Digital Commons Network^™

Improving The Transferability Of Suspended Solid Estimation In Wetland And Deltaic Waters With An Empirical Hyperspectral Approach, Daniel Jensen, Marc Simard, Kyle Cavanaugh, Yongwei Sheng, Cédric G. Fichot, Tamlin Pavelsky, Robert Twilley

Faculty Publications

The deposition of suspended sediment is an important process that helps wetlands accrete surface material and maintain elevation in the face of sea level rise. Optical remote sensing is often employed to map total suspended solids (TSS), though algorithms typically have limited transferability in space and time due to variability in water constituent compositions, mixtures, and inherent optical properties. This study used in situ spectral reflectances and their first derivatives to compare empirical algorithms for estimating TSS using hyperspectral and multispectral data. These algorithms were applied to imagery collected by NASA’s Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) over coastal Louisiana, …

Temporal And Spatial Dynamics Of Competitive Parapatry In Chewing Lice, Mark S. Hafner

Faculty Publications

We synthesize observations from 1979 to 2016 of a contact zone involving two subspecies of pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae connectens and T. b. opulentus) and their respective chewing lice (Geomydoecus aurei and G. centralis) along the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, U.S.A., to test predictions about the dynamics of the zone. Historically, the natural flood cycle of the Rio Grande prevented contact between the two subspecies of pocket gophers. Flood control measures completed in the 1930s permitted contact, thus establishing the hybrid zone between the pocket gophers and the contact zone between their lice (without hybridization). Since that time, …

Entropy Bound For The Classical Capacity Of A Quantum Channel Assisted By Classical Feedback, Dawei Ding, Yihui Quek, Peter W. Shor, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

We prove that the classical capacity of an arbitrary quantum channel assisted by a free classical feedback channel is bounded from above by the maximum average output entropy of the quantum channel. As a consequence of this bound, we conclude that a classical feedback channel does not improve the classical capacity of a quantum erasure channel, and by taking into account energy constraints, we conclude the same for a pure-loss bosonic channel. The method for establishing the aforementioned entropy bound involves identifying an information measure having two key properties: 1) it does not increase under a one-way local operations and …

Louisiana Agriculture Summer, 2019, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

Photometry Of K2 Campaign 9 Bulge Data, R. Poleski, M. Penny, B. S. Gaudi, A. Udalski, C. Ranc, G. Barentsen, A. Gould

Faculty Publications

In its Campaign 9, K2 observed dense regions toward the Galactic bulge in order to constrain the microlensing parallaxes and probe for free-floating planets. Photometric reduction of the K2 bulge data poses a significant challenge due to a combination of the very high stellar density, large pixels of the Kepler camera, and the pointing drift of the spacecraft. Here we present a new method to extract K2 photometry in dense stellar regions. We extended the Causal Pixel Model developed for less-crowded fields, first by using the pixel response function together with accurate astrometric grids, second by combining signals from a …

Northwest- Summer 2019, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Northeast- Summer 2019, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Central- Summer 2019, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Southwest- Summer 2019, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Southeast- Summer 2019, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

A Phylogenomic Supertree Of Birds, R T. Kimball, C H. Oliveros, N Wang, N D. White, R T. Kimball, D J. Field, D T. Ksepka, R T. Chesser, R G. Moyle, M J. Braun, R T. Brumfield, B C. Faircloth, B T. Smith, E L. Braun

Faculty Publications

It has long been appreciated that analyses of genomic data (e.g., whole genome sequencing or sequence capture) have the potential to reveal the tree of life, but it remains challenging to move from sequence data to a clear understanding of evolutionary history, in part due to the computational challenges of phylogenetic estimation using genome-scale data. Supertree methods solve that challenge because they facilitate a divide-and-conquer approach for large-scale phylogeny inference by integrating smaller subtrees in a computationally efficient manner. Here, we combined information from sequence capture and whole-genome phylogenies using supertree methods. However, the available phylogenomic trees had limited overlap …

Harnessing Billions Of Tasks For A Scalable Portable Hydrodynamic Simulation Of The Merger Of Two Stars, Thomas Heller, Bryce Adelstein Lelbach, Kevin A. Huck, John Biddiscombe, Patricia Grubel, Alice E. Koniges, Matthias Kretz, Dominic Marcello, David Pfander, Adrian Serio, Juhan Frank, Geoffrey C. Clayton, Dirk Pflüger, David Eder, Hartmut Kaiser

