In-class Exercise

With the recent viral epidemic wiping out our canine companions, I offer the best selection possible for our single use vaccine. The American Pit Bull is the only choice worth considering the use of this medicine on. First, we need to consider the viability of the dog breed itself. Pit bulls are a short hair breed which makes them comfortable in warm climates. With human intervention, these dogs can sport cold weather gear to help adapt to frigid climates as well, making them viable in most temperature ranges, and allowing anyone to own them once the population becomes large enough. The American Pit Bull is also a mid to large sized dog, which allows for it to become a reliable service dog. According to an article at servicedogcertifications.org, The Pit Bull is capable of assisting with even the most strenuos of tasks, such as pulling a wheel chair. Pit Bulls are often looked upon with fear because of the misinformation that surrounds them. Pit Bulls are involved in a large amount of attacks on humans, however, they are also trained as gaurd dogs which makes them more likely to be involved in defensive scenarios. According to an article on therapypet.com, thier aggressive nature stems from the love they have for their owners, which is the same love that makes them safe around children, and loyal companions. The breed lives on average 12-16 years, which gives allows for the Pit Bull to undergo more mating cycles, allowing the population to recover faster. Overall, the only dog breed capable of surviving both extreme cold and heat, providing physical work, offering endless amounts of love, and with an acceptably long life cycle, the American Pit Bull is the only dog breed that is capable of filling in for the entire species.

        The American breed known as the Chesapeake Bay Retriever (Chessie)is a strong, reliable, intense, and built for endurance. This powerful working dog's ancestors were rescued from the icy waters of the Chesapeake Bay in 1807 (American Kennel Club). Originally this breed was use as a sporting dog, capable of retrieving 300 ducks in extreme cold in a single day. After the long day of retrieving these dogs were again tasked with defending the camp while the owners were out. Now Chessies are used for much more then that. They have an acute senting ability that has made them popular with K-9 handlers in the fields of search and rescue, drug, and bomb detection. This breed is a very loyal breed and forms a very strong bond with its handler. This versatile dog should be at the top of the list for saving because of its versatility.

Today you will write a science comic similar to those in the Thing Explainer.

Rules!

You must hand draw your comic (It's okay if it is not a masterpiece).

You must label your comic using only the 10,000 most commonly used words. 

You can use this website to find out if your word is part of the 10,000. :

https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/

Select one of the following scientific stories to tell in your comic.

1. Bombardier Beetles - Draw a cartoon explaining how bombardier beetles spray chemicals to defend themselves

http://news.mit.edu/2015/how-bombardier-beetles-produce-defensive-spray-0430

2. Barreleye Fish - Describe the unique anatomy of the barreleye fish, what the shield is used for and how they rotate their eyes.

http://www.mbari.org/barreleye-fish-with-tubular-eyes-and-transparent-head/

http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1643/CG-07-082

3. How Wolves Change Rivers - Describe how the reintroduction of wolves changed the rivers in Yellowstone.

https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem

4. The sea cucumber and the pearlfish - Describe the unusual relationship between the pearlfish and the sea cucumber, the sea cucumbers unique defenses and how the pearlfish avoids them.

https://www.wired.com/2014/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-pearlfish/

5. Decapitated flatworms can avoid light - describe the visual anatomy of flatworms and their ability to avoid light without heads

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2142167-flatworms-can-still-see-even-after-they-are-decapitated/

6. Slave making ants - describe how some ants make enslave other ant colonies rather than start their own.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151028-a-few-species-of-ant-are-pirates-that-enslave-other-ants

When done, take a photo of your comic and upload it as an in-class activity. We will look at them at the end of the class.

