Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Of Crime And Oil Development In The Coastal Regions Of Louisiana, Asha D. Luthra

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project examines the relationship between patterns of crime and the development of the oil and gas extraction industry in the coastal regions of Louisiana. The suggestion of a link between these phenomena has often been made, but little systematic research has been conducted to determine if there is indeed a crime-oil development nexus. Limited previous research has focused primarily on the issue of “boom and bust” cycles on some forms of deviant behavior, but the data and the methods used were inadequate, and thus, the resulting conclusions were often misleading or possibly erroneous. During the course of this project, …

The Impact Of Masking Of Persuasive Intent On Persuasive Message Effectiveness, Christina Simmers Rodrigue

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The decreased dependency of marketing managers on traditional message forms (i.e., commercials) has increased the use of nontraditional message forms (i.e., product placement) in marketing communication. These newer message forms are unique because their persuasive intent is concealed by the presentation method and, therefore, may be processed differently than the traditional message forms. Consequently, this paper examines three major issues that arise out of the integration of nontraditional message forms into marketing communication, including (1) incorporating nontraditional message forms into the traditional persuasion literature, (2) introducing a new persuasion element (termed masking of persuasive intent) and its role in the …

Multianalyte Detection Of Breast Cancer By Fabrication Of Hybridmicroarrays On Polymer-Based Microanalytical Devices, Suying Wei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Breast cancer is one of the most common and fatal cancer diseases that affect women worldwide. As is true with most other cancer diseases, early detection of breast cancer is very crucial for proper medical treatment because treatment of advanced breast cancer will be much more difficult and inconsistent. Screening and testing of breast cancer biomarkers, either genetic or proteomic, are among techniques used for diagnosis of breast cancers. Nevertheless, none of the biomarkers is by itself sensitive and selective enough for diagnosis of breast cancer, and thus, multi-analyte assays towards detection of multiple breast cancer biomarkers from different classes …

Fabrication, Characterization And Properties Of Hiercchically Ordered Nanocomposites, Avinash Dundigalla

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objectives of this research are to study the structure, morphology and properties of poly(ethylene-oxide) (PEO)-clay nanocomposites using various imaging techniques. Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy are used to image structures on all length scales. Complementary scattering experiments are discussed along with preliminary differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy results. In particular we investigated the multilayered structures of PEO-Laponite and PEO-Montmorillonite multilayered films made from solution. The shear orientation of a polymer-clay network in solution combined with simultaneous solvent evaporation leads to supramolecular multilayer formation in the film. The resulting …

The Justice Of Recovery: How The State Can Heal The Violence Of Crime, Linda G. Mills

UC Law Journal

A longstanding assumption of the criminal justice system is that victims benefit in some way from the prosecution and punishment of the person who caused them harm. This Article, however, argues that victim healing involves more than punishing the offender, and that by rethinking the roles victims perform in the criminal justice system, we may provide them with a more comprehensive menu of options to facilitate their recovery from crime. The societal goals of punishment and accountability and the individual desire for healing are not mutually exclusive. Incorporating recovery approaches from both the science of victimology and theories of restoration …

Cross-Examining The Brain: A Legal Analysis Of Neural Imaging For Credibility Impeachment, Charles N. W. Keckler

UC Law Journal

The last decade has seen remarkable progress in understanding ongoing psychological processes at the neurobiological level, progress that has been driven technologically by the spread of functional neuroimaging devices, especially magnetic resonance imaging, which have become the research tools of a theoretically sophisticated cognitive neuroscience. As this research turns to specification of the mental processes involved in interpersonal deception, the potential evidentiary use of material produced by devices for detecting deception, long stymied by the conceptual and legal limitations of the polygraph, must be reexamined. Although studies in this area are preliminary, they have not yet satisfied the foundational requirements …

The Effect Of A Condensed Tannin Containing Forage, Sericea Lespedeza On Existing And Challenge Infections Of Haemonchus Contortus In Sheep, Leigh Ann Chafton

LSU Master's Theses

Haemonchus contortus is one of the most threatening parasites to small ruminant production. Control has traditionally relied on the use of anthelmintics. Control has waned because the worm population has developed resistance to most of the currently available anthelmintics and alternative control measures are needed. Current consumer pressure is to reduce the use of chemicals in agricultural products, thus pushing control methods to more natural and acceptable approaches. One such approach is the feeding of condensed tannin containing forages either as fresh forage or dried products (hay, meal, pellets, etc). This study was conducted to determine the effect of a …

Be Revolutionary : Images Of Women In Soviet And Cuban Political Posters, Rachel Schlegel

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

The Personal Journey Of Solo Performance, Heidi Stenseth

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Women's Attitudes Toward Singlehood, Lisa Peterson

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Thinking Back : A Restropective On Writing The Stones Of Hermes, Loren Nieuwsma

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Corruption On Chinese Economic Growth, Justin Hagel

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

The Dakota Purveyor : Creation Of An Alternative Magazine, Emily Hilleren

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Photography : Do Photographs Convey A Comprehensive Truth?, Tiffany Rose Stratton

