Unit 10 Reflection

          Unit 10 focuses on important systems that regulate our bodies and help keep our bodies function properly. As a class, we started off learning about homeostasis, which is a process that maintains stability in our bodies. For example, when our body temperature is below the average, we start having goosebumps and start shivering. Homeostasis includes behavioral response, such as animals undergoing hibernation, and physical responses, such as humans shivering and sweating. The next lesson we learned is circulatory and respiratory systems, which work together to maintain homeostasis. Circulatory system transport blood, nutrients, and gases while respiratory system delivers oxygen and expels carbon dioxide along with water. These two systems help transport inhaled oxygen throughout our bodies. Another system we learned is nervous system, which controls reflexes, movement, thoughts, muscle contractions, and basic life functions. We also learned about endocrine system, which controls growth, reproduction, and metabolism.

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/homeostasis-121117100359-phpapp02/95/homeostasis-7-638.jpg?cb=1353146781

         The main lessons that helped us on our pig dissection are learning about digestive system, immune system, and lymphatic system. Understanding the structures that make up these systems made us better prepared for identifying organs in the pig's body and their functions. Lessons about these systems help us recognize the importance of the organs, such as liver, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, and allow us to identify the locations of these structures in the body.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/images/pictures/humanbody/humanorgans.jpg

       Something I want to learn more about is the nervous system. I want to ask about how the flight or fight response works. I also wonder how certain chemicals can help treat depression.

        Throughout the second semester, I was able to learn so much information because of the great lessons and projects Mr. Orre provided! In the last few months, I was able to understand important concepts through the convenient, helpful vodcasts. I was also able to learn the concepts through experiments and videos. Aside from learning about biology, I was given a chance to use technologies to submit assignments and more importantly, record my progress as I acquire skills and knowledge in the class. This is an amazing, unique experience that really allow me understand how the Internet can potentially help students as they share their ideas and track their work.

       This experience has helped me create many educational posts on my blog. One of my favorite include Pig Dissection post, which includes a summary and a video of our group showing the functions of the organs in pig's body. I really like this post because it records my awesome experience of dissecting a pig. Another post that I like is the 20 Time Final Post, which summarizes my hard work and my passion for psychology. This post also includes a video showing the ted talk I did in class. This is also another unique experience that helped me grow as a student and a public speaker.

     To wrap up this post and this year of biology, I want to thank Mr. Orre for being such a passionate and helpful teacher. His fun, interesting teaching style really helped me improve my skills in delivering speeches, presenting ideas, creating a great presentation, and communicating with my peers. I am so thankful to have been able to participate in various activities with the class and to learn so much information about biology. I am very happy to be able to see my improvement on different skills and to also see my growth as a freshman in high school. Mr. Orre, thank you so much! I will use all the skills and knowledge I acquired in this class and I will definitely continue to improve as a student as I continue with my study.

http://www.biology.iastate.edu/files/styles/announcement_full/public/announcement/images/biologywebbanner.jpg?itok=LyCH1WMZ

Pig Dissection

I think the purpose of the dissection is to help students identify the organs, tissues, and structures in a living thing and to help students learn the functions of different systems through this hands on activity. This dissection relate to our unit about immune, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, lymphatic system because it helps us understand the organs that make up each system and how they work cooperatively to allow the body to function properly. The dissection also reviews the order in which different processes, such as digesting food or breathing air, work. Furthermore, it shows how each organs actually look like and exactly where it is located in the body. My favorite part of the dissection is definitely dissecting the body and actually being able to see how the organs look like. I was so excited when I successfully dissected the heart and saw the chambers and the inner structure of the heart. I was also very excited when I was able to identify the structures in the body and correctly state the function of that organ. This dissection is absolutely the best part of the biology class! It was both a fun and educational activity. As a group, we were able to learn so much by looking at the actual structures as opposed to the boring textbook illustrations and charts. We were also able to see how the the food goes down from our mouths through the esophagus, to the intestines, and eventually being eliminated from the body. It was definitely a helpful, valuable, and unique experience for all of the biology students!

