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Post by Paul Doherty on May 18, 2008 20:11:00 GMT
... an experiment is a tightly controlled study in which the participants (human or otherwise) are randomised to conditions, an independent variable is manipulated and all extraneous or potential confounding variables are controlled allowing conclusions to be made about the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. You weren't repeating, Dr Mildr. No one had said anything remotely like that so far! (Not a criticism, by the way. A great definition, and the fact that I had to read it three times says more about me than it does about you!)
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Post by Tone on May 18, 2008 20:33:04 GMT
>a scooter with an uncanny ability to replicate the balance and motion mechanisms of the human brain. Do you think 'replicate' has been correctly used here?<Agreed that it doesn't replicate, but 'twoud be OK if 'twas: " ... an uncanny ability to replicate the function of the balance and motion mechanisms of the human brain. But consider the (SOED) definitions of: uncanny a.L16. 1 Of, pertaining to, or associated with the supernatural or occult; baleful, malignant; malicious. Orig. Sc. L16. 2 Careless, incautious. Sc. & north. M17. 3 Unpleasantly severe or hard. Sc. M18. 4 Unreliable, untrustworthy; dangerous, unsafe. Sc. & north. L18. 5 Seemingly supernatural; uncomfortably strange or unfamiliar, weird; of an unsettling accuracy, intensity, etc. M19. And, for those (Englanders) who haven't seen a Segway, it's featured in a current TV advertisement for "118 118". And I want one! Tone
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Post by Tone on May 18, 2008 20:42:01 GMT
I, too, tend to start a reply without realizing that there is another page to read -- so you are not alone. And by the by: >an experimental study with people (e.g. lab-based, with control conditions... I promise that nothing unpleasant ever happens to anybody!)<Tone's being one of them at the moment (well, next Wednesday) -- that's being a "people", not the "do-er" (I suppose that would make Tone the "do-ee". ) I look forward to the "nothing unpleasant". Tone
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Post by Rajesh Valluri AKA Raj on May 19, 2008 13:26:02 GMT
Coming from an Engineering background, I can tell that the fist example sounds correct. We always try to replicate the result-set during experiments conducted independently so that our theory is correct. One repeats the experiments to replicate the findings.
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Post by SusanB on May 30, 2008 6:49:23 GMT
What's all this? Is it what you were all talking about yesterday? (That seemed to have slipped in and out while I was elsewhere.) Or is it a result of my restricted fontness? Susan
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Post by Trevor on May 30, 2008 7:43:10 GMT
You mean "popped" in and out, surely?
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Post by Pete on May 30, 2008 7:55:48 GMT
Oops! Looks like we've been spammed
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Post by Alan Palmer on May 30, 2008 12:59:54 GMT
Time to remove guest access, Paul?
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 30, 2008 13:55:18 GMT
Spam removed, and IP address blocked (which doesn't do much good).
As for guest access, this sort of spam has a habit of coming and going. I feel guest access is a useful facility, so I'm going to sit out the attack for a while.
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Post by Tone on May 30, 2008 20:28:53 GMT
>I feel guest access is a useful facility< Agree.
>so I'm going to sit out the attack for a while< Yeh, but you might leave it up for day or so, so that we can all "enjoy" it.
Tone
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 30, 2008 21:00:06 GMT
but you might leave it up for day or so, so that we can all "enjoy" it. No chance. Spam attracts more spam -- spammers often check back to see if it has been removed, and if not they note it as a useful site. Think of it like cobwebs in a room. Shows no-one goes there much.
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Post by Tone on May 30, 2008 21:12:40 GMT
>Think of it like cobwebs in a room. Shows no-one goes there much.<I like cobwebs! Tone
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Post by Sue M-V on May 31, 2008 10:56:27 GMT
I like cobwebs! O.K., Tone: why do you like cobwebs? Sue
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Post by Barry on May 31, 2008 11:47:00 GMT
I know why I like cobwebs. At a superficial level, they appeal to the gothic in me. But at an aesthetic level, they display a beauty and invoke a sense of wonder. Like milk, silk, and the shining trails of snails (how about that for Hopkins-esque internal rhyming?) cobwebs are the products of animals that can give us sensory pleasure. The complexity and strength of a spider's web is breathtaking; the way it catches the light (especially when it is frosted with raindrops), and the pale, ephemeral greyness of it always give me a sense of wonder. There you go.
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Post by Bertie on May 31, 2008 19:37:20 GMT
Until its owner moves on, when it collapses in the draught into an unsightly mess, festooning corners and shelves.
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