Digital Commons Network^™

Texasweed (Caperonia Palustris (L.) St. Hil.) Interference And Management In Drill-Seeded Rice, Rakesh K. Godara

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Field research was conducted from 2006 to 2009 to study Texasweed [Caperonia palustris (L.) St. Hil.] interference and management in Cocodrie rice. Texasweed interference at 10 plants/m2 caused 24 to 31% rice yield reduction. The maximum possible yield loss was estimated to be 81%. Rice yield reduction was primarily due to a reduction in culms/m2 and filled grains per panicle. For maximum yield, Texasweed must be removed by two weeks after emergence and managed until permanent flood establishment. Shade had no effect on Texasweed emergence but significantly reduced growth and reproduction. At 100 days after emergence, 50, 70, and 90% …

Bioaerosols And The Risk Of Upper Respiratory Infection In Dental Hygienists, Christen Rebecca Gautreau

LSU Master's Theses

Multitudes of pathogenic and infectious microbes are known to spread via contaminated aerosols. Dental personnel have an increased incidence of respiratory infections. Ultrasonic scaling procedures are reported to produce the largest amounts of contaminated aerosols of any dental procedure. The goal of the current study was to see if dental hygienists are at an increased risk of respiratory infections during the performance of their job and to see if certain dental procedures had a significant effect on this risk. This study was conducted at the Dental Hygiene Clinic of the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in New Orleans, LA. …

The Price Of Conflict: War, Taxes, And The Politics Of Fiscal Citizenship, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Since 2003 American political leaders and lawmakers have been committed to the simultaneous pursuit of tax cuts and military excursions abroad. Just a few decades ago, when military hawks were also deficit hawks, such a position would have seemed incongruous. This essay reviews, War and Taxes, a provocative and fascinating new book that seeks to explain the apparent dissonance of recent American wartime tax policy. In contrast to conventional wisdom which presumes that wartime patriotism has always and everywhere trumped self-interest, War and Taxes shows that the history of U.S. wartime taxation is not quite such a heroic tale. By …

American Economic Development, Managerial Corporate Capitalism, And The Institutional Foundations Of The Modern Income Tax, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Histories of the modern American income tax have generally focused on the role that social and political forces have played in the development of a new tax system. This article seeks to move beyond the social and political determinants to examine the economic factors that facilitated the adoption of the modern, graduated income tax. Without marginalizing the importance of social and political factors, the central aim of this article is to make a modest contribution to the legal and political historiography of the U.S. income tax by highlighting how changing material economic conditions afforded social groups, political reformers, and lawmakers …

Grade Level Expectations: Do They Prepare Students For Introductory College Chemistry?, Micah M. Davies

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates whether the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) as outlined by the Louisiana Department of Education prepare students for introductory college level chemistry. A sample of 135 students in Dr. Watkins fall 2009 CHEM 1201 classes were tested for correlations between knowledge of the GLEs (chemical concept inventory pre-test and post-test score and normalized gain) and performance in CHEM 1201 (average exam score and final exam score). No significant correlations were found between any of these variables. For further analysis, students were grouped into two groups, in-state public school students and out-of-state/private school students. It was assumed that in-state …

What We Don't Know Can Hurt Us: The Need For Empirical Research In Regulating Lawyers And Legal Services In The Global Economy, Carole Silver

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Bondline Thickness On Nonlinear Interfacial Fracture Of Bonded Adhesive Joint, Gefu Ji

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A number of existing and emerging industrial applications are dependent on layered substrates through adhesive bonding. The interfacial fracture of adhesively bonded structures is a critical issue for its extensive applications to a variety of modern industries. In the recent two decades, cohesive zone models (CZMs) have been receiving intensive attentions for fracture problems of adhesively bonded joints due to its fairly simple and accurate predictive ability. In CZMs the nonlinear interfacial fracture behaviors are described by the traction-separation laws (also referred to as cohesive laws). The cohesive laws represent the local constitutive behavior, instead of the global parameter, such …

