Digital Commons Network^™

Secure Distributed Detection In Wireless Sensor Networks Via Encryption Of Sensor Decisions, Venkata Sriram Siddhardh Nadendla

LSU Master's Theses

We consider the problem of binary hypothesis testing using a distributed wireless sensor network. Identical binary quantizers are used on the sensor's observations and the outputs are encrypted using a probabilistic cipher. The third party (enemy) fusion centers are unaware of the presence of the probabilistic encipher. We find the optimal (minimum-probability-of-error) fusion rule for the ally (friendly) fusion center subject to a lower bound on the the probability of error for the third-party fusion centers. To obtain the minimum probability of error, we first prove the quasi-convexity of error probability with respect to the sensor's threshold for a given …

Nitric Oxide Cytotoxicity And Functions Of Iron-Sulfur Enzymes In Escherichia Coli, Binbin Ren

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Iron-sulfur proteins are ubiquitous in biological processes. Here we report that NO, a physiological free radical, can effectively inhibit cell growth of Escherichia coli in minimal medium under anaerobic growth conditions. Fractionation of the cell extracts obtained from NO-exposed cells shows a broad distribution of the protein-bound dinitrosyl-iron complexes (DNICs) formed by NO. On the other hand, the cell growth of E. coli can be restored when NO-exposed cells are either supplemented with the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) anaerobically or returned to aerobic growth conditions. It turns out that dihydroxyacid dehydratase (IlvD), an iron-sulfur enzyme essential for the BCAAs biosynthesis, …

Beyond Crime Quantites: A Multilevel Analysis Of The Relative Prevalence Of Interracial Violence, Shaun A. Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research examining between community variations in violent crime has largely been guided by the social disorganization perspective and the systemic model of community attachment. This literature supports a strong relation between structural resource deprivation, residential instability, and rates of violent crime. In communities where poverty, unemployment, and broken families are geographically concentrated and home ownership and length of residence are relatively low, levels of violent crime are exacerbated. This dissertation extends prior research by focusing on variation in the nature or quality of violence rather than crime rates or quantities. While many analyses explore variations in rates of crime, …

Methods And Design Issues For Next Generation Network-Aware Applications, Andrei Hutanu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Networks are becoming an essential component of modern cyberinfrastructure and this work describes methods of designing distributed applications for high-speed networks to improve application scalability, performance and capabilities. As the amount of data generated by scientific applications continues to grow, to be able to handle and process it, applications should be designed to use parallel, distributed resources and high-speed networks. For scalable application design developers should move away from the current component-based approach and implement instead an integrated, non-layered architecture where applications can use specialized low-level interfaces. The main focus of this research is on interactive, collaborative visualization of large …

Revealing Genes Associated With Vitellogenesis In The Liver Of The Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) By Transcriptome Profiling., Liraz Levi, Irena Pekarski, Ellen Gutman, Paolo Fortina, Terry Hyslop, Jakob Biran, Berta Levavi-Sivan, Esther Lubzens

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: In oviparous vertebrates, including fish, vitellogenesis consists of highly regulated pathways involving 17beta-estradiol (E2). Previous studies focused on a relatively small number of hepatic expressed genes during vitellogenesis. This study aims to identify hepatic genes involved in vitellogenesis and regulated by E2, by using zebrafish microarray gene expression profiling, and to provide information on functional distinctive genes expressed in the liver of a vitellogenic female, using zebrafish as a model fish. RESULTS: Genes associated with vitellogenesis were revealed by the following paired t-tests (SAM) comparisons: a) two-month old vitellogenic (Vit2) females were compared with non-vitellogenic (NV) females, showing 825 …

I Hear A City: A Picture Book For Three- Four- And Five-Year-Olds, Adam Schneider

Graduate Student Independent Studies

I Hear A City is an original children's book that delineates the daily routines of a city and the people who live within it. The book is designed to be read with three- four- and five-year-olds because its content corresponds with that age group's interests and their desire to understand their surroundings. I Hear A City recounts the story of the life of a city and the universal routines that exist there. The ideas and events expressed within the book are basic and relate to young children. The life and activities of a city and its inhabitants are integrated and …

