LAS 93 THE 93RD ANNUAL MEETING OF THE LOUISIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

THE CENTENNIAL DECADE

SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2019

SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

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A Beautiful View for Our SUBR Small Lake

LAS 93rd Program Committee:

Dr. Riad Yehya, Chair Dr. Ollie Christian

Dr. Md Salam Professor Kristie Perry Ms. Demetrius Powell

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The 93rd Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences Southern University, Baton Rouge

MEETING-AT-A-GLANCE 7:00-9:30 AM Registration Ballroom, Student Union

7:30-9:00 AM Poster Setup* Higgins Hall, Rooms 118-119

8:00-9:45 AM Continental Breakfast Ballroom, Student Union

8:20 AM Introduction/Welcome by Dr. Pedro Derosa, Louisiana Academy of Sciences President

Welcome by Dr. James Ammons, Executive Vic President/Executive Vice Chancellor, Southern University

Welcome by the LAS 93rd Annual Conference Organizer, Dr. Riad Yehya

8:40-9:30 AM Morning Keynote Address, by Dr. Riad Yehya Ballroom, Student Union

9:30-9:45 AM Break

9:45-10:00 AM Two-Minute Poster Competition highlights** Higgins Hall, Room #

Agriculture. Forestry, and Wildlife and Environmental Sciences, 105

Botany and Zoology 106

Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences 107

Computer Sciences, Math & Statistics, Cyber Sec and Inf. Ass. 110

Materials Science & Engineering 111

Science Education, Social Science and Humanities 114

Molecular, Biomedical Biology and Microbiology 115

10:00 AM-2:00 PM Poster viewing (Page 5-9) Higgins Hall, Rooms 118-119

10:00-11:00 PM Poster viewing with authors (Page 5-9) Higgins Hall, Rooms 118-119

10:00-11:15 AM Oral Presentations I (Pages 9-12) Higgins Hall, Room #

Agriculture. Forestry, and Wildlife and Environmental Sciences, Page 9 105

Botany and Zoology Page 10 106

Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences . Page 10 107

Computer Science, Cyber Security, Inf. Technology Page 11 110

Materials Science & Engineering Page 11 111

Science Education, Social Science and Humanities Page 11 114

Biological Sciences: Mol., Biomedical Biology and Microbiology Page 12 115

11:15-11:30 AM Break

11:30 AM-12:30 PM Oral Presentations II (Pages 12-14) Higgins Hall, Room #

Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Page 12 105

Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences . Page 12 107

Computer Science, Cyber Security, Inf. Technology Page 13 110

Physics Page 13 111

Higher Education Page 13 114

Biological Sciences: Mol., Biomedical Biology and Microbiology Page 13 115

12:30-2:15 PM Lunch Ballroom, Student Union

12:30 PM Business Meeting

1:00 PM LAS 93 Centennial Keynote Address (Page 15) Ballroom, Student Union

2:15-4:00 PM Oral Presentations III (Pages 16-17) Higgins Hall, Room #

Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Page 15 105

Botany and Zoology Page 15 106

Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences Page 15 107

Computer Science/Math & Statistics Page 16 110

Science Education and Humanities, and Social Sciences Page 16 111

Higher Education Page 16 114

Biomedical Biology and Microbiology Page 16 115

4:10-4:50 PM Award and closing ceremony Ballroom, Student Union

* All posters need to be taken down by 4:00pm.

**Cash award is forfeited if winner is not present at the award ceremony.

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8:40 AM: Morning Keynote Address Ballroom, Student Union

“THE STATE OF SCIENCES IN LOUISIANA AT THE PRE-COLLEGE LEVEL: A CALL FOR CHANGING THE STATUS QUO”

Dr. Riad M. Yehya, Professor

Department of Sociology Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Dr. Yehya is a professor of statistics, social research/survey methods, sociological theory, and demography at Southern University, Baton Rouge. His areas of expertise include psychology/counseling, mass media, terrorism, international development, and family. Before joining Southern University in 2004, he chaired the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Lane College, Jackson Tennessee. Before Lane College, Dr. Yehya was a member of the Department of Sociology faculty at Tuskegee University. His program, “Empowering Youth Choices,” which was supported by a federal grant, was recognized in 2008 by the Southern University Board of Supervisors. He serves as reviewer of articles and textbooks and is an active writer and author of numerous refereed and un-refereed articles and presentations, including editing the textbook, Readings in Sociology. He is currently working on two texts: The American Ideals, Just Cloud Ideals and Ibn Zain elDeen Journey: An Unbelievable Dream.

