Browsing by Subject "health"
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Item Effective science communication to children via a health-related Web site(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Gore, Sabra LaddThis study assesses one Web site, Veggie-mon.org. This Web site aims to effectively communciate health information to children, resulting in user learning and an intent to change health behavior. Fourth- through eighth-grade pupils were interviewed before and after perusing the Web site for up to 20 minutes, and then they participated in focus groups. A majority of participants learned what the Web site was about, had previous health knowledge reinforced, discovered new health information, and said it made a difference in their health choices. Readability tests performed on seven text passages on the site indicated seventh- and eighth-grade reading levels, which is too high for the majority of the targeted audience.Item Effects of carbohydrate applications on growth and vitality of live oak (Quercus virginiana)(2009-05-15) Martinez Trinidad, TomasUrban forests grow in stressful environments that can have negativerepercussions on tree energy reserves. The goal of this research was to evaluate theimpact of exogenously applied carbohydrates on growth and vitality of live oaks(Quercus virginiana P. Miller). An initial study focused on carbohydrate partitioningrevealed that annual mean glucose concentration in leaf tissues (49.55 mg?g-1 DW) wasalmost double that in twigs, trunks, or roots. Starch concentrations in roots and trunks(38.98 and 38.22 mg?g-1 DW of glucose, respectively) were higher during the dormantseason and approximately three times the concentrations found in other tissues. Aninvestigation of the effects of exogenous soil applications of glucose and starch on soilmicrobial activity revealed no significant differences using recoverable viable microbes.However, soil respiration was significantly increased (P<0.05) by glucose a week afterapplication, while higher starch concentrations (120 g?L-1) significantly increased(P<0.05) soil respiration after the fourth week. Although tree soil drenched withcarbohydrates in a different study showed significantly (P<0.05) greener leaf color, higher chlorophyll fluorescence, and increased soil respiration at higher concentrationsof starch (120 g?L-1), no significant differences were observed in photosynthesis or trunk,canopy, or root growth. Analysis of 13C signatures was unable to detect uptake ofexogenous carbohydrates. For trunk-injected trees with glucose and sucrose, trunkgrowth was significantly (P<0.05) increased by carbohydrate supplementation.Differences were also found in twig glucose content, root starch content, and chlorophyllfluorescence among overall concentration means. A study to compare field diagnostictools with carbohydrate laboratory analysis established that a portable blood glucosemeter can be used to measure glucose content in trees. However, ohmmeter,refractometer, chlorophyll fluorescence spectrometer, and iodine staining results did notcorrelate well with laboratory analysis of carbohydrate concentrations. Results fromthese studies reveal that soil applied carbohydrates can greatly increase soil microbialactivity, provide evidence that trunk-injected carbohydrates may improve growth andvitality of live oaks, and provide a new field diagnostic tool to increase the efficiency ofmeasuring carbohydrates in trees.Item Health status and the labor force participation decisions of married couples(2009-05-15) Lin, PengThis thesis examines the labor force participation decisions of married couples, and special attention is paid to a spouse?s health conditions affecting their own and the spouse?s labor force participation decision. I used the Health and Retirement Study survey data and estimated a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model. A number of variables besides health condition were added: age, education level, and family unearned income. The results of this research paper support the findings from the relevant literature that the labor supply decisions of the husband and wife are related. The oldest age group is least likely to work. The younger the husband, the more likely it is that the husband will work. At the ages between 40 and 49, wives have the biggest probability to work. The higher the education level, the more likely it is that a spouse is going to work. The more total family unearned income, the less probable the spouse will go to work. Poor health has a negative effect on labor force participation and a positive effect for the spouse?s labor force participation.Item Measuring Consumer Acceptance and Willingness-To-Pay for Specialty Tomatoes: Impact of Product, Taste, and Health Features(2014-08-08) Segovia Coronel, Michelle SThe increasing public health awareness and the promotion given to healthy eating habits as a measure to prevent obesity and chronic diseases have pushed consumer?s attention towards differentiated products. Many of the differentiated products, such as those with environmental, local, and other health and quality claims, are categorized as credence goods. Credence attributes, such as nutritional characteristics, are unobserved by consumers even after consumption, making the use of information crucial for marketing the benefits of such products. While there have been numerous studies examining the potential impacts of these attributes on consumer demand, few studies combine consumer valuation of credence attributes with sensory analysis of products and information treatments. This study attempts to shed more light on this area by considering both the impact of various attributes on consumer demand and the consistency in consumer valuation under different information treatments. The information