Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Music Therapy On The Impulse Control Of A Student With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Danielle Amelie Bella

LSU Master's Theses

One academic concern of students with autism spectrum disorder is a lack of impulse control. Impulse control involves behaviors such as turn-taking, blurting out, waiting, and reaching for desirable items. To reduce problematic impulse control behavior in a student with autism spectrum disorder, a program of music therapy activities was performed with a second-grade student in a special education classroom. A single-subject reversal design was implemented during morning activities. Results suggest there was a slight reduction in observed impulsive behaviors within the classroom during the implementation of the music therapy activities.

Creating Musical Scores Inspired By The Intersection Of Human Speech And Music Through Model-Based Cross Synthesis, William Alexander Thompson Iv

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research addresses the development of machine learning techniques used to create musical scores and performances that are inspired by the intersection of speech and music. Machine learning models are created from MIDI files that are transcribed from datasets of musical audio recordings and human speech audio recordings. Through the creation of succinct models, model based cross synthesis is possible. Models trained on musical MIDI data are asked to replicate MIDI data that approximate human speech. Alternatively, models that have been trained on MIDI data that approximate speech are asked to replicate musical MIDI data. The product of these developed …

Lifecycle Reactive Transport Modeling For Assessing Integrity In Offshore Energy Systems, Temitope Ayokunle Ajayi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Subsurface leaks and spills are a matter of significant concern to the oil and gas industry because of their impact on health, safety and environment. It is thus important to study and assess the integrity of our energy systems and the physico-chemical processes that affect them.

To avoid leakage of fluids from wellbores, barrier materials are used for sealing formation fluids and creating a single flow path through the well. These barrier materials are constantly subjected to subsurface fluid fluxes and temperature, pressure and chemical conditions over the extended periods the wells remain underground. This makes it imperative to assess …

A Walmart With No Televisions, Samuel A. Bickford

LSU Master's Theses

A Walmart with No Televisions is a deconstructed novel about the perils and heartbreak of adolescent drug addiction. What begins as a fad, a social affectation, quickly becomes a guiding light. The novel illustrates hope as a potentiality, and escape from oneself as something always in question. Happiness is uncertain, but the experience is not.

The Effects Of Paired Kinesthetic Movements And Embedded Pictures On Literacy Skills With Preschoolers, Erica Lozy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reading difficulties during childhood often continue during adulthood and result in adverse effects (e.g., unemployment, poverty). A common method to teach early literacy skills is via multisensory instructional programs, which use combinations of mnemonic devices, such as visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic movements. The current literature on the effects of pairing visual mnemonics and kinesthetic movements with literacy skills, either in isolation or in combination, is sparse. The purpose of Study 1 and Study 2 was to compare the efficacy, generalization, and maintenance of and preference for letter sound interventions with and without mnemonic devices. Study 1 evaluated a traditional …

Effect Of Silt And Fine Sand Contents On The Empirical Correlation Of Spt And Internal Friction Angle Of Sand, Salman Abusalman

LSU Master's Theses

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is widely used to provide estimates of shear strength parameters for design. The test is commonly used for cohesionless soils as the correlations between the SPT value and internal friction angle are only subjected to clean sand. Uncertainty in the internal friction angle tends to occur in SPT correlations for fine sand mixed with fine-grained soils located in Louisiana as the soil becomes more cohesive. In this study, several small and large direct shear tests were conducted at normal stresses of 10, 16, and 22 psi for soils located in Louisiana with different mixtures of …

Effect Of Automation Level On Cognitive Workload When Collaborating With A Robotic Assistant, Mitchell A. Champagne

LSU Master's Theses

Manufacturing robotics have been used for decades to perform repetitive tasks, or tasks that require increased levels of speed, strength, or precision to meet production and specification requirements. Determining the appropriate degree of automation for both the human and robot collaborative team members is critical to optimize production as well as user experience. If the degree of automation is too high, the human will be out of the loop which can result in the loss of situational awareness and be detrimental to intervention time and accuracy. If the degree of automation is too low, then the human may experience greater …

