NH Department of Helath and Human Services Public Health Laboratories Shellfish Program Activites January 2006 – December 2006

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has continued to carry out various actions providing laboratory analyses for the routine water quality monitoring, “Red Tide” monitoring, and additional testing after rainfall, excess sewage treatment plant, and emergency events

Budgeting in an Academic Library: A Lively Lunch Discussion

Are you always seeking to improve budgeting in your academic library? Are you fascinated by the challenge of predicting costs for subscriptions? I went on an Academic Library Budgeting Roadshow, and had discussions with peers at seven other institutions. In this session, I will present a summary of my findings, then pose the same questions to the group. We\u27ll discuss everything from the budget process and timeline, to allocating funds, to predicting subscription costs, to what you do if you go over or under budget, to flexibility, to deposit accounts, to Zero-Based Budgeting, to the biggest challenges we each face. Let\u27s share our collective wisdom and brainstorm ideas for best practices in a world of tight budgets, new services, merging vendors, unpredictable cost increases, and rapidly changing purchase and delivery models

Opportunities and Threats of Green Building Design for ABC Engineers, Kansas City

“If your next project is not a green building, one that is certified by a national third-party rating system, it will be functionally outdated the day it’s completed and very likely to underperform the market as time passes.” according to real estate expert, Charles Lockwood. (Yudelson 2008, 27). The ‘Green’ building revolution has presented a unique opportunity for Consulting Engineering firms specializing in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) design, such as ABC Engineers, to capture premium revenue for a limited timeframe. Capitalizing on this opportunity brings challenges that should be strategically planned for to optimize profitability. ‘Green’ building design is a buzz word and is being promoted as an ecologically beneficial concept in the architectural, engineering, and construction industry, but will become the standard expectation in the future. Projected revenues associated with ‘Green’ building design in this project illustrates the potential quick rise and fall of this market segment, therefore a plan of action should be implemented in a timely fashion. The plan must take into account the risks and Legal concerns directly drawn from case studies and professional experiences that can be applied to ‘Green’ building design. Establishing the competitive advantage of being experts at ‘Green’ building designs could assure capturing additional revenue that would otherwise be lost to other engineering firms. The main risks to having this competitive advantage are related to new legal responsibilities for the professional engineer when working to implement cutting edge green systems, identifying new products, and meeting energy performance criteria. Information included in this field project provides the Principals of ABC Engineers in Kansas City background information to create an applied marketing and business plan for the Green Building opportunities that present themselves in the target market

Labor Force Participation and Crime among Serious and Violent Former Prisoners

This project examines the relationship between work and crime among male former prisoners. Criminological theories and observational studies suggest that work reduces crime, but recent studies cast doubt on the ability of employment programs to reduce recidivism among former prisoners. Ongoing weak evaluations may imperil support for employment-focused rehabilitative programming. Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (n = 1,575), this study examines whether selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity contribute to weak evaluation findings. First, this study tests whether unobserved heterogeneity contributes to jobs programs\u27 weak treatment effects. It uses group-based trajectory modeling and propensity score methods to balance participants and nonparticipants on demographic and criminal risk factors. Lifetime arrest data from administrative records are used to model respondents\u27 prior offending trajectories. Baseline interview data are used to balance respondents on the propensity to receive employment-focused services. After balancing respondents, this study employs duration models to test the effects of educational and employment programming on time to rearrest. Second, this study tests whether financial problems mediate the work-crime relationship. Longitudinal structural equation modeling is used to model men\u27s labor force attachment, job quality, financial needs, and emotional wellbeing. Models test whether financial problems diminish the crime-reducing effects of employment for men who remain weakly attached to the labor force. Multiple indicators for each latent construct reduce bias due to measurement error. Results of this study show that education and employment programs in United States prisons have limited effects on the likelihood that participants maintain employment and avoid criminal justice involvement. Male prisoners recruited into the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative faced multiple barriers to employment before entering prison, due to extensive criminal records, low educational attainment, and limited work experience. Before matching men on the probability of receiving employment-focused services, program participants differed from nonparticipants across an array of demographic and risk factors. The group-based trajectory model derived three latent trajectory groups from the sample that exhibited distinctive demographic characteristics and pre-prison offending trajectories. Due to significant variation at the state-level, a multilevel logit model was used to model the probability of receiving education and employment services. Nearest neighbor matching with caliper resulted in a sample that exhibited balance across multiple demographic, criminal record, employment, and health measures. After matching, employment program participants were slightly more likely than education participants and nonparticipants to maintain stable employment, and employment program participants exhibited lower rates of rearrest during the first 9 months after release. After that point, there were no significant differences between employment-focused program participants and nonparticipants in labor force and criminal activity. The longitudinal structural equation model results show that criminal activity has cascading effects on financial and emotional wellbeing, subsequent labor force activity, and ongoing criminal justice involvement. Engagement in crime during the early months of release reduced labor force participation, limited men\u27s ability to obtain higher-quality employment, and increased their financial needs and feelings of psychological distress. In contrast, stable employment led to improved job quality and reduced financial needs over time. Employment did not reduce men\u27s later involvement in criminal activity, however. In fact, employment during the first 9 months of release was associated with increased odds of reporting committing new crimes during the subsequent 6-month period. Overall, the path model results provide no evidence to suggest that stable employment reduces criminal activity among serious and violent former prisoners. The results of this study cast doubt on theories of crime that presuppose causal associations between work and crime. Observational studies that show associations between stable labor force participation and desistance from crime may be capturing maturation effects that simultaneously directed individuals toward legal work and away from crime. If desistance from crime actually precedes stable labor force attachment for most former prisoners, this may explain the weak empirical evidence for prison-based employment programs. The findings may inform modifications to employment and transitional jobs programs to identify participants on the path to desistance who may be most responsive to these services

