Hi everyone, just though I'd post on here to try and make myself do something. I think I may have some sort of heat exhaustion thing going on, the temp here is in the mid-high 30's for the past 5 days and I'm starting to really struggle with doing work. Feeling all floopy and impossible to concentrate on anything. Can't even have tea or coffee for caffeine as it's waaaay to hot - haven't even eaten really as it's too hot to eat, which is so not like me.

Anywhoo, goal 1 is to finish section 2 of my results.

Yea its fine to use both tests in your results, there's no point log transforming for a mann whitney as then you can just use the t-test. But it;s up to you if you want to keep all your tests constant, i.e. use only parametric or non-parametric tests. Although as there are different tests for different types of data I don't see any problem using different tests.

Whoo thanks guys! Quite a lot of technical advice there that I have absolutely no idea how to do! I don have an air duster though, so I'll give that a go! I think it is a design fault in mine too Stressed, it's a Dell which I've heard are bad for over heating. Even underneath my wooden desk is warm to touch with the laptop above it! I found a few on amazon that looked ok, there was a Logitech one and a Zalman one that seemed good so I think I'll go to a store and check them out before getting one.
I do have everything backed up too, on the laptop, a USB and an external so hopefully I'll not lose anything, I don't think I could cope if I did!

Thanks for the help guys!! (up)

Hi Teek :)

ok, Sneaks being the PGF Stats wizz will prob know best, but first off you need to check your data to see if they are normally distributed, which will tell you if you need to log transform. So, I use SPSS for this stuff, and depending on what the sample size is, I use the Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test or the Shapiro Wilk test if it's less than 50ish. if it's normally distributed i.e most data points round the centre and not skewed to either side of the curve, then you can use the t-test without log transforming. If it's not normally distributed, you'll need to use a non-parametric test.
It looks like your data is independent having only one value for each patient, so the independent t-test is ok if you are not transforming, and the Mann Whitney is the non-parametric equivalent of this if you are transforming. One thing though, if you have lots of zero values for your data you may have problems with log transforming. You can't log transform zero data so you just have to change it all to 1, which is acceptable, but I personally don't like doing it when there are lots of zero values.

I hope that helps!!

Teek, it's (possibly) a date! :-) I'll give you a shout about it too Natassia as I'll be in London then! How exciting!

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I think it should be fine Natassia, I don't see why they should be annoyed about it at all. It would be different if you were deferring for a year, but given that your supervisors already seem to get on with you quite well and they seem like reasonable people they should be fine with it. Plus it's better to start with a good MSc thesis and paper in the pipeline, it will help you in your project if they one is leading onto the other.

However I know it can be a bit scary having to change plans so I understand your apprehension. But you'll be grand!!

Incidentally, I broke my wrist during my second year, just before starting my field work, and there wasn't much given the way of leeway...to follow university regulations I wasn't allowed to go near the water (I work on lakes) and someone had to come along to help, but all the lab work had to be done by me anyway. Turns out it is possible to do water chemistry and mass spec with only one hand!

My laptop is on it's last legs and the heat generated now it just insane so I'm thinking the built in fan is starting to die. However, it's on for about 14-15 hours a day now and has just shut down several times on me, which I think is due to over heating. So I'm going to get a laptop cooler fan thingy, I saw a few on Amazon that looked ok, but I was wondering does anyone here use them and if so which is best?! Stars all round!

Muchos gracias!!

