt, B; Mohr, U; Biegard, N; Cordes, G

    2011-03-01

    The in vivo monitoring laboratory (IVM) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), with one whole body counter and three partial-body counters, is an approved lab for individual monitoring according to German regulation. These approved labs are required to prove their competencies by accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2005. In 2007 a quality management system (QMS), which was successfully audited and granted accreditation, was set up at the IVM. The system is based on the ISO 9001 certified QMS of the central safety department of the Research Centre Karlsruhe the IVM belonged to at that time. The system itself was set up to be flexible and could be adapted to the recent organisational changes (e.g. founding of KIT and an institute for radiation research) with only minor effort.

  5. In-Flight Water Quality Monitoring on the International Space Station (ISS): Measuring Biocide Concentrations with Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gazda, Daniel B.; Schultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D.; Lipert, Robert J.; Flint, Stephanie M.; McCoy, J. Torin

    2011-01-01

    The colorimetric water quality monitoring kit (CWQMK) was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) on STS-128/17A and was initially deployed in September 2009. The kit was flown as a station development test objective (SDTO) experiment to evaluate the acceptability of colorimetric solid phase extraction (CSPE) technology for routine water quality monitoring on the ISS. During the SDTO experiment, water samples from the U.S. water processor assembly (WPA), the U.S. potable water dispenser (PWD), and the Russian system for dispensing ground-supplied water (SVO-ZV) were collected and analyzed with the CWQMK. Samples from the U.S. segment of the ISS were analyzed for molecular iodine, which is the biocide added to water in the WPA. Samples from the SVOZV system were analyzed for ionic silver, the biocide used on the Russian segment of the ISS. In all, thirteen in-flight analysis sessions were completed as part of the SDTO experiment. This paper provides an overview of the experiment and reports the results obtained with the CWQMK. The forward plan for certifying the CWQMK as operational hardware and expanding the capabilities of the kit are also discussed.

  6. Results of quality control studies of technetium 99m labelled radiopharmaceuticals prepared from kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, J.R.; Rockwell, L.J.; Welsh, W.J.

    1978-01-01

    This report summarizes the results of quality control studies of Tc 99m labelled normal serum albumin and macro-aggregated albumin radiopharmaceuticals prepared from commercially available kits. It includes all analyses performed since the inception of the program in 1976 until the end of 1977. The results presented herein were obtained through the application of various in vitro tests and animal (mouse) bio-distribution studies. It is hoped that a similar report will be published annually for the benefit of hospital nuclear medicine departments and kit manufacturers. (auth)

  7. KIT safety management. Annual report 2012; KIT-Sicherheitsmanagement. Jahresbericht 2012

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frank, Gerhard (ed.)

    2013-07-01

    The KIT Safety Management Service Unit (KSM) guarantees radiological and conventional technical safety and security of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and controls the implementation and observation of legal environmental protection requirements. KSM is responsible for - licensing procedures, - industrial safety organization, - control of environmental protection measures, - planning and implementation of emergency preparedness and response, - operation of radiological laboratories and measurement stations, - extensive radiation protection support and the - the execution of security tasks in and for all organizational units of KIT. Moreover, KSM is in charge of wastewater and environmental monitoring for all facilities and nuclear installations all over the KIT campus. KSM is headed by the Safety Commissioner of KIT, who is appointed by the Presidential Committee. Within his scope of procedure for KIT, the Safety Commissioner controls the implementation of and compliance with safety-relevant requirements. The KIT Safety Management is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001, its industrial safety management is certified by the VBG as ''AMS-Arbeitsschutz mit System'' and, hence, fulfills the requirements of NLF / ISO-OSH 2001. KSM laboratories are accredited according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025. To the extent possible, KSM is committed to maintaining competence in radiation protection and to supporting research and teaching activities. The present reports lists the individual tasks of the KIT Safety Management and informs about the results achieved in 2012. Status figures in principle reflect the status at the end of the year 2012. The processes described cover the areas of competence of KSM.

  8. KIT safety management. Annual report 2013; KIT-Sicherheitsmanagement. Jahresbericht 2013

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frank, Gerhard (ed.)

    2014-07-01

    The KIT Safety Management Service Unit (KSM) guarantees radiological and conventional technical safety and security of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and controls the implementation and observation of legal environmental protection requirements. KSM is responsible for licensing procedures, industrial safety organization, control of environmental protection measures, planning and implementation of emergency preparedness and response, operation of radiological laboratories and measurement stations, extensive radiation protection support and the execution of security tasks in and for all organizational units of KIT. Moreover, KSM is in charge of wastewater and environmental monitoring for all facilities and nuclear installations all over the KIT campus. KSM is headed by the Safety Commissioner of KIT, who is appointed by the Presidential Committee. Within his scope of procedure for KIT, the Safety Commissioner controls the implementation of and compliance with safety-relevant requirements. The KIT Safety Management is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001, its laboratories are accredited according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025. To the extent possible, KSM is committed to maintaining competence in radiation protection and to supporting research and teaching activities. The present reports lists the individual tasks of the KIT Safety Management and informs about the results achieved in 2013. Status figures in principle reflect the status at the end of the year 2013. The processes described cover the areas of competence of KSM. Due to changes in the organization of the infrastructural service units in KIT, KSM has been cancelled at the end of 2013. Its tasks will mainly be covered in 2014 by the new founded service unit Safety and Environmental (Sicherheit und Umwelt, SUM). The departments Campus Security, Fire Brigade and Information Technology have been transferred to the Service Unit General Services (Allgemeine Services, ASERV).

  9. Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of use of therapeutic monitoring of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors [LISA-TRACKER® enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits, TNF-α-Blocker ELISA kits and Promonitor® ELISA kits] versus standard care in patients with Crohn's disease: systematic reviews and economic modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Karoline; Connock, Martin; Auguste, Peter; Taylor-Phillips, Sian; Mistry, Hema; Shyangdan, Deepson; Court, Rachel; Arasaradnam, Ramesh; Sutcliffe, Paul; Clarke, Aileen

    2016-11-01

    Systematic reviews and economic modelling of clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of therapeutic monitoring of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors [using LISA-TRACKER ® enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (Theradiag, Marne La Vallee, France, or Alpha Laboratories, Heriot, UK), TNF-α-Blocker ELISA kits (Immundiagnostik AG, Bensheim, Germany) and Promonitor ® ELISA kits (Proteomika, Progenika Biopharma, Bizkaia, Spain)] versus standard care for Crohn's disease (CD). Multiple electronic databases were searched from inception to December 2014 in order to identify primary studies and meta-analyses. Patients with moderate to severe active CD treated with infliximab (IFX) (Remicade ® , Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd, Kenilworth, NJ, USA) or adalimumab (ADA) (Humira ® , AbbVie Inc., North Chicago, IL, USA). Monitoring of serum anti-TNF-α (IFX or ADA) and/or of anti-drug antibody levels using test assays with a test-treatment algorithm. Standard care. Any patient-related outcome, test agreement and cost-effectiveness estimates. The quality assessments used recognised checklists (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2, Cochrane, Philips and Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards). Evidence was synthesised using narrative review and meta-analysis. A Markov model was built in TreeAge Pro 2013 (TreeAge Software, Inc., Williamstown, MA, USA). The model had a 4-week cycle and a 10-year time horizon, adopted a NHS and Personal Social Services perspective and used a linked evidence approach. Costs were adjusted to 2013/14 prices and discounted at 3.5%. We included 68 out of 2434 and 4 out of 2466 studies for the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness reviews, respectively. Twenty-three studies comparing test methods were identified. Evidence on test concordance was sparse and contradictory, offering scant data for a linked evidence approach. Three studies [two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and one

  10. Iodine-125--digoxin radioimmunoassay: comparison of commercial kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battaglia, D.J.; Cianci, M.L.

    1976-01-01

    Iodine-125-digoxin radioimmunoassay kits available from Abbott Diagnostics (AD), Dade Division (D), Schwarz/Mann (SM), and Clinical Assays (CA) were evaluated with respect to assay quality. The kit accuracies did not differ significantly at 2.0 ng/ml and the interassay coefficients of variation ranged from 9 percent (AD) to 21.4 percent (CA). The accuracy for all kits above 4 ng/ml is questionable, and since serum-dilution values correlated well with undiluted serum values, the dilution method of dose quantitation is preferable for levels above 4 ng/ml. Although all the kits were adequate for evaluating digoxin at the 2 ng/ml level, the Abbott kit seems to be of slightly better quality

  11. Preparation and quality control of MAA human serum albumin kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yassin, T.; Dadokh, M.; Almalki, R.

    2005-05-01

    MAA Macro aggregate Kit for pulmonary perfusion after labeling with 99m Tc was prepared according to an optimum conditions, where each vial contains 0.8 mg of HSA and 0.17 mg of stannous chloride dehydrate (SnCl 2 2H 2 O),The prepared kit showed high quality satisfying the requirements of international pharmacopoeias from the points of physical, chemical, radiochemical and biological purities, and its validity for human injection. And the labeling yield exceeded 99 % with average value of about 99.74 ± 0.27 % for 2mCi/2ml radioactivity, The bio distribution study in rats showed that an average of 93.87 ± 3.97% of injected dose was located in the lungs after 10 minutes where only about 0.99 ± 0.41 % of it was located in the liver and about 0.41 ± 0.14% in the kidneys and blood clearance 1.235 ± 0.78 %. This study also showed that each vial content can be labeled with maximum activity of 99m Tc of about 50 mCi. (Authors)

  12. Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE): Using Color to Monitor Spacecraft Water Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeffrey A.; Schultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D.; Lipert, Robert J.; Flint, Stephanie M.; McCoy, J. Torin

    2010-01-01

    In August 2009, an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE) technology was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The kit, called the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), was launched as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment to evaluate the suitability of CSPE technology for routine use monitoring water quality on the ISS. CSPE is a sorption-spectrophotometric technique that combines colorimetric reagents, solid-phase extraction, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to quantify trace analytes in water samples. In CSPE, a known volume of sample is metered through a membrane disk that has been impregnated with an analyte-specific colorimetric reagent and any additives required to optimize the formation of the analyte-reagent complex. As the sample flows through the membrane disk, the target analyte is selectively extracted, concentrated, and complexed. Formation of the analyte-reagent complex causes a detectable change in the color of the membrane disk that is proportional to the amount of analyte present in the sample. The analyte is then quantified by measuring the color of the membrane disk surface using a hand-held diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer (DRS). The CWQMK provides the capability to measure the ionic silver (Ag +) and molecular iodine (I2) in water samples on-orbit. These analytes were selected for the evaluation of CSPE technology because they are the biocides used in the potable water storage and distribution systems on the ISS. Biocides are added to the potable water systems on spacecraft to inhibit microbial growth. On the United States (US) segment of the ISS molecular iodine serves as the biocide, while the Russian space agency utilizes silver as a biocide in their systems. In both cases, the biocides must be maintained at a level sufficient to control bacterial growth, but low enough to avoid any negative effects on crew health. For example, the

  13. Innovative accountability of tracking test kit as locked resources: a lesson in a restricted resource setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makuwani, Ahmad M; Msuya, Sia; Haule, Dunstan; Mogella, Deus; Nkya, Efesper

    2013-09-01

    To implement quality screening in a blood service requires the presence of screening strategy with a clear algorithm and supporting standard operating procedures (SOPs), skilled and motivated human resource to perform testing, infrastructure, regular available test kits, and other supplies. In developing countries, smooth supply chain management of critical transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) screening reagents is a challenge. Therefore, managing the little available kits by knowing the rate of consumption, good forecasting, and monitoring expiry date may be a key in ensuring regular supply. Test kit monitoring tool (TKMT) for Vironostika HIV Uni-Form kit/192 1&2 Ag/Ab, Genedia kits for HBsAg and HCV, and RPR for syphilis was developed to track these reagents. This excel tool was developed to assess received reagents, quantity used, quantity remaining, and date of expiration. The tool was evaluated by assessing rerun for each test kits, match tests conducted with blood units tested, adherence to the principle of first in-first out (FIFO), and quantity remaining in the center against the need. The mean rerun for HIV ELISA Vironistika uniform II Ag/Ab observed over expected was 6.9% (n = 3.8) than 2.4% (n = 1.3), HBsAg was 9.9% (n = 5.7) than 6.7% (3.5) (expected), Genedia for HCV was 1.3% (n = 0.7) than 0.5% (n = 0.3), and RPR test for syphilis 3.3% (n = 1.5) than 0.5%. During implementation, TKMT managed to detect expiring kits in the zonal blood transfusion centers. A tool-like TKMT may capture other supplies within blood when expanded. Monitoring of supplies may enable blood service actual accounting and in forecasting supplies and reagents. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Quality and use of consumer information provided with home test kits: room for improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grispen, Janaica E J; Ickenroth, Martine H P; de Vries, Nanne K; van der Weijden, Trudy; Ronda, Gaby

    2014-10-01

    Diagnostic self-tests (tests on body materials that are initiated by consumers with the aim of diagnosing a disorder or risk factor) are becoming increasingly available. Although the pros and cons of self-testing are currently not clear, it is an existing phenomenon that is likely to gain further popularity. To examine consumers' use of and needs for information about self-testing, and to assess the quality of consumer information provided with home test kits, as perceived by consumers and as assessed using a checklist of quality criteria. A cross-sectional Internet survey among 305 self-testers assessed their use of and needs for information and their perception of the quality of consumer information provided with self-test kits. A meta-search engine was used to identify Dutch and English consumer information for home diagnostic tests available online at the time of the study. The quality of this consumer information was evaluated using a checklist of quality criteria. The consumers' information needs were in line with the most frequently used information, and the information was perceived as being of moderate to good quality. The information was mostly in agreement with clinical practice guidelines, although information on reliability and follow-up behaviour was limited. Approximately half of the instruction leaflets did not include information on the target group of the test. Although generally of moderate to good quality, some aspects of the information provided were in many cases insufficient. European legislation concerning self-tests and accompanying information needs to be adapted and adhered to more closely. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Quality Monitoring of Porous Zein Scaffolds: A Novel Biomaterial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yue Zhang

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Our previous studies have shown that zein has good biocompatibility and good mechanical properties. The first product from a porous scaffold of zein, a resorbable bone substitute, has passed the biological evaluation of medical devices (ISO 10993 by the China Food and Drug Administration. However, Class III medical devices need quality monitoring before being placed on the market, and such monitoring includes quality control of raw materials, choice of sterilization method, and evaluation of biocompatibility. In this paper, we investigated four sources of zein through amino acid analysis (AAA and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE in order to monitor the composition and purity, and control the quality of raw materials. We studied the effect of three kinds of sterilization method on a porous zein scaffold by SDS-PAGE. We also compared the changes in SDS-PAGE patterns when irradiated with different doses of gamma radiation. We found that polymerization or breakage did not occur on peptide chains of zein during gamma-ray (γ-ray sterilization in the range of 20–30 kGy, which suggested that γ-ray sterilization is suitable for porous zein scaffolds. Regarding cell compatibility, we found a difference between using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT assay and a cell-counting kit-8 (CCK-8 assay to assess cell proliferation on zein film, and concluded that the CCK-8 assay is more suitable, due to its low background optical density.

  16. FUELS IN SOIL TEST KIT: FIELD USE OF DIESEL DOG SOIL TEST KITS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Unknown

    2001-05-31

    Western Research Institute (WRI) is commercializing Diesel Dog Portable Soil Test Kits for performing analysis of fuel-contaminated soils in the field. The technology consists of a method developed by WRI (U.S. Patents 5,561,065 and 5,976,883) and hardware developed by WRI that allows the method to be performed in the field (patent pending). The method is very simple and does not require the use of highly toxic reagents. The aromatic components in a soil extract are measured by absorption at 254 nm with a field-portable photometer. WRI added significant value to the technology by taking the method through the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approval and validation processes. The method is designated ASTM Method D-5831-96, Standard Test Method for Screening Fuels in Soils. This ASTM designation allows the method to be used for federal compliance activities. In FY 99, twenty-five preproduction kits were successfully constructed in cooperation with CF Electronics, Inc., of Laramie, Wyoming. The kit components work well and the kits are fully operational. In the calendar year 2000, kits were provided to the following entities who agreed to participate as FY 99 and FY 00 JSR (Jointly Sponsored Research) cosponsors and use the kits as opportunities arose for field site work: Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) (3 units), F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Gradient Corporation, The Johnson Company (2 units), IT Corporation (2 units), TRC Environmental Corporation, Stone Environmental, ENSR, Action Environmental, Laco Associates, Barenco, Brown and Caldwell, Dames and Moore Lebron LLP, Phillips Petroleum, GeoSyntek, and the State of New Mexico. By early 2001, ten kits had been returned to WRI following the six-month evaluation period. On return, the components of all ten kits were fully functional. The kits were upgraded with circuit modifications, new polyethylene foam inserts, and updated instruction manuals.

  17. Results of quality control studies of technetium 99m labelled radiopharmaceuticals prepared from kits (1980-81)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-01-01

    This report summarized the results of quality control studies of Tc 99m labelled human serum albumin, macroaggregated albumin, bone imaging and reticuloendothelial system imaging radiopharmaceuticals prepared from commercially available kits. It includes all analyses performed from January 1980 to December 1981 by the radiopharmaceutical quality control section of the Radiation Protection Bureau. These results were obtained by the application of various in vitro and animal (mouse) biodistribution studies

  18. 49 CFR 173.161 - Chemical kits and first aid kits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Chemical kits and first aid kits. 173.161 Section... Class 7 § 173.161 Chemical kits and first aid kits. (a) Chemical kits and First aid kits must conform to... 10 kg. (b) Chemical kits and First aid kits are excepted from the specification packaging...

  19. KIT safety management. Annual report 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frank, Gerhard

    2013-01-01

    The KIT Safety Management Service Unit (KSM) guarantees radiological and conventional technical safety and security of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and controls the implementation and observation of legal environmental protection requirements. KSM is responsible for - licensing procedures, - industrial safety organization, - control of environmental protection measures, - planning and implementation of emergency preparedness and response, - operation of radiological laboratories and measurement stations, - extensive radiation protection support and the - the execution of security tasks in and for all organizational units of KIT. Moreover, KSM is in charge of wastewater and environmental monitoring for all facilities and nuclear installations all over the KIT campus. KSM is headed by the Safety Commissioner of KIT, who is appointed by the Presidential Committee. Within his scope of procedure for KIT, the Safety Commissioner controls the implementation of and compliance with safety-relevant requirements. The KIT Safety Management is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001, its industrial safety management is certified by the VBG as ''AMS-Arbeitsschutz mit System'' and, hence, fulfills the requirements of NLF / ISO-OSH 2001. KSM laboratories are accredited according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025. To the extent possible, KSM is committed to maintaining competence in radiation protection and to supporting research and teaching activities. The present reports lists the individual tasks of the KIT Safety Management and informs about the results achieved in 2012. Status figures in principle reflect the status at the end of the year 2012. The processes described cover the areas of competence of KSM.

  20. KIT RELIABILITY FOR CONTROLLING THE QUALITY OF OILS IN FOOD FRYING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simeon Oloni Kotchoni

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available In Benin, West Africa, frying is one of the major ways of cooking. However, the chemical composition of the oil used in the food frying process contains unsaturated fatty acids and other by-products that compromise the oil quality making it toxic and often carcinogenic. The aim of this study was to check the reliability of kits in controlling three frying yams oil quality. The food frying was performed using oil in a discontinuous heating period of 15 min followed by three hours of cooling period for two experimental days. The temperature, and the oil chemical samplings were assessed with the kit every thirty minutes. In addition, selected oil chemical characteristics were determined to quantitatively and qualitatively appreciate the chemical modifications during the fast food versus the rapid food processing methods. Our findings indicate that water and volatile chemical compounds vary significantly for the first day of analysis from 0.18% to 1.6% for groundnut oil; from 0.14% to 1.4% for palm oil and from 0.17% to 1.6% for cotton oils. We detected a decrease of iodine index to 25%; 35.31% and 27.78% for groundnut, palm and cotton oils respectively. However, the peroxide index increases to 55.33%; 61.90% and 57.78% for groundnut, palm and cotton oils respectively. The increases of acid and saponification indices were also observed. Under conjugated effect of water temperature contained in the yam and air contact, the chemical characteristics of oil vary with the frying time. Our results reveal concordance consistent data with both the rapid methods and laboratory data set analysis.

  1. Results of quality control studies of technetium 99m labelled radiopharmaceuticals prepared from kits (1978-79)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, J.R.; Rockwell, L.J.; Welsh, W.J.

    1982-01-01

    This report summarizes the results of quality control studies of Tc 99m-labelled normal albumin, macroaggregated albumin, and bone imaging radiopharmaceuticals prepared from commercially available kits. It includes all analyses performed from January 1978 to December 1979. The results presented were obtained through the application of various in vitro and animal (mouse) biodistribution studies

  2. Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    The IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit provides schools with information on how to carry out a practical plan to improve indoor air problems at little- or no-cost using straightforward activities and in-house staff.

  3. Preparation of kits for 99Tcm radiopharmaceuticals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-05-01

    This publication details preparation under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) of thirteen widely used 99 Tc m radiopharmaceuticals and their quality assurance practices. The objective of this document is to present to those who intend to launch a kit preparation programme a set of preparation procedures and other relevant information gathered during kit production over a period of more than a decade, to serve as a good starting point. The manuals and monographs included in the document are based on the experience gained in two major centres. The publication of this material is intended to give a typical example, and not the only possible procedure for preparing the kits. Following the essentials of these kit preparation procedures, it is always possible to make alterations to the composition of the kits. The kits described here concern widely used 99 Tc m radiopharmaceuticals which do not require a Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) camera. These examples of the ''first generation'' of kits are not very intricate to prepare. Although it is advisable to have only one agent for a given intended use, a few agents for each purpose, e.g. EHDP and MDP for bone imagining, have been included in the document so that the reader can have some flexibility in selecting a particular kit. 24 refs, 2 figs

  4. Need for standardization of methodology and components in commercial radioimmunoassay kits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wood, W G; Marschner, I; Scriba, P C [Muenchen Univ. (Germany, F.R.). Medizinische Klinik Innenstadt

    1977-01-01

    The problems arising from increasing use of commercial kits in radioimmunoassay (RIA) and related fields are discussed. The problems arising in various RIAs differ according to the substance under test. The quality of individual components is often good, although methodology is often not optimal and contains short-cuts, which although commercially attractive, can lead to erroneous values and poor sensitivity and precision. Minor modification of methodology often leads to major improvements in sensitivity and precision, and this has been demonstrated in the case of three digoxin kits employing antibody-coated tube techniques and in four kits for thyrotropin (TSH) using different techniques. It has also been noted that in many imported quality control sera from the USA no values have been ascribed to European kits for the components listed, thus reducing these sera to the function of precision control. The deductions from this study are that a standardization of kit components and assay methods is desirable in order to allow comparison of results between laboratories using different kits.

  5. The need for standardization of methodology and components in commercial radioimmunoassay kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wood, W.G.; Marschner, I.; Scriba, P.C.

    1978-01-01

    The problems arising from the increasing use of commercial kits in radioimmunoassay (RIA) and related fields are discussed. These problems differ according to the substance under test. The quality of individual reagents is often good, but the methodology is often not optimal and may contain short-cuts which, although commercially attractive, can lead to erroneous values and poor sensitivity and precision. Minor modifications in the methodology often lead to big improvements in sensitivity and precision. This has been demonstrated in three digoxin kits employing antibody-coated tube techniques and in four kits for thyrotropin (TSH) using different techniques. It has also been noted that with many quality-control sera imported from the USA no values are ascribed to European kits for the components listed, thus reducing these sera to the function of precision control. The study underlines the need to standardize kit components and assay methods to enable the results obtained by different laboratories with different kits to be compared. (author)

  6. FUELS IN SOIL TEST KIT: FIELD USE OF DIESEL DOG SOIL TEST KITS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Susan S. Sorini; John F. Schabron; Joseph F. Rovani, Jr.

    2002-09-30

    Western Research Institute (WRI) has developed a new commercial product ready for technology transfer, the Diesel Dog{reg_sign} Portable Soil Test Kit, for performing analysis of fuel-contaminated soils in the field. The technology consists of a method developed by WRI (U.S. Patents 5,561,065 and 5,976,883) and hardware developed by WRI that allows the method to be performed in the field (patent pending). The method is very simple and does not require the use of highly toxic reagents. The aromatic components in a soil extract are measured by absorption at 254 nm with a field-portable photometer. WRI added significant value to the technology by taking the method through the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approval and validation processes. The method is designated as ASTM Method D 5831-96, Standard Test Method for Screening Fuels in Soils. This ASTM designation allows the method to be used for federal compliance activities. In June 2001, the Diesel Dog technology won an American Chemical Society Regional Industrial Innovations Award. To gain field experience with the new technology, Diesel Dog kits have been used for a variety of site evaluation and cleanup activities. Information gained from these activities has led to improvements in hardware configurations and additional insight into correlating Diesel Dog results with results from laboratory methods. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) used Diesel Dog Soil Test Kits to guide cleanups at a variety of sites throughout the state. ENSR, of Acton, Massachusetts, used a Diesel Dog Portable Soil Test Kit to evaluate sites in the Virgin Islands and Georgia. ChemTrack and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers successfully used a test kit to guide excavation at an abandoned FAA fuel-contaminated site near Fairbanks, Alaska. Barenco, Inc. is using a Diesel Dog Portable Soil Test Kit for site evaluations in Canada. A small spill of diesel fuel was cleaned up in Laramie, Wyoming using a Diesel

  7. A reliable method for the quality control of 99mTc-MIBI prepared using fractionated cardiolite kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poot, M.T.; Varelis, P.

    1998-01-01

    Full text: The reconstitution of fractionated Cardiolite kits with Na[ 99m Tc]TcO 4 eluted from a wet-column generator results in a preparation that contains elevated amounts of a polar radiochemical impurity, which is normally present in only trace amounts when such kits are reconstituted with eluate from a dry-column generator. We demonstrate, using HPLC, that this impurity causes a positive bias in several reported quality control methods (TLC, ITLC and SPE) for 99m Tc-MIBI, including that recommended by the manufacturer (TLC). A rapid procedure, based on a C18 solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, for measuring the radiochemical purity (RCP) of 99m Tc-MIBI samples was developed and compared with three other methods including HPLC. Over a RCP range of 49-98%, the values obtained using our SPE method deviated from those obtained using HPLC by 1.1+1.395 (n=26). In conclusion our SPE method is a rapid and reliable means of quality controlling 99m Tc-MIBI

  8. A reliable method for the quality control of 99mTc-MIBI prepared using fractionated cardiolite kits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Poot, M.T.; Varelis, P. [St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW (Australia). Department of Nuclear Medicine

    1998-06-01

    Full text: The reconstitution of fractionated Cardiolite kits with Na[{sup 99m}Tc]TcO{sub 4} eluted from a wet-column generator results in a preparation that contains elevated amounts of a polar radiochemical impurity, which is normally present in only trace amounts when such kits are reconstituted with eluate from a dry-column generator. We demonstrate, using HPLC, that this impurity causes a positive bias in several reported quality control methods (TLC, ITLC and SPE) for {sup 99m}Tc-MIBI, including that recommended by the manufacturer (TLC). A rapid procedure, based on a C18 solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, for measuring the radiochemical purity (RCP) of {sup 99m}Tc-MIBI samples was developed and compared with three other methods including HPLC. Over a RCP range of 49-98%, the values obtained using our SPE method deviated from those obtained using HPLC by 1.1+1.395 (n=26). In conclusion our SPE method is a rapid and reliable means of quality controlling {sup 99m}Tc-MIBI

  9. Effect of planecta and ROSE? on the frequency characteristics of blood pressure-transducer kits

    OpenAIRE

    Fujiwara, Shigeki; Kawakubo, Yoshifumi; Mori, Satoshi; Tachihara, Keiichi; Toyoguchi, Izumi; Yokoyama, Takeshi

    2014-01-01

    Pressure-transducer kits have frequency characteristics such as natural frequency and damping coefficient, which affect the monitoring accuracy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of planecta ports and a damping device (ROSE?, Argon Medical Devices, TX, USA) on the frequency characteristics of pressure-transducer kits. The FloTrac sensor kit (Edwards Lifesciences, CA, USA) and the DTXplus transducer kit (Argon Medical Devices) were prepared with planecta ports, and the...

  10. Optimization Of Preparation And Validation Of Hepatitis C Irma Kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ariyanto, Agus; Wayan, R.S.; Sukiyati, Dj.; Darwati, Siti; Yunita, Fitri; Mondrida, Gina; Sulaiman; Yulianti, Veronika; Setiowati, Sri

    2000-01-01

    Optimization of preparation and validation of hepatitis C IRMA kit have been done. Tracer was prepared by iodination of anti-hlgG with 125 I using Choramin-T and N-Bromosuksinimide as oxidizing agent. Iodinated anti-hlgG was purified using PD-10 and Sephadex G-50 column. Coated bead was prepared by immobilization of antigen HCV recombinant on polystyrene bead. To obtain a good quality of reagent some parameters were optimized i.e.: colim used for purification. To determine the validity of the kit, validation which include comparison study and determination of specificity and sensitivity have been performed. A good quality of tracer has been able to prepared with high yield (74%) and high P/N value (15). The quality of coated bead is also reasonably good (P/N 34.3), and gave a good density and dissociation index (0.335 and 0.99% respectively). Both tracer and coated bead were remain stable after 2 months storage at 4 o C. In comparison with Elisa kit, the specificity and sensitivity of the HCV IRMA kit is reasonably high, 88.6% and 92.3% respectively

  11. The need for standardisation of methodology and components in commercial radioimmunoassay kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wood, W.G.; Marschner, I.; Scriba, P.C.

    1977-01-01

    The problems arising from increasing use of commercial kits in radioimmunoassay (RIA) and related fields are discussed. The problems arising in various RIAs differ according to the substance under test. The quality of individual components is often good, although methodology is often not optimal and contains short-cuts, which although commercially attractive, can lead to erroneous values and poor sensitivity and precision. Minor modification of methodology often leads to major improvements in sensitivity and precision, and this has been demonstrated in the case of three digoxin kits employing antibody-coated tube techniques and in four kits for thyrotropin (TSH) using different techniques. It has also been noted that in many imported quality control sera from the USA no values have been ascribed to European kits for the components listed, thus reducing these sera to the function of precision control. The deductions from this study are that a standardisation of kit components and assay methods is desirable in order to allow comparison of results between laboratories using different kits. (orig.) [de

  12. Development of kits for total PSA monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suprarop, P.

    1999-01-01

    The development of kits for Total PSA assay has shown promising results. All essential components of the assay were prepared with reproducibility and used to optimize the assay. By choosing two steps method, we could avoid the hook effect and obtain satisfactory Q.C. parameters of the standard curve i.e. blank = 0.8%, maximum binding = 65%. If reference material for calibration of the standard is agree upon, the validation could then be carried out with total confidence. Our final goal is to reduce the step of incubation to just one step with no interference from hook effect

  13. An evaluation tool kit of air quality micro-sensing units

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Fishbain, B.; Lerner, U.; Castell-Balaguer, N.; Cole-Hunter, T.; Popoola, O.; Broday, D. M.; Martinez Iniguez, T.; Nieuwenhuijsen, M.; Jovasevic-Stojanovic, M.; Topalovic, D.; Roderic, L.J.; Gaela, K.; Etzion, Y.; Kizel, F.; Golumbic, Y.N.; Baram-Tsabari, A.; Yacobi, T.; Drahler, D.; Robinson, J.A.; Kocman, D.; Horvát, M.; Švecová, Vlasta; Arpaci, A.; Bartoňová, A.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 575, jan (2017), s. 639-648 ISSN 0048-9697 Institutional support: RVO:68378041 Keywords : air quality * environmental monitoring * micro sensing units Subject RIV: DN - Health Impact of the Environment Quality OBOR OECD: Public and environmental health Impact factor: 4.900, year: 2016

  14. [Application of DNA extraction kit, 'GM quicker' for detection of genetically modified soybeans].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Noriko; Sugiura, Yoshitsugu; Tanaka, Toshitsugu

    2012-01-01

    Several DNA extraction methods have been officially introduced to detect genetically modified soybeans, but the choice of DNA extraction kits depend on the nature of the samples, such as grains or processed foods. To overcome this disadvantage, we examined whether the GM quicker kit is available for both grains and processed foods. We compared GM quicker with four approved DNA extraction kits in respect of DNA purity, copy numbers of lectin gene, and working time. We found that the DNA quality of GM quicker was superior to that of the other kits for grains, and the procedure was faster. However, in the case of processed foods, GM quicker was not superior to the other kits. We therefore investigated an unapproved GM quicker 3 kit, which is available for DNA extraction from processed foods, such as tofu and boiled soybeans. The GM quicker 3 kit provided good DNA quality from both grains and processed foods, so we made a minor modification of the GM quicker-based protocol that was suitable for processed foods, using GM quicker and its reagents. The modified method enhanced the performance of GM quicker with processed foods. We believe that GM quicker with the modified protocol is an excellent tool to obtain high-quality DNA from grains and processed foods for detection of genetically modified soybeans.

  15. Water Quality Monitoring of an Urban Estuary and a Coastal Aquifer Using Field Kits and Meters: A Community-Based Environmental Research Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Hun Bok; Zamora, Felix; Duzgoren-Aydin, Nurdan S.

    2017-01-01

    Water quality is an important interdisciplinary environmental topic for project-based learning. An undergraduate summer research internship program at a public minority serving institution engaged environmental science majors in community-based research experiences. The research focused on the field monitoring of water quality for surface water…

  16. c-Kit signaling determines neointimal hyperplasia in arteriovenous fistulae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skartsis, Nikolaos; Martinez, Laisel; Duque, Juan Camilo; Tabbara, Marwan; Velazquez, Omaida C.; Asif, Arif; Andreopoulos, Fotios; Salman, Loay H.

    2014-01-01

    Stenosis of arteriovenous (A-V) fistulae secondary to neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) compromises dialysis delivery, which worsens patients' quality of life and increases medical costs associated with the maintenance of vascular accesses. In the present study, we evaluated the role of the receptor tyrosine kinase c-Kit in A-V fistula neointima formation. Initially, c-Kit was found in the neointima and adventitia of human brachiobasilic fistulae, whereas it was barely detectable in control veins harvested at the time of access creation. Using the rat A-V fistula model to study venous vascular remodeling, we analyzed the spatial and temporal pattern of c-Kit expression in the fistula wall. Interestingly, c-Kit immunoreactivity increased with time after anastomosis, which concurred with the accumulation of cells in the venous intima. In addition, c-Kit expression in A-V fistulae was positively altered by chronic kidney failure conditions. Both blockade of c-Kit with imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) and inhibition of stem cell factor production with a specific short hairpin RNA prevented NIH in the outflow vein of experimental fistulae. In agreement with these data, impaired c-Kit activity compromised the development of NIH in A-V fistulae created in c-KitW/Wv mutant mice. These results suggest that targeting of the c-Kit signaling pathway may be an effective approach to prevent postoperative NIH in A-V fistulae. PMID:25186298

  17. Dip-strip method for monitoring environmental contamination of aflatoxin in food and feed: use of a portable aflatoxin detection kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sashidhar, R B

    1993-10-01

    Aflatoxin contamination of food and feed have gained global significance due to its deleterious effect on human and animal health and its importance in the international trade. The potential of aflatoxin as a carcinogen, mutagen, teratogen, and immunosuppressive agent is well documented. The problem of aflatoxin contamination of food and feed has led to the enactment of various legislation. However, meaningful strategies for implementation of this legislation is limited by nonavailability of simple, cost-effective method for screening and detection of aflatoxin under field conditions. Keeping in mind the analytical constraints in developing countries, a simple-to-operate, rapid, reliable, and cost-effective portable aflatoxin detection kit has been developed. The important components of the kit include a hand-held UV lamp (365 nm, 4 W output), a solvent blender (12,000 rpm) for toxin extraction, and adsorbent-coated dip-strips (polyester film) for detecting and quantifying aflatoxin. Analysis of variance indicates that there were no significant differences between various batches of dip-strips (p > 0.05). The minimum detection limit for aflatoxin B1 was 10 ppb per spot. The kit may find wide application as a research tool in public health laboratories, environmental monitoring agencies, and in the poultry industry.

  18. Facile synthesis of high quality multi-walled carbon nanotubes on novel 3D KIT-6: application in high performance dye-sensitized solar cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balamurugan, Jayaraman; Pandurangan, Arumugam; Kim, Nam Hoon; Lee, Joong Hee

    2014-12-01

    A novel hard templating strategy for the synthesis of high quality multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a uniform diameter was developed. MWCNTs were successfully synthesized through chemical vapour deposition (CVD) using acetylene by employing 3D bicontinuous mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as a hard template and used as the counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Here, we report that Ni-Cr-KIT-6 and Co-Cr-KIT-6 systems are the most suitable catalysts for the growth of MWCNTs. Raman spectroscopy and TEM analysis revealed that the synthesized MWCNTs were of high quality and well graphitized. Impressively, DSSCs with a MWCNT counter electrode demonstrated high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of up to 10.53%, which was significantly higher than that of 9.87% obtained for a DSSC with a conventional Pt counter electrode. Moreover, MWCNTs had a charge transfer resistance (Rct) of only 0.74 Ω cm2 towards the I3-/I- electrolyte commonly applied in DSSCs, which is several orders of magnitude lower than that of a typical Pt electrode (2.78 Ω cm2). These results indicate that the synthesized MWCNT counter electrodes are versatile candidates that can increase the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSCs.A novel hard templating strategy for the synthesis of high quality multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a uniform diameter was developed. MWCNTs were successfully synthesized through chemical vapour deposition (CVD) using acetylene by employing 3D bicontinuous mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as a hard template and used as the counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Here, we report that Ni-Cr-KIT-6 and Co-Cr-KIT-6 systems are the most suitable catalysts for the growth of MWCNTs. Raman spectroscopy and TEM analysis revealed that the synthesized MWCNTs were of high quality and well graphitized. Impressively, DSSCs with a MWCNT counter electrode demonstrated high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of up to 10.53%, which was

  19. Real-time water quality monitoring and providing water quality ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have initiated the “Village Blue” research project to provide real-time water quality monitoring data to the Baltimore community and increase public awareness about local water quality in Baltimore Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay. The Village Blue demonstration project complements work that a number of state and local organizations are doing to make Baltimore Harbor “swimmable and fishable” 2 by 2020. Village Blue is designed to build upon EPA’s “Village Green” project which provides real-time air quality information to communities in six locations across the country. The presentation, “Real-time water quality monitoring and providing water quality information to the Baltimore Community”, summarizes the Village Blue real-time water quality monitoring project being developed for the Baltimore Harbor.

  20. Monitoring acetylcholinesterase levels in migrant agricultural workers and their children using a portable test kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higgins, G M; Muñiz, J F; McCauley, L A

    2001-02-01

    The EQM Research, Inc., portable test kit was evaluated as a surveillance tool for blood cholinesterase levels among migrant workers and their children. Laboratory validation demonstrated a linear relationship between the reference Ellman and kit methods (Ellman = 0.95 x kit result + 0.82, r2 = 0.98). Pre- and post-season cholinesterase levels measured in 70 farm workers were within normal ranges, but significantly different at 28.5 and 29.7 U/g Hb, respectively (paired t-test, p = 0.014). Results from 98 migrant farm worker children and a comparison group of 53 age-matched non-agricultural children showed that cholinesterase levels were not significantly different between the agricultural and non-agricultural children (ANOVA, p = 0.69). These data demonstrate that a portable test kit can provide useful data pesticide exposures when measurements are made in a temperature-controlled setting.

  1. Environmental Monitoring, Water Quality - MO 2009 Stream Team Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Sites (SHP)

    Data.gov (United States)

    NSGIC State | GIS Inventory — This data set shows the monitoring locations of trained Volunteer Water Quality Monitors. A monitoring site is considered to be a 300 foot section of stream channel....

  2. Air Quality Monitoring: Risk-Based Choices

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, John T.

    2009-01-01

    Air monitoring is secondary to rigid control of risks to air quality. Air quality monitoring requires us to target the credible residual risks. Constraints on monitoring devices are severe. Must transition from archival to real-time, on-board monitoring. Must provide data to crew in a way that they can interpret findings. Dust management and monitoring may be a major concern for exploration class missions.

  3. Real-time video quality monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Tao; Narvekar, Niranjan; Wang, Beibei; Ding, Ran; Zou, Dekun; Cash, Glenn; Bhagavathy, Sitaram; Bloom, Jeffrey

    2011-12-01

    The ITU-T Recommendation G.1070 is a standardized opinion model for video telephony applications that uses video bitrate, frame rate, and packet-loss rate to measure the video quality. However, this model was original designed as an offline quality planning tool. It cannot be directly used for quality monitoring since the above three input parameters are not readily available within a network or at the decoder. And there is a great room for the performance improvement of this quality metric. In this article, we present a real-time video quality monitoring solution based on this Recommendation. We first propose a scheme to efficiently estimate the three parameters from video bitstreams, so that it can be used as a real-time video quality monitoring tool. Furthermore, an enhanced algorithm based on the G.1070 model that provides more accurate quality prediction is proposed. Finally, to use this metric in real-world applications, we present an example emerging application of real-time quality measurement to the management of transmitted videos, especially those delivered to mobile devices.

  4. Monitoring and evaluating soil quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bloem, J.; Schouten, A.J.; Sørensen, S.J.; Rutgers, M.; Werf, van der A.K.; Breure, A.M.

    2006-01-01

    This book provides a selection of microbiological methods that are already applied in regional or national soil quality monitoring programs. It is split into two parts: part one gives an overview of approaches to monitoring, evaluating and managing soil quality. Part two provides a selection of

  5. Subjective video quality comparison of HDTV monitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, G.; Lim, C.; Lee, S.; Lee, C.

    2009-01-01

    HDTV broadcasting services have become widely available. Furthermore, in the upcoming IPTV services, HDTV services are important and quality monitoring becomes an issue, particularly in IPTV services. Consequently, there have been great efforts to develop video quality measurement methods for HDTV. On the other hand, most HDTV programs will be watched on digital TV monitors which include LCD and PDP TV monitors. In general, the LCD and PDP TV monitors have different color characteristics and response times. Furthermore, most commercial TV monitors include post-processing to improve video quality. In this paper, we compare subjective video quality of some commercial HD TV monitors to investigate the impact of monitor type on perceptual video quality. We used the ACR method as a subjective testing method. Experimental results show that the correlation coefficients among the HDTV monitors are reasonable high. However, for some video sequences and impairments, some differences in subjective scores were observed.

  6. Development and Validation of a Kit to Measure Drink Antioxidant Capacity Using a Novel Colorimeter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Priftis, Alexandros; Stagos, Dimitrios; Tzioumakis, Nikolaos; Konstantinopoulos, Konstantinos; Patouna, Anastasia; Papadopoulos, Georgios E; Tsatsakis, Aristides; Kouretas, Dimitrios

    2016-08-30

    Measuring the antioxidant capacity of foods is essential, as a means of quality control to ensure that the final product reaching the consumer will be of high standards. Despite the already existing assays with which the antioxidant activity is estimated, new, faster and low cost methods are always sought. Therefore, we have developed a novel colorimeter and combined it with a slightly modified DPPH assay, thus creating a kit that can assess the antioxidant capacity of liquids (e.g., different types of coffee, beer, wine, juices) in a quite fast and low cost manner. The accuracy of the colorimeter was ensured by comparing it to a fully validated Hitachi U-1900 spectrophotometer, and a coefficient was calculated to eliminate the observed differences. In addition, a new, user friendly software was developed, in order to render the procedure as easy as possible, while allowing a central monitoring of the obtained results. Overall, a novel kit was developed, with which the antioxidant activity of liquids can be measured, firstly to ensure their quality and secondly to assess the amount of antioxidants consumed with the respective food.

  7. Development and Validation of a Kit to Measure Drink Antioxidant Capacity Using a Novel Colorimeter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandros Priftis

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Measuring the antioxidant capacity of foods is essential, as a means of quality control to ensure that the final product reaching the consumer will be of high standards. Despite the already existing assays with which the antioxidant activity is estimated, new, faster and low cost methods are always sought. Therefore, we have developed a novel colorimeter and combined it with a slightly modified DPPH assay, thus creating a kit that can assess the antioxidant capacity of liquids (e.g., different types of coffee, beer, wine, juices in a quite fast and low cost manner. The accuracy of the colorimeter was ensured by comparing it to a fully validated Hitachi U-1900 spectrophotometer, and a coefficient was calculated to eliminate the observed differences. In addition, a new, user friendly software was developed, in order to render the procedure as easy as possible, while allowing a central monitoring of the obtained results. Overall, a novel kit was developed, with which the antioxidant activity of liquids can be measured, firstly to ensure their quality and secondly to assess the amount of antioxidants consumed with the respective food.

  8. Production of sestamibi kit for nuclear imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abdullah, Hakim; Zakaria, Ahmad; Yaacob, Hadzri; Ramli, Jamaluddin [Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan (Malaysia). School of Medical Sciences

    1997-12-01

    One of the research projects undertaken during the implementation of the IAEA Technical Assistance Cooperation Program in our department was inhouse production of sestamibi (MIBI) kit to be labelled with Tc99m pertechnetate for myocardial studies and for malignant tumor imaging. 100 mg raw materials of sestamibi was supplied by IAEA and the kit was prepared based on Janoki recipe. Using 6 mg MIBI, 192 mg glycine, 3.6 mg stannous chloride, 62.4 mg Na sub 4 Po sub 4 and 24 mg cysteine we have prepared 24 vials of MIBI kit under sterile condition and stored in the freezer at -70 degree C. The sterility of the kit was confirmed by microbiological test using cultured method. The stability test was done by labelling the kit with Tc-99m pertechnetate at day 1, 3, 7, 30 and 60 days after kit preparation. Using two system butanone and saline with ITLC the labelling efficiency of Tc-99m (MIBI) was found to be more than 90% in each case. The labelling efficiency was found to maintain at 90% up to 24 hours post reconstitution at room temperature. Biodistribution study was carried out by administering Tc-99m (MIBI) to mice intravenously at the dosage of IOO {mu} Ci per 20 gm body weight. The mice were sacrificed at 3 hours and 24 hours after the dose administration. Blood, heart, lung, intestine, kidney and stomach samples were obtained, weighed and measured for radioactivity using gamma well counter. The data showed that after 3 hours about 60% of the injected dose accumulated in the intestine which was in agreement with IAEA standard. At 24 hours the amount in the heart still remained about 25% of the 3 hour uptake. In house production of MIBI kit is easy, fast and cost effective. The data suggested that the quality of our kit was good enough to be used for further animal research and clinical trials.

  9. Low-cost indigenous radiopharmaceutical kits manufacturing capability: a successful work accomplished in Ethiopia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jorge, Y.; Noronha, O.P.D.

    1998-01-01

    Nuclear Medicine Unit at Black Lion Hospital is the only Nuclear Medicine service giving center in the country. We have been importing Radiopharmaceutical-kits for 10 subsequent years costly, with frequent irregularities, only limited Numbers of kits mainly for Liver, Brain, Thyroid and Kidney imagings. Most of the Nuclear Medicine (NM) diagnostic procedures were not undertaken at our unit, because of unavailability of vital Radiopharmaceutical-kits (Rp-kits) in the country since they were not manufactured in the country. In order to solve this long stranding problem of the country persistent efforts were made. The success in Rp-kits manufacturing indigenously has the advantage of disseminating the NM Technology with in the country also. With the continuous efforts made 7 Aqueous-Rp-kits were manufactured successfully in our unit viza-viz: 1) 99m Tc-s-colloid-for Liver imaging. 2) 99m Tc-DTPA-for Brain + Renal imaging. 3) 99m Tc-MDP-for Bone imaging, 4) 99m Tc-Tin (11) pyrophosphate for in-vivo R,B,C, labelling: (For the study of Blood-Pool and Myocardial Infarction), 5) 99m Tc-Tin(11) Gluconate for Brain + Kidney Static imaging. 6) 99m Tc-Tin(11) Phytate for Liver imaging. 7) 99m Tc-TBI for Myocardial perfusion study. Their physico-chemical behaving patterns were studied and the chemical and biological quality control procedures were conducted upon the indigenously produced kits at the National Drug Quality Control center and they were found to be sterile, apyrogenic and non-toxic. The efficiency of the kits was tested in many patients in our unit and found to be effective and reliable. Aqueous kits produced were observed to be as effective and reliable as their lyophilized counterparts with respect to their physico-chemical properties and biospecificity (organ specificity) but possessing short shelf lives unlike lyophilized kits. (author)

  10. Expression of proto-oncogene KIT is up-regulated in subset of human meningiomas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saini Masum

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background KIT is a proto-oncogene involved in diverse neoplastic processes. Aberrant kinase activity of the KIT receptor has been targeted by tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI therapy in different neoplasias. In all the earlier studies, KIT expression was reported to be absent in meningiomas. However, we observed KIT mRNA expression in some meningioma cases. This prompted us to undertake its detailed analyses in meningioma tissues resected during 2008–2009. Methods Tumor tissues and matched peripheral blood samples collected from meningioma patients were used for detailed molecular analyses. KIT expression was ascertained immunohistochemically and validated by immunoblotting. KIT and KITLG transcript levels were discerned by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR. Similarly, KIT amplification and allele loss were assessed by quantitative real-time (qPCR and validated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH on the neoplastic tissues. Possible alterations of the gene at the nucleotide level were analyzed by sequencing. Results Contrary to earlier reports, KIT expression, was detected immunohistochemically in 20.6% meningioma cases (n = 34. Receptor (KIT and ligand (KITLG transcripts monitored by RT-qPCR were found to co-express (p = 0.048 in most of the KIT immunopositive tumors. 1/7 KIT positive meningiomas showed allele loss corroborated by reduced FISH signal in the corresponding neoplastic tissue. Sequence analysis of KIT showed M541L substitution in exon 10, in one of the immunopositive cases. However, its biological consequence remains to be uncovered. Conclusions This study clearly demonstrates KIT over-expression in the human meningiomas. The data suggest that up-regulated KIT transcription (p  0.05, is a likely mechanism responsible for altered KIT expression. Thus, KIT is a potential candidate for detailed investigation in the context of meningioma pathogenesis.

  11. Expression of proto-oncogene KIT is up-regulated in subset of human meningiomas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saini, Masum; Jha, Ajaya Nand; Abrari, Andleeb; Ali, Sher

    2012-01-01

    KIT is a proto-oncogene involved in diverse neoplastic processes. Aberrant kinase activity of the KIT receptor has been targeted by tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in different neoplasias. In all the earlier studies, KIT expression was reported to be absent in meningiomas. However, we observed KIT mRNA expression in some meningioma cases. This prompted us to undertake its detailed analyses in meningioma tissues resected during 2008–2009. Tumor tissues and matched peripheral blood samples collected from meningioma patients were used for detailed molecular analyses. KIT expression was ascertained immunohistochemically and validated by immunoblotting. KIT and KITLG transcript levels were discerned by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). Similarly, KIT amplification and allele loss were assessed by quantitative real-time (qPCR) and validated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on the neoplastic tissues. Possible alterations of the gene at the nucleotide level were analyzed by sequencing. Contrary to earlier reports, KIT expression, was detected immunohistochemically in 20.6% meningioma cases (n = 34). Receptor (KIT) and ligand (KITLG) transcripts monitored by RT-qPCR were found to co-express (p = 0.048) in most of the KIT immunopositive tumors. 1/7 KIT positive meningiomas showed allele loss corroborated by reduced FISH signal in the corresponding neoplastic tissue. Sequence analysis of KIT showed M541L substitution in exon 10, in one of the immunopositive cases. However, its biological consequence remains to be uncovered. This study clearly demonstrates KIT over-expression in the human meningiomas. The data suggest that up-regulated KIT transcription (p < 0.001), instead of gene amplification (p > 0.05), is a likely mechanism responsible for altered KIT expression. Thus, KIT is a potential candidate for detailed investigation in the context of meningioma pathogenesis

  12. The preparation and clinical use of a radioimmunoassay CA125 kit for the diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Wenshu

    1992-01-01

    A self-made radioimmunoassay CA125 kit (using OC125 monoclonal antibody ascites offered by Dr. Bast Laboratory which was purified, solidified and labelled with 125 I) was used for serum determination in 80 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and in 40 standard antigen samples. The results demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between our self-made CA 125 kit and an imported CENTOCOR CA125 kit (P 125 kit is very useful in monitoring epithelial ovarian cancer

  13. Identification of Performance Problems in a Commercial Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Enzyme Immunoassay by Multiuser External Quality Control Monitoring and Real-Time Data Analysis▿ †

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, J.; Swantee, C.; Lee, B.; Gunning, H.; Chow, A.; Sidaway, F.; Sherlock, C.; Garceau, R.; Dimech, W.; Malloch, L.

    2009-01-01

    In June 2005, a pilot program was implemented in Canadian laboratories to monitor the performance of the Abbott human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1/2) gO enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Two different external quality control (QC) reagents and a “real-time” software analysis program were evaluated. In November 2005, higher-than-expected calibrator rate values in these kits were first reported at the Ontario Ministry of Health (Etobicoke), followed by the Alberta Provincial Public Healt...

  14. Quality control and quality assurance in individual monitoring of ionising radiations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutt, J.C.; Lindborg, L.

    1994-01-01

    This paper describes the programmes and approaches that are to be considered in developing and introducing quality assurance and quality control procedures in individual monitoring services. Quality assurance and quality control in individual monitoring services are essential to maintain quality and are of increasing importance in order to meet the requirements of national regulations and international standards and guidelines. It is recommended here that all organisations offering individual monitoring services should run their services based on the principles of Quality System as given in the European Standard EN45001 and maintain a property resources QA/QC programme as an integral part of their operations. All aspects of QA/QC in individual monitoring services starting from the initial selection, installation, calibration, and operation to the final products including dose reporting, dose record keeping, dealing with customers' complaints and product liability issues have been discussed. (Author)

  15. Evaluation of three high abundance protein depletion kits for umbilical cord serum proteomics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nie Jing

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background High abundance protein depletion is a major challenge in the study of serum/plasma proteomics. Prior to this study, most commercially available kits for depletion of highly abundant proteins had only been tested and evaluated in adult serum/plasma, while the depletion efficiency on umbilical cord serum/plasma had not been clarified. Structural differences between some adult and fetal proteins (such as albumin make it likely that depletion approaches for adult and umbilical cord serum/plasma will be variable. Therefore, the primary purposes of the present study are to investigate the efficiencies of several commonly-used commercial kits during high abundance protein depletion from umbilical cord serum and to determine which kit yields the most effective and reproducible results for further proteomics research on umbilical cord serum. Results The immunoaffinity based kits (PROTIA-Sigma and 5185-Agilent displayed higher depletion efficiency than the immobilized dye based kit (PROTBA-Sigma in umbilical cord serum samples. Both the PROTIA-Sigma and 5185-Agilent kit maintained high depletion efficiency when used three consecutive times. Depletion by the PROTIA-Sigma Kit improved 2DE gel quality by reducing smeared bands produced by the presence of high abundance proteins and increasing the intensity of other protein spots. During image analysis using the identical detection parameters, 411 ± 18 spots were detected in crude serum gels, while 757 ± 43 spots were detected in depleted serum gels. Eight spots unique to depleted serum gels were identified by MALDI- TOF/TOF MS, seven of which were low abundance proteins. Conclusions The immunoaffinity based kits exceeded the immobilized dye based kit in high abundance protein depletion of umbilical cord serum samples and dramatically improved 2DE gel quality for detection of trace biomarkers.

  16. 40 CFR 130.4 - Water quality monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT § 130.4 Water quality monitoring. (a) In accordance with section 106(e)(1...; developing and reviewing water quality standards, total maximum daily loads, wasteload allocations and load... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Water quality monitoring. 130.4...

  17. Development of MIBI kit for heart imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khamis, S.B.; Ab-Wahid, M.

    1998-01-01

    99m Tc-isonitriles have been shown to be a very promising substitute for Thallium-201 ( 201 TI) for myocardial perfusion imaging. In this study, the lyophilized kit of Methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) was prepared and labeled with 99m Tc. Several factors affecting the labeling yield such as the kit's stannous content, boiling time during labeling, and the volume of 99m Tc used during reconstitution were also investigated. The radiochemical purity (RCP) determination of the labeled product was analyzed by HPLC, solvent-extraction, TLC and ITLC-SG chromatographic methods in various systems. Animal biodistribution study performed in rats indicated the 99m Tc-MIBI accumulation in the myocardial is up to 3 hours with little or no redistribution. Toxicity studies performed indicate no clinical signs of abnormality in mice at injected dose equivalent in amount of 100 times the human dose in proportion to body weight. Stability studies of the labeled complex performed at room temperature showed no change in radiochemical purity (> 95%) 6 hours post-preparation. Compatibility and comparative studies were done using both MINT and commercially available MIBI kits and 99m Tc generator eluates. From the results obtained the MINT produced MIBI kits were found to be comparable in quality to that of commercials. (author)

  18. Single vial kit formulation for preparation of PET radiopharmaceutical. 68Ga-DOTA-TOC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Archana Mukherjee; Usha Pandey; Rubel Chakravarty; Ashutosh Dash; Haladhar Dev Sarma

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the development of a lyophilized cold kit of DOTA-[Tyr 3 ]-Octreotide (DOTA-TOC) for instant compounding of 68 Ga-DOTA-TOC, suitable for diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumors. The work involved formulation of DOTA-TOC kits, optimization of radiolabeling, quality control of 68 Ga-DOTA-TOC and animal biodistribution studies. The prepared kits enable a reliable method for preparation of 68 Ga-DOTA-TOC of high radiochemical purity and excellent stability. Availability of such kits along with 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generators is expected to stimulate the widespread use of 68 Ga-DOTA-TOC in nuclear medicine practice in developing countries. (author)

  19. Non-intrusive Quality Analysis of Monitoring Data

    CERN Document Server

    Brightwell, M; Suwalska, Anna

    2010-01-01

    Any large-scale operational system running over a variety of devices requires a monitoring mechanism to assess the health of the overall system. The Technical Infrastructure Monitoring System (TIM) at CERN is one such system, and monitors a wide variety of devices and their properties, such as electricity supplies, device temperatures, liquid flows etc. Without adequate quality assurance, the data collected from such devices leads to false-positives and false-negatives, reducing the effectiveness of the monitoring system. The quality must, however, be measured in a non-intrusive way, so that the critical path of the data flow is not affected by the quality computation. The quality computation should also scale to large volumes of incoming data. To address these challenges, we develop a new statistical module, which monitors the data collected by TIM and reports its quality to the operators. The statistical module uses Oracle RDBMS as the underlying store, and builds hierarchical summaries on the basic events ...

