Objectives and Theoretical Framework This study addresses the social dynamics of associations between chronic inflammation and quality of life in older adults, as well the ability of social factors to cause inflammatory disease. It builds on growing evidence in sociological and clinical literatures that chronic inflammation has negative net effects on quality of life across the life course, as well as negative indirect effects via social mechanisms (Hamer and Chida 2011; Lal 2006; Marnell et al. 2005; Testa and Simonson 1996; Sprangers et al. 2000; Epel et al. 2004; Finch and Crimmins 2004; Willson et al. 2007). Biomarkers are used to capture inflammatory pathology, ensuring that people with rare inflammatory conditions are included and thus avoiding many of the challenges presented by the diagnosis data used in previous research (Mirowsky and Ross 1989; Mirowsky and Ross 2003; Crimmins and Seeman 2001). Using this more inclusive method for studying people with chronic inflammation, elaboration models are created to explore how social factors influence the consequences and causation of chronic inflammation. Methods and Data Sources Data from Wave I of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) are used to examine relationships between levels of the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein and two different sets of quality of life outcomes. Because many inflammatory diseases are present at birth, studying older adults can reveal long-term effects from living with chronic inflammation (Geronimus 1992). Quality of life is measured in two ways: self-ratings of satisfaction with life in general (happiness, enjoyment of life, and sadness), and self-ratings of satisfaction with intimate relationships (overall happiness, physical satisfaction, and emotional satisfaction). Three types of social factors are examined: structure variables (age, race, sex, income, education), sociomedical sequelae (disability, pain, diagnosis), and process factors (communication and social support, relationship participation). The unique role of each of these elements of social life is explored via mediation, moderation, and fundamental causation analyses. All analyses use ordinal logistic and ordinary least-squares regression techniques as theoretically and mathematically indicated. Findings reveal how chronic inflammation may entrench and even foster social inequality. Key Findings Bivariate models suggest that total effects of chronic inflammatory biomarker levels on quality of life are significant and negative, indicating that chronic inflammation can decrease satisfaction with life and relationships. However, effect significance varies somewhat depending on the measure used; the effects of chronic inflammation on quality of life may thus be sensitive to slight differences between domains of psychosocial experience. Each additional milligram per liter of C-reactive protein appears to reduce the odds of reporting high levels of quality of life between 7 and 10 percent for the following outcomes: overall happiness, happiness with intimate relationships, physical satisfaction with relationships, and emotional satisfaction with relationships. Including sociomedical, interactional, and sociodemographic variables reveals inconsistency in the effects of different social attributes and processes. Associations between emotional quality of life and chronic inflammation may be partially mediated by sociomedical sequelae and social relationship factors. Associations between relational quality of life and chronic inflammation appear to be partially mediated by social relationships, but not by sociomedical sequelae. In both cases, dynamics related to partner intimacy may play an important mediating role. Social structure factors do not appear to moderate overall associations between chronic inflammation and quality of life. However, these constructs do demonstrate consistent ability to predict both emotional and relational outcomes when incorporated into models containing C-reactive protein as the main predictor. Likewise, both social structure and relationship factors may play a role in causing chronic inflammation. Extant research and theory from both sociological and clinical disciplines support these findings, and recommend multiple strategies for further study. Significance and Future Directions Using biomarker data to measure inflammation status reveals important information about how chronic inflammation may impact psychosocial quality of life. Looking at a variety of quality of life outcomes in tandem suggests that several individual domains of emotional and relational quality of life may be especially vulnerable to detrimental effects from chronic inflammation, and that these negative effects occur through different social pathways. Emphasizing social structure and relationship factors that shape relationships between inflammation and different quality of life outcomes can illuminate specific ways that chronic inflammation may predispose people to psychosocial disadvantage and/or exacerbate existing social inequalities. Relational processes, especially those related to participation in and dynamics of intimate partnerships, may be more important than social structures in shaping the effects of chronic inflammation on quality of life. Likewise, further research is needed to explore how different social factors may fundamentally cause chronic inflammation. Future scholarship on these topics can contribute immensely to understanding of both social inequality and medical risk. Finally, effects of chronic inflammation are likely underestimated due to very small samples of people with extremely high C-reactive protein levels; more data on these individuals are thus needed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2013. / September 3, 2013. / Biosocial Research, Chronic Conditions, Inflammation, NSHAP, Quality of Life, Social Relationships / Includes bibliographical references. / Jill S. Quadango, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil H. Charness, University Representative; Miles G. Taylor, Committee Member; John R. Taylor, Committee Member.

