Digital Commons Network^™

An Assessment Of The Extremes And Impacts Of The February 2021 South-Central U.S. Arctic Outbreak, And How Climate Services Can Help, Rebecca A. Bolinger, Vincent M. Brown, Christopher M. Fuhrmann, Karin L. Gleason, T. Andrew Joyner, Barry D. Keim, Amanda Lewis, John W. Nielsen-Gammon, Crystal J. Stiles, William Tollefson, Hannah E. Attard, Alicia M. Bentley

Faculty Publications

In February 2021, a widespread cold-air outbreak, with two associated winter storm systems, impacted the South-Central United States. After a comprehensive summary of the synoptic setup and a day-by-day analysis of the event, we assess the significance of the storm from a climatological perspective. Concerning winter precipitation, there were isolated instances of record snowfall accumulations. While freezing rain and freezing drizzle both occurred, total freezing precipitation accumulations did not exceed a one-in-50 year event. The duration of the cold was notable — many stations across the region broke records for the highest number of consecutive days below freezing. When analyzing …

The Lsu Campus Mounds, With Construction Beginning At ~11,000 Bp, Are The Oldest Known Extant Man-Made Structures In The Americas, Brooks B. Ellwood, Sophie Warny, Rebecca A. Hackworth, Suzanne H. Ellwood, Jonathan H. Tomkin, Samuel J. Bentley, Dewitt H. Braud, Geoffrey C. Clayton

Faculty Publications

Radiocarbon dating of the two LSU Campus Mounds (16EBR6) indicates that the construction of one, Mound B, began at ~11,000 BP, making Mound B the oldest known and intact manmade structure in the Americas. The age analyses preesented here are based on thirty one 14C dates. The older (deeper) parts of both of the LSU Campus Mounds contain many thin, burned ash lenses, suggesting that the Mounds may have been used for ceremonial or cremation purposes. These ash layers are composed mainly of phytoliths, bio-silicate (SiO2) structural compounds in plants that remained after burning of these plants. Analysis of the …

The Price Of Decentralization In Cooperative Coverage Problems With Energy-Constrained Agents, Xiangyu Meng, Christos G. Cassandras, Xinmiao Sun, Kaiyuan Xu

Faculty Publications

A multiagent coverage problem is considered with energy-constrained agents, where a charging station is used to replenish an agent's energy as it becomes depleted while performing the coverage task. The objective of this article is to compare the coverage performance between centralized and decentralized approaches. To this end, a centralized coverage control method is developed to switch agents between an optimal coverage formation and an optimal charging formation. We design a controller for agent trajectories that include dwell times at the optimal coverage locations, and charging times at the charging station to maximize a coverage metric over a finite time …

New Efficient Approach To Solve Big Data Systems Using Parallel Gauss–Seidel Algorithms, Shih Yu Chang, Hsiao Chun Wu, Yifan Wang

Faculty Publications

In order to perform big-data analytics, regression involving large matrices is often necessary. In particular, large scale regression problems are encountered when one wishes to extract semantic patterns for knowledge discovery and data mining. When a large matrix can be processed in its factorized form, advantages arise in terms of computation, implementation, and data-compression. In this work, we propose two new parallel iterative algorithms as extensions of the Gauss–Seidel algorithm (GSA) to solve regression problems involving many variables. The convergence study in terms of error-bounds of the proposed iterative algorithms is also performed, and the required computation resources, namely time-and …

A Soft Syntactic Foam Actuator With High Recovery Stress, Actuation Strain, And Energy Output, Siavash Sarrafan, Xiaming Feng, Guoqiang Li

Faculty Publications

Novel syntactic foams were prepared by incorporating three types of glass microbubbles in a crosslinked cis poly(1,4-butadiene) (cPBD) matrix. The as-prepared semi-crystalline polymer-based syntactic foams displayed a clear two-way shape memory effect (2W-SME) with remarkable strain actuation of about 56% expansion when the temperature drops from 60 °C to − 40 °C, and about 40% contraction when the temperature rises from − 40 °C to 60 °C, comparable to most pure two-way shape memory polymers. Compared to the pure cPBD, which was actuated under 0.32 MPa tensile stress, the foams were actuated under a much larger external tensile stress of …

