I Know I'm Healthy Because: Qualitative Definitions of Health in Older Rural African-Americans

In recent years, there has been attention to health disparities between racial groups in the US, and between urban and residents. Older rural African Americans are at high risk, but have historical reasons tor distrust the health care system. This study examined qualitative definitions of health in older rural African Americans. Our sample included 47 African Americans aged 52-79 (20 male, 27 female, median age = 66 ) from non metropolitan counties in northeast Mississippi, at least 10 miles from the nearest town of more than 1000. Participants rated their health on a 5-point scale; only 1 person rated their health as a 5 for excellent. On average, they rated their health as fair. Most reported significant health problems, (mean=2) including 17 (36%) who reported having been diagnosed with diabetes. Participants were asked by interviewers “how they knew they were healthy.” Their responses were transcribed. Using phenomenological methods, participants’ responses were sorted into naturally-occurring categories, which were retested against the data. The categories that emerged were Performing Basic Tasks is Enough/I’m OK (12), Good Health Due to Healthy Behaviors (8), Healthy Due to Social Support or God (11), Healthy Despite One Problem (6), and I’m Not OK (7). Given that our sample is somewhat younger than most gerontological samples, participants seemed to have relatively low expectations about their health, which might not be surprising considering the health problems in the sample. Interventions to improve the health of this group should concentrate on increasing health self-efficacy and expectations.

Cretaceous cultch: substrate availability for oyster Exogyra in the Maastrichtian of the eastern Mississippi Embayment

The gryphaeid oyster Exogyra Say, 1820, is ubiquitous in Upper Cretaceous sediments in the southeastern United States. Like many oysters (Order Ostreida), Exogyra attached its shell to hard surfaces on the seafloor by means of cementation. Throughout its lifetime, Exogyra may preserve through bioimmuration the characteristics and even skeletal remains of substrate organisms, including mollusk shells, echinoids, and bryozoans. Exogyra costata of all sizes were collected from three different localities within upper Maastrichtian deposits in northeast Mississippi and their bioimmurations analyzed. Substrates were identified and classified to compare the three localities’ substrate taxa in order to probe differences in benthic population structure. The results of this pilot study provide an overview of available surfaces on the Late Cretaceous seafloor on the eastern side of the Mississippi Embayment. The data suggest that taxonomic diversity among utilized substrates may increase from north to south, which corresponds to increasing depth from shallow marine to deeper sediments on the shelf.

Mississippi’s 2011 Concealed Carry Law:

This study examined differences in reported campus criminality on selected community college campuses in the years between 2005 and 2016 representing the years preceding and succeeding the implementation of Mississippi’s 2011 concealed carry legislation. Each campus included in this study was a public-funded community college in Mississippi. Using a significance level of 0.05 and an analysis of variance approach, the hypothesis testing showed five statistically significant findings reflecting the cases of Copiah-Lincoln, East Central, Jones County, Mississippi Delta, and Northeast Mississippi Community Colleges. Regarding these outcomes, an analysis of the means showed overall lowered crime reports.

Collaborative Regionalism and Foreign Direct Investment

Jurisdictions in the Southeast Automotive Core (SEAC), encompassing Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee, have attracted 8 of the 11 light vehicles assembly plants built by the “New Domestics” in the United States over the past 20 years (i.e., Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Mercedes, and BMW). Through case studies of the Toyota-PUL Alliance of Northeast Mississippi and the Hyundai-Kia Auto Valley Partnership of east-central Alabama and west-central Georgia, this article chronicles how by working together, certain subregions within the SEAC have gained a comparative advantage in their competitions for New Domestics Foreign Direct Investment. Overall, the findings of this study show how local governments in the form of the collaborative region still can be an important economic development agent within an ever-globalizing economy. As a result, this article should prove informative to development scholars and practitioners in the United States and Canada, especially in areas combating economic/fiscal distress.