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Ann Thomas

The Health Benefits of Owning a Cat: Pets Reduce Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke, and Othe... - 0 views

cats.suite101.com/...ealth_benefits_of_owning_a_cat

shared by Ann Thomas on 03 Dec 08 - Cached
  • Cat ownership helps children to learn responsibility and develop a greater capacity for empathy at an early age. In addition, pets provide unconditional love and acceptance, which can help children through difficult times.
  • Cats also offer protection against certain physical conditions. If adopted before or shortly after a child is born, owning a cat reduces the risk of developing animal allergies, asthma, and possibly other illnesses as well. One study found that children living with pets were 13-18% less likely to miss school due to illness than children without pets. Researchers who measured the salivary immunologobulin levels of young pet owners found that their immune function was less likely to be in the sub-normal range than that of non-pet-owners. Additionally, cats can provide particular therapeutic benefits for children with conditions such as autism, especially those who suffer from motor coordination problems.
  • and cat owners tend to have lower triglycerides, which reduces their risk of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease.
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  • Pet ownership has also been shown to boost the levels of mood-regulating neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. As such, pets can reduce feelings of loneliness, anxiety, depression, and other negative states.
  • Elderly people are particularly likely to benefit from the health-protective effects of cat ownership. Those with cats are less inclined to suffer heart attacks, their blood pressure is lower on average, they report less tension and stress, and they live longer overall.
  • A University of Minnesota study of 4,435 people found that those who did not own cats were 30-40% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease, even if they owned dogs.
  • Ann Thomas on 03 Dec 08
     
    Owning cat can provide psychological and physical health benefits, particularly for children, seniors, and those with medical conditions or disabilities. Cat ownership helps children to learn responsibility and develop a greater capacity for empathy at an early age. In addition, pets provide unconditional love and acceptance, which can help children through difficult times. Cats also offer protection against certain physical conditions. If adopted before or shortly after a child is born, owning a cat reduces the risk of developing animal allergies, asthma, and possibly other illnesses as well. One study found that children living with pets were 13-18% less likely to miss school due to illness than children without pets. Researchers who measured the salivary immunologobulin levels of young pet owners found that their immune function was less likely to be in the sub-normal range than that of non-pet-owners. Additionally, cats can provide particular therapeutic benefits for children with conditions such as autism, especially those who suffer from motor coordination problems. and cat owners tend to have lower triglycerides, which reduces their risk of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease. Pet ownership has also been shown to boost the levels of mood-regulating neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. As such, pets can reduce feelings of loneliness, anxiety, depression, and other negative states. Elderly people are particularly likely to benefit from the health-protective effects of cat ownership. Those with cats are less inclined to suffer heart attacks, their blood pressure is lower on average, they report less tension and stress, and they live longer overall. A University of Minnesota study of 4,435 people found that those who did not own cats were 30-40% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease, even if they owned dogs.
Stephania D

