Digital Commons Network^™

Disinvestment And Suburban Decline, Robert Streetar

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Beginning in the mid-1970s, U.S. suburbs started to experience many of the same problems typically associated with earlier inner-city decline including accelerating income decline, increasing family poverty, falling housing prices, growing income polarization, escalating crime, and increasing racial and ethnic diversity.

Conventional wisdom often lays the blame for neighborhood decline on who moves in and who moves out. This is understandable, as neighborhood migration is easily observable. It is the hypothesis of this research, though, that the less visible disinvestment of capital from suburban neighborhoods is an initial cause of suburban decline that precedes and coincides with the more observable …

Palate Shape And Depth : A Shape Matching And Machine Learning Method For Assessment Of Ancestry From Skeletal Remains, Christopher Allan Maier

LSU Master's Theses

The assessment of ancestry from skeletal remains is a vital aspect of forensic anthropology. As such, a myriad of techniques exists for estimating this particular component of the biological profile. The most traditional of these methods utilizes the naked eye and the observer’s experience. As replicability has become more important, objective, metric techniques have been developed. This study attempts to merge these two subfields: by taking a traditionally non-metric feature, palate shape, and using a computer, evaluating it quantitatively. Using 3D digitizer technology in conjunction with shape matching and machine learning methods common in computer science, palate shape curves were …

Strategic Interaction And Social Networks, Quqiong He

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays which investigate individuals’ interaction in different contexts using social network analysis. The first essay generalizes the models of link formation of Rogers (2005) by allowing that giving and asking choices can be made separately and simultaneously by each agent. We focus on two specifications of the relationship function: the concave specification and the linear specification. The second essay empirically tests how the pattern of village structure, in terms of lineage network composition, affects people’s reciprocal behavior, utilizing data from Chinese Household Income Project Survey 2002. The third essay demonstrates different types of asymmetries and …

Effects Of Environmental Conditions On Characteristics Of Prescribed Fires And Resprouting Of Hardwoods In Shortleaf Pine-Oak-Hickory Ecosystems Of The United States, Tracy Lynn Hmielowski

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fire is an essential process for maintaining pine-dominated ecosystems in the southeastern United States. Fire opens space for pine recruitment, consumes fine fuels, stimulates flowering of herbaceous plants, and topkills woody plants. Topkill is the death of the aboveground portion of the plant, which does not necessarily lead to mortality. Most of the woody species in these ecosystems are able to resprout following topkill, sprouting new shoots from meristems at the base of the plant. In the absence of fire, pine-dominated ecosystems transition to closed canopy hardwood forests. Prescribed fires can be applied to mimic the historical fire regime, but …

"It's Easier If You Have A System" : Analysis And Applications Of The Milanov Violin Method, Paula Farias Bujes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to analyze the historical context, philosophic basis, and teaching principles of Trendafil Milanov’s violin method, as well as practical applications for violin pedagogy. This qualitative case study incorporated narrative and material culture components and utilized ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews. The participants were members of the Milanov family who were raised in that tradition and an American student using the Milanov method at the time of the study. An analysis of Milanov’s last published method, First Violin Lessons (1981), was completed to complement interview and observation data. Emergent themes related to the method’s pedagogical …

Analyzing The Effects Of Context-Aware Mobile Design Principles On Student Performance In Undergraduate Kinesiology Courses, Eric John Seneca

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Learning occurs when content is accessed in a recursive process of awareness, exploration, reflection and resolution within one’s social context. With the rapid adoption of mobile technologies, mobile learning (m-Learning) researchers should incorporate aspects of mobile human-computer interaction research into the instructional design process. Specifically, the most visible, current definitions of and current research in m-Learning provide overviews of the learning theory informing mobility and focus on device characteristics, but do not focus on how people interact with mobile devices in their every day lives. The purpose of this convergent study was to determine what effect does the incorporation of …

