Digital Commons Network^™

Apocalypse South: Judgment, Cataclysm, And Resistance In The Regional Imaginary, Anthony Hoefer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project investigates manifestations of Apocalypse in selected works of southern fiction, each of which simultaneously draws upon the cosmology of southern evangelical Protestantism and disrupts that cosmology’s power to govern the discourses of race, class, and gender in the U.S. South. Apocalypse South proposes that invocations of the Apocalypse are signs of deferred meaning—of hidden histories of undifferentiation, hybridity, and contradiction which defy the prevailing discourses that configure social relationships in southern spaces and places. Southern religious culture maps Apocalypse onto the boundaries of race, class, and gender and imparts catastrophic consequences to their violations. However, the works investigated …

Quiescent Current Testing Of Cmos Data Converters, Siva Yellampalli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Power supply quiescent current (IDDQ) testing has been very effective in VLSI circuits designed in CMOS processes detecting physical defects such as open and shorts and bridging defects. However, in sub-micron VLSI circuits, IDDQ is masked by the increased subthreshold (leakage) current of MOSFETs affecting the efficiency of I¬DDQ testing. In this work, an attempt has been made to perform robust IDDQ testing in presence of increased leakage current by suitably modifying some of the test methods normally used in industry. Digital CMOS integrated circuits have been tested successfully using IDDQ and IDDQ methods for physical defects. However, testing of …

Disney Goes Goofy: Agency, Delegation, And Corporate Governance, Marc I. Steinberg, Matthew D. Bivona

UC Law Journal

In the wake of the corporate debacles that have occurred in the last decade, there has been an increasing legislative and judicial focus on the reform of corporate governance standards. Such reforms, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, sing the praises of independent directors in effectuating meaningful corporate governance. The Delaware courts as well have emphasized the importance of independent directors in the corporate governance framework.

The Delaware Supreme Court's decision in Disney seems to be a reaffirmation of the business judgment rule as applied to corporate directors; however, the court's highly-publicized decision ignores a crucial component of the case: the Delaware …

Parental Tort Liability For Preimplantation Genetic Interventions: Technological Harms, The Social Model Of Disability, And Questions Of Identity, Kirsten Rabe Smolensky

UC Law Journal

Professors Glenn Cohen, Jaime King, and Alicia Ouellette each wrote a thoughtful commentary in response to the article, Creating Children with Disabilities: Parental Tort Liability for Preimplantation Genetic Interventions. This short Essay is a reply to several broad themes that appear in these commentaries. It both clarifies several points made in the original article and makes a few additional arguments in favor of parental tort liability. In particular, this Essay addresses calls for regulation and provider liability, assesses additional costs and benefits associated with preimplantation genetic interventions, reevaluates the original proposal in a way more sensitive to persons with disabilities, …

Teaching Presence: A Focus On The Instructor's Role In Online Collaborative Learning, Keisha Smith Dubuclet

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use of e-learning has been extended beyond simply providing access to information to providing the ability to learn collaboratively via an interactive learning environment. The ability to create an online collaborative and interactive environment is a challenge. This study strove to examine the most effective design and facilitative strategies for fostering student learning and participation in hopes to make design and implementation of online discussions easier and more efficient for teachers. The primary goal of this study was to understand how the degree of instructor presence influenced students’ perception of learning and how students engaged in deeper levels of …

The Forgotten Frontier - Healthcare For Transgender Detainees In Immigration And Customs Enforcement Detention, Dana O'Day-Senior

UC Law Journal

a challenge for anyone, but for transgender individuals, the lack of healthcare policy specifically addressing the healthcare needs of transgender individuals can mean that ICE detention is hazardous to one's health. Many researchers have studied the challenges faced by transgender individuals in the prison setting, and many researchers have examined the problems with healthcare access and delivery in ICE detention facilities. However, so far no one has bridged the gap between the two areas of research and looked at the specific challenges ICE detention poses for healthcare for transgender individuals.