Faculty Publications

We present a highly scalable demonstration of a portable asynchronous many-task programming model and runtime system applied to a grid-based adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamic simulation of a double white dwarf merger with 14 levels of refinement that spans 17 orders of magnitude in astrophysical densities. The code uses the portable C++ parallel programming model that is embodied in the HPX library and being incorporated into the ISO C++ standard. The model represents a significant shift from existing bulk synchronous parallel programming models under consideration for exascale systems. Through the use of the Futurization technique, seemingly sequential code is transformed into …

A Search For High-Energy Counterparts To Fast Radio Bursts, Virginia Cunningham, S. Bradley Cenko, Eric Burns, Adam Goldstein, Amy Lien, Daniel Kocevski, Michael Briggs, Valerie Connaughton, M. Coleman Miller, Judith Racusin, Matthew Stanbro

Faculty Publications

We report on a search for high-energy counterparts to fast radio bursts (FRBs) with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, Fermi Large Area Telescope, and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Burst Alert Telescope. We find no significant associations for any of the 23 FRBs in our sample, but report upper limits to the high-energy fluence for each on timescales of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 s. We report lower limits on the ratio of the radio to high-energy fluence, f r/fγ, for timescales of 0.1 and 100 s. We discuss the implications of our non-detections on various proposed progenitor models for …

Tests Of General Relativity With Gw170817, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, B. Agarwal, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, B. Allen, G. Allen, A. Allocca, M. A. Aloy, P. A. Altin, A. Amato, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, S. V. Angelova, S. Antier, S. Appert, K. Arai, M. C. Araya

Faculty Publications

The recent discovery by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo of a gravitational wave signal from a binary neutron star inspiral has enabled tests of general relativity (GR) with this new type of source. This source, for the first time, permits tests of strong-field dynamics of compact binaries in the presence of matter. In this Letter, we place constraints on the dipole radiation and possible deviations from GR in the post-Newtonian coefficients that govern the inspiral regime. Bounds on modified dispersion of gravitational waves are obtained; in combination with information from the observed electromagnetic counterpart we can also constrain effects due …

Numerical Convergence Of Finite Difference Approximations For State Based Peridynamic Fracture Models, Prashant K. Jha, Robert Lipton

Faculty Publications

In this work, we study the finite difference approximation for a class of nonlocal fracture models. The nonlocal model is initially elastic but beyond a critical strain the material softens with increasing strain. This model is formulated as a state-based peridynamic model using two potentials: one associated with hydrostatic strain and the other associated with tensile strain. We show that the dynamic evolution is well-posed in the space of Hölder continuous functions C 0,γ with Hölder exponent γ∈(0,1]. Here the length scale of nonlocality is ϵ, the size of time step is Δt and the mesh size is h. The …

Association Mapping In Common Bean Revealed Regions Associated With Anthracnose And Angular Leaf Spot Resistance, Roberto Fritsche-Neto, Thiago Lívio Pessoa Oliveira De Souza, Helton Santos Pereira, Luís Cláudio De Faria, Leonardo Cunha Melo, Evandro Novaes, Itaraju Junior Baracuhy Brum, Jean Luc Jannink

Faculty Publications

Despite important biotic stresses to common bean, Anthracnose (ANT) and Angular Leaf Spot (ALS) can cause losses of up to 80 % and occur in more than 60 countries around the world. Genetic resistance is the most sustainable strategy to manage these diseases. Thus, we aimed to (1) identify new SNP markers associated with ALS and ANT resistance loci in elite common bean lines, and (2) provide a functional characterization of the DNA sequences containing the identified SNP markers. We evaluated 60 inbred lines, under field conditions, which represent the elite germplasm developed by the Embrapa common bean breeding program …

Hole Filling In 3d Scans For Digital Anthropometric Applications, Sima Sobhiyeh, Marcelline Dechenaud, Alexander Dunkel, Margarite Laborde, Samantha Kennedy, John Shepherd, Steven Heymsfield, Peter Wolenski

Faculty Publications

Anthropometric measurements have been used to assess an individual's body composition, disease risk, and nutritional status. Three-dimensional (3D) optical devices can rapidly acquire body surface scans in the form of a triangular mesh which can then be used to obtain anthropometric measurements such as body volume, limb lengths, and circumferences; however, the meshes provided by some scanners may include missing data patches known as holes. These need to be repaired in order to obtain correct landmark detection and automatic calculation of anthropometric measurements -especially body volume. In this study, we present ScReAM (Scan Reconstruction for Anthropometric Measurements) which is a …

Observations And Modeling Of A Hydrothermal Plume In Yellowstone Lake, Robert A. Sohn, Karen Luttrell, Emily Shroyer, Christian Stranne, Robert N. Harris, Julia E. Favorito

