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 23011 - 23040 of 23344

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Evaluation Of Truck Signal Priority At N Columbia Blvd And Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Intersection: Vissim Micro Simulation Analysis Of Truck Signal Priority, Maisha Mahmud Jan 2014

Evaluation Of Truck Signal Priority At N Columbia Blvd And Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Intersection: Vissim Micro Simulation Analysis Of Truck Signal Priority, Maisha Mahmud

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Given the importance of over growing freight transportation system worldwide, engineers and planners are faced with the challenge of improving freight service in urban area using low cost measure. Truck Signal Priority is one of the strategy that can be used to improve operational efficiency with enhance safety benefits (red light running) of freight service, without major capital investment. In light to this interest this study focus on evaluating the impacts of freight signal priority on a high truck density intersection like N Columbia Blvd and NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Using a simulation tool, VISSIM, these impacts were …

Go to article

Educational Aspirations Of Middle And High School Students : A Focus On Turkish - American Youth, Dilek Atmaca Suslu Jan 2014

Educational Aspirations Of Middle And High School Students : A Focus On Turkish - American Youth, Dilek Atmaca Suslu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed -methods study was to investigate the educational aspirations of Turkish-American middle and high school students. For comparison purposes students from other ethnic groups were also included in the study. Factors related to family, school and the individual student were examined through survey data and interviews. In addition, possible barriers to educational goals, preferred area of study, and perceived parent support were explored. Interview with Turkish-American parents revealed types of parental supports and insights about their understanding of children’s experiences and performance. The results of the ordinal regression analyses revealed that parents’ expectations and school achievement …

Go to article

Robotics And Inquiry: Addressing The Impact On Student Understanding Of Physics Concepts (Force And Motion) From Select Rural Louisiana Elementary Students Through Robotics Instruction Immersed Within The 5e Learning Cycle Model, Bianca Rodrigue Deliberto Jan 2014

Robotics And Inquiry: Addressing The Impact On Student Understanding Of Physics Concepts (Force And Motion) From Select Rural Louisiana Elementary Students Through Robotics Instruction Immersed Within The 5e Learning Cycle Model, Bianca Rodrigue Deliberto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This embedded mixed methods study investigates the development of rural elementary students’ conceptual understanding of force and motion as a result of the implementation of robotics instruction immersed within a 5E Learning Cycle Model lessons. Three treatment groups and one controlled comparison group (n=96) participated in pretests and posttests (Science Series Assessment 1, Russell and McGuigan, 2001) the day the activities were completed as well as one week after the completion of the treatment, 5E Learning Cycle Model lessons and draw and tell interviews. Prior to the intervention, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills stanine scores were grouped into three …

Go to article

A Longitudinal Model Of Posttraumatic Stress And Posttraumatic Growth In Adults Affected By Hurricane Katrina, Mark Allen Schexnaildre Jan 2014

A Longitudinal Model Of Posttraumatic Stress And Posttraumatic Growth In Adults Affected By Hurricane Katrina, Mark Allen Schexnaildre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous studies have documented the negative psychological outcomes in individuals who experienced Hurricane Katrina. However, little is known about the long-term adjustment of hurricane-exposed individuals, especially with regard to positive outcomes, in the years after the storm. Specifically, few studies have measured posttraumatic growth (PTG), which refers to positive psychological change achieved by individuals who struggled with a traumatic experience. In their model of PTG, Tedeschi and Calhoun theorize that a certain level of trauma-related psychological distress and disruption is necessary for PTG to develop. The current study attempted to test the PTG model with a longitudinal path analysis of …

Go to article

Giftedness And Overexcitability : Investigating The Evidence, Daniel Lawrence Winkler Jan 2014

Giftedness And Overexcitability : Investigating The Evidence, Daniel Lawrence Winkler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many scholars of gifted education have often argued and believed that gifted individuals are neurologically overexcitable while non-gifted persons are not (Chang & Kuo, 2013; Harrison & Haneghan, 2011; Piechowski, 1979, 2006; Silverman, 2000a; Siu, 2010; Tieso, 2007a). This means that gifted persons are more sensitive, intuitive, empathic, and physically and emotionally aware. Some scholars have suggested that this significant degree of overexcitability may even mean that gifted persons are morally superior to non-gifted persons (Silverman, 1994). Over the past thirty years, this relationship between overexcitability (OE) and giftedness has become increasingly popular, as many websites, textbooks, and researchers have …