Secular Change In The Rate Of Dental Impaction, Kelly Heim

LSU Master's Theses

Current literature on the prevalence of impaction has not addressed the change over time (secular change) as it relates to the dimensions of the dental arcade. It has been suggested both that the prevalence of impaction is increasing and that the dimensions of the dental arcade may be decreasing, but no studies have investigated these two variables in conjunction with one another. This study aims to record secular change in the prevalence of impaction by utilizing two sets of data: individuals from the Terry collection represent a historic population from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and individuals from …

Seeing The Forest And The Trees: Ancient Maya Wood Selection And Forest Exploitation At The Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize, Mark Edward Robinson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The discovery of ancient wood, preserved below the seafloor in a shallow mangrove lagoon in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize, provides the opportunity to study human-environment interaction for an aspect of society that can rarely be glimpsed. Taxonomic identification of construction wood and charcoal at Early Classic (A.D. 300-600) Chan B’i, and Late Classic (A.D. 600-900) Atz’aam Na, are reported and discussed to assess forest exploitation strategies and species selection over time. Principles of optimal foraging are applied to interpret the specific contexts of human behavior in wood selection. Insights from the Annales School of French Structural History and the …

Perceptions Of Secondary Intensive Reading Teachers Regardingthe Implementation Of Florida's Reading Policy, Rebekah R. Shively

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research was designed to explore the perceptions of secondary reading teachers regarding their experiences while they implemented Florida’s secondary intensive reading policy. The purpose of this research was to obtain feedback on the policy implementation process for continuous improvement in future policy implementation. This research was qualitatively designed and conducted with three focus groups consisting of secondary intensive reading teachers from three Florida counties respectively, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns.

The bounding theoretical and conceptual frames of this study were founded in political systems theory and shared leadership. The data from this study were compiled from three focus groups …

Postsecondary Mathematics Placement Processes: A Case Study At A Regional University, Debora Jean Simonson

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to explore the effectiveness of the mathematics placement process for incoming freshman at a public university. Effectiveness is defined as the percentage of students who successfully complete the mathematics course they were placed into, Precalculus, College Algebra, or Intensive College Algebra. The specific university in this research study was the University of North Florida (UNF). The placement process at UNF included students’ ACT, SAT, or FCPT scores, their mathematics placement exam scores (MPE), and whether or not students followed the placement recommendation (FPR). Students’ ACT, SAT, or FCPT scores were grouped into a …

Two Histories, One Future : Louisiana Sugar Planters, Their Slaves, And The Anglo-Creole Schism, 1815-1865, Nathan Buman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

During the five decades between the War of 1812 and the end of the Civil War, southern Louisianans developed a society unlike any other region. The vibrant traditional image of moonlight and magnolias, the notion that King Cotton dominated the South’s economy as Anglo-Saxon masters lorded over their enslaves African-American workers still dominates the image of the American South. This image of a monolithic South, however, does not give a clear indication of the many sub-regional distinctions that both challenged and rewarded the inhabitants of those areas and provides exciting ways to understand slaveholding society culturally. Louisiana’s slaveholding class consisted …

Internal Control For Today's Smart Business, Jeremy Dillard

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Sovereignty And Exceptionalism: The Case Of Israel/Palestine, Aaron Braun

Honors Papers

An analysis of the relationship between sovereignty and exceptionalism in Israel/Palestine through the lens of contemporary political and critical theory.

Manhattan Transference: Reader Itineraries In Modernist New York, Sophia Bamert

Honors Papers

John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer (1925) follows dozens of characters through modern New York City. The novel is organized as a fragmented montage and, in this paper, I argue that transit functions as both a central theme and the structuring principle of the text. I compare Manhattan Transfer to works by Walt Whitman and William Dean Howells and draw upon spatial form theory to examine how experiences of urban transportation influence literary forms. Ultimately, I suggest that Manhattan Transfer's modernist form offers readers itinerant ways of perceiving the complicated networks of which cities are made.

