Conventional Calibration Procedure Research Articles

Application of Taguchi methods to DEM calibration of bonded agglomerates

Discrete element modelling (DEM) is commonly used for particle-scale modelling of granular or particulate materials. Creation of a DEM model requires the specification of a number of micro-structural parameters, including the particle contact stiffness and the interparticle friction. These parameters cannot easily be measured in the laboratory or directly related to measurable, physical material parameters. Therefore, a calibration process is typically used to select the values for use in simulations of physical systems. This paper proposes optimising the DEM calibration process by applying the Taguchi method to analyse the influence of the input parameters on the simulated response of powder agglomerates. The agglomerates were generated in both two and three dimensions by bonding disks and spheres together using parallel bonds. The mechanical response of each agglomerate was measured in a uniaxial compression test simulation where the particle was compressed quasi-statically between stiff, horizontal, frictionless platens. Using appropriate experimental designs revealed the most important parameters to consider for successful calibration of the 2D and 3D models. By analysing the interactive effects, it was also shown that the conventional calibration procedure using a “one at a time” analysis of the parameters is fundamentally erroneous. The predictive ability of this approach was confirmed with further simulations in both 2D and 3D. This demonstrates that a judicious strategy for application of Taguchi principles can provide a sound and effective calibration procedure.

Traveling-load calibration of grid-array transient contact stress sensors

Thin, pliant transducers with grid arrays of sensing elements (sensels) have been widely used for transient measurements of intra-articular contact stresses. Conventional calibration procedures for this class of sensors are based upon spatially uniform scaling of sensel output values so as to recover two known fiducial loads, physically applied with the sensor either compressed between platens or mounted in situ. Because of the nonlinearities involved, it is desirable to have the highest of those two calibration loadings be such that all individual sensels are engaged at/near the peak of their expected functional range. However, for many situations of practical interest, impracticably large total calibration forces would be required. We report development of a novel pneumatically actuated wringer-like calibration device, and companion iterative post-processing software, that bypasses this longstanding difficulty. Sensors passed through the rollers of this device experience constant-distribution traveling fiducial loads propagating across their surface, thus allowing efficient calibration of all sensels individually to contact stress levels that would be impracticably high to simultaneously apply to all sensels. Sensel-specific calibration curves are rapidly and easily generated using this new approach and compare favorably to those obtained with less expeditious conventional platen-based protocols.

Analytical performance during ratiometric long-term imaging of pH in bioturbated sediments

In this study, the long-term analytical performance of a high-resolution ratiometric imaging sensor for pH was quantitatively determined. The sensor was applied in an experimental microcosm to illustrate biogeochemical consequences from mining activities by the chemosymbiotic bivalve Thyasira sarsi. Utilizing time-correlated pixel-by-pixel calibration protocols during imaging, close to 90% of the pixels were associated with a precision (S.D.) of <0.05 pH units at the end of an experimental period of 17 days. For comparison, a precision of <0.05 pH units was achieved for less than 50% of the pixels throughout experiments using conventional pre-sample calibration procedures. The average standard deviation of pixels was 0.01 pH units. Image analysis of single pixel derivatives and pH measurements over time suggested that T. sarsi affect pH distributions and general sediment geochemistry more than would be expected based on the small size of the bivalves. A significant decrease of pH in the overlying water suggested a considerable release of reduced compounds from the exhalent stream of the thyasirids. Strong pH gradients were demonstrated not only across the sediment-water interface but, also associated with bioturbation activities immediately adjacent to T. sarsi burrowing tracts, inhalant tubes and pedal tracts in the sediment matrix. Gradients of up to 1.16 pH units per mm were observed.

Foregrounds for redshifted 21-cm studies of reionization: Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope 153-MHz observations

Foreground subtraction is the biggest challenge for future redshifted 21-cm observations to probe reionization. We use a short Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observation at 153 MHz to characterize the statistical properties of the background radiation across ~ 1° to subarcmin angular scales, and across a frequency band of 5 MHz with 62.5 kHz resolution. The statistic we use is the visibility correlation function, or equivalently the angular power spectrum Cl. We present the results obtained from using relatively unsophisticated, conventional data calibration procedures. We find that even fairly simple-minded calibration allows one to estimate the visibility correlation function at a given frequency V 2 (U, 0). From our observations, we find that V 2 (U, 0) is consistent with foreground model predictions at all angular scales except the largest ones probed by our observations where the model predictions are somewhat in excess. On the other hand, the visibility correlation between different frequencies κ(U, Δν) seems to be much more sensitive to calibration errors. We find a rapid decline in κ(U, Δν), in contrast with the prediction of less than 1 per cent variation across 2.5 MHz. In this case, however, it seems likely that a substantial part of the discrepancy may be due to limitations of data reduction procedures.

