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Off-Line Maldi Mass Spectrometry Of Bioaerosols, Jae-Kuk Kim Jan 2008

Off-Line Maldi Mass Spectrometry Of Bioaerosols, Jae-Kuk Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used for off-line analysis of bioaerosols. The overall goal of the work is to develop methods and instrumentation to minimize sample treatment and maximize sensitivity and selectivity for bioaerosol analysis. This work is divided into three parts: sample preparation, test bioaerosol analysis, and instrument development. Untreated silicon wafer substrates were used as an alternate to conventional stainless steel targets and proved to be excellent substrates for large molecule analyses as well as small molecule analyses with excellent spot-to-spot and shot-to-shot reproducibility, which is useful for high-throughput and automated sample analysis. MALDI sample preparation …


Identification Of Quantitative Trait Loci Influencing Early Height Growth In Longleaf Pine (Pinus Palustris Mill), Lisha Wu Jan 2008

Identification Of Quantitative Trait Loci Influencing Early Height Growth In Longleaf Pine (Pinus Palustris Mill), Lisha Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The delay in early height growth (EHG) has been a limiting factor for artificial regeneration of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.). Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers have been used to map the genome and quantitative trait loci controlling the EHG in a backcross family (longleaf pine x slash pine) x longleaf pine. A total of 228 locus specific SSR markers were screened against 6 longleaf pine recurrent parents and a sample of 7 longlef x slash pine hybrid parents. In total, 135 polymorphic markers were identified. Based on the genetic variance in EHG, available sample size, and the number of …


Cause Of Hispanic Homicides In Major Metropolitan Areas, Michael Gregory Bisciglia Jan 2008

Cause Of Hispanic Homicides In Major Metropolitan Areas, Michael Gregory Bisciglia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research investigating the relationship between segregation and crime has been extensively examined in the literature. Although numerous studies have looked at segregation’s influence homicides, most have focused on African Americans. This study extends current research by focusing on Hispanic segregation and homicide victimization. Using a 236 city sample, homicides are shown to rise when Hispanics are segregated from Whites. In comparison, a 208 city sample finds that segregation also contributes to a rise in African American homicides. It was also expected that the more homogeneous Hispanic population would reduce homicides, but such an association was not present in the full …


Searching For Gravitational Waves From Binary Systems In Non-Stationary Data, Chad Hanna Jan 2008

Searching For Gravitational Waves From Binary Systems In Non-Stationary Data, Chad Hanna

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The gravitational wave detectors at the LIGO Observatories have achieved record sensitivity to gravitational-waves produced by astrophysical systems. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration has analyzed data taken in several science runs, searching for different signals. We describe a search for black holes with less than a solar mass in the LIGO data taken from February 22 to March 24, 2005. No gravitational waves were found, and an upper limit was set on the rate of mergers of such binary systems. This search, as well as other searches for binary systems, are affected by non-stationary noise. We describe the sophisticated pipeline that …


Bile Salts As Olfactory And Gustatory Stimuli In The Channel Catfish, Shane Howell Rolen Jan 2008

Bile Salts As Olfactory And Gustatory Stimuli In The Channel Catfish, Shane Howell Rolen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A chemotopic map of biologically relevant odorants (that include amino acids, bile salts and nucleotides) exists in the olfactory bulb (OB) and forebrain (FB) of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Chapter one). Neurons processing bile salt odorant information lie medially within these bilaterally symmetric structures; however, information as to how single neurons discriminate and process this odorant information is lacking. Chapters two and three of the dissertation identify the range of odorant bile salt molecules that excite these neurons [i.e. the excitatory molecular receptive range (EMRR)] within the bile salt chemotopic zones of the OB and FB. The results of the …


A Comparison Of Fall-Related Psychological Measures In A Community-Based Setting, Delilah Susanne Moore Jan 2008

A Comparison Of Fall-Related Psychological Measures In A Community-Based Setting, Delilah Susanne Moore

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Falls and the fall-related psychological concerns associated with these events pose a serious public health problem among aging adults. Fall-related psychological instruments can be useful in quantifying important endpoints for fall prevention programs (Jorstad et al., 2005), yet no research currently exists to justify the use of these psychological instruments in a community-based falls risk screening. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine the psychometric properties of several fall-related psychological measures in a falls risk screening context by: (a) examining the reliability and validity of the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC), modified Survey of Activities …


Systematically Increasing Contextual Interference Is Beneficial For Learning Novel Motor Skills, Jared Marak Porter Jan 2008

