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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Application Of Short-Term Sediment Dynamics And Particle-Bound Phosphorus Fractionation Methods (Sedex) To Estimate The Benthic Nutrient Loading Potential In Upper Newport Estuary, California, Hilary Amanda Collis Jan 2006

Application Of Short-Term Sediment Dynamics And Particle-Bound Phosphorus Fractionation Methods (Sedex) To Estimate The Benthic Nutrient Loading Potential In Upper Newport Estuary, California, Hilary Amanda Collis

LSU Master's Theses

Estuaries act as sources, sinks, and biogeochemical transformation sites for natural and anthropogenically-derived nutrients. Sediment loading from watersheds provides an important source of particulate nutrients to estuaries often neglected when constructing nutrient budgets. Deposition and resuspension of these sediments are known to impact biogeochemical cycles in estuarine environments. Phosphorus (P) exists in many forms in aquatic environments, and increased P loading to coastal environments increases primary productivity potentially leading to eutrophication. Magnitude and variability of sediment deposition, resuspension, and sediment-bound P concentrations were evaluated in Upper Newport Bay (UNB), California. During 2004, seven push cores were collected from the intertidal …


Index Future Pricing Under Imperfect Market And Stochastic Volatility, Wei-Hsien Li Jan 2006

Index Future Pricing Under Imperfect Market And Stochastic Volatility, Wei-Hsien Li

LSU Master's Theses

Financial markets in emerging countries are volatile and imperfect, so pricing model under traditional perfect-market frameset may not give reliable price of financial derivatives. The most famous pricing model for stock index future is the cost of carry model. The mis-pricing of cost of carry model inspires lots of following researches. Even transaction costs, dividends, stochastic interest rate, stochastic volatility, market imperfection, and other factors are considered, we still do not obtain a model price consistently better than cost of carry model. But these researches offer important insights, for example, the market needs time to mature and the more complex …


Delineating Hurricane Vulnerable Populations In Orleans Parish, Louisiana, Stephanie Pedro Jan 2006

Delineating Hurricane Vulnerable Populations In Orleans Parish, Louisiana, Stephanie Pedro

LSU Master's Theses

Since settlement first began, equality issues between different social classes have been evident in the location of where residents settled in New Orleans. This research seeks to answer the question: What socioeconomic indicators are prevalent in the areas most-at-risk to flooding which could inhabit populations least able to evacuate? I will use Census 2000 block group data from the socioeconomic sample data (SF3) collected in 2000, along with other economic and GIS data from the New Orleans region to statistically represent the distribution of risk by selecting indicators predicted to be in flood zones from a classification tree analysis. Then, …


Characterization Of The Dependency Across Foreign Exchange Markets Using Copulas, Ryan Coelho Jan 2006

Characterization Of The Dependency Across Foreign Exchange Markets Using Copulas, Ryan Coelho

LSU Master's Theses

Though Pearson's correlation coefficient provides a convenient approach to measuring the dependency between two variables, in the last few years, there has been a significant amount of literature cautioning against the use of Pearson's correlation coefficient, as it does not remain invariant under monotone transformations of the underlying distribution functions. Since we are interested in examining the dependency pattern observed by the return on the Sterling Pound with that of the Japanese Yen, we will use the notion of a copula to approximate the joint density function between the daily returns on the Sterling Pound and the Japanese Yen. In …


Swamp Tours In Louisiana Post Hurricane Katrina And Hurricane Rita, Dawn Schaffer Jan 2006

Swamp Tours In Louisiana Post Hurricane Katrina And Hurricane Rita, Dawn Schaffer

LSU Master's Theses

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita made landfall in southern Louisiana during August and September 2005, respectively. Prior to these storms swamp tours were a popular nature-based tourism experience that entertained visitors while teaching them about local flora, fauna, and culture. The number of swamp tour businesses in the state was slowly increasing. The purpose of this study was to determine how many swamp tours were operating after the hurricanes, what type of damage they sustained, and how they repaired their businesses. Differences between those tours that remained open after the hurricanes and those that closed were also examined. A 3-phase mail …


Effects Of Fire On Habitat Associations, Abundance, And Survival Of Wintering Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus Henslowii) In Southeastern Louisiana Longleaf Pine Savannas, Erik Ivan Johnson Jan 2006

