THE EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE SYSTEM - FINDINGS FROM THE PROVIDER SURVEY, VOLUME I: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Findings of the first comprehensive government study of the Emergency Food Assistance System (EFAS) suggest that public and private food assistance may work in tandem to provide more comprehensive food assistance than either could provide by itself. Five major types of organizations (emergency kitchens, food pantries, food banks, food rescue organizations, and emergency food organizations) that operate in the EFAS were studied. About 5,300 emergency kitchens provide more than 173 million meals a year, and 32,700 food pantries distribute about 2.9 billion pounds of food a year, which translates into roughly 2,200 million meals. Despite the substantial amounts of food distributed by the system, the EFAS remains much smaller in scale than the Federal programs. The study, which was sponsored by USDA's Economic Research Service, provides detailed information about the system's operations and about each of the five types of organizations. This report summarizes the results of the study. For more detail on the results, see The Emergency Food Assistance System-Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume II: Final Report at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr16. For more information on the survey methodology, see The Emergency Food Assistance System-Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume III: Survey Methodology at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan01008.Food pantry, emergency kitchen, food bank, food rescue organization, emergency food organization, TEFAP, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

GEOMORPHOLOGY OF MATTHIESSEN AND STARVED ROCK STATE PARKS

Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks in La Salle County, Illinois contain interesting canyons. They were created when glaciers formed and retreated after the last glaciation period, causing stream channels that eroded away much of the sandstone to create the canyons we know and see today. The sandstone member that makes up most of the state parks is known as the St. Peter sandstone, which is very weakly cemented and friable. Landslides are not a frequent occurrence, but happen periodically, sometimes after freeze-thaw events. This is believed to be due to the stability and steepness of the canyon walls and may be created by case-hardening of the rock surfaces due to filling bedrock pore spaces with cement. In this area, the strengthened rock surfaces could also be due to lichen and algae growth, known as lithobionts, on the surface. This sandstone also typically does not react with HCl, but it has been known observed in isolated locations. I hypothesize that this may be due to case hardening or lithobiont occurrences. My research study will investigate these bedrock features and their influence on the geomorphology of the watersheds in Matthiessen and Starved Rock State Parks. My goal is to study why there is variability of bedrock surface characteristics across the canyons in the same sandstone formation. I hypothesize that the reactions to HCl on the rock of the rock were are caused either by surface runoff or case hardening. I will test my hypothesis by observing areas every 5-10 feet at eye level, roughly 5 feet above the ground surface, and mapping which areas reacted to HCl and what biologic or water flow processes could cause the reaction. I will note proximities to the streams, and the rim of the canyon, to see if water flow containing calcite or iron drained down the canyon walls. Observations are likely to indicate different levels of erosion and stability along the canyon walls

