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2013

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Population Ecology Of The Ribbed Mussel In Southeastern Louisiana, Aaron Jacob Honig Jan 2013

Population Ecology Of The Ribbed Mussel In Southeastern Louisiana, Aaron Jacob Honig

LSU Master's Theses

Benthic intertidal bivalves play an essential role in estuarine ecosystems by contributing to habitat provision, water filtration, and promoting productivity. As such, ecosystem level changes that impact population distributions and persistence of local bivalve populations may have large ecosystem level consequences, making it important to better understand the population distribution and ecology of native bivalve populations. Gametogenesis, recruitment, growth, mortality, size structure and density of the ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa, were examined across a salinity gradient in southeastern Louisiana. In summer 2012, 100-m transects were placed at interior and edge marsh plots to collect data on mussel density, and vegetation …

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Attitudes About Voice And Voice Therapy Among Transgender Individuals, Stefanie E. Hays Jan 2013

Attitudes About Voice And Voice Therapy Among Transgender Individuals, Stefanie E. Hays

LSU Master's Theses

Due to increased interest in the area of voice problems and treatment among transgender individuals in recent years, a study about vocal experiences, vocal handicap, and participation in treatment methods among this population is needed. This study examined vocal handicap among transgender women, transgender men, and individuals identifying as a non-binary gender through an online questionnaire. The goals of the study were to compare vocal handicap between transgender men and women as well as those who had participated in voice therapy and those who had not. Another goal was to identify reasons among transgender individuals for not participating in voice …

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March Madness For Men, Gabrielle P. Jones Jan 2013

March Madness For Men, Gabrielle P. Jones

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the manner in which the media covers men’s and women’s athletics and how it may affect the public’s perception of women’s athletics. The study also seeks to examine how the hegemonic devices and primes that the sports media use can affect viewers’ enjoyment of women’s athletic coverage as well as the effect that sports fandom plays on viewers perceptions. Using an experiment exposing participants to heavy men’s college and women’s college basketball coverage, the results showed that sports media coverage did not elicit negative perceptions toward women’s athletics.

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Dynamic Modeling Of Channel Formation During Fluid Injection Into Unconsolidated Sands, Sayamik Ameen Jan 2013

Dynamic Modeling Of Channel Formation During Fluid Injection Into Unconsolidated Sands, Sayamik Ameen

LSU Master's Theses

Water injection is widely used for sweeping hydrocarbons in waterflooding operations, and also for maintaining reservoir pressure or disposing waste water. Injection at a high rate is required to maintain the economy of waterflooding projects; however, loss of injectivity is a quite common problem in unconsolidated sand formations like deep water Gulf of Mexico. Well intervention operations, hurricanes, and other issues require frequent shut-downs during the life of offshore wells; in order to minimize deteriorating effect of these shutdowns on wellbore injectivity more accurate modeling of the injection process is needed. Injection of water into a saturated, granular, porous medium …

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An Evaluation Of Oyster Stocks, Grow-Out Conditions, And Off-Bottom Culture Methods For Increasing Commercial Production Of Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica) In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Justin Morgan Leonhardt Jan 2013

An Evaluation Of Oyster Stocks, Grow-Out Conditions, And Off-Bottom Culture Methods For Increasing Commercial Production Of Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica) In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Justin Morgan Leonhardt

LSU Master's Theses

This project examined the ecologically and economically valuable eastern oyster (Crassotrea virginica) in Louisiana with two field experiments. Little information has been gathered on the performance of local Louisiana oyster stocks and no study has focused on a comparison of stocks among variable estuarine conditions. Additionally, the use of alternative grow-out methods and intensive cage aquaculture has never been evaluated in Louisiana. For the first study, a dermo-resistant stock of oysters (LSU-OYS: ‘OBOY’) was compared to three wild oyster stocks along a salinity gradient. The objectives of this study were to determine the optimal oyster stock(s) and the ideal grow-out …

