Digital Commons Network^™

The Estimation Of Premorbid Intelligence: A Comparison Of Approaches., Peter Anthony Petito

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Early methods to estimate premorbid intelligence focused on the use of the WAIS or WAIS-R IQ scores or selected WAIS or WAIS-R subtests. It was expected that performance on such tests would remain stable after a brain injury. As further research showed this belief was not valid, researchers turned to the use of other tests of current ability, one being a measure of reading ability known as the National Adult Reading Test (NART). A second approach focused on the relationship found between certain demographic variables and intelligence. More recently, researchers have employed an approach that combined present abilities performance and …

Flexural Creep Analysis Of Recycled Polymeric Structural Elements., Jose Noe Martinez-Guerrero

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A structural product made of recycled plastics in standard sections similar to dimensional lumber is referred to as plastic lumber. The recycled plastics used in the manufacture of these members include high density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and polystyrene. Plastic lumber is a viscoelastic material possessing mechanical properties that are time and temperature dependent. This structural product is currently used primarily in non-load-bearing and low-end structural applications because of the non availability of engineering data and concerns about its creep behavior. Creep, which is the time dependent deformation under constant stress, is high for plastic lumber and is temperature sensitive. A …

Classification Of Text Documents Using A Logical Analysis Approach., Salvador Nieto Sanchez

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main problem investigated in this dissertation is as follows: Given are two samples of documents each from one of two disjoint collections of documents. The question is how to obtain a set of patterns of text features that make a document in the two samples (and other unclassified documents) to be classified correctly in one and only one document class. A sample of 2,897 documents from the TIPSTER collection was used to investigate this problem. This problem was divided into the following four subproblems. The first subproblem consists of identifying the set keywords to describe the documents' content. Computational …

The Women On/Of The Porch: Performative Space In African-American Women's Fiction., Lajuan Evette Simpson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Mediating Structures in African-American literature are essential in the formation of identity in the lives of the characters. Contemporary theory has moved into a deeper layer of hermeneutics beyond self/other dichotomies to look at the space between binary opposites. Therefore, modern theorists look at sites of play, of exchange, and of transformation. The porch is such a space. A mediating structure is a space that allows the various characters to develop and define themselves. Because of African-Americans, lack of freedom, it was important for them to find a space in which they were able to move and express their ideas, …

Computational Approach For Determination Of The Hydraulic Conductivity Of Soils Using Continuous Intrusion Piezocone Penetration Test., Chung Rak Song

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In order to obtain the hydraulic conductivity or the coefficient of consolidation of the soil from PCPT, the pore pressure response during dissipation test is typically used. This method, however, requires the intermittent stopping of the advancement of the piezocone penetrometer for the dissipation test. Also, this method does not fully take into account the pore pressure interaction between near and far fields as pointed out by previous researchers (Kurup and Tumay, 1997). Thus a new rational approach is investigated here. The proposed method utilizes the pore water pressure during the penetration of the piezocone penetrometer. By its nature, the …

Synthesis, Thermodynamic Stability And Enzymic Behavior Of Oligonucleotides Containing Pyrazole Nucleobase Analogs., Andrea Sapp Saurage

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Non-hydrogen bonding nucleosides with iodo, nitro, propynyl and thiazolyl substituted at the 4-position of pyrazole were prepared. These nucleosides were converted to their corresponding nucleoside phosphoramidites and incorporated into a series of complementary oligonucleotides in order to determine the effect that varying size, charge distribution and polarizability has on duplex stability and structure. The self-complementary Dickerson dodecamer sequence 5'-CGCXAATTYGCG-3', as well as the non-self complementary sequence 5'-CAAAATGGTGGCCAAGT-3 ' previously investigated by Brown, were used to determine the duplex stabilization and thermodynamic consequences of placing 5-nitroindole and 4-substituted pyrazole nucleosides across from each natural base. In the pyrazole series, the largest …

The Effects Of Rumen Undegradable Choline In The Nutrition And Metabolism Of Dairy Cows., Fernando Vazquez

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study was conducted to determine whether supplemental rumen protected choline could improve lactation performance and lipid metabolism in cows in negative energy balance. In experiment 1, 19 primiparous Holstein cows were randomly assigned to dietary treatments consisting of either a control ration or control plus 15 g/d of supplemental rumen-protected choline (60 g/d of Cap-Shure, Balchem Corp., Slate Hill, NY). Close-up and early lactation rations were formulated from a grass hay and corn silage forage base, respectively, with a corn-soy concentrate, whole cottonseed. and alfalfa hay included as appropriate to meet nutrient requirements. Cows were milked twice daily. Cows …

