Digital Commons Network^™

Program Participants' Knowledge And Perceptions Of Effectiveness Of The French Quarter Formosan Termite Program, Alan L. Morgan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine program participants’ knowledge and perceptions of the effectiveness of the French Quarter Formosan Termite Program. The management of the Formosan subterranean termite is critical to the economic well-being of not only Louisiana, but the U.S. Estimates of property damage, repairs, and control measures exceed $1 billion per year in the U.S., of which $500 million is in Louisiana and $300 million is in the New Orleans area. In 1998, the LSU Agricultural Center, a statewide agricultural research and extension campus of Louisiana State University, in cooperation with the Agricultural Research Service, began …

Market Timing And Cost Of Capital Of The Firm, Kyojik Song

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Graham and Harvey’s (2001) survey evidence and Baker, Greenwood, and Wurgler (2003) indicate that firm managers try to time debt markets based on term spreads or excess bond returns when choosing the maturity of new debt issues. Whether debt market timing increases firm value via a reduced cost of capital is an empirical question. I examine differences in firm value across non-timers and timers, where timers are defined as firms that follow either a naïve strategy of choosing long-term debt when the term premium is low or a complex strategy from Baker et al. (2003) based on the predictability of …

An Early Intervention Program To Teach Readiness Skills To At–Risk Kindergarten Students, Marcell E. Hooks

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was implemented as a developmentally appropriate total language arts program to teach readiness skills to kindergarten children at risk of failure. Assessment data for the past 2 years showed literacy deficits among kindergarten students at Bouchet.

Possible causes for early reading difficulties included (a) insufficient teacher training on how to work with children who are low achievers; (b) insufficient parental involvement in the educational process; (c) lack of early literacy experiences, exposure, and skills; and (d) lack of opportunities for collaborative student learning.

The researcher conducted workshops for three kindergarten teachers, the teacher assistant, and parents on …

Training Teachers To Meet The Developmentally Appropriate Needs Of Preschool Children, Sharon R. Brown

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Teachers were having great difficulty meeting the developmental needs of the children. This was evidenced by the teachers’ restriction of unstructured playtime, lack of interaction by the teachers with the children during outdoor play, and the children’s inability to engage in probing, exploratory dialogue.

The solution strategy combined a series of trainings for teachers to learn how to engage children actively in meaningful and age-appropriate learning activities to meet their developmental needs. There were two inservice trainings for the teachers. The topics of the trainings were The Use of Outdoor Space as a Learning Environment for Preschoool Children and How …

Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Strategic Planning Process For Flagler College, William T. Abare Jr

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The underlying problem for this project was that the planning process at Flagler College was more internally focused, did not take into account the external forces that could impact the institution, and did not address the strategic issues confronting the institution. The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a strategic planning process at Flagler.

There were five research questions. First, “What are the different approaches to strategic planning, including general principles that should guide the development and implementation of the planning process?” Second, “What is an appropriate strategic planning model or approach to strategic planning for …

Personality Profiles And Leadership Styles Of University Clinical Supervisors In Speech-Language Pathology Academic Programs, Angela F. Sherman

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This dissertation was designed to collect descriptive data about personality types and leadership styles of speech-language pathology clinical supervisors who are employed in university degree-training programs. Participants completed a Demographic Data Sheet, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Form M), and the Styles of Leadership Survey. Thirty-two pre-coded completed packets were returned (56% return rate) and analyzed to determine personality profiles and leadership styles for the respondents. No significant personality type was identified among participants. However, participants’ profiles indicated sensing (46%) and judging (56%) as dominant personality traits. The results suggested that there are no significant relationships between the MBTI personality types and …

Influences Of Selected Demographic Variables On The Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Of College Seniors, Mary Edith Whitehead Stacy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The study was designed (1) to describe college seniors demographically, (2) to assess college seniors perceived level of career-decision making self-efficacy (CDMSE), (3) to examine the relationship between the participant’s CDMSE scores, as measured by the subscales of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale – Short Form© (CDSE-SF), and selected demographic characteristics, and; (4) to determine if a model existed to explain a significant portion of variance in CDMSE based on the selected demographic characteristics. The sample consisted of 382 college seniors attending a four-year public university completing the application for graduation process in the 2002 fall semester. Along with the …

Connected Math Program: A Math Intervention Program For Sixth-Grade Students, Kathleen Mrozak