Manuscript submission for this journal has rules that need to be followed. All submissions need to be in English. Brittish or American is not important as long as the writing is consistant. Doubble spacing in a normal font like 10 point Times New Roman. All submitted work has to be original unpublished work. Permissions need to be obtained for all preiviously published documents. Tables numbered usins arbic numerals and in consuctive numarical order. Please put a title explaining the componants of the table. Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. Reference lists should only contiain works that are cited in text and have been preiviously published. No foot notes or end notes. To upload your maunscript authouthors should follow the "Submit Online" link found on the home page.    

Important Guidelines/ Formatting

5 references of international standing should be cited
Discussion and Results can be merged into one section
All images have to have high resolution
sentances should be short and "very concise"
Types of Papers:

        Full length is 25 pages, 15 figure max, and references are not page length

       Short Papers are 10 pages 5 figure max

        Reviews are 20 pages, 10 figures

        correspondence articles are 800 words and 10 reference max
one person needs to be listed for correspondence
Competing interest statement must be signed regardless of exitence of competing interests which includes full disclosure of all backers and personal relationships that may have an influence (bias) on the work performed
Must use fully inclusive language "he or her" instead of "he" chairperson instead of chairman, flight attendent instead of stewardess
FORMATTING
double space, all lines numbered
Must follow structure Title page; second page contains the Abstract and keywords; subsequent pages include the Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgement(s), References, Figure legends, Tables, and Figures Figure legends should be gathered on a separate page(s), followed by Tables and Figures with a separate page for each one
should keep introduction short, backround info that lead to project

Material and Methods 

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced, including the information about suppliers and catalogue numbers when appropriate. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.

Results and discussion 

These two parts can be separated as "Results" and "Discussion" or combined into one section. The discussion about each major point of the results is very important, and should not repeat the experimental results; generally citation of related references is necessary.

Conclusions 

This section is not obligatory and can exist as a short paragraph at the end of "Results and Discussion" section. When it exists as a section, it should be short and concise but should not repeat the Abstract. Generally the Conclusion does not cite references, and it is different from the discussion.

The first topic that is mentioned is a smallchecklist of things to do/understand before beginning to write a manuscript. Some of these things include, Ethics in Publishing, Human Rights, Animal Rights, Copyright, etc. Will finish out of time in class 

 https://www.amjmedsci.org/content/authorinfo

 For the in-class activity I have researched how to submit a manuscrpt to Advanced Robotics. The first thing that stuck out to me was that it must be an original work that you submit. It can not be under consideration, peer review, or accepted for publication or publsihed by another journal. There are also limits on word counts. An abstract must be included in written as well as image form. You must use consistent spelling. Single rather than double quotation marks should be used. No changes can be made to the submission unless there is an approval for a co-author. The manuscript must have author details. Up to 5 key words must be included to make the manuscript easier to find for interested parties. There must be funding details included. A biographical note shoould be included for each author. Must include supplemental online material. Figures, tables, equations, and units are required. You must pay for colored figures. 

My chosen journal is blood cells, molecules and diseases. It not only talks about blood cells but covers the molecular basis of hematologic and the studies of the disease itself. In order to write the manuscript, you need to include the keywords and all figures with tables and ensure that all has been cited. Another thing to consider is to make sure that the manuscript has been spell checked and grammar checked. Before you begin you need to make sure you have the ethics in publishing and declaration of in interest. You also need to have it peer reviewed and the article structure incudes- Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Appendices. Title page is also required where you need to put the title and author names and affiliations and corresponding author. Research data is good also.

To get a manuscript published on World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology they give you a long list of guidelines your paper needs to follow. The first thing they focus on is being positive all authors and any other authorities all approve of the manuscript going in for review with no objections. The rest of the guidline shows you what kind of order they would want the paper to be in with what kind of topics and specific file sizes.

Complete this activity as background for discussing manuscript submission guidelines. Look through this list of life science journals and identify a journal that you might want to submit an article too. Google that journal to find their page of "instructions to authors" and look for their manuscript submission guideslines.  Write two or three paragraphs as an In-class Exercise that briefly summarize the kinds of specifications that the instructions to authors require.