Digital Commons Network^™

Characteristics Of Yogurt And Culture Bacteria As Affected By Ingredients That Help Treat Leaky Gut, Ricardo Jose Santos Aleman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

At least 100 million people have leaky gut syndrome. This syndrome is associated with multiple health problems such as diabetes, celiac disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease, costing more than $3 billion per year to treat. L-Glutamine, quercetin, slippery elm bark, marshmallow root, N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (NAG), licorice root, maitake mushrooms, and zinc orotate have been reported to help treat leaky gut.

The objectives were to explore the characteristics of yogurt and culture bacteria as affected by ingredients that help treat leaky gut. In yogurt, the pH, titratable acidity, syneresis, viscosity, color, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, yeast and mold and …

Rethinking Attention Control: An Individual Differences Approach, Vincent A. Medina

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While there is extensive literature on visual spatial attention, less is known about auditory spatial attention, especially in terms of attention control. There is also a growing literature highlighting the importance of considering individual differences in attention control ability. Given these points, the purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to understand how auditory attention control is influenced by spatial location as well as vision. The second was to examine whether individual differences in attention control ability can predict task performance in that context. We utilized two tasks for these purposes. Experiment 1a consisted of a cross-modal Stroop …

Femme Fatale In Lieder: Songs Of Lorelei By Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, And Alexander Zemlinsky, Eun Chong Kang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The femme fatale, a seductive and dangerous woman, is a popular archetype found in literature, art, and music. In German literature, the character of Lorelei is a well-known example of the femme fatale. She is associated with a steep rock cliff on the Rhine River and, from the cliff, convicted of bewitching men resulting in their murder. This written document focuses on Lorelei as the femme fatale character in German literature as seen in three musical settings by composers Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Alexander Zemlinsky. The document also includes limited musical analyses of and singer’s commentary on …

Crisis Leadership In Higher Education: A Case Study Of Administrative Responses During A National Pandemic, Katelyn M. Gerlach

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore institutional crisis leadership during a global pandemic in the athletic departments of five mid-major universities located in the Midwest United States, including Blue University, Red University, Green University, Orange University, and Purple University. This study examined the leadership response and decisions surrounding the COVID 19 pandemic. Research leaders consisted of members of the university’s executive leadership team and the athletic departments senior staffs.

I have gathered data in one-on-one, in person and virtual interviews with each member of the executive teams and gained insight and understanding of their leadership …

Reasoning The Voice: Toward A Diagnostic And Prescriptive Technique In The Teaching Of Singing, Carlos E. Santelli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Voice pedagogy literature often draws a parallel between a doctor’s ability to diagnose illness and prescribe treatment, and a voice teacher’s ability to identify vocal obstacles and design solutions. The core of these parallel procedures lies in an ability to utilize critical reasoning skills within highly specific contexts. Medical literature describes this as “clinical reasoning” and has studied it as a learned process. Voice pedagogy literature has traditionally described this as an innate process which is solely developed through experience. This document broadly examines the ways in which medical literature has broken down clinical reasoning into specific cognitive processes and …

Further Refinement Of An Asd-Subscale For The Childhood Behavior Checklist, Kimberly Ellison

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is tied to receiving the earliest possible intervention services that can influence a child’s development (Filipek et al., 1999). There are different measurement tools utilized to aid in the diagnostic assessment process, including broadband behavioral rating scales. The Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) is a parent/caregiver completed questionnaire about one’s child (typically or atypically developing). The CBCL is one of the most utilized broadband measures at the initial stages of a diagnostic assessment or screening to aid in understanding the symptom presentation (Hyman et al., 2020). Currently, there …

Opinion: How Fear Of Nuclear Winter Has Helped Save The World, So Far, Alan Robock, Lili Xia, Cheryl S. Harrison, Joshua Coupe, Owen B. Toon, Charles G. Bardeen

