Digital Commons Network^™

Shell Model Description Of Normal Parity Bands In Heavy Deformed Nuclei., Gabriela Popa

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The low-energy spectra and electromagnetic transition strengths in 160,162,164Dy, 156,158,160Gd, and 168Er are described in the framework of the pseudo-SU(3) model. The Hamiltonian includes spherical single-particle energies, the Quadrupole-quadrupole interaction, and proton and neutron pairing terms with the strengths of these interaction fixed from systematics. The strengths of an additional four rotor-like terms that are included in the Hamiltonian, which do not mix SU(3) representations and induce only small changes in the spectra, were allowed to vary and a consistent set of these parameters was found. Proton and neutron degrees of freedom are considered explicitly by building the basis states …

Red Morningglory (Ipomoea Coccinea L.) And Sugarcane Response To Soil-Applied Herbicides., Blaine Joseph Viator

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Laboratory and greenhouse studies were conducted to determine if reported red morningglory (Ipomoea coccinea L.) control failures with atrazine in sugarcane are due to triazine-resistant mutants. Terminal fluorescence of leaf material from locations with and without a history of atrazine use increased after treatment with atrazine, indicating electron transport inhibition and hence, triazine susceptibility. Postemergence (POST) application of atrazine controlled plants from all populations at least 99%, supporting findings of the fluorescence assay. A field study was conducted to evaluate red morningglory control and sugarcane injury with herbicides applied at layby. At 45 days after treatment (DAT), control with sulfentrazone …

Center Vortices In Confinement., Viorel-Andrei Alexandru

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The confinement property of quarks is still one of the puzzles of today's physics. Although QCD is believed to accurately describe the interaction between quarks, due to the peculiar nature of the theory we are still unable to prove that it confines the quarks. Most analytical efforts in QCD are based on perturbative techniques which are useless in studying confinement. Lattice gauge theory enables us to get non-perturbative results. We use lattice techniques to investigate one of the proposed mechanisms of quark confinement, namely the center vortex idea. We first present a cursory introduction to lattice theory and the methods …

Teacher Education Reform And Accountability: A Study Of The Louisiana Blue Ribbon Commission On Teacher Quality., Patricia Ann Davis Exner

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study describes Louisiana's 1999--2000 Blue Ribbon Commission on Teacher Quality, focusing primarily on Commission proceedings and the evolution of its recommendations within a context of standards-based teacher education reform history. Employing case study methodology contextualized in historical and ethnographic narrative, this nine month study examined policy recommendations for Louisiana's teacher education programs that resulted from Commission meetings. Aims of the study included describing the development of these recommendations, their relation to national teacher education reform movements, and their potential impact on university teacher preparation programs. The research provides not only documentation of Commission proceedings of some historical value, but …

A Neural Network Approach To Dependent *Reliability Estimation., Roya Javadpour

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research presents the creation of a new model for automating the generation of component and system reliability estimates from simulated field data for tightly coupled systems. The model utilizes the CMAC neural network architecture, which resembles the human cerebellum and is capable of approximating nonlinear functions. An analysis and testing of the network as a tool for reliability prediction of dependent components within an assembly has been performed. In order to evaluate the performance of the model, the network has been tested on simulated data and provided over 90% performance accuracy in learning non-linear functions that represent the dependency …

An Exploratory Study Of The Influence Of National And State Standards On Middle School Science Teachers' Classroom Assessment Practices., Kathy Jean Mcwaters

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Classroom assessment practices of middle school science teachers were identified and the influence of national and state science standards on these practices was examined. In Phase I of this study a mail questionnaire was sent to 450 middle school (grades 5,6,7 and 8) science teachers in 17 parishes in Louisiana to obtain information about their classroom assessment practices. In Phase II, nine middle school teachers in eight departmentalized classrooms, two classes at each grade, participated in a qualitative study. Data were collected through questionnaires, classroom observations, interviews and document analysis. Data analysis revealed three major categories of classroom assessment targets: …

