Digital Commons Network^™

Event-Based Climatology Of Tropical Cyclone Rainfall In Houston, Texas And Miami, Florida, Jill C. Trepanier, Clay S. Tucker

Faculty Publications

Tropical cyclone (TC) rainfall amounts are compared from 1950-2017 for Houston, Texas and Miami, Florida to estimate the risk of TC rain in both cities. Following the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017, concern has risen over the future of raininess in these locations. Per-event rainfall amounts are aggregated using tracks taken from HURDAT, time-of-rain gathered from National Weather Service daily weather maps, and rainfall totals taken from airport monitoring stations. Risk analysis tools include descriptive statistics, time series, and return frequencies for Houston and Miami, and spatially interpolated surfaces for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The season duration …

Stratigraphic Reconstruction Of A Late Pleistocene Bald Cypress Forest Discovered On The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Continental Shelf, Suyapa Michell Gonzalez Rodriguez

LSU Master's Theses

A previously buried bald cypress forest (Taxodium distichum) was discovered on the continental shelf, offshore of Orange Beach, Alabama, USA, in ~20 m water depth. The forest was exhumed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and is now exposed as stumps in life position in a trough located in the northern Gulf of Mexico continental shelf seafloor. We are investigating the local stratigraphy, paleo-landscape, and mode of forest preservation of this unique site. In August 2015 and July 2016, submersible vibracores (18 in total) were collected. Core analysis included: bulk density and imaging via Geotek multi sensor core logger, …

Effects Of Sea Level Rise, Land Subsidence, Bathymetric Change And Typhoon Tracks On Storm Flooding In The Coastal Areas Of Shanghai, Jun Wang, Si Yi, Mengya Li, Lei Wang, Chengcheng Song

Faculty Publications

We compared the effects of three key environmental factors of coastal flooding: sea level rise (SLR), land subsidence (LS) and bathymetric change (BC) in the coastal areas of Shanghai. We use the hydrological simulation model MIKE 21 to simulate flood magnitudes under multiple scenarios created from combinations of the key environmental factors projected to year 2030 and 2050. Historical typhoons (TC9711, TC8114, TC0012, TC0205 and TC1109), which caused extremely high surges and considerable losses, were selected as reference tracks to generate potential typhoon events that would make landfalls in Shanghai (SHLD), in the north of Zhejiang (ZNLD) and moving northwards …

Serving A Segregated City: Primary Medical Care Access Disparities In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Michael Vingiello

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Metacarpal Ratio And Its Relation To Sexual Dimorphism In Primates With Different Mating Strategies, Emilee Hart

LSU Master's Theses

The digit ratio (2D:4D) is a sexually dimorphic trait in mammalian hands that is a result of levels of prenatal androgen exposure (PNAE) during limb development. Previous studies have shown that females have a higher ratio than males and that sexual dimorphism in the ratio is greater in species with polygynous mating strategies and high levels of intermale aggression compared to monogamous species with low intermale aggression. This study used metacarpals instead of phalanges to test the hypotheses that the metacarpal ratio (2Mc:4Mc) will be higher in females than males within a species and that the ratio would be more …

In-Between: The Spaces Of Modernity, Elisa Fabris Valenti

LSU Master's Theses

During the past three years as a graduate student, I have experienced loneliness. Having recently emigrated from Italy, I have often asked myself why I am experiencing such hard times adjusting to a different country. My thesis explores this question. Referring to Marc Augé’s idea of non-place, I have chosen a geographical and spatial starting point to approach my work. Italian cities are built around the central piazza where social, political, and economic life revolves. In my thesis, I depict American spaces that lack specific location and create solitude within the urban corridors. Private feelings, such as loneliness, are paradoxes …

"چقدر ایرانی هستم؟ در جستجوی هویتم" (How Iraniam Am I Still? In Search Of My Identity): 21st-Century Iranian Immigrant Identity Formation In The United States, Aram Emamjomeh

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis studies Iranian student immigrants in the United States in the special political tensions between the two countries from 2000 until present. This research provides a holistic view of understanding the new identity which Iranian students have reconstructed at the intersection of Iranian culture and U.S. culture through their past identity in confronting a new situation. It describes how Iranian students use individual, intellectual, and social resources to deal with the ignorance was that imposed on them when the governments of the two countries began to fight each other to achieve more political power. Data is collected from three …

A Computational Reconstruction Of Papio Phylogeny Using Alu Insertion Polymorphisms, Vallmer E. Jordan, Jerilyn A. Walker, Thomas O. Beckstrom, Cody J. Steely, Cullen L. Mcdaniel, Corey P. St Romain, Kim C. Worley, Jane Phillips-Conroy, Clifford J. Jolly, Jeffrey Rogers, Miriam K. Konkel, Mark A. Batzer, Jeffrey Rogers, R. Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Yue Liu, Shwetha Murali, Tauras P. Vilgalys, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Since the completion of the human genome project, the diversity of genome sequencing data produced for non-human primates has increased exponentially. Papio baboons are well-established biological models for studying human biology and evolution. Despite substantial interest in the evolution of Papio, the systematics of these species has been widely debated, and the evolutionary history of Papio diversity is not fully understood. Alu elements are primate-specific transposable elements with a well-documented mutation/insertion mechanism and the capacity for resolving controversial phylogenetic relationships. In this study, we conducted a whole genome analysis of Alu insertion polymorphisms unique to …

