Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2011

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 30391 - 30420 of 31118

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Investigation Into The Cause Of Earthen Embankment Instability Along The "V-Line" Artificial Levee In Marrero, Louisiana, Usa, Jason Hicks Jan 2011

Investigation Into The Cause Of Earthen Embankment Instability Along The "V-Line" Artificial Levee In Marrero, Louisiana, Usa, Jason Hicks

LSU Master's Theses

The “V-line” levee, located in Marrero, LA, has a crack along its crest, measuring approximately 100 meters in length, 30 centimeters in depth, and 30 centimeters in width. This crack is a sign of levee instability. Seismic shear wave, CPT, and laboratory shear strength data were collected and processed to identify the cause of the instability. A zone of low seismic shear wave velocity was interpreted approximately 3 meters deep from the berm of the levee. Because of the large spacing between laboratory shear strength test sampling and CPT sites, a similar zone of low shear strength was not found …

Go to article

The Relationship Between Visual Attention And Prospective Memory, Noelle L. Brown Jan 2011

The Relationship Between Visual Attention And Prospective Memory, Noelle L. Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study examined the role of attention in prospective memory. Prospective memory refers to the ability to form an intention to do something in the future, such as email a colleague, and additionally remembering to do so at the appropriate moment. Theories of prospective memory retrieval suggest that attention is required to complete an intention. However, the exact role of attention and whether it is always required remains unclear. One challenge in examining the allocation of attentional resources in prospective memory is that a direct measure of these resources does not exist. The current study attempted to address this …

Go to article

Characterization And Prototyping Of The Rotating Modulator Hard X-Ray/Gamma-Ray Telescope, Brent Budden Jan 2011

Characterization And Prototyping Of The Rotating Modulator Hard X-Ray/Gamma-Ray Telescope, Brent Budden

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A hard x-ray/gamma-ray telescope with high sensitivity and wide field of view would be capable of performing an all-sky census of black holes over a wide range of obscuration and accretion rates. As an example, NASA's Black Hole Finder Probe mission was designed to provide a 5-sigma flux sensitivity in a 1-year observation of ~0.02 mCrab in the 10 - 150 keV energy range and 0.5 mCrab in the 150 - 600 keV energy range with 3 - 5 minutes of arc angular resolution. These are significantly higher sensitivity and resolution goals than those of current instruments. The design focus …

Go to article

Stochastic Modelling Of Eukaryotic Cell Cycle, Murali Krushna Koneru Jan 2011

Stochastic Modelling Of Eukaryotic Cell Cycle, Murali Krushna Koneru

LSU Master's Theses

Stochastic models are developed to capture the inherent stochasticity of the biochemical networks associated to many biological processes. The objective of the present thesis is to present a detailed picture of stochastic approach for the mathematical modeling of eukaryotic cell cycle, to demonstrate an important application of such model in chemotherapy and to present a methodology for selecting the model parameters. The stochastic cell cycle model, developed using stochastic chemical kinetics approach, leads to the formation of an infinite dimensional differential equation in probabilities of system being in a specific state. Using Monte Carlo simulations of this model, dynamics of …

Go to article

A Systematic Study Of Xylella Fastidiosa Strains Isolated From Pecan, Grapevine, Oleander, And Sycamore In Louisiana, Rebecca Ann Melanson Jan 2011

A Systematic Study Of Xylella Fastidiosa Strains Isolated From Pecan, Grapevine, Oleander, And Sycamore In Louisiana, Rebecca Ann Melanson

LSU Master's Theses

Xylella fastidiosa causes disease in a number of economically important crops and landscape shrubs and trees including grapevine, citrus, oleander, and sycamore. In pecan, X. fastidiosa causes pecan bacterial leaf scorch (PBLS), which leads to defoliation and reduces nut yield. No economically effective treatments are available for PBLS. In order to improve PBLS management practices, it is necessary to determine the subspecies of X. fastidiosa strains that infect pecan so potential sources of inoculum can be identified. Multiprimer PCR and phylogenetic analyses using nucleotide sequence data from the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) region and pglA consistently identified strains …

Go to article

An Analysis Of The Methodological And Human Error Within Momentary Time Sampling Data Collection, Joslyn Cynkus Mintz Jan 2011