Wavelet Analysis And Classification Of Urban Environment Using High -Resolution Multispectral Image Data., Soe Win Myint

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Attempts to analyze urban features and classify land use and land cover directly from high-resolution satellite data with traditional computer classification techniques have proven to be inefficient. The fundamental problem usually found in identifying urban land cover types from high-resolution satellite imagery is that urban areas are composed of diverse materials (metal, glass, concrete, asphalt, plastic, trees, soil, etc.). These materials, each of which may have completely different spectral characteristics, are combined in complex ways by human beings. Hence, each urban land cover type may contain several different objects with different reflectance values. Noisy appearance with lots of edges, and …

Understanding The Connections Between High-Stakes Test Consequences And School Literacy Experiences., Deborah Karen Setliff

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to connect the remedial summer school experiences of two fourth-grade students and four fifth-grade students with their school literacy experiences the following year. Understanding the students' experiences and connecting the experiences with school personnel provided a link between the students' and school personnel's perceptions of high-stakes testing consequences. Bridging these perceptions through cross-case analysis revealed the physical, emotional, and philosophical effects high-stakes testing is having on the students, school administrators, classroom teachers, and reading curriculum and instruction at the two elementary schools studied. Integrating the findings at the two schools helped develop a …

Mapping By Cooperative Mobile Robots., Thomas Oliver Smailus

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Constructing a system of intelligent robotic mapping agents that can function in an unstructured and unknown environment is a challenging task. With the exploration of our solar system as well as our own planet requiring more robust mapping agents, and with the drastic drop in the price of technology versus the gains in performance, robotic mapping is becoming a focus of research like never before. Efforts are underway to send mobile robots to map bodies within our solar system. While much of the research in robotic map construction has been focused on building maps used by the robotic agents themselves, …

Estimation Of Oceanic Surface Velocity Vector Fields Using Multiresolution., Guillermo Tonsmann

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation presents a new method for the estimation of oceanic surface velocity vector fields using multiresolution. Multiresolution is the ability to analyze a signal at various levels of resolution. In this dissertation, wavelet analysis is used to obtain multiresolution. This method requires the use of two sea surface temperature (SST) images of the same region taken within a known time interval. Wavelet analysis is performed in both images to reveal their components at decreasing resolution levels. The comparison of these components at each level yields vector fields representing local displacements of features within the images. These vector fields are …

Spatial Variability And Isotopic Studies Of The Prairie -Forest Transition Soil In Louisiana., Asfaw Bekele

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The calcareous prairies of Louisiana are among the most endangered ecosystems in North America. The major threat to this ecosystem is the invasion by woody and herbaceous plants, primarily eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana ). The restoration and management of these rare plant communities require a thorough understanding of the soils supporting them. Geostatistical, fractal, and stable isotopic procedures were integrated to study the soil and vegetation spatial variability. The prairie soil was alkaline, the forest soil was acidic, and the transition soil was neutral. The spherical model described the spatial variability of virtually all the soil properties considered with …

An Inquiry Into The Influence Of Taped Books On The Oral Reading Performance Of Struggling Third-Grade Readers., Dolores Doga Harris

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the nine-week study was to explore, using taped book intervention, the oral reading fluency of six struggling third-grade readers. The low-income, inner city, African American students were selected using teacher recommendations, standardized test scores, and the school system's Grade Level Indicators of Essential Knowledge---Grade 3 English Language Arts. Procedures used in the study were observing, collecting field notes, reviewing documents, conducting open-ended interviews, prioritizing book selection interests, and making assessments. Pre- and post-intervention assessments included the following: (1) oral reading rate---the Gray Oral Reading Test-3 (GORT-3), two-minute timed readings, and Corduroy benchmark probes; (2) word recognition---Slosson Oral …

English Immersion Program In Korea: Student Progress After Four Months Of Implementation., Jaiwon Jung

