Veggies Suffer more Health Problems say Graz Researchers. http://austrianindependent.com/news/General_News/2014-03-03/15137/Veggies_suffer_more_health_problems_say_Graz_researchers

This article summarizes a study performed by Graz Researchers on 15,000 subjects.  The researchers divided the subjects into groups based on diet, then by “their sex and their social and economic background, which included the level of education, the income and their career.”  The researchers compared non-meat-eaters to meat-eaters with similar life backgrounds.  From the studies, the researchers believe non-meat-eaters have a higher chance of suffering “allergies, cancer and mental problems including depression and phobias.”

The articles research topic is health from different diets.  The researchers are interested in finding what diets provide the best health (For the record: the Mediterranean diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and moderate consumption of meat was the healthiest diet).   The research question is: are non-meat-eaters healthier by not eating meat?

The data type needed to answer the research question would be acts, events and/or behaviors of subjects that eat meat and those that don’t eat meat.  The researchers need this data to evaluate diet and health of the subjects.  The data retrieving method would be to use private or public records and surveys.

Another data type needed will be life background information from the subjects.  This information is needed to find subjects’ which subjects have similar lives.  This information can be retrieved using public or private record, survey, or interview.

The data is then organized to categories to be analyzed.  The subjects that eat meat are compared to the subjects that don’t eat meat, by the controlled variable of their life backgrounds.  An example of a controlled variable can be income.  I believe this research is not 100% probable, because I believe there are more variables that could affect the health of these subjects.  The subjects were separated into their categories based on physical life backgrounds; however there is no determination of how the subjects were mentally healthy prior to the study.  I believe mental health has a large effect on physical health.  Without measuring and considering the mental health of subjects, this study cannot be 100% probable.

Buys, L and Barnett, K and Miller, E and Bailey, C (2005) Smart housing and social sustainability: Learning from the residents of Queensland’s Research House. Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society 3(1):pp. 43-57.

The article above, focuses on smart housing in Australia. One fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions in Australia are generated by everyday household activities. In order to cut these emissions, more consumers need to be aware of the impact of housing on the environment and be familiar with sustainable housing alternatives. One problem that is harmful to the progress of sustainable housing is consumer resistance, based on perceptions of eco-housing as being less aesthetically pleasing and less economically attractive than traditional homes.

Unfortunately, not a lot of knowledge about what everyday living in sustainable houses might be like, until now. The articles traces an Australian family who lived in a “research house” for a two year period, where they monitored product performance and household economies in a sustainable house.

Smart Housing involves design that reduces a house’s impact on the environment and the community by conforming to sustainability principles. There are three key concepts of Smart Housing that make a house socially sustainable, a) heath and well-being, b) safety and security, and c) Universal Design. Universal Design not only minimizes energy consumption, but maximizes living comfort by orienting the house to improve airflow and natural light, insulating ceilings and walls, and designing an open floor plan with flat reduce-slip flooring. Smart Housing also incorporates “future-proofing”, providing features in the original construction phase, that can be adapted, and not requiring costly modifications in the future.

The study reported favorable perceptions about the livability of the house from the research family. The family stated that they felt safer when living in a spacious, airy and secure sustainable home. They were able to give feedback to enable product improvement and help assist other consumers looking to make the move to sustainable housing. The next challenge is to make the consumer society more aware of the essential need and enjoyment of living in a sustainable home.

This study was a review of the collective distribution of a whole data set known as the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) data set, which is used to assess the potential consequences from water treatment changes in the San Francisco Bay area’s water supply (SFWS). The data set shows water samples and tests run on these samples for pH, lead and copper as well as other various metals’ concentrations in the water. The data is from the year 2000 to the year 2006, and the study found that most of the pH levels were significantly and consistently higher in 2006 than in any year before and this was due to improved corrosion control treatment of metals in the water in 2005.

The topic for this study was water conditioning to control metals, lead, copper and corrosion release in the San Francisco area’s water supply. And the study asked the question; what consequences do water treatment changes have on the water supply of San Fran and in the concentrations of metals in that water supply?

