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Lithic Utilization Strategies At The Hoover Site, 16ta5, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, Josetta A. Leboeuf Dec 1999

Lithic Utilization Strategies At The Hoover Site, 16ta5, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, Josetta A. Leboeuf

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Lithic artifacts are frequently abundant at many prehistoric sites in the Lower Mississippi Valley and adjacent areas of the Northern Gulf Coast despite limited resources. These assemblages are beginning to receive the attention required to make meaningful interpretation which in turn can be used as comparable data sets. An understanding of the behavior associated with the full range of the reduction process was sought during the study of the lithic materials from the Hoover site (16TA5) near Ponchatoula. Louisiana. This was achieved through observations on raw material procurement. reduction sequences. tool use. maintenance and discard. and how these tools relate …


Stories, Ann Castellana Holley Dec 1999

Stories, Ann Castellana Holley

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This is a short story collection about someone on the outside reaching in.


African-American Garden Culture: A Study Of Tradition And Translation, Sally Akers Joachim Dec 1999

African-American Garden Culture: A Study Of Tradition And Translation, Sally Akers Joachim

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Many studies have been done on cultural gardening practices and their resulting forms: a Japanese meditation garden or the Italian use of water elements are two examples. This research revolved around the assumption that African-Americans have distinct ways of expressing their ethnic history, values, and traditions in their built environments. Studies have been conducted in rural areas with African-American subject gardeners; this study investigates the urban and suburban yards and gardens of African-Americans in San Antonio, Texas to leam how cultural heritage affects the design or arrangement of personal space in the city, and to identify physical elements that could …


A View From The Pacific: Archaeological Analysis Of Materials From Nicaragua's Sixteenth Century Spanish Town Of Leon Viejo, Kira Blaisdell-Sloan Aug 1999

A View From The Pacific: Archaeological Analysis Of Materials From Nicaragua's Sixteenth Century Spanish Town Of Leon Viejo, Kira Blaisdell-Sloan

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In 1524 the town of Leon Viejo was founded by Hernandez de Cordova on the Northwestern shore of Lake Managua in Nicaragua. Eighty-six years later it was abandoned, as earthquakes and volcanic activity made the site undesirable. At the present time, Leon Viejo represents the only Pacific coast Spanish occupied sixteenth century colonial townsite for which archaeological data is available. In this thesis I present a historically informed analysis of archaeological materials recovered from eight separate structures located towards the center of this site.

Utilizing The Annales Historical Approach, World Systems Theory, community and household level analysis, I weave together …


The Effect Of Hot Spots On The Performance Of Mesh--Based Networks, Yazan M. Al-Issa Aug 1999

The Effect Of Hot Spots On The Performance Of Mesh--Based Networks, Yazan M. Al-Issa

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Direct network performance is affected by different design parameters which include number of virtual channels, number of ports, routing algorithm, switching technique, deadlock handling technique, packet size, and buffer size. Another factor that affects network performance is the traffic pattern. In this thesis, we study the effect of hotspot traffic on system performance. Specifically, we study the effect of hotspot factor, hotspot number, and hot spot location on the performance of mesh-based networks. Simulations are run on two network topologies, both the mesh and torus. We pay more attention to meshes because they are widely used in commercial machines. Comparisons …


The Effect Of Hot Spots On The Performance Of Mesh-Based Networks, Yazan M. Al-Issa Aug 1999

The Effect Of Hot Spots On The Performance Of Mesh-Based Networks, Yazan M. Al-Issa

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Direct network performance is affected by different design parameters which include number of virtual channels, number of ports, routing algorithm, switching technique, deadlock handling technique, packet size, and buffer size. Another factor that affects network performance is the traffic pattern. In this thesis, we study the effect of hotspot traffic on system performance. Specifically, we study the effect of hotspot factor, hotspot number, and hot spot location on the performance of mesh-based networks. Simulations are run on two network topologies, both the mesh and torus. We pay more attention to meshes because they are widely used in commercial machines. Comparisons …


The Life History Of Southern Flounder (Paralichthys Lethostigma) In Louisiana Waters, Andrew James Fischer May 1999

The Life History Of Southern Flounder (Paralichthys Lethostigma) In Louisiana Waters, Andrew James Fischer

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The objectives of this study were to describe the life history patterns of the southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) in Louisiana waters through determination of age, growth, and reproductive biology. A variety of sample sources were included to demonstrate how the southern flounder life cycle is dependent on both the estuary and offshore waters throughout the various stages of its life cycle. Females exhibited greater lengths then males reaching a maximum of 764mm total length and males a maximum of 414mm. Ages were estimated through examination of transverse sections of sagittal otoliths. Annuli were validated to form yearly in the winter …


