Digital Commons Network^™

Constructing Carmichael Numbers Through Improved Subset-Product Algorithms, W.R. Alford, Jon Grantham, Steven Hayman, Andrew Shallue

Scholarship

style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We have constructed a Carmichael number with 10,333,229,505 prime factors, and have also constructed Carmichael numbers with style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> prime factors for every style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> between 3 and 19,565,220. These computations are the product of implementations of two new algorithms for the subset product problem that exploit the non-uniform distribution of primes style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">with the property that …

Geology And Abiotic Factors: Their Effect On An Aquatic Insect Fauna On The Shawangunk Ridge, Beryl Kahn, Howard Feldman

Lander College for Women - The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School Publications and Research

The Shawangunk Ridge in the lower mid-Hudson Valley extends from the vicinity of Rosendale through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Within the first thirty miles can be found five “sky lakes”: Mohonk, Minnewaska, Awosting, Mud Pond and Maratanza. Since these lakes occur on the top of the ridge they have no drainage basin. Here we report on the pH and other abiotic factors that impact the aquatic fauna of the Lily Pond (pH 6.58), a small, shallow body of water with a diverse faunal community on the grounds of Mohonk Mountain House. The pH of Mohonk Lake is 7 …

Information And Causation In Tort Law: Generalizing The Learned Hand Test For Causation Cases, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses the economics of causation in tort law, describing precise implications for precautionary incentives when courts are and are not perfectly informed. With precautionary incentives identified, we can ask whether the causation inquiry enhances welfare, and if so under what conditions. Perhaps the most important innovation applies to the Hand Formula. When causation is an issue, the probability of causal intervention should be part of the Hand test, and the generalized Hand test offers a method of distinguishing significant classes of causation cases. I close with implications for the moral significance of causation and for economic analysis of …

Update On Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy For Retinoblastoma., Mario Zanaty, Guilherme Barros, Nohra Chalouhi, Md, Robert M Starke, Philip Manasseh, Stavropoula I. Tjoumakaris, Carol L Shields, David Hasan, Ketan Bulsara, Robert H. Rosenwasswer Md, Pascal Jabbour Md

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

The tools for managing retinoblastoma have been increasing in the past decade. While globe-salvage still relies heavily on intravenous chemotherapy, tumors in advanced stage that failed chemotherapy are now referred for intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) to avoid enucleation. However, IAC still has many obstacles to overcome. We present an update on the indications, complications, limitations, success, and technical aspects of IAC. Given its safety and high efficacy, it is expected that IAC will replace conventional strategies and will become a first-line option even for tumors that are amenable for other strategies.

High School 4th Mathematics: Precalculus For Ap Calculus, Yong Suk Lowery

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to provide the needed instructional materials to those who are teaching a Precalculus course following Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. The recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) has left many teachers scrambling to find instructional materials that meet the graduation requirement as well as insuring that our students are college and career ready when they leave high school. Furthermore, the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus curriculum is generally accepted as the model for a twenty-first century calculus course serving as prerequisite for STEM related fields of …

Phases Of Bosons In Optical Lattices And Coupled To Artificial Gauge Fields, Qinqin Lu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ultracold atoms have emerged as an indispensable setting to study quantum many-body systems. Recent experimental and theoretical work has explored the curious phases and novel properties of Bose-Einstein Condensate with optical lattices, and Bose-Einstein Condensate with light-induced artificial spin-orbit coupling. In this thesis, we report our research on these two types of boson systems. In the first topic, in contrast with calculations of bosons in optical lattices that focus on the tight-binding regime, we note that the single-particle states of bosons in a periodic potential generally satisfy the Mathieu equation, and have developed a formalism for studying bosons in an …

Selected Problems On Matroid Minors, Jesse Taylor

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation begins with an introduction to matroids and graphs. In the first chapter, we develop matroid and graph theory definitions and preliminary results sufficient to discuss the problems presented in the later chapters. These topics include duality, connectivity, matroid minors, and Cunningham and Edmonds's tree decomposition for connected matroids. One of the most well-known excluded-minor results in matroid theory is Tutte's characterization of binary matroids. The class of binary matroids is one of the most widely studied classes of matroids, and its members have many attractive qualities. This motivates the study of matroid classes that are close to being …

Study Of ¹⁸Ne Using The Array For Nuclear Astrophysics And Structure With Exotic Nuclei, Laura Pratt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reactions involving radioactive nuclei play an important role in stellar explosions, but limited experimental information is available due to difficulties in producing and studying radioactive nuclei. Several facilities aim to provide greater access to these unstable isotopes at higher intensities, but more efficient and selective techniques and devices are required to be able to study many important reactions. The Array for Nuclear Astrophysics and Structure with Exotic Nuclei (ANASEN), a charged particle detector designed by Louisiana State University (LSU) and Florida State University (FSU), was created for this purpose. ANASEN is used to study the reactions important for the αp- …

Veblen On National Economic Development, Rebekkah Brainerd

Anthós

This inquiry seeks to establish that Thorstein Veblen introduces key ideas concerning national economic development in his book Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution. Using works by prominent scholars Alexander Gerschenkron and Gary Becker, this inquiry addresses the role of the state, human capital theory, and late industrialization theory. While specific ideas about the development of societies can be gleaned, ultimately it is about the individual factors of each society in how and why it develops as it does.