Oil Remains - 0 views

www.afsc.noaa.gov/...feature_jas01.htm

Exxon Valdez Pollution water

shared by Stephania D on 03 Dec 08 - Cached
  • largest and most productive estuaries in North America.  
  • However, in 1993 the EVOS Trustee Council funded an additional survey that estimated 7 km of shoreline were still contaminated with subsurface oil.
  • Because a significant survey of Prince William Sound had not been conducted since 1993 and the cumulative extent of the remaining oil was unknown, concerns were generated by the public and scientific communities about the oil’s possible continuing effects on humans and fauna potentially exposed to the oil directly or indirectly.
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  • Without an accurate assessment of the extent of the remaining oil, subsistence food-gatherers, consumers of commercial fish products from the area, and tourists have used mostly anecdotal evidence as the basis for economic decisions regarding resource utilization in the affected area.
  • Consequently, the Auke Bay Laboratory (ABL) with funding from the EVOS Trustee Council, took on the task of assessing the remaining oil along the shorelines of Prince William Sound during the summer of 2001
  • The primary objective of the project was to measure the amount of oil remaining in the intertidal zone of Prince William Sound.  Secondary objectives include determining the rate of decline of oil on these beaches, estimating the persistence of the remaining oil, and correlating the remaining oil with geomorphological features.
  • heavily and moderately oiled
  • The 2001 survey adopted a stratified random/adaptive sampling (SRAS) design. Two random pits were excavated to a depth of 0.5 m (1.6 feet) in every stratified block (0.5-m verticle drop in tide height) within a grid system established at each site. If subsurface oil was discovered in any of the randomly stratified origin pits, then additional adaptive pits were excavated above, below, to the right, and to the left of the origin pit until the extent of the oil patch was determined.
  • Buried or subsurface oil is of greater concern than surface oil.
  • Subsurface oil can remain dormant for many years before being dispersed and is more liquid, still toxic, and may become biologically available.
  • A disturbance event such as burrowing animals or a severe storm reworks the beach and can reintroduce unweathered oil into the water.
  • The toxic components of this type of surface oil are not as readily available to biota, although some softer forms do cause sheens in tide pools.
  • 1) Surface oil was determined to be not a good indicator of subsurface oil. 2) Twenty subsurface pits were classified as heavily oiled.  Oil saturated all of the interstitial spaces and was extremely repugnant. These “worst case” pits exhibited an oil mixture that resembled oil encountered in 1989 a few weeks after the spill - highly odiferous, lightly weathered, and very fluid. 3) Subsurface oil was also found at a lower tide height than expected (between 0 and 6 feet), in contrast to the surface oil, which was found mostly at the highest levels of the beach (Table 3).  This is significant, because the pits with the most oil were found low in the intertidal zone, closest to the zone of biological production, and indicate that our estimates are conservative at best.
  • The possibility of continuing low level chronic effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill seem very real now, although measurable population effects would be very difficult to detect in wild populations.
  •  Sea otters and harlequin ducks fall into this category
  • such as sea otters, harlequin ducks, and their intertidal prey.
  • The last beach assessment was completed in September 2001. Supporting chemical analyses will be completed in fall 2002, and a final report with statistical analyses and conclusions will be completed by April 2002.
  • Stephania D on 03 Dec 08
     
    Exxon Valdez
Christina T

CIA - The World Factbook -- Japan - 0 views

www.cia.gov/...ja.html

japan

shared by Christina T on 09 Dec 08 - No Cached
  • For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture.
  • During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia.
  • The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally.
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  • Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most technologically powerful economy in the world after the US and the third-largest economy in the world after the US and China, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.
  • Some fear that a rise in taxes could endanger the current economic recovery. Debate also continues on the role of and effects of reform in restructuring the economy, particularly with respect to increasing income disparities.
  • China and Taiwan dispute both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting
Stephania D

Green Countries - 0 views

www.newsweek.com/...print

Countries water polllution

shared by Stephania D on 03 Dec 08 - Cached
  • China in particular has long argued that it is too poor to afford the Western luxury of environmental awareness.
  • China ranks last among 15 nations in its income group (the fifth decile), behind Vietnam. If Colombia, the group's leader, can afford environmental concern, why can't China?
  • China fares slightly better in protecting its habitat but much worse in measures of industrial ills.
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  • One conclusion to be drawn from the Yale-Columbia project is the need for better data, which requires funds.
  • Experiences like the recent biofuels surge, which is driving up food prices, show how treacherous even well-intentioned decisions about the environment can be when they're uninformed.
  • The same holds for consumers, who sometimes think paying somebody to plant a few trees will compensate for flying around the world in airplanes.
  • For such decisions, data are essential. If we're going to avoid squandering our natural resources, the quicker we begin to rely more on facts and less on assumptions, the better.
  • Some countries simply lie or make up the facts.
  • Today's Russian bureaucrats may still be fudging its environmental figures.
  • Among the worst offenders were Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the United States, Italy and Paraguay.
  • (While there are good comparative data on ozone, smog also includes nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxides and other components that are poorly tracked in most nations.) Among the best industrial countries were Malaysia, the United Kingdom and all of Eastern Europe (a legacy of the Soviet nuclear program).
    • Stephania D
      Stephania D on 10 Dec 08
       
      desert nations how trouble with water supplies. Israel looks better than other nations.
  • Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which have more severe water problems.
  • Brazil is another country whose high rank—34th—is deceptive.
  • Brazil is a vast land blessed with an abundance of water, which yields energy relatively cheaply with no carbon emissions
  • Brazil is now the world's fourth biggest emitter of carbon, mainly due to the felling of trees.
  • By contrast, Belgium and the Netherlands, which share much in terms of population and geography with their neighbors, suffer from neglect of the environment—particularly in protecting native habitats.
  • Stephania D on 03 Dec 08
     
