Digital Commons Network^™

Quality In Education: Perspectives Regarding Baldrige-Based Practices And Instructional Leadership In Middle Schools, Felicia Maria Vaughn Coleman

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

School systems nationwide confront declines in the number of principal applicants while facing increasing student accountability concerns. The idiosyncrasies of adolescent development and the social nature of the educational environment reflect the declines in applicants and impact student accountability. Using a three-tiered case study, the present research inquiry identified perspectives of superintendents, middle school principals, and middle school teachers regarding Baldrige-based practices in the four Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award-winning school districts in the United States. This study's data illuminated how a non-prescriptive framework such as the Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) combined with Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence …

Beyond Katrina, Designing A Unique Charter School In New Orleans: Community, Pedagogy, Governance, Finance, And Bureaucracy, Patricia Glaser

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study is a qualitative, autoethnographic study documenting the process of writing and submitting a charter school application in Post-Katrina New Orleans. The focus of the study is my professional journey to this point, and the journey the charter team. The school's mission and curriculum is unique and centered on special needs students who are "at-risk" for learning due to language and learning differences. Particular aspects of curriculum and instruction, climate and culture, professional development, student achievement goals, administration, and operational issues were developed by this team. The aim of the study is for this investigation to contribute to the …

The Impact Of Growth Management Policies On Urban Form: Evidence From U.S. Metropolitan Areas With Growth Management Policies, Muhammed Islam

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The contemporary urban development pattern in the United States is characterized by land consumptive nature of development, such as a sprawled development pattern. Out of concern that the social and environmental costs of this development pattern outweigh their benefits, cities, counties and states have created a wide range of policy instruments designed to manage urban growth and to protect open spaces from development. The present research deals with such strategies in three study areas namely Portland Metropolitan Area, OR; Montgomery County, MD; and Orange County, FL in order to find out if growth management strategies have been able to reduce …

Reconstructing Textual File Fragments Using Unsupervised Machine Learning Techniques, Brian Roux

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This work is an investigation into reconstructing fragmented ASCII files based on content analysis motivated by a desire to demonstrate machine learning's applicability to Digital Forensics. Using a categorized corpus of Usenet, Bulletin Board Systems, and other assorted documents a series of experiments are conducted using machine learning techniques to train classifiers which are able to identify fragments belonging to the same original file. The primary machine learning method used is the Support Vector Machine with a variety of feature extractions to train from. Additional work is done in training committees of SVMs to boost the classification power over the …

Developing Writing Fluency Through Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication, Rossana Camacho

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from sociocultural theory, this research investigated the effects of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) in the development of writing fluency. Likewise, the study aimed at confirming previously cited affective benefits linked to SCMC. Measuring fluency in words per 30 minutes, the study compared pre and post-test essay scores of two groups of ESL learners (a control group and a SCMC group) in two intermediate levels. Two evaluation questionnaires were also administered to the SCMC group in order to obtain students' opinions of this technology-based medium, and to analyze change in their perceptions. The SCMC group outperformed the control group in …

The Murray Ledger And Times, December 19, 2008, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Cooperative Jamming In Wireless Networks - Turning Attacks Into Privacy Protection, Jingqi Wu

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Generally, collisions between packets are undesired in wireless networks. We design this scheme, Cooperative Jamming in Wireless Networks (CJWN), to make use of collision to protect secret DATA packets from being sniffed by a nearby eavesdropper. We are intending to greatly increase the Packet Error Rate (PER) at the eavesdropper when the PER at the receiver is maintained at an acceptable level. This scheme is not intended to completely take the place of various encryption/decryption schemes which are working based on successfully received packets. Adding CJWN to the popular CSMA/CA adopted in IEEE 802.11 will add more security even the …

Parental Hesitation As A Factor In Delayed Childhood Immunization, Karlen E. (Beth) Luthy, Renea L. Beckstrand, Neil E. Peterson

Faculty Publications

Introduction: One reason for lower immunization rates is that some parents hesitate to have their children immunized. A hesitancy questionnaire was developed to identify reasons parents hesitate in having their children immunized.

