Attempting to Close the Food Gap: An Evaluation of the 2011 Fair Share Program in Gettysburg, PA

Background: Families in Adams County with an income between 160% and 250% of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines and ineligible for federal food assistance programs were determined to be in the “food gap.” In collaboration with Adams County Farm Fresh Markets and the Center for Public Service at Gettysburg College, the Adams County Food Policy Council developed the Fair Share Program to provide monthly food vouchers and educational sessions to a group of families in the food gap to use at farmers markets in Gettysburg, PA. The goals of the program were to provide families not eligible for federal food assistance with an increased ability to purchase healthy foods, increase fruit and vegetable consumption, support local farms the local economy, and provide nutrition education and support. Purpose: We sought to identify the effectiveness of the pilot Fair Share Program in reaching its goals and to determine ways to improve the program in the future. Methods: 25 families who participated in the Fair Share Program during the summer of 2011 were given surveys at the start of the program, and interviews were conducted with participants at the end of the program. Surveys were given to the participating vendors at the farmers markets at the conclusion of the program. A bivariate analysis of the participant survey was done comparing results from Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants using SPSS Statistics 17.0, while the vendor surveys and interviews were evaluated qualitatively. Results: There were several noteworthy differences between the habits and perceptions of the Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants, including fruit and vegetable consumption patterns, reasons for not shopping at the farmer’s markets, and where food is typically obtained from. Interviews indicated that both participants and vendors had overall positive experiences with the program even though challenges including price and language differences were experienced. Conclusion: The Fair Share Project reached its goals and had a positive impact on the community. Improvements should be made if the program is to be continued in the future to address the challenges participants faced while participating, and there is strong support for continuation and extension of the program

COLLEGE STUDENT ALCOHOL USE: USING CURRENT RESEARCH TO GUIDE PRACTICE

Alcohol abuse has been described as the biggest health problem on college campuses today.This single statement illustrates the public health relevance of addressing college student alcohol use. College student alcohol use affects everyone on a college campus, not only the student who uses or abuses alcohol. The author of this paper is currently an employee of the University of Pittsburgh's Student Health Services. As a graduate student assistant, she has facilitated the Personal Education Assistance and Referral (PEAR) program to over 250 students. The goals of this paper are to provide an understanding of background information surrounding college student alcohol use, to critically examine three major reports and two ongoing studies and to specifically elaborate on the goals created by the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. This paper concludes with recommendations consisting of prevention and intervention strategies as well as environmental changes that are evidence-based

Homophobia, Heterosexism, and Ambivalence in the Premier Issue of \u3cem\u3eSports Illustrated Woman/Sport\u3c/em\u3e

The arrival of a magazine dedicated solely to the world of women\u27s sports was an exciting prospect for fans and proponents of women\u27s sports. But the first issue of Sports Illustrated Women/Sport disappointed many who considered it did not put women\u27s sports in the best possible light, who were worried and disappointed that its editors did not print the best stories or even focus on the most deserving athletes. Lisa Weidman decided to investigate further, using feminist theory and prior research findings to better understand the magazine\u27s messages. Through a critical analysis of the magazine\u27s editorial content - at the same time recognizing its advertisement, an aspect worthy of study - Weidman demonstrates how the first issue of Women/Sport marginalized women\u27s sports, expressed ambivalence about women\u27s participation in sports, and perpetuated homophobic and heterosexist attitudes

Uncovering Local Absorbed Active Galactic Nuclei with Swift and Suzaku

Detection of absorbed active galactic nuclei and their properties remains an elusive and important problem in understanding the evolution and activation of black holes. With the very hard X-ray survey conducted by Swift's Burst Alert Telescope - the first all-sky survey in 30 years - we are beginning to uncover the characteristics of obscured AGN. The synergy between Suzaku and Swift has been crucial in pinning down the X-ray properties of newly detected heavily obscured but bright hard X-ray sources. We review the X-ray and optical spectroscopic properties of obscured AGN in the local Universe, as detected in the Swift survey. We discuss the relative distribution of absorbed/unabsorbed sources, including "hidden" and Compton thick AGN populations. Among the results from the survey, we find that absorbed AGN are less luminous than unabsorbed sources. Optical spectra reveal that sources with emission line ratios indicative of LINERs/H II galaxies/composites are the least luminous objects in the sample, while optical absorbed and unabsorbed Seyferts have the same luminosity distributions. Thus, the least luminous sources are likely accreting in a different mode than the Seyferts.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, To appear in the conference proceedings for "Exploring the X-ray Universe: Suzaku and Beyond", the July 2011 Suzaku Science Conferenc

Subphonemic and suballophonic consonant variation : the role of the phoneme inventory

Consonants exhibit more variation in their phonetic realization than is typically acknowledged, but that variation is linguistically constrained. Acoustic analysis of both read and spontaneous speech reveals that consonants are not necessarily realized with the manner of articulation they would have in careful citation form. Although the variation is wider than one would imagine, it is limited by the phoneme inventory. The phoneme inventory of the language restricts the range of variation to protect the system of phonemic contrast. That is, consonants may stray phonetically into unfilled areas of the language's sound space. Listeners are seldom consciously aware of the consonant variation, and perceive the consonants phonemically as in their citation forms. A better understanding of surface phonetic consonant variation can help make predictions in theoretical domains and advances in applied domains

The growing wage gap: is training the answer?

Training programs targeted toward lower skilled workers to a much greater extent than is currently the case could play an important role in narrowing the wage gap. Specific strategies would include assisting firms to develop their own programs, improving the school-to-work transition for non-college-bound high school graduates, and providing displaced workers with the skills needed to take new jobs in growing sectors of the economy.Education ; Employees, Training of ; Wages

Improvement of experimental testing and network training conditions with genome-wide microarrays for more accurate predictions of drug gene targets

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide microarrays have been useful for predicting chemical-genetic interactions at the gene level. However, interpreting genome-wide microarray results can be overwhelming due to the vast output of gene expression data combined with off-target transcriptional responses many times induced by a drug treatment. This study demonstrates how experimental and computational methods can interact with each other, to arrive at more accurate predictions of drug-induced perturbations. We present a two-stage strategy that links microarray experimental testing and network training conditions to predict gene perturbations for a drug with a known mechanism of action in a well-studied organism. RESULTS: S. cerevisiae cells were treated with the antifungal, fluconazole, and expression profiling was conducted under different biological conditions using Affymetrix genome-wide microarrays. Transcripts were filtered with a formal network-based method, sparse simultaneous equation models and Lasso regression (SSEM-Lasso), under different network training conditions. Gene expression results were evaluated using both gene set and single gene target analyses, and the drug’s transcriptional effects were narrowed first by pathway and then by individual genes. Variables included: (i) Testing conditions – exposure time and concentration and (ii) Network training conditions – training compendium modifications. Two analyses of SSEM-Lasso output – gene set and single gene – were conducted to gain a better understanding of how SSEM-Lasso predicts perturbation targets. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that genome-wide microarrays can be optimized using a two-stage strategy for a more in-depth understanding of how a cell manifests biological reactions to a drug treatment at the transcription level. Additionally, a more detailed understanding of how the statistical model, SSEM-Lasso, propagates perturbations through a network of gene regulatory interactions is achieved.Published versio