Digital Commons Network^™

Nestablishing Soil Compaction Thresholds For The M1a1 Abrams Tank At Camp Minden, Louisiana, Michael Ray Lindsey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Soil compaction is a primary impediment to vegetation regeneration on military land used for M1A1 Abrams tank training. As such, there is a need to identify soil compaction thresholds and develop guidelines with which military range managers can determine appropriate timing and intensity of training exercises using the 63-ton M1A1 tank. A study was initiated at the Camp Minden Louisiana Training Site (CMTS) to develop guidelines which will allow for maximum utilization of the land resource with minimum degradation. The study was designed to evaluate soil moisture content and traffic rates as experimental variables using a replicated 3 x 3 …

Children Of Men: The American Jeremiad In Twentieth And Twenty-First Century Science Fiction And Film, Joseph Franklin Brown Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation considers the dynamic and resilient influence of the jeremiad, an early American religious and literary mode, on contemporary American literature and culture. It argues that the polemical, dystopian, and apocalyptic narratives so abundant in twentieth-century literature and film participate in an ingrained literary tradition that accounts for society's misfortunes as penalty for its social and moral evils while, at the same time, emphasizing an American exceptionalism born out of a belief in the society's election through its covenant with God. The project makes connections between early-American texts and related works of twentieth and twenty-first century American literature and …

Peptide Targeting Of Platinum Anti-Cancer Drug And Synthesis Of Water Soluble Monofunctional Pt(Ii) Complexes Useful For Biological Labeling, Margaret W. Ndinguri

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Platinum has been used as an inorganic medicinal agent with various applications such as anti cancer agents. Several new targeted Pt(II) conjugates were synthesized having the NGR and LHRH targeting motif. The platinum conjugates bearing the NGR motif revealed selective delivery and destruction of cancer cells that had CD13 receptors compared to untargeted carboplatin drug. The development of targeted chemotherapeutic has opened a new approach for efficient delivery of antitumor toxins with minimal exposure to normal cells. Several peptide sequences are known to have the ability to target tumors, for instance NGR motif which home specifically in solid tumors and …

Integrated Data-Driven Techniques For Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Swathi Pakalapati

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The adverse health e_x000B_ffects of tropospheric ozone around urban zones indicate a substantial risk for many segments of the population. This necessitates the short term forecast in order to take evasive action on days conducive to ozone formation. Therefore it is important to study the ozone formation mechanisms and predict the ozone levels in a geographic region. Multivariate statistical techniques provide a very e_x000B_ffective framework for the classifi_x000C_cation and monitoring of systems with multiple variables. Cluster analysis, sequence analysis and hidden Markov models (HMMs) are statistical methods which have been used in a wide range of studies to model the …

Strutting It Up Through Histories: A Performance Genealogy Of The Philadelphia Mummers Parade, Corey Elizabeth Leighton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the cultural performances of the parade community in one of the oldest and largest parades in the country: the Philadelphia Mummers Parade. The modern parade celebration consists of groups of mostly working-class white men from South Philadelphia who dress up in extravagant sequined and feathered costumes and, beginning in South Philadelphia, march toward City Hall on one of the largest streets in the city on New Year’s Day. The parade is competitive and marked by performance competitions at the end of each parade. The parade’s history in the city of Philadelphia is extensive but contested. Many locals …

Amyloid Aggregation-Mitigating Peptides As Potential Alzheimer's Drugs, Cyrus Kipkurui Bett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Neuronal cytotoxicity observed in Alzheimer¡¦s disease (AD) is linked to the aggregation of £]-amyloid peptide (A£]) into toxic forms. Increasing evidence points to oligomeric species as the neurotoxic species compared to fibrils; disruption or inhibition of A£]ƒnself-assembly into oligomeric or fibrillar forms remains a viable therapeutic strategy to reduce A£] neurotoxicity. Amyloid aggregation mitigating peptides (AAMPs) were designed based on the A£]ƒn¡§hydrophobic core¡¨ A£]17-20, with C£\,£\-disubstituted amino acidsƒnƒv£\£\AAs) added into this core as disrupting agents. The number, distribution, and side chain functionality of £\£\AAs incorporated into the mitigator sequence was found influences the resultant aggregate morphology as indicated by ex-situ …

“I Talk To God But The Sky Is Empty:” W.B. Yeats’S Influence On Sylvia Plath’S Renunciation Of Christianity, Rachel Leigh Anderson

All ETDs from UAB

No abstract provided.

