In situ
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(December 2016) |
In situ(/ɪnˈsɪtjuː,-ˈsaɪtjuː,-ˈsiː-/;often not italicized in English)[1][2][3]is aLatinphrase that translates literally to "on site"[4]or "in position."[5]It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in many different contexts. For example, in fields such asphysics,geology,chemistry,orbiology,in situmay describe the way a measurement is taken, that is, in the same place the phenomenon is occurring without isolating it from other systems or altering the original conditions of the test. The opposite ofin situisex situ.
Aerospace[edit]
In theaerospace industry,equipment on-board aircraft must be testedin situ,or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may work but interference from nearby equipment may create unanticipated problems. Special test equipment is available for thisin situtesting. It can also refer to repairs made to the aircraft structure or flight controls while still in place.
Archaeology[edit]
Inarchaeology,in siturefers to an artifact that has not been moved from its original place of deposition. In other words, it is stationary, meaning "still." An artifact beingin situis critical to the interpretation of that artifact and, consequently, of the culture which formed it. Once an artifact's "find-site" has been recorded, the artifact can then be moved for conservation, further interpretation and display. An artifact that is not discoveredin situis considered out of context and as not providing an accurate picture of the associated culture. However, the out-of-context artifact can provide scientists with an example of types and locations ofin situartifacts yet to be discovered. When excavating a burial site or surface deposit "in situ" refers to cataloging, recording, mapping, photographing human remains in the position they are discovered.[6]
The labelin situindicates only that the object has not been "newly" moved. Thus, an archaeologicalin situfind may be an object that was historically looted from another place, an item of "booty" of a past war, a traded item, or otherwise of foreign origin. Consequently, thein situfind site may still not reveal itsprovenance,but with further detective work may help uncover links that otherwise would remain unknown. It is also possible for archaeological layers to be reworked on purpose or by accident (by humans, natural forces or animals). For example, in aTellmound, where layers are not typically uniform or horizontal, or in land cleared or tilled for farming.
The termin situis often used to describe ancient sculpture that was carved in place such as theSphinxorPetra.This distinguishes it from statues that were carved and moved like theColossi of Memnon,which were moved in ancient times.
Art[edit]
In art,in siturefers to a work of art made specifically for a host site, or that a work of art takes into account the site in which it is installed or exhibited. For a more detailed account see:Site-specific art.The term can also refer to a work of art created at the site where it is to be displayed, rather than one created in the artist's studio and then installed elsewhere (e.g.,a sculpture carvedin situ). Inarchitectural sculpturethe term is frequently employed to describe sculpture that is carved on a building, frequently from scaffolds, after the building has been erected.[7][8] Also commonly used to describe the site specific dance festival "Insitu". Held in Queens, New York.
Astronomy[edit]
A fraction of theglobular star clustersin theMilky Way Galaxy,as well as those in other massive galaxies, might have formedin situ.The rest might have been accreted from now-defunct dwarf galaxies.
In astronomy,in situalso refers toin situplanet formation,in which planets are hypothesized to have formed at the orbital distance they are currently observed[9] rather than to have migrated from a different orbit (referred to asex situformation[10]).
Biology and biomedical engineering[edit]
Inbiologyandbiomedical engineering,in situmeans to examine the phenomenon exactly in place where it occurs (i.e., without moving it to some special medium).
In the case of observations or photographs of living animals, it means that the organism was observed (and photographed) in the wild, exactly as it was found and exactly where it was found. This means it was not taken out of the area. The organism had not been moved to another (perhaps more convenient) location such as an aquarium.
This phrasein situwhen used in laboratory science such as cell science can mean something intermediate betweenin vivoandin vitro.For example, examining acellwithin a wholeorganintact and underperfusionmay bein situinvestigation. This would not bein vivoas the donor is sacrificed by experimentation, but it would not be the same as working with the cell alone (a common scenario forin vitroexperiments). For instance, an example of biomedical engineeringin situinvolves the procedures to directly create an implant from a patient's own tissue within the confines of theOperating Room.[11]
In vitrowas among the first attempts to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze natural occurrences in the lab. Eventually, the limitation ofin vitroexperimentation was that they were not conducted in natural environments. To compensate for this problem,in vivoexperimentation allowed testing to occur in the original organism or environment. To bridge the dichotomy of benefits associated with both methodologies,in situexperimentation allowed the controlled aspects ofin vitroto become coalesced with the natural environmental compositions ofin vivoexperimentation.
