Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Bronwyn S. Fees / Research has determined three main pathways or orientations to happiness: Meaning, Pleasure, and Engagement (Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005). Each has shown to have a substantial impact on an individual's satisfaction with life. These orientations to happiness and their impact on life satisfaction were investigated among 342 emerging adults between the ages of 18-25 attending college. Linear multiple regression was conducted to assess the relationship between Life satisfaction and the three orientations of happiness after identifying the variance explained by demographics factors and personality traits. Results indicated first that each orientation to happiness was empirically distinguishable and related among the emerging adult population. Secondly, both Meaning and Pleasure were significant predictors of Life Satisfaction beyond the variance explained by personality; however, Engagement was not. Congruent with previous personality studies (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996; Lynn & Steel, 2006), life satisfaction was positively correlated with extraversion and negatively correlated with neuroticism. These findings indicate a need to understand how happiness and life satisfaction are filtered through a cultural, developmental, and academic lens. Further studies are necessary to determine the attitudes and behaviors in other countries, other life stages, and emerging adults not attending college.

An adequate measure of Control Over Nursing Practice (CONP) at the organizational level of the nurse's work unit was needed. The purpose of this study was to estimate the reliability and validity of a new unit-level version of an existing CONP scale using a descriptive survey design. A convenience sample of 91 staff Registered Nurses from two urban hospitals voluntarily completed two versions (individual-level and unit-level) of the CONP scale, and an index of work satisfaction.

This study was concerned with two objectives: (a) To understand the current in-service training needs assessment in Saudi Arabia, and (b) to understand the applicability of different needs assessment techniques in the Saudi organizational context. / Factors considered for the first objective were: Definition of training, perception of training needs assessment, perception of the current assessment process, responsibility for assessing training needs, perception of efforts at cooperation to assess training needs, and perception of the value of the annual training plan of each ministry or agency. Approaches considered for the second objective were: Questionnaires, interviews, observations, records, performance appraisals, key consultants, critical incidents, assessment centers, nominal group techniques, self-assessments, and management excellence inventories. / A total of 41 interviews were conducted with Institute of Public Administration (IPA) policy makers, IPA trainers, and government training managers; and 640 questionnaires were distributed to government line managers and employees, of which 443 were returned. / The major findings revealed an absence of performance-based needs assessment; little sense of shared responsibility for a systematic needs assessment process; a generally limited and passive exercise of responsibility by training units, with the real burden falling on the line agencies; a perception of in-service training as dealing primarily with the job, rather than individual development needs; and training nomination as the focus of attention instead of needs assessment. The absence of a credible performance appraisal system further exacerbates problems of needs assessment. Institutionally, the IPA was found to play a major part in these activities and to have made steady and gradual efforts to enable government organizations to take charge of identifying their needs. / The study contributes to a very limited empirical literature on the operating realities of needs assessment, a critical part of public service training. In suggesting further directions for research, emphasis was placed on comparative studies that would provide practice-based generalizations on the needs assessment process. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-03, Section: A, page: 0788. / Major Professor: Frank P. Sherwood. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

