Severity of the Effects of Invasive Rats on Seabirds A Global Review, was published in Conservation Biology, by Tershy, Croll, Keitt, Finkelstein and Howald.  It is a combination of many different case studies of invasive rats and their effects of seabird populations. Ninety-four different case studies of 115 different rat and seabird interactions on 61 different islands were used . It used these studies to determine which species of invasive rat was the most harmful to seabird populations. They found that the common black rat, or ratus ratus was the most harmful.  They also looked at different characteristics in birds that made them more or less susceptible to being effected by invasive rats.  These characteristics included things like size and breeding behavior as well as life history traits like whether they were ground nesters or burrowers.  They found that smaller burrowing seabirds were the most susceptible to invasive rat species.  This study also outlines the bird families which further study would be most helpful  in determining the effect of invasive rat species.  They used a data analysis method which i was unfamiliar with called meta-data analysis. This article was very useful for me because it provided me with a good deal of case study literature in the bibliography for me to search through.

Pahl, G. (2005, Feb). Choosing a LOG HOME. Mother Earth News, , 92-94,96-100,102,104-105. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/docview/210572877?accountid=14729

The article above discuss how demand for log homes is up , with more and more people viewing them as an attractive and more sustainable alternative to conventional housing. “Recent consumer surveys shows that log homes are one of the fastest growing segments of the building industry…” according to the Log Homes Council of die National Association of Home Builders.

There are two different types of log homes, manufactured and handcrafted. Manufactured log homes are produced in a mill, where wall logs are sawed and shaped to a specific size and uniform profile. These wall logs are then shipped off to whatever place the house will be made upon. Handcrafted log homes use whole logs that are produced by artisans. Logs are individually selected for placement and structure and are usually hand peeled from freshly cut logs, the more “green” option.

“People are using logs because they have made a conscious decision to build with a healthy wood product that is renewable, and they understand there is probably a premium to pay for that building style,” says Robert Savignac, executive director of the International Log Builders’ Association (ILBA) in Lumby, British Columbia.. “Most people view the handcrafted home as an individual, more custom-oriented product as opposed to one that is cookie cut from a standard plan.”

Besides being unique and sometimes hand crafted, log homes are somewhat energy efficient. A log home is not necessarily more energy efficient – but can be highly competitive. Modern log walls incorporate a variety of sealing strategies that can help avoid drafty walls. Log walls are better than framed walls for controlling heating and cooling loads over the year. The wood’s thermal mass value has the ability to absorb and later re-radiate heat. Another important aspect is the home’s orientation to the sun. There is an importance of the placement and type of windows to take greatest advantage of solar heat gain.

Log homes can help reduce emissions and cut back on the carbon being emitted into the atmosphere. Locally sourced timber reduces the transportation energy cost, as most lumber is shipped from regions outside the 500-mile distance criterion of LEED standards. In addition to using local logs, you can also ask if the timber came from sustainably certified sources.

Not everyone should be living in a log home, but you can replant trees, while it’s pretty hard to replant concrete or steel. Logs are an answer to the green building concerns that many people have today – both for environmental responsibility and for healthy lifestyles.

Greene, Jay P., and Marcus A. Winters. Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School Graduation Rates. Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute, 2006. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED491633.pdf.

This article was written in 2003, and at this time it was widely known that national graduation rate data was unreliable. Although government officials were working on improving this data, independent studies on graduation rates were still very important. This report uses the Common Core of Data to study public school graduation rates throughout the nation, focusing on both race and gender. The results will show the disparities that exist, if any do exist, for graduation rates among males, females, various races, and males and females of each race.

The research topic for this study is the disparity of graduation rates among males and females, with an additional focus on race. The questions the authors of this article set out to answer are: 1) Is there a difference between the graduation rates of white students and the graduation rates of minority students? 2) Is there a difference between the graduation rates of females and the graduation rates of males? 3) Is there a difference between the graduation rates of white males and minority males and a difference between white females and minority females?

