Digital Commons Network^™

Writing, Producing, Recording And Promoting An Original Album, Jessie Veeder

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Comorbidity Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Low Income Urban Youth, Karen Ann Laslie

LSU Master's Theses

Chronic exposure to violence is becoming increasingly common for urban children, placing them at an increased risk of developing psychopathology. For children exposed to chronic violence, two common diagnoses are Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, symptom overlap between these disorders has made differential diagnosis difficult. Most studies looking at the comorbidity between ADHD and PTSD have focused only on maltreated children. This study is the first to look at comorbid rates of ADHD and PTSD for children exposed to chronic violence, not limited to maltreatment. Specifically, this study evaluated rates of PTSD symptoms in children with …

The Experience Of Anger In Everyday Situations And Its Association With Anxiety And Depression, Bethany J. Roel

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Public Sexuality: A Contemporary History Of Gay Images And Identity, Shaun Erwin Sewell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study is an examination of the public imaging of gay men and lesbians during the latter part of the twentieth and early part of the twenty-first centuries. The study looks at public imaging as it is performed in the service of the political aims of gay people, with an eye towards the kinds of tensions and erasures that occur when one monolithic identity is promoted. Through these examinations, I create a kind of contemporary history of the gay political rights movement. In the study, I examine theoretical approaches to identity from several postmodern theorists and then use these approaches …

Physicochemical Properties Of Pepper Mash Fermented In Wood And Plastic, Foong Ming Koh

LSU Master's Theses

Red Chile peppers (Capsicum spp.) have become one of the fastest growing spices in U.S. market due to the changing American diet, increasing ethnic diversity and the influence of ethnic foods. Louisiana has long been known for its famous hot sauce production especially sauces that are made from Tabasco pepper (C. frutescens). The raw peppers are normally ground together with salt and fermented before production. Peppers mash is usually fermented in wood barrel made out of oak. However, a wood barrel is very expensive when used in pepper fermentation. As compared to wood barrel, plastic barrel have longer usage time …

Long Term Pressure Behavior In Turbidite Reservoirs, Feng Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, we investigated several possible mechanisms that would give rise to the anomalous pressure behavior (early concave-up on Horner plot or upward drift on the derivative curve of the log-log plot and asymmetry between the pressure drawdown and buildup behavior) sometimes encountered in the turbidite reservoirs in GOM primarily using numerical simulation and 2-level experimental designs. We ascertained the most influential parameters to the pressure behavior and identified that multilayer commingled system and the leaky compartment model are the most probable mechanisms to cause the anomalous behavior due to layer or zone property contrast to a certain degree. …

Ability Of College Students To Simulate Adhd On Objective Measure Of Attention, Randee Lee Booksh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Complaints of ADHD symptoms in college students are not uncommon and college students frequently self-refer for assessment of ADHD. Some may seek out a diagnosis to obtain academic accommodations and/or stimulant medication. Diagnosing ADHD in college students is largely reliant on self-report measures, and to a lesser extent, objective measures of attention. The typical college student has easy access to information about ADHD, potentially facilitating efforts to simulate self-reported symptoms. The present study examined the ability of college students to effectively simulate ADHD on objective and self-report measures of attention, and examined the relationship between knowledge of ADHD and ability …

Urokinase And Urokinase Receptor In The Urinary Tract Of The Dog, Trina Racquel Bailey

LSU Master's Theses

Urokinase (uPA) and urokinase receptor (uPAR) are present in the urinary tract of people, mice, rats and cows. The presence of urokinase and urokinase receptor in the urinary tract of dogs has not been documented. Documenting the presence of uPA and uPAR in the urinary tract of healthy dogs will help determine the role these proteins play in pathology of the urinary tract in further research. Urine was collected from fifty-four healthy dogs. A fluorescence assay was developed using the fluorogenic substrate Z-Gly-Gly-Arg-AMC, HCl. This assay documented presence of active uPA-like protein in concentrated urine. A direct sandwich ELISA assay …

Structural Integrity And Fatigue Crack Propagation Life Assessment Of Welded And Weld-Repaired Structures, Mohammad Shah Alam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Structural integrity is the science and technology of the margin between safety and disaster. Proper evaluation of the structural integrity and fatigue life of any structure (aircraft, ship, railways, bridges, gas and oil transmission pipelines, etc.) is important to ensure the public safety, environmental protection, and economical consideration. Catastrophic failure of any structure can be avoided if structural integrity is assessed and necessary precaution is taken appropriately. Structural integrity includes tasks in many areas, such as structural analysis, failure analysis, nondestructive testing, corrosion, fatigue and creep analysis, metallurgy and materials, fracture mechanics, fatigue life assessment, welding metallurgy, development of repairing …

