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Adsorption And Reconfiguration Of Amphiphiles At Silica-Water Interfaces: Role Of Electrostatic Interactions, Van Der Waals Forces And Hydrogen Bonds, Yao Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ability to explore and predict metastable structures of hybrid self-assemblies is of central importance for the next generation of advanced materials with novel properties. As compared to their thermodynamically stable forms, the kinetically stabilized materials show improved functionality potentially over their stable counterparts. The self-assembly processes usually originate from weak intermolecular interactions, involving a dynamic competition between attractive and repulsive interactions. These weak forces, including van der Waals (vdW), electrostatic interaction and the hydrogen bonding (H-bonding), can be tuned by external stimuli, e.g., confinement, temperature and ionization, and consequently driving hybrid materials into different configurations. It is challenging to …

Three Essays On Variation In Intergenerational Mobility And Incarceration In The United States, Vikash Dangal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The U.S. is often called the “land of opportunity” but there are substantial disparities in the opportunity and life outcomes of children depending on where they grow up. The structural factors that shape future outcomes of children can be traced to their childhood environment. This dissertation builds upon the existing literature on childhood environment and future outcomes of children and presents three essays on the variation in intergenerational income mobility and incarceration in the US.

In the first essay in chapter 2, I employ spatial regime analysis to study how the factors affecting absolute upward mobility vary due to local …

Neutrino Interaction Classification With A Convolutional Neural Network In The Dune Far Detector, B. Abi, R. Acciarri, M. A. Acero, G. Adamov, D. Adams, M. Adinolfi, Z. Ahmad, J. Ahmed, T. Alion, S. Alonso Monsalve, C. Alt, J. Anderson, C. Andreopoulos, M. P. Andrews, F. Andrianala, S. Andringa, A. Ankowski, M. Antonova, S. Antusch, A. Aranda-Fernandez, A. Ariga, L. O. Arnold, M. A. Arroyave, J. Asaadi, A. Aurisano, V. Aushev, D. Autiero, F. Azfar

Faculty Publications

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that aims to measure CP-violation in the neutrino sector as part of a wider physics program. A deep learning approach based on a convolutional neural network has been developed to provide highly efficient and pure selections of electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interactions. The electron neutrino (antineutrino) selection efficiency peaks at 90% (94%) and exceeds 85% (90%) for reconstructed neutrino energies between 2-5 GeV. The muon neutrino (antineutrino) event selection is found to have a maximum efficiency of 96% (97%) and exceeds 90% (95%) efficiency for reconstructed neutrino …

A Study Of 26al(P, Γ)27si With The Silicon Array For Branching Ratio Experiments (Sabre), Erin Courtney Good

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The observation of the radioisotope ²⁶Al is an indicator of ongoing nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy due to its short lifetime (t_1/2 = 7.2 × 10⁵ yr) on Galactic timescales. It is thought to be synthesized in several different environments in our Galaxy, one of which is in classical novae. Classical novae are stellar explosions that occur on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system with a main sequence star. The isotopic production resulting from the nucleosynthesis that drives these explosions can be modeled with the input of nuclear reaction rates. In recent years, many …

Height And Body-Mass Index Trajectories Of School-Aged Children And Adolescents From 1985 To 2019 In 200 Countries And Territories: A Pooled Analysis Of 2181 Population-Based Studies With 65 Million Participants, Andrea Rodriguez-Martinez, Bin Zhou, Marisa K. Sophiea, James Bentham, Christopher J. Paciorek, Maria Lc Iurilli, Rodrigo M. Carrillo-Larco, James E. Bennett, Mariachiara Di Cesare, Cristina Taddei, Honor Bixby, Gretchen A. Stevens, Leanne M. Riley, Melanie J. Cowan, Stefan Savin, Goodarz Danaei, Adela Chirita-Emandi, Andre P. Kengne, Young Ho Khang, Avula Laxmaiah, Reza Malekzadeh, J. Jaime Miranda, Jin Soo Moon, Stevo R. Popovic, Thorkild Ia Sørensen, Maroje Soric, Gregor Starc, Ahmad A. Zainuddin, Edward W. Gregg, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Robert Black, Leandra Abarca-Gómez, Ziad A. Abdeen, Shynar Abdrakhmanova

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

Background: Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods: For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for …

The Impact Of Type Of High School Institution On University Retention Of Undergraduate Students, Rachel Pierson Gill

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the type of high school completed and selected academic and demographic characteristics on university retention to degree completion at a research university – very high research (RU/VH) in the Southern Region of the United States.