Faculty Publications

The direct effects of nuclear war would be horrific, with blasts, fires, and radiation killing and injuring many people. But in 1983, United States and Soviet Union scientists showed that a nuclear war could also produce a nuclear winter, with catastrophic consequences for global food supplies for people far removed from the conflict. Smoke from fires ignited by nuclear weapons exploded on cities and industrial targets would block out sunlight, causing dark, cold, and dry surface conditions, producing a nuclear winter, with surface temperatures below freezing even in summer for years. Nuclear winter theory helped to end the nuclear arms …

Pathways To Blunted Facial Affect In Negative Schizotypy: Social Motivation And Online Cognitive Resources, Tovah M.D. Cowan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Schizotypy, a range of personality traits which confer liability for schizophrenia, is associated with significantly diminished social functioning and quality of life. Social dysfunction in all forms of schizotypy, including schizophrenia, is connected to blunted affect, or diminished expressivity, particularly facial expressions which are less frequent, intense, or long than typical. However, the mechanisms and treatments for blunted affect are, as yet, poorly understood and underdeveloped. In this project, two putative mechanisms of blunted affect were explored. The first involves cognitive load capacities, which are diminished in schizotypy, causing blunted affect – individuals do not have the cognitive resources to …

A Comparison Of Self-Report Measures To Screen For Mental Health Concerns In Youth, Jacob Landon Deboer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Proactive screening for treatable conditions is not a new concept. Instead, screening has been present in the United States since at least the early 1900s. Accordingly, many schools actively screen for academic problems, yet the same attention is not paid to mental health. Past research estimates that one out of five children in the U.S. has a mental health disorder. However, recent research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic has found these numbers to be increasing. Additional estimates suggest that only one-third of children with a mental health disorder receive treatment. Schools have a role to play in addressing the identification …

Association Of Type 2 Diabetes Subgroups With Cognitive Status Without Modification From Lifestyle Intervention, Michael P. Bancks, James Lovato, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Mace Coday, Karen C. Johnson, Medha Munshi, Candida Rebello, Lynne E. Wagenknecht, Mark A. Espeland

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Context: Type 2 diabetes is a risk factor for incident dementia but whether risk and treatment/prevention strategies differ by diabetes subgroup is unknown. Objective: We assessed (1) whether specific type 2 diabetes (T2D) subgroups are associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or probable dementia (PD), and (2) whether T2D subgroups modified the association of the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) multidomain intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) with MCI/PD. Methods: We included 3760 Look AHEAD participants with T2D and overweight or obesity randomly assigned to 10 years of ILI or diabetes support and education. We used k-means clustering techniques with …

A Delayed Intervention Start Randomized Controlled Trial Of High- And Low-Tech Communication Training Approaches For School-Age Autistic Children With Co-Occurring Intellectual Disability, Shawn P. Gilroy, Joseph P. Mccleery, Geraldine Leader

Faculty Publications

The researchers designed a delayed intervention start randomized controlled trial to compare improvements in functional communication following augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions. The study compared outcomes from function-based applied behavior analytic (ABA) and eclectic non-ABA forms of classroom-based communication strategies (waitlist control) as well as from high- and low-tech forms of AAC. High-tech AAC consisted of tablet-based communication, and low-tech AAC used an exchange of picture cards. The community-based sample consisted of 29 autistic children with a co-occurring intellectual disability. Participants were randomized to groups (AAC, waitlist control), and each group received approximately 3 months of communication intervention. Multilevel …

Demystifying Longitudinal Data Analyses Using Structural Equation Models In School Psychology, Garret J. Hall, Kelly N. Clark

Faculty Publications

Structural equation models (SEM) are a method of latent variable analysis that offer a high degree of flexibility in terms of modeling methods for applied research questions. Recent advancements associated with longitudinal SEM have unlocked innovative ways to decompose variance and to estimate mean trends over time (e.g., Allison et al., 2017; Berry & Willoughby, 2017; Hamaker et al., 2015; McArdle & Nesselroade, 2014). However, these longitudinal methods are not necessarily readily accessible to scholars seeking to advance theory and practice in school psychology. Importantly, not all longitudinal data are the same and not all longitudinal SEMs are the same; …

