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Showing posts from February, 2018

GPS Hide and Seek

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For the Wednesday GPS hide and seek exercise I hid on top of small hill just to the north of the M building on campus. M now houses an exercise sport science classroom, the information technology shop, and the bookstore warehouse. The hill was very small but steep, providing a natural barrier to locating me. One would not accidentally stumble on me, one had to assault the hill directly. When walking north on a line of longitude one encounters the steeper side of the hill. The location was sunny and a tad warm, and an umbrella was not practical as it might be seen over the Ischaemum polystachyum "reh padil" grass. By 12:20 I could hear students in the area - I knew the initial find would be fast as I was not deep in the forest this term. I was counting on the hill to delay the searchers. And delay the hill did. One student even saw my entry path, the tamped down grass on the north (back) side of the hill, and ignored that sign, wandering off while convincing themse

Culture Health Environment Economy Food security

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Text for the CHEEF benefits is from:  http://www.islandfood.org/  Post is intended for study purposes for students in an ethnobotany course after a visit to the Island Food Community of Pohnpei. Culture Food is a basic part of our culture. When we promote our island foods, we are also promoting the traditional Pohnpeian way of life and farming system. As the forces of globalization affect indigenous peoples' traditions and food availability, it is imperative that traditional knowledge on agroforestry and cultural beliefs surrounding food are preserved for future generations. Connection to the land and local ecosystems is one way to do this. Serve a soda and appear foreign, serve a coconut and be local. Value the coconut, value local custom and culture. Value the soda, and value foreign goods and ways. Emihner Johnson speaking on the CHEEF benefits and on the current nutrition linked health crisis in the FSM Health Consuming island foods provides protection against many

Cooling curves

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A week of temperature and heat began with video on temperature, heat, and the difference between the two. Wednesday temperatures from melting ice to boiling water were mapped out. Data from cooling curves on Thursday Temperatures measured on Wednesday Temperature recorded from actual observations. Thursday an open investigation of cooling rate was launched. After data was gathered and non-linearity was seen, Newton's proposed law of cooling was introduced. Selihter takes a temperature reading Tulpe Nena graphs in Desmos Hot water on the boil, Benter with Suzanne Friday was spent getting to know the Celsius temperature system better. I first asked students to guess their own surface temperature. Then I had them guess temperatures followed by using a surface temperature reading device to determine the actual temperature in Celsius. Suzanne takes a measurement. We learned that black cars are twenty degrees Celsius hotter than white cars, black sh

Paired data presentations in statistics

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The basic statistics of paired data was introduced in a week of lecture and gathered data examples. Monday I did time versus distance for a RipStik ridden at a constant velocity over a distance of 30 meters to produce an obviously linear relationship. Wednesday was slated to be swizzle rate versus velocity. A decision to try  to find another system to use explored resting heart rate versus sit-rise-test scores . This exercise went variably well as an exercise, better in the second section than in the first, but generated ultimately unsatisfying data. Too, the SRT data is arguably interval level data at best, perhaps almost ordinal level for the students given the small number of unique values and narrow range of SRT scores they produce.  Complicating interpretation of the results was the finding of a positive relationship where higher heart rates suggested the possible correlation to higher SRT scores. Upon further analysis, this would prove to be spurious and no relationship w

Spice and timber plants of Pwunso

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A visit to the Pwunso botanic garden, Kolonia, Pohnpei, in photos Ficus prolixa: the millennium tree at Pwunso Sporophytic moss Capsicum frutescens Cananga odorata Cananga odorata Tentatively Chrysothemis pulchella (copper leaf) Hibiscus manihot (bele) Hibiscus manihot (bele) Uhten iap Uhten iap. High beta carotene red fleshed banana Lavonna, Marigold. Class start 3:52 PM upon bus arrival Class start role by photos: Nemely, Nette, Myra, Lefreeancy Leeron, Nemely, Myra, Nette view the Ficus prolixa Syzygium aromaticum leaves (clove tree). Ian, Nemely, Marigold, Rosalyn, Henry, Rodrigo What is that fragrance? Cloves!  Tree three on the tour: Araucaria heterophylla Araucaria heterophylla Male cone of Araucaria heterophylla Tech in use on the tour by Nette and Keona Norfolk island pine Heading over to the cinnamon trees Cinnamomum verum  Cinnamomum verum Cinnamomum