Digital Commons Network^™

Concentrations, Sources, And Health Risks Of Particulate Matter In Southeast Us.: Current Status And Future Changes, Fenglin Han

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Evaluation of long-term air quality trends and prediction of future air quality may help to design and demonstrate effectiveness of control strategies and guide future air quality management. As one of the six criteria air pollutants (CAPs) regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM_2.5) is of great interests since it has adverse effects on human health, visibility and climate. This study aims to understand the current status and future changes in concentrations, sources, and health risks of PM_2.5 in Southeast US. Firstly, observations were analyzed …

Influencing Factors On The Velocity And Temperature Of Propagating Fronts In Acrylate Composites, Samuel Morris Bynum

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Thermal frontal polymerization is a type of polymerization in which a localized reaction zone propagates through an unstirred system. It is incumbent upon the production and transport of heat produced as a result of the exothermic reaction associated with free-radical polymerization. First discovered in the 1970s, frontal polymerization has been since utilized to produce a variety of different materials, utilizing a variety of different chemistries. The temperature of the propagating front and the velocity at which it propagates can be influenced via chemical or physical means. We show that through careful selection of monomers and control of the concentration of …

Content Release And Fusion Of Quinone-Based Liposomes: Lipid Distribution And Cleavage Symmetry Of The Quinone Headgroup At The Bilayer, Huy Huu Nguyen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Delivery of most conventional nanomedicines for tumor treatment is through exploiting the enhanced permeability and retention effect with limited targeting potency. Furthermore, the inability of some nanocarriers to enter the cells via endocytosis, or their limited endocytic escape restrict their applications for intracellular delivery. Liposomal carrier systems offer a solution as they are capable of precisely spatiotemporal releasing the payloads upon sensing specifically targeted environments.

In 2008, the McCarley group demonstrated an example of redox-responsive triggered release of the liposomes, named Q₃DOPE, which can potentially take advantage of elevated quinone reductase activities of hNOQ₁ in several cancers. …

The Societal Collapse Of The Southern Lowland Maya Civilization: Don’T Miss The Forest For The Trees, Dwayne Hinton

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Simulations Of Peptoids, Pu Du

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Polypeptoids, or poly-N-substituted glycines, are a class of sequence defined polymers that are structural mimics of polypeptides. Polypeptoids currently have received a growing interest due to their improved thermal stability, larger chemical diversity, and easier synthetic pathways as compared to peptides. Their lack of backbone hydrogen bonding and stereochemistry coupled with their easily tunability make them an ideal prototypical model system to study the effect of secondary/non-covalent interactions on self-assembly in solution. In order to develop a molecular level understanding of the effect of secondary interactions on polypeptoid self-assembly, systematic studies were carried out using molecular dynamics simulations on several …

Trouble At Old River: An Economic Evaluation Of An Avulsion On United States Soybean Trade, Patrice Maria Lazard

LSU Master's Theses

The Mississippi River is an essential asset to agricultural trade given that its existence contributes to a cost-efficient transportation system. Barge travel allows large amounts of soybeans and other bulk commodities to be transported at low costs. Currently, barge costs are the lowest relative to those of other modes. Although there has been increasing competition for soybean shares from other countries in the global market, low transportation costs of soybeans, grain, and other oilseed crops allow the United States to retain its competitive advantage in the world soybean market. The Mississippi River’s urgency to change course and possibly eliminate barge …

Rfid Item-Level Tagging In A Grocery Store Environment, Brian Truman

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to investigate how effective item-level Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging would be using current RFID technology as a replacement for barcodes in a supermarket/grocery store environment.

To accomplish this, an experiment was be performed that utilized commercially available RFID technology. Passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID Tags were affixed to various grocery store items of different material categories (Food, Metal, Plastic, Liquid, and Glass), and placed in a metal shopping cart. Eight (8) antenna arrangements were created, comprised of different combinations of four (4) antennas in different locations around the cart.

The experiment was …

Breaking Coastal Hypoxia: Destratification Of Gulf Of Mexico Deadzone To Encourage Oxygen Transport Downwards To Maintain Marine Fauna, Veda Thipparthi

LSU Master's Theses

As a consequence of seasonal eutrophication and human input, a vast hypoxic area termed The Dead Zone develops every year in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during summer along the Louisiana coastline characterized by vertical seawater density-stratification with oxygen concentrations less than 2 mg.l^-1 at the seafloor. It poses a threat to bottom-dwelling faunae and their environment which has negative ecological and economic consequences. This project aims to mitigate hypoxia by employing mechanical impellers placed at strategic water depths and locations in the Gulf. Enhanced transport of oxygen results by mixing oxygen-enriched seawater at the surface, downward into the …

Race, Geography, And News Coverage Of The Opioid Epidemic, Nicholas B. Robert

LSU Master's Theses

The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug epidemic in United States history. During the early stages of the epidemic, the focus was on white victims in rural and suburban areas. Using the geo-ethnic framework developed from immigration research, this study examines if geography and race impacted the framing of the opioid epidemic in newspapers. The study finds there to be a low level of geo-ethnic influenced framing in news coverage of the opioid epidemic from 2016-2018.

