Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Application Programming Interface For Parliamentary Procedure, Grant David Bourque

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Facies Reconstruction And Stratigraphy Of A Late Pleistocene Bald Cypress Forest Discovered On The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Continental Shelf, Suyapa Gonzalez-Rodriguez

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Facies Reconstruction And Stratigraphy Of A Late Pleistocene Bald Cypress Forest Discovered On The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Continental Shelf, Suyapa Gonzalez

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

‘A Novel Kaposi’S Sarcoma Therapy:’ Plasmonic Nanoparticles For Light-Mediated Drug Delivery, Blake Peter Kruger

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Passive Intensity Modulation Device For Bolus Electron Conformal Therapy, Erin Leanne Chambers

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: To develop a process that can design an island block matrix that produces an intensity distribution (70-100%), which acceptably matches one planned for an intensity modulated (IM) bolus electron conformal therapy (ECT) patient. The intensity modulator concept is that electrons laterally scatter behind hexagonally-packed, small-diameter island blocks such that local intensity equals the fractional unblocked area.

Methods: A pencil beam algorithm (PBA) was used to calculate the modulated electron intensity created by varying diameter (d) of island blocks in a hexagonal array (separation r). Accuracy of the PBA model was assessed by comparing with Monte Carlo (MC) calculations. PBA …

An Analysis Of Environmentally-Persistent Free Radical Formation On Surrogate Soil Systems Containing Iron(Iii) And Copper(Ii) And The Potential Remediation Effects Of Laccases, Andrew Paul Mullet

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Resonance Varieties Of Pure Braid-Like Groups, Jared Able

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Present Value Calculations In Personal Injury, Nicholas J. Klinka

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Stratigraphic Analysis Of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Using Magnetic Susceptibility, Geochemical Comparison, And Gamma Ray Spectroscopy, Jennifer Kenyon

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Road Associated Wildlife Mortality In An Urbanizing Metropolitan Area Of The Southeastern Usa, Lillian Miller

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Formation And Characterization Of Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals O N Single Crystal A N D Nanoparticle Metal Oxide Surfaces, Mark F. Ditusa

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Superstable Semigroups, Stephanie Olsen

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

A Monte Carlo Study Of The Pion Absorption And Charge Exchange Cross Section In Lariat, Andrew Olivier

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Perfect Matchings And Their Applications, Amanda Mayhall

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Density Functional Theory Calculations On The Doping Sequence Of Mnxfen(1-X)Ge, Jordan C. Ball

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Hybrid Inorganic Core- Conjugated Polymer Shell Nanoparticles Prepared By Surface-Initiated Polymerization, Sourav Chatterjee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hybrid core-shell nanoparticles have attracted attention due to their unique characteristics which combine properties of the inorganic core and organic shell in a way that generates new properties which do not exist for the two individual parts. This makes them promising candidates for the design of stimuli-responsive materials, chemo- and biosensors, and various biomedical applications. In this dissertation research, we designed and prepared a series of hybrid environmentally responsive nanoparticles where fluorescent block copolymers, including various combinations of polythiophene (PT), poly(p-phenylene) (PPP), poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and polyallene (PA), were grafted on the surface of inorganic nanoparticles using surface-confined Kumada catalyst-transfer polymerization. …

A Geochronological And Stratigraphic Reconstruction Of The Middle Barataria Bay Receiving Basin, Joseph Ethan Thomas Hughes

LSU Master's Theses

Barataria Bay, one of the largest receiving basins for the Mississippi deltaic complex, is the location of a proposed river-sediment diversion for delta restoration. In order to determine how the sediment in the receiving-basin may respond to diversion flows, twenty-five sediment vibracores were collected from a 115 km2 study area located near Myrtle Grove and Bayou Dupont, southeast of New Orleans, LA. These cores were subject to multiple tests, including gamma bulk density scans, grain size analysis, and loss-on-ignition, in order to identify the lithology and stratigraphy. In addition, 137Cs and 14C dating techniques were employed in order to construct …

Pesticide Partitioning In Louisiana Wetland Aand Ricefield Sediment, Brendan Michael Marsh

