Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Louisiana State University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 2911 - 2940 of 3417

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Effects Of Aluminum Concentration On Growth Responses In Six Spartina Alterniflora Genotypes, Daniel Farrell Becker Jan 2005

The Effects Of Aluminum Concentration On Growth Responses In Six Spartina Alterniflora Genotypes, Daniel Farrell Becker

LSU Master's Theses

Elevated soluble aluminum concentrations can adversely affect plant growth. During a drought, wetland soils may experience higher than normal soluble aluminum due to the oxidation of metal sulfides and resulting decreases in pH, which mobilizes metallic cations. Louisiana coastal salt marshes were subject to a record-setting drought in the winter and spring of 2000 which was coincident with the die-off of large expanses of salt marsh, termed " brown marsh ". Spartina alterniflora was the primary plant species affected. However, because some individuals within large areas of die-off survived the brown marsh event, they may have been the more resistant …


Synthetic Development And Application Of Compounds With Biological Relevance, Jeffery Caleb Clark Jan 2005

Synthetic Development And Application Of Compounds With Biological Relevance, Jeffery Caleb Clark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nature has provided a vast number of compounds that have medicinal application. The use of these compounds provided by nature however, is limited by the amount of a specific compound that nature provides. The synthesis of these molecules and their derivatives provides an even greater number of compounds for biological screening. Various pyrroles, the heterocyclic building blocks of porphyrins, can be prepared synthetically over several steps. The implementation of carboranes on pyrrole rings intrinsically provides substrates that can be converted into porphyrins bearing carborane substituents. The condensation of these carboranylpyrroles with carboranylaldehydes provides carboranylporphyrins bearing a higher order of carborane …


Population Dynamics Of Clausocalanus Furcatus (Copepoda, Calanoida) In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Hongsheng Bi Jan 2005

Population Dynamics Of Clausocalanus Furcatus (Copepoda, Calanoida) In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Hongsheng Bi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Copepods are important components of marine ecosystems. Understanding copepod population dynamics can help interpret variations in both primary producers and higher trophic levels. Egg production, stage duration, and stage-specific mortality rates are key parameters describing copepod population dynamics. Estimation of stage-specific mortality is complicated due to a complex life history, patchiness, and sampling biases. This study was undertaken to quantify the population dynamics of the copepod Clausocalanus furcatus in the northern Gulf of Mexico and to assess the utility of available mortality estimation methods in a highly advective environment. Zooplankton samples were taken every 12h from March 18-April 6, and …


Denitrification And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cultivated And Wetland Alluvial Soils, Sami Ullah Jan 2005

Denitrification And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cultivated And Wetland Alluvial Soils, Sami Ullah

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Agricultural development in the Mississippi River Basin has contributed to an 3-fold increase in NO3 loading of the river. Increased NO3 loading is a primary cause of eutrophication in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Identification of best management practices (BMPs) to reduce NO3 loss and wetlands restoration to remove NO3 through denitrification are critically needed. The objectives of this research were to determine factors controlling denitrification potential of different landscape units in an agricultural watershed and quantify the effects of BMPs and organic C amendments on denitrification rates of cultivated lands and restored forested wetlands. N2O, CH4 and CO2 emissions …


Zeta Functions Of Finite Graphs, Debra Czarneski Jan 2005

Zeta Functions Of Finite Graphs, Debra Czarneski

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ihara introduced the zeta function of a finite graph in 1966 in the context of p-adic matrix groups. The idea was generalized to all finite graphs in 1989 by Hashimoto. We will introduce the zeta function from both perspectives and show the equivalence of both forms. We will discuss several properties of finite graphs that are determined by the zeta function and show by counterexample several properties of finite graphs that are not determined by the zeta function. We will also discuss the relationship between the zeta function of a finite graph and the spectrum of a finite graph.


