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Articles 91 - 101 of 101

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Who Helps In A Crisis: Differentiating Among Adult Children As Sources Of Support For Their Caregiving Mothers, Michael J. Patterson Jan 2003

Who Helps In A Crisis: Differentiating Among Adult Children As Sources Of Support For Their Caregiving Mothers, Michael J. Patterson

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collected from 134 mothers about their relationships with 381 adult children during the first few months after the mothers began caring for a spouse or older parent. Building on a framework that draws on theories of social structural similarity, I anticipated that adult children who shared more social statuses with their parents would be more likely to be sources of emotional and instrumental support and less likely to be sources of interpersonal stress to their caregiving mothers. Multivariate analyses revealed no effects of structural similarity and few effects of other …


Design And Implementation Of An Ocean Observing System: Wavcis (Wave-Current-Surge Information System) And Its Application To The Louisiana Coast, Xiongping Zhang Jan 2003

Design And Implementation Of An Ocean Observing System: Wavcis (Wave-Current-Surge Information System) And Its Application To The Louisiana Coast, Xiongping Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

WAVCIS (Wave-Current-Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana) was designed to measure meteorological and hydrodynamic phenomena along the Louisiana coast. The information measured includes waves, currents, water depth, surge, turbidity, salinity and meteorological conditions. WAVCIS collects data and transfers it back to the data processing laboratory at LSU through wireless communication. The data undergo post-processing and archiving. Users can access the real-time or archived information through the World Wide Web. This dissertation utilized the information provided by WAVCIS stations and NDBC buoys during Hurricane Lili and Tropical Storm to examine temporal and spatial variations of storm induced meteorological and oceanographic dynamics. …


Perceptions Of Social Support Within The Context Of Religious Homophily: A Social Network Analysis, Sally Robicheaux Jan 2003

Perceptions Of Social Support Within The Context Of Religious Homophily: A Social Network Analysis, Sally Robicheaux

LSU Master's Theses

Recent studies have documented (1) the direct effects of social network context on perceived adequacy of social support and (2) the indirect effects of social network context, through social support, on psychological well-being. This thesis extends that research by asking how religious homophily in social networks affects individual perceptions of support and, through that, psychological well-being (depression). Results indicate that being embedded in a network with greater religious homophily increases perceived support, but this relationship holds only for instrumental support. Additionally, both instrumental and expressive support exert significant affects on psychological well-being: greater perceived adequacy of support (both instrumental and …


Characterizing Spatially Explicit Patterns Of Antibiotic Resistance In The Marine Environment Using Top-Level Marine Predators, Jason Kenna Blackburn Jan 2003

Characterizing Spatially Explicit Patterns Of Antibiotic Resistance In The Marine Environment Using Top-Level Marine Predators, Jason Kenna Blackburn

LSU Master's Theses

This research is the first known study to characterize spatially explicit patterns of Antibiotic Resistance (ABR) in top-level marine predators. A total of 134 viable bacteria samples were isolated from cloacal swabs of seven shark species and one teleost species and then stratified by geographic location. Samples were collected using sterile rayon-tipped culturettes and transported to the LSU-SVM for classification and antibiotic resistance analyses using the Kirby-Bauer method. Samples were characterized by Gram-stain and morphology and placed into three groups: 1) Gram-negative rods, 2) Gram-positive cocci, or 3) Gram-positive rods. Prevalence rates were calculated for each study site as the …


Adherence To Medical Regimens In Low-Income Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: The Influence Of Perceived Control Constructs, Erin L. O'Hea Jan 2003

Adherence To Medical Regimens In Low-Income Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: The Influence Of Perceived Control Constructs, Erin L. O'Hea

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Individuals with Type 2 diabetes often do not adhere to their treatment regimens (e.g., exercise, diet, medication, glucose monitoring). Non-adherence results in poor metabolic control, further morbidity and mortality, and increased health care utilization and costs. One common thread among many health-behavior-theories that attempt to explain non-adherence behaviors is the importance of perceived control. This psychosocial variable has most often been conceptualized as ‘health locus of control,’ which refers to the belief that one has the ability to influence or change one’s health outcomes. Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the relationship of health locus of control and medical regimen …


