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A Study Of Dropout Characteristics And School-Level Effects On Dropout Prevention, Mindy L. Crain-Dorough

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This sequential, three-phase study used quantitative analyses to examine the characteristics of student dropouts and the characteristics of schools successful and unsuccessful in mediating dropouts. Narrative profiles were created to describe types of students and types of dropouts. Phase I consisted of three parts, each using the student as the unit of analysis. Part One examined the profile of all Louisiana dropouts. Part Two involved the creation of clusters of dropouts and non-dropouts combined. Part Three focused on the creation of dropout clusters. In Phase II, the percents of potential dropouts were calculated for 301 schools using the dropout characteristics …

From Gamete Collection To Database Development: Development Of A Model Cryopreserved Germplasm Repository For Aquatic Species With Emphasis On Sturgeon, William Rittenhouse Wayman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Development of a cryopreserved sperm repository could greatly benefit the study and recovery of endangered species. Currently, a national repository for endangered aquatic species does not exist. This dissertation addressed the development of methods for the creation of a model germplasm repository, which included methods to reduce bacterial contamination within sperm samples, verify sample identification, store sperm (refrigerated or cryopreserved), evaluate sperm quality before and after thawing, and maintain sample and broodstock information. Although these methods were developed for sturgeon, they could be adapted for any aquatic species. Accurate species identification of sperm samples is essential for an archival repository. …

Oocyte Production In The Early Postpartum Cow, Oscar Perez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The postpartum period has been the focus of numerous studies; however, there is no information available relating to oocyte production in early postpartum cows. Ovaries of early postpartum cows were stimulated with FSH to produce follicular development and oocytes. The objectives of these studies were: (1) to evaluate the use of FSH for oocyte production in early postpartum beef cows, (2) to evaluate follicular response and oocyte quality of beef cows treated with FSH shortly after calving, (3) to evaluate FSH for oocyte production in early postpartum dairy cows, (4) to evaluate responses of FSH-treated, early postpartum beef cows in …

"Above The Noise And The Glory": Tiers Of Propaganda In Great War Literature, Margaret L. Clark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

"Above the Noise and the Glory:" Tiers of Propaganda in Great War Literature illuminates the literary responses of Rupert Brooke, Mary Borden, Alice-Dunbar Nelson and Willa Cather to the manner in which the threat to one's cultural community, as well as personal and physical landscape, transforms a nation's, and even a world's, people from a state of complacency or purposelessness to one of jingoistic fervor. Prompted and inspired by personal, political and cultural forces, these writers mobilized early twentieth-century private citizens' spirits of nationalistic pride and solidarity. Individual chapters place within historical and literary contexts how war propaganda, particularly British …

From Lime Kilns To Art Galleries: A Historical Anthropogeography Of The Maine Coast City Of Rockland, William Francis Fagan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a historical anthropogeography that focuses on the city of Rockland, Maine from its prehistoric beginnings to the present. Throughout the historic period, a series of single industries have dominated Rockland's economy while its population has remained remarkably stable. Lime production, for mortar and plaster, was first, beginning with the earliest Europeans in the area in the eighteenth century and coming to its end in the 1930s. Shipping and shipbuilding were important outgrowths of the lime industry but shipbuilding ended by the early 1920s with the change from wood to steel as the favored material for shipbuilding. Commercial …

On The Geometry And Topology Of Moduli Spaces Of Multi-Polygonal Linkages, Michael Edward Holcomb

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The geometric, topological, and symplectic properties of moduli spaces (spaces of configurations modulo rotations and translations) of polygonal linkages have been studied by Kapovich, Millson, and Kamiyama, et. al. One can form a polygonal linkage by taking two free linkages and identifying initial and terminal vertices. This can be generalized so that one takes three free linkages and identifies initial and terminal vertices. Then one obtains a linkage which contains multiple polygons, any two of which have shared edges. The geometric and topological properties of moduli spaces of these multi-polygonal linkages are studied. These spaces turn out to be compact …

