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LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

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The Impact Of Communal Behaviors On The Judgement Of Service Quality., Barbara Ross Wooldridge Jan 1999

The Impact Of Communal Behaviors On The Judgement Of Service Quality., Barbara Ross Wooldridge

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the question of the importance of the service encounter (both functional and social support components) and the importance of the technical component in consumers' judgements of service quality. To date in the literature no one has attempted to measure in a field setting, the relative contribution to the judgement of service quality of each of these components. This research switched the focus of the service quality's definition from the provider's point of view to the consumer. By measuring the three service components' importance, the researcher hoped to obtain a clearer understanding of the consumer's determination as to …


High School Biology Students' Participation In A Year-Long Sequence Of Analogical Activities: The Relationship Of Development Of Analogical Thought To Student Learning And Classroom Interactions., Marcella Wichser Hackney Jan 1999

High School Biology Students' Participation In A Year-Long Sequence Of Analogical Activities: The Relationship Of Development Of Analogical Thought To Student Learning And Classroom Interactions., Marcella Wichser Hackney

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research explored development of analogical thought through high school biology students' participation in a year-long sequence of analogical activities. Analogizing involves: selecting a familiar analog; mapping similarities and differences between the analog and less familiar target; making inferences from the analogy; evaluating validity of the inferences; and ultimately, understanding the biological target (Holyoak & Thagard, 1995). This investigation considered: student development of independence in learning through analogical thought, student learning of biology, the relationship between development of students' analogical thinking and students' learning of biology, and the quality of student interactions in the classroom. This researcher, as teacher participant, …


Natalie Vivian Scott: The Origins, People And Times Of The French Quarter Renaissance (1920-1930)., John Wyeth Scott Ii Jan 1999

Natalie Vivian Scott: The Origins, People And Times Of The French Quarter Renaissance (1920-1930)., John Wyeth Scott Ii

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This is the interwoven story of Natalie Vivian Scott, war hero, author, adventurer and humanitarian, and the French Quarter Renaissance during the 1920s, when Natalie Scott was a vital member of the talented coterie of writers and artists whose talents prospered there, including Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, William Spratling, Lyle Saxon, Roark Bradford, Oliver La Farge, John Dos Passos, Hamilton Basso, Meigs Frost, among others. This work's premise is that the decayed, crumbling French Quarter, falling into irreversible decline, was saved during the early 1920s by an outburst of local creativity and organizational energy that inspired restoration and a unique, …


College Biology Students' Conceptions Related To The Nature Of Biological Knowledge: Implications For Conceptual Change., Gloria Millie Apio Ameny Jan 1999

College Biology Students' Conceptions Related To The Nature Of Biological Knowledge: Implications For Conceptual Change., Gloria Millie Apio Ameny

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Adequate understanding of the nature of science is a major goal of science education. Understanding of the evolutionary nature of biological knowledge is a means of reinforcing biology students' understanding of the nature of science. It provides students with the philosophical basis, explanatory ideals, and subject matter-specific views of what counts as a scientifically-acceptable biological explanation. This study examined 121 college introductory biology and advanced zoology students for their conceptions related to the nature of biological knowledge. A 60-item Likert-scale questionnaire called the Nature of Biological Knowledge Scale and student interviews were used as complementary research instruments. Firstly, the study …


Barium In Water And Foraminiferal Shells: Indicator Of Oceanographic Conditions In The Gulf Of Mexico Since The Late Pleistocene., Thomas Peter Buerkert Jan 1999

Barium In Water And Foraminiferal Shells: Indicator Of Oceanographic Conditions In The Gulf Of Mexico Since The Late Pleistocene., Thomas Peter Buerkert

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The Gulf of Mexico offers an appropriate setting for studying the chemical dynamics at the continent-ocean interface. In addition, its sediments preserve the climatic records of the past. This study employs Ba as a tracer to examine several aspects of modern Gulf oceanographic processes and seeks to unravel Gulf paleoceanography using Ba/Ca ratios from fossil foraminiferal shells. Comparison of dissolved Ba in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River mixing zones suggests different Ba distributions can occur as a result of hydrodynamic and morphologic variability. Rapid Ba desorption from suspended material occurs near the Mississippi River, while Ba input from the shallow …


