A Picture of Hartford\u27s Community Food Environment: An Image Recognition Approach

The rise in recent years of research dedicated to community food environments has produced valuable insights but has focused primarily on one dimension of access to healthy food: availability. This study expands the current research and utilizes an innovative approach in generating a food environment index by focusing on consumer choice in restaurants. Using food images crowdsourced from Google Place (n=19,907) and TripAdvisor (n=3,252) in restaurants (n=487) of the Greater Hartford Area, we employed a deep-learning based food-image-recognition technique to identify the food type and nutrition information from these food images, which were also validated by manual coding. We then generated a community food environment index by aggregating the deep-learned nutrition information from each restaurant on the census-tract level and explored this index’s relationships with each neighborhood’s socio-demographic characteristics and two established food environment indices, namely the USDA’s Food Access measure and the mRFEI. Our results showed that deep learning results were reasonably accurate (75% accuracy when compared with manual coding), and the resulting food environment index was significantly correlated with the share of single parent households (p\u3c0.05) and people living in group quarters (p\u3c0.01) in each census tract. We also observed moderate consistency and weak correlations between our food environment index and both established indices. This pilot study shows that a deep-learning based food-image-recognition approach has the potential to map out local food environment and complement other food environment indices by accounting for food environment-diet relationship and portraying the individual’s choices in built food environments

Increasing Rural Special Education Teacher Candidates\u27 Ability to Implement Evidence-Based Practices: A Program Description of the Boise State University TATERS Program

The Technology Accentuated Teacher Education for Rural Specialists (TATERS) program aimed to: (a) prepare highly qualified special education teachers across a state comprised of more than 70% rural districts, (b) develop a system of support through a mentor network and institutions of higher education collaboration to address the needs of teacher candidates in rural areas, (c) ground special education teachers in the use of evidence-based practices to improve the instructional services that students with disabilities in Idaho receive, and (d) develop a mechanism to evaluate and provide feedback on teacher candidates\u27 implementation of evidence-based practices. This article describes the application of a special education teacher evaluation system to a teacher preparation program designed to improve special education teachers\u27 ability to implement evidence-based practices for students with disabilities in rural areas. Key program components are described and future directions for continuous improvement are highlighted

A study to elicit attitudes which reveal the degree of acceptance of professional and practical nurses as co-workers in the hospital.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

The Structure of Paul Creston\u27s Narrative No. 2, Op. 79 No. 2 for Piano

This paper presents an analytical discussion of the structure of Paul Creston\u27s Narrative No. 2. An explanation of Mr. Creston\u27s approach to composition is followed by a general description of the free-sectional form. Next, each section is investigated separately according to its rhythm, harmony, and melody. However, at the same time relationships between the sections are mentioned also. Some characteristics of Mr. Creston\u27s style which are revealed in this study are his use of various rhythmic structures, pantonality, the lydian mode, and tangential variation

Issues in Evaluating Special Education Teachers: Challenges and Current Perspectives

Educatio

Compare Healthcare Utilization in the First Three Years of Life for Infants with Prenatal Opioid Exposure Based on Type of Neonatal Care Received

Purpose/Background: Infants with prenatal opioid and other drug exposure often experience withdrawal symptoms known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Some hospitals have modified clinical environments to promote recovery (reduced stimulation, nursery-like rooms, permitting rooming-in). While existing research has demonstrated efficacy of lower-stimulation environment, there is no known research evaluating longer-term implications of clinical environment on infant health beyond immediate neonatal period in states disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic with diverse urban-rural populations such as Alaska. Materials & Methods: The goal of this project is to determine whether supportive care decreases the likelihood of foster care placement from birth to age three by the type of neonatal care received using linked administrative health data from Alaska Medicaid and the Alaska Office· of Children\u27s Services (OCS) for infants born between 201O and 2017, in the State of Alaska. Data sourced from Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) Medicaid database was linked with data from Vital Statistics (birth and death records), and OCS data. Demographic data (e.g., age of mother, urban and rural residence (based on census classification)) was extracted from Vital Statistics database. Reports of child maltreatment, duration of foster care placement, rates of adoption, and return to the biological family among infants placed in foster care based on NAS status and the type of neonatal care received sourced from OCS data. Regression was used to assess likelihood of infants removed to foster care at birth being returned to their mother by one year, Poisson or negative binomial regression to determine if there are significant differences foster care days and rates of adoption by infants with NAS based on receipt of neonatal supportive care. Results: Based on interim analysis, infants with NAS who have been treated in a supportive care setting (e.g. Alaska Regional NEST) that uses rooming-in and a family oriented approach will have fewer days in foster care. This may be due to increased education and support provided to mothers and infants in lower-stimulation environment. Discussion/Conclusion: Further study is necessary to understand the impact of supportive care interventions on the health outcomes of infants with NAS

Interrogating the discourse of \u27social literacies\u27 in an era of uncertainty

Originally, the term \u27social literacies\u27 was used to suggest the skills, knowledge and processes for addressing multicultural teaching and learning (Kalantzis and Cope, 1983). The meaning of the phrase has since evolved to encompass widely different concepts, including for example, social \u27competencies\u27, and/or citizenship education (eg., Arthur &amp; Davison, 2000). Clearly the discourse around \u27social literacies\u27 is shifting in response to changing educational policies, both nationally and internationally. In this paper, we examine how constructs of \u27social literacies\u27 have been and might be deployed. Building from a review of the policy, program and theoretical literature, we pose questions concerning how \u27social literacies\u27 might be used to interrogate and rework relations, especially those of gender and culture. Questions to be considered include: will the concept of \u27social literacies\u27 enable us to better understand the processes of identity and community formations in this era of uncertainty? Which knowledges and skills are identified in the literature and positioned as critical in establishing \u27productive\u27 social relations/literacies? Additionally, we begin to theorise the degree to which such constructions of \u27social literacies\u27 might enhance and/or limit quality learning at the tertiary levels of teacher education.<br /

Lighted electronic visual fields model

A visual field model has been built to facilitate the learning process for optometric students. The lighted model has simulations of lesions at five locations. When button switches are depressed, lights flash in the simulated visual pathway and the corresponding visual field. The flashing lights represent nerve fiber damage and the visual field that is affected

Alternative Service Delivery Models for Students with Learning Disabilities

More than 40 years of intervention research describes effective interventions for increasing the academic performance of students with learning disabilities. However, the performance and outcomes for students with learning disabilities remain discouraging, especially in light of the increasing cost to provide special education services. Between 60 – 70 percent of students with learning disabilities are unable to meet grade level performance standards in the basic academic areas of reading, writing and mathematics. The disconnect between research and practice suggests a need for rethinking special education service delivery. This paper reports the results of a program evaluation of a not-for-profit center specializing in working with students with learning disabilities, comparing the pre to post test gains and program costs to those typically seen in public education special education systems. A paired samples t-test examined pre to post test differences in reading, math and writing performance for a total of 104 students with learning disabilities between the ages of 6–17. Results were statistically and practically significant across all areas, and these results were obtained at costs much lower than those incurred under the current public education model. Implications for future research are discussed