Digital Commons Network^™

From Prairienet To The Cdi: Writing The History, Sally Van Der Graaff

Masters Theses

This paper, the companion to the written work I completed for the Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI) at the University of Illinois, will provide the background of the project and describe my involvement in its production. The project itself is a comprehensive history of the center's work in the field of information access, with particular emphasis on the digital divide. Insofar as gaining an understanding of digital divide theory was a necessary precursor to researching and writing this history, the companion paper will begin with an exploration of the literature on the digital divide debate and proceed with an analysis …

Unusual Unanimity And The Ongoing Debate On The Meaning Of Words: The Labor And Employment Decisions From The Supreme Court's 2013-14 Term, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

During its 2013-14 term, the Supreme Court focused on labor relations, wage and hour law, whistleblowing, and employee benefits in several cases. The Court also addressed constitutional issues concerning the First Amendment, the Recess Appointments Clause, and affirmative action. The Court did not decide any employment discrimination cases during the term. Even without employment discrimination cases, the 2013-2014 term provided ten key cases of importance to labor and employment lawyers. Three of these cases involved distinctly different matters of concern for organized labor. Two cases addressed employee whistleblowing matters. Three cases focused on employee benefits. Two cases addressed issues tangentially-related …

The Blinding Color Of Race: Elections And Democracy In The Post-Shelby County Era, Sahar F. Aziz

Faculty Scholarship

Decades after passage of the historic Voting Rights Act, so much has changed. And yet, so much remains the same.

Racial minorities are registering to vote and turning out at the ballot box in record numbers. However, they remain under-represented in local elected positions and virtually excluded from national and state political office. Latinos, for example, are the largest racial minority in the U.S. at approximately 17% of the population, but only 3.3% of elected offices are held by Latinos. In states that until recently were covered by the Voting Rights Act (VRA), such as Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, …

Sub-Marine Sediment Instability Near Southwest Pass Of The Mississippi River: Evidence Of Mass Movements From Raciochemistry And Other Proxies, Gregory Paul Keller

LSU Master's Theses

Mass wasting events are an important geomorphic control on the Mississippi River Delta Front. Short multicores (<50cm) and longer gravity cores (<3m) were collected seaward of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River Delta and were analyzed to assess the frequency, extent, and potential causes of submarine mass wasting events. Cores were analyzed for radionuclide activity, grain size, and density at 2cm resolution. Short-term sedimentation rates calculated from 7-Be are 2-16cm/y, while longer-term accumulation from 210-Pb are only 1.3-7.3 cm/y. In most cores, 210-Pb activity steadily decreases downcore without displaying a “stairstep” nature. However, seven cores have layers of low 210-Pb activity stratigraphically above layers with higher activity. In a gravity core from a mudflow gully, 210-Pb steadily decreases for the upper 70 cm before stabilizing for the remaining 150 cm. Clay content generally ranges between 25-40% and sand ranges between 5-15% with silt making up the rest of each sample. Sediment accumulation rates derived from 210-Pb in the short cores indicate that proximity to the river mouth has stronger influence than depositional environment (mudflow gully, depositional lobe, prodelta). This finding may be explained by rapid sedimentation rates coupled with a reduced tropical cyclone activity over the delta in the last seven years (2006-2013) which is a known cause of mass wasting events. The regions of decreased 210-Pb activity may be evidence of scavenging effects of plume sedimentation because they do not correspond with decreases in clay fraction. The layer of homogenized activity below 70cm in the gully core corresponds with a layer of decreased density. This layer occurs at a depth equivalent to 9-18 years, indicating mixing on a decadal scale from mudflows. These results may be explained by a lack of recent mass failures corresponding with lulls in tropical cyclone activity over the delta, preceded by a period of more active hurricane-driven mudflow activity.

'Of Whims And Fancies': A Study Of English Recusants Under Elizabeth, 1570-1595, Michael David Lane

LSU Master's Theses

The following study examines the political, economic, social, and religious lives of a variety of lay Catholic recusants in the context of their relationship with the monarch and royal government. The thrust of this thesis is to explore how this relationship affected both the individuals and the continued existence and form of Catholicism in a Protestant country. The legislation and political maneuverings against English Catholics were not a unique experience for a minority faith during the 16th and 17th centuries. During Elizabeth’s reign, English Catholics faced inconsistent legislation, outright persecution, and disinterested government action against the practice of the Catholic …

Genetic And Transcriptomic Analyses Of The Rice Pathogenic Bacterium, Burkholderia Glumae, Reveal The Important Roles Of The Regulatory Gene, Tepr, For Bacterial Survival In Environmental Stresses, Jingyu Peng

