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Sea Urchin Portion of Results

Submitted by afeltrin on Mon, 03/18/2019 - 14:07

Possible inconsistencies that may have been experienced during this experiment are the lack of equal amounts of eggs in each gathered sample. Though the samples were stirred beforehand, the amount of eggs pipetted out onto a slide have very little chance of being exactly the same. This could have attributed to our results showing that a lower proportion of diesel to seawater somehow garnered more lysed eggs than the higher proportion of diesel to seawater. Possible sources of error are generally due to human error. Perhaps the ratio of diesel to seawater was miscalculated at any point, or the trial samples were mixed up. Future work that may be conducted in relation to this experiment may include testing out different pollutants and their effects on sea urchin larval development and fertilization success.

Bioarchaeologists

Submitted by afeltrin on Mon, 03/18/2019 - 10:21

Based on bones, bioarchaeologists can infer about an individual’s health. As described in “Disease and Death at Dr. Dickson’s Mounds,” they can see patterns of stress, disease, and death via looking at the presence, cause, and severity of bone lesions, dental developmental effects (likely due to diet), and the individual’s age at the time of death. They can also possibly determine the occupation the individual held, based on the certain overuse of particular muscles. Regarding a population, bioarcheologists can attempt to determine the classes individuals were a part of, perhaps due to what they may have been buried with, or even where they were buried. I would think it would be challenging for a bioarcheologist to always be able to infer why an individual’s health would happen to decline. As referenced in the article, there are numerous causes that can attribute to a decline in health and there is not always a clear connection.

Sea Urchin Methods PP

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 03/07/2019 - 13:45

Six glass jars, each approximately the size of 50mL, were gathered. The jars were divided into three groups consisting of two jars per group. The first group was labeled ‘Control,’ the second group was ‘Condition 1,’ and the third group was ‘Condition 2.’ Both ‘Control’ jars were each filled with 50mL of seawater. ‘Condition 1’ jars were each filled with 10mL of diesel and 40mL of seawater, while ‘Condition 2’ jars were filled with 25mL of diesel and 25mL of seawater. Using a micropipette, 1.5mL of sea urchin eggs were measured and released into each jar, as well as 1mL of dilute sea urchin sperm in each jar. After two minutes, each trial was stirred with separate pipettes and a drop from each was placed on six microscope slides with cover slips. They were examined under a compound microscope for a fertilization envelope. They were additionally viewed under a dissecting microscope. The results were recorded. Afterwards, in intervals of 10 minutes, a sample from each trial was viewed under the compound and dissecting microscopes, to observe cleavage occurring and lysed eggs.

Sea Urchin Methods

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 03/07/2019 - 13:00

Six glass jars were gathered. The jars were divided into three groups consisting of two jars per group. The first group was labeled ‘Control,’ the second group was ‘Condition 1,’ and the third group was ‘Condition 2.’ Both ‘Control’ jars were each filled with 50mL of seawater. ‘Condition 1’ jars were each filled with 10mL of diesel and 40mL of seawater, while ‘Condition 2’ jars were filled with 25mL of diesel and 25mL of seawater. Using a micropipette, 1.5mL of sea urchin eggs were measured and released into each jar, as well as 1mL of dilute sea urchin sperm in each jar. After two minutes, each trial was stirred with separate pipettes and a drop from each was placed on six microscope slides with cover slips. They were examined under a compound microscope for a fertilization envelope. They were additionally viewed under a dissecting microscope. Afterwards, in intervals of 10 minutes, a sample from each trial was viewed under the compound and dissecting microscopes, to observe cleavage occurring and lysed eggs.

