Digital Commons Network^™

Majorana Quasiparticles In Topological Material Interfaces, David Alspaugh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we analyze how Majorana quasiparticles found on material interfaces of both topological insulators (TIs) and topological superconductors (TSCs) are affected by imperfections within their local environment. While these quasiparticles are predicted to be critical for the construction of quantum computers, they are typically modeled only under pristine conditions. Thus, although quantum computers may require the spatial manipulation of Majorana quasiparticles, these topological material interfaces are commonly studied in static contexts and their response to manipulation remains an open question. We first demonstrate that interface potentials on the topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ can enable the emergence …

Innovation And Competitiveness Of The Wood Furniture Industry In Kenya, Gilbert Osoro Ototo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The wood furniture industry in Kenya has been growing rapidly despite a decline in domestic timber supply. Although most furniture is made locally, a larger share is increasingly being imported from other countries, creating competition for domestic manufacturers. The government aims at shifting most of the demand to domestic producers to protect the sector and create jobs. However, lack of innovation has been cited as the main cause of diminishing competitiveness of the sector. Studies have shown that innovation plays a key role in creating new products, improving production processes, and establishing better business systems.

Innovation in the furniture sector …

Intimate Rhetorics Of Networked Motherhood, Katie Nelson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fundamentally pregnant bodies are understood, similarly to women’s bodies, as necessitating discipline. However, new networked forums have emerged where pregnancy is understood as affirming and having the capacity to challenge a silenced subject position. Using three case studies, the #IHadAMiscarriage Instagram page, the #TakeBackPostpartum Instagram page, and mediatized discourses surrounding Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy, this dissertation writes intimate publicity into these mediatized transgressions of pregnancy and postpartum. I argue discourses about pregnancy and postpartum in these networked spaces constitute intimate publics through the cultivation of shared affected investments and divestments in embodied experiences. These investments in the embodied experiences are crafted …

All-Sky Search In Early O3 Ligo Data For Continuous Gravitational-Wave Signals From Unknown Neutron Stars In Binary Systems, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, S. Abraham, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, A. Adams, C. Adams, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, D. Agarwal, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, K. M. Aleman, G. Allen, A. Allocca, P. A. Altin, A. Amato, S. Anand, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, S. V. Angelova, S. Ansoldi, J. M. Antelis, S. Antier, S. Appert, K. Arai

Faculty Publications

Rapidly spinning neutron stars are promising sources of continuous gravitational waves. Detecting such a signal would allow probing of the physical properties of matter under extreme conditions. A significant fraction of the known pulsar population belongs to binary systems. Searching for unknown neutron stars in binary systems requires specialized algorithms to address unknown orbital frequency modulations. We present a search for continuous gravitational waves emitted by neutron stars in binary systems in early data from the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors using the semicoherent, GPU-accelerated, binaryskyhough pipeline. The search analyzes the most sensitive frequency …

Controls For A Nonlinear System Arising In Vision-Based Landing Of Airliners, Laurent Burlion, Victor Gibert, Michael Malisoff, Frederic Mazenc

Faculty Publications

We use a novel backstepping method to solve a stabilization problem for a nonlinear system with delayed sampled outputs that are not accurately measured. We provide an application to a system arising in vision-based landing of airliners that includes coupling between the lateral and longitudinal dynamics, for which we provide performance guarantees in the presence of the delay, nonlinearity, and sampling. Our major contributions are (a) designs of lateral and longitudinal controls for our nonlinear model of an aircraft landing on an unequipped runway, (b) mathematical proofs that our controls ensure that the aircraft being modeled achieves desired alignment with …

"Will God Forgive Us?": Christianity And The Climate Crisis In Auteur Cinema, Margaret Alice Parson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is an unavoidable and real catastrophic threat to the future of Planet Earth. This dissertation is interested in how contemporary auteur cinema draws on Christian forms to give expression to the ineffability of environmental collapse. In this rhetorical generic criticism, I discuss three recent auteur films: First Reformed (2017, directed by Paul Schrader), Interstellar (2014, directed by Christopher Nolan), and mother! (2017, directed by Darren Aronofsky). In order to best rhetorically analyze these films, I perform a generic criticism which utilizes aspects of psychoanalysis and affect theory as per the work of Gunn. Each film is …

Garden Of Ruins: Military Occupation And State Power In Civil War Louisiana, Johnathan Matthew Ward

