Digital Commons Network^™

Not All Fun And Gaymes: Technology, Transgression, And Representation Among Gaymers, Kyle Bikowski

LSU Master's Theses

Over the past decade, a new identity has emerged within gaming and gay communities. This identity, Gaymer (Gay-gamer), incorporates elements from both gaming and gay communities, but is accepted by neither. This thesis asks how the interplay of actual and virtual worlds have shaped Gaymer identities, and further asks what the relationship between Gaymers and both the gay and gaming communities are; what elements are conducive to the formation of Gaymer communities; how Gaymers work with or around affordances to assert their identities in virtual and actual spaces; and to what degree representation, either within games as playable characters or …

Comparing The Accuracy Of Close-Range Photogrammetry To Microct Scanning Via Surface Deviation Analysis Of 3d Digital Models Of Hominin Molars, Margaret J. Furtner

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess whether close-range photogrammetry is a viable alternative to microCT scanning for the construction of 3D models of isolated teeth. Photogrammetric scanning is more cost-effective and less time-consuming than CT scanning, and in paleoanthropological contexts eliminates the possibility of exposing fossils to doses of radiation that affect ESR dating. Samples of fossil (Homo naledi), archaeological, and contemporary human molars were scanned via microCT scanning and close-range photogrammetric scanning. The photogrammetric scans included 96 digital images per tooth which were used to construct a 3D triangular mesh. The resulting models of the tooth crowns …

Accessibility Of Hiv Testing In Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area, Alina Prigozhina

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines HIV testing accessibility in the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area (BR MSA) using the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to calculate accessibility scores for free, low-cost and all other HIV testing facilities. The two goals of this research are to apply accessibility estimation methods to HIV testing facilities, and to examine the accessibility of HIV testing facilities in the BR MSA. To achieve these goals, this study uses several research methods. The data about HIV testing providers and their locations were collected through Internet searches. By means of a fieldwork, the data were checked, revealing that …

How Rare Was The August 2016 South-Central Louisiana Heavy Rainfall Event?, Vincent M. Brown, Barry D. Keim, William D. Kappel, Douglas M. Hultstrand, Ashton G. Peyrefitte, Alan W. Black, Kristi M. Steinhilber, Geoffrey A. Muhlestein

Faculty Publications

This study examines the spatiotemporal characteristics of the historic 10-14 August 2016 south-central Louisiana precipitation event. The storm was the result of a moisture-rich, tropical low pressure system, also known as a tropical easterly wave, that slowly tracked westward along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas. Once over south-central Louisiana, the storm was able to take advantage of anomalously high precipitable water, broad low-level instability, and continuous moisture inflow from the Gulf of Mexico to produce historic rainfall. Totals exceeded 254mm (10 in.) for much of southern Louisiana, while locations adjacent to Baton Rouge and Lafayette received upward of …

Spaces Of Exile: A Study Of The Ever Shifting Social And Cultural Conditions Of Tibetans In Exile, Claire Duncan

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

"There Is Enough Food On The Table": Religious Minority Students' Experiences With The Campus Spiritual Climate, Regina C. Schneider

LSU Master's Theses

Within the last 30 years, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have been at much of the forefront of student affairs and higher education policy and practices. Issues regarding gender, race, and socioeconomic status have received much attention not only in education, but also in the greater landscape of the nation. Religious and spiritual minority students are a population that has only recently been considered in fostering a more inclusive and pluralistic college environment. Thus, there is a research gap involving religious/spiritual minority college students and their perceptions of the campus climate. Additionally, only a small pool of research addresses the …

Changing Geographies Of Flood Mitigation Policies: A Case Study Of Central, Louisiana, Ria Mukerji

LSU Master's Theses

In 2016, the Baton Rouge region experienced what would come to be record-setting precipitation levels. The 1,000 year rainfall event dumped almost triple the amount of water on Louisiana than was seen during Hurricane Katrina (some areas received over 10 inches of rain in a matter of hours), with rain persisting from August 12^th until the 17^th. Previously a part of Baton Rouge, Central is a relatively new development that expanded into the 100 year floodplain in 2005. This thesis will present the changing geographies of flood mitigation policies since a major flood in 1983 to the …

