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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Origin Of Pyrite Nodules At The Top Of The Nantuo Diamictites, Southern China, Changjie Liu Jan 2010

Origin Of Pyrite Nodules At The Top Of The Nantuo Diamictites, Southern China, Changjie Liu

LSU Master's Theses

Pyrite nodules up to 20 cm in diameter are found at the top of the Marinoan (~635 Ma) Nantuo glacial diamictite as well as in the cap dolostones and shale/siltstones in the lower Doushantuo Formation in eastern Guizhou, southern China. Earlier studies on the occurrence and stable sulfur and triple oxygen isotope composition of barite in the cap dolostones concluded that seawater sulfate concentrations in shallow oceans in the South China Block were low during the deposition of the cap dolostones. Therefore, the occurrence of pyrite nodules suggests two scenarios: 1) Formation before the precipitation of the cap dolostone, when …


Dissolution Of Chitosan In Ionic Liquids For Acylation Chemistry And Formation Of Cellulose-Chitosan Blends, Cristina Stefanescu Jan 2010

Dissolution Of Chitosan In Ionic Liquids For Acylation Chemistry And Formation Of Cellulose-Chitosan Blends, Cristina Stefanescu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dissolution of chitosan in ionic liquids was accomplished. It has been shown that 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (BMIMAc) is a better solvent than 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl). Dissolution of chitosan in BMIMCl required a prior regeneration of chitosan from 1% acetic acid solution. In the case of BMIMAc, both dried chitosan and regenerated chitosan from acetic acid solution have been dissolved in a relatively short amount of time. While concentrations up to 2 wt% of chitosan in BMIMCl could be obtained, concentrations of 10 wt % of chitosan in BMIMAc were realized. Homogeneous phthalation and benzoylation of chitosan were achieved in these ionic …


Orthogonal Grassmannians And Hermitian K-Theory In A¹-Homotopy Theory Of Schemes, Girja Shanker Tripathi Jan 2010

Orthogonal Grassmannians And Hermitian K-Theory In A¹-Homotopy Theory Of Schemes, Girja Shanker Tripathi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work we prove that the hermitian K-theory is geometrically representable in the A^1 -homotopy category of smooth schemes over a field. We also study in detail a realization functor from the A^1 -homotopy category of smooth schemes over the field R of real numbers to the category of topological spaces. This functor is determined by taking the real points of a smooth R-scheme. There is another realization functor induced by taking the complex points with a similar description although we have not discussed this other functor in this dissertation. Using these realization functors we have concluded in brief …


Spatial Analyses Of Pedosphere Carbon Stock And Sequestration Potential In Louisiana's Watersheds, Biao Zhong Jan 2010

Spatial Analyses Of Pedosphere Carbon Stock And Sequestration Potential In Louisiana's Watersheds, Biao Zhong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation research aimed to quantify current soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks across Louisiana’s landscape, examine the spatial relationships between SOC and terrain factors at the watershed and river basin scales, and predict SOC changes in surface soils during future climate change. Using Louisiana as an example, a spatially-explicit modeling framework was developed that is conducive to watershed-scale prediction of soil carbon stock and change. SOC densities at the watershed scale were estimated using the USDA NRCS Soil Geographic Database (STATSGO). Louisiana watersheds and National Land Cover Database (NLCD) were used to aggregate total soil carbon and estimate average soil …


Diatom Stratigraphy Defining Ice Sheet Grounding Chronology, Ross Sea, Antarctica, Juan Manuel Chow Jan 2010

Diatom Stratigraphy Defining Ice Sheet Grounding Chronology, Ross Sea, Antarctica, Juan Manuel Chow

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Evidence of Antarctic ice sheet behavior and paleoenvironment is often approached from proxy records because there is a dearth of direct records from Antarctica itself. The studies presented here seek to augment our knowledge of translations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s (WAIS) marine termination based on direct biostratigraphic evidence. Diatom analyses were conducted from two areas of Ross Sea, Antarctica. In the first study, diatoms were used to constrain the age of diamictons from five seismic units in the Eastern Basin and thus expand our knowledge of WAIS behavior during the Southern Hemisphere Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). All five …


