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Magnetically Induced Release Of Fluorescein Isothiocyanate (Fitc) From Polymer Nanoparticle Composites (Pncs), Michelle Urbina Jan 2007

Magnetically Induced Release Of Fluorescein Isothiocyanate (Fitc) From Polymer Nanoparticle Composites (Pncs), Michelle Urbina

LSU Master's Theses

Magnetically induced drug release can be used as a site-specific, minimally invasive pharmaceutical treatment. Its purpose is to increase the efficacy of drug therapies to diseased or damaged tissue and to decrease the amount of unnecessary damage to healthy, surrounding tissue. To prove the concept of drug release by a magnetic field, this study focused on the release of a fluorescent molecule from magnetic polymeric nanoparticle composites (PNCs) via induction of an alternating current (AC) magnetic field. Fluorescent magnetic PNCs used were 250 ?m or less in size, and were made of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) containing either the magnetic material …

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False Rivers, Tracy Heischman Jan 2007

False Rivers, Tracy Heischman

LSU Master's Theses

The issue of Modern society’s detachment from nature and a sense of place are the inspiration for this body of work. The use of aerial landscapes relates to the concept of our increasing disconnection from nature and our environment. Viewers float above the landscape and are not part of it. They can become involved visually but are not connected by a traditional point of view. There is evidence of humanity, but it is impersonal, paired down to simple shapes and brush strokes. By pulling back and showing humanity as a smaller part of the earth, like ants leaving trails in …

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Sturctural Studies Of Lipoxygenases: Cloning, Expression And Purification Of Lipoxygenases From Anabaena And Fusarium, Pratik Dhar Jan 2007

Sturctural Studies Of Lipoxygenases: Cloning, Expression And Purification Of Lipoxygenases From Anabaena And Fusarium, Pratik Dhar

LSU Master's Theses

Lipoxygenases (LOX) are non-heme, non-sulfur, iron containing enzymes that catalyze the dioxygenation of unsaturated fatty acids. LOX enzyme is found in higher plants, some multicellular animals and some bacteria. In plants, the substrates for lipoxygenase enzymes are 18 carbon unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids) while in animals, the substrate for this family of enzymes is the 20 carbon unsaturated fatty acid (arachidonic acid). The LOX enzyme from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120, which produces the smallest known LOX, and the fungus Fusarium verticillioides, which produces a LOX with dual specificity and remarkably high activity, were overexpressed using …

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The Failure Of Louisiana Campaign Finance Law: A Case Study Of Brnext And The 2004 Mayoral Election, Casey Elizabeth Rayborn Jan 2007

The Failure Of Louisiana Campaign Finance Law: A Case Study Of Brnext And The 2004 Mayoral Election, Casey Elizabeth Rayborn

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study in how weak campaign finance laws and government oversight can undermine democracy in a local election. It does so by demonstrating how Louisiana campaign finance law enabled one wealthy businessman to play a major role in a mayoral election under the auspices of an issue-based political action committee. Through the examination of the Louisiana PAC BRNext, its financial activities, and its relationships, this study suggests that BRNext and its founder Lane Grigsby were able to violate the spirit of the law in each of these areas. BRNext was able to take advantage of the …

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Public Relations And Political Controversy: A Case Study Of The Assembly Of Turkish American Associations' Public Relations Campaign Regarding The Ottoman Empire's Deportation Of The Armenians, Tamar Grace Meguerditchian Jan 2007

Public Relations And Political Controversy: A Case Study Of The Assembly Of Turkish American Associations' Public Relations Campaign Regarding The Ottoman Empire's Deportation Of The Armenians, Tamar Grace Meguerditchian

LSU Master's Theses

An organization will almost always use persuasive communication tactics to influence public opinion. Persuasive communication tactics can be either pubic relations or propaganda. The definitions of both public relations and propaganda, as well as a study of the relevant models, reveals that neither practice heavily stresses the importance of social responsibility. Using the importance of social responsibility in honest persuasive communication tactics, this qualitative case study of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations’ (ATAA) determined that the efforts of the ATAA’s persuasive communication efforts are in line with the methods of propaganda, as stated in the operational definition of propaganda …