The Artwork as Assemblage. New Materialist Perspectives on Aesthetics

To analyse an artwork using the philosophical theory of the assemblage is to expand one’s view of how artworks can be interpreted. In the various and often wildly differing concepts of new materialism, the assemblage acts as a way of describing the agency of matter in general. Following Deleuze and Guattari, who provided various definitions of the assemblage, the new materialist perspectives emphasize, for example, the active linking of heterogeneous parts and a dynamic conjunction of semi-autonomous formations that articulate new affiliations of entities and discourses. In this essay, Xinhao Cheng’s multimedia installation The Naming of a River, 2014 to 2018, is described as an assemblage, thereby significantly widening how it is interpreted as the artwork. Cheng describes the manifolds of time-space-dimensions in his simultaneously scientific and deeply personal artistic research project on the Panlong River. In the context of an assembled assemblage theory, formed by combining new materialist perspectives, The Naming of a River can be thought of as existing in an innumerable manifold of different versions. With each new connection made, the entire artwork changes completely. The relations exist not only between the material artefacts of the installation and the artist, but also between the institution, the recipients, and the river. The artwork is a self-productive setting that transcends spaces and times, an interpretation derived from approaches by Manuel DeLanda and Karen Barad. In this process, our understanding of what an artwork can be is significantly challenged.To analyse an artwork using the philosophical theory of the assemblage is to expand one’s view of how artworks can be interpreted. In the various and often wildly differing concepts of new materialism, the assemblage acts as a way of describing the agency of matter in general. Following Deleuze and Guattari, who provided various definitions of the assemblage, the new materialist perspectives emphasize, for example, the active linking of heterogeneous parts and a dynamic conjunction of semi-autonomous formations that articulate new affiliations of entities and discourses. In this essay, Xinhao Cheng’s multimedia installation The Naming of a River, 2014 to 2018, is described as an assemblage, thereby significantly widening how it is interpreted as the artwork. Cheng describes the manifolds of time-space-dimensions in his simultaneously scientific and deeply personal artistic research project on the Panlong River. In the context of an assembled assemblage theory, formed by combining new materialist perspectives, The Naming of a River can be thought of as existing in an innumerable manifold of different versions. With each new connection made, the entire artwork changes completely. The relations exist not only between the material artefacts of the installation and the artist, but also between the institution, the recipients, and the river. The artwork is a self-productive setting that transcends spaces and times, an interpretation derived from approaches by Manuel DeLanda and Karen Barad. In this process, our understanding of what an artwork can be is significantly challenged.To analyse an artwork using the philosophical theory of the assemblage is to expand one’s view of how artworks can be interpreted. In the various and often wildly differing concepts of new materialism, the assemblage acts as a way of describing the agency of matter in general. Following Deleuze and Guattari, who provided various definitions of the assemblage, the new materialist perspectives emphasize, for example, the active linking of heterogeneous parts and a dynamic conjunction of semi-autonomous formations that articulate new affiliations of entities and discourses. In this essay, Xinhao Cheng’s multimedia installation The Naming of a River, 2014 to 2018, is described as an assemblage, thereby significantly widening how it is interpreted as the artwork. Cheng describes the manifolds of time-space-dimensions in his simultaneously scientific and deeply personal artistic research project on the Panlong River. In the context of an assembled assemblage theory, formed by combining new materialist perspectives, The Naming of a River can be thought of as existing in an innumerable manifold of different versions. With each new connection made, the entire artwork changes completely. The relations exist not only between the material artefacts of the installation and the artist, but also between the institution, the recipients, and the river. The artwork is a self-productive setting that transcends spaces and times, an interpretation derived from approaches by Manuel DeLanda and Karen Barad. In this process, our understanding of what an artwork can be is significantly challenged

Somalia...From the Sea

From January 1991 through March 1995, the United States conducted numerous incursions into Somalia, undertaking a variety of missions and objectives. All of the actions had humanitarian elements, yet the operations that made up this mosaic of American involvement ranged from benign to aggressive, from purely humanitarian to clearly combative. Somalia...From the Sea is an account that attempts to explain and analyze these actions and place them within the overarching strategic and operational concepts developing in the first years following the end of the Cold War.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/usnwc-newport-papers/1033/thumbnail.jp

EASTERN EXIT—Rescue “. . . From the Sea”

Operation EASTERN EXIT, the January 1991 evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia, was an early and improvised, but highly successful, application of the expeditionary concepts devised to meet the emerging (dis)order of the post–Cold War world

THE EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE SYSTEM - FINDINGS FROM THE PROVIDER SURVEY, VOLUME II: FINAL REPORT

Findings of the first comprehensive government study of the Emergency Food Assistance System (EFAS) suggest that public and private food assistance may work in tandem to provide more comprehensive food assistance than either could provide by itself. Five major types of organizations (emergency kitchens, food pantries, food banks, food rescue organizations, and emergency food organizations) operate in the EFAS. About 5,300 emergency kitchens provide more than 173 million meals a year, and 32,700 food pantries distribute about 2.9 billion pounds of food a year, which translates into roughly 2,200 million meals. Despite substantial amounts of food distributed by the system, the EFAS remains much smaller in scale than the Federal programs. This study, which was sponsored by USDAs Economic Research Service, provides detailed information about the systems operations and about each of the five types of organizations. This report presents the study results in detail. For a summary of the results, see The Emergency Food Assistance SystemFindings from the Provider Survey, Volume I: Executive Summary at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr16-1. For more information on the survey methodology, see The Emergency Food Assistance SystemFindings from the Provider Survey, Volume III: Survey Methodology at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan01008.Food pantry, emergency kitchen, food bank, food rescue organization, emergency food organization, TEFAP, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Samspill skaper Ny sjanse: erfaringer fra et kvalifiseringstiltak

