Sample Destination Window

The Sample Destination Window is the third window in the import process. An example is shown in Fig. 5. This window is used to review which groups the samples from the laser log file will be assigned to (e.g. ensuring NIST_612 samples will go into the G_NIST612 group etc).

By default, Essentials will assign each laser log sample to a group based on the name recorded in the laser log file.

Tip

This process is made much easier by making sure when setting up your experiment that the names recorded in the laser log file match the names of your reference materials etc. For example, making sure that NIST 612 analyses are labelled as ‘NIST612’ will make the sorting algorithm more effective. Labels such as ‘612’ or ‘NIST’ will be less effective. Adding the analysis number (e.g. ‘NIST612_r1’ etc) is redundant as Essentials lists analysis in order, and the additional characters make the matching algorithm less effective (e.g. ‘NIST612_r10’ “looks” the same the sorting algorithm as ‘NIST610_r12’).

On the left of the top half of the window is the Samples Table which shows each sample and which group it will be placed in, in the Destination column. On the right of the top half of the window is the Groups Table showing a summary of the groups that will be created, including what type each group is and how many samples will be assigned to the group. The bottom half of the window shows the Destination Plot where each group is highlighted.

Samples Table

The Samples Table shows to which group each sample will be assigned, along with start and end crop values to be applied to the start and end times of each sample.

Individual samples can be selected by clicking on them. Additional samples can be selected by holding the Ctrl key (Cmd key on Mac) and clicking on a sample. Multiple samples can be selected by clicking on the first sample in the list you want to select and then holding the Shift key, click on the last sample you want to select. This will select all samples in between.

All samples currently shown in the table can be selected by clicking on any sample and pressing Ctrl + a (Cmd + a).

The samples shown in the table can be filtered using the filter field at the top right of the table. This can be useful for setting crop times, for example, if you have many samples in an analytical session.

The destination group of selected samples can be manually set by clicking the Set Destination button and typing in the name of the group this sample should be assigned to.

Destinations can be cleared for selected samples using the Clear button.

Start and End crop times can be set for selected samples using the Set Crops button.

Options for the sorting algorithm can be set by clicking the down arrow next to the Automatic Destinations button. The match ratio is a value from 0 to 1 that indicates how many characters in the sample name must match a group name before the sample will be assigned to that group. Setting this value to 1 means that all characters must match the group name. Setting it to 0 means that no characters have to match. Typically a value of 0.4 to 0.7 is used.

The ‘Remove Suffixes’ checkbox can be selected to remove characters after the sample name indicating the sample number etc. For example if all ablations are labelled “NIST612_r10” etc, checking this option will remove the “_r10” part of the label.

Clicking the Automatic Destinations button will run the assignment algorithm again.

Left-clicking on any column header will sort the table by that column, in ascending order. For example, clicking on the Start column header will sort samples by their start time. Clicking on the column header again will sort the column in descending order.

Right-clicking on the headers of the Samples Table will show options for the columns shown in the table.

Groups Table

The Groups Table shows the groups that will be created at the end of the import process (excluding baseline groups which are set in the following step in the import process). Groups that Essentials has identified as reference materials will be shown with a medal icon to the left of their name in the Groups Table. Unknowns will have no icon beside their names.

The number of samples that will be assigned to the group is shown in this table and should match the experiment setup.

Clicking on a group in the table will highlight the group in the Destination Plot. Double-click on the name of the group to change the name of the group.

Click on the color of the group to change the color used to highlight the group in the Destination Plot.

Double-click on the Type of the group to set what the group will be used for. Primary reference materials are used for calibration. Separate RMs can be used for Trace Element and U-Pb experiments. For example, you may want to calibrate your trace element concentrations with NIST610 but use Zircon 91500 for U-Pb calculations. These can be set in the Type column, but can also be set later in the main Essentials window.

Destination Plot

The Destination Plot is a visual tool for observing where samples within a group occur within the time series. Clicking on a group in the Groups Table will highlight that group in the Destination Plot.

Scrolling with the mouse wheel while hovering over the Destination Plot will zoom the horizontal axis in or out. The extent of the horizontal axis can be reset by clicking the button on the bottom right of the Destination Plot.

The vertical scale of the plot can be set to logarithmic/linear using the ‘10ⁿ’ button. The button will reset the vertical axis extents.

Clicking the Reset button will start the import process from the beginning.

Clicking the Continue button will continue the import process to the Baseline Settings Window.

Clicking the Go Back button will return to the Synchronization Window.

Clicking the Cancel button will return to the Welcome Window.