An Analysis Of The Methodological And Human Error Within Momentary Time Sampling Data Collection, Joslyn Cynkus Mintz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Teachers often serve as data collectors for the problem behavior of referred students in their classrooms; yet, the accuracy of teacher data collection has rarely been directly assessed. Momentary time sampling (MTS) may be a potentially useful option for teacher data collection because it does not require continuous monitoring, but rather requires the teacher to score the occurrence or non-occurrence of targeted behaviors at given instances. Research has shown that the smaller the interval between observations, the less methodological error will be introduced into MTS. However, the use of short-interval windows requires additional effort on the part of the teacher, …

Go to article

Oceanic Light Absorption Properties: Assessment And Characterization In The Southeastern Bering Sea Using Field And Satellite Observations, Puneeta Suresh Naik Jan 2011

Oceanic Light Absorption Properties: Assessment And Characterization In The Southeastern Bering Sea Using Field And Satellite Observations, Puneeta Suresh Naik

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent decades the Bering Sea has been subjected to large climatic variability with cascading consequences on its productive marine ecosystem. Long-term as well as short-term monitoring is essential if we are to maintain its capability to supply the resources on which the national and local economy depend. Remote sensing together with in-situ and laboratory measurements of physical, biological and optical properties have considerable potential for monitoring and measuring the effects of climate-driven changes on this ecosystem. A major shortcoming to obtain accurate estimates of optically active components (such as colored dissolved organic matter, non-algal particulate matter, and phytoplankton) from …

Go to article

Optimizing The Feeding Time For Low Crude Protein, Amino Acid-Supplemented Diets For Broilers, Stephen T. Treese Jan 2011

Optimizing The Feeding Time For Low Crude Protein, Amino Acid-Supplemented Diets For Broilers, Stephen T. Treese

LSU Master's Theses

The objectives of this research were to determine whether delaying the feeding of a diet with reduced crude protein, supplemented with L-Lysine, for several days post-hatching, would result in improved growth performance of broiler chicks and determine an optimal time to feed such a diet to the chick. All experiments were conducted in brooder batteries from 0- to 14- or 18- days (d) post-hatching. Treatments contained a minimum of 6 replicate pens with at least 6 broilers per pen. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether delaying the feeding of a corn-soybean meal (SBM) diet with reduced CP for either …

Go to article

Wave Forces On Bridge Decks And Damping Techniques To Reduce Damages, Aaron Michael Henry Jan 2011

Wave Forces On Bridge Decks And Damping Techniques To Reduce Damages, Aaron Michael Henry

LSU Master's Theses

The population of the Gulf Coast has grown immensely since 1960. Bridges along the coast are a vital part of this area’s infrastructure. They impact the transportation of goods and services, as well as the tourism in these areas. Many of these coastal bridges are at risk of being damaged or even destroyed during extreme weather events. This can cause not only short and long-term monetary problems, but the damage also can exacerbate the issues in getting people out of dangerous areas and getting help into areas in need, after an event. Damages during extreme weather events are the result …

Go to article

A Comparative Study Of Cellulose I And Ii And Fibers And Nanocrystals, Yiying Yue Jan 2011

A Comparative Study Of Cellulose I And Ii And Fibers And Nanocrystals, Yiying Yue

LSU Master's Theses

The influence of sodium hydroxide treatment on the structure of cotton fibers was studied. Compared to raw cotton fibers, the entire bundles of mercerized fibers were converted into a swollen and roughened state. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) indicated that intermolecular hydrogen bonding was enhanced by mercerization treatment. Wide-angle X ray diffraction (WXRD) results showed decreased fiber crystallinity after mercerization. The structure of cellulose II fibers was more thermally stable than cellulose I fibers. Mechanical properties of cotton fiber-reinforced polyethylene oxide (PEO) composites demonstrated that both raw and mercerized cotton fibers enhanced their tensile strength of the PEO matrix, but …

Go to article

Two-Particle Level Diagrammatic Approaches For Strongly Correlated Systems, Herbert Fotso Jan 2011

Two-Particle Level Diagrammatic Approaches For Strongly Correlated Systems, Herbert Fotso

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis presents the development of new numerical methods for the treatment of strongly correlated electron systems based on self-consistent approaches at both the one and the two-particle level such as the parquet formalism. The parquet formalism was solved for the first time on a two-dimensional cluster. When the fully irreducible vertex is approximated by the bare vertex, we obtain the parquet approximation. Its validity was investigated by comparing results that it produces to those of other conserving approximations such as the FLuctuation EXchange (FLEX) approximation or the Second Order Perturbation Theory (SOPT). We found that it provides a significant …

