kruzzoli's blog

Image C has a lot of differences that likely resulted from unclear methods and minor misunderstandings. The image featured is the same location but the images shows different areas of the window. The image in figure 1 shows the corner of the glass panel where the spider where the spider web exists but the image in figure 2 shows the glass panel head on and does not show the corner. This is likely the result of the people taking the images standing at two different angles relative to the building. Because the image in figure 2 also shows the double doors leading to Morril, they were likely directly facing the building. This can also be inferred by the observation of the reflection of the person in figure 2 that does not appear in figure 1. Figure 1 shows the corner of the glass panel and was therefore standing at more of an angle relative to the building. The image of figure 2 also shows part of the ground that is not seen in figure 1, so the camera was likely angled more towards the ground than the camera in figure 1. The lack of nail polish in figure 2 would be the result of the images being taken by a different person than in figure 1. Finally, the result of the blurry ucard in figure 2 that is clear in figure 1 could be the result of a different camera being used to take the images or the camera in figure 1 focused more on the ucard than the camera used in figure 2.

On image C in figure panel 1, there is a spider in a web in the corner of the glass window which is not featured in figure 2. Figure 2 has a picture of the window, but not the corner where the original image was taken. There is no spider in figure 2. The image of the ucard is also blurrier in figure 2. It is more focused in figure 1 and the words can be read, but the ucard is not as clear in figure 2. The finger nail in figure 1 has a jade nail polish on that is not present in figure 2. Also, looking at the reflection in the windows, you can see the person taking the picture of the window in figure 2 fully but in figure 1 you can only see a part of their arm. The ucard is also placed higher in the image of figure 1 and none of the ground is seen but in figure 2, the ucard is towards the bottom of the image and some of the ground is seen in the picture. The double doors leading into Morrill are present in figure 2 but not figure 1.

Figure 1 is the original figure panel that I created. The creation of this figure panel was described in the methods in order for someone to recreate. Figure 2 was the replicated figure panel that another student created using the methods. Looking at the format of the two figures, the letters labeling each image are different. In figure 1 they are much larger and easier to see than they are in figure 2. The location of the letters also seems to be higher in the original figure panel than they are in figure 2. Starting with image A in both images, the major difference is the map used. Although both are maps of the campus, figure 2 used an older map than figure 1. In figure 2, the design building is not included because the map is outdated. The map in figure 2 also has a black outline around the campus pond where figure 1 does not have this outline. Figure 2 also lacks the red circle and dot that show the location of where the images were taken that is seen in figure 1. Figure 2 also shows a less zoomed in version of the map. There is space shown above the ILC and below the FAC but these buildings are both slightly cut off in figure 1.  

The purpose of this activity was to generate a figure panel that displayed a spider web located somewhere on the UMass campus. The process used to create this figure panel will be written into a methods section that will be used by another student in the class to try and recreate the same figure panel. The goal was to have a clear and descriptive methods section that allowed the other student recreate the same figure panel. I decided to look for a spider web around Morrill because it is a pretty central building on campus and all students know this building since this is where class takes place. The images in the figure panel include a close up of the spider web, an image that shows the location of the web from a farther distance and a screenshot of the campus map. The screenshot of the campus is used because it shows where the pictures were taken so that it can easily be located.

Today in class we learned about the autonomic nervous system. This is the majority  of the nervous system and includes everything that you cannot control, which is most of your functions. The autonomic nervous system is made up of the parasympathetic system and the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is the rest and digest and the sympathetic is the flight or fight response. Your body does it's best to keep you centered between these two but different stimulus can alter your state. For example, when you're scared the flight or fight response takes over. Seeing a bear would stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and would lead to increased heartbeat, dry mouth, narrowed pupils, and this system is also linked to the gastrointestinal system. When you're relaxed, the parasympathetic system might take over. This state lowers your heartrate, makes you salivate, and in general you become calmer. The body tries to keep you inbetween these two systems. One of the only ways to affect the autonomic nervous system is breathing. Taking long, slow, deep breaths can lead to the parasympathetic nervous system. You can initiate this state and calm yourself down just by focusing on your breathing. Other than that, the systems are automatic and you cannot control. Like you cannot control what your response to a certain frightening stimulus would be, when scared you either run or try and defend yourself but it is an automatic response that you have no control over.  

