Digital Commons Network^™

Recruiting, Retaining, And Promoting For Careers At Transportation Agencies, Christofer Harper, Susan Bogus, Raghava Kommalapati, Doeun Choe

Publications

State transportation agencies currently face complex challenges in recruiting and retaining the workforce necessary to function effectively. The situation exacerbates due to the number of employees from different generations that have to coexist with varying values, expectations, and principles. These agencies are primarily comprised of two generational groups: the baby-boomers, who are approaching retirement and occupy many managerial positions; and the millennials, who are demonstrating their interest in technology and demanding dynamism in their careers. This multiplicity of interest represents a challenge for human resources (HR) in addressing workforce issues and providing the necessary means to recruit and retain qualified …

Sexually-Relevant Visual And Chemosensory Signals Induce Distinct Behaviors And Neural Activation Patterns In The Social African Cichlid, Astatotilapia Burtoni, Karen E. Field, Christopher T. Mcvicker, Karen P. Maruska

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Field, McVicker and Maruska. Across vertebrates, the use of multimodal (multiple sensory modalities) signals has evolved to convey important information to receivers. Information content of multimodal signals can be the same as or different from information in each unimodal signal, and are classified as redundant or non-redundant, respectively, based on receivers’ behavioral responses. Despite the prevalence and importance of multimodal signaling across taxa, relatively little is known about how and where these signals are processed in the brains of receivers. We used the social African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, to investigate how sexually-relevant visual and chemosensory uni- and …

Compressive Characterization Of Telecom Photon Pairs In The Spatial And Spectral Degrees Of Freedom, Nicola Montaut, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza, Tim J. Bartley, Varun B. Verma, Sae Woo Nam, Richard P. Mirin, Christine Silberhorn, Thomas Gerrits

Faculty Publications

In the past few years, physicists and engineers have demonstrated the possibility of utilizing multiple degrees of freedom of the photon to perform information processing tasks for a wide variety of applications. Furthermore, complex states of light offer the possibility of encoding and processing many bits of information in a single photon. However, the challenges involved in the process of extracting large amounts of information, encoded in photonic states, impose practical limitations to realistic quantum technologies. Here, we demonstrate characterization of quantum correlated photon pairs in the spatial and spectral degrees of freedom. Our technique utilizes a series of random …

Mindfulness And Teen Behavior: Teenagers' Perceptions Of Behavior That Led To Expulsion, Michelle L. Lee

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teaching specific mindfulness techniques to teens who have difficulty functioning in the classroom, using the Mindful Schools Curricula; the course includes 18 lessons on being mindful of sound, breath, movement, thoughts, and emotions. Specifically, the study was designed to determine whether a mindfulness course would be beneficial for South Parish High School teens who are expelled. The study design was mixed methods. Participants were administered pre- and post- scientific validated survey scales that measure mindfulness characteristics as one data source. Participants’ parents were given a questionnaire to return and …

A Comparison Of Machine Learning Techniques For Taxonomic Classification Of Teeth From The Family Bovidae, Gregory J. Matthews, Juliet K. Brophy, Maxwell Luetkemeier, Hongie Gu, George K. Thiruvathukal

Faculty Publications

This study explores the performance of machine learning algorithms on the classification of fossil teeth in the Family Bovidae. Isolated bovid teeth are typically the most common fossils found in southern Africa and they often constitute the basis for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Taxonomic identification of fossil bovid teeth, however, is often imprecise and subjective. Using modern teeth with known taxons, machine learning algorithms can be trained to classify fossils. Previous work by Brophy et al. [Quantitative morphological analysis of bovid teeth and implications for paleoenvironmental reconstruction of plovers lake, Gauteng Province, South Africa, J. Archaeol. Sci. 41 (2014), pp. 376–388] uses …

Speciation And Hybridization In Jamaican-Endemic Streamertail Hummingbirds (Trochilus Polytmus And T. Scitulus), Caroline D. Judy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Streamertails hummingbirds (Trochilus polytmus and T. scitulus) are recently diverged sister taxa that appear to have speciated in situ on the island of Jamaica. They are distinguished by male bill color, a secondary sexual trait that is coral red in T. polytmus and jet black in T. scitulus. They hybridize in a narrow zone where their ranges meet in eastern Jamaica. In Chapter 2, I performed a formal population survey of T. scitulus to determine the size of the population, which was unknown. I determined that the total population contains well over 100,000 individuals despite its limited …

Early Speech Deterioration In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Case Study Of Newscaster Donna Britt, Emily Watkins

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study is to detect and track speech changes using acoustic and perceptual measures in an individual (a local newscaster) with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using data from before her diagnosis, around the time of her diagnosis, and after her diagnosis.

