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Openline Newsletter, February 2014, Civil Service Council

OpenLine Newsletter

A monthly newsletter for Civil Service employees, Volume XXXVIII, Number 8, February 2014.

Integrating Teff Into Livestock Operations, Allen Young, Earl Creech, Dale Zobell, Clark Israelsen, Jong-Su Eun

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes teff, a relatively new forage crop that is attracting interest. Teff can be harvested multiple times during a growing season, used as emergency forage, has potential for double cropping and grazing.

Incorporating Construction And Demolition Waste Into Non-Load Brearing Bricks., Neveen Samy Talaat Soliman

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt faces serious solid waste management challenges. Currently, waste is either burned or dumped along roads and canals. Not only do these wastes cause health problems, but they also contribute significantly to soil, air, and water pollution. Solid waste can be categorized as residential, industrial, institutional, municipal, manufacturing, and construction and demolition waste (C&DW). The construction industry threatens the environment in three main ways: during the production of raw materials in the process of cement and aggregate production; during the construction process itself due to high consumption of energy; and, in the final stages of the construction process due to …

Facilitators To Promoting Health In Schools: Is School Health Climate The Key?, Jennifer F. Lucarelli, Katherine Alaimo, Ellen Mang, Caroline Martin, Richard Miles, Deborah Bailey, Deanne K. Kelleher, Nicholas B. Drzal, Hui Liu

Student Publications

Background

Schools can promote healthy eating in adolescents. This study used a qualitative approach to examine barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in schools.

Methods

Case studies were conducted with 8 low-income Michigan middle schools. Interviews were conducted with 1 administrator, the food service director, and 1 member of the coordinated school health team at each school.

Results

Barriers included budgetary constraints leading to low prioritization of health initiatives; availability of unhealthy competitive foods; and perceptions that students would not eat healthy foods. Schools had made improvements to foods and increased nutrition education. Support from administrators, teamwork among staff, and …

Cooperative Extension: A Century Of Innovation, Frances I. Gould, Douglas Steele, William J. Woodrum

Journal of Extension

As Cooperative Extension celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2014, the Land-Grant System will be reflecting on the first century of accomplishments and preparing for a second century of education. This commentary is the first in a series of six throughout the year that will analyze the rich history of Cooperative Extension, examine its role in contemporary society, and help us collaboratively envision the future of this unique American educational endeavor.

The Communicator: Electronic Newsletter Provides Expert Support To Fcs County Educators, Harriet Shaklee, Martha Raidl, Sandra Mccurdy, Sonya Meyer

Journal of Extension

Extension specialists are challenged to provide expert support to county faculty on an ongoing basis, particularly in geographically large states with low populations. The Communicator is a newsletter developed by University of Idaho Family and Consumer Science specialists to update county faculty on research findings as they develop programs to meet clientele needs. Survey data show that county faculty in Idaho use the newsletter effectively, reading it promptly and extensively upon arrival and applying the information in their programs. Family and Consumer Sciences professionals are invited to subscribe to The Communicator as a resource for their ongoing professional development.

Using Web-Based Surveys To Evaluate Field Day Open Houses: The Great Tomato Tasting Evaluation, Peter Nitzsche, Nicholas Polanin

Journal of Extension

The Great Tomato Tasting event was developed to expose residents to Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station research and Cooperative Extension and to educate them on gardening, local agriculture, and nutrition. More than 7,400 attendees have participated in this event from 2000 to 2011. A Web-based survey of attendees was created to evaluate the impact of this event, replacing previous on-site paper evaluations. The results of the survey implemented in 2010 and 2011 revealed attendees overwhelmingly agreed the event gave them a better understanding of Extension and that they were more likely to take advantage of programs being offered.

Food And Nutrition Practices And Education Needs In Florida's Adult Family Care Homes, Wendy J. Dahl, Amanda L. Ford, Nancy J. Gal

Journal of Extension

A statewide survey was carried out to determine food and nutrition practices and education needs of Florida's adult family care homes (AFCHs). The 30-item survey included questions on food and nutrition education, supplement use, and menu planning. Infrequent use of menus and nutrition supplements was reported. A strong need was indicated for education on special diets, menu planning, pureed food preparation, and the nutritional needs of the elderly. Extension programming to meet these educational needs may result in improved nutritional wellbeing of frail older adults in care.