Supporting The Algebra I Curriculum With An Introduction To Computational Thinking Course, Michelle M. Laskowski

LSU Master's Theses

The Louisiana Workforce Commission predicts a 33.6% increase in computer science and mathematical occupations by 2022 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics foresees a 16% increase in computer scientists from 2018-2028. Despite these opportunities for job and financial security, the number of Louisiana students enrolled in a nationally accredited computing course is less than 1%, compared to national leaders California and Texas which have 3% and 3.8% of students respectively. Furthermore, the international assessments of mathematical literacy, PISA and TIMMS, both report American students continue to fall further behind their international peers in mathematics achievement.

This thesis rejects these statistics …

Indocyanine-Green-Assisted Near-Infrared Dental Fluorescence Imaging To Detect Common Dental Diseases, As Compared With Dental X-Ray, Yoshita Viraj Holamoge

LSU Master's Theses

Oral health is indicative of a person’s overall health. Even with advances in medical science, dental diseases are very much prevalent in our society. Dental imaging techniques help in the early detection of these dental diseases and eventually avoids the risk of poor oral health as well as medical expenses. Current dental imaging techniques rely mostly on X-ray imaging whose ionizing property is a concern amongst the population. Near-infrared spectrum is known to have tissue penetration property and they belong to the non-ionizing part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This study utilized a contrast agent assisted near-infrared imaging for common dental …

The Effects Of Forced Migration On The Houma Of Louisiana, Jessica R. Parfait

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the effects of multiple forced migrations on the Indigenous Houma of southern Louisiana. The causes of these migrations have taken many forms such as the dispossession of land and relocating for access to resources. Through ethnographic interviews and historic research, I seek to critically engage the past to understand how it has molded the present and the lives of tribal citizens. I evaluate the power dynamics enacted upon the Houma who have recorded contact with Europeans dating to 1686 but have never been recognized as a sovereign entity by the United States.

Safety Assessment Of Road Vehicle In Crosswind Considering Driver Behavior, Jiexuan Hu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With expansion of the economy, more and more highway networks extend to coastal areas and mountain valley areas. Vehicles will be exposed to strong crosswinds when driven on these highway roads, especially in hurricane season and in winter in these two different topographic areas. Strong crosswinds threaten the safety of transportation infrastructure and passing vehicles in forms of vehicle accidents that usually result in traffic blockage and driver injury, posing negative effects on economic growth. This dissertation aimed to evaluate the vehicle safety when running through crosswinds in consideration of driver behaviors.

Firstly, the aerodynamic characteristics of road vehicles were …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Interaction Of Dna Nucleotides And Lignin Oligomers With Small Molecules And Interfaces, Xinjie Tong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of interaction of DNA nucleotides with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) provide valuable information that is critical to the development of a new DNA sequencing technique. We investigated the interactions and transport characteristics of mononucleotides moving through nanoslits with SAMs-covered surfaces. Our simulations focused on nanoslits in which the walls were composed of three different types of SAMs: methylformyl terminated, methyl terminated, and phenoxy terminated. The results demonstrated that the phenoxy terminated surfaces have the shortest required nanoslits length for nucleotides separation.

Using MD simulations, we also investigated the interaction of mono-lignin and oligo-lignols with lipid bilayers and …

Effective Fuzzing Framework For The Sleuthkit Tools, Shravya Paruchuri

LSU Master's Theses

The fields of digital forensics and incident response have seen significant growth over the last decade due to the increasing threats faced by organizations and the continued reliance on digital platforms and devices by criminals. In the past, digital investigations were performed manually by expert investigators, but this approach has become no longer viable given the amount of data that must be processed compared to the relatively small number of trained investigators. These resource constraints have led to the development and reliance on automated processing and analysis systems for digital evidence. In this paper, we present our effort to develop …

Dynamical Modeling In Cell Biology With Ordinary Differential Equations, Renee Marie Dale

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dynamical systems have been of interest to biologists and mathematicians alike. Many processes in biology lend themselves to dynamical study. Movement, change, and response to stimuli are dynamical characteristics that define what is 'alive'. A scientific relationship between these two fields is therefore natural. In this thesis, I describe how my PhD research variously related to biological, mathematical, and computational problems in cell biology. In chapter 1 I introduce some of the current problems in the field. In chapter 2, my mathematical model of firefly luciferase in vivo shows the importance of dynamical models to understand systems. Data originally collected …

