Digital Commons Network^™

Measuring Motivation, Improving Engagement, H. Colleen Sinclair, Stacey R. Terrio, Youn Kyoung Kim

Reports

To address challenges in the measurement of student motivation to engage with and persist on math tasks, we tackled integrating existing measures and piloting these instruments across two diverse samples to construct 10 reliable scales of pertinent individual differences in math motivation. We present the scales to invite discussion about validity, future use, potential additional motivational measures to consider and applications in schools.

Application Of Learning Processes For Improving Last-Mile Logistics Optimization At Scale, Seyedeh Shaghayegh Rabbanian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The escalating demands of omnichannel retailing, rapid urbanization and shifting customer behaviors have propelled last-mile vehicle routing logistics to the forefront of research. This last-mile phase, recognized as a significant contributor to costs and pollution in the supply chain, necessitates efficient route optimization to minimize expenses and environmental impact. This research delves into machine learning based techniques for solving large-scale Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), a fundamental concern in last-mile logistics, aiming to optimize delivery vehicle routing amidst diverse customer nodes and operational constraints. Three primary research subproblems are analyzed: utilizing machine learning for constructive solutions, Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) metaheuristic, …

Parental Environnement Influences Offspring Gene Expression In The Olympia Oyster, Ostrea Lurida., Mark S. Yeats

LSU Master's Theses

The Olympia Oyster is the only native oyster species on the Pacific coast of North America. Seasonality in water temperatures across this threatened species’ broad and fragmented range has been linked to its development, reproductive timing, reproductive activity, growth, and survival rates. Recent evidence suggests parental environments can have carry-over effects on larval growth and respiration rates in response to temperature. In this study, we utilized transcriptomic methods to identify the underlying mechanisms of this cross-generation plasticity. Sequence libraries of adult ctenidia tissue and pooled larval replicates were extracted and spawned from hatchery raised oysters of the same parentage immediately …

In Search Of The Armorial Aesthetic: The Counter-Reform Of Ariano Suassuna And The Compositional Techniques In Clovis Pereira’S Suite Macambira, Wagner De Oliveira Duarte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, in the wake of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo in 1922, Brazil grappled with defining its national identity, distinct from European influences. While eminent figures such as Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, and Francisco Mignone provided foundational narratives in this quest, the Armorial movement emerged as a unique and emblematic response to these nationalistic aspirations.

Originating from the creative vision of Ariano Suassuna, the Armorial movement, though often perceived as a regional initiative, epitomized a broader endeavor to represent Brazil's diverse cultural tapestry. Central to understanding this movement is the work …

Women At Work: Pathways From Gender Stereotypes To Gender Bias And Discrimination, Madeline E. Heilman, Suzette Caleo, Francesca Manzi

Faculty Publications

Despite important advances, gender-based discrimination continues to hin-der women’s career progress. This review examines the role that gender stereotypes play in promoting gender bias and discrimination. After review- ing what is known about the content of gender stereotypes and examining both their descriptive and prescriptive aspects, we discuss two pathways through which stereotypes result in discrepant work outcomes for women and men. First, we consider how the characterization of women as com- munal but not agentic conflicts with the perceived demands of many male gender-typed jobs and fields, thus promoting perceptions of women’s lack of competence in those areas. Second, …

Death, Dreaming, And Diaspora: Achieving Orientation Through Afro-Spirituality, Liz Johnston, Jaime Elizabeth Johnston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Enslavement, colonization, and the systems that uphold racial injustice were and still are a series of new, unfathomable, and challenging experiences that prompt individuals within the diaspora to seek orientation. How does a human cope with centuries of attempts at the systematic destruction of their humanity, culture, and identity? How can they reclaim that identity, especially when so much of it seems lost? I address these questions by utilizing texts from the expansive body of work regarding ethnographic-historical-religious studies on Afro-spiritual practices to better analyze instances in literature in the ongoing practice of diasporic orientation. In this project, I argue …

