Peer Reviewed Articles

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So this week my assignment was to look up my topic, the LGBT community, and find it on a database  to look for peer reviewed articles.

What I found out that there was a lot of articles to my surprise. I searched from the database Academic Search Premier and categorized it under the Communications field of study, as it is my major. I did not, however, type my search topic under quotations; I wanted to see how many results I would find if I didn’t. I found two that I liked and read them. One was about the LGBT history which I found to be fascinating. I knew about LGBT history before but I did learn a thing or two, like how LGBT history is mostly about gay men. That is only talking about one account, there is much history that is missing and I for one want to learn about it.

The second article was about LGBT oppression and I know that sounds a bit cliche but it is an important topic that needs to be addressed. So I read the article and it talked about norms, what is seen as normal in society. I found out that in a lot of cases, and this article specialized in schools, the LGBT students were harassed by not only the other students but by staff as well. Then the article addressed how integration between races had set up a dialogue between the two and how eventually everything got better. Certainly there are still some issues out there but it’s not nearly as bad as it once was. So since there has been integration of LGBT people, well there always has been but people are now aware of it, there is a glimmer of hope that one day the oppression of LGBT people will be a thing of the past.

Side note; there were a lot, and I mean tons, of articles addressing transgendered individuals. There were also very few to no articles about lesbians. This was all very interesting.

Using my College Library

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In this week’s challenge we had to look up our topics on Google Scholar and use our library data base.

The first thing I use was Google Scholar. I typed in a key word and a bunch of results but got results that didn’t really pertain to my topic or that were just too broad. It tried again but with quotation marks, my results were better. Once I started looking and started to find articles I thought I could use I got excited. What I was not excited about was all the reading I had to do just to figure out if I really needed the article or if it was really good for my topic. Eventually I would try to find the summary or the discussion part of the article to better see if I needed it without having to read the whole thing.

My next step was using the library data base. I looked at the YouTube video that my professor’s had posted to better see how to use it. After watching the video I headed right in. We used Academic Search Premier. After typing in my key words using quotation marks and clicking on the box that said full text I discovered there is more that one could do. So I clicked on the language I wanted, the years I wanted it from, and I made sure it was scholarly. Another thing I discovered on my own was that I could make my own folder to put my articles in. That is where I put all my articles that were related to health care.

From the school library I was able to research done on women’s health. There was actually a lot on women’s health, mostly to promote it and to do more research specifically on women’s health. There was also a journal article about learning more about the differences in the sexes, women’s health services, and partnerships with businesses and the scientific community. What I found most interesting was that the Office of Research on Women’s Health was the main source or article that women’s health was being done on. There were not many other journal articles that were on women’s health that did not have (ORWH) on it. What I found on Google Scholar were articles too, but not any from ORWH that I saw. What I did find were articles on how doctors could treat their patients better. Mostly on how some doctors could be a little prejudice/racist when diagnosing their patients. Mostly, what I read is that doctors are asking questions that pertain to the patients race or making decisions based on race. Yes, there are differences in health based on race, but the doctors must be aware that it is not to all diseases or sicknesses that race is a factor. It was also found that patients were being treated better when they were Caucasian rather than African American, Asian Or Hispanic, even White Hispanics were treated better. I used treated in the sense of health care and character. These are just a few of the findings that I found and the results that came from it.

Bring a Project to Life with Digital Storytelling

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Looking for approaches for to improve student engagement? Want to integrate digital tools and technology into assignments? Need to bring a project to life? Spice up your end of semester projects with Digital Storytelling! Why digital storytelling? Digital Storytelling tells a story in a powerful way by connecting ideas, narratives, and emotion through the use […]

First Test Post

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Recon Success

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Island Paintbrush
Island Paintbrush

This weekend on Santa Rosa Island, I did recon work for Water Canyon. This weekend was very productive, I now feel confident identifying the plant species in this watershed and a plan for future data collection has been established. This week the logistics of the project will be finalized and I will be ready to collect data on friday!

