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A New Theory Of Stochastic Integration, Anuwat Sae-Tang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we focus mainly on the further study of the new stochastic integral introduced by Ayed and Kuo in 2008. Several properties of this new stochastic integral are obtained. We first introduce the concept of near-martingale for non-adapted stochastic processes. This concept is a generalization of the martingale property for adapted stochastic processes in the It\^o theory. We prove a special case of It\^o isometry for the stochastic integral of certain instantly independent processes. We obtain some formulas for expressing a new stochastic integral in terms of It\^o integrals and Riemann integrals. Several generalized versions of It\^o's formula …

Testing And Improving The Luminosity Relations For Gamma-Ray Bursts, Andrew Collazzi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) have several luminosity relations where a measurable property of a burst light curve or spectrum is correlated with the burst luminosity. These luminosity relations are calibrated for the fraction of bursts with spectroscopic redshifts and hence the known luminosities. GRBs have thus become known as a type of "standard candle"; where standard candle is meant in the usual sense that their luminosities can be derived from measurable properties of the bursts. GRBs can therefore be used for the same cosmology applications as Type Ia supernovae, including the construction of the Hubble Diagram and measuring massive star …

Understanding The Selective Detection Of Homocysteine And Studies Toward The Synthesis Of Vinigrol, Dong Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first part of the work is dedicated to the selective detection of Homocysteine (Hcy). In order to better understand this colorimetric detection method, a thermodynamic model for the pH dependence of the effective reduction potential of Hcy derived á-carbon radicals has been proposed. And using viologen indicators of varying reduction potentials, we demonstrate that colorimetric changes occur at experimental pH values consistent with the model. The one-carbon bridge stereochemistry of bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane framework is critical to make the third ring of the tricyclic precursor of vinigrol. We studied this stereochemistry carefully and found that the major diastereomer formed from Robinson …

Fully Integrated Microsystem For Bacterial Genotyping, Hui-Wen Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Methods for bacterial detection and identification has garnered renewed interest in recent years due to the infections they may cause and the antimicrobial resistances they can develop, the potential for bioterrorism threats and possible contamination of food/water supplies. Therefore, the rapid, specific and accurate detection of pathogens is crucial for the prevention of pathogen-related disease outbreaks and facilitating disease management as well as the containment of suspected contaminated food and/or water supplies. In this dissertation an integrated modular-based microfluidic system composed of a fluidic cartridge and a control instrument has been developed for bacterial pathogen detection. The integrated system can …

Data-Aware Workflow Scheduling In Heterogeneous Distributed Systems, Dengpan Yin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Data transferring in scientific workflows gradually attracts more attention due to large amounts of data generated by complex scientific workflows will significantly increase the turnaround time of the whole workflow. It is almost impossible to make an optimal or approximate optimal scheduling for the end-to-end workflow without considering the intermediate data movement. In order to reduce the complexity of the workflow-scheduling problem, most researches done so far are constrained by many unrealistic assumptions, which result in non-optimal scheduling in practice. A constraint imposed by most researchers in their algorithms is that a computation site can only start the execution of …

Surface-Initiated Polymerization As A Novel Strategy Towards Preparation Of Organic Semiconducting Polymer Thin Films, Euiyong Hwang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Organic semiconducting polymer thin films are core materials for organic electronics that are conventionally prepared by solution processing techniques. Despite having the advantage of easy and fast thin film manufacturing, solution techniques have intrinsic drawbacks, such as disordered and poor molecular organization in the film (often resulting in poor device performance), as well as insufficient stabilities of the films and resulting devices. To improve this situation, we designed a novel “bottom-up” fabrication of surface-immobilized organic semiconducting thin films through in situ polymerization. This new strategy will allow high degree of control over molecular organization which therefore results in improved free …

