IMEKO Event Proceedings Search

   

Page 912 of 914 Results 9111 - 9120 of 9134

Luciana A. Almeida, Maurício N. Frota, Maria Helena A. Frota
METROLOGY EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP: THE BRAZILIAN EXPERIENCE

The XVII IMEKO World Congress presents a paper on Metrology Education and Citizenship that describes Brazilian experiences with metrology education at all academic levels. Based on a Master’s Degree dissertation entitled METROLOGY: A TOOL FOR CITIZENSHIP recently presented at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it analyses education and legislation in Metrology, among other related issues, while addressing the Brazilian experience with metrology education. This study argues that the sooner metrological concepts embody cultural patterns of human behaviour the faster civilization will reach the desirable stage of democracy, as metering and measuring may be considered effective ways of ensuring fair shares and equitable access to human rights in this new historical era, where Humankind and the Quality of Life emerge as true parameters for assessing social, economic, political or industrial development. In order to verify the extent to which Brazilian society is committed to this new social order, two factors were considered: education and legal documentation. Legal documents were analyzed on the assumption that the law is the main driving force underpinning democratic living conditions. The following aspects were taken into consideration: Brazil’s 1988 Constitution (known at the time it was promulgated as the Citizenship Constitution); the Brazilian Consumer Protection and Defence Code; and Metrology Regulations. In terms of Education, the historical path of Metrology is analyzed within the framework of formal education in Brazil, providing input for private and public policies addressing this sector. Special attention is paid to (i) an analysis of post-graduate programmes in Metrology within the overall context of post-graduation education in Brazil; (ii) educational policies and other political actions consolidating Metrology as an efficient ally for democracy and citizenship. Attention was also given to the influence of major industrial landmarks on Brazil’s competitiveness, in order to understand forces with positive effects on the social changes required to guarantee the quality of life and citizens’ rights as crucial living conditions for humankind.

P. Aebli, A. Kaufmann, K. Ruhm
BUILDING A WEB-BASED KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING HOME FOR MEASUREMENT SCIENCES

E-Learning and web-based training are present-day topics in education. So far this has been less the case in the fields of measurement sciences and technologies, even though there is an increasing need for a stock of basic knowledge and expertise. The following project aims at this target. There are two key aspects in this context: 1. Structuring of knowledge and methods in the field, leading via a sophisticated knowledge network to a multidimensional knowledge matrix. 2. Organization and standardization of all activities in the process on the teaching side as well as on the learning side. The realization of these aspects must be done by means of workflows within the knowledge management system. Those workflows should be automatized as far as possible. The authoring workflow is the most important one.

Bernhard List, Josef Prost
TEST RIG FOR THE DEMONSTRATION OF THE FLOW IN A RADIAL PUMP

The paper gives information about a new PIV test rig for the education and training of students in the field of hydraulic machinery.

Sergey V. Muravyov, Vesa Savolainen
TEACHING MEASUREMENT THEORY IN METROLOGY, STANDARDIZATION AND CERTIFICATION

This paper describes some experiences in solving a difficult problem: organization of teaching General Measurement Theory in a situation where neither widely accepted opinion on its structure and contents nor authoritative textbooks and didactical materials exist. The contents of the discipline's theoretical part and exercises are given. The obligatory minimum of the theoretical part includes studying the initial mathematical concept like sets, binary relations, and mappings; formal logic and algebraic foundations of measurement as a cognitive process; features of measurement on quantitative and qualitative scales; formal models for measurands and procedures; and ways of mathematical description and estimation of measurement errors. Typical assignments are described. Features of the course instructional process organization are considered.

Paul P.L.Regtien, Ciska Heida
A THREE-STEP APPROACH TO PRACTICAL TRAINING IN MEASUREMENT

This paper reports on a training program in measurement for undergraduate students, in which emphasis is put on a critical attitude with respect to the whole measurement process. A thorough analysis of the measurement environment, the measurement devices and the signal processing are prerequisites for a correct interpretation of the measurement results. These skills are trained using a complete system built up in modules that can be studied separately. The student starts with the characterization of transducers, followed by studying the associated signal processing and finally evaluates the performance of the complete measurement system, all by hands-on experiments.

