Measurement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For bust/waist/hip measurement, see BWH.
Measurement is the process or the result of determining the magnitude
of a quantity, such as length or mass, relative to a unit of measurement,
such as a meter or a kilogram.
The word measurement stems, via the Middle French term mesure,
from Latin mēnsūra, and the verb metiri.[1]
Metrology is the science of measurement.

Standards
With the exception of a few seemingly fundamental quantum constants,
units of measurement are essentially arbitrary; in other words, people
make them up and then agree to use them. Nothing inherent in nature
dictates that an inch has to be a certain length, or that a mile is a better
measure of distance than a kilometre. Over the course of human
history, however, first for convenience and then for necessity, standards
of measurement evolved so that communities would have certain
common benchmarks. Laws regulating measurement were originally
developed to prevent fraud in commerce. Today, units of measurement
are generally defined on a scientific basis, overseen by governmental or
supra-governmental agencies, and established in international treaties.
The metre, for example, was redefined in 1983 as the distance traveled
by light in free space in 1⁄299,792,458 of a second. In theUnited States,
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a division of
the United States Department of Commerce, regulates commercial
measurements. In the United Kingdom, the role is performed by the
National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
[edit]Units and systems
Main articles:  Units of measurement  and  Systems of measurement
A baby bottle that measures in all three measurement systems,Imperial (U.K.), U.S.
customary, and metric.
[edit]Imperial system
Main article:  Imperial units
Before SI units were widely adopted around the world, the British
systems of English units and later imperial units were used in Britain,
theCommonwealth and the United States. The system came to be
known as U.S. customary units in the United States and is still in use
there and in a few Caribbean countries. These various systems of
measurement have at times been called foot-pound-second systems
after the Imperial units for distance, weight and time even though the
tons, hundredweights, gallons, and nautical miles, for example, are
different for the U.S. units. Many Imperial units remain in use in Britain
despite the fact that it has officially switched to the SI system. Road
signs are still in miles, yards, miles per hour, and so on, people tend to
measure their own height in feet and inches and milk is sold in pints, to
give just a few examples. Imperial units are used in many other places,
for example, in many Commonwealth countries that are considered
metricated, land area is measured in acres and floor space in square
feet, particularly for commercial transactions (rather than government
statistics). Similarly, gasoline is sold by the gallon in many countries that
are considered metricated.
[edit]Metric system
The metric system is a decimal systems of measurement based on its
units for length, the metre and for mass, the kilogram. It exists in several
variations, with different choices of base units, though these do not
affect its day-to-day use. Since the 1960s, the International System of
Units (SI) is the internationally recognized metric system. Metric units of
mass, length, and electricity are widely used around the world for both
everyday and scientific purposes.
The metric system features a single base unit for many physical
quantities. Other quantities are derived from the standard SI units.
Multiples and fractions of the units are expressed aspowers of ten of
each unit. Unit conversions are always simple because they are in the
ratio of ten, one hundred, one thousand, etc., so that convenient
magnitudes for measurements are achieved by simply moving the
decimal place: 1.234 metres is 1234 millimetres or 0.001234 kilometres.
The use of fractions, such as 2/5 of a metre, is not prohibited, but
uncommon. All lengths and distances, for example, are measured in
metres, or thousandths of a metre (millimetres), or thousands of metres
(kilometres). There is no profusion of different units with different
conversion factors as in the Imperial system which uses, for
example, inches, feet, yards, fathoms, rods.
[edit]International System of Units
The International System of Units (abbreviated as SI from the French
language name Système International d'Unités) is the modern revision
of the metric system. It is the world's most widely used system of units,
both in everyday commerce and in science. The SI was developed in
1960 from the metre-kilogram-second (MKS) system, rather than
the centimetre-gram-second (CGS) system, which, in turn, had many
variants. At its development the SI also introduced several newly named
units that were previously not a part of the metric system. The SI units
for the four basic physical quantities: length, time, mass, and
temperature are:
 metre (m)  :SI unit of length
 second (s)  :SI unit of time
 kilogram (kg) :SI unit of mass
 kelvin (K)  :SI unit of temperature
There are two types of SI units, base units and derived units. Base units
are the simple measurements for time, length, mass, temperature,
amount of substance, electric current and light intensity. Derived units
are constructed from the base units, for example, the watt, i.e. the unit
for power, is defined from the base units as m2·kg·s−3. Other physical
properties may be measured in compound units, such as material
density, measured in kg/m3.
[edit]Converting prefixes
The SI allows easy multiplication when switching among units having
the same base but different prefixes. To convert from metres to
centimetres it is only necessary to multiply the number of metres by
100, since there are 100 centimetres in a metre. Inversely, to switch
from centimetres to metres one multiplies the number of centimetres by
0.01 or divide centimetres by 100.
[edit]Distance