Methods: The hesitancy questionnaire was distributed from local pediatric and family practice offices and from the area's county health department. To be eligible, participants needed to be present in the clinic with a child needing a minimum of one immunization that was at least 6 months overdue.

Results: When questioned why their child was overdue for immunizations, the most common response was that participants were confused about the …

Text Mining In Radiology Reports, Tianxia Gong, Chew Lim Tan, Tze-Yun Leong, Cheng Kiang Lee, Boon Chuan Pang, C. C. Tchoyoson Lim, Qi Tian, Suisheng Tang, Zhuo Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Medical text mining has gained increasing interest in recent years. Radiology reports contain rich information describing radiologist's observations on the patient's medical conditions in the associated medical images. However as most reports are in free text format, the valuable information contained in those reports cannot be easily accessed and used, unless proper text mining has been applied. In this paper we propose a text mining system to extract and use the information in radiology reports. The system consists of three main modules: a medical finding extractor a report and image retriever and a text-assisted image feature extractor In evaluation, the …

La Propiedad Inconclusa, Alfredo Bullard González

The Latin American and Caribbean Journal of Legal Studies

There's an important principle standing in the way of government takings. It's the idea of property rights, which protects against the taking of legitimately owned property. Its importance can hardly be overstated. Without it there's no incentive to make sunk investments, as they can simply be taken away. The lack of investment apparent in the developing world is partly due to the lack of legislation to protect investors' property. Property rights give people the incentive to make investments of their own labor, as well as capital investments. The problem for economists around the world is becoming how -- not whether …

Eficiencia Judicial Y Desarrollo Económico: El Caso De Los Juicios Mercantiles, Isaac Katz

The Latin American and Caribbean Journal of Legal Studies

El propósito de este ensayo es, primero, analizar la importancia para el desarrollo económico de una eficiente definición de los derechos privados de propiedad. Segundo, establecer porqué es crucial tener un Poder Judicial que sea imparcial y eficiente en sus decisiones cuando se trate de garantizar y proteger los derechos de propiedad, resaltando la importancia de que todos los procesos judiciales sean, en consecuencia, transparentes. La opacidad, la falta de transparencia, introduce un elemento de incertidumbre de que el Poder Judicial sea efectivamente imparcial, hecho que encarece la inversión productiva e inhibe, en consecuencia, el desarrollo económico.

Globalization And National Information Policy In Nigeria, Augonus Nnamdi Uhegbu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The paper focuses on the need for a national information policy in Nigeria in the face of globalization. The paper is not anti-globalization, but believes that although globalization facilitates global access to information and its generating media, it also has the potential of exposing Nigerians to obscene information materials, and of dumping unwholesome, improperly packaged and substandard information resources in the country. The conceptual explanation of both globalization and information policy is discussed. Also discussed is Nigeria 's contemporary information environment, which this paper sees as highly risky, volatile and uncoordinated. The paper argues that with national information policy, globalization …

The Changing Role Of Researchers In Nigeria : The Internet As An Alternative Future To Modernity, Manir Abdullahi Kamba

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Researchers in Nigeria have traditionally depended on conventional libraries, and information centers, where they can physically access their needed information. Their main source of information has been traditional sources such as books, journals, and newspapers. The Internet has simplified the research process. The paper further examines how the Internet has become a tool for academic research, and also a publisher that Nigerian academics and researchers should maximally use. The paper focuses on the role played by the Internet in academic research and highlights opportunities and challenges it presents. It explores the status of Internet connectivity in Nigeria and examines the …

The University Library, Information Provision, And Use By Policymakers In Olabisi Onabanjo University (Oou), Nigeria, Abiodun O. Odunewu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Availability and timely access to information is indispensable in policy formulation and implementation. It is often believed that a library is as good as its patronage. This study is an attempt to relate the level of patronage of Olabisi Onabanjo University Library by its policymakers to its information delivery capability. A questionnaire was used to gather data, with 102 copies administered at the senate level and 18 copies administered at the Governing Council level. A total of 89 copies were returned, representing an 80 percent response rate. The study reveals inadequate patronage of the library by policymakers. The study concludes …