Methods: Six time points, ranging from 37 months around her diagnosis, were analyzed from one speaker with ALS. Three acoustic parameters were measured: articulation rate, acoustic vowel space, and the slope of the second formant. Additionally, two experts with more than 10 years of experience perceptually analyzed the speech samples on 17 characteristics using …

Finite Time Estimation Through A Continuous-Discrete Observer, Frédéric Mazenc, Saeed Ahmed, Michael Malisoff

Faculty Publications

We study two broad classes of nonlinear time-varying continuous-time systems with outputs. For the first class, we build an observer in the case where a state dependent disturbance affects the linear approximation. When the disturbances are the zero functions, our observer provides exact values of the state at all times larger than a suitable finite time, and it provides an approximate estimate when there are nonzero disturbances, so our observers are called finite time observers. We use this construction, which is of interest for its own sake, to design a globally exponentially stabilizing dynamic output feedback for a family of …

Origin Of Localization In Ti-Doped Si, Yi Zhang, R. Nelson, K. M. Tam, W. Ku, U. Yu, N. S. Vidhyadhiraja, H. Terletska, J. Moreno, M. Jarrell, T. Berlijn

Faculty Publications

Intermediate band semiconductors hold the promise to significantly improve the efficiency of solar cells but only if the intermediate impurity band is metallic. We apply a recently developed first principles method to investigate the origin of electron localization in Ti doped Si, a promising candidate for intermediate band solar cells. We compute the critical Ti concentration and compare it against the available experimental data. Although Anderson localization is often overlooked in the context of intermediate band solar cells, our results show that in Ti doped Si it plays a more important role in the metal insulator transition than Mott localization. …

The Evolution Of A Collaborative Network: Understanding Partnerships In A Policy Mandated Collaboration Through Social Network Analysis, Pallavi Singh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Federal funding agencies that administer financial support in the form of program grants to non-profit organizations (NPOs) that provide child and family services increasingly require NPOs to formalize inter-organizational partnerships in order to receive this vital source of funding. That is, by mandate NPOs must participate in inter-organizational collaboration networks to receive these essential federal funds. Therefore, there is a need to understand the collaboration behavior of NPOs in a policy-mandated environment. This study considers collaboration behavior as information sharing and advice-seeking between the organizations who are part of a collaboration network as a result of a policy mandate.

Drawing …

Workplace Learning Measures For Human Resource Development: Review And Summary, Sunyoung Park, Jae Young Lee

Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the existing workplace learning measures used in empirical studies in human resource development (HRD). Design/methodology/approach: By reviewing 141 studies on workplace learning published in six journals in the field of HRD, we identified nine measures for workplace learning. Tynjälä’s (2013) 3-P model of workplace learning was adopted as the framework to analyze the features of each measure in terms of presage, process and product. Findings: Workplace Climate Questionnaire, Learning Opportunities Questionnaire, Approaches to Work Questionnaire and Self-regulated Learning in the Workplace Questionnaire belong to the presage category. Small Business Workplace Learning …

Parallel Tracks: Three Case Studies Of The Relationship Between Street Art And U.S. Museums In The Twenty-First Century, Erin Rolfs

LSU Master's Theses

An examination of three case studies involving U.S. museum exhibitions of street and graffiti art in the twenty-first century. This thesis covers the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s “Graffiti” show in 2006, Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Art in the Streets” in 2011, and the 2012-2015 activities of the Baton Rouge Museum of Public Art. These events offer a chronological and geographical range to provide a broad scope of investigation into the pitfalls and opportunities of museum’s exhibiting graffiti and street art. The heart of this research is not to prolong the debate about whether museums endanger their authority when …

