Digital Commons Network^™

Search-Based Model-Driven Loop Optimizations For Tensor Contractions, Ajay Panyala

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Complex tensor contraction expressions arise in accurate electronic structure models in quantum chemistry, such as the coupled cluster method. The Tensor Contraction Engine (TCE) is a high-level program synthesis system that facilitates the generation of high-performance parallel programs from tensor contraction equations. We are developing a new software infrastructure for the TCE that is designed to allow experimentation with optimization algorithms for modern computing platforms, including for heterogeneous architectures employing general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs). In this dissertation, we present improvements and extensions to the loop fusion optimization algorithm, which can be used with cost models, e.g., for minimizing memory …

Battered Men And Our Changing Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence, Ashley Marie Perry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2009) estimates that 4.8 million women are victims of intimate partner assault and rape every year. Receiving far less attention in the intimate partner violence literature, however, are studies of the 2.9 million male victims of this type of abuse (CDC 2009). Here I seek to explore this evolving issue of intimate partner violence, and determine to what extent the situations of male victims imitate the abundant body of literature on male violence against women. Using Google’s NGram word corpus (Michel et al. 2010), I examine important changes over time in the usage of …

Place, Race, And The Politics Of Identity In The Geography Of Garinagu Baündada, Doris Garcia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Garinagu, who are commonly referred to by the name of their language, Garifuna, emerged out of the historical geographical processes of colonialism and capitalism on Saint Vincent Island in the Lesser Antilles. Exiled by the British to New Spain’s Captaincy General of Guatemala in 1797, the Garinagu formed communities and cultural bonds to the land, namely, but not exclusively, along the north coast of the territory that would become part of the Honduran nation-state in 1821. Today, the Garinagu are rapidly becoming a landless population. Since the mid-1970s, the Honduran government has pursued the expansion of tourism on the …

Topics In Quantum Metrology, Control, And Communications, Bhaskar Roy Bardhan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Noise present in an environment has significant impacts on a quantum system affecting properties like coherence, entanglement and other metrological features of a quantum state. In this dissertation, we address the effects of different types of noise that are present in a communication channel (or medium) and an interferometric setup, and analyze their effects in the contexts of preserving coherence and entanglement, phase sensitivity, and limits on rate of communication through noisy channels. We first consider quantum optical phase estimation in quantum metrology when phase fluctuations are introduced in the system by its interaction with a noisy environment. By considering …

A Qualitative Study Utilizing Non-Fiction African-American Folktales: Process And Product With Struggling Second, Third, And Fifth Graders In North Louisiana, Gail Guidry Griffin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a qualitative of a study utilizing non-fiction African-American Folktales with struggling readers in second, third, and fifth grades. The study was conducted to explore how teachers, reading/library media specialists, and students utilize a variety of non-fiction folktales in their classrooms and the library media center. From this topic the following research questions were devised. The researcher discovered the challenges that teachers are faced with the implementation of folktales, how is folktales aligned with the (CCSS) Common Core State Standards, what role do heroes play in folktales, and what traits and/or characteristics would students prefer their hero to …

Palatable Foods For A Methionine Restricted Diet, Gabriela Melissa Crespo Gutierrez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Protein oxidation results in loss of tryptophan, oxidation of cysteine to cysteic acid, oxidation of methionine to methionine sulfoxide and ultimately to methionine sulfone. Methionine sulfoxide has been shown to be completely unavailable to mammalian cells and promote improved insulin sensitivity, lifespan extension, weight loss induction and reduce tumor growth in rat studies. Casein was oxidized with ozone or hydrogen peroxide to reduce the cysteine and methionine levels for use in sulfur amino acid restricted diets. Casein was isoelectrically precipitated from skim milk and oxidized with hydrogen peroxide at various pH levels, from 2.5–11. Two strong oxidizers were used: hydrogen …

The Effects Of Osmotic Challenges : Involvement Of Ion Transport Proteins Nka, Nkcc, And Cftr In The Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis, Yanling Meng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the cellular and molecular basis of osmoregulation in developing and adult Gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis, acclimated to salinities ranging from fresh water to sea water. In chapter 2, F. grandis embryos were reared in 0.1, 5, and 32 ppt water from 2 days (d) post fertilization until late embryogenesis. There were no discernable differences among salinities in the morphology of osmoregulatory organs, including the pharyngeal arches, digestive tract, or kidney. The localization and abundance of Na+/K+ ATPase (NKA), Na+/K+/2Cl- cotransporter (NKCC), and the chloride channel cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) on the external surfaces of these …

