Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Multiplicative Renormalization Method For Orthogonal Polynomials, Suat Namli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To study the orthogonal polynomials, Asai, Kubo and Kuo recently have developed the multiplicative renormalization method. Motivated by infinite dimensional white noise analysis, it is an alternative to the computational part of the classical Gram-Schmidt process to find the orthogonal polynomials for a given measure. Instead of finding the orthogonal polynomials recursively as described in the Gram-Schmidt process, one analyzes different types of generating functions systematically in order to obtain polynomials after power series expansion. This work also produces the Jacobi-Szego parameters easily and paves the way for the study of one-mode interacting Fock spaces related to these parameters. They …

Analysis Of The Association Between Socio-Demographic Variables, Juvenile Offending, And Formal Vs. Informal Juvenile Justice System Handling In A Non-Urban Sample, Stephen W. Phillippi, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

PURPOSE: This study compares and contrasts first-time juvenile offenders enrolled in a community-based intervention program whose cases were processed either informally or formally, and examines empirically- and conceptually-relevant contributors to re-offending. METHODS: This is a longitudinal, secondary analysis of 1072 male and female offenders. The study includes descriptive univariate analyses; chi-square bivariate analyses of each independent variable with the dependent variables (level of processing and recidivism at both one and three years); and binary logistic regression analyses to identify significant predictors of the dependent variables. Independent variables include age, gender, race, family structure, marital status of biological parents, family income, …

The Spectral And Photophysical Characterization Of Water Solubilizing Metal Phthalocyanines For Highly Sensitive Detection In Biological Studies, Vera Tamisha Verdree

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Efforts to improve the technology for DNA analyses stimulated the work presented here to develop a series of fluorescent probes that would aid in the increased multiplexing capabilities allowing the ability to detect multiple targets in a single measurement. Typically, spectral discrimination has been used to identify each DNA fragment in sequencing or diagnostic applications by means of unique emission properties from several labeling dyes. This has been accomplished with labels that fluoresce in the visible region. The limitations with these dyes is the broad emission profile making discrimination difficult, high intrinsic biological fluorescence and structural differences of the dyes …

Acquisition And Retention Of Cpr Knowledge And Skills For Junior Level Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Andrea Ackermann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The acquisition and retention of CPR knowledge and skills has been a topic of concern for the past 20 years and there is concern that severe deterioration of knowledge and skills has been evident in only a few weeks after training. The use of human patient simulation (HPS) scenarios has been beneficial in teaching a variety of nursing skills in a risk-free environment. This type of training has been recommended by nursing educators but there is no evidence of increased acquisition and retention of CPR skills for nursing students using HPS scenario.

A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the …

Sensory Characteristics And Optimization Of A Low-Sodium Salt Formulation And Its Food Application, Armen Khachatryan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Excessive consumption of sodium is associated with high blood pressure in people. Reduction of sodium intake and replacement of salt with salt substitutes are an essential component of the primary prevention of hypertension. Potassium chloride is the most widely used salt substitute. However, when used in large amounts, it imparts bitterness and metallic aftertaste. Therefore, bitterness masking agents need to be used in salt substitute formulations. L-Arginine has been reported to have bitterness masking properties. No research has yet been conducted to investigate the effects of KCl and L-Arginine on the perception of saltiness and bitterness in the mixture of …

Self-Forgiveness: A Narrative Phenomenological Study, John Beiter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation critically explored both theoretical and research findings pertaining to self-forgiveness, especially as it related to psychology. An important, though rather apparent finding or conclusion derived from this literature review was that there is an astounding paucity of both theoretical and research work about self-forgiveness within psychology. This lack or shortcoming holds, surprisingly, even in those disciplines perhaps associated more intuitively with self-forgiveness, for example theological and religious studies, and philosophy. Moreover, a contamination, conflation, or supplementarity characterized the relationship between forgiveness and self-forgiveness, such that no clear consensus exists with respect to the distinctions or similarities between those …

Hope For Today And Tomorrow: Identity Construction Power, And Persistence Of Community College Women Who Are First In Their Families To Attend College, Crystal Deer Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation was a case study of four community college women who were first in their families to attend college. Through this study, the “first-generation” construct was analyzed in regard to its uses and limits. The researcher found the label as an identifier becomes problematic through social discourse. These results confirm London’s (1996) finding that students themselves do not necessarily find anything unique about their situations or anything in common with other students simply based on their being the first in their families to attend college. Therefore, the “first-generation” construct may be viewed primarily as a higher education versus an …