Bone Properties Surrounding Ha-Coated Custom Osseous Integrated Dental Implants, Maribel Ibañez Baker

All ETDs from UAB

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Investigation Of Novel Bone Graft Substitutes Based On Strontium-Calcium-Zinc-Silicate Glasses, D. Boyd, G. Carroll, Mark R. Towler, C. Freeman, P. Farthing, I. M. Brook

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Bone graft procedures typically require surgeons to harvest bone from a second site on a given patient (Autograft) before repairing a bone defect. However, this results in increased surgical time, excessive blood loss and a significant increase in pain. In this context a synthetic bone graft with excellent histocompatibility, built in antibacterial efficacy and the ability to regenerate healthy tissue in place of diseased tissue would be a significant step forward relative to current state of the art philosophies. We developed a range of calcium-strontium-zinc-silicate glass-based bone grafts and characterized their structure and physical properties, then evaluated their in vitro …

Transitions And Tipping Points In Complex Environmental Systems, Nsf Advisory Committee For Environmental Research And Education

Long Term Ecological Research Network

No abstract provided.

Rapid Sensor Technology: A Risk And System Complexity Analyses Of Early Detection Of Influenza-Like-Illnesses, Cesar Ariel Pinto, Ipek Bozkurt

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The development of effective and reliable methods to defend the nation against biological terrorism remains an urgent challenge to researchers in the areas of risk, bio-defense, public health, and emergency medicine. The emerging threat of the avian flu pandemic also highlights the unpreparedness of our nation's health care system to meet a highly contagious and infectious disease outbreak. The implementation of a rapid sensor technology for early detection of influenza-like-illness provides possible opportunities, as well as problems. Bounding and defining such a complex problem is one of the first challenges this research addresses. Approaching this problem from various perspectives such …

Regional Characterisation Of Hard-Bottom Nursery Habitat For Juvenile Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) Using Rapid Assessment Techniques, Rodney D. Bertelsen, Mark J. Butler Iv, William F. Herrnkind, John H. Hunt

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Shallow, hard-bottom habitat constitutes approximately 30% of the coastal waters of south Florida, United States, yet it is a chronically understudied feature of the marine seascape in this region. In this study, we characterised the general biogeographic and structural features of shallow benthic hard-bottom communities in the Florida Keys, and related those to the abundance of juvenile Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus), the target of one of Florida's most economically valuable fisheries. We used rapid assessment techniques to survey more than 100 hard-bottom sites in the Florida Keys to estimate the percentage bottom coverage of vegetation (seagrass and …

The Ghosts Of Our Mothers: From Oral Tradition To Written Words—A History And Critique Of Jewish Women Writers Of Iranian Heritage, Farideh Goldin

English Faculty Publications

Throughout the 2,000 years of Iranian Jewish history, women usually were either illiterate or silenced. Iranian Jewish women in exile have been making up for their foremothers by creating prose literature at a fast pace in the last two decades. Through their poetry, novels and memoirs, they validate the claim that with financial security, access to education, and freedom of speech—rarely accessible to Iranian women until the twentieth century—they can shine. This article explores the history and background of Jewish women writers of Iranian heritage.

Comparative Efficacy Of Bioud To Other Commercially Available Arthropod Repellants Against The Ticks Amblyomma Americanum And Dermacentor Variabilis On Cotton Cloth, Brooke W. Bissinger, Jiwei Zhu, Charles S. Apperson, Daniel E. Sonenshine, D. Wesley Watson, R. Michael Roe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

BioUD is an arthropod repellent that contains the active ingredient 2-undecanone originally derived from wild tomato plants. Repellency of BioUD was compared with five commercially available arthropod repellents against the ticks Amblyomma americanum (L.) and Dermacentor variabilis Say in two-choice bioassays on treated versus untreated cotton cheesecloth. Overall mean percentage repellency against both species was greatest for and did not differ significantly between BioUD (7.75% 2-undecanone) and products containing 98.1% DEET, 19.6% IR3535, and 30% oil of lemon eucalyptus. Products containing 5% and 15% Picaridin and 0.5% permethrin were also repellent compared with untreated controls but to a lesser degree …

Potential Effects Of Catastrophic Cyanobacteria Blooms On Caribbean Spiny Lobster Population Dynamics In Florida Bay Usa, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Phylogeny, Adaptive Radiation, And Historical Biogeography In Bromeliaceae: Insights From An Eight-Locus Plastid Phylogeny, Thomas J. Givnish, Michael H. J. Barfuss, Benjamin Van Ee, Ricarda Riina, Katharina Schulte, Ralf Horres, Philip A. Gonsiska, Rachel S. Jabaily, Darren M. Crayn, J. Andrew Smith

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Premise: Bromeliaceae form a large, ecologically diverse family of angiosperms native to the New World. We use a bromeliad phylogeny based on eight plastid regions to analyze relationships within the family, test a new, eight-subfamily classification, infer the chronology of bromeliad evolution and invasion of different regions, and provide the basis for future analyses of trait evolution and rates of diversification.

