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2008

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Dactyls Reveal Evolutionary Patterns In Decapod Crustaceans, Jeffrey Guy Agnew Jan 2008

Dactyls Reveal Evolutionary Patterns In Decapod Crustaceans, Jeffrey Guy Agnew

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Because of their high preservation potential and uses in foraging and defense, decapod crustacean dactyls (movable fingers of claws) are potentially excellent test subjects for an ongoing debate concerning the relative importance of top-down (predators) and bottom-up (prey) controls on morphologic diversification and evolution. The utility of dactyls for inferring evolutionary patterns were evaluated using living and subfossil xanthoid crabs sampled from the southeast U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and were used to: (1) distinguish the roles of selection and constraint on dactyl morphology through allometric and shape comparisons in the context of the crab’s phylogenetic relationships and …

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Multimedia Mathematics Intervention For Math-Delayed Middle School Students, Lisa L. Stokes Jan 2008

Multimedia Mathematics Intervention For Math-Delayed Middle School Students, Lisa L. Stokes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if the Sharpening Math Skills Lab technology-mediated mathematics instructional practices for math-delayed middle school students have positive effects on their mathematics achievement and spatial visualization ability and to gauge student engagement in learning, implementation of the principles of instructional design, and attitudes toward mathematics instruction. The results of a recent meta-analysis report a range of significantly positive to significantly negative effect sizes which establish a need for further evaluation of academic achievement utilizing technology-mediated mathematics programs at the middle school level (Slavin, Lake, & Groff, 2007). The literature (Moreno & Mayer, 2000) …

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Numerical Simulations Of Flow And Mass Transport In Micro-Fluidic Components For Modular Bio-Analytic Chip Applications, Sudheer D. Rani Jan 2008

Numerical Simulations Of Flow And Mass Transport In Micro-Fluidic Components For Modular Bio-Analytic Chip Applications, Sudheer D. Rani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Microfluidics has received a great deal of attention in the past decade. The ability of modular microfluidic chips to miniaturize integrate chemical and biological systems (µTAS) can be greatly productive in terms of cost and efficiency. During the design of these modular devices, misalignment of materials, geometrical or both is one of the most common problems. These misalignments can have adverse effect in both pressure driven and electrokinetically driven flows. In the present work, Numerical Simulations have been performed to study the effect of material and geometrical mismatch on the flow behavior and species progression in microfluidic interconnects. In the …

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Teachers' Perspectives On The Unintended Consequences Of High Stakes Testing, David Christopher Charles Jan 2008

Teachers' Perspectives On The Unintended Consequences Of High Stakes Testing, David Christopher Charles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A mixed methods design was utilized that was divided into three phases to verify and explore high stakes testing’s effects on teachers’ perceptions regarding classroom practices, pressure, and commitment to the educational profession. Phase I utilized previous surveys and a peer review to create a knowledge base to generate a survey instrument that measured the three areas assumed to be affected by high stakes testing (commitment, pressure, and classroom practice). The survey instrument that was created was piloted. Throughout Phase II there was a series of three-step analysis: First, the means and standard deviations from the results of the surveys …

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Moderately-Rapid Assessment Of Alkaline Desiccation Environmental Systems, David Alan Bates Jan 2008

Moderately-Rapid Assessment Of Alkaline Desiccation Environmental Systems, David Alan Bates

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A moderately-rapid assessment tool was developed to analyze the waterless desiccation compost toilet investigated in a rural Mexican setting. Over 100 social factors were identified along with the applicable technical factors that influenced the low acceptability of the toilets. A 4-point rating scale was developed to increase the ability and speed of analyzing both the social and technical data. The treatment process was an alkaline-desiccation process with mean pH values of 8.2 ± sd 1.1 and water content of 18.3% ± sd 9.9, which resulted in mean fecal coliform values of 15.0 MPN/g ± sd 31.8, drastically lower than the …

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An Investigation Into The Implementation Of The Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum Reading/English Language Arts In Selected First Grade Classrooms, Mary "Kitty" Taylor Ainsworth Jan 2008

