The Statistical Approach

There are two different aspects to these approximations. One consists in the approximate treatment of the underlying many-body quantum dynamics the other, in the statistical approach to observable average quantities. An exlmistive discussion of different approaches would go beyond the scope of this introduction. Some of the most important aspects are discussed in separate chapters (see chapter A3.7. chapter A3.11. chapter A3.12. chapter A3.131. 

Each observation in any branch of scientific investigation is inaccurate to some degree. Often the accurate value for the concentration of some particular constituent in the analyte cannot be determined. However, it is reasonable to assume the accurate value exists, and it is important to estimate the limits between which this value lies. It must be understood that the statistical approach is concerned with the appraisal of experimental design and data. Statistical techniques can neither detect nor evaluate constant errors (bias) the detection and elimination of inaccuracy are analytical problems. Nevertheless, statistical techniques can assist considerably in determining whether or not inaccuracies exist and in indicating when procedural modifications have reduced them. 

The drawback of the statistical approach is that it depends on a model, and models are bound to oversimplify. Nevertheless, we can learn a great deal from the attempt to evaluate thermodynamic properties from molecular models, even if the effort falls short of quantitative success. 

Comparing Eqs. (8.29) and (8.30) also leads to the conclusion expressed by Eq. (8.22) aj = Xj. Again we emphasize that this result applies only to ideal solutions, but the statistical approach gives us additional insights into the molecular properties associated with ideality in solutions ... 

The inadequacy of the worst case approach to tolerance stack design compared to the statistical approach is evident, although it still appears to be popular with designers. The worst case tolerance stack model is inadequate and wasteful when the capability of each dimensional tolerance is high > 1.33). Some summarizing comments on the two main approaches are given below. 

Here, the statistical approach will be used to predict the range distribution of the fragments. 

So far, we have used the statistical approach to calculate the thermodynamic properties of an ideal gas. Translational, rotational, vibrational, and electronic contributions were included, along with internal rotations where applicable. 

The necessity of the statistical approach has to be stressed once more. Any statement in this topic has a definitely statistical character and is valid only with a certain probability and in certain range of validity, limited as to the structural conditions and as to the temperature region. In fact, all chemical conceptions can break dovra when the temperature is changed too much. The isokinetic relationship, when significantly proved, can help in defining the term reaction series it can be considered a necessary but not sufficient condition of a common reaction mechanism and in any case is a necessary presumption for any linear free energy relationship. Hence, it does not at all detract from kinetic measurements at different temperatures on the contrary, it gives them still more importance. 

The statistical approach has since assumed a dominant role in the treatment of the constitution, reactions, and physical properties of polymeric substances. The complexities of high polymers are far too great for a direct mechanistic deduction of properties from the detailed structures of the constituent molecules even the constitution of... 

By the statistical approach, the complete parameter set for processing at 95% yield was discovered very quickly. 

The literature on RM certification indicates that there are two broad types of approaches for the characterization of RMs (i) statistical, and (2) measurement. The statistical approach relies on the in-depth application of statistical calculations to a body of analytical results obtained from diverse exercises, often widely scattered and discordant. The approach based on measurement emphasizes laboratory measurement aspects and deals more in detail with various diverse analytical measure-... 

To put equation 44-6 into a usable form under the conditions we wish to consider, we could start from any of several points of view the statistical approach of Hald (see [10], pp. 115-118), for example, which starts from fundamental probabilistic considerations and also derives confidence intervals (albeit for various special cases only) the mathematical approach (e.g., [11], pp. 550-554) or the Propagation of Uncertainties approach of Ingle and Crouch ([12], p. 548). In as much as any of these starting points will arrive at the same result when done properly, the choice of how to attack an equation such as equation 44-6 is a matter of familiarity, simplicity and to some extent, taste. 

A simple model to illustrate the principles of the statistical approach is a hypothetical two-state system. Each of the N particles is defined to be either in its ground state with zero energy or an excited state with energy e. If U is the energy of the system then U/e particles are in the excited state and (N — U/e) in the ground state. The number of ways to choose U/e particles from a total of N, is... 

The power of the CSD [17] and, of course, of the ICSD (although this latter database has yet to develop a user friendly interface for data mining) [20] - in the context of crystal engineering - lies in the statistical approach it permits in the... 

During the last few years the progress of computational techniques has made it possible to simulate the dynamic behavior of whole ensembles consisting of several hundred molecules. In this way the limitations of the statistical approach can be at least partly overcome. Two kinds of methods — molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo calculations — were applied to liquids and liquid mixtures and brought new insight into their structure and properties. Even some important characteristics of systems as complicated as associated liquids like water could be... 