Soil Salinity Estimation Over Coastal Wetlands Based On Random Forest Algorithm And Hydrological Connectivity Metric, Haochen Sui, Dawei Chen, Jiaguo Yan, Bin Li, Wei Li, Baoshan Cui

Faculty Publications

Owing to climate warming and human activities (irrigation and reservoirs), sea level rise and runoff reduction have been threatening the coastal ecosystem by increasing the soil salinity. However, short-term sparse in situ observations limit the study on the response of coastal soil salinity to external stressors and thus its effect on coastal ecosystem. In this study, based on hydrological connectivity metric and random forest algorithm (RF), we develop a coastal soil salinity inversion model with in situ observations and satellite-based datasets. Using Landsat images and ancillary as input variables, we produce a 30-m monthly grid dataset of surface soil salinity …

Evaluating And Incorporating Site Variability In Different Geotechnical Engineering Applications, Md Habibur Rahman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Site investigation and characterization of subsurface soil conditions are crucial for geotechnical engineering design and analysis. Geotechnical properties vary inherently from one point to another within the same site. This study focused on evaluating the site variability from cone penetration tests (CPT) and soil boring data, and its implementation into the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) formulation. The total Coefficient of Variation (COV_R,total) for each site was estimated from COV_R,spatial (Spatial Coefficient of Variation) and COV_R,method (Method Coefficient of Variation) which were then used to calibrate the resistance factors (ϕ_spatial, ϕ_total) …

In-Phantom Film Measurements Of Two Treatment Planning Systems For Single-Fraction Spine Sbrt, Michael J. Taylor

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: Treatment planning accuracy for spine stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) varies depending on the dose calculation algorithm utilized in the treatment planning system (TPS). This project compared the end-to-end accuracy between spine SBRT plans calculated in a convolution-superposition based TPS (TPS_CS) and Monte Carlo based TPS (TPS_MC) with radiochromic film measurements. The hypothesis was that TPS_MC would calculate the dose gradient in the critical region between the vertebral body and the spinal cord more accurately than TPS_CS.

Methods: Single-fraction spine SBRT treatments following RTOG 0631 and local institutional guidelines were planned in …

Growthlines, Alexandra Saunders

LSU Master's Theses

The work in Growthlines is a collection of ceramic objects that are characterized by floral pattern and their potential for use. I make ceramic work that is functional and designed to be in the home. I think that the way something looks is an integral part of function and I seek to make objects that function well. The surface of my pottery is rich with images of flowers and I hope that the surface both draws in the user and highlights flowers and how important they are for the preservation of the natural world. My work functions as a surrogate …

I'M Going Cycle Every Day, Lauren Nguyen

LSU Master's Theses

Many designers and scientists have been able to integrate design and science in their respective fields to create works that effectively inform their audiences of complicated subjects. Each of these individuals can express their creativity and viewpoint of the subject matter in a way that is interesting, visually appealing, and informative. Using the medium of graphic design, I created printed posters that represent the way I view the processes of the human body that are technical, yet also visually appealing.

My thesis exhibition walks my audience through the biological cycles that maintain the human body on an everyday basis from …

A Relational Study Of Self-Taught And Formally Trained Musicians: Trends Within Memory And Socioeconomic Factors, Matthew N. Jimenez, Emily M. Elliott

LSU Master's Theses

It has been well documented that musicians perform better in memory tasks than non-musicians. The current study utilized self-taught musicians, formally trained musicians, and non-musicians, and focused on short-term memory (STM), musicianship, and SES factors to explore this finding. Do the memory benefits of musical training extend to self-taught musicians? First, we addressed musicianship amongst all groups using the Goldsmith’s Musical Sophistication Index (GMSI), which contained subjective and objective measures. The subjective measure was a survey regarding the role of music in daily life. In the objective measures, participants completed tests of beat and melody perception. To measure STM, participants …

