Free MARSSIM Power software available

["Carl Gogolak" <cvg@eml.doe.gov>]

This note is to announce the availability of a free software program called
MARSSIMPower2000 at the website www.gogolak.org. This software implements
the final status survey designs described in the MARSSIM manual.Version 0.6
is the initial beta release of the software. There has been some preliminary
testing, but there are still likely to be some bugs, so it should be used
with caution. The main motivation in releasing this version is to provide a
tool to those who are learning MARSSIM. The fuctionality is very similar to
EPA's DEFT software. DEFT is available by following the MARSSIM link on my
website homepage: www.gogolak.org. The DEFT software uses a parametric
hypothesis test based on Student's t statistic. MARSSIMPower uses the
nonparametric Sign and WRS tests described in the MARSSIM manual. The
primary advantage to using MARSSIMPower is that it automatically generates
power curve for a survey design. This is a tool that has been requested
often in the EPA/DOE-NETO MARSSIM training classes. Currently the software
will calculate the sample size and critical value for any value of alpha,
beta, sigma and delta (DCGL-LBGR). Sliders, arrows will update the calculed
values continuously. Numbers may be entered manually in the input boxes, and
the curve updated by clicking the Update Button.The calculations are exact
for small sample sizes, so if you have MARSSIMPower you don't have to
interpolate in the MARSSIM tables. This is true for the critical values as
well as the sample sizes. This is probably the second most valuable feature
of the program. The is no input/output except the screen at this time. Use
PrintScreen or a Screen Capture utility to save the calculations.

The use of this software should be fairly straightforward. There is a
limited help file available by Menu or <F1>. To install, first download the
MARSSIMPower.zip file.
This file is about 2.1 MB. Unzip the file into a new directory on your hard
drive.
Execute the setup.exe file. Please sign the address book so that you can be
notified of updates. To avoid having many obsolete versions around, I have
put an expiration date of June 30, 2000 in the program. As it is used, and
stability is demonstrated, the expiration dates will be set further out in
time. Eventually I hope they can be eliminated. A new version will be posted
following the annual meeting.

The latest version will always be available at www.gogolak.org. Please
e-mail me  with questions, problems, bug reports and feature requests. My
email address is carl@gogolak.org.

Submitted by
Carl V. Gogolak, Physicist
Environmental Measurements Laboratory



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