  20. Formulation of MIBI Kit as a heart imaging agent

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Widyastuti; A, Hanafiah; Yunilda; A, Laksmi; Setyowati, Sri; Y Veronika

    1999-01-01

    9 9 m Tc labelled 2-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile(MIBI) has been known as an imaging agent for myocardial perfusion. This radiopharmaceutical preparation gives the same satisfactory result as Thallium- 2 10TI, and presumably could replace 2 01TI because of same advantages. MIBI kit was formulated from MIBI ligand produced by RPC-BATAN which has been characterized and tested for quality. The formula used in this research referred to the formula of imported product(Cardiolite, MIBI kit produced by Dupont), and the quality control testing was performed by comparing some parameters to the imported product. The parameters used for QC testing were radiochemical purity, biodistribution in nice and heart imaging in human volunteer using gamma camera. The result of the experiment showed that the radiochemical purity was 95 % in average, biodistribution in heart to liver gave the ratio of 0.67, 1.5, and 2.53 respectively at 10, 30 and 60 minutes after injection. The result of clinical testing in some volunteers gave contrast images as good as given by Cardiolite. The optimum condition of freeze drying has been found, and the kit can be used for more than 6 months

  1. A decrease in ubiquitination and resulting prolonged life-span of KIT underlies the KIT overexpression-mediated imatinib resistance of KIT mutation-driven canine mast cell tumor cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Masato; Kuroki, Shiori; Kurita, Sena; Miyamoto, Ryo; Tani, Hiroyuki; Tamura, Kyoichi; Bonkobara, Makoto

    2017-10-01

    Overexpression of KIT is one of the mechanisms that contributes to imatinib resistance in KIT mutation-driven tumors. Here, the mechanism underlying this overexpression of KIT was investigated using an imatinib-sensitive canine mast cell tumor (MCT) line CoMS, which has an activating mutation in KIT exon 11. A KIT-overexpressing imatinib-resistant subline, rCoMS1, was generated from CoMS cells by their continuous exposure to increasing concentrations of imatinib. Neither a secondary mutation nor upregulated transcription of KIT was detected in rCoMS1 cells. A decrease in KIT ubiquitination, a prolonged KIT life-span, and KIT overexpression were found in rCoMS1 cells. These events were suppressed by withdrawal of imatinib and were re-induced by re‑treatment with imatinib. These findings suggest that imatinib elicited overexpression of KIT via suppression of its ubiquitination. These results also indicated that imatinib-induced overexpression of KIT in rCoMS1 cells was not a permanently acquired feature but was a reversible response of the cells. Moreover, the pan deubiquitinating enzyme inhibitor PR619 prevented imatinib induction of KIT overexpression, suggesting that the imatinib-induced decrease in KIT ubiquitination could be mediated by upregulation and/or activation of deubiquitinating enzyme(s). It may be possible that a similar mechanism of KIT overexpression underlies the acquisition of imatinib resistance in some human tumors that are driven by KIT mutation.

  2. Fabrication of CANFLEX bundle kit for irradiation test in NRU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Moon Sung; Kwon, Hyuk Il; Ji, Chul Goo; Chang, Ho Il; Sim, Ki Seob; Suk, Ho Chun.

    1997-10-01

    CANFLEX bundle kit was prepared at KAERI for the fabrication of complete bundle at AECL. Completed bundle will be used for irradiation test in NRU. Provisions in the 'Quality Assurance Manual for HWR Fuel Projects,' 'Manufacturing Plan' and 'Quality Verification, Inspection and Test Plan' were implemented as appropriately for the preparation of CANFLEX kit. A set of CANFLEX kit consist of 43 fuel sheath of two different sizes with spacers, bearing pads and buttons attached, 2 pieces of end plates and 86 pieces of end caps with two different sizes. All the documents utilized as references for the fabrication such as drawings, specifications, operating instructions, QC instructions and supplier's certificates are specified in this report. Especially, suppliers' certificates and inspection reports for the purchased material as well as KAERI's inspection report are integrated as attachments to this report. Attached to this report are supplier's certificates and KAERI inspection reports for the procured materials and KAERI QC inspection reports for tubes, pads, spacers, buttons, end caps, end plates and fuel sheath. (author). 37 refs

  3. Tumor markers kits development for use in radioimmunometric assays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmed, B.

    1997-01-01

    The immunoassays such as RIA and IRMA are now widely used through the world for the quantitation of a variety of substances in the biological fluid for their high sensibility and specificity which required simple equipments. These techniques are also very used in Algeria for an effective amelioration of public heath The assays kits of RIA/IRMA of thyroid hormones are the most used, followed by peptidic hormones, steroids hormones and IRMA Tumor Markers (T.M) kits. In spite of the important demand, of tumor markers kits for the diagnosis and follow up of cancers their use are always insufficient due to the high cost. The research contract programme proposed by IAEA on the theme 'The Developments of IRMA Tumor Markers Kits' of prostate specific Antigen (PSA) and Tissue Polypeptide Specific Antigen (TPS) will allowed us to produce locally with best quality-price, the main reagents for PSA and TPS IRMA assays kits for diagnosis and follow up the prostate and breast cancers which are very spready in the country. This report include the following points: Generalities on the use of tumor markers in Algeria, programme for the Development of the PSA IRMA assay (schedule of protocols applied for each reagents; annual planning for assessing the programme activities) and conclusion

  4. Wireless Sensor Network for Indoor Air Quality Monitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Li

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Indoor air quality monitoring system consists of wireless sensor device, nRF24L01 wireless transceiver modules, C8051MCU, STM32103 remote monitoring platform, alarm device and data server. Distributed in the interior space of wireless sensors measure parameters of the local air quality, wireless transceiver module of the MCU to transmit data to the remote monitoring platform for analysis which displayed and stored field environment data or charts. The data collecting from wireless sensors to be send by wireless Access Point to the remote data server based on B/S architecture, intelligent terminals such as mobile phone, laptop, tablet PC on the Internet monitor indoor air quality in real-time. When site environment air quality index data exceeds the threshold in the monitoring device, the remote monitoring platform sends out the alarm SMS signal to inform user by GSM module. Indoor air quality monitoring system uses modular design method, has the portability and scalability has the low manufacture cost, real-time monitoring data and man-machine interaction.

  5. Effect of planecta and ROSE™ on the frequency characteristics of blood pressure-transducer kits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujiwara, Shigeki; Kawakubo, Yoshifumi; Mori, Satoshi; Tachihara, Keiichi; Toyoguchi, Izumi; Yokoyama, Takeshi

    2015-12-01

    Pressure-transducer kits have frequency characteristics such as natural frequency and damping coefficient, which affect the monitoring accuracy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of planecta ports and a damping device (ROSE™, Argon Medical Devices, TX, USA) on the frequency characteristics of pressure-transducer kits. The FloTrac sensor kit (Edwards Lifesciences, CA, USA) and the DTXplus transducer kit (Argon Medical Devices) were prepared with planecta ports, and their frequency characteristics were tested with or without ROSE™. The natural frequency and damping coefficient of each kit were obtained using frequency characteristics analysis software and evaluated by plotting them on the Gardner's chart. By inserting a planecta port, the natural frequency markedly decreased in both the FloTrac sensor kit (from 40 to 22 Hz) and the DTXplus transducer kit (from 35 to 22 Hz). In both kits with one planecta port, the damping coefficient markedly increased by insertion of ROSE™ from 0.2 to 0.5, optimising frequency characteristics. In both kits with two planecta ports, however, the natural frequency decreased from 22 to 12 Hz. The damping coefficient increased from 0.2 to 0.8 by insertion of ROSE™; however, optimisation was not achieved even by ROSE™ insertion. Planecta ports decrease the natural frequency of the kit. ROSE™ is useful to optimise the frequency characteristics in the kits without or with one planecta port. However, optimisation is difficult with two or more planecta ports, even with the ROSE™ device.

  6. Autonomous nutrient detection for water quality monitoring

    OpenAIRE

    Maher, Damien; Cleary, John; Cogan, Deirdre; Diamond, Dermot

    2012-01-01

    The ever increasing demand for real time environmental monitoring is currently being driven by strong legislative and societal drivers. Low cost autonomous environmental monitoring systems are required to meet this demand as current monitoring solutions are insufficient. This poster presents an autonomous nutrient analyser platform for water quality monitoring. Results from a field trial of the nutrient analyser are reported along with current work to expand the range of water quality targ...

  7. First aid kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001958.htm First aid kit To use the sharing features on this ... ahead, you can create a well-stocked home first aid kit. Keep all of your supplies in one ...

  8. Supply kits for antenatal and childbirth care: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleman, Alicia; Tomasso, Giselle; Cafferata, María Luisa; Colomar, Mercedes; Betran, Ana Pilar

    2017-12-13

    It is critical to increase the uptake of interventions proven to be effective to improve maternal and perinatal outcomes. Supply kits have been suggested to be a feasible strategy designed to ensure timely availability and effective follow-up of care. We conducted a systematic review to summarize the evidence on the uptake, effectiveness and safety of supply kits for maternal care. MEDLINE, the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register, Campbell Collaboration, Lilacs, Embase and unpublished studies were searched. Studies that reported the efficacy, safety and use of supply kits for maternal healthcare were eligible. Participants were pregnant women or in childbirth. Supply kits were defined as a collection of medicines, supplies or instruments packaged together with the aim of conducting a healthcare task. Two reviewers independently performed the screening, data extraction, and methodological and quality assessment. 24 studies were included: 4 of them were systematic reviews and 20 primary studies. Eighteen studies evaluated a so-called "clean delivery kit". In all but two studies, the kits were used by more than half of the participants. A meta-analysis was deemed inappropriate due to the heterogeneity in study design, in the components of the interventions implemented, in the content of the kits, and in outcomes. Nine studies assessed neonatal outcomes and found statistically significant reductions in cord infection, sepsis and tetanus-related mortality in the intervention group. Three studies showed evidence of reduced neonatal mortality (OR 0.52, 0.60 and 0.71) with statistically significant confidence intervals in all cases. Four studies reported odd ratios for maternal mortality, but only one showed evidence of a statistically significant decrease in this outcome but it was ascribed to hand washing prior to childbirth and not with the use of kits. This review suggests potential benefits in the use of supply kits to improve maternal and

  9. Automated monitoring of recovered water quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misselhorn, J. E.; Hartung, W. H.; Witz, S. W.

    1974-01-01

    Laboratory prototype water quality monitoring system provides automatic system for online monitoring of chemical, physical, and bacteriological properties of recovered water and for signaling malfunction in water recovery system. Monitor incorporates whenever possible commercially available sensors suitably modified.

  10. [Development and evaluation of a rapid PCR detection kit for Ophiocordyceps sinensis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Fei-Xia; Cao, Jing; Wang, Sha-Sha; Wang, Xi; Yuan, Yuan; Peng, Cheng; Wan, De-Guang; Guo, Jin-Lin

    2017-03-01

    Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine. Due to resource shortage, expensive price and huge market demand, there are many adulterants of O. sinensis in markets. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a rapid and effective method for distinguishing O. sinensis. Based on the species-specific PCR of O. sinensis, this study developed a detection kit by optimizing the components and evaluated the specificity, detection limit, repeatability and shelf life of the kit. The results showed that when the quality of O. sinensis accounted for more than 1/200 of that mixture, it could be detected successfully. Moreover, only O. sinensis could be amplified and glowed bright green fluorescence under ultraviolet light. The kit was still in effect when it was placed at 37 ℃ for three days, which indicated that it was stable and effective for one year stored in 4 ℃. The kit in the same batch under different operation conditions, and in different batch under the same operation conditions gave the same result and accuracy, which showed good repeatability of the kit. It is simple, rapid and accurate to distinguish O. sinensis from its adulterants using the kit, and lays the foundation for commercialization of traditional Chinese medicine fast detection kit. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  11. Analysis of KIT expression and KIT exon 11 mutations in canine oral malignant melanomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murakami, A; Mori, T; Sakai, H; Murakami, M; Yanai, T; Hoshino, Y; Maruo, K

    2011-09-01

    KIT, a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase, is one of the specific targets for anti-cancer therapy. In humans, its expression and mutations have been identified in malignant melanomas and therapies using molecular-targeted agents have been promising in these tumours. As human malignant melanoma, canine malignant melanoma is a fatal disease with metastases and the poor response has been observed with all standard protocols. In our study, KIT expression and exon 11 mutations in dogs with histologically confirmed malignant oral melanomas were evaluated. Although 20 of 39 cases were positive for KIT protein, there was no significant difference between KIT expression and overall survival. Moreover, polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of KIT exon 11 in 17 samples did not detect any mutations and proved disappointing. For several reasons, however, KIT expression and mutations of various exons including exon 11 should be investigated in more cases. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  12. Composition of lyophilized kit for radiopharmaceutical 99mTc-DTPA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovacheva, S.P.; Bychvarova, K.A.; Donev, T.N.

    1988-01-01

    The composition finds application for functional radioisotope studies of kidneys and brain. The radiopharmaceuticals, obtained from lyophilized kit with this composition possess a high radiochemical purity, long shelf life and minimal content of reduced hydrolised technetium. They are stable in vivo and in vitro and ensure high quality of examinations at low body background. The composition of the lyophilized kit is based on diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, tin dichloride dihydrate and ascorbic acid accordingly in relation 61:1:1 and concentrations 10.4 mg, 0.17 mg and 0.17 mg. 1 cl

  13. Recommendations for adaptation and validation of commercial kits for biomarker quantification in drug development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Masood U; Bowsher, Ronald R; Cameron, Mark; Devanarayan, Viswanath; Keller, Steve; King, Lindsay; Lee, Jean; Morimoto, Alyssa; Rhyne, Paul; Stephen, Laurie; Wu, Yuling; Wyant, Timothy; Lachno, D Richard

    2015-01-01

    Increasingly, commercial immunoassay kits are used to support drug discovery and development. Longitudinally consistent kit performance is crucial, but the degree to which kits and reagents are characterized by manufacturers is not standardized, nor are the approaches by users to adapt them and evaluate their performance through validation prior to use. These factors can negatively impact data quality. This paper offers a systematic approach to assessment, method adaptation and validation of commercial immunoassay kits for quantification of biomarkers in drug development, expanding upon previous publications and guidance. These recommendations aim to standardize and harmonize user practices, contributing to reliable biomarker data from commercial immunoassays, thus, enabling properly informed decisions during drug development.

  14. Advantage of using a home-made ELISA kit for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection over commercially imported kits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi, M; Talebkhan, Y; Khalili, G; Mahboudi, F; Massarrat, S; Zamaninia, L; Oghalaei, A

    2008-01-01

    To evaluate a home-made ELISA kit for detection of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection and comparison of its immunologic criteria with those of foreign commercial kits. A home-made IgG ELISA kit was developed using soluble antigenic fractions of Hp proteins. Confirmed sera were tested and serological criteria were evaluated through assessment of 199 serum samples. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity values of home-made kit were 92, 92 and 90.4%, respectively. These immunologic criteria for Trinity kit were 95.2, 95.2 and 95% in comparison with IBL kit (91.3, 92.2 and 88.5%), BIOHIT kit (72.4, 41.6 and 94.1%) and HelicoBlot2.1 (94.2, 93.4 and 100%). Kappa agreement assessment demonstrated that two of the imported ELISA kits had fair to moderate agreement with the home-made kit while the other one had a poor agreement value. Apart from comparable values between the home-made kit and the most efficient imported kit (Trinity) there was significant cost benefit. Therefore, we recommend the home-made kit as a suitable substitution for detection of Hp infection in the Iranian population.

  15. Advantage of using a home-made elisa kit for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection over commercially imported kits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammadi M

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To evaluate a home-made ELISA kit for detection of Helicobacter pylori (Hp infection and comparison of its immunologic criteria with those of foreign commercial kits. Methods: A home-made IgG ELISA kit was developed using soluble antigenic fractions of Hp proteins. Confirmed sera were tested and serological criteria were evaluated through assessment of 199 serum samples. Results: The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity values of home-made kit were 92, 92 and 90.4%, respectively. These immunologic criteria for Trinity kit were 95.2, 95.2 and 95% in comparison with IBL kit (91.3, 92.2 and 88.5%, BIOHIT kit (72.4, 41.6 and 94.1% and HelicoBlot2.1 (94.2, 93.4 and 100%. Kappa agreement assessment demonstrated that two of the imported ELISA kits had fair to moderate agreement with the home-made kit while the other one had a poor agreement value. Conclusions: Apart from comparable values between the home-made kit and the most efficient imported kit (Trinity there was significant cost benefit. Therefore, we recommend the home-made kit as a suitable substitution for detection of Hp infection in the Iranian population.

  16. Quality assurance and quality control for Hydro-Quebec's ambient air monitoring networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambert, M.; Varfalvy, L.

    1993-01-01

    Hydro Quebec has three ambient air monitoring networks to determine the contribution of some of its thermal plants to ambient air quality. They are located in Becancour (gas turbines), Iles-de-la-Madeleine (diesel), and Tracy (conventional oil-fired). To ensure good quality results and consistency between networks, a quality assurance/quality control program was set up. A description is presented of the ambient air quality monitoring network and the quality assurance/quality control program. A guide has been created for use by the network operators, discussing objectives of the individual network, a complete description of each network, field operation for each model of instrument in use, treatment of data for each data logger in use, global considerations regarding quality assurance and control, and reports. A brief overview is presented of the guide's purpose and contents, focusing on the field operation section and the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide monitors. 6 figs., 1 tab

  17. Improving and monitoring air quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DuPont, André

    2018-05-01

    Since the authorization of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the air quality in the USA has significantly improved because of strong public support. The lessons learned over the last 25 years are being shared with the policy analysts, technical professionals, and scientist who endeavor to improve air quality in their communities. This paper will review how the USA has achieved the "high" standard of air quality that was envisioned in the early 1990s. This document will describe SO 2 gas emission reduction technology and highlight operation of emission monitoring technology. This paper describes the basic process operation of an air pollution control scrubber. A technical review of measures required to operate and maintain a large-scale pollution control system will be described. Also, the author explains how quality assurance procedures in performance of continuous emission monitoring plays a significant role in reducing air pollution.

  18. Portable water quality monitoring system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nizar, N. B.; Ong, N. R.; Aziz, M. H. A.; Alcain, J. B.; Haimi, W. M. W. N.; Sauli, Z.

    2017-09-01

    Portable water quality monitoring system was a developed system that tested varied samples of water by using different sensors and provided the specific readings to the user via short message service (SMS) based on the conditions of the water itself. In this water quality monitoring system, the processing part was based on a microcontroller instead of Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) machines to receive the results. By using four main sensors, this system obtained the readings based on the detection of the sensors, respectively. Therefore, users can receive the readings through SMS because there was a connection between Arduino Uno and GSM Module. This system was designed to be portable so that it would be convenient for users to carry it anywhere and everywhere they wanted to since the processor used is smaller in size compared to the LCR machines. It was also developed to ease the user to monitor and control the water quality. However, the ranges of the sensors' detection still a limitation in this study.

  19. No Reference Video-Quality-Assessment Model for Monitoring Video Quality of IPTV Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamagishi, Kazuhisa; Okamoto, Jun; Hayashi, Takanori; Takahashi, Akira

    Service providers should monitor the quality of experience of a communication service in real time to confirm its status. To do this, we previously proposed a packet-layer model that can be used for monitoring the average video quality of typical Internet protocol television content using parameters derived from transmitted packet headers. However, it is difficult to monitor the video quality per user using the average video quality because video quality depends on the video content. To accurately monitor the video quality per user, a model that can be used for estimating the video quality per video content rather than the average video quality should be developed. Therefore, to take into account the impact of video content on video quality, we propose a model that calculates the difference in video quality between the video quality of the estimation-target video and the average video quality estimated using a packet-layer model. We first conducted extensive subjective quality assessments for different codecs and video sequences. We then model their characteristics based on parameters related to compression and packet loss. Finally, we verify the performance of the proposed model by applying it to unknown data sets different from the training data sets used for developing the model.

  20. A nuclear source: a resource kit for teachers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hawkins, Gay.

    1992-01-01

    The aim of this Resource Kit is to provide information, diagrams, overheads and classroom activities, set in an Australian context, to broaden and enrich the teaching of nuclear science from both technical and social science aspects. It has been written to address the the Australian secondary school syllabuses and reflects this in both its format and contents. Emphasis has been given to the applications of nuclear physics to our lives today, from new medical diagnostic techniques to efficient methods of monitoring our own environment. This Resource Kit is a valuable source of information not readily available to teachers from textbooks. It provides a unique opportunity to present the picture in Australia, making us all more aware of Australia's front line in Australia, making us all more aware of Australia's front line role in nuclear research. The kit is meant to be used in conjunction with current textbooks, to complement and enrich them. The kit begins with a review of the many applications of nuclear science in order to provide a broad concrete base to motivate students to discover more of the specific details of the basic discoveries contained in the later sections. Topics such as the Structure of the Atom, which are well documented in textbooks, have been approached in a more creative and less rigorous manner to give teachers a fresh approach to the topic. The kit is divided into 10 separate sections and presented in loose-leaf form to facilitate its use in the classroom. Diagrams are inserted into the text to clarify and enrich descriptions, as well as being provided at the back of each section as black line masters for photocopying and overhead projections. ills., tabs

  1. A Two-Year Water Quality Monitoring Curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glazer, Richard B.; And Others

    The Environmental Protection Agency developed this curriculum to train technicians to monitor water quality. Graduates of the program should be able to monitor municipal, industrial, and commercial discharges; test drinking water for purity; and determine quality of aquatic environments. The program includes algebra, communication skills, biology,…

  2. Malaria rapid diagnostic kits: quality of packaging, design and labelling of boxes and components and readability and accuracy of information inserts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruggeman Cathrien

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The present study assessed malaria RDT kits for adequate and correct packaging, design and labelling of boxes and components. Information inserts were studied for readability and accuracy of information. Methods Criteria for packaging, design, labelling and information were compiled from Directive 98/79 of the European Community (EC, relevant World Health Organization (WHO documents and studies on end-users' performance of RDTs. Typography and readability level (Flesch-Kincaid grade level were assessed. Results Forty-two RDT kits from 22 manufacturers were assessed, 35 of which had evidence of good manufacturing practice according to available information (i.e. CE-label affixed or inclusion in the WHO list of ISO13485:2003 certified manufacturers. Shortcomings in devices were (i insufficient place for writing sample identification (n = 40 and (ii ambiguous labelling of the reading window (n = 6. Buffer vial labels were lacking essential information (n = 24 or were of poor quality (n = 16. Information inserts had elevated readability levels (median Flesch Kincaid grade 8.9, range 7.1 - 12.9 and user-unfriendly typography (median font size 8, range 5 - 10. Inadequacies included (i no referral to biosafety (n = 18, (ii critical differences between depicted and real devices (n = 8, (iii figures with unrealistic colours (n = 4, (iv incomplete information about RDT line interpretations (n = 31 and no data on test characteristics (n = 8. Other problems included (i kit names that referred to Plasmodium vivax although targeting a pan-species Plasmodium antigen (n = 4, (ii not stating the identity of the pan-species antigen (n = 2 and (iii slight but numerous differences in names displayed on boxes, device packages and information inserts. Three CE labelled RDT kits produced outside the EC had no authorized representative affixed and the shape and relative dimensions of the CE symbol affixed did not comply with the Directive 98/79/EC

  3. Malaria rapid diagnostic kits: quality of packaging, design and labelling of boxes and components and readability and accuracy of information inserts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillet, Philippe; Maltha, Jessica; Hermans, Veerle; Ravinetto, Raffaella; Bruggeman, Cathrien; Jacobs, Jan

    2011-02-13

    The present study assessed malaria RDT kits for adequate and correct packaging, design and labelling of boxes and components. Information inserts were studied for readability and accuracy of information. Criteria for packaging, design, labelling and information were compiled from Directive 98/79 of the European Community (EC), relevant World Health Organization (WHO) documents and studies on end-users' performance of RDTs. Typography and readability level (Flesch-Kincaid grade level) were assessed. Forty-two RDT kits from 22 manufacturers were assessed, 35 of which had evidence of good manufacturing practice according to available information (i.e. CE-label affixed or inclusion in the WHO list of ISO13485:2003 certified manufacturers). Shortcomings in devices were (i) insufficient place for writing sample identification (n=40) and (ii) ambiguous labelling of the reading window (n=6). Buffer vial labels were lacking essential information (n=24) or were of poor quality (n=16). Information inserts had elevated readability levels (median Flesch Kincaid grade 8.9, range 7.1-12.9) and user-unfriendly typography (median font size 8, range 5-10). Inadequacies included (i) no referral to biosafety (n=18), (ii) critical differences between depicted and real devices (n=8), (iii) figures with unrealistic colours (n=4), (iv) incomplete information about RDT line interpretations (n=31) and no data on test characteristics (n=8). Other problems included (i) kit names that referred to Plasmodium vivax although targeting a pan-species Plasmodium antigen (n=4), (ii) not stating the identity of the pan-species antigen (n=2) and (iii) slight but numerous differences in names displayed on boxes, device packages and information inserts. Three CE labelled RDT kits produced outside the EC had no authorized representative affixed and the shape and relative dimensions of the CE symbol affixed did not comply with the Directive 98/79/EC. Overall, RDTs with evidence of GMP scored better

  4. Determination of Sn in 99mTc Radiopharmaceutical Kits by Polarographic Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castro, M.; Cruz, J.; Sanchez, M.

    2009-01-01

    Kits of 99 m Tc radiopharmaceuticals are used in nuclear medicine for diagnosis of different diseases. Sn (II) is one of the essential components in their formulations, which is used for reduction 99 m Tc-pertechnetate in cold kits for on-site preparation 99 m Tc-pertechnetate radiopharmaceuticals. Usually, these cold kits contain different additives (complexing agents, antioxidants, buffers, etc.) and the amount of Sn (II) varies from kit to kit. The determination of Sn in these products is essential in assessing their quality. We report here the development of a new polarographic method for the determination of Sn (II) and total Sn in representative radiopharmaceuticals kits (for the content of Sn and chemical composition) produced at the Center of Isotopes of Cuba (CENTIS). These methods were validated by analysis of variance and recovery techniques. From the results of the validation, the characteristic functions of uncertainties and fits are considered for the established methods, which give the necessary evidences to demonstrate the usefulness of these methods according to the current trends in Analytical Chemistry. This work provides practical results of great importance for CENTIS. After the speciation of Sn in the MAG3 radiopharmaceuticals kit is inferred that the production process is affected by uncontrolled factors that influence in the product stability, which demonstrates the necessity for analytical tools for the characterization of products and processes. (Author) 57 refs.

  5. Exploit Kit traffic analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Καπίρης, Σταμάτης; Kapiris, Stamatis

    2017-01-01

    Exploit kits have become one of the most widespread and destructive threat that Internet users face on a daily basis. Since the first actor, which has been categorized as exploit kit, namely MPack, appeared in 2006, we have seen a new era on exploit kit variants compromising popular websites, infecting hosts and delivering destructive malware, following an exponentially evolvement to date. With the growing threat landscape, large enterprises to domestic networks, have starte...

  6. A national survey of home-based care kits for palliative HIV/AIDS care in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mabude, Z A; Beksinska, M E; Ramkissoon, A; Wood, S; Folsom, M

    2008-09-01

    The objective of this study was to assess home-based care (HBC) kits and programs in South Africa to evaluate the feasibility of scaling up kit production and distribution. South African HBC organizations received structured questionnaires; key informant interviews and a literature review were completed to assess systems for production, distribution and supply of HBC kits. Meetings with stakeholders were held in two Provinces to share and analyze the study findings. The study team distributed questionnaires to 466 organizations and conducted interviews with representatives from 45 organizations, the Provincial Department of Health (DoH) and manufacturers of kits. All identifiable HBC organizations in South Africa were included in the survey. As a result 215 HBC organizations returned questionnaires; including non-governmental organizations (56%), community-based organizations (32%) and organizations affiliated with government health departments. Two types of kits were available: a home kit and a professional kit. The demand for HBC kits exceeded availability, kit contents and availability varied considerably and the supply chain was irregular. Kit production and distribution systems were fragmented. Replenishment of kit items was problematic. End-users are mostly caregivers who have not received adequate training on their use. The study shows that substantial work has been done by HBC organizations in South Africa to respond to the need for palliative care supplies within resource constraints. The growing demand for kits exceeds the supply. There is a need to improve the supply chain management of HBC kits, strengthen referral systems and links between community-based organizations and government departments, expand training opportunities for care givers, and develop monitoring and evaluation systems.

  7. Design and implementation air quality monitoring robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yuanhua; Li, Jie; Qi, Chunxue

    2017-01-01

    Robot applied in environmental protection can break through the limitations in working environment, scope and mode of the existing environmental monitoring and pollution abatement equipments, which undertake the innovation and improvement in the basin, atmosphere, emergency and pollution treatment facilities. Actually, the relevant technology is backward with limited research and investment. Though the device companies have achieved some results in the study on the water quality monitoring, pipeline monitoring and sewage disposal, this technological progress on the whole is still much slow, and the mature product has not been formed. As a result, the market urges a demand of a new type of device which is more suitable for environmental protection on the basis of robot successfully applied in other fields. This paper designs and realizes a tracked mobile robot of air quality monitoring, which can be used to monitor air quality for the pollution accident in industrial parks and regular management.

  8. Progress and lessons learned from water-quality monitoring networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Donna N.; Ludtke, Amy S.

    2017-01-01

    Stream-quality monitoring networks in the United States were initiated and expanded after passage of successive federal water-pollution control laws from 1948 to 1972. The first networks addressed information gaps on the extent and severity of stream pollution and served as early warning systems for spills. From 1965 to 1972, monitoring networks expanded to evaluate compliance with stream standards, track emerging issues, and assess water-quality status and trends. After 1972, concerns arose regarding the ability of monitoring networks to determine if water quality was getting better or worse and why. As a result, monitoring networks adopted a hydrologic systems approach targeted to key water-quality issues, accounted for human and natural factors affecting water quality, innovated new statistical methods, and introduced geographic information systems and models that predict water quality at unmeasured locations. Despite improvements, national-scale monitoring networks have declined over time. Only about 1%, or 217, of more than 36,000 US Geological Survey monitoring sites sampled from 1975 to 2014 have been operated throughout the four decades since passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Efforts to sustain monitoring networks are important because these networks have collected information crucial to the description of water-quality trends over time and are providing information against which to evaluate future trends.

  9. Employee quality, monitoring environment and internal control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunli Liu

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the effect of internal control employees (ICEs on internal control quality. Using special survey data from Chinese listed firms, we find that ICE quality has a significant positive influence on internal control quality. We examine the effect of monitoring on this result and find that the effect is more pronounced for firms with strict monitoring environments, especially when the firms implement the Chinese internal control regulation system (CSOX, have higher institutional ownership or attach greater importance to internal control. Our findings suggest that ICEs play an important role in the design and implementation of internal control systems. Our study should be of interest to both top managers who wish to improve corporate internal control quality and regulators who wish to understand the mechanisms of internal control monitoring.

  10. Employee quality, monitoring environment and internal control

    OpenAIRE

    Chunli Liu; Bin Lin; Wei Shu

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the effect of internal control employees (ICEs) on internal control quality. Using special survey data from Chinese listed firms, we find that ICE quality has a significant positive influence on internal control quality. We examine the effect of monitoring on this result and find that the effect is more pronounced for firms with strict monitoring environments, especially when the firms implement the Chinese internal control regulation system (CSOX), have higher institutional ow...

  11. Comparison of Thyroglobulin Measurements Using Three Different Immunoassay Kits: A BRAMHS Tg-Plus RIA Kit, a BRAMHS hTg Sensitive Kryptor Kit, and a Beckman Coulter ACCESS Immunoassay Kit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mijin Kim

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundSecond-generation thyroglobulin immunometric assays (Tg-IMAs have been developed with improved sensitivity. Our aim was to compare the diagnostic value of Tg-IMA measurements using a Kryptor (BRAHMS AG kit (Tg-K and an ACCESS (Beckman Coulter kit (Tg-A with that of the first-generation Tg measurement using a Tg-plus (BRAHMS AG kit (Tg+.MethodsWe enrolled 82 differentiated thyroid cancer patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with radioactive iodine remnant ablation and who underwent diagnostic whole body scan using recombinant human thyroid stimulating hormone (rhTSH. The Tg+, Tg-K, and Tg-A were measured before rhTSH administration during levothyroxine treatment (suppressed Tg from the same sample. Serum Tg+ was measured after rhTSH stimulation (stimulated Tg.ResultsSuppressed Tg+ was more significantly correlated with suppressed Tg-K (R2=0.919, P<0.001 than with suppressed Tg-A (R2=0.536, P<0.001. The optimal cut-off values of suppressed Tg+, Tg-K, and Tg-A for predicting stimulated Tg+ of 1 ng/mL were 0.3, 0.2, and 0.2 ng/mL, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of suppressed Tg+ were 67%, 100%, and 90%, respectively; those of suppressed Tg-K were 83%, 90%, and 88%; those of suppressed Tg-A were 96%, 82%, and 87%, respectively. The positive predictive and negative predictive values of Tg+ were 100% and 87%, respectively; those of Tg-K were 79% and 92%; and those of Tg-A were 73% and 98%.ConclusionWe could not clearly demonstrate which kit had better diagnostic performance after comparison of first-generation Tg measurements with Tg-IMA measurements. Also, there were kit-to-kit variations between Tg-IMA kits. Suppressed Tg measured by Tg-IMA was insufficient to completely substitute for a stimulated Tg measurement.

  12. Benchmarking Tool Kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canadian Health Libraries Association.

    Nine Canadian health libraries participated in a pilot test of the Benchmarking Tool Kit between January and April, 1998. Although the Tool Kit was designed specifically for health libraries, the content and approach are useful to other types of libraries as well. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to…

  13. Advanced monitoring of wastewater quality: data collection and data quality assurance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alferes, Janelcy; Lamaire-Chad, C.; Chhetri, Ravi Kumar

    and in evaluating the impact of discharges on the receiving water bodies. As measurements are carried out under arduous conditions, practical implementation of such monitoring systems entails several challenges, and automation of data collection and data quality assessment has been recognised as a critical issue....... In this paper, a data quality assessment strategy is presented to achieve efficient water quality monitoring in real-world scenarios. Next to practical aspects concerning installation and maintenance of sensors, the paper also presents a software tool aimed at assessing the quality of the data being collected....... In this paper, results showed the successful implementation of the proposed strategy for collection of water quality data at the inlet of a wastewater treatment plant....

  14. Using business intelligence to monitor clinical quality metrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Resetar, Ervina; Noirot, Laura A; Reichley, Richard M; Storey, Patricia; Skiles, Ann M; Traynor, Patrick; Dunagan, W Claiborne; Bailey, Thomas C

    2007-10-11

    BJC HealthCare (BJC) uses a number of industry standard indicators to monitor the quality of services provided by each of its hospitals. By establishing an enterprise data warehouse as a central repository of clinical quality information, BJC is able to monitor clinical quality performance in a timely manner and improve clinical outcomes.

  15. Qualidade do solo avaliada pelo "Soil Quality Kit Test" em dois experimentos de longa duração no Rio Grande do Sul Soil Quality Evaluated by "Soil Quality Kit" in two long-term soil management experiments in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Telmo Jorge Carneiro Amado

    2007-02-01

    agregados, N-NO3- + N-NO2- e respiração do solo foram os mais eficientes em discriminar a QS. O KQS foi eficiente em avaliar a QS dos tratamentos nas duas áreas experimentais. Os níveis mais elevados de QS foram alcançados nos tratamentos com plantio direto e consórcio de gramíneas e leguminosas tropicais, devido à cobertura do solo e às elevadas adições de C e N via resíduos culturais.The soil quality (SQ evaluation is an important part of agricultural planning. It allows the identification and improvement of high-yielding management systems with characteristics of environment preservation. This study was carried out in two long-term soil management experiments (10 and 15 years in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Soil Quality Kit (SQK developed by the Soil Quality Institute - ARS - USDA, compared to traditional soil science methods. Twelve treatments of cropping and tillage systems in a range of different tillage intensities, biomass input amounts and urea-N fertilization (0 to 144 kg ha-1 were evaluated. A native vegetation field close to each experimental area was sampled as reference treatment. The following SQ indicators: water infiltration, soil respiration, soil density, N-NO3- + N-NO2-, water aggregate stability and pH were evaluated. The correlation between the SQK and soil science methods was generally high. The highest correlation was observed with pH (r = 0.98 and the lowest for infiltration (r = 0.42. The soil management treatments were theoretically classified by crescent SQ order. The carbon pool index (CPI was obtained dividing soil organic carbon stock of each treatment by native vegetation soil organic carbon 0 to 5 cm deep. The CPI reproduces the SQ classification efficiently. Aggregate stability, soil respiration and N-NO3- + N-NO2- were the most efficient indicators at discriminating SQ. The Soil Quality Test Kit was an efficient tool to evaluate the soil quality in

  16. Air Quality Monitoring Programme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.

    The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality (LMP) network. The aim has been to follow the concentration levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the trends, to perform source...... apportionment, and to evaluate the chemical reactions and the dispersion of the pollutants in the atmosphere. In 2002 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. NO2 and PM10 were at several stations found in concentrations above the new EU limit values, which the Member...

  17. Quality and Safety of Home ICP Monitoring Compared with In-Hospital Monitoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andresen, Morten; Juhler, Marianne; Munch, Tina Nørgaard

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring is usually conducted in-hospital using stationary devices. Modern mobile ICP monitoring systems present new monitoring possibilities more closely following the patients' daily life. We reviewed patient safety, quality of technical data...

  18. The ALICE data quality monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haller, B von; Roukoutakis, F; Chapeland, S; Carena, F; Carena, W; Barroso, V Chibante; Costa, F; Divia, R; Fuchs, U; Makhlyueva, I; Schossmaier, K; Soos, C; Vyvre, P Vande; Altini, V

    2010-01-01

    ALICE is one of the four experiments installed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), especially designed for the study of heavy-ion collisions. The online Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) is an important part of the data acquisition (DAQ) software. It involves the online gathering, the analysis by user-defined algorithms and the visualization of monitored data. This paper presents the final design, as well as the latest and coming features, of the ALICE's specific DQM software called AMORE (Automatic MonitoRing Environment). It describes the challenges we faced during its implementation, including the performances issues, and how we tested and handled them, in particular by using a scalable and robust publish-subscribe architecture.We also review the on-going and increasing adoption of this tool amongst the ALICE collaboration and the measures taken to develop, in synergy with their respective teams, efficient monitoring modules for the sub-detectors. The related packaging and release procedure needed by such a distributed framework is also described. We finally overview the wide range of usages people make of this framework, and we review our own experience, before and during the LHC start-up, when monitoring the data quality on both the sub-detectors and the DAQ side in a real-world and challenging environment.

  19. Air Quality Monitoring System and Benchmarking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Xiufeng; Nielsen, Per Sieverts

    2017-01-01

    Air quality monitoring has become an integral part of smart city solutions. This paper presents an air quality monitoring system based on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, and establishes a cloud-based platform to address the challenges related to IoT data management and processing capabilit...... capabilities, including data collection, storage, analysis, and visualization. In addition, this paper also benchmarks four state-of-the-art database systems to investigate the appropriate technologies for managing large-scale IoT datasets....

  20. [Consistency study of PowerPlex 21 kit and Goldeneye 20A kit and forensic application].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, He; Liu, Ying; Zhang, Qing-Xia; Jiao, Zhang-Ping

    2014-06-01

    To ensure the consistency of genotype results for PowerPlex 21 kit and Goldeneye 20A kit. The STR loci were amplified in DNA samples from 205 unrelated individuals in Beijing Han population. And consistency of 19 overlap STR loci typing were observed. The genetic polymorphism of D1S1656 locus was obtained. All 19 overlap loci typing showed consistent. The proportion of peak height of heterozygous loci in two kits showed no statistical difference (P > 0.05). The observed heterozygosis of D1S1656 was 0.878. The discrimination power was 0.949. The excluding probability of paternity of triplet was 0.751. The excluding probability of paternity of diploid was 0.506. The polymorphism information content was 0.810. PowerPlex 21 kit and Goldeneye 20A kit present a good consistency. The primer design is reasonable. The polymorphism of D1S1656 is good. The two kits can be used for human genetic analysis, paternity test, and individual identification in forensic practice.

  1. Data quality assurance in monitoring of wastewater quality: Univariate on-line and off-line methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alferes, J.; Poirier, P.; Lamaire-Chad, C.

    To make water quality monitoring networks useful for practice, the automation of data collection and data validation still represents an important challenge. Efficient monitoring depends on careful quality control and quality assessment. With a practical orientation a data quality assurance proce...

  2. Near-facility environmental monitoring quality assurance project plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKinney, S.M.

    1997-01-01

    This Quality Assurance Project Plan addresses the quality assurance requirements for the activities associated with the preoperational and near facility environmental monitoring performed by Waste Management Federal Services, Inc., Northwest Operations and supersedes WHC-EP-0538-2. This plan applies to all sampling and monitoring activities performed by waste management Federal Services, Inc., Northwest Operations in implementing facility environmental monitoring at the Hanford Site

  3. COMPARISON OF COMMERCIAL DNA KITS AND TRADITIONAL DNA EXTRACTION PROCEDURE IN PCR DETECTION OF PORK IN DRY/FERMENTED SAUSAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivona Djurkin Kušec

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In the present study four commercially available DNA extraction kits (Wizard® Genomic DNA Purification Kit, High Pure PCR Template Kit, DNeasy mericon Food and GeneJET PCR Purification Kit, as well as standard phenol/chloroform isolation technique have been evaluated regarding their concentration, purity and suitability for amplification of porcine DNA in dry/fermented sausages. The isolates were assessed for quantity and quality using spectrophotometer (IMPLEN GmbH, Germany. To verify template usability and quality of isolated DNA, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR targeting at porcine cytochrome b by species specific primers was used. The comparison of extraction methods revealed satisfactory efficiency and purity of all extraction kits, while with standard phenol/chloroform isolation method high concentrations of DNA with low A260/280 were obtained. However, all the investigated techniques proved to be suitable for identification of porcine DNA in dry/fermented sausage. Thus, the standard phenol/chloroform DNA extraction method, as the cost-effective one, can be recommended as a good alternative to more expensive isolation kits when investigating the presence of pork DNA in dry/ fermented meat products.

  4. The ALICE data quality monitoring system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haller, B von; Telesca, A; Chapeland, S; Carena, F; Carena, W; Barroso, V Chibante; Costa, F; Denes, E; Divià, R; Fuchs, U; Simonetti, G; Soós, C; Vyvre, P Vande

    2011-01-01

    ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the heavy-ion detector designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The online Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) is a key element of the Data Acquisition's software chain. It provide shifters with precise and complete information to quickly identify and overcome problems, and as a consequence to ensure acquisition of high quality data. DQM typically involves the online gathering, the analysis by user-defined algorithms and the visualization of monitored data. This paper describes the final design of ALICE'S DQM framework called AMORE (Automatic MOnitoRing Environment), as well as its latest and coming features like the integration with the offline analysis and reconstruction framework, a better use of multi-core processors by a parallelization effort, and its interface with the eLogBook. The concurrent collection and analysis of data in an online environment requires the framework to be highly efficient, robust and scalable. We will describe what has been implemented to achieve these goals and the procedures we follow to ensure appropriate robustness and performance. We finally review the wide range of usages people make of this framework, from the basic monitoring of a single sub-detector to the most complex ones within the High Level Trigger farm or using the Prompt Reconstruction and we describe the various ways of accessing the monitoring results. We conclude with our experience, before and after the LHC startup, when monitoring the data quality in a challenging environment.

  5. The ALICE data quality monitoring system

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Haller, B.; Telesca, A.; Chapeland, S.; Carena, F.; Carena, W.; Chibante Barroso, V.; Costa, F.; Denes, E.; Divià, R.; Fuchs, U.; Simonetti, G.; Soós, C.; Vande Vyvre, P.; ALICE Collaboration

    2011-12-01

    ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the heavy-ion detector designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The online Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) is a key element of the Data Acquisition's software chain. It provide shifters with precise and complete information to quickly identify and overcome problems, and as a consequence to ensure acquisition of high quality data. DQM typically involves the online gathering, the analysis by user-defined algorithms and the visualization of monitored data. This paper describes the final design of ALICE'S DQM framework called AMORE (Automatic MOnitoRing Environment), as well as its latest and coming features like the integration with the offline analysis and reconstruction framework, a better use of multi-core processors by a parallelization effort, and its interface with the eLogBook. The concurrent collection and analysis of data in an online environment requires the framework to be highly efficient, robust and scalable. We will describe what has been implemented to achieve these goals and the procedures we follow to ensure appropriate robustness and performance. We finally review the wide range of usages people make of this framework, from the basic monitoring of a single sub-detector to the most complex ones within the High Level Trigger farm or using the Prompt Reconstruction and we describe the various ways of accessing the monitoring results. We conclude with our experience, before and after the LHC startup, when monitoring the data quality in a challenging environment.

  6. Monitoring Water Quality in the Future, Volume 3: Biomonitoring

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zwart D de; ECO

    1995-01-01

    In general terms the problems with the existing water quality monitoring approach concern effective and efficient monitoring strategies. In 1993 the project "Monitoring water quality in the future" started in order to address these problems which will only increase in the future. In the framework of

  7. Education Payload Operation - Kit D

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keil, Matthew

    2009-01-01

    Education Payload Operation - Kit D (EPO-Kit D) includes education items that will be used to support the live International Space Station (ISS) education downlinks and Education Payload Operation (EPO) demonstrations onboard the ISS. The main objective of EPO-Kit D supports the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) goal of attracting students to study and seek careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

  8. Cardiac c-Kit Biology Revealed by Inducible Transgenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gude, Natalie A; Firouzi, Fareheh; Broughton, Kathleen M; Ilves, Kelli; Nguyen, Kristine P; Payne, Christina R; Sacchi, Veronica; Monsanto, Megan M; Casillas, Alexandria R; Khalafalla, Farid G; Wang, Bingyan J; Ebeid, David E; Alvarez, Roberto; Dembitsky, Walter P; Bailey, Barbara A; van Berlo, Jop; Sussman, Mark A

    2018-06-22

    Biological significance of c-Kit as a cardiac stem cell marker and role(s) of c-Kit+ cells in myocardial development or response to pathological injury remain unresolved because of varied and discrepant findings. Alternative experimental models are required to contextualize and reconcile discordant published observations of cardiac c-Kit myocardial biology and provide meaningful insights regarding clinical relevance of c-Kit signaling for translational cell therapy. The main objectives of this study are as follows: demonstrating c-Kit myocardial biology through combined studies of both human and murine cardiac cells; advancing understanding of c-Kit myocardial biology through creation and characterization of a novel, inducible transgenic c-Kit reporter mouse model that overcomes limitations inherent to knock-in reporter models; and providing perspective to reconcile disparate viewpoints on c-Kit biology in the myocardium. In vitro studies confirm a critical role for c-Kit signaling in both cardiomyocytes and cardiac stem cells. Activation of c-Kit receptor promotes cell survival and proliferation in stem cells and cardiomyocytes of either human or murine origin. For creation of the mouse model, the cloned mouse c-Kit promoter drives Histone2B-EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein; H2BEGFP) expression in a doxycycline-inducible transgenic reporter line. The combination of c-Kit transgenesis coupled to H2BEGFP readout provides sensitive, specific, inducible, and persistent tracking of c-Kit promoter activation. Tagging efficiency for EGFP+/c-Kit+ cells is similar between our transgenic versus a c-Kit knock-in mouse line, but frequency of c-Kit+ cells in cardiac tissue from the knock-in model is 55% lower than that from our transgenic line. The c-Kit transgenic reporter model reveals intimate association of c-Kit expression with adult myocardial biology. Both cardiac stem cells and a subpopulation of cardiomyocytes express c-Kit in uninjured adult heart

  9. Molecular Alterations of KIT Oncogene in Gliomas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana L. Gomes

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Gliomas are the most common and devastating primary brain tumours. Despite therapeutic advances, the majority of gliomas do not respond either to chemo or radiotherapy. KIT, a class III receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK, is frequently involved in tumourigenic processes. Currently, KIT constitutes an attractive therapeutic target. In the present study we assessed the frequency of KIT overexpression in gliomas and investigated the genetic mechanisms underlying KIT overexpression. KIT (CD117 immunohistochemistry was performed in a series of 179 gliomas of various grades. KIT activating gene mutations (exons 9, 11, 13 and 17 and gene amplification analysis, as defined by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR were performed in CD117 positive cases. Tumour cell immunopositivity was detected in 15.6% (28/179 of cases, namely in 25% (1/4 of pilocytic astrocytomas, 25% (5/20 of diffuse astrocytomas, 20% (1/5 of anaplastic astrocytomas, 19.5% (15/77 of glioblastomas and one third (3/9 of anaplastic oligoastrocytomas. Only 5.7% (2/35 of anaplastic oligodendrogliomas showed CD117 immunoreactivity. No association was found between tumour CD117 overexpression and patient survival. In addition, we also observed CD117 overexpression in endothelial cells, which varied from 0–22.2% of cases, being more frequent in high-grade lesions. No KIT activating mutations were identified. Interestingly, CISH and/or qRT-PCR analysis revealed the presence of KIT gene amplification in 6 glioblastomas and 2 anaplastic oligoastrocytomas, corresponding to 33% (8/24 of CD117 positive cases. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that KIT gene amplification rather than gene mutation is a common genetic mechanism underlying KIT expression in subset of malignant gliomas. Further studies are warranted to determine whether glioma patients exhibiting KIT overexpression and KIT gene amplification may benefit from therapy with anti-KIT RTK

  10. Radiology seminars using teaching kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Munro, T.G.

    1989-01-01

    Clinco-radiological seminars are an effective method of teaching medical students. However, in busy departments it is often difficult to provide enough radiologists for small group instruction. This can be facilitated by the use of prepared teaching kits. Each kit contains a set of duplicated films and a syllabus which gives a short clinical history for each patient and a series of questions to be used to direct the discussion. Each diagnostic problem is chosen to demonstrate core material. We have been using these teaching kits for organ system teaching in the preclerkship year. Teaching kits offer several advantages. They make it easier to recruit seminar leaders through efficient use of their time. The use of duplicated films and a syllabus ensures that all students cover the same material. The syllabus can be used to generate examination questions for reinforcement of important concepts. The kits are also available to students to review alone and can be readily updated as required

  11. On-line Monitoring of VoIP Quality Using IPFIX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petr Matousek

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of VoIP services is to provide a reliable and high-quality voice transmission over packet networks. In order to prove the quality of VoIP transmission, several approaches were designed. In our approach, we are concerned about on-line monitoring of RTP and RTCP traffic. Based on these data, we are able to compute main VoIP quality metrics including jitter, delay, packet loss, and finally R-factor and MOS values. This technique of VoIP quality measuring can be directly incorporated into IPFIX monitoring framework where an IPFIX probe analyses RTP/RTCP packets, computes VoIP quality metrics, and adds these metrics into extended IPFIX flow records. Then, these extended data are stored in a central IPFIX monitoring system called collector where can be used for monitoring purposes. This paper presents a functional implementation of IPFIX plugin for VoIP quality measurement and compares the results with results obtained by other tools.

  12. Air Quality System (AQS) Monitoring Network, EPA OAR OAQPS

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This GIS dataset contains points which depict air quality monitors within EPA's Air Quality System (AQS) monitoring network. This dataset is updated weekly to...

  13. Quality control of thermoluminesce personal dose monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shang Aiguo; He Wenchang; Zhao Fengtao

    2006-01-01

    In order to evaluate the influence factor to thermoluminesce personal dose monitoring result, the every question that can appear based on the fact was analyzed. The results show that the detector, annealing, measuring process can influence the monitoring result. It gives some measures to enhance monitoring quality. (authors)

  14. [Comparison and evaluation of the Binax EIA and Biotest EIA urinary antigen kits for detection of Legionella pneumophila antigen in urine samples].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rastawicki, Waldemar; Rokosz, Natalia; Jagielski, Marek

    2011-01-01

    The Binax and the Biotest urinary antigen kits for detection of L. pneumophila antigen were compared by testing of selected 67 urine samples obtained from EWGLI as reference samples in External Quality Assessment Scheme. Thirty nine were positive with the Binax kit (100% of sensitivity), and 33 were positive with the Biotest (84.6% of sensitivity). The test specificities were 100% for the both kits. It was concluded that the Binax kit was more suitable for the routine diagnosis of Legionella infections than the Biotest kit.

  15. Kit for the preparation of 111In-labeled pertuzumab injection for imaging response of HER2-positive breast cancer to trastuzumab (Herceptin)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, Karen; Scollard, Deborah A.; Chan, Conrad; Levine, Mark N.; Reilly, Raymond M.

    2015-01-01

    We previously reported that 111 In-labeled pertuzumab imaged trastuzumab (Herceptin)-mediated changes in HER2 expression preclinically in breast cancer tumors. To advance 111 In-labeled pertuzumab to a Phase I/II clinical trial, a kit was designed for preparing this agent in a form suitable for human administration. Unit-dose kits containing pertuzumab modified with 2-(4-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (BzDTPA) were prepared that labeled to high efficiency (>90%) with 111 In and met specifications for pharmaceutical quality. The kits were stable for 4 months and the final radiopharmaceutical was stable for 24 h. Imaging studies demonstrated high and specific uptake in HER2-positive tumors in mice using this clinical kit formulation. - Highlights: • Kits for preparing 111 In-BzDTPA-pertuzumab were prepared which met specifications for pharmaceutical quality. • The kits were stable for at least 4 months and the final radiopharmaceutical was stable for 24 h when stored at 2–8 °C. • High labeling efficiency (>90%) of the kits was achieved with 111 In. • 111 In-BzDTPA-pertuzumab exhibited stability in human plasma. • Biodistribution and microSPECT imaging showed specific targeting of HER2-positive tumors in mice using the kit formulation

  16. Near-Facility Environmental Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MCKINNEY, S.M.

    2000-01-01

    This Quality Assurance Project Plan addresses the quality assurance requirements for the activities associated with the preoperational and near-facility environmental monitoring directed by Waste Management Technical Services and supersedes HNF-EP-0538-4. This plan applies to all sampling and monitoring activities performed by Waste Management Technical Services in implementing near-facility environmental monitoring at the Hanford Site. This Quality Assurance Project Plan is required by U.S. Department of Energy Order 5400.1 (DOE 1990) as a part of the Environmental Monitoring Plan (DOE-RL 1997) and is used to define: Environmental measurement and sampling locations used to monitor environmental contaminants near active and inactive facilities and waste storage and disposal sites; Procedures and equipment needed to perform the measurement and sampling; Frequency and analyses required for each measurement and sampling location; Minimum detection level and accuracy; Quality assurance components; and Investigation levels. Near-facility environmental monitoring for the Hanford Site is conducted in accordance with the requirements of U.S. Department of Energy Orders 5400.1 (DOE 1990), 5400.5 (DOE 1993), 5484.1 (DOE 1990), and 435.1 (DOE 1999), and DOE/EH-O173T (DOE 1991). It is Waste Management Technical Services' objective to manage and conduct near-facility environmental monitoring activities at the Hanford Site in a cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner that is in compliance with the letter and spirit of these regulations and other environmental regulations, statutes, and standards

  17. Proposal for the development of IRMA kits for prostate specific antigen, PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdul, A.B.