Go to article

Interfacial Shear Bond Strength Between Old And New Concrete, Zhifu Wan Jan 2011

Interfacial Shear Bond Strength Between Old And New Concrete, Zhifu Wan

LSU Master's Theses

The quality of the bonded concrete overlay depends on the bonding at the layer’s interface, which is affected by water to cement (w/c) ratio in new concrete, moisture condition of old concrete surface. The objective of this study is to quantify the interface shear bond strength affected by these variables. At the Phase I, twelve old concrete cubes with two different moisture conditions (air dry, saturated surface dry (SSD)) at the interface were chosen. Silica fume addition with two w/c ratios of 0.45 and 0.6 were used for new overlay concrete. It was found that silica fume significantly increased both …

Go to article

Calcium-Dependent Mechanisms In The Chicken Retina, Merve Tekmen Jan 2011

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 …

Go to article

Plasma Nitrite Reserve And Vascular Function Before And After Handgrip Training In Patients With Heart Failure, Daniel Paul Credeur Jan 2011

Plasma Nitrite Reserve And Vascular Function Before And After Handgrip Training In Patients With Heart Failure, Daniel Paul Credeur

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There is a direct relationship between vascular health and physical function. The controllers of this relationship are unclear, but appear to involve biomechanical and biochemical influences on the vascular wall. Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation was twofold: (1) to explore the relationship between vascular health and physical function in three populations (elderly, young and chronic heart failure patients); and (2) to determine the modifying role of physical activity, inactivity and exercise training on controllers of this relationship. Methods: Four projects were designed to address 3 key issues in exercise vascular biology, including the influence of the pattern of blood …

Go to article

Pavement Structural Evaluation Using The Rolling Wheel Deflectometer, Ahmed Moustafa Abdel-Khalek Jan 2011

Pavement Structural Evaluation Using The Rolling Wheel Deflectometer, Ahmed Moustafa Abdel-Khalek

LSU Master's Theses

The Rolling Wheel Deflectometer (RWD) offers the benefit to measure pavement deflection without causing any traffic interruption or compromising safety along the tested road segments. This study describes a detailed field evaluation of the RWD system in Louisiana in which 16 different test sites representing a wide array of pavement conditions were tested. Measurements were used to assess the repeatability of RWD measurements, to examine the effect of truck speeds, and to study the relationship between RWD and FWD deflection measurements and pavement conditions. Based on the results of the experimental program, it was determined that the repeatability of RWD …

Go to article

Spatial Ecology Of Adult Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion Nebulosus, In Louisiana Coastal Waters, Jody Lynn Callihan Jan 2011

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 …

Go to article

Variability In Red Snapper Otolith Microchemistry Among Gulf Of Mexico Regions, Michelle Zapp Sluis Jan 2011

Variability In Red Snapper Otolith Microchemistry Among Gulf Of Mexico Regions, Michelle Zapp Sluis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, has been an economically important reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) for over 150 years and is currently overfished. Catch statistics and demographic differences have lead to the population being categorized into eastern and western substocks divided by the Mississippi River, but data is recombined to set a Gulf-wide annual catch limit. The two objectives of this study were to apply otolith nursery chemical signatures to estimate red snapper mixing dynamics in the western Gulf, and to determine if signatures based upon trace metals associated with oil and gas platforms could discriminate between region …

Go to article

A Look At The Integration Of Wetlands And Hazard Mitigation Planning In Coastal Louisiana, Kathleen Melissa Bowers Jan 2011

A Look At The Integration Of Wetlands And Hazard Mitigation Planning In Coastal Louisiana, Kathleen Melissa Bowers

LSU Master's Theses

Due to the destruction of the damaging hurricanes of 2005, Katrina and Rita, more effort has gone into the rebuilding and prevention of future disasters along the Louisiana coast than ever before. This research focuses on the use of wetlands, in the ten coastal parishes of Louisiana, as a mitigation effort aiding in the protection of coastal communities. Using content analysis and decision support software, a wetland ranking was created that represents how wetlands are utilized and protected within each parish. Criteria gathered from the plans include how many times wetlands were mentioned, collaboration with the state and other agencies, …

