Digital Commons Network^™

Intermittent Fasting And Metabolic Health: From Religious Fast To Time-Restricted Feeding, Kristin K. Hoddy, Kara L. Marlatt, Hatice Çetinkaya, Eric Ravussin

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Over the past 10 to 15 years, intermittent fasting has emerged as an unconventional approach to reduce body weight and improve metabolic health beyond simple calorie restriction. In this review, we summarize findings related to Ramadan and Sunnah fasting. We then discuss the role of caloric restriction not only as an intervention for weight control, but importantly, as a strategy for healthy aging and longevity. Finally, we review the four most common intermittent fasting (IF) strategies used to date for weight management and to improve cardiometabolic health. Weight loss is common after IF but does not appear to be different …

Genetic Susceptibility, Lifestyle Intervention And Glycemic Changes Among Women With Prior Gestational Diabetes, Zhaoxia Liang, Leishen Wang, Huikun Liu, Yuhang Chen, Tao Zhou, Yoriko Heianza, Junhong Leng, Weiqin Li, Xilin Yang, Yun Shen, Ru Gao, Gang Hu, Lu Qi

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

Aims: Women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) or high genetic susceptibility are prone to development of type 2 diabetes. We examined whether a lifestyle intervention modified the genetic effect on changes in glycemic markers among women with prior GDM. Research design and methods: This study included 560 women with prior GDM from a randomized controlled trial, the Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Program, who were assigned into an intervention arm (improved physical activity and healthy dietary intakes) or a control arm. We assessed associations of GDM related genetic variants in/near the CDKAL1 (rs7754840) and MTNR1B (rs10830962) genes with changes …

Rationale And Study Design For Lifestyle Intervention In Preparation For Pregnancy (Lipp): A Randomized Controlled Trial, M. L. Erickson, J. T. Mey, C. L. Axelrod, D. Paul, L. Gordesky, K. Russell, H. Barkoukis, P. O'Tierney-Ginn, R. A. Fielding, J. P. Kirwan, P. M. Catalano

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Maternal obesity increases neonatal risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome later in life. Prior attempts to break this intergenerational obesity cycle by limiting excessive gestational weight gain have failed to reduce neonatal adiposity. Alternatively, pre-conception lifestyle interventions may improve the in utero metabolic milieu during early pregnancy leading to improved fetal outcomes. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) is evaluating whether a lifestyle intervention to reduce weight and improve maternal metabolism in preparation for pregnancy (LIPP) attenuates neonatal adiposity, compared to standard medical advice. Material and methods: Overweight/class 1 obese women after a previous pregnancy, ~12 weeks postpartum, preparing for …

Social Capitalization As A Positive Emotion Regulation Strategy In Individuals At-Risk For Developing A Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorder, Elana Klein Schwartz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Extant literature indicates that emotional deficits, such as impaired emotion expression/experience, are prominent in schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology and linked with poorer functional (e.g. social) outcomes. Interestingly, individuals exhibiting schizotypy, an underlying personality organization that confers a vulnerability to developing schizophrenia, report more abnormalities in emotion experience compared to healthy controls and individuals with schizophrenia, a phenomenon termed the “schizophrenia-spectrum emotion paradox.” To aid in the clarification of emotional abnormalities and explore the dynamic nature of emotion experience in individuals with schizotypy, the present study enrolled 93 college-aged individuals to examine positive emotion regulation through the use of social capitalization. In social …

Components Of Psychological Flexibility And Inflexibility That Predict Risk-Taking Behaviors, Shelley Renee Upton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Psychological flexibility is conceptualized as contact with the present moment and the ability to persist or change one’s behavior to achieve valued ends. The opposite of this process is known as psychological inflexibility, which is posited to lead to the development and maintenance of various psychological disorders. There are 6 components underlying psychological inflexibility—these are cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, fixating on the past or future, self-conceptualization, lacking contact with values, and inaction toward valued ends, as well as 6 components underlying psychological flexibility (i.e., defusion, acceptance, present moment awareness, self-as-context, contact with values, and committed action). Psychological inflexibility may be …