Linguistic Political Ecology With The Ngäbe Indigenous People Of Panama, Ginés A. Sánchez Arias

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Indigenous communities from all corners of the globe live in uncertain times. From the vantage point of their “remote" lands, they undergo some of globalization’s most harmful externalities. Their homes become increasingly harder to maintain as extractive industries, development schemes, clandestine land grabs, and national bureaucracies encroach creating new colonial lands. First by assimilation, and then integration, these processes systematically undermine indigenous culture and autonomy. In place of such destructive coloniality, indigenous societies shelter unique ecological and linguistic knowledge that continues to serve their progress. This research applies lessons learned from studying with Ngäbe communities of western Panama, towards a …

An Index For Measuring Community Resilience To Flooding In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Yi Ling Chan

LSU Master's Theses

The greater Baton Rouge area in Louisiana has been impacted by repeated floods throughout its history. The most recent flood in August 2016 resulted in damages to over 80,000 homes and businesses and upwards of $430 million in public assistance granted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Livingston and Ascension parishes are expected to face compounded pressures and risks with the threat of increasing frequency of flood events coupled with expanding populations due to continuing suburbanization and inland migration from those living on Louisiana's coast. The purpose of this research is to create and …

In Search Of Ritualistic Practice In Louisiana’S Labor Rooms, Carly Wayt

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Sine Language: Communicating Platy-1 Retrotransposon Propagation In The Aotus Lineage, Jackson Mierl

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Holocene Vegetation And Climate Evolution Of Corpus Christi And Trinity Bays: Implications On Coastal Texas Source-To-Sink Deposition, Shannon Ferguson, Sophie Warny, John B. Anderson, Alexander R. Simms, Gilles Escarguel

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Texas coastline stretches 595 km across almost 4° of latitude and is home to diverse coastal vegetation assemblages, yet only a handful of studies have documented the climate and vegetative change of this region through the Holocene. We provide a detailed palynological record of Holocene climate for coastal Texas, based upon three subaqueous sediment cores from Corpus Christi Bay and Trinity Bay. Cluster analysis and correspondence analysis were used to investigate changes in palynological assemblages through time within each core. Common to both bays are nonarboreal taxa including Asteraceae (mainly Ambrosia and Helianthus), Chenopodium, Poaceae, and arboreal …

Defining A Species: A Look At The Relationship Of Papio And Theropithecus Using Alu Elements, Paulina Gonzalez-Quiroga

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Epigenetic Misregulation As A Causal Agent Of Disease: Methylation Analysis And Rna Expression Quantification, Carter Pesson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Development And Role Of Diagnostic Imaging And Three-Dimensional Printing Technologies In Anthropology And Medicine, William Long

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Resilience In Context: How Cultural Factors Influence Migration Decisions Of Individuals In Flood-Prone Areas Of Coastal Louisiana, Brandon Champagne

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Tooth Wear In Contemporary Us And Non-Us Populations To Evaluate The Validity Of Use In Estimating Region Of Origin, Amelie Marie Juneau

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Toumai Words: Songs From Your Primordial Ancestor, Vernell D. Dunams

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Young Alu Elements In The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Lineage For Use As Species-Indicative Molecular Markers, Michael W. Denham

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Reconstructing Ancient Lives Using 3d Technology: A Case Study Of Pork And Doughboy Point, Belize, Jane Fiegel

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Emmanuel Levinas And The Meaning Of Ecological Responsibility, Joe Matthew Larios

LSU Master's Theses

Recent work in eco-phenomenology has often tried to find a way to situate Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical philosophy in a way that would be productive for environmental ethical concerns. This has often proved difficult due to the anthropocentrism of Levinas’s philosophy and the sometimes inconsistent interpretations of what the face of the Other signifies and whether it should be understood as perceptually present to the one who “sees” it in any way. This, combined with a general lack of engagement with Levinas’s writings on politics, has often made an ecological interpretation of Levinas difficult or awkward.

