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An Empirical Examination Of Maximum Entropy Estimation., Randall Charles Campbell Jan 1999

An Empirical Examination Of Maximum Entropy Estimation., Randall Charles Campbell

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Maximum entropy estimation is a relatively new estimation technique in econometrics. We carry out several Monte Carlo experiments using real data as a basis in order to understand the properties of the maximum entropy estimator. We compare the maximum entropy and generalized maximum entropy estimators to traditional estimation techniques in linear regression, binary choice, and multinomial choice models. In addition, we discuss maximum entropy estimation in censored and truncated regression models. We find that the generalized maximum entropy estimator dominates the logit estimator and the multinomial logit estimator in Monte Carlo experiments. The generalized maximum entropy estimator in discrete choice …

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A Transformational Reengineering System That Supports Software Maintenance Using A Graph Representation For The Identification Of An Object-Oriented Software Architecture., Ramachenga Reddy Valasareddi Jan 1999

A Transformational Reengineering System That Supports Software Maintenance Using A Graph Representation For The Identification Of An Object-Oriented Software Architecture., Ramachenga Reddy Valasareddi

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The process of maintenance and enhancement of legacy software systems is a laborious and unavoidable task. Often these systems lack structure or modularity, as they were developed using programming languages and paradigms that do not incorporate object-oriented features and sound design principles. The software engineer's task can be simplified if tools are available to identify object like features in the code. These tools can help transform the non-object-oriented code to object oriented code. This research describes a comprehensive and systematic process for transformational reengineering of legacy systems. Research in reengineering is mainly focused on clustering techniques that group procedures present …

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Tennessee Williams And New Orleans: Rewriting The Playwright, Rewriting The City., Mark D. Zelinsky Jan 1999

Tennessee Williams And New Orleans: Rewriting The Playwright, Rewriting The City., Mark D. Zelinsky

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Vieux Carre (1978), Suddenly Last Summer (1958), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) are among the many Tennessee Williams' plays and short stories that take New Orleans as their setting; they demonstrate how the city offered an appropriate and complex metaphor to explore his themes. This study centers on Tennessee Williams and New Orleans and explores how the two are linked in a mutually advantageous relationship, how the city informed his work, how his works reflect/re-create the city, and how the combination has passed into popular culture. This work examines the themes and images prevalent in Williams, work that also …

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Tourism And Place In Treasure Beach, Jamaica: Imagining Paradise And The Alternative., Michael J. Hawkins Jan 1999

Tourism And Place In Treasure Beach, Jamaica: Imagining Paradise And The Alternative., Michael J. Hawkins

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The tourism production system has been generating images of the Jamaican landscape and culture since the mid-nineteenth century. This system consists of those individuals and corporate entities who produce and market the product itself, including travel writers, airlines, advertising agencies, hotel owners and government agencies; and the people, their culture, and elements of the landscape which are commodified as tourist attractions. The tourist gaze has traditionally focused on an idealized Caribbean landscape. Because of a shift in Western patterns of consumption, the focus of the gaze has shifted to emphasize the culture and people who inhabit the landscape. As the …

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Isolation Of Antimutagenic Compounds In Corn And Cottonseed., Henry Njapau Jan 1999

Isolation Of Antimutagenic Compounds In Corn And Cottonseed., Henry Njapau

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Food, which ensures the sustenance of life, has also been implicated in the development or prevention of numerous diseases including cancer. Cancer may be a result of hereditary factors or genomic instability induced by DNA damage, from the intrinsic chemistry of cells or extrinsic factors like aflatoxin B1. Aflatoxin B1, produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, is a common contaminant of corn and cottonseed and a proven mutagen and animal carcinogen. Increased scientific knowledge and establishment of regulation have reduced but not eliminated exposure to aflatoxin B1. Complete elimination may be uneconomical for producers and may deprive consumers of …

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Rhetorical Theory: Discourse Practices Of Utopian Communities., Irvin Andreu Wilhite Jan 1999

Rhetorical Theory: Discourse Practices Of Utopian Communities., Irvin Andreu Wilhite

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study is interested in idealized expressions of political ideology in utopian science fiction literature written during the Cold War following World War II. Accordingly, a dramatistic analysis is presented regarding fourteen science fiction novels published between 1949 and 1959 which describes their thematic content with respect to consonant and contrasting moral/social/political positions and the influx of advancing technology. A description of the canonical works precedes this analysis. Subsequently, contemporary related studies are lightly analyzed for comparative and contextual considerations. Conclusions address the importance of rhetoric and performance in restoring the destabilized balance of power as an aftermath of violent …

