Digital Commons Network^™

Testing The Validity And Reliability Of Electromyography Acquisition Capabilities Of A Wearable Emg Device, Sense3, By Strive, Stanley Smith

LSU Master's Theses

There is a growing demand in the sports world for wearable technology, particularly those with electromyography acquisition capabilities. Electromyography (EMG) is technique for measuring the electrical activity that occurs during muscle contraction and relaxation. Basic practical applications of EMG use in sports include, but are not limited to: measuring activation timing of a muscle, measuring levels of activation, and detecting fatigue. The sports performance company Strive has designed an EMG wearable, called Sense3, that targets the following muscles of the lower limb: Quadriceps, Hamstrings, and Glutes. Sense3 must pass reliability assays to determine the validity of the EMG system in …

The Use Of Social Media In Emergency Management By Public Agencies And Non-Governmental Organizations: Lessons Learned From Areas Affected By Hurricanes Isaac, Sandy, And Harvey, Ryan Hamilton Kirby

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural disasters are increasingly costly for the United States. The literature suggests emergency managers may improve disaster outcomes and enhance disaster resilience by supplementing their official public-communications methods with more bi-directional communication tactics using social media. This study aims to understand how social media is used within the “whole community” of emergency management in areas affected by recent hurricanes. The first research objective examines how social media is used by governmental and non-governmental organizations across the four phases of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation). The second objective is to identify challenges governmental and non-governmental groups have encountered and strategies …

Transgenic Control Of Aflatoxin Contamination In Maize Through Host-Induced Gene Silencing Targeting Aspergillus Flavus Genes Encoding Polygalacturonase (P2c) And Versicolorin Dehydrogenase (Aflm), Yenjit Raruang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Maize (Zea mays L.) is susceptible to Aspergillus flavus infection and subsequent contamination with aflatoxins, the most potent naturally produced carcinogenic secondary metabolites. Here, the A. flavus gene aflM encoding the versicolorin dehydrogenase in aflatoxin biosynthesis and the p2c gene encoding the polygalacturonase that is involved in infection were selected as targets for suppression through host induced gene silencing (HIGS). A HIGS vector targeting these genes was constructed and introduced into immature B104 maize embryos. Thirteen out of fifteen p2c transformation events and six out of seven aflM events were confirmed positive by PCR. Kernels containing the p2c gene …

Electrification Ionization: Fundamentals And Applications, Bijay Kumar Banstola

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Electrification ionization is a method to produce ions from solid samples by charge separation. This separation of charge can be enhanced by organic molecules known as matrix compounds to produce highly charged molecules. In this research, new methods were developed for the application of electrification ionization for surface analysis and the ionization mechanism was investigated. First, an electrification ionization matrix was used for tissue imaging using laser ablation. A two-component matrix of 2-nitrophloroglucinol and silica nanoparticles was found to increase the number of multiply charged ions from the tissue. Images of mouse brain with multiply charged ions were obtained. In …

Alpha Capture Reaction Rates For Nucleosynthesis Within An Ab Initio Framework, Alison Constance Dreyfuss

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Clustering in nuclear systems has broad impacts on all phases of stellar burning, and plays a significant role in our understanding of nucleosynthesis, or how and where nuclei are produced in the universe. The role of alpha particles in particular is extremely important for nuclear astrophysics: ⁴He was one of the earliest elements produced in the Big Bang, it is one of the most abundant elements in the universe, and helium burning -- in particular, the triple-alpha process -- is one of the most important ``engines'' in stars. To better understand nucleosynthesis and stellar burning, then, it is important …

Shortest Path Calculation Using Contraction Hierarchy Graph Algorithms On Nvidia Gpus, Roozbeh Karimi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

PHAST is to date one of the fastest algorithms for performing single source shortest path (SSSP) queries on road-network graphs. PHAST operates on graphs produced in part using Geisberger's contraction hierarchy (CH) algorithm. Producing these graphs is time consuming, limiting PHAST's usefulness when graphs are not available in advance. CH iteratively assigns scores to nodes, contracts (removes) the highest-scoring node, and adds shortcut edges to preserve distances. Iteration stops when only one node remains. Scoring and contraction rely on a witness path search (WPS) of nearby nodes. Little work has been reported on parallel and especially GPU CH algorithms. This …

Casimir Effect In Free Fall Towards A Schwarzschild Black Hole, Francesco Sorge, Justin H. Wilson

Faculty Publications

In this paper we discuss the Casimir effect in a small cavity, freely falling from spatial infinity in spacetime geometry outside of a Schwarzschild black hole. Our main goal is to search for possible changes in the vacuum energy, as well as particle creation inside the falling cavity, with respect to a comoving observer. Working in the Lemaître chart and assuming a cavity size L much smaller than the Schwarzschild radius (L/rg1), we solve the Klein-Gordon equation for a massless scalar field confined within the cavity in the reference frame of the comoving observer. We follow Schwinger's proper time approach, …

Consequences Of Magnetic Ordering In Chiral M N1/3nb S2, Sunil K. Karna, F. N. Womack, R. Chapai, D. P. Young, M. Marshall, Weiwei Xie, D. Graf, Yan Wu, Huibo Cao, L. Debeer-Schmitt, P. W. Adams, R. Jin, J. F. Ditusa

Faculty Publications

We have investigated the structural, magnetic, thermodynamic, and charge-transport properties of Mn1/3NbS2 single crystals through x-ray and neutron diffraction, magnetization, specific heat, magnetoresistance, and Hall-effect measurements. Mn1/3NbS2 displays a magnetic transition at TC∼45K with highly anisotropic behavior expected for a hexagonal-structured material. Below TC, neutron diffraction reveals increased scattering near the structural Bragg peaks having a wider Q dependence along the c axis than the nuclear Bragg peaks. This indicates either a short-range ferromagnetic (FM) order with a domain size of ∼250 nm along the c axis or a possible magnetic modulation with a large pitch length. The expectation of …

Characterisation Of Ashes From Waste Biomass Power Plants And Phosphorus Recovery, Lijian Leng, Anna A. Bogush, Amitava Roy, Julia A. Stegemann

Faculty Publications

Biowastes, such as meat and bone meal (MBM), and poultry litter (PL), are used as energy sources for industrial combustion in the UK. However, the biomass ashes remaining after combustion, which contain nutrients such as phosphorus, are landfilled rather than utilised. To promote their utilisation, biomass ashes from industries were characterised in terms of their elemental and mineral compositions, phosphorus extractability, and pH-dependent leachability. These ashes were highly alkaline (pH as high as 13), and rich in calcium and phosphorus. The P bio-availabilities in the ash evaluated by Olsen's extraction were low. Hydroxyapatite and potassium sodium calcium phosphate were identified …

Characterisation Of Ashes From Waste Biomass Power Plants And Phosphorus Recovery, Lijian Leng, Anna A. Bogush, Amitava Roy, Julia A. Stegemann

Faculty Publications

Biowastes, such as meat and bone meal (MBM), and poultry litter (PL), are used as energy sources for industrial combustion in the UK. However, the biomass ashes remaining after combustion, which contain nutrients such as phosphorus, are landfilled rather than utilised. To promote their utilisation, biomass ashes from industries were characterised in terms of their elemental and mineral compositions, phosphorus extractability, and pH-dependent leachability. These ashes were highly alkaline (pH as high as 13), and rich in calcium and phosphorus. The P bio-availabilities in the ash evaluated by Olsen's extraction were low. Hydroxyapatite and potassium sodium calcium phosphate were identified …

Combined Molecular Dynamics And Phase Field Simulation Of Crystal Melt Interfacial Properties And Microstructure Evolution During Rapid Solidification Of Ti-Ni Alloys, Sepideh Kavousi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Phase field method has become a popular tool to investigate the microstructure evolution during the solidification. Quantitative predictions using this method is still limited, and in this dissertation, we try to study this problem from different perspectives.

Most of the phase field models consider the solid-liquid interface to be in local equilibrium. Solidification during some manufacturing processes like selective laser melting, and electron beam additive manufacturing is rapid and far from equilibrium which can result in supersaturated solid solutions, segregation-free crystals, or metastable phases. Before obtaining any conclusions from the phase field simulations, we must know the answer for “which …

Effect Of Storage Temperature On The Survival Or Growth Of Listeria Monocytogenes On Whole And Fresh-Cut Produce, Juan F. Moreira Calix

LSU Master's Theses

Whole and fresh-cut produce are minimally processed and, therefore susceptible to microbial contamination. This study examined the survival or growth of Listeria monocytogenes on whole, and fresh-cut produce at different storage temperatures. Fresh fruits (cantaloupes, pears, pineapples, papayas, and watermelon) and vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, and green bell peppers) were cut into 25 g pieces and were spot inoculated with 0.5 mL (8 Log CFU/mL) of Listeria monocytogenes. Inoculated fresh-cut samples were stored at 4°C or 13°C for 6 days. To represent the outer surface of the produce, cantaloupes and green bell pepper disks (20 cm2) were cut with …