To answer this question, the author looked at the public school graduation rates of each state published in the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data. These graduation rates are also separated by race and gender, and further separated by race and gender together, for example, white females vs. asian females, etc. To gather this data, the authors used the Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD) for 2003, the most recent data available at the time of this study. They researched the reliability of the CCD versus other available data sets on graduation rate to determine that it truly was the best choice for data.

To analyze the data, the authors looked at rates (percentages) which are calculated as regular diplomas in spring of 2003 divided by the estimated number of students entering ninth grade in 1999 times one plus population change between fourteen-year-olds in the summer of 1999 and seventeen-year-olds in the summer of 2002). Because the data are given as rates, each number in the data set can be easily compared with all other numbers in the data set. The authors looked at these rates to determine patterns and disparities among various groups. In conclusion, they found that white students have a higher graduation rate than minority students, girls have a higher graduation rate than boys, and the gender gap in graduation rates is especially large for minority students. Overall, this research was well-done and led to some interesting conclusions, which could be used to determine what kind of changes public schools need to work toward in the future.

In the Massachusetts Bay, Cape Cod Bay as well as Boston Harbor there is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary water quality-monitoring program run by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) that analyzed impacts on the environment from relocated secondary-treated effluent outfall. The study was conducted from 1992 through 2007 and collected about 16 years of data, specifically species level estimates of phytoplankton and zoo plankton abundance in the area. For reference, zoo plankton and phytoplankton are tiny animals that are found near the surface of aquatic ecosystems, they typically just drift along the water with the currents. Both of these populations of plankton are important to marine ecosystems because they usually form the base of the food chain or food webs. This collected data over time shows that the relocation of effluent from the Boston Harbor to the bays has decreased the number of nutrients and improved the overall water quality in the harbor. While this effluent was moved from the harbor to the bay there was an increase in dissolved inorganic nutrients near the bay outfall, but so far the study hasn’t shown this as a negative effect. Through the study of phytoplankton and zoo plankton, which found regional changes in the two species, it was also found that the Cape Cod Bay and the Massachusetts Bay are closely connected physically as well as ecologically to the Gulf of Maine. Effects of the relocation of effluent have not been observed in the phytoplankton or zoo plankton populations instead, changes in these populations are related to regional to hemispheric scales.

The research topic for this study was to address changes in the size of phytoplankton and zoo plankton, their production rates, the amount of nuisance or noxious species, as well as the species composition as reacting to the relocation of effluent. This would in turn determine not only the health of the marine ecosystem but also the water quality. The research question posed is; how will the relocation of effluent from the Boston Harbor to the Massachusetts Bay and the Cape Cod Bay effect the ecosystems in those bays through phytoplankton and zoo plankton as well as how will it affect their water quality? The type of data used in this research was survey and annual averages and therefore aggregate, interval or ratio data.

Each year was different but overall the monitoring program has sampled between 34 and 48 water quality stations dispersed throughout Boston Harbor, Massachusetts Bay, and Cape Cod Bay annually. The stations were selected strategically and were located along the expected direction of the effluent. Various scientific testing to test for the changes in the size of phytoplankton and zoo plankton, their production rates, the amount of nuisance or noxious species, as well as the species composition was used to analyze the data. Inorganic compounds and general differences in the ecosystems were also analyzed at each of the water monitoring stations.

This research was clear and easy to understand. There were many graphs within the article, which created another way to see the data and interpret the research’s findings. The research was also very proactive, which is good, instead of waiting to see what the effects of this new direction and movement of effluent would be after the fact, they were testing from the start to make sure there were no negative effects on the environment from the effluent.