Comparison Of Microstructure And Tensile Behavior Of Hydroxyapatite-Coated Peek Meshes And Cellulose-Based Fabrics And Mats, Armaghan Naderi, Genevieve Palardy

Faculty Publications

Polymeric biomaterials, such as polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and cellulose, have been explored as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering in the past decade. In this study, microstructure and mechanical behavior of uncoated and hydroxyapatite (HA)-coated polymeric meshes, fabrics, and mats were investigated. Commercially available monofilament PEEK meshes, and cellulose fabrics and mats were selected, then coated with a customized low temperature sol–gel method (≤ 150°C). Adhesive HA coating consisting of HA, β-TCP, and CaO with nanorod structure was derived. After HA coating, porosity of substrates (except filter-paper cellulose mats) decreased by up to 43%, indicating effective coating. Both uncoated and …

Co2 Zonal Injection Rate Allocation And Plume Extent Evaluation Through Wellbore Temperature Analysis, Refaat G. Hashish, Mehdi Zeidouni

Faculty Publications

Temperature analysis during a pause in injection operations, known as warmback analysis, has been used in the petroleum industry for evaluating the injection conformance and estimating the location of the flooded front in applications, such as waterflooding oil reservoirs. In this work, methods are introduced to extend the application of temperature warmback analysis to estimate the zonal CO2 injection rate and zonal CO2 plume extent during geologic CO2 storage in a saline aquifer. First, novel analytical solutions are developed to model transient temperature in the aquifer during the injection and subsequent shut-in periods considering two-phase flow (gaseous CO2 and aqueous …

Effects Of Bromocriptine On Glucose And Insulin Dynamics In Normal And Insulin Dysregulated Horses, Caroline M.M. Loos, Kristine L. Urschel, Eric S. Vanzant, Erin L. Oberhaus, Adam D. Bohannan, James L. Klotz, Kyle R. Mcleod

Faculty Publications

The objectives of the study were to study the effects of the synthetic ergot alkaloid (EA), bromocriptine, on glucose and lipid metabolism in insulin dysregulated (ID, n = 7) and non-ID (n = 8) mares. Horses were individually housed and fed timothy grass hay and two daily concentrate meals so that the total diet provided 120% of daily DE requirements for maintenance. All horses were given intramuscular bromocriptine injections (0.1 mg/kg BW) every 3 days for 14 days. Before and after 14 days of treatment horses underwent a combined glucose-insulin tolerance test (CGIT) to assess insulin sensitivity and a feed …

Tracer And Observationally Derived Constraints On Diapycnal Diffusivities In An Ocean State Estimate, David S. Trossman, Caitlin B. Whalen, Thomas W. N. Haine, Amy F. Waterhouse, An T. Nguyen, Arash Bigdeli, Matthew Mazloff, Patrick Heimbach

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Whole-Genome Sequencing Of Kmr3 And Oryza Rufipogon-Derived Introgression Line Il50-13 (Chinsurah Nona 2/Gosaba 6) Identifies Candidate Genes For High Yield And Salinity Tolerance In Rice, Shashi Rekha Thummala, Haritha Guttikonda, Shrish Tiwari, Rajeshwari Ramanan, Niranjan Baisakh, Sarla Neelamraju, Satendra K. Mangrauthia

Faculty Publications

The genomes of an elite rice restorer line KMR3 (salinity-sensitive) and its salinity-tolerant introgression line IL50-13, a popular variety of coastal West Bengal, India, were sequenced. High-quality paired-end reads were obtained for KMR3 (147.6 million) and IL50-13 (131.4 million) with a sequencing coverage of 30X-39X. Scaffolds generated from the pre-assembled contigs of each sequenced genome were mapped separately onto the reference genome of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare to identify genomic variants in terms of SNPs and InDels. The SNPs and InDels identified for KMR3 and IL50-13 were then compared with each other to identify polymorphic SNPs and InDels …

Nature Versus Humans In Coastal Environmental Change: Assessing The Impacts Of Hurricanes Zeta And Ida In The Context Of Beach Nourishment Projects In The Mississippi River Delta, Qiang Yao, Marcelo Cancela Lisboa Cohen, Kam-Biu Liu, Adriana Vivan De Souza, Erika Rodrigues

