Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2014

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 45661 - 45690 of 46234

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

The Analysis & Implementation Of Key Innovation Methods In Order To Prove That Innovation Is Required For Promoting Market Growth In The United States Track & Field Industry, Michael Hays Lauro Jan 2014

The Analysis & Implementation Of Key Innovation Methods In Order To Prove That Innovation Is Required For Promoting Market Growth In The United States Track & Field Industry, Michael Hays Lauro

LSU Master's Theses

In relation to the rest of the world, the track and field industry within the United States lacks interest from the public. The market makes a name for itself during the short period of time the sport is televised in the Olympic Games. This is a problem for the elite athletes who are considered professional but have little to show for this title. The current marketing strategies and distribution of wealth within the industry are ineffective and detrimental to the future success of the sport. We must point the finger at the governing powers and demand a change. I believe …

Go to article

A Feasibility Study Of Ultra-Short Echo Time Mri For Positive Contrast Visualization Of Prostate Brachytherapy Permanent Seed Implants For Post-Implant Dosimetry, Melissa Lamberto Jan 2014

A Feasibility Study Of Ultra-Short Echo Time Mri For Positive Contrast Visualization Of Prostate Brachytherapy Permanent Seed Implants For Post-Implant Dosimetry, Melissa Lamberto

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: Ultra-short echo time (UTE) imaging is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that uses very short echo times (on the order of microseconds) to measure rapid T2 relaxation. An application of UTE is the visualization of magnetic susceptibility-induced shortening of T2 in tissues adjacent to metal, such as prostate tissue with implanted brachytherapy seeds. This study assessed UTE imaging of prostate brachytherapy seeds on a clinical 3T MRI scanner to provide images for post-implant dosimetry. Methods: A prostate tissue phantom was made of gelatin mixed with Gd and other materials to mimic the prostate peripheral zone’s T1 and T2 …

Go to article

Liberalism And The Dilemma Of Cultures, Ali Rezaie Jan 2014

Liberalism And The Dilemma Of Cultures, Ali Rezaie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this project, through a closer examination of the controversies over Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003), Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003) and Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003), I seek to identify the elements of a defensible postcolonial vision. While postcolonialism is afflicted with many problematic assumptions, the exclusively liberal perspective which these authors seek to reaffirm in its place has its own plethora of defects. Ali, Hosseini and Nafisi merit a closer attention not only for their exposing some of the flawed views underlying postcolonialism but also for their demonstrating why an unqualified reversion to liberalism may …

Go to article

Removal Of Sustained Casing Pressure By Gravity Displacement Of Annular Fluid, Efecan Demirci Jan 2014

Removal Of Sustained Casing Pressure By Gravity Displacement Of Annular Fluid, Efecan Demirci

LSU Master's Theses

Sustained Casing Pressure (SCP) is the undesirable casing head pressure of a well annulus that rebuilds when bled-down. As the conventional methods for SCP removal using rigs are expensive, there is a need for improvement. Annular intervention for replacing the fluid above the leaking cement with a heavier fluid to stop gas migration is a solution for SCP removal; however, previous attempts failed due to miscibility of injected fluids. Using hydrophobic heavy fluids for the purpose is a newly proposed technique to the technology. Potential of theoretically selected and produced immiscible heavy fluids are investigated in characterized annular fluids. A …

Go to article

Performance Improvement Of Distributed Computing Framework And Scientific Big Data Analysis, Praveenkumar Kondikoppa Jan 2014

Performance Improvement Of Distributed Computing Framework And Scientific Big Data Analysis, Praveenkumar Kondikoppa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Analysis of Big data to gain better insights has been the focus of researchers in the recent past. Traditional desktop computers or database management systems may not be suitable for efficient and timely analysis, due to the requirement of massive parallel processing. Distributed computing frameworks are being explored as a viable solution. For example, Google proposed MapReduce, which is becoming a de facto computing architecture for Big data solutions. However, scheduling in MapReduce is coarse grained and remains as a challenge for improvement. Related with MapReduce scheduler when configured over distributed clusters, we identify two issues: data locality disruption and …

Go to article

A Captive Audience, Holley Shinn Jan 2014

A Captive Audience, Holley Shinn

LSU Master's Theses

A Captive Audience is a permanent onsite installation of cage furniture and a wildlife garden at Louisiana State University’s Raptor Rehabilitation Center. Both the furniture and the garden are intended to enrich the lives of permanently disabled raptors who live in captivity at the center.

