Abstract The objective of the paper is to explore the benefits and reliability of reinforced thermoplastic pipe (RTP). This will be achieved by focusing on the following topics: Installation and operation benefits of non-metallic pipes compared to steel line pipe Overview of the importance of API qualification testing and the API Monogram in relation to API 15S 3rd edition (released in Q2 2022) Highlighting the significance of API Specification Q1 in the production of quality products Understanding the latest advancements in improving the quality/integrity of installations The paper will guide the audience through the design, manufacturing, and installation of RTP, in order to demonstrate the significant performance and installation benefits of the products. To highlight the robust design, the rigorous requirements of API Specification 15S and API Specification Q1 will be examined, and the relevance and importance of several key elements will be discussed. Several defining elements of the standard will be explored in detail to demonstrate the requirements behind designing a reliable spoolable composite product. Installation quality is a significant factor in composite pipe performance, and the paper will also evaluate and highlight key technologies that can help improve installations. RTP can be designed, constructed, and installed to be a world class product. This paper will demonstrate the test requirements and results required by API Specification 15S to be such a product. Observations regarding the requirements for product families and product family representatives will be covered including test results and observations for several key tests, including, but not limited to, long term hydrostatic testing, elevated temperature testing, and cyclic regression testing. Non-metallic products have proven to be effective in lowering operating costs by reducing corrosion-related pipe failures when installed correctly and according to the manufacturer's recommendations. This paper will study tools that can be used to guide installations as well as document and track the installation process. The resulting improvements can be studied in the failure rates. After reviewing the paper, the reader will have a thorough understanding of how to evaluate and install spoolable composite line pipe in a variety of services and locations.

AbstractBridging genotype to phenotype, the proteome has increasingly become of major importance to generate large, longitudinal sample series for data-driven biology and personalized medicine. Major improvements in laboratory automation, chromatography and software have increased the scale and precision of proteomics. So far missing are however mass spectrometric acquisition techniques that could deal with very fast chromatographic gradients. Here we present scanning SWATH, a data-independent acquisition (DIA) method, in which the DIA-typical stepwise windowed acquisition is replaced by a continuous movement of the precursor isolation window. Scanning SWATH accelerates the duty cycles to a few hundreds of milliseconds, and enables precursor mass assignment to the MS2 fragment traces for improving true positive precursor identification in fast proteome experiments. In combination with 800 µL/min high-flow chromatography, we report the quantification of 270 precursors per second, increasing the precursor identifications by 70% or more compared to previous methods. Scanning SWATH quantified 1,410 Human protein groups in conjunction with chromatographic gradients as fast as 30 seconds, 2,250 with 60-second gradients, and 4,586 in conjunction with 5-minute gradients. At high quantitative precision, our method hence increases the proteomic throughput to hundreds of samples per day per mass spectrometer. Scanning SWATH hence enables a broad range of new proteomic applications that depend on large numbers of cheap yet quantification precise proteomes.

Liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) shows great potential for expanding our understanding of relevant unknown chemical components present within complex environmental mixtures. This study identified potentially endocrine active components within Minnesota lakewater by prioritizing LC-HRMS features uniquely present at sunfish spawning habitats where male fish showed signs of estrogen agonism. Porewater samples from four locations within the same lake were analyzed using liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-QToF/MS) with positive (ESI+) and negative (ESI−) electrospray ionization. Plasma vitellogenin concentrations of captured male sunfish was used to designate sites as either endocrine active (ACT; 2 sites) or reference (REF; 2 sites). Assuming unique chemical presence at active sites contributed to endocrine activity, features at significantly higher intensities (p-value < 0.05, t-value > t-critical, log-fold change > 0.1; equal variance t-test of log2 transformed data) in ACT sites were then compiled into a suspect search list for feature identification. Adducts and isotopes of prioritized features were deprioritized using pattern recognizing algorithms using mass, retention time, and intensity. Feature identities were reported according to established confidence metrics using spectral libraries and elemental composition algorithms. This LC-HRMS approach identified a number of features omitted by targeted analysis with higher relative abundances in ACT sites, including plant essential oils, fatty acids, and mycotoxins. Multivariate analysis determined whether features were either present at both sites (AB) or unique to individual ACT sites (A or B). Detection frequency across datasets indicated bias in feature prioritization influenced by the chosen sampling method and sample acquisition mode. The majority of features prioritized by this workflow remain tentatively identified or unidentified masses of interest, reflective of current limitations in shared spectral libraries for soft ionization analyses. Strategies similar to this workflow have the potential to reduce bias in database-driven toxicological prioritization frameworks.

