Drafts

After analyzing all the data it is clear that there is only one choice for which sample to choose and it is sample 2. All though the price of what will be the shoe is a lot more then what is wanted the other samples cannot compare to the quality of sample 2 making it the best and only choice. People will buy Nike shoes no matter the price if a shoe of low quality, sample 1, is sold people will have lower expectations for Nike the shoe will wear out quickly and people will not buy the shoes again. The amount of grip the shoes has also plays an important role, sample 3 which has the longest durability does not have the best grip which will not end in a great product. Sample 2 lasts a good amount of time which will keep the quality of the brand while having a better grip giving the consumers a great product that they will buy no matter the price.

In the event that a retrovirus is killing domestic dogs and we are only able to save one breed, the breed of dog that we should save would be German shepherds. The main reason I believe we should save this breed over the others is due to its variety in use to as service dogs for human. Unlike many other breeds of dogs, German Shepherds are used in many different services unlike some other species which are more specialized to 1 or 2 particular focus. Some of the uses of German shepherds include use in the military, police, search and rescue, and guide dogs. These services provided very important to our lives and with the loss of these with the loss of the domestic dog population could result in many human lives lost for a multitude of different reasons. For this reason, since German Shepherds are able, and currently used, for all of these vital services they should be the breed of Dogs we choose to save.

This is not directly science related but is related to work that I had to do for my biochemistry class. We had to reflect on the exam that we just took. See if there were any questions we missed due to carelessness or just general misunderstanding. Another question was if we had any effective study methods for the exam. I’m not sure if anyone will read this but if they do it might be a helpful way to study for a test that might be considered harder. The teach provides us with a practice exam that is relatively comprehensive. I went over the practice exam multiple times, not to memorize answers but just to keep doing the process of solving the problems. Every question that was asked on the practice exam I went back through the lectures and took notes on them. I also watched the lecture videos to coordinating sections. I did this before I even tried to answer the question so that I would have all the information right there for me before I even answered it. I then took notes on the notes that I took. I did it all out by hand because this really helps me memorize and better understand my notes. When I write something down by hand I can better visualize it when I am sitting down for the exam.

Quorum sensing is a really tricky topic to understand. It is basically how bacteria talk with one another. One bacteria sends out a chemical signal and the bacteria that it is sent to has a receptor, if it can receive the signal it reacts accordingly and if it can’t than the signal will never be received. Signals can tell bacteria to do a whole bunch of different things, express a different color pigment, move to a new area where there are different nutrients, etc. The way that we are testing for this in lab is by plating a mutant bacteria that no longer can produce it’s own signal. However, it can receive signals and the way that we could tell if it receives a signal from other bacteria on the plate is by seeing what color the mutant colony turns. We are looking for the mutant colony to turn purple. We are sending the mutant many different signals. The signals are coming from 4 different bacterial colonies and all the signals are different sizes. If the mutant colony turns purple close to where the signals were provided that means that it can receive that kind of signal from that kind of bacteria.  

    Radios and TVs seem to slowly be dying as time goes on. A lot less people listen to the radio now that it’s becoming increasingly easier to either plug your phone into the car’s speakers with an aux cord, or to simply connect it via bluetooth. Not as many people these days have a television inside their homes, as watching shows on your laptop or desktop seems to be the more preferred option. Why watch something with your family, when you can each watch something you all enjoy the most at the same time without disrupting the others? These things that were staples from our times as kids, as now slowly become obsolete as console gaming, as well as cable are becoming less and less relevant. Is it possible that eventually, these forms of communication will become so obsolete that television channels will slowly cease to exist? Will radio stations stop existing? It seems like it’s only a matter of time until these things will become completely irrelevant and stop existing all together.

    Currently, the largest eSport based off playerbase is League of Legends, which has a playerbase of roughly 100 million players across the globe. An esport is a team game that is played online, pitting one team against another. While at its very core it is simply a video game, the market for the community is massive. League of Legends’ parent company is called Riot Games, and its company alone is estimated to have a 21 billion dollar net value. The organizations that participate in these huge tournaments as well are very large as well, with some of the top organizations in North America being Cloud9, Team SoloMid, and Team Liquid, each with a net value of 310 million, 250 million, and 200 million dollars respectively. People seem to want to ridicule the scene and its players, but the fact that esports have grown as large as they have is undeniable. Some argue that “it’s only a video game” and that “anyone could do what they do”. While it’s undeniable that it’s simply a video game, to argue that “anyone can do what they do” is a deeply uneducated opinion. That’s like saying that if any regular joe wanted to, as long as he enjoyed playing chess he could easily become a grandmaster.

