Longitudinal Relationships of Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease with Physical Function in Older Adults

Low ankle-arm index (AAI), a marker of peripheral arterial disease, predicts incident disability in older adults. Elevated pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of arterial stiffness, increases risk of cardiovascular events and mortality. However, the relationship between PWV and mobility has not been well characterized in older adults. To evaluate the potential local and systemic influences of vascular disease on physical function, we compared the associations of AAI and PWV with usual gait speed over eight years in the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study. The study population consisted of 2,066 participants (mean age ± SD 73.6 ± 2.8 years, 48.1% men, 37.8% black) with valid PWV, AAI and gait speed data at baseline after exclusion of those with either revascularization or angioplasty of the leg arteries. Random coefficient models were used to evaluate the relationships of both subclinical vascular disease measures with gait speed decline over time. After adjustment for risk factors and comorbidities, each SD higher PWV was associated with a 0.008 m/s slower gait speed over the study period (SE 0.004, p = 0.03). Compared to high-normal AAI (greater than 1.3 - 1.4), low AAI and noncompressible arteries were each associated with slower gait speed over the study period: Beta (SE) = -0.10 (0.03), p less than 0.001 for AAI < 0.7, and Beta (SE) = -0.16 (0.04), p less than 0.001 for noncompressible arteries. The public health relevance of these findings is the potential contribution of subclinical vascular disease, particularly low AAI and noncompressible arteries, to poor physical function in aging

Room

Room is a short novel written at The University of Southern Mississippi. It is accompanied by a critical preface

The Effects of the Color Wheel System on Disruptive Behavior and Classroom Climate: Validating the Color Wheel in Kindergarten Classrooms

The current study was initiated by a principal who was interested in implementing the Color Wheel System in her school. The purpose of the current study was to empirically validate the classroom management system for kindergarten students. Although there is some evidence that the procedure may be effective with kindergarten students, no scientific procedures have been applied to evaluate the Color Wheel System in kindergarten classrooms. Analyses were conducted on the average inappropriate vocalizations and out-of-seat behavior of the entire class (i.e., 16-17 students) across three classrooms. We also evaluated the effect of the Color Wheel System on students’ perception of classroom climate. Students whose parents provided consent participated in a measure of classroom climate. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of the Color Wheel System on kindergarten students\u27 inappropriate vocalizations and out-of-seat behavior. Across all phases, partial-interval recording and momentary time-sampling were used to record classwide inappropriate vocalizations and out-of-seat behavior respectively. Visual analysis of time series graphs showed immediate decreases in each dependent variable across classrooms when the intervention was applied. Results of the study revealed large effect sizes across phases for primary and secondary dependent variables. These data show that the Color Wheel System procedures effectively decreased inappropriate vocalizations and out-of-seat behavior in kindergarten classrooms. T-tests showed no significant changes in perception of classroom climate due to the Color Wheel System procedures. Survey and interview data show that, overall, the teachers found the intervention helpful in their classrooms. Our findings have theoretical and applied implications. Study limitations and directions for future research are provided

Imagining Workers: The Working-Class Presence in Late Nineteenth-Century American Literature. (Volumes I and II).

This dissertation examines how late nineteenth-century American realist and naturalist narratives defuse the working-class drive for class self-determination and political power. The texts examined are Rebecca Harding Davis\u27s Life in the Iron Mills (1861), Elizabeth Stuart Phelps\u27s The Silent Partner (1871), Henry James\u27s The Princess Casamassima (1886), William Dean Howells\u27s A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890) and Theodore Dreiser\u27s Sister Carrie (1900). Each work is examined in the context of a specific proletarian insurgency that was taking place at roughly the same time, and sometimes the same place, in which the author was writing. Each text bears the impress of specific attempts by proletarians to represent themselves through activism and mass action. These proletarian attempts at self-representation become historically knowable to the extent that they at once resist and abet literary representation. Thus, while each literary text attempts to denature the emergent working-class presence in the body politic, that presence persists, often as a kind of absent or negative image of itself. Working-class presence inspires disruptions in the usual realist time-order narration, for instance, and it deeply affects plot, setting, characterization and metaphor use. Further, because realism and naturalism define themselves in the literary marketplace through rendering empirically precise, objective pictures of society, these texts cannot simply erase workers from the narrative. Working-class presence certainly poses a threat to the class privileges of the middle-class authors and readers of nineteenth-century fiction, but it also provides an opportunity for those writers and readers to carve their niche in the emerging power structure of consumer capitalism. Thus instead of eliding working-class presence, realist and naturalist narratives at once depict it and imaginatively manage the threats it poses to the status quo. Realist and naturalist writings are at once drawn to and repulsed by the scenes of proletarian insurrection that marked the late nineteenth century. The resultant writing-under-erasure of workers and worker power deeply determines American literature

A descriptive study of enrollment marketing strategies for four -year public colleges and universities

