Due to increased convenience and faster test results, interest in point-of-care testing (PoCT) has grown significantly. Though PoCT may improve the speed and convenience of testing, the devices need ...to be fit for their intended purpose. Our aim was to verify the performance of Roche cobas b 101 and Abbott Afinion 2 for C-reactive protein (CRP), lipid studies and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), and Siemens Atellica DCA for HbA1c. For all PoCT analysers and measurands, accuracy was assessed by method comparison with central laboratory analysers. Passing-Bablok linear regression was performed, and Bland-Altman plots were generated. The proportion of samples within the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Programs Analytical Performance Specifications (RCPAQAP APS) was assessed. Within-run and between-day imprecision was assessed and compared with manufacturer claims and biological variation or clinical guidelines for desirable imprecision. For CRP, both evaluated PoCT analysers had all samples within the RCPAQAP APS and had optimal imprecision according to biological variation. For lipid studies, the Roche cobas b 101 had most samples within the RCPAQAP APS, with two of 22 cholesterol, one of 22 high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and zero of 22 triglyceride comparisons outside the RCPAQAP APS. The Abbott Afinion 2 had a positive bias with all three measured parameters, although the effect was more limited in the calculated parameters cholesterol:HDL-C ratio, non-HDL-C and low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C). For HbA1c, all analysers had acceptable imprecision for monitoring with coefficient of variation (CV) <3% and minimal bias at the treatment target (HbA1c 53 mmol/mol or 7.0%). However, significant biases were apparent at higher or lower HbA1c for all analysers. All evaluated analysers were fit for purpose for CRP and for serial monitoring of HbA1c, although bias in some analysers was present at extremes of HbA1c. For lipid studies, the Roche cobas b 101 had fewer results outside the RCPAQAP allowable limits, and better precision. The Abbott Afinion 2 had a positive bias on both the cholesterol and HDL-C, but there is limited clinical impact when calculating cholesterol:HDL-C, LDL-C and non-HDL-C.
The CALIPER program recently established a comprehensive database of age- and sex-stratified pediatric reference intervals for 40 biochemical markers. However, this database was only directly ...applicable for Abbott ARCHITECT assays. We therefore sought to expand the scope of this database to biochemical assays from other major manufacturers, allowing for a much wider application of the CALIPER database.
Based on CLSI C28-A3 and EP9-A2 guidelines, CALIPER reference intervals were transferred (using specific statistical criteria) to assays performed on four other commonly used clinical chemistry platforms including Beckman Coulter DxC800, Ortho Vitros 5600, Roche Cobas 6000, and Siemens Vista 1500. The resulting reference intervals were subjected to a thorough validation using 100 reference specimens (healthy community children and adolescents) from the CALIPER bio-bank, and all testing centers participated in an external quality assessment (EQA) evaluation.
In general, the transferred pediatric reference intervals were similar to those established in our previous study. However, assay-specific differences in reference limits were observed for many analytes, and in some instances were considerable. The results of the EQA evaluation generally mimicked the similarities and differences in reference limits among the five manufacturers' assays. In addition, the majority of transferred reference intervals were validated through the analysis of CALIPER reference samples.
This study greatly extends the utility of the CALIPER reference interval database which is now directly applicable for assays performed on five major analytical platforms in clinical use, and should permit the worldwide application of CALIPER pediatric reference intervals.
•CALIPER reference intervals were transferred to four clinical chemistry platforms•Transferred reference intervals were validated by analyzing CALIPER specimens•This database should permit global application of CALIPER reference intervals
Streaming analytics that requires integration and aggregation of heterogeneous and distributed streaming and static data is a typical task in many industrial scenarios including the case of ...industrial IoT where several pieces of industrial equipment such as turbines in Siemens are integrated into an IoT. The OBDA approach has a great potential to facilitate such tasks; however, it has a number of limitations in dealing with analytics that restrict its use in important industrial applications. We argue that a way to overcome those limitations is to extend OBDA to become analytics, source, and cost aware. In this work we propose such an extension. In particular, we propose an ontology, mapping, and query language for OBDA, where aggregate and other analytical functions are first class citizens. Moreover, we develop query optimisation techniques that allow to efficiently process analytical tasks over static and streaming data. We implement our approach in a system and evaluate our system with Siemens turbine data.
