Digital Commons Network^™

The Myopia Of U.S. V. Martinelli: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction In The 21st Century, Christopher L. Blakesley

Scholarly Works

Beginning in January 1999 and continuing through January 2000, a U.S. soldier began frequenting an off-post Internet cafe in Darmstadt, Germany, called the Netzwork Café. There he would download images of child pornography and search Internet websites, logging onto Internet chat rooms in order to communicate with individuals willing to send him images of naked children and children engaged in sex acts.

Specialist Martinelli was eventually caught and charged with various violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A for knowingly mailing, transporting or shipping child pornography in interstate or foreign commerce (by computer); knowingly receiving child pornography that had been mailed, …

Optimal Control Of Production And Distribution In A Supply Chain System Operating Under A Jit Delivery Policy, Pablo Biswas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research deals with a supply chain system where the production or manufacturing facility operates under a just-in-time (JIT) environment, and the facility consists of raw material suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers where inventory of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods are involved, respectively. This work considers that the production of finished goods in one cycle starts just after the production or uptime in preceding cycle to minimize the idle time of the facility. Considering this scenario, inventory models are developed for different delivery situations: (a) perfect matching condition where no finished good remains after the shipments and (b) imperfect matching …

Expectation In Auditory Processing Of Environmental Sounds In People With Fluent Aphasia, Meghan Evelyn Collins

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the integrity of the nonverbal auditory system in subjects with fluent aphasia, and determine the relative preservation of the nonverbal auditory system in comparison to the lexical system. This was attempted through the task of expectation, a high level processing skill. Two groups of participants were examined: a group with fluent aphasia, and a group of non-neurologically damaged individuals. Participants were administered two nonverbal auditory conditions devoid of lexical information, a simple condition and a complex condition in which they were required to determine if the last sound heard in a sequence …

Pathology And Seedling Nutrition Of Spartina Alterniflora (Smooth Cordgrass), Clark Lane Robertson

LSU Master's Theses

Transplants of Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (smooth cordgrass, Poaceae) are effective in stabilizing and protecting vulnerable coastal wetlands from erosion. However, the expense and labor associated with propagation and transplanting restrict the widespread use of S. alterniflora in coastal restoration and protection projects. As an alternative, seeding of S. alterniflora by aircraft has been proposed as a more useful and economical approach for revegetating denuded marsh sites. However, a period of stalled growth, which lasts for 12 or more weeks, has been observed in smooth cordgrass seedlings, and this increases their susceptibility to being washed away by inundating tides. This stalled …

The Aggregate Harmony Metric And A Statistical And Visual Contextualization Of The Rehnquist Court: 50 Years Of Data, Peter A. Hook

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article contains aggregated data from fifty years of the annual matrixes of justice inter-agreement for particular Supreme Court terms published by the Harvard Law Review (1956 to 2005 terms). Aggregating how often any two justices sided together on cases for a particular term relative to the amount of cases the two justices heard together allows one to derive a measure of the particular term that reflects the relative amount of agreement or disagreement for the term. This new metric, called the Aggregate Harmony Metric, allows for comparative benchmarks. For instance, the 2005 term, with an aggregate agreement of 70%, …

The Black Church And Political Mobilization Of African Americans, Misty Noel Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates the political and social activities of black church congregations within a southern community by assessing the effectiveness of three churches in mobilizing their congregations and serving as channels for political communication. The study pays particular attention to the differences between affiliations within the black church, the influence of religious leaders on political involvement, attitudes regarding political involvement and political influences outside of the church. The thesis begins by placing the black church in its historical context —as a giver of spiritual and community orientation as well as a social and political mobilization agent. Using survey results from …

Monolithic Integration Of High-Aspect-Ratio Microstructures With Cmos Circuitry, Tinghui Xin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work involves developing processing techniques for monolithically integrating a high-aspect-ratio microstructures with CMOS circuitry. A microsystem comprising of a microprobe array and signal processing circuitry is utilized as a test vehicle to demonstrate this fabrication process. One potential application of this microsystem is for recording neural signals from the central nervous system. The main results include thick photoresist processing, DC and pulse electroplating to form high-aspect-ratio microprobes, microprobe sharpening and developing a post-IC monolithic integration process. SU-8 is utilized for thick photoresist application. This work focuses on realization of a deep microrecess array in thick resists rather than traditional …

