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LSU Doctoral Dissertations

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Symphony No. 1 And The Development Of New Techniques In Contemporary Music Composition, Eric Lacy Jan 2017

Symphony No. 1 And The Development Of New Techniques In Contemporary Music Composition, Eric Lacy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The initial part of this dissertation is a symphony. Symphony No. 1 consists of three movements. Each movement begins with a monumental gesture designed to make a bold and unforgettable statement. Within each movement, there is an interesting array of harmonic and rhythmic schemes. In Symphony No. 1, the diametrically opposed concepts of “simple” and “complex” are featured prominently. These concepts are contrasted thematically, rhythmically, and harmonically. The next part of this dissertation establishes the existence of certain obstacles facing contemporary composers and the benefits of developing new techniques in composition. The music of György Ligeti and Arvo Pärt are …


The Effect Of Rule-Based Scaffoldings On Second Grade Students' Digital Storytelling, Xue Wen Jan 2017

The Effect Of Rule-Based Scaffoldings On Second Grade Students' Digital Storytelling, Xue Wen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Digital storytelling is a powerful method for revitalizing literacy instruction. Past research suggested that digital storytelling activities improve students’ writing skills through construction of various types of stories. However, little research has investigated in what ways educators can promote students’ interests and actual abilities to express narrative discourse in a digital format. Recent research indicated that the use of story grammars help students develop sophisticated stories. From this perspective, Labov’s story grammar emphasized two functions of good story structure: reference—the listeners (or readers) are told what happened, and evaluation—the speakers (or writers) reveal their attitude toward the events of the …


Application Of Grating-Based Interferometry To Additive Manufacturing, Lithium-Ion Batteries, And Crystals, Adam Joseph Brooks Jan 2017

Application Of Grating-Based Interferometry To Additive Manufacturing, Lithium-Ion Batteries, And Crystals, Adam Joseph Brooks

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

X-ray and neutron imaging are convenient ways to non-destructively observe novel materials. X-rays provide advantages of low cost and high brilliance while neutrons show bulk and isotopic sensitivity. Imaging provides a way for observing chemical and physical properties of materials without the need for destruction. The way of the imaging future is utilizing imaging with grating-based interferometry. In comparison to traditional radiography and tomography, by using absorption and phase gratings in the beam path, the absorption, phase, and scattering of a sample can be detected. In essence, three image datasets can be obtained in one experiment, saving substantially on costs …


A Multiple Case Narrative Examining The Experiences Of Alumni Of A Minority Research And Training Program, Gretchen Schneider Burton Jan 2017

A Multiple Case Narrative Examining The Experiences Of Alumni Of A Minority Research And Training Program, Gretchen Schneider Burton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The implementation of minority research and training (MRT) programs at the post secondary level has risen to close the educational achievement gap and build undergraduate pathways to generate a highly skilled and diverse STEM pool. Although the numbers of advanced science related degrees have slowly increased over the past decade, partially due to the utilization of MRT programs, this increase has not been adequate to establish an impactful representation in either academic or industry research careers. Numerous studies identify various support interventions influencing positive outcomes among MRT participants achieving graduate degrees. However, majority of the studies utilize quantitative or a …


A New Computational Framework For Efficient Parallelization And Optimization Of Large Scale Graph Matching, Sahar Marefat Navaz Jan 2017

A New Computational Framework For Efficient Parallelization And Optimization Of Large Scale Graph Matching, Sahar Marefat Navaz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There are so many applications in data fusion, comparison, and recognition that require a robust and efficient algorithm to match features of multiple images. To improve accuracy and get a more stable result is important to take into consideration both local appearance and the pairwise relationship of features. Graphs are a powerful and flexible data structure, allowing for the description of complex relationships between data elements, whose nodes correspond to salient features and edges correspond to relational aspects between features. Therefore, the problem of graph matching is to find a mapping between the two sets of nodes that preserves the …


On Braids, Branched Covers And Transverse Invariants, Jose Hector Ceniceros Jan 2017

On Braids, Branched Covers And Transverse Invariants, Jose Hector Ceniceros

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, we present a brief survey of knot theory supported by contact 3-manifolds. We focus on transverse knots and explore different ways of studying transverse knots. We define a new family of transverse invariants, this is accomplished by considering $n$-fold cyclic branched covers branched along a transverse knot and we then extend the definition of the BRAID invariant $t$ defined in cite{BVV} to the lift of the transverse knot. We call the new invariant the lift of the BRAID invariant and denote it by $t_n$. We then go on to show that $t_n$ satisfies a comultiplication formula and …


