[en] A short account is given of recent developments in automation of the RIA technique. Difficulties encountered in the incubation, separation and quantitation steps are summarized. Published references are given to a number of systems, both discrete and continuous flow, and details are given of a system developed by the present authors. (U.K.)

[en] This paper deals with the problem of the automatic recognition of concepts and describes an important language tool, the ''linguistic filter'', which facilitates the construction of statistical algorithms. Certain special filters, of prepositions, conjunctions, negatives, logical implication, compound words, are presented. This is followed by a detailed description of a statistical algorithm allowing recognition of pronoun referents, and finally the problem of the automatic treatment of negatives in French is discussed

[en] The characteristic features that distinguish RIA from other clinical-chemical or biochemical methods of analysis have led to different concepts for the development of mechanized systems, due to different ways of weighting. Mechanical or automatic dispensors and diluters, the minimisation of delay effects, and the constant incubation times and temperatures have led to high precision even in tests whose reaction substances today are not incubated until equilibrium. (orig.)

[en] An automatic test bench for medium-frequency acceleration transducers employing a method of comparison is described. The following points are discussed: the measurement possibilities of this bench in the frequency range 10Hz-10kHz and for applied acceleration levels of 1000m.s^-2 or below; the transducer parameters checked; the uncertainties on the measurement of these parameters. The test procedure is described in detail and illustrated by a concrete case showing the particular form of presentation of the results

[en] The invention concerns a reaction and separation device for fast automatic solid-phase immunological analyses wherein the components are mixed, transported and separated by centrifugal force, the special feature of the device being that it possesses a column open at both ends, a retention and filtration system placed inside the column, impermeable to aqueous solutions at approximately atmospheric pressure but permeable to aqueous solutions when subjected to a centrifugal force, and a reaction and separation chamber placed above the filtration device and containing at least one substance intended for the immobilisation and separation of at least one component of an antigen-antibody system

[en] The combination of the automatic testing system ALOK with a controlled probe in the form of a phased array device is a possibility to meet the high requirements on the test method with regard to the statements of the test as well as the requirements on the reduction of operation and preparation times. The system's applications are not limited to the testing of reactors in nuclear technology (basic tests and recurring tests of the RPV and other primary circuit components); they are also of great importance in the non-nuclear sector e.g. the testing of pipelines, of reactors in the chemical field and of offshore structures as well as tests of components in the field of production. The modularity of the system permits an adaptation to the particular testing task with the possibility of using different manipulation and hardware systems. (orig./DG)

No abstract available

[en] Running a dosimetric service based on TLD technology such as at the Nuclear Research Centre Negev (NRCN) requires a large group of workers to carry out simple mechanical actions such as opening and closing TLD badges, placing and removal of TLD cards from the badges and operating the TLD reader. These actions can be automated to free human resources for other assignments and to improve the quality assurance. At NRCN a project was undertaken to design and build a robotic system based on a manipulator arm. The design was based on the experience achieved with an earlier prototype (1,2). The system stores the TLD badges in special designed boxes, which are transported and stored in computer defined bins. The robotic arm loads and unloads TLD cards to the badges, and loads/unloads the cards to a magazine for the TLD reader. At the Nuclear Research Center Negev (NRCN) each badge is assigned to a specific worker and bears a sticker containing the worker's personal details, also in a machine readable form (barcode). In order to establish a proper QA check, a barcode reader records the information on the badge and on the TLD card placed in this badge and checks their compatibility with the information contained in the main database. Besides the TLD cards loading/unloading station, there is a contamination check station, a cards cleaning station and a UV irradiation box used to reduce the history dependent residual dose. The system was installed at the NRCN dosimetry laboratory It was successfully tested for several hundreds of cycles and will become operational in the first quarter of 2014. As far as we know, there is no similar product available for automatic handling in a TLD laboratory

[en] Automation, the removal of the human element in inspection, has not been generally applied to film radiographic NDT. The justification for automating is not only productivity but also reliability of results. Film remains in the automated system of the future because of its extremely high image content, approximately 8 x 10⁹ bits per 14 x 17. This is equivalent to 2200 computer floppy discs. Parts handling systems and robotics applied for manufacturing and some NDT modalities, should now be applied to film radiographic NDT systems. Automatic film handling can be achieved with the daylight NDT film handling system. Automatic film processing is becoming the standard in industry and can be coupled to the daylight system. Robots offer the opportunity to automate fully the exposure step. Finally, computer aided interpretation appears on the horizon. A unit which laser scans a 14 x 17 inch film in 6 - 8 seconds can digitize film information for further manipulation and possible automatic interrogations (computer aided interpretation). The system called FDRS (for Film Digital Radiography System) is moving toward 50 micron (16 lines/mm) resolution. This is believed to meet the need of the majority of image content needs. We expect the automated system to appear first in separate parts (modules) as certain operations are automated. The future will see it all come together in an automated film radiographic NDT system

[en] The level of welding automation operations in power engineering and ways of its enhancement are highlighted. Used as the examples of comlex automation are an apparatus for the horizontal welding of turbine rotors, remotely controlled automatic machine for welding ring joint of large-sized vessels, equipment for the electron-beam welding of steam turbine assemblies of alloyed steels. The prospects of industrial robots are noted. The importance of the complex automation of technological process, including stocking, assemblying, transportation and auxiliary operations, is emphasized