Digital Commons Network^™

Dissociation Of Tau Pathology And Neuronal Hypometabolism Within The Atn Framework Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Michael Tran Duong, Sandhitsu R. Das, Xueying Lyu, Long Xie, Hayley Richardson, Sharon X. Xie, Paul A. Yushkevich, Michael Weiner, Paul Aisen, Ronald Petersen, Clifford R. Jack, William Jagust, John Q. Trojanowki, Arthur W. Toga, Laurel Beckett, Robert C. Green, Andrew J. Saykin, John C. Morris, Leslie M. Shaw, Enchi Liu, Tom Montine, Ronald G. Thomas, Michael Donohue, Sarah Walter, Devon Gessert, Tamie Sather, Gustavo Jimenez-Maggiora, Danielle Harvey, Matthew Bernstein, Nick Fox, Paul Thompson, Norbert Schuff, Charles Decarli, Bret Borowski

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is defined by amyloid (A) and tau (T) pathologies, with T better correlated to neurodegeneration (N). However, T and N have complex regional relationships in part related to non-AD factors that influence N. With machine learning, we assessed heterogeneity in 18F-flortaucipir vs. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography as markers of T and neuronal hypometabolism (NM) in 289 symptomatic patients from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. We identified six T/NM clusters with differing limbic and cortical patterns. The canonical group was defined as the T/NM pattern with lowest regression residuals. Groups resilient to T had less hypometabolism than expected …

Author Correction: Fam222a Encodes A Protein Which Accumulates In Plaques In Alzheimer’S Disease (Nature Communications, (2020), 11, 1, (411), 10.1038/S41467-019-13962-0), Tingxiang Yan, Jingjing Liang, Ju Gao, Luwen Wang, Hisashi Fujioka, Michael W. Weiner, Norbert Schuff, Howard J. Rosen, Bruce L. Miller, David Perry, Paul Aisen, Paul Aisen, Arthur W. Toga, Gustavo Jimenez, Michael Donohue, Devon Gessert, Kelly Harless, Jennifer Salazar, Yuliana Cabrera, Sarah Walter, Lindsey Hergesheimer, Karen Crawford, Scott Neu, Lon S. Schneider, Sonia Pawluczyk, Mauricio Becerra, Liberty Teodoro, Bryan M. Spann, Ronald Petersen, Clifford R. Jack, Matthew Bernstein, Bret Borowski, Jeff Gunter, Matt Senjem

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

In the original version of the manuscript, the image shown in Figure 4g, bottom row (Aβ1–42 + rAggregatin), under “6h” was incorrect. This image incorrectly showed the same sample as shown in the original Figure 4g, top row (Aβ1–42), under “0.5h”. The correct version of figure 4g is as follows: (Figure presented.) which replaces the previous incorrect version: (Figure presented.).

Uterine Lumen Fluid Is Metabolically Semi-Autonomous, Constantine A. Simintiras, Jessica N. Drum, Hongyu Liu, M. Sofia Ortega, Thomas E. Spencer

Faculty Publications

Uterine lumen fluid (ULF) is central to successful pregnancy establishment and maintenance, and impacts offspring wellbeing into adulthood. The current dogma is that ULF composition is primarily governed by endometrial glandular epithelial cell secretions and influenced by progesterone. To investigate the hypothesis that ULF is metabolically semi-autonomous, ULF was obtained from cyclic heifers, and aliquots incubated for various durations prior to analysis by untargeted semi-quantitative metabolomic profiling. Metabolite flux was observed in these ULF isolates, supporting the idea that the biochemical makeup of ULF is semi-autonomously dynamic due to enzyme activities. Subsequent integrative analyses of these, and existing, data predict …

Non-Destructive Quality Evaluation Of Tropical Fruit (Mango And Mangosteen) Purée Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Combined With Partial Least Squares Regression, Pimpen Pornchaloempong, Sneha Sharma, Thitima Phanomsophon, Kraisuwit Srisawat, Wasan Inta, Panmanas Sirisomboon, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Natrapee Nakawajana, Ravipat Lapcharoensuk, Sontisuk Teerachaichayut