Beyond Mediation: Thinking The Computer Otherwise, David J. Gunkel

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Whatever Media Studies 2.0 involves, one thing is certain, there is a need to confront and deal with new technologies, most notably computers and computer networks. Despite the fact that the discipline has largely marginalized these innovations, there has been some effort to incorporate the computer into both the theories and practices of media studies. This has been accomplished, at least in the United States, through the development of what is now called computer-mediated communication (CMC). CMC, which effectively understands the computer as a medium of human communication, does not necessarily institute a significant paradigm shift in media studies but …

Promise Of Confidentiality In Mediation: Practitioners' Perceptions, The, T. Noble Foster, Selden Prentice

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In response to these articles, we sought to determine the perceptions of mediation practitioners in our own region, the Seattle/King County area, regarding mediation confidentiality and privilege. This paper presents our finding and addresses the following: (1) the scope of confidentiality and privilege under Washington law; (2) recent Washington case law addressing evidence of mediation communications; (3) a review of Florida's recent legislation - significantly different from Washington law, and unique among state mediation statutes - which provides for sanctions in the event confidentiality is breached; and (4) the perceptions of mediators, attorneys, and judges from the greater Seattle area …

I Lost My Home, Don't Take My Voice: Ensuring The Voting Rights Of The Homeless Through Negotiated Rulemaking, Sarah Devlin

Journal of Dispute Resolution

"The right to vote, as the citizen's link to his laws as government, is protective of all fundamental rights as privileges." This right is often unexercised or taken for granted; but for hundreds of thousands of homeless citizens, voting is a right which is beyond reach. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that on any given night in 2005, more than 754,000 Americans were without a traditional residence--living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or on the streets. While many of those people are only temporarily homeless, many others are being disenfranchised by an electoral system that requires …

Future Of Mediation: A Sociological Perspective, The, Brian Jarrett

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Arguably, these sociological pressures are central to the future direction of the mediation field and, in the aggregate, provide a useful building block in the development of an emerging sociology of mediation-a development that could fill the theory-to-practice gap which currently bedevils the mediation field. Understanding sociological forces reminds us of the constraints within which mediators, as social actors, must work. More importantly, an awareness of these pressures is, conceivably, essential to the development of an autonomous and discernible profession that remains capable of welcoming a diversity of practitioners and their respective approaches. I summarize each of these pressures below …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 37, 2008-2009, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

When It's So Hard To Relate: Can The Legal System Mitigate The Trauma Of Victim-Offender Relationships?, Jody L. Madeira

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article argues that, in the aftermath of violent crime, a relationship that is both negative and involuntary can form between crime victims and offenders. This relationship fetters the victim to the crime and the criminal, rendering it difficult to recover from the transgression. To illustrate how such a relationship may form and what consequences it may have for victims, this article uses the Oklahoma City bombing as a case study, documenting through the use of original interviews an involuntary relationship in which victims' family members and survivors perceived they were tethered to Timothy McVeigh. This perceived relationship with McVeigh …

Computational Studies On Fatty Acid Synthesis: From Mechanisms To Drug Design, Matthew Edward Mckenzie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first committed steps of the Fatty Acid synthesis pathway involves the de/carboxylation reactions of biotin. By understanding this step, potential novel antimicrobial agents could be discovered. The current tools of drug discovery can only help the research in finding and modifying potential hits. Finding a lead candidate from these programs are often equated to finding a needle in a haystack, which is due to the many assumptions used in molecular docking. The fundamental reaction kinetics can not be described by these techniques and a detailed study of the decarboxylation reaction is investigated using ab initio molecular dynamics. In this …

Transnational Legal Practice 2008, Carole Silver, Laurel S. Terry, Ellyn S. Rosen, Carol A. Needham, Jennifer Haworth Mccandless, Robert Lutz, Peter D. Ehrenhaft

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article reviews developments in transnational legal practice during 2006 and 2007, including international developments, U.S. developments and regional developments in Australia and Europe. The primary focus of the international developments section is the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This article discusses GATS Track 1 Activities related to legal services, including the Legal Services Collective Requests and issues related to GATS Track 2 and the potential development of GATS disciplines. This section also surveys GATS-related initiatives of the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association and U.S. implementation of foreign lawyer multi-jurisdictional practice rules. In other …

A Humanistic View Of Satan: The Role Of Satan In Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot, Yohance Myles

LSU Master's Theses

The role of Satan, in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, was selected as the topic of this thesis in acting to be submitted to the Graduate School of Louisiana State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with the Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater. The thesis includes an introduction; discussions of acting methods: the Art of Being, logical thinking, rhythmic sounds, the rehearsal process, journal notes, photos, research, and a conclusion. It details my role/character from a theatrical and humanistic point of view. I will highlight points that will reveal my daily discoveries of this …

