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2008

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Assessment Of Oxygen Sources And Sinks In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Using Stable Oxygen Isotopes, Zoraida Jazmin Quinones-Rivera Jan 2008

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.

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Developing Hybrid Cotton (Gossypium Spp.) Using Honey Bees As Pollinators And Roundup Ready® Gene As Selection Trait, Jimmy Xavier Zumba Jan 2008

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 …

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Effects Of Handedness On The Skull And Shoulder Bones, Michelle Lynn Osborn Jan 2008

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 …

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A Capacity-Approaching Coded Modulation Scheme For Non-Coherent Fading Channels, Youngjeon Cho Jan 2008

A Capacity-Approaching Coded Modulation Scheme For Non-Coherent Fading Channels, Youngjeon Cho

LSU Master's Theses

Approaching the Shannon limit of the communication channels has been studied by many researchers to efficiently and reliably transmit data through the channels. To solve this problem, various methods and schemes have been proposed for approaching the theoretical limit for Shannon’s channel capacity. Among them, both low-density parity check (LDPC) codes and Turbo codes have been proposed to minimize the bit error rate (BER). Therefore, understanding of LDPC codes and Turbo codes is useful for their applications in modern communication systems. The study about non-coherent channels, which do not require explicit knowledge or estimation of the channel state information, has …

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Color, Line, And Form And The Image Of The Horse, Jessica Mongeon Jan 2008

Color, Line, And Form And The Image Of The Horse, Jessica Mongeon

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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Real Time Pcr Analysis Of Mrna Levels Of Cart, Npy, Glur5, Mglur5, Cd81, Nr1, Th1, Th2 After Acute Cocaine Exposure In The Zebrafish, Justin Mauch Jan 2008

Real Time Pcr Analysis Of Mrna Levels Of Cart, Npy, Glur5, Mglur5, Cd81, Nr1, Th1, Th2 After Acute Cocaine Exposure In The Zebrafish, Justin Mauch

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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Not Made Of The Right Matter : The Ordination Of Women In The Roman Catholic Church Priesthood, Emily Dubord Hill Jan 2008

Not Made Of The Right Matter : The Ordination Of Women In The Roman Catholic Church Priesthood, Emily Dubord Hill

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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To Cross The Moon : An Experiment In Environmental Education, Kathryn E. Joyce Jan 2008

To Cross The Moon : An Experiment In Environmental Education, Kathryn E. Joyce

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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Anyone Can Act, Jared Fladeland Jan 2008

Anyone Can Act, Jared Fladeland

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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Can We Estimate Stature From The Scapula? A Test Considering Sex And Ancestry, Rachel Marie Burke Jan 2008

Can We Estimate Stature From The Scapula? A Test Considering Sex And Ancestry, Rachel Marie Burke

LSU Master's Theses

The biological profile is one of the most important things that forensic anthropologists accomplish in their work. This includes the determination of age, race, sex, and stature. These four components of the biological profile aid in the identification of an individual in the forensic context. Since the beginning of the field of physical anthropology, osteologists and anatomists have studied human remains in order to provide new and more accurate ways of building the biological profile. Two published studies have attempted to estimate stature from measurements of the scapula. One previous study found that certain measurements of the scapula were highly …

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Louis Aragon And Pierre Drieu La Rochelle: Servility And Subversion, Oana Carmina Cimpean Jan 2008

Louis Aragon And Pierre Drieu La Rochelle: Servility And Subversion, Oana Carmina Cimpean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the use of literature in support of political ideologies, starting from the cases of Louis Aragon and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. Aragon and Drieu wrote extensively about man’s alienation in the modern world and, more importantly, about the possibility of overcoming that alienation. Both argued for the creation of a new man who could erect a new world on the ruins of the old. Though Aragon was a communist and Drieu a fascist, they shared an apocalyptic view of the world and believed themselves to be living in the last stage of history, the prelude to a …

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An Exploratory Study Of Social Work Supervisors' Supervisory Styles, Motivations, And Evaluative Processes, Michelle Elise Chevallier Jan 2008

An Exploratory Study Of Social Work Supervisors' Supervisory Styles, Motivations, And Evaluative Processes, Michelle Elise Chevallier

