Hey readers,
I write to you with a heavy heart... our team lost twice in the final round at the AZ Regional Science Bowl competition and earned 2nd place. After staying undefeated for the entirety of the tournament, we came up short against BASIS Mesa Team 1. We had a fun time and put in our best effort, but it's hard not to have regrets and wish certain questions went differently. Since we didn't move on to Nationals, my Science Bowl career is officially over -- what a wild 8 years it has been! So, in a final ode to Science Bowl, I wanted to thank all my teammates from this year and past years... I wouldn't be here today without you guys.
My plan is to rewrite each section from start to finish today, so I can fix any other errors and remove extra words.
I write to you with a heavy heart... our team lost twice in the final round at the AZ Regional Science Bowl competition and earned 2nd place. After staying undefeated for the entirety of the tournament, we came up short against BASIS Mesa Team 1. We had a fun time and put in our best effort, but it's hard not to have regrets and wish certain questions went differently. Since we didn't move on to Nationals, my Science Bowl career is officially over -- what a wild 8 years it has been! So, in a final ode to Science Bowl, I wanted to thank all my teammates from this year and past years... I wouldn't be here today without you guys.
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| Yash-ip out... MUB MUB. :( |
Ok... now back to my project. This next week is the final week officially at school for seniors, so we have reached the home-stretch for the Literature Review and Methods sections of the paper. I have been editing extremely carefully to clarify and trim all parts of my paper (entered the weekend with more clarifying than trimming, as I am now 800 words over the 3000 advised word limit). But, that's part of the grind. I will start by fixing the rest of my methods section, including adding the following figure to clearly display my samples more clearly and perhaps save some words.
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| Here's how I was thinking of showing my samples... let me know what you think! |
Regarding data collection, I have finished the simulation part of my experiments with the Rutherford Universal Manipulation Program (RUMP). RUMP is a really powerful program, as you can simulate the RBS spectra (basically the elemental composition that you receive) for various samples made up of layers. For instance, I can input a layer of blood (which is just the relative composition of blood's elements, so they sum up to 1) above a layer of Silicon or a microscope slide. Then, with a plot command, I can see what theory predicts our spectra should look like. I can then anticipate what sort of results we may get. However, the most insight often comes from comparing the theoretical prediction from the simulation with the experimental results. These are the reasons why I think it is definitely worth taking the time to simulate before we take our bulk measurements.
This week, I plan to finish analyzing and discussing the findings from my simulations with Dr. Herbots and finalize my Lit Review and Methods combination. Starting next week, since we have prepared all of the coating/substrate combinations, I should be on track to go into the lab 3 days per week and do the measurements with 3LCAA (to characterize the surface energy of the samples -- the A samples in the figure above) and then perform RBS on the blood samples (test uniformity with elemental composition -- the B samples).
Such a strategy is slightly different than I originally planned, but as I stated last week, Dr. Herbots and I determined that doing many measurements at one time would be more feasible and introduce fewer confounding variables than taking lots of data over time.
The data collection will be in 2 stages: (1) 3LCAA from Feb 5 - Feb 9 and (2) RBS from Feb 9 - Feb 19. This should be enough time to finish data collection by February 20th, as initially planned.
Well, it's been a wild week, but that's going to be the norm from now on... I'm really excited to put my best product out there for the Lit Review/Methods and finally get back into the lab!
Cheers,
Yash
(622)
Hi Yash,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that your data analysis is getting organized. After reading about your 4000 word lit review and methods, do not compromise on explanation. Instead focus on looking for unnecessary details or superfluous information to ensure that you make the word limit. Rewriting your sections may not always solve that error. There is still some confusion on how you are doing the RUMP analysis. You may want to walk through every step thoroughly to ensure the reader is not lost. Stimulation seems to be the right approach in your project. Hope to see you at PSF 3rd floor.
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Ashwath V.
Whassap Yash? No really, like, whassup?
ReplyDeleteAnywho, I like how you have been cutting your word count. Though you are still over, I think you'll definitely get there, and if you want, I can go through it. Three days a week seems like a good schedule and I think you will be able to go through it fairly well!
As for the graph you had and asked about earlier, I kind of understand what you are trying to show, but it was a little bit confusing. Maybe just have like a dropdown chart where you list everything or flip it the other way so it goes from top to bottom and not left to right. Other than that, I think its a good way of getting your point across.
MUB
I'm sorry to hear the official end of your Science Bowl career. You were a valiant warrior, but as it terms out, you were no Abijith. Just kidding!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I got a little lost when you were talking about the RUMP (although the name for the program is hilarious). Be sure that you don't just talk above people's heads, both in the paper and in this blog, especially since the audience for the blog will be widening soon.