Digital Commons Network^™

Quantifying Tarnished Plant Bug, Lygus Lineolaris (Palisot De Beauvois), Resistance To Acephate In Louisiana, Josh T. Copes

LSU Master's Theses

The tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), is one of the most yield- limiting insect pests attacking cotton in the Mid-Southern region of the U.S. This pest is almost exclusively managed with chemical control strategies. The organophosphate insecticide, acephate, has been one of the most important insecticides recommended to control tarnished plant bugs. In recent years, reports of unsatisfactory acephate performance have become common and actual field rates have been increased to improve control. The objective of this study was to survey acephate susceptibility in Louisiana populations of tarnished plant bug using laboratory bioassays and evaluate acephate efficacy …

Signaling Of Integrin Lower Leg And Transmembrane Domains, Wei Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Integrin conformational changes mediate integrin activation and signaling triggered by intracellular molecules or extracellular ligands. Even though it has been shown that TM and/or cytoplasmic α and β domains associate in the resting state and separation of these domains is required for integrin signaling, it is still not clear how this signal is transmitted from the transmembrane domain through two long extracellular legs to the ligand-binding headpiece. In addition, integrin TM homomeric association was also observed. But the role of this interaction remains elusive. In this work, the platelet integrin, αIIbβ3, has been used to elucidate the roles of integrin …

The Relationship Between Social Skills And Challenging Behaviors In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jonathan Wilkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most serious and debilitating conditions with onset in early childhood. Deficits in social interaction skills are considered to be the hallmark set of symptoms and are given the most weight in current diagnostic systems. Although not considered among the core symptoms of ASD, challenging behaviors in the form of physical aggression, property destruction, and self-injury also commonly occur. Challenging behaviors of this nature are a salient feature of ASD because of their potential to cause harm to self and others as well as limit a child’s access to opportunities in community and …

The Effect Of Task Difficulty On Preschoolers' Problem-Solving And Emotion-Regulation Strategy Use, Courtney Marie Snyder

LSU Master's Theses

Although there has been a lot of research on problem-solving and emotion-regulation independently, little work has been done on how these constructs are related. The current investigation sought to explore differences in problem-solving, emotion-regulation, emotion-dysregulation and help-seeking based on task difficulty. Preschool children between 3-5 years of age participated in six frustration-inducing problem-solving tasks, three of which were possible (but difficult) and three of which were impossible for them to solve. Problem-solving, emotion-regulation, emotion-dysregulation, and help-seeking behaviors were coded for each task. I hypothesized that children’s behavior in each of these four areas would vary according to task difficulty, as …

Conceptualizing The Consumer-Brand Relationship As A Truly Dyadic Process, Jamye Foster

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The consumer-brand relationship (CBR) has gained interest in recent years, but as currently conceptualized, it is limited to a parasocial relationship where the role of the brand is not acknowledged. In order to better understand the CBR, we have to ask several key questions: (1) What is the CBR? (2) What are consumer-brand interactions (CBIs)? And (3) How can we measure CBIs? The objective in Essay 1 is to develop a better understanding of the conceptual foundation of the CBR. This was accomplished through extensive review of relevant literature, which highlighted the need to consider the CBR as a truly …

Readiness For Lifelong Learning Of Volunteers Affiliated With A 4-H Youth Development Program In The Southern Region Of The United States, Kenneth Kimani Kungu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore and determine the level of readiness for lifelong learning of volunteers affiliated with a 4-H youth development program in the southern United States. Based on a literature review, readiness for lifelong learning was conceptualized as incorporating aspects of response to triggers for learning, self-directed learning readiness, and a readiness to overcome deterrents to participation in learning. The Readiness for Lifelong Learning Survey, a 75 item Likert-type scale, was developed and administered online to 1815 adult volunteers who had provided usable emails in a enrollment database system. The final response count was 277 …

Audio Watermarking Using Transformation Techniques, Rajkiran Ravula

LSU Master's Theses

Watermarking is a technique, which is used in protecting digital information like images, videos and audio as it provides copyrights and ownership. Audio watermarking is more challenging than image watermarking due to the dynamic supremacy of hearing capacity over the visual field. This thesis attempts to solve the quantization based audio watermarking technique based on both the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The underlying system involves the statistical characteristics of the signal. This study considers different wavelet filters and quantization techniques. A comparison is performed on diverge algorithms and audio signals to help examine the performance …