Measurements Of The 16c + 12c And 16c + 13c Fusion Cross Sections With Implications For Astrophysics, Ashley Ann Hood

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The fusion of neutron-rich nuclei is of interest to nuclear astrophysics and nuclear structure. X-ray superbursts are powered by runaway thermonuclear burning deep inside of a neutron star, where heating from the pycnonuclear fusion of neutron-rich isotopes is an important heat source. Experimental measurements of fusion cross sections of neutron-rich isotopes have provided insights regarding nucleon transfer and nuclear structure properties affecting fusion. Recently, the ¹⁵C + ¹²C total fusion cross section was measured using a ¹⁵C beam produced by the in-flight beam production facility, which is part of the Argonne Tandem LINAC Accelerator System (ATLAS) at …

Hierarchical Conjugated Polymer Systems Prepared By Controlled Chain-Growth Polymerization, Chunwa Peter Kei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

π-Conjugated polymer materials may have a significant economic impact on society by providing means for designing affordable, flexible, and portable organic electronic devices. Their successful commercialization will depend on major scientific advancements, which will challenge human society to seek out ever more detailed and fundamental processes to command. Controlled polymerization affords such a power; allowing for the design of meticulous and precisely defined systems granting detailed insight into structure-property relationships in the polymer materials and bettering understanding of novel physical phenomena.

This dissertation primarily focuses on development and preparation of well-defined hierarchically organized macromolecular systems. The novel chain-growth polymerization methodologies …

Managing Overheads In Asynchronous Many-Task Runtime Systems, Bibek Wagle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Asynchronous Many-Task (AMT) runtime systems are based on the idea of dividing an algorithm into small units of work, known as tasks. The runtime system is then responsible for scheduling and executing these tasks in an efficient manner by taking into account the resources provided to it and the associated data dependencies between the tasks. One of the primary challenges faced by AMTs is managing such fine-grained parallelism and the overheads associated with creating, scheduling and executing tasks. This work develops methodologies for assessing and managing overheads associated with fine-grained task execution in HPX, our exemplar Asynchronous Many-Task runtime system. …

Mini-Actors, Mega-Stages: Examining The Use Of Theatre Among Children And Youth In U.S. Evangelical Megachurches, Carla Elisha Lahey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

How do children and youth first encounter the performing arts? While schools may stand out as an obvious answer, a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education shows that the percentage of public schools offering theatre classes dropped at both the primary and secondary level from 2000-2010 (Brenchley). Yet, even as arts offerings experience a decline in some public schools, many students are being introduced to performance through another venue – the evangelical megachurch.

Since the birth of the church growth movement in the 1970s, megachurches (defined as Protestant congregations that average at least 2,000 weekly attendees) have …

Evaluation Of Soil Type And Seeding Rate On Winter Cover Crop Species In A Soybean Production System, Donna S. Morgan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The integration of winter annual cover crops into a cropping system can potentially improve soil health and crop production, however, the impact of variables such as seeding rates, across two very different soil types, has not been well documented. A two-year study was conducted at the Dean Lee Research Station and Extension Center in Alexandria, Louisiana to evaluate the effects of cover crop seeding rate and soil type on cover crop biomass, weed suppression, soil fertility, and soybean (Glycine max L) growth and yield. Analysis of potential economic impacts was also performed to estimate financial net returns for three …

Social Justice Through Social Media: The Use Of Twitter As A Tool For Activism In The #Metoo #Blacklivesmatter Era, Laura L. Coleman

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on social justice and how people on Twitter chose to talk about it. The rise of social media has allowed Twitter users to speak more freely in more spaces than one. The study compared two different sexual assault cases between Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Professor Christine Blasey; and Virginia’s Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax and Vanessa Tyson. Applying the social responsibility theory, which allows free press without any censorship, I then can see the tone of which Black Twitter users have when talking about two separate sexual assault cases. This study compares the use of the #BlackTwitter hashtag …

Testing The Validity And Reliability Of Electromyography Acquisition Capabilities Of A Wearable Emg Device, Sense3, By Strive, Stanley Smith

LSU Master's Theses

There is a growing demand in the sports world for wearable technology, particularly those with electromyography acquisition capabilities. Electromyography (EMG) is technique for measuring the electrical activity that occurs during muscle contraction and relaxation. Basic practical applications of EMG use in sports include, but are not limited to: measuring activation timing of a muscle, measuring levels of activation, and detecting fatigue. The sports performance company Strive has designed an EMG wearable, called Sense3, that targets the following muscles of the lower limb: Quadriceps, Hamstrings, and Glutes. Sense3 must pass reliability assays to determine the validity of the EMG system in …

Role Of Glaciers In Halting Syrtis Major Lava Flows To Preserve And Divert A Fluvial System, Connor Matherne