Interrogation Techniques

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 03/06/2019 - 19:57

Investigators mainly utilize four psychologically powerful strategies. They utilize loss of control in the person being interrogated by keeping them in a state of alert and anxiety typically accomplished by the interrogation room features. The rooms typically contain a metal chair, along with a table and no windows—leaving suspects feeling like there is no way out. Then, interrogators will maintain social isolation via the deprivation of social support. The suspects will be also given false information so they can try to take the bait, and that social isolation ensures no one is there to contradict the information given. The next strategy is certainty of guilt. Interrogators want suspects to think that they (interrogators) have all the facts and want the suspect to give a confession so a less harsh punishment will be given. The interrogators will convince suspects that they know they’re guilty, by challenging them, interrupting them, and dismissing what they’re saying. They will use ‘evidence ploys’ which means interrogators will lie to a suspect about what evidence they actually have, so the suspect will give a confession. The final strategy is minimize culpability. The interrogators want to make it easy for suspects to admit they had a role in the crime, by face-saving justifications and shifting blame. They will also create ‘themes,’ which are stories that resonate with the suspect so they can either excuse or justify their part in the crime. Harsh interrogation techniques, like these described, play a role in a significant amount of false confessions given.

Beluga Whale Call Results

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 03/06/2019 - 15:13

We expected to see similar call characteristics in recordings obtained from shallow bodies of water and also hypothesized that calls recorded from shallow bodies of water would differ in their characteristics from calls recorded in deeper bodies of water. When putting the recordings in Raven Pro to create a spectrogram, we noticed an overall similarity in the structure of notes, being that they appeared as a mixture of “whistles” and “squeaks” (Garland et al. 2015). However, once the peak frequency, note duration and note rate were analyzed using Raven, the values did not coincide with our proposed hypothesis.

Infantile Amnesia

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:55

Interviewee 2 is one of my roommates, Savannah. She was five-years-old in her earliest memory, which consists of her mom taking her down the street to her friend’s house and he had just been bitten by a dog. She was walking up the steps to his porch and he was at the top. He had a huge black spot of stitches on his face and he was smiling and pulled out this pack of Hubba Bubba gum. I think this is a very unusual event, which can play a role as to why this is her earliest recollection of an event in her life. I do think the nature of it being so unusual has great significance in the fact that it was remembered. Her recollection is such a random event that it could not be considered 'routine.' Like with Benji's memory, Savannah would be seemingly less likely to remember mundane daily activities, as opposed to an event that strays from the norm. Her reason concerning why she is unable to remember anything from when she was younger than her earliest memory is because of the amount of concussions she’s had over the years.

Horse Behaviors Discussion

Submitted by afeltrin on Tue, 03/05/2019 - 21:44

In addition to the time budget analysis, a sequential analysis helped us determine the probability of certain behaviors following another. From this analysis we found that, with a bout of play between foals, there is a higher probability of them walking away after bumping mouths, leaping at another foal after rubbing against that foal, and hitting mouths after one foal leaps at another (Fig. 5).  After illustrating how one behavior is likely to follow another, we can better understand and see how patterns of behavior develop. Doing the analysis on playful bouts with a foal interacting with another foal, helps us to better understand the process of social interactions and can help us to determine the purpose of many of them being as we can not gather this verbally.

Archaeology Issues

Submitted by afeltrin on Tue, 03/05/2019 - 19:54

An obvious challenge that archaeologists face is the presence of pot hunters. When they destroy archaeological sites, they are tampering with the cultural evidence contained there. Another challenge would be if an archaeologist was unable to analyze the artifact due to a lack of information recorded about the culture that it belonged to. Without relevant information, I would assume it’d be difficult to determine cultural relevance if one doesn’t know what the object is meant to be or to do. I would think there’d be many challenges faced when archaeologists are excavating artifacts or uncovering, recording, and preserving archaeological sites. It’s a very tiring and tedious job that would take hours to days to complete.

Part of Discussion PP

Submitted by afeltrin on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 18:35

The proximity of the camera caused differences in both figures. In Figure 1, the plant is fully viewable in panels c and d. In Figure 2, some objects appear larger and the extent of the the photographed region is smaller. The angles of the pictures taken also caused differences in the replicated and original panels. Concerning photo a in both figures, the original figure is facing the plant head-on due to the presence of the surrounding plants behind the M. pudica in this photo. In the replicated figure, it appears to be a similar looking leaf chosen. Yet, in Figure 2, the angle of the photo leads me to believe the student was standing to the left of the plant, due to the rocks on the ground being visible. Also, the stems in panels c and d in the replicated figure are positioned in front. In the original figure, the stems are opposite where I am standing; I am facing the tips of the leaves.

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