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2016

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The Repertoire Of Understanding: The Linguistic Patterning Of Repetition And Alignment Within Supportive Conversations, Kaitlin Emily Cannava Jan 2016

The Repertoire Of Understanding: The Linguistic Patterning Of Repetition And Alignment Within Supportive Conversations, Kaitlin Emily Cannava

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores a fundamental feature of all human interaction, behavioral coordination. Since early work on motor mimicry, scholars of human communication have invested tremendous energy to discover patterns of behavioral adaptation and the impact these patterns have on individual and relational outcomes. Outcomes such as individual health and well-being, as well as relationship satisfaction and divorce are all contingent on the ability to adapt and coordinate actions (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002; Stehl et al., 2008; Kulesza et al., 2013; Ireland et al., 2011). Several decades of research have advanced our understanding of specific characteristics of supportive messages and their …

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Are We Really Bowling Alone? Family Changes And Social Capital In American Society, Ya-Feng Lin Jan 2016

Are We Really Bowling Alone? Family Changes And Social Capital In American Society, Ya-Feng Lin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

I explore the relationship between family changes and social capital in American society. Since the mid-20th century, new types of and additions to the family structure have emerged, including cohabitation family, single-parent family, employed women, and NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, and Training). Although new types of families symbolize a more flexible definition of family, some problems have emerged which are worthy of studying. In fact, these families have recently become a primary focus of study in academia, but their social lives are rarely mentioned. I argue in my dissertation that these new types of arrangements not only changed how …

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Cockroaches (Blattodea) Of Southern Louisiana: Morphology, Diversity, And Life Histories, Forest Brady Huval Jan 2016

Cockroaches (Blattodea) Of Southern Louisiana: Morphology, Diversity, And Life Histories, Forest Brady Huval

LSU Master's Theses

The state of Louisiana has both temperate and subtropical climates and includes six ecoregions. Two ecoregions in south-central Louisiana were surveyed for members of the order Blattodea to better describe the diversity, life histories, and taxonomy of adult and nymphal cockroaches. Blattodea, excluding the newly included epifamily Termitoidae, is an understudied order of insects in spite of the importance species that are infamous peridomestic pest. The order Blattodea currently contains 9 families comprising of 460 genera. There are approximately 7570 described species 4641 of which are cockroaches and 2929 are termites. Complete information on life histories lacks for the majority …

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How Do Social Norms Affect Physical Activity And Performance On An Endurance Task?, Keith David Randazzo Jan 2016

How Do Social Norms Affect Physical Activity And Performance On An Endurance Task?, Keith David Randazzo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the extensive benefits associated with a physically active life style, less than 50% of US adults engage in recommended levels of physical activity (PA), so finding ways to structure environments to promote PA is an important concern. Social norms, conceptualized as an individual’s perception of peer behavior, provide a framework for exploring factors that influence decisions to be physically active. Although researchers have investigated how social norms influence a variety of behaviors, the PA domain has not been fully explored. The focus of this dissertation is to apply social norms theories to investigate how normative information influences PA intentions …

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What Made You Hear That? An Examination Of The Rehearsal Listening Of Accomplished School-Based Music Conductors, Kelvin Deangelo Jones Jan 2016

What Made You Hear That? An Examination Of The Rehearsal Listening Of Accomplished School-Based Music Conductors, Kelvin Deangelo Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While there has been much systematic investigation of observable conductor behaviors, little examination has taken place of the listening habits and thought processes of conductors while in the act of evaluative listening. These cognitive elements are critical because they are the impetus for the decision-making that leads to conductor rehearsal behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the thinking of accomplished school based band conductors. How do they evaluate musical performance—less so the evaluation, more so the thinking that informs the evaluation? A grounded theory-like approach was integrated in cross-case study methodology to answer inquiries about the …

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The Formation And Implementation Of Interorganizational Relations In The Experiences Of Managers, Furkan Amil Gur Jan 2016

The Formation And Implementation Of Interorganizational Relations In The Experiences Of Managers, Furkan Amil Gur

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Relations between organizations are vital for firms and their strategies. A common approach organizes interorganizational relationships into competition, cooperation, and coopetition. To contribute to this research, in this dissertation I focused on how managers interpret competitive, cooperative, and coopetitive relations with other organizations. Specifically, I studied managers’ interpretations of the characteristics of their interorganizational field and relationships, how they identify their competitors and cooperators, and their accounts of the practices and aspects involved in the planning and implementation of competitive, cooperative, and coopetitive relations. To capture managers’ interpretations, in this study I chose a grounded theory approach, selected the seafood …