Another New South: Patterns Of Continuity In The Southern Naval Stores Industry., Robert Boone Outland Iii

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Analysis of southern naval stores production, an industry in many respects more representative of southern economic development than cotton textiles, reveals a pattern of continuity between the antebellum and post-war South. Naval stores manufacturing began in the colonial era but languished as a marginally-profitable business until the 1830s when new uses for spirits of turpentine resulted in increased demand and higher prices. Large turpentine operations developed almost exclusively in eastern North Carolina and the slaves, who performed most of the work, experienced distinct work patterns. By the 1850s, destructive gum-harvesting methods led to the depletion of North Carolina's longleaf pine …

Effect Of Rice Cultural Practices On Rotational Crop Herbicide Carryover And Imazethapyr Efficacy., Wei Zhang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A two-year study was conducted to evaluate the possible interaction between rotational crop herbicides and herbicides used in water-seeded rice culture. Rice growth and yield reduction with rotational crop herbicides were not affected by the rice herbicides. However, the combination of molinate or thiobencarb with fluometuron, imazethapyr, metolachlor, or norflurazon at low residue levels further reduced rice heading compared with the corresponding rotational crop herbicide alone. Fluometuron and metolachlor residues at 1 to 2 half-lives have potential to injure rice and reduce rice yield in a water-seeded culture. Norflurazon injured rice and reduced rice yield at a residue level as …

Instantaneous Learning Neural Networks., Kun Won Tang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Instantaneous learning is a desirable feature in neural networks. This type of learning enables the network to be trained very quickly, typically in just one or two passes of the training set as opposed to hundreds or even thousands of passes for networks trained by an iterative process, such as the error backpropagation (BP) algorithm. This dissertation first reviews several existing types of neural networks with instantaneous learning capability. It then proposes a new network called the Fuzzy Classification (FC) Neural Network that can be trained with two passes of the training samples. The first pass assigns the synaptic weights …

Sire Selection And Mating Practices In United States Dairy Herd Improvement Association Holstein Herds., Asiye Yilmaz

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Over two million Holstein mating records was used to investigate selection and mating practices. Population statistics revealed non-random mating and selection. Herd production level was associated with higher breeding value sires and price paid per unit of semen. The decision to use an Artificial Insemination (AI) sire or natural service sire was studied and a discriminant function was derived that accurately categorized matings in a test data set of 117,000 observations, with an error rate less than 2.5 percent. Discriminating variables were herd production level, lactation number, service number, breeding month, cow status code, and days in milk at breeding. …

Large Magnitude Sinusoidal Voltammetry For Reversible Electrochemical Reactions., Yide Chang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Sinusoidal voltammetry, the current response of a simple reversible electrochemical reaction under a large magnitude sinusoidal potential, is investigated in this work. The ferricyanide/ferrocyanide (Fe(CN)6-3/-4 ) redox couple at a platinum electrode, which is known to be reversible, was measured using sinusoidal potentials. Theoretical analyses, including computer-simulation of sinusoidal voltammetry at various excitation potentials, are also presented. The results obtained are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis. One remarkable advantage of sinusoidal voltammetry is that the charging current accompanying the electrode process, which is the most significant components of the noise at a fast potential scan, may be discriminated …

The American Career Of Maria Ouspenskaya (1887-1949): Actress And Teacher., Pamela Sue Heilman

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the career of Maria Ouspenskaya (1887--1949) in American theatre from 1923--1949, and it assesses her significance in American theatre history. The primary sources for this study were newspapers, the Maria Ouspenskaya Collection in the University Library at UCLA, and the Ouspenskaya clipping file in the Billy Rose Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Prior to moving to the United States, Ouspenskaya acted and taught at the Moscow Art Theatre, where she studied with Konstantin Stanislavsky, who had developed a new form of actor training known as the "System." In America, Ouspenskaya first …

Preparing Undergraduate Music Majors To Teach Beginning Instrumentalists: The Effects Of Self-Evaluation, Teacher Observation, And Performance-Oriented Instructional Approaches On Teacher Behaviors And Pupil Responses., Leigh-Ann Marie Lethco

