Digital Commons Network^™

Percepción Y Periodismo: Bohemia In 1950s Cuba, Jeffrey E. O'Brien

LSU Master's Theses

Bohemia is perhaps one of the most popularly used sources among Cuban historians because of its array of content. For the vast majority of scholars, the use of Bohemia’s content is utilized to put the nature of the Cuban Revolution in perspective. Rarely have historians ever analyzed Bohemia itself, as a publication. What is intriguing is that historians who analyze the Cuban Revolution usually conclude the leit motif of the insurrection evolved around—and was prompted by—the rupture of the constitutional order. Bohemia, as a magazine committed to democracy—free speech, transparency, fair elections, and so on—provides an important way to see …

The Medium Is The Movement: The Internet's Influence On Feminist Rhetorical Strategies, Christine Nicole Jeansonne

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In The Medium Is the Movement: The Internet’s Influence on Feminist Rhetorical Strategies, I assert that recent scholarship on online feminism identifies feminist approaches to using the Internet as a tool to achieve activist causes but does not fully consider the active role of the Internet, itself, in changing feminist rhetoric. In response to this oversight, each of my chapters first attends to a popular critique of online feminism and then illuminates the digital framework’s influence in prompting distinct changes to feminist rhetorical practices. In Chapter I, entitled, “Hashtag ‘Slacktivism’: Posturing and Positioning in #OnlineFeminism,” I explore the productive …

An Exploration Of Adolescents' Attitude Toward, Intention To Consume, And Self-Reported Consumption Of Whole Grain Foods, Amy Lynn Queret-Mitchell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine Louisiana high school students’ perceptions towards consuming whole grain food products. The findings of this study are presented by objectives in the following sections. There is an obesity epidemic in America. Despite the wealth of information, this issue continues to have a negative impact on many adolescents particularly those of low socio-economic status in America. A possible cause for this problem is that adolescents may not have been taught to select the proper foods for consumption. However, this research shows that adolescents who consume whole grain food products have significantly lower …

Pore-Scale Analysis Of Interfacial Instabilities And Impact Of Heterogeneity On Relative Permeability By Lattice Boltzmann Method, Zhipeng Zhu

LSU Master's Theses

Interfacial instabilities occur often during immiscible fluid flow through porous media and their understanding is essential for waterflooding operations or other oil recovery processes. Although many studies including experimental and numerical have been done to reproduce and analyze the interfacial instabilities in porous median, there is still significant knowledge gap in fundamental understanding of these flow instabilities at the pore-scale. In order to better understand the interfacial instabilities phenomenon, the pore-scale simulations are performed. In this study, Lattice Boltzmann Method is used to simulate two different types of interfacial instabilities: viscous fingering and capillary fingering in irregular sphere packs by …

In Depth Look Into The Transformational Leadership Of Southern University And Agricultural & Mechanical College At Baton Rouge: A Focus On Engaging Economy, Diversity, And Implications For Community, Aubry Gatlin Turner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Deficiencies in economic resources and unwelcoming practices toward diversity represent two issues facing current American higher education institutions. Budget deficits have plagued higher education across America, and especially here in Louisiana. As a result, higher education institutions in Louisiana have become, and continue to be, targets for state funding cuts, with certain HBCUs, like Southern University, suffering the brunt of the cuts because of decades of inadequate funding.

Along with revenue shortfalls, Louisiana institutions and others across America are seeing demands to strategize diversity efforts. As most institutions follow federal guidelines to diversify the campus, some are facing challenges because …

Silica-Conjugated Polymer Hybrid Fluorescent Nanoparticles: Preparation By Surface-Initiated Polymerization And Spectroscopic Studies, Sourav Chatterjee, Tony E. Karam, Cornelia Rosu, Chun Han Wang, Sang Gil Youm, Xin Li, Changwoo Do, Yaroslav Losovyj, Paul S. Russo, Louis H. Haber, Evgueni E. Nesterov

