Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of The Effects Of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles On The Fluorescent Intensity Of Fluorescent Compounds In The Presence Of Known Quenchers., Vivian Dzigbodi Koka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Titanium Dioxide is a naturally occurring oxide of titanium. It has a wide range of uses in commercial products for providing whiteness and opacity. It has photocatalytic properties and can also be used to produce electricity in its nanoparticles form. This research is focused on investigating the effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in analysis of compounds using luminescence-based techniques. Quenching, which is one of the basic problems of fluorescent measurements, was studied in the presence of molecular oxygen and methyl iodide. The rutile phase of titanium dioxide nanoparticles was synthesized by the acid hydrolysis of titanium isobutoxide at low temperatures …

Military Women A Content Analysis Of United States And United Kingdom Newspapers Portrayal During The Iraq War., Audra Jaclyn Fritz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how the tone and roles of women serving in the Iraq War were portrayed in newspaper articles. Issues of how women in the military were portrayed in terms of page and story prominence were also of importance.

A content analysis was conducted in order to determine the tone, roles, story, and page placement of newspaper articles published in the United States and the United Kingdom over a 7-year time period. Newspaper articles related to the topic were retrieved from the LexisNexis database and analyzed.

The results showed that mentions of military women …

Neo-Raconteur: Allocating Southern-Gothic Symbolism Into Design Media., Mark Daniel Compton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I created the term Neo-Raconteur to convey my interest in medium theory to support the artistic custom of revealing cultural conventions for allocation into artistic genres. The term evolved from the French word "Raconteur," meaning: somebody who tells stories or anecdotes in an interesting or entertaining way. In the past a Raconteur's anecdotes were verbally volleyed, ever voluble, yet quip. Neo-Raconteurs may decide not to speak at all choosing their anecdotal expression to manifest itself through singular or multiple means, manners, or methods of design and technology as well as or involving more traditional techniques of extraction to convey the …

Talking Heads: How Broadcast Media Frame The Public Relations Industry., Samara Rose Litvack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers conducted a content analysis to measure framing of the public relations industry in 354 English language broadcast transcripts from the United States, Canada, and Australia from Sept. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2010.

The overall tone toward public relations was strongly negative. Mentions reflected one-way forms of communication and mentions of the pejorative term "PR" appeared more frequently than mentions of "public relations". The profession was almost always mentioned within the body of the broadcast, as opposed to the headline or the lead paragraph.

Exploratory research showed 15 shows that included negative mentions 100% of the time. Additionally, 27 …

The Digital Folklore Project: Tracking The Oral Tradition On The World Wide Web., Jasen Bacon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I collected forty-two e-mail forwards over the course of four months, and from those I formulated a framework that adapts existing theory in collection and study of real-world folklore to the emerging folk communities that exist on the internet. Through this analysis I prove that the same genres of folklore that is routinely collected by folklorists have been adapted to fit the digital environment of the internet. I then use the framework that I lay out to perform a study of the e-mails themselves.

Investing In Citizenship: Free Men Of Color Of Color And The Case Against Citizens Bank ~ Antebellum Louisiana, Hannah J. Francis

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Despite the popularity of free people of color in New Orleans as a research topic, the history of free people of color remains misunderstood. The prevailing view of free people of color is that of people who: engaged in plaçage, attended quadroon balls, were desperately dependent upon the dominant population, and were uninterested or afraid to garner rights for themselves. Contemporary historians have endeavored to amend this stereotypical perception; this study aims to be a part of the trend of revisionist history through an in-depth analysis of the co-plaintiffs in Boisdoré and Goulé, f.p.c., v. Citizens Bank and …

Voluntary Environmental Programs: An Examination Of Program Performance And The Role Of Institutional Design, Jessica Ll Sims

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Many studies exist on whether Voluntary Environmental Programs (VEPs) improve firms’ environmental performance. Furthermore, the literature on VEPs theorizes that specific features contribute to program performance. This study examines the ability of Voluntary Environmental Programs to reduce emissions and the role of institutional design on their performance. Specifically, this study aimed to identify if specific features influence performance more than others do. The indicator of performance focuses on the overall emission reductions of firms across years 2007-2009. To analyze performance and features, the study examines the emission data and design features of each program. The results reveal the ability of …

Statistical Spectral Parameter Estimation Of Acoustic Signals With Applications To Byzantine Music, Kyriakos Michael Tsiappoutas