The type of data collected for this research was aggregate interval or ratio data taken every year in the San Francisco Bay area’s water supply. These water samples taken were tested for pH levels and metals and then compared between the years 2000 to 2006. This research study was thorough and easy to comprehend without having a high level of knowledge on the subject.

Wilczak, A., Hokanson, D. R., Trussell, R. R., Boozarpour, M., & DeGraca, A. F. (2010). Water Conditioning for LCR Compliance and Control of Metals Release in San Francisco’s Water System. American Water Works Association.Journal, 102(3), 52-64,14.

http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/docview/221593633/abstract/9B5EF2D2485347C0PQ/2?accountid=14729

Kelly, Patrick J. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, “ed.gov.” Last modified November 2005. Accessed March 16, 2014. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED512586.pdf.

In order for people to enjoy a middle class lifestyle, they must attain at least some education beyond high school. This paper focuses mainly on the economic reasons that the United States needs to improve educational inequality in response to a growing minority population. The U.S. is no longer the most highly educated nation in the world. In addition, minorities usually make less than whites with the same level of education, which could have a negative affect on total U.S. personal income in the future if nothing is done to change it.

The topic of this research paper is the impact that educational inequality will have on the economy. The research question is, “How will the changing U.S. population (to include more minorities) and educational inequality affect the U.S. economy?” There are several types of data used to answer this complex question. These data types include mean earnings by degree level, the racial/ethnic make-up of the U.S. population that is eligible to be in the workforce, the projected ethic/racial changes by age in U.S. population, minority populations by state, percentage of population aged 25-64 by race/ethnicity, trends in U.S. educational attainment, U.S. educational attainment trends compared to the trends of other countries, recent changes in U.S. education levels, educational representation by race/ethnicity, average annual incomes by race/ethnicity and gender and the difference between incomes by race/ethnicity for 25- to 64-year-olds, changes and projected changes in overall U.S. educational attainment, including projected change graphs organized by state, and projected change in personal income per capita between 2000 and 2020.

The authors used population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, high school graduation data from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and enrollment and completion data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) IPEDS Fall Enrollment and Completion Surveys, the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 Public Use Microdata Sample Files (5% samples for each state), NCES IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey collection, U.S. Census Bureau population projections by state, age, and race/ethnicity (adjusted as needed by the authors).

The data collected was graphed and studied for patterns and disparities. The authors inform readers that “change in personal income was calculated by applying the income disparities reflected in the 2000 Census data to the projected population in 2020 (by age and race/ethnicity). To arrive at more accurate projections of state personal income, the income disparities (in 2000) by race/ethnicity within several age groups (15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65 and older) were applied to projected population changes by race/ethnicity within the same age groups. In the case of personal income, it was necessary to include all of the ages that are used to calculate personal income per capita (aged 15 and older).”

This research project is extremely interesting because it looks at educational inequality in the U.S., but it also looks at the economic effects of this inequality. This study used several different types of data, which made it fairly complex, but with its complexity comes its thorough exploration of every factor which may have an effect on the topic. This research shows that the United States will pay a price if it doesn’t work on improving educational inequality and inequality of income for minorities. It is a call for action which also provides reasons why everyone should want to help improve this issue.