Effects Of Fire On Habitat Associations, Abundance, And Survival Of Wintering Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus Henslowii) In Southeastern Louisiana Longleaf Pine Savannas, Erik Ivan Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

The Henslow’s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) is the fastest declining short-distance migrant and fastest declining grassland bird in North America. Declines in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) savannas, its primary wintering habitat, have exceeded 97%. Other than basic habitat requirements, very little is known about its wintering ecology. I examined habitat associations of wintering Henslow’s Sparrows resulting from fire in longleaf pine savannas in southeastern Louisiana during two winters. Because it is important to understand the relative importance of habitat parameters, which include structure, species composition, and food availability, I measured these to determine their relative importance to Henslow’s Sparrow densities. I …


Two-Dimensional Penalized Signal Regression For Hand Written Digit Recognition, Qing Tang Jan 2006

Two-Dimensional Penalized Signal Regression For Hand Written Digit Recognition, Qing Tang

LSU Master's Theses

Many attempts have been made to achieve successful recognition of handwritten digits. We report our results of using statistical method on handwritten digit recognition. A digitized handwritten numeral can be represented by an image with grayscales. The image includes features that are mapped into two-dimensional space with row and column coordinates. Based on this structure, two-dimensional penalized signal logistic regression (PSR) is applied to the recognition of handwritten digits. The data set is taken from the USPS zip code database that contains 7219 training images and 2007 test images. All the images have been deslanted and normalized into 16 x …


An Architecture For Adaptive Real Time Communication With Embedded Devices, Amol S. Patwardhan Jan 2006

An Architecture For Adaptive Real Time Communication With Embedded Devices, Amol S. Patwardhan

LSU Master's Theses

The virtual testbed is designed to be a cost-effective rapid development environment as well as a teaching tool for embedded systems. Teaching and development of embedded systems otherwise requires dedicated real time operating systems and costly infrastructure for hardware simulation. Writing control software for embedded systems with such a setup takes prolonged development cycles. Moreover, actual hardware may get damaged while writing the control software. On the contrary, in a virtual testbed environment, a simulator running on the host machine is used instead of the actual hardware, which then interacts with an embedded processor through serial communication. This hardware-in-the-loop setup …


Spatial Distribution Of Anthropogenic Environmental Hazards In The Louisiana Coastal Zone: Implications For Ecosystem Restoration, Melissa Ann Kroninger Jan 2006

Spatial Distribution Of Anthropogenic Environmental Hazards In The Louisiana Coastal Zone: Implications For Ecosystem Restoration, Melissa Ann Kroninger

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this project was to assess the spatial distribution of anthropogenic environmental hazards in the Louisiana coastal zone and implications of those hazards for coastal resources and restoration efforts. Several state and federal environmental databases publicly available on the internet were selected for inclusion in this study. The hazard sites were mapped in a Geographic Information System by geocoding addresses obtained from the databases. Sites with unmatched addresses were mapped to zip code centroid. Hazard types in databases lacking spatial data at the address level were totaled and mapped by parish. Buffers were created at 1, 2, 3, …


Using Life-History, Surplus Production, And Individual-Based Population Models For Stock Assessment Of Data-Poor Stocks: An Application To Small Pelagic Fisheries Of The Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, Ronald B. Lachica Jan 2006

Using Life-History, Surplus Production, And Individual-Based Population Models For Stock Assessment Of Data-Poor Stocks: An Application To Small Pelagic Fisheries Of The Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, Ronald B. Lachica

LSU Master's Theses

Stock assessment methods that quantify the status of fishery resources are critical to effective fisheries management. There is a need for stock assessment methods applicable for management of tropical species based on limited, un-aged catch data. I applied four stock assessment approaches to situation with limited life-history information and with short-term, un-aged catch data. The four approaches are: life-history invariants, length-based catch analysis, individual-based modeling, and surplus production modeling. All four approaches were applied to catch data from Lingayen Gulf, Philippines. The life-history invariant, length-based catch analysis, and individual-based modeling were applied to monthly length-frequency data of commercial catch for …


Habitat Use By Nekton In A Saltmarsh Estuary Along A Stream-Order Gradient In Northeastern Barataria Bay, Louisiana, Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff Jan 2006

Habitat Use By Nekton In A Saltmarsh Estuary Along A Stream-Order Gradient In Northeastern Barataria Bay, Louisiana, Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff

LSU Master's Theses

Mesohaline estuarine regions in Louisiana play an important role in coastal ecosystems. To begin to understand how nektonic species and communities respond to environmental variables before habitat modification, I examined patterns of habitat use by fishes and decapod crustaceans in a seemingly pristine mesohaline system that drains into Bay Batiste, southeastern Louisiana. The study area was focused on a relatively unaltered core saltmarsh complex drained by intertidal and subtidal streams and it was representative of a larger surrounding system in terms of nekton community structure and associated environmental variables. Stratified monthly sampling (February – November 2004) along a stream-order gradient …


Muscovite Pseudomorphs After Staurolite As A Record Of Fluid Infiltration During Prograde Metamorphism, Jennifer Kaye Whittington Jan 2006

Muscovite Pseudomorphs After Staurolite As A Record Of Fluid Infiltration During Prograde Metamorphism, Jennifer Kaye Whittington

LSU Master's Theses

Pressure-temperature conditions encountered by metamorphic rocks are often used to constrain tectonic environments of formation. Evidence of the prograde path during metamorphism is often obliterated by peak metamorphic conditions. However, pseudomorphs that form during prograde metamorphism may provide insights into heat and mass transport along this portion of the P-T-X-t path. Seventeen sillimanite zone samples, each containing 2-5 muscovite-rich pseudomorphs after staurolite, were investigated from pelitic schists of the Farmington Quadrangle, west-central Maine, USA. Pseudomorphs are easily recognized by an increase in average grain size (~cm) and change to randomly oriented muscovite-rich (~45-75%) modal mineralogy relative to the rock matrix …


Verification Of Direct Brachytherapy Dosimetry For A Single Seed Implant, Jabari Robinson Jan 2006

Verification Of Direct Brachytherapy Dosimetry For A Single Seed Implant, Jabari Robinson

LSU Master's Theses

A new technique using direct post-implant dosimetry, which does not depend explicitly on brachytherapy seed orientation or position, was explored for a prostate and a breast case. This technique, proposed by E Sajo and ML Williams (SW), uses trace amounts of positron emitters placed in the seed capsule and uses the positron emission tomography image in conjunction with a computed tomography image (PET-CT) to compute the therapeutic dose distribution in the patient. The SW technique could reduce errors in the post-implant dose computations associated with seed localization, seed shadowing and medium heterogeneity. Dose point kernels were obtained using Monte Carlo …


Mcd And Magnetization Studies On Nifb/Nifz Minus Molybdenum Iron Protein From Azotobacter Vinelandii, Marcia S. Cotton Jan 2006

Mcd And Magnetization Studies On Nifb/Nifz Minus Molybdenum Iron Protein From Azotobacter Vinelandii, Marcia S. Cotton

LSU Master's Theses

This study reports a characterization of the iron-sulfur clusters of the MoFe protein expressed by the nifBnifZ deletion strain of A. vinelandii. VT-MCD spectroscopic and magnetization analysis of as-isolated ΔnifBΔnifZ MoFe protein were undertaken. VT-MCD spectra of as-isolated ΔnifBΔnifZ MoFe protein contains bands remarkably similar to those seen in as-isolated ΔnifH MoFe protein, assigned to arise from an [4Fe-4S]+ cluster. The low-temperature magnetization curve of as-isolated ΔnifBΔnifZ MoFe protein reveals the MCD spectra bands stem from an S = ½ spin system with diamagnetic contributions of some other species. As-isolated ΔnifBΔnifZ MoFe protein is compared with as-isolated ΔnifH MoFe …


Laboratory And Field Measurements Of Bioturbation By Macrofauna In A Coastal Setting, Skyler Neylon Jan 2006

Laboratory And Field Measurements Of Bioturbation By Macrofauna In A Coastal Setting, Skyler Neylon

LSU Master's Theses

Two ophiuroid species, Hemipholis elongata and Ophiophragmus spp. were studied in laboratory microcosms to elucidate patterns of sediment mixing for key bioturbators in the Mississippi Sound, Mississippi. The effects of bioturbation on artificially stratified sediments in microcosms were traced via time-series digital x-radiography. Preliminary results indicate that for three population densities of the brittle stars (comparable to field densities), a steady state volumetric bioturbation rate of 1-2 cm3/d is reached within two months of introduction to a fresh system. The preservation quotient, q, a fractional measure of preserved primary fabric, reached a minimum of 0.5 during the 16-week experiment. Maximum …


