Biogeography Of Biological Control: Spatial Variation In Agent-Host Interactions, Nathan Harms

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Management of plant invasions using biological control has the potential to generate spatial patterns which reflect geographic or genetic variation in invader or control agents. Despite its rarity in practice, investigations into the biogeography of interacting species (i.e., plant invader and control agent) in the context of biological control can lend insights into species distribution-abundance patterns and provide predictions for spatial variation in control success. I explored spatial variability in biological control agent-plant interactions using two wetland weed study systems with large geographic distributions: flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus L.) and alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb). Through literature and …

Instrument Construction: An Examination Of The Effect Of Lead Pipe Design Variability On Tuba Response, Larry James Heard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The document begins with a brief description of the main parts of the tuba: the mouthpiece, the valves, the body and the bell; in addition to a short explanation of the different types of material used to construct brass instruments. This study will function as the first installment of a bigger series exploring the variations in tuba sound when the different main parts are physically altered or swapped for other designs of the same part. This first installment of the series seeks to examine the section of the tuba known as the lead pipe in relation to the implications of …

Enhancing Ce Xzr1- Xo2 Activity For Methane Dry Reforming Using Subsurface Ni Dopants, Behnam Safavinia, Yuming Wang, Changyi Jiang, Cameron Roman, Pragathi Darapaneni, Jarod Larriviere, David A. Cullen, Kerry M. Dooley, James A. Dorman

Faculty Publications

CeO2-ZrO2 (CZO) nanoparticles (NPs) have applications in many catalytic reactions, such as methane dry reforming, due to their oxygen cycling ability. Ni doping has been shown to improve the catalytic activity and produces active sites for the decomposition of methane. In this work, Ni:CZO NPs were synthesized via a two-step co-precipitation/molten salt synthesis to compare Ni distribution, oxygen vacancy concentration, and catalytic activity relative to a reference state-of-the-art catalyst prepared by a sol-gel-adsorptive deposition technique. To better understand the dispersion of Ni and oxygen vacancy formation in these materials, the Ni concentration, position, and reaction time were varied in the …

The Perceptions Of Foster Care Alumni's Experiences With Four-Year Post-Secondary Institutions: A Case For Capital And Field Advantage, June M. Durio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The focus of this study was to explore, through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s constructs of habitus, field, and capital, the post-secondary experiences of foster youth who transitioned out of the Louisiana foster care system. Specifically, this comparable multiple case study sought out to understand how cultural, social, and financial capital influenced the post-secondary educational outcomes of foster care alumni as compared to first-generation and continuing-generation students. Seven common themes emerged from the study: predisposing factors towards post-secondary education; values, knowledge, and skills associated with post-secondary education attainment; informal and formal social networks facilitating post-secondary support; financial resources addressing …

Comparing The Accuracy Of Close-Range Photogrammetry To Microct Scanning Via Surface Deviation Analysis Of 3d Digital Models Of Hominin Molars, Margaret J. Furtner

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess whether close-range photogrammetry is a viable alternative to microCT scanning for the construction of 3D models of isolated teeth. Photogrammetric scanning is more cost-effective and less time-consuming than CT scanning, and in paleoanthropological contexts eliminates the possibility of exposing fossils to doses of radiation that affect ESR dating. Samples of fossil (Homo naledi), archaeological, and contemporary human molars were scanned via microCT scanning and close-range photogrammetric scanning. The photogrammetric scans included 96 digital images per tooth which were used to construct a 3D triangular mesh. The resulting models of the tooth crowns …

Evaluation Of Neutron Skyshine Contributions During Injection At An Electron Synchrotron Facility Using Fluka, Andrew D. Hastings

LSU Master's Theses

The Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) is a 1.5 giga-electron volt (GeV) electron synchrotron research facility under the jurisdiction of Louisiana State University (LSU). When originally constructed in 1992, CAMD was surrounded by pasture and woodland. Over the past several years, urban development of the area has found CAMD bracketed by a shopping center, apartment complex, and business offices. These developments raised concerns amongst the CAMD radiation safety personnel regarding an increased potential for public exposure to radiation. To ensure compliance with the annual public effective dose equivalent limit of 1 milli-sievert (mSv), the radiation monitoring program was …

The Effects Of Oral And Venereal Transmission Of Deformed Wing Virus On Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Queen And Colony Health, Sarah Lang