An article written buy Thomas Howell and George Bartholomew, who is the #1 fancy man, is titled Temperature Regulation in the Red-Tailed Tropic Bird, and the Red-Footed Booby.  It was published in 1962 and is a study of temperature regulation of nesting seabirds and their hatchlings.  The study took place on Midway Island during June and July of 1959 and 1960.  They measured the temperature of the egg’s internal temperature, by drilling a small hole in and inserting a device to measure the temperature near the center of the egg.  They also measured the surface temperature of both adult and hatchling, as well as the foot temperature of the adults.  Foot temperature, seems an odd thing to measure, but the Red-Footed Boobies lack an incubation patch which helps heat the eggs during incubation.  Instead the boobies cover the egg with a portion of their feet, so to determine the effect on incubation, foot temperature was measured by the study. They found that the food temperature was no higher than with seabirds that had an incubation patch, but that the use of them none the less contributed to the temperature regulation of the egg.  Other than feet temperatures they also collected deep core temperatures, which were sampled by ‘gently inserting a steel-sheathed or vinyl-sheathed thermister probe down the esophagus to or into the stomach’, of awake birds, captured by hand.  One of the findings of the study was the there was no correlation between the deveopmental stage of the eggand the internal temperature.  They also found that adult and hatchling cooled themselves mainly through evaporative cooling as well as through panting and their feet.

Who Researched:
John K.B. Ford, Graeme M. Ellis, Lance G. Barrett-Lennard, Alexandra B. Morton, Rod S. Palm, and Kenneth C. Balcomb III
When Researched:
1973 to 1996
Published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology in 1998
Where Researched:
Nearshore waters of Vancouver Island, mainland British Columbia, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the coastal waters of Washington State and southeastern Alaska
Research Methods Used:
Field observations of predation: Most observations of predation were seen from boats, ranging from 5 to 20 meters, patrolling waters that killer whales often frequent. Different whales were identified as resident or transient based on their dorsal fins and tails. The killer whales were observed throughout the year; however, most observations of feeding behavior took place during the summer (June through September).
When predation or attempted predation was observed (rapid acceleration, sudden direction changes, circling), the researchers would collect the prey remains by sweeping the water, in which the hunting just took place, with a fine-mesh dip net. The remains were then analyzed for species identification and age identification.
Analyzed the stomach contents of stranded killer whales: A total of 14 beached Orca carcasses were examined. The stomachs (and mouth, esophagus, and intestine when possible) were either taken out and examined later or were examined at the scene of the beaching. Remains of mammalian prey (teeth, claws and vibrissae) were identified from a reference collection at the Pacific Biological Station. Remains of fish prey (skeletal remains) were identified from a reference collection by Pacific Identifications Limited, Victoria, B.C.
What Was Found:
Resident-type killer whales showed a distinct preference for salmon prey (96% of the prey documented); however, a total of 22 species of fish and one species of squid were documented in the resident-type killer whale diet. 12 of these species were previously unknown to be in the Orcinus orca diet. Similar to the resident-type orcas, the transient-type killer whales showed a preference for a certain species. Over half of observed transient-type killer whale attacks were on Harbor seals; however, their diet was quite diverse. They were observed to prey on pinnipeds, cetaceans and seabirds.
The differences in diet between resident-type and transient-type killer whales were known before this study but the diversity of their diets was unknown. The differences in their diets are also key to understanding the differences between transient-type and resident-type killer whales.

Who researched:
Graziano Fiorito and Pietro Scotto
When researched:
Published on April 24, 1992 in Science volume 256, number 5056, pages 545-547
How the research was conducted:
The research conducted went through three phases: training the demonstrators (Octopus that were conditioned to “attack” one ball over another), observing the actions of the untrained Octopus when given the same task, and testing the observers.
Phase one: the demonstrators were rewarded when they attacked the right ball (given fish) and punished when they attacked the wrong ball (shocked). They were considered fully trained when they attacked the right ball five times consecutively. Phase two: Once fully trained, an observer Octopus was placed in a glass tank adjacent to the demonstrator Octopus tank to witness four trials in which the correct ball was attacked. Researchers witnessed eye/head movement of the observers, proving the observer Octopus was paying attention to the actions of the demonstrator.
Phase three: The observer Octopus was given the same task of choosing between two balls (red or white) in five trials. No reward was given for choosing the correct ball.
What they found:
Octopus vulgaris demonstrated an ability to learn through observation of others. The failure rate of the observer Octopus (when given the same task) was significantly less than that of the demonstrator Octopus when it began training. Furthermore, the demonstrator Octopus learned to choose the correct ball much faster than their demonstrator counterparts when they were put through the classical training methods that were used on the demonstrator Octopus. When tested again five days later, the observer Octopus seemed to retain its knowledge of which ball to choose proving the Octopus vulgaris’ ability to retain knowledge.

