Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation Of Antimonide Structure Types And The Structural Studies Of Molybdates, Dixie Plaisance Gautreaux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation highlights the investigation of ternary lanthanide antimonide structure types and their physical properties. In particular, these ternary phases allow for the systematic investigation of the structure in an effort to correlate structure and properties. The ternary antimonides are layered structures with two-dimensional square sheets or nets, which influence the properties of these materials. In an effort to determine how structural changes influence the physical properties, various single crystals of compounds relating to the orthorhombic CeNiSb3 structure have been grown and characterized. The layered CeNiSb3 structure consists of Sb sheets, NiSb6 distorted octahedra, and CeSb9 monocapped square anti-prisms. LnNi(Sn,Sb)3 …

Synthesis And Surface Characterization Of Silica-Polypeptide Composite Particles, Erick Isael Soto-Cantu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The synthesis and sequential surface characterization of silica-polypeptide composite particles is described. Nearly monodisperse colloidal silica cores were obtained by the alkaline hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The hydrodynamic radius can be easily controlled in the range of ƒî 20-140 nm by the water/TEOS ratio in the starting reaction mixture. The surface of the synthesized silica cores was further passivated/functionalized (P/F) by a mixture of (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APS) and methyl-trimethoxysilane (MTMS). The amino groups were quantified using UV-Vis spectrometry after reaction with ninhydrin. The use of zeta potential measurements of the P/F silica particles at low pH is presented as …

Genetic Analysis Of The Boundary Element Associated Factors-Beaf32a And Beaf-32b, Swarnava Roy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Insulators are DNA elements that have been shown to restrict the communication between enhancers and promoters in transgenic assays. In my PhD work I have attempted to highlight the function and importance of insulators by using the Boundary Element Associated Factors- BEAF -32A and BEAF-32B as model insulator binding proteins. We generated a null BEAFAB-KO allele and BEAFA-KO allele by using homologous recombination method. BEAF-32B was found to be sufficient to obtain viable flies. Our results show that BEAF is required for both oogenesis and development. Position independent expression and enhancer-blocking assays showed that BEAF confers insulator function to scs’ …

Genetic And Mechanistic Analysis Of Heterochromatin Spreading In The Yeast S.Cerevisiae, Nithya Jambunathan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

RNA Polymerase III transcribed tRNA genes are implicated in a wide variety of chromosome organizational functions that includes the ability to act as a boundary to heterochromatic silencing. A tRNA gene has been shown to be a major component of the barrier that prevents spreading of silencing from the HMR locus to the downstream GIT1 gene on chromosome III in S.cerevisiae. Our results suggest that additional proteins are involved in maintaining the boundary function of this tRNA gene. Mutations or deletions of the genes coding for these additional proteins have been shown to either weaken the boundary or enhance silencing. …

Continuous Reservoir Model Updating By Ensemble Kalman Filter On Grid Computing Architectures, Xin Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A reservoir engineering Grid computing toolkit, ResGrid and its extensions, were developed and applied to designed reservoir simulation studies and continuous reservoir model updating. The toolkit provides reservoir engineers with high performance computing capacity to complete their projects without requiring them to delve into Grid resource heterogeneity, security certification, or network protocols.

Continuous and real-time reservoir model updating is an important component of closed-loop model-based reservoir management. The method must rapidly and continuously update reservoir models by assimilating production data, so that the performance predictions and the associated uncertainty are up-to-date for optimization. The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), a Bayesian …

Exercise And Peripheral Vascular Function In Health And Disease, Arturo Arce

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Chronic disease will never reach its clinical horizon to compromise health if it is attacked at its origin” [1]. Knowledge that one’s risk for cardiovascular events is related to the severity of endothelial dysfunction, and evidence that exercise training can improve endothelial function, has prompted speculation that measures of vascular function may serve as a “barometer” for cardiovascular health. This dissertation consists of three experiments intended to study vascular function and the manner in which it may influence or may be influenced by physical function. Project one examined the influence of high and low volume circuit weight training on forearm …