    The countries doing worst and best with water pollution
Stephania D

Document Page: BETTER DATA AND EVALUATION OF URBAN RUNOFF PROGRAMS NEEDED TO ASSEDD EFF... - 0 views

elibrary.bigchalk.com/...document

shared by Stephania D on 10 Dec 08 - Cached
  • The Chesapeake Bay, forexample, has been polluted with the nutrients nitrogen andphosphorus and with excess sediment caused, in part, by urbanrunoff. The excess nutrients cause algae blooms that blocksunlight from reaching bay grasses-which are a source of food,shelter, and nursery grounds for many aquatic species.
  • In aneffort to control nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, theExecutive Council of the Chesapeake Bay Program" established agoal to reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus entering theChesapeake Bay by 40 percent, including through control of runofffrom urban areas.
    • Stephania D
      Stephania D on 10 Dec 08
       
      The Baltimore Harbor and the Patapsco River in Maryland; the Anacostia, River in Washington, D.C.; and the Elizabeth River in Virginia were designated as "regions of concern."
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  • "hot spots" of contaminated sediment.
    • Stephania D
      Stephania D on 10 Dec 08
       
      The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project conducted a study to identify adverse health effects of untreated urban runoff by surveying over 13,000 swimmers at three bay beaches. The study established a positive association between an increased risk of explains health outcome measures at various distances from storm drains. For example, the study found a 1-in-14 chance of fever for swimmers in front of the drain versus a 1-in-22 chance at 400 or more yards away.
  • Pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, which are often presentin urban runoff, can pose public health problems.
  • Drains Versus 400 or More Yards Away Found On Hard Copy-Storm Drain Runoff," Epidemiology, July 1999, Vol. 10, No. 4.Metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in urban runoffcan present a threat to aquatic life.
  • proved to betoxic to sea urchin fertilization in the Santa Monica Bay, anddissolved zinc and copper were determined to be contributors tothis toxicity. -Brown bullheads (a bottom-dwelling catfish) inthe Anacostia River developed tumors that were believed to becaused by PAHs associated in part with urban runoff. High PAHand heavy metal concentrations were found in crayfish tissuesamples from several urban streams in Milwaukee. The studyassociated these contaminants with storm water runoff.
  • The three primaryactivities used in these programs include efforts to characterizestorm water runoff; BMPs aimed at reducing pollutants in stormwater runoff to the maximum extent practicable; and reportingprogram activities, monitoring results, and costs of implementingthe program. Some BMPs are structural-meaning that they aredesigned to trap and detain runoff until constituents settle orare filtered out.
  • -good housekeeping" practices by the local government, such asoil collection and recycling, spill response, household andhazardous waste collection, pesticide controls, flood controlmanagement, and street sweeping; -public education programs, suchas storm-drain stenciling, to remind the public that trash, motoroil, and other pollutants thrown into storm drains end up innearby receiving waters;' -new ordinances to control pollutionsources, such as prohibiting the disposal of lawn clippings instorm drains and requiring pet owners to clean up after theirpets;" requirements that developers comply with storm waterregulations and incorporate erosion and sediment controls at allnew development sites; -requirements that runoff from propertiesowned or activities sponsored by the municipality be properlycontrolled; and -efforts to identify and eliminate illicitconnections and illegal discharges to the storm sewer systems,such as those from pipes carrying sewage.
  • Several officials in the cities we visited said that their annualcosts are likely to increase. A number of factors could affectthe costs. For example, a Baltimore City official explained thatthe anticipated, future program costs depend on several factors,including (1) requirements in watershed- management planscurrently being developed, (2) pollution-reduction goals the citywill be required to achieve, (3) requirements of the stateregulatory agency in future permits, and (4) requirements thecity may have to meet if TMDLs or numeric effluent limits areincorporated into NPDES storm water permits. Other city officialsalso expressed concern about the extent to which TMDLs couldaffect their future costs. These city officials are concernedthat when and if TMDLs are established, their future storm waterpermits may require that storm water runoff meet specific waterquality standards. For example, Los Angeles County's trash TMDLcould potentially drive the county's storm water management costsupward, and the county expects additional TMDLs to be imposed. Onthe other hand, Worcester officials estimated that their futurestorm water costs would be about the same as they were at thetime of our review-about $4.5 million per year.
Minjie Kim

