Digital Commons Network^™

Fiscal Reform Scenarios And Accessibility To Food In Guatemala, Guillermo R. Fernandez

LSU Master's Theses

Since signing the peace accords in 1996, the Guatemalan government committed to increase the tax burden of 1995 by 50% to a total of 13%. This target has only been reached 4 times in more than two decades. There have been multiple attempts at tax reforms that have failed or been incomplete. Guatemala exhibits much income inequality and is one of the poorest countries in the region.

Given this background, the problem to be considered in this analysis is that there is little information regarding how different tax reforms would affect the accessibility to food in Guatemala. With information regarding …

Baldcypress And Black Willow Growth Response To Contrasting Flood Regimes, Climate, And Competition, In The Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana, Alicia Louise Mcalhaney

LSU Master's Theses

Wetlands are dynamic ecosystems distinguished by their dependence on fluctuations of hydrologic influence. Although it is generally accepted that that flooding is a strong influence on growth, and that effects vary depending on whether water is stagnant or flowing, several aspects of flood characteristics and several tree species remain poorly investigated. One source of variability that has not been investigated is how flooding, climate, and competition among trees interact to control growth of individual trees. The objective of this study was therefore to 1) investigate effects of temporally varying hydrology and climate on growth of baldcypress and black willow trees …

The Effect Of Rest Period On Fatigue Using Electromyography During Manual Lifting, Nandakumar Prabhakar

LSU Master's Theses

Manual materials handing (MMH) is the main cause and concern for injuries in the working population which lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs significantly contribute to the cost of workers’ compensation and loss of productivity, thus impacting economy of the United States. MSDs are mainly caused due to over exertion and fatigue experienced by workers involved in manual materials handling. In addition to over-exertion and fatigue, lack of short and frequent rest intervals between tasks contributes to the risk of MSDs. The objective of this research was to study the effect of rest period on muscle fatigue using electromyography (EMG) …

Optimized Quantum F-Divergences, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

The quantum relative entropy is a measure of the distinguishability of two quantum states, and it is a unifying concept in quantum information theory: many information measures such as entropy, conditional entropy, mutual information, and entanglement measures can be realized from it. As such, there has been broad interest in generalizing the notion to further understand its most basic properties, one of which is the data processing inequality. The quantum f-divergence of Petz is one generalization of the quantum relative entropy, and it also leads to other relative entropies, such as the Petz-Renyi relative entropies. In this contribution, I introduce …

Recoverability For Holevo's Just-As-Good Fidelity, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

Holevo's just-as-good fidelity is a similarity measure for quantum states that has found several applications. One of its critical properties is that it obeys a data processing inequality: the measure does not decrease under the action of a quantum channel on the underlying states. In this paper, I prove a refinement of this data processing inequality that includes an additional term related to recoverability. That is, if the increase in the measure is small after the action of a partial trace, then one of the states can be nearly recovered by the Petz recovery channel, while the other state is …

Roles Of Ros, Nrf2, And Autophagy In Cadmium-Carcinogenesis And Its Prevention By Sulforaphane, Yuting Wang, Ardhendu Kumar Mandal, Young O.K. Son, Poyil Pratheeshkumar, James T.F. Wise, Lei Wang, Zhuo Zhang, Xianglin Shi, Zhimin Chen

Faculty Publications

Environmental and occupational exposures to cadmium increase the risk of various cancers, including lung cancer. The carcinogenic mechanism of cadmium, including its prevention remains to be investigated. Using fluorescence and electron spin resonance spin trapping, the present study shows that in immortalized lung cells (BEAS-2BR cells), exposure cadmium generated reactive oxygen species (ROS). Through ROS generation, cadmium increased the protein level of TNF-α which activated NF-κB and its target protein COX-2, creating an inflammatory microenvironment. As measured by anchorage-independent colony formation assay, cadmium induced malignant cell transformation. Inhibition of ROS by antioxidants inhibited transformation, showing that ROS were important in …

Theoretical Investigation Of Dephosphorylation Of Phosphate Monoesters On Ceo2(111), Chuanlin Zhao, Ye Xu