Soliciting Desire: The Ad-Man As Narrative Negotiation Between Art, Desire, And Consumer Capitalism In Twentieth-Century Novels, Jessica Mckelvie Kemp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation identifies ways in which novelists have used an ad-man protagonist as means to investigate the social and psychological implications of advertising in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Soliciting Desire takes as its primary subjects H.G. Wells’s Tono-Bungay, Theodore Dresier’s The “Genius,” Frederick Wakeman’s The Hucksters, Jonathan Dee’s Palladio, and William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition and demonstrates that the ad-man character’s particular constellation of traits provides a rich vehicle for fictional explorations of desire and subjectivity as they are formed in relation to ideologies of consumer capitalism and art. Guided by Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin’s theories of cultural/ capitalist …

Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem: Dialectic And The Chromatic Middleground, Patrick Tuck

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (1868) has been the focus of much scholarly research. The present study focuses specifically on the work’s dialectic: the presentation and resolution of a conflict between mortal suffering and eternal joy. It takes an Schenkerian approach to the tonal content of the piece, which provides a musical reflection of the human spiritual journey to the afterlife. It examines how Brahms brings his chosen texts to life with the aid of musical processes such as mixture, register transfer, coupling, covering lines, and contrasting textures. The present study will cite previous authors who have noted the opposing forces …

Genetics Of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 Tegument Proteins Involved In Virion Morphogenesis And Egress, Preston A. Fulmer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) morphogenesis occurs in multiple stages within infected cells. Initially, the virion capsid assembles within the nucleus and buds through the nuclear membrane into the cytoplasm. Within the cytoplasm, additional tegument proteins attach to the capsid and the fully tegumented capsids bud into trans-Golgi network (TGN) derived vesicles. Enveloped virions are ultimately secreted to extracellular spaces. The process by which the cytoplasmic capsids bud into TGN-derived vesicles is not well understood. The prevalent model calls for specific interactions among viral tegument proteins and membrane proteins and glycoproteins embedded within TGN membranes. To further investigate the roles …

Probing The Association Behavior Of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds With Dissolved Humic Materials, Hadi M. Marwani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The association mechanism between hydrophobic organic compounds (HOC) and dissolved humic materials (DHM) has continued to be one of the interesting areas in environmental applications. The goal of the research reported in this dissertation is to investigate the association behavior of HOC with DHM. The first part of this research involves steady-state fluorescence measurements of these multi-component systems to study the effect of DHM content on the association mechanism of HOC, in particular using pyrene as a model. Results showed that steady-state fluorescence alone may not provide enough information about the quenching mechanism of pyrene with DHM. Lifetime based fluorescence …

Assessing The Influence Of Religion On Health Behavior, David B. Creel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A primary aim of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the Health and Religious Congruency Scale (HARCS), a measure previously developed by the same research team. The HARCS questions directly link religious beliefs/activities to health behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the current data fit poorly to the factor structure found in the pilot study. Because the current sample was more religiously diverse than the pilot study sample, and could potentially provide a factor structure that better reflects the views of individuals from different religious affiliations, a principal components analysis was conducted on the current data. …

Psychopathic Traits And Social-Cognitive Processes In Aggressive Youth, Colleen Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychopathy is associated with severe and violent aggressive behaviors, poor treatment outcomes and high rates of recidivism. In youth, conduct problems and callous/unemotional characteristics are associated with characteristics of adulthood psychopathy. Downward extending adult criteria to youth is problematic. However, there is substantial evidence that adults with psychopathy traits began that developmental trajectory in childhood. This study adds to the developing literature clarifying the construct of psychopathy in youth, including the nature of callous/unemotional traits and the relationship to social-cognitive processes. Results indicate the callous/unemotional trait significantly predicted empathic concern, perspective taking, cognitive dysregulation, and outcome values in obtaining a …

The Experiences Of Refugee Youth From The Conflicts In The Sudan: A Collective Case Study, Michele Kelly

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of familial protective factors in moderating the relationship between risk and resilience in Sudanese refugee youth exposed to political violence. Interviews, direct observations, and physical artifacts were the sources of data. Eight “Lost Boys” participated in the study, providing narratives of their experiences of the Sudanese civil wars. They also answered questions posed about the role of familial protective factors in moderating the relationship between risk and resilience. The interviews were recorded on audiotape and then transcribed. Data consisted of the transcripts and field notes of processes and observations. …

