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2011

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Exotic Ground States: A Study In The Structural Effects On Frustration And Dimensionality, Melissa C. Menard Jan 2011

Exotic Ground States: A Study In The Structural Effects On Frustration And Dimensionality, Melissa C. Menard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Structural disorder and dimensionality play central roles in the characterization of structure and properties of crystalline materials. Although structural disorder is commonly considered an undesirable quality, structural disorder may be desirable when searching for new materials with exotic properties. Disorder can be used as a tunable parameter when considering atomic sizes, coordination preferences, and electronegativity differences can be varied by substituting elements into a given structure. Dimensionality can be viewed as another adjustable parameter when searching for new materials presenting unique challenges when characterizing new materials. One way to tune dimensionality is by chemical doping to affect coupling between layers/chains. …


Fragmentation Sensitivity And Its Consequences On Demography And Host-Ectoparasite Dynamics In Amazonian Birds, Erik I. Johnson Jan 2011

Fragmentation Sensitivity And Its Consequences On Demography And Host-Ectoparasite Dynamics In Amazonian Birds, Erik I. Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Amazon rainforest is experiencing rapid deforestation due to ranching, agriculture, and urban development, which often leads to remnant patches serving as refugia for forest organisms. By mist-netting passerines in 11 forest fragments (1-, 10-, and 100-ha patches) and nearby continuous forest at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragmentation Project near Manaus, Brazil, I conducted a series of studies to identify mechanisms that drive population changes in fragmented landscapes. First, I examined the age structure of bird populations from six ecological guilds in fragments and continuous forest. Immatures are the dispersing age group in birds, and their relative abundance in …


Advanced Semantics For Accelerated Graph Processing, Dylan Thomas Stark Jan 2011

Advanced Semantics For Accelerated Graph Processing, Dylan Thomas Stark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Large-scale graph applications are of great national, commercial, and societal importance, with direct use in fields such as counter-intelligence, proteomics, and data mining. Unfortunately, graph-based problems exhibit certain basic characteristics that make them a poor match for conventional computing systems in terms of structure, scale, and semantics. Graph processing kernels emphasize sparse data structures and computations with irregular memory access patterns that destroy the temporal and spatial locality upon which modern processors rely for performance. Furthermore, applications in this area utilize large data sets, and have been shown to be more data intensive than typical floating-point applications, two properties that …


The New Old Legal Realism, Tracey E. George, Mitu Gulati, Ann C. Mcginley Jan 2011

The New Old Legal Realism, Tracey E. George, Mitu Gulati, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

Do the decisions of appellate courts matter in the real world? The American judicial system, legal education, and academic scholarship are premised on the view that they do. The authors want to reexamine this question by taking the approach advocated by the original Legal Realists. The current project seeks to add to our knowledge of the relevance of case law by focusing on an area that has received little examination: how pronouncements about employment discrimination law by appellate courts translate into understandings and behavior at the ground level. As our lens, we use evidence of how people talk about the …


Parallel Surrogate Detection In Large-Scale Simulations, Lei Jiang Jan 2011

Parallel Surrogate Detection In Large-Scale Simulations, Lei Jiang

LSU Master's Theses

Simulation has become a useful approach in scientific computing and engineering for its ability to model real natural or human systems. In particular, for complex systems such as hurricanes, wildfire disasters, and real-time road traffic, simulation methods are able to provide researchers, engineers and decision makers predicted values in order to help them to take appropriate actions. For large-scale problems, the simulations usually take a lot of time on supercomputers, thus making real-time predictions more difficult. Approximation models that mimic the behavior of simulation models but are computationally cheaper, namely "surrogate models", are desired in such scenarios. In the thesis, …


Spatiotemporal Responses Of Macroinvertebraes To Timber Harvesting In Low-Gradient Headwater Streams Of Central Louisiana, Derrick Klimesh Jan 2011

Spatiotemporal Responses Of Macroinvertebraes To Timber Harvesting In Low-Gradient Headwater Streams Of Central Louisiana, Derrick Klimesh

LSU Master's Theses

Macroinvertebrates are reflective of their nearby environment and are popularly used to detect changes in water quality. In this thesis research, macroinvertebrates were collected to investigate aquatic effects of timber harvesting operations with and without the use of best management practices (BMPs) in a forested, low-gradient, subtropical watershed in central Louisiana. Habitat assessments, physicochemical and hydrologic measurements, and macroinvertebrate sampling were conducted nine times from 2006 to 2010 during the spring and late summer, at 13 site locations ranging from plot level to watershed outlet. Timber harvesting occurred in September of 2007. A total of 86,183 macroinvertebrates were identified from …