North Atlantic Hurricane Winds In Warmer Than Normal Seas, Jill C. Trepanier

Faculty Publications

Tropical cyclones devastate coastlines around the world. The United States and surrounding areas experienced catastrophic extreme events in recent hurricane seasons. Understanding extreme hurricanes and how they change in a warming ocean environment is of the utmost importance. This study makes use of the historical, positive relationship between average summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and maximum hurricane wind speeds across the North Atlantic Basin from 1854-2018. Geographically weighted regression shows how the relationship between hurricane winds and SSTs varies across space. Each localized slope is used to increase historical wind speeds to represent winds in a three-degree Celsius warmer-than-average sea …

Climatology And Spatiotemporal Analysis Of North Atlantic Rapidly Intensifying Hurricanes (1851-2017), Kathleen M. Benedetto, Jill C. Trepanier

Faculty Publications

In recent decades, the scientific ability to project tropical cyclone (TC) intensities and tracks has improved. Hurricanes undergoing the process of rapid intensification (RI) have created new barriers in formulating predictions of TC paths and peak velocities. Current research suggests the warming climate may produce more intense TCs with a higher probability of undergoing RI during their life cycle. The increased likelihood of rapidly intensifying TCs necessitates the development of an RI climatology spanning the current North Atlantic record. A time series count analysis suggests a significant increasing trend of RI events in the Atlantic basin by 29.1% (17%-45%) from …

Trend Analysis Of Multiple Extreme Hourly Precipitation Time Series In The Southeastern United States, Vincent M. Brown, Barry D. Keim, Alan W. Black

Faculty Publications

Annual trends in extreme hourly precipitation time series were examined at 50 first-order weather stations across the southeastern United States from 1960 to 2017. Results indicated that the magnitude of annual maximum 1-, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 18-h periods did not broadly change at the sites analyzed; however, the numerical value that defines a (station specific) 90th-percentile hourly accumulation significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased at 36% (18/50) of the stations. No station had a significant decreasing trend in annual 90th-percentile hourly event magnitude. Stations in Texas observed the largest increase in annual 90th-percentile hourly event magnitude, where parameter estimates showed …

Strangers In The Neighborhood: Violence And Neighborhood Boundaries, Kevin J. Brown, Frederick D. Weil

Faculty Publications

New Orleans experienced elevated rates of violent crime throughout the thirty years between 1985 and 2015. Violence was disproportionately represented in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. This study explores the lived experiences of residents from one such neighborhood, using individual interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. The data indicate that neighborhood boundaries vacillated between rigidly defensive and porous, which impacted residents’ ability to enact collective efficacy and thus to create a milieu that either positively or negatively influenced the likelihood of violence. With a long history of institutional and social neglect, the community initially viewed outsiders as invaders which resulted in rigidly …

Emerson's Idealist Poetics: Emerson, Rödl, And The Life Of Nature, Robert Darren Hutchinson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I articulate a hermeneutics for reading Ralph Waldo Emerson’s seminal text Nature through drawing on the insights of the contemporary philosopher Sebastian Rödl. Particularly, the performative, literary characteristics of Rödl’s quite conceptual work resonate with the poetic strategies that Emerson employs in Nature. In the section on the work of Rödl, I make the performative aspects of his philosophy explicit through a close reading of the way self-consciousness happens in his texts through the language he employs. Rödl refers to his elucidation of self-consciousness as idealism. In the section on Emerson, I show how Emerson’s project …

Field Investigation On Point Bar Dynamics And Planform Evolution In Meandering Rivers, Taylor Rowley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Point bars are prominent features in meandering rivers, yet our understanding of the complex interactions among channel morphology, three-dimensional flow structure, and depositional processes associated with modern and active point bars remains incomplete. Thus, the goal of this research is to characterize the morphology, three-dimensional flow structure, and depositional packages associated with point bars along a series of bends with different curvature and channel planform through detailed field measurements and relate to previous literature and current conceptual models.

Chapter 3 investigates the morphology of point bars by comparing estimates of channel curvature to channel and point bar characteristics including width, …

Spatial And Topological Analysis Of Urban Land Cover Structure In New Orleans Using Multispectral Aerial Image And Lidar Data, Shuxian Liu

LSU Master's Theses

Urban land use and land cover (LULC) mapping has been one of the major applications in remote sensing of the urban environment. Land cover refers to the biophysical materials at the surface of the earth (i.e. grass, trees, soils, concrete, water), while land use indicates the socio-economic function of the land (i.e., residential, industrial, commercial land uses). This study addresses the technical issue of how to computationally infer urban land use types based on the urban land cover structures from remote sensing data. In this research, a multispectral aerial image and high-resolution LiDAR topographic data have been integrated to investigate …

