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Botany lab twelve photosynthesis

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This term the early preparation of plants was overlooked. Spring break preceded to the laboratory. Test plants were not set up until Easter Sunday. This also did not leave open the opportunity to dry run the set ups at the house. This failure to use well established plants and to have trial run the plants would haunt the laboratory. Plants wound up in paper cups, and the plants were not yet stable with intact root hairs. The plants were still stressed by the following Tuesday, only 40 hours after being transplanted. The tongs were to lower the paper cups into the photosynthesis chambers. The Vabira unit was measuring Centella asiatica. The Vabira requires a rather lengthy calibration period to the current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels which are roughly 433 ppm at present. The issue of the oxidation of RuBisCo, typically around 30°C, would also be a potential issue. The Neulog unit was measuring Alternanthera sessifolia. ...
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Federate States of Micronesia 2023 census released

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I was fortunate to get to attend the release of the 2010 FSM census sixteen years ago. I was fortunate to obtain and retain the data released that year, data which subsequently became unavailable.  This year a slide deck was prepared to share the results with the statistics course students.  Having the values available from 2010 along with data from 2023 provides some insight into where the population decreases have been the largest. Outmigration is under these population losses. The four states.
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Botany lab eleven invasive species of plants

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Botany laboratory eleven on 24 March was handled with an invasive species of plants presentation . Weather inveighed against an outdoor walk. The laboratory submission is an iNaturalist observation of an invasive species .  There are five students in botany who are also in ethnobotany. With ethnobotany covering invasives the following Thursday, they were excused from the Thursday session as the presentation is the same for the two courses. There is just a difference of focus with the ethnobotany course focusing on the potential cultural impacts of invasive plant species.  Thursday, however, the weather was unexpectedly clear and sunny. The Thursday class would wind up going on a cold open field walk accompanied by a single page checklist . In retrospect the botany students could have benefitted from the field walk, but weather based decisions have to be made in the minutes ahead of class time. On Pohnpei, if you do not like the weather, wait five minutes. Blue skie...
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Sending small datasets in a URL using ZipTable

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MS 150 Statistics often uses small datasets that are usually shared with students via copy-on-link of Google Sheets. ZipTable provides another way to move small datasets that is ideal for communicating datasets in limited bandwidth environments. For example, a small dataset extracted from the 2023 Federated States of Micronesia can be encoded and shared as a link . After opening the   link  in ZipTable, the student can download the data as a CSV file. That file can then be uploaded into Statisty.app for analysis. This allows everything to happen in a browser - no other software required. Neither ZipTable nor Statisty require logging in. 
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Invasive species field walk in ethnobotany

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A 15:30 no roll call, cold open saw the class start with three students. Others caught up during the walk.  Miconia crenata The decision to go with a field walk and not the presentation was driven by good weather, a desire to make the encounters with invasives real, and because botany had just done this as an indoor lecture. Botany had already been excused, which trimmed the class size by six students. The decision to not use the invasive species of plants presentation and to instead go for a field walk was made around 14:30, an hour ahead of class. To accompany the field walk a single sheet handout/checklist was prepared. Heterotis rotundifolia Although the road poses a risk, the best collection of invasives is along the road. Every plant save one was an invasive. There is a small forest of Spathodea campanulata growing there, a carpet of Heterotis rotundifolia, a fringe of Hellenia speciosa, Clerodendrum quadriloculare, and Ischaemum polystachyum. ...
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Colors of light

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The dedication of the new student union being slated for 11:00 meant that choir students were excused from morning classes, and music class students were to be excused from 10:00. This led to dropping the videos which are usually used in part to stall the start and allow for late arrivals. This term was the first term for the Doogee Fire 3 Pro to be used under the microscope. A Pixel Pro 10 also proved to have resolvable pixels under the microscope. With no videos the laboratory was done as a guided quick run through, answers were reflected onto the Smartboard. A Desmos file was used to help illustrate HSV colors.
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CD spectrograph

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Cold open was Niki Indigo with no comment. Slips of paper were prepared ahead of class. The students were beckoned outside non-verbally. Niki with the new speakers really thumps Once outside I told them to write down the colors they see in the order they see the colors. Students listed from four to eight colors.  This activity segues into ROYGBIV and the issue of six colors versus seven and  of indigo. Whether this is the optimal direction to take this activity is debatable. There may be other less potentially problematic directions to go. Such as the wavelengths and frequencies of the colors. Short shrift can be made of indigo saying Newton preferred seven colors but not delving into the possible reasons.
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