cornputer mrie~. 121
edited by JAMESP. BlRK Arizona State Univershy, Tempe. AZ 85281
Bits and Pieces, 45 Guidelines for Authors of Bits and Pieces appeared in July 1986; the number of Bits and Pieces manuscripts is expected to decrease in the future--see the July 1988 and March 1989 issues. Bits and Pieces authors who describe programs will make available listings and/or machine-readable versions of their programs. Please read each description carefully to determine compatibility with your own computing environment before requesting materials from any of the authors. Several programs described in this article and marked as such are available from Project SERAPHIM a t $5 per 5'I4-in. disk, $10 per 31/2-in. disk; program listings and other written materials are available for $2 each; $2 domestic or $10 foreign postage and handling is required for each shipment. Make checks payable to Project SERAPHIM. T o order, or get a Project SERAPHIM Catalogue, write to: John W. Moore, Director, Project SERAPHIM, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. (Project SERAPHIM is supported by NSF: Directorate for Science and Engineering Education.)
Teachlng Biotechnology Helen B. Brooks, Davld W. Brooks, Sheldon M. Schuder.' and Dwane E. Wylle Center tor Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588 Biotechnology is one of the most exciting frontiers of modern chemistry. Antibodies, for example, provide a rich proving ground for ideas about noncovalently bonded interactions. Notions about rational syntheses using systems derived from hiotechnoloaies abound. Several years ago the authors developed videoiiscand written materials for teachine the techniques of b i o t e c h n o l o ~to upper division college &dents, graduate students, p&loc&ral students, and technicians. We have continued to seek new and better ways to deal with instruction in biotechnology. With the announcement of Hypercard in August 1987 came the introduction t o the pc user of an entirely new type of applications program, one that will take its place alongside-word pn,cessors, spreadsheets, and graphics packages. Hypercard is a bit of each of these. It is a sort of database for therapid access and management of small amounts of text, graphics, and sound information. With simple additions i t can access external media such as videodisc players. Early in 1988 we undertook to write a program (called a stack in the jargon of Hypercard) that would drive interactively the videodisc materials we had prepared previously. Although the discs were not originally intended for this use, such a repurposing has proven to b i very helpful. The stack we have developed is a more useful tool than the original videodisc. While the videodiscs are extremely helpful in teaching tech-
' hesent address:'
32611.
ICBR. Unlverslty of Florida, Galnesvllle, FL
niques to first-time users, the stack is a more generally useful tool. Many of the commonly used nucleic acid and protein techniques of hiotechnology are listed in Figure 1. Figure 1 presents the techniques of biotechnology in the form of a "concept map". Each technique is linked to its predecessor and successor. Rarely are techniques actually used out of sequence in the laboratory. Antigens represent an entry to the protein side of the boundary, while synthetic DNA and coov-DNA (obtained from messenger RNA) provide entries to'the nucleic acid side. HwerCard uses the metaphor of a "button" as one of ma&means of accessing pro&ms. As it happens, Figure 1 is actually a graphic copy of a Macintosh screen and each "box" consists of a Hypercard button. Pressing one of the buttons shown (i.e., clicking on the mouse button while the cursor is located within the region of that button) quickly shifts the user t o information directly pertinent to the technique a t question. Were we to "click" on the button labelled "Western Blot" in Figure 1,the screen would shift to that shown in Figure 2. Clicking on any of the topics listed a t the right will cause all of the prestored information about that topic t o appear on the screen. All of the information contained under each topic heading is readily modifiable by the user by selecting the edit mode (i.e., clicking on the "Edit" button). Also, four of the lines access containers to store information that are controlled entirely by the user. Three of them (the User Notes) can even have their names readily changed to suit the user. The fourth category, References, is initially empty when delivered but may be filled and maintained in future releases of this package. Although fairly minimal, there is a glossary-based tutorial for the stack. Choosing "tutorial" from the first "card", the main menu card, accesses a card that appears nearly identical to that in Figure 1. Clicking in a box on this card brings Volume 67 Number 12 December 1990
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The authors are pleased to provide copies of the computer stack. Send a check for S5.00 made out to the University of Nebraska to Biotechnolow. Science Center. 118-HenzlikUNL, Lincoln, NE 68588.y;~ may send SASE's and unformatted 3.5-in. flonoies. (These cornouter materials are cow.. righted but i n t e n h d tobe supplied at no cost.) Thanks to Wavne Moore of Southeast Community Col. lege, Beatrice, Nebraska, and to Grand Rapids ~ u n i i Colr lege for access to their glossary of terms.