An Introduction To Joaquin Nin (1879-1949) And His "Veinte Cantos Populares Espanoles"., Gina Lottinger Anthon Jan 1999

An Introduction To Joaquin Nin (1879-1949) And His "Veinte Cantos Populares Espanoles"., Gina Lottinger Anthon

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Joaquin Nin was a leading figure in the renaissance of Spanish music in the early part of the twentieth century. A virtuoso concert pianist, he championed the music of little-known 17th and 18 th century Spanish composers, performing their works alongside Bach, Couperin, and Liszt. Nin's editions of "ancient" Spanish music and his arrangements of popular songs and dances brought a body of virtually unknown repertoire---the exotic music of the Iberian Peninsula---to a broader public. The purpose of this paper is to better acquaint the reader with Joaquin Nin and his first compositions, Veinte Cantos Populares Espanoles . Although Nin …


Progressive Civic Development And Political Conflict: Regular Democrats And Reformers In New Orleans, 1896-1912., Robert Louis Dupont Jan 1999

Progressive Civic Development And Political Conflict: Regular Democrats And Reformers In New Orleans, 1896-1912., Robert Louis Dupont

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The 1896 elections in Louisiana produced a Regular Democrat as governor, but a reform government within New Orleans. The turbulence of the Populist era led to the unification of political factions behind disfranchisement of blacks and a narrowing of the electorate. In spite of attempts to make their triumph permanent, New Orleans reformers gave way to a resurgent Regular Democratic organization, the Choctaw Club, which dominated city politics for the first half of the twentieth century. Mayors Paul Capdevielle and Martin Behrman successfully led the city in an era of commercial expansion, public works, and municipal reform. That leadership persisted …


Women's Voices In Education: Two Jamaican Life Histories., Ethel L. King-Mckenzie Jan 1999

Women's Voices In Education: Two Jamaican Life Histories., Ethel L. King-Mckenzie

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main purpose of this study is to recover the marginalized voices of women educators in Jamaica by turning their oral life histories into text. It was not possible to interview all women educators in Jamaica so I have used the life histories of two women who were the 'first' women to take positions in educational leadership in two spheres that were once male dominated. Both women have made it to the zenith of the education profession. These women relate their life experiences and the meanings they give to their work as educators. Women have always played important roles in …


Design Recovery And Data Mining: A Methodology That Identifies Data-Cohesive Subsystems Based On Mining Association Rules., Carlos Montes De Oca Jan 1999

Design Recovery And Data Mining: A Methodology That Identifies Data-Cohesive Subsystems Based On Mining Association Rules., Carlos Montes De Oca

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Software maintenance is both a technical and an economic concern for organizations. Large software systems are difficult to maintain due to their intrinsic complexity, and their maintenance consumes between 50% and 90% of the cost of their complete life-cycle. An essential step in maintenance is reverse engineering, which focuses on understanding the system. This system understanding is critical to avoid the generation of undesired side effects during maintenance. The objective of this research is to investigate the potential of applying data mining to reverse engineering. This research was motivated by the following: (1) data mining can process large volumes of …


Reflections Of Science And Technology In American Drama From 1913 To 1941., Charles Keith Cockrell Jan 1999

Reflections Of Science And Technology In American Drama From 1913 To 1941., Charles Keith Cockrell

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The growth of science and technology exploded in the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time America was developing for the first time a dramatic literature that was worthy of international respect. Beginning in 1913, when the young Eugene O'Neill wrote his first plays, this study traces the appearances of science and technology in the drama from that year until the start of World War II. Special attention has been given to the clock, the car, electronic communications, scientists, dehumanization in the machine age, technology as religion, and film. The drama of the era reveals a previously …


