Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Habitat And Fish Population Dynamics: Advancing Stock Assessments Of Highly Migratory Species, Patrick D. Lynch

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Fisheries sustainability is inherently linked to an understanding of the population-level effects of fishing. With an accurate characterization of historical fish and fishery dynamics, management agencies are more equipped to create regulations that sustain fishery resources over the long term. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the advancement of fisheries stock assessment and promote resource sustainability. My research focused on highly migratory species (HMS), particularly fishes that reside in the open ocean. These species constitute some of the highest valued global fisheries; however, numerous factors compromise HMS stock assessment and management. These challenges are fully described …

Urban Edibles: Ornamentals, Roslynn Brain

Roslynn Brain

Who says the only place for city dwellers to pick up their daily dose of vegetables is the local farmers market or grocer? Much of the produce you need and enjoy is available to you in your own backyard and, better yet, is free of cost! Urban foraging is the art of finding, identifying and collecting wild edibles in everyday urban settings. From delicious fruits to weeds you would never in your wildest dreams think to eat, cities are full of handpicked eating opportunities!

Tuning Vortex Confinement By Magnetic Domains In A Superconductor/Ferromagnet Bilayer, Marta Z. Cieplak, Z. Adamus, M. Kończykowski, L. Y. Zhu, Xuemei Cheng, C. L. Chien

Physics Faculty Research and Scholarship

We use a line of miniature Hall sensors to study the effect of magnetic-domain-induced vortex confinement on the flux dynamics in a superconductor/ferromagnet bilayer. A single tunable bilayer is built of a ferromagnetic Co/Pt multilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and a superconducting Nb layer, with the insulating layer in-between to avoid the proximity effect. The magnetic-domain patterns of various geometries are reversibly predefined in the Co/Pt multilayer using the appropriate magnetization procedure. The magnetic-domain geometry strongly affects vortex dynamics, leading to geometry-dependent trapping of vortices at the sample edge, nonuniform flux penetration, and strongly nonuniform critical current density. With the …

Pt Magnetic Polarization On Y3Fe5O12 And Magnetotransport Characteristics, Y. M. Lu, Y. Choi, C. M. Ortega, Xuemei Cheng, J. W. Cai, S. Y. Huang, L. Sun, C. L. Chien

Physics Faculty Research and Scholarship

Thin Pt films on an yttrium iron garnet (YIG=Y₃Fe₅O₁₂) show ferromagneticlike transport properties, which may impact the functionality of Pt in spin current detection, but do not provide direct quantitative information on the Pt magnetization. We report magnetic x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements of YIG/Pt(1.5  nm) showing an average Pt moment of 0.054  μ_B at 300 K and 0.076  μ_B at 20 K. This observation indicates strong proximity effects and induced magnetic ordering in Pt on magnetic insulators and their contribution to the spin-related measurements should not be neglected. The transport characteristics …

Transformations, Bioavailability And Toxicity Of Manufactured Zno Nanomaterials In Wastewter, Sewwandi Rathnayake

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

In order to properly evaluate the ecological and human health risks of ZnO Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) released to the environment, it is critical to understand the likely transformation products in the wastewater treatment process and in soils receiving biosolids. To address this critical knowledge gap, we examined the transformation reactions of 30 nm ZnO MNMs in single component and multi-component systems, with phosphate and natural organic matter (NOM). We also assessed the influence of nano ZnO transformation on the bioavailability, and toxicity of ZnO transformation products to Triticum aestivum. The data revealed that ZnO MNMs react with phosphate at …

Nociceptin Signaling Involves A Calcium-Based Depolarization In Tetrahymena Thermophila, Thomas Lampert, Sarah Nugent, John Weston, Nathanael Braun, Heather G. Kuruvilla

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

Tetrahymena thermophila are free-living, ciliated eukaryotes. Their behavioral response to stimuli is well characterized and easily observable, since cells swim toward chemoattractants and avoid chemorepellents. Chemoattractant responses involve increased swim speed or a decreased change in swim direction, while chemorepellent signaling involves ciliary reversal, which causes the organism to jerk back and forth, swim in small circles, or spin in an attempt to get away from the repellent. Many food sources, such as proteins, are chemoattractants for these organisms, while a variety of compounds are repellents. Repellents in nature are thought to come from the secretions of predators or from …

Initial Conditions For A Post-Flood Rapid Ice Age, Steven M. Gollmer

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

In the early years of the modern creationist movement questions were raised as to the role of ice ages in explaining geological data. Beginning with Whitcomb and Morris (1961) and formalized by Oard (1979), a proposed scenario of warm oceans and volcanic activity would provide the needed conditions to initiate a post-flood ice age. During the 1990’s Vardiman used the Community Climate Model (CCM) to study the impact of warm oceans on global air circulation and precipitation patterns. Following Vardiman’s lead this study uses the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) Model E climate model. The first part of the …

