Narrative Interview

I received an object from sherry. upon receiving the scarf from sherry the first thing that came to my attention was the color. it was a forest green not to light not to dark. when i took a closer look at the scarf it appeared to be hand made. by the knots in the scarf i was almost positive it was hand knitted. the scarf didn't have any brand name on it or any tags attached. the scarf looked to have been well used from the strings hanging off it with its vintage appearance. My first assumption was that the scarf was a hand-made gift that she had received from and family member or a friend. it made me believe that, although it wasn't the prettiest scarf in world, she wore it because it possibly symbolized something more than just a piece to keep warm but rather a friendship or love. i assumed that sherry wore it to remember the person who gave it to her and that the scarf had a deeper meaning to her than just to keep warm. while interviewing sherry i asked her ten questions about the scarf she had given me to further understand the meaning of it. i came to understand that she had knitted the scarf herself and it was not a gift which shifted my perspective of the scarf. she had knitted it her freshmen year at mason about three years ago and she choose the color green because it was masons color. i then inferred that she was excited to come to mason and wanted to she her school spirit.

Revised Research Problem

Tarek Edelbi
English 302
Revised Research Problem
My revised research problem will be to further research the effect that toxins, contained in plastics used in every day materials, have on the genetic makeup and various mutations they cause. My area of interest will consist of different researches such as: how various plastic toxins can be transferred, plastics in the diet, ways the toxins affect an organism, and where and how they can affect an organism. Although it’s a wide range of interest they can both be similarly related to one another. Most toxins contained in plastic are well studied and documented, there are a number of toxins that are very harmful and are known to cause damage to DNA weather in embryo or to a fully developed organism.
The questions to be researched is what toxins are causing the damage, in what stage of development, how are they being caused, and what solution is there for prevention of damage. These questions are important because plastic production is increasing more and more every year, and recycling is only scratching the surface to a solution. Since plastic materials never fully decompose, these toxins will soon start having an impact on not only the environment but all the organisms living in it. Since living with only a limited number of plastic products seems almost impossible, the general public seems to be avoiding the topic of how detrimental these toxins can be, and since the effects haven’t taken their toll on the environment and many organisms just yet it isn’t a major concern.
Proposed methods for this study are still not definite, but further research in previous experiments will create a good start. By researching current studies on the topic, a better understanding of the situation can be established. Limitations on the study could be where and how the genome is affected, since the human map has only been put together for six years and many other organisms’ maps haven’t been started.

Works Cited
Ahmad, Maqbool, and Ahmad S. Bajahlan. "Leaching of styrene and other aromatic compounds in drinking water from PS bottles." 16 May 2007. Science Direct. Journal of environmental sciences. Mason, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .
Alderson, Norris. "Testimony." 14 Mar. 2008. ASL. Mason, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .
Ball, Douglas. "Development of Safety Qualification Thresholds and Their Use in Orally Inhaled and Nasal Drug Product Evaluation." 23 Feb. 2007. Toxicological Sciences. ToxSci Advance Access. Mason, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .
"Screening Assessment for The Challenge Phenol, 4,4' -(1-methylethylidene)bis- (Bisphenol A) Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number 80-05-7." Oct. 2008. Environment Canada. Health Canada. Mason, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .
Somorovská, M., J. Tulinská, M. BaranÄoková, M. ZámeÄníková, A. Collins, A. Líšková, B. Vallová, H. Petrovská, E. Jáhnová, P. VodiÄka, L. Fuortes, and M. DuÅ¡inská. "THE COMET ASSAY IN BIOMONITORING OF OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE IN RUBBER FACTORY AND PLASTIC LAMINATION PLANT. COMPARISON WITH CYTOGENETIC AND IMMUNE BIOMARKERS." 2006. ELIS. MASON, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .
Totten, Bill. "[A-List] Get Plastic Out of Your Diet." 16 Nov. 2006. Mindfully. Livivng nutrition magazine. Mason, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .
Tyl, R. "Polycarbonate Plastics and Bisphenol A Release." 2006. Bisphenol A. Human health and saftey. Mason, Fairfax. 25 Feb. 2009 .