Methods: We employed maximum-parsimony, maximum-likelihood, and Bayesian approaches to analyze 9341 aligned bases for four outgroups and 90 bromeliad species representing 46 of 58 described genera. We calibrate the resulting phylogeny against time using penalized likelihood applied …

The Effects Of Climate Change On Biodiversity: Pressing Issues And Research Priorities, Friedhelm Krupp, Lytton J. Musselman, Mohammed M.A. Kotb, Ilka Weidig

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Photochemical Degradation Of Dissolved Organic Matter And Dissolved Lignin Phenols From The Congo River, Robert G. M. Spencer, Aron Stubbins, Peter J. Hernes, Kenneth Mopper, Anthony K. Aufdenkampe, Rachael Y. Dyda, Vincent L. Mwamba, Arthur M. Mangangu, Jose N. Wabakanghanzi, Johan Six

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Photochemical degradation of Congo River dissolved organic matter (DOM) was investigated to examine the fate of terrigenous DOM derived from tropical ecosystems. Tropical riverine DOM receives greater exposure to solar radiation, particularly in large river plumes discharging directly into the open ocean. Initial Congo River DOM exhibited dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and compositional characteristics typical of organic rich blackwater systems. During a 57 day irradiation experiment, Congo River DOM was shown to be highly photoreactive with a decrease in DOC, chromophoric DOM (CDOM), lignin phenol concentrations (Σ8) and carbon-normalized yields (Λ8), equivalent to losses of ~45, 85–95, >95 and …

A New Record For Turkey: Salvia Aristata Aucher Ex Benth. (Lamiaceae), Lütfi̇ Behçet, Davut Avlamaz

Turkish Journal of Botany

Salvia aristata Aucher ex Benth. (Lamiaceae) is recorded for the first time from south-east Turkey.

Karyomorphological Study Of Eight Centaurea L. Taxa (Asteraceae) From Turkey, Esra Marti̇n, Muhi̇tti̇n Di̇nç, Ahmet Duran

Turkish Journal of Botany

Centaurea L. (Asteraceae) is one of the largest genera in Turkey. The chromosome number and morphology of 8 taxa belonging to the genus Centaurea were investigated using an image analysis system. Among these taxa, the chromosome numbers were as follows: 2n = 18 in C. cariensis Boiss. subsp. niveotomentosa (Hub.-Mor.) Wagenitz, C. lycaonica Boiss. & Heldr., C. virgata Lam., and C. polyclada DC.; 2n = 24 in C. cyanus L.; 2n = 36 in C. virgata and C. cariensis Boiss. subsp. cariensis: 2n = 40 in C. urvillei DC. subsp. urvillei; 2n = 54 in C. tuzgoluensis Aytaç & H.Duman. …

In Vitro And In Vivo Germination Of Cyclamen Alpinum Seeds, Betül Bürün, Oral Şahi̇n

Turkish Journal of Botany

Cyclamen trochopteranthum O.Schwarz has a confusing history, having been identified in the last part of the 19^{th} century and described as Cyclamen alpinum Sprenger. It remained known as C. alpinum until 1975, when it was described as C. trochopteranthum by Otto Schwarz. Cyclamen trochopteranthum is a species distributed in the south-western part of Turkey, but the C. trochopteranthum described in 1975 is today describe again as Cyclamen alpinum. The seeds of this species were collected from red pine forests in the Gökbel-Dalyan area on May 3-7 and stored with and without capsules in incubators at 20 °C. Among the seeds …

The Genus Halothamnus Jaub. & Spach (Chenopodiaceae) In Turkey, Helmut Freitag, Vagif Atamov, Esat Çeti̇n, Mustafa Aslan

Turkish Journal of Botany

The semidesert taxon Halothamnus (Chenopodiaceae), which is confirmed to supersede the later Aellenia, is represented in Turkey by H. glaucus subsp. glaucus and H. hierochunticus. The former was known to occur in Kars and Ağri provinces but was found recently in Kayseri province as well. The latter is a new record for the flora of Turkey from Şanlıurfa province close to the Syrian border. Full descriptions of the genus and the species occurring in Turkey are given and the case of Aellenia is discussed. Images and distributional data including maps are provided.