Go to article

Search-Based Model-Driven Loop Optimizations For Tensor Contractions, Ajay Panyala Jan 2014

Search-Based Model-Driven Loop Optimizations For Tensor Contractions, Ajay Panyala

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Complex tensor contraction expressions arise in accurate electronic structure models in quantum chemistry, such as the coupled cluster method. The Tensor Contraction Engine (TCE) is a high-level program synthesis system that facilitates the generation of high-performance parallel programs from tensor contraction equations. We are developing a new software infrastructure for the TCE that is designed to allow experimentation with optimization algorithms for modern computing platforms, including for heterogeneous architectures employing general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs). In this dissertation, we present improvements and extensions to the loop fusion optimization algorithm, which can be used with cost models, e.g., for minimizing memory …

Go to article

Decomposition At Three Aquatic And Terrestrial Sites In Southern Louisiana, Paul Max Bangs Jan 2014

Decomposition At Three Aquatic And Terrestrial Sites In Southern Louisiana, Paul Max Bangs

LSU Master's Theses

To compare decomposition potential variability in geographically distinct sites, this project deposited six pigs of comparable size to adult humans in pairs at three sites within southern Louisiana. These sites were: the east bank of the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, “Red Pass” in the Bird Foot Delta near Venice, Louisiana, and the Grande Isle and Grand Terre Islands in the Gulf of Mexico. After partial decomposition of the three pairs of remains, one pig was placed onto land to simulate beaching by tidal action or recession of flood water. Each pig was allowed to continue decomposition. Despite geographic distance …

Go to article

Place, Race, And The Politics Of Identity In The Geography Of Garinagu Baündada, Doris Garcia Jan 2014

Place, Race, And The Politics Of Identity In The Geography Of Garinagu Baündada, Doris Garcia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Garinagu, who are commonly referred to by the name of their language, Garifuna, emerged out of the historical geographical processes of colonialism and capitalism on Saint Vincent Island in the Lesser Antilles. Exiled by the British to New Spain’s Captaincy General of Guatemala in 1797, the Garinagu formed communities and cultural bonds to the land, namely, but not exclusively, along the north coast of the territory that would become part of the Honduran nation-state in 1821. Today, the Garinagu are rapidly becoming a landless population. Since the mid-1970s, the Honduran government has pursued the expansion of tourism on the …

Go to article

The Qualities That Black Men And Women Most Appreciate About One Another: A Qualitative Examination, Lakeshia Marie Carhee Jan 2014

The Qualities That Black Men And Women Most Appreciate About One Another: A Qualitative Examination, Lakeshia Marie Carhee

LSU Master's Theses

Given increased media interest in the relationships that exist between African American men and women, few studies to date have examined the characteristics that Black men and women most appreciate in one another. Since emerging adulthood is the time in life when many individuals are contemplating marriage and date with the goal of finding a suitable marriage partner, this study will examine the qualities that Black men and women highly value in one another, which may lead them to eventually marry. Through the use of Value Theory, this study will examine the qualitative responses of 24 (17 females; 7 males) …

Go to article

The Hard Decisions: A Qualitative Study Of Marital Reconciliation, Hannah Pearce Plauche Jan 2014

The Hard Decisions: A Qualitative Study Of Marital Reconciliation, Hannah Pearce Plauche

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The topics of marriage and divorce have been studied extensively, especially in recent decades; however, the topic of marital reconciliation has been scarcely researched. Seven couples (N = 14) participated in a qualitative investigation of marital reconciliation. Each couple had filed a petition for divorce in the state of Louisiana between the years 2000-2010. Before the required 12 month period of living apart were complete, each couple decided to discontinue the divorce proceedings and reconcile their marriages, and have lived together continuously for a period of more than three years. A purposive, convenience sample was solicited due to the specific …

Go to article

Effort-Based Decision-Making In Schizotypy, Jessica Elaina Mcgovern Jan 2014

Effort-Based Decision-Making In Schizotypy, Jessica Elaina Mcgovern

LSU Master's Theses

Avolition/apathy, defined as reduced initiation of or persistence in goal-directed behavior, is a pernicious, core negative symptom of schizophrenia. While deficits in effort-based decision-making have been proposed to underlie negative symptom deficits, it remains unknown whether subjective or objective motivation deficits are evident in individuals with elevated schizotypy, a trait associated with putative latent liability of developing psychosis. Thus, the present study examined whether and how objective and subjective motivation deficits manifest in individuals high (n = 57) versus low (n = 58) in schizotypy traits (based on a median-split of total experience scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire –Brief …