A 2-metre carpenter's ruler
A ruler or rule is a tool used in, for example, geometry, technical
drawing, engineering, and carpentry, to measure distances or to draw
straight lines. Strictly speaking, the ruler is the instrument used
to rule straight lines and the calibrated instrument used for determining
length is called a measure, however common usage calls both
instruments rulers and the special name straightedge is used for an
unmarked rule. The use of the word measure, in the sense of a
measuring instrument, only survives in the phrase tape measure, an
instrument that can be used to measure but cannot be used to draw
straight lines. As can be seen in the photographs on this page, a two-
metre carpenter's rule can be folded down to a length of only 20
centimetres, to easily fit in a pocket, and a five-metre long tape measure
easily retracts to fit within a small housing.
[edit]Some special names
We also use some special names for some multiples of some units.
 100 kilograms = 1 quintal;1000 kilogram = 1 metric tonne;
 10 years = 1 decade; 100 years = 1 century; 1000 years = 1
millennium
[edit]Building trades
The Australian building trades adopted the metric system in 1966 and
the units used for measurement of length are metres (m)
and millimetres (mm). Centimetres (cm) are avoided as they cause
confusion when reading plans. For example, the length two and a half
metres is usually recorded as 2500 mm or 2.5 m; it would be considered
non-standard to record this length as 250 cm.
[edit]Time
Main article:  Time
[edit]Mass
Main article:  Weighing scale
Mass refers to the intrinsic property of all material objects to resist
changes in their momentum. Weight, on the other hand, refers to the
downward force produced when a mass is in a gravitational field. In free
fall, (no net gravitational forces) objects lack weight but retain their
mass. The Imperial units of mass include the ounce, pound, and ton.
The metric units gramand kilogram are units of mass.
One device for measuring weight or mass is called a weighing scale or,
often, simply a scale. A spring scale measures force but not mass, a
balance compares masses, but requires a gravitational field to operate.
Some of the most accurate instruments for measuring weight or mass
are based on load cells with a digital read-out, but require a gravitational
field to function and would not work in free fall.
[edit]Economics
Main article:  Measurement in economics
The measures used in economics are physical measures, nominal price
value measures and fixed price value measures. These measures differ
from one another by the variables they measure and by the variables
excluded from measurements. The measurable variables in economics
are quantity, quality and distribution. By excluding variables from
measurement makes it possible to better focus the measurement on a
given variable, yet, this means a narrower approach.
[edit]Difficulties
Since accurate measurement is essential in many fields, and since all
measurements are necessarily approximations, a great deal of effort
must be taken to make measurements as accurate as possible. For
example, consider the problem of measuring the time it takes an object
to fall a distance of one metre (39 in). Using physics, it can be shown
that, in the gravitational field of the Earth, it should take any object
about 0.45 second to fall one metre. However, the following are just
some of the sources of error that arise. First, this computation used for
the acceleration of gravity 9.8 metres per second per second
(32.2 ft/s²). But this measurement is not exact, but only precise to two
significant digits. Also, the Earth's gravitational field varies slightly
depending on height above sea level and other factors. Next, the
computation of .45 seconds involved extracting a square root, a
mathematical operation that required rounding off to some number of
significant digits, in this case two significant digits.
So far, we have only considered scientific sources of error. In actual
practice, dropping an object from a height of a metre stick and using a
stopwatch to time its fall, we have other sources of error. First, and most
common, is simple carelessness. Then there is the problem of
determining the exact time at which the object is released and the exact
time it hits the ground. There is also the problem that the measurement
of the height and the measurement of the time both involve some error.