Loss Of Dbc1 (Ccar2) Affects Tnfα-Induced Lipolysis And Glut4 Gene Expression In Murine Adipocytes, Ashley A. Able, Allison J. Richard, Jacqueline M. Stephens

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Society for Endocrinology Published by Bioscientifica Ltd. STAT5A (signal transducer and activator of transcription 5A) is a transcription factor that plays a role in adipocyte development and function. In this study, we report DBC1 (deleted in breast cancer 1 - also known as CCAR2) as a novel STAT5A-interacting protein. DBC1 has been primarily studied in tumor cells, but there is evidence that loss of this protein may promote metabolic health in mice. Currently, the functions of DBC1 in mature adipocytes are largely unknown. Using immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting techniques, we confirmed that there is an association between endogenous STAT5A …

The Kelt Follow-Up Network And Transit False-Positive Catalog: Pre-Vetted False Positives For Tess, Karen A. Collins, Kevin I. Collins, Joshua Pepper, Jonathan Labadie-Bartz, Keivan G. Stassun, B. Scott Gaudi, Daniel Bayliss, Joao Bento, Knicole D. Colon, Dax Feliz, David James, Marshall C. Johnson, Rudolf B. Kuhn, Michael B. Lund, Matthew T. Penny, Joseph E. Rodriguez, Robert J. Siverd, Daniel J. Stevens, Xinyu Yao, George Zhou, Mundra Akshay, Giulio F. Aldi, Cliff Ashcraft, Supachai Awiphan, Bzgür Baştürk, David Baker, Thomas G. Beatty, Paul Benni, Perry Berlind, G. Bruce Berriman, Zach Berta-Thompson, Allyson Bieryla, Valerio Bozza

Faculty Publications

The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) project has been conducting a photometric survey of transiting planets orbiting bright stars for over 10 years. The KELT images have a pixel scale of ∼23″ pixel-1 - very similar to that of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) - as well as a large point-spread function, and the KELT reduction pipeline uses a weighted photometric aperture with radius 3′. At this angular scale, multiple stars are typically blended in the photometric apertures. In order to identify false positives and confirm transiting exoplanets, we have assembled a follow-up network (KELT-FUN) to conduct imaging with …

Maternal Encouragement Of Modest Behavior, Temperamental Shyness, And Anxious Withdrawal Linkages To Chinese American Children's Social Adjustment: A Moderated Mediation Analysis, Merve Balkaya, Charissa S.L. Cheah, Jing Yu, Craig H. Hart, Shuyan Sun

Faculty Publications

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Past studies have revealed potential differences in the functional meaning and social evaluation of children's temperamental shyness between Chinese interdependence-oriented and North American independence-oriented cultural contexts. However, very little is known about shy Chinese American children's adjustment in Western school contexts and potential pathways underlying their adjustment. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the associations between Chinese American children's temperamental shyness and their social adjustment outcomes, including peer exclusion, prosocial behavior, and assertiveness/leadership skills. In addition, the mediating role of children's display of anxious-withdrawn behavior and the moderating role of …

Gentrification And Crime In The Crescent City, Connor Lewis Burruss

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Stress Fluctuation, Crack Renucleation And Toughening In Layered Materials, C. J. Hsueh, L. Avellar, B. Bourdin, G. Ravichandran, K. Bhattacharya

Faculty Publications

It has been established that contrast in the elastic properties can lead to enhancement of fracture toughness in heterogeneous materials. Focussing on layered materials as a model system, we show that this enhancement is a result of two distinct phenomena – first, fluctuations in stress leading to regions where the stress intensity at the crack is considerably smaller than that of the macroscopically applied value; and second, the lack of stress intensity when a crack is at a compliant to stiff interface thereby requiring renucleation. Using theoretical, computational and experimental methods, we study two geometries – a layered material and …

Development, Training, Education, And Implementation Of Low-Cost Sensing Technologies For Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (Shm), Fernando Moreu, Chris Lippitt, Dilendra Maharjan, Marlon Aguero, Roya Nasimi