LSU Master's Theses

While many factors influence the quality of social work supervision, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore social work supervisors’ supervisory styles, motivations, and evaluative processes and its impact on the social work profession. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from 10 Board Approved Clinical Supervisors (BACSs) during a one-time session in which a questionnaire on supervisory styles was administered and an interview covering supervisory styles, motivations, and evaluative processes was conducted. This project was undertaken to better understand some of the perceptions, values, beliefs, and problems involved in the supervisory process and its impact on the profession. …

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Grinding The Axe Body Spray: Linking Gamer Experience And Brand Recall In Guitar Hero Iii, Miranda Coy Lemon Jan 2008

Grinding The Axe Body Spray: Linking Gamer Experience And Brand Recall In Guitar Hero Iii, Miranda Coy Lemon

LSU Master's Theses

The growth in popularity of social video games that appeal to a wide variety of audiences offers new opportunities for in-game advertisers to reach beyond the traditional gamer market. The current study aimed to test the effectiveness of in-game advertising placements in the popular video game, Guitar Hero III, based on the Limited Capacity Model of Mediated Motivated Message Processing (LC4MP). The Limited Capacity Model predicts that experienced gamers utilize fewer mental resources when playing video games because the repeated action of playing video games eventually becomes automatic. An experienced gamer would therefore have a greater capacity to remember in-game …

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Internet Use And Environmental Justice: An Exploratory Study, Jane Catherine Dailey Jan 2008

Internet Use And Environmental Justice: An Exploratory Study, Jane Catherine Dailey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My study examined how inner-city adults perceive and experience the Internet as a civic engagement tool, and if they view the Internet as a tool for environmental advocacy. Research shows a consistent divide between those with Internet access and those without. Individuals living in low-income minority communities are the least likely groups to be Internet connected. Consequently, the Internet could further separate historically marginalized communities from important government and social resources rather than bringing them closer. Qualitative research methods were used to reveal socially-constructed perceptions of the Internet as a civic engagement tool in the inner city. Grounded theory techniques …

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Essays On Models For Financial Volatility, Mihaela Oana Craioveanu Jan 2008

Essays On Models For Financial Volatility, Mihaela Oana Craioveanu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research is focused on models for volatility. After the introduction of realized volatility as a consistent estimator for daily volatility, time series models without latent variables have been used to model and forecast volatility. The first part of this research provides a critical review of some of the commonly used realized volatility models and addresses the problem of stationarity and lag selection. In the empirical part we apply our methodology to thirty Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks from the NYSE TAQ dataset. We address the lag selection problem for each of the stocks considered. We find that models based …

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Language Learning Through Storybook Reading In Headstart, Patricia Minnis Brazier-Carter Jan 2008

Language Learning Through Storybook Reading In Headstart, Patricia Minnis Brazier-Carter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore whether storybooks designed to elicit talk about letters and sounds, termed "alphabet-storybooks" will generate more print referencing behaviors from Head Start teachers than traditional storybooks, and if there is a concomitant positive impact on the learning of the children in these classrooms. In addition, the meaning reference behaviors of adults and impact on children also will be measured to determine if meaning is sacrificed at the expense of print referencing.

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Influenza Virus Samples, International Law, And Global Health Diplomacy, David P. Fidler Jan 2008

Influenza Virus Samples, International Law, And Global Health Diplomacy, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Indonesia’s decision to withhold samples of avian influenza virus A (H5N1) from the World Health Organization for much of 2007 caused a crisis in global health. The World Health Assembly produced a resolution to try to address the crisis at its May 2007 meeting. I examine how the parties to this controversy used international law in framing and negotiating the dispute. Specifically, I analyze Indonesia’s use of the international legal principle of sovereignty and its appeal to rules on the protection of biological and genetic resources found in the Convention on Biological Diversity. In addition, I consider how the International …

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A Rhetoric Of Existentialism, Zachary Gershberg Jan 2008

A Rhetoric Of Existentialism, Zachary Gershberg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Existentialism is often viewed as a morbid philosophy but adapting it to a rhetorical framework reveals a consistent interest in the ontological function of communication. The exchange of discourse and symbols is what ties humans together and existentialism examines the meaning that abounds in life as opposed to attempting to discover the meaning of life. As a rhetorical construct, existentialism provides a critical and unique view of agency and edification as a method of rhetorical practice.

