Fundamentals of Biology Research Project [Biology]

The goal of this initiative is to improve students’ learning of the subject while developing their Inquiry and Problem-Solving competencies as well as their numeracy, written, digital and oral communication abilities. A “flipped-class” approach will be taken to present different topics ahead of the practical laboratory experiences. Topics will be presented with PowerPoints and/or videos posted on Blackboard. Students will be given a “low stakes” quiz at the beginning of each laboratory session to assess their knowledge and understanding of the posted material. A research project, introduced at the beginning of the semester, will be used as the backbone to integrate inquiry and problem-solving competencies to the laboratories. Each laboratory will explore a question/aspect outlined in the research project; students will be expected to work in pre-assigned groups and present individual written outputs, data, and analysis at the end of each laboratory session. Students will be expected to compile their results obtained during the semester, and make a digital/oral presentation at the end of the term. Students will collect background information and complete four written assignments; students will receive feedback on these assignments to allow for improvements and successful completion of the final presentations. Each individual student will also be required to write three laboratory reports. Collaborative work with group members will be essential for successful learning using an Inquiry and problem solving approach, although written reports will be marked individually, per the guidelines given in the assignments. The syllabus for the lecture component of these sections is identical to the syllabus of the standard versions of this course; the grading procedures for the laboratory component of the course are modified as described in the grading policy below. LaGuardia’s Core Competencies and Communication Abilities Main Course Learning Objectives: This course is an integrated two-semester laboratory-based sequence, stressing major concepts of biology designed to assist the student in relating these concepts to the environment. The scientific method of thinking and the experimental approach will be stressed. Among the topics studied are: SCB201 Cellular and molecular basis of life, heredity, and the evolution of life

Water in Your Neighbourhood: A Model for Implementing a Semester-Long Course-Based Undergraduate Research Project in Introductory Biology

Undergraduate biology education has changed over the past decade, incorporating an iterative and evidence-based approach. Many educational assessments have confirmed the effectiveness of integrating authentic research and open-ended inquiry into introductory biology courses, demonstrating a significant positive impact on students’ learning and attitude towards STEM majors. Despite these findings, only a handful of Biology instructors in 2-year colleges adopt this approach, and when adopted, most activities constitute a small fraction of these courses. Finding a feasible, sustainable, semester-long, and cost-effective strategy to incorporate authentic research in the curriculum which promotes integrated understanding of science and addresses socio-scientific issues, is a big challenge for both instructors and administrators at 2-year colleges. Here we present a unique model incorporating a semester-long authentic research-based set of laboratories in introductory Biology through which students investigate the water quality in areas close to their communities. Our approach is fully aligned with all five core components of an effective Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience according to CUREnet. The laboratories were developed to be fully incorporated into the teaching curriculum. Each laboratory was designed to ensure students acquire the knowledge and skills set out in the course syllabus through a process of discovery designed to promote students’ engagement

Diffusion and Osmosis: Passive Movement of Molecules in Biological Systems

During this lab, students determine the salinity of collected water samples. They also compare the effect of the solute concentration of their samples with that of solutions of known solute concentrations on plant cells

Decoración de Au y Pt sobre los bordes de escalón de grafito pirolitico altamente orientado

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del estudio de la caracterización electroquímica de las Decoraciones de Oro y Platino sobre Grafito Pirolitico Altamente Orientado (HOPG) como cátodos midiendo la actividad electrocatalítica con respecto a la reacción de desprendimiento de hidrógeno (RDH) en medio ácido. Se realizaron curvas corriente potencial (I vs V) obtenidas potenciostaticamente bajo atmósfera de nitrógeno en una solución de H2SO4. La morfología de los depósitos se evaluó ex situ mediante SEM (microscopio electrónico de barrido) Los resultados permiten evaluar que las nanoestructuras generada varían su forma debido a la topografía del HOPG y su potencial aplicación como materiales de electrodo para la generación electrolítica de hidrógeno en medio ácido.In this paper we present the results of the electrochemical characterization of gold and platinum decorations on Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) as cathodes by measuring the electrocatalytic activity with respect to the hydrogen evolution reaction (RDH) in acid medium. Current curves were potential (I vs. V) obtained potentiostatically under nitrogen in a solution of H2SO4. The deposit morphology was assessed ex situ by SEM (scanning electron microscope) results to assess the generated nanoesctructuras vary its shape due to the topography of HOPG and their potential application as electrode materials for electrolytic hydrogen generation means acid.Fil: Fuentes, Ana Silvina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Avalle, Lucia Bernardita. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Quaino, Paola Monica. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Elizabeth del Carmen. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Adsorption of anions on Ag nanostructured electrodes on HOPG

