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Radical Realms: A Materialist Theory Of Fantasy Literature, Rich Paul Cooper

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation offers a materialist theory of fantasy as the literature of estranged cognition, an entirely novel perspective that challenges all of the existing criticism on fantasy literature by proposing an outlook that emphasizes not impossibility, but infinite possibility. During the late-Victorian period, the form of the fairy tale shifted from the literary fairy tale to ‘fantasy.’ Three formal characteristics reveal that fantasy literature derives from the fairy tale: an indication, thematically or formally, that another dimension has been entered; the making and remaking of genres—stories—in dialectically overdetermined configurations; and a textual conflation between physics and ethics that results in …

Estimate Of The Uncertainties In The Relative Risk Of Secondary Malignant Neoplasms Following Proton Therapy And Intensity-Modulated Photon Therapy, Jonas D. Fontenot, Charles Bloch, David Followill, Uwe Titt, Wayne D. Newhauser

Faculty Publications

Theoretical calculations have shown that proton therapy can reduce the incidence of radiation-induced secondary malignant neoplasms (SMN) compared with photon therapy for patients with prostate cancer. However, the uncertainties associated with calculations of SMN risk had not been assessed. The objective of this study was to quantify the uncertainties in projected risks of secondary cancer following contemporary proton and photon radiotherapies for prostate cancer. We performed a rigorous propagation of errors and several sensitivity tests to estimate the uncertainty in the ratio of relative risk (RRR) due to the largest contributors to the uncertainty: the radiation weighting factor for neutrons, …

The Use Of A Neonatal Mouse Model To Study Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections, Stephania A. Cormier, Dahui You, Srinivasa Honnegowda

Faculty Publications

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is the most significant cause of viral death in infants worldwide. The significant morbidity and mortality associated with this disease underscores the urgent need for the development of an RSV vaccine. The development of an RSV vaccine has been hampered by our limited understanding of the human host immune system, which plays a significant role in RSV pathogenesis, susceptibility and vaccine efficacy. As a result, animal models have been developed to better understand the mechanisms by which RSV causes disease. Within the past few years, a revolutionary variation on these animal models has emerged - …

Reproductive Status Regulates Expression Of Sex Steroid And Gnrh Receptors In The Olfactory Bulb, Karen P. Maruska, Russell D. Fernald

Faculty Publications

Neuromodulators including gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and sex steroids help integrate an animal's internal physiological state with incoming external cues, and can have profound effects on the processing of behaviorally relevant information, particularly from the olfactory system. While GnRH and steroid receptors are present in olfactory processing regions across vertebrates, little is known about whether their expression levels change with internal physiological state or external social cues. We used qRT-PCR to measure mRNA levels of two GnRH receptors (GnRH-R1, GnRH-R2), five sex steroid receptors (estrogen receptors: ERα, ERβa, ERβb; androgen receptors: ARα, ARβ), and aromatase in the olfactory bulb of the …

A Membrane Protein/Signaling Protein Interaction Network For Arabidopsis Version Ampv2, Sylvie Lalonde, Antoinette Sero, Réjane Pratelli, Guillaume Pilot, Jin Chen, Maria I. Sardi, Saman A. Parsa, Do Young Kim, Biswa R. Acharya, Erica V. Stein, Heng Chen Hu, Florent Villiers, Kouji Takeda, Yingzhen Yang, Yong S. Han, Rainer Schwacke, William Chiang, Naohiro Kato, Dominique Loqué, Sarah M. Assmann, June M. Kwak, Julian I. Schroeder, Seung Y. Rhee, Wolf B. Frommer

Faculty Publications

Interactions between membrane proteins and the soluble fraction are essential for signal transduction and for regulating nutrient transport. To gain insights into the membrane-based interactome, 3,852 open reading frames (ORFs) out of a target list of 8,383 representing membrane and signaling proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana were cloned into a Gatewaycompatible vector. The mating-based split ubiquitin system was used to screen for potential protein-protein interactions (pPPIs) among 490 Arabidopsis ORFs. A binary robotic screen between 142 receptor-like kinases (RLKs), 72 transporters, 57 soluble protein kinases and phosphatases, 40 glycosyltransferases, 95 proteins of various functions, and 89 proteins with unknown function detected …