Go to article

Interactions Of Herbicide Mixtures In Imidazolinone-Resistant Rice, John Caleb Fish Jan 2014

Interactions Of Herbicide Mixtures In Imidazolinone-Resistant Rice, John Caleb Fish

LSU Master's Theses

Propanil has long been a staple of weed management in rice production. The introduction of IR rice allowed for the use of imidazolinone herbicides in crop for the control of red rice. Six studies were conducted in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the weed control interactions, synergistic, antagonistic, or additive, of imazethapyr or imazamox when mixed in a single application with propanil, thiobencarb, or a pre-packaged mixture of propanil plus thiobencarb. Blouin’s modified Colby’s was used to determine if a synergistic, antagonistic, or additive response occurred. Two studies were established to evaluate imazethapyr at 0 and 70 g ha-1, or …

Go to article

Construction De L'Identité Culturelle Afro-Antillaise : Regards Croisés Entre Maryse Condé, Gisèle Pineau Et Fabienne Kanor, Jeanne Jégousso Jan 2014

Construction De L'Identité Culturelle Afro-Antillaise : Regards Croisés Entre Maryse Condé, Gisèle Pineau Et Fabienne Kanor, Jeanne Jégousso

LSU Master's Theses

The theme of cultural identity is one of the main problematic of francophone literature. Through the years, women writers, especially in Guadeloupe and Martinique, used this theme as the main topic of many of their writings. Characters, especially women narrators, try to understand this notion of cultural identity and its construction in other to make this theme theirs, since cultural identity is at the crossroads of their own story, the history of the Caribbean, and the perception these young women have of themselves. A new generation of writers, born in France of Caribbean families, tries today to offer a new …

Go to article

Volunteer Retention At The Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, Robyn Eileen Keegan Jan 2014

Volunteer Retention At The Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, Robyn Eileen Keegan

LSU Master's Theses

This study explores the relationship between increased supervision and volunteer retention at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center. Due to the agency’s anecdotal evidence of a downward trend in volunteer retention between 2011 and 2012, the researcher began examining the groups and performing an intervention to increase retention. Specifically, this study looked at the differential effect of increased supervision on two nonequivalent comparison groups. The researcher hypothesized that increased supervision of the volunteers would result in a greater percentage of volunteers fulfilling their 72-hour commitment to the agency, increase the speed with which they completed the commitment, and increase the …

Go to article

Joseph Joachim Raff: A Biographical Sketch And A Conductor's Analysis Of His Sinfonietta, Op. 188, James Fuller Lyon Iv Jan 2014

Joseph Joachim Raff: A Biographical Sketch And A Conductor's Analysis Of His Sinfonietta, Op. 188, James Fuller Lyon Iv

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite its obscurity, Sinfonietta, Op. 188 by Joachim Raff (1822-1882) is an important chamber work for winds and should find its place more frequently on the concert programs of university wind ensembles. In order to test this hypothesis, I investigate Raff’s biography for evidence that might explain its obscurity while leaving the door open to question that status. Furthermore, I investigate the Sinfonietta from a conductor’s perspective and apply a critique of its artistic merit. Several factors explain Raff’s fall from acclaim; none of them relegate his music to permanent obscurity. Based on the composer’s historical significance, analytical results, and …

Go to article

Roque Cordero Soliloquio No. 6 And Sonata For Cello And Piano: Structure And Analysis, Isaac Miguel Casal R. Jan 2014

Roque Cordero Soliloquio No. 6 And Sonata For Cello And Piano: Structure And Analysis, Isaac Miguel Casal R.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract Roque Cordero (1917-2008) is the most recognized and accomplished composer of Panama. Even though his music is not yet well known on the concert classical stage, he has contributed to Latin American repertoire with his vast catalog of music. Richness is created by the mixture of twelve-tone technique combined with Panamanian musical folk elements and other Latin-American rhythms. The objective of this monograph is to better understand the Sonata for Cello and Piano and the Soliloquio No. 6 for cello solo, particularly to describe and analyze its structure, and to look for traces of Panamanian folk music. The intent …

Go to article

Performance Comparison Between Patus And Pluto Compilers On Stencils, Pratik Prabhu Hanagodimath Jan 2014

Performance Comparison Between Patus And Pluto Compilers On Stencils, Pratik Prabhu Hanagodimath

LSU Master's Theses

Comparing the performances of Patus and Pluto compilers on stencil applications. Stencils are written in Jacobi and Seidel style of coding and performances of both these compilers are analysed based on these coding styles.

