The research article I selected for research example #3 is an article I found in the current periodical section of the library. The article is from the Journal of Environmental Health volume 74, number 4, November 2011. The title of the article is “New Questions and Insights Into Nitrate/Nitrite and Human Health Effects: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Private Well Users’ Immunological and Wellness Status.” The authors of this study examined 150 private wells users’ drinking water in the state of Iowa. The drinking water contained nitrate/nitrogen in an amount below the ten parts per million maximum contaminate level. The authors then analyzed the health history data and blood samples including hemoglobin fractions and immunological parameters of the users. The authors found that there was a positive relationship between higher nitrate exposure and body mass index lower recreational activity perceived poorer health and perceptions of susceptibility to illness. These conclusions appear to be consistent with the well documented health effects of nitrate/nitrite ingestion. When nitrate or nitrite is used as a preservative in food, nitrosamines are formed are linked to certain variety of cancers. As a result, environmental and public health agencies around the world encouraged to the removal of nitrate/nitrite salts from food and have set limits on the amount of nitrate/nitrite levels found in drinking water. The authors designed a study to test the health effects of well water nitrate exposure on a population of 150 participants between the ages of one and sixty. The authors found that the participants reported being less healthy, less active, and more susceptible to illness in those participants who drank higher nitrate levels. The authors recommend that further research is needed in a larger population group to study the effects of nitrates and other water contaminants including metals and pesticides.

Catherine Zeman, Lisa Beltz, Mark Linda, Jean Maddux, Diane Depken, Jeff Orr, Patricia Theran. 2011 “New Questions and Insights Into Nitrate/Nitrite and Human Health Effects: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Private Well Users’ Immunological and Wellness Status.” Journal of Environmental Health. Vol 74(6):8-16

Did you know the ocean absorbs 25% of CO₂ emissions? That means the emissions are absorbed by coral reefs. This absorption causes the ocean pH to change and become a hostile environment for coral and algae, also known as ocean acidification. As a result, coral reefs calcify at a slower rate and will not be able to survive. One of the leading causes of this acidification is human CO₂ emissions. This article is about conservation management of coral reefs regarding ocean acidification: (1) set up a C chemistry baseline for the ocean, (2) set up ecological baselines, (3) determine species and habitat sensitivity to ocean acidification, (4) projecting changes in seawater carbonate chemistry, and (5) find potential synergistic effects of multiple stressors (Mcleod, et al., 2012). There hasn’t been much research on how to manage the ever-increasing CO₂ emissions so most of this is theoretical and is based on the conservation trends regarding coral bleaching. This an interesting article regarding my research question on how location affects coral reef survival because I never thought to look at CO₂ emissions. From these articles I have been browsing, it seems that human activity and natural disasters are what greatly impact the survival of coral reefs in different locations. Also, that possibly changing the habits of humans around the coast can positively affect coral reefs and make them more resilient.

Mcleod, E., Anthony, K. RN., Andersson, A., Beeden, R., Golbuu, Y., Kleypas, J., Kroeker, K., Manzello, D., Salm, R. V., Schuttenburg, H., and Smith, J. E. (2013) Preparing to manage coral reefs for acidification: lessons from coral bleaching. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11(1): 20-27