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three approaches to training preservice instrumental music teachers (N = 22) for initial teaching experiences involving beginning instrumentalists ( N = 22). The three approaches---one involving intensive self-evaluation activities, a second focusing on observation of experienced instrumental music teachers, and a third evidencing a performance orientation---were administered as a four-week treatment phase in an undergraduate brass techniques course. Primarily, this study was designed to answer the question: Did instructional approach differentially affect teacher behavior across two private lessons? Teacher (subject) and pupil behaviors were documented and categorized according to …

Systematics, Ecology, And Social Biology Of The Musk Duck (Biziura Lobata) Of Australia., Kevin Grant Mccracken

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Musk Ducks (Biziura lobata) exhibit a number of unusual morphological and behavioral traits. The most notable of these include: greatly abducted hind-limbs for underwater swimming efficiency, extreme sexual size dimorphism and pronounced structural dimorphism, lek display activity, elaborate sexual display repertoires, and the distinctly non-waterfowl-like trait of provisioning young with all their food from the time of hatch until fledging. Despite such peculiarities and obvious theoretical potential in the areas of comparative morphology, sexual selection, and brood ecology, few studies of Musk Ducks have been undertaken, and those to date have been either small in scope and design, or focused …

Practicing Freedom With Care: The Development Of Warrior-Caregiving In Contemporary Literature From The Americas., Joanna Barszewska Marshall

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Taking my cue from Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark, I read three contemporary Black writers in the Americas---George Lamming, Barbados; Michelle Cliff, Jamaica; and Jess Mowry, United States---for signs of a response that was ignored when prevailing conceptions of freedom were formulated in early America. Suggesting that the vision embodied in the name of one plantation, Sans Souci, characterized attempts to deal with the anxieties of a slaveholding free republic, I argue that these writers provide an alternative vision by attempting to reconcile the practices of freedom and care, and I engage their vision in dialogue with several theoretical …

Evaluation Of A Continuous Performance Test., Sandi Louise Spera

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Continuous performance tests are frequently used to measure attention and impulsivity in children and adults. These instruments are particularly popular for assessing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The ecological validity of continuous performance tests has not yet been established as acceptable (Barkley, 1991). Additionally, questions remain regarding the diagnostic utility of these instruments. This study examined the ecological validity and diagnostic utility of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT; Conners, 1995). Specifically, the relationship between CPT scores and behavior in a classroom setting was investigated. The ability of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test to discriminate between children who meet DSM-IV criteria …

An Analysis And Performer's Guide To The Sonatine For Flute And Piano By Pierre Boulez., Diana M. Tiffany

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In spite of the preeminence of its composer, the Sonatine for Flute and Piano by Pierre Boulez is not a well known work. The piece poses truly formidable technical and aesthetic challenges for players and audiences. The purpose of this study is to present an analysis and some practical suggestions for flutists preparing the piece for performance. This serial-based work is divided into four continuous main stanzas, each demonstrating a different style and varying compositional techniques while using the same row. The repetition of specific pitch-class sets, rhythm motives, and pitch classes within each stanza lends each one aurally identifiable …

Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Silicon Nitride And Oxynitride Films Using Disilane As Silicon Source., Giridhar Nallapati

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Process characterization details along with the electrical properties of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride and oxynitride films are reported, for the first time, using disilane as the silicon source. Two regimes of deposition, namely excess-disilane regime and excess-ammonia regime, were observed for deposition of silicon nitride films using disilane, ammonia and helium. Films deposited under process conditions falling at the boundary of these two regimes had deposition rates that were mostly dependent on rf power and gas flow ratio resulting in highly repeatable film qualities. Silicon nitride films deposited on Si wafers at 250°C and post-metallization annealed in …

An Empirical Examination Of Maximum Entropy Estimation., Randall Charles Campbell

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Maximum entropy estimation is a relatively new estimation technique in econometrics. We carry out several Monte Carlo experiments using real data as a basis in order to understand the properties of the maximum entropy estimator. We compare the maximum entropy and generalized maximum entropy estimators to traditional estimation techniques in linear regression, binary choice, and multinomial choice models. In addition, we discuss maximum entropy estimation in censored and truncated regression models. We find that the generalized maximum entropy estimator dominates the logit estimator and the multinomial logit estimator in Monte Carlo experiments. The generalized maximum entropy estimator in discrete choice …

Portraits Of Teachers: The Professional And Personal Characteristics Of Twelve Primary Teachers., Veronica Faye White

