Digital Commons Network^™

Forensic Dentistry: Dental Indicators For Identification, Jennifer Gail Hopper Mcclanahan

LSU Master's Theses

The use of dentition for identification has been well established in the field of forensics. However, dental analysis has been employed primarily for positive personal identification. The purpose of this thesis research is to explore the possibility of using dental characteristics for general profiling of the decedent. Dental characteristics, including caries and dental restorations, were examined in the dentition of 41 modern forensic cases in the LSU FACES Collection. Twenty-one of these cases are positively identified individuals whose remains were donated to the university. The other 20 cases are active forensic cases which have not been identified. The general profiling …

Arm Crank Power And Hyperammonemia In Respones To L-Aspartic Acid Supplementation, William W. Edwards

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

PURPOSE: To examine the effect of L-Aspartic Acid (L-Asp) supplementation on short-term arm-crank power (i.e. W·min^-1) and exercise-induced hyperammonemia in two gender-specific investigations. METHODS: The male investigation (MALE) used nine highly-trained intercollegiate water polo players (WP) and nine moderately-trained college students (MOD); the female investigation (FEM) used 18 recreationally-trained college students. All exercised to exhaustion on two occasions following counterbalanced double-blind ingestion of 12.5g x 2 of L-Asp or placebo (P). The warm-up phase began at 25 W·min^-1 and increased in 25 W·min^-1 stages every 30 seconds (constant 100 rpm). Performance began (i.e. the subjects turned …

Cross-Cultural Construct Validation Of The Learning Transfer System Inventory In Tawian, Hsin-Chih Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Human Resource Development has historically made a large contribution to Taiwan's economic growth. Organizations in Taiwan perceive training as one of their top priorities to maintain their competitive advantage. Although many organizations have spent considerable money on training, there has been a lack of a comprehensive, generalizable, psychometrically-sound instrument to investigate transfer of learning in Taiwan. This study cross-culturally validated the constructs of the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) for use in Taiwan. By doing so, HRD practitioners in Taiwan can benefit by having an instrument to diagnose intervening variables and improve individual performance. The LTSI was translated through a …

Why Judicial Elections Stink, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Those who are concerned about judicial independence and accountability in the United States quite rightly focus their attention on state judicial election campaigns. It is there that the most sustained and successful efforts to threaten judicial tenure in response to isolated, unpopular judicial decisions have occurred; and it is there that escalating campaign spending has created a public perception that judges are influenced by the contributions they receive. Attempts to address these problems have been undermined by four political realities that the author refers to as "the Axiom of 80 ": Eighty percent of the public favors electing their judges; …

Revenge Or Mercy? Some Thoughts About Survivor Opinion Evidence In Death Penalty Cases, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Stereotyping Of Women In Television Advertisement, Vaishali Shrikhande

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the portrayal of women in television commercials and documented the stereotypes associated with women in today’s television commercials. Content analysis was chosen as a method of inquiry for this study. Two hundred and twenty six advertisements were recorded from the three chosen networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. No local advertisements or public service announcements were included in the sample. Each advertisement was initially coded for the central figure, whether the central figure was a male or a female. In addition, each central figure in the advertisement was coded for the following categories: 1) age; 2) product use; …

Rotary Kiln Incineration Of Hazardous Wastes: Pilot-Scale Studies At Louisiana State University, John Sutherland Earle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Studies of incineration of surrogates for hazardous wastes are conducted in the pilot-scale rotary kiln incinerator (RKI) at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The purpose of the research is to investigate methods of treating and destroying hazardous wastes in a cost-effective and environmentally sound way. The objective is to provide process data that will contribute to increased knowledge for RKI design and operation. The LSU facility is a College of Engineering Combustion Laboratory that is unique in its large size as a university laboratory. It is equipped with individual instruments for analysis of O₂, CO, …

Atomic And Electronic Structure Of Bulk Intermetallic And Heteroepitaxially Grown Surface Alloys, Orhan Kizilkaya

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It has been well documented that the surfaces of solids may differ from their bulk counterpart. The symmetry that a bulk possesses is broken at the surface. Due to this broken symmetry in the reduced dimension of the surface, the energetic of the surface also differs from the bulk counterpart. Reconstruction, charge redistribution, and surface alloying are phenomena that minimize the surface free energy. Surface properties of scientifically and technologically important bimetallic systems are the main focus of this dissertation. Specifically, surfaces of bulk alloy or heteroepitaxially grown metal-on-metal systems have been investigated primarily with two indispensable surface techniques, scanning …

Are The U.S. Patent Priority Rules Really Necessary?, Mark A. Lemley, Colleen V. Chien

