Drafts

The null hypothesis for this lab is that the hair measurement between the caliper measurement and double slit measurement does not match. The alternative hypothesis is that the hair measurement between the two data collections do match. We think that the ‘better’ method of measurement would be measuring with the caliper the accuracy gets down to the 0.01mm. A set of measurement would be defined as ‘better’ than the other if it is more accurate and has a value with more significant figures. Factors that contribute to the uncertainty of the hair’s position would be the tilt of the projector’s screen, the way the hair is taped against the light projection. For the tilt of the projector screen, we think that the uncertainty would be 0.05 mm. For the way the hair is taped against the light projection, we think the uncertainty would be 0.02 mm. We believe the hair being taped to the projection would be more accurate than the tilt of the screen because the screen seemed more unstable, we couldn’t keep it in exactly the same position.

According to the law of reflection, the reflected angle from the normal is equal to the angle of incidence from the normal. Because it should technically be a 1:1 ratio since θreflection=θincidence, the slope should be 1, and the intercept should be 0. According to our graph comparing our recorded Reflection (°) vs Incidence (°), our slope is 0.9485714286 and our intercept is 3.8. The pattern between the refracted angle and the angle of incident  is directly proportional. As the angle of incidence increases, so does refraction, but not at a 1:1 ratio like how angle of incidence and angle of reflection presents to be. The graph looks linear but is not linear because of small angle approximation. According to the small angle approximation, sinθ is approximately θ if θ is small. In the smaller angle region, you get a linear portion between sinθ and θ even though it is not supposed to be linear.

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.

RNMTL1 is a protein that methylates ribosomal RNA. When there is a RNMTL1 deficiency in the body, it leads to the failure of modifying nucleotides of the 16S rRNA loop. More specificially, the A-loop cannot form properly. This causes peptide bonds to not form correctly and ultimately affect protein synthesis as well. Additionally, mitochondrial translation cannot be carried out as normal because the large subunit of the mitochondrial ribosome does not form properly when the 16S rRNA loop is not modified. RNMTL1 is also known as MRM3 and works with MRM1 and MRM2 for methylating mitochondria rRNA. Low MRM2 levels directly correlates with low U1369 modification while low RNMTL1 levels correlates with decreased G1370 modification. The modification of these nucleotides is what helps the subunits needed for mitochondrial translation to form properly. In embryos with a deficiency of RNMTL1, I would expect to see poor development in sources that need lots of energy, such as the heart and skeletal muscle. I expect this because the mitochondria is known for providing the body with ATP and energy. If part of the mitochondria is not translating properly, then places that need high energy will be greatly affected. I would also expect to see slower growth in embryos without RNMTL1 than cells with RNMTL1. 

Proteins are made up of monomers called amino acids, which are organized into polypeptide chains. When a polypeptide chain is very long, it is called a protein. Proteins have 4 structures to them. The primary strucutre is the sequence of amino acids. This sequence has directionality, which is determined by the free amino group at the start, and the free carboxyl group at the end. The primary structure of a protein is linked by covalent peptide bonds, formed through dehydration reactions between indavidual amino acids.

The secondary strucutre of protein is made of alpha-helicies and beta-sheets. Each of these is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between the atoms of the backbone of the peptide chain, with no interaction between R-groups. The R-groups will however fan out of an alpha-helix and point above and below a beta-sheet.

Tertiary stucture is the folded shape of a single protein subunit. This structure is stabilized by all noncovalent bonds and disulfide bonds. The tertiary strucutre is also where R-groups will interact. The hydrophillic and hydrophobic effect acts heavily here as the protein will fold to create a hydrophobic core, leaving its surface hydrophillic. That is because in a cell, the environment is mostly aqueous, thus the increase entropy hydrophobic regions will aggragate together. Tertiary structure is very similar to quaternary structure, with the exception that quaternary includes all subunits of a protein, from multiple polypeptide chains and domains.

In biome 2 the temperature pattern is quite unique when held alongside the biomes of Earth. The average annual temperature sits around 3 degrees Celsius which when compared to biomes present on Earth is somewhat close in nature to temperate deciduous forests (average annual temperature usually around 7.6 degrees Celsius), yet this biome is still on average colder. The overall pattern while it does follow that of the other temperate biomes (forest and grassland) in directionationality and cold winters, it does not reach the same heights. Precipitation follows a consistent pattern similar to the deciduous forest, however the levels of precipitation are on par with that of a rainforest, having almost double the amount of total annual precipitation when compared to a deciduous forest. These two factors of precipitation and temperature would most likely lend themselves to a highly unique environment that would have seasonal changes and at points freezing temperatures with massive amounts of moisture.

This biome would most likely be similar in nature to deciduous forest with hits of rainforest characteristics, precipitation wise. Winters would be cold and wet while summers would be average temperature wise but even more intense precipitation wise. Large trees life would likely be supported due to the very consistent temperature and massive amounts of precipitation, precipitation by itself would lend itself to a large amount of biodiversity with regulated temperatures mitigating this as a factor slightly. The latitudinal region would be difficult to ascertain based on the strange characteristics of the environment but most likely it would be found at 30 degrees to 50 degrees.

After collecting the pictures of the web and its location, I was required to find a picture of a map that would show my reader where my spider web was found on campus. My first instinct was to use the map on the “My UMass” App. This App has a feature to navigate campus via a map system. By searching for the building I found the spider in, Morrill II, I was able to screenshot it’s exact location. I kept both the Morrill II and the Morrill III buildings in the map to show that the hallway the spider was found in was connected both buildings. As a result of collecting all of the pictures needed to create my multi-panel figure, I downloaded the program Inkscape. This program required that I also downloaded the program XQuartz. I uploaded all of my pictures onto the Inkscape canvas and began to experiment with some possible orientations. I decided that having my location pictures on the left side and the spider web pictures on the right side would be the most asthetically pleasing. First, I selected the hallway and map picture and set them both to equal width measuements of 106.6 mm. This was to create a straight midline within the figure. The hallway picture was placed on top of the map picture on the left side. The heights of the two pictures were slightly different because I wanted the map picture to be emphasized, therefore setting the height to be around 10 mm taller. The midline was offset to the right by about 3 mm in order to emphasize the location pictures. I stacked the three spider web pictures on top of each other on the right side, aligning all of their widths to be around 103.7 mm. The heights of the three pictures varied in increasing order down the figure. I belived this format was the most logical and easy to comprehend.

Action potentials first begin when a graded potential is strong enough to reach its trigger zone. This causes voltage-gated sodium channels to open, resulting in increased sodium permeability. This overall process causes the membrane potential to become more positive (normally it is at -70, resting membrane potential). This happens until the charge of the cell reaches the threshold (-50 mv). At around +30 mv, the voltage-gated channels for potassium open. This causes increased potassium permeability. The cell begins to become more negative again due to this. Eventually, resting membrane potential is restored. 

Additionally, flooding as a result of hurricanes has become worse in recent years due to climate change. Sea levels have been rising and Houston sits barely above sea level to begin with, so now there is more water creating larger stormsurge potential than there was 100 years ago (Associated Press). The air and water are also warmer, and warmer water leads to increased evaporation occurring. Increased evaporation leads to a rise in air humidity; the amount of water that sits in the atmosphere. When there is more water in the atmosphere, there is more potential water to be collected by hurricanes and then come down as rain when the hurricane makes landfall. This was a key factor in the massive amounts of flooding that occured in Houston after Hurricane Harvey (Associated Press).