An Investigation Into The Implementation Of The Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum Reading/English Language Arts In Selected First Grade Classrooms, Mary "Kitty" Taylor Ainsworth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This case study investigates the implementation of the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum English Language Arts in selected first grade classes. The teaching of the specific language arts skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as directed the the Comprehensive Curriculum is examined. Four first grade teachers from a large urban school district, from an original sixteen first grade teachers, are observed during the hour and a half literacy instruction block once a week over a period of four weeks. These same four teachers are interviewed one-on-one by the researcher during the two interview sessions. Three themes developed throughout the observation from all …

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Evaluation Of Management Practices And Remediation Techniques For Improving Water Quality In Agricultural Systems, Theophilus Kene Udeigwe Jan 2008

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 …

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Swamp Ecology In A Dynamic Coastal Landscape: An Investigation Through Field Study And Simulation Modeling, Susanne Sigrid Hoeppner Jan 2008

Swamp Ecology In A Dynamic Coastal Landscape: An Investigation Through Field Study And Simulation Modeling, Susanne Sigrid Hoeppner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Increased flooding, nutrient and sediment deprivation, and saltwater intrusion have been implicated as probable causes of coastal swamp deterioration in the Mississippi Delta. An understanding of the interactive effects of these factors is required to enable successful planning of wetland restoration activities. I used field data collected from 2000 till 2005 at forty study sites to characterize the baseline conditions of the Maurepas swamp. I used a cluster analysis to identify four swamp habitat clusters, and characterized the clusters on the basis of soil properties, salinity, basal area, stem density, and other tree-related variables. ANOVA and related statistical techniques showed …

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Dynamic Shear Bands In Metals Under High Strain Rates, Amin Hisham Almasri Jan 2008

Dynamic Shear Bands In Metals Under High Strain Rates, Amin Hisham Almasri

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Adiabatic shear bands have been observed for a long time to occur under different conditions in many applications. Analysis of these localizations highly depends on the selection of the constitutive model. Hence, two constitutive models that take temperature and strain rate effect into account are proposed. The first model is a physically based model that depends on basic physical quantities, such as dislocation densities, Burgers vector, and activation energy. The second model is a simple empirical power model with a softening term. The empirical constitutive law is seen to be more successful in capturing the mechanical behavior of steel alloy …

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Synthesis And Surface Characterization Of Silica-Polypeptide Composite Particles, Erick Isael Soto-Cantu Jan 2008

Synthesis And Surface Characterization Of Silica-Polypeptide Composite Particles, Erick Isael Soto-Cantu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The synthesis and sequential surface characterization of silica-polypeptide composite particles is described. Nearly monodisperse colloidal silica cores were obtained by the alkaline hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The hydrodynamic radius can be easily controlled in the range of ƒî 20-140 nm by the water/TEOS ratio in the starting reaction mixture. The surface of the synthesized silica cores was further passivated/functionalized (P/F) by a mixture of (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APS) and methyl-trimethoxysilane (MTMS). The amino groups were quantified using UV-Vis spectrometry after reaction with ninhydrin. The use of zeta potential measurements of the P/F silica particles at low pH is presented as …

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Incorporation Of Cα,Α-Disubstituted Amino Acids Into Model Peptide Systems: Conformational Analysis And Possible Applications As Therapeutic Agents, Marcus A. Etienne Jan 2008

Incorporation Of Cα,Α-Disubstituted Amino Acids Into Model Peptide Systems: Conformational Analysis And Possible Applications As Therapeutic Agents, Marcus A. Etienne

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A diverse set of human diseases is associated with the misfolding of proteins into insoluble fibrillar structures that have predominantly β-sheet secondary structure. Thus it is imperative to elucidate the structural elements that contribute to β-sheet formation and stability. Peptides that autonomously form β-sheets are ideal models to study principles of protein folding and design. Gellman and coworkers first introduced an automonously folded β-hairpin (H-Arg-Tyr-Val-Glu-Val-Yyy-Xxx-Orn-Lys-Ile-Leu-Gln-NH2) that remained monomeric up to ~1 mM. Circular dichroism (CD) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses revealed that incorporation of non-stereogenic Aib-Xxx dipeptidyl sequences into i+1 and i+2 positions of a model peptide nucleates a …