Calmin D. Scarlett, Leonardo A. Clarke, Ryan Turner, Joseph Skobla
CELLULAR BASED GPS ERROR CORRECTION SYSTEM

The Micro-tracking System in development at the Physics Department, University of the West Indies is aimed at providing an effective vehicle and asset tracking system which will cover the entire island of Jamaica. The system uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in determining location of an asset equipped with a processing unit which was develop at UWI. We aim to improve this system by increasing the accuracy and efficiency of the system and adding navigational capabilities [1]. This is a cost effective GPS error correction system designed to work with a GSM cellular network. Several factors introduce errors in GPS based positioning calculations. This system is geared towards reducing and/or eliminating these errors and thus increasing the accuracy of the GPS system. This system is able to provide the same services as the Differential GPS (DGPS) systems which are in use today. The DGPS systems use Radio Frequency (RF) transmitters to broadcast error correction information. Our system which uses the existing cellular phone network will eliminate the expensive RF transmitter and the limitations associated with them, thus drastically reducing cost and increase efficiency significantly. Errors in the psuedorange measurements affect the quality of the GPS solution. These errors can be modelled, and by using DGPS techniques the errors can be removed. Neural Networks and Kalman Filters show much potential in implementing an elegant and efficient solution to the problem. Mapping information and software is needed for both tracking and navigation. The paper is describing implementation of a mapping-software which is able to pin point accurately the GPS receiver position on a digital map. This software will also implement a route planning algorithm, which will be able to generate the “shortest path”, whether shortest time or shortest distance, from point A to point B by considering distance, number of turns, traffic lights, traffic congestion and other dynamic information.

Mladen Jakovcic, Armin Pavic
THE LIFE-LONG EDUCATION FOR THE MEASUREMENT PROCESS

Human error has always been important component of the error of measurement. The use of modern technology, for capturing, transmitting, processing, manipulating and recording of measurement data, has eliminated human errors from the technical part of the measurement process, so that the main causes of human errors remain in the user area. A little space has been left for improving this aspect of measurement by technical means, therefore education has become an important tool for minimization of human errors. A systematic approach to user education is presented, with a pattern of continuous education similar to the measuring system life-cycle.

Pasquale Daponte, Domenico Grimaldi, Vladimír Haasz, Linus Michaeli, Ján Šaliga
A TWO YEARS EXPERIENCE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL ON DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS

The International Summer School for Master of Science (MS) and PhD students is aimed to give expertise for designing and testing Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems. The students became familiar with various aspects concerning (i) interfaces for measurement instrumentation, (ii) different programming environments for DAQ system software development, and (iii) DAQ system control in the integrated communication and computer networks. Obtained skills allow the student the implementation of design and test methods in any European enterprise with regards to the common standards and products available on the market. The paper presents the two years experiences achieved at organizing the Summer School held in 2001 and 2002, and programmed in 2003, supported by the European SOCRATES/ERASMUS Programme, the IMEKO Working Group on ADC&DAC Metrology, the University partners, and other Institutions.

Maarten Korsten, Marinka Sysling, Paul Regtien
WRITING LABORATORY REPORTS OF EXPERIMENTAL WORK DIRECTLY ON THE COMPUTER, A FEASIBILITY STUDY

In this paper we present the results of a feasibility study on writing an electronic laboratory report while performing experiments. This way of reporting may lead to better documented experiments, to improved information exchange between members of a project group and facilitate writing a final report for the outside world. Results from a pilot study with student groups indicate that these improvements are obtained indeed. The reports look more professional, are better structured and well readable. Also the information exchange between group members showed improvement. The management of data and reports however needs attention, as students tend to neglect this aspect.

Aurel Millea, Radu Munteanu, Ionel Urdea Marcus
TEACHING GENERAL METROLOGY: WHY, WHAT, HOW?

Arguments are given in favour of teaching a course of General Metrology in technical universities, and some hints are formulated regarding the content of it. Several questions arise in connection with General Metrology, seen as a technical discipline, rather than a physical one. Is it useful to teach General Metrology as a separate course at a higher education level? If the answer is yes, what would be the best curriculum of such a course? When would it be most appropriate to teach the course, at the beginning or at the end of the series of basic technical disciplines? What are the main benefits such a course would bring to the general formation of the student of a technical university? The paper intends to present some aspects from our experience in this direction, after many years of teaching General Metrology at the University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania, faculty of Electrotechnics.

Page 912 of 914 Results 9111 - 9120 of 9134