Thursday, May 28, 2015

How to design a lab: Part 6 of a series of posts

“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” -- Agnes Repplier (American Essayist and Writer, known for her collections of scholarly essays in Compromises (1904). 1858-1950)

Moving on from books, let’s explore other useful sources of information on lab design.

TIP: Google® Search String: how to design a research lab

Google makes it easy to search for virtually anything you need to know.  But, you still have to take the time to slog through all the sites you are directed to.  Here are a few we have found, annotated for your convenience.

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LABORATORY DESIGN INFORMATION RESOURCES (Annotated)
Guidelines for Planning and Design of Biomedical Research Laboratory Facilities (1999)
The American Institute of Architects, Center for Advanced Technology Facilities Design
110 pages
While the focus is on biomedical research facilities, much of the content applies to any research laboratory, no matter what the focus.
Free full text source: http://www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/ek_members/documents/pdf/aiap014820.pdf

Stanford University Laboratory Standard & Design Guidelines
An excellent source for the design of laboratory facilities in general.
Free full text source: http://web.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/mainrencon/Labdesign.html

Laboratory Design
Founded in 1996 by the editors of R&D Magazine, Laboratory Design newsletter is a bi-monthly publication delivering the freshest must-read information for people involved in designing, engineering, constructing and operating laboratory facilities. Editorial coverage focuses on the latest news and trends, providing detailed information about exemplary buildings, reports on exciting new facilities and new products, and additional need-to-know data that has a strong positive impact on readers’ organizations. Subscribers are involved in buildings owned by government, academia, and the private sector, devoted to research; teaching; clinical, environmental and forensic analysis; and QC/QA.
The bi-weekly Laboratory Design Update e-newsletter, offers additional coverage of breaking news relevant to the readers of Laboratory Design newsletter. http://www.labdesignnews.com/

A Design Guide for Energy-Efficient Research Laboratories
A Design Guide for Energy-Efficient Research Laboratories - Version 4.0- is intended to assist facility owners, architects, engineers, designers, facility managers, and utility demand-side management specialists in identifying and applying advanced energy-efficiency features in laboratory-type environments.
http://ateam.lbl.gov/Design-Guide/

Laboratory Design Conference
Since 2002, the Laboratory Design Conference has provided a dynamic educational and networking event for those involved in planning, designing, engineering, constructing and operating laboratory facilities. Meeting sessions feature recognized experts delivering unique presentations on trends in creating the most efficient, state-of-the-art facilities.
Held each spring, the conference also marks the official “reveal” of the Laboratory of the Year winners, with in-depth discussions by the winning project teams.
Tours of exemplary lab facilities, including those to which attendees would not otherwise have access, are an integral part of the overall Lab Design Conference experience.
Credits for presentations are available through the American Institute of Architects as well as the Green Building Certification Institute, and are also offered as general CEUs for non-AIA/GBCI members.
Scheduled simultaneously with the conference, the Laboratory Design expo allows attendees to learn about companies offering relevant products and services to the laboratory design industry. Social gatherings provide plenty of opportunity for relaxation and networking.
http://www.labdesignconference.com/

Lab Manager
More and more lab professionals are turning to Lab Manager for the latest trends, innovations and insights. Today in print and online, Lab Manager continues to grow as the lab professional’s most important publication.
Lab Manager analyzes the strong link between business strategy, technological innovation and implementation. It is focused on the lab professional in a leadership role who is responsible for setting the lab’s direction and identifying, recommending and purchasing technology. It also offers a wide breadth of knowledge to the researchers in the field using lab equipment and seeking to learn about the latest in new technologies for their labs.
www.labmanager.com/

