Lurking in your Foods, High Fructose Corn Syrup has negative health benefits.

Courtesy of Popsugar.com

High Fructose Corn Syrup is not a healthier choice or substitute from sugar. While sugar may draw the attention for being unhealthy, High Fructose Corn Syrup has the same if not worse effects on your body.

High Fructose Corn Syrup isn't widley know amongst the public consumer however the people who are very familiar with it are food companies. This is because Fructose Corn Syrup is around 20 times sweeter than regular table sugar according to organicconsumers.org.

However sweeter is not always better because in recent years, according to lef.org Fructose Corn Syrup has largely contributed to the increase in obesity, hypertension, the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease.

High Fructose Corn Syrup a replacement for Sugar is sweeter but is just as harmful to our health.

By replacing regular sugar in our diets with Fructose Corn Syrup, it has lead to our increased levels of fructose consumption. Molecularly Fructose Corn Syrup can contain up to 30 percent more fructose than regular table. Since Fructose Corn Syrup is an unnatural product for the most part in human history we have consumed about 15 grams of it per day, however in 1997 we shattered that mark by reaching the threshold of 81 grams a day according lef.org.

With this increase of fructose levels in our bodies negative health effects linking to ailments such as metabolic syndrome, elevated triglyceride levels, hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and excess uric acid levels have seen a major increase.

Sugar gets the bad wrap, while High Fructose Corn Syrup is slipped into our food with minimal restraint.

When looking at the nutrition label on a product a person only sees the category for sugar. Most people over look this category because they see the word sugar and automatically think that its table sugar they are measuring in grams.

However the sneaky food and drink companies include the sugar replacements like High Fructose Corn Syrup in the count of sugars in grams. Unless we contact the specific food and drink company people can only find out that High Fructose Corn Syrup is an ingredient in their food or drink. But not how much because the nutrition labels on various food items and drinks do not contain a broken down list of how much of each type of sugar is in the item.

Info Courtesy of Asaintown.net

Not knowing about how much Fructose Corn Syrup is in our diet or in our food or drinks is a major concern to some for three reasons:

1. According to organicconsumer.org research has lead to show average Americans eat close to 132 calories of Fructose Corn Syrup per day, while the top 20 percent of sweetener consumers eat anywhere between 300 to 700 calories per day. All of which are unhealthy calories that are not beneficial to our health.
2. The United States consume the most High Fructose Corn Syrup pounds per person in the world at about 55 pounds a person. 
3. The higher the use of Fructose Corn Syrup a countries has increases their percent to contract type two diabetes by about 2 percent.

As the Director of Nutrition at the University of Maryland, Colleen Davis discusses how keeping the consumption of any type of sugar to a minimum will help decrease your risks for contracting an ailment from the over consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup.



In general people should keep their consumption of any type of sugar to a minimum, because with each gram of sugar you consume you are putting yourself at more of a risk. Surprisingly Davis's analysis of keeping sugars below the 100-150 calories a day mark, bodes well for the average American who consumes around 132 calories per day of sugars. For those who consume 300-700 calories of sugars a day they are putting themselves at risk for contracting one of the ailments that High Fructose Corn Syrup can induce.

The one reason why many Americans are putting themselves at risk so much is because High Fructose Corn Syrup resides in many of the food and drinks Americans consume. Soft Drinks, which is overly consumed amongst Americans contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. But while soft drinks are the leading source of Fructose Corn Syrup, it is also lurking in other foods such as fruit juices, candy, ketchup, amongst many other daily foods and drinks that the Americans consume.

--Page 2--

Two scientists are attempting to create a new model of the earth, through research of the earths core.

(18)Important News

As a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkley, Lekic formulated higher-resolution images of the Earth’s mantle structure, stemming from his creation of a global seismic velocity model. Not only is the model able to give geologists a better understanding of plate tectonics, but it also helps explain the movement of continental plates and their evolution, Lekic said.

