Digital Commons Network^™

Consumers' Reasoned Behavior Toward American Alligator Leather Products., Yingjiao Xu

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study determined consumers' perception of and attitude toward American alligator leather products and evaluated factors affecting consumers' purchase intention of the products. The Fishbein and Ajzen (1975, 1980) theory of reasoned behavior served as the theoretical framework for the study. The influence of six variables on purchase intention was measured: attitude toward purchase based on product attributes, subjective norm with respect to purchase, traditional attitude toward fashion products (fashion involvement), personality traits (self-confidence and self-consciousness), price perception (price-quality schema and prestige sensitivity), and demographics. The correlation between consumers' usage of media for fashion information and purchase intention was also …

Component Reliability Estimation From Partially Masked And Censored System Life Data Under Competing Risks., Rudi Hendricus Petrus Martinus Arts

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research presents new approaches to the estimation of component reliability distribution parameters from partially masked and/or censored system life data. Such data are common in continuous production environments. The methods were tested on Monte Carlo simulated data and compared to the only alternative suggested in literature. This alternative did not converge on many masked datasets. The new methods produce accurate parameter estimates, particularly at low masking levels. They show little bias. One method ignores masked data and treats them as censored observations. It works well if at least 2 known-cause failures of each component type have been observed and …

Removal Of Manganese In Reservoir Tailwaters As A Function Of Reservoir Operations And River Substrate., Steven Lane Ashby

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Removal of reduced manganese in aqueous systems has been described as a two-step process that incorporates a chemical or abiotic step followed by or continued with microbially mediated processes. Field and laboratory studies were conducted to describe the removal of manganese from reservoir tailwaters and partition the abiotic and microbial removal processes. Manganese removal was measured in controlled raceways and in microcosms with four sizes of substrate (cobble, 2.00 to 0.50 mm, 0.50 mm to 0.063 mm, and less than 0.063 mm). Sodium azide was used to inhibit biological uptake. An exponential decay model and a hyperbolic decay model were …

The Rhetoric Of The Benign Scapegoat: President Reagan And The Federal Government., Stephen Wayne Braden

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Ronald Reagan deservedly attained the moniker "The Great Communicator" due to his rhetorical prowess. This dissertation addresses an aspect, governmental scapegoating, of Reagan's rhetorical strategy. Traditional scapegoating theory claims that the scapegoat is either killed or driven from the community. However, I claim that Reagan profited by making a unique use of the scapegoat, one that was benign, the government remained essentially unscathed. The means to analyze Reagan's discourse is Kenneth Burke's cycle of guilt, victimage, redemption and rebirth. Ten speeches of President Reagan are analyzed: both of his Inaugural Addresses, his Economic Recovery Speech, and his seven State of …

Immobilization Of Enzymes On Porous Silica For The Micro-Digestion Of Oligonucleotides With Analysis By Ce., Yolanda Yvette Davidson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The research in this dissertation has focused on the immobilization of enzymes on silica to perform digestions with DNA and RNA with subsequent analysis by capillary electrophoresis. Solid-phase DNA restriction digest reactors were developed consisting of silica particles modified with a covalently tethered restriction enzyme. This solid-phase restriction reactor enables digestion and separation of minute quantities of DNA with minimal reagent consumption. The restriction enzymes, HaeIII, PstI and HindIII, were successfully immobilized via glutaraldehyde linkages to porous silica micro-particles. Studies were done to examine the impact of immobilization on enzymatic activity. Digestions of &phis;X174-RF DNA phage and SV40 Viral DNA …

The Effect Of Negative Events And Firm Responses On Brand Associations, Organizational Associations, And Brand Evaluations., Chris Patrick Pullig

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the impact of negative events and firm responses to such events on an associative network of brand knowledge; key consumer brand and organizational associations, risk perceptions, and brand response variables. To accomplish this objective the issue of how negative event information is integrated with an existing brand/organizational image was assessed within the framework of a consumer-brand relationship. Two between-subjects experiments were conducted using adult consumers as subjects. In Study One, negative events were found to affect associations linked to the brand and limit the brand's ability to fulfill the consumer-brand relationship. Two types of events were identified, …

A Matter Of Life And Death: Jose Maria Arguedas, Mario Vargas Llosa, And The Postmodern Condition., Lynn Marie Walford

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Despite all that has been written in recent years on the subject of literary postmodernism, theorists and critics have yet to arrive at a consensus about the meaning of the term. In the context of Latin America, the theoretical disagreement is given an added dimension by an ongoing debate over whether the notion of postmodernism, in any of its manifestations, is relevant to contemporary Latin American letters. This study maintains that at least some of the issues raised in the debate over postmodernism are not only relevant, but crucial to an understanding of the many complex worlds of Latin America …

Effects Of Microstructure And Crystallographic Texture On Yield Behavior Of Aluminum-Copper-Lithium 2195 Plate., Karen Elizabeth Crosby