Breeding Waterbird Use Of Rice Fields In Southwestern Louisiana, Sergio Pierluissi Jan 2006

Breeding Waterbird Use Of Rice Fields In Southwestern Louisiana, Sergio Pierluissi

LSU Master's Theses

Rice fields are agricultural wetlands concentrated in several areas in the U.S., including southwestern Louisiana. Rice fields are flooded for much of the year and support thick emergent vegetation, potentially providing high-quality habitat for several species of breeding waterbirds. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine relative nest density, nest success, and habitat associations of breeding waterbirds in southwestern Louisiana rice fields and (2) determine the effectiveness of callback surveys as a monitoring tool. In the summers of 2004 and 2005, marsh bird surveys and nest searches were conducted in Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Vermilion, and Acadia Parishes in …


Effects Of Insectivorous Birds On Tree Growth In The Maurepas Swamp, David M. Fox Jan 2006

Effects Of Insectivorous Birds On Tree Growth In The Maurepas Swamp, David M. Fox

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal forests in Louisiana are in decline due to natural and human caused changes in the hydrology of the region. Baldcypress and water tupelo trees have been further stressed by caterpillar herbivory in recent decades. Regeneration of water tupelo is crucial for cavity creation for nesting habitat for secondary cavity nesting bird populations. Insectivorous birds have been shown to decrease insect-caused leaf damage on trees in other ecosystems. Two experiments examining effects of insectivorous birds on tree growth were conducted in degraded areas of the Maurepas Swamp in southeastern Louisiana. In the first experiment, nest boxes were added to study …


The Impact Of Hypoxia On Mercury Methylation In Bottom Sediment Of Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Mei Huey Tan Jan 2006

The Impact Of Hypoxia On Mercury Methylation In Bottom Sediment Of Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Mei Huey Tan

LSU Master's Theses

Widespread concern has developed about high mercury content in fish in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent estuaries and bays. Among the areas implicated as possible sources of the mercury that moves up the food chain from the methylmercury formed in sediments and anoxic waters is the seasonal hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf. This research was designed to determine if methylmercury formation is stimulated by the anaerobic sediment conditions accompanying the onset of summer hypoxia in the Gulf. Both field and laboratory studies were carried out. For the field study sediment samples were collected at three stations (i.e. C4, …


Salt Marsh Restoration With Sediment-Slurry Amendments Following A Drought-Induced, Large-Scale Disturbance, Angela Marie Schrift Jan 2006

Salt Marsh Restoration With Sediment-Slurry Amendments Following A Drought-Induced, Large-Scale Disturbance, Angela Marie Schrift

LSU Master's Theses

A large-scale, drought-induced disturbance occurred in Louisiana during the spring and summer of 2000. Approximately 100,000 acres of Spartina dominated marshes died-back and turned brown. This die-off caused considerable concern because in the absence of recovery dieback marshes can transform to mudflats, which can subside leading to open ponds. The state of Louisiana is attempting to restore some of the dieback marshes through the addition of sediment-slurries. The sediment-slurry generated significantly different marsh elevations: high elevation (mean and 95 % confidence interval: 29, 26 to 32 cm above ambient marsh), medium elevation (21, 19 to 24 cm), low elevation (14, …


Links Between Environmental Mercury, Special Education, And Autism In Louisiana, Jessica Rury Jan 2006

Links Between Environmental Mercury, Special Education, And Autism In Louisiana, Jessica Rury

LSU Master's Theses

The number of children born every year with neurological disorders is increasing and some of this increase may be attributed to mercury exposure. Pregnant women ingest contaminated fish, which transfers high mercury concentrations to the unborn fetus. This exposure may result in methyl mercury buildup in the brain of the unborn fetus. Symptoms ranging from minor to severe may be observed as special educational needs in school systems. These include learning disorders, developmental delays, and autism. Louisianans are especially susceptible to mercury contamination because fish and shellfish are a major portion of their cultural diet. This study, through the use …


Evaluation Of Tcp Based Congestion Control Algorithms Over High-Speed Networks, Yaaser Ahmed Mohammed Jan 2006

Evaluation Of Tcp Based Congestion Control Algorithms Over High-Speed Networks, Yaaser Ahmed Mohammed

