Digital Commons Network^™

Characterization Of Adaptive Hyperplasia Of The Intestines Following Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass And Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy In Rats, Michael Brodie Mumphrey

LSU Master's Theses

Bariatric surgery is currently the only treatment for obesity that is effective in both the short and long term. Despite this, little is known about the mechanisms through which these surgeries act. While no single critical system has yet been identified, a number of major hypotheses have been proposed. One hypothesis is that adaptive hyperplasia of the intestines following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery is required in order to receive the beneficial effects of the surgery. In this thesis I characterized the adaptive response of the intestines following RYGB and showed that significant hyperplasia occurs in the intestinal mucosa. In …

Does The Bicycle Detector Symbol Change Cyclist Queuing Position At Signalized Intersections?, Stefan W. Bussey, Christopher M. Monsere, Peter Koonce

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Manual of Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) includes a bicycle detector pavement marking (Section 9C-05) and accompanying explanatory sign (R10-22) which may encourage cyclists to position themselves over detection at traffic signals. This paper presents the results of an observational and survey- based study evaluating the bicycle detector marking. Three minor actuated approaches at signalized intersections with significant bicycle volumes and without bicycle detector markings were selected for treatment. Three configurations were compared: 1) bicycle detector marking only 2) bicycle detector marking with the R10-22 explanatory sign, and 3) an alternative bicycle detector installed over a contrasting green rectangle. Analysis …

Supply Chain Integration Configurations: Process Structure And Product Newness, Christos Tsinopoulos, Carlos Mena

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the configurations of supply chain integration.

Design/methodology/approach – The authors use qualitative data from manufacturers shortlisted for the UK’s Manufacturing Excellence awards over three years. Detailed processes and policies of 68 manufacturers are analysed.

Findings – Process structure and product newness require different supply chain configurations, which change as products mature. Supply chain integration is dynamic, and the extent of collaboration between suppliers and customers will be different at different moments in time. The authors define and discuss four key supply chain configurations: customised; ramp-up; recurring; coordinated.

Research limitations/implications – …

Different Approaches To Investigatory Journalism In The Muckraking Era, Tim Vest Klein

LSU Master's Theses

The muckraking era is seen as a golden age of investigatory journalism. This thesis argues that within the muckraking era, there were a number of distinct types of journalism. To understand the muckrakers, we must recognize these different types of investigatory journalism and the potential influence the different types of storytelling can have on public opinion. Fourteen of the preeminent muckrakers are analyzed based on their most important investigatory journalism articles

Near Total Resonant Light Absorption In A Graphene Monolayer At Multiple Tunable Wavelengths With Multilayer Structures, Iman Zand

LSU Master's Theses

Graphene could be potentially important for a broad range of photonic and optoelectronic applications. For such graphene-based applications it is critical to enhance the absorption of light in graphene monolayers in order to achieve near total absorption. Several structures have been proposed to enhance light absorption in graphene at visible and infrared wavelengths such as one-dimensional Fabry-Perot cavity structures, and photonic crystal slabs. Fabry-Perot cavity structures, which employ periodic Bragg mirrors, can lead to near total light absorption on resonance. However, such structures cannot achieve near complete absorption in graphene at multiple closely-spaced tunable wavelengths, which is potentially important for …

New Orleans, A City Of Layers Preventing Extinction, William Francis Reinhardt

LSU Master's Theses

Preventing the loss of New Orleans occupies the minds of many designers in Louisiana. Great efforts to preserve the city are targeting the slow return to naturalization of the engineered river to find a new balance determined by plan formulators of the Federal government. Throughout history, many experimental movements have been born from the landscape architecture practice, and may be key to the future of New Orleans. Separate chapters are devoted towards the movements created by William Kent, Fletcher Steele, and Jens Jensen to explore as inspiration to be applied to coastal living. Finally, the future of New Orleans is …

Social Anxiety And Cannabis-Related Impairment: The Roles Of Anxiety Sensitivity And Intolerance Of Uncertainty, Emily Robin Jeffries

LSU Master's Theses

Cannabis use is associated with many negative consequences. Identification of factors associated with cannabis could inform prevention and treatment efforts. Social anxiety appears to be one risk factor for cannabis-related problems. Thus, it is important to identify malleable cognitive vulnerability factors that may play a role in the social anxiety-cannabis problems relationship. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations and is composed of three subfacets: physical, cognitive, and social concerns. AS is associated with greater social anxiety and may play a role in cannabis-related impairment. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) refers to a tendency to respond negatively to …

