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2012

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A Safety Elements Model For The Building Construction Industry, Cliff Dunlap Dunlap Jan 2012

A Safety Elements Model For The Building Construction Industry, Cliff Dunlap Dunlap

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Abstract was sent to Ms. McKenzie as an attachment to an e-mail

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Improving Middle School Math Achievement Using A Web-Based Program And Extended Written Tasks, Sarah Claire Dyer Jan 2012

Improving Middle School Math Achievement Using A Web-Based Program And Extended Written Tasks, Sarah Claire Dyer

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis outlines a dual-intensity approach using a web-based program, MyMathLab, for procedural fluency and, in parallel, extended written tasks for helping students improve their reasoning skills, to learn to use multiple representations, and securing mathematical knowledge. The new Common Core State Standards have increased expectations and achievement goals at all grade levels, the required changes being most significant at earlier grade levels (in elementary and middle schools). It is my assertion that a combined approach, one that encompasses both procedure-oriented practice for fluency and extended written tasks designed to stretch thinking and reasoning is needed to meet these goals.

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Incorporating Neonicotinoid And Anthranilic Diamide Insecticides Into Integrated Pest Management Of Rice Water Weevil, Lissorhoptrus Oryzophilus, Srinivas K. Lanka Jan 2012

Incorporating Neonicotinoid And Anthranilic Diamide Insecticides Into Integrated Pest Management Of Rice Water Weevil, Lissorhoptrus Oryzophilus, Srinivas K. Lanka

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Seed treatments with chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam have been used for the management of rice water weevil, Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus in the United States. Both insecticides being plant-systemic could potentially target multiple life stages of L. oryzophilus. The rational use of these chemicals as seed treatments in weevil management requires thorough understanding on targeted life stages of L.oryzophilus and, the relative persistence and potency of both chemicals. A series of greenhouse and laboratory experiments were conducted on weevils by culturing rice plants treated as seeds with different rates of chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam. Adult feeding assays on foliage from treated plants revealed divergent …

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Volunteer Based Organizations: Bridging The Gap Between Political Efficacy And Civic Engagement, Kristin Nicole Marks Jan 2012

Volunteer Based Organizations: Bridging The Gap Between Political Efficacy And Civic Engagement, Kristin Nicole Marks

LSU Master's Theses

With the declining participation in civic engagement behaviors such as voting, people are turning to other means to demonstrate civic participation. This study examined the role of volunteering as a means to establish civic engagement. Because of this civic participation behavioral shift, the relationship between civic engagement and the communication tactics used by volunteer based organizations was investigated. This study investigated the relationship between civic engagement and political efficacy. Additionally, this study examined the interplay between organizational characteristics (trust, control mutuality, exchange relationship, and commitment) and civic engagement. Lastly, perceptions of new and traditional methods of communications to encourage civic …

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Student Perceptions Of The Impact Of Precollege Programs, Kimberly Powell Lesage Jan 2012

Student Perceptions Of The Impact Of Precollege Programs, Kimberly Powell Lesage

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Precollege-to-college outreach is abundant, with programs established on college campuses throughout the nation. Precollege programs provide students with knowledge pertinent to academic success and successful transitions between educational systems. The programs are also viable options in the effort to overcome disadvantage and disparity, and may best serve students who are considered underserved, and who encounter a multitude of barriers that inhibit their pursuit of a college education. A mixed-method, case study methodology was used to explore the perceptions of students who participated in two university precollege engineering programs. The findings of this study suggest that well defined and organized outreach …

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Ayahuasca Characterization, Metabolism In Humans, And Relevance To Endogenous N,N-Dimethyltryptamines, Ethan Hamilton Mcilhenny Jan 2012

Ayahuasca Characterization, Metabolism In Humans, And Relevance To Endogenous N,N-Dimethyltryptamines, Ethan Hamilton Mcilhenny

