Digital Commons Network^™

Can Gulf Ribbed Mussels Enhance Coastal Restoration Projects In A Future With Climate Change?, Skylar Liner

LSU Master's Theses

Living shorelines present one restoration approach using biotic elements (via ecosystem engineers) to stabilize shorelines and increase valuable habitat. Gulf ribbed mussels (Geukensia granosissima) are important ecosystem engineers within brackish and salt marshes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and can increase nutrient availability, enhance marsh vegetation production, and potentially improve shoreline stability. It is unknown whether mussels will maintain these functions as future climate change predicts increases in temperature and water level, which may exceed the mussel’s tolerance. A field survey conducted during the summer of 2022 identified the daily maximum temperature at the marsh surface, where mussels naturally …

An Improved Framework For Estimating Organic Carbon Content Of Mangrove Soils Using Loss-On-Ignition And Coastal Environmental Setting, Joshua L. Breithaupt, Havalend E. Steinmuller, Andre S. Rovai, Kevin M. Engelbert, Joseph M. Smoak, Lisa G. Chambers, Kara R. Radabaugh, Ryan P. Moyer, Amanda Chappel, Derrick R. Vaughn, Thomas S. Bianchi, Robert R. Twilley, Paulo Pagliosa, Miguel Cifuentes-Jara, Danilo Torres

Faculty Publications

The use of loss on ignition (LOI) measurements of soil organic matter (SOM) to estimate soil organic carbon (OC) content is a decades-old practice. While there are limitations and uncertainties to this approach, it continues to be necessary for many coastal wetlands researchers and conservation practitioners without access to an elemental analyzer. Multiple measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) standards recognize the need (and uncertainty) for using this method. However, no framework exists to explain the substantial differences among equations that relate SOM to OC; consequently, equation selection can be a haphazard process leading to widely divergent and inaccurate estimates. To …

Fermi-Gbm Discovery Of Grb 221009a: An Extraordinarily Bright Grb From Onset To Afterglow, S. Lesage, P. Veres, M. S. Briggs, A. Goldstein, D. Kocevski, E. Burns, C. A. Wilson-Hodge, P. N. Bhat, D. Huppenkothen, C. L. Fryer, R. Hamburg, J. Racusin, E. Bissaldi, E. Bissaldi, W. H. Cleveland, S. Dalessi, C. Fletcher, M. M. Giles, B. A. Hristov, C. M. Hui, B. Mailyan, C. Malacaria, S. Poolakkil, O. J. Roberts, A. Von Kienlin, J. Wood, M. Ajello, M. Arimoto, L. Baldini, J. Ballet, M. G. Baring, D. Bastieri, J. Becerra Gonzalez

Faculty Publications

We report the discovery of GRB 221009A, the highest flux gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM). This GRB has continuous prompt emission lasting more than 600 s, which smoothly transitions to afterglow emission visible in the Fermi-GBM energy range (8 keV-40 MeV), and total energetics higher than any other burst in the Fermi-GBM sample. By using a variety of new and existing analysis techniques we probe the spectral and temporal evolution of GRB 221009A. We find no emission prior to the Fermi-GBM trigger time (t 0; 2022 October 9 at 13:16:59.99 UTC), indicating that …

Science Diplomacy From The Global South: The Case Of Intergovernmental Science Organizations, Anna Lena Rüland, Nicolas Rüffin, Katharina Cramer, Prosper Ngabonziza, Manoj Saxena, Stefan Skupien

Faculty Publications

Intergovernmental science organizations (IGSOs) address many challenges of the 21st century. Several countries of the Global South have joined established IGSOs or have created new ones. Yet we know little about their interests in IGSOs. Our study addresses this blind spot by investigating which objectives Southern actors pursue in IGSOs and under which conditions they are likely to achieve their objectives. Using insights from three strands of literature, we compare four IGSOs with Southern participation: the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the Square Kilometer Array, and the African Lightsource. We show that countries of the …

Unlocking The Potential Of Kinase Targets In Cancer: Insights From Canceromicsnet, An Ai-Driven Approach To Drug Response Prediction In Cancer, Manali Singha, Limeng Pu, Gopal Srivastava, Xialong Ni, Brent A. Stanfield, Ifeanyi K. Uche, Paul J.F. Rider, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, J. Ramanujam, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

