Digital Commons Network^™

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. …

Expectation In Visual Symbolic Processing Of Environmental Symbols In People With Fluent Aphasia, Amanda Stead

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine aspects of visual symbolic processing in those individuals with fluent aphasia, and how it compares to that of their lexical ability. Two groups of participants were examined: a group with fluent aphasia, and a group of non-neurologically damaged controls. Participants were administered four computer based expectation tasks, two of which were symbolic, and two which were lexical. Each task contained a simple and a complex level. Participants were required to determine if the final stimulus, within a set of four, was congruent or incongruent. The measures taken included both reaction time and …

Workplace Implications For Hurricane Affected Gulf Coast Region Industrial Companies, Michelle T. Boullion

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational perspectives on the effects of disasters on employee behavior in the workplace and the related adjustments organizations make as a result of disaster are examined in this study. The survey instrument utilizes constructs of what organizations have done for their employees in regards to personal and family needs, business earnings and efforts to maintain continued business operations, philanthropy and volunteer activities, hiring and employee retention, safety and security, employee performance and activity, physical, mental or emotional effects, and human resource department adjustments or areas of coping as a result of Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. Rebuilding timeframes for physically damaged …

Detection Of West Nile Virus Activity In Male And Female Mosquitoes, And Evaluation Of Host-Utilization Patterns Of Mosquitoes, In East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Andrew James Mackay

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT Host utilization patterns of female mosquitoes, and WNV infection rates in male and female mosquitoes, were examined in East Baton Rouge Parish to identify potential vectors of West Nile virus (WNV). A total of 244,374 female mosquitoes were collected between November 2002 and October 2004 and tested by viral isolation. Additionally, 131,896 female mosquitoes were tested by VecTest in 2003, and 167,175 female mosquitoes were tested by RT-PCR in 2004. West Nile virus was isolated from 17 of 36 mosquito species assayed by virus isolation, WNV antigens were detected in 9 of 27 species tested by VecTest, and WNV …

Effects Of Smoking And Nicotine Withdrawal On Prospective Memory, Carla Jean Rash

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to successfully remember an intention to be carried out in the future. The current study investigated the effects of cigarette smoking and nicotine withdrawal on PM. Smokers were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: nondeprived or deprived of nicotine for the 24-hours preceding the appointment. Nonsmokers were included for comparison. To mimic the experience of smokers during cessation attempts and to assess the potential additive effect of withdrawal, all smokers engaged in a cue reactivity task with the intent of increasing craving to comparable levels across the smoker groups. Despite equivalent use …

Lymphohistiocytic Proliferative Syndrome Of Alligators (Alligator Mississippiensis): A Cutaneous Manifestation Of West Nile Virus, Javier G. Nevarez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT In 1999, there were reports of a new type of lesion in the hides of captive reared alligators from Florida. Similar lesions were first reported from alligator hides in Louisiana in 2001; however, it wasn’t until 2002 that small epizootics became apparent. In 2002, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries began a collaborative effort with the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine (LSU SVM) to help elucidate the etiology of “PIX” disease, later renamed Lymphohistiocytic Proliferative Syndrome of Alligators (LPSA). Preliminary work concluded that LPSA was a systemic disease affecting multiple tissues. Based on the results of …

Chemical Ecology, Fungal Interactions And Forest Stand Correlations Of The Exotic Asian Ambrosia Beetle, Xylosandrus Crassiusculus (Motschulsky) (Curculionidae), Eric Paul Ott

LSU Master's Theses

Increasing evidence of non-indigenous ambrosia beetles aggressively attacking hosts in their new environment in the United States has led to concern over the potential for damage to urban trees, nurseries, orchards, and forests. A novel technique of flooding host trees was devised to stimulate ambrosia beetle attacks, with ambrosia beetle attraction peaking four days following flooding. In-situ sampling identified significant differences in the composition, quantity and point of release (leaf or bole) of volatiles emitted by the flooded and non-flooded trees. Coupled gas chromatography electroantennographic detection revealed olfactory sensitivity by the ambrosia beetle Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky) to 29 of these …

Interrelationships Between Demographic, Psychosocial, And Academic Characteristics And Ged Attainment Among At-Risk Youth, Judith L. Rhodes