Redutive Dehalogenation Of Chlorinated Alkanes By Novel Bacteria At The Petroprocessor Of Louisiana Inc. Superfund Site, Jun Yan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A reductively dehalogenating enrichment culture was established using chloroalkane-contaminated groundwater from the PetroProcessors of Louisiana, Inc. (PPI) Superfund site. Two novel, strictly anaerobic bacterial strains, designated as BL-DC-8 and BL-DC-9, were isolated from the enrichment culture. These strains represent the first bacteria known to anaerobically dehalogenate 1,2,3-trichloropropane, the degradation pathway of which was determined. Both strains could be cultured in completely defined basal medium and were also able to dehalogenate a variety of other vicinally chlorinated alkanes including 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, and 1,2-dichloropropane via dichloroelimination reactions. Chlorinated alkanes containing only a single chlorine substituent (1-chloropropane, 2-chloropropane), chlorinated alkenes (tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene, …

From The Mountains To The Podium: The Rhetoric Of Fidel Castro, Brent C. Kice

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the rhetoric utilized by Fidel Castro that Castro used in order to maintain his tenure as the sole leader of Cuba for almost 50 years. Castro employs identification through division with an enemy, and he is able to perpetuate this division through an ongoing, dynamically perceived narrative. This narrative takes shape in the form of “the revolution,” a rhetorical construction designed to create a collective Cuban identity, which, in turn, is furthered through ideology by Castro’s elimination of competing points of views. Castro’s unique role as narrator has allowed him to adapt to events and maintain this …

Processes And/Of Performance: Difference, Memory, And Experimentation, Benjamin Daniel Powell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study enacts performance analyses by combining experimental and avant-garde performance practices of artists or art movements such as John Cage, Jerzy Grotowski, Dadaism, and Eugenio Barba with the differential philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. By focusing on the ways that performance practice informs understandings of “the ghost” and différance in Derrida’s theories, and processes of production and experimentation in Deleuze’s, this study examines performance as a process of negotiating practice and theory that continues to produce rather than disappear. To reinforce the productive capacity of performance, this study looks at three different sites and the processes at …

Phylogenetics And New Approaches To Vaccine Development For West Nile, Arun Venkatesh Iyer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) was first isolated in 1937 from a febrile Ugandan woman. WNV now has a worldwide distribution from Australia and India in the east to Europe and the United States in the west. The first human cases of WNV in the United States were detected in New York in 1999. The North American isolates were also found to be highly neuroinvasive and neurovirulent and in many cases leading to mortality or permanent CNS sequelae among humans. WNV was first isolated in Louisiana in 2001. The genome of this virus named LSU-AR01was sequenced and a detailed genetic analysis …

Changes In Body Image And Body Weight And Shape Goals Associated With Weight Loss And Maintenance In Overweight/Obese Adults Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Amy Rzeznikiewicz Bachand

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to test for changes in body image in males and females in a randomized controlled trial of weight loss for older overweight/obese adults who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (Look AHEAD: Action for Health in Diabetes). A computerized morphing assessment program (The Body Morph Assessment; BMA 2.0) was used to assess estimates of perceived current body size (CBS), ideal body size (IBS), acceptable body size (ABS), body dissatisfaction based on the discrepancy between participants’ perceived CBS and IBS (CBS-IBS) and ABS (CBS-ABS), as well as participants’ weight loss goals in terms …

Visual Language Representation For Use Case Evolution And Traceability, Coretta Willis Douglas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary goal of this research is to assist non-technical stakeholders involved in requirements engineering with a comprehensible method for managing changing requirements within a specific domain. An important part of managing evolving requirements over time is to maintain a temporal ordering of the changes and to support traceability of the modifications. This research defines a semi-formal syntactical and semantic definition of such a method using a visual language, RE/TRAC (Requirements Evolution with Traceability), and a supporting formal semantic notation RE/TRAC-SEM. RE/TRAC-SEM is an ontological specification employing a combination of models, including verbal definitions, set theory and a string language …