    1997-01-01

    The following are the major objectives of this research proposal: (1) To establish a protocol for biotinylation of monoclonal antibody, mabs or polyclonal antibody against the antigen, PSA. This shall include the purifying procedure using size exclusion chromatography on HPLC for use in binding assays to determine its binding capacity with PSA. (2) To establish an immunoassay protocol for IRMAs, using the technique of immobilizing the capture mabs on solid phase (surfaces of polystyrene) and the radioiodine labeled streptavidin-biotinylated bridge system. This will include optimization of the assay design and a Quality Control Assessment with the inclusion of standards derived from the Agency and subsequent work to determine its sensitivity (Minimum Detection Limit) and working range (the phenomenon of Hooke's Effect). An in-house quality control would also be useful to determine the assay's suitability for screening the tumour marker from patient samples obtained from neighboring hospitals (such as the Science University of Malaysia Hospital and the National University Hospital) and private clinical pathology laboratory (such as the Pantai Medical Centre) which compare concurrently the results with existing commercial immunoassay kits (RIA/IRMA). These work and that described earlier in (1) shall be done entirely at MINT. (3) To perform an external coordinated external Quality Control Assurance Programme with other research institutes (such as the Department of Immunology, Medical faculty, Science University of Malaysia and government hospitals) in Malaysia on several batches of the IRMA kits (produced at MINT and proven to be suitable for screening PSA in human serum from in-house Quality Control data, as mentioned earlier in (2)). This coordinated work shall include analyzing and documenting all values obtained from a group of patient's sample in clinical conditions such as batch to batch variation, inter and intra-assay variations and mean values for negative

  18. Air Quality Monitoring Programme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.

    The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme (LMP IV) has been revised in accordance with the Framework Directive and the first three daughter directives of SO2, NOx/NO2, PM10, lead, benzene, CO and ozone. PM10 samplers are under installation and the installation will be completed during 2002...

  19. 46 CFR 184.710 - First-aid kits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false First-aid kits. 184.710 Section 184.710 Shipping COAST... CONTROL AND MISCELLANEOUS SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous § 184.710 First-aid kits. A vessel must carry either a first-aid kit approved under approval series 160.041 or a kit with equivalent contents...

  20. Comparison of results of radioimmunoassay performed with nationwide different commercial kits for AFP, CEA, β2-m and TSH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Youxiang; Xu Ligen; Jiao Yan; Yang Wenbao; Wei Zekun; Sun Yanmin

    2005-01-01

    Objective: Study on an external quality assessment program with national quality control sera as standard for the comparison of the radioimmunoassay results obtained with different kits for AFP, CEA, β 2 -m and TSH. Methods: National quality control sera as well as pooled 'unknown' clinical sera specimens were assigned to the national laboratory and different manufacturers' laboratories (n=13) to be assayed for AFP, CEA, β 2 -m and TSH and the results cross-checked. Results: With CEA, the coefficient variation (CV) of different sets (n=7) assayed in the national and manufacturers' laboratories ranged from 10-30%; with β 2 -m, the CV ranged 10-20% (sets n=7); with AFP, CV ranged 15% ± (n=6). The above data suggested fairly good comparability and reproducibility. However, the results were less satisfactory with TSH assays (CV 20-40%, n=7). Conclusion: Present study revealed fairly satisfactory quality with CEA, β 2 -m and AFP kits. With TSH kits, the comparability was less satisfactory; the clinical normal ranges in different laboratories should be individualized and internal quality control enforced. (authors)

  1. 46 CFR 121.710 - First-aid kits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false First-aid kits. 121.710 Section 121.710 Shipping COAST... SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous § 121.710 First-aid kits. A vessel must carry either a first-aid kit... kits, the contents must be stowed in a suitable, watertight container that is marked “First-Aid Kit”. A...

  2. Automated Method for Monitoring Water Quality Using Landsat Imagery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Clay Barrett

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Regular monitoring of water quality is increasingly necessary to keep pace with rapid environmental change and protect human health and well-being. Remote sensing has been suggested as a potential solution for monitoring certain water quality parameters without the need for in situ sampling, but universal methods and tools are lacking. While many studies have developed predictive relationships between remotely sensed surface reflectance and water parameters, these relationships are often unique to a particular geographic region and have little applicability in other areas. In order to remotely monitor water quality, these relationships must be developed on a region by region basis. This paper presents an automated method for processing remotely sensed images from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+ and extracting corrected reflectance measurements around known sample locations to allow rapid development of predictive water quality relationships to improve remote monitoring. Using open Python scripting, this study (1 provides an openly accessible and simple method for processing publicly available remote sensing data; and (2 allows determination of relationships between sampled water quality parameters and reflectance values to ultimately allow predictive monitoring. The method is demonstrated through a case study of the Ozark/Ouchita-Appalachian ecoregion in eastern Oklahoma using data collected for the Beneficial Use Monitoring Program (BUMP.

  3. Megakaryocytes compensate for Kit insufficiency in murine arthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunin, Pierre; Penke, Loka R; Thon, Jonathan N; Monach, Paul A; Jones, Tatiana; Chang, Margaret H; Chen, Mary M; Melki, Imene; Lacroix, Steve; Iwakura, Yoichiro; Ware, Jerry; Gurish, Michael F; Italiano, Joseph E; Boilard, Eric; Nigrovic, Peter A

    2017-05-01

    The growth factor receptor Kit is involved in hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic development. Mice bearing Kit defects lack mast cells; however, strains bearing different Kit alleles exhibit diverse phenotypes. Herein, we investigated factors underlying differential sensitivity to IgG-mediated arthritis in 2 mast cell-deficient murine lines: KitWsh/Wsh, which develops robust arthritis, and KitW/Wv, which does not. Reciprocal bone marrow transplantation between KitW/Wv and KitWsh/Wsh mice revealed that arthritis resistance reflects a hematopoietic defect in addition to mast cell deficiency. In KitW/Wv mice, restoration of susceptibility to IgG-mediated arthritis was neutrophil independent but required IL-1 and the platelet/megakaryocyte markers NF-E2 and glycoprotein VI. In KitW/Wv mice, platelets were present in numbers similar to those in WT animals and functionally intact, and transfer of WT platelets did not restore arthritis susceptibility. These data implicated a platelet-independent role for the megakaryocyte, a Kit-dependent lineage that is selectively deficient in KitW/Wv mice. Megakaryocytes secreted IL-1 directly and as a component of circulating microparticles, which activated synovial fibroblasts in an IL-1-dependent manner. Transfer of WT but not IL-1-deficient megakaryocytes restored arthritis susceptibility to KitW/Wv mice. These findings identify functional redundancy among Kit-dependent hematopoietic lineages and establish an unanticipated capacity of megakaryocytes to mediate IL-1-driven systemic inflammatory disease.

  4. A Water Quality Monitoring Programme for Schools and Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spellerberg, Ian; Ward, Jonet; Smith, Fiona

    2004-01-01

    A water quality monitoring programme for schools is described. The purpose of the programme is to introduce school children to the concept of reporting on the "state of the environment" by raising the awareness of water quality issues and providing skills to monitor water quality. The programme is assessed and its relevance in the…

  5. ISS Expedition 08 Press Kit

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Press kit for ISS mission Expedition 08 from 10/2003-04/2004. Press kits contain information about each mission overview, crew, mission timeline, benefits, and media...

  6. History plotting tool for Data Quality Monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giordano, D.; Le Bihan, A.-C.; Pierro, A.; De Mattia, M.

    2010-01-01

    The size and complexity of the CMS detector makes the Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) system very challenging. Given the high granularity of the CMS sub-detectors, several approaches and tools have been developed to monitor the detector performance closely. We describe here the History DQM, a tool allowing the detector performance monitoring over time.

  7. Analytical approaches to quality assurance and quality control in rangeland monitoring data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Producing quality data to support land management decisions is the goal of every rangeland monitoring program. However, the results of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) efforts to improve data quality are rarely reported. The purpose of QA and QC is to prevent and describe non-sampling...

  8. Build an Emergency Preparedness Kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... In addition to the items listed above, a vehicle kit should include: -fire extinguisher. -booster cables and tow rope. -compass and road maps. -shovel. -tire repair kit and pump. -extra clothing to keep dry. - ...

  9. The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.; Manscher, O. H.

    The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme (LMP) was started in 1982 as the first nation-wide urban air pollution monitoring programme in Denmark. The programme has been adjusted to the pollution pattern by two revisions. The present phase (LMP III) was started in 1992. This report presents...... Copenhagen the same program is con-ducted as at the street stations with the inclusion of O3. Only NO, NO2 and O3 are reported from the other rural site. Air quality limit values have been implemented in Den-mark for NO2, SO2, TSP in order to protect human health. All limit values are based on EU limit...

  10. TruSeq Stranded mRNA and Total RNA Sample Preparation Kits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Total RNA-Seq enabled by ribosomal RNA (rRNA) reduction is compatible with formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples, which contain potentially critical biological information. The family of TruSeq Stranded Total RNA sample preparation kits provides a unique combination of unmatched data quality for both mRNA and whole-transcriptome analyses, robust interrogation of both standard and low-quality samples and workflows compatible with a wide range of study designs.

  11. Development of a new in vivo kit for detection of prostate specific antigen in human serum using immunoradiometric assay method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Babaei, M. H.; Behradkia, P.; Shafii, M.; Movla, M.; Forutan, H.; Najafi, R.

    2006-01-01

    Prostate is a leading site for the cancer incidence, accounted for 31.0% of new cancer cases in men. Prostate-specific antigen is widely used in the detection and monitoring of the prostate cancer. Currently, immunoassay is used to detect Prostate-specific antigen in human serum. This technique is based on the interaction between antibody and antigen. The varied immunoassay formats and equipment to run the assays allow the users to measure the analytes rapidly, with the flexibility to run a small or a large number of samples. Among different immunoassay methods, immunoradiometric assay is a more sensitive and valuable detection approach. This study has been made in 4 parts: (1) purification of Prostate-specific antigen from seminal fluid; (2) preparation of hybridoma cells which secrete monoclonal antibody (mAb) against Prostate-specific antigen , (3) selection of pair monoclonal antibody among those antibodies, and finally (4) design of an immunoradiometric assay kit and it's quality control . The results of this study were: (1) obtaining a huge amount of Prostate-specific antigen as semi-purified and purified, that is a valuable material for preparation of standard kits; (2) preparation of 8 kinds of monoclonal antibodies; (3) finding 4 pairs of monoclonal antibodies which react with different epitopes on Prostate-specific antigen molecule; and (4) preparation of immunoradiometric assay kit for measuring Prostate-specific antigen concentration in human serum

  12. The EURADOS-KIT training course on Monte Carlo methods for the calibration of body counters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breustedt, B.; Broggio, D.; Gomez-Ros, J.M.; Lopez, M.A.; Leone, D.; Poelz, S.; Marzocchi, O.; Shutt, A.

    2016-01-01

    Monte Carlo (MC) methods are numerical simulation techniques that can be used to extend the scope of calibrations performed in in vivo monitoring laboratories. These methods allow calibrations to be carried out for a much wider range of body shapes and sizes than would be feasible using physical phantoms. Unfortunately, nowadays, this powerful technique is still used mainly in research institutions only. In 2013, EURADOS and the in vivo monitoring laboratory of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) organized a 3-d training course to disseminate knowledge on the application of MC methods for in vivo monitoring. It was intended as a hands-on course centered around an exercise which guided the participants step by step through the calibration process using a simplified version of KIT's equipment. Only introductory lectures on in vivo monitoring and voxel models were given. The course was based on MC codes of the MCNP family, widespread in the community. The strong involvement of the participants and the working atmosphere in the classroom as well as the formal evaluation of the course showed that the approach chosen was appropriate. Participants liked the hands-on approach and the extensive course materials on the exercise. (authors)

  13. An Architecture for Continuous Data Quality Monitoring in Medical Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Endler, Gregor; Schwab, Peter K; Wahl, Andreas M; Tenschert, Johannes; Lenz, Richard

    2015-01-01

    In the medical domain, data quality is very important. Since requirements and data change frequently, continuous and sustainable monitoring and improvement of data quality is necessary. Working together with managers of medical centers, we developed an architecture for a data quality monitoring system. The architecture enables domain experts to adapt the system during runtime to match their specifications using a built-in rule system. It also allows arbitrarily complex analyses to be integrated into the monitoring cycle. We evaluate our architecture by matching its components to the well-known data quality methodology TDQM.

  14. Provision of medical supply kits to improve quality of antenatal care in Mozambique: a stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Betrán, Ana Pilar; Bergel, Eduardo; Griffin, Sally; Melo, Armando; Nguyen, My Huong; Carbonell, Alicia; Mondlane, Santos; Merialdi, Mario; Temmerman, Marleen; Gülmezoglu, A Metin

    2018-01-01

    High levels of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity remain a daunting reality in many low-income countries. Several interventions delivered during antenatal care have been shown to improve maternal and newborn outcomes, but stockouts of medical supplies at point of care can prevent implementation of these services. We aimed to evaluate whether a supply chain strategy based on the provision of kits could improve quality of care. We did a pragmatic, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised controlled trial at ten antenatal care clinics in Mozambique. Clinics were eligible if they were not already implementing the proposed antenatal care package; they served at least 200 new pregnant women per year; they had Maternal and Child Health (MCH) nurses; and they were willing to participate. All women attending antenatal care visits at the participating clinics were included in the trial. Participating clinics were randomly assigned to shift from control to intervention on prespecified start dates. The intervention involved four components (kits with medical supplies, a cupboard to store these supplies, a tracking sheet to monitor stocks, and a one-day training session). The primary outcomes were the proportion of women screened for anaemia and proteinuria, and the proportion of women who received mebendazole in the first antenatal care visit. The intervention was delivered under routine care conditions, and analyses were done according to the intention-to-treat principle. This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, number PACTR201306000550192. Between March, 2014, and January, 2016, 218 277 antenatal care visits were registered, with 68 598 first and 149 679 follow-up visits. We found significant improvements in all three primary outcomes. In first visits, 5519 (14·6%) of 37 826 women were screened for anaemia in the control period, compared with 30 057 (97·7%) of 30 772 in the intervention period (adjusted odds ratio 832·40; 99

  15. Monitoring Indoor Air Quality for Enhanced Occupational Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitarma, Rui; Marques, Gonçalo; Ferreira, Bárbara Roque

    2017-02-01

    Indoor environments are characterized by several pollutant sources. Because people spend more than 90% of their time in indoor environments, several studies have pointed out the impact of indoor air quality on the etiopathogenesis of a wide number of non-specific symptoms which characterizes the "Sick Building Syndrome", involving the skin, the upper and lower respiratory tract, the eyes and the nervous system, as well as many building related diseases. Thus, indoor air quality (IAQ) is recognized as an important factor to be controlled for the occupants' health and comfort. The majority of the monitoring systems presently available is very expensive and only allow to collect random samples. This work describes the system (iAQ), a low-cost indoor air quality monitoring wireless sensor network system, developed using Arduino, XBee modules and micro sensors, for storage and availability of monitoring data on a web portal in real time. Five micro sensors of environmental parameters (air temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and luminosity) were used. Other sensors can be added for monitoring specific pollutants. The results reveal that the system can provide an effective indoor air quality assessment to prevent exposure risk. In fact, the indoor air quality may be extremely different compared to what is expected for a quality living environment. Systems like this would have benefit as public health interventions to reduce the burden of symptoms and diseases related to "sick buildings".

  16. Collimator kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jonker, R.R.

    1976-01-01

    A collimator kit having a number of parts which may be assembled in various combinations to provide focusing collimators with different performance characteristics for radioisotope imaging apparatus is described

  17. 40 CFR 141.87 - Monitoring requirements for water quality parameters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... § 141.87 Monitoring requirements for water quality parameters. All large water systems, and all small- and medium-size systems that exceed the lead or copper action level shall monitor water quality... methods. (i) Tap samples shall be representative of water quality throughout the distribution system...

  18. Model-based monitoring of stormwater runoff quality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Birch, Heidi; Vezzaro, Luca; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen

    2013-01-01

    Monitoring of micropollutants (MP) in stormwater is essential to evaluate the impacts of stormwater on the receiving aquatic environment. The aim of this study was to investigate how different strategies for monitoring of stormwater quality (combining a model with field sampling) affect the infor...

  19. Quality Assurance Project Plan for Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nickels, J.M.

    1991-06-01

    This Quality Assurance Project Plan addresses the quality assurance requirements for the Facility Monitoring Plans of the overall site-wide environmental monitoring plan. This plan specifically applies to the sampling and analysis activities and continuous monitoring performed for all Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan activities conducted by Westinghouse Hanford Company. It is generic in approach and will be implemented in conjunction with the specific requirements of individual Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans. This document is intended to be a basic road map to the Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan documents (i.e., the guidance document for preparing Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans, Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan determinations, management plan, and Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans). The implementing procedures, plans, and instructions are appropriate for the control of effluent monitoring plans requiring compliance with US Department of Energy, US Environmental Protection Agency, state, and local requirements. This Quality Assurance Project Plan contains a matrix of organizational responsibilities, procedural resources from facility or site manuals used in the Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans, and a list of the analytes of interest and analytical methods for each facility preparing a Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan. 44 refs., 1 figs., 2 tabs

  20. Columbia River water quality monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1983-01-01

    Waste water from Hanford activities is discharged at eight points along the Hanford reach of the Columbia River. These discharges consist of backwash water from water intake screens, cooling water, river bank springs, water storage tank overflow, and fish laboratory waste water. Each discharge point is identified in an existing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued by the EPA. Effluents from each of these outfalls are routinely monitored and reported by the operating contractors as required by their NPDES permits. Measurements of several Columbia River water quality parameters were conducted routinely during 1982 both upstream and downstream of the Hanford Site to monitor any effects on the river that may be attributable to Hanford discharges and to determine compliance with the Class A designation requirements. The measurements indicated that Hanford operations had a minimal, if any, impact on the quality of the Columbia River water

  1. Development of an Electronic Kit for detecting asthma in Human Respiratory System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shek Hong, Cheow; Ghani, Ahmad Shahrizan Abdul; Khairuddin, Ismail Mohd

    2018-03-01

    In this paper, a prototype of a carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement device is designed to detect and used to monitor asthma patients. Nowadays, capnogram device is widely used in monitoring asthma and asthma related medical services. However, capnogram is very costly and unaffordable for patient especially those who are in low income household. Thus, the proposed device is cost effective, affordable, and produced to detect and monitor the severity of asthma. Meanwhile, flow meter will cause patient to have chest pain as they needed maximum effort to blow in the device. To overcome these limitations, this prototype electronic kit is easy to use and suitable for all range patients. This prototype electronic kit consists of MH-Z14A carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor to detect the concentration of carbon dioxide from the user exhaled air. Arduino microcontroller is used to process the data while TFT Display shield is applied for data presentation. In addition, HC-06 Bluetooth module is used to communicate with PC for further analysis of the captured graph. This device was tested with 3 asthmatics and 3 normal users. The results showed that asthmatic user has a different graph pattern compared with normal user and these graphs are clearly differentiated on the device TFT screen. Asthmatic user produces “shark fin”-like pattern whereas normal user produces “square wave”-like pattern. This device has successfully produced distinguished-patterns difference between asthmatic and normal user; therefore, it is suitable for asthma monitoring.

  2. c-KIT positive schistosomal urinary bladder carcinoma are frequent but lack KIT gene mutations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shams, Tahany M; Metawea, Mokhtar; Salim, Elsayed I

    2013-01-01

    Urinary bladder squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), one of the most common neoplasms in Egypt, is attributed to chronic urinary infection with Schistosoma haematobium (Schistosomiasis). The proto-oncogene c-KIT, encoding a tyrosine kinase receptor and implicated in the development of a number of human malignancies, has not been studied so far in schistosomal urinary bladder SCCs. We therefore determined immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of c-KIT in paraffin sections from 120 radical cystectomies of SCCs originally obtained from the Pathology Department of Suez Canal University (Ismailia, Egypt). Each slide was evaluated for staining intensity where the staining extent of >10% of cells was considered positive. c-KIT overexpression was detected in 78.3% (94/120) of the patients, the staining extents in the tumor cells were 11-50% and >50% in 40 (42.6%) and 54 (57.4%) respectively. The positive cases had 14.9%, 63.8%, 21.3% as weak, moderate and strong intensity respectively. Patients with positive bilharzial ova had significantly higher c-KIT expression than patients without (95.2% vs. 38.9%, P=0.000). Mutation analysis of exons 9-13 was negative in thirty KIT positive cases. The high rate of positivity in SBSCC was one of the striking findings; However, CD117 may be a potential target for site specific immunotherapy to improve the outcome of this tumor.

  3. Radiolabeling, quality control and kit formulation of a new 99mTc-labeled antibiotic. 99mTc-doxycycline hyclate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derya Ilem-Oezdemir; Makbule Asikoglu; Hayal Oezkilic

    2013-01-01

    Since radiolabeled antibiotics specifically bind to the bacterial components they are promising radiopharmaceuticals for the precise diagnosis and detection of infectious lesions. Doxycycline hyclate (DOX) was chosen to investigate as a new radiolabeled antibacterial agent since its bacteriostatic activity against a wide variety of microorganisms. The aim of the present study is to develop simple and easy formulation of DOX with 99m Tc ready to use kit. 99m Tc-DOX was developed and standardized under varying conditions of reducing and antioxidant agent concentration, pH, radioactivity dose and reducing agent type. Labeling studies were performed by changing the selected parameters one by one and optimum labeling conditions were determined. After observing the conditions for maximum labeling efficiency and stability, lyophilized freeze dry kits were prepared accordingly. Radiochemical purity was determined with RTLC and RHPLC which was found more than >95 %. Two different freeze dry kits were formulated with optimum labeling conditions. The improved kits were found stable up to 6 months. (author)

  4. 21 CFR 868.1100 - Arterial blood sampling kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...) MEDICAL DEVICES ANESTHESIOLOGY DEVICES Diagnostic Devices § 868.1100 Arterial blood sampling kit. (a) Identification. An arterial blood sampling kit is a device, in kit form, used to obtain arterial blood samples... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Arterial blood sampling kit. 868.1100 Section 868...

  5. DogMATIC--A Remote Biospecimen Collection Kit for Biobanking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milley, Kristi M; Nimmo, Judith S; Bacci, Barbara; Ryan, Stewart D; Richardson, Samantha J; Danks, Janine A

    2015-08-01

    Canine tumors are valuable comparative oncology models. This research was designed to create a sustainable biobank of canine mammary tumors for breast cancer research. The aim was to provide a well-characterized sample cohort for specimen sharing, data mining, and long-term research aims. Canine mammary tumors are most frequently managed at a local veterinary clinic or hospital. We adopted a biobank framework based on a large number of participating veterinary hospitals and clinics acting as collection centers that were serviced by a centralized storage facility. Recruitment was targeted at rural veterinary clinics. A tailored, stable collection kit (DogMATIC) was designed that was used by veterinarians in remote or rural locations to collect both fresh and fixed tissue for submission to the biobank. To validate this methodology the kit design, collection rate, and sample quality were analyzed. The Australian Veterinary Cancer Biobank was established as a network of 47 veterinary clinics and three veterinary pathology laboratories spanning over 200,000 km(2). In the first 12 months, 30 canine mammary tumor cases were submitted via the DogMATIC kit. Pure intact RNA was isolated in over 80% of samples with an average yield of 14.49 μg. A large network biobank, utilizing off-site collection with the DogMATIC kit, was successfully coordinated. The creation of the Australian Veterinary Cancer Biobank has established a long-term, sustainable, comparative oncology research resource in Australia. There are broader implications for biobanking with this very different form of collection and banking.

  6. The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.

    The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme (LMP) was started in 1982 as the first nation-wide urban air pollution monitoring programme in Denmark. The programme has been adjusted to the pollution pattern by two revisions. The present phase (LMP III) was started in 1992. From 2000 a new phase...... continuously in order to improve the knowledge about the NO, NO2 and O3 problem complex. At the rural site outside Copenhagen the same program is conducted as at the street stations with the inclusion of O3. Only NO, NO2 and O3 are reported from the other rural site. Air quality limit values have been...... and plants. The new EU Directives introduce revised standards for NO2, SO2, particles (PM10) and Pb. They are implemented through the first "daughter" Directive to the Air Quality Framework Directive. It was adopted by the EU council in April 1999. The new limit values shall be in force from January 2001 (18...

  7. Improved quality monitoring of multi-center acupuncture clinical trials in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheng Hui

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In 2007, the Chinese Science Division of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM convened a special conference to discuss quality control for TCM clinical research. Control and assurance standards were established to guarantee the quality of clinical research. This paper provides practical guidelines for implementing strict and reproducible quality control for acupuncture randomized controlled trials (RCTs. Methods A standard quality control program (QCP was established to monitor the quality of acupuncture trials. Case report forms were designed; qualified investigators, study personnel and data management personnel were trained. Monitors, who were directly appointed by the project leader, completed the quality control programs. They guaranteed data accuracy and prevented or detected protocol violations. Clinical centers and clinicians were audited, the randomization system of the centers was inspected, and the treatment processes were audited as well. In addition, the case report forms were reviewed for completeness and internal consistency, the eligibility and validity of the patients in the study was verified, and data was monitored for compliance and accuracy. Results and discussion The monitors complete their reports and submit it to quality assurance and the sponsors. Recommendations and suggestions are made for improving performance. By holding regular meetings to discuss improvements in monitoring standards, the monitors can improve quality and efficiency. Conclusions Supplementing and improving the existed guidelines for quality monitoring will ensure that large multi-centre acupuncture clinical trials will be considered as valid and scientifically stringent as pharmaceutical clinical trials. It will also develop academic excellence and further promote the international recognition of acupuncture.

  8. 21 CFR 868.5140 - Anesthesia conduction kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Anesthesia conduction kit. 868.5140 Section 868...) MEDICAL DEVICES ANESTHESIOLOGY DEVICES Therapeutic Devices § 868.5140 Anesthesia conduction kit. (a) Identification. An anesthesia conduction kit is a device used to administer to a patient conduction, regional, or...

  9. The OA System of College - - Design of the Teaching Quality Monitoring Subsystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Hongjuan; Ying, Hong; Jiang, Youyi; Yan, Pei

    According to the drawbacks of traditional teaching quality monitoring subsystems and based on the achievements of practical research in the teaching quality monitoring administration in College, this paper provides a design of overall structure of teaching quality monitoring subsystem, that is more suitable for colleges' management. This new system is endowed with the same features as .NET application programes: easy to extend, easy to maintain, flexible, convenient, and it let enterprises, students' parents and excellent graduates participate in teaching quality monitoring administration, have significant effect to ensure the quality of talent training in colleges.

  10. 21 CFR 864.2260 - Chromosome culture kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Chromosome culture kit. 864.2260 Section 864.2260...) MEDICAL DEVICES HEMATOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY DEVICES Cell And Tissue Culture Products § 864.2260 Chromosome culture kit. (a) Identification. A chromosome culture kit is a device containing the necessary ingredients...

  11. Analytical techniques for the determination of radiochemical purity of radiopharmaceuticals prepared from kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, J.R.; Rockwell, L.J.; Welsh, W.J.

    1977-01-01

    The evaluation of efficacy of commercially available kits used for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals is one aspect of the Radiation Protection Bureau's radiopharmaceutical quality control program. This report describes some of the analytical methodology employed in the program. The techniques may be of interest to hospital radiopharmacy personnel as many of the tests can be performed rapidly and with a minimum of special equipment, thus enabling the confirmation of radiopharmaceutical purity prior to patient administration. Manufacturers of kits may also be interested in learning of the analytical methods used in the assessment of their products. (auth)

  12. The challenges of lean manufacturing implementation in kitting assembly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fansuri, A. F. H.; Rose, A. N. M.; Nik Mohamed, N. M. Z.; Ahmad, H.

    2017-10-01

    Literature studies shows that lean manufacturing goes way back with the original founder Eli Whitney in year 1799. The main purpose of lean manufacturing is to identify and eliminate waste in production. The application of lean manufacturing can be carried out in any industrial processes with regards to the understanding of lean principles, theories and practices. Kitting is one of the important aspects in a successful production. The continuous supply of materials from store to production has to be systematic and able to achieve lean standard for it to be successful. The objective of this paper is to review the implementation of lean manufacturing in kitting assembly. Previous papers show that, the implementation of lean manufacturing in kitting assembly may be beneficial to the organization such as reduce in space occupancy, part shortages, lead time and manpower. Based on previous research, some industries may tend to change between kitting and line stocking which are due to lack of understanding when implementing kitting and causes longer lead time and materials overflow in store. With a proper understanding on what to kit, where to kit, how to kit, why to kit and who kits the material with a standardised process flow may ensure the success of kitting.

  13. Quality Assurance Project Plan for Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frazier, T.P.

    1994-01-01

    This Quality Assurance Project Plan addresses the quality assurance requirements for the activities associated with the Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans, which are part of the overall Hanford Site Environmental Protection Plan. This plan specifically applies to the sampling and analysis activities and continuous monitoring performed for all Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan activities conducted by Westinghouse Hanford Company. It is generic in approach and will be implemented in conjunction with the specific requirements of the individual Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans

  14. 46 CFR 169.725 - First aid kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false First aid kit. 169.725 Section 169.725 Shipping COAST... Control, Miscellaneous Systems, and Equipment § 169.725 First aid kit. Each vessel must carry an approved first aid kit, constructed and fitted in accordance with subpart 160.041 of this chapter. ...

  15. Clean room for the production of cold kits: two year experience with the production of kits for 99mTc radiopharmaceuticals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muralidharan, Sheela H.; Nair, Preeti; Ghodke, Archana S.; Pillai, Thara; Sheri, Kumar Uma; Vanaja, R.; Mehra, Kiran S.; Sachdev, S.S.; Sivaprasad, N.

    2010-01-01

    A new clean room has been designed and constructed at Radiopharmaceuticals Programme, BRIT keeping in view the functional aspects for the production of 'cold' kits for the preparation of 99m Tc radiopharmaceuticals for supply to nuclear medicine centers and is in operation, since October, 2008. This clean room is the first clean room in the country designed exclusively for cold kit production. The clean room was validated and trial batches were produced and quality controlled prior to put it in regular production operation. The clean environment is maintained by separate AHU (air handling unit) located out side the clean room. A technical crew maintain the AHU unit and maintain record of parameters such as humidity, air flow, blower speed, chiller temperature etc. During a typical batch production not more than two persons are present in the formulation room. The formulated solution (filtered through 0.22μ membrane filter) is passed though a pass box between the formulation and dispensing area. The no. of people allowed in the dispensing area which is a critical area of class 100 is restricted to not more than four that too no person is allowed to be in between direct flow of HEPA filtered air and the dispensing table. The number of vials to be dispensed is arranged in trays and 1 ml of the formulated sterile solution is dispensed into each vial and the vials are transferred in to the lyophilization chamber. Sterile vials are introduced into class 100 area and the vials are removed after lyophilization though a pass box. After lyophilization vials are sealed with aluminum caps and stored at 2-10 deg C. Since the commissioning of the new clean room, about 120 batches of 10 different kit products were prepared and 1,20,000 kit vials were supplied to various hospitals for nuclear medicine investigation

  16. Development a nucleus kit of Mebrofenin-Sn+2 for the instant labelled with Tc-99m

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salazar M, T.

    1996-01-01

    This work development a kit of Mebrofenin-Sn +2 packing in glass flask like white solid by freeze-drying, sterile and apyrogenicity. For it's use, the kit was reconstituted with a sodium pertechnetate solution ( 99m TcO 4 Na) to obtain a 99m Tc-Mebrofenin solution colorless, sterile, isotonic, apyrogenicity and no toxic; to be administrated intravenously and to be used for hepatobiliary diagnose. The goal was make an active source for the production of the kit; in this work was development and analysis for the active source by HPLC; it was optimized the procedure to obtain the radiopharmaceutical, it makes a stability study to give a logical date of caducity, and finally it makes a process validation to guarantee the reproducibility of the process development for the production of the 99m Tc-Mebrofenin kit; in the same way the quality specifications for the final product. (Author)

  17. 46 CFR 108.707 - First aid kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false First aid kit. 108.707 Section 108.707 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous Equipment § 108.707 First aid kit. Each unit must have a first-aid kit approved by the Mine Safety...

  18. Core Flight System Satellite Starter Kit

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Core Flight System Satellite Starter Kit (cFS Kit) will allow a small satellite or CubeSat developer to rapidly develop, deploy, test, and operate flight...

  19. Engineering CHO cells with an oncogenic KIT improves cells growth, resilience to stress, and productivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahameed, Mohamed; Tirosh, Boaz

    2017-11-01

    An optimized biomanufacturing process in mammalian cells is contingent on the ability of the producing cells to reach high viable cell densities. In addition, at the peak of growth, cells need to continue producing the biological entity at a consistent quality. Thus, engineering cells with robust growth performance and resilience to variable stress conditions is highly desirable. The tyrosine kinase receptor, KIT, plays a key role in cell differentiation and the survival of several immune cell types. Its oncogenic mutant, D816V, endows cells with high proliferation capacity, and resistance to kinase inhibitors. Importantly, this onco-KIT mutant when introduced into various cell types is arrested in the endoplasmic reticulum in a constitutively active form. Here, we investigated the effect of oncogenic D816V KIT on the performance of CHO-K1 cells under conventional tissue culture growth settings and when adapted, to shaking conditions. The onco-KIT promoted global protein synthesis, elevated the expression of a secretable transgene, enhanced proliferation, and improved the overall titers of a model glycoprotein. Moreover, the expression of the onco-KIT endowed the cells with a remarkable resistance to various stress conditions. Our data suggest that the introduction of onco-KIT can serve as a strategy for improving glycoprotein biomanufacturing. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 2560-2570. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Winter wheat quality monitoring and forecasting system based on remote sensing and environmental factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haiyang, Yu; Yanmei, Liu; Guijun, Yang; Xiaodong, Yang; Chenwei, Nie; Dong, Ren

    2014-01-01

    To achieve dynamic winter wheat quality monitoring and forecasting in larger scale regions, the objective of this study was to design and develop a winter wheat quality monitoring and forecasting system by using a remote sensing index and environmental factors. The winter wheat quality trend was forecasted before the harvest and quality was monitored after the harvest, respectively. The traditional quality-vegetation index from remote sensing monitoring and forecasting models were improved. Combining with latitude information, the vegetation index was used to estimate agronomy parameters which were related with winter wheat quality in the early stages for forecasting the quality trend. A combination of rainfall in May, temperature in May, illumination at later May, the soil available nitrogen content and other environmental factors established the quality monitoring model. Compared with a simple quality-vegetation index, the remote sensing monitoring and forecasting model used in this system get greatly improved accuracy. Winter wheat quality was monitored and forecasted based on the above models, and this system was completed based on WebGIS technology. Finally, in 2010 the operation process of winter wheat quality monitoring system was presented in Beijing, the monitoring and forecasting results was outputted as thematic maps

  1. Quality control of the interpretation monitors of digital radiological images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Favero, Mariana S.; Goulart, Adriano Oliveira S.

    2016-01-01

    The performance monitors has great importance in image quality of digital radiographic systems. In environments without films, it became necessary to implement acceptance testing and quality control monitors used for interpretation of medical images. The monitors dedicated to radiodiagnostic should provide information that represent slight differences in x-ray attenuation or minor differences in some anatomical region of interest. This should also result in small differences in luminance of an image represented. Factors affecting the quality of medical imaging are contrast, noise, resolution, artifacts and distortions. Therefore, a monitor must have specific characteristics, making it possible for the observer to carry out an assessment that leads to better diagnosis. Based on the need to evaluate diagnostic monitors in various radiological applications, this paper presents a summary for implementation and standardization of tests that are recommended by the publication AAPM Report 03. (author)

  2. Development in the Preparation and the Quality Assurance of Radiopharmaceuticals for Clinical Uses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sangsuriyan, Jatupol; Paramatikul, Nipawan; Daengprasert, Moleepan; Pumkem, Sudkaneung; Sriwiang, Wiranee; Minsakorn, Naparat

    2011-06-01

    Full text: Radiopharmaceutical preparation technologies and a specific quality assurance system were developed. The kit formulation and the processing of a MDP kit, were developed as a model. NaCl was added as a bulking agent and the kit was filled with N 2 -gas at a slightly negative pressure before stoppering. The product quality tests met all quality control requirements and at least 1 year shelf life was reported. An EC kit and an ECD kit were also developed from the synthesis of starting materials with successful results. 99m T c-Hynic TOC, a neuroendocrine diagnostic agent, was developed both in the form of kit formulation and unit dose preparation for patients. The quality assurance systems for the Hynic-TOC kit and the unit dose preparation were set up and the technologies were taken into implementation by Radioisotope Center, TINT, as routine services

  3. Pathologic Stimulus Determines Lineage Commitment of Cardiac C-kit+ Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhongming; Zhu, Wuqiang; Bender, Ingrid; Gong, Wuming; Kwak, Il-Youp; Yellamilli, Amritha; Hodges, Thomas J; Nemoto, Natsumi; Zhang, Jianyi; Garry, Daniel J; van Berlo, Jop H

    2017-12-12

    Although cardiac c-kit + cells are being tested in clinical trials, the circumstances that determine lineage differentiation of c-kit + cells in vivo are unknown. Recent findings suggest that endogenous cardiac c-kit + cells rarely contribute cardiomyocytes to the adult heart. We assessed whether various pathological stimuli differentially affect the eventual cell fates of c-kit + cells. We used single-cell sequencing and genetic lineage tracing of c-kit + cells to determine whether various pathological stimuli would result in different fates of c-kit + cells. Single-cell sequencing of cardiac CD45 - c-kit + cells showed innate heterogeneity, indicative of the existence of vascular and mesenchymal c-kit + cells in normal hearts. Cardiac pressure overload resulted in a modest increase in c-kit-derived cardiomyocytes, with significant increases in the numbers of endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Doxorubicin-induced acute cardiotoxicity did not increase c-kit-derived endothelial cell fates but instead induced cardiomyocyte differentiation. Mechanistically, doxorubicin-induced DNA damage in c-kit + cells resulted in expression of p53. Inhibition of p53 blocked cardiomyocyte differentiation in response to doxorubicin, whereas stabilization of p53 was sufficient to increase c-kit-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation. These results demonstrate that different pathological stimuli induce different cell fates of c-kit + cells in vivo. Although the overall rate of cardiomyocyte formation from c-kit + cells is still below clinically relevant levels, we show that p53 is central to the ability of c-kit + cells to adopt cardiomyocyte fates, which could lead to the development of strategies to preferentially generate cardiomyocytes from c-kit + cells. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  4. DANIDA; Air Quality Monitoring Programme. Mission 2 Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sivertsen, B.

    1996-06-01

    The report deals with the EIMP (Environmental Information and Monitoring Programme for the Arab Republic of Egypt). The programme is funded by Danida which is a cooperation project between Norway and Denmark. The programme covers the monitoring of air pollution, coastal water monitoring, and the monitoring of pollution sources and emissions. This report pays the attention to the Norwegian part of the programme executed by NILU (Norwegian Institute for Air Research) which covers the development air quality monitoring network. 14 refs., 51 figs., 18 tabs.

  5. Environment quality monitoring using ARM processor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinaya, C. H.; Krishna Thanikanti, Vamsi; Ramasamy, Sudha

    2017-11-01

    This paper of air quality monitoring system describes a model of sensors network to continuously monitoring the environment with low cost developed model. At present time all over the world turned into a great revolution in industrial domain and on the other hand environment get polluting in a dangerous value. There are so many technologies present to reduce the polluting contents but still there is no completely reduction of that pollution. Even there are different methods to monitor the pollution content; these are much costly that not everyone can adapt those methods or devices. Now we are proposing a sensors connected network to monitor the environment continuously and displaying the pollutant gases percentage in air surroundings and can transmit the results to our mobiles by message. The advantage of this system is easy to design, establish at area to monitor, maintenance and most cost effective as well.

  6. Monitoring Quality of Biotherapeutic Products Using Multivariate Data Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rathore, Anurag S; Pathak, Mili; Jain, Renu; Jadaun, Gaurav Pratap Singh

    2016-07-01

    Monitoring the quality of pharmaceutical products is a global challenge, heightened by the implications of letting subquality drugs come to the market on public safety. Regulatory agencies do their due diligence at the time of approval as per their prescribed regulations. However, product quality needs to be monitored post-approval as well to ensure patient safety throughout the product life cycle. This is particularly complicated for biotechnology-based therapeutics where seemingly minor changes in process and/or raw material attributes have been shown to have a significant effect on clinical safety and efficacy of the product. This article provides a perspective on the topic of monitoring the quality of biotech therapeutics. In the backdrop of challenges faced by the regulatory agencies, the potential use of multivariate data analysis as a tool for effective monitoring has been proposed. Case studies using data from several insulin biosimilars have been used to illustrate the key concepts.

  7. Information-Quality based LV-Grid-Monitoring Framework and its Application to Power-Quality Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Findrik, Mislav; Kristensen, Thomas le Fevre; Hinterhofer, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    The integration of unpredictable renewable energy sources into the low voltage (LV) power grid results in new challenges when it comes to ensuring power quality in the electrical grid. Addressing this problem requires control of not only the secondary substation but also control of flexible assets...... inside the LV grid. In this paper we investigate how the flexibility information of such assets can be accessed by the controller using heterogeneous off-the-shelf communication networks. To achieve this we develop an adaptive monitoring framework, through which the controller can subscribe to the assets......' flexibility information through an API. We define an information quality metric making the monitoring framework able to adapt information access strategies to ensure the information is made available to the controller with the highest possible information quality. To evaluate the monitoring framework...

  8. Atmosphere and water quality monitoring on Space Station Freedom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, William

    1990-01-01

    In Space Station Freedom air and water will be supplied in closed loop systems. The monitoring of air and water qualities will ensure the crew health for the long mission duration. The Atmosphere Composition Monitor consists of the following major instruments: (1) a single focusing mass spectrometer to monitor major air constituents and control the oxygen/nitrogen addition for the Space Station; (2) a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer to detect trace contaminants; (3) a non-dispersive infrared spectrometer to determine carbon monoxide concentration; and (4) a laser particle counter for measuring particulates in the air. An overview of the design and development concepts for the air and water quality monitors is presented.

  9. Portable kit for the assessment of gait parameters in daily telerehabilitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giansanti, Daniele; Morelli, Sandra; Maccioni, Giovanni; Grigioni, Mauro

    2013-03-01

    When designing a complete process of daily telerehabilitation, it should be borne in mind that patients should be furnished with properly designed methodologies for executing specific motion tasks and the assessment of the relevant parameters. In general, such a process should comprehend three basic elements in both the hospital and the home: (a) instrumented walkways, (b) walking aids or supports, and (c) equipment for the assessment of parameters. The objective, with gait being the focus, of this study was thus to design a simple, portable kit-as an alternative to the complex and expensive instruments currently used-to be easily interfaced or integrated with the instrumented walkways and aids/supports both for self-monitoring while patients are exercising with their own aids and for clinical reporting. The proposed system is a portable kit that furnishes useful parameters with feedback to both the patient and the trainer/therapist. Capable of being integrated with the most common mechanical tools used in motion rehabilitation (handrail, scales, walkways, etc.), it constantly monitors and quantitatively assesses progress in rehabilitation care. It is composed of one step counter, photo-emitter detectors, one central unit for collecting and processing the telemetrically transmitted data, and a software interface. The system has been successfully validated on 16 subjects at the second level of the Tinetti test in a clinical application for both home and the hospital. The portable kit can be used with different rehabilitation tools and on varying ground rugosity. Advantages include (a) very low cost, when compared with optoelectronic solutions or other portable devices, (b) very high accuracy, also for subjects with imbalance problems, compared with other commercial solutions, and (c) integration (compatibility) with any rehabilitative tool.

  10. Kit with track detectors aiming at didactic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cesar, M.F.; Koskinas, M.F.

    1988-01-01

    The kit intends to improve the possibilities in performing experiments of Nuclear Physics in Modern Physics Laboratories of Physics Course introducing the solid state nuclear track detectors. In these materials the passage of heavily ionizing nuclear particles creates paths (tracks) that may be revealed and made visible in an optical microscope. By the help of the kit several experiments and/or demonstrations may be performed. The kit contains solid state nuclear track detectors unirradiated and irradiated, irradiated etched and uneteched sheets; an alpha source of 241 Am and an instrution text with photomicrographs. To use the kit the laboratory must have an ordinary optical microscope. (author) [pt

  11. Quality management status of national radiation environmental monitoring network and strategy for development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Renjie; Zhang Rongsuo; Ni Shiying; Shen Gang

    2009-01-01

    During the period of 10th five-year plan, MEP has constructed a national radiation environmental monitoring network. In the running of the network, quality management on monitoring data is of vital importance. So all the members of the radiation environmental monitoring network are required to ensure the quality of monitoring method, equipment, reagent,quality of personnel, data processing and information management and so on. Thus the monitoring result would be typical and accuracy in science. The article introduced in detail the quality management status of the National Radiation Environmental Monitoring Network and put forward the strategy for development from the institutionalized and large-scale point of view of radioactive environmental monitoring work. (authors)

  12. Quality assurance of computed tomography (CT) scanners

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sankaran, A.; Sanu, K.K. . Email : a_sankaran@vsnl.com

    2004-01-01

    This article reviews the present status of research work and development of various test objects, phantoms and detector/instrumentation systems for quality assurance (QA) of computed tomography (CT) scanners, carried out in advanced countries, with emphasis on similar work done in this research centre. CT scanner is a complex equipment and routine quality control procedures are essential to the maintenance of image quality with optimum patient dose. Image quality can be ensured only through correlation between prospective monitoring of system components and tests of overall performance with standard phantoms. CT examinations contribute a large share to the population dose in advanced countries. The unique dosimetry problems in CT necessitate special techniques. This article describes a comprehensive kit developed indigenously for the following QA and type approval tests as well as for research studies on image quality/dosimetry on CT scanners

  13. Preparation of albumin radioimmunoassay kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Suoshu; Wang Yanzhen; Wang Zhenshan

    1990-01-01

    This paper presents the preparation of Albumin (Alb) radioimmunoassay kit and its preliminary clinical application. The kit is mainly applied to the measurement of Alb concentration in human urine, adopting second antibody-PEG method. The measurement range is (1-50 μg/ml). The curve obtained with a serially diluted urine sample of high Alb concentration was a straight line. Recovery, detectability, intra- and inter-batch variation coefficients were 95.7%-103.6%, 0.1 μg/ml, 5.8% and 6.4% respectively. The kit was tried out clinically for measuring Alb in urine samples in about 1200 normal individuals and 600 various patients of related renal diseases. The preliminary clinical results show that Alb RIA is conducive to the early diagnosis of kidney function abnormalities

  14. Analytical techniques for the determination of radiochemical purity of radiopharmaceuticals prepared from kits. Pt. III

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, J.R.; Rockwell, L.J.; Welsh, W.J.

    1982-01-01

    The evaluation of efficacy of commercially available kits used for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals is one aspect of the Radiation Protection Bureau's radiopharmaceutical quality control program. This report describes some of the analytical methodology employed in the program. The techniques may be of interest to hospital radiopharmacy personnel since many of the tests can be performed rapidly and with a minimum of special equipment, thus enabling the confirmation of radiopharmaceutical purity prior to patient administration. Manufacturers of kits may also be interested in learning of the analytical methods used in the assessment of their products

  15. Development of Safety Kit for Industrial Radiography Application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohd Noorul Ikhsan Ahmad; Amry Amin Abas

    2011-01-01

    A safety kit for industrial radiography has been developed. The safety kit that consist of a set of technical rod and various size of base that can be used in radiograph of pipe with diameter between half and one and half inch with utilization of collimator. With the kit, radiographers will not having anymore problem to use collimator in their work. The paper discuss about the technical measures of the safety kit and the importance of introducing it to the industry. (author)

  16. Effect of using a Planecta™ port with a three-way stopcock on the natural frequency of blood pressure transducer kits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujiwara, Shigeki; Tachihara, Keiichi; Mori, Satoshi; Ouchi, Kentaro; Yokoe, Chizuko; Imaizumi, Uno; Morimoto, Yoshinari; Miki, Yoichiro; Toyoguchi, Izumi; Yoshida, Kazu-Ichi; Yokoyama, Takeshi

    2016-12-01

    Blood pressure transducer kits are equipped with two types of Planecta™ ports-the flat-type Planecta™ port (FTP) and the Planecta™ port with a three-way stopcock (PTS). We reported that FTP application decreased the natural frequency of the kits. However, Planecta™ is an invaluable tool as it prevents infection, ensures technical simplicity, and excludes air. Hence, an ideal Planecta™ port that does not decrease the frequency characteristics is required. As a first step in this direction, we aimed to assess the influence of PTSs on the natural frequency of blood transducer kits. A DTXplus transducer kit (DT4812J; Argon Medical Devices, TX, USA) was used along with ≥1 PTSs (JMS, Hiroshima, Japan), and the frequency characteristics were assessed. The natural frequency and damping coefficient of each kit were obtained by using frequency characteristics analysis software, and these parameters were evaluated by plotting them on Gardner's chart. Regardless of whether one or two PTSs were inserted, the natural frequency of the kits only slightly decreased (from 42.5 to 41.1 Hz, when 2 PTSs were used). Thus, the frequency characteristics of the kits with PTSs were adequate for pressure monitoring. The insertion of ≥2 FTPs in pressure transducer kits should be avoided, as they markedly decrease the natural frequency and lead to underdamping. However, the effect of PTS insertion in pressure transducer kits on the frequency characteristics is minimal. Thus, we found that the use of PTS markedly improved the frequency characteristics as compared to the use of FTP.

  17. Trükitööstuste TOP 50

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2002-01-01

    Trükitööstuste TOP 50. Käibe TOP 30. Käibe kasum TOP 30. Kasvu TOP 30. Kasumi kasvu TOP 30. Rentaabluse TOP. Varade tootlikkuse TOP. Trükitööstusettevõtete üldandmed. Trükitööstusettevõtete finantsandmed

  18. C-kit-targeted imaging of gastrointestinal stromal tumor using radiolabeled anti-c-kit monoclonal antibody in a mouse tumor model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sogawa, Chizuru; Tsuji, Atsushi B.; Sudo, Hitomi; Sugyo, Aya; Yoshida, Chisato; Odaka, Kenichi; Uehara, Tomoya; Arano, Yasushi; Koizumi, Mitsuru; Saga, Tsuneo

    2010-01-01

    Introduction: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common mesenchymal tumor arising from the gastrointestinal tract and highly expresses mutated c-kit. We aimed to develop a specific and sensitive method for detecting GISTs using radiolabeled anti-c-kit monoclonal antibody. Methods: A mutated c-kit-expressing cell clone was established by transfecting an expressing vector of mutated c-kit gene into HEK293 human embryonic kidney cells. The tumors were developed by inoculating c-kit-expressing cells into nude mice. 125 I- and 111 In-labeled anti-c-kit antibodies (12A8 and 41A11) were evaluated in vitro by cell binding, competitive inhibition and cellular internalization assays, and in vivo by biodistribution and imaging studies in tumor-bearing mice. Results: Both 125 I- and 111 In-labeled antibodies showed specific binding with c-kit-expressing cells with high affinity (dissociation constants = 2.2-7.1x10 9 M -1 ). Internalization assay showed that 125 I-labeled antibodies were rapidly internalized and dehalogenated, with the release of 125 I from the cells, resulting in reduction of cell-associated radioactivity with time. In contrast, 111 In-labeled antibody was internalized but did not result in the reduced radioactivity associated with tumor cells. Reflecting this phenomenon, the in vivo tumor uptake of 125 I-labeled antibody was low on Day 1, further decreasing with time, while tumor uptake of 111 In-labeled antibody was high on Day 1, further increasing with time. The xenografted tumor was clearly visualized by scintigraphy after injection of 111 In-labeled antibody. Conclusion: The anti-c-kit monoclonal antibody labeled with a metal radionuclide would be promising for c-kit-targeted imaging of GISTs.

  19. Discovery of amido-benzisoxazoles as potent c-Kit inhibitors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kunz, Roxanne K.; Rumfelt, Shannon; Chen, Ning; Zhang, Dawei; Tasker, Andrew S.; Bürli, Roland; Hungate, Randall; Yu, Violeta; Nguyen, Yen; Whittington, Douglas A.; Meagher, Kristin L.; Plant, Matthew; Tudor, Yanyan; Schrag, Michael; Xu, Yang; Ng, Gordon Y.; Hu, Essa (Amgen)

    2010-01-12

    Deregulation of the receptor tyrosine kinase c-Kit is associated with an increasing number of human diseases, including certain cancers and mast cell diseases. Interference of c-Kit signaling with multi-kinase inhibitors has been shown clinically to successfully treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors and mastocytosis. Targeted therapy of c-Kit activity may provide therapeutic advantages against off-target effects for non-oncology applications. A new structural class of c-Kit inhibitors is described, including in vitro c-Kit potency, kinase selectivity, and the observed binding mode.

  20. Liquid microjet - a new tool for environmental water quality monitoring?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holstein, W.; Buntine, M.

    2001-01-01

    Our ability to provide real-time, cost-effective and efficient technologies for water quality monitoring remains a critical global environmental research issue. Each year, ground and surface waterways around the world, the global marine environment and the especially-fragile interzonal estuarine ecosystems are being placed under severe stress due to ever-increasing levels of pollutants entering the earth's aquasphere. An almost revolutionary breakthrough in water quality monitoring would be achieved with the development of a real-time, broad-spectrum chemical analysis technology. In this article, a real-time mass spectrometric based water quality monitoring centre around in vacuo liquid microjet injection methodologies is presented

  1. Development of positron emission tomography probe of 64Cu-labeled anti-C-kit 12A8 Fab to measure protooncogene C-kit expression

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshida, Chisato; Tsuji, Atsushi B.; Sudo, Hitomi; Sugyo, Aya; Sogawa, Chizuru; Inubushi, Masayuki; Uehara, Tomoya; Fukumura, Toshimitsu; Koizumi, Mitsuru; Arano, Yasushi; Saga, Tsuneo

    2011-01-01

    Introduction: C-kit is an important diagnostic and therapeutic target molecule for several malignancies, and c-kit-targeted drugs have been used clinically. Because abundant c-kit expression in tumors is a prerequisite for successful c-kit-targeted therapy, imaging of c-kit expression is expected to play a pivotal role in the therapeutic decision for each patient. We evaluated 64 Cu-labeled Fab of anti-c-kit antibody 12A8 as a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging probe. Methods: 111 In- or 125 I-Labeled 12A8 Fab was evaluated in vitro by cell binding, competitive inhibition and cellular internalization assays, and in vivo by biodistribution in mice bearing c-kit-expressing and -non-expressing tumors. Next, Fab fragment was labeled with the positron emitter 64 Cu and evaluated by PET. Results: Radiolabeled 12A8 Fab showed specific binding to c-kit-expressing cells with high affinity and internalized into cells after binding to c-kit on cell surface. Although tumor accumulation of [ 111 In]Fab was lower than that of [ 111 In]IgG, the faster blood clearance of [ 111 In]Fab provided higher tumor-to-blood ratio at 6 h postinjection onwards. Blood clearance of 64 Cu-labeled 12A8 Fab was slower than that of [ 111 In]Fab, but PET using [ 64 Cu]Fab clearly visualized the tumor at 6 h postinjection onwards. Conclusion: The 64 Cu-labeled 12A8 Fab could be used for c-kit-specific PET imaging and might help in selecting appropriate patients for c-kit-targeted treatments.

  2. Personal Computer-less (PC-less) Microcontroller Training Kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Somantri, Y.; Wahyudin, D.; Fushilat, I.

    2018-02-01

    The need of microcontroller training kit is necessary for practical work of students of electrical engineering education. However, to use available training kit not only costly but also does not meet the need of laboratory requirements. An affordable and portable microcontroller kit could answer such problem. This paper explains the design and development of Personal Computer Less (PC-Less) Microcontroller Training Kit. It was developed based on Lattepanda processor and Arduino microcontroller as target. The training kit equipped with advanced input-output interfaces that adopted the concept of low cost and low power system. The preliminary usability testing proved this device can be used as a tool for microcontroller programming and industrial automation training. By adopting the concept of portability, the device could be operated in the rural area which electricity and computer infrastructure are limited. Furthermore, the training kit is suitable for student of electrical engineering student from university and vocational high school.

  3. SAMIRA - SAtellite based Monitoring Initiative for Regional Air quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Philipp; Stebel, Kerstin; Ajtai, Nicolae; Diamandi, Andrei; Horalek, Jan; Nicolae, Doina; Stachlewska, Iwona; Zehner, Claus

    2016-04-01

    Here, we present a new ESA-funded project entitled Satellite based Monitoring Initiative for Regional Air quality (SAMIRA), which aims at improving regional and local air quality monitoring through synergetic use of data from present and upcoming satellites, traditionally used in situ air quality monitoring networks and output from chemical transport models. Through collaborative efforts in four countries, namely Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Norway, all with existing air quality problems, SAMIRA intends to support the involved institutions and associated users in their national monitoring and reporting mandates as well as to generate novel research in this area. Despite considerable improvements in the past decades, Europe is still far from achieving levels of air quality that do not pose unacceptable hazards to humans and the environment. Main concerns in Europe are exceedances of particulate matter (PM), ground-level ozone, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). While overall sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions have decreased in recent years, regional concentrations can still be high in some areas. The objectives of SAMIRA are to improve algorithms for the retrieval of hourly aerosol optical depth (AOD) maps from SEVIRI, and to develop robust methods for deriving column- and near-surface PM maps for the study area by combining satellite AOD with information from regional models. The benefit to existing monitoring networks (in situ, models, satellite) by combining these datasets using data fusion methods will be tested for satellite-based NO2, SO2, and PM/AOD. Furthermore, SAMIRA will test and apply techniques for downscaling air quality-related EO products to a spatial resolution that is more in line with what is generally required for studying urban and regional scale air quality. This will be demonstrated for a set of study sites that include the capitals of the four countries and the highly polluted areas along the border of Poland and the

  4. Monitoring of microbial indicator groups in caves through the use of RIDA ® COUNT kits

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Mulec, J.; Krištůfek, Václav; Chroňáková, Alica

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 41, 2/3 (2012), s. 287-296 ISSN 0583-6050 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC06066 Grant - others:SSJ(SK) ITMS 24150120041-OPZP-P05-09-01 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : caves * microorganisms * monitoring * human impact * water quality Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology Impact factor: 0.542, year: 2012

  5. On development of system for environmental monitoring of atmospheric air quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    М. В. Волкодаева

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article suggests the directions for development of the system of environmental monitoring of atmospheric air quality in the Russian Federation, namely: an increase in the number of stationary control posts for atmospheric pollution in each specific city; expansion of the list of cities where constant measurements of pollutant concentrations are conducted; expansion of the list of controlled impurities through the introduction of automated air quality monitoring systems, the development of computational methods for monitoring air quality, including not only information on pollution levels in terms of compliance with hygienic standards, but also assessment of pollution levels from the perspective of environmental risk to the health of the population. There is a great sensitivity of plants to the low quality of atmospheric air in comparison with the sensitivity of animals and humans. The air quality standards for vegetation are given. It is proposed to evaluate the quality of atmospheric air not only from the point of view of the impact on human health, but taking into account the impact on vegetation, to include in the program route observations carried out by mobile atmospheric air monitoring laboratories, territories with public green areas, which will increase the information content of atmospheric air monitoring and the state of green spaces. In connection with the increasing noise level in large cities and the lack of a permanent noise monitoring system, it is proposed to equip existing and new monitoring stations with noise level meters to provide reliable information for the development of relevant environmental measures.