LSU Master's Theses

Pesticides are used globally and are often found within bodies of water. The EPA investigates the potential environmental impact through computer modeling in order to help mitigate some of the regulatory burden of pesticide fate investigation. Currently when pesticides enter a water body, the Exposure Analysis Modeling System (EXAMS) estimates partitioning depth as 5 cm and assumes equal distribution. This assumption was tested with a wide variety of pesticides with varying Koc ranges and water solubilities. Savillex 150 ml Teflon tubes were filled with wetland and ricefield sediments with fresh and seawater as the aqueous phase. The seven pesticides tested …

Source Mechanism Analysis Of Single-Well Microseismic Data Using Full-Wavefield Moment Tensor Inversion, Trudy Watkins

LSU Master's Theses

Receiver angular coverage of microseismic sources occurring during hydraulic fracturing treatments is an important factor to consider when interpreting moment tensor inversion results. A horizontal receiver array can provide greater angular coverage of vertical failure planes than a vertical receiver array. The source orientation can be accurately determined if the array samples both sides of the failure plane. However, the compensated-linear-vector-dipole (CLVD) mechanism can be overestimated by up to ~40% for double-couple (DC) sources and the isotropic mechanism can be overestimated by ~70% for CLVD sources. Source mechanism constraints on the moment tensor inversion are used to mitigate the lack …

Simulating Behavioral Microcystin Impairment In Fish, Nicholas Richard Keeney

LSU Master's Theses

Fish experiencing blooms of the cyanobacteria genera Microcystis and Anabaena acquire microcystin and saxitoxin through ingestion of contaminated food and absorption of dissolved toxin. Even low chronic doses induce sensory and motor impairment—the impact of which is unquantified in wild populations. Here, I introduce Lagrangian particle models for cyanobacteria and fish which test the hypotheses that impairment symptoms suppress movement and growth. This is implemented within the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). Cyanobacteria particles move vertically according to mixing and buoyancy (a function of cellular reservoirs). Fish navigate the horizontal domain, foraging in high growth areas, and fleeing when toxin …

Evaluating Survival Of Released Ranched American Alligator In Coastal Louisiana, Kristy Durham Capelle

LSU Master's Theses

Since 1986, Louisiana’s American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) ranching program has required the release of alligators produced from eggs collected from wild nests to maintain wild populations. This project assessed long-term harvest data (1991-2010s) to estimate survival of released alligators. First, wildlife and fishery harvest models and general inter-disciplinary survival models were evaluated to determine best fit to the data. Second, once the best fitting model was selected, release length, precipitation and temperature from release sites, and an index of hunter effort were added to investigate influences on survival estimates. Release length was included because over time the proportion and size …

In Situ Geochemistry Of Middle Ordovician Dolomites Of The Upper Mississippi Valley: Evaluation Of The Dorag Model And New Implications For Dolomitizing Fluids, John Michael Callen

LSU Master's Theses

The dolomitization and diagenetic history of Ordovician carbonates of southern Wisconsin has been studied for over a century. Previous studies attributed dolomitization to various single or multiple diagenetic factors and environments. The goal of the study was to resolve arguments regarding dolomitization models, including Badiozamani’s often cited but recently questioned mixing zone model, using LA-ICP-MS focusing on REE to determine the nature of dolomitizing fluids. Analysis revealed that particulate material incorporated into the dolomite affected the geochemical results of many of the samples. Integrating geochemical data with petrographic evidence for diagenetic history, the studied Decorah Formation dolomites were assigned to …

Peptidomimetic Polymers: Advances In Monomer Design And Polymerization Methods, Brandon Andrew Chan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work is focused on the design, synthesis and characterization of polypeptide and polypeptoid polymers. The former are composed of amino acid repeat units and possess intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions allowing for the self-assembly into well-defined secondary structures (e.g. α-helix). Polypeptoids are based on N-alkyl substituted glycine and lack intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions, resulting in enhanced proteolytic stability and thermal processability. Physicochemical properties of polypeptoids are strongly dependent on the side chain structures, allow for control of the solubility, crystallinity, and conformation of the polymers. Well-defined polypeptides and polypeptoids are synthesized by the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of their corresponding N-carboxyanhydride …

A Contemporary Approach To A Classic Model: Exploring The Influence Of Local Interactions And Disturbance On Mangrove Forest Dynamics With A Spatially-Explicit Version Of Forman, Kieley Shannon Hurff