Improved Limit On Tensor Currents In The Weak Interaction From Li 8 Β Decay, M. T. Burkey, G. Savard, A. T. Gallant, N. D. Scielzo, J. A. Clark, T. Y. Hirsh, L. Varriano, G. H. Sargsyan, K. D. Launey, M. Brodeur, D. P. Burdette, E. Heckmaier, K. Joerres, J. W. Klimes, K. Kolos, A. Laminack, K. G. Leach, A. F. Levand, B. Longfellow, B. Maaß, S. T. Marley, G. E. Morgan, P. Mueller, R. Orford, S. W. Padgett, A. Pérez Galván, J. R. Pierce, D. Ray, R. Segel, K. Siegl, K. S. Sharma, B. S. Wang

Faculty Publications

The electroweak interaction in the standard model is described by a pure vector-axial-vector structure, though any Lorentz-invariant component could contribute. In this Letter, we present the most precise measurement of tensor currents in the low-energy regime by examining the β-ν¯ correlation of trapped Li8 ions with the Beta-decay Paul Trap. We find aβν=-0.3325±0.0013stat±0.0019syst at 1σ for the case of coupling to right-handed neutrinos (CT=-CT′), which is consistent with the standard model prediction.

Transitioning From Traditional In-Person Studio-Based Education Of Apparel Design Courses To Online Education During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Divya Desai

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns many post-secondary educational institutions all-around the world, including the USA, were forced to transition their teaching methods from a traditional in-person to an online teaching format starting in the spring of 2020. This research however is focused on the transitioning of university-level studio-based Apparel Design (AD) courses to an online teaching format during the spring and fall 2020 semesters. Teaching AD courses that are studio-based and that particularly require hands-on skills like hand rendering, draping, sewing, or pattern drafting, are challenging to be taught online as they require in person step-by-step guidance …

Grotesque Masculinities In The Works Of Harry Crews, Barry Hannah, And Padgett Powell, Matt Brandon Blasi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Grotesque Masculinities in the Works of Harry Crews, Barry Hannah, and Padgett Powell” explores how these authors use the grotesque to complicate, distort, and criticize hegemonic white Southern masculinity as represented in contemporary American literature. In “Grotesque Masculinities,” I argue that the presence of the grotesque mode in these author’s works offers a unique critical perspective by which to better understand how masculinity is constructed by and for white Southern men in literature, and how alternative configurations of identity are not only possible, but necessary to decenter whiteness and heteronormativity as dominant categories. Using what sociologists refer to as body-reflexive …

Sodium Mediates Developmentally Plastic Responses In Plants And Herbivores, Luis Santiago-Rosario

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sodium plays a crucial role in organismal performance, trophic-level interactions, and eco-evolutionary dynamics. For plants, sodium impacts osmoregulation, growth, and water uptake. For animals, sodium is essential influencing osmoregulatory processes, muscle and neural development, and blood regulation. My dissertation aims to disentangle why sodium mismatch affects resource-consumer interactions and its influence on morphological and behavioral plasticity. First, I identified how sodium impacts plant performance and sodium accumulation strategies. I initially focused my research on understanding how increasing substrate sodium affects plant growth and tissue sodium accumulation strategies in controlled settings using a systematic review approach. I found that saltier plants …

The Prime Aesthetic: Exploratory Research On The Relationship Between The Imprinting Of Aesthetic Dress Preferences And The Sensitive Period Of Emerging Adulthood, Jeremy Bernardoni

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the theoretical concept of Prime Aesthetic across generational cohorts through the investigation of individual aesthetic dress preferences (ADP), which are formed during the Prime of Life, and their potential influence on present-day ADP. The Prime Aesthetic concept is defined as a theoretical concept representative of the cumulative ADP imprinted from all influences during an individual’s Prime of Life. The Prime Aesthetic was derived from Holbrook and Schindler’s (1989) study on the development of musical tastes during late adolescence and early adulthood and linked to theories on imprinting during sensitive periods (Bornstein, 1989) …

