Biased distortions

Proceed as if the data were not distorted and carry in mind that any result so obtained is biased. 

A common cause of inaccuracy in SPC-based time domain detection is pulse-pileup, that is, the arrival of photons during the dead-time of the detection system. Because the higher probability of emission (and detection) in the earlier part of the decay, pulse-pileup is more probable in this part of the decay. Consequently, the decay will be distorted and the lifetime will be biased towards higher values. Moreover, pulse-pileup will also result in a reduction of the detection efficiency (see Fig. 3.7 and Eq. (3.4)). Therefore, care should be taken to avoid excitation rates too close to the efficacy count rate (i.e., the inverse of the dead-time) in order to minimize these effects. 

Another common criticism of oil reserves statistics relates to backdating of reserves, as new discoveries and revisions of previous reserve calculations are often not distinguished. When oil companies replace earlier estimates of the reserves left in many fields with higher numbers, it is a common practice that those revisions are backdated to the year in which a company or country corrected an earlier estimate and not to the year in which the field was discovered first. This practice leads to distortions of statistics regarding new discoveries, as the reserve growth, resulting from new discoveries and revisions of earlier estimates, is biased towards the present and often generally interpreted as discovery rate (Campbell and Laherrere, 1998). 

The primary objective of preprocessing treatments is to remove the nonchemical biases from the spectral information. Scattering effects induced by particle size or surface roughness may lead to offsets or other more complex baseline distortions. Differences in sample density or the angle of presentation may induce overall intensity variations as well as additional baseline distortions. Most samples are not perfectly uniform on the microscopic scale, and these effects may dominate the initial contrast observed in an un-processed chemical image. In some cases this contrast may provide useful information to the analyst however, it is generally removed in order to focus on the chemical information. 

How do you know if this statement is true The author does not state it as fact and does not give the reader any additional sources to corroborate its accuracy. Did it happen or not Is it merely the author s own personal opinion or bias Just as you have learned to build your argument carefully and support your conclusions with facts, the same holds true for the works you are consulting. Remember, all authors have feelings and opinions, and almost all authors want you to be persuaded by their work otherwise, why would they bother writing books However, beware of those writers who try to present their opinions and biases as facts. If a book or work does not provide you with specific references in order to check the accuracy of its information do not use the material as factual evidence. Writers should try to clarify a reader s feelings, not shape or distort them. 

The introduction of an alkyl substituents at the oc carbon in the enolate enhances stereoselectivity somewhat. This is attributed to a steric effect in the enolate. To minimize steric interaction with the solvated oxygen, the alkyl group is distorted somewhat from coplanarity. This biases the enolate toward attack from the axial direction. The alternative approach from the upper face would enhance the steric interaction by forcing the alkyl... 

In line with perceptual distortions and mood congruent hallucinations, patients with affective disorders frequently demonstrate mood congruent biases in information processing. Depressed patients are oversensitive to negative feedback and perceived failure during memory recall tests, being more likely than matched controls to make an error following a previously identified error (Elliott et al., 1996). However, the most reliably reported bias is in memory... 

At a minimum, when such convenience samples are reported, the strategy used for recruitment and selection must be made completely transparent and explicit so that scientists can assess the distortions or biases that may result from analyzing measurements in such groups as though they were true population samples. The committee recommends that if convenience samples are chosen, then funders, reviewers, and editors of peer-reviewed journals must insist on complete characterization of how each sample was chosen so that misinterpretation—intentional or not—is less likely. 

Dual mode PDA combines a planar PDA with a standard PDA so that two-phase differences are measured per scattering event. These are validated against each other to see if the signal is acceptable or not. This permits the rejection of distorted events caused by multiple scattering due to poor surface quality [168]. Dual beam frequency biased LDV permits simultneous measurement of particle size and electric charge in a two-component developer [169]. 

As you think critically about evidence you are using, monitor any biases and emotional attitudes that may distort information you wish to incorporate into your essay. If you are using personal experiences, for example, have you... 

Recall bias occurs some time after an exposure and distorts the measurement of stress. The victim retrospectively reports more symptoms than would be recalled within 24-48 hours of the exposure (Hopwood and Guidotti 1988). The media can induce biased reporting by victims, and investigators using symptom checklists may suggest symptoms to victims. Bias also may result from victims skepticism about the veracity of manufacturers reports of the known toxic properties of commercial chemicals (Lees-Haley and Brown 1992). 

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