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dynamics Of Polymer Melts And Polymer Nanocomposites Studied By Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, Mengchun Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Materials based on polymers and polymeric nanocomposites have properties advantageous for many applications. In many cases, the physical behavior is connected to molecular motion. Polymers are macromolecules in which both fast local motions and slower chain relaxations may contribute to the material properties. Answering fundamental questions on the molecular dynamics is challenging, because of the existence of many different processes and the strong temperature dependence of the processes. An investigation covering a broad window over many orders of magnitude in the time scale is needed. Hence, dielectric spectroscopy is an appropriate tool to enhance fundamental understanding. This dissertation pays special …

Effects Of Music Therapy On The Impulse Control Of A Student With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Danielle Amelie Bella

LSU Master's Theses

One academic concern of students with autism spectrum disorder is a lack of impulse control. Impulse control involves behaviors such as turn-taking, blurting out, waiting, and reaching for desirable items. To reduce problematic impulse control behavior in a student with autism spectrum disorder, a program of music therapy activities was performed with a second-grade student in a special education classroom. A single-subject reversal design was implemented during morning activities. Results suggest there was a slight reduction in observed impulsive behaviors within the classroom during the implementation of the music therapy activities.

Entities: A Field Of Imaginary Games, Thrasyvoulos Ioannis Kalaitzidis

LSU Master's Theses

With this body of work, I am looking for visual symbols that help communicate unuttered meanings through storytelling and stimulate an affectual response to the viewer. This exploration is presented in two different forms: a surreal sculptural installation and a board game. The installation consists of large-scale sculptures made from light and soft materials (polyurethane foam, plastic waste, paper) that are available to move inside the gallery, while the board game is presented as a set of 3D prints with instructions on how the participants can play it. The materials used in the installation suggest a way to transform waste …

Mrs. Florence Mante's Amazing Grace School, Daniel Keith Davis

LSU Master's Theses

Mrs. Florence Mante’s Amazing Grace School is the story of both Mama Florence and the children that she has dedicated her life to. Mrs. Florence Mante is the Ghanaian cofounder of the Amazing Grace Preparatory School. The West African school is committed to developing African leaders and ending the cycles of poverty in the village of Kodiekrom. My thesis focuses on using interview-driven artwork and collaborative storytelling to depict the unique challenges and triumphs of Mama Florence’s life in Ghana. Digital illustrations, a narration from Mama Florence, and music take the viewer on her deeply compelling journey, raising awareness for …

Genomics And Geographic Diversity Of Bacteriophages Associated With Endosymbionts In The Guts Of Workers And Alates Of Coptotermes Species (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae), Junyan Chen, Christopher R. Gissendanner, Chinmay V. Tikhe, Hou Feng Li, Qian Sun, Claudia Husseneder

Faculty Publications

Subterranean termites depend nutritionally on their gut microbiota, which includes protozoa as well as taxonomically and functionally diverse bacteria. Our previous metavirome study revealed a high diversity and novel families of bacteriophages in the guts of Coptotermes formosanus workers from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Two assembled bacteriophage genomes (Phages TG-crAlp-04 and 06, family Podoviridae) existed in all colonies and showed similarity to a prophage (ProJPt-Bp1) previously sequenced from a bacterial endosymbiont (Candidatus Azobacteroides pseudotrichonymphae, CAP) of protozoa in the gut of a termite species of the genus Prorhinotermes from Taiwan. In this study the genomes of Phage TG-crAlp-04 and …

Producing Bacterial Cellulose From Coffee (Coffea Arabica) Kombucha Fermentation And Assessment Of Its Efficacy To Remove Pathogenic Bacteria From Contaminated Water And A Pollutant Dye From Aqueous Solution, Federico Bueno

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Bacterial cellulose (BC), composed of cellulosic nanofibrils, is synthesized by a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast during the fermentation of coffee kombucha (CK). BC may be used as a purification agent and adsorbent. The overall goal of this project was to synthesize BC from CK fermentation and assess its efficacy in removing pathogenic bacteria from contaminated water and a pollutant dye from aqueous solution. The objectives of this study were to: (1) compare BCs that were produced from different carbohydrate substrates in the fermentation of CK, (2) characterize dried BCs produced using various drying methods, (3) evaluate BC as …

