PC Compatible Computer Research Articles

A flexible PC-based physiological monitor for animal experiments

We have developed a flexible physiological monitoring and analysis system for physiological studies in which data are obtained over extended periods. Our system uses low-cost personal computer hardware to concentrate data from existing multiple monitoring devices. All monitored parameters are displayed on a single screen and recorded in a single file. The system automates the process of physiological record keeping by providing continuous displays of vital signs. In addition, audible and visual alarms are produced when vital signs are outside of acceptable ranges, prompting the experimenter to take corrective actions. The central element of the system is a program running in a dedicated manner on an IBM PC-compatible computer. The program is written in the C language and makes use of a graphics library to display traces and analysis results in real time on any standard display for the PC. This program assigns the analog channels of an A D board to particular physiological parameters by initially reading a configuration file, which also describes the alarm conditions and analysis routine for each parameter. All hardware specific code is isolated into well-defined modules. The program is both highly flexible with regard to different sets of parameters and highly portable for different experimental and computer environments.

Description of an acquisition unit for optical interferometry treatment: Application to the pollution imagery of SO2 gas

An optical analyzer has been conceived to achieve outdoor pollution imagery. The experimental apparatus associates an interferometric correlator with a linear charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor and a data acquisition unit for PC-compatible computers. This paper presents the principle of measurement and describes the optical head and the main parts of the acquisition unit. A laboratory experiment of SO2 gas imagery is presented, proving the feasibility of our method; results and performance are reported.

Recent developments in data acquisition and processing on the Oxford scanning proton microprobe

A new data acquisition system has been developed for the Oxford SPM facility. This is based on a single PC-compatible computer with a custom designed interface unit and permits the recording of several channels of pulsed detector data together with x and y scanning voltages, beam charge and deadtime. In addition, the system will also control the beam position allowing the generation of irregular scan areas, line scans at any angle and the selection of point analyses using the mouse. The hardware and software of the system are described and some examples of data collected using the system are presented. One problem of quantitative microanalysis using focused beam PIXE is the fact that the local matrix composition and secondary electron emission characteristics may change on a scale comparable with the beam size across the sample. This leads to uncertainties in the measured charge (especially at the low currents found in microbeams) and local self-absorption correction which can introduce significant inaccuracy into the analysis. This problem has been largely solved at Oxford by the simultaneous use of RBS analysis. The shape of the RBS spectrum yields the local matrix composition and its area gives a measure of the total charge, so that the dependence on precise charge measurement is much reduced. This “ Q factor” technique is described in detail and it is shown that once the system has been calibrated routine standardless accuracy of the order of 5–10% can be obtained.

Simulator for laser photocoagulation in ophthalmology.

The practice of laser photocoagulation plays a major role in the ocular therapy, but the persistence of many postoperative complications denotes genuine difficulty in mastering the technique. The authors present a device which, thanks to the use of simulation, enables actual practice to be dissociated from apprenticeship. While complying with the constraints of realism with regard to habitual conditions of laser use, the device offers access to a wide variety of clinical situations. The apparatus is built around the traditional instrument. A virtual image of the fundus is produced in real time from the sensors which detect the actual gestures used. The calculations make use of textured geometrical models. Digitized color photographs are organized to form a database which reflects the diversity of pigmentations and pathologies. A software interface has been developed to facilitate the use of the device. The prototype is operated using a PC-compatible computer; it displays the images at the rate of at least seven per second on a miniature CGA screen incorporated in the slit-lamp. It is currently being validated for clinical applications. Above and beyond apprenticeship in laser photocoagulation, its potential applications extend to the entire field of ophthalmogical symptomatology and, more broadly, to the simulation of any examination conducted with the help of binocular or endoscopic optics.

An inexpensive 1-millisecond experiment control interface for IBM PCs and its user-friendly control language

An inexpensive, professionally manufactured, digital I/O experiment control interface for any PC-compatible computer is described. It plugs into a standard printer port and provides 1-msec accuracy for up to 4 inputs and 22 outputs. It also allows experiment control procedures to be written in an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use Experiment Control language (ECBASIC). In addition to many instructions specifically designed to simplify behavioral research, ECBASIC provides for transparent collection and storage of event logs.