Exchanged object

I received a green scarf from sherry. the color is not a bright green but more of a forest green. it looks like it was hand knitted, and looks to be very warm. it looks like she might of had it for a while. seems that she would only use it in cold weather and maybe to match her green mason shirt. the scarf's material feels like a thick cotton or possibly wool.

it might be a gift that she received because it looks hand knitted, and it might have some sentimental value because it looks a little worn out. the scarf doesn't have any tag or brand on it so i'm assuming it is a hand made gift. sherry might wear it because the person that gave it to her was someone special in her life, and when she wears it she remembers him or her. from receiving the scarf i could tell it had more of a meaning to her than to just keep her warm or because it matches her shirt but because the scarf might represent someone close to her.

1. who made the scarf?
2. who gave you the scarf?
3. why do you wear the scarf?
4. What does this scarf mean to you?
5. How long have you had this scarf?
6. Would you buy this scarf if you saw it in the store now?
7. What would it mean to you if you lost this scarf?
8. Do you like the color green?
9. Have you ever washed this scarf?
10. Is there anything you want to tell me about this scarf?

sherry made the scarf so it wasn't a gift. she knits and made it when she was a freshmen at mason because masons color is green. she has many other knitted scarfs but this is the only one she has here with her at mason. she wears it to protect herself from the cold. she has washed the scarf only once before but usually doesn't because it ruins the stiching.

Article Analysis

Citation Information
Article Title: Individual and joint toxic effects of pentachlorophenol and bisphenol A on the development of zebrafish (danio rerio) embryo
Author(s):Zhenghua Duana, Lin Zhua, Lingyan Zhua, Yao Kuna and Xiaoshan Zhua
Journal Title:Individual and joint toxic effects of pentachlorophenol and bisphenol A on the development of zebrafish (danio rerio) embryo
Publication Information (date, volume, etc.):Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Volume 71, Issue 3, November 2008, Pages 774-780

Database Accessed:2/24/2009

Analysis Information
Purpose: To prove that toxins such as PCP and BPA found in everyday material can have detrimental defects on live embryos.
Audience: Wide range of audience from scientist studying zebra fish to geneticists.
Sources: various sources




Primary Details
Research Concern: Effects of PCP and BPA on development of zebrafish
Thesis: That the presence of PCP and BPA will have an effect on the development of the zebrafish.
Procedures/Methods: Placed healthy control fish's embryos into toxic conditions.
Supporting Evidence: embryos decreased significantly with defects as well.
Key Findings:PCP and BPA were both toxic to the development of zebrafish embryos, and the toxicity level of PCP was about two orders of magnitude higher than that of BPA.
Limits:PCP BPA water
Problems:chemical consistency
Point of View:

Presentation and Argumentation
Concepts/Key Vocabulary Words:
Use of Evidence: experimental methods
Conclusion:PCP and BPA were both toxic to the development of zebrafish embryos, and the toxicity level of PCP was about two orders of magnitude higher than that of BPA.
Implications:

Evaluation
Strength of Argument: the argument had sufficient and reasonable research.
Strength of Research Approach: research was concise and accurate to theory
Strength of Supporting Evidence: due to experiments the supporting evidence is strong
Importance of Article's Inquiry: Had some main points related to my research topic
Overall Evaluation: great article
Other:

Summary #2 2/24/09

Tarek Edelbi
Summary
In this article researchers discuss the claim that a diet with sugar can lead to increased amounts of acne. Although the connection between sugar and acne has long been dismissed, scientists are now doing further research. Recent studies have shown that sugar may not be the reason but the food’s glycemic index, or the speed and extent to which it raises blood glucose levels, which causes inflammation. In order to test the sugar theory scientist recruited 50 males between the ages of 15-25 all with acne. They followed their diets and progress for 12 weeks. Some of the subjects followed a typical diet which included high-glycemic foods such as white bread, sweetened cereals and pasta, while the other subjects were given foods higher in protein and lower on the glycemic scale, like fish, whole-grain breads and fruit. At the end of the 12 weeks the study showed that the subjects with the low-glycemic diet had a greater reduction in skin lesions and other various acne symptoms then the control subjects. Scientists also tested the levels of free circulating androgens, male hormones, which are also known to cause acne, which also turned up at a lower amount. Still more research is needed to prove this theory.