Ranchers Feeding Kids: A Multi-Partner Approach To Programming, Barbara Brody, Scott Jensen, Robin Galloway, Shanna Hamilton, Anna-Marie Chamberlain

Journal of Extension

School districts face challenges to balance budgets and provide healthy meals. Oregon State University Extension agents joined with community partners to form Ranchers Feeding Kids (RFK). The program started with ranchers donating cattle that were harvested and processed for local schools' lunch programs. An educational event taught youth about livestock production, its importance to the local economy, and beef's health benefits. In 4 years, the program has grown to include 32 schools in 13 different school districts, providing over 5,500 students with meals. Forty donated cattle, with a value of over $40,000, have provided 30,000 pounds of beef to schools.

High School Harvest: Combining Food Service Training And Institutional Procurement, David Conner, Hans Estrin, Florence Becot

Journal of Extension

This article discusses High School Harvest (HSH), an Extension educator-led project in five Vermont schools to provide students with job training and food system education and to provide lightly processed produce to school lunch programs. One hundred and twenty-one students participated, logging 8,752 hours growing, harvesting, and processing nearly 33,000 pounds of local produce, helping food service increase healthy local produce on their cafeteria plates. The main lesson is that while this project can achieve educational and food service procurement goals, educators must be flexible and adapt to individual schools' assets and requirements. Key ingredients to success are discussed.

Factors Within Multiple Socio-Ecological Model Levels Of Influence Affecting Older Snap Participants' Ability To Grocery Shop And Prepare Food, Kiranmayi Korlagunta, Janice Hermann, Stephany Parker, Mark Payton

Journal of Extension

The study identified and determined if factors within multiple levels of the socio-ecological model were effective in explaining older adult Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants' ability to grocery shop and prepare food. Data were collected from 370 SNAP participants, 65 years and above, via a telephone survey. Factors within multiple levels of influence were significant in explaining both ability to grocery shop and prepare food, including physical and emotional wellbeing; self-reliance; finances; housing; family and friend interactions; social support; and food access. To effectively influence older SNAP participants, integrated SNAP education programs addressing multiple levels of influence are recommended.

Design Matters In Community Gardens, Lucy Kennedy Bradley, Joanna Massey Lelekacs, Caroline Tilley Asher, Julieta Trevino Sherk

Journal of Extension

With increased focus on local foods, food safety, nutrition, and physical health, community gardens are being created by a variety of entities, many of which are seeking assistance from Extension agents and specialists in the fields of horticulture, family consumer science, and 4-H. Extension professionals have expertise in nutrition, health, food safety, and food production, yet have little training in community garden design, which can provide the framework for successful gardens. Based on analysis of landscape elements of 10 professionally designed community gardens, recommendations were developed to help Extension professionals work with garden designers and volunteers.

The Lasting Impact Of Parental Early Life Malnutrition On Their Offspring: Evidence From The China Great Leap Forward Famine, Seonghoon Kim, Quheng Deng, Belton M. Fleisher, Shi Li

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether the effects of parents’ in utero malnutrition extend to the second generation (their children). Specifically, we explore whether the second generation’s level of schooling is negatively impacted by their parents’ malnutrition in utero, using the China Famine as a natural experiment. We find that, the impact of mother’s in utero malnutrition due to the Famine reduced second generation male and female entrance into junior secondary school by about 5–7 percentage points. We measure famine severity with provincial excess death rates instrumented by measures of adverse climate conditions, which corrects for possible biases induced by measurement errors and …

A Prospective, Multicenter, Phase I Matched-Comparison Group Trial Of Safety, Pharmacokinetics, And Preliminary Efficacy Of Riluzole In Patients With Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury., Robert G Grossman, Michael G Fehlings, Ralph F Frankowski, Keith D Burau, Diana S L Chow, Charles Tator, Angela Teng, Elizabeth G Toups, James Harrop, Bizhan Aarabi, Christopher I Shaffrey, Michele M Johnson, Susan J Harkema, Maxwell Boakye, James D Guest, Jefferson R Wilson

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

A prospective, multicenter phase I trial was undertaken by the North American Clinical Trials Network (NACTN) to investigate the pharmacokinetics and safety of, as well as obtain pilot data on, the effects of riluzole on neurological outcome in acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Thirty-six patients, with ASIA impairment grades A-C (28 cervical and 8 thoracic) were enrolled at 6 NACTN sites between April 2010 and June 2011. Patients received 50 mg of riluzole PO/NG twice-daily, within 12 h of SCI, for 14 days. Peak and trough plasma concentrations were quantified on days 3 and 14. Peak plasma concentration (Cmax) and …

Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis As A Laboratory Activity: At The Interface Of Physics And The Body, Elliot Mylott, Ellynne Marie Kutschera, Ralf Widenhorn

