The article I chose to use for this exercise can be found on Environmental Health Perspectives, it is titled “GIS Modeling of Air Toxics Releases from TRI- Reporting and Non-TRI-Reporting Facilities: Impacts for Environmental Justice”. This article was written by Dana C. Dolinoy and Marie Lynn Miranda.

I chose this article because I was looking for methods on how to use geographical information systems to measure environmental justice. As I read through the article I came to realize that there wasn’t a clear way of how the project used demographics and environmental justice (air quality) data to map a correlation between the two. I decided to continue using the article because it contained helpful information about the Census Bureau and how data like air quality is estimated in order to create a map.

To begin, the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) require facilities to report the chemical releases of the year annually, but there is an issue when monitoring the total number of released toxics when non- TRI reporting facilities don’t report. This relates to my project because there might be pesticide use that goes unreported; how can I measure this to create and accurate map? Having the tools needed to measure the exact levels of toxicity lets the research team find correlations. For example, in 1990, 80% of Hispanics lived in counties that exceeded on of the criteria of air pollutant standards the federal government set. This project used demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau to collect data on ethnicity, poverty, household income, and percentage of children in poverty in Durham County, North Carolina. When I came up with my research question I was confused as to how I should map out certain demographics, it turns out the census Bureau information can be broken into different geographic scales: ZIP code, tracts, block groups, and blocks. Furthermore, TRI data must be collected and reported to the Environmental Protection Agency; the project had TRI facility locations geocoded (latitude and longitude coordinates) and mapped. There are 874 TRI sites releasing more than 126 million pounds of contaminates in the air in Durham County. Non- TRI reports were extracted from marketing directories; there are 400 non- TRI reporting facilities.

Dolinoy, D. C., & Miranda, M. L. (2004). GIS modeling of air toxics releases from TRI-reporting and non-TRI-reporting facilities: impacts for environmental justice. Environmental health perspectives, 112(17), 1717.

The article that I found for this Research Example focuses on two of my categories of challenges that American farmers and ranchers face today – changing demands of consumers and economic influences.  While the article focuses on an entire rural community, there is some mention of the ranches that formally comprised most of the town. In the online records of Rural Sociology, I found an article that had yet to be included in any printed volume of the journal. The article, “’Not Allowed to Inherit My Kingdom’: Amenity Development and Social Inequality in the Rural West” by Jennifer Sherman outlines the changing social scene in the rural town of Paradise Valley, Washington. Originally and lumber and ranching town, the area has become a hotspot for tourists, second home owners, and outdoor recreation. Sherman focuses on how the locals have had to adapt to a changing social scene as their rural home has been influenced by a changing economy and the changing demands of tourists.

Sherman utilized ethnography and descriptive research as she studied those in Paradise Valley for 10 months, conducting 84 in-depth interviews during that time. She obtained her sample through advertisement, gift card incentives, and snowball sampling. She wanted to be sure to interview individuals from all backgrounds but wanted to focus mostly on locals and those from lower economic status. Her goal was to understand how the influx of tourists has changed the rural community. She asked questions about all aspects of the interviewees personal lives and conducted the interviews in their homes or in local parks, cafes, or restaurants. After conducting her interviews, Sherman utilized the software NVivo to analyze and code her transcriptions.  She coded the interviews for various themes that came up consistently across different interviews.

Sherman found that the increase of seasonal tourists played a troubling role in the lives of locals. Those who had originally owned ranches and made a living through forest services and other outdoor professions began losing their lands as they were dedicate to tourist attractions and activities. The local economic scene changed from small, family owned businesses to large chains and tourist-based corporations. The social dynamics changed as well as the rich, urban, tourists began to outnumber the original local, close-knit community. The influx of outsiders raised the price of homes and land and began to drive out those who were living in Paradise Valley for several generations. There has been an increase in jobs, but only seasonal ones which do not provide substantial income during the low-tourist seasons. This article provided a look inside how the tourist businesses can negatively affect local farmers and ranchers. It was an example of the economic and social challenges these people face.