Faculty Publications

©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Acoustic Doppler current profiler and conductivity-temperature-depth data acquired in Yellowstone Lake reveal the presence of a buoyant plume above the “Deep Hole” hydrothermal system, located southeast of Stevenson Island. Distributed venting in the ~200 × 200-m hydrothermal field creates a plume with vertical velocities of ~10 cm/s in the mid-water column. Salinity profiles indicate that during the period of strong summer stratification the plume rises to a neutral buoyancy horizon at ~45-m depth, corresponding to a ~70-m rise height, where it generates an anomaly of ~5% (−0.0014 psu) relative to background lake water. …

Narrow-Band Search For Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars Using The Second Ligo Observing Run, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, S. Abraham, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, G. Allen, A. Allocca, M. A. Aloy, P. A. Altin, A. Amato, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, S. V. Angelova, S. Antier, S. Appert, K. Arai, M. C. Araya, J. S. Areeda, M. Arène, N. Arnaud

Faculty Publications

Isolated spinning neutron stars, asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis, are expected to be sources of continuous gravitational waves. The most sensitive searches for these sources are based on accurate matched filtering techniques that assume the continuous wave to be phase locked with the pulsar beamed emission. While matched filtering maximizes the search sensitivity, a significant signal-to-noise ratio loss will happen in the case of a mismatch between the assumed and the true signal phase evolution. Narrow-band algorithms allow for a small mismatch in the frequency and spin-down values of the pulsar while coherently integrating the entire dataset. In …

Large-Scale Data Analysis And Deep Learning Using Distributed Cyberinfrastructures And High Performance Computing, Richard Dodge Platania

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Data in many research fields continues to grow in both size and complexity. For instance, recent technological advances have caused an increased throughput in data in various biological-related endeavors, such as DNA sequencing, molecular simulations, and medical imaging. In addition, the variance in the types of data (textual, signal, image, etc.) adds an additional complexity in analyzing the data. As such, there is a need for uniquely developed applications that cater towards the type of data. Several considerations must be made when attempting to create a tool for a particular dataset. First, we must consider the type of algorithm required …

Can Cooler Heads Prevail? New Media Technology And Affective Polarization, Brian Kendall Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Are new media technologies stirring up negative partisan feelings in the American public? Can researchers find ways of using new media tools to reduce affective polarization? Relying on a series of experiments featuring online newsfeeds and social media discussions, this dissertation seeks to answer these questions by testing the influence of partisan news and political discussions in realistic Internet environments. Two custom news “portals” (2016, 2018) expose participants to actual partisan news content. Two Facebook discussion experiments (2017, 2019) randomly assign participants to start real political discussions on their personal social media accounts, using discussion-initiation strategies designed to reduce partisan …

Increasing The Inclusion Of Women Composers In The Wind Band Repertoire: Pale As Centuries By Sarah Kirkland Snider, Clifton Gerod Croomes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Women composers are underrepresented in the wind band medium. This study aims to determine the major factors for the disparity between men and women composers. I’ve transcribed a contemporary chamber music piece, Pale As Centuries by Sarah Kirkland Snider, for the wind band. Expanding on Snider’s existing work for chamber ensemble I will explore her compositional style and reinterpret the piece using the colors of the wind band.

A review of the literature focuses on trends within western music in the United States over the last century and establishes a documented history of institutionalized marginalization. In an interview with Snider …

Beyond An Accommodation: A Mixed Methods Study Of Diversity Engagement In Academic Curriculum, Micah Jaryl Glenn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Currently, 45% of all college students are classified as racial/ethnic minorities, while 56% of college students are female (NCES, 2018a). By 2030, nearly half of the estimated United States population will be composed of racial/ethnic minorities (Cortes, 1991). With this exponential growth of minorities attending institutions of higher education, there is the assumption that students have begun to engage in and promote diversity and inclusion. However, in 2008, Boysen and Vogel (2009) found that 40% of teachers and 50% of students encountered implicit or explicit bias while in college. In 2017, within four months, over 330 reported biased incidents occurred …

Hourly Precipitation Climatology Of The Southeast United States, Vincent Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Precipitation changes are one of the most important potential outcomes of a warming climate because of how essential it is to society and ecosystems. Sub-daily precipitation time series provide more information on precipitation characteristics, particularly frequency, intensity, and duration compared to daily data. In a series of four peer-reviewed manuscripts, this research investigates sub-daily precipitation characteristics from a climatological perspective. The first study introduces a climatology of hourly precipitation for four first-order weather stations across Louisiana, explores possible changes in the hourly precipitation distribution, and links winter Gulf of Mexico sea surface temperatures to the frequency of hours with precipitation. …

