Evaluation Of Microbial Safety And Quality Of Louisiana Strawberries After Flooding, Shifa Shiraz

LSU Master's Theses

Rainfall and flooding have impacted the strawberry industry in Louisiana. Floodwater is an ideal medium for microbiological growth and may cause contamination of soil, agricultural water, and fresh produce with foodborne pathogens. This research aimed to evaluate the microbial safety and quality of strawberries after flooding. Three strains of generic Escherichia coli were used to establish a baseline population of approximately 10⁶ CFU/L (high contamination) and 10² CFU/L (low contamination) in floodwater. Five raised beds were filled with water to simulate a flooding event. Simulated floodwater was mixed with cow manure and spiked with generic E. coli then …

Formation Control Of Nonholonomic Multi-Agent Systems, Milad Khaledyan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with the formation control problem of multiple agents modeled as nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots. Both kinematic and dynamic robot models are considered. Solutions are presented for a class of formation problems that include formation, maneuvering, and flocking. Graph theory and nonlinear systems theory are the key tools used in the design and stability analysis of the proposed control schemes. Simulation and/or experimental results are presented to illustrate the performance of the controllers.

In the first part, we present a leader-follower type solution to the formation maneuvering problem. The solution is based on the graph that models …

Dynamics Of Phospholipid Membranes Beyond Thermal Undulations, Sudipta Gupta, Judith U. De Mel, Rasangi M. Perera, Piotr Zolnierczuk, Markus Bleuel, Antonio Faraone, Gerald J. Schneider

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. We investigated the molecular dynamics of unilamellar liposomes by neutron spin echo spectroscopy. We report the first experimental evidence of a short-range motion at the length scale of the size of the headgroup of a lipid. The associated mean squared displacement shows a t0.26 dependence in the pico- to nanosecond region that indicates another process beyond the predictions of the Zilman-Granek (ZG) model (t0.66) and translational diffusion (t1). A comparison with theory shows that the observed low exponent is associated with a non-Gaussian transient trapping of lipid molecules in a local area and supports the …

Do The Surface Fermi Arcs In Weyl Semimetals Survive Disorder?, Justin H. Wilson, J. H. Pixley, David A. Huse, Gil Refael, S. Das Sarma

Faculty Publications

We theoretically study the topological robustness of the surface physics induced by Weyl Fermi-arc surface states in the presence of short-ranged quenched disorder and surface-bulk hybridization. This is investigated with numerically exact calculations on a lattice model exhibiting Weyl Fermi arcs. We find that the Fermi-arc surface states, in addition to having a finite lifetime from disorder broadening, hybridize with nonperturbative bulk rare states making them no longer bound to the surface (i.e., they lose their purely surface spectral character). Thus, we provide strong numerical evidence that the Weyl Fermi arcs are not topologically protected from disorder. Nonetheless, the surface …

Energy-Constrained Two-Way Assisted Private And Quantum Capacities Of Quantum Channels, Noah Davis, Maksim E. Shirokov, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

With the rapid growth of quantum technologies, knowing the fundamental characteristics of quantum systems and protocols is essential for their effective implementation. A particular communication setting that has received increased focus is related to quantum key distribution and distributed quantum computation. In this setting, a quantum channel connects a sender to a receiver, and their goal is to distill either a secret key or entanglement, along with the help of arbitrary local operations and classical communication (LOCC). In this work, we establish a general theory of energy-constrained, LOCC-assisted private and quantum capacities of quantum channels, which are the maximum rates …

Neighbor And Height Effects On Crown Properties Associated With The Uniform-Stress Principle Of Stem Formation, Thomas J. Dean

Faculty Publications

According to the uniform-stress principle of stem formation, the amount of leaf area a tree carries and the leverage it exerts on the stem determine the stem dimensions. Within an even-aged monoculture, the leaf area per tree and the leverage placed on the stem are functions of tree density and tree height. The uniform-stress principle presents the means to translate density effects on crown characteristics into stem dimensions and total standing volume. This approach is truly a top-down method of simulating growth tree and stand growth because leaf area and other crown properties must be determined before stem size and …