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Characterization Of Boundary Element-Associated Factors Beaf-32a And Beaf-32b And Identification Of Novel Interaction Partners In Drosophila Melanogaster, S. V. Satya Prakash Avva Jan 2016

Characterization Of Boundary Element-Associated Factors Beaf-32a And Beaf-32b And Identification Of Novel Interaction Partners In Drosophila Melanogaster, S. V. Satya Prakash Avva

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Regulatory elements are DNA sequences which have specialized activities that coordinate the functions of the genome. Promoters, enhancers, locus control regions, boundary elements (or insulator elements) are examples of DNA sequences that have regulatory properties. In transgenic assays insulator elements have been shown to block communication between regulatory regions, such as enhancers and promoters, when placed between these sequences and also protect genes from position effects when bracketing them, thereby affecting gene expression. Insulator sequences are bound by insulator proteins that direct the function of these sequences. One such insulator protein is the Boundary Element Associated Factor-32 (BEAF-32), a 32 …

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Investigating Species And Population Level Foraging Variation And Individual Specialization In Pygoscelis Penguins Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Rachael W. Herman Jan 2016

Investigating Species And Population Level Foraging Variation And Individual Specialization In Pygoscelis Penguins Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Rachael W. Herman

LSU Master's Theses

Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua) are known to be generalist foragers, while Adélie (P. adeliae) and Chinstrap (P. Antarctica) tend to specialize on krill within the Western Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands, particularly during the breeding season. However, little is known on temporal consistency in diet and foraging habitat of these species, particularly at the individual level. We used stable isotope analysis (SIA) of blood and feathers to evaluate seasonal and individual foraging consistency within Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins breeding in the South Shetland Islands, as well as among three Gentoo Penguins’ populations in the Western Antarctic Peninsula and …

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Turning The Table Over: Collaboration And Critique At The New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival, Erin Colleen Jordan Jan 2016

Turning The Table Over: Collaboration And Critique At The New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival, Erin Colleen Jordan

LSU Master's Theses

In the late 1970s, the African American Jazz Coalition responded to the marginalization of black vendors at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival by partnering with the Festival to create the Koindu Marketplace, now known as Congo Square. Whereas much public representation of the Festival suggests a transcendence of racial boundaries inside Festival grounds, the content and structure of contemporary interviews with the activists reflect continued racial tensions, power dynamics, and resentment. This thesis analyzes oral histories with the founders of the Afrikan American Jazz Coalition stored at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive. Critical discourse analysis …

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The Effects Of Teacher Induction Programs On Teacher Retention In Early Childhood, Heather Marie Reames Jan 2016

The Effects Of Teacher Induction Programs On Teacher Retention In Early Childhood, Heather Marie Reames

LSU Master's Theses

Teacher retention has become an increasing problem in today’s school systems. This vast amount of teacher turnover, or teachers leaving the field prior to retirement, is largely due to dissatisfaction with their jobs in the teaching field. There are a multitude of reasons why teachers become dissatisfied or frustrated with their jobs as educators, but it can be concluded that the initial reason for dissatisfaction in the field of education are the poor working conditions that exist for teachers (Halstead, 2013). Increased rates in attrition have also impacted the professional field of early childhood teaching. It is my objective to …

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An Examination Of Students' Perceptions Of The Louisiana Act Mandate On Their Postsecondary Education Decisions, Thelma Carol Purnell Jan 2016

An Examination Of Students' Perceptions Of The Louisiana Act Mandate On Their Postsecondary Education Decisions, Thelma Carol Purnell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the United States,the American College Test (ACT)is a standardized test that is used primarily as an indicator of college readiness and as a gauge for college admission. The governing bodies for Louisiana’s public schools—The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE)and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE)—made the ACT a requirement—effective spring 2013—for Louisiana’s public high school 11th grade students regardless of their postsecondary intentions. The primary purpose of this study was to ascertain from Louisiana high school seniors’ whether the Louisiana Department of Education’s ACT mandate is perceived as a factor influencing their postsecondary decisions or affecting their …

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A Review Of The Dominican Cocoa Industry: Determining Advantages And Factors To Improve, Glorianni Viviana Estrella Jan 2016

A Review Of The Dominican Cocoa Industry: Determining Advantages And Factors To Improve, Glorianni Viviana Estrella

LSU Master's Theses

Cocoa is one of the commodities with great tradition and consumption around the world. The cocoa industry produces billions of dollars at the global level and contributes significantly to the employment of thousands of people in the countries that have acquired relevant consumption habits as well as in developing countries that produce cocoa. The Dominican Republic has been blessed and belongs to the latter group. It is the top ninth producing country worldwide and the second of the Americas. The DR has been exporting over 50,000 metric tons of cocoa per year for the past twelve years, which is destined …