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using Civil War Louisiana as its focus, I argue that military occupation and expansive state power during the US Civil War served the primary mechanisms by which national states fought the war, stabilized order, and shaped a postwar nation. While many histories of the war separate frontline combat from the domestic home front and distinguish between the policy decisions of high politics and everyday decisions on the ground, this dissertation connects the political decisions of war to the daily acts of governance and resistance in occupied Louisiana. Union occupation officials and Confederate state authorities made contingent decisions throughout the war …

The Dna Cloud: Is It Alive?, Theodoros Bargiotas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this analysis, I will firstly be presenting the current knowledge concerning the materiality of the internet based Cloud, which I will henceforth be referring to as simply the Cloud. For organisation purposes I have created two umbrella categories under which I place the ongoing research in the field. Scholars have been addressing the issue of Cloud materiality through broadly two prisms: sociological materiality and geopolitical materiality. The literature of course deals with the intricacies of the Cloud based on its present ferromagnetic storage functionality. However, developments in synthetic biology have caused private tech companies and University spin-offs to flirt …

New Representations For A Semi-Markov Chain And Related Filters, Robert J. Elliott, W. P. Malcolm

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Updated Miniboone Neutrino Oscillation Results With Increased Data And New Background Studies, A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo, B. C. Brown, J. M. Conrad, R. Dharmapalan, A. Diaz, Z. Djurcic, D. A. Finley, R. Ford, G. T. Garvey, S. Gollapinni, A. Hourlier, E-C Huang, N. W. Kamp, G. Karagiorgi, T. Katori, T. Kobilarcik, K. Lin, W. C. Louis, C. Mariani, W. Marsh, G. B. Mills, J. Mirabal-Martinez, C. D. Moore, R. H. Nelson, J. Nowak, I Parmaksiz, Z. Pavlovic, H. Ray, B. P. Roe, A. D. Russell, A. Schneider, M. H. Shaevitz, H. Siegel, J. Spitz, I. Stancu, R. Tayloe, R. T. Thornton, M. Tzanov, R. G. Van De Water, D. H. White, E. D. Zimmerman

Faculty Publications

The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports a total excess of 638.0 +/- 52.1(stat) +/- 122.2(syst) electronlike events from a data sample corresponding to 18.75 x 10(20) protons-on-target in neutrino mode, which is a 46% increase in the data sample with respect to previously published results and 11.27 x 10(20) protons-on-target in antineutrino mode. The overall significance of the excess, 4.8 sigma, is limited by systematic uncertainties, assumed to be Gaussian, as the statistical significance of the excess is 12.2 sigma. The additional statistics allow several studies to address questions on the source of the excess. First, we provide two-dimensional plots …

Smart Quantum Technologies Using Photons, Narayan Bhusal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The technologies utilizing quantum states of light have been in the spotlight for the last two decades. In this regard, quantum metrology, quantum imaging, quantum-optical communication are some of the important applications that exploit fascinating quantum properties like quantum superposition, quantum correlations, and nonclassical photon statistics. However, the state-of-art technologies operating at the single-photon level are not robust enough to truly realize a reliable quantum-photonic technology.

In Chapter 1, I present a historical account of photon-based technologies. Furthermore, I discuss recent efforts and encouraging developments in the field of quantum-photonic technologies, and major challenges for the experimental realization of reliable …

Campus Protests And Competing Marketplaces: A Legal Examination Of Operative Tension Between The Marketplace Of Ideas And The Neoliberal Marketplace, Gillian Patricia Foss

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the marketplace of ideas analogy, a longstanding force in First Amendment jurisprudence, as it evolves within the same operational contexts as neoliberal economic policy in higher education. To accomplish this, the study focuses on students, the campus population whose activism patterns are distinctively associated with renewed public debate over free speech in university settings. The study combined legal and qualitative research methods to explore a modern campus environment, rife for student dissent, that exists in unresolved tension between the legal underpinnings of the marketplace of ideas analogy and institutional behaviors increasingly linked to neoliberalism. After all: findings …

A Review Of 50 Years Of Study Of Hydrology, Wetland Dynamics, Aquatic Metabolism, Water Quality And Trophic Status, And Nutrient Biogeochemistry In The Barataria Basin, Mississippi Delta-System Functioning, Human Impacts And Restoration Approaches, John W. Day, William H. Conner, Ronald D. Delaune, Charles S. Hopkinson, Rachael G. Hunter, Gary P. Shaffer, Demetra Kandalepas, Richard F. Keim, G. Paul Kemp, Robert R. Lane, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Charles E. Sasser, John R. White, Ivan A. Vargas-Lopez