Metabolic Aspects Of Oryzanol In Rats, Michelle Smith Gillespie Jan 2003

Metabolic Aspects Of Oryzanol In Rats, Michelle Smith Gillespie

LSU Master's Theses

Using a rat model, this study compared the bioavailability of three forms of oryzanol, a compound extracted from rice bran oil that has been associated with improved cholesterol levels. Various methods of extracting lipids from serum and liver were explored to determine oryzanol absorption. Cholesterol levels were obtained via enzymatic colorimetric assay and GCMS. Sprague Dawley retired female breeder rats were sustained for 11 weeks on a cholesterol-free diet to which either no oryzanol was added (n = 19) or 2.8 g/kg of oryzanol was added as: 7% oryzanol rice bran oil (RO, n = 8), crystalline oryzanol (CO, n …


Making The Internet Transition: Assessing The Needs Of Secondary Public School Teachers, Nancy Matt Jan 2003

Making The Internet Transition: Assessing The Needs Of Secondary Public School Teachers, Nancy Matt

LSU Master's Theses

Since the introduction of Internet technology in public schools, teachers who are enthusiastic about computer and Internet training have responded to school districts’ offers of off-site training and take part in grant-based programs to promote the use of technology. The first phase of promotion by attraction has been completed. The remaining teachers are not as enthusiastic and look to the school district to provide them with the type of training they require in order to incorporate Internet technology. Access to the Internet is just one of many elements involved in the overall problems that public high school teachers face using …


Measuring Fear Of Crime On Campus: A Study Of An Urban University, Cheryl Papa Bedenbaugh Jan 2003

Measuring Fear Of Crime On Campus: A Study Of An Urban University, Cheryl Papa Bedenbaugh

LSU Master's Theses

Since 1990, five federal laws and many state laws have been created to increase security on university campuses (Security on Campus 2000). These laws, which include provisions that require university police and administrations to accurately and openly report the school's crime statistics (Hudge 2000), have fueled an increased focus about crime committed on university campuses. The philosophy behind the open reporting laws is twofold: parents and students have the information necessary to help them make the best decisions on which college to attend, and students are armed with information so they can take necessary precautions to enhance their level of …


Relative Efficacy Of School-Home Notes With And Without Response Cost In Impoverished Elementary School Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Andrea Nichole Jurbergs Jan 2003

Relative Efficacy Of School-Home Notes With And Without Response Cost In Impoverished Elementary School Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Andrea Nichole Jurbergs

LSU Master's Theses

Daily report cards and punishment have proven to be effective methods of classroom behavior management. However, treatment effectiveness studies have not been designed to adequately compare the effects of rewarding and punishing consequences on behavior through a school-home note. The study of school-home note treatment effectiveness has focused on middle-class students with behavior problems; both ADHD and disadvantaged populations have been underresearched. Using a reversal, alternating treatments design, the present study will examine the effectiveness of a response-cost system added to school-home notes for increasing classwork completion and appropriate classroom behavior in several disadvantaged elementary school children with ADHD.


An Integrated Approach To Judicial Decision Making: The Death Penalty In South Africa, Stephenie E. Franks Jan 2003

An Integrated Approach To Judicial Decision Making: The Death Penalty In South Africa, Stephenie E. Franks

LSU Master's Theses

Existing judicial research has firmly established the role of the law and the courts in the political system of the United States. Yet very little systematic empirical research has been conducted to fully explore the extent to which theories of judicial behavior based upon the American judicial system are applicable to other legal systems. As a result, these theories lack generalizability and, moreover, have failed to determine if the U.S. judiciary is comparable to other court systems or simply an anomaly within a broader comparative framework. Given this void within the existing literature, this study extends several theories of judicial …


Bombarding The City Of The Dead: Who Has A Right To The Past?, Corey David Hotard Jan 2003

Bombarding The City Of The Dead: Who Has A Right To The Past?, Corey David Hotard

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on the relationship between tourism and archaeology at Saint Louis Cemetery Number One in New Orleans. In the past two decades, the discipline of archaeology has been thrust into the gaze of the public. The Information Age has led to the increased accessibility of archaeological sites to anyone who may have an interest. Due to this increased accessibility, professional archaeologists have turned to public archaeology in order to satiate the public’s curiosity. Although public archaeology is a growing field, a good bit of the subject still deals mainly with legislation and preservation rather than direct contact with …