In the article “Marijuana use and depression”, by: Brian E. Green and Christian Ritter they wanted to look and see if the use of marijuana has anything to do with depression and mental health. In previous studies they looked at three different things on how to measure marijuana and depression. The first thing was the age in which people used marijuana and several studies have showed the early marijuana users achieve less in high school than non-users. Another studied showed that early marijuana use maybe associated with coping problems in adult hood, and also showed that marijuana users are less likely to be married than non-users. In this study that they did and conducted they measured the use of marijuana in three ways: one measure was age and marijuana initiation, second was the use of marijuana use in the past 30 days, and lastly they measured the reason for marijuana use. They broke the results down into models; the first model looked at the main effect of early marijuana use on depression, the second and third assess the indirect effect of early marijuana use on depression through educational attainment, employment status and marital status, the fourth model assess current marijuana use and its relationship on depression, lastly the fifth and sixth model looks at how other illicit and licit drugs with marijuana effect depression. Model 1 shoes that the early marijuana users are slightly more likely depressed than never users. In model 2 looks at educational attainment and shows that marijuana has no relationship between the two, in Model 3 it adds employment status and marital status it shows that married and employed are less stressed than unmarried and unemployed. In Model 4 shows that marijuana use is not significantly associated with depression. In the 5^th model they found that the number of drugs besides marijuana is positively associated with depression. In the 6^th model looked at all the drugs combined and shows that there is a significant association on depression also in the last model it shows that there is a significant association between using marijuana to cope and depression.

After reading this article it made me think about how marijuana can be good and bad for you and how people can take advantage of it and use it thinking that it is good for them when really in some cases it is actually hurting them in the long run. I know that before even reading this article that the more marijuana you smoke and use that it is actually replacing the dopamine in your brain which is the chemical balance in you that makes you happy and controls your emotions, so I can also see how marijuana can make you depressed and what not. I have one question to ask based on this article what if you use marijuana at the bare minimum and aren’t an avid user will it still affect your depression and cause problems as if someone were to smoke marijuana all the time?

This study focuses on the ratings college students give for their teachers. In order to understand the ratings given for teachers, the study sought characteristics that were “associated” with the ratings. Due to existing research, the study focused on five specific characteristics: “class size, course level, the ‘electivity’ of the course, the particular subject matter of the course, and the time of day that the course is held.”

The associations draw from the study are reported to be moderate or not very strong. The teacher ratings were often higher for upper division courses and elective courses. Additionally, professors in the areas of humanities, fine arts, and languages also tended to receive higher ratings than others.

According to the study, there are many explanations for the relationships made between ratings and professors. Studies in which controlled studies are relevant are fewer  than those that only have “zero-order” relationships between characteristics and ratings. This means that the relationships aren’t dependent on one variable or another.

In my evaluation of the study, classes that offer more freedom tend to receive higher ratings. Electives are more likely to receive better ratings because the students are able to choose the course as opposed to it being required. Upper division courses I would assume have older students with more knowledge about what they are learning. Therefore, a respectable rating for a course would not be strange.

Citation:

Feldman, Kenneth A. “Course Characteristics and College Students’ Ratings of Their Teachers: What We Know and What We Don’t.” Link.springer.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00976997>.

Terlizzi, A., Scuderi, D., Fraschetti, S., & Anderson, M. J. (2005). Quantifying effects of pollution on biodiversity: A case study of highly diverse molluscan assemblages in the mediterranean. Marine Biology, 148(2), 293-305. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-0080-8

This research example was worked on by A. Terlizzi, D. Scuderi, S. Fraschetti, and M. J. Anderson.  Their research paper was titled, “Quantifying effects of pollution on biodiversity: a case study of highly diverse mollusks assemblages in the Mediterranean.”  They wanted to know the potential effects of sewage discharge on spatial patterns of highly diverse mollusks assemblages in a Mediterranean rocky sub-tidal habitat.  They used an experiment with two control sites.  They needed reports from the mollusks.  All three sites were chosen at random.  Scuba divers went down and took samples by scraping organisms off of rocky surfaces.  The mollusks were sorted and put into solution.  The analysis was mostly ordinal and involved a lot of math.  Univariate asymmetrical analyses of variance were used to calculate all of the variables. They put all of their data into bar graphs to show the number of individuals and the variable that was tested.  Their results concluded that there were a higher number of species at the locations that were further away from the sewage pipes.  There was more variability.  This experiment used scuba divers which is extremely helpful.  However, this experiment used destructive techniques that ruined the sites.  This is not the way that scientists should work.  They were all extremely intelligent, but I do not approve on the harm that they caused.

