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Chemometrics: A Textbook (Data Handling in Science and Technology, Vol. 2)
457
or sufficiently balanced to form a useful contribution to a perceived debate. For instance, the claimed superiority of MS-MS over GC-MS in terms of specificity and quantitative analysis is arguable. For the newcomer this assertion would be particularly difficult to understand immediately after reading about the impressive determination by GC-MS of a specific tetrachlorodibenzodioxin in the presence of several of its isomers. This analysis would be a challenging problem for MS-MS. A better concluding section would be a non-combative discussion of the role of GC-MS-MS, which at present is only mentioned in passing. I was really looking forward to reviewing the software module because it appeared to be a break from traditional forms of teaching. I must report, though, that I was soon disillusioned. It does not represent a break with tradition - it simply replaces information on pieces of paper with information scrolled on screen. The programme is easy to use but, by today’s computing standards, it is primitive. It has no colour and no true graphics so the diagrams are makeshift. In particular, the diagram of a jet separator and layout of a magnetic sector instrument are woefully inadequate. The student does not gain reinforcement through interaction during the learning process, he/she merely has to select which topic to read next. Scientifically, it contains much dated material (e.g. discussions of several obsolete molecular separators) and incomplete descriptions of topics like chemical ionization. Neither my students nor I could find any advantage for this module over a well indexed textbook. The SIINC course has operated for eight years. Perhaps this explains why, in the early 198Os, I would have found this software package useful and why today I regard it as unsatisfactory, both in its unimaginative use of the medium and its chemical content. M.E. Rose D.L. Massart, B.G.M. Vandeginste, S.N. Deming, Y. Michotte and L. Kaufman, Chemometrics: A Textbook (Data Handling in Science and Technology, Vol. 2)) Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1988 (ISBN o-444-42660-4). xi + 488 pp. Price US$92.00/Dfl. 175.00.
Chemometrics is considered by the authors to be concerned with formal methods for the selection and optimization of analytical methods and procedures and for the interpretation of data. This book provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of the above definition and is written by well known exponents of the subject. There are 27 chapters which cover basic statistical methods (e.g. accuracy and precision, analysis of variance, control charts, regression and correlation, and non-parametric tests), optimization procedures, principal components
458
analysis, clustering techniques, pattern recognition and other related subjects. The book is to be recommended for its detailed and wide ranging approach to chemometrics and is therefore a useful primary reference for analytical chemists with a serious interest in the subject. However, some knowledge of chemometrics is essential to get maximum benefit from it and I do not think it would be suitable as an undergraduate text. P.J. Worsfold M. Jamshidi, J.Y.S. Luh and M. Shahinpoor (Eds.), Recent Trends in Robotics. Modeling, Control and Education, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1986 (ISBN o-444-01140-4). 550 pp. Price US$75.00/Dfl. 225.00.
This book is a collection of papers representing the Proceedings of the International Symposium on Robot Manipulators - Modeling, Control and Education, held in November 1986 in Albuquerque, NM. The contents are divided into five parts: modeling, control, education, applications and NSF Engineering Research Centres. With any title on the subject of Robotics one encounters a hard core of authors who pop up everywhere. This is not the case with these Proceedings which contain a collection of papers with a refreshing number of new names. This is not a book for the uninitiated with most of the authors addressing specific research issues in considerable detail. The division between the topics is interesting with a clear emphasis on modeling and control. Embedded in these generic titles are the related technologies of knowledge-based systems and sensor guidance. However, the number of papers in these areas is distinctly limited. What is a little unusual with a conference of this kind is to see such a visible treatment of education as a large part of the Proceedings. The 13 papers dealing with various aspects of robotics in education are of great value to those in the higher education sector. Any organisation intending to introduce course material in robotics, or merely wishing to compare notes with initiatives elsewhere, can benefit a great deal from this contribution. The section on applications is something of a mixture and should not be confused with industrial case studies. Indeed, in this part of the book there is a significant fraction devoted to sensing. In part five, there are two contributions from NSF Research Centres which are interesting in their own right except that time has now overtaken the relevance of the contributions. Apart from the expected author index, there is a very comprehensive subject index. This is the kind of volume one would expect to find in every complete library supporting the mixture of disciplines which comprise robotics. Re-