Impact Of Reduced Rates Of Hormonal Herbicides Aon Sweetpotato (Ipomoea Batatas Lam.) Growth And Development, Thomas Michael Batts

LSU Master's Theses

Studies evaluated impact of dicamba, 2,4-D, and glyphosate at reduced rates to sweetpotato at root formation (RF) and development (RD) growth stages. For DGA salt of dicamba at RF, glyphosate plus dicamba at 1/10x reduced storage root number 42%, canner grade yield 33%, and total yield 36%. With choline salt of 2,4-D at RF, storage root number compared to the non-treated (6.5) was reduced with glyphosate alone at 1/100x (5.1), 2,4-D alone at 1/250x (5.1), and glyphosate plus 2,4-D applied at 1/10 (4.2) and 1/1000x (5). Canner yield was reduced 32% with glyphosate alone 1/10x, 26 and 27% with 2,4-D …

Space Cops And Cyber Cowboys: An Institutional Comparison Of The Governance Of Space Exploration And The Internet, James Luther Gilley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A growing concern for human society is the question of technology, how they are to be used and how can they best be governed. The very question of whether technology is governable remains for the most part unexplored. This work will seek to examine these important questions. By utilizing a historical institutional perspective, two case studies of the governance of technologies that have emerged in the last century will be explored. Space Exploration technologies and the advanced networking of computers known as the Internet will serve as the case to illuminate the question of governing technology. Deep qualitative functional analysis …

Community Assessment Of African Maternal Health In The Portland Region: Drivers For Community, Health Services And Institutional Change, Marie-Elena Reyes, Ann Curry-Stevens

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

This community needs assessment surfaces a range of health priorities faced by the African community. While the scope of the study is limited by time and resources, and strategically focused on maternal health, there are a wider set of upstream and downstream health challenges that impede the community’s wellbeing. We encourage policy makers to remember these whenever health policies, and in fact all manner of policies and programs tied to the social determinants of health, are being considered.

The main body of this report contains the insights of the 56 African women who participated in six focus groups. Their voices …

Child And Maternal Health In The Slavic Community: Insights On Assets And Priorities, Marie-Elena Reyes, Ann Curry-Stevens

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

The Slavic community’s health is impacted by race and ethnicity, and also by issues that flow from being a newcomer community, and also from their status as refugees. They also bring to the U.S.A. cultural orientation that is collectivist, and shared experiences of persecution and deep distrust of the government. As is detailed in this report, these experiences have an impact on health and wellbeing, and simultaneously have a detrimental effect on the economic stature of the community.

This Community Needs Assessment on the Health of Slavic Children (ages 0-5 years) was conducted to produce a “needs assessment” report outlining …

The Relationship Between Pinterest Use And Body Dissatisfaction, Krystal Badillo

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Natural Order: The Case For Applying Biomimetic Design Principles To Mass Communication Technology Design, William Glass

LSU Master's Theses

In this paper I tested the effectiveness of a biomimetically designed classifier algorithm in an effort to support a new argument for the systemic application of biomimetic design principles to mass communication technology. To supplement the purely system-level test, I conducted a series of interviews with interface-level designers regarding their own design strategies, generally accepted design strategies in the field of mass communication technology design, new design strategies, and the landscape of the field in general. The findings of my test lend strong credence to biomimicry's potential systemic contribution to mass communication technology design, and the tone of the interview …

Writing In The Geometry Classroom, Amy Lynn Rome

LSU Master's Theses

This study sought a time-efficient way to implement writing in ninth-grade Geometry. Students wrote responses to five expository writing prompts spread out over the spring semester of the 2014-2015 school year. Students’ first attempts were graded and returned to them along with feedback in the form of a teacher-written exemplar. Students rewrote assignments to improve their grades. All first and second attempts were collected and evaluated. We found that students were more successful after seeing the exemplar. Moreover, on assignments occurring later in the semester, more students were able to score in the top categories of the writing assignments on …

An Efficient Fault Location Algorithm For Shipboard Power Systems, Pedram Jahanmard

LSU Master's Theses

The Shipboard Power System (SPS) supply energy to sophisticated systems for navigation, communication, weapons, and operation. Due to the ship’s critical operating condition, faults can be very detrimental. Faults in the SPS may happen because of failure of electrical components or by damages that happen during a battle. These faults may interrupt the paths for supplying energy to loads that are not damaged. To enhance survivability of naval ships, SPS requires an efficient fault location algorithm in order to locate and clear the fault as well as provide an alternative path to supply energy to the loads that are not …