Proteomic Analysis Of The Blood Of Alligator Mississippiensis, Lancia Nadinia Fallen Darville-Bowleg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My research focus was to investigate alligator blood using mass spectrometry-based proteomics methods to understand their innate immune systems. The first goal was to sequence peptides and proteins from the blood serum and leukocytes using tandem mass spectrometry and de novo sequencing. The second goal was to determine the function of these biological molecules and their relationship to the immune system. One- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to separate proteins from alligator leukocytes, which were enzymatically digested. The peptides were measured using reversed phase nano-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (nano-HPLC-MS/MS) followed with de novo sequencing. …

Some Classes Of Graphs That Are Nearly Cycle-Free, Lisa Warshauer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A graph is almost series-parallel if there is some edge that one can add to the graph and then contract out to leave a series-parallel graph, that is, a graph with no K₄-minor. In this dissertation, we find the full list of excluded minors for the class of graphs that are almost series-parallel. We also obtain the corresponding result for the class of graphs such that uncontracting an edge and then deleting the uncontracted edge produces a series-parallel graph.

A notable feature of a 3-connected almost series-parallel graph is that it has two vertices whose removal leaves a …

Cognitive Radio Network With A Distributed Control Channel And Quality-Of-Service Solution, Urban Terrell Wiggins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The proliferation of wireless access and applications to the Internet and the advent of a myriad of highly evolved portable communication devices; creates the need for an efficiently utilized radio spectrum. This is paramount in the licensed and unlicensed radio frequency bands, that spawn an exponential growth in Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) research, Cognitive Radio (CR) and Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN) research. DSA research has given way to the paradigm shift toward CR with its dynamic changes in transmission schemas. This paradigm shift from a fixed and centralized frequency spectrum environment has morphed into a dynamic and decentralized one. CR …

Quantitative Mapping Of Cyanobacterial Blooms Using Oceansat-1 Ocm Satellite Data, Padmanava Dash

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cyanobacteria represent a major harmful algal group in fresh to brackish water environments. Lac des Allemands, a freshwater lake of 49 km² southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, provides a natural laboratory for remote characterization of cyanobacteria blooms because of their seasonal occurrence. This dissertation makes a contribution to research methodology pertaining to atmospheric correction of satellite data and development of remote sensing algorithms to quantify cyanobacterial pigments. The Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) sensor provides radiance measurements similar to Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) but with higher spatial resolution. However, OCM does not have a standard atmospheric correction procedure and …

Microphytobenthos Of The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Hypoxic Area And Their Role In Oxygen Dynamics, Melissa Millman Baustian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The presence or absence of microphytobenthos on the seafloor provides clues about whether benthic oxygen evolution contributes significantly to the oxygen budget of the hypoxic area in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Hypoxia (oxygen < 2 mg l-1) creates inadequate concentrations of dissolved oxygen to support most organisms, such as fish, shrimp and crabs, and occurs over large areas of the Louisiana continental shelf from spring through summer in most years. Oxygen production by benthic autotrophs may offset a decline in oxygen concentrations if there is a functioning community and sufficient light. I sampled three stations (14, 20 and 23 m depths) ~ 100 km west of the Mississippi River over three hypoxic annual cycles (2006 – 2008), and 11 stations along a 14 - 20 m contour on the shelf in late-July in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I used microscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography to estimate the biomass and composition of phytoplankton and microphytobenthos. The potential seasonal oxygen production was estimated in 2007 and 2008 by incubating coupled light/dark sediment cores and bottom water from two stations. The sediment community (cells > 3 um) differed from those in the water column and were frequently benthic pennate diatoms and filamentous cyanobacteria (58-88% seasonally and 1-99% in mid-summer). The concentration of microphytobenthic biomass was usually < 2.0 ug g dry sed-1, and various biotic parameters were influenced by light at the seafloor. Declines in dissolved oxygen over a seasonal cycle in 2007 and 2008 were affected more by the initial dissolved oxygen concentration than by the presence of microphytobenthos that could generate oxygen. The sediment (1.2 - 27.3 mmol O2 m-2 d-1, n = 97) and bottom-water (1.1 - 17.5 mmol m-2 d-1, n = 23) oxygen consumption rates were within the range of the few previously-reported data. This work adds to these data and also provides the only sediment oxygen consumption rates at fixed sites over seasonal time scales. These results provide critical input to three-dimensional, physical-biological models of oxygen dynamics for this hypoxic area.