LSU Master's Theses

This exploratory-descriptive research examines demographic, psychosocial, and academic characteristics of at-risk youth (N = 111) who attempted the General Educational Development (GED) Tests. Among students who passed and did not pass the GED Tests, numerous significant relationships emerged. Non-passers were more likely than passers to leave school for academic environment reasons (t = 2.21, df = 109, p < .05). As compared with those who passed the GED Tests, a greater number of moderately strong interrelationships among demographic, psychosocial, and academic characteristics emerged among students who did not pass. Most notably, for non-passers, significantly strong and positive relationships emerged between academic environment reasons for leaving school and two other variables: family reasons for leaving school (r = .55, p < .01) and psychosocial reasons for leaving school (r = .57, p < .05). In addition, a very strong and negative interrelationship emerged among non-passers between academic environment reasons for leaving school and the poverty indicator of status (r = -.68, p < .01). A multivariate perspective is critical for increasing knowledge regarding the social problem of dropout. Such knowledge is crucial for research and policy formation at the local, state, and national levels as well as for school social work practice and education.

Marketing Quality To Consumers - Does It Work For Hospital Marketers?, Rebecca Acosta Burdette

LSU Master's Theses

There's no doubt that the emergence of public report cards and governmental requirements for transparency in healthcare are forcing healthcare providers to work vigorously to improve quality and decrease costs. The results of these report cards and rankings are of interest to consumers - who wouldn't want to know whether or not the healthcare provider you're intrusting your life to is the best. The lengths to which consumers will go to proactively seek this information is another topic within itself; however, if the information is handed to them through strategic marketing and advertising efforts, could the marketing of quality rating …

The Role Of Olympia In Charles Mee's Big Love: A Production Thesis In Acting, Elizabeth Nicole Travis

LSU Master's Theses

The role of Olympia in Charles Mee’s Big Love was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester of 2006. This thesis is a written record of the actor’s work on the character throughout the rehearsal process and performance in the form of an Actor’s Score. It also includes an Introduction, a Chapter on the Rehearsal Process, Character Analysis, News Article, Production Photo and a Conclusion.

Chagas In Culture And Place: A Mixed Methods Approach To A New Medical Geography Of Chagas Disease In Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, Frances Heyward Currin Mujica

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project is concerned with a new medical geography approach to investigating Chagas disease in Los Tuxtlas, Mexico which focuses on the intersection of disease risk and place. More specifically this work will describe the domestic cycle of Chagas disease and the cultural factors that perpetuate its transmission in six communities in the Los Tuxtlas region, Municipio San Andres, Veracruz State, Mexico. Using several collection techniques, such as interviews and house type surveys, as well as identifying and collecting the vector Triatoma dimidiata (including testing them for the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi), this dissertation describes the characteristics of the Chagas landscape …

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 …

Stereochemical And Regiochemical Trends In The Selective Spectrophotometric Detection Of Biological Molecules, Shan Jiang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Useful mechanistic studies to date concerning sugar detection by arylboronic acid chemosensors have mainly involved the elucidation of equilibrium constants and the role of boron-nitrogen interactions in signal transduction. However, several discreet sugarboronate complexes exist in solution. This is due to the complex equilibria between isomeric species of even the simplest monosaccharides. Relatively few reports have been devoted to a systematic study of the structures of each of the corresponding individual sugar-boronate complexes. We have investigated some of the precise regio- and stereochemical features of the various equilibrating sugar isomers that induce selective signal transduction. As a result of this …

Proximity Navigation For Map-Based Interfaces: Generalizing Menu Design For Multiple Dimensions, Brian Scott Malek

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of effective multidimensional map-based interfaces is an important area of research in need of design techniques and guidelines. To date, guidelines for multidimensional interfaces have been generalized from text-based interfaces and few experimental studies have been conducted to asses their effectiveness.

