Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Comparison Of Food Security Status, Nutrient Intakes, Body Mass Index, And Multiple Diseases Among Self-Reported Depressed And Non-Depressed Female Food Stamp Recipients In Southeast Louisiana, Yifang Bai

LSU Master's Theses

The objectives of this study were to explore the relationships among depression and food security status, dietary nutrient intakes, sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index (BMI), and the presence of chronic diseases in a female food stamp recipient population (n = 66) in Southeast Louisiana. Women were dichotomized by stated depression and descriptive statistics on socioeconomic characteristics and mean nutrient intakes were presented for each group. Logistic regression models were used to determine the relationship of stated depression with food security status, selected sociodemographic characteristics, nutrient intakes, body mass index, and the number of chronic diseases reported. The percentage of women …

Food Purchasing Behaviors, Dietary Energy Density, Perceived Health Status, And Perceived Nutrition Knowledge Of Female Food Stamp Recipients Living In Southeast Louisiana, Carrie Marie Elks

LSU Master's Theses

Purchase and consumption of energy-dense nutrient poor [EDNP] foods by low-income individuals contributes to the lower diet quality and increased risk of chronic disease (e.g. obesity, type 2 diabetes) in this population. Food purchasing behaviors, dietary energy density [ED], perceived health status, and perceived nutrition knowledge were assessed in 22 female food stamp recipients in Southeast Louisiana. Two 24-hour recalls (at the beginning and at the end of the month) and food expenditure receipts were collected; participants also completed several questionnaires. Fifty percent [%] (n=11) of study participants were food secure, and fifty percent (n=11) were food insecure. Sixty-four % …

Underground In The Confederate Capital: Punk Subculture In Richmond, Virginia, Christopher J. Dalbom

LSU Master's Theses

The intent of this thesis is to investigate the role of the punk subculture in Richmond, Virginia from an ethnographic perspective. Through participant observation and open-ended interviews, it seeks an understanding of the role of the subculture in the lives of those who embrace it and how it shapes their experiences in Richmond. In doing so, it hopes to fill a gap in music geography and in the study of the punk subculture. According to much of the literature, punk died decades ago, but for those who claim punk allegiance in Richmond today, it is very alive and real. This …

Is Attention Unitary Or Divisible By Modality?, Sharon Diane Lynn

LSU Master's Theses

Using the attentional network task (ANT) developed by Fan et al. (2002) and a modification of this task, the development of selective attention in a bimodal (auditory and visual) task is measured and compared to the results and development of the visual version of the task. The theoretical purpose of the study was to determine whether the attentional mechanism involved in this task is organized as a single mechanism or into modality-specific mechanisms. It was shown that adults needed specific instructions to efficiently use the auditory spatial warning cues but instructions were not required for efficient use of visual spatial …

Federalism, Checks And The Welfare State: A Cross National Analysis, Amanda Louise Beal

LSU Master's Theses

It is often asserted in the institutional literature that there is a trade-off between effective and efficient government. Effective government is often stipulated to be more representative, while efficient government is considered superior at passing legislation. This analysis critiques Arend Lijphart's theory that consensus democracies are more representative, and therefore, result in "kinder, gentler" democracies with more encompassing social policies. I hypothesize that more representative government - operationalized as having higher levels of fractionalization within the legislature, more federalism and more checks within the system - is actually more effective at translating the median voter's preference for occupationally dependent or …

New Programs In The Old Asylum: The Deinstitutionalization Of Long-Term Psychiatric Hospital Patients In Argentina, Erica Dillon

LSU Master's Theses

Large psychiatric hospitals with inpatients interned for decades are still the norm in Argentina, where deinstitutionalization and community-based mental health care is almost inexistent. This thesis focuses on some changes taking place in a centenary psychiatric hospital in Buenos Aires province: the externación of long-term psychiatric patients through new programs planned and run from inside the institution by health professionals compromised in making a change in the old asylum. Can long-term inpatients with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia leave the asylum and integrate in the society having a recovered life? Do the new externación programs make this possible? What …

Datum Is Only Skin Deep: In Vivo Measurements Of Facial Tissue Thickness In Chimpanzees, Julia Rose Hanebrink