Information Needs And Information-Seeking Behavior Of Arts And Humanities Teachers: A Survey Of The University Of The Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, Muhammad Tahir, Khalid Mahmood, Farzana Shafique

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study explores the information needs and information-seeking behavior of humanities faculty members of the University of the Punjab, Lahore . It investigates the methods and sources used to acquire information, the importance of various information resources for their teaching and research activities, their preferred formats, the purpose of their information-seeking and problems faced. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to get a response from the targeted population which consisted of 90 teaching and research staff of humanities departments. The response rate was 69 percent. The study reveals that most of the humanities faculty members rely heavily upon books and experts …

Overlap In Web Search Results: A Study Of Five Search Engines, Rafiq Ahmad Rather, Fayaz Ahmad Lone, Gulam Jeelani Shah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation that measured the degree of overlap between the results retrieved through Google, Altavista, Hotbot, Scirus, and Bioweb using twenty queries in biotechnology. Among the selected search engines, Hotbot had the most overlap (followed by Google) with other search engines except Bioweb. Compound and complex queries produced more overlap than simple queries.

Habitat Analysis Of North American Sand Flies Near Veterans Returning From Leishmania-Endemic War Zones, David Claborn, Penny Masuoka, Meredith Morrow, Lisa Keep

College of Health and Human Services

Background: Nearly 1300 cases of leishmaniasis have been identified in American military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The symptoms of this disease can range from a mild, self-limiting cutaneous infection to a deadly visceral infection and are not prevented by chemoprophylaxis or immunization. Effective treatments, however, are available. The disease-causing parasite is spread through the bite of the female sand fly. Although the disease occurs in both the Old World and the New World, the parasite species differ between the hemispheres. The large number of cases in military veterans has caused some concern that Old World, temperate-adapted parasite species …

12/18/2008 - Student's Exchange Experiences Lead To National Awards And New Outlook, University Marketing And Communications

2008

No abstract provided.

Virtual R&D Teams: A Sustainable Infrastructure For Promoting Smes, N. Ale Ebrahim, S. Ahmed, Z. Taha

Research Publications (2006 to 2010)

small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are a major part of the industrial economies. Their survival and growth has therefore been a prominent issue. Research and development (R&D) enables firms to create new technologies and/or to build on existing technologies obtained through technology transfer. Nowadays unpredictable environment suggests that many firms seek new ways of conducting their business through some kind of R&D activities to make a profit and stay ahead of the competition. To survive in the global economy SMEs have to improve their products and processes exploiting their intellectual capital in a dynamic network of knowledge-intensive relations inside …

State Aid: Commission Approves State Support For Bayernlb, European Commission

Documents

No abstract provided.

Best Of All Possible Care: An Examination Of Scientifically Progressive Medicine In Hays From 1867 To 1918, Ben Peeler

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

From the mid-nineteenth century until the early decades of the twentieth century, medicine underwent a tremendous transformation. No longer was medicine to be based on archaic theories that were grounded on unquantifiable guesswork. Instead, medicine became scientifically progressive, pushing the reliability and credibility of medical professionals to new heights. Scientific progressivism was the concept of standardizing medicine around a common set of ideals, such as basing treatment upon scientifically sound methods and procedures. A scientifically progressive community can be identified through the application of one or more of the following criteria: education adaptability, and technology. These three criteria could be …

Position Of The European Parliament Adopted At First Reading On 18 December 2008 With A View To The Adoption Of Directive 2009/.../Ec Of The European Parliament And Of The Council Amending Directive 94/19/Ec On Deposit Guarantee Schemes, European Union: Parliament And European Union Council

Documents

No abstract provided.

