New Concepts for Nutrition Education in an Era of Welfare Reform

In response to welfare reform and the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program's (FSNEP) goal of increasing clients' self-sufficiency, a literature review and small exploratory study were conducted to gain insight into a potential approach that would go beyond current nutrition education methods. Interviews with 17 FSNEP participants showed a widespread willingness to share food-related skills that others wanted to learn, some interest in cooperating on food-related projects, and frequent cases of social and geographic isolation. Based on these preliminary findings, we suggest the development and evaluation of nutrition education programs that appreciate and build on existing abilities of participants, provide opportunities for self-directed learning and activities, and build social support, social networks, and trust among participants while linking them to the broader community.     

Welfare, QALYs, and costs - a comment

What costs and what effects should be included in cost‐effectiveness analysis from a welfare theoretic perspective? There is a broad agreement to include health‐care costs and to measure the effects as Quality‐Adjusted Life‐Years (QALYs). However, a hot topic has been how to handle survivor consumption and leisure foregone. It is well established that the costs for these aspects should be included only if their associated benefits are also included. The key question is, then, if these benefits are included in QALYs. In a recent paper by Nyman (Health Econ., in press) it was argued that these benefits are not generally included in the empirical assessment of QALYs and that these costs therefore should be excluded. Even if this recommendation is correct, the reasons for it can be questioned. It is here instead argued that this decision should be based on theoretical – and not empirical – considerations. Thus, these costs should be excluded because QALYs are unlikely to be consistent with a utility function also including consumption and leisure. If so, then it becomes more important to instruct individuals not to include these benefits in their QALY assessments than to consider to what extent they may or may not be implicitly included. It is also demonstrated that these results have bearings on non‐medical costs for the case when survival is not affected. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Welfare reform, time limits, and infant health

This paper offers evidence that welfare time limits contributed to a deterioration of infant health. We use the fact that the dates at which TANF recipients were first subject to timing out varied by state. We show that by 2000 there was a marked difference in TANF duration spells depending on whether the state employed the 60-month Federally imposed time limit, or a shorter limit, differences that were not present under AFDC. There were significant increases in infant mortality when time limits became binding in a state. These increases occurred primarily among mothers who could have plausibly timed-out of TANF: poorly educated and unmarried women with at least one previous live-birth. There is some evidence that the population of mothers affected by time limits were less likely to seek prenatal care in the first trimester, suggesting a possible role for reduced medical care in explaining the deterioration in infant health.     

新发展理念下新能源行业消防安全的主要风险与对策

本文旨在探讨新发展理念下新能源行业消防安全主要风险与对策.文章以能源使用发展的变化与趋势为切入点,立足"十四五"发展规划趋势,围绕新能源产业布局和基本特点,从消防安全角度分析研判新能源产业常见的风险与挑战,结合消防救援工作实际,提出规范消防安全管理、强化灭火救援准备和提升现场处置技战术水平的对策建议.     

Persons and Their Parts: New Reproductive Technologies and Risks of Commodification

This paper explores one aspect of the social implications of new reproductive technologies, namely, the impact such technologies have on our understandings of family structures and our expectations of children. In particular it considers whether the possibilities afforded by such technologies result in a more contractual and commodified understanding of children. To do this the paper outlines the possibilities afforded by NRTs and their commodificatory tendencies; second, it explores the commodification debate using the somewhat parallel example of commodification of organs; and third, in light of these debates the link between the commodification of body parts and persons is addressed. It will argue that there is a prime facie connection between body parts and persons and thus, although needing to be balanced with other ethically relevant factors, commodification remains an issue of ethical concern. Accordingly we should only be supporting potentially commodifying practices when there are ethically pressing reasons to do so (such as in organ transplantation). Moreover given this link between body part and persons we should attempt to lessen commodifying attitudes and thus should resist the increasing use of practices which regard children as having choose-able parts.