some applications of bayes rule in probability theory to electrocatalytic reaction engineering一些应用概率论中的贝叶斯规则electrocatalytic反应工程.pdfVIP

SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research International Journal of Electrochemistry Volume 2011, Article ID 404605, 5 pages doi:10.4061/2011/404605 Research Article Some Applications of Bayes’ Rule in Probability Theory to Electrocatalytic Reaction Engineering Thomas Z. Fahidy Chemical Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1 Correspondence should be addressed to Thomas Z. Fahidy, tfahidy@engmail.uwaterloo.ca Received 7 February 2011; Accepted 25 April 2011 Academic Editor: Carlos F. Zinola Copyright © 2011 Thomas Z. Fahidy. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Bayesian methods stem from the principle of linking prior probability and conditional probability (likelihood) to posterior probability via Bayes’ rule. The posterior probability is an updated (improved) version of the prior probability of an event, through the likelihood of finding empirical evidence if the underlying assumptions (hypothesis) are valid. In the absence of a frequency distribution for the prior probability, Bayesian methods have been found more satisfactory than distribution-based techniques. The paper illustrates the utility of Bayes’ rule in the analysis of electrocatalytic reactor performance by means of four numerical examples involving a catalytic oxygen cathode, hydrogen evolution on a synthetic metal, the reliability of a device testing the quality of an electrocatalyst, and the range of Tafel slopes exhibited by an electrocatalyst. 1. Introduction 2. Brief Theory In a comprehensive overall treatment of the subj