Writing Sample

Excerpt from Red Ink

Effect of COVID-19 on Elementary Students\u27 Use of Language Online

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an unprecedented period of online communication among children. This paper aims to exemplify how the reliance on digital communication platforms compelled by COVID-19 affected elementary students’ use of language. Within the study, children used primarily visual language on digital sites with friends. There were two main forms of primary research in this study. The first consisted of a survey of 16 parents of elementary school children in my school district. The second was an observation of Zoom chat room activity among three eight-year-olds. Both methods of conducting research build on the existing understanding that digital sites provide a new and versatile method of communication among young children (Yamada-Rice 2010, p.341-361). The results of this study apply to education. Traditional models of textually presenting information to elementary students are not representative of their typical communication habits online

Finding and Analyzing Evil Cities on the Internet

IP Geolocation is used to determine the geographical location of Internet users based on their IP addresses. When it comes to security, most of the traditional geolocation analysis is performed at country level. Since countries usually have many cities/towns of different sizes, it is expected that they behave differently when performing malicious activities. Therefore, in this paper we refine geolocation analysis to the city level. The idea is to find the most dangerous cities on the Internet and observe how they behave. This information can then be used by security analysts to improve their methods and tools. To perform this analysis, we have obtained and evaluated data from a real-world honeypot network of 125 hosts and from production e-mail servers

Nutrition on the Prevention and Treatment of Depression

Today, the general population consumes a diet high in sugars, saturated fats, incomplete protein sources, and the tendency to exceed the bodies caloric requirements. The trend of obesity due to poor dietary habits is alarming. Mental illness has increasingly risen over the past decade. Specifically, the incidence of depression has reached a startling rate. The relationship between poor dietary intake and depression have grown together and it is imperative that methods are introduced to aid in resolving this issue. The prevention and treatment of depression needs to be explored through alternative methods. Healthier dietary choices have been shown to have significant results in treating and preventing depression

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF INCREASED WATER TREATMENT PLANT SERVICE GOALS ON REDUCING WATER QUALITY RISK

To treat water to make it safe to drink, disinfection processes are used in water treatment plants. These disinfection processes produce disinfection byproducts (DBPs) through the reaction of organic matter and the disinfectant, such as chlorine. DBPs have been shown to pose a cancer risk to consumers. In this report, the focus is on two types of DBPs, trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). The cancer risks associated with DBPs are analyzed through ingestion and inhalation pathways. Ingestion and inhalation consist of common water uses like drinking, cooking, or bathing. In addition to this, DBPs have been shown to increase through stagnation as they travel throughout water distribution systems, plumbing pipes, and hot water tanks. Methods for reducing the cancer risks associated with DBPs include consumers utilizing point of use (POU) filtration, whole house water filtration systems, or decreasing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaving the water treatment plant. The cancer risks associated with DBPs found in the city water of Akron, Ohio are calculated in this report. It is important to mention that various assumptions were made in the calculation processes, such as average body weight and average household water usage per day. Other types of assumptions include the assumed number of service connections in Akron that had different POU and whole house filtration systems. The methodology for this research includes obtaining quarterly data at numerous water distribution site locations in the City of Akron and obtaining data and costs for POU filtration and whole house filtration. The next portion of the methodology includes calculating cancer risks from THM and HAA exposure (including stagnation effects), calculating cancer risks when treatment options are utilized (based on the removal efficiency for each filter type), and calculating cancer risks from THM and HAA exposure when the DOC levels are reduced leaving the water treatment plant. From here, cancer risks and filtration costs are analyzed to provide insight to the public and the water treatment staff and leadership on the different cancer risks with the unfiltered water, filtered water, and when DOC concentrations are decreased. Some conclusions gathered from this research are that a reduction in DOC from the treatment plant will lower the cancer risks for all the consumers in the Akron water distribution system. Additionally, households who have a POU or whole house filtration system save money from the lowered DBP levels associated with a decreased DOC. Net consumer savings of around $230,000 were achieved by a reduction in DOC of 0.1 mg/L. Further conclusions are that whole house filtration systems provide the greatest reduction in cancer risk from DBPs, due in part to the fact that they work for both ingestion and inhalation pathways. For POU devices, the Zerowater water pitcher reduced cancer risk due to ingestion the most but was more expensive. The GE refrigerator filter performed best for POU filters when considering cost and cancer risk reduction due to ingestion. For the POU devices, cancer risk in the water due to inhalation was not impacted since these only treat ingestion pathways. For whole house filtration systems, the RKIN whole house treatment system was the most affordable option, therefore this made it the highest performing whole house system since the same removal efficiency was assumed for all the whole house filtration options. Further analysis on the impact of DOC reduction on THMs and HAAs and further analysis on the efficiency of whole house filtration systems would allow for even more beneficial insight to consumers in Akron and water treatment plant staff and leadership

Exploring Patterns of Activities of Daily Living in the Home Environment

Background: Senior citizens tend to live longer and longer independently. Judging whether a senior person is still capable of living on his own is often based on the occurrence of incidents, with all consequences thereof. In the specific case of early dementia, the symptoms are not immediately apparent and the occurrence and severity of incidents progress gradually over time. In this case, the children or grandchildren are burdened by the question whether or not the elderly adult can still live safely and independently in his or her own home. This decision is only based on input obtained through incidental visits. We believe that the capability of independent living can only be objectively judged, by a health professional, if long term objective information on the elderly person's daily activities of living (ADL) is available