Capillary And Microchip Gel Electrophoresis Using Multiplexed Fluorescence Detection With Both Time-Resolved And Spectral-Discrimination Capabilities: Applications In Dna Sequencing Using Near-Infrared Fluorescence, Li Zhu Jan 2005

Capillary And Microchip Gel Electrophoresis Using Multiplexed Fluorescence Detection With Both Time-Resolved And Spectral-Discrimination Capabilities: Applications In Dna Sequencing Using Near-Infrared Fluorescence, Li Zhu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Increasing the information content obtainable from a single assay and system miniaturization has continued to be important research areas in analytical chemistry. The research presented in this dissertation involves the development of a two-color, time-resolved fluorescence microscope for the acquisition of both steady-state and time-resolved data during capillary and microchip electrophoresis. The utility of this hybrid fluorescence detector has been demonstrated by applying it to DNA sequencing applications. Coupling color discrimination with time-resolved fluorescence offers increased multiplexing capabilities because the lifetime data adds another layer of information. An optical fiber-based fluorescence microscope was constructed, which utilized fluorescence in near-IR region, …


Molecular Recognition And Its Underlying Mechanisms In Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, Ryan Simon Jan 2005

Molecular Recognition And Its Underlying Mechanisms In Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, Ryan Simon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Molecular recognition in molecularly imprinting polymers (MIPs) is governed by two mechanisms: pre-organization of functional groups and shape specificity of the binding site. While pre-organization of functional groups has been studied extensively, shape specificity of the binding site has not been rigorously explored. The goal of this research is to determine the influence of shape specificity on molecular recognition in MIPs (Chapter 2). Once shape selectivity was proven to play a vital role in molecular recognition, it was important to determine if pre-organization of functional groups or shape specificity was the dominating factor in determining molecular recognition in the binding …


The Twiggs Clay: Mineralogy, Origin, And Industrial Properties Of An Upper Eocene Opaline Claystone In The Coastal Plain Province Of Georgia, U.S., Lori G. Eversull Jan 2005

The Twiggs Clay: Mineralogy, Origin, And Industrial Properties Of An Upper Eocene Opaline Claystone In The Coastal Plain Province Of Georgia, U.S., Lori G. Eversull

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Twiggs Clay is an upper Eocene claystone found as discontinuous deposits downdip of the Fall Line in the Coastal Plain Province of eastern and central Georgia. A distinctive facies of the Twiggs is found in two lenses near the town of Wrens. The nature, origin, and potential commercial application of this resource are examined. Four strata and two mineralogic assemblages are recognized in the Wrens deposit. The lower three strata are near white in color and very low in density. These strata are mineralogically similar and are composed predominantly of disordered silica and smectite. The smectite is dioctahedral, and …


Nitrate Reduction And Methane Formation As Influenced By Iron-Centered Intermediate Redox Processes In Rice Soils, Bin Huang Jan 2005

Nitrate Reduction And Methane Formation As Influenced By Iron-Centered Intermediate Redox Processes In Rice Soils, Bin Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rice fields are a major source of the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) and contribute to nitrate (NO3-) pollution in waters. Ferric iron (Fe3+) and manganic manganese (Mn4+) are two intermediate alternative electron acceptors (AEAs) capable of regeneration in freshwater soils. In this investigation, the influences of iron-centered intermediate redox processes on NO3- reduction and CH4 formation in rice soils were studied using soil slurries, soil columns, and potted rice. Reduction of Fe3+-centered intermediate AEAs was mainly mediated by obligate anaerobes …


Automatic Segmentation Of Magnetic Resonance Images Of The Brain, Kirk V. N. Spence Jan 2005

Automatic Segmentation Of Magnetic Resonance Images Of The Brain, Kirk V. N. Spence

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technique used primarily in medical settings to produce high quality images of the human body’s internal anatomy. Each image is of a thin slice through the body, with the typical distance between slices being a few millimeters. Brain segmentation is the delineation of one or more anatomical structures within images of the brain. It promotes greater understanding of spatial relationships to aid in such tasks as surgical planning and clinical diagnoses, particularly when the segmented outlines from each image slice are displayed together as a surface in three-dimensions. A review of the literature indicates …


Stability In Dynamical Polysystems, George Cazacu Jan 2005

Stability In Dynamical Polysystems, George Cazacu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A dynamical polysystem consists of a family of continuous dynamical systems, all acting on a given metric space. The first chapter of the present thesis shows a generalization of control systems via dynamical polysystems and establishes the equivalence of the two notions under certain lipschitz condition on the function defining the dynamics. The remaining chapters are focused on a basic theory of dynamical polysystems. Some topological properties of limit sets are described in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4 provide characterizations for various notions of strong stability. Chapter 5 makes use of the theory of closed relations to study Lyapunov …


