Evaluation of the use of consensus values in proficiency testing programmes

Proficiency testing (PT) is an essential tool used by laboratory accreditation bodies to assess the competency of laboratories. Because of limited resources of PT providers or for other reasons, the assigned reference value used in the calculation of z-score values has usually been derived from some sort of consensus value obtained by central tendency estimators such as the arithmetic mean or robust mean. However, if the assigned reference value deviates significantly from the ‘true value’ of the analyte in the test material, laboratories’ performance will be evaluated incorrectly. This paper evaluates the use of consensus values in proficiency testing programmes using the Monte Carlo simulation technique. The results indicated that the deviation of the assigned value from the true value could be as large as 40%, depending on the parameters of the proficiency testing programmes under investigation such as sample homogeneity, number of participant laboratories, concentration level, method precision and laboratory bias. To study how these parameters affect the degree of discrepancy between the consensus value and the true value, a fractional factorial design was also applied. The findings indicate that the number of participating laboratories and the distribution of laboratory bias were the prime two factors affecting the deviation of the consensus value from the true value.     

Effect of conformational rigidity on the glass transition and initial decomposition temperatures of polyimides

The dependence of the glass transition and initial decomposition temperatures of polyperyleneimide and polynaphthylimide on the conformational rigidity was studied by the Monte Carlo, Kuhn segment, and quantum chemical AM1 methods. The corresponding linear plots can be used for estimation of the glass transition and initial decomposition temperatures when experimental determination is difficult.     

Kinetics and equilibrium of multicomponent adsorption on chiraly templated surfaces

In this contribution we propose a simple model of adsorption of a binary (racemic) mixture on a chiraly templated surface. As an example, the adsorption of a liquid mixture of enantiomers on a chiral stationary phase (CSP) is considered. In particular, we study the effect of the lateral interactions in the adsorbed phase on the kinetic and equilibrium isotherms of the enantiomers. Additionally, we investigate the influence of the composition of the surface on the performance of the CSP in the presence of the lateral interactions. To that end, the adsorption of the mixture is modeled by using Monte Carlo simulations as well as by applying an analytical approach involving rate equations coupled with the Mean Field Approximation (MFA). The predictions of the theory are found to be in good agreement with the results of the simulations.     

Size and pH effect on electrical and conformational behavior of poly(acrylic acid): Simulation and experiment

Monte Carlo simulations, experimental titrations and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy experiments were used to investigate the conformational and electrical properties of polyacrylic acids (PAA). On the one hand, titration curves were calculated to get an insight into the role of pH on the degree of ionization and conformation of PAA chains. On the other hand, experimental potentiometric titrations of PAA were also achieved for different PAA molecular weights and compared to the calculated titration curves obtained by Monte Carlo coarse grained simulations. It was found that for a large range at intermediate PAA ionizations, a good correlation is obtained between experimental and simulations data thanks to the prominence of electrostatic interactions in this domain. The effect of ionic concentration and PAA molecular weight on the titration curves was also investigated. In order to get a better understanding of PAA conformational behavior, we also investigated PAA diffusion properties in aqueous solutions as a function of pH and ionic strength by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), thanks to its high sensitivity to measure diffusion coefficients of tracer solutes. Good qualitative agreements were observed between experimental diffusivities and polymer properties calculated from MC simulations. It was shown that the high molecular weight PAA chains display more significant changes in diffusivity in agreement with the ionization degrees and conformational changes observed in the simulations.     

共聚物配体交替结构与其催化活性关系的理论研究

本文采用以ASED-MO(含原子对排斥的EHMO法)为基础的结构自动优化的EHTOPT法及Monte-Carlo法, 对甲醇羰基化制乙酸催化剂的共聚物配体交替结构进行了理论研究。计算了AA, AB, BB, BA二聚反应的反应途径, 找出了过渡态, 并确定了反应活化势垒。在假设两反应频率因子相同的前提下, 求出竞聚率, 采用Monte-Carlo法模拟共聚物结构, 计算出共聚物配体中起催化活性的AB交替结构所占比率。比较不同共聚物配体的活性, 并研究了温度及单体配比对共聚物配体交替结构的影响。     

Monte—Carlo model of the diffusion-limited reaction kinetics in microheterogeneous media. Comparison with the experimental plots of the forward and backward electron phototransfer kinetics on the pore diameter in silica gel

The kinetics of the diffusion-limited decay reaction A + B B was simulated by the Monte—Carlo method on a two-dimensional square lattice with defects presented by randomly distributed sites. The cases were considered where [B] [A] at the random initial distribution (quenching reaction) and [B] = [A] with the initial distribution of the A and B particles on neighboring sites (geminate recombination). The kinetic curves were approximated by the simplest analytical equation [A]/[A]₀ = (1 – )exp[–(kt)^1–h ] + (where k and are constants). The plots of the heterogeneity parameter (h) and time-averaged first-order rate constant vs. concentration of defects (p) or B particles (in the case of quenching) were obtained and compared with similar correlations obtained earlier by the experimental study of the kinetics of forward (quenching reaction) and backward (geminate recombination) electron phototransfer on the surface of different porous silica gels. The experimental plots of h vs. silica gel porosity are in satisfactory agreement with the plots of h vs. p in the model space, if the fraction of volume inaccessible for reactants, calculated from the free silica gel volume, is chosen as the p parameter for silica gel.Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1536–1541, August, 2004.     

Kinetics of CO oxidation on the surface of heterophase catalysts. Modeling by the Monte Carlo method

The Monte Carlo method has been used to simulate CO oxidation on a lattice consisting of various alternating patches: M1, where s(CO)>s(O₂) and M2, where s(CO)2). The reaction is shown to proceed over all the surface at low temperature as CO_ads spillover from M1 to M2 and backwards.     

Diffusion Monte Carlo study of correlation in the hydrogen molecule

The diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) method shows that correlation in H₂ produces a set of three spatial changes: (i) an enhancement in the electron density distribution n( r ) in the left and right anti‐binding regions that include separately the immediate vicinity of each of the two nuclei, (ii) a reduction in n( r ) in the binding region intervening between the two nuclei as a counterbalance, and (iii) a concomitant increase in the equilibrium internuclear separation. It is stressed that the correlation energy E^c (= T^c + V^c) for diatomic molecules be defined by the difference in the total energy between the exact and the Hartree–Fock (HF) variational calculations that are performed at individually optimized internuclear separations. It is this definition that makes it possible to involve a significant contribution from a correlation‐induced change in the equilibrium internuclear separation as part of the correlation energy and to relate (i) and (ii) to (iii) in consistency with the electrostatic theorem. The present calculations fulfill the virial theorem to an accuracy of ?V/T = 2.00 for DMC and ?V^HF/T^HF = 2.000 for HF. The present correlation energy E^c = ?0.0408 hartree is not only in good agreement with the most accurate value previously reported, but also can be analyzed into all its components in accordance with the correlational virial theorem 2T^c + V^c = 0. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Interface motion in a two-dimensional Ising model with a field

We determine by Monte Carlo simulations the width of an interface between the stable phase and the metastable phase in a two-dimensional Ising model with a magnetic field, in the case of nonconversed order parameter (Glauber dynamics). At zero temperature, the width increases ast with–1/3, as predicted by earlier theories. As temperature increases, the value of the effective exponent that we measure decreases toward the value 1/4, which is the value in the absence of magnetic field.