Computer-based laboratory

The modules are computer-based laboratory simulations with engaging activities that emphasize experimental design and visualization of structures and processes at the molecular level. The modules are designed to help students connect chemical principles from lecture with their practical applications in the lab. Every module has a built-in accountability feature that records section completion for use in setting grades and a workbook for students to record and interpret their work. 

Computer-Based Laboratory for Developing Practical Automated Feedback Control Systems for Batch Polymerizations... 

CBL (computer-based laboratory) activities use graphing calculators to collect and analyze real-world data using different probes or sensors. The CBL system is an interface that collects data from the probes and sends the information to the calculator. The calculator, in turn, runs stored data collection and processing programs, which interpret and plot data obtained from the CBL system. 

Apart from the statistical-mathematical methods, the topics of chemometrics are also related to problems of the computer-based laboratory, to methods for handling chemical or spectroscopic databases, and to methods of artificial intelhgence. 

I am sure that there are, and will be, other examples where bottom-up is best. An instance may be the use of computers in science teaching, particularly computer-based laboratory work. This does involve changes of a fundamental kind, but changes essentially of classroom practice. Having teachers invent ways of exploiting these devices, and making their ideas widely known, may well be the best way forward. 

The complexity of the integrated form of the second-order rate equation makes it difficult to apply in many practical applications. Nevertheless, one can combine this equation with modem computer-based curve-fitting programs to yield good estimates of reaction rate constants. Under some laboratory conditions, the form of Equation (A1.25) can be simplified in useful ways (Gutfreund, 1995). For example, this equation can be simplified considerably if the concentration of one of the reactants is held constant, as we will see below. 

ECVAM is the leading international center for alternative test method validation. Hartung et al. (29) summarized the modular steps necessary to accomplish stage 3 (test validation). The seven modular steps are (I) test definition, (2) within-laboratory variability, (3) transferability, (4) between-laboratory variability, (5) predictive capacity, (6) applicability domain, and (7) performance standards (29). Steps 2-4 evaluate the test s reliability steps 5 and 6 evaluate the relevance of the test. Successful completion of all seven steps is necessary to proceed to stage 4 (independent assessment or peer review). This modular approach allows flexibility for the validation process where information on the test method can be gathered either prospectively or retrospectively. The approach is applicable not only to in vitro test methods but also to in silico approaches (e.g., computer-based approaches such as quantitative structure-activity relationships or QSAR) and pattern-based systems (e.g., genomics and proteomics). 

Brown, H. D., Marianne Costlow, Frank A. Cutler, Albert N. DeMott, Walter B. Gall, David P. Jacobus, and Charles J. Miller, "The Computer-Based Chemical Structure Information System of Merck, Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories," Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences, 16(1), 5-10 (1976). 

Modern techniques use rigorous modeling computer-based methods to extract fundamental parameters from laboratory-scale measurements and then apply them to the design of commercial absorption towers. These techniques are covered next. 

The Type II system comes in two flavors. They vary by the type of gradient pumping system they contain low-pressure mixing or high-pressure mixing. The rest of the system is the same injector, variable detector, and computer-based data acquisition and control. Autosamplers would allow 24-hr operation, but most university research laboratories find graduate students to be less expensive. 

The ATSDR use of QSAR and models to predict toxicity is well described by El-Masri et al. (2002). In 1998, the ATSDR established a computational toxicology laboratory and initiated efforts to use Physiologically Based PharmacoKinetic (PBPK) models, BenchMark Dose (BMD) models, and QSARs. PBPK models are used by the ATSDR to ... 

As scientists and engineers, natural self-assembly processes represent a tremendous resource, which we can use to create our own miniature materials and devices. Our endeavors are informed by hundreds of years of curiosity-driven research interested in the natural world. Our toolbox is further expanded by modem synthetic chemistry which extends beyond the realm of natural molecules. We can also create artificial environments to control and direct assembly and use computer-based tools and simulations to model and predict self-assembly pathways and their resulting protein structures. Many researchers believe we can use these modern tools to simplify, improve, and refine assembly processes. We have much to do in order to reach this ambitious goal but the next 10 years are likely to be filled with exciting discoveries and advances as self-assembling polypeptide materials move from the laboratory to the clinic or the manufacturing assembly line. 

The data acquisition and processing operations on the MIKES instrument are under computer control and we are beginning to accumulate a library of reference spectra. A computer based library search routine has not yet been implemented on the MIKES instrument but existing gc/ms software can readily be adapted to the ms/ms data base. The construction of a ms/ms data base is underway in several laboratories. 

Although many advances have been made in understanding the tropospheric reactions of anthropogenic aromatic compounds, additional work is clearly needed. Specific areas of foci for future closely coordinated computational and laboratory-based studies are in the areas of ... 

In this chapter we outline the sources of information about biochemistry and molecular biology that are available in the literature. We start with textbooks, of which there are many, with different emphases, before moving on to more specialised monographs and then the primary literature in scientific journals. The subject is well served by reference books, practical handbooks, and periodicals which summarise methodological aspects, and these are considered next. There then follows a brief discussion of computer-based literature searches. The chapter concludes with advice about the use of protocols in biochemical and molecular biological experiments and keeping proper records of experimental work in laboratory books. 

Caliper Technologies Corporation, Palo Alto, California, is working toward creating a miniature chemistry laboratory about the size of a toaster that can be used with plug-in chip-based laboratories. Various chips would be furnished with the unit that would be appropriate for different types of analyses. The entire unit would be connected to a computer to collect and analyze the data. There is even the possibility that these laboratories could be used in the home to perform analyses such as blood sugar and blood cholesterol and to check for the presence of bacteria such as E. coli and many others. This would revolutionize the health care industry. ... 

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