Faculty Publications

Mango and mangosteen are commercially important tropical fruits with a short shelf life. Fruit processing is one of the alternatives to extend the shelf life of these fruits. Purée is one of the processed products of fresh fruit. In this research, the quality of mango and mangosteen purée was analyzed. Titratable acidity (TA) and total soluble solids (TSS) were predicted using non-destructive near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. A partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was developed based on the NIR spectra with a wavelength ranging from 800 to 2500 nm. The PLSR model returned a coefficient of determination (r2) and a ratio …

Smart Quantum Statistical Imaging Beyond The Abbe-Rayleigh Criterion, Narayan Bhusal, Mingyuan Hong, Ashe Miller, Mario A. Quiroz-Juárez, Roberto De J. León-Montiel, Chenglong You, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza

Faculty Publications

The wave nature of light imposes limits on the resolution of optical imaging systems. For over a century, the Abbe-Rayleigh criterion has been utilized to assess the spatial resolution limits of imaging instruments. Recently, there has been interest in using spatial projective measurements to enhance the resolution of imaging systems. Unfortunately, these schemes require a priori information regarding the coherence properties of “unknown” light beams and impose stringent alignment conditions. Here, we introduce a smart quantum camera for superresolving imaging that exploits the self-learning features of artificial intelligence to identify the statistical fluctuations of unknown mixtures of light sources at …

Health Physics Workforce In The United States, Michael A. Noska, Caridad Borrás, E. Vincent Holahan, Shaheen A. Dewji, Thomas E. Johnson, Jerry W. Hiatt, Wayne D. Newhauser, John W. Poston, Nolan Hertel

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Medical Physics Workforce In The United States, Wayne D. Newhauser, Dustin A. Gress, Michael D. Mills, David W. Jordan, Steven G. Sutlief, Melissa C. Martin, Edward Jackson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Detecting Quantum Critical Points Of Correlated Systems By Quantum Convolutional Neural Network Using Data From Variational Quantum Eigensolver, Nathaniel Wrobel, Anshumitra Baul, Ka Ming Tam, Juana Moreno

Faculty Publications

Machine learning has been applied to a wide variety of models, from classical statistical mechanics to quantum strongly correlated systems, for classifying phase transitions. The recently proposed quantum convolutional neural network (QCNN) provides a new framework for using quantum circuits instead of classical neural networks as the backbone of classification methods. We present the results from training the QCNN by the wavefunctions of the variational quantum eigensolver for the one-dimensional transverse field Ising model (TFIM). We demonstrate that the QCNN identifies wavefunctions corresponding to the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases of the TFIM with reasonable accuracy. The QCNN can be trained …

Probiotic Incorporation Into Yogurt And Various Novel Yogurt-Based Products, Douglas W. Olson, Kayanush J. Aryana

Faculty Publications

Probiotics are commonly added to yogurt to provide many health benefits for the consumer. A description is provided for some commonly used probiotics in yogurt. A GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list of probiotic bacteria that can be added to yogurt or similar types of products is provided. Additionally, prebiotics, synbiotics (combination of prebiotics and probiotics), postbiotics, paraprobiotics, and psychobiotics can be added to yogurt. Probiotic yogurt can come in various forms in addition to spoonable yogurt, and yogurt can be used as an ingredient in other food products. Many useful functional ingredients can be applied to probiotic yogurt. The …

Personalized Breast Cancer Onset Prediction From Lifestyle And Health History Information, Shi Ang Qi, Neeraj Kumar, Jian Yi Xu, Jaykumar Patel, Sambasivarao Damaraju, Grace Shen-Tu, Russell Greiner

Faculty Publications

We propose a method to predict when a woman will develop breast cancer (BCa) from her lifestyle and health history features. To address this objective, we use data from the Alberta's Tomorrow Project of 18,288 women to train Individual Survival Distribution (ISD) models to predict an individual's Breast-Cancer-Onset (BCaO) probability curve. We show that our three-step approach-(1) filling missing data with multiple imputations by chained equations, followed by (2) feature selection with the multivariate Cox method, and finally, (3) using MTLR to learn an ISD model-produced the model with the smallest L1-Hinge loss among all calibrated models with comparable C-index. …

A Systematic Literature Review Of Anti-Discrimination Design Strategies In The Digital Sharing Economy, Miroslav Tushev, Fahimeh Ebrahimi, Anas Mahmoud