Guidelines for design were studied with the goal of extending the current body of knowledge about the usability of these interfaces. Based on design guidelines, multidimensional map-based interfaces with various levels of depth and breath, with and without scent-based components were used to perform simple and compound tasks. The goal of this study was to investigate the …

Florida High Stakes Testing And Graduation Success, Laurel Alva Stanley

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida has the longest history of high stakes testing of any state in the United States, spanning a period of 28 years, seven different testing policy periods, and five tests. In this study, analysis of statistics from the 28 years suggested that declines in graduation rates corresponded to increasingly difficult high stakes testing policy periods, new tests, and periods that did not include high stakes accountability for graduation rates. Overall, graduation rates declined through an erratic 28 years for a net loss of 4.51 %. The achievement gap in graduation rates between white and black students worsened 200% from 1992 …

Articulation, Academic Progress, And Graduation: A Comparison Of Community College Transfer And Native Students In Selected Florida Universities, Angela M. Garcia Falconetti

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods study was to explore how well Florida's 2+2 articulation agreement and transfer student services meet the needs of students. Phase I employed quantitative methodology to compare the academic success and persistence to graduation of a single cohort (n = 2,612) of Florida public community college Associate in Arts graduates (n = 1,738) and native (n = 874) juniors (60-to-70 credit hours) who entered the same universities as FTIC. Discriminant analysis results yielded statistically significant differences in the academic success and persistence of community college transfer and native student graduates and …

Assessing The Impact Of Family Coaching On Parental Attitudes And Behaviors, James Young

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of participation in a family coaching program on perceptions of parental self-efficacy, families' use of encouragement, and reinforcement behaviors. A second purpose of the study was to ascertain the lasting effect on families participating in a family involvement intervention that included coaching. Families with prekindergarten and/or kindergarten children attending school in a low-income neighborhood and neighboring child care centers were recruited for the study.

The Family Coaching Institute, the family involvement intervention for this study, consisted of three 5-week, 2-hour biweekly sessions. Attendance ranged from 3 to 15 sessions. Child …

Frameworks For Patient Safety In The Nursing Curriculum, Theresa Maria Chenot

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patient safety (i.e., the degree to which patients are free from accidental injury) has received a great deal of media coverage during the past few years. Professional and regulatory agencies have indicated that patient safety education should be provided to healthcare workers to improve health outcomes. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to gain a better understanding of the current status of patient safety awareness among pre-licensure nursing students. To this end, six research questions guided the study:

1. Will interpretable item constructs be identified when responses to the Healthcare Professional Patient Safety Assessment Curriculum Survey (HPPSACS) are …

Spatial And Temporal Structure Of Typhoid Fever In Washington, D.C., 1895-1909: A Geographic Information Systems Exploration Of Urban Health Concerns, Sarah Elizabeth Hinman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The period between 1880 and 1920 was one of the most dynamic in the history of medicine. Morbidity and mortality rates for infectious diseases dropped quickly. Concurrently, miasmatic theory gave way to germ theory. Many of these dynamic changes occurred in the urban centers of North America, which were also entering into a period of dramatic growth and change. Following the 1905 completion of infrastructure improvements intended to improve public health in Washington, D.C., typhoid fever rates unexpectedly increased. Previously, for mitigation purposes, Dr. George Kober investigated a typhoid epidemic in 1895, and as a result of the 1906 increase …

Logging-On To Sai Baba: The Poetics Of Sacred Globalization, Meredith Morgan Feike

LSU Master's Theses

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the leader of a progressive religious movement steeped in the Hindu tradition. The Sathya Sai Baba Organization claims to have over thirty million members in approximately 170 countries. The dedicated followers of the movement believe Sai Baba to be an avatar or incarnation of God in human form. Sai Baba utilizes the Internet to transmit his universalistic philosophies around the world. With this digital universe, devotees can log-on to a multitude of official Sai websites that act as training ground for achieving liberation of the mind and soul. This path of devotion that Sai …

Rate Change Effects On Acoustic Duration Measures On An Adolescent Who Stutters, Valerie Jean Courville

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if reduced rate techniques have an effect on speech motor coordination of an adolescent. A literature review revealed that a reduced rate technique consistently promoted more fluent speech; however, the cause of that increase in fluency is not known. This study proposed three specific questions to determine if there was a shortening of the /s/ phoneme in clustered contexts when compared to singletons, if reducing the rate would cause the adolescent to produce more adult-like shortening patterns, and if the reduced rate technique caused a decrease in stuttering events. One eleven year …