Synthesis Of Symmetric And Asymmetric Water-Soluble Porphyrin Derivatives, Caroline Owendi Ongayi Jan 2005

Synthesis Of Symmetric And Asymmetric Water-Soluble Porphyrin Derivatives, Caroline Owendi Ongayi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Novel symmetric and asymmetric water-soluble tetrabenzoporphyrin are synthesized in relatively good yields. These compounds are synthesized by the condensation of butanopyrrole with several aldehydes that contain masked water solubilizing groups followed by metal insertion, oxidation and demetallation and deprotection of the masked solubilizing groups. The biological evaluation (in vitro and in vivo) studies are described in addition to the photophysical evaluations of the corresponding compounds. A novel versatile route to the syntheses of novel free-bases and metallo-benzoylbiliverdin is discussed. The treatment of metal free-dodecasubstituted porphyrin with sodium nitrite and trifluoroacetic acid at room temperature in the presence of oxygen affords …


Effects Of Body Size On Goose Behavior: Lesser Snow Goose And Ross's Goose, Jon Einar Jonsson Jan 2005

Effects Of Body Size On Goose Behavior: Lesser Snow Goose And Ross's Goose, Jon Einar Jonsson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Body size is highly variable among geese, both at intra- and interspecific levels. Interspecific variation in several behaviors has been attributed to differences in body size in geese: incubation constancy, tendency to maintain family units, and time spent foraging. Body size has important physiological implications for birds, mostly because mass-specific metabolic rate is greater for birds of smaller mass. The Body-size Hypothesis predicts that smaller species deplete their energy reserves at relatively faster rates than do larger species. Hypotheses and conclusions concerning effects of body size on waterfowl behavior often are based on comparisons of species that confront different climates, …


Medical Image Enhancement, Alina Monica Trifas Jan 2005

Medical Image Enhancement, Alina Monica Trifas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Each image acquired from a medical imaging system is often part of a two-dimensional (2-D) image set whose total presents a three-dimensional (3-D) object for diagnosis. Unfortunately, sometimes these images are of poor quality. These distortions cause an inadequate object-of-interest presentation, which can result in inaccurate image analysis. Blurring is considered a serious problem. Therefore, “deblurring” an image to obtain better quality is an important issue in medical image processing. In our research, the image is initially decomposed. Contrast improvement is achieved by modifying the coefficients obtained from the decomposed image. Small coefficient values represent subtle details and are amplified …


Infrared And X-Ray Spectroscopic Studies Of The Copper(Ii) Oxide Mediated Reactions Of Chlorinated Aromatic Precursors To Pcdd/F, Steven L. Alderman Jan 2005

Infrared And X-Ray Spectroscopic Studies Of The Copper(Ii) Oxide Mediated Reactions Of Chlorinated Aromatic Precursors To Pcdd/F, Steven L. Alderman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) are toxic compounds produced in combustion systems such as incinerators, and their emissions are an important environmental issue. Chlorinated phenols and benzenes form PCDD/F through heterogeneous reactions following adsorption onto fly-ash surfaces. Current research implicates transition metals in promoting formation of phenoxyl radicals that react to form PCDD/F, although this has not been studied extensively. This objective of this work is to better understand PCDD/F formation from chlorinated aromatic precursors. Using 2 chlorophenol as a model PCDD/F precursor and silica as a fly-ash surrogate, time-dependent chemisorption of 2 chlorophenol onto silica was studied in situ …


Macroinvertebrate Community Of Ecology Of Lowland, Subtropical Streams In Louisiana, Michael Douglas Kaller Jan 2005

Macroinvertebrate Community Of Ecology Of Lowland, Subtropical Streams In Louisiana, Michael Douglas Kaller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Freshwater ecosystems, particularly streams and rivers, have been the subject of prodigious research. Unfortunately, in comparison to neighboring regions, the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain has not received as much attention. Therefore, I collected data on the macroinvertebrates of these streams to begin the understanding of the relationships between community structure and environmental characteristics. In contrast to the hypothesized ancestral streams of these macroinvertebrates, coastal plain streams are commonly devoid of rocks leaving only woody debris as usable hard substrates and are typically lower in dissolved oxygen. I examined habitat selection by colonization of woody debris with large and small …