Deregulated protein kinases are crucial in promoting cancer cell proliferation and driving malignant cell signaling. Although these kinases are essential targets for cancer therapy due to their involvement in cell development and proliferation, only a small part of the human kinome has been targeted by drugs. A comprehensive scoring system is needed to evaluate and prioritize clinically relevant kinases. We recently developed CancerOmicsNet, an artificial intelligence model employing graph-based algorithms to predict the cancer cell response to treatment with kinase inhibitors. The performance of this approach has been evaluated in large-scale benchmarking calculations, followed by the experimental validation of selected …

U-Net-Stn: A Novel End-To-End Lake Boundary Prediction Model, Lirong Yin, Lei Wang, Tingqiao Li, Siyu Lu, Zhengtong Yin, Xuan Liu, Xiaolu Li, Wenfeng Zheng

Faculty Publications

Detecting changes in land cover is a critical task in remote sensing image interpretation, with particular significance placed on accurately determining the boundaries of lakes. Lake boundaries are closely tied to land resources, and any alterations can have substantial implications for the surrounding environment and ecosystem. This paper introduces an innovative end-to-end model that combines U-Net and spatial transformation network (STN) to predict changes in lake boundaries and investigate the evolution of the Lake Urmia boundary. The proposed approach involves pre-processing annual panoramic remote sensing images of Lake Urmia, obtained from 1996 to 2014 through Google Earth Pro Version 7.3 …

Object-Oriented Remote Sensing Approaches For The Detection Of Terrestrial Impact Craters As A Reconnaissance Survey, Habimana Emmanuel, Jaehyung Yu, Lei Wang, Sung Hi Choi, Digne Edmond Rwabuhungu Rwatangabo

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to employ a remote sensing reconnaissance survey based on optimal segmentation parameters and an object-oriented random forest approach to the identification of possible terrestrial impact craters from the global 30-m resolution SRTM DEM. A dataset consisting of 94 confirmed and well-preserved terrestrial impact craters, 104 volcanic calderas, and 124 valleys were extracted from real-world surface features. For craters with different sizes, eight optimal scale parameters from 80 to 3000 have been identified using multi-resolution segmentation, where the scale parameters have a positive correlation (R2 = 0.78) with the diameters of craters. The object-oriented random …

Thermophysical Properties Of Additively Manufactured (Am) Grcop-42 And Grcop-84, Yehong Chen, Congyuan Zeng, Huan Ding, Selami Emanet, Paul R. Gradl, David L. Ellis, Shengmin Guo

Faculty Publications

Additive manufacturing (AM) has enabled new opportunities of high-performance alloys for use in complex components across the aerospace, industrial, automotive, and energy industries. These industries have growing interest in copper alloys and AM for high-performance heat exchangers such as rocket engine combustion chambers. GRCop copper alloys, such as GRCop-84 (Cu-8Cr-4 Nb at%) and GRCop-42 (Cu-4Cr-2 Nb at%), have high thermal conductivity and high mechanical properties at elevated operating temperatures. In this paper, thermophysical properties for GRCop-84 and GRCop-42 produced using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) are examined. While L-PBF parameters and resulting microstructures can be achieved in a laboratory environment, …

A Conceptual Investigation Of Transition To Self-Driven Turbidity Currents From Along-Shelf Current-Supported Turbidity Currents, Celalettin E. Ozdemir, Liangyi Yue, Haq Murad Nazari, George Xue, Samuel J. Bentley, Shuo Yang, Sayed O. Hofioni, Robert Forney, Saber Aradpour

Faculty Publications

Wave- and current-supported turbidity currents (WCSTCs) are one of the sediment delivery mechanisms from the inner shelf to the shelf break. Therefore, they play a significant role in the global cycles of geo-chemically important particulate matter. Recent observations suggest that WCSTCs can transform into self-driven turbidity currents close to the continental margin. However, little is known regarding the critical conditions that grow self-driven turbidity currents out of WCSTCs. This is in part due to the knowledge gaps in the dynamics of WCSTCs regarding the role of density stratification. Especially the effect of sediment entrainment on the amount of sediment suspension …

A Robust Experimental Design For Conceptual Model Discrimination Based On Information Theory, Hai V. Pham, Frank T.C. Tsai

Faculty Publications

This study introduces firm information gain for model discrimination based on Shannon entropy and worst-case scenario experimental design. Firm information gain is the minimal additional information gained by an experimental design with respect to existing information. Robust experimental design aims to maximize the firm information gain by searching for the least number of new pumping wells and observation wells. Robust experimental design includes a Bayes factor threshold to ensure that new data provide strong evidence for model discrimination. To maximize the firm information gain, a framework is proposed that combines the parallel-sequential genetic algorithm (GA) for parallel computing and the …

