Off-line System Research Articles

On-Line Microdialysis Coupled to Analytical Systems

In vivo sampling of interstitial fluid using microdialysis (MD) fibers has become a standard and accepted procedure. The resulting small volume samples, often with low concentrations of the analyte of interest, present a particular challenge to analytical methods. Rapid developments of analytical techniques with high sensitivity accelerate their combination with MD. On-line MD-based analytical systems are receiving increasing attention because they can provide near real-time data prior to the off-line system. The purpose of this review is to provide information for on-line MD-analytical systems. Special emphasis has been given to the main progression on methodologies of each method during recent years. The advantages, limitations, and adaptivity are also discussed. These methods include on-line MD-liquid chromatography, on-line MD-capillary electrophoresis, on-line MD-mass spectrometry, and on-line MD-biosensor.

A technique for query processing in local (Offline) systems

A subject-aspect approach to indexing and its application for processing information queries is discussed. A query preparation technique, which was well tested in an industrially operated refractory system from 1976 to 1993 and in a document preservation database, is described. The technique includes the use of semantic indexing schemes, query generalization, narrowing, and decomposition, and the creation on this basis of well-optimized information query archives.

Near-real time retrieval of tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> from OMI

Abstract. We present a new algorithm for the near-real time retrieval – within 3 h of the actual satellite measurement – of tropospheric NO2 columns from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). The retrieval is based on the combined retrieval-assimilation-modelling approach developed at KNMI for off-line tropospheric NO2 from the GOME and SCIAMACHY satellite instruments. We have adapted the off-line system such that the required a priori information – profile shapes and stratospheric background NO2 – is now immediately available upon arrival (within 80 min of observation) of the OMI NO2 slant columns and cloud data at KNMI. Slant columns for NO2 are retrieved using differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) in the 405–465 nm range. Cloud fraction and cloud pressure are provided by a new cloud retrieval algorithm that uses the absorption of the O2-O2 collision complex near 477 nm. On-line availability of stratospheric slant columns and NO2 profiles is achieved by running the TM4 chemistry transport model (CTM) forward in time based on forecast ECMWF meteo and assimilated NO2 information from all previously observed orbits. OMI NO2 slant columns, after correction for spurious across-track variability, show a random error for individual pixels of approximately 0.7×1015 molec cm−2. Cloud parameters from OMI's O2-O2 algorithm have similar frequency distributions as retrieved from SCIAMACHY's Fast Retrieval Scheme for Cloud Observables (FRESCO) for August 2006. On average, OMI cloud fractions are higher by 0.011, and OMI cloud pressures exceed FRESCO cloud pressures by 60 hPa. A sequence of OMI observations over Europe in October 2005 shows OMI's capability to track changeable NOx air pollution from day to day in cloud-free situations.

Development of the IFJ single ion hit facility for cell irradiation

In recent years, a single ion hit facility has been constructed at the IFJ ion microprobe. The setup is used for the precise irradiations of living cells by a controlled number of ions. Investigations of such type have two very important requirements: (1) cells must be examined in their natural state and environment (i.e. without previously being killed, preferentially neither fixed nor stained) and (2) the possibility of automatic irradiation of large number of cells (including computer recognition of cells positions) must be provided. This work presents some of the crucial features of the off-line and on-line optical systems, including self-developed software responsible for automatic cell recognition.

Correlação e concordância entre medidas ecocardiográficas obtidas durante o exame no ecocardiógrafo com medidas de imagens digitalizadas: estudo transversal

To evaluate the correlation and concordance between the measurements of echocardiographic analysis of cardiac dimensions obtained through the Echo off-line applicative (software for obtaining digitized image measurements in a dedicated workstation) available to public domain, and those obtained through the conventional method. Transversal contemporary study, of 56 randomized patients whose images were obtained during examinations. The measurements of the M mode and 2D, were done in the ventricles, left atrium, and aorta by the Echo off-line program. These measurements were compared to those obtained by another professional, through Pearson's correlation test (r), alpha = 0.05 and by concordance analysis (Bland and Altman). The measurements carried out by the Echo off-line system showed r that varied from 0.85 to 0.98. The analysis of concordance showed that for most measurements, the mean difference between the methods was approximately zero. The variation of absolute values did not show, in average, a clinical significance. The Echo off-line applicative allows a reduction of approximately 30% in the time spent to obtain the measurements. This study demonstrated the accuracy of the Echo off-line program to measure cardiac dimensions in a dedicated workstation, showing that it can be routinely used in echocardiography labs.