Finally, there is the problem of air resistance.
Scientific experiments must be carried out with great care to eliminate
as much error as possible, and to keep error estimates realistic.
[edit]Definitions and theories
[edit]Classical definition
In the classical definition, which is standard throughout the physical
sciences, measurement is the determination or estimation of ratios of
quantities.[2] Quantity and measurement are mutually defined:
quantitative attributes are those possible to measure, at least in
principle.[citation needed] The classical concept of quantity can be traced back
to John Wallis and Isaac Newton, and was foreshadowed in Euclid's
Elements.[3]In Steven N. S. Cheung's definition,
measurement involves an assignment of numbers for the purposes
of ranking, and precision in measurement can only be judged by the
extent of the agreement among different observers[4]
[edit]Representational theory
In the representational theory, measurement is defined as "the
correlation of numbers with entities that are not numbers".[5] The most
technically elaborate form of representational theory is also known
as additive conjoint measurement. In this form of representational
theory, numbers are assigned based on correspondences or similarities
between the structure of number systems and the structure of
qualitative systems. A property is quantitative if such structural
similarities can be established. In weaker forms of representational
theory, such as that implicit within the work of Stanley Smith Stevens[6],
numbers need only be assigned according to a rule.
The concept of measurement is often misunderstood as merely the
assignment of a value, but it is possible to assign a value in a way that
is not a measurement in terms of the requirements of additive conjoint
measurement. One may assign a value to a person's height, but unless
it can be established that there is a correlation between measurements
of height and empirical relations, it is not a measurement according to
additive conjoint measurement theory. Likewise, computing and
assigning arbitrary values, like the "book value" of an asset in
accounting, is not a measurement because it does not satisfy the
necessary criteria.
[edit]Information theory
Information theory recognizes that all data are inexact and statistical in
nature. Thus the definition of measurement is: "A set of observations
that reduce uncertainty where the result is expressed as a
quantity."[7] This definition is implied in what scientists actually do when
they measure something and report both the mean and statistics of the
measurements. In practical terms, one begins with an initial guess as to
the value of a quantity, and then, using various methods and
instruments, reduces the uncertainty in the value. Note that in this view,
unlike the positivist representational theory, all measurements are
uncertain, so instead of assigning one value, a range of values is
assigned to a measurement. This also implies that there is not a clear or
neat distinction between estimation and measurement. Ascertaining the
degree measurement error is also a basic facet of metrology, and
sources of errors are divided into systematic and non-systematic.
[edit]Quantum mechanics
In quantum mechanics, a measurement is the collapse of the
wavefunction.[citation needed] The unambiguous meaning of the measurement
problem is an unresolved fundamental problem in quantum mechanics
Standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standard-developing
organization (SDO), or standard-setting organization (SSO) is any
organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating,
promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise
maintaining standards that address the interests of a wide base of users
outside the standard-developing organization.
Most voluntary standards are offered for use by people, regulators, or
industry. When a published standard achieves widespread acceptance
and dominance it can become a broader de facto standard for an
industry. This has happened with the modem protocol developed
by Hayes, Apple's TrueType font standard and the PCL protocol used
by Hewlett-Packard in thecomputer printers they produced.
Normally, the term standards organization does not include the parties
participating in the standard-developing organization in the capacity of
founders, benefactors, stakeholders, members or contributors, who
themselves may function as the standards organizations.

