Digital Commons Network^™

Localization And Security Algorithms For Wireless Sensor Networks And The Usage Of Signals Of Opportunity, Gustavo Andres Chacon Rojas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we consider the problem of localization of wireless devices in environments and applications where GPS (Global Positioning System) is not a viable option. The _x000C_rst part of the dissertation studies a novel positioning system based on narrowband radio frequency (RF) signals of opportunity, and develops near optimum estimation algorithms for localization of a mobile receiver. It is assumed that a reference receiver (RR) with known position is available to aid with the positioning of the mobile receiver (MR). The new positioning system is reminiscent of GPS and involves two similar estimation problems. The _x000C_rst is localization using …

Perceptions Of Collegiate And Professional Black Male Athletes Based On The Media, Dionell Mcneal

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on how media usage can affect one’s perceptions of Black collegiate and professional male athletes. While early research focused solely on traditional media, this study focuses on social media as well. This study investigates the relationships between the amounts of time spent using traditional and social media, and the perceptions of athletes in regards to their physical capability, the likelihood of being criminals, and prevalence of committing violent crimes. To explore relationships, this study utilized a total of 145 White participants. Findings showed a positive relationship existed between social media usage and perceptions of criminal-like characteristics. It …

Identifying Congressional Overrides Should Not Be This Hard, Deborah Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This paper is an invited response to Professor William N. Eskridge, Jr., and Mr. Matthew R. Christiansen’s recently-published study (92 Texas L. Rev. 1317 (2014)) identifying and analyzing Congressional overrides of Supreme Court statutory interpretation decisions since 1967. Christiansen and Eskridge provide a new taxonomy for overrides that distinguishes between "restorative" overrides, which denounce a judicial interpretation as misrepresenting prior Congressional intent, and overrides that simply update or clarify policy. Although political science and legal scholarship has focused on the interbranch struggle implicit in restorative overrides, Christiansen and Eskridge classify only about 20% of the overrides in their total dataset …

Undermining Or Promoting Democratic Government?: An Economic And Empirical Analysis Of The Two Views Of Public Sector Collective Bargaining In American Law, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Mohammad Khan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Efficacy Of Interactive Journaling® In Reducing Alcohol Use And Alcohol-Related Problems Among Mandated College Student Drinkers, Steven Lee Proctor

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems remain serious public health and safety concerns on United States college campuses. Considerable research has amassed to support the efficacy of the Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP), most notably the Brief Assessment and Screening Intervention for College Students, in reducing alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among mandated and voluntary college student drinkers. The most recent outgrowth of the ASTP curriculum, CHOICES About Alcohol: A Brief Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program, is a self-guided, experiential writing process which utilizes Interactive Journaling®. The present study sought to evaluate the efficacy of CHOICES in reducing alcohol use and alcohol-related …

Power And Governance In Patent Pools, Michael Mattioli

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The recent influx of patent pools, research consortia, and similar cooperative groups led by companies at the vanguard of American innovation has raised a pressing question: How does collective action influence the incentive to innovate? This question hinges on how patent pools are internally governed — a topic that has not been deeply examined by legal scholars. Through an original study of fifty-two private agreements, this Article pulls back the veil on patent licensing collectives to examine whether such organizations are designed to encourage long-term innovation.

This study draws on collective patent license agreements spanning the years 1856 to 2013 …

Virtual Designs, Mark D. Janis, Jason J. Du Mont

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Industrial design is migrating to the virtual world, and the design patent system is migrating with it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has already granted several thousand design patents on virtual designs, patents that cover the designs of graphical user interfaces for smartphones, tablets, and other products, as well as the designs of icons or other artifacts of various virtual environments. Many more such design patent applications are pending; in fact, U.S. design patent applications for virtual designs represent one of the fastest growing forms of design subject matter at the USPTO.

