A Steady Journey - Critical and Self-Analysis

Analysis of the composition of A Steady Journey, a young adult fantasy novel featuring a disabled protagonist by Ashley Gonzalez

Music Participation and Achievement Scores among Middle School Students with Disabilities: A Causal-Comparative Study

This quantitative, causal-comparative study examined the differences in reading and math achievement between students with disabilities who participated in music for two or more years and those who did not. This study’s purpose was to show if participating in music can impact the academic achievement of middle school students as measured by the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The covariate in the study was the reading and math STAAR scores from fifth-grade students in the 2015–2016 school year before they participated in middle school music. These students’ eighth-grade 2018–2019 math and reading scores were used to show if a difference exists between the academic achievement of students that took part in music and those who did not. A convenience sample of 155 students from an urban district was analyzed using ANCOVA statistical analysis to discover if there is a difference in the achievement of middle school students with disabilities when participating in music classes for two or more years as measured by their STAAR scores. The research found no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Future recommendations for research include duplication of the study with a larger sample or different population

The Effects of Paclitaxel on Cellular Migration and the Cytoskeleton

In a clinical setting, some patients are exposed to an anti-cancer chemotherapy agent, paclitaxel. Cancerous cells undergo rapid, continuous cell division without control. Chemotherapy treatments try to slow and stop the uncontrollable cell division cycles and eliminate cancerous cells in the process. Paclitaxel serves as a treatment for some types of cancers, including lung, melanoma, bladder, and esophageal. Because it targets the cytoskeleton, paclitaxel can also influence cell migration. This project utilizes a cellular migration assay and an immunohistochemistry assay to analyze the effects of paclitaxel on the movement of cells and on the cytoskeleton of neuroglia rat cells with glioma. Cells were grown in culture to a monolayer and were treated with dimethysulfoxide (DMSO; the paclitaxel solvent) as the control and with 0.4 μM paclitaxel. Removal of a small strip of cells in the middle of the culture induced the remaining cells to migrate across to fill the gap. Cultures were observed and analyzed to establish if the cells either did not migrate, or migrated more slowly across to fill in the scratched gap. Imaging with the microscope allowed us to measure and quantify the migration of cells for a duration of 48 hours. The migration assay provided insights into how cellular movement can be disrupted. Because one target of these compounds is the cytoskeleton, we also conducted immunohistochemistry on exposed cultures. Cells were fixed and stained with phalloidin to label the actin structures and DAPI to stain the nuclei. Fiji was used to detect morphological changes of nuclei to have a better understanding between structure and function. Images taken using fluorescence microscopy helped us analyze the effects of the chemotherapy agent on the organization, localization, and levels of expression of actin at a cellular level

Music and Language Development: Traits of Nursery Rhymes and Their Impact on Children\u27s Language Development

From birth--possibly even before birth--the amount and array of external stimuli profoundly affect a child’s cognitive and linguistic development. In addition to verbal communication from parent to child, singing proves to be an integral aid to a child’s development of speech and language, allegedly due to repetitions of words and rhythms. Nursery rhymes are, from infancy, among the most commonly presented forms of musical stimulus for children. The repetitive nature of the nursery rhymes undoubtedly supports language and speech development, but various characteristics of nursery rhymes, specifically pitch interval, meter, phrase length, contour, and harmony, also contribute substantially to the development of language in children

“Failure of Will”?: TB Patient Narratives and Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor

Susan Sontag outlines in Illness as Metaphor the romantic narratives of what she called a “tubercular personality.” Sontag writes the following in doing so, describing one key aspect of romantic tuberculosis: “TB was understood, like insanity, to a kind of one-sidedness; a failure of will or an overintensity…the tubercular was considered to be someone quintessentially vulnerable, and full of self-destructive whims” (63-64). “A failure of will” and “quintessential vulnerability” form a set of characteristics through which a narrative of the “tubercular personality” is constructed. The tubercular narrative Sontag describes is based on a wide variety of stereotypes. This creates a paradox in which the metaphorical trappings of the tubercular disposition are simultaneously correct and incorrect as persons with TB adhere to the narrative in some ways and deviate from it in others. One aspect of this narrative touches on a “failure of will” regarding individuals living with TB. Sontag describes this part of the metaphor in detail in Illness as Metaphor: While syphilis was thought to be passively incurred, an entirely involuntary disaster, TB was once...thought to be a pathology of energy, a disease of the will… Getting TB was thought to signify a defective vitality, or vitality misspent. (61-62). This paradox is particularly apparent in a collection of case files from a psychiatric study conducted by Daniel Harris at the Saranac Lake Study and Craft Guild in the 1950s. Results from these case files culminate into a narrative in which patients conform in some ways to the “quintessentially vulnerable” patient while simultaneously diverging from such stereotypes significantly. The aim of this paper is to examine a sample of these case files (patients 210, 293, and 241). Primary focus will be placed on questionnaires and interview responses which reveal the patients’ personalities, and plans made during and after their treatments. The narratives created by these responses will also be supplemented by forms filled out by the interviewers themselves. The paper will then compare these narratives to the tubercular profile found in Sontag’s Illness as Metaphorand account for the paradoxes they present

Foster Youth and Components in Pursuing Higher Education

The foster youth population is at higher risk than the general population to not pursue or complete higher education. The literature review provided a stronger understanding of the different components that come with foster youth pursuing higher education and the different factors that play into preventing them from pursuing higher education. The purpose of this research study was to identify what services and/or supports have assisted foster youth in continuing to pursue higher education. This study used a qualitative design and interviewed 10 former or current foster youth over the phone and through an online video call. The researchers provided interview questions asking about their experiences in pursuing higher education. This study revealed that former and current foster youth found family and school staff support as a common factor into helping them pursue higher education. This study also found that some participants felt a lack of support from social workers in pursuing higher education. The study indicated that EOPS and Guardians Scholars had positively supported them during the pursuit of their higher education. Findings of the study recommend that social workers provide more information about college and other related resources and doing so at an earlier age like when they start participating in the Independent Living Program (ILP). This study also suggests a policy that could improve services for foster youth by mandating workshops that social workers must attend at least a few times a year to gather information about college and other career paths that foster youth can benefit from

Community Resilience Yes, Junkyards No!

Analytical studies on environmental racism have focused on the interconnections between policymakers and environmental hazards in low-income communities to determine the degree of racial inequality. Yet, the majority of these studies ignore the arrival and permanence of toxic spaces such as junkyards and polluting industries impacting poor bayfront neighborhoods such as Logan Heights. We purport to examine this topic on two fronts. First, I plan to investigate the historical connection between the battle over greenspace between the Chicano Park takeover and the junkyard. Junkyards in Barrio Logan play a crucial role in how environmental racism came to be in this community. My second goal is to demonstrate how the resilience and need of a community through political mobilization willresult in re-building the neighborhoods that were destroyed and disregarded by policymakers. We will adopt a Participatory Action Research approach (PAR), in order to discover how and why issues of environmental justice have been at the center of community mobilization in Logan Heights for over 50 years