Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Quantitative Oil Source-Fingerprinting Techniques And Their Application To Differentiating Crude Oil In Coastal Marsh Sediments, Buffy Marie Meyer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Oil source-fingerprinting is an environmental forensics technique that uses analytical chemistry to determine the origin of oil residues in environmental samples by comparison to a known or suspected source oil. Currently, the only standardized method for oil source fingerprinting is a qualitative approach that is very effective in almost every oil spill response situation. However, the need for quantitative oil source-fingerprinting methods to complement the qualitative determinations is extremely desired. The research herein aims to utilize data generated by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) methodologies to test two different quantitative techniques: diagnostic biomarker ratio analysis and chemometrics. The most common crude …

Ecological-Hydrological Feedback In Forested Wetlands, Scott Thomas Allen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In forested wetlands, the biotic and abiotic consequences of water level variability is not well understood. The effects of flooding on carbon and water exchanges are important knowledge gaps where progress could benefit management of natural resources and predicting of changes in surface geophysical cycles. Two specific needs are a better understanding of (1) wetland tree responses to hydrologic variations, and (2) the effects of the forest and associated tree stressors on surface energy and water fluxes. Objectives were to determine effects of flooding on evaporation rates and energy dynamics, tree water use and growth responses to river-floodplain connectivity and …

Investigating The Structure Of The Papain-Inhibitor Complex Using Spr And Nmr, Margaret Sara Thomasson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cysteine proteases (CPs) are enzymes with a nucleophilic thiol in their active sites. Inhibitors of cysteine proteases (ICPs) occur naturally in bacterial pathogens and some protozoa. In parasites, ICPs are often virulence factors, contributing to the formation and survival of amastigotes within host cells. These amastigotes have higher CP activity, therefore making both ICPs and CPs potential drug targets. Despite great genetic variability, ICPs contain highly conserved structural features, including a series of defined loops that play a significant role in binding CPs. Papain, a CP from Carica papaya, complexes with ICP from Leishmania mexicana. Although the individual 3-D structures …

Ultrafast And Nonlinear Spectroscopy Of Colloidal Nanomaterials, Tony Eugene Karam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the first part of this dissertation, the adsorption isotherms, resonance coupling, and fluorescence of molecular dyes on the surface of plasmonic nanoparticles are investigates. SHG is also used to investigate the growth of a silver shell on the surface of gold nanoparticles in real time. Additionally, gold-silver-gold core-shell-shell nanoparticles possess extinction peak wavelengths that can be controlled over the visible and near-infrared regions and enhanced photothermal effect. Transient absorption measurements determine that the phonon-phonon scattering lifetime is considerably faster in the core-shell-shell nanoparticles than in the gold nanospheres and gold nanorods, which contributes to the higher photothermal efficiencies. Transient …

High-Resolution Correlation Using Geophysical And Geochemical Methods On Three Cambrian Drumian Marine Sedimentary Successions In The House Range Embayment, Western Laurentia, Emad I. Elfar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the base of the Cambrian Drumian Stage was defined at 62 m above the base of the Wheeler formation, at the First Appearance Datum (FAD) of Ptychagnostus atavus (P. atavus), and at 10 meter below the DrumIan Carbon isotope Excursion (DICE) on the Stratotype Ridge in the Drum Mountains western Utah, (Babcock at al., 2004; 2007). Tracing the base of the the Drumian stage to other Middle Cambrian sequences in the House Range Embayment (HRE), a fault-controlled deep-water intrusion into an extensive carbonate platform along the passive margin of western Laurentia, …

From Qcd To Physical Resonances, Daniel R. Bolton, Raúl A. Briceño, David J. Wilson

Physics Faculty Publications

In this talk, we present the first chiral extrapolation of a resonant scattering amplitude obtained from lattice QCD. Finite-volume spectra, determined by the Hadron Spectrum Collaboration at m_π = 236 MeV [1], for the isotriplet ππ channel are analyzed using the Lüscher method to determine the infinite-volume scattering amplitude. Unitarized Chiral Perturbation Theory is then used to extrapolate the scattering amplitude to the physical light quark masses. The viability of this procedure is demonstrated by its agreement with the experimentally determined scattering phase shift up to center-of-mass energies of 1.2 GeV. Finally, we analytically continue the amplitude to …