Charros: How Mexican Cowboys Are Remapping Race And American Identity, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Informe Tecnico De Los Trabajos De Campo Del Proyecto De Investigación Arqueológica Cerro San Isidro, Valle De Nepeña, Costa De Ancash -- Temporada 2019, David Chicoine, Jeisen Navarro

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Decriminalizing The Mentally Ill In America: An Examination Of The Overrepresentation Of Mentally Ill Citizens Behind Bars And A Proposal To Combat This Injustice, Geraghty Alch

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Lsu General Catalog 2020-2021, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

LSU General Catalog

The LSU General Catalog describes all undergraduate and graduate departments and programs with degree requirements and courses offered for each one. The LSU General Catalog includes information on registration and financial aid as well as academic services offered to all students.

Gender Contexts, Dowry And Women's Health In India: A National Multilevel Longitudinal Analysis, Samuel Stroope, Rhiannon A. Kroeger, Jiabin Fan

Faculty Publications

Gender-biased contexts may impact women's lives across a variety of domains. This study examined whether changes in district prevalence of a salient gendered practice - dowry - are associated with changes in poor health for women in India. Two waves of national multilevel panel data were used to assess the relationship between changes in district-level dowry prevalence and changes in self-rated health for 23,785 ever-married women aged 15-50 years. Increased dowry prevalence was found to be associated with increased poor self-rated health for women. This relationship remained when controlling for potentially confounding factors including household socioeconomic status, caste, infrastructure, mobility …

Native Southerners: Indigenous History From Origins To Removal, Zach Isenhower

Civil War Book Review

“Stories matter,” writes Gregory D. Smithers, an uncontroversial but important opening given the scope of the work that follows in Native Southerners. Smithers ranges from prehistoric settlement to the removal crises of the 1830s, taking an ambitiously inclusive approach to the Southeast’s diverse Native communities. He introduces readers to the Native South as defined by indigenous words, actions, historical consciousness, and identity. Native Southerners conveys the tremendous changes wrought through Euro-American colonialism and Native adaptation, and just as importantly, continuities, all in a narrative driven by Native agency

Morphologic Adjustments Of Actively Evolving Highly Curved Neck Cutoffs, Derek Richards, Kory Konsoer

Faculty Publications

Neck cutoffs and their resultant oxbow lakes are important and prominent features of riverine landscapes. Detailed field-based research focusing on the morphologic evolution of neck cutoffs is currently insufficient to fully characterize cutoff evolution. High-resolution bathymetric data were collected over 3 years for the purpose of determining channel morphology and morphologic change on three actively evolving neck cutoffs. Results indicate the following general trends in morphologic adjustment: (1) a longitudinal bar in the upstream meander limb that develops near the entrance to the abandoned bend; (2) a deep scour hole in the downstream meander limb immediately downstream of the cutoff …

Alu Insertion Polymorphisms Shared By Papio Baboons And Theropithecus Gelada Reveal An Intertwined Common Ancestry, Jerilyn A. Walker, Vallmer E. Jordan, Jessica M. Storer, Cody J. Steely, Paulina Gonzalez-Quiroga, Thomas O. Beckstrom, Lydia C. Rewerts, Corey P. St. Romain, Catherine E. Rockwell, Jeffrey Rogers, Clifford J. Jolly, Miriam K. Konkel, Mark A. Batzer, R. Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Yue Liu, Shwetha Murali, Tauras P. Vilgalys, Gregg W.C. Thomas, Kymberleigh A. Pagel, Vikas Pejaver, Claudia R. Catacchio, Nicoletta Archidiacono, Mario Ventura, Alessia Marra-Campanale, Antonio Palazzo, Oronzo Capozzi, Archana Raja, John Huddleston, Veronica Searles Quick, Anis Karimpour-Fard, Dominik Schrempf, Marc De Manuel Montero, Konstantinos Billis

Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: Baboons (genus Papio) and geladas (Theropithecus gelada) are now generally recognized as close phylogenetic relatives, though morphologically quite distinct and generally classified in separate genera. Primate specific Alu retrotransposons are well-established genomic markers for the study of phylogenetic and population genetic relationships. We previously reported a computational reconstruction of Papio phylogeny using large-scale whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis of Alu insertion polymorphisms. Recently, high coverage WGS was generated for Theropithecus gelada. The objective of this study was to apply the high-Throughput "poly-Detect" method to computationally determine the number of Alu insertion polymorphisms shared by T. …