Investigating Leadership Styles Of Childcare Directors, Michelle P. Grantham-Caston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to contribute to the literature on childcare director’s leadership styles and director’s self-perception. For leaders in childcare to be effective they must possess skills, characteristics, and traits of effective leadership which have been identified in the seminal literature of Bass (1995) and Burns (1979). This quantitative study examined early childhood leaders self-identification with the leadership styles in The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Bass & Avolio, 1995) as well as other demographic variables which could contribute to early childhood leaders’ self-perception of leadership styles. This study was to break apart the three overarching leadership styles …

The Role Of An Educational Intervention In Addressing Parent Spectator Behaviors In Louisiana Youth Sports, Jerry F. Reynolds Ii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Contemporary youth sports environments present significant psychosocial challenges to the family system. Among the greatest challenges to address are spectator behaviors of parents, which in the public eye has deteriorated and is out of control. Spectator behaviors and their impact upon the sports environment and family system is the topic of investigation in this study. Within the state of Louisiana, the advent of Act 355 extends the consequences of parent behavior and presents challenges to families, referees, and sports organizations. To better understand how legislation impacts parent perceptions of their spectator behaviors, the author examined spectator behaviors parents are observing, …

Current Practices And Infrastructure For Open Data Based Research On Occupant-Centric Design And Operation Of Buildings, Mikkel B. Kjærgaard, Omid Ardakanian, Salvatore Carlucci, Bing Dong, Steven K. Firth, Nan Gao, Gesche Margarethe Huebner, Ardeshir Mahdavi, Mohammad Saiedur Rahaman, Flora D. Salim, Fisayo Caleb Sangogboye, Jens Hjort Schwee, Dawid Wolosiuk, Yimin Zhu

Faculty Publications

Many new tools for improving the design and operation of buildings try to realize the potential of big data. In particular, data is an important element for occupant-centric design and operation as occupants’ presence and actions are affected by a high degree of uncertainty and, hence, are hard to model in general. For such research, data handling is an important challenge, and following an open science paradigm based on open data can increase efficiency and transparency of scientific work. This article reviews current practices and infrastructure for open data-driven research on occupant-centric design and operation of buildings. In particular, it …

Cultural Heritage And User Interface Design, Narges Tavakoli

LSU Master's Theses

This study centers around localizing the user interface and experience design of digital products considering the culture of the audience and their visual heritage. Even though it seems the internet has made the distance between developing and advanced countries less than before, there are still fundamental differences between people’s beliefs and expectations. As a graphic designer who is based in The United States and is from Iran, I noticed the digital products (web, mobile applications) produced in Iran disregard the Iranian’s specific needs and emulate western patterns. So, I researched the dissimilarities between the two countries by using Greet Hofstede’s …

A Comprehensive Examination Of Clinical Cutoff Scores For The Inventory Of Callous-Unemotional Traits (Icu), Emily C. Kemp

LSU Master's Theses

Youth with elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits represent a clinically important subgroup of youth who display particularly severe conduct problems and antisocial behavior and thusly impose great costs to themselves, other individuals, and society. The recent addition of the specifier for CU traits, “with Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE),” to major classification systems has prompted the need for comprehensive and valid assessment tools that aid in the identification of these traits. One such tool is a multi-informant questionnaire, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU). However, a major limitation of this measure is a lack of well-validated cutoff scores. With this, the present …

A Case Study On Alternative Spring Break: Supporting Black Women At An Hbcu, Aeryel Williams

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a college-based travel program in which students spend their traditional spring break vacation traveling to a new domestic or international city to complete a service-learning project such as community restoration in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. As a result of participating in Alternative Spring Break, students gain invaluable experiences and transferable skills that can be applied to their academic and career goals. In this dissertation, the specific transferable skill explored is emotional intelligence.