UC Law Journal

The United States is the only country in the world that awards patents to the first person to invent something, rather than the first to file a patent application. In order to determine who is first to invent, the United States has created an elaborate set of "interference" proceedings and legal standards to define invention and decide how it may be proven. Supporters of this system claim that it is necessary to protect small inventors, who may not have the resources to file patent applications quickly, and may therefore lose a patent race to large companies who invented after they …

Playing Ostrich With The Faa's History: The Scope Of Mandatory Arbitration Of Employment Contracts, Claire Kennedy-Wilkins

UC Law Journal

Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") states that "nothing herein contained shall apply to contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce." The Court has interpreted this section very narrowly so that it only applies to seamen, railroad, and other transportation employees. This Note examines the historical context in which the FAA emerged and argues that the Court has ignored the original intent of the Section 1 exception. The note examines the meaning of the term "engaged in commerce" at the time the FAA was enacted, the legislative …

Marital Immunity, Intimate Relationships, And Improper Inferences: A New Law On Sexual Offenses By Intimates, Michelle J. Anderson

UC Law Journal

Today, to one degree or another, marital immunity for sexual offenses persists in over half the states. Underlying the marital rape immunity has been the assumption that when a woman enters into a marriage, she gives her ongoing consent to sexual intercourse. This Article argues that states must abolish this immunity to make the law formally neutral on the marital status of the parties. However, as this Article argues, such formal neutrality is insufficient. The ideology of ongoing consent underlying the marital rape immunity has infected the way the legal system treats sexual offenses among intimates who are not married. …

The Dubious Concept Of Jurisdiction, Evan Tsen Lee

UC Law Journal

The conventional wisdom about jurisdiction is that it equals power and is conceptually distinct from the merits. In this Article, Professor Lee challenges both those notions. Jurisdiction is more akin to legitimate authority than to power, and, as such, cannot be conceptually distinguished from the merits, which also ultimately pertain to legitimate authority. Professor Lee argues that courts should therefore abstain from the metaphysics of jurisdiction-they should always ask whether, all things considered, they should rule as a plaintiff asks, not whether they are capable of so ruling.

Homicide On Holiday: Prosecutorial Discretion, Popular Culture, And The Boundaries Of The Criminal Law, Carolyn B. Ramsey

UC Law Journal

As tort reforms have decreased plaintiffs' opportunities to recover for injuries and deaths arising from popular "extreme" sports, prosecutors have become more willing to bring criminal charges against participants in these inherently dangerous sports. This Article explores the emerging tensions between the popularity of these sports and the prosecutorial decisions resulting in the charging and conviction of "extreme" sport athletes deemed responsible for recreational injuries and fatalities.

Demonstrating the increasing popularity of "extreme" sports and examples of injury and death resulting from them, this Article shows that tort reform and the economic influence of service providers, such as ski areas, …

Binding Interest Arbitration In The Public Sector: A "New" Proposal For California And Beyond, Brian J. Malloy

UC Law Journal

For over thirty-five years, binding interest arbitration legislation has been enacted in many states and localities as a way to avoid debilitating labor problems with essential public employees, particularly police and firefighters. A recurring issue has been whether these statutes unconstitutionally delegate legislative policy- making authority to a private third party, thereby violating the non-delegation doctrines in many state constitutions. A sizeable majority of courts have upheld these statutes against nondelegation doctrine challenges. In April 2003, however, the California Supreme Court invalidated California's binding interest arbitration statutory system. The court, importantly, did not base its decision on typical non-delegation grounds. …

The Public Domain: The Evolution Of Legal Restraints On The Government's Power To Control Public Access Through Secrecy Or Intellectual Property, Edward Lee

UC Law Journal

The concept of the public domain is the focus of a firestorm of debate, precipitated by some of the most important controversies of our digital age. This debate, however, is deeply flawed in two critical respects. First, the debate has invoked the public domain without a clear understanding of the origin of the term and the first principles that courts enunciated in recognizing the concept. Second, the debate has focused almost exclusively on intellectual property law in analyzing the public domain, ignoring the many uses of the term in other areas of law, such as First Amendment rights of access, …

Proportional Assessment Of X And Y Chromosome-Bearing Spermatozoa In Bull And Boar Ejaculates Using Conventional And Real-Time Pcr Techniques, Julius Braden Paul