Overview
Standards organizations can be classified by their role, position and the
extent of their influence on the local, national, regional and global
standardization arena.
By geographic designation, there are international, regional,
and national standards bodies (the latter often referred to as NSBs). By
technology or industry designation, there are standard-developing
organizations (SDOs) and also standard-setting organizations (SSOs)
also known as consortia. Standards organizations may be
governmental, quasi-governmental or non-governmental entities. Quasi-
and non-governmental standards organizations are often non-profit
organizations.
International standards organizations
Broadly, an international standards organization develops international
standards. (This does not necessarily restrict the use of other published
standards internationally.)
There are many international standards organizations. For example,
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO),
the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have existed for more
than 50 years (founded in 1947, 1906, and 1865, respectively) and they
are all based in Geneva, Switzerland. They have established tens of
thousands of standards covering almost every conceivable topic. Many
of these are then adopted worldwide replacing various incompatible
'homegrown' standards. Many of these standards are naturally evolved
from those designed in-house within an industry, or by a particular
country, while others have been built from scratch by groups of experts
who sit on various technical committees (TCs).
ISO is composed of the national standards bodies (NSBs), one per
member economy. The IEC is composed of national committees, one
per member economy. In some cases, the national committee to the
IEC of an economy may be the ISO member from that country or
economy. The World Standards Cooperation (WSC) is a cooperative
effort between ISO, the IEC, and the ITU.
ISO and IEC are non-treaty international organizations. Their members
may be non-governmental organizations or governmental agencies. The
ITU and Codex Alimentarius are two examples of treaty-based
organizations (where only governments are the primary members)[citation
needed]
. The members of these organizations are the government foreign
ministry, and/or appropriate regulatory body (telecoms regulator,
agricultural, food safety or pharmaceuticals regulator, etc)[citation needed].
In addition to these, independent standards organizations such
as ASTM International develop and publish technical standards for
international use. Others set standards within some more specialized
context, such as SAE International, the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF), TAPPI, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), IEEE,
the Universal Postal Union (UPU) or the American Petroleum
Institute (API). Often, these international standards organizations are
not based on the principle of one member per country. Rather,
membership in such international organizations is open, having either
organizational/corporate or individual technical expert members from
around the globe.
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), by means of its standards board,
defines, approves, and maintains postal standards. The SB’s objectives
are to provide strategic direction and to plan, develop and maintain
technical and communications standards aimed at improving postal
operational efficiency and quality of service, besides promoting
interoperability and compatibility of all UPU and international postal
telematics initiatives.
Regional standards organizations
Regional standards bodies also exist, such as the European Committee
for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardization (CENELEC), theEuropean Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI), and the Institute for Reference Materials and
Measurements (IRMM) in Europe, the Pacific Area Standards
Congress(PASC), the Pan American Standards
Commission (COPANT), the African Organization for
Standardization (ARSO), the Arabic industrial development and mining
organization(AIDMO), and others.
In the European Union, only standards created by CEN, CENELEC, and
ETSI are recognized as "European standards", and member states are
required to notify the European Commission and each other about all
the draft technical regulations concerning ICT products and services
before they are adopted in national law.[1] These rules were laid down in
Directive 98/34/EC with the goal of providing transparency and control
with regard to technical regulations.[1]
Sub-regional standards organizations also exist such as
the MERCOSUR Standardization Association (AMN), the CARICOM
Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), and the
ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ),
EAC East Africa Standards Committee www.eac-quality.net, and the
Gulf Standardasation Organasation for GCC Arab Countries.
National standards bodies (NSBs)
In general, each country or economy has a single recognized national
standards body (NSB). Examples include the Brazilian National
Standards Organization (ABNT), the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI), the British Standards Institution (BSI), the
Mexican Dirección General de Normas (DGN), the Deutsches Institut für
Normung (DIN), the Instituto Argentino de Normalización y
Certificación (IRAM), the Japanese Industrial Standards
Committee (JISC), the Korean Agency for Technology and
Standards (KATS), the Nederlandse Norm (NEN), the South African
Bureau of Standards (SABS), the Standardization Administration of
China (SAC), the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), the Swedish
Standards Institute (SIS), Standards Norway (SN), the Swiss
Association for Standardization (SNV), or Standards New
Zealand (SNZ). A national standards body is likely the sole member
from that economy in ISO.
NSBs may be either public or private sector organizations, or
combinations of the two. For example, the three NSBs of Canada,
Mexico and the United States are, respectively, the Standards Council
of Canada (SCC), the General Bureau of Standards (Dirección General
de Normas, DGN), and the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI). SCC is a CanadianCrown Corporation, DGN is a governmental
agency within the Mexican Ministry of Economy, and ANSI is a 501(c)
(3) non-profit organization with members from both the private and
public sectors. The National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), the U.S. government's standards agency,
cooperates with ANSI under a memorandum of understanding to
collaborate on the United States Standards Strategy. The determinates
of whether an NSB for a particular economy is a public or private sector
body may include the historical and traditional roles that the private
sector fills in public affairs in that economy or the development stage of
