Altering standard data by adding an element and restandardizing

[Dan MacDonald]

Good morning, everyone:

I'm sorry to have to bother you with yet another question.  How to I alter the compositional data of a standard to include elements that are not listed in the current composition?  I ask because I have assigned an apatite standard for F, but the program tells me that my selected standard has no F in it.  The apatite standard I selected was left over from my predecessor, and I wrongfully assumed that F was included in that standard.  Thanks very much for your help.

Best regards

Dan MacDonald
Probe Tech
Dalhousie University

[Gseward]

Dan,

Seems like you might have two questions.

First, if you want to change the standard assignment to a standard with F in it, you can uses the Standards Assignment button in Acquire! (during setup of sample) or in Analyze!

Second, you can add, modify, duplicate , delete, search etc Standard compositional information using the Standard.exe application (In the same folder as the other PFE applications). If you need to modify a standard composition that has been used by others in the past, you might consider duplicating the standard with a new number, and making the modifications to the duplicate entry; this way the original composition still exists for people to use, should they need to. FYI, If an older .mdb is opened with PFE and there are inconsistencies between the composition stored in the working database and the standard.mdb, you will be prompted, and asked how to proceed.

Gareth

[John Donovan]

...If you need to modify a standard composition that has been used by others in the past, you might consider duplicating the standard with a new number, and making the modifications to the duplicate entry; this way the original composition still exists for people to use, should they need to. FYI, If an older .mdb is opened with PFE and there are inconsistencies between the composition stored in the working database and the standard.mdb, you will be prompted, and asked how to proceed.

To avoid confusion I would just modify the existing standard number.   As Gareth said, PFE will handle the modifications by prompting you once.

Once the standard has been modified to include fluorine, then you can assign it as the fluorine standard from the Standard Assignments dialog.   Note that when acquiring data on apatites, you should generally utilize TDI acquisition for the unknowns and also the standards because they are so beam sensitive. See the Special Options dialog in Acquire!
john