Digital Commons Network^™

Calcium-Dependent Mechanisms In The Chicken Retina, Merve Tekmen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple classes of retinal amacrine cells use L-type Ca2+ channels to mediate synaptic transmission. I have used whole cell voltage clamp recordings from primary cultures of amacrine cells to investigate the regulation of these channels. In this study, I show that inhibiting mitochondrial calcium uptake (MCU) caused a reversible reduction in the Ca2+ current amplitude. Replacing external Ca2+ with Ba2+ minimized the effects of blocking MCU indicating that the Ca2+ influx is the primary source of the inhibition. With 1,2-bis-(o-aminophenonxy)ethane-N,N,N’,N’-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) in the recording pipette, MCU inhibition caused an increase in the current amplitude indicating that the fast buffering …

Spatial Ecology Of Adult Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion Nebulosus, In Louisiana Coastal Waters, Jody Lynn Callihan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, are common in estuaries and coastal waters of the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and are of considerable recreational and economic importance. Still, the spatial ecology of this species is under-studied and poorly resolved, especially in Louisiana waters. To address this important knowledge gap, I examined the movements, distribution, and habitat use of adult spotted seatrout in coastal Louisiana primarily using high-resolution acoustic telemetry and secondarily, conventional tagging (mark-recapture) data. At the largest spatial scale investigated, I found that adults exhibited a high degree of estuarine fidelity and rarely undertook large-scale movements in excess of …

Preferences Of Louisiana Agronomic Crop Producers And Crop Consultants Regarding Sources Of Information Related To Agricultural Production, Kenneth Craig Gautreaux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissemination of information related to agronomic crop production is crucial to the success of the agriculture industry in Louisiana. This information is distributed by various sources and through multiple methods. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the preferences of Louisiana agronomic crop producers and crop consultants in regards to acquiring information related to their agricultural operations. A secondary purpose was to determine how agronomic crop producers perceived selected LSU AgCenter information sources on accuracy, awareness and frequency of use. Data for the study were obtained through surveys completed by 176 agronomic crop producers and 32 crop …

An Integrated Computer-Aided Robotic System For Dental Implantation, Xiaoyan Sun, Yongki Yoon, Jiang Li, Frederic D. Mckenzie

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes an integrated system for dental implantation including both preoperative planning utilizing computer-aided technology and automatic robot operation during the intra-operative stage. A novel two-step registration procedure was applied for transforming the preoperative plan to the operation of the robot, with the help of a Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM). Experiments with a patient-specific phantom were carried out to evaluate the registration error for both position and orientation. After adopting several improvements, registration accuracy of the system was significantly improved. Sub-millimeter accuracy with the Target Registration Errors (TREs) of 0.38±0.16 mm (N=5) was achieved. The target orientation errors after …

Formation And Stabilization Of Combustion-Generated Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals On Transition Metal Oxides Supported On Silica, Eric Warren Pimentel Vejerano

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The formation of environmentally persistent free radicals in combustion system was investigated from chemisorptions of chlorine- and hydroxy-substituted benzenes on transition metal oxide surface under post-combustion conditions. This manuscript reports the formation of EPFRs on silica particles containing 5% Fe(III)2O3, Ni(II)O, and Zn(II)O. The EPFRs are formed by the chemisorption of substituted aromatic molecular adsorbates on the metal cation center followed by electron transfer from the adsorbate to the metal ion at temperatures from 150 to 400 oC. Depending on the nature of the adsorbate and the temperature, two organic EPFRs were formed: a phenoxyl-type radical, which has a lower …

Characterization Of Triggerable Quinones For The Development Of Enzyme-Responsive Liposomes, Maria Fabiana Mendoza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For decades, there has been a lot of focus on the development of new carriers for drug delivery applications. From all of the carriers, stimuli-responsive liposomes have been studied extensively, but only a handful have been enzyme-responsive liposomes. Therefore, the field of endogenous proteins as activators of liposomes is a fertile field worthy of exploration. The research described in this dissertation involves how structural changes on the quinone moiety altered their electronic properties, as well as their behavior toward the human enzyme NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase type-1 (hNQO1, over expressed in certain tumor tissues), thus yielding a series of triggerable quinones to …

