ikatkov/journal-of-student-research-hs-articles huggingface dataset:
Relationship Between Primary Guardians Marital Status and MBTI Results
Authors: Mercedes Lyn Stanek, Patricia Talarczyk
Date: 01-07-2020

The goal of this research was to explore the potential relationship between a primary guardian’s marital status and the child resulting from that relationship’s MBTI personality type. Given that personality types are often linked to environmental factors, these two factor appeared to be linked psychologically. The relationship between the five main marital statuses, married, divorced, separated, widowed, and single mother/father, and the results of MBTI tests was explored in this study. To explore the possible relationship, a mixed method approach was employed to high school students ranging from grades nine to twelve. The participants were asked to participate in an MBTI personality test which was followed by a survey asking questions about the participant’s primary guardians. The marital status was found to have no impact on the personality types of the participants; all groups were found to tend to be more introverted than extroverted.
The Effects of Different Musical Auditory Backgrounds on a High School Student’s Comprehension Performance
Authors: Kaitlyn M Chrosniak, Patricia Talarczyk
Date: 12-30-2019

The Mozart Effect is a phenomenon where it is believed that students benefit from listening to classical music while studying or completing a class task. Studies released about the Mozart Effect have proven to not be the most reliable or replicable of studies. Similarly, very few studies have been released using music other than classical to see how all genres of music impact a students performance in the classroom. This research study began with a pre-assessment survey to determine characteristics of the population sample, 79 students varying from grades 10-12 in both Advanced Placement and College Prep English courses. The next part of the study included an experiment where students were to complete a portion of a released ACT reading excerpt. Students were to perform the task in silence, listening to a Mozart Sonata, or while listening to one of five pieces deemed to be the most popular of the year 2018. Upon completion, students were to complete a post-assessment survey in which they reviewed how they felt about the experience. Through an ANOVA, the scores from all students in the silent group, the classical group, and the popular group were compared in order to determine if any one treatment group performed significantly better or worse than others in terms of accuracy, as well as to see if different auditory factors were to blame. The results proved to be insignificant, showing how students do not perform better or worse on comprehension tasks when different auditory backgrounds are applied.
The Effects of Heat Wave Temperature Patterns on Arabidopsis Thaliana
Authors: Sara Ramaiah, Patricia Talarczyk
Date: 12-30-2019

Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Col-0, a model organism in plant physiology, was studied in conjunction with heat wave temperature patterns, here defined as a multi-day pattern of oscillating high maximum daily temperatures and normal temperatures. The study was run with an experimental design, involving the construction of two plant growth chambers, of which one was set to maintain a constant temperature around 23º Celsius. The other was set to vary in maximum temperature according to a heat wave definition based upon climate data from Columbia, Missouri, the native region of the studied ecotype of A. thaliana. Seeds were placed on fertilized soil and watered daily throughout the process of their growth, and they were moved into the growth chambers after sprouting under sunlight. Data was collected regarding each plant's developmental stage throughout plant growth, and biomass data was collected at the end of each individual's growth. Overall, an effect on the plants was found when the control and experimental groups were compared. The experimental group showed increased plant mortality and slowed plant development. This study has implications for the field of environmental science, climate research, and biology in that it may impact both the study of plant growth and planting seasons in agriculture. These results suggest potential for future studies into the genetic differences between plants that thrive under each set of conditions. These results are in agreement with other evidence of the negative effects of climate change on ecosystems.
Benefits of Music Intervention for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: Finn Keith Hafting, Birdie Bezanson
Date: 02-15-2019

Current literature, (Gold, Wigram, &amp; Elefant, 2006), (Wimpory &amp; Chadwick, 1995), (NRC, 2001), suggests that there is insufficient evidence to predict long-term (P to Grade 12) benefits of music intervention for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To understand how music intervention can be employed in Nova Scotian schools, music teachers, music therapists, and staff of the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development were interviewed. The primary needs of students with ASD were identified as, Expression of thoughts, Language, Motor skills, and Social skills. Music intervention was found to have substantial long-term and short-term benefits for students in all grade levels depending on their individual needs. However, to treat these needs, elements of music and music intervention must be considered during program planning meetings.
Civic Engagement and Opinion of Politics at a High School Level
Authors: Diana Isabel Cruz, Brian Everson
Date: 01-31-2019