Interpretative Planning For A Neglected Historic Site In Istabul, Turkey, Ulvi Erhan Erol May 1999

Interpretative Planning For A Neglected Historic Site In Istabul, Turkey, Ulvi Erhan Erol

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In the 20th Century, war and other misfortunes have taught us to protect our historic and archeological past, in terms of both buildings and landscapes. While the world has already lost much of the past, much remains to be discovered, protected and interpreted. In the small pocket of urban open space located in Istanbul, Turkey that is the subject of this study, for example, the past usage's have been obliterated by contemporary employment of the site for automobile parking. This study presents an alternative way to use the site that takes better advantage of its central location among world-famous antiquities. …


Decomposition Strategies For Process Identification And Control Using Neural Networks, Olufemi Adebiyi May 1999

Decomposition Strategies For Process Identification And Control Using Neural Networks, Olufemi Adebiyi

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Linear Identification and control strategies suffer from the inadequacy of capturing the inherently nonlinear phenomena of chemical processes, and are valid only in a narrow region around a chosen operating point.

Hence, the goal of this dissertation is be to design nonlinear identification and control strategies using neural networks. Neural networks are identification paradigm that mimics the brain and can capture the underlying nonlinearities of a given data.

The Methodology undertaken is to decompose a complex nonlinear problem into less complex nonlinear problems that can easily be handled by multiple neural network models. Two strategies are developed in this dissertation: …


Dark Phoenix: The Representation Of Black Woman In Je Suis Martiniquais By Mayotte Capecia And Mon Examen De Blanc By Jacqueline Manicom, Sybil Shevron Jackson May 1999

Dark Phoenix: The Representation Of Black Woman In Je Suis Martiniquais By Mayotte Capecia And Mon Examen De Blanc By Jacqueline Manicom, Sybil Shevron Jackson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Black women writers in the French West Indies were conspicuously absent from the literary canon during the negritude movement in the 1940's. Mayotte Capecia was one of the few who managed to write during this time. Capecia was criticized severely for her novel Je suis Martiniquais by Frantz Fanon and accused of betraying her race because of the inter-racial love affair between her heroine and a French soldier. Jacqueline Manicom, her literary descendant who wrote Mon Examen de Blanc in 1972, was ostracized from the medical profession for her political beliefs concerning women's rights.

This dissertation examines images and representation …


The Life History Of Southern Flounder (Paralichthys Lethostigma) In Louisiana Waters, Andrew James Fisher May 1999

The Life History Of Southern Flounder (Paralichthys Lethostigma) In Louisiana Waters, Andrew James Fisher

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The objectives of this study were to describe the life history patterns of the southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) in Louisiana waters through determination of age, growth, and reproductive biology. A variety of sample sources were included to demonstrate how the southern flounder life cycle is dependent on both the estuary and offshore waters throughout the various stages of its life cycle. Females exhibited greater lengths then males reaching a maximum of 764mm total length and males a maximum of 414mm. Ages were estimated through examination of transverse sections of sagittal otoliths. Annuli were validated to form yearly in the winter …


Diet Overlap Of Native And Translocated Northern White-Tailed Deer In Southeastern Louisiana, Brian Matthew Zielinski Mar 1999

Diet Overlap Of Native And Translocated Northern White-Tailed Deer In Southeastern Louisiana, Brian Matthew Zielinski

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

I used microhistological analysis of fecal pellets to estimate and compare seasonal diet compositions between free-ranging, southern and translocated. northern woodland white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on Golden Ranch Hunting Farm, Gheens, Louisiana,. over four consecutive seasons, from January 1997 through January 1998. I analyzed pellet groups with Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) and wet chemistry techniques to evaluate and compare crude protein levels between populations of deer and provide indices of diet quality. On average, native and translocated deer diets were 87.65% similar during the entire study, and were significantly associated during all seasons ( P < 0.0000 I ). suggesting that deer fed on similar plant species in like quantities throughout the year. Few differences were found in plant selection frequencies per fecal sample. hut significant differences were detected (P 0.00 l) among deer populations in the use of Berchemia scandens and Vitis rotundifolia during spring. Northern deer also ingested a greater diversity of plants (P < 0.05) during spring and winter; and fecal crude protein levels were similar (P > 0.05) in all seasons …