This Note attempts to bridge that gap by focusing into …

The Effectiveness Of Contextualization On Second Language Acquisition Using The Situational Discourse Semantic Model, Alice Marie Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

In traditional classrooms a second language is taught via thematic word sets, grammatical explanations, and patterned syntactic practice. This study compared the traditional teaching approach to a scaffolded teaching approach, consisting of words taught within a narrative context. Five fifth-grade students were taught Spanish as a second language during a ten-week intervention. Vocabulary learning and sentence generation were measured following each session, as well as a pre-posttest measure. Results showed that print was an important support used by participants in the traditional condition. However across time, vocabulary learning and sentence length increased significantly more in the scaffolded condition.

Prosecuting Elder Abuse: Setting The Gold Standard In The Golden State, Arthur Meirson

UC Law Journal

This Note proposes amending California's elder abuse law. Currently, California Penal Code sections 368(b) and (c) allow the prosecution of any person who willfully causes or permits a person they know to be an elder or dependent adult "to suffer, or inflicts thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering." The failing of this law is its focus on the subjective experience of the elder or dependent adult victim. Because the law only allows punishment where the victim suffers or experiences unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering, there are numerous circumstances that allow a perpetrator of abuse to escape prosecution. These …

Administrative Responses To Hurricane-Induced Mobility, Christopher J. Fontenot

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita posed serious challenges to school systems as children displaced by the storms attended schools across Louisiana and in most of the states of the Union. This qualitative case study examined the administrative challenges of one school district that received over 6,800 new students in less than a month. Research questions posed in the study focused on the planning, placement, and support of displaced students, the leadership of the superintendent and principals in integrating displaced students into the district and schools, which problems arose, and whether any policies or procedures were changed as a result hurricane-induced mobility. …

Dosimetry Intercomparison Using A 35-Kev X-Ray Synchrotron Beam, Scott Oves

LSU Master's Theses

Significance: Photon activated Auger electron therapy utilizes a keV-ranged, monoenergetic x-ray beam, and radiobiological and animal experiments studying this therapy require accurate dosimetry techniques. However, there exist few dosimetry protocols for low-energy x-ray beams. This research intended to use the CAMD synchrotron as a source of monochromatic, 35-keV x-rays and test dosimetry techniques of film and ion chamber. The hypothesis of my research was that depth-dose measured in a PMMA phantom using an air-equivalent ionization chamber and radiochromic film dosimeters in a PMMA phantom irradiated by a 35-keV, monochromatic x-ray beam will agree to within 5% of each other and …

Conversations On Citizenship: Young People's Perceptions And Performances Of Democratic Citizenship, Katherine Rhodes Knobloch

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate how the practice of democratic citizenship compares to ideals of it. I hope to provide a clear view of what contemporary democratic citizenship means, how this conception has been formed, and how democratic citizenship can be effectively practiced to serve the ideals held by democratic citizens. To do this, this paper will be comprised in several parts. After an initial explanation of the theoretical perspective used, I will explore how democracy was understood and implemented in the formative stages of United States government. Next I review contemporary practices of citizenship before examining …

The Perils And Empowerments Of Mountain Literacies: Reading Loss And Shifting Identities In Appalachian Memoirs And Novels, Erica Abrams Locklear

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the literary portrayal of literacy events in memoirs and novels written by Appalachian women during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Drawing from contemporary literacy scholarship, my project engages several definitions of the term "literacy," including theories defining it as a technical skill, a social act, cultural knowledge, or a potent form of ideological power. In a region historically (and often inaccurately) stigmatized as illiterate, "literacy" is a loaded term, a concept doubly associated with cultural pride and with cultural loss. By applying literacy theories to Appalachian literature, I analyze the identity conflicts literacy attainment causes for several …

Improving Laws And Legal Authorities For Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness, David Fidler, Robert M. Pestronk, Brian Kamoie, Gene Matthews, Georges C. Benjamin, Ralph T. Bryan, Socrates H. Tuch, Richard Gottfried, Jonathan E. Fielding, Fran Schmitz, Stephen Redd