Model-Based Tests Of Historical Demography And Species Delimitation In The Caribbean Coral Reef Sponge Callyspongia, Melissa Barrett Debiasse

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Coral reefs are the most productive and species rich ecosystems in the ocean yet we lack knowledge about the distribution of genetic variation the within and among reef species, particularly for the sponges (Porifera). My dissertation describes how genetic variation at mitochondrial and nuclear genes is partitioned among and within species in the sponge genus Callyspongia. I compared patterns of genetic diversity and population subdivision in the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of one species, C. vaginalis, in Florida (Chapter 2). Previous work revealed three divergent mitochondrial lineages, but nuclear alleles did not correspond to either mitochondrial clade or geography. Coalescent …

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Selected Birth Defects And Risk Factors In The Baton Rouge, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, Aimee H. Moles

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

About three percent of all infants are born with a congenital defect each year ranging from minor variants to life threatening abnormalities. The investigation and treatment of these problems is both costly and emotionally trying for all involved. Finding their origins is a complex process. Birth defects create the ultimate mystery in terms of trying to tease out the various influences created by the environment of both the infant and the mother. Two genetically different individuals are simultaneously affected both by their individual makeup and by the outside world impacting the air they breathe, the food they eat, and the …

Performing Joseph Cornell's Chronotopes Of Assemblage, Sarah Kathryn Jackson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this project I study Joseph Cornell’s practices of art-making through a performative lens. Rather than focusing on his finished products, I am interested in his embodied processes of assemblage. I call on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the chronotope to articulate how time and space operate within Cornell’s finished works and his processes of assemblage art. In so doing, I conceptualize Cornell’s textual chronotope, métaphysique d’éphemera or “everyday magic,” as well as his chronotopes of assemblage: wandering, archiving, collaging, and assembling. I move from the finished work to the contingencies and strategies of the performance of assemblage. This project is …

The Life And Work Of Mark Jacobi: Clarinet Repair In Philadelphia And The Influence Of Hans Moennig, John Anthony Coppa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since the invention of the clarinet there have been instrument repairmen and technicians who have properly maintained and serviced those instruments. This project presents the life and work of Mark Jacobi, one of the most influential clarinet repair technicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It connects the lineage of clarinet repair in Philadelphia and the life and traditions of Hans Moennig with the work currently being done in Mark Jacobi’s repair workshop. This document outlines the evolution of the clarinet barrel from its early incarnation as an attached extension of the mouthpiece section to its modern state as a …

Liberalism And The Dilemma Of Cultures, Ali Rezaie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this project, through a closer examination of the controversies over Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003), Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003) and Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003), I seek to identify the elements of a defensible postcolonial vision. While postcolonialism is afflicted with many problematic assumptions, the exclusively liberal perspective which these authors seek to reaffirm in its place has its own plethora of defects. Ali, Hosseini and Nafisi merit a closer attention not only for their exposing some of the flawed views underlying postcolonialism but also for their demonstrating why an unqualified reversion to liberalism may …

Fantini And Frescobaldi In Rome, Circa 1634: A Study Of Context And Practice, Shelby Allen Lewis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT This study clarifies historical evidence as applied to Italian baroque performance practices and repertoire for trumpet and pipe organ, circa 1630. It focuses upon a specific concert; the first historical record of a trumpet and pipe organ duo performing whereby the trumpeter takes a soloistic role. The details surrounding the performance, one involving trumpeter Girolamo Fantini and organist Girolamo Frescobaldi, make wonderful fodder for a more detailed musical look into 17th century Italy. Perhaps most importantly, the process outlined here can be modified and used in the study of music from virtually any genre from any musical period. Ultimately, …

Characterization Of A Human Powered Nebulizer Compressor For Resource Poor Settings, Christopher J. Hallberg, Mary Therese Lysaught, Christopher E. Zmudka, William K. Kopesky, Lars E. Olson

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Respiratory disease accounts for three of the ten leading causes of death worldwide. Many of these diseases can be treated and diagnosed using a nebulizer. Nebulizers can also be used to safely and efficiently deliver vaccines. Unfortunately, commercially available nebulizers are not designed for use in regions of the world where lung disease is most prevalent: they are electricity-dependent, cost-prohibitive, and not built to be reliable in harsh operating conditions or under frequent use.