The concept of sustainability is theoretically comprised of three distinct dimensions: environmental, economic, and social. Most public and academic discourse, however, focuses on environmental and economic sustainability to the neglect of social sustainability, which refers to a condition where an extended set of basic needs are met for all residents regardless of their race/ethnicity, age, religion, gender, socioeconomic status and/or level of ability and the highest possible level of social inclusion and participation in community life is promoted. While some scholars and policymakers have recently turned their attention to social sustainability, conceptualizing and assessing social sustainability is fraught with problems. In this dissertation, I develop a comprehensive social sustainability assessment framework that focuses on six key policy areas: housing, transportation, food, leisure and recreation, social cohesion, and identity and sense of place. I then incorporate data on Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland into the social sustainability framework in order to conduct a comparative analysis of the cities' relative degree of social sustainability. My analysis--which brings both qualitative and quantitative data to bear on 30 social sustainability criteria--indicates that Vancouver is ranked higher than Seattle and Portland in terms of social sustainability. I then adapt and use two sociological theories of policy development--institutional politics theory and power constellations theory, which tend to focus on the national or state level--to test which one better explains the differential level of social sustainability in the aforementioned cities. In short, I find that power constellations theory best explains why Vancouver has the most socially sustainable policies and programs, primarily due to the strength of organized labor and center-left political parties in the city. Overall, this dissertation contributes to research on social policy development and social sustainability and provides scholars and policymakers with a deeper understanding of the institutional and political determinants of social sustainability. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / May 30, 2014. / Comparative-Historical Analysis, Institutional Politics Theory, Power Constellations Theory, Social Sustainability, Urban Policy / Includes bibliographical references. / Douglas Schrock, Professor Directing Dissertation; Andy Opel, University Representative; Jill Quadagno, Committee Member; Daniel Tope, Committee Member.

Marital status significantly shapes individuals' psychological well-being, though more is known about its effect on negative than positive dimensions. This study examines the association between marital status and psychological well-being across negative and positive dimensions, using data from two waves of the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS 1995-1996 and 2004-2006). Compared with prior studies, my research examines a more comprehensive set of indicators of psychological well-being: depression, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, self-acceptance, and purpose in life. I further examine how the associations between marital status and these dimensions of psychological well-being vary by age. I use three analytic samples to examine the cross-sectional associations and effects over time: Wave 1 sample (n=2,801), Wave 2 sample (n=1,737), and panel data containing respondents in both waves (n=1,657). Although the results vary across the two waves and between cross-sectional and panel analyses, results of Ordinary Least Regression (OLS) models indicate that, compared with those in other marital statuses, married adults tend to have better psychological well-being, including less depression and greater self-acceptance and positive relations with others. Differences among the married also are found, with remarried adults reporting more autonomy than continuously married adults. Using the multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM), the results showed that the association between marital status and psychological well-being only holds for middle-aged adults (45≤age≤60). These findings of variation in the association between marital status and psychological well-being across not only dimensions of well-being but also age groups highlights the importance of further research examining sources of variation and explanations for them. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / July 2, 2014. / Age variation, Marital Status, Mental health, Multiple-group, Psychological well-being, Structural Equation Modeling / Includes bibliographical references. / Anne E. Barrett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ming Cui, University Representative; Isaac W. Eberstein, Committee Member; Koji Ueno, Committee Member.