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Digitized acoustical signals of Byzantine music performed by Iakovos Nafpliotis are used to extract the fundamental frequency of each note of the diatonic scale. These empirical results are then contrasted to the theoretical suggestions and previous empirical findings. Several parametric and non-parametric spectral parameter estimation methods are implemented. These include: (1) Phase vocoder method, (2) McAulay-Quatieri method, (3) Levinson-Durbin algorithm,(4) YIN, (5) Quinn & Fernandes Estimator, (6) Pisarenko Frequency Estimator, (7) MUltiple SIgnal Characterization (MUSIC) algorithm, (8) Periodogram method, (9) Quinn & Fernandes Filtered Periodogram, (10) Rife & Vincent Estimator, and (11) the Fourier transform. Algorithm performance was very precise. …

Contextual Risk And The Association Between Sensitive Parenting And Social Competence During Early Childhood, Moira R. Riley

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Both contextual risk and sensitive parenting have been associated with children’s social skills in early childhood (Brody, Stoneman, Smith & Gibson, 1999; Connell & Prinz, 2002; Oravecz, Koblinsky & Randolph, 2008, Trentacosta, 2008). However, it is not clear how sensitive parenting might impact children’s social skill development in the context of accumulation of risk. The current study tests two possible models. The first model, based on Rutters’ (1979) tests the theory that cumulative risk may moderate the relationship between sensitive parenting and social skills. The second model based on The Family Stress model (Conger, Conger, Elder, Lorenz, Simons & Whitbeck, …

Measuring Early Numeracy Of Kindergarten Students In A Group Setting, Stacy A. Winck

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Early identification practices in assessment are crucial to preventing academic failure as well as identifying students at-risk for later learning disabilities. The PAM Early Numeracy Screening is a set of subscales designed to measure early numeracy in kindergarten students in a group setting. Given that the existing early numeracy measures are individually administered, the purpose of the current study was to explore the psychometric properties of the PAM Early Numeracy Screening. Correlational analysis was the primary research design used to investigate the evidence of reliability, criterion-related validity, and construct validity of the PAM Early Numeracy Screening. Criterion measures …

The Tripartite Tributaries Of Ush, Alicia Cognevich

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s metafiction novel Pale Fire and with Joseph Campbell’s research in comparative mythology and religion in mind, I explore the act of mythmaking and the composition of metafictional text in this work of fiction. The myth aspect combines elements of Classical, biblical, medieval, Romantic, and original materials to form a product that should strike readers as both familiar and alien, demonstrating Campbell’s notion of the monomyth as well as the ongoing tradition of mythmaking that continues to captivate both readers and writers. The metafictional portion of the text emphasizes a reader’s relationship to a work of fiction, …

Horizontal Violence In The Nursing Work Environment: Beyond Oppressed Group Behavior, Therese M. Mendez

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The United States has been experiencing a nursing shortage since the mid-1990s. The shortage is expected to deepen as the provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are enacted. Horizontal violence is a negative phenomenon in the nursing workplace that contributes to difficulty in recruiting and retaining nurses in hospitals. Horizontal violence has been described as a form of mistreatment, spoken or unspoken, that is threatening, humiliating, disrespectful or accusatory towards a peer. The effects of this nurse on nurse aggression can be devastating for the nurse involved and also for the patients under the nurse's care. …

Land Use Planning After A Natural Disaster, Walter E. Lundin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Recovery from a natural disaster is difficult, expensive, and can take ten years or more. Many contend that recovery planning can be ordered, knowable, and predictable and that the destruction of buildings and displacement of the population provide an opportunity to build back better. This thesis examines the complexity of recovery through the lens of land use planning. Land use planning serves as the central focus because land provides an individual or family their livelihood and its use underlies the economy. The thesis considers two planning models -- rational comprehensive and incremental. The thesis concludes that incremental planning is more …

The Dunning Man, Kevin Fortuna

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Evolutionary Relationships Among Duiker Antelope (Bovidae: Cephalophinae), Anne Johnston

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Duikers are a species rich subfamily of threatened African antelope whose recent origin poses a challenge to the molecular identification of taxa and estimation of their phylogeny. I test the ability of DNA barcodes to identify all taxa within this group. I then use mitochondrial and nuclear genes to estimate a multi-locus species tree and to date divergence times. DNA barcodes are unable to distinguish many sister taxa, calling into question the utility of barcodes for the regulation of duiker trade or in identification of field-collected feces. The multi-locus phylogeny provides support for the relationships among major duiker lineages and …