Libraries Without Walls: Information Technology in Finnish Public Libraries from the 1970s to the 1990s

Presents a short history of how information technology was introduced into Finnish public libraries from the 1970s to the 1990s. The period can be divided into five phases: off-line lending systems; online lending systems; integrated library systems and database searching; the birth of the national library database services; and the era of the Internet and the development of the digital library. Major sources used were the results of a postal questionnaire distributed to public libraries by the author in 2004 and articles and reports in 'Kirjastolehti' (the 'Finnish Library Journal').

INVERSE KINEMATICS OF 2R POSITIONER BASED ON WELDING POSTION REPRESENTATION

An algorithm of general 2R(rotation) positioner inverse kinematics is presented. According to the model of the welding position, giving a weld seam point, the weld orientation then can be resolved from the weld rotation angle and the weld slope angle. Symbolic are used to represent the positioner's link parameters and the orientation matrix between the robot and the positioner. The kinematics coordinate systems are established , the formula of 2R positioner inverse kinematics is derived. The simulation experiment results show that this algorithm can improve the ability of robotic arc welding off-line programming system to program all types of welding positions . This algorithm can also be used when the positioner is placed differently.

Preconcentration Systems Using Polyurethane Foam/Me-BDBD for Determination of Copper in Food Samples

A new reagent, 6-[2′-(6′-methyl-benzothiazolylazo)]-1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-benzenedisulfonic acid (Me-BDBD), was synthesised and used in on-line and off-line systems for copper preconcentration by solid-phase extraction. Spectrophotometry and Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS) were the detection techniques. Polyurethane foam loaded with Me-BDBD packed in a minicolumn was used as sorbent in both systems. The spectral characteristics of Me-BDBD were investigated. The optimum pH values for maximum sorption of the metal are between 7.0 and 8.5. Copper was desorbed with 0.05 and 0.50 mol L−1 hydrochloric acid solutions, for on-line and off-line systems, respectively. The effects of several foreign substances on the adsorption of copper are reported. The enrichment factors obtained were 7 (on-line) and 26 (off-line) for the systems. The proposed procedures allowed the determination of copper with detection limits of 3.4 and 1.4 μg L−1 (0.85 and 0.35 μg per gram of sample) for on-line and off-line systems, respectively. The precision of the procedures was also calculated: 3.2 (on-line) and 1.9% (off-line). The validation of the procedures was carried out by analysis of certified reference material. The copper contents in corn and rice flour and black tea samples were determined by applying the proposed procedures.

An Efficient On-Line Electronic Cash with Unlinkable Exact Payments

Though there are intensive researches on off-line electronic cash (e-cash), the current computer network infrastructure sufficiently accepts on-line e-cash. The on-line means that the payment protocol involves with the bank, and the off-line means no involvement. For customers' privacy, the e-cash system should satisfy unlinkability, i.e., any pair of payments is unlinkable w.r.t. the sameness of the payer. In addition, for the convenience, exact payments, i.e., the payments with arbitrary amounts, should be also able to performed. In an existing off-line system with unlinkable exact payments, the customers need massive computations. On the other hand, an existing on-line system does not satisfy the efficiency and the perfect unlinkability simultaneously. This paper proposes an on-line system, where the efficiency and the perfect unlinkability are achieved simultaneously.

Determination of Cd, Hg, Pb and Se in sediments slurries by isotopic dilution calibration ICP-MS after chemical vapor generation using an on-line system or retention in an electrothermal vaporizer treated with iridium

A method for the determination of Cd, Hg, Pb and Se in sediments reference materials by slurry sampling chemical vapor generation (CVG) using isotopic dilution (ID) calibration and detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is proposed. Two different systems were used for the investigation: an on-line flow injection system (FI-CVG-ICP-MS) and an off-line system with in situ trapping electrothermal vaporization (CVG-ETV-ICP-MS). About 100 mg of the reference material, ground to a particle size ≤50 μm, was mixed with acid solutions ( aqua regia, HF and HCl) in an ultrasonic bath. The enriched isotopes 111Cd, 198Hg, 206Pb and 77Se were then added to the slurry in an adequate amount in order to produce an altered isotopic ratio close to 1. For the on-line system, a standing time for the slurry of 12 h before measurement was required, while for the batch system, no standing time is needed to obtain accurate results. The conditions for the formation of the analyte vapor were optimized for the evaluated systems. The following altered isotope ratios were measured: 111Cd/ 114Cd, 198Hg/ 199Hg, 206Pb/ 208Pb e 77Se/ 82Se. The obtained detection limits in the on-line system, in μg g −1, were: Cd: 0.15; Hg: 0.09; Pb: 6.0 and Se: 0.03. Similar detection limits were obtained with the system that uses the ETV: 0.21 for Hg, 6.0 for Pb and 0.06 μg g −1 for Se. No signal for Cd was obtained in this system. One estuarine, two marine and two river certified sediments were analyzed to check the accuracy. The obtained values by both systems were generally in agreement with the certified concentrations, according to the t-test for a confidence level of 95%, demonstrating that isotope equilibration was attained in the slurries submitted to a chemical vapor generation procedure and detection by ICP-MS. The relative standard deviations were lower than 10%, adequate for slurry analysis. The almost quantitative analytes extractions to the aqueous phase of the slurry must favor equilibration of the added enriched isotope with the isotope in the sample, allowing the use of isotopic dilution calibration for slurry analysis.