Land-Cover And Land-Use Study Using Genetic Algorithms, Petri Nets, And Cellular Automata, Fei Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent research techniques, such as genetic algorithm (GA), Petri net (PN), and cellular automata (CA) have been applied in a number of studies. However, their capability and performance in land-cover land-use (LCLU) classification, change detection, and predictive modeling have not been well understood. This study seeks to address the following questions: 1) How do genetic parameters impact the accuracy of GA-based LCLU classification; 2) How do image parameters impact the accuracy of GA-based LCLU classification; 3) Is GA-based LCLU classification more accurate than the maximum likelihood classifier (MLC), iterative self-organizing data analysis technique (ISODATA), and the hybrid approach; 4) How …

Ecological Factors Affecting The Diversity Of Tropical Tree Seedlings, C. E. Timothy Paine

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Seed dispersal and seedling establishment – the two stages in seedling recruitment – set the spatiotemporal distribution of new individuals in plant communities. Diversity often increases at the seed to seedling transition, making it critical for species coexistence. Debate continues regarding the effects of each stage on the community structure of diverse forests. Neutral theories postulate a strong role of dispersal, whereas niche-differentiation theories suggest that environmental conditions may be more important. This dissertation tested the effects of dispersal, competition and predation on the structure of the seedling layer in a pristine Amazonian rainforest. Seed-addition experiments broadly tested the relative …

How Legend Constructs French National Identity: Jeanne D'Arc, Stephanie Louise Coker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since the fifteenth century, French authors have (re)told the story of Jeanne d’Arc. There is a sense of timelessness that accompanies her reception by the French public. In this transhistorical study, I look at Jeanne’s legend in light of four centuries and reveal how French authors (re)appropriate the Maid for their own political purposes. Along with the timeliness of Jeanne’s appearance, I investigate the gendered nature of her depictions. In short, I examine how Jeanne’s legend constructs, reconstructs, and deconstructs French national identity. In 1429, Christine de Pisan composes Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc, a poem that celebrates her contemporary in …

Demystifying A Sexual Perversion: An Existential Reading Of Sadomasochism And Erich Fromm's Call To Love, Salvatore Palazzolo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the lack of clinical evidence suggesting that sex is the primary passion behind sadomasochism and critiques which have debunked the idea of gendered polarities as intrinsic to its nature, the popular imagination of sadomasochism remains as a gendered sexual perversion. This dissertation explores how theories of sadomasochism became "dominated" by sexual themes along with some of the problems that interfere with a full understanding of sadomasochism as a psychological disorder.

In part one, starting with the theories of Krafft-Ebing, Ellis, and Freud, various theories of sadomasochism are examined guided by four principles that are explicitly and implicitly addressed. These …

Images In Fashion Advertisements: Their Role In Involvement And The Consumer Communications Process, Monica Santaella

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of images as a means of persuasion in advertisements, with few exceptions, has been viewed as secondary to copy (text) in advertisements. Even though images play an important part in the communication of messages for fashion apparel, research to develop an understanding of how images influence consumers is needed. Hypotheses were developed to test the proposition that viewers’ level of advertisement and fashion involvement would be moderated by type of advertisement treatment for a fashion product considered controversial: (1) copy and image, (2) copy only, and (3) image only.
Involvement, as a state that can be measured along …

A Comparison Of Channel Morphology, Marsh Elevation, And Biological Processes In Natural And Dredged Tidal Salt Marshes In Louisiana, Jennifer S. Spicer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Channel networks in tidal marshes serve as conduits for the exchange of water between the estuary and the marsh surface and form the spatial structure that regulates the flow of organisms, materials, and energy throughout the marsh system. Canal dredging creates channels with distinct linear shapes, and the artificial levee created from the dredged material creates ‘spoil banks’ along either side of the channel edge. Differences in morphology and adjacent marsh surface elevation between natural and dredged channel systems have not been well quantified, but may have important implications for the functioning of tidal channels as habitat for marsh-dependent species. …