A Hard Look Or A Blind Eye: Administrative Law And Military Deference, Jonathan Masur

UC Law Journal

The subject of judicial deference to the military in time of war has spawned a rich and variegated literature. The vast majority of these articles have focused upon what one might term "legal deference," or courts' willingness to construe the military's statutory and constitutional authority broadly, while simultaneously narrowing the legal restraints upon its actions. This Article adopts a divergent approach, taking as its point of departure the argument that the modem wartime jurisprudence is defined as much by the manner in which courts treat the executive's factual assertions as the fashion in which those courts have construed the legal …

Some Bargain: How Bankruptcy Courts May Now Require A Debtor To Relinquish Expectations Of Privacy As A Condition Of The Bankruptcy Bargain, Jennifer Taylor

UC Law Journal

There was a time when incurring debt and becoming insolvent was considered a crime. Although those days are long gone, discharge of debt in bankruptcy continues to be premised upon the debtor's cooperation in the "bankruptcy bargain." Honesty and disclosure of certain relevant information is required in exchange for a "fresh start." This Note explores the level of scrutiny that an individual debtor must submit to as part of the bankruptcy bargain by asking and answering the Fourth Amendment question: What is society "prepared to recognize as reasonable?" Contrary to the recent opinion of one bankruptcy court that went so …

Protecting Mutual Funds From Market-Timing Profiteers: Forward Pricing International Fund Shares, David Ward

UC Law Journal

It has been the worst crisis in the eighty-year history of the mutual fund industry. Beginning with a probe by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, investigators and securities regulators have uncovered widespread improprieties in the $7.5 trillion mutual fund business. In case after case, hedge fund managers, brokers and mutual fund executives conspired to allow favored investors to rapidly trade in and out of mutual funds, taking advantage of pricing inefficiencies to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profits at the expense of long-term shareholders. This Note examines the recently uncovered abuses within the industry and the responses …

Belowground Productivity Of Mangrove Forests In Southwest Florida, Beatriz Eugenia Giraldo Sánchez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Studies in belowground dynamics are limited mainly due to the difficulty of studying roots despite wide recognition of its importance. This dissertation focused on methods for analyzing mangrove roots, root responses to phosphorus and flooding, and variation in root production between forest types. Techniques to separate live and dead roots such as colorimetric, fluorescence, buoyancy, and visual assessment were compared. The traditional method of visual assessment combined with root buoyancy was accurate, fast, and applicable to larger samples. Additionally, techniques such as rhizotrons, root ingrowth cores, and root image analysis were useful to study mangrove roots. Root and litter production, …

The Accelerating Degradation Of American Criminal Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Michael T. Cahill

UC Law Journal

This Article addresses the ongoing-and, indeed, accelerating process of sporadic, piecemeal, and unnecessary legislation leading to increasing inconsistencies and irrationalities in American criminal law. After a wave of modernization in the I960s and 1970s, the past generation has not witnessed further advances, but rather a serious and growing degradation of most criminal codes.

This Article offers several insights regarding criminal code degradation. First, it provides specific and concrete examples of degradation and its harmful effects. Second, drawing on their experiences as participants in the recent reform efforts of Illinois and Kentucky, the authors offer an insider's view of how the …

Free Exercise And The Problem Of Symmetry, Nelson Tebbe

UC Law Journal

A controversial neutrality rule currently governs cases brought under the Free Exercise Clause. Curiously, leading critics of the Supreme Court's approach have not taken issue with neutrality itself, but instead have argued that the Court has adopted the wrong sort of neutrality principle. In this Article, the author argues that neutrality of any stripe will be insufficient to vindicate the critics' own vision because of a difficulty called the problem of symmetry. Liberty, by contrast, is asymmetrical and consequently it delivers more attractive outcomes in real cases. The author proposes a liberty rule, describes how it would work, and defends …

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Patent Right, David Catechi

UC Law Journal

Recent litigation over genetically modified corn reveals an increasing imbalance between the property rights of genetic seed manufacturers and the rights of individual farmers. Common-law property doctrines and traditional patent law fail to protect farmers leaving them exposed to both potential genetic contamination of their crops and costly patent infringement liability. This Note proposes a simple yet effective solution-Notice. Requiring patent holders to provide notice to alleged infringing farmers sufficient to enable the farmer to cease infringement balances the rights of both the patent holder and the farmer. Litigation in both the United States and Canada regarding gentically modified corn …

