Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Destructive Behavior Among Adolescents: The Role Of Social Integration In The Academic Institution, Matthew E. Wilkinson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the relationships between the social environment of the academic institution and the self-destructive behavior of the students within it. My approach combines elements of strain and social control theories to expand the concept of social integration and its importance in influencing adolescent deviant behavior; I include theories of identity, efficacy and locus of control, and self-concept in my theoretical model. My primary focus is on the importance of social integration in anchoring the individual into the social environment, providing him/her with pro-social sources for identity, efficacy, and social support. For students, the social environment of the school …

Digital Storytelling As A Literacy-Based Intervention For A Sixth Grade Student With Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploratory Case Study, Brent A. Daigle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the use of Digital Storytelling as an intervention to improve the academic performance and social interactions of a sixth grade student with High-Functioning Autism. Qualitative methodology, using an inductive approach informed by grounded theory, was employed throughout this exploratory case study. Three separate data sources, consisting of document analysis, interviews, and participant observation, contributed to the findings of this study. Triangulation of inquiry methods enhanced the validity and rigor of this investigation. The findings from this inquiry indicate that Digital Storytelling was beneficial to the participant in this exploratory case study. Engaged student processes and critical analysis …

A Comparison Of Feeding And Mealtime Problems In Intellectually Disabled Adults With And Without Autism, Jill Cherie Fodstad

LSU Master's Theses

Due to the dearth of information categorically describing feeding behaviors in those with autism spectrum disorders, the goal of this research is to examine the nature of feeding difficulties in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Feeding and mealtime behavior problems are an area of concern due to their impact on an individual’s daily functioning, as well as the potential for causing severe medical conditions (e.g., poor nutrition, choking, aspiration) that may ultimately lead to death. Due to the importance of this topic for proper diagnosis and treatment planning, a better understanding of these behaviors in …

Micropropagation Through Somatic Embryogenesis And Cotyledonary Nodal Culture In Sea Oats (Uniola Paniculata L.), Diptimayee Sahoo

LSU Master's Theses

Uniola paniculata, commonly known as sea oats, is a C4 perennial grass capable of stabilizing sand dunes. Although this species is extensively used in beach restoration projects, production and availability of sea oats seedlings is seriously constrained due to disappearance of the natural stands. Other limitations are poor seed production, seed dormancy, and low seedling survival. With increasing interest in dune restoration, an efficient micropropagation technique is essential to generate sea oats seedlings in mass scale. In this study an efficient, rapid and reproducible plant regeneration system was successfully established for sea oats through somatic embryogenesis and cotyledonary nodal culture. …

Seeing (Red): A Qualitative Analysis Of The Product (Red) Campaign And Integration Of Public Relations And Marketing Theory, Amy Elizabeth Martin

LSU Master's Theses

In an effort to combat the AIDS epidemic around the world, the Product (RED) campaign aims to engage consumers in an “economic initiative” with exclusive products from their corporate partnerships. Academic journals claim that this effort is a new form of Cause-Related Marketing (CRM), even though it involves many Public Relations strategies and tactics. Product (RED)’s unique nature is unlike previous CRM campaigns due to its corporate partnership agreements. Researchers have not previously studied initiatives such as Product (RED) through either Public Relations or Marketing theories. David’s (2004) Convergence Theory creates a cyclical model to merge both Public Relations and …

Continuous Reservoir Model Updating By Ensemble Kalman Filter On Grid Computing Architectures, Xin Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A reservoir engineering Grid computing toolkit, ResGrid and its extensions, were developed and applied to designed reservoir simulation studies and continuous reservoir model updating. The toolkit provides reservoir engineers with high performance computing capacity to complete their projects without requiring them to delve into Grid resource heterogeneity, security certification, or network protocols.

Continuous and real-time reservoir model updating is an important component of closed-loop model-based reservoir management. The method must rapidly and continuously update reservoir models by assimilating production data, so that the performance predictions and the associated uncertainty are up-to-date for optimization. The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), a Bayesian …

The Effectiveness Of Contextualization On Second Language Acquisition Using The Situational Discourse Semantic Model, Alice Marie Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

In traditional classrooms a second language is taught via thematic word sets, grammatical explanations, and patterned syntactic practice. This study compared the traditional teaching approach to a scaffolded teaching approach, consisting of words taught within a narrative context. Five fifth-grade students were taught Spanish as a second language during a ten-week intervention. Vocabulary learning and sentence generation were measured following each session, as well as a pre-posttest measure. Results showed that print was an important support used by participants in the traditional condition. However across time, vocabulary learning and sentence length increased significantly more in the scaffolded condition.

