Do Analysts’ Gross Margin Forecasts Influence Manager's Decisions To Recognize Inventory Losses?, Nusrat Jahan, Padmakumar Sivadasan

Faculty Publications

Accounting standards require firms to write down their inventory when its market value (or net realizable value) drops below cost. Recognizing inventory write-downs decreases gross margins and increases scrutiny of managers’ inventory management practices. Further, it is difficult for market participants to assess inventory balances. Therefore, managers often delay recognizing inventory losses. Compared with other analysts, analysts who issue disaggregated gross margin (GM) forecasts evaluate a firm's inventories more closely, which should motivate managers to recognize expected inventory losses. Consistent with this prediction, managers’ likelihood of recognizing an expected inventory loss increases as more analysts provide GM forecasts. However, the …

Louisiana Agricultural Magazine, Spring 2025

Louisiana Agriculture

Growing fruits and pecans is a part of Louisiana’s agricultural heritage. Citrus trees have been planted here for three centuries, and the state is famous for strawberries. Pecans and mayhaws are native to the state, and they are beloved by Louisianans. Some of these fruits have become industries worth millions of dollars, while others have become popular for home production.

This issue of Louisiana Agriculture focuses on the efforts of LSU AgCenter Extension experts working to foster home fruit production and support the fruit and pecan industry in Louisiana. Through their research and extension programs, they provide homeowners and commercial …

Monitoring Molecular Interactions With Cell Membranes Using Time-Dependent Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy, Prakash Hamal, Sushant P. Sahu, Peter P. Piers, Huy Nguyen, Shashank S. Kamble, Robin L. Mccarley, Manas R. Gartia, Louis H. Haber

Faculty Publications

Time-resolved second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is used to investigate the physicochemical interactions between positively charged, hydrophobic, drug-like molecules and the plasma membrane of human cells (nonsmall cell lung cancer, H596). In the present study, molecular adsorption and transport of the cationic molecules, malachite green (MG) and malachite green isothiocyanate (MGITC), are studied in real time in living H596 cells and in dead, fixed H596 cells. MGITC is shown to have stronger adsorption and more rapid transport kinetics as compared to MG due to increased dipole-dipole interactions. Additionally, MGITC is found to have faster adsorption and transport kinetics in living …

Introduction: The Future Of Global Journalism—Relationships, Tools, And Power, Ruth Moon, Lea Hellmueller, Herman Wasserman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Unveiling The Nexus Between Digital Monitoring And Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence In Romantic Relationships, Caley Hewitt, Fanny A. Ramirez, Anna Gjika

Faculty Publications

Using survey data from a sample of 378 women who live in the United States and self-identify as either Black or Latinx, this study explores predictors of women’s digital monitoring practices in intimate relationships in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV). We use literature about surveillance, monitoring, and IPV to frame our study. Our results show three significant instances that influence the odds of monitoring a romantic partner: (1) past experiences with digital abuse, (2) past experiences with offline psychological abuse, and (3) age, with younger women having increased odds of engaging in digital monitoring compared to older women. …

The Passive-Active Interaction (Pai) Model: Redefining Audio Interactions In Video Game Music, Morgan A. Weeks

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Scholarship on music in video games has focused on the player in two main ways: the psychological effect music has on the player and the physical, kinesthetic relationship between the player’s inputs and the game’s music. This dissertation builds on this work by exploring gameplay moments in which the music informs the player’s inputs through rhythms, tempo, harmonic relationships, and changes in the musical texture. Using “analytical play” (Summers 2016), rhythmic analysis, looping analysis, and harmonic observations, alongside a variety of different video games, consoles and genres, I have developed an analytical Passive-Active Interaction (PAI) Model that is applicable to …

Audience Participation Structures In The Concert Hall And D, Me, You, We, A Non-Opera For Actor, Chatbot, Musicians, And Audience, Treya Michelle Nash

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Audience participation in the concert hall space has developed into a rich participatory practice with specific characteristics and challenges. Though composers—especially since the 1960s—have written many pieces involving audience participation, asking the concert hall audience to participate remains uncommon. Attempting to shift the role of the audience in such a traditionally spectator-oriented space can lead to tensions that undermine the efficacy of the experience. This research categorizes participatory pieces into the structural elements of performance and facilitation forces, audience groupings, audience roles, and communication types. These structures are used to discuss the complicated relationship between control and agency within participatory …

