Smartspectrometer—embedded optical spectroscopy for applications in agriculture and industry

The ongoing digitization of industry and agriculture can benefit significantly from optical spectroscopy. In many cases, optical spectroscopy enables the estimation of properties such as substance concentrations and compositions. Spectral data can be acquired and evaluated in real time, and the results can be integrated directly into process and automation units, saving resources and costs. Multivariate data analysis is needed to integrate optical spectrometers as sensors. Therefore, a spectrometer with integrated artificial intelligence (AI) called SmartSpectrometer and its interface is presented. The advantages of the SmartSpectrometer are exemplified by its integration into a harvesting vehicle, where quality is determined by predicting sugar and acid in grapes in the field

Time-to-care metrics in patients with interhospital transfer for mechanical thrombectomy in north-east Germany: primary telestroke centers in rural areas vs. primary stroke centers in a metropolitan area.

BACKGROUND: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is highly effective in large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke. In north-east Germany, many rural hospitals do not have continuous neurological expertise onsite and secondary transport to MT capable comprehensive stroke centers (CSC) is necessary. In metropolitan areas, small hospitals often have neurology departments, but cannot perform MT. Thus, interhospital transport to CSCs is also required. Here, we compare time-to-care metrics and outcomes in patients receiving MT after interhospital transfer from primary stroke centers (PCSs) to CSCs in rural vs. metropolitan areas. METHODS: Patients from ten rural telestroke centers (RTCs) and nine CSCs participated in this study under the quality assurance registry for thrombectomies of the Acute Neurological care in North-east Germany with TeleMedicine (ANNOTeM) telestroke network. For the metropolitan area, we included patients admitted to 13 hospitals without thrombectomy capabilities (metropolitan primary stroke centers, MPSCs) and transferred to two CSCs. We compared groups regarding baseline variables, time-to-care metrics, clinical, and technical outcomes. RESULTS: Between October 2018 and June 2022, 50 patients were transferred from RTCs within the ANNOTeM network and 42 from MPSCs within the Berlin metropolitan area. RTC patients were older (77 vs. 72 yrs, p = 0.05) and had more severe strokes (NIHSS 17 vs. 10 pts., p < 0.01). In patients with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT; 34.0 and 40.5%, respectively), time from arrival at the primary stroke center to start of IVT was longer in RTCs (65 vs. 37 min, p < 0.01). However, RTC patients significantly quicker underwent groin puncture at CSCs (door-to-groin time: 42 vs. 60 min, p < 0.01). Despite longer transport distances from RTCs to CSCs (55 vs. 22 km, p < 0.001), there was no significant difference of times between arrival at the PSC and groin puncture (210 vs. 208 min, p = 0.96). In adjusted analyses, there was no significant difference in clinical and technical outcomes. CONCLUSION: Despite considerable differences in the setting of stroke treatment in rural and metropolitan areas, overall time-to-care metrics were similar. Targets of process improvement should be door-to-needle times in RTCs, transfer organization, and door-to-groin times in CSCs wherever such process times are above best-practice models

Antibiotika-Forschung - 5 Jahre danach: Was hat sich getan, was bleibt zu tun?

Einer stetig zunehmenden Zahl von Infektionen durch Antibiotika-resistente Bakterien stehen immer weniger neue Antibiotika gegenüber - das „Antibiotika-Problem“. Aus diesem Anlass veröffentlichten die Leopoldina und die Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg im Jahr 2013 die Stellungnahme „Antibiotika-Forschung: Probleme und Perspektiven“, die auf einen Workshop 2012 zurückging. Mit dem vorliegenden Papier weisen die Akademien nun – 5 Jahre nach dem ersten Workshop - auf eine Reihe von Punkten hin, welche aus Sicht der Wissenschaft bei der Lösung des Antibiotika-Problems nicht aus dem Blick geraten dürfen. Es geht im Wesentlichen um zwei Aspekte: die in vielen Ländern zunehmende Resistenz von bakteriellen Infektionserregern gegen die verfügbaren Antibiotika und das Problem fehlender neuer Antibiotika

Optischer Schweißelektroden-Überwachungssensor

Resistives Punktschweißen ist in der Fahrzeugfertigung eines der gängigsten und preiswertesten Fügeverfahren zum Verbinden von Karosserieteilen. Die Qualitätsanforderungen in der Massenfertigung sind hoch, denn Stabilität und Sicherheit des Fahrzeugs hängen vom ordnungsgemäßen Schweißen ab. Im modernen Fahrzeugbau werden vermehrt verzinktes Stahlblech oder sogar Aluminium basierte Leichtmetalllegierungen verwendet. Im Gegensatz zu einfachem Stahlblech werden die Schweißelektroden hierdurch wesentlich stärker belastet und müssen daher häufiger gewartet werden. In Verbindung mit der Entwicklung von Werkzeugen für die vollautomatische Reinigung, Formierung und den Wechsel der Elektrodenspitzen kann ein am Fraunhofer-Institut für Photonische Mikrosysteme IPMS entwickeltes optisches Sensorsystem den Zustand der Elektrodenspitzen überwachen und so dazu beitragen, Stillstandzeiten und fehlerhafte Fertigung zu vermeiden

Smart systems for food quality and safety

Microsystems can provide a wide range of technological solutions to make food safer and of better quality, and can contribute to convenience, shelf life, and freshness. The systems involve at least one component built by microtechnologies or nanotechnologies. The "FoodMicroSystems" project has developed roadmaps on three application sectors, food and beverage sector, meat sector and dairy sector, and on the key microsystem technology areas. The chapter presents some technologies to solve some of the more urgent problems in the dairy sector. Moreover, these technologies will also be used for the analysis of different foods. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used for visualizing the internal structure, phase separation, component distribution, rheology and basic structure, and composition of dairy food. Some gas sensing systems are available in the market for environmental, industrial safety, and other niche applications. E-nose systems, which are based on gas devices, could be adapted to the food and beverage process monitoring

First application close measurements applying the new hybrid integrated MEMS spectrometer

Grating spectrometers have been designed in many different configurations. Now potential high volume applications ask for extremely miniaturized and low cost systems. By the use of integrated MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) scanning grating devices a less expensive single detector can be used in the NIR instead of the array detectors required for fixed grating systems. Meanwhile the design of a hybrid integrated MEMS scanning grating spectrometer has been drawn. The MEMS device was fabricated in the Fraunhofer IPMS own clean room facility. This chip is mounted on a small circuit board together with the detector and then stacked with spacer and mirror substrate. The spectrometer has been realized by stacking several planar substrates by sophisticated mounting technologies. The spectrometer has been designed for the 950nm - 1900nm spectral range and 9nm spectral resolution with organic matter analysis in mind. First applications are considered in the food quality analysis and food processing technology. As example for the use of a spectrometer with this performance the grill process of steak was analyzed. Similar measurement would be possible on dairy products, vegetables or fruit. The idea is a mobile spectrometer for in situ and on site analysis applications in or attached to a host system providing processing, data access and input-output capabilities, disregarding this would be a laptop, tablet, smart phone or embedded platform