Pulsed Blue Laser Diode Thermal Desorption Microplasma Imaging Mass Spectrometry

An ambient air laser desorption, plasma ionization imaging method is developed and presented using a microsecond pulsed laser diode for desorption and the flexible microtube plasma for ionization of the neutral desorbate. Inherent parameters such as the laser repetition rate and pulse width are optimized to the imaging application. For the desorption substrate, copper spots on a copper-glass sandwich structure are used. This novel design enables imaging without ablating the metal into the mass spectrometer. On this substrate, fixed calibration markers are used to decrease the positioning error in the imaging process, featuring a 3D offset correction within the experiment. The image is both screened spot-by-spot and per line scanning at a constant speed, which allows direct comparison. In spot-by-spot scanning, a novel algorithm is presented to unfold and to reconstruct the imaging data. This approach significantly decreases the time required for the imaging process, which allows imaging even at decreased sampling rates and thus higher mass resolution. After the experiment, the raw data is automatically converted and interpreted by a second algorithm, which allows direct visualization of the image from the data, even on low-intensity signals. Mouse liver microtome cuts have been screened for dehydrated cholesterol, proving good agreement of the unfolded data with the morphology of the tissue. The method optically resolves 30 μm, with 30 μm diameter copper spots and a 10 μm gap. No conventional chemical matrices or vacuum conditions are required.

Pulsed Blue Laser Diode Thermal Desorption Microplasma Imag-ing Mass Spectrometry

An ambient air laser desorption, plasma ionization imaging method is developed and presented using a pulsed laser diode for desorption and the flexible microtube plasma for ionization of the neutral desorbate. Inherent parameters such as the laser pulse frequency and pulse width are optimized to the imaging application. For the desorption substrate, copper spots on a copper-glass sandwich structure are used. This novel design enables imaging without ablating the metal into the mass spectrometer. On this substrate, fixed calibration markers are used to decrease the positioning error in the imaging process, featuring a 3D offset correction within the experiment. The image is both screened spot-by-spot and per line scanning at a constant speed, which allows direct comparison. In spot-by-spot scanning, a novel algorithm is presented to unfold and to reconstruct the imaging data. This approach significantly decreases the time required for the imaging process, which allows imaging even at decreased sampling rates and thus higher mass resolution. After the experiment, the raw data is automatically converted and interpreted by a second algorithm, which allows direct visualization of the image from the data, even on low-intensity signals. Mouse liver microtome cuts have been screened for dehydrated cholesterol, proving good agreement of the unfolded data with the morphology of the tissue. The method optically resolves 30 µm, with 30 µm diameter copper spots and a 10 µm gap. No conventional chemical matrices or vacuum conditions are required.

A Mathematic Method to Adjust MLC Leaf End Position for Accuracy Dose Calculation in Carbon Ion Beam Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning System

IntroductionWe present a mathematic method to adjust the leaf end position for dose calculation correction in carbon ion radiation therapy treatment planning system. Methods and MaterialsA struggling range algorism of 400 MeV/n carbon ion beam in nine different multi-leaf collimator (MLC) materials was conducted to calculate the dose 50% point in order to derive the offset corrections in carbon ion treatment planning system (ciPlan). The visualized light field edge position in treatment planning system is denoted as Xtang.p and MLC position (Xmlc.p) is defined as the source to leaf end mid-point projection on axis for monitor unit calculation. The virtual source position of an energy at 400 MeV/n and struggling range in MLC at different field sizes were used to calculate the dose 50% position on axis. On-axis MLC offset (correction) could then be obtained from the position corresponding to 50% of the central axis dose minus the Xmlc.p MLC position. ResultsThe precise MLC position in carbon ion treatment planning system can be used an offset to do the correction. The offset correction of pure tungsten is the smallest among the others due to its shortest struggling range of carbon ion beam in MLC. The positions of 50% dose of all MLC materials are always located in between Xtang.p and Xmlc.p under the largest field of 12 cm by 12 cm. ConclusionsMLC offset should be adjusted carefully at different field size in treatment planning system especially of its small penumbra characteristic in carbon ion beam. It is necessary to find out the dose 50% position for adjusting MLC leaf edge on-axis location in the treatment planning system to reduce dose calculation error.

