QUB | Archaeology and Palaeoecology | The 14Chrono Centre

Manual for psimpoll and pscomb

Menu

Menu K: interactive plotting

K Interactive plotting (off)                     [off]

Toggles from `on' to `off'.

When running under this option, the program provides a screen listing of all taxa in the dataset, each preceded by a number. Any initial `-' (to mark a taxon that should be skipped by non-interactive plotting) is removed. The first six characters of each taxon name are given where the dataset includes less than 110 taxa, the first three characters for less than 153 taxa, and the number only for less than 237 taxa. The option is not available for 238 or more taxa (because there is not enough room on the screen). Previously `plotted' taxa are marked by a hyphen between the taxon name and its number, and listed by number beneath the display of taxa names.

For example:

Dallican Water, Lunnasting, Shetland

 0-_Betul   1-_Coryl   2-_Pinus   3 _Querc   4 _Ulmus   5 _Alnus   6 _Fraxi
 7 _Junip   8 _Salix   9 _Empet  10-_Callu  11 Cypera  12 Gramin  13 _Filip
14 _Poten  15 _Artem  16 Crucif  17 Caryop  18 _Jasio  19 _Rumex  20 _Polyp
21 _Pteri  22 Filica  23 _Huper  24 :AP:NA  25 <>      26 !Palyn  27 =Rate
28 *Main   29 Potamo  30 _Isoet  31 _Isoet  32 _Myrio  33 *Aquat  34 _Sphag
35 *Sphag  36 *Indet

Enter 'Q', 'N', or 'number[Bx][Cx][D][E][F][Gx][Hx][O][Px][Rx][Sx][T]'

Taxa plotted so far:                               0.50 pages plotted
0 1 2 10

B

plot a solid dot next to the curve where values are non-zero but less than a default value of 0.5% (or equivalent after scaling for non-percentage data). A value `x' can be added to change the default value. This should be in percentage units or the same units as the taxon being plotted;

Cx

Change colour for current plot. The value given after the letter must be either a number which is a colour identifier from the colour palette file (e.g. C142), or a question mark (C?). If the identifier is given, the corresponding colour is used. If a question mark is given, a prompt displays the current colour, and a asks for a new one (which should be the name of a colour in the palette file);

D

switch off × 10 exaggeration (menu Dc);

E

switch on × 10 exaggeration (menu Dc);

F

switch on plotting of filled curves (menu Db), using the grey shade of filling selected in menu Dd, or solid as default. If a colour has been selected, the curve will be filled in that colour mixed with an amount of black according to the value of the grey shade;

Gx

switch on plotting of filled curve and selection of grey shade (menu Dd), with `x' set to a real number. Available shades range from 0.0 (black) to 1.0 (white). The value is given immediately after the letter (e.g., G0.75. The way that decreasing grey shades for the default summary diagram are calculated is given in Data preparation, and can be extended to the taxa that make up the summary types by using this option. Shaded plots are outlined, so pure white is visible even with a white background. If a colour has been selected, the grey value is added to the colour. A value of 0.0 always produces a black plot;

Hx

switch on plotting of current curve as a histogram. The value for the histogram width is given immediately after the letter (e.g., H0.25), in the current age-depth units. This value over-rides any settings made in menu Dg. This option is ignored if applied to a sum value. Sum values can be plotted as histograms if the '*' that defines them as sums is removed from the taxon name. This can be done by combining a histogram switch with a change of taxon name (e.g. H0.25T);

O

switch on plotting of outline curves (menu Db);

Px

Change the line thickness for the current plot. The value is given immediately after the letter (e.g., P10). The default value is 1, unless changed in menu Dk. The result is dependent on the resolution of the output device, so some experimentation may be needed to get a desired effect;

Rx

Shifts the x-scale of the plot by a desired amount `x´, meaning that the x-axis itself is placed at 'x'. If applying the offset makes values negative, they will only be plotted if they exceed the threshold for missing data (default -0.99), which may be changed in menu Bg. The value for 'x' should be given in terms of the values actually plotted (which means, for percentage data, percents rather than proportions);

S

smooth the data before plotting. The default is 3-point smoothing by fitting a regression line (2-term polynomial) through each data point, plus one point on either side. If a value is given for `x', immediately after `S', then that value is used for the number of points to smooth across. `x' should be an odd number. If it is 5 or more, then a 4-term polynomial (cubic) is fitted to the points. As with any smoothing, data points are lost at both ends of the sequence. The smoothed data replace the original values in memory, so do not use this option with the same taxon more than once per run of psimpoll. Smoothed values are printed to the data analysis file, if this is available. Values at the ends of the sequence appear as `-1'. If confidence intervals have been requested (menu N), these will not be calculated;

T

change the `name' of the taxon. This is intended for use in the production of PostScript output files that will be used in pscomb. For example, if you want a plot that compares the Betula record from several sequences, you might produce a PostScript output file using this option to replace the name `Betula' by the site name, and then add a main title in pscomb which indicates that all the plots are of Betula from the named sites.

X

extend the plotting limits for the taxon. By default, these are the maximum and minimum values found in the data for the taxon concerned. These values can be extended to higher and lower values, respectively. This feature can be used to produce plots of a given taxon to the same scale as plots for the same taxon in other datasets, for example. The code 'X' is saved in the .SCR file, but the new values are not (and so will be prompted for even when reading from a script file).

By default, all options selected are written to a .SCR file. If option P was selected from the main menu, then options will be read from a previous .SCR file, and not from the keyboard.

Setting interactive plotting to `off' does not necessarily make psimpoll completely non-interactive. Some options from other menus require action from the user. These are:

• Age-depth modelling by least-squares (L4.3) or SVD (L4.4) with the number of terms set at 0 (L5);
• Zonation (Mc) with the desired number of zones set at 0 (Mc.1);
• Data analyses with the threshold for inclusion of a taxon set to be <=0 (Mi).

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