Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Dwelling Poetically, Proceeding Orphically: The Platonic Tradition And The Heideggerian Humanism Of Ernesto Grassi, Geoffrey Alexander Leeves Bain

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Martin Heidegger exerted an immense influence over twentieth century thought by providing profound insights into the nature of Being as well as scathing social critiques, focused on the destructive force of late modern technological reductionism. As part of Heidegger’s project, he elaborated upon a sophisticated history of Being in which two great monsters of Platonism and Humanism are cast as Antichrist and False Prophet. Subsequently, however, his own student Ernesto Grassi argued that Renaissance Humanism was not a stepping stone towards subjectivism and technological thinking, but rather stood in conformity with the fundamental essence of Heidegger’s own project. This study …

Optimized Aperiodic Multilayer Structures For Absorbers And Thermal Emitters, Christopher H. Granier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we begin with a brief introduction to nanophotonics. In particular, we will focus on the theory of computational electricity and magnetism, specifically, the method used for this research, the transfer-matrix method. We will also provide discussions of the principles which motivate the analysis of the multilayer structures: Planck's blackbody distribution, Kirchoff's law, and thermodynamics. Finally, we will provide a brief discussion of computer-based optimization algorithms, specifically NLOPT (a library which provides computational packages for nonlinear optimization) and genetic algorithms. This background information is necessary to understand discussions which occur in later chapters.

Chapter 2 will discuss multilayer …

The Agronomic Use And Application Of Canopy Reflectance Within The Visible And Near-Infrared Wavebands And Its Relation With Nitrogen Fertilization In Energy Cane Production In Louisiana, Saoli Chanda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spectral vegetation index-based models that are used to estimate yield potential are commonly developed from the relationship between early-season crop canopy reflectance readings and actual yield obtained at harvest. Plant population stand can influence cane yield potential and nutrient requirement. This study was conducted at LSU AgCenter Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel, LA to evaluate (1) the relation between estimated early season biomass yield and the spectral vegetation indices acquired at the same time, (2) nitrogen (N) response pattern between early-season biomass production and yield at harvest, and (3) the relationship between coefficient of variation (CV) among normalized difference …

Attosecond Transient Absorption In Gases And High Harmonic Generation In Solids, Mengxi Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We present a theoretical study of attosecond transient absorption in gases and high harmonic generation in solids. In this thesis, different features in the attosecond transient absorption laser-dressed spectrum are studied, including features near bright (dipole allowed) atomic states and features that appear approximately one or two laser photons away from the bright states due to the laser-induced coupling to dark (non-dipole allowed) states. The calculations are carried out using both numerical and analytic solutions to the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation (TDSE). From these solutions, several models of time-dependent absorption and electron dynamics at the femtosecond time scale are presented. We …

Peer Coaching Effects On Targeted Teaching Behaviors And Teacher Self-Efficacy In An Early Field Experience, Deanna Kay Rice

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract This study examined the effect of peer coaching on the development of effective teaching behaviors and teacher self-efficacy of education students in an early field experience. The convenience sample (N = 99) included undergraduate students enrolled in a required foundational course in special education at a large public university in the southern United States. Training methods included online video instruction on targeted effective and ineffective teaching behaviors. The effective behaviors included (a) established student learning objective prior to beginning a lesson, (b) explained and/or modeled how pupil can discover answer or solve a problem, (c) checked for understanding by …

Effect Of The Herbicide Atrazine On Phytoplankton, Water Quality, And Ecosystem Functions In Louisiana Estuaries, Alexis Victoria Starr

LSU Master's Theses

Pesticides are used primarily for agricultural purposes in the US and while these chemicals provide many benefits, the inherent toxicity of the compounds pose a substantial risk to the environment. These chemicals may enter water bodies in areas with a high proportion of agricultural land use through surface run off, ground water discharge, and erosion, and negatively impact non-target aquatic organisms. As a result, Louisiana’s estuaries may be vulnerable to a variety of compounds, including the herbicide atrazine. Atrazine is used extensively throughout the Midwest and has been known to enter the Mississippi River through surface runoff and ground water …

The Effects Of Tropical Storms And Hurricanes On Phytoplankton And Nutrient Concentrations In Wetland-Estuary Transition Zones Along The Gulf Coast, Tiffany Chantelle Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

Two consecutive storms made landfall along the Northern Gulf of Mexico on June and August 2012 (Tropical Storm Debby, 06/26/2012; Isaac, 08/28/2012, Category (Cat) 1 Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale). Each storm passed within 48 to 273 km of one of seven wetland-estuary transition zone sampling sites, and indirect storm effects associated with changes in freshwater discharge and an inflow of inorganic nutrients were observed at five of the seven sites. To assess the impacts of the 2012 hurricanes on hydrology, nutrient concentrations, and phytoplankton concentrations at transition zones along the Gulf Coast, a within-sites analysis along with a seasonal analysis were …