Vibration Control In Wind Turbines For Multi Hazards, Milad Rezaee Jan 2017

Vibration Control In Wind Turbines For Multi Hazards, Milad Rezaee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The increasing demand for reliable and clean energy with a low running cost, has developed wind energy harvesting industry in a fast rate during the past two decades, and has led to wind farms’ spreading in various regions with larger and taller wind turbines. Consequently, it is more likely that wind turbines are installed or planned to be installed in areas with higher possibility of natural multihazard. Therefore, flexible modern wind turbines are subjected to severe dynamic environmental loads. Generated excessive vibrations in the wind turbine’s structure due to these loads can have detrimental effects on energy production, structural lifecycle …


Decentralized Scheduling For Many-Task Applications In The Hybrid Cloud, Brian Lyle Peterson Jan 2017

Decentralized Scheduling For Many-Task Applications In The Hybrid Cloud, Brian Lyle Peterson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While Cloud Computing has transformed how we solve many computing tasks, some scientific and many-task applications are not efficiently executed on cloud resources. Decentralized scheduling, as studied in grid computing, can provide a scalable system to organize cloud resources and schedule a variety of work. By measuring simulations of two algorithms, the fully decentralized Organic Grid, and the partially decentralized Air Traffic Controller from IBM, we establish that decentralization is a workable approach, and that there are bottlenecks that can impact partially centralized algorithms. Through measurements in the cloud, we verify that our simulation approach is sound, and assess the …


Computational Studies On Fluid And Particle Dynamics, Chenguang Zhang Jan 2017

Computational Studies On Fluid And Particle Dynamics, Chenguang Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part includes chapter 2 to 4, which focus on development and application of numerical algorithm on particle and fluid simulation. Starting with a pure granular system in a driven cavity setup (Chapter 2), we move on to the immersed boundary simulation of fluid solid interaction (Chapter 3). This part ends with a coupled immersed boundary-discrete particle implementation. The second part includes Chapter 5 and Appendix A, each deals with an independent problem and focuses more on the theoretical aspects. Chapter 5 deals with a classic fluid dynamics problem of thermal wave …


Assessing The Effects Of The Smartphone As A Learning Tool On The Academic Achievement And Motivation Of High School Agriculture Students In Louisiana, Henry Eric Smith Jan 2017

Assessing The Effects Of The Smartphone As A Learning Tool On The Academic Achievement And Motivation Of High School Agriculture Students In Louisiana, Henry Eric Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Perhaps the most influential device in modern society is the smartphone. Over 90% of Americans aged 18-29 own a smartphone and 74% of teenagers reported using a smartphone as their primary internet connection. Students perceived that using smartphones in the classroom aided learning. However, two-thirds of American high schools ban students from using phones in the classroom. Secondary science curriculum focuses on subjects that regard the biodiversity of plant and animal species, but disregard the student’s ability to identify species. Consequently, secondary students in general are very poor at identifying species of trees. Previous research supports the idea that advanced …


Improved Protein Characterizations Using Ionic Liquids: Page And Maldi-Ms, Punprabhashi Vidanapathirana Jan 2017

Improved Protein Characterizations Using Ionic Liquids: Page And Maldi-Ms, Punprabhashi Vidanapathirana

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Protein separation by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and identification by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) are primary tools of protein analysis. In these techniques, surfactants are used in protein sample preparation in order to enhance the protein solubility. Conventional surfactants have shown limitations in protein analysis due to the structural complexity of proteomes, resulting in low resolution. The research goal of this dissertation is to address some of these limitations by applying novel cationic ionic liquid surfactants (ILS), N-alkyl-4-methyl pyridinium bromide (CnPBr where n=4, 8, 11). The ILS would be suitable candidates to be used in PAGE protein …


Manifestations Of Symmetry In Polynomial Link Invariants, Kyle Istvan Jan 2017

Manifestations Of Symmetry In Polynomial Link Invariants, Kyle Istvan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use and detection of symmetry is ubiquitous throughout modern mathematics. In the realm of low-dimensional topology, symmetry plays an increasingly significant role due to the fact that many of the modern invariants being developed are computationally expensive to calculate. If information is known about the symmetries of a link, this can be incorporated to greatly reduce the computation time. This manuscript will consider graphical techniques that are amenable to such methods. First, we discuss an obstruction to links being periodic, developed jointly with Dr. Khaled Qazaqzeh at Kuwait University, using a model developed by Caprau and Tipton. We will …


Sediment Transport And Channel Morphology Dynamics Of Highly Regulated Alluvial Rivers - A Case Study Of The Lowermost Mississippi River., Sanjeev Joshi Jan 2017

