Teaching Health Impact and Behavior with Infographics

The use of Infographics can be a tool that not only allows for the communication of empirical health data in an understandable format, but encourages the health administration student to present evidence-based research in a creative manner. The purpose of this paper is to describe a learning exercise that implements Infographics to demonstrate an impact of a health issue and/or encourage a health behavior change. This learning exercise is developed to increase student knowledge and visual literacy skills with respect to presenting, in a concise format, a well-researched and referenced health issue and/or a health behavior change. Specifically, the exercise was designed to: (a) curate health statistics and reference information for the selected health issue; (b) identify media resources and apply copyright and fair use in a proper manner; (c) evaluate internet resources for credibility and accuracy; and (d) utilize Infographic tools to communicate one\u27s visual viewpoint. At the conclusion of the course, students reflected on the effective visual aspects of their Infographics and the points that were challenging to communicate using this medium. The benefits of this applied learning approach for students and the faculty instructor are discussed

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WEST

Environmental Economics and Policy,

Effects of Climate Change on Water Resources

Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25, Q54,

The persistence of drought impacts across growing seasons: a dynamic stochastic analysis

Agricultural producers throughout much of the United States experienced one of the most severe droughts in the last 100 years during the years 1999-2006. The prolonged nature of this drought highlights a need to better understand the impacts and management of drought across growing seasons, rather than just within a growing season. Producers express specific concern about the tendency of drought impacts to persist even after drought itself has subsided. The persistence of drought impacts has received limited attention in the economics literature. The objectives of this study are two-fold: 1) to determine whether inter-year dynamics, in the form of agronomic constraints and financial flows, can cause persistence of a drought's impact in years subsequent to the drought, and 2) to determine whether the impact of one year of drought can alter the impact of a subsequent year of drought. A multi-year, dynamic and stochastic decision model is developed in a discrete stochastic programming framework and solved to address the objectives. The structure and parameters of the farm-level model are based on irrigated row crop farms in eastern Oregon, USA. Analysis of the model's solution reveals the following results: 1) the impact of a drought can persist long after the drought subsides, and 2) the impact of one year of drought can alter the impact of a subsequent year of drought. Potential implications for the administration of drought-related assistance are discussed briefly.Drought, preparedness, response, uncertainty, dynamics, discrete stochastic programming, agriculture, irrigation, eastern Oregon, row crops, crop rotation, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Variation in size of living articulated brachiopods with latitude and depth

Geographical variations in animal characters are one of the main subjects for study in macroecology. Variation with latitude has received special interest. Articulated brachiopods are possibly the commonest macrofossil with large variations in size of taxa through the fossil record. Here, we investigate trends in size of the 3 main orders of articulated brachiopod with latitude and depth. Data were insufficient to identify patterns in Thecideida (a micromorph taxon only recorded from low latitudes). Rhynchonellida had no clear trends in size with latitude or depth. Terebratulida exhibited hemispheric differences in size relations, with increasing length of species towards the pole in the south and no significant trend in the north. Tropical species were small (<20 mm length between 10°N and 10°S), and the largest species were found between 30° and 60° latitude in both hemispheres. There were no articulated brachiopods recorded from the high arctic, and support for a continuous trend in size with latitude was small or absent. In Terebratulida, there was a significant decrease in species length with depth of 1.7 mm per 100 m depth increase. These trends could be explained by competition for space and reduced availability of habitat with progressive depth beyond the continental shelf

PERISHABLE REFRIGERATED PRODUCTS AND HOME PRACTICES SURVEY

The "Perishable Refrigerated Products and Home Practices Survey" was a two-part survey developed to better understand consumers' perceptions and their current level of understanding regarding the proper handling and storage of perishable refrigerated foods. Past studies (e.g. Anonymous, 1997a; Anonymous, 1999a) have demonstrated a lack of consumer knowledge in such areas involving food safety practices. In recent years, there have been a number of large food recalls (i.e. Anonymous, 1997b; Anonymous, 1999b; CDC, 1999) due to the presence or possible presence of foodborne pathogens. Part of this study analyzed consumers' knowledge and attitudes towards the recalled products. A large number of foodborne outbreaks also occur in the household. After examining participant responses concerning food handling practices, (i.e. improper temperature control and lack of food rotation habits), the practices of many of the participants were not suitable to prevent possible foodborne contamination. Open dates and time-temperature integrators (TTI's), especially when used together, can assist consumers in purchasing fresh foods (Taoukis and Labuza, 1989a, b). However, numerous past studies have indicated consumer confusion regarding the meaning of open dates; and the results of this study confirm that the confusion continues. This may be due in part to the fact that there is no federally mandated, uniform open dating legislation in this country. TTI's are a fairly new device on the U.S. marketplace. While participants in this study were optimistic about the potential benefits of TTI's, 76% of consumers were unfamiliar with the device.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Understanding Human-Landscape Interaction: Geoarchaeology in the Society Islands, French Polynesia

In this study, I explore the impact of human actions on the Society Island environment, as well as the ecological resilience of these islands over the 1,000 year sequence of human occupation. I utilize geoarchaeological methods to analyze soil samples collected from archaeological excavations on the islands of Maupiti and Mo‘orea in the Society Islands. Using these data, I examine whether humans (anthropogenic factors) or climate (natural factors) influenced the depositional processes at these sites, and if Tahitians altered their behavior to modify their impacts on island environments