La estructura y propiedades de la interfase electroquímica, son el resultado de las interacciones que se producen entre los distintos componentes de una solución electrolítica y el electrodo metálico. En particular, las interacciones anión/metal han sido objeto de considerable interés en los últimos años gracias al desarrollo de nuevas técnicas que han permitido el estudio tanto “in-situ” como “ex-situ”, de las características de este enlace de adsorción. Los iones específicamente adsorbidos modifican la distribución de carga y la estructura de la interfase y consecuentemente influyen en los procesos que ocurren en ella. De allí que la comprensión de las interacciones anión/electrodo son de fundamental importancia en relación con procesos electroquímicos de relevancia tales como corrosión, UPD y Electrocatálisis. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la tendencia que presentan electrodos sintetizados nanoestructurados (Ag/HOPG) en adsorber aniones, como por ejemplo Cl- y Br-. Los resultados permiten concluir que las nanoestructuras de Ag presentan capacidad de adsorber aniones, pero el comportamiento es diferente a sus monocristales.The structure and properties of the electrochemical interface result from the interactions that occur between the different components of an electrolytic solution and the metal electrode. In particular, the anion / metal interactions have been of great interest in recent years, mainly due to the development of new techniques that have allowed the study of in situ and ex situ tests of the characteristics of this chemical adsorption bond. Specifically adsorbed ions modify the charge distribution and the structure of the interface, affecting the processes that occur in this interface. Therefore the detailed knowledge of the anion / electrode interactions are extremely important, such as the electrochemical processes of corrosion, UPD and Electrocatalysis. This paper aims to analyze the tendency of synthesized nanostructured electrodes (Ag / HOPG) to adsorb anions, such as Cl- and Br-. The results indicate that the Ag nanostructures have the ability to adsorb anions, but the behavior is different from their monocrystals.Fil: Fuentes, Ana Silvina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca; ArgentinaFil: Avalle, Lucia Bernardita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Elizabeth del Carmen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentin

Diseño e implementación de un sistema de acumulación de costos por órdenes específicas, en la empresa MADESA de la ciudad de Estelí, para el primer semestre del año 2021.

En la presente investigación se pretende dar solución a la problemática de la ausencia de un sistema de acumulación de costos en la empresa MADESA de la ciudad de Estelí, esta entidad se dedica a la elaboración de cajas para puros, no cuenta con un sistema que le permite calcular los costos de una manera más ordenada y precisa de cada una de las cajas, para dar solución a la problemática se establecieron objetivos, entre ellos el describir el proceso productivo durante la elaboración de cajas para puros en la empresa. Otro de los objetivos es el controlar individualmente cada uno de los elementos del sistema de costos, para lograr este fue necesario crear una serie de formatos que se adapte a los procesos y a las necesidades de la entidad. Estos determinaran los costos por caja, material utilizado para la fabricación de las cajas, así como el costo total de la elaboración de las mismas, estos formatos ayudaran a controlar el material a utilizar, así como a llevar un inventario actualizado del mismo, otro de los objetivos es establecer un sistema de acumulación de costos por órdenes específicas, es decir poner en práctica todos los formatos diseñados en el objetivo dos para así verificar que el sistema es útil para la entidad y que es apto para la misma. Al utilizar el diseño de acumulación de costos diseñado en la investigación le garantizara más exactitud para conocer los costos que incurren al momento de cada orden por cada caja fabricada en la entidad. Como palabras claves se establecen las siguientes: diseñar, implementar, facilitar, resumir

Electrochemical study of titanium oxide electrodes in acid solution

El titanio (Ti) es un metal válvula capaz de resistir la corrosión, debido a la presencia de una película de óxido pasiva sobre su superficie formada espontáneamente. Dicha película está compuesta principalmente de dióxido de titanio (TiO2) que formada potenciodinámicamente tiene las características de un semiconductor y es un compuesto útil en electrocatálisis, considerando que se usa como un soporte electrocatalizador en las celdas de combustibles.En este trabajo se realizó la caracterización electroquímica de los electrodos vidrio/Ti/TiO2 y lámina Ti/TiO2 en una solución de 0,01M HClO4 a 25°C en presencia y ausencia de oxígeno. Además, se realizó un estudio electroquímico de la reacción de reducción de oxígeno (RRO) en ambos electrodos a diferentes velocidades de barrido y en presencia de oxígeno. Los resultados obtenidos por voltamperometría cíclica revelan que la actividad electrocatalítica del electrodo vidrio/Ti/TiO2 para la RROfue mayor en comparación con el electrodo lámina/Ti/TiO2.The spontaneously formed titanium oxide, results in a thin passive film that confers corrosion protection to the underlying metal. When the oxide film is potentiodynamically formed, the main properties observed correspond to a semiconductor behaviour. These electrochemically formed oxides are being intensively studied for their application in electrocatalysis. Currently, they are being used as support material in fuel cells. In this work, two different electrodes have been electrochemically characterized: a thin film of titanium deposited on glass and a titanium sheet. The electrolyte used was 0.01 M HClO4 at 25 C in presence and in absence of saturated oxygen in the electrochemical cell. Additionally, an electrochemical study of the oxygen reduction reaction (RRO) was performed on both electrodes at different scan rates.Results by cyclic voltammetry revealed that the electrocatalytic activity of the Ti/TiO2glass electrode for the RRO was higher compared to the Ti/TiO2 foil electrode.Fil: Díaz de Rosa, Verónica Liz. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Fuentes, Ana Silvina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Avalle, Lucia Bernardita. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas ; Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales ; Universidad Nacional de Cordoba;Fil: Diaz, Eliseo Narciso. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Filippin, Francisco Angel. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia. Los municipios de Cúcuta, Bogotá, Saravena y Cácota.