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POSTERS (Higgins Hall: Rooms 118 and 119)

POSTERS in Higgins Hall (Room 118) for:

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY and WILDLIFE

Posters 1 to 7 Page 5 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Posters 11 to 33 Page 6

POSTERS in Higgins Hall (Room 119) for:

PHYSICAL SCIENCES (Computer, chemistry, physics, earth and material sciences)

Posters 34 to 59 Page 6-9

SCIENCE EDUCATION

Poster 60 Page 9

SCIENCES and HUMANITIES

Poster 61 Page 10

SOCIAL SCIENCES

Posters 62 to 67 Page 10

9:45-10:00 AM Two-Minute Poster Competition highlights** Higgins Hall Agriculture. Forestry, and Wildlife and Environmental Sciences, 105 Botany and Zoology 106 Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences 107 Computer Sciences, Physics, Math & Statistics, Cyber Sec and Inf. Ass. 110 Materials Science & Engineering 111 Education, Social Science and Humanities 114 Molecular, Biomedical Biology and Microbiology 115

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY and WILDLIFE

P1 Darrell Street (SUBR)

“Assessing the Urban Forest Effects and Values using i-Tree Ecosystem Analysis for Zachary, Louisiana”

P2 Joshua Faulkner, Carol Corbat (LSUA)

“New Technique for Increased Individual Recognition of Small Mammals with Camera Trapping” P3 William Storer, Luke Billeaudeaux, Karlye Crawford, Jacob Guillory (McNeese) “Yield and Plant Composition of Forage Sorghum Produced for Silage in SW Louisiana” P5 Kimberly Nijoka, Carol Corbat (LSUA)

“Use of Fluorescent Powder to Track Snakes in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest”

P6 Udaykirn Bhuma, Abdollahi Kamran (LSUA) “Conversion of Urban Forest Wood Waste to Biofuel.”

Environmental Sciences P8 Thomas Phillips, Raj Boopathy (Nicholls) “Biodegradation of a common herbicide, Metribuzin used in Louisiana”

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Botany and Zoology P9 Avrie Martello, Brett Lambert, Clifton Johnston, Jacob Cutler, Christof Stumpf, (LSUA) “Comparison of Three DNA Extraction Methods for Biological Barcoding” P10 Sarah Soorya, Cody Guidry, Rajkumar Nathaniel, (Nicholls) “Quantification of Collagen in Skin Tissue for Analysis via Hydroxyproline Assay” P11 Cory Hillard, David Penning, Brad Moon, (ULL)

“Strike While the Snake is Hot: Temperature Dependency in Ratsnake Strike Performance” P12 Christopher Cannon, Christopher Beachy, (SELU)

“Environmental factors impacting alternative life-history pathways in a facultative paedomorphic salamander (Notophthalmus viridescens louisianaensis)

P13 Ciara Hebert, Gary LaFleur, Jr., (Nicholls)

“Comparing Species Number of frogs in Freshwater and Brackish Habitats of the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary”

P14 Martha Tsaliki, Harry Meyer, Kathy Jackson, (McNeese)

“Morphological and molecular analysis of Echiniscus virginicus”

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Molecular, Biomedical and Microbiology P15 Trakeivance Grider, Taylor Austin, D'Errah Nelson, Waneene Dorsey, (GSU)

“The Autophagy Mechanism: A Friendly Response in PCP-treated Mammalian Cells and an Enemy to Cancer Treatment”

P16 Joseph Straub, Conner Hartupee, Jamie Newman, (LTU) “The role of Mediator subunit MED12 in adipogenesis” P17 Hannah Logan, MengCheng Liu, Jamie Newman (LTU) “Investigating the Role of Notch 1 and Notch 3 in Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cell Self-Renewal and

Adipogenesis” P18 Kevin Murphy, Gabrielle Tramonte, Emily Bass, Jordan Warren, (McNeese) “Examining the DNA-binding specificity of fungal-specific zinc cluster transcription factors “ P19 Heather Vogel, India Pursell, Student, Haley Barnett, Jamie Newman, Mary Caldorera-Moore (LTU)

"Establishing and Optimizing Differentiation Protocols of hASCs for Myogenic Applications" P20 Tiffany Francis, Robynn Hadley, Seraya Jones, Paul Kim (GSU) “Endoplasmic reticulum stress and endothelial dysfunction “ P21 Seraya Jones, Robynn Hadley, Rubilia Xavier, Seraya Jones, Paul Kim (GSU) “Fluorescence turn-on sensor for measuring unfolded proteins during ER stress” P22 Rubilia Xavier, Seraya Jones, Paul Kim, (GSU)

“Using Drosophila as a model organism to study alcohol addiction” P23 Clara Ives, Ben O'Donnell, Bruce Bunnell, (Tulane U)