LSU Master's Theses

The northeast edge of the Syrtis Major volcanic complex records a diverse history of volcanism and climate of early Mars. The region contains a stratigraphic record that spans the period of phyllosilicate secondary mineralogy from moderate pH alteration of the Early Noachian crust, to the more acidic, sulfate-forming, Hesperian period dominated by the adjacent volcanic plains of Syrtis Major Planum. A paleo-fluvial basin and channel system etched in the Syrtis Major volcanics is identified and analyzed using CTX and HiRISE imaging, CRISM observations and DEMs. These observations and analysis link the current landscape and the basin’s existence at the base …

L'Apport Des Écrivains Catholiques Du Début Du Xxe Siècle Au Roman D'Analyse À Travers Leur Étude Du Mariage, Edouard D'Espalungue D'Arros

LSU Master's Theses

The psychological novel (roman d’analyse) as a genre starts in France with Mme de Lafayette (1634-1693) in the seventeenth century with the publication of La Princesse de Clèves (1678). However, the use of a psychological perspective is less known among early twentiethth century catholic authors. At the beginning of the century, several authors have used this genre extensively to convey their moral message: Paul Bourget (1852-1935); Henry Bordeaux (1870-1963); and Émile Baumann (1868-1941). The works of these writers have not been the object of research when it comes to analyzing their views and their accounts of their epoch. …

The Effects Of Temperature On The Yields Of Aliphatic And Aromatic Products From The Supercritical Pyrolysis Of 1-Octene, Elizabeth Anne Hurst

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior to their combustion, fuels for future high-speed aircraft are expected to experience supercritical conditions, leading to the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), precursors to solid carbonaceous deposits, via pyrolytic reactions. These solid deposits can clog fuel-transfer lines, causing unsafe aircraft operation. To prevent the formation of fuel-line deposits, it is critical to understand the reaction pathways that lead to PAH formation in the supercritical fuel pyrolysis environment.

To better understand the role of large 1-alkenes in PAH formation, supercritical pyrolysis experiments with model fuel 1-octene, a representative 1-alkene product from supercritical n-alkane pyrolysis, have been performed. The …

The Use Of Social Media In Emergency Management By Public Agencies And Non-Governmental Organizations: Lessons Learned From Areas Affected By Hurricanes Isaac, Sandy, And Harvey, Ryan Hamilton Kirby

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural disasters are increasingly costly for the United States. The literature suggests emergency managers may improve disaster outcomes and enhance disaster resilience by supplementing their official public-communications methods with more bi-directional communication tactics using social media. This study aims to understand how social media is used within the “whole community” of emergency management in areas affected by recent hurricanes. The first research objective examines how social media is used by governmental and non-governmental organizations across the four phases of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation). The second objective is to identify challenges governmental and non-governmental groups have encountered and strategies …

Bio-Mechanical Characterization Of Adherent Cell Layers With A Pdms Cantilever, Merrel Truly Holley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the last few decades, the mechanical characteristics of human cells has been linked to many physiological processes and pathological conditions, illustrating the importance as effective biomarkers. Mounting research has shown the mechanical force between cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a vital role in cellular processes such as tissue homeostasis, wound healing, cancer metastasis, and the progression of various diseases. This mechanical force, or the force that a cell produces on its surroundings, is termed as the cellular traction force (CTF). Precise characterization of the CTF can expand our knowledge of these important cellular processes as well as …

High Power And Optomechanics In Advanced Ligo Detectors, Terra Christine Hardwick

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In September 2015, a new era of astronomy began with the first direct detection of grav- itational waves from a binary black hole coalescence. The event was captured by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, comprised of two long-baseline interferometers, one in Livingston, LA and one in Hanford, WA. At the time of the first detection, the interferometers were part way through an upgrade to an advanced configuration and were operating with a strain sensitivity of just better than 10⁻²³/Hz^1/2 around 100Hz. The full Advanced LIGO design calls for sensitivity of a few parts in 10⁻²⁴/Hz …

Transgenic Control Of Aflatoxin Contamination In Maize Through Host-Induced Gene Silencing Targeting Aspergillus Flavus Genes Encoding Polygalacturonase (P2c) And Versicolorin Dehydrogenase (Aflm), Yenjit Raruang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Maize (Zea mays L.) is susceptible to Aspergillus flavus infection and subsequent contamination with aflatoxins, the most potent naturally produced carcinogenic secondary metabolites. Here, the A. flavus gene aflM encoding the versicolorin dehydrogenase in aflatoxin biosynthesis and the p2c gene encoding the polygalacturonase that is involved in infection were selected as targets for suppression through host induced gene silencing (HIGS). A HIGS vector targeting these genes was constructed and introduced into immature B104 maize embryos. Thirteen out of fifteen p2c transformation events and six out of seven aflM events were confirmed positive by PCR. Kernels containing the p2c gene …