Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Application Of Heat Map Technology In Microscopic Analysis Of Saw Marks On Bone, Ian Plunkett

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Stable Isotopic Profile Of Atmospheric River Precipitation Impacting Northern California, Erika Clarise Ornouski

LSU Master's Theses

Atmospheric river (AR) storms are an integral part of California’s hydrologic cycle, providing 30–50% of the state’s annual precipitation. However, “too much of a good thing” can swell

rivers beyond capacity leading to widespread flooding, erosion, and environmental damage. Northern California’s steep topography coupled with its seasonal Sierra Nevada snowpack puts this region at risk for floods and extreme weather hazards that can be triggered by strong ARs. Identifying AR contributions in the water cycle is crucial for informing water resource and emergency management decisions Stable isotope analysis provides a means to understand the movement of precipitation based on fractionation …

Rapid Intensification As A Crucial Hurricane Hazard: Educating And Empowering Young Stakeholders Affected By Hurricanes On The Gulf Coast, Kathleen M. Benedetto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent decades, the scientific ability to project tropical cyclone (TC) intensities and tracks has improved. Hurricanes undergoing the process of rapid intensification (RI) have created new barriers in formulating predictions of TC paths and peak velocities. Current research suggests the warming climate may produce more intense TCs with a higher probability of undergoing RI during their life cycle. The increased likelihood of rapidly intensifying TCs necessitates the development of an RI climatology spanning the current North Atlantic record. A time series count analysis suggests a significant increasing trend of RI events in the Atlantic basin by 29.1% (17%–45%) from …

In Knowledge We Trust(Ed): A Case Study In Abolition Theatre, Misty Dawn Saribal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation argues for performance art’s role(s) in growing abolition on higher education campuses. After defining abolition’s intersections with higher education, and discussing why performance is often diminished and overlooked, I examine a university abolitionist performance I co-directed that highlighted prison labor on our university’s campus titled ‘In Knowledge We Trusted: Red Tape, White Institutions, and Blue Students.’ A rationale for abolition performance and an abolition performance praxis is detailed with attention to avoiding the pitfalls of authenticity policing in prison abolition and genre policing in abolitionist art. Conclusions about how the performance contributed to and embodied abolition politics and …

An Analysis Of Hurricane Laura's Storm Surge In Cameron Parish Using Synthetic Storm Tracks, Climatology, And Statistics, Cameron Goff

LSU Master's Theses

Cameron Parish is a large coastal parish in southwest Louisiana that has been impacted by several powerful tropical cyclones. In 2020, the strongest hurricane in recorded history to ever hit this region, Hurricane Laura, set a state record for the highest storm surge measurement at 6.34 meters. I examine the climatology of tropical cyclone landfalls in this parish, looking for trends in intensity and frequency with time. I then compare the extreme surge of Hurricane Laura with a dataset of 645 synthetic tropical cyclones generated and used by the Coastal Hazards System for Louisiana. Plots comparing various meteorological statistics to …

The Hillman Site (16ebr60): A Glimpse Into Pre-Contact South Louisiana, Brandy Kerr

LSU Master's Theses

Situated along the north bank of Bayou Manchac lies the pre- and post-contact Hillman site, 16EBR60. First discovered in 1960 by the landowner, George Menefee, the site was subsequently investigated by Louisiana State University archaeologist Dr. William Haag, who pronounced the site a Marksville village, due to the large number of lithic tools recovered from the site. Subsequent investigations at the site by Surveys Unlimited Research Associates, Inc. (SURA) in 2021 confirmed the Marksville component of the site and found occupation continued into the succeeding Troyville and Coles Creek cultures. The principal research questions asked include: (1) How does the …

The Abolitionist Spectator: Resistant Readings Of Punishment, Rehabilitation, And Reform At The Louisiana State Penitentiary, Kathryn Marie Morris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For the majority of the twenty-first century, Louisiana has been the global leader in rates of incarceration. Despite its prevalence, many people encounter prisons and punishment only through representations in movies, television, and the news, remaining distant from the actual processes of punishment and prisons built in remote areas. The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, however, is unique in the number of opportunities it presents for the public to enter the prison for large-scale events like the famous Angola Prison Rodeo, select drama club performances, or to visit the Angola Prison Museum. These opportunities are often read cynically, as moments …