Laboratory Design, Construction, and Renovation: Participants, Process, and Product
Committee on Design, Construction, and Renovation of Laboratory Facilities, Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications
National Research Council (2000)
This report is addressed to the scientist-user and administrator, and therefore focuses on how to have a successful laboratory facility built rather than on the detailed specifications for a successfully constructed laboratory. In this context, a successful laboratory facility is defined as one that provides effective and flexible laboratories, is safe for laboratory workers, is compatible with the surrounding environment, has the support of the neighboring community and governmental agencies, and can be constructed in a cost-effective manner. This report covers many basic aspects of design, renovation, and construction projects in general as well as specific laboratory-oriented issues. In its discussion of the latter, the committee considered primarily chemistry and biochemistry laboratories; it did not deal specifically with specialized buildings such as animal facilities, nor did it address multiple-use buildings such as teaching and research facilities. (Narum, 1995, deals with teaching laboratories.)
Overall, the general principles elucidated by the committee make its recommendations applicable to the construction or renovation of almost any laboratory building. Through its investigations the committee found that although individual projects differ, there are certain commonalities in successful laboratory construction and renovation projects. These include the right participants and a continuity of personnel; a thorough, well-defined, and thoughtful process; and a broad knowledge of the relevant issues. These common themes are discussed in Chapters 1 through 3: ''Human Issues," "Process Issues," and "Technical Issues." Many of these elements, especially those discussed in Chapters 1 and 2, may appear to be common sense, but they were found to have been overlooked in some of the projects described to the committee. Other themes are more specific to laboratory facilities.
Free full text source: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309066336
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Future posts will explore each of these sources in more detail.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

How to design a lab: Part 5 of a series of posts

"As a child, my number one best friend was the librarian in my grade school.  I actually believed all those books belonged to her." -- Erma Bombeck, American humorist and columnist, 1927-1996

A final step you might consider before committing cash money to buy a book is to borrow it from a library that owns it, and then reading it to see whether a purchase makes sense for your organization.

There are several steps to the process of borrowing a book …
Find out which libraries own the title
Borrow the book, if you have borrowing privileges with the identified library, OR, failing this …
Submit an ILL-Interlibrary Loan request to borrow the book via a library with which you do have borrowing privileges

TIP #1: Search the title of interest on WorldCat to identify libraries that own the book.  You can search WorldCat directly (www.worldcat.org ) or you can Google® as in the following example …

Google Search String: worldcat Laboratory Design Handbook crawley cooper

On the resulting WorldCat screen, click on the title’s hyperlink.  Then click on the hyperlink labeled Borrow/Obtain a copy, located in the bottom right corner. This will bring up a list of libraries that own the book, beginning with those located nearest to you.  For example, since I am Houston based, one of the libraries on the list is the University of St. Thomas.  Another is Rice University.

Since I do not have borrowing privileges at either library, my next move is to contact Houston Public Library (HPL), where I do have borrowing privileges.  While HPL does not own the book, I can initiate an Interlibrary Loan request, whereby HPL requests the book on my behalf. Once HPL identifies a library willing to lend the book, HPL will contact me.  I will then have, typically, two weeks to examine the book, enough time to determine whether to purchase it.

TIP #2: Contact your friendly librarian to initiate an Interlibrary Loan request.

The librarian may be at your public library, or, if you are affiliated with an academic institution, you can contact the librarian at that institution.


Thursday, May 14, 2015

How to design a lab: Part 4 of a series of posts

“One cannot review a bad book without showing off.” -- W. H. Auden (English born American Poet, Dramatist and Editor, 1907-1973)

Nothing beats a good review when it comes to deciding whether to buy a book.  Unfortunately, finding a review of any kind is rare.  We found a review of only one of the books on our list.

TIP #1: Google each title for reviews
For example, Googling for REVIEW OF Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations, 4th Edition (2013) results in the following …

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REVIEW OF Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations, 4th Edition (2013)
Louis J. DiBerardinis, Janet S. Baum, Melvin W. First, Gari T. Gatwood, Anand K. Seth
“In summary, this edition of the book addresses a broad spectrum of end users including administrators, researchers, instructors, engineers, and environment health officers. The book is a useful comprehensive reference for academic institutions, but perhaps not for individual instructors.”  (Journal of Chemical Education, 1 January 2014)
Read the full review at:
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tarig_Higazi/publication/261323273_Review_of_Guidelines_for_Laboratory_Design_Health_Safety_and_Environmental_Considerations_4th_Edition/links/0f317533dc39c61718000000.pdf
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Once you have gathered as much information as you can for each title, it can be helpful to tabulate the data.