O'Connor, Anahad. "The Claim: Sugar in the Diet Can Lead to Acne". The New York Times. 2/24/09 .

Summary 2/24/09

Tarek Edelbi
Summary 2/24/09

This article was on the topic of a genome. It explores the mystery of the human body and how it’s able to collaborate the trillion of cells that encompass the same genome. In the article they compare the bodies cells to “something like a play in which all the actors have the same script but are assigned different parts and blocked from even seeing anyone else’s lines”. The cells assign themselves to the different roles they will play throughout an individual’s lifetime. As researchers dig deeper to find how this process works they are finding a “second layer” of in formation called an epigenome. The epigenomes’ roll is to control the access to genes that are packed into the DNA allowing each cell type to activate its own special genes but blocking off most of the rest. A human contains one genome but many epigenomes which will also control when the accessible genes may be activated. Researchers have found evidence that changes in the epigenome can cause cancer and other diseases. The epigenome has the ability to alter with age, for example identical twins often look a little different as they grow older because of accumulated changes to their epigenomes. Although this research will continue it is very expensive and some researchers think that discoveries in this field is still way to over our heads and the technology for the research is not up to par. The National Institute of Health has a small $190 million initiative called the epigenome roadmap in which individual researchers receive the funding.


Wade, Nicholas. "From One Genome, Many Types of Cells. But How?". The New York Times. 2/24/09 .

project update

1. currently i have been following up on the research from last class. i have been looking into more specific child birth defects and how they are being caused. although many defects have no known reason for occurrence, geneticists have strong evidence but nothing solid to prove the cause of certain birth defects. for the state of my project, i have found a well researched topic that can be narrowed down to many precise topics, and can have a reasonable amount of research done.

2. for my task list i might want to go into more research and pick out certain birth defects that i want to focus on.

Preliminary research overview

the topic field i choose to research is focused around genetic defects in child birth. approximately 30% of the genetic defects have an unknown cause. scientist have a general idea of why these genetic defects do occur but there is no solid statement they can state in order to prove it. these abnormalities can be due to various factors such as the environment and molecular genetics. a wide range of professionals can be engaged in a research of this nature, from geneticists to pediatricians. growing technologies and methods are most likely the greatest changes in this study. TBC

preliminary research paragraph

I am interested in writing a research paper in the field of genetics. Maybe in the area of how genetic defects arise and possibilites of why they arise unexpectedly. why some genetic defects arise are still not known to scientist and maybe digging a little deeper a reason for that can be concluded. the use of pedigrees would be a helpful tool.

Summary 4 2/17

Tarek Edelbi
Summary 3

In this article the author tries to convey that there might be slight genetic defects with children born through sperm or eggs artificially. In the article they say that while the embryo sits in the Petri dish for five days to a week it can become vulnerable to go threw slight genetic variation. A research was done on babies born threw IVF and found a slight increase in genetic defects upon birth. Genetic defects such as a hole between the two chambers of the heart, a cleft lip or palate, an improperly developed esophagus and a malformed rectum. Although many patients that undergo IVF have never questioned any aspect of this study, there have been previous studies on defects due to IVF. They are now looking into other syndromes and disorders among those children who have preceded IVF to see if there is any correlation between the studies and the procedure.




Kolata, Gina. "Picture Emerging on Genetics risks of IVF". The New York Times. 2/17/2009 .