Predictors Of Recidivism In Adolescent Offenders, Sara Kathryn Lawing

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent offenders commit a significant number of physical and sexual assaults every year. A critical task for researchers and clinicians is to understand the distinct pathways that lead to these serious types of offending. The current study attempts to test the importance of these different pathways by comparing violent, violent sex, non-violent sex, and non-violent offenders based on SAVRY risk items, reoffending, and effects of treatment. A sample of 517 adolescents on probation was assessed for several risk factors (i.e., anger management, ADHD, low empathy/remorse) by probation officers. Recidivism over 12 months was assessed from official records. Results indicated that …

Fisher Of Men, Ashley N. Moore

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Fisher of Men tells the story of an ancient and secretive group of supernatural balance keepers. When God goes missing, it is up to them to locate him before the armies of Heaven and Hell lay siege to the earth, but they have their own problems. When knowledge of a secret weapon surfaces, they are tasked to find it and destroy it before it falls into the hands of either side. The secret weapon is Charitie Newman, a young woman from rural Indiana who moved to New Orleans with her sister. Charitie has special abilities that have no limits, and …

Synthesis And Antifungal Evaluation Of Spirostane Saponins, Sunil Upadhyay

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Methods for the preparation of novel antifungal saponins have been investigated in

order to further explore their medicinal utility and provide the opportunity to synthesize

their derivatives.

Through this work, several partially protected stereoisomers of Cholestane,

Androstane and Spirostane have been prepared which could be used for the synthesis of

various saponin derivatives in order to discover novel saponin based antifungal agent.

Various mono and disaccharide derivatives of these steroids have been synthesized and

evaluated for their antifungal activity against four pathogenic fungal strains. Among the

various derivatives maltose derivatives were found to have the best antifungal activity.

However there …

Knowledge Of The Effects Of Alcohol On Fetal Development Among Women Of Childbearing Age., Mary Bales

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder is a recognized problem with alcohol ingestion during the formation of facial features, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are not as widely recognized. These disorders result from exposure to alcohol throughout pregnancy when the brain and nervous system are developing. The resulting disorders include attention deficit disorders, social disorders, inappropriate behaviors, learning disorders, and intellectual disability. The incidence of children with alcohol-related disorders is increasing as evidenced by children needing special services in the educational systems. It is unknown how much alcohol ingestion is safe during pregnancy or how genetic factors are involved in the development …

Marry The Night: Creation Of An Illustrated Novel., Kristen Hawkins

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to create an illustrated story. The thesis is combination of research both on narrative theory and the process of storytelling, and different methods of narrative art. The research information obtained was used to create a body of work which was later analyzed on its successfulness at adhering to the ideas presented by the research.

Confessions: A Bfa Exhibition., Mary Carolyn Molony

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The artist discusses her Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, Confessions, held at the Tipton Gallery, from November 14th to November 25th. The exhibit portrays how the artist responds to issues such as organized religion, war, and politics. Being drawn to art from the Renaissance to Baroque era, the work encorporates an "old world" aesthetic, also with an emphasis on Gothic architecture.

Production Modeling And Forecasting Of Natural Gas Production From Barrow Methane Hydrate Deposits, Bahram F. Novruzaliyev

Engineering

In this work, state-of-the-art existing simulation models of East Barrow and Walakpa natural gas fields with associated gas hydrates were rebuilt, tuned with additional data (some of the data used were from the Mt. Elbert Well, which significantly improved earlier models), and updated in terms of production data and history matching. Fluid contacts, saturations and hydrate dissociation/formation reactions were initialized for both models, actual production was matched and planned wells were placed accordingly. For each model, a gas hydrate saturation sensitivity study was performed. Simulation models were run and production forecasts for Walakpa field were made. There is a clear …

Visualizing The Present: Current Issues Within Contemporary Visual Sami Art - An Analysis Of Sami Artists And Their Art In Oslo, Norway, Birte Marie Horn-Hanssen

