Data handling accuracy

The ability to generate a unique calibration curve using standards developed under the same conditions as samples on each plate (in-system calibration) leads to statistical improvement in data handling and better analytical precision and accuracy and ehminates the need for an internal standard for most analyses. 

Selection of the laboratory reactor type and size, and associated feed and product handling, control, and analytical schemes depends on the type of reaction, reaction time scales, and type of analytical methods required. The criteria for selection include equipment cost, ease of operation, ease of data analysis, accuracy, versatility, temperature uniformity, and controllability, suitability for mixed phases, and scale-up... 

Rapid, accurate analysis of copolymer products is critical to the efficiency and economy of modern industrial copolymer production. Infrared spectroscopy is a well established technique for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of polymeric materials (1, 2). However, the coupling of relatively low-cost data handling hardware and software to a microprocessor-controlled infrared spectrophotometer is a relatively recent development. This coupling considerably enhances the level of performance one can expect from quantitative infrared spectroscopy. The result is that such systems greatly reduce the effort, expense, and time required for a given analysis and simultaneously provide improved accuracy, reliability, and precision. This paper will describe a recently developed, commercially available software system which will be referred to hereafter as QUANT. In the course of application research with the QUANT software a wide variety of copolymer systems... 

The Data Handling and Record Retention section of the protocol will address the requirement to maintain data (whether on a paper CRF or using an electronic data collection tool (DCT)) of each trial subject. It will address expectations of ownership of the completed CRF data, the investigator s responsibility to ensure accuracy and completeness of data recording. This section will also address the requirements for retention of records at the trial site in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulatory requirements. 

F.W. Altena, H.A.M. Knoef, H. Heskamp, D. Bargeman and C.A. Smolders, Some comments on the applicability of gas permeation methods to characterise porous membranes based on improved experimental accuracy and data handling. /. Membr. Sci., 12 (1983) 313. 

Although data handling normally follows the collection of data in an analysis, it is treated early in the text because a knowledge of statistical analysis will be required as you perform experiments in the laboratory. Also, statistics are necessary to understand the significance of the data that are collected and therefore to set limitations on each step of the analysis. The design of experiments (including size of sample required, accuracy of measurements required, and number of analyses needed) is determined from a proper understanding of what the data will represent. 

The manipulation of data by computer is a particularly difficult operation to monitor, since in a busy laboratory it is only too easy to accept the software as correct in all circumstances. Obviously the accuracy of the quoted results depends not only on the accuracy of the original measurements but also on the validity of the data handling. Some standard bodies are now developing specifications giving rules and guidance on software verification. 

Powerful new technologies of ion analyses (tandem MS, time-of-flight MS (TOF MS), and ion-trap MS) substantially increased the capability of MS analyzers with respect to specificity and the extent of data handling. The range of applications of LC-MS in the field of natural products is constantly increasing, especially with the introduction of tandem MS (MS/MS) for quantification and high resolution MS (HRMS) for unequivocal structural elucidation using mass accuracy and the elemental composition of precursors and product ions. 

The ability to process samples and standards simultaneously under the same conditions lends itself to statistical improvements in data handling and better analytical precision and accuracy. There is generally less need for internal standards in quantitative TLC than in GC or HPLC. 

The EPA publishes Series Methods that describe the exact procedures to be followed with respect to sample receipt and handling, analytical methods, data reporting, and document control. These guidelines must be followed closely to ensure accuracy, reproducibility, and reliability within and among the contract laboratories. 

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