20 Time Final Post

     The Ted talk went pretty well for me. My final product is actually a pamphlet, which was suppose to be a guideline designed for PTSD patients. As you can see from the picture, it includes some of the professional treatment, such as the cognitive and exposure therapies, and some information about PTSD in veterans or children. On the back of the pamphlet, there is a plan filled with advices from patients or therapists.

Here is the front, where I included professional therapies and information about the disorder.

Here is the back, which includes the treatment plan I created. 

       Preparing for the presentation was extremely stressful for me mainly because I keep on forgetting some parts. I had to really try my best to not feel so anxious and to really focus on delivering good amount of detailed information. During the presentation, I was, of course, very nervous and worried. I was afraid that I wouldn't get all of my information across within the 4 to 5 minutes zone. I was also very scared that I would mess up somewhere in the presentation and forget the information I was suppose to say. Despite the anxiety, I was able to finish the presentation before 5 minutes and I was able to share all of my experience with everyone in the class. I was satisfied with my presentation because it went pretty smooth and was very detailed and educational. Something I could have worked on more is having a confident tone and having all parts of the speech memorized. When I was presenting, I was rushing the entire time, which causes my voice to sound unstable and shaky. I was also forgetting some of the parts, which caused me to pause and look at some of my notes. If I were to grade myself, I wouldn't give myself full point on many parts of the rubric, such as the memorizing speech part. However, I would give myself a good overall score because I was able to deliver all the information and my personal experience to the class.

      Through this experience, I really got to learn a lot about my weakness in giving speeches and what qualities make a student a great speaker. I am really thankful that I got to do a project on something I am very interested and that I was able to acquire the skills needed for creating and delivering a short, informational speech. I am also very thankful to have been given a chance to practice public speaking and presenting my work in front of students without reading off from the powerpoint. Twenty time is definitely one of the most interesting and educational project that I've done in freshman year.

20 Time Individual Reflection

My 20 time project was inspired by the stories that I heard from PTSD patients. By doing my project on this topic, I challenge myself to conduct surveys and interviews, and  to fully understand the lives of those being diagnosed with PTSD. I chose this challenge because I am very interested in psychology. I also wanted to improve my skills in conducting various activities and producing desired product. My goal for this project was to raise awareness among the student body and to educate people about this commonly heard disorder by providing a treatment plan with detailed information about PTSD. This was my goal because I love helping people who are diagnosed with different disorders. I really hope that I could produce a meaningful work that can help others understand how PTSD, and also other mental disorder, has brought a significant impact on a person's life. In the past few weeks, I have successfully conducted surveys and some research. I was also able to educate my relatives or friends about the disorder based on the knowledge I've gained from visiting official websites for PTSD. However, I wasn't able to get as many people as I had originally expected to participate in the surveys. I also wasn't able to interview anyone who has been diagnosed with PTSD. I am especially disappointed about interview because I have always wanted to talk to a PTSD patient about the details of the symptoms or effects of the disorder. Another disappointment is that I am a little lost about doing the brochure or the poster for this project. Despite the success or failure in some parts of the project, I was able to learn about the symptoms, diagnosis, statistics, and real life examples of the disorder. If I could do this project again, I would definitely spend more time on finding people for interview and finding students to take the surveys. I would also come up with a better plan of creating a visual product for the class. My next step is definitely sharing the information about PTSD patients' experiences and treatment. I would also like to start a new challenge of studying other psychological disorders.

