Quick Update

I had Prof. Satchi print out the 115 pg reference paper because I was getting tired of going back and forth in the paper on my computer. It's sooo much easier to have it on paper. Si I am reading that. Also, I looked up another important reference paper, which i found out SDSU had in its periodicals and microfiche department. However when I looked at it the article was in GERMAN! which is not so great. A librarian came to help me find a copy in English, but there isn't any at all. I'm thinking I will get the paper anyway just to look at the equations, but I'm not sure how it will go.

Either way I will continue to work on this list of equations and variables. Hope everybody has a great weekend!!!

"Endow scientific research and we shall know the truth, when and where it is possible to ascertain it; but the counterblast is at hand: 'To endow research is merely to encourage the research for endowment; the true man of science will not be held back by poverty, and if science is of use to us, it will pay for itself.' Such are but a few samples of the conflict of opinion which we find raging around us." ~ Karl Pearson, The Grammar of Science (1892)

Lots of equations with more parameters

Good Morning!! Last week I posted about parameters within the Deschamps equations that were not all described in the paper. My first idea was to go through previous/post Deschamps papers, but I realized that Deschamps did not invent the equations in the paper. All of the equations are/should be referenced in his paper. Therefore, I started picking through the references. I'm not very far yet because I do not have all the references related to the equations yet, but I am working towards that. One of the initial equation reference papers is 115 pages long! I will be going through it all day. Prof. Satchi wants me to go through all the equations figure out which constants are what. Are they calculated? Are they given/material constants? Are they fudge parameters, if so how were they determined? I will be making a master list of all of this.

I finished my single slide power point. I have not practiced giving the 30 second presentation. I'm definitely not ready for that at all. 

So for the next week I will be devoting all my time to the equations and their constants!

"Searching is half the fun: life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party."~Jimmy Buffett

Research Meeting Follow up

As I stated in my last post I am having difficult finding constants used in many of the Deschamps equations. I will be looking through other papers he has published after this paper until now. Hopefully, I will find something if not I will search through other papers citing the Deschamps paper. So what I am going to do is define all terms, see which i have and don't have and search from there. If after all that I am completely unsuccessful, I will email the Deschamps research group and pray they answer my questions. Hopefully they will because then I can conclude my MATLAB code and see if I can replicate their research.

I've been working on the literature review, which is coming a long nicely, but I also need to work on a single slide presenting my research. Prof.Satchi stated I need to develop an hour presentation, 30 minute presentation and a 30 second presentation. The 30 mins I could do now, but very roughly! The single slide is part of my 30 second presentation. My first draft of my slide is VERY wordy...too wordy if you ask me. So I'm working on that this week also.

Lastly, I will re-examine the physics behind all the main equations and must understand the phase diagrams of aluminum. 

Recapping: single slide, MATLAB code constants and phase diagrams. Those are the things I will be working on for the rest of this week. Have a happy Wednesday!

"If all people are unique, and if they are constantly changing each and every day, then all one can say about any social research finding is that it applied to that group of people on that given day, and given the propensity of humans to be different and to change, then it is unlikely that one would get the same results if one were to repeat the study."~Wayne Dyer

Good Morning all.

As you can see by my lack of posting until now is a direct result of my research taking a back seat to my classes last semester, which will not be happening again. So on ward with the research....

I am about 85% finished with the MATLAB code;however, there are a lot of constants that are necessary to run the code, which I cannot seem to locate within the Deschamps paper. I thought all the constants would be in the paper, but I guess not. These constants are material particular so maybe I can look up the material they are using and obtain the constants that way. If I am unable to find them, I'm not sure what I will do. Maybe use the material that my research is focused...I don't know. I will worry about that when I get there.

The next order of business is my thesis. The introduction is started and needs much work. I decided to get a head start on the literature review, which is much more difficult than I anticipated. Also I had no idea that I had amassed such an enormous amount of research papers, books and other theses. It's crazy how many papers I have. Anyway, I siphoned through them and figured out, which papers are the most relevant to my topic. Now it is time to start writing paragraphs for each paper. 

Today, I am working on finding the Deschamps material constants and the literature review.  The search for the material constants is not getting very far though since I am unable to find them in the paper like I stated previously.

Last order of business is this blog. I will be posting every time I work on research and after my weekly meetings with Prof. Satchi.

Hope everyone has a GREAT monday!! :)

"Science too often trivializes the profound, answering questions that are very different from the ones that were asked.  To formulate a question suitable for scientific research too often requires us to forget what it was that we really wanted to know." 

~ Earon Davis

New goals

Alright, so I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, but I am here now. I am meeting weekly with my Prof. Satchi. He decided I need to have some concrete goals for this semester, especially because I am taking research for units. Meaning I MUST accomplish things this semester. The main component I am working on, as of recently, is a basic PPT, which is an overview of the entire research project as a whole, what I am doing right now and where the research can/will go. 

Another main goal for this semester is to complete my first 2 chapters (introduction & literature review) of my thesis. The introduction I can do from a proposal I wrote a summer back and the literature review should not be that difficult. Yet so far I am focusing on is the PPT, because Prof. Satchi wants me to present it to my group! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!! This terrifies me! I have not presented research since my last year of undergrad, which was 3 years ago! But either way I need to start practicing some time right? 

I will return on Friday for a PPT and research meeting update.

"We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand." ~ Eric Hoffer

It's a new semester

The fall 2011 semester has arrived!! With it comes new deadlines, goals, and stress. Stress is going to be a definite part of my semester. Anyway, I had my first couple of research meetings with Prf. Satchi and I created an excel sheet for all the things I need to start working for and aiming to finish by the end of the semester. For example, the introduction and literature review chapters of my thesis paper, the MATLAB code, and a presentable PPW.  I for sure need to get those thesis chapters finished! I want to have the MATLAB code more than halfway done too. The presentable PPW I need to have done in a couple of weeks :/ I've got a lot to do.

Today, I am working on the PPW. Wish me luck on getting all this done! I will check in by the end of the week!! Try to have a happy Monday! :) 

"The nature of reality is this: it is hidden, it is hidden, and it is hidden." ~ Rumi

Day 32

Good afternoon, I was unable to come into school last week because my car was in the shop. However, I reached the end of the homogeneous precipitation stage of the paper, which is great, but, I've got some errors at the very end. These errors are similar to the ones I fixed before using the commands that I am using now. So, I need to figure out how to fix these same errors without using the commands I am using now, because the commands I am using now are what fixed the errors to begin with. Back to square one with error fixing. That's what I will be working on tomorrow and the next day until all errors are fixed! 

Here goes nothing!

"Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind" ~ Marston Bates