An Overview Of Data Warehousing - 1707 Words

An Overview of Data Warehousing Samuel Eda Wilmington University Abstract Data warehousing is a crucial element of decision supporting process, which now for a long time has become a focus of the database industry. Vast number of commercial products and various services has been available now, and all of the top notch database management system vendors now have offerings in this area. This paper provides an overview of history of data warehousing, the type of systems in data warehousing, focusing on data mart, online analytical processing (OLAP), and online transaction processing (OLTP). This paper also emphasizes on the data warehouse environment, information storage, design methodologies including bottom-up design and top-down†¦show more content†¦Data warehouses are targeted for decision supporting. Old, summarized and consolidated data is very much important than detailed as well as individual records. As data warehouses store consolidated data, possibly from several operational databases, for perhaps a very long time, they tend to be in order s of magnitude much greater than operational databases; enterprise data warehouses are projected to be hundreds of gigabytes to terabytes in size. The data stored in the warehouse is uploaded from the operational systems for example marketing, sales, etc. The data may be passing through an operational data store for additional operations before it is used in the DW for reporting. History The concept of data warehousing goes back to the late 80s when IBM researchers Barry Devlin and Paul Murphy developed business data warehouse. To summarize, the concept of data warehousing was created to provide an architectural model for the flow of collection of data from various operational systems to the decision supporting environments. The concept attempted to solve the various technicalities associated with this flow of data, primarily the high costs associated with it. In the absence of a data warehousing, an enormous amount of redundancy was needed to support multiple decision support environments. In larger organizations it was usual for multiple decision support environments to operate on their own. Even

Introduction to Qualitative Research Free Essays

Qualitative research is one of the ways doing research that involves only looking at the quality and not having any results that are quantifiable. This means that the conclusions that are made from a qualitative research are usually based on the secondary research, that is, other researches and conversations have to say. Qualitative research deals with either going through older researches that have already taken place and then using them as a support for taking interviews and focus groups of people or the target market that the research is looking for. We will write a custom essay sample on Introduction to Qualitative Research or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is the main objective of any qualitative research. â€Å"Qualitative is one of the two major approaches to research methodology in social sciences. Qualitative research involves an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern human behaviour. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research relies on reasons behind various aspects of behaviour. † (Wikipedia, 2007 ) Introduction to the Research The research that has been picked up for criticism is that which was done by a student on the garment industry in the subcontinent. There are a number of problems that are faced in this industry and there is not a lot that if happening from the WTO side. This is what the research carries further. Criticizing a Research Firstly, looking at the introduction of the paper, it does not explain the garment industry completely. The paper begins with a lot of numbers being thrown such as the garment number in the United States of America. Whenever, a research is conducted it is necessary that the researcher ensure that the secondary research be comparable to that of the research that is being conducted. If the research is being conducted about the subcontinent then there is a need that the garment industry of another developing country be analyzed rather than that of a developed country. The researcher must be careful when choosing such secondary data because it could be damaging to the results of the research. Another problem with the research’s introduction is that the explanation is too brief. The introduction is supposed to do a complete overview of the industry at to what the major products are and what are the current problems in this industry. Yet another point is that at this stage, the researcher should have provided some numbers of the subcontinent in a valid format so that the reader would have a better idea of the situation in the garment sector. The researcher is not going with a flow. There is a need to take up a complete flow of the information and ensure that there are no dead ends to the text. The last sentence of the research does not go with the entire introduction and it seems too abrupt and a lot of rephrasing is required. The next section of the research is the introduction of the WTO. According to a reader’s understanding, the introduction of the WTO should have come before that of the garment industry because the WTO would then be related in the introduction of the industry, which has not been done. The introduction of the WTO is not a complete flow of statements but is rather just a list of the events that had occurred for WTO. The researcher should have taken out time to phrase the numbers and the events into statements so that the reader would be able to make sense of the format of the paper. There are a number of abbreviations that have been provided in the research but there is no glossary at the end of the research that explains what each abbreviation means. There are also no definitions of the operational terms that have been used throughout the research. The paper then goes about discussing the problems in the garment industry. There is no flow of the information and there is a lot of abruptness in the paper. Any reader will not understand what the research is about which also leads to another point. Any research always has an executive summary attached in the beginning of the paper so that the reader can have a quick preview of the contents of the paper, also by looking at the table of contents, and understand the matter of the paper, whether it is worth reading or not. This is exactly what this researcher must also have done when he / she must have looked for articles. It is impossible going through the main matter of all the researches that a researcher would include in the secondary data. At first the researcher will look for understanding the article’s overview and then consider it as a source of data. To help guide the reader throughout the research, the researcher should have provided a clear summary of all the terms that are being used in the paper along with a few major points of the research as to what is being evaluated. There is no clear indication of what the research aims to look for. â€Å"Simply put, it investigates the why and how of decision making, as compared to what, where, and when of quantitative research. Hence, the need is for smaller but focused samples rather than large random samples. From which, qualitative research categorizes data into patterns as the primary basis for organizing and reporting results. † (Wikipedia, 2007 ) The researcher has then gone into providing recommendations and solutions to the two problems that were identified in the research. The solutions have been described very technically with a lot of understanding and analysis and it seems that the researcher knows what is being talked about. However, there is still some discrepancy on the sentence phrasing. The researcher has concentrated upon the branding side of the garment industry and there are a number of terms that are used here as well. However, there is a need to note that the researcher did not help the reader understand the whole situation first before providing the recommendations. The reader must know what the situation is like and what has currently been done for such industries that are not flourishing. There are a number of problems with the way the research is carrying forward because a reader would be unable to follow the whole idea and analyze it. The researcher has provided a lot of insight into the research such as the different options that are available to the industry to take control of such as branding themselves so that there would be a lesser possibility of competition from the foreign brands that have taken over such as Nike. The suggestions have proved to be quite helpful but then there is the problem of the researcher jumping from one section of the paper to another. There is a lot to provide to the reader and it seems like the researcher was unable to put it in a logical manner. Arranging information in a logical manner is a very important part of research because there is a lot of text that is going about and there is a need to keep the reader on track and help him / her understand every bit of the research. There is a requirement to follow these guidelines so that the research can be deemed helpful and successful and help in future researches on the same topic if there is any. The next thing that the researcher has jumped to is the external analysis of the industry. This should have been done before the whole introduction to the problems because there are a number of readers who would not have an idea of the factors that may affect the garment industry. The same problem occurs when the researcher is talking about the value chain analysis and this is why there could be a lot of problems with the technique that the researcher has used for placing the information. There is a need for the researcher to have a second look at the stream of information being provided. At the end of the paper, there is a description of a store that is currently selling clothes in the subcontinent and has been very successful because it deals with a brand and this is why the company is also facing a lot of brand equity. The conclusion of the paper was not available and hence, there is nothing that could have been drawn from the whole paper that was read. There was also no referencing that was done at the end of the paper. Such a violation would cause plagiarism which is not considered as lawful. References Wikipedia. (2007). Qualitative Method. Retrieved on May 10, 2007 from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Qualitative_method How to cite Introduction to Qualitative Research, Essays

