Digital Commons Network^™

Recombinant Dna Vaccine Design As A Potential Strategy Against Bovine Foot And Mouth Disease Virus (Fmdv), Taylor Haynie

LSU Master's Theses

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is the causative agent for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that infects primarily cloven-hoofed animals, the majority of which are domesticated cattle and other important livestock. FMD is highly transmissible and found in all secretions and excretions of infected animals. North America, Europe, and Australia have successfully eradicated the virus with the help of a well-defined fiscal infrastructure and access to successful control measures. Less developed regions, including many Asian and African countries, have maintained an endemic status for decades. African territories are of particular concern because of the indigenous African Buffalo population that serves as an important …

Physics-Based Crystal Plasticity Model For Predicting Microstructure Evolution And Dislocation Densities, Juyoung Jeong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work presents three different studies investigating plastic deformation mechanisms in metals and alloys using crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) modeling. The first study presents a new nonlocal crystal plasticity model for face-centered cubic single crystals under heterogeneous inelastic deformation. The model incorporates generalized constitutive relations that incorporate the thermally activated and drag mechanisms to cover different kinetics of viscoplastic flow in metals and describes the plastic flow and yielding of single-crystals using dislocation densities. The model is compared to micropillar compression experiments for copper single crystals and clarifies the complex microstructural evolution of dislocation densities in metals. The second …

The Black Performer's Toolbox: A Critical Authoethnography, Laura D. Oliver

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Blackness shines bright like the moon and beams outside of identity parameters that are limiting in Western society to determine its communicative function inside and outside systems of power. When Blackness intersects with performance, various ways to construct identity are highlighted to expand our understanding of theory and methods that emphasize difference and culture. This research project aims to reimagine Blackness as a performance methodology to explore the performer’s livelihood onstage and constructions of race that impact identity offstage. Additionally, this project is built from a specific method created from the continuous use of expressive work that reflects societal challenges …

A Data-Driven Multivariate Process Monitoring Platform For Knowledge Discovery And Model Building In Industrial Applications, Estelle E. Seghers

LSU Master's Theses

In industrial chemical manufacturing processes, the amount of raw data generated can add complexity in the analysis and understanding of the process dynamics. Being able to properly interpret this data can help improve plant operation, especially regarding safety and profitability. This research has culminated in FastMan-JMP, a platform proposed for monitoring of industrial processes and optimization of the offline data-driven model-building process as part of the process monitoring workflow. FastMan-JMP is a tool developed in Python to apply various data mining and machine learning techniques quickly and easily to better understand valuable patterns and hidden trends in process data. One …

Diurnal Time-Activity Budget And Habitat Use Of Whooping Cranes (Grus Americana) In The Reintroduced Louisiana Nonmigratory Population, Phillip L. Vasseur, Sammy L. King, Michael D. Kaller

Faculty Publications

Time-activity budget studies provide valuable insights for better understanding animal behavior relative to spatial and temporal habitat use. We examined a reintroduced, nonmigratory Whooping Crane (Grus americana) population to determine how time-activity budgets change relative to crane age, sex, habitat type, and season. Our study area encompassed natural marshes and working wetlands primarily in southwestern Louisiana. From June 2012 to January 2016, we conducted continuous focal sampling on individuals (n = 27) from the first 4 captive-reared cohorts released in the state. We classified age groups as juveniles, subadults, and adults, and identified 5 main habitat types utilized by cranes …

Delineating The Effects Of Molecular And Colloidal Interactions Of Dissolved Organic Matter On Titania Photocatalysis, Mostafa Maghsoodi, Céline Jacquin, Benoit Teychené, Geoffroy Lesage, Samuel D. Snow

Faculty Publications

In the face of significant challenges to practical applications of photocatalysis for water treatment, recent reports revealed a potential route to overcome a problem posed by dissolved organic matter (DOM). These studies showed that inhibition of photocatalytic processes by DOM is driven largely by competition for active surface sites on TiO2 or other catalysts, and controlling the type of DOM present in solution could significantly mitigate DOM fouling. Whether or not control of solution parameters could achieve the same preventative action is not known. Here, a series of DOM isolates, including humic acid (HA) and transphilic (TPI), hydrophobic (HPO), or …

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 …

The Impact Of Case Management Intervention For Insured Asthma Patients In Louisiana, An Empirical Study, Mohamed Mohamed Ohaiba

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Asthma is a chronic condition whose symptoms are managed/prevented using medication and interventions. The overarching objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of patients' demographics on case management enrollment and healthcare utilization, as well as to develop machine learning models to predict high-cost patients.

