Digital Commons Network^™

Computational Studies On Bimetallic Catalysis And X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy, Sayakkarage R. G. Fernando

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Computational studies are very important to gain an insight into reaction mechanisms and in interpreting and understanding complicated experimental observations. This report contains a discussion on computational studies performed on bimetallic catalysis and on X-ray absorption spectroscopy of insulators. The viability of a bimetallic rhodium and cobalt catalysts for industrially important hydroformylation and aldehyde-water shift catalysis (AWS) is discussed. Density functional theory (DFT) studies were used for bimetallic catalysis and time-dependent DFT studies were used for excited state dynamics. These studies were performed using Gaussian 09 package and NWChem. Hydroformylation is experimentally performed in acetone and 30% water/acetone systems and …

Real-Time Shadows For Gigapixel Displacement Maps, Kevin Anthony Cherry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Shadows portray helpful information in scenes. From a scientific visualization standpoint, they help to add data without unnecessary clutter. In video games they add realism and depth. In common graphics pipelines, due to the independent and parallel rendering of geometric primitives, shadows are difficult to achieve. Objects require knowledge of each other and therefore multiple renders are needed to collect the necessary data. The collection of this data comes with its own set of trade offs. Our research involves adding shadows into a lunar rendering framework developed by Dr. Robert Kooima. The NASA-collected data contains a multi-gigapixel displacement map describing …

The Relationship Between Supervision, Job Satisfaction, And Burnout Among Live-In And Live-On Housing And Residence Life Professionals, Tracy Latonya Reed

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study investigated the relationship between supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout among live-in and live-on Housing and Residence Life professionals. The literature review consists of empirical research for each construct presented (supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout). The study sample consisted of live-in and live-on Housing and Residence Life professionals employed at colleges and universities across the United States and abroad. Multiple regression and Multivariate analyses were used to answer specific research questions. Results confirmed that there was a statistically significant relationship between supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout. Findings are thoroughly reviewed and compared to previous research in the field. …

A Market-Based Approach For Valuing Ecosystem Services On Coastal Properties, Michelle A. Savolainen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As part of ongoing efforts to assess ecosystem services provided by wetlands, this research focuses on estimating the private monetary value of wetland services to residential property owners in Louisiana and Alabama using a hedonic price model. Understanding that tradeoffs must be made with limited resources, valuing ecosystem services is important for policy and decision making purposes, such as determining how much public and private financial resources should be put towards wetland maintenance and restoration. Data on property transactions, wetland coverage, and built infrastructure were collected for the analysis. Based on theory and results from a Box-Cox model, the log-linear …

All The Science That Is Fit To Blog: An Analysis Of Science Blogging Practices, Paige Brown Jarreau

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines science blogging practices, including motivations, routines and content decision rules, across a wide range of science bloggers. Previous research has largely failed to investigate science blogging practices from science bloggers’ perspective or to establish a sociological framework for understanding how science bloggers decide what to blog about. I address this gap in previous research by conducting qualitative in-depth interviews with 50 science bloggers and an extensive survey of blogging motivations, approaches, content decisions rules, values and editorial constraints for over 600 active science bloggers. Results reveal that science blog content is shaped heavily by not only individual …

Connected Vehicle Technology: User And System Performance Characteristics, Osama Abdulmonaem Thabet Osman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The emerging connected vehicle (CV) technology plays a promising role in providing more operable and safer transportation environments. Yet, many questions remain unanswered as to how various user and system characteristics of CV-enabled networks can shape the successful implementation of the technology to maximize the return on investment. This research attempts to capture the effect of multiple factors such as traffic density, market penetration, and transmission range on the communication stability and overall network performance by developing a new CONnectivity ROBustness (CONROB) model. The model was tested with data collected from microscopic simulation of a 195 sq-mile traffic network and …

Modeling Two-Phase Flow And Heat Transfer In Polygonal Microchannels, Sai Sashankh Rao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Microfluidics is a burgeoning research area with applications ranging from microfluidic cooling to biomolecule synthesis. Here we study two problems to gain an improved understanding of two-phase flow and heat transfer in microfluidic devices. We also study a third problem on boundary layer flow out of theoretical interest. In the first problem, we study the heat and mass transfer in polygonal micro heat pipes under small imposed temperature differences. A micro heat pipe, used in electronics cooling, consists of a closed polygonal microchannel filled with a wetting liquid and a long vapor bubble. We model the evaporation, fluid flow, and …