Maximize Muscle Mechanical Output During The Stretch-Shortening Cycle--The Contribution Of Preactivation And Stretch Load, Mianfang Ruan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It is well documented that the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), the most common muscle behavior, enhances muscle mechanical output. Stretch load and muscle preactivation level have been suggested as the two important factors regulating mechanical output. The purpose of this series studies is to systematically examine influences of the preactivation and the stretch load on muscle mechanical output during SSC. In the First study, a two dimensional lower extremity dynamic model was used to evaluate the influence of the approach on mechanical output. The peak summed power during the push-off phase demonstrated a quadratic trend across heights and appeared to be …

Life Of The People, Body Of The People: Re-Reading The Imagery Of The Body Politic, Wade Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to traditional interpretations, the language of the body politic is regarded as an essentially marginal turn of phrase which, if it does have any theoretical importance, simply refers to the civil order formed by agents who agree to exit from the state of nature by transferring their right of self-defense to a duly recognized sovereign authority. From the standpoint of Agamben and Foucault's work on biopower, however, corporeal language is no longer viewed one-dimensionally, as a metaphor of popular consent; rather, we can re-read the body politic in a more literal way, as the intersection of cooperation and antagonism …

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 …

Chiral Analyses Using Molecualr Micelles And Multiple Regression Modeling In Chromatographic And Spectroscopic Methods, Alicia Williams Snearl

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple regression modeling techniques allow for rapid and accurate prediction of migration times and resolution values for micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) as well as the development of quick screening methods using steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. All studies reported in this dissertation include optimization of calibration models and predictions of dependent variables by the use of validation samples. The root-mean-square percent relative error (RMS%RE) is used as a figure of merit for characterizing the performance of the calibration models. MEKC separations of achiral and chiral analytes were performed using an achiral molecular micelle, poly(sodium N-undecylenic sulfate), and chiral molecular micelles, poly(sodium N-undecanoyl-L-leucylvalinate) …

Modeling Spatial And Temporal Variations Of Surface Moisture Content And Groundwater Table Fluctuations On A Fine-Grained Beach, Padre Island, Texas, Yuanda Zhu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The basic goals of this study are to document, represent and model beach surface moisture dynamics. Achieving these goals requires that the dynamics be understood within the context of the key associated processes including evaporation and groundwater table fluctuations. Atmospheric parameters including wind speed, air temperature and relative humidity, evaporation, beach surface moisture content, groundwater table fluctuations and tidal oscillations were directly monitored in an eight-day field experiment. Field measurements demonstrated that beach surface moisture content has a relatively high degree of variability in the cross-shore direction and a relatively low variability in the alongshore direction. The highest levels of …

Bridging The Gap Between Research And Practice: Involving Group Therapists In The Development Of Clinically Relevant Research Questions And Methodologies, Mandy Schleifer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1970 Irvin Yalom published his seminal work on group therapy, in which he presented an eleven-factor theory of psychotherapy group process. Since 1970, most research on group therapeutic factors has investigated their relative importance, depending on the therapeutic setting or modality, client population, or "developmental stage" of the group. However some authors have protested that there are methodological, definitional, or content-oriented problems with extant therapeutic factor research. The present author links these three issues by understanding them as symptoms of a research-practice gap. In order to explore the limitations of existing research and consider potential remedies, she conducted a …

Effect Of Adapted Phonic Faces Story Books On Phonological Skills Of Children With Severe Expressive Language Disorders, Meher Hormazd Banajee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Although No Child Left Behind (2001) encourages the inclusion of all children within the regular curriculum, children with severe speech and physical disabilities rarely are provided with the literacy education provided to grade-level peers. This study taught alphabetic skills to three children with severe speech and physical impairments in the context of traditional alphabet books versus Phonic Faces Storybooks. Both storybooks were converted into e-books using Microsoft Office PowerPoint (Microsoft Office, 2003) and accessed using a single rocking lever switch. Two graphemes were selected based on incorrect responses from the pretest administration of the The Phonological Awareness Test (Roberson & …

Spiritual Leadership As An Effective Leadership Style For The Public School Superintendent, Sherri Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the job of a public school superintendent has been to manage the operations of the district. With the pressures and changes in today's world, there is a requirement for school leaders to command more skills than merely management skills. In order to understand what skills effective school leaders need, more research into effective leadership techniques and skills is necessary. More current research has begun to study a higher moral method of leadership, one in which the leader allows his spirituality to guide all of his decisions and relationships. The study of spiritual leadership focused on education, specifically, the superintendent, …