Diets Of White-Tailed Deer At Avery Island, Louisiana, Nathan D. Rains Mar 1999

Diets Of White-Tailed Deer At Avery Island, Louisiana, Nathan D. Rains

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

I conducted a food habits study of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at Avery Island, Louisiana, to determine if deer diets differed among seasons. In 1997, I randomly collected 25 seasonal fecal pellet groups in January. April, August and October respectively I also collected reference forage plant samples in conjunction with fecal pellet collections I estimated botanical composition of deer diets based on a microscopic analysis of fecal pellets I compared diets using a chi- squared contingency table to assess significant seasonal variation I also used Kulczynski's similarity index to determine degree of similarity among seasonal diets

I found significant differences …


A Troublesome Commerce: The Interstate Slave Trade, 1808-1840., Robert Harold Gudmestad Jan 1999

A Troublesome Commerce: The Interstate Slave Trade, 1808-1840., Robert Harold Gudmestad

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The interstate slave trade grew from a haphazard and intermittent enterprise in the early years of the nineteenth century to a central aspect of southern society. With the decline of the international trade and the decline of white migration to the frontier, southerners turned to the trade to supply their labor needs. Farmers in the Chesapeake region increasingly sold their "excess" bondservants to slave traders. These speculators brought a measure of systemization and regularity to the trade. As they did so, however, a significant number of Upper South citizens questioned the trade's efficacy. The wanton exploitation and naked cruelty of …


Ernest Renan And The Question Of Race., Jane Victoria Dagon Jan 1999

Ernest Renan And The Question Of Race., Jane Victoria Dagon

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Racism in France can be traced back to the 1560's when the nobles claimed to be of a separate race in order to obtain special rights and privileges. Soon after in the seventeenth century, scientists started to classify humans according to physical features. With the increase in travel, the slave trade, the fear of the unknown and the fear of contamination, these factors along with physiognomy and phrenology encouraged "biological racism." During the second half of the nineteenth century, Ernest Renan (1823--1892) denounces biological racism and the existence of the so-called "pure races." He is also the first dramatist to …


Analysis Of Non-Linear Formation Fracture Resistance Tests Obtained During Oil Well Drilling Operations., Gursat Altun Jan 1999

Analysis Of Non-Linear Formation Fracture Resistance Tests Obtained During Oil Well Drilling Operations., Gursat Altun

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A leak-off test (LOT), commonly known as formation pressure integrity test (PIT), is a verification method to estimate the fracture pressure of exposed formations. After cementing each casing string, a LOT is run to verify that the casing, cement, and formation below the casing seat can withstand the wellbore pressure required to drill safely to the next casing setting depth. Fracture pressure determined from the test is used as the maximum pressure that may be imposed on that formation. Critical drilling decisions for mud weights, casing setting depths, and well control techniques are based upon the result of a LOT. …


Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict, Situational Formality, And Personality As Causes Of Interpersonal Equivocation., Richard Steven Bello Jan 1999

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict, Situational Formality, And Personality As Causes Of Interpersonal Equivocation., Richard Steven Bello

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the causes of a widespread and important communication phenomenon, interpersonal equivocation. Literature is reviewed which shows clearly that a sufficient cause of interpersonal equivocation is situational avoidance-avoidance conflict, but also which suggests the possibility of additional situational (formality of social setting) and trait (self-monitoring) precursors of equivocation. Using a questionnaire technique, participants were asked to imagine themselves in three different interpersonal situations, which were manipulated to vary the level of situational formality. In addition, in each situation, they were asked to respond to a question from their hypothetical conversational partner. These questions were designed to manipulate the …


Holding Back The Waters: Land Development And The Origins Of Levees On The Mississippi, 1720-1845., Jeffrey Alan Owens Jan 1999

Holding Back The Waters: Land Development And The Origins Of Levees On The Mississippi, 1720-1845., Jeffrey Alan Owens

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Man's efforts to control flooding on the Mississippi began about 280 years ago, but the first 130 years has been neglected in scholarly literature. In spite of abundant primary sources, most histories of flood control on the Mississippi revolve around hydraulic engineering and the contributions of state and federal levee bureaucracies---factors which had almost no impact on the creation of the levee system. Engineers did install the first levee at New Orleans and levees on their own plantations in the 1720s, but the extension of the levee line thereafter was almost entirely the work of private land developers supervised at …


Weierstrass Pairs And Minimum Distance Of Goppa Codes., Gretchen L. Matthews Jan 1999