“Model of Joint Immunoregulation via Stem Cell-Educated Macrophages“

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P24 Sree Venigalla, Conner Bennett, Jamie Newman (LTU) “Role of MED12 in maintaining structural integrity of the Mediator complex in human adipose stem cells“

P25 Chris Miller, John Bradley Cart, Avery Bryan, Jamie Newman, (LTU) “Investigating Expression Levels of the Notch Pathway in Self-Renewing hASCs “ P26 Titilope Dokunmu, David Enoma, Omiete Awani,

Sandra Okpara (Covenant University, Nigeria, SU & A&M) “Caffeine-Artemisinin Anticancer Effects on DMBA-induced Breast Tumors in Albino Rats “ P27 Conner Hartupee, Connor Bennett, Jamie Newman (LTU)

“Investigating protein interactions within the Mediator complex though ChIP and Co-IP”

Microbiology P28 Rajan KC, Student, Christopher Struchtemeyer, (MSU)

“The Effectiveness of Antibiotics and Household Chemicals Against Microbes in Condensate from an Attic Air Conditioning Unit”

P29 Robert Rutz ,Michelle Pilligua, William Dees, (MSU) “Irradiation of iron depleted N. gonorrhoeae cultures for use as a killed whole cell vaccine” P30 Hannah Canter, Kyle Delino, Canon Cart, Christopher Struchtemeyer, (MSU)

“Monitoring Levels of Fecal Indicator Bacteria in Water Bodies Impacted by Aerobic Sewer System Effluent”

P31 Veronica Stewart, Student, William Dees, (MSU) “A Biometeorological Analysis of Three Yellow Fever Outbreaks: 2011, 2012, and 2017”

PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Mathematics and Statistics P32 Camille LeBlanc, Hossam Elsaadawy, Kayla Houte, James Slezak, (LTU)

“Nested sensor array extension factors required to match the peak sidelobe height of a uniform linear array”

P33 Gerren Smith, Ebrahim Khosravi, and Yaser Banadaki (SUBR) “Machine Learning for Social Mobile Applications Develop”

P34 Gary White, Yenumula Reddy (Grambling)

“Secure Messaging App” P35 Glosson Nakiaus, Yenumula Reddy (Grambling)

“Transferring the Messages using steganography Technique” P36 Foluso Ayeni, Zacchaeus Omogbadegun, Nicholas Omoregbe (SUBR)

“Design of a Cloud-Supported Socialized Healthcare Framework for Overcoming Barriers to Healthcare Access”

P37 Adetayo Okunoye, Nariman Razaviarab, Ebrahim Khosravi, and Yaser Bandaki (SUBR)

“Deep learning enables fully automated analysis of microscopy images” P38 Kruthi Meghana Anumandla, Mohammad Salam, (SUBR)

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“Development of Android Application for School Bus Trackin” P39 Katchoua God's Will, Mathieu Kourouma, (SUBR) “Social Engineering Attacks: A Comprehensive Case Study of Phishing” P40 Katchoua God's Will, Mathieu Kourouma, (SUBR) “Social Engineering Attacks: A Comprehensive Case Study of Phishing” P41 Katchoua God's Will, Felicitas Yari, Victor Mbarika, (SUBR) “Smart Health Prediction Using Data Mining.” Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science P42 Sydney Folse, Marsha Cole, (LTU)

“Chemical Adulteration of Sugars and Sweeteners as a Threat to U.S. Homeland Security” P43 SIVA MURRU, Pratik Basnet, Isabel Chauvin, (ULM)

“Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Chalcones, Flavonols and PyrazoleS” P44 SIVA MURRU, Ramesh Bista, (ULM) “Synthesis and Evaluation of Heterocyclic Compounds for Antigiardial Activity” P45 Darcey Wayment, Cyrus Picou, Jr. (Nicholls)

“Application of gold nanoparticles as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for detection of environmental contaminants”

P46 Darcey Wayment, Nicholas Mayon (Nicholls)

“Analysis of metribuzin and its degradation products in sonicated aqueous solutions using HPLC and GC/MS”

P47 August Gallo, Alexandra Nguyen, Catherine Weber, Madison Ackel (ULL)

“Extraction and Characterization of Baccharis halimifolia and propolis from Southwest Louisiana“

P48 Uttam Pokharel, Jonathan Bergeron, John Selegue (Nicholls) “Extension of π-conjugation of ferrocene to benz[f]inenyl” P49 Pedro Jimenez-Antenucci, Benjamin Wicker (SELU) “Novel Synthesis of Tetradentate NacNac Ligand Variants” P50 Rajesh Komati, Jerry Miller, Kevin Riley, Jayalakshmi Sridhar (Nicholls)