Performance Optimization Study Of The Neuromorphic Radiation Anomaly Detector, James Ghawaly, Aaron Young, Andrew Nicholson, Brett Witherspoon, Nick Prins, Mathew Swinney, Cihangir Celik, Catherine Schuman, Karan Patel

Faculty Publications

This work reports on new results and insights from the optimization of spiking neural networks developed for gamma-ray radiation anomaly detection. Our previous paper introduced the first known neuromorphic algorithm for this application, demonstrating promising results and insights into optimal hyperparameter selection - particularly in the choice of data input encodings. Since the first paper, we have tested the algorithms on new datasets to investigate transferability from one background radiation environment to another. We have also performed a new hyperparameter optimization experiment with this new dataset to investigate the impact of new radiation data formatting techniques, the inclusion or neuronal …

Cyberinet: Integrated Semi-Modular Sensors For The Computer-Augmented Clarinet, Matthew Bardin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Cyberinet is a new Augmented instrument designed to easily and intuitively provide a method of computer-enhanced performance to the Clarinetist to allow for greater control and expressiveness in a performance. A performer utilizing the Cyberinet is able to seamlessly switch between a traditional performance setting and an augmented one. Towards this, the Cyberinet is a hardware replacement for a portion of a Clarinet containing a variety of sensors embedded within the unit. These sensors collect various real time data motion data of the performer and air fow within the instrument. Additional sensors can be connected to the Cyberinet to …

New Standards Versus New World: An Examination Of Select South Louisiana Teachers’ Experiences With Next Generation Science Standards In A Virtual Context, Bridget Lemoine

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The national K-12 science standards were reformed in April 2013. On March 8, 2017, the state of Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the rewrite of the science standards to align with these national standards, and they were implemented in the middle school science classes. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began and thrust all students into the virtual learning world. The purpose of this study was twofold: to investigate certain changes made to the science standards in Louisiana and to examine how the pandemic interrupted NGSS implementation in the classroom both with teachers who were familiar with …

Large-Scale Nonequilibrium Molecular Studies Of Thermal Hydrate Dissociation, Meisam Adibifard, Olufemi Olorode

Faculty Publications

The energy content of methane hydrate reservoirs (MHRs) is at least twice that of conventional fossil fuels. So, there is considerable interest in their commercial development by heating, among other dissociation mechanisms. However, a few researchers have highlighted the potentially uncontrollable release of methane from MHRs, which could occur because of global warming. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the kinetics of thermal hydrate dissociation to safely develop these resources and prevent the release of this greenhouse gas into the environment. Although there have been several molecular studies of thermal dissociation, most of these use small simulation domains that cannot …

Modulating Water Distribution And The Intramicellar Assembly Of Sequence-Defined Ionic Peptoid Block Copolymers By The Ionic Monomer Position, Bailee N. Barrett, Chi Huan Tung, Guan Rong Huang, Istiak Hossain, Chang Woo Do, Vijay T. John, Wei Ren Chen, Donghui Zhang

Faculty Publications

The intramicellar mass heterogeneity of a series of sequence-defined ionic peptoid block copolymers carrying a single charged monomer has been determined through contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering analysis. We observe that the internal micellar structure, namely, the number density radial distributions of invasive water and peptoid polymer, is significantly impacted by the location of the ionic monomer. By positioning the ionic monomer progressively closer to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic block junction, the micelles become less compact with increasing levels of chain folding and invasive water to accommodate electrostatic repulsion among the ionic monomers via solvation. This results in increasingly smaller micellar aggregates …

Development And Calibration Of The Lmrpm Mid-Breton River Sediment Diversion Gate Operations, Emily E. Fertitta

LSU Master's Theses

With the rate of coastal land loss in Louisiana, the state is looking for innovative ways to help restore and maintain its coastal wetlands. Sediment diversions are going to be constructed along the Lower Mississippi River to mitigate the issues by diverting river water, sediment and nutrients into adjacent wetlands. Since there are currently no real-world applications of sediment diversions, the Lower Mississippi River Physical Model is a beneficial modeling tool to study the impact sediment diversions and relative sea level rise have on the hydraulics and sediment transport processes in the river. The two river sediment diversions on the …

Physiologically Relevant Fluid Shear Stress Induced Receptor Conversion In Hormone Receptor-Positive (Hr+) Breast Cancer, Jonathan James Cuccia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among all people in the United States as of 2023 and often has devastating impacts on afflicted patients. Although some treatments show great efficacy against primary breast tumors, none have been able to significantly reduce the mortality rate of breast cancer once it has metastasized to distant sites. In primary, hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancers, endocrine therapies are often used as first-line treatments and are generally well-tolerated. However, as the disease progresses, these previously sensitive cancers can become resistant to endocrine therapies and continue proliferating despite them. Therefore, there is a …

Optimizing Large-Capacity Key-Value Systems For Efficient Data Management, Kefei Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In today's Internet services, key-value system is playing a crucial and indispensable role, and has attracted extensive research in both academia and industry. During the past years, we have witnessed an unprecedented quick development of both memory-based and flash-based key-value systems. With the rapid evolution of memory and storage technologies, we are seeing both challenges and research opportunities.

