Digital Commons Network^™

Energy And Thermodynamically Based Approaches For Analysis Of Damage In Contact Problems, Afshin Babaie Aghdam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A novel methodology for analysis of damage in contact problems in presented. Two important categories of contact damage are studied, namely crack nucleation and adhesive wear. The proposed methodology is primarily based on the laws of energy and thermodynamics, and as such offers great advantages by unifying the analysis of damage in a variety of contact configurations. Crack nucleation is the first damage type analyzed. For this purpose, the line-contact fretting configuration is chosen. A thermodynamically-based continuum damage mechanics (CDM) approach is employed. Intense stress gradients in the contact region are found to be highly influential in the crack nucleation …

The Twin Taboos Of Discussing Religion And Politics : A Study Of Six "Basic" Emotions And Interpersonal Relationships In Response To Rick Perry's "Strong", Michael Francis Rold

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A fear appeal has become a common way to describe a message created by individuals, groups, or entities to achieve an array of social and political goals. For instance, law firms may use fear-based advertisements on television by listing several debilitating diseases to educate potential clients about the side effects of certain drugs. In the realm of politics, candidates may use fear-based appeals in their messages as well: certain Republican candidates use the fear of attacks similar to the ones of September 11, 2001, to “scare” the American people into voting for the candidate who would best protect the country …

Spectrum Sensing, Spectrum Monitoring, And Security In Cognitive Radios, Erfan Soltanmohammadi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spectrum sensing is a key function of cognitive radios and is used to determine whether a primary user is present in the channel or not. In this dissertation, we formulate and solve the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) for spectrum sensing when both primary user transmitter and the secondary user receiver are equipped with multiple antennas. We do not assume any prior information about the channel statistics or the primary user’s signal structure. Two cases are considered when the secondary user is aware of the energy of the noise and when it is not. The final test statistics derived from …

Changes In Climate And Moisture Availability In The Antarctic Eocene, Oligocene, And Miocene: Evidence From Palynological And Stable Isotope Geochemical Analyses Of The Shaldril And Andrill Cores, Kathryn Whitney Griener

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior to the Late Eocene, the Antarctic continent experienced lush vegetation under temperate conditions. Just before the Eocene/Oligocene Boundary, the climate of the southernmost continent began to deteriorate dramatically. This cooling trend largely continued until most Antarctic vegetation disappeared, ~13.85-12.8 Ma. Classifying the nature and cause of Antarctica’s drastic climate change is essential for furthering our knowledge of Earth’s history, and also for grasping the potential effects of current and future climate shifts. Here, I present evidence from three new palynomorph-centric studies that deepen our understanding of Antarctic earth science, climate change, and of climate proxies. The first study involved …

A Hybrid Advection Scheme For Conserving Angular Momentum On A Refined Cartesian Mesh, Zachary Duncan Byerly

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We demonstrate the capabilities of a new hybrid scheme for simulating dynamical fluid flows in which cylindrical components of the momentum are advected across a rotating Cartesian coordinate mesh. This hybrid scheme allows us to conserve angular momentum to machine precision while capitalizing on the advantages offered by a Cartesian mesh, such as mesh refinement. The work presented here focuses on measuring the real and imaginary parts of the eigenfrequency of unstable axisymmetric modes that naturally arise in massless polytropic tori having a range of different aspect ratios, and quantifying the uncertainty in these measurements. Our measured eigenfrequencies show good …

Evaluating Alternative Techniques For Forecasting Industrial And Occupational Employment, Drew A. Varnado

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This paper offers three different regional output-by-industry forecasting techniques (time series, Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)-based, and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE)-based) and two different occupation-by-industry matrices (national and state geographies) for use in the creation of industry/occupation employment forecasts. Estimates are compared to actual data from eight years from 2001 to 2010. OLS regressions are run to determine how well modeled employment estimates fit actual employment for the state of Louisiana. A meta-analysis style regression of the R-sqaured values on model characteristics (accounted for using Boolean dummy-variables) determines that industrial output forecasting techniques do not provide statistically different R-squared values, but …

