Evaluation of Louisiana Farm to School Programming: Harvest of the Month and Local Food Procurement

Farm to school is a growing movement that is beginning to draw serious interest in different parts of the United States due to its ability to connect communities with their local producers while providing many benefits. Farm to school entails three main components: school gardening, education and curriculum, and local food procurement. The farm to school movement is relatively new to the state of Louisiana and very little research has been conducted to evaluate the impact of the farm to school programs on local food procurement and the effect on school food environments. Case studies of three Louisiana parish school districts that incorporate local agricultural products into their school food service programs were conducted to understand the specifics on how and why these child nutrition directors chose to procure local foods for their students. The child nutrition directors reported that, in general, local products were of a higher quality and provided great nutritional and educational benefits for their students. The main challenges with acquiring local products related to reliable supply and delivery and an inability to find and communicate with local farmers. The Louisiana Harvest of the Month program was initiated in August 2018 for the fall semester and an evaluation of the program was conducted for the 2018-2019 school year. The Harvest of the Month program provided materials and support to all the schools that enrolled. The evaluation involved a pre- and post-survey that yielded inconclusive results due to limited participation in the post-survey. The presence of cafeteria or school food service leadership on Harvest of the Month teams could lead to better results in future research along with different research methods such as focus groups instead of surveys

Kesejahteraan Nasabah Perbankan Syariah Di Daerah Istimewa YOGYAKARTA (Studi Preferensi Nilai Islam, Kalkulasi Sarana, Dan Tujuan)

Undang-Undang No. 10 Tahun 1998 tentang Perbankan menyatakan bank adalah badan USAha yang menghimpun dana dari masyarakat dalam bentuk simpanan dan menyalurkannya kepada masyarakat dalam bentuk kredit dan atau bentuk-bentuk lainnya dalam rangka meningkatkan taraf hidup rakyat banyak. Dalam perjalanannya, lembaga perbankan memiliki dua tipologi, yakni bank konvensional dan bank syariah. Bank syariah merupakan lembaga keuangan yang menawarkan pendekatan berbeda karena sifatnya nir-riba. Namun sayangnya, pertumbuhan bank syariah sampai dengan sekarang tidak lebih mencapai angka 5%, di tengah kondisi masyarakat Indonesia yang mayoritas beragama Islam. Penelitian ini berupa untuk melihat kondisi lembaga keuangan syariah yang tidak dapat berkembang secara optimal dalam perspektif kesejahteraan nasabah. Kesejahteraan didefinisikan sebagai sebuah kondisi yang tidak saja terpenuhi aspek ekonomi tetapi juga melihat perspektif sosial dan budayanya. Oleh karena itu, sebagai tolok ukur kesejahteraan, dalam penelitian ini melihat tentang kalkulasi sarana dan tujuan serta pertimbangan religi yang ditunjukkan dalam preferensi nilai

Predictors of Teacher Educators\u27 Research Productivity

This study examined the relationship between teacher educators\u27 research productivity (RP) and their background and professional characteristics, attitudes, motives, obstacles and time devoted to research. The sample included 161 teacher educators from four teacher education colleges in Israel. The findings indicate the significance of five variables for predicting RP: academic degree, rank, administrative position, desire to develop new knowledge and learn from research findings and perceived insufficient research competence and self-confidence. These variables account for 37.2% of the variance in RP. The results from this study provide useful information for teacher education institutions and policy makers regarding variables significantly related to RP. These variables should be addressed when recruiting teacher educators, assigning administrative duties and designing professional development programs, particularly for new career faculty

A bargaining procedure leading to the serial rule in games with veto players

This paper studies an allocation procedure for coalitional games with veto players. The procedure is similar to the one presented by Arin and Feltkamp (J Math Econ 43:855-870, 2007), which is based on Dagan et al. (Games Econ Behav 18:55-72, 1997). A distinguished player makes a proposal that the remaining players must accept or reject, and conflict is solved bilaterally between the rejector and the proposer. We allow the proposer to make sequential proposals over several periods. If responders are myopic maximizers (i.e. consider each period in isolation), the only equilibrium outcome is the serial rule of Arin and Feltkamp (Eur J Oper Res 216:208-213, 2012) regardless of the order of moves. If all players are fully rational, the serial rule still arises as the unique subgame perfect equilibrium outcome if the order of moves is such that stronger players respond to the proposal after weaker ones

Gut Microbiota, Immunity, and Disease: A Complex Relationship

Our immune system has evolved to recognize and eradicate pathogenic microbes. However, we have a symbiotic relationship with multiple species of bacteria that occupy the gut and comprise the natural commensal flora or microbiota. The microbiota is critically important for the breakdown of nutrients, and also assists in preventing colonization by potentially pathogenic bacteria. In addition, the gut commensal bacteria appear to be critical for the development of an optimally functioning immune system. Various studies have shown that individual species of the microbiota can induce very different types of immune cells (e.g., Th17 cells, Foxp3+ regulatory T cells) and responses, suggesting that the composition of the microbiota can have an important influence on the immune response. Although the microbiota resides in the gut, it appears to have a significant impact on the systemic immune response. Indeed, specific gut commensal bacteria have been shown to affect disease development in organs other than the gut, and depending on the species, have been found to have a wide range of effects on diseases from induction and exacerbation to inhibition and protection. In this review, we will focus on the role that the gut microbiota plays in the development and progression of inflammatory/autoimmune disease, and we will also touch upon its role in allergy and cancer

Benign multicystic mesothelioma: a case report of three sisters

Benign multicystic mesothelioma (BMCM) is a rare tumor of the abdomen-peritoneum of unknown etiology. This benign tumor was initially described by Plaut in 1928 when he observed loose cysts in the pelvis during a surgery for a uterine leiomyoma.2 The mesothelial origin was later confirmed by electron micro-scopy by Mennemeyer and Smith in 1979.3 To date, there are approximately 140 cases of BMCM reported in the literature.4 This disease primarily occurs in pre-menopausal women and is associated with a history of pelvic inflammatory disease, prior abdominal surgery, and endometriosis.4,5 The pathogenesis of this disease remains controversial, with possible etiologies including a neoplastic versus a reactive process.5 In the literature, a few case reports discuss a possible genetic or familial association with BMCM.6 Specifically, one report describes a man with familial Mediterranean fever who developed BMCM. Although familial Mediter-ranean fever is associated with malignant mesothelioma, he had only BMCM, and did not suffer from malignant mesothelioma.6 A genetic evaluation and chromosomal analysis were not able to identify a specific genetic cause of the family’s pattern of disease. This case report describes two female siblings diagnosed with BMCM. In addition, a third sister also had findings consistent with BMCM, however, the discrete histological diagnosis was never confirmed

A Note on the Macroeconomic Consequences of Ethnic/Racial Tension

While many studies stressed the importance of ethnic fractionalization on long-term economic growth, neither ethnic fractionalization always leads to ethnic conflict nor the intensity of conflict is constant over time. To address this potential bias, we construct an ethnic/racial tension index by using the number of US news articles that contain certain keywords. Utilizing this index we test the predictions of a simple theoretical model in a Markov Switching framework which allows to identify the impact of ethnic/racial tension in different states of the economy. Consistent with our theoretical predictions, results show that the magnitude of the impact of ethnic/racial tension is larger during low-growth periods