Fourth And Eighth Grade Students' Conceptions Of Energy Flow Through Ecosystems, Ashlie Beals Arkwright

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This mixed methods status study examined 32 fourth grade students’ conceptual understandings of energy flow through ecosystems prior to instruction and 40 eighth grade students’ conceptual understandings of the same topic after five years of daily standards-based instruction in science. Specific ecological concepts assessed related to: 1) roles of organisms; 2) the sun as the original energy source for most ecosystems; and 3) interdependency of organisms.

Fourth and eighth grade students were assessed using the same three-tiered forced-choice instrument, with accompanying tasks for students to defend their forced-choice selections and rate their level of confidence in making the selections. The …

Articulation Agreements: Academic Success, Persistence And Graduation From Online And Face-To-Face Degree Completion Programs, Darnette Hall

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal-comparative study is to examine whether differences exist in the retention and persistence of articulation participants based on face-to-face or online degree completion. The study will determine the rate of completion of articulation participants who transfer from a North Carolina Community College to a state university in North Carolina and enroll in traditional face-to-face classes versus articulation participants who enroll in online degree completion. There is considerable literature on articulation from the perspective of student satisfaction and an administrator's perception. Substantial research on policies and procedures as well as comparison to native and transfer students. There …

Measuring Student Satisfaction In Online Math Courses, Antoinette M. Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

Colleges and universities worldwide have struggled to find a way to measure student satisfaction in online courses. This study examined the growth of math courses that are delivered in the online format. This study aims to address many gaps in the research literature concerning distance education using technology. In particular, it is the intention of this study to investigate satisfaction and performance of students as a result of taking online courses.

There has been an expanding concern over whether students are satisfied and can perform well in courses taken in an online environment. Satisfaction and performance in distance education have …

Measuring Post-Secondary Stem Majors' Engagement In Sustainability: The Creation, Assessment, And Validation Of An Instrument For Sustainability Curricula Evaluation, David L. Little Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Ongoing changes in values, pedagogy, and curriculum concerning sustainability education necessitate that strong curricular elements are identified in sustainability education. However, quantitative research in sustainability education is largely undeveloped or relies on outdated instruments. In part, this is because no widespread quantitative instrument for measuring related educational outcomes has been developed for the field, though their development is pivotal for future efforts in sustainability education related to STEM majors.

This research study details the creation, evaluation, and validation of an instrument – the STEM Sustainability Engagement Instrument (STEMSEI) – designed to measure sustainability engagement in post-secondary STEM majors. The study …

The Effect Of Tactical Tasks And Gear On Muscle Activation Of Swat Officers, Jason M. Keeler

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officers constitute a subgroup of specialized law enforcement officers that perform a variety of tactical operations while wearing approximately 40 kg of tactical gear. Lower back pain is a prevalent musculoskeletal injury suffered by SWAT officers. Tactical gear places significant stress on the lower back. Thus, it is important to quantify the effect that tactical gear has on muscle activation levels of torso musculature while performing occupational tasks. Electromyography was evaluated on 20 male subjects (age: 34.7±4.5 yr.; height: 1.79±.10 m; body mass: 91.53±17.32 kg; mass of gear: 13.82±1.90 kg) while performing four tactical tasks …

Performance Characterization Of The Dual-Recycled Michelson Subsystem In Advanced Ligo, Anamaria Effler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

General relativity predicts the existence of gravitational waves as ripples in spacetime propagating at the speed of light. They couple to matter weakly, which implies only cataclysmic cosmic events generating such waves can be detected. Binary neutron star coalescences are, for example, one of the most promising detectable source. Their weak coupling also implies that very sensitive instruments are needed to detect them, and the most sensitive so far have been laser interferometers with km-scale arms. The Laser Interferometric Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) is exactly such an instrument, and the most sensitive in the world to the date of this …