Marketing Forest-Based Ecotourism In Sri Lanka: Predicting The Ecotourism Behavior And Defining The Market Segment Through A Behavioral Approach, Polwattage K. Perera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tourism industry is one of the main drivers of the global economy and plays a key role in regional development. As negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts of mass tourism became apparent, the appeal of alternative forms of tourism, especially ecotourism, continued to gain a broad recognition. As a result, ecotourism became one of the fastest growing sectors in global tourism during the past decade. Being a fast-developing country with ample natural resources, Sri Lanka can benefit from adopting and promoting ecotourism. At present, Sri Lanka’s ecotourism resources remain largely under-utilized. With rising demand, ecotourism operators are under pressure to meet …

A General Approach For Vitrification Of Fish Sperm, Rafael Cuevas Uribe

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this project was to develop streamlined protocols that could be integrated into a standardized approach for vitrification of germplasm for all aquatic species. Vitrification (freezing by formation of “glass” rather than crystalline ice) is simple, fast, inexpensive, can be potentially used to preserve samples in the field, and offers new options for germplasm management especially appropriate for small fishes. Sperm were studied from freshwater fish (channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus), viviparous freshwater fish (green swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii), and marine fishes (spotted seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus, red snapper Lutjanus campechanus, red drum Sciaenops ocellatus, and southern flounder Paralichthys lethostigma). To …

Spatial Ecology Of Adult Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion Nebulosus, In Louisiana Coastal Waters, Jody Lynn Callihan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, are common in estuaries and coastal waters of the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and are of considerable recreational and economic importance. Still, the spatial ecology of this species is under-studied and poorly resolved, especially in Louisiana waters. To address this important knowledge gap, I examined the movements, distribution, and habitat use of adult spotted seatrout in coastal Louisiana primarily using high-resolution acoustic telemetry and secondarily, conventional tagging (mark-recapture) data. At the largest spatial scale investigated, I found that adults exhibited a high degree of estuarine fidelity and rarely undertook large-scale movements in excess of …

Capturing Elements In Matroid Minors, Deborah Chun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we begin with an introduction to a matroid as the natural generalization of independence arising in three different fields of mathematics. In the first chapter, we develop graph theory and matroid theory terminology necessary to the topic of this dissertation. In Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, we prove two main results. A result of Ding, Oporowski, Oxley, and Vertigan reveals that a large 3-connected matroid M has unavoidable structure. For every n exceeding two, there is an integer f(n) so that if |E(M)| exceeds f(n), then M has a minor isomorphic to the rank-n wheel or whirl, …

Fragmentation Sensitivity And Its Consequences On Demography And Host-Ectoparasite Dynamics In Amazonian Birds, Erik I. Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Amazon rainforest is experiencing rapid deforestation due to ranching, agriculture, and urban development, which often leads to remnant patches serving as refugia for forest organisms. By mist-netting passerines in 11 forest fragments (1-, 10-, and 100-ha patches) and nearby continuous forest at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragmentation Project near Manaus, Brazil, I conducted a series of studies to identify mechanisms that drive population changes in fragmented landscapes. First, I examined the age structure of bird populations from six ecological guilds in fragments and continuous forest. Immatures are the dispersing age group in birds, and their relative abundance in …

Quality Of Service Based Data-Aware Scheduling, Archit Kulshrestha

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Distributed supercomputers have been widely used for solving complex computational problems and modeling complex phenomena such as black holes, the environment, supply-chain economics, etc. In this work we analyze the use of these distributed supercomputers for time sensitive data-driven applications. We present the scheduling challenges involved in running deadline sensitive applications on shared distributed supercomputers running large parallel jobs and introduce a ``data-aware'' scheduling paradigm that overcomes these challenges by making use of Quality of Service classes for running applications on shared resources. We evaluate the new data-aware scheduling paradigm using an event-driven hurricane simulation framework which attempts to run …