Competencies For Rural Nursing Practice, Florence Elaine Hurme

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study sought to identify nursing competencies most associated with good nursing practice in Critical Access Hospitals. The Delphi panel for this study consisted of seven rural health nurse experts who were currently employed as a Director of Nursing in a Critical Access Hospital. A survey instrument was developed for each of the three Delphi rounds. The Round One instrument consisted of two open-ended focus questions. The four classification headings used for the identified competencies included Clinical/Technical Skills, Critical Thinking Skills, Communication/Interpersonal Skills, and Management/Organizational Skills. The Round Two survey instrument was a compilation of the competencies received from the …

Etiology Of Traumatic Brain Injury: Impact On Psychological Functioning, Jeffrey James Schneider

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to violence has received increased research focus in recent years, with numerous studies examining the impact of violent TBI on cognitive and psychosocial outcomes. However, few studies have examined psychological outcomes following violent TBI. The present study examined the prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety in individuals with TBI due to violence (n = 180) and other causes (n = 360). Results indicated that while etiology was not a significant predictor of psychological status, overall there were some differences in endorsement of depressive and anxious symptoms among individuals with moderate to severe injuries compared …

Embracing Life After Breast Cancer: Exploring The Holistic Health Of Survivors, Christine Yakiwchuk

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Health, from a holistic perspective, is more than physical well-being. The experience and treatment of breast cancer has an impact beyond physical health, with psychological, social, and spiritual factors playing a role in wellness. Physically, treatment such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy often have disruptive side effects such as, fatigue, breast soreness, nausea, vomiting, hair loss and weight gain, as well as the possibility of losing one or both breasts (Mustain et al., 2002). Psychologically and emotionally, women may experience anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, fear and repression, psychological distress and persistent fears of recurrence (Glanz & Lerman, 1992). The goal …

The Role Of Christian Faith In The Acculturation And Identity Development Of Chinese Immigrant Youth, Lynn Chyi-Ing Liao

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Immigration is a life-altering experience that significantly contributes a context for identity formation, a critical and salient task during the years of late adolescence and emerging adulthood. Religion as a influential factor in the lives of youth has often been overlooked and considering the transnational quality of Christianity, it may have an important role to play in the acculturation and identity development of immigrant youth.

In this qualitative study, I chose to interview Chinese immigrant youth aged 18-23, who are recent immigrants and self-identify as Christian. The central idea of this exploratory inquiry is that each individual interprets experiences of …

Palmore Comes Of Age: The Place Of Race In The Placement Of Children, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Director Independence In The Independent Sector, Dana Brakman Reiser

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Emerging Commons And Tragic Institutions, Brigham Daniels

Faculty Scholarship

For the past forty years, scholars have developed an immense literature devoted to understanding and solving the tragedy of the commons. The most prominent solutions to this tragedy have focused on building and maintaining stable institutions. This Article reexamines this foundational literature by exploring the costs of stability. In many cases, far more than is generally recognized, the way we value the commons changes. When values change, stable institutions that once made perfect sense become rigid institutions that block change. This Article explains how institutions most able to solve the tragedy of the commons often cause a tragedy of another …

Enhancing Drug Effectiveness And Efficacy Through Personal Injury Litigation, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sources De Données Sur Les Conditions De Travail En Lien Avec La Santé Et La Sécurité Du Travail. Document I, Synthèse, Patrice Duguay, Paul Massicotte, Jean-François Godin, François Hébert, Michèle Gervais

Rapports de recherche scientifique

La nature du travail se transforme tout comme les conditions dans lesquelles il s'accomplit. La population active vieillit. Un plus grand nombre d'emplois requièrent des compétences nombreuses, variées, souvent complexes. Les environnements de travail – que ce soit au plan physique, économique, organisationnel, psychosocial – ne cessent de se transformer. En raison de cette dynamique, plusieurs enquêtes ont été réalisées en vue de documenter les conditions de travail, en termes de changement ou de diversité. Ces études ont permis d'établir des liens entre certaines conditions de travail et la santé ou la sécurité des travailleurs.

L'objectif de ce document est …