(13)Explanation

“What we do is comparable to how an ultrasound let’s us see through our bodies,” Lekic said. “But this lets us see through the Earth.”

Lekic's Research. 

(2)Important News

Lekic has already used the seismic information to investigate why and how the crust moves over the Earth’s mantle. As of now, the deepest any machine has been able to dig was about 12 kilometers into the Earth’s crust, a minuscle fracture of the roughly 6,730 kilometers it takes to get to the Earth’s core. Using the seismic information helps geologists see the shapes and sizes of the Earth’s layers.

(10)Important news

Lekic’s research is based on ground vibration recordings, which he and his students use to detect the scattering of seismic waves across the North American tectonic plate. In conjunction with the National Science Foundation’s EarthScope Facility network, the data is collected from the 49 states and Puerto Rico and makes up about 3.8 million square miles, Lekic said.

(12)Explanation

“EarthScope is kind of like our Apollo mission, but not as costly,” Lekic said

Use of Neutrino Geoscience to create a new model of the Earth.

(7)Important News

Nearly 2 million data lines fill the screen of Vedran Lekic’s computer every day, each representing seismic waves that are detected from of the more than 1,700 seismic stations around the U.S.

(5)Important News

From this data, Lekic is creating a map that will not only cover all 48 contiguous states, Alaska and Puerto Rico, but also dive deep into the Earth’s crust and core.

(3)Background

Other than his seismology research contributions, Lekic is also a forerunner in the new geological field of neutrino geoscience.

(6)Important News

Neutrinos are a type of electrically neutral subatomic particle that are created during radioactive decay or some kinds of nuclear reactions. The particle, which was only discovered geologically in 2005 and physically detected for the first time last year, moves through every kind of object, McDonough said.

(17)Important News

Lekic and McDonough are attempting to harness that energy to create another way to build a model of the Earth.

(16)Explanation

“We are both interested in the energy that moves the tectonic plates and creates the magnetic shield around the planet,” geology professor William McDonough said.

Lekic's Awards and Background.

(4)Background

Lekic is now one of five alumni faculty members who have received the award while at this university, and he will be given access to unrestricted funds of $875,000 over a five-year period to support his extensive research on Earth’s inner structure.

(1)Background

In recognition of his efforts to integrate computer science and geological studies, Lekic joined the ranks of 17 other early career U.S. scientists and engineers who were awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering last week.

(9)Important News

“The great thing about this fellowship is its flexibility to go chase a really good idea to wherever it leads,” said Orr, a Stanford University professor. “It is an incredibly valuable fund and gives the researchers an opportunity to take off with a good idea instead of waiting a year or more for federal money.”

(14)Important News

Lekic has received several other early career awards besides the Packard Fellowship.
(15)Important News

Now that a large fund has been granted to his work, he hopes to spend more time plotting the seismic information in graphs and models so that he may better understand the Earth, Lekic said.

Taylers definition of Interactivity.

listen to ‘Taylers definition of Interactivity.’ on audioBoom

Power Users and Non Power Users Preference of Customization and Personalization of a Web Page

Personalization is computerized individualization, while customization is personal individualization.

When first hearing the words personalization and customization, many people are confused to as what the difference between the two are. According to Neilsen personalization is ‘‘driven by a computer which tries to serve up individualized pages to the user based on some form of model of that user’s needs.’’ Neilsen also says that customization is when ‘‘the user explicitly selects between certain options.’’In other words personalization is based on a model or formula a computer uses to help provide the user with individualized and "preferred information" and customization is when the user personally determines what he or she wants by selecting options manually.

Power Users prefer web page customization, while Non-Power Users prefer web page personalization.

The most interesting stat from this article was the difference between responses from the non power users and the power users on how they favor customization and personalization on the web.



82 participants were exposed to the standard view of the Google News Website during the experiment. The participants were then asked to browse the Website on their own for 15 minutes in two separate sessions. The participants were exposed to the website as the control variable, personalized version, or customized version within the two sessions.