Adams-Jefferson: An Inquiry Into Human, Nature, Politics, And The Implications For A Republic, Adetoyese Itunu Adedipe

LSU Master's Theses

If one were to inquire from Americans the names of five founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson will more often than not be mentioned amongst them. Apart from being among the founders of the republic, these two men presided over the republic as well. It is accurate to say both founding fathers were prolific writers who left behind a wealth of literature their progeny could look to when it came to the intricacies of politics and the nature of man. The aim of this thesis is to unveil the metamorphosis of a political order via the views and opinions …

Caregiver Attitude, As Expressed Verbally In A Group Setting, And Its Association With Children's Attachment Security, Erin Wallace Lovett

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not mothers’ attitudes, as expressed verbally in a group setting, were associated with the attachment style of the child and the insightfulness of the mother. The Circle of Security (CoS) was used as a 27 week group intervention for mothers who had become clients of a child welfare agency. Pre- and post test ratings were obtained for children’s attachment security and mothers’ insightful understanding of their children, using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and the Insightfulness Assessment (IA), respectively. This study created scales for both Warmth/Empathy and Concern/Worry to …

Rapid Identification Of Oil Contaminated Soils Using Visible Near Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy, Somsubhra Chakraborty

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Initially, 46 petroleum contaminated and non-contaminated soil samples were collected and scanned using visible near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (VisNIR DRS) at three combinations of moisture content and pretreatment. The VisNIR spectra of soil samples were used to predict total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) content using partial least squares (PLS) regression and boosted regression tree (BRT) models. The field-moist intact scan proved best for predicting TPH content with a validation r2 of 0.64 and relative percent difference (RPD) of 1.70. Those 46 samples were used to calibrate a penalized spline (PS) model. Subsequently, the PS model was used to predict soil TPH …

Revolutionary Republics: U.S. National Narratives And The Independence Of Latin America, 1810-1846, James Weldon Long

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Revolutionary Republics analyzes how U.S. literature depicted the independence of Latin America, focusing on the period from the beginning of the Spanish American revolutions in 1810 to the outbreak of the U.S.-Mexican War in 1846. During this brief timespan, the nation’s literature featured a radical transition in which the independent republics of Latin America shifted from being viewed as “southern brethren” of the United States, a term used by such prominent public figures as Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams, to hostile enemies allegedly in need of assistance from their northern neighbor. This reversal exposes a contradiction between the imperialist …

The Role Of Ad-36 And Its E4orf-1 Protein In Modulating Glycemic Control, Emily Jane Dhurandhar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current treatment strategies for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) include a range of anti-diabetic drugs, supplemented by lifestyle modifications to reduce dietary fat intake and body fat. However, for their anti-diabetic action, most drugs recruit insulin signaling pathways, which are already impaired in T2DM. Also, compliance and success in achieving sustained improvements in diet or obesity over the long term is marginal. Therefore, an agent that improves diabetes independent of insulin signaling or lifestyle changes may be highly useful. Human adenovirus Ad36 offers such a model. Ad36 improves glycemic control in chow-fed mice or rats and attenuates diabetes and hepatic …

Inositol And Rhizopine Metabolism - Key Pathways For Competitive Host Nodulation In Sinorhizobium Meliloti, Petra R. A. Kohler

Dissertations

"The rhizopine concept suggests that rhizopines, which are inositol derivatives, function as nutritional mediators and play an important role in host-bacteria interactions. This thesis analyzes the hypothesis that not only rhizopines but also naturally occurring inositol isomers, such as myo-, D-chiro-, and scyllo -inositol, function as nutritional mediators in the Sinorhizobium meliloti - alfalfa nitrogenfixing symbiosis. The idhA-encoded myoinositol dehydrogenase is responsible for the first step in the degradation of myo- and D-c/z/ra-inositol. A different dehydrogenase, IolY, was found to be essential for growth with scyllo-'mositol. The iolA and iolCDEB genes were required for the further degradation of myo-, D-chiroand …

Direct Forcing And Heating Immersed Boundary- Lattice Boltzmann Method For Arterial Wall Thermography, Oluyinka Olugbenga Bamiro

Dissertations

Vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques have high probability of rupture and are characterized by non-homogenous temperature along the arterial wall. The nonhomogeneous temperature is attributed to the accumulation of heat releasing inflammatory cells in the arterial wall. Rupture of the vulnerable plaque can lead to acute coronary syndrome and sudden cardiac death. Arterial wall thermography (AWT) can be applied to detect the presence of temperature hot spots along the arterial wall by using temperature measurement devices and provide an early detection of a vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. AWT, however, is invasive in nature.