LSU Master's Theses

Burkholderia glumae causes bacterial panicle blight in rice by producing the phytotoxin, toxoflavin, as a major virulence factor. Production of toxoflavin is negatively regulated by tepR, which encodes a sigma 54-dependent response regulator. In order to gain insights into the comprehensive biological functions of tepR, the genome-wide transcriptional profile dependent on tepR was analyzed through comparative transcriptome analysis between a tepR defective mutant and the wild-type strain, resulting in the identification of 238 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis indicated that genes involved in flagella assembly and stress response were highly enriched in tepR defective strain. Kyoto …

The Effects Of Emotion And Action On Binding In Memory, Kacie Mennie

LSU Master's Theses

The ability to successfully bind features and objects at different levels of abstraction is important for everyday functioning of memory. The current study examined how actions and emotional arousal influence item recognition and between-item binding across two experiments. According to the Arousal-Biased Competition Theory (ABC; Mather and Sutherland, 2011), binding can be enhanced by emotional arousal, depending upon what is the focus of attention within a scene. In the current study, participants viewed a series of slides, each of which depicted a person performing an action with an object, as well as an object that is not interacted with. All …

Motion Analysis Of Biotin Carboxylase-Driven Robotic Nano-Swimmers, Sima Hannani

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to experimentally validate the hypothesis that the enzyme biotin carboxylase (BC) can behave as a bimolecular motor and propel nano-scale particles in fluidic environments. This hypothesis was proposed in the M.S. thesis “Toward the Development of Biotin Carboxylase Driven Robotic Nano-swimmer” by Rachel Yates (Yates, 2012). In (Yates, 2012), the nano-particle (called a nano-swimmer) is a Janus particle with BC molecules attached to one hemisphere. The idea is that in the presence of its substrates (i.e., fuel) BC will cause individual nano-particles to undergo non-Brownian motion by virtue of its conformational change. In order …

The False Idealization Of Heteronormativity And The Repression Of Queerness, Catherine Lynn Thurmond

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, entitled “The False Idealization of Heteronormativity and the Repression of Queerness,” I examine heteronormativity as a social structure that is idealized over, and against, queerness. In the first chapter, I define heteronormativity and queerness. “Heteronormativity,” here, is simply a set of standards that dictate what one must do with their gender and sexuality, such as having sexual relations with the opposite sex, getting married, or having children. Heteronormativity is visible, validated, and normalized in society. Conversely, “queerness” refers to the social structures that dictate what one must not do with their gender and sexuality. Thus, queerness is …

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 …

Design And Implementation Of A Passive Neurostimulator With Wireless Resonance-Coupled Power Delivery And Demonstration On Frog Sciatic Nerve And Gastrocnemius Muscle, Jose Aquiles Parodi Amaya

LSU Master's Theses

The thesis presented has four goals: to perform a comprehensive literature review on current neurostimulator technology; to outline the current issues with the state-of-the-art; to provide a neurostimulator design that solves these issues, and to characterize the design and demonstrate its neurostimulation features. The literature review describes the physiology of a neuron, and then proceeds to outline neural interfaces and neurostimulators. The neurostimulator design process is then outlined and current requirements in the field are described. The novel neurostimulator circuit that implements a solution that has wireless capability, passive control, and small size is outlined and characterized. The circuit is …

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 …

Assessing The Use Of Concept Maps In The Science Classroom, Paige Russell

LSU Master's Theses

Graphic organizers have been used in the classroom since the late 1960’s. Several studies have been published on the effects of graphic organizers on cognitive learning and yet the traditional method of teaching in the science classroom still remains strongly focused on traditional lecture and note taking. This study shows that relative to traditional methods graphic organizers maintain equivalent learning gains, but increase excitement and engagement among the students. The purpose of this study was to assess traditional lecture vs. traditional lecture with the addition of concept maps to determine if concept maps affect learning gains in the high school …

A Comparative Assessment Of Ergonomic Risk Factors In University Personnel Using Rula And Reba Aiming To Study The Cause And Effect Relationship, Nabila Chowdhury

LSU Master's Theses

The aim of this research was to conduct an ergonomic assessment of working postures and the design of computer workstations of the employees in Louisiana State University. The purpose of the study was threefold- (1) to determine the major ergonomic issues in university employees while working on computer workstations, (2) to compare the two ergonomic assessment tools (RULA and REBA) to see how similarly or differently they assess the risks present in the same working condition and (3) to develop a model that correlates between working condition, work posture and computer workstation design with their effects on musculoskeletal system. This …