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The objective of this study was to find a means of increasing math achievement in the middle school grade levels of the City School District of Albany. Low math achievement was documented on the Grade 8 math assessment of the New York State Testing Program for 1998-2001. Possible causes include poor alignment of the curriculum to the state learning standards and the state testing program in math. In addition, professional development on topics of math reform needed to be made available to middle school math teachers.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a program of math reform …

Implementing Study Groups To Improve Reading Achievement Scores Of Jensen Elementary School Students, Margaret Gayle Woodall

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was conducted to provide an historical review and assessment of the implementation of teacher study groups at Jensen Elementary School for the purpose of improving student reading skills during the 1997-1998 school year. The reading study groups were grade level groups that met monthly to participate in team learning (Senge 1990) by obtaining new information, revisiting information from a 4-day district in-service session, discussing strategies, problem solving, sharing successes and supporting one another.

The evaluation of the initiative consisted of a formative evaluation to determine if the program was implemented and a summative evaluation to determine if …

The Effects Of Message Direction And Sex Differences On The Interpretation Of Workplace Gossip, Kristen Marie Berkos

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Gossip occurs in the organization and individuals exposed to these gossip messages must decide how to interpret the gossip. This dissertation explains the definitions and research for gossip, message direction, sex differences, message interpretation, politicalism, and believability. Applying symbolic interactionism and social exchange theory, seven relationships between variables are proposed. The seven hypotheses are tested via a web-based questionnaire that manipulated the message direction and sex of the gossiper and gossip receiver. Two hundred seventy-six full time employees completed instruments measuring gossip believability, purpose, and politicalism. Data were subjected to a MANCOVA, and correlation statistics. Results supported three of the …

Matthaeus Pipelare's "Fors Seulement Chanson (Ii)" And Its Related Motet And Mass Performance Editions And Commentary, George H. Black, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Matthaeus Pipelare was a composer from the southern Netherlands who flourished in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Except for the little more than two years he spent as choirmaster for the Confraternity associated with the Cathedral of St. John in 's Hertogenbosch, located in Northern Brabant, almost nothing is known of his professional or personal life. Yet writers of the period hailed his skill and placed him in the same company as such well-known composers as Josquin, la Rue, Brumel, and Isaac. A small but excellent body of the composer's works survive in manuscripts and early prints housed …

Psychosocial Predictors Of Visceral Adiposity, Paula C. Rhode

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Psychosocial factors are thought to influence health through primarily direct physiological mechanisms or the alteration of health related behaviors. Three factors hypothesized to negatively impact health include arousal, life stress, and depressive symptomatology. One recent theorist suggests that the interaction between psychological stress and stress hormones on the neuroendocrine system may result in adverse changes to body composition, most notably the increased deposition of visceral adipose tissue (Bjorntorp, 1993). The current study prospectively examined the relationship between self-reported stressful life events, depressive symptoms and trait arousal on the deposition of visceral fat, as measured by computerized tomography (CT). Subjects were …

An Old Form Newly Clothed: Exploration And Conductor's Analyses Of Morten Lauridsen's Madrigali: Six "Fire-Songs" On Italian Renaissance Poems, C. Leonard Raybon, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Madrigali: Six “Fire-Songs” on Italian Renaissance Poems, by Morten Lauridsen, was written for the University of Southern California Chamber Singers and published in 1987. The cycle has enjoyed much success. It has been recorded commercially six times and has been heard at the prestigious American Choral Directors Association Conventions. However, until now, sixteen years after the cycle’s composition, a much-deserved, comprehensive assessment of the cycle has not been attempted. The cycle is a set of six Italian Renaissance poems that involve the image of fire as an element of Romantic love. This metaphor was often used by the highly emotional …

Students’ Writing Backgrounds: A Survey, Susan Wawrose

School of Law Faculty Publications

We now know that many experienced lawyers think newly-minted attorneys “do not write well.”1 Law professors complain that students do not write well when they enter law school. Undergraduate professors say their students do not write well when they enter college. I suspect the complaint continues on down the ladder of K- 12 education. Are students learning to write in college, high school, and elementary school? To shed light on the question, I surveyed students in my legal writing class about their writing experience. I wanted to know what kind of writers I was teaching. Had they been taught fundamental …

The Creation And Implementation Of A Teacher In-Service Training Program To Change Classroom Strategies Of Teachers Of Learning Disabled Students, Samuel R. Barfell

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes a setting in an Indiana non-public school with a student enrollment of 590 students and 40 instructional faculty members. Approximately 13.3% of the student population struggled with some degree of learning deficiencies or disabilities and performed poorly in the traditional classroom.