LSU Master's Theses

The Additive Increase Multiplicative Decrease (AIMD) algorithm of the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) had worked remarkably well over low speed networks and had guaranteed fairness to the users all over these years, but at present, the demands for transferring large quantities of data over very high-speed networks are increasing at a tremendous rate. Because of its AIMD algorithm to control its window growth function accompanied by a slow response function which is inadequate over high-speed links, TCP has been proven to underutilize the available network bandwidth and leave a considerable amount of unused bandwidth. To overcome this limitation of TCP, …


Tomotherapy For Post-Mastectomy Radiotherapy (Pmrt): Comparison With Conventional Electron Beam Technique, Michael Sissay Ashenafi Jan 2006

Tomotherapy For Post-Mastectomy Radiotherapy (Pmrt): Comparison With Conventional Electron Beam Technique, Michael Sissay Ashenafi

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: TomoTherapy, capable of delivering intensity-modulated, image-guided radiotherapy with a helical fan-beam, multileaf-collimated beam and detector array mounted on a CT ring, is challenging the treatment techniques commonly used in today's radiotherapy clinic. The present works investigates the potential of using TomoTherapy in lieu of electron beams for treatment of the chest wall in post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT). It is hypothesized that TomoTherapy can plan dose distributions for PMRT patients, that a pre-selected radiation oncologist judges to be equal to or better than that of a conventional plan treated with electron beams. Methods: A patient database of retrospective conventional PMRT treatment …


Spatial Distribution Of Heavy Metals In Louisiana Sediments And Study Of Factors Impacting The Concentrations, Suniti Bhattarai Jan 2006

Spatial Distribution Of Heavy Metals In Louisiana Sediments And Study Of Factors Impacting The Concentrations, Suniti Bhattarai

LSU Master's Theses

To identify the sites with elevated metal concentrations and factors impacting the concentrations, we studied 128 observations on heavy metals collected from the four inch deep sediments in Louisiana lakes and rivers. Use of Fe as a normalizing factor to interpret the site of metal enrichment was justified based on its high correlation with other heavy metals. The regression coefficients of metal/Fe came out to be significant for all the metals in both level and log versions. For the metals, where prediction exceeded upper 95% confidence interval, we mapped the site with factors such as number of industries located within …


Effects Of Silvicultural Techniques And Landscape Management On Habitat Quality And Relative Abundance For Northern Bobwhites In A Pine Plantation Forest, Jason Douglas Burke Jan 2006

Effects Of Silvicultural Techniques And Landscape Management On Habitat Quality And Relative Abundance For Northern Bobwhites In A Pine Plantation Forest, Jason Douglas Burke

LSU Master's Theses

Pine plantation forests are increasing in scope across the southeastern United States, particularly Louisiana. These areas provide poor quality bobwhite brood-rearing habitats, and become increasingly degraded without periodic disturbance. Poor quality habitat conditions at a landscape-level scale usually results in reduced fall bobwhite body weights, creating low survival rates. We researched 4 understory vegetation management techniques (ie. mowing, no treatment, burn only, and imazapyr with burning) within pine plantations to evaluate their effects on vegetation composition and structure and on arthropod abundance and availability relative to bobwhite brooding habitat in 2002-2005. We used 1,155 human-imprinted bobwhite chicks to estimate foraging …


Assessing The Potential Impact Of Microbes In The Edwards And Trinity Aquifers Of Central Texas, Kelli Willson Randall Jan 2006

Assessing The Potential Impact Of Microbes In The Edwards And Trinity Aquifers Of Central Texas, Kelli Willson Randall

LSU Master's Theses

The Edwards Aquifer in central Texas is one of the largest carbonate aquifers in the United States, supplying nearly two million people with water. The role of microorganisms in the development of deep carbonate aquifers has not been thoroughly investigated. The Edwards Aquifer is composed of a freshwater zone and a sulfidic, saline water zone. Down-well video surveys show an abundance of white filamentous and planktonic biomass floating in the water column, indicating that the saline water may serve as a habitat for microbes and provide a unique opportunity to investigate microbially enhanced deep subsurface karstification. A combination of geochemical …


Petrological And Geochemical Investigations Of Deep Sea Turbidite Sands In The Pandora And Moresby Troughs: Source To Sink Papua New Guinea Focus Area, Luke Jeremiah Patterson Jan 2006