Ten healthy eumenorrheic white females (26.4 $\pm$ 5.2 yrs) were studied during the regular menstrual cycle (25 to 37 days) to determine the effects of the different phases of the cycle on plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations. Three blood samples were collected throughout the phases of the menstrual cycle. The first blood sample was collected in the early follicular phase (days 4-7) after the onset of the menses; the second blood sample in the ovulatory phase (days 12-14) approximately 24-48 hrs after ovulation; and the third blood sample in the luteal phase (days 24-26) nearly 6-9 days after ovulation. A repeated measures MANOVA was utilized for the analysis of the data with Tukey post-hoc employed to locate significant differences between means. A significant increase (12.4% and 24.4%) in plasma total cholesterol levels and (20.2% and 30.9%) in LDL-C levels were demonstrated during the follicular phase compared to the ovulatory and luteal phases of the cycle, respectively. During the ovulatory phase of the cycle, total cholesterol levels also increased significantly (10.7%) relative to the luteal phase. In addition, during the follicular phase there was a significant increase in plasma levels of HDL-C (19.2%) and HDL$\sb3$-C (13.9%) compared to the luteal phase. Moreover, a significant increase (74.2%) in plasma HDL$\sb2$-C levels were demonstrated during the ovulatory phase versus the luteal phase. Furthermore, HDL-C levels were significantly higher (20.8%) during the ovulatory phase compared to the luteal phase. There were no statistically significant changes in plasma triglyceride concentrations among cycle phases. The results of this study suggest that the fluctuations in plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations throughout the different phases of the normal menstrual cycle seems of vital importance to define exact days and phases of the / cycle in which blood samples are to be collected for analyzing plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels in premenopausal women. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-12, Section: B, page: 5292. / Major Professor: Robert Moffatt. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Steps to reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture have been pursued by consumers and non-profit organizations, mainly from wealthy countries, pressuring governments to develop laws against the use of pesticides. Despite legislation that bans or severely restricts highly toxic pesticides, their production and use continue to take place in both developed and developing countries. The demand for healthy food and an improved quality of the environment, however, has led to the development of a new market niche for agricultural commodities grown without industrial inputs. Small-scale farmers from Chiapas are producing chemical free coffee and without government regulations or support. Chiapas has become the leading producing state of certified Environmentally-Friendly (EF) coffee production, and Mexico has become the leading country in exports of EF coffee This research project examines factors that have allowed impoverished small-scale farmers to make the investments necessary to use certified EF production and markets. Surprisingly, given the controversies in the literature about EF farming and Industrial Agriculture (IA), no one so far has investigated this question at an individual level. According to the literature on this issue, the reasons farmers have shifted to EF methods are: the fall in global coffee price; the rising price of pesticides; international economic support; the demand for quality coffee; tradition; promotion by private companies; direct trade links, and participation from NGOs and religious leaders However, the results of the study indicate that leading factors in the farmers' decisions were based on organization, more so than prices. Although the literature claims that the fall in the price of coffee and the rise in the costs of IA accounts for the switch to EF coffee, this project provides evidence farmers were more likely to engage in EF agriculture when they had previous knowledge of costs and benefits of IA and EF farming, received the technical knowledge to engage in EF agriculture, their farms had appropriated physical conditions for coffee production, and had low cost access to compost and other relevant organic inputs. In addition, the survey data show that organizational efforts done principally by a religious and other civic leaders, as well as subsequent monitoring and enforcement services by international organizations, such as Fair Trade created the institutional structure necessary for the EF market. This suggests that farmers sought economic security more than maximization of wealth and the factors above allowed them to find it with EF coffee / acase@tulane.edu

The current study is an initial molecular characterization of patterning mechanisms in the embryonic limb. The basis of this work is that the mechanisms that are utilized during normal limb formation are likely to be the same pathways utilized in regenerative responses. Therefore, by understanding the molecular basis of normal limb development we may eventually understand regenerative limb formation. The first part of this work demonstrates that the regenerative ability of mouse digit tips is restricted to levels in which the amputation plane is within the region of Msx1, but not Msx2, expression in early fetal digits and to levels where both Msx1 and Msx2 are expressed in late fetal and neonatal digits. In both fetal and neonatal digits we find that both Msx1 and Msx2 are expressed during regeneration, but not during wound healing associated with proximal amputations where no regenerative response is observed. Thus, developmental expressed genes are re-utilized during regenerative responses. Secondly, I have characterized the regulation of Sonic hedgehog when ZPA signaling tissue is grafted into the anterior or distal regions of the limb bud-prior to the formation of additional limb structures. The evidence demonstrates that Sonic hedgehog expression is AER/FGF-2/FGF-4-dependent, limited to posterior cells, and modulated by mesenchymal cell-cell interactions between host and graft cells. These data points to a novel signal within the limb mesenchyme that can modulate the ZPA signal. Finally, the characterization of the molecular changes associated with the acquisition and maintenance of ZPA-signaling in limb cells and the molecular changes associated with supernumerary digit formation from host tissues, provide interesting insights into the pathways of limb development. This study provides the first evidence indicating that ZPA-signaling can occur in the absence of Sonic hedgehog expression and moreover, that there are multiple molecular pathways to the formation of extra digit structures. Cumulatively, our results show that the mechanisms underlying limb development are very complex, but that some of the mechanisms used during limb development are re-utilized during regenerative processes / acase@tulane.edu