Faculty Senate Newsletter, Holiday 2010, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from the President: Those who watch the operations of the administration from the outside are easily tempted to regard the basis of administrative action as the will to power or a taste for conspiracy or a lust for publicity. To be sure, all these passions flow through the administrative nervous system. The inside experience of the academic approximation of power, however, reveals a far different prime directive: fear. Readers of Shakespeare’s tragedies and history plays know the story all too well: a person with formidable talents who may or may not be suited to rule a domain and who …

U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth, Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Civil War Book Review

Reinvestigating U.S. Grant

The Contribution Of Wildlife To Sustainable Natural Resource Utilization In Namibia: A Review, Diana L.Schalkwyk Van Schalkwyk, Kenneth W. Mcmillin, R. Corli Witthuhn, Louw C. Hoffman

Faculty Publications

Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, but well known for its richness in species and sustainable natural resource utilization. The Namibian farming sector consists mainly of extensive farming systems. Cattle production contributes 54% of the livestock sector's production output, followed by sheep and goats (25%), hides and skins (9%), and other forms of agricultural production (12%). Namibia's freehold farmers have obtained ownership rights over land and livestock since the early 1900s; commercial rights over wildlife and plants were given to freehold farmers in 1967 and to communal farmers in 1996. Natural resource-based production systems then overtook agricultural production …

Colony Breeding System Influences Cuticular Bacterial Load Of Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) Workers, Claudia Husseneder, Dawn M. Simms, Gabriel K. Aluko, Jennifer Delatte

Faculty Publications

The goal of this study was to test whether the breeding system and/or the degree of inbreeding of field colonies of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus, Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) influences bacterial load on the cuticle of foraging workers. We enumerated bacterial load on the cuticle of groups of workers foraging in 20 inground monitoring stations surrounding the French Market in New Orleans, LA, and identified bacteria species using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We used microsatellite genotyping to assign the 20 worker groups to seven simple family colonies (headed by a single pair of reproductives) and four extended family colonies …

Population Forecasting Model Of Nilaparvata Lugens And Sogatella Furcifera (Homoptera: Delphacidae) Based On Markov Chain Theory, Xiang Hui Yan, Huai Liu, Jin Jun Wang, Zhi Mo Zhao, Fangneng Huang, Deng Fa Cheng

Faculty Publications

Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) and Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) are the two most important long-distance migratory insect pests that cause great yield losses to rice in China. Accurate long-term population forecast is needed to implement effective management strategies for these two rice pests. In this paper, a transition probability matrix of 5-yr steps of Markov chain theory was constructed based on 31-yr light-trapping data of the two pests from 1977 to 2007 in Jiangkou County, Guizhou, China. The weight of each step for the transition probability matrix was calculated according to its prediction accuracy. Insect occurrence levels in the sixth year were …

Toxic Diatoms And Domoic Acid In Natural And Iron Enriched Waters Of The Oceanic Pacific, Mary W. Silver, Sibel Bargu, Susan L. Coale, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson, Ana C. Garcia, Kathryn J. Roberts, Emily Sekula-Wood, Kenneth W. Bruland, Kenneth H. Coale

Faculty Publications

Near-surface waters ranging from the Pacific subarctic (58°N) to the Southern Ocean (66°S) contain the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA), associated with the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia. Of the 35 stations sampled, including ones from historic iron fertilization experiments (SOFeX, IronEx II), we found Pseudo-nitzschia at 34 stations and DA measurable at 14 of the 26 stations analyzed for DA. Toxin ranged from 0.3 fg·cell^-1 to 2 pg·cell^-1, comparable with levels found in similar-sized cells from coastal waters. In the western subarctic, descent of intact Pseudo-nitzschia likely delivered significant amounts of toxin (up to 4 μg of DA·m^-2·d …

Fresh Raspberry Phytochemical Extract Inhibits Hepatic Lesion In A Wistar Rat Model, Yan Liu, Ming Liu, Bin Li, Jin Lu Zhao, Chun Peng Zhang, Luo Qiang Lin, Hong Sheng Chen, Shu Jun Zhang, Jun Chao Jin, Lei Wang, Le Jing Li, Jia Ren Liu