The Impact Of Overfitting And Overgeneralization On The Classification Accuracy In Data Mining, Huy Nguyen Anh Pham Jan 2010

The Impact Of Overfitting And Overgeneralization On The Classification Accuracy In Data Mining, Huy Nguyen Anh Pham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current classification approaches usually do not try to achieve a balance between fitting and generalization when they infer models from training data. Such approaches ignore the possibility of different penalty costs for the false-positive, false-negative, and unclassifiable types. Thus, their performances may not be optimal or may even be coincidental. This dissertation analyzes the above issues in depth. It also proposes two new approaches called the Homogeneity-Based Algorithm (HBA) and the Convexity-Based Algorithm (CBA) to address these issues. These new approaches aim at optimally balancing the data fitting and generalization behaviors of models when some traditional classification approaches are used. …


Rare Earth Elements As An Investigative Tool Into The Source, Age, And Ecology Of Late Miocene To Late Pleistocene Fossils From The Tunica Hills, Louisiana, Lindsey Theresa Yann Jan 2010

Rare Earth Elements As An Investigative Tool Into The Source, Age, And Ecology Of Late Miocene To Late Pleistocene Fossils From The Tunica Hills, Louisiana, Lindsey Theresa Yann

LSU Master's Theses

Rare earth elements were investigated for their potential to determine provenance and depositional environments of vertebrate fossils found as float in creeks of the Tunica Hills region of Louisiana. Elemental analyses are used to test the hypotheses that fossils span multiple time periods, from late Miocene to late Pleistocene, and that elemental profiles can distinguish terrestrial depositional settings from possible estuarine deposits. In addition, the animals present were then used to test the hypothesis that Tunica Hills had late Pleistocene environmental conditions much like the modern Great Lakes region. This study is important because it provides new insight on the …


Geothermal Energy Potential Of South Bossier Parish, Louisiana, John Adam D'Aquin Jan 2010

Geothermal Energy Potential Of South Bossier Parish, Louisiana, John Adam D'Aquin

LSU Master's Theses

Northwestern Louisiana sits atop a geothermal anomaly that stretches across Eastern Texas and into Southern Arkansas. Geothermal gradients are observed in this area that are greater than the Gulf Coast average of 22-26oC/km. South Bossier Parish, in particular, could be an ideal location for economic production of electricity by conventional geothermal or enhanced geothermal projects due to ideal geothermal production temperatures of 120-180oC at a relatively shallow depth of approximately 3-5 km. A localized geothermal of 35oC/km gradient was determined using bottom-hole temperatures (BHTs) from 147 wells. At approximately 3.2 km depth, temperatures of approximately 130oC within the geopressured sands …


Implementation And Analysis Of A Top-K Retrieval System For Strings, Sabrina Chandrasekaran Jan 2010

Implementation And Analysis Of A Top-K Retrieval System For Strings, Sabrina Chandrasekaran

LSU Master's Theses

Given text which is a union of d documents of strings, D = d1, d2,...., dd, the emphasis of this thesis is to provide a practical framework to retrieve the K most relevant documents for a given pattern P, which comes as a query. This cannot be done directly, as going through every occurrence of the query pattern may prove to be expensive if the number of documents that the pattern occurs in is much more than the number of documents (K) that we require. Some advanced query functionality will be required, as compared to listing the documents that the …


Recent Advances In Glylons Science, Cornelia Rosu Jan 2010

Recent Advances In Glylons Science, Cornelia Rosu

LSU Master's Theses

A variety of sugar- based polyamides called glylons were synthesized by using different pathways. The sugar- units were derived from D- glucaric acid and D-galactaric acid. Glylons D-glucaric- based with pendant free hydroxyl groups showed a low solubility in organic solvents, due to hydroxyl preference to form strong intra- and intermolecular H- bonding. To minimize these interactions an acetalation reaction was performed. Monoacetalated D-glucaric-based po-lymers exhibited a better solubility in a broader range of solvents but the residual hydroxyl groups favored aggregation. Completely blocked bis-acetalated galactaric-based glylons are so-luble in a broad range of solvents including toluene/methanol mixtures. Deprotection reaction …