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The Influence Of Enrollment In Agriscience Education Courses On Student Achievement Of High School Students In Louisiana, Paul Joseph Theriot Jan 2007

The Influence Of Enrollment In Agriscience Education Courses On Student Achievement Of High School Students In Louisiana, Paul Joseph Theriot

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare academic achievement of high school students in Louisiana by whether or not they are identified as an agriscience education student. The rationale for the study is to determine if agriscience education contributes to the academic achievement of high school students. The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Graduate Exit Exams were used to measure academic achievement. All graduate exit exam test scores for the 2004-2005 school year were utilized for the study. The data for this study came from the Louisiana Department of Education. The study described all 10th and 11th grade students …

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Hurricane Modeling In Gis: An Investigation Of Threshold Storm Events Affecting Special Medical Needs Populations In Coastal Louisiana, Kathryn Emily Streva Jan 2007

Hurricane Modeling In Gis: An Investigation Of Threshold Storm Events Affecting Special Medical Needs Populations In Coastal Louisiana, Kathryn Emily Streva

LSU Master's Theses

Recent hurricane events in coastal Louisiana have emphasized the severe vulnerability of medical special needs (MSN) patients during flood disasters. MSN populations may be comprised of hospital, nursing home or hospice patients; the physically or mentally disabled; medically-dependent individuals requiring life-sustaining equipment or medicines; and frail elderly. Over 150 hospital and nursing home fatalities resulted from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. More than four hundred elderly over the age of seventy perished. Chronic diseases and mental health illness were among the top conditions reported in field hospitals, emergency rooms and shelters immediately following the storm. Louisiana MSN facilities and residences …

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(Mis)Translation In The Work Of Omer Fast, Kelli Bodle Jan 2007

(Mis)Translation In The Work Of Omer Fast, Kelli Bodle

LSU Master's Theses

For the majority of people, video art does not have a major impact on their daily lives. Between ubiquitous television monitors and incessant internet pop-ups, attention paid to a video in an art gallery is passing at best. How can one's video creations make an impression on such an already visually-immersed culture? Video artist Omer Fast, uses editorial effects such as dubbing, mistranslations, and splicing in his documentary-style works to attract the attention of, and later alienate, his audience. This essay analyzes Fast's oeuvre and deconstructs the ways in which he attracts audience interest and subsequently encourages his audiences, through …

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Saltwater Intrusion Simulation In Heterogeneous Aquifer Using Lattice Boltzmann Method, Borja Servan Camas Jan 2007

Saltwater Intrusion Simulation In Heterogeneous Aquifer Using Lattice Boltzmann Method, Borja Servan Camas

LSU Master's Theses

This study develops a saltwater intrusion simulation model using a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in a two-dimensional coastal confined aquifer. The saltwater intrusion is described by density-dependent groundwater flow and mass transport equations, where a freshwater-saltwater mixing zone is considered. The problem is formulated in terms of hydraulic head instead of pressure, which is recommended in those cases where static pressures dominate to reduce computational cost. The aquifer heterogeneity is explicitly a function of the speed of sound, relaxation parameter and time steps in the LBM. This study explores the equivalent squared sound speed to deal with the spatial-temporal heterogeneity …

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The Application Of Controlled Radical Polymerization Processes On The Graft Copolymerization Of Hydrophobic Substituents Onto Guar Gum And Guar Gum Derivatives, Veronica Holmes Jan 2007

