Automated Portable Test System

Table 6.7 Task Components of the Automated Portable Test System (APTS)...

The Automated Portable Test System (APTS) evaluation system is an outgrowth of the work of the PETER Program. The PETER Program had identified tests that were reliable, stable, and sensitive to environmental and toxic stressors. Kennedy and colleagues52 adopted and computerized a core set of 18 tasks from the PETER Program s recommended list of performance tasks suitable for repeated measures application. Those tasks are listed in Table 6.7. 

Delta, a commercial performance impairment testing system produced by the Essex Corporation, was derived from the Automated Portable Test System (APTS) evaluation system, which, in turn, was based on the work of the Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental Research Program (PETER), a jointly sponsored U.S. Navy and NASA program designed to identify measures of human cognitive, perceptual, and motor abilities that would be sensitive to environmental perturbations that are associated with decrements in safety and productivity. 

Biacore Q is a fully automated system allowing off-hours operation. The data analysis is also automated and does not require specialist interpretation. At present, the technology is expensive and not readily amenable to field test operation. Cost and portability may be important considerations when deciding whether to implement screening assays. Nevertheless, the use of SPR biosensors for screening prior... 

An example of a commercial LoaD platform based on FLISA is the GyroLab workstation (Gyros AB, Uppsala, Sweden) [5]. Lee et al. have reported a portable, fully automated lab-on-a-disc-based ELISA system to test infectious diseases from whole blood [6] which utilizes an optical detection module made up of two sets of matched LEDs and photodiodes to perform absorbance measurements at 430 and 630 nm, respectively (Fig. 2). 

Milling the surface may be necessary for a painted or dirty surface, but this can be done in a few seconds with hand held abraders. Although the reflection spectra obtained do not resemble absorption spectra, they can be transformed mathematically to give comparable results. Even without the transformation the data obtained is sufficient to set up a specific identification procedure that can recognise subtle differences in polymer structure and composition. MIR can identify and separate polymers of a similar type e.g. different form of polyamides or blends that only vary in proportion of polymers present [8]. A number of rapid identification methods are now marketed, based on MIR with sealed specular reflectance attachments. Both large scale and portable systems are available. The method can be automated and used in conjunction with a reference collection of spectra can visually display the most probable polymer type. The Bruker system P/ID 22 has been developed and tested in conjunction with the European Automobile Manufacturers Association... 

Alternatively, process models and the DCS can reside in an off-line personal computer, to provide a more portable, accessible, and maintainable dynamic representation of the plant. Such a virtual plant can be used to enhance process understanding and testing, investigate startups and transitions, diagnose and prevent abnormal operation, improve process automation, and prototype advanced control systems. 

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