Measuring Agricultural Competitiveness: The Case Of U.S. Rice Exports, Estela Barahona

LSU Master's Theses

The United States is known for being one of the world’s largest rice exporters. Rice from the United States is exported to more than 130 nations and territories on all continents. The world rice market accounts for around 50 percent of the U.S. rice yearly sales volume. Even though the U.S. produces less than 2 percent of global rice, exports are significant to its rice industry. Given the various factors that determine trade (e.g., production, distance, income, and trade agreements), theory suggests that the impact of factors on the U.S. agricultural trade will vary according to commodity and country. There …

A Drift-Flux Model For Upward Two-Phase In Pipes With High Velocity Flows, Woochan Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study proposes the evaluation and development of a drift-flux model for upward two-phase high-velocity flow in large diameter pipes. A case where the proposed model is applicable is WCD (Worst-Case-Discharge) calculations for offshore wells. WCD assumes relatively larger pipe diameters and higher flow rates than the flow experiments at laboratory conditions utilized to validate and develop most of the flow models available in the literature.

Most of the two-phase flow models describe flow regime transitions as discrete processes by assigning the required void fraction or velocity for each flow regime transition. Therefore, for each flow regime, flow-regime-dependent correlations or …

Literacy's Levels: An Analysis Of Neoliberal Literacy Sponsorship In The U.S., Misty Dawn Fuller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While much scholarship has considered Deborah Brandt’s concept of sponsors of literacy, there remains a need to consider relationships between literacy sponsors and larger implications of literacy sponsorship at national and institutional levels. Utilizing academic theories, U.S. federal government budgets and financed reports, and discoursal analysis, this dissertation investigates literacy sponsorship at the federal, postsecondary institutional, postsecondary institutional writing programmatic, and individual levels to tease out how, and in what ways, through “enabling” and “supporting” literacy these sponsors also” regulate, suppress, and withhold literacy” (Brandt 166). Rhetorical analysis determines that, at the U.S. federal level, literacy is promoted as a …

Paraventricular Vitamin D Receptors Are Required For Glucose Tolerance In Males But Not Females, Jessie Beck, Silvania Da Silva Teixeira, Keisha Harrison, Gabrielle Phillips, Yanlin He, Stephanie Sisley

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

When delivered directly into the brain, vitamin D, can improve glucose levels in male mice. Additionally, the loss of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in male mice’s paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) results in impaired glucose tolerance. Data in humans shows that low vitamin D levels are detrimental to glucose homeostasis, an effect that may be more prominent in men. However, it is unknown if vitamin D action in the brain is required for normal glucose regulation in female mice. This study shows that in both viral and genetic models, male mice with obesity and PVH VDR loss have impaired glucose tolerance …

Places To Live: A Multidisciplinary Approach To Modern Maya Houses In Yucatan, Mexico, Virginia J. Ochoa-Winemiller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In 1938, Robert C. Wauchope’s Modern Maya Houses provided the first detailed description of traditional rural housing for the Maya area. Until today, no research has attempted to test Wauchope’s notion of cultural continuity in Maya domestic architecture from the prehistoric past up to the time of his pioneering study. By examining data from three municipios located in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, I compared contemporary information collected during visits to residential areas with that published by Wauchope in 1938. An integrated approach to data gathering and analysis, that is, a combination of interviews, questionnaires, archaeological survey, and geographic information …

Ligers Interferometric Survey Of M Dwarf Diameters, Tyler Gregory Ellis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present the largest single collection of M dwarf stellar radii in over a decade and contextualize these measurements with the systematic model discrepancies. The measurements of stellar angular diameters are also important in the quantification of the properties of exoplanets. In order to estimate the property of the exoplanet, it is first necessary to quantify the properties of the planet's host star. Using the survey results complemented with previous direct observations of the angular diameters of low mass stars, I develop updated updated surface brightness relationships. These relationships allow predictions of angular diameters using easy to …

