New System For Measurement Research Articles

A NEW SYSTEM FOR MEASUREMENT OF THE PULSE TRANSIT TIME, THE PULSE WAVE VELOCITY AND ITS ANALYSIS

Arterial stiffness is a strong determinant of cardiovascular risk. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an index of arterial stiffness, and its prognostic value has been repeatedly emphasized. The work presented in this paper is concerned with the design of a new system for measurement of the PWV and analysis. It is in fact related to the description of the hardware setup and the software development in order to measure and analyze the PWV. In the proposed system, the determination of the PWV is carried out through the measurement of the pulse wave transit time (PWTT) using the electrocardiogram (ECG) and the photoplethysmogram (PPG) and the distance separating the site of ejection of the systolic pulse and the site of measuring the PPG signal. The hardware setup therefore consists of an optical device to detect the PPG and electrodes to detect ECG, and different boards to process and digitalize these signals to be acquired in the PC and analyzed. The developed software is concerned with first, the acquisition and processing of both ECG and PPG signals then the determination of the PWV and finally its analysis for different subjects and conditions. The analysis of the PWV is carried out for subjects of different ages in different physiological conditions according to heart activity. The obtained results show that there is a high correlation ([Formula: see text]), between heart rate variability (HRV) and PWV. They also show that PWV increases with age. The analysis of the PWV variations with age is also carried out through different regression models. The obtained result shows that the cubic regression model best fits these variations.

Improving relations between users and libraries: a survey of Chinese academic libraries

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of library services according to user experiences (UXs). The study discusses underlying internal problems existing in libraries that affect user satisfaction. Furthermore, it seeks to identify ways to improve the UX. Design/methodology/approach The methodology comprised a questionnaire administered at Nanjing University Library, China. The survey examined users’ satisfaction with the online public access catalogue, locating books on the shelves, and users’ participation in the organization of library resources. This study used the annual reading quantity of users system, a new system of measurement that distinguishes between informal and avid library users. Findings The data analysis indicated poor user satisfaction. The problems were mainly associated with the libraries’ resource organization, such as descriptive cataloguing, subject headings and classification, which is controlled by library administration. Moreover, users’ feedback is not integrated within the library system. Because of the process-oriented architecture of the current integrated library system, librarians and users do not communicate effectively. These barriers between users and the library staff members are difficult to overcome. Originality/value The study describes that the results relate to user satisfaction with searching and locating books based on the patron’s reading level. Differences were observed between light and avid readers in terms of satisfaction with the ease of searching and finding books. This demonstrates the internal connections of these results with library procedures. Furthermore, this study identifies improvement measures to resolve these problems.

Modeling of Dynamic Responses in Building Insulation

In this research a measurement systemwas developedfor monitoring humidity and temperature in the cavity between the wall and the insulating material in the building envelope. This new technology does not disturb the insulating material during testing. The measurement system can also be applied to insulation fixed ten or twenty years earlier and sufficiently reveals the quality of the insulation. A mathematical model is proposed to characterize the dynamic responses in the cavity between the wall and the building insulation as influenced by weather conditions.These dynamic responses are manifested as a delay of both humidity and temperature changes in the cavity when compared with the changes in the ambient surrounding of the building. The process is then modeled through numerical methods and statistical analysis of the experimental data obtained using the new system of measurement.

Modeling of Dynamic Responses in Building Insulation

In this research a measurement systemwas developedfor monitoring humidity and temperature in the cavity between the wall and the insulating material in the building envelope. This new technology does not disturb the insulating material during testing. The measurement system can also be applied to insulation fixed ten or twenty years earlier and sufficiently reveals the quality of the insulation. A mathematical model is proposed to characterize the dynamic responses in the cavity between the wall and the building insulation as influenced by weather conditions.These dynamic responses are manifested as a delay of both humidity and temperature changes in the cavity when compared with the changes in the ambient surrounding of the building. The process is then modeled through numerical methods and statistical analysis of the experimental data obtained using the new system of measurement.

Measurement of Vector Magnetic Properties of a Nonoriented Electrical Steel Sheet under Shear Stress

SUMMARYIt is well known that the magnetic properties of electrical steel sheets are influenced strongly by mechanical stress. We have measured the residual stress distribution with an X‐ray stress measurement device and clarified not only the tensile and compressive stress but also the shear stress in a rotating machine core. In particular, the influence of the shear stress on the magnetic properties has not previously been reported. We attempt to develop a new system for measurement of vector magnetic properties under shear stress. This paper presents a mechanism for applying shear stress and the measured vector magnetic properties of nonoriented electrical steel sheet under shear stress. These results indicate that the difference in the vector magnetic properties of the nonoriented electrical steel sheets depended on the shear stress.