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Recommended Practice In Preschool Instruction: Increasing Child Attention During Whole Group, Mauree Elizabeth Harris Jan 2008

Recommended Practice In Preschool Instruction: Increasing Child Attention During Whole Group, Mauree Elizabeth Harris

LSU Master's Theses

In a teacher-directed activity, such as whole group, children can learn new skills by following the teacher’s directions and/or model the teacher’s behaviors. The National Association for the Education of Young Children Developmentally Appropriate Practices provides several recommended practices for creating a community of learners. When teachers follow these strategies they are providing multiple opportunities to engage children (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). When used appropriately, whole group instruction can be very effective when teaching and can be used at various times of the day. Whole group instruction builds a sense of community among the classroom. The purpose of this study …

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Exploration Of New Ternary Gallides And Investigation Of Their Structure-Property Relationships, Jung Young Cho Jan 2008

Exploration Of New Ternary Gallides And Investigation Of Their Structure-Property Relationships, Jung Young Cho

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the investigation of new ternary intermetallic gallides, which may exhibit exotic physical properties such as heavy-fermion behavior, large magnetoresistance, and even superconductivity. In particular, the Ln-Cu-Ga (Ln = lanthanides) system has been systematically investigated by changing a reaction ratio and/or using a different temperature profile to optimize desired phases. Single crystals of Ln2MGa12 (Ln = La, Ce; M = Ni, Cu) have been synthesized using Ga flux and compared to their Pd analogues. Interestingly, Ce2MGa12 (M = Ni, Cu) show enhanced Sommerfeld coefficient of ¡Ö 191 mJmol-1K-2 and ¡Ö 69 mJmol-1K-2 for Ni and Cu compounds, …

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Processes And/Of Performance: Difference, Memory, And Experimentation, Benjamin Daniel Powell Jan 2008

Processes And/Of Performance: Difference, Memory, And Experimentation, Benjamin Daniel Powell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study enacts performance analyses by combining experimental and avant-garde performance practices of artists or art movements such as John Cage, Jerzy Grotowski, Dadaism, and Eugenio Barba with the differential philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. By focusing on the ways that performance practice informs understandings of “the ghost” and différance in Derrida’s theories, and processes of production and experimentation in Deleuze’s, this study examines performance as a process of negotiating practice and theory that continues to produce rather than disappear. To reinforce the productive capacity of performance, this study looks at three different sites and the processes at …

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Eve's Prisoners, Tara Rene Ratliff Jan 2008

Eve's Prisoners, Tara Rene Ratliff

LSU Master's Theses

All women are the children of Eve and the children of the earth. With the work of Eve’s Prisoners, my aim was to create imagery about the transient stages of womankind and the timeless relationship the feminine ideal has with nature. We are born innocent and able to see the truth of things, but eventually we all imprison ourselves in our bodies, in language, and in our own nature. My pictures want to reconcile the innocence and the pain and to say that by accepting aging and death as part of life, we free ourselves from our own prisons.

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Factors That Influence Traditional-Age College Students To Re-Enroll In Their Third Year At A Research Extensive University In The Southern Region Of The United States, Joseph M. Lutta Jan 2008

Factors That Influence Traditional-Age College Students To Re-Enroll In Their Third Year At A Research Extensive University In The Southern Region Of The United States, Joseph M. Lutta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Student retention is of policy significance to higher education systems. In the United States, student retention is a major problem in higher education affecting students, universities, and society. Most of the research on student retention has focused on first-year students. Little is known about the retention of college students after their first year. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic and academic characteristics on the decision of traditional-age, undergraduate students to re-enroll at a research-extensive university. The population was defined as all traditional-age undergraduate students who entered the selected university during the fall …

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Lattice Boltzmann Modeling For Mass Transport Equations In Porous Media, Borja Servan Camas Jan 2008

Lattice Boltzmann Modeling For Mass Transport Equations In Porous Media, Borja Servan Camas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to extend the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to cope with parameter heterogeneity and anisotropy in mass transport equations in porous media, as well as investigating the stability and accuracy. Although the LBM is a well known and effective numerical method to solve fluid flows, LBM has not been extensively applied to mass transport equations in porous medium flow yet, and only a few works can be found on improving LBM to cope with mass transport equations other than the diffusion and advection-diffusion equations. One of the reasons why LBM has not been extensively used …

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Analyses Of High School Band Students' And Directors' Perceptions Of Verbal And Nonverbal Teaching Behaviors, Jennifer A. Whitaker Jan 2008