Faculty Publications

Background. Red raspberry possesses potent antioxidant capacity and antiproliferative activity against cancer in vitro. Methods. The objective of this study was to determine the protective effects of raspberry 80% acetone extract in a rat hepatic lesions model induced by diethylnitrosamine (DEN). Rats were treated with the red raspberry extract (0.75, 1.5 or 3.0 g/kg of body weight) by gavage starting 2 h after DEN administration and continuing for 20 weeks. Results. A dose-dependent inhibition by red raspberry extract of DEN-induced hepatic nodule formation which stands for hepatic lesions was observed. Corresponding hepatic nodule incidence rates were 45.0, 40.0, 25.0 and …

Cryomicroscopic Investigations Of Freezing Processes In Cell Suspensions, Tathagata Acharya, Ram V. Devireddy

Faculty Publications

This study evaluates the freezing response of three different cell types, Pacific oyster embryos (∼50 m in diameter), Jurkat cells and HeLa cells (∼12 to 15 m's in diameter), using cryomicroscopy. Freezing experiments were performed on oyster embryos at cooling rates of either 5 or 10 °C/min, while Jurkats were cooled at either 1 or 10 °C/min and HeLa cells were cooled at either 1, 15 or 20 °C/min, respectively. The experiments with oyster embryos were primarily designed to investigate the phenomena of intracellular ice formation (IIF) while the experiments for Jurkat and HeLa cells were designed to investigate both …

Genetic Diversity In A Deep-Sea Harpacticoid Copepod Found Near Two Oil-Drilling Sites In The Gulf Of Mexico, Christopher S. Gregg, David W. Foltz, John W. Fleeger

Faculty Publications

Sites adjacent to (near-field) and distant from (far-field) oil-drilling platforms were sampled for harpacticoid copepods at two locations in the northern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, both at depths of ≈ 1100 m. The sites were located at Garden Banks Area Block 602 (GB 602) and Mississippi Canyon Area Block 292 (MC 292). Near-field sites at both locations were characterized by large numbers of a single undescribed species of harpacticoid copepod, Bathycletopsyllus sp., but this species was essentially absent from far-field sites. We sequenced a 710 bp portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene …

Development Of Microsatellites For Genetic Analyses And Population Assignment Of The Cat Flea (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), Claudia Husseneder, Susan P. Garner, Lane D. Foil, Kevin R. Macaluso

Faculty Publications

Cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis (Bouch) (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), are common ectoparasites of companion animals that negatively impact their hosts directly by causing dermatitis and blood loss during feeding and indirectly through the potential transmission of disease causing agents. We isolated and characterized seven novel microsatellite loci from a partial genomic library of the cat flea enriched for di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide repeats. We screened these loci in cat fleas from two laboratory colonies and one wild-caught population collected at a temporary animal shelter (Parker coliseum) in Baton Rouge, LA. Six loci were polymorphic, with two to 15 alleles per locus and …

Sex-Differences In Adiponectin Levels And Body Fat Distribution: Longitudinal Observations In Afro-Jamaicans, Michael S. Boyne, Nadia R. Bennett, Richard S. Cooper, Tamika Y. Royal-Thomas, Franklyn I. Bennett, Amy Luke, Rainford J. Wilks, Terrence E. Forrester

Faculty Publications

We longitudinally explored the relationship of body size and adiponectin levels in 393 community-dwelling Afro-Jamaicans. Adiponectin levels were greater in women, increased with age and declined with abdominal adiposity. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that subcutaneous fat in women may contribute significantly to the variance in their adiponectin levels. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Behavioral Flexibility And Species Invasions: The Adaptive Flexibility Hypothesis, T. F. Wright, J. R. Eberhard, E. A. Hobson, M. L. Avery, M. A. Russello

Faculty Publications

Behavioral flexibility is an important adaptive response to changing environments for many animal species. Such plasticity may also promote the invasion of novel habitats by introduced species by providing them with the ability to expand or change their ecological niche, a longstanding idea with recent empirical support. At the individual level, flexibility may arise through innovation, in which an individual invents a new behavior, or through social learning, in which an individual adopts a behavior used by others. There is increasing evidence that the adaptive value of these two modes of learning, and the overall expression of behavioral flexibility, may …

Dated Molecular Phylogenies Indicate A Miocene Origin For Arabidopsis Thaliana, Mark A. Beilstein, Nathalie S. Nagalingum, Mark D. Clements, Steven R. Manchester, Sarah Mathews