An Investigation Of The Frictional And Thermal Behavior Of Oscillatory Sliding Line Contacts, Mongi Mansouri

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research deals with an experimental and numerical investigation of the frictional and thermal behavior of pin-bushing pairs, operating at reciprocating sliding motion or under heavy loads. Large interfacial temperatures developed due to frictional heating can cause failure. Therefore, numerical prediction and analysis of the surface temperature under various operating conditions are important. Laboratory tests using a pin-bushing tester provided measurements of the friction coefficient and temperature. Hard coated and plain (uncoated) bushings, both made of induction hardened stainless steel, were tested. Lower coefficient of friction and surface temperature were observed in the case of the coated bushing. In the …

Family Resiliency Among Hurricane Survivors: Resource Loss, Prior Traumatic Events, And Cumulative Stress, Robin Michelle Knowles

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of the study was to assess predictors of family resiliency following a disaster and the relationships among them in an exploratory manner. Predictors that were assessed in the study were resource loss, prior traumatic events, cumulative stress and selected demographic characteristics. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by combining Census data with storm damage estimates and purposive sampling, 50 participants affected by Hurricane Katrina from a single suburban community in Southern Louisiana in early spring 2006 were recruited and interviewed. In late spring and summer, data collection was continued in Southwestern Louisiana and 32 rural respondents affected by Hurricane …

A Home-Based Intervention To Promote Physical Activity In Low Income African American Adults, Dorothy Fauntleroy Whitehead

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Physical activity has long been regarded as a key component to a healthy lifestyle; however, the U.S. has disturbingly high rates of sedentary behavior and related chronic illnesses (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2003). While many studies have attempted to address inactive lifestyle, few have reached out to high risk groups, such as African Americans and low income individuals. A recent review of the physical activity literature among African Americans called for more research with this population and encouraged future studies to focus on enduring exercise behavior (at least 6 months post intervention) and use theory-based …

America's Decision To Drop The Atomic Bomb On Japan, Joseph H. Paulin

LSU Master's Theses

During the time President Truman authorized the use of the atomic bomb against Japan, the United States was preparing to invade the Japanese homeland. The brutality and the suicidal defenses of the Japanese military had shown American planners that there was plenty of fight left in a supposedly defeated enemy. Senior military and civilian leaders presented Truman with several options to force the surrender of Japan. The options included the tightening of the naval blockade and aerial bombardment of Japan, invasion, a negotiated peace settlement, and the atomic bomb became an option, once bomb became operational. Truman received recommendations, advice …

Innovation In Teacher Education: Faculty Members' And Assessment Coordinators' Perceptions Of Electronic Assessment Systems, Dustin Michael Hebert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Electronic assessment systems (EASs) have proliferated teacher education programs in postsecondary education. Mostly, these systems facilitate candidate and program assessment through technology-mediated procedures, allowing for greater efficiency and accuracy in data collection and analysis. If implemented successfully, the work of individuals associated with teacher education programs from faculty members to assessment coordinators and beyond has the potential to benefit from utilizing the system for course-based and programmatic assessment, both of which are criteria for the accreditation of teacher education programs by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). This qualitative study explores the perceptions of faculty and assessment …

Technology Adoption Of Indian Garment Manufacturing Firms, Venu Varukolu

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to investigate the status and the effect of organizational factors on the level of technology adoption within the context of the Indian garment industry. Specifically, this study focuses on the effect of firm size, export orientation, top management’s commitment, cost of capital, technical skills, and competitive advantage. An online survey using a structured questionnaire was prepared through an online research service. A multiple regression analysis (MRA) was used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that firm size positively influences and export orientation negatively influences the technology adoption level of a firm. The effect …

Role Of Heparanase And Heparanase-Degraded Heparan Sulfate In Brain-Metastatic Melanoma, Madhuchhanda Roy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cancer metastasis is a frequent manifestation of malignant melanoma progression. Successful invasion into distant organs by tumor cells must include attachment to microvessel endothelial cells, and degradation of extracellular matrix. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are ubiquitous macromolecules associated with cell surface and extracellular matrix of a wide range of cells and tissues. Heparanase is an extracellular matrix degradative enzyme which degrades the heparan sulfate chains of heparan sulfate proteoglycans. To investigate effects of changes in heparanase gene expression in metastatic melanoma cells, we constructed adenoviral vectors containing the full-length human heparanase cDNA in both sense (Ad-S/hep) and anti-sense orientations (Ad-AS/hep). We …