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Fair Housing Act And Extralegal Terror, Jeannine Bell

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article examines the implications the Fair Housing Act (FHA) has on anti-integrationist racial violence faced by racial and ethnic minority's integrating white neighborhoods. The first part of the article describes anti-integrationist violence as it occurs in two separate but distinct time periods the first occurring, before the passage of the FHA. The second time period that article addresses is the post-1968 era until the present day. In discussing the period since the passage of the Act, the article describes several important mechanisms in how the FHA functions as a remedy for extralegal violence. The Article concludes with a call …

Determination Of Ctv-To-Itv Margin For Free-Breathing Respiratory-Gated Treatments Using 4dct And The Novalis Exactrac Gating System With Implanted Fiducials, Jason Edward Matney

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this project was to investigate the interplay between gating window characteristics and target margin required to compensate for residual motion during the gating window. This project investigated the accuracy of ExacTrac and 4DCT imaging localizing an implanted coil at various phases of respiration. Radiochromic film measured delivered dose patterns for selected gating intervals over a variety of respiratory patterns. In order to establish accurate dosimetry, this project implemented and tested an EBT radiochromic film dosimetry system. Film testing showed that the performance of a medical grade Vidar Dosimetry Pro radiographic film scanner and an Epson V700 Photo …

A Comparison Of Feeding And Mealtime Problems In Intellectually Disabled Adults With And Without Autism, Jill Cherie Fodstad

LSU Master's Theses

Due to the dearth of information categorically describing feeding behaviors in those with autism spectrum disorders, the goal of this research is to examine the nature of feeding difficulties in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Feeding and mealtime behavior problems are an area of concern due to their impact on an individual’s daily functioning, as well as the potential for causing severe medical conditions (e.g., poor nutrition, choking, aspiration) that may ultimately lead to death. Due to the importance of this topic for proper diagnosis and treatment planning, a better understanding of these behaviors in …

Alzheimer's Caregiving Appraisal, Andre' Fortier

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge base of AD caregiving appraisal by understanding a connection of factors that influence caregiving appraisal. It is important for the profession of social work to understand the complexities which may impact the level of care and/or appraisal. A combination of research questions and hypotheses were devised to determine the influence of each factor and/or a combination of factors on caregiving appraisal. The survey comprises of six sections: demographics and stage of AD, burden, resilience, family strengths, ethnic awareness, and caregiving appraisal. The overall survey was designed by the researcher; …

Seeing (Red): A Qualitative Analysis Of The Product (Red) Campaign And Integration Of Public Relations And Marketing Theory, Amy Elizabeth Martin

LSU Master's Theses

In an effort to combat the AIDS epidemic around the world, the Product (RED) campaign aims to engage consumers in an “economic initiative” with exclusive products from their corporate partnerships. Academic journals claim that this effort is a new form of Cause-Related Marketing (CRM), even though it involves many Public Relations strategies and tactics. Product (RED)’s unique nature is unlike previous CRM campaigns due to its corporate partnership agreements. Researchers have not previously studied initiatives such as Product (RED) through either Public Relations or Marketing theories. David’s (2004) Convergence Theory creates a cyclical model to merge both Public Relations and …

Let The Church Rise: The Acceptance Of Government Funding By The Religious Community In New Orleans Post-Katrina, Jaime Collins Hilton

LSU Master's Theses

This research presents themes which generate insight about why religious organizations in New Orleans accept or decline government funding for disaster relief and rebuilding. A total of eight in-depth interviews were conducted with church representatives to explore opinions regarding churches’ stance on obtaining federal funding for emergency aid provided to survivors of Hurricane Katrina and also for rebuilding purposes. Furthermore, quantitative results were obtained in collaboration with the LSU Public Policy Research Lab as part of a cross-sectional, exploratory study. The Public Policy Research Lab contacted an additional total of 54 churches (N=62) in the New Orleans metropolitan area were …

Dress In The United States Of America As Depicted In Postmortem Photographs, 1840-1900, Ryan Jerel Aldridge

