Digital Commons Network^™

The Distribution Of Surface Soil Moisture Over Space And Time In Eastern Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Mark R. Salvatore, John E. Barrett, Laura E. Fackrell, Eric R. Sokol, Joseph S. Levy, Lily C. Kuentz, Michael N. Gooseff, Byron J. Adams, Sarah N. Power, J. Paul Knightly, Haley M. Matul, Brian Szutu, Peter T. Doran

Faculty Publications

Available soil moisture is thought to be the limiting factor for most ecosystem processes in the cold polar desert of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica. Previous studies have shown that microfauna throughout the MDVs are capable of biological activity when sufficient soil moisture is available (~2–10% gravimetric water content), but few studies have attempted to quantify the distribution, abundance, and frequency of soil moisture on scales beyond that of traditional field work or local field investigations. In this study, we present our work to quantify the soil moisture content of soils throughout the Fryxell basin using multispectral satellite …

Testing Tectonostratigraphic Hypotheses Of The Blountian Phase Of The Taconic Orogeny In The Southern Appalachians Through An Integrated Geochronological And Sedimentological Study Of Ordovician K-Bentonites And Quartz Arenites, Achim D. Herrmann, John T. Haynes, Richard Robinet, Peter D. Clift, Keith E. Goggin

Faculty Publications

The tectonic setting of the southernmost part of the eastern margin of Laurentia during the Blountian tectophase (~472–452 Ma) of the Ordovician Taconic Orogeny remains unresolved. Tephras produced by explosive volcanism during this early phase of the orogeny are now K-bentonites, and in many locations, they are interbedded with mature to supermature quartz arenites. We conducted U-Pb analyses of detrital zircons from the sandstones, and of zoned magmatic zircons from the K-bentonites, to constrain the tectonostratigraphic setting with more precision. We also used geochemical fingerprinting of apatite phenocrysts to correlate the K-bentonites in these sandstones along the tectonic front, and …

Constraints On The Timing Of The India-Asia Collision And Unroofing History Of The Himalayan Orogen Using Detrital Zircon U-Pb-Hf And Whole-Rock Sr-Nd Isotopes In Cretaceous-Miocene Lesser Himalayan Sedimentary Rocks, Wei Feng, Qingquan Meng, Chunhui Song, Xiaomin Fang, Guangsheng Zhuang, Pengju He, Shufen Yang, Jing Zhang, Yongfa Chen, Yihu Zhang

Faculty Publications

Cretaceous-Miocene sedimentary rocks in the Nepalese Lesser Himalaya provide an opportunity to decipher the timing of India-Asia collision and unroofing history of the Himalayan orogen, which are significant for understanding the growth processes of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. Our new data indicate that detrital zircon ages and whole-rock Sr-Nd isotopes in Cretaceous-Miocene Lesser Himalayan sedimentary rocks underwent two significant changes. First, from the Upper Cretaceous-Palaeocene Amile Formation to the Eocene Bhainskati Formation, the proportion of late Proterozoic-early Palaeozoic zircons (quantified by an index of 500–1200 Ma/1600–2800 Ma) increased from nearly 0 to 0.7–1.4, and the percentage of Mesozoic zircons decreased from …

Thermoset Polymer Composites With Gradient Natural And Synthetic Fiber Reinforcement: Self-Healing, Shape-Memory, And Fiber Recyclability, Sakil Mahmud, John Konlan, Jenny Deicaza, Rachel Anna Schmidt, Guoqiang Li

Faculty Publications

Natural fibers have high potential as renewable reinforcement for polymers; however, their lower load-carrying capacity compared to synthetic fibers significantly limits the wide application in fiber-reinforced polymer composites. In laminated composite beams under bending load, the normal stress is the highest on the top and bottom layers but is zero at the mid-plane, with almost a linear normal strain distribution. Although the shear stress is the highest at the mid-plane, it may not be a major concern as most polymers can survive the high shear stress. Using this concept, we have designed a hybrid fiber reinforcement in a gradient manner: …