"At one point or another, young people will become the majority that can vote compared to baby boomers and other demographics. Therefore it is important to address the political efficacy and engagement of youth, because they will be-or already are- making change. However, this is by no means a new idea. There have been studies in the past, however, this in particular will be addressing the question of, “To what extent do ethnicity, participation in political organization, party affiliations, and civic engagement level factor into students opinions of politics and their civic engagement?”"  After collecting 220 responses, students ethnicity, political affiliation, their level of civic engagement, and whether they were involved in a political organization was taken into account to determine the effect on their opinions of politics and how they interacted with government. It was found that involvement in a political organization was the greatest factor when looking at the data quantitatively and qualitatively.
The Neuroscience Between Musical Stimulation and Enhancing Short Term Memory with Age
Authors: Maria Alexandra Fiorta, Patricia Talarczyk
Date: 01-29-2019

In the field of neuroscience, cognitive memory is at the center of biomedical research. Prior works in cognitive memory all suggest and show that as people age their short term memory slows down and becomes less effective from an accuracy standpoint. This especially becomes apparent in age related memory impairments such as Alzheimer’s. Using musical stimulation this study was focused on finding out if music has an effect on a musician’s short term memory speed and overall accuracy in both auditory and visual memory. Visual and auditory memory are the primary ways in which music is memorized. Along with visual memory motor memory is also tested in musicians as they use muscles when playing an instrument (Chua,  2014). Thus, these two were combined with the aim of finding out if music has an effect on the entire short term memory system. The study focused on all ages ranging from fourteen to the age bracket of sixty and over. Each participant was given the same conditions under which the study was conducted. Using a T-chart analysis the data showed that overall the speed of memory is enhanced with musical stimulation; however, accuracy was statistically insignificant. To avoid the distraction of future participants they should be evaluated one at a time.Key Words: cognitive memory, auditory, visual, musicians, motor memory
The Integration of Color and the Retention of Text
Authors: Michelle Emily Lucic, Patricia R Talarczyk
Date: 01-29-2019

The following essay will present research that studies the interweaving of color and memory. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of different formats of color within a prose fiction text, and to show how color affects the retention of the information read. To perform the study, one passage made in three different formats – black and white throughout the text, colored font on random words, or highlighted text on random words – will be randomly assigned to Advanced Placement (AP) and College Prep (Regular) English class juniors, followed by a test based on accuracy. The results show that color has a more positive influence than normal black and white text in regards to retaining information. Moreover, women overall were seen to perform significantly better on the text with highlighted text compared to colored font, whereas men overall were seen to be more successful using colored font than highlight. One can conclude from this research that using color to study and remember information for a test or a job-related interview can improve one’s performance. Due to the positive influence of color, students should ask their teachers to promote a more color-coded study plan, present key parts in a slideshow using highlighting or colored font, or more, which could lead to higher student scores and steer attention towards the information being given.
Isolating Exosomes Derived From Human Natural Killer Cells For Characterization
Authors: Wesley Huang, Jo Carmona
Date: 12-31-2018

Exosomes have been an area of great interest in the field of research, as they seem to participate in many essential cellular processes. However, current methods in isolating exosomes have many limitations. The aim of this study is to present a more effective, efficient, and simple method to isolate large quantities of natural killer (NK) cell-derived exosomes using the ÄKTA start system, centered around size-exclusion chromatography, and to characterize these exosomes. Using the ÄKTA system, we obtained a chromatogram of high resolution depicting the UV absorbance of exosomes. We confirmed the identity of the exosomes by probing for markers such as CD56 and CD81 and cytotoxic proteins such as granzyme B in the exosomes, whose cytotoxic properties against cancer cells were confirmed using luciferase assays. By incubating exosomes, cancer cells, and an array of inhibitors, we also found that NK exosomes may engage in cytotoxicity via different methods such as ligand-receptor interactions.
A Golf Ball and A Bouncy Ball, Which Bounces Higher and Why
Authors: Kate Elizabeth Boydston, Cecil Ossa-Jaen, Anying Wang, Mengyao Zhao, Jim Centorino
Date: 10-17-2018