  6. Escherichia coli and virus isolated from ''sticky kits''

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, M.; Scheutz, F.; Strandbygaard, Bertel

    1996-01-01

    A total of 121 Escherichia coli strains isolated from 3-week-old mink kits were serotyped and examined for virulence factors. 56 strains were isolated from healthy kits while 65 were from ''sticky kits''. Among these, 34 different serotypes were detected. No difference in serotypes or the presenc...

  7. C-kit expression in canine mucosal melanomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, S J; Jankovsky, J M; Rohrbach, B W; LeBlanc, A K

    2012-09-01

    The c-kit receptor is responsible for transmission of promigration signals to melanocytes; its downregulation may be involved in malignant progression of human melanocytic neoplasms. Expression of this receptor has not been examined in normal or neoplastic melanocytes from dogs. In this study, 14 benign dermal and 61 malignant mucosal melanocytic tumors were examined for c-kit (KIT) expression. Sites of the mucosal melanomas were gingiva (not further specified; n = 30), buccal gingiva (n = 6), soft palate (n = 4), hard palate (n = 5), tongue (n = 7), lip (n = 6), and conjunctiva (n = 3). Melan A was expressed in all 14 dermal melanocytomas and in 59 of 61 (96.7%) tumors from oral or conjunctival mucosa, confirming melanocytic origin. C-kit receptor expression was strong and diffuse throughout the cytoplasm in all 14 dermal melanocytomas and was identified in basilar mucosal melanocytes over submucosal neoplasms (27 of 61, 44.3%), junctional (neoplastic) melanocytes (17 of 61, 27.9%), and, less commonly, neoplastic melanocytes of the subepithelial tumors (6 of 61, 9.8%). KIT expression anywhere within the resected melanomas correlated with significantly longer survival. These results suggest that c-kit receptor expression may be altered in canine melanomas and may have potential as a prognostic indicator for mucosal melanomas.

  8. EXPERT-ANALITICAL MONITORING OF LEARNING PROCESS QUALITY IN HIGH SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. M. Korotun

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The technological model is proposed for monitoring process of learning process quality in high school compliant with current European and home standards. The mathematical methods are elaborated for diverse activities as to learning process objects quality determination unified support. They self-consistently combine: automatic expert evaluation with Bayesian net and Value tree models; Delphi technique enhancement; best practices for education quality assessment. Quality estimates’ consistency index is introduced for their choice and acceptability analysis. Its permanent increasing over monitoring stages is guaranteed. The tools for these stages’ automatic support are described.

  9. Development and field evaluation of the sentinel mosquito arbovirus capture kit (SMACK)

    OpenAIRE

    Johnson, Brian J.; Kerlin, Tim; Hall-Mendelin, Sonja; van den Hurk, Andrew F.; Cortis, Giles; Doggett, Stephen L.; Toi, Cheryl; Fall, Ken; McMahon, Jamie L.; Townsend, Michael; Ritchie, Scott A.

    2015-01-01

    Background Although sentinel animals are used successfully throughout the world to monitor arbovirus activity, ethical considerations and cross-reactions in serological assays highlight the importance of developing viable alternatives. Here we outline the development of a passive sentinel mosquito arbovirus capture kit (SMACK) that allows for the detection of arboviruses on honey-baited nucleic acid preservation cards (Flinders Technology Associates; FTA®) and has a similar trap efficacy as s...

  10. Implementation of quality standards in an individual monitoring service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hyvoenen, H.; Vartiainen, E

    2001-07-01

    In this paper the implementation of a quality system to the procedures of an individual monitoring service (IMS) is described from the practical perspective. The IMS of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) is used as an example. The IMS of STUK monitors about 8500 persons mainly working in hospitals, industry and research centres. The current thermoluminescence dosemeter (TLD) system was introduced in 1992 and the whole service changed to TLDs in 1995. The quality system compatible with the quality standards was introduced in 1999. An application for accreditation to full EN45001 and ISO/IEC Guide 25 was made in December 1999, accreditation was achieved in August 2000 by the Finnish Accreditation Service (FINAS). The considerations needed for the quality system to fulfil the requirements of the quality standards are reported. (author)

  11. Implementation of quality standards in an individual monitoring service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hyvoenen, H.; Vartiainen, E.

    2001-01-01

    In this paper the implementation of a quality system to the procedures of an individual monitoring service (IMS) is described from the practical perspective. The IMS of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) is used as an example. The IMS of STUK monitors about 8500 persons mainly working in hospitals, industry and research centres. The current thermoluminescence dosemeter (TLD) system was introduced in 1992 and the whole service changed to TLDs in 1995. The quality system compatible with the quality standards was introduced in 1999. An application for accreditation to full EN45001 and ISO/IEC Guide 25 was made in December 1999, accreditation was achieved in August 2000 by the Finnish Accreditation Service (FINAS). The considerations needed for the quality system to fulfil the requirements of the quality standards are reported. (author)

  12. Process monitoring using a Quality and Technical Surveillance Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rafferty, C.A.

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of process monitoring using a Quality and Technical Surveillance Program was to help ensure manufactured clad vents sets fully met technical and quality requirements established by the manufacturer and the customer, and that line and program management were immediately alerted if any aspect of the manufacturing activities drifted out of acceptable limits. The Quality and Technical Surveillance Program provided a planned, scheduled approach to monitor key processes and documentation illuminated potential problem areas early enough to permit timely corrective actions to reverse negative trends that, if left uncorrected, could have resulted in deficient hardware. Significant schedule and cost impacts were eliminated

  13. Air quality: evolution of monitoring methods at its height

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Legros, E.J.

    1996-01-01

    In the context of the forthcoming enforcement of the new air law in France, the INERIS (the French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks) made a statement at the end of June 1996 about the problems of air quality monitoring and the evolution of measurement tools. This short paper recalls first the historical evolution of the French urban air quality monitoring and its legal aspects, and the recent studies about the cost of air pollution and the impact of diesel particulates, benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons on human health. Then it describes the INERIS works concerning the identification and characterization of pollutants (NOx, CO, CO 2 , SO 2 , lead, ozone, particulates, organic volatile compounds) and the modeling of their dispersion. The monitoring of air quality in France is performed by 31 associations, from which Airparif is devoted to Paris city. (J.S.)

  14. Multicentre evaluation of commercial kit methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gram, J; Declerck, P J; Sidelmann, Johannes Jakobsen

    1993-01-01

    In order to study the analytical performance of different commercial kits for determination of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) activity we distributed eight selected split samples to 11 European laboratories experienced with haemostasis testing. Three different laboratories were involved in...... of the plasma samples, which was PAI-1 depleted. The laboratories involved in the testing reported for this sample a mean value of 6.1 IU/ml.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)......In order to study the analytical performance of different commercial kits for determination of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) activity we distributed eight selected split samples to 11 European laboratories experienced with haemostasis testing. Three different laboratories were involved...... in the production of data from each of the commercial kits tested. A considerable variation of PAI activity results reported from the laboratories testing the same commercial kits was observed. The range of reported results could in individual samples exceed the median value indicating an interlaboratory variation...

  15. [Study on the optimization of monitoring indicators of drinking water quality during health supervision].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Bixiong; E, Xueli; Zhang, Lan

    2015-01-01

    To optimize non-regular drinking water quality indices (except Giardia and Cryptosporidium) of urban drinking water. Several methods including drinking water quality exceed the standard, the risk of exceeding standard, the frequency of detecting concentrations below the detection limit, water quality comprehensive index evaluation method, and attribute reduction algorithm of rough set theory were applied, redundancy factor of water quality indicators were eliminated, control factors that play a leading role in drinking water safety were found. Optimization results showed in 62 unconventional water quality monitoring indicators of urban drinking water, 42 water quality indicators could be optimized reduction by comprehensively evaluation combined with attribute reduction of rough set. Optimization of the water quality monitoring indicators and reduction of monitoring indicators and monitoring frequency could ensure the safety of drinking water quality while lowering monitoring costs and reducing monitoring pressure of the sanitation supervision departments.

  16. Quality monitored distributed voting system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skogmo, David

    1997-01-01

    A quality monitoring system can detect certain system faults and fraud attempts in a distributed voting system. The system uses decoy voters to cast predetermined check ballots. Absent check ballots can indicate system faults. Altered check ballots can indicate attempts at counterfeiting votes. The system can also cast check ballots at predetermined times to provide another check on the distributed voting system.

  17. An Expert System Applied in Construction Water Quality Monitoring

    OpenAIRE

    Leila Ooshaksaraie; Noor E.A. Basri

    2011-01-01

    Problem statement: An untoward environmental impact of urban growth in Malaysia has been deterioration in a number of watercourses due to severe siltation and other pollutants from the construction site. Water quality monitoring is a plan for decision makers to take into account the adverse impacts of construction activities on the receiving water bodies. It is also a process for collecting the construction water quality monitoring, baseline data and standard level. Approa...

  18. R2 Water Quality Portal Monitoring Stations

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Water Quality Data Portal (WQP) provides an easy way to access data stored in various large water quality databases. The WQP provides various input parameters on the form including location, site, sampling, and date parameters to filter and customize the returned results. The The Water Quality Portal (WQP) is a cooperative service sponsored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC) that integrates publicly available water quality data from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) the EPA STOrage and RETrieval (STORET) Data Warehouse, and the USDA ARS Sustaining The Earth??s Watersheds - Agricultural Research Database System (STEWARDS).

  19. Robotic Construction Kits as Computational Manipulatives for Learning in the STEM Disciplines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Florence R.; Heffernan, John

    2016-01-01

    This article presents a systematic review of research related to the use of robotics construction kits (RCKs) in P-12 learning in the STEM disciplines for typically developing children. The purpose of this review is to configure primarily qualitative and mixed methods findings from studies meeting our selection and quality criterion to answer the…

  20. Energy Management Curriculum Starter Kit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Turner, W.C.

    1987-02-01

    The Energy Management Curriculum Starter Kit was designed to help engineering educators develop and teach energy management courses. Montana State University and Oklahoma State University courses are embodied in the model curriculum given. The curricula offered at many other universities throughout the United States are also presented. The kit was designed specifically to train engineering students to be good energy managers. Courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level are presented.

  1. Monitoring drinking water quality in South Africa: Designing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In South Africa, the management and monitoring of drinking water quality is governed by policies and regulations based on international standards. Water Service Authorities, which are either municipalities or district municipalities, are required to submit information regarding water quality and the management thereof ...

  2. CERN’s FMC Kit

    CERN Document Server

    Cattin, M; Serrano, J; van der Bij, E; Wlostowski, T

    2014-01-01

    In the context of the renovation of controls and data acquisition electronics for accelerators the BE-CO-HT section at CERN has designed a kit based on carriers and mezzanines following the VITA FPGAMezzanine Card (FMC) standard. Carriers exist in VME64x and PCIe form factors, with a PXIe carrier underway. Mezzanines include an Analog to Digital Converter, a Time to Digital Converter, a fine delay generator and a Digital Input/Output. All of the designs are licensed under the CERN Open Hardware Licence and commercialised by companies. This paper discusses the benefits of this carrier mezzanine strategy and of the Open Hardware based commercial paradigm. It also explains the design of each layer of the FMC kit, from the hardware to the gateware and the Linux device driver. In addition, several tools to help designers developing gateware for mezzanines and new concepts such as the Self-Describing Bus (SDB) and the fmcbus are presented. Lastly, some of the plans for the future of the FMC kit and Open Hardware Re...

  3. The Fluid Dynamics Demo Kit: Part I

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flack, Karen; Underhill, Patrick; Prestridge, Kathy

    2012-11-01

    The goal of this project is to develop a fluid dynamics demonstration/experiment kit that can be used by professors and graduate students at high school outreach events. The demonstrations in the kit will be easy to use and true crowd pleasers in order to inspire understanding and pique curiosity about the physics of flow. The kits will be inexpensive, containing readily available materials so that teachers can duplicate the demonstrations and experiments. The kits will be left with the teachers as a gift from the American Physics Society. The experiments and demonstrations cover the concepts of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, Bernoulli's equation, frictional losses and the ideal gas law. For each experiment, the teachers will receive presentation material, access to instructional videos, plus a worksheet that can be used in a high school physics classroom. This kit has been developed through the efforts of the APS-DFD Mentoring and Outreach Committee and has received funding from the APS-DFD. Work funded by the APS-DFD.

  4. Comparative studies of commercially available T4-RIA-kits. Pt. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, H.A.E.; Lipke, P.

    1978-01-01

    The investigation of the tested commercially available T 4 -RIA-Kits have shown that: The separation of hypo-, eu- and hyperthyroid values is better with kits a) and f) than with b), c), d) and e), though all kits give acceptable values under routine operating conditions, kit b) takes less time and work than the other tested kits, depending on the kit used, the time needed for 100 determinations varies between 1,5 and 4 hr. A general recommendation for one of the tested T 4 -RIA-Kits cannot be made since the choice of a kit depends not only on the criteria discussed but also on local circumstances. (orig.) [de

  5. Estradiol RIA kit in clinical practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Friedrich, W.; Lisse, K.; Bienert, R.; Flentje, H.; Koerner, H.; Wilken, T.; Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR, Berlin-Buch. Zentralinstitut fuer Isotopen- und Strahlenforschung)

    1985-01-01

    First clinical experience with a estradiol RIA kit developed in the Central Institute for Isotope- and Radiation Research is reported. The kit was used for the daily control of estradiol level in patients, which were treated within the program for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. The time of incubation could be shortened by means of a double antibody technique and by use of a precipitation mixture to 2 h. The intraassay variation is 9.2%, the interassay variation is 15.1%, the recovery rate is 94%. The sensitivity of the test (B 0 -3SD) is about 120 pmol/l. The estradiol RIA kit satisfies clinical requirements. (author)

  6. A fiber-optic polarimetric demonstration kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eftimov, T; Dimitrova, T L; Ivanov, G

    2012-01-01

    A simple and multifunctional fiber-optic polarimetric kit on the basis of highly birefringent single-mode fibers is presented. The fiber-optic polarimetric kit allows us to perform the following laboratory exercises: (i) fiber excitation and the measurement of numerical aperture, (ii) polarization preservation and (iii) obtain polarization-sensitive fiberized interferometers.

  7. 33 CFR 144.01-30 - First-aid kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false First-aid kit. 144.01-30 Section...) OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF ACTIVITIES LIFESAVING APPLIANCES Manned Platforms § 144.01-30 First-aid kit. On each manned platform a first-aid kit approved by the Commandant or the U.S. Bureau of Mines shall be...

  8. Development of a VxWorks-based distributed power quality monitoring system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shin, M.J.; Kim, S.J.; Son, Y.I.; Kang, S.H. [Myongji Univ., Yongin (Korea, Republic of). Next-generation Power Technology Center

    2007-07-01

    Electric utilities are becoming increasingly concerned about power quality because end user equipment is more sensitive to disturbances within the power supply system and also within the consumer facilities. In order to improve the quality of electricity, the sources and causes of disturbances must be known. However, voltage sag and swell, wave-faults and momentary interruptions are difficult to detect and avoid unless power quality monitoring devices are installed permanently. The impact that alternative energy sources have on power quality was also discussed. When distributed generation is connected to the power grid, it can generate and supply more reliable power to the grid. For a reliable interconnection of distributed power to the grid, monitoring systems should display the status of distributed power and record power events. Lack of source stability in distributed generation such as solar-cells or wind-power creates events that should be measured and stored immediately. This paper presented a newly developed real-time power quality monitoring system for distributed power systems. The system is based on a real-time operating system (OS) and can therefore handle many events that happen simultaneously. The proposed system contains a digital signal processor (MPC7410, Motorola) and an A/D board (VMIVME3122, GE). VxWorks was used to implement the monitoring algorithm. This paper outlined the structure and the functions of the developed Distributed Power Quality Monitoring System. Some experiments were conducted to test the performance of the proposed system. According to test results, the system is compatible with standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for power quality monitoring. 15 refs., 1 tab., 18 figs.

  9. Distribution and ultrastructure of interstitial cells of Cajal in the mouse colon, using antibodies to Kit and Kit(W-lacZ) mice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vanderwinden, J M; Rumessen, J J; Bernex, F

    2000-01-01

    kinase receptor Kit as a marker. Sections and whole mounts were studied by confocal microscopy after double immunofluorescence with specific antibodies. The ultrastructure of Kit-expressing cells was examined by electron microcopy in KitW-lacz/+ transgenic mice, which carry the lacz gene inserted...

  10. Cross-vendor quality monitoring in a multi-vendor Internet of Things

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Holtman, K.J.G.

    2015-01-01

    This note discusses several problems and solutions in quality monitoring of Internet of Things, when multiple products (devices, apps,) from different vendors interact with each other. It presents a cross-vendor quality monitoring system, which helps each individual vendor discover problems and

  11. A simple technique for the assessment of RIA kits using a PTK 1096 type calculator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Booc, A.

    1983-01-01

    The number of RIA kits to be assessed has made feasible the introduction of a computerized technique for quick and reliable evaluation of quality checking of the kits. The proposed method makes use of a hyperbolic regression for the machine evaluation of the RIA measurements. The process can be used in its present form for the activity measurements of bound antigens in the system only. The calculator program does not use the data of the non-specific bounds (NBS value) and it contains procedures which can be solved by the given memory capacity of the calculator type proposed. (Sz.J.)

  12. Population Growth Rate: Teaching Guide. Measures of Progress Poster Kit Number 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    World Bank, Washington, DC.

    This teaching guide accompanies the Population Growth Rate poster kit which is designed to teach students about population growth differences between rich and poor nations and about what people in developing countries are doing to help improve their quality of life. The guide is designed for use with: (1) a poster map of the world providing social…

  13. c-Kit expression in somatosensory nuclei of lower medulla oblongata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pop, Elena; Mărdărescu, Mariana; Lazăr, M; Rusu, M C; Ion, Daniela Adriana

    2013-01-01

    Protein kinase signal-transduction pathways play critical roles in regulating nociception. The c-kit receptor contributes to pain regulation in the spinal cord and is present on both peripheral and central terminals. Expression of c-kit was demonstrated in human trigeminal and spinal ganglia. However, the brainstem expression of c-kit was overlooked. We aimed to evaluate it by immunohistochemistry, on eight samples of human lower medulla oblongata. We used two clones of CD117/c-kit antibodies, from different manufacturers, and neurofilament antibodies. Positive expression of CD117/c-kit was found within the spinal trigeminal nucleus, the gracilis, cuneate, and lateral cuneate nuclei, and within the olivary complex. CD117/c-kit positive interstitial networks of these nuclei were positively labeled with neurofilaments. CD117/c-kit labeled the olivary neurons, but not the magnocellular neurons of the trigeminal, gracilis and cuneate nuclei. c-kit interstitial systems of brainstem could play so an important role for the functional status along the somatosensory neural circuits.

  14. A comparative study in three commercial kits of radioligand assay for GAD-Ab

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Yehua; Zhou Zhiguang; Huang Gan; Yang Feike; Li Zhangwei

    2006-01-01

    Objective: To provide data for perfect selection of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD-Ab) assay commercial kits. Methods: The sera of 88 titer-graded samples by radioligand assay (RLA) were measured with two types of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits and one type of immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) kit for GAD-Ab in order to test their consistency with RLA. Another 140 diabetic sera were measured with RLA and screened by a type of suitable kit to search the cutoff point for discriminating patients who needed rechecking. Results: Compared with RLA, concordance ratio of 3 kits: Medizym kit(75%) > RSR kit(73.9%) > Biomerica kit(62.5%); Kappa value: Medizym kit (0.408, common) > RSR kit (0.405, common) > Biomerica kit (0.185, failing); correlation to RLA index: RSR kit (r= 0.992) > Medizym kit(r= 0. 791 ) > Biomerica kit (r = -0. 055); area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve: Medizym kit (0.812) > RSR kit (0. 727 ) > Biomerica kit (0.666). Conclusions: The efficiencies of RSR kit and Medizym kit are good. Serum concentration between 0.25-0.99 U/ml measured by RSR kit is suggested to further recheck by RLA. (authors)

  15. Monitoring the LHCb data quality system

    CERN Multimedia

    Baranov, Alexander

    2016-01-01

    Monitoring the quality of the data, DQM, is crucial in a high-energy physics experiment to ensure the correct functioning of the apparatus during the data taking. DQM at LHCb is carried out in two phase. The first one is performed on-site, in real time, using unprocessed data directly from the LHCb detector, while the second, also performed on-site, requires the reconstruction of the data selected by the LHCb trigger system and occurs with some delay. For the Run II data taking the LHCb collaboration has re-engineered the DQM protocols and the DQM graphical interface, moving the latter to a web-based monitoring system, called Monet, thus allowing researchers to perform the second phase off-site. In order to support the operator's task, Monet is also equipped with an automated, fully configurable, alarm system, thus allowing its use not only for DQM purposes, but also to track and assess the quality of LHCb software and simulation.

  16. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Heart Failure Self-Management Kits for Outpatient Transitions of Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boylan, Paul; Joseph, Tina; Hale, Genevieve; Moreau, Cynthia; Seamon, Matthew; Jones, Renee

    2018-03-01

    To develop heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) self-management kits in an accountable care organization (ACO) to facilitate patients' self-care and prevent hospital readmissions. Pharmacists practice in an outpatient-based ACO. They participate in interprofessional office visits with providers and independently manage maintenance pharmacotherapies. Pharmacists collaborate with an interprofessional team within the ACO including physicians, nurses, case managers, and paramedics. Two commonly encountered diseases are chronic COPD and HF. Reducing preventable readmissions for these conditions are important quality benchmarks and cost-saving strategies. Pharmacists were responsible for developing HF and COPD self-management kits containing patient education materials and prescriptions to facilitate self-care. Prior to kit development, pharmacists performed a literature review to determine the presence of previously published findings on these topics. The interprofessional team continually evaluates the successes and limitations of this initiative. Pharmacists developed training and instructions for ACO allied health professionals in an effort to incorporate the self-management kits in clinical practice. The initial literature search revealed no studies describing the intervention of interest. Innovative programs designed to help reduce preventable readmissions are lacking in primary care. Implementation of the self-management kits was accepted by interprofessional ACO leadership and is currently being integrated into allied health workflow. Patients at risk for having an exacerbation of COPD or HF should receive self-management strategies. Prompt therapy prior to exacerbations reduces hospital admissions and readmissions, speeds recovery, and slows disease progression. Pharmacist-facilitated implementation of self-management kits may be developed by interprofessional health care teams.

  17. The CMS Data Quality Monitoring software experience and future improvements

    CERN Document Server

    Batinkov, Atanas Ivanov

    2013-01-01

    The Data Quality Monitoring Software proved to be a central tool in the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment. Its flexibility allowed its integration in several environments: online, for real-time detector monitoring; offline, for the final, fine-grained data certification. The usage of the Data Quality Monitoring software in the different environments and its integration in the Compact Muon Solenoid reconstruction software framework and in all production workflows are presented. The main technical challenges and the adopted solutions to them will be also discussed with emphasis on functionality, long-term robustness and performance.

  18. Developing Save Your Food Kit (Sayofu Kit) to Support Inquiry, Improve Student Learning Outcomes at SMP Plus Hidayatul Mubtadiin and Public Awareness on Food Additives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astutik, J.

    2017-02-01

    Food additives are materials that can not be separated from the lives of students and the community. Based on the preliminary questionnaire, it indicates the lack of kit supporting material additives in some schools and communities. The research objectives of this development are (1) to develop Kit experiment (SAYOFU KIT) and supplementary books to improve student learning outcomes in the classroom and public awareness on food additives (2) to describe the feasibility and potential effectiveness of SAYOFU KIT developed (3) to analyze the practice of SAYOFU KIT and benefits for students and the community. This development study uses 4-D models Thiagarajan, et al (1974). Through some stages, they are: defining, designing, developing and disseminating which involes the students and community. The developed SAYOFU KIT includes additives sample kit, borax test kit, curcumin test kit, formaldehyde test kit, modification heater to the identification of dyes and dye test paper. The study is conducted at SMP Plus Hidayatul Mubtadiin, and TKIT Al Uswah. The products are validated by experts and education practitioners. Qualitative data processing uses descriptive method, whereas quantitative data by using the N-gain. The average yield of expert validation of SAYOFU KIT with supplementary books 76.50% teacher’s book and 76.30% student’s book are eligible. The average yield of 96.81% validation of educational practitioners criteria, piloting a small group of 83.15%, and 82.89% field trials are very decent. The average yield on the student questionnaire responses SAYOFU kit and supplementary book is 87.6% with the criteria very well worth it. N-Gain 0:56 cognitive achievement with the criteria enough. The results of the public poll showed 95% feel the benefits SAYOFU kits for testing food. Based from description indicates that SAYOFU Kit developed feasible, practical, useful to support inquiry learning and improve student learning outcomes as well as public awareness of

  19. The insulin radioimmunoassay kit prepared by IPEN-CNEN/SP - Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mesquita, C.H. de; Silva, C.P.G. da; Hamada, M.M.

    1985-11-01

    The specification and methodological aspects of the insulin radioimmunoassay kit produced by IPEN-CNEN/SP - Brazil are described. The limitations taking care and the following quality control parameters or procedures are discussed: specific radioactivity, comparison between two insulin - 125 I purification procedures, affinity constant 'K' of the antigen - antibody reaction, minimal detectable dose (MDD), kinetics degradation of the radioinsulin, radioassay imprecision profile, radioassay performance temperature dependence and normal values histogram. (Author) [pt

  20. Basic and clinical evaluation of CA 130 RIA kit (D-7111) using two newly developed monoclonal antibodies. Comparison with CA 125 kit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saga, Tsuneo; Endo, Keigo; Nakajima, Tetsuo and others

    1988-10-01

    The CA 130 RIA kit was developed with the use of two monoclonal antibodies, 130 - 22 and 145 - 9. Laboratory performance was satisfactory for precision, reproducibility, recovery, and dilution. Measurement values with CA 130 kit were almost consistent with those with CA 125 kit. Favorable standard curves were attained with smaller concentrations and shorter incubation time of CA 130 kit than those with CA 125 kit. There was less prozone phenomenon. When defining a cut-off serum level of CA 130 as 35 U/ml, false-positive rate was 0 % for healthy men and 4 % for healthy women, suggesting the involvement of menstrual cycle. Positive rate for CA 130 was 65 % for malignant ovarian tumor, 48 % for lung cancer, and 47 % for endometriosis. (Namekawa, K.).

  1. Water quality monitoring in sub-Saharan African lakes: a review of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper reviews the literature on various remote sensing platforms and techniques used for assessing and monitoring water quality in sub-Saharan Africa, and highlights their strengths and weaknesses. The use of remote sensing technology could enhance water quality monitoring, since remotely sensed data offer ...

  2. Chemistry of /sup 99m/Tc labeling kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srivastava, S.C.; Meinken, G.; Richards, P.

    1976-01-01

    Problems have been reported with the use of kit-produced /sup 99m/Tc radiopharmaceuticals. This study was undertaken to understand the chemistry involved in various stannous kit systems. The relation between Tc, tin, and the ligands used to complex the reduced Tc was investigated. It is concluded that for reliable performance, stannous kits should be prepared so that most of the tin is kept in the usable (reducing) form; a solution would be to use minimum tin and a large excess of complexing agent. Oxidation of the Tc complex to free pertechnetate is not a major problem in most kit systems. 5 figures

  3. Building Use Policies. SPEC Kit 144.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coyle, Patrick

    This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) flyer/kit addresses some of the needs of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members regarding library building use and the aesthetics and well-being of the materials and people in the building. The kit draws upon documents gathered as part of a 1986 Quick-SPEC survey that dealt with food and…

  4. The Qiagen Investigator® Quantiplex HYres as an alternative kit for DNA quantification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frégeau, Chantal J; Laurin, Nancy

    2015-05-01

    The Investigator® Quantiplex HYres kit was evaluated as a potential replacement for dual DNA quantification of casework samples. This kit was determined to be highly sensitive with a limit of quantification and limit of detection of 0.0049ng/μL and 0.0003ng/μL, respectively, for both human and male DNA, using full or half reaction volumes. It was also accurate in assessing the amount of male DNA present in 96 mock and actual casework male:female mixtures (various ratios) processed in this exercise. The close correlation between the male/human DNA ratios expressed in percentages derived from the Investigator® Quantiplex HYres quantification results and the male DNA proportion calculated in mixed AmpFlSTR® Profiler® Plus or AmpFlSTR® Identifiler® Plus profiles, using the Amelogenin Y peak and STR loci, allowed guidelines to be developed to facilitate decisions regarding when to submit samples to Y-STR rather than autosomal STR profiling. The internal control (IC) target was shown to be more sensitive to inhibitors compared to the human and male DNA targets included in the Investigator® Quantiplex HYres kit serving as a good quality assessor of DNA extracts. The new kit met our criteria of enhanced sensitivity, accuracy, consistency, reliability and robustness for casework DNA quantification. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Utilization of milk energy by suckling mink kits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tauson, Anne-Helene; Fink, Rikke; Hansen, Kirsten Bislev

    2004-01-01

    A total of 36 mink dams and their litters of 3, 6 or 9 kits were used for determination of milk intake of the suckling young by means of deuterium dilution technique, and chemical composition of milk and of kit bodies. Measurements were performed during lactation weeks 1-4, each week with 3 dams...... with each litter size. Milk intake was determined over a 48 h measurement period, and by the end of this milk samples were collected and 2 kits (litters of 6 and 9) or 1 kit per litter (litters of 3) were killed for body chemical composition. Based on the results, different models were applied...... for calculation of the energetic efficiency of milk. Dam milk yield increased steadily from week 1 until week 3 but only slightly from week 3 to 4. The increase declined with increasing litter size, and for dams suckling 9 kits the increment from week 3 to week 4 was only 2 g. The dry matter content of milk...

  6. KiT: a MATLAB package for kinetochore tracking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armond, Jonathan W; Vladimirou, Elina; McAinsh, Andrew D; Burroughs, Nigel J

    2016-06-15

    During mitosis, chromosomes are attached to the mitotic spindle via large protein complexes called kinetochores. The motion of kinetochores throughout mitosis is intricate and automated quantitative tracking of their motion has already revealed many surprising facets of their behaviour. Here, we present 'KiT' (Kinetochore Tracking)-an easy-to-use, open-source software package for tracking kinetochores from live-cell fluorescent movies. KiT supports 2D, 3D and multi-colour movies, quantification of fluorescence, integrated deconvolution, parallel execution and multiple algorithms for particle localization. KiT is free, open-source software implemented in MATLAB and runs on all MATLAB supported platforms. KiT can be downloaded as a package from http://www.mechanochemistry.org/mcainsh/software.php The source repository is available at https://bitbucket.org/jarmond/kit and under continuing development. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. jonathan.armond@warwick.ac.uk. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  7. Radioimmunoassay kit formulation and its validation for serum progesterone using progesterone radiotracer purified by gel filtration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karir, T.; Pal, N.; Sivaprasad, N.

    2003-01-01

    Purification of the radioiodinated progesterone tyrosine methyl ester conjugate by gel filtration and the development, optimization and clinical validation of a direct radioimmunoassay (RIA) of progesterone using this radiotracer are described. High purity radiotracer is essential for the error free performance of any RIA. Progesterone 11α hemisuccinate was conjugated to tyrosine methyl ester (TME) by the mixed anhydride method and this conjugate was then radioiodinated by the chloramine-T method. Purification of the radioiodinated product was carried out by gel filtration. About 12 batches of the radiotracer were prepared and purified. The purification by gel filtration gave reproducible elution pattern and purity. The radiotracer thus purified was found to have consistent quality as compared to that of any other purification methods. Non-specific binding of the radiotracer was found to be 95% as checked by paper electrophoresis. The stability (retention of the immunoreactivity) of the radiotracer was two to three months. No appreciable changes in the assay characteristics were observed during this period. The assay involved 3 hours incubation of progesterone antibody with individual standards or sample and radiotracer at room temperature. The optimized assay was then validated for internal and external quality control parameters. A RIA kit was then formulated with this radiotracer for estimation of progesterone in serum. The assay kit consisted of lyophilized individual standards ranging from 0.25 to 50 ng/ml. The clinical performance of the developed kit was compared with that of a commercial ELISA kit and a correlation of 0.94 was observed. (author)

  8. Effluent monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan for radioactive airborne emissions data. Revision 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frazier, T.P.

    1995-12-01

    This Quality Assurance Project Plan addresses the quality assurance requirements for compiling Hanford Site radioactive airborne emissions data. These data will be reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Energy, and the Washington State Department of Health. Effluent Monitoring performs compliance assessments on radioactive airborne sampling and monitoring systems. This Quality Assurance Project Plan is prepared in compliance with interim guidelines and specifications. Topics include: project description; project organization and management; quality assurance objectives; sampling procedures; sample custody; calibration procedures; analytical procedures; monitoring and reporting criteria; data reduction, verification, and reporting; internal quality control; performance and system audits; corrective actions; and quality assurance reports

  9. Evaluation of Scat Deposition Transects versus Radio Telemetry for Developing a Species Distribution Model for a Rare Desert Carnivore, the Kit Fox.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dempsey, Steven J; Gese, Eric M; Kluever, Bryan M; Lonsinger, Robert C; Waits, Lisette P

    2015-01-01

    Development and evaluation of noninvasive methods for monitoring species distribution and abundance is a growing area of ecological research. While noninvasive methods have the advantage of reduced risk of negative factors associated with capture, comparisons to methods using more traditional invasive sampling is lacking. Historically kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) occupied the desert and semi-arid regions of southwestern North America. Once the most abundant carnivore in the Great Basin Desert of Utah, the species is now considered rare. In recent decades, attempts have been made to model the environmental variables influencing kit fox distribution. Using noninvasive scat deposition surveys for determination of kit fox presence, we modeled resource selection functions to predict kit fox distribution using three popular techniques (Maxent, fixed-effects, and mixed-effects generalized linear models) and compared these with similar models developed from invasive sampling (telemetry locations from radio-collared foxes). Resource selection functions were developed using a combination of landscape variables including elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation height, and soil type. All models were tested against subsequent scat collections as a method of model validation. We demonstrate the importance of comparing multiple model types for development of resource selection functions used to predict a species distribution, and evaluating the importance of environmental variables on species distribution. All models we examined showed a large effect of elevation on kit fox presence, followed by slope and vegetation height. However, the invasive sampling method (i.e., radio-telemetry) appeared to be better at determining resource selection, and therefore may be more robust in predicting kit fox distribution. In contrast, the distribution maps created from the noninvasive sampling (i.e., scat transects) were significantly different than the invasive method, thus scat transects may be

  10. DANIDA; Air Quality Monitoring Programme. Mission 3 Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sivertsen, B.; Marsteen, L.

    1996-12-31

    In the development of the Environmental Information and Monitoring Programme for the Arab Republic of Egypt (EIMP), NILU is responsible for the establishment of an air pollution monitoring system. This report summarizes the third mission to Egypt and includes meetings and site visit reports. Air quality sites in Alexandria are described and comments are given to earlier selected sites in Cairo

  11. Usefulness of CA 130 kit based on IRMA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujii, Takashi; Kimura, Yoshiko; Ata, Mariko; Miyagawa, Naoko; Iio, Atsushi; Hamamoto, Ken

    1988-01-01

    Immunoradiometric assay for CA 130 was fundamentally and clinically evaluated using a commercially available D-7111 kit. Incubation time was 4 hr with the present CA 133 kit as compared with 16 - 24 hr with conventional CA 125 kit. Laboratory performance of CA 130 kit was satisfactory for standard curve, reproducibility, and recovery test. There was well correlation between the present CA 130 kit and CA 125 kit (r = 0.931). The concentration of CA 130 in the serum was significantly higher in healthy women than men (17.3 +- 10.5 U/ml vs 9.6 +- 5.1 U/ml). Serum CA 130 levels tended to decrease with aging, regardless of sex. These levels were changeable with menstrual cycle ; i.e., these were significantly higher during menstrual phase (24.2 +- 9.0 U/ml) and significantly lower during ovulatory phase (10.9 +- 2.4 U/ml) and during menopause (12.1 +- 3.4 U/ml). Cut off serum CA 130 levels were defined as 20 U/ml for men and 38 U/ml for women. Positive rate for CA 130 was the highest in cases of ovarian cancer (80 %), followed by endometrial cancer (50 %), pancreatic cancer (47 %), benign ovarian tumor (44 %), and lung cancer (39 %). (Namekawa, K.)

  12. Environmental, political, and economic determinants of water quality monitoring in Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beck, Lucas; Bernauer, Thomas; Kalbhenn, Anna

    2010-11-01

    Effective monitoring is essential for effective pollution control in national and international water systems. To what extent are countries' monitoring choices driven by environmental criteria, as they should be? And to what extent are they also influenced by other factors, such as political and economic conditions? To address these questions, we describe and explain the evolution of one of the most important international environmental monitoring networks in Europe, the one for water quality, in the time period 1965-2004. We develop a geographic information system that contains information on the location of several thousand active monitoring stations in Europe. Using multivariate statistics, we then examine whether and to what extent the spatial and temporal clustering of monitoring intensity is driven by environmental, political, and economic factors. The results show that monitoring intensity is higher in river basins exposed to greater environmental pressure. However, political and economic factors also play a strong role in monitoring decisions: democracy, income, and peer pressure are conducive to monitoring intensity, and monitoring intensity generally increases over time. Moreover, even though monitoring is more intense in international upstream-downstream settings, we observe only a weak bias toward more monitoring downstream of international borders. In contrast, negative effects of European Union (EU) membership and runup to the EU's Water Framework Directive are potential reasons for concern. Our results strongly suggest that international coordination and standardization of water quality monitoring should be intensified. It will be interesting to apply our analytical approach also to other national and international monitoring networks, for instance, the U.S. National Water-Quality Assessment Program or the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program for air pollution.

  13. 21 CFR 878.3925 - Plastic surgery kit and accessories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Plastic surgery kit and accessories. 878.3925... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES GENERAL AND PLASTIC SURGERY DEVICES Prosthetic Devices § 878.3925 Plastic surgery kit and accessories. (a) Identification. A plastic surgery kit and accessories is a device intended to...

  14. Ballast water compliance monitoring: A new application for ATP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo Curto, A.; Stehouwer, P.; Gianoli, C.; Schneider, G.; Raymond, M.; Bonamin, V.

    2018-03-01

    The coming into force of the USCG ballast water regulations and the IMO ballast water management convention resulted in the development of several technologies approved for the treatment of ballast water. To ensure compliance of these technologies, the development of rapid and robust analysis methods was necessary. In collaboration with the SGS Group (Switzerland) and LuminUltra (Canada), Aqua-tools (France) has developed an innovative Ballast Water Treatment Monitoring (BWTM) kit for rapid onboard testing. The affordable kit provides results in less than 1 h, is easy to use and durable ensuring that the ballast water treatment system on the ship is fully compliant with the discharge standards upon arrival in port. The core of this method is a combination of high-quality reagents (lysis solution and ATP 2G Luminase™ enzyme) not inhibited by salinity and a patented fast homogenizing method for ATP extraction developed for a higher ATP recovery from zooplankton and phytoplankton. Compared to traditional analysis methods, the BWTM Kit provides fast and accurate results for all three fractions of microorganisms (≥ 50 μm, ≥ 10 ÷ < 50 μm and bacteria). Preliminary tests carried out in cooperation with SGS showed that the proposed method was able to detect onboard the efficiency of the treatment systems used. Compliance limits were established for all size fractions and a correlation between the standard methods (microscopy, plate count, MPN) and ATP was evaluated. The BWTM kit can provide a fast indication of compliance or gross exceedance. The rare borderline cases, when encountered, of course require additional confirmation.

  15. [The comparison of two newborn cytomegalovirus IgG antibody screening ELISA kits].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shun-Xian; He, Xiao-Zhou; Wang, Shi-Wen; Wang, Xiao-Fang

    2013-10-01

    This study compared two newborn Cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG antibody screening ELISA kits and evaluated the detection effectiveness of Abnova kit. CMV IgG antibodies were detected by both SeraQuest and Abnova kits from dried blood spot (DBS) samples of 488 newborn heel sticks. The detection abilities of these two kits were compared in different sample dilution concentrations. Relative detection effectiveness of the Abnova kit was defined by statistical method using the SeraQuest kit as a point of comparison. Compared to the SeraQuest screening test kit, the Abnova kit revealed a sensitivity of 98.9%, specificity of 78.6%, positive predictive value of 99.3%, negative predictive value of 68.8%, and the coincidence rate for these two screening test kits at 98.3%. The consistency check of both kits based on interpretation of the kappa statistic was relatively good. For the Abnova kit, the "area under the ROC curve" was 0.887, which indicates moderate accuracy. Abnova kit can be applied to newborn screening for congenital CMV infections. However, repeating the test for ambiguous results is suggested to increase the specificity and negative predictive value.

  16. In-situ quality monitoring during laser brazing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ungers, Michael; Fecker, Daniel; Frank, Sascha; Donst, Dmitri; Märgner, Volker; Abels, Peter; Kaierle, Stefan

    Laser brazing of zinc coated steel is a widely established manufacturing process in the automotive sector, where high quality requirements must be fulfilled. The strength, impermeablitiy and surface appearance of the joint are particularly important for judging its quality. The development of an on-line quality control system is highly desired by the industry. This paper presents recent works on the development of such a system, which consists of two cameras operating in different spectral ranges. For the evaluation of the system, seam imperfections are created artificially during experiments. Finally image processing algorithms for monitoring process parameters based the captured images are presented.

  17. Data Quality Monitoring of the CMS Tracker

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutta, Suchandra

    2011-01-01

    The Data Quality Monitoring system for the Tracker has been developed within the CMS Software framework. It has been designed to be used during online data taking as well as during offline reconstruction. The main goal of the online system is to monitor detector performance and identify problems very efficiently during data collection so that proper actions can be taken to fix it. On the other hand any issue with data reconstruction or calibration can be detected during offline processing using the same tool. The monitoring is performed using histograms which are filled with information from raw and reconstructed data computed at the level of individual detectors. Furthermore, statistical tests are performed on these histograms to check the quality and flags are generated automatically. Results are visualized with web based graphical user interfaces. Final data certification is done combining these automatic flags and manual inspection. The Tracker DQM system has been successfully used during cosmic data taking and it has been optimised to fulfill the condition of collision data taking. In this paper we describe the functionality of the CMS Tracker DQM system and the experience acquired during proton-proton collision.

  18. Detection of microbial contaminations in drinking water using ATP measurements – evaluating potential for online monitoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vang, Óluva Karin; Corfitzen, Charlotte B.; Albrechtsen, Hans-Jørgen

    2011-01-01

    There is an increasing call for fast and reliable methods for continuous monitoring of microbial drinking water quality in order to protect public health. The potential for Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measurements as a real-time analysis for continuous monitoring of microbial drinking water...... quality was investigated through simulation of two contamination scenarios, i.e. drinking water contaminated with waste water and surface water at various concentrations. With ATP measurements it was possible to detect waste water diluted 1000-10,000 times in drinking water depending on sensitivity...... of reagent kit. Surface water diluted 100-1000 times was detected in drinking water with ATP measurements. ATP has the potential as an early warning tool, especially in the period when the contamination concentration is high. 2011 © American Water Works Association AWWA WQTC Conference Proceedings All Rights...

  19. Monitoring water quality by remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, R. L. (Principal Investigator)

    1977-01-01

    The author has identified the following significant results. A limited study was conducted to determine the applicability of remote sensing for evaluating water quality conditions in the San Francisco Bay and delta. Considerable supporting data were available for the study area from other than overflight sources, but short-term temporal and spatial variability precluded their use. The study results were not sufficient to shed much light on the subject, but it did appear that, with the present state of the art in image analysis and the large amount of ground truth needed, remote sensing has only limited application in monitoring water quality.

  20. Process monitoring using a quality and technical surveillance program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rafferty, C.A.

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of process monitoring using a quality and technical surveillance program was to help ensure that manufactured clad went sets fully met technical and quality requirements established by the manufacturer and the customer and that line and program management were immediately alerted if any aspect of the manufacturing activities drifted out of acceptable limits. The quality and technical surveillance program provided a planned, scheduled approach to monitor key processes and documentation and certification systems to prevent noncompliances or any manufacturing discrepancies. These surveillances illuminated potential problem areas early enough to permit timely corrective actions to reverse negative trends that, if left uncorrected, could have resulted in deficient hardware. Significant schedule and cost impacts were eliminated. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics

  1. The Winfrith lecturers' demonstration kits for radiation and radioactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woffinden, G.B.

    1981-01-01

    During the early part of the 1970s a need arose for suitable aids to assist lecturers in giving talks on radioactivity and radiation to employees and occasionally to science students in local schools and colleges. A kit capable of demonstrating the basic properties of alpha, beta and gamma radiation was assembled for these purposes. During the latter half of the decade a demand arose for talks to non-scientific groups of the general public on nuclear power and radiation and some of the items in the original demonstration kit were found to be appropriate for these talks. The items used, now constitute the Basic Demonstration Kit. Meanwhile, a few changes or additions were made to the original kit which is now known as the Comprehensive Demonstration Kit. (author)

  2. Monitoring the Quality of Services in Electronic Banking

    OpenAIRE

    Jovovic Radislav; Lekic Elvis; Jovovic Miroslav

    2016-01-01

    Successful development of electronic banking is in direct correlation with the quality of services in electronic banking. Therefore, it is necessary that the banks are familiar with the attributes of electronic services on which clients assess the bank’s quality and client’s satisfaction with them, in order to be able to monitor, correct and improve the performance of electronic banking. We start from the hypothesis that there are already developed theoretical models for measuring the quality...

  3. A new automatic blood pressure kit auscultates for accurate reading with a smartphone

    OpenAIRE

    Wu, Hongjun; Wang, Bingjian; Zhu, Xinpu; Chu, Guang; Zhang, Zhi

    2016-01-01

    Abstract The widely used oscillometric automated blood pressure (BP) monitor was continuously questioned on its accuracy. A novel BP kit named Accutension which adopted Korotkoff auscultation method was then devised. Accutension worked with a miniature microphone, a pressure sensor, and a smartphone. The BP values were automatically displayed on the smartphone screen through the installed App. Data recorded in the phone could be played back and reconfirmed after measurement. They could also b...

  4. Association of KIT exon 9 mutations with nongastric primary site and aggressive behavior: KIT mutation analysis and clinical correlates of 120 gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonescu, Cristina R; Sommer, Gunhild; Sarran, Lisa; Tschernyavsky, Sylvia J; Riedel, Elyn; Woodruff, James M; Robson, Mark; Maki, Robert; Brennan, Murray F; Ladanyi, Marc; DeMatteo, Ronald P; Besmer, Peter

    2003-08-15

    Activating mutations of the KIT juxtamembrane region are the most common genetic events in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and have been noted as independent prognostic factors. The impact of KIT mutation in other regions, such as the extracellular or kinase domains, is not well-defined and fewer than 30 cases have been published to date. One hundred twenty GISTs, confirmed by KIT immunoreactivity, were evaluated for the presence of KIT exon 9, 11, 13, and 17 mutations. The relation between the presence/type of KIT mutation and clinicopathological factors was analyzed using Fisher's exact test and log-rank test. Forty-four % of the tumors were located in the stomach, 47% in the small bowel, 6% in the rectum, and 3% in the retroperitoneum. Overall, KIT mutations were detected in 78% of patients as follows: 67% in exon 11, 11% in exon 9, and none in exon 13 or 17. The types of KIT exon 11 mutations were heterogeneous and clustered in the classic "hot spot" at the 5' end of exon 11. Seven % of cases showed internal tandem duplications (ITD) at the 3' end of exon 11, in a region that we designate as a second hot spot for KIT mutations. Interestingly, these cases were associated with: female predominance, stomach location, occurrence in older patients, and favorable outcome. There were significant associations between exon 9 mutations and large tumor size (P < 0.001) and extragastric location (P = 0.02). Ten of these 13 patients with more than 1-year follow-up have developed recurrent disease. Most KIT-expressing GISTs show KIT mutations that are preferentially located within the classic hot spot of exon 11. In addition, we found an association between a second hot spot at the 3'end of exon 11, characterized by ITDs, and a subgroup of clinically indolent gastric GISTs in older females. KIT exon 9 mutations seem to define a distinct subset of GISTs, located predominantly in the small bowel and associated with an unfavorable clinical course.

  5. Neutron Measurement Instrumentation Development at KIT for the European ITER TBM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klix, A.; Fischer, U.; Raj, P.; Reimann, Th.; Szalkai, D.; Tian, K. [Association KIT-EURATOM, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Angelone, M. [Associazione ENEA-EURATOM sulla Fusione, ENEA C.R., I-00044 Frascati (Italy); Gehre, D. [Technical University of Dresden, D-01069 Dresden (Germany); Lyoussi, A. [CEA, DEN, DER, Instrumentation Sensors and Dosimetry Laboratory, Cadarache, F-13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France)

    2015-07-01

    Fusion power reactors will rely on the internal production of the fuel tritium from lithium in the tritium breeding blanket. Test Blanket Modules (TBM) will be installed in ITER with the aim to investigate the nuclear performance of different breeding blanket designs. Currently there is no fully qualified nuclear instrumentation available for the measurement of neutron fluxes and tritium production rates which would be able to withstand the harsh environment conditions in the TBM such as high temperature (>400 deg. C) and, depending on the operation scenario, intense radiation levels. As partner of the European Consortium on Nuclear Data and Measurement Techniques in the framework of several F4E specific grants and contracts, KIT and ENEA have jointly studied the possibility to develop and test detectors suitable to operate in ITER-TBMs. Here we present an overview of ongoing work on three types of neutron flux monitors under development for the TBMs with focus on the KIT activities. A neutron activation system (NAS) with pneumatic sample transport could provide absolute neutron flux measurements in selected positions. A test system for investigating activation materials with short half-lives was constructed at the DT neutron generator laboratory of Technical University of Dresden to investigate the neutronics aspects. Several irradiations have been performed with focus on the simultaneous measurement of the extracted activated probes. An engineering assessment of a TBM NAS in the conceptual design phase has been done which considered issues of design requirements and integration. Last but not least, a mechanical test bench is under construction at KIT which will address issues of driving the activation probes, solutions for loading the system etc. experimentally. Self-powered neutron detectors (SPND) are widely applied in fission reactor monitoring, and the commercially available SPNDs are sensitive to thermal neutrons. We are investigating novel materials for

  6. Monitoring of whey quality with NIR spectroscopy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kucheryavskiy, Sergey; Lomborg, Carina

    2015-01-01

    The possibility of using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for monitoring of liquid whey quality parameters during protein production process has been tested. The parameters included total solids, lactose, protein and fat content. The samples for the experiment were taken from real industrial...

  7. Space Station Environmental Health System water quality monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincze, Johanna E.; Sauer, Richard L.

    1990-01-01

    One of the unique aspects of the Space Station is that it will be a totally encapsulated environment and the air and water supplies will be reclaimed for reuse. The Environmental Health System, a subsystem of CHeCS (Crew Health Care System), must monitor the air and water on board the Space Station Freedom to verify that the quality is adequate for crew safety. Specifically, the Water Quality Subsystem will analyze the potable and hygiene water supplies regularly for organic, inorganic, particulate, and microbial contamination. The equipment selected to perform these analyses will be commercially available instruments which will be converted for use on board the Space Station Freedom. Therefore, the commercial hardware will be analyzed to identify the gravity dependent functions and modified to eliminate them. The selection, analysis, and conversion of the off-the-shelf equipment for monitoring the Space Station reclaimed water creates a challenging project for the Water Quality engineers and scientists.

  8. Air quality monitoring Edson and Hinton area September 1999 to June 2000 : Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    The Edson and Hinton areas of Alberta were the subject of a mobile, ambient air quality monitoring survey. The monitoring involved four surveys of a week each, over four seasons, for one year. This area had been selected for monitoring to meet three major objectives: the determination of concentrations of air pollutants representative of the monitored locations in the survey area, to establish a comparison of air pollutant levels to data from other locations in the province of Alberta, and to provide a comparison of air pollutant levels to Alberta's air quality guidelines. These surveys formed an integral part of the air quality monitoring program of Alberta Environment. Using the Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory (MAML), personnel from Alberta Environment appear on location unannounced. Carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, ozone, particulates, hydrocarbons, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, total reduced sulphur and ammonia are the substances measured and monitored. Eighteen sites in the Edson and Hinton area were selected, as well as downwind of industrial facilities in the Edson area, and air quality was monitored using the mobile lab for twenty days. To allow comparison to the air quality guidelines, monitoring was conducted for a minimum of one hour at each location. As a result, approximately 152 hours of air quality monitoring information was obtained, providing data in the vicinity of both populated and industrial areas. The periods comprised September 13-16, 1999 (Fall), February 7-9, 2000 (Winter), April 18-19, 25-27, 2000 (Spring), and June 4-5, 13-16, 2000 (Summer). The results were provided in this report. Most results were below the Alberta Ambient Air Quality Guidelines. refs., 16 tabs., 18 figs

  9. Experience with Phadebas hCS (HPL)-Test kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herter, U.

    1976-01-01

    The RIA determination of human placental lactogen (HPL) is described using the Phadebas test kit by Pharmacia, Sweden. The results of the test are shown graphically. The kit was tested over a period of one year and the tests were modified to meet the requirements of clinical examinations. The calibration curve is constant and applicable for a period of 14 days. The Phadebas kit has proved to be advantageous for both scientific research work and for routine clinical examinations. (L.O.)

  10. The Danish air quality monitoring programme. Annual Summary for 2006

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kemp, K.; Ellemann, T.; Brandt, J.; Christensen, Jesper; Ketzel, M.

    2007-06-15

    The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality Monitoring (LMP) network. The aim has been to monitor the levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the concentration trends, to perform source apportionment, and to evaluate the chemical reactions and the dispersion of the pollutants in the atmosphere. In 2006 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. Besides this model calculations were carried out to supplement the measurements. NO{sub 2} and PM{sub 10} were at several stations found in concentrations above EU limit values, which the Member States have to comply 2005 and in 2010. While the concentrations for most other pollutants have been strongly decreasing since 1982, only a minor decrease has been observed for NO{sub 2} and O{sub 3}. (au)

  11. Changes in water quality along the course of a river - Classic monitoring versus patrol monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Absalon, Damian; Kryszczuk, Paweł; Rutkiewicz, Paweł

    2017-11-01

    Monitoring of water quality is a tool necessary to assess the condition of waterbodies in order to properly formulate water management plans. The paper presents the results of patrol monitoring of a 40-kilometre stretch of the Oder between Racibórz and Koźle. It has been established that patrol monitoring is a good tool for verifying the distribution of points of classic stationary monitoring, particularly in areas subject to varied human impact, where tributaries of the main river are very diversified as regards hydrochemistry. For this reason the results of operational monitoring carried out once every few years may not be reliable and the presented condition of the monitored waterbodies may be far from reality.

  12. The CMS Data Quality Monitoring software experience and future improvements

    CERN Document Server

    De Guio, Federico

    2013-01-01

    The Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) Software proved to be a central tool in the CMS experiment. Its flexibility allowed its integration in several environments Online, for real-time detector monitoring; Offline, for the final, fine-grained Data Certification; Release Validation, to constantly validate the functionality and the performance of the reconstruction software; in Monte Carlo productions. The central tool to deliver Data Quality information is a web site for browsing data quality histograms (DQM GUI). In this contribution the usage of the DQM Software in the different environments and its integration in the CMS Reconstruction Software Framework and in all production workflows are presented.