Weierstrass Pairs And Minimum Distance Of Goppa Codes., Gretchen L. Matthews

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

We prove that elements of the Weierstrass gap set of a pair of points may be used to define a geometric Goppa code that has minimum distance greater than the usual lower bound. We determine the Weierstrass gap set of a pair of any two Weierstrass points on a Hermitian curve and use this to increase the lower bound on the minimum distance of certain codes defined using a linear combination of the two points. In particular, we obtain some two-point codes on a Hermitian curve that have better parameters than the one-point code on this curve with the same …


Situational Frequency And Retrieval: The Effect Of Revelation On The Judgments For Occurrence Of Events., Craig Barton Neely Jan 1999

Situational Frequency And Retrieval: The Effect Of Revelation On The Judgments For Occurrence Of Events., Craig Barton Neely

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Only one prior experiment has examined the effect of revelation on situational frequency judgments (Exp. 3, Greene, 1996). In the current study, three experiments examined the effect of revelation on frequency estimation. Experiment 1A and 1B replicated and extended the study done by Greene (1996) by increasing the frequencies of study items from one to eight in both a random (1A) and blocked (1B) design. Experiment 2 examined the relation between the frequency of study items and the degree of distortion of the items revealed at test. A significant effect of revelation was found across frequencies for the three revealed …


Women's Voices In Education: Two Jamaican Life Histories., Ethel L. King-Mckenzie Jan 1999

Women's Voices In Education: Two Jamaican Life Histories., Ethel L. King-Mckenzie

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main purpose of this study is to recover the marginalized voices of women educators in Jamaica by turning their oral life histories into text. It was not possible to interview all women educators in Jamaica so I have used the life histories of two women who were the 'first' women to take positions in educational leadership in two spheres that were once male dominated. Both women have made it to the zenith of the education profession. These women relate their life experiences and the meanings they give to their work as educators. Women have always played important roles in …


Effects Of Low-Oxygen Atmosphere On The Growth And Development Of Arabidopsis Thaliana (L.) Heynh., Katrina Maria Ramonell Jan 1999

Effects Of Low-Oxygen Atmosphere On The Growth And Development Of Arabidopsis Thaliana (L.) Heynh., Katrina Maria Ramonell

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Interest in the improvement of crop productivity through repression of photorespiration led to experimental growth of plants in low O2 and the surprising finding that reproduction is inhibited under these conditions. Using Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. cv. Columbia, studies were undertaken to understand the mechanism behind oxygen control of plant development. The hypothesis that developmental changes observed in low O 2 are due to repression of the plant hormones ethylene and brassinolide (which require O2 for biosynthesis) was tested. Arabidopsis was grown for 35 days in Sun bags in one of five altered O 2 atmospheres (210, 160, 100, 50, …


The Role Of Financial Aid Counseling In Students' Understanding Of Student Loan Management., Julia Young Porter Jan 1999

The Role Of Financial Aid Counseling In Students' Understanding Of Student Loan Management., Julia Young Porter

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory research study examined public university students' perceptions about their own loan debt management knowledge and about the counseling practices used to prepare them for their loan responsibilities. From the target population of all students enrolled at Louisiana State University during the Spring 1999 Semester, a systematic random sample was selected. Of the 1,204 students who participated in the study, 433 had loans. The 34-question survey instrument included 11 demographic characteristic questions and 1 open-ended question asked of all respondents. Two additional demographic questions and 20 perception statements about the loan process were asked of loan recipients. This study …


How Does Undergraduate College Biology Students' Level Of Understanding, In Regard To The Role Of The Seed Plant Root System, Relate To Their Level Of Understanding Of Photosynthesis?, James Gicheha Njeng'ere Jan 1999

How Does Undergraduate College Biology Students' Level Of Understanding, In Regard To The Role Of The Seed Plant Root System, Relate To Their Level Of Understanding Of Photosynthesis?, James Gicheha Njeng'ere

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research study investigated how undergraduate college biology students' level of understanding of the role of the seed plant root system relates to their level of understanding of photosynthesis. This research was conducted with 65 undergraduate non-majors biology who had completed 1 year of biology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. A root probe instrument was developed from some scientifically acceptable propositional statements about the root system, the process of photosynthesis, as well as the holistic nature of the tree. These were derived from research reviews of the science education and the arboriculture …