The Legal Challenge Of Protecting Animal Migrations As Phenomena Of Abundance, Robert L. Fischman, Jeffrey B. Hyman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Animal migrations are as familiar as geese in the sky on a fall afternoon and as mysterious as the peregrinations of sea turtles across thousands of miles of open ocean. This article discusses the distinguishing attributes of animal migrations, why they are important to biodiversity conservation, and the legal challenges posed by migration conservation. In particular, the article focuses on those aspects of migration conservation that existing law, dominated by imperiled species protection, fails to address. It consequently suggests law reforms that would better conserve animal migrations. A step toward serious legal efforts to protect the process and function of …

Damned For Their Judgment: The Tort Liability Of Standard Development Organizations, Robert H. Heidt

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Consumer Preferences Toward 100% Fruit Juice Packages And Labels, Tatiana Bonilla

LSU Master's Theses

A national web survey was used to collected data from 253 households in the United States. Choice-based conjoint analysis was used to investigate which packaging and labeling attributes U.S. consumers consider important when choosing 100% fruit juices, and to estimate their willingness-to-pay. The attributes were packaging material, nutritional and health claims, presence of organic ingredients and whether the product was produced locally. Factor analysis, cluster analysis and a median split technique were used to identify market segments based on consumer preferences, behavior, and lifestyles. Differences between the segments were analyzed. A conditional logit model was used to estimate relative of …

The Unappreciated Inportance, For Small Business Defendants, Of The Duty To Settle, Robert H. Heidt

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Religion, Science And The Secular State: Creationism In American Public Schools, Gene Shreve

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article examines the current debate whether creationism may be taught in American schools given the constraints of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The author considers some of the social and political consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court's leading cases. The article concludes by questioning whether the Supreme Court has succeeded in justifying its restrictive decisions in this controversial area.

Adaptive Management In The Courts, Robert L. Fischman, J. B. Ruhl

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Adaptive management has become the tonic of natural resources policy. With its core idea of “learning while doing,” adaptive management has infused the natural resources policy world to the point of ubiquity, surfacing in everything from mundane agency permits to grand presidential proclamations. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to suggest that these days adaptive management is natural resources policy. But is it working? Does appending “adaptive” in front of “management” somehow make natural resources policy, which has always been about balancing competing claims to nature’s bounty, something more and better? Many legal and policy scholars have asked that question, with …

Public Perception And The Oil Industry: An Analysis Of Oil Employees' And Nigerians' Opinions Regarding Exxon Mobil And Shell Oil's Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts, Liana L. Narcisse

LSU Master's Theses

This study looked at oil industry employees’ and Nigerians’ perceptions of Exxon Mobil and Shell Oil as socially responsible corporations and the role the two-step flow model of communication plays in shaping these publics’ impressions of the companies. Measures of participants’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) were developed using Carroll’s 1971 three-dimensional model of CSR and Ketola’s (2008) holistic model of CSR. This study found that for both companies participants had average to less-than-favorable perceptions of the companies’ socially responsible behavior, according to the various categories of CSR. However, employees were more likely to view the companies more favorably …

Reconceiving The Fourth Amendment And The Exclusionary Rule, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Cell Extract-Based Reprogramming Of Somatic Cells, Laura Whitney Coley

LSU Master's Theses

The differentiation potential of adult stem cells (ASC) has long been thought to be limited to cell lineages present in the organ from which they are derived; however, several studies have challenged this notion by demonstrating that some ASC exhibit a remarkably high degree of plasticity. Unlike terminally differentiated somatic cells, the less differentiated state of ASC can assume the functional phenotypes and expression profiles of cells unique to other tissues. The expansive repertoire of differentiation potential exhibited by ASC suggests these cells possess characteristics similar to pluripotent cells, including epigenomic regulatory pattern. Therefore, ASC may be better equipped for …

