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Happy Valley, Robert D. Gray

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Multiscale Modeling Methodology For Composites That Includes Fiber Strength Stochastics, Trenton M (Trenton Mitchell) Ricks

Theses and Dissertations

A modified Weibull cumulative distribution function, which accounts for the effect of fiber length on the probability of failure, was used to characterize the variation in fiber tensile strength in a SCS-6/ TIMETAL 21S material system and was implemented within the framework of the NASA code MAC/GMC. A parametric study investigating the effect of repeating unit cell architecture and fiber strength distribution on the RUC-averaged ultimate composite strength and failure was performed. Multiscale progressive failure analyses of a tensile dogbone specimen were performed using FEAMAC/ ABAQUS to assess the effect of local variations in fiber strength on the global response. …

A Platform Independent Investigative Process Model For Smartphones, Frances Chevonne Dancer

Theses and Dissertations

A properly conducted forensic examination is one of the most fundamental aspects of a digital investigation. Examiners are obligated to obtain the skills necessary to use forensic tools and methodologies and rely on sound judgment when analyzing a digital device. Anytime during this process, the quality of the methods, skills, and expertise of the examiner may be challenged, thus, placing the forensic value of the evidence collected during the process in jeopardy. In order to combat the potential challenges posed as a result of the forensic examination process, the digital forensics community must ensure that suitable protocols are used throughout …

An Octree Surface Wrapping Algorithm To Recover Building Structures, Michal Trcalek

Theses and Dissertations

In the past twenty years, our world has experienced a number of disasters, ranging from hurricanes to acts of terrorism. While both natural and anthropogenic disasters are inevitable, being able to simulate their progression and impact can provide guidance for preemptive measures to mitigate casualties and property damage. Specifically, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations can be used to simulate wind forces associated with hurricanes or pressure waves associated with explosions. However, even a simple CFD simulation is time consuming and requires highly-specialized expertise. This paper aims to reduce the processing time by utilizing readily available geometry models, and a surface …

Combined Heat And Power Systems For Commercial Buildings: Investigating Cost, Emissions, And Primary Energy Reduction Based On System Components, Amanda D. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems produce electricity and useful heat from fuel. When power is produced near a building which consumes power, transmission losses are averted, and heat which is a byproduct of power production may be useful to the building. That thermal energy can be used for hot water or space heating, among other applications. This dissertation focuses on CHP systems using natural gas, a common fuel, and systems serving commercial buildings in the United States. First, the necessary price difference between purchased electricity and purchased fuel is analyzed in terms of the efficiencies of system components by …

Creation And Testing Of A Semi-Automated Digital Triage Process Model, Gary Dewayne Cantrell

Theses and Dissertations

Digital forensics examiners have a growing problem caused by their own success. The need for digital forensics is increasing and so are the devices that need examining. Not only are the number of devices growing, but so is the amount of information those devices can hold. One result of this problem is a growing backlog that could soon overwhelm digital forensics labs across the country. One way to combat this growing problem is to use digital triage to find the most pertinent information first. Unfortunately, although several digital forensics models have been created, very few digital triage models have been …

Single Camera Autonomous Navigation For Micro Aerial Vehicles, Jacob Bowen

Theses and Dissertations

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) provide a highly capable, agile platform, ideally suited for intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance missions, urban search and rescue, and scientific exploration. Critical to the success of these tasks is a system which moves au-tonomously through an unknown, obstacle-strewn, GPS-denied environment. Classical simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) approaches rely on large, heavy sensors to generate 3-D information about a MAV’s surroundings, severely limiting its abilities. This motivates a study of Parallel Tracking and Mapping (PTAM), an algorithm requiring only a single camera to provide 3-D data to an autonomous navigation system. Metric properties of 3-D MAV pose estimates are compared …

Software Requirements Elicitation, Verification, And Documentation: An Ontology Based Approach, Robert A. Elliott

Theses and Dissertations

Software intensive systems are developed to provide solutions in some problem domain and software engineering principles are employed to develop and implement that system. Software engineering principles should enhance the development and production of software artifacts and yet the artifacts often lack in quality. Crucial in the development process are requirements engineering activities and methods for software documentation. This research focused on requirements engineering activities, software requirements documentation and employed a new approach in these activities that incorporated ontology engineering principles. Ontology engineering refers to the set of activities concerned with the ontology development process, the ontology life cycle, the …

A Classification System For Large Reservoirs Of The Conterminous U.S, Rebecca Misaye Krogman