Glyphosate In Soils: Retention, Transport, And Effect Of Phosphate, Joshua Padilla

LSU Master's Theses

Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine)] (GPS) is currently the most commonly used herbicide worldwide, and is generally considered as immobile in soils. However, numerous reports of the environmental occurrence of the herbicide coupled with recent evidence of human toxicity require further investigation as to the behavior of GPS in the soil environment. The objectives of this study were to quantify GPS sorption and mobility in two Louisiana agricultural soils with varying physiochemical properties; Commerce silt loam and Sharkey clay. Results of batch sorption studies indicated a high affinity of both soils for solvated GPS, with 24-hour Freundlich partitioning coefficients of 158 and …

Joint Geodetic And Seismic Analysis Of Englacial And Subglacial Hydraulic Effects On Surface Crevassing Near A Seasonal, Glacier-Dammed Lake On Gornergletscher, Switzerland, Louis Stephen Garcia

LSU Master's Theses

Glacial outburst floods are difficult to predict and threaten human life. These events are characterized by rapid draining of glacier-dammed lakes via the sub/englacial hydraulic network to the proglacial stream. The glacier-dammed lake on Gornergletscher in Switzerland, which fills and drains each summer, provides an opportunity to study this hazard. For three drainages (2004, 2006, and 2007), icequakes (IQ) are tracked as well as on-ice GPS movement. The seasonal seismic networks had 8 – 24 three-component stations and apertures of about 300 – 400 m on the glacier surface. The seasonal GPS arrays contained 4 – 8 GPS antennae on …

Convenient Camouflage, John Alleyne

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Major influences in my work are most notably derived from the collages of Romare Bearden, paintings done by abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, and the multidisciplinary practice of Rashid Johnson. This list of artists has been my influence for the past academic year as a result of personal research, some of which was conducted at the Museum of Modern Art, the TATE Modern in London and Musée du Louvre in Paris. My aim in my artwork and in this thesis is to change the perception of Black people, specifically Black men and boys, and to challenge stereotypes …

Moments Of Metanoia, Mariah Anne Pickett

LSU Master's Theses

The term ‘metanoia’ embodies a climactic moment on the precipice—an instance where one is confronted by the tremendous threshold between youth and maturation. Moments of Metanoia explores these experiences that create an overwhelming division between the way things were and the way things will be. They are the crystallizing moments of metamorphosis or the shattering moments of undoing. As evidenced by their thematic appearances in ancient mythology, these dramatic episodes of transformation have existed as a part of the human condition for millennia. By using Greek mythology to explore metanoia, the universality of the human experience is emphasized. Each piece …

That Survival Apparatus, Justin T. Bryant

LSU Master's Theses

As a point of departure, I will be interpreting the poem “Mask” by Maya Angelou. By looking at its literal and interpretive meaning, I will explain how African diasporic fugitivity is reflected in my work. In my paper I will examine art historic and cultural indicators to explain my strategy within making. A part of this strategy uses media and imagery that is mostly familiar to me.

Concerto For Violin And Percussion Orchestra By Lou Harrison: A Study Guide, Deborah Sophia Carneiro Ribeiro

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Lou Harrison is an American composer whose importance has been somehow overlooked. Amidst the modernist composers of the early 1940’s he was one of the most individualistic, which in turn, made him one of the most unique composers to come out of that era. Harrison’s name is mainly associated with percussion and the gamelan. However, he wrote for much more than just that. The purpose of this dissertation is to facilitate an understanding of Lou Harrison and his Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra, in the hopes of making his music accessible to the more conservative musician.

My research starts …

A Comparison Of Causal Inference Methods And Their Application In Big Data Analytics, Xuan Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the rise of Big Data analytics, the new field of causal inference (Pearl, 2009) has received more attention in business research fields such as Accounting (Lawrence, Minutti-Meza, & Zhang, 2011) and Marketing (Manganaris, Bhasin, Reid, & Hermiz Keith, 2010). Traditional statistics focuses on correlation which may lead to misleading conclusions because the estimates can be severely biased even when data sets are large. The objective of causal inference is to obtain estimates from observational data that are unbiased and can thus be interpreted as causal. This study provides a systematic comparison of the performance of four causal inference methods …

