In scientific research, it is very much important to take the help of various hardware and software-related tools to improve the quality of research. In this blog, I shall summarize some of the essential tools for research. These tools are not subject-specific and researchers from any field will be benefited from these tools.
ImageJ is a free image processing software for scientific applications. Although it was developed for the determination of cell size and the distribution of biological organs from a microscope image, it can be used in various applications. For example, it can also be used to determine the particle size distribution of powdered material, or may also be used in astronomy to determine the size distribution of stars in a particular location in the sky from a telescope image. You can also measure the intensity profile along a line or rectangle on the image of any desired location in the image and then save the data in a file for further analysis. Overall, it's a good software for image processing that can be used in various applications.
If you are an experimentalist or your research relies upon data from an instrument, then single-board microcontrollers might be your great help. This can greatly minimize your project expenditure and improve your work by adding automation to it. Originally a microcontroller requires a separate device called a programmer to program it, and then it is implemented on a circuit board for the specific purpose needed. Single-board microcontrollers are free from these hassles and come with a circuit board which can be both programmed with the help of a computer through a USB port and after programming output results can be obtained from it with various IN/OUT pins embedded on the board. Arduino and ESP 32 are well-known single-board microcontrollers. Single-board computers are more advanced and literally small computers with an operating system that can do almost every task that a normal computer can do with limited memory and storage. These are extensively used in robotics and automation. Raspberry pi and Chip are famous single-board computers that are used in more advanced applications where a microcontroller is unable to handle complex algorithms. Single-board computers are basically low-cost but very compact design computers that are used in robotics and automation where a desktop computer is not suitable either due to its size or cost. Buy from Amazon using this link https://amzn.to/3GNydg7
An oscilloscope is a very important device for scientists in the field of physics and engineering but is a very costly device to afford personally. For those who need an oscilloscope for studying/comparing waveforms and signals, USB oscilloscopes might be a good option because they're relatively cheaper than a CRT Oscilloscope or a DSO (Digital Storage Oscilloscope). Among various brands of USB oscilloscopes of different costs and quality, probably Hantek 6022BE is the most popular due to the cost-effectiveness and functionality it provides at that cost. It is a double channel oscilloscope where you can study waveforms up to 20 MHz range. It's easy to carry and needs no external power to operate (USB power is sufficient). A Windows software is provided to interface with the computer and data can be exported to a file for further analysis at a later stage. Buy from Amazon using https://amzn.to/3zi4z16
In many research papers, the results of experiments are reported with the help of graphs, but the corresponding numeric data are not published. If you want to use the data in your own research, Plotdigitizer software may be useful to retrieve the data from the graph. It requires Java Runtime Engine (JRE) to operate which can be installed from here if it is not already in your system. Once JRE is installed Plodigitizer can work just by double-clicking on the application file. Store the folder in a desired location and make a shortcut of the application on your desktop. To use it, you have to first save a graph in an image format like JPG, JPEG, PNG, etc. and then open the image with this application. You may then trace the axes and mark the points on the graph to retrieve the data in a very simple manner.
For those who intend to publish their paper, often good to write their work in Latex format. There are various Latex platforms for offline use, but these are very big files to download and that consume quite a good amount of memory and processing speed of the computer. Those who are not having a high-end computer and data limitations may choose to use the Overleaf platform which is an online Latex editor. You will find templets already built for writing books, articles, thesis, etc. Many journal templets are also available to choose to make latex writing more convenient for you. The good thing about Overleaf is that you can store your files on the cloud and also can download them on your local machine for later use and this is completely free of charge.
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