The Application Of Controlled Radical Polymerization Processes On The Graft Copolymerization Of Hydrophobic Substituents Onto Guar Gum And Guar Gum Derivatives, Veronica Holmes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Guar gum is a naturally occurring polysaccharide; guar gum and its derivatives, such as carboxymethyl guar gum (CMG) are widely used in the oil and gas industry. A hydraulic fracturing fluid for rock formations to enhance oil recovery (EOR) is comprised of viscosifier, gelled CMG, and sand particles (proppants). The gel is mixed with proppant (sand) and pumped at high rate and high pressure into an oil/gas well to the hydrocarbon-producing zone. The applied pressure will force the rock formation to fracture allowing entry of the guar gel/sand mixture. The mixture then fills the resultant fracture. The viscosity of the …

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Vascular Function, Physical Performance And Aging, Devon Dobrosielski Jan 2007

Vascular Function, Physical Performance And Aging, Devon Dobrosielski

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This is a series of three experiments with brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (BAFMD) as the major outcome variable. The first study examined the temporal response of the brachial artery diameter following forearm occlusion in sixteen young (28±8 years) and fifteen older (85±8 years) men. Following release of the pressure cuff there is a significant reduction in brachial diameter compared to baseline, followed by a rapid increase to a PEAK. When comparing the magnitude of the decrease in diameter and the BAFMD between Young and Old, older subjects demonstrated a blunted response. A significant relation was noted between the magnitude of …

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Academic Concept Mapping (Acm): A Critical Thinking Tool In Academic Advising For Improving Academic Performance In College Freshmen, Dorothy Burton Nelson Jan 2007

Academic Concept Mapping (Acm): A Critical Thinking Tool In Academic Advising For Improving Academic Performance In College Freshmen, Dorothy Burton Nelson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the affects of an academic advising system, the Academic Concept Mapping (ACM) instrument, on academic performance of first-semester freshmen enrolled in a four year public university in the South, during fall 2006. The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI®), a Likert-type instrument, was administered to 258 students enrolled in 12 sections (six treatment, six control) of a freshman seminar class to determine if ACM participation made a difference in scores by group type. As an additional measure, an ACM quiz was administered to all students in the ACM study. Three instructors participated, …

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Detection Of West Nile Virus Activity In Male And Female Mosquitoes, And Evaluation Of Host-Utilization Patterns Of Mosquitoes, In East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Andrew James Mackay Jan 2007

Detection Of West Nile Virus Activity In Male And Female Mosquitoes, And Evaluation Of Host-Utilization Patterns Of Mosquitoes, In East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Andrew James Mackay

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT Host utilization patterns of female mosquitoes, and WNV infection rates in male and female mosquitoes, were examined in East Baton Rouge Parish to identify potential vectors of West Nile virus (WNV). A total of 244,374 female mosquitoes were collected between November 2002 and October 2004 and tested by viral isolation. Additionally, 131,896 female mosquitoes were tested by VecTest in 2003, and 167,175 female mosquitoes were tested by RT-PCR in 2004. West Nile virus was isolated from 17 of 36 mosquito species assayed by virus isolation, WNV antigens were detected in 9 of 27 species tested by VecTest, and WNV …

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Denitrification Capacity And Denitrifying Bacteria In A Restored Bottomland Hardwood Forest, Mississippi River Alluvial Valley: Hydrological Impacts, Yan Li Jan 2007

Denitrification Capacity And Denitrifying Bacteria In A Restored Bottomland Hardwood Forest, Mississippi River Alluvial Valley: Hydrological Impacts, Yan Li

LSU Master's Theses

Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MAV) is one of the most important ecosystems in the United States, and bottomland hardwood forests (BLHs) are a major components of this ecosystem. The ecological and hydrological functions of BLHs can help maintain the diversity of species, groundwater balance, and nutrient removal etc. However, due to the increased human activities in the area, most of the BLHs were converted to agricultural land. Realizing the seriousness of the situation of the ecosystem, a series of programs have been carried out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to …

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Understanding Americans' Attitudes Toward Latino And Asian Immigration, Betina Cutaia Wilkinson Jan 2007

Understanding Americans' Attitudes Toward Latino And Asian Immigration, Betina Cutaia Wilkinson

