Digital Commons Network^™

Louisiana Sugar: A Geohistorical Perspective, Elizabeth Vaughan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The planting of sugarcane in Louisiana’s southern parishes has persisted with stunning continuity since its introduction in the late eighteenth century. This industry, however, is an economic and agricultural anomaly. It is a relic of the sixteenth-century expansion of European capitalism in which granulated sugar, then a novel product, stimulated the Atlantic slave trade and contributed to the incorporation of the sugar-producing colonies of the Americas into an emerging European-world economy. The Louisiana sugar industry was launched in 1795 with a historic granulation from a new variety of sugarcane recently introduced into the Caribbean. From this early success, the industry …

Development Of A Performance-Based Design Approach And Related Loads For Facilities Designated As Essential During A Hurricane Event, Joffrey Elliott Easley

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, shelters and other facilities designated as "essential" during hurricanes have experienced unacceptable damage during recent hurricanes, exposing the occupants to uncomfortable and dangerous conditions. One of the reasons for this is the lack of standards or design guidelines addressing the special considerations required for such facilities. A new approach to the design of essential facilities in hurricane regions is proposed. The goal of this work is to create a tool for improving the safety and serviceability of evacuation shelters and other critical facilities utilized during hurricane events. This is achieved by developing a new philosophy based on selection of …

Strange Fire, Sharon Nelson

LSU Master's Theses

In the aftermath of a worldwide war, the planet Xica is split into small pockets of humanoid civilization. One pocket is a divided abandoned military compound. Beyond the wall is the Outer Rim where people are free yet violence is rampant. Within the wall is the state of Sheol whose inhabitants are drugged and have few choices. Sheol’s ruler, Jared, conducts an experiment where children are raised without physical contact in the Complex at the center of the city. One boy, Zahid, escapes from the Complex and meets other children; Nick in Sheol and Alexandra in the Outer Rim. Together, …

Factors Affecting Participation In City Recycling Programs, Stacy Marie Lockhart

LSU Master's Theses

Recycling consists of diverting or recovering materials from the solid waste stream that would otherwise end up returning to the environment as a potential source of pollution. These collected materials are then used as raw materials in the manufacture or assembly of a new product or package. Over the years the amount of municipal solid waste being generated per person has steadily increased. Waste disposal costs are also increasing, making recycling even more important. To address this issue cities are developing recycling policies or plans. The type of plan varies according to the area; as of this time there are …

A Critical Analysis Of Female Doctoral Student Advisement: Implications For Program Satisfaction, Angele Marie Thibodeaux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to seek a greater understanding of the female doctoral student experience. In particular, the emphasis of this study is on exploring the dynamics and consequences of the advisor/advisee relationships that female doctoral students experience. This study was designed to address the role of ethnicity and gender in: (a) the selection of an advisor; (b) the quality and characteristics of the advisor/advisee relationship; (c) the impact of the advisor/advisee relationships on program satisfaction; and (d) the impact of external factors on the advisor/advisee relationship and academic experience of female doctoral students. To accomplish this goal, …

Is Including "Under God" In The Pledge Of Allegiance Lawful?: An Impeccably Correct Ruling, Peter Brandon Bayer

Scholarly Works

On June 26, 2002, in Newdow v. U.S. Congress, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the 1954 Congressional amendment adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment’s  proscription that, “Congress shall make not law respecting an establishment of religion.” Because the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause applies to the States via the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Ninth Circuit likewise found unlawful a California school district’s policy encouraging public school students to utter the words “under God” as part of teacher-led …

Delta Memories And Delta Days: Facets Of Ladies' Lives As Revealed To A Southern Daughter, Susan E. Probasco

LSU Master's Theses

The Arkansas Delta is a land considered by many to be devoid of beauty and richness of life. However, to a daughter who was the youngest child of the youngest child of a youngest child that was born in the Delta, the region is beautiful, enhanced by the observations of the lives of the women she observed there. An ethnography of the everyday lives of white, middle-class southern women in a small Arkansas Delta town seeks to communicate some of the richness and beauty of their lives, as well as other aspects of culture illustrative of southern culture in general, …

The Relationship Between Family Daily Hassles And Family Coping And Managing Strategies, Olena Nesteruk

LSU Master's Theses

The primary focus of the study was to examine the relationship between family daily hassles and family coping and managing strategies. Additionally, the three dimensions of daily hassles, time and energy involvement, positive influence, and negative influence, were investigated. Data were collected from 290 families with school-age children. Mothers and fathers completed a self-administered survey on family daily hassles and family coping and managing strategies. The final sample consisted of 255 mothers (51% African American) and 128 fathers (62% White) of families with first and third grade children from a mid-sized, southern city. The findings of the study indicate that …

