Glossary

For rapid reference, here's a short list of the vernacular of Nx5d's core concepts:

Frame

A single measurement unit encompassing data from all sources relevant to the experiment. Frames are the smallest building blocks of data.

Scan

A collection of frames, typically representing a measurement sequence. Scans are the basic unit of processing.

Scan Type

A classification that describes the purpose or "nature" of a scan (e.g. calibration scan, measurement scan). Scan types can influence which spice values or recipes apply.

Proposal

A grouping of scans under a scientific project or experiment. Proposals provide scope for managing metadata and results.

(Data) Processing

Applying the entirety of data transformations and computations needed to extract knowledge (e.g. publications, long-term storage of insight etc).

Cooking

Executing algorithms to transform raw scans into processed data (processing step 1 of 2, typically focused on engineering transformations).

Analyzing

When used in contrast to cooking: interpreting and evaluating the processed data (processing step 2 of 2, focused on the science). Also used interchangably with processing when the two-step process is not the focus of discussion.

Recipe

Algorithm or API call that performs the cooking step, i.e. the mostly-engineering transformation required for data processing. Typically, a recipe requires raw data and spice to produce cooked data.

Spice

Metadata used for processing, predominantly for the cooking part.

Seeding (Spice)

The act of providing initial spice values (defaults, measurement-derived, or user input) to the proposal.

Updating (Spice)

Changing spice values after seeding. Updates allow iterative refining of parameters in a non-linear / loop-based processing workflow.

Anchor (Spice)

A propagation boundary for spice updates in the scan list. Anchors ensure that later updates affect only a limited number of consecutive scans.

View Point (Spice)

The perspective from which spice values are retrieved. Different view points may yield different values, depending on updates and anchors.

Branch (Spice)

The entirety of the current and historical values of a spice type between two anchor points, or an anchor point and one end of the scan list it applies to.

Spice Type

Several spice keys bound together under a common name for ease of addressing.