Faculty Publications

Dated molecular phylogenies are the basis for understanding species diversity and for linking changes in rates of diversification with historical events such as restructuring in developmental pathways, genome doubling, or dispersal onto a new continent. Valid fossil calibration points are essential to the accurate estimation of divergence dates, but for many groups of flowering plants fossil evidence is unavailable or limited. Arabidopsis thaliana, the primary genetic model in plant biology and the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced, belongs to one such group, the plant family Brassicaceae. Thus, the timing of A. thaliana evolution and the history of …

The Enigmatic Ichnofossil Tisoa Siphonalis And Widespread Authigenic Seep Carbonate Formation During The Late Pliensbachian In Southern France, B. Van De Schootbrugge, D. Harazim, K. Sorichter, W. Oschmann, J. Fiebig, W. Püttmann, M. Peinl, F. Zanella, B. M.A. Teichert, J. Hoffmann, A. Stadnitskaia, Y. Rosenthal

Faculty Publications

Tubular carbonate concretions of up to 1 m in length and perpendicular to bedding, occur abundantly in the Upper Pliensbachian (upper Amaltheus margaritatus Zone, Gibbosus Subzone) in outcrops (Fontaneilles section) in the vicinity of Riviére-sûr-Tarn, southern France. Stable isotope analyses of these concretions show negative δ13C values that decrease from the rim to the center from -18.8‰ to -25.7‰ (V-PDB), but normal marine δ18O values (-1.8‰). Carbon isotope analyses of Late Pliensbachian bulk carbonate (matrix) samples from the Fontaneilles section show clearly decreasing C-isotope values across the A. margaritatus Zone, from +1‰ to -3‰ (V-PDB). Isotope analyses of coeval belemnite …

Immunomodulation With Il-4rα Antisense Oligonucleotide Prevents Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Mediated Pulmonary Disease, Michael J. Ripple, Dahui You, Srinivasa Honnegowda, Joseph D. Giaimo, Andrew B. Sewell, David M. Becnel, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes significant morbidity and mortality in infants worldwide. Severe RSV infections in infants cause bronchiolitis, wheeze, and/or cough and significantly increase the risk for developing asthma. RSV pathogenesis is thought to be due to a Th2-type immune response initiated in response to RSV infection, specifically in the infant. Using a neonatal mouse system as an appropriate model for human infants, we sought to determine whether local inhibition of IL-4Rα expression during primary RSV infection in the neonate would prevent Th2-skewed responses to secondary RSV infection and improve longterm pulmonary function. To reduce IL-4Rα expression, antisense oligonucleotides …

Multiple Ca2+-Dependent Mechanisms Regulate L-Type Ca 2+ Current In Retinal Amacrine Cells, Merve Tekmen, Evanna Gleason

Faculty Publications

Understanding the regulation of L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ current is an important component of elucidating the signaling capabilities of retinal amacrine cells. Here we ask how the cytosolic Ca2+ environment and the balance of Ca2+-dependent effectors shape native L-type Ca2+ channel function in these cells. To achieve this, whole cell voltage clamp recordings were made from cultured amacrine cells under conditions that address the contribution of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake (MCU), Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent channel inactivation (CDI), protein kinase A (PKA), and Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR). Under control conditions, repeated activation of the L-type channels produces a progressive enhancement of the current. Inhibition …

Faculty Senate Newsletter, October 2010, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from the President: The collective jury of humankind is still deliberating President Franklin Roosevelt’s affirmation that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear, after all, is something. There is plenty of it around the campus nowadays, most of it instigated by the prospect of budget cuts and job eliminations but some of it elicited by the endangerment of previous resources. Lurking in the corner of all but the most numb academic mind is the thought that commerce and its seductive appeal might undermine support and sympathy for the traditions of free inquiry that have animated universities for …

Louisiana Agriculture Fall, 2010

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

Lsu Research Fall 2010, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

Research Magazine

LSU Research is published annually by the Office of Research & Economic Development, Louisiana State University.