Characterization Of Gas Hydrate Formation And Its Impact On Slope Stability In Offshore Environments, Sulav Dhakal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural gas hydrates (NGH) are predominantly methane hydrates formed at high pressure and low temperature conditions typically in submarine sediments and permafrost. This dissertation is focused on the submarine methane hydrates formed by upward migration of free and dissolved gas. The methane gas stored within natural hydrates has more energy potential than all the combined oil and gas resources around the world. Numerical simulation of fluid flow, heat transport, and geomechanical stresses is used to characterize and evaluate the saturation, distribution, reservoir quality, and geohazards associated with hydrate-bearing sediments. Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) simulation of hydrate formation, dissociation, and slope stability …

First-Generation College Students: Persistence And Adaptability In Post-Secondary Institutions, Charlie Elberta Lewis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT In post-secondary education, degree attainment for first-generation college students (FGCS) is essential. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study is to explore the first-generation college student's persistence from their first year to the second year at a private or public post-secondary institution. The second purpose is to investigate whether the GEAR UP Services program impacted FGCS persistence at these institutions. Social capital theory and self-determination theory served as a foundation of the study. These theories are linked to the social interaction and behavior that leads to motivation, commitment, and relationships. Previous research suggests that college persistence correlates with …

Lifecycle Reactive Transport Modeling For Assessing Integrity In Offshore Energy Systems, Temitope Ayokunle Ajayi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Subsurface leaks and spills are a matter of significant concern to the oil and gas industry because of their impact on health, safety and environment. It is thus important to study and assess the integrity of our energy systems and the physico-chemical processes that affect them.

To avoid leakage of fluids from wellbores, barrier materials are used for sealing formation fluids and creating a single flow path through the well. These barrier materials are constantly subjected to subsurface fluid fluxes and temperature, pressure and chemical conditions over the extended periods the wells remain underground. This makes it imperative to assess …

Creating Musical Scores Inspired By The Intersection Of Human Speech And Music Through Model-Based Cross Synthesis, William Alexander Thompson Iv

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research addresses the development of machine learning techniques used to create musical scores and performances that are inspired by the intersection of speech and music. Machine learning models are created from MIDI files that are transcribed from datasets of musical audio recordings and human speech audio recordings. Through the creation of succinct models, model based cross synthesis is possible. Models trained on musical MIDI data are asked to replicate MIDI data that approximate human speech. Alternatively, models that have been trained on MIDI data that approximate speech are asked to replicate musical MIDI data. The product of these developed …

A Conductor’S Guide To Joan Szymko’S Shadow And Light: An Alzheimer’S Journey, Paul E. Henderson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Joan Szymko (pronounced SHIM-koh) is an American composer-conductor with a prolific output of choral music. With over 100 choral pieces in print, her works are regularly heard at national and international festivals and competitions, including regional and national American Choral Directors Association conferences. She was selected to present at the 2020 World Symposium on Choral music in Auckland, New Zealand, which was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID pandemic. Szymko’s only major choral/orchestral work, Shadow and Light: An Alzheimer’s Journey, has been performed three times: in April 2016 by Eugene Vocal Arts; in September 2019 by the Oregon Repertory Singers; …

A Walmart With No Televisions, Samuel A. Bickford

LSU Master's Theses

A Walmart with No Televisions is a deconstructed novel about the perils and heartbreak of adolescent drug addiction. What begins as a fad, a social affectation, quickly becomes a guiding light. The novel illustrates hope as a potentiality, and escape from oneself as something always in question. Happiness is uncertain, but the experience is not.

