P-28 The Prevalence of Encysted Toxoplasma & Sarcocystis in Consumer-Grade Pork, Beef, and Mutton in Michiana

Commonly present in the muscle of animals are the tissue cysts of Toxoplasma and Sarcocystis. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and levels of Toxoplasma/Sarcocystis tissue cysts in retail pork, beef, and mutton throughout the Michiana area. A total of 36 samples, 12 from each species, were exposed to a digestive solution mimicking stomach conditions. The solution consisted of Pepsin 0.75% , NaCl 0.86%, and HCl adjusted to a pH of 1-2. The digested samples were then strained through several layers of cheesecloth, centrifuged, and examined for the presence of parasites

Physical Home Environment, Personal Competencies, and Psychological Well-Being of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Development of a Structural Model

This multi-manuscript dissertation focuses on the relationships between the physical home environment, personal competencies, and psychological well-being among older adults living in community settings. The ecological model of aging serves as the guiding theoretical framework for the exploration and design of the subsequent studies. The first paper is a critical review of the literature. Results suggest that there is little consistency in the measurement of the physical home environment across studies. Also, more research is needed to clarify the relationships between the three major constructs and to expand the area of study to U.S. populations. Finally, some support exists to suggest that personal competence moderates the effect of the physical home environment on psychological well-being. Recommendations for research and practice are given. The second and third paper follow the research recommendations of paper one. To begin exploring the relationships between the constructs among U.S. based samples, the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) round 1 data are used. NHATS is a population-based sample of older adults drawn from the Medicare Enrollment File, which represents 96% of seniors in the continental United States. The second paper is a description of a confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) approach that tests an a priori measurement model. The sample of 6,665 community-dwelling respondents is randomly split into two subsamples (sample 1= 3,330 and sample 2= 3,335). The proposed measurement model is then refined with the first sample and validated with the second sample. The final paper describes the process of fitting a structural model to the data of the entire sample and testing whether personal competence moderates the effect of physical home environment on psychological well-being

The Prevalence of Encysted Toxoplasma & Sarcocystis in Consumer-grade Pork, Beef, and Lamb in Michiana

Commonly present in the muscle of animals are the tissue cysts of Toxoplasma and Sarcocystis. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and levels of Toxoplasma/Sarcocystis tissue cysts in retail pork, beef, and mutton throughout the Michiana area. A total of 36 samples from the three species of interest were exposed to a digestive solution mimicking stomach conditions. The solution consisted of 0.75% pepsin, 0.86% NaCl, and HCl adjusted to a pH of 1-2. The digested samples were then strained through several layers of cheesecloth, centrifuged, and examined for the presence of parasites. Toxoplasma/Sarcocystis were detected in all species of meat with an overall prevalence of 55%. Although not ubiquitous in every meat product, improper preparation could leave the consumer at risk of infection

Stock Exchange Maturity And GDP Per Capita

This study examines the impact of domestic stock exchanges on the economic growth and development of 26 East European and former Soviet Bloc countries.  Growth in domestic financial markets should positively influence a country’s economic output as measured by GDP per capita. An investigation of the noteworthy relationship between the level of economic activity and both the operations of the current stock market and the existence of stock exchanges prior to communism is formulated.  Countries with stock exchanges prior to communism, have reintroduced free-market characteristics more rapidly than those, which did not.  A positive correlation between economic activity and variables for volume of stock exchange trade and market value of exchange trade is also found.  The number of companies listed and the number of exchange members do not appear to be important variables

Cross-Border Arbitrage And Free Trade

The following study presents a theory of cross-border arbitrage by consumers.  Competitive forces should explain how equilibrium prices would be set on each side of a border. Various trading partners have ratified numerous free-trade pacts. There is a need to investigate the success or failure of these agreements.  Because of the many non-tariff trade barriers, it is sometimes difficult to construct meaningful tests of the free-trade issues for products on an individualized basis.  Our comprehensive model of cross-border price variation develops an appropriate test.  A series of hypotheses on geographical arbitrage are presented. We also explain why some products may have larger price differences than others based on price sensitive arbitrage.  Our model may be used to measure the likelihood of undermining influences to free trade from any non-tariff barriers that continue to plague relations between trading partners.

Not a Needy Person Among Them: A Network Analysis of Prosocial and Religious Behaviors

We used a network analysis of prosocial and religious behaviors to identify facilitating hub items that might drive broad prosocial behaviors among church members. We identified four hub items that suggest that intentional involvement of church members in service to the church and community might serve to drive further prosociality

Every family has occasional difficulties : The Stability of Family Dynamics Post Coming Out

This presentation highlights findings from a study of SDA parents whose LGBTQ+ child came out to them within the past 10 years. The findings revealed that parents noted few changes in family functioning post coming out. Many noted small improvements in family functioning and enduring family strength

Southern Asia Division Report: Global Church Member Survey 2017-2018

This report is the first examination of the Southern Asia Division 2017-2018 Global Church Member Survey (GCMS) data. The research team worked closely with the meta-analysis team to ensure consistent implementation of the research protocol and consistent use of the questionnaire. A total of 2981 surveys were used from all SUD Unions. The findings of this document are an initial analysis of the data using the latest version of SPSS. The purpose of the Executive Summary is to highlight key findings from the study, which includes: 1. Summarizing the demographic findings in order to describe the characteristics of church members in this division. 2. Describing the religious and spiritual behaviors of respondents. 3. Summarizing respondents’ awareness of and participation in General Conference sponsored programming. 4. Describing members’ acceptance of key fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church