LSU Master's Theses

The mangrove forest gap dynamic model, FORMAN, was the first individual-based model (IBM) to simulate the long-term successional dynamics of three Caribbean mangrove species, Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, and Rhizophora mangle. Assumptions under the spatially implicit approach of gap dynamic models limit their application to small-scale simulations. An expanded, spatially-explicit version of FORMAN was developed to allow for simulations of larger spatial grids, through the inclusion of localized soil conditions and neighborhood-based light resource competition. This expanded model was used to investigate the influence of localized interactions and disturbances of varying size on forest dynamics. A data-model comparison using field …

Method Of The Riemann-Hilbert Problem For The Solution Of The Helmholtz Equation In A Semi-Infinite Strip, Ashar Ghulam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, a new method is developed to study BVPs of the modified Helmholtz and Helmholtz equations in a semi-infinite strip subject to the Poincare type, impedance and higher order boundary conditions. The main machinery used here is the theory of Riemann Hilbert problems, the residue theory of complex variables and the theory of integral transforms. A special kind of interconnected Laplace transforms are introduced whose parameters are related through branch of a multi-valued function. In the chapter 1 a brief review of the unified transform method used to solve BVPs of linear and non-linear integrable PDEs in convex …

Minimizing Decoherence In Optical Fiber For Long Distance Quantum Communication, Manish Kumar Gupta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this research work, I have derived analytical models for decoherence of quantum states of light and developed techniques based on Dynamical Decoupling (DD) to preserve the quantum state of polarization qubit and Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) qudit in single-mode, multi-mode and specialized optical fibers. In subsequent work, I have derived the analytical model for decoherence of an entangled state in an optical fiber to show that such a decoherence causes loss of entanglement. I also showed that such states can be preserved with DD. In Chapter 1, I have introduced the subject of a quantum computer and its relation …

Feedback Control Theory In Stochastic Dynamical Systems, Ashkan Balouchi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A stochastic dynamical system is a system composed of many interacting components which includes stochastic behavior. Feedback control theory is designed to use information from the current state of the system in order to temper the final state toward the desired outcome. In this dissertation, I perform studies on two choices of classic and quantum dynamical systems to cover vast variety of statistical tools and methods. For classical model, I perform a study on finite-size effects at the phase transition in the Nagel-Schreckenberg traffic model as an example of non-equilibrium many body stochastic dynamical system. For quantum mechanical model, I …

Social Media Network Data Mining And Optimization, Neha Clare Jose

LSU Master's Theses

Many small social aid organizations could benefit from collaborating with other organizations on common causes, but may not have the necessary social relationships. We present a framework for a recommender system for the Louisiana Poverty Initiative that identifies member organizations with common causes and aims to forge connections between these organizations. Our framework employs a combination of graph and text analyses of the organizations' Facebook pages. We use NodeXL, a plugin to Microsoft Excel, to download the Facebook graph and to interface with SNAP, the Stanford Network Analysis Platform, for calculating network measurements. Our framework extends NodeXL with algorithms that …

Living On The Edge: An Assessment Of The Habitat Use Of Waterbirds In Estuarine Wetlands Of Barataria Basin, La, Brett Ashley Patton

LSU Master's Theses

The wetlands of Louisiana are losing area at the rapid rate of 42.9 km2 yr-1 and the trend is expected to continue. This combined with expected sea-level rise will likely cause large shifts in vegetation and salinity regimes that will affect the wildlife species reliant on these ecosystems. Waterbirds serve as indicator species of ecosystem health in estuarine wetland habitats; therefore, these species are often the targets of wetland management goals in Louisiana. However, many proposed wetland restoration projects are focused primarily on social impacts with only a few specific waterbird species designated for management. The majority of these waterbird …

An Empirical Estimate Of Post-Lgm Grounding-Event Duration In Eastern Ross Sea: Implications From A Comparison With Constraints From New Radiocarbon Dates, Benjamin Krogmeier

LSU Master's Theses

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) advanced to the outer shelf during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) before beginning a rapid retreat to the inner shelf. In the Whales Deep paleo-ice-stream trough, subsurface and geomorphologic evidence shows that grounding-line retreat was interrupted by at least five pauses in the area between the shelf edge and the middle shelf. During the pauses, an overlapping cluster of backstepped grounding zone wedges (GZWs) was deposited. Each GZW represents a grounding event, i.e., a time interval during which the grounding-line position was relatively stable. Seismic correlation and isopach mapping show that the cluster has …