|
Lab Life-Line Monthly
Practical Advice for the Busy Lab
from
ACCTA, Inc.
|
|
| Vol. 5, No. 4. Fourth Quarter, 2016 |
|
We Wish You Happiness and Good Fortune Through This Holiday Season and Beyond!
Please take a few minutes to give us some feedback:
What would you like to see next year for topics and content? Troubleshooting?
Instrument information?
ChemStation tips?
Method issues?
Other?
Just repy to this email with your suggestions.
|
|
Sometimes We Don't Know What We Don't Know!
Does this sound familiar?
I don't understand why this recipe didn't work I followed the instructions
exactly, except ...
Or, in the lab,
I followed the method exactly, except ...
The instrument was working fine, but I did notice ...
I understand how to use the chromatography software, but I need to learn how to ...
Do you know everything that you need to know? Do you suspect that there might be a better way to do something, but you don't know what it is?
Modern chromatography instruments have highly refined control and diagnostic capabilities. Learn how to use them, and learn how to "listen to your instrument" so you can notice when it is having problems.
All chromatography systems offer the ability to analyze samples in a sequence or batch, integrate the chromatograms, calculate amounts from calibration information, and report results. Some are better than others, but they all offer these capabilities at some level. If you are not using all of them, you are wasting much of your time, wasting your organization's resources, and causing more work and stress for yourself. Please make an effort to learn how to use these features, or get help from your colleagues, or convince your organization to get training. The Return on Investment (ROI) for learning these skills is very large.
- There are many ways to learn these skills
- You are not alone! Do not be hesitant to ask for help. We emphasize this in all of our training classes.
- There are many people who can help you learn.
Here are some useful resources for you to consider:
|
An observation with an abnormally large residual will be referred to as an outlier. Other terms in English are "wild," "straggler," "sport," and "maverick"; one may also speak of a "discordant," "anomalous" or "aberrant" observation.
– F. J. Anscombe,
"Rejection of Outliers,"
Technometrics, 2, 226 (1960)
|
|
|
Contact Details
Merlin K. L. Bicking, Ph. D.
ACCTA, Inc.
3534 Jessie Ct, Saint Paul, MN 55125 USA
Phone: +1 (651) 731-3670
Email:
info@accta.com
|
|
|
|