Hunt, C. D., Borkman, D. G., Libby, P. S., Lacouture, R., Turner, J. T., & Mickelson, M. J.(2010). Phytoplankton patterns in massachusetts bay–1992-2007. Estuaries and Coasts, 33(2), 448 470. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9125-9

http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/docview/2299991/abstract?accountid=14729

Who researched:
Michael H. Hart
Where researched:
Laboratory for Planetary Atmosphere, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
When researched:
Received February 21, 1977
Revised June 20, 1977
Research methods used:
-Calculated/researched changes in the solar luminosity, variations in the Earth’s albedo, the greenhouse effect, variation in the biomass, and a variety of geochemical processes
-Assumed/approximated: degassing, condensation of water vapor, photodissociation/escape of hydrogen, oxidation of surface minerals, presence of life, limits on the biomass, urey reaction, photosynthesis and the burial of organic sediments, chemical reactions/solubility of gases, changes in solar luminosity, albedo and greenhouse effect
-Based on calculations, research, assumptions and approximations, Hart was able to run several computer simulations that measured:
levels of N2, O2, CO2, CH4, NH3, AR and H2O (grams)
surface pressure (atm)
effective temperature/surface temperature (degrees Kelvin)
What he found:
-CO2 levels significantly decreased but are on the rise again
-N2 has significantly increased
-CH4 and other reduced carbon compounds have decreased and are on the rise again
-O2 has increased
-Atmospheric pressure has gone up and down but is currently on its way back up
-Surface temperature has decreased but effective temperature has increased
-Water vapor has decreased significantly
-Argon has been on a steady rise since the beginning of Earth
-Cloud cover has significantly decreased but has been slowly rising again recently
-Albedo decreased, plateaued and has started to slowly rise again
-Organic carbon in sedimentary rocks has steadily increased
-Extra O2 in rocks has steadily increased
-Mass of CO2 in limestone has been on a steady increase since the beginning of Earth, however recently it has started to decline
What this means/Why it’s important:
The evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere can teach us several things. First, it can help us predict what the Earth’s atmosphere will be like in the future. This could potentially help us adapt to our environment faster than the slow process of evolution. Second, knowing what our atmosphere was like in the past can help us explain past natural phenomena and past biomass/biodiversity. And lastly, the ability to compare our atmosphere now with the atmosphere of the past can clue us into how we have affected our environment.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/02/12/sugar-addiction

Lennerz, Belinda. Effects offects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men.

Scientists examined the effects of the glycemic index on brain activity after eating a typical meal.  Twelve overweight men were gathered to consume two different milk shakes.  One milk shake had “rapidly digesting (high-glycemic) carbohydrates, and the other, slowly digesting(low-glycemic) carbohydrates. ”

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/02/12/sugar-addiction

The articles question was does high-glycemic food encourage overeating.  The research question was “is there a strong correlation between high-glycemic food and overeating, as oppose to a correlation between low-glycemic food and overeating.

The type of data would be aggregate.  The study requires retrieving numbers from observation.  The articles’ scientists retrieved their data by conducting MRIs upon 12 overweight men as they drank the two shakes.  The scientists observed the body-reactions after consuming the different shakes in relation to desire to consume more food.

After retrieval the data is analyzed by comparing the independent variables, the results from the different shakes, in terms of the dependent variable, the 12 overweight men being tested. By finding there was a stronger correlation between the high-glycemic food and overeating, than low-glycemic food and overeating.  After the participants drank the high-glycemic shake, they experienced a sudden burst in blood sugar levels, then a four hour period of low blood sugar levels.  During the period of low blood sugar levels, humans desire to consume more high-glycemic food to raise our blood sugar levels back to what they were before.

This is important research for people to educate themselves with when dieting.  It is better to consume foods with low-glycemic carbohydrates, because they are less likely to mess with your blood sugar levels.  Therefore, allowing you to have steady eating patterns throughout your diet.

This research also explains the body’s reaction to unhealthy foods and how it can lead to health conditions.

Seasonal affective disorder, more commonly known as seasonal depression, is being in a state of depression that occurs at the same time of the year. One of factors that is believed to cause this is the lack of sunlight. “Increased suicide rate in the middle-aged and its association with hours of sunlight,” a study conducted in 2003 by Lambert, G., Reid, C., Kaye, D., Jennings, G., & Esler, M. sheds light into the matter. The article, published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(4), 793-5, focuses on the relationship between suicide and sunlight. The study attempts to answer the question: How are suicide and the amount of sunlight associated and what age group is prone to this effect?