Large Eddy Simulation Of Coolant Flow Field And Heat Transfer In Low Aspect Ratio Incremental Impingement Pin-Fin Configurations, Susheel Kumar Singh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To address the issue of variable heat load near the stagnation and the mid-chord region of a modern gas turbine blade, an incremental impingement cooling technique, which is a combination of pin-fin channel and jet impingement, is designed and explored. Large Eddy Simulation (LES), a well-known turbulence model, is used to simulate the coolant flow field and heat transfer. The streamwise (X) and the spanwise spacing (S) of the pin-fin arrangement are 1.074D and 1.625D. The aspect ratio of the pin-fin channel is 0.5D. The diameter (D) of the pin-fin is 2.54 cm. The configuration consists of five rows of …

Rice Response To Nitrogen Fertilization And Comparison Of Unmanned Aerial Systems And Active Crop Canopy Sensors Vegetative Index To Estimate Rice Yield Potential, Anna Coker

LSU Master's Theses

Nitrogen (N) fertilization is a key component in producing profitable, maximized rice grain yields because yield is directly affected by N fertilizer applications. Economical optimum N rate (EONR) is used to estimate where the N fertilization rate impacts rice grain yield but is still economically efficient. Three common response models, linear-plateau, quadratic-plateau, and quadratic models were used to determine the response of rice to N fertilizer to determine the optimum N fertilization rate. The objective of the first part of this study was to evaluate the models by assessing the coefficients of determination (R²), maximum rice grain yields …

Thermal-Kinect Fusion Scanning System For Bodyshape Inpainting And Estimation Under Clothing, Sirazum Munira Tisha

LSU Master's Theses

In today's interactive world 3D body scanning is necessary in the field of making virtual avatar, apparel industry, physical health assessment and so on. 3D scanners that are used in this process are very costly and also requires subject to be nearly naked or wear a special tight fitting cloths. A cost effective 3D body scanning system which can estimate body parameters under clothing will be the best solution in this regard. In our experiment we build such a body scanning system by fusing Kinect depth sensor and a Thermal camera. Kinect can sense the depth of the subject and …

Andrew T. Hatcher: Press, Public Information & Perception For A Nation In Transition Historical Content Analysis On The First African American To Serve As A White House Associate Press Secretary, Nayita Wilson

LSU Master's Theses

Andrew T. Hatcher rose to one of the highest positions in U.S. government when he became the first African American to serve as associate White House press secretary in 1960 under the administration of President John F. Kennedy and during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. This is a historical content analysis that analyzes Hatcher’s role through primary sources, presidential archives, and select national, local, and minority newspapers.

The overarching purpose of this study was to ascertain Hatcher’s role as associate White House press secretary during civil rights. This study provides further insight into: 1) to what extent did …

The Effects Of Photographic Representations On Scores Of The Stroke And Aphasia Quality Of Life Scale-39 For People With Aphasia, Taylor Glorioso

LSU Master's Theses

Background: The Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39 (SAQOL-39) survey was designed explicitly for people with aphasia (PWA). Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that may affect comprehension, expression, reading, and writing deficits. Those with severe aphasia may not be able to read the questionnaire. The literature shows that high-context color photographs accompanying text may assist PWA improve their comprehension of questions. A previous study provided face validity for a set of high-context color photographic representations of the SAQOL-39 items. The present study aimed to determine whether these photographs would aid PWA to rate the SAQOL-39 with more …

Immune Gene Diversity And Populations Structure Of Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander (Ambystoma Bishopi), Steven Tyler Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Reticulated flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma bishopi) populations began decreasing dramatically in the late 1900s. Contemporary populations are small, isolated, and may be susceptible to inbreeding and reduced adaptive potential because of low genetic variation. Genetic variation at immune genes is especially important as it influences disease susceptibility and adaptation to emerging infectious pathogens, a central conservation concern for declining amphibians. Connectivity between isolated populations is also vital to maintain genetic diversity and avoid inbreeding. I collected tissue samples from across the extant range of this salamander to examine genetic variation and population structure in: immune genes broadly (immunome), the …

The Ties That Bind: The Meaning Of Attachment In State Constitutional Revision, 1820-1845, Allison J. Morvant

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines the changing conception of attachment in state constitutional conventions from 1820 – 1845. During the colonial and early national periods, attachment was defined primarily through property ownership. Accordingly, early state constitutions limited the rights of citizenship, namely suffrage, to free white men who possessed a freehold. Over time, in response to pressure from upwardly mobile white males, state constitutional conventions began to create a new political order based on an expanded definition of attachment: non-propertied white males could exhibit attachment and be granted citizenship through affection, civic virtue, and public duty.

