Measurement Systems Analysis Technique results

The research activity here presented has been carried out at the N.D.T. laboratory of l.S.P.E.S.L. (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Prevention) and it is aimed at the set up of the Stress Pattern Analysis by Measuring Thermal Emission technique [I] applied to pressure vessels. Basically, the SPATE system detects the infrared flux emitted from points resulting from the minute temperature changes in a cyclically stressed structure or component. 

The time that a molecule spends in a reactive system will affect its probability of reacting and the measurement, interpretation, and modeling of residence time distributions are important aspects of chemical reaction engineering. Part of the inspiration for residence time theory came from the black box analysis techniques used by electrical engineers to study circuits. These are stimulus-response or input-output methods where a system is disturbed and its response to the disturbance is measured. The measured response, when properly interpreted, is used to predict the response of the system to other inputs. For residence time measurements, an inert tracer is injected at the inlet to the reactor, and the tracer concentration is measured at the outlet. The injection is carried out in a standardized way to allow easy interpretation of the results, which can then be used to make predictions. Predictions include the dynamic response of the system to arbitrary tracer inputs. More important, however, are the predictions of the steady-state yield of reactions in continuous-flow systems. All this can be done without opening the black box. 

The importance of these surface-analysis techniques has resulted in the development of a range of highly automated instruments. In the effort to obtain multiple analytical data, a trend has occurred during the last ten years to build combined instruments, that is apparatus which will permit measurements by several techniques, in a single vacuum system. In this way, greater utilization of the complex instrumentation involved and a more economic use of the functional parameters of the instruments are ensured. 

The rotational relaxation of DNA from 1 to 150 ns is due mainly to Brownian torsional (twisting) deformations of the elastic filament. Partial relaxation of the FPA on a 30-ns time scale was observed and qualitatively attributed to torsional deformations already in 1970.(15) However, our quantitative understanding of DNA motions in the 0- to 150-ns time range has come from more accurate time-resolved measurements of the FPA in conjunction with new theory and has developed entirely since 1979. In that year, the first theoretical treatments of FPA relaxation by spontaneous torsional deformations appeared. 16 171 and the first commercial synch-pump dye laser systems were delivered. Experimental confirmation of the predicted FPA decay function and determination of the torsional rigidity of DNA were first reported in 1980.(18) Other labs 19 21" subsequently reported similar results, although their anisotropy formulas were not entirely correct, and they did not so rigorously test the predicted decay function or attempt to fit likely alternatives. The development of new instrumentation, new data analysis techniques, and new theory and their application to different DNAs in various circumstances have continued to advance this field up to the present time. 

In the kinetic studies of the adsorption process, the mass transport of the analyte to the binding sites is an important parameter to account for. Several theoretical descriptions of the chromatographic process are proposed to overcome this difficulty. Many complementary experiments are now needed to ascertain the kinetic measurements. Similar problems are found in the applications of the surface plasmon resonance technology (SPR) for association rate constant measurements. In both techniques the adsorption studies are carried out in a flow system, on surfaces with immobilized ligands. The role of the external diffusion limitations in the analysis of SPR assays has often been mentioned, and the technique is yet considered as giving an estimate of the adsorption rate constant. It is thus important to correlate the SPR data with results obtained from independent experiments, such as those from chromatographic measurements. 

NaLS) by copper(II) yields assemblies in which Cu2+ ions constitute the counter ion atmosphere of the micelle (Fig. 4.8). These may be photoreduced to the monovalent state by suitable donor molecules incorporated in the micellar interior. An illustrative example is that where D = N,N -dimethyl 5,11-dihydroindolo 3,3-6 carbazole(DI). When dissolved in NaLS micelles, DI displays an intense fluorescence and the fluorescence lifetime measured by laser techniques is 144 ns. Introduction of Cu2+ as counterion atmosphere induces a 300 fold decrease in the fluorescence yield and lifetime of DI. The detailed laser analysis of this system showed that in Cu(LS) micelles there is an extremely rapid electron transfer from the excited singlet to the Cu2+ ions. This process occurs in less than a nanosecond and hence can compete efficiently with fluorescence and intersystem crossing165. This astonishing result must be attributed to a pronounced micellar enhancement of the rate of the transfer reaction. It is, of course, a consequence of the fact that within such a functional surfactant unit regions with extremely high local concentrations of Cu2+ prevail. (Theoretical estimates predict the counterion concentration in the micellar Stem layer to be between 3 and 6 M). 

DSC is a thermal analysis technique that is used to measure the temperatures and energy flows related to transitions in materials as a function of time and temperature.These measurements provide qualitative and quantitative information about physical and chemical changes that involve endothermic or exothermic processes or changes in heat capacity. Any event, such as loss of solvent, phase transitions, crystallization temperature, melting point, and degradation temperature of the plastic sample, result in a change in the temperature of the sample. The systems available cover a wide temperature range, e g., -60°Cto>l,500°C. 

This chapter describes the use of the CARS technique for gas temperature measurements in flames. The description includes the optical arrangement, a brief summary of the theory of CARS signal generation, data acquisition, and analysis. The establishment of a CARS measurement system for practical flames can be challenging and it is hoped that the practical information included in this chapter will be of assistance to a novice attempting to get measurable and accurate CARS temperatures in large flames. Since the establishment of CARS as a practical measurement technique for temperature measurements in flames, literature shows that a lot has been learned about this non-linear interaction resulting... 

This fact, together with the ready availability of well developed hardware for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), makes this technique very attractive for the analysis of non-volatile compounds, especially in routine situations, provided that the separation systems can be combined with a measurement system that retains the resolution obtained and of course also has adequate performance in terms of precision, accuracy, selectivity, dynamic range and especially detection limit. The development of HPLC in the last 10 years vos possible only as a result of the design of measurement systems that fulfilled these demands. 

---