BIOE 445
BIOINSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY
Fall Semester 2006

INSTRUCTORS

Matt McCurdy
mccurdy@rice.edu
Office Hours: By appointment

Dr. Maria Oden
moden@rice.edu                         
office:  Keck Hall 234 E          
lab:  Keck Hall 108
phone:  713-348-4156          
Office hours: By appointment                                         

COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this lab course you will use the NI ELVIS hardware system and LabView software for developing, building and testing an ECG cardiotachometer and abnormality sensor. For this lab, you will be graded primarily on demonstrations of understanding of the material you learn and a final demonstration of your project. You will work in pairs throughout the class.   

COURSE TIMES
The course will run for the first half of the semester (7 weeks).  We will meet as a group each Monday from 1-5 or 6.  Students are expected to be PROMPT (if not a few minutes early) to lab.  Students are also expected to stay until their experiments are complete - even if this is past the scheduled lab time.  Students are expected to have READ the appropriate material and/or protocols for that day and PLANNED THEIR ACTIVITIES.

COURSE ADMINISTRATION

Attendance Policy             
Students are required to attend ALL sessions of the laboratory. Job interviews, medical school interviews, other classes, or extracurricular activities are not valid excuses.  A student choosing to miss a lab session to attend another commitment must make up the session at a time convenient to the Instructor and possibly her/his lab partner and when the necessary equipment is available.  If a convenient time cannot be established or the student chooses not to make up the session, you will receive zero points for all assignments relating to that session. If you choose to miss a day, planning ahead will help.  You are STRONGLY DISCOURAGED from missing any sessions.  Illness and family emergencies will be dealt with on an individual basis.  Contact Instructor immediately as soon as an emergency arises. 

Safety                 
Even though we will be using computers and electronics equipment that is not hazardaous, the laboratory environment and other labs going on simultaneously are potentially dangerous to all people in the lab and thus strict compliance to safety measures is important. All students are expected to work safely in the lab.  Safety glasses must be worn at all times.  Contacts may not be worn.  Students must wear long pants, shirts with shoulders (or a lab coat, buttoned up), and close-toed shoes.  Students not adhering to these policies will be sent home to change.  Absolutely no eating, drinking or gum chewing will be allowed at any place or time in the lab.  The instructor retains the right to penalize a student’s final grade if safety violations are noted.

Teaching Assistant  

Grading Policy

If assignments totaling 10% or more of the final course grade are not turned in, the instructor retains the right to fail the student for the course. 

Late Policy      

If an assignment is turned in late, the grade will be reduced 20%  beginning 10 minutes after the start of lab. The grade will be reduced 20% more per day that the assignment is late. If your report is late, you must write the number of days it is late on the first page (Honor Code).  If you turn in a report late, but do not indicate the number of days it is late and Dr. Oden discovers that it is late, you will receive a 0 for that Module. Take home assignments must be turned in at the beginning of lab and will be considered late 5 minutes after the start of class. No credit will be given for late take home assignments.

Lab Session Schedule, Due Dates and Times

Course Materials      
Course materials will be provided

Honor Code Policy      

Much of the learning in this lab will be from coaching and interaction with other students, the instructor, and the T.A.’s.  It is important that a collegial environment is present.  You may discuss strategies for data preparation and interpretation with your partner, the instructor, TA and other students, but you must do ALL take home assignments yourself with the exception of the manual for your final project which is completed with your partner. You may consult the Lab Protocols, Course Notes, other textbooks, review articles, and published research papers.  Obviously, information taken from journals, books and websites must be adequately referenced.  You many NOT consult lab notebooks, written reports, posters, data calculations, graphs, or any other material from previous BIOE 441 or BIOE 445 laboratory classes.