To overcome these limitations, the Human Powered Nebulizer compressor (HPN) was developed. The HPN does not require electricity; instead airflow is generated manually through a …

A Modular Low-Clearance Wrist Orthosis For Improving Wrist Motion In Children With Cerebral Palsy, Devon Holley, Michelle Johnson, Gerald F. Harris, Scott A. Beardsley

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) often exhibit impairments in the coordination of the grip and lift phases of arm movements that directly impact their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). The application of assistive robotic therapy to children with spastic hemiplegic CP has shown that augmented movement training can lead to improved functional outcomes and improved arm kinematics. Assistive robotic therapy of the wrist has been shown to help improve motor skills in stroke patients, but the devices employed are often large and obtrusive, focusing on a repeated motion rather than a task-based itinerary. Here, we propose a …

Evaluation Of Upper Extremity Movement Characteristics During Standardized Pediatric Functional Assessment With A Kinect®-Based Markerless Motion Analysis System, Jacob R. Rammer, Joseph J. Krzak, Susan A. Riedel, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

A recently developed and evaluated upper extremity (UE) markerless motion analysis system based on the Microsoft® Kinect® has potential for improving functional assessment of patients with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. 12 typically-developing adolescents ages 12-17 were evaluated using both the Kinect-based system and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE), a validated measure of UE motion. The study established population means of UE kinematic parameters for each activity. Statistical correlation analysis was used to identify key kinematic metrics used to develop automatic scoring algorithms. The Kinect motion analysis platform is technically sound and can be applied to standardized task-based …

An Examination Of The Impact Of Postsecondary Transition Program Models On College Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of First-Generation College Students, Shaneá Morrison Nelson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of postsecondary transition programs on the college self-efficacy beliefs of first-generation college students. Postsecondary transition programs were developed to address the challenges that all first-time freshmen face, including all first-generation students. While there are a number of postsecondary transition program models, the three models examined in this study were Developmental Academic, Residential Colleges, and First Year Intervention programs. Although there is a great deal of evaluative research regarding how postsecondary transition programs impact students’ academic performance, there is a lack of research on how these programs impact students internal …

Bone Material Properties In Osteogenesis Imperfecta: A Matter Of Quantity Over Quality, Carolyne Albert, John Jameson, Gerald F. Harris, Peter Smith

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Ito Formula And Girsanov Theorem On A New Ito Integral, Yun Peng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The celebrated Ito theory of stochastic integration deals with stochastic integrals of adapted stochastic processes. The Ito formula and Girsanov theorem in this theory are fundamental results which are used in many applied fields, in particular, the finance and the stock markets, e.g. the Black-Scholes model. In chapter 1 we will briefly review the Ito theory. In recent years, there have been several extension of the Ito integral to stochastic integrals of non-adapted stochastic processes. In this dissertation we will study an extension initiated by Ayed and Kuo in 2008. In Chapter 2 we review this new stochastic integral and …

Developing An At-Home System For Evaluating Manual Wheelchair Propulsion And Directing Rehabilitative Training To Optimize Biomechanical Efficiency, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Viral Glycoproteins And Tegument Proteins In Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, Dmitry Vladimirovich Chouljenko

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a ubiquitous neurotropic alphaherpesvirus transmitted by contact with mucocutaneous surfaces of infected individuals. HSV-1 enters the host by fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell plasma membrane, followed by translocation of the viral capsids to the nucleus where viral DNA is injected into the host cell nucleus to initiate viral replication. To generate infectious virions, newly assembled capsids travel to the cytoplasm and undergo a process called secondary envelopment by budding into cytoplasmic vesicles derived from the trans-Golgi network. Cytoplasmic envelopment is a complex process involving interactions between a multitude of …

Simultaneous Robotic Manipulation And Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Feasibility In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Nicole Marie Gregor Salowitz, Bridget K. Dolan, Rheanna Remmel, Amy V. Van Hecke, Kristine M. Mosier, Lucia S. Simo, Robert A. Scheidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