Faculty Publications

Here we review an extensive series of studies of Barataria Basin, an economically and ecologically important coastal basin of the Mississippi Delta. Human activity has greatly altered the hydrology of the basin by decreasing riverine inflows from leveeing of the river and its distributaries, increasing runoff with high nutrient concentrations from agricultural fields, and channelization of wetlands of the basin interior that has altered flow paths to often bypass wetlands. This has resulted in degraded water quality in the upper basin and wetland loss in the lower basin. Trophic state analysis found the upper basin to be eutrophic and the …

A Facility For The Research, Development, And Translation Of Advanced Technologies For Ion-Beam Therapies, M. Lis, W. Newhauser, M. Donetti, M. Durante, U. Weber, B. Zipfel, C. Hartmann-Sauter, M. Wolf, C. Graeff

Faculty Publications

This article describes the updated GSI radiotherapy research facility (Cave M) located at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany. This facility was upgraded by modernizing the beamline that supported a pilot project in carbon ion cancer therapy in Europe from 1997 to 2008. Descriptions are provided of the modernized beamline, related hardware components and treatment delivery system. The performance specifications and general characteristics for each major component are described, along with example pre-clinical test results of selected components. These upgrades to Cave M allow for investigating novel therapy methods. The radiotherapy research facility is located …

Spatial Mode Correction Of Single Photons Using Machine Learning, Narayan Bhusal, Sanjaya Lohani, Chenglong You, Mingyuan Hong, Joshua Fabre, Pengcheng Zhao, Erin M. Knutson, Ryan T. Glasser, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza

Faculty Publications

Spatial modes of light constitute valuable resources for a variety of quantum technologies ranging from quantum communication and quantum imaging to remote sensing. Nevertheless, their vulnerabilities to phase distortions, induced by random media, impose significant limitations on the realistic implementation of numerous quantum-photonic technologies. Unfortunately, this problem is exacerbated at the single-photon level. Over the last two decades, this challenging problem has been tackled through conventional schemes that utilize optical nonlinearities, quantum correlations, and adaptive optics. In this article, the self-learning and self-evolving features of artificial neural networks are exploited to correct the complex spatial profile of distorted Laguerre–Gaussian modes …

Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Disadvantage That Lies At The Intersection Of Race And Gender Through The Lens Of Kamala Harris, Wennafer Caela Donald

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Planet Hunters Tess Ii: Findings From The First Two Years Of Tess, N. L. Eisner, O. Barragan, C. Lintott, S. Aigrain, B. Nicholson, T. S. Boyajian, S. Howell, C. Johnston, B. Lakeland, G. Miller, A. Mcmaster, H. Parviainen, E. J. Safron, M. E. Schwamb, L. Trouille, S. Vaughan, N. Zicher, C. Allen, S. Allen, M. Bouslog, C. Johnson, M. N. Simon, Z. Wolfenbarger, E. M. L. Baeten, D. M. Bundy, T. Hoffman

Faculty Publications

We present the results from the first two years of the Planet Hunters TESS (PHT) citizen science project, which identifies planet candidates in the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data by engaging members of the general public. Over 22000 citizen scientists from around the world visually inspected the first 26 sectors of TESS data in order to help identify transit-like signals. We use a clustering algorithm to combine these classifications into a ranked list of events for each sector, the top 500 of which are then visually vetted by the science team. We assess the detection efficiency of this methodology …

Juvenile Punishment, High School Graduation, And Adult Crime: Evidence From Idiosyncratic Judge Harshness, Ozkan Eren, Naci Mocan

Faculty Publications

This paper contributes to the debate on the impact of juvenile crime punishment on high school completion and adult recidivism using administrative data from a southern U.S. state. We exploit random assignment of cases to judges and use idiosyncratic judge stringency in imprisonment to estimate the causal effect of incarceration. We find that juvenile incarceration increases the propensity of being convicted for a drug offense in adulthood while it lowers the propensity to be convicted of a property crime. Juvenile incarceration has also a detrimental effect on high school completion for earlier cohorts, but it has no impact on later …

Investigation Of Field Rut Depth Of Asphalt Pavements Using Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test, Weiguang Zhang, Xiao Chen, Shihui Shen, Louay N. Mohammad, Bingyan Cui, Shenghua Wu, Ali Raza Khan