A Comparison Of Social Skills Profiles In Intellectually Disabled Adults With And Without Asd, Jonathan Wilkins

LSU Master's Theses

Although there has been a recent increase in research directed toward autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the study of intellectually disabled adults with ASD has gone relatively neglected as efforts have focused largely on young children. Current diagnostic and assessment procedures were created for and validated on this latter group. Many intellectually disabled adults with ASD have not been diagnosed due to the novelty of such instruments and the overlap between symptoms of ASD and severe intellectual disability (ID). A new assessment instrument, the Autism Spectrum Disorders-Diagnostic Scale for Intellectually Disabled Adults (ASD-DA) has been shown to make this fine distinction. …

Alphabetic And Phonemic Awareness In Toddlers, Pamela A. Terrell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ability of 20-24 month-old toddlers to recognize graphemes and phonemes was investigated by reading a Phonic Faces (PF) alphabet picture book. Phonic Faces iconically picture a letter in the mouth of a character producing the sound (the curve of the P looks like the top lip popping the /p/ sound). The book was composed of nine letters and was read individually to experimental subjects three times weekly for six weeks. The control group received no treatment, but engaged in individual play activities for comparable time. Following six-weeks the groups alternated so the former control group now received the alphabet …

Franc̦Ais Acadien, Franc̦Ais Cadien: Variation Stylistique Et Maintenance De Formes Phonetiques Dans Le Parler De Quatre Generations De Femmes Cadiennes, Carole Lucienne Salmon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a sociolinguistic study examining the phonetic variation in the speech of four generations of Cajun French women, living in four Louisiana parishes: Avoyelles, Lafourche, St Landry and Vermillon. Based on the Gold 1975 corpus and the Dubois 1997 Cajun French corpus available at LSU, a sample of 29 speakers was chosen for the analysis of five traditional phonetic variables: O in front of nasals MM/NN and liquids R and L, Œ in front of R, E in front of R and at the third person ending of the imparfait, J in lexical words, personal pronoun JE, and …

Using Group Dynamics And Personality Characteristics To Form Learning Groups In High School Multimedia Courses, Kimberly Nichols Laprairie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide insights into Emergenetics® STEPTM personality profiling as a selection and placement strategy to enhance process and performance in high school learning groups. An explanatory case study was conducted in a private high school currently subscribing to the Emergenetics® STEPTM program. Emergenetics® STEPTM Profile results of students enrolled in the school’s six Multimedia Productions courses were analyzed as the basis for learning group construction. Key individual thinking preferences (Analytical, Structural, Social, Conceptual) identified by the STEPTM Profile was the main variable of analysis. One learning group from each of the six classes (n …

The Voices Of Katrina, David Allen Gallop

LSU Master's Theses

This paper is an exploration into the lives of the people who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Being one of those people, I can greatly empathize and understand the myriad of emotions that families endured during this tumultuous time. My intentions are to bring the viewer into a fragment of what it was like to live through such a tragedy.

Rural Care Registered Nurses' Interpretation Of Health Literacy And Its Effect On Patient Care, Brenda Matzke

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to describe rural care Registered Nurses’ interpretation of health literacy and its effect on patient care. Individuals who do not understand their disease and have poor management skills are at risk for low health literacy. The consequences of limited health literacy are poor healthcare outcomes and higher healthcare costs. Implications from this study are useful in educating practicing Registered Nurses in the development of the necessary skills to empower patients to actively participate in their healthcare. Education about health literacy should begin in grades Kindergarten through 12th, with the primary focus being …

Predictive Data Compression Using Adaptive Arithmetic Coding, Claudio Jose Iombo

LSU Master's Theses

The commonly used data compression techniques do not necessarily provide maximal compression and neither do they define the most efficient framework for transmission of data. In this thesis we investigate variants of the standard compression algorithms that use the strategy of partitioning of the data to be compressed. Doing so not only increases the compression ratio in many instances, it also reduces the maximum data block size for transmission. The partitioning of the data is made using a Markov model to predict if doing so would result in increased compression ratio. Experiments have been performed on text files comparing the …

