Drafts

The norm I decided to violate was walking at the same pace as other people around campus. I walked around the campus center to start because it is a very crowded place and generally when people are walking, they either speed up or slow down to avoid walking right next to each other for long periods of time. When people walk next to each other they are either friends or there’s a lot of foot traffic. However, when there is not a lot of people around and you are a stranger, the circumstances change

Whales are known for their shear size, specifically the blue whale, becoming the largest animal on Earth growing to an average 82 feet and weighing a massive 300,000 pounds. Given their reputation for their size, one thinks that these large creatures must eat other large creatures to gain vast amounts of energy to keep up with their energy expenditure, however, it is quite the opposite. These large whales feed on krill, which are no more than 2 inches long. These large whales have evolved to have baleen, which are sheets of keratin which are used as a strainer. These whales suck in large portions of krill filled water into their oral cavity and use their tongue to push out all of the water, leaving the krill stuck in the baleen which they can then scoop and swallow. There are many hypothesis' on how baleen has come into play. Dental Filtration Hypothesis states that filter feeding evolved from dental cusps, similar to teeth with ripples, that would be used as a sort of strainer. Analogous to the crabeater seal. Medial Baleen Hypothesis states that the beginnings of baleen formed in middle of the mouth, going from the tip of the rostrum to the back, as opposed to on the dental row. Baleen would be more medial. Posterior Baleen Hypothesis states that the baleen formed towards the back of the mouth rather than starting at the tip of the rostrum. Suction Feeding Hypothesis states that they transitioned from a hunting style to a suction style feeding, gradually growing baleen to boost efficiency. However, it is still unclear which of these is the correct hypothesis as it is very difficult to gather information on these animals due to their large size, large range of habitat and their global protection. 

Finally, it was washed with brine (1 x 1.5 mL). After each wash, the lower layer was moved to a waste beaker. After washing, CaCl2 pellets were added to the vial until the pellets stopped clumping together. It was left for five minutes to dry and the dried product was transferred to a new vial. The final product (0.652g, 49.9%) was divided so further tests like GC, IR and bromine and potassium permanganate chemical tests could be performed. The bromine in dichloromethane (3% solution) was added one drop at a time and the color changes were observed after each drop. The same method was carried out with potassium permanganate (1% potassium permanganate and 10% sulfuric acid). Color changes were recorded after each drop.

Social Rank: Social conflict increases stress hormone levels, such as glucocorticoid, and has other associated costs on the body’s function. To mitigate this effect,  birds have developed a system that is dependent on the dominance of alphas and the subordinate social status of the subordinate individuals. These rankings are often established through physical contest and reinforced by threatening behavior as well as submissive posturing of the inferior specimens. Several factors, including age, parasite load,  physiology and sex all determine status and these figures typically have greater access to food or mates as well as decreased risk of predation. Furthermore, as evidence suggests, birds are able to differentiate individuals based on heritable features such as plumage, size, behavior and voice.

Flocks: Range from temporary, less orderly aggregations to organized foraging associations involving multiple species. These groups can be simple and focus on localized nesting areas, or opportunistic feeding grounds, as well as more intricate social system. Flocks are flexible systems that are defined by several tradeoffs. Benefits include predation risk secondary to statistical improvement as well as additional alerting neighbors as well as increased foraging efficiency as birds are able to share information to utilize their specialties. Flocks can utilize the “Beater Effect” , where decoy predators will flush out prey for the rest of the flock, as well as the more classic rounding up of prey seen in sea birds. However, this system is not without drawbacks as there are increased demand for food supplies, higher rates of disease and increased levels of aggression to maintain a personal space and metabolic needs.  In addition, due to their intrinsically selfish,self fulfilling nature, there are “scrounger” individuals who will benefit from the “producer” birds without contributing. These individuals are a net negative and offer no additional benefit to the flock, further increasing the demand of the flock.

    To a 10 mL round bottom flask cyclohexanol (2.004g, 20mmol) and phosphoric acid (0.5 mL, 85% purity) was added. The round bottom flask was then attached to a fractional distillation apparatus and lowered into a heated sand bath (40 °C). The mixture was heated so that one drop collected in the distillation vial every 20-30 seconds. When ~10% of the original mixture was left, the round-bottomed flask was removed from the heat. The flask was then left to cool for the dehydration phase of the experiment. Using a pipet and expelling back and forth the product was removed from the round bottom flask into a test tube to start the dehydration process. The cyclohexene was washed with water (1 X 1.0mL). Next it was washed with 1M NaOH (1 x 1.0 mL).

The target product of cyclohexene was obtained through a dehydration reaction of cyclohexanol using 80% phosphoric acid as a catalyst and resulted in a 47% yield.  A fractional distillation column was used to separate the cyclohexene product from the remaining phosphoric acid and impurities.  The cyclohexene was purified at a boiling point (64 °C), which is far lower than the documented boiling point of cyclohexanol starting material.  The presence of cyclohexene was confirmed from the characterization analyses preformed.

Cyclohexanol dehydrates to yield cyclohexene in a one to one ratio.  Cyclohexanol (1.99 g) was used as a starting material and therefore should have yielded cyclohexene (1.64 g).  The actual yield of cyclohexene was 0.77 g, which gives a percent yield of 47%.  The low yield is most likely due to low-boiling components of cyclohexene and water that leave some product behind in the flask and in the column.  Using a high-boiling component, such as toluene, to continue the distillation, would most likely have helped recover product.  However, by eliminating this step, it greatly reduced the time spent on the experiment.

The petunias displayed many differences and the syndromes were split into phenotypic and genetic components. Several differences were spotted including cell-growth and cell-division patterns in the basal third of the petals, longer ventral stamens, nectar production and metabolism, and enzymatic differentiation in the phenylpropanoid pathway. P. hybrids was studied and one to five tries that could be measured quantitively were identified for a syndrome component. Stamen elongation and nectar volume had large allelic differences. All of this data can provide valuable information for understanding floral syndromes.

All through the controversy and misunderstanding, scientists still fight for the consensus of embryonic stem cell research. Political action has also been taken towards stem cell research as policies have been put in place to limit research. Basic requirements such as informed consent on obtaining embryos for research have been added to help respect the diverse views on the topic. The procedure for obtaining the embryos has come under backlash as the early embryo has to be destroyed in stem cell research, this infuriates those who are against the research. However the embryos used for the research are often donated from in-vitro fertilization clinics, mostly from failed implantations or from excess embryos that would have been eventually destroyed due to overstock. These lines or limitations on the embryonic stem cell research have been ordered under both the Bush administration and recently under the Obama administration.

Another example of an ecosystem engineer is the gopher tortoise. The gopher tortoise is a species of tortoise that lives in the southeastern united states. Since reptiles are cold blooded, they usually hide in the shade when the sun is too hot. However, gopher tortoises dig tunnels in order to escape the hot rays of the sun. These tortoises dig complex pathways in which they can rest while the sun is too hot. Interestingly, other animals use these tunnels as well. For example, rattlesnakes have been seen hiding in the tunnels right along side the tortoise. Because the tortoise is armored, it doesn’t have to worry about the rattlesnake attacking it. In addition to protection from the sun, tortoise tunnels serve as an escape for forest fires. In dry, woodland environments where fires are frequent, animals of all kinds can take refuge in the tortoise tunnels until the flames die down. For example, armadillos have been seen to be hiding in these tunnels.