Application Of Ce-Qual-W2 On Tigris River In Iraq, Muhanned Al-Murib

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers in Iraq. Two big rivers pass through Iraq, Mesopotamia. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with their tributaries form a major river system in the Middle East. Four riparian countries, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, share the Tigris River basin area and Iraq has the majority of this basin area. The total length of the Tigris is 1850 km from which 1418 km is within Iraq. A study area of 880 km from Mosul dam to Kut barrage is modeled using a water quality CE-QUAL-W2 model. CE-QUAL-W2 is a two-dimensional …

Modeling The Effect Of Gusty Hurricane Wind Force On Vehicles Using The Lsu Driving Simulator, Jose Manuel Rodriguez

LSU Master's Theses

While traffic planning is important for developing a hurricane evacuation plan, vehicle performance on the roads during extreme weather conditions is critical to the success of the planning process. This study was designed to lay a foundation for modeling driving behavior and vehicle performance as an assessment tool in the decision making process for planning evacuation routes during hurricane and tropical storms. The study explores how the parameters of a driving simulator could be modified to reproduce wind loadings experienced by three vehicle types (a passenger car, an ambulance, and a bus) during gusty hurricane winds, through manipulation of appropriate …

A Persistent Storage Model For Extreme Computing, Shuangyang Yang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The continuing technological progress resulted in a dramatic growth in aggregate computational performance of the largest supercomputing systems. Unfortunately, these advances did not translate to the required extent into accompanying I/O systems and little more in terms of architecture or effective access latency. New classes of algorithms developed for massively parallel applications, that gracefully handle the challenges of asynchrony, heavily multi-threaded distributed codes, and message-driven computation, must be matched by similar advances in I/O methods and algorithms to produce a well performing and balanced supercomputing system. This dissertation proposes PXFS, a storage model for persistent objects inspired by the ParalleX …

Educational Aspirations Of Middle And High School Students : A Focus On Turkish - American Youth, Dilek Atmaca Suslu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed -methods study was to investigate the educational aspirations of Turkish-American middle and high school students. For comparison purposes students from other ethnic groups were also included in the study. Factors related to family, school and the individual student were examined through survey data and interviews. In addition, possible barriers to educational goals, preferred area of study, and perceived parent support were explored. Interview with Turkish-American parents revealed types of parental supports and insights about their understanding of children’s experiences and performance. The results of the ordinal regression analyses revealed that parents’ expectations and school achievement …

Robotics And Inquiry: Addressing The Impact On Student Understanding Of Physics Concepts (Force And Motion) From Select Rural Louisiana Elementary Students Through Robotics Instruction Immersed Within The 5e Learning Cycle Model, Bianca Rodrigue Deliberto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This embedded mixed methods study investigates the development of rural elementary students’ conceptual understanding of force and motion as a result of the implementation of robotics instruction immersed within a 5E Learning Cycle Model lessons. Three treatment groups and one controlled comparison group (n=96) participated in pretests and posttests (Science Series Assessment 1, Russell and McGuigan, 2001) the day the activities were completed as well as one week after the completion of the treatment, 5E Learning Cycle Model lessons and draw and tell interviews. Prior to the intervention, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills stanine scores were grouped into three …

Where Y'At, Kelly Michelle Mullins

LSU Master's Theses

My work is a culmination of my studies of graphic design methods and principles, including the extensive research I have completed on Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. I created a large-scale poster series of information graphics that explores the main cultural characteristics and statistics of the parishes in Louisiana of which I was raised. The series contains two types of graphics, a website, and a QR code system. A QR code is a matrix barcode that is readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with cameras, and smartphones. The QR codes I created link the viewer to specific websites …

Parallel Processes In Hpx: Designing An Infrastructure For Adaptive Resource Management, Vinay Chandra Amatya

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Advancement in cutting edge technologies have enabled better energy efficiency as well as scaling computational power for the latest High Performance Computing(HPC) systems. However, complexity, due to hybrid architectures as well as emerging classes of applications, have shown poor computational scalability using conventional execution models. Thus alternative means of computation, that addresses the bottlenecks in computation, is warranted. More precisely, dynamic adaptive resource management feature, both from systems as well as application's perspective, is essential for better computational scalability and efficiency. This research presents and expands the notion of Parallel Processes as a placeholder for procedure definitions, targeted at one …

Performance Of Active Vibration Isolation In The Advanced Ligo Detectors, Ryan Thomas Derosa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The second generation of LIGO detectors has finished construction and the commissioning effort is pushing the instruments towards their designed sensitivity. Around the world similar undertakings are underway, and soon a global network capable of astrophysical observation will be operational. The first sentences are being written in an important chapter of terrestrial gravitational wave detection, an entire century after the theoretical foundations of general relativity were laid, and after decades of calculation, design, proposals, plans, and laboratory work. In order to make sensitive measurements, the detector must be well isolated from the vibrations of the ground, and much of this …

