CARStat patches

There is currently one patch for CARStat 2.1.1 as well as a corresponding User's Guide PDF. You can click on the description for more details on how the program was affected and what changes were made. The patch is cumulative and therefore only the latest one is available here.

CAR218.EXE and CS_USER.EXE are self-extracting files.

1. Click once on the link to download the file, and save it to your CARStat directory.
2. Double-click on the file to unzip it.
3. You will be asked if it is okay to overwrite the existing file(s). Click on OK. (Note: if the overwrite warning does not appear, you may be extracting the patch files to the wrong directory.)
4. Do not delete the self-extracting file once you have unzipped it — this file can be a useful reference for tech support if you experience any problems later on.

Please note that CARStat 2.1.1 must be installed prior to installing any maintenance patches. Do not try to install the patch over a 2.0 or 2.1 installation — this will cause CARStat to stop functioning.

If you have multiple installations of CARStat you will need to ensure that the patch file is unzipped to each CARStat directory.

CARStat program file patch
This is a self-extracting file containing CARStat program and statistical components, as well as accessory files and an updated Help file.

April 2003 changes:

• Site information tables are now included in the list of site files saved to and restored from the archival directory.
• Minor enhancements were made to the new site lock disabling feature.
• Inaccessible archival directories no longer cause a site to be permanently set to "read only" status. Previously, if a network drive were unavailable when DUMPStat was started a site could be put in a "read only" state such that the site could not be saved. Now the site is set to "read only" only during the time when the drive is not accessible and access is reset to "read write" when the program starts with the archival directory available to the computer.

January 2003

• When manual reporting limits are enabled, they are still used in the calculations but are no longer plotted on the graphs. Instead, the nondetect samples are plotted at their original merged values, and the manual reporting limit for that constituent is instead indicated on the graph by a small diamond. If you are doing comparison to background, the manual reporting limit is divided by two. In cases where manual reporting limits are not enabled, or where they are but the constituent doesn't have one, the median [lab] reporting limit, or half the limit, is used.
• There is a new display option for the Comparison to Background power chart to overlay five dotted lines on the graph. Two vertical lines appear at 3 and 4 SDs (standard deviations) along the horizontal axis, and run from the top to the bottom of the area bounded by the axes. Three horizontal lines appear at 5%, 50%, and 80% likelihood on the vertical axis. The lines provide a visual reference for judging the position and steepness of the power curve, and are displayed either all together or not at all. They will also be printed if you have them turned on.
• CARStat now allows more flexibility in site locking. You may turn off site locking altogether, and you may also choose whether to have CARStat save to the archival site directory.
• Previously, CARStat observed only manual outliers while testing for trends in Time Series (if manual outliers were enabled). Now, CARStat screens for automatic outliers too, and then performs the trend test, if you are identifying historical trends.
• When you select a data file to merge, text files are now listed as .PRN as well as .TXT. in the ‘List Files of Type’ box. The recognized file types list includes .rec (leftover records), .csv, and .dat, and all files.
• When CARStat and DUMPStat Explorer use the same site, there used to be conflicts when each program attempted to access the database. There is now a higher degree of compatibility between the two programs, and there will be no failures if the database is being accessed simultaneously.

June 2002

• Previously, if you changed the printer in either CARStat or any of the viewers, it was necessary to shut down the program and restart it for the change to take effect. Now, the Graph, Worksheet, and Power Chart viewers allow you to make a printer switch and see the change immediately, without restarting. However, it is usually still necessary to restart CARStat or the Table Viewer if you have changed the printer in either one of these programs.
• When the data for a graph spans a very short period, the default time display unit in the Graph Viewer is half a year. We used to display half years as January to June. It has now been corrected to display January - July.
• Small text on analysis output has been clarified and is now easier to read.

January 2002

Premature expiration of the demo in the year 2002 now corrected. This patch has no functional changes for registered copies of CARStat that already show version 2.1.6 when the program starts.

October 2001

• Time windows settings (Locations > Set Time Windows) are now saved in zones.
• All statistical options are now saved in zones.
• Analytical Data Summary tables can now be custom numbered. You may number the tables consecutively or have the same number for all tables.
• All tables can be custom numbered with up to 3 digits.
• New default file extension (*.txt) for selecting data files to merge.
• CARStat communicates more smoothly with the viewer applications now, eliminating occasional error messages generated when statistical settings were changed with old output still open.
• Merge data window more robust: no more failure due to illegally grouped numbers resulting from accidental inclusions in the wrong columns.

April 2001

• Power chart curves now display correctly when the y-intercept is 90 or higher.
• Instances of page numbering starting at page 2 have been eliminated.
• In Comparison to Standard Power Charts, the "isolate constituents" option for printing now works correctly.

March 2001

• The Fix Horizontal Axis function has been fixed to work with graphs that don't have any data points.
• Statistical power charts that couldn't be computed are now flagged with a more informative message.
• Log scaling has been improved so that lower prediction limits are now drawn at 0.
• Print command is handled more gracefully now if there are no graphs to view.
• In the Comparison to Background analysis, the nonparametric limit displayed was the mean instead of the median. The display has now been corrected to show the median.
• Statistical Power Chart Viewer now clearly indicates when a chart could not be created due to insufficient data.
• The Time Series graph now displays the trend test period if this option has been selected in Statistical Options.
• Comparison to Standard now longer fails when none of the data falls within the selected time window. Instead, it will simply display a graph with no data points.   

Statistical changes:

• Comparison to Background:
  • The decision to use the mean or median based on the limit type is now correct under all circumstances.
  • Under certain circumstances, a labeling problem caused an increasing trend to be indicated as a decreasing trend, and vice versa. This has now been fixed.
  • The nonparametric limit displayed was the mean instead of the median. The display has now been corrected to show the median.

• Comparison to Standard:
  • There is now no longer a failure when none of the data falls within the selected time window. Instead, it will simply display a graph with no data points.
  • There are now no limits on the total number of samples that can be analyzed. This allows greater freedom for large groups and other cases where there are many samples.

• Statistical Power Chart Viewer now clearly indicates when a chart could not be created due to insufficient data.
  
• In Natural Attenuation, there are now no limits on the total number of samples that can be analyzed.
  
• The Time Series graph now displays the trend test period if this option has been selected in Statistical Options.

CARStat 2.1.8 User's Guide
This is a self-extracting file containing the updated CARStat User's Guide PDF. The User's Guide PDF can be accessed on CARStat's Help Menu.