Digital Commons Network^™

Biogeographic Anomaly Or Human Introduction: A Cryptogenic Population Of Tree Skink (Reptilia: Squamata) From The Cook Islands, Oceania, Alison M. Hamilton, George R. Zug, Christopher C. Austin

Faculty Publications

Archaeological and molecular data have revealed that the present day faunas of many island groups in Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia are not representative of the biodiversity generated within this region on an evolutionary timescale. Erroneous inferences regarding the mechanisms of speciation and the significance of long distance dispersal in shaping the present diversity of these island systems have resulted from this incomplete diversity and distributional data. The lizard fauna east of Samoa has been suggested to derive entirely from human-mediated introductions, a distribution congruent with biogeographic patterns for other Pacific species. Distinguishing between introduced populations and those that result from …

The Effects Of Media On Collegiate Worldview And Engagement, Micaela Degruy

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Rainbow Family Of Living Light: Anarchy, Individuality And Communitas In A Contemporary Alternative Culture, Joseph Falcon-Freeman

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Embodying The Current Middle Ages: Gender And Performance In The Society For Creative Anachronism, Chelsea Lewis

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Louisiana Agriculture Spring, 2010, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

A Dynamic Physical Model For Soil Temperature And Water In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, H. W. Hunt, A. G. Fountain, P. T. Doran, H. Basagic

Faculty Publications

We developed a simulation model for terrestrial sites including sensible heat exchange between the atmosphere and ground surface, inter- and intra-layer heat conduction by rock and soil, and shortwave and longwave radiation. Water fluxes included snowmelt, freezing/thawing of soil water, soil capillary flow, and vapour flows among atmosphere, soil, and snow. The model accounted for 96-99% of variation in soil temperature data. No long-term temporal trends in soil temperature were apparent. Soil water vapour concentration in thawed surface soil in summer often was higher than in frozen deeper soils, leading to downward vapour fluxes. Katabatic winds caused a reversal of …

The Combined Effects Of Rivers And Refugia Generate Extreme Cryptic Fragmentation Within The Common Ground Skink (Scincella Lateralis), Nathan D. Jackson, Christopher C. Austin

Faculty Publications

Rivers can act as both islands of mesic refugia for terrestrial organisms during times of aridification and barriers to gene flow, though evidence for long-term isolation by rivers is mixed. Understanding the extent to which riverine barrier effects can be heightened for populations trapped in mesic refugia can help explain maintenance and generation of diversity in the face of Pleistocene climate change. Herein, we implement phylogenetic and population genetic approaches to investigate the phylogeographic structure and history of the ground skink, Scincella lateralis, using mtDNA and eight nuclear loci. We then test several predictions of a river-refugia model of diversification. …

Recommendations For Interdisciplinary Study Of Tipping Points In Natural And Social Systems, T.E. Jordan, O.E. Sala, S.G. Stafford, J.L. Bubier, J.C. Crittenden, S.L. Cutter, A.C. Kay, G.D. Libecap, J.C. Moore, N.N. Rabalais, J.M. Shepherd, J. Travis

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Natural And Human-Induced Hypoxia And Consequences For Coastal Areas: Synthesis And Future Development, J. Zhang, D. Gilbert, A.J. Gooday, L. Levin, S.W.A. Naqvi, J.J. Middelburg, M. Scranton, W. Ekau, A. Peña, B. Dewitte, T. Oguz, P.M.S. Monteiro, E. Urban, N.N. Rabalais, V. Ittekkot, W.M. Kemp, O. Ulloa, R. Elmgren, E. Escobar-Briones, A.K. Van Der Plas

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Kernel Density Estimation Of Tropical Cyclone Frequencies In The North Atlantic Basin, Robert Rohli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gumbo Yearbook, Class Of 2010, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

Gumbo Yearbook

The Gumbo yearbook chronicles the entire academic year at LSU. In words and especially photos, the Gumbo shows the people, places, and events that make each year unique. In addition to formal portraits of schools and departments, the book contains hundreds of snapshots of students with their friends and dozens of pages showcasing organizations.

The 2010 Gumbo was published with a DVD containing a video yearbook, as well as a PDF. Those files are linked below.