Exploring The Effects Of Individuals’ Perceived Prototypicality Within A Fandom, Keely Diebold

LSU Master's Theses

Passionate fandoms centered on popular film and television series can elicit large-scale positive fan activity. At the same time, however, negative consequences can arise as factions or subsets of members with varying opinions arise within fandoms. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is varied levels among fandom members of how prototypical they view themselves within the context of that fandom. Research on social groups, however, has historically looked exclusively at perceptions of others' prototypicality and not of the self. Drawing on theories of social identity (SIT) and self-categorization (SCT), this project serves to bridge this research gap by exploring to …

Mapping, Modeling, And Predicting Extreme Flood Events With Cloud Computing, Dan Tian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Floods represent one of the most severe natural disasters worldwide. It is crucial to accurately assess flood hazards to mitigate the impact and enhance community resilience. This study focuses on three key components of flood hazard management, including (1) flood frequency estimation, (2) inundation delineation, and (3) flood susceptibility assessment. The first project presents a Bayesian Log-Pearson Type III model with Spatial Priors (BLP3-SP) that utilizes spatial regression priors to enhance the accuracy of flood frequency estimation for sites with limited data. The method is compared with two other algorithms with different priors. The results indicate that BLP3-SP performs the …

Spring 2023 Catalog, Lsu Press

LSU Press Seasonal Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Louisiana Agriculture Magazine, Spring 2023

Louisiana Agriculture

In this issue of Louisiana Agriculture, Carl Motsenbocker, the executive director of Seeds to Success, and Crystal Besse, the program director, explain how local food systems are seeing a resurgence. The Seeds to Success team details how the farm to school movement is assisting this growth. They also profile the people who work to make it possible — a teacher, farmers and an AgCenter Extension agent. In additional articles, researchers examine the economic benefits of farm to school programs as well as soil mixes for home gardeners and the media used by our consumer horticulture industry.

The Flower Garden Banks Siderastrea Siderea Coral As A Candidate Global Boundary Stratotype Section And Point For The Anthropocene Series, Kristine L. Delong, Kylie Palmer, Amy J. Wagner, Mudith M. Weerabaddana, Niall Slowey, Achim D. Herrmann, Nicolas Duprey, Alfredo Martínez-García, Jonathan Jung, Irka Hajdas, Neil L. Rose, Sarah L. Roberts, Lucy R. Roberts, Andrew B. Cundy, Pawel Gaca, J. Andrew Milton, Handong Yang, Simon D. Turner, Chun Yuan Huang, Chuan Chou Shen, Jens Zinke

Faculty Publications

The proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) candidate site of West Flower Garden Bank (27.8762°N, 93.8147°W) is an open ocean location in the Gulf of Mexico with a submerged coral reef and few direct human impacts. Corals contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies, similar to tree rings, and their exoskeletons are formed of aragonite and can be preserved in the rock record. Here we present results from a large Siderastrea siderea coral (core 05WFGB3; 1755–2005 CE) sampled with annual and monthly resolutions that show clear markers of global and regional human impacts. Atmospheric nuclear bomb testing by-products (14C, 239+240Pu) have clear increases in this coral starting in 1957 for 14C and the first increase in 1956 for 239+240Pu (potential bases for the Anthropocene GSSP). Coral δ13C declined especially after 1956 consistent with the Suess effect resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. Coral skeletal δ15N starts to increase in 1963 corresponding with the increase in agricultural fertilizers. Coral Hg concentrations (1933–1980) loosely track fluctuations in industrial pollution and coral Ba/Ca increases from 1965–1983 when offshore oil operations expand after 1947. Coral temperature proxies contain the 20th-century global warming trend whereas coral growth declines during this interval.