LSU Master's Theses

The results of a content and historical analysis of American postmortem photographs from 1840 to 1900 found in Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America and Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement and The Family In Memorial Photography American & European Traditions by Stanley Burns (1990 and 2002) indicate that day dress was the most popular form of postmortem dress depicted in the photographs. A comparison of the findings from this examination of the dress of 89 deceased individuals depicted in 84 postmortem photographs with descriptions of dress based on nineteenth century archaeological burial remains and portraits of living individuals indicates that …

Opportunities And Challenges Associated With Development Of Wood Biomass Energy Production In Louisiana, Anil Raj Kizhakkepurakkal

LSU Master's Theses

Wood residue produced by forest products industry has been recognized as a potential fuel that can generate energy to run the industry. A survey was done among forest products industry to get a general idea about energy produced from woody biomass created from forest industry in Louisiana, USA. The industry was classified into primary and secondary forest products industry. The study provided information regarding utilization and wastage of wood residue. Survey response rate was 25 percent. It addressed problems faced by wood residue energy development and came up with solution to solve them. When survey results were compared to previous …

The Construct Validity Of The Clinical Assessment Of Working Memory Ability, Benjamin David Hill

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Working memory is the cognitive ability to hold a discrete amount of information in mind in an accessible state for utilization in mental tasks. This cognitive ability is impaired in many clinical populations. There have been a number of theoretical shifts in the way that working memory is conceptualized and assessed in the experimental literature. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Working Memory Indices (and their component subtests) from the WAIS-III and WMS-III accurately assess the working memory construct as it is currently defined in the experimental cognitive literature. Results generally supported the construct validity of …

The Association Between Relationship Satisfaction And Similarity Of Personality And Goals In Life, Kristin N. Renz

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

The Dichotomy Of Working And Stay-At-Home Mothers : And How To Choose, Kaleen Skramstad

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Management Practices And Remediation Techniques For Improving Water Quality In Agricultural Systems, Theophilus Kene Udeigwe

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Surface water quality impairment is often associated with agricultural activities. In this study, the effects of three sugarcane residue management techniques, namely burning (BR), shredding (SR), and retention (RR) of residues on: surface water quality, carbon export, and chemical composition of organic matter in the runoff sediments were characterized. Separate studies were conducted to evaluate predictive relationships for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in agricultural effluents, and the effectiveness of bauxite residues (red and brown muds) in reducing soluble nutrient/pollutant release from manure-impacted soils. All the selected water quality parameters were determined using EPA-approved analytical methods. The RR technique exported lower …

Design Of A Fully Autonomous Mobile Pipeline Exploration Robot (Famper), Jong-Hoon Kim

LSU Master's Theses

Pipelines have been an integral part of our constructions for many centuries. However, need to be maintained, and the cost of maintenance continues to increase. Robots have been considered as an attractive alternative, and many different types of pipeline robots have been proposed in the past. Unfortunately many of them work under only very restricted environments such as customized pipelines, often have no vertical mobility, or can traverse through only a simple pipeline structure due to wired control. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a robot based on novel idea we call “caterpillar navigational mechanism”. A Fully Autonomous …

Maternal Corticosterone Influences On Fear Responses In Offspring Of Quail Divergent Stress Response Lines, Kyndal A. Davis

LSU Master's Theses

Increased fearfulness has been associated with adrenocortical activation. Maternal corticosterone (B) treatment increases egg yolk B, and elevated B in ovo enhances chick avoidance of humans. Quail selected for exaggerated (high stress, HS) as opposed to reduced (low stress, LS) plasma B response to stress are more fearful, and more B is found in the egg yolks of HS than LS hens. Therefore, the underlying fearfulness (tonic immobility, TI) and timidity (hole-in-the-wall box, HWB, emergence) responses were assessed in chicks hatched from eggs of LS and HS hens implanted with silastic tubes containing no B (CON) or B (B-IMPLANT) during …