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia. Los municipios de Cúcuta, Bogotá, Saravena y Cácota.La violencia armada que se ha propinado al contexto colombiano durante los últimos 20 años, ha dejado graves afectaciones de índole psicosocial, aumentando las emergentes que limitan en muchas ocasiones la actividad humana en todas sus dimensiones, sean estas social, económica, política y cultural al interior de una comunidad. La violencia por parte de grupos armados es un problema que actualmente se desarrolla tras la firma del proceso de paz que deja y mantiene con grandes miedos, sesgos y vacíos psicológicos a la sociedad en general. La incertidumbre cobija a cada persona, especialmente a aquel que vive en las comunidades de los sectores rurales, quien permanentemente hace frente a las posibles acciones de las disidencias de las FARC o de otros grupos al margen de la ley. En este sentido, el rol del psicólogo radica en empoderar a las comunidades, establecer un precedente hacia el cambio social y, sobre todo, brindarles herramientas de afrontamiento psicosocial contra los miedos e incertidumbres para potenciar su resiliencia con miras a lograr su empoderamiento, logrando que la sociedad reconozca su existencia, su lugar en la sociedad, su valor cultural y humano respetando la integridad y totalidad de sus derechos. Palabras clave: Violencia, Derechos, Acompañamiento Psicosocial, Psicosocial, Afrontamiento, Resiliencia.The armed violence that has been given to the Colombian context during the last 20 years, has left serious effects of psychosocial nature, increasing the emergent ones that limit in many occasions the human activity in all its dimensions, be these social, economic, political and cultural to the inside of a community. Violence by armed groups is a problem that is currently developing after the signing of the peace process that leaves and maintains with great fears, biases and psychological gaps to society in general. The uncertainty covers each person, especially those who live in the communities of the rural sectors, who permanently confront the possible actions of the dissidence of the FARC or other groups outside the law. In this sense, the role of the psychologist lies in empowering communities, setting a precedent for social change and, above all, providing them with psychosocial coping tools against fears and uncertainties to enhance their resilience in order to achieve their empowerment, achieving society recognizes its existence, its place in society, its cultural and human value respecting the integrity and totality of its rights

Identification of Plant Extracts that Inhibit the Formation of Diabetes-Linked IAPP Amyloid

The extracts of 27 vegetables, spices and herbs were screened for their functional ability to inhibit the aggregation of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP, amylin) into toxic amyloid aggregates. The aggregation of IAPP has been directly linked to the death of pancreatic β-islet cells in type 2 diabetes. Inhibiting the aggregation of IAPP is believed to have the potential to slow, if not prevent entirely, the progression of this disease. As vegetables, spices and herbs are known to possess many different positive health effects, the extracts of 27 plants (abundant within the United States and spanning several plant families) were screened for their ability to inhibit the formation of toxic IAPP aggregates. Their anti-amyloid activities were assessed through (1) thioflavin T binding assays, (2) visualization of amyloid fibers using atomic force microscopy and (3) cell rescue studies. From this research, mint, peppermint, red bell pepper and thyme emerged as possessing the greatest anti-amyloid activity

Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Decreases β2-Agonist–induced Relaxation in Human Airway Smooth Muscle

Helper T effector cytokines implicated in asthma modulate the contractility of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells. We have reported recently that a profibrotic cytokine, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, induces HASM cell shortening and airway hyperresponsiveness. Here, we assessed whether TGF-β1 affects the ability of HASM cells to relax in response to β2-agonists, a mainstay treatment for airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma. Overnight TGF-β1 treatment significantly impaired isoproterenol (ISO)-induced relaxation of carbachol-stimulated, isolated HASM cells. This single-cell mechanical hyporesponsiveness to ISO was corroborated by sustained increases in myosin light chain phosphorylation. In TGF-β1–treated HASM cells, ISO evoked markedly lower levels of intracellular cAMP. These attenuated cAMP levels were, in turn, restored with pharmacological and siRNA inhibition of phosphodiesterase 4 and Smad3, respectively. Most strikingly, TGF-β1 selectively induced phosphodiesterase 4D gene expression in HASM cells in a Smad2/3-dependent manner. Together, these data suggest that TGF-β1 decreases HASM cell β2-agonist relaxation responses by modulating intracellular cAMP levels via a Smad2/3-dependent mechanism. Our findings further define the mechanisms underlying β2-agonist hyporesponsiveness in asthma, and suggest TGF-β1 as a potential therapeutic target to decrease asthma exacerbations in severe and treatment-resistant asthma