Developing Recognition Criteria For Current-Wave-Enhanced Sediment Gravity Flows, Kathryn Christine Denommee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sedimentary fabrics preserved in the rock record provide some of the best evidence for interpreting paleo-depositional conditions. Muddy sediments in particular are important paleoenvironmental archives, preserving the most complete stratigraphic record of any rock type in basinal settings. However, the full range of mechanisms responsible for the deposition of muddy sediments, particularly in high-energy settings, remains poorly understood. Although frequently observed in modern settings, muddy prodeltaic deposits are rarely identified in the rock record, in part because no catalogue of easily distinguishable recognition criteria exists for this class of mudstones. In order to help overcome this deficiency, this dissertation project …

Classification In The Presence Of Ordered Classes And Weighted Evaluative Attributes, Forrest Justin Osterman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We are interested in an important family of problems in the interface of the Multi-Attribute Decision-Making and Data Mining fields. This is a special case of the general classification problem, in which records describing entities of interest have been expressed in terms of a number of evaluative attributes. These attributes are associated with weights of importance, and both the data and the classes are ordinal. Our goal is to use historical records and the corresponding decisions to best estimate the class values of new data points in a way consistent with prior classification decisions, without knowledge of the weights of …

Electrospray Of An Energetic Ionic Liquid Monopropellant For Multi-Mode Micropropulsion Applications, Steven P. Berg, Joshua L. Rovey, Benjamin D. Prince, Shawn W. Miller, Raymond J. Bemish

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The multi-mode chemical-electric propulsion capable energetic ionic liquid propellant [Emim][EtSO4]-HAN is electro sprayed in a 100 µm capillary emitter to test the electric-mode performance of the propellant. The ionic liquid exhibits stable electrospray emission in both cation and anion extraction modes at a nominal extraction voltage of 3400 V. Near field measurements of current and mass flow rate distribution are taken at flow rates from 0.19 nL/s to 3.06 nL/s. Total emission current, as measured by Faraday cup and integrated, increases from 754 nA to 3195 nA for cation emission and from 552 nA to 2012 nA for anion emission. …

On-Die Sensors For Transient Events, Mihir Vimal Suchak

Masters Theses

"Failures caused by transient electromagnetic events like Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) are a major concern for embedded systems. The component often failing is an integrated circuit (IC). Determining which IC is affected in a multi-device system is a challenging task. Debugging errors often requires sophisticated lab setups which require intentionally disturbing and probing various parts of the system which might not be easily accessible. Opening the system and adding probes may change its response to the transient event, which further compounds the problem.

On-die transient event sensors were developed that require relatively little area on die, making them inexpensive, they consume …

Evaluating Unsupervised Methods To Size And Classify Suspended Particles Using Digital In-Line Holography, Emlyn J. Davies, Daniel Buscombe, George W. Graham, W. Alex M. Nimmo-Smith

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Substantial information can be gained from digital in-line holography of marine particles, eliminating depth-of-field and focusing errors associated with standard lens-based imagingmethods.However, for the technique to reach its full potential in oceanographic research, fully unsupervised (automated) methods are required for focusing, segmentation, sizing, and classification of particles. These computational challenges are the subject of this paper, in which the authors draw upon data collected using a variety of holographic systems developed at Plymouth University, United Kingdom, from a significant range of particle types, sizes, and shapes. A new method for noise reduction in reconstructed planes is found to be successful …

Mr4rf: Mem-Device With Impedance And Their Usage With Impedance Matching Networks For Passive Rfid Tags In The Uhf, George H. Harris

Masters Theses

"The passive RFID tag in the UHF has been employed in several different applications including, tracking, logistics, and as a sensing platform for the Internet of things (IoT). The tag is ideal for this industry due to its unique design. It harvests all of its energy from the environment, and is small, cheap, and requires little to no maintenance. However, there are two major issues limiting the potential of the passive RFID systems: the limited power harvested by the tag, and the high susceptibility to interference and coupling. In particular, dynamic environments render the traditionally fixed, RF impedance matching network …

Adaptable Ring, Bayes Theorem And Dual Gradient Analysis: An Approach To Automatic Shape Detection, Skin Lesion Segmentation And Focus Detection Respectively For Medical Image Analysis, Kanakam T. Maddala

Masters Theses

“Vision-based applications are increasing with the increase in technology and are making a huge impact in this global civilization. A vision-based measurement approach for pill shape detection was developed for medical pill identification, a focus detection method was developed for digital dermoscopy, and a machine learning approach was used for automatic lesion segmentation, which assists in automatic melanoma diagnosis. Rapid and accurate pill identification is needed by medical and law enforcement personnel during emergencies. But, one of the main parameters in pill identification is the shape of the pill. An Adaptable-Ring approach describes a novel technique to accurately detect the …

Personal Jurisdiction Based On The Local Effects Of Intentional Misconduct, Allan Erbsen