treatments refer to tasting, health information, and the location of origin and production system of the products. A non-hypothetical second-price Vickrey auction was conducted in the Bryan-College Station area of Texas in order to collect the data. Several econometric models were developed to estimate consumers? willingness-to-pay (WTP); however, special attention was paid to the random parameters tobit model as it accounts for unobserved individual heterogeneity as well as bid-censoring. Results show that knowledge of location of origin of tomatoes does have an impact on consumer valuation. The same holds true for the taste attribute (experience) and the health attribute (credence). Each information treatment was applied to several products and some treatments had contradictory results between products which prevented generalizing the effects of that treatment. In addition, estimates indicate there exists unobserved heterogeneity in valuations across individuals. Finally, using a Latent Class Analysis, consumers were segmented based on health-related behaviors, and the differences in the valuation of products and information treatments among those classes were measured using random parameters tobit models. Two latent classes were found and characterized as: ?Health Conscious?, and ?Health Redeemers?. The findings indicate that the classes differed significantly in terms of their preferences, willingness to pay, socio-economic profile, and health-driven motivations.Item Mothers? Voices at the Table: Mothers? Communication about and Perceptions of Their Role in Children?s Nutrition(2014-12-12) Sukovic, MasaThis dissertation uses a variety of interpretive methods to complement and enlarge existing research on mothers? communication about and perceptions of their role in children?s nutrition. I explore the views of 28 mothers of different ages, socioeconomic status, races, and education levels residing in the Bryan/College Station area in central Texas on healthy nutrition and the ways they perceive their own role and responsibility in providing healthy nutrition for their children; how they communicate about it; what shapes their beliefs and understandings; where they get and how do they exchange nutritional information; what barriers and challenges they face; and how they negotiate multiple issues of risk associated with food and eating. By providing an overview of the media landscape and an environmental scan of the current public discourse pertaining to childhood nutrition I identify two main types of stories featured in the popular media: (1) the largely predominant body of media stories, which underscore mothers? culpability and responsibility and even demonize mothers in the context of childhood nutrition, while rarely bringing important genetic, socio-economic, and environmental factors into discussion, and (2) a relatively small body of media reports and commentary that are solution-oriented rather than critical in nature. With these predominant societal discourses in mind, I use a grounded theory approach to analyzing qualitative data and provide a conceptual framework of the study participants? communication about and perceptions of their role in children?s nutrition. This conceptual framework shows the effects of the burden of blame and responsibility stemming from the larger societal discourses on the mothers in my sample; how their perceptions of risk and susceptibility in relation to nutrition shape their information-seeking and receiving practices; which sources of information they find most and least reliable; how they communicate to others about healthy nutrition for children; and the role different relevant actors play in these processes. Based on the findings of this study, I firmly believe that mothers? voices should be more prominently featured in discussions about childhood nutrition, not only in private contexts, but also on the social and political levels, because mothers possess a unique wealth of experience and knowledge in this domain. By expanding the range of mothers? voices, often obscured by the media sensationalism, we can enrich our understandings of healthy nutrition for children and families, and make the necessary structural and societal changes to improve it.Item Ownership and Health Care(2013-05-01) Nighohossian, JeremyThe United States Health Care sector is a large and growing segment of the US economy. Herein, I present three distinct research projects regarding aspects of that industry, especially how it responds to public policy and government pro- grams. I focus primarily on the hospital sector, and the Medicare Advantage market. Additionally, I explore how ownership type-publicly owned versus for-profits, for example-behave differently. I investigate the relative efficiency of different ownership types in the US hospital industry. Earlier studies neglect the differential ability of the hospital types to choose their own market. We use a Dubin-McFadden approach to solve the endogeneity problem and estimate hospital efficiencies for each ownership type. Efficiencies are estimated using stochastic frontier analysis. Results indicate that accounting for location choice does affect estimates of efficiency and that for-profit hospitals have a relative advantage in smaller markets while public hospitals have a slight edge in larger markets. Next, I study entry decisions of insurance plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program. I use the prevailing models of entry to compare how for profit and non-profit insurance firms differentially emphasize the characteristics of potential markets. I also determine how the preferential treatment of non-profits affects the composition of markets and whether governments should adjust their treatment to encourage or discourage non-profit entry. Results