Rising concerns over fatness in the United States have initiated a rise in research attending to the reproduction of fatness inequality. Prior work has documented that fat workers are evaluated less favorably and endure more weight-based discrimination than their thinner peers. Additionally, overweight and obese workers tend to have lower earnings than their thinner counterparts, and these penalties are especially harsh for women. However, less is known about the role of age in the relationship between fatness and earnings for women and men. We also know little about the processes through which fatness produces lower earnings. This mixed-methods project lends new insight into both of these issues. Using a sample of workers aged 25 to 72 drawn from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (1995-1996 and 2004-2006), I examine gender and age variation in the relationship between fatness and earnings. Multiple regression analyses reveal that obese individuals have lower earnings than their normal weight counterparts, overweight women have lower earnings than overweight men, and earnings penalties begin to accumulate at older ages among women. Measures of self-reported labor market discrimination and unfavorable workplace relations are unable to account for these penalties, suggesting that reduced earnings may be the result of subtler interactions in the workplace. I also analyze data drawn from twenty in-depth interviews with women with fatness-related labor market experience. These women describe interactions that point to the devaluation of fatness in the labor market, including extensive discussions about diet and being approached by coworkers and bosses about their size. They also describe strategies used to compensate for their fatness that may contribute to the reproduction of fatness inequality. The findings from this project reveal that fatness, gender, and age affect personal earnings with these systems of inequality interrelated. They also illustrate how women's fatness inequality may be maintained through interpersonal interactions in the workplace. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2013. / July 12, 2013. / Age, Intersectionality, Obesity, Work / Includes bibliographical references. / Anne E. Barrett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jack Fiorito, University Representative; Irene Padavic, Committee Member; John Reynolds, Committee Member.

This study evaluates the impact of women's decision making power and attitudes about themselves in Egypt on three dimensions of child health: stunting, wasting and underweight. This study seeks to understand how women's perceived decision making power and self-perception affect child health, net of household socio-economic characteristics. These measures of child health are utilized because they describe the long and short term consequences on the health of Egyptian children. An analysis of stunting, wasting and underweight is important as it excludes children that have already succumbed to infant and child mortality that will not make up Egypt's future population and subsequent economic and political landscape. Analyses of the children's recode of the 2008 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey reveal that while accounting for little of the variation in child health, dimensions of women's power are statistically significant predictors of child health, independent of measures of socioeconomic status. Logistic regression is used to understand how the effect of mother's perceived decision making power and attitudes affect child stunting, wasting and underweight in Egypt and how that effect changes when accounting for measures of socio-economic status and other controls. Children are less likely to be stunted, wasted or underweight when their mothers have more power and access to resources. These findings suggest that women's decision making power is important in its own right as a proximate determinant of child health, net of its traditional role as part of a measurement of socioeconomic status. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 24, 2014. / Attitudes About Self, Child Health, Decision Making, Egypt, Stunting, Women'S Power / Includes bibliographical references. / Isaac W. Eberstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rebecca Miles, University Representative; Elwood Carlson, Committee Member; Kathryn Tillman, Committee Member.

This research contributes to medical sociology, neighborhood research, and life course studies by synthesizing relevant concepts from each field in order to offer a more complete understanding of how and why place impacts health. This achieved through the use of a life course framework that examines the influence of neighborhoods on self-rated health and allostatic load from adolescence through the transition into adulthood using a longitudinal, nationally representative data set that includes detailed information on early life health, as well as detailed data regarding adult health and well-being. Specifically, this dissertation contributes to the aforementioned by examining the following questions: 1) What are the effects of neighborhood structural characteristics on two measures of physical health at three different time points and 2) What mediating mechanisms account for their effects? The findings of this research further bolster existing evidence regarding the importance of the neighborhood environment for physical health. However, the results also extend the existing knowledge base in important ways. This work demonstrates that neighborhood structural characteristics, measured as disadvantage, affluence, and immigrant concentration, influence both subjective and objective measures of physical health at multiple points throughout the life course. Health outcomes such as allostatic load, self-rated health, and mean health are sensitive to compositional structural attributes of the community environment, but there are differences in which aspects of place matter most, the timing of the neighborhood effects, as well as differences in the way that traditional identified mediating mechanisms operate. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 31, 2014. / Allostatic load, Health, Life Course, Neighborhoods, Self-rated health / Includes bibliographical references. / Jill Quadagno, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rebecca Miles, University Representative; Karin Brewster, Committee Member; Kathryn Harker Tillman, Committee Member.

