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Facts About Alcohol As a consumer, what should you know about alcohol? Alcohol is an ingrained part of the Australian culture and many Australian’s balance its social aspect with the taste and enjoyment of drinking alcohol with food. Most drinkers want to enjoy alcohol and its benefits without harming themselves or oth... |
reduce the risks associated with alcohol use. In this section, you will find facts and information to help you make informed choices when it comes to drinking alcohol. Alcohol awareness can help you avoid the health and social consequences of dangerous drinking. - What is Alcohol? - What are the Effects of Alcohol? - W... |
Moderation - Signs of Alcohol Use and Abuse - What is a Standard Alcohol Drink? - What are the Australian Alcohol Guidelines? - What are the Short-term Harms of Alcohol? - What are the Long-term Health Consequences of Alcohol? - Important Information about Drink Driving |
Higher Folic Acid Levels in Teens Tied to Academic Success MONDAY July 11, 2011 -- Teens who have high levels of folic acid appear to do better in school than those with lower levels, Swedish researchers report. "Folate intake had a positive association with academic achievement" in the students studied, the authors wr... |
11 online edition and the August print issue of Pediatrics. Not only should health providers monitor folic acid levels in teens, but the findings should influence school meals, school teaching and information given to parents, according to the researchers. Teens often have high levels of the blood protein homocysteine,... |
folic acid. In previous studies, folic acid levels have been linked to mental ability; however, until now this had not been linked with improved school performance, the study authors said. "We know that folate plays a really critical role in brain development and brain function," said Dr. Daniel Armstrong, associate ch... |
of Medicine. "We know that, in young children, folate deficiencies are associated with poorer neurocognitive function and neurocognitive development," he noted. In fact, folate deficiencies may be involved in the development of autism, he added. Armstrong thinks that a diet rich in folate might be important for brain f... |
foul. It's not going to do us any harm and it might do us some good," he said. To find out whether folate might do some good, a team led by Dr. Torbjorn K. Nilsson, from the department of laboratory medicine at Orebro University Hospital in Sweden, collected data on folic acid levels in 386 teens aged 15 years. The |
researchers also looked at any possible effects of socioeconomic status and genetics. The investigators found that teens who had the highest levels of folic acid also got the best grades. None of the other factors they examined accounted for their finding, Nilsson's team noted. "These results provide new information th... |
folate status in childhood and adolescence. They may also have direct implications for school meal provisions, school teaching programs and information to parents," the authors concluded. However, there is no scientific evidence that taking folate supplements will be beneficial, Armstrong noted. "It's too early to say ... |
B vitamins and is a key component in making DNA and RNA. Insufficient folic acid is a cause of certain birth defects of the spine and brain, including spina bifida. Among the elderly, folic acid consumption appears to affect mental ability, and low levels of this vitamin have been associated with dementia and Alzheimer... |
acid is found in leafy green vegetables, fruits, dried beans, peas and nuts. In addition, people can obtain folic acid from breads, cereals and other grain products enriched with folic acid, as well as folic acid supplements. For more information on folic acid, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Posted: July ... |
How to Illustrate Movement in Fashion Drawing 1 of 4 Draw a fierce fashion walk. Sketch a fashion figure walking with one leg forward. Slant those shoulders and hips for fashion attitude. Draw pants. Angle the waistband with the hips. |
Keep the knees together, as in #2. And for the back leg, draw the hem of the pant leg curving downward for perspective, as in #3. Keep the forward leg long and directly under the head, as in #4. Draw |
Probiotics For Dummies Probiotics are beneficial, live microorganisms (in most cases, bacteria) that are similar to those found naturally in the human intestine. Also known as "friendly" or "good" bacteria, probiotics are the cornerstone of any successful health program because they restore a healthy balance between fr... |
the health of the entire body. Probiotics are associated with treating everything from IBS to certain forms of cancer, allergies, eczema, and even the effects of aging. Probiotics For Dummies reveals how taking the right probiotics—in the form of food and supplements— as part of a total health program benefits one's ov... |
hands-on, essential guide features 20 probiotic recipes and gives you a step-by-step plan for infusing probiotics into your diet to improve the health of the GI tract, alleviate allergies and asthma, restore reproductive and urinary tracts, bolster the immune system against disease, enhance weight loss, and more. - Adv... |
from breakfast to dessert - Information on naturally occurring probiotic compounds as well as the effectiveness of supplements Probiotics For Dummies gives you everything you need to make informed decisions about adding probiotics to your daily diet. |
