Evaluating the Success of the School Commodity Food Program

School meals, commodity foods, child nutrition, National School Lunch Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National School Lunch Act, Commodity Letters of Credit, DOD Fresh, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Country Road, Take Me Home: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study of Public School Personnel in Two Rural Central Virginia School Divisions and Their Perception of Homelessness and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand how school personnel in two rural Virginia school districts perceive the phenomenon of homelessness and the McKinney-Vento Act for Homeless Education. Participants in this study were10 school employees from two school districts located in the rural Central Virginia counties of Framingham and Marlborough, and included teachers, reading specialists, school administrators, registrars, counselors, and homeless liaisons. The theoretical framework guiding this study was Burns’s (1978) theory of transformational leadership, which holds that, with the proper leadership, stakeholders, such as teachers, can be connected more to the project at hand and to the identity of the organization. Recent trends are leaning towards administrators placing teachers in leadership roles (Cosenza, 2015), in hopes they can become transformational leaders by connecting their peers to important information that can help students socially, personally, and academically. The central research question of the study was: How do school personnel in two rural Virginia school districts describe homelessness? Two sub-questions helped guide the study. The first sub-question was: How do school personnel in two rural Virginia school districts describe their experience with homeless students? The second sub-question was: How do school personnel in two rural Virginia school districts describe their understanding of the McKinney Vento Act”? Data collection methods included journaling, document analysis, and personal interviews. Moustakas’s (1994) method of analysis was used to interpret collected data

Lifetime Economic Burden of Intimate Partner Violence Among U.S. Adults

Introduction: This study estimated the U.S. lifetime per-victim cost and economic burden of intimate partner violence. Methods: Data from previous studies were combined with 2012 U.S. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey data in a mathematical model. Intimate partner violence was defined as contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking victimization with related impact (e.g., missed work days). Costs included attributable impaired health, lost productivity, and criminal justice costs from the societal perspective. Mean age at first victimization was assessed as 25 years. Future costs were discounted by 3%. The main outcome measures were the mean per-victim (female and male) and total population (or economic burden) lifetime cost of intimate partner violence. Secondary outcome measures were marginal outcome probabilities among victims (e.g., anxiety disorder) and associated costs. Analysis was conducted in 2017. Results: The estimated intimate partner violence lifetime cost was $103,767 per female victim and$23,414 per male victim, or a population economic burden of nearly $3.6 trillion (2014 US$) over victims’ lifetimes, based on 43 million U.S. adults with victimization history. This estimate included $2.1 trillion (59$1.3 trillion (37%) in lost productivity among victims and perpetrators, $73 billion (2$62 billion (2%) in other costs, including victim property loss or damage. Government sources pay an estimated $1.3 trillion (37%) of the lifetime economic burden. Conclusions: Preventing intimate partner violence is possible and could avoid substantial costs. These findings can inform the potential benefit of prioritizing prevention, as well as evaluation of implemented prevention strategies

Band Edge Tailoring in Few-Layer Two-Dimensional Molybdenum Sulfide/Selenide Alloys

Chemical alloying is a powerful approach to tune the electronic structure of semiconductors and has led to the synthesis of ternary and quaternary two-dimensional (2D) dichalcogenide semiconductor alloys (e.g., MoSSe₂, WSSe₂, etc.). To date, most of the studies have been focused on determining the chemical composition by evaluating the optical properties, primarily via photoluminescence and reflection spectroscopy of these materials in the 2D monolayer limit. However, a comprehensive study of alloying in multilayer films with direct measurement of electronic structure, combined with first-principles theory, is required for a complete understanding of this promising class of semiconductors. We have combined first-principles density functional theory calculations with experimental characterization of MoS_(2(1-x))Se_(2x) (where x ranges from 0 to 1) alloys using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to evaluate the valence and conduction band edge positions in each alloy. Moreover, our observations reveal that the valence band edge energies for molybdenum sulfide/selenide alloys increase as a function of increasing selenium concentration. These experimental results agree well with the results of density functional theory calculations showing a similar trend in calculated valence band edges. Our studies suggest that alloying is an effective technique for tuning the band edges of transition-metal dichalcogenides, with implications for applications such as solar cells and photoelectrochemical devices

The chemical enrichment of the ICM from hydrodynamical simulations

The study of the metal enrichment of the intra-cluster and inter-galactic media (ICM and IGM) represents a direct means to reconstruct the past history of star formation, the role of feedback processes and the gas-dynamical processes which determine the evolution of the cosmic baryons. In this paper we review the approaches that have been followed so far to model the enrichment of the ICM in a cosmological context. While our presentation will be focused on the role played by hydrodynamical simulations, we will also discuss other approaches based on semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, also critically discussing pros and cons of the different methods. We will first review the concept of the model of chemical evolution to be implemented in any chemo-dynamical description. We will emphasise how the predictions of this model critically depend on the choice of the stellar initial mass function, on the stellar life-times and on the stellar yields. We will then overview the comparisons presented so far between X-ray observations of the ICM enrichment and model predictions. We will show how the most recent chemo-dynamical models are able to capture the basic features of the observed metal content of the ICM and its evolution. We will conclude by highlighting the open questions in this study and the direction of improvements for cosmological chemo-dynamical models of the next generation.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view", Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 18; work done by an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S. Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeke

Design and Feasibility of an Intervention to Support Cancer Genetic Counselees in Informing their At-Risk Relatives

Cancer genetic counselees receive individualized information regarding heightened risks and medical recommendations which is also relevant for their at-risk relatives. Unfortunately, counselees often insufficiently inform these relatives. We designed an intervention aimed at improving counselees' knowledge regarding which at-risk relatives to inform and what information to disclose, their motivation to disclose, and their self-efficacy. The intervention, offered by telephone by trained psychosocial workers, is based on the principles of Motivational Interviewing. Phase 1 of the intervention covers agenda setting, exploration, and evaluation, and phase 2 includes information provision, enhancing motivation and self-efficacy, and brainstorming for solutions to disseminate information within the family. Fidelity and acceptability of the intervention were assessed using recordings of intervention sessions and by counselee self-report. A total of 144 counselees participated. Psychosocial workers (n = 5) delivered the intervention largely as intended. Counselees highly appreciated the content of the intervention and the psychosocial workers who delivered the intervention. In the sessions, psychosocial workers provided additional and/or corrective information, and brainstorming for solutions was performed in 70 %. These results indicate that this intervention is feasible and warrants testing in clinical practice. For this, a randomized controlled trial is currently in progress to test the intervention's efficacy

A rotten deal for schools?: an assessment of states’ success with the National School Lunch Program’s in-kind food benefit

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the United States' largest domestic food aid programs. The NSLP provides states with both cash and commodity foods for school meals. This research assessed the success of the school commodity program by comparing states' available annual funding to the value of foods that states actually received from 2001 to 2009. Results indicate that an in-kind food funding system is not desirable for schools; states failed to receive entitled commodity food value in most years, resulting in annual funding losses for schools of $35-87 million. Inconsistent funding inhibits schools' ability to improve meals and, ultimately, child nutrition outcomes. In light of these results, it is recommended that a cash benefit should replace the National School Lunch Program's commodity food program

A descriptive analysis of supply factors and prices for USDA Foods in the National School Lunch Program

Purpose/Objectives Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) receive a portion of their annual federal funding as commodity entitlement foods—now called USDA Foods—rather than cash payments. Due to rising food prices in recent years, it has been recommended that schools compare the costs and benefits of commodity and commercial foods. The purpose of this research was to measure the price and supply consistency of USDA Foods from the school district perspective. Methods Data from 586 school ordering sites in Minnesota from school year (SY) 2005-6 to SY 2008-9 was assessed. Commodity prices demonstrated to schools at the ordering stage were compared to final prices (or entitlement charges), quantities ordered were compared to quantities received, and delivery timing was assessed. Results Final prices for USDA Foods were consistently different from the prices that school districts had seen at the time they placed orders. Over the four years studied, the average one-year price change across all food groups was an increase of 12 percent. School districts received the same quantity of regular packaged commodities as ordered for only 54 percent of orders, and 9 percent of orders were delivered late to the state warehouse. These estimates contributed to a cost analysis that directly compared the full procurement cost of USDA Foods to equivalent commercial foods, and found that the full cost for USDA Foods was, on average, consistently higher for school districts. Applications to Child Nutrition Professionals Changes to commodity prices, order quantities and delivery timing create extra costs for school districts in terms of extra labor, transportation and storage. Data collection to allow direct comparison of prices and supply factors for commodity and commercial foods may assist school districts and administering agencies with food procurement decisions

Evaluating the success of the school commodity food program

Since its origin in the middle of the 20th century, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has provided a direct policy link between agriculture and child nutrition through its allocation of commodity foods as in-kind benefits to schools. When nutrient deficiency was the primary concern for children’s health, the school commodity program provided a convenient policy solution for lawmakers, for it simultaneously supported agricultural producers through consolidated purchases and assisted schools to provide meals to students. While the broad objectives of federal agriculture policy—to support market growth and stable prices—have remained relatively constant over the past half century, the objectives for children’s health policy have been significantly redirected because of new concerns about nutrition and obesity. School operational capabilities have also changed substantially since the NSLP’s first years. Despite these changes, little research has been conducted to examine whether the link between agriculture and health within the school commodity program continues to offer benefits for its intended beneficiaries. This article reviews the school commodity program’s original policy objectives in light of current information about the program’s impact on schools, child nutrition, and the agricultural sector

A comparative cost analysis of commodity foods from the U.S. department of agriculture in the national school lunch program

Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program receive a portion of their federal funding as commodity foods rather than cash payments. This research compared the product costs and estimated total procurement costs of commodity and commercial foods from the school district perspective using data from 579 Minnesota ordering sites in school year (SY) 2008–2009. Though comparison of product prices indicates that commercial foods were an average of 17 percent more expensive than equivalent commodity foods, once full estimated procurement costs were included, the commercial products became 9 percent less expensive per food case than commodity products. Base case results were sensitive to the cost of risk to hold inventory. When this input was tested at zero, the estimated cost to procure commercial foods was 2 percent higher per case than commodity foods, though total commercial procurement costs remained less than commodity costs by 3 percent. It is estimated that Minnesota schools collectively spent an additional $1.7 to$3.7 million to procure USDA commodity foods in SY 2008–2009