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In Korea, efforts to teach a non-native language, such as English, to Korean students usually result in native speakers acquiring limited language abilities. As a result, the teaching of English has little effect upon making native speakers fluent in a non-native language. Many foreign language instructors in Korea attempt to find new teaching methods to improve the performance of students in foreign language proficiency. Among the various innovative approaches of the 20th century, research has shown that the immersion approach may be one of the most effective means. Thus this dissertation introduces the innovative immersion teaching methods for Korean school …

Ways Of Incorporating Photographic Images In Learning And Assessing High School Biology: A Study Of Visual Perception And Visual Cognition., Brenda Chaumont Nixon

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study evaluated the cognitive benefits and costs of incorporating biology-textbook and student-generated photographic images into the learning and assessment processes within a 10th grade biology classroom. The study implemented Wandersee's (2000) 20-Q Model of Image-Based Biology Test-Item Design (20-Q Model) to explore the use of photographic images to assess students' understanding of complex biological processes. A thorough review of the students' textbook using ScaleMaster R with PC Interface was also conducted. The photographs, diagrams, and other representations found in the textbook were measured to determine the percentage of each graphic depicted in the book and comparisons were made to …

Measurement Of Bottom Quark Production In Two -Photon Collisions., Sepehr Saremi

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The cross section for bottom quark production in two-photon collisions, sigma( e+e- → e+e- bb¯X), is measured for the first time. The measurement is performed with the L3 detector at the Large Electron Positron (LEP) collider at the European Center for Nuclear and Particle Physics (CERN). The data corresponds to 410 pb-1 taken at center-of-mass energies from 189 GeV to 202 GeV. Hadrons containing a bottom quark are identified by detecting electrons or muons from their semi-leptonic decays. The measured cross section is in excess of the Next to Leading Order QCD prediction by a factor of three.

Grouping Committed Transactions Based On Number, Space, And Time, Prahalad Ragothaman

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Math Anxiety, Self Efficacy And Performance From A Constructivist Perspective, Jason Alan Mccray

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

2001-2002 Southern Illinois University Bulletin Carbondale Campus (Undergraduate Catalog), Southern Illinois University Carbondale

SIU Bulletins and Course Catalogs Archives

No abstract provided.

Altruistically Inclined?: The Behavioral Sciences, Evolutionary Theory, And The Origins Of Reciprocity, Alexander J. Field

Faculty Book Gallery

Altruistically Inclined? examines the implications of recent research in the natural sciences for two important social scientific approaches to individual behavior: the economic/rational choice approach and the sociological/anthropological. It considers jointly two controversial and related ideas: the operation of group selection within early human evolutionary processes and the likelihood of modularity—domain-specific adaptations in our cognitive mechanisms and behavioral predispositions.

Experimental research shows that people will often cooperate in one-shot prisoner's dilemma (PD) games and reject positive offers in ultimatum games, contradicting commonly accepted notions of rationality. Upon first appearance, predispositions to behave in this fashion could not have been favored …

Research Notes

Ethnobotanical Leaflets

No abstract provided.

Environmental Analysis Of Cores From The Helike Delta, Gulf Of Corinth, Greece, S. Soter, Patricia Blackwelder, C. Tziavos, D. Katsonopoulou, Terri Hood, Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The fan delta southeast of Aigion on the southwest shore of the Gulf of Corinth was the site of ancient Helike, a city destroyed and submerged by an earthquake and seismic sea wave in 373 BC. Bore holes drilled on the Helike Delta yielded numerous ceramic fragments in the upper 12 meters, and a record of changing local environments on the delta during the Holocene period. At about 8 m below present sea level the core profiles show a general upward transition from marine to lacustrine/lagoonalc onditions.T he transition dates from about 8 kyr BP and is probably due to …

Catalog 2001-02, Dmacc

Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Magnetic And Calorimetric Studies On The Non-Linear Optical Material Ga1-Xmnxs, Melissa Duffy

All Volumes (2001-2008)

