Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Bachman's Sparrow (Peucaea Aestivalis) Population Structure Across The Southeastern Usa, Blain Annette Cerame

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding gene flow and population structure in wildlife populations helps managers to protect distinct genetic lineages and genetic variation in small, isolated populations at high risk of extinction. I assessed genetic diversity in Bachman’s Sparrows (Peucaea aestivalis) to evaluate the role of natural barriers in shaping evolutionarily significant units as well as the effect of anthropogenically-caused habitat loss and fragmentation on population differentiation and diversity. Genetic diversity was assessed across the geographic range of Bachman’s Sparrow by genotyping 226 individuals at 18 microsatellite loci and sequencing 48 individuals at nuclear and mitochondrial DNA genes. Multiple analyses consistently demonstrated high levels …

An Analysis Of The Prevalence Of The West Nile Virus In Relation To Health Resilience Along The Gulf Of Mexico, Lillian Patricia Mata

LSU Master's Theses

As the Earth’s climate changes, coastal communities are increasingly vulnerable to the natural hazards that are driven by these processes, particularly in regards to the health of these communities. It has been shown that disease patterns can change in response to our environment, putting the health resilience of communities at risk. This study looks at the relationship between natural exposure and traditional resilience index variables in the context of the spread of West Nile Virus along the Gulf of Mexico. Through analysis of 534 counties, the West Nile Virus for 2001-2012 was analyzed as an incidence and incidence rate at …

Predicting Potential Unconventional Production In The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Play Using Thermal Modeling And Log Overlay Analysis, Hunter Berch

LSU Master's Theses

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale formation (TMS) of Central Louisiana and South Mississippi was suggested as a potential hydrocarbon play with up to seven billion barrels of reserves in a 1997 study by Louisiana State University’s Basin Research Institute. The TMS is considered an unconventional resource because it is a source, reservoir, and seal. Since 1997, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have enabled exploration and documentation of oil reserves in this play. Prior to this study, high resistivity log curves were used to predict areas of economic interest. While areas of high resistivity within the TMS are often indicative of high …

Characterization Of Epibenthic And Demersal Megafauan At Mississippi Canyon 252 Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Marla Maxine Valentine

LSU Master's Theses

Increased demand for new sources of oil and gas has resulted in an expansion of drilling into deeper waters. With this exploratory drilling come increased risks, which were realized on April 20, 2010 when the blow out preventer on the Macondo Well failed, resulting in the release of a large quantity of oil and gas into the Northern Gulf of Mexico from a bathypelagic source. This unprecedented environmental disaster was coined the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill by the popular news media. In the months that followed the spill, the lack of knowledge about the pre-spill condition of deep-sea communities in …

An Analysis Of Cardiovascular And Respiratory Admission Rates As A Function Of Air Pollutants In The Baton Rouge Five-Parish Area, Heather Elizabeth Spindel

LSU Master's Theses

In past years, the Baton Rouge Air Quality Control Region has struggled with compliance of ozone standards. In June of 2003, the Baton Rouge Five-Parish Ozone Non-Attainment Area was classified as severe under the 1-hour ozone standard. In July of 2012, the EPA classified the area as marginal non-attainment for ozone. Although this is an improvement from its severe classification, studies have shown that health effects of air pollution can be detected at concentrations lower than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Additionally, clinical and epidemiological studies have shown that a majority of the criteria pollutants negatively affect cardiovascular and …

Bayesian Inference Application To Burglary Detection, Ishan Singh Bhale

LSU Master's Theses

Real time motion tracking is very important for video analytics. But very little research has been done in identifying the top-level plans behind the atomic activities evident in various surveillance footages [61]. Surveillance videos can contain high level plans in the form of complex activities [61]. These complex activities are usually a combination of various articulated activities like breaking windshield, digging, and non-articulated activities like walking, running. We have developed a Bayesian framework for recognizing complex activities like burglary. This framework (belief network) is based on an expectation propagation algorithm [8] for approximate Bayesian inference. We provide experimental results showing …

Regularity And Uniqueness Of Some Geometric Heat Flows And It's Applications, Tao Huang

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

This manuscript demonstrates the regularity and uniqueness of some geometric heat flows with critical nonlinearity.

First, under the assumption of smallness of renormalized energy, several issues of the regularity and uniqueness of heat flow of harmonic maps into a unit sphere or a compact Riemannian homogeneous manifold without boundary are established.

For a class of heat flow of harmonic maps to any compact Riemannian manifold without boundary, satisfying the Serrin's condition,

the regularity and uniqueness is also established.

As an application, the hydrodynamic flow of nematic liquid crystals in Serrin's class is proved to be regular and unique.