A Study Of Technology Integration In An All Girls' School: The Role Of Attitudes And Beliefs Of Teachers, Patrick Kelvin Saidu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study is primarily designed to address the relationships between teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, anxiety, perceptions and barriers with respect to their use of technology in promoting students’ learning. Unlike most previous studies of technology integration, this study is conducted at a gender specific, technology-rich, religious-based private school. In addition the study aims at identifying the various levels of technology adoption of teachers in this technology rich school environment and potentially suggesting “why or why not” the different levels are observed. Teachers in general nationwide have increased their technology integration and adoption over the past five years, although they still do …

A Study Of Communication In Baby Boomers' Romantic Relationships And The Effects Of Their Children's Communication About The Relationships, Lois B. Nemetz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study contributes to our knowledge of life-span communication by examining the communication of the Baby Boomer generation (born 1946-1964) as they re-enter the dating scene. Although Baby Boomers' early years of dating (the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's) occurred in a time of new-found freedom, especially in sexual relationships, the experience of dating several decades later brings many complications due to aging and children. The intent of this study was not to generalize that all Baby Boomers would express the views stated in this study, but to show the complexity of this generation, and to present a theoretical framework for …

Jennifer Higdon's Oboe Concerto: The Composition, Transformation, And A Performer's Analysis, Janice Elizabeth Crews

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This monograph presents a formal examination of Jennifer Higdon’s Oboe Concerto in its various forms. Jennifer Higdon has garnered international success, yet few in-depth studies of her music exist. In this document, personal accounts from commissioners illustrate the unusual commission of Oboe Concerto. Likewise, the composer, a conductor, and soloists for premiere performances highlight unique aspects of the concerto, particularly its unusual form, multiple versions, and the potential challenges in preparing the work. Higdon’s concerto showcases the lyrical capabilities of the oboe, with an emphasis on melody and sustained tone. The transformation of the concerto illustrates Higdon’s skills of self-promotion, …

Physiological, Biochemical And Molecular Characteristics Associated With Virulence Of Burkholderia Glumae: The Major Causative Agent Of Bacterial Panicle Blight Of Rice, Hari Sharan Karki

LSU Master's Theses

Burkholderia glumae is the bacterial pathogen causing bacterial panicle blight disease of rice (BPB). The pathogen, whose growth and pathogenicity is favored by high temperatures, has become a serious threat to rice production around the world possibly due to the current global climate changes. In this study, previously reported avirulent B. glumae strains were characterized in respect to the production of known virulence factors, toxoflavin, lipase and motility, and potential virulence factors, including polygalacturnase and type III secretion system (hypersensitive response). Considerable phenotypic variation was observed among the strains tested. Virulence of the B. glumae strains was closely related to …

Effectiveness Of Forestry Best Management Practices In Minimizing Harvesting Impacts On Streamflow And Sediment Loading In Low-Gradient Headwaters Of The Gulf Coastal Plain, Kristopher Brown

LSU Master's Theses

Few studies have examined the effectiveness of timber harvesting Best Management Practices (BMPs) in water quality protection of widely-spread, low-gradient, and highly intermittent headwaters on the Gulf Coastal Plain. Also, a spatial disparity exists between the plot-scale water quality benefits afforded by BMP implementation and the watershed-scale with which most watershed stewardship programs are managed. In this thesis research, paired-watershed and Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) designs were utilized to quantify plot- and watershed-scale changes in streamflow, as well as baseflow and stormflow Total Suspended Sediment (TSS) concentration and yield for 27 months after clearcut harvesting with and without BMPs in a low-gradient, …

More Than Words, More Than Wounds: (Re)Writing 'Wounded' Women And Healing Pedagogies, Rachel Nicole Spear

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project reconceptualizes how women and their personal stories of trauma have been read and represented in literary, feminist, and pedagogical studies, asserting that these authors and their texts should be recognized respectively as wounded healers and healing narratives. By situating my study within links among trauma, women, and writing, I argue that women and their personal stories of trauma exist in marginal, or rather, wounded positions. I problematize scholarship where links among these three commonly emerge (namely psychoanalytic, autobiographical, and feminist fields) to challenge monolithic readings and re-write these women and texts as more than wounded. More than Words, …

Communication Deficits In Babies With Autism And Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (Pdd-Nos), Max Horovitz

LSU Master's Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterized by pervasive impairments in communication, socialization, and repetitive behaviors or interests. While there is a growing interest in early ASDs, very few studies have looked at the nature of these impairments before age 3. In order to better strengthen early assessment and intervention for ASDs, more knowledge is needed in this area. The current studies aimed to determine if, and in what ways, communication impairments are present in infants and toddlers (17-37 months) diagnosed with autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). In the first study, infants with autism and PDD-NOS …