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Validation Of The Autism Spectrum Disorders - Problem Behavior For Children (Asd-Pbc), Relationship Between Age And Challenging Behaviors, Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders Compared To Typically Developing Controls On The Behavioral Assessment For Children, Second Edition (Basc-2), Sara Rebecca Mahan

LSU Master's Theses

Researchers found that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a predictor for challenging behaviors. Since challenging behaviors are obstacles for social development and learning, it is important to determine if and what challenging behaviors are exhibited and how to best treat them. The Autism Spectrum Disorder – Problem Behavior for Children (ASD-PBC) is an 18 item informant based questionnaire specifically designed to measure challenging behaviors in children with ASD. Convergent and discriminant validity against the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), demonstrated the preliminary validity for the ASD-PBC for use among children and adolescents with ASD. Study 2 examined …

Special Introduction: October 2010, Lauren K. Robel

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Globetrotting Law Firms, Jayanth K. Krishnan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Despite the current financial crisis, prestigious American and British law firms continue to maintain a presence in Continental Europe, Latin America, and China. Yet, in one economically fertile, democratic country - India - such global legal powerhouses are scarcely found. This study seeks to understand empirically why there is a general absence of these and other foreign law firms practicing in India. Based on fieldwork and compiled interview data of lawyers, judges, government officials, activists, and clients from India, the United States, and Britain - the latter two being the foreign countries most interested in gaining access to the Indian …

Exploring The Impacts Of Wiki Collaborative Technologies Within The English Writing Environment, Valarie D. Dufrene

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use of technology in the writing classroom has been a staple since the early-1990’s when the personal computer made its way onto the desks of teachers and students across America. Since that time, the challenge has been for educators to incorporate the most recent technologies in an effort to stimulate student writing. This study examined the effects the use of a web-based wiki technology can have on the writings of high school students. The primary goal of this study was to explore how the web-based collaborative technology in Google Docs and used in a secondary English IV classroom can …

The Joint Law Venture: A Pilot Study, Jayanth K. Krishnan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This pilot study evaluates the effectiveness of law firms entering into joint ventures, an increasingly eyed business model particularly by American and British lawyers seeking to expand into promising financial markets. One country at the center of the joint venture experiment has been Singapore. With the strong encouragement of the Singaporean government (which has long embraced foreign investment), various elite law firms from the United States and Britain have been partnering with domestic Singaporean law firms for over the past decade. Because these foreign firms were traditionally barred from practicing Singaporean law on their own, the ‘joint law venture,’ or …

Protecting Privacy In Health Research: The Limits Of Individual Choice, Fred H. Cate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Costume Crafts An Exploration Through Production Experience, Michelle L. Hathaway

LSU Master's Theses

The process of developing Costume Crafts for any production begins with research into the given time-period of the proposed production. With the appropriate research into the fashions of the day and the available tools and techniques, the Craftsperson can collaborate with the Costume Designer to create that Designer’s vision. This project included two productions set in adjacent time-periods. The first step in the process was to research millinery fashions from 1910 through 1927 thus encompassing the time-periods set for each production. This research included the prevailing fashions of the day, the available materials, fabrics, and techniques employed in creating millinery. …

Factor That Influence The Critical Thinking Skills Of Public School Teachers In A Parish In Southwest Louisiana, Dale Beglis Schanz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of selected personal and professional demographic characteristics on the critical thinking abilities of teachers in a parish in Southwest Louisiana. The study is a correlational design using a descriptive survey technique with questions for the data collection. The examiner looked at attribute independent variables – characteristics that a subject has before a study begins such as gender, age, race, highest level of education completed, and years of teaching experience. Three hundred and twenty-four teachers in twelve public schools (three high schools, four middle schools, and five elementary schools) participated in …

Police "Science" In The Interrogation Room: Seventy Years Of Psuedo-Psychological Interrogation Methods To Obtain Inadmissible Confessions, Brian R. Gallini