The government and politics of the Europe - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about The government and politics of Europe. Answer: Introduction The global economic, political and social framework, has over the years experienced immense dynamics with years, with the player countries in the international scenario experiencing phenomena in their economies which left lasting impacts not only on their path of progress but also had impacts on the other economies and policy structures of the countries which are related to their operations (Harrod and O'Brien 2012). The global economic and political environment being more integrated and inclusive in the contemporary period, with phenomena like Globalization, Liberalization policies implementing in the predominant economies, Free Trade Agreements, technological innovations and trade zones getting created and political scenarios becoming interconnected, robust networks and channel of communications are getting established between the different economies across the world (Pieterse 2015). Given this context, the economic and political incidents occurring in any corner of the world, are affecting the economies of the other remote countries. This is especially true for the eminent and economically influencing economies, which over the years have shown impressive economic and political traits and have gained the power to influence the activities of the economies in the global framework and their operations significantly (Both positive and negative) by their policies and economic, political and commercial activities (Busch and Matthes 2016). In the last few years, the global economy has been significantly influenced by the phenomena like the proposition of Brexit, the social and turmoil leading to the refugee crisis across different parts of the world and the decrease in the influence of the USA in the foreign policy structure in the Western countries. One of the primary ones to bear the brunt of all these phenomena has been the European Union, which has been experiencing immense turbulences and disturbing dynamics in its operational framework. The European Unions have been facing several challenges and potential changes which are expected to shape up its future operations and domain of existence (Hanf and Soetendorp 2014). Keeping this into consideration the report tries to discuss the discuss the recent dynamics and challenges existing in the European Union and for its remaining member countries, especially emphasizing on the economy of one of the most eminent member countries, France. The primary focus of the research is to analyze the challenges which the economy of France faces, in the contemporary period, taking into account the dynamics in the European Union, post the proposition of Brexit and other inter-country as well as exogenous turmoil (Gilpin 2016). The report also discusses the policies in the European Union, which France is concerned about and the changes the same wants to be implemented in the policy framework of the European Union, in order to increase its overall welfare and long term sustainability. The European Union: Challenges faced in the recent period The European Union, one of the biggest conglomerates existing in the world, was originally established as an union of twenty eight European countries, which operate under the cohesive economic as well as political environment. Of all these member countries, nineteen countries use the same currency (Euro) as their mode of transaction and doing business (Nugent 2017). The primary objectives behind the establishment of the European Union were creation of a free and cohesive environment to facilitate trade and commercial transactions among the member countries, thereby increasing the long term sustainability, profitability and economic progress of the same. The Union was also formed keeping in mind the notion that the creation of a cohesive political and economic environment among the member countries in general is expected to make the operational framework of these countries more stable, by ruling out the inter-country disturbances (Wallace, Pollack and Young 2015). However, in the recent global framework, with the increase in the number and magnitude of destabilizing phenomena, the European Union is expected to face several challenges which are expected to have considerable and long lasting impacts on its member countries and their domain of operation as well (Howorth 2014). The primary challenges for the Union are as follows: a) Brexit- Owing to the recent developments, one of the primary and the most influential economies falling in the domain of the European Union, that is Britain, has voted to leave the Union and emerge as an autonomous economy all by itself. All factors remaining unchanged, this pact is expected to come into existence on 29 th March, 2019. This in turn, is expected to create turmoil, not only in EU-UK relationship, but also in the economies and industrial aspects of other member nations (Bbc.com 2018). b) On-going refugee problems- The European countries have always been looked as places of resort for the immigrants from all corners of the world, who mainly seek refuge in these countries in search of better economic prospects, political stability and a better quality of life for them. However, in the last few years, the inflow of immigrants have increased immensely, much of which can be attributed to the economic, social, political and military disturbances occurring in the countries including Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and West Africa. The policies regarding the habilitation and intake of immigrants, under the policy framework of the EU being comparatively integrating and inclusive than other areas, this immigration has been highly facilitated (Aiyar et al. 2016). This in turn, has created immense disturbances in the overall political, economic and social environments of the member countries of the EU, which have been accommodating these immigrants. The countries primarily include Germany, France and Italy, whose economic stability has been immensely compromised, leading to a situation of unrest among the residents. c) Inefficiencies in the security and military policies- With the increase in the economic and political pressures across the different corners of the world as well as within the geographical region falling under the domain of operations of the European Union, there has been a significant increase in the anti-social and terrorism related activities in the domain of the Union, which has immensely affected the economic, political and social stability of the member countries of this Union. Keeping this into consideration, the EU also published the European Global Strategy in 2016, with the objective of creating an inclusive and coherent framework for handling the international relations of the Union. However, this proposition did not contribute as effectively in restoring the stability of the countries, thereby keeping the threats and security issues faced by the member countries partially unattended. d) Political and Economic Instability- The recent events like that of the proposition of Brexit, increasing refugee crisis, problems with the Euro currency and the political debacles in the member countries, it has become immensely difficult for the European countries to maintain their economic and political stability, which has made it a big challenge for the European Union to maintain the political and economic stability in the coming future, which in turn is expected to hugely affect the inter-dynamics between the member countries and their commercial transactions, thereby affecting the main objective for which the Union was actually established (Cini 2016). From the above discussion, it can be asserted that in the contemporary period, the European Union and its operational framework has been subjected to considerable challenges, attributed to the economic and political dynamics among the member countries as well as in the outside world affecting the member countries of the European Union. Keeping this into consideration, the following section of the report tries to analyze the dynamics in the economic and political environment of one of the member countries, France, keeping the activities and challenges in the European Union in the backdrop. France: Overview and Participation in the European Union France has over the years remained as one of the stable economies in the European region and is not only one of the member countries of the European Union but also one of those nineteen countries among the members which fall in the Euro-zone created by the European Union, which indicates that the country uses Euro as its official currency of transaction. France is in fact the largest of the member countries of the EU, hosting nearly 13.6% (2016) of its total population and with 74 seats in the Parliament of the European Union. The total spending of the Union in France (2015) amounts to as high as 14.468 billion Euro and the contribution of the country to the EU budget amounts to almost 19.013 billion Euro. The country, over the years, have developed significantly, under the commercial and business facilitating environment of the European Union which can be seen from the robust GDP statistics of the country (GDP amounting to almost 2.225 trillion euro in 2016) (Lange, Ross and Vannicelli 2016). The primary industries and sectors of importance of the country consists of mainly the public administration sector, defense and education sector. However, with the increase in the turmoil in the operational framework of the European Union, the country has also been experiencing disturbances, which have been having long term implications on the overall environment of the country. These problems being highly linked to the challenges faced by the European Union, there arises the need for rectifications and modifications in several aspects of the policy framework of the EU, for the benefit of the country in the long run. Challenges Faced by France As discussed above, in the contemporary political and economic environment, one of the primary challenges faced by France is the problem of over-migration of refugees from the socially and politically disturbed parts of the world, immigration being highly facilitated by the existing laws of the EU in this aspect. The major brunt of this has been faced by countries like Germany and France. Figure 1: Increase in immigration in France over the years (Source: Willsher and Kirchgaessner, 2018) This has led to creation of immense irritation of among the residents of the country, whose welfare; economic prosperity and security are being immensely compromised. Another aspect, in which the country has been experiencing considerable challenge is regarding the role of the country in the military and security front, under the domain of the European Union. On one hand, with Brexit coming into operation and Britain departing from the EU, there are high chances of France to become the primary military power in the entire UN, which can be attributed to its strong defense sector, increasing export of arms, able forces and NATO membership (Jeffery 2015). However, the country has been facing immense security issues, both endogenous as well as exogenous. On exogenous front, the country has been subjected to several terrorist attacks, much of which has been attributed to the increasing immigration problems, by the residents of the country. Apart from that, the country along with the other members of the EU, faces military and nuclear threats from outside Europe, which indicates towards the need for development of a robust and integrated military power for the Union. Figure 2: Increase in terrorist activities in the OECD countries over the years (Source: Loc.gov, 2018) Policies in EU which France cares about Given the above scenario, the primary policy under the operational framework, which France is bothered about is the immigration and refugee rehabilitation policy. In 1991, with the reform of the Common European Asylum System under the EU, the migrants were welcome and the ones who qualified as refugees were given international protection as well as subsidiary protection, based on their level of risk of sufferings. Over 10 million Euro was allocated for the purpose of restoration of these refugees. This policy, creating an immense pressure of increased inflow of immigrations in the European countries, has been one of the issues of concern in France. Apart from the immigration policy, France is also concerned about the existing military and security policies existing in operational framework of the EU. The current military policy framework of the EU has been proven to be lacking efficiency as there is no comprehensive policy present in this framework regarding combating the terrorism and military threats coming from outside the European zone as well as cropping up within the zone itself (Taylor et al. 2018). Changes France want in EU policy structure The primary change which the country wants to be implemented in the policy structure of the EU is in the immigration policy. Given that France and Germany are among the primary ones who bear the brunt of the excessive inflow of immigrants, the country wants the EU to make its immigration intake policy more stringent (by imposing quota on the intake of refugee on part of the member countries) and secured, which does not accommodate immigrants at the cost of the welfare and security of the residents of the country. In the contemporary scenario, given the increasing turmoil in the social and political environment prevailing in the European Union, France has over the years strongly advocated for the creation of a joint military force in the European Union, which may help the same to have autonomous capacity for action. This, however, needs to be done not for the purpose of replacing NATO, but for the purpose of complementing it. France has also advocated for a shared military budget, uniform defense policy framework as well as the creation of a joint training academy in this aspect for the member countries (Taylor et al. 2018). Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be asserted that given the disturbances in the overall economic, social and political environment in the global framework, the European Union faces several crucial challenges in the present times, which is expected to affect the welfare, stability and prosperity of the member countries as well, including France. France mainly faces challenges in terms of the increasing immigration problems and events which are compromising the security of the country and its citizens. In both the cases, the policies being less updated in the EU policy framework, changes in the same can benefit the country and also the other member countries in the long run. References Aiyar, S., Barkbu, B., Batini, N., Berger, H., Detragiache, E., Dizioli, A., Ebeke, C., Lin, H., Kaltani, L., Sosa, S. and Spilimbergo, A., 2016. The refugee surge in Europe.Europe: Imfstaff Discussion Note (SDN/16/02). Bbc.com (2018).Brexit: All you need to know. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887 [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Busch, B. and Matthes, J., 2016.Brexit-the economic impact: A meta-analysis(No. 10/2016). IW-Report. Cini, M., 2016.European union politics. Oxford University Press. Gilpin, R., 2016.The political economy of international relations. Princeton University Press. Hanf, K. and Soetendorp, B. eds., 2014.Adapting to European integration: small states and the European Union. Routledge. Harrod, J. and O'Brien, R. eds., 2012.Global unions?: theory and strategies of organized labour in the global political economy. Routledge. Howorth, J., 2014.Security and defence policy in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. Jeffery, C. ed., 2015.The regional dimension of the European Union: towards a third level in Europe?. Routledge. Lange, P., Ross, G. and Vannicelli, M., 2016.Unions, change and crisis: French and Italian union strategy and the political economy, 1945-1980. Routledge. Loc.gov (2018).Refugee Law and Policy: European Union. [online] Loc.gov. Available at: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/refugee-law/europeanunion.php [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Nugent, N., 2017.The government and politics of the European Union. Springer. Pieterse, J.N., 2015.Globalization and culture: Global mlange. Rowman Littlefield. Taylor, P., Karnitschnig, M., Herszenhorn, D. and Brianon, P. (2018).Frances next big challenge: defense policy. [online] POLITICO. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-france-defense-next-big-challenge-military-policy-nato-terror-cybersecurity-war/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Wallace, H., Pollack, M.A. and Young, A.R. eds., 2015.Policy-making in the European Union. Oxford University Press, USA. Weforum.org (2018).The six issues that will shape the EU in 2017. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/the-six-issues-that-will-shape-the-eu-in-2017/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Willsher, K. and Kirchgaessner, S. (2018).Germany and France demand binding refugee quotas for EU members. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/germany-france-eu-refugee-quotas-migration-crisis [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018].