LSU Master's Theses

This study is an ultrasonic investigation of chimpanzee (Pan troglodyte) facial tissue depth variability as well as a comparison between chimpanzee tissue depth standards and modern human (Homo sapiens) tissue depth standards. This research intends to broaden the extent of knowledge available regarding nonhuman primate anatomy. In addition, this research hopes to provide valuable information regarding facial reconstructions of early hominins. The subjects utilized for this study were 44 male and female chimpanzees between the ages of two to forty-five years. The chimpanzees were made available by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in New …

Influence Of Controlled Density Arrays Of Natural And Artificial Vegetation On Flow Field Characteristics, Jennifer Lynn Booth

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the ideal planting density for trapping sediment as a means for determining the most economic and efficient means of foredune development. Research was conducted along the Texas Gulf Coast, within Padre Island National Seashore over a two week period. Four pegboards were aligned perpendicular to oncoming wind direction. Artificial and natural vegetation were plugged into the pegboard at incremental increases in 5% vegetation cover using volumetric measures of both plant types. Both natural and artificial vegetation reduce wind speed proportionately higher between 30% and 50% vegetation density. Natural vegetation has a higher …

Media Use, Linguistic Preference And Social Capital In The Hispanic Community, Misti Mcdaniel

LSU Master's Theses

While considerable research had been devoted to the study of social capital, limited information is available assessing the connection between linguistic preference and social capital among ethnic groups. Research indicated the American Latino community exhibits levels of social capital similar to the greater United States populous. Latinos who preferred English-language media, however, exhibited higher levels of social capital than those who used Spanish-language media. Finally, Latinos who held a linguistic preference for English held higher levels of social capital than individuals who preferred Spanish.

The Body Politic: Splitting Gender Medically In Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia, Sarah Sally Carraher

LSU Master's Theses

Before the rise of clinical medicine, Western medicine was undergoing several prerequisite shifts in epistemology and methodology - moving from an eighteenth-century practice of spaces and classes, wherein the symptom is synonymous with the disease, toward a nineteenth-century science of signs and cases, in which symptoms are symbols, or products, of a deeper disease (Foucault 1973). During the former age of classes, about mid-century, a particular shift in the medical perception of sex differences appears in the literature, without any great advances or revisions in human anatomical knowledge or treatment methods. This thesis looks at hospitalization of in-patients at Pennsylvania …

The Discursive Practices Of Chemical Discipline, Roger L. Pippin

LSU Master's Theses

This project examines the history of science and its relationship to the popular, or lay, audience, a problem of rhetorical inquiry since Aristotle. This project also explores the implications of the emerging trend in lay literature on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to transform the causal mechanism underlying ADHD so that it is isomorphic in structure and parallel in content to the most contemporary and fetishized sciences of the human body. In other words, how ADHD was once a problem of brain chemistry, and is now a problem of genetics is not simply a matter of scientific practice on the …

Efficacy Of Nutrition Education Lessons Targeting A Group Of Low-Income Elderly, Gabriela M. Viteri

LSU Master's Theses

Nutrition education has the potential not only to increase nutrition knowledge and, potentially, healthy behaviors, among the elderly, but also to reduce the need for health and social services. The nutrition component described herein is part of an overall wellness program that focuses on increasing physical activity and healthy dietary behaviors among participants. We completed a four month nutrition intervention in a group of 33 low income elderly at the Leo Butler Center (LBC) (n=20) and Catholic Presbyterian Apartments (CPA) (n=13) in the fall of 2005 in Baton Rouge, LA. The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was used as the theoretical …

Civic Journalism And Community Newspapers: Opportunities For Social And Civic Connections, Amy Burroughs

LSU Master's Theses

This study sought to fill in a gap in civic journalism research by considering its implications for community newspapers, those small, locally oriented publications that serve rural and suburban communities throughout the country. In particular, this study posed the argument that such newspapers may have advantages in pursuing civic journalism, and that these approaches may especially benefit newspapers in high-growth communities. This study relied heavily on the language of theorists who describe journalism as a public conversation, the quality of which - its usefulness for readers as citizens and members of a community - the press can either help or …

Effects Of Smoking Cessation And Female Sex Hormones On Food Intake In Postmenopausal Women, Megan Ranae Apperson