UC Law Journal

Nearly all confessions obtained by interrogators nationwide are inadmissible, but nonetheless admitted. In the process, police arrest the wrong suspect and allow the guilty to go free. An unshakeable addiction to pseudo-scientific interrogation methods-initially created in the 1940s-is to blame. The so-called "Reid technique" of interrogation was initially a welcome and revolutionary change from the violent "third degree" method it replaced. But we no longer live in the 1940s and, not surprisingly, we no longer drive 1940s automobiles, practice early-twentieth-century medicine, or dial rotary phones. Why, then, are police still using 1940s methods of interrogation?

Moreover, the outdated Reid technique …

One Is The Loneliest Number: The Single Taxpayer In A Joint Return World, Lily Kahng

UC Law Journal

The United States is one of the few developed countries to retain the joint income tax return, available for heterosexual married couples only. Since its adoption in 1948, its underlying assumptions have been challenged on many valid grounds, and yet it remains firmly embedded in mainstream political and policy discourse. In recent years, most of the debate surrounding the joint return has focused on reducing marriage penalties, bonuses, and determining who among the universe of couples ought to be extended the benefit of the marriage bonuses. The treatment of single people has received almost no attention.

The scant attention paid …

Abuse Of Rights: The Continental Drug And The Common Law, Anna Di Robilant

UC Law Journal

This Article deploys a comparative approach to question a widely shared understanding of the impact and significance of abuse of rights. First, it challenges the idea that abuse of rights is a peculiarly civilian "invention," absent in the common law. Drawing on an influential strand offunctionalist comparative law, the Article identifies the "functional equivalents of the doctrine in the variety of malice rules and reasonableness tests deployed by American courts in the late-nineteenth and earlytwentieth century in fields as diverse as water law, nuisance, tortious interference with contractual relations, and labor law. The Article investigates the reasons why in the …

Benchmark Legislation: A Measured Approach In The Fight Against Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals, Adam Powell

UC Law Journal

Pharmaceutical counterfeiting is unique in the field of counterfeiting because criminals only attempt to copy the appearance of a drug, not its actual effect. Because such counterfeit drugs are cheap to make and ineffective or dangerous, counterfeiters see immense profits without regard for the potential for injury or death. Furthermore, the complexity of distribution channels and lax penalties result in little risk for criminals.

One potential tool to address this problem is an electronic pedigree system that would track shipments of drugs and reduce the opportunity for counterfeiters to infiltrate the supply chain. Unfortunately, such a system is years away …

Evaluating Remote Setting Techniques For Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Seed Production In Louisiana, Victoria D. Ippolito

LSU Master's Theses

Research was conducted to implement remote setting technology for the commercial- scale production of oysters on alternative cultch material in Louisiana. Genetic research has created an enhanced oyster stock for commercial cultivation. Since the Louisiana oyster industry relies on natural seed production for product, they are unable to utilize these new advances and are never guaranteed a reliable source of oyster seed. Remote setting is one way of producing a consistent supply of genetically improved oysters. Cultch material for oyster settlement is a limiting resource. Several alternatives to clamshell have been explored. The objectives of this study are: (1) test …

Carbohydrate Sources And Maximizing The Use Of Supplemental Amino Acids In Diets For Weanling Pigs, Victor D. Naranjo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objectives of this research were 1) to determine the effect of replacing dried whey (DW) with milk chocolate product (MCP), dried whey permeate (DWP) with candy oats (CO), and spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP) with a novel swine nutritional supplement (SNS) on growth performance of weanling pigs, and 2) to determine the maximum level of supplemental L-Lys, along with DL-Met, L-Thr, and L-Trp that can be added in diets for 6- to 12 and 13- to 23-kg pigs. Three experiments were conducted to compare the feeding value of MCP (20% lactose and 60% sugars) and DW (70% lactose). Results from …