In this dissertation, we focus on understanding and optimizing the efficiency of large-capacity, high-speed key-value systems from the perspective of both software and hardware to meet the ever-growing performance expectations. We first propose a multi-tier mapping structure, called Cascade Mapping, exploring the …

Bound Preserving Numerical Methods For Infiltration, Arnob Barua

LSU Master's Theses

Simulating the infiltration process in variably saturated media by solving Richards' Equation (RE) remains a computationally challenging task. The degenerate parabolic nature of RE, along with the strongly nonlinear coefficients, makes it very difficult to obtain accurate solutions with conventional numerical methods unless highly refined meshes are used. That is, in the conventional Finite Element Method (FEM), the grid size has to be fine enough to ensure convergence and limit non-physical oscillations, which is computationally expensive. This research aims to develop a second-order accurate FEM discretization with no non-physical oscillations for RE on unstructured meshes which will converge faster than …

Simulation Study Of Shape Memory Polymer Networks Formed By Free Radical Polymerization, Collin D. Wick, Andrew J. Peters, Guoqiang Li

Faculty Publications

Chemically crosslinked thermoset shape memory polymers (TSMPs) can combine the strength required for load-carrying structures and devices with stimuli-responsive properties that can allow them to perform crack-closing or other multifunctional properties. In particular, UV-curable shape memory polymers can be used for 3D printing, and to enhance the design process, a molecular dynamics (MD) modeling framework was developed to study them. The MD simulations were used to calculate thermophysical, mechanical, and shape memory properties for glycerolate dimethacrylate after UV-curing to form a polymer network. Semiquantitative agreement between simulation and experiment was achieved for the different properties compared. By examining various conditions …

Genetic Dissection Of Alkalinity Tolerance In Rice (Oryza Sativa L.), Lovepreet Singh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alkaline stress is a major threat to rice production globally. The resources for genetic improvement of alkalinity tolerance in rice are limited. We performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) and QTL mapping integrated with whole genome sequencing and expression analysis to identify and confirm QTLs and candidate genes. We developed a near-isogenic line (NIL) population to fine map the two important QTLs. In GWAS experiment, we genotyped and phenotyped a panel of indica and japonica genotypes for alkalinity tolerance and identified genomic regions and candidate genes conferring alkalinity tolerance. Principal component analysis revealed that alkalinity tolerance score, shoot dry weight, and …

Analytical Advances In Homeowner Flood Risk Quantification Considering Insurance And Hazard Mitigation, Md Adilur Rahim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Accurate economic loss assessment for natural hazards is vital for planning, mitigation, and actuarial purposes. The widespread and costly nature of flood hazards, with the economically disadvantaged disproportionately victimized, makes flood risk assessment and mitigation particularly important. Recent studies have made advancements in assessing flood risk at individual building level. But these methods require solving an integral equation every time the analysis is run, which is computationally intensive. In addition, analyses to date do not consider insurance (i.e., coverage, deductible) information and thus do not estimate the portion of risk that homeowner and insurer bear. Although existing research does consider …

An Observed Increase In Cardiovascular And Respiratory-Disease Related Hospitalizations And Mortality In An Area Surrounding A Hazardous Waste Thermal Treatment Plant, Liana Isabelle Dela Torre Baconguis

LSU Master's Theses

Particulate matter (PM) pollution is highly correlated with respiratory and cardiovascular disease incidence. The generation of oxidative stress is a major way by which PM can damage the body. Environmentally persistent free radical-containing PM are generated by combustion processes and are capable of exerting increased damage on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems due to their ability to remain stable and regenerate reactive oxygen species for up to five years. Clean Harbors, LLC operates a thermal treatment plant near the city of Colfax, LA in Central Louisiana. Its regular open burning of explosives causes disturbances to the community, such as loud …

Wave Attenuation Through Mangrove Forest Using Lidar Representation, Elizabeth Bogan