Reconsidering The Puebloan Languages In A Southwestern Areal Context, Michael Sklar Everdell

Honors Papers

Areal linguistics is the study of diffused linguistic features across different languages which are geographically contiguous and culturally connected. My research attempts to standardize definitions for the vocabulary surrounding linguistic diffusion which will apply cross-areally. I also examine these definitions within the case study of the Pueblo and Southwest regions of North America. These areas have been culturally linked, but no agreement has been made as to whether or not these make up a linguistic area with sub-areas or are both part of a much larger area including the Great Basin, southern Plains, and southern Californian languages.

Renegotiating A Beheading: Literary Opposition To Varna Hierarchy In Shambuka's Story, Thomas Ahlers Nunan

Honors Papers

The Ramayana's Shambuka story is a controversial incident that has served as a site for the renegotiation of social power structures in India for thousands of years. Because the episode is fundamentally about India's system of caste hierarchy, or varna, any retelling will by its very nature engage in a formulation of social relation between different caste identities. Close readings of these retellings reveal the ways in which the adaptations and appropriations of each version create new literary meanings that provide insight into varna hierarchy as a normative body of social control. Despite the Shambuka incident's hegemonic history, transgressive participation …

The School And Society: Secondary School Social Studies Education From 1945-1970, Kevin John Owens

Honors Papers

This thesis explores the ways in which changes to citizenship are tied to changes in the secondary school social studies curriculum from 1945 through 1970. During this time, social and political changes forced alterations to the meaning of citizenship. Schools must inherently educate for the future, and are a good measure of what a society views as the values and skills most necessary for the future. As a central inculcator of common values, the social studies class reflected these changes more so than any other school subject.

Grab For Water Could Spark Conflict In Pakistan And India, Nicole Livanos

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Greater-Or-Nothing Constitutional Rules, John Fee

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Fresher Law: Amending The Florida Right To Farm Act To Include Urban Micro Farming As A Key Initiative To Promote Sustainability, Food Access, And Environmental Justice For Low-Income Communities, Cameryn Rivera

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching English In Iraq:An Analysis Of An Efl Textbook, Sarab Al-Akraa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the fifth- grade beginning English textbook, Iraq Opportunities 3, which was introduced in elementary schools by the Iraqi Ministry of Education in 2012. This mixed methods research aims to analyze the content of a new textbook that is considered to be the foundation of the English language program in Iraq. This is a valuable research project since its findings reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Iraq Opportunities 3 based on three critical components: grammar, vocabulary, and culture. A survey questionnaire was used in this study to elicit the perspectives of English language teachers who are using this …

Characteristics That Influence The Adoption Of Systems Improvement In Hospital Workgroups, Karen Roman

Open Access Master's Theses

This study presents the assessment of possible characteristics within workgroups that might be influencing the adoption of systems improvement initiatives at the Providence Veterans Medical Center (PVAMC). With the collection of data from a survey, hypotheses were elaborated in order to investigate the relationships between two workgroup characteristics: size and leadership-involvement, and the workgroup’s readiness to adopt systems improvement initiatives. The ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) statistical procedure was used for the testing of such hypotheses. Based on results, there was a significant difference between the small and large workgroup size categories. These results signified that large workgroups are more involved …

2013-2014 Course Catalog, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of The Registrar

University of Montana Course Catalogs, 1895-2024

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.