Belowground Inoculation With Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Increases Local And Systemic Susceptibility Of Rice Plants To Different Pest Organisms, Lina Bernaola, Marco Cosme, Raymond W. Schneider, Michael Stout

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Bernaola, Cosme, Schneider and Stout. Plants face numerous challenges from both aboveground and belowground stressors, and defend themselves against harmful insects and microorganisms in many ways. Because plant responses to biotic stresses are not only local but also systemic, belowground interactions can influence aboveground interactions in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are soilborne organisms that form symbiotic associations with many plant roots and are thought to play a central role in plant nutrition, growth, and fitness. In the present study, we focused on the influence of AMF on rice defense against pests. We inoculated …

Assessing Pyrite-Derived Sulfate In The Mississippi River With Four Years Of Sulfur And Triple-Oxygen Isotope Data, Bryan A. Killingsworth, Huiming Bao, Issaku E. Kohl

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Riverine dissolved sulfate (SO42-) sulfur and oxygen isotope variations reflect their controls such as SO42- reduction and reoxidation, and source mixing. However, unconstrained temporal variability of riverine SO42- isotope compositions due to short sampling durations may lead to mischaracterization of SO42- sources, particularly for the pyrite-derived sulfate load. We measured the sulfur and triple-oxygen isotopes (δ34S, δ18O, and Δ′17O) of Mississippi River SO42- with biweekly sampling between 2009 and 2013 to test isotopic variability and constrain sources. Sulfate δ34S and δ18O ranged from -6.3‰ to -0.2‰ and -3.6‰ to +8.8‰, respectively. Our sampling period captured …

Strong And Uniform Convergence In The Teleportation Simulation Of Bosonic Gaussian Channels, Mark M. Wilde

Faculty Publications

In the literature on the continuous-variable bosonic teleportation protocol due to Braunstein and Kimble [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 869 (1998)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.80.869], it is often loosely stated that this protocol converges to a perfect teleportation of an input state in the limit of ideal squeezing and ideal detection, but the exact form of this convergence is typically not clarified. In this paper, I explicitly clarify that the convergence is in the strong sense, and not the uniform sense, and furthermore that the convergence occurs for any input state to the protocol, including the infinite-energy Basel states defined and discussed here. I also …

Assessing Pyrite-Derived Sulfate In The Mississippi River With Four Years Of Sulfur And Triple-Oxygen Isotope Data, Bryan A. Killingsworth, Huiming Bao, Issaku E. Kohl

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Riverine dissolved sulfate (SO42-) sulfur and oxygen isotope variations reflect their controls such as SO42- reduction and reoxidation, and source mixing. However, unconstrained temporal variability of riverine SO42- isotope compositions due to short sampling durations may lead to mischaracterization of SO42- sources, particularly for the pyrite-derived sulfate load. We measured the sulfur and triple-oxygen isotopes (δ34S, δ18O, and Δ′17O) of Mississippi River SO42- with biweekly sampling between 2009 and 2013 to test isotopic variability and constrain sources. Sulfate δ34S and δ18O ranged from -6.3‰ to -0.2‰ and -3.6‰ to +8.8‰, respectively. Our sampling period captured …

"If You Stand On This Corner, People Know What You're About": Powerful Geographies Of Airline & Goodwood In #Justiceforalton, Shannon Kathleen Groll

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the multiple geographies of Airline & Goodwood, a site of protest occupied nightly during a part of summer 2016 in response to the police shooting of Alton Sterling. Through a methodology of observant-participation, interviews, and oral histories, I make the case that the politics of this site differed from other contemporaneous protest sites in the city through specific place-making activity which highlighted the site’s powerful contemporary and historical geographies. I connect protest at this site to the precarity of Black life and death in Baton Rouge through interviews and oral histories which discuss the historical …

Fallen Fruit: How Social Practice Art Adapts To Success, Caroline Marie Giepert

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis will discuss the development of socially engaged art collective Fallen Fruit (active 2004 – present) in regards to their community-oriented projects, museum exhibitions, and recent online artwork Endless Orchard (2017). Fallen Fruit presents an interesting example of a social practice art group since they straddle both an activist agenda as well as the commercial world of mainstream institutions and the Internet. This paper will analyze the rationale for Fallen Fruit’s manner of adapting to commercial success by considering their progression from localized projects in the communities of Los Angeles to curated exhibitions in well-known museums and venture into …