Magnetic Resonance Elastography Of The Brain Using An Ergonomic Driver: Assessment Of Scan-Rescan Reproducibility, Hatim Chafi

LSU Master's Theses

Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) allows the visualization of displacement patterns from induced harmonic mechanical waves propagating in tissue. Strain and mechanical properties can be computed from these displacement patterns. Mechanical properties of tissue are affected by various disease processes. MRE has shown brain tumor to differ in stiffness in comparison to normal tissue. MRE is currently being offered as an upgrade on most conventional MRI scanners. However, the actuator supplied by vendors is a drum driver designed primarily for hepatic MRE scan. The goals of the project was to design and build an ergonomic flexible driver for use in MRE …

Game Theoretic Analyses Of The United States-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade, Rajan Parajuli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ongoing softwood lumber trade dispute between the United States (U.S.) and Canada is one of the most contentious and largest bilateral trade battles over the recent decades. The bilateral trade debate is mostly because of the different forestland ownership systems in the U.S. and Canada, and the alleged timber subsidies by provincial governments to Canadian lumber producers. The Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) 2006 between the U.S. and Canada is the latest transitory solution of this dispute, entailing Canada to impose mandatory export charges on its lumber shipments to the U.S. In order to understand this trade dispute from a …

Examination Of The Effects Of The Homework, Organization, And Planning Skills (Hops) Intervention On Undergraduate Students, Ashley E. Bordelon

LSU Master's Theses

Homework, organization, and time-management skills are often a source of stress for undergraduate students. The type of homework given, self-management skills, and planning skill level combine to contribute to student success in school. Previous research has shown that the Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) program has been successful with teaching these skills; however, research has focused on younger students. The purpose of the current study was to determine if the HOPS program was suitable for undergraduate students, based on pretest, posttest, and follow-up scores on the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory- Second Edition (LASSI) using a randomized waitlist control …

Left-Orderability, Cyclic Branched Covers And Representations Of The Knot Group, Ying Hu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A group G is called left-orderable if one can find a total order on G, which is preserved under left multiplication. In this paper we first give a sufficient condition for the fundamental group of the nth cyclic branched cover of the three sphere over a prime knot K to be left-orderable, in terms of representations of the knot group. Then we make use of this criterion to study the left-orderability of fundamental groups of cyclic branched covers over two-bridge knots and satellite knots.

Pytracks: A Tool For Visualizing Fish Movement Tracks On Different Scales, Ross Fossum

LSU Master's Theses

A fundamental problem in conservation biology and fisheries management is the ability to make educated decisions based on the data collected. Fish populations and their spatial distributions need to be represented accurately for conversation efforts and management decisions. Methods such as modeling, surveying, and tracking can all be used to collect data on a particular fishery. To include the movement patterns in conservation and management, one needs to work with and process fish tracking data or data exported from fish movement simulation models. This data can often be difficult to process. This topic is becoming increasingly popular as technology to …

A Study Of Resiliency In New Orleans Neighborhoods Ten Years After Hurricane Katrina, Paul Ramnauth Algu

LSU Master's Theses

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, flooding over eighty percent of the Greater New Orleans area and causing a mass exodus of the local population. Statistical analysis was used to quantify recovery at a neighborhood level and answer the following questions: What is the recovery rate of New Orleans neighborhoods ten years after Hurricane Katrina? What factors account for variation in recovery rates among neighborhoods? Six neighborhoods in Orleans Parish were selected for further study based on their unique geographical and recovery metrics. Recovery rates among the seventy-two neighborhoods were based on a comparison of United States Postal …

A Critique Of A Student-Centered Learning Approach Used In A Geometry Classroom, Alana Blackwell Day

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis offers a framework for identifying effective classroom materials to support student-centered learning. Based on a review of published studies on effective classroom activities, as well as theses by Louisiana Math and Science Teachers Institute (LaMSTI) graduates, we identify promising characteristics. We employed these in five lessons, refined them into questions, and offer in final form for use.

Increasing Student Engagement In The Secondary Math Classroom, Chantell Holloway Walker

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis reports on a professional development package developed by the author to help three teachers increase the level of student engagement in their math classrooms. There were three phases: 1) initial presentation of strategies and sample lessons, 2) classroom implementation, 3) reflection and evaluation. As a result of the professional development, the Louisiana Compass Teacher Evaluation Rubric scores of the teachers improved in the area of student engagement. This thesis can be used as a guide for principals or instructional specialists who wish to provide professional development for small groups of teachers, with a focus on increasing student engagement.