The Southern California Bight (SCB) is an interesting area of study due to the constant movement and migrations of marine mammals and especially cetaceans through these waters. The Southern California Bight is ecologically complex area that includes the Channel Islands and part of the Pacific Ocean. Cold water currents of the California Current flow south to meet the warmer waters of Southern California Countercurrent near Point Conception California. The SCB is characterized by warm and cold-water periods (May- October and November-April).

Systematic surveying marine mammals off of Southern California have been conducted since the mid-1970s. The data collected is useful because it offers abundance estimates of different species. The records of pre-1970s are mostly search and record information, which can still be beneficial for relative occurrence and abundance of marine mammals from 1950 to 1960s.

The research topic would be the changes in occurrence of Cetaceans over time. The research question (s) are what are the comparisons between literature reviews and 15 aerial surveys? What are the changes being seen between the search and record information from the 50s and 60s compared to the information from systematic surveys? The type of data used in this research was survey with annual information, meaning that the data is aggregate, interval or ratio data.

From the literature available, species rankings were collected and relative frequency of sightings from at-sea studies from 1950s to 2012 were analyzed. The results from 2008-2012 systematic aerial surveys were compared to eight other studies that best represented the relative occurrence of (SCB) cetaceans for specific time periods. Summaries of relative species rankings were places into tables. 16 species were observed during the most recent set of surveys. Multiple factors are discussed that would influence or bias the rankings, geographical location of the survey relative to species habitat, survey season relative to migration patterns, weather and sightability, observation platform, and historical species identification issues.

Overall, the articles was insightful is showing the ebbs and flows of relative occurrence of species throughout the Southern California Bight. What was not very clear was the movement from the literature to the species ranking. The process of creating these tables was not completely clear, other than that the abundance and sightings of different years has to do with the ranking and were different species are on the list. All information that was translated into the ranking list came from the systematic surveys and the other surveys from the 50s and 60s.

Smultea, M. and Jefferson, T. 2014. Changes in Relative Occurrence of Cetaceans in the Southern California Bight: A Comparison of Recent Aerial Survey Results with Historical Data Sources. Aquatic Mammals vol. 40 (1), 32-43. 

The journal article “High-altitude illness,” published in The Lancet, 361(9373), 1967-1974, Basnyat, B., and Murdoch, D. R. shed some light into high-altitude illness. Being that there is not much knowledge regarding high-altitude illness, Basnyat and Murdoch proposed the question: What patterns can be discovered by analysing reports and articles about high-altitude illness? Using the database accessing search engine PubMed, the researchers collected reports regarding acute mountain sickness (AMS), high-altitude cerebral oedema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE) and implemented grounded theory to find hidden physiological traits associated with those illnesses. The findings suggest that brain swelling and heightened blood pressure in the lung vasculature play a role in high-altitude illness, a term referring to the effects of any of the three mentioned sickness.

The research has mapped out the physiological traits that lead to brain swelling and ultimately AMS and HACE. Similarly, the researchers proposed a pathophysiology to HAPE. The data collected in this research was qualitative data rather than quantitative data thus numerical analysis serves no use. Instead, searching for patterns was performed as the method of data analysis. By having a collection of literature in the topic of high-altitude illness, the researchers were able to explore recurring conditions pertaining to high-altitude illness. Some of things they discovered were the presence of “increased cerebral blood volume” and “increased cerebral blood flow” that can eventually lead to brain swelling.

This is an interesting research because, unlike many other research, the researchers are not performing experiments or comparisons of variables. I find the results of this research to be useful in the scientific field because it provides knowledge that can be used for future studies since the information about high-altitude illness is limited. As for my own research, this article explains how high elevation may play a role in the well-being of people.