A Deda Family Membrane Protein Is Required For Burkholderia Thailandensis Colistin Resistance, Pradip R. Panta, Sujeet Kumar, Caroline F. Stafford, Caitlin E. Billiot, Martin V. Douglass, Carmen M. Herrera, M. Stephen Trent, William T. Doerrler

Faculty Publications

© Copyright © 2019 Panta, Kumar, Stafford, Billiot, Douglass, Herrera, Trent and Doerrler. Colistin is a “last resort” antibiotic for treatment of infections caused by some multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Resistance to colistin varies between bacterial species. Some Gram-negative bacteria such as Burkholderia spp. are intrinsically resistant to very high levels of colistin with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) often above 0.5 mg/ml. We have previously shown DedA family proteins YqjA and YghB are conserved membrane transporters required for alkaline tolerance and resistance to several classes of dyes and antibiotics in Escherichia coli. Here, we show that a DedA family …

Influence Of Magnetism On Dirac Semimetallic Behavior In Nonstoichiometric Sr1-Ymn1-Zsb2 (Y∼0.07,Z∼0.02), Qiang Zhang, Satoshi Okamoto, Matthew B. Stone, Jinyu Liu, Yanglin Zhu, John Ditusa, Zhiqiang Mao, David Alan Tennant

Faculty Publications

Nonstoichiometric Sr1-yMn1-zSb2(y,z<0.1) is known to exhibit a coexistence of magnetic order and the nontrivial semimetallic behavior. In this paper, we report the magnetism and its strong coupling to the semimetallic behavior, by a combined use of inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and density functional theory (DFT). A phase separation consisting of a majority antiferromagentic phase and a minority ferromagnetic phase is proposed. We found a relatively large spin excitation gap ≈8.5meV at 5 K, and the interlayer magnetic exchange constant only 2.8% of the dominant intralayer magnetic interaction, evidencing a quasi-2D magnetism in Sr1-yMn1-zSb2. Using DFT, we find a strong influence of magnetic orders on the electronic band structure and the Dirac dispersions near the Fermi level along the Y-S direction in the presence of a ferromagnetic order. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the size of the ferromagnetic ordered moment is an effective strategy to tune Dirac/Weyl dispersions near the Fermi level. Our study unveils novel interplay between the magnetic order, ordered moment, and electronic band topology in Sr1-yMn1-zSb2 and opens pathways to control the relativistic band structure.

Making Decision Adaptive To Price Uncertainty And Risk Preference: A New Decision-Making Model For Forest Management, Fan Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While the forest grows, the price of timber fluctuates. Price uncertainty plays a key role in forestry due to the extended rotation length of growing trees. Like double sides of the same coin, risk preference and uncertainties should be considered together. This is because risk preference represents people’s attitude toward that uncertainty when making management decisions. Risk preference is especially an important issue for forest management because forests are exposed to substantial uncertainties during their long growing period. However, most existing relevant studies either simply overlook the risk preference issue or fail to consider it together with a practical forest …

The Impact Of Experimentally-Induced Perceived Discrimination On Substance Use, Kimberlye Elise Dean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are among the most debilitating psychiatric disorders. Although prevalence rates of SUDs are similar between White and Black adults, these groups experience differential treatment outcomes (e.g., Black adults with SUDs are more likely to report greater pre- and post-treatment substance use). Examining culture-specific correlates of racial differences in substance use is vital to improve understanding of the etiological and maintaining mechanisms of SUDs among Black adults. Perceived racial discrimination (PRD) is prospectively related to various substance use-related outcomes. Thus, some may use substances to alleviate psychological distress (e.g., anxiety) associated with PRD, which may over time …

The Impact Of Anthropogenic Noise On Fish Behavior, Communication, And Development, Julie Butler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Noise pollution is pervasive to nearly all aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and was labeled a pollutant of global concern by the World Health Organization in 2011. In the past few decades, underwater ambient noise levels have risen almost 30 dB SPL re: 1 µPa in the frequency range that most fish produce and detect acoustic stimuli due to rises in shipping, oil exploration, and pile driving. Changes to the natural soundscape can impact almost all aspects of an animal’s life. My dissertation research takes an integrative, whole-animal approach to examining how increased background noise impacts fish behavior, physiology, development, and …

