Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Synthesis Of Oligopeptide Fragments For An Skp1 Mimetic, Jarret Curtis

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Assessment Of Hybridization And Introgression Of Morone Species In The Toledo Bend Reservoir, Louisiana, Kelsey L. Daroca

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Unsupervised Semantic Classification Methods, John Gilmer

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Oxidative Derivatization Of Folic Acid Monitored By Capillary Electrophoresis With Uv Absorbance And Fluorescence Detection, Jeffrey P. Cunniff

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Bachelor’S Thesis In Physics: A Chernoff Analysis Of An Invisible Quantum Tripwire With Photon Loss, Daniel Lum

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Worst Case Discharge Scenario, Noah Mcgill

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

A New Theory Of Stochastic Integration, Anuwat Sae-Tang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we focus mainly on the further study of the new stochastic integral introduced by Ayed and Kuo in 2008. Several properties of this new stochastic integral are obtained. We first introduce the concept of near-martingale for non-adapted stochastic processes. This concept is a generalization of the martingale property for adapted stochastic processes in the It\^o theory. We prove a special case of It\^o isometry for the stochastic integral of certain instantly independent processes. We obtain some formulas for expressing a new stochastic integral in terms of It\^o integrals and Riemann integrals. Several generalized versions of It\^o's formula …

Understanding The Selective Detection Of Homocysteine And Studies Toward The Synthesis Of Vinigrol, Dong Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first part of the work is dedicated to the selective detection of Homocysteine (Hcy). In order to better understand this colorimetric detection method, a thermodynamic model for the pH dependence of the effective reduction potential of Hcy derived á-carbon radicals has been proposed. And using viologen indicators of varying reduction potentials, we demonstrate that colorimetric changes occur at experimental pH values consistent with the model. The one-carbon bridge stereochemistry of bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane framework is critical to make the third ring of the tricyclic precursor of vinigrol. We studied this stereochemistry carefully and found that the major diastereomer formed from Robinson …

Fully Integrated Microsystem For Bacterial Genotyping, Hui-Wen Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Methods for bacterial detection and identification has garnered renewed interest in recent years due to the infections they may cause and the antimicrobial resistances they can develop, the potential for bioterrorism threats and possible contamination of food/water supplies. Therefore, the rapid, specific and accurate detection of pathogens is crucial for the prevention of pathogen-related disease outbreaks and facilitating disease management as well as the containment of suspected contaminated food and/or water supplies. In this dissertation an integrated modular-based microfluidic system composed of a fluidic cartridge and a control instrument has been developed for bacterial pathogen detection. The integrated system can …

Transport Properties Of Nanometer-Sized Assemblies Through Nanofluidic Channels With Single Entity Electrical Detection, Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Uba

LSU Master's Theses

Recently, there have been reports on biological and solid-state nanopores that identify single biopolymers or their constituent monomers by analyzing changes in ionic current blockades when they block the flux of buffer ions while travelling through the nanopores. Nevertheless, there have been several limitations in their application, especially as DNA detectors; Poor confinement of the DNA strand within the nanopore (~0.1 % of a 10 kilobase (kb) DNA), poor signal sensitivity and random motion experienced by the DNA in solution that results in a large amount of noise in the signal. These have led to the development of nanochannel-based devices, …

Development Of A Monte Carlo Based Correction Strategy For A Tg-43 Based Brachytherapy Treatment Planning System To Account For Applicator Inhomogeneities, Bobby Chon Mathews

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to investigate the use of pre-calculated Monte Carlo (MC) ovoid and source-based attenuation-correction factors that would correct a commercially-available brachytherapy treatment planning system (TPS) generated plan in order to account for any dosimetric effects due to the presence of intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) applicators during treatment delivery. Methods: A MC model of an ICBT CT-MR compatible ovoid applicator set was confirmed utilizing radiochromic film (RCF). MC was used to simulate dose distributions resulting from eight source-dwell-positions within the ICBT applicator. Also, the American Association of Physicist in Medicine Task Group 43 Report (AAPM TG-43) …

A Palynological And Sequence Stratigraphic Study Of Santonian - Maastrichtan Strata From The Upper Magdalena Basin, Sandra Garzon

LSU Master's Theses

This manuscript presents a biostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic interpretation of palynological data from two outcrop sections on the NE flank of the Upper Magdalena Valley (UMV) basin comprising the Santonian to Lower Maastrichtian interval. The objectives of this study where: a) to characterize the lithologically similar Lower Lidita, Upper Lidita, and El Cobre, Buscavidas formations and b) to provide a better understanding of important correlation horizons in the northeastern part of the UMV basin and to confirm the age assignment of stratal units. A cyclic pattern of palynomorph distribution was recognized in both sections and tied to the different stages …

Evaluation Of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (Vmat) Patient Specific Quality Assurance, Gordon Mark Mancuso

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to perform a comprehensive comparison of fixed-beam intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) patient specific quality assurance (QA) results, in order to investigate the appropriateness of applying IMRT QA methods and action levels to VMAT treatment plans.