Publications

Transportation infrastructure needs continuous monitoring. However, traditional inspections cost money and are conducted visually. New technologies for bridge monitoring are expensive and complex. This project involved developing cost-effective sensor technologies that can be applied towards the maintenance of railroad bridges by recording reference-free transverse displacement. More specifically, this project developed new applications of new technologies (Arduino, wireless smart sensors, drones, Hololens) and promoted workforce development with an emphasis on outreach of high-school students. This project was carried out in three main phases: (1) development and validation of technologies, (2) education and outreach to students, and (3) outreach to industry consisting …

Entanglement Cost And Quantum Channel Simulation, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

This paper proposes a revised definition for the entanglement cost of a quantum channel N. In particular, it is defined here to be the smallest rate at which entanglement is required, in addition to free classical communication, in order to simulate n calls to N, such that the most general discriminator cannot distinguish the n calls to N from the simulation. The most general discriminator is one who tests the channels in a sequential manner, one after the other, and this discriminator is known as a quantum tester [Chiribella et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 060401 (2008)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.101.060401] or one who …

Design And Application Of Task-Specific Gumbos And Nanogumbos For Sensing And Separation, Mingyan Cong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The work presented in this dissertation employs task-specific materials for sensing and protein separation applications. These materials were derived from a group of uniform materials based on organic salts (GUMBOS). GUMBOS are organic salts similar to ionic liquids, but have melting points ranging from 25 to 250 °C. As with ionic liquids, the properties of GUMBOS can be easily tuned by changing the counter-ion. Thus, task-specific GUMBOS can be designed and prepared with properties that are beneficial for applications in sensing or protein separation. In this dissertation, the selective responsive behavior of a series of GUMBOS and nanomaterials derived from …

Course Design…Online: Helping Students Perform In The Digital Age, Joseph W. Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study sought to test the relationship between course design, as described by the rubric produced by Quality Matters, and online university student performance. Due to the link between student motivation and active learning behaviors, and thus performance, it was predicted that the better-designed courses would facilitate student motivation. It was also predicted that goal orientation would moderate this relationship. While a significant relationship was observed between student motivation and course performance, no relationship was observed between course quality, as measured by the QM Rubric, and motivation, or performance. Only slight evidence was found for a moderating effect of …

Study Of Rheology And Flow Behavior Of Magneto-Rheological Fluids Under The Influence Of A Magnetic Field And Its Potential Applications For Drilling And Completion Operations, John Edwin Estrada Giraldo

LSU Master's Theses

The use of magnetorheological fluids (MRF) is presented as an alternative to overcome some of the problems encountered in the drilling and completion of a well. The magnetorheological fluids can modify their rheological properties instantaneously under the influence of a magnetic field. In this thesis, MRF consist of a base fluid, magnetizable particles and a polymer that supports the particles. The magnetizable particles align in the direction of the magnetic field, thus modifying the rheology of the mixture. Because of this characteristic, the use of this fluid can have advantages in controlling fluid losses while drilling in narrow operating windows, …

Citizen Science In 4-H: Youth Volunteer Motivations, Participation, Retention And Scientific Literacy, Veronica Del Bianco

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of volunteer motivation, participation, and citizen science project type on the retention and scientific literacy of 4-H youth volunteers ages 8-19 years participating in science projects. The conceptual model of participation in organized activities (OA) proposed by Bohnert, Fredericks and Randall (2010) was used as a framework for the variables included in the study categorizing them as predictors of participation, participation, program characteristics, or outcomes. A systematic review of volunteer motivations, retention, and scientific literacy in citizen science projects exposed that the literature contains silos of information published in …

Purposeful Planning And Intentional Practice In Literacy Leadership: The Making Of An Urban Principal, Nakia Claudette Jackson Perkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Audubon Elementary is an urban elementary school that is the setting for this proposed study. It is a high-achieving, high-performing school where achievement goals are always centered on literacy learning, especially within the context of accountability wherein faculty and school leadership acknowledge the importance that the school district has placed on standardized testing. Pre-K through fifth grades are housed at the school. In 2018, there are approximately 554 students who are guided by 65 faculty and staff members.

