Digital Commons Network^™

The Decline In Trust In The European Union, Nathan Donald Price

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

After twenty years, the European Union is undoubtedly at a crossroads, as its institutions try to manage the sovereign debt crisis in member states and the uncertainty surrounding the future direction of the project. The challenges the European Union has faced, and the response to them, have drawn considerable attention on the capacity of the European Union to manage the interests of the Europeans. In this dissertation, I discuss the process of Europeanization and why it has resulted in suboptimal outputs. Additionally, I discuss the perception of a democratic deficit in the European Union. The purpose of this is to …

Trans-Atlantic Circulation Of Black Tropes: Èsù And The West African Griot As Poetic References For Liberation In Cultures Of The African Diaspora, Jean-Baptiste Meunier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation, under the direction of Dr Pius Ngandu Nkashama explores the spread of African rhetorical tropes in the Atlantic world. Building on Henry Louis Gates theory of Signifying, I use the West African God of fate Èsù and the West African cultural figure of the griot as cultural referents for the persistence of African tropes in the New World and their subsequent dissemination throughout the Atlantic world. Analyzing those two West African referents and their connections to New World cultures such as Afro-Brazilian capoeira angola, hip hop and African-American poetry, I attempt to demonstrate the centrality of the trope …

Food Cravings And Food Cue Responding Across The Menstrual Cycle, Megan Apperson Mcvay

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Food cravings have been linked to obesity and eating disorders. Women report craving food more than men, and women experience greater rates of obesity and eating disorders. Retrospective and quasi-prospective studies have suggested that food cravings may be more common during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Unfortunately, these studies have been limited by the use of poorly defined menstrual cycle phases, disregard for individual differences in menstrual cycle length, and absence of validated measures of cravings. The current study examined the effects of menstrual cycle phase on 1) cravings in response to a high fat/high sugar chocolate candy …

Portraits Of Adolescence/Juvenile Delinquency: Something Written, Something Said, Something Constructed, Something Read, Marianne Fry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine the dominant narrative of adolescence/juvenile delinquency and to question what makes this discourse possible. I use a poststructuralist perspective that thoroughly questions, dismantles, reveals, and analyzes this discourse in order to uncover hidden or obscure motives that shape how we understand adolescent individuals. Keeping in mind that everything is a construction, I investigate how the discourse works rather than what it means, and in the process I search for whether or not power or some type of oppression is involved. While conducting the interrogation and analysis procedure of the dominant narrative, I …

An Investigation Into The Moderating Role Of Fear Appeals On The Relationship Between Regulatory Fit And Persuasion, Nam Young Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As one of the ways to persuade young people effectively, several scholars have indicated that using a tailored message that is consistent with individuals’ concerns and interests can influence their attitude and behavioral changes. Among diverse tactics to construct tailored health-messages, this research especially paid attention to individuals’ motivational goals (i.e., regulatory focus) that make them more inclined to a certain outcome. While promotion-oriented individuals primarily focus on how to achieve a desired ending, prevention-oriented individuals mainly focus on avoiding undesirable outcomes (Higgins, 1997; Higgins et al., 2001). Although numerous studies support the positive effects of the congruency between regulatory …

Intra-Individual Variability In Adult Adhd: An Exploration Of The Viability Of Distinct Purely Inattentive Condition, Daniel Proto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers have suggested that intraindividual variability (IIV), or variation in cognitive testing performance within an individual across a measure or group of measures, may be an endophenotypic marker of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, not all studies have consistently demonstrated significant differences in IIV between individuals with and without ADHD. One potential explanation for this ambiguity is experimental group heterogeneity owing to Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT). Individuals with SCT exhibit behavioral characteristics dissimilar from individuals with ADHD; rather than being impulsive, hyperactive, and aggressive, they tend to be shy, day-dreamy, and cognitively slow. Researchers have hypothesized that the presence of SCT …

Reflections On En-Teaching: Dewey, Heidegger And Lao Tzu, Jie Yu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reflecting on my past two unsettling journeys of teaching in China and America produces questions about the teaching of truth in chapter one. The question of truth as it relates to the teacher’s role in the classroom raises not only issues of what and how we should teach, but challenges the very purpose of teaching. When I explored Martin Heidegger’s phenomenological perspective on (un)truth for insights into taken-for-granted assumptions about education and the purposes of teaching and learning, I noticed a strong resonance between his notion of “clearing” and the essential spirit of Taoism, “the Tao of inaction.” This led …