Aquatic Macroinvertebrate And Nekton Community Structure In A Chenier Marsh Ecosystem: Implications For Whooping Crane Prey Availability, Sung-Ryong Kang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A suitable foraging habitat model based on prey density, biomass, and energy values in varying hydrologic conditions can provide an objective quantifiable method to assess habitat conditions for the Whooping Crane (Grus americana). Nekton and macroinvertebrates are considered the important prey sources in Whooping Crane's diet at different times. This study focuses on the understanding of habitat relationships of nekton and macroinvertebrate assemblage in the Chenier Plain to provide a foundation for the development for foraging suitability models for the reintroduced Whooping Crane. In this dissertation, in a laboratory study I experimentally examined the effect of salinity on …

A C0 Interior Penalty Method For The Von Kármán Equations, Armin Karl Reiser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we develop a C⁰ interior penalty method for the von Kármán equations for nonlinear elastic plates. We begin with a brief survey on frequently used finite element methods for the von Kármán equations. After addressing some topics from functional analysis in the preliminaries, we present existence, uniqueness and regularity results for the solutions of the von Kármán equations in Chapter 3. In the next chapter we review the C⁰ interior penalty method for the biharmonic problem. Motivated by these results, we propose a C⁰ interior penalty method for the linearized von Kármán equations in …

A Multifaceted Phenomenon Of Hydrophobic Effects: Insights Learned From Nucleation Algorithm Based Computer Simulation Approach, Hyunmi Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We have applied our new approach, a combination of the AVUS-HR nucleation algorithm and a thermodynamic cycle, to the studies of hydrophobicity-related researches. Due to the multifaceted characteristics of hydrophobicity, it is essential to acquire knowledge in various environments where hydrophobic relevant events occur for comprehensive understanding of this process. In this regards, we have chosen two relatively unstudied hydrophobic subjects for application of our new methodology. For the first subject, hydrophobic association behaviors of a methane pair confined into a nanometer sized hydrophobic cavity have been investigated. Our new approach demonstrates that the association behavior between two methane molecules …

Variability In Red Snapper Otolith Microchemistry Among Gulf Of Mexico Regions, Michelle Zapp Sluis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, has been an economically important reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) for over 150 years and is currently overfished. Catch statistics and demographic differences have lead to the population being categorized into eastern and western substocks divided by the Mississippi River, but data is recombined to set a Gulf-wide annual catch limit. The two objectives of this study were to apply otolith nursery chemical signatures to estimate red snapper mixing dynamics in the western Gulf, and to determine if signatures based upon trace metals associated with oil and gas platforms could discriminate between region …

The Effect Of Habitat Change On Nutrient Removal In The Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana, Amy E. Scaroni

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers are the major sources of freshwater and nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico. Increased nutrient loads from these rivers exacerbate eutrophication in coastal receiving waters and contribute to the large area of hypoxia that develops seasonally in the Gulf. Levees along the Mississippi River have reduced contact between the river and the historic floodplain; this limits the ability of floodplain wetlands to naturally mitigate excess nutrients. However, the Atchafalaya River diverges from the Mississippi 217 km from the Gulf and enters a large river floodplain with a widely spaced levee system. This enhances the ability …

On Greenberg's Question: An Algebraic And Computational Approach, David H. Chapman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Greenberg asked whether arithmetically equivalent number fields share the same Iwasawa invariants. In this dissertation it is shown that the problem naturally breaks up into four cases, depending on properties of Galois groups. This analysis is then used to give a positive answer to Greenberg’s question in some nontrivial examples.

