Digital Commons Network^™

Why A Board? Group Decisionmaking In Corporate Governance, Stephen M. Bainbridge

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article begins by briefly describing the role of the board both in law and in practice. Part II explores the distinction be- tween consensus and authority as modes of institutional decision- making. As hierarchical institutions, corporations rely far more heavily on authority than on consensus. Yet, at the apex of the hierarchy is a collegial body that functions mainly by consensus.

Part III is the core of the Article. In order to evaluate corporate law's preference for collective decisionmaking, we need to know whether group decisionmaking is superior to that of individuals. A wealth of experimental data suggests that …

Know, Known, Knew, Sherry J. Lane

LSU Master's Theses

I have special appreciations for my education, the ability to read, comprehend, and communicate. These appreciations have led my curiosity to issues of education and how we sometimes take important necessities for granted. Advances in technologies are changing social interactions, perceptions, and the ways in which we communicate. I have become intrigued at how these changes affect the ways in which we are taught today, verses how we were taught in the past and I am especially concerned of how the future will be influenced by what we are learning. When I speak of how we are taught and what …

Chinese Intervention In The Korean War, Harry Martin Crocker

LSU Master's Theses

In late October 1950, the People's Republic of China (PRC) committed approximately 260,000 troops to combat in North Korea. The initial Chinese decision to intervene in the Korean conflict was based on a misperception of American commitment to halt communist expansion. American actions seemed to communicate the desire to avoid confrontation. The withdrawal of U.S. troops and the limited equipping and training of the South Korean army implied Washington's lack of interest in the fate of Korea. Therefore, Mao endorsed North Korea's proposal for the military reunification of Korea. China stood to gain international prestige and access to Soviet equipment …

Effects Of Fire Frequency And The Red Imported Fire Ant On Native Insects In A Louisiana Longleaf Pine Savanna, Deanna M. Colby

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ants and ground beetles were collected in pitfall traps from a longleaf pine savanna in the early stages of restoration. Insect abundance and species richness were compared among four treatment combinations of two fire frequencies and presence and absence of an exotic ant, Solenopsis invicta, the red imported fire ant. Amdro® was used to suppress S. invicta. Fire treatments consisted of a single fire in a two year period or two fires in a two year period, one applied each year. Fires were applied late in the growing season both years. Ten of the 28 ground beetle species …

Prevention Of Eating Disorders In Athletes: An Intervention For Coaches, Brooke L. Whisenhunt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research has found that athletes, particularly those involved in "aesthetically-oriented" sports, are at increased risk for engaging in unhealthy weight reduction practices and developing clinical eating disorders. Prevention studies of eating disorders have had some success, but there are very few published studies that address prevention in athletes. This study was designed as an eating disorders prevention program that targeted coaches as change agents. Cheerleading coaches at national or regional conferences attended an intervention workshop or a control workshop. Coaches who attended the intervention workshop received information regarding nutrition, eating disorders, and ways to manage athletes with eating disorders. They …

Taking Pr To School: A Case Study Of The Three Private High School Public Relations And Development Departments, Christine Cidalise Indest

LSU Master's Theses

Few studies specifically explore public relations in private high schools. Statistics reveal that in Louisiana the number of nonpublic high school students continues to increase, therefore the competition among private schools for students increases as well as the demand to improve the private schools. These private schools need public relations to establish mutually beneficial relationships with strategic publics to attract students and to raise money to educate the students. This thesis is a case study of private school public relations programs at three Louisiana high schools. The theoretical basis for this thesis centered on the research of James Grunig. To …

The Chemistry Of Change: A Production Thesis In Directing, Anthony Greenleaf Winkler

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is an account of the production process involved in directing The Chemistry of Change by Marlane Meyer. Particular attention is paid to the Suzuki and Viewpoint methods of actor training used in rehearsal; periods of discussion with the playwright regarding the script; negotiations with designers; and an evaluation of the audience reception of the public performances. These aspects of producing a play for the theatre are recorded from the point of view of the director and described with the intention of revealing the learning process for all involved in the collaborative process.