that economy.
Standard-developing organizations (SDOs)
Whereas the term national standards body (NSB) is generally used to
refer to the one-per-country standardization organization which is that
country’s member of the ISO, the termstandard-developing
organization (SDO) generally refers to the thousands of industry- or
sector-based standards organizations which develop and publish
industry specific standards. Some economies feature only an NSB with
no other SDOs. Large economies like the United States and Japan
feature several hundred SDOs, many of which are coordinated by the
central NSBs of each country (ANSI and JISC in this case). In some
cases, international industry-based SDOs such as the IEEE and
the Audio Engineering Society (AES) may have direct liaisons with
international standards organizations, having input to international
standards without going through a national standards body. SDOs are
differentiated from standard-setting organizations (SSOs) (see Trends
below) in that SDOs may be accredited to develop standards using
open and transparent processes.
Scope of work
The developers of technical standards are generally concerned
with interface standards, which detail how products interconnect with
one another, and safety standards, which establish characteristics
required for a product or process to be safe for the humans, animals
and environment. The subject of their work can be narrow or broad.
Another area of interest is in defining how the behavior and
performance of products is measured and described in data sheets.
Overlapping or competing standards bodies tend to cooperate
purposefully, by seeking to define boundaries between the scope of
their work, and by operating in a hierarchical fashion in terms of
national, regional and international scope; international organizations
tend to have as members national organizations; and standards
emerging at national level (such as BS 5750) can be adopted at
regional levels (BS 5750 was adopted as EN 29000) and at
international levels (BS 5750 was adopted as ISO 9000).
Unless adopted by a government, standards carry no force in law.
However, most jurisdictions have truth in advertising laws, and
ambiguities can be reduced if a company offers a product that is
"compliant" with a standard.
Standards development process
When an organization develops standards which may be used openly, it
is common to have formal rules published regarding the process. This
may include:
 Who is allowed to vote and have input on new or revised
standards
 What is the formal step-by-step process
 How are bias and commercial interests handled
 How are negative votes or ballots handled
 What type of consensus is required
 etc
Although it can be a tedious and lengthy process, formal standard
setting is essential to developing new technologies. For example, since
1865, the telecommunications industry has depended on the ITU to
establish the telecommunications standards that have been adopted
worldwide. The ITU has created numerous telecommunications
standards including telegraph specifications, allocation of telephone
numbers, interference protection, and protocols for a variety of
communications technologies. The standards that are created through
standards organizations lead to improved product quality, ensured
interoperability of competitors’ products, and they provide a
technological baseline for future research and product development.
Formal standard setting through standards organizations has numerous
benefits for consumers including increased innovation, multiple market
participants, reduced production costs, and the efficiency effects of
product interchangeability.
Standards distribution and copyright
Since the standards development process costs a great deal of money,
time and resources, virtually all but a few standards are distributed on a
commercial basis rather than being provided free. A technical library at
a university may have copies of technical standards on hand. Major
libraries in large cities may also have access to many technical
standards.
Some users of standards mistakenly assume that all standards are in
the public domain. This assumption is correct only for standards
produced by the central governments whose publications are not
amenable to copyright. Any standards produced by non-governmental
entities remain the intellectual property of their developers and are
protected, just like any other publications, by copyright laws and
international treaties. However, the intellectual property extends only to
the standard itself and not to its use. For instance if a company sells a
device that is compliant with a given standard, it is not liable for further
payment to the standards organization except in the special case when
the organization holds patent rights or some other ownership of the
intellectual property described in the standard.
It is, however, liable for any patent infringement by its implementation,
just as with any other implementation of technology. The standards
organizations give no guarantees that patents relevant to a given
standard have been identified. ISO standards draw attention to this in
the foreword with a statement like the following: "Attention is drawn to
the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the
subject of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for
identifying any or all such patent rights."[2]
Trends
The ever-quickening pace of technology evolution is now more than
ever affecting the way new standards are proposed, developed and
implemented.
Since traditional, widely respected standards organizations tend to
operate at a slower pace than technology evolves, many standards they
develop are becoming less relevant because of the inability of their
developers to keep abreast with the technological innovation. As a
result, a new class of standards setters appeared on
the standardization arena: the industry consortia or standard-setting
organizations (SSOs). Despite having limited financial resources, some
of them enjoy truly international acceptance. One example is the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), whose standards for HTML, CSS,
and XML are used universally throughout the world. There are also
community-driven associations such as the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF), a worldwide network of volunteers who collaborate to set
standards for lower-level software solutions.
Some industry-driven standards development efforts don't even have a
formal organizational structure. They are projects funded by large
corporations. Among them are theOpenOffice.org, a Sun Microsystems-
sponsored international community of volunteers working on an open-
standard software that aims to compete with Microsoft Office, and two
commercial groups competing fiercely with each other to develop an
industry-wide standard for high-density optical storage.