Methods For The Characterization Of Deep-Sea Benthic Megafauna In The Vicinity Of The Deepwater Horizon Macondo Well, Stephanie Marie Sharuga

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Soft-sediment benthic environments are amongst the largest marine ecosystems in the world and play important roles in many ecosystem functions. In recent years, exploitation of resources and unintentional impacts on deep-sea benthic environments has increased. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) represented a prime example of this. The oil spill not only highlighted deficiencies of data and information on baseline conditions, but also represented an opportunity to learn more and develop better methods for the future. Deep-sea imaging platforms such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have been …

Evolving Time Surfaces And Tracking Mixing Indicators For Flow Visualization, Farid Harhad

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The complexity of large scale computational fluid dynamic simulations (CFD) demands powerful tools to investigate the numerical results. To analyze and understand these voluminous results, we need to visualize the 3D flow field. We chose to use a visualization technique called Time Surfaces. A time surface is a set of surfaces swept by an initial seed surface for a given number of timesteps. We use a front tracking approach where the points of an in initial surface are advanced in a Lagrangian fashion. To maintain a smooth time surface, our method requires surface refinement operations that either split triangle edges, …

Essays On Technology And International Trade, Xianliang Tian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The three essays contained in this dissertation are about technology and international trade. The first essay examines optimal intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in developing countries, while the other two estimate product quality at the sectoral level for a panel of twelve manufacturing sectors in twenty OECD countries using a novel approach and relate import competition and R&D investment to the growth of sectoral product quality. Chapter 2 is motivated by the work of Acemoglu and Zilibotti (2001), who argue that the technologies developed in the North are not appropriate for the needs of the South, due to a ``technology-skill …

More Than Met The Eye: Industry In The Antebellum Gulf South, Michael Sean Frawley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

1860 was a census year. Census marshals spread out across the United States to record many different aspects of American society, including information on population, agriculture and, most importantly for this study, manufacturing. The antebellum Gulf South has traditionally been viewed as a region with little industrial development. But, both contemporaries and historians based their view of industry in the Gulf South on what was recorded in the census schedules. Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas were portrayed in the census as areas with little industrial development. But, as many historians have discovered, there were errors in the 1860 census, especially errors …

Examination Of The Influence Of Instructional Coaching On Teacher And Principal Behavior, Attitudes, And The Resultant Learning Environment, Cynthia Pulkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few decades, stakeholders in education have placed significant emphasis on student achievement. Educational reform in the United States and internationally has set ambitious goals for student learning. Additionally, educational reform demands transformations in classroom practices for teachers to become agents of change. As such, teacher professionalism is at a threshold; moral purpose and change agentry are implicit in good teaching and effective change (Fullan, 1993). Systems do not change themselves; rather, they change through the actions of individuals and small groups (Fullan, 1993). In light of this notion, and in the face of educational reform and accountability, …

Vocabulary Matching : Potential For A Diagnostic Performance Indicator, Jodie Schraven

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Predictive validity was explored between vocabulary matching (VM) probe scores and the integrated Louisiana Education Assessment Program (iLEAP) social studies standardized subtest score for 224 sixth-grade students across demographic categories from one rural southeastern Louisiana school district. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) conducted in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, 2007) produced Pearson correlations between .51 and .70 for five benchmark probes for the entire sample. Predictive cutscores created using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses and a diagnostic accuracy application software program illustrated that VM cutscores did not correctly predict which students would pass or fail with enough …

A Retrospective Data Analysis In Veterans With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Using Wagner's Chronic Care Model To Explore Medication Adherence, Lori K. Rizzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background

Medication adherence in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) ranges between 7-72% . Increased healthcare utilization has been associated with non-adherence in IBD. Wagner's Chronic Care Model (CCM) posits that care coordination between primary and gastroenterology (GI) specialty care could improve adherence and healthcare utilization.