‘Science Never Solves a Problem Without Creating Ten More.’(George Bernard Shaw) Do You Agree Essay Example

‘Science Never Solves a Problem Without Creating Ten More.’(George Bernard Shaw) Do You Agree? Essay On the face of it, this statement seems to be utter nonsense. Science helps us to make our live easier and more comfortable. Its discoveries enhance the standard of living. In principle, the effect of the application of scientific discovery had been to improve by allowing Man to use the world’s natural resources to the fullest. Nowadays, technology is getting more advanced. Simple machines such as pulleys and levers have now become complex and efficient through the application of technology. As such, there has been an increase in wealth, and therefore purchasing power to both the community and the people. Furthermore, the urge to travel and explore the world and to develop its natural resources has been well served by science. What’s more, science promotes health and longevity. For example, the government starts providing healthcare services for the aged. Facilities and amenities are improved in public places and residences. With science, there is an improvement in the quality of the living conditions. More people are educated and more jobs are available. However, this does not mean that science do not create troubles for us, humans. In advanced countries, the real power has actually fallen into the hands of nuclear scientists who possess the means of whole sale destruction. Such thinking of scientists’ is often because of psychological immaturity and fame. It will be dangerous if they were to reveal their potentially risky secrets one day. In this sense, science today is indeed the enemy of Man. Furthermore, there are many examples which show that science never solves a problem without creating ten more. We will write a custom essay sample on ‘Science Never Solves a Problem Without Creating Ten More.’(George Bernard Shaw) Do You Agree? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on ‘Science Never Solves a Problem Without Creating Ten More.’(George Bernard Shaw) Do You Agree? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on ‘Science Never Solves a Problem Without Creating Ten More.’(George Bernard Shaw) Do You Agree? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer One example is H1N1. During the H1H1 outbreak, doctors tried finding the cure for it as soon as possible. However, the effective vaccination was created only after many volunteers risked their life either for the experiment or to receive the first few doses of the medicine. Some suffered from side effects. By the time the supply of more vaccines were made available, many patients died while waiting for it. Thus, science is neither Man’s enemy nor friend. Everything depends on Man’s attitude towards it and whether he wants science to be his master or his servant.

Recording essays

Recording essays Multi-track recording isnt something new that came with digital technology, but the digital revolution has taken this recording process to a whole new level. Since a multi-tracked recording that has been saved onto a computer disk is nothing more than a computer file, it can easily be moved through the Internet to multiple locations. The biggest advantage is that a musician can now literally e-mail his unfinished recording to another musician. Then the other musician can lay down a new track onto the original recording and then e-mail it back to the original guy. Basically, the recording can be made one track at a time without the musicians ever having to leave their homes. This isnt practical for large recording stars, but for small musicians it can be an incredible tool for creating and recording their own songs. Computer-based recordings emergence in the music world has brought the cost of recording music down to a point where nearly every musician can afford to make his own quality musical recordings. In the early days of analog recording up until the early 1990s, hardly anyone without a huge record deal were able to make quality recordings of their own music. However, tape-based analog recorders began to become obsolete, analog 4-track recorders began to go down in price to where even the lowliest musician could afford them. This was of course due to the increased presence of available digital equipment, which was at the time still very expensive. Costs for digital recording equipment quickly began to go down as well. In 1991, Alesis introduced an ADAT machine (Advanced Digital Audio Tape) that provided eight tracks of digital recording ability for only $3995.00. One can currently purchase a sixteen-track digital recorder with its own built-in hard drive for around $1500.00. Thanks to this digital revolution in recording, people could now have their material on the street for less money and time. Th...

Most useful tips for productivity from incredibly busy people

Most useful tips for productivity from incredibly busy people Productivity throughout the day starts with you. Time is something we never seem to have enough of but with organization and time management you can help boost productivity throughout the day. With simple changes such as wake up earlier or even make a priority to-do list you will be surprised on how much more you can fit into your day. These 5 productivity  tips from leaders and entrepreneurs can help you organize  your time throughout the day to best maximize it.  Source [ American Express Open Forum ]

GW F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche Essay

GW F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche - Essay Example rt of a great consciousness we would not be so concerned with our individual freedom therefore, we would agree to act rationally in a way that does not follow our individual caprice that would help us achieve our goals and objectives. Hegel argued that the concept of â€Å"Geist† involves subjective spirit/mind that is the individual potential force, while Objective Spirit/Mind is the force in action and Absolute Spirit/Mind is the goal, aim or target of the force as well as the realization of one’s target. Objective Spirit and Absolute Spirit/Mind have a continuous cycle between them such that: the goals established, understood and represented by the Absolute Spirit govern, lead and motivate the action and dynamic of people in the objective spirit. Absolute Spirit/Mind encourages people to reflect upon their own practice, learn from it and overcome any limitations. Schopenhauer asserted the principle of work by emphasizing that the will is the inner nature of the body as an appearance in time and space, he concluded that the inner reality of all material appearance is dependent on the individual will. Considering the notion of will as the key to existence, Schopenhauer, who is considered to be a pessimistic philosopher, explained that the tragedy of life arises from the nature of the will which constantly urges the individual toward the satisfaction of successive goals, none of the goals can provide permanent satisfaction for the infinite activity of the life force or will. Schopenhauer claimed that some things such as interests and moral life based on sympathy, alleviates the suffering that people’s experience in their lives. The only thing that stands in our power to achieve, is to use the personal qualities we possess in the most advantageous way as possible and follow such pursuits only when will call then to play (Hegel 46). Friedrich Nietzsche argues that, it is our freedom, ability to make and implement our own choices that distinguishes us from

The role of intelligence in energy security. An analysis of the Essay

The role of intelligence in energy security. An analysis of the ongoing competition over Caspian Oil and Gas reserves between major states - Essay Example Former oil industry executive, and now current American Vice-President Dick Cheney famously remarked, "I cant think of a time when weve had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian†.1 Accordingly, access to oil has quickly become a hotly contested issue with protagonists from East to West seeking to reap the benefits of the full-scale exploitation of what has quickly become one of the most geopolitically significant regions of the globe. Aiming to explore the strategic development of the Caspian Sea region and the emergence of this territory as a globally-contested hot-spot, this dissertation will seek to address a variety of important questions. These include the following research questions which will guide this analysis: Accordingly, these questions and many more will guide our analysis of the role of intelligence in energy security in the Caspian Sea region. Seeking to provide a thorough and concise overview of the current challenges facing the full exploitation of a region which has quickly become strategically significant in geopolitical affairs, this essay will be organized in the following manner. Beginning with a brief overview of the research design, methodology and data recovery employed, this section will be followed by a concise yet relevant historical analysis of the Caspian region as well as the historical antecedents to the development of the Caspian Sea region. The Caspian Sea region is important to global energy markets as it is a newly discovered source of natural resources including oil and natural gas. Accordingly, this region has the potential to become a major exporter of oil and natural gas into the twenty first century. After more than eight years of exploration and development, in May of 2005 oil from the southernmost sections of the Caspian Sea began pumping through a new pipeline established by a British Petroleum-led