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Differentiation Of Voice Disorders Using Objective Parameters From Harmonic Waveform Modeling In High-Speed Digital Imaging, Aimee Elaine Perkins Jan 2013

Differentiation Of Voice Disorders Using Objective Parameters From Harmonic Waveform Modeling In High-Speed Digital Imaging, Aimee Elaine Perkins

LSU Master's Theses

High-speed digital imaging (HSDI) has recently become clinically available for the direct observation of vocal fold movement in the last 20 years. However, before it can become routinely used in the clinical setting, a universal means of objectively analyzing and interpreting the HSDI data must be established. In this study, preliminary data was gathered for five parameters used to objectively analyze vocal fold vibratory patterns observed with HSDI. The parameters investigated were established by Ikuma, Kunduk, and McWhorter (2012a) and were previously studied with a small sample (N=8) comparing pre and post-phonosurgical removal of benign lesions. The five parameters included …

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Faced With Faces, Donald E. Watkins Jan 2013

Faced With Faces, Donald E. Watkins

LSU Master's Theses

FACED WITH FACES is a contemporary commentary on the male to female relationship. While I’m aware these are not the only relationships formed in our day in age I needed to find a scope and tackle one central theme. The addition of same sex relationships is very important in our society but I couldn’t find a way to weave it in without making it all about that or without it seeming to not fit into the over arcing story. Perhaps in the evolution of this process I can find a way to add more voices that speak to all. The …

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Community Violence Exposure Among Underprivileged Adolescents : What Are The Buffering Effects Of Family Qualities On Negative Outcomes?, Katherine Marie Harrison Jan 2013

Community Violence Exposure Among Underprivileged Adolescents : What Are The Buffering Effects Of Family Qualities On Negative Outcomes?, Katherine Marie Harrison

LSU Master's Theses

Crime and violence are common in impoverished neighborhoods. Consequently, many youth are at risk for victimization and witnessing violent acts. Extensive research has established the presence of significant associations between violence exposure and aggression and posttraumatic stress symptoms among youth. Research has confirmed the protective role of several family characteristics against these negative outcomes despite adversity. However, the literature investigating the buffering effects of family in the relationship between community violence exposure and aggressive behavior and posttraumatic stress symptoms is limited. The current study examined the moderating effect of family factors such as household structure, social support, and parenting techniques …

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New Orleans And Fazendeville (De) Segregated : Challenging A Narrative Of School Integration, April Antonellis Jan 2013

New Orleans And Fazendeville (De) Segregated : Challenging A Narrative Of School Integration, April Antonellis

LSU Master's Theses

Too often, “integration” is a word only associated with the 1960s. The dominant narrative of education and integration in the South is simple and linear: African Americans were oppressed, then there was integration, then there was equality. However, in the case of New Orleans, the narrative is not so linear and not nearly so succinct. The conversation on integration began in New Orleans immediately following the Civil War, a century earlier than this conventional starting date, and yet despite generations of successes and drawbacks, the public schools of New Orleans continue to exist segregated today. Examining the narrative of school …

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Rape Myth Acceptance Among Law Enforcement, Racheal E. Hebert Jan 2013

Rape Myth Acceptance Among Law Enforcement, Racheal E. Hebert

LSU Master's Theses

Research demonstrates a positive relationship between rape myth acceptance and sexist beliefs, as well as a negative relationship between rape myth acceptance and victim credibility. The current study assesses the interrelationships between rape myth acceptance, sexism, victim credibility, and victim empathy among law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers’ individual characteristics are also assessed. An online survey was administered to 24 specialized sex crime law enforcement officers from a city in South Louisiana. There was no significant difference on measures of rape myth acceptance and sexism; however, individual items measuring victim credibility showed a distinct difference between law enforcement officers’ belief …

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Scientific Modeling & Scientific Realism : A View From Biological Morphology, Bradley Morgan Wood Jan 2013