On the Measurement of Roller Skew of Tapered Roller Bearings

Roller skew in roller bearings can cause heat generation and reduce bearing life. Therefore, design to minimise its occurrence is essential in bearing development. This study investigated the roller skew of a double row tapered roller bearing under various running conditions. A new system of measurement using two differential variable reluctance transducers (DVRT) was developed. It is evident that the roller skew of the double row tapered roller bearing can be measured. The shaft rotational speed has a significant effect on roller skew but the radial load has little effect.

Publish and Flourish, or Perish: RAE, ERA, RQF, and Other Acronyms for Infinite Human Resourcefulness

Publish and Flourish, or Perish: RAE, ERA, RQF, and Other Acronyms for Infinite Human Resourcefulness

Design Projects in Human Anatomy & Physiology

Very often, some type of writing assignment is required in college entry-level Human Anatomy and Physiology courses. This assignment can be anything from an essay to a research paper on the literature, focusing on a faculty-approved topic of interest to the student. As educators who teach Human Anatomy and Physiology at an urban community college, we believe it is important to provide students with an assignment that challenges not only their knowledge of the subject, but also their imaginations (McGraw, 2004b). To achieve this goal, we assign Design Projects in Human Anatomy and Physiology. Background Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York, is one of six community colleges in The City University of New York. In the Kingsborough Department of Biological Sciences, a two-semester sequence of courses in Human Anatomy and Physiology is required of students majoring in one of the Allied Health Science fields, such as Pre-Physician Assistant, Pre-Physical Therapy, Pre-Nursing, Pre-Occupational Therapy, and so on. The first semester includes study of anatomical terminology, basic chemistry, the metric system, the cell, tissues, and the skeletal, muscular, nervous, and endocrine systems. The second semester focuses on the digestive, cardiovascular, respiratory, immune, excretory, and reproductive systems. In each semester, one writing assignment is required for successful completion of the course. The assignment can be a review of the literature or an alternate of the instructor's choosing. This is where we opt to assign a Design Project. The First Semester It has been our experience that first semester students of Human Anatomy and Physiology are often overwhelmed with the volume and complexity of material they are required to learn. Students sometimes express that the material is boring and dry. To add some spark to the class, we have assigned one of several design projects to challenge our students and to help them get a handle on the course content. Design Project 1: New Organelle for the Cell A portion of the course is devoted to the study of the cell, the basic unit of life. The cell is examined in general, and the structure and function of each organelle is studied in some detail. Aside from traditional testing on this topic, we wanted another way to ascertain whether our students really understood the workings of the cell. Hence, our first design assignment was born. The assignment is to design a new and different organelle for the typical human cell. The student must name his/her organelle, fully describe its structure and function, how it interacts with other organelles of the cell, how it will improve the cell, and what potential problems this new organelle may impose on the cell. An accompanying diagram of the new organelle and of the organelle's location in the cell is also a requirement, as well as each student's opinion of the assignment. Over the years, we have been taken aback by the creativity of our students. For example, one student designed the Michelobia. The student had a taste for beer, and thought it would be wonderful if she could enjoy it without getting drunk. This organelle had detoxifying properties to allow cells to process beer and prevent the ill effects of alcohol. Another student felt like he never had time to eat properly. He thought it would be wonderful if he, like plants, could make his own food. So, he designed a chloroplast-like organelle to do the job. Design Project 2: New System of Measurement Although this topic is not always included in Anatomy and Physiology courses, at Kingsborough (where this is an entry-level course), students must comprehend the international system if they are to understand standard physiological data. The metric system can be a challenging topic for students who have spent their lives up to this point immersed in the English system. An innovative approach to under standing the metric system is to assign a design project where each student must create a completely new system of measurement, including units for length, mass and volume, and explain how these units relate to the metric system with relevant examples. …

The Glasbox®: A New System for Measurement of Contractile Forces Developed by Fibroblasts in Collagen Lattices

