I am working on a rough draft for my paper, accumulating more information for my paper, and packing to go home.

The outline is done, except for a few steps in the methods section (which I will fill out more as I go through the steps again for new subjects). The rough draft should be pretty easy to write based on the outline I have.

Packing is almost done (and I leave tomorrow morning!), but I will be pack by tomorrow morning. The hardest part was trying to get a package sent home. I found a box, but when I wanted to send it, I ran into difficulties. The box was awkward to hold, so I was thinking if I could get a thing with wheels to help me, my life would be simplified (I have to walk about 15 min to get to the FedEx place). For the next 2 hours I was running around campus asking different people if they could lend me a thing with wheels. I found out that because I am not a student, I couldn’t rent a bike or get basically anything that would help me. In the end, I did find something to help me get my package to the FedEx place, but it was a very frustrating process.

I have been building more graphs with different subjects as I run around, pack, exercise, clean, etc. I am also getting the histograms and their spread sheets organized. As I clean up my notes from the summer, I condense them or add the detail to my outline, which ever seems more reasonable. I will admit, I have been neglecting my coding. I feel that for the time being, it is more important for me to build and inspect the graphs before I leave because I am not 100% sure that I will be able to run the code when I am home (I am about 98% sure that I can, but just in case, I would like to get it all done now, so I have the information to manipulate).

Well, Friday isn’t done yet, so I’m going back to work. I have a feeling that it will be Christmas Break before I get to read the last Harry Potter book! :P

I would like to mention that this summer was one of the best learning experiences ever. My mentor was AWESOME and I feel soooo lucky that I was offered this opportunity.

Thank you!

Liz and I also talked to Prof. Jeffrey Luftig for statistical help. We then a rranged a meeting so that I could meet with him, with our data, and see what he had to say. That meeting was interesting. He preformed MANOVA tests to our data, and printed out the results.

Today’s meeting revolved around talking about those results and my upcoming paper. My goals are now to summarize the results into something useful (other than a bunch of numbers) and begin my paper. We started a rough draft of an outline for my paper and in the process, we also accumulated a list of thing that I could have to make the paper stronger.

Lastly, I completed my first calculation for mutual information. I will begin to write up a program that can do it for me, because that will make the process much faster. The calculation I have made is primarily for checking code purposes and with the descretization code working, the code for mutual information has a least a start.

I created more graphs (and histograms), including the one that was supposed to show whether the fingers of the test subject moved or not. However, the way I was running the test took too long – the code ran for over two hours and was not done running. This issue led to the discussion of creating my on descretize code. So far, all I need a few I/O python command and it should work. Another advantage of my code is that I can use it to aid in the mutual information aspect as well.

As of today, we believe that it is safe to assume the fingers were not tested in Subject 7, but I still need to look at Subject 35’s information to confirm it for that subject as well. I also need to create histograms and statistical test results that compare the nodes for each joint, rather then number of nodes per amc file. This should show us if a histogram is a reliable method to represent the pattern of the action. Lastly, we decided that we would try a method of normalization for our data, to account for the degrees of freedom for each joint and the corresponding number of nodes that joint produces. Hopefully, this will give a clearer representation of the similarities and differences between amc files and subjects and their joints.

I continued to work on the GUI, but I am making slow progress. I am using the Internet for coding help, but the code is either useless or does not work, and the sites don’t explain things very well. I stopped working on the GUI, as requested by my mentor, and began creating more graphs of the same subject and of a different subject. These graphs will be compared as singles, in groups, and, ultimately, the subjects will be compared to see if the pattern of a histogram is a reasonable method of displaying patterns.

In addition to visually analyzing the graphs, I will also use a statistical program is determine if the graphs are statistically different or not. As of yet, the graphs for Subject 7 are not obviously statistically different or the same; therefore, I plan on running a one-way analysis of variance, or ANOVA, test on my graphs. The reasoning for this is that my graphs compare three groups, so a T-test will not work as well. The ANOVA test will only indicate the p-value, thus I must also run a Student-Newman-Keuls, or SNK, test to indicate which of the groups is statistically different. However, if the p-value is greater than .05, then the groups are statistically the same and the SNK is not necessary.

I also continued to work on the GUI, but ran into a setback. I have found no ‘easy’ way to run python code through a Java GUI. Therefore, I am now learning how to code a GUI in python in order to make the transition easier.

Lastly, I have started to create graphs for Subject 7 of the data collected on the mocap website. Currently, I have graphs using one amc file, two amc files, and three amc files. In the future, I hope to run the rest of the amc files, so that I might discern some interesting patterns or events using the information given as a result of running graph_inspect on these graphs.

The GUI has a basic outline right now. I am exploring the different files that the GUI will run so that I can implement then through the GUI will few problems.

My mentor and I met on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Tuesday’s meeting clarified a few questions that I had had about the paper and GUI. We also touched on what direction I should go from here. Now that I have some understanding of the background, we decided that I should start manipulating some of the data. Thursday’s meeting was a breakdown of what I have done and what my goals are for the next couple of weeks. We talked about my meeting another professor in the building and talking to him about one of my great interests, cryptography, as well.

I also went to a barbeque on the fourth of July with Liz and her friends. This was a very interesting experience and I really enjoyed talking with people. I received a lot of good advice and a few hard questions pertaining to my plans for my future. Interesting conversations and the food was great; I couldn’t have asked for a better 4th of July!

