Local Foods Through Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the economic precarity of farms and families in Hawaiʻi. To build a more resilient Hawaiʻi, we must address long-standing structural inequalities and systemic vulnerabilities in our food system

An analysis of a zero-base budgeting system implementation at a U.S. Naval activity.

This study evolved from a series of zero-base budgeting seminars given by Naval Postgraduate School at Naval Weapons Center, China Lake during the summer of 1977. Using a survey questionnaire as a data base, the analysis compares the actual problems of implementation with the theoretical problems of implementation. The study includes a brief outline of zero-base budgeting theory and a detailed outline of the theoretical problems of implementation. The study concluded that the problems encountered by China Lake had already been adequately described in theory and that the dominant problem categories experienced were those of Administrative, Planning Assumption, Top Management, Time, and Behavioral. The study also concluded that initial efforts of top management to use the cost-cutting feature of zero-base budgeting, which predisposed a significant portion of the management and staff population against the system, affected negatively its later, full-scale implementation.http://archive.org/details/analysisofzeroba00heaiMajor, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Systematic review on the prevalence, frequency and comparative value of adverse events data in social media

Aim: The aim of this review was to summarize the prevalence, frequency and comparative value of information on the adverse events of healthcare interventions from user comments and videos in social media. Methods: A systematic review of assessments of the prevalence or type of information on adverse events in social media was undertaken. Sixteen databases and two internet search engines were searched in addition to handsearching, reference checking and contacting experts. The results were sifted independently by two researchers. Data extraction and quality assessment were carried out by one researcher and checked by a second. The quality assessment tool was devised in-house and a narrative synthesis of the results followed. Results: From 3064 records, 51 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies assessed over 174 social media sites with discussion forums (71%) being the most popular. The overall prevalence of adverse events reports in social media varied from 0.2% to 8% of posts. Twenty-nine studies compared the results from searching social media with using other data sources to identify adverse events. There was general agreement that a higher frequency of adverse events was found in social media and that this was particularly true for ‘symptom’ related and ‘mild’ adverse events. Those adverse events that were under-represented in social media were laboratory-based and serious adverse events. Conclusions: Reports of adverse events are identifiable within social media. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in the frequency and type of events reported, and the reliability or validity of the data has not been thoroughly evaluated

Tweeting about pain: comparing self-reported toothache experiences with those of backaches, earaches and headaches.

BackgroundThe authors conducted a study of tweets posted on Twitter to compare self-reported toothache experiences with those of backache, earache and headache in regard to pain intensity, action taken, perceived cause and effect of pain.MethodsFrom a total of 508,591 relevant tweets collected on seven nonconsecutive days, the authors randomly selected 1,204 tweets (301 per pain type) and conducted content analyses of each tweet.ResultsToothaches were described as having higher pain intensity than were earaches or headaches but pain intensity comparable with that of backaches. Despite people who experience toothache being more likely to seek health care than those experiencing backaches (odds ratio [OR], 3.91; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.57-9.71) or headaches (OR, 6.11; 95 percent CI, 2.16-17.25), only one in 10 people with toothaches mentioned seeking health care for their pain. People with toothaches were less likely to report an effect on daily functioning compared with those with backaches (OR, 0.13; 95 percent CI, 0.03-0.56) or earaches (OR, 0.19; 95 percent CI, 0.05-0.77).ConclusionsUsing unsolicited self-reported data from Twitter, the authors found similarities and differences in the experiences of people with toothaches compared with those of people with other common pains. These findings offer insights into understanding dental pain and dental care utilization.Practical implicationsThe use of social media, such as Twitter, to discuss health issues provides opportunities for dental professionals to better understand dental care experiences from the patients' perspective. Furthermore, social media such as Twitter offer providers the opportunity to share information with the public and to facilitate provider-patient communication