Abstract: A tourniquet windlass assembly comprises a windlass shaft having an elongated tubular body with an elongated slot defined in the elongated tubular body; at least one end cap removably securable to at least one end of the elongated tubular body of the windlass shaft; a main tourniquet strap; a fastener coupled to the main tourniquet strap and adapted to removably secure and immobilize the windlass shaft relative to the main tourniquet strap; a windlass strap having first and second ends coupled to the main tourniquet strap, and the windlass strap being threaded through the elongated slot defined in the elongated tubular body of the windlass shaft.

Abstract: A method of measuring a resonant wavelength of a resonant waveguide (RWG) biosensor in an array of RWG biosensors supported by a microplate in a label-independent optical reader is disclosed. An exemplary method includes scanning a light spot over the RWG biosensor to obtain a plurality of spectra from both a central portion and at least one edge portion of the RWG biosensor. The method includes calculating a weighted-average spectrum for the biosensor by averaging the plurality of spectra while applying greater weight to the central portion than to the at least one edge portion. The method includes determining the resonant wavelength from the weighted-average spectrum. The resulting resonant wavelength measurement has substantially reduced noise and provides improved performance for label-independent scanning optical reader systems that use scanned optical beams.