Incubating Education: The Lived Experiences Of Louisiana Elementary And Middle School Teachers When Piloting A 4-H Stem School Enrichment Curriculum, Crystal Rose Ahrens

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study addressed a deficiency in the agricultural literacy of the U.S. population by focusing on the challenges that core subject teachers face when integrating agriculture into their curriculum. Using a phenomenological research approach, this investigation explored the lived experiences of Louisiana teachers who piloted a 4-H STEM curriculum, focusing on the growth in agricultural literacy of the teachers while instructing third and eighth-grade students on the agricultural-based and STEM-focused topic of embryology. Employing a transcendental phenomenological approach, I acknowledged my biases through reflexivity and adhered to ethical considerations, including informed consent and confidentiality. Key findings emerged through four themes …

If You Build It, Will They Come? Assessing Habitat Quality For Marsh Birds At Created Marshes In Southeastern Louisiana, Katherine Aylett Lipford

LSU Master's Theses

Wetland loss occurs at an alarming pace globally, with extremely high rates along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana loses a football field of wetland every 100 minutes: that is 77,000 m² of wetland bird habitat lost daily. In Louisiana, marsh creation projects combat wetland loss, and while wildlife habitat is often used as a justification for restoration, wildlife receives little to no consideration during and after construction. Habitat characteristics such as site-specific hydrology, vegetation composition, and habitat structure affect the abundance of wetland birds and understanding these features is crucial to creating habitat that will benefit birds. My …

The Relationship Between The Saharan Air Layer, Convective Environmental Conditions, And Precipitation In Puerto Rico, P. W. Miller, C. Ramseyer

Faculty Publications

The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) is a hot, dry, and dust-laden feature that advects large concentrations of dust across the Atlantic annually to destination regions in the Americas and Caribbean. However, recent work has suggested the SAL may be a contributing factor to high-impact drought in the Caribbean basin. While the SAL's characteristic dust loadings have been the focus of much previous research, fewer efforts have holistically engaged the co-evolution of the dust plume, its associated convective environment, and resultant rainfall in Caribbean islands. This study employs a self-organizing map (SOM) classification to identify the common trans-Atlantic dust transport typologies …

Structural Information On Supramolecular Copper(Ii) Β-Diketonate Complexes From Atomic Force Microscopy And Analytical Ultracentrifugation, Jonathan S. Casey, Ashley R. Walker, Xianglin Zhai, Jayne C. Garno, Paul S. Russo, Andrew W. Maverick

Faculty Publications

Supramolecular Cu(II) complexes were prepared from two trifunctional β-diketone ligands. The ligands (CH3Si(phacH)3 and CH3Si(phprH)3, represented by LH3) contain three aryl-β-diketone moieties joined by an organosilicon group. The complexes have the empirical formula Cu3L2, as expected for combinations of Cu²⁺ and L^3-. Several metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) [Cu3L2]n are possible (n = 1-10); a dodecahedron (Cu30L20; n = 10; estimated diameter of ca. 5 nm) should be the most stable because its internal bond angles would come closest to ideal values. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), performed on samples deposited from solution onto mica substrates, revealed a distribution of …

Nonlinear Filtering Of Classical And Quantum Spin Systems, Sivaguru S. Sritharan, Saba Mudaliar

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Investigating Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Epfrs) Emissions Of 3d Printing Process, Farhana Hasan, Phillip M. Potter, Souhail R. Al-Abed, Joanna Matheson, Slawomir M. Lomnicki

Faculty Publications

In recent years, the emission of particles and gaseous pollutants from 3D printing has attracted much attention due to potential health risks. This study investigated the generation of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs, organic free radicals stabilized on or inside particles) in total particulate matter (TPM) released during the 3D printing process. Commercially available 3D printer filaments, made of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) in two different colors and metal content, ABS-blue (19.66 µg/g Cu) and ABS-black (3.69 µg/g Fe), were used for printing. We hypothesized that the metal content/composition of the filaments contributes not only to the type and number of EPFRs …

