Personal computer analyzer

The World Wide Web has transformed the way in which we obtain and analyze published information on proteins. What only a few years ago would take days or weeks and require the use of expensive computer workstations can now be achieved in a few minutes or hours using personal computers, both PCs and Macintosh, connected to the internet. The Web contains hundreds of sites of Interest to molecular biologists, many of which are listed in Pedro s BioMolecular Research Tools (http // www.fmi.ch/biology/research tools.html). Many sites provide free access to databases that make it very easy to obtain information on structurally related proteins, the amino acid sequences of homologous proteins, relevant literature references, medical information and metabolic pathways. This development has opened up new opportunities for even non-specialists to view and manipulate a structure of interest or to carry out amino-acid sequence comparisons, and one can now rapidly obtain an overview of a particular area of molecular biology. We shall here describe some Web sites that are of interest from a structural point of view. Updated links to these sites can be found in the Introduction to Protein Structure Web site (http // WWW.ProteinStructure.com/). 

FTA, fault free analyzer module, uses SETS and FTAP to reduce fault trees and generate minimal cutsets for storage as minimal cutset libraries. Cutset control uses truncation hy probability or order. The user chooses the codes according to the personal computer s capabilities. The FTA module uses OR, AND, N/M, switch gates and supercomponents. 

Fullwood, R. and W. Shier, 1990, PRA Using Event Tables and the Brookhaven Event Tree Analyzer (BETA), The Role and Use of Personal Computers in Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Decision Making, Elsevier, NY, ISBN 1-85166-501-3, pp 79-92/... 

Room-temperature fluorescence (RTF) has been used to determine the emission characteristics of a wide variety of materials relative to the wavelengths of selected Fraunhofer lines in support of the Fraunhofer luminescence detector remote-sensing instrument. RTF techniques are now used in the compilation of excitation-emission-matrix (EEM) fluorescence "signatures" of materials. The spectral data are collected with a Perkin-Elraer MPF-44B Fluorescence Spectrometer interfaced to an Apple 11+ personal computer. EEM fluorescence data can be displayed as 3-D perspective plots, contour plots, or "color-contour" images. The integrated intensity for selected Fraunhofer lines can also be directly extracted from the EEM data rather than being collected with a separate procedure. Fluorescence, chemical, and mineralogical data will be statistically analyzed to determine the probable physical and/or chemical causes of the fluorescence. 

The data were statistically analyzed using the SOLO Statistical System (BMDP Statistical Software, Inc., Los Angeles, CA) on a personal computer. Differences between groups were tested by the Mann-Whitney test or a paired t-test in cases where paired data sets were tested. Possible relationships were studied with (multiple) linear regression using least-square estimates. 

Fig. 3.1. Schematic diagram of a TCSPC setup. Using a fast timing device (e.g., time-to-amplitude-converter) the time is measured between the excitation pulse and the detection of a photon. By repeating this procedure many times a decay curve is measured. TAC time to amplitude convertor, MCA multi channel analyzer, PC personal computer. 

The ellipsometer used in this study is described elsewhere(3). It consists of a Xenon light source, a monochromator, a polarizer, a sample holder, a rotating analyzer and a photomultiplier detector (Figure 1). An electrochemical cell with two windows is mounted at the center. The windows, being 120° apart, provide a 60° angle of incidence for the ellipsometer. A copper substrate and a platinum electrode function as anode and cathode respectively. Both are connected to a DC power supply. The system is automated with a personal computer to collect all experimental data during the deposition. Data analysis is carried out by a Fortran program run on a personal computer. 

For almost any experiment that involves a light microscope, quantitative data to test a hypothesis may be obtained by microphotometry. Add a photometer and a few accessories to a light microscope, and it may be possible to quantify a cytochemical reaction product, measure the spectrum of a pigment, quantify natural or induced fluorescence, quantify birefringence, or map and analyze an image. But manually collecting thousands of numbers is unbelievably tedious. The solution is obvious. Use a personal computer (PC) to collect the numbers. 

Obtairiing kinetic data is very tedious, and it requires great care to avoid both random and systematic errors. For this reason, it is very common to assemble computer-based data acquisition systems, frequently with simple personal computers equipped with data acquisition analog-to-digital capabilities and graphics. These computers can be programmed patienfly to acquire the necessary data, make frequent calibrations, vary parameters such as temperature and concentration, analyze data statistics, and print out parameters. 

Figure 6.22 Microprocessor-based electrochemical analyzer coupled to a 486 personal computer. [Courtesy of Bioanalytical Systems, Inc., West Lafayette, IN.]...

In 1982, the European Space Agency s Information Retrieval Service (ESA/IRS) introduced the ZOOM command, providing users with a mechanism to analyze retrieved sets. In 1984, service at a baud rate of 2400 was made available by Tymnet and Telenet for public access to on-line databases. In 1985, the first commercial CD-ROM drives for personal computers became available, along with the first commercial CD-ROM databases. 

Most analyzers incorporate a personal computer (PC) for data acquisition, control, data analysis, presentation/display of results, and communications. Many are integrated via Ethernet-based networks. Two approaches are used either the computer is integrated into the analyzer package, including the visual display and keyboard/control panel (an abbreviated keyboard or a preprogrammed equivalent), or a separate industrial-grade... 

Quantitative Image Analysis. A software package compatible with a HP personal computer (Model 9836) has been developed to assess the morphology of rubber particles in HIPS. The package is capable of analyzing the following information ... 

Another requisite is to measure the areas of peaks accurately. In our office, areas of exothermic peaks on DSC charts have been determined for many years by weighing their cutouts. At one time,an attempt was made to use a planimeter, but this method was not used long. In recent years personal computers have come into wide use. The authors have also connected the DSC apparatus directly to a computer which collects and analyzes the data and prints out the results. This system marks a great advance in that peak areas can be measured accurately. 

Figure 1 Block diagram of the solid-state dedicated CD spectrophotometer (J-800KCM). P polarizer M photoelastic modulator (PEM) S sample and rotation stage LI, L2 lenses A analyzer (Glan-Tayler) D photomultiplier (R376) MINI 12P sample stage controller lock-in ampl JASCO lock-in amp2 Stanford SRS 830 Recorder SEKO-NIC SS-250F PC personal computer.

The Xepr software package that runs the instrument is easy to learn and contains many usefiil features for spectral manipulation and analysis. It runs on a personal computer under the Linux environment so it is possible to gain network access to the spectrometer from any networked computer that has an X-11 terminal emulator. This allows several users to log in and analyze their data while the spectrometer is busy collecting more. 

The Zeiss AxioHOME (Highly Optimized Microscope Environment) was developed by pathologists to count, measure and analyze cell structure in biological thin sections. The AxioHOME is a light microscope coupled to a personal computer that allows the microscopist to make measurements on particles whilst still observing the real image. It is highly suited to particle size analysis because the measurements can be exported directly to a spreadsheet [103]. 

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