Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your reply. I find your lack of faith...disturbing, but understand your concerns about the data I sent as they were just test files we collected when we were setting up the beam. However, I do not think the abridged range is the cause of the problem, as I wasl having issues importing real data as well (i.e. -150 eV pre-edge and k=12 post edge). These spectra files are attached, along with the error log file and the dathena.log file that was recorded when importing these files.

Thanks for your time!

John


On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 8:27 AM, Bruce Ravel <bravel@bnl.gov> wrote:

John,

I think the problem is different from what you presume.

You have measured a *very* short data range.  The archive post you
cite is not really relevant.  This one is:

   http://www.mail-archive.com/ifeffit@millenia.cars.aps.anl.gov/msg03717.html

There are two issues that need addressing given the data you provided.

Issue #1: As I explain in that mailing list posting, you are doing
  yourself no favors measuring data in a range from -40 to +70 or so.
  Such data are almost impossible to normalize consistently and
  defensibly.

Issue #2: Your data point out some shortcomings in Athena.  Athena
  should deal more gracefully when given ridiculous input like your
  much-too-short data files.  Here is a short list of things that
  Athena is doing wrongly:

    1. The default values for the pre-edge line are both allowed to be
       outside the data range.  This is actually the primary cause of
       your problems.  Because both pre-edge parameters are before the
       beginning of the data, the determination of the pre-edge line
       fails.  Trying to plot the pre-edge line or normalized data,
       then also fails.  This problem is exacerbated by the fact that
       you are measuing Mo.  For such a heavy element, the default
       value for the upper bound of the pre-edge region is -45.  Your
       data begin at about -38.

    2. As long as the data are flagged as being XANES data (something
       Athena does to avoid wasting time attempting to find a
       background function for very short data range), it is not
       possible to recover from problem 1.  I had to change the data
       type [1] to mu(E) in order to correctly compute the pre-edge
       line.

    3. Athena provides no feedback that the source of the problem is
       extremely short data range and poor choice of pre- and/or
       post-edge line parameters.  Athena should do some sanity
       checking and complain about the potential problem.

I will attempt to address the problems Athena has with data like this
for the next release.

You should reconsider your measurement strategy the next time you go
to the synchrotron.

B


[1]
http://bruceravel.github.com/demeter/aug/ui/glist.html#informationaboutitemsinthegrouplist






On Tuesday, February 19, 2013 03:33:26 PM John Hayes wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am having some issues when importing multiple data sets into Athena. When
> I try to import more than one file at a time only the reference sample data
> from the first file are imported and the subsequent files do not import the
> reference data (only a straight line is imported). There is an error that
> is reported, and I have saved the error log [log.txt] and attached it in
> the zip file (as well as the dathena.log file and some sample spectra
> files). The spectra files are of the Mo K-edge and the reference is an Mo
> foil. These spectra were collected using the HXMA beamline, and as such, I
> am using the HXMA plug-in to import the data. The relevant columns for the
> reference are:
>
> col 2: energy
> col 6: I1
> col 7: I2
>
> I searched the archive and found what I think is a similar issue (link:
> www.mail-archive.com/ifeffit@millenia.cars.aps.anl.gov/msg03454.html), and
> hope I'm not over-reporting the error (sorry in advance if I am), but the
> previous report seemed somewhat different, in that there was an issue with
> the wrong edge being chosen for the test and ref data (best I can tell). I
> do have the work around of importing each file individually, so this is no
> more than an inconvenience, but I thought I'd report it and see if maybe
> someone had some up with a more elegant solution.
>
> I am currently using version 9.14 on a 64-bit windows platform.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice or help the community can provide!


--

 Bruce Ravel  ------------------------------------ bravel@bnl.gov

 National Institute of Standards and Technology
 Synchrotron Methods Group at NSLS --- Beamlines U7A, X24A, X23A2
 Building 535A
 Upton NY, 11973

 Homepage:    http://xafs.org/BruceRavel
 Software:    https://github.com/bruceravel
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--
John Hayes

The Grosvenor Group
Dept. of Chemistry
University of Saskatchewan

Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "You man the guns, I'll drive."