<p> Municipal broadband implementations are restricted in some way by 19 states, with other states proposing restrictions. In analyzing the different state laws, there are three categories of restrictions: bans on providing services, administrative restrictions, and economic restrictions. The most common restriction is to require municipalities to create separate funds for communication services, there are 21 different economic restrictions implemented. Most states implement more than one type of restriction and do not fall into just one category. The effect of the restrictions varies depending on the market conditions and the status of the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier), and the number of municipal electric companies present within the state. The restrictions in most states passed after the first large scale municipal network was proposed. This made it difficult to measure the effect of the restrictions on either broadband adoption or fiber to the home (FTTH) rates.</p>

<p> Using a nationally representative sample of older adults, this dissertation examines the use of assistive technology devices (ATDs) designed to aid with mobility and sensory functioning and to improve one's capacity to perform activities of daily living. It measures the impact of ATDs on the participation levels and living arrangement decisions of those needing help. Although the use of these devices has been found to improve functionality, their effectiveness in relation to further outcomes has not been affirmed. The first essay considers whether an individual's ATD use has a positive impact on active participation in activities such as visiting family and friends, attending religious services, joining clubs, going out for enjoyment and volunteering. </p><p> Another advantage of improved physical functioning would be the older individual's ability to remain in his or her home, as opposed to transferring to a residential care setting. Little research has examined the determinants of living in residential care, versus in the community, and none has examined the use of ATDs in this choice. The second essay considers correlations between living arrangements and the use of ATDs. Finally, the third essay considers whether using assistive devices is associated with a lower probability of living in a residential care environment, controlling for many other health, social and economic factors.</p>

Although the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) have operated for years, little is known about utilization of program foods by participants. Using ethnographic interviews, this study examined food use, factors affecting use, and satisfaction among WIC and CSFP clients. WIC foods were consumed by most participants, but frequently not in the total amount. Four of seven WIC foods were found to be substitutions for foods previously consumed. CSFP foods were consumed less frequently, and in smaller amounts, than WIC foods. Intra-household sharing, but not substitution, was prevalent. Major factors affecting food use were taste preference, food habit, convenience, amount and knowledge. Clients expressed greater satisfaction with WIC versus CSFP foods. The results indicate that provision of supplemental foods does not guarantee use, and that significant barriers to use exist. Nutrition education is recommended as a means of increasing food use.

This study was conducted to assess the impact of SEDNET, the Multiagency Network for Severely Emotionally Disturbed Students, established by the Florida Legislature in 1982, and designed to increase collaboration among agencies enabling them to offer a comprehensive continuum of educational, mental health, and residential services for severely emotionally disturbed children. / This study focused on this question: Has SEDNET accomplished these goals designed by the Florida Legislature? / Goal 1. Provision of a complete array of education, mental health treatment, and residential services for severely emotionally disturbed students; / Goal 2. Improvement of the quality of existing education, mental health treatment, and residential services for severely emotionally disturbed students; / Goal 3. Continuous multiagency planning, implementation, and evaluation of education, mental health treatment, and residential services for severely emotionally disturbed students; / Goal 4. Diffusion of exemplary policies and procedures developed by the pilot projects. / Data for this policy were drawn from the 1989 SEDNET Annual Reports submitted by the fifteen SEDNET Project Directors to the Florida Department of Education, from examination of State Department records, and from interviews with selected Key Informants. These data were examined to evaluate the effectiveness of the SEDNET projects according to the criteria established by the Legislature. The investigation focused on SEDNET's impact on the personnel within the collaborating agencies which provided education, mental health, or residential services for severely emotionally disturbed students, and on the effectiveness of the collaborative process in expanding and improving the array of services. Findings of this study showed that in most Florida districts, SEDNET acted as a catalyst for change and provided a community forum for emotionally disturbed children's issues. SEDNET had a positive influence in developing interagency relationships and increasing understanding. It was determined that while progress had been made in all areas, the Legislative goals for SEDNET had not been accomplished statewide. / Ten recommendations were offered which included renewal of SEDNET Legislation with increased funding, increased planning for future needs, and more in-depth evaluation of SEDNET projects. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4089. / Major Professor: John H. Hansen. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This was a study of the effect of contact with persons with disabilities on attitudes toward persons with disabilities by persons without disabilities. The study was based on Allport's (1954) contact theory for reducing tensions between races. The investigator examined equal-status contact between an individual with a disability and subjects without disabilities over a two-hour time period. / Subjects for the study were 102 students enrolled in the F.S.U. College of Education's undergraduate Communication and Human Relations classes. Subjects were assigned to one of four treatment groups or a comparison group. In two of the treatment groups, subjects and the confederate with a disability were given a task to perform; in two of the treatment groups the confederate with a disability volunteered information about her disability and invited disability-related questions. The comparison group had neither a confederate with a disability nor a task to perform. / All subjects completed the Issues in Disability attitudinal assessment (Makas, Finnerty-Fried, Sigafoos and Reiss, 1986) and a demographic questionnaire which included information about their age, gender, academic major and previous contact with individuals with disabilities. / No significant difference was found in attitude scale scores either between subjects in treatment groups and the comparison group or between task and information groups. Overall scores on the attitudinal instrument were higher than expected, and there was a wide range of scores by academic majors. Also, only 11 of the 102 subjects reported no previous contact with persons with disabilities. Most of the subjects (64) had had previous contact on a medium or high level, possibly explaining the lack of effect of the experimental procedure on the attitudinal measure. Scores by subjects who reported high previous contact level were higher than those of subjects who reported no previous contact. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-01, Section: A, page: 0081. / Major Professor: E. Jane Burkhead. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