Methods

Guided by the CCM, a retrospective analysis was conducted in veterans with IBD to: describe medication adherence rates; describe healthcare utilization measured by ER visits and inpatient admissions; and describe care coordination measured by primary care and GI specialty care use. A secondary study aim was to explore the relationships between those key outcome variables …

Toward A Community-Centric Approach To Address School Discipline Disparity, Jacqueline Roebuck Sakho

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What you are engaging is more than a dissertation, but a dissertation in practice. It is a dissertation in community-centered practice for educational leadership. This is an agenda driven by the need to improve a problem of education practice that is a grave matter of social injustice.

This is a response to the persistent call for educational leadership to be community work, to be community-engaged, as community-centric leadership (centered in the community and central to the needs of the marginalized). The agenda is designed to deliver "site-specific" examples of problems of practice occurring in school settings. Site-specific examples are demonstrated …

Crystal Structure, Electronic Structure, And Physicochemical Characterization Of Diamond-Like Semiconductors Prepared By High-Temperature Solid-State Synthesis, Kimberly Ann Rosmus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diamond-like semiconductors (DLSs) have structures that are derived from cubic or hexagonal diamond. The compositions of DLSs are predictable and flexible allowing for properties to be tuned to target technological applications. The fields of photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, and nonlinear optics (NLO) are in need of materials with improved efficiencies for practical devices. Toward the goal of discovering advanced materials, systematic studies of DLSs allowing for the elucidation of structure-property and composition-property relationships were carried out. Here, in-depth structural, physicochemical, and computational studies have been performed on several DLSs to correlate the crystal and electronic structure with the physicochemical properties.

The DLSs, …

Nietzsche And Comedy: Provocative Laughter Amidst A Tragic Philosophy, Michael C. Rudar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friedrich Nietzsche is well known as the philosopher of the tragic view of life. Because we are part of the world of becoming the tragic view maintains that human beings are given over to certain limits that we cannot transcend. These include ourselves as finite beings, the recognition that noumenal knowledge is not possible and, because we are subject to the flux of existence, that life can be both painful and destructive. However, for Nietzsche the tragic view of life ought not result in humorless resignation. Just as he appeals to ancient Greek tragedy to demonstrate how the ancients remained …

Essays On Incentives, Economic Conditions, And Educational Choices, Gregory Brian Upton Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I offer two independent studies that each contribute to the literature on the college choices. The first paper examines the impact of Arizona’s merit based scholarship on college enrollment decisions. I find that both enrollment and tuition and fees increased at Arizona’s three large public institutions after the implementation of the AIMS scholarship. Enrollment effects are strongest among black and hispanic students. The second paper examines the impact of the recent 2009 housing crisis on college enrollment decisions. I find that large reductions in housing wealth lead to increases in public school enrollment and decreases in private …

University Education In A Postmodern Era: Building A Narrative Ethic Of Civil Communication In The Classroom, Jill Dishart Leontiadis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project responds to the question: How can educators quell communicative classroom incivilities (CI) that are currently harming teaching and learning? Sources of CI in a postmodern United States university classroom involve: student entitlement, lack of institutional support for a growing contingent faculty, and incongruent values about appropriate classroom communication. Unlike preceding historical time periods that maintained a shared communicative ethic stemming from antiquity to modernity, postmodernity presents an unprecedented challenge to teaching and learning where there can be no assumed shared ethic of appropriate communicative classroom communication. Postmodernity as an age of coexisting and contentious narratives, this project argues …

