Software and Information Technology
Controller Upgrade Supports Unique Requirements of Many Specific Instruments
Symbion-LX Version 2.0 preserves all of the advanced features of Version 1.3, and adds significantly expanded instrument-control and spectroscopic-data-processing capabilities. The result is a universal spectroscopic-data system designed for use in laboratory information management systems. Its standardized platform can control a wide range of spectrometers and other analytical instruments, and provides comprehensive data-manipulation and application-development capabilities. It can communicate with numerous chemometric routines, other third-party programs, and enterprise-wide data systems. Now a fully Windows-compliant program, Symbion-LX is capable of integrating analytical data into reports written in MS Word or other Windows-based programs. The user simply makes a selection and the instrument control panel is customized for the specific tool. The upgrade enables users to store data either as standard files or as part of a modern SQL database with comprehensive search capability and easy handoff of data to other software entities, such as multivariate programs and data historians
Appeared In Issue: April 2008
Symbion Systems, Inc.
www.gosymbion.com
Browser Lets Users Make and Track Collections
Providing an intuitive user interface and a wide range of reporting options, the Agilent Analytical Studio Reviewer (AASR) makes it easy to review large amounts of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) data quickly. The browser lets users customize the display of key data elements, facilitating review of large sample sets. It further enhances lab efficiency by offering color-coding of samples, view-flexibility that highlights particular results, multiple-chromatogram views, and displays of UV-peak purity and MS-peak purity. Data display and reports can be generated in a variety of file formats, including PDF, the manufacturer’s AASR and Waters’ RPT. Users can override summary results to apply corrections, generating a new file with all changes tracked in a log file.
Appeared In Issue: April 2008
Agilent Technologies Inc.
www.chem.agilent.com
Sustainability Software Reduces Risk, Cost and Complexity
Essential Suite 7.1 is scalable from plant-level to global deployments and includes a comprehensive, fully integrated set of environment, health and safety (EH&S) and crisis-management modules. It leverages critical data, information and best practices from a common database across business enterprises, focusing on five urgent business concerns: greenhouse gases and global climate change, worker health and safety, environmental compliance, emergency planning and response, and corporate social responsibility reporting. The software provides a tangible framework that aligns employees’ daily work activities and business processes with the organization’s strategic objectives and goals for sustainability. Global usability enhancements allow users to personalize each interface, simplifying and speeding up data entry with more-intuitive workflow and access to frequently used forms and data. The Essential Incident module makes it easy to collect and manage a wide range of incident information, and to analyze and prioritize workplace health and safety risks. The Essential Audit module enables users to quickly capture and manage operational data to assure compliance with government regulations, global protocols, industry standards and corporate policies. Finally, the Essential Performance Manager facilitates the creation and management of key performance indicators (KPI).
Appeared In Issue: April 2008
Environmental Support Solutions
www.ess-home.com
Software Generates Vector and Scalar Contour Plots
DF_Contour generates publication-ready graphs and contours from numerical and experimental data. It can also produce a screen animation of a succession of color maps or graphs. This simple and inexpensive tool can be used to represent and analyze up to 16 different data sets or graphs simultaneously. A user needs to input ASCII-formatted data with a one-word descriptor (e.g., #vector, #scalar) before each dataset for DF_Contour to identify the type of data and represent it properly. These types include vector and scalar fields, shapes, curves and markers. The intuitive software followsfamiliar Windows interface and commands.
Appeared In Issue: April 2008
Dynaflow, Inc.
www.dynaflow-inc.com
Modeling Advancements Facilitate Fine-Tuning
The new visual modeling tools of PlantTriage result in improved dynamic process models. Drag-and-drop modeling allows the user to take test data and drag the model curve to match the actual response curve. The program then finds a dynamic process model that reflects the visually designed response. This model gives optimal proportional-integral- derivative controller (PID) values, simulating responses to upsets and noise. Drag-and-drop modeling is fully compatible with PlantTriage’s Active Model Capture Technology, which automatically tracks operator setpoint moves and incorporates them into the model. The resulting model can then be fine-tuned using the drag-and-drop features.
Appeared In Issue: April 2008
ExperTune
www.expertune.com