Systematically Increasing Contextual Interference Is Beneficial For Learning Novel Motor Skills, Jared Marak Porter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Traditionally, contextual interference (CI) has been investigated by the use of extreme low and high levels of CI (blocked and random practice schedules); with results generally suggesting that higher rather than lower amounts of CI facilitated motor skill learning (Magill & Hall, 1990). To better understand the CI effect, two experiments were conducted investigating an alternative form of practice schedule. Practice using this alternative schedule provided novices experiences with systematic increases in CI, which were compared to traditional blocked and random scheduling. Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that practicing variations of the same tasks with systematic increases in CI would …


The Effect Of Contamination, Sediment Source And Salinity On The Uptake, Distribution, And Excretion Of Metals By Spartina Alterniflora, Sarahfaye Mahon Jan 2008

The Effect Of Contamination, Sediment Source And Salinity On The Uptake, Distribution, And Excretion Of Metals By Spartina Alterniflora, Sarahfaye Mahon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spartina alterniflora, the dominant vegetation in many salt marshes, has the potential to remobilize metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) from sediment to the local salt marsh environment. My research determined the influence of sediment metal concentration, sediment type and salinity on the uptake, distribution and accumulation of metals by S. alterniflora tissues and excreted salts. Spartina alterniflora was cultivated at a constant salinity in natural and dredge sediments with three levels of metal additions (control, low, and high). The distribution and concentration of metals in S. alterniflora was influenced by both metal treatments and sediment type; however, the …


The Effects Of Peer Teaching On Undergraduate Music Majors' Achievement And Attitude Toward Sight-Reading In The Group Piano Setting, Nancy Elizabeth Baker Jan 2008

The Effects Of Peer Teaching On Undergraduate Music Majors' Achievement And Attitude Toward Sight-Reading In The Group Piano Setting, Nancy Elizabeth Baker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purposes of this study were: (1) to investigate the effects of peer teaching on students’ achievement in sight-reading at the piano, and (2) to determine whether peer teaching positively affected students’ attitude toward sight-reading at the piano. Participants were undergraduate music majors (N = 85) enrolled in the second or fourth semester of a four-semester group piano sequence. Participants completed a pretest and a posttest that consisted of a video-taped sight-reading performance and an attitudinal questionnaire. Control and experimental groups comprised the treatment groups for each level. Group Piano IV and Group Piano II participants in the experimental group …


A Multilevel Discrete - Time Hazard Model Of Retention Data In Higher Education, Christopher W. Guillory Jan 2008

A Multilevel Discrete - Time Hazard Model Of Retention Data In Higher Education, Christopher W. Guillory

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

College student retention rates are often used as a measure of institutional accountability, institutional success, and are used more frequently as a means of determining resource allocation. Understanding what factors impact the retention of college students has become critical to institutions of higher education. The study of the factors that impact student retention has been plagued with methodological concerns, especially the longitudinal and hierarchical nature of retention data. The purpose of this study was to investigate college student retention using a multilevel discrete-time hazard model. A multilevel discrete-time hazard model deals with many of the concerns associated with analyzing college …


Novel Methods For The Control Of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae), Thomas Michael Mascari Jan 2008

Novel Methods For The Control Of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae), Thomas Michael Mascari

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In arid and semi-arid parts of the Old World, Phlebotomus paptasi is a significant biting pest of man and is the primary vector of Leishmania major, the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL). Phlebotomus papatasi exhibits a close association with the burrowing rodents that serve as the reservoirs of L. major. Rodent burrows are considered to be the primary habitat of immature P. papatasi in ZCL foci, and sand fly larvae have been observed feeding on rodent feces. In laboratory studies, five insecticides (diflubenzuron, novaluron, methoprene, pyriproxyfen, or ivermectin) were incorporated into the diet of Syrian hamsters and evaluated …


Elements Of Mythmaking In Witness Accounts Of Colonial Piracy, Plamen Ivanov Arnaudov Jan 2008

Elements Of Mythmaking In Witness Accounts Of Colonial Piracy, Plamen Ivanov Arnaudov

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Focusing on historical accounts (1684-1734) by English, French, and Spanish witnesses, this dissertation establishes a continuity in fictionalized representations of anti-heroic pirates from the buccaneering period to the Golden Age of Piracy. Informed by history, literary, myth, and performance theory, the analysis identifies significant distortions in reports by observers and participants. The distortions that pertain to mythmaking patterns are classified and analyzed further. Conflicting and ambivalent representations of the pirate as an anti-hero are resolved through the positing of a literary scapegoat hypothesis drawing from René Girard and Joseph Roach. While demonstrating mythical archetypes at work in the construction of …


