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Northern Pintail Nest Site Selection, Nest Success, Renesting Ecology And Survival In The Intensively Farmed Prairies Of Southern Saskatchewan: An Evaluation Of The Ecological Trap Hypothesis, Kenneth Daniel Richkus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Unlike most prairie nesting ducks (Anas spp.), the North American population of northern pintails (A. acuta, hereafter pintails) has failed to respond as expected to improved wetland conditions on the U.S. and Canadian prairies during the mid to late 1990s. My primary objectives were to test the “ecological trap hypothesis” on a landscape level by examining pintail nest site selection and nest success in a highly agricultural environment in southern Saskatchewan. I also used radiotelemetry to estimate renesting and breeding season survival rates of female pintails; two parameters that are important in productivity and life cycle models. Most (51%) pintail …

Odorant Receptors: Regulation, Signaling, And Expression, Michele Lynn Rankin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Olfactory signal transduction is initiated by binding of odorous ligands to G protein-coupled odorant receptors, resulting in the activation of G protein and second messengers that culminates in the generation of action potentials to relay this signal to the brain for odor recognition. This signaling cascade comprises the primary olfactory response. Odorant receptors comprise the largest multigene family identified to date, enabling the olfactory system to respond to an enormous pool of potential odorant molecules. This work focuses on the study of odorant receptors beyond the initiation of the primary olfactory response. The first set of experiments focuses on odorant …

Permeability Of Rice Cystatin Across Caco-2 Cells, Tania Serigado Antunes

LSU Master's Theses

The present work aimed at recovering, purifying, and testing rice cystatin or oryzacystatin I (OCI) bioavailability, to provide scientific evidence that rice cystatin can be used as a functional food ingredient. OCI was extracted from rice bran using 25 mM sodium phosphate buffer containing 0.15 M NaCl at pH 7.0. The resulting homogenate was heat treated, cooled and precipitated with ammonium sulfate. The recovered protein was dialyzed against 50 mM sodium acetate buffer pH 4.8 and sequentially purified by cation exchange, size exclusion, and anion exchange chromatography. Nine hundred and seventy micrograms of protein were obtained from 1 kg of …

Decentralized And Adaptive Sensor Data Routing, Mengxia Zhu

LSU Master's Theses

Wireless sensor network (WSN) has been attracting research efforts due to the rapidly increasing applications in military and civilian fields. An important issue in wireless sensor network is how to send information in an efficient and adaptive way. Information can be directly sent back to the base station or through a sequence of intermediate nodes. In the later case, it becomes the problem of routing. Current routing protocols can be categorized into two groups, namely table-drive (proactive) routing protocols and source-initiated on-demand (reactive) routing. For ad hoc wireless sensor network, routing protocols must deal with some unique constraints such as …

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 …

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 …

Review Of Raíces: The Roots Of Latin Music In New York City, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

When I was in school – and that was, obviously, a long time ago – the word Latin, whether as a noun or as an adjective, referred to the world of ancient Rome, its language, culture, and civilization. Needless to say, this definition has now been replaced by another, whose connotations refer to the culture of the countries south of the border of the United States. When a term alters its meaning, it is undoubtedly indicative of larger issues. In recent decades, for example, the popular music of the Spanish-speaking world, not only has attained by appropriation a distinct …

A Model For Evaluation Of Selected Compositions For Unaccompanied Solo Trumpet According To Criteria Of Serious Artistic Merit, Michael Craig Bellinger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document presents a pilot study for evaluating the serious artistic merit of unaccompanied solo trumpet literature. The model for use in the study was derived from the efforts of two wind band literature researchers, Acton E. Ostling, Jr. and Jay W. Gilbert. Ostling wrote his dissertation in 1978 and Gilbert replicated and updated the research in 1993. The primary element of the Ostling and Gilbert studies was a carefully defined collection of ten criteria used to evaluate the quality of each work. A 5-point Likert scale was the unit of measurement. The outcome of this adaptation was a rank …

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 …

Analysis Of Methods For Assigning Capacity In A Transportation Planning Network, Yogesh Kandaswamy Dheenadayalu