Concentration of HCL affecting surface area to vol ratio Essay Example for Free

Concentration of HCL affecting surface area to vol ratio Essay The research question that this report is going to discuss is â€Å"What is the relationship between concentration of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and the rate of diffusion? † My hypothesis for this research question is that change in rate of diffusion will be observed when the agar blocks are placed in solutions of different concentrations of HCl. As the concentration of HCl increases, the rate of diffusion will also increase due to the steeper concentration gradient created. To investigate the change in rate of diffusion when different concentrations of HCl are used, I used agar blocks that are stained with universal indicator that would change from green to pink when exposed to HCl. To prepare the agar blocks, I used knife and ruler to acquire 5 agar blocks with equal dimensions of 3. 0cm by 1. 0cm by 0. 5cm. Then I prepared 5 different concentrations of HCl with equal volume of 5cm^3 in test tubes, which were 0. 0M. 0. 2M, 0. 4M, 0. 6M, 0. 8M and finally 1. 0M of HCl. Then, I placed the agar blocks into respective test tubes, measuring the time taken for the agar blocks to turn from green to completely pink. This was repeated 2 more times, having 3 set of readings in total. The results collected showed an increasing trend in the rate of diffusion as the concentration of HCl increased. This clearly supported the hypothesis I derived at. (227 words) ? Content Page Abstract2 Content Page3 Introduction4 Research question:4 Hypothesis:4 Introduction (2)5 Literature Review5 Methodology6 Results8 Results (2)9 Discussion10 Limitations11 Improvements11 Conclusion12 Bibliography13 ? Introduction Research question: How does change in concentration of hydrochloric acid (HCl) affect the rate of diffusion through the agar blocks which contain starch stained with universal indicator, while keeping surrounding temperature, the surface area to volume ratio of agar blocks used and the volume of solution to which the agar blocks were placed constant? Hypothesis: Change in rate of diffusion will be observed when agar blocks are placed in solutions of different concentrations of HCl. As the concentration of HCl increases, the rate of diffusion will also increase due to the steeper concentration gradient created ? Introduction (2) Literature Review Diffusion is known as the net movement of particles from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration along the concentration gradient. There are few factors that affect the rate of diffusion, the time taken for both regions to have equal amount of particles. One of them is temperature. It is known that temperature has the greatest effect on diffusion rates and is the easiest of the factors to change. Increasing the temperature increases the diffusion rate by adding energy to each particle. This is because particles with more energy can move to the region of lower concentration with more speed and more easily. Similarly, lowering the temperature will lower the diffusion rate by lowering the energy of each particle. Another important factor that changes the rate of diffusion is the concentration gradient, which we will be exploring in this experiment. The rate of diffusion depends on the difference between concentrations across the region of lower concentration and higher concentration, with steeper concentration differences resulting in higher diffusion rates (Simon 2013). This can be explained by Fick’s Law, which can be summarised by this equation: Rate of diffusion is proportional to(surface area x difference in concentration )/(Length of diffusion path). From the equation derived from Fick’s Law, it is clearly seen that the difference in concentration (concentration gradient) will increase the rate of diffusion (Michael Kent 2000). This theory can be used to explain real life situations, like how human lungs take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide in a split second. It is due to the great difference in concentrations of both gases (very steep concentration gradient) that allows relatively fast rate of diffusion. For instance, when breathing in, the concentration of oxygen in alveoli is very high compared to that in the blood vessels surrounding the alveoli. Thus, rate of diffusion is great, allowing oxygen to diffuse as fast as possible. (BBC 2013) Methodology Table 1.1-Table of variables and how it is controlled VariablesDetails of variablesHow it is controlled Independent VariableConcentration of HClConcentration of HCl is controlled by the amount of distilled water added to HCl. For example, in order to achieve a concentration of 0. 2 moldm^(-3), 1. 0 cm^3 of 1 mol of HCl is added, with 4 cm^3 of distilled water added. Dependent VariableRate of Diffusion The time is taken by a stopwatch until the agar blo ck turns pink in colour completely. Controlled VariableTemperature of the surrounding Surface area to volume ratio of the agar blocks Volume of solution to place the agar blocks into. Temperature is set at an air-conditioned room in a Biology lab The agar blocks are cut into same length, same breadth and same height (3. 0 cm by 1. 0 cm by 0. 5cm), thus having the same volume and surface area. This ensures the ratio is the same. The volume of solutions used is kept the same at 5. 0cm^3. Table 1. 2-Apparatus used in the experiment Apparatus QuantityUncertainty 2% Starch Agar (Universal Indicator stained) 1. 0 M Hydrochloric Acid (aq) Deionized Water Stop Watch2 ±0. 01s This might be due to the inaccurate cutting of the dimension of the agar blocks. It could also be due to our inability to decide whether the agar blocks have turned completely green to pink in colour. Thus, the calculated rate of diffusion could have changed. Limitations Some of the results were not as accurate as it was difficult to see whether the agar blocks have turned entirely pink in colour. Some of the agar blocks still had strips of green in them when we removed it from the solution and cut it. This could have affected the time taken for the agar blocks to turn entirely pink and thus, affecting the rate of diffusion. The temperature of the solutions containing the agar blocks might not be constant throughout the whole experiment. This can be due to holding of test tubes with our hands and also putting it down again several times. The heat from the hand might get transferred and the temperature might be altered. This can affect the time taken for the agar blocks to turn completely pink, as higher temperature induce faster rate of diffusion. Some of the results are not very accurate as the surface area to volume ratio was not constant for all the agar blocks tested. One of the reasons is due to the limited amount of agar blocks that were allocated for each bench. Another reason is that it was difficult to use the knife provided to cut the agar blocks in a straight manner and as accurately. This limitation can affect the time taken for agar blocks to turn pink, followed by the rate of diffusion, as some blocks are bigger while some are smaller than the others. Improvements In order to make sure that the agar blocks have turned entirely pink, use a light and put it in a white background where the colour changed is more visible. Then, the calculated rate of diffusion will not be affected. Place the test tubes in a water bath where the temperature can be kept constant at the temperature of tap water. This way, the calculated rate of diffusion will not be affected. Lastly, use a stamp with all the desirable dimension of the agar blocks measured. This way, not only is it convenient, it also helps us acquire the accurate dimensions of the agar blocks, having the same surface area to volume ratio for all the agar blocks. Then, the calculated rate of diffusion will not be affected. Conclusion In conclusion, the readings and the derived results in the form of tables, and line graph support my hypothesis, which is: Change in rate of diffusion will be observed when agar blocks are placed in solutions of different concentrations of HCl. As the concentration of HCl increases, the rate of diffusion will also increase due to the steeper concentration gradient created. With the derived conclusion, it shows that in order for rate of diffusion to be greater, higher concentration of the solution must be used, so that the concentration gradient is steeper.

Internet Plagiarism Essay -- Plagiarizing Cheating Copyright Essays

Internet Plagiarism Plagiarism used to be easy to catch. It always took real work for a student to try to pass off someone else’s work as his or her own. Different sources of plagiarizing included copying texts from the library and buying old papers off of other students. There were not many resources to choose from where a student’s topic was contained. That has now changed. There is a little thing called the Internet. It has revolutionized the plagiarism world and made it a little more difficult for educators to catch plagiarism culprits. There are some tools out now, however, that are aiding this new battle. Since the Internet came along plagiarism has become a lot easier to accomplish; at least for the time being. What exactly is considered plagiarizing and how is it punished? â€Å"To plagiarize is to steal and use the ideas or writings of another as one’s own. Legally, plagiarism has been defined as the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his/her writings, or languages of the same, and passing them off as the products of one’s own mind.† [1] Basically what this is saying is that plagiarism is when someone takes another’s idea and calls it his or her own by either not citing properly or merely just trying to take full credit. There are three different ways a paper or a section of a paper can be plagiarized. The first way is quotations. Quotations must always be worded exactly and then cited exactly. The citation needs to be precisely from where it was found and do not forget to put quotations marks around the quoted section. The second form of plagiarizing is through paraphrasing. Paraphrasing involves taking other sources ideas and putting them into your own words. When... ...html). These programs also cost varying sums. [10] Until the Internet came along, plagiarism was difficult. There were not enough sources on a specific topic at a student’s fingertips to effectively pull it off. Plagiarism is a major offense and needs to be taken seriously. Students just cannot seem to resist cheating and trying to make their life a little easier by letting someone else do the work that they are getting credit for. Now that there is the Internet, new doors have opened for plagiarists and it is keeping educators on their toes. Teachers now need to make little modifications on their assignments and they need to keep a careful watch on students as they work on papers. New technology such as search engines, detection services and detection software are helping aid teachers keep plagiarism to a minimum. Soon it will be hard to plagiarize once again.