Analysis Of Death Trends In Coroner Cases In East Baton Rouge Parish From January 1, 1991 To December 31, 2001, Gina Ann Dimattia

LSU Master's Theses

Analysis of death trends in a geographic area can provide valuable information regarding the health of the people in that area. Additionally, evaluation of variables such as sex, race, age, and cause of death can aid local health officials in serving the needs of the population. East Baton Rouge Parish is located in southern Louisiana, includes the capital city of Baton Rouge, and has a population of 412,852. An analysis of death cases handled by the Coroner's Office in East Baton Rouge Parish has not been performed until now. This thesis presents results from an analysis of all deaths in …

Mode Specific Photoionization Dynamics In Polyatomic Molecules, Gerald Jeffery Rathbone

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The work presented in this dissertation presents new work on polyatomic photoionization. In these investigations, the broad range behavior of both allowed and forbidden vibrational modes in linear triatomic systems were studied to understand mode specific aspects of photoionization. The current study is made possible by the experimental strategy of exploiting high resolution photoelectron spectroscopy and the high brightness of third generation synchrotron radiation sources. The data is taken typically tens of eV’s past the ionization potential. The strategy that I employ is to probe alternative vibrational modes which are frequently affected differently following resonant ionization. Such vibrationally resolved data …

Optimal Channel Equalization For Filterbank Transceivers In Presence Of White Noise, Ehab Farouk Badran

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Filterbank transceivers are widely employed in data communication networks to cope with inter-symbol-interference (ISI) through the use of redundancies. This dissertation studies the design of the optimal channel equalizer for both time-invariant and time-varying channels, and wide-sense stationary (WSS) and possible non-stationary white noise processes. Channel equalization is investigated via the filterbank transceivers approach. All perfect reconstruction (PR) or zero-forcing (ZF) receiver filterbanks are parameterized in an affine form, which eliminate completely the ISI. The optimal channel equalizer is designed through minimization of the mean-squared-error (MSE) between the detected signals and the transmitted signals. Our main results show that the …

Impact Of Subject Related Factors And Position Of Flight Control Stick On Acquisition Of Simulated Flying Skills Using A Flight Simulator, Bo-Keun Cho

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Increasing demand on aviation industry calls for more pilots. Thus, pilot training systems and pilot-candidate screening systems are essential for civil and military flying training institutes. Before actual flight training, it is not easy to determine whether a flight trainee will be successful in the training. Due to the high cost of actual flight training, it would be better if there were low cost methods for screening and training candidates prior to the actual flight training. This study intended to determine if subject related factors and flight control stick position have an impact on acquisition of simulated flying skills using …

The Greek Sophists : Teachers Of Virtue, David Dwyer Corey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the Greek sophists as teachers of aretê (virtue or human excellence) and a study of the conflict between sophistic and Socratic political values as portrayed in the dialogues of Plato. The first section offers a new definition of the term "sophist" based on ancient sources and attempts to present as clear a picture as is historically possible of the sophists' activities. The second section examines and evaluates Plato's criticisms of the sophists drawing attention especially to the dependence of certain criticisms upon a questionable set of epistemological assumptions about the role of knowledge in …

Pay Satisfaction Consequences : Development And Test Of A Theoretical Model, Larry Hugh Faulk Ii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The considerable research examining pay satisfaction over the past thirty years has focused on antecedents and the conceptualization of the construct. Notably little attention has been given to pay satisfaction consequences. This dissertation incorporates organizational justice literature to develop a model of pay satisfaction consequences and then shows the effect of pay satisfaction on job performance, turnover intentions, organizational commitment, and other variables. Two typologies are created to explain the relationship between pay satisfaction dimensions and consequences. One typology classifies the dimensions of pay satisfaction according to their form and what type of exchange is created with the organization. The …

Organizational Politics And Multisource Feedbacklh[Electronic Resource], John M. Ford

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current research examined the effects of perceptions of organizational politics, understanding of organizational processes, and control over organizational events on rater attitudes (i.e., acceptance, cost-benefit evaluations) toward multisource feedback systems (MSFS). Six-hundred-and-three employees were surveyed concerning their perceptions of organizational politics, understanding, control, and rater attitudes toward MSFS. The present research demonstrated that (a) understanding interacted with organizational politics perceptions in the prediction of rater acceptance of MSFS, (b) control moderated the relationship between understanding and rater attitudes toward peer feedback, (c) perceptions of organizational politics were consistently negatively related to the favorability of rater attitudes toward MSFS, (d) …

Louisiana Mass Media Perceptions Of The Lsu Agcenter's Communications Effort, Robert James Soileau

LSU Master's Theses

LSU AgCenter Communications sends news stories and materials to all three major mass media for news - newspaper, radio and television - in the state of Louisiana. These news releases are designed to educate and inform the general public about LSU AgCenter programs and research through the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service and the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. LSU AgCenter Communications wanted to know the effectiveness of its news effort in terms of usage by the media, and what was the media’s perception of the LSU AgCenter and the topics covered by communications. Three researcher-designed surveys were developed, one for each …

