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2009

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Leadership Survival And The Process Of Economic Integration, Schuyler Richard Porche Jan 2009

Leadership Survival And The Process Of Economic Integration, Schuyler Richard Porche

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The central contribution of this dissertation to political science is explaining the role of leadership survival theory in shaping the political process of initiation, broadening, deepening, and failure of economic integration agreements by nation states. The empirical research involves the creation of a dataset recording changes in economic integration for the period 1950-1999 and utilizing advanced quantitative methods to study the process. Most existing research focuses on the initiation of trade agreements. I demonstrate that the process of economic integration agreements among polities is shaped by iterated political interaction at both the domestic and international levels. The critical test in …


The Influence Of Alcohol Advertising On Associative Memory And Consideration Sets, James Charles Smith Jan 2009

The Influence Of Alcohol Advertising On Associative Memory And Consideration Sets, James Charles Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Survey studies suggest that alcohol advertising influences attitudes and beliefs that promote alcohol use. Strategies from memory research and marketing were used to test the influence of beer advertising found in popular magazines. Effects on preference for alcohol and memory associations between alcohol and the positive outcomes of drinking were measured. One hundred eighty undergraduate women and men viewed 5 ads. A 2 x 2 + 1 (control group) factorial design simultaneously varied ad type (arousing or sedating messages) with processing type (selective attention or elaborative processing). Preferences for alcohol and memory associations did not differ between the control group …


Essays On Management Quality, Ipo Characteristics And The Success Of Business Combinations, Haksoon Kim Jan 2009

Essays On Management Quality, Ipo Characteristics And The Success Of Business Combinations, Haksoon Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is a blank check company with no business operation but management quality. It raises money through unit IPO and put proceeds in a trust account for future business combination. In the post IPO market, the market price would reflect the value of trust account and management quality of profitably acquiring a firm with business operation. Thus, SPACs provide a unique setting to examine the pricing of management quality. Compared with regular IPO firms, SPAC management has more industry experience and the market put a higher value for SPACs with better management experience. SPACs with …


Culture And Persuasion Online: Predicting Attitudes, Cognitions, And Behavioral Intentions In A Culturally Diverse Online Marketplace, Gennadi Gevorgyan Jan 2009

Culture And Persuasion Online: Predicting Attitudes, Cognitions, And Behavioral Intentions In A Culturally Diverse Online Marketplace, Gennadi Gevorgyan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With an online experiment and a focus group, I examined the role of cultural appeals in online persuasive communication. The results of the study revealed that culturally oriented Web sites and online advertisements influence individual attitudes and behavioral intentions. These effects were particularly strong when cultural appeals were consistent across advertisements and their hosting Web sites. I observed the main effect of culture on persuasiveness of Web sites and advertisements both the American and the Chinese samples of participants. The results of the study did not, however, support the expectation that ethnic identity and need for cognition would interact with …


An Experimental Study Of The Effects Of Workforce Bullying On Three Affective Constructs: Self-Efficacy, Satisfaction And Stress, Elizabeth A. Nealy Jan 2009

An Experimental Study Of The Effects Of Workforce Bullying On Three Affective Constructs: Self-Efficacy, Satisfaction And Stress, Elizabeth A. Nealy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effects of “bullying” behavior on the affective constructs of self-efficacy, satisfaction and stress of students enrolled in a junior level course at a research extensive university in the southern region of the United States. The sample included 35 undergraduate students at one research-extensive university in the southern region of the United States who were enrolled in a leadership course in the spring semester of 2009. The dependent variables were participants’ scores on measures of self-efficacy, satisfaction and stress. The independent variable was whether or not participants were exposed to “bullying” …


Beyond Crime Quantites: A Multilevel Analysis Of The Relative Prevalence Of Interracial Violence, Shaun A. Thomas Jan 2009

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, …


Effects Of An Audience Response System On Student Learning Outcomes In An Applied Kinesiology Course, Katherine Krieg Jan 2009

Effects Of An Audience Response System On Student Learning Outcomes In An Applied Kinesiology Course, Katherine Krieg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using audience response systems (ARS) on student learning outcomes and learning processes, when the instructional strategy of using sequentially challenging questions and collaborative discussions were held constant across both treatment and control conditions. A quasi-experimental AB alternating research design was employed. Two sections of a Functional Anatomy and Kinesiology course at a small faith-based college participated in the study. One section served as control and the other section as treatment groups until midsemester, when the roles of the groups switched. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. …


Global Positioning System In Curved Space-Time And Other Applications Of General Relativity, Argenis Daniel Da Silva Jan 2009

Global Positioning System In Curved Space-Time And Other Applications Of General Relativity, Argenis Daniel Da Silva

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, we present some applications of the theory of General Relativity. First, we show a numerical scheme to account for relativistic effects in the Global Positioning System. Then, a couple of applications of astrophysical interest are worked out. These are the study of the gravitational collapse of stars and the dynamical evolution of a three-dimensional Einstein-Klein-Gordon field.