Wastewater Monitoring Can Anchor Global Disease Surveillance Systems, Aparna Keshaviah, Megan B. Diamond, Megan B. Diamond, Matthew J. Wade, Samuel V. Scarpino, Warish Ahmed, Fabian Amman, Olusola Aruna, Andrei Badilla-Aguilar, Itay Bar-Or, Andreas Bergthaler, Julie E. Bines, Aaron W. Bivins, Alexandria B. Boehm, Jean Martin Brault, Jean Baptiste Burnet, Joanne R. Chapman, Angela Chaudhuri, Ana Maria De Roda Husman, Robert Delatolla, John J. Dennehy, Celeste Donato, Erwin Duizer, Abiodun Egwuenu, Oran Erster, Despo Fatta-Kassinos, Aldo Gaggero, Deirdre F. Gilpin, Brent J. Gilpin, Tyson E. Graber, Christopher A. Green, Amanda Handley, Joanne Hewitt

Faculty Publications

To inform the development of global wastewater monitoring systems, we surveyed programmes in 43 countries. Most programmes monitored predominantly urban populations. In high-income countries (HICs), composite sampling at centralised treatment plants was most common, whereas grab sampling from surface waters, open drains, and pit latrines was more typical in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Almost all programmes analysed samples in-country, with an average processing time of 2·3 days in HICs and 4·5 days in LMICs. Whereas 59% of HICs regularly monitored wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 variants, only 13% of LMICs did so. Most programmes share their wastewater data internally, with partnering …

Near-Term Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Seniors’ Crash Size And Severity, Saba Doulabi, Hany M. Hassan

Faculty Publications

Recent research revealed that COVID-19 pandemic was associated with noticeable changes in travel demand, traffic volumes, and traffic safety measures. Despite the reduction of traffic volumes across the US, several recent studies indicated that crash rates increased across different states during COVID-19 pandemic. Although some recent studies have focused on examining the changes in traffic conditions and crash rates before and during the pandemic, not enough research has been conducted to identify risk factors to crash severity. Even the limited research addressing the contributing factors to crash severity were focused on the pool category of drivers and no insight is …

On The Characteristics Of Fatigue Fracture With Rapid Frequency Change, Mohammad A. Amooie, K. P. Lijesh, Ali Mahmoudi, Elaheh Azizian-Farsani, Michael M. Khonsari

Faculty Publications

The effect of sudden variations in working modes and fatigue behavior of CS 1018 is studied. A general model based on the framework of the fracture fatigue entropy (FFE) concept is developed to capture such changes. Fully reversed bending tests are performed on flat dog bone specimens with a series of variable frequency tests without turning the machine off to simulate fluctuating working conditions. The results are then post-processed and analyzed to assess how fatigue life changes when a component is subjected to sudden changes in multiple frequencies. It is demonstrated that regardless of the frequency changes, FFE remains constant …

Rapid Evaluation Of Fatigue Limit Using Energy Dissipation, Ali Mahmoudi, Michael M. Khonsari

Faculty Publications

Four different experimental approaches for rapid estimation of fatigue limit (endurance limit) based on energy dissipation during cyclic loading are discussed. The presented approaches use energy dissipation and thermography and can reliably evaluate the fatigue limit of material by conducting the fatigue test on a single specimen. Results show that the released energy due to damage accumulation at the stress levels above the fatigue limit changes the trend of energy dissipation and that this trend can be used to predict the fatigue limit. Experimental results on CS 1018 and SS 304 specimens are presented to illustrate the utility of the …

Social Media And Volunteer Rescue Requests Prediction With Random Forest And Algorithm Bias Detection: A Case Of Hurricane Harvey, Volodymyr V. Mihunov, Kejin Wang, Zheye Wang, Nina S.N. Lam, Mingxuan Sun

