Extreme Project: Randomizing

Howdy Flog Followers,

After the scanning is completed and all of the achenes have been counted, the next process is randomizing.

Randomizing consists of taking the top, middle, and bottom sections of achenes and separating their achenes into an informative and uninformative subcategory. The goal of this step is to get a random, and therefore representative, sample of achenes from the middle.

For the informative subcategory, the goal is to place 30 achenes from the top, middle, and bottom section into clear envelopes. The top and bottom achene sections normally have 30 achenes already within their section, due to the extraction method used that aimed to get 30 achenes from the top and bottom before moving on to the middle. So, in exchange the middle section of achenes normally has a larger number of achenes. In order to narrow the large sections of achenes down to 30, randomization is necessary.

Steps for randomizing:

• Pour the section of achenes across a sheet with a labeled grid.
• Make sure that all of the achenes are clearly within a box of the grid. Go through and push all the achenes that landed on the lines and outside the grid space into a distinct box. This is to avoid bias.
• Follow the list of randomized letters and numbers, provided on a separate sheet of paper, until you have accumulated 30 informative achenes.

All of the remaining achenes from randomization that were not chosen are put into the uninformative subcategory. Ray achenes, achenes with holes, and achenes that have been crushed along the way are considered uninformative. These are placed in small white paper envelopes.

After the achenes are separated into their informative and uninformative subcategories, they must be labeled with their corresponding sticker. This is so that their identification, and therefore the extreme quality that the seed-head possesses, is not lost.

Seen in the image directly below is The Final Product: 11 envelopes. 3 of these envelopes are the clear bags full of the informative achenes, from the top, middle, and bottom sections, that will move on to be X-rayed. The use of clear bags is for X-ray purposes, so that a clear shot of the achenes is achieved.

‘Till next time folks,

Nicolette McManus