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An Examination Of The Good Behavior Game And Behavior Specific Praise Statements On Student And Teacher Behavior, Robert Allen Wright Jan 2008

An Examination Of The Good Behavior Game And Behavior Specific Praise Statements On Student And Teacher Behavior, Robert Allen Wright

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study directly compares two interdependent group oriented contingency strategies, the GBG and the GBG with a behavior specific praise statement (BSPS) component (i.e., GBG+BSPS) to examine the relative effectiveness of each as a tool for class-wide behavior management, to inspect the effect on teacher interactions with students, and to assess the relative teacher and student acceptability of both games. The Good Behavior Game has been identified as an evidence-based intervention to manage class-wide behavior difficulties, but recently has been criticized for not being proactive in teaching appropriate classroom behavior. The relative effectiveness and acceptability of each game as a …

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Does The Tuition Opportunity Program For Students (Tops) Promote Access To Postsecondary Education For Students From Low-Income Families In Louisiana?, Frederick Thurber Jan 2008

Does The Tuition Opportunity Program For Students (Tops) Promote Access To Postsecondary Education For Students From Low-Income Families In Louisiana?, Frederick Thurber

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Louisiana concentrates its postsecondary financial aid funding in merit-based aid programs, as opposed to need-based aid programs. This study illuminates the distribution of Louisiana’s merit-based financial aid program, Louisiana’s Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS), to students from difference socioeconomic backgrounds by describing the basic characteristics of TOPS recipients at Louisiana State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and selected Louisiana two-year postsecondary institutions. This study gives evidence to indicate that Louisiana’s TOPS program disproportionably benefits students from middle and upper income families, most of whom could afford college expenses without receiving a TOPS awards. In addition, this study …

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The Second Coming Of Paisley: Militant Fundamentalism And Ulster Politics In A Transatlantic Context, Richard Lawrence Jordan Jan 2008

The Second Coming Of Paisley: Militant Fundamentalism And Ulster Politics In A Transatlantic Context, Richard Lawrence Jordan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Jordan, Richard L. B. A. University of Southern Mississippi, 2000. M. A. University of Southern Mississippi, 2002. Doctor of Philosophy, Fall Commencement, 2008. Major: History. The Second Coming of Paisley: Militant Fundamentalism and Ulster Politics in a Transatlantic Context. Dissertation directed by Associate Professor Meredith Veldman. Pages in dissertation, 345. Words in Abstract, 277. ABSTRACT On August 1, 1946, the Reverend Ian Paisley was ordained as the minister of the Ravenhill Evangelical Mission Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. From his new pulpit, the young evangelist embarked on a six-decade crusade attacking Irish theological and political issues and espousing militant fundamentalism …

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Evaluation Of Three Methods For Teaching Intraverbals To Children With Language Delays, Nicole Trosclair-Lasserre Jan 2008

Evaluation Of Three Methods For Teaching Intraverbals To Children With Language Delays, Nicole Trosclair-Lasserre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Direct instruction is often necessary to develop language or expand language use in individuals with language delays. Previous research has begun to identify certain training conditions that result in more efficient use of instructional time devoted to language development. Specifically, incorporating mands into the instructional arrangement, increasing the quality of reinforcement delivered for interspersed tasks, and including instructive feedback stimuli into the consequences of learning trials have all demonstrated more efficient learning of targeted language skills. The purpose of the current investigation was to compare three methods for teaching intraverbals (i.e., conversation skills) to individuals with deficits in this area. …

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Participant Positioning And The Positioning Of Participatory Pronouns In The Academic Lecture, Robert Thomas Connor Jan 2008

Participant Positioning And The Positioning Of Participatory Pronouns In The Academic Lecture, Robert Thomas Connor