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of the research was to analyze the current practice of assigning capacity values to links of a network and to determine how capacity can be assigned more accurately without greatly increasing time, effort and costs. Currently in most planning networks, the link capacities are assigned based on the number of lanes and a gross facility and area type considerations (LSU, 1997). This practice might have affected the results of travel demand modeling performed using the network. To test this hypothesis, the current practice was compared to the practice of assigning capacities link-by-link using the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) …

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 …

The Importance Of Zooplankton In The Diets Of Blue Runner (Caranx Crysos) Near Offshore Petroleum Platforms In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Sean Francis Keenan

LSU Master's Theses

Blue runner (Caranx crysos), common around offshore petroleum platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, were found to forage extensively on meso- and macro-zooplankton during the summer months. Larval decapods and stomatopods, hyperiid amphipods, pteropods, and larval and juvenile fishes were common components of their diet. Feeding periodicity results suggest that blue runner around platforms were capable of feeding throughout the night at the same intensity as the day. Size selectivity indicated that larger prey, such as fish were consumed during the night and smaller decapod crustaceans were consumed during the day. Blue runner collected from open waters away from platforms …

Modeling Canopy Structure Effects On Loblolly Pine Growth, Mauricio Jerez Rico

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined several aspects of canopy structure and their influence on growth of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations. Foliage distribution, crown hydraulic architecture, and the effect of chronological changes in canopy structure on stand development were explored as possible components of a future process-based model intended for management purposes. A model based on the Johnson’s SB distribution was developed to predict leaf area distribution of loblolly pine trees. This is a preliminary step for building a submodel capable of simulating chronological changes in canopy structure and stand growth. The model accurately predicted the cumulative distribution of leaf area …

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 …

An Analysis Of The Impacts Of Land Use Change And Greenspace On Runoff Rates In An Urbanized Watershed, Kelly Anne Niemeyer

Student Work

This study utilizes the HEC-1 hydrologic model interface within the Watershed Modeling System (WMS) software program to analyze the impacts of urban development and greenspace within a sub-basin of the Papillion Creek Watershed in eastern Nebraska. The sub-basin, located in Douglas County, Nebraska, is currently 30% developed. Four additional land use scenarios were created. The first three scenarios represent a progression of land development from current to complete development. The fourth depicts a completely developed sub-basin with an added greenspace system. Digital terrain data was used within WMS to delineate the basin and its sub-basins. Runoff rates were generated for …

Effects Of Harvesting On Herbaceous Layer Diversity Of A Central Appalachian Hardwood Forest, Frank S. Gilliam

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Clearcutting is a common harvesting practice in many eastern hardwood forests. Among the vegetation strata of these forests, the herbaceous layer is potentially the most sensitive in its response to harvest-mediated disturbances and has the highest species diversity. Thus, it is important to understand the response of herbaceous layer diversity to forest harvesting. Previous work on clearcut and mature stands at the Fernow Experimental Forest (FEF), West Virginia, has shown that, although, harvesting did not alter appreciably herbaceous layer cover, it influenced the relationship of cover to biotic and abiotic factors, such as tree density and soil nutrients, respectively. The …

Inventing The Gothic Subject: Revolution, Secularization, And The Discourse Of Suffering, Diane Hoeveler

English Faculty Research and Publications

In 1816, Byron's Childe Harold bemoaned: "What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?/The heart's bleed longest, and but heal to wear/That which disfigures it" (III, 84), a fitting expression of the culture's fascination with psychic, emotional, and historical traumas. Felicia Hemans used these exact lines as an epigraph to her poem "The Indian City" in 1828, suggesting again the fascination with suffering that permeated the texts produced by this literary community.