Null Codon-Based Models Of Synonymous And Nonsynonymous Substitution From A Phylogenetic Perspective., David A. Mcclellan Jan 1999

Null Codon-Based Models Of Synonymous And Nonsynonymous Substitution From A Phylogenetic Perspective., David A. Mcclellan

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between codon composition and the molecular evolution of protein-coding DNA sequences. Chapter 1 emphasizes the role of codon structure in determining patterns of nucleotide substitution, as well as the influence codon composition has on the evolution of the structure and function of the protein. The overall purpose of Chapter 1 is to establish the need to study molecular evolution at the codon level. In Chapter 2, the codon-degeneracy model (CDM) of molecular evolution is constructed. This model considers codon structure in terms of patterns of nucleotide site degeneracy. It allows the prediction of patterns …


A Troublesome Commerce: The Interstate Slave Trade, 1808-1840., Robert Harold Gudmestad Jan 1999

A Troublesome Commerce: The Interstate Slave Trade, 1808-1840., Robert Harold Gudmestad

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The interstate slave trade grew from a haphazard and intermittent enterprise in the early years of the nineteenth century to a central aspect of southern society. With the decline of the international trade and the decline of white migration to the frontier, southerners turned to the trade to supply their labor needs. Farmers in the Chesapeake region increasingly sold their "excess" bondservants to slave traders. These speculators brought a measure of systemization and regularity to the trade. As they did so, however, a significant number of Upper South citizens questioned the trade's efficacy. The wanton exploitation and naked cruelty of …


The Names Project Aids Memorial Quilt: A Novelistic Approach To Decoding The Layers Of Meaning In The "Pieced" Social Drama., Louis Edward Myers Jan 1999

The Names Project Aids Memorial Quilt: A Novelistic Approach To Decoding The Layers Of Meaning In The "Pieced" Social Drama., Louis Edward Myers

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In this study, I focus on the AIDS crisis as a social drama, and evaluate the various functions the AIDS Memorial Quilt plays within that drama. Using Victor Turner's concept of social drama I first discuss the breach, crisis, redression, and reintegration stages. I identify two fundamental breaches in the AIDS drama---the health breach and the moral/religious breach. As regards the crisis phase of the drama, I identify specific crisis performers and performances. Although many attempts were made at redression, I conclude that most attempts were not successful as redressive acts. Rather than "solve" or "set straight" particular issues within …


Epidemiology Of Anthrax In The Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity And Environment., Kimothy Lyn Smith Jan 1999

Epidemiology Of Anthrax In The Kruger National Park, South Africa: Genetic Diversity And Environment., Kimothy Lyn Smith

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The Kruger National Park, (KNP), in the Republic of South Africa, provides a unique opportunity to investigate interesting and unresolved aspects of the epidemiology of the disease anthrax. Anthrax is a disease of primarily mammals caused by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis. Beyond it's great historical significance anthrax is clearly important in the world today. From a rich legacy of empirical investigations and observations in the form of ecological and epidemiological studies conducted around the world this work endeavors to distill and extract the essence of what biotic and abiotic factors of environment might be causally associated with …


Spatial Modeling Of Coastal Landscapes: Methodological And Scientific Applications., Mary Louise White Jan 1999

Spatial Modeling Of Coastal Landscapes: Methodological And Scientific Applications., Mary Louise White

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A number of issues related to landscape scale ecological modeling of the wetlands of southern Louisiana are examined in this study. First, using geostatistical methods, a new contour map of the wetland habitats in the Terrebonne basin of southern Louisiana is constructed from data collected in 1994. This map is proposed as the best field verified habitat map of the Terrebonne basin and contains statistical confidence intervals associated with the habitat contours. Second, the problem of how to evaluate the success of a landscape model prediction is investigated. The multiple resolution goodness of fit parameter Ft(k) is evaluated in detail …


The Laser Optogalvanic Effect In Radio Frequency Plasma: Applications In Analytical Chemistry., Xuan Yao Jan 1999