Go to article

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Selected Birth Defects And Risk Factors In The Baton Rouge, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, Aimee H. Moles Jan 2014

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Selected Birth Defects And Risk Factors In The Baton Rouge, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, Aimee H. Moles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

About three percent of all infants are born with a congenital defect each year ranging from minor variants to life threatening abnormalities. The investigation and treatment of these problems is both costly and emotionally trying for all involved. Finding their origins is a complex process. Birth defects create the ultimate mystery in terms of trying to tease out the various influences created by the environment of both the infant and the mother. Two genetically different individuals are simultaneously affected both by their individual makeup and by the outside world impacting the air they breathe, the food they eat, and the …

Go to article

Fixed-Time Schedule Effects On Participant Responding: An Evaluation Of Similar Vs. Dissimilar Schedule Programs Using A Group Design Approach, Jessica Pearl Alvarez Jan 2014

Fixed-Time Schedule Effects On Participant Responding: An Evaluation Of Similar Vs. Dissimilar Schedule Programs Using A Group Design Approach, Jessica Pearl Alvarez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We evaluated the effectiveness of fixed-time (FT) schedules of reinforcement at eliminating participant’s responding using a between-subjects group design. Participants experienced one of three conditions; a FT leaner schedule, a FT yoked schedule, or a FT denser schedule using a computerized experimental program. Dependent variables of interest are the total number of responses made during the fixed-time reinforcement phase and the latency until the participant met extinction or exit criteria.

Go to article

Recalled Bullying: Development Of A Measure To Identify Childhood Victims And Perpetrators By Adults, Melissa Munson Jan 2014

Recalled Bullying: Development Of A Measure To Identify Childhood Victims And Perpetrators By Adults, Melissa Munson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of recalled childhood bullying by adults who were either victims or perpetrators of this behavior. In order to accomplish this, a measure of childhood bullying, the Peer Interactions in Primary School (PIPS) Questionnaire, was modified into a retrospective measure in order to quantify recollections of childhood bullying by adults. Specifically, the modified PIPS (PIPS-R) was created to identify adults who identified themselves as bullies, victims, or bully-victims during their childhood or who do not recall having been a bully or a victim. Eight hundred and twelve undergraduate college …

Go to article

Performing Joseph Cornell's Chronotopes Of Assemblage, Sarah Kathryn Jackson Jan 2014

Performing Joseph Cornell's Chronotopes Of Assemblage, Sarah Kathryn Jackson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this project I study Joseph Cornell’s practices of art-making through a performative lens. Rather than focusing on his finished products, I am interested in his embodied processes of assemblage. I call on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the chronotope to articulate how time and space operate within Cornell’s finished works and his processes of assemblage art. In so doing, I conceptualize Cornell’s textual chronotope, métaphysique d’éphemera or “everyday magic,” as well as his chronotopes of assemblage: wandering, archiving, collaging, and assembling. I move from the finished work to the contingencies and strategies of the performance of assemblage. This project is …

Go to article

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

Development Of A Food Preference Survey, Amber Bourgeois Mcguerty Jan 2014

Development Of A Food Preference Survey, Amber Bourgeois Mcguerty

LSU Master's Theses

This study developed a food preference survey to estimate adolescents’ willingness to consume energy-dense foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. Five focus group interviews with 13 to 19 year-old students were conducted, and items representing energy-dense foods, energy-dilute foods, sweetened beverages, and unsweetened beverages were determined (5 per category). The final survey was administered to 234 students. Willingness to consume items was assessed using a 7-point Likert Scale (1, representing “Extremely Unwilling” to 7, indicating “Extremely Willing”). Exploratory Factor Analysis using Principal Axis factoring with a Promax (oblique) rotation revealed two factors. Factor one included French fries, Kool-Aid, glazed donuts, cookies, lemonade, …