    For some reason, there lies this stigma against socialism as if it goes against capitalism and democracy. Socialism does not go against either of these, and in fact can exist happily with both. Socialism is the idea that those that make more money, get taxed more in order to help pay for programs that are beneficial for society. These programs include programs such as medicare, medicaid, free higher education, free health care, etc. Some people view this as a negative detriment though because if they make more money, they end up getting taxed more. Yet just because they’re being taxed more, that does not mean that everything they are earning is being put into taxes and social programs they aren’t participating in. Sure that multi-millionaire might be getting taxed a couple thousand, if not tens of thousands of dollars more than the other guy making minimum wage, but that money is being put into good use. It does not mean that those who earn more will earn the same as everyone else--socialism is not communism, they’re severely different.

    The inclusion of participation inside a classroom for a grade is the most bizarre and unnecessary thing required out of most, if not all classes from the AP/IB level and above. Participation arises if the teacher is engaging enough with the material, as well as if the students themselves have questions or are not performing well. When participation is necessary, such as coming to class, it causes the students to lose lots of valuable time if they do not find the lectures beneficial. In a perfect world, professors should notify students when the lecture material will deviate from what would be available from home, so students know to come to class on those specific days. This case in point ties into why reverse classroom is becoming more popular in recent times. By having the students learn the material in their own time and their own pace, they will become able to come to class with questions from what they learned. The only reason participation is a required in most classrooms is just to make sure the course material is forced to become “engaging”. Everyone learns at a different pace and in different ways. Material does not always have to be “engaging” as long as it’s being understood.

As a neurotransmitter, GABA acts across the synaptic cleft, the junction between the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. On being released, GABA binds to special protein receptors to trigger inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP). GABA receptors are classified into two subtypes: GABAA and GABAB receptors. GABAB receptors are metabotropic G-coupled receptors that regulate the slow component of inhibitory responses (Wu and Sun, 2015). In contrast, GABAA receptors are ionotropic ligand-gated chloride channels. In mammals, GABA­A receptors are Heteropentameric; they are composed of various combinations of 19 subunits: α1-6, β1-3, γ1-3, δ, ε, π, θ and ρ1-3 (Monesson-Olson et al., 2018). Different subunit compositions are differentially localized in the brain and have varying functionality (Wu and Sun, 2015). Mutations that affect GABAA receptors have been implicated in different forms of epilepsy. For instance, mutated α1 subunit of the GABAA receptor have been discovered in patients suffering from early infantile  epileptic encephalopathy, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and other types of seizure disorders (reviewed by Braat and Kooy, 2015). As a result, many pharmacological compounds have been developed to target GABAA ­receptors, by binding allosteric sites. Nonetheless, even with the established anticonvulsant activity of these compounds, adverse side effects still emerge (Braat and Kooy, 2015).

Much of the epilepsy research done today focuses on understanding biological and neural structures and networks. Researchers have progressively investigated the links between neurotransmitter signaling and epilepsy. These biochemical messengers, neurotransmitters, offer a gateway to understanding the mechanisms that underlie epilepsy. Notably, GABAergic signaling has become of great interest in epilepsy research. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain. It performs its functions by maintaining an inhibitory tone that counterbalances neuronal excitation (Treiman et al., 2001). Perturbation of this balance between inhibition and excitation may result in seizures. GABA is a versatile neurotransmitter. Early on in development, it performs some excitatory functions that trigger corticogenesis (Wang and Kriegstein, 2009). GABAergic signaling plays a crucial role in the origin and spread, or suppression, of epilepsy. This is revealed in studies that used chemical agents to impair GABAergic signaling in animal models (Meldrum, 1989). Furthermore, GABA-mimetic molecules have been shown to be potent anticonvulsant therapies in seizure-prone mammals (Meldrum, 1989).