Stress In Allied Healthcare Students, Amy Fitzsimmons

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

A Vocal Autobiography : Pedagogical Considerations And Personal Review Of Beginning Through Advanced Voice Lessons, Jacy Walker

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Language Processing And The Artificial Mind: Teaching Code Literacy In The Humanities, Jerry Scott Weltman

LSU Master's Theses

Humanities majors often find themselves in jobs where they either manage programmers or work with them in close collaboration. These interactions often pose difficulties because specialists in literature, history, philosophy, and so on are not usually "code literate." They do not understand what tasks computers are best suited to, or how programmers solve problems. Learning code literacy would be a great benefit to humanities majors, but the traditional computer science curriculum is heavily math oriented, and students outside of science and technology majors are often math averse. Yet they are often interested in language, linguistics, and science fiction. This thesis …

Evolution And Usage Of The Portal Data Archive: 10-Year Retrospective, Kristin A. Tufte, Robert Bertini, Morgan Harvey

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Portal transportation data archive (http://portal.its.pdx.edu/) was begun in June 2004 in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Transportation, with a single data source: freeway loop detector data. In 10 years, Portal has grown to contain approximately 3 TB of transportation-related data from a wide variety of systems and sources, including freeway data, arterial signal data, travel times from Bluetooth detection systems, transit data, and bicycle count data. Over its 10-year existence, Portal has expanded both in the type of data that it receives and in the geographic regions from which it gets data. This paper discusses the …

A Study Of After-School And Summer Programs: The Effectiveness Of Law-Related Youth Educational Programs For Adolescents In Marginalized Communities, Pamela Anne Labbe

LSU Master's Theses

It was the interest of this project to determine if law-related educational activities – when incorporated into after-school and summer programs that are rooted in marginalized communities – were effective when applied to adolescent residents. The current study is informed by theories of place, social class, social disorganization and juvenile delinquency. Using ethnographical methods, this project followed after-school and summer programs developed for youth in a South Louisiana black community characterized by pockets of poverty, blight and disorder. Through qualitative data analysis, the themes of how community operated in the target neighborhoods, how community members responded to neighborhood disorder and …

A Test Of General Strain Theory: Suicidal Ideation And Attempt Among Adolescents In Istanbul, Turkey, Muhammed Yildiz

LSU Master's Theses

Previous suicidal ideation and attempt are the strongest predictors of subsequent completed suicide, which is the second leading cause of death among youth today. Research shows that the risk factors for adolescent suicidal behaviors can be grouped into demographic, social, and psychological categories, so a broad theoretical framework is needed to examine the range of these factors’ effects. In this study, Agnew’s general strain theory is tested to explain those suicidal behaviors among adolescents in Istanbul, Turkey. Agnew argued that specific strains were more likely to lead to deviance, therefore a corresponding set of strains are selected. He also argued …

Hybridization And Population Structure Of Western Gulf Coast Mottled Ducks, Robert Joseph Ford

LSU Master's Theses

Rates of hybridization between species that do not normally interbreed have increased due to human impacts on natural environments, such as habitat alteration or introductions of non-native species. Human-induced hybridization can be detrimental to wildlife and contribute to species extinctions. In Florida, feral Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) hybridize with endemic Mottled Ducks (A. fulvigula) at rates close to 9%. However, levels of hybridization between these two species have not been extensively examined in the western Gulf Coast (from Alabama to northern Mexico) despite the potential impact on the Mottled Duck lineage. In this study, I examined the degree of hybridization between …

The Unattainable Ideal: Walter Lippmann And The Limits Of The Press And Public Opinion, Amy Solomon Whitehead

LSU Master's Theses

Walter Lippmann’s classic work, Public Opinion, crystallized thinking about the dynamic relationship between the press and public opinion, and clarified the role of each in democracy. Evaluations of that book, however, tend to be one-dimensional. Public Opinion captured just one iteration of his thinking on the subject, not his final statement on the matter. A comprehensive survey of his writing reveals Lippmann’s views on the press and public opinion were not static, yet the attention Public Opinion receives continues to overshadow his other works; his evolving views on the press and public opinion are rarely mentioned. Although his views shifted …

The Implementation Of Two Cooperative Learning Structures, Rally Coach And Teams-Games-Tournaments, In High School Chemistry Courses, Joanna Miketinas Stewart

