EFNEP: Assessing the Evaluation Tools and Impact of the Program

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is a federally funded program to assist people with limited resources in developing knowledge and skills about food and nutrition. The program targets youth and low-income families with children. EFNEP programs exist throughout counties in all 50 states and US territories. It has been shown to be an effective program in improving food practices and dietary intake. EFNEP is evaluated by the changes in the baseline questionnaires and post-intervention questionnaires filled out by the participants. Two of the questionnaires which are pertinent to my research are the EFNEP Behavior Checklist (BC) and 24 hr recall. The BC is a 10 question form asking participants about recent food related behaviors. The 24 hr recall is a detailed record of the foods eaten by the participant in a 24 hr time period. The 24 hr recall allows for an analysis of the nutrient intake of the individual. There are 11 counties in Ohio which have EFNEP programs. This research will use the data subsets from all 11 counties, for the 2005 and 2006 fiscal years. The Ohio EFNEP program is facilitated through The Ohio State University Extension, Department of Nutrition. Funds for the research are provided through the Ohio EFNEP program budget. The goal of this research is to determine which questions on the BC are sensitive enough in evaluating EFNEP, and which are not. Sensitivity was assessed through determining the association of the food behaviors (BC) and actual behavior (dietary intake) interpreted from nutrient analysis. This will create a framework for further research on which questions need to be changed to accurately assess food behaviors as reported in the 24 hr recall. The advantage of using the BC is that it is shorter, less expensive, and easier to apply than a 24 hr recall, making it faster to administer and more understandable for the participants to take. Statistical analysis was performed using a Paired T-Test of the mean scores from the pre- and post- BC and pre- and post- 24 hr recall to determine changes upon completion of the program. To determine the correlation of the BC and 24 hr recall, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied. The Ohio EFNEP has been successful in bringing about positive changes in participants in both food behaviors and diet. Although changes are positive, the diets of participants at exit are still below DRI/Food Guide Pyramid recommendation for many of the nutrient and food groups. Many nutrition related BC questions had a significant relationship with the 24 hr recall. Questions from the core 10 BC as well as Additional BC questions were related to specific nutrients, adding value to ability of the BC to assess diet. However, there were also BC questions that did not show the expected relationship to the nutrient addressed in the question. Select questions of the BC may be useful to discriminate between the groups of participants consuming the lower and higher amount of select nutrients relative to their self-reported food behaviors. The BC must be continuously evaluated to improve the evaluation tools used to assess EFNEP. Although it is able to measure change in the participants, when used alone the core 10 BC and additional questions from this research would not be able to completely assess diet independent of 24 hr recall.Ohio EFNE

Effects of Simulated Student Interaction on Student Perceptions of Teaching Presence

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the instructor posting in online discussions as a simulated student; particularly the impact simulated student interaction (SSI) had on the instructor/student relationship. Student perceptions were examined using a modified version of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) survey to determine what impact SSI had on teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence within the online classroom. The full 34 item CoI Survey was piloted in the summer of 2014 at a small comprehensive university located in northeast Texas. A factor analysis was conducted on the data and the top items from each factor in the instrument extracted. The resulting 17 item instrument demonstrated both validity and reliability. This modified CoI Survey was used in the fall of 2014 with three special education courses making up a control group and an intervention group in a pre-post experimental design. An ANOVA was performed to compare the results of the pre-course and post-course surveys by group. The ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference for all three factors for the intervention group between the pre- and post-course survey, while no significance between surveys was shown for the control group

Execution of Angel Breard: The United States Federalist System as Scapegoat for the Violation of an ICJ Order

To quote the famous case, The Paquete Habana, International law is a part of our law. When the Commonwealth of Virginia executed Angel Breard, the United States violated international law. Not only did the Commonwealth of Virginia violate the treaty obligations of its federal government, but the United States failed to comply with the Order of Provisional Measures set forth by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The outpouring of official dualism through all stages of the case as well as the failure to afford the decision of the ICJ its due respect were affronts to the international community. Mr. Breard had individual rights under the Vienna Convention which, at the minimum, justified compliance with the Order of the ICJ and a delay of his execution. The federal government was empowered to comply with the Order of the ICJ through the formal means of habeas corpus review as well as internal diplomatic measures or application of the Supreme Court\u27s Rules. None of these measures were taken. By failing to comply with the provisional measures indicated by the ICJ, the United States violated international law and compromised its accountability in the international community

