Regarding the Influence of Additives and Additional Plasma-Induced Chemical Ionization on Adduct Formation in ESI/IMS/MS

Ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) separate ions based on their ion mobility, which depends mainly on collision cross-section, mass, and charge of the ions. However, the performance is often hampered in electrospray ionization (ESI) by the appearance of multiple ion mobility peaks in the spectrum for the same analyte due to clustering and additional sodium adducts. In this work, we investigate the influence of solvents and buffer additives on the detected ion mobility peaks using ESI. Additionally, we investigate the effects of an additional chemical ionization (CI) induced by plasma ionization on the ions formed by electrospray. For this purpose, we coupled our high-resolution IMS with a resolving power of Rp = 100 to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Depending on the analyte and the chosen additives, the ionization process can be influenced during the electrospray process. For the herbicide isoproturon, the addition of 5 mM sodium acetate results in the formation of the sodium adduct [M + Na]+, which is reflected in the ion mobility K0 of 1.22 cm2/(V·s). In contrast, the addition of 5 mM ammonium acetate yields the protonated species [M + H]+ and a correspondingly higher K0 of 1.29 cm2/(V·s). In some cases, as with the herbicide pyrimethanil, the addition of sodium acetate can completely suppress ionizations. By carefully choosing the solvent additive for ESI-IMS or additional CI, the formation of different ion mobility peaks can be observed. This can facilitate the assignment of ions to ion mobility peaks using IMS as a compact, stand-alone instrument, e.g., for on-site analysis

Requirements Engineering for Cyber-Physical Systems

Part 1: Knowledge Discovery and SharingInternational audienceAccording to a widely shared view, manufacturing is currently un- dergoing its fourth industrial revolution, termed “Industrie 4.0” in the high-tech strategy of the German government. Smart Factories with vertically and hori- zontally integrated production systems are enabled through the realization of machines, storage systems and utilities as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), which are able to share information, act, and control each other autonomously. The development of CPS requires the collaboration of different disciplines, like mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science. This cre- ates new challenges for Requirements Engineering (RE), which needs to estab- lish a common perception of the targeted CPS for the involved stakeholders. This paper will elaborate the specific challenges in RE for CPS based on a lit- erature review. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is used as an approach to automatically translate shared informal requirements specifications to formal domain specific models for the involved disciplines, to develop a comprehen- sive RE methodology for CPS

Utilising the Internet of Things for the Management of Through-life Engineering Services on Marine Auxiliaries

The producers of marine auxiliaries face the challenge, that they need to adapt their schedule for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations and other Through-life Engineering Services (TES) to the otherwise defined and often not well communicated schedules of the ships, which are carrying their products. The management of the MRO operations is currently a manual and time-consuming effort and makes the creation of Product Service Systems (PSS) a tedious effort. To help overcome this – unnecessary – hurdle, this paper presents a solution approach and its prototypical implementation utilising the Internet of Things (IoT) to aid the marine auxiliaries’ producers in the process of managing the product usage phase and its services. As data basis for the decision support, the constantly produced information of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) is used, and combined with Product Usage Information and enterprise data.publishedVersio

Eine Konstruktionsmethodik des bionischen Leichtbaus

Die Natur hat durch die Evolution eine Vielzahl ausgereifter Leichtbauprinzipien hervorgebracht, die als Vorbilder für innovative Konzepte technischer Konstruktionen dienen können. Eine entsprechende Erweiterung des in den Ingenieurwissenschaften etablierten Vorgehens um die Leichtbauprinzipien der Natur führt zu einer Vielzahl an innovativen Leichtbaukonzepten und erweitert damit das Potenzial für hoch effektive Konstruktionen

Utilising the Internet of Things for the Management of Through-life Engineering Services on Marine Auxiliaries

The producers of marine auxiliaries face the challenge, that they need to adapt their schedule for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations and other Through-life Engineering Services (TES) to the otherwise defined and often not well communicated schedules of the ships, which are carrying their products. The management of the MRO operations is currently a manual and time-consuming effort and makes the creation of Product Service Systems (PSS) a tedious effort. To help overcome this – unnecessary – hurdle, this paper presents a solution approach and its prototypical implementation utilising the Internet of Things (IoT) to aid the marine auxiliaries’ producers in the process of managing the product usage phase and its services. As data basis for the decision support, the constantly produced information of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) is used, and combined with Product Usage Information and enterprise data

New Approaches to Through-life Asset Management in the Maritime Industry

AbstractEuropean shipbuilders are facing a strong, worldwide competition. Consequently they have to reinvent their market approach and expand their business. In the past, European shipbuilders were focused on cost reduction in the production process to offer new build vessels at a competitive price for decades. Changing the focus from the selling price optimisation to the life cycle cost optimisation could lead to competitive advantages and enable new business opportunities. This new approach of through-life asset management is investigated in the EU- funded project ThroughLife. The minimisation of a vessel’ life cycle costs could be realised by applying new and innovative technologies. However, new technologies are characterised by higher investment costs and uncertainty regarding functionality, reliability and reparability. As a result, the situation can be characterised as a dilemma for the new building yard the ship owner and the repair yard. Therefore the ThroughLife project focuses besides the development of new technologies on the identification, elaboration and application of new business model concepts to overcome this dilemma. One business model concept is the offer of a comprehensive service package against a fixed, time based fee, which would lead to an overall cost reduction due to economies of scale, lower administration costs and a risk reduction for the customer, which would support the market penetration of new technologies. Combining this business model approach with the technology of monitoring sensors increases the potential of this approach. The service provider could use the gathered information to schedule maintenance according to the actual condition of the vessel and identify potential mistreatment by the client. The customer would benefit from reduced, calculable costs and a lower risk level when applying new technologies. Further research contains lifecycle cost model calculations as well as real-life tests of the monitoring hardware in order to proof the concept

Towards a miniaturized on-site nano-high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometer with online enrichment

Safeguarding water quality is resource-intensive and costly. Especially in cases of accidents or disasters, compact devices that allow quick assessment of the current situation are lacking. The objective of this work is the development of a portable measuring device for on-site detection of pollutants in water based on nano-high performance liquid chromatography (nano-HPLC) and electrospray ionization (ESI) ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). Integrated online enrichment by means of solid phase extraction (SPE) further improves sensitivity. In this work, an SPE cartridge exchange unit is presented, which was developed by additive manufacturing in a cost-effective and resource-efficient way. Prerequisites are an easy adaptation to commercially available SPE cartridges and pressure stability of up to 50 bar. In addition, a compact ESI-IMS with 75 mm drift tube length and a resolving power of R = 100 is presented that enables ionization, separation based on ion mobility and detection of analytes at a flow rate of 0.6 – 1.8 µL/min from the liquid phase. This approach also allows miniaturization of the overall system leading to a reduction in energy requirements and the amount of solvents used. For future environmentally benign systems, complete elimination of toxic solvents would be ideal. Therefore, acetonitrile and the nontoxic ethanol are compared as organic mobile phase in terms of elution and ionization efficiency. For characterization, a test mixture containing relevant target analytes, such as chlortoluron, isoproturon, pyrimethanil, mepanipyrim, cyprodinil and carbamazepine, is analyzed. In addition, the analytical greenness metric approach tool is used to evaluate the overall system in terms of its green credentials.It was shown that ethanol can be well used as an organic solvent for the mobile phase and even exhibits better ionization than acetonitrile for the selected model analytes. Furthermore, a relatively high orthogonality of O=0.53 and an effective 2D peak capacity of 2Dneff=174 are reached. Due to the overall miniaturization and splitless coupling, the aims of green chemistry can be met, and ideally a value of 0.92 can be achieved using the AGREE tool for the presented system

Preparation of Dräger Atlan A350 and General Electric Healthcare Carestation 650 anesthesia workstations for malignant hyperthermia susceptible patients

Background!#!Patients at risk of malignant hyperthermia need trigger-free anesthesia. Therefore, anesthesia machines prepared for safe use in predisposed patients should be free of volatile anesthetics. The washout time depends on the composition of rubber and plastic in the anesthesia machine. Therefore, new anesthesia machines should be evaluated regarding the safe preparation for trigger-free anesthesia. This study investigates wash out procedures of volatile anesthetics for two new anesthetic workstations: Dräger Atlan A350 and General Electric Healthcare (GE) Carestation 650 and compare it with preparation using activated charcoal filters (ACF).!##!Methods!#!A Dräger Atlan and a Carestation 650 were contaminated with 4% sevoflurane for 90 min. The machines were decontaminated with method (M1): using ACF, method 2 (M2): a wash out method that included exchange of internal parts, breathing circuits and soda lime canister followed by ventilating a test lung using a preliminary protocol provided by Dräger or method 3 (M3): a universal wash out instruction of GE, method 4 (M4): M3 plus exchange of breathing system and bellows. Decontamination was followed by a simulated trigger-free ventilation. All experiments were repeated with 8% desflurane contaminated machines. Volatile anesthetics were detected with a closed gas loop high-resolution ion mobility spectrometer with gas chromatographic pre-separation attached to the bacterial filter of the breathing circuits. Primary outcome was time until < 5 ppm of volatile anesthetics and total preparation time.!##!Results!#!Time to < 5 ppm for the Atlan was 17 min (desflurane) and 50 min (sevoflurane), wash out continued for a total of 60 min according to protocol resulting in a total preparation time of 96-122 min. The Carestation needed 66 min (desflurane) and 24 min (sevoflurane) which could be abbreviated to 24 min (desflurane) if breathing system and bellows were changed. Total preparation time was 30-73 min. When using active charcoal filters time to < 5 ppm was 0 min for both machines, and total preparation time < 5 min.!##!Conclusion!#!Both wash out protocols resulted in a significant reduction of trace gas concentrations. However, due to the complexity of the protocols and prolonged total preparation time, feasibility in clinical practice remains questionable. Especially when time is limited preparation of the anesthetic machines using ACF remain superior

Low anaesthetic waste gas concentrations in postanaesthesia care unit: A prospective observational study

BACKGROUND Volatile anaesthetics are a potential hazard during occupational exposure, pregnancy or in individuals with existing disposition to malignant hyperthermia. Anaesthetic waste gas concentration in postanaesthesia care units (PACU) has rarely been investigated. OBJECTIVE(S) The current study aims to assess concentrations of volatile anaesthetics in relation to room size, number of patients and ventilator settings in different PACUs. DESIGN A prospective observational study. SETTING Two different PACUs of the Hannover Medical School (Hannover, Germany) were evaluated in this study. The rooms differed in dimensions, patient numbers and room ventilation settings. PATIENTS During the observation period, sevoflurane anaesthesia was performed in 65 of 140 patients monitored in postanaesthesia unit one and in 42 of 70 patients monitored in postanaesthesia unit two. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Absolute trace gas room concentrations of sevoflurane measured with a compact, closed gas loop high-resolution ion mobility spectrometer. RESULTS Traces of sevoflurane could be detected in 805 out of 970 samples. Maximum concentrations were 0.96±0.20ppm in postanaesthesia unit one, 0.82±0.07ppm in postanaesthesia unit two. Median concentration was 0.12 (0.34)ppm in postanaesthesia unit one and 0.11 (0.28)ppm in postanaesthesia unit two. CONCLUSION Low trace amounts of sevoflurane were detected in both PACUs equipped with controlled air exchange systems. Occupational exposure limits were not exceeded.</p