Machine-Learning-Assisted Leak Detection Using Distributed Temperature And Acoustic Sensors, Hayden Gemeinhardt, Jyotsna Sharma

Faculty Publications

Small leaks, many of which often go undetected using conventional gauges, remain an urgent problem for an aging pipeline infrastructure. This article proposes a method that allows for an automated and robust leak detection and localization system by fusing distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) and distributed temperature sensor (DTS) data for machine learning. Distributed fiber-optic sensing creates an advantage over conventional gauges by providing real-time continuous measurements along the entire length of the fiber-instrumented pipeline at a high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity that can detect small leaks, as well as the leak location. High sensitivity, however, can create noisy data. Thus, …

The Ecological Responses To Hydroperiod Of Wetland Plant Species Determined By Manipulated Soil Surface Elevation (Marsh Organs), Brandon Wolff

LSU Master's Theses

As sea level rise, subsidence, and abandonment of natural deltaic processes due to a highly engineered Mississippi River continue to threaten Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the need for a system-wide understanding of natural wetland land-building and preservation processes has never been greater. A key component of any wetland is the ever-changing water environment that periodically floods and dries the marsh platforms. The flooding depth, duration, and frequency, known as the hydroperiod, along with salinity and soil fertility are key determining factors of vegetation and marsh types at a particular location. Different types of vegetation will have different growth characteristics such as …

Time, Place, & Purpose: The Performance Of Creole Identity In Louisiana, Rachel N. Aker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Though much of the early development of Louisiana Creole culture can be found in New Orleans, the culture spread and continued to grow throughout the rest of South Louisiana in both similar and different ways. Expanding beyond Joseph Roach’s treatment of Creole cultural performances in New Orleans in Cities of the Dead (1996) and journeying across land and water, this project identifies more Creole cultural performance as they emerge across place and time. I present Louisiana and the Gulf South as a kind of inland archipelago, with the currents of culture-creation moving in and around distinct community enclaves. The flow …

On Lightweight Shape Memory Vitrimer Composites, Siavash Sarrafan, Guoqiang Li

Faculty Publications

Lightweight materials are highly desired in many engineering applications. A popular approach to obtain lightweight polymers is to prepare polymeric syntactic foams by dispersing hollow particles, such as hollow glass microbubbles (HGMs), in a polymer matrix. Integrating shape memory vitrimers (SMVs) in fabricating these syntactic foams enhances their appeal due to the multifunctionality of SMVs. The SMV-based syntactic foams have many potential applications, including actuators, insulators, and sandwich cores. However, there is a knowledge gap in understanding the effect of the HGM volume fraction on different material properties and behaviors. In this study, we prepared an SMV-based syntactic foam to …

Free-Standing 3d Printing Of Epoxy-Vinyl Ether Structures Using Radical-Induced Cationic Frontal Polymerization, Brecklyn R. Groce, Alexandra V. Aucoin, Md Asmat Ullah, Jake Dicesare, Claire Wingfield, Jonathan Sardin, Jackson T. Harris, John C. Nguyen, Patrick Raley, Svetlana S. Stanley, Genevieve Palardy, John A. Pojman

Faculty Publications

The application of frontal polymerization to additive manufacturing has advantages in energy consumption and speed of printing. Additionally, with frontal polymerization, it is possible to print free-standing structures that require no supports. A resin was developed using a mixture of epoxies and vinyl ether with an iodonium salt and peroxide initiating system that frontally polymerizes through radical-induced cationic frontal polymerization. The formulation, which was optimized for reactivity, physical properties, and rheology, allowed the printing of free-standing structures. Increasing ratios of vinyl ether and reactive cycloaliphatic epoxide were found to increase the front velocity. Addition of carbon nanofibers increased the front …

Tracking Charge Migration With Frequency-Matched Strobo-Spectroscopy, Kyle A. Hamer, Aderonke S. Folorunso, Kenneth Lopata, Kenneth J. Schafer, Mette B. Gaarde, François Mauger