𝜋𝜋 → 𝜋𝛾* Amplitude And The Resonant 𝜌 → 𝜋𝛾* Transition From Lattice Qcd, Raúl A. Briceño, Jozef J. Dudek, Robert G. Edwards, Christian J. Shultz, Christopher E. Thomas, David J. Wilson

Physics Faculty Publications

We present a determination of the P-wave 𝜋𝜋 → 𝜋𝛾⋆ transition amplitude from lattice quantum chromodynamics. Matrix elements of the vector current in a finite volume are extracted from three-point correlation functions, and from these we determine the infinite-volume amplitude using a generalization of the Lellouch-Lüscher formalism. We determine the amplitude for a range of discrete values of the 𝜋𝜋 energy and virtuality of the photon and observe the expected dynamical enhancement due to the ρ resonance. Describing the energy dependence of the amplitude, we are able to analytically continue into the complex energy plane and from the residue …

Relativistic, Model-Independent, Multichannel 2 → 2 Transition Amplitudes In A Finite Volume, Raúl A. Briceño, Maxwell T. Hansen

Physics Faculty Publications

We derive formalism for determining 2+𝓙 → 2 infinite-volume transition amplitudes from finite-volume matrix elements. Specifically, we present a relativistic, model-independent relation between finite-volume matrix elements of external currents and the physically observable infinite-volume matrix elements involving two-particle asymptotic states. The result presented holds for states composed of two scalar bosons. These can be identical or nonidentical and, in the latter case, can be either degenerate or nondegenerate. We further accommodate any number of strongly coupled two-scalar channels. This formalism will, for example, allow future lattice QCD calculations of the ρ-meson form factor, in which the unstable nature of …

Lhc Crab Cavity Coupler Test Boxes, J. A. Mitchell, R. Apsimon, G. Burt, R. Calaga, A. Macpherson, E. Montesinos, S.D. Silva, A.R.J. Tutte, B.P. Xiao

Physics Faculty Publications

The LHC double quarter wave (DQW) crab cavities have two different types of Higher Order Mode (HOM) couplers in addition to a fundamental power coupler (FPC). The FPC requires conditioning, so to achieve this we have designed a radio-frequency (RF) quarter wave resonator to provide high transmission between two opposing FPCs. For the HOM couplers we must ensure that the stop-band filter is positioned at the cavity frequency and that peak transmission occurs at the same frequencies as the strongest HOMs. We have designed two test boxes which preserve the cavity spectral response in order to test the couplers.

Excluding A Weakly 4-Connected Minor, Kimberly Sevin D'Souza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A 3-connected graph $G$ is called weakly 4-connected if min $(|E(G_1)|, |E(G_2)|) \leq 4$ holds for all 3-separations $(G_1,G_2)$ of $G$. A 3-connected graph $G$ is called quasi 4-connected if min $(|V(G_1)|, |V(G_2)|) \leq 4$. We first discuss how to decompose a 3-connected graph into quasi 4-connected components. We will establish a chain theorem which will allow us to easily generate the set of all quasi 4-connected graphs. Finally, we will apply these results to characterizing all graphs which do not contain the Pyramid as a minor, where the Pyramid is the weakly 4-connected graph obtained by performing a $\Delta …

Gluon Tmd In Particle Production From Low To Moderate X, I. Balitsky, A. Tarasov

Physics Faculty Publications

We study the rapidity evolution of gluon transverse momentum dependent distributions appearing in processes of particle production and show how this evolution changes from small to moderate Bjorken x.

Measurement Of Target And Double-Spin Asymmetries For The Ep → Eπ+(N) Reaction In The Nucleon Resonance Region At Low Q², Clas Collaboration, K. P. Adhikari, S E. Kuhn, D. Adikaram, M. J. Amaryan, S. Bültmann, Gail Dodge, N. Guler, L. B. Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

We report measurements of target- and double-spin asymmetries for the exclusive channel ^→e^→p → eπ⁺(n) in the nucleon resonance region at Jefferson Lab using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). These asymmetries were extracted from data obtained using a longitudinally polarized NH₃ target and a longitudinally polarized electron beam with energies 1.1, 1.3, 2.0, 2.3, and 3.0 GeV. The new results are consistent with previous CLAS publications but are extended to a low Q² range from 0.0065 to 0.35(GeV/c)². The Q² access was made possible by a custom-built Cherenkov detector …