Evaluation of Visible and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as a Tool for Assessing Fiber Fineness during Mechanical Preparation of Dew-Retted Flax

Flax fiber must be mechanically prepared to improve fineness and homogeneity of the sliver before chemical processing and wet-spinning. The changes in fiber characteristics are monitored by an airflow method, which is labor intensive and requires 90 minutes to process one sample. This investigation was carried out to develop robust visible and near-infrared calibrations that can be used as a rapid tool for quality assessment of input fibers and changes in fineness at the doubling (blending), first, second, third, and fourth drawing frames, and at the roving stage. The partial least squares (PLS) and principal component regression (PCR) methods were employed to generate models from different segments of the spectra (400-1100, 1100-1700, 1100-2498, 1700-2498, and 400-2498 nm) and a calibration set consisting of 462 samples obtained from the six processing stages. The calibrations were successfully validated with an independent set of 97 samples, and standard errors of prediction of 2.32 and 2.62 dtex were achieved with the best PLS (400-2498 nm) and PCR (1100-2498 nm) models, respectively. An optimized PLS model of the visible-near-infrared (vis-NIR) spectra explained 97% of the variation (R(2) = 0.97) in the sample set with a standard error of calibration (SEC) of 2.45 dtex and a standard error of cross-validation (SECV) of 2.51 dtex R(2) = 0.96). The mean error of the reference airflow method was 1.56 dtex, which is more accurate than the NIR calibration. The improvement in fiber fineness of the validation set obtained from the six production lines was predicted with an error range of -6.47 to +7.19 dtex for input fibers, -1.44 to +5.77 dtex for blended fibers at the doubling, and -4.72 to +3.59 dtex at the drawing frame stages. This level of precision is adequate for wet-spinners to monitor fiber fineness of input fibers and during the preparation of fibers. The advantage of visNIR spectroscopy is the potential capability of the technique to assess fineness and other important quality characteristics of a fiber sample simultaneously in less than 30 minutes; the disadvantages are the expensive instrumentation and the expertise required for operating the instrument compared to the reference method. These factors need to be considered by the industry before installing an off-line NIR system for predicting quality parameters of input materials and changes in fiber characteristics during mechanical processing.

Research on the validity duration of off-line E-cash

To solve the drawback of the present electionic cash (E-cash) schemes that the size of bank's transcripts database expands without bound, the concept of validity duration of E-cash is introduced in this paper. Through improving the users' blind transforms of Brands' scheme, we design an efficient off-line E-cash system based on the restrictive blind signature and representation problem. The security analysis shows that the users can not forge a valid electronic coin or double spend it, in addition, the bank can not trace an honest users' payment behaviours. In compare with Brand's scheme, our scheme reduces storage costs and computation overhead of the users and the banks. Most of all, the electronic cashes will be authorized within a limit period only, the size of bank's transcripts database becomes controllable.

A fair off-line e-cash system with group signature

This paper describes the research results and development of fair off-line e-cash systems so far, and points out that in these systems, the bank can compute the double-spender’s account secret key, thus the bank can impersonate the double-spender to withdraw from the double-spender’s account. This article utilizes anonymity control and group signature to address this shortcoming.

SWEDISH SA TELEPRINTER CIPHER SYSTEM

Discussion of an on-/off-line teleprinter cipher system used by the Swedish defense for securing all levels of teleprinter communications. The system was in use from 1959–1988.

A parallel Beowulf-based system for the detection of gravitational waves in interferometric detectors

The detection, in a modern interferometric detector like Virgo, of a gravitational wave signal from a coalescing binary stellar system is an intensive computational task both for the on-line and off-line computer systems. A parallel computing scheme using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) is described. Performance results on a small scale cluster are reported.

