Thestudent’s work will be evaluated, as far as possible, on a on-going basis.He/she should attend the classes and other activities regularly and actively participateinto the seminars. The numerical exercises and/or readings posed by the teachershould be solved before the deadline. The laboratory classes are compulsory topass the subject and they will be evaluated. A final report of the practicalclasses must be delivered and it should describe the analytical procedure,results obtained and discussions derived from the data. The objective test mustbe performed.

To pass thesubject, all activities must be scored as 4, at least (on a 10-points scale). All the scores will be averaged and to pass the subject the average should be 5 or higher. However, note that the subject will not be aproved (even when the overall sum exceeds 5) if a particular score does not reach 4. In this case, the final score of the subject will be "fail" (score = 4).

The student will be scored as ‘not presented to examination’ whenless than 25% of the activities are done and he/she does not attend theobjective test.

The ‘secondopportunity’ of the subject is scheduled for July (the particular date will befixed by the Faculty) and this corresponds only to the mixed objective. This means that the scores of the other activities will be maintained.

If the student fails to pass the subject, allactivities should be repeated in following academic courses. No scores will bemaintained.

Learning outcomes	Study programme competences
To know how to select the proper analytical methodology for each particular problem.	A15 A16 A20 A22 A26	B3	C4 C6 C8
To know how to plan and execute the different stages of the analytical procedure to quantify analytes at trace levels, including the interpretation of the data.	A14 A17 A19 A20 A21 A23	B2 B4	C3
To know the main objectives of the most common chemometric techniques and to know their main application fields. To know how to extract relevant information from a multivariate study, in particular of a simplified environmental problem.	A14 A15 A16 A20 A26	B2 B4 B5	C2 C3 C4 C6

Topic	Sub-topic
Chapter 1: Introducing trace analysis	Importance of quantifying substances at trace levels. The analytical process when determining trace amounts: special requirements. Basic requisites and importance of sampling. Sources of errors when storing and treating samples. Quality assurance in trace analyses.
Chapter 2: Analyzing inorganic substances	Introduction. Decomposition and dissolution of inorganic matrices. Separation and preconcentration. Speciation of some relevant chemical elements. Examples of analytical applications.
Chapter 3: Analyzing organic substances	Introduction. Extraction methods for solid and liquid samples. Purification, fractionation and concentration of organic extracts. Examples of analytical applications.
Chapter 4: Automation in the analytical laboratory	Objectives of laboratory automation. Pros and cons. Classification of the automated analytical systems. Robotics. Miniaturization. Analysis of industrial processes.
Chapter 5: Introducing chemometrics	Defining chemometrics and its role in the analytical process. Concept of uncertainty and basic calculations.
Chapter 6: Statistical inference and univariate calibration	Most common inference statistical tests in laboratories. Analysis of Variance. Examples of applications in laboratories and industrial process control. Classical calibration by the least squares fit. Validation. Confidence intervals.
Chapter 7: Experimental design and optimization	Basic ideas of experimental design and optimization. Factorial designs, fractional factorial designs, Plackett-Burman designs, response surfaces. Sequential optimization by Simplex.
Chapter 8: Multivariate data analyses	Introduction. Classification of the most common pattern recognition methods. Unsupervised methods: principal components analysis, clustering. Supervised methods: SIMCA, k-nearest neighbours.
Laboratory	Pupils will apply the theoretical concepts studied throughout the theoretical lessons. Laboratory problems will deal with real problems in the environmental, industrial or foodstuff fields (among others) that pupils have to solve.

Methodologies / tests	Competencies	Ordinary class hours	Student’s personal work hours	Total hours
Laboratory practice	A23 A22 A21 A20 A19 A17 A16 A15 A26 B3 B4 B5	20	30	50
Seminar	A15 A16 A20 A21 B2 B3 B4 C3	6	12	18
Workbook	C4 C6 C8	1	2.5	3.5
Guest lecture / keynote speech	A15 A16 A21 A22 C4	21	52.5	73.5
Mixed objective/subjective test	A14 A15 C2	3	0	3