The natural …

Excitation Of Radiative Polaritons By Polarized Broadband Infrared Radiation In Thin Oxide Films Deposited By Atomic Layer Deposition, Anita J. Vincent-Johnson, Andrew E. Masters, Xiaofeng Hu, Giovanna Scarel

Department of Physics and Astronomy - Faculty Scholarship

This work contributes to the understanding of infrared radiation interaction with matter and its absorption for energy harvesting purposes. By exciting radiative polaritons in thin oxide filmswith polarized infrared radiation, a further evidence is collected that a link exists between radiative polaritons and the heat recovery mechanism hypothesized in previous research. In the voltage transient occurring when the infrared radiation is turned on, the observed time necessary to reach the maximum voltage and the voltage intensity versus angle of incidence exhibit a mismatch when generated by polarized and nonpolarized infrared radiation. The existence of collective charge oscillation modes in the …

Structures And Reactions Of Biomolecules At Interfaces, Xiaoning Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

This dissertation serves to study a protein's conformation-function relationship since immobilized proteins often behave differently from their solution-state counterparts. Therefore, this study is important to the application of protein-based biodevices. Another aim of this dissertation is to explore a new approach to realize low voltage electrowetting without the help of oil bath. Utilizing this approach, a protein micro-separation was realized. Additionally, the interfacial properties of ionic liquid (IL) solid-like layer, which played a key role in electrowetting, was studied for further developments of IL-based applications.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was utilized in the study and played multiple roles in this …

Studies Of Organic Compounds Spreading Over High Energy Surfaces, Lingbo Lu

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Spreading plays an important role in coating, lubrication, printing and etc. During the spreading process, a liquid thin film forms prior to the expansion of a liquid drop. This thin film is called a precursor film. It not only changes the spreading mechanism, but impacts the wettability of a liquid. Early studies on the precursor films showed the films were stacked in a terraced structure, and the radius of each layer of the films was proportional to the square root of time. Optical techniques such as ellipsometry, X-ray diffraction and X-ray reflectivity solved the conformations of liquid molecules at the …

Scales Over Shale: How Pennsylvania Got Fracked, Carlo E. Sica

Geography and the Environment - Theses

Shale gas has become one of Pennsylvania's major resources in recent years and the gas boom has proceeded in spite of uncertainty over the environmental risks of its production process. This thesis argues that location alone cannot explain why shale gas boomed in Pennsylvania. Using interviews with corporate and state executives, I argue that the scalar dimensions of the neoliberal environmental governance of shale gas were critical to understanding why shale gas boomed in Pennsylvania. These actors supported the preemption of local scales of governance by the state as a scalar fix for capital accumulation from shale gas development. They …

Proceedings Of The Seventh Annual Meeting Of The Georgia Association Of Mathematics Teacher Educators Introductory Texts

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

Contents of 7th Annual GAMTE Proceedings Front Matter:

• Proceedings Committee
• Officers of GAMTE
• Purposes and Goals of GAMTE
• Table of Contents
• Letter from President

Predictors Of The Number Of Under-Five Malnourished Children In Bangladesh: Application Of The Generalized Poisson Regression Model, Mohammad Mafijul Islam, Morshed Alam, Md Tariquzaman, Mohammad Alamgir Kabir, Rokhsona Pervin, Munni Begum, Md Mobarak Hossain Khan

Journal Articles: Biostatistics

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is one of the principal causes of child mortality in developing countries including Bangladesh. According to our knowledge, most of the available studies, that addressed the issue of malnutrition among under-five children, considered the categorical (dichotomous/polychotomous) outcome variables and applied logistic regression (binary/multinomial) to find their predictors. In this study malnutrition variable (i.e. outcome) is defined as the number of under-five malnourished children in a family, which is a non-negative count variable. The purposes of the study are (i) to demonstrate the applicability of the generalized Poisson regression (GPR) model as an alternative of other statistical methods and …

Model Sensitivity In Holographic Superconductors And Their Deconstructed Cousins, Joshua X. Erlich, Zhen Wang

Arts & Sciences Articles

Holographic models of superconductors successfully reproduce certain experimental features of high-temperature superconductors, such as a large gap-to-Tc ratio compared to that of conventional superconductors. By deconstructing the extra dimension of these holographic models, similar phenomenology is described by a class of models defined in the natural dimension of the superconducting system. We analyze the sensitivity of certain observables in holographic and deconstructed holographic superconductors to details of the extra-dimensional spacetime. Our results support the notion that certain quantitative successes of simple models of this type are accidental. However, we also find a certain universal relationship between superconducting observables.