Engaging With The Politics Of Determinist Environmental Thinking, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

In The Shadow Of Slavery: Africa’S Botanical Legacy In The Atlantic World, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Renegotiating Barbuda's Commons: Recent Changes In Barbudan Open-Range Cattle Herding, Andrew Sluyter, Amy E. Potter

Faculty Publications

Barbuda remains little developed and sparsely populated relative to its neighbors in the Leeward Lesser Antilles, a rather extraordinary and relatively unknown Caribbean place. Much of its distinctiveness derives from the communal land-tenure system, itself rooted in three centuries of open-range cattle herding. Yet, as revealed through interviews, newspaper archives, and landscape observations, openrange cattle herding has declined over the past three decades, with related changes in land tenure. As the new Barbuda Land Act came into effect in 2008, codifying the communal tenure system, the very landscape elements that manifest open-range herding have become obscure. In particular, the rock-walled …

The Geographical Review's Historical Dimensions And Recentism, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Hispanic Atlantic's Tasajo Trail, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

Produced along the Río de la Plata during the nineteenth century, shipped to Havana, and consumed by African slaves, the salt-cured beef known as tasajo affected both of those places and, to some degree, the Atlantic world in general. Initial exploration of the tasajo trail that connected Buenos Aires and Cuba employs primary sources such as nineteenth-century descriptions and shipping records to characterize the landscapes, places, routes, and agents of the largely unexplored research territory of that anomalous commodity: one that, unlike others such as sugar, slaves not only produced but also consumed; one that underpinned more prominent, latitudinal transatlantic …

Simply Connected Minimal Symplectic 4-Manifolds With Signature Less Than - 1, Anar Akhmedov, Scott Baldridge, R. Inanç Baykur, Paul Kirk, B. Doug Park

Faculty Publications

For each pair (e,σ) of integers satisfying 2e + 3σ ≥ 0, σ ≤ - 2, and e + σ ≡0 (mod 4), with four exceptions, we construct a minimal, simply connected symplectic 4-manifold with Euler characteristic e and signature σ. We also produce simply connected, minimal symplectic 4-manifolds with signature zero (resp. signature-1) with Euler characteristic 4k (resp. 4k + 1) for all k ≥ 46 (resp. k ≥ 49). © European Mathematical Society 2010.

The Whale-Propelled Vessel And Other Leaps Of Imagination As Autobiographical Metaphors In Adelbert Von Chamisso's Travel Diary Of The 1815-1818 Romanzoff Expedition, Johann J. K. Reusch

1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era

No abstract provided.

Olaudah Equiano African Or American?, Brycchan Carey

1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era

No abstract provided.

A New Method For Estimating Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Transportation At Fine Spatial Scales, Yuqin Shu, Nina S.N. Lam, Margaret Reams

Faculty Publications

Detailed estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at fine spatial scales are useful to both modelers and decision makers who are faced with the problem of global warming and climate change. Globally, transport related emissions of carbon dioxide are growing. This letter presents a new method based on the volume-preserving principle in the areal interpolation literature to disaggregate transportation-related CO2 emission estimates from the county-level scale to a 1 km² grid scale. The proposed volume-preserving interpolation (VPI) method, together with the distance-decay principle, were used to derive emission weights for each grid based on its proximity to highways, roads, …

Coastal Roots: Connecting Students With Sustainability In Mississippi And Louisiana, Christine E.H. Coker, Gary Bachman, Chris Boyd, Pamela B. Blanchard, Ed Bush, Mengmeng Gu

Faculty Publications

The Coastal Roots School Seedling Nursery Program for Habitat Restoration was initiated by Louisiana State University in 2000 in cooperation with Louisiana Sea Grant. The program enhances learning areas such as plant growth, wetland issues, conservation, and hands-on habitat restoration, and includes the installation of a small container nursery for the production of coastal plants in schoolyards. The program was adopted by Mississippi State University's Coastal Research and Extension Center in 2008. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the program as well as Mississippi's plans to adapt the Louisiana model to demonstrate teaching by example …

Draganski And Schafer: A Perspective On Works For Voice And Woodwind Quintet, Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero

LSU Major Papers

The purpose of this document is to explore the relationship between voice and woodwind quintet by examining two prominent multi-movement works in the repertoire, Minnelieder: Love Songs from the Medieval German for mezzo soprano and wind quintet by R. Murray Schafer and Six Songs on Mother Goose Rhymes for soprano and woodwind by Donald Draganski. A secondary aim is to impart greater awareness and understanding of works for voice and woodwind quintet. Music for this combination is largely unknown and neglected, yet this subgenre of vocal chamber music has several works by twentieth and twenty-first century composers worthy of attention. …

Waging Word Wars: A Discourse Analysis Of The Patterns Of Norse Masculinity Presented Through Mannjafnaor In The Icelandic Sagas, Jonathan Mark Broussard

LSU Master's Theses

The mannjafnaðr is a verbal dueling competition containing boasts and insults through which Norse men compare their achievements and exploits against those of other men in bids to prove themselves more honorable in the eyes of the Norse community. This thesis examines the structure, content, and themes of the mannjafnaðr presented in the Morkinskinna, Magnussona, Brennu-Njals, and the Orvar-Oddr sagas as manifestations of the Norse conception of masculinity. My analysis reveals that these encounters are highly structured and provide interactants opportunities to evaluate adherence to culturally dictated strictures of honor – their own and their opponents’. Through a complex discourse …