It is not the purpose of this paper at this moment to investigate further for more detailed reasons for discrepancies in confidence bands or estimated amount intervals. That will be investigated fully at a later time. I do wish to point out that the assumptions one makes about the information he has and the statistical approaches he makes profoundly affect the resultant error calculations. Far from being a staid and dormant subject matter, statistical estimations of error are currently very actively being studied in order for scientific workers and citizens alike to be informed about the error in their work. 

Knowledge based approaches such as fuzzy logic, neural networks or multiagents model currently constitute an important axis of research and application in bioprocesses. They have shown their usefulness particularly when one does not have an analytical model but that a certain expertise is available. Harmand and Steyer [37] have addressed that when this expertise comprises a sufficiently important know-how, approaches such as fuzzy logic will be preferred. If, on the other hand, one has only a limited experience but lays out of a rather important data base, the statistical approaches such as neural networks can be used. 

There are a number of statistical assumption required in developing sampling and compositing designs. The validity of these assumptions are somewhat subjective. The statistical approach is therefore intended to provide only a guideline and framework for conducting the study. The compositing scheme Indicates a... 

In brief, we can say that the study of macromolecular compounds has introduced a new dimension into organic stereochemistry. This is true not only in the spatial sense if one considers the shape of the macromolecule, but also in the time sense if one examines the process of polymerization and the transmission of stereoregularity and chirality within each macromolecule. Finally, the study of macromolecules has necessitated the introduction of concepts and methods (e.g., the statistical approach), which are usually not pertinent to the stereochemistry of low molecular weight compounds (4). 

The statistical approach has been applied to systems containing reactants with functional groups of unequal reactivity [Case, 1957 Macosko and Miller, 1976 Miller and Macosko, 1978 Miller et al., 1979]. In this section we will consider some of the results for such systems. Figure 2-15 shows a plot of Mw vs. extent of reaction for the various values of s at r = 1 for the system... 

Compare the gel points calculated from the Carothers equation (and its modifications) with those using the statistical approach. Describe the effect of unequal functional groups reactivity (e.g., for the hydroxyl groups in glycerol) on the extent of reaction at the gel point. 

To test the applicability of statistical techniques for determination of the species contributions to the scattering coefficient, a one-year study was conducted in 1979 at China Lake, California. Filter samples of aerosol particles smaller than 2 ym aerodynamic diameter were analyzed for total fine mass, major chemical species, and the time average particle absorption coefficient, bg. At the same time and location, bgp was measured with a sensitive nephelometer. A total of 61 samples were analyzed. Multiple regression analysis was applied to the average particle scattering coefficient and mass concentrations for each filter sample to estimate aj and each species contribution to light scattering, bgn-j. Supplementary measurements of the chemical-size distribution were used for theoretical estimates of each b pj as a test of the effectiveness of the statistical approach. 

The statistical approach to chemical kinetics was developed by Li et al. (2001, 2002), and high-dimensional model representations (HDMR) were proposed as efficient tools to provide a fully global statistical analysis of a model. The work of Feng et al. (2004) was focused on how the network properties are affected by random rate constant changes. The rate constants were transformed to a logarithmic scale to ensure an even distribution over the large space. 

After many years of debate and discussion, there is now an international consensus about the statistical approach and method to be employed in full collaborative trials This topic is discussed further in Section 9.5. The lUPAC protocol referred to above requires the analysis of duplicate test samples of the same material (a minimum of five materials or, exceptionally, three) in eight or more laboratories. However, there are many occasions where inter-laboratory studies are needed which, for various reasons, cannot achieve the prescribed criteria. In instances where the lUPAC criteria cannot be achieved, it is recommended that the Youden Matched Pairs procedure is used. The statistics of the method have been recently updated and a new procedure described. 

Called Z-star by P. and T. Ehrenfest, in Encyklopadie der mathematischen Wissenschaf-ten, Band 4, Nr. 32 (Teubner, Leipzig 1912) translated by M.J. Moravcsik under the title Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics (Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1959). 

Although the statistical approach to the derivation of thermodynamic functions is fairly general, we shall restrict ourselves to a) crystals with isolated defects that do not interact (which normally means that defect concentrations are sufficiently small) and b) crystals with more complex but still isolated defects (i.e., defect pairs, associates, clusters). We shall also restrict ourselves to systems at some given (P T), so that the appropriate thermodynamic energy function is the Gibbs energy, G, which is then constructed as... 

One can derive Eqn. (12,12) in a more fundamental way by starting the statistical approach with the (Markovian) master equation, assuming that the jump probabilities obey Boltzmann statistics on the activation saddle points. Salje [E. Salje (1988)] has discussed the following general form of a kinetic equation for solid state processes... 

Some complex excited configurations possess a large number of levels. This leads to an abundance of close-lying fines, which, due to Doppler broadening cannot always be resolved. Thus, a new type of spectra, called quasicontinuous , appears for multiply charged ions. For the description of such spectra the statistical approach, discussed in the following chapter, seems to be very promising. 

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