Associations Between Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Of Affective And Vegetative Domains And Brain Morphology In Aging People With Mild Cognitive Impairment And Alzheimer's Disease, Adriana Cannizzaro, Lucas Ronat, Lyna Mariam El Haffaf, Alexandru Hanganu, Michael Weiner, Paul Aisen, Paul Aisen, Paul Aisen, Ronald Petersen, Clifford R. Jack, William Jagust, William Jagust, John Q. Trojanowki, John Q. Trojanowki, Arthur W. Toga, Arthur W. Toga, Laurel Beckett, Laurel Beckett, Robert C. Green, Robert C. Green, Andrew J. Saykin, Andrew J. Saykin, John Morris, Enchi Liu, Tom Montine, Ronald Petersen, Ronald Petersen, Anthony Gamst, Anthony Gamst, Ronald G. Thomas, Michael Donohue, Michael Donohue, Sarah Walter, Devon Gessert

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Objective: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are common in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and even more in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The symptom-based cluster including nighttime disturbances, depression, appetite changes, anxiety, and apathy (affective and vegetative symptoms) was associated with an increased risk of dementia in MCI and has common neuroanatomical associations. Our objective was to investigate the differences in brain morphology associations with affective and vegetative symptoms between three groups: cognitively normal older adults (CN), MCI and AD. Material and Methods: Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative data of 223 CN, 367 MCI and 175 AD, including cortical volumes, surface areas and thicknesses and …

Exploring The Experiences Of Pregnant Women In The U.S. During The First Year Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Courtney E. Williams, Dana Berkowitz, Heather M. Rackin

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we integrate the stress process model with symbolic interactionism to frame our analysis of interviews with 35 women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. We detail three stressors, highlight their variation, and discuss how they coped with these stressors. Women reported having to navigate contradictory information about the public health crisis, but Black participants simultaneously endured added strain from a heightened awareness of racialized violence. To cope with an overabundance of precarious and contradictory messages, some women sought out information (i.e., information gatherers), others eschewed information (i.e., information avoiders), …

An Examination Of Frontline Employee–Customer Incidental Similarities In Service Failure And Recovery Contexts, Kristina K. Lindsey-Hall, Susana Jaramillo, Thomas L. Baker, Daniel G. Bachrach

Faculty Publications

Developing rapport during the “moment of truth” when frontline employees (FLEs) interact with customers has long been an important topic for researchers and managers. We suggest incidental similarities—seemingly trivial shared points of comparison between customers and FLEs—can play a vital role during this juncture in service failure and recovery contexts. Across two experimental studies, we investigate several relationships impacted by the presence or absence of an incidental similarity between FLEs and customers for their effect on satisfaction and repatronage intentions. Results suggest incidental similarities can reduce failure attributions toward service providers and improve these important customer-related outcomes (study 1). Results …

Voting In The Mall - Understanding Political Consumerism In The United States And Europe, Kwadwo Poku-Agyemang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the various traits that predispose individuals or groups to participate in political boycotts by refraining from purchasing goods and services from companies with the goal of promoting their political beliefs and goals. Specifically, this research considers the effects of political ideology, attitudes toward historically-marginalized groups, and identification with grievance groups shape self-reported participation in political consumerism in the United States and Europe. Using data from the 2016 and 2020 American National Election Survey and the eighth, nineth and tenth rounds of the European Social Survey, I find that although political consumerism has been seen as a liberal …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Adult Coping Inventory, Kristen Ashley Hollas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There are few psychometrically sound measures that assess coping in adults. For example, a widely used measure of coping, the COPE, has highly unstable sub-scales and was developed using a homogenous sample (Lyne & Roger, 2000). Because of these limitations, the Adult Coping Inventory (ACI) was developed. The ACI is a 57-item measure that contains five factors including Problem Solving, Mindfulness, Maladaptive Coping, Social Support and Avoidance. Initial reliability and validity analyses demonstrate good construct, concurrent and incremental validity. The current study involved conducting a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the factor structure of the ACI. The participant sample consisted …

Effects Of Research Dissemination Vehicle Use On Preservice Teacher Candidate Knowledge Acquisition, Allie Jenkins Boquet

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study provides information on how EBPs can be disseminated to education practitioners for the purpose of knowledge acquisition. With a well-established research-to-practice gap in the field of education, this study determined which research dissemination vehicle, practitioner journal article, informational video, or textbook chapter, allowed for the highest acquisition of knowledge for preservice teachers.