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Experimental Mammalian Predator Removal And Other Factors Affecting Dabbling Duck Reproduction In North Dakota., Pamela Renee Garrettson Jan 1999

Experimental Mammalian Predator Removal And Other Factors Affecting Dabbling Duck Reproduction In North Dakota., Pamela Renee Garrettson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In the prairie pothole region, high predation rates often reduce duck nest success below the 15--20% thought necessary for population stability. Lethal removal of mammalian predators of duck nests is one potential management option, but there is little reliable information about the effects on nest success of removing mammalian predators without using poisons. On 16 4,150-ha blocks, half of them trapped during spring and summer, I found higher ( P < 0.001) nest success on trapped sites (45%) than on untrapped sites (17%). There were no year (P = 0.296), year-treatment (P = 0.423), or species-treatment (P > 0.895) effects. Nest success of blue-winged teal (Anas discors) and gadwalls (A. strepera) was higher than that of mallards ( A. platyrhynchos) and pintails (A. acuta, P = 0.028) on …

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Gaps In College Biology Students' Understanding Of Photosynthesis: Implications For Human Constructivist Learning Theory And College Classroom Practice., Phyllis Baudoin Griffard Jan 1999

Gaps In College Biology Students' Understanding Of Photosynthesis: Implications For Human Constructivist Learning Theory And College Classroom Practice., Phyllis Baudoin Griffard

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main research question of this study was: What gaps in biochemical understanding are revealed by a range of university introductory biology students as they work through a critically acclaimed multimedia program on photosynthesis, and what are the corresponding implications for elaboration of the Ausubel-Novak-Gowin Learning Theory (ANG, now Human Constructivism)? Twelve students, mixed for ability, gender and ethnicity, were recruited from two sections of "Bio 101." Before and after instruction in photosynthesis, in-depth clinical interviews were conducted during which participants completed a range of cognitive tasks such as sorting, concept mapping, explaining and predicting. Some tasks involved interacting with …

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The Evolution Of The Red River Valley Settlement System, 1714--1860., Keumsoo Hong Jan 1999

The Evolution Of The Red River Valley Settlement System, 1714--1860., Keumsoo Hong

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Since the first European settlement was established in the middle of Indian territory in 1714, the Red River Valley had experienced a dramatic transformation until the end of the antebellum period. The trajectory of the evolution can be divided into five vertical cross sections. The formative phase (1714--1803) features the colonial regimes in political arena, less-specialized regional economies, nascent urban units laden heavily with defensive functions, and coerced labor system. The settlement system resembled a semi-primate pattern with Natchitoches on the summit. The period of the Territory of Orleans (1804--1812) corresponded to the transition phase. During this interim, traditional staples …

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The Making Of The Myth In Postcolonial Development: Material-Conceptual Landscape Transformation In Sixteenth-Century Veracruz, Andrew Sluyter Jan 1999

The Making Of The Myth In Postcolonial Development: Material-Conceptual Landscape Transformation In Sixteenth-Century Veracruz, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Use Of Western Immunoblot Analysis For Testing Moose Serum For Brucella Suis Biovar 4 Specific Antibodies, Matthew D. Edmonds, Felicia M. Ward, Todd M. O'Hara, Philip H. Elzer Jan 1999

Use Of Western Immunoblot Analysis For Testing Moose Serum For Brucella Suis Biovar 4 Specific Antibodies, Matthew D. Edmonds, Felicia M. Ward, Todd M. O'Hara, Philip H. Elzer

Faculty Publications

To determine if 12 moose (Alces alces) from northern Alaska with agglutinating antibodies specific for Brucella spp. had been exposed to either B. suis biovar 4 or B. abortus biovar 1, western immunoblot serologic analysis was performed. Differential serologic responses to strain specific A and M antigenic variances of the lipopolysaccharide O-polysaccharide sugar allowed strain identification. Prior to examination, test sera were absorbed with killed whole cells from either B. abortus biovar 1, containing predominately A antigen (A+ M-); B. melitensis biovar 1, containing essentially M antigen (A-M+); or B. suis biovar 4, containing both antigenic types (A+ M+). The …

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Louisiana Works Campaign, Jeremy Tucker Jan 1999

Louisiana Works Campaign, Jeremy Tucker

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

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Large Magnitude Sinusoidal Voltammetry For Reversible Electrochemical Reactions., Yide Chang Jan 1999

