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How to Survive a Mass Shooting

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by Pakelakahiki Kaaua; Kamehameha Schools (Kea’au, HI)

How to Survive a Mass Shooting by SciJourner on Scribd

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Permanent Marker: Fact Or False?

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By Jordan Miller And Kara Buckley; Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY)

One of the hardest things to remove from an object is permanent marker, and trust me we all love permanent marker until it’s time to get it off! We would scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub and nothing would come off, but researchers have shown a way to get the marker off glass surfaces and get a sticker in the end!

The scientists involved in this experiment were Professor Howard A. Stone, Sepideh Khodaparast, Christophe Poulard, and Francois Boulogne. This experiment took place at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, U.S.A , but it wasn’t an actual experiment. It was accidentally discovered when the scientists were trying to remove particles and bacteria from a surface at the air-water interface—the area where the air and water meet then interact with each other.

Originally, Khodaparast and her team did this experiment in their lab because all of their permanent marker labels kept peeling off. They wanted to find out why.

They first wrote with a marker on different types of surfaces and studied whether the marker came off as a film. Then they tested it by moving the films only a fraction of a millimeter. If the water rises too fast, the water will just go over the film and the marker will not come off. They found out that permanent marker actually comes off of most surfaces, but especially glass and polystyrene surfaces. Once the marker was removed, the floating film can be transferred onto soft or delicate surfaces that might be hard to write upon. Finally, the researchers transferred markings onto a contact lens and left it to dry. This is quite important to the research because contact lens are typically very hard to write

Carefully removing permanent marker from glass; the marker comes off as a film Credit: Jordan Miller And Kara Buckley.

on. Contact lens are delicate so that they don’t mess up your eyes,but being able to place the film over it is quite amazing.

In an email to SciJourner, Khodaparast says,” Adding some sort of soap to the water may decrease the effectiveness of the technique, while adding a more vicious or harsh liquid to water (such as glycerol) can increase the effectiveness of the technique at higher speeds of the peeling.”

The permanent marker comes off the glass, because when it is dipped into the water the film repels the water. The water wedges in between the film and the glass. The marker then peels off and floats on the water.

“The time all depends on the system and size of the film. 1 cm of a thin film can be peeled off in 1-10 seconds,” says Khodaparast in the same email. “Most people are familiar with such materials and they are advertised as permanent and water-proof, therefore they are expected to be resistant to water. So the fact that water can clean them from the surface is interesting.”

A “tattoo” formed by removing permanent marker. Credit: Jordan Miller And Kara Buckley.

This technique works with most permanent, water-resistant markers. The researchers used the markers with the Sharpie brand because it is the one most commonly used in labs for labeling samples and because these markers create a fairly uniform, continuous film.

There are many other ways to get the marker off of a surface, but if you are doing it to get something like a sticker, this is the only way to do it. Although it isn’t a normal sticker, once you place it on an object it may not come off.

It appears that there is no other way to do this without making the marker smudge. Although it may not be the easiest way, it is the only way to get it off without smudging it or leaving behind debris.

Kodaparast told us in the email that, ” The recent development of new class hydrophobic [meaning to repel or fail to mix with water] materials has reduced the chance of using pure water as a cleanser and often solvents are required for this purpose that may not be environmental friendly. Moreover, there is an increasing demand for fabrication, transfer and layering of thin, soft elastic sheets in applications. such as flexible screens, soft and wearable electronics, thin solar cells, and etc.”

This may be important to you or your family because the development of these materials could require stronger and more harmful chemicals to remove and make it harder to remove these permanent markers ink from the films using only pure water.

We tried this experiment in class with Exposition Markers brand, which worked well and only took about 5 seconds to completely remove. We also tried it with Sharpie and it still worked very well, but took about 10x longer. We tried this experiment around 5 or 6 more times and got the same results each time. When the Expo marker was completely removed it would float on top of or in the water. If you touched it or dipped anything else into the water it would stick to it and when it dried it would be just like a temporary tattoo.

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Eczema

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A mild case of eczema. Credit: James Heilman, MD, via Wikipedia.

By Dezmin Goodman and Keith Pack; Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY)

“Eczema feels like sandpaper and hurts like a small burn when you touch it,” says Dezmin (co-author).

“It causes very irritated skin that never seems to go away. My mom first noticed my dermatitis when I was about seven years old. The leftover dry skin is what she noticed about it and she took me to the doctor to see what it was. The doctor diagnosed me with atopic dermatitis (the most common type of eczema).”

According to the Mayo Cinic, atopic dermatitis, usually called eczema, is a disease that makes your skin red, bumpy, and itchy. Eczema is typical in children, but can occur at any age. Eczema is a chronic (long lasting) disease that may flare up from time to time.

According to the National Eczema Association (NEA), these are the eight types of eczema (see Eight types of Eczema at bottom).

People with one type of eczema may also go on to develop other types depending on genetics and exposure to environmental triggers, such as pollen, animal dander, and allergies.

As the Mayo Clinic states, “Some symptoms are dry skin, itching, which could be severe, especially at night, red to brownish-gray patches, small, raised bumps. These patches could leak fluid and crust over when scratched, thickened, cracked, scaly skin, and raw, sensitive, swollen skin caused by scratching. It may occur more often in children whose parents have had asthma or hay fever.”

Even food can be associated with eczema, lik: eggs, gluten, fish, soy products, and cow’s milk. These foods in particular are linked to food allergies, and allergies can lead to eczema.

Dezmin’s mom has asthma so this may be a contributing factor to his eczema. According to the Mayo Clinic, eczema, hay fever, and asthma are in a group called atopy. This means that these diseases are due to a hypersensitivity reaction (the immune system overreacting to small allergens like environmental triggers).

New research by lead author Dr. Manuel Ferreira and colleagues of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia has helped identify the connection between asthma, hay fever, and eczema. They analyzed whether genes that are turned “off ” or “on” could increase the chance of getting one of the three diseases. This happens by the way the immune system works with these genes.

The study found that a gene called PITPNM2 is more likely to be turned off, for example, in people who smoke. If this gene is turned off then that increases the chance of someone getting eczema, asthma, or hay fever.

Other ways eczema can occur is from overly dry (too hot), chapped (too cold), too dirty, non-moisturized, too wet, and overly scratched skin. None of these affect Dezmin because his eczema may be due to genetics.

According to the NEA, there is no cure for eczema. However, there are treatments that can prevent itching and new outbreaks. You can avoid these problems by taking warm showers and putting on dermatologist-proven lotion afterwards, or not putting on scented lotions (especially on your face).

The dermatologist-proven lotion doesn’t always work; sometimes lotion is too strong for someone’s skin or not effective enough.

Some over the counter (OTC) medicines stop the itching and prevent inflammation. According to WebMD, OTC hydrocortisone (a steroid that treats inflammation) is usually recommended by doctors to treat mild eczema. Dezmin uses a lotion called Equate.

Drying carefully when you come out of the shower also helps–take a soft towel and use it to pat your skin dry and apply moisturizer while your skin is still damp.

Roughly drying your skin can lead to rashes, abrasions, and friction burn. Sometimes new lotions or skin products can make your skin have eczema if it isn’t right for your skin.

Brandon Pack, Keith’s father, also has eczema. He stated that he first got his eczema when he was 22.
“After I came home from the lake, I noticed I had a rash on my feet. At that point I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with contact dermatitis.”

He never had eczema really bad because he took care of it with an ointment called betamethasone Dipropionate (a steroid that treats inflammation, like the hydrocortisone). He only gets it in the summer.

Dezmin recently had an eczema flare up on his eyes and put tons of lotion on to make sure it didn’t spread and get worse. He states, “Now there are no spots of eczema on me, for now. I have clear and moisturized skin that prevents any bad outbreaks like the ones when I was younger. When I was younger my eczema outbreaks caused red, itchy, kind of bumpy skin in the places where the outbreak occurred.”

Eight types of Eczema
Atopic dermatitis – caused by a malfunction in the immune system and problems with the skin barrier.
Contact dermatitis – a result of skin touching a known irritant and/or allergen.
Dyshidrotic eczema – occurs on the feet and hands as itchy blisters, usually caused by exposure to allergens.
Hand eczema – caused by a combination of genes, irritants and/or allergens.
Lichen simplex chronicus – results in thick, scaly patches on the skin, often caused by too much scratching and rubbing.
Nummular eczema/discoid eczema/nummular dermatitis – usually caused by allergens or very dry skin and appears as round lesions that can weep fluid, especially in older populations.
Seborrheic dermatitis – white or yellow flaky, greasy patches in places with more oil-producing glands, caused by a combination of genetics, hormones and microorganisms on the skin.
Stasis dermatitis – happens when poor circulation to the legs causes the veins to swell and leak fluid, causing swelling and skin redness and itch, mostly in older populations.

