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Liberty Against Itself: British Freedoms In North America, Matthew Charles Connell Jan 2014

Liberty Against Itself: British Freedoms In North America, Matthew Charles Connell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation explores the theoretical foundations of what I refer to as the Canadian liberal ethos. Taking the British parliamentary revolution of 1688 as pivotal event I examine the development of political liberty in its English incarnations and trace its development as it was expressed in colonial British North America. This dissertation hopes to provide an explanatory analysis the of the liberal ethos that can: (a) contribute to understanding the pre-suppositions of liberty in a liberal democratic order, (b) contribute to an understanding of diversity and competing philosophical principles that informed the settlement of British North America and the institutionalization …


Exchange Rate Volatility Effects On Brics Countries Exports, David Isaias Maradiaga Pineda Jan 2014

Exchange Rate Volatility Effects On Brics Countries Exports, David Isaias Maradiaga Pineda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The leaders of the leading emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) claim that increased currency exchange rate volatility (CERV) from USD, EUR, and JPY (G-3) negatively impacts their exports, and expressed their desire for less trade dependence on these currencies. The literature on the impact of CERV on trade is vast. However, no consensus on the impact’s direction and significance has been reached yet. The motivation of this study was: first, to contribute to the existing empirical literature by using an alternative methodology; and second, to provide empirical evidence to the claim’s validity or nullity by …


The Transition From Clinical Practice To Academic Citizenship In Nursing Faculty, Valerie S. Schluter Jan 2014

The Transition From Clinical Practice To Academic Citizenship In Nursing Faculty, Valerie S. Schluter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experience of female registered nurses who transitioned from clinical practice to a faculty role in a baccalaureate program of nursing as experienced by the study participants. An improved understanding of the experience of registered nurses who transition from clinical practice to academic citizenship in an academic community will fill a gap in the literature and assist administrators of schools of nursing in planning faculty orientation and development programs to facilitate a successful transition of new nursing faculty members into academic citizenship in an academic community. Most nursing faculty members begin …


Essays On Mortgage Securitizations, Hong Lee Jan 2014

Essays On Mortgage Securitizations, Hong Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies how the affiliation between different entities in securitization process make different market outcomes, and how this estimation of affiliation effects is susceptible to limitations in securitized residential mortgage data. Three essays constitute the dissertation. The first essay illustrates the limitations and potential bias in the loan-level trustee data. Substantial amounts of loan attributes and risk factors are missing. The patterns of data omissions dramatically vary across different risk factors, sponsors, and trustees, and over the time. Missing of one risk factor is in general positively correlated with missing of the other. Omissions of loan attributes are systematically …


Extremal Problems In Matroid Connectivity, John Tyler Moss Jan 2014

Extremal Problems In Matroid Connectivity, John Tyler Moss

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Matroid k-connectivity is typically defined in terms of a connectivity function. We can also say that a matroid is 2-connected if and only if for each pair of elements, there is a circuit containing both elements. Equivalently, a matroid is 2-connected if and only if each pair of elements is in a certain 2-element minor that is 2-connected. Similar results for higher connectivity had not been known. We determine a characterization of 3-connectivity that is based on the containment of small subsets in 3-connected minors from a given list of 3-connected matroids. Bixby’s Lemma is a well-known inductive tool in …


A Perfomance Guide To Anthony Brandt's Creeley Songs, Penny Reid Shumate Jan 2014

A Perfomance Guide To Anthony Brandt's Creeley Songs, Penny Reid Shumate

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to provide a performance guide to composer Anthony Brandt’s Creeley Songs, a song cycle consisting of six poems by Robert Creeley set for soprano and piano. In addition to biographical information about the composer and poet, this document contains details regarding the creation of the cycle as well as analysis and performance suggestions with supporting musical examples for each song. Appendices include the composer’s works list, the composer’s program notes for Creeley Songs, transcripts of interviews with Anthony Brandt, and letters of permission.


Safer To Steal Than Score : Press Coverage Of Financial And Sexual Scandals, And Electoral Outcomes, Chance York Jan 2014

Safer To Steal Than Score : Press Coverage Of Financial And Sexual Scandals, And Electoral Outcomes, Chance York

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines communication processes surrounding political scandal. It demonstrates that scandal coverage is improperly calibrated to the severity of scandal accusations, with trivial but salacious sex scandals tending to receive inordinate amounts of press attention while deeper forms of financial corruption go unreported or underreported. Patterns of scandal coverage, in turn, result in real-world effects on public perceptions and electoral outcomes. Specifically, sex scandals generate such intense media scrutiny that accused officials often resign their offices rather than generate unwanted publicity. Financial scandals are often downplayed, resulting in little or no ramifications for the accused. Recognizing basic differences in …


Essays On Incentives, Economic Conditions, And Educational Choices, Gregory Brian Upton Jr. Jan 2014