Computational fluid and heat transport models provide a more efficient …

Evaluating The Effects Of Camera Perspective In Video Modelingfor Children With Autism: Point Of View Versus Scene Modeling, Courtney Cotter

Dissertations

Video modeling has been used effectively to teach a variety of skills to children with autism. This body of literature is characterized by a variety of procedural variations including the characteristics of the video model (e.g., self vs. other, adult vs. peer). Traditionally, most video models have been filmed using third person perspective (i.e., scene models), where the viewer is watching the actor perform in a scene. Recently, studies have successfully incorporated the use of first person perspective into video models (i.e., point of view models), where the view is directly from the actor's point of view. Currently, no studies …

The Principle Of Flickering, Laura K. Donnelly

Dissertations

The Principle of Flickering is a collection of poems that map our endeavors to survive and make sense of the flux of the world. The title poem introduces the reader to the ways the collection will approach this survival - through the poem's movement into and out of the frames of other art forms, its process of filtering a collage of voices, and its attempts to momentarily apprehend and still sources of internal and external chaos. Subsequent poems continue this engagement with survival in a variety of ways, including a lyrical study of the evolution of finches ("Darwin's Finches"), a …

Death By Boredom: The Role Of Visual Processing Theory In Written Evaluation Communication, Stephanie D. H. Evergreen

Dissertations

Evaluation reporting is an educational act and, as such, should be communicated using principles that support cognition. This study drew upon visual processing theory and theory-based graphic design principles to develop the Evaluation Report Layout Checklist intended to guide report development and support cognition in the readers of evaluation reports. It was then reviewed by an expert panel and applied by a group of raters to a set of evaluation reports obtained from the Informal Science Education evaluation website with maximum variability sampling. Results showed fairly high exact percent agreement and strong to very strong correlation with the author’s ratings. …

Neuroprotective Effects Of A Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Agonist And Modulator In The Rodent Retina, Kazuhiro Iwamoto

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the potential neuroprotective effect of an alpha7 nAChR agonist, PNU-282987, and modulator, PNU-120596, in an in vitro model of excitotoxicity and an in vivo model of acute glaucoma. In in vitro studies, retinas obtained from Long Evans rats were cultured using various concentrations of the PNU compounds to analyze neuroprotection against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. After 3 days in culture, RGCs were identified using an antibody against Thy 1.1, visualized using a fluorescent dye and quantified. In culture, glutamate significantly decreased the number of RGCs. However, if either PNU compound was introduced before the …

Psychometric Properties Of Diagnostic Assessment Instrumentsfor Autism Spectrum Disorders In A Community Sample Aged 2 Through 17 Years, Sheryl Lozowski-Sullivan

Dissertations

Recent estimates of the incidence and prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) indicate substantial increases over the past 20 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009; Fombonne, 2009; Matson & Kozlowski, 2011; Schreibman & Koegel, 2005; Wing & Porter, 2002), in part because of the availability of significantly improved diagnostic assessment instruments (Lord & Corsello, 2005; Schreibman, 2005). In highly structured research settings, some of these diagnostic instruments correlate well with each other; however, few studies have examined the relation between these diagnostic tools in traditional clinical practice (Mazefsky & Oswald, 2006; South et al, 2002). This study examined …

Dosed Versus Prolonged Exposures: A Direct Comparison Of One-Session Treatments For Animal Phobias, Richard William Seim