What Was the American Diet Like 50 Years Ago

at was the I. What was the American diet like 50 years ago? a) Over the past 50 years, American diets have changed from leisurely family meals that were usually prepared at home using natural ingredients to today’s prepackaged, processed and convenience foods that are often eaten on the run with little thought towards nutrition or content. b) American diets have evolved in the last 50 years from natural ingredients to processed, high fat ingredients and will continue in the future to include convenience foods but with a greater emphasis on healthier choices. ) This wasn’t always the case. â€Å"Fifty years ago, people sitting down to a meal were simply looking for something hot, filling and, in most cases, inexpensive† (Heymsfield 142). c) Throughout the century, Americans experimented with various diets. d) In the 1950s, Adele Davis published a cookbook exploring a healthy approach to food. e) In the 1960s, there was a movement to use unprocessed food, natural i ngredients and macrobiotic cooking (Klem 439). f) The notion of a balanced diet was still quite abstract. ii) People weren’t as well informed about nutrition as they are today. ) While nutritional research was revealing new information about everyday foods, the American household underwent an important structural shift (Klem 438). h) In the 1940s and 1950s women began to enter the workplace in large numbers, it was then that the country became caught up in an explosion of convenience items. iii) Time for food preparation became more limited, and the industry responded with a wide variety of pre-packaged foods. iv) Products like Bisquick, Spam, instant oatmeal, canned tomato sauce and pre-sliced American cheese began to appear (Klem 438). ) By the 1950s, the refrigerator had replaced the old-fashioned icebox and the cold cellar as a place to store food. v) Refrigeration, because it allowed food to last longer, made the American kitchen a convenient place to maintain readily av ailable food stocks (Heymsfield 144). vi) This also allowed for pre-prepared foods such as TV dinners, which became very popular. j) Swanson’s was one of the first TV dinners, which came out during this time. k) Frozen dinners and fast food chains arose and became a growing trend. vii) Meals became quick and simple. viii) People started eating things for taste and popularity, not for ealth reasons. l) In the 1960s and 1970s, when nutritional research really began to gain the nation's attention, food manufacturers started to offer options that were both quick and health- conscious. ix) Instant orange juice and vitamin-fortified cereals appeared (Klem 440). m) Cereals came out to make people eat more grains, but over the years, large companies have decided that to make their cereal sell, they have to make it taste better. x) They added things like sugar, candy pieces, chocolate flavors, and numerous other things which are high in calories and high in fat in order to make their product taste better. i) This has made the idea of something healthy turn in to something less healthy over the years. n) The movement toward convenience finally caught up with movement toward healthy eating. o) This represents a drastic change from the 1950s, when people ate far more of their meals at home, with their families, and at a leisurely pace. p) â€Å"A hundred years ago there was no such thing as a snack food—nothing you could pop open and overeat,† says Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook and many others, and a consultant to Harvard Dining Services. ii) â€Å"There were stew pots. Things took a long time to cook, and a meal was the result of someone’s labor. † q) The 1950s were also an era in which the kitchen—not the television room—was the heart of the home. r) In 1941, the federal government established the first Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), and the concept of basic food groups was introduced. xiii) This period was also the â€Å"golden age for food chemicals† with hundreds of additives and preservatives brought to market for the first time. ) Convenience was most important, and by the 1950s, a large variety of convenience foods made meal preparation easier than ever before. t) Advancements in technology also led to faster meal preparation. u) During the late 50s and 1960s, American’s attitudes towards nutrition changed as scientific research and other factors combined to heighten awareness. v) In 1959 came the discovery that eating polyunsaturated fats might lower serum cholesterol. xiv) This was followed in 1961 by further evidence linking cholesterol with arteriosclerosis. ) By 1962, nearly 25% of American families said they had made dietary changes that included less cholesterol. x) That same year, Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, provided fodder for the debate concerning the possibility of synthetic chemicals reaching humans through the food chain. xv) There was controversy about food chemicals in general, and the modern consumer movement was launched in 1965 following publication of Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe At Any Speed. y) 50 years ago women still managed to burn up many more calories than their counterparts today. vi) Research suggests the housework and general exercise that stay-at-home housewives did in 1953 were more successful at shedding the pounds. z) The mothers and grandmothers of today's generation burnt well in excess of 1,000 calories a day through their domesticated lifestyle, according to the study by the woman's magazine Prima. xvii) But females today get through only 556, even though seven in ten think they are healthier than the post-war generation. {) Modern women also consume a lot more calories, 2,178 a day now as opposed to 1,818 then. viii) This could be down to eating more junk food, the study suggested, as women in 1953 were more likely to cook meals from scratch with a mixture of ingredients. |) Not everything in ‘the old days' appears to have been healthier, according to Prima, which compared the lifestyles of women in 1953 and those of today. xix) They would often eat twice as many eggs and used almost twice as much cooking fat and oil as women today. xx) They also ate more sugar and less chicken. }) Most meals were served with vegetables, although it was more likely to be swede, turnips and sprouts rather than the aubergines, mange- tout or rocket favored today. ) Appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers have also played their part in reducing the amount of calories burned, the research showed. xxi) Women in 1953 would spend three hours a day doing the housework, an hour walking to and from the shops in the town center, an hour on the shopping itself and another hour making dinner. ) Many had lunch to prepare, too, as many husbands came home to eat in the middle of the day. ) More calories would have been burned, of course, walking the children to and from school, since the family car was still a rarity. Today, women drive, rather than walk, have freezers, which mean fewer shopping trips, and use supermarkets, which provide everything under one roof. xxii) It is all a far cry from 50 years ago when they would have to traipse between the butcher's, to the baker's, the greengrocer's and other specialist stores. ) Women 50 years ago didn't, however, have the benefit of 45 minutes on the treadmill or an evening class in Pilates. xxiii) In 1953, their idea of relaxation was listening to Housewives' Choice while they washed up the breakfast things or Mrs.Dale's Diary when they stopped to enjoy tea and a biscuit for elevenses. ) The children needed playing with, too, as few families had a TV set to keep them quiet. xxiv) Evening entertainment involved listening to the radio again, curling up with a book or playing board games. xxv) And in a less disposable age there was always plenty of darning and mending to do by the fire. ) Prima edi tor Maire Fahey said the magazine decided to study the contrasting lifestyles following an earlier survey, which revealed how today's women were neglecting their health. xvi) ‘It is telling that modern technology has made us two-thirds less active than we were. It goes to show the importance of exercise in the battle to maintain a healthy balance. ‘ ) Exercise and diet are not the only things to radically change over the last half-century. xxvii) Fitness and nutrition in the United States have changed tremendously in the past five decades. ) Cutting calories and exercise was the most popular method of weight loss 50 years ago. xxviii) Some fad diets such as the Mayo Clinic diet–created in the 1930's–were existent, but not the most common option in weight loss.II. Where do most of our foods come from other than America? a) Here in the US, we have several key issues. b) Specifically, every year we produce less and less of the food that our ever-growing popula tion needs. c) There’s one word that sums up nearly everything we need to know about the food industry in the United States: conglomeration. d) According to the USDA, only about 1/3 of our fruit and nuts and 1/8 of our vegetables are imported. i) About two-thirds of those imports occur during the months of December to April, showing a strong seasonal component to it. ) Mexico is far and away our biggest supplier of fruits and vegetables, taking the top spot in both categories by about a 2-to-1 margin over 2nd place. f) Canada takes 2nd place in vegetables with China a distant third. (Note that these are in dollar figures, not volume, but the relationships should hold when converted. ) g) In the fruit category, most of it comes from Central and South America, with only China (4th) to break up the Top 6 of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Ecuador. ) The US actually does produce most of its own red meat. i) As of 2008, only about 10% of our red meat was imported, predom inantly from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. j) Fish and shellfish are our major protein imports, with nearly 80% of those being imported. k) Most of that comes from China, Canada, and Thailand. l) There is one bright spot here: most of the food Americans consume is still produced here. i. Currently, between 10 and 15 percent of all food consumed by U. S. households is imported. m) According to the U. S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nearly two-thirds of the fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood consumed domestically come from outside the United States. n) On the other hand, we are seeing a marked increase in imports over time. o) According to USDA data, from 1999 to 2010, there was a 43. 25% increase in import volume (111% increase on a dollar basis). ii. Population growth is a partial contributor, but in that same time period, the US population only increased about 10%. p) The top three countries that we import from are Canada, Mexico, and China. iii.We are actu ally Mexico’s largest trading partners, buying 77% of their exports. q) From 1995 to 2006, imports from China grew five-fold: r) According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the United States imported $4. 1 billion worth of seafood and agricultural products from China in 2006. iv. In 1995, it was $800 million. v. From 2006 to 2008, it went up another 25%. s) In 2008, Chinese imports reached $5. 