The dependent variable of this study was persistence to graduation within six years of first enrollment. The target population was defined as traditional-age undergraduate students enrolled in a research university – very high research (RU/VH) in the Southern Region of the United States. The accessible population was defined as traditional-age undergraduate students enrolled …

Selective One-Dimensional 13C-13C Spin-Diffusion Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods To Probe Spatial Arrangements In Biopolymers Including Plant Cell Walls, Peptides, And Spider Silk, Bennett Addison, Dillan Stengel, Vivek S. Bharadwaj, Renee M. Happs, Crissa Doeppke, Tuo Wang, Yannick J. Bomble, Gregory P. Holland, Anne E. Harman-Ware

Faculty Publications

© 2020 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved. Two-dimensional (2D) and 3D through-space 13C-13C homonuclear spin-diffusion techniques are powerful solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tools for extracting structural information from 13C-enriched biomolecules, but necessarily long acquisition times restrict their applications. In this work, we explore the broad utility and underutilized power of a chemical shift-selective one-dimensional (1D) version of a 2D 13C-13C spin-diffusion solid-state NMR technique. The method, which is called 1D dipolar-assisted rotational resonance (DARR) difference, is applied to a variety of biomaterials including lignocellulosic plant cell walls, microcrystalline peptide fMLF, and black widow dragline spider silk. 1D 13C-13C …

Genome‐Wide Association Study For Host Genetic Factors Associated With Equine Herpesvirus Type‐1 Induced Myeloencephalopathy, Wangisa M. B. Dunuwille, Navid Yousefimashouf, Udeni B. R. Balasuriya, Nicola Pusterla, Ernest Bailey

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mud-Associated Organic Matter And Its Direct And Indirect Role In Marsh Organic Matter Accumulation And Vertical Accretion, G. Mariotti, T. Elsey-Quirk, G. Bruno, K. Valentine

Faculty Publications

In situ plant production is often assumed to be the major contributor to organic matter (OM) accumulation and vertical accretion in tidal marshes. Here, we evaluate the contribution of mud-associated OM in salt and brackish marshes in Louisiana. Based on 14 soil cores, the OM content of the mud fraction—i.e., any material smaller than 64 μm—was 17% ± 7% for the salt marshes and 28% ± 14% for the brackish marshes. This remains nearly uniform over the top 35 cm depth, suggesting that this material is deposited contemporaneously with the mud. The dry bulk density of the mud (300–450 kg …

The Carbon Stock And Sequestration Rate In Tidal Flats From Coastal China, Jie Chen, Dongqi Wang, Yangjie Li, Zhongjie Yu, Shu Chen, Xiyong Hou, John R. White, Zhenlou Chen

Faculty Publications

Tidal flats form around the estuarine and coastal zone by continuous terrigenous sediment transport and deposition processes. Now a large body of published carbon research work frame within the vegetated area (mangrove forests, sea grass bed, and salt marshes). Nonvegetated tidal flats, which are characterized by predominantly silts and clays sediment, were generally impressed with low carbon stock due to their meager primary productivity. However, these regions may be a potentially important carbon sink, given their high burial rate, expanding areal coverage, and detrial organic carbon derived from watershed and adjacent vegetated area. Low carbon densities (< 0.01 g cm⁻³) were …

The Impacts Of Building Characteristics, Social Psychological And Cultural Factors On Indoor Environment Quality Productivity Belief, Chien Fei Chen, Selin Yilmaz, Anna Laura Pisello, Marilena De Simone, Amy Kim, Tianzhen Hong, Karol Bandurski, Mateus V. Bavaresco, Pei Ling Liu, Yimin Zhu