The type of data needed to answer the question were reports of acts for the number of suicides and reports of events for the hours of sunlight. For data-gathering, data for suicide incidents and sunlight hours were both from public records. The number of suicide incidents was provided by the Research and Information Coordination Group of the Office of the State Coroner of Victoria and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. The database of the Australian Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology displayed the necessary data for sunlight hours. The method of data analysis used for this study was a comparison using Pearson’s r to evaluate the correlation coefficient between hours of sunlight and number of suicides.

The result of the study was that the incidents of suicide and hours of sunlight were positively correlated. Most suicide occurred during the months of spring and summer. There significant evidence that the more sunlight a place receives, the more likely individuals are to commit suicide. The article also states that, in Victoria, Australia, the rate of suicide for men in the ages of 21 and 60 and women in the ages of 41 and 60 has increased between 1990 and 1996.

The research was simple yet the results were still impressive in my opinion. The findings of the research are contrary to the belief that suicides are more likely to happen during months where there is lack of sunlight. One must not, however, interpret the result of the study as meaning lack of sunlight causes less depression. Although depression and suicide are highly linked, there is evidence that suggested that suicide is more prevalent when individuals are depressed but above the point where they could not make rational decisions. The result of the study supports this idea because it shows that people are more likely to commit suicide when there is more sunlight. When there is more sunlight, people are hypothesized to be happier, which causes people to move above the irrational state in depression making suicide an option for people suffering from depression thus there are more incidents of suicide during months of deprived sunlight.

This article “Inter-dependencies of Urban Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies” discusses a study that analyzed the impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies for infrastructure in the urban city and area of Boston, Massachusetts. The study found that taking precautionary steps before the year 2050 would allow for less adaptation in the future as well as less impact costs in the future. The study emphasized the inter-dependencies of systems involving adaptation and the interrelations among infrastructure systems as well. In addition they stressed the need for the city to develop policies to deal with coming climate change and to easily adapt to these changes so as not to force implementations and new actions quickly. In addition the article discusses a project that was conducted from 1999 to 2004 called CLIMB. A multidisciplinary team conducted the research and included people from Universities in the Northeast and a Stakeholder Advisory Committee, which consisted of members from the government and infrastructure and planning experts. This project essentially looked at existing infrastructure and assessed climate change impacts on that infrastructure and what decision- and policy-makers needed to understand about the potential consequences of climate change. Some of the data and data analysis for this particular study came from the CLIMB project, which was very relevant to this study.

The research topic of this study is analyzing impacts of climate change and developing adaptation strategies for the Boston area while remembering the interconnection of various systems especially the existing infrastructure. This study asked the question; How will climate change potentially impact the existing infrastructure in the Boston, MA immediate area and what are some solutions to this problem? The type of data needed to answer this question is aggregate, interval or ratio data. Most of the data they used were simulations of what may happen in the future along with what preventative measures may be needed as well as scenario data. They mostly examined what may happen with rising temperatures.

The researchers divided the area into seven zones according to three guidelines; areas north of the city of Boston, which have different coastal properties and socioeconomic features, and highly urbanized areas are dealt with separately from suburbs and rapidly growing suburbs are distinguished from already highly developed and densely populated ones. They gathered different data from these different zones and they also took existing data on temperature and precipitation from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change database.

This data was then run through a series of scenarios for climate change impacts compared to current impacts from climate. Each zone was also analyzed by energy use, sea level rise, river flooding, surface vehicle transportation, water supply, public health, water quality, tall buildings, and bridge scour. Effects from future climate change were assessed as well as impacts and three categories of impacts were produced; loss of service: for example, loss of lives due to heat stress, repair/replacement: potential costs for rebuilding infrastructure systems, adaptation: potential cost of correcting the infrastructure.

This research and article was very easy to understand and thorough. It’s also important research that should be done in all cities and communities in order to prepare for the future with potentially different climates.

Kirshen, P., Ruth, M., & Anderson, W. (2008). Interdependencies of Urban Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies: A Case Study of Metropolitan Boston USA. Climatic Change, 86(1-2), 105-122. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9252-5

http://0search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/docview/198519060/abstract/683A01BD627048B8PQ/8?accountid=14729