Essays On Incentives, Economic Conditions, And Educational Choices, Gregory Brian Upton Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I offer two independent studies that each contribute to the literature on the college choices. The first paper examines the impact of Arizona’s merit based scholarship on college enrollment decisions. I find that both enrollment and tuition and fees increased at Arizona’s three large public institutions after the implementation of the AIMS scholarship. Enrollment effects are strongest among black and hispanic students. The second paper examines the impact of the recent 2009 housing crisis on college enrollment decisions. I find that large reductions in housing wealth lead to increases in public school enrollment and decreases in private …


Exponentially Convergent Generalized Finite Element Method For Multi-Scale Problems, Xu Huang Jan 2014

Exponentially Convergent Generalized Finite Element Method For Multi-Scale Problems, Xu Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The overall approach I take in the thesis falls into the category of multiscale finite element methods(MsFEM). I work to identify a new class of local approximation spaces with good approximation properties. This is carried out for the equilibrium problem of linear elasticity. The choice of local approximation spaces is motivated by the kolmogorov n-width. Part of my thesis work develops an estimate to show that it is possible to achieve a local approximation error of ô with respect to the energy norm using at most lnd+1 &frac1ô local basis functions. The global approximation error ôis controlled by the …


Microfluidic And Nanofluidic Devices - Mixed Scale Systems For Bioanalytical Applications, Michael David Vincent Jan 2014

Microfluidic And Nanofluidic Devices - Mixed Scale Systems For Bioanalytical Applications, Michael David Vincent

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Developments in the field of microfluidics and nanofluidics allow an experimenter to employ new analytical techniques. One direction in which the field is moving towards is developing new devices and or instruments on the smallest scale possible. One way in which this can be achieved is by using a combination of top-down and bottom-up technologies. Some of these top-down techniques have been used in other fields such as the use of photolithography to fabricate semiconductors. Photolithography is a top-down method used to create features normally on the micrometer scale, but in order to create nanometer size features another top-down method …


Combinatorial Minimal Free Resolutions Of Ideals With Monomial And Binomial Generators, Trevor Mcguire Jan 2014

Combinatorial Minimal Free Resolutions Of Ideals With Monomial And Binomial Generators, Trevor Mcguire

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, the combinatorial properties of monomials ideals and binomial ideals have been widely studied. In particular, combinatorial interpretations of minimal free resolutions have been given in both cases. In this present work, we will generalize existing techniques to obtain two new results. If Lambda is an integer lattice in the n-dimensional integers satisfying some mild conditions, S is the polynomial ring with n variables and R is the group algebra of S[Lambda], then the first result is resolutions of Lambda-invariant submodules of the Laurent polynomial ring in n variables as R-modules. A consequence will be the ability to …


Explicit Instruction Of Scientific Explanation And Argument In An Undergraduate Introductory Biology Laboratory Course Using The Claim, Evidence And Reasoning Framework, Rosemary Eva Becker Jan 2014

Explicit Instruction Of Scientific Explanation And Argument In An Undergraduate Introductory Biology Laboratory Course Using The Claim, Evidence And Reasoning Framework, Rosemary Eva Becker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Scientific explanation and scientific argument are important aspects of science inquiry and science education. Though students of all ages find construction of written scientific explanations and arguments difficult, explicit instruction in scientific explanation and argument can improve student ability. This quantitative research study used a non-equivalent comparison group design to investigate the affect of explicit instruction of scientific explanation and argument in an undergraduate introductory biology laboratory course, using a college level appropriate modified CER Framework (McNeill et al., 2006). This study compared students receiving explicit instruction in scientific explanation and argument with students taking traditionally-designed biology laboratory courses. Students …


An Examination Of The Impact Of Postsecondary Transition Program Models On College Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of First-Generation College Students, Shaneá Morrison Nelson Jan 2014

An Examination Of The Impact Of Postsecondary Transition Program Models On College Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of First-Generation College Students, Shaneá Morrison Nelson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of postsecondary transition programs on the college self-efficacy beliefs of first-generation college students. Postsecondary transition programs were developed to address the challenges that all first-time freshmen face, including all first-generation students. While there are a number of postsecondary transition program models, the three models examined in this study were Developmental Academic, Residential Colleges, and First Year Intervention programs. Although there is a great deal of evaluative research regarding how postsecondary transition programs impact students’ academic performance, there is a lack of research on how these programs impact students internal …


Ito Formula And Girsanov Theorem On A New Ito Integral, Yun Peng Jan 2014

Ito Formula And Girsanov Theorem On A New Ito Integral, Yun Peng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The celebrated Ito theory of stochastic integration deals with stochastic integrals of adapted stochastic processes. The Ito formula and Girsanov theorem in this theory are fundamental results which are used in many applied fields, in particular, the finance and the stock markets, e.g. the Black-Scholes model. In chapter 1 we will briefly review the Ito theory. In recent years, there have been several extension of the Ito integral to stochastic integrals of non-adapted stochastic processes. In this dissertation we will study an extension initiated by Ayed and Kuo in 2008. In Chapter 2 we review this new stochastic integral and …