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Through a research approach of emergence applied to a corpus of academic letures, I developed a theory to explicate the referents of a class of frequently used pronouns (I, you, and we), which I term the Participatory Pronouns. My theory of the Positioning of Participatory Pronouns resolves the main practical concern of the research participants, which is to place their utterances in contexts for authoritative, intellectually sound, and socially relevant interpretation. At the theoretical level, my theory is a specification of Relevance Theory and resolves disparate previous analyses of pronouns. Overall, my work provides a new paradigm for how referents …

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Degradation And Water Quality Dynamics Of Sugarcane Residue In South Louisiana, Jose Roberto Deras Jan 2008

Degradation And Water Quality Dynamics Of Sugarcane Residue In South Louisiana, Jose Roberto Deras

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

PURPOSE: This research was conducted to assess methods to manage the residue blanket to avoid open field burning in sugarcane. Experiments were conducted in the state of Louisiana to evaluate methods to asses and potentially reduce water quality issues. METHODS: Concentrations and frequencies of biological compost tea were sprayed on sugarcane combine-harvester residue blanket to increase degradation rate and reduce potential for runoff water to transport nutrients and sediments that may impair water bodies, while sustaining suitable sugarcane yield. Carbon dioxide evolution rate (mg CO2-C) and CO2 fluxes were measured in laboratory and in open field conditions; as an index …

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Syntheses And Evaluation Of Phthalocyanine Derivatives For Applications In Photodynamic And Boron Neutron Capture Therapies For Cancer, Hairong Li Jan 2008

Syntheses And Evaluation Of Phthalocyanine Derivatives For Applications In Photodynamic And Boron Neutron Capture Therapies For Cancer, Hairong Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chapter I introduced the background of phthalocyanines including its physical properties and various synthetic methods of free-base and metallo-phthalocyanines. The background of PDT and BNCT was introduced and the objective of ideal sensitizers was described. Chapter II described the synthesis and characterization of a series of pyridiloxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanines with different length of alkyl groups. Pyridiloxy-substituted silica phthalocyanines bearing different associated axial ligands, were alkylated with methyl or PEG chains. Biological study was performed on these cationic pyridiloxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanines. Chapter III introduced the synthesis and photophysical properties of A3B-type zinc phthalocyanines conjugated with one or two cobalta-carborane cages. They …

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Development Of New Stimuli-Responsive Vesicles Using A Novel Surfactant, Yuming Yang Jan 2008

Development Of New Stimuli-Responsive Vesicles Using A Novel Surfactant, Yuming Yang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many amphiphilic molecules (surfactants) possess the ability to aggregate in aqueous solution to form thermodynamically stable aggregates that have potential for use as molecule containers and delivery systems in analytical or pharmaceutical applications. However, it is difficult to release the encapsulated molecules from these aggregates under a controllable manner, and this problem has dramatically limited the application of these aggregated systems. This study addresses this problem through fundamental structure modification by development of a novel redox stimuli-responsive amphiphile capable of forming vesicle aggregates. Aggregate structure can be adjusted through redox stimulation. The release of agents from the core of the …

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Development And Validation Of The Adolescent Routines Questionnaire: Parent And Self-Report, Kara Meyer Jan 2008

Development And Validation Of The Adolescent Routines Questionnaire: Parent And Self-Report, Kara Meyer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The popular parenting literature often has stressed the importance of establishing predictable routines in the lives of young children. In addition, routines as a part of parenting treatment packages have been shown to reduce child behavior problems, as well as disruptive meal and bedtime behavior. Establishing homework routines can lead to increased cooperation and work completion during homework as well as classroom preparedness. Furthermore, empirical literature suggests that the presence of routines is related to overall child health and adherence to medical regimens. Although promising new instruments have been developed to assess daily routines in preschool and school-aged children, none …

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The Songs Of Black (Women) Folk: Music, Politics, And Everyday Living, Rasheedah Quiett Jenkins Jan 2008