•A quartz ceramic lining for enhancing energy efficiency is proposed.•A CFD model considering the operating and design parameters is developed.•A potential maximum deposition radius for rods can be ...achieved.•The interactive effects of parameters on energy efficiency are performed.•Average energy consumption for Siemens reactor can be reduced substantially.
A parametric study was conducted for the cost reduction of polysilicon by decreasing the electrical energy loss of an existing Siemens reactor. In this work, a quartz ceramic lining was applied onto a reactor vessel, and the hot emitter mechanism was adopted to enhance the energy efficiency for the production of polycrystalline silicon. The effects of the geometrical and heat transfer parameters on the energy efficiency and productivity of the Siemens reactor were examined. Our results indicate that the ceramic lining behaved similarly to thermal insulators by restricting the heat transfer through the ceramic lining, causing the lining surface facing the heated polysilicon rod to emit thermal radiation, thus contributing to reactor’s energy efficiency. The results further demonstrated that the impact of the ceramic lining emissivity on the total radiated heat loss was very small. Furthermore, by addition of a quartz ceramic lining, there is a noteworthy reduction in the total electrical current, resulting in a smoother radial-dependent temperature and thermal stress distribution; thus, a higher deposition radius for the rods can be achieved. According to the energy efficiency analysis, the average energy consumption for the existing 24-rod Siemens reactor can be decreased from 55 kWh per kilograms polysilicon to approximately 36 kWh per kilograms polysilicon.
•HCl, H2, SiCl2, SiHCl3, SiH2Cl2, SiCl4 can all dissociatively adsorb at some sites.•HCl not affected by coverage, SiCl2 prefer higher, H2 lower & SiCl4 in between.•Formation of adsorbed SiCl2 from ...surface Si atom had highest barrier of 3.62 eV.•Formation of desorbed SiHCl3 from adsorbed SiCl2 had barrier of 1.07 eV.
The interaction of chlorosilanes and the silicon surface is an important part of reaction processes, such as hydrochlorination and chemical vapor deposition, involved in the production of high purity silicon. We used plane-wave based density functional theory (DFT) to investigate periodic slabs of the Si(100)-c(4 × 2) surface for adsorption of H2, HCl, SiCl2, dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2 or DCS), trichlorosilane (SiHCl3 or TCS) and silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4 or STC). The effects of surface coverage, molecule orientation, adsorption site and multiple molecule adsorption were studied. All the molecules could undergo dissociative chemisorption in the right orientation and site placement, with HCl and SiCl2 possessing the strongest binding energies. The H2 molecule preferred lower coverage, the HCl molecule was not much affected by coverage while the SiCl2 molecule strongly preferred higher coverage and the STC molecule was affected negatively by both too high or low coverage. The elementary steps leading to transfer of surface crystal silicon atoms to gas phase molecules as part of the chlorination or hydrochlorination process were then looked at through reaction pathway analysis. The formation of SiCl2 from a surface dimer Si atom was found to prefer an intradimer route with a reaction barrier of 3.62 eV (83.48 kcal/mol), going down to 3.10 eV (71.49 kcal/mol) after removal of the first surface Si atom. The subsequent formation of TCS from this SiCl2 was found to have reaction barrier of 1.07 eV (24.68 kcal/mol). STC could also be formed from this SiCl2 molecule with a reaction barrier of 2.86 eV (65.95 kcal/mol).