Bureau of Indian Standards

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the national standards
body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer
Affairs,Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. The
organization was erstwhile known as the Indian Standards
Institution which was founded in the year 1947.
As a corporate body, it has 25 members drawn from national and state
politics, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer
organizations. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in
Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Delhi, and 19 branch
offices. It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India.[1]
As on 31 March 2008, 18424 Standards formulated by BIS, are in force.
These cover important segments of economy, which help the industry in
upgrading the quality of their goods and services.

Product Certification
BIS Product Certification Scheme is basically voluntary in nature. Some
of the items brought under mandatory certification on consideration of
health and safety are milk powder, packaged drinking water, LPG
cylinders, oil pressure stoves, clinical thermometers etc. All foreign
manufacturers of products who intend to export to India are required to
obtain a BIS product certification licence. Towards this, BIS launched its
Product Certification Scheme for overseas manufacturers in the year
1999. Under the provisions of this scheme, foreign manufacturers can
seek certification from BIS for marking their product(s) with BIS
Standard Mark.

[edit]Laboratories
To support the activities of product certification, BIS has a chain of 8
laboratories. These laboratories have established testing facilities for
products of chemical, food, electrical and mechanical disciplines.
Approximately, 25000 samples are being tested in the BIS laboratories
every year. In certain cases where it is economically not feasible to
develop test facilities in BIS laboratories and also for other reasons like
overloading of samples, equipment being out of order, the services of
outside approved laboratories are also being availed. Except for the two
labs, all the other labs are NABL (National Accreditation Board for
Testing and Calibration Laboratiories) accredited.