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a novel laboratory activity on RC circuits aimed at introductory physics students in life-science majors. The activity teaches principles of RC circuits by connecting ac-circuit concepts to bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) using a custom-designed educational BIA device. The activity shows how a BIA device works and how current, voltage, and impedance measurements relate to bioelectrical characteristics of the human body. From this, useful observations can be made including body water, fat-free mass, and body fat percentage. The laboratory is engaging to pre-health and life-science students, as well as engineering students who are given the opportunity to observe electrical …

Radical, Reformist, And Garden-Variety Neoliberal: Coming To Terms With Urban Agriculture’S Contradictions, Nathan Mcclintock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

For many activists and scholars, urban agriculture in the Global North has become synonymous with sustainable food systems, standing in opposition to the dominant industrial agri-food system. At the same time, critical social scientists increasingly argue that urban agriculture programmes, by filling the void left by the "rolling back" of the social safety net, underwrite neoliberalisation. I argue that such contradictions are central to urban agriculture. Drawing on existing literature and fieldwork in Oakland, CA, I explain how urban agriculture arises from a protective counter-movement, while at the same time entrenching the neoliberal organisation of contemporary urban political economies through …

Weight ~ The Reality Series: An Extension Weight Management Program For Adults, Janet Mullins, Pam Sigler, Kimberly Miller-Spillman

Journal of Extension

Rural U.S. residents bear a greater burden of obesity than urban residents and may have limited access to healthy foods and physical activity. Extension agents for Family and Consumer Sciences requested an adult weight management curriculum. Specialists developed Weight ~ The Reality Series (WTRS) as two curricula: Becoming Weight Wise and Becoming Body Wise. More than 7,000 Kentucky residents have participated in WTRS, with about 30% losing 5% or more of their initial body weight. Development, implementation, and evaluation of this program demonstrate the feasibility of reaching a rural audience through County Extension Offices on the topic of weight management.

Variation In Feeding Practices Following The Norwood Procedure., Linda M. Lambert, Nancy A. Pike, Barbara Medoff-Cooper, Victor Zak, Victoria L. Pemberton, Lisa Young-Borkowski, Martha L. Clabby, Kathryn N. Nelson, Richard G. Ohye, Bethany Trainor, Karen Uzark, Nancy Rudd, Louise Bannister, Rosalind Korsin, David S. Cooper, Christian Pizarro, Sinai C. Zyblewski, Bronwyn H. Bartle, Richard V. Williams, Pediatric Heart Network Investigators, Girish S. Shirali

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVES: To assess variation in feeding practice at hospital discharge after the Norwood procedure, factors associated with tube feeding, and associations among site, feeding mode, and growth before stage II.

STUDY DESIGN: From May 2005 to July 2008, 555 subjects from 15 centers were enrolled in the Pediatric Heart Network Single Ventricle Reconstruction Trial; 432 survivors with feeding data at hospital discharge after the Norwood procedure were analyzed.

RESULTS: Demographic and clinical variables were compared among 4 feeding modes: oral only (n = 140), oral/tube (n = 195), nasogastric tube (N-tube) only (n = 40), and gastrostomy tube (G-tube) only …

Candida Albicans Als5p Amyloid In Host-Microbe Interactions: A Ceanorhabditis Elegans Study, Michael Bois

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Candida albicans, a dimorphic fungus and an opportunistic pathogen, possesses a myriad of adherence factors including members of the agglutinin-like sequence (Als) family of mannoproteins. The adhesin Als5p mediates adhesion to many substrates, and is upregulated during commensal interactions, but is downregulated during active C. albicans infections[1]. An amyloid forming core sequence at residues 325-331 has been shown to be important for Als5p function, because a single amino acid substitution at position 326 (V326N) greatly reduces Als5p-mediated adherence[2]. We evaluated the role of Als5p in host-microbe interactions, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a host model and feeding them Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing …

How Important Is Land-Based Foraging To Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) During The Ice-Free Season In Western Hudson Bay? An Examination Of Dietary Shifts, Compositional Patterns, Behavioral Observations And Energetic Contributions, Linda J. Gormezano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trophic mismatches between predators and their prey are increasing as climate change causes decoupling of phenological relationships. Predators linked to the life histories of a particular prey will have a more difficult time persisting through environmental change unless they can alter their behavior to maintain the historical match or possess the ability to pursue alternate prey. Arctic predators typically possess flexible foraging strategies to survive in the labile environment, however, quantifying the limits of those strategies can be difficult when life history information is incomplete. In such cases, piecing together different aspects of a predator's foraging behavior, particularly when environmental …

