Just submitted my PhD dissertation

[Pythagorean]

-Defending soon,
-Have a part-time job in Intelligence that I go full-time after officially graduating.
-Starting to see the end of the tunnel.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Good luck!

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Go back! It's a trap! They're going to expect you to work from now on!

 

[Pythagorean]

Go back! It's a trap! They're going to expect you to work from now on!

To be honest, I have felt like cheap and exploited labour through university life as a grad student.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

So what's your thesis?

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

To be honest, I have felt like cheap and exploited labour through university life as a grad student.

I knew how to Google, so my lead prof. exploited that.

 

[Astronuc]

-Defending soon,
-Have a part-time job in Intelligence that I go full-time after officially graduating.
-Starting to see the end of the tunnel.

Congratulations on completing the dissertation and getting it submitted. Best wishes for a successful defense.

 

[Evo]

Good luck Pyth!

 

[Ibix]

Congratulations! (Hope the hangover isn't too bad)

 

[Borg]

Good luck!

 

[Pythagorean]

So what's your thesis?

I made an ion-conductance model of persistence dynamics in a known biological neuron and extended it to the biological network. Persistence dynamics are found across species and typically involve a "switch" (a particular kind of stimulus on the neuron) to switch it from typical threshold-type neuron dynamics to persistent spiking for some duration. It's involved in some cognitive functions (the persistence acts like a sort of information memory) and basically anywhere you have rhythmically contracting muscle (like birth, egg laying, breast-feeding let down, etc).

 

[jim hardy]

What time frame is the persistence ? seconds ? Hours ?

 

[Pythagorean]

What time frame is the persistence ? seconds ? Hours ?

The biological neuron goes on for about half hour in a persistent state, then enters a refractory period where it can still respond as a typical threshold-type neuron but can't enter persistence mode for nearly a day. My model doesn't include any of this behavior as I put focus on developing the dominant current channels and their 2nd messengers, as well as the calcium-dependent channels responsible for persistence. So my model goes into persistence indefinitely. The refractory period requires some more elaborate 2nd-messenger modeling, I decided to go to the network and focus on onset and spread in the network and leave refractory period to the next lucky grad student.

 

[DennisN]

Congratulations and good luck!

 

[jtbell]

Congratulations! If you made it this far, you'll almost certainly survive the oral defense unless you have a total meltdown.

(Hope the hangover isn't too bad)

When I emerged from my dissertation defense, some of my fellow graduate students were waiting to haul me off to a campus watering-hole.

 

[Pythagorean]

Thanks for the congrats, everyone!

I think my defense will go fine. I'll probably get grilled a bit, but that's the nature of the beast.

 

[DiracPool]

My model doesn't include any of this behavior as I put focus on developing the dominant current channels and their 2nd messengers, as well as the calcium-dependent channels responsible for persistence. So my model goes into persistence indefinitely. The refractory period requires some more elaborate 2nd-messenger modeling

Can you send me a pre-print so I can pick it apart and send my objections to the qualifying committee?

I'll send you a copy of the rebuttal first, before I send it to the committee, promise