Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Literary Dispositif: Convening Diasporan, Blues, And Cosmopolitan Lines Of Inquiry To Reveal The Cultural Dialogue Among Giuseppe Ungaretti, Langston Hughes, And Antonio D’Alfonso, Anna Ciamparella

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to create a literary dialogue among the Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, the African American author Langston Hughes, and the Quebecois writer Antonio D’Alfonso. Giuseppe Ungaretti and Langston Hughes were more or less contemporaries. Ungaretti was born in 1888 and Hughes in 1902, and both were active in modernist movements that shaped the literary history of their own countries. D’Alfonso was born in Canada about half a center after Ungaretti and Hughes. Besides significant generational differences, these three authors also underwent personal and intellectual experiences that shaped their writing in seemingly incomparable ways. While a traditional comparative approach …

A Pedagogical Approach To The Waltzes And Tangos For Piano By Francisca Gonzaga, Ana Paula Machado Simoes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Francisca (Chiquinha) Gonzaga (1847–1935) was an important composer in the development of Brazilian music. She was also a remarkable female personality and broke paradigms in a society dominated by men. In spite of that, her works are not widely performed and studied yet. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a pedagogical approach to her works. This research explores her waltzes and tangos for piano, analyzes their musical, reading and technical difficulties, and provides a graded level for half of them to stimulate their use as repertoire for piano students and performers.

Chiquinha composed 37 waltzes and 30 tangos …

The Status Of Safety Culture At Louisiana State University, Jerry Edward Steward

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work accesses the nature of and level of safety culture in the academic research community at Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (LSU). After serious chemical related accidents in academic research laboratories the National Academies of Science has made recommendations to improve safety within academic research by encouraging researchers to go beyond simple compliance with regulations and work toward fostering a strong, positive safety culture. The term, “safety culture” is used to describe workplace safety in various efforts to improve it. Researchers have studied these concepts from technical, social, and psychological viewpoints leading to the general consensus …

Examining Louisiana State University Undergraduate College Of Agriculture Students' Intention To Participate In Study Abroad, Timothy K. Sandles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine Louisiana State University (LSU) undergraduate College of Agriculture (COA) students’ intention to participate in study abroad. This study aimed to add to the body of research that utilizes Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior as a theoretical framework by exploring COA undergraduate students’ intention to participate in study abroad. This study sought to determine if relationships existed among students’ prior intercultural experiences, perceived motivating factors related to study abroad, perceived barriers to study abroad, outcome expectations, attitude toward study abroad, and students’ intention to participate. Additionally, the study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) …

The Fooding Of Narrative In Contemporary Women's Transnational Fiction, Stacey Marie Amo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Fooding of Narrative in Contemporary Women’s Transnational Fiction examines how foodstuffs are strategically deployed in recent fiction about migration to the United States. The novels examined, all set in the period following the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, depict the experience of resettlement from a diverse set of postcolonial sites: Haiti, Cuba, Vietnam, and India. The Fooding of Narrative argues that food is deployed as a structuring trope and acquires narrative significance in articulating the profound sense of identity crisis that frequently accompanies the immigration experience. By focusing on food’s narrative significance in a broad …

A Narrative Of A Teacher's Perspective Of Over-Age Students Who Are Out-Of-Grade In The Middle School Classroom, Melissa J. Porter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research sought to understand the impact on the middle school classroom environment of over-age students who are out-of-grade. A qualitative study utilizing a narrative lens examined the stories of the lived experiences of the teachers of these students; a social constructivism theoretical approach explored the teaching and best practices in their classrooms. These teachers provided an insight into the complexity of teaching and gave voice to managing a classroom where emotionally and physically mature students often pose a significant challenge to the classroom environment; moreover, their positive influence on the teaching space in which they inhabit also was explored …

Local Embeddedness Matters: A Study Of Hip-Hop Artists' Interaction With Their Local Community, Castel Vette Sweet

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation study is an exploration of hip hop and rap artists’ embeddedness in local communities, and their interpretation of the connectedness between their work and their communities. I explore the influence of place and space in the identity development of artists, and how artist use those identities to guide their interactions with their local community. I also investigate the significance of artists’ interactions and relationship in the cultivation of social and cultural capital. In contrast to previous scholarship emphasising the negative influence rap and hip-hop artists have on their communities, I utilize in-depth interviews with artists to examine the …

The White Bicycle: Performance, Installation Art, And Activism In Ghost Bike Memorials, Nicole Marie Costantini