A low cost, open and flexible on-line data acquisition system for instrumental chromatography

A laboratory-made data acquisition system has been constructed using a low cost acquisition board for industrial applications, a few commercial integrated circuits, namely a programmable gain amplifier and an analogic low pass filter, and a regular PC compatible computer. The lack of time counting circuits in the board has been solved by the use of the pulse generation circuit of the personal computer as reference time for the acquisition rate. Thus, one channel of timing of this circuit has been reprogrammed to work at frequencies higher than 18.2 Hz when needed. In addition to its low cost, the system is open and flexible. It may process either internal data or files generated by other systems, it allows the easy insertion of more software routines for data treatment and contains a wide diversity of methods for data quantitation and peak parameter calculation (area, mean, variance, skew, excess and number of theoretical plates). Three different calculation methods for the determination of these parameters are included in the system: additive integration, graphical measurement-based log-normal equations and curve fitting of different distribution functions by the generalized least squares method. The last method affords the use of the Gaussian, Exponentially-Modified Gaussian and log-normal functions as well as the orthogonal developments of the former, the Gram-Charlier and Edgeworth-Cramér series.

EDA: EXAFS data analysis software package

The present paper describes the EXAFS data analysis software package, called EDA, originally developed by the author for IBM PC compatible computers. It consists of a set of interactive programs which allow to carry out all steps of the EXAFS data analysis procedure. There are two main differences from known packages. First, a significantly improved algorithm is used for atomic-like background removal in the EXAFS extraction procedure. Second, a model independent derivation of the radial distribution function from EXAFS, based on a maximum-entropy-like algorithm, is available.

UNIKONT ? A new system of IBM PC compatible industrial computers

UNIKONT is a system of IBM-compatible firmware containing controllers (8086, 80C186, 80286, 80386SX, 80486), workstations (80386SX, 80486SC), consoles for the operator and the production engineer, display panels, speech outputs, network facilities, and a complete set of devices for communicating with the object, in accordance with the requirements for constructing distributed and stand-alone automatic process control systems and for reconstructing and creating electronic panel-board systems for instrumentation and automation in the power industry, metallurgy, the chemical industry, machine building, the food processing industry, transport, and other branches of the national economy

901-36 Computer-based Interpretation of Intracardiac Electrograms: Identifying Rhythm Mechanisms from Ventricular Extrastimulus Tests

A computer-based system for analyzing complex cardiac rhythms is being developed in our laboratory. The system analyzes rhythms by adapting and simulating one or more semi-quantitative electrophysiologic models based on a sequence of events (P waves, QRS complexes, His bundle potential, etc.) on an event-by-event basis. The electrophysiologic model developed for the system can represent anatomies consisting of up to 4 accessory pathways, up to 3 AV nodal slow pathways, and 1 Mahaim pathway. We hypothesized that this system can (1) generate the correct electrophysiologic model(s) based on the observed events, (2) correctly differentiate between AV Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia (AVNRT), AV Reentrant Tachycardia (AVRT), and Atrial Tachycardia (ATACH) based on intracardiac electrogram data obtained during ventricular extrastimulus pacing protocols, and (3) generate ladder diagrams describing the identified rhythm mechanisms. Typical cases were identified for each of the desired rhythms (AVNRT, AVRT, and ATACH). Using software written in our lab, the cases were annotated to extract wave timing and morphology from the body-surface electrocardiogram and wave timing of the high right atrial. His bundle, and right ventricular intracardiac electrograms. Due to the anatomic complexity underlying reentrant tachyarrhythmias, we developed novel algorithms for enumerating the complete set of conduction paths through complex electrophysiologic models. We also developed the logic necessary for reasoning with multiple model paths and simultaneous activation of anatomically distinct model regions. The system was developed in C on a UNIX workstation and runs on UNIX workstations or IBM PC-compatible computers. In all cases, the system (1) generated the correct set of electrophysiologic models, (2) eliminated or supported the appropriate models (i.e. rhythm mechanisms) based on the ventricular extrastimulus, and (3) generated ladder diagrams describing the rhythm mechanisms. This is the first report of a computer-based system capable of deriving differential diagnoses with supporting ladder diagrams from intracardiac electrogram recordings. This demonstrates the potential for automatic analysis of complex rhythms by computer-assisted analysis of intracardiac electrograms. This system may be useful in the clinical electrophysiology laboratory by assisting physicians with the enormous amount of data generated during the typical electrophysiology study.