Characterization And Prototyping Of The Rotating Modulator Hard X-Ray/Gamma-Ray Telescope, Brent Budden

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A hard x-ray/gamma-ray telescope with high sensitivity and wide field of view would be capable of performing an all-sky census of black holes over a wide range of obscuration and accretion rates. As an example, NASA's Black Hole Finder Probe mission was designed to provide a 5-sigma flux sensitivity in a 1-year observation of ~0.02 mCrab in the 10 - 150 keV energy range and 0.5 mCrab in the 150 - 600 keV energy range with 3 - 5 minutes of arc angular resolution. These are significantly higher sensitivity and resolution goals than those of current instruments. The design focus …

Analysis Of Amyloid Beta (A [Beta]) Peptides By Capillary Electrophoresis And Laser-Induced Fluorescence Anisotropy Detection, Ryan Andrew Picou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of the research presented in this dissertation is to develop laser-induced fluorescence anisotropy (LIFA) detection for detecting and characterizing amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide aggregates separated by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Senile plaques composed primarily of aggregated Aβ (1-40) and Aβ (1-42) peptides have been found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. These peptides are thought to be responsible for the disease pathology. A CE method using UV absorbance detection was developed for the quantification of Aβ (1-40) monomer and testing of Aβ monomer preparations for undesired aggregates (Chapter 2). Analyses of both Aβ (1-40) and Aβ (1-42) monomer …

Twisted Frobenius-Schur Indicators For Hopf Algebras, Maria Vega

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The classical Frobenius--Schur indicators for finite groups are character sums defined for any representation and any integer $m\ge 2$. In the familiar case $m=2$, the Frobenius--Schur indicator partitions the irreducible representations over the complex numbers into real, complex, and quaternionic representations. In recent years, several generalizations of these invariants have been introduced. Bump and Ginzburg in 2004, building on earlier work of Mackey from 1958, have defined versions of these indicators which are twisted by an automorphism of the group. In another direction, Linchenko and Montgomery in 2000 defined Frobenius--Schur indicators for finite dimensional semisimple Hopf algebras. In this dissertation, …

Redox-Active Liposome Delivery Agents With Highly Controllable Stimuli-Responsive Behavior, Nicole Hollabaugh Carrier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the last few decades, liposomes have generated a lot of interest as drug delivery vehicles to address the need for providing both increased therapeutic efficacy and decreased systemic exposure, simultaneously. The challenge of increasing drug accumulation at diseased sites, without compromising the integrity and stability of the liposomal carrier during circulation, has been met with two possible solutions: (1) active targeting and (2) active triggering. To achieve selective and site-specific delivery of drugs to tumors, active triggering methods have been developed wherein a responsive element is incorporated into the liposomal bilayer, which causes destabilization of the liposome upon exposure …

Characterization Of Triggerable Quinones For The Development Of Enzyme-Responsive Liposomes, Maria Fabiana Mendoza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For decades, there has been a lot of focus on the development of new carriers for drug delivery applications. From all of the carriers, stimuli-responsive liposomes have been studied extensively, but only a handful have been enzyme-responsive liposomes. Therefore, the field of endogenous proteins as activators of liposomes is a fertile field worthy of exploration. The research described in this dissertation involves how structural changes on the quinone moiety altered their electronic properties, as well as their behavior toward the human enzyme NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase type-1 (hNQO1, over expressed in certain tumor tissues), thus yielding a series of triggerable quinones to …

Guided Modes And Resonant Transmission In Periodic Structures, Hairui Tu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We analyze resonant scattering phenomena of scalar fields in periodic slab and pillar structures that are related to the interaction between guided modes of the structure and plane waves emanating from the exterior. The mechanism for the resonance is the nonrobust nature of the guided modes with respect to perturbations of the wavenumber, which reflects the fact that the frequency of the mode is embedded in the continuous spectrum of the pseudo-periodic Helmholtz equation. We extend previous complex perturbation analysis of transmission anomalies to structures whose coefficients are only required to be measurable and bounded from above and below, and …

Symmetric Spaces, Se-Jong Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We first review the basic theory of a general class of symmetric spaces with canonical reflections, midpoints, and displacement groups. We introduce a notion of gyrogroups established by A. A. Ungar and define gyrovector spaces slightly different from Ungar's setting. We see the categorical equivalence of symmetric spaces and gyrovector spaces with respect to their corresponding operations. In a smooth manifold with spray we define weighted means using the exponential map and develop the Lie-Trotter formula with respect to midpoint operation. Via the idea that we associate a spray with a Loos symmetric space, we construct an analytic scalar multiplication …