Execution of Angel Breard: The United States Federalist System as Scapegoat for the Violation of an ICJ Order

To quote the famous case, The Paquete Habana, International law is a part of our law. When the Commonwealth of Virginia executed Angel Breard, the United States violated international law. Not only did the Commonwealth of Virginia violate the treaty obligations of its federal government, but the United States failed to comply with the Order of Provisional Measures set forth by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The outpouring of official dualism through all stages of the case as well as the failure to afford the decision of the ICJ its due respect were affronts to the international community. Mr. Breard had individual rights under the Vienna Convention which, at the minimum, justified compliance with the Order of the ICJ and a delay of his execution. The federal government was empowered to comply with the Order of the ICJ through the formal means of habeas corpus review as well as internal diplomatic measures or application of the Supreme Court\u27s Rules. None of these measures were taken. By failing to comply with the provisional measures indicated by the ICJ, the United States violated international law and compromised its accountability in the international community

An Analysis of the Rowan County School System\u27s Methods of Reporting Pupil Progress

An applied project presented to the faculty of the School of Education at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Education Specialist in Administration by Jane Litton Allen on July 24, 1987

The role of financial leverage and market in the performance of US Real Estate Investment Trusts

We analyze a specifically designed dataset in order to measure the performance of a sample of 129 US REITs in Equity property sector over the most recent property cycle (2001-‐2013). We adopt a multi-‐factor asset pricing model to examine the impact on the REITs’ total excess returns, investment decisions measured by Jensen’s alpha and leverage. Investment decisions are reflected by timing leverage decisions based upon the expectation of future market trends. Our analysis results are in support of the hypotheses that i) REITs performance is highly correlated with the return on the broad US market, ii) there is evidence for systematic underperformance as measured by Jensen’s alpha, iii) leverage strategy can make contributions to the performance of US REITs as a whole, but its benefit effect is not evident in sectors including healthcare, industrial and residential, and iv) timing leverage strategies to the anticipated future market conditions has positive effect on the performance of US REITs

Interview with Jane Allen

Jane Allen talks about working at the Danville and Brinkhaven Post Officeshttps://digital.kenyon.edu/ps_interviews/1011/thumbnail.jp

Virtual patient design : exploring what works and why : a grounded theory study

Objectives: Virtual patients (VPs) are online representations of clinical cases used in medical education. Widely adopted, they are well placed to teach clinical reasoning skills. International technology standards mean VPs can be created, shared and repurposed between institutions. A systematic review has highlighted the lack of evidence to support which of the numerous VP designs may be effective, and why. We set out to research the influence of VP design on medical undergraduates. Methods: This is a grounded theory study into the influence of VP design on undergraduate medical students. Following a review of the literature and publicly available VP cases, we identified important design properties. We integrated them into two substantial VPs produced for this research. Using purposeful iterative sampling, 46 medical undergraduates were recruited to participate in six focus groups. Participants completed both VPs, an evaluation and a 1-hour focus group discussion. These were digitally recorded, transcribed and analysed using grounded theory, supported by computer-assisted analysis. Following open, axial and selective coding, we produced a theoretical model describing how students learn from VPs. Results: We identified a central core phenomenon designated ‘learning from the VP’. This had four categories: VP Construction; External Preconditions; Student–VP Interaction, and Consequences. From these, we constructed a three-layer model describing the interactions of students with VPs. The inner layer consists of the student's cognitive and behavioural preconditions prior to sitting a case. The middle layer considers the VP as an ‘encoded object’, an e-learning artefact and as a ‘constructed activity’, with associated pedagogic and organisational elements. The outer layer describes cognitive and behavioural change. Conclusions: This is the first grounded theory study to explore VP design. This original research has produced a model which enhances understanding of how and why the delivery and design of VPs influence learning. The model may be of practical use to authors, institutions and researchers