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Atypical Pneumonia

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By Avery Hatfield and Kaeyla Grandison; Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY)

When Kaeyla (co-author) was 8 years old, she didn’t feel well,.
“I had chest pain, a headache, loss of appetite, low energy. I was tired, I had a burning in my chest, a sore throat, fever, rare chills, coughing, and I had trouble breathing.”

Her doctor, Paul Diebold, diagnosed her with atypical pneumonia.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Atypical Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungus.” The more common name for atypical pneumonia is walking pneumonia.

Pneumonia can cause a lot to go wrong. Credit: Wikipedia Commons.

Pneumonia, as stated by Wikipedia, is an “infection that inflames one or both lungs, which may fill up with fluid.” The difference between atypical and normal pneumonia is that atypical pneumonia is “mild” and usually doesn’t require hospitalization or bedrest. Regular pneumonia can put you in the hospital if it gets too severe.

According to Lung India, a medical Journal, both pneumonias are caused by pathogens like Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Common symptoms include, a fever, confusion, which is most commonly with older adults, muscle aches, joint stiffness, and sweaty and clammy skin.

According to the Mayo Clinic, to diagnose someone with atypical pneumonia doctors need to culture the mucus from the lungs (sputum), swab the throat, do a chest x-ray, obtain a complete blood count, and test for specific antigens or antibodies in the blood. The distinction between the two different types of pneumonias is very difficult to confirm.

Is atypical pneumonia contagious? According to Wikipedia, atypical pneumonia is spread through a sneeze or a cough. “If you end up getting this. you could be contagious for up to 10 days!”

According to Medline Plus, it is possible to get severe lung damage from atypical pneumonia.

According to the Mayo Clinic, if you have had atypical pneumonia once, you may have a weakened immune system, which may put you more at risk of getting atypical pneumonia again.

“You should stay home and while you are at home you need to take your medicine,” said Diebold during Kaeyla’s office visit. “Then you should be able to go back to school without getting anyone else sick.”

Atypical pneumonia is treatable. According to Medline Plus, a common way to get rid of atypical pneumonia is to get plenty of rest, drink plenty of water, drink cough syrup to help stop the cough, and consider taking over-the-counter medicines such as Tylenol and Advil. Kaeyla also took the antibiotic amoxicillin (a bacterial infection medication), along with cough syrup. and some allergy pills.

She had the same pneumonia again, but has gotten over it. “I am now better and I am no longer sick. Each time I’ve had it it’s taken about 4-5 weeks to recover,” she adds.
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Lung Abscess

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By Aniket P Patel and Anthony Cruz; Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY)

“I was having pain in the bottom part of my right back and I couldn’t breathe,” Peter Patel (Aniket’s Dad) stated. “I just thought it was back pain and left it alone thinking it will be fixed in a week or two.”

However, the pain continued at night and it got worse. He said he was having problems breathing so Aniket’s mom took him to the hospital on March 19, 2017. After two CT scans, the doctors said that he had a lung abscess. He had infection in the top half of his right lung that caused fluids to get stuck in the bottom part of the lung. The whole right side of his lung was not working. That’s why he was having problems breathing.

The cause of his infection was a bacterium called Streptococcus intermedius. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), S. intermedius is a member of the Streptococcus anginosus group. It usually lives in the brain, meninges, heart, sinuses, liver, lungs, spleen, peritoneum, pelvis, and appendixes. Sixty-five percent of these infections are produced by anaerobes so it’s easier for them to grow in these places because there is no air. It causes abscesses and fluid, clogging the organ where ever it grows.

According to Centers for Disease Control (CDC), research shows that more likely people from India are affected by this bacterium. Other races are affected, but less so.

A lung abscess is when infection—most of the time caused by bacteria or fungus—spreads throughout the lung tissue. This causes fluids to get trapped in the lungs and makes it harder to breathe. Also sometimes called necrotizing pneumonia, the infection is usually bigger than 2 cm in radius, and can spread to your whole lungs, as stated by Wikipedia.

