Digital Commons Network^™

Ethics, Aesthetics, And The Representation Of Intellectual Disability In The Realist Narrative, Elizabeth Wells

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue for a renewed approach to realist texts that rely on conventional perspective and minor characters in their representation of intellectually disabled characters. While disability studies' concepts like narrative prosthesis and the normate have done essential work in arguing for the need for disability's representation from the perspective of the disabled, these ideologies have also negatively influenced the critical reception of texts that do not respond to this need in an immediate or obvious way. By offering new readings of novels with disabled characters whose representations have been frequently questioned, my aim is to complicate the …

Investigation Of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Delivery Accuracy On An Elekta Linear Accelerator, Addie Barron

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: This work investigated the delivery accuracy of high-dose lung and spine stereotactic treatments delivered with the Elekta Infinity and Versa HD platforms. The accuracy of these platforms will be used for consideration in implementing a spine stereotactic radiosurgery (SSRS) program at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

Methods: A geometric phantom was used to perform Winston-Lutz type tests that assessed the relevant degrees of freedom (gantry, collimator, and couch) of the delivery system. A lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and spine SRS treatment plan were generated for use in end-to-end testing. Delivery accuracy was tested using a novel diode …

Ultrafast And Nonlinear Spectroscopy Of Nanomaterials, Rami Anthony Khoury

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopies are implemented in the investigation of excited-state dynamics and structural properties of materials and nanomaterials. In the first study, the excited-state dynamics of size-dependent colloidal TiO₂-Au nanocomposites are investigated using ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. The dynamics corresponding to the plasmon depletion band are characterized by electron-phonon and phonon-phonon coupling lifetimes that are observed to be independent of the gold nanocluster shell thickness. The excited-state dynamics corresponding to the interband transition of gold is also spectrally overlapped with the interfacial electron transfer lifetime, which is shown to decrease as the nanocluster shell thickness increases. In …

Skin Glands Of An Aquatic Salamander Vary In Size And Distribution And Release Antimicrobial Secretions Effective Against Chytrid Fungal Pathogens, Kenzie E. Pereira, Brian I. Crother, David M. Sever, Clifford L. Fontenot, John A. Pojman, Damien B. Wilburn, Sarah K. Woodley

Faculty Publications

© 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. Amphibian skin is unique among vertebrate classes, containing a large number of multicellular exocrine glands that vary among species and have diverse functions. The secretions of skin glands contain a rich array of bioactive compounds including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Such compounds are important for amphibian innate immune responses and may protect some species from chytridiomycosis, a lethal skin disease caused by the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal). While the bioactivity of skin secretions against Bd has been assessed for many amphibian taxa, similar studies are lacking for …

The Csbg - Lsu Gateway: Web Based Hosted Gateway For Computational System Biology Application Tools From Louisiana State University, Eroma Abeysinghe, Michal Brylinski, Marcus Christie, Suresh Marru, Marlon Pierce

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Science gateways are identified as an effective way to publish and distribute software for research communities without the burden of learning HPC (High Performance Computer) systems. In the past, researchers were expected to have in-depth knowledge about using HPC systems for computations along with their respective science field in order to do effective research. Science gateways eliminate the need to learn HPC systems and allows the research communities to focus more on their science and let the gateway handle communicating with HPCs. In this poster we are presenting the science gateway project of …

Erepo-Orp: Exploring The Opportunity Space To Combat Orphan Diseases With Existing Drugs, Michal Brylinski, Misagh Naderi, Rajiv Gandhi Govindaraj, Jeffrey Lemoine

Faculty Publications

© 2017 About 7000 rare, or orphan, diseases affect more than 350 million people worldwide. Although these conditions collectively pose significant health care problems, drug companies seldom develop drugs for orphan diseases due to extremely limited individual markets. Consequently, developing new treatments for often life-threatening orphan diseases is primarily contingent on financial incentives from governments, special research grants, and private philanthropy. Computer-aided drug repositioning is a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional drug discovery offering a promising venue for orphan drug research. Here, we present eRepo-ORP, a comprehensive resource constructed by a large-scale repositioning of existing drugs to orphan diseases …

L-Citrulline Supplementation: Impact On Cardiometabolic Health, Timothy D. Allerton, David N. Proctor, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Tammy R. Dugas, Guillaume Spielmann, Brian A. Irving