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2007 / Malaria and the mosquito that induces the disease in humans have hounded the military for decades. Malaria represents one of the most important infectious disease threats to deployed military forces. Malaria in soldiers has a serious economic impact, both in terms of lost productivity and treatment cost for the state. A contingent of South African National Defence Force members has been deployed in Burundi since November 2001, as part of a peacekeeping mission. At the time of the study no information was available regarding the prevalence of malaria among military personnel during deployments in Burundi and East Africa. In Africa, the saying is that malaria is the disease of poverty and a cause of poverty. To combat malaria, it is of vital importance that the recommended medication be taken exactly as prescribed and that the course is completed. However, one of the greatest challenges facing the African continent in the present fight against malaria is drug resistance. The discovery of Mefloquine and the subsequent development of suitable drugs, have been intimately associated with military imperatives, contingencies and requirements. Since World War II, the development of Chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria has driven the search for new drugs. Mefloquine, developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the United States, was first shown effective as a prophylaxis and treatment of resistant falciparum malaria in the 1970’s. To obtain data, questionnaires were administered to SANDF soldiers deployed in Burundi, East Africa. The total size of the population under investigation was 336 with a final sample size of 111 respondents. The sample was selected by using simple random sampling. The questionnaire aimed to determine the perception of respondents regarding the malaria threat, their compliance with taking the medication, and their experiencing of possible side-effects which might occur due to the chemoprophylaxis and the prophylactic efficacy of Mefliam®. The fact that, of the 111 people who used Mefliam®, only four presented with any malaria symptoms, is an indicator that Mefliam® is an effective option as an antimalarial drug to be used in East Africa and Burundi. The results of this study will be used by the personnel of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and other military forces deployed in East Africa. It is envisaged that the results will be used by military policy- and decision-makers as a control programme and by others involved in the control of malaria. The findings and recommendations should also be of interest to anyone visiting the area.

Wellness and healthy life are the most common concerns for an individual to lead a happy life. A web-based approach known as Wellness Scoring is being developed taking into people’s concerns for their health issues. In this approach, four different classifiers are being investigated to predict the wellness. In this thesis, we investigated four different classifiers (a probabilistic graphical model, simple probabilistic classifier, probabilistic statistical classification and an artificial neural network) to predict the wellness outcome. An approach to calculate wellness score is also addressed. All these classifiers are trained on real data, hence giving more accurate results. With this solution, there is a better way of keeping track of an individuals’ health. In this thesis, we present the design and development of such a system and evaluate the performance of the classifiers and design considerations to maximize the end user experience with the application. A user experience model capable of predicting the wellness score for a given set of risk factors is developed. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This research focuses on obesity and other major risk factors for chronic diseases such as Type II Diabetes Mellitus, Heart Disease, and Stroke. Worksite wellness programs have been successful in this realm of health promotion and disease prevention for heart disease and stroke, but their effectiveness in treating diabetes has been uncertain partially due to poor patient compliance, lack of stress reduction strategies, poor diet and lack of persuasive health education on the risk of being obese. Published peer-reviewed articles were reviewed, coded and analyzed to determine best practices, using a modified systematic review approach. The findings from these studies yield results that were used to develop a new employer-sponsored wellness program that is in accordance with the recently passed Affordable Care Act. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

[Truncated abstract] The role of fish consumption and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the prevention of disease has been the subject of much investigation in recent years. A clue that these factors might be of importance was the observation that populations consuming high levels of marine omega-3 PUFAs had lower rates of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. From there, research in this area has expanded to include a range of chronic diseases and their prevention. An area of particular interest is the role of fish consumption in the prevention of various cancers. In Australia, one in three men and one in four women are expected to be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 75. Identifying preventive factors that can be translated into constructive health promotional messages is of great importance in addressing this group of diseases that has such a large impact on the health and wellbeing of the population. ... Results and conclusions Analysis of the data from the population-based case-control study suggests a protective effect of preserved fish consumption, possibly due to the high oil content of these fish. The developed questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for measuring fish and seafood consumption as determined by regression analysis with an independent biomarker and reliability analysis using intra-class correlation. Importantly, reliability can be maintained despite asking a high level of detail from participants. For ranking according to overall fish consumption, detailed questioning is probably not necessary, however inclusion of variables representing multiple categories of fish and seafood consumption in a regression model enables us to better account for variation in blood omega-3 PUFA levels than a single variable representing overall consumption. For the purpose of questionnaire validation, plasma phospholipid and erythrocyte membrane levels of EPA and DHA are equivalent biomarkers of fish and seafood consumption. The choice between them by future investigators will be based on more practical aspects such as convenience and the fasting state of subjects. The tangible product of this thesis is additional evidence to support a protective association between fish consumption and prostate and breast cancers, and a valid and reliable questionnaire v for measuring habitual consumption of fish and seafood in a West Australian population, that could also be applied to other populations after minor adjustment for local fish and seafood consumption patterns.