Large Magnitude Sinusoidal Voltammetry For Reversible Electrochemical Reactions., Yide Chang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Sinusoidal voltammetry, the current response of a simple reversible electrochemical reaction under a large magnitude sinusoidal potential, is investigated in this work. The ferricyanide/ferrocyanide (Fe(CN)6-3/-4 ) redox couple at a platinum electrode, which is known to be reversible, was measured using sinusoidal potentials. Theoretical analyses, including computer-simulation of sinusoidal voltammetry at various excitation potentials, are also presented. The results obtained are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis. One remarkable advantage of sinusoidal voltammetry is that the charging current accompanying the electrode process, which is the most significant components of the noise at a fast potential scan, may be discriminated …

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Perceptions Of Technical Education Professionals Regarding The Purposes Of Technical Education Programs In Zimbabwe's Secondary Schools., Davison Muchemwa Mupinga Jan 1999

Perceptions Of Technical Education Professionals Regarding The Purposes Of Technical Education Programs In Zimbabwe's Secondary Schools., Davison Muchemwa Mupinga

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the current and ideal focus of the technical education program in Zimbabwe's secondary schools. Data were collected in Zimbabwe from 452 technical education professionals (397 technical teachers, 39 technical teacher educators, and 16 education officers for technical subjects). The technical teachers were all from Harare region, the teacher educators were from three technical teacher colleges, and the education officers were from all the nine educational regions in Zimbabwe. A three part researcher designed questionnaire was used to collect data for this study. Respondents rated 40 statements of purposes of technical education on …

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The Impact Of Communal Behaviors On The Judgement Of Service Quality., Barbara Ross Wooldridge Jan 1999

The Impact Of Communal Behaviors On The Judgement Of Service Quality., Barbara Ross Wooldridge

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the question of the importance of the service encounter (both functional and social support components) and the importance of the technical component in consumers' judgements of service quality. To date in the literature no one has attempted to measure in a field setting, the relative contribution to the judgement of service quality of each of these components. This research switched the focus of the service quality's definition from the provider's point of view to the consumer. By measuring the three service components' importance, the researcher hoped to obtain a clearer understanding of the consumer's determination as to …

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Volumes Three And Four Of Jozsef Soproni's "Note Pages": A Stylistic Study., Maria Horvath Jan 1999

Volumes Three And Four Of Jozsef Soproni's "Note Pages": A Stylistic Study., Maria Horvath

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Jozsef Soproni, born in Hungary in 1930, composed in virtually every genre of musical composition: symphonies, other orchestral pieces, concertos, an opera, masses, cantatas, other choral pieces, songs, string quartets, sonatas, plus other chamber and instrumental pieces. His interest in solo piano music is realized in a number of compositions written before 1979 and his twelve piano sonatas written between 1996 and the first quarter of 1999. There is no comprehensive study of Soproni's music for piano; indeed all that has been published about it are brief analyses of various pieces, biographical sketches in books, and two articles in a …

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Rhetoric And Institutional Environments: The Legitimation Of Higher Education In Twentieth Century America., Thomas J. St. Antoine Jan 1999

Rhetoric And Institutional Environments: The Legitimation Of Higher Education In Twentieth Century America., Thomas J. St. Antoine

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation seeks to discover and analyze the divergent ways that higher education has been legitimated by American discourse in the twentieth century. Institutions of higher learning have been able to survive and flourish because they have been seen as essential to the health of a democracy, of a free-market economy, and of religious institutions. However, the explanations for such legitimacy have been diverse and varied. Bormann's fantasy theme analysis can account for the values and beliefs that form the institutional environments shaping and legitimating organizations such as colleges and universities. Fantasy themes expressed in popular discourse are expressions of …

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Musing The Garden: A Poetics Of Place And Emplacement., Scott Parker Smiley Jan 1999

Musing The Garden: A Poetics Of Place And Emplacement., Scott Parker Smiley

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A walk through a garden is an immersion into a wealth of sensory and relational experiences of place. Plant varieties, color, texture, flowers, forms, pathways, light, benches, ornaments, and other experiential qualities of place work upon one's consciousness to draw one into intimate contact with the place "Emplacement" is this intimate, immersed engagement with a place, a process and state of being that erodes the boundaries we so often erect between self and environment. Traditional systematic forms of inquiry, based upon the Cartesian idea of an essential separation between object and subject, are not applicable to the study of emplacement …

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Religious Art: Reflectors Of Change In The Catholic Church In New Mexico, 1830--1910., Shirley Jean Sands Jan 1999

Religious Art: Reflectors Of Change In The Catholic Church In New Mexico, 1830--1910., Shirley Jean Sands