Go to article

A Data-Driven Storm Surge Analysis For The U.S. Gulf Coast, Harold Francis Needham Jan 2014

A Data-Driven Storm Surge Analysis For The U.S. Gulf Coast, Harold Francis Needham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation provides the first empirical storm surge analysis for the U.S. Gulf Coast. Data are provided by SURGEDAT, a comprehensive storm surge database. A global storm surge literature review provided more than 700 observations in six ocean basins. The most severe storm surges have occurred in the Bay of Bengal, and the most frequent low-magnitude surges have occurred in East Asia. The U.S. Gulf Coast experiences the second highest frequency of low- and high- magnitude storm surges. Two Gulf Coast studies revealed that storm surge heights correlate better with pre-landfall tropical cyclone conditions, such as maximum wind speed and …

Go to article

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production From A Noble Metal Free System Based On A Water Soluble Porphyrin Derivative And A Cobaloxime Catalyst, Theodore Lazarides, Milan Delor, Igor V. Sazanovich, Theresa M. Mccormick, Irene Georgakaki, Georgios Charalambidis, Julia A. Weinstein, Athanassios G. Coutsolelos Jan 2014

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production From A Noble Metal Free System Based On A Water Soluble Porphyrin Derivative And A Cobaloxime Catalyst, Theodore Lazarides, Milan Delor, Igor V. Sazanovich, Theresa M. Mccormick, Irene Georgakaki, Georgios Charalambidis, Julia A. Weinstein, Athanassios G. Coutsolelos

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A combination of noble-metal free components, a water soluble porphyrin photosensitizer zincmeso-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride [ZnTMPyP4+]Cl4 (1) with cobaloxime complex [CoIII(dmgH)2(py)Cl] (2) as a catalyst, creates an efficient system for photochemical hydrogen production acting under visible light with 280 TONs. This is the first example of a water soluble porphyrin acting as a photosensitizer for cobaloxime catalysed H2 production.

Go to article

Numerical Experiments Of Hurricane Impact On Vertical Mixing And De-Stratification Of The Louisiana Shelf Waters, Mohammadnabi Allahdadi Jan 2014

Numerical Experiments Of Hurricane Impact On Vertical Mixing And De-Stratification Of The Louisiana Shelf Waters, Mohammadnabi Allahdadi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The numerical model FVCOM (Finite Volume Community Ocean Model) was applied to study the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the vertical mixing over the Louisiana shelf and the process of post-storm re-stratification. Wind field from Hurricane Katrina was generated using a single vortex analytical model and was evaluated using available wind measurements over the shelf. Simulations of shelf circulation under Hurricane Katrina were done through several numerical tests to find the best approach for treating vertical eddy viscosity. Model results for the shelf during Katrina demonstrated opposite currents between surface and bottom for most of the shelf area. Results also …

Go to article

Southern Sapphisms: Sexuality And Sociality In Literary Productions, 1974-1997, Jaime Cantrell Jan 2014

Southern Sapphisms: Sexuality And Sociality In Literary Productions, 1974-1997, Jaime Cantrell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Southern Sapphisms: Sexuality and Sociality in Literary Productions, 1974-1997, considers how queer and feminist theories illuminate and complicate the intersections between canonical and obscure, queer and normative, and regional and national narratives in southern literary representations produced during a crucial but understudied period in the historical politicization of sexuality. The advent of New Southern Studies—and its nascent emphasis on sexuality as an organizing principle of social relations—has focused almost exclusively on midcentury texts from the Southern Renascence, largely neglecting post-1970 queer literatures. At the same time, despite these developments in southern studies, most scholarship in women’s and feminist studies continue …

Go to article

Addressing The Health Of Refugees: Vitamin D, Laura B Madsen Jan 2014

Addressing The Health Of Refugees: Vitamin D, Laura B Madsen

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Accountable Actors: Politics And Poetic Imagination In Huxley, Lewis, And Orwell, Sarah Beth Vosburg Jan 2014

Accountable Actors: Politics And Poetic Imagination In Huxley, Lewis, And Orwell, Sarah Beth Vosburg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

What does it mean, and what does it take, to practice personal responsibility in the face of political oppression? In this dissertation, I trace the essential themes of responsibility through a critical analysis of three stories: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength, and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. No comparative study of these important works of twentieth-century political literature exists. Yet, each of these stories merits the attention of students of character and politics because all three unforgettably portray men who strive to live meaningful lives against the contrived meaning imposed on them by those in …