Digging Deeper Into Hardin's Pasture: The Complex Institutional Structure Of "The Tragedy Of The Commons", Daniel H. Cole, Graham Epstein, Michael D. Mcginnis

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The institutional and ecological structure of Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons” appears deceptively simple: the open-access pasture eventually will be overexploited and degraded unless (i) it is privatized, (ii) the government regulates access and use, or (iii) the users themselves impose a common-property regime to regulate their own access and use. In this paper, we argue that the institutional structure of the “Herder Problem” (as it is known to game theorists) is far more complicated than it is usually portrayed. Specifically, it is not just about the pasture. It is equally about the grass that grows on the pasture and …

Predicted Risk Of Post-Irradiation Cerebral Necrosis In Pediatric Brain Cancer Patients: A Treatment Planning Comparison Of Proton Therapy Vs. Photon Therapy, Derek Freund

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: To predict the risk of radiation necrosis in a cohort of pediatric patients with glioma and ependymoma and compare the predicted risk between volumetric modulated arc photon therapy (VMAT), passively scattered proton therapy (PSPT) and intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT). Methods: Thirteen pediatric patients with varying age and sex were selected for this study. A radiation oncologist contoured a clinical treatment volume (CTV) on 8 patients selected for glioma in the cerebral hemisphere and 5 with ependymoma located in the posterior fossa. A 1 cm margin was added to the CTV to define the planning treatment volume (PTV). VMAT …

Application Of Scanning Probe Microscopy To Characterize Physical Properties Of Polymer Brushes, Photoactive Polymers And Rare Earth Oxide Nanostructures, Susan Denise Verberne-Sutton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A sample stage for characterizing photoactive materials was developed for studies with scanning probe microscopy (SPM). A sample stage was designed that directs light from a solar simulator via a fiber optic cable to illuminate the sample. Current-sensing and photocurrent measurements can be acquired with a conductive tip. The designed photocurrent stage can be used for SPM systems with a tip-mounted scanner. Current-sensing measurements can be taken with or without illumination to measure the current produced from organic photovoltaic (OPV) or photoconductive samples. Topography, lateral force and current-sensing images are acquired simultaneously, providing information of how nanoscale morphology affects the …

Palynology Of The Upper Cretaceous Ferron-Notom Sandstone, Utah, Isil Akyuz

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT The Late Cretaceous Ferron-Notom Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation plays a dominant role in oil production in Utah. Although numerous sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic studies have been conducted in recent years on this sequence, palynological analyses had not yet been undertaken. Here we present palynological data from one hundred twenty eight samples collected in the Ferron-Noton Sandstone Member outcroping in south-central Utah. The purpose of this study is to refine our understanding of climatic and depositional environments and to build a biostratigraphic palynological framework. The dominance of terrestrial palynomorphs, especially the high yield in moisture-loving cryptogam spores …

A Comparison Of Capacity For Resilience Among Coastal Communities In The Northeast U.S. And The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Region, Emily Gootee

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal communities face many threats from their surrounding environment, including floods and severe storms. These threats are exacerbated by climate change and sea level rise, which may cause increased frequency and severity of these events. Despite these hazards, population density along the coasts continues to rise. These areas of dense population and infrastructure are highly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Hurricane Sandy of 2012 was a powerful demonstration of the impact that severe storms can have on coastal populations. In the face of this reality, coastal communities must adapt and become more resilient to environmental changes. In order to assess …

Development Of An Alternative Bait For The Louisiana Commercial Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus) Fishery, Angelle Nicole Anderson

LSU Master's Theses

The blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is a commercially, recreationally, and ecologically important species in Louisiana coastal waters. Louisiana landings account for more than 80% of Gulf of Mexico hard crab landings. In 2012, over 24 thousand metric tons of blue crab were landed in Louisiana with an economic value over $52 million. The blue crab fishery in the northern Gulf of Mexico relies heavily on Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) for bait, which is a species with stock concerns resulting in approximately a 20% decrease in total allowable catch beginning in 2013. Decreased landings results in increased cost of B. tyrannus …

An Efficient Approach To Epid Transit Dosimetry, Bart Alan Morris

LSU Master's Theses

Introduction: In order to maintain uniform standards in the accuracy of fractionated radiation therapy, quantification of the delivered dose per fraction accuracy is required. The pupose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of a transit dosimetry method using the electronic portal imaging device (EPID) for dose delivery error detection and prevention. Methods and Materials: In the proposed method, 2D predicted transit images were generated for comparison with online images acquired during treatment. Predicted transit images were generated by convolving through-air EPID measurements of each field with pixel-specific kernels selected from a library of pre-calculated Monte Carlo pencil kernels …