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In 1846, the United States of America began a war with the Republic of Mexico. When it was over, one of the results was the acquisition of much of current California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, southern Colorado and New Mexico. The region was occupied by Catholic Mexicans, a fact not lost on the American Catholic hierarchy. The result is the sending of a new religious administration and the founding of what would become the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The clergy sent were French with French notions of civilization, culture, and proper Catholic theology. These views and notions were contrary to those …

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Addressing The Problems Of Beginning Teachers: An Evaluation Of Teacher Induction Programs., Daphene O. Singleton Jan 1999

Addressing The Problems Of Beginning Teachers: An Evaluation Of Teacher Induction Programs., Daphene O. Singleton

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to identify the characteristics of effective teacher induction programs, (2) to determine the relationship between teacher induction and retention in a northeastern Louisiana school district, and (3) determine if teacher induction practices in that district are useful to new/beginning teachers. A pilot study was conducted, and a validity panel of experts validated the content and face validity of the survey and interview instruments developed for the various participants. The participants included the superintendent Central Office staff persons, selected principals, and new/beginning teachers. There was some discrepancy between the responses of the teachers …

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Louisiana Agriculture Winter, 1999, Lsu Agcenter Jan 1999

Louisiana Agriculture Winter, 1999, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

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The Late-Time Light Curve Of Sn 1998bw Associated With Grb 980425, Eric H. Mckenzie, Bradley E. Schaefer Jan 1999

The Late-Time Light Curve Of Sn 1998bw Associated With Grb 980425, Eric H. Mckenzie, Bradley E. Schaefer

Faculty Publications

We report 139 photometric observations through the B, V, and I filters of the supernova SN 1998bw, an object which is associated with the gamma-ray burst GRB 980425. Detailed light curves of this unique supernova can be compared with theoretical models, so we report here our light curve for 123 days between 1998 June 27 and 1998 October 28. The light curve of SN 1998bw is consistent with those of the Type Ic class. We find that the magnitude versus time relation for this supernova is linear to within 0.05 mag in all colors over the entire duration of our …

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Ultrasonic Attenuation In Clean D-Wave Superconductors, I. Vekhter, E. J. Nicol, J. P. Carbotte Jan 1999

Ultrasonic Attenuation In Clean D-Wave Superconductors, I. Vekhter, E. J. Nicol, J. P. Carbotte

Faculty Publications

We consider the attenuation of longitudinal ultrasonic waves in a clean two-dimensional d-wave superconductor. We show that the attenuation coefficient is linear in temperature at low temperatures for all in-plane directions of the propagation of the ultrasound, and that the coefficient of the linear term can be used to determine the parameters crucial for the low-temperature transport in these compounds. © 1999 American Physical Society.

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Anisotropic Thermodynamics Of (Formula Presented)-Wave Superconductors In The Vortex State, I. Vekhter Jan 1999

Anisotropic Thermodynamics Of (Formula Presented)-Wave Superconductors In The Vortex State, I. Vekhter

Faculty Publications

We show that the density of states and the thermodynamic properties of a two-dimensional (Formula presented)-wave superconductor in the vortex state with applied magnetic field H in the plane depend on the angle between H and the order-parameter nodes. Within a semiclassical treatment of the extended quasiparticle states, we obtain fourfold oscillations of the specific heat, measurement of which provides a simple probe of gap symmetry. The frequency dependence of the density of states and the temperature dependence of thermodynamic properties obey different power laws for field in the nodal and antinodal direction. The fourfold pattern is changed to twofold …

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Quasiparticle Thermal Conductivity In The Vortex State Of High- Tccuprates, I. Vekhter, A. Houghton Jan 1999

Quasiparticle Thermal Conductivity In The Vortex State Of High- Tccuprates, I. Vekhter, A. Houghton

Faculty Publications

We present the results of a microscopic calculation of the longitudinal thermal conductivity, κxx, of a d-wave superconductor in the mixed state. Our results show an increase in the thermal conductivity with the applied field at low temperatures and a decrease followed by a nearly field independent κxx(H) at higher temperatures, in qualitative agreement with the experimental results. We discuss the relationship between the slope of the superconducting gap and the plateau in κxx(H). © 1999 The American Physical Society.