In conservation ofgenetic resources,"in situconservation"(also" on-siteconservation") is the process of protecting anendangeredplantoranimalspeciesin its naturalhabitat,as opposed toex situconservation(also "off-site conservation" ).
Chemistry and chemical engineering[edit]
In chemistry,in situtypically means "in the reaction mixture."
There are numerous situations in which chemical intermediates are synthesizedin situin various processes. This may be done because the species is unstable, and cannot be isolated, or simply out of convenience. Examples of the former include theCorey-Chaykovsky reagentandadrenochrome.
In biomedical engineering, protein nanogels made by thein situpolymerization method provide a versatile platform for storage and release of therapeutic proteins. It has tremendous applications for cancer treatment, vaccination, diagnosis, regenerative medicine, and therapies for loss-of-function genetic diseases.[12]
In chemical engineering,in situoften refers to industrial plant "operations or procedures that are performed in place." For example, aged catalysts in industrial reactors may be regenerated in place (in situ) without being removed from the reactors.
Civil engineering[edit]
Inarchitectureandbuilding,in siturefers to construction which is carried out at the building site using raw materials - as opposed toprefabricatedconstruction, in which building components are made in a factory and then transported to the building site for assembly. For example,concrete slabsmay be castin situ(also "cast-in-place" ) orprefabricated.
In situtechniques are often more labour-intensive, and take longer, but the materials are cheaper, and the work is versatile and adaptable.Prefabricatedtechniques are usually much quicker, therefore saving money on labour costs, but factory-made parts can be expensive. They are also inflexible, and must often be designed on a grid, with all details fully calculated in advance. Finished units may require special handling due to excessive dimensions.
The phrase may also refer to those assets which are present at or near a project site. In this case, it is used to designate the state of an unmodified sample taken from a given stockpile.
Site construction usually involves grading the existing soil surface so that material is "cut" out of one area and "filled" in another area creating a flat pad on an existing slope. The term "in situ" distinguishes soil still in its existing condition from soil modified (filled) during construction. The differences in the soil properties for supporting building loads, accepting underground utilities, and infiltrating water persist indefinitely.
Computer science[edit]
Incomputer science,anin situoperation is one that occurs without interrupting the normal state of a system.[citation needed]For example, a file backup may be restored over a running system, without needing to take the system down to perform the restore. In the context of a database, a restore would allow the database system to continue to be available to users while a restore happened. Anin situupgrade would allow anoperating system,firmwareorapplicationto be upgraded while the system was still running, perhaps without the need to reboot it, depending on the sophistication of the system.
Another use of the term in-situ that appears in Computer Science focuses primarily on the use of technology and user interfaces to provide continuous access to situationally relevant information in various locations and contexts.[13][14]Examples include athletes viewing biometric data on smartwatches to improve their performance,[15]a presenter looking at tips on a smart glass to reduce their speaking rate during a speech,[16]or technicians receiving online and stepwise instructions for repairing an engine.
Analgorithmis said to be anin situalgorithm, or in-place algorithm,if the extra amount of memory required to execute the algorithm isO(1),[17]that is, does not exceed a constant no matter how large the input ---except for space for recursive calls on the "call stack." Typically such an algorithm operates ondata objectsdirectly in place rather than making copies of them.
For example,heapsortis anin situsorting algorithm, which sorts the elements of an array in place.Quicksortis anin situsorting algorithm, but in the worst case it requires linear space on the call stack (this can be reduced to log space). Merge sort is generally not written as anin situalgorithm.
In designinguser interfaces,the termin situmeans that a particular user action can be performed without going to another window,[citation needed]for example, if a word processor displays an image and allows the image to be edited without launching a separate image editor, this is calledin situ editing.