  13. Using a commercially available DNA extraction kit to obtain high quality human genomic DNA suitable for PCR and genotyping from 11-year-old saliva saturated cotton spit wads

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hudziak James J

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We sought to describe the integrity of human genomic DNA extracted from saliva saturated cotton spit wads stored at -20°C for approximately 11 years. 783 spit wad samples were collected from an ADHD sample population (Vermont Family Study during 1996–2000. Human genomic DNA was extracted from the spit wads using a commercially available kit; QIAamp DNA Blood Midi Kit (Qiagen, Inc., Valencia, CA. with a few modifications. Results The resulting DNA yield was more than adequate for genetic analysis and ranged from approximately 1 μg to a total of 80 μg (mean 17.3 μgs ± 11.9 μgs. A260/A280 ratios for the human genomic DNA extracted from the spit wads was consistently within the generally acceptable values of 1.7–2.0, with the lowest purity being 1.70, and a mean value of 1.937 ± 0.226 for the 783 samples. The DNA also was suitable for PCR reactions as evidenced by the amplification of the serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region, 5HTTLPR. 5HTTLPR is a functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (HTT, SLC6A4, or SERT, consisting of two intensively studied alleles. 770 of the 783 samples (98.3% produced fragments after PCR of the expected size with primers specific for 5HTTLPR. Conclusion High quality and abundant genomic DNA can be successfully retrieved from saliva saturated cotton spit wads using the commercially available kit, QIAamp DNA Blood Midi Kit from Qiagen, Inc. Furthermore, the DNA can be extracted in less than 3 hours and multiple samples can be processed simultaneously thus reducing processing time.

  14. DANIDA; Air Quality Monitoring Programme. Mission 4 Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sivertsen, B.

    1997-12-31

    In the development of the Environmental Information and Monitoring Programme for the Arab Republic of Egypt (EIMP), NILU is responsible for the establishment of an air pollution monitoring system. This report summarizes the fourth mission to Egypt, including planning of the second phase meetings and site visits. Additional air quality sites in Cairo have been described. A project group meeting and a visit to Egypt Meteorological Service have been reported

  15. C-MORE Science Kits: Putting Technology in the Hands of K-12 Teachers and Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Achilles, K.; Weersing, K.; Daniels, C.; Puniwai, N.; Matsuzaki, J.; Bruno, B. C.

    2008-12-01

    The Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) is a NSF Science and Technology Center based at the University of Hawaii. The C-MORE education and outreach program offers a variety of resources and professional development opportunities for science educators, including online resources, participation in oceanography research cruises, teacher-training workshops, mini-grants to incorporate microbial oceanography-related content and activities into their classroom and, most recently, C- MORE science kits. C-MORE science kits provide hands-on classroom, field, and laboratory activities related to microbial oceanography for K-12 students. Each kit comes with complete materials and instructions, and is available free of charge to Hawaii's public school teachers. Several kits are available nationwide. C-MORE science kits cover a range of topics and technologies and are targeted at various grade levels. Here is a sampling of some available kits: 1) Marine Murder Mystery: The Case of the Missing Zooxanthellae. Students learn about the effect of climate change and other environmental threats on coral reef destruction through a murder-mystery experience. Participants also learn how to use DNA to identify a suspect. Grades levels: 3-8. 2) Statistical sampling. Students learn basic statistics through an exercise in random sampling, with applications to microbial oceanography. The laptops provided with this kit enable students to enter, analyze, and graph their data using EXCEL. Grades levels: 6-12. 3) Chlorophyll Lab. A research-quality fluorometer is used to measure the chlorophyll content in marine and freshwater systems. This enables students to compare biomass concentrations in samples collected from various locations. Grades levels: 9-12. 4) Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD). Students predict how certain variables (e.g., temperature, pressure, chlorophyll, oxygen) vary with depth. A CTD, attached to a laptop computer, is deployed into deep water

  16. New Brunswick air quality monitoring results for the year 2000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hughes, R.

    2002-01-01

    Monitoring data for air quality in New Brunswick in 2000 is presented in this document. Designed for the general public, it summarizes the air quality results for 2000 and focuses on air quality assessment as it relates to existing air quality standards and objectives. The report also contains the long term trend data for representative sites. The New Brunswick Air Quality Regulation of the Clean Air Act specifies the air quality standards applicable for carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen dioxide and total suspended particulate. The monitoring was conducted at 58 sites in 8 regional monitoring networks throughout the province. Thirteen additional sites were selected for the measurement of acid rain. Despite the fact that no standards were in effect in 2000 in New Brunswick for several substances, including inhalable particulate matter, ground-level ozone, volatile organic compounds, selected semi-volatile organic compounds, trace elements in particulate matter and mercury in air and precipitation, their levels were measured at some locations. The results indicate that emissions trends, variations in industrial output, changing process or emission control technologies, and weather conditions throughout the year explain most of the variations in results between regions. As a rule, compliance with standards is good. Acid rain continued to impact, especially in the southwestern districts of the province. Since 1996, the levels of mercury in precipitation has slightly declined. 39 refs., 43 figs

  17. "Back on Track": A Mobile App Observational Study Using Apple's ResearchKit Framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zens, Martin; Woias, Peter; Suedkamp, Norbert P; Niemeyer, Philipp

    2017-02-28

    In March 2015, Apple Inc announced ResearchKit, a novel open-source framework intended to help medical researchers to easily create apps for medical studies. With the announcement of this framework, Apple presented 5 apps built in a beta phase based on this framework. The objective of this study was to better understand decision making in patients with acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. Here, we describe the development of a ResearchKit app for this study. A multilanguage observatory study was conducted. At first a suitable research topic, target groups, participating territories, and programming method were carefully identified. The ResearchKit framework was used to program the app. A secure server connection was realized via Secure Sockets Layer. A data storage and security concept separating personal information and study data was proposed. Furthermore, an efficient method to allow multilanguage support and distribute the app in many territories was presented. Ethical implications were considered and taken into account regarding privacy policies. An app study based on ResearchKit was developed without comprehensive iPhone Operating System (iOS) development experience. The Apple App Store is a major distribution channel causing significant download rates (>1.200/y) without active recruitment. Preliminary data analysis showed moderate dropout rates and a good quality of data. A total of 180 participants were currently enrolled with 107 actively participating and producing 424 completed surveys in 9 out of 24 months. ResearchKit is an easy-to-use framework and powerful tool to create medical studies. Advantages are the modular built, the extensive reach of iOS devices, and the convenient programming environment. ©Martin Zens, Peter Woias, Norbert P Suedkamp, Philipp Niemeyer. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 28.02.2017.

  18. Monitoring the Quality of Services in Electronic Banking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jovovic Radislav

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Successful development of electronic banking is in direct correlation with the quality of services in electronic banking. Therefore, it is necessary that the banks are familiar with the attributes of electronic services on which clients assess the bank’s quality and client’s satisfaction with them, in order to be able to monitor, correct and improve the performance of electronic banking. We start from the hypothesis that there are already developed theoretical models for measuring the quality of e-banking services but they must be adjusted to the specific environment that is analysed in order to obtain reliable and quality information. The qualitative and quantitative research methods are applied in this paper in order to a get adjusted theoretical model (instrument for measuring the quality of electronic banking services. As a result of the conducted analysis, the initial theoretical model has been modified, so that the final version of the model (instrument for measuring quality of online banking allows obtaining reliable data, and information in the particular environment. And the results are: significant information about the quality of e-banking, modified theoretical model, information about the dimensions of quality of e-banking, customer satisfaction, and pathways and guidelines for the improvement of e-banking. The measuring of quality of electronic banking services in not one time activity but repeated one, as permanent monitoring strategy. This research is widely applicable even though it was conducted in the context of Montenegrin e-banking, since most of the banks in Montenegro are owned by well-known European banks, and it is expected that the obtained knowledge and information can be generalized.

  19. Pilot Water Quality Monitoring Station in Dublin Bay North Bank Monitoring Station (NBMS): MATSIS Project Part I

    OpenAIRE

    O Donnell, G.; Joyce, E.; O Boyle, S.; McGovern, E.

    2008-01-01

    The lack of short-term temporal resolution associated with traditional spot sampling for monitoring water quality of dynamic coastal and estuarine waters has meant that many organisations are interesting in autonomous monitoring technologies to provide near real-time semi-continuous data. Such approaches enable capturing short term episodic events (which may be missed or alternatively skew datasets when using spot samples) and provide early warning of water quality problems. New policy driver...

  20. Recent Advances in Point-of-Access Water Quality Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korostynska, O.; Arshak, K.; Velusamy, V.; Arshak, A.; Vaseashta, Ashok

    Clean water is one of our most valuable natural resources. In addition to providing safe drinking water it assures functional ecosystems that support fisheries and recreation. Human population growth and its associated increased demands on water pose risks to maintaining acceptable water quality. It is vital to assess source waters and the aquatic systems that receive inputs from industrial waste and sewage treatment plants, storm water systems, and runoff from urban and agricultural lands. Rapid and confident assessments of aquatic resources form the basis for sound environmental management. Current methods engaged in tracing the presence of various bacteria in water employ bulky laboratory equipment and are time consuming. Thus, real-time water quality monitoring is essential for National and International Health and Safety. Environmental water monitoring includes measurements of physical characteristics (e.g. pH, temperature, conductivity), chemical parameters (e.g. oxygen, alkalinity, nitrogen and phosphorus compounds), and abundance of certain biological taxa. Monitoring could also include assays of biological activity such as alkaline phosphatase, tests for toxins such as microcystins and direct measurements of pollutants such as heavy metals or hydrocarbons. Real time detection can significantly reduce the level of damage and also the cost to remedy the problem. This paper presents overview of state-of-the-art methods and devices used for point-of-access water quality monitoring and suggest further developments in this area.

  1. Direct assay for urine cortisol with cortisol kit TFB

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Manaka, Yukiko; Watanabe, Michiko; Hosoya, Takaaki [Yamagata Univ. (Japan). Hospital

    2002-05-01

    We examined Cortisol Kit TFB for direct assay of urine cortisol. And the multiplication by dilution factor of urine cortisol values in this kit was examined. The coefficient of correlation of cortisol levels (46 urine samples) between Cortisol Kit TFB and Chemilumi ACS-Cortisol II, which is another kit for direct assay of urine cortisol, was r=0.858, y=1.86x+38.2 (p<0.001). There were differences between the both cortisol levels of each urine sample in spite of the good coefficient of correlation. The urine cortisol values obtained from the standard curve in addition of 50 {mu}l of zero standard were 50-80% of the values obtained from the standard curve in the package insert. These results suggest that the specificity of the antibodies of both direct assay kits for urine cortisol may be different each other, and the multiplication by 1.09, the dilution factor due to the addition of zero standard to only urine sample, is unnecessary although it is indispensable for urine samples to add zero standard. Cortisol Kit TFB was very convenient for its easy assay procedure and short incubation. (author)

  2. Direct assay for urine cortisol with cortisol kit TFB

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manaka, Yukiko; Watanabe, Michiko; Hosoya, Takaaki

    2002-01-01

    We examined Cortisol Kit TFB for direct assay of urine cortisol. And the multiplication by dilution factor of urine cortisol values in this kit was examined. The coefficient of correlation of cortisol levels (46 urine samples) between Cortisol Kit TFB and Chemilumi ACS-Cortisol II, which is another kit for direct assay of urine cortisol, was r=0.858, y=1.86x+38.2 (p<0.001). There were differences between the both cortisol levels of each urine sample in spite of the good coefficient of correlation. The urine cortisol values obtained from the standard curve in addition of 50 μl of zero standard were 50-80% of the values obtained from the standard curve in the package insert. These results suggest that the specificity of the antibodies of both direct assay kits for urine cortisol may be different each other, and the multiplication by 1.09, the dilution factor due to the addition of zero standard to only urine sample, is unnecessary although it is indispensable for urine samples to add zero standard. Cortisol Kit TFB was very convenient for its easy assay procedure and short incubation. (author)

  3. C-peptide comparative radioimmunoassays: a study of three commercial kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Villaume, C.; Beck, B.

    1983-01-01

    Plasma C-peptide immunoreactivity (CPR) was measured in 18 fasting subjects with three different commercial kits (RIA-mat C-peptide-, Byk-Mallinckrodt; RIA-gnost-hC-peptide, Hoechst-Behring; human C-peptide radioimmunoassay kit, Novo) The subjects were chosen as to cover a wide range of CPR concentrations (five healthy subjects, six obese subjects, three insulin-dependent diabetics, four normal subjects whose plasmas had been kept at - 20 0 C for periods of 16 or 36 months). CPR was measured with the Novo kit in eight other plasmas which were kept over a period of 36 months, with or without aprotinin. Good correlations have been established among the values found with the three kits. However, absolute concentration values for each subject as well as the dispersion of all plasma C-peptide values varied as a function of the kit used because of antibody specificity differences and because of the various separation methods. The normal range proposed changes with each kit and the blood CPR of a subject can be a normal, reduced or increased one, depending on the kit used. After several months of storage, plasma CPR degradation is observed with the three kits. A protease-inhibitor is necessary in order to avoid this C-peptide degradation due to the apparent existence of a plasma proteolytic enzyme

  4. Monitoring of performance management using Quality Assurance Indicators and ISO requirement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dargahi H

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Quality assurance is a prevention-oriented system that can be used to improve the quality of care, increase productivity and monitor the performance management in clinical laboratories. ISO 9001: 2000 requirements are a collection of management and technical systems designed to implement quality assurance and monitor performance management in organizations. Methods: A checklist was prepared to monitor the preanalytical, analytical and postanalytical stages of laboratory performance management in 16 areas and all laboratory activities in 14 of the clinical laboratories of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS hospitals. Collected data were stored and statistically analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The best performance, in which 77.73% of quality assurance indicators were observed, was found in Sina Hospital. However, only 57.56% of these indicators were fulfilled at Farabi Hospital, with the lowest-level performance among the clinical laboratories of TUMS hospitals. The highest level of compliance with quality assurance indicators was in the hematology departments and for facility demands in management areas. Overall, quality assurance indicators were appropriately followed in only 7% of the clinical laboratories. Conclusion: The average quality assurance observation rate in the clinical laboratories studied was 67.22%, which is insufficient and must be remedied with stricter enforcement of the ISO 9001: 2000 regulations.

  5. Data Quality Monitoring Display for ATLAS experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Ilchenko, Y; The ATLAS collaboration; Corso-Radu, A; Hadavand, H; Kolos, S; Slagle, K; Taffard, A

    2009-01-01

    The start of collisions at the LHC brings with it much excitement and many unknowns. It’s essential at this point in the experiment to be prepared with user-friendly tools to quickly and efficiently determine the quality of the data. Easy visualization of data for the shift crew and experts is one of the key factors in the data quality assessment process. The Data Quality Monitoring Display (DQMD) is a visualization tool for the automatic data quality assessment of the ATLAS experiment. It is the interface through which the shift crew and experts can validate the quality of the data being recorded or processed, be warned of problems related to data quality, and identify the origin of such problems. This tool allows great flexibility for visualization of results from automatic histogram checking through custom algorithms, the configuration used to run the algorithms, and histograms used for the check, with an overlay of reference histograms when applicable. The display also supports visualization of the resu...

  6. Validating data quality during wet weather monitoring of wastewater treatment plant influents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alferes, Janelcy; Lynggaard-Jensen, Anders; Munk-Nielsen, Thomas

    Efficient monitoring of water systems and proper use of the collected data in further applications such as modelling, forecasting influent water quality and real-time control depends on careful data quality control. Given the size of the data sets produced nowadays in online water quality...... monitoring schemes, automated data validation is the only feasible option. In this paper, software tools for automatic data quality assessment with a practical orientation are presented. The developments from three organizations ranging from simple to more complex methods for automated data validation...

  7. Expression of c-kit in common benign and malignant breast lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondi-Pafiti, Agatha; Arkadopoulos, Nikolaos; Gennatas, Constantinos; Michalaki, Vassiliki; Frangou-Plegmenou, Matrona; Chatzipantelis, Paschalis

    2010-01-01

    c-kit (CD117) is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase that acts as a type III receptor for mast cell growth factor. In recent years, the role of c-kit in the development of preinvasive and invasive breast carcinomas has been investigated. The aim of our study was to detect c-kit expression in the entire spectrum of common benign and malignant breast lesions in correlation with a well-studied myoepithelial or stem-cell like marker (p63). We evaluated 270 cases of benign and malignant breast lesions including fibrocystic disease, fibroadenoma, sclerosing adenosis, atypical ductal hyperplasia, ductal/lobular carcinoma in situ, and ductal/lobular/mixed type carcinoma. C-kit staining was evaluated in the cytoplasm/cell membrane in epithelial and myoepithelial cells and p63 in the nuclei of myoepithelial cells. c-kit was highly expressed (85.3%) in benign lesions (fibrocystic disease, sclerosing adenosis, fibroadenoma), and p63 expression was 95.5% in the aforementioned lesions. c-kit distribution in preinvasive and invasive lesions was as follows: ductal/lobular carcinoma in-situ, 43%/35%; ductal/lobular carcinoma, 36%/39%; and mixed type carcinoma, 20%. c-kit was highly expressed in myofibroblast/fibroblast cells only in grade III ductal/lobular carcinomas. c-kit was totally absent in stromal cells in benign lesions and in situ carcinomas whereas expression was weak in grade I and II carcinomas. Combined overexpression of c-kit and p63 is indicative of benign breast lesions. In contrast, there is reduced expression of c-kit in in situ and invasive breast carcinomas, with simultaneous overexpression in the stromal cells. This suggests that c-kit may play a role in breast cancer progression.

  8. A Beam Quality Monitor for LHC Beams in the SPS

    CERN Document Server

    Papotti, G

    2008-01-01

    The SPS Beam Quality Monitor (BQM) system monitors the longitudinal parameters of the beam before extraction to the LHC to prevent losses and degradation of the LHC luminosity by the injection of low quality beams. It is implemented in two priority levels. At the highest level the SPS-LHC synchronization and global beam structure are verified. If the specifications are not met, the beam should be dumped in the SPS before extraction. On the second level, individual bunch position, length and stability are checked for beam quality assessment. Tolerances are adapted to the mode of operation and extraction to the LHC can also be inhibited. Beam parameters are accessed by acquiring bunch profiles with a longitudinal pick up and fast digital oscilloscope. The beam is monitored for instabilities during the acceleration cycle and thoroughly checked a few ms before extraction for a final decision on extraction interlock. Dedicated hardware and software components implementing fast algorithms are required. In this pape...

  9. A Survey on Data Quality for Dependable Monitoring in Wireless Sensor Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jesus, Gonçalo; Casimiro, António; Oliveira, Anabela

    2017-09-02

    Wireless sensor networks are being increasingly used in several application areas, particularly to collect data and monitor physical processes. Non-functional requirements, like reliability, security or availability, are often important and must be accounted for in the application development. For that purpose, there is a large body of knowledge on dependability techniques for distributed systems, which provide a good basis to understand how to satisfy these non-functional requirements of WSN-based monitoring applications. Given the data-centric nature of monitoring applications, it is of particular importance to ensure that data are reliable or, more generically, that they have the necessary quality. In this survey, we look into the problem of ensuring the desired quality of data for dependable monitoring using WSNs. We take a dependability-oriented perspective, reviewing the possible impairments to dependability and the prominent existing solutions to solve or mitigate these impairments. Despite the variety of components that may form a WSN-based monitoring system, we give particular attention to understanding which faults can affect sensors, how they can affect the quality of the information and how this quality can be improved and quantified.

  10. Comparison of Multiplex Suspension Array Large-Panel Kits for Profiling Cytokines and Chemokines in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Imran H.; Krishnan, V.V.; Ziman, Melanie; Janatpour, Kim; Wun, Ted; Luciw, Paul A.; Tuscano, Joseph

    2015-01-01

    Background Multiplex analysis allows measurements of a large number of analytes simultaneously in each sample. Based on the Luminex multiplex technology (xMAP), kits for measuring multiple cytokines and chemokines (immunomodulators) are commercially available and are useful in investigations on inflammatory diseases. This study evaluated four multiplex kits (Bio-Plex, LINCOplex, Fluorokine, and Beadlyte) that contained 27, 29, 20 and 22 analytes each, respectively, for the analysis of immunomodulators in plasma of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who underwent treatment with antibody against CD20 (rituximab), a B-cell reductive therapy. Methods Multiplex kits were tested on serial plasma samples obtained from six RA patients at baseline and multiple time points (3, 6, and 9 months) post-treatment with rituximab. The RA patients included in this study had previously failed therapy with disease modifying anti-arthritis drugs (DMARD) and treatment with anti-TNFα antibody (infliximab). Results Computer modeling and hierarchical cluster analysis of the multiplex data allowed a comparison of the performance of multiplex assay kits and revealed profiles of immunomodulators in the RA patients. Conclusions In plasma of RA patients who appeared to have benefited from rituximab treatment the profile of significantly elevated immunomodulators by at least two of the three kits (BioPlex, LINCOplex, Beadlyte), is as follows: IL-12p70, Eotaxin, IL-4, TNFα, Il-9, IL-1β, IFNγ, IL-10, IL-6, and IL-13. Immunomodulator profiling by multiplex analysis may provide useful plasma biomarkers for monitoring response to B-cell reductive therapy in RA patients. PMID:18823005

  11. The value of molecular expression of KIT and KIT ligand analysed using real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry as a prognostic indicator for canine cutaneous mast cell tumours.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa Casagrande, T A; de Oliveira Barros, L M; Fukumasu, H; Cogliati, B; Chaible, L M; Dagli, M L Z; Matera, J M

    2015-03-01

    This study investigated the correlation between KIT gene expression determined by immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the rate of tumour recurrence and tumour-related deaths in dogs affected with mast cell tumour (MCT). Kaplan-Meier curves were constructed to compare tumour recurrence and tumour-related death between patients. The log-rank test was used to check for significant differences between curves. KIT-I, KIT-II and KIT-III staining patterns were observed in 9 (11.11%), 50 (61.73%) and 22 (27.16%) tumours, respectively. Tumour recurrence rates and tumour-related deaths were not associated with KIT staining patterns (P = 0278, P > 0.05), KIT (P = 0.289, P > 0.05) or KIT ligand (P = 0.106, P > 0.05) gene expression. Despite the lack of association between KIT staining pattern and patient survival time, the results suggest a correlation between aberrant KIT localization and increased proliferative activity of MCTs. RT-PCR seems to be a sensible method for quantitative detection of KIT gene expression in canine MCT, although expressions levels are not correlated with prognosis. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  12. Nociceptive tuning by stem cell factor/c-Kit signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milenkovic, Nevena; Frahm, Christina; Gassmann, Max; Griffel, Carola; Erdmann, Bettina; Birchmeier, Carmen; Lewin, Gary R; Garratt, Alistair N

    2007-12-06

    The molecular mechanisms regulating the sensitivity of sensory circuits to environmental stimuli are poorly understood. We demonstrate here a central role for stem cell factor (SCF) and its receptor, c-Kit, in tuning the responsiveness of sensory neurons to natural stimuli. Mice lacking SCF/c-Kit signaling displayed profound thermal hypoalgesia, attributable to a marked elevation in the thermal threshold and reduction in spiking rate of heat-sensitive nociceptors. Acute activation of c-Kit by its ligand, SCF, resulted in a reduced thermal threshold and potentiation of heat-activated currents in isolated small-diameter neurons and thermal hyperalgesia in mice. SCF-induced thermal hyperalgesia required the TRP family cation channel TRPV1. Lack of c-Kit signaling during development resulted in hypersensitivity of discrete mechanoreceptive neuronal subtypes. Thus, c-Kit can now be grouped with a small family of receptor tyrosine kinases, including c-Ret and TrkA, that control the transduction properties of sensory neurons.

  13. Automated speech quality monitoring tool based on perceptual evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Vozňák, Miroslav; Rozhon, Jan

    2010-01-01

    The paper deals with a speech quality monitoring tool which we have developed in accordance with PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality) and is automatically running and calculating the MOS (Mean Opinion Score). Results are stored into database and used in a research project investigating how meteorological conditions influence the speech quality in a GSM network. The meteorological station, which is located in our university campus provides information about a temperature,...

  14. Monitoring surface water quality using social media in the context of citizen science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Hang; Hong, Yang; Long, Di; Jing, Hua

    2017-02-01

    Surface water quality monitoring (SWQM) provides essential information for water environmental protection. However, SWQM is costly and limited in terms of equipment and sites. The global popularity of social media and intelligent mobile devices with GPS and photography functions allows citizens to monitor surface water quality. This study aims to propose a method for SWQM using social media platforms. Specifically, a WeChat-based application platform is built to collect water quality reports from volunteers, which have been proven valuable for water quality monitoring. The methods for data screening and volunteer recruitment are discussed based on the collected reports. The proposed methods provide a framework for collecting water quality data from citizens and offer a primary foundation for big data analysis in future research.

  15. A Design of Wireless Sensor Networks for a Power Quality Monitoring System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanggil Kang

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Power grids deal with the business of generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power. Recently, interest in power quality in electrical distribution systems has increased rapidly. In Korea, the communication network to deliver voltage, current, and temperature measurements gathered from pole transformers to remote monitoring centers employs cellular mobile technology. Due to high cost of the cellular mobile technology, power quality monitoring measurements are limited and data gathering intervals are large. This causes difficulties in providing the power quality monitoring service. To alleviate the problems, in this paper we present a communication infrastructure to provide low cost, reliable data delivery. The communication infrastructure consists of wired connections between substations and monitoring centers, and wireless connections between pole transformers and substations. For the wireless connection, we employ a wireless sensor network and design its corresponding data forwarding protocol to improve the quality of data delivery. For the design, we adopt a tree-based data forwarding protocol in order to customize the distribution pattern of the power quality information. We verify the performance of the proposed data forwarding protocol quantitatively using the NS-2 network simulator.

  16. A design of wireless sensor networks for a power quality monitoring system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Yujin; Kim, Hak-Man; Kang, Sanggil

    2010-01-01

    Power grids deal with the business of generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power. Recently, interest in power quality in electrical distribution systems has increased rapidly. In Korea, the communication network to deliver voltage, current, and temperature measurements gathered from pole transformers to remote monitoring centers employs cellular mobile technology. Due to high cost of the cellular mobile technology, power quality monitoring measurements are limited and data gathering intervals are large. This causes difficulties in providing the power quality monitoring service. To alleviate the problems, in this paper we present a communication infrastructure to provide low cost, reliable data delivery. The communication infrastructure consists of wired connections between substations and monitoring centers, and wireless connections between pole transformers and substations. For the wireless connection, we employ a wireless sensor network and design its corresponding data forwarding protocol to improve the quality of data delivery. For the design, we adopt a tree-based data forwarding protocol in order to customize the distribution pattern of the power quality information. We verify the performance of the proposed data forwarding protocol quantitatively using the NS-2 network simulator.

  17. Tc-99m Labeled Red Blood Cell by Ultra Tag RBC Kit in Patients Suspected of Gastrointestinal Bleeding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pusuwan, Pawana; Leaungwutiwong, Suraphong; Tocharoenchai, Chiraporn; Chaiwatanarat, Tawatchai; Sirisatipoch, Sasitorn; Rajadara, Samart; Naktong, Thanyada; Thanyarak, Sucheera

    2001-06-01

    Twenty patients suspected of gastrointestinal bleeding who underwent Tc-99m labeled red blood cell (RBC) by ultraTag RBC kit at Division of Nuclear Medicine, Bumrungrad Hospital between January 2000 and December 2002 were studied. The histories of patients together with either endoscopic results or angiographic findings or pathological reports were used as gold standards. Two by Two decision matrix was used for data analysis and the sensitivity together with specificity were calculated. The results show that the sensitivity and specificity of Tc-99m labeled RBC by ultraTag RBC kit are 87.5% and 91.7%, respectively. We conclude that Tc-99m labeled RBC by ultraTag RBC kit gives high percentages of sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, the image quality is improved because of the absence of free Tc-99m pertechnetate uptake in the stomach in all patients

  18. Monitoring Environmental Quality by Sniffing Social Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhibo Wang

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, the environmental pollution and degradation in China has become a serious problem with the rapid development of Chinese heavy industry and increased energy generation. With sustainable development being the key to solving these problems, it is necessary to develop proper techniques for monitoring environmental quality. Compared to traditional environment monitoring methods utilizing expensive and complex instruments, we recognized that social media analysis is an efficient and feasible alternative to achieve this goal with the phenomenon that a growing number of people post their comments and feelings about their living environment on social media, such as blogs and personal websites. In this paper, we self-defined a term called the Environmental Quality Index (EQI to measure and represent people’s overall attitude and sentiment towards an area’s environmental quality at a specific time; it includes not only metrics for water and food quality but also people’s feelings about air pollution. In the experiment, a high sentiment analysis and classification precision of 85.67% was obtained utilizing the support vector machine algorithm, and we calculated and analyzed the EQI for 27 provinces in China using the text data related to the environment from the Chinese Sina micro-blog and Baidu Tieba collected from January 2015 to June 2016. By comparing our results to with the data from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, we showed that the environment evaluation model we constructed and the method we proposed are feasible and effective.

  19. Factors affecting the stability and biodistribution of {sup 99m} Tc labelled Sn-pyrophosphate freeze dried kits in normal mice.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elkolaly, M T; Elwatery, A S; Elghany, E A [Radioisotope production and labelled compounds department, hot lab. center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, (Egypt)

    1995-10-01

    The present study has shown that about 5% of Sn (II) in {sup 99m} Tc labelled Sn-pyrophosphate (Sn-PYP) freeze dried kit was oxidized during kit formulation. Also, {gamma}-irradiation doses of 25 and 50 KGy led to Sn (II) losses of about 9.8 and 27.7%, respectively. In-vitro stability and radiochemical purity were biologically confirmed in mice and a high quality scan was achieved on waiting for 3 hours after injection. 3 figs., 6 tabs.

  20. Data quality monitoring of the CMS tracker

    CERN Document Server

    Potamianos, Karolos

    2009-01-01

    The Physics and Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) framework aims at providing a homogeneous monitoring environment across various applications related to data taking at the CMS experiment. It has been designed to be used during online data taking as well as during offline reconstruction. The goal of the online system is to monitor detector performance and identify problems very efficiently during data collection so that proper actions can be taken. On the other hand the reconstruction or calibration problems can be detected during offline processing using the same tool. The monitoring is performed with histograms, which are filled with information from raw and reconstructed data. All histograms can then be displayed both in the central CMS DQM graphical user interface (GUI), as well as in Tracker specific expert GUIs and socalled Tracker Maps. Applications are in place to further process the information from these basic histograms by summarizing them in overview plots, by evaluating them with automated statistica...

  1. Coral skeletal geochemistry as a monitor of inshore water quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saha, Narottam; Webb, Gregory E.; Zhao, Jian-Xin

    2016-01-01

    Coral reefs maintain extraordinary biodiversity and provide protection from tsunamis and storm surge, but inshore coral reef health is degrading in many regions due to deteriorating water quality. Deconvolving natural and anthropogenic changes to water quality is hampered by the lack of long term, dated water quality data but such records are required for forward modelling of reef health to aid their management. Reef corals provide an excellent archive of high resolution geochemical (trace element) proxies that can span hundreds of years and potentially provide records used through the Holocene. Hence, geochemical proxies in corals hold great promise for understanding changes in ancient water quality that can inform broader oceanographic and climatic changes in a given region. This article reviews and highlights the use of coral-based trace metal archives, including metal transported from rivers to the ocean, incorporation of trace metals into coral skeletons and the current ‘state of the art’ in utilizing coral trace metal proxies as tools for monitoring various types of local and regional source-specific pollution (river discharge, land use changes, dredging and dumping, mining, oil spills, antifouling paints, atmospheric sources, sewage). The three most commonly used coral trace element proxies (i.e., Ba/Ca, Mn/Ca, and Y/Ca) are closely associated with river runoff in the Great Barrier Reef, but considerable uncertainty remains regarding their complex biogeochemical cycling and controlling mechanisms. However, coral-based water quality reconstructions have suffered from a lack of understanding of so-called vital effects and early marine diagenesis. The main challenge is to identify and eliminate the influence of extraneous local factors in order to allow accurate water quality reconstructions and to develop alternate proxies to monitor water pollution. Rare earth elements have great potential as they are self-referencing and reflect basic terrestrial input

  2. Coral skeletal geochemistry as a monitor of inshore water quality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saha, Narottam, E-mail: n.saha@uq.edu.au; Webb, Gregory E.; Zhao, Jian-Xin

    2016-10-01

    Coral reefs maintain extraordinary biodiversity and provide protection from tsunamis and storm surge, but inshore coral reef health is degrading in many regions due to deteriorating water quality. Deconvolving natural and anthropogenic changes to water quality is hampered by the lack of long term, dated water quality data but such records are required for forward modelling of reef health to aid their management. Reef corals provide an excellent archive of high resolution geochemical (trace element) proxies that can span hundreds of years and potentially provide records used through the Holocene. Hence, geochemical proxies in corals hold great promise for understanding changes in ancient water quality that can inform broader oceanographic and climatic changes in a given region. This article reviews and highlights the use of coral-based trace metal archives, including metal transported from rivers to the ocean, incorporation of trace metals into coral skeletons and the current ‘state of the art’ in utilizing coral trace metal proxies as tools for monitoring various types of local and regional source-specific pollution (river discharge, land use changes, dredging and dumping, mining, oil spills, antifouling paints, atmospheric sources, sewage). The three most commonly used coral trace element proxies (i.e., Ba/Ca, Mn/Ca, and Y/Ca) are closely associated with river runoff in the Great Barrier Reef, but considerable uncertainty remains regarding their complex biogeochemical cycling and controlling mechanisms. However, coral-based water quality reconstructions have suffered from a lack of understanding of so-called vital effects and early marine diagenesis. The main challenge is to identify and eliminate the influence of extraneous local factors in order to allow accurate water quality reconstructions and to develop alternate proxies to monitor water pollution. Rare earth elements have great potential as they are self-referencing and reflect basic terrestrial input

  3. Spectral Band Characterization for Hyperspectral Monitoring of Water Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vermillion, Stephanie C.; Raqueno, Rolando; Simmons, Rulon

    2001-01-01

    A method for selecting the set of spectral characteristics that provides the smallest increase in prediction error is of interest to those using hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to monitor water quality. The spectral characteristics of interest to these applications are spectral bandwidth and location. Three water quality constituents of interest that are detectable via remote sensing are chlorophyll (CHL), total suspended solids (TSS), and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). Hyperspectral data provides a rich source of information regarding the content and composition of these materials, but often provides more data than an analyst can manage. This study addresses the spectral characteristics need for water quality monitoring for two reasons. First, determination of the greatest contribution of these spectral characteristics would greatly improve computational ease and efficiency. Second, understanding the spectral capabilities of different spectral resolutions and specific regions is an essential part of future system development and characterization. As new systems are developed and tested, water quality managers will be asked to determine sensor specifications that provide the most accurate and efficient water quality measurements. We address these issues using data from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and a set of models to predict constituent concentrations.

  4. South Asia transboundary water quality monitoring workshop summary report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Betsill, Jeffrey David; Littlefield, Adriane C.; Luetters, Frederick O.; Rajen, Gaurav

    2003-04-01

    The Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC) promotes collaborations among scientists and researchers in several regions as a means of achieving common regional security objectives. To promote cooperation in South Asia on environmental research, an international working group made up of participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and the United States convened in Kathmandu, Nepal, from February 17-23,2002. The workshop was held to further develop the South Asia Transboundary Water Quality Monitoring (SATWQM) project. The project is sponsored in part by the CMC located at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico through funding provided by the US. Department of State, Regional Environmental Affairs Office, American Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal, and the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Office of Nonproliferation and National Security. This report summarizes the SATWQM project, the workshop objectives, process and results. The long-term interests of the participants are to develop systems for sharing regional environmental information as a means of building confidence and improving relations among South Asian countries. The more immediate interests of the group are focused on activities that foster regional sharing of water quality data in the Ganges and Indus River basins. Issues of concern to the SATWQM network participants include studying the impacts from untreated sewage and industrial effluents, agricultural run-off, salinity increases in fresh waters, the siltation and shifting of river channels, and the environmental degradation of critical habitats such as wetlands, protected forests, and endangered aquatic species conservation areas. The workshop focused on five objectives: (1) a deepened understanding of the partner organizations involved; (2) garnering the support of additional regional and national government and non-government organizations in South Asia involved in river water quality monitoring; (3) identification

  5. Fish product quality evaluation based on temperature monitoring in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    As one kind of perishable food, fish product is at risk of suffering various damages during cold chain and temperature is the most important factor to affect the product quality. This research work on frozen tilapia fillet was aimed at evaluating the fish product quality and predict shelf-life through monitoring temperature change ...

  6. Applications of continuous water quality monitoring techniques for more efficient water quality research and water resources management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rozemeijer, J.C.; Velde, Y. van der; Broers, H.P.; Geer, F. van

    2013-01-01

    Understanding and taking account of dynamics in water quality is essential for adequate water quality policy and management. In conventional regional surface water and upper groundwater quality monitoring, measurement frequencies are too low to capture the short-term dynamic behavior of solute

  7. Liquid kit for preparation of 188rhenium-etidronate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marczewski, Barbara; Dias, Carla Roberta; Moraes, Vanessa; Osso Junior, Joao Alberto

    2005-01-01

    The aim of this study was the preparation of a liquid kit for radiolabeling of 188 Re-HEDP (hydroxyethylidene diphosphonate). 188 Re was obtained from alumina based 188 W/ 188 Re generators. This paper reports the efficacy of a cold kit stored for more than two weeks, determined by the dependence of the radiolabeling yields of 188 Re-HEDP on the incubation time, reducing agent concentration, the effects of concentration of ligand, the p H of the reaction and the temperature. The cold kits showed a good stability when carrie-free rhenium-188 was added in the reaction mixture. (author)

  8. World Disarmament Kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woito, Robert, Ed.

    This kit presents a comprehensive introduction for students to arms control and disarmament issues. Included are copies of published and unpublished articles for each topic. Section I provides a self-survey to enable students to assess their own attitudes, values, and knowledge. The survey poses questions for which students select one of several…

  9. Lot quality assurance sampling to monitor supplemental immunization activity quality: an essential tool for improving performance in polio endemic countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Alexandra E; Okayasu, Hiromasa; Nzioki, Michael M; Wadood, Mufti Z; Chabot-Couture, Guillaume; Quddus, Arshad; Walker, George; Sutter, Roland W

    2014-11-01

    Monitoring the quality of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) is a key tool for polio eradication. Regular monitoring data, however, are often unreliable, showing high coverage levels in virtually all areas, including those with ongoing virus circulation. To address this challenge, lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) was introduced in 2009 as an additional tool to monitor SIA quality. Now used in 8 countries, LQAS provides a number of programmatic benefits: identifying areas of weak coverage quality with statistical reliability, differentiating areas of varying coverage with greater precision, and allowing for trend analysis of campaign quality. LQAS also accommodates changes to survey format, interpretation thresholds, evaluations of sample size, and data collection through mobile phones to improve timeliness of reporting and allow for visualization of campaign quality. LQAS becomes increasingly important to address remaining gaps in SIA quality and help focus resources on high-risk areas to prevent the continued transmission of wild poliovirus. © Crown copyright 2014.

  10. Study of weld quality real-time monitoring system for auto-body assembly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jun; Li, Yong-Bing; Chen, Guan-Long

    2005-12-01

    Resistance spot welding (RSW) is widely used for the auto-body assembly in automotive industry. But RSW suffers from a major problem of inconsistent quality from weld to weld. The major problem is the complexity of the basic process that may involve material coatings, electrode force, electrode wear, fit up, etc. Therefore weld quality assurance is still a big challenge and goal. Electrode displacement has proved to be a particularly useful signal which correlates well with weld quality. This paper introduces a novel auto-body spot weld quality monitoring system which uses electrode displacement as the quality parameter. This system chooses the latest laser displacement sensor with high resolution to measure the real-time electrode displacement. It solves the interference problem of sensor mounting by designing special fixture, and can be successfully applied on the portable welding machine. It is capable of evaluating weld quality and making diagnosis of process variations such as surface asperities, shunting, worn electrode and weld expansion with real-time electrode displacement. As proved by application in the workshop, the monitoring system has good stability and reliability, and is qualified for monitoring weld quality in process.

  11. Quality control in 99m technetium radiopharmaceuticals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leon Cabana, Alba

    1994-01-01

    This work means about the quality control in Tc radiopharmaceuticals preparation at hospitalary levels. Several steps must be used in a Nuclear Medicine Laboratory, such as proceeding,radiopharmaceuticals kits preparation, and dispensation materials,glasses,stopper,physical aspects,identification,ph control,storage,and reactif kits

  12. Preparation of acid-base bifunctional mesoporous KIT-6 (KIT: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and its catalytic performance in Knoevenagel reaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Ling; Wang, Chunhua; Guan, Jingqi

    2014-01-01

    Acid-base bifunctional mesoporous catalysts Al-KIT-6-NH 2 containing different aluminum content have been synthesized through post synthetic grafting method. The materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrographs (SEM), transmission electron micrographs (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), IR spectra of pyridine adsorption, NH 3 -TPD and TG analysis. The characterization results indicated that the pore structure of KIT-6 was well kept after the addition of aluminum and grafting of aminopropyl groups. The acid amount of Al-KIT-6 increased with enhancing aluminum content. Catalytic results showed that weak acid and weak base favor the Knoevenagel reaction, while catalysts with strong acid and weak base exhibited worse catalytic behavior. - Graphical abstract: The postulated steps of mechanism for the acid-base catalyzed process are as follows: (1) the aldehyde gets activated by the surface acidic sites which allow the amine undergoes nucleophilic to attack the carbonyl carbon of benzaldehyde. (2) Water is released in the formation of imine intermediate. (3) The ethyl cyanoacetate reacts with the intermediate. (4) The benzylidene ethyl cyanoacetate is formed and the amine is regenerated. - Highlights: • KIT-6 and Al-KIT-6-NH 2 with different Si/Al ratios has been successfully prepared. • 79.4% Yield was obtained over 46-Al-KIT-6-NH 2 within 20 min in Knoevenagel reaction. • Low Al-content Al-KIT-6-NH 2 shows better catalytic stability than high Al-content catalysts. • There is acid-base synergistic effect in Knoevenagel reaction

  13. Preparation of acid-base bifunctional mesoporous KIT-6 (KIT: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and its catalytic performance in Knoevenagel reaction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xu, Ling [College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, Tongliao 028000 (China); Wang, Chunhua [Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry of Jilin Province, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (China); Guan, Jingqi, E-mail: guanjq@jlu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry of Jilin Province, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (China)

    2014-05-01

    Acid-base bifunctional mesoporous catalysts Al-KIT-6-NH{sub 2} containing different aluminum content have been synthesized through post synthetic grafting method. The materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrographs (SEM), transmission electron micrographs (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), IR spectra of pyridine adsorption, NH{sub 3}-TPD and TG analysis. The characterization results indicated that the pore structure of KIT-6 was well kept after the addition of aluminum and grafting of aminopropyl groups. The acid amount of Al-KIT-6 increased with enhancing aluminum content. Catalytic results showed that weak acid and weak base favor the Knoevenagel reaction, while catalysts with strong acid and weak base exhibited worse catalytic behavior. - Graphical abstract: The postulated steps of mechanism for the acid-base catalyzed process are as follows: (1) the aldehyde gets activated by the surface acidic sites which allow the amine undergoes nucleophilic to attack the carbonyl carbon of benzaldehyde. (2) Water is released in the formation of imine intermediate. (3) The ethyl cyanoacetate reacts with the intermediate. (4) The benzylidene ethyl cyanoacetate is formed and the amine is regenerated. - Highlights: • KIT-6 and Al-KIT-6-NH{sub 2} with different Si/Al ratios has been successfully prepared. • 79.4% Yield was obtained over 46-Al-KIT-6-NH{sub 2} within 20 min in Knoevenagel reaction. • Low Al-content Al-KIT-6-NH{sub 2} shows better catalytic stability than high Al-content catalysts. • There is acid-base synergistic effect in Knoevenagel reaction.

  14. Quality Assurance Program Plan for radionuclide airborne emissions monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vance, L.M.

    1993-07-01

    This Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) describes the quality assurance requirements and responsibilities for radioactive airborne emissions measurements activities from regulated stacks are controlled at the Hanford Site. Detailed monitoring requirements apply to stacks exceeding 1% of the standard of 10 mrem annual effective dose equivalent to the maximally exposed individual from operations of the Hanford Site

  15. Quality Assurance Program Plan for radionuclide airborne emissions monitoring

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vance, L.M.

    1993-07-01

    This Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) describes the quality assurance requirements and responsibilities for radioactive airborne emissions measurements activities from regulated stacks are controlled at the Hanford Site. Detailed monitoring requirements apply to stacks exceeding 1% of the standard of 10 mrem annual effective dose equivalent to the maximally exposed individual from operations of the Hanford Site.

  16. Iodobell in vivo kits for labelling with 123I or 131I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koernyei, J.; Horvath, M.; Pszota, A.; Lakatos, M.; Szirtes, L.

    1988-01-01

    Iodobell in vivo kits provide an easy and fast method for 'on the spot' radioiodination with 123 I (or 131 I). Until now three kits have been developed in the Institute of Isotopes Budapest, the heptadecanoic acid, the hippurate and the MIBG kits. From these, the heptadecanoic acid kit is being tested in humans in Hungary, the other two are under the registration procedure. The Iodobell in vivo kits may contribute to the application of 123 I radioisotope in Hungary. (orig.)

  17. Development and Evaluation of User-Friendly Single Vial DOTA-Peptide Kit Formulations, Specifically Designed for Radiolabelling with 68Ga from a Tin Dioxide 68Ge/68Ga Generator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prince, Deidré; Rossouw, Daniel; Davids, Claudia; Rubow, Sietske

    2017-12-01

    This study was aimed to develop single vial 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)-peptide kits to be used with fractionated eluates from a SnO 2 -based 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator. Kits were formulated with 35 μg DOTA-Tyr 3 -Thre 8 -octreotide, DOTA-[Tyr 3 ]-octreotide and DOTA-[NaI 3 ]-octreotide (DOTATATE, DOTATOC and DOTANOC) and sodium acetate powder, vacuum-dried and stored at -20 °C for up to 12 months. Labelling of the kits was carried out with 2 ml 68 Ga eluate. Comparative labelling was carried out using aqueous DOTA-peptide stock solutions kept frozen at -20 °C for up to 12 months. The quality of the kits was found to be suitable over a 1-year storage period (pH, sterility, endotoxin content, radiolabelling efficiency and radiochemical yields of 68 Ga-labelled DOTA-peptides). Radiochemical yields ranged from 73 to 83 %, while those obtained from stock solutions from 64 to 79 %. No significant decline in kit labelling yields was observed over a 12-month storage period. The single vial kit formulations met the quality release specifications for human administration and appear to be highly advantageous over using peptide stock solutions in terms of stability and user-friendliness.

  18. Development and evaluation of a helicopter-borne water-quality monitoring system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, J. W.; Jordan, R. A.; Flynn, J.; Thomas, R. W.

    1978-01-01

    A small, helicopter-borne water-quality monitoring package is being developed by the NASA/EPA using a combination of basic in situ water quality sensors and physical sample collector technology. The package is a lightweight system which can be carried and operated by one person as a passenger in a small helicopter typically available by rental at commercial airports. Real-time measurements are made by suspending the water quality monitoring package with a cable from the hovering helicopter. Designed primarily for use in rapidly assessing hazardous material spills in inland and coastal zone water bodies, the system can survey as many as 20 data stations up to 1.5 kilometers apart in 1 hour. The system provides several channels of sensor data and allows for the addition of future sensors. The system will also collect samples from selected sites with sample collection on command. An EPA Spill Response Team member can easily transport, deploy, and operate the water quality monitoring package to determine the distribution, movement, and concentration of the spilled material in the water body.

  19. Evaluation of the kinase domain of c-KIT in canine cutaneous mast cell tumors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Webster, Joshua D; Kiupel, Matti; Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan, Vilma

    2006-01-01

    Mutations in the c-KIT proto-oncogene have been implicated in the progression of several neoplastic diseases, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors and mastocytosis in humans, and cutaneous mast cell tumors (MCTs) in canines. Mutations in human mastocytosis patients primarily occur in c-KIT exon 17, which encodes a portion of its kinase domain. In contrast, deletions and internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations are found in the juxtamembrane domain of c-KIT in approximately 15% of canine MCTs. In addition, ITD c-KIT mutations are significantly associated with aberrant KIT protein localization in canine MCTs. However, some canine MCTs have aberrant KIT localization but lack ITD c-KIT mutations, suggesting that other mutations or other factors may be responsible for aberrant KIT localization in these tumors. In order to characterize the prevalence of mutations in the phospho-transferase portion of c-KIT's kinase domain in canine MCTs exons 16–20 of 33 canine MCTs from 33 dogs were amplified and sequenced. Additionally, in order to determine if mutations in c-KIT exon 17 are responsible for aberrant KIT localization in MCTs that lack juxtamembrane domain c-KIT mutations, c-KIT exon 17 was amplified and sequenced from 18 canine MCTs that showed an aberrant KIT localization pattern but did not have ITD c-KIT mutations. No mutations or polymorphisms were identified in exons 16–20 of any of the MCTs examined. In conclusion, mutations in the phospho-transferase portion of c-KIT's kinase domain do not play an important role in the progression of canine cutaneous MCTs, or in the aberrant localization of KIT in canine MCTs

  20. “Back on Track”: A Mobile App Observational Study Using Apple’s ResearchKit Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woias, Peter; Suedkamp, Norbert P; Niemeyer, Philipp

    2017-01-01

    Background In March 2015, Apple Inc announced ResearchKit, a novel open-source framework intended to help medical researchers to easily create apps for medical studies. With the announcement of this framework, Apple presented 5 apps built in a beta phase based on this framework. Objective The objective of this study was to better understand decision making in patients with acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. Here, we describe the development of a ResearchKit app for this study. Methods A multilanguage observatory study was conducted. At first a suitable research topic, target groups, participating territories, and programming method were carefully identified. The ResearchKit framework was used to program the app. A secure server connection was realized via Secure Sockets Layer. A data storage and security concept separating personal information and study data was proposed. Furthermore, an efficient method to allow multilanguage support and distribute the app in many territories was presented. Ethical implications were considered and taken into account regarding privacy policies. Results An app study based on ResearchKit was developed without comprehensive iPhone Operating System (iOS) development experience. The Apple App Store is a major distribution channel causing significant download rates (>1.200/y) without active recruitment. Preliminary data analysis showed moderate dropout rates and a good quality of data. A total of 180 participants were currently enrolled with 107 actively participating and producing 424 completed surveys in 9 out of 24 months. Conclusions ResearchKit is an easy-to-use framework and powerful tool to create medical studies. Advantages are the modular built, the extensive reach of iOS devices, and the convenient programming environment. PMID:28246069

  1. Evaluation of the Coca-Cola company travel health kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, Lynne A; Bettinger, Julie; Dismukes, Roberta; Kozarsky, Phyllis E

    2002-01-01

    The Coca-Cola travel health kit has been used for about one decade for international travelers and required evaluation to see if the items contained were appropriate for the employees. Two hundred thirty-four travelers were sampled and filled out a voluntary survey including questions about demographic information, travel history, and usage and value of the contents of the travel health kit. One hundred eighty-one surveys were returned; 65% of the respondents were male, and the majority of travelers were between the ages of 36 and 45 years. The most useful items were analgesics and medications used for gastrointestinal problems. In general, the items identified as being the least useful were those requiring specialized use by a medical practitioner, such as needles and syringes. Suggestions of items to be added to the kit included vitamins, cough drops, sleep aids, and eye drops. A surprising result that Coca-Cola employees expressed the desire for brand name rather than generic items. Evaluation of the Coca-Cola Company travel health kit revealed it to be very useful to most corporate travelers. Suggestions that were made will be taken into consideration in designing a new kit, and consideration is being given to whether a basic travel health kit should be provided to which travelers can add other items depending on their personal needs.

  2. Shuttle Kit Freezer Refrigeration Unit Conceptual Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Copeland, R. J.

    1975-01-01

    The refrigerated food/medical sample storage compartment as a kit to the space shuttle orbiter is examined. To maintain the -10 F in the freezer kit, an active refrigeration unit is required, and an air cooled Stirling Cycle refrigerator was selected. The freezer kit contains two subsystems, the refrigeration unit, and the storage volume. The freezer must provide two basic capabilities in one unit. One requirement is to store 215 lbs of food which is consumed in a 30-day period by 7 people. The other requirement is to store 128.3 lbs of medical samples consisting of both urine and feces. The unit can be mounted on the lower deck of the shuttle cabin, and will occupy four standard payload module compartments on the forward bulkhead. The freezer contains four storage compartments.

  3. Kit W-sh Mutation Prevents Cancellous Bone Loss during Calcium Deprivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lotinun, Sutada; Suwanwela, Jaijam; Poolthong, Suchit; Baron, Roland

    2018-01-01

    Calcium is essential for normal bone growth and development. Inadequate calcium intake increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Kit ligand/c-Kit signaling plays an important role in regulating bone homeostasis. Mice with c-Kit mutations are osteopenic. The present study aimed to investigate whether impairment of or reduction in c-Kit signaling affects bone turnover during calcium deprivation. Three-week-old male WBB6F1/J-Kit W /Kit W-v /J (W/W v ) mice with c-Kit point mutation, Kit W-sh /HNihrJaeBsmJ (W sh /W sh ) mice with an inversion mutation in the regulatory elements upstream of the c-Kit promoter region, and their wild-type controls (WT) were fed either a normal (0.6% calcium) or a low calcium diet (0.02% calcium) for 3 weeks. μCT analysis indicated that both mutants fed normal calcium diet had significantly decreased cortical thickness and cancellous bone volume compared to WT. The low calcium diet resulted in a comparable reduction in cortical bone volume and cortical thickness in the W/W v and W sh /W sh mice, and their corresponding controls. As expected, the low calcium diet induced cancellous bone loss in the W/W v mice. In contrast, W sh /W sh cancellous bone did not respond to this diet. This c-Kit mutation prevented cancellous bone loss by antagonizing the low calcium diet-induced increase in osteoblast and osteoclast numbers in the W sh /W sh mice. Gene expression profiling showed that calcium deficiency increased Osx, Ocn, Alp, type I collagen, c-Fms, M-CSF, and RANKL/OPG mRNA expression in controls; however, the W sh mutation suppressed these effects. Our findings indicate that although calcium restriction increased bone turnover, leading to osteopenia, the decreased c-Kit expression levels in the W sh /W sh mice prevented the low calcium diet-induced increase in cancellous bone turnover and bone loss but not the cortical bone loss.

  4. Accuracy and Quality of Routine Immunisation Data Monitoring ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    TNHJOURNALPH

    Accuracy and Quality of Routine Immunisation Data Monitoring. System in two South-Eastern Districts of Nigeria. AkinolaAyoola Fatiregun, CeciliaAwogu. Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Faculty of Public Health, College of. Medicine, University ofibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. ABSTRACT. BACKGROUND.

  5. Data on quantification of signaling pathways activated by KIT and PDGFRA mutants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christelle Bahlawane

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The present data are related to the article entitled “Insights into ligand stimulation effects on gastro-intestinal stromal tumors signaling” (C. Bahlawane, M. Schmitz, E. Letellier, K. Arumugam, N. Nicot, P.V. Nazarov, S. Haan, 2016 [1]. Constitutive and ligand-derived signaling pathways mediated by KIT and PDGFRA mutated proteins found in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST were compared. Expression of mutant proteins was induced by doxycycline in an isogenic background (Hek293 cells. Kit was identified by FACS at the cell surface and found to be quickly degraded or internalized upon SCF stimulation for both Kit Wild type and Kit mutant counterparts. Investigation of the main activated pathways in GIST unraveled a new feature specific for oncogenic KIT mutants, namely their ability to be further activated by Kit ligand, the stem cell factor (scf. We were also able to identify the MAPK pathway as the most prominent target for a common inhibition of PDGFRA and KIT oncogenic signaling. Western blotting and micro-array analysis were applied to analyze the capacities of the mutant to induce an effective STATs response. Among all Kit mutants, only Kit Ex11 deletion mutant was able to elicit an effective STATs response whereas all PDGFRA were able to do so.

  6. Quality control of radioimmunoassay reagents for T4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wayan Radiatning, S.