LSU Master's Theses

Honey bees are important pollinators necessary for the production of many foods. Managed honey bee colonies have been experiencing high levels of colony loss over the last decade due to a combination of different factors. Parasites, pathogens, and queen failure are repeatedly reported as major causes for colony loss, but there is little research exploring the relationship between honey bee viruses and queens. Deformed wing virus, a major honey bee virus, has a worldwide distribution, is extremely prevalent, and can infect all castes and life stages. Honey bee queens can be infected with the virus through multiple transmission routes …

Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles For Conducting Mesocarnivore And Breeding Waterfowl Surveys In Southern Manitoba, Jacob Bushaw

LSU Master's Theses

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming an increasingly important tool for wildlife surveys and equipping UAVs with thermal imaging cameras could make these surveys even more effective. In my thesis I examined the feasibility of using a UAV equipped with a thermal imaging camera to conduct mesocarnivore surveys, search for duck nests built over water, and conduct duck brood surveys in southern Manitoba.

For my first objective, I conducted nighttime mesocarnivore surveys with the UAV and thermal camera. I used a modified point-count survey from six waypoints and surveyed 29.5 ha in each replicate. I conducted a total of 200 …

Pedagogy, Performativity And ‘Never Again’: Staging Plays From The Terezín Ghetto, Lisa Peschel, Alan Sikes

Faculty Publications

As collaborators on the project Performing the Jewish Archive we worked with students in the US and in the UK to devise two separate peformances based on a script from the Terezín Ghetto (in German, Theresienstadt) titled Comedy about a Trap. By developing with them what we call ‘co-textual’ scenes, we engaged in a type of performance pedagogy that we hope will achieve lasting transformation: the students created and performed a relationship between the script, their new knowledge of the past and their own views in the present, leading to transformative insights regarding the lives of the prisoners and the …

Schnittke, Gubaidulina, And Pärt: Religion And Spirituality During The Late Thaw And Early Perestroika, Aleksandra Drozzina

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation explores the music of three major Soviet composers—Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Arvo Pärt—against the backdrop of the ever-changing Soviet rule (after Stalin’s death in 1953). I reevaluate the composers’ religious and spiritual beliefs expressed in their works during the 1970s–1980s. Three works are presented as case studies and analyzed in-depth: Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir (1984–85), Gubaidulina’s Sieben Worte (1982), and Pärt’s Stabat Mater (1985). Although under Nikita Khrushchev’s rule (1953–64), governmental censorship began to slowly loosen, this particular group of composers continued to experience a considerable degree of oppression and censorship from the Soviet government until and …

Influence Of Health Beneficial Monk Fruit Sweetener On Microbial And Physicochemical Characteristics Of Camel Milk Yogurt, Alina Buchilina

LSU Master's Theses

Camel milk contains all the essential nutrients found in cow’s milk and has potentially health beneficial compounds such as anti-carcinogenic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, and insulin and insulin-like substances. Camel milk has been reported as a treatment for diseases such as diabetes and autism. Camel milk favorably alters gut microbiota to a higher abundance of bifidobacteria.

Sweetness is one of the most desirable tastes in people’s diet; however, the surplus consumption of sugar has a negative effect on human health. Monk fruit sweetener is a natural zero caloric sweetener with many health beneficial properties, namely, prevention of asthma, prevention of oxidation, liver …

Accessibility Of Hiv Testing In Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area, Alina Prigozhina

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines HIV testing accessibility in the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area (BR MSA) using the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to calculate accessibility scores for free, low-cost and all other HIV testing facilities. The two goals of this research are to apply accessibility estimation methods to HIV testing facilities, and to examine the accessibility of HIV testing facilities in the BR MSA. To achieve these goals, this study uses several research methods. The data about HIV testing providers and their locations were collected through Internet searches. By means of a fieldwork, the data were checked, revealing that …

Anomalous Oceanic Conditions In The Central And Eastern North Pacific Ocean During The 2014 Hurricane Season And Relationships To Three Major Hurricanes, Victoria L. Ford, Nan D. Walker, Iam Fei Pun