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Diminished bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO), the gaseous signaling molecule involved in the regulation of numerous vital biological functions, contributes to the development and progression of multiple age-and lifestyle-related diseases. While L-arginine is the precursor for the synthesis of NO by endothelial-nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), oral L-arginine supplementation is largely ineffective at increasing NO synthesis and/or bioavailability for a variety of reasons. L-citrulline, found in high concentrations in watermelon, is a neutral alpha-amino acid formed by enzymes in the mitochondria that also serves as a substrate for recycling L-arginine. Unlike L-arginine, …

Future Research Directions In Pneumonia, Charles S. Dela Cruz, Richard G. Wunderink, David C. Christiani, Stephania A. Cormier, Kristina Crothers, Claire M. Doerschuk, Scott E. Evans, Daniel R. Goldstein, Purvesh Khatri, Lester Kobzik, Jay K. Kolls, Bruce D. Levy, Mark L. Metersky, Michael S. Niederman, Roomi Nusrat, Carlos J. Orihuela, Paula Peyrani, Alice S. Prince, Julio A. Ramírez, Karen M. Ridge, Sanjay Sethi, Benjamin T. Suratt, Jacob I. Sznajder, Ephraim L. Tsalik, Allan J. Walkey, Sachin Yende, Neil R. Aggarwal, Elisabet V. Caler, Joseph P. Mizgerd

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2018 by the American Thoracic Society. Pneumonia is a complex pulmonary disease in need of new clinical approaches. Although triggered by a pathogen, pneumonia often results from dysregulations of host defense that likely precede infection. The coordinated activities of immune resistance and tissue resilience then dictate whether and how pneumonia progresses or resolves. Inadequate or inappropriate host responses lead to more severe outcomes such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and to organ dysfunction beyond the lungs and over extended time frames after pathogen clearance, some of which increase the risk for subsequent pneumonia. Improved understanding of such host …

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure In Seaside Sparrows (Ammodramus Maritimus) Following The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Anna A. Perez-Umphrey, Christine M. Bergeon Burns, Philip C. Stouffer, Stefan Woltmann, Sabrina S. Taylor

Faculty Publications

The seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus) is an abundant and permanent resident of coastal salt marshes impacted by the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Such terrestrial species are often overlooked in the aftermath of marine spills, despite the potential for long-term oil exposure. We sampled the livers of seaside sparrows residing in oiled and unoiled sites from 2011 to 2014 and quantified expression of cytochrome p450 1A (CYP1A), a gene involved in the metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In August 2011, CYP1A expression was markedly higher in birds from an oiled site compared to an unoiled site, but differences …

Annotated Bibliography Of The Global Literature On The Secondary Transportation Of Raw And Comminuted Forest Products (2000-2015), Anil Koirala, Anil Raj Kizha, Cornelis F. De Hoop, Brian E. Roth, Han Sup Han, Patrick Hiesl, Dalia Abbas, Shuva Gautam, Srijana Baral, Steve Bick, Kamalakanta Sahoo

Faculty Publications

Secondary transportation of raw and comminuted forest products is a major component in forest harvesting operations in terms of economics, public perception, and safety. Consequently, there is a substantial amount of literature on this topic. The existing literature has dealt with many of the technical aspects of transportation with a majority of them focusing on improving supply chain issues; however, there are only few specific to secondary transportation issues in general. This annotated bibliography will help practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders gain a better understanding of the existing literature from 2000 to 2015. To this end, we began by classifying the …

Mymathlab Educational Intervention To Enhance Student Performance In Calculus I At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Sheila Duplechain Derouen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

According to the Obama Administration, we need a workforce that is going to be STEM ready because this is the only way that the U.S. will be able to compete on a global level with other nations. Louisiana will demand a total of 66,250 STEM jobs by 2018, up from 61,610 in 2008, according to Georgetown University (Carnevale, Smith, & Melton, 2014). By 2020, sixty-five percent of the nation’s jobs will require post-secondary education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the attrition rate between first- and second-year college students is 24.5% (2017).