The purpose of this dissertation is to illuminate the lived experiences of Black women who have participated in a college-based travel program …

A Component Analysis Of Implementation Planning: Examining Mechanisms That Underlie A Teacher Implementation Support Strategy, James Jaran Upright

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To maximize instructional time, teachers must be able to effectively manage student behavior. However, surveys consistently reveal that a significant portion of teachers feel underprepared to address challenging classroom behavior. One of the most effective ways to reduce problem behaviors in school is with systematic classroom management strategies, such as the good behavior game. However, teachers often struggle to effectively implement such procedures. Promising evidence has emerged for implementation planning as an effective support strategy to improve teachers’ intervention implementation. Implementation planning is a one-time consultation process for intervention procedure planning (action planning) and identification and resolution of implementation barriers …

In The Garden, Clare Samani

LSU Master's Theses

My work has focused largely on identity and self-expression, primarily through clothing, pattern, and color as a symbolic content. Having heavily investigated historical costume and clothing from various periods, my attention is drawn to the highly sculptural and ornamented garments of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the rococo, and the baroque. In these colorful and puffed garments, I am attracted to the similarities that I see in nature. How we adorn ourselves mimics various flowers, plants and animals in the pursuit of desire and procreation. Focusing on fabric manipulation, printmaking and sculpture, In the Garden coalesces into ambiguous sculptures that …

Meanwhile, Samantha Combs

LSU Master's Theses

Meanwhile is an installation that explores the psychological and physical impact emotions have on individuals and the experienced struggle of restraining and letting go of them. Through the influence of Abstract Expressionism and use of metaphorical materials like soap and self-help book paper, each artwork embodies the intensity of this emotional struggle. Meanwhile represents and exposes the grotesque beauty of peoples’ psychic experience.

Agenda Cueing In Aggregated Newsfeeds, Kirill Bryanov

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation brings together the findings from three experimental studies that seek to understand how exposure to information in an online news aggregating portal can influence users’ perceptions of the relative importance of problems facing society. Theoretically, this investigation relies on two foundational ideas. One is that in today’s high-choice, multi-source media environment communication flows are curated by a variety of gatekeeping actors, such as algorithms and fellow users. Individuals can have varying attitudes toward and perceptions of these gatekeepers, which can influence the effects of exposure to online information, including agenda-setting outcomes. Another is that users of digital news, …

Empathy, Fiction, And An Educational Ecosystem: A Narrative Case Study Of A High School Ela Classroom, Danielle Marie Klein

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores how empathy exists, as an experience, in an English Language Arts classroom. The research was conducted in an 11^th grade classroom during an instructional unit with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as the anchor text. The study relies upon Transactional Reader Response Theory (Rosenblatt, 1988) to justify the exploration of the aesthetic, evocative nature of a text. Narrative inquiry methodology was used to collect and assemble the instances of empathy as inspired by the play. Guided by Doll’s (1993) premise of the classroom as an ecological, open system with multiple contributing forces, data was collected through classroom …

A Conductor's Guide To Dale Trumbore's How To Go On, Stuart Dameron

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

How To Go On is a thirty-five minute work for a cappella choir composed by Dale Trumbore from 2015 to 2017. Since its premiere, How To Go On has been performed by notable choral ensembles including The Esoterics, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists, and Webster University’s Chamber Singers. The work was awarded the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2017.

This dissertation serves as an analysis and conductor’s guide for this work through the fulfillment of several purposes: a detailed and thorough investigation into the background and history behind the …

Spatial Production And Nomadic Subjectivities In A Buddhist Learning Space, Chau Bao Le

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Space and place are an integral part in the geographies of education, therefore, knowledge about culturally complex and ethnically diverse transnational communities could inform curricular innovations that meet the needs of individual students. This year-long ethnographic study challenged the prevailing realities that U.S. schools continue to devalue the experiences and cultural backgrounds of immigrant youth, which caused students from ethnic, cultural, racial, linguistic, and religious minority groups to feel structurally excluded and marginalized. Through examining the spatial production and nomadic subjectivities enacted over time in a transnational, diasporic space of a Buddhist temple in a U.S. southern state, the study …