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ayahuasca denotes an Amazonian psychotropic plant tea obtained from Banisteriopsis caapi, which contains beta-carboline (b-carboline) alkaloids, chiefly harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. The tea usually incorporates the leaves of Psychotria viridis, which are rich in N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychoactive 5-HT2A agonist. The beta-carbolines reversibly inhibit monoamine-oxidase (MAO), effectively preventing oxidative deamination of the orally inactive DMT and allowing its absorption and access to the central nervous system. Despite increased use of the tea worldwide, easy to perform and validated methods for its characterization do not exist and the metabolism and excretion of DMT and the b-carbolines has not been studied systematically …

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It Outsourcing Governance: A Conceptual Framework For Theory And Practice, Santiago Pena Jan 2012

It Outsourcing Governance: A Conceptual Framework For Theory And Practice, Santiago Pena

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this study is to improve our understanding of IT Outsourcing Governance, which has become an increasingly significant topic in recent years. In order to gain an understanding of this topic, an extensive literature review was performed and analyzed with argument mapping. The data yielded from the argument maps was used to create a comprehensive framework for IT Outsourcing Governance. What resulted was a new conceptualization of IT Outsourcing Governance, focused not only on governance structures and decision rights, but also on relationship management. This conceptualization not only provides a better understanding, but also presents a sharp contrast …

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Consumer And Processor Methods To Control Salmonella And Listeria In Shrimp, Genevieve Anne Edwards Jan 2012

Consumer And Processor Methods To Control Salmonella And Listeria In Shrimp, Genevieve Anne Edwards

LSU Master's Theses

A common method used by consumers to determine if shrimp are thoroughly cooked when boiling, is to wait until the shrimp float to the top of the water and are pink in color. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the current floating and color cooking method is adequate to ensure the elimination of Listeria and Salmonella species. Furthermore, to determine if processing and storage methods reduce the effectiveness of this method. Shrimp samples were submerged into bacterial suspensions for 30 min then allowed to air dry for 1 hr and color parameters were measured using a colorimeter. …

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A Seismic Attribute Study To Assess Well Productivity In The Ninilchik Field, Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska, Andrew Sampson Jan 2012

A Seismic Attribute Study To Assess Well Productivity In The Ninilchik Field, Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska, Andrew Sampson

LSU Master's Theses

Coal bed methane which has formed in the Tertiary Kenai Group strata has been produced from the Ninilchik field of Cook Inlet, Alaska since 2001. Ninilchik field is located on the eastern margin of the central Cook Inlet along the Kenai Peninsula. Cook Inlet is a forearc basin and is characterized by northeast trending anticlines with upwards of 10,000 feet of Late Oligocene and younger, non-marine sediments. Highly variable well production within the Oligocene to Miocene Tyonek formation of the Kenai Group has been a source of uncertainty. A series of seismic attributes visualized in Schlumberger's Petrel® software were studied …

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"Faith Is Life": A Qualitative Study Of Christian Faith And Chinese Immigrant Families, Yaxin Lu Jan 2012

"Faith Is Life": A Qualitative Study Of Christian Faith And Chinese Immigrant Families, Yaxin Lu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research on religion and family in the United States has increased in the last two decades. With the increasing immigrant population, studies on minorities including Chinese immigrant families are also important. Religious faith has significant influences on some Chinese immigrant families. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between Christianity and Chinese immigrant families. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-two highly religious Chinese Christian couples in the Southern United States. Twenty-two open-ended questions were asked to understand their conversion processes and how the Christian faith influenced the participants’ marriage and family life. Most of the participants …

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Composing A Method: Écriture Féminine As Performance Practice, Brianne Waychoff Jan 2012