Plan:
Begin the presentation by describing the life of a PTSD patient. Start the sentence with "Imagine..." and try to catch the attention of the audience as I describe the panic and the fear that patients have been going through. Then introduce the topic of the disorder, describing the symptoms and the diagnosis of PTSD. (1.5 min)

Middle: Talk about inspiration for my project. Talk about my passion for studying psychological disorder. Talk about what I have done to raise awareness. Talk about my goals and the ways to achieve them. Describe the problems i have encountered during the process. Talk about  my personal experience as i read stories about other people's PTSD symptoms.
describe what i failed to complete.  (1.5 min)

End: describe how i use the knowledge i gained from the research and surveys to help other people. Talk about the taiwan trip and how I educated my relatives. Talk about how I can help the community. Talk about what I believed is the most valuable thing that I learned from the 20 time project. (1.5min)


Rough Draft:

Title: 

Introduction: 

Attention grabber- Imagine you woke up and changes

Unit 9 Reflection

           Unit 9 provides detailed information on the evolution and classification of different organisms. To avoid confusion with different names of organisms around the world, scientists develops an effective system through taxonomy, which is the study of naming and classifying organisms. This system, which is called the Linnaean System, shows relationships by integrating the genus and species of the organisms into the name. For example, we can tell that polar bear, which has the name of Ursus Maritimus, is closely related to grizzly bear, Ursus arctos, because they are in the same genus. Aside from the naming, scientists also developed taxonomic levels to classify organisms into groups. The levels are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Credit: http://www.slideshare.net/mrtangextrahelp/06-6-kingdoms-and-3-domains

           There are three domain, Eukarya, Archaea, bacteria. Domain Eukarya includes protists, fungi, plant, and animal. It includes both unicellular cell and multicellular organisms. Archaea are organisms that live under extreme condition. Domain Bacteria includes bacteria that produce antibiotics, live in guts and help with digestion. These Domains are then divided into kingdom, one of them being animalia. Kingdom animalia includes phylum chordata, which contains invertebrates and vertebrates, phylum Cnidarians, which is the oldest group containing specialized tissues, and phylum molluska, which have a complete digestive tract. Each phylum can then be divided into smaller groups called classes.
             In this unit, we've also watched My Inner Fish, which is a series of videos that show us the evolution from fish to mammals. The videos helps us understand the similar structures that we share with fish and with other organisms. We can also see how humans share characteristics, such as large brained and complex thinking, with other mammals. It is fascinating to see how our beginning embryo stage looks almost exactly like those of reptiles, fish, and other species.
            Something that I want to learn more about is the way human evolved from other species. I want to ask the question that "How did our large, complex brain evolve?"

Credit:http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pine/book1qts/embryo-compare.html

            The What On Earth evolved project was a fun, educational presentation. Although I was very nervous in the beginning of the presentation, I enjoyed the process of teaching the class about my topic. One thing that I believe I did well is making the presentation interesting and easy to understand. Students seemed to have paid attention to the presentation and have displayed their interest of my topic by being engaged in asking questions. However, I believe I still have to work many parts of the presentation, such as elaborating my points instead of just saying the ideas written on the power point. When I was presenting, I simply said the ideas that was memorized. I should learn to talk as if I was having a interesting conversation with the class. Therefore, for the ted talk that is coming up, I am going to practice sharing my ideas without just stating the points. I am also going to make the tone of my voice sound more exciting and engaged. Overall, I learned a lot from students who are superior at giving presentation. I was very thankful for having the chance to practice my public speaking.

Here is my presentation for What On Earth Evolved Project!

My Inner Fish Blog Post

The video "My Inner Fish" reveals evidences of the evolution from fish to humans. Through analysis and comparison of different organisms' structures,  the paleontologists display the structures that us humans have in common with our distant ancestor, fish. Some of the similar structures are that we both have are backbones and same nerves. Another evidence is how fish embryos resemble human embryos in the early stage. The similarity in the embryos proves that reptiles mammals, amphibians are all descendants of fish. It also shows that as the offspring develops in an embryo, genes responsible for turning on traits will make us produce structures different than those of reptiles, amphibans, and fish. In addition to those evidence, it also can be seen that human's testicles were in the same place as the fish, which shows how our structures evolved from fish. There is also evidence that the digits of our hands evolved from the bones in fish's fin. This shows where and how our fingers develop. Through years of study of the evolution, scientists have also found genes that are responsible for producing several traits. One of them being them being the Sonic Hedgehog gene, which generates the pattern of digits. The increase in this gene is the reason why mutations occur, giving people 6 fingers instead of 5. Another gene is the EDA gene, which controls how many teeth we have and how our skin develops. Without this gene, our skin would not function properly and would lead to development of certain disorders. In conclusion, there are many evidence proving our evolution from fish.