Effects Of Ecotourist Pre-Purchase And External Information Search Behaviors And Strategies On Forest-Based Ecotourism Travel Decisions In Sri Lanka, Rangika T. Perera Jan 2011

Effects Of Ecotourist Pre-Purchase And External Information Search Behaviors And Strategies On Forest-Based Ecotourism Travel Decisions In Sri Lanka, Rangika T. Perera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the 1980s, the term ecotourism emerged as a direct result of acknowledgment and reaction by travelers to global ecological practices. In reality, the concept of ecotourism carries wide applications, particularly for bio-diverse countries with unique natural attractions. Sri Lanka qualified as such a country, presenting a significant tourism resource base, that display natural and cultural phenomena, including forests, waterfalls, mountains, exotic flora and fauna, and a heritage equally as ancient and as rich as the Greeks and Romans. Ecotourism in today’s dynamic global environment demands that ecotourism operators face a keenly competitive market in order to present an appealing …


Glacial Deposits, Vol. 39, 2010-2011, Department Of Geography-Geology Jan 2011

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 39, 2010-2011, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology


Circulation, Sediment Concentration And Oxygen Depletion In The Tidal Ems River, Stefan A. Talke, Huib E. De Swart Jan 2011

Circulation, Sediment Concentration And Oxygen Depletion In The Tidal Ems River, Stefan A. Talke, Huib E. De Swart

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present measurements which show that the tidal Ems River in Germ any is extremely muddy over a 30 km + turbid zone, with fluid mud o f 1-2 m thickness covering the bed with suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) o f greater than 50 kg.m-3. Moreover, we show that these elevated SSC contain large quantities of organic material which deplete dissolved oxygen (DO) and produce summertime hypoxic zones. Using mathematical modeling, we develop simplified representations o f the estuary physics that reproduce the tidally-averaged circulation, SSC distribution, and oxygen depletion. These models show that SSC and oxygen concentrations …


Freight Distribution Problems In Congested Urban Areas: Fast And Effective Solution Procedures To Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problems, Miguel A. Figliozzi Jan 2011

Freight Distribution Problems In Congested Urban Areas: Fast And Effective Solution Procedures To Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problems, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Congestion is a common phenomenon in all medium to large cities of the world. Reliability of freight movement in urban areas is an important issue to manufacturing or service companies whose operation is based in just-in-time approaches. These companies tend to provide high value or time sensitive products/services. As congestion increases, carriers face increasing challenges to satisfy their time sensitive customers in an economical way. Route designs or schedules which require long computation times or ignore travel time variations will result in inefficient and suboptimal solutions. Poorly designed routes that lead freight vehicles into congested arteries and streets not only …


The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of The Parts: Analyzing Legal Problems In An Endogenous World, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt Jan 2011

The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of The Parts: Analyzing Legal Problems In An Endogenous World, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.


Small And Medium Enterprise Agricultural Producers And Forest Landowners Attitudes And Perceptions Towards New Bio-Based Paths To Prosperity: A Pilot Study In Louisiana And Mississippi, Roger D. Smithhart Jan 2011

Small And Medium Enterprise Agricultural Producers And Forest Landowners Attitudes And Perceptions Towards New Bio-Based Paths To Prosperity: A Pilot Study In Louisiana And Mississippi, Roger D. Smithhart

LSU Master's Theses

Energy producers, developers, legislators, policy makers, and the public are searching for alternative energy sources to alleviate energy demands and dependency on fossil fuels. Of the renewable energy sources, biomass from forestry, crop, and animal residues offer a clean and sustainable solution to help mitigate climate issues and stabilize energy needs. However, most forests and farms in the U.S. are privately owned. It’s important to understand forest landowners’, agricultural producers’, and poultry producers’ attitudes and perceptions towards management activities intended for producing bio-based products. Three surveys were conducted tailored for each group. We surveyed 3,500 small to medium forest landowners …


The Influence Of Selected Demographic Characteristics On The Reading Ability Of Fourth Grade Students In Louisiana, Johnny W. Morgan Jan 2011

The Influence Of Selected Demographic Characteristics On The Reading Ability Of Fourth Grade Students In Louisiana, Johnny W. Morgan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic characteristics on the reading ability of fourth grade students in Louisiana. The dependent variable for this study was reading ability of fourth grade students. Independent variables were demographic characteristics as measured by reading achievement (overall reading score and subscale reading score on the LEAP assessment). The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) exam is a high-stakes test that is administered to fourth grade students in Louisiana. Students must pass specific portions of the test to be promoted to fifth grade. Academic achievement data on the LEAP test …