Arctic and Northern Studies

Until recently, contemporary visual Sami art has been little studied. However there is continuous activity within the Sami art world that is evident from the large amount of contemporary visual Sami art exhibits in northern Scandinavia. This paper provides an exploratory analysis of the current issues and artistic language contemporary visual Sami artists who live in Oslo, Norway are concerned with. Through contextualizing the artworks within a post-colonial framework highlighting the dominant Sami historical, political and societal narratives from the 1970s until now, and contrasting them with the official Norwegian image of Norway as a unified "oil and gas nation," …

Refined Liquid Smoke: A Potential Antilisterial Supplement To Cold-Smoked Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus Nerka), Naim Montazeri Djouybari

Fisheries

Listeria monocytogenes, the causative agent of listeriosis can contaminate cold smoked salmon (CSS) and make it a high-risk ready-to-eat food product. Due to the lack of a critical control point in the cold-smoking process, a post-process elimination is essential to ensure product safety. The goal of this project was to improve safety of vacuum-packaged CSS supplemented with commercially refined liquid smoke (LS). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis showed the LS were high in carbonyl containing compounds and low in phenol derivatives. The LS (AM-10 and AM-3) producing the greatest inhibition against L. innocua in a paper disk diffusion assay were applied …

Spatio-Temporal Population Genetic Structure And Mating System Of Red King Crab (Paralithodes Camtschaticus) In Alaska, Scott C. Vulstek

Fisheries

Population genetic data can be used to make inferences about the Population structure and mating system and inform management decisions of overharvested species such as red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) in Alaska. Red king crab tissue and hemolymph samples were collected from 11 geographically distinct locations from Norton Sound through Southeast Alaska (n = 845). At six locations, two collections were taken at least one generation apart. Heterogeneity of allele frequencies over time was detected in three of the six locations examined, which suggested signs of recent population bottlenecks. An overall Fst = 0.025 (P <0.00 1) suggested moderate genetic differentiation among red king crab collections. A two-region model of spatial differentiation in which collections from Southeast Alaska diverge from those in the Gulf of Alaska and Westen Alaska was supported by pairwise Fst Values, homogeneity tests, Bayesian clustering, and discriminant analysis of principal components. However, spatial analysis of molecular variance suggests some finer-scale structuring within regions and greater differentiation occurs among collections within Southeast Alaska than among the rest of the collections. In addition to population genetic structure analyses, 24 female red king crab and their broods were collected from the Bering Sea. Ovigerous females and 20 offspring per brood were genotyped in order to determine whether multiple mating of a female occurred. There was no evidence of multiple paternity in any brood. The results of this study support continued management of distinct geographic groups within the Gulf of Alaska/Western Alaska/Western Alaska region and suggest that finer-scale management may be beneficial in Southeast Alaska.

College Readiness Of African-American Student Athletes, Carol Bos, Grace Chaidez, Andrew Nunn-Miller, Daisy Rodriguez

Program Design and Evaluation

Research project of The Larry English Foundation- Leading Education to Athletes for their Dreams, focusing on African-American student-athletes.

Young Adults With Mental Illness In North San Diego County - Yami, Ellen Frudakis, Jessica Hanson York, Evan Holland, Colleen Kollar Smith, Vi Nguyen

Program Design and Evaluation

Research project on young adults with mental illness in North San Diego County for YAMI. Includes a needs assessment, program design, social marketing plan, evaluation plan and budget.

A Long Low Whistle In The Distance, Blair C. Runion

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Erin is returning to her childhood home on a Native reservation in New Mexico. She hopes to see her father one more time before he dies, but she has other motives as well. Her relationships with her family, and with her lover Maddie come under pressure through this change in her life. Between the looming dream of reuniting with her father, and coming to terms with the new stage in her life Erin is learning how to accept herself and others.

And Then Okay, Summer Dorr

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Self-Assemblies Driven By The Hydrophobic Effect, Haiying Gan

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Water is a simple molecule but is an essential part of life. One key aspect of the properties of water is the hydrophobic effect, and whilst there is an appreciation of this phenomenon at the macro-scale (raindrops falling off leaves) and the micro-scale (the structure of cellular systems), a complete understanding at the molecular level still eludes science. Addressing this issue, our studies involve synthetic supramolecular compounds that assemble in water via the hydrophobic effect.

First of all, a novel water-soluble deep-cavity cavitand was synthesized. It possesses four endo methyl groups on top rim of the cavitand, eight water-solubilizing carboxylic …