Faculty Publications

The 2014 Northeast Pacific hurricane season was highly active, with above-average intensity and frequency events, and a rare landfalling Hawaiian hurricane. We show that the anomalous northern extent of sea surface temperatures and anomalous vertical extent of upper ocean heat content above 26 °C throughout the Northeast and Central Pacific Ocean may have influenced three long-lived tropical cyclones in July and August. Using a variety of satellite-observed and-derived products, we assess genesis conditions, along-track intensity, and basin-wide anomalous upper ocean heat content during Hurricanes Genevieve, Iselle, and Julio. The anomalously northern surface position of the 26 °C isotherm beyond 30° …

Serving Our Student Veterans In Louisiana, Mitchell J. Fontenot, Rebecca Kelley

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Cypress Tress Become Mangroves: An Analysis Of The Works Of Amitav Ghosh And Climate Change, Alyssa D. Dobson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Advances In The Neurophysiology Of Magnocellular Neuroendocrine Cells, Jeffrey G. Tasker, Masha Prager-Khoutorsky, Ryoichi Teruyama, José R. Lemos, William E. Amstrong

Faculty Publications

© 2020 British Society for Neuroendocrinology Hypothalamic magnocellular neuroendocrine cells have unique electrical properties and a remarkable capacity for morphological and synaptic plasticity. Their large somatic size, their relatively uniform and dense clustering in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, and their large axon terminals in the neurohypophysis make them an attractive target for direct electrophysiological interrogation. Here, we provide a brief review of significant recent findings in the neuroplasticity and neurophysiological properties of these neurones that were presented at the symposium “Electrophysiology of Magnocellular Neurons” during the 13th World Congress on Neurohypophysial Hormones in Ein Gedi, Israel in April 2019. …

A One-Shot Learning Framework For Assessment Of Fibrillar Collagen From Second Harmonic Generation Images Of An Infarcted Myocardium, Qun Liu, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Maria Ximena Bastidas Rodriguez, Xing Fu, Sushant Sahu, David Burk, Manas Gartia

Faculty Publications

© 2020 IEEE. Myocardial infarction (MI) is a scientific term that refers to heart attack. In this study, we infer highly relevant second harmonic generation (SHG) cues from collagen fibers exhibiting highly non-centrosymmetric assembly together with two-photon excited cellular autofluorescence in infarcted mouse heart to quantitatively probe fibrosis, especially targeted at an early stage after MI. We present a robust one-shot machine learning algorithm that enables determination of 2D assembly of collagen with high spatial resolution along with its structural arrangement in heart tissues post - MI with spectral specificity and sensitivity. Detection, evaluation, and precise quantification of fibrosis extent …

Testing For Complete Pass-Through Of Ex Ass-Through Of Exchange Ra Ange Rate Without Trade Barriers, Tengfei Zhang, Tianxiang Li, Tomas Baležentis

Faculty Publications

The objective of this paper is to test whether the complete pass-through of exchange rate exists when there are almost no transaction costs and in the environment of competitive market. In general, the literature claims that the pass-through of exchange rate is incomplete due to imperfect market, i.e. the presence of transaction costs and imperfect competition. The quasi-experimental case of the food import to Hong Kong from Mainland China is considered in the analysis. The results show that the pass-through of the exchange rate of Chinese RMB against to US dollar to Hong Kong's food import price is complete in …

Food Safety Risk Information-Seeking Intention Of Wechat Users In China, Zhaohui Yang, Krishna P. Paudel, Xiaowei Wen, Sangluo Sun, Yong Wang

Faculty Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Consumers’ food safety risk information-seeking behavior plays a vital role in improving their food quality and safety awareness and preventing food safety risks. Based on the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP), this paper empirically analyzes the food safety risk information-seeking intention of consumers in WeChat and influencing factors under the impact of food safety incidents. We use data from 774 WeChat users and apply the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. We also conduct multigroup analysis with demographic characteristics as moderating variables. The results demonstrated that: (1) Risk perception (p …

Systematics, Biogeography, And Diversification Of Scytalopus Tapaculos (Rhinocryptidae), An Enigmatic Radiation Of Neotropical Montane Birds, Carlos Daniel Cadena, Andrés M. Cuervo, Laura N. Céspedes, Gustavo A. Bravo, Niels Krabbe, Thomas S. Schulenberg, Graham E. Derryberry, Luis Fabio Silveira, Elizabeth P. Derryberry, Robb T. Brumfield, Jon Fjeldså

