Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Habitat Structural Complexity On Nekton Assemblages: Lab And Field Observations In Southern Louisiana, Austin T. Humphries

LSU Master's Theses

Greater structural complexity is often associated with more diverse and abundant species assemblages. Biogenic reefs formed by the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) are structurally complex in nature and have been recognized for their potential habitat value in estuarine systems along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. To determine how the structural complexity of newly created oyster reefs may influence the abundance and distribution of species, three objectives were established. First, to examine spatial and temporal patterns of nekton use at newly created oyster reefs, as well as the impact of wave exposure, six paired oyster reef and mud-bottom treatments …

Planck Versus Poe: Scientific And Poetic Approaches, Anita Kelkar

Quill & Scope

P A M Dirac wrote that "In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by every- one, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite." Dirac's quote con- fronts us with the question: Do both the scientific and poetic approaches ultimately enjoy equal success in expanding human knowledge?

Implementation And Analysis Of A Top-K Retrieval System For Strings, Sabrina Chandrasekaran

LSU Master's Theses

Given text which is a union of d documents of strings, D = d1, d2,...., dd, the emphasis of this thesis is to provide a practical framework to retrieve the K most relevant documents for a given pattern P, which comes as a query. This cannot be done directly, as going through every occurrence of the query pattern may prove to be expensive if the number of documents that the pattern occurs in is much more than the number of documents (K) that we require. Some advanced query functionality will be required, as compared to listing the documents that the …

Multi-Scale Habitat Associations Of Shorebirds During Spring Migration In Southwestern Louisiana Rice Fields, Rachel K. Villani

LSU Master's Theses

Rice is the most common wetland crop in the world, and important for waterbirds and shorebirds worldwide, including the United States. In Louisiana, shorebirds use rice fields during spring migration, and are an important for foraging and refueling during migration. However, competing land uses and restoration projects may reduce the availability of rice fields, and impact the landscape that shorebirds use during migration. To determine how shorebirds use the landscape, I evaluated local and landscape factors affecting shorebird use of rice fields during spring migration in southwestern Louisiana. Using five habitat suitability zones (HSZs) based on rice density and canopy …

Homeopathy, Charles Volk

Quill & Scope

For the first 50 years of NYMC's history, the school taught a form of medicine called 'homeopathy'. What is this form of medicine and what would it be like to go to a homeopathic medical school? The author shares his experiences in the world of alternative medicine and the time he spent in a homeo- pathic academy learning about energy medicine, impossibly diluted compounds, how the germ theory is wrong, how science is incorrect, and how miasms are at the core of all human suffering.

Water And Solute Transport In The Shallow Subsurface Of A Riverine Wetland Natural Levee, April Elea Newman

LSU Master's Theses

In riverine wetlands, the rate and magnitude of water exchanged between river channels and adjacent wetlands have a major influence on hydrologic function and associated aquatic habitat and water quality. River channels are generally separated from backswamps by natural levees; however, preferential flow may allow potentially substantial water and solute exchange between them. Determining the influence of preferential flow on water and solute transport in natural levees requires an innovative approach that allows measurement of transport rates at a scale large enough to capture field-scale variability. To test the hypothesis that preferential flow is important to subsurface water movement through …

Investigating The Ironwood Tree (Casuarina Equisetifolia) Decline On Guam Using Applied Multinomial Modeling, Karl Anthony Schlub

LSU Master's Theses

The ironwood tree (Casuarina equisetifolia), a protector of coastlines of the sub-tropical and tropical Western Pacific, is in decline on the island of Guam where aggressive data collection and efforts to mitigate the problem are underway. For each sampled tree the level of decline was measured on an ordinal scale consisting of five categories ranging from healthy to near dead. Several predictors were also measured including tree diameter, fire damage, typhoon damage, presence or absence of termites, presence or absence of basidiocarps, and various geographical or cultural factors. The five decline response levels can be viewed as categories of a …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 38, 2009-2010, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

Off-Farm Labor Supply By Farm Operators And Spouses: A Comparison Of Estimation Methods, Mahesh Pandit

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis studies the off-farm labor supply decision of farm operators and their spouses in the United States. The data used in this study is from the Agricultural Resource Management survey, 2006. The objective of this study is twofold. First, to identify those factors that affect off-farm labor supply of farm operators and their spouses. In particular, this study investigates the impact of human capital of farm operators and spouses, personal, family, farm and location characteristics on labor allocation for on- and off-farm work. Empirical results indicate that farm operators’ and their spouses’ human capital are positively correlated with off-farm …

Palynological Analysis Of Tiger And Trinity Shoals, Louisiana Continental Shelf, Russell Ryan Crouch

