Day 17, 18, 19 -- There are good days...and then there are bad days

Again I haven't blogged every time I do research like I am supposed to, but here I am now! 

So, I've recently met with Prof. Satchi and we discussed how to input most of the equations in this program. He stated I will need to use numerical methods, which I do not know much about. Case in point a trip to the school library will be useful and a discussion with a Professor of mine is much needed. Most of the equations are differential equations, which can be solved by MATLAB using the syms, diff and subs commands. However, most of these equations are based off a previous equation, meaning I solve for one variable, which is then used in the next equation so on and so forth. Also, I want to increment certain variables until I reach convergence. My question is am I able to bypass numerical methods and use the aforementioned commands and increment all at the same time.

I'm going to be honest with you...I am really lacking confidence in myself right now. Programming and MATLAB are NOT my strong suit, but I do know that I cannot give up simply because this is difficult. I knew this project wasn't going to be easy when I discussed it with Prof. Satchi and now is DEFINITELY NOT the time to quit.

I have a few days over a month to get this programming up and running. Therefore, I will shove these feelings into the back of my mind, get the help I need and push forward.  Ergo, I will be back tomorrow and everyday after until I graduate: one day at a time. I leave you with something a bit uplifting....ENJOY!

"Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people
Living just to find emotion
Hiding somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice just one more time

Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people
Living just to find emotion
Hiding somewhere in the night

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that feelin'
Streetlight people

Don't stop believin'
Hold on
Streetlight people

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that feelin'Streetlight people"
~JOURNEY

Day 16

Happy Monday!

I made progress but I hit a road block. There is an equation I am not sure how to input nor am I sure how to solve by hand. Therefore, I am set to figure this out with the help of my research adviser.

So I press onward and leave you with a wonderful author.

"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Day 15

Good Afternoon,

All of the equations are in the MATLAB now. Since I figured out what is given and what's found I have to go back and input the derivatives and the integrals, which I found to be implemented using the "diff" and "int" commands. However, I also discovered that I need to use the "syms" command.

Therefore, the next significant destination point is to input all 3 of these commands into the MATLAB program .

I hope everyone has a GREAT independence day weekend and I'll let Pierce close this session out :)

"It is the man of science, eager to have his every opinion regenerated, his every idea rationalized, by drinking at the fountain of fact, and devoting all the energies of his life to the cult of truth, not as he understands it, but as he does not yet understand it, that ought properly to be called a philosopher. " ~Charles Peirce

Day 13 & 14

Once again I didn't blog last week when I should have; therefore I blogging now. I am 3 equations away from the end of the MATLAB program. From there I need to figure out how to do derivatives and integrals in MATLAB.


Since Friday (June 17) I have not done much of anything. I had oral surgery to remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth. Warning to all of you that have not had this surgery....the recovery sucks more than the surgery does. Just a warning but I digress.


So, hopefully later today will be another blog about the absolute finishing of the program and the uncovering of the secrets of MATLAB!


I hope everyone is a having a GREAT FIRST DAY of summer!!! Yahoo (can you tell I am excited)!! I leave you in the capable hands of Mr. John Dewey.


"Scientific principles and laws do not lie on the surface of nature.  They are hidden, and must be wrested from nature by an active and elaborate technique of inquiry."  ~John Dewey

Day 9, 10, 11 &12 -- MATLAB (still...)

So, I forgot to blog the past 3 days, but I am back now. I've finished precipitation on dislocations and am in the process of programming the precipitation hardening model. I've decided to insert all the equations into the MATLAB program, then go back and administer derivatives and integrals for the equations that need it. 

At the moment I am in the particle spacing section of the paper. I came across Freidel statistics, and to be honest I have NO IDEA what Freidel statistics are. Therefore, I am looking him up in papers, books,  journals etc. Self teaching is what Graduate school is mainly about right?? Well, it's a big part of grad school at least but I digress.

I am still chugging away. Learning at every step. While I am doing this MATLAB program, I am adding things to the PP presentation, which really helps me to understand each section better.

That's all I have right now, therefore I leave with you with Mencken.

"Science, at bottom, is really anti-intellectual.  It always distrusts pure reason, and demands the production of objective fact."  ~H.L. Mencken

Day 8 -- MATLAB

Today is/was the second day of working on the MATLAB program. It was rather difficult to focus today and I don't know why, but it was. I finished nucleation/growth and half of growth and coarsening. 

I realized most if not all the equations are integrals, which I have not dealt with in MATLAB, so, this will be more of an adventure than I expected. Either way this WILL get done by the end of June!

Hasta manana!

"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

Day 7 - - Matlab/Master Eqns

After a very long hiatus, which was not to my research advisor's liking, I am back to blogging my research. I finished the PPT of the Deschamps's model a few months ago. I started to research the equations and variables slowly but surely; however, on my path to discovery I hit a few road blocks. I was unable to find some equations due to not being able to find the articles and/or the articles were in different languages. Therefore, I have moved on to programming the model into MATLAB.  As I go through each step I am finding what is given, calculated, and unknown (unknown unknowns and unknown knowns). My professor and I enjoy that Cheney joke, but by going through this paper via MATLAB I now understand what Cheney was getting at.

Anyway, I'm just starting this and the goal is to have it completed no later than June 27, which is optimistic but I have a feeling I can make that deadline :)

Until next time...

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."  -Wernher Von Braun