Six-Month Follow-Up Of A Primary Care Managed Weight Loss Program For Overweight And Obese African-American Women, Lee A. Marsh

LSU Master's Theses

Obesity is the number one public health concern in the United States, and is more prevalent in African-American women and those from lower socioeconomic groups. However, many primary care physicians do not feel confident in their ability to assist patients in weight management. Thus the challenge for physicians is to provide patients better assistance with weight management. The purpose of the study was to examine the efficacy of a primary care-managed weight loss program on weight reduction and cardiovascular fitness in overweight/obese women. Participants were randomized to intervention (n=54; Age: 44+12 yrs) or standard care (n=62; Age: 44=12yrs) and followed …

Malignant Democracy: Core Fallacies Underlying Election Of The Judiciary, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

There is no requirement of democratic theory that mandates that all public offices be filled by election. This is particularly true in modern democratic states, which are simply too large to justify the administrative burden of electing everyone who has significant responsibilities in our society.

Examples of this are everywhere in modern democracies, such as the United States and Europe. In England, for example, the Prime Minister is not directly elected by the people. Does this mean Great Britain has ceased to be a democracy? In most large, sophisticated nation-states, national cabinet officers have great power but are the political …

What Might Have Been: Contraception And Religious Liberty, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Review Of Peter Cane, Responsibility In Law And Morality (2002), Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Fundamentalism From The Perspective Of Liberal Tolerance, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Using Smart Growth Principles For Development In St. Landry Parish, Rebecca L. Scheffler

LSU Master's Theses

Since the end of World War II, many American cities have seen an outward migration from their core into open spaces along the city’s edge. The urban/suburban sprawl phenomenon not only affects urban cores but the rural lands and open spaces surrounding them. As landscape architects, we study humans and their interactions with the environment and have an important position in making informed decisions about issues of sprawl and unmitigated growth in communities. This study was conducted to provide city and parish officials and planning boards with options for beneficial growth in St. Landry Parish, a rural parish in south …

What Do Clients Want? A Client's Theory Of Professionalism, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of Distributed Practice Using Constant Time Delay In The Acquisition Of Sight Words With Children, Kashunda Lynn Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Although, distributed practice has been demonstrated to be superior to massed practice for learning, studies examining the degree of distribution needed to obtain this effect remain lacking. This study extends prior research by (1) determining if there is a difference in distributed practice schedules, when the total time to practice remains constant, (2) determining which schedule produces the superior amount of learning, and (3) determining which schedule produces superior retention of learned materials across time. Study participants were general education elementary school students referred for reading assistance. The constant time delay procedure was used to teach the participants sight words. …

Mental Health Assessment Of Minors In The Juvenile Justice System, Michael Jenuwine, Curtis Heaston, Diane N. Walsh, Gene Griffin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Using Therapeutic Jurisprudence To Bridge The Juvenile Justice And Mental Health Systems, Michael J. Jenuwine, Gene Griffin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Community Supervision Of Sex Offenders -- Integrating Probation And Clinical Treatment, Michael J. Jenuwine, Ronald Simmons, Edward Swies

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Two Essays On Corporate Hedging: The Choice Of Instruments And Methods, Pinghsun Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines corporate use of derivative instruments and multi-period hedging methods. It studies the use of linear (e.g. futures) and nonlinear (e.g. options) derivatives in a sample of 382 U.S. non-financial firms (920 firm-year observations) between 1992 and 1996. It also measures the performance of stacked hedge techniques with applications to three investment assets (heating oil, light crude oil, and unleaded gasoline) and to three commercial commodities (British Pound, Deutsche Mark, and Swiss Franc). In a stacked hedge, corporations hedge the long-term exposures by repeatedly rolling nearby futures contracts until settlement. Analyzing the 382 firms, I find that both …

Development And Application Of Acousto-Optic Background Correction For Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry, Jon W. Carnahan, Heather M. Miller, Thomas M. Spudich

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In two con gurations, a solid-state acousto-optic (AO) de ector or modulator is mounted in a 0.5 m monochromator for background correction with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). A fused silica acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is used in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral region applications while a glass AO de ector (AOD) is used for the visible (VIS) region. The system provides rapid sequential observation of adjacent on- and off-line wavelengths for background correction. Seventeen elements are examined using pneumatic nebulization (PN) and electrothermal vaporization (ETV) sample introduction. Calibration plots were obtained with each sample introduction technique. Potable water and …

Estimating Earnings Losses Due To Mental Illness: A Quantile Regression Approach, Virginia Wilcox-Gök, Dave E. Marcotte