North Flinders Reef (Coral Sea, Australia) Porites Sp. Corals As A Candidate Global Boundary Stratotype Section And Point For The Anthropocene Series, Jens Zinke, Neal E. Cantin, Kristine L. Delong, Kylie Palmer, Arnoud Boom, Irka Hajdas, Nicolas Duprey, Alfredo Martínez-García, Neil L. Rose, Sarah L. Roberts, Handong Yang, Lucy R. Roberts, Andrew B. Cundy, Pawel Gaca, James Andy Milton, Grace Frank, Adam Cox, Sue Sampson, Genevieve Tyrrell, Molly Agg, Simon D. Turner

Faculty Publications

Corals are unique in the suite of proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) archives, as living organisms that produce aragonite exoskeletons preserved in the geological record that contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies. The GSSP candidate site North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Australia) is an offshore oceanic reef, and therefore less vulnerable to local human influences than those closer to the coast. Here, we present geochemical records from two Porites sp. corals sampled at an annual to pluri-annual (i.e. 3–5 years) resolution that shows clear global and regional human impacts. Atmospheric nuclear bomb testing by-products (14C,239+240Pu) show a clear increase in the Flinders Reef corals coincident with well-dated nuclear testing operations. By contrast, the radionuclides 241Am and 137Cs are present at low or undetectable levels, as are spheroidal carbonaceous fly-ash particles. Coral δ13C shows centennial variability likely influenced by growth effects in the 18th century and with a progression to lower values starting in 1880 CE and accelerating post-1970 CE. The latter may be related to the Suess effect resulting from 13C-depleted fossil fuel burning. Coral δ15N decreased between 1710 and 1954 CE with a reversal post-1954 CE. Coral temperature proxies indicate prominent centennial variability with equally warm conditions in the 18th and end of 20th century. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for the mid-20th century changes in these parameters need to be scrutinised in further detail. Plain Language summary: This work proposes a candidate natural archive for the official marker of the Anthropocene that geologists will use to mark this important interval in time. Our candidate is a live coral from North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Australia), located 150 km east of the Great Barrier Reef, a location that is remote from direct local human influences. Corals are a unique archive of tropical ocean change because they incorporate the geochemical signature from seawater into their limestone skeleton during their long life-spans. Here we investigated a number of geochemical markers in yearly growth layers of the corals to define several markers for the Anthropocene based on changes in temperature, water chemistry, chemicals from pollution and fertilisers, radioactive products from nuclear bomb testing, and by-products from burning fossil fuels. We have detected clear human influences in several of these markers.

Viability Of Native Vegetation And Locally Sourced Substrate Mix In Green Roof Modules Under South Louisiana’S Subtropical Climate, Clara Jimenez

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Contemporary Environmental Art: The Multidimensional Relationship Between Black Communities And The American Landscape, Sophia Perkins

Honors Capstones

Contemporary environmental art can be inspired by personal experience and reflections between the artist and their surroundings. Black women have a unique interaction with and relation to their environment. I would like to unpack the relationships between Black women and the environment by exploring a few different artists’ work, and by dissecting the effects race and gender have on one’s view of the natural world. I have studied the work of four artists: Torkwase Dyson, Allison Jane Hamilton, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Calida Garcia Rawles. Environmentally, I have a specific interest in bodies of water / Black waterways because of …

Come Hell And High Water: Examining The Effects Of Natural Disasters On Health Resource Availability For Households In Baton Rouge, Caroline Janecek

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Environmental Violence: Resurgence Of Ideological Radicalism And Emergence Of Climate- Driven Terrorism, Emily Clarke

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Using Fdi To Predict Electoral Outcomes In France, Emma Bates

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

From Nafta To The Usmca: How Does Protectionist American Economic Policy Impact Mexico’S Foreign Car Production?, Samantha Raeder

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Imported And Local Chert From The Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize, Using 3d Technology And Traditional Methods, Hollie Lincoln

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents information about ancient Maya trade, stone tool use, tool technology, and the every-day activities at the Paynes Creek Salt Works in southern Belize. Research on chert stone tools follows traditional analysis methods with emphasis on material composition. The feasibility of stone tool analysis conducted using 3D technology is also explored, emphasizing the limitations and benefits of these methods. While chert stone tools and stone resource allocation are predominantly the foci of this work, excavations at submerged ancient salt making sites present additional artifacts, including wood and pottery, that also characterize the daily activities of people living and …

Fighting The Illicit Antiquities "Artworld": A Critical Approach To The Heritage Laws Of Guatemala, Irene Marti Gil

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the suitability of the legal framework for the protection of cultural heritage in Guatemala, which is the country of origin for over thirty percent of the Maya objects traded in the antiquities market, and proposes strategies that improve the effectiveness of the law. To examine the heritage laws enforced by the Republic of Guatemala, I implement linguistic anthropological methods of qualitative research.

Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, and Conceptual Analysis on the national heritage policies of Guatemala reveal the existence of ontological problems regarding the conceptualization of heritage as a monolithic entity reflecting a State-led narrative with …

What Are The Most Effective Proxies In Identifying Storm-Surge Deposits In Paleotempestology? A Quantitative Evaluation From The Sand-Limited, Peat-Dominated Environment Of The Florida Coastal Everglades, Qiang Yao, Kam Biu Liu, Zhenqing Zhang, Erika Rodrigues, Marcelo Cohen, Kanchan Maiti, Yang Yang

Faculty Publications

Although many studies have attempted to reconstruct millennial-scale hurricane patterns using various proxy-based methods, it is still unclear what the most effective proxies are to identify storm surge deposits in different environmental settings. This study quantitatively compares the application of grain-size, loss-on-ignition, stable isotopes, X-ray fluorescence, and palynological proxies in paleotempestology from an organic-rich environment in the Florida Everglades. The nonparametric tests indicate that only 9 among the 27 parameters (mean diameter, %water, %organic, %carbonate, Ca, Sr, Ca/Ti, Cl/Br, and marine microfossils) exhibited significant differences between storm-surge and in situ deposits. The principal component analysis shows that five marine indicators …

Sibling Resemblance In Physical Activity Levels: The Peruvian Sibling Study On Growth And Health, Carla Santos, José Maia, Sara Pereira, Olga Vasconcelos, Rui Garganta, J. Timothy Lightfoot, Go Tani, Donald Hedeker, Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Alcibíades Bustamante

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

Physical activity is associated with a host of positive health outcomes and is shaped by both genetic and environmental factors. We aim to: (1) estimate sibling resemblance in two physical activity phenotypes [total number of steps∙day⁻¹ and minutes for moderate steps per day (min∙day⁻¹)]; and (2) investigate the joint associations of individual characteristics and shared natural environment with intra-pair sibling similarities in each phenotype. We sampled 247 biological siblings from 110 nuclear families, aged 6–17 years, from three Peruvian regions. Physical activity was measured using pedometers and body mass index was calculated. In general, non-significant variations in …

The Interaction Of Rurality And Rare Cancers For Travel Time To Cancer Care, Tracy Onega, Jennifer Alford-Teaster, Chris Leggett, Andrew Loehrer, Julie E. Weiss, Erika L. Moen, Catherine C. Pollack, Fahui Wang

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Geographic access to cancer care is known to significantly impact utilization and outcomes. Longer travel times have negative impacts for patients requiring highly specialized care, such as for rare cancers, and for those in rural areas. Scant population-based research informs geographic access to care for rare cancers and whether rurality impacts that access. Methods: Using Medicare data (2014-2015), we identified prevalent cancers and cancer-directed surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation. We classified cancers as rare (incidence <6/100,000/year) or common (incidence ≥6/100,000/year) using previously published thresholds and categorized rurality from ZIP code of beneficiary residence. We estimated travel time between beneficiaries and providers for each service based on ZIP code. Descriptive statistics summarized travel time by rare versus common cancers, service type, and rurality. Findings: We included 1,169,761 Medicare beneficiaries (21.9% in nonmetropolitan areas), 87,399; 7.5% had rare cancers, with 9,133,003 cancer-directed services. Travel times for cancer services ranged from approximately 29 minutes (25th percentile) to 68 minutes (75th percentile). Travel times were similar for rare and common cancers overall (median: 45 vs 43 minutes) but differed by service type; 13.4% of surgeries were >2 hours away for rare cancers, compared to 8.3% for common cancers. Increasing rurality disproportionately increased travel time to surgical care for rare compared to …

Atmospheric Density Inversion Based On Swarm-C Satellite Accelerometer, Lirong Yin, Lei Wang, Jiawei Tian, Zhengtong Yin, Mingzhe Liu, Wenfeng Zheng