Between Beauty And Duty: Ethics And Judgment In Camus And Kant, Alex Donovan Cole

LSU Master's Theses

The ideas of Albert Camus and Immanuel Kant are not often thought of as sharing pronounced similarities. However, both thinkers are deeply concerned with role of aesthetics in moral, and subsequently, political life. According to each, taste is a faculty whereby one is able to develop the “moral insight” needed for the flourishing of a robust, thoughtful, ethical individual. Yet, both Camus and Kant utilize highly divergent methodologies in going about this. Camus prefers the artistic form and poetic language offered by the novel and Kant prefers the logical rigor of critical philosophical arguments. This thesis hopes to reveal that …

Fish Assemblage Response To Environmental Gradients And Altered Dendritic Connectivity In The Red River Basin, Central Louisiana, Catherine Nell Reuter

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana’s small streams provide critical habitat for diverse ecologically and economically important fish species. However, the relationship between these fish assemblages and habitat variables remains poorly understood. The role of anthropogenic alteration of dendritic stream connectivity is of specific interest and has been shown to significantly influence stream ecology. This study explored the interaction among watershed characteristics, stream connectivity, stream physico-chemistry, and fish assemblages in little-studied Red River basin of central Louisiana as well as how reservoir littoral zones compared to streams, both in terms of fish assemblage and habitat. Fish and habitat were sampled in 21 headwater streams, half …

Oil And Gas Platforms On Ship Shoal, Northern Gulf Of Mexico As Habitat For Reef-Associated Organisms, David Bradley Reeves

LSU Master's Theses

Nearshore Louisiana has experienced substantial changes within the last half-century, including the annual formation of the world’s second largest hypoxic zone and the construction of thousands of oil and gas platforms (rigs). Ship Shoal and its rigs may provide important substrate in nearshore Louisiana because rigs act as de facto artificial reefs and the shoal’s bottom waters were well oxygenated on 43% of days when surrounding areas were hypoxic. From July to September of 2014, fish assemblages and hydrography were compared at shoal rigs, rigs inshore of the shoal, and rigs offshore of the shoal, and stone crab populations were …

Maxwell's Paradox: Classical Electrodynamics And Its Time Reversal Invariance, Valia Allori

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In this paper, I argue that the recent discussion on the time - reversal invariance of classical electrodynamics (see (Albert 2000: ch.1), (Arntzenius 2004), (Earman 2002), (Malament 2004),(Horwich 1987: ch.3)) can be best understood assuming that the disagreement among the various authors is actually a disagreement about the metaphysics of classical electrodynamics. If so, the controversy will not be resolved until we have established which alternative is the most natural. It turns out that we have a paradox, namely that the following three claims are incompatible: the electromagnetic fields are real, classical electrodynamics is time-reversal invariant, and the content of …

Junior Level Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Lived Experiences With Test Anxiety: Can Music Serve As A Means To Reduce Test Anxiety And Increase Self-Efficacy?, Keeley Clark Harmon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Test anxiety is a pervasive problem in education programs. Nursing education is not an exception as approximately 30% of nursing students are impacted by varying levels of test anxiety that can affect their ability to succeed. This mixed methods study utilizes concepts from Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, the Cognitive-Attentional (Interference) Model, and the Georgi Lozanov method to explore the lived experiences of junior level baccalaureate nursing students with test anxiety. The 39 participants in the quantitative portion of the study were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group (n=18) listened to a nine minute and 27 second …

Vibration Control In High-Rise Buildings For Multi-Hazard, Srinivasa Adithya Sailesh Abburu

LSU Master's Theses

Increasing population and migration of people to cities has led to the construction of high-rise buildings. High-rise buildings have received a renewed interest in many city business locations, where land is scarce, as per their economic, sustainability and other benefits. Taller and taller towers are being built everywhere in the world. However, the increased frequency of multi-hazard disasters makes it challenging to balance between a resilient and sustainable construction. As a saying, ‘with new inventions come new problems’. High-rise buildings usually have issues with increased wind loads brought by, for instance, hurricanes, which can decrease their serviceability and cause failure …

A Tale Of Two Cultures: A Qualitative Narrative Of Nigerian Immigrant Parenting In The United States, Chinwe Onwujuba

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current demographic estimates indicate that the foreign-born population makes up about 13% (40 million) of the total U.S. population. This number consists of immigrants from all over the world, with a larger majority originating from Latin America and Asia. Research in the area of immigrant adaptation is robust and compelling; however, it is replete with studies on immigrants from the cultural regions identified above, and not as much on other regions with relatively less numerical representation, specifically Africa. From this region, Nigerian individuals and families make up a larger portion of this immigrant group. This study employs a qualitative research …

