Confidence limits for contribution plots in multivariate statistical process control using bootstrap estimates.

In Multivariate Statistical Process Control, when a fault is expected or detected in the process, contribution plots are essential for operators and optimization engineers in identifying those process variables that were affected by or might be the cause of the fault. The traditional way of interpreting a contribution plot is to examine the largest contributing process variables as the most probable faulty ones. This might result in false readings purely due to the differences in natural variation, measurement uncertainties, etc. It is more reasonable to compare variable contributions for new process runs with historical results achieved under Normal Operating Conditions, where confidence limits for contribution plots estimated from training data are used to judge new production runs. Asymptotic methods cannot provide confidence limits for contribution plots, leaving re-sampling methods as the only option. We suggest bootstrap re-sampling to build confidence limits for all contribution plots in online PCA-based MSPC. The new strategy to estimate CLs is compared to the previously reported CLs for contribution plots. An industrial batch process dataset was used to illustrate the concepts.

Hyperspectral image analysis. A tutorial.

This tutorial aims at providing guidelines and practical tools to assist with the analysis of hyperspectral images. Topics like hyperspectral image acquisition, image pre-processing, multivariate exploratory analysis, hyperspectral image resolution, classification and final digital image processing will be exposed, and some guidelines given and discussed. Due to the broad character of current applications and the vast number of multivariate methods available, this paper has focused on an industrial chemical framework to explain, in a step-wise manner, how to develop a classification methodology to differentiate between several types of plastics by using Near infrared hyperspectral imaging and Partial Least Squares - Discriminant Analysis. Thus, the reader is guided through every single step and oriented in order to adapt those strategies to the user's case.

Study of monoprotic acid-base equilibria in aqueous micellar solutions of nonionic surfactants using spectrophotometry and chemometrics.

Many studies have shown the distribution of solutes between aqueous phase and micellar pseudo-phase in aqueous micellar solutions. However, spectrophotometric studies of acid-base equilibria in these media do not confirm such distribution because of the collinearity between concentrations of chemical species in the two phases. The collinearity causes the number of detected species to be equal to the number of species in a homogenous solution that automatically misinterpreted as homogeneity of micellar solutions, therefore the collinearity is often neglected. This interpretation is in contradiction to the distribution theory in micellar media that must be avoided. Acid-base equilibrium of an indicator was studied in aqueous micellar solutions of a nonionic surfactant to address the collinearity using UV/Visible spectrophotometry. Simultaneous analysis (matrix augmentation) of the equilibrium and solvation data was applied to eliminate the collinearity from the equilibrium data. A model was then suggested for the equilibrium that was fitted to the augmented data to estimate distribution coefficients of the species between the two phases. Moreover, complete resolution of concentration and spectral profiles of species in each phase was achieved.

Reciprocity in the developmental regulation of aquaporins 1, 3 and 5 during pregnancy and lactation in the rat.

Milk secretion involves significant flux of water, driven largely by synthesis of lactose within the Golgi apparatus. It has not been determined whether this flux is simply a passive consequence of the osmotic potential between cytosol and Golgi, or whether it involves regulated flow. Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane water channels that regulate water flux. AQP1, AQP3 and AQP5 have previously been detected in mammary tissue, but evidence of developmental regulation (altered expression according to the developmental and physiological state of the mammary gland) is lacking and their cellular/subcellular location is not well understood. In this paper we present evidence of developmental regulation of all three of these AQPs. Further, there was evidence of reciprocity since expression of the rather abundant AQP3 and less abundant AQP1 increased significantly from pregnancy into lactation, whereas expression of the least abundant AQP5 decreased. It would be tempting to suggest that AQP3 and AQP1 are involved in the secretion of water into milk. Paradoxically, however, it was AQP5 that demonstrated most evidence of expression located at the apical (secretory) membrane. The possibility is discussed that AQP5 is synthesized during pregnancy as a stable protein that functions to regulate water secretion during lactation. AQP3 was identified primarily at the basal and lateral membranes of the secretory cells, suggesting a possible involvement in regulated uptake of water and glycerol. AQP1 was identified primarily at the capillary and secretory cell cytoplasmic level and may again be more concerned with uptake and hence milk synthesis, rather than secretion. The fact that expression was developmentally regulated supports, but does not prove, a regulatory involvement of AQPs in water flux through the milk secretory cell.