The purpose of this study was to determine how the use of three different research dissemination vehicles, 1) practitioner journal articles, 2) informational videos, and 3) textbook chapters, impacts acquisition of knowledge of the EBP, instructional feedback, when utilized by preservice teacher candidates as well as …

Ecological Validity Of Immersive Virtual Environment Experiments On Human Thermal State And Behavioral Intentions: Experimental Protocol Factors, Girish Rentala

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using immersive virtual environment (IVE) based experiments to investigate human thermal states and thermal adaptive behaviors during the building design phase could help identify potential comfort issues and enable designers to optimize building performance cost-effectively before the actual building construction. However, to effectively utilize IVEs to study thermal states/adaptive behaviors, it is crucial to ensure the ecological validity of IVE experiment protocols. This entails accurately representing in-situ (real) environments within IVEs and establishing comparability and generalizability of data collected under different thermal stimuli between IVE and in-situ environments. Existing thermal stimuli based IVE studies have not effectively evaluated the ecological …

Androgynous Figures On Etruscan Cista Handles From Praeneste, Melanie Naples

LSU Master's Theses

Muscular women and effeminate men adorn the lids of Etruscan Cistae found in Praeneste (modern Palestrina, 23 miles southeast of Rome, Italy). Cistae (Latin plural of cista) are storage containers used by the Etruscans for women’s beauty items. This thesis focuses on the androgynous, mostly nude, figures that serve as handles and are often displayed in pairs. These pairs frequently depict a man and a woman together and androgynous qualities are usually emphasized on the female figures. Discussions of the androgynous body in the ancient world have centered around Greece and Rome. Only recently (Sandhoff 2007, 2009, 2011), scholarship has …

Plato's Republics: A Dramatic Interpretation Of The Early Cities In Plato's "Republic", Simeon Burns

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation will demonstrate a new methodological approach to reading Plato’s Republic. I develop and apply a dramatic, dynamic hermeneutic to Book II and part of Book III in the text. This method holds that each speech is the product of a preceding agreement or disagreement between two speakers. Agreements lead to the argument’s advancement and disagreements result in a regression to a previous agreement from which to restart the exchange. The focus section is largely on the early exchange Socrates has with Adeimantus. I argue that Socrates is an unwilling participant in the famous discussion on the meaning …

The Influence Of Selected Personal And Academic Demographic Characteristics On Retention From Fourth To Fifth Semester Of Enrollment Among Traditional-Age Undergraduate Students At A Research Extensive University In The Southern Portion Of The United States, Tammy R. Millican

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While many Americans may be questioning the value of a college degree due to rising costs, on virtually every measure of economic well-being and career attainment—from personal earnings to job satisfaction to the share employed full time—young college graduates are outperforming their peers with less education. Yet college dropout rates indicate that up to 32.9% of undergraduates do not complete their degree program, which has a financial impact on both students and the universities and colleges where they enroll (Hanson, 2022).