What Is The Eternal?, Steven M. Gollmer

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

Apologetics arguments related to the creation account in Genesis have ranged from evidential proofs for a young creation to the presuppositional consistency of the biblical worldview. Each of these arguments has its place, but the effectiveness varies depending on the audience’s background. A fundamental assumption for all arguments is that God exists and that he has purposefully communicated with his creation through special revelation. Those not holding this faith commitment resort to other answers that they feel are scientifically based. What they overlook are the faith commitments underlying their scientific answers. This paper poses the question “What is the Eternal?” …

The Bench Synthesis Of Silver Nanostructures Of Variable Size And An Introductory Analysis Of Their Optical Properties, Aoife Power, Tony Betts, John Cassidy

Articles

A laboratory practical was designed for use by both undergraduate and second level students to demonstrate the synthesis and characterisation of tuneable silver colloids. It clearly illustrates the novel optical properties of silver nanoparticles compared to the bulk metal. The synthesis is both rapid and repeatable, and can be conducted on the laboratory bench at room temperature.

Reducing The Cumulative File Download Time And Variance In A P2p Overlay Via Proximity Based Peer Selection, Uriel J. Carasquilla

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The time it takes to download a file in a peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay network is dependent on several factors. These factors include the quality of the network between peers (e.g. packet loss, latency, and link failures), distance, peer selection technique, and packet loss due to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) engaging in traffic shaping. Recent research shows that P2P download time is adversely impacted by the presence of distant peers, particularly when traffic goes across an ISP that could be engaging in P2P traffic throttling activities. It has also been observed that additional delays are introduced when distant candidate nodes for …

An Aspect Pointcut For Parallelizable Loops, John Scott Dean

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the need for a pointcut for parallelizable loops in an aspect-oriented programming environment. Several prototype solutions exist for loop pointcuts, but the solutions are not very granular. In particular, they are not able to differentiate between loops that are parallelizable and those that are not. Being able to identify parallelizable loops automatically, as part of an aspect-oriented compiler's weaving process, is particularly important because (1) manually identifying parallelizable loops is known to be a difficult problem and (2) aspectizing parallelized loops can lead to a reduction in code tangling and an increase in separation of concerns.

This …

Developing Software Requirements For A Knowledge Management System That Coordinates Training Programs With Business Processes And Policies In Large Organizations, James Richard Kiper

CCE Theses and Dissertations

For large organizations, updating instructional programs presents a challenge to keep abreast of constantly changing business processes and policies. Each time a process or policy changes, significant resources are required to locate and modify the training materials that convey the new content. Moreover, without the ability to track learning objects to processes and policies, training managers cannot conduct an effective training gap analysis in these areas. As a result, the corporate training picture is unclear and instructional needs cannot be accurately determined.

The research addressed these problems by recognizing the need for linkages between an organization's business processes, its policies, …

Assessing Behavioral Intention To Use Low Social Presence Icts For Interpersonal Task Completion Among College Students: With Special Consideration Toward Short Message Service (Sms) Text-Messaging, Jeffrey Scott Linney

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to investigate whether the popularity of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) would impact the behavioral intention (BI) to use of these technologies to aid in interpersonal task completion. Out of the ICTs available today, the most popular is textmessaging, especially among a sizable percentage of the college population. Approximately 600 students at a small, private junior college in eastern North Carolina were invited to participate in this study with a target of 248 responses needed to comprise an adequate sample. A total of 259 usable surveys (n = 259) were received and analyzed.

Qualitative data collection instruments consisted …

Support Services For Millennial Undergraduates, Marie Pullan

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Education has changed as a result of technological advances. Distance learning, particularly online learning, has rapidly increased its presence in higher education. Millennials, a new generation of students who have grown up with the Internet, are college-age. They expect access to the Internet to manage their daily lives. However, as they enter college, many discover that support services that are requisite to a successful college experience, are available on-campus but not online. The goal was to determine what contemporary college-aged students expect as online student support services so that institutions will know what to provide.