Scientific Modeling & Scientific Realism : A View From Biological Morphology, Bradley Morgan Wood

LSU Master's Theses

In the ongoing philosophical debates between scientific realists and antirealists, scientific modeling is often taken as an exemplar antirealist scientific methodology due to the abstract, idealized, and metaphorical nature of most scientific models. I argue against the antirealist view and in favor of a realist view of scientific modeling as it is performed in biological morphology. On my view, morphological modeling is a type of what I call multiperspectival modeling, which involves multiple related models deployed to represent a single target phenomenon. I show how multiperspectival morphological modeling can be incorporated into the version of scientific realism developed by Richard …

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Effect Of Surface Roughness On The Efficiency Of Self-Healing Polymers, Ifeanyi Janarus Okoro Jan 2013

Effect Of Surface Roughness On The Efficiency Of Self-Healing Polymers, Ifeanyi Janarus Okoro

LSU Master's Theses

A shape memory polymer (SMP) is a smart material capable of maintaining two distinct shapes depending on its temperature. A SMP is soft at temperatures above its glass transition temperature but hard below it. When copolyester thermoplastic additives are dispersed in a SMP, it becomes a SMP-based particulate composite capable of self-healing at both the molecular level and the structural level. This makes it very desirable for industrial applications. Upon damage to the composite, the surfaces at the damage interface have to come into contact for efficient healing; the shape memory effect, coupled with a confined recovery (healing) process, ensures …

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Characterization Of Epibenthic And Demersal Megafauan At Mississippi Canyon 252 Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Marla Maxine Valentine Jan 2013

Characterization Of Epibenthic And Demersal Megafauan At Mississippi Canyon 252 Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Marla Maxine Valentine

LSU Master's Theses

Increased demand for new sources of oil and gas has resulted in an expansion of drilling into deeper waters. With this exploratory drilling come increased risks, which were realized on April 20, 2010 when the blow out preventer on the Macondo Well failed, resulting in the release of a large quantity of oil and gas into the Northern Gulf of Mexico from a bathypelagic source. This unprecedented environmental disaster was coined the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill by the popular news media. In the months that followed the spill, the lack of knowledge about the pre-spill condition of deep-sea communities in …

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Impact Of Iudr In Rat 9l Glioma Cell Survival For 25-35 Kev Photo-Activated Auger Electron Therapy, Diane Alvarez Jan 2013

Impact Of Iudr In Rat 9l Glioma Cell Survival For 25-35 Kev Photo-Activated Auger Electron Therapy, Diane Alvarez

LSU Master's Theses

Introduction: Photo-activated Auger electron therapy is a potential technique that could preferentially target cancer cells. This binary therapy uses a drug containing a high-Z element like iododeoxyuridine (IUdR), which serves as a radiosensitizer and molecular carrier of high-Z iodine into cancer cell DNA. Iodine becomes the Auger electron source when activated by photons with an appropriate energy. This work studied the survival of rat 9L glioma cells with IUdR replacing thymidine in the DNA. Irradiations at monochromatic energies above and below the iodine K-edge (33.2 keV) are part of a larger study from 25-70 keV. It was hypothesized that SER10 …

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Some Effects Of Nutrient And Flooding Stress Manipulation On Coastal Louisiana Wetland Vegetation, James Stephen Ialeggio Jan 2013

Some Effects Of Nutrient And Flooding Stress Manipulation On Coastal Louisiana Wetland Vegetation, James Stephen Ialeggio

LSU Master's Theses

Freshwater diversions are a relatively recently utilized tool in wetland loss mitigation that stimulate an organic accretion response in marsh vegetation, which is based in root production and thus belowground biomass. The effectiveness of freshwater diversions in slowing marsh loss probably varies across a gradient of the factors they supply: decreased salinity, increased nutrient concentrations, and increased inundation. Flooding stress is commonly thought to be the overriding factor limiting wetland vegetation growth, however its influence may vary across salinity and nutrients. Therefore, plugs of Spartina patens were planted in four “marsh organs” consisting each of 36 sediment-filled PVC pipes of …