“Development of Novel Ligands to Liver X Receptor by Using Scaffold Hopping Approach.” Physics

P51 Haeyeon Yang and Keren-Happuch Muswere (Grambling)

"Study of laser induced damage on the GaAs surface" Material Sciences & Engineering P52 Alexa Robinson, Timothy Ismail, Pedro Derosa (LTU)

“Ab Initio Oxidation of CrCoFeNi High Entropy Alloys” P53 Ryan Burrell, and Naidu Seetala (GSU)

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“Spark Plasma Sintering of Ultra High Temperature Ceramic Powders: micron-size and nano-size ZrB2+SiC”

P54 Deidre Henderson, Jumel Jno-Baptiste, and Naidu Seetala (GSU)

“The Magnetic Performance of FePt/Cu nanoparticles after Heat Treatment” P55 Grant Ledet, Caroline Baxter, Jovana Gojanovic and Sandra Zivanovic (LTU)

“Optical Properties of Semiconducting Polymer-fullerene Thin-film and Temperature Influence”

P56 Daniel Sartori, Pablo Johnson, John Willis, Tyler Trosclair (LTU) “Multiplicity of Coprime Pairs for Extension of Coprime Sensor Arrays”

Earth Science P57 Adesina, F., and G. Blanchard, (SELU)

“Design and Construction of an Autonomous Groundwater Salinity Monitor for Marsh Research”

SCIENCE EDUCATION P58 Amber Hale, (McNeese)

“Designing a Teachers’ Workshop to Facilitate Implementation of NGSS Aligned STEM Content”

SCIENCES and HUMANITIES P59 Oanh Nguyen, (Loyola)

“The Relation between Attitudes toward Sexual Street Harassment Against Women and Ambivalent Sexism”

SOCIAL SCIENCES P60 Farhan Mohiuddin, Charles Nichols, (Loyola)

“Physician Ethnicity and Personality Affecting Patients’ Judgments of Physicians” P61 Nicholas Militello, Kate Yurgil, (Loyola)

“The Effects of Background Music on Verbal and Spatial Task Performance” P62 Que Nguyen, Kate Yurgil (Loyola)

“Effect of Locus of Control and Risk-Taking on Back-Up Plans” P63 Ruth Bisong Nkonghoataw, Foluso Ayeni, Olubunmi Olanrewaju (SUBR)

“Green Supply Chain Management in Louisiana: Challenges and Prospect”

P64 Bianca Figueroa, Evan Zucker, (Loyola) “Competency Levels and Gender in the Media and its Impact on Self-Efficacy in Female college students”

P65 Felicitas Yari, (SUBR) “New Media and Democracy.”

ORAL PRESENTATIONS (10:00-11:15)

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, WILDLIFE and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Higgins 105)

10:00-10:15 Joshua Tate, Yaw Twumasi (SUBR)

“Mapping and Analysis of Environmental Pollution in Louisiana Using Remote Sensing and GIS”

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10:15-10:30 Caroline Akinrinwoye, Yemane Ghebrieyessus, John Namwamba, Yaw Twumasi (SUBR) ““The effect of urban trees and compost as soil amendment for Katrina-flooded ninth ward of New Orleans”

10:30-10:45 John Bosco Namwamba, Yaw Twumasi, R. Okwemba,

F. Namwamba, B. Osimbo (SUBR) “Modeling of Temporal Trend of Urban Heat Islands in Denham Springs and their Corresponding Environmental Impact”

10:45-11:00 Christopher Oubre and Raj Boopathy (Nicholls)

“Biodegradation of phenol by a bacterium isolated from the termite hindgut” 11:00-11:15 Emily Bierbaum, Christopher Beachy, Raul Diaz Student (SELU)

“Mesopodial and digit number skeletal variation in the elongated and limb reduced amphiuma salamanders”

ZOOLOGY and BOTANY (Higgins 106)

10:00-10:15 Michael Fulbright, Brad Moon (ULL)

“Bite Forces of Map Turtles (Genus Graptemys)” 10:15-10:30 Justin Homer, Aaron Pierce, Ashlee Minor, Jonathan Willis (Nicholls) “Habitat sustainability in a forested wetland used for wastewater treatment” 10:30-10:45 Ivan Moberly, Brad Moon, (ULL) “Nature’s Funambulist: Functional Role of Setae in Arboreal Locomotion in Chameleons” 10:45-11:00 Claire Pierce, Ramaraj Boopathy (Nicholls)

“Effect of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) as Biofertilizers on Bean Rhizospheric Soil Nutrient Quality”

11:00-11:15 Emily Bierbaum, Christopher Beachy, Raul Diaz Student, (SELU) “Mesopodial and digit number skeletal variation in the elongated and limb reduced amphiuma salamanders”

CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, and EARTH SCIENCES

(Higgins 107) 10:00-10:15 Lingyiqian Luo, Hui Yan, (ULL)

“Investigating surfaces of mesoporous ceria with VT-DRIFTS” 10:15-10:30 Deandria Moss, Enausha Abney, Marterian Spivey, Bobby Burkes, (GSU) “A Computational Study of the Effect of ADHD Drugs on the Dopamine System” 10:30-10:45 Angela Thomas, Tommy Walls, (SELU)

“Diastereoselective Boron-mediated Aldol Reactions of Substituted Phenylacetates” 10:45-11:00 Safura Sharifi, Yaser Banadaki, Georgios Veronis, and Jonathan Dowling, (LSU, SUBR)

"A novel graphene photonic nanostructure for controlling the selectivity, tunability, and switchability of thermal emission at infrared frequencies"

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11:00-11:15 Evan Norris, Pedro Derosa, George Marcus, (LaTech, SUNY, Geneseo) "The Efficient Simulation of Light Transmission Through Liquid Suspensions and Aerosol"

COMPUTER SCIENCES, MATH & STATISTICS, CYBER SECURITY AND INFORMATION ASSURANCE

(Higgins 110)

10:00-10:15 Foluso Ayeni, Albertha Lawson, Victor Mbarika, (SUBR) “Implementing Blended Learning in Cybersecurity Training and Education: Evidence from Historically Black College and University and Minority Serving Institutions”

10:15-10:30 Nariman Razaviarab, Ebrahim Khosravi, Yaser Banadaki, (SUBR)

“Detecting defects in 3D printing process using machine learning and transfer learning approach”

10:30-10:45 Hosam Alamleh, Ali Alqahtani, Jean Gourd, (LTU)

“Wireless Authentication using Variable Transmission Power”

10:45-11:00 Kiran Seetala, Yenumula Reddy, (LTU) “Image classification using TensorFlow”

11:00-11:15 Barbara Thompson and Bassidy Dembele, (GSU) “HIV: The Impact on African Americans in Tennessee”

MATERIALS SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING (Room 111)

10:00-10:15 Khawlah Kharashi, Erica Murray (LTU)

“The Role of Frequency on Impedance Metric Gas Sensing”

10:15-10:30 Jumel Jno Baptiste (GSU) “Magnetization of Aqueous Plasma Synthesized Samarium Cobalt Nano Particles”

SCIENCE EDUCATION, SOCIAL SCIENCE and HUMANITIES (Higgins 114)

10:00-10:15 Gabrielle R. Gautreaux and John P. Doucet (Nicholls) “Forensic Analysis of Poison records from an Historical Louisiana Pharmacy” 10:15-10:30 Robert Woodry, Kate Yurgil, Tuan Lam (Loyola)

“Evidence for a Hierarchy of Prediction Errors: Visual Mismatch Negativity vMMN) In Response to Deviance and Omission”

10:30-10:45 Ray Giguette, Allen Alexander (Nicholls)

“An Event-Driven Model of Free Will” 10:45-11:00 John Doucet (Nicholls)

“Variants of Unknown Significants: A Fourth Reading of Science Poetry” 11:00-11:15 Gary LaFleur (Nicholls)

“Migration of Louisiana Communities in Response to Coastal Land Loss”

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MOLECULAR, BIOMEDICAL AND MICROBIOLOGY (Higgins 115)

10:00-10:15 Mengcheng Liu, Hannah Logan, and Jamie Newman (LTU)

“The Role of Notch1 and Notch3 in hADSC Adipogenesis” 10:15-10:30 India Pursell, Haley Barnett, and Jamie Newman (LTU)

“Myogenic Differentiation of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells”

10:30-10:45 Megan Wagley, and Zeljko Radulovic (NSU) “Exploring Tick and Tick-Borne Diseases in Northwestern Louisiana”

10:45-11:00 Cameron Belding, and Raj Boopathy (Nicholls) “Presence of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Louisiana's Recreational Waters”

11:15-11:30 BREAK

ORAL PRESENTATIONS (11:30-12:30)

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, WILDLIFE and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

(Higgins 105)

11:30-11:45 Yaw Twumasi, Edmund Merem, Sabrina Welch, John Namwamba, Kamram Abdollahi, Ronald Okwemba, Felicia Amenyo, Obiageli Okwusi, and Joshua Tate (SUBR, JSU) “A Spatial Study of the Location of Toxic Sites and Its Impacts on Ecosystem: the case of Louisiana”

11:45-12:00 Obiageli Okwusi and Yaw Twumasi (SUBR)

“The implementation of environmental impact assessment (EIA) on sanitation in Lagos Mainland, Nigeria”

12:00-12:15 Laurence Hardy (LSUS) “The Wallace Lake Biological Station in Louisiana.”

