Objective of the study

In the lUPAC Nomenclature For Interlaboratory Studies [1], W. Horwitz stresses that at least eight set of data are considered to be a minimum for a sound statistical treatment of the data to test the performance of a method. The organisation, interpretation of the data etc depends on the number of participants and the objective of the study. In fact this number may vary from some few to hundreds of laboratories. 

Before participating in interlaboratory studies the laboratory must have set-up all adequate internal quality assurance and quality control systems [7]. This also means that all basic investigations have been performed for possible mistakes, that these have been noticed and corrected. In other words the laboratory has validated the method to be applied. For a laboratory performance study, this also implies that in the laboratory the method is under statistical control for a given type of matrix, that this control is monitored and that results are evaluated. 

The organiser of an interlaboratory study must take into account the objective of the exercise. There is a large difference of responsibility and work involved between a simple exercise on major elements in alloys for a method performance study involving some laboratories and the certification of traces of organic contaminants in a matrix material. But in all cases the organiser has to fulfil the following tasks. 

Another determining factor for success is the clarity and transparency of the objee-tives. The participants must clearly know whether the goal is to validate a well-defined method, to evaluate the laboratory (e.g. in a proficiency testing) or if the exercise is supposed to lead to the certification of a reference material. 

The information on the material(s) to be analysed, the planning of the work, the exact analytical task requested and the deadline(s) to be respected should be clear. Adequate protocols should be prepared to ensure that the collected data can be compared and adequately processed. 

---

The objectives of the study should be precisely stated and the work presented in a clear and coherent matter, with all the detail necessary to allow the reviewer to make his or her own assessment of the study. It should be confirmed that the overall design of the protocol satisfies the needs of the objectives of the study. 

For any specific incident there will be an infinite number of incident outcome cases that can be considered. There is also a wide degree of consequence models which can be apphed. It is important, therefore, to understand the objective of the study to limit the number of incident outcome cases to those which satisfy that objective. An example of variables which can be considered is as follows. 

The work required to evaluate risk results will be a function of the objectives of the study. For relative risk studies, this evaluation is usually not very time-consuming. For absolute risk studies, in which many uncertainty and sensitivity cases may have been produced, the risk evaluation step may account for to 35% of the total effort of a large-scale QRA. Chapter 4 discusses the problems associated with interpreting risk results. 

The object of the studies is to compute the indices and then take action to reduce common cause variation by preventive maintenance, mistake-proofing, operator training, revision to procedures and instructions, etc. 

The objectives of the study by Kawahara et al. (2002) were to experimentally investigate the probability of appearance of different flow patterns in a circular micro-channel. The test section was a circular transparent channel made of fused silica with an internal diameter of 100 pm and length of 64.5 mm, providing an L/d ratio of 645. 

The results of environmental monitoring exercises will be influenced by a variety of variables including the objectives of the study, the sampling regime, the technical methods adopted, the calibre of staff involved, etc. Detailed advice about sampling protocols (e.g. where and when to sample, the volume and number of samples to collect, the use of replicates, controls, statistical interpretation of data, etc.) and of individual analytical techniques are beyond the scope of this book. Some basic considerations include the following, with examples of application for employee exposure and incident investigation. 

Objectives of the Study. A clear statement of the objectives of the study Is required If statistical methods are to be used effectively In study planning. Many studies have multiple objectives which compete for study resources. An understanding of these objectives by all Involved parties at the outset usually leads to better studies. 

The simplest model arises when sampling units are randomly selected from a large target population and analyzed without analytical error. If the objective of the study Is to estimate the average concentration of a pollutant In a population (letting x represent the concentration, a continuous variable), then... 

Clearly It Is not possible to separate the required quality assurance procedures for soil monitoring from the objectives of the study. Examples of objectives are ... 

Identify the objectives of the study. These should reflect the specific items of information needed to make decisions following completion of the study. 

These maintenance applications are often made by the farmer/cooperator, and these need to be documented. Often a contract can be drawn up with the grower, explaining carefully to him or his technical advisor what the objectives of the study are at the start so that no contamination occurs as a result of maintenance applications by the grower. 

Similar considerations were taken into account throughout the process of designing the study and committing the design to a protocol. In addition to analytical quality specifications, decisions were made regarding definitions of limits of detection and quantitation, levels of apparent residues at which confirmation was required, and how such confirmation would be achieved. All of these decisions were based on fulfilling the objectives of the study while operating within unavoidable time and resource constraints. 