Faculty Publications

Applications of the Digital Sharing Economy (DSE), such as Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit, have become a main facilitator of economic growth and shared prosperity in modern-day societies. However, recent research has revealed that the participation of minority groups in DSE activities is often hindered by different forms of bias and discrimination. Evidence of such behavior has been documented across almost all domains of DSE, including ridesharing, lodging, and freelancing. However, little is known about the underlying design decisions of DSE platforms which allow certain demographics of the market to gain unfair advantage over others. To bridge this knowledge gap, in …

The Limits Of Financial Equity: The Federal Reserve, The Depression Of 1921, And The End Of Wilsonian Progressivism, Terril Hebert

LSU Master's Theses

The Limits of Financial Equity: The Federal Reserve, the Depression of 1921, and the End of Wilsonian Progressivism is an examination of monetary policy and centralized macroeconomic planning in the American economy during the inflationary spiral of the 1910s that culminated in the Depression of 1921. Put forward for consideration is the successful populist campaign for agricultural credit equity by the burgeoning Federal Reserve System; set against a backdrop of intentional inflation, world and domestic citizens competed against as the price and supply chain distortions perpetuated by the policing of American commerce by the Food Administration, A. Mitchell Palmer’s Department …

Studies Of Roseau Cane Dieback In The Lower Mississippi River Delta Based On Remote Sensing Data Including Landsat, Worldview, And Drone, Nan Shang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research focused on the Roseau cane (Phragmites australis) dieback assessment in the lower MRD of Louisiana and introduced a comprehensive and systematic multi-source remote sensing method for assessing wetland and Roseau cane dieback and habitat dynamics analysis from three scale levels from large-scale to small scale.

Large-scale historical vegetation/land change analyses were conducted in the lower MRD based on Landsat in the past two decades (2001 - 2021). A strong increasing trend of vegetation was found since 2005. Around 51 km² ofdieback area was detected which accounts for 11% of the overall vegetation coverage. This research …

Population Genomic Characterization Of Cercospora Janseana On Rice In The Southern United States, Jacob Searight

LSU Master's Theses

Cercospora janseana is the causative agent of narrow brown leaf spot (NBLS). Effort had been undertaken since the 1940’s to control this disease through resistance breeding in the Southern United States. However, a severe epidemic of NBLS in 2006 inspired renewed focus on managing this disease. One tool for managing this disease has been identified among resistant cultivars, the CRSP-2.1 resistance locus to NBLS. One thing limiting the investment and deployment of CRSP-2.1, and other unknown resistance genes, is the historical observation that resistance to NBLS rapidly breaks-down in the field. Together, the rapid breakdown of resistance to NBLS …

Dynamics Of Bottlebrush Polymers In Solution By Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy, Karin J. Bichler, Bruno Jakobi, Dirk Honecker, Laura R. Stingaciu, Thomas K. Weldeghiorghis, James H.P. Collins, Gerald J. Schneider

Faculty Publications

We present dynamical and morphological studies on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based bottlebrush polymers in solution. A combination of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG NMR), and neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy was used to identify structural changes inherent in changing the side-chain length while keeping the backbone constant. These morphological changes are mirrored in the diffusion coefficient determined by PFG NMR, resulting in two coefficients for the elongated and one for the more spherical sample. Faster motions are tracked by NSE using the advantage of time- and length-scale resolutions with the diffusion coefficient predetermined by PFG NMR. …

A Machine Learning Approach To Robotic Additive Manufacturing Of Uv-Curable Polymers Using Direct Ink Writing, Luis A. Velazquez

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a robotic additive manufacturing system that uses ultraviolet (UV)-curable thermoset polymers. Its design considers future applications involving free-standing 3D printing by means of partial UV curing and the fabrication of samples that are reinforced with fillers or fibers to manufacture complex-shape objects.