LSU Master's Theses

Forty sediment samples taken from twenty-six vibracores collected from Holocene shoals (Tiger and Trinity) were processed for palynomorphs and analyzed to characterize the terrestrial and marine paleo-environments of southern Louisiana at the time of deposition of each shoal. Abundant and diverse pollen assemblages were recovered while marine microplankton were sparse (< 2% relative abundance). Pollen species were grouped by plants of similar environmental significances including arboreal, non-arboreal, aquatic, and shrub categories. Palynological signals were compared in detail between each core, as well as along strike and dip transects, to help determine whether or not these shoals were deposited coevally or in distinct depositional cycles. Evidence shows that Tiger and Trinity Shoals carry remarkably similar palynological profiles, indicating that sediments of these shoals areS from the same source, and that deposition extended over an interval of time such that climate change was not sufficient enough to alter the vegetation response (hence palynological signal). Pollen profiles show source sediments are predominantly from the lower Mississippi River drainage basin and exhibit species similar to those present in modern Louisiana coastal marshes and swamps (i.e., Taxodium distichum, Cyperaceae, Graminae, Chenopodiaceae, and Asteraceae), and coastal to upland hardwood forests of the Mississippi River alluvial valley (i.e., Pinus, Quercus, Carya, and Liquidambar styraciflua).

Bioaerosols And The Risk Of Upper Respiratory Infection In Dental Hygienists, Christen Rebecca Gautreau

LSU Master's Theses

Multitudes of pathogenic and infectious microbes are known to spread via contaminated aerosols. Dental personnel have an increased incidence of respiratory infections. Ultrasonic scaling procedures are reported to produce the largest amounts of contaminated aerosols of any dental procedure. The goal of the current study was to see if dental hygienists are at an increased risk of respiratory infections during the performance of their job and to see if certain dental procedures had a significant effect on this risk. This study was conducted at the Dental Hygiene Clinic of the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in New Orleans, LA. …

Grade Level Expectations: Do They Prepare Students For Introductory College Chemistry?, Micah M. Davies

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates whether the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) as outlined by the Louisiana Department of Education prepare students for introductory college level chemistry. A sample of 135 students in Dr. Watkins fall 2009 CHEM 1201 classes were tested for correlations between knowledge of the GLEs (chemical concept inventory pre-test and post-test score and normalized gain) and performance in CHEM 1201 (average exam score and final exam score). No significant correlations were found between any of these variables. For further analysis, students were grouped into two groups, in-state public school students and out-of-state/private school students. It was assumed that in-state …

A Study Of Hough Transform For Weld Extraction, Rakesh Gunaseelan

LSU Master's Theses

The process of joining metals is called welding. At times, selecting a poor quality material or improper usage of welding technologies may cause defects in welded joints. Some of these welded joints have to be tested nondestructively, because their failure can cause lot of damage, for instance in power plants. Radiography is a very common method for non-destructive testing of welds. It is done by certified weld inspectors who have knowledge about weld flaws, looking at the radiograph of the welded joint with naked eye. The judgment of the weld inspector can be biased; subjective, because it is dependent on …

Geological Analysis And Hydrodynamic Modeling Of Tropical Cyclone Influence: Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico Inner Shelf, Amy Lynn Spaziani

LSU Master's Theses

The need to characterize offshore resources as borrow areas for beach restoration has initiated interest of the impact of storms to the inner continental shelf. While numerous studies have investigated the response of coastal systems to major storms, very little is known about the geological response of inner shelves to frequent and intense storms. This approach integrated a geological study with modeling of hydrodynamics during recent storms, in order to relate trends in the geological signature to physical forcing mechanisms during storms. First, waves and hydrodynamic conditions were modeled during two major recent storms that made landfall in the northeastern …

Evaluating Remote Setting Techniques For Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Seed Production In Louisiana, Victoria D. Ippolito

LSU Master's Theses

Research was conducted to implement remote setting technology for the commercial- scale production of oysters on alternative cultch material in Louisiana. Genetic research has created an enhanced oyster stock for commercial cultivation. Since the Louisiana oyster industry relies on natural seed production for product, they are unable to utilize these new advances and are never guaranteed a reliable source of oyster seed. Remote setting is one way of producing a consistent supply of genetically improved oysters. Cultch material for oyster settlement is a limiting resource. Several alternatives to clamshell have been explored. The objectives of this study are: (1) test …

Investigations Of Structure / Property Interrelationships Of Organic Thin Films Using Scanning Probe Microscopy And Nanolithography, Zorabel Mallorca Lejeune