The Potential Iatrogenic Effects Of Formal Vs. Informal Juvenile Justice System Processing: The Moderating Influence Of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Emily Lynne Robertson

LSU Master's Theses

Previous research has indicated that adolescents who are formally processed by the juvenile justice system are at a higher risk of worse outcomes, most notably increased risk for subsequent offending and arrests. However, it is unclear whether this effect is due to the processing decision and subsequent involvement with the justice system or whether it is due to characteristics of the adolescents who are formally processed. Further, it is unclear whether formal processing increases the risk for future offending in all adolescents or whether its effects are more pronounced for certain adolescents. In the current study, we tested the predictions …

Evolving Performance Practice Of Debussy's Piano Preludes, Vivian Buchanan

LSU Master's Theses

Between 1910 and 1912 Claude Debussy recorded twelve of his solo piano works for the player piano company Welte-Mignon. Although Debussy frequently instructed his students to play his music exactly as written, his own recordings are rife with artistic liberties and interpretive freedom. Interestingly, many of the interpretive gestures that Debussy employs in these recordings are consistent with playing techniques utilized by French Baroque keyboardists. This paper will situate Debussy’s own performance in this Baroque playing style. I will first discuss the recording technology used by Welte-Mignon to establish the reliability of these recordings. By studying harpsichord manuals, I will …

Altar To Uncertainty, Kelly Stombaugh

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

I have always been in awe of great storytellers. Like an alchemist, the masterful storyteller can take the most mundane of tales and transmute it into an enrapturing experience. The best of these, however, are the stories which seem very otherworldly but, in the end, can reveal deep and relatable truths to the listener.

For this exhibition, “Altar to Uncertainty,” I have undertaken the creation of a single book and story which surrounds and visually extends itself through printed etchings upon the walls to tell a transformative tale of redemption through trauma, hopelessness and loss.

My intention with this …

Shifting Niche Space In Coastal Landscapes: Spatio-Temporal Patterns Driving Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Across The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kristin Elise Demarco

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Identifying distributions of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) across the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) coastal landscape necessitates describing ecological processes in estuarine gradients. SAV assemblages are ecological indicators of aquatic ecosystem health; spatial and temporal distributions are strongly correlated to environmental conditions. Many wildlife species, including waterfowl, are dependent on SAV and seeds in NGOM coastal marshes for food and habitat. To understand SAV distributions at multiple spatial and temporal scales a multi-tiered project was designed to collect SAV presence, species assemblage, and cover data, and cores to describe seed food. The first tier sampled inter-annually in the growing seasons …

Role Of Neutrophils In The Modulation Of Host Responses To Human Respiratory Pneumovirus Infection, Nagarjuna Reddy Cheemarla

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Neutrophils are the most abundant leukocytes (50% to 70%) in humans and are the first immune cell population recruited to the sites of infection. They are known to act as the first line of innate immune defense against invading pathogens, and more recently, to playing a crucial role in orchestrating adaptive immune responses. The role of neutrophils in the respiratory viral infections till date remains unclear and controversial. Previous studies demonstrated both beneficial as well as pathogenic role for neutrophils in respiratory viral infections, especially influenza.

Previous findings reported an early and high influx of neutrophils into the airways early …

Survival And Inactivation Of Salmonella Enterica And Human Norovirus On Consumer Contact Surfaces, Dorra Simmons

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Salmonella enterica and human norovirus (HuNoV) are the leading cause of bacterial and viral gastroenteritis worldwide, respectively. One of the most important transmission routes of these pathogens is contaminated surfaces. In this study, we investigated the survival and the disinfection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and HuNoV on selected consumer contact surfaces.