Participants were purposely selected based on both convenience and criteria sampling (Collins, Onwuegbuzie, & Jiao, 2007). Initially, six participants, or classroom …

Analysis Of The Soil Health Of Pastures Over-Seeded With Winter Annuals, Kathleen M. Bridges

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Utilizing winter annuals in livestock pastures reduces feed costs of hay, and provides additional vegetative cover that is beneficial to the soil. However, how this practice affects the soil microbial communities has not been well studied. Two sites were included in this study. Both were commercial cattle grazing operations that over-seeded a mixture of grasses, legumes, and brassicas into pastures dominated by bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum). Soil health was assessed using a suite of physical, chemical, and biological properties. Soil physical assessments included bulk density and aggregate stability. Soil chemical assessments included macronutrients, pH, soil organic matter (SOM), total …

Beam Theory For Classical And Quantum Nonlinear Optics---Exposing Classical And Quantum Correlations Of Transverse-Spatial Modes, Robert Nicholas Lanning

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Optics is arguably the most important branch of physics that has ever been studied. It is not only an essential ingredient of many other branches of physics that we study, it governs how we see, how we measure, and how we communicate in the modern world. And as the world continues to change, so do our tools and resources. In a relatively short amount of time, we have progressed from rudimentary tools that shape the world around us, to tools that harness the fundamental laws of nature. Unsurprisingly, the laws of nature governing optics remain paramount. This is because many …

Unpacking The Double Bind: Exploring How The Intersection Of Race And Gender Shape The Undergraduate Experiences Of African American Women In Engineering, Anissa Guerin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This three-part qualitative study explored the factors that contribute to the success of African American female students’ persistence in engineering majors. This study also addressed obstacles African American female students face and overcome to persist in engineering majors. Examining African American women in engineering who persist would be an effective method to provide academic support and increase participation amongst this underrepresented group. In addition to exploring the challenges and barriers faced by African American women, this study also acknowledged the skills, perspectives and resources African American women bring to engineering and engineering education. Highlighting their distinctive contributions and attributes would …

Scaffolded Play As A Predictor Of Change In Language And Play In Children With Autism, Cara Tyson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A child’s play is facilitative of language development, creating a situation where words are needed to speak to and for toy characters, socially engage with peers, and develop play narratives. Children with language disorders, in particular autism spectrum disorder, often fail to engage in play activities at levels of their typically developing peers. However, under highly structured conditions, or scaffolded conditions, children with autism have demonstrated the ability to engage in play at similar levels as their typically developing peers. It remains unclear whether direct teaching of play under scaffolded conditions will predict language skills over time for this population. …

Natural Resources-Based Conflicts In Coastal Louisiana: A Multi-Faceted Social And Ecological Setting, Audrey Grismore

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Louisiana coastal zone supports numerous natural resource-based economies and due to overlapping demands on the same territory, conflicts among users and resource managers have emerged. When the state recognized serious depletion of oysters in the late nineteenth century, it intervened with a set of conservation polices to try to establish sustained yields that produced one set of conflicts. When the oil industry began operating in the coastal estuaries and wetlands in the 1930s, it produced additional conflicts with fishing folk. The zone of conflict gave rise to cyclic adaptations as each group struggled to sustain its environmentally based economic …

Carbazole-Based Gumbos For Highly Efficient Blue Oleds, Noureen Siraj, Isiah M. Warner, Thenahandi Prasanthi Deepthika De Silva

College of Science Patents

Various examples are provided for carbazole-based GUMBOS (group of uniform materials based on organic salts), and its application in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). In one example, a composition includes a solid phase carbazole-based GUMBOS (group of uniform materials based on organic salts) comprising a counterion such as, e.g., trifluoromethanesulfonate ([Otf]), bis-(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([NTf₂]), bis-(pentafluoroethylsulfonyl)imide ([BETI]), tetrafluoroborate (BF4), hexafluorophosphate (PF6), and/or thiocyanate (SCN). The carbazole-based GUMBOS can include carbazoleimidazole-based GUMBOS or 3,6-diBDC carbazolium-based GUMBOS. In another example, a method includes preparing a biphasic solution; separating a layer of DCM from the biphasic solution after stirring; washing the DCM with …