indicate that non-profit insurance companies are more responsive to higher payment rates which suggest that they act more like for-profit firms than altruistic organizations. Finally, I estimate the how much net welfare, Medicare Advantage contributes to the US economy. I use the Medicare Current Beneciary Survey to estimate a discrete choice model of beneciaries' choice of traditional Medicare, Medigap, and Medicare Advantage. I use the results to calculate the net welfare; I find that Medicare Advantages, on net, increased social welfare by 7.76 billion dollars in 2005.Item The Impact of College Students' Life Experiences on the Various Dimensions of Wellness: A Qualitative Study(2012-07-16) Garcia, Kristina MarieWith the millions of students currently enrolled in higher education, a substantial opportunity arises for college personnel to impact the health and wellness of our future U.S. adult population. Most health scholars agree that wellness is a multidimensional construct. Despite disagreement regarding the optimal number of dimensions - ranging from three to twelve - there is a general consensus around the following: (1) physical, (2) social, (3) spiritual, (4) intellectual, (5) emotional, and (6) occupational. With regard to these six dimensions of wellness, the purpose of this study was to conduct a naturalistic inquiry among graduating health education majors to evaluate which particular dimension of wellness was most influenced or impacted, by their college life experience. Participants were recruited via email and in-class-visits. Of the 173 students who were eligible to participate in this study at the time of recruitment, 58 indicated interest and a final sample size of 30 students were interviewed. When determining which specific dimension of wellness was most impacted or influenced by the college life experience, two narratives of an unplanned pregnancy and alcoholism immediately came to mind. However, when trying to compile all 30 narratives to identify which dimension was most impacted, collectively, I concluded that all dimensions were impacted, and, due to the dimensions' interconnectedness, no one particular dimension could be singled out as most impacted. The six dimensions of wellness interact continually and synergistically. For example, the need for stress management and stress reduction is linked mostly obviously with emotional wellness; however, should one practice yoga for stress relief, he/she is impacting their physical, social, and spiritual health as well. Segmenting students' narratives about their college life experiences into discrete domains represented a challenge - one that reflects how activities that support wellness cannot easily be segmented into discrete domains, either.Item Willingness-To-Pay for Pomegranates: Impact of Product and Health Features Using Nonhypothetical Procedures(2011-05-31) McAdams, Callie 1987-The use of functional foods by individuals to address health issues has become increasingly common. Pomegranate fruits and other pomegranate products contain phytochemicals, including several antioxidants that may have benefits when consumed as a functional food. The production of pomegranates in the United States is concentrated in California; yet pomegranates can be grown successfully in other regions. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to address the market potential and consumer preferences for pomegranate fruits and other pomegranate products in Texas and 2) to address issues of experimental auction design and estimation in regards to novel products and health benefits of food products. A nonhypothetical experimental procedure was developed that combined preference rankings with a uniform nth-price auction to elicit preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for pomegranate fruit products. Demographic and behavioral characteristics were collected from a representative sample of subjects in the Bryan-College Station area of Texas. Subjects submitted baseline preference rankings and bids on six pomegranate products and a control fruit product, all with the same retail price. Most participants had never purchased or tasted a pomegranate product. Additional information on the pomegranate products was provided in three forms: tasting information, health and nutrition information, and anti-cancer information. Subjects had the greatest WTP for the control product, followed by the juice product, followed by the ready-to-eat products; the whole pomegranate fruits had the lowest WTP. The preference rankings indicated the same order of preferences for the baseline round, but the ranking of the juice product dropped and the ranking of the ready-to-eat and Texas whole fruits rose when additional information was provided. Estimations of the WTP were done using random-effects tobit models and mixed linear models on the full bids and individual changes in bids. Unengaged bidders and bid censoring were addressed. Demographic variables were typically not predictors of WTP with the exception of previous purchases of pomegranates and household size. There were differences in WTP across information treatments, with tasting information having a greater effect than either health and nutrition information or anti-cancer information. Providing a reference price also increased WTP. Preference rankings were estimated using a rank-ordered logit and a mixed rank-ordered logit model. There was an interaction effect of each information treatment with the product characteristics, indicating that studies of effects of information treatments on preferences are not generalizable across products. There was divergence in the results for the preference rankings from the results of the experimental auction; preference rankings and bids gave different results for the same products.