Papers by Stephanie A. Bell
Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future
The Clearing House, 2010
Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an innovative approach to learning that teaches a multitude of st... more Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an innovative approach to learning that teaches a multitude of strategies critical for success in the twenty-first century. Students drive their own learning through inquiry, as well as work collaboratively to research and create projects that reflect their knowledge. From gleaning new, viable technology skills, to becoming proficient communicators and advanced problem solvers, students benefit from
Most Nursing Home Social Service Directors Lack Training in Working With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Residents
Social Work in Health Care, 2010
The purpose of this descriptive study is to report findings from a nationally representative mail... more The purpose of this descriptive study is to report findings from a nationally representative mail-in survey of nursing home social service directors (n = 1,071) who were asked if they had received at least one hour of training in six different areas of cultural competency in the past five years. Of the six areas, the lowest percentage of directors reported having training in homophobia. Three-fourths of the sample had not received even one hour of homophobia training over the past five years. Directors who were more recently educated were more likely to report having received homophobia training, as were directors with a college degree, and those who worked in nursing homes located in the West and South regions of the United States. Directors with the most experience were less likely to report having received training. Findings call for immediate development and dissemination of heterosexism and homophobia training of social service staff, policy changes within the nursing home, and policy advocacy priorities for social workers.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2004
Objective: To describe the process, findings and limitations of a review of Congress Alukura comm... more Objective: To describe the process, findings and limitations of a review of Congress Alukura commissioned in 1998. Methods: Analysis of documents and reports, service use and perinatal data from Alukura and the Northern Territory Midwives Collection; interviews with staff of Congress Alukura, of Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, of Aboriginal community organisations in Alice Springs and remote communities, of health care providers and other key informants in Alice Springs; community consultations through women's meetings or group discussions in local and remote communities. Interviews were coded for thematic and content analysis. Results: Client visits increased by 42% from 1995/96 (2,130) to 1997/98. The proportion of women having a first trimester antenatal visit increased from 23% (1986-88) to 38% (1993-95). Mean birthweight of Aboriginal infants in the Alice Springs urban area was 3,168 g in 1986-90, 3,271 g in 1991-95, and 3,268 g in 1996-99. Other primary and maternity care providers perceived the quality of care to be high and saw Alukura playing a key role through transport, liaison, screening and follow-up. Alukura was much less successful in its role as a place for birth. Expectations of additional outreach by local and remote communities were high. Discussion: The review's limitations included: a lack of direct input from young women, the main users of Alukura; a timeframe that precluded the detailed discussion necessary for seeking access to medical records, and the need for interpreters in community settings. Current and former staff who participated in the review often had other important community roles. Developments since the review are discussed briefly.
The ,aim of this ,Beginner’s Guide is to introduce ,the subject of measurement uncertainty. Every... more The ,aim of this ,Beginner’s Guide is to introduce ,the subject of measurement uncertainty. Every measurement,is subject to some,uncertainty. A measurement,result is only complete,if it is accompanied ,by a ,statement of the ,uncertainty in the ,measurement. Measurement uncertainties can come from the measuring instrument, from the item being measured, from the environment, from the operator, and from other sources. Such uncertainties can be estimated using statistical analysis of a set of measurements, and using other kinds of information about the measurement,process. There are established rules for how to calculate an
International Journal of Thermophysics, 2008
An initial roadmap for humidity and related measurements was developed in Spring 2006 as part of ... more An initial roadmap for humidity and related measurements was developed in Spring 2006 as part of the EUROMET iMERA activity toward increasing impact from national investment in European metrology R&D. The conclusions address both humidity (for which standards and traceability methodologies exist, but need to be developed) and moisture content of materials (for which measurement traceability is more problematic and is not so well developed in general). The roadmap represents a shared vision of how humidity and moisture measurements and standards should develop over the next 15 years to meet future needs, open to revision as needs and technologies evolve. The roadmap identifies the main social and economic triggers that drive developments in humidity and moisture measurements and standards-notably, global warming and advanced manufacturing processes. Stemming from these triggers, key targets that require improved humidity and moisture measurements are identified. In view of global warming, one key target is the development of improved models of climate through improved measurements of atmospheric water vapor. A further target is the reduction of carbon emissions through humidity measurement to optimize industrial heat treatment and combustion processes, and through humidity and
International Journal of Thermophysics, 2012
In the field of humidity quantities, the first CIPM key comparison, CCT-K6, is at its end. The co... more In the field of humidity quantities, the first CIPM key comparison, CCT-K6, is at its end. The corresponding European regional key comparison, EUROMET.T-K6, was completed in early 2008, about 4 years after the starting
Uncertainty in the generation of humidity
An investigation of the comparative performance of diverse humidity sensing techniques in natural gas
Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 2015
ABSTRACT Moisture content is a key factor regardless of the activity carried out inside the natur... more ABSTRACT Moisture content is a key factor regardless of the activity carried out inside the natural gas industry (production, processing, transmission, etc.). Not only does the efficiency of the final product, known as heating value, decrease when the water content is high, but it can also trigger potentially dangerous conditions due to the formation of hydrates, that can block pipelines and damage pumping devices and produce other negative effects. For these reasons, accurate measurement and control of humidity is absolutely essential. However, current practice for such moisture measurements is for the devices to be calibrated at atmospheric pressure and in nitrogen or air as the matrix gas, conditions that vary significantly from those present in the actual industrial process. For that, eleven hygrometers based on different measurement principles (chilled-mirror, electrolytic sensor, a spectroscopic analyzer, polymeric and metal oxide humidity sensors) have been compared at facilities of the main carrier of natural gas in Spain, using natural gas at absolute pressures between 0.1 MPa and 6 MPa, and for a range of water content from 13 ppmv to 250 ppmv. Their relative performance is described in terms of the response times, long term stability, hysteresis and behaviour under large pressure changes. Most instruments, exceptions are detailed in the article, show good behaviour regarding response time, hysteresis and under sudden pressure changes. In contrast, drift can be identified in most of the aluminium oxide probes tested.