Mixed-Race Ancestry And Its Impact On The Facial Reconstruction Process, Jermaine Carl Robinson

LSU Master's Theses

Various facial reconstruction techniques are used by forensic artists to assist in the identification of human remains. In establishing the biological profile for completion of a facial reconstruction, often the most difficult yet most important determination to make is that of race and/or ancestry of the decedent. By purposefully creating a facial reconstruction of an unidentified presumed mixed-race female decedent, staying true to the tissue depth information arrived at as a result of this researcher’s tests to determine her race, this author plans to investigate if any biases arise among any potential parties involved in the forensic identification process. This …

Demography, Health Status, And Mortuary Rituals Of The Late Woodland Poole-Rose Ossuary, Ontario, Canada: A Study Of The Clavicles, Nicole Elizabeth Smith

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the clavicles from a pre-contact (1550 A.D. ±50 years) native ossuary burial from Ontario, Canada. The Poole-Rose ossuary clavicles were analyzed for demography, pathological processes, trauma, and cultural modifications. Demographic markers on the clavicles are derived from the minimum number of individuals (MNI) estimation, medial epiphyseal age, and sex. Pathological processes are indicated by the presence of degenerative joint disease (DJD), periosteal reactions, and lytic lesions. Trauma includes healed fractures and cuts from defleshing of the clavicles. The presence of pre-burial cut marks is an indication of cultural modifications that were likely part of …

Analysis Of Teacher Efficacy And Perspectives About Literacy Implementation In Selected Elementary Schools, Joy Rene' Abernathy-Dyer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Each teacher has a set of beliefs and knowledge as it relates to teaching and learning. In this study, we examine “How do the ways in which teachers perceive mandated literacy implementation impact their classroom instruction?” Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore some of the issues that attempts to change teachers’ instructional practices in the classroom and seeks to reveal some of the issues that influence as well as hinder instructional reform within that setting. This qualitative case study uses observations, interviews and questionnaires to highlight teacher efficacy from four first grade teachers and classrooms through the …

Changing Perceptions Of Archaeology In Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Geographic Information Perspective, David Patrick Harlan

LSU Master's Theses

Hurricane Katrina had a significant impact on the number and distribution of known archaeological sites in New Orleans, Louisiana. Due to government mandated investigation in heavily damaged areas, many archaeological sites were recorded in geographic locations where there were previously none recorded. This thesis examined the spatial distribution of sites in the context of archaeological predictive modeling to determine the impact of disaster recovery on site location. In addition, decision making processes that led to the discovery of sites were examined to determine how they contributed to spatial bias in the distribution of sites recognized by the Louisiana Division of …

Robotics As A Means Of Increasing Student Achievement In Middle School Science, Ingrid Lorelei Jomento-Cruz

LSU Master's Theses

This study reports on the effectiveness of a Robotics engineering curriculum in increasing the middle school students‘ achievement in science and math. Specifically, it aimed to find out if the students taking the robotics class performed significantly higher in science and math than a control group. The research examined and compared the scores in a pre and posttest and the normalized learning gains of students taking robotics in addition to their regular science and math versus those who are taking science and math only. Although this study showed that there is no significant difference in the science achievement scores of …

Ancestral Determination From Foramen Magnum, Stephanie Marie Crider

LSU Master's Theses

Ancestry estimation is a crucial part of the biological profile creation in forensic anthropology. Without proper classification of ancestry, other aspects of the biological profile, such as stature, can be affected. Several techniques are used by forensic anthropologists to determine ancestry of unidentified remains. Some anthropologists believe the cranium to be an excellent indicator of ancestry (Rhine 1990). The focus of this research was to determine the utility of the foramen magnum region on the cranial base as a positive indicator of ancestry. Previous studies have explored the effectiveness of using the cranial base’s occipital condyles for ancestry assignment of …

Head Shaping Of The Ancient Maya At Wild Cane Cay And Moho Cay, Belize, Kellye Alyse French

LSU Master's Theses

As a sign of beauty or status, the ancient Maya shaped the skulls of their infants, resulting in what modern researchers see as several forms of cranial modification. My project consists of the study of cranial modification of the coastal Maya from two trading ports, including an Early Classic (A.D. 300-600) sample Moho Cay, Belize, and a Postclassic (A.D. 900-1300) sample from Wild Cane Cay, Belize. Using the classification set forth by Dembo and Imbelloni, I calculate the type of cranial modification found at each site. I then create gender, temporal, and spatial distributions and compare the results to other …