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Intercarrier Interference Suppression For The Ofdm Systems In Time-Varying Multipath Fading Channels, Xiaozhou Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Due to its spectral efficiency and robustness over the multipath channels, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has served as one of the major modulation schemes for the modern communication systems. In the future, the wireless OFDM systems are expected to operate at high carrier-frequencies, high speed and high throughput mobile reception, where the fasting time-varying fading channels are encountered. The channel variation destroys the orthogonality among the subcarriers and leads to the intercarrier interference (ICI). ICI poses a significant limitation to the wireless OFDM systems. The aim of this dissertation is to find an efficient method of providing reliable communication …

Compiler Optimization Techniques For Scheduling And Reducing Overhead, Tong-Chai Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Exploiting parallelism in loops in programs is an important factor in realizing the potential performance of processors today. This dissertation develops and evaluates several compiler optimizations aimed at improving the performance of loops on processors. An important feature of a class of scientific computing problems is the regularity exhibited by their access patterns. Chapter 2 presents an approach of optimizing the address generation of these problems that results in the following: (i) elimination of redundant arithmetic computation by recognizing and exploiting the presence of common sub-expressions across different iterations in stencil codes; and (ii) conversion of as many array references …

Theoretical And Experimental Study On Cable Vibration Reduction With A Tmd-Mr Damper, Wenjie Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Stay cables are vulnerable to dynamic excitations because of their low intrinsic damping. Excessive cable vibrations cause frequent maintenance and are detrimental to the safety of the entire bridge. Targeting the severe cable vibration problem, in addition to using the existing Magnetorheological (MR) damper, the current study proposes a new type of damper, called the Tuned Mass Damper-Magnetorheological (TMD-MR) damper. Theoretical and experimental investigations for the damper performance on the cable vibration reduction are conducted, which provides the necessary research support for practical implementation. Experiments on the individual MR damper are carried out first to gain some experience on the …

Two-Dimensional And High-Throughput Electrophoretic Separation Of Proteins Using Polymeric Microchips, Hamed Shadpour

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A major task in proteomics is to identify proteins from a biological sample using two-dimensional (2-D) separation prior to mass spectrometry of peptides generated via proteolytic digestion of the proteins. For 2-D separations, microfluidic devices are superior to bench top and capillary-based systems since they potentially provide higher separation efficiencies due to the minimal dead volumes produced during peak transfer between the two separation dimensions. In addition, fast separations can be envisioned because the column lengths are typically shorter in microfluidic platforms without scarifying peak capacity. High-throughput capabilities are extremely desirable for many types of bio-analytical analyses, such as understanding …

Spatial Characteristics Of The Remotely-Sensed Surface Urban Heat Island In Baton Rouge, La: 1988-2003, Lynn Copeland Hardegree

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Our understanding of urban effects on local climate remains unsatisfactory due to several difficulties: 1) the inherent complexity of the city-atmosphere system, 2) lack of a clear conceptual theoretical framework for inquiry, and 3) the high expense and enormous difficulties of acquiring a sufficient quantity of high-quality, high-resolution (both spatially and temporally) observations in cities. Using remotely-sensed data, this study analyzes urban heat islands (UHI) that are manifested through an elevation in the surface thermal emissions within urban regions known as surface heat islands (SHI). The study area for this research endeavor is Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Whereas the surface air …

Validity Of The Yale Physical Activity Survey For Older Adults, Angela Nickole Solomito Pugh

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the validity of the Yale Physical Activity Survey (YPAS) in a population of oldest-old adults residing in Southeastern Louisiana. Methods: Participants were older adults (n=273) in two distinct age groups; 60-81 years of age (YOUNG-OLD) AND 29-103 years of age (OLDEST-OLD). YPAS estimates of physical activity will be compared to physical function as measured by the continuous scale physical function performance test. Results: The OLDEST-OLD demonstrated lower physical function scores and reported less physical activity (and more time sitting) in comparison to the YOUNG-OLD. The correlation between Total Time Summary Index and …

A Thermodynamic Model For Wear In Sliding Contact, Susheel Brahmeshwarkar

LSU Master's Theses

Consideration of wear, an irreversible phenomenon, is a very important criterion in design. The knowledge of wear and its behavior enables one to make major considerations to conceptualize and design efficient machinery components with enhanced performance and reliability. The present work deals with the introduction of a novel approach of correlating wear with the thermodynamic properties of the system. The approach involves relating wear to thermodynamic entropy flow in the system using the laws of thermodynamics. This relation is verified experimentally and theoretically by considering a sliding contact in a disk-on-disk configuration for two sets of contacting materials namely Bronze …

Lawyering For A Cause And Experiences From Abroad, Jayanth K. Krishnan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

For more than a decade, there has been a steady growth in what is now commonly referred to as the 'cause lawyering' literature. Partly as a response to those who were critical of the legal profession during the 1970s and 1980s, cause lawyering scholars have sought to rebut these critics' charges, as well as more comprehensively illustrate what, why, and how cause lawyers do what they do. While the critics of cause lawyers on the one hand, and cause lawyering scholars on the other, have made enormous contributions to the debate, only recently has the discourse shifted to examining an …

