The WIC program offers supplemental foods to low-income women, infants, and children. This study compared consumption patterns of WIC children with those of three different comparison groups: eligible nonparticipating children living in non-WIC households, eligible nonparticipating children living in WIC households, and children living in households whose income is too high to be eligible for WIC. The study provides strong evidence that participation in the WIC program increases consumption of at least some types of WIC-approved foods. Although WIC-participating children consumed significantly more calories from WIC-approved foods than children in the two comparison groups of eligible nonparticipants, there was no significant difference in total calories consumed. The results suggest that WIC foods replace non-WIC foods in the diets of children participating in WIC rather than adding to their food consumption. This is the first study to examine in detail children's consumption of WIC-approved foods by WIC status. Understanding WIC's effect on the consumption of foods contained in the WIC food packages can help inform decisions on possible changes to the packages.

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Newly available data from USDA's Pesticide Data Program allow us to trace pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables to their sources among various uses. We show that pesticide residues come from four sources: on-f arm pesticide use; post-harvest pesticide use; pesticide use on imported food; and canceled pesticides that persist in the environment. Post-harvest pesticides account for the largest share of residue detections. Farmers' pest control choices influence consumers' dietary intake of pesticides, but the way in which food is marketed and the history of pest management techniques used on farms may have a greater influence. For pesticides that U.S. farmers currently use, the data show the geographic sources of residues and the extent to which use contributes to dietary intake risks. This information could be used to target development of pest control alternatives more narrowly. However, research to develop on-f arm pest control alternatives will not address all pesticide residue risks in consumers' diets.

With the advent of significant developments in technology the process of product development is undergoing remarkable changes. Companies now require engineers who understand broader multidisciplinary systems and their working. Kettering University is currently engaged in reforming its curriculum to meet some of these demands. The objective of this paper is to discuss two new core courses that were developed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the area of multidisciplinary dynamic systems in order to reach this goal. The idea is to teach these courses using a unified approach to systems, with hands-on laboratory experience and system simulation using software tools like MATLAB ® , and focusing on an inquiry-based problem-driven approach. This is a team effort and a number of faculty members from the ME Department will be involved in executing this project. Upon completion of these courses, the students should be able to demonstrate a good understanding of design, modeling, simulation, analysis, and identification of multi-disciplinary engineering systems. This paper describes how the courses are laid out in order to achieve the desired goals and how the laboratory experiments should fit into the courses to promote this multidisciplinary understanding.

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