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Comparing Social Skills In Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorders According To The Dsm-Iv-Tr And The Proposed Dsm-5, Jennifer Susan Beighley Jan 2013

Comparing Social Skills In Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorders According To The Dsm-Iv-Tr And The Proposed Dsm-5, Jennifer Susan Beighley

LSU Master's Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is currently defined using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). With the fifth edition of the DSM (DSM-5) forthcoming, one change the American Psychiatric Association has proposed is an increase in the number of overall symptoms necessary to meet criteria for ASD. Because social skills is well established as a core symptom of autism, the present study explores differences in social functioning using the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in Youngsters-II (MESSY-II) in three groups of children ages 3-16 years including those diagnosed with ASD using the …

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An Analysis Of Femininity : How Popular Female Characters In The Media Portray Contemporary Womanhood, Stephanie Ortego Roussell Jan 2013

An Analysis Of Femininity : How Popular Female Characters In The Media Portray Contemporary Womanhood, Stephanie Ortego Roussell

LSU Master's Theses

The impact of the media on adolescent girls has received greater theoretical, legal and societal focus over the last few decades. Several studies link the development of women’s gendered identities, healthy sexual activity and self-efficacy to how the media portray women. Restrictive or unrealistic themes of womanhood or femininity in the media can impact a young girl’s social construction of identity and provide limited examples of what it means to be a woman in today’s society. This study qualitatively examines femininity in contemporary media by analyzing—via textual analysis and focus groups—how popular female characters embody, portray and promote different conceptualizations …

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Coastal Plants For Biofuel Production And Coastal Preservation, Chester Charles Malveaux Jan 2013

Coastal Plants For Biofuel Production And Coastal Preservation, Chester Charles Malveaux

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT Sustainable and renewable biofuels as well as coastal preservation are important to the State of Louisiana which is losing its coastline at the rate of up to 100 square kilometers per year. This has important implications for other coastal areas worldwide. By managing water hyacinth in canals and lakes in coastal Louisiana the biomass of this fast growing aquatic plant can reduce coastal erosion by absorbing wave energy, and remediate waste water through bioabsorption of contaminants, while also providing a source of biofuel. This research has shown that coastal vegetation can play a part in lessening the impact of …

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A Microfluidic Bacteria Culturing Device With Maldi Mass Spectrometry Detection, Pratap Reddy Machavaram Siva Jan 2013

A Microfluidic Bacteria Culturing Device With Maldi Mass Spectrometry Detection, Pratap Reddy Machavaram Siva

LSU Master's Theses

A novel microfluidic device was developed for bacterial cell culturing using mass spectrometry as the detector. One of the challenges in proteomics is to achieve high sensitivity in the identification of proteins in complex samples with widely varying concentrations. The main limitations for proteomic studies are relatively slow and labor-intensive steps such as cell culturing and protein digestion of small sample quantities. Microfluidics is a promising approach to increase throughput and to reduce the time-consuming steps that are necessary for proteomics. When an analytical detection method is combined with microfluidics it can overcome limitations that are important in the analysis …

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Discrimination Of Sexual Minorities And Plans To Relocate, Margaret H. Smith Jan 2013

Discrimination Of Sexual Minorities And Plans To Relocate, Margaret H. Smith

LSU Master's Theses

LGBTQ individuals make relocation decisions with their sexual orientation and gender identity in mind (Gorman-Murray, 2007). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between non-violent discrimination faced by LGBTQ individuals and whether or not those individuals have future plans to relocate. A literature review of LGBTQ discrimination and LGBTQ relocation is discussed, and a secondary data analysis was conducted on a sample of LGBTQ individuals who participated in a quality-of-life survey. All hypotheses were supported except the hypothesis that analyzed anti-LGBTQ discrimination and its association with time until relocation. Results indicated that experiencing anti-LGBTQ nonviolent discrimination was …