The school does have a resource room called the Talent Development Lab where students receive academic assistance. Although students have experienced great and quantifiable success in the Talent Development Lab, there is a gap between what happens in the Lab and what happens in the classroom. The problem is that teachers have not accepted their …

Declining Enrollment: Recruitment Efforts To Reverse This Trend, Queen A. Morrow

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to recruit high school students for enrollment in courses offered at Bibb County Career Tech Center (BCCTC) and ensure program completion by students enrolled at BCCTC. An analysis of enrollment patterns for the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 indicated that enrollment had steadily declined. Interview and survey data yielded numerous reasons for the enrollment decline, such as inadequate public relations, early release programs by the high schools, and apathy on the part of the students.

Interventions to reverse the declining enrollment trend included launching public relations enhancement programs. Brochures that clearly depicted objectives and possible job opportunities …

Development And Implementation Of A Compliance Plan For A School Magnet Program In East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Parish School System, Clayton M. Wilcox

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study presented information which indicated that there was a need to improve the non-Black enrollment in the programs within a school magnet program in East Baton Rouge Louisiana Parish School System. An analysis of data indicated that of the 22 magnet programs studied, only one had achieved the non-Black enrollment stated in the Consent Decree (desegregation plan).

Techniques were identified which were implemented to enhance the programs within a school magnet program to make them more inviting and attract more non-Black students. Techniques identified included: (a) identifying a staff member in each magnet designated as being accountable for recruiting, …

Of Fathers And Sons: Generational Conflicts And Literary Lineage--The Case Of Ernest Hemingway And Ernest Gaines, Wolfgang Lepschy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Focusing on the depiction of the father-son relationship and the generational conflicts in their works, as well as the metaphorical literary father-son relationship between the two authors, this dissertation offers an intertextual reading of the works of Ernest Hemingway and Ernest J. Gaines. Part One examines Hemingway’s Nick Adams stories that feature the young hero’s growing disillusionment with and eventual rejection of his home and family. Parodying conventional stereotypes about Native American ways of life, Hemingway deconstructs prevailing notions of race by aligning Nick’s father with the wilderness and the Indians. Gaines’s earliest short stories focus on a reunion of …

A Hybrid Collocation Method For Volterra Integral Equations With Weakly Singular Kernels, Yanzhao Cao, Terry Herdman, Yuesheng Xu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The commonly used graded piecewise polynomial collocation method for weakly singular Volterra integral equations may cause serious round-off error problems due to its use of extremely nonuniform partitions and the sensitivity of such time-dependent equations to round-off errors. The singularity preserving ( nonpolynomial) collocation method is known to have only local convergence. To overcome the shortcoming of these well-known methods, we introduce a hybrid collocation method for solving Volterra integral equations of the second kind with weakly singular kernels. In this hybrid method we combine a singularity preserving ( nonpolynomial) collocation method used near the singular point of the derivative …

From Gamete Collection To Database Development: Development Of A Model Cryopreserved Germplasm Repository For Aquatic Species With Emphasis On Sturgeon, William Rittenhouse Wayman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Development of a cryopreserved sperm repository could greatly benefit the study and recovery of endangered species. Currently, a national repository for endangered aquatic species does not exist. This dissertation addressed the development of methods for the creation of a model germplasm repository, which included methods to reduce bacterial contamination within sperm samples, verify sample identification, store sperm (refrigerated or cryopreserved), evaluate sperm quality before and after thawing, and maintain sample and broodstock information. Although these methods were developed for sturgeon, they could be adapted for any aquatic species. Accurate species identification of sperm samples is essential for an archival repository. …

De La Page D'Écriture Et Du Mythe De L'Ancêtre Rebelle: La Problématique De L'Écrite Et De La Parole Dans Le Roman Francophone Ouest Africain, Boubakary Diakite

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to question the concept of orality as the natural expression of ancestors in African novels and press for a reading of West African writers, which values their fictional creation as autonomous from their cultural origins. The main purpose of this study is to examine, through series of close textual readings, how francophone West African novels distance themselves from oral tradition by fully assuming literacy as a characteristic of the post-colonial Africa. The first chapter attempts a redefinition of orality, as only a critical discourse aimed at translating the complexity and the suspected hybridity of …

