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Methodological Practices in Perceptual Narrowing Research on Speech Perception and Facial Recognition
No full textPerceptual narrowing is the process in which humans, through experience, lose broad perceptual sensitivity and become more specialized in pertinent perceptual abilities. Infant research has shown that perceptual narrowing progresses over infancy and occurs in both speech perception and facial recognition abilities. While there is an expansive and robust body of research in infant perceptual narrowing, there is wide variability in methodological practices among and between the speech perception and facial recognition infant literature. This paper presents a literature review of cross-language speech perception and cross-species facial recognition perceptual narrowing research and analyzes the methodological practices of both bodies of literature. Under the framework suggested by Flake and Fried (2020) to combat questionable research practices, this paper identifies inconsistencies in methodology, as well as the lack of procedural justifications. This paper also examines participant and stimuli demographics in both bodies of literature and assesses the claims of universality and generalizability in these bodies of research. Finally, this paper makes recommendations for future research in the interest of building methodological rigor and transparency in this field
Beyond Access: Exploring Food Sovereignty vs Security, Memory, and Cultural Survival for Immigrants in the U.S.
No full textThis literature review examines the complex relationship between food, memory, and immigrant identity in the United States, exploring how food serves as both a mnemonic mechanism and a means of cultural preservation for immigrant communities. Through the theoretical frameworks of embodied memory, social/collective memory, and poly-temporal consciousness, this review analyzes how food memories and cultural practices enable immigrants to maintain connections to their homeland while navigating life in a new country. Drawing on case studies from immigrant communities such as Bengali-Americans, Greek immigrants, and others, the review demonstrates how sensorial experiences with food trigger memories and emotions that help construct identity and create a sense of home away from one\u27s origin. However, the review also highlights the significant challenges immigrants face in maintaining their traditional dietary practices, including limited access to cultural ingredients, economic constraints, and pressure to assimilate to American foodways. The review concludes by addressing issues of food security versus food sovereignty, suggesting that current food security approaches often overlook the cultural significance of food for immigrant communities. Whereas, food sovereignty offers the promise to allow people to be in charge of their own food systems. By integrating insights from sociology, anthropology, and multidisciplinary food studies, this review addresses how it is vital to have a holistic understanding of the relationship food has in people\u27s lives, going beyond mere sustenance, it plays a role in identity and belonging
Communicating Mathematics
No full textThis comps is a portfolio of written math communication pieces aimed at a variety of audiences
Will a Tick in Time Spread Lyme?: The Future Risk Landscape of Lyme Disease in Urban Greenspaces
No full textLyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. Annual cases of Lyme have been increasing due to climate and land use changes. This expansion includes the recent occurance of Lyme Disease in urban preenspaces. Given the unique ecological features of the urban biome, existing knowledge of the ecological factors affecting Lyme disease spread need to be reassessed for their potential affects in urban greenspaces. This paper discusses the current state of research on the effects of community assembly, patch connectivity, and pathogen-vector-host coevolution on LD transmission and how those relationships apply to the spread of LD in urban greenspaces, highlighting potential areas for future study. The conclusion addresses the implications of this literature for the future of US public health
Assessing Soil Variability in an Enhanced Weathering Context
No full textEnhanced weathering is a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology that accelerates the natural process of silicate rock weathering to a rate that has meaningful climate benefits within human lifetimes. This approach utilizes rocks that weather more rapidly, and when applied to crop fields as rock dust, it increases the reactive surface area, accelerating the weathering process. At the same time, these treatments serve as substitutes for agricultural lime, offering similar pH-buffering capabilities. To quantify the effects of enhanced weathering field amendments, solid-phase soil measurements are crucial for determining both the rate of rock weathering and the impacts on soil properties. However, soil is naturally variable, and the spatial variability poses a major challenge for accurate carbon removal quantification. This study evaluates soil data at a range of spatial resolutions to assess how soil variability impacts the ability to estimate the effects of enhanced weathering technologies. By exploring previous sampling techniques employed by the enhanced weathering trial at Carleton College, it was found that low density sampling in a