Choosing a college education is only one of many choices a student has for post-secondary education or training. The current change in the university campus environment is creating a change in the marketing environment. A higher education institution must continually adapt its marketing efforts to keep pace with the changing needs of its constituency---the students. The institution must know its public and its market to be able to attract adequate resources and convert them into services for its public. The nature and function of higher educational institutions is changing due to changes in the attitudes of the consumer. Higher education administrators must think in the same terms as the private sector business world; Higher education institutions are faced with declining enrollments, mounting financial pressures, diminishing public confidence, and an increasing member of nontraditional students and studies. Due to these and other factors, enrollment management strategies including strategies from marketing have been established to evaluate recruitment; The purpose of this study is to utilize examples of selected Western regional four-year public higher education institutions for effective marketing programs for enrollment. The institutions studied were four-year public higher education institutions in the 15 Western United States as defined by U.S. News & World Report: America\u27s Best Colleges 1999. (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.) The intent of the study was to determine the use of marketing strategies for four-year public higher education institutions; The primary data-gathering instrument was a questionnaire developed to collect data and was administered to those who manage the responsibility for enrollment management and/or marketing. The selected marketing elements used as a basis for the questionnaire were: competitive environment, demographics, market, marketing, marketing mix, marketing segmentation, marketing strategy, media plan and psychographics. The study was a descriptive, mixed-methodology research design. Regarding strategic marketing efforts, items of the study included: the differences in marketing efforts and the development of strategies, funding between institutions, differences in undergraduate enrollment of the institution, and the size of the institutions surrounding community. The results from this study have helped to clarify the what marketing strategies are used in public higher education Western region institutions. And which strategies are used for enrollment marketing

Plant-based beverages as good sources of free and glycosidic plant sterols

To address the ever-growing group of health-conscious consumers, more and more nutritional and health claims are being used on food products. Nevertheless, only very few food constituents, including plant sterols, have been appointed an approved health claim (European Commission and Food and Drugs Administration). Plant sterols are part of those limited lists of approved compounds for their cholesterol-lowering properties but have been praised for their anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties as well. Despite this indisputable reputation, direct quantitative data is still lacking for naturally present (conjugated) plant sterols in beverages. This study aimed to fill this gap by applying a validated extraction and UPLC-MS/MS detection method to a diverse range of everyday plant-based beverages. B-sitosterol--D-glucoside (BSSG) showed to be by far the most abundant sterol in all beverages studied, with concentrations up to 60–90 mg per 100 mL in plant-based milk alternatives and fresh fruit juices. Ergosterol (provitamin D2) could be found in beers (0.8–6.1 g per 100 mL, from the yeast) and occasionally in juices (17–29 g per 100 mL). Overall, the results demonstrated that the concentrations of water-soluble sterol conjugates have been underestimated significantly and that specific plant-based beverages can be good, low-fat sources of these plant sterols

Potential Disasters

The common conceptual thread woven through my work is a fascination with the point at which two things meet, thereby creating a third entirely new event. This ongoing theme of two forces and their point of contact speaks of weakness and controlled failure. Whether it is with feather filled, upholstery fabric forms pinned to the wall by bowed steel armatures, or tense steel rods sprung between wall and floor, my interest lies in exploring how the slow, kinetic action of one, affects the other. I construct three-dimensional drawings with steel rods that rely upon relationships with their surroundings. The starting and ending points of the rods are ambiguous, rather, they are a series of marks that link one point to another. Developed through self-created codes and natural genetic patterning from my personal history, each rod represents a relationship. These installations and three-dimensional drawings are part of the series entitled Potential Disasters. The work has potential for slip, change or collapse. I guide, direct, and balance elements, but once the installation is established, the resulting event is out of my control

The determination of nitroimidazole residues in fish and fish products

xvii, 278 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-164).A method was developed and validated for the determination of nitroimidazoles (NIs) including 2-hydroxymethyl-1-methyl-5-nitroimidazole (HMMNI), ipronidazole (IPZ), 1-methyl-2-(2'-hydroxyisopropyl)-5-nitroimidazole (IPZ-OH), metronidazole (MNZ), 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-hydroxymethyl-5-nitroimidazole (MNZ-OH), ronidazole (RNZ) and dimetridazole (DMZ) in fish and crustaceans by ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The compounds were extracted with acidic acetonitrile, followed by solid phase extraction (SPE) C18 clean up and hexane washing. The validated method has a linear range from 0-50 ng/g in target representative species (tilapia, salmon and shrimp), with LOD from 0.07 - 1.0 ng/g and LOQ from 0.21 - 3.0 ng/g, depending on the analyte. Recoveries ranged from 87 to 121% for the analytes of interest. Method precision ranged from 6 to 26% RSD with HorRat values within typical limits of acceptability. The method successfully analyzed rainbow trout samples treated with MNZ in a depletion study under controlled conditions and is suitable for use in a regulatory monitoring program for residues of nitroimidazoles in seafood and aquacultured products

Perceptions of Agricultural Communications Freshmen Regarding Currriculum Expectations and Career Aspirations

This study revealed the personal characteristics of agricultural communications freshmen at selected institutions. The average agricultural communications freshman was female, between ages 17 to 18, attending a university within her state of residence. She is from a rural area, and decided to major in agricultural communications because of self-interest or encouragement from her FFA or college adviser. Most of her agricultural and communications experience was obtained in high school, on a family production farm, or by engaging in social media. This study also revealed agricultural communications freshmen at selected institutions desired to enroll in an equal amount of agricultural and communications courses. According to agricultural communications freshmen's expectations the material taught in these courses to be broad and diverse. The results of this study also revealed students have a stronger extrinsic value for agricultural communications skills than an instrinic value. Writing and describing the agricultural community to the public were the highest ranked skills by agricultural communications freshmen at selected institutions.Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and Leadershi

P element-induced, X-linked lethal mutations causing melanotic tumors in Drosophila melanogaster

Call number: LD2668 .T4 BIOL 1987 W37Master of ScienceBiolog