Microorganisms Essay -- Biology, Bacteria, Biotechnology

Microorganisms play an important role in our life: helps us to digest our food, decompose wastes and participate in various life cycles. They are diverse and have adapted to inhabit different environments including extreme conditions, such as hot vents under the ocean to ice caps; hence known as extremophiles. There are more microorganisms present in us than there are cells, and the various microorganisms are bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. Many people associate microorganisms as death and diseases causing agents; also frequently compared to dirt. Although some microorganisms are responsible for causing diseases, most microorganisms’ original hosts are not the human body so are not pathogenic, but commensal. This essay will discuss the numerous beneficial microorganisms that carry out processes in biotechnology, agriculture, industries and environment; necessary to sustain life. First of all, essential uses of microorganisms are seen in the environment, as they play a vital role in many of the nutrient cycles. For instance, carbon fixation from the atmosphere during the carbon cycle by autotrophic bacteria, such as cyanobacteria; synthesizes organic molecules for other organisms and release oxygen for our consumption. In addition, microorganisms are vital participants of the food chain since they act as decomposers; breaking down dead organisms and organic materials and releasing minerals for uptake by living organisms and CO2 back into the atmosphere for photosynthetic organisms. Microorganisms, known as methanogens, influence the carbon cycle by converting CO2 in their cells to methane and releasing it into atmosphere; thus increasing methane concentration whereas methanothrophs consume methane from the atmosphere, lead... ...ate minerals from ores containing low-levels of minerals (Hofkin, 2010). Microorganisms have been beneficial to humans in the past too - the Weil-Felix test for typhus. A patient infected with Rickettsia prosecute will have antibodies to this bacterial species circulating in their blood which can bind to Proteus OX19, harmless soil bacterium. Physicians used to diagnose typhus by mixing patient's blood serum with Proteus OX19, positive test for typhus is confirmed when Proteus OX19 is clumped together (Hofkin, 2010). Overall, microorganisms are vital for life on Earth and are more than disease causing agents. Few microorganisms are pathogenic, but many more has an important role in various ecological and industrial processes, maintaining human health; and every day new discoveries are made that shows microorganisms are crucial for scientific advances to be made.

Different Groups of Teachers

Teaching is an important profession. â€Å"We will always need teachers. † (Waln) This is why I am interested in the career of secondary education. To be there to teach the upcoming generations and those that will be following behind us. It is important that we continue to teach the children so that they will be able to take over as the leaders of our country. Teachers are divided into different groups. The first group is the Elementary Teachers. Elementary Teachers usually teach one class of children at a certain grade level. These teachers teach all of the subject areas. Therefore they need to be knowledgeable in all subject areas. The next group of teachers is the Secondary Education Teachers. Secondary Education Teachers usually teach five or six classes of students a day, however, they only teach one subject area. Having the teacher teach in one subject area and not many different areas allows the teacher to learn more about that area and this allows the students to learn more in depth about the subject. The last group of teachers is the Special Education Teachers. These teachers work with both Elementary and Secondary students. They help the students in all subject areas, but mainly in Math and Language Arts. Special Education Teachers also work with students that have disabilities ranging from mild to severe. The group of teachers that I would like to be in is the Secondary Education group. I am interested in teaching Business. The working conditions of teachers varies depending on where they are employed. Most districts have a schedule where the teachers teach for nine months and have three months off in the summer. In other districts, teachers teach all year around with a schedule of working eight weeks and then having a week off. They would also have a five week mid-winter break. In most states there is a Tenure Law. The Tenure Law prevents teachers from being fired without just cause and due process. Teachers normally have to teach in one district for three years before they gain tenure. Teachers usually put in more than forty hours a week. Along with the teaching time in the classroom, teachers put in many hours after class and at home doing correcting and lesson plans. Teachers also put in a lot of time with different committee meetings and staff meetings that they need to attend. Some teachers can feel isolated from their colleagues at work. This comes from being in a classroom of students all day and not really getting a chance to see anyone else in the building. There are some schools, however, where the environment is very informal. In these schools, teachers get a chance to see and talk to other teachers throughout the day. This helps to build the morale of the teachers. Teachers also work with students from many different backgrounds and cultures. Teachers need to be aware of these backgrounds and cultures so they can better help the students. A person needs to be licensed to certified to be a teacher unless he/she works for a private school. The license or certification is usually granted by the State Board of Instruction or the Office of Public Instruction. Certification for teachers is from K-8 for Elementary and 6-12 Secondary. Requirements for certification vary from state to state. The one requirement that all states require is that teachers have a Bachelor†s Degree and the completion of an approved teacher training program. The outlook for teachers varies by geographic area and subject specialty. The overall employment is expected to increase for all occupations through the year 2008. The funding of the school by the state is another factor on the teacher job growth. Teacher†s wages range from $19,710 to $70,030 a year. The average starting salary for a teacher with a Bachelor†s Degree and no experience is $25,700. The average wage for teachers is $39,300 a year. Private school teachers usually get paid less than public school teachers. In many schools, teachers receive extra pay for coaching sports or working with extra-curricular activities and clubs. Teachers earn extra money by working during the summer at other jobs. The teaching profession is an important profession. The world will always need teachers to teach it†s children. Teachers need to go through a training program which usually consists of four years in college and doing student teaching. Teachers need to be certified by the state in which they are teaching in. Teachers can make a lot money or not so much money depending on what geographic area they are in. Teachers, however, do not go into teaching for the money. Teacher become teachers because they like working with children and they like watching the children grow and learn.