An Analysis Of Student Collaboration And Task Completion Through Project Based Learning In A Web-Supported Undergraduate Course, William Randall Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past decade calls for reform in higher education have emphasized that education should become less instructor centered with students taking a more active role in their learning. Moreover, there is increasing pressure on university professors to implement student centered teaching strategies that negate time and place restrictions of the classroom by integrating technologies that support the active engagement of students through Internet based applications. The goal of this study was to gain insights into the interactions that occur in online communications in a project-based learning activity. Twenty-one undergraduate students participated in the study while completing a component of …

Spatial Models Of Hawaiian Streams And Hawaiian Stream Fish Habital, James Elliott Parham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A series of spatially based models of Hawaiian streams and stream fish habitats were developed to aid in the conservation of native fishes. The spatial models focused on the quantification of habitat for native fishes at three levels within a spatial hierarchy. First, at the reach level, the models classified the major geomorphological features of a stream and its watershed to determine the distribution of fish habitat within the different sections of the stream. The distribution of habitat was combined with habitat suitability criteria and the migratory abilities of the native fishes to quantify available habitat and predict expected community …

Operation Overlord, James Clinton Emmert

LSU Master's Theses

On June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers assaulted the beaches of Normandy in France. In preparation for that one day, the Allies assembled millions of tons of supplies, hundreds of thousands of men, and thousands of ships in Great Britain. Allied leaders spent three years preparing plans and training troops. American and British intelligence agencies scoured Europe for information about German troops and fortifications and launched massive deception campaigns designed to keep their German counterparts in the dark about where and when the blow would fall. In the air, bombers rained destruction upon German factories and French railways while their escorts …

Isleno Decima Singers Of Louisiana: An Interpretation Of Performance And Event, Danielle Elise Sears

LSU Master's Theses

This study is a metaperformance autoethnography of the Isleno decima singers of Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The performance and event of the decima are explored using research techniques including the performance of ethnography. First a basis is provided for the study by presenting a brief historical overview of the Spanish influence in Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The work of Richard Bauman in Verbal Art as Performance is included in order to key the decima as a performance event. Second, the script, “A Tribute to Storytellers: Isleno Decima Singers of Louisiana,” performed at Louisiana State University in The HopKins Black Box …

The Bauhaus (Per)Forms, Lisa Flanagan

LSU Master's Theses

This study uses the methods and discourses of creative/performative writing and formal aesthetics to evoke the visual aesthetic principles exercised and developed by the Bauhaus and its Stage Workshop. It explores the creative connections between visual and written forms that can affect meaning through primary, universal expression and comprehension. First, a graph links creative/performative writing and avant-garde theater concepts with related Bauhaus performance documents. This initial graph contains the key forms of visual and written expression used in the remaining sections. These further areas of inquiry include, an evocative rendering of the multiple and partial histories that include the Bauhaus, …

Picnicking At Houston's Waterwall: The Public Construction Of Corporate Space, Trushna Parekh

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis demonstrates how private, corporate space at the Williams Tower Park in Houston’s Galleria area, (originally conceived as an office park that was closed to the public) has becomes a public place of leisure through its use. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the Williams Tower Park provides evidence contrary to what some scholars have heralded as the "end of public space," characterized by placeless and homogenized spaces. Instead, the corporate landscape of Houston is being culturally constructed through its unintended use by dog owners, fly fishers, wedding and quinceañera photographers, couples and families. The analysis begins with Martin Heidegger’s notion …

Effect Of Tip Geometry On Blade Tip Flow And Heat Transfer, David Michael Kontrovitz

LSU Master's Theses

In an attempt to increase thrust to weight ratio and efficiency of modern gas turbines, engine designers are always interested in increasing turbine operating temperatures. The benefits are attributed to the fact that higher temperature gases yield a higher energy potential. However, the detrimental effects on the components along the hot gas path can offset the benefits of increasing the operating temperature. The High Pressure Turbine (HPT) first stage blade is one component that is extremely vulnerable to the hot gas. The present study explores the effects of gap height and tip geometry on heat transfer distribution. This investigation differs …

Numerical Reservoir Characterization Using Dimensionless Scale Numbers With Application In Upscaling, Djuro Novakovic

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dimensionless space provides a tool for analyzing the behavior of complex systems described by mathematical relationships. The limited application of dimensionless variables in numerical reservoir simulation and experimental design motivated the development of a complete set of dimensionless scaling groups. Inspectional analysis yielded 8 dimensionless groups completely describing the flow system. Further analysis of fluid interaction reduced the number of dimensionless groups to 7. The newly developed dimensionless equations and groups were used for analytical and numerical reservoir characterization, quantifying the behavior of differential and difference equations employed in fluid flow in three-dimensional porous media. The behavior of the dimensionless …