Sediment Transport And Channel Morphology Dynamics Of Highly Regulated Alluvial Rivers - A Case Study Of The Lowermost Mississippi River., Sanjeev Joshi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi River delta is facing severe land loss. An urgent need exists to examine sediment transport and channel morphology dynamics along this highly engineered alluvial river that has shaped and will continue to shape its delta. This dissertation research focuses on investigating channel morphology dynamics and sediment transport in the recent three decades along a 327-km reach (from about 492 to 167 km upstream from the river’s outlet in the Gulf of Mexico) of the Lowermost Mississippi River (LmMR). The specific objectives of this research were to: 1) analyze riverbed adjustment, i.e., channel-bed aggradation or channel erosion at seven …


Songs From Liquid Days By Philip Glass: A Performer's Guide, Jonathan Michael Ray Jan 2017

Songs From Liquid Days By Philip Glass: A Performer's Guide, Jonathan Michael Ray

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research project is to provide the reader and the prospective performer with a comprehensive view of the song cycle Songs from Liquid Days by Philip Glass. Chapter 1 of this document gives a brief compositional history of the cycle. Chapter 2 provides biographical sketches of the composer and the cycle’s four poets: Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, David Byrne, and Laurie Anderson. Chapter 3 discusses performance practice suggestions for Songs from Liquid Days, including commentary on tempo, style, ensemble choices, pacing, and analyses of both text and music. Chapter 4 compares the artistic interpretations of the 1986 …


Reduced Order Models For Beam-Wave Interaction In High Power Microwave Sources, Lokendra Singh Thakur Jan 2017

Reduced Order Models For Beam-Wave Interaction In High Power Microwave Sources, Lokendra Singh Thakur

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We apply an asymptotic analysis to show that corrugated waveguides can be represented as cylindrical waveguides with smooth metamaterial coatings when the corrugtions are subwavelength. Here the metamaterial delivers an effective anisotropic surface impedance, effective dielectric constant, and imparts novel dispersive effects on signals traveling inside the waveguide. These properties arise from the subwavelength resonances of the metamaterial. For sufficiently deep corrugations, the waveguide exhibits backward wave propagation, which can be understood in the present context as a multi-scale phenomenon resulting from local resonances inside the subwavelength geometry. Our approach is well suited to numerical computation and we provide a …


Human Gut Microbiota And Obesity: How Is Gut Microbiota Associated With Obesity Improvement Induced By Bariatric Surgeries Or Low-Calorie Diet Treatment?, Rui Zhang Jan 2017

Human Gut Microbiota And Obesity: How Is Gut Microbiota Associated With Obesity Improvement Induced By Bariatric Surgeries Or Low-Calorie Diet Treatment?, Rui Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

An increasing number of studies suggest that the complex microbial community of the human gut may have an important role in human health and disease conditions such as obesity and diabetes. However, the causal relationship among gut microbiota, obesity, weight loss, and the influence of bariatric surgery remains largely unknown. This study investigated the correlation between human gut microbiota and obesity via determining how gut microbiota is associated with obesity improvement induced by bariatric surgeries (BRS) and low-calorie diet (LCD) treatment. Specifically, we investigated the effects of various bariatric surgery (BRS) procedures and a low-calorie diet (LCD) treatment on the …


Mining Social Media Data For Improved Understanding Of Disaster Resilience, Lei Zou Jan 2017

Mining Social Media Data For Improved Understanding Of Disaster Resilience, Lei Zou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Disaster resilience is the capacity of a community to ‘bounce back’ from disastrous events, by effecting resilience building activities through the four phases of emergency management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. However, data describing a community’s behaviors in each phase are difficult to access in traditional databases. Social media data provide an innovative data source to better understand communities’ responses and behaviors in each phase of emergency management during disasters, and thus could ultimately monitor and enhance disaster resilience. This study analyzes the spatial-temporal patterns of Twitter activities during Hurricane Sandy, which struck the northeastern United States on October …


Exploring Social Indicators Of Situational Interest In Physical Education And Activity Classes: Integration Of Interest And Self-Determination Theories, Joseph Opiri Otundo Jan 2017

Exploring Social Indicators Of Situational Interest In Physical Education And Activity Classes: Integration Of Interest And Self-Determination Theories, Joseph Opiri Otundo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It is clearly documented that physically active lifestyles result in numerous health benefits. Unfortunately, a majority of individuals do not meet recommended physical activity (PA) guidelines. Physical education (PE) courses provide avenues for students to increase PA. Teachers and public health officials identify the importance of student motivation constructs such as interest in promoting PA behaviors and other healthy life habits. The purposes of this dissertation were to advance the measurement of situational interest by investigating social indicators derived from self-determination theory (SDT), and to test a theoretical model that integrates interest theory and SDT. Two quantitative studies were designed …