One major difference in the two sets of images is the size of the pictures within the panel. The one on the right has differnt sized images and they don't allign in the same, neat way that the left side does. This is something that probably resulted from unclear methods because the person creating the second image set was unable to recreate exactly what the first person did. 

Some differences also occur in the lighting of the pictures so they were likely taken at different times of the day, or if at the same times just on different days so the sun wasn't in the same place.

The lettering of the pictures also does not match, the letters on the right hand side are smaller but they are in the same color and font and the images are labeled correctly. The sizing and placement are just not in sync. The overall size of both panels is also not consistent and the image on the right lacks the black border. 

The bottom two pictures in each set also seem to be taken from different angles and perhaps different branches. The methods used for describing the figure set might not have been clear enough in describing these scenes.

The angles of the picture of the tree, the top two in both pictures was also taken from a different angle. 

During synaptic communication, an action potential arrives at at an axon terminal causing depolarization. This depolarization leads to opening of the voltage gated Ca2+ channels which allows Ca2+ to enter the cell. The introduction of this calcium triggers exocytosis of synaptic vesicle contents,  so the neurontransmitters are released and they diffuse across the synaptic cleft. They bind with the receptoors on the post synaptic cleft, this binding initiates a response in the post synaptic cell. Communication begins with an action potential and this potetential creates a chain reaction that ultimately leads to a response in the post synaptic cell. This signal can also be stopped in a couple different ways. Neurontransmitters can diffuse out of the synaptic cleft, others are degraded by enzymes, and some are taken out of the synaptic cleft by reuptake channels. 

At 9:50 in the morning I entered Morrill 2 from the front of the building, the side facing the library. I went up one flight of stairs, walked to the back stairwell and left through the two sets of double doors that lead outside, I was now facing Frank dining hall. I turned to face Morrill and at 9:55 in the morning, I took a picture of the spider web in the bottom left corner of the glass pane that was next to the door. I squatted like a duck and held the back of my ucard vertically up to the web so that the Ucard logo was at the top of the card.  I held my ucard vertically so that the back was facing me and the Ucard logo was at the top. At this time there was a little spider about the size of the “A” in “UCARD”. In the image, the ucard is to the left of the spider web and the ucard was held up so it was touching the metal corner of the window frame. The black rubber edging of the glass is about centered in the picture. I then stood up and stood on the curb where the sidewalk ends that is directly across from the doors and took a picture of Morrill that shows the entire doorway and part of the building.

One of the proposed plans is building a third reservoir for the area. Building a reservoir that has a less than full volume would allow for fluctuations in water levels during increased periods of rain.  Another reservoir would give more area for excess water to drain to instead of flooding the streets and would also prevent excessive damage of area downstream of the reservoir. Water would find its way to the reservoir and less would travel to lower areas. Plans to excavate and widen 6 of the local Bayous are also being discussed. A bayou is a marshy outlet of a lake or river and the widening of these areas would have a similar impact as a third reservoir because it would provide more area for storm runoff and the land would better accommodate for excessive rains.

Once I had all the pictures I emailed them to myself and opened them in Inkscape. They all opened individually so I copied and pasted two of the images into one of the inkscapes so that this inkscape had all 3 images. The picture of the campus map was placed in the top left corner right next to the image of the doors to Morrill. Underneath those two I placed the picture of the spider web.

• The map was located with position x=2.170, y=1124.41 and had a height of 508.249 and a width of 421.103.

• The image of Morrill had a position x=423.046, y=1124.41 and a width of 421.103 and a height of 508.249.

• The image of the spider had position x=2.170, y= -1.492 and a height of 1128.872 and a width of 841.979.

• Overall, all three images were positioned at x=2.170, y= -1.492, a height of 1634.161 and a width of 841.979.

• Each image had a letter in size 48 sans serif black font. The map had the capital letter “A” located at x=30, y=1550. The Morrill had the capital letter “B” located at x=450, y= 1550. The spider image had a capital letter “C” located at  x=30 and y=1055. I then saved the final image.