Composing A Method: Écriture Féminine As Performance Practice, Brianne Waychoff

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The overall aim of this project is to theorize and invent a method of performance based on écriture féminine. This method is meant to be useable, generative, and transferable to other practitioners. Following a heuretic practice of reading selected texts for what they suggest about making new texts, writerly method that invites expansion in future research is revealed. This project is but a beginning of an articulation and proposes only one path through these texts. The tracking of the process of reading and experimenting with performance provides a space for reflection that illuminates gaps to be explored in future work. …

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The Truth About Lying: The Memorial Effects Of Deliberately Producing Misinformation, Kathleen M. Vieira Jan 2012

The Truth About Lying: The Memorial Effects Of Deliberately Producing Misinformation, Kathleen M. Vieira

LSU Master's Theses

There are different ways of lying and these lies may have different impacts on memory. In this study, participants studied pictures of objects, and later lied and told the truth about these and other objects by describing them or by denying they had seen them. Forty-eight hours later, participants were tested on their source memory. Results revealed that participants had good memory for having falsely described a never-seen object, but poor memory for having falsely denied seeing a studied object. These results suggest that telling certain types of lies may make a person more likely to forget having lied at …

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Air Quality At Bus Stops: Empirical Analysis Of Exposure To Particulate Matter At Bus Stop Shelters, Miguel Figliozzi, Adam Moore, Christopher Monsere Jan 2012

Air Quality At Bus Stops: Empirical Analysis Of Exposure To Particulate Matter At Bus Stop Shelters, Miguel Figliozzi, Adam Moore, Christopher Monsere

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Congested traffic corridors in dense urban areas are key contributors to the degradation of urban air quality. While waiting at bus stops, transit patrons may be exposed to greater amounts of vehicle-based pollution, including particulate matter (PM), because of their proximity to the roadway. Current guidelines for the location and the design of bus stops do not take into account air quality or exposure considerations. This study compared the exposure of transit riders waiting at three-sided bus stop shelters that either faced the roadway traffic or faced away from the roadway traffic. Shelters were instrumented with air quality monitoring equipment, …

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The Influence Of The Introduction Of Baccalaureate Degree Programs On The Awarding Of Associate Degrees At Public Community Colleges, David Joseph Wesse Jan 2012

The Influence Of The Introduction Of Baccalaureate Degree Programs On The Awarding Of Associate Degrees At Public Community Colleges, David Joseph Wesse

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Little research has been done to examine how the awarding of bachelor’s degrees, by community colleges, influences the traditional associate degree-granting role of these institutions. This quantitative study investigates the impact of this change on the community colleges that have been allowed to award bachelor’s degrees, examining how this change affects the traditional associate degree granting output of these institutions. The population for this study is all public community colleges in the United States that offer associate degrees, including those awarding bachelor’s degrees. A data query was used to collect the data for this study from the Integrated Postsecondary Education …

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Palynostratigraphy Of The Umir Formation, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (Mmvb) Colombia, Carlos Enrique Santos Jan 2012

Palynostratigraphy Of The Umir Formation, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (Mmvb) Colombia, Carlos Enrique Santos

LSU Master's Theses

The Late Cretaceous Umir Formation in Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB) was recently acknowledged as a new target. However, there is little known about the regional distribution of the Umir Formation since it is affected by structural complexity and a major regional unconformity. To improve biosteering of the Umir Formation and reduce exploratory risks, a detailed biostratigraphic analysis of the Umir Formation in the MMVB is presented. Eighty samples from four cores drilled in the Central Eastern MMVB were analyzed for palynological content. These cores represent 976.6 meters of the Middle to Upper Umir Formation. The sediment yielded a good …

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Shear Strength Evaluation Of An Erosional Soil System At Fourchon Beach, Jacques Pierre Boudreaux Jan 2012

Shear Strength Evaluation Of An Erosional Soil System At Fourchon Beach, Jacques Pierre Boudreaux