Achieving traceable chemical measurements: inter-laboratory evaluation of a simplified technique for isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Part 2. Methodology for high accuracy analysis of organic analytes

A high accuracy measurement procedure developed and validated at LGC has been transferred to a number of expert UK laboratories, and their experience in applying the technique has been evaluated by inter-laboratory comparisons. It is an “exact matching” calibration procedure for analysis of organic analytes using isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). This calibration procedure uses a calibration blend and a sample blend with closely matched isotope amount ratios, and is an iterative process, culminating in the calibration blend and sample blend having identical isotope amount ratios. It is capable of high accuracy, since systematic errors in the determination of the isotope amount ratios are cancelled out. A series of four inter-laboratory comparisons of increasing difficulty were carried out involving a number of expert laboratories. The first three comparisons used gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis of the pesticide metabolite (pp′-dichlorodiphenyl) dichloroethylene (pp′-DDE), involving both conventional calibration and IDMS exact matching procedures for pp′-DDE in a solvent and a complex liquid matrix (corn oil). The fourth comparisons utilised liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and involved the analysis of sulphamethazine (4-amino-N-(4,6 dimethyl-2 pyrimidinyl) benzenesulphonamide) in solvent using IDMS and conventional calibration techniques. Following the first trial, a workshop for participants was held on the use of the exact matching procedure together with a short course on uncertainty estimation. The results of the comparisons clearly showed the superior accuracy of using IDMS with the exact matching procedure for both GC–MS and LC–MS applications. These comparisons and the workshop have enabled the methodology to be transferred to UK industry, helping to improve UK measurement capability.

Inaccuracy of international normalized ratio (INR) measurements and suggestions for improved WHO guidelines for calibration of reference preparations – a statistical study

Numerous empirical studies show that the accuracy of international normalized ratio (INR) measurements is unsatisfactory and worse than generally expected. We demonstrate that a plausible reason for this large inaccuracy is a conventional calibration procedure of reference preparations with (i) an erroneous assumption that the line relating logarithmic prothrombin times (log PTs) of patients passes through the mean log PT of the 'normal' population (mean normal PT); (ii) non-perceived interactions between patients and PT systems; and (iii) systematic exclusions of 'outliers'. The same conventional procedure also results in serious overestimation of the accuracy of INR measurements, thus leading to a false sense of security in oral anticoagulant therapy. In an example with data from WHO guidelines, we show that the systematic overprediction of INR (which is believed to be 0) may be as large as 5%, when prediction is performed under the conventional WHO model. Under the same model the CV of the predicted vs. the true INR is believed to be only about 1% when it in reality is more than 4%. We suggest that the conventional calibration procedure is modified in order to reduce the twofold negative impact of lower true accuracy and overestimated reported accuracy on oral anticoagulant therapy and to allow for an unambiguous definition of true INR values.

Automatic Calibration of Magnetic Motion Trackers using a Bayesian-Neural Cascade

Motion capture data are being used to address an increasingly broadening repertoire of animation related tasks, ranging from film production and game products to research on realistic human motion and even medical applications. Because of their vast utility, many technologies have been developed to acquire such data but magnetic trackers remain the dominant motion capturing solution for computer graphics applications. But even though magnetic trackers have many advantages versus their mechanical, optical and sonic counterparts, they are amenable to electromagnetic interference. Conventional calibration procedures are tedious and very time consuming, since they require the manual collection of measurements on a relatively dense three dimensional grid inside the tracking area. Despite this labor-intensive procedure, this type of calibration cannot compensate for every type of distortion resulting in limited accuracy and even motion discontinuities in noise contaminated environments. We propose a Bayesian-neural approach that allows the automatic calibration of magnetic motion capturing systems, using motion tracking data from a short, free-form tracking of a calibration pole.

An intensity ratio calibration method for the accurate determination of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca of marine carbonates by ICP‐AES

An inductively coupled plasma‐atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP‐AES) method for the accurate and precise simultaneous measurement of the Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca content of carbonates was established. While a precision of &lt;0.3% (1σ standard deviation (SD)) is easily obtainable for both Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca analysis, a Ca matrix effect complicates achieving similar levels of accuracy with conventional calibration procedures. An alternative ratio calibration procedure is proposed which overcomes the Ca matrix effects and ensures the accuracy of the Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca analysis of marine carbonates to &lt;0.3%, almost an order of magnitude better than conventional calibration methods. The longer‐term precision is &lt;0.1% if the batch run average values are corrected for longer‐term drift. The method is suitable for analysis of foraminiferal calcite and coral aragonite and can easily be adjusted for the analysis of other carbonates or microsamples.

