Collaborative data processing in developing predictive models of complex reaction systems

The subject oft his report is a methodology fort he transformation of (experimental) data into predictive models. We use a concrete example, drawn from the Held of combustion chemistry, and examine the data in terms of precisely defined modes of scientific collaboration. The numerical methodology that we employ is founded on a combination of response surface technique and robust control theory. The numerical results show that an essential element of scientific collaboration is collaborative processing of data, demonstrating that combining the entire collection of data into a joint analysis extracts substantially more of the information content of the data. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.