The Influence Of Selected Demographic And Academic Factors On The Persistence To Degree Completion Of Military Veterans At A Research University In The South, Damon L. Ploger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A large number of veterans leave the military each year, hoping to reacclimate successfully to civilian society while utilizing the knowledge and skills they acquired in the military to assist in their pursuit of gainful employment. Many wish to enhance this process by earning a college degree. Unfortunately, various barriers and other random personal hurdles can impede the progress of the now-veteran student toward degree completion. The lack of knowledge about these barriers and the factors that support a veteran student’s persistence to complete a college degree has created the need for this investigation. The primary purpose of this study …

"En Clave" Tania León And Roberto Sierra: Autochthonous Music Of Cuba And Puerto Rico, Contemporary Music Composition And The 'Puente' In Between, Omar A. Ramirez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document is in two parts. The first examines selected works of Latin-American composers Tania León and Roberto Sierra. Both composers cite their cultural background as a force that shapes their artistic expression. Many of their works are titled in Spanish, with compositions referencing their homelands in subject and narrative, and incorporate the autochthonous music(s) of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Elements of these afrodiasporic musical traditions can be found in their works: Alegre, Batá, Stride, (Leon), Loiza, and Concerto for Viola (Sierra), each examined here.

Autochthonous musical elements are highlighted in score excerpts and described using …

Understanding The Experiences Of Biology Teachers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amber R. Collins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic has caused the world to focus on the transition of learning environments that are more digital and virtual than any other time in educational history. Schools all over the world were required to adjust not only the mode of instruction, such as in virtual, hybrid, or in-person, but also create guidelines and procedures that reduce the amount of interaction between the teacher and the student (Garbe, Ogurlu, Uzeyir, & Cook, 2020). The research questions that guided this study were: 1) What are the experiences of five Biology teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in transitioning to …

A Comprehensive Guide To A Trumpet Embouchure Change, Megan E. George

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to expand the literature related to the subject of trumpet embouchure change and provide a comprehensive resource that will assist both student and teacher in navigating a trumpet embouchure change. This resource will not only help them determine whether to go through with the process but will present them with multiple options regarding embouchure change starting methods. It can be used for a variety of ages but primarily intended for use with students high school age or older.

In current method books, one trumpet embouchure is usually presented and is often a “one-size-fits-all” …

The Role Of Mental Health Literacy And Social Media In Shaping University Students’ Intentions To Use Telehealth Services: A Theory Of Planned Behavior Approach In A Post-Pandemic Society, Jena R. Anderson

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the relationships between mental health literacy and social media use as an informational resource in college students and their intentions to use teletherapy. Using the theory of planned behavior as the framework, this research explores how attitudes towards teletherapy, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence students' willingness to seek out mental health services such as teletherapy. Findings revealed that mental health literacy is a strong predictor of students' attitudes and perceived behavioral control, reinforcing prior research that links literacy to better health management among patients. Social media was also a strong predictor of subjective norms, highlighting …

Assessing Groundwater Availability And Land Subsidence Risk Associated With Anthropogenic Activities In A Complex Aquifer System, Aya Bakr Attya Mohamed

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Southern Hills aquifer system (SHAS) is the primary source of water in the Capital area of Louisiana. However, the overexploitation of freshwater-bearing aquifers and the presence of two active faults, the BR fault and the DSS fault, have resulted in groundwater depletion, saltwater intrusion, and increased the risk of land surface subsidence. Such critical issues pose substantial threats to groundwater availability and exert detrimental effects on the environment and urban infrastructures. This dissertation presents a comprehensive investigation of the SHAS for recognizing the consequences of groundwater depletion and its potential long-term impacts on groundwater availability and land stability. A …

Voices Of Heritage And Resilience: A Performance Guide To Soprano Arias Celebrating The Black Experience In Opera, Imani S. Francis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Voices of Heritage and Resilience: A Performance Guide for Soprano Arias Celebrating the Black Experience explores a selection of soprano arias that illuminate the depth, complexity, and resilience of Black identity through opera. This study provides historical context, musical style, and vocal performance strategies for works that center around the African American experience, spanning both traditional and contemporary repertoire.