A Quantitative And Qualitative Evaluation Of The National Endowment For Democracy, Eric T. Hale

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Billions of dollars have been spent to promote democracy and economic freedom through U.S. foreign aid, but little is known about its impact. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is the leading U.S. organization that promotes democracy and economic freedom throughout the world. Since its founding, NED has been the subject of immense discussion and controversy. The goal of this dissertation is to provide insight into the promotion of democracy and economic freedom through an analysis of NED’s activities during the 1990s. The analysis does not find evidence that NED was successful at promoting democracy and economic freedom during the …

Progressive Fatigue Effects On Manual Lifting Factors, Anthony D'Wayne Banks

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Much evidence suggests that the cause of lower back pain (LBP) and injury is frequently related to the posture of lifting, the load, muscle fatigue, and other factors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of progressive fatigue on factors that have previously been associated with increased risk of LBP in various occupational settings, during a repetitive lifting task where freestyle lifting technique was utilized. A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate several fatigue analysis, electromyography amplitude, kinematic, and kinetic parameters of repetitive freestyle lifting during a 2-hour lifting period. Each of ten (10) young adult male …

Voegelin's History Of Political Ideas And The Problem Of Christian Order: A Critical Appraisal, Jeffrey Charles Herndon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation will analyze the problem of Christian political order in light of Eric Voegelin’s History of Political Ideas. The great weakness in Voegelin, according to many critics, was his failure to deal with the historical appearance of Jesus of Nazareth and to fully examine the implications of Christianity for human beings in their political and social existence. The completed publication of the History of Political Ideas now offers the opportunity for a more complete assessment of Voegelin’s position with regard to the problem of Christian political order. The History contains his most comprehensive treatment of Christianity, in terms of …

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 …

A Comparison Of Life Histories And Ecological Aspects Among Snappers (Pisces: Lutjanidae), Fernando Martinez-Andrade

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

An extensive search for data on life-history and ecological variables was conducted for a representative number of the species within the family Lutjanidae. After creating different databases and standardizing all data, these variables were examined in statistical, correlation and graphic analyses. Additionally, a series of Principal Component Analyses were used to examine patterns among variables. Life-history variables included age at length zero, asymptotic length, maximum length, longevity, asymptotic weight, length at maturity, age at maturity, reproductive life span, growth rate and mortality rate. Ecological variables included latitudinal and vertical distribution, habitat selection (represented by substrate type), and spawning seasons. The …

A Performance Edition Of The Opera Kaspar Der Fagottist By Wenzel Müller (1767-1835), As Arranged For Harmonie By Georg Druschetzky (1745-1819), Susan Nita Barber

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document contains a score of the opera transcription for Harmonie that has been compiled from a manuscript collection currently in the holdings of the Helikon Castle Museum Library in Keszthely, Hungary (H KE 0/117) and arranged by Georg Druschetzky, Bohemian-born oboist and regimental drummer, who spent the major portion of his career working in the small geographical area of Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest. The most significant portion of this collection is extracted from Müller's opera Kaspar der Fagottist. This constitutes the last 15 arias found in Druschetzky's arranged collection of 42 Arias mentioned previously. Included is a presentation of …

Using Self-Determination Theory To Understand African American Women's Physical Activity Patterns, Joan B. Landry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Physical inactivity is a major health risk factor in our society. Women and minority populations are especially at risk with regard to physical inactivity. This three-part study employed quantitative and qualitative methodologies to investigate physical activity behaviors in middle aged and older African American women. This population was chosen because African American women are the least active segment of our society. In the first phase, a quantitative approach was used to investigate relationships between Self-Determination and the Stage of Change for physical activity in a sample of 105 African American women. This study provided validation for using this theoretical approach …

The Transcendental Eigenvalue Problem And Its Application In System Identification, Kumar Vikram Singh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

An accurate mathematical model is needed to solve direct and inverse problems related to engineering analysis and design. Inverse problems of identifying the physical parameters of a non-uniform continuous system based on the spectral data are still unsolved. Traditional methods, for the system identification purpose, describe the continuous structure by a certain discrete model. In dynamic analysis, finite element or finite difference approximation methods are frequently used and they lead to an algebraic eigenvalue problem. The characteristic equation associated with the algebraic eigenvalue problem is a polynomial. Whereas, the spectral characteristic of a continuous system is represented by certain transcendental …