Go to article

Cybersecurity And The Administrative National Security State: Framing The Issues For Federal Legislation, David G. Delaney Jan 2014

Cybersecurity And The Administrative National Security State: Framing The Issues For Federal Legislation, David G. Delaney

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In the digital age, every part of federal government has critical cybersecurity interests. Many of those issues are brought into sharp focus by Edward Snowden's disclosure of sensitive government cyber intelligence programs conducted by the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Courts are reviewing various constitutional and statutory challenges to those programs, two government review groups have reported on related legal and policy issues, and Congress is considering cyber intelligence reform proposals. All of this action comes on the heels of significant efforts by successive administrations to restructure government and pass comprehensive cybersecurity …

Go to article

The Effects Of A Test-Taking Skills Intervention On Test Anxiety And Test Performance In 4th Graders, Meredith T. Harris Jan 2014

The Effects Of A Test-Taking Skills Intervention On Test Anxiety And Test Performance In 4th Graders, Meredith T. Harris

LSU Master's Theses

Increases in standardized testing have been accompanied by increased reports of test anxiety in younger students. School-based test anxiety interventions can be implemented to decrease test anxiety and improve test performance. Skill-based interventions have effectively addressed both of these variables; however, the research has primarily targeted secondary and university students. The purpose of the current study was to determine if a test-taking skills intervention would decrease test anxiety and improve test performance in 4th grade students. Results indicated that the test-taking skills intervention resulted only in a minor decrease in test anxiety that maintained at 1-month follow-up. Effects on test …

Go to article

Message Appeals Used By Nonprofits On Twitter To Increase Public Engagement, Lilliana Laura Lopez Jan 2014

Message Appeals Used By Nonprofits On Twitter To Increase Public Engagement, Lilliana Laura Lopez

LSU Master's Theses

As social media becomes a more prominent tool for mass communication, nonprofit organizations are using social networking sites as a means to communicate with their target audiences and recruit supporters. This study explores how nonprofits are using Twitter, a microblogging website, to communicate with their audiences during the year-end charitable giving period and investigate which messaging acquires audience engagement. This was determined by investigating nonprofit organizations’ use of Twitter’s multimedia features and the different types of message appeals used when tweeting about their organization’s year-end campaign. Another aim of this study was to identify which message appeals in online charitable …

Go to article

Adapting Resilience To A New Hazard: Oil And Oysters In Coastal Louisiana, Audrey Maass Jan 2014

Adapting Resilience To A New Hazard: Oil And Oysters In Coastal Louisiana, Audrey Maass

LSU Master's Theses

Inherently resilient practices are one mechanism that communities engage in to cope with disruptive events. A community retains and passes down the practices associated with inherent resilience in their collective memory. The inherent resilience of a community is developed over time, yet the explanation provided by Colten et al. lacks a genesis of how this process developed particularly in relation to the oil industry’s entry into Louisiana. The foundations of these practices will be explored through historic court documents to find encounters between oystermen and oil spills. In addition to legal resources, I also investigate newspaper articles and other historic …

Go to article

The Influence Of Colorism And Hair Texture Bias On The Professional And Social Lives Of Black Women Student Affairs Professionals, Rhea Monet Perkins Jan 2014

The Influence Of Colorism And Hair Texture Bias On The Professional And Social Lives Of Black Women Student Affairs Professionals, Rhea Monet Perkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Influence of Colorism and Hair Texture Bias on the Professional and Social Lives of Black Women Student Affairs Professionals “If it was so honorable and glorious to be black, why was it the yellow-skinned people among us had so much prestige?” Zora Neal Hurston (1942) understood the privilege and oppression associated with colorism. “Colorism is the allocation of privilege and disadvantage according to the lightness or darkness of one’s skin” (Burke, 2008, p. 17). Colorism is the systematic preference for lighter skin tones over darker tones and stems from larger racial systems impacting education, income, marriageability, job placement, housing …

Go to article

Screening Ted: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Intersections Of Rhetoric, Digital Media, And Pedagogy, Joseph Alan Watson Jan 2014

Screening Ted: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Intersections Of Rhetoric, Digital Media, And Pedagogy, Joseph Alan Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The presence of expertise resonates across our daily lives. Experts are called upon to consult us about which candidate is ideal for office, which type of wood is the best choice for a carpentry project, which scientist has optimal data on the effects of air pollution, which speech teacher is the best one to take for proper credit hours, and more. An expert is typically conceived as an individual who knows more about a given topic and can create stronger identification than an average person. The struggle to achieve expert status is one that is fundamentally tied to power and …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last