2 billion, making China the third-largest source of U. S. food imports. About 41 percent of this import value was from fish and seafood, most of it farm-raised.Juices and pickled, dried, and canned vegetables, and fruit accounted for the other 25 percent. vi. According to the USDA, about 60 percent of all American apple juice, 50 percent of garlic, 10 percent of shrimp and 2 percent of catfish are imported from China. III. How has the typical American diet changed our health and affected rates of disease in this country? a) The sedentary 20th-century lifestyle and work habits brou ght its own unpleasant consequences, which were overeating and excess weight. a) The number of overweight Americans increased from 1970 to 1990 (Klem 440). ) By the 1990s, Americans had become more conscious of their diets, eating more poultry, fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer eggs and less beef. ii) They also began appreciating fresh ingredients. c) As Americans became more concerned about their diets, they also became more ecologically conscious. iii) Some Americans turned to vegan or vegetarian diets, or only started eating organic foods, which are foods grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. d) At the end of the 20th century, American eating habits and food production were increasingly taking place outside the home. v) Many people relied on restaurants and on new types of fully prepared meals to help busy families in which both adults worked full-time. e) Another sign of the public’s changing food habits was the microwave oven, probably the most widely used new kitchen appliance, since it can quickly reheat or cook food and leftovers. v) Since Americans are generally cooking less of their own food, they are more aware than at any time since the early 20th century of the quality and health standards applied to food (Heymsfield 147). ) Two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and half of these are obese. (Overweight means having a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 or greater, obese, 30 or greater: to calculate BMI, a widely used measure, take the square of your height in inches and then divide your weight, in pounds, by that number; then multiply the result by 703. g) Even adults in the upper end of the â€Å"normal† range, who have BMIs of 22 to 24, would generally live longer if they lost some fat; add in these people and it appears that â€Å"up to 80 percent of American adults should weigh less than they do,† says Walter C.Willett, M. D. , D. P. H. ’80, Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the School of Public Health. h) The epidemic of obesity is a vast and growing public health problem. i) He notes that three aspects of weight—BMI, waist size, and weight gained after one’s early twenties—are linked to chances of having or dying from heart disease, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer, plus suffering from arthritis, infertility, gallstones, asthma, and even snoring. i) â€Å"Weight is much more important than serum cholesterol,† Willett asserts; as a cause of premature, preventable deaths, he adds, excess weight and obesity rank a very close second to smoking, partly because there are twice as many fat people as smokers. vii) In fact, since smokers tend to be leaner, the decrease in smoking prevalence has actually swelled the ranks of the fat. j) The obesity epidemic arrived with astonishing speed. k) In 1980, 46 percent of U. S. adults were overweight; by 2000, the figure was 64. 5 percent: n early a 1 percent annual increases in the ranks of the fat. iii) At this rate, by 2040, 100 percent of American adults will be overweight and â€Å"it may happen more quickly,† says John Foreyt of Baylor College of Medicine, who spoke at a conference organized by Gifford’s Oldways group in 2003. l) Foreyt noted that, 20 years ago, he rarely saw 300-pound patients; now they are common. m) Childhood obesity, also once rare, has mushroomed: 15 percent of children between ages six and 19 are now overweight, and even 10 percent of those between two and five. ix) â€Å"This may be the first generation of children who will die before their parents,† Foreyt says. ) Today, Americans eat 200 calories more food energy per day than they did 10 years ago; that alone would add 20 pounds annually to one’s bulk. o) A recent paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition argued that the poor tend toward greater obesity because eating energy-dense, highly palatable, r efined foods is cheaper per calorie consumed than buying fish and fresh fruits and vegetables. x) One explanation for our slide into overconsumption is that â€Å"the character of modern Americans is somehow inherently weak and we are incapable of discipline,† says Ludwig. i) â€Å"The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products. † p) Never in human experience has food been available in the staggering profusion seen in North America today. xii) We are awash in edibles shipped in from around the planet; seasonality has largely disappeared. q) Food obtrudes itself constantly, seductively, into our lives—on sidewalks, in airplanes, at gas stations and movie theaters. iii) â€Å"Caloric intake is directly related to gross national product per capita,† says Moore professor of biological anthropology Richar d Wrangham. xiv) â€Å"It’s very difficult to resist the temptation to take in more calories if they are available. r) People keep regarding it as an American problem, but it’s a global problem as countries get richer. † s) Still, the lavish banquet’s first seating is right here in the United States of America. t) â€Å"The French explanation for why Americans are so big is simple,† said Jody Adams, chef/partner of Rialto, a restaurant in Harvard Square, speaking at the Oldways conference. v) â€Å"We eat lots of sugar, and we eat between meals. u) Indeed, the national response to our glut of comestibles is apparently to eat only one meal a day—all day long. xvi) We eat everywhere and at all times: at work, at play, and in transit. v) But the most powerful technology driving the obesity epidemic is television. xvii) â€Å"The best single behavioral predictor of obesity in children and adults is the amount of television viewing,† says the School of Public Health’s Gortmaker. w) â€Å"The relationship is nearly as strong as what you see between smoking and lung cancer. viii) Everybody thinks it’s because TV watching is sedentary, you’re just sitting there for hours—but that’s only about one-third of the effect. xix) Our guesstimate is that two-thirds is the effect of advertising in changing what you eat. † x) Furthermore, in some future year when the Internet merges with broadband cable TV, advertisers will be able to target their messages far more precisely. â€Å"It won’t be just to kids,† Gortmaker says. â€Å"It’ll be to your kid. † y) Since the Industrial Revolution, and particularly in the last half-century, technology has enabled us to conduct an increasingly immobile daily life. ) Even a century later, before the invention of the automobile, many farmed or at least used their bodies vigorously every day. xx) â€Å"At higher levels of a ctivity, people seem to balance their caloric intake and expenditure extremely well,† he says. xxi) â€Å"If our grandparents were farmers, they were moving all day long—not jogging for an hour, but staying active eight to 12 hours a day. {) The way we do our work has changed, and so has the way we spend our leisure time,† he continues. xxii) â€Å"The average number of television hours watched per week is close to a full-time job! ) People used to go for walks and visit their neighbors. Much of that is gone as well. † xxiii) Not only do many adults spend their work lives in front of computer screens, but also the design of public spaces outside their offices eliminates physical activity. xxiv) In skyscrapers, it’s often hard to find the stairs; electronic sensors in public restrooms are eliminating even the most minimal actions of flushing toilets or turning faucets on and off. }) Furthermore, modern children â€Å"don’t have to forage or w alk long distances,† says Lieberman. xv) â€Å"Kids today sit in front of a TV or computer. xxvi) They ride to school on a school bus. xxvii) We even have them rolling their school backpacks on wheels because we are afraid of them overloading their backbones. † ~) In sum, we no longer live like hunter-gatherers, but we still have hunter-gatherer genes. xxviii) Humans evolved in a state of ceaseless physical activity; they ate seasonally, since there was no other choice; and frequently there was nothing to eat at all. ) To get through hard winters and famines, the human body evolved a brilliant mechanism of storing energy in fat cells. The problem, for most of humanity’s time on Earth, has been a scarcity of calories, not a surfeit. ) Our fat-storage mechanism worked beautifully until 50 to 100 years ago. xxix) But since then, â€Å"The speed of environmental change has far surpassed our ability to adapt,† says Dun Gifford of Oldways. xxx) Our bodies were not designed to handle so much caloric input and so little energy outflow. ) Different scholars and popular writers have argued that human beings have â€Å"evolved† to be carnivores, herbivores, frugivores, or omnivores, but anthropologist Richard Wrangham says we are â€Å"cookivores,† grinning at the neologism. xxi) â€Å"We evolved to eat cooked foods,† he declares. â€Å"Raw food eating is never practiced systematically anywhere in the world. † ) Cooking might be considered the first food-processing technology, and like its successors, it has had profound effects on the human body, as in the growth of bones. ) Various signals influence human growth; some come from genes, and others come from the environment, particularly for the musculo-skeletal system, whose job is engaging with the environment. xxxii) Less chewing of cooked food, for example, has altered the anatomy of our skulls, jaws, faces, and teeth. xxiii) â€Å"Chewing is a major activity th at involves muscular forces,† says skeletal biologist Daniel Lieberman. â€Å"It has incredible effects on how the skull grows. † xxxiv) Chewing can transform anatomy rather quickly; in one study, in which Lieberman fed pigs a diet of softened food, in a matter of months their skulls developed shorter and narrower dimensions and their snouts developed thinner bones than those of pigs eating a hard-food diet. ) The same thing happens with human beings. xxxv) â€Å"Since the beginning of the fossil record, humans have become much more gracile,† Lieberman says. xxvi) â€Å"Our bones have become thinner, our faces smaller, and our teeth smaller—especially permanent teeth—although we have the same number of teeth. ) More recently, with the Industrial Revolution, people have become more sedentary; they interact with their environment in a less forceful way. xxxvii) We load our bones less and the bones become thinner. Osteoporosis is a disease of industri alism. † ) In today’s world, where we not only cook but eat a great deal of processed food that has been ground up before it reaches our mouths, we don’t generate as much force when chewing.In fact, for millennia human food has been growing less tough, fibrous, and hard. ) â€Å"The size of the human face has gotten about 12 percent smaller since the Paleolithic,† Lieberman says, â€Å"particularly around the oral cavity, due to the effects of mechanical loading on the size of the face. Fourteen thousand years ago, a much larger proportion of the face was between the bottom of the jaw and the nostrils. † xxxviii) The size of teeth has not decreased as fast (genetic factors control more of their variation); hence, modern teeth are actually too big for our mouths—wisdom teeth become impacted and require extraction. The health hazards of sedentary life seem like an adult problem, but actually, the skeletal system is most responsive to loading wh en it is immature. xxxix) There is only one window for accumulating bone mass—during the first two decades of life. xl) â€Å"Peak bone mass occurs at the end of adolescence,† Lieberman explains, â€Å"and we lose bone steadily thereafter. Kids who are active grow more robust bones. ) If you’re sedentary as a juvenile, you don’t grow as much bone mass—so as you get older and lose bone mass, you drop below the threshold for osteoporosis. ) Furthermore, females get osteoporosis more readily than men because they start with less adult bone mass; as life spans lengthen, says research fellow in cell biology Jennifer Sacheck, of Harvard Medical School, older men will also begin showing symptoms of osteoporosis. ) Weight-bearing exercise only slows the rate of bone loss for adults; pre-adolescent bone growth is far more important to long-term skeletal strength. Hence, the sedentary lifestyles of today’s youngsters—and the cutbacks on school physical-education programs—may be sowing the seeds of widespread skeletal breakdown as their cohort matures. The dramatic upsurge in consumption of carbonated soft drinks, paired with the simultaneous decline in milk drinking, may also weaken future bones. xli) Both milk (lactose) and soda (sucrose, fructose) are sweet, but soda is sweeter, and today’s consumers are hooked on sugar. xlii) â€Å"We probably evolved our sense of sweetness to detect subtle amounts of carbohydrates in foods, because they provide energy,† says Walter Willett. ) â€Å"But now the expectations of sweetness have