5-Bit Dual-Slope Analog-To-Digital Converter-Based Time-To-Digital Converter Chip Design In Cmos Technology, Jojoe S. Sagoe

LSU Master's Theses

Time-to-Digital Converters (TDC) have gained increasing importance in modern implementations of mixed-signal, data-acquisition and processing interfaces and are used to perform high precision time intervals in systems that incorporate Time-of-Flight (ToF) or Time-of-Arrival (ToA) measurements. The linearity of TDCs is very crucial since most Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems require very linear inputs to achieve high accuracy.

In this work, a TDC has been designed in the 0.5 μm n-well CMOS process that can be used for on-chip integration and in applications requiring high linearity. This TDC used a Dual-Slope-ADC-based architecture for the time-to-digital conversion and consists of the following …

Integrating Imaging Spectrometer And Synthetic Aperture Radar Data For Estimating Wetland Vegetation Aboveground Biomass In Coastal Louisiana, Daniel Jensen, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Marc Simard, Gregory S. Okin, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Annabeth Mccall, Robert R. Twilley

Faculty Publications

Aboveground biomass (AGB) plays a critical functional role in coastal wetland ecosystem stability, with high biomass vegetation contributing to organic matter production, sediment accretion potential, and the surface elevation's ability to keep pace with relative sea level rise. Many remote sensing studies have employed either imaging spectrometer or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for AGB estimation in various environments for assessing ecosystem health and carbon storage. This study leverages airborne data from NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) and Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) to assess their unique capabilities in combination to estimate AGB in coastal deltaic wetlands. …

Open Computing Infrastructure For Sharing Data Analytics To Support Building Energy Simulations, Omer T. Karaguzel, Mohammed Elshambakey, Yimin Zhu, Tianzhen Hong, William J. Tolone, Sreyasee Das Bhattacharjee, Isaac Cho, Wenwen Dou, Haopeng Wang, Siliang Lu, Mohamed Khalefa, Yong Tao

Faculty Publications

Building energy simulation plays an increasingly important role in building design and operation. This paper presents an open computing infrastructure, Virtual Information Fabric Infrastructure (VIFI), that allows building designers and engineers to enhance their simulations by combining empirical data with diagnostic or prognostic models. Based on the idea of dynamic data-driven application systems (DDDAS), the VIFI infrastructure complements conventional data-centric sharing strategies and addresses key data-sharing concerns such as the privacy of building occupants. To demonstrate the potential of the VIFI infrastructure, an empirically derived lighting schedule in the US Department of Energy's small office building reference model is simulated. …

Detection Of Chalk In Single Kernels Of Long-Grain Milled Rice Using Imaging And Visible/Near-Infrared Instruments, Christopher K. Addison

Faculty Publications

Background and objectives To maintain the competitiveness of U.S. long-grain rice in U.S. and foreign markets, having translucent whole milled grain is critical. An objective technique to detect grain chalk, opaque areas in the grain, will provide breeders and industry with an effective tool for developing low-chalk varieties or agronomic practices that reduce chalk occurrence. Two instruments developed at the Center for Grain and Animal Health Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), a single-kernel near-infrared (SKNIR) tube instrument and a silicon-based light-emitting diode (SiLED) high-speed sorter, were compared with two commercially available imaging instruments, WinSEEDLE and SeedCount used …

Integrating Geochronologic And Instrumental Approaches Across The Bengal Basin, Carol Wilson

Faculty Publications

Constraining time is of critical importance to evaluating the rates and relative contributions of processes driving landscape change in sedimentary basins. The geomorphic character of the field setting guides the application of geochronologic or instrumental tools to this problem, because the viability of methods can be highly influenced by geomorphic attributes. For example, sediment yield and the linked potential for organic preservation may govern the usefulness of radiocarbon dating. Similarly, the rate of sediment transport from source to sink may determine the maturity and/or light exposure of mineral grains arriving in the delta and thus the feasibility of luminescence dating. …

The Ability Of Β-Hairpin Peptides To Function As Degradation-Resistant, Cell-Penetrating Peptides And Their Potential As Proteolysis Targeted Chimeras, Jeffery C. Anderson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.