Abstract: A method for estimating a trend in exhaust gas temperature in a turbine engine includes sampling exhaust gas temperature and a plurality of variables associated with the exhaust gas temperature over a set of observation times for a turbine engine to acquire exhaust gas temperature data. A trend in the exhaust gas temperature for the specific turbine engine is identified by removing the effect of the plurality of variables on the exhaust gas temperature data.

Abstract: Computer system and method for performing valuation of stock options issued by a corporation to employees are provided. The computer system may comprise a historical employee stock option database populated with information regarding employee stock option awards issued by said corporation. The computer system may further comprise a historical stock price database populated with historical stock prices and dividends, if any, issued by that corporation. An employee database may be populated with information regarding employees who have been issued stock options. A first data feed may provide present stock prices of the corporation. A second data feed may provide present risk-free interest rate structure. A processor may be configured to extract from data stored in the databases at least one historical-based parameter affecting a valuation of employee stock options.

Abstract: An apparatus for monitoring the performance of a distributed system is provided. The distributed system comprises a plurality of cooperating units disposed in a communications network. The apparatus comprises a plurality of diagnostic components wherein each unit of the system comprises at least one of the diagnostic components. Each diagnostic component comprises a sensor, a data reduction module, a transceiver and a data analysis module. The sensors sense unit performance characteristics and represent the characteristics as raw data. The data reduction module receives and processes the raw data produced by the sensors to generate reduced data. The transceiver receives the reduced data from the data reduction module and transmits and receives the reduced data to and from the units using the network. The data analysis module accepts and analyzes the reduced data from the transceiver to produce performance data related to the distributed system.

Abstract: An apparatus for and a method of analyzing system performance with a system statistical associate (SSA) is disclosed. The method includes collecting data on at least one system operating variable, discerning at least one parameter affecting system performance from the data, and generating a report on parameters affecting system performance.