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In this paper, we examine the effects of mental illness on earnings by recognizing that effects may vary across the distribution of earnings. Using data from the National Comorbidity Survey, we employ a quantile regression estimator to identify the effects at key points in the earnings distribution. We find that earnings effects vary importantly across the distribution. While average effects are often not large, mental illness more commonly imposes earnings losses at the lower tail of the earnings distribution, especially for women. Consequently, mental illness can have larger negative impacts on economic outcomes than previously estimated, even if those effects …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 31, 2002-2003, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

Low Salinity Waters In Deep Sedimentary Basins, David Scott Szalkowski

LSU Master's Theses

While the composition and origin of brines in deep sedimentary basins has been extensively discussed, the composition and origin of low salinity waters is not as well documented. Since the 1960s, the presence of deep, low-salinity waters has been observed in some sedimentary basins and is commonly present in overpressured sections. The episodic release of low salinity, overpressured fluids upward into sediments containing high salinity formation waters likely occurs at <100-year intervals. Because there is a growing body of evidence that suggests mixing formation waters of varying salinity could induce the dissolution and precipitation of minerals, it is important to have detailed information about chemical compositions of both end-member fluids to adequately predict such mixing results. This study concludes that low salinity waters (<35 g/l) are generally not unique in major solute composition when compared to high salinity waters (>35 g/l). On log-log plots, monovalent cations plot along 1:1 slopes with respect to salinity and total anionic charge, while divalent cations plot along 2:1 slopes. However, this study concludes …

Evaluation Of Static Low Density Media Filters For Use In Domestic Wastewater Treatment, Cynthia Wagener

LSU Master's Theses

Static Low Density Media (SLDM) filters are submerged granular medium filters that contain a static matrix of floating media. These filters provide concurrent biological and physical treatment, and are therefore classified as bioclarifiers. Through different design and operation strategies, SLDM filters may be used for a variety of functions such as: solid-liquid separation alone, organic conversion and solids capture, nitrification and solids capture, and denitrification and solids capture. For operation as an aerobic unit, an external aeration strategy was developed to preserve the static nature of the bed. In this study, SLDM filters treated a highly variable flow domestic wastewater …

Dialogic Dogs And Phatic Felines: Speaking To And Through Our Pets, Nicole M. Dufour

LSU Master's Theses

While many pet owners acknowledge that they speak to their pet, Pet Communication has remained mostly overlooked by researchers. Through discourse analysis, this thesis is an attempt to analyze Pet Communication, which deals with human speech to a pet, about a pet, or through a pet. I analyze data which I transcribed in the waiting room of the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine Small Animal Clinic. Data were collected from conversations that took place between pet owners, between pet owners and the Clinic's staff, pet owners and their pets, and between staff and pets. These data were then …

Revisiting The Vast Wasteland, Fred H. Cate, Newton N. Minow

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Repeated Removal Of Mammalian Predators On Waterfowl Nest Success And Density, Kristen Dawn Chodachek

LSU Master's Theses

Low levels of nest success in the prairie pothole region are mainly attributed to changes in predator community and abundance. Removal of predators from large sites (≥ 4144 ha) has been an effective strategy for increasing nest success; however, trapping small sites (< 301 ha) is considered ineffective. I examined the effects of removing predators from 10, 259 ha sites in northeastern North Dakota during 2001-2002. Overall nest success for both years was greater on trapped sites (53.4%) than non-trapped sites (28.7%). Furthermore, daily survival rate was greater on removal sites, and was positively correlated with total predators removed. Differences in nest density were apparent between treatments with an increased nest density on trapped sites, however year had no effect. Pair densities did not differ between treatments, but a 2-fold increase for both trapped and non-trapped sites was found in spring 2002. Cost to produce one fledged duckling, combining all species ranged from $16-20. Overall, the results of this study indicate that repeated removal of predators on small sites is an effective strategy for increasing waterfowl production; however, feasibility will ultimately depend on the user group, budget limitations, landowner objectives, and public acceptance.

The Relationship Of Feeding Problems With The Use Of Antiepileptic Medication Among Persons With Severe And Profound Mental Retardation, Rinita B. Laud

LSU Master's Theses

Epilepsy and/or seizure activity are frequently occurring phenomena and a significant co-morbid condition for persons with severe to profound intellectual disability (Burke, McKee, Pathak, Donahue, Parasuraman & Baltenhorst, 1999). The majority of seizure activity leads to deficits across a number of social, physical,occupational, and personal variables, and if left untreated, may lead to death in these individuals. The treatment of this condition frequently utilizes anti-epileptic medication, but these medications are often associated with a variety of side effects such as dental complications and disturbed gait. Previous researchers have suggested that these side effects may be manifested in forms of maladaptive …

The Middle Class Fourth Amendment, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.