LSU Master's Theses

South Louisiana is vanishing. Subsidence due to relative sea level rise with erosion of weak wetland soils together produce devastating rates of land loss for this area. It is believed that high rates of erosion are due to weak strength properties of fine-grained sediments in the beaches, marshes, and other wetlands in coastal Louisiana. Wave action is known to initiate the movement of weak coastal soils in a manner that is related to the difference between the shear stresses applied by waves and the critical shear strength of erosional sediments. Direct shear tests were performed on samples obtained from the …

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Effect Of Electrical Vehicles On Residential Distribution Systems, Paul Haley Jan 2012

Effect Of Electrical Vehicles On Residential Distribution Systems, Paul Haley

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on the present state of electrical vehicles (EVs) in the market and the effects that these vehicles could have on residential distribution systems. The current EVs available on the market and the current level of market penetration were investigated. Advantages and disadvantages of EVs from a consumer and governmental perspective were identified. The efficiencies of the whole energy delivery process of electrical vehicles and gasoline vehicles were estimated. Efficiency estimation was used to estimate the impact of EVs on the consumption of fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases. Measurement of an EV battery charging cycle and …

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Catalytic Oxidative Desulfurization: A Comparison Of Reactors, Andrew Marshall Madrid Jan 2012

Catalytic Oxidative Desulfurization: A Comparison Of Reactors, Andrew Marshall Madrid

LSU Master's Theses

A novel technology, a pulsed oscillating monolith reactor (POMR), was compared to a standard autoclave reactor for oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of a model diesel fuel. Two classes of catalysts, mesoporous Ti-MCM-41 and Pd on carbon, were used for ODS. The oxidants used were O2 and peroxide. The model diesel compound was 75 wt% alkanes, 24 wt% alkylaromatic, 0.95 wt% sulfur heterocycles and 0.05% nitrogen heterocycles. ODS reactions were conducted from 343-423 K and pressures from 1.0-1.3 MPa O2. The only component that was not oxidized was the alkane. The POMR showed promise; there was up to a factor of 20 …

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Pmi 5011 Regulates The Ubiquitin Proteasome System In Skeletal Muscle, Heather Christianne Kirk-Ballard Jan 2012

Pmi 5011 Regulates The Ubiquitin Proteasome System In Skeletal Muscle, Heather Christianne Kirk-Ballard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes is associated with impaired glucose and protein metabolism in skeletal muscle. The impaired insulin signaling in skeletal muscle affects muscle mass by tilting the balance between skeletal muscle protein synthesis and degradation toward degradation, a process that is primarily regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Studies have shown that an extensively characterized ethanol extract of Artemisia dracunculus L (Russian Tarragon), termed PMI 5011, enhances insulin signaling in human primary skeletal muscle cells and in a rodent model of insulin resistance. The aim of this project is to determine if the effect of PMI 5011 on …

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Social Influences On Sculpted Romanesque Corbels In The Eleventh And Twelfth Centuries, Chelsea Buras Jan 2012

Social Influences On Sculpted Romanesque Corbels In The Eleventh And Twelfth Centuries, Chelsea Buras

LSU Master's Theses

Sculpted corbels of the Romanesque period are often categorized as obscene or grotesque, and frequently dismissed as medieval humor or an individual artist’s imagination. Common themes on corbels include images of debauchery and obscenity, as well as depictions of the effects of sin. These themes are usually communicated through the image of entertainers (acrobats, musicians, and dancers), acts of excess such as overindulgence in alcohol or sexual vice, threatening gestures, monstrous animals, or the human visage transformed by idiocy. As titillating and lowbrow as the images on corbels may seem, they should not be relegated to categories of absurdity or …

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A Study Of Turnaround Efforts In High-Poverty Schools: Characteristics Of High Reliability Organizations That Determine Why Some Efforts Succeed And Others Fail, Angela Renee Lee Jan 2012

