Perfect Paragraph

In the YED plate, there were two red diploid colonies and one pink colony (figure 1). The red colony was from unknown alpha 1 x ade2 a and unknown alpha 1 x unknown alpha 1. The pink colonies were from the cross between unknown alpha 1  and ade 1a. In the MV plate, the result was the exact same copy of those that was found inYED plate (figure 2). In the MV plate that contain adenine, all of the colonies were white (figure 3). The exact shade of the plates can be seen in the figure. The result of the study was that most of the colonies on the plate were white this indicates that im majority of the cases, the complementation has occurred.

Scientists observed and quantified similar growth patterns many species on earth follow. Populations of species experience a higher growth rate at lower population densities until they reach a plateau at a carrying capacity. The carrying capacity of a population determines the number of individuals an environment can sustain indefinitely. A logistic growth curve fits the studied phenomena as populations begin exponential and level out. This model only does so much as in real life this tends to not be a perfect match. Populations regularly overshoot their carrying capacity when times are good and population growth rates are positive even after having crossed the figurative line. The environment simply cannot sustain this population over the carrying capacity affecting the species in two ways. Decreased birth rates from less food and possible increased emigration to find suitable ranges. The growth rate therefore decreases and the population drops, possibly undershooting the carrying capacity at which point the cycle may repeat. Populations that over-and-under shoot by very little can be described as dampened oscillations. Other populations with patterns that oscillate greatly, at regular intervals, are called regular fluctuations.

The control of the thyroid hormone levels in the blood is maintained by the HPT axis. The HPT axis is known as the hypothalamic-piutuitary-thyroid axis and it depends on three things: the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the thyroid gland. Low levels of thyroid hormone cause the hypothalamus to release TRH, thyrotropin-releasing hormone. This then causes the pituitary to secrete TSH, thyroid-stimulating hormone. This then signals for the thyroid gland to secrete both T3 and T4, which are both types of thyroid hormones. Both T3 and T4 act as a negative feedback loop on both the hypothalamus and the pituitary. This means that a high level of thyroid hormone in the blood will not cause the hypothalamus and pituitary to release TRH and TSH, respectively. The whole system together acts to maintain the balance of thyroid hormone in the blood of an organism.

One factor considered in the methods was the time of day the image was taken.  In the creation of Figure 1, the image was taken around 4p.m. on a Friday and there were not many people around while the photos were being taken.  In Figure 2, the outside of Harvest in panel B had a lot more people inside and outside the store. If the image had been taken closer to lunch time on a weekday, this could explain the differences between the number of people in and around Harvest.  In panel C of Figure 2, there was less salad stocked on the salad bar. More customers in Harvest could have removed the salad so the salad bar does not look as stocked as it did in Figure 1. The number of people could have been constantly moving the tongs explaining the different orientations of the tongs in Figure 2.  Since Figure 2’s photos were taken when there were more customers, they could have forced the different camera locations as they were in the way of the photos being taken from the point of view described in the methods. Time was a factor controlled in the methods that may not have been followed in the recreation of Figure 1.

At Harvest, a food market on the campus of UMass, Amherst, evidence of phytophagy, the salad bar, was photographed and put into a multipanel figure including a map.  The methods and materials of creating the original multipanel figure was given to another student to replicate. The differences between the original and replicated included the perspective of the photo in each panel, the quality of the images, and the design of the multipanel figure.  During analysis, the differences were attributed to a variety of factors including time of day, stocking of Harvest, and the camera used to take the image

As we get closer to flu season it is important to think about getting the flu shot. The flu shot changes every  year to keep up with the varying proteins on the virus. The vaccine is important for so many reasons. I myself used to forget or not bother to get the yearly vaccine, but now I make sure to get it every year to protect myself and everyone around me. Individuals who are immunocompromised cannot get vaccines, vaccines should be administed several weeks before the individual becomes immunocompromised. These immunocompromised individuals can be protected through herd immunity; when the majority of a population is vaccinated, the virus has a hard time infecting individuals.  Therefore everyone should keep up with their flu vaccines to prevent contraction of the virus for themselves, as well as immunocompromised individuals who cannot recieve the vaccine and rely on others for protection.

In order for any scientific work to become valid it must be replicated by other scientists who must be able to redeem the same results as the original experiment. The Methods Project that I was assigned in my junior writing class in Fall of 2019 is a way for students to practice descriptive scientific writing. After doing this project the student should be able to describe their method of completing a task to such an extent that another student should be able to follow that method and replicate that task. The task in this project was to create a multi panel figure that displayed evidence of phytophagy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Although the students are mostly juniors in college, their ability to write a proper methods section in a scientific paper is unknown.

To obtain a photo of a map, openstreetmap.com was used. After locating the UMass Amherst campus with north on the top of the image and south at the bottom, I screenshot the map to include Lot 45 in the upper left and the corner of Mass Ave. and N. Pleasant St. in the lower right on a square scale for width and height. Once saved, I dragged the map picture into the inkscape window and set the width and height to 750 pixels and aligned the top left corner of the map picture to the bottom left corner of the close up phytophagy picture. Labeling this image “c” with the same method as used for the previous two photos but instead make the font black, I then made a scale bar using the width of the fingers in the first photo of close up phytophagy as a size estimate.