Lynn Parker – författare

Flowers and plants are a staple of British life. Nearly 40% of our population considers themselves to be gardeners, making this and associated activities a national pursuit. And yet, while we hold endless discussions over how to seed, grow, and disseminate our cherished plants, we still known relatively little about how they were collected, exchanged, circulated, identified, and modified, and how much art has shaped our understanding and appreciation of them. This publication, designed to accompany the homonymous exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, explores some of these plant stories through highlights from Oxford’s collections. Bringing together historical and scientific expertise, art and material culture, traditional and contemporary artworks, this book ultimately reflects on the long-lasting impact of flora on our society – and of us on it.

Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza draws upon his lifelong work in archaeology, anthropology, genetics, molecular biology, and linguistics, to address the basic questions of human origins and diversity. Coauthored by his son, Francesco, the book answers age-old questions such as: Was there a mitochondrial Eve? Did the first humans originate in Africa or in several spots on the planet at about the same time? How did humans get onto North America, the tip of South America, and Australia?

Childhood obesity is a serious health problem that has adverse and long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities. The magnitude of the problem has increased dramatically during the last three decades and, despite some indications of a plateau in this growth, the numbers remain stubbornly high. Efforts to prevent childhood obesity to date have focused largely on school-aged children, with relatively little attention to children under age 5. However, there is a growing awareness that efforts to prevent childhood obesity must begin before children ever enter the school system. Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies reviews factors related to overweight and obese children from birth to age 5, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior, and recommends policies that can alter children's environments to promote the maintenance of healthy weight. Because the first years of life are important to health and well-being throughout the life span, preventing obesity in infants and young children can contribute to reversing the epidemic of obesity in children and adults.The book recommends that health care providers make parents aware of their child's excess weight early. It also suggests that parents and child care providers keep children active throughout the day, provide them with healthy diets, limit screen time, and ensure children get adequate sleep. In addition to providing comprehensive solutions to tackle the problem of obesity in infants and young children, Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies identifies potential actions that could be taken to implement those recommendations. The recommendations can inform the decisions of state and local child care regulators, child care providers, health care providers, directors of federal and local child care and nutrition programs, and government officials at all levels.

Many organizations are making focused efforts to prevent obesity. To achieve their goals, accelerate their progress, and sustain their success, the assistance of many other individuals and groups--not all of them with a singular focus on obesity prevention--will be essential. In October 2011 the Institute of Medicine held a workshop that provided an opportunity for obesity prevention groups to hear from and hold discussions with many of these potential allies in obesity prevention. They explored common ground for joint activities and mutual successes and lessons learned from efforts at aligning diverse groups with goals in common.

The childhood obesity epidemic is an urgent public health problem. The most recent data available show that nearly 19 percent of boys and about 15 percent of girls aged 2-19 are obese, and almost a third of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight or obese (Ogden et al., 2012). The obesity epidemic will continue to take a substantial toll on the health of Americans. In the midst of this epidemic, children are exposed to an enormous amount of commercial advertising and marketing for food. In 2009, children aged 2-11 saw an average of more than 10 television food ads per day (Powell et al., 2011). Children see and hear advertising and marketing messages for food through many other channels as well, including radio, movies, billboards, and print media. Most notably, many new digital media venues and vehicles for food marketing have emerged in recent years, including Internet-based advergames, couponing on cell phones, and marketing on social networks, and much of this advertising is invisible to parents. The marketing of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages is linked to overweight and obesity.A major 2006 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) documents evidence that television advertising influences the food and beverage preferences, requests, and short-term consumption of children aged 2-11 (IOM, 2006). Challenges and Opportunities for Change in Food Marketing to Children and Youth also documents a body of evidence showing an association of television advertising with the adiposity of children and adolescents aged 2-18. The report notes the prevailing pattern that food and beverage products marketed to children and youth are often high in calories, fat, sugar, and sodium; are of low nutritional value; and tend to be from food groups Americans are already overconsuming. Furthermore, marketing messages that promote nutrition, healthful foods, or physical activity are scarce (IOM, 2006). To review progress and explore opportunities for action on food and beverage marketing that targets children and youth, the IOM's Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention held a workshop in Washington, DC, on November 5, 2012, titled "New Challenges and Opportunities in Food Marketing to Children and Youth."

Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight is the summary of a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine's Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention in June 2013 to examine income, race, and ethnicity, and how these factors intersect with childhood obesity and its prevention. Registered participants, along with viewers of a simultaneous webcast of the workshop, heard a series of presentations by researchers, policy makers, advocates, and other stakeholders focused on health disparities associated with income, race, ethnicity, and other characteristics and on how these factors intersect with obesity and its prevention. The workshop featured invited presentations and discussions concerning physical activity, healthy food access, food marketing and messaging, and the roles of employers, health care professionals, and schools.The IOM 2012 report Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention acknowledged that a variety of characteristics linked historically to social exclusion or discrimination, including race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, age, mental health, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, geographic location, and immigrant status, can thereby affect opportunities for physical activity, healthy eating, health care, work, and education. In many parts of the United States, certain racial and ethnic groups and low-income individuals and families live, learn, work, and play in places that lack health-promoting resources such as parks, recreational facilities, high-quality grocery stores, and walkable streets. These same neighborhoods may have characteristics such as heavy traffic or other unsafe conditions that discourage people from walking or being physically active outdoors.The combination of unhealthy social and environmental risk factors, including limited access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity, can contribute to increased levels of chronic stress among community members, which have been linked to increased levels of sedentary activity and increased calorie consumption. Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight focuses on the key obesity prevention goals and recommendations outlined in Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention through the lens of health equity. This report explores critical aspects of obesity prevention, while discussing potential future research, policy, and action that could lead to equity in opportunities to achieve a healthy weight.

This book, first published in 1986, is a major reference work for the political discussions arising out of the 1985 Congress revisions of US food and farm laws. It covers production, distribution and consumption of food, analyses international as well as domestic problems, and presents new ways forward. Emphasising public policy and programmes, the book has chapters on agricultural production; environmental and resource problems; food marketing; domestic hunger and nutrition; and world hunger and development.

This book, first published in 1986, is a major reference work for the political discussions arising out of the 1985 Congress revisions of US food and farm laws. It covers production, distribution and consumption of food, analyses international as well as domestic problems, and presents new ways forward. Emphasising public policy and programmes, the book has chapters on agricultural production; environmental and resource problems; food marketing; domestic hunger and nutrition; and world hunger and development.

'The layout and presentation of the text, with bullet points, checklists and sample policy documents make the book useful for staff training sessions as well as a reference point for practitioners with management responsibility for any aspect of early years practice.' - Early Years Update If you work in Early Years settings it is essential that you are well informed and aware of health and safety issues and procedures that you may face on a day-to-day basis. Building on the author’s previous books How to Keep Children Safe and How to do a Health and Safety Audit, this book offers clear, concise and practical information about health and safety, whilst fully translating the legislative documentation that surrounds it to ensure that you meet the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Each chapter includes a summary of key points, self-review activities and best-practice checklists to help you apply the information to everyday activities. There are also clear guidelines on how to carry a health and safety audit along with photocopiable templates and forms that can be easily adapted for your own use. Covering all aspects of health and safety, The Early Years Health and Safety Handbook includes guidance on issues such as: planning for a safe environment; risk assessments; the most common types of accidents and how to prevent them; safety for indoor and outdoor play; preparing for outings and trips; first aid for staff and children. Written in accordance with national health and safety standards that have to be achieved at inspection, this 'how to' guide is vital for anyone working in an Early Years setting looking to certify that their environment is safe as well as fun.