Proteolytic Specificity Of Lactobacillus Delbrueckii Subsp. Bulgaricus Influences Functional Properties Of Mozzarella Cheese, B. S. Oommen, Donald J. Mcmahon, C. J. Oberg, Jeff Broadbent, M. Strickland

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Low-moisture part-skim Mozzarella cheeses were manufactured from 2% fat milk and aged for 21 d. Treatments included cheeses made with one of three different strains of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus in combination with a single strain of Streptococcus thermophilus. A fourth, control treatment consisted of cheeses made with only S. thermophilus. Although total proteolytic ability of these strains, as indicated by the o-phthaldialdehyde analysis, was similar in each of the three strains of L. bulgaricus, these strains exhibited different proteolytic specificities toward the peptide, αs1-CN (f 1-23). On the basis of their αs1-CN (f 1-23) cleavage patterns …

Intégration Des Approches Biomécaniques Et Ergonomiques Pour L'Évaluation Des Effets D'Une Pratique Libre De Tâches De Manutention, Micheline Gagnon, Monique Lortie

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Problématique de santé et sécurité et pertinence du projet

II est très difficile d'instrumenter le terrain et d'évaluer certains aspects de la manutention, en particulier son apprentissage dans un contexte de formation. Il est nécessaire de développer des outils d'évaluation plus précis et validés, et d'améliorer notre compréhension des facteurs qui jouent un rôle important en manutention pour développer des stratégies de prévention efficaces.

Objectifs

Trois objectifs principaux étaient visés: 1) Élaborer des outils permettant d'évaluer l'assimilation de la formation. 2) Évaluer l'impact d'une pratique libre, non directive afin de dissocier les changements temporaires dus à la pratique de ceux …

Lombalgies Et Accidents Musculosquelettiques Chez Les Pompiers : Identification Et Analyse Des Situations À Risque Lors De L'Accès Aux Véhicules Et De La Manutention D'Outils, Denis Giguère, Denis Marchand

Rapports de recherche scientifique

La nature du travail des pompiers est propice à l’apparition de problèmes musculo-squelettiques. Les statistiques de la CSST montrent que les foulures et les entorses viennent au premier rang du type de lésion, le dos en est la cible principale suivi des pieds et des chevilles et les agents causals les plus souvent impliqués sont les mouvements du corps, les surfaces de travail et les véhicules. Une étude de l’IRSST (Cloutier et Champoux, 1996) révèle l’existence d’un scénario d’accident, parmi d’autres, impliquant « un effort excessif » et dont les résultats sont des douleurs et des entorses, en particulier au …

Étude Préliminaire De La Friction Des Planchers Recouverts De Matière Grasse, André Massicotte, François Quirion

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Au cours des cinq dernières années, les chutes par glissades ont été la cause de plus de 32000 cas de lésions professionnelles au Québec. Ce type d’accidents est généralement associé à une mauvaise résistance au glissement des planchers, particulièrement dans les services alimentaires où les planchers sont exposés à la matière grasse.

De juin à novembre 2001, QInc a réalisé une étude préliminaire visant à évaluer l’impact de l’entretien et de l’encrassement sur la résistance au glissement des planchers de grès exposés à la matière grasse et à l’usure depuis plusieurs années.

Une procédure a été mise au point afin …

The Bible Code, John A. Tvedtnes

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

Review of The Bible Code (1997), by Michael Drosnin

Conception Et Développement D'Un Nouveau Mesureur De Charge Des Boulons D'Ancrage, Hani S. Mitri

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Click here for the English version of this report

Une nouvelle technologie permettant de mesurer la charge axiale des boulons d'ancrage mécaniques et des « rebars » (boulons à la résine) dans les mines souterraines a été conçue et développée en laboratoire. Cette technologie repose sur un système désigné du nom de SAFEBOLT (Stress And Force Evaluator in BOLTs), qui réunit trois composantes : 1) le mesureur de charge SAFEBOLT installé dans la tête des boulons, 2) un module d'affichage et 3) un câble de raccordement. Un banc d'essai adapté a été construit en laboratoire afin d'assurer le calibrage et …

Non - Legitimate Illness, Embodied Experience And The Moral Career: The Case Of Me/Cfs, Tracey Collett