Evidence That The Boundary Element-Associated Factors Beaf-32a And Beaf-32b Affect Chromatin Structure In Drosophila Melanogaster, Matthew Kenneth Gilbert Jan 2009

Evidence That The Boundary Element-Associated Factors Beaf-32a And Beaf-32b Affect Chromatin Structure In Drosophila Melanogaster, Matthew Kenneth Gilbert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Boundary Element-Associated Factors, BEAF-32A and BEAF-32B bind to hundreds of loci on Drosophila chromosomes. These proteins function as insulators; they can prevent promoter activation by an enhancer when placed between them and protect transgenes from chromosomal position effects. To gain insight into BEAF function we designed and expressed a transgene encoding a dominant-negative form of BEAF. This peptide, BID, consists of the BEAF self-interaction domain. We demonstrate here that this peptide interferes with BEAF’s ability to bind DNA and prevents it from functioning as an insulator. In addition, expression of BID leads to a global disruption of polytene chromosome …


The Virgin's Daughters: Catholic Traditions And The Post-Colonial South In Contemporary Women's Writing, Elizabeth M. Beard Jan 2009

The Virgin's Daughters: Catholic Traditions And The Post-Colonial South In Contemporary Women's Writing, Elizabeth M. Beard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the texts of contemporary women writers who consciously engage dominant Catholic, American, and southern ideologies in their narratives and who posit Louisiana as a liminal, hybrid space. Building upon postcolonial concepts of hybridity and performance of cultural memory, I trace a “pathway” to feminist recovery and reclamation of ancestral memory and spirituality in Valerie Martin’s A Recent Martyr, Rebecca Wells’ Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Brenda Marie Osbey’s All Saints, and Erna Brodber’s Louisiana. The authors enact spiritual and cultural reclamation through the written expression of key components of postcolonial reconstruction of …


Determining The Number Of Factors In Data Containing A Single Outlier: A Study Of Factor Analysis Of Simulated Data, Victor Snipes Swaim Jan 2009

Determining The Number Of Factors In Data Containing A Single Outlier: A Study Of Factor Analysis Of Simulated Data, Victor Snipes Swaim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous procedures have been suggested for determining the number of factors to retain in factor analysis. However, previous studies have focused on comparing methods using normal data sets. This study had two phases. The first phase explored the Kaiser method, Scree test, Bartlett’s chi-square test, Minimum Average Partial (1976 & 2000), Horn’s parallel analysis, and Longman’s Parallel Analysis on normal data using the estimation methods of Maximum Likelihood (ML), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Principal Factor Analysis (PFA). The second phase explored the Kaiser method, Scree test, Minimum Average Partial (1976 & 2000), and Horn’s parallel analysis, and Longman’s Parallel …


Exploration Of Ternary Intermetallic Materials Using Tin And Gallium Flux, Edem Kodzo Okudzeto Jan 2009

Exploration Of Ternary Intermetallic Materials Using Tin And Gallium Flux, Edem Kodzo Okudzeto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is the structure-property relationships of ternary intermetallic stannides and gallides. We are interested in these compounds because of the wide range of physical properties they possess. While investigating the Ln-Co-Sn system (Ln = lanthanide), we have synthesized single crystals that crystallize in the Yb3Rh4Sn13, Ho7Co6Sn23 and the Tb5Rh6Sn18 structure types. We observe the formation of a particular structure type depending on the size of the lanthanide present. The aforementioned compounds all contain CoSn6 trigonal prisms, which create voids occupied by Ln and Sn polyhedral units. We have also investigated the physical properties of these compounds …


The Problems Solving Styles Of Emergency Operations Center Staffs Of Local And State Government Agencies, Glynn Cavin Jan 2009

The Problems Solving Styles Of Emergency Operations Center Staffs Of Local And State Government Agencies, Glynn Cavin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographics, leadership styles, and preferred problem solving style of the emergency management career field. The catalyst for the research was recognition that there are few scholarly investigations or theories of the cognitive processes that occur within emergency operations center staffs (EOCs), and to establish the demographic baseline. Demographics of Louisiana participants were compared with similar demographics of participants from the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). The results revealed that the emergency management occupation is older and male dominated. The group is well educated; many IAEM members having advanced degrees. The …