The Laser Optogalvanic Effect In Radio Frequency Plasma: Applications In Analytical Chemistry., Xuan Yao

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The laser optogalvanic effect (LOGE) is the change of electrical impedance of a plasma produced by resonant absorption of laser radiation. Selected excitations can be used to detect specific species by tuning the laser to an appropriate wavelength. For optimum utilization of LOGE as a detection tool, one must understand the temporal profile of the LOGE signal in terms of the various processes occurring in the plasma. In this work, the characteristics of the LOGE signal and the potential applications of laser optogalvanic spectroscopy (LOGS) have been investigated. First, by analyzing the LOGE signal profiles of the neon excitations 1s2,4→2p1,3, …


Restructuring Object -Oriented Designs Using A Metric-Driven Approach., Ghassan Salim Alkadi Jan 1999

Restructuring Object -Oriented Designs Using A Metric-Driven Approach., Ghassan Salim Alkadi

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The benefits of object-oriented software are now widely recognized. However, methodologies that are used to develop object-oriented software are still in their infancy. There is a lack of methods to assess the quality of the various components that are derived during the development process. The design of a system is a crucial component derived during the system development process. Little attention has been given to assessing object-oriented designs to determine the goodness of the designs. There are metrics that can provide guidance for assessing the quality of the design. The objective of this research is to develop a system to …


Behavior Of Bensulfuron-Methyl As Affected By Soil Factors And Rice Management Aspects., Randall Otto Wilde Jan 1999

Behavior Of Bensulfuron-Methyl As Affected By Soil Factors And Rice Management Aspects., Randall Otto Wilde

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Multi-source regression models describing the control of alligatorweed with bensulfuron-methyl as influenced by rate and temperature were developed under field conditions. Temperature models describing the activity of bensulfuron-methyl at 21 to 84 g ai/ha on alligatorweed were linear 7 days after treatment (DAT) and quadratic 14 and 28 DAT. At 7 and 14 DAT, a minimum average temperature of 14 C was required for bensulfuron-methyl activity on alligatorweed. The temperatures for optimal alligatorweed control with bensulfuron-methyl at 14 DAT ranged from 21 to 24 C with rates of 21 to 84 g/ha. Temperatures for optimal alligatorweed control with bensulfuron-methyl at …


Powerless Speech: The Effects Of Gender, Gendered Intensifiers, And Attitudes Toward Women On Speaker Credibility., Frances E. Brandau-Brown Jan 1999

Powerless Speech: The Effects Of Gender, Gendered Intensifiers, And Attitudes Toward Women On Speaker Credibility., Frances E. Brandau-Brown

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine powerful and powerless speech styles in relation to sex of speaker, sex of respondent, and attitudes toward women. Based on research by Bradac, Mulac, and Thompson (1995) it was proposed that the powerless speech style variable, intensifiers, could be divided into separate masculine and feminine domains. The Attitude Toward Women scale was used to classify respondents as either liberal or traditional. From this classification predictions were made using Expectancy Violation Theory to formulate a priori hypotheses about respondent perceptions of speaker competence, trustworthiness, and masculinity. Multivariate, univariate and post-hoc tests revealed that …


Looking For Leadership: Searching In A Middle School For Reactions To Stimuli In Social Environments., Lucy Gremillion Begnaud Jan 1999

Looking For Leadership: Searching In A Middle School For Reactions To Stimuli In Social Environments., Lucy Gremillion Begnaud

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Leadership development lies at the heart of establishing a meaningful legacy for students. More important than subject matter and curriculum content, the affective traits we instill in our students will guide them. Such traits are at the core of leadership development, the focus of this qualitative research case study. An eight-month immersion in a fifth grade gifted enrichment program addressed the following questions: (a) What leadership opportunities do students have in a gifted enrichment program at the fifth grade level? (b) What could enrichment programs do to foster leadership development in their gifted students? Four themes emerged during this study: …


Analysis Of *Policy Alternatives In The Implementation Of A Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program For Agriculture., Hugo Cardona Castillo Jan 1999