Faculty Publications

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) plays a key role in determining occupants' productivity at work; however, analyses of the interconnected factors among building physical, attitudinal, social and demographic components in one study are lacking. To fill this research gap, this study investigates these interconnected factors' influence on occupants’ IEQ-productivity belief, defined as a personal, subjective evaluation of the linkage between the impacts of five IEQ aspects (the quality of indoor temperature, air, natural and electric lighting, and acoustics) and productivity. A cross-sectional survey data was collected in university offices from six countries (Brazil, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan and the U.S.). Results …

Chain-Selective Isotopic Labeling Of The Heterodimeric Type Iii Secretion Chaperone, Scc4:Scc1, Reveals The Total Structural Rearrangement Of The Chlamydia Trachomatis Bi-Functional Protein, Scc4, Thilini O. Ukwaththage, Samantha M. Keane, Li Shen, Megan A. Macnaughtan

Faculty Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Scc4 is an unusual bi-functional protein from Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) that functions as a type III secretion system (T3SS) chaperone and an RNA polymerase (RNAP)-binding protein. Both functions require interactions with protein partners during specific stages of the CT developmental cycle. As a T3SS chaperone, Scc4 binds Scc1 during the late stage of development to form a heterodimer complex, which chaperones the essential virulence effector, CopN. During the early-middle stage of development, Scc4 regulates T3SS gene expression by binding the σ66-containing RNAP holoenzyme. In order to study the structure and association …

Scale(S) Matter: Deconstructing An Area Of Endemism For Middle American Freshwater Fishes, Diego J. Elías, Caleb D. Mcmahan, Wilfredo A. Matamoros, Adan E. Gómez-González, Kyle R. Piller, Prosanta Chakrabarty

Faculty Publications

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: The processes that generate biodiversity occur at finer scales than are often studied, particularly in freshwater systems of the northern Neotropics. We investigate whether fine-scale biogeographic patterns are present within the larger Grijalva–Usumacinta Area of Endemism (AoE) —a region in Middle America where nearly 60% of freshwater fishes are endemic—and if present-day river basins are single historical units. Location: Northern Central America and southern Mexico. Taxon: Freshwater fishes (e.g., Cichlidae, Poeciliidae, Ostariophysi). Methods: We used fine-scale distributional data for freshwater fishes in northern Middle America (based on museum records and fieldwork) and …

Discrimination Of Wear And Non-Wear In Infants Using Data From Hip- And Ankle-Worn Devices, Samuel R. Lamunion, Scott E. Crouter, Nicholas T. Broskey, Abby D. Altazan, Leanne M. Redman

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Introduction A key component to analyzing wearable sensor data is identifying periods of non-wear. Traditionally, strings of consecutive zero counts (e.g. >60-minutes) are identified indicating periods of non-movement. The non-movement window length is then evaluated as wear or nonwear. Given that non-movement is not equivalent to non-wear, additional criteria should be evaluated to objectively identify periods of non-wear. Identifying non-wear is especially challenging in infants due to their sporadic movement, sleep frequency, and proportion of caregiver- generated movement. Purpose To use hip- and ankle-worn ActiGraph wGT3X-BT (wGT3X-BT) data to identify non-wear in infants. Methods Fifteen infant participants [mean±SD; age, 8.7±1.7 …

Energy Expenditure And Macronutrient Oxidation In Response To An Individualized Nonshivering Cooling Protocol, Guillermo Sanchez-Delgado, Juan M.A. Alcantara, Francisco M. Acosta, Borja Martinez-Tellez, Francisco J. Amaro-Gahete, Elisa Merchan-Ramirez, Marie Löf, Idoia Labayen, Eric Ravussin, Jonatan R. Ruiz

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Objective: This study aimed to describe the energy expenditure (EE) and macronutrient oxidation response to an individualized nonshivering cold exposure in young healthy adults. Methods: Two different groups of 44 (study 1: 22.1 [SD 2.1] years old, 25.6 [SD 5.2] kg/m2, 34% men) and 13 young healthy adults (study 2: 25.6 [SD 3.0] years old, 23.6 [SD 2.4] kg/m2, 54% men) participated in this study. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) and macronutrient oxidation rates were measured by indirect calorimetry under fasting conditions in a warm environment (for 30 minutes) and in mild cold conditions (for 65 minutes, with the individual wearing …

Ribosomal Rna Synthesis After Induced Nucleolar Stress In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kyle Maher