To accomplish these goals, the Man-Whiteness test, the chi-squares test, logistic regression and odds ratios, and machine learning models were implemented. The average cost of the non-enrolled CM group was significantly higher than the enrolled group (p-value .0001). In addition, the non-enrolled groups had considerably more visits to the emergency department than the other …

Recent Advances And Challenges In Implementing Ipm Programmes In The Entomological Context Of Indian Agriculture, Ruchika Geedi, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

Integrated pest management (IPM) programmes are based on using multiple methods to maintain nuisance insects below tolerant levels in crop fields. Recent advances in IPM in developed countries have incorporated biological pesticides, microbial products, semiochemicals, and beneficial insects, but few of such programmes have been successfully implemented in developing countries, such as India. Semiochemicals play critical roles as signals in various interspecific and intraspecific interactions between insects and plants, and among interacting insects, plants, and microbes. In India IPM programmes have included mechanical, chemical, cultural, and biological management strategies. However, among these methods, biological management has its own limitations. Indian …

A Fracture Multiscale Model For Peridynamic Enrichment Within The Partition Of Unity Method, Matthias Birner, Patrick Diehl, Robert Lipton, Marc Alexander Schweitzer

Faculty Publications

Partition of unity methods are of domain decomposition type and provide the opportunity for multiscale and multiphysics numerical modeling. Different physical models can exist within a partition of unity method scheme for handling problems with zones of linear elasticity and zones where fractures occur. Here, the peridynamic model is used in regions of fracture and smooth partition of unity methods is used in the surrounding linear elastic media. Our method is novel in that we evolve the crack path using peridynamics and apply the partition of unity method to compute the elastic fields in the neighborhood of the crack tip. …

Witnessing Entangled Two-Photon Absorption Via Quantum Interferometry, Áulide Martínez-Tapia, Samuel Corona-Aquino, Freiman Triana-Arango, Chenglong You, Rui Bo Jin, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza, Shi Hai Dong, Alfred B. U'Ren, Roberto De J. León-Montiel

Faculty Publications

Recent investigations have suggested that the use of non-classical states of light, such as entangled photon pairs, may open new and exciting avenues in experimental two-photon absorption spectroscopy. Despite several experimental studies of entangled two-photon absorption (eTPA), there is still a heated debate on whether eTPA has truly been observed. This interesting debate has arisen mainly because it has recently been argued that single-photon-loss mechanisms, such as scattering or hot-band absorption, may mimic the expected entangled-photon linear absorption behavior. In this work, we focus on transmission measurements of eTPA and explore three different two-photon quantum interferometers in the context of …

A Reference Genome For Bluegill (Centrarchidae: Lepomis Macrochirus), William B. Ludt, Eamon C. Corbett, Jerry Kattawar, Prosanta Chakrabarty, Brant C. Faircloth

Faculty Publications

North American sunfishes (Family Centrarchidae) are among the most popular sportfish throughout the United States and Canada. Despite the popularity of sunfishes, their ecological importance, and their extensive stocking and aquacultural history, few molecular studies have examined the evolutionary relationships and species boundaries among members of this group, many of which are known to hybridize. Here, we describe a chromosome-scale genome assembly representing Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), one of the most widespread centrarchid species. By combining long-read, Oxford Nanopore sequencing data with short-insert, whole-genome and HiC sequence reads, we produced an assembly (Lm_LA_1.1) having a total length of 889 Mb including …

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Dps (Pa0962) Functions In H2o2 Mediated Oxidative Stress Defense And Exhibits In Vitro Dna Cleaving Activity, Nimesha Rajapaksha, Anabel Soldano, Huili Yao, Fabrizio Donnarumma, Maithri M. Kashipathy, Steve Seibold, Kevin P. Battaile, Scott Lovell, Mario Rivera

