Digital Commons Network^™

An Assessment Of Vocal Conservation/Hygiene And Vocal Exercise Treatment Programs For Middle School Teachers With Voice Problems, Jennifer H. Vinson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Nationally, over 38% of teachers are diagnosed with vocal disorders due to heavy demands placed on their vocal mechanisms with resulting abnormal laryngeal biomechanics and repeated exposure to upper respiratory infections and other airborne irritants (Smith, Kirchner, Taylor, Hoffman, & Lemke, 1998). The incidence of vocal disorders among teachers in the north Alabama area appears to be higher than the national average of 38% according to local otorhinolaryngologists interviewed and preliminary data collected from middle school teachers in the Madison County School System in Huntsville, Alabama. Preliminary data indicated a 44% voice-disordered teacher population within the targeted middle school teaching …

Radical Dialectics In The Experimental Poetry Of Berssenbrugge, Hejinian, Harryman, Weiner, And Scalapino, Camille Martin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I focus on the work of five contemporary experimental poets - Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Lyn Hejinian, Carla Harryman, Hannah Weiner, and Leslie Scalapino - in order to demonstrate various aspects of a philosophical dynamic at work in their poetry. The critical debates surrounding experimental poetry often tend to be structured as a dualistic opposition with, for example, the forces of coherence, narrative linearity, and transparent referentiality on one side, and the forces of semantic disruption, narrative discontinuity, and linguistic materiality on the other. On each side, critics attempt to bolster the essential value of one term or set …

Dashiki Project Theatre: Black Identity And Beyond, Stanley R. Coleman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

At a cast party following a Dillard University theatre production in 1965, Guy West, a senior in theatre, stated that one of his dreams was to perform in his own theatre. These remarks by West proved to be the inspiration that began New Orleans' Dashiki Project Theatre. Prior to 1965, Free Southern Theater was the only theatre of the black experience in New Orleans. Through Dashiki Project Theatre, the black community found another opportunity to relate to black experience through the medium of theatrical performance. In the mid-sixties Theodore Gilliam, a Dillard University professor, and his associates founded Dashiki Project …

Improving The Representation Of Minority School Age Children In Gifted Education Programs Through A Multifaceted Referral And Evaluation Process, Magali Balado

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve the problem that teachers were unable to meet the needs of academically talented minority children. The major goals for this applied dissertation were to increase the representation of academically minority children in gifted programs, provide training to teachers in the area of identifying gifted characteristics, and to develop a multifaceted process for the referral and evaluation of academically talented minority children.

The writer developed training materials to provide in-service and training to teachers, school staff personnel, counselors, and psychologists in the areas of observing and assessing gifted characteristics in academically talented minority children. …

Water Resource Management By The Ancient Maya Of Yucatan, Mexico, Terance Lynn Winemiller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since the publication of popular accounts of exploration by adventurers such as John Lloyd Stephens captured the attention of an audience eager for tales from exotic places, scholars of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica have been fascinated with the silent crumbling remains of ancient Maya cities that dot the cultural landscape of Yucatán in staggering numbers. Scientific research began in earnest nearly one hundred years ago with the first of many great Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C. archaeological projects. Most researchers mention water resources in their reports, but no attempt has been made to study water resource management on a …

The Institutional Determinants Of Property Regime Change In New Democracies: The Russian Federation, Hungary, And Czechoslovakia, R. Vanessa Krasner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Is there a relationship between the design of democratic institutions and optimal collective decisions? Optimum decisions are defined as achieving goals important to the transition such as deep and equitable property reforms. Democratic institutions refer to first-order institutions of governance and the electoral rules for choosing leaders. Overseeing both are the written or "parchment" constitutions. Constitutions are designed to distribute power among actors, generate efficiency, and govern the interactions among actors. My findings showed that constitutional designs intentionally and sometimes with unanticipated consequences can result in highly cooperative, competitive, or conflictual struggles by political actors over high-stakes distributive issues such …

So-Journeying: Creating Sacred Space In Education, Tayari Kwa Salaam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research questions current taken-for-granted meanings given to school, education, teaching and curriculum from an African/African American perspective. This inquiry is based on my experiences as an African American woman curriculum theorist committed to the education of African American youth. Drawing on the lifework of Sojourner Truth, a nineteenth century African American woman abolitionist and human rights activist, this work seeks to explore aspects of both African/African American-centered education and curriculum theory as a means of informing understandings of school, education, teaching and curriculum. My research question is: How does Sojourner Truth inform curriculum theory? This inquiry is a self-exploration …

Following The Lines (Long Interspersed Elements): Human Specific L1 Elements And Their Orthologous Loci In Non-Human Primates, Bethaney June Vincent

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The L1 Ta subfamily of Long INterspersed Elements (LINEs) consists exclusively of human-specific L1 elements with a copy number of ~520 in the human genome. Four hundred sixty-eight L1 Ta elements were extracted from the draft human genomic sequence and screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to determine their phylogenetic origin and to determine their contribution to human genomic diversity. PCR analysis indicated that 45% of the L1 Ta elements screened are polymorphic for insertion presence or absence. Sequence analysis of the L1 Ta elements produced definitive evidence of 3’transduction, gene conversion involving an older pre-existing L1 element, as …

Improving The Reading Comprehension Achievement Of Third Grade Students, Delores L. Bedar

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Students at DePriest Elementary School were performing poorly on standardized assessments in reading comprehension. The possible causes of low student performance were (a) teachers’ beliefs and practices, (b) the reading curriculum, (c) students’ lack of knowledge as to how to read for meaning, and (d) the lack of parent involvement in their children’s schooling.

This dissertation examined the improvement of students’ reading comprehension performance through the use of strategic reading instruction, professional development of teachers, and parental involvement. It examined whether instructing students in the use of comprehension strategies improved their reading comprehension performance.

A reading comprehension strategies curriculum model …

Designing Student Teaching Experience To Reflect Best Practice, Joanne Ferrara

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes the strategies designed by a college to improve its student teaching experience for preservice teachers enrolled in field placement during the 2001-2002 school year.

The framework for the program was based on the work of L. Darling-Hammond (1999), the Holmes Group (1990), and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE; 2000), which suggested that teacher education programs build and sustain effective field-based experiences. This program sought to improve students’ performances by implementing field experiences containing these key elements: collaboration between a college field adviser and cooperating teachers, clearly defined goals, reflection, ongoing feedback, and observations …

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. …