"Attention has focused on oil insecurity, and rightly so, but it is not the same as food insecurity. An empty gas tank is one thing, an empty stomach another. And while there are substitutes for oil, there are none for food." –Lester R. Brown, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Chapter 11. Plan B: Rising to t... |
Taxes The need for tax shifting—lowering income taxes while raising taxes on environmentally destructive activities—in order to get the market to tell the truth has been widely endorsed by economists. The basic idea is to establish a tax that reflects the indirect costs to society of an economic activity. For example, ... |
care costs associated with breathing polluted air, the costs of damage from acid rain, and the costs of climate disruption.30 With this concept in hand, it is a short step to tax shifting—that is, reducing taxes on income and offsetting this with taxes on environmentally destructive activities. Nine countries in Wester... |
known as environmental tax reform. The amount of revenue shifted thus far is small, just a few percent. But enough experience has been gained to know that it works.31 Among the activities taxed in Europe are carbon emissions, emissions of heavy metals, and the generation of garbage (so-called landfill taxes). The Nordi... |
the beginning of the 1990s. By 1999 a second wave of tax shifting was under way, this one including the larger economies of Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Tax shifting does not change the level of taxes, only their composition. One of the better known changes was a four-year plan adopted in Germany in ... |
from labor to energy. By 2001, this had lowered fuel use by 5 percent. A tax on carbon emissions adopted in Finland in 1990 lowered emissions there 7 percent by 1998.32 Environmental tax reform is spreading, with the reform process now under way in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Swed... |
cases elsewhere. The United States, for example, imposed a stiff tax on chlorofluorocarbons to phase them out in accordance with the Montreal Protocol of 1987. At the local level, the city of Victoria, British Columbia, adopted a trash tax of $1.20 per bag of garbage, reducing its daily trash flow 18 percent within one... |
gaining in popularity is the so-called congestion tax. City governments are turning to a tax on vehicles entering the city, or at least the inner part of the city where traffic congestion is most serious. In London, where the average speed of an automobile was 9 miles per hour—about the same as a horse-drawn carriage—a... |
early 2003. The $8 charge on all motorists driving into the center city between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. immediately reduced the number of vehicles by 24 percent, permitting traffic to flow more freely while cutting pollution and noise.34 Singapore was the first city to adopt such a tax some two decades ago. Although it wa... |
recently have other cities, such as Oslo and Melbourne, done so. London is by far the largest city to join in. Other cities that are becoming unlivable because of congestion, pollution, and noise may also turn to such taxes.35 For some products where the external costs are large and obvious, pressure is mounting to imp... |
dramatic example of this was the agreement negotiated between the tobacco industry and state governments in the United States. After numerous state governments had launched litigation to force tobacco companies to reimburse them for the Medicare costs associated with treating smoking-related illnesses, the industry dec... |
to the tune of $251 billion—nearly $1,000 for every person in the United States. This landmark agreement was, in effect, a retroactive tax on cigarettes smoked in the past, one designed to incorporate some of the indirect costs. In order to pay this enormous bill, cigarette companies dramatically raised the price of th... |
that calculated the social costs of smoking cigarettes in the United States at $7.18 per pack not only justifies raising taxes on cigarettes, it also provides an empirical framework within which to do so. In 2002, a year in which almost every state government in the United States faced a fiscal deficit because of deter... |
cigarette taxes. Perhaps the most dramatic increase came in New York City, where smokers faced an increase of 39¢ in the state tax and $1.42 in the city tax—a total increase of $1.81 per pack. This brought the price of a pack of cigarettes in New York City to roughly $7.50. Since a 10-percent price increase typically r... |
4 percent, the health benefits of this tax increase should be substantial.37 Environmental tax shifting usually brings a double dividend. In reducing taxes on income—in effect, taxes on labor—labor becomes less costly, creating additional jobs while protecting the environment. This was the principal motivation in the G... |
to more energy-efficient technologies and to renewable sources of energy reduces carbon emissions and represents a shift to more labor-intensive industries. By lowering the air pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes, it also reduces respiratory illnesses, such as asthma and emphysema, and health care costs—a triple d... |
values of services that a forest in a given location provides. Once these are determined, they can be incorporated into the price of trees as a stumpage tax of the sort that Bulgaria and Lithuania have adopted. Anyone wishing to cut a tree would have to pay a tax equal to the value of the services provided by that tree... |