Hallmarking
Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery started in April 2000 on voluntary basis
under BIS Act 1986. It is aimed at to protect the consumer's interest and
providing third party assurance to consumers on the purity of gold. The
list of hallmarked jewelers with BIS licence and BIS recognised
hallmarking centres has been hosted on BIS website. BIS homepage
The BIS Precious Metals Sectional Committee (MTD 10) has formulated
and published the following Indian Standards on Gold and Gold Alloys:
 IS 1417 - Grades of gold and gold alloys, Jewellery/Artefacts-
Fineness and Marking
 IS 1418 - Assaying of Gold in Gold Bullion, Gold alloys and Gold
Jewellery/ Artefacts - Cupellation (Fire Assay Method)
 IS 2790 - Guidelines for manufacture of 23,22,21,18,14 and 9
carat gold alloys
 IS 3095 - Gold Solders for use in manufacture of Jewellery

ASTM International

ASTM International logo

ASTM International (ASTM), originally known as the American
Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards
organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus
technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems,
and services. The organization's headquarters is inWest
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, about 5 miles (8 km) northwest
of Philadelphia.
ASTM, founded in 1898, predates other standards organizations such
as BSI (1901), DIN (1917) and AFNOR (1926), but differs from these in
that it is not a national standards body, that role being taken in
the USA by ANSI. However, ASTM has a dominant role among
standards developers in the USA, and claims to be the world's largest
developer of standards. Using a consensus process, ASTM supports
thousands of volunteer technical committees, which draw their
members from around the world and collectively develop and maintain
more than 12,000 standards.
ASTM International publishes the Annual Book of ASTM
Standards each year in print, CD and online versions. The online
version was available by subscription and cost was based upon usage.
For 2008, the complete set of books or CDs cost almost US$9000 and
included 81 volumes. For 2010, the complete set of books or CDs cost
almost $9700 and included 82 volumes.

History
A group of scientists and engineers, led by Charles Benjamin
Dudley formed the American Society for Testing and Materials in 1898
to address the frequent rail breaks plaguing the fast-
growing railroad industry. The group developed a standard for the steel
used to fabricate rails.
In 2001, ASTM changed its name to ASTM International to reflect global
participation in ASTM and worldwide use of its standards.
In 2009, a joint effort by standards development
organizations AAMI, ANSI, ASTM, and DIN created a single, centralized
database for medical device standards.[1]
[edit]Standards
The standards produced by ASTM International fall into six categories:
 the Standard Specification, that defines the requirements to be
satisfied by subject of the standard.
 the Standard Test Method, that defines the way a test is
performed and the precision of the result. The result of the test may
be used to assess compliance with a Standard Specification.
 the Standard Practice, that defines a sequence of operations
that, unlike a Standard Test Method, does not produce a result.
 the Standard Guide, that provides an organized collection of
information or series of options that does not recommend a specific
course of action.
 the Standard Classification, that provides an arrangement or
division of materials, products, systems, or services into groups
based on similar characteristics such as origin, composition,
properties, or use.
 the Terminology Standard, that provides agreed definitions of
terms used in the other standards.
The quality of the standards is such that they are frequently used
worldwide.
The Annual Book of ASTM Standards covers 15 sections of interest plus
a master index:
1. Iron and Steel Products
2. Nonferrous Metal Products
3. Metals Test Methods and Analytical Procedures
4. Construction
5. Petroleum Products, Lubricants, and Fossil Fuels
6. Paints, Related Coatings, and Aromatics
7. Textiles
8. Plastics
9. Rubber
10. Electrical Insulation and Electronics
11. Water and Environmental Technology
12. Nuclear, Solar, and Geothermal Energy
13. Medical Devices and Services
14. General Methods and Instrumentation
15. General Products, Chemical Specialties, and End Use
Products
16. Index to all sections and volumes
ASTM Standards can be purchased as a digital library subscription or
individually from ASTM and other qualified [2] standards providers. When
maintaining a large standards library, often digital subscriptions are
used to simplify staying current on standards and to remain in
compliance with all copyright laws. A technical library at a university
may also have copies of standards to review.
[edit]Membership and organization
Membership in the organization is open to anyone with an interest in its
activities[3]. Standards are developed within committees, and new
committees are formed as needed, upon request of interested
members. Membership in most committees is voluntary and is initiated
by the member's own request, not by appointment nor by invitation.
Members are classified as users, producers, consumers, and "general
interest". The latter include academics and consultants. Users include
industry users, who may be producers in the context of other technical
committees, and end-users such as consumers. In order to meet the
requirements of antitrust laws, producers must constitute less than 50%
of every committee or subcommittee, and votes are limited to one per
producer company. Because of these restrictions, there can be a
substantial waiting-list of producers seeking organizational
memberships on the more popular committees. Members can, however,
participate without a formal vote and their input will be fully considered.
As of 2007, more than 30,000 members, including over 1100
organizational members[4], from more than 120 countries, including 120
members in China as of 2005.[5] The 2011 Chairman of the Board is
Catherine H. Pilarz; James A. Thomas is the President of ASTM
International.[6][7]
ASTM International presents several awards for contributions to
standards authorship, including the ASTM International Award of
Merit (the organization's highest award)[8]
ASTM International is recognized by the US Internal Revenue
Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Standards compliance
ASTM International has no role in requiring or enforcing compliance
with its standards. The standards, however, may become mandatory
when referenced by an external contract, corporation, or government.
 In the United States, ASTM standards have been adopted, by
incorporation or by reference, in many federal, state, and municipal
government regulations. The National Technology Transfer and
Advancement Act, passed in 1995, requires the federal government
to use privately developed consensus standards whenever possible.
The Act reflects what had long been recommended as best practice
within the federal government.
 Other governments (local and worldwide) also have referenced
ASTM standards [9]
 Corporations doing international business may choose to
reference an ASTM standard.