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Fabrication And Characterization Of Thiol-Acrylate Based Polymer For Bone Tissue Engineering Application, Anoosha Forghani Jan 2016

Fabrication And Characterization Of Thiol-Acrylate Based Polymer For Bone Tissue Engineering Application, Anoosha Forghani

LSU Master's Theses

Thiol-acrylate materials have been demonstrated to have therapeutic potential as biocompatible scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration due to their osteoconductivity, biodegradability, and well-suited mechanical properties. This study connects the mechanical properties and stability of thiol-acrylate polymer with cell adhesion and proliferation of human adipose derived stromal cells. The polymer presented in this study, trimethylolpropane ethoxylate triacrylate-co-trimethylolpropane tris (3-mercaptopropionate) (TMPeTA-co-TMPTMP), was synthesized by an amine-catalyzed Michael addition reaction. Physical, mechanical, and chemical characterizations were performed on the polymeric scaffold, followed by preliminary in vitro cytocompatibility tests. Live/dead staining assays showed significant differences in cell adhesion for TMPeTA (692 and 912 MW). …

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Dietary Plant Lectins May Be An ‘Unknown Etiology’ In Parkinson’S Disease And Dietary Bioactive Compounds Affect Lifespan And Fat Storage Aspects Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Mingming Wang Jan 2016

Dietary Plant Lectins May Be An ‘Unknown Etiology’ In Parkinson’S Disease And Dietary Bioactive Compounds Affect Lifespan And Fat Storage Aspects Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Mingming Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dietary bioactive compounds benefit health while some might induce pathological processes. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Braak and Hawkes hypothesized that the gastrointestinal tract may be a potential site of neuronal invasion by an “unknown pathogen” leading to some Parkinsonism. Neurotoxin botulinum or ricin can trans-synaptically transport in nervous system. Our hypothesis 1: dietary plant lectins might be responsible for the “unknown pathogen” causing PD. Pomegranate juice (PJ) have antioxidant and anti-obesity effects. Our hypothesis 2: PJ increases lifespan in C. elegans and reduces fat storage. Study 1: Post-feeding rhodamine or TRITC tagged dietary lectins …

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Design And Implementation Of Qcm Virtual Sensing Schemes For Analyses Of Volatile Organic Compounds, Nicholas Colby Speller Jan 2016

Design And Implementation Of Qcm Virtual Sensing Schemes For Analyses Of Volatile Organic Compounds, Nicholas Colby Speller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sensor arrays have evolved as powerful approaches for providing detection and discrimination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as required across numerous analytical applications. Such systems typically comprise a number of cross reactive sensor elements, which generate analyte specific response patterns upon exposure to VOCs, and are known as multisensor arrays. When evaluated using statistical methods, these response patterns facilitate classification of VOCs. As an alternative, a single dynamically operated sensor could also be used to generate analyte specific response patterns. This approach is known as a virtual sensor array (VSA) and can exhibit significant advantages when compared to MSAs. Some …

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A Mixed Methods Case Study Exploring Simulation And Caring In Nursing Education, Carla Armstead Harmon Jan 2016

A Mixed Methods Case Study Exploring Simulation And Caring In Nursing Education, Carla Armstead Harmon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current research in nursing education suggests a shift from traditional didactic transmission methods to student-centered pedagogies to prepare nursing students with substantive knowledge necessary for competent practice in a complex healthcare environment. Simulation has emerged as a pedagogy that offers students the opportunity to critically think, solve problems, and care for diverse patients in a nonthreatening, safe environment. As the use of simulation increases, a concern is whether or not it can hinder the development of caring behaviors necessary for competent and compassionate nursing practice. This research was a study of nursing students’ descriptions of the simulation experience, and perceptions …

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Building A Community Of Writers Through Free Writing, Reflection, And Collaboration, Adrienne Renee Tate Jan 2016

Building A Community Of Writers Through Free Writing, Reflection, And Collaboration, Adrienne Renee Tate

LSU Master's Theses

This teacher-research project was implemented into a sophomore English Language Arts classroom in order to examine free writing as a writing strategy to encourage students’ interactions and cultivate community. The researcher wanted to discover if free writing was a strategy English teachers can implement to encourage collaboration and community amongst his or her students. This study was conducted approximately for one semester in an English II honors class in southern region of the United States. This project used a mixed-methods approach to determine if free writing is a strategy to encourage students’ interactions and cultivate community. To determine the effectiveness …