LSU Master's Theses

Following smoking cessation, individuals increase their food intake. Women experience greater postcessation hyperphagia than men, and older women may increase their food intake more than younger women. Some research has suggested that postcessation increases in food intake may be macronutrient specific. However, previous investigations of macronutrient specific changes in food intake following smoking cessation have had significant methodological problems. The current study assessed changes in total food intake and macronutrient selection using the Macronutrient Self-Selection Paradigm (MSSP), a direct, laboratory based measure of food intake that is valid and reliable with respect to macronutrient intake. Fifty-five postmenopausal females completed the …

Unbalanced Media Coverage And The 2004 Presidential Election: The New York Times Vs. The Washington Times, Jimmie E. Cummings, Jr.

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to find out if either The New York Times or The Washington Times participated in unbalanced media coverage during the last two weeks of the 2004 Presidential Election. Through content analysis paragraph tone was used to evaluate news stories, columns, and editorials as positive, negative or neutral from a composite week sample. Scholars, politicians, the public as well as journalists have long argued about the existence or not of media bias and whether it is in support of liberal or conservative politics. This study was not an attempt to pick a side in that …

Target Audiences And Communication Channels Of Lighten Up Programs In The United States, Nancy Leah Borden

LSU Master's Theses

Several Lighten Up programs around the United States were qualitatively studied in efforts to determine their target audiences and the communication channels used to reach these audiences. To guide this study, principles from the social marketing framework and the diffusion of innovations theory were applied. Several Lighten Up program executive directors and other high-ranking individuals in charge of the programs were interviewed in-depth to answer questions pertaining to target audiences and communication channels. Inductive data analysis illustrated that programs did not segment their target audiences, that more programs depended on interpersonal and group communication than mass communication, and finally, that …

Building Core Competencies In A Turbulent Environment: An Exploratory Study Of Firm Resources And Capabilities In Chinese Transitional Economy, Justin Tan, Shaomin Li, Weian Li

Management Faculty Publications

The impact of firm resources and capabilities on performance among Chinese enterprises has been subject of anecdotal speculation due to its significant implications for organizational researchers as well as practitioners. Yet empirical evidence has been very limited. In this research, set in the People's Republic of China, we examine firm resources and capabilities and their impact on firm performance among Chinese enterprises. Using large sample of 12,047 Chinese firms from 1991 to 1992, we found that most of the firm specific resources and capabilities examined in this study have a positive impact on performance. We discussed the implications for organizational …

Constructing A Framework To Enable An Open Source Reinvention Of Journalism, Leonard Witt

Faculty Articles

When the Los Angeles Times unveiled its Wikitorial, an open source experiment in commons-based editorial writing, it was shut down within two days as malicious trolls began to fill it with obscene photos. The editorial page editors apparently didn’t understand how commons-based peer production works. As journalism institutions consider commons-based peer production, known interchangeably as We Media, Open Content, Open Source Journalism, Participatory Journalism, Citizen Journalism, and Citizen Media, they would be well advised to consider a framework built on the past experiences learned by commons-based peer production in other areas. This article builds on open source/open content literature and …

The Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library: Built To Fill A Need, Rose M. Jackson, Gary W. Markham

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

The article focuses on the launching of the Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library (OSCDL) at the Portland State University Library in Portland, Oregon. The digital library is created to be a central repository for an access of historical planning documents within the area. The collaboration among the university, library, state and municipal agencies in this common goal has made the project more significant. Making the digitalization of vital planning reports and images from the 1960s through 1990s has been the latest goal of the project. This is in line of its vision in making information accessible regardless of physical location …

The Adventure(S) Of Blackness In Western Culture: An Epistolary Exchange On Old And New Identity Wars, Adrienne D. Davis, Robert S. Chang

Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Faculty Research

Through a series of letters, Professors Robert Chang and Adrienne Davis examine the politics of positionality in law and literary criticism. They use the scholarly debates and conversations around critical race theory and feminist legal theory as a starting point to formulate some thoughts about Critical Race Feminism ("CRF") and its future. The authors use the epistolary form as a literary device to allow them to collaborate on this project while maintaining their own voices. Thus, the letters are not dated.