Dissipative Lipschitz Dynamics, Vinicio Rafael Rios Jan 2005

Dissipative Lipschitz Dynamics, Vinicio Rafael Rios

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we study two related important issues in control theory: invariance of dynamical systems and Hamilton-Jacobi theory associated with optimal control theory. Given a control system modelled as a differential inclusion, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the strong invariance property of the system when the dynamic satisfies a dissipative Lipschitz condition. We show that when the dynamic is almost upper semicontinuous and satisfies the dissipative Lipschitz property, these conditions can be expressed in terms of approximate Hamilton-Jacobi inequalities, which subsumes the classic infinitesimal characterization of strongly invariant systems given under the Lipschitz assumtion. In the important …


Stm And Arpes Studies Of Epitaxial Multilayer Ag On Cu(110) And Ni(110), Weichang Zhao Jan 2005

Stm And Arpes Studies Of Epitaxial Multilayer Ag On Cu(110) And Ni(110), Weichang Zhao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ag nanostructures of multilayer coverages (< 30 monolayers) epitaxially self-assembled on Cu(110) and Ni(110) have been explored by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), angle-resolved photoelectron emission spectroscopy (ARPES), and low energy electron diffraction (LEED). We have studied varied nanostructure morphologies self-assembled depending on different deposition/annealing processes and coverages, their atomic structures, growth behaviors and mechanisms, and the electronic structures of nanowires. At nominal coverages of 1.2 ML < ¦È < ~10 ML, there are two epitaxial structures on Cu(110) and Ni(110). One is a Ag(110) multilayer film, which has a superstructure with lateral periodic units of eight and three/four substrate lattice constants along [¯110] and along [001] respectively. Another is that of Ag(110) nanowires surrounded by pseudohexagonal Ag(111) monolayer. The Ag(110) nanowires are triangular in cross section. The two side surfaces are faceted and the long axis is atomically straight along [¯110]. Typical lengths are within the range of 100 ~ 5000 Å, widths 70 ~ 300 Å, side slopes 10 ~ 30º, and heights 5 ~ 60 Å. The Ag nanowires present extraordinary anisotropy with observed aspect ratios (length:width) of up to 20:1. The Ag(110) nanowires are in-registry with the substrate along [001], but not along [¯110]. At coverages of ~ 10 ML < ¦È < ~25 ML, there also exist two different nanostructures, the nanowires and a Ag(110) atomically-flat film with some pits as deep as down to the substrate and a one-dimensional quasiperiodic superstructure along [001]. There are two basic separations of the superstructural stripes: one is three lattices wide (~11 Å) and the other is two lattices wide (~7 Å). Both of nanostructures are stable at temperature up to at least 200 ¡ãC and not inter-transformable. The growth of the nanowires is driven by the elastic strain mechanism, but the growth of the atomically-flat film is driven by electronic growth mechanism originated from the electron quantum confinement in the vertical direction of the film. The ARPES of the nanowires shows dispersion in the vertical and the [¯110] directions, but no dispersion in the [001] direction because of the limited width (~ 200 Å).


Nutrient Interactions, Plant Productivity, Soil Accretion, And Policy Implications Of Wetland Enhancements In Coastal Louisiana, Christopher Brantley Jan 2005

Nutrient Interactions, Plant Productivity, Soil Accretion, And Policy Implications Of Wetland Enhancements In Coastal Louisiana, Christopher Brantley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ecosystem response, stakeholder interactions, and the policy implications to a wetland assimilation project are reported here for the City of Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Between September 1998 and October 2004, input of secondarily treated wastewater effluent was found to have a net positive effect on the downstream wetland receiving basin. The major hydrologic inputs to the system are the effluent, precipitation, and back water flooding from Lake Pontchartrain. Nutrient levels were generally low except in the immediate vicinity of the outfall and removal efficiencies of N and P ranged from 44% to 87% and 25% to 93%, respectively. On …