Faculty Publications

This paper characterized field rutting performance of asphalt pavement based on Hamburg wheel tracking (HWT) rut depth. The rut depths were collected from 50 field pavement sections, and cores from the same test areas were obtained to conduct volumetric properties measurement and HWT test. The relationship between field measurements and HWT rut depth was evaluated; the ranking of HWT results and field rut depth among mixtures was also compared. An analysis of if the HWT rut depth underpredicted or overpredicted field rut depth, or they were equivalent was summarized. A field rut depth predictive model that consisted of HWT rut …

Potentials Of Sustainable Electricity Production From Sawdust By Small-Scale Wood Transformation Units: A Case Study In Cameroon, Kewir Fannyuy Veeyee, Nde Divine Bup, Dorin Boldor, Nkeng George Elambo

Faculty Publications

Wood processing produces large volumes of residues which, when not properly managed, pose an environmental problem in the vicinity and beyond. These residues mainly constituted of sawdust and wood shavings, possess important energy potentials that are largely underexploited in Cameroon. In this work, we investigate the possibility that sawdust generated by wood transformation units (WTU) in Cameroon can be used sustainably to render them self-sufficientin terms of electricity demands through the production of syngas in a gasification process. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in the research. Initially, a questionnaire was employed to quantify the sawdust produced in the …

A Feedback-Based Pneumatic Compression System For Effective Lymphedema Management, Mohammad Imrul Kayes

LSU Master's Theses

Bioimpedance analysis (BIA) is a method of detecting lymphedema- a debilitating medical condition involving swelling of the extremities. Pneumatic compression devices are frequently used in the compression treatment of lymphedema. Although existing compression technology provides relief of symptoms, it has limitations in terms of ease-of-use, portability, and monitoring of treatment progress. Currently, there are no BIA analyzers in the market that run on a low-power microcontroller and a rechargeable battery. Moreover, no such device currently exists that integrate the BIA analysis with pneumatic compression system to offer a feedback-based solution for lymphedema treatment. This work represents the first steps towards …

Noncentral Limit Theorem For Large Wishart Matrices With Hermite Entries, Charles-Philippe Diez, Ciprian A. Tudor

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

How Much Hvac Energy Could Be Saved From The Occupant-Centric Smart Home Thermostat: A Nationwide Simulation Study, Zhihong Pang, Yan Chen, Jian Zhang, Zheng O'Neill, Hwakong Cheng, Bing Dong

Faculty Publications

Thermostat management plays a significant role in household energy conservation. This study aims to conduct a systematic and comprehensive analysis to quantify the energy savings potential of the occupant-centric smart thermostat based on a large-scale nationwide simulation infrastructure. The single-family Residential Prototype Building Model was used to represent a typical single-family detached house in the U.S. A generalized random occupancy presence schedule was created based on an occupancy probability schedule and k-means clustering algorithm. A total of 16,000 simulations, which were composed of four building foundation types, four heating source types, 40 American cities, five building energy code versions, and …

Identification Of A Local Sample Of Gamma-Ray Bursts Consistent With A Magnetar Giant Flare Origin, E. Burns, D. Svinkin, K Hurley, Z. Wadiasingh, M. Negro, G. Younes, R. Hamburg, A. Ridnaia, D. Cook, S. B. Cenko, R. Aloisi, G. Ashton, M. Baring, M. S. Briggs, N. Christensen, D. Frederiks, A. Goldstein, C. M. Hui, D. L. Kaplan, M. M. Kasliwal, D. Kocevski, O. J. Roberts, V. Savchenko, A. Tohuvavohu, P. Veres, C. A. Wilson-Hodge

Faculty Publications

Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to arise from distinct progenitor channels: short GRBs mostly from neutron star mergers and long GRBs from a rare type of core-collapse supernova (CCSN) called collapsars. Highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars also generate energetic, short-duration gamma-ray transients called magnetar giant flares (MGFs). Three have been observed from the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies, and they have long been suspected to constitute a third class of extragalactic GRBs. We report the unambiguous identification of a distinct population of four local (<5 Mpc) short GRBs, adding GRB 070222 to previously discussed events. While identified solely based on alignment with nearby star-forming galaxies, their rise time and isotropic energy release are independently inconsistent with the larger short GRB population at >99.9% confidence. These properties, the host galaxies, and nondetection in gravitational waves …