United States Propaganda In Iran: 1951-1953, Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria

LSU Master's Theses

Using Jowett and O’Donnell’s system of propaganda analysis, the present case study concentrates on America’s dominant propaganda messages, techniques, and media channels used in Iran during the time period between 1951 and 1953. The chosen period is of historical significance since it entails the Iranian nationalization of oil crisis and the 1953 coup against the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. The coup was the first CIA-sponsored covert operation against a foreign government and served as a model for subsequent operations elsewhere. An examination of the official correspondence of the major U.S. actors involved, as documented in the tenth volume …

Hearing Assessment Of Forest Loggers, Antonio A. Fonseca

LSU Master's Theses

Forest logging is the process in which trees are cut down for forest management and/or timber harvest. According to OSHA, logging is the most dangerous occupation in the United States. It consistently represents one of the most hazardous industries, with a fatality rate more than 21 times higher than the rate for all workers in the United States. Yet, little research has been performed to determine the long term effect of noise on forest loggers. OSHA regulations state that the maximum permissible hearing in an 8 hour shift should not exceed 90 dB. Occupational noise exposure is recognized as a …

Predicting Performance On High Stakes Testing: Validity And Accuracy Of Curriculum-Based Measurement Of Reading And Writing, Marie Young Henderson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the current investigation was to determine which curriculum-based measures of written expression demonstrated adequate technical characteristics and provided useful information towards predicting performance on a state-standardized assessment. Data collected from 124 third grade students was used for the study. Curriculum-based measures of reading and writing collected three times within the school year were utilized as the independent variables for predicting the dependent variables. Writing samples were scored using 9 indices of writing. Results from a state standardized assessment (iLEAP) were used as the dependent variables. The study found reliability coefficients for writing indices to be consistent with …

Innate Immune Responses In The Central Nervous System Following Toll-Like Receptor (Tlr) 7 And Tlr9 Activation, Niranjan Babu Butchi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Activation of astrocytes and microglia and the production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines are often associated with virus infection in the central nervous system (CNS) as well as a number of neurological diseases of unknown etiology. These inflammatory responses may be initiated by recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns that stimulate toll-like receptors (TLRs). Recent studies demonstrated that TLR9 family receptors play a role in neuropathogenesis and the agonists of these receptors may be used in therapeutics treatment of brain tumors and viral infections. However, we lack the basic understanding of how these receptors function in the CNS. In the present …

Worship Test: Balancing The Religion Clauses In The Limited Public Forum, Joshua B. Marker

UC Law Journal

In Good News Club v. Milford, the Court left unanswered whether, in a limited public forum, a restriction solely on worship is constitutional. This issue implicates a number of smaller issues, including whether there is an intelligible distinction between worship and other manners of religious speech. Even if there is an intelligible distinction, is it the role of the courts to define it? And if so, what is the appropriate method of doing so?

This Note argues that a restriction solely on worship is constitutional in the limited public forum. Further, there is an intelligible distinction between worship and other …

Building Codes: Mapping Technology And Tradition, James David West

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines the crossroads between printmaking and digital technology as our culture shifts towards a more digital media focused existence. As technology shifts art-making more and more away from the analog creation process towards a more digitally mediated one, printmaking’s history stands out among other traditional mediums as well suited to embrace the transition whole-heartedly. By using the analogies of the matrix, the map, and the building, this body of work creates a bridge from the historical and time-tested approaches of printmaking towards the future of the art form; a chimera of technology and tradition.

Translocation Success Of Adult Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers, Erin Herbez

LSU Master's Theses

The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis; hereafter RCW) is a cooperative breeder endemic to open old-growth pine savannah ecosystems in the southeastern United States (Jackson 1994). The RCW was listed as federally endangered in 1973, after a population decline due to habitat loss. Habitat fragmentation produces isolated populations of RCWs, which in turn ultimately limits the success of the species. RCW biologists and managers counteract effects of fragmentation by aggregating recruitment clusters and translocation. Although several studies examined subadult RCW translocation, detailed studies examining adult translocation have been limited. My study was conducted on a 3500 ha area owned by Plum …

Inclusion By Design: Accessible Housing And Mobility Impairment, Robin Paul Malloy

UC Law Journal

In the midst of pervasive national efforts at improving accessibility to public places for people with disabilities, there is no national design standard for making single-family residential housing accessible to the mobility impaired. As a consequence, people with mobility impairment often find that they are unable to safely and easily visit the homes of family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues because their housing is designed with exclusionary and unsafe features-features that would not be permitted if the property were a public place, a place of public accommodation, or publicly funded housing.