Faculty Publications

AI fairness is tasked with evaluating and mitigating bias in algorithms that may discriminate towards protected groups. This paper examines if bias exists in AI algorithms used in disaster management and in what manner. We consider the 2017 Hurricane Harvey when flood victims in Houston resorted to social media to request for rescue. We evaluate a Random Forest regression model trained to predict Twitter rescue request rates from social-environmental data using three fairness criteria (independence, separation, and sufficiency). The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), its four sub-indices, and four variables representing digital divide were considered sensitive attributes. The Random Forest regression …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Federal Cdbg-Dr Road Home Program Mitigation Assistance In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Ayat Al Assi, Rubayet Bin Mostafiz, Carol J. Friedland, Robert V. Rohli, Arash Taghinezhad, Md Adilur Rahim

Faculty Publications

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the State of Louisiana received federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) assistance, administered by the Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD) as the Road Home Program, to provide homeowners with the required matching funds for elevating damaged homes under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). This research evaluates the cost-effectiveness of the Road Home Program elevation mitigation assistance for a case study of homes in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, using benefit–cost analysis (BCA) based on average annual loss (AAL) prediction. We use multiple return period flood depths …

Feature Extraction Techniques For Noisy Distributed Acoustic Sensor Data Acquired In A Wellbore, Jagadeeshwar Tabjula, Jyotsna Sharma

Faculty Publications

The distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) is a promising technology for real-time monitoring of wellbores and other infrastructures. However, the desired signals are often overwhelmed by background and environmental noise inherent in field applications. We present a suite of computationally inexpensive techniques for the real-time extraction of the gas signatures from noisy DAS data acquired in a 5163 ft. deep wellbore. The techniques are implemented on three well-scale DAS datasets, each representing multiphase flow conditions with different gas injection volumes, fluid circulation rates, and injection methods. The proposed denoising techniques not only helped in optimizing the gas slug signature despite the …

Establishment Of Bovine Trophoblast Stem Cells, Yinjuan Wang, Hao Ming, Leqian Yu, Jie Li, Linkai Zhu, Hai Xi Sun, Carlos A. Pinzon-Arteaga, Jun Wu, Zongliang Jiang

Faculty Publications

Here, we report that a chemical cocktail (LCDM: leukemia inhibitory factor [LIF], CHIR99021, dimethinedene maleate [DiM], minocycline hydrochloride), previously developed for extended pluripotent stem cells (EPSCs) in mice and humans, enables de novo derivation and long-term culture of bovine trophoblast stem cells (TSCs). Bovine TSCs retain developmental potency to differentiate into mature trophoblast cells and exhibit transcriptomic and epigenetic (chromatin accessibility and DNA methylome) features characteristic of trophectoderm cells from early bovine embryos. The bovine TSCs established in this study will provide a model to study bovine placentation and early pregnancy failure.

Voting In The Mall - Understanding Political Consumerism In The United States And Europe, Kwadwo Poku-Agyemang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the various traits that predispose individuals or groups to participate in political boycotts by refraining from purchasing goods and services from companies with the goal of promoting their political beliefs and goals. Specifically, this research considers the effects of political ideology, attitudes toward historically-marginalized groups, and identification with grievance groups shape self-reported participation in political consumerism in the United States and Europe. Using data from the 2016 and 2020 American National Election Survey and the eighth, nineth and tenth rounds of the European Social Survey, I find that although political consumerism has been seen as a liberal …

Contrasting Responses Of Atlantic And Pacific Tropical Cyclone Activity To Atlantic Multidecadal Variability, Huanping Huang, William D. Collins, Christina M. Patricola, Yohan Ruprich-Robert, Paul A. Ullrich, Alexander J. Baker

Faculty Publications

This research assesses the influences of Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) on global tropical cyclones (TCs) using two large ensembles of idealized global climate model simulations with opposite signs of AMV forcings superimposed (i.e., AMV+ and AMV–). We first detect TCs and then compare TC activity by basin in the two AMV experiments. We find contrasting responses of Atlantic and Pacific TC frequency to the AMV anomalies. Compared to AMV–, AMV+ significantly increases TC frequency in the North Atlantic, including those making landfalls. The increase is explained by warmer sea surface temperature, higher relative humidity, increased relative vorticity, and weaker vertical …