Tribological Behavior Of Nanostructured Nickel, Dean Joseph Guidry

LSU Master's Theses

The present study reports the effects of electroplating parameters on the microstructure, and thus the mechanical and tribological properties, of nanostructured nickel. Electroplating was conducted in a Watt's type bath with a pH of 3.0 carried out using direct current in galvanostatic mode at current densities of 30 mA/cm² and 15 mA/cm² in electroplating bath temperatures of 30°C and 50°C. Grain size and distributions were determined from TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) micrographs. Tribological tests were carried out on a pin-on-disc type tribometer. The same tests were conducted on Ni-200 for the purpose of …

Effects Of Repeat Sampling In The U.S. Waterfowl Parts Collection Survey, Jesse G. Oetgen

LSU Master's Theses

Age ratio estimates obtained annually by the Cooperative Waterfowl Parts Collection Survey (PCS) serve as important estimates of annual waterfowl recruitment. To determine if age and sex ratios are biased due to repeat sampling of hunters across years, I examined PCS data collected from 1991-2000. Mean seasonal harvest increased with number of consecutive years hunters responded to the PCS. Proportions of juveniles in the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) harvest and harvest of all species combined decreased with increasing seasonal harvest level. Proportions of males in the harvest increased with increasing harvest level. Proportions of juveniles in the harvest of hunters responding …

The Matson And Mayville (M&M) Seizure Scale: An Assessment Of Psychological And Environmental Variables Contributing To Seizure Activity In Persons With Mental Retardation, Erik Andrew Mayville

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Seizure activity can be debilitating across a number of physical, social, occupational, and personal domains. Given the deficits in all of these areas frequently present in persons with mental retardation, the control and elimination of seizures is a primary goal for individuals with both mental retardation and epilepsy. Antiepileptic medication can reduce seizure activity. However, this intervention often carries with it a range of untoward side effects that may adversely affect clients over what is typically a long-term treatment regimen. Over the last 20 years, literature has emerged emphasizing the importance of environmental variables in the initiation and maintenance of …

Effects Of A Screening Instrument And Parent Handouts On Physicians Recognition And Intervention Of Childrens Behavioral And Emotional Problems, Heather Rech Applegate

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a screening instrument and parent handouts on pediatric residents' recognition and intervention of children's behavioral and emotional problems. Four pediatric residents and 52 parent-child dyads attending a pediatric primary care clinic participated in the study. A multiple baseline design across residents was used. The effects of the interventions were assessed by measuring ten target behaviors of the pediatric residents. After being trained to use the screening instrument, residents' increased the number and variety of questions they asked regarding behavioral and emotional issues. Attempts at intervention by the residents showed small but reliable increases when …

Pathogenic Mechanisms Of Photobacterium Damselae Subspecies Piscicida In Hybrid Striped Bass, Ahmad A. Elkamel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Photobacterium damselae subspecies piscicida, previously known as Pasteurella piscicida, is an important pathogen of hybrid striped bass and many fish species cultured in brackish water in the United States, Japan, Europe, and the Mediterranean. The purpose of this study is to investigate virulence mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of this organism. The ability of P. damselae to survive/replicate within hybrid striped bass macrophages was evaluated with an in vitro killing assay. Results indicated that the numbers of bacteria recovered from macrophages at 3, 6, 12, and 18 hours of incubation increased significantly over time. In contrast, the numbers of …

Patterns Of Female Nest Attendance In Northern Pintails And Mallards, Andrea Kim Hoover

LSU Master's Theses

I examined the accuracy of using data collected by temperature sensing dummy eggs (hollow and switch) to determine female nest attendance in waterfowl. I monitored 3 northern pintails (Anas acuta) and 6 mallards (A. platyrhynchos) using closed circuit video recording. Differences in the time spent on the nest for an 8-hour recording period between dummy eggs and camera were similar between type (hollow and switch eggs, P = 0.93), species (P = 0.07), and date (P = 0.42). My results show that temperature data from hollow and switch eggs are an effective and accurate method to monitor female nest attendance …

Collecting Raindrops: Investigating Multiplicity In The Work Of Paul Arthur Dufour, Kristin M. Krolak

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is an investigation into the artwork of Paul Arthur Dufour. He has continuously redefined his identity through the form of his art, and his life. The work is passionate, powerful, complex and always of the moment. It is helpful to capture specific moments as opposed to developing a theory about brushstrokes or color or thematic focus because Dufour has worked in just about every imaginable media, color and genre. The possibilities for interpretation of his life’s work are thus limitless. After interviewing Paul Dufour and poring over countless drawings, paintings and other works, I have determined that to …