Sherman, Jennifer. 2017. “’Not Allowed to Inherit My Kingdom’: Amenity Development and
Social Inequality in the Rural West.” Rural Sociology(Online). Retrieved March 19, 2018. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.redlands.edu/doi/full/10.1111/ruso.12168

For this week, I had a bit of a difficult time finding an article through the library database, so I turned to other ways of finding articles. I used backtracking to find a really interesting article that relates directly to my research question and might be able to help me better develop my proposal. The article is call “An epigenetic mechanism links socioeconomic status to changes in depression-related brain functions in high-risk adolescents” by J. R. Swartz, A. R. Hariri, and D. E. Williamson. The article investigates the biological factors behind the development of mental illness and how life stressors can trigger them more readily in certain people, depending on their situation.  Specifically, it previously had been found that increased risk for developing a mental illness due to life stressors can be triggered through methylation of gene regulatory regions, which results in epigenetic modification of gene expression. With this information in mind, the authors asked “is differential gene methylation a function of adversity that contributes to the emergence of individual risk for mental illness?”. They used the neuroimaging and behavioral data of 132 adolescents. It was found that lower socioeconomic status during childhood is related to an increase in methylation of the serotonin transporter gene. This causes the amygdala to be more sensitive and exhibit more threat-related activity, which increases risk for depression. It was also found that there is an association between increases in this type of activity from the amygdala due to life stressors and having a  family history of depression. The article states that “these initial results suggest a specific biological mechanism through which adversity contributes to altered brain function, which in turn moderates the emergence of general liability as individual risk for mental illness.”.

Swartz, J. R., Hariri, A. R., Williamson, D. E. (2017). An Epigenetic Mechanism Links Socioeconomic Status to Changes in Depression-Related Brain Function in High-Risk Adolescents. Molecular Psychiatry. (Vol. 22, pp. 209-214.)

I focused my article on mental illness and people who receive low incomes rather than focusing strictly on the homeless population. My article is titled, “The Association Between Income Inequality and Mental Health: Testing Status Anxiety, Social Capital, and Neo-Materialist Explanations” in the journal “European Sociological Review.” The article was written by Richard Layte

Layte, Richard. “The Association Between Income Inequality and Mental Health: Testing Status Anxiety, Social Capital, and Neo-Materialist Explanations.” European Sociological Review 28, no. 4 (2012): 498-511. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/stable/23272534.

This article focuses on how ones income may affect their mental stability and state. The author created a series of 3 hypotheses that he wanted to test to see if any of them played  a factor in mental stability. For example, status anxiety to see if people who were in a lower income bracket had anxiety about their social status since they could not afford the same things/stress about money. The research question being asked is, “Does one’s income affect their mental state?” To test his theories the author would have to use two different types of data. He would use economic data and psychological trait data. To gather economic data that would require looking at records and acquiring someone’s current financial situation. To gather psychological data this would require in depth interviews and potentially surveys. To analyze this data one would use interval data for economic data and qualitative data for psychological data.

It has been established by many articles that coral bleaching is not stopping but increasing. Which means that coral reef mortality is increasing also. Why the survival of coral reefs and bleaching are related is because coral reef bleaching means the loss of symbiotic algae. At a specific temperature the algae helping coral survive die. As a result, the coral reef stops tissue growth, skeletal growth, and reproduction because the algae are the reefs source of nutrition. The reefs can survive a brief bleaching because their larvae would not have died off. The increase of coral reef mortality is an important issue because these reefs are home and the food source to schools of big and little fish. Once a reef dies and starts to break down, the fish move to different coral reefs or die off also. The fishing moving or dying affects humans greatly. Without fish,  these issues will continue to become worse until the reef recovers but that could happen in a century or two. Climate change is huge reason why the coral reefs are dying but is not the only reason, El Niño or La Niña, marine protection, fisheries, and the rising baseline of water temperatures. Also, the increase of CO₂ emissions because it affects the skeletal growth of coral. In this article, “Coral Bleaching and Global Climate Change: Scientific Finding and Policy Recommendation,” the researchers implore for more research because the reefs would be able to survive climate change if they are able to acclimate to the rising heat. If there is more research than they will have better ideas on how to make conservation management policy better. Interestingly, the researchers suggest a better policy to reduce CO₂ emission. These policies will benefit coastal communities because bleaching affects the livelihood of those communities that rely on fish for subsistence or income either as food or tourism because fish rely on coral reefs to survive.