In 2010 Paul M. Klenowski, Keith J. Bell, and Kimberly D. Dodson published “An Empirical Evaluation of Juvenile Awareness Programs in the United States: Can Juveniles be ‘Scared Straight’?” in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. This study assessed twelve evaluations of ten juvenile awareness programs. They used the Maryland Scientific Scale for assessing the scholarly evolutions of the programs, which is widely accepted in the criminal justice field. The SMS (Maryland Scientific Methods Scale) is a five-point scale that measures the methodological rigor of the evaluations of the juvenile awareness programs. The SMS ranges from 1 (the least rigorous) to 5 (the most rigorous). If the evaluations of the juvenile awareness programs in which the researchers are looking at have a high enough rigor, they “can classify the effectiveness of a program into one of four categories: ‘what works, what does not work, what is promising, and what is unknown’” (258). A program that can be classified as working has to have at least two evaluations that are 3 to 5 rankings on the SMS scale.
In the end, this meta-analysis is yet another study showing the lack of effectiveness of juvenile prevention programs on recidivism. However, while this study shows that youth are likely continue or even increase their delinquent behavior after attending these programs; Klenowski, Bell, and Dodson suggest that certain aspects of these juvenile awareness programs, like non-confrontational programs in conjunction with other promising crime prevention strategies, should be taken into consideration. While this study is another study pointing to the lack of effectiveness of juvenile awareness programs, like scared straight, it is one of the few that suggests that non-confrontational programs in conjunction with other crime prevention strategies should be looked into.

http://0-search.ebscohost.com.books.redlands.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=50038747&site=ehost-live

This article mostly pertains to the United States, but I feel that it can apply to aspects on border control now in Europe as countries are tightening security at the border. The idea of borders in itself promotes the idea of keeping undesirable people and goods out of a country. Border control has the goal of selectively denying access to a territory. As immigration becomes the forefront of political discussions around the world, border control is becoming stricter. Even in Europe where the borders are “open”, more restrictions are being set. These days, it is easier to trade goods across borders than cross as a human. Our society is so focused on the economic benefit of open borders that we neglect freedom of border crossing for people.

The article argues that scholars are leaning towards the idea of a “world without borders”. In many ways, I agree with this as ideas, goods, and culture can flow between territories without (many) restrictions. However, I feel that the article is neglecting the fact that when ever there is a foreseen “security threat” there will always be enforced borders. As a society, we are almost there in terms of a borderless world when it comes to ideas. Globalization and technology have increasingly made the lines blurry between territories, as there is no physical border for the Internet to cross in most cases. However, when it comes to people, and more specifically asylum seekers or refugees, the borders between countries can become impenetrable. An example of this is the Schengen territories in the European Union have “open borders”, but when it comes to allowing refugees, many of these countries have closed their doors. The study of the refugees and asylum seekers also requires a study on borders and how and why they are formed and reinforced. If we can understand the societal and physical borders that are hindering refugees from asylum, then we can better understand there plight altogether.

Citation:

Andreas, Peter. Redrawing the Line: Borders and Security in the Twenty -First Century. 2003

As I’ve been exploring the media surrounding research connecting violence to video games, I was interested to find a mainstream article from a well-known media source. I found this article on CBS news’ website from 2015, following the wake of the several different mass shootings in 2015. I found it very interesting the way that the article was structured. While the article did admit right away in the first couple paragraphs that there has been very little correlating research between video games and violence in the past couple decades, the short article went on to point out that the shooter involved in the Sandy Hook shooting was highly interested in violent video games. Of course, the fact that millions of other Americans are also interested in these same games was left out.

At this point in my research from reading various articles, it is very interesting that even though there is very little research backing up this claim, articles are quick to jump to the common scapegoat of blaming video games for violence.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-criminal-behavior/

According to the study, adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are representative of the “legal” targets for tobacco industry marketing. It is also highlighted that a large portion of these young adults being targeted are college students. While actually cigarette smoking is more common, this study seeks to find research on the usage of tobaccos products that are not cigarettes by college students or cigar use by adults regardless of their age.

The objective of this study is “to assess the prevalence of all forms of tobacco use (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco) among US college students and to identify student- and college-level factors associated with use of each product.”

To gather data, the Harvard College Alcohol Survey, was utilized. This is a self-administered survey that was conducted in 1999. The sites for this study were one-hundred nineteen “nationally representative US 4-year colleges.” From these colleges, a total of 14,138 students were randomly selected, which indicated a sixty-percent response rate.