Faculty Publications

We present frequency-matched strobo-spectroscopy (FMSS) of charge migration (CM) in bromobutadiyne, simulated with time-dependent density functional theory. CM + FMSS is a pump-probe scheme that uses a frequency-matched high harmonic generation (HHG)-driving laser as an independent probe step, following the creation of a localized hole on the bromine atom that induces CM dynamics. We show that the delay-dependent harmonic yield tracks the phase of the CM dynamics through its sensitivity to the amount of electron density on the bromine end of the molecule. FMSS takes advantage of the intrinsic attosecond time resolution of the HHG process in which different harmonics …

Soil Improvement Using Fungal Mycelium Of Trichoderma Virens And Construction Techniques Of Mud Dauber, Park Joon Soo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional ground improvement techniques involve high energy consumption and expensive and invasive earthworks. To develop sustainable ground improvement techniques, extensive research has explored biological processes and strategies. This dissertation identifies two organisms, fungal mycelium and mud dauber wasp, as sources of utilization and inspiration for the development of sustainable soil improvement techniques.

Filamentous fungi can form a root-like interconnected complex network known as fungal mycelium. Fungal mycelium can extend through soil pores and secrete hydrophobic compounds, binding soil particles and increasing soil water repellency. This dissertation conducted experimental studies to investigate the effects of fungal mycelium on hydraulic and mechanical …

Enhancing Bridge Resilience And Overheight Vehicle Mitigation Through Innovative Sacrificial Cushion Systems, Aly Mousaad Aly, Marc Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

Transportation departments have made significant strides in addressing the challenges posed by the increasing weights of trucks on bridges. While there is a growing awareness of overheight vehicle collisions with bridges, implementing effective countermeasures remains limited. The susceptibility of bridges to damage from such collisions is on the rise, further exacerbated by unpredictable lateral impact forces. This study employs nonlinear impact analysis to assess the response of an unprotected vehicle-girder model, yielding realistic deformation outcomes comparable to observed impacts on the US-61 bridge. Predictions for a truck traveling at 112.65 km/h indicate deformations of 0.229 m, 0.161 m, and 0.271 …

Evaluation Of Colorimetric Rt-Lamp For Screening Of Sars-Cov-2 In Untreated Wastewater, Jesmin Akter, Wendy J.M. Smith, Metasebia Gebrewold, Ilho Kim, Stuart L. Simpson, Aaron Bivins, Warish Ahmed

Faculty Publications

This study compared reverse transcription-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) and three reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays targeting the N and E genes of the SARS-CoV-2 genome for detecting RNA in untreated wastewater samples. RT-qPCR assays exhibited consistent amplification down to 2 × 102 GC/reaction, with greater analytical sensitivity at 2 × 101 GC/reaction by US CDC N1 and US CDC N2 assays. In contrast, RT-LAMP exhibited lower sensitivity, detecting SARS-CoV-2 only at or above 2 × 103 GC/reaction. For SARS-CoV-2 seeded wastewater samples, the US CDC N1 assay exhibited greater analytical sensitivity than the US CDC N2, E_Sarbeco, and …

Machine Learning-Based Soybean Yield Prediction And Optimizing Lidar-Mounted Uav Efficiency, Leticia Santos

LSU Master's Theses

The first chapter of this thesis explores the predictive capabilities of random forests algorithm on datasets obtained from field plot experiments on crop management systems in soybean. Furthermore, the chapter presents a complementary analysis of model performance according to dataset sizes and two techniques on how to impute and deal with missing data. Random forests are being compared with standard statistical techniques such as linear regression on a well-structured, information-rich agronomic experiment. The key findings of this chapter includes the best hyperparameters adjustment and the identification of the dataset threshold for optimal algorithms performance. The second chapter has a research …

