It was the year that was (2016 edition)

And what a year it has been. Politically, and from a global perspective, it has been an absolute disaster with but a few moments of lucidity. Personally, it hasn’t been quite as bad as that, though it is impossible (and probably undesirable) to remain unaffected by the apocalyptic signs. Anyway, the year in review from a SAXS-weblog perspective.. Here we go! We started the year with a few hopes. Amongst these were:

1. The Book. Nope, even putting it at the top position didn’t get it any further.
2. Round Robin: Yes, we could! Results are submitted, and awaiting editor movements.
3. USAXS V.3: It’s progressing, and we hope to have some light on it in the Spring.
4. McSAS: Has seen some good improvements under the hood, and has some extra features for the future.
5. Data corrections: we’re still hoping to implement them in Dawn, but this time there are actual signs that that will happen..
6. Data management: Our current database has been registering about 2000 measurements on about 600 samples this year. There will be advances and expansions in this coming soon!
7. Standardisation: The ISO norm is progressing well, There’s now a Glassy Carbon standard, and did you see the amazing CanSAS progress?
8. Talks: been there, spake that. A talk at Keele too, which was most enjoyable!
9. Papers: We managed two co-authored papers[1, 2], but the signs are positive for a first-author or two next year!
10. Holidays: Apart from a week here, and a few days there… no, didn’t manage.

Some peculiarities of what we did manage (in no particular order):

1. We fixed transmission factor problems that you get when measuring on a SAXSess (and probably any instrument using a semitransparent beamstop). The solution is here.
2. I managed to get funding to build a super-SAXS machine! This item has been on my wish-list for a very long time, but was impossible to get at my previous location in Japan. Now it will be coming.
3. There were strings attached to that funding, leading to my foray into organisational stress-land. I won’t emerge from there any time soon…
4. I figured out some things about Q and its uncertainties.
5. I got to play with lasers, neutrons, and Pythons, and I made two explanatory videos [here and here].

Next week, we’ll figure out what we might do next year.