Topical Application Of Entry Inhibitors As "Virustats" To Prevent Sexual Transmission Of Hiv Infection, Michael M. Lederman, Robin L.P. Jump, Heather A. Pilch-Cooper, Scott F. Sieg

Faculty Scholarship

With the continuing march of the AIDS epidemic and little hope for an effective vaccine in the near future, work to develop a topical strategy to prevent HIV infection is increasingly important. This stated, the track record of large scale "microbicide" trials has been disappointing with nonspecific inhibitors either failing to protect women from infection or even increasing HIV acquisition. Newer strategies that target directly the elements needed for viral entry into cells have shown promise in non-human primate models of HIV transmission and as these agents have not yet been broadly introduced in regions of highest HIV prevalence, they …

Improving Library Searches Using Word-Correlation Factors And Folksonomies, Maria Soledad Pera

Theses and Dissertations

Libraries, private and public, offer valuable resources to library patrons; however, formulating library queries to retrieve relevant results can be difficult. This occurs because when using a library catalog for library searches, patrons often do not know the exact keywords to be included in a query that match the rigid subject terms (chosen by the Library of Congress) or terms in other fields of a desired library catalog record. These improperly formulated queries often translate into a high percentage of failed searches that retrieve irrelevant results or no results at all. This explains why frustrated library patrons nowadays rely on …

Can Nintendo Wii Game Consoles Improve Family Fitness?, Admin

University of Mississippi News

No abstract provided.

Resonance Raman Characterization Of The Peroxo And Hydroperoxo Intermediates In Cytochrome P450, Ilia G. Denisov, Piotr J. Mak, Thomas M. Makris, Stephen G. Sligar, James R. Kincaid

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Resonance Raman (RR) studies of intermediates generated by cryoreduction of the oxyferrous complex of the D251N mutant of cytochrome P450_cam (CYP101) are reported. Owing to the fact that proton delivery to the active site is hindered in this mutant, the unprotonated peroxo-ferric intermediate is observed as the primary species after radiolytic reduction of the oxy-complex in frozen solutions at 77 K. In as much as previous EPR and ENDOR studies have shown that annealing of this species to ∼180 K results in protonation of the distal oxygen atom to form the hydroperoxo intermediate, this system has been exploited to …

Web 3d For Public, Environmental And Occupational Health: Early Examples From Second Life®., Boulos Mn Kamel, Rameshsharma Ramloll, Ray Jones, Susan Toth-Cohen

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

"Oye Mi Voz!" (Hear My Voice!): The Perceptions Of Hispanic Boys Regarding Their Literacy Experiences, Rubylinda Zickafoose

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to uncover the perspectives that pertain to the literacy experiences of young Hispanic boys. Hispanic boys will be asked to describe, feel, judge, and make sense of their public and private literacies (Faulkner, 2005). This phenomenological study embraces two methods of data collection, participant focus groups and individual interviews. The primary question guiding this inquiry was: What are the perceptions of adolescent Hispanic boys who are considered low level readers (by state achievement tests) regarding their literacy experiences?

In order to help provide background information and set the stage for future work when considering …

Web 3d For Public, Environmental And Occupational Health: Early Examples From Second Life®, Maged N. Kamel Boulos, Rameshsharma Ramloll, Susan Toth-Cohen

Department of Occupational Therapy Faculty Papers

Over the past three years (2006-2008), the medical/health and public health communities have shown a growing interest in using online 3D virtual worlds like Second Life® (http://secondlife.com/) for health education, community outreach, training and simulations purposes. 3D virtual worlds are seen as the precursors of ‘Web 3D’, the next major iteration of the Internet that will follow in the coming years. This paper provides a tour of several flagship Web 3D experiences in Second Life®, including Play2Train Islands (emergency preparedness training), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—CDC Island (public health), Karuna Island (AIDS support and information), Tox Town …

Learning From Near Misses In Medication Errors: A Bayesian Approach, Jessica A. Myers, Francesca Dominici, Laura Morlock

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Medical errors originating in health care facilities are a significant source of preventable morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Voluntary error report systems that collect information on the causes and contributing factors of medi- cal errors regardless of the resulting harm may be useful for developing effective harm prevention strategies. Some patient safety experts question the utility of data from errors that did not lead to harm to the patient, also called near misses. A near miss (a.k.a. close call) is an unplanned event that did not result in injury to the patient. Only a fortunate break in the chain of …