Faculty Publications

We report the structural, biochemical, and functional characterization of the product of gene PA0962 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. The protein, termed Pa Dps, adopts the Dps subunit fold and oligomerizes into a nearly spherical 12-mer quaternary structure at pH 6.0 or in the presence of divalent cations at neutral pH and above. The 12-Mer Pa Dps contains two di-iron centers at the interface of each subunit dimer, coordinated by conserved His, Glu, and Asp residues. In vitro, the di-iron centers catalyze the oxidation of Fe²⁺ utilizing H2O2 (not O2) as an oxidant, suggesting Pa Dps functions to aid P. …

Syndepositional Uptake Of Uranium, Molybdenum And Vanadium Into Modern Bahamian Carbonate Sediments During Early Diagenesis, Evan Magette, Adam Turner, Yongbo Peng, Achim D. Herrmann

Faculty Publications

Syndepositional diagenesis is a complicating factor when interpreting geochemical proxies in carbonate sedimentary environments. Previous studies have suggested that carbonate deposits may preserve the geochemical and isotopic signatures of seawater that can be used for paleo-redox reconstructions. However, more work is necessary to understand how these trace metals are preserved. The present study examines shallow marine carbonate sediments from the Bahamas to better understand diagenetic effects on trace metal uptake and sequestration. Analysis of diagenetic effects and trace metal uptake follows a multi-method approach, combining sequential extraction, stable isotope analyses, and rare earth elemental analysis. Stable isotopes track bacterial sulfate …

Effect Of Nadph Oxidase On The Microbial And Chemical Contamination Of Water, Grace Sheets

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Asprosin Promotes Feeding Through Sk Channel-Dependent Activation Of Agrp Neurons, Bing Feng, Hesong Liu, Ila Mishra, Clemens Duerrschmid, Peiyu Gao, Pingwen Xu, Chunmei Wang, Yanlin He

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Asprosin, a recently identified adipokine, activates agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH) via binding to protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor δ (Ptprd) to increase food intake. However, the intracellular mechanisms responsible for asprosin/Ptprd-mediated activation of AgRPARH neurons remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channel is required for the stimulatory effects of asprosin/Ptprd on AgRPARH neurons. Specifically, we found that deficiency or elevation of circulating asprosin increased or decreased the SK current in AgRPARH neurons, respectively. AgRPARH-specific deletion of SK3 (an SK channel subtype highly expressed in AgRPARH neurons) blocked asprosin-induced …

Peat Decomposition And Erosion Contribute To Pond Deepening In A Temperate Salt Marsh, Sheron Luk, Meagan J. Eagle, Giulio Mariotti, Kelsey Gosselin, Jonathan Sanderman, Amanda C. Spivak

Faculty Publications

Salt marsh ponds expand and deepen over time, potentially reducing ecosystem carbon storage and resilience. The water filled volumes of ponds represent missing carbon due to prevented soil accumulation and removal by erosion and decomposition. Removal mechanisms have different implications as eroded carbon can be redistributed while decomposition results in loss. We constrained ponding effects on carbon dynamics in a New England marsh and determined whether expansion and deepening impact nearby soils by conducting geochemical characterizations of cores from three ponds and surrounding high marshes and models of wind-driven erosion. Radioisotope profiles demonstrate that ponds are not depositional environments and …

Genetic Characterization Of The Partial Disease Resistance Of Rice To Bacterial Panicle Blight And Sheath Blight By Combined Qtl Linkage And Qtl-Seq Analyses, John Christian Ontoy, Bishnu Shrestha, Hari Sharan Karki, Inderjit Barphagha, Brijesh Angira, Adam Famoso, Jong Hyun Ham

Faculty Publications

Bacterial panicle blight (BPB) and sheath blight (SB) are major diseases of rice and few cultivars have shown a high level of resistance to these diseases. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed from the U.S. cultivars Jupiter (moderately resistant) and Trenasse (susceptible) was investigated to identify loci associated with the partial disease resistance to BPB and SB. Disease phenotypes in BPB and SB, as well as the days-to-heading (DTH) trait, were evaluated in the field. DTH was correlated to BPB and SB diseases, while BPB was positively correlated to SB in the field trials with this RIL population. Genotyping …

Framework Of The Alu Subfamily Evolution In The Platyrrhine Three-Family Clade Of Cebidae, Callithrichidae, And Aotidae, Jessica M. Storer, Jerilyn A. Walker, Jasmine N. Baker, Shifat Hossain, Christian Roos, Travis J. Wheeler, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