The Electronic Structure Of Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Formed On Metal Oxide Surfaces, Chad Allen Thibodeaux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We have investigated the electronic structure of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) formed on two different metal oxides: Cu(II)O and ZnO. Cu(II)O is known to be one of the most active metal oxides to form EPFRs. ZnO, however, forms the longest-lived EPFRs. First, we examined the adsorption of phenol on different crystal faces of ZnO. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) shows direct evidence of charge transfer away from the ZnO to the phenol. This differs from the hypothesized mechanism of EPFR formation that says that an electron is transferred to the metal oxide. UPS difference spectra also shows that the phenol …

Initial Evaluations Of A U.S. Navy Rapidly Relocatable Gulf Of Mexico/Caribbean Ocean Forecast System In The Context Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster, Edward D. Zaron, Patrick J. Fitzpatrick, Scott L. Cross, John M. Harding, Frank L. Bub, Jerry D. Wiggert, Dong S. Ko, Yee Lau, Katharine Woodward, Christopher N.K. Mooers

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In response to the Deepwater Horizon (DwH) oil spill event in 2010, the Naval Oceanographic Office deployed a nowcast-forecast system covering the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent Caribbean Sea that was designated Americas Seas, or AMSEAS, which is documented in this manuscript. The DwH disaster provided a challenge to the application of available ocean-forecast capabilities, and also generated a historically large observational dataset. AMSEAS was evaluated by four complementary efforts, each with somewhat different aims and approaches: a university research consortium within an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) testbed; a petroleum industry consortium, the Gulf of Mexico 3-D Operational Ocean …

Investigating The Photorecombination Dynamics In Molecular High-Harmonic Spectra, Benjamin Parker Wilson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The work presented in this dissertation will relate the photorecombination dynamics to photoionization dynamics in SF6 utilizing the self-probing mechanism, high harmonic generation (HHG). This work specifically aims to establish parameters for which the comparison is applicable and the macroscopic complications inherent in HHG do not interfere with the extraction of dynamic information. The first part of this work established the macroscopic experimental apparatus necessary for consistent spectroscopic observation. It is shown that using a gas jet that is an order of magnitude shorter than the Rayleigh length of the driving laser results in more consistent harmonic spatial profiles and …

Method Development For The Assignment Of Nmr Peaks And The Determination Of Quaternary Protein Structure Using Reductive Methylation, Pamlea Nicole Brady

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The work described herein is centered on reductive methylation, a chemical modification reaction, which allows for the introduction of methyl groups at the primary amines of the lysine side chain and at the N-terminus. The resulting methyl groups are effective probes for the study of protein structure and dynamics using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Described herein is work conducted on the development of tools for the study of protein structure using reductive methylation, highlighting options for addressing limitations of the labeling method encountered by its practical use. Chapter 1 serves as a brief introduction to protein structure and the …

Forest Stakeholders, Policies And Trade In India's Forest Sector, Joy Das

LSU Master's Theses

The thesis examines a panel of trade flows during 2009-2013, exploring the influence of regulatory quality on the pattern of forest products imports by India from 143 partner countries. The study applies a pooled regression model followed by Generalized Least Squared (GLS) technique and a more robust Feasible Generalized Least Squared (FGLS) method of estimation with regulatory quality, distance between the partner country and India, total forest area of partner country, GDP and population indicators to assess the impact of partner country’s regulatory quality and other trade-related factors on imports of forest products by India. The results support the notion …

Well-Quasi-Ordering By The Induced-Minor Relation, Chanun Lewchalermvongs

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Robertson and Seymour proved Wagner's Conjecture, which says that finite graphs are well-quasi-ordered by the minor relation. Their work motivates the question as to whether any class of graphs is well-quasi-ordered by other containment relations. This dissertation is concerned with a special graph containment relation, the induced-minor relation. This dissertation begins with a brief introduction to various graph containment relations and their connections with well-quasi-ordering. In the first chapter, we discuss the results about well-quasi-ordering by graph containment relations and the main problems of this dissertation. The graph theory terminology and preliminary results that will be used are presented in …

Dynamic Ventilation And Power Output Of Urban Bicyclists, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bicyclist intake of air pollutants is linked to physical exertion levels, ventilation rates, and exposure concentrations. Whereas exposure concentrations have been widely studied in transportation environments, there is relatively scant research linking on-road ventilation with travel conditions and exertion levels. This paper investigates relationships among power output, heart rate, and ventilation rate for urban bicyclists. Heart rate and ventilation rate were measured on-road and combined with power output estimates from a bicycle power model. Dynamic ventilation rates increased by 0.4-0.8% per watt of power output, with a mean lag of 0.8 minutes. The use of physiology (ventilation) monitoring straps and …