Finals are approaching, everyone is working on their studying plans to and planning out when they will pull all nighters. All of you might have your own different study tactics, whether its making flash cards, working in complete silence or listening to music while you study. They all might seem effective to you, but lets dig deep into whether they are actually effective. Specifically, lets see whether listening to music is an effective way of studying.

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While finals and midterms are some of the most stressful times in a college student’s life, there are ways to study that have been proven to relieve stress while studying for these tests. Whether it is playing games or taking naps or even listening to music. There have even been studies to prove that listening to music improve one’s overall studying after. These studies have shown that listening to music before studying or performing a task can be beneficial as it improves attention, memory, and even your ability to do mental math as well as helping lessen depression and anxiety.

While studying there are certain types of music that are suggested to listen to while studying. It has been proven that the ideal tempo for a song to listen to is 60 beats-per-minute. This is the ideal tempo because at 60 beats-per-minute, the human brain is put at ease making it more productive. One of the best types of musics to listen to is “nature sounds”, this is considered

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one of the best types of music because it is known that it increasing concentration levels and keeps the listener’s mind engaged at a more subconscious level.

When it comes down to it, whatever study tactic you use, whether it be listening to music or studying in complete silence it doesn’t matter. Whatever work for you is the best.

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Every Sunday millions of people sit down to watch one of the most popular sports in the world, football. As we watch in amazement, these incredible athlete so off their skills, taking and delivering devastating hits and just brush it off like it is nothing. We everyday people watching this are amazed that they can just walk off like nothing happened after some of these hits. But is it really nothing, or is it something more. Could these hits be the cause of the concussions many player experience throughout the season and their careers. Is the NFL everything it can do to prevent this from happening…. thats a debatable question.

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One of the main causes of these post career health problems are hits to the head and neck, but is there a way to stop them. The sad but true answer is no; the NFL is such an instinctual and fast paced game there is no way to fully rid the league of these hits. Most of them happen within the matter of seconds, whether they are intentional or not. In order to try to prevent these injuries, the NFL has implemented several rules with the hope to limit head injuries. These rules are meant to protect defenseless players from being his in the head and neck area, specifically wide receivers. These rules protect these players specifically because they are at a high risk of head and neck injuries, because they’re are at a much higher likelihood of being hit while they are not expecting it.

Another way the NFL is attempting to increase their protection of players during concussions is the protocol team and players are required to follow when diagnosed with a concussion. If a player is showing signs of a concussion, they must first take take a baseline test to see if they actually have a concussion. Then, if diagnosed, must go through the concussion protocol before they are cleared to practice again. These steps include taking another concussion baseline test, as well as physical examinations to examine their progress.

All in all the NFL is making strides to protect its players, but is it enough to make the sport safer? What else could the NFL be doing to help keep its players safe?

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Who here has recently traveled… For those of you who have how many people did you interact with at the hotel; I’m guessing more than 10. This may not seem like a lot but just imagine going to the same hotel and not having any human interaction at all. Now I know what you might be thinking; “its impossible, you have to interact with people” or what is a hotel visit without talking to people and finding out what is good in the area? Well what you are thinking is impossible is happening right now in Japan.

This hotel in Japan, Henn’na Hotel, has no human staff, only robots. The idea behind this is cutting costs of labor. Hideo Sawada, the man in charge of this whole operation is doing this for a very specific reason. When questioned why he designed a hotel with no human staff, Sawada said “For five-star hotels that are selling high-end service, human staff are essential, but for three or four star hotels, you need comfortable lodging, and a basic level of communication at a reasonable price.” According to Sawada, these robots are decreasing labor costs. Specifically, these robots are reducing labor costs, about 70%.

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This decrease in labor costs has also allowed this hotel to lower their prices for a stay. At a rate of about $80 per night, Henn’na Hotel is able to have one of the lowest costs in one of the highest priced countries in the world. This is possible because of the cost efficiency of these robots. While they may be cheap at first, they are much more cost effective than the annual payroll for a human staff.

This idea has seemed to taken off, not only because of the cost effectiveness of the idea but the fact that the world is becoming more and more reliant on technology. But there is something to consider before diving deep into this; Is it a good idea to replace human interaction with robots?

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How many of you play fantasy football? I myself have a few teams on ESPN, but thats not what I’m asking, I want to know how many of you pla the one week fantasy football such a FanDuel. These have been on a rapid increase in popularity; offering great deals to enter leagues where people are playing for thousands or millions of dollars
. The marketing tactic of these companies is promising the potential client they have a great chance at winning some of these huge prizes. But is what they are saying actually true… Does everyone have an equal chance at winning?