First Direct Measurement Constraining The Ar 34 (Α, P) K 37 Reaction Cross Section For Mixed Hydrogen And Helium Burning In Accreting Neutron Stars, J. Browne, K. A. Chipps, Konrad Schmidt, H. Schatz, S. Ahn, S. D. Pain, F. Montes, W. J. Ong, U. Greife, J. Allen, D. W. Bardayan, J. C. Blackmon, D. Blankstein, S. Cha, K. Y. Chae, M. Febbraro, M. R. Hall, K. L. Jones, A. Kontos, Z. Meisel, P. D. O'Malley, K. T. Schmitt, K. Smith, M. S. Smith, P. Thompson, R. Toomey, M. Vostinar, D. Walter

Faculty Publications

The rate of the final step in the astrophysical αp process, the Ar34(α,p)K37 reaction, suffers from large uncertainties due to a lack of experimental data, despite having a considerable impact on the observable light curves of x-ray bursts and the composition of the ashes of hydrogen and helium burning on accreting neutron stars. We present the first direct measurement constraining the Ar34(α,p)K37 reaction cross section, using the Jet Experiments in Nuclear Structure and Astrophysics gas jet target. The combined cross section for the Ar34,Cl(α,p)K37,Ar reaction is found to agree well with Hauser-Feshbach predictions. The Ar34(α,2p)Ar36 cross section, which can be …

Silica Concentrations In Dominant Vegetation Species Of Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana, Danielle M. Soileau

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal deltaic wetlands colonize dynamic environments and experience fluctuations of salinity, river connectivity, sediment dredging or deposition, and periods of inundation resulting in unique vegetation and soils. Louisiana’s coastline is experiencing enhanced loss of coastal deltaic wetlands in coastal basins where the Mississippi River no longer is connected to waterways and channels that would normally provide freshwater and sediments representing the abandonment phase of the delta cycle. There is a coastal basin in the central regions of the state, the Atchafalaya Bay, that is still in the active phase of delta cycle resulting in the growth of the Wax Lake, …

Computer-Aided Drug Design Of Bakuchiol-Inspired Lxrα Modulators Against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Dillon P. Cao

LSU Master's Theses

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer in children, accounting for approximately 25% of pediatric malignancies. Although glucocorticoids are commonly used to treat ALL, prolonged use can lead to steroid resistance, rendering the drug regimen ineffective. Therefore, alternative treatment avenues are needed for high- risk pediatric patients that do not respond well to traditional regimens.

Liver X Receptor α (LXRα) is presented as a potential alternative drug target for pediatric patients that exhibit suboptimal response to glucocorticoids. Limitations of the current LXRα modulators such as indiscriminate isoform selectivity between LXRα and LXRβ and consequent adverse effects …

Ecology Of Viruses In Marine And Coastal Oxygen-Depleted Waters, Sophie Jurgensen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Deoxygenation of marine and coastal waters, both caused and exacerbated by a suite of abiotic and biotic factors, has been documented for more than sixty years. The incidence and severity of low-oxygen areas is predicted to expand globally in the coming decades. Despite their colloquial moniker “dead zones,” low-oxygen areas contain thriving and diverse microorganisms that have significant impacts on global biogeochemical cycles including contributing to positive feedback loops that further expand low-oxygen areas. While the diversity and activity of these microorganisms is beginning to be elucidated, the ecology of their viruses is particularly understudied. In this dissertation, I present …

Synthesis Of An Acinetobacter Baumannii Lipooligosaccharide Subunit, James M. Armstrong Ii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative, multi drug-resistant bacterium that was placed on the World Health Organization’s watchlist of drug-resistant bacteria. A. baumannii is an ESKAPE pathogen, one of six increasingly antimicrobial-resistant bacteria that are responsible for nosocomial infections. Alternative therapies, such as vaccines, are required to decrease the world’s reliance on antimicrobial agents. Specifically, glycoconjugate vaccines such as those used against Haemophilus influenzae B, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Neisseria meningitidis are used globally and are highly effective. These vaccines consist of an antigenic bacterial glycan bound to a carrier protein. The glycan is usually a capsular polysaccharide (CPS), however, the notion …

