As our capacity for measuring neural activity improves, accompanied by powerful new analysis strategies, it seems prudent to remember what these traditional approaches have to offer.
This change occurred during the age of the silicon chip where consumer hunger for things like small smart phones demanded performance and, in the process, produced memory chips and sensors that changed animal-attached loggers into truly clever tags, with a capacity for measuring almost anything.
Alternatively, various types of neuroimaging have shown promising capacities for measuring the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, including MRI (Mungas et al., 2002; Jack et al., 2003) and cerebral glucose metabolism or beta amyloid imaging with positron emission tomography (Alexander et al., 2002; Engler et al., 2006).
Tinch et al. (this volume) further discusses the challenges related to defining adaptive and coping capacity and methods for measuring them.
Another major problem for measuring capacity and capacity utilization is the possibility of multiple products and multiple quasi-fixed factors.
The capacity for measures of visual function, quality of life, visual pathway structure, and electrophysiology to show not only deterioration but also improvement will be critical in the emerging era of agents that repair and protect the nervous system.
In the meantime, SEAS has invested in new equipment in its undergraduate teaching laboratories to support Lewis' course: new desktop 3D printers that can extrude soft materials and new small-capacity load cells for measuring delicate hydrogels in a tensile testing machine.
"Our capacity for tracking, measuring and reporting intangible assets is falling way behind where the economy is moving," said Margaret Blair, who recently was co-chairwoman of a Brookings Institution task force on intangible sources of value.
Although maximal volume of oxygen consumption (VO2max) is considered the gold-standard for measuring aerobic capacity, its measurement requires strict protocols and trained personnel.
Of all these, the MacCAT tools have ranked the highest and are considered the best choice for measuring capacity to consent to treatment and clinical research in adults [ 28].
A framework for measuring capacity building should therefore be inclusive of both process and outcome measures [ 19], to capture changes in both the 'ends' and 'means'; it should measure the ultimate goals, but also measure the steps and mechanisms to achieve them.