Analysis Of *Policy Alternatives In The Implementation Of A Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program For Agriculture., Hugo Cardona Castillo

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Agriculture has been singled out as one of the major nonpoint sources of water pollution. To identify alternative policy tools for the implementation of a non-regulatory approach to comply with the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program (CNPCP) required by The Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990, policy makers need to determine factors that may influence producers' willingness to adopt proposed Best Management Practices (BMPs). Neoclassical economic concepts of utility maximization on the part of agricultural producers constitutes the theoretical background in this study, but it is enhanced with the incorporation of a well proved set of theoretical tools based …


Impact Of Shrimp Imports On The United States' Southeastern Shrimp Processing Industry And Processed Shrimp Market., Hamady Diop Jan 1999

Impact Of Shrimp Imports On The United States' Southeastern Shrimp Processing Industry And Processed Shrimp Market., Hamady Diop

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The shrimp harvesting sector is the largest component of the southeastern United States fishing industry, accounting for 57% of the total value of landings in the region in 1996. U.S. shrimp imports were valued at $2.6 billion in 1996. Together, domestic production and imports of the raw product support a large shrimp processing sector, which provides several thousand jobs either directly or indirectly. In 1975 and 1984, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) investigated the industry to determine whether the volume of shrimp imports was high enough to threaten domestic firms which were producing articles similar to, or directly …


Volumes Three And Four Of Jozsef Soproni's "Note Pages": A Stylistic Study., Maria Horvath Jan 1999

Volumes Three And Four Of Jozsef Soproni's "Note Pages": A Stylistic Study., Maria Horvath

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Jozsef Soproni, born in Hungary in 1930, composed in virtually every genre of musical composition: symphonies, other orchestral pieces, concertos, an opera, masses, cantatas, other choral pieces, songs, string quartets, sonatas, plus other chamber and instrumental pieces. His interest in solo piano music is realized in a number of compositions written before 1979 and his twelve piano sonatas written between 1996 and the first quarter of 1999. There is no comprehensive study of Soproni's music for piano; indeed all that has been published about it are brief analyses of various pieces, biographical sketches in books, and two articles in a …


Effects Of Substituent Substitution On A Bimetallic Hydroformylation Catalyst Based On A Tetraphosphine Ligand., Donna Kae Howell Jan 1999

Effects Of Substituent Substitution On A Bimetallic Hydroformylation Catalyst Based On A Tetraphosphine Ligand., Donna Kae Howell

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main concentration of this work was to further study the unusual catalytic activity and selectivity of the bimetallic hydroformylation catalyst based on the tetraphosphine ligand, et,ph-P4. This activity and selectivity are a product of both the rigid steric environment and the cooperativity between the two Rh metal centers. This project focused on probing both the mechanism employed by this system, and studying the effect of manipulation on the steric environment at the binding site. In situ spectroscopic methods have led to the formulation of a dicationic catalytic system. This is highly unusual in that all monometallic rhodium or cobalt …


Synthesis, Characterization, And Applications Of Chiral Polymeric Surfactants In Micellar Capillary Electrophoresis., Crystal Williams Harrell Jan 1999

Synthesis, Characterization, And Applications Of Chiral Polymeric Surfactants In Micellar Capillary Electrophoresis., Crystal Williams Harrell

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Chirality is a characteristic of many synthetic and biological organic compounds. This property is particularly true in the pharmaceutical industry where a large number of drugs are marketed as racemates. One method used to monitor optical purity is capillary electrophoresis (CE). Chiral separation using CE is achieved by use of an immobilized chiral phase or through a chiral selector mobile phase additive. It is demonstrated and determined that chiral polymeric surfactants are more suitable for chiral separation in electrokinetic capillary chromatography (EKC) than conventional micelles. Polymeric surfactants eliminate the dynamic equilibrium that occurs in normal micelles, are more stable, rigid, …


Apples And Regional Change: Life And Economy In Tsugaru, Japan., Ann D. Brucklacher Jan 1999