The Songs Of Black (Women) Folk: Music, Politics, And Everyday Living, Rasheedah Quiett Jenkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The field of folklore in general, but specifically Africana folklore studies can be enriched by greater analyses of Black female contributions. In this study, I position folk music as the primary interest and chosen location to acknowledge Black women’s participation from beyond the margins. My inquiry reveals folk music as a lens into the myriad ways in which Black women have translated vernacular traditions into a means to deconstruct the master narrative as well as interrogate racist patriarchy. Specifically, this study examines how Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, and Lauryn Hill have appropriated the folk aesthetic as a vehicle for social …

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Classifying Mental Tasks Based On Features Of Higher-Order Statistics From Eeg Signals In Brain–Computer Interface, Shang Ming Zhou, John Q. Gan, Francisco Sepulveda Jan 2008

Classifying Mental Tasks Based On Features Of Higher-Order Statistics From Eeg Signals In Brain–Computer Interface, Shang Ming Zhou, John Q. Gan, Francisco Sepulveda

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

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Type-1 Owa Operators For Aggregating Uncertain Information With Uncertain Weights Induced By Type-2 Linguistic Quantifiers, Shang Ming Zhou, Francisco Chiclana, Robert I. John, Jonathan M. Garibaldi Jan 2008

Type-1 Owa Operators For Aggregating Uncertain Information With Uncertain Weights Induced By Type-2 Linguistic Quantifiers, Shang Ming Zhou, Francisco Chiclana, Robert I. John, Jonathan M. Garibaldi

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

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Measuring The Contribution And Complexity Of Nurse And Physiotherapy Consultants: A Feasibility Study, J Richardson, R Ainsworth, Aj Humphreys, E Stenhouse, M Watkins Jan 2008

Measuring The Contribution And Complexity Of Nurse And Physiotherapy Consultants: A Feasibility Study, J Richardson, R Ainsworth, Aj Humphreys, E Stenhouse, M Watkins

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Advanced practice roles in nursing and other health professions have become integral to a range of healthcare services world-wide providing experienced practitioners with the opportunity to extend their roles and influence decision making whilst maintaining patient contact. However, there has been limited research to evaluate the impact on health services of these advanced practice roles.The aim of this feasibility study was to analyse Nurse and Allied Health Professionals (AHP) Consultant activity in the four functions of the role (education, expert practice, leadership, research). A structured diary assessed the activity of five Consultant Nurses and one Consultant Physiotherapist over a one …

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Anthony Kennedy : The Roberts Court's Sandra Day O'Connor?, William Dane Dekrey Jan 2008

Anthony Kennedy : The Roberts Court's Sandra Day O'Connor?, William Dane Dekrey

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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Maternal Copper Deficiency During Pregnancy : Cardiovascular Consequences In A Second Generation Of Sprague-Dawley Rats, Linda Angyie Kibot Jan 2008

Maternal Copper Deficiency During Pregnancy : Cardiovascular Consequences In A Second Generation Of Sprague-Dawley Rats, Linda Angyie Kibot

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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The Civil War : Stories We Never Hear And Women Who Dared To Live Them, Amanda Lee Jan 2008

The Civil War : Stories We Never Hear And Women Who Dared To Live Them, Amanda Lee

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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Celebrities In The Media : A Study Of Society's Fascination With The Famous, Amanda K. Dukart Jan 2008

Celebrities In The Media : A Study Of Society's Fascination With The Famous, Amanda K. Dukart

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

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Dublin Core Metadata Harvested Through Oai-Pmh, Amy S. Jackson, Myung-Ja Han, Kurt Groetsch, Megan Mustafoff, Timothy W. Cole Jan 2008

Dublin Core Metadata Harvested Through Oai-Pmh, Amy S. Jackson, Myung-Ja Han, Kurt Groetsch, Megan Mustafoff, Timothy W. Cole

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The introduction in 2001 of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) increased interest in and awareness of metadata quality issues relevant to digital library interoperability and the use of harvested metadata to build "union catalogs" of digital information resources. Practitioners have offered wide-ranging advice to metadata authors and have suggested metrics useful for measuring the quality of shareable metadata. Is there evidence of changes in metadata practice in response to such advice and/or as a result of an increased awareness of the importance of metadata interoperability? This paper looks at metadata records created over a six-year period …

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