It's on the 23rd, it's a Thursday evening. Which is also the last date I can submit, so I better have submitted by then!! Got the tickets anyway, just in case!! Looks like it's going to be good, I'm always jealous of the ones in London who can go to all the RI and Science museum events, there is loads of stuff happening!! :-)

That's exactly what I'm worried about Joyce, I've no idea what way my examiners will be about the structure. I have one supervisor who has examined plenty of theses, and he says stick in one big chapter. My main sup keeps changing his mind, and now they seem to both be washing their hands of it - after several discussion on their opinions of how it should be done, they've suddenly changed to "it's your thesis, so long as you can defend it..." Which doesn't exactly inspire confidence I must admit.
Anywhoo, I'm going to try the big one. I have to set each chapter out at a study, so they all have to have separate intro, methods etc, so I'd be repeating myself a lot. Plus for the main studies I'm cross referencing to the preliminary chapters, and for the PCR chapter I'm cross referencing to the main studies, so I don't want it to be too crazy. Hopefully it will all work out in the end and common sense will prevail and they will understand why I've done it this way! Famous last words eh?! :)

Ah ha! Well happy Wednesday then Fm, have a great day! I'm just finishing off my Tuesday now! :-)

As for today, I've got 15 tomatoes done, although I had to take a break this evening to go get food and ended up watching a movie :$ but I did a bit of work after, found some mistakes in my data and have fixed part of it, will see if i can handle doing the rest tonight or I may just leave it for the morning!

Ev, I've no idea how many words I write per tomato, it varies a lot depending on what I'm talking about etc. For me, if I can stay focused for the whole 25 minutes then I'm happy! I'd say just write what you can, don't pressure yourself about how much or how fast you are writing or it could halt your progress. Just do your best as you are, that's all we can ever do.

Okey Dokey!! I am (hopefully!!) going to the science/journalism debate in the Royal Institution in London in September, so I shall be about if there are any meets happening then! Is anyone else going to it?

God AL your sup sounds a bit like mine, I nearly dropped the ONE day in my entire PhD when he said one good thing to me! But you are right, we are all so so close and we will get there. I hope the last corrections and proof read are all ok, I think actually handing the thing over will be the most terrifying thing of my life thus far...until the viva of course! My sups have managed to erode my confidence so well that I don't think I'll ever be happy with it. I hope things are ok with your partner too btw..

And Sue, don't worry about not being on, we know things are mad at the moment. I so hope your wee dog is feeling better soon, it's just terrible having to watch them suffer like that. And like AL said, I hope everything turns for the best with your own health and news is good. Just remember the PhD isn't everything, and try not to stress yourself out too much about it. But, congrats on getting the interview for the perfect job! I haven't heard back from anything I've applied for so I'm super jealous! :-) Good luck for the interview, prepare as best as you can/time allows, and remember, if it's for you it won't pass you. Everything will work out ok in the end.

As for me, I sent my chapter off and received some halfway decent feedback tonight from one sup, and an email of things to change from another sup (no chapter attached, just a list of things to change...). I'm not sure if this is his final feedback but I'll do my best anywhoo. I'm currently restructuring 2 chapters, and found some mistakes in my data so I have to repeat some stats again. I have always had a thing for silly mistakes but I'm really starting to drive myself crazy now! I think I should be aiming for submission a few days after my intended date if everything goes ok, if not it will be a while after that and I'll have to postpone my viva, so hopefully it all goes ok :/


Good luck everyone, keep strong!! We can do it, we've come this far dammit!! (up)

Hi there...welcome to the forum! I'm assuming you've got all your formatting, references and proof reading done for everything you have got at the moment, has you supervisor let you know when they'll be finished your corrections? I'm sure it's maddening having to hang around at this stage, but maybe if you have everything else sorted, then just take a break and chill until you get the final set of corrections. At least that way you may be in a better state to finish the thing and be fresh for the final proof read, plus you'll still have a bit of energy left to celebrate the submission! I'm submitting soon too, hopefully mid September, so good luck! :-)

Sounds like a decent way to do it Sneaks, if your 3b study is a bit different from the 3a then it should be ok to do it that way. Why are you not sure about the 3a though? Can you write it as a preliminary study, to lead onto the 3b study?

I was thinking about doing a sub chapter too AmyP, I think I'll see if I can do something like that. I just have to partition the results section, if I can do that well and the graphs and tables are clear, then it should be ok taking the reader through it without getting lost. Just means my writing will have to extremely well done to explain everything.