Advanced Research Instrumentation and Facilities (2006) / Chapter Skim
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2 Introduction to Instrumentation
2 Introduction to Instrumentation
Pages 15-40
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From page 15... ...
From the beginnings of the development of the modern scientific method, its emphasis on testable hypotheses required the ability to make quantitative and ever more accurate measurements -- for example, of temperature with the thermometer (1593) , of cellular structure with the microscope (1595)
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From page 16... ...
In the charge to the committee, ARIF is defined as instrumentation with capital costs between $2 million and several tens of millions of dollars. In that range, there is no general instrumentation program at either the 1 Pettitt, Montgomery.
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From page 17... ...
· Often dependent on PhD-level technical research support staff to ensure that researchers are able to take full advantage of the unique capabilities of the instrument and to keep them in proper operating condition. · Dependent on relatively high-level decision-making.
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From page 18... ...
Beyond potential revenue generating applications, having access to advanced research in strumentation also opens up avenues for fundamental discoveries, the implica tions of which may be currently unfathomable." Melissa L Knothe Tate Associate Professor Case Western Reserve University Response to Committee Survey on Advanced Research Instrumentation ARIF includes both commercially available instruments and specially designed and developed instruments and both physical and nonphysical tools.
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From page 19... ...
The Na tional Science Board (NSB) recently identified eight Nobel prizes in physics that were awarded for the development of new or enhanced instrumentation technolo gies, including electron and scanning tunneling microscopes, laser and neutron spectroscopy, particle detectors, and the integrated circuit.3 Nobel prizes for the development of instrumentation have been awarded in chemistry and medicine for instrumentation related to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
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From page 20... ...
Fifty years ago, studies of the effects of magnetic fields on the nuclear spin states of molecules were at the forefront of esoteric physics research. The earliest magnetic resonance spectrometers were inexpensive to build (they could literally be cobbled together by graduate students from spare radar parts)
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From page 21... ...
Modern, very-high-field NMR spectrometers (high fields help to resolve the many atoms found in large molecules) are complex instruments; the most advanced machines today cost millions of dollars.
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From page 22... ...
Again, the applications and the expense are intimately coupled to the sophistication of the technology: a modern, commercially available 4 Tesla whole-body magnetic resonance imager can easily cost $10 million to acquire and site, and it requires highly specialized technical staffing to maintain its perfor
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From page 23... ...
For the institutions that responded to the committee's survey, the annual cost of operation for magnetic resonance imagers averaged 10% of the capital cost. Modern methods in optical and x-ray imaging also reflect the evolution from physics to more applied science.
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From page 24... ...
The most promising approach is the development of new technologies and methods to improve the imaging and molecular-level characterization of biologic systems. In the committee's surveys of researchers and institutions, NMR spectrometers were among the most commonly cited individual instruments, and advanced models were among the most commonly sought.
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From page 25... ...
The genetic information in DNA is stored as a sequence of bases, and DNA sequencing is the determination of the exact order of the base pairs in a segment of DNA. Two groups, in the United States and the United Kingdom, first accom plished sequencing in 1977 and were awarded the 1980 Nobel prize in chemistry.
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From page 26... ...
Beginning in 1990, the pressures of approaching the daunting task of sequenc ing the human genome produced a number of new advances, which resulted in a fully automated high-throughput parallel-processing device that was 10 times faster than the older method. The progress and success of the Human Genome Project constitute a case study in instrumentation and of how, without develop
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From page 27... ...
The electrons are deflected through magnetic fields thereby creating extremely bright light. This light is channeled down beamlines to experimental workstations where it is used for research.
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From page 28... ...
This section gives examples of three types of cybertools that are fundamental to several fields of research: software, data collections, and surveys. Although one of the first scientific applications of digital computers in the 1940s was to try to predict the weather -- with grants from the US Weather Service, the Navy, and the Air Force to John von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University -- scientific applications software aimed at obtaining
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From page 29... ...
Examples of such applications software in use today are Gaussian, a molecular modeling code that is used by experimental and theoretical chemists to understand molecular structure and processes better and more easily by performing computer "experiments" rather than chemistry experiments; the Community Climate System Model, which is used by the climate research community to understand the evolution of past and future climates; and CHARMM and AMBER, used by the biomolecular community to understand the structure and dynamics of proteins and enzymes. Scientific applications, such as Gaussian, often began as small research projects in the laboratory of a single investigator.
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From page 30... ...
By gathering data generated in studies on related topics, digital data collections themselves become a new source of knowledge. One of the best examples of a large scientific database that is integral to progress in science and engineering is GenBank, the genetic sequence database maintained for the biomedical research community by NIH.
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From page 31... ...
Computational technology has advanced to the point where computers can be used as tools not only for remotely accessing databases and collaborating with other researchers but for remotely accessing and controlling scientific instruments. A 900-MHz virtual NMR facility at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, for example, supports a national community of users, roughly half of whom use the instrument remotely.
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From page 32... ...
Distributed Advanced Research Instrumentation Systems Not all advanced research instrumentation is housed in laboratories. Progress in the physics underlying the technological development of modern scientific instruments and their associated cybertools has given rise to an unprecedented explosion in the scope of basic research in the geosciences and biosciences that relies on field observations.
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From page 33... ...
To detect the smallest signals above the earth's background "hum," the self-excitation of the pendulum sensor by Brownian noise must be less than that caused by shaking the instrument's foundation with an acceleration of 1 nm/s2 across a wide frequency band of 104-100 Hz. Furthermore, to make faithful records of the largest earth quakes, the response across the same frequency band must be linear up to excita tion amplitudes that are 1012 times greater than the smallest detectable signals.
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From page 34... ...
Tools for Integrated Circuits An advanced research instrument may consist of a suite of tools that must be combined to advance a particular field of science and technology and eventually affect society. An excellent example is the microelectronic processing technology
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From page 35... ...
In 2000, Kilby was awarded the Nobel prize for the invention of the IC. Today, the microelectronic processing technology industry has sales of over $150 billion per year.
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From page 36... ...
The development of scanning probe technology began in 1981 with the scanning tunneling microscope in Zurich. Scanning tunneling microscopes use quantum principles not only to visualize surfaces but also to manipulate them by, for example, initiating chemical reactions.
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From page 37... ...
The current development of aberration-corrected electron optics will greatly enhance the spatial, temporal, and energy resolution of electron microscopes. x-ray mi croscopy could make a major contribution to the understanding of cell function and structure.
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From page 38... ...
Satellites are also essential for the operation of cell phones and GPS devices. The UARS satellite, shown above, measures ozone and chemical compounds found in the ozone layer, which affect ozone chemistry and processes.
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From page 39... ...
F2-4: ARIF often depend on PhD-level technical research support staff for its proper operation and maintenance and to facilitate use by researchers. ARIF require highly specialized knowledge and training for proper operation and use.
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From page 40... ...
Furthermore, the advanced nature of ARIF often requires ex pert PhD-level technical research support staff for its operation and maintenance. R2-2: Continued and vigorous federal investment in ARIF is essential to enable cutting-edge research in the future.
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