Microcomputer-Based Laboratory

Microcomputer-Based Laboratory activities form an interesting class of applications tools. Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL) activities may bridge the gap between the external... 

Linn, M. C., Layman, J. and Nachmias, R., Cognitive Consequences of Microcomputer-based Laboratories Graphing Skills Development, Journal of Contemporary Educational Psychology, 1985. 

Keywords cognitive science, computer-based learning, evaluation, kinematics, laboratory curriculum, mechanics, Microcomputer-Based Laboratory, physical intuition, physics, probes... 

Thornton, R.K. Access to college science microcomputer- based laboratories for the naive science learner. Collegiate Microcomputer, V. No. 1, February, 1987 1986. 

Thornton, R. K. Tools for scientific thinking microcomputer-based laboratories for physics teaching. Physics Education. 22 230.1987. 

Keywords Boxer, collaboration, collaborative science, constructionism, constructivism, constructivist curriculum, constructivist educational strategies, creativity, databases, factual knowledge, graphs, kinematics, MBL tools, microcomputer-based laboratory, microcomputer-based labs, microworlds, modelling, physics, probe, science education, science misconceptions, science teaching, seismology, sensor, simulation, spreadsheets, STELLA, telecommunications, TERC, transducers... 

There are several performance characteristics of microcomputer-based laboratory instruments that make them useful tools analogous to the Crescent wrench ... 

Brasell, H.M., Effectiveness of the microcomputer-based laboratory in learning distance and velocity graphs, doctoral dissertation. University of Florida, 1986. 

Tinker R. and Barclay W., Development of microcomputer-based laboratory instructional materials. Cambridge Technical ucadon Research Centers, 1983. 

In chemistry and physics education, the most common ICT tools are visualisations such as simulations or computerised molecular modelling (CMM) and computerised laboratories also known as microcomputers based laboratories (MBL). 

Adams, D., Shrum, J. (1990). The effects of microcomputer-based laboratory exercises on the acquisition of line graph construction and interpretation skills by high school biology students. 

Friedler, Y., Nachmias, R., Linn, M. C. (1990). Learning scientific reasoning skills in microcomputer-based laboratories. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27, 173-192. 

Redish, E. F., Saul, J. M., Steinberg, R. N. (1997). On die effectiveness of active-engagement microcomputer based laboratories. American Journal of Physics, 65, 45-54. 

Russell, D.W., Lucas, K. B., McRobbie, C. J. (2004). Role of the microcomputer-based laboratory display in supporting the construction of new understandings in thermal physics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 165-185. 

Thornton, R. K., Sokoloff, D. R. (1990). Learning motion concepts using real-time microcomputer-based laboratory tools. of Physics, 58, 858-866. 

After we determined the concentrations of individual Isomers, we retrieved the data from the MUMPs based laboratory data base, and transferred them to an IBM-XT (IBM Corporation, Boco Raton, FL 33432) by way of a RS-232 link, using the program Cyber (Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Urbana, IL 61820). In performing principal components analyses, we used SIMCA-3B for MS-DOS based microcomputers (Principal Data Components, 2505 Shepard Blvd., Columbia, MO 65201). 

The Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) has achieved wide recognition as a powerful tool for increasing the productivity and quality of service of the analytical laboratory. Systems have been developed that range from inexpensive microcomputer based systems to half-million dollar or more large, minicomputer based systems. In addition, many firms have already developed or acquired custom systems tailored to their specific needs(1-8). 

Interfacing microcomputers with laboratory equipment (controlling, data collection), literature-searching, data-base searching. 

This blend of technologies has become known as microcomputer-based labs (MBL), and many studies have investigated the impact of these MBLs on students attitudes and learning. MBL s development has not been as dramatic as the spread of the Internet or Web, but these instruments are steadily being infused into teaching laboratories at all levels. Nakhleh... 

The advent of microcomputer-based systems such as those described here provides a new opportunity for individuals to store and manipulate personal and proprietary data. Small data collections of up to a few thousand compounds can be stored to keep track of new research, inventories, and laboratory data. Such information has traditionally been kept in card files or unindexed file folders. When stored as a PC-based structure file, this data can be rapidly searched and specific information easily retrieved and evaluated. 

While the number of users increased by a factor of six over the time period, the number of sessions increased by a factor of ten. The average session length has remained at a fairly constant average of fifteen minutes per session. The number of sessions has increased faster than the user population because of the increase in the amount and type of information available in the database as well as the acquisition of microcomputer-based graphics terminals by many individual chemistry laboratories. Although substructure searching is considered an important function of the system, the number of substructure searches has only doubled since the introduction of the system. 

An approach TERC has termed microcomputer-based labs, or MBL, converts a microcomputer equipped with a small collection of transducers and general-purpose software into a universal laboratory instrument. 

While the computer is seen as an indispensable lab tool in science research, it has taken years of persuasion, first by TERC and then many other innovators, to get educators to see the advantages of using the computer in the teaching laboratory. Variously known as "microcomputer-based labs," "MBL," "probeware," or "laboratory aids," these computer applications are beginning to be seen as a valuable part of science education. 

D. Coomans, I. Broeckaert, M.P. Derde, A. Tassin, D.L. Massart and S. Wold, Use of a microcomputer for the definition of multivariate confidence regions in medical diagnosis based on clinical laboratory profiles. Comp. Biomed. Res., 17 (1984) 1-14. 

The character and the degree of automation in chemical control may have been covered in the above treatment of semi-automatic or completely automatic, and of discontinuous or continuous analysis, but something more should be said about the means by which automation proper has been performed in recent times. Whereas in the past automated analysis involved the use of merely, mechanical robots, to-day s automation is preferably based on computerization in a way which can best be explained with a few specific examples. Adjustment knobs have been increasingly replaced with push-buttons that activate an enclosed fully dedicated microcomputer or microprocessor in line with the measuring instrument the term microcomputer is applicable if, apart from the microprocessor as the central processing unit (CPU), it contains additional, albeit limited, memory (e.g., 4K), control logics and input and output lines, by means of which it can act as satellite of a larger computer system (e.g., in laboratory computerization) if not enclosed, the microcomputer is called on-line. 

A principal components multivariate statistical approach (SIMCA) was evaluated and applied to interpretation of isomer specific analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) using both a microcomputer and a main frame computer. Capillary column gas chromatography was employed for separation and detection of 69 individual PCB isomers. Computer programs were written in AMSII MUMPS to provide a laboratory data base for data manipulation. This data base greatly assisted the analysts in calculating isomer concentrations and data management. Applications of SIMCA for quality control, classification, and estimation of the composition of multi-Aroclor mixtures are described for characterization and study of complex environmental residues. 

Pattern recognition studies on complex data from capillary gas chromatographic analyses were conducted with a series of microcomputer programs based on principal components (SIMCA-3B). Principal components sample score plots provide a means to assess sample similarity. The behavior of analytes in samples can be evaluated from variable loading plots derived from principal components calculations. A complex data set was derived from isomer specific polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBS) analyses of samples from laboratory and field studies. 

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