4th Blog Post: 921 Earthquake

For the past several weeks, I've been trying to find people diagnosed with PTSD. Unfortunately, I've encountered one of my biggest setback, which is not being able to get any patient for interview. I am very disappointed at myself for not being able to do anything about that. However, I am still trying and asking mainly because I really want to know how these patients feel. Aside from that, I've also looked more into articles, news, and websites about this disorder. I've found that  many people who witnessed 9/11 terrorist attack had been diagnosed with PTSD. I think this one of the reasons why the disorder PTSD sounds familiar to many of us. When I researched this disorder in Chinese, I've found that the government had been giving huge support and financial aids to PTSD patients who had been affected by 921 Earthquake, which is the second deadliest earthquakes that happened in Taiwan. After reading about this news, I immediately asked my parents, who were victims of this earthquake, about PTSD. They said that they've heard of it on the news during that period of time, but didn't know anyone diagnosed with it. Now I am trying my best to contact my relatives and friends and ask them about people diagnosed with this disorder. This will be my plan for next week. Also, I've started on the brochure that I am making for this project. I will be working on it at home throughout the week. I hope that my project can really raise awareness among the students and also help those patients, especially my friends, relatives, or family members, who suffered from natural disaster.

Carybdea Marsupialis

Carybdea Marsupialis is a scientific name of the sea wasps. Sea wasps are from phylum Cnidaria. They are transparent jellyfish that is 3 inches in length and has tentacles that can be as long as 12 inches. Their have the shape of a cube and have complex eyes that detect light. Their tentacles allow them to capture their food quickly. They are found in Australian coasts and mid and northeastern sea of Italy. Although their stingers are considered mildly venomous to humans, it is very painful when getting stabbed by them. This box-like jellyfish swims by making rapid contractions in its belly, allowing it to move up to 10 to 20 ft per minute. They feed on Crustaceans, polychaetes, and small fish. This species is in the order of Carybdeida, the family of Cubozoa, the phylum of Cnidaria, and the kingdom of Animalia. My only question is "How much food do they consume everyday?"

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/zooplanktonguide/sites/default/files/Box%20Jelly%20copy.jpghttps://scripps.ucsd.edu/zooplanktonguide/species/carybdea-marsupialis

http://www.perseus-net.eu/en/species_of_jellyfish/index.html

3rd Blog Post

In the past few weeks, I've experienced many events that helped me learn more about my topic. First, my family and I had to fly back to Taiwan due to the sudden death of my grandfather. After attending the funeral, I heard that my 4-year-old cousin and my grandmother witnessed the entire incident, which worries me, especially because I was studying PTSD. My aunt later told me that my little cousin, who was left with my grandpa until the last second, was terrified as she witnessed my grandpa falling to the ground and losing consciousness. She was crying so hard and was saying that she doesn't want grandpa to disappear. My grandma, who ran upstairs after hearing a big crash, was not able to save my grandpa on time and was devastated when the hospital revealed the time of death. After hearing the details, I became very worried about my loved ones being diagnosed with stress disorder as death is one of the most common causes of PTSD. Thinking about the incident, I began remembering many cases of children and elders being diagnosed with PTSD after an experiencing traumatizing event. Using my knowledge, I informed my parents about what I learned and told them to be aware of the disorder.