The Effects Of Channel Stability On Benthic Macroinvertebrates In Southeastern Louisiana Streams, Peter Markos Jan 2010

The Effects Of Channel Stability On Benthic Macroinvertebrates In Southeastern Louisiana Streams, Peter Markos

LSU Master's Theses

Water chemistry, habitat quality, and channel stability interact to influence a stream’s biological integrity. The goal of this project was to assess how channel stability, together with other physicochemical stream measurements, are associated with the structure and abundance of resident macroinvertebrate communities. I recorded multiple physicochemical parameters and calculated a Pfankuch habitat stability index monthly for a year at potential reference streams in southeastern Louisiana. I assessed the relationships of channels stability with measured physicochemical parameters with multiple regression and principle components analysis. Mixed model multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine associations of habitat characteristics with resident macroinvertebrate …


Water And Solute Transport In The Shallow Subsurface Of A Riverine Wetland Natural Levee, April Elea Newman Jan 2010

Water And Solute Transport In The Shallow Subsurface Of A Riverine Wetland Natural Levee, April Elea Newman

LSU Master's Theses

In riverine wetlands, the rate and magnitude of water exchanged between river channels and adjacent wetlands have a major influence on hydrologic function and associated aquatic habitat and water quality. River channels are generally separated from backswamps by natural levees; however, preferential flow may allow potentially substantial water and solute exchange between them. Determining the influence of preferential flow on water and solute transport in natural levees requires an innovative approach that allows measurement of transport rates at a scale large enough to capture field-scale variability. To test the hypothesis that preferential flow is important to subsurface water movement through …


Impacts Of Marsh Loss And Fragmentation On Microhabitat Use By Estuarine Nekton In Southwest Louisiana, John Alexander Gordon Jan 2010

Impacts Of Marsh Loss And Fragmentation On Microhabitat Use By Estuarine Nekton In Southwest Louisiana, John Alexander Gordon

LSU Master's Theses

In Louisiana, the extensive loss and fragmentation of coastal marshes has prompted inquires into the impacts these processes may have on estuarine-dependant nekton. To date, research on nekton response to marsh loss and fragmentation has been limited to landscape-level studies which focus on the relationship between nekton productivity and the availability of marsh edge. These studies have relied on the assumption that marsh edges provide the same level of support to nekton regardless of the degree of surrounding marsh loss or fragmentation. This study tested this assumption by investigating the impacts of marsh loss and fragmentation on marsh-edge characteristics and …


Grade Level Expectations: Do They Prepare Students For Introductory College Chemistry?, Micah M. Davies Jan 2010

Grade Level Expectations: Do They Prepare Students For Introductory College Chemistry?, Micah M. Davies

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates whether the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) as outlined by the Louisiana Department of Education prepare students for introductory college level chemistry. A sample of 135 students in Dr. Watkins fall 2009 CHEM 1201 classes were tested for correlations between knowledge of the GLEs (chemical concept inventory pre-test and post-test score and normalized gain) and performance in CHEM 1201 (average exam score and final exam score). No significant correlations were found between any of these variables. For further analysis, students were grouped into two groups, in-state public school students and out-of-state/private school students. It was assumed that in-state …


Bioaerosols And The Risk Of Upper Respiratory Infection In Dental Hygienists, Christen Rebecca Gautreau Jan 2010

Bioaerosols And The Risk Of Upper Respiratory Infection In Dental Hygienists, Christen Rebecca Gautreau

LSU Master's Theses

Multitudes of pathogenic and infectious microbes are known to spread via contaminated aerosols. Dental personnel have an increased incidence of respiratory infections. Ultrasonic scaling procedures are reported to produce the largest amounts of contaminated aerosols of any dental procedure. The goal of the current study was to see if dental hygienists are at an increased risk of respiratory infections during the performance of their job and to see if certain dental procedures had a significant effect on this risk. This study was conducted at the Dental Hygiene Clinic of the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in New Orleans, LA. …