Methods: QA measurements were evaluated for the test geometries provided in AAPM Task Group Report 119. The structure sets were copied onto a cylindrical water-equivalent phantom. Using the Philips Pinnacle³ treatment planning system, fixed-beam IMRT and VMAT treatment plans were constructed. The plans were delivered to the phantom and …

Microphytobenthos Of The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Hypoxic Area And Their Role In Oxygen Dynamics, Melissa Millman Baustian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The presence or absence of microphytobenthos on the seafloor provides clues about whether benthic oxygen evolution contributes significantly to the oxygen budget of the hypoxic area in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Hypoxia (oxygen < 2 mg l-1) creates inadequate concentrations of dissolved oxygen to support most organisms, such as fish, shrimp and crabs, and occurs over large areas of the Louisiana continental shelf from spring through summer in most years. Oxygen production by benthic autotrophs may offset a decline in oxygen concentrations if there is a functioning community and sufficient light. I sampled three stations (14, 20 and 23 m depths) ~ 100 km west of the Mississippi River over three hypoxic annual cycles (2006 – 2008), and 11 stations along a 14 - 20 m contour on the shelf in late-July in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I used microscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography to estimate the biomass and composition of phytoplankton and microphytobenthos. The potential seasonal oxygen production was estimated in 2007 and 2008 by incubating coupled light/dark sediment cores and bottom water from two stations. The sediment community (cells > 3 um) differed from those in the water column and were frequently benthic pennate diatoms and filamentous cyanobacteria (58-88% seasonally and 1-99% in mid-summer). The concentration of microphytobenthic biomass was usually < 2.0 ug g dry sed-1, and various biotic parameters were influenced by light at the seafloor. Declines in dissolved oxygen over a seasonal cycle in 2007 and 2008 were affected more by the initial dissolved oxygen concentration than by the presence of microphytobenthos that could generate oxygen. The sediment (1.2 - 27.3 mmol O2 m-2 d-1, n = 97) and bottom-water (1.1 - 17.5 mmol m-2 d-1, n = 23) oxygen consumption rates were within the range of the few previously-reported data. This work adds to these data and also provides the only sediment oxygen consumption rates at fixed sites over seasonal time scales. These results provide critical input to three-dimensional, physical-biological models of oxygen dynamics for this hypoxic area.

Marketing Forest-Based Ecotourism In Sri Lanka: Predicting The Ecotourism Behavior And Defining The Market Segment Through A Behavioral Approach, Polwattage K. Perera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tourism industry is one of the main drivers of the global economy and plays a key role in regional development. As negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts of mass tourism became apparent, the appeal of alternative forms of tourism, especially ecotourism, continued to gain a broad recognition. As a result, ecotourism became one of the fastest growing sectors in global tourism during the past decade. Being a fast-developing country with ample natural resources, Sri Lanka can benefit from adopting and promoting ecotourism. At present, Sri Lanka’s ecotourism resources remain largely under-utilized. With rising demand, ecotourism operators are under pressure to meet …

Spatial Ecology Of Adult Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion Nebulosus, In Louisiana Coastal Waters, Jody Lynn Callihan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, are common in estuaries and coastal waters of the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and are of considerable recreational and economic importance. Still, the spatial ecology of this species is under-studied and poorly resolved, especially in Louisiana waters. To address this important knowledge gap, I examined the movements, distribution, and habitat use of adult spotted seatrout in coastal Louisiana primarily using high-resolution acoustic telemetry and secondarily, conventional tagging (mark-recapture) data. At the largest spatial scale investigated, I found that adults exhibited a high degree of estuarine fidelity and rarely undertook large-scale movements in excess of …

Capturing Elements In Matroid Minors, Deborah Chun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we begin with an introduction to a matroid as the natural generalization of independence arising in three different fields of mathematics. In the first chapter, we develop graph theory and matroid theory terminology necessary to the topic of this dissertation. In Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, we prove two main results. A result of Ding, Oporowski, Oxley, and Vertigan reveals that a large 3-connected matroid M has unavoidable structure. For every n exceeding two, there is an integer f(n) so that if |E(M)| exceeds f(n), then M has a minor isomorphic to the rank-n wheel or whirl, …