Children's Representations Of Parenting Behaviors, Basic Negative Emotions, And Negative Self-Conscious Emotions In The Narrative Story Stem Technique, Loredana Apavaloaie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study examined middle childhood aged Romanian children’s representations of parenting behaviors, basic negative emotions, and negative self-conscious emotions in the Narrative Story Stem Technique (NSST; Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990). More specifically, the research objectives of the study were a) to identify the frequency of the representations that were reflected in children’s narratives, b) to identify the specific stories that elicited the greatest number of representations, c) to identify possible relationships among children’s representations, their age, and amount of time that parents spend with their children, d) to identify gender differences in representations, and e) to evaluate the …

The Truth About Lying: The Memorial Effects Of Deliberately Producing Misinformation, Kathleen M. Vieira

LSU Master's Theses

There are different ways of lying and these lies may have different impacts on memory. In this study, participants studied pictures of objects, and later lied and told the truth about these and other objects by describing them or by denying they had seen them. Forty-eight hours later, participants were tested on their source memory. Results revealed that participants had good memory for having falsely described a never-seen object, but poor memory for having falsely denied seeing a studied object. These results suggest that telling certain types of lies may make a person more likely to forget having lied at …

Simmering In The Tombs: The Role Of The Zombie In Patrick Chamoiseau's Chronique Des Sept Misères And Simone Schwarz-Bart's Ti Jean L'Horizon, Andrew Walton Hill

LSU Master's Theses

The figure of the zombie is a recurring trope for writers in the French Antilles. Two of the most influential and popular authors in modern French-Antillean literature are Patrick Chamoiseau from Martinique and Simone Schwarz-Bart from Guadeloupe. Both of these authors use the figure of the zombie as representations of colonization and the lingering trauma of slavery in Antillean society. In this thesis, I examine two of the most well-known works by these authors, Chamoiseau’s Chronique des Sept Misères (1986) and Schwarz-Bart’s Ti Jean L’horizon (1979), and how these texts use the nature of the zombie in an effort to …

Longitudinal Assessment Of Cognitive And Psychosocial Functioning After Hurricanes Katrina And Rita: Exploring Disaster Impact On Middle-Aged, Older, And Oldest-Old Adults, Katie E. Cherry, Jennifer Silva Brown, Loren D. Marks, Sandro Galea, Julia Volaufova, Christina Lefante, L. Joseph Su, David A. Welsh, S. Michal Jazwinski, Meghan B. Allen, Gloria Anderson, Iina E. Antikainen, Arturo M. Arce, Jennifer Arceneaux, Mark A. Batzer, Emily O. Boudreaux, Lauri Byerley, Catherine M. Champagne, Liliana Cosenza, M. Elaine Cress, Jenny Y. Denver, Andy Deutsch, Devon A. Dobrosielski, Rebecca Ellis, Marla J. Erwin, Mark Erwin, Jennifer Fabre, Elizabeth T. Fontham, Madlyn Frisard, Paula Geiselman, Lindsey Goodwin, Tiffany Hall, Scott W. Herke, Jennifer Hayden

Faculty Publications

The authors examined the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on cognitive and psychosocial functioning in a lifespan sample of adults 6-14 months after the storms. Participants were recruited from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study. Most were assessed during the immediate impact period and retested for this study. Analyses of pre- and post-disaster cognitive data confirmed that storm-related decrements in working memory for middle-aged and older adults observed in the immediate impact period had returned to pre-hurricane levels in the post-disaster recovery period. Middle-aged adults reported more storm-related stressors and greater levels of stress than the two older groups at …

Loop Quantum Cosmology: A Status Report, Abhay Ashtekar, Parampreet Singh

Faculty Publications

Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is the result of applying principles of loop quantum gravity (LQG) to cosmological settings. The distinguishing feature of LQC is the prominent role played by the quantum geometry effects of LQG. In particular, quantum geometry creates a brand new repulsive force which is totally negligible at low spacetime curvature but rises very rapidly in the Planck regime, overwhelming the classical gravitational attraction. In cosmological models, while Einstein's equations hold to an excellent degree of approximation at low curvature, they undergo major modifications in the Planck regime: for matter satisfying the usual energy conditions, any time a …

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Loci Influencing Concentrations Of Liver Enzymes In Plasma, J. C. Chambers, W. Zhang, J. Sehmi, X. Li, M. N. Wass, P. Van Der Harst, H. Holm, S. Sanna, M. Kavousi, S. E. Baumeister, L. J. Coin, G. Deng, C. Gieger, N. L. Heard-Costa, J. J. Hottenga, B. Kühnel, V. Kumar, V. Lagou, L. Liang, J. Luan, P. M. Vidal, I. Mateo Leach, P. F. O'Reilly, J. F. Peden, N. Rahmioglu, P. Soininen, E. K. Speliotes, X. Yuan, G. Thorleifsson, B. Z. Alizadeh, L. D. Atwood, I. B. Borecki, M. J. Brown