A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Post-Secondary Students' Long Bone Anatomy Knowledge Retention Through Constructivism And The Works Of Vesalius, Jennifer F. Tynes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding human long bone anatomy is an important concept to master for post-secondary students that major in medical fields since skeletal structures assist in locating a pulse, conducting clinical procedures, and identifying injection sites. Skeletal anatomy is also used to name structures associated with other organ systems like veins, arteries, and nerves. This explanatory mixed methods study explores post-secondary students’ knowledge retention and perception of various constructivist activities that utilize historical approaches based on the works of Vesalius, the Father of Modern Anatomy to teach long bone anatomy. Three treatment groups and one controlled comparison group (n= 92) were provided …

The Smartpen As A Mediational Tool For Learning Language And Content Areas: The Case Of English Learners In Mainstream Classrooms, Rae Mancilla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of mobile devices for supporting the instruction of second language (L2) learners is an emerging and rapidly growing area of inquiry. Previous research on mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has concentrated on the development of isolated linguistic skills through a common set of mobile technologies, such as PDAs and iPods, with limited attention given to alternative mobile devices or situations of L2 learning that require the simultaneous learning of language and academic content (Wu, Jim Wu, Chen, Kao, Lin, & Huang, 2012; Viberg & Grönlund, 2012; 2013). In particular, little is understood about how English Learners (ELs) educated …

Exploring The Implementation Of Reading Common Core State Standards In An Elementary School Setting, Lacy Alane Davis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the implementation process of five teachers and two administrators of the Common Core State Standards in Reading. This ethnographic case study investigates one groups’ attitudes and instructional practices. The researcher focused on three questions in order to provide an in-depth analysis of the data collected. These questions include: How do educators implement and develop reading curriculum from the Common Core State Standards? How does the mandated requirements of the CCSS impact the attitudes of reading teachers? How do primary grade teachers approach the CCSS in comparison to upper elementary teachers? The study followed an ethnographic analysis method …

The Philosophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination And The Soul's Logical Life, Stanton Marlan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alchemy has been viewed within the context of the history of natural science as a precursor to and a primitive form of chemistry. The enigmatic goal of the alchemical process, the Philosophers' Stone, is the focus of this dissertation. A natural scientific approach has shed little light on the mythical, esoteric and symbolic attributes of the Stone, which are intrinsic parts of the alchemical imagination. From the larger perspective of the history of the human spirit, these neglected aspects of the Philosophers' Stone can be seen as vital dimensions of an ancient religious and spiritual philosophy, the goal of which …

Essays On Poverty And Infant Health, Deokrye Baek

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I offer three independent studies that each contribute to the literature on poverty and infant health. The first essay examines whether access to public transportation reduces food insecurity in the U.S. Potential endogeneity problem is addressed with instruments of federal transportation funding. I provide new evidence of a negative causal effect of public transportation accessibility on food insecurity, which is more prominent among poor African-American households. The second essay examines the relation between savings of poor households and a welfare program called the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). Eligibility for SNAP benefits requires households to own limited …

The Effects Of Concurrent Driving And In-Vehicle Tasks: A Multivariate Statistical Analysis Of Driver Distraction In A High-Fidelity Driving Simulator, Julius A. Codjoe

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Distracted driving continues to remain a cause of concern for a number of bodies, including government agencies, traffic safety advocacy groups and law enforcement agencies, because of its traffic safety risks. The driving simulator continues to be popular with researchers in collecting data on performance variables that provide scientific knowledge of the effects of distracted driving. Several of these performance variables can be used to quantify a single distracting effect, resulting in a multivariate dataset. A literature review of related studies revealed that researchers overwhelmingly use univariate (single and multiple) tests to analyze the resulting dataset. Performing multiple univariate tests …

Thermodynamics Of Dna Binding By Dna Polymerase I And Reca Recombinase From Deinococcus Radiodurans, Jaycob Dalton Warfel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Deinococcus radiodurans has a significantly more robust DNA repair response than Escherichia coli, which helps it survive high amounts of oxidative stress. D. radiodurans DNA Polymerase I (DrPolI) and RecA protein (DrRecA) play essential parts in this DNA repair capability. Structural stability studies of the DrPolI large fragment (Klendra) and examination of the DNA binding characteristics of Klendra and RecA are presented herein. In the absence of cofactors DrRecA binds to dsDNA more than 20 fold tighter than EcRecA, and binds ssDNA up to 9 fold tighter. Binding to dsDNA in the absence of cofactor presumably monitors DNA end binding. …