Through this incident, I was able to understand more about PTSD and also raise awareness among my relatives. I was also able to use the facts that I learned to give my parents some useful information that might help my grandma and my cousin in the future. One of the things that I learned about myself is that I really want to help people who suffer from depression and sadness. I am hoping to help my loved ones walk through this sad period of time.

One of the setbacks that i have is that I was not and is still not able to do much on my project except researching. This is because I am still in Taiwan and is still staying at a place where it is hard to get internet. My next step is to quickly start on my presentation after going back to America.

Unit 8 Reflection

In Unit 8, the key concept that we learned about is evolution. Evolution is the change in allele frequencies over time. Some factors that lead to evolution are natural selection, which is when the individuals with favorable traits survive, and artificial breeding, which is when humans breed two different individuals to produce new traits. The change of allele frequencies can be seen in our hunger games lab, which shows how the big “A” allele’s percentage decreased while the small “a” increase over time. This lab also shows that individuals phenotype favored by the nature will survive and reproduce, thus shifting the alleles in the gene pool. Although some of the traits are less useful, it is important that the alleles for these traits to exist in the gene pool. This is because variation is key to the survival of a species. Variation is really important because if there is a change in climate or environment, the traits that were once useless may suddenly become favorable, potentially helping the entire species survive. In addition to the concept of evolution, we also learned essential points about Earth’s history. We created a geologic timeline that shows major eras and periods. Through this lesson, we are able to recognize the how short human has been staying on Earth. While others species, like dinosaurs, have occupied Earth for a long period of time, humans only took up an extremely small fraction of Earth’s history. This understanding helps us recognize the huge scale of the history of Earth.

I want to learn more about how humans evolve. One of the questions I have is “Will humans eventually evolve?”

In order to become more assertive, I’ve tried to share my ideas with my group and be open-minded to others’ suggestions.  However, I still need to work on being more confident

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MsHEAnPX59Y/hqdefault.jpg

http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/images/EarthsAtmostphere/GeologicHistory1024.jpg

Geologic Timeline Reflection

1) One of the major events on Earth's history is Ordovician-Silurian Mass Extinction. According to the study, this is the third largest extinction. This extinction wiped out 85% of sea creatures, contributing to the loss of different species in the ocean. The exticntion is said to be caused by a huge ice sheet, which is a major factor that led to the decrease in sea level and climate change. Another major event on Earth's histtory is the Permian Mass Extinction. According to the study, this is by far the worst extinction. It is known as the great dying because it almost ended life on Earth. This extinction wiped out 96% of life, leaving only 4% of species alive on Earth. The third major event is the Cretaceous -Tertiary Mass Extinction. This event is famous for wiping out all the dinosaurs that once ruled Earth. This extinction also killed 76% of life on Earth. Without this extinction, there is a great chance that Earth is always going to be dominated by dinosaurs.

2) The scale of Earth's history is huge. The thing that surprised me is the fact that we, human, only appear during an extremely small fraction of Earth's history. Another thing that surprised me is how the mass extinctions did not wipe out all life on Earth.

3) We have a huge impact on Earth in a short time. We caused global warming, increase in air pollution, exessive usage of natural resources, and more. We are destroying are beautiful nature in the short time that human appears on Earth. I believe our actions will eventually lead to another mass extinction or even cause Earth to become a place humans can longer live in.

4) One question that I have is "Why are people saying that we are experiencing the sixth mass extinction? Is there any evidence?" Another question that I have is "How do species survive the mass extinction?"

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/naturelibrary/images/ic/640x360/t/ty/tyrannosauridae/tyrannosauridae_1.jpg

http://nbmpub.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/history-of-earth_spread.jpg

Ordovician- Silurian mass extinctionOrdo mass exvician- Silurian mass extinctionOrdovician-Silurian mass extinction

The Hunger Games

1)In this lab, we did seven rounds of competition between three different types of species, which are stupmys, knucklers, and pinchers. The lab simulated natural selection by having the individuals with favorable trait survive and reproduce while the individuals with unfavorable trait die. It also simulated evolution as the alleles frequencies change over time.  