Patel was lucky that he only had it the right side of his lungs.

A CT scan of a lung abscess.Case courtesy of Dr Ahmed Abd Rabou, Radiopaedia.org, rID: 24443

According to NCBI, there are several ways bacteria can get into your lungs. Haematogenous, which means originated in or carried by blood, is one way and bronchogenic, which means originated in your lungs, is a second way that bacteria. Sometimes, these bacteria can also get in through inhalation and through food. When these bacteria arrive in the lungs they are attacked by cells called phagocytes, which then release chemicals that fill your lungs and kill some parts of lung tissues, as well.

The symptoms of lung abscess include coughing up blood or pus-like material with a bad smell, bad breath, a fever of 101 °F or higher, chills, chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating or night sweats, weight loss, and fatigue, as stated by NCBI. Patel’s symptoms were shortness of breath, chest pain, fever of 101 °F or higher, chills, and sweating at night.

According to healthline.com, people who are alcoholic or have recently been sick have a higher chance of lung abscess. Also, people with weak immune systems or have conditions, such as cancer, HIV infection, organ transplant, or autoimmune disease. The risk is pretty high even for people who have recently been under anesthesia, sedation, or unconsciousness from injury. However, Patel didn’t have any of these problems.

Also, according to healthline.com, a lung abscess is mostly detected by CT scans and X-rays to find the infection and fluids. It can also be determined that you have a lung abscess by your health records. There is pain in the chest, problems breathing, and just a little bit of burning at the infection site.

The Mayo Clinic states that a lung abscess can be treated by different kinds of antibiotics, such as Clindamycin 600 mg in IV, metronidazole 500 mg tablets, amoxicillin/clavulanate875/125 mg in IV, clindamycin 300 mg, and vancomycin or linezolid.

Patel’s doctor prescribed AMOX-CLAV 500MG TABLETS a generic form of AUGMENTIN 500MG TABLETS. You must take the medicine for 3-6 months as directed by the doctor. In some cases, where the fluid is stuck, surgery is required. Tubes are entered through your ribs into your lungs where the fluids are. The fluids are sucked up to open the lungs and be able to breathe.

Patel was able to breathe perfectly fine 15 days after his tubes were taken out. The infection is still healing and may take up to 3 months to be completely free from the infection.

“I never want to have any problems like that again,” he states.  “It just burned in my lungs and I thought it was just back pain. Now I can breathe fine and it doesn’t burn anymore in my lungs.”

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The Growing Industry of 3D Printing

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by Eman Robele; Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY)

3D printing is one of the newest industries in the world. 3D printing, (also known as three-dimensional printing) is like inkjet printing but instead of getting a flat sheet of paper you get a three dimensional object.

According to Wohlers Report, in 2014, the worldwide 3D printing industry is now expected to grow from $3.07 billion in revenue in 2013, to $12.8 billion by 2018, and exceed $21 billion in worldwide revenue by 2020. The benefit to this rapid prototyping are maquettes (a sculptor’s model or sketch), healthcare, and entertainment.

According to 3dprintingindustry.com, 3D printing started in the 1980’s; Chuck Hull invented the process of stereolithography—a type of 3D printing used for model making. Later on, he founded one of the first 3D printing companies, Materialize. Now, 3D printers are being used in schools to expose students to the high level of technology (We have one in our school too). Even now, the new industry is so popular that it has its own national holiday, December 3rd (3D)!

3D printing can be used for creating simple and small projects for fun, to huge industrial printers that make parts for appliances and cars that cost thousands of dollars a year per license for software. There’s even a 3D printer on the International Space Station! Because of the wide range of materials, including plastic, metal or paper, it can be used to 3D print jewelry and toys that can be manufactured efficiently and promptly in mass amounts. 3D printing was also behind some of the biggest movies and shows like Star Wars and Game of Thrones. They used a type of printer with 3D printing software that allows movie producers to use this for character development and modeling.

In order to begin the process of developing a 3D project, you need to have an idea.

In an email to SciJourner, Jim Rodda—also known as Zheng₃, an expert in 3D printing living in Appleton, WI, USA—states that, “Pre-production is a good idea as it would save you ten minutes of modeling, hours of printing, and days of frustration.” Therefore, starting out by a simple sketch of your object would save you so much time for actually designing and printing.