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The focus of this research is to study the effects of deformation and aging on the yield behavior of precipitation-hardened Al-Cu-Li alloys, specifically AI-Cu-Li 2195 plate. Al-Cu-Li 2195 is a relatively new and exceptionally strong, yet lightweight aluminum alloy. Experimental methods applicable to mechanical/structural engineering and materials science problems provide the means for understanding the interrelation of deformation, microstructure, and crystal orientation (texture) as they affect the mechanical properties of crystalline materials. Yield strength is a vital mechanical property in that it defines the boundary of stress that may be applied to a part before a permanent, in some cases, …

Financing Clinical Research And Experimental Therapies: Payment Due, But From Whom?, Patricia C. Kuszler

Articles

This article will explore the realm of clinical research and the question of who should finance such research. The first part will define the various types and levels of clinical research in terms of the regulatory controls and oversight applied to such research. Then the article will summarize how the costs of clinical research and experimental therapies have been covered in the past. Finally, the article will evaluate the risks and benefits derived by the various stakeholders and propose a financing rationale for therapies that places the burden of cost squarely on the stakeholders most likely to benefit.

Who Owns The Customer? The Emerging Law Of Commercial Transactions In Electronic Customer Data, Jane Kaufman Winn, James R. Wrathall

Articles

The Information Revolution is changing the way commerce acted and value is defined within transactions. Before the Internet and "e-business" took center stage, "electronic commerce" meant electronic data interchange, just-in-time inventory systems, supply chain automation, and corporate reengineering.

But the rise of the Internet as a communications medium has coincided with a shift in management focus, from merely trying to improve the efficiency of business logistics systems to a more holistic perspective on improving customer relationships. Intangible assets such as intellectual property rights, human capital in the form of employee knowledge, and established relationships with customers and suppliers are playing …

Modelling Machine Induced Noise And Vibration In A Ship Structure, Weihui Wang

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Most high speed vessels are fitted with powerful high speed engines which are installed in confined spacesa nd, as a consequencec, ausea n extremely high level of noise and vibration. Often structure-borne sound power is transmitted to a sound carrying structure from a source via a number of contact points. In turn, the noise and vibration are propagated in the structure and could possibly cause an undesired noise radiation. In this study, a model for predicting power flow based on the mobility theory has been addressed. The unique parts of the study include the establishment of the relationship of mobility …

Educational Brain Research As Compared With E.G. White's Counsels To Educators, Linda Bryant Caviness

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study was threefold: to review current, education-relevant brain research; to review the educational writings of Ellen G. White for major emerging themes/principles; and to compare these findings for similarities and differences.

Method and Results. Using an inductive process, the synthesis and comparison revealed 15 themes from brain research and 12 principles from White's writings from the middle 1800s and early 1900s.

Comparison of the two lists revealed alignment on eight themes/principles, nonalignment on three themes/principles, and partial-alignment on seven themes/principles.

Aligned themes/principles included: body and mind function as one; exercise and movement are vital …

A Study Of The Out-Of-Class Experiences Of Saint Mary's College Students Studying In Maynooth, Ireland, Carolyn S. Langley

Dissertations

Problem Statement. The purpose of this study is to describe the out-of-class experiences of 21 students who studied in the Saint Mary's College Ireland Program in Maynooth, Ireland, during the 1998-1999 academic year. It examines (1) how the program orientation influenced students' desire to become involved in out-of-class activities, (2) how out-of-class experiences fostered students' learning of the Irish culture, and (3) how the experiences influenced students' attitudes toward cultures other than their own.

Methodology. This study employed descriptive qualitative research. Focus groups were conducted to gather data used in developing questions for long interviews, and these long interviews …

The Role Of The Academic Physical Therapy Department Chair As Perceived By Physical Therapy Teaching Faculty And Chairs, Wayne Louis Perry

Dissertations

Problem

The purpose o f this study was to determine the roles, responsibilities, and characteristics o f the physical therapy department chair as perceived by physical therapy unit administrators and teaching faculty in accredited, entry-level physical therapy programs.

Method

The research population consisted o f current administrators and teaching faculty who work at least half time in accredited physical therapist education programs. The data were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, and ANOVAs with post hoc tests where appropriate.

Results

The results o f this study indicate that physical therapy unit administrators tend to be older, more experienced, carry higher …

Personal Harms And Political Inequities, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

When we think back to where the legal battle for gender equality and the rights of gay people stood a century ago, we see that, in fact, there was not much of a battle. Indeed, advocates for change were seldom triumphant. A survey in 1900 would have shown that American women were twenty years away from obtaining the right to vote, were unfit to be lawyers according to the U.S. Supreme Court, and were nowhere near being eligible-let alone required-to serve on juries. The survey would also have revealed a wide-ranging web of federal and state laws and policies that …

Liability Issues Facing Online Businesses, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

Online businesses are confronted by a wide variety of liability issues covering almost the full range of the standard law school curriculum. The liability problems that face a small business in Vidalia, Georgia, which is selling Vidalia onion products at specialty stores, through print advertising, and by mail, do not go away when the business starts marketing through a Web site. In fact, there might be more exposure doing business online, and there are variations depending upon the nature of the business in question. For example, as discussed below, an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") like America Online has worries that …