Historically, students who leave college before completing a baccalaureate degree are no better qualified than those with a high …

An Evaluation Of Procedures To Increase Medical Device Compliance, Sarah Christian Holmes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Behavioral interventions have been implemented to increase compliance with medical devices across patient populations and target devices. Intervention to increase medical device compliance (MDC) can involve a variety of components, including different reinforcement, graduated exposure, extinction, and punishment with varying degrees of acceptability and feasibility. In the current study, we compared the effects of noncontingent (NCR) versus synchronous reinforcement schedules on the duration of MDC and latency to device removal with KN95 face masks with 2 patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Following an initial baseline phase demonstrating that both participants engaged in compliance for less than 5 min, we used …

Foreign State Images And Popular Foreign Policy Constraints, Cana Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

When making equivalent foreign policy decisions, why do national leaders sometimes face stronger constraints from the mass public? A growing number of studies recognize the effect of public opinion on foreign policy decision-making. While not having the authority to formulate foreign policy, the mass public can hold national leaders accountable in formal and informal ways. However, public opinion does not function as an automatic constraint on national leaders. Instead, public opinion provides more powerful constraints on foreign policy decision-making conditional on the context shaping popular beliefs and social behavior.

In this dissertation, I delve into the public perceptions of domestic …

Active Transportation, Context, And Community Participation: Engaged Citizens And Destination-Based Walking And Biking, Jessica Stroope

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Active transportation is associated with many benefits, including improved health outcomes, higher commuting satisfaction, lower pollution, reduced traffic, and social capital. One understudied area of research on active transportation and social capital is the relationship between active transportation and community participation. Although prior work has established a connection, little is known about the contexts in which this relationship may occur, or about how active transportation may affect the relationship between a context and community participation.

The purpose of Chapter 3 is to examine how active transportation may mediate the relationship between perceptions of place and community participation. Significant work has …

Measuring Food Literacy Among Limited-Resourced Adults, Emelia Clement

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Food literacy is the interrelated knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to plan and manage, select, prepare, and eat healthy food. It is positively associated with improved consumption of nutritious diets, and can be beneficial to limited-resource adults, who are often at risk for chronic diet-related diseases. Valid instruments for measuring food literacy in this population are scarce but urgently needed. The Eating and Food Literacy Behavior Questionnaire (EFLBQ) can be used to measure food literacy among limited-resource audiences.

Part one of this study aimed to determine the fitness of the EFLBQ to measure food literacy in limited-resource adults. A convenience …

Don't Forget Me: A Discussion On Social Memory And Commemoration, Anfernee Murray

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between social memory and social identity development among groups who share contested interpretations of their shared social memory. With social memories being a collaborative process that requires consensus and compromise, there arises conflict when groups are divided in deciding on what event of their shared history is relevant to remember - for it is these memories that influence and shape how a group identifies itself.

For Black Americans, this contention arises in the conversations surrounding the difficult and traumatic histories of their enslaved ancestors by the ancestors of their white counterparts. This is further complicated …

Alcea, Autumn Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

This exhibition was created with the intent to investigate and celebrate gender fluidity in both nature and humanity by depicting one plant, the hollyhock, whose reproductive parts share a structure that changes from male to female as the plant matures. Alcea consists of prints, drawings, and installations that showcase the hollyhock in each stage of its transition.

The Psychological Impact Of Adolescent Violence Exposure: The Roles Of Coping And Social Support, Kelsey Gnade Coulthard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research demonstrates that children and adolescents experience a wide range of exposure to violence with rates ranging from 20% and 50% (Finkelhor & Dziuba-Leatherman, 1994; Finkelhor et al., 2005; Zimmerman & Posick, 2016). Violence exposure has been associated with several negative outcomes including biological, psychological, family-based, and academic problems. Further, studies have examined potential protective factors that may buffer against these consequences, with inconsistent results surrounding the roles of coping and social support. However, many of these studies use either an overly generalized definition of both violence exposure and/or social support or use very specific type of violence within a …

Eve Leaving The Garden, Norma L. Colby Ms.

LSU Master's Theses

This body of work serves as an investigation into the concepts and burdens that, as a female millennial, impact me regularly. As the door to my education closes, I turn to a much bigger world with endless possibilities and responsibilities. With these overwhelming prospects, I find myself reflecting on how our society has progressed and worsened to arrive here today. I continue to question the passing down of systemic burdens, politics, and gender roles of women in the 21^st century. Eve Leaving the Garden is a collection of textile works, photographs, and sculptures that serve as an exploration of …