Web Page security is main difference between personalization and customization for Power Users and Non-Power users.

When first reading this study I was surprised that power users preferred customization and non power users preferred personalization. Then I read a few articles and it made sense. For example a power user would include people who are video-editing professionals, high-end graphic designers, audio producers, and those who use their computers for scientific research. Also these people have the newest and fastest computers and mobile devices. Where as a non power user just uses their computers and mobile devices for the most basic functions which include internet surfing, email, and typing papers.

As you can see there is a difference between usage between the two catogories of power users and non power users. This usage gap helps us understand why the power users prefer customization over personalization. Why? Because power users know everything about their computer and since they are so in tune with their computer and how it works as well as how web pages work too, they can easily customize their computer or web page more personally than a computer ever could for them because of the technological knowledge that they have.

But for non power users the thought of having to personally customize their computer or web page with out anything even suggestions can scare most of these types of people. For myself I do not fall into the power user category and the thought of having to customize a web page honestly overwhelms me. This is why personalizing something is the preferred way for many non power users when given the choice for making a web page or their computer more personal.

Low Privacy settings make Power Users and Non-Power users more protective of the information they give out.

This study also conducted another experiment where the focus was on security. In this study when the power user or non power user was done personalizing or customizing the web site said that it may or may not use their browser information. With this wrinkle it evened the field in terms of whether power users or non power users prefer personalization or customization. For power users with high privacy they were more comfortable with giving away the right to use the information they provided. However when the privacy setting was lowered both power users and non power users became more cautious. With this being said its conclusive enough to say that no matter if you are a power user or non power user, the type and detail of information you provide in order to customize or personalize a web page or your computer will depend on what type of securtity is provided and has more of an impact on whether people prefer to customize or personal something.

Types of technologies used by students, at a Mid-Atlantic University, throughout the day to communicate.

Visualization Mike47

To be honest when I first glanced at this graphic I thought it was very ingenious and thoughtful. However as I really delved into the graphics and read each one carefully, the more and more this graphic unraveled. There are a few problems with this graphic. First, being the format of the graphic, with the type of structure it has it just doesn't flow very well. This being said the next problem works hand and hand with the first, being that the information provided seems a bit everywhere. For example, it asks a question whether "MOOCS and E-Learning sites offer an affordable assessable alternative?" But then goes on to state how many schools offered MOOCS in 2014 and how many plan to offer MOOCS by 2016. Then four graphics down it mentions something about being cheaper, as a reader it makes it the presentation more appealing if similar information is in similar areas. Lastly after reading some articles on MOOCS, the focus on the online class isn't necessarily making it cheap through out the articles I read it was putting emphasis on the accessiblility of the classes not being much affordable. For example the article I found most intriguing was from RPA Inc. Edge, I liked this article because I thought it captures the goal of what MOOCS are trying to do, and to the dismay of the graphic its not to attract people because its cheap its "the concept of on-line learning with the goal of being able to teach students asynchronously, at their own pace, anytime, and anywhere with Internet access."

In order for a graphic to be appealing to the eyes, the first thing it must have is an appealing title. The title is what draws the "reader (s)" in. After the title your layout must be pleasing to the eye and placement of the information within the layout is important as well. Both of which I feel this poster lacks. The layout isn't all bad it just seems a bit dull, but that could be because of the information that is being presented in this type of layout is confusing. In this poster, it talks about MOOCS and E-Learning being and affordable alternative, yet it takes four more graphics before the poster even mentions something about money. A good poster can not take that long to talk about the subject it brought the readers in to talk about, because if it does most of the time the readers won't pay attention and they will simply move on.

Mike47

Jadeveon Clowney is out 4-6 weeks because of a knee injury he suffered in last weeks game. The Texans top pass rusher, went through successful surgery Monday, but is still expected to be out for at least 2 months.