LSU Master's Theses

To combat the obstacles that students experience in chemistry, two cooperative learning strategies, Rally Coach and Teams-Games-Tournaments, were implemented in five chemistry courses at East Ascension High School. Rally Coach called for two students to work as a pair and peer tutor to successfully complete practice problems for each lesson. Teams-Games-Tournaments required students to work in groups of four to complete practice problems and compete for team points as a review. Every student experienced both learning strategies. A comparison was made to see which cooperative learning strategy better helped student performance, including comparisons of effects on different student demographics and …

A Distributed Diffusion-Driven Algorithm For Load Balancing In An Electrical Power Grid, Isaac Abhilash Ayyala

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis we propose a distributed algorithm, based on diffusion, to balance loads on an electrical power grid, while maintaining stable operation (system’s ability to maintain bus voltages within preset bounds). This algorithm, called the Diffusion-driven Distributed Load Balancing (DDLB) algorithm, is implemented on the OMNET++ Discrete Event Simulator and the response of the physical grid is simulated on a load flow program, which together simulate a deployment of the DDLB algorithm on the grid. The electrical grid is represented as a graph whose nodes are buses and whose edges are power lines connecting buses. Each node (except the …

Evidence Of Pedagogical Content Knowledge Among High School Band Directors And University Applied Music Teachers In The Context Of Student Self-Evaluation, Danielle Jeanette Emerich

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to seek evidence of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in high school band directors’ (generalists) and applied music teachers’ (specialists) evaluations of musical performance; (b) explore the similarities and differences between generalists’ and specialists’ perspectives on PCK; and (c) compare the evidences of PCK to student musicians’ self-evaluations of same performances. A basic interpretive qualitative approach with data collected through a think-aloud procedure applied to evaluation of solo music performance videos revealed four themes indicative of PCK—Aural Concept, Conveying Information, Effecting Change, and Uncertainty—and attendant sub-themes. Generalists and specialists provided a rich trove …

Multiscale Modeling Of Particle Transport In Petroleum Reservoirs, Layne Bryan French

LSU Master's Theses

Modeling subsurface particle transport and retention is important for many processes, including sand production, fines migration, and nanoparticle injection. In this study, a pore-scale particle plugging simulator is concurrently coupled with a streamline reservoir simulator to predict the behavior of particles in the subsurface. The coupled simulators march forward in time together. The automated communication between the two models enables the prediction of spatially and time dependent parameters that control the particle transport process. At each time step, the reservoir simulator provides the inlet velocity and particle concentration of the fluid suspension to the pore-scale model which outputs the permeability, …

In The Shadow Of Big Oil A Media Content Analysis Of The 'Big Oil' Stigma, Camille Nicole Ivy-O'Donnell

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined media frames newspapers use in their coverage of the oil and gas industry. A content analysis was conducted to analyze if the oil and gas industry was portrayed positively or negatively in Louisiana newspapers compared to Texas newspapers and how the coverage between states differs. This comprehensive content analysis of print media coverage analyzed newspaper articles and provided a detailed explanation of results about how the oil and gas industry was portrayed over a five-year period of time as compared to other studies, which only analyzed the industry during a crisis period. Through categorization of the frames …

Site-Specific Habitat And Landscape Associations Of Rusty Blackbirds Wintering In Louisiana, Sinead Mary Borchert

LSU Master's Theses

The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) has gained notoriety in recent years as one of the fastest declining North American bird species, with a global population loss of as much as 95%. Causes of the decline are not completely understood, but the high rate of forested wetland change in the southeastern United States suggests that wintering habitat degradation may be a primary driver. To better inform management on critical wintering grounds, I surveyed 68 sites in Louisiana where Rusty Blackbirds had been known to occur to address how occupancy changes with habitat type and colonization and extinction rates vary with ground …

Correcting The Conversation: An Argument For A Public Health Perspective Approach To University Timely Warnings About Sexual Assault, Ashley Hesson

LSU Master's Theses

Reports of sexual violence should be written from a public health perspective approach to appropriately frame the occurrence and encourage accurate understandings of sexual assault as a larger societal issue. This research consists of two studies to investigate the way universities do (and should) communicate about sexual violence with their students. For Study 1, interviews were conducted with a random sample of public state Universities regarding their emergency alert processes and template usage to determine current emergency communication practices. The majority of universities contacted do not have a template or best practice guidelines in place for creating timely warnings. For …