Scenario Setup And Forcing Data For Impact Model Evaluation And Impact Attribution Within The Third Round Of The Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (Isimip3a), Katja Frieler, Jan Volkholz, Stefan Lange, Jacob Schewe, Matthias Mengel, María Del Rocío Rivas López, Christian Otto, Christopher P.O. Reyer, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Johanna T. Malle, Simon Treu, Christoph Menz, Julia L. Blanchard, Cheryl S. Harrison, Colleen M. Petrik, Tyler D. Eddy, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Camilla Novaglio, Yannick Rousseau, Reg A. Watson, Charles Stock, Xiao Liu, Ryan Heneghan, Derek Tittensor, Olivier Maury, Matthias Büchner, Thomas Vogt, Tingting Wang, Fubao Sun, Inga J. Sauer, Johannes Koch, Inne Vanderkelen, Jonas Jägermeyr

Faculty Publications

This paper describes the rationale and the protocol of the first component of the third simulation round of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP3a, http://www.isimip.org, last access: 2 November 2023) and the associated set of climate-related and direct human forcing data (CRF and DHF, respectively). The observation-based climate-related forcings for the first time include high-resolution observational climate forcings derived by orographic downscaling, monthly to hourly coastal water levels, and wind fields associated with historical tropical cyclones. The DHFs include land use patterns, population densities, information about water and agricultural management, and fishing intensities. The ISIMIP3a impact model simulations driven …

Attochemistry Regulation Of Charge Migration, Aderonke Folorunso

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Charge migration (CM) is a coherent attosecond process that involves the movement of localized holes across a molecule. This phenomenon is potentially useful to understand the fundamental principles of photochemistry, such as light harvesting. The first part of this dissertation discusses the molecular modes of attosecond charge migration. In this work, we used first-principles calculations to investigate the modes of charge migration (CM) in halogenated hydrocarbon chains at attosecond timescales. We have simulated the creation of a localized hole on the halogen atom using constrained density functional theory (DFT) and then tracked its subsequent dynamics with time-dependent DFT (TDDFT). Our …

Sediment Resuspension And Transport In The Offshore Subaqueous Yangtze Delta During Winter Storms, Min Tian, Haifei Yang, Wenxiang Zhang, Kehui Xu, Benwei Shi, Yaping Wang, Shilun Yang

Faculty Publications

Storm-induced episodic sediment redistribution in coastal systems can reshape geomorphic bodies, disrupt ecosystems, and cause economic damage. However, cold-wave-storm-induced hydrodynamic changes and residual sediment transport in large, exposed subaqueous deltas, such as the Yangtze Delta, are poorly understood because it is typically expensive and difficult to obtain systematic field data in open coast settings during storm events. We conducted a successful field survey of waves, currents, changes in water depth, and turbidity at a station (time-averaged water depth of 20 m) in the offshore subaqueous Yangtze Delta over 10 days during winter, covering two storms and two fair-weather periods. During …

Subsurface Redox Interactions Regulate Ebullitive Methane Flux In Heterogeneous Mississippi River Deltaic Wetland, Jiaze Wang, Theresa O'Meara, Sophie Lafond-Hudson, Songjie He, Kanchan Maiti, Eric J. Ward, Benjamin N. Sulman

Faculty Publications

As interfaces connecting terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, coastal wetlands develop temporally and spatially complex redox conditions, which drive uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission as well as the total carbon budget of the coastal ecosystem. To evaluate the role of complex redox reactions in methane emission from coastal wetlands, a coupled reactive-transport model was configured to represent subsurface biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, along with production and transport of multiple gas species through diffusion and ebullition. This model study was conducted at multiple sites along a salinity gradient in the Barataria Basin at the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain. Over …

Elevated Temperature And Nutrients Lead To Increased N2o Emissions From Salt Marsh Soils From Cold And Warm Climates, Sophie A. Comer-Warner, Sami Ullah, Arunabha Dey, Camille L. Stagg, Tracy Elsey-Quirk, Christopher M. Swarzenski, Fotis Sgouridis, Stefan Krause, Gail L. Chmura