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of Americans’ attitudes toward immigration. I develop a measure of general support for immigration based on individuals’ responses to four immigration items: (1) support for increases in (legal) immigration; (2) feeling thermometer scores for illegal immigrants; (3) support for spending on border security to prevent illegal immigration; and (4) having “controlling illegal immigration” as a foreign policy goal. These items load on a single factor and permit us to generate a global pro-immigration scale that reflects Americans’ general views toward immigration. Further, I develop a comprehensive model of immigration attitudes …

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A Material/Conceptual Landscape Analysis Of The Virgin Of Guadalupe Pilgrimage Site In Mexico City, Mexico, Ramin David Zamanian Jan 2007

A Material/Conceptual Landscape Analysis Of The Virgin Of Guadalupe Pilgrimage Site In Mexico City, Mexico, Ramin David Zamanian

LSU Master's Theses

As geographers continue to research the interactions between physical landscapes and conceived or represented landscapes, the Virgin of Guadalupe pilgrimage site, a prominent site for Latin American Catholicism, provided an opportunity for further study in this area. Mexico City’s rapid expansion drastically changed the material landscape from rural to densely urban, especially since the early 1900s. With indigenous spirituality closely tied to the physical aspects of the landscape, especially those more related to the natural and rural elements, the onset of urbanity can potentially lead to alienation and consequently a decrease in pilgrimages and participation in worship at the site. …

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The Portrayal Of Science In Children's Television, Tristi Bercegeay Charpentier Jan 2007

The Portrayal Of Science In Children's Television, Tristi Bercegeay Charpentier

LSU Master's Theses

Scholars argue that a scientifically literate public is a requirement for a democracy. Children are watching television more today than ever before, and studies have shown that children learn academically educational content from television. The Children's Television Act of 1990 requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational content for children. This study qualitatively evaluated a sample of 38 children's television programs to obtain a description of the scientific content contained in children's television. The study yielded a large quantity of scientific content, yet the quality of the content left much to be desired. Based on the findings of this study, …

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Detection Of Vibrio Vulnificus By Direct Colony Immunoblot, Reshani Nisansala Senevirathne Jan 2007

Detection Of Vibrio Vulnificus By Direct Colony Immunoblot, Reshani Nisansala Senevirathne

LSU Master's Theses

Vibrio vulnificus (Vv) is a natural occurring bacterium of world wide estuarine environments, which concentrate on filter feeding shellfish. Under cooked seafood contaminated with this pathogen is a leading cause of 95% of seafood-related, foodborne deaths. The development of a rapid, reliable and user-friendly method for Vv enumeration would help to reduce mortality rate. A direct colony immunoblot (DCI) method was developed and used as a rapid enumeration with high sensitivity and the specificity. This method was optimized using Vv agar plates incubated for 16 h at 35 °C. Colonies were transferred from incubated plates to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes …

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Fabrication Of Perforated Polymer Membranes Using Imprinting Technology, Anish Roychowdhury Jan 2007

Fabrication Of Perforated Polymer Membranes Using Imprinting Technology, Anish Roychowdhury

LSU Master's Theses

The goal of the present study was to fabricate perforated membrane structures in polymers with the pore diameter ranging from 10 ìm down to the sub ìm scale. The perforated membrane structure plays an important role in many biological systems. Thus the ability to reproduce such architecture will help with the study of biological systems by mimicking biological cell membrane-like structures and open new vistas in the study of transport behavior in cell biology and the separation of biological vesicles. Such structures also have potential uses as components in polymer optics and modular micro/nanofluidic devices. Use of polymer substrates is …

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Dr. Frankenstein Was A Designer: Methods For Educating Gen H--The Hybrid Design Student, Patricia Ferguson Vining Jan 2007

Dr. Frankenstein Was A Designer: Methods For Educating Gen H--The Hybrid Design Student, Patricia Ferguson Vining