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Bridge Design Replacement Project For The Charenton Canal Bridge On La 87 And Comparison Of Deck Design Methods, Emily Rone

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Increasing The Bioavailability Of Poorly Soluble Anti-Cancer Prodrugs Through Encapsulation In Platinum Based Nanocages, Salim Cesar Lutfallah

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Greatest Weight: A Comprehensive Interpretation Of Nietzsche’S Doctrine Of Eternal Recurrence, Sebastian Brumfield Mejía

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Theory Of Multiformat Communication: Mechanisms, Dynamics, And Strategies, Jordan W. Moffett, Judith Anne Garretson Folse, Robert W. Palmatier

Faculty Publications

Extant communication theories predate the explosion of digital formats and technological advances such as virtual reality, which likely explains their predominant focus on traditional and format-level (e.g., face-to-face, email) rather than digital or characteristic-level (e.g., visual cues, synchronicity) design decisions. Firms thus lack insights into how to create and use emerging digital formats, individually or synergistically. To establish a holistic framework of bilateral multiformat communication for relationship marketing, this article reviews communication theory to establish a foundation for understanding multiformat communication and to identify any gaps (e.g., AI agents, simulated cues). The authors then review bilateral communication research in light …

A Coded Aperture Microscope For X-Ray Fluorescence Full-Field Imaging, D. P. Siddons, A. J. Kuczewski, A. K. Rumaiz, R. Tappero, M Idir, K. Nakhoda, J. Khanfri, V. Singh, E. R. Farquhar, M. Sullivan, D. Abel, D. J. Brady, X. Yuan

Faculty Publications

The design and construction of an instrument for full-field imaging of the X-ray fluorescence emitted by a fully illuminated sample are presented. The aim is to produce an X-ray microscope with a few micrometers spatial resolution, which does not need to scan the sample. Since the fluorescence from a spatially inhomogeneous sample may contain many fluorescence lines, the optic which will provide the magnification of the emissions must be achromatic, i.e. its optical properties must be energy-independent. The only optics which fulfill this requirement in the X-ray regime are mirrors and pinholes. The throughput of a simple pinhole is very …

The Impact Of Information-Based Interventions On Conservation Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, Mehdi Nemati, Jerrod Penn

Faculty Publications

Interest in using information-based interventions to induce energy and water conservation has increased in recent years but have shown mixed evidence of their effectiveness. This paper seeks to answer two main questions - whether these programs are broadly effective in inducing conservation, and what are the most effective versions of these programs. Using a meta-analysis of 116 studies, we examine the effects of information-based interventions on residential customers' consumption of electricity, gas, and water. We find evidence of publication bias in this literature. After correcting for publication bias, meta-analysis results indicate that information-based interventions reduce consumption by an average of …

Evaluation Of Asphalt Mixtures’ Resistance To Cement-Treated Base (Ctb) Reflective Cracking In The Laboratory, Husam Sadek, Marwa Hassan, Charles Berryman, Mohammad Hossain, Ipshit Idris

Publications

The primary objective of this project is to propose a laboratory setup to test and evaluate an asphalt mixture layer on top of a simulated Cement-Treated Base (CTB) layer against reflective cracking. An in-depth literature review on the experimental studies that were conducted throughout the world to investigate the resistance of asphalt mixtures to reflective cracking was conducted. Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Overlay Tester (OT) was found to be the most appropriate equipment to study thermally-induced reflective cracking in the laboratory, and thereby was selected to be modified and used to assess the performance of asphalt mixtures on top of …

P1 Finite Element Methods For An Elliptic State-Constrained Distributed Optimal Control Problem With Neumann Boundary Conditions, S. C. Brenner, M. Oh, L. Y. Sung

Faculty Publications

We investigate two P finite element methods for an elliptic state-constrained distributed optimal control problem with Neumann boundary conditions on general polygonal domains. 1

Bridge Deck Inspection Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Based Airborne Imaging Techniques, Su Zhang, Shirley Baros, Susan Bogus

Publications

As one of critical components of a transportation infrastructure system, bridges are very important to a country’s economy because they provide passage over physical obstacles to substantially reduce travel time and travel cost. Similar to other types of transportation infrastructure, bridges deteriorate over time. Therefore, bridges should be routinely inspected to ensure their serviceability, capacity, and safety under current traffic. Subsequently, transportation agencies at all levels (e.g., federal, state, local, and tribal) dedicate large amounts of time and money to routinely monitor and inspect bridge conditions as part of their infrastructure asset management programs. These transportation agencies use the collected …

