A method, suitable for stand off analysis of a sample, comprising: using an excitation means to vaporise the sample thereby producing a vapour plume of molecular species; and using an analytical means to analyse molecular species within the vapour plume wherein the analytical means analyses the molecular emission spectra of the vapour plume. Computer anomalies are processed by identifying the occurrence of an anomaly and correcting the computer anomaly by initiating a stored corrective action based on a user’s input for resolving the anomaly. Also described is a system and method for performing circuit simulation. In one aspect, the semi-structured data is XML data.