Project Explorations And Student Learning In Geometry, Verna Marie Richard Jan 2010

Project Explorations And Student Learning In Geometry, Verna Marie Richard

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the structural framework of the EBRPSS 8th Grade Mathematics Comprehensive Curriculum and to compare its effectiveness to a set of project-based lessons that I created for “Unit 4: Measurement and Geometry”. Two classes participated in this study. Pretest and Posttest scores were analyzed to determine if there was a significant advantage to using my supplements. Results of the analysis revealed that there was an advantage to using the supplements, in spite of the time shortage. Hopefully, the supplements implemented in this study will serve as a model for teaching “Unit 4: Measurement …


Salinity Variation As An Indicator Of Fluid Flow In The Lower Ellesmerian Sequence, North Slope, Alaska, Jacob Scott Dehamer Jan 2010

Salinity Variation As An Indicator Of Fluid Flow In The Lower Ellesmerian Sequence, North Slope, Alaska, Jacob Scott Dehamer

LSU Master's Theses

Previous studies have shown the existence of a topographically driven recharge system in the North Slope foreland basin, Alaska. The Lower Ellesmerian Sequence represents the lowest most flow pathway in the stratigraphic sequence. Limestones and dolomites of the Lisburne Group and sands and shales of the Endicott Group represent laterally extensive pathways for flow. Salinities calculated from spontaneous potential response in the Lower Ellesmerian range from less than 10 gL-1 to over 150 gL-1. Low salinities calculated for the Lower Ellesmerian indicate the displacement of connate marine waters throughout the history of the North Slope foreland basin. Flushing of connate …


The Effects Of Self-Assessment On Student Learning Of Mathematics, Daniel James Hotard Jan 2010

The Effects Of Self-Assessment On Student Learning Of Mathematics, Daniel James Hotard

LSU Master's Theses

Self-assessment can be defined as students judging their own work, based on evidence and explicit criteria, for the purpose of improving future performance. Many researchers agree that implementation of student self-assessment in the classroom is an important tool for improving academic performance and self-efficacy. In this thesis, I investigated the effects of student self-assessment on learning gains of 81 alternative high school Algebra I students. This study took place over the course of two units of instruction. Classes were divided into two groups. One group of students utilized rubrics to self-assess their own work for the first unit, while the …


Synthesis Of Aza-Bridged Tetraphosphine Ligands For A Dirhodium Hydroformylation Catalyst, Scott Michael Boudreaux Jan 2010

Synthesis Of Aza-Bridged Tetraphosphine Ligands For A Dirhodium Hydroformylation Catalyst, Scott Michael Boudreaux

LSU Master's Theses

A novel tetraphosphine ligand rac-et,ph-P4 (et,ph-P4 = PEt2CH2CH2(Ph)PCH2P(Ph)CH2CH2PEt2) is used for the formation of a highly active and regioselective hydroformylation catalyst. The active catalytic species, Rh2H2(ƒÝ-CO)2(et,ph-P4)]2+, is formed in situ under H2/CO pressure. This is one of the most impressive examples of homobimetallic cooperativity in homogeneous catalysis. The fragmentation of this catalyst by CO has been investigated and confirmed by in situ NMR spectroscopic studies. A new tetraphosphine ligand rac-et,ph-P4-Ph (et,ph-P4-Ph = PEt2(o-C6H4)P(Ph)CH2(Ph)P(o-C6H4)PEt2) has been synthesized to combat this fragmentation problem. However, the inability to successfully separate the meso and racemic isomers of the ligand has led to more alteration …


Formative Assessment In Algebra Ii, Angie Ann Byrd Jan 2010

Formative Assessment In Algebra Ii, Angie Ann Byrd

LSU Master's Theses

This work reviews the assessment design process in depth, as relevant to classroom practice. The “assessment triangle’’ model of assessment and other design components are described. We discuss the content standards and the assigned classroom curriculum of the unit of the East Baton Rouge Algebra II course, which deals with quadratics. We offer an assessment that meets standards of the models that were reviewed.