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Quasiparticle Transport In The Vortex State Of D-Wave Superconductors, I. Vekhter Jan 1999

Quasiparticle Transport In The Vortex State Of D-Wave Superconductors, I. Vekhter

Faculty Publications

We calculate the magnetic field and temperature dependence of the Raman response, superfluid density, and the NMR relaxation rate in the vortex state of a d-wave superconductor arising from the Doppler energy shift of extended quasiparticle states. Our results are valid both at low temperatures, where we observe scaling with variable (Formula presented) and obtain an explicit form of the scaling functions, and beyond this region. We derive a universal frequency-dependent scaling relation for the Raman intensity, and discuss the breakdown of the single relaxation rate approach to the NMR response. © 1999 The American Physical Society.

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Spatiotemporal Separation Of High Harmonic Radiation Into Two Quantum Path Components, M. B. Gaarde, F. Salin, E. Constant, Ph Balcou, K. J. Schafer, K. C. Kulander, A. L’Huillier Jan 1999

Spatiotemporal Separation Of High Harmonic Radiation Into Two Quantum Path Components, M. B. Gaarde, F. Salin, E. Constant, Ph Balcou, K. J. Schafer, K. C. Kulander, A. L’Huillier

Faculty Publications

We present a spatiotemporal analysis of high harmonic generation, showing evidence for the presence of several quantum path contributions to the atomic dipole moment. We show that the harmonic radiation can largely be described as a sum of two fields having a phase proportional to the intensity of the generating field. We compare our results to recent experimental results demonstrating this separation [M. Bellini et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 297 (1998)]. We show how the temporal and spatial coherence properties are influenced by this effect, and discuss how it could be used to obtain better control of the generated …

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Complementation Of Conjugation Functions Of Streptomyces Lividans Plasmid Pij101 By The Related Streptomyces Plasmid Psb24.2, Gregg S. Pettis, Shubha Prakash Jan 1999

Complementation Of Conjugation Functions Of Streptomyces Lividans Plasmid Pij101 By The Related Streptomyces Plasmid Psb24.2, Gregg S. Pettis, Shubha Prakash

Faculty Publications

A database search revealed extensive sequence similarity between Streptomyces lividans plasmid pIJ101 and Streptomyces plasmid pSB24.2, which is a deletion derivative of Streptomyces cyanogenus plasmid pSB24.1. The high degree of relatedness between the two plasmids allowed the construction of a genetic map of pSB24.2, consisting of putative transfer and replication loci. Two pSB24.2 loci, namely, the cis-acting locus for transfer (clt) and the transfer-associated korB gene, were shown to be capable of complementing the pIJ101 clt and korB functions, respectively, a result that is consistent with the notion that pIJ101 and the parental plasmid pSB24.1 encode highly similar, if not …

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Rapid Evolution Of Fertilization Selectivity And Lysin Cdna Sequences In Teguline Gastropods, Michael E. Hellberg, Victor D. Vacquier Jan 1999

Rapid Evolution Of Fertilization Selectivity And Lysin Cdna Sequences In Teguline Gastropods, Michael E. Hellberg, Victor D. Vacquier

Faculty Publications

Proteins mediating intercellular recognition face opposing selective forces as they evolve: purifying selection to maintain function, and diversifying selection to alter specificity. Lysin is a 16-kDa protein which enables sperm of free-spawning marine snails to make a hole in the vitelline layer (VE) surrounding conspecific eggs. Previous work on abalone (Haliotis spp.) has shown that positive selection promotes rapid interspecific divergence of lysin. Here, we present data on the specificity of VE dissolution by four species of teguline gastropods, along with lysin cDNA sequences. The teguline and abalone lineages diverged over 250 MYA. As in abalone, VE dissolution by lysin …

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Abdominal Adiposity In Six Populations Of West African Descent: Prevalence And Population Attributable Fraction Of Hypertension, Ike S. Okosun, Terrence E. Forrester, Charles N. Rotimi, Babatunde O. Osotimehin, Walinjom F. Muna, Richard S. Cooper Jan 1999

Abdominal Adiposity In Six Populations Of West African Descent: Prevalence And Population Attributable Fraction Of Hypertension, Ike S. Okosun, Terrence E. Forrester, Charles N. Rotimi, Babatunde O. Osotimehin, Walinjom F. Muna, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Objectives: The objective of this investigation was to examine the prevalence of abdominal adiposity and its association with the prevalence of hypertension among African descent populations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbados, and the United States (US). Research Method: The data for this investigation were obtained from the International Collaborative Study on Hypertension in Blacks. Hypertension was defined as mean diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg, systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg or current treatment with prescribed antihypertension medication. Abdominal overweight was defined as waist circumference (WC) ≥94 and ≥80 cm for men and women, respectively. Abdominal obesity was defined as …

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