Abstract: Disclosed are substance detection and identification devices, and methods of using them for detection and identification of substances in ambient surroundings, on surfaces of objects, inside closed items or in fluids. A substance detection and identification device may comprise a housing, an opening in the housing for passage of sample material therethrough, a sensing unit located in the housing and an array of sensing elements configured and operable to interact with sample material in the vicinity thereof for detecting one or more specific substances and generating sensing data indicative thereof. A sample path defined in the housing between the opening and the sensing unit is used for facilitating flow of the sample material towards the sensing unit.

Abstract: Disclosed are substance detection and identification devices, and methods of using them for detection and identification of substances in ambient surroundings, on surfaces of objects, inside closed items or in fluids. A substance detection and identification device may comprise a housing, an opening in the housing for passage of sample material therethrough, a sensing unit located in the housing and an array of sensing elements configured and operable to interact with sample material in the vicinity thereof for detecting one or more specific substances and generating sensing data indicative thereof. A sample path defined in the housing between the opening and the sensing unit is used for facilitating flow of the sample material towards the sensing unit.

Abstract: A sensing unit is presented for use in identifying at least one foreign substance in a region of interest. The sensing unit comprises at least one measurement unit, which comprises one or more sensor elements each configured and operable to be responsive to at least one foreign substance in the vicinity thereof. Each sensor element is mounted in its own compartment having an inlet and an outlet thus defining an environmental region in the vicinity of the sensor element separated from the surroundings of the compartment.

Abstract: A sensing unit is presented for use in identifying at least one foreign substance in a region of interest. The sensing unit comprises at least one measurement unit, which comprises one or more sensor elements each configured and operable to be responsive to at least one foreign substance in the vicinity thereof. Each sensor element is mounted in its own compartment having an inlet and an outlet thus defining an environmental region in the vicinity of the sensor element separated from the surroundings of the compartment.

Abstract: A cryosurgical instrument, in which a separator is installed in a central feeding lumen and/or in a cryotip to separate gaseous and liquid components of a cryogen.

Abstract: A piezoelectric crystal element and a sensor utilizing the same are presented for use in a sensor device for identifying at least one foreign material from environment. The crystal element comprises at least one crystal resonator in the form of a inverted mesa structure, which has a membrane-like region and has a certain resonance frequency value. A surface region of the crystal resonator is modified by reactive molecules of a kind capable of interacting with the foreign material to yield a reaction product that effects a change in the resonance frequency of the crystal resonator from said certain resonance frequency value. This change is indicative of the identity and quantity of the foreign material.

Abstract: A piezoelectric crystal element and a sensor utilizing the same are presented for use in a sensor device for identifying at least one foreign material from environment. The crystal element comprises at least one crystal resonator in the form of a inverted mesa structure, which has a membrane-like region and has a certain resonance frequency value. A surface region of the crystal resonator is modified by reactive molecules of a kind capable of interacting with the foreign material to yield a reaction product that effects a change in the resonance frequency of the crystal resonator from said certain resonance frequency value. This change is indicative of the identity and quantity of the foreign material.

Abstract: A piezoelectric crystal element and a sensor utilizing the same are presented for use in a sensor device for identifying at least one foreign material from environment. The crystal element comprises at least one crystal resonator in the form of an inverted mesa structure, which has a membrane-like region and has a certain resonance frequency value. A surface region of the crystal resonator is modified by reactive molecules of a kind capable of interacting with the foreign material to yield a reaction product that effects a change in the resonance frequency of the crystal resonator from said certain resonance frequency value. This change is indicative of the identity and quantity of the foreign material.

Abstract: A piezoelectric crystal element and a sensor utilizing the same are presented for use in a sensor device for identifying at least one foreign material from environment. The crystal element comprises at least one crystal resonator in the form of an inverted mesa structure, which has a membrane-like region and has a certain resonance frequency value. A surface region of the crystal resonator is modified by reactive molecules of a kind capable of interacting with the foreign material to yield a reaction product that effects a change in the resonance frequency of the crystal resonator from said certain resonance frequency value. This change is indicative of the identity and quantity of the foreign material.

Abstract: A piezoelectric crystal element and a sensor utilizing the same are presented for use in a sensor device for identifying at least one foreign material from environment. The crystal element comprises at least one crystal resonator in the form of an inverted mesa structure, which has a membrane-like region and is characterized by a certain resonance frequency value. A surface region of the crystal resonator is modified by reactive molecules of a kind capable of interacting with the foreign material to yield a reaction product that effects a change in the resonance frequency of the crystal resonator from said certain resonance frequency value. This change is indicative of the identity and quantity of the foreign material.

Abstract: A portable passive instrument (10) and a method for locating and marking at least one area of a person's body tissue, such as a vein, having a local variation in temperature compared with surrounding body tissue. The temperature along at least a line of skin within a region of the body tissue is scanned so as to obtain discrete signals representative of respective temperatures of discrete portions along an unstimulated portion of the at least a line of skin. The resulting signals are analyzed so as to derive a temperature profile in order to determine the at least one area having local temperature variation, which is then marked either optically or by means of a pigment.