Append

The Append option in the File menu is used to append additional data sets to the current data set. Any number of sets can be appended in sequence. Other than preserving the current data set, the Append option is identical to the Import procedure.

Appending Subsequent Portions of a Data Stream

If the X-values are different in the appended set, the combined set's X-values should preserve a continuous data stream. If this is not so, uniform X spacing can be restored using the Spline Estimation or Non-Parametric Estimation options.

Appending Similar Data Sets to Create An Average

If the X-values are identical in the appended set, or if there is some measure of overlap where one or more of the X values coincide to 1E-8 fractional precision, AutoSignal will average the replicates before opening any Time menu, Spectral menu, or Process menu option. Replicates will also be processed if the data are viewed using the View option in the Data menu.

To immediately process replicates, you can use the Average Replicates option. You should not invoke this option until you have appended all data sets since AutoSignal's data table retains only the variance at each X-value, not the number of samples at that X. You cannot append a signal to a data table that already consists of averaged values (the averaged set and the appended signal would be given equal weight in the averaging).

To save the appended sets prior to averaging, you must use the Save As procedure before opening any Time menu, Spectral menu, or Process menu option, before opening the View option in the Data menu, and before invoking the Average Replicates option. If you want to save only the averaged set, you must first use the Average Replicates option or wait until after you use one of the options where this averaging automatically occurs.

When the replicates are averaged, the original appended series can be restored with the Reset XY Data option.

Error bars will be available in the Data menu's View option if replicates are averaged. If all of the replicates for a given X-value are identical, an SD of 0 is used for the error bar. If only a single value is available, AutoSignal uses the conservative approach of setting the SD for that point to the range of the Y-variable.