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this project I examine the performative nature of the ghost bike memorial. Ghost bikes, flat-white painted immobile bicycles created by cycling communities and loved ones of victims, are installed roadside to mark the locations of cycling related deaths. Using critical performance ethnography and critical-cultural analysis as methods, I analyze how the ghost bike performs as an artifact of mourning and inspires co-incident performances of grief, activism, and community building and maintenance. As a memorial object used worldwide to represent cycling culture, the ghost bike acts as a social network link that connects a multitude of diverse cycling communities. I …

Disease, Bread, Efficiency: Rhetorics Of Victorian Education Reform, Vicki Jean Davis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Disease, Bread, Efficiency: Rhetorics of Victorian Education Reform arose from my observation that, historically speaking, Anglo-American schools have always been “in crisis.” I argue that the crisis of the “failing school” is a rhetorical problem rather than an economic problem as most scholarship suggests. Much like the cultural myth of “the One True Love,” education reform debates tend to position the school as an institution that can rescue the nation from all perceived social ills. Not only is this unrealistic, the patterns of language are inconsistent as ideas about the purpose of school are translated into policy. This causes further …

A Mixed Methods Analysis Of School- And Student-Level Effects: Mathematics Course Completion And Achievement Beyond Algebra 2 Among Mexican American Female High School Students, Lester Archer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the United States, as the Hispanic population continues to grow, persistently low mathematics achievement among Mexican Americans continues to exist, particularly among girls. Low mathematics achievement places this group in a disadvantaged position. As such, a multistage mixed method study was implemented to investigate possible factors associated with mathematics achievement and the probability of taking mathematics courses beyond Algebra 2 among Mexican American female high school students. The Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002) database provided the quantitative sample (n = 710) of respondents who self-identified as Mexican American, female, and had a math IRT score. A parallel sample (n = …

Mobile Homes: Class, Space And Race In Idealized Landscapes Of Home, Annemarie Michele Galeucia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the connections between public perceptions and regulation of mobile homes, and how this connection in turn represents and regulates the bodies residing within them. Applying various qualitative methods in participant and media research, I explored the material and social/symbolic aspects of mobile homes in and around East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, as well as media (primarily news) discussing mobile homes across the United States. I sought to explore these in relation to the normative and ideal expressions and image of the American home and its relationship to idealized American landscapes. Dialectics of mobility/rootedness and physical and social …

(Re)Writing History In Maryse Condé, Femi Euba, And Reinaldo Arenas, Lázara Bolton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This comparative study asserts the centrality of spirituality to literature that explores life in the African Diaspora. Specifically, it emphasizes the importance of spirituality both to the authors and to the lives of their characters in the novels Victoire, les saveurs et les mots (2006) by the Guadeloupian author Maryse Condé, Camwood at Crossroads (2007) by Nigerian author Femi Euba, and El color del verano (1991) by Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas. A close reading of the three novels shows that they are representative of autohistoría literary works, which represent the spirituality of the writer, as well as the people written …

Necessary Medicine: Rethinking Health Communication At Burning Man, Raquel Irene Polanco

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study turns to the annual Burning Man Festival held in Black Rock City, Nevada as a site of cultural performance where participants negotiate health meanings. I adopt a culture-centered approach to health communication and utilize critical performance ethnography and narrative performativity as methodological and theoretical frameworks to investigate the specific communication practices that bring about health meanings at the festival. Analysis revealed the significance of everyday life practices performed through narrative for understanding how Burning Man participants understand, reinforce, and counter various health meanings with implications for the field of health communication and performance studies.

Glass Ceilings And Bottomless Floors: Black Women's Experiences In Education Reform Leadership, Alicia Danielle Nance

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent social commentary, articles, and research studies are increasingly discussing the ways in which urban education reform, which is overwhelmingly white and female, is failing communities of color in the United States by continuing to reify systems of oppression and inequity. As the faces of urban public school students in the United States become more African American and Latino, the faces of leadership in the U.S.’s urban schools should begin to reflect similar demographic changes. This study, to address the current gap in research literature, critically examines the narratives of Black women educational leaders who serve students in a mid-sized …

After Images: Using Augusto Boal's Image Theatre To Balance Artistry, Analysis, And Activism In The Performance Composition Process, Bonny Leah Mcdonald

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, I describe several performance experiments in which I applied Brazilian theatre artist Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre method to mobilize a composition process that is artistically exciting, politically relevant, and pedagogically engaging. Over the span of about seven years I used Image Theatre as the bedrock of my artistic practice as a director of social justice themed works for the stage. I show how using Image Theatre as a tool for performance composition can balance artistry (theatrical practice), analysis (cultural studies), and activism (collaborative struggles toward justice). To do so, I review relevant literature on Boal and Image …