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Tel1 & Tel2 Role In Dna Double-Strand Break Repairs, Tommy Nhan Trieu

LSU Master's Theses

Genomic DNA is constantly in danger of being damaged by endogenous cellular processes and exogenous agents. Eukaryotes have mechanisms, collectively termed the DNA damage response, that detect and repair DNA damage. After a double-stranded break occurs, protein complexes are recruited to the break site to promote resection. Two main protein kinases involved in DNA repair are the Tel1 and Mec1 proteins. Recent studies have found that the Tel2 protein binds to both the Tel1 and Mec1 proteins and a point mutation of TEL2 on the 129th amino acid disrupts this interaction. Since both of the Tel1 and Mec1 proteins are …

Sinking Of Crude Oil Amended-Model Oil Mixtures Due To Evaporative Or Dissolution Weathering On The Surface And Submerged In Water, Cameron Joseph Loebig

LSU Master's Theses

Despite the popular belief that crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons that floats on the surface of water, tar balls continue to wash up on beaches from the sea floor years after the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. This is because of the rarely studied weathering effects that occur during deep sea spills. While the evaporative weathering process of oil at the water’s surface has been studied, no currently implemented models assess the weathering effects of dissolution within the water column. The evaporative effects at the sea surface and the dissolution of soluble components within droplets located in the …

Effects Of Light Quality And Light Quantity On The Growth Kinetics Of A Louisiana Native Microalgal/Cyanobacterial Co-Culture, Jonathan Zell Barnett

LSU Master's Theses

One of the most important factors controlling the growth of microalgae is light. Light quality and light quantity have a dramatic effect on the production of biomass, lipids and pigments of microalgae. In this research, a native Louisiana co-culture containing Chlorella vulgaris (microalgae) and Leptolyngbya sp (cyanobacteria) was studied to determine the effects of various wavelength distributions and irradiance levels on growth kinetics. Growth rates, biomass levels, lipid contents and chlorophyll-a production was examined in batch cultures to determine which color light was optimum for cultivation. At 80 µmol/m^2-sec the species shifted from microalgae dominant to cyanobacteria dominant. The impact …

Theatre Safety In Louisiana Secondary Schools: A Survey Study, Christopher Pyfrom

LSU Master's Theses

Participation in secondary school theatre can have many benefits including the development of improved reading comprehension, self-concept, and empathy. In the world of professional theatre, each design area has its own department head and several levels of assistants and workers below them. Yet in the world of secondary school theatre, we expect one person to assume all of those roles in addition to the regular responsibilities of teaching. Not many people see theatre as being dangerous when compared to sports, science labs, or vocational education. However, it can contain many of the same risks. This study investigated several factors that …

An Experimental Investigation Of Autonomy Support Versus Thwart In An Exergaming Context, Amanda Joy Weathers-Meyer

LSU Master's Theses

Considerable literature in self-determination theory (SDT) establishes satisfaction of basic psychological needs related to competence, autonomy, and relatedness as important determinants of well-being and motivation. Despite the abundance of SDT literature, few studies provide an investigation of autonomy support and autonomy thwart within an experimental design. Using SDT as a guiding framework, the effects of autonomy support (AS) versus autonomy thwart (AT) were examined within an exergaming context. Specifically, this study investigated the impact of autonomy support / thwart on five variables: perceived autonomy need satisfaction and autonomy thwart, affect, game performance, and willingness to recommend the study to others. …

What Female Candidates Need To Know: Current Research On Gender Effects In Campaigns And Elections, Lauren Michele Leist

LSU Master's Theses

Studies show that the vast majority of people have no problem voting for a woman and that when women run they win as often as men, yet female representation remains startlingly low in the U.S. Women are 50.8 percent of the U.S. population, but they account for merely 19.4% of the 535 seats in Congress, 24.5% of statewide executive positions, 24.2% of state legislatures, and 17.6% of mayors in cities with populations over 30,000 (Center for American Women and Politics 2015). There is certainly much research dedicated to gender and politics. But what is missing from current literature is an …

Gender Euphoria: Photography, Fashion, And Gender Nonconformity In The East Village, Alicia Diane Ridout

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the link between art and fashion photography in the work of Peter Hujar and Nan Goldin, both of whom commented on the nature of gender identity. There is an extensive body of fashion-inspired images by both of these East Village photographers that falls into this category. The pictures they produced of gender-nonconforming individuals serve to comment on the restrictive nature of gender identities represented in fashion photography, and also to elevate the status of those pictured to that of fashion models. The unique cultural context of the East Village served as the perfect location for both photographers …