Getting the Ball Rolling

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This weekend(9/27/15) was a good start to collecting data. With the help of some friends I accurately surveyed four out of the five of my survey sites. I have already surveyed these points but have honed in on my techniques with greater accuracy and ease. In addition to surveying, I also took a shore line track. Since the start of school I can visually see sections of the sand start to disappear. In general, the waves this weekend were small. Needless to say, there were still some fun waves to be caught. Some thoughts for improvement on my researching would be to buy more sunscreen and bring a big umbrella(the sun was strong this weekend). I also found it to be easier to make a straight line with the transect tape by walking backwards holding the compass. Overall successful weekend of collecting data. I would like to thank Andrew Shimizu and Lauren Zahn for coming out and helping me survey. Great success!

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Non-Native Invasive Species on Santa Rosa Island

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IMG_3569My capstone project will be focused on non-native invasive species on Santa Rosa Island. There are many invasive species on the island, most of which get dropped there as seeds from visitors shoes or gear and will often take root near Ports of Entry. These invasive species then compete with natives for space and nutrients to thrive, diminishing the natives populations greatly. I will work on creating a Plant Identification Chart for others to easily identify invasive species. I will also catalog plants using a GPS unit to map out a 20m zone around Ports of Entry as well as sample 500m transects along dirt roads and trails to see how much coverage invasive species are taking up. Ultimately the goal of this project will be to effectively map out the locations of these invasive species and create a management plan to potentially begin restoration. I hypothesize that invasive species will higher in coverage near Ports of Entry than Dirt Roads and Trails further inland.

Abstract

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Water Canyon Vegetation

Abstract

This capstone project will take place in Water Canyon on Santa Rosa Island. Cattle and elk heavily grazed Santa Rosa Island for 150 years having severe impacts on the vegetation. The island has been going through recovery for 3 years after the last elk was removed in 2012. This study will look at the vegetation distribution throughout the watershed, primarily focusing on the riparian habitats and terraces. Surveys will be conducted to identify species within cross sections of the stream channel. Patterns of population niches will be identified. Further research will be conducted from literature to identify why certain species inhabit certain areas.

Vegetation distribution will be examined with regards to upstream/ downstream patterns, elevation, slope, and materials within the stream channel (boulders, rocks, soils, etc.). Additionally, Invasive species will be identified and examined to see the impacts on the native species. It is anticipated that biodiversity will decrease with an increase of invasive species. The study will compare the expected vegetation in Water Canyon with literature that focuses on vegetation in stream channels and significantly impacted areas. This project will be collecting baseline data that can be used in future research projects after the island has more time to recover or after any significant natural event.

 

Project Mentor: Linda O’Hirok

Weekend #1

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I took my first trip out to Santa Rosa Island this weekend and finally got started on my Bishop Pine research.  On the first day I went on a hike with Cause and some other students to get accustomed to the island and on Saturday we really got started on the interesting stuff.  We started the day by getting up into the mountains at 8:30 am to meet Catherine at the erosion mitigation site at a couple of the island oak groves and around 12 pm I got to my site where I will be researching the Bishop Pines.  I counted 5 trees ranging from a few inches tall to 6 meters, but most of the big guys were dead.  I also got to enjoy some beautiful views from my research site without another person for miles, it was awesome.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures on Santa Rosa but here is a picture of a large Bishop Pine grove that has almost completely died off on Santa Cruz Island from the boat ride back.

Santa Cruz Dead Bishop Grove

Entry #1- First Look

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I have begun my project by looking at areas that have recorded sightings of the unarmored threespine stickleback fish in the Santa Clarita area. The first place I checked out was a small section of the Santa Clara River. I found a small creek with water emptying into it from an unknown source. The water closest to the source looked unhealthy and had a layer of foam floating on surface. In addition, the water was brown and it was difficult to see anything in it. I walked along the creek for about 15 minutes and did not see any fish. I thought the water was now uninhabitable until I saw a few snails and frogs moving along the bottom. Hopefully I will see some fish in the next spot I check out.

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This photo shows the point source of water for the creek I found. The white areas on the surface were foam and bubbles which covered most of the surface of the pool beneath this entry point.