Personalized attention		2	0	2

(*)The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies	Description
Laboratory practice	They will consist on the determination of some analytes at trace levels in samples gathered from real problems (environmental samples, foodstuff, clinic mixtures, etc.). The practices emulate a comprehensive problem: from sampling to sample treatment, separation of the analyte, measurement and data interpretation. The student must deliver a laboratory notebook. In addition to laboratory practices where analytical instrumentation will be handled by students, other practices will be carried out on computers to study the chemometric concepts (mainly, the multivariate data analyses techniques). At the end of the laboratory work the student will deliver a report of the work done with a critical and detailed analysis.
Seminar	They are intended to reinforce the understanding of several concepts given at the theoretical lessons. Numerical exercises will be solved by the students. A comparison of the results generated in the laboratory practices will be made with other values gathered from other students. From the discussions, common sources of errors will be visualized. The student should perceive the difficulties inherent to the analyses of trace amounts of substances. Studies will be also made using computers to discuss a real multivariate dataset derived from environmental studies.
Workbook	Some specific, short readings will be proposed by the teacher. These will consist of reports where from the students will deliver a small report explaining some key ideas (e.g., a summary of the analytical strategy undertaken to solve the problem).
Guest lecture / keynote speech	The teacher will develop and explain the basic contents of each chapter. Some documents will be delivered to the students before the classes and they should have been reviewed before attending them. Audiovisual media will be employed throughout. Open dialogue will be empowered sometimes to solve doubts and improve the understanding of some basic issues.
Mixed objective/subjective test	Proba escrita que se realiza na convocatoria oficial de enero/xullo na que se evalúa o grao de aprendizaxe e de adquisición de competencias por parte do estudante. Constará tanto de preguntas teóricas como cuestións aplicadas, resolución de problemas e contidos prácticos. A data de realización indicarase no calendario de exames do grado.

Methodologies	Competencies	Description	Qualification
Workbook	C4 C6 C8	The report delivered by the student will be examined. In particular, identification and justification of the analytical strategies presented into the work.	5
Seminar	A15 A16 A20 A21 B2 B3 B4 C3	Active participation of the students will be scored, as well as the correct answers to questions or numerical calculations.	10
Laboratory practice	A23 A22 A21 A20 A19 A17 A16 A15 A26 B3 B4 B5	They will be scored on a on-going basis (order into the laboratory, correctness of the calculations, good manual operations, report delivered on-time, etc.). Some questions on these practices will be included in the objective test.	15
Mixed objective/subjective test	A14 A15 C2	The exam will consist of tests (with a unique true response), short questions and numerical exercises. They will be related to the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject.	70

Assessment comments
Thestudent’s work will be evaluated, as far as possible, on a on-going basis.He/she should attend the classes and other activities regularly and actively participateinto the seminars. The numerical exercises and/or readings posed by the teachershould be solved before the deadline. The laboratory classes are compulsory topass the subject and they will be evaluated. A final report of the practicalclasses must be delivered and it should describe the analytical procedure,results obtained and discussions derived from the data. The objective test mustbe performed. To pass thesubject, all activities must be scored as 4, at least (on a 10-points scale). All the scores will be averaged and to pass the subject the average should be 5 or higher. However, note that the subject will not be aproved (even when the overall sum exceeds 5) if a particular score does not reach 4. In this case, the final score of the subject will be "fail" (score = 4). The student will be scored as ‘not presented to examination’ whenless than 25% of the activities are done and he/she does not attend theobjective test. The ‘secondopportunity’ of the subject is scheduled for July (the particular date will befixed by the Faculty) and this corresponds only to the mixed objective. This means that the scores of the other activities will be maintained. If the student fails to pass the subject, allactivities should be repeated in following academic courses. No scores will bemaintained.

Basic	CaMARA, C.; PEREZ-CONDE, C (2011). Análisis químico de trazas. Madrid, Sintesis MILLER, J.N.; MILLER, J.C. (2002). Estadística y quimiometría para química analítica, 4th edition. Madrid, Prentice-Hall RAMIS, G.; GARCIA, M.C. (2001). Quimiometria. Madrid, Sintesis CAMARA, C.; FERNANDEZ, P.; MARTIN-ESTEBAN, A.; PEREZ-CONDE, C.; VIDAL, M. (2002). Toma y tratamiento de muestra. Madrid, Sintesis

Complementary	KELLNER, R,; MERMET, J.M.; OTTO, M.; WIDMER, H.M. (1998). Analytical chemistry: a modern approach to analytical science. Winheim, Willey-VCH OTTO, M. (2007). Chemometrics. Weingeim, Willey-VCH VALCARCEL, M.; CARDENAS, M.S. (2000). Automatización y miniaturización en química analítica. Barcelona, Springer-Verlag