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Organic/inorganic hybrid nanoscale materials possess fascinating optical, electronic, magnetic, and catalytic properties that are promising for a variety of practical applications. Such properties can be dramatically affected by the hierarchical structure and molecular organization in the nanomaterials. Herein, we employed surface-initiated Kumada catalyst-transfer polymerization to prepare hybrid materials consisting of shells of conjugated polymers (CPs) - polythiophene or poly(p-phenylene) - and their block copolymers covalently attached to the surface of silica nanoparticles. Because of the controlled chain-growth mechanism of surface-initiated polymerization, we obtained structurally well-defined CP blocks in the diblock copolymer shells, which produced distinct …

Role Of Mucin 19 In The Respiratory Tract, Kaitlin Mcbride

LSU Master's Theses

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a negative sense, single stranded RNA virus belonging to the Pneumoviridae family, and represents an important pathogen that causes severe respiratory disease worldwide. There is currently no vaccine against HMPV, so it is important to study the aspects of the immune response induced by HMPV. Because infiltration of mucus is a hallmark of HMPV infection, it is warranted to study the role of mucus in the disease process. Mucin proteins make up the major component of mucus and can be found within the airway and lungs. Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated a high upregulation of …

Identifying The Influences Of Psychological Factors On Fashion Customization, Sukyung Seo

LSU Master's Theses

As environmental concerns have been increasing and fashion market condition has been fierce and competitive ever before due to consumers’ ever-changing fashion tastes, customization has received growing attention considering as a solution to overcome those challenges. Despite the numerous attention, research on customization has been limited to only issues from business viewpoints whereas studies from consumers’ standpoints are little.

The purpose of the study was to examine how consumers’ psychological properties (i.e., self- promotion, need for uniqueness, self-expression, social identity, self-monitoring, and other-directedness) affect buying intention of customized apparel products mediated by perceptions of customization and extended-self. To achieve the …

Operational Impact Of Shadow Evacuation On Regional Road Networks During Short-Notice Emergency Evacuations, Efe Emre Tuncer

LSU Master's Theses

As part of evacuation planning, development of effective tactical and operational strategies are essential to safely and efficiently mobilize the public away from the threat. Evacuations are classified by the time between notification and the anticipated arrival of the threat which can be categorized as short, or no-notice emergencies. Emergencies involve the computation of the time required to evacuate the area of risk, which is the time to clear a radius of up to about 10-miles around the nuclear power plant, known as the emergency planning zone (EPZ). These evacuation time estimates (ETE) also account for the evacuation of the …

Higher Energy Gap Control Of Fluorescence In Conjugated Polymers, Chien-Hung Chiang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chemo- and biosensors based on fluorescent conjugated polymer benefit from greater detection sensitivity due to amplification of the electronic perturbations produced by analyte binding. This amplification stems from the exciton-transporting properties of conjugated polymers. A conventional design paradigm relies on the analyte binding events which generate sites of lower energy relative to the polymer energy: either fluorescence quenching sites (turn-off sensors) or bathochromically shifted fluorophores (turn-on sensors). In both type sensors, the excitons migrate to the lower-energy site created by analyte binding.

This dissertation primarily focused the investigation of an alternative paradigm when analyte binding creates higher energy gap sites …

A Cycle Of Giving: Transforming Individuals, Transforming Community In A Louisiana Children's Choir, Jason Paul Bowers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Kids’ Choir, a community children’s choir in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, formed in 2014 as part of the Kids’ Orchestra organization. The organization, founded in 2011, is El Sistema-inspired—a model developed in 1975 by Venezuelan orchestra conductor, José Abreu. The model’s mission is “to effect social change through music for children with the fewest resources and the greatest need” (Mission Statement, 2017).

El Sistema's focus on social change through musical excellence may hold great promise in the United States where neighborhoods are becoming increasingly diverse. Moreover, the El Sistema philosophy responds directly to issues of segregation still present in the Baton …

History Of Journalism Education: An Analysis Of 100 Years Of Journalism Education, Hilary Akers Dunn

LSU Master's Theses

This quantitative content analysis uses course descriptions to find changes in journalism education at the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, and the University of North Carolina over 100 years. This study found that there are two influencing factors that are inherent to the journalism profession: advances in technology and the maturity of the profession itself. These two influencing factors produced changes in technology used in curriculum, course focus (e.g. skill, theory, general knowledge, and history), and course topics (e.g. advertising, broadcasting, public relations, etc.) This study also found that leadership is the most influential factor of change in journalism …