Direct Determination of Molecular Weight Distribution by Size Exclusion Chromatography with 750 MHz 1H NMR Detection (On-Line SEC-NMR)

A size exclusion chromatograph coupled to a 750 MHz 1H NMR spectrometer (on-line SEC-NMR) was used to analyze molecular weight distributions of isotactic PMMAs with Mn ranging from 3.27×103 to 2.22×104. The molecular weight of the polymer in flowing eluate was determined directly (without a conventional calibration procedure) from the relative intensity of NMR signals due to the end-group and repeating units. The molecular weight distribution determined in this manner was proved to be accurate by SEC-NMR experiments on uniform isotactic PMMAs consisting of exactly 23, 40, and 80 repeating units. Investigation was also undertaken to optimize flow rate and NMR parameters for quantitative SEC-NMR measurements. The signal-to-noise ratio of 750 MHz SEC-NMR spectra was 9.2 times that obtained previously with 500 MHz SEC-NMR operated under similar conditions.

Calibration of a Fourier transform spectrometer using three blackbody sources

A procedure to calibrate a Fourier transform spectrometer is presented. Blackbody sources of three different temperatures are used to eliminate errors in the calibration that result from the limited accuracy of the temperature measurement of the calibration sources. With three spectra of blackbodies it is possible to assume that the temperatures are unknown variables as are the parameters of the functions that describe the spectrometer. A nonlinear Gaussian balancing calculation is used to determine these unknown variables and to minimize the influence of noise. A comparison between the results obtained with this method and a conventional calibration procedure is presented.

Improved Error-Correction Technique for Large-Signal Load-Pull Measurements (Short Paper)

This article presents an improved vector error-corrected calibration technique for the well-known system used for large-signal characterization of oscillator and power amplifier transistors. The calibration procedure is very similar to conventional automatic network analyzer calibration procedures, and all its measurements, except for one power measurement, are performed by the system itself. Therefore, reflection coefficient and power level measurement accuracies of the system at both the input and output ports of the DUT are excellent, and are of the same order of magnitude as those of the automatic network analyzer.

Flow manifold for automated on-line dilution of standards for flame atomic absorption spectrometry and its use in a null measurement method

A flow manifold that automatically dilutes solutions presented to a flame atomic absorption spectrometer while maintaining a constant flow to the nebuliser is described. The manifold is based on a fixed-speed pump, together with a computer-controlled stream switching valve and pump. The computer is also used for data acquisition and handling. In addition to the production of solutions for a conventional calibration procedure, the system is also used for a novel calibration procedure whereby the stock standard solution is automatically diluted by a known factor until its absorbance matches that of the sample. This null measurement method avoids the need to fit a curve to a set of calibration points. The performance of both methods compares favourably with the conventional procedure with errors ranging from 0.0 to 4% and no significant bias at the 99% confidence level. Problems with pulsations in the flow caused by peristaltic pump rollers were encountered with the consequent difficulties of accurate flow-rate measurement. Attempts to improve the speed of the method by the use of flow injection introduction were not successful owing to these pulsations in the flow.

A common source of error in pH measurements.

Glass-electrode assemblies in which the reference half-cell contains a porous ceramic type of liquid junction are likely to produce misleading pH measurements under normal service conditions. The error arises from substantial liquid-junction potentials, associated with the porous ceramic plug, which vary with the ionic composition of the solution under test. The error is not revealed by conventional two-point calibration procedures, since the majority of standard buffer solutions have a similar total ionic strength, but will nevertheless be present when the unknown solution differs in ionic strength from the standardizing buffers. The size of the error is proportional to the ratio between the salt concentration in the standard buffers and the concentration present in the unknown solution, and varies from one electrode specimen to another. The fault was present in 24 out of 30 electrodes in normal use selected at random from seven laboratories, and the mean error was 0.2pH unit per 10-fold salt-concentration difference between standard and test solutions. It is estimated that errors of this order must be widespread in the recent literature. Older pH determinations are likely to be more reliable, since the original reference electrode design with a free-flowing liquid junction is apparently free from the artefact.

Calibration of Precision Gimbaled Pointing Systems

Corrections of pointing data provided by gimbal readout transducers can be used to compensate for the errors that arise because of gimbal misalignments and inaccuracies in transducer readout. This paper reviews the sources of pointing error in precision gimbaled pointing systems and describes the techniques for determining them. In particular, a method of calibration that is suitable for systems in which constraints on gimbal travel preclude the use of conventional calibration procedures is presented, and the pointing readout accuracy that can be achieved by this method is evaluated.