Impulsive Systems, Stanislav Zabic Jan 2005

Impulsive Systems, Stanislav Zabic

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Impulsive systems arise when dynamics produce discontinuous trajectories. Discontinuties occur when movements of states happen over a small interval that resembles a point-mass measure. We adopt the formalism in which the controlled dynamic inclusion is the sum of a slow and a fast time velocities belonging to two distinct vector fields. Fast time velocities are controlled by a vector valued Borel measure. The trajectory of impulsive systems is a function of bounded variation. To give a definition of solutions, a notion of graph completion of the control measure is needed. In the nonimpulsive case, a solution can be defined as …


Long-Term Freshwater Input And Sediment Load From Three Tributaries To Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Kangsheng Wu Jan 2005

Long-Term Freshwater Input And Sediment Load From Three Tributaries To Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Kangsheng Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Lake Pontchartrain and the drainage basin have experienced environmental degradation because of human settlement, land use and climate changes. A thorough understanding of hydrologic trends and variability associated with the changes is critical for sustainable water resources management and ecosystem restoration in the region. This study examined freshwater inflow (1940-2002) and suspended solids loadings (1978-2001) from three upper Lake Pontchartrain watersheds that contribute to the lake estuary: the Amite, Tickfaw, and Tangipahoa river watersheds. The relationships of freshwater inflow and suspended solids loadings with climate variables and population growth were investigated. Using observed daily discharge, a spatially-distributed hydrologic model (SWAT) …


Synthesis, Characterization And Application Of Polymeric Surfactants In Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography: Use Of Ionic Liquids As Modifiers, Simon M. Mwongela Jan 2005

Synthesis, Characterization And Application Of Polymeric Surfactants In Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography: Use Of Ionic Liquids As Modifiers, Simon M. Mwongela

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of the research presented in this dissertation is to synthesize, characterize, and apply a novel chiral amino acid-based surfactant and achiral sulfate-based surfactants for the effective separations of chiral and achiral compounds in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The first part of this research involves novel synthesis, characterization, and application of polysodium oleyl-L-leucyl-valinate (poly-L-SOLV) for the separation of chiral compounds in MEKC. Surface tensiometry, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, densitometry and analytical ultracentrifugation were used as the characterization techniques. Optimal MEKC separating conditions were established by varying surfactant concentration, buffer concentration and pH, applied voltage, and capillary temperature. …


Virtual Strings For Closed Curves With Multiple Components And Filamentations For Virtual Links, William Schellhorn Jan 2005

Virtual Strings For Closed Curves With Multiple Components And Filamentations For Virtual Links, William Schellhorn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The theory of filaments on oriented chord diagrams can be used to detect some non-classical virtual knots. We extend existing filament techniques to virtual links with more than one component and give examples of virtual links that these techniques can detect as non-classical. Given a signed Gauss word underlying an oriented chord diagram, we describe how to construct a finite sequence of integers that encodes all of the filament information for the diagram. We also introduce a square array of integers called a MIN-square that summarizes the filament information about all of the signed Gauss words having a given Gauss …


Komatiites Of The Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: Implications For The Chemistry And Temperature Of The Archean Mantle, Keena Kareem Jan 2005

Komatiites Of The Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: Implications For The Chemistry And Temperature Of The Archean Mantle, Keena Kareem

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The komatiites of the 3.29 Ga Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa represent extremely magnesian lavas derived from the Archean mantle. Three related papers are presented on aspects of the temperature and composition of the Archean mantle, and surface alteration processes. Petrographical and geochemical analyses confirm that olivines from the komatiites retain much of their original igneous character, containing fresh olivines, pyroxenes, and chromites. The olivines from the Weltevreden Formation are extremely magnesian, with Fo contents up to 95.6. Primitive mantle normalized Gd/Yb values near 1, and Al2O3/TiO3 values of 26-33 for these rocks …


An Evaluation Of The Enantiomeric Recognition Of Amino Acid Based Polymeric Surfactants And Cyclodextrins Using Spectroscopic And Chromatographic Methods, Bertha Cedillo Valle Jan 2005

