Society is becoming increasingly dependent on computers and technology for functioning in everyday life. Every aspect of our lives has been affected by the infiltration of computers and technology. Computers are used to conduct business from home, meet new friends and find old friends, maintain communications with distant family, and meet out some stress relief after a long day at the office. As more and more people rely on computers to succeed each day, it begs the question – are people becoming too dependent on computers and technology? Your paper should look at either the historical changes that shook up society or future changes being developed now that will shake up society.

In this week’s materials, we’re exploring key concepts associated with disability and disability rights. Something you may have noticed as we have examined different kinds of diversity in this course is that in all these categories, there is an assumption about which state is “normal.” Last week, we saw that many white people don’t necessarily see themselves as having a race, because white is the “normal” category. Because of this, the experiences of Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, and other non-white people can be invisible. In a similar way, our culture views non-disabled people as normal and may make the experiences of disabled people invisible. I encourage you to consider this idea as you work through the material this week.

Students must qualify for special education services under one of the disability categories outlined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. There is a specific process involved in identifying students as having a disability. This process includes a group of educators called a Child Study Team who help determine interventions for students. This process can include RTI, MTSS, and the special education identification process. Special education teachers will be involved in all steps of these processes.

Create a 250-500 word brochure for families of students who may have disabilities. In your brochure, include the following

• An explanation of RTI, MTSS, and the special education identification process
• A visual to help families understand the explanation of RTI, MTSS, and the special education identification process
• An overview of procedural safeguards and parental rights
• A minimum of three local or national resources to support families who have children with disabilities

Support your findings with a minimum of two scholarly resources.

To examine the effect of occupational chemical exposure on the occurrence of bladder cancer, a study was done in 2015 using data from 1980 to 2014. In 1970, a total of 3080 exposed men and 4051 unexposed men were classified using type-of-job and union records (all the men were members of a particular union). All men were between 25 and 34 years old when the study began. No cases occurred before age 40. Data on smoking (a known strong independent risk factor for bladder cancer) showed that 1019 exposed and 1349 unexposed men were active smokers during the study period. The following 2×2 table summarizes the results:

a)  What kind of study was done here (be as precise as possible)?

b)  Calculate an appropriate relative measure of frequency. Calculate the AR%. If approximately 0.002% of men in the US are exposed to this occupational chemical, what is the PAR%? Briefly interpret all measures you calculate.

c)  Another study that looked specifically at the smoking –> bladder cancer association examined 400 men with bladder cancer and 990 age and race/ethnicity-matched men without this condition. The findings of this study are summarized in the table below.

d)  What kind of study was done here?

e)  Calculate an appropriate relative measure of frequency. Assuming that, in the US adult male population, 30% are smokers, what is the PAR%? Compare these values to the occupational chemical exposure values above. Which is the stronger bladder carcinogen, smoking or chemical exposure?

f)  Race/ethnicity is known to be an independent risk factor for bladder cancer.  In this study there were about 50% whites, 30% Blacks, and 20% Asians.  Further, 15% of the study population self-identified as being of Hispanic ethnicity. Given this information, would you need to stratify the crude table shown above and, if so, into how many strata?

g)  In the occupational study, the researchers failed to take smoking into account as a potential confounding variable when they reported their results. Given the other information available from this problem, is this likely to be a major error here? Why or why not? Draw a simple directed acyclic graph that summarizes your answer.

h)  Despite every effort, there were men lost to follow-up.  What would need to be true for loss to follow-up bias to be a major issue?

i)  If in the general US male population, the risk of bladder cancer in men 40-65 is roughly 2.0 per 10,000 per year, is there anything striking about the findings of the occupational study displayed in the table (besides the relative measure of association) that should greatly concern you?

Discuss the value of studying the natural sciences for everyone, not just scientists. Why might it be important for individuals and society to understand the science related to current events and contemporary issues?

• Consider a recent event, either in your personal life or in the news. In a few sentences, describe how basic knowledge of natural science could help you better understand that event, make decisions, or act.