The Art Of Perception: Robert Irwin's Central Garden At The J. Paul Getty Center, Jennifer Kay Zell

LSU Master's Theses

In this study of The Central Garden at the J. Paul Getty Center was found evidence that the Central Garden designed by Robert Irwin is a postmodern garden. Beginning with an evaluation and description of the individual elements and conditions of the garden, the study then explores the larger body of artistic work produced by Irwin. This investigation also extrapolates how the ideas of modernism and postmodernism have been applied to past works of landscape architecture. The precedents provide a basis for interpretation and analysis of the Central Garden. Direct observation of visitors at the Central Garden provided evidence of …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 35, 2006-2007, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

Clinical Excellence Through Evidence-Based Practice -- A Model To Guide Practice Changes, Patricia Collins, Susan Golembeski, Misleydy Selgas, Kathy Sparger, Nancy Burke, Bonnie Vaughn

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Of Elephants And Embryos: A Proposed Framework For Legal Personhood, Jessica Berg

UC Law Journal

What is a person? What responsibilities or obligations do we have to entities that we recognize as persons under the law? These are not simply theoretical questions. Questions of legal personhood have already faced courts and legislatures and are likely to become more relevant as technology advances.

Legal personhood has largely been ignored outside of the corporate context. Yet there is a pressing need to answer the question of what constitutes a person. This Article's focus is on legal status and the ways in which the law should recognize rights and interests of certain entities.

There are two bases for …

The Influence Of Values And Other Social And Psychological Factors On The Dress And Appearance Of African American College Students, Devona Linette Dixon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate values and other social and psychological factors influence on dress and appearance of African American college students (AACS). The dependent variable was dress and appearance. Independent variables consisted of external values (being well-respected, security, warm relationships with others, and sense of belonging) and internal values (self-respect, sense of accomplishment, fun and enjoyment, self-fulfillment, and excitement). Included in the independent variables were social factors (media and referents' influence (peers and family)) and psychological factors (self-consciousness, self-confidence, fashion leadership, and shopping enjoyment). Social adaptation theory provided the theoretical framework. The theory encompasses the social …

Spatial Econometric Analysis Of Agglomeration Economies Associated With The Geographical Distribution Of The U.S. Biotech Industry, Pramod Reddy Sambidi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzed spatial agglomeration economies associated with the geographical distribution of the U.S. biotech industry. Three location issues associated with the biotech industry were addressed in the study. The first study utilized a Bayesian spatial tobit model and examined the overall and regional differences in factors affecting the location of the U.S. biotech industry. The second study examined the inter- and intra-industry spatial association of biotech related research and development (R&D) and testing facilities across all contiguous U.S. counties employing a Spatial Two-Stage Least Squares model. Finally, the interdependence between different subsectors of the U.S. biotech industry was analyzed …

Natural History Connects Medical Concepts And Painting Theories In China, Sara Madeleine Henderson

LSU Master's Theses

The earliest decipherable Chinese history traces back to the Shang Dynasty (B.C. 1766 – 1154). This period was considered prehistory until the discovery of artifacts describing divination rites in this era, practices that forge a culture. Divination rites included patterns in nature (natural law, li) such as the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams were the first attempt at writing ancient philosophies. Eight symbols represent categories that are not static, but the changing patterns in nature are captured by organizing events and forms in nature relative to seven other influences. Later this idea expanded eight-fold, embracing the …

School Readiness And Preschoolers' Attachment Representations: Possible Connections, Katherine A. Darbonne

LSU Master's Theses

The current study examined the possible relationship between preschooler's school readiness and their attachment representations. More specifically, the study examined preschooler's performances on standardized tests and their perceptions of close relationships. The possible connection between school readiness and attachment representations was through children's experiences of stress during standardized testing situations (Fleege, Charlesworth, Burts, & Hart, 1992) and children's stress invoking the use of their internal working models (Bowlby, 1969/1982). The children were administered the Brigance CIBS-R (Glascoe, 1999), a standardized test that was most often used in the local schools to assess school readiness. The children were also videotaped while …

Governance Of The Workplace: The Contemporary Regime Of Individual Contract, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Timothy A. Haley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.