Evaluating The Effect Of Coated Urea And Urea-Ammonium-Nitrate Solution On Cane Tonnage, Sugar Yield, And Leaf-Soil Nitrogen Content Under Louisiana Sugarcane Production System, Hector J. Mendoza Lagos

LSU Master's Theses

Nitrogen (N) is a crucial nutrient for proper plant growth and development. N deficiency results in poor tillering and thin, short internode stem production for sugarcane production, thus resulting in low cane tonnage. Therefore, proper N fertilizer management is essential for a sustainable sugarcane production system. This research was conducted at the LSU AgCenter Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel, LA, from 2019 to 2020 at three Sites (Site 1, 2, and 3). The treatments consisted of different N rates (0, 45, 90, and 135 kg N ha^-1) and sources (urea-ammonium-nitrate solution [UAN]-32%, 30-day [Coated Urea 1], 45-day …

Cardiovascular And Range Of Motion Effects After Exercise Training Interventions, Nolynn E. Sutherland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The effects of stretching and yoga on the cardiovascular and muscular systems are still being discovered and can be assessed non-invasively. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the non-invasive markers of stretching and yoga on the metabolic, cardiovascular, and muscular systems. A series of three studies were conducted to gain insight into how stretching and yoga influence the body and if there are any potential differences between them.

The first study aimed to determine if stretching would influence fiber type and motor unit recruitment. An acute bout of stretch exercise was performed immediately before a biking exercise session …

Climate Change Impacts To The Arctic Ocean Revealed From High Resolution Geotraces 210po-210pb-226ra Disequilibria Studies, M. Baskaran, K. Krupp, W. Bam, K. Maiti

Faculty Publications

Climate change is transforming the Arctic Ocean in unprecedented ways which can be most directly observed in the systematic decline in seasonal ice coverage. From the collection and analysis of particulate and dissolved activities of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb from four deepwater superstations, as a part of the US Arctic GEOTRACES cruise during 2015, and in conjunction with previously published data, the temporal and spatial variations in their activities, inventories and residence times are evaluated. The results show that the partitioning of particulate and dissolved phases has changed significantly in the 8 years between 2007 and 2015, while the …

A Prototype For Remote Monitoring Of Ocean Heat Content Anomalies, David S. Trossman, Robert H. Tyler

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Improved Method For Testing Integrity Loss Of Wells With Sustained Casing Pressure, Mohammad Kazemi, Andrew K. Wojtanowicz

Faculty Publications

The pressure bleed-down/build-up (B/B) testing is enforced by the Bureau of Safty and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) regulations in the US for gas-leaking wells with recurrent casing head annular pressure dubbed “Sustained Casing Pressure” (SCP). The bleed down test involves bleeding the pressure with a needle valve. Once the pressure reached to zero or stabilized, the valve is closedand a 24-h pressure monitoring starts. Analysis of the tests mandated by regulations involves merely a qualitative assessment of the low or high level of environmental risk measured by leak size. A quantitative analysis—based on mathematical models—has been already proposed and used for …

The Energy Balance Model Of Obesity: Beyond Calories In, Calories Out, Kevin D. Hall, I. Sadaf Farooqi, Jeffery M. Friedman, Samuel Klein, Ruth J.F. Loos, David J. Mangelsdorf, Stephen O'Rahilly, Eric Ravussin, Leanne M. Redman, Donna H. Ryan, John R. Speakman, Deirdre K. Tobias

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

A recent Perspective article described the "carbohydrate-insulin model (CIM)"of obesity, asserting that it "better reflects knowledge on the biology of weight control"as compared with what was described as the "dominant energy balance model (EBM),"which fails to consider "biological mechanisms that promote weight gain."Unfortunately, the Perspective conflated and confused the principle of energy balance, a law of physics that is agnostic as to obesity mechanisms, with the EBM as a theoretical model of obesity that is firmly based on biology. In doing so, the authors presented a false choice between the CIM and a caricature of the EBM that does not …