Making your virtual design of the object you’re creating uses CAD or Computer Aided Design file, which is a 3D modeling application that can be used with a 3D scanner. There are multiple types of software that are open to anyone to use, like Blender and Tinkercad. According to 3dprinting.com, Tinkercad is the software recommended for newcomers to the craft.

3d printer
At Farnsley Middle School we have an XYZ 3D printer in the 6th grade hallway. I took the time to go there and print out the XYZ logo on the 3D printer. First, the printer needed to heat up the nozzle and the platform before the printing can start. After the nozzle and platform were warm enough, the printer starts printing the object layer after layer after layer. The whole process take about 45 minutes to actually print then the platform is lowered to let the object cool down. Finally, the object finished cooling off and you can enjoy whatever you made. Photo credit: Eman Robele.

The process of 3D printing is performed in different ways. 3Dprinting.com states that first step is to prepare it for printing, which is termed slicing. That means the object is divided into hundreds and thousands of layers. Then, the file is transferred to the printer via USB, SD, or Wi-Fi, which depends on the printer you have. Finally, the printer reads each 2D slice and prints it off layer-by-layer to create the 3-D object. It’s a long process but it’s worth it at the end.

There are seven diverse printing processes, Vat Photopolymerisation, Material Jetting, Binder Jetting, Material Extrusion, Directed Energy Deposition, Sheet Lamination and Power Bed Extrusion.  Some use different materials or even a different way to distribute the material to form the 3D object. Each printing process is set for a different purpose or industry to be used for in. According to 3dprinting.com, they are usually categorized between two groups; SLS (Selective laser sintering), or FDM (fused deposition modeling). SLS uses a laser to fuse each particle together while FDM just disperses the material through a nozzle.

These are a few of the most common processes: Vat Photopolymerisation, Material Jetting and Binder Jetting.

Vat Photopolymerization is where the printer is filled with photopolymer resin (a polymer that reacts when exposed to light), which is later hardened with a UV light source.

Material Jetting is where the material is applied in droplets through a small diameter nozzle, similar to how a regular inkjet printer works. However, the material is applied layer by layer to build the 3D object, which is then hardened by a UV light.

There are two main materials used in binder jetting: powder-based material and liquid binder. The powder is spread into the equal layers, the binder is applied through a nozzle in order to make the powder stick and combine. Later, excess powder is cleaned off after the print.

Bioprinting is a new type of printing where, according to 3D printing.com, layers of living cells are being deposited into a gel form and slowly built up to form 3D structures like skin tissue. Things like working kidneys and skin are constructed from this operation; even bones are produced by this procedure.

In the aerospace and aviation industries, according to nasa.gov, NASA has printed combustion chamber liners using SLS. Not only that but SpaceX and Rocketdyne other programs by NASA have made some sort of 3D printed parts.

In March 2015, the FAA cleared GE Aviations first 3D printed jet engine to fly. GE engineers had also made a mini jet engine that goes up to 33,000 rotations per minute.

In the entertainment industry, some Hollywood movies had infused 3D printing for model making costumes for characters and to sketch out the overall looks of an animated figure or design. According to 3dprint.com, the 2016 movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is filled with 3D printed props and parts of costumes.

The 3D Printer Pen is a new addition to the printer family is a lot similar to a hot glue gun. You “draw” the melted plastic, or whatever material you are using, comes out of the pen tip and layers out as you draw. Popular brands are Scribbler 3D, SketchPro and 3Doodler. Some YouTubers like 3D Pen Lab and Make Anything have posted videos on the pens and the printer.

 

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Geothermal Energy

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by Parker Lewallen; St. Joseph’s Academy (St. Louis, MO)

Geothermal Energy by SciJourner on Scribd


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The Hidden Suffering of Students with Anxiety

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by Selam Negassi; St. Louis University SLI Program (St. Louis, MO)

Student Anxiety by SciJourner on Scribd


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The Trouble with Tired Teens

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by Jordan Fair; St. Louis University SLI Program (St. Louis, MO)

Tired Teens by SciJourner on Scribd


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Clashing Concussion Rates

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by Darby Moore; St. Louis University SLI Program (St. Louis, MO)

Clashing Concussions by SciJourner on Scribd


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