First Results Of Magnetic Field Penetration Measurements Of Multilayer Sis Structures, O. B. Malyshev, L. Gurran, R. Valizadeh, S. Pattalwar, N. Pattalwar, K. D. Dumbell, A. Gurevich

Physics Faculty Publications

The performance of superconducting RF cavities made of bulk Nb is limited by a breakdown field of B_p ≈200 mT, close to the superheating field for Nb. A potentially promising solution to enhance the breakdown field of the SRF cavities beyond the intrinsic limits of Nb is a multilayer coating suggested in [1]. In the simplest case, such a multilayer may be a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (S-I-S) coating, for example, bulk niobium (S) coated with a thin film of insulator (I) followed by a thin layer of another superconductor (S) which could be e.g. dirty niobium [2]. Here we report the …

Analyses Of 476 Mhz And 952 Mhz Crab Cavities For Jlab Electron Ion Collider, Hyekyoung Park, A. Castilla, J. R. Delayen, S. U. De Silva, V. Morozov

Physics Faculty Publications

Center for Accelerator Science at ODU has designed, fabricated and successfully tested a crab cavity for MEIC at Jefferson Lab*. This proof of principle cavity was based on the earlier MEIC design which used 748.5 MHz RF system. The updated MEIC design** utilizes the components from PEP-II. It results in the change on the bunch repetition rate of stored beam to 476.3 MHz. The ion ring collider will eventually require 952.6 MHz crab cavity. This paper will present the analyses of crab cavities of both 476 MHz and 952 MHz options. It compares advantages and disadvantages of the options which …

A Hybrid Parallel Delaunay Image-To-Mesh Conversion Algorithm Scalable On Distributed-Memory Clusters, Daming Feng, Andrey N. Chernikov, Nikos Chrisochoides

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper, we present a scalable three dimensional hybrid MPI+Threads parallel Delaunay image-to-mesh conversion algorithm. A nested master-worker communication model for parallel mesh generation is implemented which simultaneously explores process-level parallelization and thread-level parallelization: inter-node communication using MPI and inter-core communication inside one node using threads. In order to overlap the communication (task request and data movement) and computation (parallel mesh refinement), the inter-node MPI communication and intra-node local mesh refinement is separated. The master thread that initializes the MPI environment is in charge of the inter-node MPI communication while the worker threads of each process are only responsible …

Factororacle: An Extensible Max External For Investigating Applications Of The Factor Oracle Automaton In Real-Time Music Improvisation, Adam James Wilson

Publications and Research

There are several extant software systems designed to generate music in real-time using a factor oracle automaton constructed from the musical input of a human improvisor. The impetus for the design of the factorOracle external is neither a desire to supersede these systems nor introduce novel algorithms for traversing the oracle, but rather to provide a fast, canonical interface for the automaton in Cycling74’s Max and, in future iterations, the Pure Data programming environment. Technical features of the factorOracle software are introduced here.

Rate Kinetics And Molecular Dynamics Of The Structural Transitions In Amyloidogenic Proteins, Timothy Michael Steckmann

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amyloid fibril aggregation is associated with several horrific diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeld-Jacob, diabetes, Parkinson’s and others. The process of amyloid aggregation involves forming myriad different metastable intermediate aggregates. Amyloid fibrils are composed of proteins that originate in an innocuous α-helix or random-coil structure. The α-helices convert their structure to β-strands that aggregate into β-sheets, and then into protofibrils, and ultimately into fully formed amyloid fibrils. On the basis of experimental data, I have developed a mathematical model for the kinetics of the reaction pathways and determined rate parameters for peptide secondary structural conversion and aggregation during the entire fibrillogenesis …

Potential Effects Of Chemical Contamination On South Florida Bonefish Albula Vulpes, Christine P. Beck

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An ecological risk assessment was conducted on the risk to fish of chemical contaminants detected in the habitat of Albula vulpes in South Florida, to evaluate whether contaminants may be a driver of declines in the recreational bonefish fishery. All available contaminant detection data from Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay, and the Florida Keys were compared to federal and state guidelines for aquatic health to identify Contaminants of Potential Ecological Concern (COPECS). For these COPECs, species sensitivity distributions were constructed and compared with recent detections at the 90^th centile of exposure. Copper in Biscayne Bay was identified as the highest …