The Future Of Reef Ecosystems In The Gulf Of Mexico: Insights From Coupled Climate Model Simulations And Ancient Hot-House Reefs, Kristine L. Delong

Faculty Publications

emperatures (SST), salinity, carbonate chemistry, and acidity. Over the last half-century, some reef communities have been disappearing at an alarming pace. This study focuses on the Gulf of Mexico, where the majority of shallow coral reefs are reported to be in poor or fair condition. We analyze the RCP8.5 ensemble of the Community Earth System Model v1.2 to identify monthly-to-decadal trends in Gulf of Mexico SST. Secondly, we examine projected changes in ocean pH, carbonate saturation state, and salinity in the same coupled model simulations. We find that the joint impacts of predicted higher temperatures and changes in ocean acidification …

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

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

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.

Searching For Galveztown: Employing Multiple Methodologies To Identify Features Of The Galveztown Settlement, Ashlee Taylor

LSU Master's Theses

Galveztown (1778-1806) was a Spanish fort and settlement located in southeastern Louisiana. This site was historically important as it provided protection for the city of New Orleans during a time of constantly shifting geopolitical environment. Today, this site is among the most important historical archaeological sites in Louisiana. Culturally, this site is significant as the descendants of the settlers still live within the Baton Rouge metropolitan area. Archaeologically, the site is significant due to the limited disturbance and lack of urban development at the location which has protected the archaeological record.

Galveztown is also one of the best documented Canary …

Gamma Ray Flashes Produced By Lightning Observed At Ground Level By Tetra-Ii, D. J. Pleshinger, S. T. Alnussirat, J. Arias, S. Bai, Y. Banadaki, M. L. Cherry, J. H. Hoffman, E. Khosravi, M. D. Legault, R. Rodriguez, D. Smith, D. Smith, E. Del Toro, J. C. Trepanier, A. Sunda-Meya

Faculty Publications

In its first 2 years of operation, the ground-based Terrestrial gamma ray flash and Energetic Thunderstorm Rooftop Array (TETRA)-II array of gamma ray detectors has recorded 22 bursts of gamma rays of millisecond-scale duration associated with lightning. In this study, we present the TETRA-II observations detected at the three TETRA-II ground-level sites in Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and Panama together with the simultaneous radio frequency signals from the lightning data sets VAISALA Global Lightning Dataset, VAISALA National Lightning Detection Network, Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, and World Wide Lightning Location Network. The relative timing between the gamma ray events and the …

Late Pleistocene Site Formation And Paleoclimate At Lapa Do Picareiro, Portugal, Michael M. Benedetti, Jonathan A. Haws, Nuno F. Bicho, Lukas Friedl, Brooks B. Ellwood

Faculty Publications

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The cave site of Lapa do Picareiro, Portugal contains a deep (~10 m) sedimentary sequence representing much of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, with abundant animal bones, lithic/bone/shell artifacts, and charcoal/ash in hearths. A deposition model based on 49 radiocarbon ages demonstrates average sedimentation rates of 0.1–0.3 mm a −1 between 9 and 45 ka. Extrapolation suggests an age at the base of the excavation of 65–78 ka. The cave sediments are primarily limestone éboulis derived from roof spalling, and muddy fine sediment derived from weathered soil infiltrating through bedrock joints and crevices. Bone preservation …

Lsu Research Fall 2019, 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.

Wetland Biomass And Productivity In Coastal Louisiana: Base Line Data (1976-2015) And Knowledge Gaps For The Development Of Spatially Explicit Models For Ecosystem Restoration And Rehabilitation Initiatives, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Courtney Elliton, Siddhartha Narra, Ehab Meselhe, Xiaochen Zhao, Eric White, Charles E. Sasser, Jenneke M. Visser, Xuelian Meng, Hongqing Wang, Zuo Xue, Fernando Jaramillo

Faculty Publications

Coastal Louisiana hosts 37% of the coastal wetland area in the conterminous US, including one of the deltaic coastal regions more susceptible to the synergy of human and natural impacts causing wetland loss. As a result of the construction of flood protection infrastructure, dredging of channels across wetlands for oil/gas exploration and maritime transport activities, coastal Louisiana has lost approximately 4900 km2 of wetland area since the early 1930s. Despite the economic relevance of both wetland biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) as ecosystem services, there is a lack of vegetation simulation models to forecast the trends of those functional …