Neonicotinoid pesticides and their metabolites have been indicated as contributing factors in the decline of honey bee colonies. A thorough understanding of neonicotinoid toxicity requires knowledge of their metabolites and environmental breakdown products. This work investigated the rapid degradation of the neonicotinoid nitenpyram in finished drinking water. Nitenpyram reaction products were characterized using liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/QTOFMS). A software algorithm that compared degraded and control samples was utilized to facilitate efficient data reduction. Fragmentation pathways for six reaction products and nitenpyram were proposed using predictive software and manual product ion analysis. This study showed that nitenpyram degradation in unpreserved finished drinking water was likely the result of oxidation, hydrolysis and reaction with Cl2 . Structures for six nitenpyram reaction products were proposed that suggest the C9/C11 olefin as the key reactive site. Similarities between the identified nitenpyram reaction products and imidacloprid metabolites highlight the importance of this study, as the toxicity of neonicotinoids to pollinators has been linked to their metabolites. Based on the proposed reaction mechanisms, the identified nitenpyram reaction products in finished drinking water could also be present in the environment and water treatment facilities. As such, identifying these degradation products will aid in evaluating the environmental impact of neonicotinoid pesticides. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Continuing enhancements in Microsystem Technologies facilitate the development of inertial sensors — accelerometers and gyroscopes — of unprecedented performance to cost ratio and broaden the frontiers of their application. Of particular interest, because of their immunity to ambient disturbances, are sensors equipped with high resolution Electro-Mechanical ΣΔ converters and with a high speed, digital serial signal transmission. The digital circuitry of these sensors reaches the accuracy of 0.02 parts-per-million (ppm). However, the analogue transducers of measured physical quantities into electrical signals inside of the even best inertial sensors are prone to inherent imperfections of analog systems such as nonlinearity, cross-sensitivity, or noise. The best accuracy of these transducers is about two orders of magnitude worse than that of the electrical circuitry. The overall accuracy can be greatly improved by using corrective filters that cancel the effects of imperfections in the analogue transducers. The effectiveness of these filters hinges upon the accuracy of identifying comprehensive models of the analogue transducers. Ambient disturbances, in particular mechanical vibrations, greatly deteriorate the accuracy of identification. Their impact can be attenuated to some extent by using vibration isolation platforms. The effectiveness of attenuation is usually good at the frequencies above 5–10 Hz, however it is poor at low frequencies. This poor attenuation is a significant disadvantage since the low frequency phenomena in inertial sensors have pronounced impact on their suitability for a broad class of applications (e.g., navigation). The presented research focuses on the design of a passive vibration isolation device in which horizontal movement is coupled to tilt in a way that a component of the gravity perceived by the tested inertial sensor effectively cancels out the horizontal acceleration coming from the ambient vibrations.

Microsystems Technology based inertial sensors offer important advantages in low-invasive measurement of spatial motion with sub-micron accuracy. However, their successful implementation hinges upon achieving very low distortion and noise at the low end of the frequency spectrum. Therefore the investigations that lead to the enhancement of inertial sensors require environments free of the ambient vibrations to the maximum possible extent. This research focuses on developing a hybrid vibration isolation system. It comprises a custom built pre-isolation stage supporting a small size, high performance commercial vibration isolation platform. Our objective is to reduce the ambient vibrations present in typical research laboratories, usually strongly affected by the “cultural noise”, down to a level of the super quiet sites, i.e., close to the level defined by New Low Noise Model (NLNM). Performance of the developed system is illustrated with experimental results.

The application of dipolar direct current (DDC) to the radio frequency-only ion guide (Q0) of a hybrid quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometer for collision-induced declustering of large bio-ions is described. As a broadband technique, ion trap DDC collisional activation (CA) is employed to decluster ions simultaneously over a relatively broad mass-to-charge (m/z) range. Declustering DDC CA can yield significantly narrower peaks relative to those observed in the absence of declustering methods, depending upon the extent of noncovalent adduction associated with the ions, and can also be used in conjunction with other methods, such as nozzle-skimmer CA. The key experimental variables in the DDC experiment are the DDC voltage (VDDC), VRF , and the time over which VDDC is applied. The VDDC/VRF ratio is key to the extent to which ion temperatures are elevated and also influences the upper m/z limit for ion storage. The VDDC/VRF ratio affects ion temperatures and the upper m/z limit in opposing directions. That is, as the ratio increases, the ion temperature also increases, whereas the upper m/z storage limit decreases. However, for a given VDDC /VRF ratio, the upper m/z storage limit can be increased by increasing VRF, at the expense of the lower m/z limit for ion storage. The key value of the approach is that it affords a relatively precise degree of control over ion temperatures as well as the time over which they are elevated to a higher temperature. The utility of the method is illustrated by the application of ion trap DDC CA in Q0 to oligonucleotide, protein, and multimeric protein complex analyte ions.

Fatty acids and lignans in ground flaxseed and sesame seed are absorbed, metabolized, and exert some health benefits in vivo. However, it is unclear if they are absorbed, metabolized, and exert health benefits when consumed as unground whole seed; therefore, it was investigated in this study. In a randomized crossover study, 16 postmenopausal women supplemented their diets with food bars containing either 25 g unground flaxseed, sesame seed, or their combination (12.5 g each) (flaxseed+sesame seed bar, FSB) for 4 wk each, separated by 4 wk washout periods. Total serum n-3 fatty acids increased with flaxseed (p<0.05) and FSB (p=0.064) while serum n-6 fatty acids increased with sesame seed (p<0.05). Urinary lignans increased similarly with all treatments (p<0.05). Plasma lipids and several antioxidant markers were unaffected by all treatments, except serum gamma-tocopherol (GT), which increased with both sesame seed (p<0.0001) and FSB (p<0.01). In conclusion, fatty acids and lignans from unground seed in food bars are absorbed and metabolized; however, except for serum GT, the 25 g unground seed is inadequate to induce changes in plasma lipids and several biomarkers of oxidative stress.

Optical tweezers are a relatively new technique for non-invasive manipulation of micro particles. It has applications in different scientific and technological areas, such as: cell and molecule sorting, nano device assembly, and analysis of bio motors. Standard methods to create optical tweezers rely on using either the manipulation of a single beam or a spatial light modulator. Here a new optical tweezer design is presented that employs concepts from the realm of adaptive optics. The prototype system employs a deformable mirror to control the 3D position of the traps. A specific closed-loop control algorithm, adapted from adaptive optics technology allows a real-time precise monitoring of the deformable mirror shape and provides exquisite accuracy in trap placement. The first results obtained with the prototype design are presented.