Dactyls Reveal Evolutionary Patterns In Decapod Crustaceans, Jeffrey Guy Agnew

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Because of their high preservation potential and uses in foraging and defense, decapod crustacean dactyls (movable fingers of claws) are potentially excellent test subjects for an ongoing debate concerning the relative importance of top-down (predators) and bottom-up (prey) controls on morphologic diversification and evolution. The utility of dactyls for inferring evolutionary patterns were evaluated using living and subfossil xanthoid crabs sampled from the southeast U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and were used to: (1) distinguish the roles of selection and constraint on dactyl morphology through allometric and shape comparisons in the context of the crab’s phylogenetic relationships and …

Teachers' Perspectives On The Unintended Consequences Of High Stakes Testing, David Christopher Charles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A mixed methods design was utilized that was divided into three phases to verify and explore high stakes testing’s effects on teachers’ perceptions regarding classroom practices, pressure, and commitment to the educational profession. Phase I utilized previous surveys and a peer review to create a knowledge base to generate a survey instrument that measured the three areas assumed to be affected by high stakes testing (commitment, pressure, and classroom practice). The survey instrument that was created was piloted. Throughout Phase II there was a series of three-step analysis: First, the means and standard deviations from the results of the surveys …

The Initial Reliability And Construct Validity Of The Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic (Asd-Dc) In Children, Melissa Luke Gonzalez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to examine the reliability and construct validity of a newly developed assessment scale designed to identify autism spectrum disorders in children: Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC). Participants were parents and caregivers of children between ages 2 and 16 years, who are typically developing or developmentally delayed. Participants were asked to complete several rating scales including the ASD-DC, a DSM-IV-TR/ICD-10 checklist, the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in Youngsters (MESSY), and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Version 2 (BASC-2). In Study 1, the test-retest, inter-rater, and inter-item reliabilities of the ASD-DC was …

An Examination Of The Good Behavior Game And Behavior Specific Praise Statements On Student And Teacher Behavior, Robert Allen Wright

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study directly compares two interdependent group oriented contingency strategies, the GBG and the GBG with a behavior specific praise statement (BSPS) component (i.e., GBG+BSPS) to examine the relative effectiveness of each as a tool for class-wide behavior management, to inspect the effect on teacher interactions with students, and to assess the relative teacher and student acceptability of both games. The Good Behavior Game has been identified as an evidence-based intervention to manage class-wide behavior difficulties, but recently has been criticized for not being proactive in teaching appropriate classroom behavior. The relative effectiveness and acceptability of each game as a …

A Genetic Bayesian Approach For Texture-Aided Urban Land-Use/Land-Cover Classification, Wenxue Ju

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Urban land-use/land-cover classification is entering a new era with the increased availability of high-resolution satellite imagery and new methods such as texture analysis and artificial intelligence classifiers. Recent research demonstrated exciting improvements of using fractal dimension, lacunarity, and Moran’s I in classification but the integration of these spatial metrics has seldom been investigated. Also, previous research focuses more on developing new classifiers than improving the robust, simple, and fast maximum likelihood classifier. The goal of this dissertation research is to develop a new approach that utilizes a texture vector (fractal dimension, lacunarity, and Moran’s I), combined with a new …

Phonemic Awareness And Sight Word Reading In Toddlers, Alicia Tonya Mcinnis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated emerging phonemic awareness skills and printed sight word recognition abilities in two-year-old toddlers using plain text and MorphoPhonic Face words on flash cards. MorphoPhonic Face words were used to determine if this learning process is enhanced when words are iconically represented to show the first sound and the word's meaning (purposefully creating idiosyncratic cues) using pictures superimposed into the letters. Sixteen (16) age-matched toddlers were assigned to alternate treatment groups and received exposure to both printed and MorphoPhonic pictured words three times weekly for six weeks. During each session, children were taught 16 sight words (8 in …