Acoustic Realization Of Contrastive Stress In Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Ana Maria Gaviria

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigated the acoustic correlates of contrastive stress produced by individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to learn more about their ability to modulate acoustic cues to mark contrastive stress. Speech materials from 10 individuals with PD and 10 gender- and age-matched neurologically healthy controls (HC) were recorded and analyzed. The four acoustic measures (peak intensity, peak F0, vowel duration, and acoustic vowel space area) of stressed and unstressed syllables were compared to determine which acoustic parameters are preferentially employed by each group to mark contrastive stress. The results indicated that individuals with PD exhibited significant changes in vowel duration …

Fish Biomass And Community Structure Around Standing And Toppled Oil And Gas Platforms In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Using Hydroacoustic And Video Surveys, Emily Marissa Reynolds

LSU Master's Theses

There has been relatively little study of the efficacy of decommissioned oil and gas platforms as artificial reef habitats for fish assemblages in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). A variety of fish species have been reported on these structures, but the species biomass distribution and community structure has not been studied thoroughly. Hydroacoustic and video surveys were conducted quarterly from June 2013 to June 2014 at three standing and two toppled oil and gas platforms located approximately 130 km off the coast of Louisiana at 90 m depth; to gain information about the spatial biomass distribution and community structure …

Evaluating The Interspersal Procedure Using Free Access To A Competing Reinforcer, Catherine Rose Lark

LSU Master's Theses

Previous research has shown that interspersing additional easy problems among difficult target problems increases target problem fluency and student preference for an assignment. Nonetheless, there have been some contradictory findings concerning the efficacy of the interspersal procedure, so more research is needed to determine whether teachers should use this procedure for academic assignments. The current study attempted to replicate and extend the research on this procedure by using access to a competing reinforcer (an iPad) and a homework analogue. Fourth-grade students were given access to an iPad, but were told to work first for 10 minutes each on a control …

Development Of Disease Resistant Rice Using Whole Genome Sequencing And Standard Breeding Methods, Yamid Sanabria Gongora

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cultivated rice is the most important staple crop in the world, but diseases cause substantial losses in grain yield and quality. Sheath blight disease caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani is the second most important disease in rice. Most U.S varieties are tropical japonica type, but known sources of resistance in this subspecies are rare. Silva et al. (2012) identified candidate SNP associated with resistance to sheath blight by whole genome sequencing. The objectives of this study were to develop SNP-based markers from the information reported by Silva et al. (2012), to validate the markers by selective genotyping in the …

Using Trace Fossils To Determine The Role Of Oceanic Anoxic Event Ii On The Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway Paleoenvironment, Jacob Frederick Grosskopf

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Did well-oxygenated benthic conditions exist in all parts of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (CWIS) during the deposition of Bed 63 at the onset Oceanic Anoxic Event II (OAE II), as suggested by findings from two cores from the central portion of the CWIS? This problem was approached by categorizing the bioturbation that is prevalent through Bed 63 into oxygen-related ichnofabrics (ORI) in order to describe benthic oxygen conditions. These data were collected from outcrop and core among seven different sites along West–East and North–South transects that traversed portions of the CWIS with differing depositional settings and proximities to the …

A Technology-Enhanced German Language Course: Effects Of Technology Implementation And Cross-Cultural Exchange On Students’ Language Skills, Perceptions And Cultural Awareness, Michael B. Dettinger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study employed a within-group case study design using a mixed methods approach. In doing so, the researcher used a concurrent triangulation process during a one semester intermediate German language course. In addition to the textbook, the researcher implemented a Technology to Support German Language Enhancement (TSGLE) intervention. The TSGLE included use of the following Web 2.0 technologies: blogs, podcasts, online chat, and wiki, to create an environment of increased asynchronous and synchronous interaction. Additionally, students embarked on a cross-cultural, virtual exchange with university students from Germany by interacting through a blog, a collaborative video conference session, a German film …

Agnes In Agony: Damasus, Ambrose, Prudentius, And The Construction Of The Female Martyr Narrative, Eric James Poche'

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the earliest surviving sources on the virgin martyr Agnes. Agnes is significant due to the popularity of her cult and the large number of early sources recounting her martyrdom. This dissertation argues that the fourth-century bishops Damasus and Ambrose, along with the Christian poet Prudentius, helped construct the narrative of Agnes’ passion in order to help popularize her cult throughout western Christendom. In an effort to promote virgin asceticism to their communities, they endorsed Agnes as the dominant exemplum for female piety in the west. By doing so, they associated themselves with the influential martyr. Since Agnes …