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Studies of the surface assembly and molecular organization of organic thin films were studied using scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and scanning probe lithography (SPL). Systems of organic thin films such as n-alkanethiols and pyridyl functionalized porphyrins were characterized at the molecular level, and measurements of the conductive properties of polythiophenes containing in-chain cobaltabisdicarbollides were accomplished. Understanding the self-organization and mechanisms of self-assembly of organic molecules provides fundamental insight for structure/property interrelationships. Investigations of the surface assembly of 5,10-diphenyl-15,20-di-pyridin-4-yl-porphyrin (DPP) on Au(111) were done using SPL methods of nanoshaving and nanografting. Automated computer designs were developed for nanofabrication to provide local …

Hepatotoxic Cyanobacterial Blooms In Louisiana's Estuaries: Analysis Of Risk To Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus) Following Exposure To Microcystins, Ana Cristina Garcia

LSU Master's Theses

The most common toxins detected following freshwater harmful algal blooms are microcystins, a group of hepatotoxins produced by cyanobacteria (e.g., Microcystis and Anabaena spp.). Preference for filter-feeding prey, including bivalves, makes the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, vulnerable to microcystin contamination and makes the commercially important crab a potential vector of microcystins. I used a combination of field and laboratory studies to determine blue crab vulnerability to microcystin contamination and consequent impacts on crab physiology. Samples collected from a hyper-eutrophic freshwater lake, Lac des Allemands, Louisiana, were analyzed for cyanobacterial abundances and microcystins in surface water and blue crabs using light-microscopy …

Project Explorations And Student Learning In Geometry, Verna Marie Richard

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the structural framework of the EBRPSS 8th Grade Mathematics Comprehensive Curriculum and to compare its effectiveness to a set of project-based lessons that I created for “Unit 4: Measurement and Geometry”. Two classes participated in this study. Pretest and Posttest scores were analyzed to determine if there was a significant advantage to using my supplements. Results of the analysis revealed that there was an advantage to using the supplements, in spite of the time shortage. Hopefully, the supplements implemented in this study will serve as a model for teaching “Unit 4: Measurement …

Portland State University Climate Action Plan, 2010, Fletcher Beaudoin, Noelle Studer-Spevak

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

In June 2007, Portland State University (PSU) joined this effort by signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). The commitment challenged PSU to form a committee to oversee climate efforts, track carbon emissions, and develop a Climate Action Plan (CAP) to move toward carbon neutrality. This document fulfills the final requirement for ACUPCC and supports regional climate goals of partner agencies, such as those described in the 2009 City of Portland and Multnomah County Climate Action Plan.

Delineation Of A Produced Water Plume In Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Matthew C. Smith

LSU Master's Theses

Three pits were excavated in the 1960’s at the Fordoche Oil Field in Lottie, Louisiana, as evaporation pits for oil well produced brines. The pits were closed and completed in the 1980’s. Previous studies indicate that produced water has leached into the subsurface within the area to the south and southeast of the pits. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) was utilized in an attempt to delineate the present location of the plume as well as test the feasibility of GPR within a clayey soil in south Louisiana. In addition to collection of GPR data, electrical conductivity logs and soil cores (including …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Cooperative Learning Structures In Improving Students' Performance, Jonah Njenga

LSU Master's Theses

In a desperate attempt to improve high school classroom performances, recently, schools have begun to move towards incorporating cooperative learning strategies into their classrooms. Generally, cooperative learning strategies can be described as the use of small groups to encourage learners work together and accomplish shared goals and subsequently maximize theirs and others’ potential. In an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy on classroom learning, this study compares the gains in means of scores between a group taught using cooperative learning strategies and another group taught using non-cooperative learning strategies. Fifty-three students taking Algebra I were given a pretest …

Status Of Wintering Grassland Birds In A Post-Hurricane, Salvage-Logged Forest, Matthew Edward Brooks

LSU Master's Theses

North American grassland birds have been declining at an alarming rate. Winter habitat for grassland species in the southeastern U.S. generally occurs within forests subject to management. I studied wintering grassland bird communities in De Soto National Forest in southern Mississippi. My objectives were to: 1) Assess bird communities and vegetation structure in upland forest stands that were salvage-logged following Hurricane Katrina, in stands managed for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis, RCW), and in stands containing bogs; and 2) Determine the extent of the association between vegetation and occurrence of the common wintering grassland birds. I conducted bird and vegetation surveys …

Accuracy Of Srs Dose Delivery Using The Tomotherapy Hi-Art System, Catherine Leigh Batte

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: To quantify the accuracy and precision of both target positioning and dose delivery for intracranial radiosurgery delivered with the TomoTherapy Hi-Art System using a non-invasive immobilization device. Methods: Techniques developed by Vinci et al (2007) were refined for the measurement of dose distributions in each principal plane using a CIRS head phantom. Pieces of Gafchromic EBT2 film were cut and digitized using a template developed by Vinci et al (2007). A plan was created for a 2 cm diameter x 2 cm long cylindrical target in the TomoTherapy treatment planning system (TPS) version 3.2.1. Intentional misalignments of 5 mm …