Rice Straw Fiber Polymer Composites: Thermal And Mechanical Performance, Fei Yao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rice straw fiber can be considered as important potential reinforcing filler for thermoplastic composite because of its lignocellulosic characteristics. It is thus of practical significance to understand and predict the thermal decomposition process of rice straw fibers. A method proposed by Málek, Šesták, and co-workers was used to investigate and model thermal decomposition process of common natural fibers with detailed analysis on rice straw system. Assuming a global model occurring within the entire degradation of natural fibers with consideration of fiber as one pseudo-component, model can be used to describe both isothermal and non-isothermal degradation process of most selected fibers …

Functional Studies On The Extrinsic Proteins Of Photosystem Ii, Haijun Liu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The function of the PsbO and the PsbR protein in Arabidopsis thaliana were studied. The Arabidopsis mutant psbo1 contains a point mutation in the psbO-1 gene leading to defective expression of the PsbO-1 protein. Functional studies demonstrated both the reducing-side and oxidizing-side of Photosystem II are significantly altered. Using the psbo1 mutant plant as a transgenic host, two plant lines were produced, which contained an N-terminally His6-tagged PsbO-1 protein. Photosystem II closure kinetics demonstrated that the defective double reduction of QB and the delayed exchange of QBH2 with the plastoquinone pool in the psbo1 mutant were effectively restored to the …

New Media In New Democracies: Perceptions Of Good Governance Among Traditional And Internet-Based Media Users In Kyrgyzstan, Svetlana Viktorovna Kulikova

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the potential and role of the Internet-based media in the Kyrgyz Republic’s political processes after the 2005 March Revolution. It uses a model of interaction between the government and citizens through various types of realities: the reality constructed and imposed by the state-controlled media, the reality created by alternative, independent sources of information online, and the realities experienced by citizens in their daily lives. The model pulled together various theories from political science, sociology, psychology, and mass communication and focused on the exit-voice-loyalty options available for the citizens in response to governance practices. The research project uses …

Latino Representation In U.S. Legislatures: Interests, Behavior, And Influence, Stella M. Rouse

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the growth of Latinos in the general population and in legislatures, their impact on the political process has received little scholarly attention. In this project, I present a theoretical framework of Latino legislative behavior that draws upon two important concepts of representation- descriptive and substantive- to better understand how ethnicity influences legislative activity and whether it is dependent on such factors as institutional context, legislative composition, and constituency characteristics. The project is unique in its comprehensive analysis of the legislative process and in its mixed methodological approach which includes both quantitative and qualitative elements. The analysis involves five parts: …

Lattice Boltzmann Modeling For Mass Transport Equations In Porous Media, Borja Servan Camas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to extend the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to cope with parameter heterogeneity and anisotropy in mass transport equations in porous media, as well as investigating the stability and accuracy. Although the LBM is a well known and effective numerical method to solve fluid flows, LBM has not been extensively applied to mass transport equations in porous medium flow yet, and only a few works can be found on improving LBM to cope with mass transport equations other than the diffusion and advection-diffusion equations. One of the reasons why LBM has not been extensively used …

How To Remember Thee?: Problems Of Memorialization In English Writing, 1558-1625, Sean Flory

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the use of funeral commemoration in religious and political controversies in early modern England. By examining the rhetoric used in funeral sermons and elegies, I show that commemorative writers use figural interpretation of the Bible to legitimize praise by linking the deceased to characters from scripture. Figural interpretation places the dead into a framework of ecclesiastical history and creates Protestant saints used as exempla in political and religious debates. This dissertation examines funeral sermons, elegies, and other commemorative poems written between 1558 and 1625. Chapter one discusses the development of figural interpretation in Elizabethan funeral sermons. …