Rock Glaciers In The Eastern Cascades, Washington, Mark Weidenaar

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The eastern portion of Washington State's Cascade Range is a place not previously examined for rock glaciers, due to proximity to the Pacific Ocean and its associated marine-influenced climate. The objectives of this study were to determine spatial, activity, and genesis patterns, and paleoclimatic implications of Eastern Cascade rock glaciers. Using Google Earth, I found 103 rock glaciers in the study area. Rock glaciers are more common further east of the Cascade crest and more north in latitude, with the largest concentrations occurring east of Lake Chelan (22) and in the Pasayten Wilderness (28) in the North Cascades. None were …

External Cavity Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers For The Generation Of Ultra-Low Noise Multi-Gigahertz Frequency Combs And Applications In Multi-Heterodyne Detection Of Arbitrary Optical Waveforms, Josue Davila-Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The construction and characterization of ultra-low noise semiconductor-based mode-locked lasers as frequency comb sources with multi-gigahertz combline-to-combline spacing is studied in this dissertation. Several different systems were built and characterized. The first of these systems includes a novel mode-locking mechanism based on phase modulation and periodic spectral filtering. This mode-locked laser design uses the same intra-cavity elements for both mode-locking and frequency stabilization to an intra-cavity, 1,000 Finesse, Fabry-Pérot Etalon (FPE). On a separate effort, a mode-locked laser based on a Slab-Coupled Optical Waveguide Amplifier (SCOWA) was built. This system generates a pulse-train with residual timing jitter of

The Impact Of Growth Conditions On Cubic Znmgo Ultraviolet Sensors, Ryan Boutwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cubic Zn1-xMgxO (c-Zn1-xMgxO) thin films have opened the deep ultraviolet (DUV) spectrum to exploration by oxide optoelectronic devices. These extraordinary films are readily wet-etch-able, have inversion symmetric lattices, and are made of common and safe constituents. They also host a number of new exciting experimental and theoretical challenges. Here, the relation between growth conditions of the c-Zn1-xMgxO film and performance of fabricated ultraviolet (UV) sensors is investigated. Plasma-Enhanced Molecular Beam Epitaxy was used to grow Zn1-xMgxO thin films and formation conditions were explored by varying the growth temperature, Mg source flux, oxygen flow rate, and radio-frequency (RF) power coupled into …

Properties Of High Energy Laser Light Transmission Through Large Core Optical Cables, Christopher Kennedy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser induced damage is of interest in studying the transmission of large amounts of optical energy through step-index, large core multimode fibers. Optical fibers often have to be routed around objects when laser light is being transmitted between two locations which require the fiber to bend into a curve. Depending on how tight the bend is, this can result in transmission losses or even catastrophic damage when the energy density of the laser pulse exceeds the damage threshold of silica glass. The purpose of this study is to: Establish a minimum bend radius that would allow high energy (GW/cm2 ) …

High Energy, High Average Power, Picosecond Laser Systems To Drive Few-Cycle Opcpa, Andreas Vaupel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The invention of chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) in 1985 led to a tremendous increase in obtainable laser pulse peak intensities. Since then, several table-top, Ti:sapphire-based CPA systems exceeding the 100 TW-level with more than 10 W average power have been developed and several systems are now commercially available. Over the last decade, the complementary technology of optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) has improved in its performance to a competitive level. OPCPA allows direct amplification of an almost-octave spanning bandwidth supporting few-cycle pulse durations at center wavelengths ranging from the visible to the mid-IR. The current record in peak power from a …

Mode-Division Multiplexed Transmission In Few-Mode Fibers, Neng Bai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a promising candidate to break the single-mode fiber capacity limit, mode-division multiplexing (MDM) explores the spatial dimension to increase transmission capacity in fiberoptic communication. Two linear impairments, namely loss and multimode interference, present fundamental challenges to implementing MDM. In this dissertation, techniques to resolve these two issues are presented. To de-multiplex signals subject to multimode interference in MDM, Multiple-InputMultiple-Output (MIMO) processing using adaptive frequency-domain equalization (FDE) is proposed and investigated. Both simulations and experiments validate that FDE can reduce the algorithmic complexity significantly in comparison with the conventional time-domain equalization (TDE) while achieving similar performance as TDE. To further …

Undergraduate And Graduate Teaching Assistants' Perceptions Of Their Responsibilities - Factors That Help Or Hinder, Alena Moon, Hyunyi Jung, Farshid Marbouti, Kelsey Joy Rodgers, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Effective teaching assistants (TAs) are crucial for effective student learning. This is especially true in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs, where TAs are enabling large programs to transition to more student-centered learning environments. To ensure that TAs are able to support these types of learning environments, their perspectives of training, their abilities, and other work related aspects must be understood. In this paper a survey that was created based on interviews conducted with eight TAs is discussed. The survey has four primary categories of content that are critical for understanding TAs' perspectives: (1) background, (2) motivation, (3) training, …

Recombination Mechanisms In Hydrogenated Silicon Nanocrystalline Thin Films, Zaki M. Saleh, Salam M. Kmail, Samah F. Assaf, Atif F. Qasrawi