Identifying Human Trafficking Networks In Louisiana By Using Authorship Attribution And Network Modeling, Hassan Marzoughi Ardakani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Human trafficking or modern slavery is a problem that has plagued every U.S. state, in both urban and rural areas. During the past decades, online advertisements for sex trafficking have rapidly increased in numbers. The advancement of the Internet and smart phones have made it easier for sex traffickers to contact and recruit their victims and advertise and sell them online. Also, they have made it more difficult for law enforcement to trace the victims and identify the traffickers. Sadly, more than fifty percent of the victims of sex trafficking are children, many of which are exploited through the Internet. …

Day Gone, Matthew D. Zorn

LSU Master's Theses

As an exploration of the natural world and the otherworldly, Day Gone seeks to define the relationships between disparate places. Through the use of ceramic and supporting materials, the objects serve as a portal to a terra incognita of color, texture, and language. The installation is a catalog of experiences and feelings I hold consciously or unconsciously.

A Case Study Of The Campus Climate For Diversity At A Hispanic-Serving Institution: Perspectives From Latinx Undergraduate Students, Ariana Vargas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how Latinx students perceive the campus climate in curricular and cocurricular settings at a four-year public Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in Texas. In addition, the study examined Latinx students’ understanding of the HSI designation and how their expectations of institutional diversity and inclusion are shaped by this awareness. Specifically, the study explored elements of the climate for diversity, as related to the Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (Hurtado et al., 2012), including classroom experiences, cocurricular experiences, and relationships with faculty, staff, and peers. The primary sources of data included interviews …

Emergent Formal Functions In Schubert's Piano Sonatas, Yiqing Ma

LSU Master's Theses

Drawing on the work of Janet Schmalfeldt and William Caplin, I explore the way in which emergent formal function determines our perception of form in four piano sonata movements by Schubert: D.840, D.845, D.850 and D.894. Janet Schmalfeldt adapts the notion of formal function to directly address the dialectic between “being” and “becoming,” approaching formal function from a phenomenological perspective. Building on her work, I define emergent formal function as a formal function that is conditioned by how the listener’s expectations change. It is an important analytical tool that helps us understand how and why Schubert’s sonata forms depart from …

Promoting Healthy Movement Behaviours Among Children During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Hongyan Guan, Anthony D. Okely, Nicolas Aguilar-Farias, Borja Del Pozo Cruz, Catherine E. Draper, Asmaa El Hamdouchi, Alex A. Florindo, Alejandra Jáuregui, Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Anna Kontsevaya, Marie Löf, Wonsoon Park, John J. Reilly, Deepika Sharma, Mark S. Tremblay, Sanne L.C. Veldman

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Automated White Matter Hyperintensity Segmentation Using Bayesian Model Selection: Assessment And Correlations With Cognitive Change, Cassidy M. Fiford, Carole H. Sudre, Hugh Pemberton, Phoebe Walsh, Emily Manning, Ian B. Malone, Jennifer Nicholas, Willem H. Bouvy, Owen T. Carmichael, Geert Jan Biessels, M. Jorge Cardoso, Josephine Barnes

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Accurate, automated white matter hyperintensity (WMH) segmentations are needed for large-scale studies to understand contributions of WMH to neurological diseases. We evaluated Bayesian Model Selection (BaMoS), a hierarchical fully-unsupervised model selection framework for WMH segmentation. We compared BaMoS segmentations to semi-automated segmentations, and assessed whether they predicted longitudinal cognitive change in control, early Mild Cognitive Impairment (EMCI), late Mild Cognitive Impairment (LMCI), subjective/significant memory concern (SMC) and Alzheimer’s (AD) participants. Data were downloaded from the Alzheimer’s disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Magnetic resonance images from 30 control and 30 AD participants were selected to incorporate multiple scanners, and were semi-automatically segmented …