Louis Aragon And Pierre Drieu La Rochelle: Servility And Subversion, Oana Carmina Cimpean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the use of literature in support of political ideologies, starting from the cases of Louis Aragon and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. Aragon and Drieu wrote extensively about man’s alienation in the modern world and, more importantly, about the possibility of overcoming that alienation. Both argued for the creation of a new man who could erect a new world on the ruins of the old. Though Aragon was a communist and Drieu a fascist, they shared an apocalyptic view of the world and believed themselves to be living in the last stage of history, the prelude to a …

Bayesian Model Averaging On Hydraulic Conductivity Estimation And Groundwater Head Prediction, Xiaobao Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Characterization of aquifer heterogeneity is inherently difficult because of the insufficiency of data, the inflexibility of parameterization methods, and non-uniqueness of parameterization methods. Groundwater predictions are greatly affected by multiple interpretations of aquifer properties and the uncertainties of model parameters. This study introduces a Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method along with multiple generalized parameterization (GP) methods to identify hydraulic conductivity and along with multiple simulation models to predict groundwater head and quantify the prediction uncertainty. Two major issues about BMA are discussed. The first problem is with using Occam’s window in usual BMA applications. Occam’s window only accepts models in …

Landscape Analysis Of Vegetation Change In Coastal Louisiana Following Hurricanes Katrina And Rita, Gregory Dean Steyer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Investigations of hurricane disturbances on coastal vegetated communities are common, but relatively few are comprehensive across broad geographic regions. The 2005 hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, exposed Louisiana coastal landscapes to physical modifications and extensive and prolonged flooding, resulting in measurable physicochemical changes. This research used remote sensing and field investigations to regionally assess (1) porewater salinity and sulfide impacts to and recovery of coastal Louisiana vegetation communities, and (2) the importance of mineral sediment deposition on accretionary processes. Hurricane effects were most direct and prominent in eastern Louisiana from Katrina and western Louisiana from Rita, compared to central Louisiana exposed …

Adsorption And Photochemical Transformation Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons On Atmospheric Water Films, Jing Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Atmospheric water films affect the processing of chemicals in the atmosphere and have potential effects on human health and the environment. In this work, adsorption and photochemical transformations of gas-phase PAHs were studied in a flow-tube photo-reactor with a view to understanding the behavior of gas-phase PAHs occurring in thin water films such as those of aerosols and fog. Naphthalene and phenanthrene were chosen as model PAHs for this study. Bulk water-air and air-to-interface partition constants of naphthalene and phenanthrene were estimated from the experiments based on the dependence of the equilibrium uptake on the water film thickness. Theoretical computations …

Catalytic Synthesis Of Ethanol From Biomass-Derived Syngas, Adefemi Adelanwa Egbebi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Syngas produced by gasification of biomass or coal can be converted directly to ethanol and higher alcohols by processes based on heterogeneous catalysts. Ethanol can be used as a neat fuel or fuel additive or as a hydrogen carrier. Rhodium-based catalysts have been found to be most selective for the formation of C₂ oxygenates from the hydrogenation of CO when suitably promoted. Here, we explore the effects of Mn, Fe, and Li promoters on Rh/TiO₂. Rh-TiO₂, Rh-Li/TiO₂, Rh-Mn/TiO₂, Rh-Mn-Li/TiO₂ and Rh-Mn-Li-Fe/TiO₂ catalysts were tested for the hydrogenation of CO …

Solid-Phase Synthesis Of Asymmetrically Substituted Phthalocyanines, Sultan Sibel Erdem

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Phthalocyanines (Pcs) are excellent candidates for use as fluorophores for near-infrared (near-IR) fluorescent tagging of biomolecules and as photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. Synthesis of Pcs with asymmetrical substitution on the periphery is often difficult due to the problems during the purification of the Pc mixtures obtained. The objective of this project is to design and synthesize chemically robust near-IR fluorophores for bioanalytical applications and to develop new synthetic methods for rapid synthesis of the target compounds. A novel synthetic route was developed utilizing a hydrophilic, polyethylene glycol-based (PEG) support with different types of linkers. The Pcs were functionalized with either …