The Thermometer and the Calorimeter, or the Best Choice for Data Acquisition in the Sampling of Biological Rhythms

The comparison between measurements effected by different apparati shows that a given class of instruments provides an integral set of measurements. This characteristic has a certain disadvantage: the modification of the spectral bandwidth is limited to an attenuation of 3 dB. However, it also has certain advantages. The integral measurement (or the counting measurement) makes it possible to satisfy Shannon's sampling criteria by avoiding the necessary anti-aliasing filtering which is commonly impossible to realize on measurements of a biological nature. A second advantage is linked to the reduction of the background noise on the band.