Apples And Regional Change: Life And Economy In Tsugaru, Japan., Ann D. Brucklacher

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation, I examine aspects of Japan's rural and agricultural restructuring using Aomori Prefecture's apple industry as a focal point. Though using multiple spatial scales, I concentrate most on changes in agriculture and economy in the Tsugaru region, Aomori's main apple-growing region. A historical overview of Tsugaru and its apple industry provides the background necessary for understanding today's circumstances. Archival and ethnographic methods examine modern-day changes and document the views of individual farmers and their families. Located at the northwestern-most tip of Japan's main island, the Tsugaru region was historically one of Japan's most remote and impoverished regions. The …


Magnetism Of Magnets: The Impact Of High School Magnet Programs On Desegregation And School Improvement In East Baton Rouge Parish., Alonzo Ray Luce Jan 1999

Magnetism Of Magnets: The Impact Of High School Magnet Programs On Desegregation And School Improvement In East Baton Rouge Parish., Alonzo Ray Luce

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The movement of school desegregation plans from mandatory means to voluntary means has led to a fierce debate. The school desegregation problem is encapsulated by two competing strategies: making a plan that enforces racial balance, and making a plan that stops white flight. The purpose of this study was to describe how high schools in East Baton Rouge Parish implemented court approved magnet programs, and to examine the results brought about at each of the high schools in terms of desegregation and school improvement. The study was designed to answer the following research questions: (1) How have high schools in …


Incomplete Acquisitions: The Valuation And Performance Effects Of Changes In Control., Karyn Lynn Neuhauser Jan 1999

Incomplete Acquisitions: The Valuation And Performance Effects Of Changes In Control., Karyn Lynn Neuhauser

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation provides an extensive examination of a corporate control transaction that has not been previously examined in the finance literature, an incomplete acquisition. An incomplete acquisition is defined as an offer for a sufficient amount of equity in a target firm to give the bidder effective control that is not accompanied by a disclosed intention to acquire the remaining minority shares. An original database of incomplete acquisitions is developed and used to examine three major aspects of these unique control transactions. First, descriptive data about the prevalence of incomplete acquisitions and the mechanisms that are used to effect these …


Quaternary Benthic Foraminiferal Distribution In The Ross Sea, Antarctica, And Its Relationship To Oceanography., Pamela Jo Perry Jan 1999

Quaternary Benthic Foraminiferal Distribution In The Ross Sea, Antarctica, And Its Relationship To Oceanography., Pamela Jo Perry

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study focuses on Quaternary benthic foraminiferal distribution in the Ross Sea, and its relationship to oceanography and ice-shelf retreat. It is the first study of benthic foraminiferal distribution that takes the retreat history of the Ross Ice Shelf into account. This is also the first time foraminifera from a cold-water carbonate bank have been described. There are three foraminiferal faunas in the Ross Sea: Pleistocene carbonate-bank fauna, Modern-calcareous fauna, and Holocene agglutinated fauna. Numerically significant species in the carbonate-bank and Modern-calcareous faunas include Angulogerina earlandi, Cibicides lobatulus, Discorbis vilardeboana, Ehrenbergina glabra, Epistominella exigua, and Globocassidulina crassa . The carbonate-bank …


"Playboy"'S First Year: A Rhetorical Construction Of Masculine Sexuality., David John Lambkin Jan 1999

"Playboy"'S First Year: A Rhetorical Construction Of Masculine Sexuality., David John Lambkin

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The problem addressed by this study was twofold: what rhetorical strategies does a pornographic text actually employ? and what impact does that message have on its mate readers' sexual ideology? The first year's issues of Playboy comprise the specific text to be analyzed because Playboy is still the most popular men's magazine in the world and because various critics indicated that it was the prototype for current pornographic texts. Furthermore, this pornographic text has always been a public artifact as opposed to the surreptitious or illegal forms of pornography, which made it an apt choice for a rhetorical study. Three …