The use of personal computers

Because of their obvious advantages personal computers are used in all kinds of organizations and for a wide variety of applications. Accessibility and cost are comparable with a dialog terminal connected to a multi-user computer system. The main advantages, however, can be seen in the wealth of high-quality software products that are available today, and in the comfort of high I/O- bandwidth between CPU and display screen allowing for instantaneous updates of the screen s contents. 

Furthermore, owning a PC provides independence from other sub-organizations, e.g. from a corporate computing center. On the other hand, besides limitations in compute power, storage capacity and output devices, there exist more serious shortcomings of PCs in the following areas  

Real-time applications. For most types of PCs a wide variety of computer cards from different vendors is available to connect laboratory instruments to a PC (See Chapter 8.). 

The PC operating systems used today, however, e.g. MS-DOS, are not built for and are not suited for real-time applications. The multi-task real-time operating systems, e.g. RSX11M, that have been available with the traditional 16-bit 

Administration of data. If PCs are selected and purchased on an individual basis without coordination, isolated and incompatible solutions will emerge. Information that is concentrated at the single computer system in the case of a centralized system, is distributed over many separated stations, perhaps on diskettes handled by various coworkers. The collection and administration of information that may be important to the operation of an organization is difficult to manage or impossible under such circumstances. 

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The rapid development of the computer technique and the decreasing prices in spite of the increasing of performance have spread the use of personal computers (PCs) not only for industrial use but also for private use. Also, in spite of increasing requirements mea.surement and test systems become more and more economical, including NDT-systems. 

The scan rate of the potential is usually in the range from 0.020 V s-1 to 100 V s"1. Until a few years ago the resulting current-potential curves were recorded with a normal X-Y recorder up to a scan rate of about 0.5 V s-1 for higher scan rates it was necessary to use an oscilloscope. Recently, however, the use of personal computers interfaced with the electrochemical apparatus has overcome most recording problems. 

Constant-parameter kinetic (CPaK) experiments are very time consuming. Nowadays, the use of personal computers and new-generation analytical instruments enables a step forward to be made in collecting kinetic data. 

There are a number of advantages associated with the use of personal computers for supporting performance testing systems. Given the ubiquity of personal computers, personal computers afford a fair amount of flexibility for equipment support and maintenance. If new equipment is acquired, personal computers can support a variety of services when not needed for performance testing. Finally, the availability of numerous personal computer vendors helps to assure reasonable prices and adequate product availability. 

There me also some disadvantages associated with the use of personal computers. Desktop computers have limited mobility. Portable personal computers are typically more expensive, have more limited capabilities than desktop machines, and present greater security concerns. Data management can be more complicated if results from different testing occasions are required in a central database or if an individual is tested in multiple settings with different computers. 

Masato Mamiya and Toshio Nishikawa, Advances in the Use of Personal Computers for Analytical Technicians, Nihon Kankyo Sokutai Bunseki Kyokai, Tokyo, 1984. 

As previously described, the use of computers and computerized systems in the pharmaceutical industry is growing at a rapid rate. Some of the systems used in the industry range in complexity from the use of personal computers for performing simple tasks (word processing, e-mail, Internet access) to the use of powerful computers in process-control applications. In addition, to help eliminate or reduce paper usage, the pharmaceutical industry has implemented a number of electronic batch record systems in drug substance and product manufacturing to keep track of process documentation. 

Updated computational tools. As in previous editions, I provide many opportunities for the use of personal computers in problem solving. The third edition of this book included MATHCAD worksheets and DOS-based Basic language (and compiled) programs. To these programs I have added Windows-friendly Visual Basic versions of those earlier programs that are easier to use and have greater capabilities. There is also a new Visual Basic pure-component database that can be used as a stand-alone program or accessed by the... 

In the 1990s, most U.S. organizations ehminated many of the layers in the top-to-bottom structure. In part, the change resulted from the use of personal computers and the Internet. Higher levels did not need many of the intermediate layers to analyze and process information into a form for the next higher level. Someone at any level could access... 

A recent trend in particle analysis has been the introduction of personal computer-based automation (3). Sophisticated software packages can be used to automate and speed up the analysis. In some cases these computers can even carry out continuous process control (qv) (see Computer technology). The latest machines also allow the measurements of smaller particles and can detect a wider range of sizes. Machines based on light-scattering principles are being more widely accepted by the industry because of speed. An average analysis takes from 1—2 min, whereas those based on sedimentation principles require from 10—120 min. 

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/). 

The equations of state will not be further described or presented in more detail as tliey are unfortunately somewhat difficult to solve without the use of a computer. Full details are available in the referenced material for those wishing to pursue this subject further. In the past, these equations required the use of a mainframe computer not only to solve the equations themselves, but to store the great number of constants required. This has been true particularly if the gas mixture contains numerous components. With the power and storage capacity of personal computers increasing, the equations have the potential of becoming more readily available for general use... 

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/... 

United States had at least one PC or computer terminal. The more PCs and computer terminals used m a given building, the greater the impact on the building s energy consumption. The proliferation of personal computers, printers, copiers, and other types of plug loads is the main cause of the rise in energy intensity in recent years. 

Although the manufacturing sector continued its decline in the production of energy-intensive products, between 1986 and 1997 the service sector continued to grow. Not only did the commercial building stock increase, but the use of office equipment—from computers to copy machines—has grown rapidly. In just three years, between 1992 and 1995, the number of personal computers and computer terminals m commercial buildings increased from 29.8 million to 43 million (45%). 

Clearly this process can rapidly become tedious, especially when one thinks about tracing hundreds or thousands of rays from many different points on the object (field points). Fortunately many computer programs have been written that allow us to harness the power of personal computers to do this. Nonetheless, most commercial computer programs use the exact same technique as that which we have described. 