    1987-01-01

    Quality control of radioimmunoassay reagents for T4. A program of quality control testing has been carried out for 125 I-T4, T4 standards and T4 antisera. 125 I-labelled T4 has been tested for its specific activity, radiochemical purity using a Sephadex G-25 column, immunological activity, based on the immunological reaction between labelled antigen and excess T4 antibody, and non-specific binding. The useful shelf-life of the labelled compound was determined by monitoring the decrease in radiochemical purity and immunological activity, and the increase in non-specific binding. T4 standards were calibrated by means of T4 RIA kit manufactured by DPC (Diagnostic Products Corporation). A test on parallelism was also performed using hyperthyroid sera. T4 antisera were evaluated with respect to titre, avidity and specifity. The test results on 125 I-T4 show a specific activity varying between 1830-2020 uCi/ug, a radiochemical purity above 90%, an immunological more than 80% and a non-specific binding of less than 5%. The standard curve for T4 was found to coincide well with the standard curve of the DPC kit and parallel with the curve for hyperthyroid sera. The titre of T4 antisera obtained was 1:300, the avidity was about 4.8 x 10 7 and the cross-reaction for T3 was 1.6%. It can be concluded from the experimental results, that the 125 I-T4, T4 standards and T4 antisera prepared meet the requirements for the manufacture of T4 kits. (author). 5 refs.; 14 figs

  7. ConKit: a python interface to contact predictions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simkovic, Felix; Thomas, Jens M H; Rigden, Daniel J

    2017-07-15

    Recent advances in protein residue contact prediction algorithms have led to the emergence of many new methods and a variety of file formats. We present ConKit , an open source, modular and extensible Python interface which allows facile conversion between formats and provides an interface to analyses of sequence alignments and sets of contact predictions. ConKit is available via the Python Package Index. The documentation can be found at http://www.conkit.org . ConKit is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause. hlfsimko@liverpool.ac.uk or drigden@liverpool.ac.uk. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  8. Personalized Thematic Kits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bontrager, Sharon

    2010-01-01

    Teaching Spanish at the K-5 level is a passion of mine, and the author would like to share some of the practical applications that she finds most rewarding and effective. She has found enthusiastic response to the creation of detailed language learning kits that are rooted in storytelling, but expanded to include home-made board games,…

  9. International systems for harmonization and quality control by in vivo monitoring and quality control by in vivo monitoring of internal contamination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malatova, I [National Radiation Protection Inst., Prague (Czech Republic)

    1996-12-31

    After the Chernobyl accident, whole body counting for the monitoring of internal contamination of the population was widely used. In many cases, great discrepancy occurred between in vivo measured values and predicted ones from model calculations. This situation was very similar to the situation in environmental monitoring, however, by sample measurement, quality assurance and quality control of the measurement procedure is much easier than by whole body counting. In addition to it, unlike in environmental monitoring, use of semiconductor detectors by whole counting was rather limited in this time so there were few laboratories which were able to distinguish up to 20 radionuclides by which people from the vicinity of Chernobyl were internally contaminated. Therefore, effort was undertaken by many international organization to summarize current status of whole body counting and to estimate uncertainty and sensitivity of different devices. In this paper efforts to harmonize an interpretation of measured results is given. Whole body counting laboratory of the National Radiation Protection Institute (NRPI) in Prague participates in the above mentioned intercomparisons with good results and scientists from NRPI have participated in the preparation of 3 international recommendations concerning measurement of internal contamination (author).

  10. How to define the tool kit for the corrective maintenance service? : a tool kit definition model under the service performance criterion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chen, Denise

    2009-01-01

    Currently, the rule of defining tool kits is varied and more engineer's aspects oriented. However, the decision of the tool kit's definition is a trade-off problem between the cost and the service performance. This project is designed to develop a model that can integrate the engineer's preferences

  11. Quality assurance and quality control programme in use at the individual monitoring service of ITN-DPRSN

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alves, J.G.; Novais, I.; Rangel, S.; Flores, E. [Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, Dept. de Proteccao Radiologica e Seguranca Nuclear Estrada Nacional, Sacavem (Portugal)

    2006-07-01

    The Individual Monitoring Service (I.M.S.) of the Departamento de Proteccao Radiologica e Seguranca Nuclear (D.P.R.S.N.) at the Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear (I.T.N.) in Portugal operates a thermoluminescence dosimetry system to monitor approximately 3,000 workers for external radiation exposure on a monthly basis. The workers come from nearly 230 facilities in the medical, research and conventional industry fields of activity and almost 85% of the people monitored in 2005 are from medical facilities. The TLD system in use is based on two Harshaw 6600 automatic readers and on the Harshaw 8814 T.L. card and holder containing two detector elements of LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100) for the evaluation of Hp(10) and Hp(0.07). All the workers are monitored on a monthly basis using whole body dosemeters. The I.M.S. has implemented a Quality Assurance and Quality Control (Q.A./Q.C.) programme that covers all the aspects of monitoring, from the monitoring request of a customer to the final issue of a dose report. The main aspects of the Q.A./Q.C. programme implemented at the I.M.S. will be presented in this paper using fluxograms and schemes. Several issues will be addressed, e.g., administrative procedures, technical procedures, dealing with complaints, training of staff, etc. The relationship of the I.M.S. with external entities like the customer, the regulatory authority, the central dose registry, the calibration facility, suppliers, maintenance providers, etc. will be mentioned on the administrative procedures described as well as on the technical procedures where applicable. The main technical procedures will be presented in this paper and references will be made to a TLD Quality Control database internally developed and designed for the storage of important Q.C. parameters like the element correction coefficients, reader calibration factors, electronic quality control data generated on a daily basis, and the study of their evolution with time. (author)

  12. Quality assurance and quality control programme in use at the individual monitoring service of ITN-DPRSN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves, J.G.; Novais, I.; Rangel, S.; Flores, E.

    2006-01-01

    The Individual Monitoring Service (I.M.S.) of the Departamento de Proteccao Radiologica e Seguranca Nuclear (D.P.R.S.N.) at the Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear (I.T.N.) in Portugal operates a thermoluminescence dosimetry system to monitor approximately 3,000 workers for external radiation exposure on a monthly basis. The workers come from nearly 230 facilities in the medical, research and conventional industry fields of activity and almost 85% of the people monitored in 2005 are from medical facilities. The TLD system in use is based on two Harshaw 6600 automatic readers and on the Harshaw 8814 T.L. card and holder containing two detector elements of LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100) for the evaluation of Hp(10) and Hp(0.07). All the workers are monitored on a monthly basis using whole body dosemeters. The I.M.S. has implemented a Quality Assurance and Quality Control (Q.A./Q.C.) programme that covers all the aspects of monitoring, from the monitoring request of a customer to the final issue of a dose report. The main aspects of the Q.A./Q.C. programme implemented at the I.M.S. will be presented in this paper using fluxograms and schemes. Several issues will be addressed, e.g., administrative procedures, technical procedures, dealing with complaints, training of staff, etc. The relationship of the I.M.S. with external entities like the customer, the regulatory authority, the central dose registry, the calibration facility, suppliers, maintenance providers, etc. will be mentioned on the administrative procedures described as well as on the technical procedures where applicable. The main technical procedures will be presented in this paper and references will be made to a TLD Quality Control database internally developed and designed for the storage of important Q.C. parameters like the element correction coefficients, reader calibration factors, electronic quality control data generated on a daily basis, and the study of their evolution with time. (author)

  13. Interpretation of PAMZ air quality data and assessment of the PAMZ air quality monitoring program January 2000 to December 2001

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    Since December 1999, passive monitors have been in use to support the Air Quality Monitoring Program begun that year. It currently includes 33 passive stations throughout the zone, which measure nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone. There are also four continuous monitoring stations, two stations operated by Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ) (Caroline and portable), one operated by Alberta Environment at Red Deer, as well as one station operated by West Central Airshed Society at Hightower Ridge. In 2000 and 2001, the portable station was operated at seven locations within the zone. There were four objectives to this study: (1) provide a summary of the PAMZ air quality monitoring data for the period January 2000 to December 2001, (2) provide an interpretation of that data with regard to emission sources and PAMZ's high priority issues, (3) provide an assessment of the PAMZ Air Quality Monitoring Program performance with respect to the primary objective of the program, and (4) make recommendations on improving or expanding the Air Quality Program. It was found that the ambient concentrations of the different compounds and parameters were below the guidelines established by the Alberta Ambient Air Quality Guidelines (AAAQG) and Canada-wide Standards, with some exceptions which were listed. Ozone concentrations proved to be higher in the Foothills, rather than in an east-west pattern, and lower in the vicinity of transportation corridors (Highway 2). Nitrogen dioxide concentrations were also high in the transportation corridor. The eastern half of the zone was exposed to higher concentrations of sulphur dioxide due to the more dense population and the presence of industries and major highways. Most of the terms of reference of the Technical Working Group appear to be met by the PAMZ Air Quality Monitoring Program. Some recommendations were included in the report, such as the addition of a fifth continuous Air Quality Monitoring station that is portable

  14. Receptor tyrosine kinase (c-Kit inhibitors: a potential therapeutic target in cancer cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abbaspour Babaei M

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Maryam Abbaspour Babaei,1 Behnam Kamalidehghan,2,3 Mohammad Saleem,4–6 Hasniza Zaman Huri,1,7 Fatemeh Ahmadipour1 1Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Department of Medical Genetics, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB, Shahrak-e Pajoohesh, 3Medical Genetics Department, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Department of Urology, 5Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, 6Section of Molecular Therapeutics & Cancer Health Disparity, The Hormel Institute, Austin, MN, USA; 7Clinical Investigation Centre, University Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Abstract: c-Kit, a receptor tyrosine kinase, is involved in intracellular signaling, and the mutated form of c-Kit plays a crucial role in occurrence of some cancers. The function of c-Kit has led to the concept that inhibiting c-Kit kinase activity can be a target for cancer therapy. The promising results of inhibition of c-Kit for treatment of cancers have been observed in some cancers such as gastrointestinal stromal tumor, acute myeloid leukemia, melanoma, and other tumors, and these results have encouraged attempts toward improvement of using c-Kit as a capable target for cancer therapy. This paper presents the findings of previous studies regarding c-Kit as a receptor tyrosine kinase and an oncogene, as well as its gene targets and signaling pathways in normal and cancer cells. The c-Kit gene location, protein structure, and the role of c-Kit in normal cell have been discussed. Comprehending the molecular mechanism underlying c-Kit-mediated tumorogenesis is consequently essential and may lead to the identification of future novel drug targets. The potential mechanisms by which c-Kit induces cellular transformation have been described. This study aims to elucidate the function of c-Kit

  15. Mutational status of EGFR and KIT in thymoma and thymic carcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoh, Kiyotaka; Nishiwaki, Yutaka; Ishii, Genichiro; Goto, Koichi; Kubota, Kaoru; Ohmatsu, Hironobu; Niho, Seiji; Nagai, Kanji; Saijo, Nagahiro

    2008-12-01

    This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of EGFR and KIT mutations in thymomas and thymic carcinomas as a means of exploring the potential for molecularly targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Genomic DNA was isolated from 41 paraffin-embedded tumor samples obtained from 24 thymomas and 17 thymic carcinomas. EGFR exons 18, 19, and 21, and KIT exons 9, 11, 13, and 17, were analyzed for mutations by PCR and direct sequencing. Protein expression of EGFR and KIT was evaluated immunohistochemically. EGFR mutations were detected in 2 of 20 thymomas, but not in any of the thymic carcinomas. All of the EGFR mutations detected were missense mutations (L858R and G863D) in exon 21. EGFR protein was expressed in 71% of the thymomas and 53% of the thymic carcinomas. The mutational analysis of KIT revealed only a missense mutation (L576P) in exon 11 of one thymic carcinoma. KIT protein was expressed in 88% of the thymic carcinomas and 0% of the thymomas. The results of this study indicate that EGFR and KIT mutations in thymomas and thymic carcinomas are rare, but that many of the tumors express EGFR or KIT protein.

  16. Enhanced data validation strategy of air quality monitoring network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harkat, Mohamed-Faouzi; Mansouri, Majdi; Nounou, Mohamed; Nounou, Hazem

    2018-01-01

    Quick validation and detection of faults in measured air quality data is a crucial step towards achieving the objectives of air quality networks. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are threefold: (i) to develop a modeling technique that can be used to predict the normal behavior of air quality variables and help provide accurate reference for monitoring purposes; (ii) to develop fault detection method that can effectively and quickly detect any anomalies in measured air quality data. For this purpose, a new fault detection method that is based on the combination of generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) will be developed. GLRT is a well-known statistical fault detection method that relies on maximizing the detection probability for a given false alarm rate. In this paper, we propose to develop GLRT-based EWMA fault detection method that will be able to detect the changes in the values of certain air quality variables; (iii) to develop fault isolation and identification method that allows defining the fault source(s) in order to properly apply appropriate corrective actions. In this paper, reconstruction approach that is based on Midpoint-Radii Principal Component Analysis (MRPCA) model will be developed to handle the types of data and models associated with air quality monitoring networks. All air quality modeling, fault detection, fault isolation and reconstruction methods developed in this paper will be validated using real air quality data (such as particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen and carbon oxides measurement). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Developing a univariate approach to phase-I monitoring of fuzzy quality profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazem Noghondarian

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available In many real-world applications, the quality of a process or a particular product can be characterized by a functional relationship called profile. A profile builds the relationships between a response quality characteristic and one or more explanatory variables. Monitoring the quality of a profile is implemented to understand and to verify the stability of this functional relationship over time. In some real applications, a fuzzy linear regression model can represent the profile adequately where the response quality characteristic is fuzzy. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach for monitoring process/product profiles in fuzzy environment. A model in fuzzy linear regression is developed to construct the quality profiles by using linear programming and then fuzzy individuals and moving-range (I-MR control charts are developed to monitor both intercept and slope of fuzzy profiles to achieve an in-control process. A case study in customer satisfaction is presented to show the application of our approach and to express the sensitivity analysis of parameters for building a fuzzy profile.

  18. Regional monitoring of temporal changes in groundwater quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broers, H.P.; Grift, B. van der

    2004-01-01

    Changes in agricultural practices are expected to affect groundwater quality by changing the loads of nutrients and salts in recharging groundwater, but regional monitoring networks installed to register the changes often fail to detect them and interpretation of trend analysis results is difficult.

  19. Opportunities of the energy revolution. Scientific contributions to the KIT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breh, Wolfgang; Schaetzler, Katharina

    2013-01-01

    ''Opportunities for energy revolution'' was the title under which the KIT Energy Center of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in May 2012 held its first annual meeting. The meeting covered the whole Topic of the KIT Energy Center. The present proceedings give those interested the opportunity to delve into the contributions and to provide a differentiated picture of the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition.

  20. Quality assurance in individual monitoring of ionizing radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Julius, H.W.

    1988-01-01

    In todays world, where competition gets tougher, there is a growing consciousness of Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) being key elements to success. This does not only apply o manufacturing of industrial products, it is equally true for public services. Because of the increasing awareness in our modern societies of the quality of life and hence of optimal health care and general safety, it is also the general public that calls for 'products' of the highest possible quality. Good examples of the latter are the continuously improving safety standards for automobiles, for medical diagnostic imaging and for the working environment. Therefore, QA unquestionably plays a vital role in individual monitoring of ionizing radiation, especially since the media talked so many into some sort of radiation phobia. In the following an attempt is made to roughly outline some aspects that may come into play if QA is applied to routine personnel dosimetry. The author wants to emphasize that the subject, which has hardly been dealt with in the professional literature on radiation dosimetry, is a rather 'soft' one. There may be a large number of different approaches to QA, depending on special local situations and individual - sometimes national - views. It should therefore be considered as a general guide, provided in the form of (check)lists containing items of interest in routine monitoring

  1. Comparison of six commercial DNA extraction kits for detection of Brucella neotomae in Mexican and Central American-style cheese and other milk products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lusk, Tina S; Strain, Errol; Kase, Julie A

    2013-05-01

    Raw or inadequately pasteurized milk from infected animals and cheese made with such milk are a frequent vehicle for human brucellosis infection. Also, biological terrorism is a concern with certain Brucella spp. Due to matrix-associated real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) inhibitors, robust sample preparations are crucial. We compared six commercial nucleic acid extraction kits using nine Mexican and Central American-style soft cheeses or creams and three liquid milk products inoculated with Brucella neotomae, a surrogate for pathogenic Brucella spp. Kits were evaluated by purity and quantity of DNA as determined by qPCR Ct values, reproducibility across cheese and milk types, and cost. At 10(7) CFU/g in four different cheeses, Qiagen statistically outperformed all other kits. When two cheese styles were inoculated at dual levels, Qiagen and High Pure kit extracted samples at 1.5 × 10(5) CFU/g produced average Ct values of 34-39, while PrepSEQ and MagMAX kit extracted samples exhibited higher or no Ct values. High Pure and Qiagen kits excelled also with liquid milk products. Considering matrices, inoculation levels, and kits evaluated, High Pure and Qiagen products produced Brucella DNA of high quality and quantity indicated by the lowest Ct values and were the least expensive. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Smart sensors for real-time water quality monitoring

    CERN Document Server

    Mason, Alex

    2013-01-01

    Sensors are being utilised to increasing degrees in all forms of industry.  Researchers and industrial practitioners in all fields seek to obtain a better understanding of appropriate processes so as to improve quality of service and efficiency.  The quality of water is no exception, and the water industry is faced with a wide array of water quality issues being present world-wide.  Thus, the need for sensors to tackle this diverse subject is paramount.  The aim of this book is to combine, for the first time, international expertise in the area of water quality monitoring using smart sensors and systems in order that a better understanding of the challenges faced and solutions posed may be available to all in a single text.

  3. The evaluation of domestic immunoradiometric assay kit for alpha-fetoprotein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Won, Kyoung Sook; Ryu, Jin Sook; Moon, Dae Hyuk; Lee, Hee Kyung

    2000-01-01

    Although α-fetoprotein is one of the most commonly used tumor markers in Korea, most of the radioimmunoassay kits for α-fetoprotein have been imported from foreign countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a recently developed domestic immunoradiometric kit for α-fetoprotein (Riakey AFP IRMA CT R , Sin-Jin Medics, Seoul, Korea). We evaluated intra-and inter-assay precision, recovery rate, parallelism, and sensitivity of serum α-fetoprotein measurement using Riakey AFP IRMA CT R kit. The values of α-fetoprotein measured by Riakey AFP IRMA CT R kit were compared with those measured by two foreign commercial kits (α-fetoproteina of Radim and α-feto.riabead of Abbott). Intra-assay coefficients of variation on three different levels were 5.3% for 18.9 ng/ml, 3.4% for 133 ng/ml and 1.6% for 330 ng/ml. Inter-assay coefficients of variation were 9.7% for 20.9 ng/ml, 3.2% for 137 ng/ml and 4.1% for 330 ng/ml respectively. Recovery rate tests on all three different levels showed within 100±10%. Parallelism was also good and the sensitivity was 0.63 ng/ml. There was strong correlation between the measurement of α-fetoprotein by Riakey AFP IRMA CT R and that by two foreign commercial kits(r=3D0.98). The first Korean domestic immunoradiometric kit for α-fetoprotein, Riakey AFP IRMA CT R , performed well for clinical use.=20

  4. Performance and diagnostic usefulness of commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and rapid kits for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maity, Susmita; Nandi, Srijita; Biswas, Subrata; Sadhukhan, Salil Kumar; Saha, Malay Kumar

    2012-11-26

    HIV, HBV and HCV pose a major public health problem throughout the world. Detection of infection markers for these agents is a major challenge for testing laboratories in a resource poor setting. As blood transfusion is an important activity saving millions of live every year, it also carries a risk of transfusion transmissible infections caused by these fatal blood borne pathogens if the quality of testing is compromised. Conventional ELISA is regarded as the mostly used screening technique but due to limitations like high cost, unavailability in many blood banks and testing sites, involvement of costly instruments, time taking nature and requirement of highly skilled personnel for interpretation, rapid tests are gaining more importance and warrants comparison of performance. A comparative study between these two techniques has been performed using commercially available diagnostic kits to assess their efficacy for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV infections. Rapid kits were more efficient in specificity with synthetic antigens along with high PPV than ELISA in most cases. Comparison between different ELISA kits revealed that Microlisa HIV and Hepalisa (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.); ERBA LISA HIV1 + 2, ERBA LISA Hepatitis B and ERBA LISA HCV (Transasia Bio-medicals Ltd.) gives uniform result with good performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and efficiency, whereas, Microlisa HCV (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.), Microscreen HBsAg ELISA and INNOVA HCV (Span Diagnostics Ltd.) did not perform well. Rapid kits were also having high degree of sensitivity and specificity (100%) except in HIV Comb and HCV Comb (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.). The kit efficiency didn't vary significantly among different companies and lots in all the cases except for HCV ELISA showing statistically significant variation (p bank. For availability of quality commercial diagnostic assays, evaluation of kit may be helpful.

  5. Autometallography: tissue metals demonstrated by a silver enhancement kit

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danscher, G; Nørgaard, J O; Baatrup, E

    1987-01-01

    , primarily intended for the amplification of colloidal gold particles, has been used to demonstrate these catalytic tissue metals. Sections from animals exposed intravitally to aurothiomalatate, silver lactate, mercury chloride, sodium selenite or perfused with sodium sulphide were subjected to a commercial......In biological tissue, minute accumulations of gold, silver, mercury and zinc can be visualized by a technique whereby metallic silver is precipitated on tiny accumulations of the two noble metals, or on selenites or sulphides of all four metals. In the present study a silver enhancement kit...... silver enhancement kit (IntenSE, Janssen Pharmaceutica). It was found that the kit performs adequately to the silver lactate gum arabic developer and to the photographic emulsion technique. The kit can be used as a silver enhancement medium for the demonstration of zinc by the Neo-Timm and selenium...

  6. Processing and Quality Monitoring for the ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter Data

    CERN Document Server

    Burghgrave, Blake; The ATLAS collaboration

    2016-01-01

    We present an overview of Data Processing and Data Quality (DQ) Monitoring for the ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter. Calibration runs are monitored from a data quality perspective and used as a cross-check for physics runs. Data quality in physics runs is monitored extensively and continuously. Any problems are reported and immediately investigated. The DQ efficiency achieved was 99.6% in 2012 and 100% in 2015, after the detector maintenance in 2013-2014. Changes to detector status or calibrations are entered into the conditions database during a brief calibration loop between when a run ends and bulk processing begins. Bulk processed data is reviewed and certified for the ATLAS Good Run List if no problem is detected. Experts maintain the tools used by DQ shifters and the calibration teams during normal operation, and prepare new conditions for data reprocessing and MC production campaigns. Conditions data are stored in 3 databases: Online DB, Offline DB for data and a special DB for Monte Carlo. Database upd...

  7. Processing and Quality Monitoring for the ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter Data

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00354209; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    An overview is presented of Data Processing and Data Quality (DQ) Monitoring for the ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter. Calibration runs are monitored from a data quality perspective and used as a cross-check for physics runs. Data quality in physics runs is monitored extensively and continuously. Any problems are reported and immediately investigated. The DQ efficiency achieved was 99.6% in 2012 and 100% in 2015, after the detector maintenance in 2013-2014. Changes to detector status or calibrations are entered into the conditions database (DB) during a brief calibration loop between the end of a run and the beginning of bulk processing of data collected in it. Bulk processed data are reviewed and certified for the ATLAS Good Run List if no problem is detected. Experts maintain the tools used by DQ shifters and the calibration teams during normal operation, and prepare new conditions for data reprocessing and Monte Carlo (MC) production campaigns. Conditions data are stored in 3 databases: Online DB, Offline D...

  8. Gene Duplication of the zebrafish kit ligand and partitioning of melanocyte development functions to kit ligand a.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keith A Hultman

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The retention of particular genes after the whole genome duplication in zebrafish has given insights into how genes may evolve through partitioning of ancestral functions. We examine the partitioning of expression patterns and functions of two zebrafish kit ligands, kit ligand a (kitla and kit ligand b (kitlb, and discuss their possible coevolution with the duplicated zebrafish kit receptors (kita and kitb. In situ hybridizations show that kitla mRNA is expressed in the trunk adjacent to the notochord in the middle of each somite during stages of melanocyte migration and later expressed in the skin, when the receptor is required for melanocyte survival. kitla is also expressed in other regions complementary to kita receptor expression, including the pineal gland, tail bud, and ear. In contrast, kitlb mRNA is expressed in brain ventricles, ear, and cardinal vein plexus, in regions generally not complementary to either zebrafish kit receptor ortholog. However, like kitla, kitlb is expressed in the skin during stages consistent with melanocyte survival. Thus, it appears that kita and kitla have maintained congruent expression patterns, while kitb and kitlb have evolved divergent expression patterns. We demonstrate the interaction of kita and kitla by morpholino knockdown analysis. kitla morphants, but not kitlb morphants, phenocopy the null allele of kita, with defects for both melanocyte migration and survival. Furthermore, kitla morpholino, but not kitlb morpholino, interacts genetically with a sensitized allele of kita, confirming that kitla is the functional ligand to kita. Last, we examine kitla overexpression in embryos, which results in hyperpigmentation caused by an increase in the number and size of melanocytes. This hyperpigmentation is dependent on kita function. We conclude that following genome duplication, kita and kitla have maintained their receptor-ligand relationship, coevolved complementary expression patterns, and that

  9. Experiences and recommendations in deploying a real-time, water quality monitoring system

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Flynn, B.; Regan, F.; Lawlor, A.; Wallace, J.; Torres, J.; O'Mathuna, C.

    2010-12-01

    Monitoring of water quality at a river basin level to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) using conventional sampling and laboratory-based techniques poses a significant financial burden. Wireless sensing systems offer the potential to reduce these costs considerably, as well as provide more useful, continuous monitoring capabilities by giving an accurate idea of the changing environmental and water quality in real time. It is unlikely that the traditional spot/grab sampling will provide a reasonable estimate of the true maximum and/or mean concentration for a particular physicochemical variable in a water body with marked temporal variability. When persistent fluctuations occur, it is likely only to be detected through continuous measurements, which have the capability of detecting sporadic peaks of concentration. Thus, in situ sensors capable of continuous sampling of parameters required under the WFD would therefore provide more up-to-date information, cut monitoring costs and provide better coverage representing long-term trends in fluctuations of pollutant concentrations. DEPLOY is a technology demonstration project, which began planning and station selection and design in August 2008 aiming to show how state-of-the-art technology could be implemented for cost-effective, continuous and real-time monitoring of a river catchment. The DEPLOY project is seen as an important building block in the realization of a wide area autonomous network of sensors capable of monitoring the spatial and temporal distribution of important water quality and environmental target parameters. The demonstration sites chosen are based in the River Lee, which flows through Ireland's second largest city, Cork, and were designed to include monitoring stations in five zones considered typical of significant river systems--these monitor water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, depth, conductivity, turbidity and dissolved oxygen. Over one million data points

  10. Experiences and recommendations in deploying a real-time, water quality monitoring system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Flynn, B; O'Mathuna, C; Regan, F; Lawlor, A; Wallace, J; Torres, J

    2010-01-01

    Monitoring of water quality at a river basin level to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) using conventional sampling and laboratory-based techniques poses a significant financial burden. Wireless sensing systems offer the potential to reduce these costs considerably, as well as provide more useful, continuous monitoring capabilities by giving an accurate idea of the changing environmental and water quality in real time. It is unlikely that the traditional spot/grab sampling will provide a reasonable estimate of the true maximum and/or mean concentration for a particular physicochemical variable in a water body with marked temporal variability. When persistent fluctuations occur, it is likely only to be detected through continuous measurements, which have the capability of detecting sporadic peaks of concentration. Thus, in situ sensors capable of continuous sampling of parameters required under the WFD would therefore provide more up-to-date information, cut monitoring costs and provide better coverage representing long-term trends in fluctuations of pollutant concentrations. DEPLOY is a technology demonstration project, which began planning and station selection and design in August 2008 aiming to show how state-of-the-art technology could be implemented for cost-effective, continuous and real-time monitoring of a river catchment. The DEPLOY project is seen as an important building block in the realization of a wide area autonomous network of sensors capable of monitoring the spatial and temporal distribution of important water quality and environmental target parameters. The demonstration sites chosen are based in the River Lee, which flows through Ireland's second largest city, Cork, and were designed to include monitoring stations in five zones considered typical of significant river systems-–these monitor water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, depth, conductivity, turbidity and dissolved oxygen. Over one million data

  11. Online data quality monitoring system at BES Ⅲ

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Xiaodong; Hu Jifeng; Zhao Haisheng; Ji Xiaobin; Wang Yifang; Liu Beijiang; Zheng Yangheng

    2012-01-01

    The online Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) tool plays an important role in the data recording process of HEP experiments. The BES Ⅲ DQM collects data from the online data flow, reconstructs them with offline reconstruction software and automatically analyzes the reconstructed data with user-defined algorithms. The DQM software is a scalable distributed system. The monitored results are gathered and displayed in various formats, which provides the shifter with current run information that can be used to identify problems quickly. This paper gives an overview of the DQM system at BES Ⅲ. (authors)

  12. New RIA kit for determination of progesterone in cow milk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byszewska-Szpocinska, E.; Markiewicz, A.

    2006-01-01

    The determination of progesterone concentration in whole and fat-free milk 19-24 days after conception enables to distinguish fertile and non-fertile insemination, which is important in cattle breeding. The aim of this work was to develop a simple and quick radioimmunoassay test for the determination of progesterone in cow milk. Two types of solid-phase tubes coated with specific polyclonal anti-progesterone antibody from ORION Diagnostica and BIOSOURCE International, two different progesterone derivatives viz. progesterone-3- carboxymethyl oxime (CMO) and progesterone-11α-hemisuccinate (HS) conjugated to 125 I-histamine and the HPLC system with Lichrospher RP-18 column along with 65% acetonitrile/water as eluent to purify the tracers were used to carry out this work. Progesterone-3CMO- 125 I-histamine had a retention time of 13.2 min and progesterone-11α-hemisuccinate- 125 I-histamine had a retention time of 7.8 min. Two kinds of kits (kit I and kit II) were prepared, first with progesterone-3CMO- 125 I-histamine as the tracer and coated tubes from Progesterone Veterinary RIA kit of ORION Diagnostica and the second with progesterone-11αHS- 125 I-histamine as the tracer and coated tubes from Progesterone Veterinary RIA kit from BIOSOURCE International. Progesterone from Sigma and selected fat-free cow's milk without progesterone as zero progesterone milk matrix were used for standard preparation. The optimal assay procedure was as follows: 50μL standards, controls and fat-free milk samples were pipetted into coated tubes followed by addition of 500μL of diluted tracer. The tubes were incubated for 2h in case of kit I and 3h for kit II at RT. After the incubation, the tubes were decanted and counted. The assay range was 0 to 270 nmol/L for kit I and 0 to 300 nmol/L for kit II. The sensitivity of the kit with ORION coated tubes was better (0.8 nmol/L) than that of BIOSOURCE tubes which was 1.5 nmol/L. Validation of these assays in terms of specificity, accuracy

  13. Air Qualitymonitoring and modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marius DEACONU

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Air pollution is a major concern for all nations, regardless of their development. The rapid growth of the industrial sector and urban development have lead to significant quantities of substances and toxic materials, mostly discharged into the atmosphere and having adverse effects both on human health and environment in general. Human society has to recognize that environment has only a limited capacity to process all of its waste without major changes. Each of us is a pollutant but also a victim of pollution. If monitoring of air pollutants is particularly important for assessing the air quality at any moment, by modelling the monitoring data spectacular results are obtained both through the factor analysis and identification of potential pollution mitigation measures. Latest equipment and techniques come and support these problems giving medium and long term solutions.

  14. New Brunswick air quality monitoring results for the year 2007 : executive summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    Air quality has been monitored in New Brunswick since the 1960s. This report summarized air quality results for general public information, with emphasis on air quality assessment in relation to existing air quality standards and objectives. Long-term trend data were also presented for representative sites. Air contaminants currently covered by provincial objectives were measured at 59 sites across the province during 2007. Acid rain was measured at 13 additional sites. Some locations were monitored for volatile organic compounds and mercury in air. Quality assurance procedures used in the provincial air quality system were also described. The report revealed that there were no exceedances of New Brunswick air quality objectives for nitrogen dioxide or carbon monoxide at any of the provincial monitoring sites in 2007. In many instances, exceedances for ozone, total reduced sulphur, fine particulate matter and total volatile organic compound concentrations were lower in 2007 than in 2006. Air quality trends indicate that since the late 1970s and 1980s, air quality has improved for all pollutants currently being measured, with the possible exception of ground level ozone. Annual average levels of sulphur dioxide have decreased significantly over the past 15-20 years. The long term levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide have also decreased. Acid deposition has declined since the early 1990s, but its effects continue to be of concern in the province. In 2007, sulphate in precipitation was moderately lower than in 2006.

  15. AFRRI TRIGA Reactor water quality monitoring program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, Mark; George, Robert; Spence, Harry; Nguyen, John

    1992-01-01

    AFRRI has started a water quality monitoring program to provide base line data for early detection of tank leaks. This program revealed problems with growth of algae and bacteria in the pool as a result of contamination with nitrogenous matter. Steps have been taken to reduce the nitrogen levels and to kill and remove algae and bacteria from the reactor pool. (author)

  16. Synthesis of Ethane-1-Hydroxy-1,1-diphosphonic acid (EHDP) and preparation of labeled kits by 99mTc for bone studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yassin, T.; Assaad, T.; Ghanem, E.; Ajaia, R.; Karajoli, N.

    2013-08-01

    Ethane-1-Hydroxy-1,1-diphosphonic acid monohydrate (EHDP) is very important precursor in radiopharmaceutical applications for bone diagnosis after labeling with 99mTc, was synthesized in high yield and purity. The compound was characterized by spectroscopic method. EHDP kit for bone imaging after labeling with technetium 99m was prepared according to an optimum conditions, Each vial contains 15 mg of EHDP and 25 mg of stannous chloride SnCl2. The prepared kit showed high quality satisfying the requirements of international pharmacopeias from of physical, chemical and radiochemical properties. The labeling yield exceeded 95% with an average value 99.6%. Biodistribution study of 99mTc-EHDP showed better clearance after three hours of injection in comparison with 99mTc-MDP kit (author).

  17. Fenceline water quality monitoring of effluents from BARC establishment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prathibha, P.; Kothai, P.; Saradhi, I.V.; Pandit, G.G.; Puranik, V.D.

    2007-01-01

    Wastewater generated from various sources (industrial, residential, rain water runoff etc.,) is either discharged into water bodies or reused/recycled for various purposes. Continuous monitoring of the wastewater is necessary to check whether these effluents are meeting the stringent limits proposed for discharge into water bodies or recycled/reused. Monitoring of these effluents also helps in designing the wastewater treatment system required to meet the standards. In this paper, water quality monitoring carried out during each quarter of the year 2005 for the effluents discharged from different utilities of BARC into Trombay bay is presented. The results indicate that the Bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are in the range of 7.9 to 38.9 mg/l and 29.4 to 78.9 mg/l respectively. The nitrates and sulphates are in the range of 0.5 to 7.2 mg/l and 7.8 to 52.3 mg/l respectively. The water quality data of the parameters analyzed are well within the limits stipulated by Central Pollution Control Board. (author)

  18. Volunteer Macroinvertebrate Monitoring: Tensions Among Group Goals, Data Quality, and Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nerbonne, Julia Frost; Nelson, Kristen C.

    2008-09-01

    Volunteer monitoring of natural resources is promoted for its ability to increase public awareness, to provide valuable knowledge, and to encourage policy change that promotes ecosystem health. We used the case of volunteer macroinvertebrate monitoring (VMM) in streams to investigate whether the quality of data collected is correlated with data use and organizers’ perception of whether they have achieved these outcomes. We examined the relation between site and group characteristics, data quality, data use, and perceived outcomes (education, social capital, and policy change). We found that group size and the degree to which citizen groups perform tasks on their own (rather than aided by professionals) positively correlated with the quality of data collected. Group size and number of years monitoring positively influenced whether a group used their data. While one might expect that groups committed to collecting good-quality data would be more likely to use it, there was no relation between data quality and data use, and no relation between data quality and perceived outcomes. More data use was, however, correlated with a group’s feeling of connection to a network of engaged citizens and professionals. While VMM may hold promise for bringing citizens and scientists together to work on joint conservation agendas, our data illustrate that data quality does not correlate with a volunteer group’s desire to use their data to promote regulatory change. Therefore, we encourage scientists and citizens alike to recognize this potential disconnect and strive to be explicit about the role of data in conservation efforts.

  19. MONITORING OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY QUALITY ON THE TRACTION SUBSTATION INPUT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O.G. Gryb

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available For the implementation of measures to maintain the quality of the energy industrial enterprises have to spend a significant material and monetary assets. In this regard, significant is the feasibility study of the allocation of such funds and, primarily, the determination of the economic damage arising from low quality of electricity. The reliability of the electricity metering system, relay protection and automation of modern digital substations depends on the quality of electrical energy. At the present time to improve the reliability of the substation operation it is necessary to monitor indicators of quality of electric energy, allowing you to take organizational and technical solutions for their improvement. Monitoring the power quality at the input traction substation has shown that indicators such as the coefficient of the n-th harmonic component of the voltage does not meet the standards GOST 13109-97. The source of higher harmonics is a voltage Converter used on the locomotive. To eliminate higher harmonics in the supply network for traction substations will need to install power filters. Today, the USB-analyzer of power quality «Digital measurement system of power quality» type of CSICE of accuracy class 0.2. Work energy requires reliable and quality electricity supply to consumers. The new model of balancing energy market are bilateral contracts. The main task of this market, it ensure the stable and reliable operation of the unified energy system of Ukraine, that is, transmission and supply of electricity of appropriate quality.

  20. Assessment and rationalization of water quality monitoring network: a multivariate statistical approach to the Kabbini River (India).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mavukkandy, Musthafa Odayooth; Karmakar, Subhankar; Harikumar, P S

    2014-09-01

    The establishment of an efficient surface water quality monitoring (WQM) network is a critical component in the assessment, restoration and protection of river water quality. A periodic evaluation of monitoring network is mandatory to ensure effective data collection and possible redesigning of existing network in a river catchment. In this study, the efficacy and appropriateness of existing water quality monitoring network in the Kabbini River basin of Kerala, India is presented. Significant multivariate statistical techniques like principal component analysis (PCA) and principal factor analysis (PFA) have been employed to evaluate the efficiency of the surface water quality monitoring network with monitoring stations as the evaluated variables for the interpretation of complex data matrix of the river basin. The main objective is to identify significant monitoring stations that must essentially be included in assessing annual and seasonal variations of river water quality. Moreover, the significance of seasonal redesign of the monitoring network was also investigated to capture valuable information on water quality from the network. Results identified few monitoring stations as insignificant in explaining the annual variance of the dataset. Moreover, the seasonal redesign of the monitoring network through a multivariate statistical framework was found to capture valuable information from the system, thus making the network more efficient. Cluster analysis (CA) classified the sampling sites into different groups based on similarity in water quality characteristics. The PCA/PFA identified significant latent factors standing for different pollution sources such as organic pollution, industrial pollution, diffuse pollution and faecal contamination. Thus, the present study illustrates that various multivariate statistical techniques can be effectively employed in sustainable management of water resources. The effectiveness of existing river water quality monitoring

  1. Application of an FSH-RIA-kit in the clinical practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delzer, W.; Herzmann, H.

    1982-01-01

    First clinical experiences with an FSH-RIA-kit developed in the Central Institute for Isotope- and Radiation Research are reported. Simultaneously carried out LH and FSH determination during the menstruation cycle with special regard of the middle of the cycle revealed increased hormone values in the preovulatory phase. The problem of evaluation of hormone values achieved by different kits (standards), was investigated simultaneous determination of the sera using the own and an imported kit. (author)

  2. The clinical testing of a Hungarian-made triiodothyronine radioimmunoassay kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gyertyanfy, G.; Foeldes, J.

    1981-01-01

    The parameters of the calibration curve of the new Hungarian RK-11 kit for the determination of the total T3 content of the serum and the reliability of the results were studied. The data of the measurements made on a number of patients by RK-11, Biodata and Byk-Mallinckrodt kits were compared. The new kit seems to be applicable to the determination of the total T3 content in the serum. (author)

  3. Signaling by Kit protein-tyrosine kinase--the stem cell factor receptor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roskoski, Robert

    2005-11-11

    Signaling by stem cell factor and Kit, its receptor, plays important roles in gametogenesis, hematopoiesis, mast cell development and function, and melanogenesis. Moreover, human and mouse embryonic stem cells express Kit transcripts. Stem cell factor exists as both a soluble and a membrane-bound glycoprotein while Kit is a receptor protein-tyrosine kinase. The complete absence of stem cell factor or Kit is lethal. Deficiencies of either produce defects in red and white blood cell production, hypopigmentation, and sterility. Gain-of-function mutations of Kit are associated with several human neoplasms including acute myelogenous leukemia, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and mastocytomas. Kit consists of an extracellular domain, a transmembrane segment, a juxtamembrane segment, and a protein kinase domain that contains an insert of about 80 amino acid residues. Binding of stem cell factor to Kit results in receptor dimerization and activation of protein kinase activity. The activated receptor becomes autophosphorylated at tyrosine residues that serve as docking sites for signal transduction molecules containing SH2 domains. The adaptor protein APS, Src family kinases, and Shp2 tyrosyl phosphatase bind to phosphotyrosine 568. Shp1 tyrosyl phosphatase and the adaptor protein Shc bind to phosphotyrosine 570. C-terminal Src kinase homologous kinase and the adaptor Shc bind to both phosphotyrosines 568 and 570. These residues occur in the juxtamembrane segment of Kit. Three residues in the kinase insert domain are phosphorylated and attract the adaptor protein Grb2 (Tyr703), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (Tyr721), and phospholipase Cgamma (Tyr730). Phosphotyrosine 900 in the distal kinase domain binds phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase which in turn binds the adaptor protein Crk. Phosphotyrosine 936, also in the distal kinase domain, binds the adaptor proteins APS, Grb2, and Grb7. Kit has the potential to participate in multiple signal transduction pathways as a result of

  4. A Low-Cost Sensing System for Cooperative Air Quality Monitoring in Urban Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simone Brienza

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Air quality in urban areas is a very important topic as it closely affects the health of citizens. Recent studies highlight that the exposure to polluted air can increase the incidence of diseases and deteriorate the quality of life. Hence, it is necessary to develop tools for real-time air quality monitoring, so as to allow appropriate and timely decisions. In this paper, we present uSense, a low-cost cooperative monitoring tool that allows knowing, in real-time, the concentrations of polluting gases in various areas of the city. Specifically, users monitor the areas of their interest by deploying low-cost and low-power sensor nodes. In addition, they can share the collected data following a social networking approach. uSense has been tested through an in-field experimentation performed in different areas of a city. The obtained results are in line with those provided by the local environmental control authority and show that uSense can be profitably used for air quality monitoring.

  5. Microgripper construction kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gengenbach, Ulrich K.; Hofmann, Andreas; Engelhardt, Friedhelm; Scharnowell, Rudolf; Koehler, Bernd

    2001-10-01

    A large number of microgrippers has been developed in industry and academia. Although the importance of hybrid integration techniques and hence the demand for assembly tools grows continuously a large part of these developments has not yet been used in industrial production. The first grippers developed for microassembly were basically vacuum grippers and downscaled tweezers. Due to increasingly complex assembly tasks more and more functionality such as sensing or additional functions such as adhesive dispensing has been integrated into gripper systems over the last years. Most of these gripper systems are incompatible since there exists no standard interface to the assembly machine and no standard for the internal modules and interfaces. Thus these tools are not easily interchangeable between assembly machines and not easily adaptable to assembly tasks. In order to alleviate this situation a construction kit for modular microgrippers is being developed. It is composed of modules with well defined interfaces that can be combined to build task specific grippers. An abstract model of a microgripper is proposed as a tool to structure the development of the construction kit. The modular concept is illustrated with prototypes.

  6. The evaluation of domestic immunoradiometric assay kit for alpha-fetoprotein

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Won, Kyoung Sook; Ryu, Jin Sook; Moon, Dae Hyuk; Lee, Hee Kyung [Ulsan Univ. College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2000-08-01

    Although {alpha}-fetoprotein is one of the most commonly used tumor markers in Korea, most of the radioimmunoassay kits for {alpha}-fetoprotein have been imported from foreign countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a recently developed domestic immunoradiometric kit for {alpha}-fetoprotein (Riakey AFP IRMA CT{sup R}, Sin-Jin Medics, Seoul, Korea). We evaluated intra-and inter-assay precision, recovery rate, parallelism, and sensitivity of serum {alpha}-fetoprotein measurement using Riakey AFP IRMA CT{sup R} kit. The values of {alpha}-fetoprotein measured by Riakey AFP IRMA CT{sup R} kit were compared with those measured by two foreign commercial kits ({alpha}-fetoproteina of Radim and {alpha}-feto.riabead of Abbott). Intra-assay coefficients of variation on three different levels were 5.3% for 18.9 ng/ml, 3.4% for 133 ng/ml and 1.6% for 330 ng/ml. Inter-assay coefficients of variation were 9.7% for 20.9 ng/ml, 3.2% for 137 ng/ml and 4.1% for 330 ng/ml respectively. Recovery rate tests on all three different levels showed within 100{+-}10%. Parallelism was also good and the sensitivity was 0.63 ng/ml. There was strong correlation between the measurement of {alpha}-fetoprotein by Riakey AFP IRMA CT{sup R} and that by two foreign commercial kits(r=3D0.98). The first Korean domestic immunoradiometric kit for {alpha}-fetoprotein, Riakey AFP IRMA CT{sup R}, performed well for clinical use.

  7. Robowell: An automated process for monitoring ground water quality using established sampling protocols

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granato, G.E.; Smith, K.P.

    1999-01-01

    Robowell is an automated process for monitoring selected ground water quality properties and constituents by pumping a well or multilevel sampler. Robowell was developed and tested to provide a cost-effective monitoring system that meets protocols expected for manual sampling. The process uses commercially available electronics, instrumentation, and hardware, so it can be configured to monitor ground water quality using the equipment, purge protocol, and monitoring well design most appropriate for the monitoring site and the contaminants of interest. A Robowell prototype was installed on a sewage treatment plant infiltration bed that overlies a well-studied unconfined sand and gravel aquifer at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a time when two distinct plumes of constituents were released. The prototype was operated from May 10 to November 13, 1996, and quality-assurance/quality-control measurements demonstrated that the data obtained by the automated method was equivalent to data obtained by manual sampling methods using the same sampling protocols. Water level, specific conductance, pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and dissolved ammonium were monitored by the prototype as the wells were purged according to U.S Geological Survey (USGS) ground water sampling protocols. Remote access to the data record, via phone modem communications, indicated the arrival of each plume over a few days and the subsequent geochemical reactions over the following weeks. Real-time availability of the monitoring record provided the information needed to initiate manual sampling efforts in response to changes in measured ground water quality, which proved the method and characterized the screened portion of the plume in detail through time. The methods and the case study described are presented to document the process for future use.

  8. Water Quality & Pollutant Source Monitoring: Field and Laboratory Procedures. Training Manual.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Office of Water Program Operations (EPA), Cincinnati, OH. National Training and Operational Technology Center.

    This training manual presents material on techniques and instrumentation used to develop data in field monitoring programs and related laboratory operations concerned with water quality and pollution monitoring. Topics include: collection and handling of samples; bacteriological, biological, and chemical field and laboratory methods; field…

  9. Signal transduction by normal isoforms and W mutant variants of the Kit receptor tyrosine kinase.

    OpenAIRE

    Reith, A D; Ellis, C; Lyman, S D; Anderson, D M; Williams, D E; Bernstein, A; Pawson, T

    1991-01-01

    Germline mutations at the Dominant White Spotting (W) and Steel (Sl) loci have provided conclusive genetic evidence that c-kit mediated signal transduction pathways are essential for normal mouse development. We have analysed the interactions of normal and mutant W/c-kit gene products with cytoplasmic signalling proteins, using transient c-kit expression assays in COS cells. In addition to the previously identified c-kit gene product (Kit+), a second normal Kit isoform (KitA+) containing an i...

  10. A new method for wafer quality monitoring using semiconductor process big data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sohn, Younghoon; Lee, Hyun; Yang, Yusin; Jun, Chungsam

    2017-03-01

    In this paper we proposed a new semiconductor quality monitoring methodology - Process Sensor Log Analysis (PSLA) - using process sensor data for the detection of wafer defectivity and quality monitoring. We developed exclusive key parameter selection algorithm and user friendly system which is able to handle large amount of big data very effectively. Several production wafers were selected and analyzed based on the risk analysis of process driven defects, for example alignment quality of process layers. Thickness of spin-coated material can be measured using PSLA without conventional metrology process. In addition, chip yield impact was verified by matching key parameter changes with electrical die sort (EDS) fail maps at the end of the production step. From this work, we were able to determine that process robustness and product yields could be improved by monitoring the key factors in the process big data.

  11. Diatom-based water quality monitoring in southern Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The purpose of this review is to summarise the challenges and future prospects associated with biological water quality monitoring using diatoms with special focus on southern Africa. Much work still needs to be carried out on diatom tolerances, ecological preferences and ecophysiology. It is recommended that past ...

  12. Understanding Local Ecology: Syllabus for Monitoring Water Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iowa Univ., Iowa City.

    This syllabus gives detailed information on monitoring water quality for teachers and students. It tells how to select a sample site; how to measure physical characteristics such as temperature, turbidity, and stream velocity; how to measure chemical parameters such as alkalinity, dissolved oxygen levels, phosphate levels, and ammonia nitrogen…

  13. Disposable Collection Kit for Rapid and Reliable Collection of Saliva

    OpenAIRE

    Yamaguchi, Masaki; Tezuka, Yuki; Takeda, Kazunori; Shetty, Vivek

    2015-01-01

    Objectives To describe and evaluate disposable saliva collection kit for rapid, reliable, and reproducible collection of saliva samples. Methods The saliva collection kit comprised of a saliva absorbent swab and an extractor unit was used to retrieve whole saliva samples from 10 subjects. The accuracy and precision of the extracted volumes (3, 10, and 30 ?l) were compared to similar volumes drawn from control samples obtained by passive drool. Additionally, the impact of kit collection method...

  14. IODOBELL in vivo kits for in situ labelling with iodine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koernyei, Jozsef; Lakatos, Mihaly; Kecskes, Ferenc; Mahunka, Imre; Mikecz, Pal; Ando, Laszlo

    1988-01-01

    A system of in vivo kits called IODOBELL was developed in the Institute of Isotopes, Budapest. The production of hepatodecanoic acid for cardiology, iodo-hippuranic acid for kidney diagnostics and a special pharmaceutical, IODOBELL-MIGB for the indication of feochromocitoma and neuroblastoma is reported. The heptadecanoic acid kit is under human examination, the other two are to be tested in the near future. IODOBELL kits contribute to the wider use of 123 I in Hungary. (author) 6 refs

  15. Rapid and Sensitive Determination of Lipid Oxidation Using the Reagent Kit Based on Spectrophotometry (FOODLABfat System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chang Woo Kwon

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The reliability and availability of FOODLABfat system for determining acid value (AV and peroxide value (POV were assessed during the hydrolytic rancidification and lipid oxidation of edible oils. This reagent kit based on spectrophotometry was compared to the official methods (ISO 660 and 3960 protocols based on manual titration employing the standard mixture for the simulated oxidation models and edible oils during the thermally induced oxidation at 180°C. The linear regression line of standard mixture and the significant difference of thermally oxidized time course study determined between them showed high correlations (R2=0.998 and p<0.05 in both AVs and POVs. Considering ISO protocols with a probability of human error in manual titration, the rapidness and simplicity of the reagent kit based on spectrophotometry make it a promising alternative to monitor the lipid oxidation of edible oils and lipid-containing foods.

  16. Physical soil quality indicators for monitoring British soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corstanje, Ron; Mercer, Theresa G.; Rickson, Jane R.; Deeks, Lynda K.; Newell-Price, Paul; Holman, Ian; Kechavarsi, Cedric; Waine, Toby W.

    2017-09-01

    Soil condition or quality determines its ability to deliver a range of functions that support ecosystem services, human health and wellbeing. The increasing policy imperative to implement successful soil monitoring programmes has resulted in the demand for reliable soil quality indicators (SQIs) for physical, biological and chemical soil properties. The selection of these indicators needs to ensure that they are sensitive and responsive to pressure and change, e.g. they change across space and time in relation to natural perturbations and land management practices. Using a logical sieve approach based on key policy-related soil functions, this research assessed whether physical soil properties can be used to indicate the quality of British soils in terms of their capacity to deliver ecosystem goods and services. The resultant prioritised list of physical SQIs was tested for robustness, spatial and temporal variability, and expected rate of change using statistical analysis and modelling. Seven SQIs were prioritised: soil packing density, soil water retention characteristics, aggregate stability, rate of soil erosion, depth of soil, soil structure (assessed by visual soil evaluation) and soil sealing. These all have direct relevance to current and likely future soil and environmental policy and are appropriate for implementation in soil monitoring programmes.

  17. Physical soil quality indicators for monitoring British soils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Corstanje

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Soil condition or quality determines its ability to deliver a range of functions that support ecosystem services, human health and wellbeing. The increasing policy imperative to implement successful soil monitoring programmes has resulted in the demand for reliable soil quality indicators (SQIs for physical, biological and chemical soil properties. The selection of these indicators needs to ensure that they are sensitive and responsive to pressure and change, e.g. they change across space and time in relation to natural perturbations and land management practices. Using a logical sieve approach based on key policy-related soil functions, this research assessed whether physical soil properties can be used to indicate the quality of British soils in terms of their capacity to deliver ecosystem goods and services. The resultant prioritised list of physical SQIs was tested for robustness, spatial and temporal variability, and expected rate of change using statistical analysis and modelling. Seven SQIs were prioritised: soil packing density, soil water retention characteristics, aggregate stability, rate of soil erosion, depth of soil, soil structure (assessed by visual soil evaluation and soil sealing. These all have direct relevance to current and likely future soil and environmental policy and are appropriate for implementation in soil monitoring programmes.

  18. Oncogenic activation of v-kit involves deletion of a putative tyrosine-substrate interaction site.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herbst, R; Munemitsu, S; Ullrich, A

    1995-01-19

    The transforming gene of the Hardy-Zuckerman-4 strain of feline sarcoma virus, v-kit, arose by transduction of the cellular c-kit gene, which encodes the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) p145c-kit. To gain insight into the molecular basis of the v-kit transforming potential, we characterized the feline c-kit by cDNA cloning. Comparison of the feline v-kit and c-kit sequences revealed, in addition to deletions of the extracellular and transmembrane domains, three additional mutations in the v-kit oncogene product: deletion of tyrosine-569 and valine-570, the exchange of aspartate at position 761 to glycine, and replacement of the C-terminal 50 amino acids by five unrelated residues. Examinations of individual v-kit mutations in the context of chimeric receptors yielded inhibitory effects for some mutants on both autophosphorylation and substrate phosphorylation functions. In contrast, deletion of tyrosine-569 and valine-570 significantly enhanced transforming and mitogenic activities of p145c-kit, while the other mutations had no significant effects. Conservation in subclass III RTKs and the identification of the corresponding residue in beta PDGF-R, Y579, as a binding site for src family tyrosine kinases suggests an important role for Y568 in kit signal regulation and the definition of its oncogenic potential. Repositioning of Y571 by an inframe two codon deletion may be the crucial alteration resulting in enhancement of v-kit oncogenic activity.

  19. RestKit for iOS standard guide

    CERN Document Server

    Kalapun, Taras

    2013-01-01

    A step-by-step, example-based guide to learning how you can link your apps and web services using RestKit.This book is for iOS developers of all levels who are interested in boosting their productivity by utilizing third party libraries and who have a willingness to learn how to build RESTful apps using the RestKit framework. A basic knowledge of Objective-C is required as well as a simple understanding of how to use CoreData.

  20. Quality assurance monitoring during nuclear fuel production in JSC 'TVEL'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Filimonov, G.; Tchirkov, V.

    2000-01-01

    The paper describes Quality Assurance (QA) monitoring during fabrication of nuclear fuel in Russian Federation. Joint Stock Company 'TVEL', natural state monopoly of the type of holding that fabricates and supplies nuclear fuel for the NPPs of Russia, CIS and Europe, incorporates the major enterprises of the nuclear fuel cycle including JSC 'Mashinostroitelny zavod', Electrostal (fabrication of fuel pellets, rods and assemblies for different types of reactors), JSC 'Novosibirsky zavod khimconcentratov', Novosibirsk (fabrication of fuel rods and assemblies for WWER-440 and WWER-1000), JSC 'Tchepetsky mechanitchesky zavod', Tchepetsk (fabrication of Zr tubing). Monitoring of QA is an important element of Quality Management System (QMS) developed and implemented at the above-mentioned enterprises of the JSC 'TVEL' and it is performed on three levels including external and internal audits and author's supervision. Paper also describes short- and long-term policies of the JSC 'TVEL' in nuclear fuel quality field. (author)

  1. The Danish air quality monitoring programme. Annual Summary for 2007

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kemp, K.; Ellemann, T.; Brandt, J.; Christensen, Jesper; Ketzel, M.; Solvang Jensen, S.

    2008-07-15

    The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality Monitoring (LMP) network. The aim has been to follow the concentration levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the trends, to perform source apportionment, and to evaluate the chemical reactions and the dispersion of the pollutants in the atmosphere. In 2007 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. Model calculations were also carried out to supplement the measurements. At several stations NO{sub 2} and PM{sub 10} were found in concentrations above EU limit values, which the Member States have to comply with in 2005 and 2010. The concentrations for most pollutants have been strongly decreasing since 1982, however, only a slight decrease has been observed for NO{sub 2} and O{sub 3}. (au)

  2. The Danish air quality monitoring programme. Annual summary for 2008

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kemp, K.; Ellemann, T.; Brandt, J.; Christensen, Jesper; Ketzel, M.; Solvang Jensen, S.