or sufficiently balanced to form a useful contribution to a perceived debate. For instance, the claimed superiority of MS-MS over GC-MS in terms of specificity and quantitative analysis is arguable. For the newcomer this assertion would be particularly difficult to understand immediately after reading about the impressive determination by GC-MS of a specific tetrachlorodibenzodioxin in the presence of several of its isomers. This analysis would be a challenging problem for MS-MS. A better concluding section would be a non-combative discussion of the role of GC-MS-MS, which at present is only mentioned in passing. I was really looking forward to reviewing the software module because it appeared to be a break from traditional forms of teaching. I must report, though, that I was soon disillusioned. It does not represent a break with tradition - it simply replaces information on pieces of paper with information scrolled on screen. The programme is easy to use but, by today’s computing standards, it is primitive. It has no colour and no true graphics so the diagrams are makeshift. In particular, the diagram of a jet separator and layout of a magnetic sector instrument are woefully inadequate. The student does not gain reinforcement through interaction during the learning process, he/she merely has to select which topic to read next. Scientifically, it contains much dated material (e.g. discussions of several obsolete molecular separators) and incomplete descriptions of topics like chemical ionization. Neither my students nor I could find any advantage for this module over a well indexed textbook. The SIINC course has operated for eight years. Perhaps this explains why, in the early 198Os, I would have found this software package useful and why today I regard it as unsatisfactory, both in its unimaginative use of the medium and its chemical content. M.E. Rose D.L. Massart, B.G.M. Vandeginste, S.N. Deming, Y. Michotte and L. Kaufman, Chemometrics: A Textbook (Data Handling in Science and Technology, Vol. 2)) Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1988 (ISBN o-444-42660-4). xi + 488 pp. Price US$92.00/Dfl. 175.00.
Chemometrics is considered by the authors to be concerned with formal methods for the selection and optimization of analytical methods and procedures and for the interpretation of data. This book provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of the above definition and is written by well known exponents of the subject. There are 27 chapters which cover basic statistical methods (e.g. accuracy and precision, analysis of variance, control charts, regression and correlation, and non-parametric tests), optimization procedures, principal components
458
analysis, clustering techniques, pattern recognition and other related subjects. The book is to be recommended for its detailed and wide ranging approach to chemometrics and is therefore a useful primary reference for analytical chemists with a serious interest in the subject. However, some knowledge of chemometrics is essential to get maximum benefit from it and I do not think it would be suitable as an undergraduate text. P.J. Worsfold M. Jamshidi, J.Y.S. Luh and M. Shahinpoor (Eds.), Recent Trends in Robotics. Modeling, Control and Education, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1986 (ISBN o-444-01140-4). 550 pp. Price US$75.00/Dfl. 225.00.
This book is a collection of papers representing the Proceedings of the International Symposium on Robot Manipulators - Modeling, Control and Education, held in November 1986 in Albuquerque, NM. The contents are divided into five parts: modeling, control, education, applications and NSF Engineering Research Centres. With any title on the subject of Robotics one encounters a hard core of authors who pop up everywhere. This is not the case with these Proceedings which contain a collection of papers with a refreshing number of new names. This is not a book for the uninitiated with most of the authors addressing specific research issues in considerable detail. The division between the topics is interesting with a clear emphasis on modeling and control. Embedded in these generic titles are the related technologies of knowledge-based systems and sensor guidance. However, the number of papers in these areas is distinctly limited. What is a little unusual with a conference of this kind is to see such a visible treatment of education as a large part of the Proceedings. The 13 papers dealing with various aspects of robotics in education are of great value to those in the higher education sector. Any organisation intending to introduce course material in robotics, or merely wishing to compare notes with initiatives elsewhere, can benefit a great deal from this contribution. The section on applications is something of a mixture and should not be confused with industrial case studies. Indeed, in this part of the book there is a significant fraction devoted to sensing. In part five, there are two contributions from NSF Research Centres which are interesting in their own right except that time has now overtaken the relevance of the contributions. Apart from the expected author index, there is a very comprehensive subject index. This is the kind of volume one would expect to find in every complete library supporting the mixture of disciplines which comprise robotics. Re-