On another note, I have learned this week that if you are visiting or researching at a different school, make sure you know what they are willing and not willing to give you. At UCB I am not a student, but an affiliate. This means that I do not get the benefits of a student for things like a bus pass or a gym pass, so I had to send out a few emails before I could even go to the gym without paying an arm a nd a leg. I also had an issue with the meal plan I purchased for this summer. There were a few details that the form I filled out and the website were missing. So as a heads up: ask questions and don’t be afraid to bother someone for information that may or may not be obvious. I had to ask about 2-3 different people before I could get my gym pass, but I am so happy I asked. Now I can go to the gym for the next 5 weeks without pay $5 a day. :) (This whole situation is irritating because no one told me anything when I got here – the residential people, I mean – and Liz had emailed a lot of these people asking what she should do to make the transition easier for me and they all told her that the email she had sent was enough.)

It was wonderful talking to my mentor, Prof. Liz Bradley. She had been across the country for a while and therefore wasn’t present when I arrived at UCB. I had some work to do though (see previous journal entries) so I wasn’t bored. When we meet, we talked about my project, how far along I was on my goal list, what I was interested in, and graduate schools. Apparently, I had accomplished a lot more of my goal list then I had thought. Also as we discussed what areas of computer science I liked, she decided that I would have much more fun if I concentrated less on the statistical angle of the project. (I really enjoy the theory of computer science and math). We talked about MIT and her graduate experience at the school, as well. I plan on attending graduate school for my Ph.D.; however, I am not entirely sure of what area I would like my Ph.D. in as of yet. Furthermore, Prof. Bradley also told me that she would tell me more about her other experiences (including being in the 1988 Olympics!) later into the program. I can’t wait!

During the week, I was having great difficulty trying to compile code and then run it on my PC. I had never set up a computer to compile and run code, but I didn’t think it would be difficult. I had it working as some point Tuesday morning, and then broke it a few minutes later. Fortunately, on Thursday, my computer finally compiled and ran code. Now I can work on the GUI that was requested of me!

I read and reread the aforementioned paper. I decided to reread it because the paper was very dense and I understood more of it after I read it the second time.

On another note, campus is suddenly really crowded with camps, and summer class students, and high school students. I had kind of enjoyed the peace and quiet (mainly because I could read and study in peace), but this may bring other opportunities to light.

I also spent time on this website. I wasn't quite sure what to write here, but it seems as though I am not having too hard a time thinking of things to write about. DMP was helpful when they suggested a link to another website to view. After reading it, I didn't feel so lost. It was really comforting to read about another person who feels inferior to the men in her computer science classes. I feel exactly the same way! The fact that I only really started to learn computer science during my freshman year of college doesn't help either. It seems that the guys in my computer science classes have been playing with computers and code their entire lives (or at least since high/middle school).

The other thing I noticed was the love/hate relationship she mentioned. I also have a love/hate relationship involving computer science: coding. For some reason I am only a perfectionist with some aspects of my life, and coding is definitely one of those aspects. I like to code, and I love it when it works, but I hate it when it doesn't work. A perfect example occurred last summer. One of my jobs last summer was to create a new base for an organization's website (so it would look cutting edge and new). I absolutely loved the end product! But getting to that end product was so frustrating. Yet, here I am this summer, playing with computers and coding. :)

I hope to get this site up and running and to finish most of the reading so that I can get to the fun stuff!

Let's see...I played volleyball for Dickinson and I swam competitively for about ten years. I love to read, write, try to draw, learn, listen to music, play video games, computer games, and D and D, as well as hanging out with my friends. I do classify myself as a nerd (hehe - who wouldn't!) although I cannot classify myself as a gamer quite yet because I lose at almost every video/computer game I play and I do not have the range of gaming knowledge that true gamers have. :D

Hmmm...I like to read mysteries, fiction, fantasy, manga, and some web comics. I am open to reading other books as long as they are well written. For example, I have just recently finished reading Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh and John Lynch. This was a great read, even if it was mostly the history of math. Manga, or the Japanese comic, is one of my favorite to read when I only have 5 min or so to read. Some of my favorites are Hana Kimi, Fruits Basket, and Mars. Anime, the cartoon version of manga, is also something I enjoy. Currently I am watching Naruto and Bleach, but I like Kiddy Grade, Samurai 7 (yes, it really is an anime. The movie is Seven Samurai) and Hayao Miyazaki movies. Lastly, I love to listen to music. I like country, JPop, Korean Pop, some Rap, Oldies, Latin, Pop, Disney songs, and Alternative.

So this week: I moved into my dorm room on University of Colorado's campus. I have a room and a meal plan, so I am all set with food and sleeping stuff. I have wandered the campus, which has very few people in it, and I am a little nervous about how big it is. Dickinson is a very small campus (literally, it takes 5 min. to get from one end of the campus to the other on foot), so being directionally challenged is not a problem there. I hope I don't get too lost wandering around. The good part is that my dorm, the cafe, and the engineering building (where I work) are all really close together.

Oh! My journal name (incase you cannot read the tiny letters underneath) is The Human Movement Chronicle. It will record the movements of me and my project. Also, I began to read the svn book/tutorial and the python tutorial. The hardest thing this week was getting used to being on a school campus and not taking any classes. That's it for now!