Analyses Of High School Band Students' And Directors' Perceptions Of Verbal And Nonverbal Teaching Behaviors, Jennifer A. Whitaker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document and explore the use and perception of verbal and nonverbal teaching behaviors of selected high school band directors. Participants were six successful high school band directors and members of their top-performing ensembles. Directors were videotaped during rehearsals. Videos were subsequently analyzed. Systematic observation data consisted of frequencies and percentages of conductor magnitude, filler use, and time spent on and off podium; frequency and time of each sequential pattern component; and instructional pacing. Directors and students viewed and rated video excerpts of their directors using 10-point Likert scales. Participants then completed a 22-item …

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Walden Pond And The Performative Touristic Gaze, Daniel Christopher Bono Jan 2008

Walden Pond And The Performative Touristic Gaze, Daniel Christopher Bono

LSU Master's Theses

This is an ethnographic study of tourism at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. I argue that Walden Pond operates as a site that creates tensions among visitors due to the ways that time has transformed the once serene landscape into an overcrowded swimming pool. These tensions, however, fall under the expectation that the State Reservation of Massachusetts (re)creates Thoreau’s Walden as suggested in his discourse, but the performance of history is enacted through the creation of meaning among visitors engaging in a dialogue that references the past, talking about a space that has cultural significance. Exploring the touristic experience and …

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How To Remember Thee?: Problems Of Memorialization In English Writing, 1558-1625, Sean Flory Jan 2008

How To Remember Thee?: Problems Of Memorialization In English Writing, 1558-1625, Sean Flory

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the use of funeral commemoration in religious and political controversies in early modern England. By examining the rhetoric used in funeral sermons and elegies, I show that commemorative writers use figural interpretation of the Bible to legitimize praise by linking the deceased to characters from scripture. Figural interpretation places the dead into a framework of ecclesiastical history and creates Protestant saints used as exempla in political and religious debates. This dissertation examines funeral sermons, elegies, and other commemorative poems written between 1558 and 1625. Chapter one discusses the development of figural interpretation in Elizabethan funeral sermons. …

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Fast Marching Methods - Parallel Implementation And Analysis, Maria Cristina Tugurlan Jan 2008

Fast Marching Methods - Parallel Implementation And Analysis, Maria Cristina Tugurlan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fast Marching represents a very efficient technique for solving front propagation problems, which can be formulated as partial differential equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions, called Eikonal equation: $F(x)|\nabla T(x)|=1$, for $x \in \Omega$ and $T(x)=0$ for $x \in \Gamma$, where $\Omega$ is a domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $\Gamma$ is the initial position of a curve evolving with normal velocity F>0. Fast Marching Methods are a necessary step in Level Set Methods, which are widely used today in scientific computing. The classical Fast Marching Methods, based on finite differences, are typically sequential. Parallelizing Fast Marching Methods is a step forward for …

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Baby Signs: Caregiver Perceptions Of Their Use And Benefit To Children, Leah Catherine Legere Jan 2008

Baby Signs: Caregiver Perceptions Of Their Use And Benefit To Children, Leah Catherine Legere

LSU Master's Theses

Gesture use is a precursor to spoken language, and children who exhibit frequent use of gesture have higher rates of speech comprehension and production when tested between 13 and 15 months of age (Bates et al, 1989). The purpose of this study was to learn more about caregivers’ perceptions of the use and benefits of sign to their children. Fifty-three caregivers were recruited for the study, and 33 (62%) of these caregivers reported that they had used or were currently using baby signs with one of their children. Six (18%) of these caregivers also reported that their children presented developmental …

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Foreign News And Public Opinion: Attribute Agenda-Setting Theory Revisited, Asya A. Besova Jan 2008

Foreign News And Public Opinion: Attribute Agenda-Setting Theory Revisited, Asya A. Besova

LSU Master's Theses

This study contributes to the body of research on public opinion and media coverage of foreign news by examining the coverage of nine foreign countries in The New York Times and The Times. Media coverage and the public opinion about foreign nations were strongly correlated. Specifically, negative coverage tends to have more agenda-setting effects than neutral and positive coverage. The findings also suggest that media portray foreign countries in a unidimensional fashion, by limiting the coverage around a few policy issues. Finally, the U.S. and the U.K. media coverage of foreign nations were very similar.

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