large area demonstrated significant variability, introducing noise that could be misinterpreted as a treatment effect. Increasing the sampling density to a medium range while keeping the area constant did not substantially improve resolution. However, high density sampling in a small area appeared to provide more reliable data, though this method was not replicated within the same plots and requires further validation. While general trends can be observed with low-to-medium density sampling, precise property values may be skewed by sampling variability and measurement error. Future research should investigate analytical uncertainties, including potential errors in chemical analysis. The high density, small area sampling technique demonstrates promise as a methodology and should be replicated further to ensure its validity
Power and Precision: Bispecific TCR mimic antibodies simultaneously hunt down tumor specific antigens and engage potent T cell mediated killing
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COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Review of Methodological Approaches
No full textVaccines have positive effects on global public health, community well-being, and the economy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of the COVID-19 vaccine fueled vaccine hesitancy around the world, leading to an increase in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy research (Pourrazavi et al., 2023). This paper analyzes the methodological approaches used to study COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in adult participants from a subsection of articles reviewed in a previously published systematic review by Pourrazavi et al. (2023). Specifically, this paper explores how differences in sampling methods, study design, and the validation of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy measures varied across studies and how the context of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted how socio-psychological research was conducted. This work reveals the large selection of choices that researchers have in research design, operationalizing vaccine hesitancy constructs, and choosing predictor variables. This paper also explores the broader implications of these choices for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy research. The paper concludes by suggesting that a close analysis of research methodology is essential when making generalizations about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy across studies
A Wealth Tax Proposal
No full textWealth inequality is a growing global concern that is especially pressing in the United States. Households at the top of the socioeconomic ladder control a disproportionate share of wealth while middle- and lower-income families have declining financial stability. This disparity has effects far beyond financial inequality; influencing access to education, healthcare, and overall well-being. Studies have shown that there is a correlation between rising income inequality and mental health issues, particularly among vulnerable populations. One proposed solution to address this issue is the implementation of wealth taxes, which target accumulated assets rather than income. Internationally, wealth taxes have been implemented in countries like Norway, Spain, and Switzerland, providing valuable insights into their potential effectiveness. Norway\u27s wealth tax has been proven to promote intergenerational mobility and Spain\u27s wealth tax highlights the need for continuous tax structure refinement. Switzerland’s decentralized tax model demonstrates that wealth taxes can be enforced effectively while generating substantial revenue.
This paper proposes a U.S. wealth tax model inspired by international examples and existing research. It suggests a progressive tax with a one percent rate on net wealth above 1 billion, alongside increased IRS funding for enforcement and investment incentives to mitigate concerns about decreased investment. By adopting a carefully structured wealth tax, the U.S. can generate revenue for social programs and effectively reduce wealth inequality
Various Uses of Polymeric Nanoparticles in Treating, Detecting and Preventing Bovine Mastitis
No full textNanoparticles have revolutionized modern medicine, offering precise, targeted, and efficient means of administering therapeutics. While they are commonly discussed in human healthcare, their application in veterinary medicine remains an emerging and highly promising field. Bovine mastitis, an inflammatory infection of the mammary gland in cows and other members of the Bovidae family, is one of the most prevalent and costly diseases in dairy farming, typically treated with antibiotics (Morales-Ubaldo et al. 2023). However, conventional treatment methods pose challenges such as antibiotic resistance, off-target effects, and high costs. The development of advanced drug delivery systems (DDS) utilizing nanotechnology presents a potential solution to these issues by enhancing drug stability, controlling release timing, and minimizing side effects (Zhou et al. 2024). Additionally, nanoparticles have many potential uses for the detection as well as prevention of Bovine Mastitis. This paper explores the various applications of specifically conjugated polymeric nanoparticles (CPNs) in preventing, detecting, and treating bovine mastitis, analyzing their chemical properties, mechanisms, and potential advantages over traditional therapies