ART011

From "Mt. Graham squirrel population found to be growing":

"A conservative estimate of the number of red squirrels on the mountain near Safford is 562, according to a recent survey conducted by the Arizona Game and Fish Department." Last year the number of squirrels was 462. "Ten years ago in a spring survey, biologists estimated that there were 167 red squirrels."

ART012

From: Record Number of Big Game Permits Approved for Hunters":

"For deer during this past year, there has been a healthy increase in fawn recruitment, which in turn is translating into a 841-permit increase this year. Fawn recruitment statewide increased to nearly 40 fawn per 100 does, from a low of 20 or 30 in most areas of the state. On the Kaibab Plateau, there has been a different climatic regime than we have experienced in the rest of the state for the past several years, and the corresponding recruitment has been nearly 90 fawn per 100 does."

1. If the percent of increase in permits corresponds to the percent increase in numbers of deer statewide, how many deer permits were there last year?

ART013

From "Viral Gene Screen":

Thanks to serological tests and rigorous screening, the U.S. blood supply is safer than ever before. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any bad blood in the nation: although there is only a one in 676,000 chance that blood containing HIV will slip by standard tests, as many as 14 million units are donated every year. The liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus can elude standard tests with a frequency nearly seven times greater than that for HIV.

An infected person could donate during the window period—the time between contraction of the virus and an immune response, when the person may not even feel sick or show any symptoms. The tainted blood could then be divided into its several useful components and go on to infect recipients. For HIV, this window period is about 16 days; for the hepatitis C virus, about 70to 80 days.

For the past few months, the Red Cross has used master pools of 128 samples, which are made up of eight smaller primary pools of 16 samples each. If a master pool tests positive, then each of the eight primary pools are tested, and so on until the infect blood sample is found."

ART014

From "Protection Didn’t Work So 25 Workers Poisoned by Beryllium Now Risk Death":

Twenty-five people may die because they worked in a Tucson manufacturing plant where the government and the company failed to protect them from a hazardous metal. Two can no longer breathe on their own. All have an industrial disease that slowly eats away at the lungs. The 25 workers with chronic lung disease are among 907 people who worked at the Tucson plant since it opened in 1980.

Workers had been told in handouts and training videos through the 1980’s that less than 1 percent of people were susceptible to beryllium disease. The company now pegs the risk at 4 percent.

A 1949 standard says workers can’t be exposed to an average of more than two micrograms per cubic meter of air over eight hours. A 1982 air sample found airborne beryllium at 488 micrograms per meter.

ART015

From "List of Free Countries Gains 7 This Year":

According to the report, titled "A Good Year for Freedom," 46 percent of the world’s countries are now free and another 28 percent are partly free, meaning they grant their citizens some rights, although they are often corrupt or have a weak respect for laws. There are now 88 free countries, seven more than last year."

ART016

From "Many Are the Ways to Cut Down Water Use":

A leaky toilet, according to experts, can waste up to 200 gallons of water each day. I had to replace the flush ball because it was damaged and no longer fit snugly on the flush-ball seat…The job took an hour…and cost $2.99 for the new flush ball.

The average American uses 27,000 gallons of water a year. Up to 65 percent or that is used outdoors, primarily for watering lawns and washing cars.

Daily per capita water use is 74 gallons. Nineteen gallons…is used for flushing toilets. Clothes washers use 16.8 gallons, showers, 13.2 gallons, faucets account for 11.4 gallons.

Finding the leaks and installing water-saving fixtures can reduce per capita consumption to 51.9 gallons a day.

1.6 gallon-per-flush low-flows saved 44 million gallons a day in houses built last year.

1. How many days could the leak in a toilet continue before the cost of the water used would exceed $2.99.

2. How much of the water used by the average American each year is used outdoors?

3. Draw a chart comparing the percentage by uses of water.

4. By what percent will fixing leaks and installing water-saving fixtures reduce the per capita consumption of water:

5. How many 1.6 gallons-per-flush toilets were installed in houses built last year?

ART017

Nearly 150 million workers and their employers pay taxes on wages. The tax is 6.2% for the worker and an identical amount for the employer, on salaries up to $72,600 in 1999. The money collected from payroll taxes goes to pay monthly benefits to 45 million beneficiaries. These include