Uncertainty Analysis Of A Low Flow Model For The Rhine River, Mehmet C. Demirel, Martijn Booij Jan 2011

Uncertainty Analysis Of A Low Flow Model For The Rhine River, Mehmet C. Demirel, Martijn Booij

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is widely recognized that hydrological models are subject to parameter uncertainty. However, little attention has been paid so far to the uncertainty in parameters of the data-driven models like weights in neural networks. This study aims at applying a structured uncertainty analysis to a data-driven model for low flow forecasting with a lead time of 14 days in the Rhine River. In the modeling phase, the Rhine basin is divided into seven major sub-basins. Each sub-basin is modeled separately with a data-driven model and the output discharges were routed to Lobith with another data-driven model. Basin averaged precipitation, basin …


Evaluation Of Methods To Predict Weibull Parameters For Characterizing Diameter Distributions, Krishna Prasad Poudel Jan 2011

Evaluation Of Methods To Predict Weibull Parameters For Characterizing Diameter Distributions, Krishna Prasad Poudel

LSU Master's Theses

Compared to other distribution functions, the Weibull distribution has been more widely used in describing diameter distributions because of its flexibility and relative simplicity. Parameters of the Weibull distribution are generally predicted either by the parameter prediction method or by the parameter recovery method. The coefficients of the regression equations for predicting Weibull parameters, moments, or percentiles are often estimated by use of different approaches such as ordinary least squares (OLS), seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) or cumulative distribution function regression (CDFR). However, there is no strong rationale for preferring one method over the other. We developed and evaluated different methods …


An Empirical Contribution To Development Theory: A Covariance Structure Model For Development As Freedom, Carlos A. Rosas Lopez Jan 2011

An Empirical Contribution To Development Theory: A Covariance Structure Model For Development As Freedom, Carlos A. Rosas Lopez

LSU Master's Theses

This Thesis examines the empirical validity of Sen’s development theory. In his seminal work “Development as Freedom” Sen postulated a theoretical conceptualization of development which constitutes a paradigm shift towards a fundamental understanding of the determinants and causal relationships that explain development. A deconstruction of Sen’s development theory leads to five core tenets on which his theoretical conceptualization rests. These five pillars are translated onto testable hypothesis which are incorporated into a 2nd order recursive Covariance Structure Model (CSM) that allows scientific examination through hypothesis testing. Sen’s hypothesized core tenets are as follows: 1. Development is seen as an integrated …


The Predictive Ability Of Demographic And Psychosocial Risk Factors, School-Related Characteristics, And Service Interventions On Grade Attainment Among At-Risk Elementary School Children In A Truancy Intervention Program, Judith L. F. Rhodes Jan 2011

The Predictive Ability Of Demographic And Psychosocial Risk Factors, School-Related Characteristics, And Service Interventions On Grade Attainment Among At-Risk Elementary School Children In A Truancy Intervention Program, Judith L. F. Rhodes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the current exploratory-descriptive retrospective study was to examine the demographic, school-related, and psychosocial risk factors among at-risk elementary school children (N = 12644) assessed at low and high levels of risk for continuing truancy. The sample was enrolled in 16 statewide program sites of a community-based truancy prevention program in Louisiana, which provided a letter and attendance monitoring for low-risk participants and intensive case management for high-risk participants. Intercorrelations among risk factors and referred services and on-time grade attainment were assessed for a subsample of the high-risk children (n = 6088). Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted …


Subtle Shifts: Using The Brightest To Darkest Modal Concept To Express Jazz Harmony, John Anthony Madere Jan 2011

Subtle Shifts: Using The Brightest To Darkest Modal Concept To Express Jazz Harmony, John Anthony Madere

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this paper, I will outline a method of composition that I believe has been highly under-used in jazz composition. I have studied the work of composers Ron Miller and Maria Schneider, and have used their concept of brighter to darker modes to further my modal exploration. With explanation and musical examples, I will explain two possible ways to achieve 12 modes that progress from bright to dark, and then from dark back to bright. Another purpose of this paper is to provide a compositional aid to other composers interested in this concept and the subtle shades of major and …


Formation And Stabilization Of Combustion-Generated Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals On Transition Metal Oxides Supported On Silica, Eric Warren Pimentel Vejerano Jan 2011