An Institutional Emphasis, Lance Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Schwartz is an important scholar of the interface between the difficult moral concept of privacy and the new information technologies. Someday a book will tell the story of modem history through the lens of privacy: village lives well known to neighbors; the claims of the national state (taxes, military service); the social welfare state; and the possibilities and dangers of modem biology. As Paul Schwartz has written, DNA and other tools can tell us a great deal about ourselves and can improve our lives; they can also tell employers, drug companies, prospective in-laws, and the police things we prefer …

Web Acquisitions & Collection Development, Gary Shook

The Christian Librarian

This article and webography is based Oil a workshop of the same title presented at the /999 ACL Annual Conference. It discusses the growing number of resources on the World Wide Web that may be useful for doing acquisitions and collection development. It begins by introducing librarians to AcqWeb, an excellent site for librarians who do acquisitions and collection development. Then representative web sites which may be useful as verification tools, review sources, collection development resources or in finding out-of print materials are listed in an annotated webography.

Editorial, Anne-Elizabeth Powell

The Christian Librarian

August 30 of this year was Heritage Day for my institution. This marks one of three days each year (the others being Baccalaureate and Commencement) on which the entire University faculty come together before the staff, student, and parents dressed in full academic regalia.

Resource Reviews, Robert O. Ellett

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

A Study On Selective Broths And Agar Media For The Isolation Of Escherichia Colio157:H7 Serotype, Mali̇he R. Noveir, A. Kadi̇r Halkman

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

Modified tryptic soy broth, lauryl sulfate tryptose broth, modified EC broth, sorbitol MacConkey agar and Fluorocult E. coli O157 agar were tested for the recovery of 3 strains of Escherichia coliO157:H7 against E. colitype 1 and Citrobacter freundii as common competitive microflora of raw meat products. Two-stepped trials showed that modified EC broth and lauryl sulfate tryptose broth were superior to modified tryptic soy broth as selective enrichment media while sorbitol MacConkey agar was clearly better than Fluorocult E. coli O157 agar as a selective agar medium. Recovery of E. coli O157:H7 was difficult when selective enrichment broth-growing cohabitant microflora …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

No abstract provided.

Cyberspace And The State Action Debate: The Cultural Value Of Applying Constitutional Norms To 'Private' Regulation, Paul Schiff Berman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Regulation in cyberspace does not consist only of laws issued and enforced by sovereigns. Instead, private parties and standard-setting bodies, employing the technology of online interaction, will increasingly be able to regulate activity, which might potentially upset many of the provisional balances we as a society have struck in areas such as free speech, privacy, and intellectual property. The question then becomes: how do we evaluate this "private" regulation? Are constitutional norms applicable? Answering such questions requires a reinvestigation of legal doctrine and theory concerning the distinction between "state action" (which is generally subject to constitutional constraints) and "private ordering" …

What Does The Constitution Say About The Vouchers?, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Tower Clock 2000, Tower Clock

Tower Clock Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

Racism And Technology, Michelle Wright

SWITCH

No abstract provided.

Interview With The Kitchen, Nyc, Sheila A. Malone

SWITCH

Interview with Elise Bernhardt, Executive Director, and Christina Yang, Director of Media Arts, from The Kitchen in New York City. Elise & Christina describe The Kitchen as an art organization that provides a free vocal platform for artists who need funding wanting to create pieces without any interference using a variety of technology. They go on to discuss how project locations on both the west and east coasts like their collaboration with the Walker Arts Center (Minneapolis) and GroundZero (Silicon Valley) provides funding to artists who need a place to express themselves but don’t have the means to do so, …

Social Software, Joel Slayton

SWITCH

No abstract provided.

The Art Of Networking And Fundraising For The Arts: An Interview With Beau Takahara, Ceo, Groundzero, Nora Raggio

SWITCH

This article duscusses an interview with Beau Takahara, who is the CEO of the project GroundZero. This interview consists of questions asked about the project itself as well as the reasoning and context behind bringing GroundZero to life. As the interview progresses, Takahara talks about herself and her background. Since art has played a significant role for most of her life, Takahara and a couple fellow artists decided to create a foundation that brought both art and technology together. She later discusses all the challenges they had to overcome in order for GroundZero to become a live and working organization …

Ideaconsciousness Networks, Wendy Angel

SWITCH

In this article, the author utilizes a theoretical approach to discuss the complexity of digital networks and the necessary cognitive adaptations humans need to process the amount of information shared over them. Several propositions are discussed including fuzziness, conscious Ideation, knowledge networks, idea structures, and idea coercion. It is theorized that ideas make up our consciousness and provide a more open definition to the experiences that combine the cognitive process. However, the fuzziness of uncertainty also raises ideas of its essential factor in our conscious exploration and that fuzziness of knowledge does not make knowledge obsolete. This posits that there …