Volcanological And Petrogenetic Characteristics Of Komatiites Of The 3.3 Ga Saw Mill Complex, Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, Matthew Stephen Huber Jan 2010

Volcanological And Petrogenetic Characteristics Of Komatiites Of The 3.3 Ga Saw Mill Complex, Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, Matthew Stephen Huber

LSU Master's Theses

The Saw Mill Complex (SMC) is a 1275 m thick layered komatiitic sequence in the 3.3 Ga Weltevreden Formation, uppermost stratigraphic unit of the Onverwacht Group in the northern part of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. A series of ultramafic complexes in the Weltevreden Formation have been interpreted as layered ultramafic intrusions, consisting of thick, layered ultramafic units of peridotite, pyroxenite, dunite, and gabbro. However, recent work on the Pioneer complex of the Weltevreden Formation has demonstrated an extrusive origin of komatiites and tuffs. The Weltevreden Formation has been less studied than other Onverwacht Group units. It is likely …


Physical And Microbial Responses Of Dredged Sediment To Two-Soil-Stabilizing Amendments, Xanthan Gum And Guar Gum, For Use In Coastal Wetland Restoration, Lauren Land Jan 2010

Physical And Microbial Responses Of Dredged Sediment To Two-Soil-Stabilizing Amendments, Xanthan Gum And Guar Gum, For Use In Coastal Wetland Restoration, Lauren Land

LSU Master's Theses

In wetland sediments, organic matter provides a substrate for microbial activity. During metabolism, microbes release extracellular polymeric substances, which accumulate to bind soil particles. A similar concept can be implemented on a large scale to reduce wetland loss in Louisiana. Hypothetically, hydraulically dredged sediment can be amended with polymer and deposited on subsiding marshes as a restoration method where the polymer increases sediment stabilization until plants become established. This lab study focused on investigating the influence of natural polymer additions on particle aggregation to increase sediment stability and the effects on microbial activity. Sediments from three sites (i.e. freshwater, intermediate, …


Dimer Models For Knot Polynomials, Moshe Cohen Jan 2010

Dimer Models For Knot Polynomials, Moshe Cohen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A dimer model consists of all perfect matchings on a (bipartite) weighted signed graph, where the product of the signed weights of each perfect matching is summed to obtain an invariant. In this paper, the construction of such a graph from a knot diagram is given to obtain the Alexander polynomial. This is further extended to a more complicated graph to obtain the twisted Alexander polynomial, which involved "twisting" by a representation. The space of all representations of a given knot complement into the general linear group of a fixed size can be described by the same graph. This work …


Homogenization Of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, Silvia Jiménez Jan 2010

Homogenization Of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, Silvia Jiménez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with properties of local fields inside composites made from two materials with different power law behavior. This simple constitutive model is frequently used to describe several phenomena ranging from plasticity to optical nonlinearities in dielectric media. We provide the corrector theory for the strong approximation of fields inside composites made from two power law materials with different exponents. The correctors are used to develop bounds on the local singularity strength for gradient fields inside microstructured media. The bounds are multiscale in nature and can be used to measure the amplification of applied macroscopic fields by the …


Impact Of Urban Runoff On Phosphorus, Nitrogen, And Dissolved Oxygen In A Shallow Subtropical Lake, Ryan Mesmer Jan 2010

Impact Of Urban Runoff On Phosphorus, Nitrogen, And Dissolved Oxygen In A Shallow Subtropical Lake, Ryan Mesmer

LSU Master's Theses

This research assessed the current conditions of water quality in a shallow subtropical lake, influenced by a highly developed urban environment. Specifically, the research focused on the dynamics of phosphorus, nitrogen, and dissolved oxygen, as well as the effects of stormwater runoff on lake water quality. Furthermore, the research quantified gross primary production, net primary production, and respiration in order to discern seasonal variation in lake metabolism. A water quality monitoring platform with multi-parameter probes was deployed in the center of University Lake on the Louisiana State University campus. A series of lake water quality parameters including dissolved oxygen (DO) …