Faculty Publications

The dephosphorylation of neutral model phosphate monoesters on CeO2(111), including para-nitrophenyl phosphate and methyl phosphate, has been studied theoretically using self-consistent, periodic density functional theory calculations at the GGA+U-PW91 level. These phosphate monoesters interact strongly with CeO2(111) by forming a bond between the P atom and a surface lattice O atom. A surface-assisted hydrolysis mechanism is proposed for the catalytic dephosphorylation of the phosphate monoesters on CeO2(111), which involves P-O ester bond scission followed by phosphate hydration and product desorption. The energies of the transition states for the P-O ester bond scission are found to follow a linear scaling relation …

A Distributed Semi-Supervised Platform For Dnase-Seq Data Analytics Using Deep Generative Convolutional Networks, Shayan Shams, Richard Platania, Joohyun Kim, Jian Zhang, Kisung Lee, Seungwon Yang, Seung Jong Park

Faculty Publications

A deep learning approach for analyzing DNase-seq datasets is presented, which has promising potentials for unraveling biological underpinnings on transcription regulation mechanisms. Further understanding of these mechanisms can lead to important advances in life sciences in general and drug, biomarker discovery, and cancer research in particular. Motivated by recent remarkable advances in the field of deep learning, we developed a platform, Deep Semi-Supervised DNase-seq Analytics (DSSDA). Primarily empowered by deep generative Convolutional Networks (ConvNets), the most notable aspect is the capability of semi-supervised learning, which is highly beneficial for common biological settings often plagued with a less sufficient number of …

A Distributed Semi-Supervised Platform For Dnase-Seq Data Analytics Using Deep Generative Convolutional Networks, Shayan Shams, Richard Platania, Joohyun Kim, Jian Zhang, Kisung Lee, Seungwon Yang, Seung Jong Park

Faculty Publications

A deep learning approach for analyzing DNase-seq datasets is presented, which has promising potentials for unraveling biological underpinnings on transcription regulation mechanisms. Further understanding of these mechanisms can lead to important advances in life sciences in general and drug, biomarker discovery, and cancer research in particular. Motivated by recent remarkable advances in the field of deep learning, we developed a platform, Deep Semi-Supervised DNase-seq Analytics (DSSDA). Primarily empowered by deep generative Convolutional Networks (ConvNets), the most notable aspect is the capability of semi-supervised learning, which is highly beneficial for common biological settings often plagued with a less sufficient number of …

Micro Combustion Of Primary Reference Fuels In Narrow Heated Channels, Veerendra Naralasetti

LSU Master's Theses

Conventional fuel testing machines like CFR engines require large quantities of fuel. The current study seeks to overcome this limitation by introducing an alternative method using a microscale combustion reactor which consumes relatively small amounts of fuel (100-250 ml). For this reason, Primary Reference Fuels (PRF’s: volumetric mixtures of n-heptane and iso-octane) which are simple surrogates of gasoline are selected to test using micro reactor. The primary goal is to determine the effectiveness of using the micro reactor setup to differentiate fuels of different octane number. Experiments with stoichiometric PRF/air mixtures are performed inside a cylindrical quartz tube of 1mm …

Third Generation Gamma Camera Spect System, Narayan Bhusal

LSU Master's Theses

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is a non-invasive imaging modality, frequently used in myocardial perfusion imaging. The biggest challenges facing the majority of clinical SPECT systems are low sensitivity, poor resolution, and the relatively high radiation dose to the patient. New generation systems (GE Discovery, DSPECT) dedicated to cardiac imaging improve sensitivity by a factor of 5-8. The purpose of this work is to investigate a new gamma camera design with 21 hemi-ellipsoid detectors each with a pinhole collimator for Cardiac SPECT for further improvement in sensitivity, resolution, imaging time, and radiation dose.

To evaluate the resolution of our …

Using Local Fishery Monitoring To Understand Small-Scale Coastal Fisheries In Tanzania, Matthew Robertson

LSU Master's Theses

Nearshore marine fisheries provide the main source of protein for nearly 9 million people in the coastal villages of Tanzania, yet for decades the fisheries have shown signs of overexploitation. These fisheries are small-scale and co-managed by local coastal communities in groups known as Beach Management Units (BMUs). BMUs monitor individual fishing trip data (e.g. gear, vessel, taxa); however, these data have only been analyzed in nationally aggregated statistics and to our knowledge, are not presently used in management decision making. The present thesis aimed to identify the forms of data and information that local fishery monitoring can record about …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Hatha Yoga Intervention For Smokers, Emily Robin Jeffries