AN ASSESSMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA THAT UNDERPIN FORMULAE FOR WATER VAPOUR ENHANCEMENT FACTOR
At any given temperature, the saturation vapour pressure of water within a gas mixture is not gen... more At any given temperature, the saturation vapour pressure of water within a gas mixture is not generally the same as that for pure water vapour. In air, near room temperature and atmospheric pressure, it differs by almost 0.5%, and by more at higher pressures. The water vapour enhancement factor is used in humidity calculations to allow for this non-ideality of air-water mixtures. Published measured data for the water vapour enhancement factor in air are few in number, and have been reported at wide intervals over more than 70 years. They constitute a rather small data set to underpin the various derived formulae for calculating enhancement factor. Where doubt is cast on any of the measurements, this can lead to further uncertainty in the formulae. In this paper, the reports of measurements of enhancement factor over many years are compared and discussed. The apparent weaknesses and strengths of the data are considered by analysing derived values of the air-water cross-virial coeffic...
Miniature relative humidity and temperature sensors have been used to measure the evolution of co... more Miniature relative humidity and temperature sensors have been used to measure the evolution of conditions along gas flow channels within a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cell.
An infrared tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer measuring trace moisture in air has been ... more An infrared tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer measuring trace moisture in air has been compared against the Low Frost-point Generator (LFG) of the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL). The comparison between the two instruments followed on from earlier work described elsewhere at this conference, and took place during the course of the validation of the LFG in a trial phase of its operation down to frost points as low as -100 °C (volume fraction of about 15 parts per billion (ppb)). In the form tested, the spectrometer performed with a resolution of better than 2 ppb, and demonstrated high linearity relative to the LFG, making it a highly useful tool for validating the performance of the generator. Conversely, the LFG measurements gave valuable information on the accuracy and repeatability of the spectrometer. The spectrometer and the LFG showed combined reproducibility of better than 12 ppb over a time period of three months. The measurements also demonstrated that the s...
In the framework of EMRP (European Metrology Research Program) the project “MeteoMet - Metrology ... more In the framework of EMRP (European Metrology Research Program) the project “MeteoMet - Metrology for Meteorology” (www.meteomet.org) aspires to respond to the questions and needs of meteorological community for traceable measurement and comprehensive in-field uncertainity measurement budgets. The metrological traceability of an instrument or sensor is defined as an unbroken chain of calibrations which relates the sensor to a SI (International System of Units) standard. At each link in the chain, uncertainties are associated with the calibrations and the measurement uncertainty increases along the successive steps. To bring this definition into practice the first chain link is the primary reference standard usually maintained in each country by the national institute of metrology. This paper will explain the primary standards in temperature, humidity and pressure with examples of typical uncertainties achieved for their realization. The second step in traceability is to compare instr...
Status and Strategy for Moisture Metrology in European Metrology Institutes
International Journal of Thermophysics, 2015
ABSTRACT Measurement of moisture in materials presents many challenges, due to diverse measuring ... more ABSTRACT Measurement of moisture in materials presents many challenges, due to diverse measuring principles, sample interactions with atmosphere, and variation in what is measured (either water content alone or moisture including other liquids). Calibrations are variously referenced to published standard methods, primary calibration facilities, or certified reference materials, but each of these addresses limited substances and ranges of measurement. Overall, metrology infrastructure is not as fully developed or coherent for this field as it is for many other areas of measurement. In order to understand the metrology needs and to support developments, several European national metrology institutes (NMIs) have undertaken some collaborative activities. These have included a “cooperation in research” project for sharing of information, a survey of moisture capabilities at NMIs, the formulation of a strategy for moisture metrology at the NMI level, and a funded research project to develop improved metrology for the moisture field. This paper summarizes the information gathered, giving an overview of the status of moisture metrology at NMIs, and it reports a proposed strategy to improve the current situation.