Data gathered through interviews with …

Pursuing And Completing An Undergraduate Computing Degree From A Female Perspective: A Quantitative And Qualitative Approach, Scott Ragsdale

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The computing profession in the United States would benefit from an increasingly diverse workforce, specifically a larger female presence, because a more gender-balanced workforce would likely result in better technological solutions to difficulties in many areas of American life. However, to achieve this balance, more women with a solid educational foundation in computing need to enter the computing workplace. Yet a common problem is most colleges and universities offering computer-related degrees have found it challenging to attract females to their programs. Also, the women who begin a computing major have shown a higher tendency than men to leave the major. …

Construction Of A Conceptualization Of Personal Knowledge Within A Knowledge Management Perspective Using Grounded Theory Methodology, Eric M. Straw

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The current research used grounded theory methodology (GTM) to construct a conceptualization of personal knowledge within a knowledge management (KM) perspective. The need for the current research was based on the use of just two categories of knowledge, explicit and tacit, within KM literature to explain diverse characteristics of personal knowledge. The construct of tacit knowledge has often been explicated and debated in KM literature. The debate over tacit knowledge arose from the complex epistemological roots of tacit knowing and the construct of tacit knowledge popularized by organizational knowledge creation theory. The ongoing debate over tacit knowledge in KM literature …

Using Forecasting To Predict Long-Term Resource Utilization For Web Services, Daniel Wayne Yoas

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have spent years understanding resource utilization to improve scheduling, load balancing, and system management through short-term prediction of resource utilization. Early research focused primarily on single operating systems; later, interest shifted to distributed systems and, finally, into web services. In each case researchers sought to more effectively use available resources. Since schedulers are required to manage the execution of multiple programs every second, short-term prediction has focused on time frames ranging from fractions of a second to several minutes.

The recent increase in the number of research studies about web services has occurred because of the explosive growth and …

Employee Determinants To Share Knowledge In A Us Federal Government Environment, Kenneth White

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Although the literature indicates that knowledge sharing (KS) research is prevalent in the private sector, there is scant empirical research data about KS in the public sector. Moreover, organizations lack an understanding of employee KS behavior. This study investigated two research questions: First, how does the perceived importance of five determinants of KS behavior (organizational culture, workplace trust, incentives, management support, and technology) vary based upon the variables of job function, gender, and work category? Second, what is the relative importance of the five determinants of KS behavior to U.S. federal government employees? This descriptive study employed a Web-based survey …

Challenges Of Cave Management In A Developing Country: A Case Study Of Grotte Marie-Jeanne, Departemente Sud, Haiti, Patricia N. Kambesis, Brian Oakes, Michael Lace

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

As with many developing countries,Haiti has environmental, economic and cultural challenges that complicate natural resource management. Karst landscapes dominate Haiti and caves are abundant as recent cave and karst inventory data indicate. Though the caves and karst are subject to environmental challenges they also provide the potential for the development of tourism that would improve local economic conditions. There are 500 documented caves in Haiti of which, five are show caves. Of those, only one, Grotte Marie-Jeanne, located in Port-ấ -Piment in Departement Sud, has a structured cave management plan that addresses identification of cave resources, visitor access, interpretive guidelines, …

Design And Synthesis Of Flavin-Based Organocatalysts For Biomimetic Aerobic Oxidation Reactions, Shuai Chen

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

Oxidation reactions are among the most costly and least selective transformations in synthetic chemistry. Catalytic methods that utilize O₂ as a terminal oxidant strive to reduce the inefficiency in this large area of synthesis. Recent efforts have been aimed primarily at metal-/organometallic- or enzyme-catalyzed transformations. The goal of the research described in this dissertation was to develop organocatalytic systems based on natural biosynthetic catalysts in order to develop selective metal-free aerobic oxidations that function at room temperature. Prior to our work, riboflavin mimics were previously investigated to understand flavoenzyme function and to perform catalytic oxidations of primarily heteroatom systems. We …

Development Of New Stationary Phases And Their Applications In High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Haixiao Qiu

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has proven to be the most widely applicable and versatile technique in separation science. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) has attracted considerable interest and has become a viable option for the separation of polar compounds. Chirality is another major concern in the modern pharmaceutical industry for two reasons: 1). the majority of bio-organic molecules are chiral; 2). enantiomers of a racemic drug may often exhibit different biological activities, pharmacokinetics, and toxicities. The field of enantiomeric separations has reached a clear level of maturity after approximately 30 years of development. However, with the continued emphasis on …

Spectral Multiplicity Of Selfadjoint Schrodinger Operators On Star-Graphs With Standard Interface Conditions, Sergey Simonov, Harald Woracek

Articles

We analyze the singular spectrum of selfadjoint operators which arise from pasting a finite number of boundary relations with a standard interface condition. A model example for this situation is a Schroedinger operator on a star-shaped graph with continuity and Kirchhoff conditions at the interior vertex. We compute the multiplicity of the singular spectrum in terms of the spectral measures of the Weyl functions associated with the single (independently considered) boundary relations. This result is a generalization and refinement of Theorem of I.S. Kac.