Human Perception Of Piano Timbre Variations Relative To The Piano's Dynamic Range, Pitagoras Goncalves

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of brightness as it relates to loudness variations in piano tone. A single note was recorded with multiple intensities and used as the stimuli. I normalized all recorded notes to be perceived with the same volume and with the same duration. Consequently, the tone quality could be evaluated without the influence of loudness. Professional musicians and music students were invited to participate. I designed a mechanical apparatus, which produced a measured amount of force applied to the piano key. This device was used to record an intensity range of approximately …

Servant Leadershp Style Of Michigan Public School Superintendents And Meap Reading And Math Proficiency, Antoinette Pearson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between servant leadership style and Michigan public school superintendents as measured by student proficiency on the MEAP Math and Reading tests for grades 3rd – 8th.

The methodology for this qualitative study consisted of the Wong and Page’s (2003) Servant Leadership Profile Revised Instrument (SLPR). The survey consisted of a 62 item survey, using a 7- point Likert type scale, comprised of 10 subscales used to represent the presence of servant leadership characteristics. There were 7 additional items created by the researcher to gather demographic information. The participants were convenience …

Evaluation Of Tissue-Engineered Tendon Enthesis Polymer Constructs, Joshua A. Bundy Bs, Mary Beth Wade Phd, Hitomi Nakao Md, Phillip Mcclellan Phd, Qing Yu Phd, Robin Jacquet-Childs Ms, William J. Landis Phd

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Both scientists and clinicians have proposed tissue engineering as the future of medicine. The possibilities for tissue engineering, that is, fabrication of tissues and organs in the laboratory and their translation to patients, appear to be endless, and many believe that this new approach in medicine will result in abolishing many common ailments, injuries, and congenital defects. Injuries to a tendon enthesis, the normal tissue connection between tendon and bone, are of particular concern to clinicians because of their frequency and failure to repair as a result of surgery. While these injuries may not be life threatening, they can certainly …

Homoleptic Nickel(Ii) Complexes Of Redox-Tunable Pincer-Type Ligands, Jeewantha S. Hewage, Sarath Wanniarachchi, Tyler James Morin, Brendan J Liddle, Megan Banaszynski, Sergey V. Lindeman, Brian Bennett, James R. Gardinier

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

Different synthetic methods have been developed to prepare eight new redox-active pincer-type ligands, H(X,Y), that have pyrazol-1-yl flanking donors attached to an ortho-position of each ring of a diarylamine anchor and that have different groups, X and Y, at the para-aryl positions. Together with four previously known H(X,Y) ligands, a series of 12 Ni(X,Y)₂ complexes were prepared in high yields by a simple one-pot reaction. Six of the 12 derivatives were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which showed tetragonally distorted hexacoordinate nickel(II) centers. The nickel(II) complexes exhibit two quasi-reversible one-electron oxidation waves in their cyclic voltammograms, with …

The Impact Of Patient–Provider Communication And Language Spoken On Adequacy Of Depression Treatment For U.S. Women, Abiola O. Keller, Ronald Gangnon, Whitney P. Witt

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Many women with depression are untreated or undertreated for their condition. The quality of patient–provider communication may impact the receipt of depression treatment. We examine the relationship between patient–provider communication and receipt of adequate treatment for depression among women. The study sample consisted of women with depression who visited a provider in the previous 12 months in the 2002–2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (N = 3,179). Multivariate regression was used to examine the independent contribution of sociodemographic characteristics, health care factors, patient–provider communication, and respondent language on depression treatment status (none, some, adequate). We found that more than one-third of …