Analysis systems, dedicated

The Expert Protein Analysis System. Dedicated to the analysis of protein sequence and structure as well as two-dimensional PAGE. Home of the SWISS-PROT protein knowledgebase and TrEMBL computer annotated supplement (8). 

Modem pulse height analysers essentially contain dedicated digital computers which store and process data, as well as control the display and operation of the instrument. The computer will usually provide spectrum smoothing, peak search, peak identification, and peak integration routines. Peak identification may be made by reference to a spectrum library and radionuclide listing. Figure 10.15 summarizes such a pulse height analysis system. 

An automatic gas analysis system (AGAS) is used to certify the concentrations of secondary standards. The AGAS has dedicated gas analysers for each of the species used in the standards. Personal computers are used to control AGAS which allows zero gas, primary gas standards and the unknown secondary gas standard to be directed in rapid succession into the appropriate analyser. The AGAS then records the analysers response for each of the gases and subsequently uses these values to calculate the unknown secondary standards concentration, and other statistical information. 

Tracor Northern manufacture complete x-ray microanalysis systems with video image collection and storage. The TN-8500 Image Analysis System features dedicated imaging hardware and software combined in an integrated system for advanced applications from the simplest particle size analysis to the most complex imaging applications such as fast Fourier transformation and 3-D reconstruction. 

While most HPLCs are general-purpose instruments, many are dedicated analysis systems packaged with specific columns and reagents. They often come with guaranteed performance from the vendor. Examples are systems for the analysis of amino acids (Figure 4.15c), carbamate pesticides, or sugars (see Chapter 7). 

Figure 12.6 shows a process flow diagram of the AIMS (some details concerning gas delivery to the system has been excluded for simplification). The key components include (a) a feed gas manifold, which consists of a pressure regulators and a bank of mass flow controllers (M FCs) for on-line generation of the reaction feed gas mixture (b) a reactor manifold, which consists of dedicated MFCs that meter the feed gas mixture to individual parallel-operating microreactors and (c) an on-line reactor feed and product gas analysis system. A brief description of the various components that perform these various functions is given below. 

The CARS measurement system consists of two high powered pulsed lasers, optics and detection equipment, and specialized software for a system dedicated to the acquisition and analysis of CARS spectra for the time resolved point measurements of temperature in a large scale flame. 

An important factor in the progress of bioinformatics has been the constant increase in computer speed and memory capacity of desktop computers and the increasing sophistication of data processing techniques. The computation power of common personal computers has increased within 12 years approximately 100-fold in processor speed, 250-fold in RAM memory space and 500-fold or more in hard disk space, while the price has nearly halved. This enables acquisition, transformation, visuahsation and interpretation of large amounts of data at a fraction of the cost compared to 12 years ago. Presently, bioanalytical databases are also growing quickly in size and many databases are directly accessible via the Internet One of the first chemical databases to be placed on the Internet was the Brookha-ven protein data bank, which contains very valuable three-dimensional structural data of proteins. The primary resource for proteomics is the ExPASy (Expert Protein Analysis System) database, which is dedicated to the analysis of protein sequences and structures and contains a rapidly growing index of 2D-gel electrophoresis maps. Some primary biomolecular database resources compiled from spectroscopic data are given in Tab. 14.1. 

Figure 2 illustrates relationships within the transport telematics system, based on the exploitation-reliability analysis of dedicated power supply systems. 

Commercial surface analysis systems have been available since around 1970 (1). Most of the early instruments were dedicated to longer-term fundamental research, even if they were located at industrial research centers. However. since the latter part of the 1980s, the most popular surface analytical techniques. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), have gained a greater level of acceptance in industry due to their improved reliability. Surface analysis is now routinely used to solve complex industrial problem.s in both research and quality assurance environments. It has been specifically the move toward the use of these techniques in quality-assurance-type applications that has started to force the development of national/international documentary standards in order to formalize the methods of application of the techniques. 

The high cost of the HPLC-NMR system is of course a factor which must be taken into consideration. Since most laboratories have seen the value of NMR in its traditional form, it is only necessary to add an HPLC system, an appropriate flow probe and a flow-control unit to an existing spectrometer to enable HPLC-NMR experiments to be performed. The cost of these accessories, or even the cost of a complete system dedicated to HPLC-NMR, is offset by the efficiency of the method. The laborious extraction of minor components from complex mixtures followed by off-line analysis or in the case of synthetic drugs the synthesis of radiochemically... 

As mentioned earlier some measures will be chosen because improvements in these areas were part of the project justification. It is most likely that these will be efficiency measures. Calculation of these measures generally requires analysis of data or specific data collection exercises. There is a relatively high cost associated with preparing these measures so they should be used prudently. In choosing efficiency measures, you should use only those where you have comparative data about the current management systems. For example, if there is no information on the number of hours dedicated to PSM and ESH, don t use this to try to demonstrate the improvement in efficiency. 

Pharmaceutical sites will usually create a dedicated team of validation specialists to coordinate all validation activities. They should operate according to a validation master plan that has been developed using risk analysis to identify the most critical systems requiring validation/re-validation. Before validating a system or process, a written protocol should be prepared that describes the system, the critical aspects, the objectives, the test methods and the acceptance criteria that will be applied. A validation report should be prepared on completion of each protocol. 

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