The Instruction Of Eros: A Content Analysis Of Sex Education Texts, Nicholas Ensley Mitchell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study is a directed content analysis that employs a memetic framework done in order to determine what discourses are evident in, how diversity is represented in, and how intersectionality is represented in two sex education texts, and to compare the relevant frequencies. Theories from the dominant schools of thought concerning sex education and sexuality are enumerated, compared, and contrasted. A historiography of sex education in the United States is provided to establish context for the sampled texts. A explanation of the content analysis process in general and the methodology specifically used in this study is discussed followed by the …

Synthesis Of Functional Polypeptides And Development Of New Synthetic Strategies Toward Polypeptides, Jinbao Cao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this work is to develop a new synthetic strategy for synthesizing advanced functional polypeptides or polypeptides in general. Polypeptides are amino acids based polymers with appealing properties for different applications. One of the key challenges in polypeptide research is the synthesis of functional polypeptides under mild conditions. We developed a system based on ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of N-thiocarboxyanhydrosulfides (NTAs) to synthesize polypeptides with wide range of molecular weights under mild conditions. Owing to NTAs’ good stability, our system serves as an excellent alternative to the traditional ROP of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCA). In Chapter 1, the fundamental knowledge and …

Postsouthern Melancholia: Revising The Region In The Twenty-First Century, Matthew Dischinger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Postsouthern Melancholia offers a new way of conceptualizing the elusive concept of melancholia through contemporary fiction, particularly fiction of or about the American South. Critics have long discussed national literature through the lens of melancholia: an unceasing attachment to a lost object or ideal that a subject or culture internalizes. My project positions melancholia as a literary strategy—one that contemporary southern fiction frequently contests and critiques. I read fiction that has been called “postsouthern,” a term applied to texts that reassess the bedrock concepts of southern literature such as community, storytelling, and sense of place. While much scholarship has focused …

An Assessment Of Values Concerning Luxury Brand Purchase Intention: A Cross-Culture Comparison, Tagreed Saleh Abalkhail

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the last few decades, the global consumption of luxury brands has rapidly ýincreased. ýThere are many internal and external factors that motivate consumers to buy a ýluxury brand. ýAlthough there is some evidence of the impact of functional, social, and ýindividual values on ýluxury purchase intention, little has been done to compare cultures in ýterms of these values, ýespecially in the Middle East. Thus, the purpose of this research ýwas to compare Western and ýMiddle Eastern culture (individualism and collectivism) ýregarding the consumers’ intention to purchase a luxury brand in terms of ýthree main ývalues (functional, social and individual), …

A Technology-Enhanced German Language Course: Effects Of Technology Implementation And Cross-Cultural Exchange On Students’ Language Skills, Perceptions And Cultural Awareness, Michael B. Dettinger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study employed a within-group case study design using a mixed methods approach. In doing so, the researcher used a concurrent triangulation process during a one semester intermediate German language course. In addition to the textbook, the researcher implemented a Technology to Support German Language Enhancement (TSGLE) intervention. The TSGLE included use of the following Web 2.0 technologies: blogs, podcasts, online chat, and wiki, to create an environment of increased asynchronous and synchronous interaction. Additionally, students embarked on a cross-cultural, virtual exchange with university students from Germany by interacting through a blog, a collaborative video conference session, a German film …

My Choice, My Fraternity, And My Engagement: Experiences Of White Men In Black Greek Letter Organizations (Bglo), Kourtney Prentice Gray

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study grounded in the theoretical framework and research of Alexander Astin’s Student Engagement Theory, with support from Critical Race Theory and Terrell Strayhorn’s work on Sense of Student Belonging, utilizes a methodological case-study approach with multiple units of analysis. In an effort to understand the choice, ownership, and engagement of White men who hold membership in Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLO), this study utilized the counter-narrative tenant presented and supported by Critical Race Theory to examine the racial identity and engagement of fraternity men from a pluralistic experience. Additionally, the researcher hypothesized that there is a special experience …

Nucleolar Proteins Are Essential For Ribosome Biogenesis And Nuclear Homeostasis In Drosophila Melanogaster, Yubo Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Four nucleostemin-like proteins (NS1-4) were identified previously in Drosophila melanogaster. NS1 and NS2 are nucleolar proteins, while NS3 and NS4 are cytoplasmic. Here we show that NS2 is homologous to the human nucleostemin-like protein, Ngp1, and that endogenous NS2 and exogenous GFP-NS2 enriches within peripheral regions of nucleoli in larval polyploid midgut cells. Like NS1, depletion of NS2 in midgut cells blocked the release of the 60S ribosomal subunit as detected by the accumulation GFP-RpL11 within nucleoli, and this likely led to a general loss of 60S subunit proteins as shown by immunoblot analyses. At the ultrastructural level, nucleoli in …