The AP Physics I class at Louisville High School takes a detailed look at the difference in elasticity between a golf ball and a dense bouncy rubber ball.
Strategies for Grassroots Activism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Authors: Riti Pathak, Alesia Williams
Date: 06-17-2018

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ongoing crisis originating from the ethno-religious struggle between the Palestinian Arabs and Zionist Jews over the land of Palestine. There have been several attempts to create peace in this conflict, including foreign intervention and aid. However, one of the most overlooked methods is grassroots activism: civilian movements that work for social and political change on a local, regional, or international level. While there have been sociological analyses and other studies conducted on grassroots activism in the conflict, there has been a lack of comprehensive approaches analyzing these qualitative studies and the effectiveness of this activism. Thus, the purpose for this project was to find which strategies were most effective for grassroots movements that focus on creating peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It was hypothesized that nonviolent activism would emerge as most effective. A mixed methods approach incorporating both a qualitative meta synthesis and a quantitative frequency analysis was conducted through a thematic synthesis. Line-by-line coding was completed on six journal articles obtained from JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, and Sociological Collection; descriptive and analytical themes based on strategies for grassroots activism were created based on this coding. A statistical analysis was completed displaying the frequency of each strategy coded as low, medium, or high success. Joint activism emerged as the most effective strategy based on the coding completed with 57% coding under high success: this suggests that joint activism should be utilized most often for conflict resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Relationship between vertical depth of the kickoff point of a fracking operation and methane concentrations in groundwater resources
Authors: Haley Dillon Acosta, J. Mike Courage, Serge Danielson-Francois
Date: 12-31-2017

There is a problem with hydraulic fracturing and water contamination. Despite Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, risk to water resources remains in areas of water acquisition, chemical mixing, well injection, produced water handling, and wastewater disposal and reuse. This problem has negatively impacted some relying on groundwater resources surrounding hydraulic fracturing operations because of inadequate information (e.g. unmapped faults, abandoned/unfilled wells, unknown mechanisms of risk, etc.). Perhaps a study which investigates the correlation between the vertical depth of the kickoff point (point at which fracking fluids are dispersed underground in vertical wells) and thermogenic methane concentrations in groundwater resources could remedy this situation by filling a gap in the research and identifying a potential risk to groundwater resources. The question: to what extent does the vertical depth of the kickoff point in a fracking operation correlate to thermogenic methane concentrations in groundwater resources?
Divergent Co-mordibidites of Zika Virus and Microcephaly in Latin America
Authors: Victoria Ann Smerdon, J. Mike Courage, Serge Danielson-Francios
Date: 12-31-2017

Since 2015, a major problem in our society has been the spread of the Zika virus, formally known as ZIKV. ZIKV, originally of African origins, in recent years has spread its way across the Pacific with minor outbreaks before landing in Latin America. The most significant change in ZIKV from discovery is its increasing neurological effects, unique to this disease family. Data has suggested that a pregnant mother having been diagnosed with ZIKV that the child will be subject to congenital disorders as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome. Most notably has been the diagnosis of microcephaly, where a baby is born with an abnormally small head. Some data has suggested a significant increase of rates of microcephaly, but the limitation of small sample sizes and not all populations having been studied prevents a definite conclusion on the effect size of this diagnosis. Therefore, I decided to preform a meta-analysis on existing data sets to determine the likelihood that a child would develop microcephaly, hypothesizing a positive association. My odds ratio did result in a value confirming this confirmation, but because they were statistically insignificant, I had to reject the hypothesis that a pregnant mother’s child would develop microcephaly. I presented alternative hypotheses that there is no association because of genomic changes in the virus or not all of Latin American is feeling the effects of microcephaly at the same extent, with Brazil feeling the effects of the virus the strongest, skewing the data and making researchers overestimate the effects of microcephaly. I hypothesized that Brazil has been assumed to be hardest hit because of possible lack of evaluation on past rates of microcephaly, addition of a pesticide to the water, and the Brazilian population being more genetically susceptible to microcephaly. Further research should study genomic changes in the virus strain and testing the Brazilian population original risk of genetic microcephaly.