Can You Hear Me Now? : The Role of Hip-Hop in the Identity and Personal Epistemology of Black Girls

Hip-hop has been shown to be a significant force of identity, knowledge, and cultural development, particularly for Black youth (Brown, 2009; Emdin, 2010; Hill, 2009; Love, 2012). Building on research surrounding identity and knowledge development within hip-hop, this Black/hip-hop feminist research study seeks to understand the role that hip-hop plays in the lives, identity and personal epistemology of Black adolescent girls. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What role does hip-hop (i.e., rap, dance, and graffiti) play in the lives of Black girls? (2) How does hip-hop inform racial and gendered identity for Black girls? (3) How do Black girls negotiate their racial and gender identities through hip-hop? (4) How does hip-hop inform Black girls personal epistemologies and worldviews? 6 Black girls from an urban city in the mid-southern region of the United States participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, and researcher journals were collected and analyzed using thematic analysis (Saldana, 2016) to understand how these cultural mechanisms influence identity, worldview, and knowledge for Black girls. Results showed the following themes: hip-hop as a coping mechanism, hip-hop as a critique of hegemonic ideologies of Blackness and Black girl/womanness, hip-hop as community, and hip-hop as negotiating knowledges. This research study demonstrates the importance of hip-hop in promoting resiliency, challenging/critiquing/creating racial and gender identities, and using hip-hop as a community for learning. This study also demonstrates the importance of identity development in the epistemic process

Reduction of Moderate Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Adults through Community Based Intervention Programs

Per the American Heart Association (AHA) 2016, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 2016, most recent reports, cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death nationally and globally. In the United States (U.S.), more than 600,000 adults die each ear of heart disease (CDC, 2015). The economic burden that cardiovascular disease places on society is tremendous. In the U.S. alone, the estimated direct and overall cost resulting from CVD is reported to be between 273 billion and 444 billion dollars annually (CDC/MMWR, 2011; WHO, 2016). Because of estimations like these, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services\u27 Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (OCPHP) has urged health care providers to improve cardiovascular health and quality of life through it\u27s Healthy People 2020 campaign initiative (HealthyPeople.gov, 2017). Studies have shown that one of the most effective ways to decrease risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease is through making modification to one\u27s behavior and lifestyle. In fact, the most prevalent risk factors for developing CVD are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, poor diet, obesity, and smoking. All of which are modifiable. They can be prevented, and treated with education, behavioral modifications, and, or medications. A well proven, effective, and relatively low-cost way of achieving this is through participation in community based intervention programs aimed at reducing these modifiable risk factors. The following literature review seeks to answer the questions, among the adult population, what types of community-based interventions have shown the greatest achievements in reducing modifiable, moderate cardiovascular disease risk factors

Musical Training Influences Auditory Temporal Processing

Background: A link between musical expertise and auditory temporal processing abilities was examined. Material and methods: Trained musicians (n=13) and non-musicians (n=12) were tested on speech tasks (phonetic identification, speech recognition in noise) and non-speech tasks (temporal gap detection). Results: Results indicated musicians had shorter between-channel gap detection thresholds and sharper phonetic identification functions, suggesting that perceptual reorganization following musical training assists basic temporal auditory processes. Conclusions: In general, our results provide a conceptual advance in understanding how musical training influences speech processing, an ability which, when impaired, can affect speech and reading competency

Big Black: Stand at Attica

A review of the 2020 book by Frank "Big Black" Smith, Jared Reinmuth, and Ameziane, "Big Black: Stand at Attica," for inclusion in ARLIS/NA's 2020 Notable Graphic Novels Review

Self-Esteem and Feelings of Community Connectedness of At-Risk Adolescents Attending Community-Based Afterschool Programs