Calibration And Categorization Of Plant Available Silicon In Louisiana Soils, Tapasya Babu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A survey was conducted to document the silicon (Si) content of soils from 27 (selected) agrarian parishes of Louisiana using different extraction procedures. For 0.01 M calcium chloride (CaCl©ü) extraction procedure, all surveyed soils (n=212) fell below 56 mg Si kg⁻©ö. For five of the procedures, about 50% of surveyed soils in Louisiana had Si level below the critical Si level that thus far established in other regions. Calcium silicate slag and wollastonite were compared through chemical extractions after laboratory incubation with six different soil types, and then an assessment of quantity of monosilicic acid (H©þSiO©þ) sorbed and the quantity …

Musicking New Orleans Street Musicians: A Methodology For Writing About Music, Savannah Cadi Rose Ganster

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project argues for the use of performative writing as a methodology for writing about musical performances. An analysis of recent scholarship on music and musical performances written by performance studies scholars supports the use of performative writing in texts that address musical performances. In order to further this methodological claim, this study uses performative writing to document both historical and present day accounts of musical performances of street musicians in New Orleans. Utilizing Foucault’s theories on and Roach’s model of genealogy, Bruner’s notion of reflexive ethnography, and Small’s concept of musicking, I theorize, on a meta-methodological level, that performative …

Thrillology: Affective Intensities And The Everyday-Spectacular In American Literature And Culture, Peter James Pappas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Thrillology: Affective Intensities and the Everyday-Spectacular in American Literature and Culture” presents thrill as a powerful thematic component centered on immediate affective gratification informing character development and narrative. This perspective rethinks theme as always having an affective dimension that accompanies its conceptual articulations, with the former, in many cases, being the more important element. Thrilled psycho-emotional states emerge, in their own right, as legitimizations of individuality and cultural autonomy from the perspective of the passional subject. Engaging with a broad spectrum of literary and cultural sources spanning the last hundred years, this project investigates various ways in which the self-fulfilling …

Liberalism And The Dilemma Of Cultures, Ali Rezaie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this project, through a closer examination of the controversies over Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003), Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003) and Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003), I seek to identify the elements of a defensible postcolonial vision. While postcolonialism is afflicted with many problematic assumptions, the exclusively liberal perspective which these authors seek to reaffirm in its place has its own plethora of defects. Ali, Hosseini and Nafisi merit a closer attention not only for their exposing some of the flawed views underlying postcolonialism but also for their demonstrating why an unqualified reversion to liberalism may …

The Anti-Inflammatory Effects Of Vitamin D And Exercise, Laura Ann Forney

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Elevated inflammation is associated with several chronic diseases, including obesity. Exercise is an established effective treatment of this condition by decreasing adiposity and independently regulating inflammatory pathways. The potential for vitamin D to confer anti-inflammatory benefits has been explored in cell culture studies, but few have explored its action at the whole body level. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers in trained and untrained individuals with vitamin D levels either above or below a suggested optimal concentration. METHODS: College-aged females (N = 63), both trained and untrained, reported to the lab four times: to assess body size and …

Palatable Foods For A Methionine Restricted Diet, Gabriela Melissa Crespo Gutierrez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Protein oxidation results in loss of tryptophan, oxidation of cysteine to cysteic acid, oxidation of methionine to methionine sulfoxide and ultimately to methionine sulfone. Methionine sulfoxide has been shown to be completely unavailable to mammalian cells and promote improved insulin sensitivity, lifespan extension, weight loss induction and reduce tumor growth in rat studies. Casein was oxidized with ozone or hydrogen peroxide to reduce the cysteine and methionine levels for use in sulfur amino acid restricted diets. Casein was isoelectrically precipitated from skim milk and oxidized with hydrogen peroxide at various pH levels, from 2.5–11. Two strong oxidizers were used: hydrogen …

Staging The Voice : Towards A Critical Vocal Performance Pedagogy, Derek Mudd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Until the late twentieth century, courses in voice and diction were a staple of the field of communication studies. Increasingly these classes are disappearing from departments around the country, largely over concerns regarding the prescription of strict speech standards. At the same time, an interest in vocal training has increased in BFA and MFA actor training programs. This study looks to the shared history of voice training between the fields of communication studies and theatre instruction to provide a critical pedagogy for vocal performance, specifically for the area of performance studies, but also for use in other disciplines. Informed by …

Screening Ted: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Intersections Of Rhetoric, Digital Media, And Pedagogy, Joseph Alan Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The presence of expertise resonates across our daily lives. Experts are called upon to consult us about which candidate is ideal for office, which type of wood is the best choice for a carpentry project, which scientist has optimal data on the effects of air pollution, which speech teacher is the best one to take for proper credit hours, and more. An expert is typically conceived as an individual who knows more about a given topic and can create stronger identification than an average person. The struggle to achieve expert status is one that is fundamentally tied to power and …