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Considerable variation in the percentage of Y-chromosome bearing spermatozoa (%Y-CBS) between ejaculates in the same male has been reported. Collection regime has been speculated to influence the degree of variation in %Y-CBS in bull ejaculates (Chandler et al., 1998). Experiments were designed to evaluate the effects of two collection regimes on %Y-CBS. Conventional PCR combined with gel electrophoresis and image analysis was employed to determine %Y-CBS in ejaculates from two bulls collected on 7-day intervals and two bulls on 21-day intervals. Real-time PCR technology was used to quantify %Y-CBS in the same ejaculates. Boar ejaculates were also analyzed with both …

The Definition Of "Serious Health Condition" Under The Family Medical Leave Act, Jessica Beckett-Mcwalter

UC Law Journal

This Note examines the definition of "serious health condition" under the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). The FMLA allows an employee to take time off from work if she suffers from a "serious health condition" or needs to care for a family member with a "serious health condition." The Department of Labor regulations provide that a "serious health condition" requires inpatient care or continuous treatment. Many courts have interpreted the Department of Labor regulations as setting up a bright-line test for determining whether an illness constitutes a "serious health condition" under the FMLA. This Note argues that the Department of …

Taking Cover: Fifth Amendment Takings Jurisprudence As A Tool For Resolving Water Disputes In The American West, Jeffrey A. Wilcox

UC Law Journal

The Supreme Court's Fifth Amendment takings jurisprudence over the last half-century, through its notorious inconsistency, has provided relatively unreliable precedent for those seeking clearly to delineate the parameters of appropriate government intrusion upon private property rights. Although the Court has outlined a few categories where a per se taking has occurred, these categories cover but a small portion of takings challenges, thus leaving a broad swath of ambiguity for parties that might otherwise implement these decisions to vindicate their rights.

At present, litigants on both sides of a water dispute in the arid American West seek refuge in these scattered …

Slaughter-House Five: Views Of The Case, David S. Bogen

UC Law Journal

This Article discusses five views of the Slaughter-House Cases: (I) that Justice Miller was deliberately ambiguous about whether the Bill of Rights is incorporated against the states by the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) that Justice Miller rejected incorporation through the privileges and immunities clause; (3) that he adopted incorporation of the Bill of Rights in the Slaughter-House Cases; (4) that the Slaughter- House Cases should be reexamined and overturned by the modern court; and (5) that the Slaughter-House Cases should remain the way in which the privileges or immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is …

Parents Whose Attitudes Do Not Support Corporal Punishment: Descriptives, Correlates, And Predictors Of Parents Who Spank And Parents Who Do Not Spank, Ruth Thornhill Weinzettle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined variables associated with the use of corporal punishment (CP) by parents who hold attitudes that do not support CP, via secondary analysis of an existing nationally representative data set, obtained by the Gallup organization. A cross-sectional telephone survey design was used. The sample consisted of 318 parents, with at least one child between birth and 17 in the home. Independent variables included demographic characteristics, childhood experiences with CP and family violence, contemporaneous household stressors, and parental anger responses. Parents’ use of CP in the past year was the dependent variable. Results indicated that among parents who do …

Five Films Of Steven Soderbergh, Donald Beale

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines five films of Steven Soderbergh: sex, lies, and videotape (1989), The Underneath (1995), Out of Sight (1998), The Limey (1999), and Traffic (2000). For each film, themes and cinematic form and technique are analyzed with the intent of demonstrating a consistent authorial voice of the director. The investigation reveals that common themes include the protagonist at odds with the world about him, journey, ambiguities and uncertainties in the characters' worlds, and the nondichotomous nature of reality, especially in regard to morality. The study also argues that Soderbergh has evolved a style that favors a nonlinear narrative and …

Regional Water Quality Models For The Prediction Of Eutrophication Endpoints, Anindita Das

LSU Master's Theses

Eutrophication is a process by which a waterbody progresses from its origin to its extinction. During this period, there is a gradual accumulation of nutrients and organic biomass, accompanied by a decrease in average depth of the water due to sediment accumulation, and an increase in primary productivity, usually in the form of dense algal blooms. Cultural eutrophication occurs when humans, through their various activities, greatly accelerate this process. Eutrophication can cause loss in species diversity, fish kills, and decrease the aesthetic value of a waterbody. The EPA is trying to prevent cultural eutrophication by setting standards for water quality …

Adaptive Image Filtering Using Run-Time Reconfiguration, Nitin Srivastava

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis implements an adaptive linear smoothing image filtering algorithm, on a Virtex™-E FPGA using run-time reconfiguration (RTR). An adaptive filter uses a filtering window that runs over the entire image pixel-by-pixel, generating new (filtered) values of the pixels. As the name suggests, an adaptive filter can adapt to the varying nature of an image by adjusting the coefficients of the filtering window depending upon the local variance in the intensity values of pixels. It filters an image in a non-uniform fashion providing greater smoothing in largely uniform areas of the image and lesser smoothing when it encounters edges and …