Petrological And Geochemical Investigations Of Deep Sea Turbidite Sands In The Pandora And Moresby Troughs: Source To Sink Papua New Guinea Focus Area, Luke Jeremiah Patterson

LSU Master's Theses

The Moresby and Pandora Troughs of the northern Coral Sea are components of the deep-sea depositional system that is the ultimate sink for the Source to Sink Papua New Guinea (PNG) Focus Area. Cores collected from the R/V Melville during March-April 2004 reveal marine volcaniclastic and terrigenous turbidites deposited in these troughs during the Quaternary. Constraining the spatial, temporal, and provenance characteristics for these terrigenous sands through mineralogical, chemical, and textural analysis is the primary focus of this study. All cores contain thinly-bedded sandy turbidite packages interlayered with hemipelagic marls and typical centimeter-to-meter-thick turbidite sequences. The Moresby Trough core JPC22 …


Improved Abutment Dosimetry In Segmented-Field Electron Conformal Therapy, John Dudley Richert Jan 2006

Improved Abutment Dosimetry In Segmented-Field Electron Conformal Therapy, John Dudley Richert

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: Segmented-field electron conformal therapy is characterized by dose heterogeneity due to unmatched penumbra of abutted fields of differing energy. The present work investigates the potential to decrease dose heterogeneity by approximately matching beam penumbra using energy-specific source-to-collimator distances (SCDs). It was hypothesized that a clinically practical, variable-SCD method that utilizes Cerrobend® custom inserts can deliver segmented-field electron conformal therapy in the energy range of 6-20 MeV with less than ±5% variation in dose spread in the abutment regions of hypothetical planning target volumes (PTVs), i.e. constrain the PTV dose to 85%-105%. Methods: A Varian 15x15-cm2 electron applicator was modified …


Use Of Atomic Force Microscopy To Study A Molecular Micelle As An Anionic Polymer For Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Deposition On Polymeric Substrates, Angela Nakeeta Douglas Jan 2006

Use Of Atomic Force Microscopy To Study A Molecular Micelle As An Anionic Polymer For Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Deposition On Polymeric Substrates, Angela Nakeeta Douglas

LSU Master's Theses

Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) have been used as stationary phases for various chiral and achiral separations in open-tubular electrochromatagraphy (OT-CEC). However, the physical characteristics of PEMs are not well understood. The production of PEM coatings involves flowing alternating rinses of positive and negative charged polyelectrolytes onto a surface. Although PEMs are typically deposited on fused silica capillaries, there is growing interest to use this approach in conjunction with microchip devices to enhance separation characteristics. Since microchips are fabricated using polymeric substrates, the deposition of PEMs on these substrates needs to be examined. The study reported in this thesis uses atomic force …


Optimal Binary Trees With Height Restrictions On Left And Right Branches, Song Ding Jan 2006

Optimal Binary Trees With Height Restrictions On Left And Right Branches, Song Ding

LSU Master's Theses

We begin with background definitions on binary trees. Then we review known algorithms for finding optimal binary search trees. Knuth's famous algorithm, presented in the second chapter, is the cornerstone for our work. It depends on two important results: the Quadrangle Lemma and the Monoticity Theorem. These enabled Knuth to achieve a time complexity of O(n2), while previous algorithms had been O(n3) (n = size of input). We present the known generalization of Knuth's algorithm to trees with a height restriction. Finally, we consider the previously unexamined case of trees with different restrictions on left and …


Winter Diet, Seed Preferences And Foraging Behavior Of Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus Henslowii) In Southeastern Louisiana, Jennifer K. Dimiceli Jan 2006

Winter Diet, Seed Preferences And Foraging Behavior Of Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus Henslowii) In Southeastern Louisiana, Jennifer K. Dimiceli

LSU Master's Theses

Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) is a grassland bird whose population is declining throughout its range, mainly due to habitat loss. The Longleaf Pine forest ecosystems in which Henslow's Sparrows spend their winters are reduced to 5% of their former range. The winter ecology of Henslow's Sparrow remains understudied, especially regarding important aspects of diet and foraging behavior. To determine winter diet, I collected fecal samples from Henslow's Sparrows during banding operations in southeastern Louisiana pine savannas from October 2003-March 2004 and October 2004-April 2005. I then analyzed the samples for presence of seeds and arthropod parts, identified them to the …