Song Divergence By Sensory Drive In Amazonian Birds, Joseph A. Tobias, Job Aben, Robb T. Brumfield, Elizabeth P. Derryberry, Wouter Halfwerk, Hans Slabbekoorn, Nathalie Seddon

Faculty Publications

Visual signals are shaped by variation in the signaling environment through a process termed sensory drive, sometimes leading to speciation. However, the evidence for sensory drive in acoustic signals is restricted to comparisons between highly dissimilar habitats, or single-species studies in which it is difficult to rule out the influence of undetected ecological variables, pleiotropic effects, or chance. Here we assess whether this form of sensory drive-often termed " acoustic adaptation" -can generate signal divergence across ecological gradients. By studying avian communities in two Amazonian forest types, we show that songs of 17 " bamboo-specialist" bird species differ in predictable …

Evaluation Of Cryoprotectant And Cooling Rate For Sperm Cryopreservation In The Euryhaline Fish Medaka Oryzias Latipes, Huiping Yang, Michelle Norris, Richard Winn, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

Medaka Oryzias latipes is a well-recognized biomedical fish model because of advantageous features such as small body size, transparency of embryos, and established techniques for gene knockout and modification. The goal of this study was to evaluate two critical factors, cryoprotectant and cooling rate, for sperm cryopreservation in 0.25-ml French straws. The objectives were to: (1) evaluate the acute toxicity of methanol, 2-methoxyethanol (ME), dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF), and glycerol with concentrations of 5%, 10%, and 15% for 60min of incubation at 4°C; (2) evaluate cooling rates from 5 to 25°C/min for freezing and their interaction …

Preweaning, Postweaning, And Carcass Trait Comparisons For Progeny Sired By Subtropically Adapted Beef Sire Breeds At Various Us Locations, F. A. Thrift, J. O. Sanders, Brown, A. H. Brown, A. D. Herring, D. G. Riley, S. M. Derouen, J. W. Holloway, W. E. Wyatt, R. C. Vann, C. C. Chase, D. E. Franke, L. V. Cundiff, J. F. Baker

Faculty Publications

This review, which represents a summarization of research results generated during an approximately 22-yr period, involves preweaning, postweaning, and carcass trait comparisons of progeny sired by Bos indicus (Brahman, Boran, Nellore, Indu-Brazil, Gir, Sahiwal), B. indicus-derivative (Brangus, Beefmaster, Santa Gertrudis, Gelbray, Simbrah), non-B. indicus (Tuli, Romosinuano, Bonsmara, Senepol) subtropically adapted, and traditional Bos taurus (Angus, Hereford, Charolais, Gelbvieh, Red Poll) sire breeds. Relative to Brahman-sired progeny, preweaning (weaning weight) and postweaning (postweaning ADG, feedlot ADG, final feedlot BW) performance is expected to be less for progeny sired by non-B. indicus subtropically adapted sire breeds. The non-B. indicus subtropically adapted sire …

Foreign Correspondence, John Maxwell Hamilton, Regina G. Lawrence

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Correlating Pharmaceutical Data With A National Health Survey As A Proxy For Estimating Rural Population Health, Ronald E. Cossman, Jeralynn S. Cossman, Wesley L. James, Troy Blanchard, Richard Thomas, Louis G. Pol, Arthur G. Cosby

Faculty Publications

Background: Chronic disease accounts for nearly three-quarters of US deaths, yet prevalence rates are not consistently reported at the state level and are not available at the sub-state level. This makes it difficult to assess trends in prevalence and impossible to measure sub-state differences. Such county-level differences could inform and direct the delivery of health services to those with the greatest need.Methods: We used a database of prescription drugs filled in the US as a proxy for nationwide, county-level prevalence of three top causes of death: heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. We tested whether prescription data are statistically valid proxy …

The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Ul20 Protein And The Amino Terminus Of Glycoprotein K (Gk) Physically Interact With Gb, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Arun V. Iyer, Sona Chowdhury, Joohyun Kim, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein K (gK) and the UL20 protein (UL20p) are strictly required for virus-induced cell fusion, and mutations within either the gK or UL20 gene cause extensive cell fusion (syncytium formation). We have shown that gK forms a functional protein complex with UL20p, which is required for all gK and UL20p-associated functions in the HSV-1 life cycle. Recently, we showed that the amino-terminal 82 amino acids (aa) of gK (gKa) were required for the expression of the syncytial phenotype of the mutant virus gBΔ28 lacking the carboxyl-terminal 28 amino acids of gB (V. N. Chouljenko, …