Effects of WIC Program Participation on Food Consumption and Diet Quality

This paper examines the effect of WIC program Participation on food consumption and diet quality of U.S. children between 2 and 4 years of age. Diet quality is assessed using the Healthy Eating Index, U.S. Department of Agriculture's instrument for measuring overall diet quality incorporating ten recommended components of dietary guidelines. The study has found that WIC program participation has significant positive influence in improving diet quality as measured by HEI and several of its components. The analysis has also indicated that the WIC program has significant positive influence in reducing sugar consumption by children. This research and the results presented have potential significance for researchers, economists and policy makers focusing on the determinants of children's diets and the role of Federal food assistance and nutrition education programs.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

A Tobit Analysis of WIC Children's Consumption of Pyramid Group Foods

This paper develops and estimates an econometric model for children's consumption of the Pyramid Group foods using the Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII) for the years 1994-96, 1998. This analysis is accomplished using a Tobit model (censored dependent variable) and by appropriately incorporating the survey design characteristics. Results of the regression analysis indicate that participation in the WIC program significantly affects the consumption patterns of children, for certain types of Pyramid Group foods. After controlling for other factors, WIC children consumed more milk, fruit and whole grain and less of added sugar than the group of eligible nonparticipating children.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

MEAT AND POULTRY PLANTS' FOOD SAFETY INVESTMENTS: SURVEY FINDINGS

Results from the first national survey of the types and amounts of food safety investments made by meat and poultry slaughter and processing plants since the late 1990s provide evidence that market forces have worked in conjunction with regulation to promote the use of more sophisticated food safety technologies. From 1996 through 2000, U.S. plants as a group spent about $380 million annually and made$570 million in long-term investments to comply with USDA's 1996 Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) regulation, according to a survey initiated by the Economic Research Service. The U.S. meat and poultry industry as a whole during the same time period spent an additional $360 million on food safety investments that were not required by the PR/HACCP rule. Implementation of the regulation began in 1997 and was mandated by early 2000 in all sizes and types of meat and poultry slaughter and processing plants. The full HACCP surveys referenced in this technical bulletin are available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/haccpsurveyFood Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries,

Analyses of Generic Dairy Advertising, 1984-97

Generic advertising raised fluid milk sales about 6.0 percent, or 18.1 billion pounds, between September 1984 and September 1997. Sales of cheese rose by about 6.8 billion pounds (milk equivalent) in the same period because of increased generic advertising. An assessment of 15 cents per hundredweight of milk sold commercially, mandated by the Dairy and Tobacco Adjustment Act of 1983, funded the advertising. Activities of the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board also contributed to increased milk sales over the past year. Gross returns to dairy farmers between September 1984 and September 1997 were estimated to increase by $3.44 for each dollar spent on generic advertising.cheese, fluid milk, advertising, demand, entry, exit, distributed lag, econometrics, simulation, elasticities, Milk Processor Education Program, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Development of discontinuous Galerkin method for nonlocal linear elasticity

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computation for Design and Optimization Program, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-81).A number of constitutive theories have arisen describing materials which, by nature, exhibit a non-local response. The formulation of boundary value problems, in this case, leads to a system of equations involving higher-order derivatives which, in turn, results in requirements of continuity of the solution of higher order. Discontinuous Galerkin methods are particularly attractive toward this end, as they provide a means to naturally enforce higher interelement continuity in a weak manner without the need of modifying the finite element interpolation. In this work, a discontinuous Galerkin formulation for boundary value problems in small strain, non-local linear elasticity is proposed. The underlying theory corresponds to the phenomenological strain-gradient theory developed by Fleck and Hutchinson within the Toupin-Mindlin framework. The single-field displacement method obtained enables the discretization of the boundary value problem with a conventional continuous interpolation inside each finite element, whereas the higher-order interelement continuity is enforced in a weak manner. The proposed method is shown to be consistent and stable both theoretically and with suitable numerical examples.by Ram Bala Chandran.S.M

Potential benefits and therapeutic applications of "Panchgavya" therapy (Cowpathy) for human and animal health: Current scientific knowledge

Cow's milk, urine, dung, ghee, and curd (together known as "Panchgavya") have incomparable medicinal value in Ayurveda and ancient Indian clinical methods. Panchgavya is also known as Cowpathy in Ayurveda. In India, the cow is revered as a goddess known as "Gaumata" because of its nurturing qualities similar to those of a mother. Almost no adverse effects are associated with using Panchgavya, which is why it is recommended in Ayurveda for treating disorders affecting numerous body systems. Its possible antimicrobial effects have piqued the curiosity of medical researchers and practitioners. Cow milk is widely regarded as a nutritious diet and has been shown to effectively treat various medical conditions, including high body temperature, pain, cancer, diabetes, kidney diseases, and weakness. Milk can prevent the growth of microorganisms, has erotic qualities when combined with the leaves of medicinal herbs, and the fat in milk has anticancer characteristics. Toned and skim milk, lassi, yoghurt, cottage cheese, and khoa all come from milk and have important medicinal characteristics. Curd (dahi) is recommended as a blood purifier for conditions such as hemorrhoids, piles, and gastrointestinal issues. Ghee made from cows has been shown to boost immunity. It is important to highlight the use of cow dung as an antifungal and for treating malaria and tuberculosis. It has the potential to aid in the development of a populace free from disease, the creation of sustainable energy systems, the fulfilment of all nutritional needs, the elimination of poverty, the promotion of organic farming culture, and the like. Cow urine is a powerful remedy for numerous medical conditions, including but not limited to epileptic convulsions, diabetes, hepatitis, inflammation, fever, and anaemia. The current review article explores how the Panchgavya ingredients can be employed to safeguard human and animal health

