BIOL398-05/S17:Class Journal Week 6

Lauren M. Kelly Reflection

1. What aspect of this assignment came most easily to you?
   • I found reading the article and finding the relationships between the variables relatively easy. The relationships/correlations between the variables were easy to pick up on, and thus helped me see what I would possibly need to include in the differential equations.
2. What aspect of this assignment was the most challenging for you?
   • I found that taking what I had learned from the article and applying it to writing a system of differential equations was extremely difficult. I had trouble seeing how the variables used in the paper could be incorporated into equations that represented the yeast population. It was difficult to know where to start, and I hope that referring to the Week 5 assignment for guidance at least pointed me in the right direction.
3. What (yet) do you not understand?
   • I do not yet understand how to write differential equations based on information in a paper. I hope that with more practice and a refreshed understanding of differential equations I will be able to grasp this concept.

Lauren M. Kelly 00:14, 23 February 2017 (EST)

Margaret J. ONeil

1. Doing the research for looking into how respiration was modeled in other papers came most easy to me and the part of the assignment I found to be the most interesting. I enjoyed the process of hunting to similar variables and concepts I might be able to use in my own system of equations, and helped me gain a better conceptual understanding of the relationship between glucose concentration and aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
2. I found creating the system of equations, and figuring out the specific relationship between fermentation and aerobic respiration to be the most challenging to me. I couldn't find the similarities between the two rates for awhile, and kept getting hung-up on modeling those two terms. Eventually I had to go with my best guess based on the papers I read, though for the rest of the project I plan on doing a more exhaustive search in the literature to see how others are modeling the relationship between fermentation and respiration.
3. As mentioned above, I still am struggling to understand the relationship between aerobic respiration and fermentation and how one might be limiting the other. To remedy this, again as previously mentioned, I plan to do more in-depth research on the mathematical modeling of this relationship

Margaret J. Oneil 00:36, 23 February 2017 (EST)

Conor Keith Reflection

1. The part that came easiest for me was reading and understanding the mathematical aspects of the models. I enjoyed learning new ways to model each of the elements of nitrogen metabolism.
2. The most challenging part of the assignment had to be interpreting each individual aspect of nitrogen metabolism, especially discerning which parts of the model from the article seemed important.
3. I still am unsure of the details of the mechanics of alpha-ketoglutarate, and whether or not it is produced when ammonia is introduced or if more if it is used for amino acid synthesis.

Conor Keith 01:22, 23 February 2017 (EST)

Cameron M. Rehmani Seraji Reflection

Cameron M. Rehmani Seraji

1. What aspect of this assignment came most easily to you?
   • I found that reading the paper and doing the research was what came most easily to me. The graphs made it easy to see how different things in the system were interacting. This helped me figure out what was going to be apart of the differential equations I was making.
2. What aspect of this assignment was the most challenging for you?
   • I found that creating the system of equations and figuring out how the different variables interact was very difficult. It was confusing because I was unsure how to take what I read in the paper and turn that into equations that could model the yeast population.
3. What (yet) do you not understand?
   • I do not yet understand how to use my interpretations of a paper to make differential equations that can be used to model the system. I hope with more time and practice that I will be able to make differential equations for systems.

• Cameron M. Rehmani Seraji 01:55, 23 February 2017 (EST):

Nika Vafadari Reflection Questions

Nika Vafadari

1. The part that came most easily was reading the paper and coming up with a hypothesis that incorporates ammonium feed and another quantity, such as CO2 production. The paper was very interesting and it was easy to understand the aspects of fermentation and the switch to cellular respiration that they were describing.
2. The most challenging part was definitely creating the differential equations and making sure that they incorporate every aspect of the hypothesis. Making sure that the differential equations connect and demonstrate the correct conversions of nutrients into yeast and other quantities such as CO2 was especially challenging.
3. I still do not understand how to create differential equations that properly model my hypothesis and show the correct relationships between certain quantities. I am not sure how to make the differential equations connect properly in order to view the effects of nitrogen consumption on CO2 production, which is the main goal of my hypothesis.

Acknowledgments

• I certify that this individual journal entry was completed by me and not copied from another source.
• Nika Vafadari 02:55, 23 February 2017 (EST):