An Evaluation Of The Enantiomeric Recognition Of Amino Acid Based Polymeric Surfactants And Cyclodextrins Using Spectroscopic And Chromatographic Methods, Bertha Cedillo Valle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The scope of this dissertation is to explore the enantiomeric recognition properties of amino acid based polymeric surfactants using a combination of analytical techniques including chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. Chapter 1 includes an introduction to chirality and chiral separations using capillary electrophoresis. Using cyclodextrin modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography (CD-MEKC), the enantioseparation of three binaphthyl derivatives using native alpha- and beta-cyclodextrins in combination with various diastereomers of chiral polymeric surfactants (PS) was examined. A reversal of enantiomeric order was observed with the enantiomers of (1,1 S-binaphthyl-2,2 S-diamine (BNA) and (1,1 S-binaphthol (BOH) due to a competition between the two chiral selectors …


Quasicontinuous Derivatives And Viscosity Functions, Rodica Cazacu Jan 2005

Quasicontinuous Derivatives And Viscosity Functions, Rodica Cazacu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work we demonstrate how the continuous domain theory can be applied to the theory of nonlinear optimization, particularly to the theory of viscosity solutions. We consider finding the viscosity solution for the Hamilton-Jacobi equation H(x, y) = g(x), with continuous hamiltonian, but with possibly discontinuous right-hand side. We begin by finding a new function space Q(X,L), the space of equivalence classes of quasicontinuous functions from a locally compact set X to a bicontinuous lattice L and we will define on Q(X,L) the qo-topology, which is a variant of classical order topology defined on complete lattices. On this …


Economic Valuation Of Natural Resource Management: A Case Study Of The Benuaq Dayak Tribe In Kalimantan, Indonesia, Indah D. Kusuma Jan 2005

Economic Valuation Of Natural Resource Management: A Case Study Of The Benuaq Dayak Tribe In Kalimantan, Indonesia, Indah D. Kusuma

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The unavailability of total economic values of indigenous people in Indonesia, both in the short and long term, has created the rejection of their existences in the forest area. The purpose of this study is to estimate the total economic value of sustainable forest management conducted by indigenous tribes in Indonesia using total economic value concepts. The tribe’s total economic value is expressed by estimating the use value, indirect use value and non-use value. The study used benefit transfer and survey methods using questionnaires to estimate the tribe’s total economic value. The estimated total economic value of the Benuaq Dayak …


Comparative Studies Of Sperm Cryopreservation Of Diploid And Tetraploid Pacific Oysters, Qiaoxiang Dong Jan 2005

Comparative Studies Of Sperm Cryopreservation Of Diploid And Tetraploid Pacific Oysters, Qiaoxiang Dong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addressed comparative studies of sperm cryopreservation of diploid and tetraploid Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, with an emphasis on the development of standardized and optimized protocols. This includes comparative ultrastructural differences between sperm from diploid and tetraploid oysters, methods for the rapid estimation of sperm concentration, optimization of cryopreservation, and evaluation of the mechanisms for sperm agglutination (formation of clumps or elongated "noodles") in thawed samples. Currently, cryopreserved sperm has not been commercialized in any aquatic species, and standardization and optimization could greatly benefit the potential commercialization of its use. In oysters specifically, cryopreserved sperm from tetraploids would facilitate …


Broadcast In Sparse Conversion Optical Networks Using Fewest Converters, Tong Yi Jan 2005

Broadcast In Sparse Conversion Optical Networks Using Fewest Converters, Tong Yi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Wavelengths and converters are shared by communication requests in optical networks. When a message goes through a node without a converter, the outgoing wavelength must be the same as the incoming one. This constraint can be removed if the node uses a converter. Hence, the usage of converters increases the utilization of wavelengths and allows more communication requests to succeed. Since converters are expensive, we consider sparse conversion networks, where only some specified nodes have converters. Moreover, since the usage of converters induces delays, we should minimize the use of available converters. The Converters Usage Problem (CUP) is to use …


Biologically Inspired Learning System, Patrick Mcdowell Jan 2005

Biologically Inspired Learning System, Patrick Mcdowell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Learning Systems used on robots require either a-priori knowledge in the form of models, rules of thumb or databases or require that robot to physically execute multitudes of trial solutions. The first requirement limits the robot’s ability to operate in unstructured changing environments, and the second limits the robot’s service life and resources. In this research a generalized approach to learning was developed through a series of algorithms that can be used for construction of behaviors that are able to cope with unstructured environments through adaptation of both internal parameters and system structure as a result of a goal based …