AJAX partial page data updates is another example ofin situin a Web UI/UX context.Web 2.0included AJAX and the concept of asynchronous requests to servers to replace a portion of a web page with new data, without reloading the entire page, as the early HTML model dictated. Arguably,allasynchronous data transfers oranybackground task isin situas the normal state is normally unaware of background tasks, usually notified on completion by a callback mechanism.
Withbig data,in situ data would mean bringing the computation to where data is located, rather than the other way like in traditional RDBMS systems where data is moved to computational space.[18]This is also known asin-situ processing.
Design and advertising[edit]
In design and advertising the term typically means the superimposing of theoretical design elements onto photographs of real world locations. This is a pre-visualization tool to aid in illustrating a proof of concept.
Earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences[edit]
Inphysical geographyand theEarth sciences,in situtypically describes natural material or processes prior to transport. For example,in situis used in relation to the distinction betweenweatheringanderosion,the difference being that erosion requires a transport medium (such aswind,ice,orwater), whereas weathering occursin situ.Geochemicalprocesses are also often described as occurring to materialin situ.
Inoceanography and ocean sciences,in situgenerally refers to observational methods made by obtaining direct samples of the ocean state, such as that obtained by shipboard surveying using a loweredCTDrosette that directly measure oceansalinity,temperature,pressure and otherbiogeochemicalquantities like dissolved oxygen. Historically areversing thermometerwould be used to record the ocean temperature at a particular depth and aNiskin or Nansen bottleused to capture and bring water samples back to the ocean surface for further analysis of the physical, chemical or biological composition.
In theatmospheric sciences,in siturefers to obtained through direct contact with the respective subject, such as aradiosondemeasuring a parcel of air or ananemometermeasuring wind, as opposed toremote sensingsuch as weatherradarorsatellites.
Economics[edit]
In economics,in situis used when referring to thein placestorage of a product, usually a natural resource. More generally, it refers to any situation where there is no out-of-pocket cost to store the product so that the only storage cost is theopportunity costof waiting longer to get your money when the product is eventually sold. Examples ofin situstorage would be oil and gas wells, all types of mineral and gem mines, stone quarries, timber that has reached an age where it could be harvested, and agricultural products that do not need a physical storage facility such as hay.
Electrochemistry[edit]
Inelectrochemistry,the phrasein siturefers to performing electrochemical experiments under operating conditions of the electrochemical cell, i.e., under potential control. This is opposed to doingex situexperiments that are performed under the absence of potential control. Potential control preserves the electrochemical environment essential to maintain the double layer structure intact and the electron transfer reactions occurring at that particular potential in the electrode/electrolyte interphasial region.
Environmental remediation[edit]
In situcan refer to where a clean up orremediationof apollutedsite is performed using and stimulating the natural processes in thesoil,contrary toex situwhere contaminated soil is excavated and cleaned elsewhere, off site.
Experimental physics[edit]
Inexperimental physicsin situtypically refers to a method of data collection or manipulation of a sample without exposure to an external environment. For example, the Si(111) 7x7 surface reconstruction is visible using ascanning tunneling microscopewhen it is prepared and analyzedin situ.
Experimental psychology[edit]
In psychologyexperiments,in situtypically refers to those experiments done in a field setting as opposed to a laboratory setting.
Gastronomy[edit]
Ingastronomy,"in situ" refers to the art of cooking with the different resources that are available at the site of the event. Here a person is not going to the restaurant, but the restaurant comes to the person's home.[19]
Law[edit]
Inlegalcontexts,in situis often used for its literal meaning. For example, inHong Kong,"in situland exchange "involves the government exchanging the original or expiredleaseof a piece of land with a newgrantor re-grant with the same piece of land or a portion of that.
In the field of recognition of governments under public international law the termin situis used to distinguish between anexiled governmentand a government with effective control over the territory, i.e. the governmentin situ.
Linguistics[edit]
Inlinguistics,specificallysyntax,an element may be said to bein situif it is pronounced in the position where it is interpreted. For example,questionsin languages such asChinesehavein situwh-elements, with structures comparable to "John bought what?" withwhatin the same position in the sentence as the grammatical object would be in its affirmative counterpart (for example, "John bought bread" ). An example of anEnglishwh-element that is notin situ(seewh-movement): "What did John buy?"