LSU Master's Theses

Business Week recently launched an innovation and design quarterly entitled In, as well as a Website section specifically dedicated to design and innovation. Fast Company, with its Third Annual Masters of Design issue, and Fortune have also added significant design content to their publications. The business world appears to have discovered design as a vital strategic tool and economic force. Globalization and the Internet knowledge explosion have changed our world in unprecedented ways. Design thinking, which was previously relegated to dealing with issues such as form and function, has become the twenty-first century methodology for the development of new business …

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Performance Analysis Of Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, Tribuvan Kumar Prakash Jan 2007

Performance Analysis Of Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, Tribuvan Kumar Prakash

LSU Master's Theses

With the emergence of thread level parallelism as a more efficient method of improving processor performance, Chip Multiprocessor (CMP) technology is being more widely used in developing processor architectures. Also, the widening gap between CPU and memory speed has evoked the interest of researchers to understand performance of memory hierarchical architectures. As part of this research, performance characteristic studies were carried out on the Intel Core 2 Duo, a dual core power efficient processor, using a variety of new generation benchmarks. This study provides a detailed analysis of the memory hierarchy performance and the performance scalability between single and dual …

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Strange Yarns, Matthew Thomas Bourgeois Jan 2007

Strange Yarns, Matthew Thomas Bourgeois

LSU Master's Theses

I leave a good portion of my art up to chance or my unconscious self, this shows me how closely my prints and drawings relate to the dream world. In dreams most of the physical laws are abandoned, reason and mind are not the dictators of the dream. Dreams have their own logic and are a perfect place to explore a narrative that leaves itself open for the viewer to put any number of meanings into.

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The Effects Of Psychological Factors On Media Usage: An Examination Of Immigrants' Media Use Patterns, Motives And Acculturation In The United States, Suping Zhang Jan 2007

The Effects Of Psychological Factors On Media Usage: An Examination Of Immigrants' Media Use Patterns, Motives And Acculturation In The United States, Suping Zhang

LSU Master's Theses

Earlier studies have provided evidence for the importance of mass media in the acculturation process of immigrants. The current study intends to further investigate acculturation by exploring the influential factors in immigrants’ mass communication activities. A survey has been conducted among 208 participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the Baton Rouge area. Having examined the mass media and Internet consumption of the respondents, this study finds that psychological factors, not demographic backgrounds, are the primary influential variables in predicting immigrants’ media use patterns. According to this study, respondents’ stronger adaptive personality and acculturation motivation would lead to more consumption of …

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Cold Adaption Behaviors Of Vibrio Vulnificus And Vibio Parahaemolyticus In Oysters, Chiung-Ta Wu Jan 2007

Cold Adaption Behaviors Of Vibrio Vulnificus And Vibio Parahaemolyticus In Oysters, Chiung-Ta Wu

LSU Master's Theses

Vibrio vulnificus is an estuarine bacterium that can cause primary septicemia as well as other serious wound infections. Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a gram-negative, halophilic bacterium that may cause gastroenteritis, diarrhea, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and is the leading cause of gastroenteritis in United States. Consumption of raw oysters is believed to closely relate with infection with Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. All strains of V. parahaemolyticus produce tlh genes and the major virulence factors of V.parahaemolyticus are the tdh and trh genes. This study was conducted to determine if Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus clinical and environmental strains display …

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Discerning Lines Of Demarcation, Jennifer Dawn Poueymirou Jan 2007

Discerning Lines Of Demarcation, Jennifer Dawn Poueymirou

LSU Master's Theses

Discerning Lines of Demarcation is an investigation into the accumulated landscape of distressing times. Situations of mass destruction, loss of family, substance abuse, domestic violence, loss of friendship, and uncertain health have all been encountered within a steady progression in the last five to six years of my life. The digestion of these situations has been slow as the events overlap and intertwine each other. I have tweezed and distilled these circumstances. This is described through different types of terrains that create physical boundaries to represent psychological fears or events. Tied to Your Hate; How Much More Will Fall, Untitled, …

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Influence Of Temperature On The Performance Of Wetlands Treating Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds, Maria G. Murillo Jan 2007

