Purpose of qualifying Exam
1. Assessing foundation of fundamental knowledge
- information synthesis- application, bring information together for experiments, etc.
2. Ability to understand scientific literature
- ability to select interesting, doable topics
- critique literature, see flaws
- know how to extend from what is known
3. Think intelligently about doing science
- know significance of the work
- recognize how to do experiments (tecgubuques, controls, analyses, statistics), how to draw conclusions
- recognize potential problems
4. Cultivate behavior patterns for success
- self motivation
- planning and organizing info and tasks
- discipline
- seek advice
- asking for, receiving and responding to criticism
- communication skills (oral, written)
- time menegement
Preparing a Research Proposal
NIH style grant:
1. Specific aims and/or hypothesis
- Aim is question/goal - not a specific experiment
- Very clearly defined: good, necessary questions; existing techiques to do the work
- 1st aim is crucial.
- 3-4 aims appropriate
2. Background
- What are known/unknown
- Why is your questions important
- What will be gained by answering it
- What controversies
3. Experimental design (alternative approaches)
- for each exp., state: purpose and rationale, techniques, and preliminary (hypothetical) data and interpretation
4. Methods
- References!
- Understand the techniques
- Give enough detail; know the advantages and disadvantages (limits)
- Know the reality (num. of animals to be used)
5. Conclusions, alternative approaches
- Potential conclusions, problems, and alternative approaches
It's my latest web/social toy. Twitter is a text messaging platform to tell people what you're doing, from the web, from IM (GTalk), from your phone, and from your computers, of course. In addition to the communication features shared by IM or SMS, it's also got some social elements, that is, you get to share and follow messages with total strangers, if you will.
Here's what I'm doing.. (See if Twitter badge works on VOX.)
And here's what my friends, and I are up to.
On Mac, Twitterrific is a neat program for easy tweet. For keyboard fanatics, this script allows you to quickly and elegantly tweet by Quicksilver.
[NOTE] Arh, the twitter badges don't work... Maybe the codes need a bit tweaking?
I was trying to find out the definition for homoplasy. So I googled, and the following results showed up.
After clicking on the first result, which seems to be a definition page for homoplasy on a evolution related wiki, I was redirected to this Baylor College of Medicine acceptable use reminder page.
Oh, wow. So http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Homoplasy and EvoWiki are malicious? I am kind of intrigued by the implementation of BCM's web filter now.
By the way, homoplasy means "homoplastic condition; similarity of structure produced independently by the operation of similar external circumstances.", according to Oxford English Dictionary. More on it at wikipedia and Kyoto University.
That's cool! Thanks, Andy! :D read more
on Twitter