Literature[edit]
Inliteraturein situis used to describe a condition. TheRosetta Stone,for example, was originally erected in a courtyard, for public viewing. Most pictures of the famous stone are notin situpictures of it erected, as it would have been originally. The stone was uncovered as part of building material, within a wall. Itsin situcondition today is that it is erected, vertically, on public display at theBritish Museumin London, England.
Medicine[edit]
Incancer/oncology:in situmeans thatmalignantcells are present as a tumor but have notmetastasized,orinvadedbeyond the layer or tissue type where it arose. This can happen anywhere in the body, such as the skin, breast tissue, or lung. For example, a cancer of epithelial origin with such features is calledcarcinoma in situ,and is defined as not having invaded beyond thebasement membrane.
This type of tumor can often, depending on where it is located, be removed bysurgery.
Inanatomy:in siturefers to viewing structures as they appear in normal healthy bodies. For example, one can open up acadaver's abdominal cavity and view the liverin situor one can look at an isolated liver that has been removed from the cadaver's body.
Innursing,"in situ" describes any devices or appliances on the patient's body that remain in their desired and optimal position.
Inmedical simulation,"in situ" refers to the practice of clinical professionals using high fidelity patient simulators to train for clinical practice in patient care environments, such as wards, operating rooms, and other settings, rather than in dedicated simulation training facilities.
In biomedical, protein nanogels made by the in situ polymerization method provide a versatile platform for storage and release of therapeutic proteins. It has tremendous applications for cancer treatment, vaccination, diagnosis, regenerative medicine, and therapies for loss-of-function genetic diseases.[12]
Mining[edit]
In situ leachingorin situ recoveryrefers to the mining technique of injectinglixiviantunderground to dissolve ore and bringing the pregnant leach solution to surface for extraction. Commonly used in uranium mining but has also been used for copper mining.[20]
Petroleum production[edit]
In siturefers to recovery techniques which apply heat or solvents toheavy crude oilorbitumenreservoirs beneath the Earth's crust. There are several varieties ofin situtechniques, but the ones which work best in theoil sandsuse heat (steam).
The most common type ofin situpetroleum production is referred to as SAGD (steam-assisted gravity drainage) this is becoming very popular in the Alberta Oil Sands.
RF transmission[edit]
Inradio frequency(RF) transmission systems,in situis often used to describe the location of various components while the system is in its standard transmission mode, rather than operation in a test mode. For example, if anin situwattmeteris used in a commercial broadcast transmission system, thewattmetercan accurately measure power while the station is "on air."
[edit]
Future space exploration orterraformingmay rely onobtaining suppliesin situ,such as previous plans to power theOrion space vehiclewith fuel minable on the Moon. TheMars Directmission concept is based primarily on thein situfuel production using theSabatier reaction,which produces methane and water from a reaction of hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
In thespace sciences,in siturefers to measurements of the particle and field environment that the satellite is embedded in, such as the detection of energetic particles in thesolar wind,or magnetic field measurements from amagnetometer.
Urban planning[edit]
In urban planning, in-situ upgrading is an approach to and method of upgradinginformal settlements.[21]
Vacuum technology[edit]
Invacuum technology,in situbaking refers to heating parts of the vacuum system while they are under vacuum in order to drive off volatile substances that may beabsorbedoradsorbedon the walls so they cannot causeoutgassing.
Road assistance[edit]
The termin situ,used as "repair in situ", means to repair a vehicle at the place where it has a breakdown.
See also[edit]
- carcinoma in situ
- ex vivo
- in silico
- in utero
- in vitro
- in vivo
- In situ conservation
- Ex situ conservation
- List of colossal sculpture in situ
- List of Latin phrases
- All pages with titles beginning withIn situ
References[edit]
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- ^abYe, Yanqi; Yu, Jicheng; Gu, Zhen (2015). "Versatile Protein Nanogels Prepared by In Situ Polymerization".Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics.217(3): 333–343.doi:10.1002/macp.201500296.
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- ^In Situ Leach (ISL) Mining of UraniumArchived24 April 2009 at theWayback Machine.world-nuclear.org
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