Quantum Light For Quantum Technologies, William Nicholas Plick Jan 2010

Quantum Light For Quantum Technologies, William Nicholas Plick

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this thesis we will theoretically investigate three potentially useful physical systems, after first developing the theoretical framework necessary for studying them. First, we will study the multiphoton absorption properties of maximally path entangled number (N00N) states. This is directly relevant to quantum lithography, and beating the Rayleigh diffraction limit. Next, we will develop a new scheme for quantum interferometry: dubbed coherent-light boosted super-sensitive quantum interferometry, which has the potential to reach below the shot noise limit for high photon fluxes, and requires no esoteric detection protocol, or technological elements that have yet to be developed. Finally we propose a …


A Study Of The Elongation Of Fibrils Of The Alzheimer's Amyloid Beta Protein With A Coarse-Grained Force Field, Ana Rojas Jan 2010

A Study Of The Elongation Of Fibrils Of The Alzheimer's Amyloid Beta Protein With A Coarse-Grained Force Field, Ana Rojas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a brain disorder named after the German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer, who first described the disease in 1906. AD is a form of dementia, characterized by impairment of memory and other intellectual abilities, caused by the loss of neurons and synapses (the structures that permit communication between neurons) in certain regions of the brain. Although the mechanism by which neurons are affected is not yet well understood, research points to a small protein, the beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta), as the first suspect. Ab chains are present in the brains of healthy individuals, but in AD patients, they associate …


Iron (Iii) Oxide And Copper (Ii) Oxide Mediated Formation Of Pcdd/Fs From Thermal Degradation Of 2-Mcp And 1,2-Dcbz, Shadrack Kirwa Nganai Jan 2010

Iron (Iii) Oxide And Copper (Ii) Oxide Mediated Formation Of Pcdd/Fs From Thermal Degradation Of 2-Mcp And 1,2-Dcbz, Shadrack Kirwa Nganai

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) which occurs inexorably from most thermal and combustion processes constitutes a major toxic component of environmental pollutants. Generally, it is well established that transition metal-mediated reactions account for the majority of PCDD/F emissions from combustion sources. Specifically, both copper and iron ions, which occur abundantly in combustion generated particulate matter, are considered probably the most active in promoting PCDD/F formation typically in the low temperature post-combustion zone and flue gas pollution control devices. It has also been demonstrated that chlorinated phenols are key intermediates in essentially all pathways of PCDD/F formation. Chlorinated benzenes …


Cross-Talk-Free Dual-Color Fluorescence Cross-Correlation Spectroscopy For High-Throughtput Screening, Wonbae Lee Jan 2010

Cross-Talk-Free Dual-Color Fluorescence Cross-Correlation Spectroscopy For High-Throughtput Screening, Wonbae Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

High throughput processing of chemical/biochemical information is critical in many areas, such as genome sequencing, drug discovery and clinical diagnostics. Integral to collecting information at high rates with the necessary throughput is the development of systems that can not only monitor the results with high precision and accuracy, but also prepare and process samples prior to the analytical measurement. To achieve the required throughput, we have conducted work directed toward developing a system that provides detection sensitivity at the single-molecule detection (SMD) level. The research was first focused on the development of a sensitive strategy for the detection of proteins …


Quantifying The Impact Of Data Quality On Searches For Gravitational Waves From Binary Coalescing Systems With Ligo, Jacob Peter Slutsky Jan 2010

Quantifying The Impact Of Data Quality On Searches For Gravitational Waves From Binary Coalescing Systems With Ligo, Jacob Peter Slutsky

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time itself, predicted by Einstein's General theory of relativity, which propagate at the speed of light and are not scattered or extinguished by passing through matter almost at all. In particular, the gravitational waves from the coalescences of binary systems of compact objects, such as neutron stars and black holes, are exciting prospects for observation. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory experiment intends to make the _x000C_first direct measurement of gravitational waves, and use the results to uncover new astrophysics. These observations will not be limited by extinction from dust and gas, and will probe astrophysical …