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Tracing The Development Of Willie Stark And Its Place In American Opera, Betsy Marie Uschkrat Jan 2016

Tracing The Development Of Willie Stark And Its Place In American Opera, Betsy Marie Uschkrat

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Highly praised American composer Carlisle Floyd (b. 1925), well known for his musical dramas Susannah (1955) and Of Mice and Men (1970), wrote Willie Stark (1981), commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and later Houston Grand Opera. Floyd’s libretto and musical score was based upon Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning novel All The King’s Men. Despite the vast amount of publicity it received at the premiere, this opera has only occasionally been performed in the last 35 years. Chapter One discusses Carlisle Floyd’s creation of Willie Stark. Chapter Two discusses the workshop performance of the piece. Chapter …

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Relay Selection Strategies For Multi-Hop Cooperative Networks, Hui Sun Jan 2016

Relay Selection Strategies For Multi-Hop Cooperative Networks, Hui Sun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we consider several relay selection strategies for multi-hop cooperative networks. The relay selection strategies we propose do not require a central controller (CC). Instead, the relay selection is on a hop-by-hop basis. As such, these strategies can be implemented in a distributed manner. Therefore, increasing the number of hops in the network would not increase the complexity or time consumed for the relay selection procedure of each hop. We first investigate the performance of a hop-by-hop relay selection strategy for multi-hop decode-and-forward (DF) cooperative networks. In each relay cluster, relays that successfully receive and decode the message …

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Modeling Relationships Among Affective Measures Of Food Choice: Acceptance, Emotions And Satisfaction, Wisdom Wardy Jan 2016

Modeling Relationships Among Affective Measures Of Food Choice: Acceptance, Emotions And Satisfaction, Wisdom Wardy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of ascertaining holistic product and consumer understanding beyond liking in the product development process cannot be overstated. This research investigated the role of attribute performance on satisfaction in explaining the relationship between food-evoked emotions and sensory preferences, and examined factors influencing the sensory-emotion profile of food products. In the first phase of this research, a series of consumer studies were conducted using eggs as a test product. First, the extent to which critical product attributes contribute to the satisfaction of quality requirements and purchase intent was determined using Kano modeling concepts. The emotional profile of the product was …

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Elderly Emergent Readers: A Story To Tell And A Voice To Tell It, Laura Elizabeth Williams Jan 2016

Elderly Emergent Readers: A Story To Tell And A Voice To Tell It, Laura Elizabeth Williams

LSU Master's Theses

This project involved a qualitative study with life history interviews of Black elderly men and women enrolled with a non-profit organization that seeks to provide education to adults. There was both an observational component and interviews; the observations, with the researcher acting as moderate participant observer, began in spring 2014 and continued through spring 2016. The interviews were conducted over the summer of 2014. The purpose of this project was to learn how and why the seven participants have been pursuing literacy for the majority of their lives, and how and why reading is important to them. This project began …

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Retention Of Institutional Memory Via Knowledge Management: Perceptions Regarding The Effectiveness Of Corporate Approaches Applied In Higher Education, Sonya Yvette Marsh Jan 2016

Retention Of Institutional Memory Via Knowledge Management: Perceptions Regarding The Effectiveness Of Corporate Approaches Applied In Higher Education, Sonya Yvette Marsh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research has shown that private industry has a better grasp on knowledge management concepts and practices than in the higher education arena. Given the internal and external challenges facing colleges and universities, the processes and systems associated with knowledge management could serve as a resource for performance improvement and greater levels of effectiveness and efficiency. This phenomenological study was conducted to determine the perceptions and perspectives of deans regarding the usefulness and value of implementing knowledge management best practices typically employed by organizations in the private sector. Four research questions guided this study: 1) What level of awareness exists of …

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Toward An Advanced System Of Accountability For Improved Student Learning Outcomes: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Test-Based Accountability In Louisiana, Susan Nicole Kahn Jan 2016

Toward An Advanced System Of Accountability For Improved Student Learning Outcomes: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Test-Based Accountability In Louisiana, Susan Nicole Kahn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The nature of federal and state policies regarding accountability testing narrows the taught curriculum to content tested, thereby changing what is officially valued as student learning. The over-emphasis on standardized test scores has narrowed the curriculum to content that is tested (Amrein & Berliner, 2002; Baker, 2008; Herman, 2008; Koretz & Hamilton, 2003; Linn, 2000). In Louisiana, test-based accountability defines local school quality through a letter grade rating scale that uses an index for school performance scores (SPS), which in turn impacts traditional and nontraditional (e.g. charter) school expansion, closure, and takeover, administration of opportunity scholarships (e.g. voucher) for private …