The purpose of this study is …

Almond Milk Powder Fortification With Flaxseed Oil (Linum Usitatissimum) As An Alternative Non-Dairy Milk Powder For Infants And Toddlers, Federico Bueno

LSU Master's Theses

Lactose intolerances in toddlers have become a major concern. Almond milk (AM) has nutritional benefits and a texture like dairy milk without the content of lactose. Because of longer stability and storage, milk is often stored in powdered form. An almond milk fortified with flaxseed oil in powdered form may be an alternative. Flaxseed oil (FO) contains high amounts of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) which is a precursor to DHA and EPA. The objectives of this study were: the development of an AM spray-dried powder with microencapsulated FO (AMFOP), the determination of the mass and energy balance of that AMFOP production, …

Perils Of The Fungal Kingdom: Mycotoxins In Food And Feed, Adrianna Isobel Pribil

LSU Master's Theses

Humans and fungi have a complex relationship, especially in regards to the many fungal secondary metabolites that can be produced. When secondary metabolites are toxic to animals and humans they are defined as mycotoxins. Fungi can grow on crops pre-harvest and post-harvest, and have the potential to produce mycotoxins which occur regularly in animal feed and food for human consumption. In high doses, mycotoxins cause variety of problems that result in economic losses and extreme health issues. However, multiple mycotoxins will co-occur in nature and commonly occur in low doses. Thus chronic low daily doses of multiple mycotoxins overtime may …

Chemosensory Communication And Neural Substrates Of Social Behavior In The African Cichlid Fish, Astatotilapia Burtoni, Karen Elizabeth Field

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Social animals must constantly assess their environment to make appropriate decisions. In several fish species, chemosensory signaling is crucial for social communication, conveying information on sex, reproductive state, and social status. Despite its importance in fishes, relatively little is known about how they employ chemical signaling, with only a few of the over 30,000 extant species investigated thus far. Further, there is a scarcity of information about where and how socially-relevant chemosensory signals are processed in the brain of fishes, or how chemosensory signals are integrated with other senses to elicit appropriate behaviors. For my doctoral research, I examined the …

Nmr Structural Investigation Of Chlamydial Protein Complex And Lysine Glycomimetic For Drug Design, Abigael Chebichiy Songok

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research and design of drugs for treatment against microbial infections require the study of pathogenic proteins involved during infection and replication. Drugs can be designed to interfere with the interaction network of these pathogenic proteins and inhibit the infection process. Determination of the structure and ligands of the target proteins in microbes is essential for designing mechanistic-based drugs. Two Chlamydia proteins involved in host cell invasion were investigated in this study. The goal is to identify amino acids involved at the binding interface of Chlamydia chaperon proteins Scc1 and Scc4 by solution NMR spectroscopy. This information will give a lead …

Effects Of Natural And Anthropogenic Forcing On Marsh Channel Evolution, Jeremiah Robinson

LSU Master's Theses

Wetlands have many ecological and physical properties that are essential for coastal communities. These ecosystems sustain local economies, provide essential habitats, are a source of numerous ecological and biological services, and protect coastal populations from storms. Of the many wetland types, salt marshes are among the most vulnerable to environmental changes. Salt marshes quickly respond to natural and human-driven perturbations and their high rate of loss in the last century is cause for concern.

In this project the rate of marsh loss driven by channel widening was measured through a comparative analysis of modern high resolution images and historic aerial …

Science Inquiry In Informal Settings, Michelle Elizabeth Gomez Ms.

LSU Master's Theses

This qualitative research study aims to answer the question of whether or not informal learning settings, such as museums and zoos, are beneficial to students’ understanding of new science concepts and the nature of science. The researcher uses the term, “informal educators,” to refer to the participants because they are educators who teach in settings outside of a school setting. This study focuses on four informal educators that are employed at four different informal learning settings in South Louisiana, but specifically how the informal educators’ instruction complements classroom instruction, how informal educators incorporate inquiry within their science instruction, and what …

Regulation Of Epithelial Sodium Channels In Vasopressin Neurons In The Hypothalamus, Natalie Jean Mills

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Salt-sensitive individuals have blood pressure that is unusually sensitive to salt intake. Because salt-sensitivity is a common disorder and may cause high blood pressure, it is a significant public health concern. All three epithelial Na⁺ channel (ENaC) subunits (a, b, and g) and the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), a known regulator of ENaC, are expressed by vasopressin (VP) synthesizing magnocellular neurons in the hypothalamic supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei. A growing body of evidence indicates that epithelial Na⁺ channels (ENaCs) in the hypothalamus play a significant role in the development of salt-sensitivity. My dissertation research tests the hypothesis …