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Snap Use Among Older Adults, Jennifer R. Geiger Jan 2013

Snap Use Among Older Adults, Jennifer R. Geiger

LSU Master's Theses

Older adults participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at much lower rates than the general population. Possible explanations for this disparity include stigma, lack of information, and lack of transportation. However, past research focusing on SNAP use among older adults is limited and utilizes age cohorts in their analyses that may not accurately reflect actual age differences in SNAP participation. This study explored four different models of age categorizations as they relate to SNAP participation rates among older adults over 55. Using a sample of 10,116 from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the research used …

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The Effects Of Self-Examination To Peers On Student Learning In Physical Science, Leah Ellis Thompson Jan 2013

The Effects Of Self-Examination To Peers On Student Learning In Physical Science, Leah Ellis Thompson

LSU Master's Theses

This study was undertaken to test if the use of self-explanation to a peer would affect learning outcomes in the classroom. The outcomes of classes taught using the self-explanation technique were compared to outcomes from traditional lecture courses in lessons of comparable content. Great Scholars and traditional students in a sixth grade physical science classroom setting were given pre-and post-tests in two units of study, matter and waves. In the matter unit, students participated in a lesson on density using traditional lecture and a lesson on changes in matter using self-explanation. In the waves unit, students utilized lecture instruction for …

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Problem Based Learning In A Middle School Science Class : Effect On Student Retention Of Concepts In Plate Tectonics And Rocks, Brittany Sharday Hinyard Jan 2013

Problem Based Learning In A Middle School Science Class : Effect On Student Retention Of Concepts In Plate Tectonics And Rocks, Brittany Sharday Hinyard

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigated the effectiveness and student perceptions of Problem Based Learning (PBL) compared to Traditional Based Learning (TBL) in an eighth grade rural, public middle school using two earth science concepts. Over a four week period, students were taught concepts related to both Plate Tectonics and Rocks. The control group (TBL) for Plate Tectonics (n = 46) was the experimental group (PBL) for Rocks (n = 47). Similarly, the experimental group (PBL) for Plate Tectonics (n = 49) was the control group (TBL) for Rocks (n = 51). The pretest scores and learning gains for the students were compared …

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Inertial Oscillations In The Gulf Of Mexico During 2005 Hurricane Season, Fan Zhang Jan 2013

Inertial Oscillations In The Gulf Of Mexico During 2005 Hurricane Season, Fan Zhang

LSU Master's Theses

Near Inertial Oscillations (NIOs) are widely observed in ocean current data after severe weather. In this work, we analyzed the NIOs in the Central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) associated with 6 hurricanes/tropical storms in 2005, including Katrina and Rita, based on the deep ocean mooring from Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), LSU. The basic characteristics of the NIOs, such as phase speed, group speed, frequency, energy were discussed. The phase speed ranged from 0.56 cm/s to 2 cm/s above the thermocline for the NIOs during Hurricane Katrina and Rita, while the group velocity varied from 0.047 cm/s above the thermocline to …

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The Blessing Of The Fleet : Heritage And Identity In Three Gulf Coast Communities, Audriana Hubbard Jan 2013

The Blessing Of The Fleet : Heritage And Identity In Three Gulf Coast Communities, Audriana Hubbard

LSU Master's Theses

Annual Blessing of the Fleet festivals are held throughout communities all along the Gulf Coast; each year boats parade down local waters to receive the blessing of the priest before the opening of the shrimp season. The shrimping industry has a long history in the area and has become intrinsically tied to local individual and community identities. This thesis investigates three festivals held in Chauvin and Morgan City, Louisiana, and Biloxi, Mississippi to understand how the festival is used by participants as a way of negotiating their shrimping identities in a changing socio-economic environment. The tourism and the oil industries …