The Future Of Name, Image, And Likeness In Advertising, Olivia E. Nuss

LSU Master's Theses

This study explores the unique intersection of the law and the theories of communication related to a student athlete’s ability to receive compensation based off their name, image, and likeness (NIL). The purpose of this study is to understand the future of NIL legislation application as it relates to emerging media and student-athletes’ privacy interests in order to better understand influencer marketing and the impact new legislation will have on student-athlete brand deals. Through a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews, I explored industry trends in NIL as it relates to brand partnerships and advertising, focusing on key players, methods, and …

A Comparative Content Analysis Of How Print Media Framed The Heroin Epidemic And The Opioid Crisis, Quincy Hodges

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined how the news media covered the Opioid Crisis of the 21st century compared to how the news media covered the Heroin Epidemic of the 1970s. A content analysis of six U.S. newspapers – the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Columbus Dispatch, The Detroit Free Press, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune indicated that the print news media covered the Heroin Epidemic and the Opioid Crisis drastically different. The news media framed the Opioid Crisis as a public health issue, focusing coverage on rogue doctors and health professionals, and how unethical pharmaceutical companies took …

The Effects Of Paired Kinesthetic Movements And Embedded Pictures On Literacy Skills With Preschoolers, Erica Lozy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reading difficulties during childhood often continue during adulthood and result in adverse effects (e.g., unemployment, poverty). A common method to teach early literacy skills is via multisensory instructional programs, which use combinations of mnemonic devices, such as visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic movements. The current literature on the effects of pairing visual mnemonics and kinesthetic movements with literacy skills, either in isolation or in combination, is sparse. The purpose of Study 1 and Study 2 was to compare the efficacy, generalization, and maintenance of and preference for letter sound interventions with and without mnemonic devices. Study 1 evaluated a traditional …

Responsible Classrooms: Unfinalizability, Responsibility, And Participatory Literacy In Secondary English Language Arts, Emma Jamilah Gist

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines participatory literacy practice in secondary English language arts classrooms. While literacy achievement in this context is often measured according to a student’s ability to receive and repeat predetermined information within the scope of mandated curricula and standardized tests, this study attends specifically to classroom literacy practice that centers authentic, unanticipated, dialogic student response. Within its consideration of literacy practice, this study applies the Bakhtinian notion of unfinalizability to consider those conditions that allow for learning experiences that are not predetermined but are rather uniquely, unpredictably, and unrepeatably co-constructed by individual students, student groups, and teachers. These unfinalizable …

Effect Of Silt And Fine Sand Contents On The Empirical Correlation Of Spt And Internal Friction Angle Of Sand, Salman Abusalman

LSU Master's Theses

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is widely used to provide estimates of shear strength parameters for design. The test is commonly used for cohesionless soils as the correlations between the SPT value and internal friction angle are only subjected to clean sand. Uncertainty in the internal friction angle tends to occur in SPT correlations for fine sand mixed with fine-grained soils located in Louisiana as the soil becomes more cohesive. In this study, several small and large direct shear tests were conducted at normal stresses of 10, 16, and 22 psi for soils located in Louisiana with different mixtures of …

Effect Of Automation Level On Cognitive Workload When Collaborating With A Robotic Assistant, Mitchell A. Champagne

LSU Master's Theses

Manufacturing robotics have been used for decades to perform repetitive tasks, or tasks that require increased levels of speed, strength, or precision to meet production and specification requirements. Determining the appropriate degree of automation for both the human and robot collaborative team members is critical to optimize production as well as user experience. If the degree of automation is too high, the human will be out of the loop which can result in the loss of situational awareness and be detrimental to intervention time and accuracy. If the degree of automation is too low, then the human may experience greater …

A New Insight Into Fungal Cell Wall Architecture By Functional Genomics And Solid-State Nmr Along With Recent Advancements In Dynamic Nuclear Polarization For Analyzing Biomolecules, Arnab Chakraborty

LSU Master's Theses

This dissertation summarizes the findings related to the way by which supramolecular architecture of fungal cell wall changes with genetic mutation, dispensing genes responsible for biosynthesis of cell wall polysaccharides. This is necessary because without perfect picture of how supramolecular assembly changes with genetic mutation it is hard to assess new anti-fungal targets. Alongside this we have highlighted how recent advancement into Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) methods improved characterization of biomolecules both in case of labeled and unlabeled samples.

First study utilized Solid-state NMR (SSNMR) which is a non-destructive technique hence enabled us for the first time to deduce how …