I denne artikkelen drøftes hvordan deltakeres medvirkning kommer til uttrykk i programmet Ny sjanse. Formålet med Ny sjanse er å kvalifisere innvandrere, som står utenfor arbeidsmarkedet og som er langtidsmottakere av sosialhjelp, til arbeid. Brukermedvirkning er en integrert del av metodene i programmet. Metodene omfatter blant annet grundig kartlegging, skriftlig individuell plan og tett oppfølging, med fokus på mestrings- og motivasjonsarbeid. Forhold ved metodene, prosjektmedarbeiderne, deltakerne og systemet rundt spiller inn, men viktigst er samspillet mellom prosjektmedarbeiderne og deltakerne for at medvirkningen skal være reell. Artikkelen bygger på materialet fra en kvalitativ studie om Ny sjanse gjennomført på oppdrag fra IMDi (Integrerings- og mangfoldsdirektoratet) høsten 2008

Alterations in Methylation of the Erythropoietin Gene During Human Fetal Development

Abstract Background: Both hypoxia and anemia stimulate erythropoiesis by stimulating Epo transcription and protein production. Developmental, tissue-specific, and environmental signals all contribute to the precise regulation of the Epo gene. Temporal and tissue-specific signals limit expression of the Epo gene primarily to cells in the fetal liver and adult kidney. The precise mechanisms regulating Epo gene expression during human fetal development are unclear. We sought to determine if regulation of the Epo gene occurs in some part through methylation. Using the demethylating agent 5-aza-2 deoxycytidine (DAC), we compared Epo mRNA expression in human fetal kidney and liver between 12 and 22 weeks gestation under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Methods: Primary cell cultures from liver and kidney tissue ranging from 12-22 weeks were either treated with DAC or vehicle control for three days. After day three, each matched kidney and liver set were incubated at 1% (hypoxia) or 21% (room air) for eight hours in a 37 degree C incubator. RNA was harvested using TriZol, isolated, reverse transcribed, and quantification PCR was performed to measure Epo mRNA expression. Epo mRNA expression was normalized to an internal standard 18S rRNA in each duplex reaction. Results: Epo mRNA concentrations were much greater in liver than kidney at all gestations tested (p\u3c0.001). A twenty-fold increase in Epo mRNA concentrations occurred when liver samples were exposed to hypoxia, however this increase was not enhanced by pretreating the samples with DAC. There was no statistical difference in Epo mRNA concentrations when kidney samples were exposed to hypoxia. There was a four-fold increase in Epo mRNA concentrations when kidney samples were pretreated with DAC, however this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Demethylation of fetal kidney increased Epo mRNA expression, but not to the level of Epo mRNA expression measured in fetal liver. Methylation of fetal liver did not increase Epo mRNA expression under hypoxic conditions. We speculate that Epo gene expression in fetal kidney is regulated in part by methylation, and is developmentally regulated during mid-gestation.\u2

Annengjøringens mekanismer og betydning - en studie av Kvalifiseringsprogrammet

Artikkelen tar utgangspunkt i det arbeidsrettede tiltaket Kvalifiseringsprogrammet. Jeg utforsker om ulikhet, i form av kulturell annerledeshet, danner grunnlag for negativ kategorisering av minoritetsdeltagere i programmet, og hvilken betydning det eventuelt får for deres aktiveringsløp. Begrepet annengjøring (othering) er et analytisk verktøy og rammeverk for å beskrive hvordan en negativ kategorisering i ujevne maktforhold kan føre til marginalisering. Empirien er kvalitative intervjuer med veiledere og uformelle samtaler med minoritetsdeltagere i programmet. Analysen viser at ulikhet i språkkunnskaper, kultur og religionsutøvelse danner grunnlag for å annengjøre deltagerne på både system-, organisatorisk og individuelt plan. Annengjøring kan påvirke aktiveringsløpet negativt ved å bidra til reduserte arbeidsmuligheter. Artikkelen viser også hvordan annengjøring kan hindre inkludering.publishedVersio