Hybrid adaptive optimal control of anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor for the de-icing waste treatment

Hybrid adaptive control strategy was developed and tested for the degradation of propylene glycol, a major component in de-icing waste, in an anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor (AFBR). A linearized model with time-varying parameters was first employed to describe the dynamic behavior of the AFBR using a recursive off-line system identification method. A hybrid adaptive control strategy was then tested using a recursive off-line system identification routine followed by an on-line adaptive optimal control algorithm. The objective of the controller was to achieve the desired set point value of the propionate concentration (stand-alone control output variable) by manipulating the dilution rate (control input variable). To do so, the optimal control law was developed by minimizing a cost function with constraint equations. This novel idea was successfully applied to the underlying system for 200 h. The set point (700 mg HPr l −1) was achieved even in the case where the feed concentration suddenly increased by 50% (9000 mg HPr l −1 to 13500 mg HPr l −1).

Data value development to enhance competitive advantage: a retrospective study of EDA systems for semiconductor fabrication

In semiconductor manufacturing, reducing cycle time, producing high quality products, on-time delivery, continual reduction of costs and improving efficiency are the most direct and effective ways to create value for customers. However, the semiconductor manufacturing process is extremely complex. Without good support from fab engineers, creating value for customers is difficult. An Engineering Data Analysis (EDA) system is a very important off-line analysis-oriented system that can be used to support yield analysis and quality improvement for semiconductor fabrication. However, due to the data integration, system design, and requirement for cooperation among domain experts, IT specialists, and statisticians, to develop and deploy an in-house EDA system is difficult. A retrospective study of a semiconductor manufacturing company is presented; the company has more than ten years' experience of developing the in-house EDA system. In particular, the process of developing the system is reviewed, including design thinking and information design. An EDA system that is currently used in an 8-inch fab is introduced. This study identifies several hidden factors that may affect the successful development of an EDA system. Prescriptions for overcoming these difficulties are also given in this study.

Gestão e tratamento do acervo arqueológico

A Reserva Técnica de Arqueologia (Salas Judite lvanir Breda) foi instituída com o objetivo de resguardar o patrimônio arqueológico proveniente de projetos de arqueologia por contrato, executados na Área Arqueológica Tocantins (T), Região Arqueológica Niquelândia do estado de Goiás - GO-Ni (Melo & Breda, 1972). Instituído pelo Laboratório de Arqueologia do Museu Antropológico da Universidade Federal de Goiás, tal acervo é resultado de urna parceria com outras instituições nacionais de pesquisa arqueológica e financiamento de empresas (tanto estatais quanto privadas). Na institucionalização da Reserva definiu-se uma sistemática organizacional para os diferentes tipos de instrumentos que compõem o Acervo Documental das pesquisas de gabinete o, possibilitando o gerenciamento do material documental por meio de ado armazenado em banco de dados. Foram tratadas 110 coleções totalizando 69.470 testemunhos arqueológicos; 9.000 imagens fotográficas; 102 horas de imagens videográficas: 2.949 exsicatas, além do Acervo Administrativo Corrente dos projetos de salvamento arqueológico das UHE's Serra da Mesa e Cana Brava, construídas no Norte goiano. O objetivo deste artigo é divulgar os resultados organizacionais do conteúdo científico sistematizado na RTA que passa agora a ser disponibilizado a pesquisadores, estudantes e público interessado pela temática arqueológica.

PHENIX on-line and off-line computing

Data handling in PHENIX is carried out by the On-Line Computing System (ONCS) and Off-Line Computing System (Off-Line). ONCS provides the overall control and monitoring of the front-end electronics, trigger and data acquisition system and detector ancillary systems. It configures and initializes the on-line system, monitors and controls the data flow, coordinates calibration processes, interlocks the data acquisition process with the slow control subsystems and performs a number of other functions. ONCS uses CORBA software to monitor and control the hardware. Off-Line provides all aspects of data handling not directly connected to the collection of data and monitoring, such as event simulation and reconstruction, data analysis and information management. The impact of the unprecedented data volumes on the design is presented, along with a detailed discussion of the tasks and methods of simulating, obtaining and monitoring the data.

적응제어 및 시스템 규명을 이용한 Field Robot의 궤적 제어

The Field robot means the machinery applied for outdoor tasks in construction, agriculture and undersea etc. In this study, to field-robotize a hydraulic excavator that is mostly used in construction working, we have developed an automatic excavation system and an adaptive control system. A model-reference adaptive controller has been designed based on the model that is obtained through off-line system identification. It is illustrated by computer simulations that the proposed control system gives good performance in the trajectory tracking control and the adaptation to parameter variation.