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

The condition known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is an illness of unknown aetiology which affects over 150 000 persons in the UK. Whilst the cause of the condition is the subject of intense medical debate, the official view is that it is a form of atypical depression or somatisation disorder. This view is at odds with the views of many sufferers who claim that ME/CFS is a pathological disease that renders them severely incapacitated. Sufferers' maintain that, because their condition is regarded as a minor, psychological illness, its' severity is not recognised. Thus, rather than being …

An Empirical Analysis Of Takeover Predictions In The Uk: Application Of Artificial Neural Networks And Logistic Regression, Asim Yuzbasioglu

Plymouth Business School Theses

This study undertakes an empirical analysis of takeover predictions in the UK. The objectives of this research are twofold. First, whether it is possible to predict or identity takeover targets before they receive any takeover bid. Second, to test whether it is possible to improve prediction outcome by extending firm specific characteristics such as corporate governance variables as well as employing a different technique that has started becoming an established analytical tool by its extensive application in corporate finance field. In order to test the first objective, Logistic Regression (LR) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been applied as modelling …

A Model-Based Definition Of The Generic Remanufacturing Business Process, Winifred Ijomah

Plymouth Business School Theses

Remanufacturing is a process of bringing used products to a "like-new" functional state by rebuilding and replacing their component parts. The practice has a low profile in world economies, however, studies indicate that it obtains cost savings in the region of 20% to 80%, as well as quality similar to that of an equivalent "new" product. In fact, in excess of 73,000 firms are engaged in some sort of remanufacturing in the United States alone. The key remanufacturing issues are the ambiguity in its definition and the scarcity of its analytic models. The objective of the research was to address …

Wavelength Assignment In All-Optical Networks For Mesh Topologies, Prabhulaiah Bijja

LSU Master's Theses

All-Optical Networks employing Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) are believed to be the next generation networks that can meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth of the end users. This thesis presents some new heuristics for wavelength assignment and converter placement in mesh topologies. Our heuristics try to assign the wavelengths in an efficient manner that results in very low blocking probability. We propose novel static and dynamic assignment schemes that outperform the assignments reported in the literature even when converters are used. The proposed on-line scheme called "Round-Robin" assignment outperforms previously proposed strategies such as first-fit and random assignment schemes. …

Space And Organizations: The Ecology Of Rural Ngos In San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Patricia Marie Campion

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The field of organizational ecology has been reduced to studies of population dynamics. Ecology, however, is a much broader field, that includes relational, spatial, and temporal dimensions. It allows us to combine existing theories of organizations to study their distribution across space. I combine insights from the new institutionalism, population ecology, and resource-dependence theory, to investigate the factors that influence the location of NGO activities in the state of San Luis Potosí­, Mexico. I conducted interviews and participant observation in 51 rural NGOs. The uneven distribution of NGOs in the state is not the result of their strategy to reach …

Development Of Diagnostic Tools For Detecting Expression Of Resistance-Associated Esterases In The Tobacco Budworm, Heliothis Virescens (F.), Huazhang Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Esterase-based metabolic resistance was studied using biochemical and biological assays with organophosphate (OP)- and pyrethroid (PYR)- resistant tobacco budworms, Heliothis virescens. In biochemical assays, results suggest that: (1) esterase activities toward all substrates used were enhanced in both resistant strains compared with the susceptible strain, suggesting that esterases were involved in resistance; (2) esterase profiles differed depending on the strain and substrate used, and these differences were visualized by using native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; 3) esterase activities toward some pyrethroid substrates were significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) in the PYR-R strain than those in the OP-R strain. These results suggest …

Wash, Karin Eberhardt Watts

LSU Master's Theses

In this body of work, Wash, I translate the negative aspects of life in a positive, vibrant way. The physical and psychological sensations of life supply me with an intuitive frame of reference providing a point of departure for visual expression. Digital scanning and imaging techniques allow me to develop an immediate intimacy with the organic and inorganic objects, while I methodically examine, alter and reconfigure their forms. Graphic elements suggest symbolic interpretation from eastern studies and are sometimes enhanced with letterforms and photographic images representing the difficult articulation of thoughts. I synchronize this re-orchestration with the deciphering and close …