This Article questions the difference in inclusive design requirements as …

What Is Specific About "Specific Restitution"?, Colleen P. Murphy

UC Law Journal

An important functional difference among restitutionary remedies is between giving a plaintiff the monetary value of the defendant's unjust enrichment or giving the plaintiff an identifiable asset that constitutes the defendant's unjust enrichment. This difference commonly is labeled by scholars to be a difference between a money judgment and "specific restitution." This terminology obscures important concepts, such as that a plaintiff's asset-based remedy might be for a fund of money or that recovery of an asset might not constitute "specific" relief-that is, the plaintiff might not get the thing to which the plaintiff originally was entitled. In many of its …

Reconstructing Cumis: What The California Legislature Got Wrong About California Civil Code Section 2860 And How To Fix It, Rich Marotti

UC Law Journal

In 1984, California courts leapt to the forefront of protecting consumers of insurance with the decision in San Diego Navy Federal Credit Union v. Cumis Insurance Society, Inc. Several years later, the California General Assembly enacted California Civil Code section 2860. The statute was presumably established in response to the expansive Cumis decision. However, the bill containing the language that ultimately became section 2860 received little to no public comment, nor does it appear to have received much scrutiny from the assembly. It amounted to a backroom deal among special interest groups that was revealed only a few days before …

Dos And Don'ts Of Data Breach And Information Security Policy, Fred H. Cate, Martin E. Abrams, Paula J. Bruening, Orson Swindle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

System Identification Of Bridge And Vehicle Based On Their Coupled Vibration, Lu Deng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Most current techniques used for system identification of bridges and vehicles are static-test-based methods. Methodologies that can use bridge dynamic responses or modal information are highly desirable and under development. This dissertation aims to develop new identification methodologies for bridge-vehicle systems using the bridge dynamic responses and modal information. A new bridge model updating method using the response surface method (RSM) was proposed in this dissertation. The RSM was used to design experiments in order to find out the relationships between the bridge responses and parameters to be updated. Results from numerical simulations and a field study show that the …

Originalism And The "Challenge Of Change": Abduced-Principle Originalism And Other Mechanisms By Which Originalism Sufficiently Accommodates Changed Social Conditions, Lee J. Strang

UC Law Journal

One of the most persistent criticisms of originalism-and also one of the most powerful-is that originalism is not a viable interpretative methodology because of the tremendous technological, social, cultural, religious, and moral change that has occurred since the Constitution's original meaning was created. The Constitution's original meaning arose in contexts so dramatically different from our own, the criticism goes, that a Constitution whose meaning was limited by those contexts would be unworkable in today's world.

This form of criticism of originalism - the challenge of changeis pervasive. In this Article, I argue that originalism has, within its analytical quiver, six …

Passwords And Keys Under The Dmca: A Call For Clarification From The Courts Or Congress, Lindsey M. Shinn

UC Law Journal

While the DMCA was passed to protect copyrighted content in the digital age, the cases interpreting the statutory terms "circumvention" and "authorization" are inconsistent. The courts have staked out two poles on what does and does not constitute circumvention under the DMCA: aftermarket parts that run items like garage doors do not circumvent, but code that allows an unanticipated device to play a CD is a circumvention. This Note explores the surprising consequences of carrying the reasoning of each of these lines of cases to their logical conclusions. The most unsettled area naturally falls in the middle-in the cases of …

Heller, Citizenship, And The Right To Serve In The Military, Elizabeth L. Hillman

UC Law Journal

District of Columbia v. Heller could prove a turning point not in the law governing the right to keep and bear arms, but governing the right to serve in the military. Heller's reasoning, notwithstanding the Court's efforts to constrain its analysis from reaching a right to serve, should lead to a reconsideration of military service as a broadly-held and long-recognized constitutional right. Because of the political meaning of military service and the changes that have altered the role and make-up of the military in the United States, the Second Amendment ought to be read, in the wake of Heller, as …