Influences Of Spiciness And Visual Color Cue On Salty Taste Intensity Perception In Reduced-Sodium Cheese Dips, Valentina Rosasco Silva

LSU Master's Theses

The current high levels of dietary sodium intake are negatively affecting consumers’ health. Reducing sodium consumption to the recommended amount could help prevent around 2.5 million deaths yearly and save up to $18 billion dollars in health care costs worldwide. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the possibility of increasing the saltiness perception and acceptability of reduced-sodium cheese dips by using the multisensory approach and analyzing gender differences towards salty taste expectations. Two experiments were conducted: I) The combined effects of gender and visual color cue on salty taste expectations, liking, and purchase intent (PI) of cheese …

Conservation Of Freshwater Live-Bearing Fishes: Development Of Germplasm Repositories For Goodeids, Yue Liu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fishes of the family Goodeidae are considered to be among the most imperiled taxa in the world. The goal of this project was to provide a foundation for development of sperm repositories for goodeids and to use them as a model to assist conservation programs for imperiled freshwater live-bearing fishes. Development of such repositories is challenging because of unusual reproductive characteristics of live-bearing fishes, such as sperm bundles, internal fertilization, and the bearing of live young. Standardized methods were established to evaluate quality-related attributes of sperm bundles. The different features between activation of free and bundled sperm were investigated and …

Ecology Of Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus Planipennis: Buprestidae) In Louisiana, Balwinder Kaur

LSU Master's Theses

In 2015, emerald ash borer (EAB) was detected in North Louisiana (LA). There is no information on wood inhabiting insects of green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall) trees, phenology and parasitoid establishment in LA. The first objective of the study was to quantify the insect assemblages and to compare their diversity, abundance and evenness within the epicenter of the EAB infestations in North LA including regions in Central and South LA where EAB has not been detected yet. We established four treatments, based on log diameter: small and large; and log condition: dead and live for green ash. All the …

Characterizing Cytoplasmic Maturation And Improving Competence Of Bovine In Vitro Matured Oocytes, Brittany Alanna Foster

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As the necessity to improve in vitro embryo production efficiency is ever increasing, so too is the prerequisite obligation to improve oocyte competence. The ability of an oocyte to successfully produce a viable embryo requires that it both completes meiotic maturation and synchronously achieves cytoplasmic competence; an encompassing term that refers to the oocytes correct accumulation and storage of mRNAs, proteins and factors as well as the development and reorganization of organelles and the cytoskeleton. The current research was designed to analyze those methods that go into oocyte collection and pre-maturation handling to determine if there are ways to ensure …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyaniline Agglomerates And Polyaniline Nanoparticles To Use As Printed Sensors To Detect Spoilage Of Catfish During Refrigerated Storage, Vashti Martae Campbell

LSU Master's Theses

There is growing interest in the development of sensors contained in packaging for seafood that are applicable at the consumer level to monitor freshness in a non-destructive manner. Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) analysis indicates the freshness of seafood. TVB-N analysis is sensitive to the spoilage compounds comprised of ammonia, trimethylamine, dimethylamine, and biogenic amines commonly found in seafood and whose concentration increases when spoilage microbial growth occurs. However, TVB-N analysis is laborious and is not suitable for use at the consumer level. Polyaniline (PANI) is a polymer that may be used as a sensor for detecting TVB-N in seafood. …

A Bayesian Phase I/Ii Trial Design For Immunotherapy, Suyu Liu, Beibei Guo, Ying Yuan

Faculty Publications

Immunotherapy is an innovative treatment approach that stimulates a patient’s immune system to fight cancer. It demonstrates characteristics distinct from conventional chemotherapy and stands to revolutionize cancer treatment. We propose a Bayesian phase I/II dose-finding design that incorporates the unique features of immunotherapy by simultaneously considering three outcomes: immune response, toxicity, and efficacy. The objective is to identify the biologically optimal dose, defined as the dose with the highest desirability in the risk–benefit tradeoff. An Emax model is utilized to describe the marginal distribution of the immune response. Conditional on the immune response, we jointly model toxicity and efficacy using …

