Systematic analysis of food visual estimation methods and applications in school lunch

Valid and reliable dietary assessment methods play a vital role in understanding children’s dietary behaviors and intake. Photo-based visual estimation methods with high flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and lower burden have been developed rapidly and applied widely recently. To promote its further application, it is necessary to perform a systematic analysis to investigate various commonly used visual estimation systems in the context of considering various influencing factors. A photo-based online survey was developed in the first study to evaluate the accuracy of four visual estimation systems: Third, Quarter, Eighth, and Continuous. Participants’ information including sex, age, height and weight, and major background characteristics was collected to explore the effects of these factors on visual estimation accuracy. Overall, the Quarter and Eighth systems had higher accuracy than the Third and Continuous systems. The system accuracy may also be affected by personal- and food-related factors in different ways among the four systems. Additionally, a majority of the survey population (59%) preferred to use the Quarter system for food visual estimations. Therefore, Quarter system was applied to evaluate the effects of SWITCH programming on improving students’ fruit and vegetable consumption (study 2), as well as energy and nutrient intake (study 3). Students in the 5th grade participating in the National School Lunch Program from four elementary schools were involved in both studies. Two schools participated in SWITCH and two did not. Results of the second study demonstrated that students participating in SWITCH significantly increased fruit consumption from 0.37 cups at baseline to 0.50 cups at endpoint. The increase in fruit consumption might potentially enhance students’ nutrient intake during lunch, which was supported by the third study. Students participating in SWITCH significantly increased their fiber selection and decreased their sodium selection and intake. The percentage of students meeting 2010 IOM recommendations for energy and fiber were also increased in SWITCH schools. Findings from this dissertation provide valuable guidance on selecting proper visual estimation systems as well as support the SWITCH program as a promising school wellness initiative to enhance children’s healthy eating and nutrition status

Educational videos for practitioners attending Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative workshops supporting breastfeeding positioning, attachment and hand expression skills: Effects on knowledge and confidence

UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFHI) is the global standard for maternity and community services requiring all practitioners to be trained to support mothers in the essential skills of supporting positioning and attachment, and hand expression. These studies aim to rigorously assess knowledge in nurses, midwives, and doctors in these skills, tested before and after watching short videos demonstrating these skills. Practitioners were attending BFHI education, and the video study was additional. In Phase 1 clinicians in England were randomised to one of two videos (practitioner role play or clinical demonstration). The results showed improvements in knowledge and confidence, and a preference for clinical demonstration by mothers and infants. The clinical demonstration video was evaluated in China in Phase 2 where expert trainers viewed the video after completing the BHFI workshop, and in Phase 3 practitioners viewed the video before the BHFI workshop. Phase 2 with expert trainers only showed improvement in knowledge of hand expression but not positioning and attachment. In Phase 3 clinicians showed improved knowledge for both skills. In all Phases there were statistically significant improvements in confidence in practice in both skills. Viewing short videos increased knowledge, particularly about teaching hand expression, and confidence in both skills

Partially Overlapping Ownership and Contagion in Financial Networks

Using historical banking data for the United States from the years 2000 to 2015 we characterize the probability and extent of a financial contagion using a calibrated network model of heterogeneous interbank exposures. Both the probability and the average extent of a contagion begin to rise in 2007 prior to the US financial crisis. Including a common asset in the model increases both the probability and extent of contagion, especially during the years of the financial crisis. Based on rising institutional ownership in the banking industry, we introduce a partially overlapping ownership asset that devalues endogenously. The addition of this asset increases the extent of a financial contagion. Our results show that trends in capital buffers and the distribution and type of assets have a significant effect on the predictions of financial network contagion models and that the rising trend in ownership of banks by banks amplifies shocks to the financial system

A Method To Populate Search Auto-Suggests Across Platforms

A system and method are disclosed that populates search auto-suggests across platforms. The system stores user searches and visits to apps and websites, organizes them, and surfaces them as search auto-suggests across platforms for each individual user. When a user enters a search query on a specific search platform (mobile phone for example), the system executes the search process. The system then organizes and stores the search keywords. When the user executes the same search on another platform, the system auto-suggests relevant keywords from stored history. The system creates a cohesive experience with search functionality for the user

APPLICATION INSTALL RETARGETING BASED ON DURATION OF VIRTUALIZED SESSION

A user may be retargeted with advertisements, offers, discounts, or other content items related to an application based on the user previously interacting with the application. For example, the user may be retargeted or remarketed with an advertisement to install an application on the user’s device in response to the user spending at least a threshold amount of time interacting with the application in a virtualized environment or via streaming. The provided 3 advertisement may be an application install advertisement that, when selected, initiates the installation of the application on the user’s device

A new characterization of second-order stochastic dominance

We provide a new characterization of second-order stochastic dominance, also known as increasing concave order. The result has an intuitive interpretation that adding a risk with negative expected value in adverse scenarios makes the resulting position generally less desirable for risk-averse agents. A similar characterization is also found for convex order and increasing convex order. The proofs techniques for the main result are based on properties of Expected Shortfall, a family of risk measures that is popular in financial regulation

College English Writing on Scaffolding Theory

Based on theories of zones of proximal development and scaffolding instruction, the author manages to combine the two theories and attempts to put it to the practice of college English writing in class on peer composition tutoring. Divided into different groups, students are required to give instructions and suggestion after reviewing their peer’s composition. Key words: Scaffolding; Zone of Proximal Development; Peer revie

Viral Infections and Interferons in the Development of Obesity

Obesity is now a prevalent disease worldwide and has a multi-factorial etiology. Several viruses or virus-like agents including members of adenoviridae, herpesviridae, slow virus (prion), and hepatitides, have been associated with obesity; meanwhile obese patients are shown to be more susceptible to viral infections such as during influenza and dengue epidemics. We examined the co-factorial role of viral infections, particularly of the persistent cases, in synergy with high-fat diet in induction of obesity. Antiviral interferons (IFNs), as key immune regulators against viral infections and in autoimmunity, emerge to be a pivotal player in the regulation of adipogenesis. In this review, we examine the recent evidence indicating that gut microbiota uphold intrinsic IFN signaling, which is extensively involved in the regulation of lipid metabolism. However, the prolonged IFN responses during persistent viral infections and obesogenesis comprise reciprocal causality between virus susceptibility and obesity. Furthermore, some IFN subtypes have shown therapeutic potency in their anti-inflammation and anti-obesity activity