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Sorry to hear about the difficulties with sample transport. The paper from the DESY (EMBL actually) staff is F. Ridoutt, C. Mueller-Dieckmann, P. A. Tucker and M. S. Weiss. An automated temperature-monitoring system for dry-shippers. J. Appl. Cryst., 2004, 37,477-480. It consists of a temperature sensor probe PT1000 of the Tinytag Plus system (Gemini Data Loggers, http://www.geminidataloggers.com ) and the commercial software product Easyview, which is part of the system. On receipt of the dewar, the system can be connected to a serial port of a PC and the data read using Easyview. Other systems are of course available. There is the possibility of standardising in Europe (via some EU funding for standardisation in this area) so that, no matter which synchrotron you sent your dewar to, they would be able to read out the temperature history of the dewar. I guess the main advantage of this would be they could send an emergency e-mail saying dewar suspect, bring/send more crystals. The synchrotron user would have the expense of purchasing a data logger and each synchrotron would have to ensure they can read it. If there is an interest in this, send me an e-mail (don't swamp the bulletin board!). Regards Colin -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Flip Hoedemaeker Sent: 04 May 2006 10:54 To: 'Leslie A.'; [email protected] Subject: RE: [ccp4bb]: Dewars opened by customs ? *** For details on how to be removed from this list visit the *** *** CCP4 home page http://www.ccp4.ac.uk *** Hi Andrew, We've had dewars with canes opened, and mistreated in other ways resulting in cryoloops falling out of the canes... Off my head, Theres a paper from the DESY staff (in Acta Cryst I think but dont sue me if Im wrong) where they modified a cane to carry temperature monitoring equipment during shipment. This clearly showed that dewars are opened. Flip -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Leslie A. Sent: Thursday, 04 May, 2006 11:15 To: [email protected] Subject: [ccp4bb]: Dewars opened by customs ? *** For details on how to be removed from this list visit the *** *** CCP4 home page http://www.ccp4.ac.uk *** We recently sent two dewars of crystals by DHL to ESRF for data collection. On opening the dewars at the ESRF, it was obvious that the dewars (or at least one of them) had been opened during transit. The "groove" in the top to the dewar that accommodates the handle for the basket had been ignored when the top was replaced, and the top had clearly been forced back into the dewar, gouging out a new "groove". The result was a significant accumulation of ice on the pucks, which subsequently caused serious problems with the automatic sample changer, which got jammed by the ice. In addition, and most importantly, the diffraction from the crystals, which had been carefully screened prior to the trip, was so poor that no useful data could be collected. Has anyone else had a similar experience ? We used to secure the tops to the dewars with cable ties, but did not do so on this trip. Following this experience we are tempted to use a padlock, but this may provoke the use of greater force in opening the dewar. One worrying thought is that this is the first time that we have transported the crystals in pucks rather than in canes. Is it possible that the customs people are unaccustomed (excuse the pun) to seeing pucks rather than canes, and that is why they wanted to investigate ? Are customs officials the only people who would open a dewar in transit ? Is there any way that this can be avoided in the future ? Any information/thoughts are greatly welcome Matt Bowler and Andrew Leslie