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A Phylogenetic Analysis Of Species Diversity, Specificity, And Distribution Of Mycodiplosis On Rust Fungi, Donald Jay Nelsen Jan 2013

A Phylogenetic Analysis Of Species Diversity, Specificity, And Distribution Of Mycodiplosis On Rust Fungi, Donald Jay Nelsen

LSU Master's Theses

There are more than 7800 species of Pucciniales (rust fungi) described. Aeciospores and urediniospores of rust fungi are a food source for the larval stage of members of the fly genus Mycodiplosis, hence these could be of interest as potential biological control agents. Currently, Mycodiplosis contains 49 described species based on adult male morphology. A survey of 1,350 rust-infected plants from 44 countries was recently conducted to assess the occurrence of Mycodiplosis fly larvae across a broad spectrum of Pucciniales. Larvae were found on 261 collections from 25 countries. Statistical analyses explored the distribution of larvae in relation to host …

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Schizotypy: The Dynamic Relationship Between Trait And State Processes, Rebecca K. Macaulay Jan 2013

Schizotypy: The Dynamic Relationship Between Trait And State Processes, Rebecca K. Macaulay

LSU Master's Theses

Importantly, elevations in emotional reactivity to stress are often found in individuals vulnerable for psychosis. This study investigated several meaningful factors that appear to either increase vulnerability to stress (degree of schizotypy traits, trait negative affect, low perceived control, and impaired selective attention), or increase resiliency to stress (trait positive affect). A modified Posner spatial-cueing task utilizing affective cues was employed to assess selective attention within a neutral and an uncontrollable stressor condition. Between group differences (high, medium and low in schizotypy traits) and interactions between affective traits, state affect, and perceived control were evaluated in order to shed light …

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The Effect Of Graphic Organizers On Science Education : Human Body Systems, Kristen Alana Antoine Jan 2013

The Effect Of Graphic Organizers On Science Education : Human Body Systems, Kristen Alana Antoine

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to determine whether graphic organizers foster better student achievement in science classrooms than guided note taking with PowerPoint presentations. The study was quantitative. Using approximately 69 high school Biology I students, two body systems were taught using graphic organizers as the main lesson plan tool and two body systems were taught only using a guided notes lecture with PowerPoint. A pre-test and a post-test were administered for each body system studied. Student test scores were evaluated to determine whether knowledge gains differed between the two types of lessons. It was found that the use …

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Investigation Of Best Practices For Maintenance Of Concrete Bridge Railings, Angel Luis Lence Jan 2013

Investigation Of Best Practices For Maintenance Of Concrete Bridge Railings, Angel Luis Lence

LSU Master's Theses

Biodeterioration on concrete surfaces of vertical elements of bridges represents a serious challenge to the highway infrastructure in Louisiana. This investigation aims to document the causes of biodeterioration of concrete surfaces and to document current conventional and state-of-the-art practices implemented to prevent and clean biofilm. A comprehensive literature review of previous research has been carried out in order to determine the cause and mechanisms of the biodeterioration as well as to identify current methods that state DOTs have implemented in order to maintain their bridges and allow them to function in optimal structural and performance conditions. A survey was developed …

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Chronic Pain In Entertainment Media: Using Empathy To Reduce Stigma, Rebecca Lang Jan 2013

Chronic Pain In Entertainment Media: Using Empathy To Reduce Stigma, Rebecca Lang

LSU Master's Theses

Entertainment media represent a primary source of health information, making it a prime area of research for wide-spread health issues such as chronic pain. Chronic pain conditions can elicit stigmatization due to pain representing a subjective experience; coming to understand the experience of a person in pain can reduce stigma for that person as well as the entire group of people with chronic pain. Entertainment media, through the use of an engaging narrative and characters, can portray an illness experience that potentially elicits empathy and reduces stigma for chronic pain conditions. This study is among the few to employ empathy …

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