Go to article

Three Essays On The Labor Allocation Decisions Of The Modern Farm Family, Jeremy Michael D'Antoni Jan 2011

Three Essays On The Labor Allocation Decisions Of The Modern Farm Family, Jeremy Michael D'Antoni

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to address the role of government payments in the allocation of off-farm labor through three essays. Government payments have been a part of agriculture since 1933 and at no time has the government stated a policy objective of decreasing the agricultural labor force. Using time series data and new econometric techniques, the first essay finds agricultural policy may have an unintended impact on labor migration. Specifically, we find that government payments increased labor migration from the farm. From 1939 to 2007, increased direct government payments resulted in greater migration of labor from agriculture. The …

Go to article

Effects Of Row Spacing And Debris Distribution On Small Mammal And Vegetation Communities In Newly Established Loblolly Pine Plantations, Louisiana, Joshua Lee Grace Jan 2011

Effects Of Row Spacing And Debris Distribution On Small Mammal And Vegetation Communities In Newly Established Loblolly Pine Plantations, Louisiana, Joshua Lee Grace

LSU Master's Theses

Commercial pine (Pinus spp.) forests in the southeastern United States are key to providing fiber for global wood supply needs. Concern has arisen over possible effects of intensive forest management techniques, including row spacing and distribution of woody debris after logging, on plant and wildlife communities. Therefore, we quantified response of plant and small mammal communities in replanted loblolly pine (P. taeda) stands to mechanical site preparation including 2 levels of row spacing and 2 methods of distributing woody debris following harvest in north and southeastern Louisiana, USA. Sites (n=16) were prepared with a combination of row spacing between planting …

Go to article

Lee Hoiby's I Have A Dream, Terrance Deace Brown Jan 2011

Lee Hoiby's I Have A Dream, Terrance Deace Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary focus of this document is to provide performers and musical scholars with an analysis of Lee Hoiby’s musical composition I Have A Dream. The opening of this document will be biographical, including facts regarding family lineage, education, positions held, general aspects of his personality and significant influence regarding equal rights. Biographical information will span from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth (January 15, 1929) to the March on Washington (August 28, 1963). Next, I will outline the methodology and techniques Dr. King used in leading the movement. Literary texts written by King, Jr. and other influential writers will …

Go to article

Myth, Method And Masturbation: The Hysteria Of Woman's Sexuality, A One-Person Play, Josephine Hall Jan 2011

Myth, Method And Masturbation: The Hysteria Of Woman's Sexuality, A One-Person Play, Josephine Hall

LSU Master's Theses

The assigned task was to create a one-person play of approximately 20 – 45 minutes in length. There were no other guidelines to follow. Having never performed a solo play, I found the assignment somewhat daunting. My first challenge was to overcome my basic dislike of solo performances. However, during the process I found new appreciation for such works. I was rather overwhelmed when trying to find a suitable topic for my piece until I came across an on-line article entitled “Vaginas with teeth – and other sexual myths”. This spurred me to create the one-person play Myth, Method and …

Go to article

Expression, Identification, And Bioactivity Of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin From Lmh/2a (Leghorn Male Hepatoma)Cell Line, Amanda Cecile Broussard Jan 2011

Expression, Identification, And Bioactivity Of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin From Lmh/2a (Leghorn Male Hepatoma)Cell Line, Amanda Cecile Broussard

LSU Master's Theses

Erythropoietin (EPO) is the main cytokine regulator for red blood-cell production in the human by binding to erythropoietin receptors to promote erythroid proliferation, survival and differentiation. Administration of recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) as a therapeutic has been shown to improve renal and non-renal anemia and this success has led to a high medical global demand. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, yeast, and bacteria have been used to produce rhEPO but nevertheless there is still a need for a low-cost and high quality expression system for rhEPO. LMH/2A cells, as an alternative model, were transfected with the codon optimized human EPO …

Go to article

Hurricane Induced Land And Vegetation Changes In The Breton Sound Estuary And Chandeleur Islands Using Landsat 5 Tm, Vandana Varshini Raghunathan Jan 2011

Hurricane Induced Land And Vegetation Changes In The Breton Sound Estuary And Chandeleur Islands Using Landsat 5 Tm, Vandana Varshini Raghunathan

