The Comprehensive Environmental Toxicity Information System™ is a sophisticated, full featured, professional level toxicity data analysis/database application developed and published by Tidepool Scientific Software. The software is a Microsoft® Access™ relational database application designed to thoroughly analyze, organize, store and maintain complex heterogeneous toxicity data. Due to its comprehensive design and time saving features, CETIS has broad appeal to research and commercial environmental toxicity laboratories performing toxicity tests, as well as other professionals working with toxicity test data such as state and federal agencies administering whole effluent toxicity (WET) programs.
CETIS efficiently stores and processes data derived from freshwater, estuarine, marine and terrestrial toxicity tests performed on various environmental media such as effluents, ambient water, sediments, and soils, as well as reference toxicants. CETIS is also easily adapted to toxicity tests performed on other environmental media such as aerosols.
Analyses can be totally automated, with the user creating or adjusting decision tree logic to be consistent with individual regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. EPA, Environment Canada, ISO or OECD. For instance, fully automated hypothesis test calculations can be immediately followed by automated point estimate calculations. This unique feature facilitates rapid, accurate and consistent data analysis in a very time efficient manner.
CETIS was designed from the ground up with productivity, ease of use and power in mind. No other specialized toxicity data analysis software offers the sheer variety of statistical methods and database query/reporting capabilities, all integrated within a user friendly application. Leveraging the power of the Access™ interface, CETIS provides a multitude of productivity tools, ranging from pop-up calendars, calculators and rapid data entry tools, to advanced filtering and searching utilities.
CETIS easily supports multi-jurisdictional testing. Since many federal and state government programs have different decision-making rules guiding the selection of the appropriate statistical methods, CETIS has a system to quickly change the decision rules depending on which jurisdiction governs the testing. CETIS is the most advanced statistical application specifically designed for environmental toxicity testing and is the only software fully supporting the new methodology described in Guidance Document on Statistical Methods for Environmental Toxicity Tests (Environment Canada, 2005).
The inherent relationship between a sample and a test batch (a test batch applies to one or more samples tested on the same day under the same conditions with the same species) represents the heart of the unique CETIS database design. Once an individual sample and test batch are entered or cloned, the sample is added to the appropriate test batch as needed. Each sample within a test batch constitutes an individual test. Each test in turn points to one test data set and at least one analysis. By fully implementing this test-sample batching system, the database is substantially more organized, efficient and powerful. Specific examples where the support for test-sample batching can be useful include:
As demonstrated by the above examples, support for complex relationships between sample and test batch records allow for an association within the database between toxicity test results that were generated at the same time for a common purpose. This adds a layer of informational richness beyond just storing each toxicity test result separately. It also reduces work for the user because the details of a sample or test batch record are entered once and then associations are made as needed.
"The CETIS software is a critical element of our laboratory data management system since we rely solely on it for statistical analyses, data reporting, and the generation of electronic data deliverables. The software has dramatically improved our efficiency, and the flexible statistical analyses tools support our full scope of services for our clients."