The nylon data comes from 
 Wei Zheng, Kim B. McAuley, E. Keith Marchildon and  Yao K. Zhen, 2005, 
 "Effects of End-Group Balance on Melt-Phase Nylon 612 Polycondensation: Experimental 
  Study and Mathematical Model", Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.  vol 44, p 2675 - 2686

The file nylon_data has the following columns:

1 - Experimental run number
2 - Temperature (fixed for the entire experimental run
3 - Observation times (in hours)
4 - Input water pressure $P_w$, which is transformed using temperature into $W_{eq}$, which appears in the ODE model.  Input $P_w$ is adjusted through a step function, initially starting at a high level, then dropping to a lower level and finally returning to the initial high level.  The times of the change are given in the seperate file: changepoint_times.txt (see below for details)
5 - Observations of component A
6 - Observations of component C, NaN is an indicator that an observation is not available.


The file changepoint_times.txt contains a matrix with the following columns:
1 - experimental run number
2 - Time at which input $P_w$ undergoes a step change from its high level to a lower level.
3 - Time at which input $P_w$ undergoes a second step change, returning from the lower level back to the original high level.



The file Nylon_Data_Analysis.m is a Matlab m file walking through the profile estimation process for the nylon data set.  Analysis was performed using the following Matlab build and toolboxes:

Matlab version 7.2 (R2006a)
Optimization Toolbox version 5.2
Spline Toolbox version 3.3