Browse Articles

Racial disparities in school discipline in Collier County, Florida

Khan et al. | Jun 21, 2024

Racial disparities in school discipline in Collier County, Florida
Image credit: Ivan Aleksic

Here, the authorized analyzed data from the Florida Department of Education Office of Safe Schools regarding disciplinary outcomes in Collier County public schools. They reported that Black Students were more likely to receive both in-school and out-of-school suspensions than White students, which they concluded suggests racial inequities in school discipline that requires addressing as a society.

Read More...

Statistically Analyzing the Effect of Various Factors on the Absorbency of Paper Towels

Tao et al. | Dec 04, 2020

Statistically Analyzing the Effect of Various Factors on the Absorbency of Paper Towels

In this study, the authors investigate just how effectively paper towels can absorb different types of liquid and whether changing the properties of the towel (such as folding it) affects absorbance. Using variables of either different liquid types or the folded state of the paper towels, they used thorough approaches to make some important and very useful conclusions about optimal ways to use paper towels. This has important implications as we as a society continue to use more and more paper towels.

Read More...

The Effects of Post-Consumer Waste Polystyrene on the Rate of Mealworm Consumption

Green et al. | Nov 29, 2018

The Effects of Post-Consumer Waste Polystyrene on the Rate of Mealworm Consumption

In a world where plastic waste accumulation is threatening both land and sea life, Green et al. investigate the ability of mealworms to breakdown polystyrene, a non-recyclable form of petrochemical-based polymer we use in our daily lives. They confirm that these organisms, can degrade various forms of polystyrene, even after it has been put to use in our daily lives. Although the efficiency of the degradation process still requires improvement, the good news is, the worms are tiny and themselves are biodegradable, so we can use plenty of them without worrying about space and how to get rid of them. This is very promising and certainly good news for the planet.

Read More...

The Effect of Lyrical and Instrumental Music on Reading Comprehension Tasks

Herring et al. | Nov 01, 2018

The Effect of Lyrical and Instrumental Music on Reading Comprehension Tasks

Herring and Scott investigated how specific types of background music affected 8th and 9th graders' performance on a reading comprehension task. In the study, their results indicated that music with English lyrics led to lower reading comprehension scores, while foreign language and instrumental music was comparable to no music at all. The authors therefore recommend that teachers avoid playing English language music for students completing reading tasks in order to minimize distractions and improve work efficiency.

Read More...

DyGS: A Dynamic Gene Searching Algorithm for Cancer Detection

Wang et al. | Jun 05, 2018

DyGS: A Dynamic Gene Searching Algorithm for Cancer Detection

Wang and Gong developed a novel dynamic gene-searching algorithm called Dynamic Gene Search (DyGS) to create a gene panel for each of the 12 cancers with the highest annual incidence and death rate. The 12 gene panels the DyGS algorithm selected used only 3.5% of the original gene mutation pool, while covering every patient sample. About 40% of each gene panel is druggable, which indicates that the DyGS-generated gene panels can be used for early cancer detection as well as therapeutic targets in treatment methods.

Read More...