Trade-offs in costs, diet quality and regional diversity: An analysis of the nutritional value of school meals in Ghana

There is a paucity of studies in the literature regarding the nutrient content and costs of school meals provided across West Africa. Where studies exist, comparative analysis is constrained by inconsistencies in measurements of portion sizes, meal composition and costs. This study reviews the available literature on the nutritional value of school meals in West Africa and reinterprets the meal contributions to the recommended daily intake for the 9-10 year old age group. The nutritional content of school meals from the Ghana School Feeding Programme is then analyzed through a linear modelling analysis of menus obtained from 34 districts in the country. Meal composition and associated nutritional content were constrained by the Government per child budget allocation of GHS 0.40 (USD $0.26) per meal. Prices were compiled from two of Ghana’s major markets including Tamale in the north and Accra in the south. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze regional and seasonal variations with respect to energy, protein, fat, vitamin A and iron content. Adequacy was set at 30% of daily requirements for the relevant age group. The combined mean nutritional values of meals, using the mean yearly price of ingredients in each market, were as follows: energy – 654 kcal, protein - 13g, fat – 24g, iron – 4mg and vitamin A – 19mcg. The corresponding mean weight of the raw ingredients used to prepare a meal was 208g. The findings suggest that the majority of meals provided adequate amounts of protein and additionally in the North, most meals also had sufficient calories. However, meals were found to contain insufficient amounts of vitamin A and iron. Seasonal variations in the nutritional value of meals were not identified. This analysis shows that the current per child per day budget allocation is likely sufficient to meet some, but not all, of the nutritional adequacy targets for the programme. In the short term, there are opportunities to optimize the nutritional content of school meals in Ghana, including the use of fortification, although in the medium term, fostering healthy eating habits and consuming diets composed of nutrient rich varieties will see more enduring results. Strengthening both the meal planning and the monitoring of the school meal service provision could enhance programme implementation.Keywords: School meals, health, nutrition, meal quality, nutrient content, costs, evaluation

The stellar populations of high-redshift dwarf galaxies

We use high-resolution ($\approx 10$ pc), zoom-in simulations of a typical (stellar mass $M_\star\simeq10^{10}M_\odot$) Lyman Break Galaxy (LBG) at $z\simeq 6$ to investigate the stellar populations of its six dwarf galaxy satellites, whose stellar [gas] masses are in the range $\log (M_\star/M_\odot) \simeq 6-9$ [$\log (M_{gas}/M_\odot) \simeq4.3-7.75$]. The properties and evolution of satellites show no dependence on the distance from the central massive LBG ($< 11.5$ kpc). Instead, their star formation and chemical enrichment histories are tightly connected their stellar (and sub-halo) mass. High-mass dwarf galaxies ($\rm M_\star \gtrsim 5\times 10^8 M_\odot$) experience a long history of star formation, characterised by many merger events. Lower-mass systems go through a series of short star formation episodes, with no signs of mergers; their star formation activity starts relatively late ($z\approx 7$), and it is rapidly quenched by internal stellar feedback. In spite of the different evolutionary patterns, all satellites show a spherical morphology, with ancient and more metal-poor stars located towards the inner regions. All six dwarf satellites experienced high star formation rate ($\rm >5\,M_\odot yr ^{-1}$) bursts, which can be detected by JWST while targeting high-$z$ LBGs.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures. To be published in MNRA

School feeding or general food distribution? Quasi-experimental evidence on the educational impacts of emergency food assistance during conflict in Mali

This study relies on a unique precrisis baseline and five-year follow-up to investigate the effects of emergency school feeding and generalised food distribution (GFD) on children’s schooling during conflict in Mali. It estimates programme impact on child enrolment, absenteeism, and attainment by using a difference in differences weighted estimator. School feeding led to increases in enrolment by 10 percentage points and to around an additional half-year of completed schooling. Attendance among boys in households receiving GFD, however, declined by about 20 per cent relative to the comparison group. Disaggregating by conflict intensity showed that receipt of any food assistance led to a rise in enrolment mostly in high-intensity conflict areas and that the negative effects of GFD on attendance were also concentrated in the most affected areas. School feeding mostly raised attainment among children in areas not in the immediate vicinity of conflict. Programme receipt triggered adjustments in child labour. School feeding led to lower participation and time spent in work among girls, while GFD raised children’s labour, particularly among boys. The educational implications of food assistance should be considered in planning humanitarian responses to bridge the gap between emergency assistance and development by promoting children’s education

Development and testing of the propulsion system of MARTA AUV

This work deals with the design of the propulsion system of a modular AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). The authors describe the design methodologies and the testing devices used for the fast prototyping of MARTA (MARine Tool for Archaeology) AUV actuation system, including drivers, motors and propellers. In particular, the authors introduce the design criteria followed for the preliminary testing activities and the methodologies adopted for fast testing and prototyping of the proposed solutions. This is a quite important topic considering the high customization and the reliability required by this kind of applications

Micro-beam and pulsed laser beam techniques for the micro-fabrication of diamond surface and bulk structures

Micro-fabrication in diamond is involved in a wide set of emerging technologies, exploiting the exceptional characteristics of diamond for application in bio-physics, photonics, radiation detection. Micro ion-beam irradiation and pulsed laser irradiation are complementary techniques, which permit the implementation of complex geometries, by modification and functionalization of surface and/or bulk material, modifying the optical, electrical and mechanical characteristics of the material. In this article we summarize the work done in Florence (Italy) concerning ion beam and pulsed laser beam micro-fabrication in diamond.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

The impact of food assistance on food insecure populations during conflict: evidence from a quasi-experiment in Mali

Mali, a vast landlocked country at the heart of West Africa in the Sahel region, is one of the least developed and most food insecure countries in the world. Mali suffered from a series of political, constitutional and military crises since January 2012, including the loss of government control of northern territories from April 2012 until January 2013. A range of humanitarian aid interventions were scaled up in response to these complex crises. In this study, we exploit data from a unique pre-crisis baseline to evaluate the impact of humanitarian aid on the food security of rural populations. We design a quasi-experimental study based on two survey rounds, five years apart, in the Mopti region in Northern Mali. Data was collected from 66 communities randomly selected from within food-insecure districts. Study outcomes include household expenditures and food consumption and a proxy for child nutritional status (height measurements). We estimate program impact by combining propensity score matching and difference-in-difference. Food assistance was found to increase household non-food and food expenditures and micro-nutrient availability. Disaggregating by degree of conflict exposure showed that the effects on children’s height and caloric and micro-nutrient consumption were mostly concentrated in areas not in the immediate vicinity of the conflict, unlike the increase in food expenditures that were driven by households located in close proximity to armed groups. The effects were also concentrated on households receiving at least two forms of food assistance. In villages where armed groups were present, food assistance improved household zinc consumption and also appeared to support food expenditures. Food transfers are thus found to exert a protective effect among food insecure population in conflict context