In the case of S. Typhimurium, formica laminate, stainless steel, and plastic cutting board surfaces were inoculated with different microbial loads of cells collected at log (6 h), stationary (24 h), or LTS (14 days) phases. The disinfection efficacy of two disinfectants (sodium hypochlorite or …

Numerical Study Of Sediment Dynamics During Hurricane Gustav, Zhengchen Zang, Z. George Xue, Shaowu Bao, Qin Chen, Nan D. Walker, Alaric S. Haag, Qian Ge, Zhigang Yao

Faculty Publications

In this study, the coupled ocean-atmosphere-wave-and-sediment transport (COAWST) modeling system was employed to explore sediment dynamics in the northern Gulf of Mexico during hurricane Gustav in 2008. The performance of the model was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively against in-situ and remote sensing measurements, respectively. After Gustav's landfall in coastal Louisiana, the maximum significant wave heights reached more than 8 m offshore and they decreased quickly as it moved toward the inner shelf, where the vertical stratification was largely destroyed. Alongshore currents were dominant westward on the eastern sector of the hurricane track, and offshoreward currents prevailed on the western sector. …

Species Richness And Phylogenetic Diversity Of Native And Non-Native Species Respond Differently To Area And Environmental Factors, Daijiang Li, William B. Monahan, Benjamin Baiser

Faculty Publications

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: To test whether native and non-native species have similar diversity–area relationships (species–area relationships [SARs] and phylogenetic diversity–area relationships [PDARs]) and whether they respond similarly to environmental variables. Location: United States. Methods: Using lists of native and non-native species as well as environmental variables for >250 US national parks, we compared SARs and PDARs of native and non-native species to test whether they respond similarly to environmental conditions. We then used multiple regressions involving climate, land cover and anthropogenic variables to further explore underlying predictors of diversity for plants and birds in US …

Intraspecific Variation In Indirect Plant–Soil Feedbacks Influences A Wetland Plant Invasion, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson, Andrew J. Flick, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the Ecological Society of America Plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) influence plant competition via direct interactions with pathogens and mutualists or indirectly via apparent competition/mutualisms (i.e., spillover to co-occurring plants) and soil legacy effects. It is currently unknown how intraspecific variation in PSFs interacts with the environment (e.g., nutrient availability) to influence competition between native and invasive plants. We conducted a fully crossed multi-factor greenhouse experiment to determine the effects of Phragmites australis rhizosphere soil biota, interspecific competition, and nutrient availability on biomass of replicate populations from one native and two invasive lineages of common reed (P. australis) and …

Generating Dna Sequence Data With Limited Resources For Molecular Biology: Lessons From A Barcoding Project In Indonesia, Gillian H. Dean, Rani Asmarayani, Marlina Ardiyani, Yessi Santika, Teguh Triono, Sarah Mathews, Campbell O. Webb

Faculty Publications

Applications in Plant Sciences is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the Botanical Society of America The advent of the DNA sequencing age has led to a revolution in biology. The rapid and cost-effective generation of high-quality sequence data has transformed many fields, including those focused on discovering species and surveying biodiversity, monitoring movement of biological materials, forensic biology, and disease diagnostics. There is a need to build capacity to generate useful sequence data in countries with limited historical access to laboratory resources, so that researchers can benefit from the advantages offered by these data. Commonly used molecular …

Advancing Dendrochronological Studies Of Fire In The United States, Grant L. Harley, Christopher H. Baisan, Peter M. Brown, Donald A. Falk, William T. Flatley, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Amy Hessl, Emily K. Heyerdahl, Margot W. Kaye, Charles W. Lafon, Ellis Q. Margolis, R. Stockton Maxwell, Adam T. Naito, William J. Platt, Monica T. Rother, Thomas Saladyga, Rosemary L. Sherriff, Lauren A. Stachowiak, Michael C. Stambaugh, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Alan H. Taylor

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Dendroecology is the science that dates tree rings to their exact calendar year of formation to study processes that influence forest ecology (e.g., Speer 2010 [1], Amoroso et al., 2017 [2]). Reconstruction of past fire regimes is a core application of dendroecology, linking fire history to population dynamics and climate effects on tree growth and survivorship. Since the early 20th century when dendrochronologists recognized that tree rings retained fire scars (e.g., Figure 1), and hence a record of past fires, they have conducted studies worldwide to reconstruct [2] the historical range …