This research investigated the relationship between adolescent afterschool program attendance, self-esteem and feelings of community connectedness. Thirty-nine of the 61 at-risk adolescents enrolled in two federally funded, community based afterschool programs participated in the study. Participants completed a 10-item self-esteem questionnaire and a 5-item section of the Youth Involved in Community Issues Survey (YICI) to measure perceptions of community connectedness. Attendance records were also collected from the sites. Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlations. Results indicated that there was not a significant relationship between the total variables. The individual item analysis, however, did find a significant relationship between adolescent community connectedness and self esteem items. Findings suggest that there is a relationship to be explored and strengthened through means of community outreach for adolescents. Conclusions from this study have important implications for youth practice. Specifically, program leaders need to help adolescents get involved in the community as contributing members

Electronic health record data quality assessment and tools: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE: We extended a 2013 literature review on electronic health record (EHR) data quality assessment approaches and tools to determine recent improvements or changes in EHR data quality assessment methodologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We completed a systematic review of PubMed articles from 2013 to April 2023 that discussed the quality assessment of EHR data. We screened and reviewed papers for the dimensions and methods defined in the original 2013 manuscript. We categorized papers as data quality outcomes of interest, tools, or opinion pieces. We abstracted and defined additional themes and methods though an iterative review process. RESULTS: We included 103 papers in the review, of which 73 were data quality outcomes of interest papers, 22 were tools, and 8 were opinion pieces. The most common dimension of data quality assessed was completeness, followed by correctness, concordance, plausibility, and currency. We abstracted conformance and bias as 2 additional dimensions of data quality and structural agreement as an additional methodology. DISCUSSION: There has been an increase in EHR data quality assessment publications since the original 2013 review. Consistent dimensions of EHR data quality continue to be assessed across applications. Despite consistent patterns of assessment, there still does not exist a standard approach for assessing EHR data quality. CONCLUSION: Guidelines are needed for EHR data quality assessment to improve the efficiency, transparency, comparability, and interoperability of data quality assessment. These guidelines must be both scalable and flexible. Automation could be helpful in generalizing this process

Correlative extinction and single fluorophore bleaching microscopy for ligand quantification on gold nanoparticles

Nanoparticles (NPs) are promising therapeutic delivery agents, with the number and manner of presentation of cell‐binding ligands on the NP affecting the eventual fate of the therapeutic. Whenever NPs are conjugated with biomolecules, a heterogeneous population of decorated NPs will be produced and these subpopulations of particle‐ligand structures need to be characterized for a reliable interpretation of NP‐based data. An optical microscopy method is reported to quantitatively evaluate the conjugation on a single‐particle basis in samples consisting of gold NPs (GNPs) decorated with holo‐transferrin fluorescently labeled with Alexa647 (Tf). Widefield fluorescence and extinction microscopy are employed on NP‐ligand constructs, alongside a correlative analysis that spatially co‐localizes diffraction‐limited sources of fluorescence with the optical extinction by individual GNPs. A photobleaching step analysis estimates the number of fluorophores contributing to the detected emission rate. The method quantifies the number of fluorescent biomolecules attached per GNP, the numbers of unconjugated GNPs and unbound Tf present within the mixed population, and the size and intraparticle clustering propensity of conjugated GNPs. A high variability is found in the number of Tf ligands per GNP within the GNP population, when analyzed at the single‐particle level, unraveling a non‐trivial statistical distribution not accessible in ensemble‐averaged approaches

Guide to Considering Children’s Health When Developing EPA Actions: Implementing Executive Order 13045 and EPA’s Policy on Evaluating Health Risks to Children

This document is a step-by-step guide to assist Agency staff in integrating children’s health considerations into EPA’s Action Development Process (ADP). It describes the provisions of Executive Order 13045 “Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks” and EPA’s “Policy on Evaluating Health Risks to Children.” This guide also is designed to assist EPA staff in determining whether rules are subject to the Executive Order, whether the Agency Policy applies to an action and what should be done to address the Executive Order and/or EPA’s policy in the development of a rule or Agency action