Assessment Of Oxygen Sources And Sinks In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Using Stable Oxygen Isotopes, Zoraida Jazmin Quinones-Rivera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Coastal hypoxia (< 2 mg O2L-1) represents a global problem that continues to worsen as nutrient fluxes to these areas increase. The second largest zone of human-induced hypoxia is located on the Louisiana continental shelf where hypoxic bottom waters commonly occur during summertime. This region is strongly impacted by the large flux of freshwater and nutrients from the Mississippi River, which influences both biological and physical processes that control oxygen dynamics. Yet, based on oxygen concentration measurements alone, it is difficult to separate the effects of biological factors from physical factors. To address this problem, I used a dual budget approach to assess the importance of oxygen sources and sinks on the Louisiana continental shelf. The dual budget was based on using stable oxygen isotopes (ä18O) in combination with conventional oxygen concentration measurements. To analyze temporal trends, surface and bottom water samples were collected monthly between July 2001 and July 2003 along an onshore-offshore transect. For better spatial resolution, shelfwide sampling was conducted extending from the Mississippi River Delta to the Louisiana-Texas border in the month of July of 2001, 2002, and 2003. Oxygen saturations values ranged between 180% at the surface and almost 0% close to the bottom with a corresponding range of ä18O values from 15‰ to 50‰. Biological parameters were important during all seasons for surface oxygen dynamics. The effects of physical factors were less apparent, except during severe physical disturbances. Bottom water oxygen dynamics showed clear seasonal signals of high oxygen depletion and larger contributions of benthic respiration during the summer, which corresponded to the strong stratification of the water column. In bottom waters, summer oxygen depletion was predominantly due to benthic respiration, accounting for about 73%, 80% and 60% of the total oxygen loss for 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively. Model estimates of production/respiration (P/R) ratio during the July shelfwide cruises indicated that surface waters were productive with an average calculated P/R above 1. Depth stratified sampling (5 m intervals), which started in July 2002, showed that productivity in the mixed layer (5 to 10 m) was not homogeneous. Calculated P/R exceeded 1 only in the surface layer, while at 5 m P/R was approximately 1 and at a depth of 10 m, P/R was less than 1. Additionally, hypoxic conditions were only detected within 5 m of the bottom sediments. The dual budget approach yielded new estimates of productivity dynamics in surface waters and of sediment oxygen demand in bottom waters. For the first time, this study provided routine insight into productivity and respiration dynamics over large temporal and spatial scales. This could not have been accomplished using traditional methods because they commonly rely on time-consuming incubations. The study has shown that respiration dynamics in bottom waters vary seasonally with higher contribution of benthic respiration during stratified summer conditions and prevalent water column respiration during fall and winter. In contrast, seasonality in surface waters was less pronounced as productivity was more dependent on (salinity-inferred) nutrient supply than climatic forcing.

Developing Hybrid Cotton (Gossypium Spp.) Using Honey Bees As Pollinators And Roundup Ready® Gene As Selection Trait, Jimmy Xavier Zumba

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cotton (Gossypium spp.), the most important textile fiber crop in the United States (US), is cultivated in 17 states across the southern US. and a very important agricultural commodity for several states. The use of hybrids in the US has been limited due to seed cost production. The objective of this study was to investigate a novel method for the production of F2 cotton hybrids using honey bees as pollinators and Roundup Ready® gene as selection trait. This research was conducted during three years (2005-2007) in Louisiana. Crosses between non-transgenic and transgenic varieties were made in 2005 to obtain F1 …

Effects Of Handedness On The Skull And Shoulder Bones, Michelle Lynn Osborn

LSU Master's Theses

The unique configuration of the human clavicle and mastoid process suggests a functional connection between the head and shoulders in humans. The hypothesis in this study is that the clavicle, scapula and head form a functional complex and are interconnected by the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles. In this complex, the trapezius muscles attach to the skull and become active when loads are carried. The sternocleidomastoid muscles are anchored to the clavicles; when loads are being carried, they act as guy ropes for the head, thereby keeping the head from being extended by the force of the contracting trapezius muscles. These …