Metrological data is known to be blurred by the imperfections of the measuring process. In retrospect, for about two centuries regular or constant errors were no focal point of experimental activities, only irregular or random error were. Today's notation of unknown systematic errors is in line with this. Confusingly enough, the worldwide practiced approach to belatedly admit those unknown systematic errors amounts to consider them as being random, too. This book discusses a new error concept dispensing with the common practice to randomize unknown systematic errors. Instead, unknown systematic errors will be treated as what they physically are- namely as constants being unknown with respect to magnitude and sign. The ideas considered in this book issue a proceeding steadily localizing the true values of the measurands and consequently traceability.

Metrology is a constantly evolving field, and one which has developed in many ways in the last four decades. This book presents the proceedings of the Enrico Fermi Summer School on the topic of Metrology, held in Varenna, Italy, from 26 June to 6 July 2017. This was the 6th Enrico Fermi summer school devoted to metrology, the first having been held in 1976. The 2017 program addressed two major new directions for metrology: the work done in preparation for a possible re-definition of four of the base units of the SI in 2018, and the impact of the application of metrology to issues addressing quality of life – such as global climate change and clinical and food analysis – on science, citizens and society. The lectures were grouped into three modules: metrology for quality of life; fundamentals of metrology; and physical metrology and fundamental constants, and topics covered included food supply and safety; biomarkers; monitoring climate and air quality; new IS units; measurement uncertainty; fundamental constants; electrical metrology; optical frequency standards; and photometry and light metrology. The book provides an overview of the topics and changes relevant to metrology today, and will be of interest to both academics and all those whose work involves any of the various aspects of this field.

The reliability and accuracy of systems of measurement continue to advance. We are about to enter a period of the most stable measurement system we can imagine with the anticipated new definitions of the SI units of measurement; a direct link between fundamental physics and metrology which will eliminate the current definition of the kilogram, until now based upon an artifact. This book presents selected papers from Course 185 of the Enrico Fermi International School of Physics, held in Varenna, Italy, in July 2012 and jointly organized with the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). The papers delivered at the school covered some of the most advanced topics in the discipline of metrology, including nano-technologies; quantum information and quantum devices; biology and medicine; food; surface quality; ionising radiation for health, environment, art and archaeology; and climate. The continuous and striking advances in basic research concerning atomic frequency standards operating both in the visible range and at microwave levels and the applications to satellite systems are also considered, in the framework of a historical review of the international organization of metrology, as are the problems inherent in uncertainty statements and definitions. This book will be of interest to all those whose work involves scientific measurement at the highest levels of accuracy.

This volume can be justified by the following three facts, the need to provide, from time to time, a co-ordinated set of lectures which present the relevant progress in Metrology, the increasing intertwining between Fundamental Physics and the practice of Metrological Measurements, and, third, the flurry of new and unexpected discoveries in this field, with a correlated series of Nobel Prizes bestowed to individuals working in Fundamental Constants research and novel experimental methods. One of the most fascinating and exciting characteristics of metrology is its intimate relationship between fundamental physics and the leading edge of technology which is needed to perform advanced and challenging experiments and measurements, as well as the determination of the values and interrelations between the Fundamental Constants. In some cases, such as the caesium fountains clocks or the optical frequency standards, the definition of the value of a quantity is, in the laboratory, in the region of 10-16 and experiments are under way to reach 10-18. Many of these results and the avenues leading to further advances are discussed in this volume, along a major step in metrology, expected in the near future, which could change the “old” definition of the kilogram, still based on a mechanical artefact, toward a new definition resting on a fixed value of a fundamental constant.

This book presents a general and comprehensive framework for the assurance of quality in measurements. Written by a foremost expert in the field, the text reflects an on-going international effort to extend traditional quality assured measurement, rooted in fundamental physics and the SI, to include non-physical areas such as person-centred care and the social sciences more generally. Chapter by chapter, the book follows the measurement quality assurance loop, based on Deming’s work. The author enhances this quality assurance cycle with insights from recent research, including work on the politics and philosophy of metrology, the new SI, quantitative and qualitative scales and entropy, decision risks and uncertainty when addressing human challenges, Man as a Measurement Instrument, and Psychometry and Person-centred care. Quality Assured Measurement: Unification across Social and Physical Sciences provides students and researchers in physics, chemistry, engineering, medicine and the social sciences with practical guidance on designing, implementing and applying a quality-assured measurement while engaging readers in the most novel and expansive areas of contemporary measurement research.

This issue of Clinics in Laboratory Medicine entitled “Risk, Error and Uncertainty: Laboratory Quality Management in the Age of Metrology will be guest edited by Sten Westgard, James Westgard, and David Armbruster. The issue will cover a broad range of topics related to management in the laboratory including but not limited to: Metrology Perspectives; Biologic Variation Approach to Daily Laboratory; Clinical Outcome Approach to Goal Setting; Six Sigma Quality Management System; Traceability and Comparability; MU, Risk, and Sigma-metrics at Sunway; and Quality Indicators for the Total Testing Process, among others.