Turkish Journal of Physics

The photoconductivity dependences on temperature and illumination intensity were investigated for thin films of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) grown by very-high-frequency, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The nanocrystalline phase was achieved by heavy hydrogen dilution of silane (SiH_4). We find that the activation energy of the photoconductivity is sensitive to the incident illumination intensity for illumination intensities below 6 mW/cm^2. The photocurrent follows a power-law dependence on illumination intensity (I_{ph}\propto F^{gamma}), with gamma ranging from 0.36 to 0.83. The illumination dependence of the photocurrent suggests 2 different recombination mechanisms depending on temperature. In the lower temperature regime (300-340 K), recombination appears …

Erratum To: ``Null Mannheim Curves In The Minkowski 3-Space E_1^3'', Handan Özteki̇n, Mahmut Ergüt

Turkish Journal of Mathematics

In this paper, Theorem 3.2 and Proposition 3.2 in the paper which is cited in the title are corrected.

A New Color Image Quality Measure Based On Yuv Transformation And Psnr For Human Vision System, Yildiray Yalman, İsmai̇l Ertürk

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Various methods for measuring perceptual image quality attempt to quantify the visibility of differences between an original digital image and its distorted version using a variety of known properties of the human vision system (HVS). In this paper, we propose a simple and effective full-reference color image quality measure (CQM) based on reversible luminance and chrominance (YUV) color transformation and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) measure. The main motivation of this new measure relies on a unique feature of the human eye response to the luminance and color. Experimental studies about the applicability of the CQM on a well-known test image …

Natural Disaster-Risk Assessment Hinesville Georgia, Assana Magagi-Alio

Georgia Municipal Association Practicum

No abstract provided.

Periplasmic Binding Proteins In Thermophiles: Characterization And Potential Application Of An Arginine-Binding Protein From Thermotoga Maritima: A Brief Thermo-Story, Alessio Ausili, Maria Staiano, Jonathan D. Dattelbaum, Antonio Varriale, Alessandro Capo, Sabato D'Auria

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Arginine-binding protein from the extremophile Thermotoga maritima is a 27.7 kDa protein possessing the typical two-domain structure of the periplasmic binding proteins family. The protein is characterized by a very high specificity and affinity to bind to arginine, also at high temperatures. Due to its features, this protein could be taken into account as a potential candidate for the design of a biosensor for arginine. It is important to investigate the stability of proteins when they are used for biotechnological applications. In this article, we review the structural and functional features of an arginine-binding protein from the extremophile Thermotoga maritima …

Development And Testing Of A Survey Instrument To Assess Ethical Perceptions Of It And Is Students, Omosalewa Aderonmu, Cheryl L. Aasheim, Paige Rutner

Department of Information Technology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research study is to design a survey instrument to determine the effectiveness of the information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) programs in teaching ethics and ethical behavior as it relates to the IT profession. As researchers and as teachers, we want to know if students learn what constitutes ethical behavior in the information technology and information system programs and understand the obligations of an information technology professional with regards to ethical behavior in the workplace. A survey was

designed as a tool to assess the effectiveness of teaching ethics in IT and IS curricula. The …

On Q-Analogs Of Wostenholme Type Congruences For Multiple Harmonic Sums, Jianqiang Zhao

Department of Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Multiple harmonic sums are iterated generalizations of harmonic sums. Recently Dilcher has considered congruences involving q-analogs of these sums in depth one. In this paper we shall study the homogeneous case for arbitrary depth by using generating functions and shuffle relations of the q-analog of multiple harmonic sums. At the end, we also consider some non-homogeneous cases.

Ballistics Analysis Of Volcanic Ejecta: Miter Crater, Ice Springs Volcanic Field, Black Rock Desert, Utah, William Cary

Senior Independent Study Theses

Ice Springs Volcanic Field, located in the Black Rock Desert west of Fillmore, Utah, is composed of three large craters, Crescent, Miter, and Terrace, and several smaller craters. Concern over the hazards of the volcanic field, ±660 years old, reactivating prompted the creation of a hazards model. This study focuses on Miter Crater in order to conduct a ballistic analysis of the blocks and bombs observed along the crater rim. Data analysis of Miter Crater ejecta was then used to create a hazards model for ballistic volcanic ejecta. Thirty-four blocks and bombs were recorded along the rim of Miter Crater. …

Investigating The Interaction Of Zinc-Finger Peptides And Nicked Dna Using Phage Display, Rachel Maria Guerra

Honors Theses

Recognition of structural features of DNA such as gaps, nicks and abasic sites is critical for many DNA-binding proteins, such as those involved in DNA damage repair. This study explores a novel strategy to model these protein-DNA interactions using phage display. Phage display has been commonly used to identity zinc fingers that bind to DNA sequences, but selection of peptides that binding to specific DNA structures has not been reported in the literature. A phage library of 109 variants was created based on one of three zinc finger domains of the DNA repair protein poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase I. The library, …