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite well-documented negative effects of smoking, many individuals continue to smoke. Anxiety and depression are associated with poorer cessation outcomes. Three transdiagnostic factors may explain the anxiety/depression-smoking link: anxiety sensitivity (AS), distress tolerance (DT), anhedonia (Anh; Leventhal & Zvolensky, 2015). It therefore follows that changing AS, DT, and Anh could aid cessation efforts. Thus, the current study tested the efficacy of hatha yoga for reducing craving, smoking, AS, and Anh and increasing DT, and whether anxiety/depression moderates these relationships. Participants were 55 community-recruited smokers (62% male, 71% non-Hispanic White, M_age = 28.16) motivated to reduce or quit smoking. We …

Applications Of Computational Models On Studying Particulate Systems, Jielin Yu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Particulate systems have been widely studied because of its various phenomena and tight relationship with industry applications. In this dissertation, two types of computational models have been adopted to study two problems with different particulate systems: granular self-organization inside a cylinder driven by an orbital-shaker and the optimal design of bypass line for an industrial-scale 8‑leg polyolefin loop reactor.

In the first study, behavior of both single particle and multiple particles in a rotating cylinder has been modeled by discrete element method (DEM) to understand the mechanism of granular self-organization. Sets of studies have then been performed to study the …

Will To Remember: Counter-Archives In The Work Of Alvarez, Danticat, And Díaz, Megan Elizabeth Feifer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation argues the essays, fiction, non-fiction, and non-profit work of authors Julia Alvarez, Edwidge Danticat, and Junot Díaz produce counter-narratives that when assembled, create a counter-archive of the Rafael Leonidas Trujillo dictatorship and its lasting effects. To support this claim, I analyze the various genres and medias they employ throughout the late 20^thand early 21^st centuries as redressing not only the “official” state history of the dictatorship, but also the overarching construction of history with a capital “H”. Through a close reading of form and the thematic concerns present in their work, I demonstrate how they …

Louisiana Urban And Suburban Homeowners’ Fertilizer Management Behavioral Beliefs, Intentions, And Past Behaviors, Natalie Levy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nutrient runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus from improper lawn and landscape fertilization practices contributes to water quality issues within the Mississippi River drainage basin and the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NRC, 2009a; Robbins & Birkenholtz, 2003). The implementation of fertilizer best management practices has become a critical strategy for reducing nutrient runoff (Carey et al., 2012a; Carey et al., 2013; U.S. EPA, 2005). The purpose of this study was to determine if relationships exist among selected perceptual measures regarding home lawn and landscape fertilizer management practices among Louisiana urban and suburban homeowners. Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was …

Young Adult Book Review - Americanized: Rebel Without A Green Card, Danielle M. Butcher

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

No abstract provided.

The Literary Canon: Virtue, Vice, Or Both, William P. Bintz

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

This article evolved from recent conversations with middle and high school English/Language Arts teachers about the literary canon. The conversations were based on a question posed by one teacher in a professional development workshop: “To teach or not to teach the literary canon? That is my question.” Other teachers quickly stated that they have always struggled with this question and still do today. As a former English/Language Arts teacher, I recognized the importance of this question and afterwards spent time asking myself: Is the literary canon a virtue, vice, or both? This article shares my current best thinking about this …

The Power Of Pictures: Drawing On Visual Sign-Systems To Teach Inference In Gerstein’S The Man Between Two Towers, Shannon Howrey

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

The ability to infer while reading is a critical part of meaning-making. Readers who infer go beyond the literal words on the page by adding information to the text and making implicit connections between the text and their prior knowledge (Barr, Blacowicz, Bates, Katz, & Kaufman, 2013). This skill allows them to establish causal relationships between story events, connect the events to their personal experiences, and determine relationships, motivations, and emotions within and between characters. Drawing on dual coding theory and visual literacy principles, the author demonstrates how the lines in the illustrations of The Man Between Two Towers assist …

The Response Strategies Of Proficient Readers When Correcting And Attempting To Correct Miscues On A Complex Scientific Text, Stephen B B. Kucer Dr.