In this thesis, I try …

Analysis Of Marine Sediment By Chemical Signatures And Loss-On Ignition To Discover Evidence Of Ancient Maya Activities At Site 74, Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize, Kobi Weaver

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, archaeological sediment chemistry, loss-on ignition and microscopic analysis of marine sediment are used to study Site 74 of the Paynes Creek Salt Works in southern Belize. Site 74 was once an ancient Maya salt work. Due to sea-level rise, sea water and mangrove peat now cover the site. Sediment from the site was exported under permit to the Louisiana State University Laboratory. I prepared and delivered the samples to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory for inductively coupled plasma- atomic emission spectroscopy testing (ICP-AES). ICP-AES measured the amount of 20 elements in the sediment. Maps showing …

A Pedagogical Approach To The Waltzes And Tangos For Piano By Francisca Gonzaga, Ana Paula Machado Simoes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Francisca (Chiquinha) Gonzaga (1847–1935) was an important composer in the development of Brazilian music. She was also a remarkable female personality and broke paradigms in a society dominated by men. In spite of that, her works are not widely performed and studied yet. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a pedagogical approach to her works. This research explores her waltzes and tangos for piano, analyzes their musical, reading and technical difficulties, and provides a graded level for half of them to stimulate their use as repertoire for piano students and performers.

Chiquinha composed 37 waltzes and 30 tangos …

Evolution Of Alu Elements In The Saimiri And Papio Lineages Of Primates, Jasmine Nicole Brown Baker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alu elements are approximately 300 base pair (bp) primate specific non- autonomous retrotransposons. Alu elements, a short interspersed element (SINE), account for high copy numbers in all primate genomes. Numerous Alu element subfamilies have undergone varying degrees of activity and amplification within primates. Identification of these subfamilies has proved to be very informative in elucidating phylogenies and as phylogenomic markers. Squirrel monkeys, genus Saimiri, are one of the most well-known neotropical primates and the second most commonly used laboratory monkey. Squirrel monkey species diverged approximately 1.5 million years ago and are native to South America. Despite being well-known, there …

Ethnicity, Climate, And House Types As Mortality Factors In The New Orleans' 1878 Yellow Fever Outbreak, Gabriele Richardson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The following study is first a demonstration that even incomplete health data from 1878 New Orleans’ yellow fever outbreak can be used with modern epidemiological methods and achieve useful and revealing results. Accordingly, this research examines three possible associations between New Orleans’ population exposed to yellow fever and the environment they lived in, using 4,755 yellow fever cases, derived from the New Orleans Board of Health report, Cemetery Burial records, Hospital, Asylum, and prison registers, and New Orleans obituaries. The first relationship addresses the vulnerability to yellow fever for people born in Italy, France, Great Britain, and the German Empire, …

Providing Information And Public Outreach Across Three U.S. State Archaeology Offices During The Age Of Open Access, Samuel Thomas Ayers

LSU Master's Theses

Archaeology in the United States has been transformed into a mainstream, practical science over the past fifty years by Cultural Resource Management (CRM) and the federal regulations imposed by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966. However, this form of archaeology has been plagued with criticisms since the NHPA’s enactment including issues of access and use of data maintained by state site files. State archaeology is publicly funded yet state and federal legislation often exempts CRM data from freedom of information laws. To mitigate this contradiction and stem the growing body of “gray literature”, new open-access (OA) technologies are …

Characterizing The Phylogenetic Specialism-Generalism Spectrum Of Mammal Parasites, A. W. Park, M. J. Farrell, J. P. Schmidt, S. Huang, T. A. Dallas, P. Pappalardo, J. M. Drake, P. R. Stephens, R. Poulin, C. L. Nunn, T. J. Davies

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. The distribution of parasites across mammalian hosts is complex and represents a differential ability or opportunity to infect different host species. Here, we take a macroecological approach to investigate factors influencing why some parasites show a tendency to infect species widely distributed in the host phylogeny (phylogenetic generalism) while others infect only closely related hosts. Using a database on over 1400 parasite species that have been documented to infect up to 69 terrestrialmammal host species,we characterize the phylogenetic generalism of parasites using standard effect sizes for three metrics: …

Trade-Offs And Synergies Of Ecosystem Services In The Taihu Lake Basin Of China, Xuning Qiao, Yangyang Gu, Changxin Zou, Lei Wang, Juhua Luo, Xianfeng Huang

Faculty Publications

Understanding the spatial interactions among multiple ecosystem services is crucial for ecosystem services management. Ecosystem services, including crop production, freshwater supply, aquatic production, net primary production, soil conservation, water conservation, flood regulation, forest recreation, were measured at 1-km grid scale covering the Taihu Lake Basin (TLB) of China. Our objective is to get a comprehensive understanding of the spatial distributions, trade-offs, synergies of multiple ecosystem services across the TLB. Our results found that: 1) majority of ecosystem services were clustered in space and had a similar spatial distribution pattern with the geographical resource endowment. Most of the landscape contributed a …

Investigation Of Morphological Changes In Small Coastal Rivers During Flood, Tanzina Afrin

LSU Master's Theses

The delivery of fluvial sediment to coastal margins is one of the major concerns for river and coastal morphodynamics. Relevant research has primarily focused on large rivers that transport substantial sediment load and thus are responsible for building deltaic landscapes. However, less research is concentrated on small coastal rivers. A need exists to better understand the sediment dynamics in small coastal rivers that have different backwater regimes than their larger counterparts. The main objective of this research was to examine the influence of backwater on the morphodynamics of a small coastal meandering river during a large flood event. The investigation …