An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of The Mmpi-2 And The Pai In The Detection Of Random Responding, Lesley Ann Hiebing Jan 2009

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of The Mmpi-2 And The Pai In The Detection Of Random Responding, Lesley Ann Hiebing

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Intermittent Random Responding, Front Random Responding, and Back Random Responding were investigated on the MMPI-2 and PAL Random responses were inserted in increasing proportions into profiles from a large clinical sample. Validity scales sensitive to random responding on each scale (VRIN, F, FB, and FP on the MMPI-2 and ICN and INF on the PAI) were evaluated to determine which scale(s) would best detect random responding. Results indicate that validity scales from both measures were more sensitive to random responding in the intermittent random condition and performed worse in the back random condition. Overall, the MMPI-2 validity scales were better …


Slab-On-Girder Prestressed Concrete Bridges: Linear And Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis And Experimental Load Tests, Marcio Costa Araujo Jan 2009

Slab-On-Girder Prestressed Concrete Bridges: Linear And Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis And Experimental Load Tests, Marcio Costa Araujo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“A diaphragm is a transverse stiffener, which is placed between girders in order to maintain section geometry”, (AASHTO, 2002). Intermediate diaphragms, usually placed at the midspan or third points of a bridge, are thought to contribute to the overall distribution of live loads in bridges. Cast-in-place concrete intermediate diaphragms were investigated in this study in order to assess their load distribution effectiveness in prestressed concrete I-girder bridges. Finite element packages (Ansys and GT STRUDL) were used to perform the analyses for multiple bridge configurations, including a parametric study of span length, girder spacing, and concrete strength. It was found that …


An Investigation Of Creative Potential In High School Musicians: Recognizing, Promoting, And Assessing Creative Ability Through Music Composition, Elizabeth Menard Jan 2009

An Investigation Of Creative Potential In High School Musicians: Recognizing, Promoting, And Assessing Creative Ability Through Music Composition, Elizabeth Menard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Student attitudes and teacher perceptions regarding creativity, composition, and its assessment possibilities were investigated using mixed-method techniques in two differing high school music programs. A Talented Music Program, providing accelerated instruction to gifted musicians (with composition instruction) and a typical performance based band program (composition never taught) were examined. Students participated in a six-week composition program. Final compositions were evaluated by differing judging groups: teachers, students, and expert composers. Data were collected through interviews, observations, attitude surveys, student and teacher journals, and composition assessment. Analysis of teacher perceptions revealed themes indentifying challenges to creativity development in high school classrooms: tradition …


Investigation Into The Hydrothermal Treatment Of Sugarcane Bagasse Under Near- And Supercritical Conditions, John E. White Jan 2009

Investigation Into The Hydrothermal Treatment Of Sugarcane Bagasse Under Near- And Supercritical Conditions, John E. White

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Processing biomass in near- and supercritical water has garnered increasing attention because of its ability to accept a variety of wet feedstocks, energy efficiency, and ability to regulate the solubility and separation of components. Very few studies of biomass hydrothermal conversion provide a comprehensive evaluation of multiple process parameters and various additives and their effects on a single product phase. This research examined the influence of temperature, residence time, biomass concentration, and particle size on volatiles production from the hydrothermal conversion of sugarcane bagasse. Temperature had the greatest impact on volatile yields with the largest increase (23 wt %) occurring …


Biophysical Economic Analysis Of Nutrient And Sediment Management Practices In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Augustus Nyako Matekole Jan 2009

Biophysical Economic Analysis Of Nutrient And Sediment Management Practices In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Augustus Nyako Matekole

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Conventional drainage systems and poorly drained soils tend to increase row crop agriculture nutrient and sediment effluent loads. Best management practices help reduce row crop production environmental pollution. This dissertation looked at nutrient and tillage management practices that could help farmers address future total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the Cabin-Teele sub-watershed, within the lower Mississippi River Basin. The dissertation had two objectives. The first objective was to examine the economic and environmental impact of tillage and nutrient management practices in reducing agricultural pollutants to meet TMDL requirements. Relative cost effectiveness of different tillage and nutrient management practices were analyzed …


Copula-Based Multivariate Hydrologic Frequency Analysis, Hemant Chowdhary Jan 2009