Inward and Outward FDI Country Profiles, Second Edition

This second edition contains a series of 77 standardized country profiles dealing with the inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) performance of 40 economies. The profiles have been peer-reviewed by a global network of experts. The publication is intended to contribute to the analysis of trends in foreign direct investment and policy issues related to them. More specifically, the individual profiles discuss FDI trends and developments (country-level developments, the corporate players); effects of the recent global crises; and the policy scene. Each profile contains a standard set of tables, including on FDI stocks and flows, sectoral and geographical FDI distributions, the largest M&As and greenfield investments, the principal foreign affiliates (for inward FDI), and the principal multinational enterprises (for outward FDI). The standardized template used to produce the profiles allows cross-country comparisons. The volume is meant to be a reference tool for anyone interested in foreign direct investment

Effects of WIC Program Participation on Food Consumption and Diet Quality

This paper examines the effect of WIC program Participation on food consumption and diet quality of U.S. children between 2 and 4 years of age. Diet quality is assessed using the Healthy Eating Index, U.S. Department of Agriculture's instrument for measuring overall diet quality incorporating ten recommended components of dietary guidelines. The study has found that WIC program participation has significant positive influence in improving diet quality as measured by HEI and several of its components. The analysis has also indicated that the WIC program has significant positive influence in reducing sugar consumption by children. This research and the results presented have potential significance for researchers, economists and policy makers focusing on the determinants of children's diets and the role of Federal food assistance and nutrition education programs

A Tobit Analysis of WIC Children's Consumption of Pyramid Group Foods

This paper develops and estimates an econometric model for children's consumption of the Pyramid Group foods using the Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII) for the years 1994-96, 1998. This analysis is accomplished using a Tobit model (censored dependent variable) and by appropriately incorporating the survey design characteristics. Results of the regression analysis indicate that participation in the WIC program significantly affects the consumption patterns of children, for certain types of Pyramid Group foods. After controlling for other factors, WIC children consumed more milk, fruit and whole grain and less of added sugar than the group of eligible nonparticipating children

Error-control schemes for broadcast channels

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1991.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-127)Microfiche.xii, 127 leaves, bound ill. 29 cmToday's information age has created a virtual explosion in the need for connectivity, resource sharing and transfer of information on a global scale. This has resulted in the mushrooming of data networks. The satisfactory functioning of these networks is becoming increasingly dependent on the fast and reliable transfer of information over broadcast (one-to-many) and multiple-access (many-to-one) channels. Historically, almost all the efforts towards error-control in data transmission have been for the point-to-point channel. In this dissertation, we have investigated some error-control schemes for the reliable transfer of data over broadcast channels. The goal of this study is to meet a given reliability criterion for the transmission of data while making efficient use of the channel. Excepting some degenerate cases, most of the interesting broadcast scenarios also include a multiple-access channel in tandem. In other words, many of these broadcast channels have a built-in feedback channel. We have proposed several error-control schemes for the broadcast channels that make use of this feedback channel. The broadcast environments have been classified into two categories: Homogeneous and Non-homogeneous. Homogeneous broadcast channel (HB) is the case where a single source sends messages to all the destinations in the channel. The transmitter tries to deliver the same messages error-free to all the receivers. In the Non-Homogeneous broadcast (NHB) channel, successive messages from the transmitter may be addressed to different subsets of receivers in the broadcast environment and these subsets may not be disjoint. Several retransmission-error-control schemes have been proposed for these two channels. We introduce criteria for characterizing channel utilization and algorithms for achieving superior channel throughput. The coding problem for the HB channel is synonymous to that of the point-to-point channel. We have proposed a selective repeat ARQ protocol for the HB channel that uses a dynamic programming optimization technique to choose the optimum number of copies of a message to be transmitted by considering the number of receivers that are yet to acknowledge the message. We have also proposed two hybrid ARQ schemes that use powerful codes combined with parity retransmission. These two schemes are suitable for noisier channels. All these schemes significantly improve upon all the existing schemes in literature both in terms of achievable throughput and reliability. For the NHB channel, we have examined several retransmission schemes that exploit the broadcast nature of the channel. The proposed schemes are non-timeshared in general. Time-shared schemes can however be realized as special cases of these schemes. We have considered two cases of the NHB channel: Finite Broadcast Population and Infinite Broadcast Population. The finite population case allows us to exploit the broadcast nature of the channel more effectively. Various trade- offs that arise in the choice of these schemes have been investigated. The non-timeshared schemes significantly outperform the time-shared schemes almost always. To the best of our knowledge, this work constitutes the first systematic study of NHB channels. The NHB channels closely model the computer communications networks so prevalent today. The schemes proposed here achieve much higher throughput than the ones being used today. Moreover, these schemes can be used with UEP codes to achieve different levels of protection for the messages intended for different destination groups