Our project is the first comprehensive …

Did The National Security Agency Destroy The Prospects For Confidentiality And Privilege When Lawyers Store Clients' Files In The Cloud--And What, If Anything, Can Lawyers And Law Firms Realistically Do In Response?, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

A Qualitative Study Utilizing Non-Fiction African-American Folktales: Process And Product With Struggling Second, Third, And Fifth Graders In North Louisiana, Gail Guidry Griffin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a qualitative of a study utilizing non-fiction African-American Folktales with struggling readers in second, third, and fifth grades. The study was conducted to explore how teachers, reading/library media specialists, and students utilize a variety of non-fiction folktales in their classrooms and the library media center. From this topic the following research questions were devised. The researcher discovered the challenges that teachers are faced with the implementation of folktales, how is folktales aligned with the (CCSS) Common Core State Standards, what role do heroes play in folktales, and what traits and/or characteristics would students prefer their hero to …

Paul Tillich's Communication Theology And The Rhetoric Of Existentialism, Elizabeth R. Earle

LSU Master's Theses

20th century theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich believed that religion could only be understood in the context of the surrounding culture. He attempted to assert Christianity’s importance in the modern era, and did this through his use of language. In this study I examine how Tillich’s rhetorical situation uniquely informed the communication style of his sermons. Drawing on the work of Lloyd Bitzer, this rhetorical situation includes Tillich’s exigencies, rooted both in the personal and historical, his resources and constraints in the form of influences and limitations, and his audience which provided him with an arena. By examining selections from …

Art Tweets: A Content Analysis Of Social Media Activity Among Six Top Art Museums In The U.S.A., Patricia Ann Milford-Hoyt

LSU Master's Theses

This study presents a content analysis of Twitter posts tagged with one of six institutions to establish uses and gratifications with this medium and the art museum industry. Due to industry norms, copyright law, museums traditionally do not permit photography and therefore may limit the advancement of their mission through misuse of the social media. This study establishes a baseline by seeking to understand how museums and individual account holders engage on Twitter within the art museum space as well as begin to unearth whether museums are misusing this media outlet and limiting their potential to educate the public while …

The Impact Of Menstrual Cycle Phase On Smoking Cessation-Related Variables, Mackenzie Rae Peltier

LSU Master's Theses

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Despite increased research and improved treatment modalities, rates of lapse and relapse remain high. Women in particular experience poorer smoking cessation outcomes (including more relapse), presumably due to unique considerations such as the hormonal milieu. Despite some conflicting results, researchers have speculated that timing cessation attempts to coincide with the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, where levels of neuroprotective progesterone are at their peak, may decrease nicotine withdrawal and increase cessation success. Timing treatment onset with the luteal phase may positively impact smoking variables …

Revealing The Jewishness Of Hannah Arendt, Jennifer Richard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hannah Arendt, one of the most important political thinkers of the twentieth century, passed away before finishing her final statement on politics. Because her political theory is incomplete, scholars have adopted many means for interpreting her work. In this dissertation, I adopt a phenomenological approach to understanding Arendt by engaging with the phenomenological method Arendt, herself, used—narrative. I specifically employ the Passover narrative as a metaphorical framework alongside which Arendt’s political theory is traced. In this approach, four elements of Arendt’s theory emerge to distinguish her thought from the Western political tradition: the role of the mental activities, the definition …

Developing A Framework For Arbitrating Standards-Essential Patent Disputes, Jorge L. Contreras, David L. Newman

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article lays the groundwork for the development of such procedures and identifies several key areas requiring further study and deliberation. Particular attention is paid to fundamental questions such as whether SEP arbitration should be mandated by SDOs, which conflicts should be arbitrated, whether arbitral decisions should be confidential, and what form arbitration proceedings should take. While, at this early stage, these difficult questions cannot be answered definitively, this article offers a framework for further discussion that the authors hope will be useful for policy makers, industry participants, and commentators considering these important issues.

Case Study In Patent Litigation Transparency, A, Bernard Chao, Derigan Silver

Journal of Dispute Resolution

By focusing on a single high profile patent case, Monsanto v. DuPont, this article explores the problem of transparency in patent litigation from two perspectives. First, this article provides metrics for understanding the nature and quantity of documents that were filed under seal in the Monsanto case. Second, this article scrutinizes particular aspects of the case to provide a more nuanced understanding of what the public cannot see. Although primarily descriptive, this article critically analyzes the sealing of so many documents by questioning the level of judicial oversight applied in decisions to seal court filings. It then goes on to …

Pressure To Plead: How Case-Management Mediation Will Alter Criminal Plea-Bargaining, Taylor C. Leonard

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This note first discusses the facts and proceedings in Milligan. Next, it explores the history and importance of plea-bargaining in the United States and how mediation has slowly become a part of criminal proceedings. Next, this note examines the Milligan court's reasoning for upholding the mediation plea bargain at issue in that case, in light of the legal landscape concerning ADR and the criminal justice system. Finally, this note argues in favor of using case-management mediation in criminal plea negotiations, and explores the proper methods and procedures to make these mediations successful.