Public Perception Of Wildfire Risk And Prescribed Burning In The Wildland/Urban Interface Of The Louisiana Florida Parishes, Charlotte Ann Gerald

LSU Master's Theses

Wildfire has been suppressed in the nation’s forests for over a hundred years. The accumulation of forest fuels over time has created an urgent need to reduce fuel loads to prevent catastrophic wildfires from occurring, not only in our wildlands, but also in our Wildland/Urban Interfaces (WUI’s). The residents who live within the WUI are particularly vulnerable to extreme wildfire events. As cities become more densely populated, increasing numbers of people are moving beyond the suburbs into the WUI. A complex matrix of structures and forested land, developing communities, and impinging forests exists within the WUI. This study utilized a …

Extraversion And Oral Proficiency In Esl, Joshua Boyd Howard

LSU Master's Theses

Extraversion has been proposed as an influence on the success of a second language learner, although studies in this area have produced mixed results (Dewaele & Furnham, 1999; Marin-Marin, 2005; Wakamoto, 2007). Through a narrative retell task, the current study investigated the effects of extraversion on the spoken English performance of 25 native speakers of Spanish. Extraversion was measured with a Spanish version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire or EPQ (1975). Narratives were elicited using the wordless picture story Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969). Drawing on the work of Dewaele (1998), Dewaele and Pavlenko (2002), and Oya, Manalo, and …

Relationship Between Dissimilar Cognitive Styles, Use Of Coping Behavior And Use Of Learning Strategies, Chevanese Latoya Samms

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research on teacher learning styles and teaching styles have explained that teachers inadvertently mirror their own styles as they teach (Sternberg, 1994; Zhang, 2002) and as such apply teaching strategies that fit personal preference. With this one-style-fits-all approach, students’ individual differences are often ignored and teaching methods are rarely varied to accommodate (McKeachie, 1995) the student. This relationship between one’s preferred style and his or her teaching style may also influence student learning (Zhang, 2001) based on findings which pointed out that students who had similar styles like those of their instructors were more comfortable with the techniques the instructor …

"Do It For Me, My Dear": Structuration And Relational Dialectics Among Mother-Daughter Dyads In Lebanese Arranged Marriages, Khaled Nasser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research applied a two-step triangulation approach to the study of mother-daughter communication in arranged marriages among the religious Sunnis of Beirut, Lebanon. Combining the theory of structuration and relational dialectics in one theoretical framework, the study investigated the role of mother-daughter interactions in the socialization of the daughter into the marital experience. The study investigated the process of marital socialization by first surveying 199 mother-daughter dyads, representing 398 individuals. In the second step, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 families (three interviews per dyad), randomly selected out of the 199 surveyed pairs. The dyadic data analysis of the surveys …

The Power Struggle Between Americans And Creoles In The First Half Of The Nineteenth Century And Its Influence On The Architecture Of New Orleans, Sylvia Starns Mince

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the first half of the nineteenth century the house types of the landscape and the footprint of New Orleans changed dramatically. Many of the changes can be attributed to the influx of the refugees from Saint Domingue and the Americans who immigrated from the North and the East Coast of the United States. Both sets of influxes reflect the impact of these two immigrant groups on the previously existing power structures in economics, politics, and society of the city. While the refugees from Saint Domingue more or less assimilated into the city, and in doing so, achieved power over …

The Effect Of Supraliminal Goal Primes On Brand Preference: The Mediating Roles Of Implicit And Explicit Attitudes, Nobuyuki Fukawa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation investigates how supraliminal goal primes affect brand preference through explicit attitude and implicit attitude and whether the effect of supraliminal goal primes and/or mood on brand preference is mediated by cognitive load. Chapter 1 develops a conceptual framework and provides a theoretical background. Chapter 2 investigates how supraliminal goal primes and/or mood affect preference (Study 1), implicit attitude (Study 2) and explicit attitude (Study 3) in the context of luxury vs. frugal brand consumption. Chapter 2 also investigates whether the effect of goal primes and/or mood on preference is mediated by cognitive load. Chapter 3 considers whether, under …

"You Can Never Convert The Free Sons Of The Soil Into Vassals": Judah P. Benjamin And The Threat Of Union, 1852-1861, Geoffrey David Cunningham

LSU Master's Theses

As one of the premier legal minds in the Senate, having twice declined presidential nominations to the Supreme Court, Judah Benjamin’s rhetoric contains the South’s most sophisticated and clear-minded legal expositions on constitutional theory, state sovereignty, and republican government since the writings of John C. Calhoun. A well-known moderate, Benjamin’s national political career also reveals the effect of extremism on his own political thinking, while offering a limited perspective into the shifting attitude of the Deep South as well. Benjamin’s judicious speeches counseled northerners that southern views of liberty and sovereignty were inexplicably linked to slavery. With measured rhetoric Benjamin …