Copula-Based Multivariate Hydrologic Frequency Analysis, Hemant Chowdhary

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multivariate frequency distributions are being increasingly recognized for their role in hydrological design and risk management. The conventional multivariate distributions are severely limited in that all constituent marginals have to be from the same distribution family. The copula method is a newly emerging approach for deriving multivariate distributions which overcomes this limitation. Use of copula method in hydrological applications has begun only recently and ascertaining the applicability of different copulas for combinations of various hydrological variables is currently an area of active research. Since there exists a variety of copulas capable of characterizing a broad range of dependence, the selection …


Measuring The Impact Of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Intervention On Perceived Stress And Study Skills Of Social Work Graduate Students, Margot H. Hasha Jan 2009

Measuring The Impact Of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Intervention On Perceived Stress And Study Skills Of Social Work Graduate Students, Margot H. Hasha

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This multi-component study incorporated the following: (1) an integrated study measuring the impact of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction intervention (MBSR) on potential stressors, appraised stress levels and adaptation to stress of MSW students enrolled in the Louisiana State University School of Social Work through a pretest posttest group design using time-series data to evaluate meditation practice; (2) a pretest posttest group design which examined changes in self-regulated learning skills; and (3) a cross-sectional survey which explored students self-reported reasons for not participating in the MBSR randomized control group study offered prior to the current study. Sample size for the integrated …


The Effects Of Inorganic Solids And Certain Gases On The Thermal Decomposition Of Catechol, Jerome Apilan Robles Jan 2009

The Effects Of Inorganic Solids And Certain Gases On The Thermal Decomposition Of Catechol, Jerome Apilan Robles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In order to investigate the effects of calcium carbonate and iron oxide on the thermal decomposition of solid fuels, we have constructed an isothermal flow reactor to perform experiments on the model compound catechol (ortho-dihydroxybenzene), a phenol-type compound representative of coal, wood and biomass. Calcium carbonate and iron oxide are inorganic components of coal and wood, which have demonstrated catalytic properties in thermal reactions and are commercially used to enhance the conversion of solid fuels. In this study, the effects of the inorganic solids on pyrolysis and combustion are conducted through identification and quantification of the products formed after subjecting …


Toward Social Search: From Explicit To Implicit Collaboration To Predict Users' Interests, Luca Longo, Stephen Barrett Jan 2009

Toward Social Search: From Explicit To Implicit Collaboration To Predict Users' Interests, Luca Longo, Stephen Barrett

Conference papers

Inspection methods and cheap self-reporting procedures have been significantly employed in the field of Human- Computer Interaction for assessing the usability of interfaces, systems and technologies. However, there is a tendency to overlook aspects related to the context and features of the users during the usability assessment process. This research introduces the concept of mental workload as an aid to enhance usability measurement. A user-study has been designed and executed in the context of human-web interaction. The aim was to investigate the relationship between the perception of usability of three popular web-sites, and the mental workload imposed by a set …


Arthropod And Vertebrate Determinants For Horizontal Transmission Of Rickettsia Felis, Kathryn Elizabeth Reif Jan 2009

Arthropod And Vertebrate Determinants For Horizontal Transmission Of Rickettsia Felis, Kathryn Elizabeth Reif

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rickettsia felis is a gram-negative bacterium predominantly described in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis. Since first described in 1990 in a commercial cat flea colony in the United States, R. felis has been detected in numerous arthropod species in 28 countries around the world. Additionally, as the etiologic agent of flea-borne rickettsiosis, R. felis can cause disease in humans, with patients presenting with clinical symptoms typical of rickettsial diseases including: fever, headache, and myalgia. Transmission of R. felis within flea colonies is predominantly via vertical (transovarial and transstadial) transmission and mechanisms of horizontal transmission are undescribed. Studies are needed to …


Computational Studies Of The Properties Of Copper Oxide Clusters And The Reactions Of Phenol And Chlorinated Phenols With Copper Oxide Clusters, Gyun-Tack Bae Jan 2009

Computational Studies Of The Properties Of Copper Oxide Clusters And The Reactions Of Phenol And Chlorinated Phenols With Copper Oxide Clusters, Gyun-Tack Bae

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We used ab initio simulations and calculations to study the structures and stabilities of copper oxide clusters, CunOn (n=1-8) and CuOn (n=1-6). The lowest energy structures of neutral and charged copper oxide clusters were determined using primarily the B3LYP/LANL2DZ model chemistry. In CunOn clusters with n=1-8, a transition from planar to nonplanar geometries occurs at n=4. In CuOn clusters with n=1-6, all geometries of neutral, positively, and negatively charged clusters are planar or near planar structures. Selected electronic properties, including binding energies, ionization energies, and electronic affinities, were calculated and examined as a function of n. Stabilities were examined by …