Spectrum Of Solar Neutrinos Above 6.5 Mev., Robert Ellis Sanford Jr Jan 1999

Spectrum Of Solar Neutrinos Above 6.5 Mev., Robert Ellis Sanford Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The spectrum of recoil electrons from solar neutrino scattering above 6.5 MeV has been measured using the first 504 days of Super-Kamiokande detector data. The scattering rate is found to be 13.56 +/- 0.42(stat. ) +/- 0.29(syst.) events/day/22.5kton, which is a factor of 0.474 +/- 0.015(stat.) +/- 0.010( syst.) of the expected rate. The measured spectrum and the expected spectra from 8B and HeP Neutrino scattering are compared using a chi2 minimization process to find the best-fit match between the measured neutrino rates and a linear combination of the expected rates from 8B and HeP neutrinos. Using only the 8B …


An Evaluation Of Noncontingent Reinforcement Effects As A Function Of Baseline Reinforcement Schedules., Joel Eric Ringdahl Jan 1999

An Evaluation Of Noncontingent Reinforcement Effects As A Function Of Baseline Reinforcement Schedules., Joel Eric Ringdahl

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

An evaluation of fixed-time (FT) schedules and extinction was conducted with children who had mild to severe developmental disabilities. The principal research question was: Does the similarity between baseline (i.e., response-dependent) and FT reinforcement rates make behavior resistant to change? During Phase I for each of 13 participants, a reinforcer assessment was conducted. Those individuals for whom a reinforcement effect was demonstrated continued to Phase II. During Phase II, the effects of FT schedules with either similar or dissimilar reinforcer rates (relative to a response-dependent baseline) and extinction were assessed for each participant. Results suggested that both extinction and FT …


Epidemiology Of Anthrax In The Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity And Environment., Kimothy Lyn Smith Jan 1999

Epidemiology Of Anthrax In The Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity And Environment., Kimothy Lyn Smith

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The Kruger National Park, (KNP), in the Republic of South Africa, provides a unique opportunity to investigate interesting and unresolved aspects of the epidemiology of the disease anthrax. Anthrax is a disease of primarily mammals caused by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis. Beyond it's great historical significance anthrax is clearly important in the world today. From a rich legacy of empirical investigations and observations in the form of ecological and epidemiological studies conducted around the world this work endeavors to distill and extract the essence of what biotic and abiotic factors of environment might be causally associated with …


Discriminative Validity Of The Wide-Range Assessment Of Memory And Learning (Wraml) With Children With And Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd)., Heather Brewis Scheffler Jan 1999

Discriminative Validity Of The Wide-Range Assessment Of Memory And Learning (Wraml) With Children With And Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd)., Heather Brewis Scheffler

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The present study examined the discriminative validity of the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML), using the individual subscales, original indexes, and a factor structure proposed by Burton, Donders, and Mittenberg (1996) that includes an Attention factor. The sample consisted of 57 non-learning disordered children who were enrolled in the first through the seventh grade and met criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and 62 Control children. The groups were matched by age, race, SES, and estimated intellectual ability. Group comparisons by MANCOVA revealed that, after controlling for the effects of math and reading achievement, differences between the groups …


The Historical And Cultural Geography Of The Grange In Minnesota And Louisiana, 1870-1880., Linda Marie Thorstad Jan 1999

The Historical And Cultural Geography Of The Grange In Minnesota And Louisiana, 1870-1880., Linda Marie Thorstad

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study uses historical and geographical inquiry to examine postbellum agrarian social, political and economic unrest that in 1868 led to the formation of the first national, secret and ritualistic, fraternal agricultural society known as the Grange. The Grange was created to unite farmers through cooperative buying and selling, to promote agricultural education, and to create a social organization that encouraged both women and men to acquire and refine leadership skills. It also sought to address concerns over monopolies and promoted state regulation of railroad rates. Although Grange membership peaked in 1875 and sharply declined through 1880, it forged the …


The Laser Optogalvanic Effect In Radio Frequency Plasma: Applications In Analytical Chemistry., Xuan Yao Jan 1999

The Laser Optogalvanic Effect In Radio Frequency Plasma: Applications In Analytical Chemistry., Xuan Yao

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The laser optogalvanic effect (LOGE) is the change of electrical impedance of a plasma produced by resonant absorption of laser radiation. Selected excitations can be used to detect specific species by tuning the laser to an appropriate wavelength. For optimum utilization of LOGE as a detection tool, one must understand the temporal profile of the LOGE signal in terms of the various processes occurring in the plasma. In this work, the characteristics of the LOGE signal and the potential applications of laser optogalvanic spectroscopy (LOGS) have been investigated. First, by analyzing the LOGE signal profiles of the neon excitations 1s2,4→2p1,3, …