It is now possible for most students to purchase a basic computer system ai low cost. If a personal computer is not in the budget, most colleges and universities provide students access to campus-wide computer systems as part of tuition and fees. By this point in your studies, you are familiar with the use of a computer, but a few introductory comments are made just to help you get started with computing in the biochemistry laboratory. In terms of equipment, you will need a computer, monitor, printer, and some basic software. Some recommendations for specific hardware and software will be given here, but one must be aware that new products and important upgrades are continually being developed. 

Principles of Thermodynamics should be accessible to scientifically literate persons who are either learning the subject on their own or reviewing the material. At Emory University, this volume forms the basis of the first semester of a one-year sequence in physical chemistry. Problems and questions are included at the end of each chapter. Essentially, the questions test whether the students understand the material, and the problems test whether they can use the derived results. More difficult problems are indicated by an asterisk. Some problems, marked with an M, involve numerical calculations that are most easily performed with the use of a computer program such as Mathcad or Mathematica. A brief survey of some of these numerical methods is included in Appendix B, for cases in which the programs are unavailable or cumbersome to use. 

The advent of personal computers greatly facilitated the application of spectroscopic methods for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. It is no longer necessary to be a spectroscopic expert to use the methods for chemical analyses. Presently, the methodologies are easy and fast and take advantage of all or most of the spectral data. In order to understand the basis for most of the current processing methods, we will address two important techniques principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS). When used for quantitative analysis, PCA is referred to as principal component regression (PCR). We will discuss the two general techniques of PCR and PLS separately, but we also will show the relationship between the two. 

Before the advent of personal computers in the business office, pre-printed spreadsheet forms were used. Today almost all reviews are conducted with the aid of a computer as manual methods are highly inefficient and costly to perform when compared to computer means. This is especially important when the manhour rates of specialized consultants are utilized. Preliminary and final copies of the review reports may possibly be transmitted by electronic means to team members and pertinent company personnel where the infrastructure is available. 

There are disadvantages too. Some databases do not include all of the material available in conventional form for example, much of the early Chemical Abstracts is not available on-line. Another problem is that the software for on-line searching is relatively complex, so it is more difficult to learn and, as a result, on-line searches by inexperienced users can be unreliable. The increasing use of personal computers and graphical input and output have made database searching much easier but a good understanding of the software is stUl essential. Finally the cost of hardware, software, consumables, and the searches themselves, can be considerable. 

A multichannel analyzer (MCA) with a minimum of 4096 channels should be connected to a keyboard and display screen for input and output of data and interaction with a computer. Several kits are available for the conversion of personal computers (PCs) into MCAs. Basically there are three types of conversion kits. One makes use of board with an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) that simply clips into the PC a second type uses a clip-in board with an external ADC and the third type uses a multichannel buffer (MCB) connected to the PC. All of these PC-based MCA systems are relatively inexpensive and are very suitable for use in germanium and sodium iodide y-ray spectrometry. 

The idea of a fixed crystal structure in which single cages contained at most one guest proved irresistible to statistical thermodynamicists. After an initial effort by Powell, Royal Dutch Shell workers van der Waals and Platteeuw generated a method that still stands today as a principal, regular industrial use of statistical thermodynamics. However, the model was not suitable for manual calculations (as were the methods of Katz in item 3 above), but required access to then-scarce computers, which limited its application to large companies or major universities. Widespread adoption of the model awaited the proliferation of personal computers. 

Advances in technology can facilitate the generation and transfer of patient documentation. As more pharmacies use the Internet as a means of communication, information can be transferred quickly and accurately over greater distances. Handheld computers and specialty software allow health care practitioners to document information in an electronic format that can be transformed immediately for rapid transfer to others. Reports in the literature have described methods to assess pharmacist interventions related to medication errors, the use of computer-based systems, and recently, the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) in specific patient care areas. Many of these documentation systems tend to be individualized apphcations in which the transfer of data to other providers is not possible or quite limited. Often these systems focus on the generation of reports for workload analysis or accreditation purposes. 

This allows for easy use in calculations of separation processes where phase equihbrium data are needed. Historically, this approach was used prior to the advent of personal computers when calculations involving linear terms were much simpler to implement. 

Advances in data manipulation and availability of mathematical, statistical, and chemometric analytical software programs have greatly assisted extraction of useful information from IR spectra. This area, in particular, has greatly benefited from the wide spread use of personal computers. 

There is at least one major area of activity pertaining directly to the environment for which the reader will seek in vain. The complexity of environmental problems and the availability of personal computers have led to extensive studies on models of varying sophistication. A discussion and evaluation of these lie well beyond the competence of an old-fashioned experimentalist this gap is left for others to fill but attention is drawn to a review that covers recent developments in the application of models to the risk assessment of xenobiotics (Barnthouse 1992), a book (Mackay 1991) that is devoted to the problem of partition in terms of fugacity — a useful term taken over from classical thermodynamics — and a chapter in the book by Schwarzenbach et al. (1993). Some superficial comments are, however, presented in Section 3.5.5 in an attempt to provide an overview of the dissemination of xenobiotics in natural ecosystems. It should also be noted that pharmacokinetic models have a valuable place in assessing the dynamics of uptake and elimination of xenobiotics in biota, and a single example (Clark et al. 1987) is noted parenthetically in another context in Section 3.1.1. In similar vein, statistical procedures for assessing community effects are only superficially noted in Section 7.4. Examples of the application of cluster analysis to analyze bacterial populations of interest in the bioremediation of contaminated sites are given in Section 8.2.6.2. 

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