Recusal And The Supreme Court, Debra Lyn Bassett

UC Law Journal

From Laird v. Tatum to Bush v. Gore, the refusal of some Supreme Court Justices to recuse themselves in controversial cases has caused reactions ranging from confusion to disgust. The latest "duck hunting" recusal controversy, and the Court's seemingly callous response to the public outcry, seemed to suggest a deliberate indifference to the recusal standard. This Article examines the recusal provisions applicable to the Supreme Court. There is little doubt that Congress drafted the federal recusal statute broadly and intended to encompass Supreme Court Justices within the statute's reach. However, interesting questions surround recusal in the Supreme Court due to …

Persuasion, Transparency, And Government Speech, Gia B. Lee

UC Law Journal

Recent news reports indicate that federal, state, and local government entities and officials engage in pseudonymous or anonymous communications more often than we might imagine. Current trends, including advances in technology and the blurring of the public/private distinction, suggest that those types of communications will become only more frequent. Yet thus far there has been no sustained legal or constitutional analysis of such communications. This Article addresses that omission. It examines the issue of veiled government communications by drawing upon not only constitutional theory and case law but also social science research that explains how governments persuade and how citizens …

A Proposed Antitrust Approach To Buyers' Competitive Conduct, Thomas A. Piraino Jr.

UC Law Journal

This Article proposes a new means of regulating buyers' exercise of market power under the federal antitrust laws. The federal courts urgently need to adopt such an approach, because buyers have increased their market power in many domestic businesses. Wal-Mart's power to influence competition in retail markets is only one example of the increased market power of buyers in the United States economy. The courts' current approach to buyers' competitive conduct is confusing and inconsistent. As a result, business executives are uncertain as to the boundaries of legality for various types of buyer conduct.

This Article describes a comprehensive means …

Implementing Atkins: The Strengths & Weaknesses Of In Re Hawthorne, Christopher Scott Tarbell

UC Law Journal

In 2002, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Atkins v. Virginia. In Atkins, the Court created a categorical exemption from the death penalty for the mentally retarded, holding that the execution of such individuals violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. However, the Court left to the states the difficult task of implementing the newly announced exemption.

The California Supreme Court confronted this challenge in the case of In re Hawthorne. In Hawthorne, the court was forced to decide what standards and procedures a court should use in assessing claims for Atkins relief raised by …

The Effect Of Emotion On Witness Suggestibility, Cristine Carmen Roussel

LSU Master's Theses

When witnesses are exposed to highly stressful and emotional events, the result is often increased arousal and a change in the pattern of attention. Both of these factors are likely to impact witnesses’ memory for the event. In addition, witnesses are often exposed to post-event information from a variety of sources (e.g., investigators, other witnesses, media reports). The goal of the present study was to explore, in the context of the eyewitness suggestibility paradigm, the impact of emotional arousal and attentional focus on event memory and the incidence of eyewitness suggestibility. A secondary goal of this study was to explore …

Putting Down Roots In Environmental Literacy: A Study Of Middle School Students' Participation In Louisiana Sea Grant's Coastal Roots Project, Rachel L. Somers

LSU Master's Theses

Few people realize that in Louisiana land is lost to open water at about a rate of 24 square miles a year, faster than anywhere else in the world (Barras, Beville, Britsch, Hartley, Hawes, Jonston, Kemp, Kinler, Martucci, Porthouse, Reed, Roy, Sapkota, & Suhayda, 2003). Not only is the public low to moderately environmentally literate, there is a need to reach students early on to ensure the greatest benefit. This is the main reason why Louisiana Sea Grant¡¦s Coastal Roots Wetland Seedling Nursery Project (Coastal Roots) came into inception. The goal of the project is to improve environmental literacy of …

The Political Marketplace Of Religion, Calvin Massey

UC Law Journal

Inherent in the two Religion Clauses is the possibility of conflict: some accommodations of religion in the name of free exercise may amount to forbidden establishments and some limits on religious accommodation in the name of avoiding prohibited establishments may impermissibly interfere with the free exercise of religion. Judicial mediation of the tension between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause resolves into one of four patterns, each characterized by the degree of deference courts display toward the legislative choices of accommodation of religion. Courts may be deferential to legislative choices that arguably inhibit free exercise and foster religion; …