Manipulating Physical Properties Of Complex Materials By Processing, Mohammad Saghayezhian Jan 2017

Manipulating Physical Properties Of Complex Materials By Processing, Mohammad Saghayezhian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) are a class of materials in which charge, orbital, spin and lattice strongly interact with each other. In the present thesis, a special attention is paid to the physical properties of TMOs as a function of processing. First, TMOs are studied as substrates, where the surface is of prime importance. Second, the thin films are fabricated and their physical properties are presented. The SrTiO3 (001) and (111) surfaces are weakly and strongly polar and the free energy of intact surfaces should diverge. It is shown that in TiO2 terminated SrTiO3(001) the top most layer shows rumpling …


A Narrative Of A Teacher's Perspective Of Over-Age Students Who Are Out-Of-Grade In The Middle School Classroom, Melissa J. Porter Jan 2017

A Narrative Of A Teacher's Perspective Of Over-Age Students Who Are Out-Of-Grade In The Middle School Classroom, Melissa J. Porter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research sought to understand the impact on the middle school classroom environment of over-age students who are out-of-grade. A qualitative study utilizing a narrative lens examined the stories of the lived experiences of the teachers of these students; a social constructivism theoretical approach explored the teaching and best practices in their classrooms. These teachers provided an insight into the complexity of teaching and gave voice to managing a classroom where emotionally and physically mature students often pose a significant challenge to the classroom environment; moreover, their positive influence on the teaching space in which they inhabit also was explored …


Analytical Solutions And Multiscale Creep Analysis Of Functionally Graded Cylindrical Pressure Vessels, Jasem Amjad Ahmed Jan 2017

Analytical Solutions And Multiscale Creep Analysis Of Functionally Graded Cylindrical Pressure Vessels, Jasem Amjad Ahmed

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study deals with the time-dependent creep analysis of functionally graded thick-cylinders under various thermal and mechanical boundary conditions. Firstly, exact thermoelastic stress, and iterative creep solutions for a heat generating and rotating cylindrical vessel made of functionally graded thermal and mechanical properties are proposed. Equations of equilibrium, compatibility, stress-strain, and strain-displacement relations are solved to obtain closed-form initial stress and strain solutions. It is found that material gradient indices have significant influences on thermoelastic stress profiles. For creep analysis, Norton’s model is incorporated into rate forms of the above-mentioned equations to obtain time-dependent stress and strain results using an …


Tribological And Dynamical Study Of An Automotive Transmission System, Meng Li Jan 2017

Tribological And Dynamical Study Of An Automotive Transmission System, Meng Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The transmission system is critical for automotive and heavy duty equipment due to its prominent role in the powertrain system, which is often challenged with degraded torque capacity and harsh dynamic response. Simulation-guided design can provide appropriate guidelines to resolve these problems with virtual analyses. In current study, the tribological and dynamical study of an automatic transmission is performed at two levels: a wet clutch and powertrain. In this dissertation, tribological study is performed for a wet clutch based on the thermohydrodynamic (THD) analysis that takes the following factors into account. • The groove effect (depth, area, and pattern) is …


Sediment Transport And Slope Stability In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Jeffrey Blake Obelcz Jan 2017

Sediment Transport And Slope Stability In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Jeffrey Blake Obelcz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sediment transport and slope stability are fundamental organizing agents of the geological record. These processes have been extensively studied along the northern margin of the Gulf of Mexico basin for both basic and applied purposes, but our knowledge of them is limited by the spatial and temporal sampling capabilities of traditional geologic oceanographic surveying tools such as coring, single-beam echosounders, and sidescan sonar. This dissertation seeks to update the state of knowledge regarding northern Gulf of Mexico sediment transport and slope stability from annual to millennial timescales, primarily using relatively high-resolution acoustic geophysical tools such as swath bathymetric echosounders and …


Symbolic And Deep Learning Based Data Representation Methods For Activity Recognition And Image Understanding At Pixel Level, Manohar Karki Jan 2017

Symbolic And Deep Learning Based Data Representation Methods For Activity Recognition And Image Understanding At Pixel Level, Manohar Karki