Conversations On Citizenship: Young People's Perceptions And Performances Of Democratic Citizenship, Katherine Rhodes Knobloch

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate how the practice of democratic citizenship compares to ideals of it. I hope to provide a clear view of what contemporary democratic citizenship means, how this conception has been formed, and how democratic citizenship can be effectively practiced to serve the ideals held by democratic citizens. To do this, this paper will be comprised in several parts. After an initial explanation of the theoretical perspective used, I will explore how democracy was understood and implemented in the formative stages of United States government. Next I review contemporary practices of citizenship before examining …

Exchange Bias In Bulk Mn Rich Ni-Mn-Sn Heusler Alloys, Mahmud Khan, Igor Dubenko, Shane Stadler, Naushad Ali

Faculty Publications

An experimental study on the exchange bias properties of bulk polycrystalline Ni50 Mn50-x Snx Heusler alloys has been performed. Martensitic transformations have been observed in the alloys for some critical Sn concentrations. The alloys, while in their respective martensitic phases, are found to exhibit exchange bias effect. Shifts in hysteresis loops of up to 225 Oe were observed in the 50 kOe field cooled samples. The observed exchange bias behavior in Ni50 Mn50-x Snx is attributed to the coexistence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic exchange interactions in the system. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Faculty Senate Resolution 07-06, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Faculty Senate Resolution on disclosure of gifts received from the administration; failed, not adopted.

A Recombinant Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Expressing Two Additional Copies Of Gk Is More Pathogenic Than Wild-Type Virus In Two Different Strains Of Mice, Kevin R. Mott, Guey Chuen Perng, Yanira Osorio, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Homayon Ghiasi

Faculty Publications

The effect of glycoprotein K (gK) overexpression on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection in two different strains of mice was evaluated using a recombinant HSV-1 virus that expresses two additional copies of the gK gene in place of the latency-associated transcript (LAT). This mutant virus (HSV-gK 3) expressed higher levels of gK than either the wild-type McKrae virus or the parental dLAT2903 virus both in vitro (in cultured cells) and in vivo (in infected mouse corneas and trigeminal ganglia [TG] of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice). gK transcripts were detected in the TG of both HSV-gK 3-infected mouse strains …

The Herpes Simplex Virus Ul20 Protein Functions In Glycoprotein K (Gk) Intracellular Transport And Virus-Induced Cell Fusion Are Independent Of Ul20 Functions In Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, Jeffrey M. Melancon, Preston A. Fulmer, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

The HSV-1 UL20 protein (UL20p) and glycoprotein K (gK) are both important determinants of cytoplasmic virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. In this manuscript, we examined the effect of UL20 mutations on the coordinate transport and Trans Golgi Network (TGN) localization of UL20p and gK, virus-induced cell fusion and infectious virus production. Deletion of 18 amino acids from the UL20p carboxyl terminus (UL20 mutant 204t) inhibited intracellular transport and cell-surface expression of both gK and UL20, resulting in accumulation of UL20p and gK in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in agreement with the inability of 204t to complement UL20-null virus replication …

Density Gradient Enrichment Of Escherichia Coli Conditional Msba Mutants, William T. Doerrler

Faculty Publications

Insight into the mechanism of lipid transport to the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria has been hampered by the lack of an effective genetic screen for defective mutants. This work demonstrates an enrichment of conditional mutants defective in lipopolysaccharide export by Ludox density gradient centrifugation and selection for detergent resistance. New temperature-sensitive mutants with lipid export defects were isolated with single missense mutations in msbA. The results demonstrate the power of this approach for the study of lipid export in Escherichia coli. Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Implications Of The Medicaid Undercount In A High-Penetration Medicaid State, R. Kirby Goidel, Steven Procopio, Douglas Schwalm, Dek Terrell