Faculty Publications

We used the Swarm-C accelerometer data to invert the orbital atmospheric density in this study. First, the Swarm-C satellite mission data were obtained from the ESA’s public data platform, and preliminary data error correction was performed. This paper refers to the calibration method of GRACE-A satellite accelerometer data. It adds linear temperature correction on the original basis. Moreover, this study’s accelerometer data correction results were compared with the data correction results published by the ESA. In order to explore the influence of light radiation on the accelerometer, we established a geometric model of Swarm-C to simulate the physical shape of …

Assessing Impacts Of Climate Change On Selected Foundation Species And Ecosystem Services In The South-Central Usa, R. James Ansley, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Kerry Griffis-Kyle, Bruce Hoagland, Amanda Emert, Todd Fagin, Scott R. Loss, Heather R. Mccarthy, Nicholas G. Smith, Elizabeth F. Waring

Faculty Publications

Climate change, interacting with and exacerbating anthropogenic modifications to the landscape, is altering ecosystem structure and function, biodiversity, and species distributions. Among the most visible short-term impacts are the altered ecological roles of foundation species—those species, native or non-native—that create locally stable environmental conditions and strongly influence ecosystem services. Understanding the future of these species is crucial for projecting impacts on ecosystem services at both local and regional scales. Here we present foundation species by ecoregion study cases across the US South-Central Region (Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas), including C4 grasses, mesquite, and northern bobwhite in the Southern Great …

Informe Tecnico De Los Trabajos De Campo Del Proyecto De Investigación Arqueológica Cerro San Isidro, Valle De Nepeña, Costa De Ancash -- Temporada 2022, David Chicoine, Jeisen Navarro

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wetland Mitigation Functions On Hydrological Droughts: From Drought Characteristics To Propagation Of Meteorological Droughts To Hydrological Droughts, Yanfeng Wu, Jingxuan Sun, Marianne Blanchette, Alain N. Rousseau, Y. Jun Xu, Boting Hu, Guangxin Zhang

Faculty Publications

Wetlands have been singled out as a potential nature-based solution for improving the resilience and reducing the risks of hydrometeorological extremes. However, whether and to what extent wetlands can affect hydrological droughts is not well understood. To fill this gap, we proposed a general framework to discern the effect of wetlands on: (i) the characteristics (duration, severity, development and recovery processes) of hydrological droughts, and (ii) the propagation of meteorological droughts to hydrological droughts. First, hydrological modeling was conducted with a spatially-explicit model integrated with wetland modules. Then, the run theory and pooling method were selected to recognize hydrological drought …

Wetland Occupancy By Duck Broods In Cropland-Dominated Landscapes Of The United States Prairie Pothole Region, Blake J. Mitchell, Catrina V. Terry, Kevin M. Ringelman, Kaylan M. Kemink, Michael J. Anteau, Adam K. Janke

Faculty Publications

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is globally important for breeding waterfowl but has been altered via wetland drainage and grassland conversion to accommodate agricultural land use. Thus, understanding the ecology of waterfowl in these highly modified landscapes is essential for their conservation. Brood occurrence is the cumulative outcome of key life-history events including pair formation and territory establishment, nest success, and early brood survival. We applied new technological advances in brood surveying methods to understand brood use of wetlands and how land use and wetland-specific factors influenced brood use of 413 wetlands in crop-dominated landscapes in the PPR of Iowa, …

Classification Analysis Of Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclone Intensity Changes Prior To Landfall, Rupsa Bhowmick, Jill C. Trepanier, Alex M. Haberlie

Faculty Publications

This study evaluates the ability of a random forest classifier to identify tropical cyclone (TC) intensification or weakening prior to landfall over the western region of the Southwest Pacific Ocean (SWPO) basin. For both Australia mainland and SWPO island cases, when a TC first crosses land after spending ≥24 h over the ocean, the closest hour prior to the intersection is considered as the landfall hour. If the maximum wind speed (Vmax) at the landfall hour increased or remained the same from the 24-h mark prior to landfall, the TC is labeled as intensifying and if the Vmax at the …