Articles

Intentional misconduct frequently has extraterritorial consequences. Terrorist attacks, toxic pollution, civil rights violations, and other intentional torts can cause harm within a state despite originating outside the state. Those harms raise a vexing constitutional question: when do the local effects of intentional wrongdoing authorize personal jurisdiction over a defendant whose conduct occurred outside the forum? The answer has several significant implications. Granting or denying jurisdiction allocates power between states in a way that can support or undermine regulatory interests, imposes burdens on the parties that can impede access to justice, and alters risk assessments that shape both socially desirable and …

What Works For Women At Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need To Know (Book Review), Naomi Cahn, June Carbone

Articles

An essential resource for any working woman, What Works for Women at Work is a comprehensive and insightful guide for mastering office politics as a woman. Authored by Joan C. Williams, one of the nation’s most-cited experts on women and work, and her daughter, writer Rachel Dempsey, this unique book offers a multi-generational perspective into the realities of today’s workplace. Often women receive messages that they have only themselves to blame for failing to get ahead—Negotiate more! Stop being such a wimp! Stop being such a witch! What Works for Women at Work tells women it’s not their fault. The …

A Critical Take On Group Regulation Of Insurers In The United States, Daniel Schwarcz

Articles

U.S. insurance regulation focuses predominantly on individual insurance entities, rather than on groups of commonly owned and managed companies. Yet the bailout of AIG and emerging international norms increasingly suggest that effective insurance regulation must operate on both a legal-entity and a group-wide basis. For this reason, state insurance regulators have in recent years focused renewed attention on group insurance regulation. These efforts have produced a “windows and walls” framework for group regulation that attempts to insulate individual insurance companies from potential financial risks associated with their parents and affiliates (“walls”), while simultaneously allowing regulators to remain attuned to these …

Milliken, Meredith And Metropolitan Segregation, Myron Orfield

Articles

No abstract provided.

Nuclear Structure Of 26si And 32cl For Astrophysics, Liudmyla Afanasieva

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We studied the nuclear structure of two isotopes, 26Si and 32Cl, important for understanding stellar explosions like novae and Type I X-ray bursts. The 31S(p,γ)32Cl reaction rate influences the enrichment of sulfur observed in some nova ejecta, but the uncertainty in the rate spans as much as an order of magnitude and arises from uncertainties in the properties of resonances corresponding to excited states in 32Cl. We populated states in 32Cl via the 10B(24Mg,2n)32Cl reaction using the Argonne Tandem-Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS), with a 75 MeV beam of 24Mg bombarding a 200 μg/cm2 10B target. Gamma rays emitted from recoiling …

Thermo-Catalytic Upgrading Of Pyrolysis Vapors Using Electromagnetic Heating, Pranjali Devidas Muley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Electromagnetic heating offers several advantages such as rapid heating rates, accurate temperature control and energy efficiency over conventional reactors. The goal of this study was to design an effective and energy efficient catalytic reactor for pyrolysis vapor upgrading. An induction based catalytic reactor was designed for upgrading of pyrolysis vapors. The effect of catalyst bed temperatures (290°, 330° and 370°C) and biomass to catalyst ratios of 1, 1.5 and 2 was studied. The results were compared to conventional heating reactor. Induction heating reactor performance exceeded that of conventional heater. The biomass to catalyst ratio of 2 in combination with the …

Essay On Anti-Takeover Provisions And Corporate Spin-Offs, Wei Du

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the prevalent use of anti-takeover provisions (ATPs) based indices as measures of corporate governance quality, the role of ATPs (efficiency vs. entrenchment hypotheses), and their relationship to firm performance are not fully understood. Corporate spin-offs offer a unique opportunity to disentangle entrenchment motives from efficiency motives behind the adoption of ATPs. This setting also provides relatively clean inferences on the relation between ATPs and firm performance. This paper studies the design of ATPs in spun-off firms relative to their parents, the determinants of ATPs, and their relationship to subsequent firm performance. We show that spun-off firms typically are endowed …

Insights Into Chlorinated Aliphatic Alkane Reductive Dehalogenation By Dehalogenimonas Lykanthroporepellens Bl-Dc-9t And Development Of Nucleic Acid-Based Techniques For Monitoring Gene Expression, Kalpataru Mukherjee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens BL-DC-9T is an anaerobic bacterial strain that can reductively dehalogenate a variety of vicinally chlorinated alkanes. Making use of the strain’s genome sequence, PCR primers were designed to uniquely target each of the 25 reductive dehalogenase homologous (rdhA) genes present in the genome. RNA extracted from D. lykanthroporepellens BL-DC-9T cultures that were dechlorinating three chlorinated solvents (1,2-dichloroethane, 1,2-dichloropropane and 1,2,3-trichloropropane) were used in reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) to determine rdhA gene expression patterns. Transcripts from 19 rdhA genes were detected in the RT-PCR experiments, with identical gene expression patterns during growth with all three chlorinated electron acceptors employed …