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 …


Two-Dimensional Numerical Modeling Of A Proposed Freshwater Diversion From The Bonnet Carre Spillway To The Labranche Wetlands, Josef Patrick Hoffmann Jan 2011

Two-Dimensional Numerical Modeling Of A Proposed Freshwater Diversion From The Bonnet Carre Spillway To The Labranche Wetlands, Josef Patrick Hoffmann

LSU Master's Theses

Engineered modifications to the lower Mississippi River within the past century have limited the magnitude and frequency of flood events in wetlands along the Louisiana coast. Without this natural delivery of freshwater, sediment, and nutrients, the ecological health of these wetlands are now degrading. A recent study within the Bonnet Carre Spillway has revealed that the 7,623 acres of floodway between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain is one of the few areas in Louisiana that is actively accreting land as a result of pulsed sediment-laden freshwater input during high discharge events in the Mississippi River. On the other hand, …


Redox-Active Liposome Delivery Agents With Highly Controllable Stimuli-Responsive Behavior, Nicole Hollabaugh Carrier Jan 2011

Redox-Active Liposome Delivery Agents With Highly Controllable Stimuli-Responsive Behavior, Nicole Hollabaugh Carrier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the last few decades, liposomes have generated a lot of interest as drug delivery vehicles to address the need for providing both increased therapeutic efficacy and decreased systemic exposure, simultaneously. The challenge of increasing drug accumulation at diseased sites, without compromising the integrity and stability of the liposomal carrier during circulation, has been met with two possible solutions: (1) active targeting and (2) active triggering. To achieve selective and site-specific delivery of drugs to tumors, active triggering methods have been developed wherein a responsive element is incorporated into the liposomal bilayer, which causes destabilization of the liposome upon exposure …


Fraction Proficiency In Gifted Middle School Students, Lauren Alissa Lejeune Jan 2011

Fraction Proficiency In Gifted Middle School Students, Lauren Alissa Lejeune

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis presents a program to develop fraction proficiency in gifted students who have skipped grades. The program was piloted with 31 gifted and advanced students in grades 6 and 7, and qualitative data on their performance is presented. Also presented here is a test of fraction proficiency that was developed to determine the level that students achieved at the end of the pilot program. The results of this test are presented and analyzed. The net contribution of this work is to present a starting point for a set of catch-up lessons on operations with fractions and to present a …


Quantitative Mapping Of Cyanobacterial Blooms Using Oceansat-1 Ocm Satellite Data, Padmanava Dash Jan 2011

Quantitative Mapping Of Cyanobacterial Blooms Using Oceansat-1 Ocm Satellite Data, Padmanava Dash

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cyanobacteria represent a major harmful algal group in fresh to brackish water environments. Lac des Allemands, a freshwater lake of 49 km2 southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, provides a natural laboratory for remote characterization of cyanobacteria blooms because of their seasonal occurrence. This dissertation makes a contribution to research methodology pertaining to atmospheric correction of satellite data and development of remote sensing algorithms to quantify cyanobacterial pigments. The Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) sensor provides radiance measurements similar to Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) but with higher spatial resolution. However, OCM does not have a standard atmospheric correction procedure and …


Analysis Of Amyloid Beta (A [Beta]) Peptides By Capillary Electrophoresis And Laser-Induced Fluorescence Anisotropy Detection, Ryan Andrew Picou Jan 2011

Analysis Of Amyloid Beta (A [Beta]) Peptides By Capillary Electrophoresis And Laser-Induced Fluorescence Anisotropy Detection, Ryan Andrew Picou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of the research presented in this dissertation is to develop laser-induced fluorescence anisotropy (LIFA) detection for detecting and characterizing amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide aggregates separated by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Senile plaques composed primarily of aggregated Aβ (1-40) and Aβ (1-42) peptides have been found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. These peptides are thought to be responsible for the disease pathology. A CE method using UV absorbance detection was developed for the quantification of Aβ (1-40) monomer and testing of Aβ monomer preparations for undesired aggregates (Chapter 2). Analyses of both Aβ (1-40) and Aβ (1-42) monomer …


Mechanical Evaluation Of Aluminum Oxide Roughened Screws In Equine Third Metacarpal Bone, Petrisor Baia Jan 2011

Mechanical Evaluation Of Aluminum Oxide Roughened Screws In Equine Third Metacarpal Bone, Petrisor Baia