The Agricultural Industry As Percieved By Members Of The General Public Of Louisiana, Julie Baker Richard Jan 2009

The Agricultural Industry As Percieved By Members Of The General Public Of Louisiana, Julie Baker Richard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and perceptions of the animal, plant, environmental, and food sciences by the adult residents of Louisiana. This study was conducted using a survey research design. This survey utilized random telephone dialing techniques in order to survey 547 residents of Louisiana. The survey instrument consisted of fifty-five questions divided into three sections: demographic characteristics, agriculture knowledge, and perception of agriculture. The overall mean agriculture knowledge score of adult residents of Louisiana for the twenty items included in the survey instrument equaled 13.60 (SD = 2.743) or 68%. Perceptions of agriculture results …


Integrated Data-Driven Techniques For Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Swathi Pakalapati Jan 2009

Integrated Data-Driven Techniques For Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Swathi Pakalapati

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The adverse health e_x000B_ffects of tropospheric ozone around urban zones indicate a substantial risk for many segments of the population. This necessitates the short term forecast in order to take evasive action on days conducive to ozone formation. Therefore it is important to study the ozone formation mechanisms and predict the ozone levels in a geographic region. Multivariate statistical techniques provide a very e_x000B_ffective framework for the classifi_x000C_cation and monitoring of systems with multiple variables. Cluster analysis, sequence analysis and hidden Markov models (HMMs) are statistical methods which have been used in a wide range of studies to model the …


Polymer-Based Microfluidic Devices For High Throughput Single Molecule Detection: Applications In Biological And Drug Discovery, Paul Ichide Okagbare Jan 2009

Polymer-Based Microfluidic Devices For High Throughput Single Molecule Detection: Applications In Biological And Drug Discovery, Paul Ichide Okagbare

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The realization of high throughput sample processing has become a primary ambition in many research applications with an example being high throughput screening (HTS), which represents the first step in the drug discovery pipeline. Microfluidics is a viable platform for parallel processing of biochemical reactions to increase data production rates due to its ability to generate fluidic networks with a high number of processors over small footprints suitable for optical imaging. Single-molecule detection (SMD) is another technology which has emerged to facilitate the realization of high throughput data processing afforded by its ability to eliminate sample processing steps and generate …


The Fate And Transport Of Light Petroleum Hydrocarbons In The Lower Mississippi River Delta, Samantha Nicole Danchuk Jan 2009

The Fate And Transport Of Light Petroleum Hydrocarbons In The Lower Mississippi River Delta, Samantha Nicole Danchuk

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Important processes governing the fate and transport of light petroleum hydrocarbons in the Lower Mississippi River and other river delta systems are not adequately represented in existing oil spill models. In response, three methods were introduced to include the effects of dynamic annual discharges and variation of shoreline type on shoreline retention and re-floatation and the potential of oil- mineral aggregate formation based contributing environmental factors. Parcel tracking was used, in conjunction with detailed shoreline types correlated to flow rate, to evaluate the benefits of using multiple shoreline re-floatation half lives correlated to shoreline type instead of a single half …


Evaluation Of Pectin Methylesterase And Lactobacillus Spp. Isolated From Tabasco Peppers (Capsicum Frutescens L.), Sonja Tanee Jones Jan 2009

Evaluation Of Pectin Methylesterase And Lactobacillus Spp. Isolated From Tabasco Peppers (Capsicum Frutescens L.), Sonja Tanee Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

One of the major concerns of the hot sauce manufacturers is separation of sediments and layering of the sauce. Separation is an undesirable production condition because consumers view this as a defect which consequently increases manufacturing costs. Pectins play an important role in pepper processing since it forms gels and influences the final viscosity of the sauce. Hence, its integrity during processing influences the quality of the final product. Failures in pectin stability can sometimes be related to the presence of enzymes. Understanding how the pectin enzymes function during fermentation of pepper sauce is a necessary step in controlling the …


Factors Influencing The Perceived Usefulness Of An Information Delivery Website Among The United States Resident Viewership, Frederick Joseph Piazza Jan 2009

Factors Influencing The Perceived Usefulness Of An Information Delivery Website Among The United States Resident Viewership, Frederick Joseph Piazza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the World Wide Web (Web) has become a major media outlet for disseminating information. Government and Higher Education institutions have both embraced Web technologies to serve the needs of their clientele. Thus, a method of developing targeted Web-based material that is optimized for the viewer to provide the greatest impact in terms of usefulness is needed. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic characteristics on the perception of usefulness among United States resident viewers of an information delivery website. The accessible population for this study was all viewers …