Reaser, J. K., Pomerance, R., and Thomas, P. O. (2000) Coral Bleaching and Global Climate Change: Scientific Finding and Policy Recommendations. Conservation Biology, 14(5):1500-1511.

It is predicted that in 30 years we will have lost 70% of our coral reefs. The loss of our coral reefs affects our fisheries, tourism, medicine, and many other aspects of our lives. Coral reefs are the ecosystem of the ocean, without it the ocean slowly dies. Thus, we need to protect our reefs. There has been a lot of debate on paper about what is the best way to protect our marine life from dying, but there has not been much applying those theories discussed to real coral reefs. In this article, “Designing marine protected area networks to address the impacts of climate change,” discusses the pros of the already established marine protected area (MPA) networks to help future designers figure out what aspects of the established MPA’s would be best for theirs. This article is interesting because the researchers focus of these designs is how these areas will make the reefs more adaptable or resilient to climate change. A designer can do everything else perfectly but if their main goal isn’t resiliency, those reefs will die with the quickly rising water temperatures. Resilience equals “reefs ecosystem’s ability to recover from a disturbance, to maintain the dominance of hard corals, and/or to maintain morphological diversity as opposed to shifting to an algal-dominated state or a single coral morphology (McLeod, Salm, Green, and Almany, 2009, pg. 363).” The requirements for a well established MPA network are size (10-20 km), shape (square or rectangle), risk spreading, critical areas, connectivity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem management. The size of the area should be at least 10 to 20 km, and the shape should be a basic one like a square or rectangle. Risk spreading means at least three coral species need to be protected and their larvae can spread out easily. The critical areas that need to be protected are nurseries and spawning areas because those corals will have a better chance of surviving and they are the future. While the other three categories focus on protecting the ecosystems that can connect well with others and will be able to maintain ecosystem function under duress. The reefs that are going to be protected need to be resilient or MPA are not worth the effort because climate change will kill off all the reefs.

McLeod, E., Salm, R., Green, A, and Almany, J. (2009). Designing marine protected area networks to address the impacts of climate change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(7): 362-370.

FISCHER, MARC, FRANZISKA VÖLCKNER, and HENRIK SATTLER. “How Important Are Brands? A Cross-Category, Cross-Country Study.” Journal of Marketing Research 47, no. 5 (2010): 823-39. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/stable/20751546.

The article that I chose for this research example is called, How Important are Brands? A Cross-Category, Cross-Country Study, and it was published in the Journal of Marketing Research. I chose this article because previously I was looking for research already done regarding my specific research question, which was difficult to find. I was not focusing on the larger picture, which is about the social significance of brands overall. This article and the research discussed proved to be very valuable to my own reseach.

The main topic of this article explores the importance of brands across different countries and different categories of items. In other words, it focuses on the measurement of overall importance of brands for consumers’ decision-making processes. The measurement is something called “brand relevance in category,” or “BRiC,” which the authors tested across multiple countries and categories, in order to find out whether or not brand importance matters. The type of data needed to answer this research question is reports of acts, behavior, or events. In order to collect this data, the authors sent out a 19-item questionnaire to a sample of 578 graduate students from France, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The method of data analysis was qualitative, because the data was non-numerical. I would assume this article’s topic is “brand importance” and the question is “How important are brands in the decision making process of consumers across multiple countries.”

This research is the first I’ve come across that measures the importance of brands to consumers across multiple countries, so I was very intrigued and interested throughout the entire article. I think it is valid research and logically makes sense. The creation of a measurement called BRiC makes the data more legitimate because the authors have distinct areas in which they are measuring. I think if given more time and a larger budget, the authors could have surveyed more people since they wanted to make determinations about five different countries, rather than just one like the United States. I don’t think 578 people is a large enough sample, but overall the research and data are still significant. Additionally, I also think the authors could have expanded the survey in order to collect more data.