Power And Empowerment In Writing Center Conferences, Kerri Stanley Jordan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores power and empowerment in writing center peer conferences. Arguing against the notion of “hierarchical” and “collaborative” conference categories, it suggests that because both participants enact power in conference interaction, conferencing power dynamics exist on a continuum. Issues of ownership are also placed on a continuum (and associated with enactments of power); this study argues against idealized notions of tutees “owning” their texts and conferencing goals. It distinguishes between empowerment in a practical sense (associated with improving writing skills) and in a political sense (associated with increasing critical awareness). The research involved ethnographic methods: it followed two peer …

Fine-Scaled Movements And Habitat Use Of Black Bears In South Central Louisiana, Dwayne Allen Hightower

LSU Master's Theses

Animal movements are related to many parameters of interest such as the search for food and other life requisites. Several measures, including home range, have been used to quantify and describe animal movement. However, fine-scaled movements of mammals have received less attention even though they are more directly related to energy expended for locating resources and provide information on how a home range is used. I tracked radiotagged female black bears (Ursus americanus) from two geographically separate populations in the Atchafalaya River Basin in south central Louisiana: the Coastal population at the southern extent and the Inland population at the …

Role Of Endothelin-1 In The Gastrointestinal Tract Of Horses In Health And Disease, Ramaswamy Monickarasi Chidambaram

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Gastrointestinal tract disease is the leading natural cause of death in horses and horses with ischemic intestinal disease have the greatest mortality. We hypothesized there is basal synthesis of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the intestinal tract of healthy horses that is likely involved in regulating vasomotor tone, secretion and motility and that ET-1 synthesis increases with gastrointestinal tract disease, which may be involved in the pathophysiology of these disorders. Plasma ET-like immunoreactivity was increased in horses with naturally-acquired gastrointestinal disease, compared with normal horses; values were greatest in horses with large intestinal strangulation obstruction, enterocolitis and peritonitis. There was an association …

Experimental Evaluation Of Temporal Particle Agglomeration And Metal Partitioning Of Urban Rainfall-Runoff, Aimee Ann Blazier

LSU Master's Theses

Rainfall-runoff quantity and quality control presents unique challenges due to the complexity and variability of hydrology and rainfall-runoff chemistry as well as the variable nature of constituent-producing processes in the environment. This study investigates two fundamental processes in rainfall-runoff: temporal particle agglomeration and metal partitioning between the solid and aqueous phase. A series of rainfall-runoff events were captured at an urban, Portland concrete cement (PCC) paved site in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and characterized with respect to particle gradation and metal phase fractions (dissolved and particulate) over time from a well-mixed, batch experimental system. Results indicate that equilibria and kinetics of …

Relative Efficacy Of School-Home Notes With And Without Response Cost In Impoverished Elementary School Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Andrea Nichole Jurbergs

LSU Master's Theses

Daily report cards and punishment have proven to be effective methods of classroom behavior management. However, treatment effectiveness studies have not been designed to adequately compare the effects of rewarding and punishing consequences on behavior through a school-home note. The study of school-home note treatment effectiveness has focused on middle-class students with behavior problems; both ADHD and disadvantaged populations have been underresearched. Using a reversal, alternating treatments design, the present study will examine the effectiveness of a response-cost system added to school-home notes for increasing classwork completion and appropriate classroom behavior in several disadvantaged elementary school children with ADHD.

Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping For Agronomic And Fiber Quality Traits In Upland Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.) Using Molecular Markers, Muhanad Walid Akash

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The breeding of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars that combine high yield and fiber quality is a major challenge to the breeder. The understanding of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) contributing to agronomic and fiber quality traits offers an excellent route to solve this problem. A QTL analysis was carried out after an F_2:3 population composed of 138 lines, derived from the intraspecific cross between Paymaster 54 and PeeDee 2165, was developed and a linkage map including 143 AFLP markers was constructed. The F_2:3 population was grown in two locations, Alexandria and Baton Rouge in LA. The …

Re-Evaluating The Mausoleum Of Galla Placidia, Lisa Onontiyoh West

LSU Master's Theses

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia has generated a lengthy bibliography over the centuries but, in spite of repeated investigations, the north and south arm barrel vaults have received almost no attention. Commentary on these areas of the mosaic program is usually brief and limited to a comparison between the appearance of the barrel vaults and patterns found in various textiles, such as carpets. This thesis seeks to fill the void in the body of scholarly research pertaining to the north and south arm barrel vaults by viewing their decorative motifs through the eyes of a fifth-century Christian. When seen from …