The answer to that question is no, while the sites may make it seem like everyone can win, it is nearly impossible for a first-timer to go out an win the big prizes of 10,000 dollars or more. There are several reasons for this, one being the fact that there are no rules stoping people with inside information from playing these games. Even though there are rules stating that professional athletes are prohibited from participating in games involving their league, there are no such rules prohibiting player’s families or even team employees from playing these games. This allows people such as trainers, or significant others can play these games even though they may have inside information about injuries, or playing time that would give them an advantage in the daily fantasy leagues.

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Another factor that can lead to the unfairness of playing these daily fantasy leagues is the use of algorithms. These algorithms are formulas that people are using to dig deeper into statistics in order to pick better teams and be more successful. One such person using these algorithms is, Nik Bonaddio, who created his own algorithm to use while playing daily fantasy football. Bonaddio’s algorithm is a very proven method of success, he has even claimed that people who use his method “win 30 percent more often than they do when they pick on their own.”

With these factors working against the average player, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to have any success playing in these daily fantasy leagues. More and more people are finding ways to win, whether it is inside information or using algorithms to help them better pick players, it is become a more competitive and exclusive gaming process.

What can the average person do to bring the odds back towards even? Will this ever change or will it continue down the path it is on? Only time will tell.

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When you see the animals in circuses they perform some incredible feats, but how are they trained to do that? Most of the tricks these animals appear to do involve the something that they are naturally afraid of and have to be trained to do. But how are they being trained; are the training methods of the circuses done using proper practice. What methods are the circuses using to make the animals do tricks that involve things they naturally fear.

There have been times when circus animals have been beaten or shocked their animals in order to make them do the stunts they want them to do. The animals are beaten and shocked to do these stunts because the tricks they are doing are not “natural”. So in order for these animals to perform such acts they need to be shocked and beaten to the point to where they are doing it out of fear. These animals are also deprived of what they all do in the wild, roam around. In fact these animals spend nearly 96% of their lives in chains or cages. This is very detrimental to their health, especially the health of elephants, who need tons of area to roam to remain healthy. These animals also have to deal with some harsh conditions throughout their year of travel and performing. Since these circuses operate for nearly 11 months of the year, the performing anim
als are almost always kept in one cage where they eat, sleep, and defecate.

When it comes time for the off-season for the circuses for these animals are forced to live in small crates. Living in such small crates is quite detrimental to both the mental and physical health of these animals. Since they are naturally active, being enclosed in such tight quarters inhibits the animals from being healthy and maintaining a healthy diet/weight. The small, tight quarters also effects the mentally. Being in such small spaces for such long periods of time, these animals eventually start to exhibit unnatural behavior such as swaying and pacing.

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In conclusion, yes animals in circuses are being treated quite poorly. Whether it is physical abuse or being kept in tiny cages leading to emotional problems for these animals. Its sad to think that these people can just not care at all about these animals and can treat them the way they do. This has been happening for a long time, and nothing has seemed to changed. But is there anything we can do to protect these animals, if so what is it?

Most of us have heard the controversy over whether animals live longer in captivity than the wild. But is this statement actually factual or just something they use to defend what they are doing? Or are the animals activists right in saying that animals in captivity, specifically elephants, life expectancy is decreased in zoos because of the lack of space as well as the lack of animals that can be kept at once.

In a study evaluating the life expectancy of African and Asian Elephants in captivity compared to those in the wild, researches found data proving the statement by zoos to be false. When comparing the life span of African Elephants living in European zoos compared to African Elephants living in Kenya’s Amboseli park, researches found that on average the elephants in the zoos lived 16.9 years, compared with 56 years for elephants who died of natural causes. When the research group conducted the test on Asian Elephants, they found similar results. When studying the elephants in zoos compared to elephants working in the Myanmar Timber Company, the group found that the animals in captivity lived to an average age of 18.9 years, while the ones working lived to an average of 41.7 years. This just proved the point that animals who live in captivity do not live as long as animals living in the wild.

When it comes to elephants in captivity, we need to look at what could be causing them to have a shorter life expectancy than their wild counterparts. One reason is the lack of family interaction. In the wild elephants live in groups as big as 100, while in zoos they are forced to live in groups of 2 or 3 at most. This lack of socialization eliminates the ability for the animals to make any sort of connection, like they do in the wild, because they are constantly being moved from one place to another. Another factor is the abuse they face while in captivity. In the wild elephants have no natural enemies. Humans however have even proven to be an enemy to captive elephants. There are even reports of zoo and circus elephants being beaten, shocked, and chained. These tactics are used to force the animals into performing the tricks you see them do in their circus acts. The stress these animals are forced to live with may be shortening their life span?

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In conclusion, the statement that zoos constantly make

that their animals live just as long, if not longer, than their wild counterparts is false. Numerous factors, including space, lack of socialization, and stress impact the life expectancy of the unfortunate
animals in captivity.

Is there something that zoos and circuses can be doing to prevent this? Would better care lead to a longer life expectancy? Only time will tell.