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT Objectives – To compare the osseointegration of roughened and electropolished 5.5 mm cortical screws used to secure a 4.5 mm broad dynamic compression plate (DCP) in equine third metacarpal (MC3) bones. Study Design – In vivo study Animals – 5 Adult thoroughbred horses (2-7 years old). Methods – For each horse one MC3 was randomly assigned to secure a 4.5 mm broad DCP with 4aluminum oxide (Al2O3) roughened screws on the dorsal mid diaphysis. Four regular electropolished screws used to secure a similar plate on the contralateral limb served as control. They were removed at 12 weeks and the …


Efficient Replica-Exchange Across Distributed Production Infrastructure, Abhinav S. Thota Jan 2011

Efficient Replica-Exchange Across Distributed Production Infrastructure, Abhinav S. Thota

LSU Master's Theses

Replica-Exchange (RE) methods represent a class of algorithms that involve a large number of loosely-coupled ensembles and are used to understand physical phenomena -- ranging from protein folding dynamics to binding affinity calculations. We develop a framework for RE that supports different replica pairing and coordination mechanisms, that can use a wide range of production cyberinfrastructure concurrently. Additionally, our framework uses a flexible pilot-job implementation, which enables effective resource allocation for multiple replicas. We characterize the performance of two different RE algorithms - synchronous and asynchronous - at unprecedented scales on production distributed infrastructure (Teragrid and LONI). The synchronous RE …


Single-Molecule Detection And Microfluidics: Generating Systems For The In Vitro Diagnostics Of Stroke, Brandon M. Young Jan 2011

Single-Molecule Detection And Microfluidics: Generating Systems For The In Vitro Diagnostics Of Stroke, Brandon M. Young

LSU Master's Theses

There is currently no available molecular diagnostic test for stroke; the common modality for diagnosis consists of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Unfortunately, the use of these diagnostic regimens can delay proper therapeutic treatment, which requires administration within the first 3 h of a stroke event. We are developing a molecular assay that can report, in near real time and at the point-of-care, the presence or absence of biomarkers specifically targeted for the diagnosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. The proposed strategy uses blood-borne mRNAs that are either under-expressed or over-expressed as a result of tissue damage within the …


Marketing Forest-Based Ecotourism In Sri Lanka: Predicting The Ecotourism Behavior And Defining The Market Segment Through A Behavioral Approach, Polwattage K. Perera Jan 2011

Marketing Forest-Based Ecotourism In Sri Lanka: Predicting The Ecotourism Behavior And Defining The Market Segment Through A Behavioral Approach, Polwattage K. Perera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tourism industry is one of the main drivers of the global economy and plays a key role in regional development. As negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts of mass tourism became apparent, the appeal of alternative forms of tourism, especially ecotourism, continued to gain a broad recognition. As a result, ecotourism became one of the fastest growing sectors in global tourism during the past decade. Being a fast-developing country with ample natural resources, Sri Lanka can benefit from adopting and promoting ecotourism. At present, Sri Lanka’s ecotourism resources remain largely under-utilized. With rising demand, ecotourism operators are under pressure to meet …


Effect Of Labeling Bias On Ratings Of Adhd Symptoms, Jessica Lynne Rodriguez Jan 2011

Effect Of Labeling Bias On Ratings Of Adhd Symptoms, Jessica Lynne Rodriguez

LSU Master's Theses

In a study by Fox and Stinnett (1996), labeling bias was defined as the “expectations that others might develop for a person given a particular label.” Research has repeatedly shown that negative characteristics are often attributed to children given a label, even when behavior does not differ from non-labeled peers. This study aimed to add to the understanding of labeling bias, specifically a label of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Teachers were recruited to participate in an online survey in which they were randomly assigned one of three variations of a vignette. The vignettes described two children with either no label, a …


Cognitive Radio Network With A Distributed Control Channel And Quality-Of-Service Solution, Urban Terrell Wiggins Jan 2011

Cognitive Radio Network With A Distributed Control Channel And Quality-Of-Service Solution, Urban Terrell Wiggins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The proliferation of wireless access and applications to the Internet and the advent of a myriad of highly evolved portable communication devices; creates the need for an efficiently utilized radio spectrum. This is paramount in the licensed and unlicensed radio frequency bands, that spawn an exponential growth in Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) research, Cognitive Radio (CR) and Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN) research. DSA research has given way to the paradigm shift toward CR with its dynamic changes in transmission schemas. This paradigm shift from a fixed and centralized frequency spectrum environment has morphed into a dynamic and decentralized one. CR …