Hi July, I think I should take my laptop to the bedroom given your excellent results, not sure hubby will be overly impressed :p Your thesis structure looks good, v. interesting too. From this point I broke mine down into the chapter subheadings with a brief precie of the contents. Things got changed a little but not too much from my planned structure.

I have just checked and have about 12 weeks to my planned submission, wimper! I have got to finish:
1. annotating (cut and paste) and inserting about 40 graphs.
2. compiling and inserting my abbreiations list.
3. updating the contents page with graph titles and page numbers.
4. writing my acknowledgements page.

I think this is all that is left. Once done I shall send it electronically to all supervisors for final comments. I shall destroy another tree and get it printed as a 'final' proof for me to read (as long as I can keep the babies from colouring it in!). Wow, how long will my sups take to read it I wonder? OMG what if they come back with some extra or major revisions/questions?

Oh well, will it be submitted by my birthday in May? I hope so cos I would love to go out and celebrate ;-)

Star-Shaped - well done on the applications, so nice to know that it is done after alot of stress! Sounds like you are progressing with earnest on your chapter too.

Just about to start my goal now after a mad morning of child allergic reactions and drs appointments, medicines, lotions and potions, arghh! Finally have the reaction under control, phew. Cup of tea in hand, now breathe......

Morning everyone! Last night was fairly productive for my thesis. I realised there were some 'et al's missing so I went through all of the cited refs and added as necessary (yawn). I also footnoted graphs that are already in the thesis.

This afternoons goal (in the childfree quiet!) is to check over the final discussion regarding some extra refs that were added and to edit/clarify the points in it. Hope to keep the word count level.

Curisel - hope your prep for the exam is going well, good luck with it!

Star-shaped - how are the applications going?

Ady - I have several tedious jobs that always seem to progress slowly and don't feel like things are moving at all. At least my brain doesn't need to function too much lol. Hows the analysis?

I am remote and part-time so have to deal with supervisors via email or skype. I find that mine do reply readily to queries and if they are away I get an email to that effect. Do you know if your supervisor is at uni, or could they be on leave? I wonder if it would be useful for you to arrange a sKype tutorial so that you can pre-arrange a time/date to talk face-to-face. Alternatively you could call your sup?

I have Scheer in 'email' form that I can forward on if you pm me your email.

Morning all!
Well last night I managed to sort out the refs missing from the ref list and edited/clarify ch 6 discussion. Word count is under the max limit too!

Star-Shaped I hope your applications went well last night. Bet you are looking forward to finishing those off. Hope today is a better day for you.

Today/tonight the plan is to address adding the figures now that the text of the methodology/results chapters are complete. A very tedious job!

I am so pleased for you, it has undoubtedly been a stressful time! I would have a mini break to reflect and then start your viva prep with renewed enthusiasm. Good luck (up)

Hi Natassia,
Looking back at my first supervision notes, we discussed:
1. research proposal and narrowing the scope down to a focus point.
2. Uni paperwork needed for setting up the research, ie approval committee application, ethics
3. Uni training days/sessions for the first stage (induction etc)
4. Supervisions, where, when and how!

Pretty nervous myself but was in the local hotel sports-bar so fairly informal but appropriate! We got along really well so had a fair few supervisions over a bit of food while we were there.

Sorry, I tried but cannot get this one :-( Hope someone can help you soon.

What you can and cannot do in the lab is very specific to the work conducted in the lab. Once you are pregnant a risk assessment should be carried out highlighting the dangers to you and the unborn baby with appropriate measures to limit the risk. For example I was working in the lab with Isoflurane, an anaesthetic gas linked to spontaneous abortion. I also worked clinically with Isoflurane and the only restrictions placed on me was that I could not re-fill the vaporisors myself. I was able to use the gas or administer it as long as the system was ventilated to atmosphere. I was also not allowed to work alone both for oncalls and in the lab as this is considered risky for pregnant women. Prolonged standing is not advisable so I was given a chair lol. Regular drinks/snacks breaks may be necessary as often consumption is not allowed in labs etc. Your working hours may need to be reviewed as antisocial or lengthy hours can be considered a risk.

So as you can see the assessment is specific to your work environment and also your pregnancy-related health issues. It is also revisited as the pregnancy progresses or the environment changes. Other peoples work within the lab needs to be considered so that you do not work alongside another 'risky' experiment!

I have sent you a pm!

Thank you (up), I am very grateful :-)

Hi everyone, I am trying to get hold of this reference but my uni doesn't subscribe, arghh! Can anyone else access this for me please? Thank you, HD

ASAIO J. 1998 May-Jun,44(3):166-70.
Neya K, Lee R, Vlahakes GJ.
Hemoglobin based oxygen carrying solution stability in extracorporeal circulation: an in vitro evaluation and implications for clinical use.

Oh Star Shaped, what an awful day! I hope it gets better for you. Batfink, I am envious of your fun day out tomorrow. Have a great time at the seminar (thurs) and make the most of meeting eminant people/potential examiners - how exciting!

I have had more thoughts this morning on my thesis from the further reading last night, had to jot them down until now! I need to create (from my data) a graph for interest, and check another theory from last nights paper. I think my brain is being very analytical in these later stages.

Tonight I plan to check refs all included and further edit/clarify the last discussion.

Ok, so not much done due to ill babies (x2) but with hubby holding the babies,
Goal 3 = Add new refs into bibliography - almost done, just 5 to add.
Goal 4 = sorted out another few papers on my desk and have cited/added to ref section!

Will finish ref list additions tomorrow, shouldn't take long. Hope to finalise editing and a few minor updates aswell.

Ady, I will relish the thought when mine are at school but this will be long after I have completed my PhD (I am being optimistic today lol). Meanwhile chocolate cake is yummy and Batfink, I too have been partaking in a few eclairs :$ (how odd is that!).

Hubby is cooking, toddler is about to go to bed so I shall try to finish my goals for the day and some more if I can! Going to be a late one for me as usual.