By examining the relations between text, music, and historical significance, this dissertation highlights how these arias convey themes of struggle, conflict, oppression, love, and perseverance. It also supplies guidance to the singer through the use of vocal methods, interpretation, and stylistic …

Stochastic Analysis And White Noise Calculus Of Nonlinear Wave Equations With Application To Laser Generation And Propagation, Sivaguru S. Sritharan, Saba Mudaliar

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Social Stories To Shape Impulsive Behaviors To Increase Self-Regulation In Preschoolers, Caroline Claire Hargrave

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Students need to be able to self-regulate their behavior within the classroom, thus not interrupting instruction and keeping the classroom running smoothly. Self-regulation is a critical skill children need to succeed in multiple aspects of life. Poor self-regulation skills can lead to challenges academically as well as socially. Contrary to self-regulation is impulsivity, which surrounds not thinking before doing. Impulsivity is a common factor seen within the preschool setting, which surrounds multiple behavior variations deemed unsuitable for classroom learning. Previous research indicates that social stories can be implemented within the classroom to decrease inappropriate behaviors in preschoolers with …

Bayesian Network-Based Framework To Uncover Social Inequities In Flood Risk: Application To East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Fuad Hasan

LSU Master's Theses

Regional flood risk assessment requires understanding the complex interplay of sociodemographic, socioeconomic, hydrogeologic, built environment, and climatic variables that impact flood vulnerability. Traditional studies often focus on large-scale units, overlooking localized variations and disproportionate exposure within populations. To address these gaps, a methodological framework of flood risk assessment using the Bayesian network was proposed and applied to East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, for the August 2016 flood event to identify relationships between flood risk variables at the housing unit level. Flood exposure representativeness (FER) was determined using the Bayesian network's inference capabilities to identify over- or under-represented groups. This study …

Erratum: Correction: Soil Contamination By Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals And Dioxins Following Train Derailment In East Palestine, Oh (Environmental Science. Processes & Impacts (2025) 27 3 Doi: 10.1039/D4em00609g.), Myron L. Lard, Sarah E. Eichler, Peng Gao, Kuldeep Singh, Joseph D. Ortiz, Robert L. Cook, Slawomir Lomnicki, Stephania A. Cormier, Jennifer Richmond-Bryant

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Correction for 'Soil contamination by environmentally persistent free radicals and dioxins following train derailment in East Palestine, OH' by Myron L. Lard et al., Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1039/d4em00609g.

In The Thick Of It, Mark T. Leavens

LSU Master's Theses

In this exhibition, In The Thick Of It, my paintings and sculptures serve as a visual diary of my experience moving to and navigating life in Louisiana. Through art, I document this new landscape and atmosphere, capturing my evolving emotional state, shifting focus, and emerging ideas. As an outsider, the process of discovery introduces layers of tension, curiosity, and fragmentations in my paintings. The spaces within my paintings reflect a constant flux, mirroring the ongoing adjustments to Louisiana’s cultural cues, history, and environment. The complexity of this rich yet challenging place permeates my art, creating dynamic, layered compositions that echo …

The Metaphysics Of Frank Herbert's Dune And God Emperor Of Dune: On Time And Language, Garrett J. Busshart

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies the metaphysics of time and rhetoric in the science fiction novels Dune (1963) and God Emperor of Dune (1981) by Frank Herbert. The first chapter critiques the protagonist’s sense of temporality, an ideology in which the future consists of multiple possible choices while each decision of one forecloses a still larger set. Jean-Pierre Dupuy calls this a “supermarket” model of temporality, as if the future were a contingent-free menu of possibilities a subject is free to pick between. My assertion is that this sense of temporality—the Western norm—matches the protagonist’s, Paul Atreides’s, rhetoric. In disclosing Paul’s sense …

An Operator Information Quantity Of A Semigroup And Associated Differential Equations, Kimiaki Saito, Ryo Inayoshi

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Examining The Role Of Cognition And Late-Life Treatment Resistant Depression On Everyday Functioning, Ashlyn Runk