Those of you who have experienced a concussion know what all goes along with it, but for those of you who don’t you might have questions about concussion or might that concussions are something they aren’t.

First off some people might think that concussions are only caused by a direct blow to the head. This is a false misconception because a concussion can be caused my many things.  Any hit in fact can cause a concussion as long as the energy from the hit transfers to the head. This means that any hit around the head or neck area can cause someone to get a concussion.

Another common thought among concussions is that you should wake the person up every couple of hours if they have a concussion. The truth about this is that if a doctor has not diagnosed serious injury then it is perfectly fine to let the person sleep through the night.

Now I ask you, what do you think you know about concussions and what is actually the truth about them.

Have any of you every thought that you could have too much sleep in one night. I bet many of you have never considered that to even be a remote possibility. Well guess what its true. There is such thing as too much sleep and it has been linked to some pretty serious medical conditions.

According to a study oversleeping can be linked to discuss such as diabetes and heart disease. These are very serious consequences that could arise from just oversleeping. In this study however, the researches where clear to point out that over sleeping is mostly occurring in people experiencing depression.

In a study conducted by Dr. Franco Cappuccino, where people where analyzed and divided into 3 categories based on sleep schedule, there was a staggering number of people who slept longer than 8 hours daily that passed away earlier than those who slept 8 hours daily. Specifically 12% of those who slept fewer and 30% of those who slept longer passed away before those who slept 8 hours daily.

This was a terrifying study because who would have thought that just sleeping in a little linger than normal would cause you to die earlier in life.

My question to you is, Do you get your 8 hours every day?

Who would have guessed that dancing can benefit your health? Not me, I would not have been the one to say that dancing would have so many health benefits to it. Turns out I was wrong, as a matter of fact dancing has a ton of health benefits that could help many people in the world.

Of the countless benefits of dancing some of the most important are improved condition of lungs and heart, and better social skills. These along with many other benefits can help just about every person live a healthier life. Dancing also has some key benefits that will help people as they become older. Specifically dancing can make bones stronger and reduce risk of osteoperosis.

Dancing has also been known to help with learning. Because dancing pumps blood to the brain along with glucose and oxygen, the brain is in a state when its cognitive skills are at its highest. Studies have been shown that the hippocamus and cerebral cotrex improved though dance.

Dancing has so many benefits and positive things to it, its a surprise more people aren’t dancing every day.

So let me ask you. How often do you dance?

To whoever has a dog, have you ever wondered what is causing them to bark at certain times in the day. There could be a number of things that are causing your dogs to bark. However there are a few specific events or situations that will cause your dog to bark.

Some of these situations include Attention/Demand, Boredom/Frustration, Fear, Territoriality/Protectiveness, Playfulness/Excitement, and Health Issues. Each of these barks come with specific body language from your dog. For example if your dog is territorial and barking, he/she may be standing with their tail held up high and their ears facing forward.

While dogs barking may be their way for communication with one another and their owners, it can turn into a problem. What I mean by this is that there can come a time when your dog may be constantly barking. This most commonly becomes a problem when a dog is barking for companionship.

Problem barking can arise because of the environment the dog lives in. To help control problem barking, make sure your dog is living in a comfortable environment and is well taken care of and happy.

I bet those of you who have played baseball, including myself, have dreamed of hitting a home-run like the major leaguers do. Even though you’ve watched their swing and imitated them and have the perfect setup and swing, it still didn’t happen. Why didn’t I hit a homer you asked? Well, there might be some key features in their swing you might not have noticed.

The main component you might have been missing is the bat speed and angle of launch that the pros have. These two component are the most important factors when it comes to hitting home-runs. With these to component matched up perfectly it becomes much easier to hit a homer.

Some more component that help pros hit more home-runs than the average player are that they practice their mechanics everyday until they are so fine tuned that their swing becomes second nature, along with the fact that in the pros, hitters swing speed are faster which allows them to have more decision time.

In conclusion there are a lot more involved in hitting a homer that just copying the swing of a pro baseball player. It more complicated and takes practice.

Hi everyone, my name is Sam Harman. I am from Hazleton, Pa which is about 2 hours from campus. I am majoring in Professional Golf Management.

I am taking this course because I am not the best at science and struggled with the way science was taught during high school. When signing up for courses my advisor told me that this course was taught differently than any science course I’ve had before. Hearing that I was very intrigued to see if I would do better in a science class taught differently than how I’ve been taught before.

As I said before I am not the best in science, therefore I was deterred for majoring in one of the sciences. Because I’m not the best in science I would struggle mightily if I were to major in science. Not only would I struggle mightily with the abundance of science courses, I would struggle to keep my gpa up enough to make it through my 4 years of school. Because of this I chose to major in Professional Golf Management which is something I love.

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