Appropriate Terminology For Karst-Like Phenomena: The Problem With ‘Pseudokarst’, Rolan S. Eberhard, Chris Sharples

International Journal of Speleology

The practice of referring to certain morphologically karst-like phenomena as ‘pseudokarst’ is problematic, because it ignores basic principles of sound classification, logical naming conventions and accepted geomorphic classifications and terminology. These problems have compounded the difficulty in establishing an accepted classification of ‘pseudokarst’ types. The practice embodies a karst-centric perspective which should be avoided in favour of using conventional geomorphic terminology for non-karstic features. We illustrate this by providing existing conventional terms for many ‘pseudokarst’ types reported in the literature.

Limit Of Strong Ion Coupling Due To Electron Shielding, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, M. S. Murillo

Faculty Publications

We show that strong coupling between ions in an ultracold neutral plasma is limited by electron screening. While electron screening reduces the quasiequilibrium ion temperature, it also reduces the ion-ion electrical potential energy. The net result is that the ratio of nearest-neighbor potential energy to kinetic energy in quasiequilibrium is constant and limited to approximately 1 unless the electrons are heated by some external source. We support these conclusions by reporting measurements of the ion velocity distribution in an ultracold neutral calcium plasma. These results match previously reported simulations of Yukawa systems. Theoretical considerations are used to determine the screened …

Leadership In Environmental And Energy Design : A True Sustainable Development Model?, Christopher Jay Loser

LSU Master's Theses

Suburban sprawl and sustainable development has received increasing worldwide attention over the past few decades. In 1998, sustainable development principles were codified in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system. The most recent LEED certification system to be released, LEED for New Development (LEED-ND), includes sustainable development goals with the addition of smart growth principles intended to curb sprawl. This study examines and evaluates LEED-ND in order to determine if it meets the requirements of sustainable development to provide for the needs of future generations, as defined by the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development. …

Fish And Macroinvertebrate Assemblage Composition And Diversity At Revetted Banks In The Pearl River And The Response Of These Assemblages To A Paper Mill Effluent Spill, Jose Alexander Vazquez

LSU Master's Theses

The armoring of river banks with riprap can have detrimental effects on lotic ecosystems due to the subsequent alteration of hydrologic regimes; however, evidence suggests that riprap can also increase aquatic diversity in degraded systems. The goal of my study was to determine what impacts riprapped banks have on fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages in the Pearl River, which has a history of anthropogenic degradation. I collected fishes with an electrofishing boat from armored and natural banks at five regions during fall 2011, winter 2012, and summer 2012. I also collected macroinvertebrates with introduced substrates in fall 2011. Richness was analyzed …

Natural Fracture Characterization In The Haynesville Shale, East Texas: A Core Study, Frank Leslie Morgan

LSU Master's Theses

The Haynesville Shale in East Texas and Northwest Louisiana is one of the most studied and explored shale-gas plays in the United States. With new horizontal drilling and completion strategies, energy companies can produce hydrocarbons directly from the source rock making the Haynesville Shale an attractive resource. A key component of enhanced hydrocarbon production is the presence of natural fractures. They may serve as permeable pathways for hydrocarbon flow, especially in tight shales such as in the Haynesville Shale, where the matrix permeability is very low. In the case of the Haynesville Shale, little is known about the occurrence of …

The Use Of Classroom Demonstrations To Improve High School Students' Ability To Understand Concepts In Chemistry, Jessica Langlois Shelton

LSU Master's Theses

This study was completed to determine if implementing demonstrations in specific chapters of a high school chemistry classroom would enhance students understanding of the topics the demonstrations represented. The study consisted of five sections of college preparatory high school chemistry. The sections were made up of both male and female students. The sections were randomly broken up into two groups. Each group acted as the experimental and control at different points in the study. Four chapters were used in the study. Each group represented the control group in two chapters and the experimental group in two chapters, flip flopping with …

Community Resilience To Coastal Hazards : An Analysis Of Two Geographical Scales In Louisiana, Chi Li

LSU Master's Theses

Quantifying resilience is difficulties due to the different definitions of resilience, the interchangeable uses with two other terms “vulnerability” and “adaptability”, as well as the lack of consensus on what indicators should be selected to quantifying resilience. This thesis research studied the community resilience in Louisiana by applying the Resilience Inference Measurement (RIM) model at two geographic levels: county level and zip code level. The RIM model accesses resilience by using three dimensions (exposure, damage, and recovery) and two abilities (vulnerability and adaptability). The types of coastal hazards included in this study were: coastal, flooding, hurricane/tropical storm, tornado, and severe …

Metacognition And Its Effect On Learning High School Calculus, Bonnie Sue Bergstresser

LSU Master's Theses

The following paper discusses the effect of metacognitive training sessions on students’ calculus retention. Students in two high school classes participated. The students in both classes were then given lessons on a chapter without metacognitive training and lessons on a subsequent chapter with training in a set of metacognitive skills. After the latter chapter students scored higher on a post-test and expressed desire to incorporate the skills they learned into their other classes.