Sh-Wave Seismic Reflection Imaging And Inversion: An Analysis Of Architectural And Physical Properties Of A Near-Surface Point-Bar, Nathan William Benton

LSU Master's Theses

Both architecture and physical properties of near-surface point-bar sediment packages have not be imaged or analyzed via SH-wave seismic reflection surveying, respectively. Point-bar architecture within near-surface environments characterized by conductive, saturated, and/or unconsolidated sediments cannot be well-imaged with other remote sensing methods compared to the SH-wave seismic reflection surveying method. The physical properties that distinguish different point-bar sediment packages are variably altered during early-stage diagenetic processes such as compaction and dewatering, thereby changing SH-wave seismic velocities and subsequently shear impedance of different sediment packages. This study accomplishes two objectives by acquiring, processing, and inverting seismic reflection data from two surveys …

The Cost Of The Bridge Way: Identity Formation In No Excuses Charter Schools, Olivia Jackson Cox

LSU Master's Theses

Media coverage and debate over education policy has fashioned in the minds of many Americans a basic fear that our public schools are failing. In the midst of this alarmist climate, a compelling solution has arisen: charter schools, which are publicly funded but often privately run. A particular brand of charter schools call themselves “no excuses schools:” they insist that every child can perform at high levels, regardless of poverty, race, or any other circumstance. While many studies and reports have investigated claims that student achievement is higher at charter schools than traditional public schools (Cunningham, 2012; Hoxby et al …

Transmission Potential Of Rickettsia Felis Through Cutaneous Inoculation Of Infectious Flea Feces, Kelsey Porter Legendre

LSU Master's Theses

Rickettsia felis, the causative agent of flea-borne spotted fever, is an emerging pathogen of the transitional group Rickettsiae and an important cause of febrile illness in Africa. Since the organism’s original discovery in the early 1990s, much research has been directed towards elucidating transmission mechanisms within the believed primary host and reservoir, the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis). However, while a growing number of human cases are being reported throughout the world, a definitive transmission mechanism from arthropod host to vertebrate host resulting in clinical disease has not been found. Several possible mechanisms, including bite of infected arthropods …

Development Of The Routines And Time Management Inventory For Young Adults, Morgan Ashwill Grinnell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Routines are observable and repetitive behavior patterns that are context specific and help to automate aspects of daily life (Sytsma, Kelley, & Wymer, 2001; Zisberg, Young, Schepp, & Zysberg, 2007). The presence of routines in an individual’s life promotes overall functioning, and irregular routines have been associated with poorer physical and psychological health (Margraf, Lavallee, Zhang, & Schneider, 2016). Time management skills, such as those required to plan, prioritize, and execute tasks are crucial to cultivating stable routines. Although measures of routines exist for children, adolescents, families, and older adults, the routines of younger adults have been neglected.

The purpose …

A Pedagogical Approach To The Waltzes And Tangos For Piano By Francisca Gonzaga, Ana Paula Machado Simoes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Francisca (Chiquinha) Gonzaga (1847–1935) was an important composer in the development of Brazilian music. She was also a remarkable female personality and broke paradigms in a society dominated by men. In spite of that, her works are not widely performed and studied yet. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a pedagogical approach to her works. This research explores her waltzes and tangos for piano, analyzes their musical, reading and technical difficulties, and provides a graded level for half of them to stimulate their use as repertoire for piano students and performers.

Chiquinha composed 37 waltzes and 30 tangos …

A Tale Of Two Birds: Lighting Design And Implementation Of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull And Aaron Posner's Stupid Fucking Bird Running In Repertory At Swine Palace Theatre, Chelsea G. Touchet

LSU Master's Theses

The course of creation never did run smooth. Every act of creation is a process of creation. While theatrical creation and execution may follow the same basic steps each time, the process will always be evolving. One may take many paths to reach the same destination.