Theses and Dissertations

Reservoirs represent a relatively young element of the U.S. landscape, with most reservoirs being built within the last century. Despite their recreational, ecological, and socioeconomic importance, reservoirs nationwide are suffering from severe habitat degradation. Habitat impairments related to siltation, eutrophication, poor water quality, water regime, lack of submerged structure, and macrophyte invasions affect reservoirs to differing degrees in different reservoirs. To adequately assess these issues, we needed to develop a classification system within which an assessment mechanism could function. I collected data for large reservoirs across the conterminous U.S. regarding fish habitat impairments and status of the fish community and …

Block Compressed Sensing Of Images And Video, Sungkwang Mun

Theses and Dissertations

Compressed sensing is an emerging approach for signal acquisition wherein theory has shown that a small number of linear, random projection of a signal contains enough information for reconstruction of the signal. Despite its potential to enable lightweight and inexpensive sensing hardware that simultaneously combines signal acquisition and dimensionality reduction, the compressed sensing of images and video still entails several challenges, in particular, a sensing-measurement operator which is difficult to apply in practice due to the heavy memory and computational burdens. Block-based random image sampling coupled with a projection-driven compressed-sensing recovery is proposed to address this challenge. For images, the …

Enhancing Levoglucosan Formation During Fast Pyrolysis Of Lignocellulosic Biomass, Qi Li

Theses and Dissertations

Levoglucosan is the major anhydrosugar component of bio-oil produced by fast pyrolysis. Previous research has shown that levoglucosan yield can be greatly increased if a mild acid pretreatment is applied to demineralize the feedstock prior to pyrolysis. The interest in levoglucosan production is that it provides a route to production of monomeric sugars, primarily glucose, which can be utilized to produce biochemically derived fuels (ethanol, butanol, etc.) In one study, four different lignocellulosic biomass were subjected to pyrolysis as feedstocks to produce bio-oils via fast pyrolysis in a 7 kg/h feed rate auger reactor. Feedstocks were pretreated with dilute phosphoric …

Estimating And Modeling Red Oak Acorn Yield And Abundance In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Jacob N (Jacob Nathaniel) Straub

Theses and Dissertations

Red oaks (Quercus spp.; Section Erythrobalanus) produce acorns which are valuable forage for wildlife especially mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and wood ducks (Aix sponsa). Scientists have limited information on amount, timing, and persistence of these acorns in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). Conservation planners rely on precise estimates of acorns and other forage to estimate habitat needed by waterfowl in the MAV and other regions. My study provided premiere landscape-scale, multi-year estimates of red oak acorn yield and on-ground abundance in the MAV. Mean yield of acorns was 534 kg(dry)/ha (42.3 acorns/ m2) across all sites, years (falls-winters 2009-2012), and oak …

Evaluation Of B-Mode And Color Doppler Ultrasound As Alternative Tools For The Study Of Reproduction, Temperament, And Milk Production- Related Variables In The Bovine, Hector Luis Sanchez-Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

An adequate vascular perfusion status is essential not only to maintain life, but to ensure the proper physiology of the different systems that form the animal’s body. Due to its role in the transport of oxygen and nutrients toward, and the removal of cellular waste products away from the body’s tissues, the circulatory system is responsible for the maintenance of body homeostasis. Production related functions in farm animals are not an exception, and directly depend on sufficient vascular physiology. In the past, the study of blood flow in large domestic species was restricted to highly invasive techniques. However, even when …

Distance-Weighted Regularization For Compressed-Sensing Video Recovery And Supervised Hyperspectral Classification, Eric W. Tramel

Theses and Dissertations

The compressed sensing (CS) model of signal processing, while offering many unique advantages in terms of low-cost sensor design, poses interesting challenges for both signal acquisition and recovery, especially for signals of large size. In this work, we investigate how CS might be applied practically and efficiently in the context of natural video. We make use of a CS video acquisition approach in line with the popular single-pixel camera framework of blind, nonaptive, random sampling while proposing new approaches for the subsequent recovery of the video signal which leverage interrame redundancy to minimize recovery error. We introduce a method of …

Geodetic Method To Estimate Mass Balance Of Himalayan Glaciers: A Case Study Of The Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, Kabindra Joshi

Theses and Dissertations

Mass balance records of glaciers help to understand long term climate change, yet there are very few in-situ measurements of mass balance in Himalayan glaciers. Mass balance of major glaciers in the Sagarmatha National Park was assessed using Digital Elevation Model prepared from ASTER images for period 2002 & 2005 and 2002 & 2008, employing geodetic model. Overall glacial mass balance during 2002-2005 was -2.978 plus/minus 0.89 and during 2002-2008 was -0.94 plus/minus 0.34 m.w.e per annum. Glacier melt could form glacial lakes in high Himalayas. One of the glacial lakes, Imja Lake in the study area increased its surface …

Mechanisms And Patterns Of Invasion In Macrophyte Communities, Jonathan Paul Fleming