Characterization Of Syntactic Foams And Their Sandwich Composites: Modeling And Experimental Approaches, Nikhil Gupta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hollow particle filled polymers known as syntactic foams are lightweight and highly damage tolerant. Syntactic foams are used as core materials in sandwich composites. The use of such materials in aeronautical and space structures make it necessary to understand their characteristics for various environmental and loading conditions. The first part of the present work takes modeling and finite element analysis approach to understand and predict the deformation behavior of syntactic foams. Contact analysis is performed on single particle models by the finite element analysis approach. In the second part extensive experiments are carried out to characterize syntactic foams for hygrothermal …

Narrative Immediacy And First-Person Voice In Contemporary American Novels, Amy Faulds Sandefur

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study of first-person fictive narration analyzes a selection of contemporary American novels so as to understand and describe more fully a literary effect I call immediacy. I employ the term immediacy to define narrative situations in which little durational gap exists between experience and narration and in which little ideological and emotional distance is communicated between the narrating persona and the subject self. The following chapters provide a close examination of narrative techniques employed by writers in the creation of immediacy and argues that both the tone of the novels and their themes of maturation and self-identity are attributable …

The Institutional Determinants Of Property Regime Change In New Democracies: The Russian Federation, Hungary, And Czechoslovakia, R. Vanessa Krasner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Is there a relationship between the design of democratic institutions and optimal collective decisions? Optimum decisions are defined as achieving goals important to the transition such as deep and equitable property reforms. Democratic institutions refer to first-order institutions of governance and the electoral rules for choosing leaders. Overseeing both are the written or "parchment" constitutions. Constitutions are designed to distribute power among actors, generate efficiency, and govern the interactions among actors. My findings showed that constitutional designs intentionally and sometimes with unanticipated consequences can result in highly cooperative, competitive, or conflictual struggles by political actors over high-stakes distributive issues such …

Assia Djebar. Le Corps Invisible: Voir Sans Etre Vue, Anna Rocca

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis traces the evolution of attitudes towards the body, desire, autobiography, and self-affirmation, in three novels of Assia Djebar: L'amour, la fantasia, Vaste est la prison, and Les nuits de Strasbourg. The three novels share a common trait: the narrators' will to express their body and their desires. This body, which is simultaneously anonymous and concealed, is at the very center of a contradiction; it is often relegated to representation as a ghost without any corporeal reality. It is been our objective to follow the narrators' introspective reflection on the multiple relationships between Algerian women and public space, designated …

Rainfall-Runoff Control: Variably Saturated Transport For An Infiltration System Controlling Water Quality And Quantity, Zheng Teng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rainfall-runoff impacted by anthropogenic activities transports significant quantities of particulate, aqueous and complexed constituents. These diffuse, unsteady and stochastic event-based loadings are unique challenges for water quality and quantity control. The design, water quality and quantity functions of a partial exfiltration reactor (PER) utilizing Fe-coated-sand and porous pavement (CPP) is examined specifically across three representative rainfall-runoff events. Total concentrations and mass for metals (Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd), suspended solids, and Chemical oxygen demand were reduced significantly. Rainfall-runoff volume and peak flow were reduced and time to peak was extended. Influent dm/dp ratios based on particle analyses suggest that the …

Following The Lines (Long Interspersed Elements): Human Specific L1 Elements And Their Orthologous Loci In Non-Human Primates, Bethaney June Vincent

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The L1 Ta subfamily of Long INterspersed Elements (LINEs) consists exclusively of human-specific L1 elements with a copy number of ~520 in the human genome. Four hundred sixty-eight L1 Ta elements were extracted from the draft human genomic sequence and screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to determine their phylogenetic origin and to determine their contribution to human genomic diversity. PCR analysis indicated that 45% of the L1 Ta elements screened are polymorphic for insertion presence or absence. Sequence analysis of the L1 Ta elements produced definitive evidence of 3’transduction, gene conversion involving an older pre-existing L1 element, as …

