Consistency testing external tests

This illustrates the general philosophy of taxometrics. For something to be deemed a taxon, it needs to clear several hurdles, which arguably makes taxometrics the most rigorous analytic approach to the study of taxonomy. The last two conditions (e and f) are external consistency tests and apply to all taxometric studies. On the other hand, a, b, c, and d are internal consistency tests. Some of them are specific to MAXCOV—other procedures have their own unique internal consistency tests—but a and b can be performed with any of the CCK methods. We will now consider the first three internal consistency tests (a, b, and c) in detail and postpone discussion of the distribution of taxon membership. 

Nose count and base rate variability consistency tests are possible with MAXSLOPE, although it is not yet clear how these tests behave when the underlying distributions are of the difficult kind. Luckily, MAXSLOPE puts less emphasis on internal consistency testing and stresses external consistency testing instead. MAXSLOPE is different from other taxometric algorithms and thus can provide a strong test of external consistency for other procedures. 

Although there are weaknesses in the findings, we can conclude that the taxonic conjecture successfully passed several internal and external consistency tests. An important aspect of this is that the CCK findings were replicated with a fundamentally different method (BNMM). However, questions about the nature of the identified taxon remain. To address this, the... 

The vent sizing package (VSP) was developed by Fauskes Associates, Inc. The VSP and its latest version VSP2 employ the low thermal mass test cell stainless steel 304 and Hastelloy test cell with a volume of 120 ml contained in a 4-1, high-pressure vessel as shown in Figure 12-13. The typical ([t-factor is 1.05-1.08 for a test cell wall thickness of 0.127-0.178 mm. Measurements consist of sample temperature Tj and pressure Pj, and external guard temperature Tj and... 

It must be remarked that terminology is not consistent and there are many widely used synon)ms. Quality control in this Chapter refers to practices best described as internal quality control. Quahty assessment is often referred to as external quality control, proficiency testing, interlaboratory comparisons, round robins or other terms. Internal Quality Control and External Quality Assessment are preferred because they best describe the objectives for which the RMs are being used, i.e. the immediate and active control of the results being reported from an analytical run or event, and an objective, retrospective assessment of the quality of those results. 

The principle of proficiency testing schemes consists in analyzing one or more samples sent to the laboratories by an external body. The analytical results returned to the organizer are evaluated in comparison to the assigned value(s) of the sample(s). 

Two different and possibly complementary approaches have been explored. One utilizes a panel of quantifiable internal reference standards (QIRS), which are common proteins present widely in tissues in relatively consistent amounts.11,22 In this instance because the reference proteins are intrinsic to the tissue they are necessarily subjected to identical fixation and processing, and incur no additional handling or cost, other than synchronous performance of a second IHC assay (stain), such that the intensity of reaction for the QIRS and the test analyte can be compared by IA, allowing calculation of the amount of test analyte (protein) present on a formulaic standard curve basis. The other approach seeks to identify external reference materials and to introduce these into each step of tissue preparation for cases where IHC studies are anticipated in this instance the logistical issues of production, distribution, and inclusion of the reference standard into all phases of tissue processing also must be considered, along with attendant costs. 

Overall we recommend using LCA in conjunction with taxometric analyses. In most cases, LCA provides an excellent test of external consistency for CCK procedures. In order to apply both approaches to the same data, an investigator could do taxometric analyses with continuous indicators and then break them down to form a pool of ordinal or dichotomous taxon markers. 

Because of the nature of the scientific method. Metrics is an indispensable tool of scientific research. It can provide rigorous indices of the internal consistency and the predictive power of "accepted knowledge" about study systems. Thus, it can aid with theory testing. It can also provide rigorous indices of the strength of correlations between the attributes of the study system and the external factors that might influence it. Thus, it can assist with statistical hypothesis formulation and testing. 

There are several mathematically different ways to condnct the minimization of S [see Refs. 70-75]. Many programs yield errors of internal consistency (i.e., the standard deviations in the calculated parameters are due to the deviations of the measured points from the calculated function), and do not consider external errors (i.e., the uncertainty of the measured points). The latter can be accommodated by weighting the points by this uncertainty. The overall rehabU-ity of the operation can be checked by the (chi square) test [71], i.e., S (L + N - ) should be in the range 0.5-1.5 for a reasonable consistency between the measured points and the calculated parameters. 

For quantitative analysis by either the external or internal standard methods, HPLC requires the use of calibration solutions that are injected under identical conditions. Thus to fully identify quantitative effects, calibration solutions plus standard solutions need to be analysed for each experiment in a ruggedness test. As duplicate determinations are required for the estimation of standard errors a single experiment can consist of up to six chromatographic experiments as shown below. 

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