A General Computer Program for Radiocarbon Dating Laboratories

Radiocarbon dating laboratories deal with many types of data and calculations, which include information on received and dated samples, age calculations and storage of results, printed reports to submitters and graphs plotted from sample measurements. I describe a computer program, designed to run on any PC-compatible computer with a hard disk, that can handle all the functions of a conventional liquid scintillation counting radiocarbon dating laboratory.

Interfacing Inmos links to the ISA bus

Inmos links are frequently used to connect IBM PC compatible host computers and parallel networks of transputers or other microprocessors. Most of the commercially available ISA bus to Inmos link adaptor interfaces are compatible with those embodied in either the Inmos IMS B004 transputer development board or the IMS B008 TRAM motherboard. Despite the widespread adoption of these ‘standards’ by Inmos and a host of third-party suppliers, details of how these interfaces operate, and how to implement them electrically, are not readily available. This paper provides full schematics, PLD source code and a detailed analysis of the operation of B004 and B008 compliant ISA bus to Inmos link adaptor interfaces, as well as schematics and PLD source code for an ISA bus to dual Inmos link adaptor interface.

Object-oriented data handler for sequence analysis software development.

We report an object-oriented data handler and supplementary tools for the development of molecular genetics application software for various sequence analyses. Our data handler has a flexible and expandable format that supports the most common data types for molecular genetic software. New data types can be constructed in an object-oriented manner from the basic units. The data handler includes an object library, a format-converting program and a viewer that can visualize simultaneously the data contained in several files to construct a general picture from separate data. This software has been implemented on an IBM PC-compatible personal computer.

A computer program for the study of synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction

The study of synaptic biopotentials at the neuromuscular junction has proven to be an invaluable tool in understanding the pre- and post-synaptic mechanisms underlying chemical synaptic transmission and exploring the pathogenesis of neuromuscular disorders. Computer technology has become an important part of these experiments as it increases accuracy and automates the process, allowing more data to be collected and quantitatively analysed. This paper presents a computer program for IBM PC compatible computers capable of recording and analysing the spontaneously occurring miniature end-plate potentials (MEPPs), neurally evoked end-plate potentials (EPPs) and muscle fiber action potentials (APs). The program performs its basic analysis immediately following the sampling of biopotentials from a muscle fiber, thus providing the user with immediate feedback on the status of the experiment; 45 parameters of neuromuscular transmission are computed on-line and displayed on the monitor along with the signal-averaged waveforms. After a series of fibers has been recorded, the program will compile the data into summary tables. The program is designed to provide an experimenter with an easy-to-use, comprehensive method of performing electrophyiological measurements and analysis at the neuromuscular junction.

WIMOVAC: a software package for modelling the dynamics of plant leaf and canopy photosynthesis.

The ability to predict net carbon exchange and production of vegetation in response to predicted atmospheric and climate change is critical to assessing the potential impacts of these changes. Mathematical models provide an important tool in the study of whole plant, canopy and ecosystem responses to global environmental change. Because this requires prediction beyond experience, mechanistic rather than empirical models are needed. The uniformity and strong understanding of the photosynthetic process, which is the primary point of response of plant production to global atmospheric change, provides a basis for such an approach. Existing modelling systems have been developed primarily for expert modellers and have not been easily accessible to experimentalists, managers and students. Here we describe a modular modelling system operating within Windows to provide this access. WIMOVAC (Windows Intuitive Model of Vegetation response to Atmosphere and Climate Change) is designed to facilitate the modelling of various aspects of plant photosynthesis with particular emphasis on the effects of global climate change. WIMOVAC has been designed to run on IBM PC-compatible computers running Microsoft Windows. The package allows the sophisticated control of the simulation processes for photosynthesis through a standardized Windows user interface and provides automatically formatted results as either tabulated data or as a range of customizable graphs. WIMOVAC has been written in Microsoft Visual Basic, to facilitate the rapid development of user-friendly modules within the familiar Windows framework, while allowing a structured development. The highly interactive nature of controls adopted by WIMOVAC makes it suitable for research, management and educational purposes.

A PC compatible computer program for the calculation of equilibrium constants by the simultaneous processing of different sets of experimental results

A new PC compatible computer program SIRKO for the calculation of the equilibrium constants by means of the simultaneous processing of different experimental data from various techniques is given. This program is characterized by the application of a universal response function, which allows many different physicochemical methods to be used to study equilibria without any modification of the program. It is also possible to refine additional parameters (electrode parameters, initial analytic concentration, etc). We have used the least-squares method with the weightings calculated according to the error propagation rule taking into account all independent variables. To minimize the function, singular Jacobian decomposition is applied. This allows control of its range and forms a set of parameters, determined from the experimental data.