A Virtual Testbed For Embedded Systems, Shrikant Labade

LSU Master's Theses

Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) Simulation is a simulation approach in which a hardware embedded processor is connected to the simulation computer that simulates the electrical/mechanical devices controlled by the embedded processor. By using a real-time simulation computer and special-purpose hardware for connecting to the embedded processor, this method of simulation can be very precise but is costly. We are proposing an alternative method, HIL simulation with a network link, in which the device under test (the embedded processor) communicates with the simulation computer over a network connection (in our case a serial line) instead of through special-purpose hardware. We present an abstraction …

Slow Fashion: Developing A Conceptual Apparel Design Process, Stefanie Ann Ramirez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the application of a pre-existing apparel design process model and design framework to the development of a conceptual slow fashion apparel design process and framework. A content analysis of slow design and slow fashion literature identified 38 themes related to specific design criteria, which were applied to design considerations from the Lamb & Kallal Functional, Expressive, and Aesthetic (FEA) model (1992). Additional design considerations were revealed due to the nature of the research topic and relationship to the stages in the applied design framework. For the Slow Fashion Apparel Design model five …

Impression Formation In The Online Amateur Setting: An Examination Of Transgender People, Minjie Li

LSU Master's Theses

Technology is enhancing our amateur culture, which may provide counter-stereotype depictions. The present study reexamined the continuum model of impression formation by investigating how the mechanism of an amateur technology platform interacts with the depiction of amateur content created by social minority members to redirect people’s cognitive process of impression formation of minority members in the online amateur setting. More specifically, conducting a 2 (Stereotype Depiction) x 2 (Platform) experiment, this study looked at whether amateur platform YouTube encouraged people to go beyond stereotyping to form an counter-stereotypic impression of the mediated transgender person featured in the amateur content. Moreover, …

Essays On Dividend Equivalent Rights And Ceo Compensation, Zi Jia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies a little-known executive compensation device called dividend equivalent rights (DERs). DERs entitle an executive to receive dividends, known as dividend equivalents (DEs), on unearned performance-based stocks and options. In the first essay we do empirical studies on the market reaction of news about DERs and the incentives that DERs can bring. We find that about 22% of S&P500 firms allow for these payments and about 10% actually make such payments. While investors react negatively to announcements of DE payments, DERs can be beneficial to shareholders by inducing a company to disgorge unproductive cash. If a firm allows …

An Examination Of Louisiana's State Governance Structure In Higher Education And Its Impact On Public State-Funded College And University System Board Members' Voting Behavior: A Case Study, Melanie Smith Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation identifies and analyzes factors of influence shaping the voting behavior of public state-funded university system board members in the State of Louisiana. The study focuses on university board members voting decisions in budget & finance, academic & student affairs and personnel agenda item issues at their respective board meetings. Eleven (11) factors of influence were from drawn from previous literature on legislative voting behavior. In this study, the factors are referred to as Board member colleagues, Board chairperson, Committee member chairpersons, University constituents (i.e. administrators, faculty, staff, students and parents), Fiscal impact to the University, Governor, Legislature, Media …

The Pulpit And The Nation: Clergymen, Political Culture, And The Creation Of An American National Identity, Spencer W. Mcbride

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the politicization of clergymen during the American Revolution and explains the direct impact this process had on the development of a national polity and a distinct American national identity in the early republic. Both during and after the Revolution, clergymen utilized providential rhetoric and biblical symbolism to assign greater religious and moral significance to political events. Focusing on the period between 1775 and 1800, this dissertation describes and analyzes the extent to which national political leaders relied on local clergymen when securing independence and thereafter inventing a new nation. Ultimately, it argues that clergymen were essential to …

Composition Control Of Spinel Lithium Manganese Oxide For High Voltage, High Energy Lithium Ion Batteries, Hilary Eikhuemelo

LSU Master's Theses

In the quest for renewable source of energy, a remarkable step made was in the introduction of the battery system. The lithium ion battery was revolutionary in this regard particularly for its light weight and high energy density. There has been significant progress in the development of this battery system since the present form was introduced in the 1990s. There is currently a global dependence on the use of lithium ion battery in diverse applications such as in the electronics, communications and automobiles. Unfortunately, the energy obtainable from the lithium ion battery continuously falls behind the energy demand. This setback …