Behaviorism Tutorial - Part 1 - Section 1 - 0 views

psych.athabascau.ca/...sec1.shtml

psychology behaviorism behaviorism tutorial

shared by Minjie Kim on 04 Dec 08 - Cached
  • developed primarily in the United States, although it was certainly influenced by other traditions, such as European forms of empiricism
  • methodological behaviorism and radical behaviorism
  • early 19th century
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  • Subjective/conscious experience was regarded as mental, not physical
  • not publicly observable, and could not be counted, measured, or recorded, at least not in the same way as the subject matter of chemistry or physics
  • tended to pursue their concerns about mental/conscious/subjective experience according to some form of rational inquiry found in philosophy, rather than according to some understanding of the scientific method.
  • regarded those movements as a subject matter of a different science--physiology, rather than psychology
  • scholars in the early 19th century were concerned with the mechanics of the physical movements of the body
Sylvia A

Bat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/Bat

bat wikipedia

shared by Sylvia A on 05 Dec 08 - Cached
  • the only mammals naturally capable of flight
  • Bats are mammals
  • Megabats eat fruit, nectar or pollen
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  • microbats eat insects, blood (small quantities of the blood of animals), small mammals, and fish
  • Mother bats usually have only one offspring per year
  • they are viviparous
  • Young microbats become independent at the age of 6 to 8 weeks
  • At the age of two years, bats are sexually mature
  • megabats not until they are four months old
  • A single bat can live over 20 years
  • Most microbats are active at night or at twilight
  • In Western Culture, the bat is often a symbol of the night and its foreboding nature
  • the rain interferes with their echo location
  • Only three species sustain themselves with blood.
  • Only 0.5% of bats carry rabies
  • Bats have very small teeth and can bite a sleeping person without being felt
  • Bats are closely associated with vampires
  • Bats are also a symbol of ghosts, death, and disease
  • Chinese lore claims the bat is a symbol of longevity and happiness
  • the bat is a trickster spirit
  • Bats rarely fly in rain
  • A measure of the success of bats is their estimated total of about 1,100 species worldwide, accounting for about 20 percent of all mammal species.
cory delacruz