Notes On Some Lichenicolous Fungi Species From Turkey Ii, Mehmet Gökhan Halici, Mehmet Candan, Ayşen Özdemi̇r Türk

Turkish Journal of Botany

Nine species of lichenicolous fungi are reported from various provinces of Turkey. Five species of these (Endococcus janae, Lichenochora aprica, Pronectria xanthoriae, Sarcopyrenia cylindrospora, and Zwackhiomyces cervinae) are reported for the first time from Turkey. All these taxa, except Zwackhiomyces cervinae, are also new to Asia. Comments on their habitats and substrata and a short diagnosis are provided for each new taxon new to Turkey.

Diversity Of Endophytic Fungi From Various Aegean And Mediterranean Orchids (Saleps), Yüksel Gezgi̇n, Rengi̇n Eltem

Turkish Journal of Botany

The diversity and host specificity of endophytic and Rhizoctonia-like fungi were investigated in orchids from the Aegean and Mediterranean regions. Endophytic fungi from various Aegean and Mediterranean orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis (L.) L.C.M.Richard, Orchis sancta L., Ophrys fusca Link., and Serapias vomeracea subsp. orientalis Greuter) were isolated and identified partially. Surface sterilisation of roots and tubers was carried out in laminar airflow under aseptic conditions. Several modified methods for the isolation of symbiotic fungi from orchid roots and tubers were used. Most of the orchid endophytes isolated was found to be Fusarium Link ex Fr. spp. A total of 47 isolates, …

Contribution To The Desmid Flora Of Turkey, Bülent Şahi̇n

Turkish Journal of Botany

Cosmarium botrytis Menegh. ex Ralfs var. tumidum Wolle, Cosmarium notabile Bréb. var. transiens Insam et Krieger, Cosmarium tetragonum (Näg.) Arch. in Pritchard var. tetragonum, and Cosmarium vogesiacum Lemaire var. alpinum (Schmidle) Laporte are recorded for the first time for the desmid flora of Turkey. The desmids are recorded from Yedigöller Lakes in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.

Detecting Differentially Expressed Genes While Controlling The False Discovery Rate For Microarray Data, Shuo Jiao

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Microarray is an important technology which enables people to investigate the expression levels of thousands of genes at the same time. One common goal of microarray data analysis is to detect differentially expressed genes while controlling the false discovery rate. This dissertation consists with four papers written to address this goal. The dissertation is organized as follows: In Chapter 1, a brief introduction of the Affymetrix GeneChip microarray technology is provided. The concept of differentially expressed genes and the definition of the false discovery rate are also introduced. In Chapter 2, a literature review of the related works on this …

Nonlinear Dynamics Of Infant Sitting Postural Control, Joan E. Deffeyes

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sitting is one of the first developmental milestones that an infant achieves. Thus measurements of sitting posture present an opportunity to assess sensorimotor development at a young age, in order to identify infants who might benefit from therapeutic intervention, and to monitor the efficacy of the intervention. Sitting postural sway data was collected using a force plate from infants with typical development, and from infants with delayed development, where the delay in development was due to cerebral palsy in most of the infants in the study. The center of pressure time series from the infant sitting was subjected to a …

Evaluating Lake Response To Environmental And Climatic Change Using Lake Core Records And Modeling, Brandi Bracht-Flyr

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation evaluates how lakes respond to changes in their environmental and climatic settings. This dissertation consists of two lake modeling projects and the environmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions of four lakes in southwestern Montana. Lakes and their associated biological communities respond to environmental and climatic change on rapid timescales. Lake modeling and lake core stratigraphies are complementary tools for exploration of how lakes and their biota respond to environmental or climatic perturbations. In one modeling approach for exploring these issues, a simple hydro-climatological lake model was developed that classifies lake sensitivity to climatic perturbations based upon lake area, catchment area, …

Worlds Apart: Social Mechanisms Of Contrasting Fertility In European American And Native American Populations On The Northern Plains, Janet Mary Bush

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between fertility and household economy on Montana's Northern Plains. Low fertility and outmigration in European American communities have led to dramatic depopulation of the region. At the same time, isolated Indian reservations in the area have grown in population due to high fertility and return migration.

A mixed methods research approach was used to explore the relationship between fertility and social acceptance of communal household economic strategies. Census data and birth records described differences in fertility and household economy between European American and Native American populations in six Plains Indian …

Trans Politics On A Neoliberal Landscape, Dean Spade

Faculty Articles

These edited Keynote remarks from the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review Symposium on transgender law address how questions of law reform strategy relate to critical understandings of neoliberalism. The paper addresses questions of administrative governance, identity documentation, the relationship between law and social movements, and questions of economic and racial justice as applied to transgender politics.