Faculty Publications

Concentrations of liver enzymes in plasma are widely used as indicators of liver disease. We carried out a genome-wide association study in 61,089 individuals, identifying 42 loci associated with concentrations of liver enzymes in plasma, of which 32 are new associations (P = 10-8 to P = 10-190). We used functional genomic approaches including metabonomic profiling and gene expression analyses to identify probable candidate genes at these regions. We identified 69 candidate genes, including genes involved in biliary transport (ATP8B1 and ABCB11), glucose, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism (FADS1, FADS2, GCKR, JMJD1C, HNF1A, MLXIPL, PNPLA3, PPP1R3B, SLC2A2 and TRIB1), glycoprotein biosynthesis …

At First Glance, Laura Baker

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Lsu Research Fall 2011, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

Research Magazine

LSU Research is published annually by the Office of Research & Economic Development, Louisiana State University.

F11rs Sgr No. 7 (Online Scheduling), Sullivan

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

A RESOLUTION

To urge and request that the academic colleges of Louisiana State University implement an online scheduling system for students to make appointments with their academic advisors

Children's Relative Clause Markers In Two Non-Mainstream Dialects Of English, Janna B. Oetting, Brandi L. Newkirk

Faculty Publications

We examined children's productions of mainstream and non-mainstream relative clause markers (e.g. that, who, which, what, where, Ø) in African American English (AAE) and Southern White English (SWE) as a function of three linguistic variables (syntactic role of the marker, humanness of the antecedent and adjacency of the noun phrase head). The data were language samples from 99 typically developing 46-year-olds: 61 spoke AAE and 38 spoke SWE. The majority of the children's relative clauses included mainstream markers. Non-mainstream markers were rare, with 36% involving Ø subjects and 2% involving what. The children produced who exclusively as subjects and with …

Networks In The Legislative Arena: How Group Dynamics Affect Cosponsorship, Kathleen A. Bratton, Stella M. Rouse

Faculty Publications

In this study, we explore the determinants of cosponsorship activity within state legislatures. Utilizing a social dynamic framework, we develop and test a model of the interplay of the activities of sponsorship and cosponsorship that includes both individual-level and social network characteristics as determinants of agenda-setting behavior; the latter demonstrating how collaboration and mutual interests shape the agenda-setting process. We find several consistent factors that influence the frequency of cosponsorship activity: (1) ideological distance, (2) proximity of legislators' districts, (3) homophily (similar characteristics such as race, gender, and ethnicity), and (4) transitivity (the idea that friends of my friends are …

Puritan Self-Examination Solitude And Relationship In The Devotional Literature Of The New England Puritans, Christine Pyle

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Coming Of Age In Louisiana, Black And White Southern Womanhood, Christina Jones

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Creative Expression Through Dance: The Effect Of Direct Instruction Versus Inquiry Learning Teaching Methods, Christy Hedlund

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Elevated Corticosterone In Feathers Correlates With Corticosterone-Induced Decreased Feather Quality: A Validation Study, Christine R. Lattin, J. Michael Reed, David W. Desrochers, L. Michael Romero

Faculty Publications

The newly described technique of extracting corticosterone (CORT) from bird feathers may serve as a less invasive, more integrated measure of a bird's stress response. Previous work indicated that elevated plasma CORT resulted in poorer quality feathers during molt. We tested the hypothesis that a direct link exists between plasma and feather CORT concentrations. We experimentally increased plasma CORT concentrations using implants and found that the corresponding rise in CORT could be detected in feathers grown during implantation. Furthermore, CORT levels in two feathers grown at the same time from the same bird were very consistent. These results provide evidence …

Athletic Women Make Secret Progress, Querida Christian

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Context Dependency In Recognition Memory And Source Memory, Aljeandra Vargas

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

News That Isn’T “Fit To Print”, Emily H. Holden

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Minority Status And Language Fluency On Vietnamese Asian Americans In The Predominately English-Speaking American Workplace, Lily L. Truong

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Newsletter, April 2011, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from President: In my last “welcome” column, I addressed the question of Louisiana universities after the economic crisis, suggesting a variety of adjustments that would increase morale and promote economic justice in institutions that reward fashion and momentary stellar performances more often than they recognize adventurous dissent or long-term projects. Although not inexhaustible, the topic of higher education after our present calamities merits a bit more consideration, especially with regard to structural changes that might advance our institution even in the midst of economic distress. Having commenced its career as the cultural equivalent of a fortification, LSU has always …

Capital One “Getting Down To Business”: A Program Analysis Of Old South Baton Rouge Neighborhood Businesses In The Context Of Economic Revitalization And Small Business Development, Laura Carleton

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Emotional Regulation And Memory: The Effects Of Reappraisal On Source Decisions, Chad Gremillion

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Attitudes Toward Education: Parental Involvement And Family Structure, Claire Hanchey

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.