The history of Alu retroposons has been choreographed by the systematic accumulation of inherited diagnostic nucleotide substitutions to form discrete subfamilies, each having a distinct nucleotide consensus sequence. The oldest subfamily, AluJ, gave rise to AluS after the split between Strepsirrhini and what would become Catarrhini and Platyrrhini. The AluS lineage gave rise to AluY in catarrhines and to AluTa in platyrrhines. Platyrrhine Alu subfamilies Ta7, Ta10, and Ta15 were assigned names based on a standardized nomenclature. However, with the subsequent intensification of whole genome sequencing (WGS), large scale analyses to characterize Alu subfamilies using the program COSEG identified entire …

Investigating The Potential Role Of Termites As Pathogen Vectors In The Decline Of Ironwood Trees (Casuarina Equisetifolia) In Guam, Garima Setia

LSU Master's Theses

Termites have been found associated with the decline of Casuarina equisetifolia (ironwood), an important agro-forestry species in Guam. While the ironwood tree decline (IWTD) was first reported in 2002, its association with termites as well as with bacteria Ralstonia solanacearum and Klebsiella species (K. oxytoca and K. variicola) was determined in 2010 and 2012 respectively. In 2019, the termite species attacking the ironwood trees were identified as Nasutitermes takasagoensis, Coptotermes gestroi, and Microcerotermes crassus. However, the role of termites in IWTD is not known. Since termites are repositories of bacteria and consume wood, termite foragers might …

Editorial: Abiotic Stress: Molecular Genetics And Genomics, Volume Ii, Rohini Garg, Prasanta K. Subudhi, Rajeev K. Varshney, Mukesh Jain

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dual Targeting Of Mtor/Il-17a And Autophagy By Fisetin Alleviates Psoriasis-Like Skin Inflammation, Tithi Roy, Sergette Banang-Mbeumi, Samuel T. Boateng, Emmanuelle M. Ruiz, Roxane Cherille N. Chamcheu, Lin Kang, Judy A. King, Anthony L. Walker, Bolni Marius Nagalo, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Stephane Esnault, Shile Huang, Jean Christopher Chamcheu

Faculty Publications

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory skin disorder characterized by epidermal hyperplasia and aberrant immune response. In addition to aberrant cytokine production, psoriasis is associated with activation of the Akt/mTOR pathway. mTOR/S6K1 regulates T-lymphocyte activation and migration, keratinocytes proliferation and is upregulated in psoriatic lesions. Several drugs that target Th1/Th17 cytokines or their receptors have been approved for treating psoriasis in humans with variable results necessitating improved therapies. Fisetin, a natural dietary polyphenol with anti-oxidant and anti-proliferative properties, covalently binds mTOR/S6K1. The effects of fisetin on psoriasis and its underlying mechanisms have not been clearly defined. Here, we evaluated the …

Contagious Animality: Species, Disease, And Metaphor In Early Modern Literature And Culture, Jeremy Cornelius

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In my dissertation, Contagious Animality: Species, Disease, and Metaphor in Early Modern Literature and Culture, I close read examples of Renaissance drama alongside their contemporary cultural texts to examine anxieties around social differences as constructed and mediated through what I call “contagious animality” in early modern English culture. Animal metaphors circulated anxieties around social differences on the early modern cultural stage in English drama where animality elicits uncertainties about identitarian constructions of difference. In this vein, I close read formal elements and their interactions with early modern culture to argue that animal metaphors transmit modes of speciating difference in …

Characterization Of Antiviral Immunity, Host Virus Interactions, And Toxicity Of Agrochemical Residues In The Western Honey Bee, Christopher Fellows

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Honey bee colonies have perished at an alarming rate for over 15 years. Among the multitude of threats to bee health, virus infections and agrochemical exposure appear to be major drivers of colony loss. As virus infection is among the most damaging influences on bee health, we first investigated a putative target for antiviral immunity, termed K_ATP channels. We previously demonstrated that pharmacologically activating K_ATP channels induces the production of reactive oxygen species and increases survival during infection with Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. Here, we demonstrate that K_ATP modulation and ROS induction reduce virus replication and enhance …