LSU Master's Theses

Mangrove forests can be found along the world’s intertidal tropical and sub-tropical coastlines. These forested wetlands provide many ecosystem services, including supporting coastal food chains, trapping sediment, and shoreline stabilization. Mangroves are also known for flood damage mitigation by dissipating waves and surge during flooding events. Thus, coastal communities declare a vested interest in the performance of the forest to mitigate flood damage. Physical models using artificial mangrove structures have shown that red mangrove-dominated fringe forests can protect built infrastructure by reducing wave height due to increased drag. One way to estimate the contribution of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) prop …

Evaluating Vaccine Management Strategies For Edwardsiella Ictaluri Infections In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Brandy Malbrough

LSU Master's Theses

Aquaculture is a globally important industry that faces significant challenges due to infectious diseases, which can result in substantial financial losses. In 2011, a new strain of Edwardsiella ictaluri emerged as a major pathogen affecting zebrafish in the ornamental fish industry, leading to high mortality rates and posing a severe threat to the sector. Vaccines provide potential benefits for disease prevention in aquaculture, particularly live-attenuated vaccines (LAVs), which induce strong host immune responses. Bacterial attenuation for vaccine development has evolved from serial passage to more targeted genetic modification techniques. However, regulatory constraints limit the availability of licensed LAVs for aquaculture. …

Size Effects In Additively Manufactured Inconel-718 Thin Elements And Cellular Structures, Reem Abdelkarim Abo Znemah

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A current focus in the additive manufacturing (AM) research community is the production of complex shaped metallic parts and cellular structures. Many researchers went on analyzing and simulating these structures without considering the effect of the element thickness and heterogeneous printing parameters on the resulting material behavior. To advance the application of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), an AM process, in producing Inconel718 (IN718) complex shaped parts and cellular structures, this study aimed to investigate the effect of thin-walled elements thickness on the mechanical characteristics of both the individual elements and overall cellular structure. A multiscale experimental evaluation of the …

Integrating Behavioral Research Findings With A Liberal Arts Paradigm, Jonathan Peterson

LSU Master's Theses

This paper explores the role of behavioral research in understanding the complexity and relevance of creativity. A brief history of the liberal arts and its current application is followed by a discussion of the importance of variability in generating novel and diverse responses, challenging the notion that creativity is solely a product of innate talent. The effects of reinforcement on variability, and how it relates to a complex relationship between reinforcement and the probability of variable responding leads to a discussion of how the combination of previously trained behaviors can lead to creative problem-solving, emphasizing the role of combinatory behavior …

Exploration Of Efficient Dewatering Methods In Stimulus-Responsive Hydrogels And Their Potential For Desalination, Weiliang Sun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Addressing global freshwater scarcity is a pressing challenge, and desalination has emerged as a viable solution to generate high-quality water without compromising natural freshwater ecosystems. In comparison to conventional desalination methods such as thermal distillation and membrane-based processes, hydrogels offer distinct advantages including strong water absorption, water retention, well-defined pore structures, customizable functional groups, and responsive properties to external stimuli. These unique characteristics position hydrogels as promising candidates for water treatment applications. Hydrogel-based desalination involves the utilization of hydrogels to absorb water from saltwater, and then discharge low-concentration solutions to obtain reclaimed water. The fundamental principle underlying the desalination ability …

Tissue Resident Regulatory T Cells And Immunopathology During Influenza Infections, Michael Mcgee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Influenza (flu) virus infections are a leading cause of respiratory illness. Globally there are approximately 290,000-650,000 deaths and 3-5 million cases of severe illness during the average flu season. Severe flu infection is associated with the combination of a strong pro-inflammatory and weak anti-inflammatory response. Regulatory T cell subsets suppress pro-inflammatory responses during flu infection, with production of the immunomodulatory cytokine IL-10 playing a critical role in this process. Tissue resident regulatory T cell subsets are maintained within nonlymphoid tissues and are optimally positioned to suppress localized pro-inflammatory responses. However, knowledge of the signaling pathways regulating the development of tissue …

Computational Design Of Electro-Organocatalysts And Transition Metal Sulfides For The Electrochemical Reduction Of Co2, Foroogh Khezeli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction (ECO₂RR) has emerged as a promising approach for generating carbon-neutral liquid fuels by utilizing excess renewable electricity to convert CO₂. This thesis aims to employ atomistic simulations by using Density Functional Theory (DFT) to investigate the mechanistic details of how transition metal sulfides and electro-organocatalysts can enhance the activity and selectivity towards desired products, including those containing C-H bonds and molecules with C-C bonds. For this project, three different electrocatalysts were designed computationally.

Firstly, MoS₂ was chosen as a transition metal sulfide catalyst with the objective of understanding the kinetics …