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The Role Of Religious Coping In The Marital Stability Of Strong, African American Couples: A Strengths-Focused Approach., Antonius Delvecco Skipper Jan 2016

The Role Of Religious Coping In The Marital Stability Of Strong, African American Couples: A Strengths-Focused Approach., Antonius Delvecco Skipper

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Relatively few studies have examined the strengths of the African American family, while several have highlighted social issues that have affected the African American family such as divorce, single-parent households, and absentee fathers. This focus on deficit and dysfunction contributes to a research-based gap in understanding the African American marital dyad. Given that religion influences the lives of many African American couples, it is important to understand the impact that religious coping can have on marital stability in the African American community. The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying processes of religious coping for those African American …

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A Stirling Education: Education In Antebellum Louisiana, Seth T. Eisworth Jan 2016

A Stirling Education: Education In Antebellum Louisiana, Seth T. Eisworth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the surviving archival evidence from several 19th century prominent West Feliciana families found in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections (LLMVC) at the LSU libraries in an effort to understand how Louisianans’ value and support education. The antebellum period was chosen for study because it was arguably the last time period in which the South was not influenced or controlled by the dominant narrative of the Common School Movement, which Wayne Urban (1981) refers to as the “phenomenon of Massachusetts Myopia.” The archival collections containing correspondence from the immediate family of Lewis Stirling, Sr. and their …

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Automated Generation And Visualization Of Initial Construction Schedules From Building Information Models, Yibrah Weldemihret Weldu Jan 2016

Automated Generation And Visualization Of Initial Construction Schedules From Building Information Models, Yibrah Weldemihret Weldu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent advances in digital technology have had a significant influence on the quality and speed of sharing and communicating project information in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. The process of acquiring the design intent in order to develop and communicate project schedules, as critical components of project delivery, have similarly been benefitting from such progress. With the relatively recent techniques of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and its capability to integrate the facility design with its construction schedule, meaningul strides have been made in improving the information flow and eventually visualizing the final schedule in 4D. However, the need …

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Analysis And Management Of The Price Volatility In The Construction Industry, Alireza Joukar Jan 2016

Analysis And Management Of The Price Volatility In The Construction Industry, Alireza Joukar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The problem of price volatility as it pertains to material and labor is a major source of risk and financial distress for all the participants in the construction industry. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to address this problem from both viewpoints of risk analysis and risk management. This dissertation offers three independent papers addressing this goal. In the first paper using the Engineering News Record Construction Cost Index (ENR CCI), a predictive model is developed. The model uses General Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) approach which facilitates both forecasting of the future values of the CCI, and capturing and …

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Single-Family Housing Construction Cost In The Greater Baton Rouge Area, Justin Pierce Estes Jan 2016

Single-Family Housing Construction Cost In The Greater Baton Rouge Area, Justin Pierce Estes

LSU Master's Theses

Most research focused on housing costs has noted a paucity of empirical cost data for residential construction, and researchers have suggested that collecting these data for individual metropolitan areas is ideal. The goal of this study is to obtain these data and compare them to national average sources to determine how well national data represent local costs. Data collection included obtaining prices from big box stores and through a survey of local Baton Rouge residential contractors for material, square foot and assembly costs for the major components of a house (i.e. foundation, wall, roof). From the material cost data evaluated, …

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Role Of An Adenylyl Cyclase Isoform In Alcohol's Effect On Cyclic Amp Regulated Gene Expression In Mammalian Cells, Rebecca Ann Hill Jan 2016

Role Of An Adenylyl Cyclase Isoform In Alcohol's Effect On Cyclic Amp Regulated Gene Expression In Mammalian Cells, Rebecca Ann Hill

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research suggests that the cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling pathway including CREB-CRE regulated expression of various genes is implicated in the predisposition to and development of alcoholism in humans. Alcohol also induces changes in inflammatory and immune responses; these changes increase the incidence of pneumonias and other infections, which can negatively affect recovery from infections. Cyclic AMP (cAMP) is known for its immunosuppressive effects and is also required for proper development of the immune system. Previous work in our laboratory has demonstrated that ethanol enhances the activity of adenylyl cyclase (AC) in an isoform-specific manner; type 7 AC (AC7) is most …

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Brief For Legal Ethics And Labor Law Professors As Amici Curiae Supporting Appellants, Nat'l Fed'n Of Indep. Bus. V. Perez, Ruben J. Garcia Jan 2016

Brief For Legal Ethics And Labor Law Professors As Amici Curiae Supporting Appellants, Nat'l Fed'n Of Indep. Bus. V. Perez, Ruben J. Garcia

Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

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