Are Humans Interfering the Population of Fennec Foxes?

Welcome to my third and last presentation of Population. Today we will take a further look into the population of these Fennec Foxes in comparison to the country, Algeria. Along with that, I will be listing a couple of fun facts about the Fennec Fox and their symbiotic relationship that they have with humans. We learned how to find the arithmetic or geometric sequences, and you will see how I ended up using that in my AP in order to find the population of the Fennec Fox. Overall, I thought this was a good term. I was able to learn things from a biological standpoint, and even think about future career options.
Geometric or Arithmetic?

When we look into a geometric sequence, this means that the sequence can be multiplied or divided by one specific number in order for the flow of the sequence to stay consistent. While arithmetic sequences can be added or subtracted by one number to make the sequence flow. In this case, since I was not able to find the population for the Fennec Fox. I had to create a geometric sequence in order to get my data for the following nine years. The equation that I used each year was 100(1.3)^n. The 100 is there because of the overall percentage of the foxes. When I was looking into the population of the Fennec Fox I wasn't able to find anything for the overall population, but I was able to find how many are in one liter when born. There are usually three Fennec Foxes in one liter when born according to eol.org. If there are three in one liter, and there are two parents; we divide that number and get 1.5. I decided to lower that number to 1.3 in order to get that separation in Algeria's population to the Fennec Fox population. This is a geometric sequence because I am multiplying by 1.3 each year and the exponent of the equation is changing each time.
Here was my process:

NB % Age process (2018)

Here is a presentation I made about the Fennec Fox along with their symbiotic relationship, or biological interaction they have with humans, my graph explaining my geometric sequence and more!

              

In conclusion, this term allowed me to dive deeper into biology, and the things around me. I was able to become more aware of the relationships humans have with different species that we are surrounded by day to day. I was able to think about what is in store for my future, and future career options that I have. Biomedical Engineering is something that I have been looking into these past 7 weeks, almost the whole term.

Citations:
Drew, Avery, File:Fennec Fox Vulpes zerda.jpg, 28 January 2010, 13:07:16
Kitty Terwolbeck, File:Artis Fennec fox (11114753056).jpg, 26 November 2013, 15:28
User:Jrockley, File:Distribution of the Fennec Fox.png, 23 January 2007

Day 1: Egg Stage

For my writing workshop, we were given an AP. This AP is cut up into four stages, metaphorically the stages of a butterfly. This is the egg stage. We're taking any piece of writing that we did in class, but furthering the context in which it was made. In this post, I am explaining what my song is particularly about, and why I wrote the song. 

Pain in her country

       

When I wrote this song I was in my room, particularly on my desk. The main thing on my mind was being in the U.S. and comparing that to a girl in a third world country. Comparing these two girls but at the same time showing the similarities in the two by their actions.  There were a lot of independent clauses. I don't know if that was because the way that I was writing was in the form of a song, or because I wanted it an action and subject for each. Something I notice in my writing is I say " I begin" or "I began" which is interesting because I start a new idea each time. I might want to change that up a bit only because I don't like the context that i'm putting it in. My intentions for this piece was to get the comparison of a girl in the United States and a girl from Chile for example. Those two countries are pretty close to one another, two totally different continents, but facing the same problem in different ways. A girl in Chile may be facing poverty, sexual harassment, etc. While a girl in the U.S. might be facing the same problems. The environments are different, the situations are the same. We both have developed a certain hate for our countries, where we live, the people we are surrounded by. We've both grown up in a dangerous nation, and although some people may not see it that way, it is; calling people crazy for thinking this way. 

Canela & Karfa

 Throughout this course, Food for thought, we were able to dive deeper into food. Where did it come from? How did it get to our local grocery store? Is it better to forage for your food or create an agricultural society? We were able to look into these questions deeper by going on some FEs. The first week we went to Metropolis where we were able to see how they roast coffee beans and where they originated. We were able to taste test some of the countries depending on their origins and find what we liked and didn't like. We also made some tortillas with PA's mother. She came and we were able to use a tortilla press and make corn and flour tortillas which was fun to see the difference. Lastly, we went forage around Lincoln park with Odd Produce. We saw what we were able to eat and what was maybe something to stay away from but I feel like I was able to make more of a connection with the community and neighborhood that I live in and how we care about the way things look and what we are able to use.

I created my own family tree. In this family tree you can see at the top you have my two grandparents from my Mexican side, sadly I couldn't use my Moroccan grandparents because they don't live in the U.S. We can see the variety of the foods because my family loves trying new foods. This also creates a background to culture and my family getting to experience the different spices and ingredients used in these different foods.

NBE. Family Tree 2018

For my AP, I had to find one ingredient that my family uses and write about it in the perspective of the ingredient. I decided to use cinnamon because it is used in Moroccan and Mexican cuisine. Read my essay on cinnamon to find out where it originated and how my family uses it:

                               

To conclude, we were able to explore the origin of cinnamon and how it made its way to the Mexican and Moroccan Bedda family. This was an interesting experience and it only makes me feel more connected to both of my cultures. Connecting to the origins of something can have an effect on the way you think about the world and the people who are around us. It makes us think about how aware we are of our background and not just the background of food but also the background of our ancestors.