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire

Spirituality is a concept that has been a part of nursing since nursing began. In every culture spirituality is a component of healing. However, in the United States, nurses seldom assess the concept of spirituality and the patient\u27s spiritual needs are often not addressed. Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire was designed to help nurses assess and meet the patient\u27s spiritual needs. A review of literature revealed that spirituality was comprised of a relationship between a Higher Power, Self, Others, and Nature which resulted in a sense of being, knowing and life purpose. A fifth dimension of Religion was identified through a pilot study of the Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire. The purpose of this study was to refine and test the psychometric properties of the Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire (WSFQ). Psychometric analysis of the WSFQ was used to refine the questionnaire from-50-items to 20-items using the results from item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. The final 20-items were tested for internal consistency reliability and confirmatory factor analysis. The WSFQ was validated with a convenience sample (N = 256) of women using exploratory factor analysis and with a sample of acute care inpatients (N = 200) using confirmatory factor analysis. The resulting analysis revealed that the five components (a relationship with a Higher Power, Self, Others, Nature and Religion) were demonstrated have a Coefficient Alpha that ranged from .89-.96. The confirmatory factor analysis yielded a mediocre fit to the postulated five-factor solution. There is strong support for the ongoing use and testing of this questionnaire. Recommendations include continued evaluation using a larger sample size and in combination with the nursing care plan. This tool can provide nursing with method of measuring spiritual importance in the patient\u27s life and can then lead to developing appropriate nursing interventions to improve spiritual coping and in improved healing overall

Parenting Stress Among White, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic Mothers

Parenting stress can have long-term effects on parents and children, but little is known about racial and ethnic differences in parenting stress. Using baseline survey data from a probability sample in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment (N = 2,26), we examine parenting stress among White, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic mothers. This study employs OLS regressions and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions. Parenting stress scores among Whites and American Indians were on average significantly lower than among Blacks and Hispanics. Regressions indicate that across all four groups, parenting stress is positively associated with maternal depression and negatively associated with social supports. Decomposition results show that racial and ethnic disparities in parenting stress would be decreased significantly if minority mothers had the same levels of depression and social supports as White mothers. Findings call for intervention strategies to reduce depression and strengthen social supports among mothers, especially among racial and ethnic minority mothers

Economic Intervention and Parenting: A Randomized Experiment of Statewide Child Development Accounts

Objective: We examine the effects of Child Development Accounts (CDAs) on parenting stress and practices. Methods: We use data from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment. SEED OK selected caregivers of infants from Oklahoma birth certificates using a probability sampling method, randomly assigned caregivers to the treatment (n = 1,32) or control group (n = 1,098), and provided college savings incentives only to the treatment group. We run regression analyses on a parenting stress scale and six continuous measures of parenting practices. Results: There were no significant differences in parenting outcomes between treatment and control groups, with the exception of frequency of screaming at the child. CDAs have more salient effects on American Indians than on other groups. Conclusions: We present weak evidence for CDAs’ positive impacts on parenting outcomes. Further research is needed to determine whether these initial results change over time

Household Assets and Food Stamp Program Participation Among Eligible Low-Income Households

This study examines the association between asset ownership and Food Stamp Program participation among eligible households using a sample from a longitudinal national survey. This study employs two approaches: A multinomial model on the level of program participation and an event history analysis on the duration of eligible nonparticipation spells. Analysis results show that home, vehicle, and bank account ownership are negatively related to program participation, suggesting that asset ownership may reduce low-income households’ chances of receiving food assistance. It is recommended that program administrators liberalize asset eligibility rules and simplify procedures to facilitate program participation among low-income asset owners

Measuring the Longitudinal Effects of Food Carbon Footprint Training on Consumers: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavioral Intentions

Although the supply chains through which foods are produced, processed, and transported can have a significant impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, consumers are largely unaware of how their food choices may impact the environment. Based on a previous related study, we hypothesized that a web-based training process could increase consumer knowledge and perhaps influence consumer behavior longitudinally. To test this, food distribution networks were modeled and analyzed to determine CO2 footprints for a variety of foods, and a training process was designed to teach consumers about the CO2 emissions for different types of foods that are provided either locally or transported over long distances. The training allowed users to compare alternative choices for their daily food menu. Participants from two major urban universities were given an initial knowledge survey after which they participated in the online training program including the carbon footprint of foods associated with production, preparation, transportation, and storage. Later they took a post-treatment survey regarding their knowledge and their intentions to change their purchasing behavior in selecting foods. Follow-up surveys were administered after one month and after three months. Results indicate that participants’ post-training knowledge increased and participants indicated that they intended to use the knowledge they gained to make more sustainable food choices. Additionally, participants partially retained the knowledge gained over time, maintained their intentions to change behavior, and followed through by implementing behavior change related to more sustainable food choices