Feasibility Of Generating Synthetic Ct From T1-Weighted Mri Using A Linear Mixed-Effects Regression Model, Anant Pandey, S. A. Yoganathan, Beibei Guo, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

Generation of synthetic computed tomography (sCT) for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-only radiotherapy is emerging as a promising direction because it can eliminate the registration error and simplify clinical workflow. The goal of this study was to generate accurate sCT from standard T1-weighted MRI for brain patients. CT and MRI data of twelve patients with brain tumors were retrospectively collected. Linear mixed-effects regression models were fitted between CT and T1-weighted MRI intensities for different segments in the brain. The whole brain sCTs were generated by combining predicted segments together. Mean absolute error (MAE) between real CTs and sCTs across all patients …

Empathic Responsivity And Callous-Unemotional Traits Across Development, Julia Elizabeth Clark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with deficits in empathy and emotional responses to others. Specifically, CU traits are consistently correlated with under-reactivity to others’ distress cues. However, it is unknown whether CU traits are also associated with more general deficits in emotional reactivity (e.g., to situations involving threat to the self). Further, the relationship between CU traits and the ability to accurately identify others’ emotions is not well established, and prior work often has not considered possible developmental changes in this relationship. To address these questions, the current study recruited a school-based community sample of children from kindergarten, third, and …

An Examination Of The Effects Of Post-Identification Feedback On Jurors, Daniella Cash

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Post-identification feedback (PIF) occurs when witnesses are given feedback following their identification choices. This feedback has been shown to alter witnesses’ retrospective judgments regarding their witnessing experience (e.g., they are more confident that they made a correct identification). PIF effects are robust; they impact witnesses’ memory of their experience, and also appear to act as confirmation to jurors who are asked to assess witness reliability. A current recommendation for eyewitness procedures is that identifications should be recorded and shown to jurors at trial, but this might be harmful if jurors are also negatively impacted by this suggestive feedback. The goal …

Improving Power Network Resilience Against Threats, Hamzeh Davarikia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The work reported in this dissertation aims at developing a practical tool for utility transmission planners to improve the power network resilience against high-impact, low-frequency events (HILF). Such events rarely happen, but when occurred are catastrophic. In this dissertation, we studied the impact of HILF from the static and dynamic point of view and proposed the planning strategy to lower the devastating effect of the HILF.

In the static analysis, we consider the steady-state situation of the power grids and plan to protect the grid’s components, i.e., generators, buses, and transmission lines, to maximize preserving demand in a disastrous situation. …

Spatiotemporal Impact Of Snow On Underwater Photosynthetically Active Radiation In Taylor Valley, East Antarctica, Madeline E. Myers

LSU Master's Theses

The role of snow on underwater photosynthetically active radiation (UW PAR) in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) has been understudied due to lack of a detailed snowfall record. Research has shown that a relationship between snow cover and UW PAR exists, but the extent has never been evaluated in great detail. Although annual snowfall values in the MDVs are low (3 to 50 mm water equivalent annually), trends of increasing snowfall on the continent under future warming conditions could lead to an increased role for snow in regulating UW PAR (and associated primary productivity). Here, I discuss evidence from the …

Measurement Of Neutron Production In Atmospheric Neutrino Interactions At The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, B. Aharmim, S. N. Ahmed, A. E. Anthony, N. Barros, E. W. Beier, A. Bellerive, B. Beltran, M. Bergevin, S. D. Biller, R. Bonventre, K. Boudjemline, M. G. Boulay, B. Cai, E. J. Callaghan, J. Caravaca, Y. D. Chan, D. Chauhan, M. Chen, B. T. Cleveland, G. A. Cox, X. Dai, H. Deng, F. B. Descamps, J. A. Detwiler, P. J. Doe, G. Doucas, P. L. Drouin, M. Dunford, S. R. Elliott, H. C. Evans, G. T. Ewan, J. Farine, H. Fergani

Faculty Publications

Neutron production in giga electron volt-scale neutrino interactions is a poorly studied process. We have measured the neutron multiplicities in atmospheric neutrino interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment and compared them to the prediction of a Monte Carlo simulation using genie and a minimally modified version of geant4. We analyzed 837 days of exposure corresponding to Phase I, using pure heavy water, and Phase II, using a mixture of Cl in heavy water. Neutrons produced in atmospheric neutrino interactions were identified with an efficiency of 15.3% and 44.3%, for Phases I and II respectively. The neutron production is measured …