Influence Of Temperature On The Performance Of Wetlands Treating Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds, Maria G. Murillo

LSU Master's Theses

Various studies have presented models to predict the performance of constructed wetlands at different temperatures focused on the removal of conventional pollutants, and common configuration of constructed wetlands. Investigations on the effect of temperature on the performance of constructed wetlands treating chlorinated volatile organic compounds are limited to microcosm studies. This study is meant to come up with kinetic and energy balance input data for mathematical models that can be used to predict the performance of upflow constructed treatment wetlands treating chlorinated ethenes and ethanes at different ambient temperatures. Bench scale continuous upflow columns will be conducted to investigate the …

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Evaluation Of Allochthonous And Autochthonous Microbial Populations In The In-Situ Remediation Of Weathered Oil In A Coastal Freshwater Habitat, Kyle Alan Schmidt Jan 2007

Evaluation Of Allochthonous And Autochthonous Microbial Populations In The In-Situ Remediation Of Weathered Oil In A Coastal Freshwater Habitat, Kyle Alan Schmidt

LSU Master's Theses

Use of bioremedial technologies has gained popularity in recent decades for application at oil spill sites. While much research has been done on specific case studies along marine shores, such as with the spill of the Exxon Valdez, there still remain questions as to the advantage of active biological treatment vs. natural attenuation in freshwater environments. To examine this question, a comparative study of allochthonous and autochthonous microbial communities ability to degrade weathered oil residuals was implemented at the CITGO Petroleum Refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana following a spill of approximately 40,000 barrels of slop oil on June 19th, 2006 …

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Experimental Investigation Of Heat Transfer Rate In Micro-Channels, Pritish Ranjan Parida Jan 2007

Experimental Investigation Of Heat Transfer Rate In Micro-Channels, Pritish Ranjan Parida

LSU Master's Theses

Metal-based MHEs are of current interest due to the combination of high heat transfer performance and improved mechanical integrity. Efficient methods for fabrication and assembly of functional metal-based MHEs are essential to ensure the economic viability of such devices. The present study focuses on the results of heat transfer testing of assembled Cu- and Al- based microchannel heat exchanger (MHE) prototypes. Efficient fabrication of Cu- and Al- based high-aspect-ratio microscale structures (HARMS) have been achieved through molding replication using surface engineered, metallic mold inserts. Replicated metallic HARMS were assembled through eutectic bonding to form entirely Cu- and Al- based MHE …

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Depletion Of 32-Kbp Circular Plasmids From Borrelia Burgdorferi, Amanda Paige Derouen Polito Jan 2007

Depletion Of 32-Kbp Circular Plasmids From Borrelia Burgdorferi, Amanda Paige Derouen Polito

LSU Master's Theses

The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi has a very unusual genome composed of one linear chromosome and up to 21 linear and circular plasmids. Several plasmids are known to be important either for mammalian infection or tick colonization. A single spirochete harbors up to 7 different cp32 plasmids; however, nothing is known about their role in mammalian infection. The plasmids in this family are well maintained during in vitro cultivation, making it difficult to study their functions. To effectively deplete the plasmids, an 8kbp fragment containing essential elements for replication and partitioning in B. burgdorferi was amplified from one of …

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Outside Inside Out: Perspectives On Social Anxiety, Kevin Andrew Hagan Jan 2007

Outside Inside Out: Perspectives On Social Anxiety, Kevin Andrew Hagan

LSU Master's Theses

“Outside Inside Out” is a study of how the visual perspective of an installation design can be used to create interaction, animation, and multiple messages. Traditionally, graphic designers have tended to present their messages either as flat printed materials, such as newspapers and billboards, or as videos/animations on television and the Internet. While both of these mediums provide an adequate means to convey a message, they fall short in presenting information to the audience in a non-obtrusive, interactive form. By using a technique I developed called “Passive Interactivity,” designers can use a viewer’s visual perspective to create interaction, animation, and …

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