Summery 2/17

Tarek Edelbi
Summary 3

I found this article to be very interesting; they explain in some detail a new study of treatment in which the patients own blood is injected back into the damaged area to help heal various symptoms. The new treatment is called PRP. The new treatment is being improved to eventually help tennis elbow and tendonitis. The method in which the patients are being treated is straightforward and easy to perform. Doctors center on injecting portions of a patient’s blood directly into the injured area, which catalyzes the body’s instincts to repair muscle, bone and other tissue. Many doctors say this can help to regenerate ligament and tendon fibers, which could shorten rehabilitation time and possibly avoid any type of surgery. This is also appealing to the insurance companies due to the fact that most surgeries for treatment can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 whereas this treatment only costs $2,000. although this treatment is still being tested it has helped numerous big named athletes all over the world, and seems to be heading on a promising path.

Swhwarz, Alan. "A Promising Treatment for Athletes, in Blood". The New York Times. 2/17/2009 .

free write questions/ interest in my major

being a biology major at mason im automatically associated with a medical field. although a controversial topic came up in on of my classes. one of the students proposed a situation in which the patient was lying in their death bed and it was a matter of time before they would die. the patient themselves in this situation might want to end their lives and those that were unable to communicate, their families spoke the same for them. so we discussed the practice of euthanasia, which basically ending the life in a painless manner. there were of course diverse views to this subject. although euthanasia is only practiced in a limited number of countries which it is also legal in the US should it still be practiced. t could be viewed as a form of assisted suicide. in some cases the patient may be in a state in which they cant speak for them selves and this would be called involuntary euthanasia and it is merely based on "what that person would of wanted"

Summary 2 2/12 tarek edelbi

Tarek Edelbi
Summary 2

In this article doctors discuss the claim of how beneficial and detrimental it can be to blow your nose while you have a cold. Some doctors argue that blowing your nose can reverse the flow of mucus into the sinuses and slowing the drainage process. A doctor at the University of Virginia conducted research which consisted of CT scans and various other measurements such as dye dripped into their nasal cavities while the subjects coughed, sneezed and blew their noses. They found that both coughing and sneezing both generated little amounts of pressure in the nasal cavities but blowing your nose created a high amount of pressure equivalent to that of diastolic blood pressure. They speculate that blowing your nose could repeatedly shoot the viruses or bacteria back into the sinuses which could ultimately cause further infection.
A doctor from New York University suggested a proper method for blowing your nose can be demonstrated by blowing one nostril at a time, and taking decongestants can be helpful in preventing a buildup of pressure. Although they didn’t come up with concrete evidence they proved that blowing your nose can create a buildup of excess pressure in sinus cavities.



Citation

O'Connor, Anahad. "The Claim: Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold ". The New York Times. 2/12/2009 .

Summary 1 2/12 tarek edelbi

Summary

The article I read was related towards neuroscience, it was about studies done on fingerprints. The article talk about new studies done that went into detail of the actual structure of the ridges on a finger tip can enhance the sense of touch. To this day scientist aren’t entirely sure for the purpose o all the ridges on our fingertips, but others speculate that they are for grip, and some speculate that they are evolved in such a way to identify a person. A group of French scientist in Paris conducted a series of experiments with a highly developed sensor which was designed to mimic a finger print. They found that particular ridges in the fingerprints help amplify vibrations in different frequency ranges which help stimulate receptor in the skin that are important for texture perception, leading them to believe that texture information plays a huge role in our ability to identify objects just by the touch.
The scientist used two artificial finger tips, one was smooth and rubber the other artificial fingertip used in the experiment was made of a rubber like material close to the skins texture and had a dome shape. The finger print on the sensor contained parallel lines similar to that of a humans fingerprint. Both fingertips were slid across a glass surface, the one with parallel ridges picked up vibrations about a hundred times stronger opposed to the smooth fingertip. They later on discover in the study that parallel ridges have the highest frequency and leave the question of why do humans have slightly open swirls on their fingertips and some monkeys have parallel ridges. It could be an evolutionary upgrade in humans or maybe monkeys search for different feelings when exploring surfaces. This new study can one day lead to improved prosthetic hands.

