Weeks, Jennifer. "Modernizing the Grid: Is the electric power system at risk?" CQ Researcher 19 Feb. 2010. The U.S. electric power grid — the nationwide system of interconnected regional power systems — is a century old and under strain. Long-term power demand has grown steadily since the 1980s, but investments in transmission have lagged behind. Three major blackouts in the past decade have raised concerns about providing electricity reliably. Federal agencies are working with utilities, manufacturers and information technology companies to develop a modernized grid that uses computers to monitor the system. Advocates say this “smart grid” will be able to generate more electricity from renewable fuels and save money for businesses and families. The Obama administration calls the smart grid an urgent priority and is spending billions to help design it. But some experts worry that a digital grid could be vulnerable to cyberattacks or that it will violate consumers' privacy. Others say that promoting energy conservation or building new power plants near population centers would be more effective than building new high-voltage transmission lines. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Energy and Climate: Should carbon-based fuels be phased out?" CQ Researcher 24 July 2009.
Mantel, Barbara. "Energy Efficiency: Is enough being done to save energy?" CQ Researcher May 19, 2006.
Other Articles
ProQuest: SUB(Smart grid technology) - over 900 full-text articles
Location (united states) AND Subject(energy policy) - over 9000 full text articles
EBSCOhost: Subject(fossil fuels or renewable energy or electric power) and united states - over 3700 full-text articles
Books
ebrary: united states AND (electric OR power OR energy)
Reference
AccessScience: "power grid" - 24 full-text articles
Monday, February 22, 2010
Electric Power & the United States
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sleep Disorders
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Sleep Deprivation: Are chronically tired people at greater health risk?" CQ Researcher 12 Feb. 2010. New research links sleep deprivation to a large number of automobile and other accidents. Moreover, chronically sleep-deprived people are at higher risk for poor memories, mental illnesses, obesity, cardiovascular disease and early death. Yet today's 24/7 culture fights against the human body's biological need for about seven hours of sleep a night. Some people are especially sleep deprived, notably teenagers and late-shift workers such as police officers, nurses and medical residents. Meanwhile, some experts worry that overuse of sleeping medications is becoming a serious problem. Newer medications like Ambien and Lunesta are in some ways “safer” than older drugs, but they also affect brain function and sleep patterns in ways that are still not fully understood. With primary-care doctors now able to prescribe these medications because of their greater apparent safety, more people may get into trouble with sleeping pills.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.
Articles
ProQuest: SU(sleep or insomnia) AND (therap* or treatment or medic*) - over 5000 full text articles
EBSCOhost: Subject (sleep or insomnia) and (health or physiolog* or stress) - 1700+ full text articles
Books
CBC Library Catalog - Subject: Sleep
ebrary subject search: sleep - 6 ebooks, including:
Epstein, Lawrence and Steven Mardon. The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep. McGraw-Hill, 2006.
Reference
Gale Virtual Reference - Medical Subcollection: Sleep
Monday, February 1, 2010
Football & Brain Injury
Jost, Kenneth. "Professional Football: Is the NFL doing enough to protect players?" CQ Researcher 29 Jan 2010. Football is the most popular spectator sport in the United States, and with annual revenues topping $8 billion the National Football League is the country's wealthiest professional sports organization. But the league was on the defensive during the 2009–2010 season because of a jarring debate over its alleged indifference toward player safety and health. Medical research now indicates a connection between concussions that players routinely suffer during games and long-term brain disease, including dementia. Under pressure from the NFL Players Association, news media and Congress, the NFL is belatedly acknowledging a possible link and trying to minimize the risk to players by, among other changes, limiting a player's return to the game after a concussion. Despite football's popularity, the NFL is also facing economic difficulties. Attendance sagged during the 2009–2010 season, the future of lucrative TV contracts is cloudy and the league and the players' union start out far apart as negotiations begin for a new collective-bargaining agreement.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.
Articles
ProQuest
AU(Schwarz, Alan) AND (football) AND (concussion or brain injury) - over 50 articles by New York Times sports journalist Alan Schwarz
SU(football) AND SU(head or brain) - over 750 full text articles
EBSCOhost: Subject Football and (Brain or Injuries) - 900+ full text articles
OVID: Omalu, Bennet I., et. al. "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player." Neurosurgery. 57(1):128-134, July 2005. DOI: 10.1227/01.NEU.0000163407.92769.ED
Books
Oriard, Michael. Brand NFL : Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport. University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
Reference
Gale Virtual Reference - Medical Subcollection: Concussion
ENGL& 101/ENGL& 235 - Commeree - Occupational Exploration
Websites
CareerOneStop - Sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, pulls together a wide range of career information, labor statistics, job postings, and workforce services. Allows you to build a customized occupation profile listing skills, wages, outlook, education. If you don't have one picked out, you can select an occupation from among the fastest growing, highest paying, or search for the best match using the skills profiler. This should at least be your first stop, since it incorporates or links to most of the information available in the sites listed below.
https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/employmentdata/ - Employment and economic information: Data and analysis of Washington state's employment conditions, economy, job market and work force. (This site was originally called Workforceexplorer.)
WorkSource Washington - Job search & resume center; other info derived from Work Force Explorer (see above).
Occupational Information Network/O*NET- Create a custom report listing knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, values, etc.
Occupational Outlook Handbook - Narrative descriptions provide more detailed information, particularly about training and advancement.
MLA Citations - Government Websites
- Issuing agency/entity
Ex. United States. Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. - Title of a part
Ex. “Pharmacist.” - Author/Compiler (not usually present)
- Title of the whole site
Ex. Occupational Outlook Handbook. - Version/edition
Ex. 2010-11 ed. - Sponsor/publisher of the site
Ex. US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, - Date of publication / last modified
Ex. 17 Dec. 2009. - Medium of publication
Ex. Web. - Date of access (today’s date)
Ex. 17 Feb. 2010
Reference:
Encyclopedia of Associations. Detroit : Gale Research. Call Number: AS22 .E5 2009.
Example citation:
Articles: EBSCOhost & ProQuest
Books: Catalog| View books on Career Development
Ebrary: Career Guides - performs a search for ebooks on the subjects 'occupations' or 'vocational guidance'
Search Techniques:
Keywords represent 1) your selected occupation and 2) your interest in career information.
Truncation - a special character used to take the place of one or more other characters at the end of a word. * – EBSCOhost, ProQuest
work* = work, worked, workplace, etc.
And – used between keywords to narrow
pharmacist* and career*
Or – used between keywords to broaden
career* or work* or job*
( ) – used to group search statements
(career* or work* or job*) and pharmacist*
or place them on different lines in an 'advanced' search.
Subject Searching - search for your selected occupation as the subject of articles to narrow your search.
Pharmacist* in Subject
For more about search techniques view our full-length illustrated posts on keywords/truncation, or/and/grouping, and subject searching.
