Environmental analysis, total parameters

As we may remember from Sections 2.3 and 2.4.10, the ANOVA technique is useful in cases where the number of results in each cell is different (but see below ). This may happen sometimes when single experiments fail or, in environmental analysis, when some samples are exhausted more quickly than others or when sampling fails. We also recognize ANOVA to be a valuable technique for the evaluation of data from planned (designed) environmental analysis. In this context the principle of ANOVA is to subdivide the total variation of the data of all cells, or factor combinations, into meaningful component parts associated with specific sources of variation for the purpose of testing some hypothesis on the parameters of the model or estimating variance components (ISO 3534/3 in [ISO STANDARDS HANDBOOK, 1989]). 

The number of different total (summary) parameters that can be used in environmental analysis and monitoring is very large. For illustration, Table 10.36 lists examples of various parameters used by researchers to characterize gaseous, liquid, and solid samples, published between 1978 and 2000. 

Examples of Total Parameters Used in Environmental Analysis and Monitoring6... 

Composite interfaces exist in a variety of forms of differing materials. A convenient way to characterize composite interfaces embedded within the bulk material is to analyze the surfaces of the composite constituents before they are combined together, or the surfaces created by fracture. Surface layers represent only a small portion of the total volume of bulk material. The structure and composition of the local surface often differ from the bulk material, yet they can provide critical information in predicting the overall properties and performance. The basic unknown parameters in physico-chemical surface analysis are the chemical composition, depth, purity and the distribution of specific constituents and their atomic/microscopic structures, which constitute the interfaces. Many factors such as process variables, contaminants, surface treatments and exposure to environmental conditions must be considered in the analysis. 

Uncertainty analysis Determination of the sources of uncertainty in the measurement or prediction of environmental parameters. The analysis can be both quantitative (computation of variances) or qualitative (lists of uncertain methods and procedures). The total uncertainty in the parameters of interest is typically a function of all of the individual sources of uncertainty. 

Used parameters in environmental impact analysis include resource consumption, energy consiunption, total waste production, greenhouse gas emissions, regulated air pollutants release,... 

The following part provides examples of electrochemical immunosensors for environmental pollutants published in the last decade. The organisation of text and tables is based on the type of compounds being determined, and besides analytical parameters (limit of detection and total time of analysis), details of the immunosensor constmction and assay format are briefly summarised. 

---