Dissertations

It is widely accepted that for exposure-based therapies to be effective feareliciting stimuli must be presented continuously until there is a marked decrease in the client's anxiety (e.g., Eysenck, 1979; Foa & Kozak, 1986). However, an emerging body of research (cf. Seim, Waller, & Spates, 2010) suggests that a massed series of very brief exposures (< 150 sec) may be effective in the extinction of fear responses. The present study was designed to compare the efficacy and acceptability of two one-session treatments for animal phobias: one that utilized continuous, uninterrupted periods of exposure to a feared animal (Prolonged Exposures) and the other that utilized a massed series of brief (5-120 sec) exposure trials (Dosed Exposures). 24 adults (7 males, 17 females) between the ages of 18 and 57 years (M = 23.6) participated in this study. Each individual met DSM-IV criteria for a diagnosis of snake phobia or spider phobia. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two the two interventions. Both treatments required participants to gradually enter a room, approach, and eventually hold a live ball python or tarantula. Results from mixed model (between x within subjects) analyses of variance showed that the Dosed Exposure treatment performed equally well to Prolonged Exposures at decreasing behavioral avoidance, feelings of anxiety, perceptions of threat, and phobiaspecific cognitions from pre-treatment to post-treatment, and these gains were maintained at one-week follow-up. Although participants receiving Prolonged Exposures reported lower ratings of within-session anxiety, participants in the Dosed Exposure group had lower rates of treatment dropout, better compliance with procedures, and fewer safety-seeking behaviors during the treatment. These findings suggest that, contrary to popular belief, brief exposure trials can be effective in the extinction of phobic responses under certain conditions.

Characterizing Potential Sustainable Energy Feedstocks, Jesse George Thompson

Dissertations

Trap grease offers a promising and less expensive alternative to food grade vegetable oils for biodiesel production, but its commercial marketability could be affected by its intense and offensive odor. Identification, quantitation and eventual elimination of the odorant compounds are vital challenges that need to be addressed before commercialization can be achieved. A rapid method using HS-SPME and GC/MS was developed in this study to identify and quantify the major volatile odorant compounds present in trap grease. The main odorant compounds were identified as short chain free fatty acids (SC-FFA) from C₄ - C₁₀.

Sensory evaluations by …

Glucosamine-Induced Insulin Resistance In Primary Rat Hepatocytes And The Role Of Selenium As An Insulin Mimetic, Sandhya N. Adiyodi Veetil

Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes is mediated by insulin resistance, the inability of insulin to elicit a normal biological response in insulin responsive tissues. Several cellular models have been utilized to determine the mechanism of induction of insulin resistance but questions remain unanswered. One model, implicates the products of the Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway (HBP) in the induction of insulin resistance under hyperglycemia. The major end product of HBP, UDP-GlcNAc, is the substrate for O-GlcNAc transferase, an enzyme that catalyzes the O-GlcNAcylation of numerous proteins. This modification may play a role in induction of insulin resistance and thus needs to be evaluated in …

Adviser's Guide To Health Care: Volume 3, Consulting With Professional Practices, Robert James Cimasi

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

Entities With Oil And Gas Producing Activities With Conforming Changes As Of July 1, 2011; Audit And Accounting Guide, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Entities With Oil And Gas Producing Activities Task Force

Guides, Handbooks and Manuals

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of John H. Walton's Lost World Of Genesis One, Jan Åge Sigvartsen

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Biblical Narratives: Their Beauty And Truth, Jo Ann Davidson

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Augustinian Foundation Of The Theology-And-Science Dialogue, Karen K. Abrahamson

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

The Controversy Over Fasting On Saturday Between Constantinople And Rome, Radiša Antic

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

"The Monstrous Centaur"? Joseph De Maistre On Reason, Passion And Violence, Douglas Hedley

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

J. Wentzel Van Huyssteen, Alone In The World?: Human Uniqueness In Science And Theology, Kevin Sharpe

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Myths And Realities, Isoko Onodera

LSU Master's Theses

My work explores the manifold personalities and roles of contemporary women, through depicting different female figures from western mythology. The mythic women in my paintings each have their own personalities, stories and roles to play, which are often conflicting in nature. By having my model act as a mythological character and by replacing the scenes from mythology with a contemporary setting, my paintings emphasize the universal and timeless essence of women. Each painting also utilizes the symbolic use of color to intensify the sensory experience of the viewer. The mythic figures I rendered are Proserpine, Venus, Psyche, Penelope, Artemis, and …