Evaluating The Duration Of Post-Lgm Grounding Events In The Glomar Challenger Basin Paleotrough, Eastern Basin Antarctica, Using Sediment Flux Calculations, Boluwatife Owolana

LSU Master's Theses

Previously acquired geological and geophysical data from the eastern Ross Sea outer shelf support the view that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) deposited three large-volume grounding zone wedges (GZWs) during the relatively short time since the onset of ice sheet retreat began at approximately 11 ka 14C BP. Here, GZW sediment volumes were estimated from seismic data correlations to evaluate the different possible durations of the individual grounding events. The two end-member fluxes used correspond to 1) a modern flux active at Whillans Ice Stream and 2) a larger flux accounting for the larger size of the drainage basin …

Effect Of Sediment Slurry Application On Selected Aspects Of Sulfur, Iron, And Manganese Biogeochemistry In A Coastal Louisiana Marsh, Martin Kyle Maxwell

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal wetlands, long recognized to be among the most productive ecosystems on the planet, are being lost at a disturbingly high rate in coastal Louisiana due to both eustatic sea-level rise and land subsidence. A number of approaches have been proposed for reducing wetland loss and restoring deteriorated wetlands, among which the addition of sediment to increase marsh surface elevation is promising. However, little is known about how the added sediment affects the biogeochemistry of marsh sediment. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of sediment slurry addition on sulfur, iron, and manganese biogeochemistry in a subsiding …

Laboratory Scale Seismic Analysis Of A Spatially Variable Hydrological Surface In Unconfined, Unconsolidated Sand, David E. Smolkin

LSU Master's Theses

The ability to measure the depth to the water table can provide information such as reservoir characteristics, soil conditions for agriculture, and actions to be taken with contaminant flow and removal. We attempt to detect this boundary in a larger-than-lab scale experiment. We attempt to simulate a spatially variable water level and attempt to image changes in the depth of this water level. We try to reduce the normally complex natural conditions to those of a nominally homogeneous and isotropic, unconfined sand volume for modeling. These simplified conditions help isolate the effects of remaining complexities such as the variable saturation …

Effects Of Ecotourist Pre-Purchase And External Information Search Behaviors And Strategies On Forest-Based Ecotourism Travel Decisions In Sri Lanka, Rangika T. Perera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the 1980s, the term ecotourism emerged as a direct result of acknowledgment and reaction by travelers to global ecological practices. In reality, the concept of ecotourism carries wide applications, particularly for bio-diverse countries with unique natural attractions. Sri Lanka qualified as such a country, presenting a significant tourism resource base, that display natural and cultural phenomena, including forests, waterfalls, mountains, exotic flora and fauna, and a heritage equally as ancient and as rich as the Greeks and Romans. Ecotourism in today’s dynamic global environment demands that ecotourism operators face a keenly competitive market in order to present an appealing …

Synthesis, Biological And Photophysical Studies Of Novel Compounds For Cancer Therapy, Edith Khavwajira Amuhaya

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the United States. It is therefore imperative that a lot of effort be put into finding a cure for this dreadful disease that shows no discrimination, and virtually anybody is at risk of developing the disease. Chapter 1 introduces basic facts about cancer and the available treatments, including PDT and BNCT. Our focus will be on these two bimodal therapies, which form the basis of my research work, which involves the synthesis of potential sensitizers to be used either in PDT or BNCT or both. In Chapter 2, I discuss …

Parallel Surrogate Detection In Large-Scale Simulations, Lei Jiang

LSU Master's Theses

Simulation has become a useful approach in scientific computing and engineering for its ability to model real natural or human systems. In particular, for complex systems such as hurricanes, wildfire disasters, and real-time road traffic, simulation methods are able to provide researchers, engineers and decision makers predicted values in order to help them to take appropriate actions. For large-scale problems, the simulations usually take a lot of time on supercomputers, thus making real-time predictions more difficult. Approximation models that mimic the behavior of simulation models but are computationally cheaper, namely "surrogate models", are desired in such scenarios. In the thesis, …

Extreme Scale Parallel Nbody Algorithm With Event Driven Constraint Based Execution Model, Chirag Dekate