Areal Probability Of Precipitation In Moist Tropical Air Masses For The United States, Cade Reesman, Paul Miller, Rebecca D’Antonio, Kevin Gilmore, Ben Schott, Chris Bannan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Association Of Initial Β-Amyloid Levels With Subsequent Flortaucipir Positron Emission Tomography Changes In Persons Without Cognitive Impairment, David S. Knopman, Emily S. Lundt, Terry M. Therneau, Sabrina M. Albertson, Jeffrey L. Gunter, Matthew L. Senjem, Christopher G. Schwarz, Michelle M. Mielke, Mary M. Machulda, Bradley F. Boeve, David T. Jones, Jon Graff-Radford, Prashanthi Vemuri, Kejal Kantarci, Val J. Lowe, Ronald C. Petersen, Clifford R. Jack, Paul Aisen, Michael Weiner, William Jagust, John Q. Trojanowki, Arthur W. Toga, Laurel Beckett, Robert C. Green, Andrew J. Saykin, Leslie M. Shaw, Zaven Khachaturian, Greg Sorensen, Maria Carrillo, Lew Kuller, Marc Raichle, Steven Paul, Peter Davies, Howard Fillit

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Importance: Tau accumulation in Alzheimer disease (AD) is closely associated with cognitive impairment. Quantitating tau accumulation by positron emission tomography (PET) will be a useful outcome measure for future clinical trials in the AD spectrum. Objective: To investigate the association of β-amyloid (Aβ) on PET with subsequent tau accumulation on PET in persons who were cognitively unimpaired (CU) to gain insight into temporal associations between Aβ and tau accumulation and inform clinical trial design. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study included individuals aged 65 to 85 years who were CU and had participated in the Mayo Clinic Study of …

Multifunctional Films For Thermoplastic Composite Joints: Ultrasonic Welding And Damage Detection Under Tension Loading, Wencai Li, Harry Frederick, Genevieve Palardy

Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the use of multi-walled carbon nanotube/polypropylene (MWCNT/PP) films to enable ultrasonic welding and damage detection of glass fiber/polypropylene (GF/PP) composite joints in a single lap configuration. Three MWCNT concentrations above electrical percolation (15–25 wt%) were chosen to weld GF/PP adherends. The effect of MWCNT content on the welding process was evaluated by comparing weld quality through lap shear strength (LSS) tests and fractography analysis. Films containing 15 and 20 wt% MWCNT had no significant effect on the welding process, while 25 wt% reduced LSS by up to 39% compared to pure PP films due to their brittleness. …

Streamline-Based Simulation Of Nanoparticle Transport In Field-Scale Heterogeneous Subsurface Systems, Bin Wang, Yin Feng, John Blears, Karsten Thompson, Richard Hughes

Faculty Publications

Nanoparticle (NP) transport is increasingly relevant to subsurface engineering applications such as aquifer characterization and enhanced oil recovery. An efficient field-scale simulation framework is critical for predicting NP performance and designing subsurface applications. In this work, for the first time, a streamline-based model is presented to simulate NP transport in field-scale subsurface systems with heterogeneous permeability. It considers a series of smart behaviors exhibited by engineered nanoparticles (NPs), including time-triggered encapsulation, retention, formation damage effects and variable nanofluid viscosity. The key methods employed by the algorithm are streamline-based simulation (SLS) and an operator-splitting (OS) technique for modeling NP transport. The …

Cognitive Maturity As An Intervening Influence On Exposure To Adverse Childhood Experiences, Negative Attributions, And Symptoms Of Depression Among Pre-Adolescent And Adolescent Youth., Mckenzie Marie Ketchum

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Most depression interventions targeted to youth are adapted from adult curricula without enough consideration given to the developmental level and capacity of the intended audience (Kovacs & Lopez-Duran, 2012). Although depression in youth has received recognition and treatment, there remains a gap between the theoretical knowledge base of youth cognitive development and the application of this knowledge to the innovation of developmentally appropriate depression interventions suited for youth of varying levels of cognitive maturity. The current study investigated the influence of cognitive development over the moderation of negative attributions on the relationship between exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and …

Covariance Of The Extended Holonomy, Rodolfo Gambini, Jorge Pullin, Aureliano Skirzewski

Faculty Publications

It has been pointed out that the holonomy of generic extended loops is not gauge covariant. We show how to define a family of extended loops for which previous criticism does not apply. We also give sufficient conditions that extended loops must satisfy in order to yield covariant holonomies. This makes a quantum representation for Yang-Mills theories and gravity based on extended loops viable.