Citation

Miller, Greg. "Fingerprints Enhance the Sense of Touch". AAAS. 2/12/2009 .

memoir status update

my memoir to date is alright. it follows the assignment but it could use more touch ups to help the reading flow more. it could fit the grading rubric a little more in terms of being more descriptive. the introduction and the conclusion are the weakest part of the paper, the paper starts off with limited description and ends abruptly.

1. what did you think about the ending and how can I improve it?

2. did i over use adjectives in my paper?

3. in what way can i change the paper if necessary to give the paper a better flow?

4. was a concise point apparent in the paper?

5. as a reader were you drawn into the reading?

curiousity

i have always been curious about space. i know that earth metaphorically speaking is just a grain of sand in the ocean. I've always wanted to know what else is out there. even with our advanced technology we still make new discoveries everyday and weather its planets, or more recently a black hole. there has to be other forms of life existing in other layers of space. I've always wanted to do research a find out where science stands to this day but never really had the time to. if i wanted to start looking i would probably use some online scholarly sources or some magazines. knowing that even with the worlds strongest telescope we can still not see an end to space and other life forms. other life forms may exist or may not but evidence shows that there may be life on other planets. I'm sure with more money funded towards exploration in space may new discoveries would be found.

close listening

I choose to sit in a quite area where I have been a couple times before. It is in the Johnson Center on the third floor at 10:49 A.M. The area was in the northwest sitting area which is surrounded by windows and opens to the second floor sitting area as well. As I walked into the area I choose to sit on a blue colored couch I knew I would be sitting for an hour so I pulled up a chair to prompt my legs up on. I plugged in my laptop and opened my laptop and put it to the side to jot down some notes. The first thing I noticed was there was a man giving a speech on the second floor at first I noticed he was starting all of his achievements then he went on to explaining how to chose and declare a major. There was also a girls sleeping on a couch facing the wall. I heard various people asking questions and the man answered and then with a ruffle of papers and foot steps the second floor was cleared. I looked out the window and noticed a small plane flying across the distance which I followed with my eyes until it fell behind the leafless trees and then the wall. Suddenly the sound from the Johnson Center cafeteria is more noticeable.
As I started looking out the window I noticed a red crane moving ever so slightly. A large ever green tree stood out with all the leafless maples and oaks. A man on the second floor who I couldn’t see was on the phone wanting to follow up with a job interview. I looked at the walls and noted that they were painted a striped pattern of yellow and grey. The girl wakes up and receives a phone call as she picks up and speaks in a different language which seems to be Urdu. She then pulls out her laptop. We were the only two people in the room. There were various sounds in the distance; the room never fell to a complete silence. I notice that sky is a dull blue with scattered clouds. I reclined in my seat to see all the gum stuck to the bottom of the only table in the room. I watched people walk by and not even notice the part of the Johnson Center. The girl started to hum as she worked in what seemed to be her lab book. The man’s voice came up again various times appearing to check up on jobs he had applied for. The sun reflecting on the buildings gets a little brighter. In the silence a small buzz can be heard, I didn’t know the source it could be from but most likely the heat or the lights. A big brown bird probably a hawk caught my attention gliding outside coming in and out of view flying above campus.
I noticed a hugh light fixture which almost looks like a camera mounted to the top of the building outside. The girl in the room prompts up her legs against the ledge while she reads and flips through her lab manual. She is wearing a purple shall and a purple long sleeve sweater with dark blue jeans and white Nike track shoes with a baby blue check mark. I Looked at the side of the Johnson Center and noticed the arrangement of bricks and how they where laid probably one by one. I checked the clock on my laptop every while. I started to relax and my eyes felt heavy I sneezed and the sound echoed. I laid my head back and look up at the ceiling I smelled the shampoo on my hair I used this morning. The sound of someone from the second floor blowing their nose broke the silence. The girl got up and walked towards the outlet and moved a sofa couch in order to plug her laptop charger. I picked at the dried skin on my hands which were dried out from the cold dry air. The man on the phone seems frustrated explaining that he applied to 20 jobs and everyone he has called have told him that is application was not found. I start getting the feeling that I am a stalker for paying to much attention to this girl and man’s voice. When time was up I gathered my things and casually walked away.