Antioxidant Nanoparticles As Delivery Systems, Carlos Ernesto Astete R.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of the study was to develop antioxidant polymeric nanoparticles as a new delivery system for food and pharmaceutical applications. Natural antioxidants like alpha-tocopherol, vitamin C, and carnosine, are responsible to protect biological systems against free radicals attack. The conjugation of vitamin C-vitamin E (EC) and alpha-tocopherol-carnosine (VECAR) were performed to obtain antioxidant surfactants which were used for polymeric nanoparticle synthesis. The surfactant made of á-tocopherol (vitamin E) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) of antioxidant properties dubbed as EC was used to make poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles. Self-assembled EC nanostructures and PLGA-EC nanoparticles were made by nanoprecipitation, and the …

Principles-Based Securities Regulation In The Wake Of The Global Financial Crisis, Cristie Ford

All Faculty Publications

This paper seeks to re-examine, and ultimately to restate the case for, principles-based securities regulation in light of the global financial crisis and related developments. Prior to the onset of the crisis, the concept of more principles-based financial regulation was gaining traction in regulatory practice and policy circles, particularly in the United Kingdom and Canada. The crisis of course cast financial regulatory systems internationally, including more principles-based approaches, into severe doubt. This paper argues that principles-based securities regulation as properly understood remains a viable and even necessary policy option, which offers solutions to the real-life and theoretical challenge that the …

A Few Steps Forward In The Process Of Looking Back: Setting Parameters For A Self-Study Of Administrative And Program Development Work Over 18 Years, Deborah Roose

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Most self-studies focus on an individual or several teacher educators. Although there have been self-studies undertaken by teacher education administrators, there is relatively little research available that focuses specifically on administrator’s program development work in teacher education. This self-study examines one teacher education administrator’s program development work over a period of 18 years and in two institutions. Data comes from entries from a professional journal/log kept during those years. A framework consisting of emergent categories and sub-categories was developed for analysis. Initial findings suggest there is a complexity of and multiple roles that are influenced by outside forces. In terms …

The Transnational Networks Of Cultural Commodities: Peruvian Food In San Francisco, Kelsey Ann Brain

Dissertations and Theses

In a setting of increased movement, communication, and flows across space, commodity chain networks bring valued cultural commodities to transnational communities. This research examines the networks bringing foreign cuisine ingredients to Peruvian transnational communities in San Francisco, California. It seeks to answer three inter-related questions: 1) What are the origins and transportation networks bringing Peruvian food items to San Francisco; 2) Who controls and benefits from the movement of this food and resulting capital; and 3) How do networks vary for different classes of end consumers?

Chefs of ten Peruvian restaurants and ten Peruvian migrants in the San Francisco area …

Sports And Entertainment Agents And Agent-Attorneys: Discourses And Conventions Concerning Crossing Jurisdictional And Professional Borders, David S. Caudill

Faculty Publications

Questions regarding the ethical obligations, pitfalls, and dilemmas facing attorneys who become sports or entertainment agents are not new. However, despite a substantial discourse on the topic, the sense persists that being both a lawyer and an agent is problematic. The applicable laws, including ethical regulations, seem to be clear, but are subject not only to law‟s usual jurisdictional variations and interpretive instability, but also to the mediation of conventions or tacit understandings that pervade the sports and entertainment industries.

Socially Induced Synchronization Of Every-Other-Day Egg Laying In A Seabird Colony, Shandelle M. Henson, James L. Hayward, J. M. Cushing, Joseph C. Galusha

Faculty Publications

Spontaneous oscillator synchrony has been documented in a wide variety of electrical, mechanical, chemical, and biological systems, including the menstrual cycles of women and estrous cycles of Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus). In temperate regions, many colonial birds breed seasonally in a time window set by photoperiod; some studies have suggested that heightened social stimulation in denser colonies can lead to a tightened annual reproductive pulse. It has been unknown, however, whether the analog of menstrual synchrony occurs in birdsthat is, whether avian ovulation cycles can synchronize on a daily timescale within the annual breeding pulse. We report every-other-day clutch-initiation and …

Reputation In A Networked World: Revisiting The Social Foundations Of Defamation Law, David S. Ardia

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Free Speech Savior Or Shield For Scoundrels: An Empirical Study Of Intermediary Immunity Under Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act,, David S. Ardia

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

First Amendment Limits On Libraries’ Discretion To Manage Their Collections, Anne Klinefelter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.