The paper describes the methodology of mathematical CAD model parameterisation for the subsequent development of the control program (CP) in Siemens NX 2206, which allows in the process of changing ...the parametric CAD model to adapt not only the 3D model, but also to rebuild the control program, thereby significantly reducing the time for CP development. The application of methods of parametrisation of models in the article is shown in an example of simulators of blades of 3 stages. As a result, a parametric CAD model of the blade simulator, tooling for the product installation on the machine tool, for 3-axis CNC milling machining, automatically changing for each stage of the simulator were developed. A simulator manufacturing process based on the parametric model was developed and successfully implemented. The report formulated the basic provisions and rules for the design of single-type models for the subsequent development of universal control programmes for CNC machines.
•Analytical characteristics of whole blood POC Atellica VTLi compared to plasma central laboratory Atellica IM hs-cTnI assays.•Moderate to strong concordance between whole blood point of care ...Atellica VTLi hs-cTnI to plasma central laboratory assay.•Lack of standardization between POC and central laboratory hs-cTnI assays prevents interchanged use in patient care.
This study examined the analytical performance of a whole blood (WB) point of care (POC) hs-cTnI assay compared to a plasma central laboratory hs-cTnI assay in patients presenting with ischemic symptoms to a US emergency department.
Fresh WB specimens collected at 0 and 2 h from 1089 consecutive patients (2152 total from 1076 matched specimens) were analyzed for hs-cTnI using WB on POC Siemens Atellica VTLi assay and plasma on central laboratory Siemens Atellica IM assay. Concordances were determined based on concentrations ranging from < limit of detection (LoD), LoD to overall and sex specific 99th percentiles from both the IFCC manufacturer package inserts and Universal Sample Bank (USB) data, and > 99th percentiles. Method comparisons were calculated using Passing Bablok regression and Bland Altmann plots, and linear regression determined by Pearson correlation coefficient.
Baseline concentration comparisons showed: POC VTLi < LoD 4–5 %, ≥ LoD 95 %; Atellica IM < LoD 5–7 %, and ≥ LoD 94–95 %. From the 2152 paired 0 and 2-hour samples, based on 99th percentiles, overall concordance was 91–92 % (kappa 0.72–0.77) and discordance 8 %. Passing Bablok regression analysis using 1924 specimens between LoD to 500 ng/L showed: slopes 0.469–0.490; y-intercepts 1.753–2.028; r values 0.631–0.817. Pearson correlation coefficient showed moderate to strong correlation strength, even with up to 53 % cTnI concentrations variance (Passing Bablok slopes) vs 27.0–40.1 % (Bland-Altmann plots).
Up to 95 % of measured samples were > LoD for both the POC (Atellica VTLi) and central laboratory (Atellica IM) hs-cTnI assays. Moderate to strong concordance and correlation were observed between assays, despite up to 53 % variances in cTnI concentration.
For the past recent years, Industry 4.0 (I40) also known as smart manufacturing, together with advanced manufacturing techniques, has been introduced in the industrial manufacturing sector to improve ...and stabilize processes. Nevertheless, practical applications of these advanced technologies are still in their early stages resulting in slow adoption of the I40 concepts, especially for small- to medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). This paper proposes the design of an experimental method to integrate the practical use of Industry 4.0 in a small bottling plant; especially by detecting early faults or threats in conveyor motors and generating accordingly a predictive maintenance schedule. Using advanced programming functions of a Siemens S7-1200 programmable logic controller (PLC) controlling the bottling plant, vibration speed data is monitored through vibration sensors mounted on the motor and an efficient predictive maintenance plan is generated. The running PLC communicates with a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) graphical user interface (GUI) which instantaneously displays maintenance schedules and allows, whenever required, flexible configuration of new maintenance rules. This paper also proposes a decentralized monitoring system from which vibration speed states can be monitored on a cloud-based report accessible via the Internet; the decentralized monitoring system also sends instant email notifications to the intended supervisor for every maintenance schedule generated. By its results, this research shows different possibilities of the practical use of Industry 4.0 basic concepts to better manufacturing operations within SMEs and opens a path for more improvement in this sector.
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