The Coralhydro2k Database: A Global, Actively Curated Compilation Of Coral Δ18o And Sr/Ca Proxy Records Of Tropical Ocean Hydrology And Temperature For The Common Era, Rachel M. Walter, Hussein R. Sayani, Thomas Felis, Kim M. Cobb, Nerilie J. Abram, Ariella K. Arzey, Alyssa R. Atwood, Logan D. Brenner, Émilie P. Dassié, Kristine L. Delong, Bethany Ellis, Julien Emile-Geay, Matthew J. Fischer, Nathalie F. Goodkin, Jessica A. Hargreaves, K. Halimeda Kilbourne, Hedwig Krawczyk, Nicholas P. Mckay, Andrea L. Moore, Sujata A. Murty, Maria Rosabelle Ong, Riovie D. Ramos, Emma V. Reed, Dhrubajyoti Samanta, Sara C. Sanchez, Jens Zinke

Faculty Publications

The response of the hydrological cycle to anthropogenic climate change, especially across the tropical oceans, remains poorly understood due to the scarcity of long instrumental temperature and hydrological records. Massive shallow-water corals are ideally suited to reconstructing past oceanic variability as they are widely distributed across the tropics, rapidly deposit calcium carbonate skeletons that continuously record ambient environmental conditions, and can be sampled at monthly to annual resolution. Climate reconstructions based on corals primarily use the stable oxygen isotope composition (δ18O), which acts as a proxy for sea surface temperature (SST), and the oxygen isotope composition of seawater (δ18Osw), a …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Adult Coping Inventory, Kristen Ashley Hollas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There are few psychometrically sound measures that assess coping in adults. For example, a widely used measure of coping, the COPE, has highly unstable sub-scales and was developed using a homogenous sample (Lyne & Roger, 2000). Because of these limitations, the Adult Coping Inventory (ACI) was developed. The ACI is a 57-item measure that contains five factors including Problem Solving, Mindfulness, Maladaptive Coping, Social Support and Avoidance. Initial reliability and validity analyses demonstrate good construct, concurrent and incremental validity. The current study involved conducting a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the factor structure of the ACI. The participant sample consisted …

Roleplaying Games And Performance, Benjamin Joseph Munise

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Roleplaying Games and Performance calls to mind popular appearances of roleplaying games on stage and screen, like Stranger Things or Qui Nguyen’s popular play, She Kills Monsters. However, inquiry into the way roleplaying games appear in these titles reveals the way they have been instrumentalized to serve the ends of their respective mediums. Scholars writing about roleplaying games also tend to leap straight to analyses of video games, with many words spilled over World of Warcraft while a live site of analog performance sits before them. In this work, I address the tabletop roleplaying game as a medium with …

Coral Reproduction In The Equatorial Eastern Pacific: Reproductive Trends And Seasonal Parameters, Susan Beth Colley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Most equatorial eastern Pacific (EEP) corals can reproduce year-round (Glynn et al. 1991, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2011, 2012, Colley et al. 2000). Gamete development occurs in several cycles throughout the year with a variable number of maturation cycles and presumably spawning events. The length of the breeding seasons in these corals is species-specific and can be locale-specific. The long-term reproductive dataset of these prior studies was utilized for Diaseris distorta, Pavona gigantea and Psammocora stellata (Colley et al. 2000, Glynn et al. 1996, 2012). Gametogenic trends are investigated in association with seasonal change of several environmental variables in …

Progress Toward A Comprehensive Model For Mass Transfer In Structured Packings, Jack Wilfert, Brian F. Hanley