Citations:
NBE. Family Tree 2018.
Bedda, Hicham. Personal Interview. 26. April 2018.
Carla Rahn Phillips. "The Growth and Composition of Trade in the Iberian Empires, 1450-1750" in James D. Tracy, ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 51.
Gonzalez, Guadalupe. Personal Interview. 25 April 2018.
Protoplasmakid. Ponche de fruta navideno. 24 December 2015. 30. April 2018

Can You Filter Filthy Water at Home?

In this course, we have been talking about when and how water came to Earth. Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, but how was water brought to Earth? We learned that due to the amount of volcanoes during this era, the evaporation of volcanoes made clouds which formed rain. In outer space, comets consist of ice, so what we learned was that a comet had hit our planet which brought the other half of our current 71% of water on earth. At GCE we were able to construct water filters. How you may ask? Well, we went down to the Jardine Water Purification Plant, around Navy Pier in order to get a better idea of how water filters are used and how we can make our water filters possibly the best. Now when I say the best I don't mean an ideal moneymaker, I mean something that would be easy for someone who is going through a water crisis. Usually it is preferred for someone who is in need of potable water to boil the non potable water, but many people don't know that the lead samples in the water will rise, which will cause a hazard. In order to change the pH sample, I made sure that my filter went through many processes before finally coming out. My main question I had was: How does water get filtered using sand, gravel, and activated carbon? Many of the sources that I had looked up on "How to Filter Water at Home?" had led me to using these three main ingredients such as: Hermit Crab Sand, Aquarium Gravel, and Activated Carbon.


MATERIALS USED:

Coffee filters
Hermit Crab Sand
Gravel
Activated Carbon
Jar
Plastic Bottle
Cloth
STEP BY STEP PROCESS:

Punch a hole through the cap
Cut the plastic bottle in half
Coffee filter to cover the opening of spigot.
Tighten the cap back onto the filter with coffee filter
Put the activated carbon inside the plastic bottle
Put gravel
Put coarse sand
Get a jar
Put the dirty water into the filter
Have filtered water come out, clean and fresh!

My hypothesis was if I use activated carbon, aquarium gravel, and hermit crab sand then, the dirtiest water will get filtered into clean, drinkable water. This is similar to the ground water filters because. usually ground water filters use natural resources such as gravel, natural sand, and minerals. These natural resources are used to filter water which is exactly what my filter is used for. The activated carbon is a replicant of what the underwater volcanoes release.

I created a spigot on the cap of the water bottle, where I poked holes through the cap in order for the water to come out. Then, I put cloth from a t-shirt on top of the mason jar so that before the water comes out it can go through an extra process. Then, before I covered the bottle, I decided to put two coffee filters inside of the plastic bottle. For the natural part of the filtration process, I decided to use the biggest rock that was available for me, so I used aquarium gravel. I also used Hermit Crab sand which is a finer sand compared to other sand. Lastly, I used activated carbon since it’s used to have a clean scent and turn the pH levels from acidic to basic levels.


Sketch of Filter:

 

NB(2017) Can You Filter Filthy Water at Home?

Inspiration for filter
My Water Filter:

                                            NB(2017) Can You Filter Filthy Water at Home?

Results:

	Before	After
Look	Mulch, soil, leaves, cloudy, dark brown water.	Cloudy, slightly yellow
Smell	Garden, earthy, playground scent.	Earthy
pH	5.4	6.0
H +	3.981 x 10^-7	1 x 10^-6

I decided to use the water from the tap at GCE, but I decided to throw in some soil, mulch, and leaves that were outside in order to see if my filter will change in color.

Before: Before the water smelled like a playground or a garden. It really did have an earthy scent to it. For looks, I put mulch, rock, and dry leaves inside of the water from our school garden. The water looked dark brown because of the mulch and dirt that was in the water before.

After: The water was clearer than it was before, with no leaves, dirt, or mulch, including the materials that I used for the filter. The scent was there at first. The scent at the beginning still smelled like that garden, earthy scent, but then I checked back a bit after and the scent had completely changed. The water was cloudy, and the color was slightly yellow.

To conclude, my hypothesis was right. I was able to filter out my water into semi-clean water compared to before which was a dirty, murky, slimy substance. I was also shocked to find out that my PH levels had risen from a 5.4 to 6.0. My "before" sample had (10^-5.4/10^-6.0 = 3.981) times the H+ as my "after." I wasn’t too sure that my filter would have changed the pH levels. I was able to clear out the mulch, soil, and leaves from the water, and was able to be left with a cloudy yellow substance which is better than what I had before. I enjoyed this project because this project really opened my eyes on how I can help someone out that is going through a water crisis currently. I was a bit doubtful of what my results were going to be before, but once I learned that my pH scale rose then I realized how this could help someone who doesn't have access to potable water like I do. Making a water filter never really came across my mind because for a person who lives in an area where they are able to access potable water everywhere around them, I didn't know how I was able to create one or how it would affect my life in any way.

Works Cited:

Lunney, Dylan, “File:Ohorizons Concrete BioSand Filter.png” Wikimedia Commons, 20,Jul,2015, Wikimedia Commons, 1, Jul, 2013,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohorizons_Concrete_BioSand_Filter.png
Morgan, Vanessa, WikiHow, “How to Make a Water Filter”, 28, Sep. 2017 https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Water-Filter