Group Theoretical Approach To Pairing And Non-Linear Phenomena In Atomic Nuclei, Kristina D. Launey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The symplectic sp(4) algebra provides a natural framework for studying proton-neutron (pn) and like-nucleon pairing correlations as well as higher-J pn interactions in nuclei when protons and neutrons occupy the same shell. While these correlations manifest themselves most clearly in the binding energies of 0+ ground states, they also have a large effect on the spectra of excited isobaric analog 0+ states. With a view towards nuclear structure applications, a fermion realization of sp(4) is explored and its q-deformed extension, sp(4)q, is constructed for single and multiple shells. The su(2)(q) substructures that enter are associated with isospin symmetry and with …

Barriers To Participation In Educational Programs As Perceived By First-Time Enrolling Freshmen In Higher Education, Julie Cason Mcdonald

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Institutions of higher education face exceptional challenges in today’s environment. College costs are increasing, funding is decreasing and/or limited, public confidence is diminishing, the work-place is changing, and a shrinking pool of traditional-age college students exists. This creates an environment where colleges and universities find themselves competing for students. So that these institutions of higher education may better understand how to recruit, advise, and retain students, one must consider the barriers first-time freshmen encounter in the pursuit of formal learning as they enter college. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine the perceived barriers to educational participation held …

Augusto Boal's Theatre Of The Oppressed In The Public Speaking And Interpersonal Communication Classrooms, Jacqueline D. Burleson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, I document and analyze how I applied Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) techniques in introductory Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communication (IPC) courses. In the first chapter, Boal's democratic praxis is discussed in terms of critical performance pedagogy and Brecht's social aesthetics. I identify the qualitative social scientific method of data collection and analysis I used and base the significance of the study in my testing of TO in non-performance educational contexts and in the integrated communication studies curricula that resulted. In Chapter Two, I summarize Boal's career as an interactive theatre practitioner. My review includes synopses …

Hydrodynamic And Sediment Transport Modeling Of Deltaic Sediment Processes, Hassan Shahid Mashriqui

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation tests the hypothesis that the early phases of deltaic bar and distributary channel formation and sediment transport on an adverse slope could be simulated with a 2D finite element sediment transport model. The models used were RMA2 and SED2D modules of the TABS-MD model suite. A finite element mesh of the lower Atchafalaya River and the delta was developed, using the Surface Water Modeling System (SMS) software package. Calibration and validation of the model were performed, using data collected during field surveys and from available Atchafalaya River archived flow, suspended sediment, and dredging records. In a test simulation …

Role Of Endothelin-1 In The Gastrointestinal Tract Of Horses In Health And Disease, Ramaswamy Monickarasi Chidambaram

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Gastrointestinal tract disease is the leading natural cause of death in horses and horses with ischemic intestinal disease have the greatest mortality. We hypothesized there is basal synthesis of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the intestinal tract of healthy horses that is likely involved in regulating vasomotor tone, secretion and motility and that ET-1 synthesis increases with gastrointestinal tract disease, which may be involved in the pathophysiology of these disorders. Plasma ET-like immunoreactivity was increased in horses with naturally-acquired gastrointestinal disease, compared with normal horses; values were greatest in horses with large intestinal strangulation obstruction, enterocolitis and peritonitis. There was an association …

Cultural Competence Of Faculty Of Baccalaureate Nursing Programs, Lorinda J. Sealey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of cultural competence among faculty teaching in baccalaureate nursing programs in Louisiana and to identify associated factors. A survey was mailed to all 313 faculty members identified as actively involved in teaching in any baccalaureate nursing program in Louisiana and 163 valid responses were obtained. The Cultural Diversity Questionnaire for Nurse Educators, a researcher designed instrument intended to measure cultural competence, was the instrument used. It included Likert-type items organized into five subscales representing the components of cultural competence according to Campinha- Bacote’s model of cultural competence (i.e., cultural awareness, …