been ratcheted up. xliii) A product is not deemed attractive if it is not as sweet as its competitor. ) Sugars added to foods made up 11 percent of the calories in American diets in the late 1970s; today they are 16 percent. With agriculture, human health declined, says Lieberman, partly because farming is such hard work, and partly because it allows higher population densiti es, in which infection spreads more easily. ) â€Å"There was more disease, a decrease in body size, higher mortality rates among juveniles, and more stress lines in bones and teeth,† Lieberman says. ) Cultivating grain also allowed farmers to space their children more closely. liv) Hunter-gatherers have long intervals between births, because they do not wean children until age four or five, when teeth are ready to chew hard foods. (â€Å"You can’t feed babies beef jerky,† jokes Lieberman. ) xlv) Farmers, however, can make gruel—a high-calorie mush of roots or grains like millet, taro, or oats that doesn’t require chewing—and wean children much sooner. ) Grains, the source of products such as bread, baked goods, and corn syrup, did not become plentiful in the human diet until the establishment of agriculture. xlvi) So grain farming allowed bigger families and has changed the human situation in endless ways. But while people have eaten grains for a hundred centuries, until the last half-century, most grains consumed were not heavily processed. † ) In the last 50 years, the extent of processing has increased so much that prepared breakfast cereals—even without added sugar—act exactly like sugar itself,† says pediatrics specialist David Ludwig. ) In 1981, David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto, led a team that tested various foods to determine which were best for diabetics. xlvii) They developed a â€Å"glycemic index† that ranked foods from 0 to 100, depending on how rapidly the body turned them into glucose. This work overturned some established bromides, such as the distinction between â€Å"simple† and â€Å"complex† carbohydrates: a baked russet potato, for example, traditionally defined as a complex carbohydrate, has a glycemic rating of 85 (ffl12; studies vary) whereas a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola appears on some glycemic indices at 63. xlv iii) Eating high-glycemic foods dumps large amounts of glucose suddenly into the bloodstream, triggering the pancreas to secrete insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells for metabolism or storage. lix) The pancreas over-responds to the spike in glucose—a more rapid rise than a hunter-gatherer’s bloodstream was likely to encounter—and secretes lots of insulin. ) But while high-glycemic foods raise blood sugar quickly, â€Å"they also leave the gastrointestinal tract quickly,† Ludwig explains. â€Å"The plug gets pulled. l) † With so much insulin circulating, blood sugar plummets. This triggers a second wave of hormones, including stress hormones like epinephrine. li) â€Å"The body puts on the emergency brakes,† says Ludwig. lii) â€Å"It releases any stored fuels—the liver starts releasing glucose. iii) This raises blood sugar back into the normal range, but at a cost to the body. † ) One cost, documented by studies at the School of Public Health, is that going through this kind of physiologic stress three to five times per day doubles the risk of heart attacks. ) Another cost is excess hunger. ) The precipitous drop in blood sugar triggers primal mechanisms in the brain: â€Å"The brain thinks the body is starving,† Ludwig explains. liv) â€Å"It doesn’t care about the 30 pounds of fat socked away, so it sends you to the refrigerator to get a quick fix, like a can of soda. ) Glycemic spikes may underlie Ludwig and Gortmaker’s finding, published in the Lancet two years ago, that each additional daily serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage multiplies the risk of obesity by 1. 6. ) Some argue that people compensate for such sugary intake by eating less later on, to balance it out, but Ludwig asserts, â€Å"We don’t compensate well when calories come in liquid form. lv) The meal has to go through your gut, where the brain gets satiety signals that slow you down. On the other hand, you could drink a 64-ounce soft drink before you knew what hit you. ) Since humans can take in large amounts of food in a short time, â€Å"we are adapted to receiving much higher glycemic loads than other primates,† says Richard Wrangham, speculating that nonhuman primates may be poor models for research on human diabetes because they have a different insulin system. lvi) The only component of the hunter-gatherer diet likely to cause extreme insulin spikes is honey, which Wrangham feels â€Å"is likely to have been very important, at least seasonally, for our ancestors. What is certain is that hunter-gatherers never experienced anything like the routine daily glucose-insulin cycles that characterize a modern diet loaded with refined sugars and starches. lvii) Constantly buffeted by these insulin surges, over time the body’s cells develop insulin resistance, a decreased response to insulin’s signal to take in glucose. lviii) W hen the cells slam their doors shut, high levels of glucose keep circulating in the bloodstream, prompting the pancreas to secrete even more insulin. This syndrome can turn into an endocrine disorder called hyperinsulinemia that sets the stage for Type II, or adult-onset, diabetes, which has become epidemic in recent years. ) Ironically, U. S. government agencies’ attempts to deal with obesity during the last three decades—encouraging people to eat less fat and more carbohydrates, for example—actually may have exacerbated the problem. ) Take the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid, first promulgated in 1992. ix) The pyramid’s diagram of dietary recommendations is a familiar sight on cereal boxes—hardly a coincidence, since the guidelines suggest six to 11 servings daily from the â€Å"bread, cereal, rice, and pasta† group. ) The USDA recommends eating more of these starches than any other category of food. lx) Unfort unately, such starches are nearly all high-glycemic carbohydrates, which drive obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and Type II diabetes. ) â€Å"At best, the USDA pyramid offers wishy-washy, scientifically unfounded advice on an absolutely vital topic—what to eat,† writes Willett in Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy. â€Å"At worst, the misinformation contributes to overweight, poor health, and unnecessary early deaths. ) â€Å"Clearly, some food industries have for many years successfully influenced the government in ways that keep the prices of certain foods artificially low. lxi) David Ludwig questions farm subsidies of â€Å"billions to the lowest-quality foods†Ã¢â‚¬â€for example, grains like corn (â€Å"for corn sweeteners and animal feed to make Big Macs†) and wheat (â€Å"refined carbohydrates. â€Å") ) Meanwhile, the government does not subsidize far healthier items like fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. xii) â€Å"It’s a perverse situation,† he says. â€Å"The foods that are the worst for us have an artificially low price, and the best foods cost more. lxiii) This is worse than a free market: we are creating a mirror-world here. † ) Governmental policies like cutting school budgets by dropping physical education programs may also prove to be a false economy. ) â€Å"There’s fast food sold in school cafeterias, soft drinks and candies in school vending machines, and advertising in classrooms on Channel One. ) Meanwhile there are cutbacks in physical education, as if it were a luxury.What was once daily and mandatory is now infrequent and optional. † ) Consider the flap that arose after the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report in 2003 recommending guidelines for eating to improve world nutrition and prevent chronic diseases. lxiv) Instead of applauding the report, the DHHS issued a 28-page, line-by-line critique and tried to ge t WHO to quash it. lxv) WHO recommended that people limit their intake of added sugars to no more than 10 percent of alories eaten, a guideline poorly received by the Sugar Association, a trade group that has threatened to pressure Congress to challenge the United States’ $406 million contribution to WHO. ) By the last decade of the 20th Century, Americans had become much more adventuresome eaters. lxvi) Variety of choice is nearly unbelievable. lxvii) Ethnic cuisine, once shunned, enjoys increasing popularity and the new foods introduced via that route add greatly to the variety of food choices. ) The trend toward eating out of the home continues to grow; in 1998, 47% of the food dollar was spent away from home. xviii) However, the concern for nutrition was higher than ever and that fact probably contributed to keeping some meals at home. ) Today’s families seem busier than ever. lxix) Rushing between work and school often leaves parents scrambling for time to prepare nutritious, good-tasting meals for their children. ) In fact, 44 percent of U. S. weekday meals are prepared in 30 minutes or less. ) As the quality of our diets has deteriorated over the last 50 years, certain diseases have become rampant. â€Å"Directly related to food, you hear a lot of talk about obesity-related problems in terms of diabetes, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure, and those happen in both men and women,† lxx) â€Å"Those are the general categories of ailments; there are also many specific diet-related disorders. † ) A majority of individuals are making less healthy food choices for better time management. ) Whether for good or bad, changes in diet and fitness have morphed the way people live. ) In the 1960s, it was still common to plant a garden or a fruit tree for food. xxi) Nowadays, this is not the case; in fact it is less common to grow a garden in the U. S than it was 50 years ago. ) Even quick, pop in the microwave or oven meals ha ve become more popular, despite the fact that the invention of the TV dinner occurred in 1944. lxxii) Between working and conflicting schedules, there are not as many home-cooked, healthy meals on the plates of children today. ) Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. lxxiii) In 2007 and 2008, 34 percent of Americans were obese and another 34 percent were overweight, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. xxiv) In 1960 and 1962, only about 14 percent of Americans were obese and 31. 5 percent were overweight. lxxv) Since 1976, the number of obese children from ages 2 to 5 has nearly doubled. ) In 2011, people are looking for weight loss at a quick pace with diet pills, diet shakes, surgery and different diets such as the cabbage soup diet. lxxvi) There are more fad diets and methods of weight loss than ever before. IV. Are food allergies on the rise? If so, why? a) The number of kids with food allergies went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ) About 3 million children younger than 18 had a food or digestive allergy in 2007, the CDC said. c) A recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that visits to the emergency room at Children's Hospital Boston for allergic reactions more than doubled from 2001 to 2006. i) Although this is just one hospital, the findings reflect a rise in food allergies seen in national reports, said Dr. Susan Rudders, lead author and pediatric allergist-immunologist in Providence, Rhode Island. d) One theory is that the Western diet has made people more susceptible to developing allergies and other illnesses. i) The children in the African village live in a community that produces its own food. iii) The study authors say this is closer to how humans ate 10,000 years ago. iv) Their diet is mostly vegetarian. e) By contrast, the local diet of European children contains more sugar, animal fat and calorie-dense foods. v) The study authors posit that these factors result in less biodiversity in the organisms found inside the gut of European children. f) The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr.Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. vi) Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but they decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments. g) Another theory is that children need to get exposed to common allergens, such as nuts and shellfish, from a much earlier age, to avoid developing allergies. vii) Some doctors have been recommending waiting until 2 or 3, but Ferdman at Children's Hospital Los Angeles is a proponent of giving kids nuts very early. iii) This could occur through breastfeeding or an unintended exposure to highly processed foods in the Western diet that may contain hidden sources of the allergens. h) Cooking practices can also affect the development of food allergies. ix) For example, roasting a peanut enhances its allergenic potential compared to other forms of preparing peanut. x) Peanut allergy is more common in the U. S. where peanuts are roasted, as compared to China where peanuts are boiled. V. Is the fast food industry hurting our waistlines and our health? How? ) American emphasis on convenience and rapid consumption is best represented in fast foods such as hamburgers, French fries, and soft drinks, which almost all Americans have eaten. b) By the 1960s and 1970s fast foods became one of America's strongest exports as franchises for McDonalds and Burger Kings spread through the world (Klem 443). c) The effect of fast food chains was infectious; they had become accepted in American society. d) Traditional meals cooked at home and consumed at a leisurely pace gave way to quick lunches and dinners eaten on the run as ot her countries mimicked American cultural patterns. ) In some ways, American food developments are contradictory. f) Americans are more aware of food quality, yet are still eating unhealthy foods due to their increasing dependence on convenience, and are also regularly eating fast foods (Heymsfield 148). i) â€Å"It’s hard for people to give up traditions,† states nutrition expert, Kathy Johnson. g) Spurlock’s total immersion in fast food was a one-subject research study, and his body’s response a warning about the way we eat now. h) â€Å"Super Size Me† could be a credo for the United States, where people, like their automobiles, have become gargantuan. i) â€Å"SUVs, big homes, penis enlargement, breast enlargement, bulking up with steroids—it’s a context of everything getting bigger,† says K. Dun Gifford ’60, LL. B. ’66, president of the Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust, a nonprofit organization specializ ing in food, diet, and nutrition education. i) Steven Gortmaker, professor of society, human development, and health at the School of Public Health, observes that the convenience-food culture is so ubiquitous that even conscientious parents have trouble steering their children away from junk food. ii) â€Å"You let your kids go on a ‘play date,’† says the father of two, â€Å"and they come home and say, ‘We went to Burger King for lunch. ’† j) He notes that on any given day, 30 percent of American children aged four to 19 eat fast food, and older and wealthier ones eat even more. k) Overall, 7 percent of the U. S. population visits McDonald’s each day, and 20 to 25 percent eat in some kind of fast-food restaurant. v) But taking the family to McDonald’s for, say, Chicken McNuggets, French fries, and a sugar-sweetened beverage—a meal loaded with calories, salt, trans fats (the most unhealthy, artery-clogging fats of all, typ ified in â€Å"partially hydrogenated† oils), fried foods, starch, and sugar—makes Gortmaker shake his head. â€Å"I can’t imagine a worse meal for kids,† he says. â€Å"They call this a ‘Happy Meal’? † l) Humans can eat convenient, refined, highly processed food with great speed, enabling them to consume an astonishing caloric load—literally thousands of calories—in minutes. ) Gortmaker, Ludwig, and colleagues did research comparing caloric intake on days when children ate in a fast-food restaurant to days when they did not; they soaked up 126 calories more on fast-food days, which could translate into a weight gain of 13 pounds per year on fast food alone. m) Pumping up portion size makes good business sense, because the cost of ingredients like sugar and water for a carbonated soda is trivial, and customers perceive the larger amount as delivering greater value. vi) â€Å"When you have calories that are incredibly che ap, in a culture where ‘bigger is better,’ that’s a dangerous combination,† says Walter Willett. ) Furthermore, â€Å"Portion sizes have increased dramatically since the 1950s,† says Beatrice Lorge Rogers ’68, professor of economics and food policy at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. vii) For proof, consider a 1950s advertising jingle: â€Å"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot/12 full ounces, that’s a lot. † Well, it’s not a lot any more. o) For decades, 12 ounces (itself a move up from earlier 6. 5- and 10-ounce bottles) was the standard serving size for soft drinks. viii) But since the 1970s, soft drink bottles have grown to 20 and 24 ounces; today, even one-liter (33. 8 ounce) bottles are marketed as â€Å"single servings. ix) It doesn’t stop there. The 7-11 convenience store chain offers a Double Gulp cup filled with 64 ounces of ice and soda: a half-gallon â€Å"serving. † Surely, the 128-ounce Gallon Guzzle is on the horizon. p) Soft drinks are becoming America’s favorite breakfast beverage, and specialty sandwiches and burritos for breakfast are fast-growing items, part of the trend toward eating out for all meals. q) The restaurant industry—which employs 12 million workers (second only to government) and has projected sales of $440. 1 billion this year, according to its national association—ranks among the nation’s largest businesses. ) Today, Americans spend 49 cents of every food dollar on food eaten outside the home, where, according to Rogers, they consume 30 percent of their calories. x) That includes take-out food (which some parts of the restaurant industry now style as â€Å"home meal replacement†). s) â€Å"In some ways, you can see obesity as the tip of the iceberg, sitting on top of huge societal issues,† says Willett. xi) â€Å"There are enormous pressures on homes with both the husband and wi fe in the work force. t) One reason things need to be fast is that Mom is not at home preparing meals and waiting for the kids to come home from school any more. ii) She is out there in the office all day, commuting home, and maybe working extra hours at night. xiii) This means heating something in the microwave or hitting the drive-through at McDonald’s. u) There really is a time issue—people do have less time. v) Technology may have entrenched that passivity, while making food preparation easier and faster. w) Three Harvard economists, professors of economics Edward Glaeser and David Cutler, and graduate student Jesse Shapiro, argued in a recent paper that improved technology has cut the time needed to prepare food, allowing us to eat more conveniently. iv) For example, in 1978, they note, only 8 percent of homes had microwave ovens, but 83 percent do today. Food that once took hours to prepare is now â€Å"nuked† in minutes. x) Technology can also change what we eat. xv) Potatoes used to be baked, boiled, or mashed; the labor involved in peeling, cutting, and cooking French fries meant that few home cooks served them, the economists point out. xvi) But now factories prepare potatoes for frying and ship them to fast-food outlets or freeze them for microwave cooking at home. ) Americans ate 30 percent more potatoes between 1977 and 1995, most of that increase coming in the form of French fries and potato chips. z) In general, technology has enabled the food industry to do more of the work of preparing and cooking what we eat, increasing the proportion of processed victuals in the nation’s diet. xvii) Frequently, processing also folds in more ingredients; russet potatoes, for example, contain no added salt or oil, though most potato chips do. {) Within our laissez-faire system of food supply, the food vendors’ actions aren’t illegal, or even inherently immoral. viii) â€Å"The food industry’s major objective is to get us to intake more food,† says Gortmaker. xix) â€Å"And the TV industry’s objective is to get us to watch more television, to be sedentary. |) Advertising is the action that keeps them both successful. xx) So you’ve got two huge industries being successful at what they are supposed to do: creating more intake and less activity. xxi) And since larger people require more food energy just to sustain themselves, the food industry is growing a larger market for itself. † }) That industry spends billions of dollars on research, says Willett. xii) â€Å"They have carefully researched the exact levels of sweetness and saltiness that will make every food as attractive as possible,† he explains. xxiii) â€Å"Each company is putting out its bait, trying to make it more attractive than its competitors. ~) Food industry science is getting better, more refined, and more powerful as we go along. xxiv) They do good science—they don’t throw th eir money down the drain. ) What we spend on nutrition education is only in the tens of millions of dollars annually. xxv) There’s a huge imbalance, and it tips more and more in favor of the food industry every year. Food executives like to say, ‘Just educate the consumer—when they create the demand for healthier food, we’ll supply it! ’ xxvi) That’s a bit disingenuous when you consider that they are already spending billions to ‘educate’ consumers. † ) The food industry itself has begun to make certain investments in the direction of healthier eating. xxvii) â€Å"In the future, I see a convergence between food and health,† says Goldberg. xxviii) â€Å"The food industry has been warned of the backlash that could hit them, like it did tobacco. ) He suggests that the food industry will become more responsive to consumers’ health concerns regarding issues like bioengineered ingredients in foodstuffs. ) People â€Å"want a diversity of sources for their food, and traceability of sources,† he says. ) â€Å"The bar code will become a vehicle not just for pricing, but for describing and listing ingredients. † ) Even fast-food chains are changing; in the past year, they reported a 16 percent growth in servings of main-dish salads. ) Willet sees no reason why healthy eating should not be as delicious and attractive as junk food, and the franchisers may be headed that way as well. xix) McDonald’s is currently testing an adult meal that includes a pedometer and â€Å"Step With It† booklet along with any entree salad. In its kids’ meals, Wendy’s is trying out fruit cups with melon slices instead of French fries. xxx) Yogurt manufacturer Stonyfield Farm has launched a chain of healthful fast-food restaurants called O’Naturals. ) Doritos themselves are getting healthier. xxxi) Fitness expert Kenneth Cooper, M. P. H. ’62, founder of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, has been working with PepsiCo’s CEO, Steven S. Reinemund, to develop new products and modify existing items in a healthier direction. The company’s Frito-Lay unit last year eliminated trans fats from its salty offerings. xxxii) Frito-Lay introduced organic, healthier versions of Doritos and Cheetos under the Natural sub-brand. † xxxiii) As a result, 55 million pounds of trans fats will be removed from the American diet over the next 12 months,† Cooper says. ) PepsiCo is in 150 countries, and many of their healthier products will soon be promoted throughout the world. ) Physical fitness is good business for the individual and for the corporation. † ) PepsiCo sells plenty of food and beverages from vending machines, many of them in schools. xxiv) â€Å"You don’t resolve the obesity problem in children by taking the vending machines out of schools,† Cooper declares. â€Å"Kids will still get what they want. xxxv) Put better products in the machines and get physical education back in the schools. † ) Accordingly, PepsiCo is stocking some school machines with fruit juices from its Tropicana and Dole brands, Gatorade, and Aquafina bottled water; others offer Frito-Lay products that meet Cooper’s â€Å"Class I† standard: no trans fats and restricted amounts of calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium. Fast food has become a staple for many individuals. xxxvi) Though fast food was developed in the 1930s, it has peaked in popularity during the past two decades. ) According to CBS HealthWatch, at least a quarter of all Americans eat at McDonald's once per day. 1) How have your own dietary practices changed over the years? 2) How have your dietary practices changed since taking a course in nutrition?