The proposed setup integrates a custom-built extruder with a UR5e collaborative manipulator. The capabilities of the system were demonstrated using Anycubic resin formulations containing fumed silica (FS) at varying weight fractions from 2.8 to 8 wt%. To fully cure the specimens after fabrication, a UV chamber was used. Then, measurements …

Enabling The Human Perception Of A Working Camera In Web Conferences Via Its Movement, Anish Shrestha

LSU Master's Theses

In recent years, video conferencing has seen a significant increase in its usage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When casting user’s video to other participants, the videoconference applications (e.g. Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, etc.) mainly leverage 1) webcam’s LED-light indicator, 2) user’s video feedback in the software and 3) the software’s video on/off icons to remind the user whether the camera is being used. However, these methods all impose the responsibility on the user itself to check the camera status, and there have been numerous cases reported when users expose their privacy inadvertently due to not realizing that their camera is …

Toward A Safer Transportation System For Senior Road Users, Saba Doulabi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Senior pedestrians and drivers (65 years and older) are among the most vulnerable road users. As the population of seniors rise, concerns regarding older adults' traffic safety are growing. The advantages of using autonomous vehicles, innovative vehicle technologies, and active transportation are becoming more widely recognized to improve seniors' mobility and safety. This behooves researchers to further investigate senior road users’ safety challenges and countermeasures. This study contributes to the literature by achieving two main goals. First, to explore contributing factors affecting the safety of older pedestrians and drivers in the current transportation system. Second, to examine seniors’ perceptions, preferences, …

Impact Of Rma’S Projected Price On Prevent Planting Claims, Nicolas Enrique Alvarez Mena

LSU Master's Theses

This research studies the presence of ex-post moral hazard in the prevent planting provision from the crop insurance program in cotton, corn, and soybeans for the Plains Region and Southeast Regions of the U.S. Three fixed effect models are developed using the proportion of prevent plant acres as the dependent variable, as well as weather, input price, expected harvest price and a break-even point for the independent variables. In addition, a fourth fixed effect (FE) model is introduced using the logit transformation and the same variables as in previous models. The results show the number of PP claims has been …

Effect Of Canopy Competition On Tree Growth And Development In Pine Hardwood Mixtures, Jacob Alexander Olichney

LSU Master's Theses

Mixed species forests may benefit from the reduction in intraspecific competition, although the benefit of species mixing has been shown to vary depending on mixture composition and environmental conditions. This study sought to test the effect of species composition in mixed forest stands on canopy development and growth of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda), and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Even-aged, grid planted monoculture and mixed species forest plots were established with hardwood monoculture plots at a 741 Trees Per Hectare (TPH), and pine monoculture and mixed species plots established at 1482 TPH. …

Assessing Turgor Loss Point In Bottomland Hardwood Trees Using Leaf Spectroscopy, Alexandra M. Eisley

LSU Master's Theses

Climate change is expected to radically alter our planet’s forests, with higher frequencies of drought- and flood-induced mortality events posing a challenge for forest managers and biologists. Research into the factors underlying plant tolerance to environmental stressors is therefore gaining popularity for incorporation into projective and earth system modeling using remote sensing measures. Leaf turgor loss point (TLP) is a key trait associated with drought tolerance among plants and is defined as the water potential at which leaf turgor pressure reaches zero, causing wilting. Here, I investigated patterns of TLP across the landscape and its role as an indicator of …

A Study Of Indigenous North Vietnamese Ca Tru Music, And The Deities Of The Kalachakra Mandala, Daniel D'Aiuto Schultz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

This document is in two sections. Chapter I is a study on the history, instruments and performance of Vietnamese ca trù folk music. Indigenous Asian music, especially music from Vietnam, has held an almost mystical interest for me with its links to the doctrines of Buddhism and Hinduism. Ca trù’s singular style, always sung by women in fixed ensembles, is of particular interest because of its colorful history and unique performance practices. The ca trù music of Vietnam’s northern provinces, like much Asian folk music, is considered an endangered genre.

Sources for Ca trù insights are scarce, but some …

Esterase Mediated Insecticide Resistance In The Southern House Mosquito, Culex Quinquefasciatus, Vivek Pokhrel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Much is known about the development of insecticide resistance associated with targeted application against insect populations. However, off-target selection by applications of insecticides in agricultural and residential sites also impacts development of insecticide resistance and is understudied. Similarly, the impact of selecting one life stage of mosquitoes on the insecticide susceptibility of different life stages is largely unknown. The first part of this study shows that susceptibility to chlorantraniliprole, which is applied in rice and sugarcane fields in LA, decreased (5.7 to12-fold) in populations of Culex quinquefasciatus collected from near these fields compared to a reference field strain. In addition, …