CHEMISTRY (Higgins 107)

11:30-11:45 Zachary Araki, Benjamin Wicker, (SELU)

“Synthesis of 2,2'-Bipyridine via Phosphorus Extrusion” 11:45-12:00 Deandria Moss, Enausha Abney, Marterian Spivey, Bobby Burkes, (GSU)

“Analysis of Peptide Binding Agents via Molecular Modeling” 12:00-12:15 Darcey Wayment, Mohammed Soorya, Chris Adams, Paul White Jr. (Nicholls)

“Determination of Sorgoleone in Southeastern Louisiana Sugarcane Soils” 12:15-12:30 Matt Marlow, (Nicholls)

“Red Edge Effects of ANS in Mixed Composition Carbohydrate Glasses”

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COMPUTER SCIENCES, CYBER SECURITY, and INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(Higgins 110) 11:30-11:45 Peter Ojajuni (SUBR)

“DDoS Attack Mitigation for Internet of things (IoT)” 11:45-12:00 Celestine Niana, Yenumula Reddy (GSU)

“DIGiD – Digital ID Application” 12:00-12:15 Rohit Varma Dandu, Mohammad Salam (SUBR) “Web Based Data Visualisation using Python” 12:15-12:30 Anthony Spedale, Benjamin Drozdenko (SUBR) “Using Zigbee to Extend the Range of Smart Devices

in Inventory Management Networks”

PHYSICS (Room111)

11:30-11:45 Andrew Stroud, Chris Muratore, Rajiv Berry, Pedro Derosa (LTU & U Dayton, AF Research Lab) "Biomolecular Interactions at 2D Material Interfaces" 11:45-12:00 Dileon Saint-Jean, Pedro Derosa, (LTU)

"Dynamics of a Charge Carrier Driven by an Alternating Field in Materials with Impurities and Traps"

HIGHER EDUCATION (Higgins 114)

11:30-12:30 Glenn Lo, et al. (Nicholls) Higher Education Symposium (1 hour) “Moodle Assessments for Chemistry: A Symposium and Workshop”

Symposium time: 1 hour

MOLECULAR, BIOMEDICAL AND MICROBIOLOGY (Higgins 115)

11:30-11:45 Christof Stumpf, Nathan Sammons (LSUA)

“Using the Novel Dipstick DNA Extraction Technique in a Biological Barcoding Lab” 11:45-12:00 Bayleigh Smith, Lindsay Porter (NSU)

“Characterizing the role of tick DSCAM in Gram-negative bacterial infection” 12:00-12:15 Ben Dufour,Gerard Dumancas, Sujoy Ghosh, Claude Bouchard (LSUA)

“Prediction of cardiorespiratory fitness gains in response to a standardized dose of exercise via a genetic algorithm based predictive modeling”

12:15-12:30 Tori Guyton, Frank Ohene (GSU)

“Analysis of Bovine Vitreous Humor by a Combination of Size Exclusion Chromatography and Capillary Electrophoresis”

BUSINESS MEETING AND LUNCH BREAK (12:30-2:15)

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1:00 PM: Centennial Keynote Address Ballroom, Student Union

CENTENNIAL DECADE KEYNOTE LECTURE

Genomic Dark Matter and the Sequence Organization of the Human Genome

By Prescott Deininger, Ph.D.

Director, Tulane Cancer Center, Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Endowed Chair in Oncology,

and Professor of Epidemiology, Tulane University Before the first sequences of the human genome, we knew that it contained many copies of repetitive sequences that made up about half of the DNA. This bulk of genetic material is often referred to as the “dark matter” of the genome, or “junk DNA” because we still have much to learn about its biology and purpose. The molecular genetics revolution has uncovered many important details about these repetitive sequences. The dominant feature is that most of them are derived from virus-like retrotransposon sequences that have assaulted the genome millions of times with insertional mutations over many millions of years. The good news is that these retrotransposons are quite inefficient as viruses and no longer insert at the same rate as earlier in primate evolution. Unfortunately, they still result in a significant number of new genetic diseases. In addition, it has been found that in tumors, these elements are de-regulated and thousands of new insertions can occur, leading to further genetic instability. Even after their insertion, their repetitive nature causes these retrotransposons to confuse normal DNA recombination processes, leading to aberrant genomic rearrangements. Cells have developed many ways to repress all of these forms of instability. However, these leave the genome poised for catastrophe if any of those regulations fail.