Faculty Publications

Copyright © American Ornithological Society 2020. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: [email protected]. We studied the phylogeny, biogeography, and diversification of suboscine passerines in the genus Scytalopus (Rhinocryptidae), a widespread, species-rich, and taxonomically challenging group of Neotropical birds. We analyzed nuclear (exons, regions flanking ultraconserved elements) and mitochondrial (ND2) DNA sequence data for a taxonomically and geographically comprehensive sample of specimens collected from Costa Rica to Patagonia and Brazil. We found that Scytalopus is a monophyletic group sister to Eugralla and consists of 3 main clades roughly distributed in (1) the Southern Andes, (2) eastern Brazil, and (3) the Tropical …

Modifications To Infant Formula Instructions Improve The Accuracy Of Formula Dispensing, Linda A. Gilmore, Abby D. Altazan, Emily W. Flanagan, Alexandra G. Beyer, Kelsey N. Olson, Alexis A. O’Connell, Timothy H. Nguyen, Robbie A. Beyl, Leanne M. Redman

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Readability of infant formula preparation instructions is universally poor, which may result in inaccurate infant feeding. Given that inaccurate formula dispensing can lead to altered infant growth and increased adiposity, there is an increased need for easy to follow instructions for formula preparation. We hypothesize that altering infant formula instruction labels using feedback from iterative focus groups will improve the preparation accuracy of powdered infant formula in a randomized controlled trial. Participants were recruited from the community, 18 years of age or older, willing to disclose demographic information for focus group matching, and willing to participate freely in the first …

Impact Of Acute-Phase Insulin Secretion On Glycemic Variability In Insulin-Treated Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Yiming Si, Yun Shen, Jingyi Lu, Xiaojing Ma, Lei Zhang, Yifei Mo, Wei Lu, Wei Zhu, Yuqian Bao, Gang Hu, Jian Zhou

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

Aims: The association between β-cell function and glycemic variability remains to be clarified in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the study sought to examine the association of various indices of β-cell function with glycemic variability in Chinese insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Glycemic variability was assessed by the coefficient of variation (CV) of glucose levels with the use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). Basal β-cell function was evaluated by fasting C-peptide (FCP) and the homeostasis model assessment 2 for β-cell function (HOMA2-%β). Postload β-cell function was measured by 2-hour C-peptide (2hCP) and the acute C-peptide response …

Renormalization-Group Approach To The Normal Phase Of Two-Dimensional Fermi Gases, S. Laalitya Uppalapati, Daniel E. Sheehy

Faculty Publications

We present results on the effect of short-range, attractive interactions on the properties of balanced tw-dimensional Fermi gases in the nonsuperfluid (normal) phase. Our approach combines the renormalization group (RG) with perturbation theory, yielding observables such as the equation of state and compressibility. We find good agreement with recent experiments that measured the equation of state in trapped gases in the balanced regime, showing that these results are consistent with logarithmic corrections in the equation of state.

Louisiana Agriculture Spring, 2020, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

Northwest- Spring 2020, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Northeast- Spring 2020, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Southwest- Spring 2020, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Central- Spring 2020, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

Southeast- Spring 2020, Lsu Agcenter

Horticulture Hints

No abstract provided.

The Liquid Argon In A Testbeam (Lariat) Experiment, R. Acciarri, C. Adams, J. A. Asaadi, M. Backfish, W. Badgett, B. Baller, O. Benevides Rodrigues, F. D.M. Blaszczyk, R. Bouabid, C. Bromberg, R. Carey, R. Castillo Fernandez, F. Cavanna, J. I. Cevallos Aleman, A. Chatterjee, P. Dedin, M. V. Dos Santos, D. Edmunds, M. Elkins, C. Escobar, J. Esquivel, J. Evans, A. Falcone, A. Farbin, W. Flanagan, B. T. Fleming, W. Foreman, D. Garcia-Gamez, D. Gastler, T. Ghosh, R. A. Gomes, E. Gramellini, R. Gran

Faculty Publications

The LArIAT liquid argon time projection chamber, placed in a tertiary beam of charged particles at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility, has collected large samples of pions, muons, electrons, protons, and kaons in the momentum range 0∼30-0140 MeV/c. This paper describes the main aspects of the detector and beamline, and also reports on calibrations performed for the detector and beamline components.