TIP #2: Create a table showing which titles have reviews and full text selections, as well as the number of times each title has been cited.  For example …



BOOK TITLE
No. of Cites (Google Scholar)
Review?
Full Text Selections?
(Google Books)
Year
Author(s)
Laboratory Design Guide
15
Y
Y
2004
Brian Griffin
Laboratories: A Guide to Master Planning, Programming, Procurement, and Design
5
N
Y
2001
Fernand Dahan
Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations
0
Y
Y
2013
Louis J. DiBerardinis, Janet S. Baum, Melvin W. First, Gari T. Gatwood, and Anand K. Seth
The Sustainable Laboratory Handbook: Design, Equipment, Operation
0
N
Y
2015
Egbert Dittrich
Sustainable Design of Research Laboratories: Planning, Design, and Operation
2
N
Y
2010
Kling Stubbins
Laboratory Design, Construction, and Renovation: Participants, Process, and Product
2
N
Y
2000
Comm. on Design, Construction and Renov. and Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
Building Type Basics for Research Laboratories
9
N
Y
2008
Daniel D. Watch and Stephen A. Kliment
Laboratory Design Handbook
13
N
Y
1994
E. Crawley Cooper
Laboratory Design: Establishing the Facility and Management Structure
0
N
N
2010
Scott V. W. Sutton


TIP #3: Follow the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) for a continuing stream of tips and tricks on how to maximize your online research effectiveness.


Friday, May 8, 2015

How to design a lab: Part 3 of a series of posts

“All of us are guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.” -- Tennessee Williams (American playwright. 1911-1983)

There are a number of factors that can help you decide whether to purchase a book.  Our last post suggested reading the full text of selections from any given title.

Another fact you can use to help decide on which laboratory design books to purchase, is the number of times each title has been cited.

TIP: Search book titles + author names in Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) and note the number of times each title has been cited.

Searching Google Scholar for the book titles in the first post of this series (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/2015/04/how-to-design-lab-part-1-of-series-of.html), we find the following …

GOOGLE SCHOLAR SEARCH STRINGS WITH NO. OF CITES


No. of Times Cited
Google Scholar Search String
15
Laboratory Design Guide Griffin
5
Laboratories: A Guide to Master Planning, Programming, Procurement, and Design Dahan
0
Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations DiBerardinis
0
Sustainable Laboratory Handbook: Design, Equipment, Operation Dittrich
2
Sustainable Design of Research Laboratories: Planning, Design, and Operation Stubbins
2
Laboratory Design, Construction, and Renovation: Participants, Process, and Product Comm. on Design, Construction and Renov. and Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
9
Building Type Basics for Research Laboratories Watch
13
Laboratory Design Handbook Cooper
0
Laboratory Design: Establishing the Facility and Management Structure Sutton

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Thursday, April 30, 2015

How to design a lab: Part 2 of a series of posts

“My mind is my laboratory -- Albert Einstein (German born American Physicist. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955)

The Laboratory Design Guide, by Brian Griffin, is one book you might consider purchasing.  However, it is only one of several which might be helpful.  How can you decide whether to purchase this one?

One way is to read selections from the book.

TIP: Search Google Books (https://books.google.com/) using the book title and author name as a search string.  If you’re lucky, you will find full text selections from the book which you can read online.

For example, a Google Books search for Laboratory Design Guide Brian Griffin results in a hit.  Click the Preview link, and then the View All link, and begin reading.

While you will not usually be able to read the entire book online, you often can read enough of it to determine whether it is one you want to add to your collection.