Catalysis in Transacylation Reactions. The principal objective of the study was to evaluate 4 as an effective organic soluble lipophilic catalyst for transacylation reactions of carboxylic and phosphoric acid derivatives in aqueous and two-phase aqueous-organic solvent media. Indeed 4 catalyzes the conversion of benzoyl chloride to benzoic anhydride in well-stirred suspensions of CH2CI2 and 1.0 M aqueous NaHCC>3 (Equations 1-3). The results are summarized in Table 1 where yields of isolated acid, anhydride and recovered acid chloride are reported. The reaction is believed to involve formation of the poly(benzoyloxypyridinium) ion intermediate (5) in the organic phase (Equation 1) and 5 then quickly reacts with bicarbonate ion and/or hydroxide ion at the interphase to form benzoate ion (Equation 2 and 3). Apparently most of the benzoate ion is trapped by additional 5 in the organic layer or at the interphase to produce benzoic anhydride (Equation 4), an example of normal phase-... 

Because the objective of the study was to determine safety factors for workers under actual conditions of use, with all normal safety precautions, there was no deliberate attempt to apply a dose of product to the volunteers involved in the study. The sampling methods were designed to provide a complete measure of any exposure that occurred in the course of normal use of the product. 

Half-life estimates of approximately 28 days for thiophanate-methyl indicate a very slow decay compared to methiocarb with an estimate of half-life of about 11 days. The application of a model based on a first-order decay process resulted in fairly high R2 and significant fit. The results suggest that both pesticides are relatively stable compared to other compounds under similar environmental conditions (Brouwer et al., 1994). With respect to the objectives of the study and the proposed model, it can be stated that the results confirm the assumption of a linear relationship between application rate (for both application techniques) and the increase of dislodgeable foliar residue. This relationship holds for modeling purposes. The contribution of the crop density or total crop surface area to the process of interception cannot be quantified with the results of the present study. Because the interception factor ranges from about 0.35 to 0.9 (Willis and McDowell, 1987), the... 

In the objectives of the study, there must be clearly specified who it is addressed to, the reasons for the study and the intended use of the results [36]. This increases the transparency of the study and the comprehensibility of the context of the results since different recipients emphasise different aspects. 

For human health risk assessment, it is necessary to elaborate realistic scenarios. Knowledge of real scenarios where the contaminant is emitted to the environment will help to obtain information about the fate and transport of the contaminant once emitted to the environment and the route of exposure for the human beings living in this scenario of concern. There are different types of exposure, i.e., direct, indirect (as is the case of food contaminated by the air, water, or soil contaminated by the emission), occupational exposure, and consumer goods coming from outside the scenario of concern. Depending on the objective of the study, it will be necessary to consider in the exposure assessment one or more types of exposure. 

Various analyzers have been used to analyze phenolic compounds. The choice of the MS analyzer is influenced by the main objective of the study. The triple quadrupole (QqQ) has been used to quantify, applying multiple reaction monitoring experiments, whereas the ion trap has been used for both identification and structure elucidation of phenolic compounds. Moreover, time-of-flight (TOF) and Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) are mainly recommended for studies focused on obtaining accurate mass measurements with errors below 5 ppm and sub-ppm errors, respectively (Werner and others 2008). Nowadays, hybrid equipment also exists, including different ionization sources with different analyzers, for instance electrospray or atmospheric pressure chemical ionization with triple quadrupole and time-of-flight (Waridel and others 2001). 

Total flavonoid content. Quantitative analysis of flavonoids depends on the objective of the study. Colorimetric estimation of total flavonoid content is measured by the aluminum chloride colorimetric assay (Jia and others 1999 Chang and others 2002). The total flavonoid content measured in this way is normally expressed in equivalent values of a standard flavonoid, often catechin or quercetin equivalents. Not all subgroups of flavonoids can be quantified by colorimetric methods however, total anthocyanin content is determined using the pH-differentiation method (Boyles and others 1993). 

The ultimate objective of the study of toxicity of fire-produced toxic agents is the design and construction of a fire-safe environment. There are many ways to accomplish this aim. We might develop materials which, when heated, produce no toxic gases. We might use materials which do not bum. 

The objective of the study was to assess the flammability characteristics of FRC materials using small-scale experiments. 

One of the central objectives of the study of chemistry is sufficient knowledge to permit the forecast of the chemical and physical properties of a substance directly and reliably from its structure. This objective has been achieved to a remarkable degree for the host of isolable compounds that have been prepared and investigated. These findings have been codified in generalizing... 

The rate of invasive ER-positive breast cancer, a secondary objective in the MORE trial, showed an 84% reduction after 4 years of followup (Cauley et al. 2001) moreover, during the subsequent 4 years of followup in the so-called CORE trial (Continuous Outcomes Relevant to Evista), invasive ER-positive breast cancer, the primary objective of the study, was reduced by 66%. Over the 8 years of both trials, the incidences of invasive breast cancer and ER-positive invasive breast cancer were reduced by 66% and 76%, respectively, in the raloxifene group compared with the placebo group (Martino et al. 2004). These effects have not been associated with harmful effects on the endometrium (Cohen et al. 2000) or the pelvic floor (Goldstein et al. 2001). 

QRA is a method that identifies where operations, engineering, or management systems can be modified to reduce risk. The complexity of a QRA depends on the objectives of the study and the available information. Maximum benefits result when QRAs are used at the beginning... 

---