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on hurricane-induced changes in land and vegetation primarily in two study areas, the Breton Sound Estuary and the Chandeleur Islands, southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana. Breton Sound Estuary consists of the Caernarvon Diversion, a fresh water diversion of the Mississippi River that supplies this region with managed pulses of fresh water and sediments. The Chandeleur Islands are a chain of barrier islands that are uninhabited and transgressive in nature. A sequence of hurricanes in the past two decades has greatly altered both areas significantly. Satellite data were analyzed for a period of 24 years (1987-2011) of Breton …

Go to article

Experimental Study Of Cognitive Radio Test-Bed Using Usrp, Venkat Vinod Patcha Jan 2011

Experimental Study Of Cognitive Radio Test-Bed Using Usrp, Venkat Vinod Patcha

LSU Master's Theses

Cognitive Radio is an emerging technology that enables efficient utilization of the spectrum. As such, it has created great interests in industrial and research fields. Many people have proposed test-bed models for the performance analysis of primary and secondary users in a real-time noise environment. However, these test-beds are generally lacking in their range of capabilities as well as accurate implementation of the proposed models. In this thesis, we develop our test-bed on USRP to achieve the spectrum sensing and co-existence of primary and secondary users, while implementing the rendezvous protocols for secondary traffic coordination. We first demonstrate the spectrum …

Go to article

The Northern Clergy And The Pilgrimage Of Grace, Keith Altazin Jan 2011

The Northern Clergy And The Pilgrimage Of Grace, Keith Altazin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the Pilgrimage of Grace and the Lincolnshire rebellion. Both rebellions occurred in England in 1536 during the reign of Henry VIII. The rebellions were primarily risings of the commons and occurred as the result of several causes. Much of the recent historiography has focused primarily on the causes of the rebellions and the motives of those involved. Most contemporary interpretations of the Pilgrimage of Grace have cast it primarily as either an economic rebellion or a result of social conflict between the commons and gentry. Practically no analysis of the role of the clergy exists, although it …

Go to article

Supercritical Pyrolysis Of Toluene, Khue Dang Nguyen Jan 2011

Supercritical Pyrolysis Of Toluene, Khue Dang Nguyen

LSU Master's Theses

The development of future high-speed aircrafts will required the jet fuel to act as the primary engine coolant to absorb excess heat produced by the engine components. To aid in removing the excess heat and reducing the aircraft’s weight, future jet fuels used for high-speed aircrafts will act as both coolant and fuel; however, by exposing the fuels to temperatures and pressures above their critical point, they undergo pyrolysis to form larger and/or more abundant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and eventually carbonaceous solid deposits in the pre-combustion environment. The formation of solid deposits in the pre-combustion environment results in clogging …

Go to article

Elections Matter, Michael J. Gerhardt Jan 2011

Elections Matter, Michael J. Gerhardt

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Leveling Localism And Racial Inequality Through The No Child Left Behind Public Choice Provision, Erika K. Wilson Jan 2011

Leveling Localism And Racial Inequality Through The No Child Left Behind Public Choice Provision, Erika K. Wilson

Faculty Publications

While much attention is paid to issues of segregation and inequality in education, little attention is paid to the role that school district boundary lines play in creating segregation and inequality in education. Living on one side of a school district boundary line rather than another can mean the difference between being able to attend a high achieving resource enriched school or having to attend a low achieving, resource deprived school. Nevertheless, the federal judiciary--the institution looked upon to remedy issues of school segregation and inequality--is unable to adequately remedy segregation and inequality between school districts because it evidences a …

Go to article

Layout-Based Substitution Tree Indexing And Retrieval For Mathematical Expressions, Matthew Schellenberg Jan 2011

Layout-Based Substitution Tree Indexing And Retrieval For Mathematical Expressions, Matthew Schellenberg

Theses

We introduce a new system for layout-based indexing and retrieval of mathematical expressions using substitution trees. Substitution trees can efficiently store and find hierarchically-structured data based on similarity. Previously Kolhase and Sucan applied substitution trees to indexing mathematical expressions in operator tree representation (Content MathML) and query-by-expression retrieval. In this investigation, we use substitution trees to index mathematical expressions in symbol layout tree representation (LaTeX) to group expressions based on the similarity of their symbols, symbol layout, sub-expressions and size. We describe our novel substitution tree indexing and retrieval algorithms and our many significant contributions to the behavior of these …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last