The market would then be telling the truth. The effect of this would be to reduce tree cutting, since forest services may be worth several times as much as the timber, and to encourage wood and paper recycling.39 Tax shifting also helps countries gain the lead in producing new equipment, such as new energy technologies... |
control. For example, the Danish government's tax incentives for wind-generated electricity have made Denmark, a country of only 5 million people, the world's leading manufacturer of wind turbines.40 Some 2,500 economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners in economics, have endorsed the concept of tax shifts. Former... |
President's Council of Economic Advisors in early 2003, wrote in Fortune magazine: "Cutting income taxes while increasing gasoline taxes would lead to more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads, and reduced risk of global warming—all without jeopardizing long-term fiscal solvency. This may be the ... |
have added that it would reduce the military expenditures associated with ensuring access to Middle Eastern oil.41 The Economist has recognized the advantage of environmental tax shifting and endorses it strongly: "On environmental grounds, never mind energy security, America taxes gasoline too lightly. Better than a o... |
be a long-term plan to shift taxes from incomes to emissions of carbon." In Europe and the United States, polls indicate that at least 70 percent of voters support environmental tax reform once it is explained to them.42 30. Redefining Progress, The Economists' Statement on Climate Change (Oakland, CA: 1997). 31. David... |
January 2002. 33. EEA, op. cit. note 32; U.S. chlorofluorocarbon tax from Elizabeth Cook, Ozone Protection in the United States: Elements of Success (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute, 1996); city of Victoria from David Malin Roodman, "Environmental Taxes Spread," in Lester R. Brown et al., Vital Signs 1996 (Ne... |
"London Drivers to Pay UK's First Congestion Tax," Reuters, 28 February 2002; Randy Kennedy, "The Day The Traffic Disappeared," New York Times Magazine, 20 April 2003, pp. 42-45. 35. Miles, op. cit. note 34. 36. USDA, ERS, "Cigarette Price Increase Follows Tobacco Pact," Agricultural Outlook, January-February 1999. 37.... |
Us the Money: A Report on the States' Allocation of the Tobacco Settlement Dollars (Washington, DC: January 2003); New York from Jodi Wilgoren, "Facing New Costs, Some Smokers Say 'Enough'," New York Times, 17 July 2002. 38. Peter P. Wrany and Kai Schlegelmilch, "The Ecological Tax Reform in Germany," prepared for the ... |
The Economist, 15 December 2001; environmental tax support from David Malin Roodman, The Natural Wealth of Nations (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998), p. 243. Copyright © 2003 Earth Policy Institute |
Reducing common injuries and maintaining safety practices According to the Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health (eLCOSH), exposure to electricity is still a major cause of death among construction workers. Among electricians, the most serious concern is working with or near live wires witho... |
through 2003 indicates electrical workers suffered the highest number of electrocutions per year (586 or 34 percent of the total deaths caused by electrocution), followed by site laborers, carpenters, supervisors of nonelectrical workers and roofers. More than half the electrocutions of electrical workers were caused b... |
boxes and transformers. In other words, those deaths could have been prevented had proper lockout/tagout and de-energizing procedures been followed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Washington, D.C., estimates there are approximately 350 electrical-related fatalities a year, which roughly equal... |
leading cause of death at work among 16 and 17-year-old workers, accounting for 12 percent of all workplace deaths. In addition, The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data indicates 2,726 nonfatal electrical shocks involved days away from work a year, between 1992 and 2001, in private industry. “To the best of my knowle... |
each year, with a lot of incidents going unreported,” said Chris Marquardt, safety director and field superintendent at Lemberg Electric Co. Inc., Wauwatosa, Wis. It is believed, he added, that for every 300,000 at-risk behaviors, there are about 300 recordable injuries, 30 lost-time injuries and one fatality. The cost... |
According to OSHA, the occurrence of the most common injuries is increasing as the scope of work performed by the typical electrical contractor and the age of the work force increases. Dangers of the job “The most common injuries that are sustained when dealing with high voltage or when working on a construction site a... |
and falls are the second most common,” said Bob Isiminger, senior electrical engineer in OSHA’s office of engineering safety. Others, he added, include being struck by vehicles, having construction materials fall on people and being present in or near caved-in trenches. According to James Cawley, P.E., senior research ... |
were usually from the result of contact through equipment, such as ladders, tools and cranes. “Nonfatal electrical injures in construction had contact with wiring, transformers, or other electrical components and contact with the electric current of machines, tools, appliances, or light fixtures,” Cawley wrote in a rep... |
injuries, according to Tom Andrzejewski, CSP, safety director for Hunt Electric Corp., St. Paul, Minn. “The heavy cable sizes are the cause of most of those injuries. Electrical incidents, however, are rare as trained, experienced electricians understand the dangers of working in this area and take the necessary precau... |
or musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), strains and sprains are usually the most common. “In spite of this, we have not seen a lot of repetitive motion injuries being reported, probably because of the diversity in electrical construction activities,” Isiminger said. However, Andrzejewski said shoulder injuries in the indu... |
a significant impact to the industry as the work force ages,” Andrzejewski said. The danger begins According to Isiminger, there are a number of causes of common injuries, including failure to address known hazards; or if known hazards have been addressed, failure to remind and retrain employees about them; failure to ... |
or death can’t happen to them. There is also the cultural attitude among some electricians that they are expected to work on energized equipment because that’s the nature of the job and that the customer needs to maintain production and avoid downtime. “That can put pressure on electricians to not fully comply with saf... |
NFPA 70E standard, these attitudes are gradually changing. Another cause of injury is when management and field staff are not willing to accept safety as both a corporate and personal value and to commit to the development and implementation of safety practices on the job site. “Without a safety-minded corporate cultur... |
according to Marquardt, injuries occur because workers believe they will be helping the company by taking short cuts in the name of efficiency, such as not wearing safety gear or misusing ladders or other pieces of equipment. “This is a fallacy, of course, because more often than not, that short cut becomes a lost-time... |
products and tools the electricians are using to perform their jobs frequently cause common cuts and finger injuries. As products continue to become more affordable, some are losing some of their quality. “Electrical panels, lighting fixtures, etc., now come to job sites with sharp edges,” Marquardt said. Following the... |
procedures include compliance with OSHA electrical safety regulations, training employees on electrical safety, having the utility de-energize or insulate overhead power lines, and only allowing work on live electrical circuits or parts in accordance with a permit system with specific procedures. According to Marty Rou... |
figure out the potential risks or dangers, list the steps involved in each task, list the hazards associated with each of those tasks, and plan how to mitigate or eliminate those risks,” he said. OSHA also recommends addressing job-site hazards in advance to avoid injury. “Development of safety programs and management ... |
injuries,” Isiminger said. Some of the simplest and easiest to implement injury prevention methods are also the most obvious. “Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) can’t totally eliminate all risks on the job site; however, it is the last and best defense between the person and the environment,” Rouse said. Glov... |
contractor can outfit the electrician with the right gear that is comfortable and appropriate for each individual. “Foreign bodies in the eyes used to be a major problem, even just seven years ago. The proper use of safety glasses can virtually eliminate these injuries,” Andrzejewski said. Finally, continuing education... |
warmup exercises before beginning work, help avoid injuries and reduce lost workday case rates. Safety plan elements The basic elements of a good safety plan include continued training in hazard identification and mitigation techniques, plus a commitment by management to safety with a demonstration of their support for... |
staff with the freedom to express their concerns or ideas. In my mind, safety results are a precursor to achieving quality, productivity or any other professional standard of performance,” Andrzejewski said. Rouse agrees to even begin the development of a safety plan requires top management’s commitment to providing a ... |
participation in the implementation and improvement of the program, then one cannot be fully developed,” he said. OSHA has a variety of services and programs to help electrical contractors define and identify risks and hazards and to develop an effective safety program. Web-based eTools help contractors perform health ... |
the bottom line. Software assists contractors in assessing the impact of occupational injuries and illnesses, and publications provide voluntary safety and health program management guidelines. In addition, OSHA’s voluntary consultation program offers a comprehensive safety and health consultation that provides detaile... |
America’s only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to promoting electrical safety in the home, school and workplace. According to ESFI, thousands suffer from electrical shock and fires each year, despite improved product safety engineering, standards and electrical codes that have reduced the hazards. To incre... |
Starting in 2010, the New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, Japan will collect snow in the winter to provide 30% of the terminal building’s cooling needs in the summer. The snow will be covered by heat-insulating materials, which should retain about 45% of the snow collected. The remaining snow will then be used to chill th... |
Today, the practice could result in a 2,100 ton reduction in CO2 emissions per year. This process isn’t new to Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, which receives between 20 and 30 feet of snowfall a year. The island has been experimenting with cooling systems using their icy resource since 1998 and has already insta... |