Simulation of the Infrared Spectrum of HCI Qlan Pu University of Suzhou Suzhou. 215006 P.R. China Figure 2. Screen from which informallonregardingthe Western Blot procedure is acce5sBd.
up specific but brief information about the technique. Clicking on an unfamiliar term in this description will bring the user to a glossary definition of the term if one has been included. (Clicking on terms within the glossary has a similar result.) Clicking on the letter lahel of a technique from within that information bringsone directly t o a description of the specific information. (That is, clicking on an (A44) anywhere in the text of the tutor will bring the user directly to information about the Western Blot.) The stack can be linked directly to an interactive videodisc player. The configuration of small buttons in the upper right hand corner of Figure 2 constitute a videodisc controller. These give the user complete control of the videodisc. Simply clicking on the title will bring the videodisc to the first frame of the experiment beginning with that title. Whenever five-digit numbers appear in the text of stored material, clicking on the line containing the number will bring that frame intoview. Cues tell the user when to flip the videodisc, and when to turn their attention from the computer screen to the videoscreen. So as to make videodisc materials more readily available (say, to show the specifics of restriction analysis to students as part of undergraduate pre-lab instruction), a tool has been devised for creating VHS tapes. The user can click on the title of an experiment from alist, choose a time from 5 to 20 to view the "stopped" or single frames, connect a VHS recorder to the videotape player, and record the computer controlled output. Thus portions of the rich visual database can be used with low cost VHS playback equipment in the laboratory.
Figure 3. Vibralonai-relational Infrared spectrum of gaseous hydrogen chloride.
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Journal of Chemical Education
The IR spectrum analysis of HC1 is a very important experiment in the elementary physical chemistry course ( I , 2).The experiment allows students to determine the equilibrium bond distance and force constant of HC1 from its infrared spectrum. Data analysis also permits the evaluation of the anharmonicity constant, the vibration-rotation interaction constant, and the centrifugal distortion constant, etc. T o do this experiment, a higb-resolution infrared spectro~hotometerwith scale exoansion capahilitv is needed. However, such an instrument is not available in many colleges, so students cannot acquire their own 1H spectrum of HCI. Often college teachers;owing to the lack ofthis instrument, are unahle to provide their students with extensive practice. The purpose of this project was to develop a computer program that helps students master the method and technique of infrared measurements on hydrogen chloride, even if they have no spectrophotometer.It also presents the results more accurately. The program is written in Applesoft BASIC and can be adapted to other computers without difficulty. I t consists of three parts. Part one is an introduction to the traditional double-beam infrared spectrometer and to the preparation of gaseous HCl. This teaches students the essential features of a tvnical instrument and the orocedure for preoarinp HC1 gas, &well as giving students i n atmospherkin ahichthey seem to be doing the ex~erimentwith a real IR spectrometer in the laboratory. When the program disk is booted, students are shown two pictures. One is of an apparatus for preparing HC1 gas. The name of each part of this apparatus is shown on the screen. waits for the user to tvne Then - - ~ the ~ -Droeram ~~" ". T to turn on the vacuum pump. The pressure in the gas cell is decreased accompanied by motor sounds. The pressure of the system is indicated by the change of mercury levels in the manometer ~
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