The Principal As Technology Leader: The Skills E-Learners Consider Essential To The Creation Of A Technology-Rich School Community, Tammy Sue Seneca Jan 2008

The Principal As Technology Leader: The Skills E-Learners Consider Essential To The Creation Of A Technology-Rich School Community, Tammy Sue Seneca

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the skills that e-learners considered essential to the creation of a technology-rich school community. The focus was upon the skills that acting district and school administrators deemed essential to becoming an effective e-leader. The quantitative investigation associated with this study consisted of a researcher created survey based upon the International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A). The intent of this survey was to obtain a list of skills that the participants felt were necessary for administrators to obtain in order to be effective leaders. These skills are categorized into both theory-based …


Phylogeogaphy Of Nothoprocta Tinamous And The The Phylogeny Of The Tinamidae, Thomas Valqui Jan 2008

Phylogeogaphy Of Nothoprocta Tinamous And The The Phylogeny Of The Tinamidae, Thomas Valqui

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding how diversity is attained and maintained is one of the central questions in biology. In the Neotropics most attention has centered on the Amazonian lowlands, despite the recognized importance of the role of the Andes in South American diversity. In this dissertation, I address the question by using Nothoprocta tinamous as a model case for examining diversification in the Andes. As a group, they are a manageable size, they exhibit near-restriction to the Andes, they show multi-species parapatric distributions, and they have presumed limited dispersal ability. These are all useful attributes for a system to study speciation and diversification. …


Investigation Of Antimonide Structure Types And The Structural Studies Of Molybdates, Dixie Plaisance Gautreaux Jan 2008

Investigation Of Antimonide Structure Types And The Structural Studies Of Molybdates, Dixie Plaisance Gautreaux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation highlights the investigation of ternary lanthanide antimonide structure types and their physical properties. In particular, these ternary phases allow for the systematic investigation of the structure in an effort to correlate structure and properties. The ternary antimonides are layered structures with two-dimensional square sheets or nets, which influence the properties of these materials. In an effort to determine how structural changes influence the physical properties, various single crystals of compounds relating to the orthorhombic CeNiSb3 structure have been grown and characterized. The layered CeNiSb3 structure consists of Sb sheets, NiSb6 distorted octahedra, and CeSb9 monocapped square anti-prisms. LnNi(Sn,Sb)3 …


Synthesis And Surface Characterization Of Silica-Polypeptide Composite Particles, Erick Isael Soto-Cantu Jan 2008

Synthesis And Surface Characterization Of Silica-Polypeptide Composite Particles, Erick Isael Soto-Cantu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The synthesis and sequential surface characterization of silica-polypeptide composite particles is described. Nearly monodisperse colloidal silica cores were obtained by the alkaline hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The hydrodynamic radius can be easily controlled in the range of ƒî 20-140 nm by the water/TEOS ratio in the starting reaction mixture. The surface of the synthesized silica cores was further passivated/functionalized (P/F) by a mixture of (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APS) and methyl-trimethoxysilane (MTMS). The amino groups were quantified using UV-Vis spectrometry after reaction with ninhydrin. The use of zeta potential measurements of the P/F silica particles at low pH is presented as …


Genetic Analysis Of The Boundary Element Associated Factors-Beaf32a And Beaf-32b, Swarnava Roy Jan 2008

Genetic Analysis Of The Boundary Element Associated Factors-Beaf32a And Beaf-32b, Swarnava Roy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Insulators are DNA elements that have been shown to restrict the communication between enhancers and promoters in transgenic assays. In my PhD work I have attempted to highlight the function and importance of insulators by using the Boundary Element Associated Factors- BEAF -32A and BEAF-32B as model insulator binding proteins. We generated a null BEAFAB-KO allele and BEAFA-KO allele by using homologous recombination method. BEAF-32B was found to be sufficient to obtain viable flies. Our results show that BEAF is required for both oogenesis and development. Position independent expression and enhancer-blocking assays showed that BEAF confers insulator function to scs’ …


Exercise And Peripheral Vascular Function In Health And Disease, Arturo Arce Jan 2008

Exercise And Peripheral Vascular Function In Health And Disease, Arturo Arce

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Chronic disease will never reach its clinical horizon to compromise health if it is attacked at its origin” [1]. Knowledge that one’s risk for cardiovascular events is related to the severity of endothelial dysfunction, and evidence that exercise training can improve endothelial function, has prompted speculation that measures of vascular function may serve as a “barometer” for cardiovascular health. This dissertation consists of three experiments intended to study vascular function and the manner in which it may influence or may be influenced by physical function. Project one examined the influence of high and low volume circuit weight training on forearm …