Rebecca Sharitz, a researcher at the University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory received the National Wetlands Award for Science Research at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on May 19. |
She was chosen out of a competitive nationwide field for her expertise on southeastern floodplain forests and Carolina bays and substantial contributions to wetland science. The award is one of |
six 2010 National Wetlands Awards given by the Environmental Law Institute with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish |
and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, and the George and Miriam Martin Foundation. “I consider this a tremendous honor,” said |
Sharitz on receiving the award, “and I accept it not only for myself, but for the great group of graduate students and research assistants who have worked with me over |
the years.” Her research was the first to show a link between flooding characteristics and forest regeneration—an important finding to understand how southeastern floodplain forests react after experiencing hurricanes, alteration |
from dams, and discharge of thermally hot waters from nuclear reactors. “(Dr. Sharitz’s work) advanced wetland science by addressing the ecological dynamics of southern floodplain forests, in contrast to a |
prevailing emphasis on forest silviculture,” said Diane De Steven, Research Wetland Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. She added, “Importantly, the work called attention to the ecological significance of dam |
construction and river regulation in altering important floodplain forest processes.” In addition to her work on floodplain forests, Sharitz is an expert on the Carolina bays—isolated wetlands that occur in |
low-lying areas in the landscape. Her research shows that Carolina bays have the greatest variety of plant seeds in the soil of any wetland type and that passive restoration—blocking drainage |
ditches—has proven to be an effective method to restore wetland vegetation and undo the damage caused by past efforts to dry these wetlands out. “I’ve been very pleased to see |
that there is now increasing concern about timing and magnitude of flood events in managing southeastern rivers,” said Sharitz, whose research has spanned four decades. “What keeps me interested is |
the constant sense of discovery when I am in wetland ecosystems: their variability, their constant changes, and their simple beauty.” Sharitz, a senior research ecologist at SREL and professor of |
plant biology at UGA, has authored or co-authored more than 160 peer-reviewed papers or chapters and co-edited three books. She has received over 40 research grants, has trained more than |
30 graduate students, 13 postdoctoral fellows, and over 100 volunteers, and has been invited to serve on four National Academy of Science committees. For more information on the Savannah River |
Spelling and Suffix Practice Read the following study guide for a concept review: Spelling and Suffix Help Spelling and Suffix Practice Words in Context The following exercise will help you |
figure out the meaning of some words from the vocabulary list by reading context clues. After you have read and understood the paragraph, explain the context clues that helped you |
with the meaning of the vocabulary word. Refer to the answer section at the end of this chapter for an explanation of the clues. The latest remake of Planet of |
the Apes develops the theme of bigotry in a world where apes are the dominant culture and humans are enslaved. Parity between the two species is unthinkable because the simians |
regard humans as inferior creatures. Leo, the central character, is the story's protagonist. He is a human astronaut who lands on a strange planet where apes venerate their own kind |
by offering praise and promotions for negative actions taken against humans. Leo's antagonist, General Thade, is the leader of the apes in this bizarre culture, and encourages the mistreatment of |
humans by apes. In General Thade's opinion, extermination of the humans is a laudable cause, and he mounts a full-scale campaign to exterminate humans from the planet. Insert the word |
from the vocabulary list that best completes the sentences. - Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Eudora Welty was _____ in her obituary. - You would never accuse Mark of _____; he's the |
most open-minded person I know. - It took several months to _____ the merger, but after tough negotiation, the two companies became one. - The young boy's removal from the |
Little League game was due to his _____ behavior of throwing the bat when he was angry. - Rainforests are known for their _____ amounts of rainfalls, which supply the |
fauna with many nutrients. - During WWII, Native Americans worked to develop a(n) _____ code that could not be deciphered by the enemy. - Because of the family's _____ search, |
they were quickly reunited with their lost dog. - My little brother is the _____ in the family; he constantly provokes fights with my sister and me. - Sally wore |
sunscreen at the beach to _____ her chances of getting a sunburn. - Due to the _____ of the budget director's financial policies, the economy grew stronger. - In order |
to _____ the wrongdoing of the internment of innocent Japanese Americans during WWII, the U.S. government has agreed to pay reparations to victims. - A(n) _____ in certain strains of |
powerful bacteria has turned them into drug-resistant menaces. - The actions of a few skittish animals _____ the majority of horses to stampede. - Union officials continuously fight for _____ |
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