The Useful Generic List in VB.NET

Generics extend the power and flexibility of VB.NET in a lot of areas, but you get a bigger performance benefit and more programming options in the generic List object [List(Of T)] than with any other. To use List(Of T), you have to understand how to implement the many methods that the .NET Framework provides. Below are three examples using ForEach, FindAll, and Sort, that demonstrates how the generic List class works. The very first step is to create a generic List. You can get the data in a lot of ways, but the simplest is to just Add it. The code below shows how to classify my beer and wine collection! Starting Code There first needs to be an object that will represent a bottle from the collection. In a Windows Forms application, the Form class has to first be in a file or the Visual Studio designer wont work correctly, so put this at the end: Public Class Bottle Public Brand As String Public Name As String Public Category As String Public Size As Decimal Public Sub New( _ ByVal m_Brand As String, _ ByVal m_Name As String, _ ByVal m_Category As String, _ ByVal m_Size As Decimal) Brand m_Brand Name m_Name Category m_Category Size m_Size End Sub End Class To build the collection, Add the items. This is whats in the Form Load event: Dim Cabinet As List(Of Bottle) _ New List(Of Bottle) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Castle Creek, _ Uintah Blanc, _ Wine, 750)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Zion Canyon Brewing Company, _ Springdale Amber Ale, _ Beer, 355)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Spanish Valley Vineyards, _ Syrah, _ Wine, 750)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Wasatch Beers, _ Polygamy Porter, _ Beer, 355)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Squatters Beer, _ Provo Girl Pilsner, _ Beer, 355)) All of the above code is standard code in VB.NET 1.0. However, note that by defining your own Bottle object, you get the benefits of multiple types in the same collection (in this case, both String and Decimal) and efficient, type safe late binding. ForEach Example The fun starts when we use the methods. To begin, lets implement the familiar ForEach method. The Microsoft documentation includes this usage syntax definition: Dim instance As List Dim action As Action(Of T) instance.ForEach(action) Microsoft further defines action as delegate to a method that performs an action on the object passed to it. The elements of the current List(T) are individually passed to the Action(T) delegate. Tip: For more on delegates, read Using Delegates in Visual Basic .NET for Runtime Flexibility. The first thing you need to code is the method that will be delegated. Misunderstanding this one key point is the source of most of the confusion of VB.NET students. This function, or subroutine, is where all of the customized coding for the Of type objects is done. When performed correctly, youre essentially done. Its really simple in this first example. An entire instance of the Bottle is passed and the subroutine selects anything needed out of it. Coding the ForEach itself is simple too. Just fill in the address of the delegate using the AddressOf method. Sub displayBottle(ByVal b As Bottle) ResultList.Items.Add( _ b.Brand - _ b.Name - _ b.Category - _ b.Size) End Sub Private Sub ForEachButton_Click( ... ResultList.Items.Clear() ResultList.Items.Add(For Each Example) ResultList.Items.Add(-----------------------) Cabinet.ForEach(AddressOf displayBottle) End Sub FindAll Example FindAll is a little more complicated. The Microsoft documentation for FindAll looks like this: Dim instance As List Dim match As Predicate(Of T) Dim returnValue As List(Of T) returnValue instance.FindAll(match) This syntax includes a new element, Predicate(Of T). According to Microsoft, this will represent the method that defines a set of criteria and determines whether the specified object meets those criteria. In other words, you can create any code that will find something in the list. I coded my Predicate(Of T) to find anything in the Beer Category. Instead of calling the delegate code for each item in the list, FindAll returns an entire List(T) containing only the matches that result from your Predicate(Of T). Its up to your code to both define this second List(T) and do something with it. My code just adds the items to a ListBox. Private Sub FindAllButton_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles FindAllButton.Click ResultList.Items.Clear() ResultList.Items.Add(FindAll Example) ResultList.Items.Add(-----------------------) Dim sublist As List(Of Bottle) sublist Cabinet.FindAll(AddressOf findBeer) For Each r As Bottle In sublist ResultList.Items.Add( _ r.Brand - _ r.Name - _ r.Category - _ r.Size) Next End Sub Function findBeer(ByVal b As Bottle) _ As Boolean If (b.Category Beer) Then Return True Else Return False End If End Function Sort Example The final method this article examines is Sort. Again, Microsoft uses some terminology you might not be familiar with. There are actually four different overloads of the Sort method: Sort()Sort(IComparer(T))Sort(Comparison(T))Sort(Int32, Int32, IComparer(T)) This lets you use sort methods defined in the .NET Framework for the list, code your own, use a system defined comparison for the type, or sort part of the collection using a starting position and count parameter. In this example, since I use the following syntax to actually perform the sort, Im using the third overload. x.Name.x.Name.CompareTo(y.Name)(y.Name) Ive coded another delegate to my own comparer. Since I want to sort by my Name, I pull just that value out of each instance of the Bottle object that is passed and use the Sort(Comparison(Of (T))). The Sort method actually rearranges the original List(T). Thats what is processed after the method is executed. Private Sub SortButton_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles SortButton.Click ResultList.Items.Clear() ResultList.Items.Add(Sort Example) ResultList.Items.Add(-----------------------) Cabinet.Sort(AddressOf sortCabinet) For Each r As Bottle In Cabinet ResultList.Items.Add( _ r.Name - _ r.Brand - _ r.Category - _ r.Size) Next End Sub Private Shared Function sortCabinet( _ ByVal x As Bottle, ByVal y As Bottle) As Integer Return x.Name.CompareTo(y.Name) End Function These methods were selected to demonstrate the major ways that the Framework methods in List(T) are actually coded. Theres a whole raft of other methods, however. Thats what makes List(T) so useful!