This last article that I found was actually rather small. It is more of an essay, but it was still an insightful piece to aid my research. It is simply called The Benefits of a Place-Based Education. It gives examples of various instances where a place-based education helped the children to apply their newly learned material to their world. They had “jobs” or tasks given to them to solve. For example, the methods for recycling or being environmentally friendly in one of the schools talked about were not very good so the students took notice and made a difference to help their school and the environment. With the place-based education, students are given opportunities to use their knowledge and to see it and feel it. With young children, it is especially important to use tangible examples; they cannot absorb abstract thought the way that adults or even teenagers can. They learn based on experience and when they can’t relate it to their own lives then their minds file it as “not important to learn” which then makes it difficult for those young students to absorb information. The methods that are used in this approach allow for students to utilize the knowledge taught in class in a real-world situation.

Another major aspect mentioned in this article is the incorporation of gardening or nature exploration. It is especially important for students so that they can see what natural science can do and things like that, but nature can also have a very calming and emotionally healing aspect to it. Introducing this to young children will not only help them to better understand sciences, but also the world around them in general physically and emotionally.

Although this article wasn’t particularly helpful in helping me discover new ways that place-education helps students achieve; it helped me to reaffirm the fact that it is beneficial. It was good to know and understand what has been learned about this method before and what has been observed to be true.

National Parks Service. The Benefits of Place-Based Education. Threats and

       Challenges.

I used google scholar to find an article which explores the paradigm shift in higher education for the integration of technology to further advance learning outcomes. The study found that online learning and the use of technology helps to retain information more easily. Technological integration is being pushed at higher levels because it provides benefits not seen in traditional classroom settings. The competition for jobs is also increasing and gaining an edge through the use of technology can further develop skills that are essential for various careers. This study showed that online learning allowed students to learn at their own pace, pause the course if needed for more explanation, and enabled them to find the answers for themselves. There is a shift in universities from the face-to-face traditional learning styles to different technology integrated styles that give students the tools to learn on their own. A study taken at Cal State University North Ridge found that online users tested 20% better than students who attended a traditional class. This was due to the fact that online learning promotes study habits that the learner has to evolve for themselves. The class is always open so work can be completed at different times then in a classroom setting. The study came to the conclusion that universities will have to utilize technology in the classroom to remain competitive and produce stronger learning outcomes. This also means that teachers have to become more skilled in the use of various systems and be able to seamlessly integrate the new technology into the academic setting. The main goal is to give universities a competitive edge by shifting from teaching methods to learning methods in which students maximize their abilities stemming from teacher’s capabilities.

Rogers, D.L. (2000). A Paradigm Shift: Technology Integration for Higher Education in the New Millennium. AACE Journal, 1(13), 19-33. Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 17, 2018 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/8058/.

Bos, C., Richardson, V. (1993). Qualitative research and learning disabilities. In Vaughan, S., Bos, C. (Eds.), Research issues in learning disabilities (pp. 178–201). New York: Springer-Verlag.

This article differs from the others I have researched. While most of my research has focused on the content of disproportionality within special education, this article discusses examples of qualitative research on special education. After writing my extended outline, I realized that I would be conducting interviews to gather the data I need. I thought I should know more about the qualitative research within special education. This article, published in Exceptional Children journal, provides an overview of the various studies conducted qualitatively in special education. They also prove the importance and validity of qualitative research in the field of special education. The researchers sought to analyze the data gathering methods for research in special education and, through meta analysis, find the effects on policy of the respective methods. They looked at the following methods: case study, collective case study, ethnography, action research, collaborative action research, grounded theory, phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, narrative research, life (oral) history, quasi-life-history research, interpretive research, content analysis, conversational analysis, discourse analysis, and ideological critique. I found this study really informative to my research and this course. They reinforced some topics we talked about in class and introduced new ones as well. It was really interesting to read about the influential early studies on special education. Anne Sullivan Macy’s work with Hellen Keller (Keller, 1955) and Itard’s case study The Wild Boy of Aveyron (1806/1962) were two particularly interesting early examples that impacted the world of disability studies and special education. I was really interested in this article, mostly for the information and the impact of the highlighted studies.