The recently reported rise in drug abuse in the United States has led to a national perception of a drug crisis that requires immediate and far-reaching control efforts. Despite past experiences with drug control, the current drug crisis is occurring at a time of unprecedented adversarial relationships between the high demand for drugs and the national efforts to thwart the supply of narcotics. / From 1914 to the present, most observers argue that various anti-drug control strategies have been ineffective in controlling the so-called menace or crisis. These efforts are thought to have amplified the drug problem while stimulating symbolic crusades. Previous studies have attempted to single out the significant elements underlying the development of reforms to control illegal drugs. Underlying these studies is the importance of a single factor as being responsible for the adoption of a particular anti-drug policy. / Unlike previous studies, a major argument of this study is that the current anti-drug campaign is part of a periodic cycle of crisis. While rooted in the past, it serves to reinforce existing strategies of social control. This argument implies the notion of a process or stages of development and that several salient issues provide the particular social context from which control efforts have direct relevance. The appearance of newspaper articles regarding the drug problem is heightening the official and public sensitivities about the existence and nature of the drug problem. For this study, a sample of drug-related articles were content analyzed for the vocabularies that motivated the so-called drug crisis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 1084. / Major Professor: Thomas Blomberg. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

Among the range of social and economic problems known to disproportionately affect homeless persons, research has repeatedly confirmed that homeless populations are substantially more likely to indicate problems with substance abuse than are evidenced in housed populations. Those considering the potential causal implications associated with this correlation have frequently implicated drug abuse as a key precipitant of downward mobility among the substance abusive homeless, emphasizing its acknowledged potential for undermining work or family or other social ties. Cued by such logic, the past decade has witnessed the development of numerous remedial endeavors geared primarily toward aiding homeless abusers to alter their drug behaviors. These programs have continually encountered limited success, as high rates of program attrition and relapse subsequent to treatment have continually conspired to frustrate the ambitions of administrators. This dissertation considers the crucial question of why such outcomes have been so common Explored in this project are the presumably crucial roles played by motivational factors in promoting 'recovery.' Using data from one treatment agenda that targeted the drug problems of adult homeless substance abusers, connections between the drug using habits of program clients and a range of alternative social or economic problems known to affect homeless populations are systematically examined. Analyses reveal that clients facing the most severe employment- and family-related handicaps were the least likely to report improvements with respect to drug consumption, consistent with the premise that incentives to retire these habits are significantly less among those indicating the least to gain, economically or socially, from retention of sobriety. Insofar as findings reinforce the conclusion that drug usage is likely as much an effect as a source of other hardships to which homeless abusers are associated, they bear relevance for treatment providers. These data suggest that, unless future programs are equipped to deal with other economic and social problems of homeless abusers, success rates will continue to be discouraging / acase@tulane.edu