Cocaine use among women of child bearing age has significantly increased over the past several years. Consequently, the number of infants born prenatally exposed to cocaine has also risen. The influence of prenatal cocaine exposure on child development and the influence of maternal cocaine addiction on parenting are only beginning to be explored. However the effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal cocaine use place these dyads at risk for impaired interaction, and these infants at risk for developmental delay. The present study is a longitudinal investigation of infant development and mother-infant interaction in 25 cocaine-affected dyads over the first 9 postnatal months. The goals of this research were to provide descriptive data about infant development and mother-infant interaction in cocaine-affected dyads, and to investigate the relation between these two factors over the first 9 months of life. Infant cognitive and motor development was assessed at 4, 6, and 9 months. Mother-infant interaction measured in feeding and teaching situations, was assessed at 1, 4, 6 and 9 months. In general, the cognitive and motor development of these infants was in the normal range at each testing. Evidence was provided that maternal postnatal drug use was associated with lower cognitive scores in infants. Cognitive and motor development in the present sample was consistent over time. Mother-infant interaction in both feeding and teaching contexts was found to be below the tenth percentile established in standardization research, indicating risk and need for intervention. In addition, the quality of interaction in the present sample was lower than that in two high-risk samples of previous research. Feeding interaction quality was consistent over time, whereas interaction in the teaching situation showed significant improvement between 6 and 9 months. The relation between infant development and mother-infant interaction was found to be complex. However there was some evidence that child development had a more important influence on interaction quality than interaction quality had on child development. The implications of these results for future research and intervention are discussed / acase@tulane.edu

The development in the last decade of methodology for measuring and scaling household food insecurity and hunger in U.S. populations makes systematic examination of the ways in which hunger and food insecurity affect individuals and families possible. The impact of food insecurity on children has always been of primary concern for policy, advocacy, and science because of the vulnerability of children to long-term developmental sequelae. There is an emerging and rapidly growing literature demonstrating deleterious links between inadequate food and a variety of developmental outcomes for children, including poorer health status, school absenteeism, and emotional and behavioral dysfunction. The research presented here explores the relationship of household food insecurity to children's well-being in terms of cognitive and social development at kindergarten entry, utilizing a large and representative sample children in the United States. The timing of this evaluation, in the fall and spring of the child's first school experience, allows not only a snapshot of a child's development throughout his/her preschool years but also the effect of the first year of schooling in relation to these outcomes The data are from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergartners (ECLS-K), collected in 1998--99 by the National Center for Education Statistics, and comprise 20,929 children attending 1,000 private and public schools. Results indicate that measures of reading, math, and general knowledge competence were not impacted by household food insecurity independent of other influences, but child emotional and functioning were negatively associated with household food insecurity even when controlling for many other relevant variables. The relationship of household food insecurity to children's attained growth was also examined and no independent relationship of household food insecurity to height for age or weight for height was found in either the fall or the spring of kindergarten / acase@tulane.edu

Human adult stem/progenitor cells from bone marrow stroma (MSCs) modultate stem and progenitor cells in the central nervous system. Human MSCs were grown with rat neural stem cells (NSCs) in vitro. Direct coculture of the cells stimulated astrocyte and oligodendrocyte differentiation whereas MSC conditioned medium promoted only the oligodendroglial fate. Microarray analysis was used to survey changes in the transcriptomes of both cell types. NSCs grown in direct coculture with MSCs up-regulated transcripts associated with glial development. NSCs and MSCs up-regulated genes for signaling factors and component proteins in TGFb and Notch signaling pathways. NSCs expressed TGFb receptor 1, and coculture with MSCs increased TGFb secretion by MSCs. Blocking TGFb receptor 1 signaling attenuated the increase in glial differentiation. NSCs and MSCs express Notch ligands and receptors. Coculture increased Notch signaling and downstream transcription factors that drive astrocyte determination in NSCs. Blocking TGFb receptor 1 signaling attenuated the increase in Notch signaling in NSCs. MSCs also modulate rat oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in vitro and in an animal model of demyelination. MSCs injected into the rodent brain induced with a demyelinated lesion migrated toward the lesion and spared myelin loss. Surrounding the lesion MSCs reduced reactive astrocyte activation and stimulated proliferation and maturation of resident OPCs. In vitro MSC conditioned medium increased proliferation of immature OPCs whereas direct coculture additionally stimulated their maturation. Microarray analysis indicated OPCs grown in direct coculture up-regulated transcripts for mature oligodendrocyte proteins, and both cell types up-regulated genes for secreted factors and component proteins in signaling pathways. In vitro and in the demyelinated brain, MSCs secreted TGFb3 and OPCs expressed TGFb receptor 1. OPCs secreted IGF2 in vitro and coculture with MSCs increased IGF2 production. MSCs injection into the demyelinated brain increased IGF2 production by endogenous cells including OPCs. Coculture with MSCs stimulated OPC maturation and blocking IGF2 signaling attenuated the effect / acase@tulane.edu

No description available.