2) The knucklers had the best phenotypes because they were able to produce largest amount of offspring.

3) I know that population evolved because the allele frequencies changed over time. For example, during the first two rounds, the frequency for A allele dropped dramatically from 52% to 31%, whereas the frequency rose from 48% to 69%. The frequencies for both alleles continue to change throughout different rounds of the experiment. In the end, the frequencies for A allele change from the original 52% to 40%, while the frequencies for a allele change from the original 48% to 60%, causing a shift in the gene pool.

4) Randomness in this lab includes the food distribution and special skills that individuals have. Something that is not random includes the feeding styles and the mating perferences. The random events affect the evolution by making certain individuals more skilled or lucky at getting food, which creates changes in numbers of surviving organisms and change in allele frequencies. The non random events cause change in allele frequencies based on the usefulness of the traits of the species.

5) The results would have been different if the food was larger or smaller. If the food is larger, the stumpeys might have an advantage over the knucklers and pinchers because stumpys’ traits allow to pick up something big and heavy quicker than the others. If the food is smaller, the pinchers might pick up food way faster than knucklers and stumpys. The change in food’s size has an great impact in nature. It causes some species to have better advantage as others’ traits become less useful.

6) Without the incomplete dominance, or the knucklers, the big A allele would disappear becuase the pinchers would dominate the population, causing the stumpeys to die.

7) Natural selection causes evolution.

8) Individuals used their hoodies,cheat, and push people to increase their likelihood of survivial and reproduction. This causes changes in allele frequency of the population. In nature, individuals or groups develop their own methods to increase the chance of survival.

9) The population evolves, not individuals. The nature acts on the phenotype because it rewards those with better traits.

10) A question that I have is that, how did knucklers end up with more offspring than pinchers.

Second Blog Post: Real Life Cases of PTSD

Over the past few weeks, I've been reading some statistics about PTSD. I discovered that women are more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder than men. Furthermore, the disorder is detected in roughly 30% Vietnam veterans, 10% Gulf War Veterans, about 6% to 11% veterans of the Afghanistan War, and 12% to 20% of veterans of Iraq War. Many of these patients start experiencing the symptoms of PTSD few months after the occurrence of the traumatizing event. The disorder is often accompanied by substance abuse, depression, and anxiety disorder.

In addition to the statistics, I’ve also gone over several cases of the PTSD patients. One of the example is a soldier who came back from Iraq War. He was overwhelmed with the happiness of being able to reunite with his family. However, when he was at the subway one day, feeling extremely intimidated as he watched a huge crowd of people walking past him. He started seeing flashbacks of the soldiers and his friends dying in the war. He was sweating and trembling as he felt the sense of guilt and terror. Eventually, he ran out of the subway station and darted right back home. When his wife asked what had happened, he replied with an aggressive voice, telling her to go away and leave him alone. This man was experiencing the symptoms of re-seeing the traumatizing event through flashbacks, seeing memories that are being triggered by a certain situation, and being overly sensitive and aggressive.

In the end, I've increased my knowledge about PTSD. I’ve also learned many interesting facts about this disorder. My next step is to start working on the brochure.

Bird Beak Lab

1) In this lab, we answer the question, “If the natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?” My hypothesis is “If there are individuals whose trait helps them survive, then these individuals leave more offspring than the others.” The evidence of this occurring is that the spoon bird, which is getting the highest number of food, is producing the highest percentage of offspring, which is 39% of the total. Darwin’s conclusion states that individuals whose inherited trait helps them reproduce more and leave more offspring. This supports my claim because the total population is consisted of mostly spoon beak bird, showing that this type of bird leaves more offspring.