Processes And/Of Performance: Difference, Memory, And Experimentation, Benjamin Daniel Powell Jan 2008

Processes And/Of Performance: Difference, Memory, And Experimentation, Benjamin Daniel Powell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study enacts performance analyses by combining experimental and avant-garde performance practices of artists or art movements such as John Cage, Jerzy Grotowski, Dadaism, and Eugenio Barba with the differential philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. By focusing on the ways that performance practice informs understandings of “the ghost” and différance in Derrida’s theories, and processes of production and experimentation in Deleuze’s, this study examines performance as a process of negotiating practice and theory that continues to produce rather than disappear. To reinforce the productive capacity of performance, this study looks at three different sites and the processes at …


Phylogenetics And New Approaches To Vaccine Development For West Nile, Arun Venkatesh Iyer Jan 2008

Phylogenetics And New Approaches To Vaccine Development For West Nile, Arun Venkatesh Iyer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) was first isolated in 1937 from a febrile Ugandan woman. WNV now has a worldwide distribution from Australia and India in the east to Europe and the United States in the west. The first human cases of WNV in the United States were detected in New York in 1999. The North American isolates were also found to be highly neuroinvasive and neurovirulent and in many cases leading to mortality or permanent CNS sequelae among humans. WNV was first isolated in Louisiana in 2001. The genome of this virus named LSU-AR01was sequenced and a detailed genetic analysis …


Changes In Body Image And Body Weight And Shape Goals Associated With Weight Loss And Maintenance In Overweight/Obese Adults Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Amy Rzeznikiewicz Bachand Jan 2008

Changes In Body Image And Body Weight And Shape Goals Associated With Weight Loss And Maintenance In Overweight/Obese Adults Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Amy Rzeznikiewicz Bachand

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to test for changes in body image in males and females in a randomized controlled trial of weight loss for older overweight/obese adults who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (Look AHEAD: Action for Health in Diabetes). A computerized morphing assessment program (The Body Morph Assessment; BMA 2.0) was used to assess estimates of perceived current body size (CBS), ideal body size (IBS), acceptable body size (ABS), body dissatisfaction based on the discrepancy between participants’ perceived CBS and IBS (CBS-IBS) and ABS (CBS-ABS), as well as participants’ weight loss goals in terms …


Visual Language Representation For Use Case Evolution And Traceability, Coretta Willis Douglas Jan 2008

Visual Language Representation For Use Case Evolution And Traceability, Coretta Willis Douglas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary goal of this research is to assist non-technical stakeholders involved in requirements engineering with a comprehensible method for managing changing requirements within a specific domain. An important part of managing evolving requirements over time is to maintain a temporal ordering of the changes and to support traceability of the modifications. This research defines a semi-formal syntactical and semantic definition of such a method using a visual language, RE/TRAC (Requirements Evolution with Traceability), and a supporting formal semantic notation RE/TRAC-SEM. RE/TRAC-SEM is an ontological specification employing a combination of models, including verbal definitions, set theory and a string language …


Dactyls Reveal Evolutionary Patterns In Decapod Crustaceans, Jeffrey Guy Agnew Jan 2008

Dactyls Reveal Evolutionary Patterns In Decapod Crustaceans, Jeffrey Guy Agnew

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Because of their high preservation potential and uses in foraging and defense, decapod crustacean dactyls (movable fingers of claws) are potentially excellent test subjects for an ongoing debate concerning the relative importance of top-down (predators) and bottom-up (prey) controls on morphologic diversification and evolution. The utility of dactyls for inferring evolutionary patterns were evaluated using living and subfossil xanthoid crabs sampled from the southeast U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and were used to: (1) distinguish the roles of selection and constraint on dactyl morphology through allometric and shape comparisons in the context of the crab’s phylogenetic relationships and …


Teachers' Perspectives On The Unintended Consequences Of High Stakes Testing, David Christopher Charles Jan 2008

Teachers' Perspectives On The Unintended Consequences Of High Stakes Testing, David Christopher Charles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A mixed methods design was utilized that was divided into three phases to verify and explore high stakes testing’s effects on teachers’ perceptions regarding classroom practices, pressure, and commitment to the educational profession. Phase I utilized previous surveys and a peer review to create a knowledge base to generate a survey instrument that measured the three areas assumed to be affected by high stakes testing (commitment, pressure, and classroom practice). The survey instrument that was created was piloted. Throughout Phase II there was a series of three-step analysis: First, the means and standard deviations from the results of the surveys …


