A Tutorial
by Bruce M. Foxman
This tutorial was
written with
the education of graduate and undergraduate science students in
mind, but with the idea of expert mode enhancements at a later
time. Many laboratories have Bruker X-ray diffraction instruments
running the Apex2 data collection, processing and analysis
software. The tutorial is a based on a logical progression of
successful ideas that began with our popular Space
Group
and
Symmetry
Tutorial, and continued with Crystalline
Insights, our X-ray laboratory tutorial for high-school and
first-year college students. When I last taught my "X-ray
course" here nearly three years ago, it became apparent that a method
of self-instruction in diffractometry was sorely needed. Thus: an
Apex2 tutorial was conceived and began to slowly move forward. In
the long term, the tutorial will introduce the student to basic
procedures, with branches to many "HOWTOs", Apex2 quick tricks, and
more branches to special topics, reaching its ultimate state of
production and pedagogy with worked examples of twinning,
difficult-to-index crystals, novel integration techniques, and
more... The initial version, available for the cost of a few
clicks, is available here....now! Version 1.15 of the tutorial contains over
100 PowerPoint
"slides", as well as a few external links.
Connection to the internet is not required to use the tutorial, as most
of the
links
are included with the distribution.
Support
by the National Science Foundation through grants DMR-0504000 and
CHE-0521047
is gratefully acknowledged. I offer special thanks to my Support Team,
Ilia Guzei, Victor Young
and Peter Mueller, and the folks at Bruker, particularly Sue Byram,
Chuck Campana,
Rob Hooft, Peter Janutolo, Bruce Noll, Scott Phillips and Michael Ruf.
Last, but NOT least, undergraduates Laura Adduci, Aaron Gell and Shai
Posner, along
with my recent Ph. D. student Josh Chen, have inspired many of my ideas
and
added to my enjoyment of being a scientist-educator.
Version
1.15 INCLUDES ALL EXTERNAL LINKS. The inclusion of links was made
in
response to comments from users of the University-level Space Groups
and
Symmetry tutorial, available on this site, that
links
soon became outdated or changed. In order for the bundled links
to run successfully, the tutorial must
be
installed in a specific directory (C:\Apex2b). Full
instructions are
given below.
The tutorial will run
on a PC or
Mac with MS PowerPoint installed. The download is a compressed .zip
file.
Please fill in
these details
to help us track usage of the program. You will not be sent unsolicited
email.
In the next 12 months, there will be many updates to the tutorial, and
I will not be sending update notices. Check back once a month to
see New Things! After that time, you may be notified of important
updates if you
request them by leaving the
check in the box below: (It would be great if you register...then I
will
know something about usage...)
Download Tutorial (Apex2b.zip,
Compressed
Version,
16.4 Mb)
Once the .zipped file
above has
been downloaded, the tutorial must be installed in the specific
directory C:\Apex2b. A shortcut provided in that directory
may
then be
moved to the desktop if desired, or the program may be run directly
from the
directory by double-clicking on the shortcut in the directory.
Note that the folder "Main" must appear
at the top level of the Apex2b directory, or all links will be broken.
The
tutorial contains/will contain historical and pedagogic links; browser
behavior
varies with
version and "brand". Returning to the tutorial from the browser
seems to work best in Mozilla/Netscape by
minimizing
the browser window. In IE, return to the tutorial works best
using a
right-click, and selecting "Back". Let us know if there are any
problems. The
tutorial
links have been tested with only the latest versions of browsers. If erratic behavior is
encountered,
that is a source to consider.
There is a price for
using this
tutorial!!!! Please send feedback with corrections, suggestions, etc.
We hope
you will enjoy this material and will find it useful.
Many thanks!
Brandeis University
Send content and tutorial comments to
Bruce M. Foxman ( foxman1 at
brandeis.edu)
Bruce Foxman
( foxman1 at brandeis.edu ) Last
updated 10 June 2010