Faculty Publications

Research Objective. This study investigates the impact of misreporting by Medicaid recipients on estimates of the uninsured in Louisiana, and is based on similar work by Call et al. in Minnesota and Klerman, Ringel, and Roth in California. With its unique charity hospital system, culture, and high poverty, Louisiana provides an interesting and unique context for examining Medicaid underreporting. Study Design. Results are based on a random sample of 2,985 Medicaid households. Respondents received a standard questionnaire to identify health insurance status, and individual records were matched to Medicaid enrollment data to identify misreporting. Data Sources. Data were collected by …

A Random Change Of Variables And Applications To The Stochastic Porous Medium Equation With Multiplicative Time Noise, S V Lototsky

Communications on Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Conferred Immunity Against The H1n1 Type A Influenza Virus In Madin-Darby Canine Kidney Cells Via Cecropin B Transfection Therapy., Tomasz P. Stryjewski

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Index Theorems For Quantum Graphs, S. A. Fulling, P. Kuchment, J. H. Wilson

Faculty Publications

In geometric analysis, an index theorem relates the difference of the numbers of solutions of two differential equations to the topological structure of the manifold or bundle concerned, sometimes using the heat kernels of two higher order differential operators as an intermediary. In this paper, the case of quantum graphs is addressed. A quantum graph is a graph considered as a (singular) one-dimensional variety and equipped with a second-order differential Hamiltonian H (a 'Laplacian') with suitable conditions at vertices. For the case of scale-invariant vertex conditions (i.e. conditions that do not mix the values of functions and of their derivatives), …

Calcium-Dependent Fast Depolarizing Afterpotentials In Vasopressin Neurons In The Rat Supraoptic Nucleus, Ryoichi Teruyama, William E. Armstrong

Faculty Publications

Oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (VP) synthesizing magnocellular cells (MNCs) in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) display distinct firing patterns during the physiological demands for these hormones. Depolarizing afterpotentials (DAPs) in these neurons are involved in controlling phasic bursting in VP neurons. Our whole cell recordings demonstrated a Cs+-resistant fast DAP (fDAP; decay tau = ∼200 ms), which has not been previously reported, in addition to the well-known Cs+-sensitive slower DAP (sDAP; decay tau = ∼2 s). Immunoidentification of recorded neurons revealed that all VP neurons, but only 20% of OT neurons, expressed the fDAP. The activation of the fDAP required influx …

The Fema Trailer Parks: Negative Perceptions And The Social Structure Of Avoidance, Matthew R. Lee, Frederick D. Weil, Edward S. Shihadeh

Faculty Publications

In recent years, negative media attention has fostered the impression that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) parks are social wastelands filled with criminal elements and other undesirables. FEMA parks have subsequently come to be viewed by some as a major threat to the safety and quality of life of the local communities in which they are situated. This analysis addresses attitudes toward FEMA trailer parks in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina among Baton Rouge residents. Drawing on the Locally Undesirable Land Use/Not in My Backyard (LULU/NIMBY) literature, the contact hypothesis, and a broad paradigm of social status and social control, …

Influence Of Fat-Replacing Ingredients On Process And Age Induced Soluble Nitrogen Content And Ultrastructure Of Lowfat Cheddar Cheese, Zahur U. Haque, Erdogan Küçüköner, Kayanush J. Aryana

Faculty Publications

Influence of fat-replacers on process and age (up to 6 months at 5°C) induced water soluble nitrogen generation in lowfat (5%, w/w) Cheddar cheese was investigated. Treatments with cellulose plus guar gum based Novagel NC200 (NOV), starch based Stellar (STEL), and protein based Dairy Lo (DL) and Simplesse (SIMP) were compared with lowfat (LFC) and fullfat (32%) controls. Nitrogen contents in aqueous extract were determined by Kjeldahl method. Process induced proteolysis followed the order DL > NOV > SIMP > STEL > LFO FFC. Age related proteolysis, which generated hydrophobic peptides, was rapid in the first 3 months, and resulted in an increase of …

F07rs Sgr No. 17 (Oh-We-Oh), Avery, Allen

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

A RESOLUTION

To urge the reconsideration of the decision to ban the post-touchdown Song, Oh-We-Oh, and to encourage that the song re-take its place in the usual music lineup

Louisiana Agriculture Fall, 2007, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 30 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Skinner), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 18 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Peterson), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 19 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Payne), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 20 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Cazayoux), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 21 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Collura), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 23 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Fowler), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

F07rs Sgb No. 24 (Iowa Pres Caucuses - Harang), Prestridge

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.