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional scientific applications such as Computational Fluid Dynamics, Partial Differential Equations based numerical methods (like Finite Difference Methods, Finite Element Methods) achieve sufficient efficiency on state of the art high performance computing systems and have been widely studied / implemented using conventional programming models. For emerging application domains such as Graph applications scalability and efficiency is significantly constrained by the conventional systems and their supporting programming models. Furthermore technology trends like multicore, manycore, heterogeneous system architectures are introducing new challenges and possibilities. Emerging technologies are requiring a rethinking of approaches to more effectively expose the underlying parallelism to the applications …

Stories Of The Proterozoic Earth: Paleoproterozoic Chuanlinggou Arcitarchs And Neoproterozoic ¹⁷O-Depleted Barite, Yongbo Peng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two independent topics, both critical to understanding Earth history during the Proterozoic Eon. (1) Paleoproterozoic Chuanlinggou Acritarchs: The eukaryotic affinity of acritarchs from the Chuanlinggou Formation has been questioned because of lack of indisputable morphological evidence. In this study, Chuanlinggou acritarchs were examined by jointly using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. In most cases, an ovoidal group of acritarchs represents a half-vesicle following a complete longitudinal rupture, which is a morphological model different from a whole envelope with medial splits, as proposed by earlier studies. This ovoidal group displays a bipolar morphology, …

Sensor-Based Autonomous Pipeline Monitoring Robotic System, Jong-Hoon Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The field of robotics applications continues to advance. This dissertation addresses the computational challenges of robotic applications and translations of actions using sensors. One of the most challenging fields for robotics applications is pipeline-based applications which have become an indispensable part of life. Proactive monitoring and frequent inspections are critical in maintaining pipeline health. However, these tasks are highly expensive using traditional maintenance systems, knowing that pipeline systems can be largely deployed in an inaccessible and hazardous environment. Thus, we propose a novel cost effective, scalable, customizable, and autonomous sensor-based robotic system, called SPRAM System (Sensor-based Autonomous Pipeline Monitoring Robotic …

Exotic Ground States: A Study In The Structural Effects On Frustration And Dimensionality, Melissa C. Menard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Structural disorder and dimensionality play central roles in the characterization of structure and properties of crystalline materials. Although structural disorder is commonly considered an undesirable quality, structural disorder may be desirable when searching for new materials with exotic properties. Disorder can be used as a tunable parameter when considering atomic sizes, coordination preferences, and electronegativity differences can be varied by substituting elements into a given structure. Dimensionality can be viewed as another adjustable parameter when searching for new materials presenting unique challenges when characterizing new materials. One way to tune dimensionality is by chemical doping to affect coupling between layers/chains. …

Fragmentation Sensitivity And Its Consequences On Demography And Host-Ectoparasite Dynamics In Amazonian Birds, Erik I. Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Amazon rainforest is experiencing rapid deforestation due to ranching, agriculture, and urban development, which often leads to remnant patches serving as refugia for forest organisms. By mist-netting passerines in 11 forest fragments (1-, 10-, and 100-ha patches) and nearby continuous forest at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragmentation Project near Manaus, Brazil, I conducted a series of studies to identify mechanisms that drive population changes in fragmented landscapes. First, I examined the age structure of bird populations from six ecological guilds in fragments and continuous forest. Immatures are the dispersing age group in birds, and their relative abundance in …

Temporal Changes In Quality Of Life And Environment In New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina, Danielle Johanna Larock

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding and assessing the spatial and temporal changes of quality of life and environment of a community is critical to its sustainable development, especially after a disaster strikes. This study explores an approach that integrates remote sensing with socioeconomic data to assess the temporal changes in quality of life and environment (QOL) using Orleans Parish as an example. Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, has had vast implications economically, socially, and environmentally for this city and the surrounding area. Empirically quantifying these concepts will help to rebuild the city more sustainably. This study investigated change in environmental quality …

Fate Of Mississippi River Diverted Nitrate On Vegetated And Non-Vegetated Coastal Marshes Of Breton Sound Estuary, Christine M. Vanzomeren

LSU Master's Theses

The Caernarvon Diversion meters Mississippi River water into coastal marshes of Breton Sound. Elevated levels of nitrogen in river water have sparked concerns that nutrient loading may affect marsh resilience and belowground biomass, as evidence from several marsh fertilization studies. These concerns resulted from observation that fresh and brackish Breton Sound marshes suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina. The goal of this study is to determine the fate of nitrate (the dominant inorganic nitrogen form in the Mississippi River) in Breton Sound Estuary marshes. We hypothesized that most nitrate would be removed by denitrification and that nitrate loading would not …