-------------------------Monitor------------------------ The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 93 www.windmill.co.uk April 2006 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- We hope you enjoy this issue of Montior, but should you wish to cancel your subscription you can do so at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html CONTENTS ======== * Windmill News: New pH Monitoring Units * The origins of "pH": Update * Windmill Notes: Any Archaeologists Using Windmill? * DAQ News Roundup * Excel Corner: Column Chart versus Histogram (or How to remove the gaps between columns) ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill News: New pH Monitoring Units ________________________________________________________ You can now buy a pH Monitoring unit from our on-line catalogue. The new package provides 16 channels of pH measurement. It comprises Windmill software, a data acquisition and control unit which plugs into the PC's USB port, and pH signal conditioning. The pH electrodes connect to BNC sockets. For more information contact sales@biodataltd.com or see https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/data-acquisition.html#751-pH ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ The origins of "pH": Update ________________________________________________________ In our last issue we discussed the origins of the term "pH". We were pretty confident that the H stood for Hydrogen but offered two options as to where the p came from. The first was from the German word protenz meaning power, and the second was just a constant. This prompted several of you to write with other ideas. Dennis Long was taught over 50 years ago that the "p in pH" refers to Potential; as in the phrase "Hydrogen Ion Potential". Eduard believed that pH orginated from the Latin "pondus Hydrogenii", meaning "weight of Hydrogen. Mark Ralph plumped for the p being from the French poudre or power - "usually ascribed to the chemist LeChatlier". Thank you to everyone who read the article and took the trouble to contact us. To read it again go to https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor92.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill Notes: Any Archaeologists Using Windmill? ________________________________________________________ Caverlee Cary, an archeologist at the University of California, asked us whether anyone was using Windmill software for underwater archaeology. We didn't know of any, but as people can just download the software from the Internet we are aware of only a few of the uses to which people put our software. So, if you are an underwater archaeologist using Windmill please get in touch either with us at monitor@windmillsoft.com or with Caverlee Cary at ccary@berkeley.edu ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ DAQ News Roundup ________________________________________________________ Welcome to our roundup of the latest findings in data acquisition and control. If you would like to receive more timely DAQ news updates then grab our RSS newsfeed at https://www.windmillsoft.com/monitor.xml. Read https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsfeed.php for information how. 3D scanner reveals action inside reactors Scientists can peer inside high-pressure reactors and oil pipelines, to assess damage or improve efficiency, thanks to a new and more accurate imaging technique. The technique generates 3D images by measuring the capacitance of solids, liquids and gases using a magnetic field. The resulting picture shows a slice of the tube at any moment. These snap shots are taken many hundred times a second, and putting them in sequence generates an animation of what is happening inside. Source: New Scientist http://www.newscientisttech.com/ Wearable Wireless Technology to Play Central Role in Healthcare The nascent European wearable wireless patient monitoring markets are likely to see rapid growth over the next four to five years, according to a Frost & Sullivan report. Heightened awareness about the benefits of remote monitoring combined with the growing popularity of homecare is likely to boost the uptake of wearable wireless patient monitoring systems. Source: Frost & Sullivan http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=165631 Eagle-cam provides aerodynamic insights Cameras and sensors mounted on a free-flying eagle may help engineers learn how to build aircraft capable of similar feats of aerobatics. Ultimately the experiments could help engineers design more aerodynamic forms of airplanes, including "morphing wing" craft that could mimic the shape changes of free-flying birds. Source: New Scientist http://www.newscientisttech.com/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Excel Corner: Creating a Histogram in Excel (or How to remove the gaps between columns) ________________________________________________________ What is the difference between a column chart and a histogram? One difference is in a histogram there are no gaps or overlap between the columns. The histogram shows the frequency of events over several categories. To take a people counting example: imagine you were recording how long people paused at a shop display. Your data acquisition system logs the number of people pausing for less than 4 seconds, between 4 and 8 seconds, between 8 and 12 seconds, etc. When plotting the histogram, the people count (frequency) goes up the y axis and the time categories along the x axis. The histogram shows the symmetry or skewedness of the data, and its distribution. Before 2003 Excel did not have a histogram option. You had to instead adjust the gap between columns in order to get the appearance of a histogram. To do this: 1. Create a column chart. 2. Right-click one of the columns. 3. Select Format Data Series and then the Options tab. 4. Set the Gap Width to 0 and click OK. If you have Excel 2003 or later, you can use the Histogram tool in the Data Analysis add-in. Further Reading =============== For more on charting with Excel see https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/excel-charting.html For more on the Excel 2003 Histogram tool http://office.microsoft.com/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * Copyright Windmill Software Ltd * Reprinting permitted with this notice included * For more articles see https://www.windmill.co.uk We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and use extracts from it on your own web site or publication, providing the above notice is included and a link back to our website is in place. An archive of previous issues is at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html and an index of articles at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html Windmill Software Ltd, PO Box 58, North District Office, Manchester, M8 8QR, UK Telephone: +44 (0)161 834 6688 Facsimile: +44 (0)161 833 2190 E-mail: monitor@windmillsoft.com https://www.windmill.co.uk/ https://www.windmillsoft.com/
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