Skinks Of Oceania, New Guinea, And Eastern Wallacea: An Underexplored Biodiversity Hotspot, Alex Slavenko, Allen Allison, Christopher C. Austin, Aaron M. Bauer, Rafe M. Brown, Robert N. Fisher, Ivan Ineich, Bulisa Iova, Benjamin R. Karin, Fred Kraus, Sven Mecke, Shai Meiri, Clare Morrison, Paul M. Oliver, Mark O. Shea, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Glenn M. Shea, Oliver J.S. Tallowin, David G. Chapple

Faculty Publications

Context. Skinks comprise the dominant component of the terrestrial vertebrate fauna in Oceania, New Guinea, and Eastern Wallacea (ONGEW). However, knowledge of their diversity is incomplete, and their conservation needs are poorly understood. Aims. To explore the diversity and threat status of the skinks of ONGEW and identify knowledge gaps and conservation needs. Methods. We compiled a list of all skink species occurring in the region and their threat categories designated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. We used available genetic sequences deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information's GenBank to generate a phylogeny of the region’s …

Visual Literacy Unframed: Planning An Oer To Improve College-Level Visual Analysis Skills, Marty Miller

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Fmri In Drug Development: An Update, Owen Carmichael

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain is a technology that holds great potential for increasing the efficiency of drug development for the central nervous system (CNS). In preclinical studies and both early- and late-phase human trials, fMRI has the potential to improve cross-species translation of drug effects, help to de-risk compounds early in development, and contribute to the portfolio of evidence for a compound’s efficacy and mechanism of action. However, to date, the utilization of fMRI in the CNS drug development process has been limited. The purpose of this chapter is to explore this mismatch between potential and …

S.W. Griffith: A Suitable Case For Indictment?, Mark Finnane, Jonathan Richards

Faculty Publications

In his 2021 book ‘Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement’, Henry Reynolds called for an inquiry into the historical record of Samuel Walker Griffith, Federation ‘father’ and first Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. Reynolds’ iconoclasm targeted a historical figure whose name is memorialised in a Riverina town, a Canberra suburb and a Queensland university. Reynolds charged that Griffith was morally and politically responsible for the violence carried out by an agency of the Queensland government, the Native Police. This historically grounded allegation relates to Griffith's pre-Federation Queensland political career, 1874–93, when he served intermittently as Premier, …

Comparative Genomics Of The Niche-Specific Plant Pathogen Streptomyces Ipomoeae Reveal Novel Genome Content And Organization, Natasha R. Soares, José C. Huguet-Tapia, Dongli Guan, Christopher A. Clark, Kuei Ting Yang, Olivia R. Kluchka, Raju S. Thombal, Rendy Kartika, Jonathan H. Badger, Gregg S. Pettis

Faculty Publications

The sweet potato soil rot pathogen Streptomyces ipomoeae differs in disease pathology, host range, and virulence factor production from Streptomyces species that cause scab diseases on potato and other plant hosts. Nevertheless, previous phylogenomic analysis suggested S. ipomoeae and the oldest scab species, Streptomyces scabiei, are derived from a common ancestor. While genomes of scab pathogens have been described in some detail, similar knowledge of S. ipomoeae has been lacking. Here, we performed comparative genomic analyses involving both virulent and avirulent strains of S. ipomoeae, along with other plant-pathogenic and saprophytic Streptomyces spp. The txt gene cluster for the phytotoxin …

The Nitrogen-Dependent Gaba Pathway Of Tomato Provides Resistance To A Globally Invasive Fruit Fly, Hao Li, Yuan Zhang, Hu Li, Gadi V. P. Reddy, Zhihong Li, Fajun Chen, Yucheng Sun, Zihua Zhao

Faculty Publications

Introduction: The primary metabolism of plants, which is mediated by nitrogen, is closely related to the defense response to insect herbivores. Methods: An experimental system was established to examine how nitrogen mediated tomato resistance to an insect herbivore, the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis). All tomatoes were randomly assigned to the suitable nitrogen (control, CK) treatment, nitrogen excess (NE) treatment and nitrogen deficiency (ND) treatment. Results: We found that nitrogen excess significantly increased the aboveground biomass of tomato and increased the pupal biomass of B. dorsalis. Metabolome analysis showed that nitrogen excess promoted the biosynthesis of amino acids in healthy …