Cellular contraction, defined as the force cells exhibit on the extracellular matrix, plays a significant role in dermal tissue. To study the contractility of cells in vitro, we have developed a new patented device named GlaSbox®“Growing Lattice Study Box”. It consists of a cell chamber composed with 8 rectangular wells (26 × 33 mM) in which lattices develop. Two opposite silicon beams hang down into each well. The lattice is attached to this sensor through a grid directly etched on the lower part of the beams. A strain gauge is deposited at the beam surface, and connected to form a Wheastone bridge. The strain gauges signal output is amplified then converted and collected by a computer which includes an acquisition card and a specific program giving directly the forces in real time. The significant advantages of the GlaSbox® are: the absence of any interface between the collagen lattice and the beams which maintain it stretched, its ability to test eight lattices simultaneously, the low volumes of cells and collagen required. To demonstrate the applicability of this system, contractile forces of human fibroblasts from different skin conditions were measured such as chronic venous leg ulcers and striae distensae. These fibroblasts were found to produce an average force of 1.10−8 N/cell and have greater contractile capacity than normal fibroblasts (Viennet et al., J Wound Care 2004, in press). The GlaSbox® is a useful tool to study the contractility of dermis equivalent composed of various fibroblast lines and, the effect of different active principles or even growth factors (e.g., TGF‐β) on cellular contraction. In addition, it can be used to examine the relationship between cellular contraction, cell proliferation, and collagen production, which is important for the understanding of the mechanism of scar tissue formation.

System of measurement of the severity of periodontal disease in past populations

AbstractThis paper presents a review of the antiquity of periodontal disease, discussing past aetiological concepts in comparison to current research on the causes of this condition. As periodontal disease is analysable on dry bone specimens, it is possible to document its natural history. To date, little work has been done on an actual system of measurement for periodontal disease in such specimens. A new system of measurement is proposed, which is confined to evaluating the periodontal status of post‐mortem skulls. The system is a modification of the Ramfjord index for periodontal disease (PDI) and can be adapted for both individual specimen measurement and for population studies. Seven skulls, ca. AD 500–700, from the Varden Site at Long Point, Ontario, were examined using the proposed system. Mean attachment loss was computed for each of the seven specimens. The results revealed one specimen with early periodontitis, four with moderate periodontitis and two with advanced periodontitis. This system provides a concise method for classification of the severity of periodontal disease in dry bone specimens that will be useful in documenting the history of this disease.

Growth Stages of the Grapevine: Adoption of a system for identifying grapevine growth stages

The foregoing paper by Lorenz et al. (1995), translated into English by P. May, describes a new system for the identification of grapevine growth stages called the BBCH system. This is an adaptation, for the grapevine, of a basic scale developed to cover all monocot and dicot crops. Appraisal of this and two other systems has led to a preference for that by Eichhorn and Lorenz (1977) but with some amendments. These amendments are discussed and a new system of measurement and description of stages of the grapevine is proposed which copes with the dual needs for a simple listing of major stages and, at the same time, provides intermediate detailed stages. It is called the Modified E-L system.

A new system of measurement of the network impedance

A concept for the measurement of the impedance of an electrical network as a function of the frequency is proposed. It is based on the generation of a current and the measurement of the voltage and the current which are both digitised. The impedance is obtained by digital signal processing. An instrument based on it has been produced and gives the good results predicted by the theory.

New System of Measurement for Hospital Capacity Utilization

New System of Measurement for Hospital Capacity Utilization

Fluorescence and NMR investigations on the ligand binding properties of adenylate kinases

A new system for measurement of affinities of adenylate kinases (AK) for substrates and inhibitors is presented. This system is based on the use of the fluorescent ligand alpha,omega-di[(3' or 2')-O-(N-methylanthraniloyl)adenosine-5'] pentaphosphate (mAP5Am), which is an analogue of the bisubstrate inhibitor diadenosine pentaphosphate (AP5A). It allows the determination of dissociation constants for any ligand in the range of 1 x 10(-9) to 5 x 10(-2) M. Affinities for different bisubstrate inhibitors (AP4A, AP5A, AP6A) and substrates (AMP, ADP, ATP, GTP) were determined in the presence and absence of magnesium. An analysis of the binding of bisubstrate inhibitors is proposed and applied to these data. The techniques are used to describe the properties of a mutant enzyme with Gln-28----His (Q28H) prepared by site-directed mutagenesis in comparison to those of wild-type AK from Escherichia coli. This newly introduced histidine is already present in most other adenylate kinases and was regarded to be important or even essential for the catalytic reaction of AK. Temperature denaturation experiments indicate that the mutant enzyme has the same thermal stability as the wild-type enzyme and, as NMR studies indicate, also a very similar structure. However, steady-state catalytic studies and binding experiments showed that the affinities for substrates and inhibitors are elevated from 3-fold (AMP) to 5-fold (ATP) to 15-fold (AP5A) compared to those of the wild-type enzyme. Together with the results obtained by Tian et al. [Tian, G., Sanders, C. R., Kishi, F., Nakazawa, A., & Tsai, M.-D. (1988) Biochemistry 27, 5544-5552] on the effect of replacement of the conserved His-36 in the cytosolic AK (AK1) from chicken by glutamine and asparagine, this shows that residues 28 of AK from E. coli (AKec) and 36 of AK1 are situated in a comparable environment and are not essential for catalytic activity.