    2010-06-15

    The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality Monitoring (LMP) network. The aim has been to follow the concentration levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the trends, to perform source apportionment, and to evaluate the chemical reactions and the dispersion of the pollutants in the atmosphere. In 2007 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. Model calculations were also carried out to supplement the measurements. At several stations NO{sub 2} and PM{sub 10} were found in concentrations above EU limit values, which the Member States have to comply with in 2005 and 2010. The concentrations for most pollutants have been strongly decreasing since 1982, however, only a slight decrease has been observed for NO{sub 2} and O{sub 3}. (author)

  3. Technetium-99m ceftizoxime kit preparation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diniz, Simone Odilia Fernandes; Siqueira, Cristiano Ferrari; Nelson, David Lee; Cardoso, Valbert Nascimento

    2005-01-01

    The aim of this work was to prepare a kit of 99 m Tc-ceftizoxime ( 99m Tc-CFT), with stability and biological activity preserved, able to identify a septic focus (E. coli) in the experimental infection model in rats. The preparation of the CFT kit involved the use of lyophilized solutions containing the antibiotic ceftizoxime and the sodium dithionite reducing agent (6.0 mg/m L). After lyophilization, the kit was reconstituted with 1.0 mL of sodium 99m Tc pertechnetate solution (Na 99m Tc O 4- ) with an activity of 370 MBq. The solution was boiled for 10 min and filtered through a cellulose ester filter. The labeling efficiency was on the order of 92%, remaining stable for six hours and the kit remained stable for two months. The biological activity of the 99m Tc-CFT was evaluated by diffusion in agar impregnated with E.coli and S. aureus. Seven Wistar rats, weighing from 200 to 250 g, were used for the development of the septic focus. After 24 hours from the induction of the infectious site (E.coli), the animals were anesthetized and 0.1 mL of 99m Tc-CFT (37 MBq) was injected into the tail veins of the animals. The images were obtained with a gamma camera one, two and six hours after injection and the regions of interest (ROIs) were calculated. The diameters of the inhibition halos for 99 m Tc-CFT were 27.16 ± 0.23 and 27.17 ± 0.20 for S.aureus and E.coli, respectively, while those for the unlabeled CFT were 30.4 ± 0.33 and 29.43 ± 0.26, respectively. The results for the biodistribution of 99m Tc-CFT in infected animals furnished a ratio of 1.97 ± 0.31, 2.10 ± 0.42 and 2.01 ± 0.42 for cpm-target/cpm-no target for the one, two and six-hour periods, respectively. The images showed a clear uptake of labeled antibiotic ( 99m Tc-CFT) by the infectious site during the experiment. The results attest to the viability of producing a kit with 99m technetium-labeled ceftizoxime for the investigation of infectious processes. (author)

  4. Data mining methods for quality assurance in an environmental monitoring network

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Athanasiadis, Ioannis N.; Rizzoli, Andrea Emilio; Beard, Daniel W.

    2010-01-01

    The paper presents a system architecture that employs data mining techniques for ensuring quality assurance in an environmental monitoring network. We investigate how data mining techniques can be incorporated in the quality assurance decision making process. As prior expert decisions are

  5. Bacteriological monitoring and sustainable management of beach water quality in Malaysia: problems and prospects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dada, Ayokunle Christopher; Asmat, Ahmad; Gires, Usup; Heng, Lee Yook; Deborah, Bandele Oluwaseun

    2012-04-28

    Despite the growing demand of tourism in Malaysia, there are no resolute efforts to develop beaches as tourist destinations. With no incentives to monitor public beaches or to use them in a sustainable manner, they might eventually degenerate in quality as a result of influx of pollutants. This calls for concerted action plans with a view to promoting their sustainable use. The success of such plans is inevitably anchored on the availability of robust quality monitoring schemes. Although significant efforts have been channelled to collation and public disclosure of bacteriological quality data of rivers, beach water monitoring appears left out. This partly explains the dearth of published information related to beach water quality data. As part of an on-going nation-wide surveillance study on the bacteriological quality of recreational beaches, this paper draws on a situation analysis with a view to proffering recommendations that could be adapted for ensuring better beach water quality in Malaysia.

  6. Bacteriological Monitoring and Sustainable Management of Beach Water Quality in Malaysia: Problems and Prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dada, Ayokunle Christopher; Asmat, Ahmad; Gires, Usup; Heng, Lee Yook; Deborah, Bandele Oluwaseun

    2012-01-01

    Despite the growing demand of tourism in Malaysia, there are no resolute efforts to develop beaches as tourist destinations. With no incentives to monitor public beaches or to use them in a sustainable manner, they might eventually degenerate in quality as a result of influx of pollutants. This calls for concerted action plans with a view to promoting their sustainable use. The success of such plans is inevitably anchored on the availability of robust quality monitoring schemes. Although significant efforts have been channelled to collation and public disclosure of bacteriological quality data of rivers, beach water monitoring appears left out. This partly explains the dearth of published information related to beach water quality data. As part of an on-going nation-wide surveillance study on the bacteriological quality of recreational beaches, this paper draws on a situation analysis with a view to proffering recommendations that could be adapted for ensuring better beach water quality in Malaysia. PMID:22980239

  7. Quality control of the interpretation monitors of digital radiological images; Controle de qualidade dos monitores de interpretacao de imagens radiologicas digitais: uma revisao

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Favero, Mariana S.; Goulart, Adriano Oliveira S., E-mail: mariana@phymed.com.br [PhyMED - Consultores em Fisica Medica e Radioprotecao Ltda, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil)

    2016-07-01

    The performance monitors has great importance in image quality of digital radiographic systems. In environments without films, it became necessary to implement acceptance testing and quality control monitors used for interpretation of medical images. The monitors dedicated to radiodiagnostic should provide information that represent slight differences in x-ray attenuation or minor differences in some anatomical region of interest. This should also result in small differences in luminance of an image represented. Factors affecting the quality of medical imaging are contrast, noise, resolution, artifacts and distortions. Therefore, a monitor must have specific characteristics, making it possible for the observer to carry out an assessment that leads to better diagnosis. Based on the need to evaluate diagnostic monitors in various radiological applications, this paper presents a summary for implementation and standardization of tests that are recommended by the publication AAPM Report 03. (author)

  8. Late development of homoeothermy in mink (Mustela vison) kits - a strategy for maximum survival rate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tauson, A-H; Chwalibog, André; Tygesen, M P

    2006-01-01

    and after the experiments and evaporative water losses (EWL) were calculated. When exposed to L temperature, single kits responded with a very low HE until 29 days of age, and groups of kits until 14 days of age. It was not until they reached an age of approximately 6 weeks that single kits showed a clear...... thermoregulatory response to the L temperature by increased HE, whereas groups of kits showed increased HE from 29th day onwards. When kept at H temperature, HE was low initially, but all kits showed elevated HE at 8 days of age, and the metabolic rate was similar for single kits and kits huddling in groups....... Evaporative water losses was higher among single than among groups of kits and slightly lower but more variable for animals at L than at H temperature. It was concluded that mink kits develop functional homoeothermy at an age of close to 6 weeks and that the failure of very young kits to thermoregulate...

  9. St. John, USVI Water Quality Monitoring Data 2003 - Present

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These water quality data are one of many studies being done to assess and monitor coral reef ecosystems. The intent of this work is three fold: (1) to spatially...

  10. Monitoring water quality from LANDSAT. [satellite observation of Virginia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, J. L.

    1975-01-01

    Water quality monitoring possibilities from LANDSAT were demonstrated both for direct readings of reflectances from the water and indirect monitoring of changes in use of land surrounding Swift Creek Reservoir in a joint project with the Virginia State Water Control Board and NASA. Film products were shown to have insufficient resolution and all work was done by digitally processing computer compatible tapes. Land cover maps of the 18,000 hectare Swift Creek Reservoir watershed, prepared for two dates in 1974, are shown. A significant decrease in the pine cover was observed in a 740 hectare construction site within the watershed. A measure of the accuracy of classification was obtained by comparing the LANDSAT results with visual classification at five sites on a U-2 photograph. Such changes in land cover can alert personnel to watch for potential changes in water quality.

  11. Solid state nuclear track detectors kit for the use in teaching

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khouri, M.T.F.C.; Koskinas, M.F.

    1988-11-01

    The kit intends to improve the possibilities in performing experiments of Nuclear Physics in Modern Physics laboratories of Physics Course introducing the solid state nuclear track detectors. In these materials the passage of heavily ionizing nuclear particles creates paths (tracks) that may be revealed and made visible in an optical microscope. By the help of the kit several experiments and/or demonstrations may be performed. The kit contains solid state nuclear track detectors unirradiated and irradiated, irradiated etched and unetched sheets: an alpha source of 241 Am and an instrution text with photomicrographs. To use the kit the laboratory must have an ordinary optical microscope. (author) [pt

  12. Kit development for labelling erythrocytes or leukocytes with technetium-99m in vitro

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Xuebin; Han Quansheng; Wang Jingcheng; Mi Hongzhi

    1996-01-01

    This study developed a modified pre tinning method for labeling erythrocytes with technetium-99m in vitro using a kit which contains stannous chloride stabilized with geneticist acid (GA) in lyophilized form. This GA-kit a sterile closed system that does not require centrifugation,washing and separation of the RBCs. The kit is simple to use and labeling takes ∼ 30 min with a typical labeling efficiency of 97.3% ± 1.2% for 60 determinations. Imaging studies were performed in rabbit using GA-kit in vitro labeling procedure and PYP-kit in vivo labeling. It shows that the heart-to-background ratio with GA in vitro labeling were significantly higher than with in vivo labeling. Leukocytes labeling with technetium-99m using the same GA kit also was studied. The labeling efficiency was 20 ∼ 41%. Thus, the GA kit is versatile and cost-effective. (author). 21 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs

  13. Signal transduction by normal isoforms and W mutant variants of the Kit receptor tyrosine kinase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reith, A D; Ellis, C; Lyman, S D; Anderson, D M; Williams, D E; Bernstein, A; Pawson, T

    1991-09-01

    Germline mutations at the Dominant White Spotting (W) and Steel (Sl) loci have provided conclusive genetic evidence that c-kit mediated signal transduction pathways are essential for normal mouse development. We have analysed the interactions of normal and mutant W/c-kit gene products with cytoplasmic signalling proteins, using transient c-kit expression assays in COS cells. In addition to the previously identified c-kit gene product (Kit+), a second normal Kit isoform (KitA+) containing an in-frame insertion, Gly-Asn-Asn-Lys, within the extracellular domain, was detected in murine mast cell cultures and mid-gestation placenta. Both Kit+ and KitA+ isoforms showed increased autophosphorylation and enhanced association with phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3' kinase and PLC gamma 1, when stimulated with recombinant soluble Steel factor. No association or increase in phosphorylation of GAP and two GAP-associated proteins, p62 and p190, was observed. The two isoforms had distinct activities in the absence of exogenous soluble Steel factor; Kit+, but not KitA+, showed constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation that was accompanied by a low constitutive level of association with PI-3' kinase and PLC gamma 1. Introduction of the point substitutions associated with W37 (Glu582----Lys) or W41 (Val831----Met) mutant alleles into c-kit expression constructs abolished (W37) or reduced (W41) the Steel factor-induced association of the Kit receptor with signalling proteins in a manner proportional to the overall severity of the corresponding W mutant phenotype. These data suggest a diversity of normal Kit signalling pathways and indicate that W mutant phenotypes result from primary defects in the Kit receptor that affect its interaction with cytoplasmic signalling proteins.

  14. EPA Office of Water (OW): STORET Water Quality Monitoring Stations Source Dataset

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Storage and Retrieval for Water Quality Data (STORET and the Water Quality Exchange, WQX) defines the methods and the data systems by which EPA compiles monitoring...

  15. Liquid kit for preparation of {sup 188}rhenium-etidronate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marczewski, Barbara; Dias, Carla Roberta; Moraes, Vanessa; Osso Junior, Joao Alberto [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN-CNEN/SP), SP (Brazil). Centro de Radiofarmacia]. E-mail: baszot@gmail.com

    2005-10-15

    The aim of this study was the preparation of a liquid kit for radiolabeling of {sup 188} Re-HEDP (hydroxyethylidene diphosphonate). {sup 188} Re was obtained from alumina based {sup 188} W/{sup 188} Re generators. This paper reports the efficacy of a cold kit stored for more than two weeks, determined by the dependence of the radiolabeling yields of {sup 188} Re-HEDP on the incubation time, reducing agent concentration, the effects of concentration of ligand, the p H of the reaction and the temperature. The cold kits showed a good stability when carrie-free rhenium-188 was added in the reaction mixture. (author)

  16. Dumpster Optics: teaching and learning optics without a kit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donnelly, Judy; Magnani, Nancy; Robinson, Kathleen

    2016-09-01

    The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and renewed emphasis on STEM education in the U.S. have resulted in the development of many educational kits for teaching science in general and optics in particular. Many teachers do not have funding to purchase kits and practical experience has shown that even costly kits can have poorly written and misleading instructions and may include experiments that would not work in a classroom. Dumpster Optics lessons are designed to use inexpensive, commonly found materials. All lessons have been field-tested with students. We will describe the development of the lessons, provide examples of field testing experiences and outline possible future activities.

  17. Comparison of Amerlex, NML, and Ames total thyroxine and triiodothyronine radioimmunoassay kits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wilke, T J; Turnbull, P A [Commonwealth Pathology Lab., Toowoomba (Australia). Dept. of Endocrinology

    1982-03-01

    An evaluation of the Amerlex system for determination of total thyroxine (T4) and total triiodothyronine (T3) is described. The within- and between-batch precisions were acceptable, and analyses of quality control material and linearity studies demonstrated good accuracy at the clinical decision levels. The correlations obtained with NML and Ames T4 and T3 kit methods were highly significant. The Amerlex T4 and T3 methods are rapid, technically simple, and, coupled with excellent precision and accuracy, present significant advantages.

  18. Comparison of Amerlex, NML, and Ames total thyroxine and triiodothyronine radioimmunoassay kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilke, T.J.; Turnbull, P.A.

    1982-01-01

    An evaluation of the Amerlex system for determination of total thyroxine (T4) and total triiodothyronine (T3) is described. The within- and between-batch precisions were acceptable, and analyses of quality control material and linearity studies demonstrated good accuracy at the clinical decision levels. The correlations obtained with NML and Ames T4 and T3 kit methods were highly significant. The Amerlex T4 and T3 methods are rapid, technically simple, and, coupled with excellent precision and accuracy, present significant advantages. (author)

  19. Analytical techniques for the determination of radiochemical purity of radiopharmaceuticals prepared from kits. Part II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacLean, J.R.; Rockwell, L.J.; Welsh, W.J.

    The evaluation of efficacy of commercially available kits used for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals is one aspect of the Radiation Protection Bureau's radiopharmaceutical quality control program. This report describes some of the analytical methodology employed in the program. Many of the tests can be performed rapidly and with a minimum of special equipment, thus enabling the confirmation of radiopharmaceutical purity prior to patient administration

  20. 33 CFR 149.323 - What are the requirements for first aid kits?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... first aid kits? 149.323 Section 149.323 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... Lifesaving Equipment Manned Deepwater Port Requirements § 149.323 What are the requirements for first aid kits? (a) Each manned deepwater port must have an industrial first aid kit, approved by an appropriate...

  1. Water quality monitoring strategies - A review and future perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behmel, S; Damour, M; Ludwig, R; Rodriguez, M J

    2016-11-15

    The reliable assessment of water quality through water quality monitoring programs (WQMPs) is crucial in order for decision-makers to understand, interpret and use this information in support of their management activities aiming at protecting the resource. The challenge of water quality monitoring has been widely addressed in the literature since the 1940s. However, there is still no generally accepted, holistic and practical strategy to support all phases of WQMPs. The purpose of this paper is to report on the use cases a watershed manager has to address to plan or optimize a WQMP from the challenge of identifying monitoring objectives; selecting sampling sites and water quality parameters; identifying sampling frequencies; considering logistics and resources to the implementation of actions based on information acquired through the WQMP. An inventory and critique of the information, approaches and tools placed at the disposal of watershed managers was proposed to evaluate how the existing information could be integrated in a holistic, user-friendly and evolvable solution. Given the differences in regulatory requirements, water quality standards, geographical and geological differences, land-use variations, and other site specificities, a one-in-all solution is not possible. However, we advance that an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) based on expert knowledge that integrates existing approaches and past research can guide a watershed manager through the process according to his/her site-specific requirements. It is also necessary to tap into local knowledge and to identify the knowledge needs of all the stakeholders through participative approaches based on geographical information systems and adaptive survey-based questionnaires. We believe that future research should focus on developing such participative approaches and further investigate the benefits of IDSS's that can be updated quickly and make it possible for a watershed manager to obtain a

  2. Student satisfaction as an element of education quality monitoring in innovative higher education institution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Razinkina, Elena; Pankova, Ludmila; Trostinskaya, Irina; Pozdeeva, Elena; Evseeva, Lidiya; Tanova, Anna

    2018-03-01

    Topicality of the research is confirmed by increasing student involvement into the educational process, when not only the academic staff and administration participate in the improvement of higher education institution's activity, but also education customers - students. This adds a new dimension to the issue of monitoring education quality and student satisfaction with higher education. This issue echoes the ideas of M. Weber about the relationship between such components as cognitive motivation, personal development and student satisfaction with higher education. Besides, it is essential to focus on the approach of R. Barnet to defining the quality of education with the emphasis on a priority of development of an educational institution as the system that meets customers' needs. Monitoring student satisfaction with education quality has become an integral part of the educational process not only in a number of European universities, which have used this monitoring for decades, but also in Russian universities, which are interested in education quality improvement. Leading universities in Russia, including Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, are implementing policies targeted at increasing student satisfaction with higher education quality. Education quality monitoring as a key element in the system of providing feedback to students contributes greatly to this process.

  3. Challenges for implementing water quality monitoring and analysis on a small Costa Rican catchment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golcher, Christian; Cernesson, Flavie; Tournoud, Marie-George; Bonin, Muriel; Suarez, Andrea

    2016-04-01

    The Costa Rican water regulatory framework (WRF) (2007), expresses the national concern about the degradation of surface water quality observed in the country since several years. Given the urgency of preserving and restoring the surface water bodies, and facing the need of defining a monitoring tool to classify surface water pollution, the Costa-Rican WRF relies on two water quality indexes: the so-called "Dutch Index" (D.I) and the Biological Monitoring Working Party adapted to Costa Rica (BMWP'CR), allowing an "easy" physicochemical and biological appraisal of the water quality and the ecological integrity of water bodies. Herein, we intend to evaluate whether the compound of water quality indexes imposed by Costa Rican legislation, is suitable to assess rivers local and global anthropogenic pressure and environmental conditions. We monitor water quality for 7 points of Liberia River (northern pacific region - Costa Rica) from March 2013 to July 2015. Anthropogenic pressures are characterized by catchment land use and riparian conditions. Environmental conditions are built from rainfall daily series. Our results show (i) the difficulties to monitor new sites following the recent implementation of the WRF; (ii) the statistical characteristics of each index; and (iii) a modelling tentative of relationships between water quality indexes and explanatory factors (land-use, riparian characteristics and climate conditions).

  4. A data quality monitoring software framework for the BES Ⅲ experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Jifeng; Zheng Yangheng; Sun Xiaodong; Ji Xiaobin

    2012-01-01

    Data quality monitoring (DQM) plays an important role in data taking at the BES Ⅲ experiments. DQM is used to monitor detector status and data quality. A DQM framework (DQMF) has been developed to make it possible to reuse the BES Ⅲ offline reconstruction system in the online environment. In this framework, the DQMF can also simulate a virtual data taking environment, transfer events to the event display, publish histograms to a histogram presenter in a fixed interval, and dump histograms into a ROOT file. The DQMF has been stably running throughout BES Ⅲ data taking. (authors)

  5. Performance assessment of air quality monitoring networks using principal component analysis and cluster analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Wei-Zhen; He, Hong-Di; Dong, Li-yun

    2011-01-01

    This study aims to evaluate the performance of two statistical methods, principal component analysis and cluster analysis, for the management of air quality monitoring network of Hong Kong and the reduction of associated expenses. The specific objectives include: (i) to identify city areas with similar air pollution behavior; and (ii) to locate emission sources. The statistical methods were applied to the mass concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), respirable suspended particulates (RSP) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), collected in monitoring network of Hong Kong from January 2001 to December 2007. The results demonstrate that, for each pollutant, the monitoring stations are grouped into different classes based on their air pollution behaviors. The monitoring stations located in nearby area are characterized by the same specific air pollution characteristics and suggested with an effective management of air quality monitoring system. The redundant equipments should be transferred to other monitoring stations for allowing further enlargement of the monitored area. Additionally, the existence of different air pollution behaviors in the monitoring network is explained by the variability of wind directions across the region. The results imply that the air quality problem in Hong Kong is not only a local problem mainly from street-level pollutions, but also a region problem from the Pearl River Delta region. (author)

  6. Intelligent packaging for monitoring food quality: a case study on fresh fish

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heising, J.K.

    2014-01-01

    Background

    Foods are prone to quality degradation in the whole supply chain, but the possibilities for monitoring the quality of foods inside the package are limited. When sensors of quality indicators are included into the package of a food, the package can become an

  7. Physicochemical characteristics of the kanamycin-lyophilized kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eva Maria Widyasari; Misyetti; Teguh Hafiz Ambar W; Witri Nuraeni

    2013-01-01

    Kanamycin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic and usually used for the treatment of infections when antibiotics like penicillin are less powerful and can not be given. This research was performed to obtain several physicochemical character of 99m Tc-kanamycin which were made in the form of lyophilized kanamycin kit to ensure the later application in humans. Kanamycin diagnostic kit were provided in lyophilized kit comprising kanamycin as ligand compound, pyrophosphate as co-ligand and SnCl 2 as reducing agent. The radiochemical purity was determined by instant thin layer chromatography (ITLC-SG) using 0.5 N NaOH as the mobile phase and ascending paper chromatography using Whatman paper 3 with acetone as the mobile phase. The plasma binding protein of 99m Tc-kanamycin was investigated in vitro by precipitation method using 5% of trichloro acetic acid (TCA) solution, whereas the lipophilicity (log P) was obtained by determination the partition coefficient in organic solvent-water system. Studies on the effect of the amount of radioactivity and the volume of Na 99m TcO 4 solution to the radiochemical purity of 99m Tc-kanamycin were also performed. From this experiment it was obtained that kanamycin lyophilized-kit was hydrophilic, 59.54% of solutions bound to plasma, radiochemical purity was more than 95%, and the final volume of 2 ml dosage was stable up to 2 hours after the addition of 99m Tc with a radioactivity of less then 3 mCi. (author)

  8. Statistical Framework for Recreational Water Quality Criteria and Monitoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halekoh, Ulrich

    2008-01-01

    recreational governmental authorities controlling water quality. The book opens with a historical account of water quality criteria in the USA between 1922 and 2003. Five chapters are related to sampling strategies and decision rules. Chapter 2 discusses the dependence of decision-making rules on short...... modeling exploiting additional information like meteorological data can support the decision process as shown in Chapter 10. The question of which information to extract from water sample analyses is closely related to the task of risk assessment for human health. Beach-water quality is often measured......Administrators of recreational waters face the basic tasks of surveillance of water quality and decisions on beach closure in case of unacceptable quality. Monitoring and subsequent decisions are based on sampled water probes and fundamental questions are which type of data to extract from...

  9. To Kit or Not to Kit? Evaluating and Implementing Science Materials and Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiller, Ellen; Melin, Jacque; Bair, Mary

    2016-01-01

    With the release of the "Next Generation Science Standards," many schools are reexamining the science materials they are using. Textbook companies and kit developers are eager to meet the demand for "NGSS"-aligned teaching materials. Teacher may have been asked to serve on a science curriculum committee, or to evaluate current…

  10. Near-Port Air Quality Assessment Utilizing a Mobile Monitoring Approach

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Near-Port Air Quality Assessment Utilizing a Mobile Monitoring Approach. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Steffens, J., S. Kimbrough, R....

  11. Analysis of a comprehensive quality assurance program with computer-enhanced monitors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arenson, R.L.; Mintz, M.C.; Goldstein, E.; Stevens, J.F.; Jovais, C.

    1987-01-01

    The authors' quality assurance (QA) program provides communication pathways among its constituent committees, which include patient care, professional review, medical staff, missed case, quality control, safety, and management committees. The QA monitors are based on data from these committees but also include data from the information management system, such as patient delays, contrast reactions, incidents, complications, time-flow analyses, film library retrieval, cancellations, missing reports, and missing clinical data. Committee data include complaints, missed diagnoses, patient identification problems, and equipment failure. The QA monitors have now been incorporated into summary reports as part of their computer networks. A systematic method for follow-up ensures corrective action and documentation. Examples of improved quality of care resulting from this approach includes reductions in delays for report signature and in repeat films

  12. Image processing developments and applications for water quality monitoring and trophic state determination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blackwell, R.J.

    1982-03-01

    Remote sensing data analysis of water quality monitoring is evaluated. Data anaysis and image processing techniques are applied to LANDSAT remote sensing data to produce an effective operational tool for lake water quality surveying and monitoring. Digital image processing and analysis techniques were designed, developed, tested, and applied to LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MSS) data and conventional surface acquired data. Utilization of these techniques facilitates the surveying and monitoring of large numbers of lakes in an operational manner. Supervised multispectral classification, when used in conjunction with surface acquired water quality indicators, is used to characterize water body trophic status. Unsupervised multispectral classification, when interpreted by lake scientists familiar with a specific water body, yields classifications of equal validity with supervised methods and in a more cost effective manner. Image data base technology is used to great advantage in characterizing other contributing effects to water quality. These effects include drainage basin configuration, terrain slope, soil, precipitation and land cover characteristics

  13. Canine and human gastrointestinal stromal tumors display similar mutations in c-KIT exon 11

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gregory-Bryson, Emmalena; Bartlett, Elizabeth; Kiupel, Matti; Hayes, Schantel; Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan, Vilma

    2010-01-01

    Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are common mesenchymal neoplasms in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and dogs. Little is known about the pathogenesis of these tumors. This study evaluated the role of c-KIT in canine GISTs; specifically, we investigated activating mutations in exons 8, 9, 11, 13, and 17 of c-KIT and exons 12, 14, and 18 of platelet-derived growth factor receptor, alpha polypeptide (PDGFRA), all of which have been implicated in human GISTs. Seventeen canine GISTs all confirmed to be positive for KIT immunostaining were studied. Exons 8, 9, 11, 13 and 17 of c-KIT and exons 12, 14, and 18 of PDGFRA, were amplified from DNA isolated from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples. Of these seventeen cases, six amplicons of exon 11 of c-KIT showed aberrant bands on gel electrophoresis. Sequencing of these amplicons revealed heterozygous in-frame deletions in six cases. The mutations include two different but overlapping six base pair deletions. Exons 8, 9, 13, and 17 of c-KIT and exons 12, 14, and 18 of PDGFRA had no abnormalities detected by electrophoresis and sequencing did not reveal any mutations, other than synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in exon 11 of c-KIT and exons 12 and 14 of PDGFRA. The deletion mutations detected in canine GISTs are similar to those previously found in the juxtamembrane domain of c-KIT in canine cutaneous mast cell tumors in our laboratory as well as to those reported in human GISTs. Interestingly, none of the other c-KIT or PDGFRA exons showed any abnormalities in our cases. This finding underlines the critical importance of c-KIT in the pathophysiology of canine GISTs. The expression of KIT and the identification of these activating mutations in c-KIT implicate KIT in the pathogenesis of these tumors. Our results indicate that mutations in c-KIT may be of prognostic significance and that targeting KIT may be a rational approach to treatment of these malignant tumors. This study further

  14. A New Era of Air Quality Monitoring from Space in East Asia: Korea's Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and an Integrated Korea-US Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, J.; Hong, Y.; Song, C. K.; Kim, S. K.; Chang, L. S.; Lim, J.; Ahn, J.; Park, J. H.; Kim, J. Y.; Han, Y. J.; Kim, J.; Park, R.; Lee, G.; Lefer, B. L.; Al-Saadi, J. A.; Crawford, J. H.

    2015-12-01

    Due to remarkable economic growth over the last two decades, East Asia has become a region experiencing some of the poorest air quality in the world. In addition to local sources of pollution, the Korea peninsula is downwind of the largest emission sources in East Asia, complicating the understanding of air quality over Korea. Thus, knowing the factors controlling changes in air pollution across urban-rural and marine-continental interfaces, in addition to the contributions from local emissions and transboundary transport, is important for building effective management strategies and improving air quality in East Asia. GEMS (Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer) is a satellite instrument planned for launch in 2019 by the Republic of Korea. The instrument will observe East Asia and the western Pacific region, providing real-time monitoring of air quality (e.g. O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, AOD, etc.) and enabling better scientific understanding of the transboundary transport of air pollutants. The KORUS-AQ (the Korea and U.S. Air Quality) field campaign will take place in May - June 2016 and will employ an integrated observing strategy including multiplatform observations (i.e. ground stations, aircraft, ships, and satellites) and chemical transport models. This mission aims to not only strengthen our knowledge of atmospheric chemistry but also provide important data sets for validating GEMS retrieval algorithms. In preparation for KORUS-AQ, a pre-campaign has been successfully conducted in Korea during early summer 2015 with observations from multiple ground sites and a small aircraft. A brief summary of pre-field campaign results will be presented. Moving forward, the GEMS mission and KORUS-AQ study will lead to a new era of air quality monitoring in East Asia. GEMS will also make critical contributions to the global air quality perspective working in concert with geostationary missions launched by the U.S. (TEMPO: Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of

  15. FlowGo: An Educational Kit for Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guri, Dominic; Portsmore, Merredith; Kemmerling, Erica

    2015-11-01

    The authors have designed and prototyped an educational toolkit that will help middle-school-aged students learn fundamental fluid mechanics and heat transfer concepts in a hands-on play environment. The kit allows kids to build arbitrary flow rigs to solve fluid mechanics and heat transfer challenge problems. Similar kits for other engineering fields, such as structural and electrical engineering, have resulted in pedagogical improvements, particularly in early engineering education, where visual demonstrations have a significant impact. Using the FlowGo kit, students will be able to conduct experiments and develop new design ideas to solve challenge problems such as building plant watering systems or modeling water and sewage reticulation. The toolkit consists of components such as tubes, junctions, and reservoirs that easily snap together via a modular, universal connector. Designed with the Massachusetts K-12 science standards in mind, this kit is intended to be affordable and suitable for classroom use. Results and user feedback from students conducting preliminary tests of the kit will be presented.

  16. An evaluation of chemical screening test kits for lead in paint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oglesby, L.S.

    1996-04-01

    The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X) requires abatement and management of lead-based paint. The purpose of this study was to evaluate three chemical screening test kits using materials and methods from one study and subjecting the results to the statistical analysis of another. The three kits were used to predict the presence of lead in paint at ten weight concentrations from 0.04 to 3.97%. Paint was applied to four wood boards yielding a sample size of 40. Four boards were painted with lead-free paint and used as blanks. All of the boards were tested with the three test kits by an untrained individual having no knowledge of the actual lead content. Sensitivity, specificity, and false positive and negative rates were calculated for the test kit results. The manufactures` detection limits, the observed sensitivity ranged from 1.00 to 0.80, specificity ranged from 1.00 to 0.42, false positive ranged from 0 to 58%, and false negatives ranged from 0 to 20%. At the 0.5% Federal threshold level, the observed sensitivity ranged from 1.00 to 0.94, specificity ranged from 1.00 to 0.5, false positives ranged from 0 to 11.1%, and false negatives ranged from 0 to 20%. The observed false positive and false negative rates for all three kits were found to be significantly lower than those reported in a previous study. These results indicate that the kits perform very well at the Federal threshold, with two of the kits having false negative rates below 12.5% and false positive rates of 3.13%. These results indicate that these two kits would probably be acceptable screening tests for lead in paint.

  17. Epigenetic regulation of cardiac progenitor cells marker c-kit by stromal cell derived factor-1α.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongpu Chen

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs have been proven suitable for stem cell therapy after myocardial infarction, especially c-kit(+CPCs. CPCs marker c-kit and its ligand, the stem cell factor (SCF, are linked as c-kit/SCF axis, which is associated with the functions of proliferation and differentiation. In our previous study, we found that stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α could enhance the expression of c-kit. However, the mechanism is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: CPCs were isolated from adult mouse hearts, c-kit(+ and c-kit(- CPCs were separated by magnetic beads. The cells were cultured with SDF-1α and CXCR4-selective antagonist AMD3100, and c-kit expression was measured by qPCR and Western blotting. Results showed that SDF-1α could enhance c-kit expression of c-kit(+CPCs, made c-kit(-CPCs expressing c-kit, and AMD3100 could inhibit the function of SDF-1α. After the intervention of SDF-1α and AMD3100, proliferation and migration of CPCs were measured by CCK-8 and transwell assay. Results showed that SDF-1α could enhance the proliferation and migration of both c-kit(+ and c-kit(- CPCs, and AMD3100 could inhibit these functions. DNA methyltransferase (DNMT mRNA were measured by qPCR, DNMT activity was measured using the DNMT activity assay kit, and DNA methylation was analyzed using Sequenom's MassARRAY platform, after the CPCs were cultured with SDF-1α. The results showed that SDF-1α stimulation inhibited the expression of DNMT1 and DNMT3β, which are critical for the maintenance of regional DNA methylation. Global DNMT activity was also inhibited by SDF-1α. Lastly, SDF-1α treatment led to significant demethylation in both c-kit(+ and c-kit(- CPCs. CONCLUSIONS: SDF-1α combined with CXCR4 could up-regulate c-kit expression of c-kit(+CPCs and make c-kit(-CPCs expressing c-kit, which result in the CPCs proliferation and migration ability improvement, through the inhibition of DNMT1 and DNMT3β expression and global DNMT

  18. Direct qPCR quantification using the Quantifiler(®) Trio DNA quantification kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jason Yingjie

    2014-11-01

    The effectiveness of a direct quantification assay is essential to the adoption of the combined direct quantification/direct STR workflow. In this paper, the feasibility of using the Quantifiler(®) Trio DNA quantification kit for the direct quantification of forensic casework samples was investigated. Both low-level touch DNA samples and blood samples were collected on PE swabs and quantified directly. The increased sensitivity of the Quantifiler(®) Trio kit enabled the detection of less than 10pg of DNA in unprocessed touch samples and also minimizes the stochastic effect experienced by different targets in the same sample. The DNA quantity information obtained from a direct quantification assay using the Quantifiler(®) Trio kit can also be used to accurately estimate the optimal input DNA quantity for a direct STR amplification reaction. The correlation between the direct quantification results (Quantifiler(®) Trio kit) and the direct STR results (GlobalFiler™ PCR amplification kit(*)) for low-level touch DNA samples indicates that direct quantification using the Quantifiler(®) Trio DNA quantification kit is more reliable than the Quantifiler(®) Duo DNA quantification kit for predicting the STR results of unprocessed touch DNA samples containing less than 10pg of DNA. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Comparison of commercial exosome isolation kits for circulating exosomal microRNA profiling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Meng; Wang, Cheng; Lu, Xiaolan; Zhang, Cuiping; Zhou, Zhen; Chen, Xi; Zhang, Chen-Yu; Zen, Ke; Zhang, Chunni

    2018-06-01

    Circulating exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) are valuable biomarker candidates; however, information on the characterization and mutual agreement of commercial kits for circulating exosomal miRNA profiling is scarce. Here, we analyzed the advantages and weaknesses of four commonly used commercial kits for exosomal miRNA profiling and their application to the sample of serum and/or plasma, respectively. NanoSight and Western blotting were conducted to evaluate the efficiency and purity of the isolated exosomes. In our conditions, the size distribution of the isolated particles was appropriate (40-150 nm), and ExoQuick™ Exosome Precipitation Solution (EXQ) generated a relatively high yield of exosomes. Nevertheless, albumin impurity was ubiquitous for all the four kits, and Total Exosome Isolation for serum or plasma (TEI) yielded a relatively pure isolation. We further performed Illumina sequencing combined with RT-qPCR to determine the ability of these kits for miRNA profiling. There was significant correlation of the exosomal miRNA profile and specific miRNAs between kits, but with differences depending on methods. exoRNeasy Serum/Plasma Midi Kit (EXR) and EXQ performed better in the specific exosomal miRNAs recovery. Intraassay CVs for specific miRNA measurement were 0.88-3.82, 1.19-3.77, 0-2.70, and 1.23-9.11% for EXR, TEI, EXQ, and RIBO™ Exosome Isolation Reagent (REI), respectively. In each kit, serum yielded a higher abundance of exosomes and exosomal miRNAs than plasma, yet with more albumin impurity. In conclusion, our data provide some valuable guidance for the methodology of disease biomarker identification of circulation exosomal miRNAs. Graphical abstract Circulating exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) are valuable biomarker candidates; however, information on the characterization and mutual agreement of commercial kits for circulating exosomal miRNA profiling is scarce. In this study, we compared four commonly used commercially available kits for exosomal mi

  20. Diagnosis and Follow Up of Prostate Carcinoma by an in House Prostate Specific Antigen ELISA Kit at Pramongkutklao Hospital

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dumrongpisutikut, S.; Raungdilokrut, S.

    1998-01-01

    PSA ELISA kit was developed and compared to a commercial PSA ELISA kit (Cobas Registered trade mark Core PSA EIA, Roche Switzerland) with a correlation of 98.9% (r 0.989, p < 0.05). The precision of the assay kit evaluated by intermal quality control studies shown that the coefficient of variation of high, medium and low control were 4.4, 3.6 and 4.7% respectively. The sentuvity of detection was 0.25 ng/ml. This PSA ELISA kit has been used for detection of PSA in serum of 571 patients ages between 25-93 years old with satisfactory results. The normal range of PSA is 0 - 3.46 ng/ml (X-bar = 2SD, n = 384). The mean value of PSA in Prostate carcinoma before treatment and after successful treatment are 77.30 ng/ml (n = 53) and 1.64 ng/ml (n = 25) and increase to 53.71 ng/ml (n = 8) in metastasis. In Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) the range of PSA is 0 - 27.52 ng/ml (n = 74). Phi (φ) coefficient analysis shown that the correlation of PSA and Prostate carcinoma is 63.8% with a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 86.9% respectively

  1. Screening of antibiotics residues and development a new kit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elkhaoui, Faycel

    2009-01-01

    The first part of the work was to detect antibiotic residues in animal nutriment: chicken, fish, eggs and milk, by methods of screening: First Test and Delvotest. The second part covered the development of a new kit for the detection of antibiotics residues for honey and competitor kit First Test and saving time and money.

  2. Northern Great Plains Network water quality monitoring design for tributaries to the Missouri National Recreational River

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowe, Barbara L.; Wilson, Stephen K.; Yager, Lisa; Wilson, Marcia H.

    2013-01-01

    The National Park Service (NPS) organized more than 270 parks with important natural resources into 32 ecoregional networks to conduct Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) activities for assessment of natural resources within park units. The Missouri National Recreational River (NRR) is among the 13 parks in the NPS Northern Great Plain Network (NGPN). Park managers and NGPN staff identified surface water resources as a high priority vital sign to monitor in park units. The objectives for the Missouri NRR water quality sampling design are to (1) assess the current status and long-term trends of select water quality parameters; and (2) document trends in streamflow at high-priority stream systems. Due to the large size of the Missouri River main stem, the NGPN water quality design for the Missouri NRR focuses on wadeable tributaries within the park unit. To correlate with the NGPN water quality protocols, monitoring of the Missouri NRR consists of measurement of field core parameters including dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, and temperature; and streamflow. The purpose of this document is to discuss factors examined for selection of water quality monitoring on segments of the Missouri River tributaries within the Missouri NRR.Awareness of the complex history of the Missouri NRR aids in the current understanding and direction for designing a monitoring plan. Historical and current monitoring data from agencies and entities were examined to assess potential NGPN monitoring sites. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 303(d) list was examined for the impaired segments on tributaries to the Missouri River main stem. Because major tributaries integrate water quality effects from complex combinations of land use and environmental settings within contributing areas, a 20-mile buffer of the Missouri NRR was used to establish environmental settings that may impact the water quality of tributaries that feed the Missouri River main stem. For selection of

  3. Air quality monitoring in the Canadian oil sands. Tests of new technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Platt, Ulrich; Seitz, Katja; Buxmann, Joelle [Heidelberg Univ. (Germany). Inst. of Environmental Physics; Thimm, Harald F. [Thimm Petroleum Technologies Inc., Calgary (Canada)

    2012-12-15

    Modern bitumen recovery processes, such as Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), minimize the environmental footprint of oil recovery in terms of land disturbance and water demands. However, as a corollary, air monitoring becomes more difficult. In particular air quality monitoring for sulphur and nitrogen oxides, as currently practiced, suffers from significant limitations in remote regions, such as the Canadian Oil Sands Areas. Current techniques require the placement of monitoring trailers in accessible locations, but the electrical power or even access for optimal location for trailers is not always given. In addition, the trailers are capable of monitoring air quality only at the location of their deployment. There would be an advantage in deploying monitoring techniques that require minimal power (e.g. car battery, solar cell) and are capable of measuring air quality at a distance from the place of deployment. In the autumn of 2008, a trial of DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) was undertaken in Northern Alberta and Northern Saskatchewan, at four SAGD plants in various stages of development. Results of this study, and a discussion of the technology, will be given. Advantages and limitations of DOAS for deployment in Athabasca will be discussed. In general it was found that SO{sub 2} results showed remarkably low degrees of contamination, while NO{sub 2} concentrations were more noticeable. (orig.)

  4. Performance and diagnostic usefulness of commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and rapid kits for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV in India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maity Susmita

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background HIV, HBV and HCV pose a major public health problem throughout the world. Detection of infection markers for these agents is a major challenge for testing laboratories in a resource poor setting. As blood transfusion is an important activity saving millions of live every year, it also carries a risk of transfusion transmissible infections caused by these fatal blood borne pathogens if the quality of testing is compromised. Conventional ELISA is regarded as the mostly used screening technique but due to limitations like high cost, unavailability in many blood banks and testing sites, involvement of costly instruments, time taking nature and requirement of highly skilled personnel for interpretation, rapid tests are gaining more importance and warrants comparison of performance. Results A comparative study between these two techniques has been performed using commercially available diagnostic kits to assess their efficacy for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV infections. Rapid kits were more efficient in specificity with synthetic antigens along with high PPV than ELISA in most cases. Comparison between different ELISA kits revealed that Microlisa HIV and Hepalisa (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.; ERBA LISA HIV1 + 2, ERBA LISA Hepatitis B and ERBA LISA HCV (Transasia Bio-medicals Ltd. gives uniform result with good performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and efficiency, whereas, Microlisa HCV (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd., Microscreen HBsAg ELISA and INNOVA HCV (Span Diagnostics Ltd. did not perform well. Rapid kits were also having high degree of sensitivity and specificity (100% except in HIV Comb and HCV Comb (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.. The kit efficiency didn’t vary significantly among different companies and lots in all the cases except for HCV ELISA showing statistically significant variation (p  Conclusions ELISA is a good screening assay for markers of HIV, HBV and HCV infections. Rapid tests are useful for

  5. Development of an up-to-date NBC self-aid kit for emergency cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller, Michael; Schmiechen, Katharina

    2009-01-01

    In accordance with alterations of the political and economical settings of Central Europe in the last decades, the characteristics of NBC hazards have changed. Since war appears unlikely, possible new scenarios involve pandemics, chemical transport accidents or distribution of CB warfare agents and radioactive materials by terroristic acts. Meeting this situation requires new protection and self aid equipment for the German civilian disaster relief forces. The German government has reacted to these risks by designing personal protection equipment for the civilian voluntary and professional disaster relief forces. The new NBC self aid kit will be part of this effort. The scientific approach of the project consisted of an updated risk analysis, a questionnaire for the professionals and volunteers involved in disaster management, a thorough evaluation of commercially available kits and single components, final design of the new kit including user instructions, and validation of a prototype kit in a disaster relief exercise. Results of the questionnaire stressed the need for a NBC self aid kit fulfilling the demands of easy handling, use of commercially available components, stability of materials, consumption adapted supply and portable size and weight of the complete kit. The evaluation of international NBC equipment could not identify any current NBC self aid kit which satisfies all needs of the German civilian disaster relief forces. The authors therefore compiled a new kit consisting of commercially available components. The newly developed kit was evaluated in a disaster relief exercise.

  6. Determination of stannous tin in radiopharmaceutical cold kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farrant, A.J.

    1979-01-01

    Two methods for determining stannous tin in 'cold kits', used for the preparation of Tc-99m labelled radiopharmaceuticals, have been developed. Both are based on the direct titration of the Sn2 in solution. In the first method titration is with N-bromosuccinimide. Of the materials commonly used as cold kits only albumin has been found to interfere with the determination. The second method is a standard iodometric titration in which starch is used as indicator. None of the materials tested interfere with this procedure. The N-bromosuccinimide method is the method of choice as the re-agent, a solid, can be used without prior standardization. Iodine solution must be standardized daily. The paper describes in detail the methods used and gives examples of kits in which the Sn2 levels have been determined using the described procedures

  7. Nuclear track detector kit for use in teaching

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Medveczky, L.; Somogyi, G.; Nagy, M.

    1986-01-01

    By the use of solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) one may carry out several useful and impressive educational experiments and demonstrations to illustrate different phenomena when teaching of nuclear physics. Realizing this situation the authors have published, since 1970, reports on several experiments for teaching demonstrations. Based on the authors instructions, a factory in Hungary (TANFRT, National Manufacturers and Suppliers of School Equipment, Budapest) constructed a kit for the use of nuclear track detectors in teaching. The portable kit contains the following items: alpha-emitting weak sources, solid state nuclear track detectors (unirradiated, irradiated, unetched and etched sheets), simple tools for carrying out experiments (facilities for irradiation and etching, etc.), slides showing photos of typical etch-tracks of light and heavy nuclei, user manual. By the help of the kit both pupils and teachers can perform various useful experiments and/or demonstrations.

  8. Pharmacists' views on and experiences with bowel cancer screening kits in Auckland, New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Nataly; Basdew, Kamlika; Kammona, Ala; Shen, Amy; Taylor, Caragh; McIntosh, Timothy R; Barnes, Joanne

    2014-08-01

    To explore the views of New Zealand pharmacists on bowel cancer screening, particularly with regards to faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) kits, self-perceived knowledge on FOBT kits and barriers, motivators and experiences with selling and counselling consumers with respect to FOBT kits. Semi-structured interviews were conducted face to face or by telephone with 20 community pharmacists in the Auckland region. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and data were coded and analysed using NVivo software to identify key themes. Participant pharmacists believed that they were well placed to provide advice on FOBT kits to consumers. Barriers to selling the kits included cost and perceived lack of test sensitivity of the kits, poor consumer demand, pharmacists' lack of training and information, and a belief that selling FOBT kits was outside the pharmacists' scope of practice. Motivators to selling the kits included customer convenience, ease of use, confidence in the kits and embracing new roles for pharmacists. Pharmacists were concerned that use of the kits may increase the burden on the public health system through customer anxiety over test results; however, they agreed that there was a need for bowel cancer screening and awareness and that people concerned about bowel cancer should make visiting their general practitioner a priority. Pharmacists' views were mixed. Pharmacists' training and competence with respect to the provision of bowel cancer kits, and how a bowel cancer screening service can be developed to optimise public health outcomes, need to be addressed. © 2013 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

  9. Processing and Quality Monitoring for the ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burghgrave, Blake; ATLAS Collaboration

    2017-10-01

    An overview is presented of Data Processing and Data Quality (DQ) Monitoring for the ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter. Calibration runs are monitored from a data quality perspective and used as a cross-check for physics runs. Data quality in physics runs is monitored extensively and continuously. Any problems are reported and immediately investigated. The DQ efficiency achieved was 99.6% in 2012 and 100% in 2015, after the detector maintenance in 2013-2014. Changes to detector status or calibrations are entered into the conditions database (DB) during a brief calibration loop between the end of a run and the beginning of bulk processing of data collected in it. Bulk processed data are reviewed and certified for the ATLAS Good Run List if no problem is detected. Experts maintain the tools used by DQ shifters and the calibration teams during normal operation, and prepare new conditions for data reprocessing and Monte Carlo (MC) production campaigns. Conditions data are stored in 3 databases: Online DB, Offline DB for data and a special DB for Monte Carlo. Database updates can be performed through a custom-made web interface.

  10. Comparison and Cost Analysis of Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Requirements versus Practice in Seven Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Crocker, Jonny; Bartram, Jamie

    2014-01-01

    Drinking water quality monitoring programs aim to support provision of safe drinking water by informing water quality management. Little evidence or guidance exists on best monitoring practices for low resource settings. Lack of financial, human, and technological resources reduce a country’s ability to monitor water supply. Monitoring activities were characterized in Cambodia, Colombia, India (three states), Jordan, Peru, South Africa, and Uganda according to water sector responsibilities, ...

  11. Technetium-99m ceftizoxime kit preparation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Diniz, Simone Odilia Fernandes; Siqueira, Cristiano Ferrari; Nelson, David Lee; Cardoso, Valbert Nascimento [Minas Gerais Univ. Federal, Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Faculdade de Farmacia]. E-mail: simone@farmacia.ufmg.br; Martin-Comin, Josep [Bellvitge Univ., Barcelona (Spain)

    2005-10-15

    The aim of this work was to prepare a kit of {sup 99}m Tc-ceftizoxime ({sup 99m} Tc-CFT), with stability and biological activity preserved, able to identify a septic focus (E. coli) in the experimental infection model in rats. The preparation of the CFT kit involved the use of lyophilized solutions containing the antibiotic ceftizoxime and the sodium dithionite reducing agent (6.0 mg/m L). After lyophilization, the kit was reconstituted with 1.0 mL of sodium {sup 99m} Tc pertechnetate solution (Na {sup 99m} Tc O{sub 4-}) with an activity of 370 MBq. The solution was boiled for 10 min and filtered through a cellulose ester filter. The labeling efficiency was on the order of 92%, remaining stable for six hours and the kit remained stable for two months. The biological activity of the {sup 99m} Tc-CFT was evaluated by diffusion in agar impregnated with E.coli and S. aureus. Seven Wistar rats, weighing from 200 to 250 g, were used for the development of the septic focus. After 24 hours from the induction of the infectious site (E.coli), the animals were anesthetized and 0.1 mL of {sup 99m} Tc-CFT (37 MBq) was injected into the tail veins of the animals. The images were obtained with a gamma camera one, two and six hours after injection and the regions of interest (ROIs) were calculated. The diameters of the inhibition halos for {sup 99}m Tc-CFT were 27.16 {+-} 0.23 and 27.17 {+-} 0.20 for S.aureus and E.coli, respectively, while those for the unlabeled CFT were 30.4 {+-} 0.33 and 29.43 {+-} 0.26, respectively. The results for the biodistribution of {sup 99m} Tc-CFT in infected animals furnished a ratio of 1.97 {+-} 0.31, 2.10 {+-} 0.42 and 2.01 {+-} 0.42 for cpm-target/cpm-no target for the one, two and six-hour periods, respectively. The images showed a clear uptake of labeled antibiotic ({sup 99m} Tc-CFT) by the infectious site during the experiment. The results attest to the viability of producing a kit with {sup 99m} technetium-labeled ceftizoxime for the

  12. The SPS Beam quality monitor, from design to operation

    CERN Document Server

    Papotti, G; Follin, F; Shaposhnikova, E

    2011-01-01

    The SPS Beam Quality Monitor is a system that monitors longitudinal beam parameters on a cycle-by-cycle basis and prevents extraction to the LHC in case the specifications are not met. This avoids losses, unnecessary stress of machine protection components and luminosity degradation, additionally helping efficiency during the filling process. The system has been operational since the 2009 LHC run, checking the beam pattern, its correct position with respect to the LHC references, individual bunch lengths and stability. In this paper the algorithms used, the hardware implementation and the operational aspects are presented.

  13. Uji Stabilitas Kit Cair Tetrofosmin pada Berbagai Kondisi Penyimpanan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunilda Yunilda

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Tetrofosmin radiopharmaceutical compound that is being developed by PTRR BATAN for use as myocardial perfusion imaging agent and cancer diagnostic agent in nuclear medicine. The aim of this study is observe the stability of this liquid kits after stored in various condition to determine its expire date various condition. The stability test was done of 1 hour, 3 hours, 5 hours and 7 hours after labeling. The radiochemical was determined its radiochemical purity has to be ≥ 90 %. Analysis of radiochemical purity was carried out by separation method which using Sep-Pak C18 cartride. Storage condition of tetrofosmin kit was carried out at various temperatures as in the deep freezer (-800C, freezer (-180C, refrigerator (2-60C and cool box (2-60C. The result showed that the liquid tetrofosmin kits stored in deep freezer, freezer, refrigerator were stable up to 23 months, 8 weeks and 4 days respectively. Simulation of stability  test after stored in a cool box was done by observing the temperature of cool box, and the result showed that the temperature in the cool box was constant as in refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Tetrofosmin which has been labeled with technetium-99m can with stand up 7 hours. It is concluded that expiry date of liquid tetrofosmin kit related with storage temperature, the lower the temperature the longer the expiry date of the kits.

  14. Longitudinal Beam measurements at the LHC: The LHC Beam Quality Monitor

    CERN Document Server

    Papotti, G; Follin, F; Wehrle, U

    2011-01-01

    The LHC Beam Quality Monitor is a system that measures individual bunch lengths and positions, similarly to the twin system SPS Beam Quality Monitor, from which it was derived. The pattern verification that the system provides is vital during the injection process to verify the correctness of the injected pattern, while the bunch length measurement is fed back to control the longitudinal emittance blow up performed during the energy ramp and provides a general indication of the health of the RF system. The algorithms used, the hardware implementation and the system integration in the LHC control infrastructure are presented in this paper, along with possible improvements.

  15. Disposable collection kit for rapid and reliable collection of saliva.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamaguchi, Masaki; Tezuka, Yuki; Takeda, Kazunori; Shetty, Vivek

    2015-01-01

    To describe and evaluate disposable saliva collection kit for rapid, reliable, and reproducible collection of saliva samples. The saliva collection kit comprised of a saliva absorbent swab and an extractor unit was used to retrieve whole saliva samples from 10 subjects. The accuracy and precision of the extracted volumes (3, 10, and 30 μl) were compared to similar volumes drawn from control samples obtained by passive drool. Additionally, the impact of kit collection method on subsequent immunoassay results was verified by assessing salivary cortisol levels in the samples and comparing them to controls. The recovered volumes for the whole saliva samples were 3.85 ± 0.28, 10.79 ± 0.95, and 31.18 ± 1.72 μl, respectively (CV = 8.76%) and 2.91 ± 0.19, 9.75 ± 0.43, and 29.64 ± 0.91 μl, respectively, (CV = 6.36%) for the controls. There was a close correspondence between the salivary cortisol levels from the saliva samples obtained by the collection kit and the controls (R(2)  > 0.96). The disposable saliva collection kit allows accurate and repeatable collection of fixed amounts of whole saliva and does not interfere with subsequent measurements of salivary cortisol. The simple collection process, lack of elaborate specimen recovery steps, and the short turnaround time (<3 min) should render the kit attractive to test subjects and researchers alike. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Monitoring and Assessment of Youshui River Water Quality in Youyang

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xue-qin; Wen, Juan; Chen, Ping-hua; Liu, Na-na

    2018-02-01

    By monitoring the water quality of Youshui River from January 2016 to December 2016, according to the indicator grading and the assessment standard of water quality, the formulas for 3 types water quality indexes are established. These 3 types water quality indexes, the single indicator index Ai, single moment index Ak and the comprehensive water quality index A, were used to quantitatively evaluate the quality of single indicator, the water quality and the change of water quality with time. The results show that, both total phosphorus and fecal coliform indicators exceeded the standard, while the other 16 indicators measured up to the standard. The water quality index of Youshui River is 0.93 and the grade of water quality comprehensive assessment is level 2, which indicated that the water quality of Youshui River is good, and there is room for further improvement. To this end, several protection measures for Youshui River environmental management and pollution treatment are proposed.

  17. Quality assurance for external personnel monitoring in nuclear industrial facilities, CNNC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Yansheng; Dai Jun; Li Taosheng

    1993-01-01

    More than 6000 personnel are currently being monitored for occupational exposure in CNNC, China. Personnel monitoring is one of the important items of radiation protection. The data of individual dose are not only indispensable for radiation safety assessment but also the basis for radiation protection measures to be taken. Possibly, it could provide basic information for epidemiological studies, optimization procedure of radiation protection (risk/benefit analyses) and medical or legal purposes. Obviously, personnel monitoring and its quality assurance are very significant

  18. 125I-labeled radioimmunoassay kits for progesterone evaluated for use in an in vitro fertilization program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blight, L.F.; White, G.H.