The Kauffman Bracket Skein Module Of The Quaternionic Manifold, John Michael Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, we study the structure of the Kauffman bracket skein module of the quaternionic manifold over the field of rational functions. We begin with a brief survey of manifolds whose Kauffman bracket skein modules are known, and proceed in Chapter 2 by recalling the facts from Temperley-Lieb recoupling theory that we use in the proofs. In Chapter 3, using recoupling theory and with Mathematica's assistance, we index an infinite presentation of the skein module, and conjecture that it is five-dimensional. In Chapter 4, using a new set of relations, we prove that the skein module is indeed spanned …

The Effects Of An Evening Structured Problem-Solving Procedure In Undergraduate College Students With Insomnia, Colleen E. Carney

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Worry is often reported as interfering with sleep onset and sleep maintenance, and pre-sleep cognitive arousal can persist after successful behavioral treatment of insomnia. The present investigation will examine the effects of a "constructive worry" procedure in an undergraduate population with impaired sleep. Thirty-three undergraduate students who reported three or more nights per week in the last month of sleep onset and/or sleep maintenance problems, either recorded worries and possible solutions (experimental CW group) or recorded worries and completed worry questionnaires (control Worry group) for five nights. As hypothesized, the CW group had decreased pre-sleep cognitive and overall arousal relative …

Career Counseling For College Students: The Influence Of A Computer-Assisted Career Decision-Making Program On The Stability Of College Major Selection At A Research-Extensive University, Mary D. Feduccia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of Career Discovery I, the first module in a computer-assisted program for career decision-making, on the stability of the choice of college majors. This study sought to determine whether any differences existed in the stability of college majors between students who entered a Research-Extensive University with undeclared majors, used Career Discovery I, and declared a major by the end of the first semester of enrollment and students who entered the same University with declared majors and did not use Career Discovery I during the investigation. In addition, the study …

The Relationship Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome And Insomnia: Implications For Treatment, Danae L. Drab

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a sleep-disordered breathing condition that causes disrupted sleep. Although OSAS is most often associated with daytime hypersomnolence, a number of OSAS patients complain of insomnia, i.e., disorders of initiating or maintaining sleep. If the insomnia in patients with OSAS is secondary to the medical condition, then it would be expected to abate with the successful treatment of OSAS. If, however, the insomnia is primarily of a psychological nature, thus considered primary or psychophysiological insomnia, little to no change in insomnia symptoms would be expected after the treatment of OSAS. The present study examined the …

The Novelty Of Improvisation: Towards A Genre Of Embodied Spontaneity, David Alfred Charles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Improvisation has often been viewed and valued in terms of its service and resemblance to scripted traditions of theatre. Such a stance seriously undermines the significance and impact of this global performance modality, and has resulted in improvisatory modes being largely ignored or downplayed in modern historical accounts of theatre. This dissertation examines improvisation on its own terms, seeking to understand its unique features, functions and potentials, while freeing it from the heavy shadow of its scripted counterpart. To this end, the theories of literary critic, Mikhail Bakhtin, provide important methodological guideposts and allow the silhouette of the improvisational impetus …

Subversive Bodies: Embodiment As Discursive Strategy In Women's Popular Literature Of The Long Eighteenth Century, Phyllis Ann Thompson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Subversive Bodies: Embodiment as Discursive Strategy in Women’s Popular Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century” examines literary representations of the body as strategies of resistance. This study demonstrates that Manley's Secret Memoirs from the New Atalantis, Haywood's Female Spectator, and Burney's Journal and Letters, as well as unpublished receipt books for medicinal and cosmetic preparations, challenge the prevailing masculinist notion of a passive, distinct topography of womanhood and lay the groundwork for a feminist tradition of recognizing the body as an explicit part of experience. Tracing the origins of today's critical perspectives, my study draws on the insights of recent …

Dynamic Modeling And Parameter Estimation For An Ethlyene-Propylene-Diene Polymerization Process, Rujun Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