Thursday, April 23, 2015

How to design a lab: Part 1 of a series of posts

“What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.” -- Dave Barry (American Writer and Humorist best known for his weekly newspaper column. b.1947)

Designing a laboratory is a seriously complex task.  If you have never designed one, how do you even start?

One place to begin is reading what experts in the field have written.  And a possible first step on the path to discovering what experts have written could be an Amazon.com search.

TIP: On the Amazon.com Web, select the Book department.  Then enter the following Amazon.com search string: laboratory design

Results from the above search include ….



BOOK TITLE
Year
Author(s)
Laboratory Design Guide
2004
Brian Griffin
Laboratories: A Guide to Master Planning, Programming, Procurement, and Design
2001
Fernand Dahan
Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations
2013
Louis J. DiBerardinis, Janet S. Baum, Melvin W. First, Gari T. Gatwood, Anand K. Seth
The Sustainable Laboratory Handbook: Design, Equipment, Operation
2015
Egbert Dittrich
Sustainable Design of Research Laboratories: Planning, Design, and Operation
2010
Kling Stubbins
Laboratory Design, Construction, and Renovation: Participants, Process, and Product
2000
Comm. on Design, Construction and Renov. and Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
Building Type Basics for Research Laboratories
2008
Daniel D. Watch and Stephen A. Kliment
Laboratory Design Handbook
1994
E. Crawley Cooper
Laboratory Design: Establishing the Facility and Management Structure
2010
Scott V. W. Sutton

OK, fine, but how can you tell which of the books you’ve discovered will fit your purpose?  Our next posts will address this issue.  Stay tuned.

ANOTHER TIP: Visit www.JeanSteinhardtConsulting.com to find tips and tricks on other online research topics.


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Aramco Fuel Research Center (AFRC): One of a fleet of Saudi Aramco research centers

“Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.” -- Francis Bacon, Sr. (English Lawyer and Philosopher. 1561-1626)

Matching fuel to emerging engine technologies is the focus of Aramco Overseas’ facility in Paris.
Source: source: https://aramcooverseas.com/innovation/our-research-centers/paris/

The Aramco Fuel Research Center opened in Paris, France, in 2013.  It is one of a number of Saudi Aramco sponsored advanced research centers.  Each center focuses on a particular area of technology, and is located near a community of expertise in that area of technology.

According to a 2012 press release …

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Delft was the first of the Aramco Overseas international satellite research centers and specializes in seismic data processing and imaging.

The Delft Research Center was opened in 2012 and is located inside the Delft University of Technology, where a collaborative 'open door' culture enables access to the wealth of expertise, including the Delphi Consortium, of which Saudi Aramco is a sponsor.

The main task of the Delft Research Center is to aid and improve seismic data processing to get a sharper image of the subsurface, which allows it to obtain more reliable information upon which drilling decisions can be based.

The second group at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), undertakes projects related to biocapture, robotics, fuel technology, chemicals, membranes and advanced materials. Five additional stand-alone research centres are also well under way.

The second technology office, located in Aberdeen, Scotland, is nearing completion and will handle partnerships, collaboration and other business functions largely related to production and drilling technologies.

A centre in Houston will span all upstream disciplines. Houston, a major hub for oil and gas research and development (R&D) activities, is near chemical and oil field fluids manufacturers. It is also close to service companies' R&D labs, as well as top petroleum engineering universities.

A stand-alone centre is also under way in Cambridge, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to support computational reservoir modelling, nanotechnology and advanced gas membrane systems. This centre will host both EXPEC ARC and R&DC teams.

Beijing will be the location for another research centre with emphasis on research in reservoir and production chemistry and geophysics.

A southeast Michigan centre will focus on carbon capture from mobile sources and fuel technology research, and the company’s Fuel Technology Team - in collaboration with leading research organisations - will be conducting joint research on fuel and engine development in Paris.

source: http://archive.pipelineme.com/news/regional-news/2012/10/saudi-aramco-opens-first-overseas-rd-facility/
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TIP: Google® Aramco research center to find more detail on Saudi Aramco’s global research activities.