Deutsches Institut für Normung

Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN; in English, the German
Institute for Standardization) is the German national organization
forstandardization and is that country's ISO member body. DIN is a
Registered German Association (e.V.) headquartered in Berlin. There
are currently around thirty thousand DIN Standards, covering nearly
every field of technology.
Founded in 1917 as the Normenausschuss der deutschen
Industrie (NADI, "Standardisation Committee of German Industry"), the
NADI was renamed Deutscher Normenausschuss (DNA, "German
Standardisation Committee") in 1926 to reflect that the organization now
dealt with standardization issues in many fields; viz., not just for
industrial products. In 1975 it was renamed again to Deutsches Institut
für Normung, or 'DIN' and is recognized by the German government as
the official national-standards body, representing German interests at
the international and European levels.
The acronym, 'DIN,' is often incorrectly expanded as Deutsche
Industrienorm ("German Industry Standard"). This is largely due to the
historic origin of the DIN as "NADI". The NADI indeed published their
standards as DI-Norm (Deutsche Industrienorm). For example, the first
published standard was 'DI-Norm 1' (about tapered pins) in 1918. Many
people still mistakenly associate DIN with the old DI-Norm naming
convention.
One of the earliest, and probably the most well-known, is DIN 476 —
the standard that introduced the A-series paper sizes in 1922 —
adopted in 1975 as International Standard ISO 216. Common examples
in modern technology include DIN and mini-DIN connectors.

DIN standard designation

The designation of a DIN standard shows its origin (# denotes a
number):
 DIN # is used for German standards with primarily domestic
significance or designed as a first step toward international status. E
DIN # is a draft standard and DIN V # is a preliminary standard.
 DIN EN # is used for the German edition of European standards.
 DIN ISO # is used for the German edition of ISO standards. DIN
EN ISO # is used if the standard has also been adopted as a
European standard.
[edit]Examples of DIN standards
See also the list of DIN standards.
 DIN 476: international paper sizes (now ISO 216 or DIN EN ISO
216)
 DIN 946: Determination of coefficient of friction of bolt/nut
assemblies under specified conditions.
 DIN 1451: typeface used by German railways and on traffic signs
 DIN 31635: transliteration of the Arabic language
 DIN 4512: A definition of film speed, now superseded by ISO
5800:1987[1], ISO 6:1993[2] and ISO 2240:2003[3].
 DIN 72552: electric terminal numbers in automobiles