    1983-01-01

    We have evaluated two commercially available 125 I radioimmunoassay kits (Diagnostic Products Corp., DPC; and Radioassay Systems Laboratories, RSL) for measurement of serum or plasma progesterone, to determine their suitability for use in in vitro fertilization programs. Both kits were suitably rapid for program requirements. Results by both were linear with concentration up to 60 nmol/L, and both had acceptable lower detection limits of 0.3 nmol/L. Kit-determined progesterone concentrations (y) for 100 patients' samples correlated well with results by our existing 3H radioimmunoassay method (y . 1.11x + 0.2, r . 0.965 for the DPC kit; y . 1.01x + 1.4, r . 0.974 for the RSL kit). Mean analytical recovery for the RSL kit was 116%, that for the DPC kit, 202%. Within-batch precision, expressed as the mean CV for three concentrations of progesterone, was 6.5% for the RSL kit, and 16.4% for the DPC kit; between-day CV was 8.1% for the RSL kit, 17.7% for the DPC kit. We conclude that the RSL kit provides a rapid, precise, and accurate assay for serum progesterone, suitable for use in a fertilization program, but do not recommend the DPC kit for either this purpose or the more general purpose of tracking menstrual cycles

  19. Comparison and cost analysis of drinking water quality monitoring requirements versus practice in seven developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crocker, Jonny; Bartram, Jamie

    2014-07-18

    Drinking water quality monitoring programs aim to support provision of safe drinking water by informing water quality management. Little evidence or guidance exists on best monitoring practices for low resource settings. Lack of financial, human, and technological resources reduce a country's ability to monitor water supply. Monitoring activities were characterized in Cambodia, Colombia, India (three states), Jordan, Peru, South Africa, and Uganda according to water sector responsibilities, monitoring approaches, and marginal cost. The seven study countries were selected to represent a range of low resource settings. The focus was on monitoring of microbiological parameters, such as E. coli, coliforms, and H2S-producing microorganisms. Data collection involved qualitative and quantitative methods. Across seven study countries, few distinct approaches to monitoring were observed, and in all but one country all monitoring relied on fixed laboratories for sample analysis. Compliance with monitoring requirements was highest for operational monitoring of large water supplies in urban areas. Sample transport and labor for sample collection and analysis together constitute approximately 75% of marginal costs, which exclude capital costs. There is potential for substantive optimization of monitoring programs by considering field-based testing and by fundamentally reconsidering monitoring approaches for non-piped supplies. This is the first study to look quantitatively at water quality monitoring practices in multiple developing countries.

  20. A New Method to Stabilize c-kit Expression in Reparative Cardiac Mesenchymal Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcin Wysoczynski

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Cell therapy improves cardiac function. Few cells have been investigated more extensively or consistently shown to be more effective than c-kit sorted cells; however, c-kit expression is easily lost during passage. Here, our primary goal was to develop an improved method to isolate c-kitpos cells and maintain c-kit expression after passaging. Cardiac mesenchymal cells (CMCs from wild-type mice were selected by polystyrene adherence properties. CMCs adhering within the first hours are referred to as rapidly adherent (RA; CMCs adhering subsequently are dubbed slowly adherent (SA. Both RA and SA CMCs were c-kit sorted. SA CMCs maintained significantly higher c-kit expression than RA cells; SA CMCs also had higher expression endothelial markers. We subsequently tested the relative efficacy of SA versus RA CMCs in the setting of post-infarct adoptive transfer. Two days after coronary occlusion, vehicle, RA CMCs, or SA CMCs were delivered percutaneously with echocardiographic guidance. SA CMCs, but not RA CMCs, significantly improved cardiac function compared to vehicle treatment. Although the mechanism remains to be elucidated, the more pronounced endothelial phenotype of the SA CMCs coupled with the finding of increased vascular density suggest a potential pro-vasculogenic action. This new method of isolating CMCs better preserves c-kit expression during passage. SA CMCs, but not RA CMCs, were effective in reducing cardiac dysfunction. Although c-kit expression was maintained, it is unclear whether maintenance of c-kit expression per se was responsible for improved function, or whether the differential adherence property itself confers a reparative phenotype independently of c-kit.

  1. Temporal variability in groundwater and surface water quality in humid agricultural catchments; Driving processes and consequences for regional water quality monitoring

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rozemeijer, Joachim; Van Der Velde, Ype

    2014-01-01

    Considering the large temporal variability in surface water quality is essential for adequate water quality policy and management. Neglecting these dynamics may easily lead to decreased effectiveness of measures to improve water quality and to inefficient water quality monitoring. The objective of

  2. Temporal variability in groundwater and surface water quality in humid agricultural catchments; driving processes and consequences for regional water quality monitoring

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rozemeijer, J.; Velde, van der Y.

    2014-01-01

    Considering the large temporal variability in surface water quality is essential for adequate water quality policy and management. Neglecting these dynamics may easily lead to decreased effectiveness of measures to improve water quality and to inefficient water quality monitoring. The objective of

  3. Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project: Water Quality and Aquatic Wildlife Monitoring, 2006-7

    OpenAIRE

    Perry, William; Watson, Fred; Casagrande, Joel; Hanley, Charles

    2007-01-01

    This is a report to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. It describes water quality and aquatic invertebrate monitoring after the construction of the Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project. Included are data that have been collected for two years and preliminary assessment of the enhanced ecosystem. This report marks the completion of 3-years of monitoring water quality and aquatic habitat. The report adopts the same format and certain background text from previous ...

  4. StochKit2: software for discrete stochastic simulation of biochemical systems with events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanft, Kevin R; Wu, Sheng; Roh, Min; Fu, Jin; Lim, Rone Kwei; Petzold, Linda R

    2011-09-01

    StochKit2 is the first major upgrade of the popular StochKit stochastic simulation software package. StochKit2 provides highly efficient implementations of several variants of Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA), and tau-leaping with automatic step size selection. StochKit2 features include automatic selection of the optimal SSA method based on model properties, event handling, and automatic parallelism on multicore architectures. The underlying structure of the code has been completely updated to provide a flexible framework for extending its functionality. StochKit2 runs on Linux/Unix, Mac OS X and Windows. It is freely available under GPL version 3 and can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/stochkit/. petzold@engineering.ucsb.edu.

  5. GossipKit: A Framework of Gossip Protocol Family

    OpenAIRE

    Lin, Shen; Taiani, Francois; Blair, Gordon S.

    2007-01-01

    A large number of gossip protocols have been developed in the last few years to address a wide range of functionalities. So far, however, very few software frameworks have been proposed to ease the development and deployment of these gossip protocols. To address this issue, this paper presents GossipKit, an event-driven framework that provides a generic and extensible architecture for the development of (re)configurable gossip-oriented middleware. GossipKit is based on a generic interaction m...

  6. CMS data quality monitoring web service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tuura, L; Eulisse, G [Northeastern University, Boston, MA (United States); Meyer, A, E-mail: lat@cern.c, E-mail: giulio.eulisse@cern.c, E-mail: andreas.meyer@cern.c [DESY, Hamburg (Germany)

    2010-04-01

    A central component of the data quality monitoring system of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is a web site for browsing data quality histograms. The production servers in data taking provide access to several hundred thousand histograms per run, both live in online as well as for up to several terabytes of archived histograms for the online data taking, Tier-0 prompt reconstruction, prompt calibration and analysis activities, for re-reconstruction at Tier-1s and for release validation. At the present usage level the servers currently handle in total around a million authenticated HTTP requests per day. We describe the main features and components of the system, our implementation for web-based interactive rendering, and the server design. We give an overview of the deployment and maintenance procedures. We discuss the main technical challenges and our solutions to them, with emphasis on functionality, long-term robustness and performance.

  7. CMS data quality monitoring web service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tuura, L; Eulisse, G; Meyer, A

    2010-01-01

    A central component of the data quality monitoring system of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is a web site for browsing data quality histograms. The production servers in data taking provide access to several hundred thousand histograms per run, both live in online as well as for up to several terabytes of archived histograms for the online data taking, Tier-0 prompt reconstruction, prompt calibration and analysis activities, for re-reconstruction at Tier-1s and for release validation. At the present usage level the servers currently handle in total around a million authenticated HTTP requests per day. We describe the main features and components of the system, our implementation for web-based interactive rendering, and the server design. We give an overview of the deployment and maintenance procedures. We discuss the main technical challenges and our solutions to them, with emphasis on functionality, long-term robustness and performance.

  8. Telescope Kits: A Teaching Vehicle for the International Year of Astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pompea, Stephen M.; Fienberg, R. T.; Isbell, D.; Deustua, S.

    2007-12-01

    We are examining a variety of telescope kits suitable for assembly by school-age children in order to design a cornerstone educational program for the International Year of Astronomy 2009-400 years after Galileo's observations. In our experience, telescope kits are superior to pre-assembled telescopes for use in an educational setting as the students feels a stronger sense of ownership and have a better understanding of the components and how they work. We examined several low to medium power refracting telescope kits including one kit used in the Hands-On Optics project at NOAO. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of each kit from an educational and optical perspective and what modifications may be made to enhance their educational utility. We also describe the optical and education requirements for a low-powered "Galileoscope", to be distributed widely during the IYA. We also describe how the "Galileoscope” will be embedded in an educational program disseminated through science centers, amateur astronomy clubs and other Hands-On Optics centers and partners.

  9. Nuclear track detector kit for use in teaching

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Medveczky, L.; Somogyi, G.

    1986-01-01

    By the use of solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) one may carry out several useful and impressive educational experiments and demonstrations to illustrate different phenomena when teaching of nuclear physics. Realizing this situation the authors have published, since 1970, reports on several experiments for teaching demonstrations. Based on the authors instructions, a factory in Hungary (TANFRT, National Manufacturers and Suppliers of School Equipment, Budapest) constructed a kit for the use of nuclear track detectors in teaching. The portable kit contains the following items: alpha-emitting weak sources, solid state nuclear track detectors (unirradiated, irradiated, unetched and etched sheets), simple tools for carrying out experiments (facilities for irradiation and etching, etc.), slides showing photos of typical etch-tracks of light and heavy nuclei, user manual. By the help of the kit both pupils and teachers can perform various useful experiments and/or demonstrations. (author)

  10. sampling plans for monitoring quality control process at a plastic

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Dr Obe

    AT A PLASTIC MANUFACTURING FIRM IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY. By. E.A. Onyeagoro ... manufacture similar products, so that each company ... monitoring of production to maintain process ... concept of designing quality into product, with.

  11. Quasi Real Time Data Analysis for Air Quality Monitoring with an Electronic Nose

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hanying; Shevade, Abhijit V.; Pelletier, Christine C.; Homer, Margie L.; Ryan, M. Amy

    2006-01-01

    Cabin Air Quality Monitoring: A) Functions; 1) Incident monitor for targeted contaminants exceeding targeted concentrations. Identify and quantify. 2) Monitor for presence of compounds associated with fires or overheating electronics. 3) Monitor clean-up process. B) Characteristics; 1) Low mass, low power device. 2) Requires little crew time for maintenance and calibration. 3) Detects, identifies and quantifies selected chemical species at or below 24 hour SMAC.

  12. Tool Kit Helps Digitize Tide Gauge Records

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ullmann, Albin; Pons, Frédéric; Moron, Vincent

    2005-09-01

    The Numérisation des Niveaux d'Eau (NUNIEAU) is an integrated and automated MATLAB computer program tool kit for digitizing, transforming, and validating paper records of sea level variations, called marigrams (Figure 1a), that can cut in half the time required to digitize paper records. This tool kit developed in 2004 by F. Pons is currently obtainable by request from the developer, but will be available online on the IMPLIT (Impact des événements extremes sur les hydro-systèmes du litoral méditerranéen français) Web site in early 2006.

  13. Air Quality Monitoring and Information System for Egypt

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sivertsen, B.

    1996-06-01

    The publication relates to the main objectives and design of a modern monitoring and information system developed in Norway. The system is to be installed in Egypt. Themes being discussed cover technical features of the system, meteorological data, environmental indicators, data transfer and quality assurance, the data bases, data presentation - graphics and GIS, and environmental information to the public. 11 figs., 1 tab.

  14. Satisfaction monitoring for quality control in campground management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilbur F. LaPage; Malcolm I. Bevins

    1981-01-01

    A 4-year study of camper satisfaction indicates that satisfaction monitoring is a useful tool for campground managers to assess their performance and achieve a high level of quality control in their service to the public. An indication of camper satisfaction with campground management is gained from a report card on which a small sample of visitors rates 14 elements of...

  15. Performance of immunoassay kits for site characterization and remediation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waters, L.C.; Palausky, A.; Counts, R.W.; Jenkins, R.A.

    1995-01-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) is supporting efforts to identify, validate and implement the use of effective, low-cost alternatives to currently used analytical methods for environmental management. As part of that program, we have evaluated the performances of a number of immunoassay (IA) kits with specificities for environmental contaminants of concern to the DOE. The studies were done in the laboratory using both spiked and field test samples. The analyte specificity and manufacturers of the kits evaluated were the following: mercury, BioNebraska; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), EnSys and Millipore; petroleum fuel hydrocarbons, Millipore and Ohmicron; and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Ohmicron and Millipore. The kits were used in either a semiquantitative or quantitative format according to the preference of the manufacturers

  16. A WEB-BASED SOLUTION TO VISUALIZE OPERATIONAL MONITORING LINUX CLUSTER FOR THE PROTODUNE DATA QUALITY MONITORING CLUSTER

    CERN Document Server

    Mosesane, Badisa

    2017-01-01

    The Neutrino computing cluster made of 300 Dell PowerEdge 1950 U1 nodes serves an integral role to the CERN Neutrino Platform (CENF). It represents an effort to foster fundamental research in the field of Neutrino physics as it provides data processing facility. We cannot begin to over emphasize the need for data quality monitoring coupled with automating system configurations and remote monitoring of the cluster. To achieve these, a software stack has been chosen to implement automatic propagation of configurations across all the nodes in the cluster. The bulk of these discusses and delves more into the automated configuration management system on this cluster to enable the fast online data processing and Data Quality (DQM) process for the Neutrino Platform cluster (npcmp.cern.ch).

  17. The Satellite based Monitoring Initiative for Regional Air quality (SAMIRA): Project summary and first results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Philipp; Stebel, Kerstin; Ajtai, Nicolae; Diamandi, Andrei; Horalek, Jan; Nemuc, Anca; Stachlewska, Iwona; Zehner, Claus

    2017-04-01

    We present a summary and some first results of a new ESA-funded project entitled Satellite based Monitoring Initiative for Regional Air quality (SAMIRA), which aims at improving regional and local air quality monitoring through synergetic use of data from present and upcoming satellite instruments, traditionally used in situ air quality monitoring networks and output from chemical transport models. Through collaborative efforts in four countries, namely Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Norway, all with existing air quality problems, SAMIRA intends to support the involved institutions and associated users in their national monitoring and reporting mandates as well as to generate novel research in this area. The primary goal of SAMIRA is to demonstrate the usefulness of existing and future satellite products of air quality for improving monitoring and mapping of air pollution at the regional scale. A total of six core activities are being carried out in order to achieve this goal: Firstly, the project is developing and optimizing algorithms for the retrieval of hourly aerosol optical depth (AOD) maps from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) onboard of Meteosat Second Generation. As a second activity, SAMIRA aims to derive particulate matter (PM2.5) estimates from AOD data by developing robust algorithms for AOD-to-PM conversion with the support from model- and Lidar data. In a third activity, we evaluate the added value of satellite products of atmospheric composition for operational European-scale air quality mapping using geostatistics and auxiliary datasets. The additional benefit of satellite-based monitoring over existing monitoring techniques (in situ, models) is tested by combining these datasets using geostatistical methods and demonstrated for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and aerosol optical depth/particulate matter. As a fourth activity, the project is developing novel algorithms for downscaling coarse

  18. Characterization of appendage weld quality by on line monitoring of electrical parameters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Setty, D.S.; Somani, A.K.; Ram, A.M.; Rao, A.R.; Jayaraj, R.N.; Kalidas, R. [Nuclear Fuel Complex, Dept. of Atomic Energy, Hyderabad (India)

    2005-07-01

    Resistance projection welding of zirconium alloy appendages is one of the most critical processes in the PHWR fuel fabrication. Appendages like Spacers and Bearing pads having multi projections are joined to the fuel sheath using capacitor discharge power source. Variations in the projection sizes, weld parameters and cleanliness of the work pieces have significant effect on the weld quality, in addition to material properties like hardness, tensile strength and surface finish. Defects like metal expulsion and weak welds are occasionally observed in appendage welding process, which need to be identified and segregated. Though numerous off-line inspection methods are available for the weld quality evaluation, on-line monitoring of weld quality is essential for identifying defective welds. For this purpose, various monitoring techniques like acoustic emission, analyzing derived electrical parameters and weld upset/deformation measurements are employed. The derived electrical parameters like A{sup 2}-Sec and Ohm-Sec can also be monitored. The present paper highlights development of suitable acceptance criteria for the monitoring technique by employing derived electrical parameters covering a wide range of weld variables like watt-sec and squeeze force. Excellent correlation could be achieved in identifying the weak welds and weld expulsion defects in mass production. (author)

  19. Landsat change detection can aid in water quality monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macdonald, H. C.; Steele, K. F.; Waite, W. P.; Shinn, M. R.

    1977-01-01

    Comparison between Landsat-1 and -2 imagery of Arkansas provided evidence of significant land use changes during the 1972-75 time period. Analysis of Arkansas historical water quality information has shown conclusively that whereas point source pollution generally can be detected by use of water quality data collected by state and federal agencies, sampling methodologies for nonpoint source contamination attributable to surface runoff are totally inadequate. The expensive undertaking of monitoring all nonpoint sources for numerous watersheds can be lessened by implementing Landsat change detection analyses.

  20. Energy Education Incentives: Evaluating the Impact of Consumer Energy Kits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirby, Sarah D.; Guin, Autumn; Langham, Laura

    2015-01-01

    Measuring the energy and environmental impact of residential energy education efforts is difficult. The E-Conservation residential energy management program uses consumer energy kits to document the impact of energy-efficient improvements. The consumer energy kit provides an incentive for individuals attending energy education workshop, helps…

  1. Documentation for MeshKit - Reactor Geometry (&mesh) Generator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jain, Rajeev [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Mahadevan, Vijay [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

    2015-09-30

    This report gives documentation for using MeshKit’s Reactor Geometry (and mesh) Generator (RGG) GUI and also briefly documents other algorithms and tools available in MeshKit. RGG is a program designed to aid in modeling and meshing of complex/large hexagonal and rectilinear reactor cores. RGG uses Argonne’s SIGMA interfaces, Qt and VTK to produce an intuitive user interface. By integrating a 3D view of the reactor with the meshing tools and combining them into one user interface, RGG streamlines the task of preparing a simulation mesh and enables real-time feedback that reduces accidental scripting mistakes that could waste hours of meshing. RGG interfaces with MeshKit tools to consolidate the meshing process, meaning that going from model to mesh is as easy as a button click. This report is designed to explain RGG v 2.0 interface and provide users with the knowledge and skills to pilot RGG successfully. Brief documentation of MeshKit source code, tools and other algorithms available are also presented for developers to extend and add new algorithms to MeshKit. RGG tools work in serial and parallel and have been used to model complex reactor core models consisting of conical pins, load pads, several thousands of axially varying material properties of instrumentation pins and other interstices meshes.

  2. Presentation for the first research co-ordination meeting on development of kits for radioimmunometric assays for tumour markers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Yibing

    1997-01-01

    Radioimmunoassay and Labeled Compound Lab. is the earliest and biggest center which supply RIA reagents in China. It started the research on RIA reagents in the middle of 1970's. Now it can produce more than 80 kinds of RIA kits including thyroid function and newborn screening, tumor markers, kidney function, diabetes-related, fertility and pregnancy monitoring and diagnosis of hepatitis B and C. There are over 1000 hospitals and research organizations using the reagents. Cancer is a disease which endanger human life. There are about 1.6 million new cancer patient and 800 thousand persons died of cancer every year in our country. The laboratory has been paying attention to development of tumor markers RIA reagents since we started the research on RIA reagents. The first kit produced was Rocket Electrophoresis Radioautograph of AFP. In 1980's it developed AFP, CEA, HCG and Ferritin RIA kits. Now RIA reagents for tumor markers have become important part of our products . Besides the products above mentioned it also can produce calcitonin RIA, thyroidglobulin RIA and CA125 IRMA. In early 1990's it established a monoclonal antibody Lab. and this Lab. have been working for the preparation of the monoclonal antibody to tumor markers

  3. Performances of Four Helicobacter pylori Serological Detection Kits Using Stool Antigen Test as Gold Standard.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biranjia-Hurdoyal, Susheela D; Seetulsingh-Goorah, Sharmila P

    2016-01-01

    The aim was to determine the performances of four Helicobacter pylori serological detection kits in different target groups, using Amplified IDEIA™ Hp StAR™ as gold standard. Kits studied were Rapid Immunochromatoghraphic Hexagon, Helicoblot 2.1, an EIA IgG kit and EIA IgA kit. Stool and blood samples were collected from 162 apparently healthy participants (control) and 60 Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. The performances of the four serological detection kits were found to be affected by gender, age, health status and ethnicity of the participants. In the control group, the Helicoblot 2.1 kit had the best performance (AUC = 0.85; ppoor performances. In the T2DM subgroup, the kits H2.1 and EIA IgG had best performances, with accuracies of 96.5% and 93.1% respectively. The performance of EIA IgG improved with adjustment of its cut-off value. The performances of the detection kits were affected by various factors which should be taken into consideration.

  4. The Danish air quality monitoring programme. Annual summary for 2012

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ellermann, T.; Klenoe Noejgaard, J.; Nordstroem, C.; Brandt, J.; Christensen, Jesper; Ketzel, M.; Jansen, S.; Massling, A.; Solvang Jensen, S.

    2013-10-15

    The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality Monitoring network. The aim is to follow the concentration levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the trends, to perform source apportionment, and to understand the governing processes that determine the level of air pollution in Denmark. In 2012 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. In addition model calculations were carried out to supplement the measurements. At one street station (H.C. Andersens Boulevard) in Copenhagen NO{sub 2} was found in concentrations above EU limit values while NO{sub 2} levels in Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg were below the limit value. Model calculations indicate exceedances of NO{sub 2} limit values at several streets in Copenhagen. Annual averages of PM{sub 10} and PM{sub 2.5} were below limit values at all stations. The concentrations for most pollutants have been decreasing during the last decades. (Author)

  5. The future of monitoring in clinical research - a holistic approach: linking risk-based monitoring with quality management principles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansmann, Eva B; Hecht, Arthur; Henn, Doris K; Leptien, Sabine; Stelzer, Hans Günther

    2013-01-01

    Since several years risk-based monitoring is the new "magic bullet" for improvement in clinical research. Lots of authors in clinical research ranging from industry and academia to authorities are keen on demonstrating better monitoring-efficiency by reducing monitoring visits, monitoring time on site, monitoring costs and so on, always arguing with the use of risk-based monitoring principles. Mostly forgotten is the fact, that the use of risk-based monitoring is only adequate if all mandatory prerequisites at site and for the monitor and the sponsor are fulfilled.Based on the relevant chapter in ICH GCP (International Conference on Harmonisation of technical requirements for registration of pharmaceuticals for human use - Good Clinical Practice) this publication takes a holistic approach by identifying and describing the requirements for future monitoring and the use of risk-based monitoring. As the authors are operational managers as well as QA (Quality Assurance) experts, both aspects are represented to come up with efficient and qualitative ways of future monitoring according to ICH GCP.

  6. KIT polymorphisms and mutations determine responses of neoplastic mast cells to bafetinib (INNO-406).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, Barbara; Hadzijusufovic, Emir; Blatt, Katharina; Gleixner, Karoline V; Pickl, Winfried F; Thaiwong, Tuddow; Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan, Vilma; Willmann, Michael; Valent, Peter

    2010-09-01

    Advanced systemic mastocytosis (SM) is characterized by uncontrolled growth of neoplastic mast cells (MC) and drug resistance. The tyrosine kinase receptor KIT is often mutated and activated and thus contributes to malignant growth of MC. Therefore, KIT-targeting drugs are currently tested for their ability to block growth of malignant MC. We determined the effects of the multikinase inhibitor INNO-406 (bafetinib) on primary neoplastic MC, the canine mastocytoma cell line C2, the human MC leukemia cell line HMC-1.1 bearing the KIT mutant V560G, and HMC-1.2 cells harboring KIT V560G and KIT D816V. INNO-406 was found to inhibit proliferation in HMC-1.1 cells (IC(50): 30-40 nM), but not in HMC-1.2 cells or primary neoplastic cells in patients with KIT D816V-positive SM. In canines, growth-inhibitory effects of INNO-406 were seen in C2 cells (IC(50): 50-100 nM) exhibiting a KIT exon 11 internal tandem-duplication and in primary neoplastic MC harboring wild-type exon 11, whereas no effects were seen in MC exhibiting a polymorphism at amino acid 581 in exon 11. INNO-406 was found to block KIT phosphorylation and expression in HMC-1.1 cells and C2 cells, but not in HMC-1.2 cells, whereas Lyn-phosphorylation was blocked by INNO-406 in all types of MC. In neoplastic MC, the major target of INNO-406 appears to be KIT. Drug responses may depend on the presence and type of KIT mutation. In human MC, the KIT D816V mutant introduces resistance, and in canine mastocytomas, an exon 11 polymorphism may be indicative of resistance against INNO-406.

  7. Quality assurance of environmental gamma radiation monitoring in Slovenia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stuhec, M.; Zorko, B.; Mitic, D.; Miljanic, S.; Ranogajec-Komor, M.

    2006-01-01

    Environmental gamma radiation monitoring established in Slovenia consists of a network of multifunctional gamma monitors (MFMs) based on pairs of Geiger-Mueller counters and a network of measuring sites with high-sensitive thermoluminescence dosemeters. The measuring points are evenly spread across Slovenia, located at the meteorological stations and more densely on additional locations around the Krsko NPP. The MFM network has a 2-fold function with one sensor used for the purpose of early warning system in near surroundings of the NPP and the other, more sensitive, for natural radiation monitoring. The paper summarises activities to establish quality assurance of the environmental gamma radiation measurements in Slovenia, with a critical view of the results in comparison with the international standards and recommendations. While the results of linearity and energy dependence tests were satisfying, on-field intercomparison showed that the inherent signal of one of the monitors (MFM) has to be taken into account in the range of environmental background radiation. (authors)

  8. GIS Mapping and Monitoring of Cellular Communication Quality in Terms of Crowdsourcing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zanozin Viktor Valeryevich

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available At the present day the monitoring of mobile services quality is carried out in the framework of the internal audit of the enterprise communications. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor does not yet have high-quality assurance techniques of services and conducts partial spot checks on the basis of existing normative legal acts (NLA. One of cellular communication quality monitoring method is Netmonitoring. Netmonitoring, as one of the possible types of quality control services provided by mobile operators, is described in this article. Netmonitoring is provided in the Astrakhan city on the Kirova street, Savushkina street, Kubanskya street, Magistralnaya street and other large streets of the city. There are more than 150 cellular level measurements. Netmonitoring is based on crowdsourcing and mobile mapping. Mobile mapping is the process of collecting geospatial data using mapping sensors mounted on a mobile platform. The search of base stations was carried out by means of such programs as Netmonitoring, Network Signal Info and Antennas. The resulting data, namely the network code, “cell ID” and local area code, were used for geo-information programs creation. The experience in designing KML and Visual Basic languages programs Netmonitoring and AstraNetMonitoring is described in this paper.

  9. A Framework for Evaluating the Software Product Quality of Pregnancy Monitoring Mobile Personal Health Records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Idri, Ali; Bachiri, Mariam; Fernández-Alemán, José Luis

    2016-03-01

    Stakeholders' needs and expectations are identified by means of software quality requirements, which have an impact on software product quality. In this paper, we present a set of requirements for mobile personal health records (mPHRs) for pregnancy monitoring, which have been extracted from literature and existing mobile apps on the market. We also use the ISO/IEC 25030 standard to suggest the requirements that should be considered during the quality evaluation of these mPHRs. We then go on to design a checklist in which we contrast the mPHRs for pregnancy monitoring requirements with software product quality characteristics and sub-characteristics in order to calculate the impact of these requirements on software product quality, using the ISO/IEC 25010 software product quality standard. The results obtained show that the requirements related to the user's actions and the app's features have the most impact on the external sub-characteristics of the software product quality model. The only sub-characteristic affected by all the requirements is Appropriateness of Functional suitability. The characteristic Operability is affected by 95% of the requirements while the lowest degrees of impact were identified for Compatibility (15%) and Transferability (6%). Lastly, the degrees of the impact of the mPHRs for pregnancy monitoring requirements are discussed in order to provide appropriate recommendations for the developers and stakeholders of mPHRs for pregnancy monitoring.

  10. Data Quality Objectives Supporting Radiological Air Emissions Monitoring for the PNNL Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnett, J. Matthew; Meier, Kirsten M.; Snyder, Sandra F.; Fritz, Brad G.; Poston, Ted M.; Rhoads, Kathleen

    2010-05-25

    This document of Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) was prepared based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidance on Systematic Planning Using the Data Quality Objectives Process, EPA, QA/G4, 2/2006 (EPA 2006) as well as several other published DQOs. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is in the process of developing a radiological air monitoring program for the PNNL Site that is distinct from that of the nearby Hanford Site. Radiological emissions at the PNNL Site result from Physical Sciences Facility (PSF) major emissions units. A team was established to determine how the PNNL Site would meet federal regulations and address guidelines developed to monitor and estimate offsite air emissions of radioactive materials. The result is a program that monitors the impact to the public from the PNNL Site.

  11. ATP measurements for monitoring microbial drinking water quality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vang, Óluva Karin

    Current standard methods for surveillance of microbial drinking water quality are culture based, which are laborious and time-consuming, where results not are available before one to three days after sampling. This means that the water may have been consumed before results on deteriorated water....... The overall aim of this PhD study was to investigate various methodological features of the ATP assay for a potential implementation on a sensor platform as a real-time parameter for continuous on-line monitoring of microbial drinking water quality. Commercial reagents are commonly used to determine ATP......, microbial quality in distributed water, detection of aftergrowth, biofilm formation etc. This PhD project demonstrated that ATP levels are relatively low and fairly stable in drinking water without chlorine residual despite different sampling locations, different drinking water systems and time of year...

  12. EPA Office of Water (OW): STORET Water Quality Monitoring Stations NHDPlus Indexed Dataset

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Storage and Retrieval for Water Quality Data (STORET and the Water Quality Exchange, WQX) defines the methods and the data systems by which EPA compiles monitoring...

  13. Successful integration efforts in water quality from the integrated Ocean Observing System Regional Associations and the National Water Quality Monitoring Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragsdale, R.; Vowinkel, E.; Porter, D.; Hamilton, P.; Morrison, R.; Kohut, J.; Connell, B.; Kelsey, H.; Trowbridge, P.

    2011-01-01

    The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS??) Regional Associations and Interagency Partners hosted a water quality workshop in January 2010 to discuss issues of nutrient enrichment and dissolved oxygen depletion (hypoxia), harmful algal blooms (HABs), and beach water quality. In 2007, the National Water Quality Monitoring Council piloted demonstration projects as part of the National Water Quality Monitoring Network (Network) for U.S. Coastal Waters and their Tributaries in three IOOS Regional Associations, and these projects are ongoing. Examples of integrated science-based solutions to water quality issues of major concern from the IOOS regions and Network demonstration projects are explored in this article. These examples illustrate instances where management decisions have benefited from decision-support tools that make use of interoperable data. Gaps, challenges, and outcomes are identified, and a proposal is made for future work toward a multiregional water quality project for beach water quality.

  14. Internal quality control program for individual monitoring service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mauricio, Claudia L.P.; Moura Junior, Jose; Patrao, Karla C.S. [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)]. E-mail: claudia@ird.gov.br; moura@ird.gov.br; karla@ird.gov.br

    2007-07-01

    With a focus on continuous improvement, since 2002, a special internal procedure for following and checking the performance of our individual monitoring services has been implemented. A fictitious installation, named 'Fantasma' has been created, initially, with 4 film badges and 7 thermoluminescent dosimetric ring users. Since 2005, this quality control program includes also the albedo neutron individual monitoring service. Monthly, the 'Fantasma' test monitors are irradiated by traceable Cs-137 and Am-Be sources. The calibration quantities are: the photon dose equivalent (H{sub x}) for the photographic individual monitor, the maximum dose equivalent (MADE) for the albedo neutron individual monitor and the personal dose equivalent at 0.07 mm depth (H{sub p}(0.07)) for ring monitor. Up to now, all results show compliance with the specific trumpet curves acceptance limits. Once, a small sub-evaluation tendency has been noted and this information was used to improve the film system. For the photographic film system, the evaluated value to reference dose ratios range from 0.71 to 1.12, with a mean value of 0.91 {+-} 0.12. For the ring system, the ratio ranges from 0.69 to 1.40, with a mean value of 1.02 {+-} 0.07. For the neutron system, which presents intrinsic larger uncertainties, the ratio ranged from 0.67 to 1.88, with mean value of 1.16 {+-} 0.27. (author)

  15. KIT competence center for decommissioning. Innovation and promotion of trainees; Kompetenzzentrum Rueckbau am KIT. Nachwuchsfoerderung und Innovationen fuer den Rueckbau

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gentes, Sascha [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany). Inst. fuer Technologie und Management im Baubetrieb

    2016-03-15

    The safe decommissioning of nuclear installations is technically feasible, but is also still a challenge for science, technology and industry. The expertise and know how for decommissioning must be ensured because it will be needed for further decades. Already in 2008 the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) had identified this challenge that later emerged through the closure of nuclear power plants in Germany. The KIT opened the professorship Technology and Management of the Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations. In 2014, this section was extended through the dismantling of conventional installations.

  16. Measurement of free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine concentrations by DPC RIA kits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasagi, Kanji; Kousaka, Tadako; Hatabu, Hiroto; Tokuda, Yasutaka; Iida, Yasuhiro; Konishi, Junji

    1988-01-01

    'DPC RIA' kits for measuring free triiodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (T4) were fundamentally and clinically studied. Standard curves for incubation temperature and time were favorable. The present kits yielded satisfactory precision and reproducibility. The upper and lower limits of the normal range for T4 were 0.88 ng/dl and 2.08 ng/dl, respectively. The serum concentration of T4 was 3.91 ng/dl or more for hyperthyroidism and 0.57 ng/dl or less for hypothyroidism, allowing discrimination between the two diseases. For T3, the upper and lower limits of the normal range were 1.45 ng/dl and 3.45 ng/dl, respectively. In pregnant women and patients with decreased or increased levels of thyroxine binding globulin (TBG), the serum T3 concentration lay within the normal range. Low free T4 and T3 levels were found in 22 % and 67 %, respectively, of patients with serious non-thyroidal illness (NTI). There was a good correlation between the present kits and the other commercially available kits. Measurements of free T3 and T4 obtained by ''Amerlex RIA'' kits tended to be lower than those by the present kits in pregnant women and NTI patients with hypoalbuminemia. In view of the simplified procedure, satisfactory precision and reproducibility, and the lack of influences of serum albumin and TBG, the present kits have a potential in routine use. (Namekawa, K.)

  17. Technetium-99m ceftizoxime kit preparation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simone Odília Fernandes Diniz

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this work was to prepare a kit of 99mTc-ceftizoxime (99mTc-CFT, with stability and biological activity preserved, able to identify a septic focus (E. coli in the experimental infection model in rats. The preparation of the CFT kit involved the use of lyophilized solutions containing the antibiotic ceftizoxime and the sodium dithionite reducing agent (6.0 mg/mL. After lyophilization, the kit was reconstituted with 1.0 mL of sodium 99mTc-pertechnetate solution (Na99mTcO4- with an activity of 370 MBq. The solution was boiled for 10 min and filtered through a cellulose ester filter. The labeling efficiency was on the order of 92%, remaining stable for six hours and the kit remained stable for two months. The biological activity of the 99mTc-CFT was evaluated by diffusion in agar impregnated with E.coli and S. aureus. Seven Wistar rats, weighing from 200 to 250 g, were used for the development of the septic focus. After 24 hours from the induction of the infectious site (E.coli, the animals were anesthetized and 0.1 mL of 99mTc-CFT (37 MBq was injected into the tail veins of the animals. The images were obtained with a gamma camera one, two and six hours after injection and the regions of interest (ROIs were calculated. The diameters of the inhibition halos for 99mTc-CFT were 27.16 ± 0.23 and 27.17 ± 0.20 for S.aureus and E.coli, respectively, while those for the unlabeled CFT were 30.4 ± 0.33 and 29.43 ± 0.26, respectively. The results for the biodistribution of 99mTc-CFT in infected animals furnished a ratio of 1.97 ± 0.31, 2.10 ± 0.42 and 2.01 ± 0.42 for cpm-target/cpm-no target for the one, two and six-hour periods, respectively. The images showed a clear uptake of labeled antibiotic (99mTc-CFT by the infectious site during the experiment. The results attest to the viability of producing a kit with 99m technetium-labeled ceftizoxime for the investigation of infectious processes.O objetivo deste trabalho foi preparar um kit de Tc

  18. Field Test Kit for Gun Residue Detection; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    WALKER, PAMELA K.; RODACY, PHILIP J.

    2002-01-01

    One of the major needs of the law enforcement field is a product that quickly, accurately, and inexpensively identifies whether a person has recently fired a gun--even if the suspect has attempted to wash the traces of gunpowder off. The Field Test Kit for Gunshot Residue Identification based on Sandia National Laboratories technology works with a wide variety of handguns and other weaponry using gunpowder. There are several organic chemicals in small arms propellants such as nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine, dinitrotoluene, and nitrites left behind after the firing of a gun that result from the incomplete combustion of the gunpowder. Sandia has developed a colorimetric shooter identification kit for in situ detection of gunshot residue (GSR) from a suspect. The test kit is the first of its kind and is small, inexpensive, and easily transported by individual law enforcement personnel requiring minimal training for effective use. It will provide immediate information identifying gunshot residue

  19. Comparison and Cost Analysis of Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Requirements versus Practice in Seven Developing Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonny Crocker

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Drinking water quality monitoring programs aim to support provision of safe drinking water by informing water quality management. Little evidence or guidance exists on best monitoring practices for low resource settings. Lack of financial, human, and technological resources reduce a country’s ability to monitor water supply. Monitoring activities were characterized in Cambodia, Colombia, India (three states, Jordan, Peru, South Africa, and Uganda according to water sector responsibilities, monitoring approaches, and marginal cost. The seven study countries were selected to represent a range of low resource settings. The focus was on monitoring of microbiological parameters, such as E. coli, coliforms, and H2S-producing microorganisms. Data collection involved qualitative and quantitative methods. Across seven study countries, few distinct approaches to monitoring were observed, and in all but one country all monitoring relied on fixed laboratories for sample analysis. Compliance with monitoring requirements was highest for operational monitoring of large water supplies in urban areas. Sample transport and labor for sample collection and analysis together constitute approximately 75% of marginal costs, which exclude capital costs. There is potential for substantive optimization of monitoring programs by considering field-based testing and by fundamentally reconsidering monitoring approaches for non-piped supplies. This is the first study to look quantitatively at water quality monitoring practices in multiple developing countries.

  20. Implementing inquiry-based kits within a professional development school model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Mark Thomas

    2005-07-01

    Implementation of guided inquiry teaching for the first time carries inherent problems for science teachers. Reform efforts on inquiry-based science teaching are often unsustainable and are not sensitive to teachers' needs and abilities as professionals. Professional development schools are meant to provide a research-based partnership between a public school and a university. These collaborations can provide support for the professional development of teachers. This dissertation reports a study focused on the implementation of inquiry-based science kits within the support of one of these collaborations. The researcher describes the difficulties and successful adaptations experienced by science teachers and how a coteaching model provided support. These types of data are needed in order to develop a bottom-up, sustainable process that will allow teachers to implement inquiry-based science. A qualitative methodology with "researcher as participant" was used in this study of two science teachers during 2002--2003. These two teachers were supported by a coteaching model, which included preservice teachers for each teacher as well as a supervising professor. Data were collected from the researcher's direct observations of coteachers' practice. Data were also collected from interviews and reflective pieces from the coteachers. Triangulation of the data on each teacher's case supported the validity of the findings. Case reports were prepared from these data for each classroom teacher. These case reports were used and cross-case analysis was conducted to search for major themes and findings in the study. Major findings described the hurdles teachers encounter, examples of adaptations observed in the teachers' cases and the supportive interactions with their coteachers while implementing the inquiry-based kits. In addition, the data were used to make recommendations for future training and use of the kits and the coteaching model. Results from this study showed that the

  1. Assessment of six commercial plasma small RNA isolation kits using qRT-PCR and electrophoretic separation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meerson, Ari; Ploug, Thorkil

    2016-01-01

    of specific miRNAs in different samples varied considerably between the tested extraction methods. Of all kits tested, the QIAGEN miRNeasy kits (Mini and Serum/Plasma kits) and the Macherey-Nagel NucleoSpin kit produced the highest RNA yields. The QIAGEN Exo kit produced lesser yields than what could...... be extracted from the UC fraction using the QIAGEN miRNeasy kits and the Macherey-Nagel NucleoSpin kit. Bioanalyzer results showed an average correlation of R2¼0.8 with endogenous miRNA qRT-PCR results, for sample concentrations >40 pg/ml. The levels of the endogenous miRNAs measured in the two volunteer...... samples were compared with those in a larger group of subjects (n¼10) and found to be typical. Our comparison favors the use of the QIAGEN Serum/Plasma kit and the Macherey-Nagel NucleoSpin kit for plasma miRNA applications. Furthermore, extraction of miRNAs from the UC fraction results in higher yield...

  2. From Kitāb al-ḥadā’iq to Kitāb al-dawā’ir: Reconsidering Ibn al-Sīd al-Batalyawsī’s Philosophical Treatise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliyahu, Ayala

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The philosophical treatise known as Kitāb al-ḥadā’iq is generally ascribed to the 12th century Andalusian author Ibn al-Sīd al-Batalyawsī, although this attribution is sometimes contested. This paper offers a new interpretation of the title, textual history, authorship, sources, and literary genre of this treatise, on the basis of new textual evidence, a reexamination of known evidence, and a comparison between the treatise and Batalyawsī’s works. The conclusions of this study are first, that Kitāb al-ḥadā’iq was not the treatise’s original title, and therefore it should be renamed Kitāb al-dawā’ir; second, that Kitāb al-dawā’ir was originally part of (one of the versions of Batalyawsī’s Kitāb al-masā’il; and third, that the textual and stylistic similarities between this treatise and Batalyawsī’s other works prove the authenticity of the treatise’s attribution to Batalyawsī. In addition, new findings regarding Batalyawsī’s use of formulas from the Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Safā, in Kitāb al-dawā’ir and Kitāb al-masā’il provide further evidence for the deep impact of the Ikhwān on Batalyawsī’s thought, as well as for the close connection between Kitāb al-dawā’ir and Kitāb al-masā’il. This connection is further highlighted according to the attribution of both treatises to the genre of questions and answers in Arabic literature. The evidence gathered in this paper supports the claim that Batalyawsī’s Kitāb al-dawā’ir should be seen as an integral part of his literary oeuvre, as well as of Andalusian philosophical literature in general.Generalmente el tratado filosófico conocido como Kitāb al-ḥadā’iq se asocia al autor andalusí del siglo XII Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsī, aunque esta atribución ha sido discutida en ocasiones. Este artículo ofrece una nueva interpretación del título, la historia del texto, la autoría, las fuentes e incluso del género literario al que se

  3. System-Aware Smart Network Management for Nano-Enriched Water Quality Monitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Mokhtar

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a comprehensive water quality monitoring system that employs a smart network management, nano-enriched sensing framework, and intelligent and efficient data analysis and forwarding protocols for smart and system-aware decision making. The presented system comprises two main subsystems, a data sensing and forwarding subsystem (DSFS, and Operation Management Subsystem (OMS. The OMS operates based on real-time learned patterns and rules of system operations projected from the DSFS to manage the entire network of sensors. The main tasks of OMS are to enable real-time data visualization, managed system control, and secure system operation. The DSFS employs a Hybrid Intelligence (HI scheme which is proposed through integrating an association rule learning algorithm with fuzzy logic and weighted decision trees. The DSFS operation is based on profiling and registering raw data readings, generated from a set of optical nanosensors, as profiles of attribute-value pairs. As a case study, we evaluate our implemented test bed via simulation scenarios in a water quality monitoring framework. The monitoring processes are simulated based on measuring the percentage of dissolved oxygen and potential hydrogen (PH in fresh water. Simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed HI-based methodology at learning different water quality classes.

  4. Real-time water quality monitoring at a Great Lakes National Park

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara; Nevers, Meredith; Shively, Dawn; Spoljaric, Ashley; Otto, Christopher

    2018-01-01

    Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used by the USEPA to establish new recreational water quality criteria in 2012 using the indicator bacteria enterococci. The application of this method has been limited, but resource managers are interested in more timely monitoring results. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of qPCR as a rapid, alternative method to the time-consuming membrane filtration (MF) method for monitoring water at select beaches and rivers of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Empire, MI. Water samples were collected from four locations (Esch Road Beach, Otter Creek, Platte Point Bay, and Platte River outlet) in 2014 and analyzed for culture-based (MF) and non-culture-based (i.e., qPCR) endpoints using Escherichia coli and enterococci bacteria. The MF and qPCR enterococci results were significantly, positively correlated overall (r = 0.686, p Water quality standard exceedances based on enterococci levels by qPCR were lower than by MF method: 3 and 16, respectively. Based on our findings, we conclude that qPCR may be a viable alternative to the culture-based method for monitoring water quality on public lands. Rapid, same-day results are achievable by the qPCR method, which greatly improves protection of the public from water-related illnesses.

  5. Implementation of quality control systematics for personnel monitoring services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franco, J.O.A.

    1984-01-01

    The implementation of statistical quality control techniques used in industrial practise is proposed to dosimetric services. 'Control charts' and 'sampling inspection' are adapted respectively for control of measuring process and of dose results produced in routine. A chapter on Radiation Protection and Personnel Monitoring was included. (M.A.C.) [pt

  6. Behaviour of mink kits and dams (Mustela vison) in the lactation period

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brink, Anne-Line; Jeppesen, Leif Lau

    2005-01-01

    This study describes the development of the behaviour of mink kits and dams from the fourth to the eighth respectively seventh week after delivery. The study is based on scan observations of 72 mink dams and their kits at a conventional Danish mink farm. The kits started eating when they were about...... 30 d old. Drinking started almost 2 wk later. During these 2 wk there was a peak in the licking of saliva from the dam and of the inter-litter agonistic behaviour. A causal relationship between experienced thirst and agonistic behaviour is suggested. The kits' sucking declined to only 5% of the time...... budget in the seventh week and the stereotypy frequency of the dams increased to about 4% of the time budget. It is suggested that some dams are frustrated by the forced cohabitation with their nutritionally independent kits already in the seventh week and that this should be taken into account when...

  7. Comparison of commercial diagnostic kits for placental lactogen radioimmunoassay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pirkl, S.; Kulenda, Z.

    1976-01-01

    The biochemical laboratory compared the following diagnostic kits for HPL determination: Pharmacia (Sweden), Radiochemical Center Amersham (GB), NEN (USA), Hoechst (FRG), applying the following criteria: 1. price, 2. number of analyses for which one kit may be applied, 3. expiration time, 4. speed, i.e., time elapsed from sample delivery to report (dependent on incubation time), 5. laboriousness, 6. reproducibility, 7. compatibility of values obtained by different kits. Alcohol precipitation (Pharmacia, RCC Amersham) appeared to be the most suitable while Dextran coated charcoal (NEN) and Amberlite (Hoechst) were somewhat more complicated, and the Sorin double antibody technique (ultrafiltration and washing of precipitate on filtres was used for separation) appeared to be the most laborious technique. RCC Amersham was ranked first owing to its lower cost as compared with runner-up Pharmacia. (L.O.)

  8. Evaluation of Desensol As a Standard Patch Test Kit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K C Shah

    1987-01-01

    Full Text Available In a study undertaken to find out the usefulness of ′Desensol′ patch test kit to detect contact allergens, in 200 cases revealed 24 cases with negative patch test with all the antigens and 55 cases reacted to even the Vaseline control. -Excluding these 79 cases, the common contact allergens were potassium bichr6ma,te, (40.49%, TMTD(28.92%, PPD(24.79%, epoxy resin (23.14%, colophony (19.0%, nickel sulfate (19.0%, Framycetin (19.0% and nitrofurazone (19.0%. Desensol patch test kit is lacking in certain antigens while in our country due to varied environmental factors and social customs, a person is exposed to a large number of natural and man-made contact allergens. So usefulness of such a kit like. Desensol is limited.

  9. La Parguera, Puerto Rico Water Quality Monitoring Data 2003 - Present

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These water quality data are one of many studies being done to assess and monitor coral reef ecosystems. The intent of this work is three fold: (1) to spatially...

  10. Determination of Sn in 99{sup m}Tc Radiopharmaceutical Kits by Polarographic Methods; Determinacion de Estano en Radiofarmacos de 99{sup m}Tc mediante Metodos Polarograficos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castro, M; Cruz, J; Sanchez, M

    2009-07-01

    Kits of 99{sup m}Tc radiopharmaceuticals are used in nuclear medicine for diagnosis of different diseases. Sn (II) is one of the essential components in their formulations, which is used for reduction 99{sup m}Tc-pertechnetate in cold kits for on-site preparation 99{sup m}Tc-pertechnetate radiopharmaceuticals. Usually, these cold kits contain different additives (complexing agents, antioxidants, buffers, etc.) and the amount of Sn (II) varies from kit to kit. The determination of Sn in these products is essential in assessing their quality. We report here the development of a new polarographic method for the determination of Sn (II) and total Sn in representative radiopharmaceuticals kits (for the content of Sn and chemical composition) produced at the Center of Isotopes of Cuba (CENTIS). These methods were validated by analysis of variance and recovery techniques. From the results of the validation, the characteristic functions of uncertainties and fits are considered for the established methods, which give the necessary evidences to demonstrate the usefulness of these methods according to the current trends in Analytical Chemistry. This work provides practical results of great importance for CENTIS. After the speciation of Sn in the MAG3 radiopharmaceuticals kit is inferred that the production process is affected by uncontrolled factors that influence in the product stability, which demonstrates the necessity for analytical tools for the characterization of products and processes. (Author) 57 refs.

  11. A 'same day' TSH radioimmunoassay kit with acceptable precision and accuracy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wood, W.G.; Muenchen Univ.

    1980-01-01

    A new 'same-day' TSH-RIA kit has been tested against an 'in-house' TSH-RIA, using incubation schemes of 4, 22 and 23 h. The kit standards were made up in human TSH-free serum and the method used a preincubation step and separation of bound and free antigen using a double antibody method. The correlation between the 'in-house' method and the kit was very good. The results in sera from TRH-test patients, and also from a recovery test with MRC 68/38 in human serum covering the range 0-50 mU/l were good. A comparison of the new kit was made with its precedessor which had protein based standards highlighted the need for standards in human TSH-free serum seen by the poor correlation (r = 0.619, n = 93). (orig.) [de

  12. Monitoring air quality in Southeast Alaska’s National Parks and Forests: Linking atmospheric pollutants with ecological effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    D. Schirokauer; L. Geiser; A. Bytnerowicz; M. Fenn; K. Dillman

    2014-01-01

    Air quality and air quality related values are important resources to the National Park Service (NPS) units and Wilderness areas in northern Southeast Alaska. Air quality monitoring was prioritized as a high-priority Vital Sign at the Southeast Alaska Network’s (SEAN) Inventory and Monitoring Program’s terrestrial scoping workshop (Derr and Fastie 2006). Air quality...

  13. Analyzing multimodal communication of specialized film knowledge in educational multimedia kits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maier, Carmen Daniela

    of film and TV organized by a German leading art academy. These multimedia kits, Insight Out, are targeted at film and media professionals, teachers and students who want to know how film making and film language will develop in the digital era. In the multimedia kits, the educational and advertising...... discourses are combined across semiotic modes and media when conveying the new knowledge.   Applying a multimodal analytical framework, the paper focuses on the modal ensembles through which new film knowledge is communicated in the multimedia kits through both educational and advertising discourses...

  14. Architectural Environment: A Resource Kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY.

    There are many ways to approach the investigation of architecture. One can look at structural form, climate and topography, the aesthetics of style and decoration, building function, historical factors, cultural meanings, or technology and techniques associated with construction. This resource kit touches upon a few of these approaches, ranging…

  15. Robust GPS autonomous signal quality monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ndili, Awele Nnaemeka

    The Global Positioning System (GPS), introduced by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1973, provides unprecedented world-wide navigation capabilities through a constellation of 24 satellites in global orbit, each emitting a low-power radio-frequency signal for ranging. GPS receivers track these transmitted signals, computing position to within 30 meters from range measurements made to four satellites. GPS has a wide range of applications, including aircraft, marine and land vehicle navigation. Each application places demands on GPS for various levels of accuracy, integrity, system availability and continuity of service. Radio frequency interference (RFI), which results from natural sources such as TV/FM harmonics, radar or Mobile Satellite Systems (MSS), presents a challenge in the use of GPS, by posing a threat to the accuracy, integrity and availability of the GPS navigation solution. In order to use GPS for integrity-sensitive applications, it is therefore necessary to monitor the quality of the received signal, with the objective of promptly detecting the presence of RFI, and thus provide a timely warning of degradation of system accuracy. This presents a challenge, since the myriad kinds of RFI affect the GPS receiver in different ways. What is required then, is a robust method of detecting GPS accuracy degradation, which is effective regardless of the origin of the threat. This dissertation presents a new method of robust signal quality monitoring for GPS. Algorithms for receiver autonomous interference detection and integrity monitoring are demonstrated. Candidate test statistics are derived from fundamental receiver measurements of in-phase and quadrature correlation outputs, and the gain of the Active Gain Controller (AGC). Performance of selected test statistics are evaluated in the presence of RFI: broadband interference, pulsed and non-pulsed interference, coherent CW at different frequencies; and non-RFI: GPS signal fading due to physical blockage and

  16. Construction and application of an intelligent air quality monitoring system for healthcare environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chao-Tung; Liao, Chi-Jui; Liu, Jung-Chun; Den, Walter; Chou, Ying-Chyi; Tsai, Jaw-Ji

    2014-02-01

    Indoor air quality monitoring in healthcare environment has become a critical part of hospital management and policy. Manual air sampling and analysis are cost-inhibitive and do not provide real-time air quality data and response measures. In this month-long study over 14 sampling locations in a public hospital in Taiwan, we observed a positive correlation between CO(2) concentration and population, total bacteria, and particulate matter concentrations, thus monitoring CO(2) concentration as a general indicator for air quality could be a viable option. Consequently, an intelligent environmental monitoring system consisting of a CO(2)/temperature/humidity sensor, a digital plug, and a ZigBee Router and Coordinator was developed and tested. The system also included a backend server that received and analyzed data, as well as activating ventilation and air purifiers when CO(2) concentration exceeded a pre-set value. Alert messages can also be delivered to offsite users through mobile devices.

  17. Performances of Four Helicobacter pylori Serological Detection Kits Using Stool Antigen Test as Gold Standard.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susheela D Biranjia-Hurdoyal

    Full Text Available The aim was to determine the performances of four Helicobacter pylori serological detection kits in different target groups, using Amplified IDEIA™ Hp StAR™ as gold standard. Kits studied were Rapid Immunochromatoghraphic Hexagon, Helicoblot 2.1, an EIA IgG kit and EIA IgA kit.Stool and blood samples were collected from 162 apparently healthy participants (control and 60 Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM patients.The performances of the four serological detection kits were found to be affected by gender, age, health status and ethnicity of the participants. In the control group, the Helicoblot 2.1 kit had the best performance (AUC = 0.85; p<0.05, accuracy = 86.4%, followed by EIA IgG (AUC = 0.75; p<0.05, accuracy = 75.2%. The Rapid Hexagon and EIA IgA kits had relatively poor performances. In the T2DM subgroup, the kits H2.1 and EIA IgG had best performances, with accuracies of 96.5% and 93.1% respectively. The performance of EIA IgG improved with adjustment of its cut-off value.The performances of the detection kits were affected by various factors which should be taken into consideration.

  18. The CMS Tracker Data Quality Monitoring Expert GUI

    CERN Document Server

    Palmonari, Francesco

    2009-01-01

    The CMS Tracker data quality monitoring (DQM) is a demanding task due the detector's high granularity. It consists of about 15148 strip and 1440 pixel detector modules. About 350,000 histograms are defined and filled accessing information from different stages of data reconstruction to check the data quality. It is impossible to manage such a large number of histograms by shift personnel and experts. A tracker specific Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed to simplify the navigation and to spot detector problems efficiently. The GUI is web-based and implemented with Ajax technology. We will describe the framework and the specific features of the expert GUI developed for the CMS Tracker DQM system.

  19. Quality Assurance for a TLD Based Individual Monitoring Service (invited paper)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Julius, H.W.; Van Dijk, J.W.E. [Arnhem (Netherlands)

    1999-07-01

    Approved Individual Monitoring Services should, in addition to complying with specific national performance requirements, also have implemented a quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) programme as an integral part of the operation. Essential elements of a QA/QC programme are discussed. Some practical hints and examples of QA practices are given, focussing on the application of thermoluminescence dosimetry. (author)

  20. Reviews Toy: Air swimmers Book: Their Arrows will Darken the Sun: The Evolution and Science of Ballistics Book: Physics Experiments for your Bag Book: Quantum Physics for Poets Equipment: SEP colour wheel kit Equipment: SEP colour mixing kit Software: USB DrDAQ App: iHandy Level Equipment: Photonics Explorer kit Web Watch

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    WE RECOMMEND Air swimmers Helium balloon swims like a fish Their Arrows will Darken the Sun: The Evolution and Science of Ballistics Ballistics book hits the spot Physics Experiments for your Bag Handy experiments for your lessons Quantum Physics for Poets Book shows the economic importance of physics SEP colour wheel kit Wheels investigate colour theory SEP colour mixing kit Cheap colour mixing kit uses red, green and blue LEDs iHandy Level iPhone app superbly measures angles Photonics Explorer kit Free optics kit given to schools WORTH A LOOK DrDAQ DrDAQ software gets an upgrade WEB WATCH Websites show range of physics