The variables tested consisted of self-reported use of any and all tobacco products within the past 30 days, past-year, and lifetime.

The study concludes that the use of tobacco products is not limited to cigarettes. For this particular study, it is important to note the percentage of survey response. For the class study, we must keep in mind the types of questions that we ask in order to receive the most responses possible while conducting a research with accurate, genuine results. In this survey, maybe some students were not comfortable admitting their use of tobacco due to social repercussions or whatever the reasonings may be.

Citation:

“US College Students’ Use of Tobacco Products.” JAMA Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. <http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=192969&resultclick=1>.

In the article “Body piercing, tattooing, self-esteem, and body investment in adolescent girls”, by: Lynne Carroll and Roxanne Anderson, the talked about girls with tattoos and piercings and how a lot of them get them to change themselves or even help their self esteem. In the article they talk about another author called “Sweetman” he explains the reason some girls get tattoos on and piercings on their body, he said that tattoos and piercing’s emanate from inner self sense of self and try to change themselves in order to be likes, he also said says that they permit ones to record ones history on their body. The article also talks about explanations for body modifications, it says one gives people ownership and control over their body and life and culture and the other reason is it helps identify and affiliate with a group. In the overall study that was conducted for this article they took 79 adolescent girls from the ages 15-18 with parent consent, they took the girls that were part of the at risk programs at their high schools. They tool 35 European American, 30 African American, 4 Multiracial, 2 Asian American, 1 Native American, and 1 self-classified as “other” and 6 did not report their ethnicity. They focused on the topics of self-esteem, Body image, Depression, and anger. 34 of the participants reported that they had tattoos and piercing on parts of their bodies other than their ear lobes. They reported for piercings that 29 people had them 9 had their tongues, 9 had their navels, 6 pierced their nose, 3 pierced above their eyebrows and 2 said on other parts of their bodies. For tattoos 16 people reported having them 5 people said on their legs, 4 said stomach, 3 said arms, 2 said breasts, 1 said shoulder and 1 said hand. The participants were also asked the reasons why they got their tattoos and piercings 13 said they wanted it, 6 said it was the style, 4 said it was cute, 1 said it was fun. The overall findings in the test they did between tattoos and piercings were there was a negative association found between the number of piercings and tattoos and the feeling sub-scale, basically means the greater the number of body modifications the more negative feelings toward the body.

After reading this article I know it was talking about female adolescence but thinking from a guys perspective I feel like tattoos do make people or guys feel a little better about them selves and give them that little bit of swagger look. I know for me personally I got tattoos to help identify myself and to help sort of tell a story of my life through art work and tattoos, not all people think about things like this and about how tattoos can help you self esteem or just help you feel good about yourself. I really wonder if some people with tattoos look back at their experience and life and not so much regret getting them but actually feel worse about them selves. I would love to hear people’s opinions and thoughts on if they think tattoos and piercings could affect people’s self-esteem.

http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/sociology/docview/195946753/FAFA2A97DF3B4ED4PQ/8?accountid=14729

Liu, Y., Ke-Ming, M., Jing-Zhu, Z., Bai, X., & Qing-Hai Guo. (2007). The relationships of urbanization to surface water quality in four lakes of hanyang, china. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 14(3), 317-327. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/docview/198071001?accountid=14729

Researchers Yang Liu, Ma Ke-Ming, Zhao Jing-Zhu, Xue Bai, and Qing-Hai Guo all worked on a journal titled, “The relationships of urbanization to surface water quality in four lakes of Hanyang, China.”  They started to study this because of what converting rural land into urban land rapidly does to the environment.  The water quality is heavily polluted because of the change in land use.  There had not been much research on non-point source pollution.  There study area was Hanyang, Hubei Province, China.  This area is filled with rivers and lakes.  They preformed an observational study on the land use and how it correlated with the water quality in the area.  They collected the land use data by using high-resolution quickbird multispectral imagery.  The water quality was measured by Soil and Water Assessment Tool model which divided each lake into several pieces.  The water quality indicators that were selected were pH, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, salinity, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chemical oxygen, and 49 heavy metals.  To analyze their data, they used numerous steps.  They compared the urbanization at all of the lakes.  To determine the land impacts on the lake water quality they used a Pearson’s correlation to reveal any relationships.  They concluded that land uses can be used as sources or sinks to non-point source pollution.  This was the most in-depth research on water quality ever done in China before.  The abundance of urbanization is causing a worse quality of water.  This research journal has made me realize how much work goes into water analysis.  If I was to do my research project, I am not sure if I would have the ability to test all of the elements that they did.  However, I would do the best that I could with what I could analyze.