Understanding Community Resilience from a PRA Perspective Using Binary Decision Diagrams

Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is a useful tool to assess complex interconnected systems. This article leverages the capabilities of PRA tools developed for industrial and nuclear risk analysis in community resilience evaluations by modeling the food security of a community in terms of its built environment as an integrated system. To this end, we model the performance of Gilroy, CA, a moderate‐size town, with regard to disruptions in its food supply caused by a severe earthquake. The food retailers of Gilroy, along with the electrical power network, water network elements, and bridges are considered as components of a system. Fault and event trees are constructed to model the requirements for continuous food supply to community residents and are analyzed efficiently using binary decision diagrams (BDDs). The study also identifies shortcomings in approximate classical system analysis methods in assessing community resilience. Importance factors are utilized to rank the importance of various factors to the overall risk of food insecurity. Finally, the study considers the impact of various sources of uncertainties in the hazard modeling and performance of infrastructure on food security measures. The methodology can be applicable for any existing critical infrastructure system and has potential extensions to other hazards.     

Food in Foster Families: Care,Communication and Conflict

This study explores the significance of food and mealtimes in relation to the transition into foster care and the therapeutic settling of the child in a new family. In doing so, we draw upon an in‐depth, qualitative case study of 10 experienced foster families in the UK focusing on what helped them to be successful. At the time of the study, there were 16 foster children, aged 9–16, living with the families. Data collection included semi‐structured qualitative interviews and audio‐diaries with all family members who wished to be involved as well as eco‐maps produced by the young people. Thematic analysis and data extracts are reproduced in the study to demonstrate that meals and food preferences can function to affirm identities, membership and boundaries of family life as well as provide a site of conflict and control.     

Ideologies & Narratives in Relation to ‘Fat’ Children as Bullies, ‘Easy Targets’ and Victims

In this study, we explore narratives in relation to ‘fatness’, drawing on focus group interviews with parents, early years practitioners, teachers and young people. The study is located in a larger study on bullying and resilience, with no specific focus on obesity or ‘fatness’. Analysis of the interview data highlighted a recurrent focus on ‘fatness’ within the participants’ narratives, by labelling and stigmatising the ‘fat kid’ and ‘bigger children’. We conclude that obesity and fatness, as abnormalities, are now included in commonsense talk in relation to ‘easy targets’, victims and bullies.     

Maternal Experiences of Parenting Girls who are Perceived as Overweight or at Risk for Becoming So: Narratives of Uncertainty,Ambivalence and Struggle

This work explored U.S. mothers’ experiences of parenting young adolescent girls who are perceived by their mothers as overweight or at risk for becoming so. Data were collected via in‐depth interviews with 13 mothers and were analysed using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Many mothers experienced socializing their daughters about issues of the body, weight, diet, and health as marked by uncertainty, ambivalence and struggle, particularly relative to four subthemes: mothers’ embodiment as challenge to ‘good mothering’, negotiating a dilemma of the ‘healthy mind’ versus the ‘healthy body’, managing discipline: how much to intervene?, and the challenge of interpersonal dynamics.     

The Food Crisis and its Impacts on Poverty in Senegal and Mali: Crossed Destinies

This article uses two CGE macro‐micro models to analyse the distributional impact of the food crisis and policy responses in two neighbouring African countries, both of which are strongly dependent on agriculture. The approach captures structural differences at both the macro and micro level for household income and expenditure structures, and the results reveal differences for poverty impact at the national and sub‐group levels, as well as for inequality and pro‐poor analysis. The importance of country‐specific analysis and the risk of extrapolating conclusions from one country to another are also highlighted.     

Getting Real About Food Prices

The 2008 spike in world grain prices is widely recognised to have had serious impacts on food security and poverty, but these high grain prices are commonly described as low in historical terms – an inconsistency resulting from the use of advanced‐ and global‐economy price indices in calculating real prices. This ignores the high share of food in poor people's expenditures and the indirect effects of income growth on expenditure patterns of rich consumers. Poor consumers have not experienced the same falls in real food prices and are more vulnerable to price shocks. Different price indices must be developed to take account of differences between consumer groups.     

改善我国食品安全状况的思考

研究了现行的食品安全管理体制及弊端，分析了影响食品安全的主要因素，提出了改善食品安全性的措施。     

农村地区食品安全监管配套制度的完善与落实

自2009年《食品安全法》颁布至今,我国农村地区的食品安全事件依旧频发,《食品安全法》在农村地区的实施效果远不如城市。造成这种状况的原因除长期以来存在的城乡二元结构和农村居民自身生活习惯等问题外,更主要的是《食品安全法》作为一部在全国范围内统一实施的法律,其明显缺乏专门针对农村食品经营主体的监管配套制度,从而使该法在广大农村地区实施的过程中监管能力明显不足。据此,提出构建食品安全监管在农村地区的配套制度,加强技术监管和信息化管理以及充分发挥社会共治等建议。     

非常时期列宁关于粮食生产和农村工作的思想及其当代意义

苏俄非常时期,列宁在解决粮食危机的过程中提出了十分丰富的发展粮食生产及农村工作的思想。他提出,“粮食问题是一切问题的基础”,进行国内战争、发展工业以及各项事业,无不依赖于充足的粮食;发展粮食生产必须重视对农业生产的投入,采用新机器和新技术;必须帮助农民获得足够的种子,以利于他们完成播种的任务。他还提出,发展粮食生产需要调动农民的生产积极性,依赖有效的农村工作。他的这些思想对于中国特色社会主义农村建设具有积极的借鉴意义。     

论食品安全事件中的良性媒体应对

食品安全事件是近年来全球公共安全问题中的热点,由于食品安全的重要性、食品安全事件的公众效应以及基于传媒的属性,媒体常将其作为关注的热点。媒体在食品安全事件中发挥着监测预警、沟通信息、舆论引导等功能,同时也存在关注视角的选择性和职业自律的松懈等不足。作为一种社会公共资源和社会监督力量,基于传媒良知和职业操守,媒体在食品安全事件中必须形成一套良性的应对机制,包括建立信息有效传播机制、建立食品安全事件相关方的沟通协调机制、建立媒体自律机制等。