Agnes In Agony: Damasus, Ambrose, Prudentius, And The Construction Of The Female Martyr Narrative, Eric James Poche'

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the earliest surviving sources on the virgin martyr Agnes. Agnes is significant due to the popularity of her cult and the large number of early sources recounting her martyrdom. This dissertation argues that the fourth-century bishops Damasus and Ambrose, along with the Christian poet Prudentius, helped construct the narrative of Agnes’ passion in order to help popularize her cult throughout western Christendom. In an effort to promote virgin asceticism to their communities, they endorsed Agnes as the dominant exemplum for female piety in the west. By doing so, they associated themselves with the influential martyr. Since Agnes …

Game Theoretic Analyses Of The United States-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade, Rajan Parajuli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ongoing softwood lumber trade dispute between the United States (U.S.) and Canada is one of the most contentious and largest bilateral trade battles over the recent decades. The bilateral trade debate is mostly because of the different forestland ownership systems in the U.S. and Canada, and the alleged timber subsidies by provincial governments to Canadian lumber producers. The Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) 2006 between the U.S. and Canada is the latest transitory solution of this dispute, entailing Canada to impose mandatory export charges on its lumber shipments to the U.S. In order to understand this trade dispute from a …

Regulation Of The Chloride Store In The Retinal Amacrine Cells, Vijai Krishnan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nitric Oxide (NO) is a key gaseous messenger that has been shown to be produced by multiple cell types in the vertebrate retina. Research in our lab is aimed at unlocking critical synaptic functions of NO. A major finding from our lab is that NO affects synaptic responses in amacrine cells by altering the plasma membrane gradient for Cl-. This is due to release of Cl- from an internal store and this in turn dependent on a decrease in cytosolic pH. Determining the factors regulating cytosolic Cl- in neurons is fundamental to our understanding of the function of GABAergic and …

The Saxophone Symposium: An Index Of The Journal Of The North American Saxophone Alliance, 1976-2014, Ashley Kelly

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Saxophone Symposium is the journal of the North American Saxophone Alliance and is a peer-reviewed academic publication. Since 1976, its readership has enjoyed articles on a variety of saxophone related topics as well as reviews of contemporary recordings and publications. Aside from these academic applications, The Saxophone Symposium is an historical account of some of the saxophone culture in North America and beyond. Academic journals such as this are invaluable to both students and educators, and the ability to access the information within them is vital. Prior to the digital age, the majority of serious academic journals have been …

Examining The Effectiveness Of A Minority Bridge Program On The Academic Success Of African American Undergraduates At Predominantly White Institutions: A Mixed Methods Approach, Brandi Roberts

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a minority bridge program’s (MBP) impact on the academic success of African American undergraduates at a predominantly White institution (PWI). Minority bridge programs (MBP) are transition programs designed to academically and socially prepare students transition points in their educational careers. The goal of the MBP examined in this study was to acclimate minority students to college during the summer between high school and college. Although a few studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of MBPs, those studies are largely descriptive and lack empirical evidence. Drawing from the …

Resurgence, Catherine Groth

Architecture Theses

Detroit, Michigan, is on the cusp of the biggest economic crisis of its history. This architectural thesis will seek to blend the elements of socio-economics, cultural relevance and historical significance in order to provide a sustainable solution for Detroit’s revival. The project will be a mixed-use, urban infill master-plan development with a cross-disciplinary focus of sociological, economical and architectural trends. A multi-use, dynamic arts centre will be individually developed and detailed with the integration of studio spaces for students to practice in. Flexibility and adaptability of individual and holistic design elements will be integrated in order to appropriately respond to …

An Architecture Of Neuroscience, Josh Donnelly

Architecture Theses

The primary objective of this thesis is to explore how an understanding of neuroscience can influence the human perception of the built environment. Advancement in the field of neuroscience has allowed for a greater understanding of how we perceive the world at a neurological level. An effort to understand our experience of the built environment has been theorized since the time of Vitruvius. This thesis investigates these relationships through an urban in-fill project in downtown Fargo, North Dakota.

Synthesis With Hypergraphs, Christopher Thomas Alvin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many problems related to synthesis with intelligent tutoring may be phrased as program synthesis problems using AI-style search and formal reasoning techniques. The _x000C_first two results in this dissertation focus on problem synthesis as an aspect of intelligent tutoring systems applied to STEM-based education frameworks, specifically high school geometry. Given a geometric _x000C_figure as input, our technique constructs a hypergraph representing logical deduction of facts, and then traverses the hypergraph to synthesize problems and their corresponding solutions. Using similar techniques, our third result is focused on exhaustive synthesis of molecules. This synthesis process involves bonding sets of basic, molecular `fragments' …