Low-cost data acquisition and analysis programs for electrophysiology

In the laboratory, powerful personal computers are invaluable tools for data acquisition and analysis. The commercially available software for these purposes is often very expensive and does not always conform to the experimenter's needs. In our laboratory, we have developed two programs for acquisition and analysis of electrophysiological data from retinal neurons, although they can be used for many other types of data acquisition and analysis as well. These programs were written for IBM PC-compatible computer systems and are being distributed as shareware. Thus they are available for users to try out free of charge; if they are found to be of use, they can be purchased for a minimal cost. PATCHIT, the data-acquisition program can use one of several popular data-acquisition boards to simultaneously stimulate and record from an experimental preparation. TACK, the data analysis program was developed to analyze data recorded by PATCHIT and other data-acquisition programs. PATCHIT and TACK are powerful programs which are competitive with similar commercially available programs, but are sold at a much lower cost. Details on the development and operation of these programs are presented in this paper.

SOLVALC: An interactive graphics program package for calculating the ternary feldspar solvus and for two-feldspar geothermometry

The program SOLVCALC is a user-friendly graphic interface software for calculating the ternary feldspar solvus and the equilibrium temperature of coexisting natural ternary feldspar pairs. Twelve solvus isotherms (with or without tielines) and twelve thermometric tielines can be plotted on each screen. The zoom and move functions greatly reduce any physical limitations of the screen itself. Six different thermodynamic models for ternary feldspar and one user-defined model are incorporated into this program for both solvus calculations and thermometry. An activity matching algorithm is used for the solvus calculations. For the geothermometric calculations, an algorithm is used to search for the most concordant temperature by adjusting the feldspar compositions within selected uncertainty. SOLVCALC can be used as both a research and teaching tool for comparing different models as well as for development of new ternary feldspar models. The program runs on PC-compatible computers with DOS 3.1 or later version and a VGA graphic card. A copy of SOLVCALC 1.0 is available from the authors by request.

A software package for TL/OSL spectrometry and extraction of glow curves from individual grains

A software system has been developed for Macintosh and PC compatible computers running Windows which allows manipulation of time-resolved images collected during TL or OSL analysis of samples. The system utilizes a position-sensitive microchannel plate detector for image capture allowing time encoding for each detected photon. Images may be displayed over specified time/temperature intervals, or may be viewed in entirety in animation mode. Using mouse control, individual grains (1) may be selected for glow curve extraction, (2) may be added to a group of previously selected grains, or (3) may be individually excluded from a larger group of grains. Selected data may be displayed as two dimensional glow curves on screen and may be output in ASCII form for importation into other applications

Data bank homology search algorithm with linear computation complexity.

A new algorithm for data bank homology search is proposed. The principal advantages of the new algorithm are: (i) linear computation complexity; (ii) low memory requirements; and (iii) high sensitivity to the presence of local region homology. The algorithm first calculates indicative matrices of k-tuple 'realization' in the query sequence and then searches for an appropriate number of matching k-tuples within a narrow range in database sequences. It does not require k-tuple coordinates tabulation and in-memory placement for database sequences. The algorithm is implemented in a program for execution on PC-compatible computers and tested on PIR and GenBank databases with good results. A few modifications designed to improve the selectivity are also discussed. As an application example, the search for homology of the mouse homeotic protein HOX 3.1 is given.

A microcomputer‐based clinical voice aerodynamic measurement system

The authors’ clinical experience with dedicated instruments for voice aerodynamic measurements prompts them to implement these measurements on a microcomputer system. A microcomputer system can be lower in cost, it facilitates archival storage of data, it offers the flexibility of changing what is measured and it offers automated post processing. A system measuring flow, intensity, intraoral pressure, and pitch is implemented on a PC compatible computer, using an Intel 486 microprocessor, running the CSpeech waveform acquisition and analysis software. The salient enhancements to CSPeech used to implement this system are described. The record command was modified to provide visual feedback of voice aerodynamic efficiency, and a pause/resume feature simplifies clinical voice recording procedures. Filter scripts were developed to provide a flexible way to specify analysis procedures and formats for archival storage and retrieval. The filter script is based on the object‐oriented concept of specifying both the data and a method for analyzing or archiving the data in the desired form.