Drafts

After observing the two figures side by side I noticed a few differences in the construction and the making of the figures. Figure 1 (the figure on the left-hand side) has photos in which the objects appear larger and have an overall better-quality image compared to those in figure 2. This could possibly be because figure 1 was created using a more advanced camera device and the camera could have been zoomed in more or taken from a closer angle. Figure 1 is also much brighter and more yellow colored than figure two potentially due to the lighting that was used when capturing the images. As far as the construction of putting the figures together, the orientation of the figures are different. Figure 1 is aligned horizontally meanwhile figure 2 is aligned vertically. I would infer that this is because no instructions were given on how the figures should be oriented. Lastly the font to label the images as well as the border used around the images are different. Once again I would infer that either not details of what font or border to use were provided or a different software may have been used to create the figures.

Quality of memory and sleep declines with age. The mechanistic interactions that underly the memory function of sleep in older adults are still unknown. In my lab, older adults are defined as anyone who is above the age of 60 years old. The beneficial effect of sleep on memory relies on reactivation during NREM sleep. We target these reactivations by the process of “cueing.” While the older adult is asleep, we administer an odor to see if this activates specific memory consolidation. We are comparing our findings to those of younger adults to see if there is a significant change. So far, we have not been able to gather enough data to reveal any significant findings.

This interspecific interaction is between a juniper and a forsythia.  The forsythia is surrounded by juniper, and it is clear that they are sharing the same soil.  The location of this interspecific interaction is on the west side of the Life Science Laboratories (LSL) at UMass Amherst.  Upon exiting the Integrated Science Building on the second floor, a right turn was taken, the doors to the LSL were passed, and the interspecific interaction was spotted directly in front of the single glass window that is between the LSL entrance doors and the windows looking into the laboratories. Three pictures were taken at 4 pm on a sunny day with snow covering the ground.  One picture, which included both organisms, was taken from the sidewalk, on the side farthest from the plants.   One was a top-down view of the juniper from approximately 1 foot above the plants. One was a picture of the forsythia with buds that were approximately 5 inches from the camera lens in focus, with the tan wall of the LSL in the background (no windows or juniper).  

Microwaves are an essential kitchen gadget in households and are used on a daily basis. They are convenient as they are quick and effective for heating food in minutes. However, you may have noticed that at times the center of your food is still cold or that the outside of your food is hot but the inside is still frozen. This phenomenon can be explained by the physics of microwaves. Waves are produced in the microwaves that transfer heat to the food. Every wave has an amplitude and when the waves hit the x-axis, the amplitude of the wave is zero. Furthermore, if the amplitude of a specific waves hit zero in the center of the microwave then heat will not be transferred to the center where the food is placed. As a result, the physcis of microwaves demonstrates reasoning of why the center of the food will remain cold.

The results did not support the hypothesis that there would be greater tree growth in areas of higher sunlight. The south slope receives the greatest amount of sunlight, and the north slope and notch had a greater basal area than the south slope. Light availability is not the only factor that effects tree growth. Competition between trees for resources is limiting on growth. Competition between two organisms has a negative effect on both competitors. Trees compete for not only light availability but also soil water and nutrients. There is limiting amount of nitrogen and phosphorus present in the soil. When two or more trees are competing for these nutrients, the trees will spend additional energy to outcompete other trees for the resources. In species that compete for water and nutrients, the tree may put energy into growing their roots instead of their diameter. Greater competition for resources could also be due to different soil compositions at different slopes. Some soil types make water and nutrients more accessible to trees, and thus promote higher growth rates.  In areas with poorer soil, there is an increase in competition for the scarce resources. 

An observation is something that we can perceive using our 5 senses while and inference is the conclusions we drawn based upon observations. One personal example that highlights this difference can be see when cooking a burger. When checking to see if the burger is ready, serveral observations are made including the total amount of time it has been on the grill, what temperature the grill is currently at, How the burger currently looks and the texture of the burger. Using these observations I can make an inference about the approximate internal temperature of the burger and if it is ready to eat or not. This inference can be confirmed by using a thermometer to  record the exact temperature of the interior. Due to having repeated this process a great number of times however, I am confident in how accurate my inferences that the internal temperature of the burger will be correct based of these observations. 

The migratory pattern in North American Birds tend to move in north-south direction. It is known that most migratory birds breed in the south and returns to the north. In general, it is found that birds living in the southern hemisphere will not migrate to the north as much as the northern birds travel. Some bird population only travel in the day, another in night, or even both. There is no direct pattern of what type of family travel when, however, this difference in time is advantageous for birds. It can be reduced competition or running away from predator. Birds can flight high up to 2000 to 4000 in the sky as well. Every bird has a different altitude they travel in.

In an article I read “Arctic Sea Ice Annual Minimum Ties Second Lowest on Record”, NASA talks about the decrease in ice coverage over the Arctic and how it’s been affecting our atmosphere. The ice coverage over the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas, helps regulate the planet's temperature, influences the circulation of the atmosphere and benefits different arctic ecosystems. Scientists have been observing that sea ice shrinks every year during the spring and the summer and eventually regrows during the fall and winter when the “sun is below the horizon in the Arctic”. However, the pace of melting ice was unpredictable and continuously changed paces worrying many scientists this past year. This changing of pace caused melting momentum in June and July to slow down, when normally those two months should have a steady increase of melting ice because the Arctic is exposed to 24 hours of sunlight. Careful examination of the ice in the Arctic goes to show that the ice has not been “rebounding where it used to be” and there is a clear significant change of sea ice. As winter ice continues to disappear, evaporation will also increase resulting in even more clouds in the atmosphere therefore warming up the atmosphere during the winter. Wildlife that has once depended on these cold temperatures and ice sheets are now in danger. It is our responsibility as humans on this earth to stop climate change from continuing on.

Besides the number of chromosomes that help identified the difference between humans and chimpanzees, there are other key factors that make humans and chimpanzees related. The size of the human and chimp genome is similar. Genome sequences of humans and chimps are 98.8% the same. Chromosomes in human and chimpanzee and their mean of divergence of chromosomes are the same. Further, the mean divergence of non polymorphic sites and CpG sites are also similar.The number of nucleotide substitutions is 35 million. Also, the number of insertions and deletions are 5 million. The total amount of insertions and deletions is 90 Mb. Nucleotide divergence of the mitochondrial genomes is similar. You can find 66% gene duplications in both genomes. Finally, bout 29% of the human and chimp orthologous proteins are similar.

From my computer, I copied my 4 saved photos on to the inkscape program. Using the rectangle and box tool I made a dark green background approximatly 210mm wide by 300mm tall. I moved one of each of my 4 picture to a corner of the background and resized them to 70mm wide to 100mm tall. On the left corners I used both the pictures containing both species while i used the pictures of the indiviual species on the right corners. Using the create text objects function, I made 10 different text boxes. I moved 1 textbox directly under each of the two figures in the upper corners for the Picture Labels and 1 textbox directly above the two pictures in the lower corners for descriptions. Then under Picture label textboxs for the Upper corner picture I moved 1 more textbox under each for descriptions and above the two textboxes for descriptions for the pictures in the lower Corners I placed a textbox above each for Picture labels. Using a line creater and adding an arrowhead to the end of the line I created 6 arrows for labeling the pictures. using 3 arrows and one textboxes I labeled the Ivy in the 3 picture and using the remaining 3 arrows and last text box I labeled the trees in the 3 pictures.