2) In this lab, we answer the question “If the natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?” We altered the experiment a little bit by only putting ¼ of the amount of food for competition. My second hypothesis is “If the individuals with favorable traits survive and reproduce, then the population looks more and more like a winner over the generations.” The evidence of this occurring is that the tweezer, which has a favorable trait, produce 12 chicks out of the total of 19, dominating the population and making the population look more like a winner. Darwin’s second conclusion states that the unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce results in the better traits becoming more common in the population over time. This supports my hypothesis because the population consists of mostly birds with tweezer beak, making the trait more common in the population.

The question we asked was ““If the natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?” We claim that individuals with better trait produce more offspring than the others and make the trait become more common in population and turn it into a winner. In part 1 of the lab, the spoon beak bird has a more favorable trait, thus producing more offspring and dominating the population. In part 2 of the lab, the tweezer has a more favorable trait, therefore producing more offspring and making the population look more like a winner. Darwin’s both conclusions state that individuals whose traits help them survive will produce more offspring and making the trait become more common over time. This supports my claim because the spoon bird and tweezer produce the highest number of offspring in different rounds as they got a better trait that helped them get more food.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the unequal strengths of individual student in the group. Due to these errors, in future experiment I recommend we have more time and do more rounds of the testing. I also recommend that we switch our “beak type” with people in our group to prove that it was the beak that is making the difference, not an individual who is good at picking things with his hands.

The lab was done to prove Darwin’s two conclusions. From this lab, I learned that indidviduals with better trait produce more and leave more offspring, which helps me understand the process of evolution. Based on my experience with this lab, I can analyze how evolution occurs in different species.  

http://chefdanielangerer.typepad.com/.a/6a01053704bb64970c01156f774b4f970c-pi 

20% Time Project: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Hello! This is a blog dedicated to spread awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder, or also know as PTSD. I will be doing research on this disorder and hopefully interviewing some of the patients. In the end, I will create a guideline that includes some effective treatments and ways to help people identify the symptoms of PTSD.  My goal for this project is to educate students about the severity of the disorder by teaching them about the effects that it has on the patients’ lives. I also want to raise awareness about some of these psychological disorders that usually don’t receive much attention from the public.

My inspiration for this blog came from this project called 20% time. This is an amazing project that allows students to study different topics or do experiments on subjects that they are passionate about. Personally, I love studying psychology-related topics! When I was researching on different topics, I found out how trauma survivors, especially veterans, are very likely to suffer from symptoms of PTSD. I also discovered that people tend to classify these types of disorder as mild, insignificant conditions that don’t have much impact on a person’s life. Therefore, I’ve decided to use this 20% time project as a chance to inform the public about this disorder and encourage them to interact and help these PTSD patients.

My essential question for this project is “What are some of the effective ways to help people who struggle with PTSD?” To answer this question, I will be studying all the symptoms of the disorder and reading some of the patient’ feelings as they try to cope with the hardships. I will measure my progress by recording at least three important findings and two helpful treatments every week. Eventually, I will be create a visual plan, which is like a brochure, that fully explains the disorder and treatments.

By publishing this post, I am officially starting my research and study. My next step is to collect detailed information on my topic. This is it for today, thanks for reading!

Unit 7 Reflection

Unit 7 is about ecology, which is a study of the interactions between organisms and the nature. The unit focuses on different parts of the ecosystem and how different species are classified into an organized system. As a class, we learned about food chain, which shows how species are divided into different levels of producers or consumers. We also learned about food web, which reveals interconnection between species from different levels. One important concept that the unit emphasizes is that every species is important to the ecosystem and that many factors affect the survival of an ecosystem. The extinction of a species or a change in the population will affect all populations of the species in the food web. Also, there is a carrying capacity in every ecosystem, which shows the maximum population that the environment can support. In addition to learning about species, we were also informed about different problems that are threatening our nature’s well-being. We were educated about global warming, air pollution, and human’s massive consumption of nonrenewable natural resources. We were able to learn about what we can do to help save our beautiful nature.