As I am doing more research on coral reefs and how the location of the reefs affects their survival, I am learning that humans are the most pressing problem to their survival. Humans are directly, or indirectly causing death of coral reefs around the world. One of the ways humans are killing reefs is by overfishing. Overfishing changes the food web of that particular reef. As a result, the structure of the reef changes as well. The structure changes because fish, especially parrotfish, have specific duties that keep the reef healthy and resilient. Parrotfish and other fish eat the macroalgal that are trying to grow on the coral, munch on dead and live coral which will make it easier for new coral to grow and flourish, and transport sediments and nutrients to different parts of the reef and elsewhere. These duties are important for coral to have quick recovery time when facing a disaster. This journal article is about how strongly does human population and their fishing of parrotfish affects coral reefs. These researchers did a natural experiment using detach observation and reports of acts and behaviours to see the impact humans have on 18 coral reefs from the Indian Ocean to Tahiti. Human population differs from zero and reefs protected from fishing to overpopulated cities that overfish. Surprisingly, they found no correlation between the overfishing of parrotfish and human population. Also, that there is a strong relationship between human population and the population structure of reef fish because humans want the big parrotfish so then the smaller parrotfish populate the reefs. Which means coral reefs are sensitive to human activity regarding bioerosion and coral predation but not sensitive with eating dead and live coral, and transporting sediments. Overall, human activity indirectly affects coral reefs.

Bellwood, D. R., Hoey, A. S., and Hughes, T. P. (2012) Human activity selectively impacts the ecosystem roles of parrotfish on coral reefs. Proceedings: Biological Sciences 279(1733): 1621-1629.

Campbell, Howard. 2014 “Narco-Propaganda in the Mexican ‘Drug War.’” Latin American Perspective 41 (195): 60-77. doi: 10.1177/0094582X12443519.

Violence and organized crimes produced by narcotic selling cartels have ravaged Mexico for 20 years. The drug business in Mexico boomed after filling in for the power vacuum left behind after the U.S. shut down the Colombian organizations. In 2006, President Felipe Calderon’s aggressive new policy to shutdown the largest Mexican cartels exacerbated the tension, causing 50,000 deaths and thousands still missing. Howard Campbell conducted an anthropological study on the current cartels and how they are embedded in Mexican culture to find a better solution in the future. His research question asked how the various forms of narco-propaganda in Mexico form their own kind of criminal and quasi-political and how we should treat them.

In collecting the propaganda and its effects, Campbell had to collect reports of acts and behaviors. The reports of these events come in the form of journalism articles and books on Mexican drug cartels. He coded the propaganda into 4-types: public spectacles of violence, written narco messages, videos and internet posts, music and lyrics, and control/censorship of the media. He analyzed each of the examples of propaganda qualitatively, explaining how they are more political statements than just criminal acts. They carried out acts of violence to terrify people, force passive coercion and ensure a certain desired reaction from the government. Their violence is “excessive but stylized” and not meaningless criminal acts. They made banners, posters, and manifestos, glorifying their organizations while criticizing and defacing rivals and the government. They used these written messages to declare that everything evil is done by a certain other rival cartel while they would never commit heinous act, or they justified their violence because they believed those whom they killed deserved it. They also used propaganda like music to recruit and enforce loyalty like any state actor. They also paid off the media to tell their version of the story and killed a large amount of journalists who tried to expose them in the past.

Howard Campbell concluded that by analyzing Narco-propaganda with an anthropology study, he saw that the cartel used it as a strategy to capture territory, control police force, and the Mexican people. He believed that the political statements they are making with the propaganda is extremely dangerous “unorthodox politics.” In order to deal with them, he suggested controlling the information they put out, rather than a kinetic war like President Felipe Calderon attempted in 2006 which backfired.

The article that I found “Does music influence stress in mechaniically ventilated patients?” explores if music can reduce stress in patients who are very ill. The purpose of this study was to see if two controlled conditions in their patients, people who listened to music and people who didn’t listen to music, would lower their patients stress level. For this study they used urinary cortisol to measure the stress, urinary measures of stress hormones have been used as biomarkers of chronic stress. So, they would go on daily 24hr urine collection to measure the levels of stress. The data that was collected was on gender, race, ethnicity, age, length of time being ventilated, and all medications. There were a total of 70 participants but 5 of them were not able to get urine collected due to a medication that had steroids in it and would effect the study. There were 65 patients who got the daily urine collection. When analyzing the data that they found in their tables and graphs they found no big signicance or pattern that help support their research question. However, the one thing they did see was a pattern in the PDM (patient directed music) that showed they had less stress related values in one of the figures.