Compilation Optimizations To Enhance Resilience Of Big Data Programs And Quantum Processors, Travis D. Lecompte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Modern computers can experience a variety of transient errors due to the surrounding environment, known as soft faults. Although the frequency of these faults is low enough to not be noticeable on personal computers, they become a considerable concern during large-scale distributed computations or systems in more vulnerable environments like satellites. These faults occur as a bit flip of some value in a register, operation, or memory during execution. They surface as either program crashes, hangs, or silent data corruption (SDC), each of which can waste time, money, and resources. Hardware methods, such as shielding or error correcting memory (ECM), …

The Oboe Excerpts: A Preparation Guide For Orchestral Auditions, Jana Zilova

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This monograph presents an overview of the top ten most requested oboe orchestral excerpts. It provides young aspiring oboists with a better understanding of the pieces, along with different interpretations, to help them prepare for an orchestral audition. The beginning describes how the top ten excerpts were selected and introduces two professional oboe players who contributed to this paper. The middle section provides a background of each piece, pedagogical suggestions, and a list of recordings and books where the oboe excerpts can be found.

Sers Platform For Single Fiber Endoscopic Probes, Debsmita Biswas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Molecular detection techniques have huge potential in clinical environments. In addition to many other molecular detection techniques, endoscopic Raman spectroscopy has great ability in terms of minimal invasiveness and real-time spectra acquisition. However, Raman Effect is low in sensitivity, limiting the application. Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS), addresses this limitation. SERS brings rough nano-metallic surfaces in contact with specimen molecules which enormously enhances Raman signals. This provides Raman spectroscopy with immense capabilities for diverse fields of applications.

Generally, in clinical probe applications, the spectrometer is brought near the target molecules for detection. Typically, optical fibers are used to couple spectrometers to …

Color, Culture, And The Implications For Emotional, Cognitive, And Behavioral Reactions, Renee Lucas

LSU Master's Theses

Color plays a significant role in life, influencing how we perceive things, how symbols change in meaning, how brands, logos, and pictograms are communicated, as well as how our emotions are perceived and how our moods are affected. For designers, advertisers, and visual communicators, color is crucial because it has a big impact on how people perceive, relate to, and value an image or advertisement. There are many factors that play a role when people develop their personal color interpretations – one being culture. The purpose of this study is to investigate the links between culture, color, and individuals’ cognitive, …

Asexual Dramaturgies: Reading For Asexuality In The Western Theatrical Canon, Anna Maria Ruffino Broussard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Asexuality has recently gained recognition and visibility as a legitimate sexual orientation and identity standpoint that is usually defined as lacking sexual desire for any gender. Popular culture and the academy have both seen the emergence of a robust conversation about the definition and import of asexuality, recognizing the term as an umbrella concept covering an ever-diversifying array of identities. Within the nascent critical discourse on asexuality, theorists have sought to identify asexuality as a sexual orientation, to rethink our society’s sexual normativity, and to question compulsory sexuality, or the assumption that sexual desire is intrinsic to all people, thus …

Interactive Industrial Energy Assessment Learning Platform Using 360-Degree Virtual Reality Contents, Laleh Ghanbari

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The traditional passive industrial energy assessment training methods included low direct involvement of students, and they lacked an engaging learning environment. Since the main task for energy assessment is visual inspection and data collection, traditional passive training methods were not able to provide hands-on experience for the students. An active training method was needed to make the current industrial energy assessment training more efficient and effective, a method which provides the opportunity for students to have more interaction with the training environment. In this study, an interactive industrial energy assessment learning platform using 360ᵒ virtual reality contents was developed. The …

An Exploration Of Trained Reading Recovery Teachers' Perceptions About The Program And Subsequent Influences On Select Teachers' Views Of Reading Instruction, Ellen Brupbacher Daugherty

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As a foundational learning skill set, reading acquisition is the basis on which all other formal educational knowledge is built. In the state of Louisiana, 42.3% (2022) of first graders are not reading on grade level, therefore providing targeted intervention by highly trained teachers is crucial for accelerating student progress. Considering the paucity of research on the impact of Reading Recovery® (RR) training on teachers’ capacity to teach, as well as my personal experience, the purpose of this phenomenologically informed case study was to explore the perceptions of RR training and subsequent influences on teaching pedagogical practices. This qualitative study …