光散乱法によるポリスチレン粒子の直径の精密測定

Polystyrene latex particles are used generally for calibration of particle size analyzers and electron microscopes, and also for an experiment to verify the light scattering theory, because the particles have excellent characteristics in sphericity and monosize distribution. It is of great importance, therefore, to measure precisely the diameter of the polystyrene particles. This paper describes a light scattering method to measure the particle size, because the method permits an absolute measurement and allow to measure it without any contamination and/or destruction of particles. In this method, the size of suspended particles was determined by fitting theoretical values based on Mie scattering to experimental data for an angular distribution of the intensity of light scattered from particles. A laser scattering photometer used in the experiment has the constitutional features that are insensitive to variation of the intensity of light source (He-Ne laser, 633nm) in measurements of scattered light intensity and to nonlinearity in a photoelectrical detection system, since the photometer adopts a new system of measurement on the basis of a principle of zero method. Light scattering measurements were made for suspensions of 0.9μm particles of the SRM of NIST and 2μm particles. The result for the 0.9μm particles agrees with the value of NIST within 0.3% in the number average particle diameter. The coefficient of variation of repeated measurements are 0.5% for the 0.9μm particles and 0.15% for the 2μm particles. The best fits of measured values for an angular distribution of the scattered light intensity to the theoretical values are within 5% at the scattering angle between 4° and 38°. The experimental results prove good accuracy and usefulness in measurements attained for the polystyrene particles by the laser scattering photometer developed in this work.

Some observations on the feasibility of the white paper recommendations for a new scheme of measurement and evaluation in the school system in Sri Lanka

The White Paper on Education (1981) has made a series of proposals for a new system of measurement and evaluation of student performance in our school system. The purpose of this article is to examine the nature of these proposals and the extent of their appicability. The White Paper outlines its proposals for the new system of measurement and evaluation at four levels: primary, junior secondary, senior secondary and collegiate, as shown in Fig. 1. It would be convenient to consider the proposals under the same headings. It would be relevant, however, to begin with a brief history of the present system of examinations so as to provide a background to a proper understanding of the nature of these proposals and their practicability. Sri Lanka inherited the British system of education as well as its principles and methods of evaluation as a result of her colonial status under the British Crown. This system of education based on the British model paved the way for the creation of an elite class in the society and remains unchanged even today. In feudal society education had always been the monopoly of a privileged few. The system of classifying schools according to the medium of instruction, which the British introduced, led to the perpetuation of this characteristic and the emergence of an ‘elitist’ group within the local population. Under the British system there were in Sri Lanka English schools where students received instruction in the English medium and Sinhala and Tamil schools where the medium of instruction was the mother tongue. English schools were, from the very beginning considered superior and their products naturally acquired a higher social status. Moreover, those who studied in the English schools were able to sit examinations conducted by British educa-

Adaptation of a linear diffractometer to measure three X-ray reflections quasi-simultaneously

A single-crystal linear diffractometer has been adapted to measure three reflections quasi-simultaneously in the flat-cone setting. Three counters are mounted in echelon, with their windows vertically above each other, at the end of a draw tube whose length may be so adjusted that x-rays from reflections in three adjacent reciprocal lattice levels are recorded in the course of a single measurement cycle. The outputs from the detectors are fed into three parallel amplifying and counting chains and the results are recorded sequentially on punched paper tape by means of a printing-out programmed scaler. Modifications to the diffractometer control system permit the blind region of the flat-cone setting to be avoided automatically. The data-processing computer programme has been amended to take account of the new system of measurement. Practical experience with the diffractometer is described. The increased rate of data collection is particularly valuable when crystals are liable to irradiation damage.

BETA-ADRE NERGIC BLOCKADE WITH PRONETHALOL DURING ANAESTHESIA

SUMMARY Pronethalol (Alderlin), a derivative of isoprenaline, has proved consistently effective in suppressing the ventricular arrhythmias commonly associated with cyclopropane anaesthesia and occasionally with light halothane anaesthesia. The dose range in adults is 10 to 15 mg intravenously (approximately 0.2 mg/kg). The drug was observed to have no direct effect on the blood pressure or on the periodicity of the sinus and the atrioventricular nodes. It did not alter the conduction time of the pulse wave from the heart to the periphery, as judged by a new system of measurement. There is every indication that pronethalol may be useful in antagonizing the cardiac disturbances caused by the administration of adrenaline to anaesthetized patients.