The letters pay particular attention to various border crossings: male attempts to engage in feminist literary criticism, white attempts …

The Evolution Of The Common Law: Legal Development In Kenya And India, Sandra F. Joireman

Political Science Faculty Publications

Recent cross-national studies of the institutional prerequisites of economic growth have identified common law systems as superior to those of civil law. The assumption is that all common law systems share a similarity of structure and law which creates an environment facilitating investment and contract enforcement. Yet, due to its evolutionary nature, common law is not everywhere the same, nor is the historical development of the common law similar in all countries. This paper makes this point by examining the political development of common law in India and Kenya, in order to compare their legal institutions and histories. Both of …

An Unholy Trinity: Aids, Poverty And Insecure Property Rights For Women In Africa, Sandra F. Joireman

Political Science Faculty Publications

Women in Africa have long had insecure rights to both moveable and immoveable property due to the coexistence of customary and statutory law, lack of clarity and poor enforcement of the formal rights to property that exist. Insecure property rights for women are most evident in the case of divorce or the death of a spouse when a woman loses access to land and household assets. This paper examines the issues of poverty, HIV/AIDS and property rights in the area where they intersect most vividly, women’s lives and livelihoods. The gendered nature of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa is analyzed …

Assessment Of District Health Supervisory System, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project designed to reduce the country's maternal and neonatal mortality by making sure women have access to skilled birth attendants during childbirth and throughout the postpartum period. PAIMAN developed a community-based approach that provides a continuum of care to mothers and newborns through supportive linkages from home care to hospital-based care. Various assessments of the district health system suggest that it suffers from weaknesses that impair its efficiency, quality, and impact. Inefficient and ineffective supervision is one of the most important factors for the health sector’s poor performance. Effective, …

Baseline Survey: Summary Report Of District Buner, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

This summary report presents some of the key findings of a 2005 baseline household survey in Buner district, one of the ten districts in Pakistan that are the focus of the PAIMAN project. The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The project is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health (MNH) issues. PAIMAN district survey results are presented individually for each of the ten districts. PAIMAN developed a monitoring and evaluation plan …

Baseline Household Survey: Buner District, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). PAIMAN is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health issues. USAID has provided a grant to implement PAIMAN in ten districts of Pakistan’s four provinces. The goal of the project is to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality. The project calls for a multipronged and integrated strategic approach combining individual health care with public health and community-based interventions. To ensure that success is properly …

Baseline Survey: Summary Report Of District Jhelum, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

This summary report presents some of the key findings of a 2005 baseline household survey in Jhelum district, one of the ten districts in Pakistan that are the focus of the PAIMAN project. The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The project is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health (MNH) issues. PAIMAN district survey results are presented individually for each of the ten districts. PAIMAN developed a monitoring and evaluation plan …

Baseline Survey: Summary Report Of District Dg Khan, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

This summary report presents some of the key findings of a 2005 baseline household survey in Dera Ghazi Khan (DG Khan) district, one of the ten districts in Pakistan that are the focus of the PAIMAN project. The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The project is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health (MNH) issues. PAIMAN district survey results are presented individually for each of the ten districts. PAIMAN developed a …

Baseline Survey: Summary Report Of District Lasbela, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

This summary report presents some of the key findings of a 2005 baseline household survey in Lasbela district, one of the ten districts in Pakistan that are the focus of the PAIMAN project. The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The project is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health (MNH) issues. PAIMAN district survey results are presented individually for each of the ten districts. PAIMAN developed a monitoring and evaluation plan …

Baseline Household Survey: Lasbela District, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). PAIMAN is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health issues. USAID has provided a grant to implement PAIMAN in ten districts of Pakistan’s four provinces. The goal of the project is to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality. The project calls for a multipronged and integrated strategic approach combining individual health care with public health and community-based interventions. To ensure that success is properly …

Baseline Survey: Summary Report Of District Rawalpindi, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

This summary report presents some of the key findings of a 2005 baseline household survey in Rawalpindi district, one of the ten districts in Pakistan that are the focus of the PAIMAN project. The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The project is committed to assisting the Government of Pakistan in implementing the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address maternal and neonatal health (MNH) issues. PAIMAN district survey results are presented individually for each of the ten districts. PAIMAN developed a monitoring and evaluation plan …