Lipid Dependence In Ras-Driven Tumors, Darin Salloum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over past decade, metabolic alterations in cancer cells have received a substantial amount of interest. It had been established that cancer cells undergo a significant amount of metabolic alterations, and some of these alterations are similar to those in normal highly proliferative cells. However, it is becoming more apparent that many of the metabolic alterations are specific to particular oncogenic signaling pathways. Although altered metabolic machinery makes cancer cells more efficient at promoting growth when nutrients are supplied at the sufficient amounts, the dependency of cancer cells on particular metabolic reprogramming deems cancer cells susceptible to disruptions within metabolic network. …

Metabolic Checkpoints In Cancer Cell Cycle, Mahesh Saqcena

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Growth factors (GFs) as well as nutrient sufficiency regulate cell division in metazoans. The vast majority of mutations that contribute to cancer are in genes that regulate progression through the G1 phase of the cell cycle. A key regulatory site in G1 is the growth factor-dependent Restriction Point (R), where cells get permissive signals to divide. In the absence of GF instructions, cells enter the quiescent G0 state. Despite fundamental differences between GF signaling and nutrient sensing, they both have been confusingly referred to as R and therefore by definition considered to be a singular event in G1. Autonomy from …

Individual Characteristics And Relocation Factors Affecting Adjustment Among Relocated American And Egyptian Older Adults, Abir K. Bekhet, Jaclene A. Zauszniewski

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Worldwide, the population of elders is increasing significantly. Relocation can be a positive or a negative experience, depending on many factors, including culture. The purpose of this study is to compare individual characteristics (age, gender, marital status, education, perceived health status, activities of daily living), relocation factors (movement preparation, time passed since relocation, closeness of prior home to the present, and whether relocation was from home or another facility), and adjustment in relocated American and Egyptian elders. This secondary analysis study merged data from two cross-sectional descriptive studies of a 104 elders relocated to retirement communities in Northeast Ohio and …

Beef Cattle Nutrition, Minerals, Troy D. Cooper, Darrell Rothlisberger, Dale Zobell

All Current Publications

Beef cattle require a number of dietary mineral elements for regular bodily maintenance, growth and reproduction. Minerals that are essential in larger amounts are labeled as major or macro elements. Those needed in smaller amounts are called micro, minor or trace minerals. These terms, have no relationship to the metabolic significance of a mineral in the diet. A trace mineral can be as crucial to the health and performance of an animal as a major mineral.

The Impact Of Troops To Teachers Participants On Student Achievement: A Causal-Comparative Study, Kurt Osuch

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal-comparative study is to examine the impact of Troops to Teachers (TTT) participants on student achievement by comparing the mean scores of Texas students in the eighth grade during the 2011-2012 academic year taught by TTT participants with the mean scores of all other Texas eighth grade students on each of four mandatory standardized examinations. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) provided the archival data used in the evaluation, which consisted of limited teacher demographic information, as well as individual student scores on the vertically equated 2011-2012 version of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness …

Book Review: Jefferson's Poplar Forest: Unearthing A Virginia Plantation Edited By Barbara J. Heath And Jack Gary, Julia King

Northeast Historical Archaeology

Review of Jefferson's Poplar Forest: Unearthing a Virginia Plantation, edited by Barbara J. Heath and Jack Gary, 2012, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 256 pages, 40 black-and-white illustrations, 8 maps, $29.95 (cloth).

The New Hampshire, Vol. 103 [104], No. 25 (Jan. 31, 2014), The New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Print Edition

An independent student produced newspaper from the University of New Hampshire. This volume was printed as 103, but it is the 104th volume in the series. This was corrected in pencil.

Swimming Education In Australian Society., Tj Lynch

Plymouth Institute of Education

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore a community swimming program using autoethnography qualitative research. Autoethnography is an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno) (Ellis 2004; Holman Jones 2005). Through childhood reflection of lived swimming experiences, and adult life reflection of lived swimming teaching experiences as a primary school teacher, health and physical education (HPE) specialist teacher and teacher educator, the author, illustrates how aquatic practices and education has shaped his belief, and consequently his drive to initiate a community swimming …

Emu Today, January 31, 2014, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Participatory Organizational Development And Social Change: Microfinance Replication In Western China, Marcie Holloman, Dr. Warner Woodworth

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Microfinance (or microcredit) is increasingly being recognized as an effective tool for promoting the socio-economic development of impoverished communities. The crisis of poverty is so great in every corner of the world that it is tempting to jump on the bandwagon of the “microcredit solution” and implement new programs modeled after successful programs elsewhere, without due regard to differing cultural and socio-economic contexts and needs. One of the major factors behind the success of the microfinance movement is its highly participatory structural design, yet there is great need for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to be innovative in designing the content and …