Multi-Trait Genomic Prediction Of Yield-Related Traits In Us Soft Wheat Under Variable Water Regimes, Jia Guo, Jahangir Khan, Sumit Pradhan, Dipendra Shahi, Naeem Khan, Muhsin Avci, Jordan Mcbreen, Stephen Harrison, Gina Brown-Guedira, J. Paul Murphy, Jerry Johnson, Mohamed Mergoum, Richanrd Esten Mason, Amir M.H. Ibrahim, Russel Sutton, Carl Griffey, M. A. Babar

Faculty Publications

The performance of genomic prediction (GP) on genetically correlated traits can be improved through an interdependence multi-trait model under a multi-environment context. In this study, a panel of 237 soft facultative wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines was evaluated to compare single-and multi-trait models for predicting grain yield (GY), harvest index (HI), spike fertility (SF), and thousand grain weight (TGW). The panel was phenotyped in two locations and two years in Florida under drought and moderately drought stress conditions, while the genotyping was performed using 27,957 genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) makers. Five predictive models including Multi-environment Genomic Best Linear …

Development Of A 4.75 Mm Asphalt Mixture Design For Implementation In Louisiana Dotd Specifications, Saman Salari, Samuel Cooper, Louay N. Mohammad, Peyman Barghabany

Faculty Publications

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) and other state agencies are continuously looking for techniques to reduce roadway maintenance and construction costs. A common consideration is to introduce asphalt mixtures with a smaller nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) for utilization in roadways. In a previous study, DOTD concluded that mixtures with a 4.75 mm NMAS provided acceptable performance as a surface layer. Excessive stockpiles of unused smaller aggregates can result in an economically competitive source to be consi dered for asphalt mixtures. The DOTD developed mixtures with four aggregate types and two binder types. A comprehensive evaluation of …

Performance Analysis Of A Quantum Monte Carlo Application On Multiple Hardware Architectures Using The Hpx Runtime, Weile Wei, Arghya Chatterjee, Kevin Huck, Oscar Hernandez, Hartmut Kaiser

Faculty Publications

This paper describes how we successfully used the HPX programming model to port the DCA++ application on multiple architectures that include POWER9, x86, ARM v8, and NVIDIA GPUs. We describe the lessons we can learn from this experience as well as the benefits of enabling the HPX in the application to improve the CPU threading part of the code, which led to an overall 21% improvement across architectures. We also describe how we used HPX-APEX to raise the level of abstraction to understand performance issues and to identify tasking optimization opportunities in the code, and how these relate to CPU/GPU …

Towards Distributed Software Resilience In Asynchronous Many-Task Programming Models, Nikunj Gupta, Jackson R. Mayo, Adrian S. Lemoine, Hartmut Kaiser

Faculty Publications

Exceptions and errors occurring within mission critical applications due to hardware failures have a high cost. With the emerging Next Generation Platforms (NGPs), the rate of hardware failures will likely increase. Therefore, designing our applications to be resilient is a critical concern in order to retain the reliability of results while meeting the constraints on power budgets. In this paper, we discuss software resilience in AMTs at both local and distributed scale. We choose HPX to prototype our resiliency designs. We implement two resiliency APIs that we expose to the application developers, namely task replication and task replay. Task replication …

Corrosion Management System Of Regional Reinforced Concrete (Rc) Bridges, Homero Castaneda, Ayman Okeil

Publications

Civil infrastructure assets, including buildings, transportation networks, energy grids and networks, and water-sewer systems, are critical functional components of day-to-day life activity in a modern society. The durability and reliability of these civil infrastructures are largely affected by corrosion-induced structural deterioration. In addition to continual use and increasing traffic demands, natural environmental conditions set degradation due to corrosion damage as a critical condition to durable and reliable infrastructures. Therefore, in order to improve the durability of the bridge infrastructures affected by corrosion in the most efficient manor, we propose a procedure/methodology to manage integrity of corroding RC bridges which is …