The “MeteoMet” project – metrology for meteorology: challenges and results
Aiming to ensure the metrological traceability to the International System of Units (SI) through ... more Aiming to ensure the metrological traceability to the International System of Units (SI) through national standards in meteorological observations and climate data, the joint research project “MeteoMet - Metrology for Meteorology” (www.meteomet.org) was funded by European Metrology Research Program in 2010. The major challenge of the project is the propagation of a metrological measurement perspective to meteorological observations, in order to better meet the expressed requirement of reliable data and robust datasets over wide scales and long terms. The project covers several aspects of meteorological observations from upper air to ground based measurements. It includes development and testing of novel instruments as well as improved calibration procedures and facilities, in-situ practical calibrations, an instrument intercomparison under real dynamic conditions, best practice dissemination. Historical temperature data series will be validated with respect to uncertainties and a me...
A new challenge for meteorological masurements: the "MeteoMet" project - Metrology for Meteorology
Climate of the Past, 2014
ABSTRACT HadISDH.2.0.0 is the first gridded, multi-variable humidity and temperature in situ obse... more ABSTRACT HadISDH.2.0.0 is the first gridded, multi-variable humidity and temperature in situ observations-only climate-data product that is homogenised and annually updated. It provides physically consistent estimates for specific humidity, vapour pressure, relative humidity, dew point temperature, wet bulb temperature, dew point depression and temperature. It is a monthly mean gridded (5° by 5°) product with uncertainty estimates that account for spatio-temporal sampling, climatology calculation, homogenisation and irreducible random measurement effects. It provides a tool for the long-term monitoring of a variety of humidity-related variables which have different impacts and implications for society. It is also useful for climate model evaluation and reanalyses validation. HadISDH.2.0.0 is shown to be in good agreement both with other estimates and with theoretical understanding. The data set is available from 1973 to the present. The theme common to all variables is of a warming world with more water vapour present in the atmosphere. The largest increases in water vapour are found over the tropics and the Mediterranean. Over the tropics and high northern latitudes the surface air over land is becoming more saturated. However, despite increasing water vapour over the mid-latitudes and Mediterranean, the surface air over land is becoming less saturated. These observed features may be due to atmospheric circulation changes, land–sea warming disparities and reduced water availability or changed land surface properties.
A new challenge for meteorological measurements: The "MeteoMet" project - Metrology for meteorology
ABSTRACT Climate change and its consequences require immediate actions in order to safeguard the ... more ABSTRACT Climate change and its consequences require immediate actions in order to safeguard the environment and economy in Europe and in the rest of world. Aiming to enhance data reliability and reduce uncertainties in climate observations, a joint research project called "MeteoMet - Metrology for Meteorology" started in October 2011 coordinated by the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM). The project is focused on the traceability of measurements involved in climate change: surface and upper air measurements of temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, solar irradiance and reciprocal influences between measurands. This project will provide the first definition at the European level of validated climate parameters with associated uncertainty budgets and novel criteria for interpretation of historical data series. The big challenge is the propagation of a metrological measurement perspective to meteorological observations. When such an approach will be adopted the requirement of reliable data and robust datasets over wide scales and long terms could be better met.
BATS Methods Manual Version 4
Outgassing of water vapour, and its significance in experiments to determine the Boltzmann constant
Metrologia, 2011
The rate of outgassing of water vapour from metal tubing and spheres is estimated and formulae gi... more The rate of outgassing of water vapour from metal tubing and spheres is estimated and formulae given for the expected amount fraction of water added to otherwise pure gases. The relevance of these estimates to current efforts to redetermine the Boltzmann constant with relative uncertainty of measurement uR(kB) ≈ 1 × 10-6 is supported with experimental results using trace moisture sensors and combined acoustic and microwave resonators. The outgassing does not represent an insuperable obstacle to accurate determinations of the Boltzmann constant in any of the current experiments. However, all workers in this field need to evaluate the extent of outgassing and devise a strategy for estimating and minimizing its effect.
A tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer for moisture measurements in the low parts in 10 9 range
Measurement Science and Technology, 2001
ABSTRACT A tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer for trace moisture measurements at atmosph... more ABSTRACT A tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer for trace moisture measurements at atmospheric pressure using a strong water vapour absorption at 1393 nm has been characterized and its performance enhanced. It has been evaluated by comparison with the NPL Low Frost-point Generator and the signal temperature dependences of the modulator, cell and detector module have been investigated by the implementation of active temperature control. In tests over the moisture range 15 parts in 109 by volume (ppbv) to 1 ppmv, the spectrometer displayed a short-term sensitivity of 1.6 ppbv for an averaging time of 50 s and a reproducibility of 12 ppbv over a period of three months.
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Papers by Stephanie A. Bell