Application Of Peer Instruction In The High School Setting, Wiley Iverstine

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates whether the response component of Peer Instruction can be successfully added to my normal classroom instruction creating higher gains in student conceptual understanding of force concepts. This action research is intended to analyze this goal for possible application in any regular high school Physics classroom, using myself as a case study. The Force Concept Inventory was used as a pretest/posttest determinate of the learning gains of 85 students spread through four regular Physics classes during the 2009-10 school year. Forty-Two of these students were used as an experimental group where the response component of Peer Instruction was …

Using Inoceramid Bivalve Taphonomy As A Paleoenvironmental Indicator Across The Cenomanian/Turonian Horizon At The Pueblo, Colorado Gssp, Jacob Frederick Grosskopf

LSU Master's Theses

Recent paleoenvironmental and geochemical studies indicate that benthic conditions during Oceanic Anoxic Event II (OAE II) (93.5 Mya) in the Cretaceous Interior Seaway (CIS) were dysoxic rather than anoxic. In this thesis, dysoxic benthic conditions were tested for by observing patterns in taphonomic alteration of the calcite portions of inoceramid bivalve shells during and after OAE II. Inoceramid valves were extracted from beds that spanned OAE II at the Cenomanian/Turonian Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) in Pueblo, Colorado: beds 62 (Hartland Shale), 72 (Bridge Creek Limestone), and 115 (Bridge Creek Limestone). Degree of alteration was tallied using categorical …

Optimized Extraction Of Soluble Defatted Rice Bran Fiber And Its Application For Microencapsulation Of Fish Oil, Yuting Wan

LSU Master's Theses

Defatted rice bran (DRB) is a byproduct of rice milling and rice bran oil extraction. Soluble rice bran fiber (SRBF) extracted from defatted rice bran is known for its antioxidant activity and hypocholesterolemic effects in human, while purified menhaden oil (PMO) is a good source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The goal of the study was to estimate optimum extraction conditions to extract SRBF from DRB, develop a cost effective method to purify SRBF and produce microencapsulated PMO with SRBF. The response surface methodology showed that an estimated optimum yield of SRBF (7.89%) could be extracted from …

The National Impact Test: Applying Principled Commerce Clause Analysis To Federal Environmental Regulation, David M. Metres

UC Law Journal

Current doctrine limits Congress's commerce power to regulation of "economic" activities. Because many environmental laws regulate noneconomic objects, some have argued that the Constitution does not grant Congress power to enact these environmental laws.

This Note rejects analysis of whether an object of regulation is "economic," and substitutes a test inspired by the principles underlying the Commerce Clause to demarcate the proper spheres of federal and state regulatory authority. Under the "national impact test," courts should evaluate whether federal legislation regulates activities with a nationwide impact or which the states cannot regulate on their own. If Congress does not make …

Degradation Behavior Of Shape Memory Polymer Due To Water And Diesel Fuel, Mohammad Nazmul Hasan Nahid

LSU Master's Theses

Shape memory polymers (SMP) are smart materials, which have the ability to memorize the original or permanent shape. Owing to this characteristic SMP can be used as a sensor, a transplant, as well as structural materials in wide range of applications. Despite its importance, its degradation behavior is still not completely known; and only a limited amount of work has been reported in the literature. In this thesis, the experiments have been carried out to evaluate the degradation behavior of Veriflex- SMP (industry supplied SMP samples) upon exposure to two different types of liquids; water and diesel fuel separately. It …

Thermal Conductivity And Its Effects On The Performance Of Pcc Pavements In Mepdg, Upender Kodide

LSU Master's Theses

This study developed a standard thermal conductivity test procedure to test concrete specimens and studied factors influencing those specimens. The thermal conductivity of concrete is significantly affected by moisture content, type, and percentage of coarse aggregate; this finding was confirmed statistically by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study also developed a model for predicting the thermal conductivity of concrete that varies with moisture content and the coarse aggregate percentage. To understand the effect of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), this study also measured thermal conductivity of control and ternary mixtures. An increase in thermal conductivity percentage due to increase in moisture …

An Adaptable Group Communication System, Vikram Reddy Kayathi

LSU Master's Theses

Existing group communication systems like ISIS, Spread, Jgroups etc., provide group communication in a synchronous environment. They are built on top of TCP/IP or UDP and guarantee virtual synchrony and consistency. However, wide area distributed systems are inherently asynchronous. Existing group communication systems are not suitable for wide area deployment. They do not provide persistent communication; i.e., if a node gets temporarily disconnected, all messages directed to that node during that period are lost. Hence such systems are not suitable for deployment in disadvantaged networks. While, according to Brewer’s CAP theorem, it is impossible for a distributed computer system to …