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Contents

Introduction

This quick start guide is designed to help participants quickly learn how to use the NGRL to acquire data, load it to the laboratory information management system (LIMS), and retrieve it again. It is not intended to replace the user guide.

The NGRL instrument detects gamma events resulting from the decay of radioactive nuclides in the material under study.

See NGRL Users Guide and Technical Note 26: Physical Properties handbook for additional detail.

Measure a Sample

1. PREPARE CORE SECTION
   Wipe excess moisture/mud off core liner.
   Tape over any holes on core liner using electrical tape
2. Load a section for analysis.
   Seat the section in the titanium boat (Figure 1). The blue end cap (“top”) should be near the NGRL door opening. The barcode label is visible, ready to be scanned; it does not matter whether the archive- or working-half label is scanned. 
   

   Figure 1: Core section sitting in the loading tray. 

3. Click the desktop icon to launch the NGRL application (Figure 2). 
   

   Figure 2: NGRL Program Icon

4. Click SCAN (Figure 3).
   

   Figure 3: NGR Program Main Window. The ‘Scan’ button is outlined in red.

5. A sample information dialog displays (Figure 4). Pressing Cancel closes this panel and returns to the main display.
   

   Figure 4: Sample Information Window. Text Id, Sample Length, and ‘Run the Experiment’ fields are outlined in red. 

6. Ensure the cursor is in the Text ID field and scan either of the core section’s barcode labels; A-half or W-half work equally well. Check to be sure all sample information has populated the windows properly.  If the experiment is run with incorrect sample information the section will need to be rescanned.
7. Enter sample length observed and operator initials.  Round the sample length to the nearest whole cm.  Be careful to observe the actual length of the material in the core liner, not just the end cap and to be consistent in how length is determined from measurement to measurement.
8. Click Run the Experiment.
   This starts the automated measurement: boat will be moved to the home position, moved to measurement position one, and the measurement will commence. Approximately halfway into the measurement, the boat will advance 10 cm to measurement position two (this will not occur if the user has chosen only to measure one position on a high-recovery cruise).
9. When the measurement is complete, the titanium boat will return to original load position.
10. If the measurement needs to be aborted press the ABORT SCAN button seen on the main display.
11. Update the instrument log sheet. It is very important to fill out the log sheet consistently in order for the technician to be able to assist the user in sorting out any problems after the fact.

Load the Results

All data are stored locally in C:\data\ngr\

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                          If errors occur, consult with technical staff for clarification and resolution

Data Review

To obtain a tabular view of the data, browse to LIMS Reports (LORE) at http://web.ship.iodp.tamu.edu/LORE/. To obtain a graphical view of the data, browse to the LIMS Viewer (LIVE) at http://web.ship.iodp.tamu.edu/LIVE/. Both tools have user guides to explain their use if needed.

Versioning

V371 Lawler 2017July

V371T Houpt, July 2017

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