Blue Sky - Why is the Sky Blue? - 0 views

www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

shared by cory delacruz on 04 Dec 08 - Cached
  • end of the spectrum are the reds and oranges. These gradually shade into yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The colors have different wavelengths, frequencies, and energies. Violet has the shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum. That means it has the highest frequency and energy. Red has the longest wavelength, and lowest frequency and energy. LIGHT IN THE AIR Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits. Dust particles and water droplets are much larger than the wavelength of visible light. When light hits these large particles, it gets reflected, or bounced off, in different directions. The different colors of light are all reflected by the particle in the same way. The reflected light appears white because it still contains all of the same colors. Gas molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. If light bumps into them, it acts differently. When light hits a gas molecule, some of it may get absorbed. After awhile, the molecule radiates (releases, or gives off) the light in a different direction. The color that is radiated is the same color that was absorbed. The different colors of light are affected differently. All of the co
  • d after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first described it in the 1870's.) WHY IS THE SKY BLUE? The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by t
  • As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.
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  • THE BLACK SKY AND WHITE SUN On Earth, the sun appears yellow. If you were out in space, or on the moon, the sun would look white. In space, there is no atmosphere to scatter the sun's light. On Earth, some of the shorter wavelength light (the blues and violets) are removed from the direct rays of the sun by scattering. The remaining colors together appear yellow. Also, out in space, the sky looks dark and black, instead of blue. This is because there is no atmosphere. There is no scattered light to reach your eyes. WHY IS THE SUNSET RED? As the sun begins to set, the light must travel farther through the atmosphere before it gets to you. More of the light is reflected and scattered. As less reaches you directly, the sun appears less
  • The sky around the setting sun may take on many colors. The most spectacular shows occur when the air contains many small particles of dust or water. These particles reflect light in all directions. Then, as some of the light heads towards you, different amounts of the shorter wavelength colors are scattered out. You see the longer wavelengths, and the sky appears red, pink or orange.
  • RE ABOUT:THE ATMOSPHERE WHAT IS THE ATMOSPHERE? The atmosphere is the mixture of gases and other materials that surround the Earth in a thin, mostly transparent shell. It is held in place by the Earth's gravity. The main components are nitrogen (78.09%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%), and carbon dioxide (0.03%). The atmosphere also contains small amounts, or traces, of water (in local concentrations ranging from 0% to 4%), solid particles, neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen, xenon and ozone. The study of the atmosphere is called meteorology. Life on Earth would not be possible without the atmosphere.
  • d increases with increasing altitude. The increase is caused by the absorption of UV radiation by the oxygen and ozone. · The temperature increase with altitude results in a layering effect. It creates a global "inversion layer", and reduces vertical convection. Mesosphere - Extends out to about 100 km (65 miles) · Temperature decreases rapidly with increasing altitude. Thermosphere - Extends out to about 400 km ( 250 miles)
  • hes the Earth, 30% is reflected back into space by clouds and the Earth's surface. The atmosphere absorbs 19%. Only 51% is absorbed by the Earth's surface. We are not normally aware of it but air does have weight. The column of air above us exerts pressure on us. This pressure at sea level is defined as one atmosphere. Other equivalent measurements you may hear used are 1,013 millibars, 760 mm Hg (mercury), 29.92 inches of Hg, or 14.7 pounds/square inch (psi). Atmospheric pressure decreases rapidly with height. Pressure drops by a factor of 10 for every 16 km (10 miles) increase in altitude. This means that the pressure is 1 atmosphere at sea level, but 0.1 atmosphere at 16 km and only 0.01 atmosphere at 32 km. The density of the lower atmosphere is about 1 kg/cubic meter (1 oz./cubic foot). There are approximately 300 billion billion (3 x 10**20, or a 3 followed by 20 zeros) molecules per cubic inch (16.4 cubic ce
  • ers). At ground level, each molecule is moving at about 1600 km/hr (1000 miles/hr), and collides with other molecules 5 billion times per second. The density of air also decreases rapidly with altitude. At 3 km (2 miles) air density has decreased by 30%. People who normally live closer to sea level experience temporary breathing difficulties when traveling to these altitudes. The highest permanent human settlements are at about 4 km (3 miles). LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE The atmosphere is divided into layers based on temperature, composition and electrical properties. These layers are approximate and the boundaries vary, depending on the seasons and latitude. (The boundaries also depend on which "authority" is defining them.) LAYERS BASED ON COMPOSITION Homosphere
  • LAYERS BASED ON TEMPERATURE Troposphere - Height depends on the seasons and latitude. It extends from ground level up to about 16 km (10 miles) at the equator, and to 9 km (5 miles) at the North and South Poles. · The prefix "tropo" means change. Changing conditions in the Troposphere result in our weather. · Temperature decreases with increasing altitude. Warm air rises, then cools and falls back to Earth. This process is called convection, and results in huge movements of air. Winds in this layer are mostly vertical. · Contains more air molecules than
  • · The air is very thin. · The prefix "strato" is related to layers, or stratification. · The bottom of this layer is calm. Jet planes often fly in the lower Stratosphere to avoid bad weather in the Troposphere. · The upper part of the Stratosphere holds the high winds known as the jet streams. These blow horizontally at speeds up to 480 km/hour (300 miles/hour) · Contains the "ozone layer" located
  • gen we need to breath. But it also serves other important functions. It moderates the planet's temperature, reducing the extremes that occur on airless worlds. For example, temperatures on the moon range from 120 °C (about 250 °F) in the day to -170 °C (about -275 °F) at night. The atmosphere
    • cory delacruz
      cory delacruz on 04 Dec 08
       
      sounds good, by the way am i annoying you with my sticky note??? well, TOO BAD!!!!!!
Cassie Gonzales

Gymnastic Injuries - 0 views

ezinearticles.com/?Gymnastic-Injuries&id=773578

gymnastics injury

shared by Cassie Gonzales on 01 Dec 08 - Cached
  • As a gymnast, you have to be aware that gymnastics is one of the most demanding and strenuous sports around.
  • gymnasts incur injuries as often as football players do
  • These safety measures take the form of body and mental alertness, adequate muscle strength and resiliency, and above all, clear communication with between the gymnast, coach and child.
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  • it is importnat that the gymnast knows what he is doing. The gymnast shouldn’t attempt to try moves that he hasn’t practiced yet
  • Most times, injuries occur because some of the muscles involved in the execution of a trick are not strong enough to withstand the stress placed on the joints during movement. This often happens to children whose bones are still in the process of growing. The most common of these injuries are sprained or twisted ankles, which occur when the small but vital muscles that run down from the calf to the foot are not tough enough to cushion the joint underneath. To prevent sprained and twisted ankles, the muscles surrounding them should be trained and conditioned regularly.
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