The International System of Units (S.I.) and its Application to Clinical Chemistry

1974 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 269-277
Author(s):  
L. G. Whitby
Keyword(s):  
Medical Practice ◽  
Clinical Chemistry ◽  
International System ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
National Programme ◽  
Laboratory Staff ◽  
Si Units ◽  
Chemical Measurements ◽  
System Of Units ◽  
Educational Programmes

As part of the national programme of metrication, clinical chemistry laboratories in the U.K. are in process of changing their methods of reporting results so as to express them in SI units. This article gives examples of the effects of adopting SI units on the numerical expression of chemical results, and discusses practical aspects which may facilitate their introduction and acceptance in medical practice. For many chemical measurements, the change to SI units will cause substantial alterations in the numerical data with which clinicians will have to deal, and awareness of this fact will be necessary if serious mistakes in the management of patients' illnesses are to be avoided. The tasks of laboratory staff in planning and carrying out the necessary educational programmes are considered.

Units of Measure

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil B. Fontanarosa ◽  
Stacy Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
World Health ◽  
Biomedical Publication ◽  
System Of Units ◽  
The World ◽  
Industry And Commerce ◽  
Biomedical Publications ◽  
Health Organization

The presentation of quantitative scientific information is an integral component of biomedical publication. Accurate communication of scientific knowledge and presentation of numerical data require a scientifically informative system for reporting units of measure. The International System of Units (Le Système International d'Unités or SI) represents a modified version of the metric system that has been established by international agreement and currently is the official measurement system of most nations of the world.1 The SI promotes uniformity of quantities and units, minimizes the number of units and multiples used in other measurement systems, and can express virtually any measurement in science, medicine, industry, and commerce. In 1977, the World Health Organization recommended the adoption of the SI by the international scientific community. Since then, many biomedical publications throughout the world have adopted SI units as their preferred and primary method for reporting scientific measurements...

On the philosophical significance of the reform of the International System of Units (SI): A double-adjustment account of scientific enquiry

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-118
Author(s):  
Nadine de Courtenay
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Adjustment Procedure ◽  
Philosophical Significance ◽  
International System Of Units ◽  
Si Units ◽  
System Of Units ◽  
Recent Reform ◽  
Redefinition Of Si Units ◽  
New Si

Abstract The philosophical significance attached to the construction of systems of units has traditionally been confined to the notion of convention, while their adoption was considered to be the exclusive province of the history and sociology of science. Against this tradition, a close articulation between history, philosophy, and sociology of science is needed in order to analyse the recent reform of the International system of units (SI). In the new SI, units are redefined on the basis of certain fundamental constants of nature, established by physical theories, whose values are fixed without uncertainty. The purpose of this article is to show that the redefinition of SI units, far from being a convention, involves a holistic reconstruction of our concepts of quantities from accepted theoretical laws. Fixing the values of the defining constants stabilizes these laws within the framework of physics through a twofold adjustment procedure that ensures both a semantic coordination between theory and world and an intersubjective coordination between human agents required by social activities. This double adjustment results in closely entwining the pursuit of truth as correspondence and truth as coherence which turn out to be complementary, thus highlighting the anthropological underpinnings of scientific realism.

scholarly journals Quantity Calculus, Fundamental Constants, and SI Units

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry N. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
Fundamental Constants ◽  
Weights And Measures ◽  
International System Of Units ◽  
Si Units ◽  
System Of Units ◽  
Revised Si ◽  
Base Units ◽  
New Si

A revised International System of Units (SI) is expected to be established by the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures when it convenes in November 2018 and to be put into practice starting on 20 May 2019, World Metrology Day. In consequence, the article published in this journal in 2011, “The Current SI Seen from the Perspective of the Proposed New SI,” is updated in this paper, which provides an opportunity to again demonstrate the usefulness of the quantity calculus in dealing with quantities and units. The quantity calculus and the seven defining constants of the current and revised SI are reviewed, and expressions for the seven current and revised SI base units are given. Relationships between the magnitudes of revised and current SI units and expressions for the numerical values of current SI defining constants expressed in revised SI units are also obtained using the quantity calculus.

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