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Efficient representation of large amount of data particularly images and video helps in the analysis, processing and overall understanding of the data. In this work, we present two frameworks that encapsulate the information present in such data. At first, we present an automated symbolic framework to recognize particular activities in real time from videos. The framework uses regular expressions for symbolically representing (possibly infinite) sets of motion characteristics obtained from a video. It is a uniform framework that handles trajectory-based and periodic articulated activities and provides polynomial time graph algorithms for fast recognition. The regular expressions representing motion characteristics can …


Nanoscale Studies Of Proteins And Thin Films Using Scanning Probe Microscopy, Zachary Lane Highland Jan 2017

Nanoscale Studies Of Proteins And Thin Films Using Scanning Probe Microscopy, Zachary Lane Highland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nanostructures of organosilanes, thin metal films, and protein nanopatterns were prepared and analyzed with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Organosilanes with designed functional groups were used to selectively pattern green fluorescent protein at the nanoscale using protocols developed with particle lithography. Mesospheres are deposited onto a substrate to produce a surface mask. Organosilanes are deposited to form a matrix film surrounding nanopores for depositing proteins. The nanopatterns were characterized using AFM, after steps of particle lithography for directly visualizing surface changes. Studies with AFM also provide a compelling tool for teaching undergraduates to introduce concepts of nanoscience. An undergraduate laboratory was …


Performance Evaluation Of Virtual Flow Metering Models And Its Application To Metering Backup And Production Allocation, Kahila Mokhtari Jadid Jan 2017

Performance Evaluation Of Virtual Flow Metering Models And Its Application To Metering Backup And Production Allocation, Kahila Mokhtari Jadid

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the oil and gas industry, reliable and accurate measurements of the amount of oil, gas and water being produced by individual wells is essential. The production revenue for each well is determined from measured flow rates. Measurement of well production can be achieved by using multiphase flow meters on individual wells. However, the use of such metering technique is not always reliable or economical. As an alternative technique to monitoring individual well performance in real-time, multiphase flow simulators together with pressure and temperature sensors located at different locations in the production systems have been recently deployed to estimate individual …


A Model-Centric Framework For Advanced Operation Of Crystallization Processes, Navid Ghadipasha Jan 2017

A Model-Centric Framework For Advanced Operation Of Crystallization Processes, Navid Ghadipasha

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Crystallization is the main physical separation process in many chemical industries. It is an old unit operation which can separate solids of high purity from liquids, and is widely applied in the production of food, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals. While industries in crystallization operation quite rely on rule-of-thumb techniques to fulfill their requirement, the move towards a scientific- and technological- based approach is becoming more important as it provides a mechanism for driving crystallization processes optimally and in more depth without increasing costs. Optimal operation of industrial crystallizers is a prerequisite these days for achieving the stringent requirements of the …


The Role Of Defects In The Metal-Nonmetal Transition In Metallic Oxide Films, Gaomin Wang Jan 2017

The Role Of Defects In The Metal-Nonmetal Transition In Metallic Oxide Films, Gaomin Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Metal-nonmetal transition, or more specifically, metal-insulator transition (MIT) has been one of the most intriguing topics in condensed matter physics. Two theories describing fundamental driving mechanisms of MIT has been well-established over time: Mott-Hubbard theory and Anderson localization theory. The former mainly deals with contribution of electron interactions/correlations to the MIT, and the latter focuses on the role of disorder. However, it is an open topic how a system behaves when both effects exist in a system. This study mostly takes interest in a type of MIT induced by dimensionality-crossover in the transition metal oxides (TMOs) systems. TMO system is …


On The Skein Theory Of 0-Framed Surgery Along The Trefoil Knot, Andrew Robert Holmes Jan 2017

On The Skein Theory Of 0-Framed Surgery Along The Trefoil Knot, Andrew Robert Holmes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we will give a generating set of the Kauffman bracket skein module over the field Q(A) of 0-framed surgery along the trefoil knot. This generating set is described as a certain subset of a known basis for the skein module over Z[A^±1] of the trefoil exterior.


Understanding How Incoming First Year College Students Develop Academic Performance Expectations: A Qualitative Case Study, Christina Marie Coovert Jan 2017

Understanding How Incoming First Year College Students Develop Academic Performance Expectations: A Qualitative Case Study, Christina Marie Coovert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore how incoming first year students develop their academic performance expectations, differences between students in the development of academic performance expectations, and lastly the role of the university has in communicating expectations to students. The researcher utilized case study research to examine various perspectives related to the development of academic performance expectation. Research methodology included, participant interviews, document analysis and observation. Research findings are highlighted by ten first year college students’ experiences; half of the participants were previously higher performing and the other half were previously lower performing. Performance was based on …