Evaluation Of Oncolytic And Immunomodulatory Potential Of The Hsv-1 Live-Attenuated Vaccine Strain Vc2 In An Immunocompetent Murine Melanoma Model, Natalie Wall Fowlkes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Melanoma accounts for 90% of skin cancer-related deaths in humans. Treatment options for metastatic melanoma in people is very limited. Melanoma is considered to be an immunogenic tumor, spurring interest in development of immunotherapies for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Oncolytic virotherapy has been widely investigated. The first ever oncolytic virotherapy to receive FDA-approval is an HSV-1-based virus (Talimogene Laherperavec (T-Vec) or Imlygic) containing a transgene for human GM-CSF to enhance anti-tumor immune responses after injection. Durable response rate in human patients was only 16% despite impressive efficacy in anti-tumor effects in vitro and in murine tumor models. Novel viruses …

Curve Tracking Control Under State Constraints And Uncertainties, Robert Kelly Sizemore

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We study a class of steering control problems for free-moving particles tracking a curve in the plane and also in a three-dimensional environment, which are central problems in robotics. In the two-dimensional case, we provide adaptive controllers for curve tracking under unknown curvatures and control uncertainty. The system dynamics include a nonlinear dependence on the curvature, and are coupled with an estimator for the unknown curvature to form the augmented error dynamics. This nonlinear dependence puts our curvature identification objective outside the scope of existing adaptive tracking and parameter identification results that were limited to cases where the unknown parameters …

Residual Effects Of Termiticides On Mortality Of Formosan Subterranean Termites, Coptotermes Formosanus Shiraki, In Substrates Subjected To Flooding, Rajani Sapkota

LSU Master's Theses

Formosan subterranean termites (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki) are one of the most important economic insects in the Southern US since they cause severe and costly damage to properties. Soil treatment with termiticides is the most widely used and reliable method for termite prevention, but their efficacy after a home floods, an all too common event for a homeowner in recent years, has prompted many pest control companies to suggest a new treatment is necessary. This can be expensive and possibly unnecessary. However, several factors such as termiticide water solubility and binding properties, soil type and soil leachability and the inherent …

Groundwater And Thermal Legacy Of A Large Paleolake In Taylor Valley, East Antarctica As Evidenced By Airborne Electromagnetic And Sedimentological Techniques, Krista Falcon Myers

LSU Master's Theses

During the Last Glacial Maximum, grounded ice in the Ross Sea extended into the otherwise ice-free McMurdo Dry Valleys, creating a series of large ice dammed paleolakes. Grounded ice within the mouth of Taylor Valley allowed for lake levels to reach elevations not possible at modern day and formed what is known as Glacial Lake Washburn (GLW). GLW extended from the eastern portion of Taylor Valley roughly 20 km west to a level ~300 m higher than modern day Lake Fryxell. The formation and existence of GLW has been debated, though previous studies correlate the timing of GLW with early …

Island Edge Morphodynamics Along A Chronosequence In A Prograding Deltaic Floodplain Wetland, Azure E. Bevington, Robert R. Twilley

Faculty Publications

Much of the previous research on coastal deltaic land building has focused on the planform delta dimensions; whereas this research focuses on shifts in vertical elevation and deltaic island edge cross-sectional morphology in relation to a proposed conceptual model of deltaic island edge morphological development. This study was conducted using data collected from the Wax Lake Delta in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Island edge cross-sectional elevation profiles were extracted from a 2012 LIDAR elevation survey. Four morphometric variables (levee width, interior slope, mean elevation range, and total elevation range) were selected to describe the shape of each of these …

Malleilactone Is A Burkholderia Pseudomallei Virulence Factor Regulated By Antibiotics And Quorum Sensing, Jennifer R. Klaus, Jacqueline Deay, Benjamin Neuenswander, Wyatt Hursh, Zhe Gao, Tiffany Bouddhara, Todd D. Williams, Justin Douglas, Kyle Monize, Patricia Martins, Charlotte Majerczyk, Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost, Blake R. Peterson, Mario Rivera, Josephine R. Chandler

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Society for Microbiology. Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, encodes almost a dozen predicted polyketide (PK) biosynthetic gene clusters. Many of these are regulated by LuxR-I-type acyl-homoserine (AHL) quorum-sensing systems. One of the PK gene clusters, the mal gene cluster, is conserved in the close relative Burkholderia thailandensis. The B. thailandensis mal genes code for the cytotoxin malleilactone and are regulated by a genetically linked LuxR-type transcription factor, MalR. Although AHLs typically interact with LuxR-type proteins to modulate gene transcription, the B. thailandensis MalR does not appear to be an AHL receptor. Here, we characterize the …