First, absorption helps people by preventing high-energy radiation from reaching the surface which limits our exposure to harmful radiation. The atmosphere absorbs most of the radiation from the ultraviolet region through the X-ray region. The second way in which absorption helps the earth is as a heat source for it.
*lean times (ahead). Fig. a future period of lowered income or revenue; a future period when there will be shortages of goods and suffering. (*Typically: be ~; cause ~; have ~; mean ~ .) The economy is going sour which means lean times ahead.
In a typical manufacturing environment, processes are considered Lean when the efficiency of the process is 25 percent or more. Total time includes the setup, changeover, maintenance and scheduled downtime. In a transactional environment, most of these measures have no counterpart. The equation is therefore modified to: