Evaluation of Food Protection and Defense Outreach Education Programs

ABSTRACT: This analysis documents the outcomes and impacts from a series of food protection and defense educational programs conducted over a 3‐y period for private and public sector food system professionals. Several measures were used to determine the professions of participants; their improvements in skills and abilities that resulted from workshops; the audiences' most valued program content; practice changes resulting from educational program participation; abilities to recognize and change food system vulnerabilities; and changes in knowledge levels. Findings indicate that the knowledge level and interest within the target audience progressed over the 3‐y period from basic awareness level through more complex and higher order skills and competencies such as being able to walk through a food production, processing, distribution, or retail facility and identify specific vulnerabilities and make specific risk control recommendations. Pre‐ and posttest scores from the 3rd y of educational activities indicate that baseline awareness levels of core content on food protection and defense is now high among those most likely to attend these types of events, and that participants need to be challenged with additional higher‐level education to promote specific skills. This program series proved successful in building important relationships among food industry and regulatory partners. Analysis of the food security investigation (FSI) series will be useful in the development and delivery of new education and outreach efforts. It is hoped that the analysis and discussion will provide the motivation to further develop a set of competencies that can be used to ground educational efforts that focus on securing and defending our food system.     

Preschoolers Reduce Inequality While Favoring Individuals With More

Inequalities are everywhere, yet little is known about how children respond to people affected by inequalities. This article explores two responses—minimizing inequalities and favoring those who are advantaged by them. In Studies 1a (N = 37) and 1b (N = 38), 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds allocated a resource to a disadvantaged recipient, but judged advantaged recipients more positively. In Studies 4 (N = 38) and 5 (N = 74), a delay occurred between seeing the inequality and allocating resources, or stating a preference, during which time participants forgot who was initially more advantaged. Children then favored advantaged recipients on the preference and resource allocation measures, suggesting an implicit “affective tagging” mechanism drives the tendency to favor the advantaged. In contrast, reducing inequalities through resource allocation appears to require explicit reasoning.     

Longitudinal Stability of Phonological and Surface Subtypes of Developmental Dyslexia

Limited evidence supports the external validity of the distinction between developmental phonological and surface dyslexia. We previously identified children ages 8 to 13 meeting criteria for these subtypes (Peterson, Pennington, & Olson, 2013) and now report on their reading and related skills approximately 5 years later. Longitudinal stability of subtype membership was fair and appeared stronger for phonological than surface dyslexia. Phonological dyslexia was associated with a pronounced phonological awareness deficit, but subgroups otherwise had similar cognitive profiles. Subtype did not inform prognosis. Results provide modest evidence for the validity of the distinction, although not for its clinical utility.     

SABCO—An experiential learning project for introductory managerial accounting

This teaching brief presents a capstone project designed to provide students with a contextual understanding of introductory management accounting theories through hands-on, experiential learning. It also exposes them to cross-disciplinary roles from operations management. Using this capstone approach, students quickly learn to prepare financial projections, either manually or in Microsoft Excel, to secure financing for their start-up business (Sand Art Brownie Company or SABCO) to produce and sell brownie mix during the holiday season. Students then assemble ingredients and create jars of brownie mix to gather the necessary data to evaluate initial projections and problem-solve for future production. This role play contextualizes the elements of direct and indirect labor, fixed and variable costs, and their impact on profit and borrowing. Postproduction reflection on the manufacturing activities and discussion of actual results of operations emphasizes the improvement and decision-making responsibilities in the management process. Feedback demonstrates that students find the exercise challenging and valuable and that it deepens their understanding of managerial accounting and its purpose in a company's management process.