Something that I want to learn more about are the endangered species. I am wondering about the ways that can save these species from going extinct. Another thing I am curious about is how the governments are dealing with global issues such as global warming and air pollution. Are they taking actions and coming up with useful solutions that will eventually solve these problems?

My group’s Conservation Biologist Project was very successful. Our group members respected each other's’ opinions and were open to different ideas or advices. We enjoyed talking about different biomes and deciding on the solutions. However, we did encounter some problems due to the member’s absences on several work days. Our groups was worried that the project wouldn’t be finished on time if the member doesn’t come back to school before the deadline. I eventually had to do the part that the absent member is responsible for in addition to the part that I was assigned to. Another conflict that happened was when we were deciding which biome we wanted our project to be based on. We were debating about whether we should choose desert or the ocean. Being a passive person, I agreed to do what the other members wanted. But later, we, as a group, realized that the other option gives us more information, so we changed our topic. From this experience, I realize that my dominant conflict style prohibits me from stating my opinion confidently. I would need to be more assertive by explaining my idea and politely stating the benefits of it. I would also need to speak with confident tone and posture. Despite some of the minor issues and disagreements, we had a great time working together and discussing ecology-related topics. I was able to learn to accept other people’s ideas and work with group members efficiently.

Credits:

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Extra Credit: 3D Printing Technology

          Professor Huang Wenhua and his students from Southern Medical University have been able to use the 3D printing technology to print out 3D bones and organs. The 3d printed structures are made up of thousands of layers of bone powder and biological glue. After successfully producing 3D printed rabbit and goat bones, the researchers discover that these experimental structures can withstand the same amount of pressure as the real bones. However, the researchers have yet to find a way of producing large, strong bones with active cells that can replace real bones. The professor claim that there would still be many years of experimenting and working before the 3d bones could be being implanted into patients and become useful in real-life cases.  Apart from the limitation of today’s 3d printed bones, this technology does have many potential benefits that will positively influence us in the future.  One of the benefits includes decreasing the long waiting times for organ donors. With this technology, many patients could replace their organs with 3d printed bones without having to face serious illness due to the lack of donors. The patients would have a faster rate of recovery than they would with the long waiting list of donors. Another benefit includes decreasing the chance of organ rejection after transplantation. Since the organ is printed the way the patient needs them, it is less likely for the body to reject the printed organ than the donor’s organ. This would increase the rate of the positive outcomes of the surgeries. There are also some risks involved in the use of the 3D printing technology. For example, there would be copyright issues or disputes over the ownership of the 3d structures produced by the companies. The patients or medical workers might get into serious trouble if the implant is used illegally without the permission of the owners. The difficulty in maintaining the cell environment in the 3d organ can also be a problem that puts the patients’ lives into danger. Although it is risky to use this technology, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. The 3D printing technology might cause several problems, but it would be improved over the years and would bring positive changes to the society. It would increase the efficiency of surgeries and medical treatment. It would also help patients receive organs before serious damage can be done to their health. This technology is definitely beneficial and useful for people around the 

Works Cited:
 Hipolite, Whitney. "Chinese Researchers 3D Print Rabbit & Goat Bones for Implantation Using Bone       Powder & Bio-glue."3DPrintcom. N.p., 15 July 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.                                                   <http://3dprint.com/81530/3d-printed-rabbit-goat-bones/>

"3D Printed Bone Implants Are Here - 3D Printing Industry." 3D Printing Industry Move Over Titanium 3D Printed Bone Implants Are Here Comments. N.p., 18 May 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.<http://3dprintingindustry.com/2015/05/18/move-over-titanium-3d-printed-bone-implants-are-here/>

"Pros & Cons - 3D Bioprinting." Pros & Cons - 3D Bioprinting. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <https://sites.google.com/site/gsse2014b2/pros-cons>.

Picture:
<http://www.3ders.org/images2015/bone-printing-project-at-southern-medical-university-4.jpg>