The layout and presentation of the text, with bullet points, checklists and sample policy documents make the book useful for staff training sessions as well as a reference point for practitioners with management responsibility for any aspect of early years practice.' - Early Years Update If you work in Early Years settings it is essential that you are well informed and aware of health and safety issues and procedures that you may face on a day-to-day basis. Building on the author‘s previous books How to Keep Children Safe and How to do a Health and Safety Audit, this book offers clear, concise and practical information about health and safety, whilst fully translating the legislative documentation that surrounds it to ensure that you meet the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Each chapter includes a summary of key points, self-review activities and best-practice checklists to help you apply the information to everyday activities. There are also clear guidelines on how to carry a health and safety audit along with photocopiable templates and forms that can be easily adapted for your own use. Covering all aspects of health and safety, The Early Years Health and Safety Handbook includes guidance on issues such as:planning for a safe environment;risk assessments;the most common types of accidents and how to prevent them;safety for indoor and outdoor play;preparing for outings and trips;first aid for staff and children. Written in accordance with national health and safety standards that have to be achieved at inspection, this 'how to' guide is vital for anyone working in an Early Years setting looking to certify that their environment is safe as well as fun.

To get the full benefit of branding, companies must actually live the brands they sell. This approach is called integrated branding and it's not just a communications strategy. Companies must demonstrate to themselves and their customers that its brands are what the company is. The Brand and the company are inseparable, and that realization must pervade the entire organization, from new product development to human resource management. Integrated branding is a way of operating, an overall way of doing business, and a way to make certain a company's products are based on the right answers to two mutually reinforcing questions: What do customers value and what does the company do best in relation to what the customers want? The tools to accomplish these goals are called drivers. LePla and Parker show clearly and comprehensively how drivers work and how to apply them. Not just for marketing directors, strategy planners and executive policy makers will also find this to be an essential resource in their quest to increase market leadership and to enhance the bottom line.Through their integrated brand model, LePla and Parker discuss both organization drivers and brand drivers. They see the process as a research-driven one that gets everyone in the organization contributing to the effectiveness of its brands. With brand tools accepted throughout the company, people can determine more easily and accurately whether their decisions and actions will actually further the brand. The authors show how different companies apply their model in different ways. LePla and Parker also include discussions of how to determine brand structure, how an integrated brand applies to marketing communications, and how integrated brands can help companies when they go public.

As the public health threat of childhood obesity has become clear, the issue has become the focus of local, state, and national initiatives. Many of these efforts are centered on the community environment in recognition of the role of environmental factors in individual behaviors related to food and physical activity. In many communities, for example, fresh produce is not available or affordable, streets and parks are not amenable to exercise, and policies and economic choices make fast food cheaper and more convenient than healthier alternatives. Community efforts to combat obesity vary in scope and scale; overall, however, they remain fragmented, and little is known about their effectiveness. At the local level, communities are struggling to determine which obesity prevention programs to initiate and how to evaluate their impact. In this context, the Institute of Medicine held two workshops to inform current work on obesity prevention in children through input from individuals who are actively engaged in community- and policy-based obesity prevention programs.Community perspectives were elicited on the challenges involved in undertaking policy and programmatic interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity, and on approaches to program implementation and evaluation that have shown promise. Highlights of the workshop presentations and discussions are presented in this volume.

Childhood Obesity Prevention in Texas summarizes the information gathered at a workshop held February 5-6, 2009, in Austin, Texas. At this workshop, committee members met with Texas lawmakers, public officials, and community leaders to exchange ideas and to view first-hand strategies that are being implemented effectively at the state and local levels to prevent and reverse childhood obesity. Texas leaders at the workshop expressed the strong belief that the state's economic vitality and security depend on the health of its population. Accordingly, the state is no longer simply describing the personal, community, and financial costs of its obesity crisis; it is taking proactive steps to address the problem through strategic initiatives. An overarching strategy is to address obesity by targeting the state's youth, in whom it may be possible to instill healthy behaviors and lifestyles to last a lifetime. A guiding principle of these efforts is that they should be evidence based, community specific, sustainable, cost-effective, and supported by effective partnerships.Moreover, the goal is for the responsibility to be broadly shared by individuals, families, communities, and the public and private sectors.

To battle the obesity epidemic in America, health care professionals and policymakers need relevant, useful data on the effectiveness of obesity prevention policies and programs. Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention identifies a new approach to decision making and research on obesity prevention to use a systems perspective to gain a broader understanding of the context of obesity and the many factors that influence it.