This project is a study of the process of creation and execution of a repertory theatrical lighting design for a professional company in an academic setting. In the spring of 2017, Swine Palace Theatre, the professional company associated with Louisiana State University’s (LSU) School of Theatre, produced Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull in full rotating …

Fast Magic-Angle-Spinning 19F Spin Exchange Nmr For Determining Nanometer 19F-19F Distances In Proteins And Pharmaceutical Compounds, Matthias Roos, Tuo Wang, Alexander A. Shcherbakov, Mei Hong

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Internuclear distances measured using NMR provide crucial constraints of three-dimensional structures but are often restricted to about 5 Å due to the weakness of nuclear-spin dipolar couplings. For studying macromolecular assemblies in biology and materials science, distance constraints beyond 1 nm will be extremely valuable. Here we present an extensive and quantitative analysis of the feasibility of 19F spin exchange NMR for precise and robust measurements of interatomic distances up to 1.6 nm at a magnetic field of 14.1 T, under 20-40 kHz magic-angle spinning (MAS). The measured distances are comparable to those achievable from …

Evolution Of Alu Elements In The Saimiri And Papio Lineages Of Primates, Jasmine Nicole Brown Baker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alu elements are approximately 300 base pair (bp) primate specific non- autonomous retrotransposons. Alu elements, a short interspersed element (SINE), account for high copy numbers in all primate genomes. Numerous Alu element subfamilies have undergone varying degrees of activity and amplification within primates. Identification of these subfamilies has proved to be very informative in elucidating phylogenies and as phylogenomic markers. Squirrel monkeys, genus Saimiri, are one of the most well-known neotropical primates and the second most commonly used laboratory monkey. Squirrel monkey species diverged approximately 1.5 million years ago and are native to South America. Despite being well-known, there …

From Party To Publicity: The Transitional Role Of Three Publicity Experts On The Road To Modern Campaigning, Meagan H. Collman

LSU Master's Theses

During an election cycle, social media newsfeeds and TV screens are overrun with political advertisements and celebrity politics. Publicity has become a critical component of presidential elections. While many argue that a reliance on publicity developed with the popularization of the television, I argue that a dependency on publicity occurred in the early-to- mid 1900’s with three publicity experts who paved the way for future elections. Robert Woolley in Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 campaign exercised unprecedented management over his publicity bureau and used new techniques catering to new mediums of the time; Albert Lasker in Warren Harding’s 1920 campaign merged the …

A Study Of The Lived Experience Of African American Males Who Transition From Out-Of-Home Care To Postsecondary Education, Marvin Cain Alexander

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While the literature is replete with studies of the factors contributing to the failure and social deviance of African American males, few qualitative studies have been conducted to determine the factors that support the success of African American males, and virtually none have focused on the transition of African American males from out-of-home care to postsecondary educational institutions. Despite the challenges faced preceding and during out-of-home care, African American males can transition to postsecondary educational institutions. There is a need to understand why some African American males who experience out-of-home care can accomplish this while others cannot. It is imperative …

Analysis Of Lineage-Specific Alu Subfamilies In The Genome Of The Olive Baboon, Papio Anubis, Cody J. Steely, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Charles D. Loupe, Mark A. Batzer, Jeffrey Rogers, R. Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Yue Liu, Shwetha Murali, Tauras P. Vilgalys, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel, Vallmer E. Jordan

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Alu elements are primate-specific retroposons that mobilize using the enzymatic machinery of L1 s. The recently completed baboon genome project found that the mobilization rate of Alu elements is higher than in the genome of any other primate studied thus far. However, the Alu subfamily structure present in and specific to baboons had not been examined yet. Results: Here we report 129 Alu subfamilies that are propagating in the genome of the olive baboon, with 127 of these subfamilies being new and specific to the baboon lineage. We analyzed 233 Alu insertions in the genome …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Covalent Adaptable Networks Comprised Of Dynamic Imine And Aminal Covalent Bonds, Albert Chao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation is about the design, synthesis and characterization of materials comprised of covalent adaptable networks (CANs). There are three chapters within this dissertation.