A Novel Recurrent Convolutional Neural Network For Ocean And Weather Forecasting, Robert James Firth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Numerical weather prediction is a computationally expensive task that requires not only the numerical solution to a complex set of non-linear partial differential equations, but also the creation of a parameterization scheme to estimate sub-grid scale phenomenon. The proposed method is an alternative approach to developing a mesoscale meteorological model – a modified recurrent convolutional neural network that learns to simulate the solution to these equations. Along with an appropriate time integration scheme and learning algorithm, this method can be used to create multi-day forecasts for a large region. The learning method presented is an extended form of Backpropagation Through …

Attenuation Properties Of Cement Composites: Experimental Measurements And Monte Carlo Calculations, Raul Florez

Masters Theses

"Developing new cement based materials with excellent mechanical and attenuation properties is critically important for both medical and nuclear power industries. Concrete continues to be the primary choice material for the shielding of gamma and neutron radiation in facilities such as nuclear reactors, nuclear waste repositories, spent nuclear fuel pools, heavy particle radiotherapy rooms, particles accelerators, among others. The purpose of this research was to manufacture cement pastes modified with magnetite and samarium oxide and evaluate the feasibility of utilizing them for shielding of gamma and neutron radiation. Two different experiments were conducted to accomplish these goals. In the first …

Provenance And Depositional Environments Of Fluvial-Lacustrine Sandstones Of Lower Permian Lucaogou Low-Order Cycle, Bogda Mountains, Nw China, Xiaowei Peng

Masters Theses

"Compositional and textural maturity of sandstones may reflect provenance lithology and sediment transport distance, which are useful for paleogeographic reconstruction. 37 sandstones in six outcrop stratigraphic sections in Tarlong-Taodonggou and Zhaobishan areas in the greater Turpan-Junggar rift basin were studied to investigate the fluvial-lacustrine sandstone provenance in lower Permian Lucaogou (LCG) low-order cycle, Bogda Mountains, NW China. 400 points were counted in each thin section. All the samples are classified into lithic arenites, subarenites, wackes, and mudrocks. Three Petrofacies are defined. Petrofacies A is characterized by a high lithic content which is dominantly basaltic lithics with minor sedimentary lithics and …

A Linear Matrix Inequality-Based Approach For The Computation Of Actuator Bandwidth Limits In Adaptive Control, Daniel Robert Wagner

Masters Theses

"Linear matrix inequalities and convex optimization techniques have become popular tools to solve nontrivial problems in the field of adaptive control. Specifically, the stability of adaptive control laws in the presence of actuator dynamics remains as an important open control problem. In this thesis, we present a linear matrix inequalities-based hedging approach and evaluate it for model reference adaptive control of an uncertain dynamical system in the presence of actuator dynamics. The ideal reference dynamics are modified such that the hedging approach allows the correct adaptation without being hindered by the presence of actuator dynamics. The hedging approach is first …

Imaging Reinforced Concrete: A Comparative Study Of Ground Penetration Radar And Rebarscope, Abhishek Kodi

Masters Theses

"Geophysical techniques have been playing a very vital role in subsurface imaging in the recent past. Technology has been making it both reliable and convenient to utilize non-destructive geophysics techniques like Ground Penetration Radar, Induction current based Rebarscope, Seismic methods, ERT, etc. The applications range from shallow subsurface investigation of Bridge decks to old tunnels, mapping of rabars in a pre-existing construction and analyzing the concrete strength.

The thesis constitutes of a comparative study and analysis of a Ground Penetration Radar system and a Rebarscope. Individual parameters obtained directly from the study and obtained indirectly from the study shall be …

Managing Risks Of Market Price Uncertainty For A Microgrid Operation, Sriram Raghavan

Masters Theses

"After deregulation of electricity in the United States, the day-ahead and real-time markets allow load serving entities and generation companies to bid and purchase/sell energy under the supervision of the independent system operator (ISO). The electricity market prices are inherently uncertain, and can be highly volatile. The main objective of this thesis is to hedge against the risk from the uncertainty of the market prices when purchasing/selling energy from/to the market. The energy manager can also schedule distributed generators (DGs) and storage of the microgrid to meet the demand, in addition to energy transactions from the market. The risk measure …

Numerical Analysis Of Flexural Slip During Viscoelastic Buckle Folding, Davi Rodrigues Damasceno

Masters Theses

"Flexural slip is considered to be an important folding mechanism contributing in the development of different folds such as chevron, and kink-band buckle folds. Various filed studies have provided a general conceptual and qualitative understanding of flexural slip. However, quantitative evidence of the importance of the flexural slip mechanism during fold evolution is sparse, as the actual amount of surface parallel displacement, and timing, is difficult to measure accurately, due to the lack of suitable strain markers.