LSU Master's Theses

The capacity to complete instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) is essential to older adults maintaining their ability to age in place and is influenced by factors including depression and cognition. There is evidence to suggest that depression and cognition influence each other in their relationship with everyday functioning. However, much of this work has been done in samples with low overall levels of depressive symptoms. The goal of the current study was to examine these relationships in older adults with a history of moderate to severe treatment resistant depression and determine if the relationship between executive functioning and everyday …

The Product Formula Of Multiple Stochastic Integrals With Respect To The Poisson Space Noise, Yuh-Jia Lee, Hsin-Hung Shih

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

American Option Pricing Using Generalised Stochastic Hybrid Systems, Evelyn Buckwar, Sascha Desmettre, Agnes Mallinger, Amira Meddah

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

About Fixed Points Of Quantum Channels, Raffaella Carbone

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Ec2vec: A Machine Learning Method To Embed Enzyme Commission (Ec) Numbers Into Vector Representations, Mengmeng Liu, Xialong Ni, J. Ramanujam, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

Enzyme commission (EC) numbers play a vital role in classifying enzymes and understanding their functions in enzyme-related research. Although accurate and informative encoding of EC numbers is essential for enhancing the effectiveness of machine learning applications, simple EC encoding approaches suffer from limitations such as false numerical order and high sparsity. To address these issues, we developed EC2Vec, a multimodal autoencoder that preserves the categorical nature of EC numbers and leverages their hierarchical relationships, resulting in more meaningful and informative representations. EC2Vec encodes each digit of the EC number as a categorical token and then processes these embeddings through a …

A Case For The Original Setting Of Rachmaninoff’S Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36, Alexias L. Ferrer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document aims to examine both the original 1913 and revised 1931 settings of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 36, and to present a case in favor of the lesser-known 1913 rendition of the piece as the more definitive setting of the work. The study begins with historical background information on the work and shows how the piece originated from a mature composer at the most productive period in his life and contrasts this to the historical background of the work’s revision. In a deeper analysis of form and content, the positives and negative qualities of each version …

Infrared Laser Ablation Of Biomolecules From Formalin-Fixed Tissue, Blessing Chisom Egbejiogu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the research described in this dissertation, a high-precision infrared laser ablation microsampling method was utilized for spatially resolved proteomic and lipidomic analyses of formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue, a widely used archival sample in biomedical research. Despite its extensive use, FFPE tissue presents challenges for proteomic analysis due to protein cross-linking and modifications introduced during fixation, which can hinder extraction and identification. Developing a streamlined high-resolution method to recover biomolecules from FFPE samples is critical for advancing biomarker discovery, retrospective studies, and multi-omics research. To address these challenges, this study employs an infrared (IR) laser ablation microdissection system …

Trans-Arg: Predicting Antibiotic Resistance Genes With A Transformer-Based Model And Pretrained Protein Language Model, Mohd Manzar Abbas, Amit Ranjan, Aixin Hou, Supratik Mukhopadhyay

Faculty Publications

Antibiotic resistance presents an emerging challenge to global health by reducing the efficacy of antibiotics administered to treat bacterial infections. Traditional approaches for detecting antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) involve alignment-based sequence similarity techniques, which are time-consuming and resource-intensive. This signifies the necessity for developing advanced computational methods to detect ARGs early. To address this challenge, we introduce Trans-ARG, a novel multi-head attention transformer-based model designed to predict potential ARGs. Our approach leverages the pretrained ESMFold model to extract embeddings from protein sequences, capturing intricate structural and functional information. Protein sequences labelled as ARG or non-ARG were used as the dataset. …

Kg-Dta: A Knowledge Graph-Based Meta-Path Learning Framework To Predict Drug-Target Binding Affinity, Amit Ranjan, Adam Bess, Md Saiful Islam Sajol, Magesh Rajasekaran, Chris Alvin, Supratik Mukhopadhyay

Faculty Publications

Drug target affinity (DTA) prediction is essential at different phases of drug discovery and virtual drug screening. However, traditional wet lab experiments are time and resource-intensive owing to the complex interactions within the vast biological and chemical spaces. Computational methods have proven their potential to predict DTA, but none have considered the association of drugs and proteins to capture the complex interactions in the biological network between drugs and proteins. To address this, we propose a novel framework leveraging knowledge graph-based meta-path learning (KG-DTA) to enhance DTA prediction. First, we construct a weighted heterogeneous network of drugs and proteins that …