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A general dynamic model for continuous EPDM polymerization in which crosslinking and gel formation are attributable to reactions between pendant double bonds has been developed. A pseudo-kinetic rate constant method is introduced to construct a moment model for a pseudo-homopolymer that approximates the behavior of the actual terpolymer under long chain and quasi-steady state assumptions. The pseudo-homopolymer model is then used as the basis for application of the numerical fractionation method. The proposed dynamic model is capable of predicting polydispersities and molecular weight distributions near the gel point with as few as eleven generations, and in the …

The Nature Of Trust: Conceptual And Operational Clarification, Donna M. Romano

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of trust in working relationships is widely acknowledged among organizational researchers and practitioners. Unfortunately, trust is defined and measured differently across studies, making it difficult to integrate and compare research findings. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to clarify the nature of trust as it exists across research and organizational settings. First, trust was conceptualized in terms of 10 defining characteristics based on a convergence and reconciliation of inconsistencies among existing definitions. These 10 characteristics of trust were incorporated into a single definition of trust to offer a more comprehensive description of the construct. Second, the Functional …

Biomechanical Reconstruction Of The Appendicular Skeleton In Three North American Jurassic Sauropods, Ray Wilhite

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Forelimb and hindlimb articulation, reconstructed musculature, and function were examined in Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and Camarasaurus. A technique was developed using a Microscribe three-dimensional digitizer to capture external morphological data for skeletal reconstruction and determination of taxonomically useful features. The appendicular musculature of Alligator mississippiensis was dissected to determine form, function, origin, and insertion of muscles to aid in reconstruction of sauropod musculature. Contrary to the literature, M. caudofemoralis longus was found to originate primarily from the lateral surfaces of the proximal chevrons instead of the bodies and transverse processes of the caudals, demonstrating that chevron morphology is indicative of the …

Gender Inequality, Concentrated Disadvantage, And Homicide Victimization: A Sex And Race Specific Analysis Of Homicide Victimization Rates In Large U.S. Cities, Ginger Donise Stevenson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is designed to extend prior research on the structural correlates of homicide victimization among demographic subgroups in large U.S. cities. The present study draws on two broad theoretical traditions - the concentrated disadvantage perspective and gender inequality perspectives. Using Supplementary Homicide Reports data for 1990, race- and sex-specific homicide victimization measures were constructed for 120 U.S. cities. Due to the extremely rare prevalence of homicide victimization among some demographic subgroups, Poisson and Negative Binomial Regression techniques are used to test a series of hypotheses regarding the effects of concentrated disadvantage and gender inequality on homicide victimization for four …

Of Fathers And Sons: Generational Conflicts And Literary Lineage--The Case Of Ernest Hemingway And Ernest Gaines, Wolfgang Lepschy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Focusing on the depiction of the father-son relationship and the generational conflicts in their works, as well as the metaphorical literary father-son relationship between the two authors, this dissertation offers an intertextual reading of the works of Ernest Hemingway and Ernest J. Gaines. Part One examines Hemingway’s Nick Adams stories that feature the young hero’s growing disillusionment with and eventual rejection of his home and family. Parodying conventional stereotypes about Native American ways of life, Hemingway deconstructs prevailing notions of race by aligning Nick’s father with the wilderness and the Indians. Gaines’s earliest short stories focus on a reunion of …

Progressive Fatigue Effects On Manual Lifting Factors, Anthony D'Wayne Banks

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Much evidence suggests that the cause of lower back pain (LBP) and injury is frequently related to the posture of lifting, the load, muscle fatigue, and other factors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of progressive fatigue on factors that have previously been associated with increased risk of LBP in various occupational settings, during a repetitive lifting task where freestyle lifting technique was utilized. A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate several fatigue analysis, electromyography amplitude, kinematic, and kinetic parameters of repetitive freestyle lifting during a 2-hour lifting period. Each of ten (10) young adult male …