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ORAL PRESENTATIONS (2:15-4:00)

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, WILDLIFE and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

(Higgins 105)

2:15-2:30 Felicia Amenyo, Yemane Ghebreiyessus, Yaw Twumasi (SUBR) “Plant canopy cover evaluation and relationships of soil properties and erosion for the southern University's Scott Bluff”

2:30-2:45 Yaw Twumasi, Edmund Merem, Sabrina Welch, John Namwamba, Ronald Okwemba,

Kamram Abdollahi, Obiageli Okwusi, and Felicia Amenyo (SUBR, JSU) “Analyzing Current Transboundary Water Issues and Hydro Politics of the Horn of Africa Region“

2:45-3:00 Christopher Beachy, Marlies Carter, Rebecca Penn, Jonathan Bynum,

Madison Daniels (SELU) “Geographic variation in the larval life history of the Southern Two-lined

Salamander, Eurycea cirrigera (Caudata, Plethodontidae) in Louisiana and Mississippi” 3:00-3:15 Valeria Faria, Amber Hale, Robby Maxwell, Sean Kinney (McNeese)

“Preliminary Histologic Findings from an Investigation of American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) Populations in Louisiana”

BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY

(Higgins 106) 2:15-2:30 Christopher Beachy, Marlies Carter, Rebecca Penn, Jonathan Bynum,

Madison Daniels, (SELU) “Geographic variation in the larval life history of the Southern Two-lined Salamander, Eurycea cirrigera (Caudata, Plethodontidae) in Louisiana and Mississippi

2:30-2:45 Valeria Faria, Amber Hale, Robby Maxwell, Sean Kinney, (McNeese)

“Preliminary Histologic Findings from an Investigation of American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) Populations in Louisiana”

2:45-3:00 Yetunde Ogunkoya, (SUBR)

“Lectin cytochemistry of avian gastrointestinal tract.”

CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, and EARTH SCIENCES (Higgins 107)

2:15-2:30 Thomas Junk, Whitney Smith, Donna Franklin, Kourtni Goutierrez,

Frank Fronczek, (ULL) “Novel Te, N heterocycles: potential precursors to supra-molecular frameworks”

2:30-3:15 Andrew Belgard, Student, Benjamin Wicker, Faculty, (LTU)

“Insights into 2,2-bipyridine formation via phosphorus extrusion” 3:15-3:30 Amber Edwards, Benjamin Wicker, (LTU)

“Synthesis of Phosphonium Salts for Use with 2,2'-Bipyridine sysnthesis”

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COMPUTER SCIENCES, CYBER SECURITY, and INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (Higgins 110)

2:15-2:30 Shristi Shrestha, Benjamin Drozdenko (LTU) “Smart City Development using IoT devices and Cloud Computing” 2:30-2:45 Sarah Mathew, Benjamin Drozdenko (LTU) “Determining Sea State from Buoy-Based Multi-Camera Image Feed” 2:45-3:00 Benjamin Drozdenko, Carl Perez (LTU) “BCIC: Budget Cluster for Image Classification” 3:00-3:15 Dominique Thomas (GSU) “Cyberbullying and its Impact on Students” 3:15-3:30 Kerwan Antoine, Yenumula Reddy (LTU)

“Social Engineering attacks and prevention.”

SCIENCE EDUCATION, SOCIAL SCIENCE, and SCIENCE and HUMANITIES

(Higgins 111) 2:15-2:45 Leland Weiss, Beth Wee, and students (LTU&T)

“The Grand Challenges of the 21st Century and Grand Challenge Scholars Program” 2:45-3:00 Ruth Endam Mbah, (SUBR) “Financial Inclusion: Assessing Account Ownership in Central Africa” 3:00-3:15 Riad Yehya, (SUBR)

“Persisting Challenges Facing Higher Education in the United States” 3:15-3:30 Amber Hale, Angelique Ogea, Megan Cook, Other, (McNeese)

“Designing a Teachers Workshop to Facilitate Implementation of NGSS Aligned STEM Content” 3:30-3:45 Tapan Sarkar (McNeese)

“Toward designing a Goal Oriented Internet of Things (IoT) Courseware for Business Students”

HIGHER EDUCATION (Higgins 114)

2:00-4:00 Glenn Lo, et al. (Nicholls)

Higher Education Workshop (2 hours) “Moodle Assessments for Chemistry: A Symposium and Workshop”

MOLECULAR, BIOMEDICAL AND MICROBIOLOGY (Higgins 115)

2:15-2:30 Angelle Bradford, Zongbing You (TU)

“Prostate Cancer Metastasis: Defining more Metrics for Prognosis” 2:30-2:45 Haley Dahlhoff, Alexis Babers, Cynthia Doffitt (NSU)

“Survey of Dirofilaria immitis (Heartworm) Prevalence and Resistance to Preventative Medications in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, USA”

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2:45-3:00 Juan Pacheco, Christopher K Beachy (LSU) “Effects of differential probiotic administration on ambystoma mexicanum’s on its response to a skin incision before and after metamorphosis.”