A Study Of Turnaround Efforts In High-Poverty Schools: Characteristics Of High Reliability Organizations That Determine Why Some Efforts Succeed And Others Fail, Angela Renee Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has focused national attention on improving the academic achievement of all students. In response to this federal legislation, educators, policymakers and others have sought remedies to turnaround chronically low-performing schools. The academic achievement outcomes of implementing such strategies have been mixed. Some schools have experienced clear, unambiguous growth. Others have remained stagnant. Others have regressed. Because of these mixed results, the research was designed to ascertain the factors that determine what makes these strategies succeed or fail. The researcher took a qualitative approach, the multiple case study design. Using the characteristics of …

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Chemical Crystallography At The Interface Of Physics, Chemistry, And In Engineering: Structure Determination Of Highly Correlated Extended Solids, Main Group Compounds, Coordination Complexes, And Bioceramics, Gregory Todd Mccandless Jan 2012

Chemical Crystallography At The Interface Of Physics, Chemistry, And In Engineering: Structure Determination Of Highly Correlated Extended Solids, Main Group Compounds, Coordination Complexes, And Bioceramics, Gregory Todd Mccandless

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multi-disciplinary research is essential to address the major challenges in science, engineering, and medicine. For these three areas, crystallography has played and continues to play a huge role by providing researchers with the means to determine the structure of a compound and relate these to its properties. This dissertation is highly interdisciplinary, focusing on structure determination of complex systems and materials with tailored applications. This work includes the characterization by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction of intermetallic extended solids, layered metal oxides, inorganic complexes, discrete organic molecules, and bioceramics. These projects range from modeling translational disorder with pseudo-hexagonal symmetry …

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Principals Matter- Principal Technology Proficiency: Creating A Culture Of Technology Competence, Tiffanye Renee' Mccoy-Thomas Jan 2012

Principals Matter- Principal Technology Proficiency: Creating A Culture Of Technology Competence, Tiffanye Renee' Mccoy-Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the role of leadership in developing a culture of technology competence within a school. Additionally, because research identifies the significance instructional leadership has on school performance, as defined by student achievement, the study sought to examine the impact principal technology proficiency has on school performance. To examine the associations amongst variables regression analyses were conducted. Quantitative study was conducted with 150 school principals and their faculties. Results indicated a strong correlation between principals that were technologically proficient, as defined by the Louisiana Department of Education’s Administrator Self-Assessment, and the percentage of …

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Economic And Attitudinal Perspectives Of The Recreational For-Hire Fishing Industry In The U.S. Gulf Of Mexico, Michelle Savolainen Jan 2012

Economic And Attitudinal Perspectives Of The Recreational For-Hire Fishing Industry In The U.S. Gulf Of Mexico, Michelle Savolainen

LSU Master's Theses

Socioeconomic and policy information is important to fisheries management in order to assess potential social and economic impacts of proposed fishing regulations. Previous surveys which collect this type of data for the recreational for-hire (RFH) fishing industry in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico were conducted in 1987 and 1997. The third Gulf-wide survey was conducted in 2010 to update the socioeconomic and policy data available on the RFH industry. More specifically, the survey collected captain, vessel, and trip characteristics, firm and trip financial data, targeted species, and opinions on policy issues and hurricane impacts. State license information indicated that 3,315 …

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Comparing Symptoms Of Autism Spectrum Disorders Using The Current Dsm-Iv-Tr Diagnostic Criteria And The Proposed Dsm-V Diagnostic Criteria, Julie A. Worley Jan 2012

Comparing Symptoms Of Autism Spectrum Disorders Using The Current Dsm-Iv-Tr Diagnostic Criteria And The Proposed Dsm-V Diagnostic Criteria, Julie A. Worley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Children diagnosed with Autistic Disorder (AD), Asperger’s Disorder (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) share overlapping diagnostic criteria. As a result, there has been an enduring debate regarding the appropriateness of the current categorical classification system used to diagnose this group of disorders, commonly referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Ongoing research examining the boundaries of the disorders comprising the spectrum have yielded inconsistent findings in symptom differences; therefore, the American Psychiatric Association has proposed revisions for the upcoming version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (i.e., DSM-5). Revisions include dropping all subcategories …