Go to article

What To Expect When You're Expecting: Gaps In Utility Perceptions Of The Online Adult Learner, Byron Shane Lowery Jan 2014

What To Expect When You're Expecting: Gaps In Utility Perceptions Of The Online Adult Learner, Byron Shane Lowery

LSU Master's Theses

The adult learner can be defined as someone who, while enrolled in an academic institution, is involved in other major life responsibilities such as work or family obligations. Recently, there has been an increase in the number working adults pursuing a college education. However, empirical research regarding the job-related utility of obtaining this education is limited. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to examine not only the expectations regarding how a degree may be useful for career advancement, but the work and life outcomes associated with obtaining the degree as well. This study examined job-related utility perceptions for obtaining an …

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

Battered Men And Our Changing Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence, Ashley Marie Perry Jan 2014

Battered Men And Our Changing Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence, Ashley Marie Perry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2009) estimates that 4.8 million women are victims of intimate partner assault and rape every year. Receiving far less attention in the intimate partner violence literature, however, are studies of the 2.9 million male victims of this type of abuse (CDC 2009). Here I seek to explore this evolving issue of intimate partner violence, and determine to what extent the situations of male victims imitate the abundant body of literature on male violence against women. Using Google’s NGram word corpus (Michel et al. 2010), I examine important changes over time in the usage of …

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

Inattentional Blindness And Auditory Attention: Effects Of Cognitive Load On Visual Awareness, Dillon James Cornett Jan 2014

Inattentional Blindness And Auditory Attention: Effects Of Cognitive Load On Visual Awareness, Dillon James Cornett

LSU Master's Theses

The current study investigated the effects of cognitive load, in the presence or absence of distractors, during a dynamic inattentional blindness (IB) task on IB rate. IB is a phenomenon where one fails to notice an unexpected object (UEO) or event (UEE) that is in full view while attention is occupied. In the present study, the presence of distractors was manipulated (present/absent) to investigate the effects of selective attention in inattentional blindness when inhibition of distractors is required or not required. Undergraduates at Louisiana State University completed a visual task while listening to music embedded with sine wave tones (low …

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

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

Split-Intransitivity In Swahili And Hittite: An Optimality-Theoretic Perspective, Tina M. Villa Jan 2014

Split-Intransitivity In Swahili And Hittite: An Optimality-Theoretic Perspective, Tina M. Villa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Much research on unaccusativity has been done over the past three-and-a-half decades since the formulation of the Unaccusative Hypothesis (Perlmutter 1978). Researchers have examined the semantics of intransitive verbs as well as their syntax to account for the classification of a verb as either unaccusative or unergative; however, for the most part, a similar conclusion across researchers has been reached that neither the semantics of the verb nor the syntactic structure is sufficient by itself to satisfy certain diagnostics of unaccusativity (Legendre and Sorace 2003). Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995) argue that the syntactic classification of all verbs is semantically …

Go to article

Education Ain't Black: The Disidentification Of African American Students, Erica Lynette James Jan 2014

Education Ain't Black: The Disidentification Of African American Students, Erica Lynette James

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, I will discuss the influence of education on the identity formation of African American students. Based on the scholarly literature in education theory, I will argue in Bourdieuan theory education, formal education, fails to accommodate the specific needs of African American students because education influences African American students to develop constructions of “whiteness" that education reinforces. As education attempts to uphold the “status quo” of American society, education simultaneously forces African American students to question the relevance of education. In questioning the relevance of education through high-achieving African American students’ use of language and pursuit of academic …

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

Emerging Justifications For Placebic Treatment, Tejas Pulisetty Jan 2014

Emerging Justifications For Placebic Treatment, Tejas Pulisetty

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

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

More Than Met The Eye: Industry In The Antebellum Gulf South, Michael Sean Frawley Jan 2014

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 …

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

Vocabulary Matching : Potential For A Diagnostic Performance Indicator, Jodie Schraven Jan 2014

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 …

Go to article

Perceptions Of Collegiate And Professional Black Male Athletes Based On The Media, Dionell Mcneal Jan 2014

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 …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last