Green Hydrogen: Site Selection Analysis For Potential Biomass Hydrogen Production Facility In The Texas-Louisiana Coastal Region, Bryan Michael Landry

LSU Master's Theses

Hydrogen and the “Hydrogen Economy” are increasingly becoming buzzwords in discussions regarding future U.S. energy scenarios. Hydrogen energy offers a multitude of economic and environmental advantages over the current world energy structure. Despite this attention, there have been very few geographical studies of a possible transition to a hydrogen system. Even these studies have been limited in scope to demand-side analyses. This thesis attempts to rectify this situation by broadening the scope of geographical studies of hydrogen through the analysis of supply-side scenario. This study is a site selection model for a biomass hydrogen facility in the Gulf Coast of …

Albert Camus's Meditative Ascent: A Search For Foundations In The Plague, Brian James Blanchard

LSU Master's Theses

Albert Camus's concept of absurdity states that human existence is fundamentally chaotic and meaningless. Despite this appraisal of existence, Camus tirelessly campaigned for human rights at a time when many intellectuals ignored the atrocities perpetrated by ideological compatriots. Scholars admire Camus's courage and foresight, but few have attempted to systematically examine Camus's philosophical development of values. Eric Voegelin argues that Camus's writings take the form of a philosophical meditation in which Camus conducted an analysis of existence through the medium of fictional creation. This meditation, which Voegelin likens to a Platonic periagoge, allowed Camus to establish a foundation of values …

The Impact Of Hypoxia On Mercury Methylation In Bottom Sediment Of Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Mei Huey Tan

LSU Master's Theses

Widespread concern has developed about high mercury content in fish in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent estuaries and bays. Among the areas implicated as possible sources of the mercury that moves up the food chain from the methylmercury formed in sediments and anoxic waters is the seasonal hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf. This research was designed to determine if methylmercury formation is stimulated by the anaerobic sediment conditions accompanying the onset of summer hypoxia in the Gulf. Both field and laboratory studies were carried out. For the field study sediment samples were collected at three stations (i.e. C4, …

Are You Ready For Some ... Sex, Violence, And Gender Stereotypes?: A Content Analysis Of Monday Night Football Commercials And Programming Promotions, Joel D. Massey

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the content of 200 commercials from the 2004 season of Monday Night Football documenting sexual content, violence, and gender role stereotypes. The data revealed that despite the fact that men appeared twice as often as women, women were more likely to be stereotyped than men. About one quarter of the commercials contained sexual content and about one-fifth contained violence. Beer ads were more sexual than other ads but were not significantly more violent than other ads. There was no clear pattern of variance in the amount of sexual and violent commercials across quarters. Programming commercials were far …

Why Kelo Is Not Good News For Local Planners And Developers, Daniel H. Cole

Articles by Maurer Faculty

When the Supreme Court announced its 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, few legal scholars were surprised at the outcome, which was premised on precedents extending back to the middle of the 19th century. Legal scholars were surprised, however, by the intense political reaction to Kelo (fueled substantially by Justice O'Connor's hyperbolic dissent), as property-rights advocates, legislators (at all levels of government), and media pundits assailed the ruling as a death knell for private property rights in America.

Kelo's combination of relative legal insignificance and high political salience makes it an interesting case study in cross-institutional dynamics, …

Physical Model Study Of The Effects Of Wettability And Fractures On Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd) Performance, Wagirin Ruiz Paidin

LSU Master's Theses

The Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) process was developed to take advantage of the natural segregation of injected gas from crude oil in the reservoir. It consists of placing a horizontal producer near the bottom of the reservoir and injecting gas using existing vertical wells. As the injected gas rises to the top to form a gas cap, oil and water drain down to the horizontal producer. Earlier experimental work using a physical model by Sharma had demonstrated the effectiveness of the GAGD process in improving the oil recovery when applied in water-wet porous media. The current research is an extension …

Regulating The Mutual Fund Industry, Donna M. Nagy

Articles by Maurer Faculty

With virtually every other household in the United States invested in mutual funds, effective and efficient regulation of the mutual fund industry must be a top national priority. But the creation of a new private regulator - whether along the lines of SROs such as the NASD and NYSE or the recently created PCAOB - would be a step in the wrong direction. Instead, much more can be gained from strengthening the SEC's longstanding role as the principal overseer of mutual funds and improving other aspects of the existing regulatory regime.

Essays On Group Lending: Evidence From Jordan, Moh'd Al-Azzam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Group lending has received a great attention from economists and policymakers for its successful delivery of credit to poor borrowers and its role in alleviating poverty in the developing countries. The success of group lending in providing credit to poor borrowers has been attributed to its ability to mitigate the asymmetry of information and enforcement problems in credit markets. The ability of group lending institutions to overcome the asymmetry of information and enforcement problems has been theorized to be the driving force behind their outreach to the poor, their sustainability, and their repayment performance. While there is a host of …