The Initial Reliability And Construct Validity Of The Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic (Asd-Dc) In Children, Melissa Luke Gonzalez Jan 2008

The Initial Reliability And Construct Validity Of The Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic (Asd-Dc) In Children, Melissa Luke Gonzalez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to examine the reliability and construct validity of a newly developed assessment scale designed to identify autism spectrum disorders in children: Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC). Participants were parents and caregivers of children between ages 2 and 16 years, who are typically developing or developmentally delayed. Participants were asked to complete several rating scales including the ASD-DC, a DSM-IV-TR/ICD-10 checklist, the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in Youngsters (MESSY), and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Version 2 (BASC-2). In Study 1, the test-retest, inter-rater, and inter-item reliabilities of the ASD-DC was …


An Examination Of The Good Behavior Game And Behavior Specific Praise Statements On Student And Teacher Behavior, Robert Allen Wright Jan 2008

An Examination Of The Good Behavior Game And Behavior Specific Praise Statements On Student And Teacher Behavior, Robert Allen Wright

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study directly compares two interdependent group oriented contingency strategies, the GBG and the GBG with a behavior specific praise statement (BSPS) component (i.e., GBG+BSPS) to examine the relative effectiveness of each as a tool for class-wide behavior management, to inspect the effect on teacher interactions with students, and to assess the relative teacher and student acceptability of both games. The Good Behavior Game has been identified as an evidence-based intervention to manage class-wide behavior difficulties, but recently has been criticized for not being proactive in teaching appropriate classroom behavior. The relative effectiveness and acceptability of each game as a …


New Media In New Democracies: Perceptions Of Good Governance Among Traditional And Internet-Based Media Users In Kyrgyzstan, Svetlana Viktorovna Kulikova Jan 2008

New Media In New Democracies: Perceptions Of Good Governance Among Traditional And Internet-Based Media Users In Kyrgyzstan, Svetlana Viktorovna Kulikova

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the potential and role of the Internet-based media in the Kyrgyz Republic’s political processes after the 2005 March Revolution. It uses a model of interaction between the government and citizens through various types of realities: the reality constructed and imposed by the state-controlled media, the reality created by alternative, independent sources of information online, and the realities experienced by citizens in their daily lives. The model pulled together various theories from political science, sociology, psychology, and mass communication and focused on the exit-voice-loyalty options available for the citizens in response to governance practices. The research project uses …


Latino Representation In U.S. Legislatures: Interests, Behavior, And Influence, Stella M. Rouse Jan 2008

Latino Representation In U.S. Legislatures: Interests, Behavior, And Influence, Stella M. Rouse

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the growth of Latinos in the general population and in legislatures, their impact on the political process has received little scholarly attention. In this project, I present a theoretical framework of Latino legislative behavior that draws upon two important concepts of representation- descriptive and substantive- to better understand how ethnicity influences legislative activity and whether it is dependent on such factors as institutional context, legislative composition, and constituency characteristics. The project is unique in its comprehensive analysis of the legislative process and in its mixed methodological approach which includes both quantitative and qualitative elements. The analysis involves five parts: …


How To Remember Thee?: Problems Of Memorialization In English Writing, 1558-1625, Sean Flory Jan 2008

How To Remember Thee?: Problems Of Memorialization In English Writing, 1558-1625, Sean Flory

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the use of funeral commemoration in religious and political controversies in early modern England. By examining the rhetoric used in funeral sermons and elegies, I show that commemorative writers use figural interpretation of the Bible to legitimize praise by linking the deceased to characters from scripture. Figural interpretation places the dead into a framework of ecclesiastical history and creates Protestant saints used as exempla in political and religious debates. This dissertation examines funeral sermons, elegies, and other commemorative poems written between 1558 and 1625. Chapter one discusses the development of figural interpretation in Elizabethan funeral sermons. …


Louis Aragon And Pierre Drieu La Rochelle: Servility And Subversion, Oana Carmina Cimpean Jan 2008

Louis Aragon And Pierre Drieu La Rochelle: Servility And Subversion, Oana Carmina Cimpean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the use of literature in support of political ideologies, starting from the cases of Louis Aragon and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. Aragon and Drieu wrote extensively about man’s alienation in the modern world and, more importantly, about the possibility of overcoming that alienation. Both argued for the creation of a new man who could erect a new world on the ruins of the old. Though Aragon was a communist and Drieu a fascist, they shared an apocalyptic view of the world and believed themselves to be living in the last stage of history, the prelude to a …