Opening Up The Box: Exploring The Scaling Out Of The Good Food Box Across Canada, Stephanie Lentz Laporte Potts

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Good Food Box (GFB) program holds a great deal of promise to expand our understanding of Community Food Security (CFS). CFS represents a vision for solving hunger and other problems with the food system through an integrated approach that improves access to good and appropriate food for all while at the same time building community, strengthening local agricultural economies, and maximizing social justice. The GFB, one type of CFS program, is a community-based initiative found across Canada that provides a box of healthy food to customers at near wholesale prices; it has the potential to increase access to healthy …

Uncovering The Structures In Ecological Networks: Multiple Techniques For Multiple Purposes, Peng Gao

Theses and Dissertations

Ecosystem structure and function are the product of biological and ecological elements and their connections and interactions. Understanding structure and process in ecosystems is critical to ecological studies. Ecological networks, based on simple concepts in which biological and ecological elements are depicted as nodes with relationships between them described as links, have been recognized as a valuable means of clarifying the relationship between structures and process in ecosystems. Ecological network analysis has benefited from the advancement of techniques in social science, computer science, and mathematics, but attention must be paid to whether the designs of these techniques follow ecological principles …

Modeling Approaches, Physiological Responses, And Climate Change: How Good Is "Good Enough?", Nicole Kish

Theses and Dissertations

Predicting spatial and temporal patterns in the responses of organisms and ecosystems to climate change has emerged as a major focus of macrophysiological research, with much work centered on the impacts of temperature. A potential difficulty lies in the observation that measures of 'habitat' such as air, land and sea surface temperature often differ greatly from the body temperature actually experienced by organisms, as the latter drives reproduction and survival. As a result, it is unclear how often these simple measurements of habitat are 'good enough' for predicting physiological stress in the field, and when more complicated methods are needed. …

I Can Be Silent And Be Saying A Lot: Teachers' Racial Literacy In A Southern Elementary School, Kimberly J. Howard

Theses and Dissertations

In order to better understand how teachers make sense of race in schools today, this ethnographic study explores the following research question: How do teachers in this school make sense of race, and how does the spatiality of the school inform this process? The study was conducted over a 14-month period in a southern elementary school and is presented as a poetic, narrative, and thematic analysis of the connections between the geographic location of this particular school and the teachers' practices, pedagogies, and conversations about race both inside their classrooms and in other school spaces. This study demonstrates how teachers' …

Correlation Between Literacy Rates In Africa And Latin America And Economic Stability, Shawn Jordan

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Literacy rates in Africa and Latin America are on different ends of the spectrum. Africa is home to some of the poorest countries in the world and Latin America is not too far behind. Literacy rates generally correlate to wealth as a country. The plights of Africa and Latin America are a no different. In general, Africa has some of the lowest literacy rates in the world and has been the place for horrific fighting for decades. This epidemic has hit the women and children especially hard. Women in Africa have an illiteracy rate of 50% (allafrica.com 2010). This is …

Cultivation Of Auricularia Polytricha Mont. Sacc (Black Jelly Mushroom) Using Oil Palm Wastes / Dang Lelamurni Abd. Razak, Dang Lelamurni Abd. Razak

Student Works (2010-2019)

The increasing demand for continuous and quality supply of many types of mushrooms has drawn much attention and research to find potential substrate and domesticating the cultivation several species of edible mushrooms to suit local environmental conditions and resources. One of the popular mushrooms among Malaysians due to its nutritional and medicinal values, Auricularia polytricha or Black Jelly, offers high income to local growers due to its ability to grow and fruit in tropical region such as Malaysia. The availability of a wide variety of agro-industrial byproducts rich in lignocellulose and other materials required for mushroom growth should be explored …

Taxonomy And Phylogenetics Of Malaysian Sargassum Species (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) / Ng Woan Shien, Woan Shien Ng

Student Works (2010-2019)

Sargassum is one of the most diverse and complex genera in Phaeophyceae.Morphological plasticity of this genus has always resulted in difficulty in Sargassum species delineation. Malaysia as one of the hotspots recorded for Sargassum diversity has an available checklist record of 34 taxa. The existing classification of Malaysian Sargassum is based mainly on morphological characters. None has yet been revised using molecular data. The aim of this study is to use a combination of morphological and molecular data to resolve some taxonomy confusion and produce a more comprehensive phylogeny for the current species found in Malaysia. A survey was conducted …