Faculty Publications

Significant effort has been devoted to the study of mass transfer in sheet metal structured packings over the past half century. A number of mass transfer correlations have appeared in the literature as a result of those efforts. Unfortunately, none of these correlations has shown itself to be reliable over the full range of chemical systems, column operating conditions, and packing topologies encountered today. In an attempt to rectify some of the shortcomings of earlier correlations for sheet metal structured packings, we have employed a new data analysis methodology which simultaneously fits «HETP»data and mass transfer area data. The correlation …

Experiments And Data Analysis For Modulated Phase Gratings In X-Rays, Sydney B. Carr

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: Modulated Phase Grating (MPG) interferometry has been shown in theory and simulations to produce observable fringes on a clinical detector without requiring fluence absorbing analyzer. In this work, we will experimentally show that the MPG X-ray system produces observable fringes and multi-modal X-ray images.

Motivation:Nearly 1 in 8 women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime, accounting for approximately 40,000 deaths each year [1-2]. In order to pursue the best treatment option available, cancer itself must be adequately imaged and staged, based on size and level of metastasis, on the order of Stage I-IV. …

Reducing Recycling Contamination Using An Information Nudge, Mimi Rivette

LSU Master's Theses

Recycling contamination is a central challenge to recycling programs but is infrequently studied due to the difficulty of measuring contents and the inconvenience of sorting through recycling bags by hand. We conducted two simultaneous experiments to address both the issue of recycling contamination and the infrequency of its study at Louisiana State University in Fall 2021. We implemented two signage treatments, the first explicitly instructing passersby not to recycle a short list of common recycling contaminants, including Styrofoam, food wrappers, plastic bags, and face masks, and the second generally encouraging recycling but excluding specific instructions on what to recycle. To …

Remote Sensing And Artificial Intelligence-Based Modeling And Prediction Of Harmful Algal Blooms In Lake Pontchartrain, Ian Smith

LSU Master's Theses

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and particularly toxic cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) have become a growing threat to the environment, economy, communities, and human and animal health. This is particularly true for Lake Pontchartrain. Forecasting the occurrence of cyanobacterial HABs in Lake Pontchartrain is a process that currently does not exist, as nowcasting by the NCCOS Algal Bloom Monitoring System or the similar system implemented by the U.S. EPA is currently the only method to monitor HAB production in the Lake. This thesis made this process possible by identifying antecedent environmental conditions controlling CyanoHABs, describing the conditions using NASA satellite …

My Promise To Nature., Kathleen Mcvea

LSU Master's Theses

My Promise to Nature is a body of work created to emphasize the importance of conserving natural habitats in Louisiana’s Tunica Hills. The decision to do Land Art and select the Tunica Hills as the subject did not come to me right away. Nature and family have been woven throughout my work throughout my time in the M.F.A. program.

This was not out of reach, and I was already extremely passionate about the subject. It might be a pain due to location, but my family owned 400 acres of property in the Tunica Hills with a cabin that they had …

The Effectiveness Of Eye-Hand Coordination Training In Virtual Reality, Kelley Burger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Virtual environments (VE) and virtual reality (VR) through head-mounted displays (HMD) have been used to test and train eye-hand coordination skills in a way that is more immersive than traditional 2D video training. As this technology continues to evolve, researchers have sought to determine the degree to which these new technologies can augment training. This research attempts to expand the literature on sport skill training in VE and VR to elucidate the training protocols that support learning. The first study was designed to determine how a single session of occlusion training would affect football catching skills in VR. While adding …

Effects Of Research Dissemination Vehicle Use On Preservice Teacher Candidate Knowledge Acquisition, Allie Jenkins Boquet

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study provides information on how EBPs can be disseminated to education practitioners for the purpose of knowledge acquisition. With a well-established research-to-practice gap in the field of education, this study determined which research dissemination vehicle, practitioner journal article, informational video, or textbook chapter, allowed for the highest acquisition of knowledge for preservice teachers.

The purpose of this study was to determine how the use of three different research dissemination vehicles, 1) practitioner journal articles, 2) informational videos, and 3) textbook chapters, impacts acquisition of knowledge of the EBP, instructional feedback, when utilized by preservice teacher candidates as well as …