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the personal and professional characteristics of six teachers who reported high developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices and six teachers who reported low developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. The sample was identified using teachers' scores on a self-reported survey measure of developmentally appropriate practice based on the 1987 guidelines by NAEYC. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with open-ended questions. By providing an in-depth description as a literary portrait of each teacher, this study provides insight into the beliefs and practical knowledge that inform the teaching practices of 12 primary grade teachers. A …

The Characterization Of Oligonucleotides And Nucleic Acids Using Ribonuclease H And Mass Spectrometry., Lenore Marie Polo

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The use of mass spectrometry for the characterization of nucleic acids is presented in this work. One area of research was aimed at developing a method for the characterization of pseudouridine (Psi) containing samples derivatized with N-cyclohexyl-N' -beta-(4-methylmorpholinium)methylcarbodiimide (CMC). These experiments consisted of the derivatization of a tRNA molecule with CMC followed by analysis of the sample using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometric analysis of the sample revealed that the derivatization of the sample was occurring to generate a species with one CMC group. This data is significant because it demonstrates that the comparably small mass shift …

You Can't Imagine This Life. Diaries And Letters Of A Southern-Jewish Grande Dame, Josephine Joel Heyman, 1901-1993., Cynthia Betty Levy

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Josephine "Jo" Joel Heyman (1901--1993) provides an intimate and touching record of twentieth century upper-middle-class Atlanta-Jewish life through her teenage and young adult diaries and letters. Through her autobiographical writings, this twentieth century Southern-Jewish woman's regional, ethnic, and gender identities are revealed. Mrs. Heyman, an influential civic leader in Atlanta, Georgia, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College. She began writing diaries as a child to express her private feelings and thoughts, and as a young adult she wrote letters from college to her future fiance. The backdrop of her personal story is the story of the Southern-Jewish community, which …

Seabirds In Southeastern Hawaiian Waters, Larry B. Spear, David G. Ainley, Peter Pyle

Western Birds

No abstract provided.

Environmental Vulnerability And Agriculture In The Karstic Domain: Landscape Indicators And Cases In The Atlas Highlands, Morocco, Brahim Akdim, Mohammed Amyay

International Journal of Speleology

After the brief presentation of the major karstic areas in Morocco, the article focused essentially on the Atlas mountains to investigate the impact of the agriculture on the natural systems equilibrium. Socio-economic changes (demographic pressure, escalation of the landscape use, utilisation of new techniques in water harvesting, etc...) have sometimes fathered mechanisms of degradation. Many indicators seem to reflect these mechanisms. The pedologic indicators, soil erosion, the hydrologic and geomorphic indicators, are apprehended to demonstrate existent correlation between different variables and the often negative impacts of land over-use in the karstic domain of the Middle Atlas.

Weather-Related Waterbird Groundings, Donald L. Burton

Ohio Cardinal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Louis W. Campbell With Clair Gavin. The Marshes Of Southwestern Lake Erie, Bill Whan

Ohio Cardinal

No abstract provided.

Changes In Populations Of Breeding Waders On The Machair Of North Uist, Scotland, 1983 - 1998, R. J. Fuller, D. B. Jackson

Wader Study Group Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Northbound Migration Of Red Knots Calidris Canutus Rufa In Argentina And Brazil: Report On Results Obtained By An International Expedition In March-April 1997, A. J. Baker, P. M. Gonzalez, T. Piersma, C. D. Minton, J. R. Wilson, H. Sitters, D. Graham, R. Jessop, P. Collins, P. De Goeij, M. K. Peck, R. Lini, L. Bala, G. Pagnoni, A. Vila, E. Bremer, R. Bastida, E. Ieno, D. Blanco, S. De Lima, I. Do Nascimento, S. S. Scherer, M. P. Schneider, A. Silva, A. A. Rodriguez

Wader Study Group Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Towards More User-Friendly Education For Speakers Of Aboriginal English, Ian G. Malcolm, Yvonne Haig, Patricia Konsignberg, Judith Rochecouste, Glenys Collard, Alison Hill, Rosemary Cahill

Research outputs pre 2011

The project reported on here set out, on a basis of cooperation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal investigators working in university, educational system and classroom contexts, to lead to understandings which would enable a more accessible ("userfriendly") education to be provided for students in primary and secondary schools who are speakers of Aboriginal English.

Specifically, in the context of schools of the Education Department of Western Australia, the project sought to:

1. extend knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal English and its areas of contrast with standard Australian English;

2. provide clarification in the following under-researched areas of Aboriginal English:

a) semantic …