An unanswered question concerning the neural basis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is how sensorimotor deficits in individuals with ASD are related to abnormalities of brain function. We previously described a robotic joystick and video game system that allows us to record functional magnetic resonance images (FMRI) while adult humans make goal- directed wrist motions. We anticipated several challenges in extending this approach to studying goal-directed behaviors in children with ASD and in typically developing (TYP) children. In particular we were concerned that children with autism may express increased levels of anxiety as compared to typically developing children due to …

William H. Ashley's Newly Discovered 1826 Fur Trade Journal, Jay H. Buckley

Faculty Publications

Fur trade historians have longed for more documentation to answer questions relating to the for trade in 1826. That year marked William Ashley's last foray (and Robert Campbell's inaugural venture) into the Rockies. Fortunately, a missing piece of that puzzle has now been found in the form of an 1826 diary and rendezvous business record that provides some answers while simultaneously raising a few additional questions. The full diary, reproduced with transcription, follows this article.

History, Nesting Population, Migration, Home Range And Habitats Used By Louisiana Bald Eagles, Nickolas Ryan Smith

LSU Master's Theses

The population of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nesting in Louisiana reached precariously low numbers in the early 1970’s, and although the population has since increased markedly, resident eagles remain a species of conservation concern in Louisiana. Using statewide aerial nest survey data from 1975–2008, I documented the history and quantified the recovery of the nesting population in Louisiana. Known active nests increased exponentially from 7 to 387 during this period, exhibiting a mean annual rate of increase of 11.1 ± 0.3% per year with no indications of slowing. By 1990, the nesting population in Louisiana had exceeded all goals of …

Preliminary Forensic Analysis Of The Xbox One, Jason Moore, Ibrahim Baggili, Andrew Marrington, Armindo Rodrigues

All Works

Video game consoles can no longer be viewed as just gaming consoles but rather as full multimedia machines, capable of desktop computer-like performance. The past has shown that game consoles have been used in criminal activities such as extortion, identity theft, and child pornography, but with their ever-increasing capabilities, the likelihood of the expansion of criminal activities conducted on or over the consoles increases. This research aimed to take the initial step of understanding the Xbox One, the most powerful Microsoft console to date. We report the outcome of conducting a forensic examination of the Xbox One, and we provide …

The Effect Of Global English On Culture And Identity In The Uae: A Double-Edged Sword, Sarah Hopkyns

All Works

The United Arab Emirates' complex history, its current demographics, its youthfulness as a country, and the fact that it is a region undergoing fast-paced change make the issue of cultural identity particularly relevant and urgent in this part of the world. This is especially true given the rapid spread of English in the sphere of education and everyday life in recent years. This paper discusses the above issues before analyzing the attitudes and perceptions of female Emirati university students and female Emirati primary school teachers with regard to global English and its effects on local culture and identity. After analysis …

The Environmental Impact Of Urbanization Within Abu Dhabi On The Microbial Profile Of Man-Made Beaches, Fatima Al Marzooqi, Fatme Al Anouti

All Works

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is witnessing a significant development in several areas. Many new construction projects are currently underway. One of the main project aims at establishing new beaches around the coastal areas of the UAE. Particularly, in Abu Dhabi the capital of UAE, a new man-made beach has been recently developed in the north coast of the city. The urbanization of this newly developed beach might have a significant impact on the environment. This study aims to investigate the effects of urban development of beaches within Abu Dhabi on the microbial profile of the soil. It is hypothesized …

To Outsource Web Development Or Not: A Small Automotive Company Considers Search Engine Marketing, Martine Robinson Beachboard, John C. Beachboard

All Works

No abstract provided.

Public Perceptions Of The Uk Marine Environment, Rl Jefferson, I Bailey, Dd Laffoley, Jp Richards, Mj Attrill

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The damaging effects of human activities on marine health suggest that a major shift is required in the way marine systems are used by individuals. Identifying how to engage society in this shift is an ongoing debate. This includes strengthening the positive connections between society and the sea. This study uses a survey (n¼1047) to investigate UK public perceptions of subtidal species and marine health to assess whether it is possible to build more positive connections between society and the sea. Respondents showed considerable interest in traditionally charismatic species (puffins, seals and seahorses) although many respondents thought these species did …

Community Resilience, Transitional Corridors And Macro-Scalar Lock-In Effects, Ga Wilson

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.