In this study 2D finite element analysis is used to overcome these disadvantages and to simulate flexural slip during viscoelastic buckle folding. Variations …

A Feasibility Study Of A Nuclear Power Plant With No Moving Parts, Jonathan Mark Schattke

Masters Theses

"In a nuclear reactor design, every moving part in a system is considered a failure point. In this study, a proposal is made for designing a nuclear reactor that has no moving parts by coupling an accelerator driven core (removing control system moving parts) to a magnetohydrodynamic generator (removing power generation moving parts) using mercury coolant (removing pumping system moving parts). Further safety is realized by using a subcritical core, where the core is never able to sustain a chain reaction on its own, obviating many safety systems. The design is verified with a Monte Carlo simulation "--Abstract, page iii.

Characterization Of Fracture Initiation In Non-Cylindrical Buckle Folds Using 3d Finite Element Analysis, Eli Jacob Steinbeck

Masters Theses

"The spatial distribution of fracture sets associated with buckle folds has been well documented in field studies. There are difficulties, however, in placing accurate constraints on the timing of the initiation of individual fracture sets during the deformation history of the fold under in-situ conditions. This study investigates specific conditions that give rise to the initiation of various fracture sets in the hinge and limb of a pericline, based on an analysis of the effective stress evolution during the processes of buckling and erosional unloading. A 3D finite element modeling approach is used to simulate the effective stress evolution in …

Tracking Silver, Gold, And Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Through Drinking Water Systems By Single Particle - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry, Ariel Renee Donovan

Masters Theses

"Single particle (SP)-ICP-MS methods were developed to characterize and quantify Ti-containing, titanium dioxide, silver, and gold NP concentration, size, size distribution and dissolved metal element concentration in surface water and treated drinking water. The effectiveness of conventional drinking water treatments (including lime softening, alum coagulation, filtration, and disinfection) to remove NPs from surface water was evaluated using six-gang stirrer jar test simulations. Six-gang stirrers were used to simulate drinking water treatments including lime softening, alum coagulation, powdered activated carbon sorption, filtration, and disinfection by free chlorine. Lime softening effectively removed most nanoparticles added. Source and drinking waters from three large …

Seismic Anisotropy And Mantle Dynamics Beneath The Southeastern United States Inferred From Shear-Wave Splitting Analysis, Yunhua Liu

Masters Theses

"Systematic spatial variations of mantle azimuthal anisotropy are revealed by over 3000 pairs of high-quality shear-wave splitting parameters (fast polarization orientations and splitting times) recorded at ~400 USArray and other network stations in the SE United States (75⁰-90⁰ W, and 24⁰-40⁰ N). The fast polarization orientations observed in the continental interior are subparallel to the absolute plate motion (APM) direction of the North American plate with apparent larger-than-normal splitting times, indicating a significant asthenospheric contribution. Fast orientations parallel to the edge of the North American craton are revealed along the southern and eastern margins of the continent. A portion of …

Periclinal Folding In Ozark Plateau: A Record Of Local Karst Collapse Or Regional Tectonic Forces?, Chao Liu

Masters Theses

"The Ordovician Rubidoux Formation of the Ozark Plateau, Missouri is typically identified as mechanically competent sub-horizontal beds of medium grained sandstone. North of Licking, MO, the Rubidoux Formation was deformed into a series of dome-and-basin shaped buckle folds, exposed in road cuts over a distance of ~10 km. Such folds are highly unusual within the Ozark Plateau and their origin remains controversial. Three major hypotheses have been proposed based on field observations and stereographic analysis. Given the pervasive distribution of karst collapse throughout Missouri, one hypothesis to explain these folds is that the Roubidoux Formation sagged into collapsed caverns. A …