The new layered III-VI Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors (DMS) are 2-D systems containing transition metal ions (e.g. Mn, Fe, Co, etc.) in a III-VI semiconducting host (e.g. GaSe, GaS, etc.). The III-VI DMS Ga1-xMnxSe exhibits a strong red emission at 1.804 eV attributed to the Mn ions. The III-VI semiconductors are known for their remarkable nonlinear optical properties and are promising materials for photoelectronic applications. This work also complements the enormous progress in the II-VI DMS and the more recent efforts in the Mn doped III-V DMS systems. In a manuscript published last summer, Pekerak et al present magnetization data on …

Colby College Catalogue 2001 - 2002, Colby College

Colby Catalogues

Colby College Catalogue: September 2001 - August 2002

Rationality, Decision Theories, And Thresholds: Implications For Environmental Valuation, Randall S. Rosenberger

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this paper is to promote a discussion about different theories of rationality and models of individual decision making, as well as the role of thresholds in the valuation of environmental management and policy issues. The intent of this paper is to provide some conceptual distinctions between models and theories in order to develop experiments that empirically test one or more of the issues raised herein.

Comparing Three Spatial Cluster Tests From Rare To Common Spatial Events, Ge Lin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

In the past few years, several new tests for spatial clustering have been proposed. With ever increasing capability of GIS and wider availability of spatial statistic functions, spatial analysts are likely to face challenge of properly using these tests. Seemingly gaps also exist between the development of new tests and follow up evaluations against various assumptions. In this research note, I compare three cluster tests along a range of distribution from rare to common spatial events. The results not only revealed sensitive data feature that each test is designed to detect, but also clarified the interpretation based on the nature …

Disability Legislation: An Empirical Analysis Of Employer Cost, Beth A. Loy, Tesfa Gebremedhin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

As U.S. civil rights legislation, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was created to eliminate workplace discrimination on the basis of disability. Using the United States as an example, this research analyzes the potential for disability legislation to laden employers with excessive cost burdens, specifically expenses from additional workplace injuries and illnesses. In addition, this study looks at the likelihood that employers compensate for these costs by cutting workplace sick leave benefits. Prior to the ADA’s implementation, U.S. employers had the fear of incurring excessive cost. The paper successfully counters this fear by looking first …

Evolutionary Implications Of Divergent Clines In An Avian (Manacus: Aves) Hybrid Zone, Robb T. Brumfield, Robert W. Jernigan, David B. Mcdonald, Michael J. Braun

Faculty Publications

A previous study of the hybrid zone in western Panama between white-collared (Manacus candei) and golden-collared manakins (M. vitellinus) documented the unidirectional introgression of vitellinus male secondary sexual traits across the zone. Here, we examine the hybrid zone in greater genetic and morphological detail. Statistical comparisons of clines are performed using maximum-likelihood and nonparametric bootstrap methods. Our results demonstrate that an array of six molecular and two morphometric markers agree in cline position and width. Clines for male collar and belly color are similar in width to the first eight clines, but are shifted in position by at least five …

The Asymptotic Equivalence Of The Fisher Information Matrices For Type I And Type Ii Censored Data From Location-Scale Families, Luis A. Escobar, William Q. Meeker

Faculty Publications

Type I and Type II censored data arise frequently in controlled laboratory studies concerning time to a particular event (e.g., death of an animal or failure of a physical device). Log-location-scale distributions (e.g., Weibull, log-normal, and loglogistic) are commonly used to model the resulting data. Maximum likelihood (ML) is generally used to obtain parameter estimates when the data are censored. The Fisher information matrix can be used to obtain large-sample approximate variances and covariances of the ML estimates or to estimate these variances and covariances from data. The derivations of the Fisher information matrix proceed differently for Type I (time …

Lsu General Catalog 2001-2002, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

LSU General Catalog

The LSU General Catalog describes all undergraduate and graduate departments and programs with degree requirements and courses offered for each one. The General Catalog includes information on registration and financial aid as well as academic services offered to all students.