Progressive Consumption Taxes, Mitchell L. Engler

UC Law Journal

Recent intellectual and political forces have moved the consumption tax to the forefront of tax policy debate. Because traditional flat-rate consumption taxes, like the VAT, raise serious distributional concerns, tax scholars have responded with suggestions of innovative progressive consumption taxes. Two such proposed taxes-the Hybrid Approach and the X-tax-were independently analyzed in a recent symposium on fundamental tax reform. These two proposals contain striking similarities, as both would tax individuals at progressive rates on their wages with a separate tax on consumption less wages. However, there are significant differences. The Hybrid Approach would impose an individual tax on consumption less …

The Next Step In Dna Databank Expansion? The Constitutionality Of Dna Sampling Of Former Arrestees, Jacqueline K. S. Lew

UC Law Journal

This Note examines current developments in state DNA databank laws and the controversy surrounding the passage of California's latest DNA databank statute to predict that the next step in DNA databank expansion has arrived-namely, the collection of DNA from former arrestees, who neither have been convicted of a felony nor remain in government custody. Ultimately, the Note suggests that despite the recent trend towards expanding DNA databases around the country, the DNA sampling of former arrestees crosses a bright line that represents the constitutional end of such expansion.

In pointing out that courts have often relied on a plaintiff's status …

Responsibilities And Leadership Styles Of Radiologic Technology Program Directors: Implications For Leadership Development, Laura S. Aaron

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Leaders in higher education serve in a variety of roles and many times have very little administrative experience for the positions in which they serve. Radiologic technology program directors are the types of leaders who need strong leadership skills to meet the challenges of their role as program chairs. This study examined the responsibilities of program directors and their satisfaction with their leadership skills in relation to the responsibilities. In addition, the leadership styles of program directors were investigated to determine how those styles are related to the responsibilities and their satisfaction with their leadership skills. This study utilized a …

Local Narratives: An Approach To Participatory Planning In Community Revitalization Projects, Herpreet Kaur Singh

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis explores what can happen when planners and designers allow local narratives to inspire and inform all stages of community planning and design processes. Specifically, this paper suggests how local narratives can contribute to the ongoing revitalization efforts underway in Old South Baton Rouge, a historically significant, low-income, African-American community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A personal narrative introduces the subject matter at hand. Thereafter, each chapter is preceded with a narrative interlude to add texture to the ideas presented herein. Chapter two underscores the theoretical and practical relationship between place, memory and development, particularly as this relationship applies to …

Designing Online Instruction For Postsecondary Students With Learning Disabilities, Andrew Patrick Simoncelli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This case study investigates the methodologies used to deliver online course content to postsecondary students with varying learning disabilities. The research provides a holistic picture of the students in their actual learning environment. Two college students diagnosed as learning disabled were studied with three non-disabled classmates in an online college learning environment. The purpose was to attempt to explain how the design of the course affects the students’ attitudes and performance. The design of the course featured instructional methods that research has shown to be beneficial to students with learning disabilities. Some of these included digitally delivered instructional audio, various …

Marching Masters: Slavery, Race, And The Confederate Army, 1861-1865, Colin Edward Woodward

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many historians have examined the Civil War soldier, but few scholars have explored the racial attitudes and policies of the Confederate army. Although Southern men did not fight for slavery alone, the defense of the peculiar institution, and the racial control they believed it assured, united rebels in their support of the Confederacy and the war effort. Amid the destruction of the Civil War, slavery became more important than ever for men battling Yankee armies. The war, nevertheless, tested Confederate soldiers’ idealized view of human bondage. Federal armies wrecked havoc on masters’ farms and plantations, seized hundreds of thousands of …

Re-Conceptualizing Southern Rhetoric: A Meta-Critical Perspective, Christina L. Moss

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The study of southern rhetoric and public address remains important to the study of American rhetoric and public address. However, recent years indicate a decline in the amount and variety of scholarship in this area of study. This project provides a meta-critical analysis of the history of southern rhetorical scholarship, focusing mainly on southern public address. By tracing ideology from the Agrarians, Richard Weaver, Dallas Dickey, Waldo Braden, Stephen Smith, and Stuart Towns, clear attitudes and definitions of the South, southern identity and southern rhetoric evolved to create an area of study in much need of revision. The remainder of …