Satellite altimeter to estimate discharge of the Ganga River

<p>We use satellite altimeter data to estimate average monthly discharge at seven different locations in the middle and lower parts of the Ganga River. We have obtained the water level from different satellite altimeter mission ERS-2 (1995 - 2007), Envisat (2002 - 2010), and Jason-2 (2008 - 2017) through publicly available databases Hydroweb and DAHITI. To make the water level comparable with the gauge stations, we applied the datum and offset correction to the altimetry datasets. The corrected water level data well accord with the ground measurements with RMSE values in a range between (22 - 71) cm. </p><p>We then established stage-discharge rating curves from the water-level derived from satellite altimeter and the corresponding discharge measured at the nearest gauge station. We use these rating curves to estimate discharge of the Ganga River in the middle (Kachla bridge, Kanpur, Shahzadpur, Prayagraj and Mirzapur) and lower (Azmabad and Farakka) reaches from the water-level from satellite altimeter. Our estimates of discharge compare with the monthly average discharge recorded at the nearest ground station.</p><p>We observed that the uncertainty in the discharge estimate is relatively high in the middle than the lower reaches of the Ganga River. This is probably associated with the low discharge and shallow flow depth of the Ganga River in the middle reaches as compare to the high flow depth and discharge in the lower reaches. Overall performance analysis of statistical parameters (NSE, RSR, PBIAS, and R<sup>2</sup>), suggests that except for the Kanpur station, our estimates of discharge can be categories into "good" to "satisfactory".</p>

The re-analysis on the raw data processing of KBR and LRI on GRACE-FO

<div> <p>The KBR (K-Band ranging instrument) and LRI (Laser Interferometer) are used to measure the distance variations between the twin spacecraft, which is one of the most important observations used for temporal gravity field recovery. The data pre-processing from raw or so-called Level-1A into the Level-1B format, which is suited for gravity field recovery, is a key step. Although Level-1B files are made publicly available by the GRACE-FO Science Data System (SDS), it has been shown that alternative Level-1B datasets may yield improved the results of gravity field<sup>[1]</sup>. Investigations of the pre-processing may allow us to improve the gravity recovery strategy and are essential to support developments of gravimetric satellite missions in China, such as TianQin-2 project. The pre-processing normally includes the time-tag synchronization, filtering and resampling, and other corrections, e.g. light-time correction for both instruments and antenna offset correction for KBR. We re-processed the Level-1A data of KBR and LRI to the Level1B using code developed at IGG/Wuhan. The results show good agreement in case of the RL04 KBR data, i.e. the differences between IGG-KBR1B and SDS-KBR1B are about three orders of magnitude lower than the instrument noise level for KBR. For the LRI, we found that phase jumps are not removed completely in the SDS-LRI1B products. As shown by Abich<sup>[2]</sup>, these phase jumps in the LRI phase observations are mainly coincident with thruster activations. Our work will analyze the impacts of different processing methods of the raw data on post-fit residuals and the gravity field recovery based on IGG-KBR1B and IGG-LRI1B datasets.</p> <p> </p> <div> <p>[1] Wiese, D.: SDS Level-2/-3 JPL, GRACE/GRACE-FO Science Team Meeting 2020, online, 27 October–29 Oct 2020, GSTM2020-75, https://doi.org/10.5194/gstm2020-75, 2020.</p> <p>[2]    Abich K, Abramovici A, Amparan B, et al. In-Orbit Performance of the GRACE Follow-on Laser Ranging Interferometer [J]. Phys Rev Lett, 2019, 123(3): 031101, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.031101.</p> </div> </div><p> </p>