Faculty Publications

Salt marshes can attenuate nutrient pollution and store large amounts of ‘blue carbon’ in their soils, however, the value of sequestered carbon may be partially offset by nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Global climate and land use changes result in higher temperatures and inputs of reactive nitrogen (Nr) into coastal zones. Here, we investigated the combined effects of elevated temperature (ambient + 5℃) and Nr (double ambient concentrations) on nitrogen processing in marsh soils from two climatic regions (Quebec, Canada and Louisiana, U.S.) with two vegetation types, Sporobolus alterniflorus (= Spartina alterniflora) and Sporobolus pumilus (= Spartina patens), using 24-h laboratory …

Charting The Scorched Trails: A Comparative Analysis Of Roadway Damage From Historical Megafires To The Unprecedented 2020 Labor Day Wildfires On The Usa West Coast, Kevin Christiansen, Ayat Al Assi, Rubayet Bin Mostafiz, Robert V. Rohli

Faculty Publications

Roadways in the US states of Washington (WA), Oregon (OR), and California (CA) incurred extraordinary damage during the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. However, the cost and risk of these fires have not been placed in a historical perspective. This study examines the damage to roadways affected by the 2020 Labor Day wildfires in relation to the history of megafires in WA (1902–2023), OR (1845– 2023), and CA (1889–2023) using carefully selected data sets gathered from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). A method for classifying road damage from …

Identifying And Filling Critical Knowledge Gaps Can Optimize Financial Viability Of Blue Carbon Projects In Tidal Wetlands, Tim J.B. Carruthers, S. Beaux Jones, Megan K. Terrell, Jonathan F. Scheibly, Brendan J. Player, Valerie A. Black, Justin R. Ehrenwerth, Patrick D. Biber, Rod M. Connolly, Steve Crooks, Jason P. Curole, Kelly M. Darnell, Alyssa M. Dausman, Allison L. Dejong, Shawn M. Doyle, Christopher R. Esposito, Daniel A. Friess, James W. Fourqurean, Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Gabriel D. Grimsditch, Songjie He, Eva R. Hillmann, Guerry O. Holm, Jennifer Howard, Hoonshin Jung, Stacy D. Jupiter, Erin Kiskaddon, Ken W. Krauss, Paul S. Lavery, Bingqing Liu, Catherine E. Lovelock, Sarah K. Mack, Peter I. Macreadie

Faculty Publications

One of the world’s largest “blue carbon” ecosystems, Louisiana’s tidal wetlands on the US Gulf of Mexico coast, is rapidly being lost. Louisiana’s strong legal, regulatory, and monitoring framework, developed for one of the world’s largest tidal wetland systems, provides an opportunity for a programmatic approach to blue carbon accreditation to support restoration of these ecologically and economically important tidal wetlands. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands span ∼1.4 million ha and accumulate 5.5–7.3 Tg yr⁻¹ of blue carbon (organic carbon), ∼6%–8% of tidal marsh blue carbon accumulation globally. Louisiana has a favorable governance framework to advance blue carbon accreditation, due to …

Correction: Effect Of Mississippi River Discharge Plume On Temporal And Spatial Variability Of Toxic Cyanobacteria In An Oligohaline Estuary (Hydrobiologia, (2024), 851, 1, (87-103), 10.1007/S10750-023-05322-3), Callie Snow, Sibel Bargu, Courtney Nicole Hammond, Matthew Hiatt, John R. White

Faculty Publications

The above-mentioned publication contains an erroneous calculation of flushing times using Eq. 1 in the paper. In the published version, we report flushing times as follows: “According to Eq. 1, flushing times associated with the BCS openings were 45 and 54 days for the first and second openings in 2019, respectively.” In the Discussion section, flushing time is erroneously reported as 51 days. These errors arose from a mistake in calculating the tidal prism of Lake Pontchartrain. In the published version, a data entry mistake in a spreadsheet formula led to 6 km² being used for the area of …