Theses and Dissertations

Aquatic plants (macrophytes) are important components of freshwater ecosystems and serve numerous purposes, physical and biological, that help to structure aquatic communities. Although macrophytes represent an essential component of stable aquatic communities, invasive macrophytes may negatively alter ecosystem properties. Non-native, invasive species have been identified as a major cause of biodiversity loss and the increasing prevalence of invasive species has prompted studies to help understand their impacts and to conserve biodiversity. Studying mechanisms of invasion also gives insight into how communities are structured and assembled. This study examined mechanisms that contribute to macrophyte invasion. First, I reviewed literature concerning mechanisms …

Expanding Protection Motivation Theory: The Role Of Individual Experience In Information Security Policy Compliance, Leigh A (Leigh Ann) Mutchler

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study is to make contributions to the area of behavioral information security in the field of Information Systems and to assist in the improved development of Information Security Policy instructional programs to increase the policy compliance of individuals. The role of an individual’s experience in the context of information security behavior was explored through the lens of protection motivation theory. The practical foundation was provided by the framework of Security Education, Training, and Awareness (SETA) programs which are typically used by organizations within the United States to instruct employees regarding information security. A pilot study …

Grain Size And Texture Effects On Deformation Behavior Of Az31 Magnesium Alloy, W. Yuan, R. S. Mishra

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cold rolled AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet was subjected to friction stir processing to generate four average grain sizes ranging from 0.8 to 9.6 μm. the processed material exhibited a strong basal fiber texture with the c-axis tilted about 35-55° towards the processing direction. the grain size and texture dependence of mechanical behavior were evaluated by using tensile testing along two orthogonal directions. Remarkably high ductility of ~65% was achieved in relatively coarse-grained material that fractured without developing necking when tested in the processing direction. the ductility decreased significantly to ~10% for ultrafine grained material as the tensile yield strength increased …

Stalking On The Screen: Examining Media Portrayals Of Relational Stalking Behavior, John Robert Macarthur

Theses and Dissertations

I coded a random sample of 266 movies to test whether previous researcher’s assertions that the media legitimizes unwanted courtship persistence (UCP) and minimizes stalking behavior is true. Consistent with their assertions, I found that the media does frequently depict stories of unwanted courtship persistence, and they were portrayed, on average, as acceptable. Although pursuers were generally portrayed positively, pursuers who engaged in UCP were more likely to be portrayed negatively than non-UCP pursuers. However, UCP pursuers were more successful than non-UCP pursuers in winning over their love interest. Using Cupach and Spitzberg’s (2004) Obsessional Relational Intrusion (ORI) scale, I …

Syngas Production From Biomass Pellets In A Downdraft Gasifier And The Removal Of Oxygen From Syngas, Rui Li

Theses and Dissertations

In pellet production, the parameters, such as densification pressure, temperature, feed moisture content, and coal and biomass concentration, that affected pelletizing and pellet quality were investigated. Gasification was carried out in a downdraft gasifier by using red oak hard wood as the feedstock. The raw syngas primarily contained carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrogen (N2) as well as contaminants such as ash, water vapor, ammonia, and oxygen. Ash was removed with the filter bag. Water vapor was removed by desiccant absorption. Ammonia was removed by water scrubbing. Oxygen was removed by a CuO/CeO2-Al2O3 catalyst …

Modeling And Uncertainty Analysis Of Cchp Systems, Joshua Aaron Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Combined Cooling Heating and Power (CCHP) systems have been recognized as a viable alternative to conventional electrical and thermal energy generation in buildings because of their high efficiency, low environmental impact, and power grid independence. Many researchers have presented models for comparing CCHP systems to conventional systems and for optimizing CCHP systems. However, many of the errors and uncertainties that affect these modeling efforts have not been adequately addressed in the literature. This dissertation will focus on the following key issues related to errors and uncertainty in CCHP system modeling: (a) detailed uncertainty analysis of a CCHP system model with …

Patterns Of Mammal Incidents With U.S. Civil Aircraft, Kristin Michele Biondi

Theses and Dissertations

Wildlife collisions with U.S. civil aircraft (hereafter incidents) pose safety and economic concerns. Terrestrial mammals represented only 2.3% of wildlife incidents, but 59% of these incidents caused damage to aircraft. I examined 2,558 incidents in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database to characterize and analyze overall mammal incidents by airport type, emphasizing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and bat incidents with U.S. civil aircraft. Mammal incidents caused 5 times greater damage than other wildlife which varied by airport type and appeared associated with species’ behavior. I provided relative hazard scores to determine which species were most hazardous to …

Pond Management Approaches And Effects On Trophic Dynamics, Michael Scott Sherman

Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi has an abundance of ponds which provides a number of opportunities for anglers. Several enhancement strategies are used to improve fish production in ponds, including fertilizing and supplemental feeding. These strategies may ignore the potential ecological impacts that may unexpectedly arise, such as prolific plant growth. This study consists of two phases; first, a mesocosm experiment investigating fertilizer application rates (mg P/L) in relation to potential sunfish growth, and second, a replicated pond experiment consisting of four treatments to simulate commonly used enhancement strategies. Mesocosm experiment showed a peak of sunfish growth at the 0.6 mg P/L level and …

Recycled Glass Cullet As An Alternative Aggregate For Dredged Sediments In Coastal Replenishment: A Feasibility Study, Claire E. Babineaux

Theses and Dissertations

Removal of sediment by dredging causes excessive erosion and ecosystem disruption. The objective of this study is to consider recycled glass as a feasible, economical, and environmentally friendly alternative material for coastal replenishment. Recycled glass cullet possesses the same physical and chemical properties as natural quartz sand found on beaches. A field study conducted in Mississippi showed little variation across three depths. Analysis determined the sediment size ratio (or distribution) of beach sand and glass cullet. Results show the most common grain size of sand in Mississippi is 0.25 mm and the grain size of cullet is comparable. Analytical Spectral …

Experimental Characterization And Modeling Of The Brittle And Ductile Failure Of Polypropylene And Copolymer Polypropylene, Brian Edward Denton

Theses and Dissertations

Research areas within the automotive industry are dedicated to reducing the weight and emissions of vehicles. Through the application of lightweight materials, such as polymers, fuel consumption and production costs can be decreased. Therefore, understanding the mechanical responses and failure mechanisms of these materials is significant to the development and design of vehicular structural components. Experimental tests were performed to capture the time, temperature, and stress state dependence, as well as failure mechanisms and large-strain mechanical responses of polypropylene (PP) and copolymer polypropylene (co-PP). Alongside studying the mechanical responses of PP and co-PP, the deformation mechanisms associated with the ductile …

Genomic And Functional Analysis Of Next-Generation Sequencing Data, Philippe Chouvarine

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have resulted in significant reduction of cost per sequenced base pair and increase in sequence data volume. On the other hand, most currently used NGS technologies produce relatively short sequence reads (50 - 150 bp) compared to Sanger sequencing (~700 bp). This represents an additional challenge in data analysis, because shorter reads are more difficult to assemble. At this point, production of sequencing data outpaces our capacity to analyze them. Newer NGS technologies capable of producing longer reads are emerging, which should simplify and speed up genome assembly. However, this will only increase the …

Application Of Web Mashup Technology To Oyster Information Services, Christian Chuindja Ngniah

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Web mashup is a lightweight technology used to integrate data from remote sources without direct access to their databases. As a data consumer, a Web mashup application creates new contents by retrieving data through the Web application programming interface (API) provided by the external sources. As a data provider, the service program publishes its Web API and implements the specified functions.

In the project reported by this thesis, we have implemented two Web mashup applications to enhance the Web site oystersentinel.org: the Perkinsus marinus model and the Oil Spill model. Each model overlay geospatial data from a local database …

Odor Monitoring At Wastewater Treatment Plants, Natasha Halageri

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is notable for its toxicity and corrosion is one of the major sources of odor in wastewater treatment plants. Evaluation of existing or potential odor problems requires knowledge of the type of compounds likely to cause such problems and the mechanism of their formation in wastewater systems which is discussed in this paper. For the present study, the East Bank wastewater treatment plant was chosen since it is the largest wastewater treatment facility within Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. To combat the odor problems in this facility, a monitoring program was designed and developed to characterize the …

“Man’S Country. Out Where The West Begins”: Women, The American Dream, And The West In Joan Didion’S Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Coleen Maidlow

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the feminist perspective in Didion’s collection of essays Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Throughout the text, Didion looks closely at the West and the changing social climate which surrounds her. Her essays chronicle women struggling to find a balance between the domestic and independence promised by myth the West. I analyze how women are granted only limited participation within the American Dream because of the masculine power structures which dominate our society. As the values of the American Dream shift, the women that Didion depicts attempt to find identity and independence despite the restrictive forces around them.

Gaining Relevance In The Face Of Obsolescence: The Uss Texas – A Battleship In The Second World War, Kali Martin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Despite the vast material that has been written about the Second World War, most literature mentions battleships in passing, giving little attention to a role that battleships filled- that of naval gunfire support for amphibious landings. The literature regarding the Navy’s older, obsolescent battleships such as the Texas is scarce. Using primary sources regarding the Texas and the evolution of naval gunfire doctrine from the pre-war and wartime periods, this study looks at the involvement of the Texas in the Second World War and how the Navy employed its oldest battleships. The amphibious landings of the war provided a …