Effects Of Education Savings Accounts On Student Engagement: Instrumental Variable Analysis, David Ansong, Moses Okumu, Youn Kyoung Kim, Mathieu Despard, Raymond Darfo-Oduro, Eusebius Small

Faculty Publications

As interest in youth financial inclusion continues to grow substantially, emerging research points to positive associations between students’savings and their educational outcomes. However, there is no definitive data on how assets alter student engagement, particularly in resource-limited settings. This study contributes knowledge by assessing the causal effects of education savings accounts on student engagement. We evaluate causal effects by using instrumental variable methods and data from a pilot study that assessed the viability of different education funding mechanisms for junior high-school students in Ghana. Results show that the offering of an education savings account to young people with an opt-out …

Effects Of And Preference For Fixed Ratio And Time-Based Exchange Production Schedules In A Token System, Sarah Christian Holmes

LSU Master's Theses

Token systems have been implemented to change behavior across species and settings. Token systems involve token-production, exchange-production, and token-exchange schedules. In the current study, we evaluated the effects of fixed-ratio and yoked time exchange-production schedules on 4 preschoolers’ rate of responding on a marble spooning task, mean pause duration between responses, and percentage of session spent engaging in the target task. Following an initial reversal demonstrating a primary reinforcement effect, we used a multielement design to compare exchange-production schedule conditions and a control condition in which participants earned tokens that were not exchangeable. Following the exchange-production schedule comparison, we examined …

Exploring Effects Of Background Music In A Serious Game On Attention By Means Of Eeg Signals In Children, Fettah Kiran

LSU Master's Theses

Music and Serious Games are separately useful alternative therapy methods for helping people with a cognitive disorder, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The goal of this thesis is to explore the effect of background music on children with and without ADHD. In this study, a simple Tetris game is designed with Beethoven, Mozart music, and no-music. There are different brainwave techniques for recording; among others, the electroencephalography (EEG) allows for the most efficient use of BCI. We recorded the EEG brain signals of the regular and ADHD subjects who played the Tetris we designed according to our protocol that …

An Investigation Of Athletic Buoyancy In Adult Recreational And Sport Club Athletes, Jackie Rae Victoriano Calhoun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Athletic buoyancy is the ability of an athlete to effectively handle the daily setbacks and challenges they face during training and competition. Although buoyancy has received ample research in the academic domain, a dearth of information exists regarding buoyancy in the athletic domain. Therefore, the overall purpose of this dissertation was to investigate athletic buoyancy’s independent contribution to sport psychology while also exploring antecedents and outcomes in adult athletes.

Study 1 compared athletic buoyancy to other cognate constructs, or similar constructs, to determine their conceptual boundaries. A one-time, online questionnaire was distributed to 294 recreational athletes (M age = …

Video-Based Interventions: Teaching Adults And Preschoolers, Philip Ross Richard Iii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Long gone are the days in which technology is looked upon as a trivial novelty. Whether evoking positive or negative reactions, advancements in technology continue to alter our daily environments. One such example is Video Based Interventions (VBI). VBI utilize video recording to facilitate the acquisition of various skills and behaviors (Rayner, Denholm, & Sigafoos, 2009). While it may sound like a simple intervention at first, many procedural variations of have been examined in research and practice. The two experiments comprising the current study examined the effectiveness of video models when used in conjunction with other instructional methods. Experiment I …

Exploring The Role Of Engagement Among Sport Volunteers At College Football Bowl Games, Marcella Otto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent scholars noted the need for an engaged workforce to achieve optimal performance in various institutional fields. Within the sports industry, organizations often rely heavily on volunteers as a vital resource to accomplish goals and missions (Cuskelly, 2004; Doherty, 2009). The sport volunteer literature demonstrates the broadness of the field but also shows the increased demand for volunteers to aid staging events, even as the recruitment pool of volunteers is generally decreasing. Relatedly, it is in the best interest of organizations to maintain and manage volunteers to stay efficient (Chelladurai, 2006) because the need for this human resource continues to …