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

This study examines the strategies that proficient fourth grade readers employ when responding to their miscues. Thirty-four students orally read a complex expository scientific text. The text was part of the fourth grade science curriculum. Reader response strategies to their miscues—corrections and attempts to correct—were identified. It was discovered that response strategies were either graphic or contextual in nature. As measured by Chi-squares, readers varied their use of these strategies. This variation was statistically significant at the p < .001 level for both correction and attempt to correct strategies. For both, the primary focus was on the word level. Existing research documents that as text complexity increases, readers have a tendency to rely on sounding out as a default strategy. As readers progress across the grades, teachers will therefore need to prompt the use more than graphic strategies when readers respond to their miscues. This is particularly the case due to the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Students are being introduced to complex disciplinary texts in which the use of context is critical to …

What Counts As Common Core Aligned? An Examination Of A Reading Program's Agreement With The Common Core State Standards, Kim Skinner, Alecia Tate, Emily France, Gina Stocks

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

Passage and implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) created numerous difficulties for educational stakeholders. One such difficulty, determining the alignment of previously utilized curricula to the CCSS, forced many states, districts, and schools into purchasing “new” curricular resources marketed as “Common Core Aligned” without any available auditing process to validate the claims made by publishers. Since initial implementation of CCSS, measures for determining alignment have been developed. This study examined the alignment of a widely used reading program, Adventures Common Core (pseudonym), to the Common Core State Standards using a modified version of the Educators Evaluating the Quality …

Editor's Introduction For Volume 4 Issue 1, Estanislado S. Barrera Iv

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

No abstract provided.

Optimized Quantum F-Divergences And Data Processing, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

The quantum relative entropy is a measure of the distinguishability of two quantum states, and it is a unifying concept in quantum information theory: many information measures such as entropy, conditional entropy, mutual information, and entanglement measures can be realized from it. As such, there has been broad interest in generalizing the notion to further understand its most basic properties, one of which is the data processing inequality. The quantum f-divergence of Petz is one generalization of the quantum relative entropy, and it also leads to other relative entropies, such as the Petz-Rényi relative entropies. In this paper, I introduce …

Entanglement-Assisted Private Communication Over Quantum Broadcast Channels, Haoyu Qi, Kunal Sharma, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

We consider entanglement-assisted (EA) private communication over a quantum broadcast channel, in which there is a single sender and multiple receivers. We divide the receivers into two sets: the decoding set and the malicious set. The decoding set and the malicious set can either be disjoint or can have a finite intersection. For simplicity, we say that a single party Bob has access to the decoding set and another party Eve has access to the malicious set, and both Eve and Bob have access to the pre-shared entanglement with Alice. The goal of the task is for Alice to communicate …

Architect Perceptions Of Engineered Wood Products: An Exploratory Study Of Selected Countries In Central And Southeast Europe, Manja Kitek Kuzman, Sanela Klarić, Andreja Pirc Barčić, Richard P. Vlosky, Marija M. Janakieska, Petra Grošelj

Faculty Publications

The wood industries in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) and Macedonia have a long tradition of producing a wide range of products. BiH and Macedonia have similar forest sectors and both countries have experienced similar problems in the manufacturing, sale and use of wood-based products in recent years due to the global financial crisis and resulting national economic challenges. Despite having a long and prosperous history, over the past two decades, the wood products sectors in these four countries have faced a steady decline in profitability, the ability to add value through downstream manufacturing, and overall competitiveness. Engineered wood …

Analytical Models Of Neutron Spectral Fluence, Kerma And Absorbed-Dose For Proton Therapy, Suman Shrestha

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract

Purpose: The accurate prediction of stray neutron dose has become increasingly important as it increases the risk of second cancer development after proton therapy. Previously reported analytical models predicted the quantity dose equivalent, which includes physical and biological considerations but does not explicitly take into account material dependence and variation in the radiation quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of an analytical model of absorbed dose to water from stray neutrons in proton therapy.

Methods: To calculate neutron absorbed dose and kerma in water, the authors developed analytical models of neutron spectral fluence and …

17.3 Full Issue, Taboo Journal

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

No abstract provided.

Subscription Information, Taboo Journal

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

No abstract provided.

Taboo Journal Guidelines, Taboo Journal

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

No abstract provided.

Dark Water: Rememory, Biopower, And Black Feminist Art, Stephanie Troutman, Brenna Johnson

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

No abstract provided.