Data Distribution In Hpx, Bibek Ghimire

LSU Master's Theses

High Performance Computation (HPC) requires a proper and efficient scheme for distribution of the computational workload across different computational nodes. The HPX (High Performance ParalleX) runtime system currently lacks a module that automates data distribution process so that the programmer does not have to manually perform data distribution. Further, there is no mechanism allowing to perform load balancing of computations. This thesis addresses that issue by designing and developing a user friendly programming interface conforming to the C++11/14 Standards and integrated with HPX which enables to specify various distribution parameters for a distributed vector. We present the three different distribution …

Modeling Of Foam Flow In Porous Media For Subsurface Environmental Remediation, Seungjun Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Among numerous foam applications in a wide range of disciplines, foam flow in porous media has been spotlighted for improved/enhanced oil recovery processes in petroleum-bearing geological formations and shallow subsurface in-situ NAPL (non-aqueous phase liquid) environmental remediation in contaminated soils and aquifers. In those applications, foams are known to reduce the mobility of gas phase by increasing effective gas viscosity and improve sweep efficiency by mitigating subsurface heterogeneity. This study investigates how surfactant/foam process works fundamentally for environmental remediation purpose by using MoC (Method of Characteristics) based foam modeling and simulation techniques. It consists of two main parts: Part 1, …

The Hidden Layer Of Buyer-Seller Relationships, Stephanie Marie Mangus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using social capital theory (SCT), this research conceptualizes trusted advisor relationships (TAR) and empirically tests the implications of such intense relationships on important performance outcomes. Essay 1 was conducted to offer an in-depth analysis of the conceptualization of trusted advisor relationships. A hermeneutical phenomenological approach was used to interpret the data derived from fourteen in-depth interviews with professional salespeople and their business-to-business (B2B) clients. These data supported the development of a conceptual model and definition of TARs. Essay 2 was conducted to explore the measurable components of trusted advisor relationships and solidify an operationalization of the construct for used in …

Analysis Of The Risk And Protective Factors Among Low-Income, First-Generation College Students, Samantha Bates

LSU Master's Theses

One population of particular concern for college-employed social workers is the low-income, first-generation (LIFG) student population. As the national pressure to increase retention in college has intensified, many students are graduating from universities across the country and starting professional careers. In the college population, some students may be classified as either low-income, first-generation, or both. The two classifications combined define a vulnerable population within colleges and universities – those students who are both low-income and first-generation students. The need to examine LIFG college students’ experiences after admittance, particularly in relation to degree attainment, can help social workers determine what programs …

The Art Of The Circle, Yvette Creel

LSU Master's Theses

The circle is a primary shape, a closed curve that divides a plane into two regions: an interior and an exterior. This exploration has allowed me to place what I like inside the circle and then use that piece to complete a composition. In graphic design, the circle is not only a ring, a disc or a sphere; it is also the fifteenth letter of the Roman alphabet. ‘O’ is not only a letter, but a vowel that is the same shape in upper and lower case. It can also be a number. Beyond its ability to participate in statistics …

Factor Analysis And Cut-Off Scores For The Autism Spectrum Disorders-Observation For Children, Megan Alice Hattier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Optimal prognoses for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) often rely upon early intervention; thus, there has been a call for reliable and valid assessment tools in order to ensure accurate diagnoses among youth at risk for developmental disabilities (DDs) such as autism. The target of this paper is to inspect the underlying factor structure of a recently developed observation tool for assessing autistic symptoms, the Autism Spectrum Disorders – Observation for Children (ASD-OC). More importantly, cutoff scores were also developed for clinical use in order to distinguish between those with and without an ASD. Given that marked changed were …

Teaching Climate Literacy Using Geospatial Tools, Steven L. Babcock

LSU Master's Theses

Antarctica is the world’s coldest, driest and windiest continent. It is a harsh environment that few people will ever see but it is a very important part of our Earth system. Over the past 34 million years the climate in Antarctica has deteriorated from one that supported lush vegetation to the conditions observed today. By studying this trend and the associated changes to ice and vegetation we can gain critical insight into climate changes taking place today. This thesis presents three pieces of curricula that will help students and the general public understand some of the research currently underway in …