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High-Throughput Sperm Cryopreservation Of Aquatic Species, E Hu Jan 2012

High-Throughput Sperm Cryopreservation Of Aquatic Species, E Hu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation was to integrate multiple disciplines for application of high-throughput sperm cryopreservation to aquatic species. The blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus was selected for research due to its role in production of hybrid catfish with eggs from channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus. A high-throughput cryopreservation pathway was developed by systematically evaluating each process factor and using automated processing systems. Large quantities of cryopreserved sperm produced from this protocol were evaluated in commercial-scale hatcheries in cooperation with aquaculture producers. To develop production for commercial requirements, quality characteristics of materials and products were identified and recorded during processing and analyzed …

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Examining The Use Of Social Media Among Four-H Alumni In Louisiana, Kali Boudreaux Zammit Jan 2012

Examining The Use Of Social Media Among Four-H Alumni In Louisiana, Kali Boudreaux Zammit

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the use and determine the preferred method of social media among 4-H alumni in Louisiana. Based on a review of literature, communicating with youth through social media has become a major trend and necessity, especially among 4-H Youth Development and Cooperative Extension Service professionals. The Zammit Social Media Questionnaire, a 24-item instrument that includes multiple choice, multiple answer, open-ended, ranking, and Likert scale questions, was developed and administered online to 161 Louisiana 4-H alumni who received the 2011 Louisiana 4-H Senior Honor Cord and provided usable e-mails. The final response count was …

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Optimal Actuation In Active Vibration Control Using Pole-Placement, Carla Ann Guzzardo Jan 2012

Optimal Actuation In Active Vibration Control Using Pole-Placement, Carla Ann Guzzardo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to find and demonstrate a method of optimal actuation in a mechanical system to control its vibration response. The overall aim is to develop an active vibration control method with a minimum control effort, allowing the smallest actuators and lowest control input. Mechanical systems were approximated by discrete masses connected with springs and dampers. Both numerical and analytical methods were used to determine the optimum force selection vector, or input vector, to accomplish the pole placement, finding the optimal location of actuators and their relative gain so that the control effort is minimized. The …

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Examining Reliability And Validity Of The Roadsign Perception Test, Justin Hull Ory Jan 2012

Examining Reliability And Validity Of The Roadsign Perception Test, Justin Hull Ory

LSU Master's Theses

The Road Sign Perception Test (RSPT) is a newly developed assessment procedure related to driver advisement, and its psychometric properties have not yet been examined systematically. The present study examined the construct validity and the reliability of RSPT measurements. Cronbach’s α and test-retest reliability statistics were completed, as were correlations reflecting on the test’s construct validity. Results indicated that the RSPT possesses marginal test-retest reliability, adequate internal consistency for duration of stimulus presentation and for specific stimuli, but low for number of signs presented. RSPT performance was significantly correlated with convergent variables measuring aspects of attention, working memory, and spatial …

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Development And Characterization Of A Murine Model Of Rickettsia Parkeri Rickettsiosis, Britton Grasperge Jan 2012

Development And Characterization Of A Murine Model Of Rickettsia Parkeri Rickettsiosis, Britton Grasperge

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rickettsia parkeri, a member of the spotted fever group of Rickettsia, is the agent of an emerging rickettsiosis in the southeastern United States and South America. Despite increased recognition of human cases, limited information is available regarding infection of invertebrate and vertebrate hosts for this emerging tick-borne disease. Towards development of a viable transmission model and to further characterize the pathology associated with R. parkeri infection, inbred mouse strains (A/J, Balb/C, C3H/HeJ, and C3H/HeN) were intravenously and intradermally inoculated with R. parkeri. The C3H/HeJ strain of mice were identified as the most susceptible to R. parkeri infection and were found …

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