Chapter 1 contains a short overview of conventional thermosets and thermoplastics. A new strategy of combining advantages from thermosets and thermoplastics is utilizing dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) for material design. Dynamic covalent bonds are able to undergo dynamic exchange which allow the material to adapt to a new state when under stimuli such as stress or strain. Material comprised of such reversible networks is called covalent adaptable networks (CANs). These types of reversible covalent bonds followed …

Providing Information And Public Outreach Across Three U.S. State Archaeology Offices During The Age Of Open Access, Samuel Thomas Ayers

LSU Master's Theses

Archaeology in the United States has been transformed into a mainstream, practical science over the past fifty years by Cultural Resource Management (CRM) and the federal regulations imposed by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966. However, this form of archaeology has been plagued with criticisms since the NHPA’s enactment including issues of access and use of data maintained by state site files. State archaeology is publicly funded yet state and federal legislation often exempts CRM data from freedom of information laws. To mitigate this contradiction and stem the growing body of “gray literature”, new open-access (OA) technologies are …

Cdk1-Dependent Phosphoinhibition Of A Formin-F-Bar Interaction Opposes Cytokinetic Contractile Ring Formation, Alaina H. Willet, K. Adam Bohnert, Kathleen L. Gould

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Willet et al. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, cytokinesis requires the assembly and constriction of an actomyosin-based contractile ring (CR). A single essential formin, Cdc12, localizes to the cell middle upon mitotic onset and nucleates the F-actin of the CR. Cdc12 medial recruitment is mediated in part by its direct binding to the F-BAR scaffold Cdc15. Given that Cdc12 is hyperphosphorylated in M phase, we explored whether Cdc12 phosphoregulation impacts its association with Cdc15 during mitosis. We found that Cdk1, a major mitotic kinase, phosphorylates Cdc12 on six N-terminal residues near the Cdc15-binding site, and phosphorylation on these sites inhibits …

Public Knowledge Of Monarchs And Support For Butterfly Conservation, Jerrod Penn, Hannah Penn, Wuyang Hu

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the authors. Pollinator populations in North America are in decline, including the iconic monarch butterfly. In order to determine if public knowledge of monarchs informs opinions on butterfly conservation, we surveyed the public to assess their knowledge of monarchs. We also asked participants about their attitudes towards general butterfly conservation and if they believe that butterfly gardens contribute to conservation. Respondents generally had some knowledge of monarchs but were unaware of monarch population declines and the necessity of milkweed to their life cycle. Respondent knowledge was correlated with more positive attitudes about butterfly conservation. Furthermore, membership in …

The Determinants Of Nucleosome Patterns And The Impact Of Phosphate Starvation On Nucleosome Patterns And Gene Expression In Rice, Qi Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In eukaryotic cells, DNA is a large molecule that must be greatly condensed to fit within the nucleus. DNA is wrapped around histone proteins to form nucleosomes, which facilitate DNA condensation, but on the other hand, may limit DNA processes. Organisms must respond to environmental stress in order to survive, and one strategy is by remodeling nucleosomes to promote changes in DNA accessibility to alter gene expression. Studies have demonstrated a clear correlation between nucleosome dynamics and transcriptional change in some eukaryotes, however factors that affect nucleosome positioning in plants are largely unknown, and the correlation between nucleosome dynamics and …

Personalized Normative Feedback For College Student Condom Use, Sonia Mahesh Shah

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Personalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions provide corrective normative feedback and have been found to successfully elicit behavior change (e.g., related to alcohol consumption, gambling). There are no known PNF interventions that explicitly target risky sexual behavior (RSB). PNF interventions have demonstrated significant reductions on drinking outcomes and normative perceptions, highlighting the potential utility of a PNF intervention specifically for RSB. The current study tested the utility of a web-based PNF intervention to correct normative perceptions regarding condom use as well as to increase condom use among college students. A sample of 189 undergraduate students (80.6% female, 62.2% non-Hispanic Caucasian) who …

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals: Insights On A New Class Of Pollutants, Eric P. Vejerano, Guiying Rao, Lavrent Khachatryan, Stephania A. Cormier, Slawo Lomnicki

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Environmentally persistent free radicals, EPFRs, exist in significant concentration in atmospheric particulate matter (PM). EPFRs are primarily emitted from combustion and thermal processing of organic materials, in which the organic combustion byproducts interact with transition metal-containing particles to form a free radical-particle pollutant. While the existence of persistent free radicals in combustion has been known for over half-a-century, only recently that their presence in environmental matrices and health effects have started significant research, but still in its infancy. Most of the experimental studies conducted to understand the origin and nature of EPFRs have focused primarily …