Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, numerous groups emerged to address recovery related needs in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes. The phenomenon of emergent groups is widely noted in the disaster literature, but there has been little empirical research focusing on these groups. And, the existing literature discusses emergent groups primarily in the context of response. This study sought to explore the factors related to formation of emergent recovery groups (ERGs) and allow ERGs to have an extended lifespan. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with founders of twenty ERGs that formed to work in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes. It was found that the factors related to group formation were the same factors that contributed to the continued existence of the ERG including post-event community situational context, unmet needs, a group driver/leader, ability to network, level of integration, and resources.

This dissertation analyzed court decisions in injuries on school grounds cases under the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act. The question addressed was: How have the Louisiana courts interpreted the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act in litigation against Louisiana school districts and their employees? The intent of this study was to show how Louisiana's legal system has evolved, and how that evolution affected tort cases involving school boards and school board employees. Doctrinal legal research was the methodology used to answer the research question. To limit the number of cases analyzed, this study only focused on tort claims involving injury on school property. In order to gain a broad perspective, tort claims cases filed prior to the 1974 Louisiana Constitution, cases filed after the 1974 Louisiana Constitution, and cases filed after the 1995 Louisiana Liability Limits Amendment, and the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act of 1996 were analyzed. By analyzing the tort claims brought against Louisiana school districts and employees during the various time-periods, it was clear to see how the case rulings reflected the frequent changes of the Louisiana Constitution and its' laws. In the end, the state continued to control who could sue them and how much they would pay in damages.

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This study examines the social, cultural, and political discontinuities found among Acadians who settled in Louisiana after their deportation from Atlantic Canada in 1755. Historians studying the Acadians’ early years of arrival and resettlement in Louisiana have drawn readers’ attention to the preservation of Acadian cultural and social attributes. These works tell how in spite of their need to adapt to life in a southern borderland region, the Acadians who arrived in Louisiana retained important qualities of their pre-dispersal identity. Such studies have served well in deconstructing the “Evangeline” myth created through Henry Longfellow’s epic poem, yet at the same time they have inadvertently mythologized the preservation of the Acadians’ pre-dispersal identity. In contrast, this text examines ways that the Acadian identity changed through their experiences in exile and resettlement in the South. The Acadians’ interactions with the government, with Native and African Americans, and among themselves in Louisiana provide evidence that the very foundation of their former identity underwent severe fractures. In studying their new relationships with colonizers as well as other colonized, evidence of the Acadians’ willing participation in the colonial military, their fears of Native American tribes, their involvement in slaveholding, and their increased dependence on the government indicate that they experienced critical social, cultural, and political changes as a result of the Grand Dérangement. Through their dispersal and their resettlement in the South, the Acadians’ quest for survival resulted in a new definition of what it meant to be “Acadian.”

Combined with a conventional processing scheme, applications of stretched amplitude adjustment (SAGC), pre-stack deconvolution, and post-stack migration improve the temporal and spatial resolution of Texaco Line 6, facilitating interpretation of the salt structure geometry beneath the line. Applied through DISCO (Cogniseis) processing software along with modules developed at Virginia Tech, SAGC and prediction-error deconvolution perform whitening to enhance temporal resolution while post-stack signal enhancement and a migration edge effect attenuation (MEE) scheme improve the accuracy of Kirchoff, finite-difference, omega-x, and f-k migrations to enhance spatial resolution. Synthetic seismograms generated from checkshot velocity data tie the seismic horizons to subsurface geology. Complex trace analyses, carried out using FOCUS 2-D (Cogniseis) software, elaborate on reflector continuity and hydrocarbon accumulation. Overall, amplitude spectra of pre-stack data are enhanced by a maximum of 14 decibels between 10 and 58 Hz after SAGC and 4 decibels between 17 and 58 Hz after deconvolution. Signal enhancement improves reflector amplitude to optimize hyperbola collapse through migration. MEE expands the migration cone spatially by 3,503.7 m and temporally by approximately 42 percent, and the Kirchoff algorithm provides the most accurate migration. Pre-stack migration by Texaco reveals subhorizontal strata having a minimum period of 33.3 ms near the northeast flank of Venice Dome salt; the salt has an upward extent of 2,250 ft and is covered by smooth caprock. Resolution gains after reprocessing show strata having a minimum period of 25.0 ms; the salt is imaged deeper at 2,950 ft with a more southwesterly flank and is covered by faulted caprock. Seismic horizons correlate with Pleistocene to Miocene sand and shale layers associated with hydrocarbon production; increased resolution suggests the presence of geologic discontinuities which could interfere with producibility. Increasing seismic resolution by reprocessing existing reflection data exhibits that salt structure geometry and potential hydrocarbon traps can be better evaluated so as to help identify future prospects. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study is to give a brief history of Acadia Baptist Academy, giving some facts essential to the development, and to evaluate the curriculum of the Academy.

Louisiana’s coastal wetlands support millions of resident and migratory birds annually but account for 80% of the nation’s coastal wetland loss. Marsh terracing is a restoration technique that constructs segmented ridges in open water areas to enhance marsh conditions. Despite widespread use, their value as avian habitat has received limited study. Using ground and aerial surveys, we evaluated avian use of marsh terraces across 24 paired sites (marsh terrace and non-terrace sites) in coastal Louisiana. Avian surveys focused on breeding secretive marsh birds (SMB) and wintering waterfowl. Results indicate that presence or absence of marsh terraces influenced numbers of ducks detected, though relative abundance varied spatially and temporally. The effect on SMB abundance varied by species and environmental variables, including habitat structure and water availability. The study highlights the complexity of bird responses to marsh terracing, emphasizing the importance of considering species-specific habitat preferences and environmental factors in restoration planning.

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In 1976, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 709. This act mandated accountability in education. As a result of this law, Louisiana students in grades four, eight, and eleven are given tests each year in reading, mathematics, and writing. The primary motivation for conducting this study was the wide-spread discussion about the value of the state-assessment program. There was a need to determine what the perceptions toward the Louisiana State-Assessment Program were by superintendents, principals, and teachers. Based upon a review of related literature and discussions with Louisiana educators, a questionnaire was developed with thirty-three items. These thirty-three items were grouped into six research questions that determined what the perceptions of superintendents, principals, and teachers were toward the Louisiana State-Assessment Program.