Chlan, L. L., Engeland, W. C., & Savik, K. (2013). Does music influence stress in mechanically ventilated patients? Intensive & Critical Care Nursing, 29(3), 121-7. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/10.1016/j.iccn.2012.11.001

How a Conceptual Framework Shaped a Mixed Methods Study is a piece written by Barbara Brown and Michele Jacobsen. Their study was conducted over a one year span in three different school jurisdictions in a Canadian province. Through the research they discovered that instructors needed more insight into three topics, learning sciences, pedagogies based on knowledge building, and growth oriented leadership. Their topic is that the industrialized models of schooling from the past are not designed to meet the needs of the learners today in the technological age. The research question is, of the three different ways that are being taught across the three schools jurisdictions, is one more beneficial in educating the children from the digital era? The type of data they will need to collect would be quantitative and in-depth interviews as well as expert opinions. The authors used online surveys to get masses of information and they went in and interviewed the principals of the schools for expert opinions. Personally I think this research is credible and well executed. They seem to have gone through all of the obstacles and conducted very through research. I think the online surveys would be a good way to get mass information and might interest classmates who need that type of surveys conducted.

Brown, Barbara, and Michele Jacopbsen. “Principals’ of Technology Leadership, How a Conceptual Framework Shaped a Mixed Methods Study.” Improving School Leadership, 2009.

This article was written by Manuel Hassassian in 2018. Hassassian is the executive vice president of Bethlehem university, a Catholic college founded in the Israeli-occupied West Bank which extends service to the Palestinians. This article was found in the Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture. The full citation is:
Hassassian, Manuel. 2018. “The Palestinian Christians Are Integral in the Palestinian National
Movement.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 22/23, no. 4/1: 57-64. Business Source Complete. EBSCOhost (accessed February 16, 2018).

This article details the effects of Israeli occupation on Christian Palestinians in the Middle East and why they have emigrated. Hassassian also makes it clear that Muslim Palestinians are not interested in the ethnic cleansing of Christians. The topic of the article centers around the Palestinian National Movement, and Hassassian’s research question could be asking how Christians in Palestine have been integral to the Palestinian National Movement. Hassassian uses expert knowledge and reports of acts, behaviors, and events as his data types. In order to collect the data, he used ethnography and public and private records. His method of data analysis is qualitative. I believe this research is credible because it was written in a peer-reviewed journal by someone with a high scholastic standing. I do believe that it is a biased article, but a substantial amount of literature researching the Israel/Palestine conflict is. This article could be interesting to my classmates because most people assume that Palestinian Muslims are the only group that is at the forefront of the Palestinian movement, but in fact, Palestinian Christians contribute significantly to the movement as well.

Sufrinko, Alicia. “Family History of Migraine Associated With Posttraumatic Migraine Symptoms Following Sport-Related Concussion.” Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, Jan. & feb. 2018, 7-14.

For This week’s research example I chose an article titled “Family History of Migraine Associated with Posttraumatic Migraine Symptoms Following Sport-Related Concussion” in the “Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.” The question this article attempts to answers is: Does a family history of migraines increase the likelihood of posttraumatic migraine symptom (PTM) following a Sports Related Injury? PTM is when one experiences severe chronic headaches after experiencing trauma to the head or neck area. After surveying 232 kids between the ages of 12 and 18 with a published family history of migraine document, it was concluded that 33% of athletes with no family history of migraine met criteria for PTM, meanwhile 57% of athletes with a familial history of migraine met criteria. In conclusion, participants with a family history of migraines are 2.6 times more likely to experience PTM symptoms after experiencing a sports related injury. As a result, family history of migraine may be regarded as a secondary risk factor to consider when one experiences head trauma. There are limitations to this research however. First, there is a possibility of a selection bias because patients were recruited for this research from a specialty concussion clinic with a large interval (1-13 days post injury). Also, the severity of each individuals head injury was different, which also brings up another flaw. It is impossible to research 232 kids with the same severity of concussion, because each concussion is different. All in all, I believe it is hard to ultimately predict whether or not genetics play a significant role in this research.

The author mentioned that he used Chi-square analyses and t tests to determine whether groups differed on any demographic and injury characteristics. Surveys and questionnaires is a data collection method needed for this research, as well as public and private records. Reports of acts, behavior, or events, and demographic data are two types of data needed to conclude this research.

I have been trying to build a basic curriculum for the research process itself which is why I have been trying to expand my research from simply encouraging more community involvement. Along with community involvement, a place-based education should also include a good amount of environmental submersion. Nature is very much a part of the place that children grow up and they should learn and interact with that through academic avenues. I found a great book that talks about “ecophobia”, Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart of Nature in Education. Although the title would have one believe that the book is about eliminating a fear of nature, the book talks a lot about how to make classroom lessons more tangible/interactive.

The basis of the text refers to the way that children are to young to understand abstract concepts. So in the classroom, when a teacher is teaching students about the weather, plant growth, forests, oceans, etc, it will be difficult for them to fully absorb the material because they cannot physically touch it or see it with their own eyes. Children in younger elementary still learn best by experience. Teaching abstract thought to this age range of students is like teaching to a wall. It, of course, isn’t impossible to teach students the different shapes of clouds or types of weather, but without the hands-on experiences, students will only learn to memorize facts.

The information I find in this book will be especially helpful in creating the very basic curriculum/ units that I would plan on introducing to a select group of classrooms for observational research. I will use this book to enhance my knowledge on various methods and ideas that will create a more interactive classroom environment and, hopefully, create a greater understanding of subject matter. Not only will this aid in the absorption and application of subject matter by students, these methods will help ELL students (English Language Learners). Because of their lack of English language skill, it can be very difficult for students to grasp concepts. Lessons with a more interactive component greatly help ELL students because they don’t necessarily need a strong English vocabulary to succeed in the lesson.

Overall, this book was a great find for me and I am looking forward to delving deeper into the information to learn more about how this can aid in my research.

Sobel, David. Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education.
Orion Society, 2013.

I found this research using the reference list of an article I also found useful on google scholar. The title of this research is “Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Incidence of Cardiovascular Events in Women” it can be found in The New England Journal of Medicine. My topic is whether pesticide particulate matter from agrochemical using farms is affecting the health of people who live nearby. In this research example the long-term exposure of particulate matter (PM2.5) and cardiovascular events is monitored and analyzed. I discovered in my last research example that women were least affected by pesticide particulate matter. Meaning there was no correlation between pesticide residues and heart disease. In this research example 65,893 postmenopausal women without previous cardiovascular disease were studied. In this research example however, the effects of air pollution as a whole were being monitored. To narrow the test group women from 36 U.S. major cities from 1994 to 1998 were studied, the women were followed up for 6 years. In order to determine a women’s exposure to air pollution the nearest monitor to each of their locations was used; each of their first cardiovascular event took into account a variety of demographic factors. 1816 women had either several cardiovascular events or passed away. The results showed that levels of PM2.5 ranged from 3.4 to 28.3 μg per cubic meter. With each increase of 10 μg there was an increase of cardiovascular events by 24% and a 74% increase of death. When reading the research, the results turned out as I expected, with an increase in PM2.5 come an increase in heart disease for both men and women. However, this research was conducted in cities, the air pollution in cities must be vastly different that air pollution in rural areas where pesticide using farms are mainly located. This research still leaves me wondering why males are more susceptible to heart disease due to pesticide PM2.5 than women, perhaps in the last research example the women being studies were mostly spouses of male pesticide applicators or farmers and were therefore exposed less.

Miller, Kristine A. “Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Incidence of Cardiovascular Events in Women.” NewEnglandJournalofMedicine, 1 Feb. 2007, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa054409