4:15-5:00 Closing Ceremony Ballroom-Student Union

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Proceedings of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences A Peer-Review Journal

Since 1929

CALL FOR PAPERS For the 2018 Volume

Deadline: October 1st annually

The Academy invites presenters at the 91st annual meeting to submit reports

of their completed research to its official journal.

The Proceedings of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences publishes research papers and critical reviews from all Divisions of the Academy, covering all fields of biological sciences, physical sciences, applied sciences, and social sciences, as well the associated disciplines science education and sciences and humanities. We are particularly interested in research pertaining to Louisiana and the southern United States. Research Reports or Critical Reviews are generally limited to 7,500 words, accompanied by an abstract not to exceed 250 words. Short Communications or Notes are generally less than 2,000 words, accompanied by an abstract not to exceed 100 words. Also welcomed are papers describing unique facilities, academic or agency programs, or collections either located in Louisiana or of special interest to Louisiana scientists. Such descriptive papers may be suggested to the Editor before preparing and submitting. Instructions for Authors may be read at our website, www.laacademy.org/publications.html .

Send manuscripts to: Dr. John Doucet, Editor

Proceedings of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences College of Arts and Sciences

P.O. Box 2020 Nicholls State University

Thibodaux, LA 70310

Contact us at PLAS.editor@gmail.com .

Mark your calendars:

The 94th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Academy of Science

March 2020 Louisiana State University—Alexandria

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The Louisiana Academy of Sciences www.laacademy.org

GOALS OF THE ACADEMY

To unite the scientists of Louisiana for the purpose of encouraging research and education in all branches of science.

To encourage and conduct scientific discussions; to publishnd disseminate scientific material; to conduct all enterprises deemed to promote

the causes of science; to foster the applications of science to the problems of humanity.

To encourage and assist teachers in Louisiana's elementary and secondary schools with the caliber of instruction necessary to generate and

maintain an interest in all areas of science.

To be an active voice representing science in both higher education and K-12 in Louisiana.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the Academy is open to those individuals, organizations, and institutions that are engaged actively in the advancement of

science or which provide material assistance to advance the purposes of the Academy. A one-year membership is included for all regular and

student registrants for the Academy’s Annual Meeting. If you do not attend the Annual Meeting, you may join the Academy or renew your

membership by sending the membership form at our website and a check for membership dues payable to LAS to the Membership Secretary.

Annual dues are $30.00 for regular members and $10.00 for students. For institutional memberships, please contact the Membership Secretary.

ADMINISTRATION

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

President: Pedro Derosa, Louisiana Tech University

Past President: John Doucet, Nicholls State University

President-Elect: Susan Sullivan, Montessori Educational Center

Long Range Planning Chair: William H. Dees. McNeese State University

Treasurer & Membership Secretary: Gerard Blanchard, Southeastern Louisiana University

Secretary: Christof F. Stumpf, Louisiana State University at Alexandria

Senior Editor of Proceedings: John Doucet, Nicholls State University

Web Site/Communication Coordinator: Mohammad Salam, Southern University (Baton Rouge)

Annual Meeting Student Competitions Coordinator: Kathy Jackson, McNeese State University

Archivist: Thomas Sasek, University of Louisiana at Monroe

Newsletter Editor: Riad Yehya, Southern University (Baton Rouge)

DIVISIONS COUNCIL

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND WILDLIFE DIVISION

Division Director: Kamran Abdollahi, Southern University (Baton Rouge)

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Division Director: Jameel Al-Dujaili, Louisiana State University at Eunice

Botany Section Chair: Jonathan Willis, Nicholls State University

Environmental Sciences Section Chair: Ramaraj Boopathy, Nicholls State University

Microbiology Section Chair: Jameel Al-Dujaili, Louisiana State University at Eunice

Molecular & Biomedical Biology Section Chair: Jamie Newman, Louisiana Tech University

Zoology Section Chair: Gary LaFleur, Nicholls State University

PHYSICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Division Director: Pedro Derosa, Louisiana Tech University

Chemistry Section Chair: August Gallo, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Computer Science Section Chair: Yenumula Reddy, Grambling State University

Earth Sciences Section Chair: Todd Murphy, University of Louisiana at Monroe

Materials Science & Engineering Section Chair: Naidu Seetala, Grambling State University

Math & Statistics Section Chair: Jennifer Berken, McNeese State University

Physics Section Chair: David Norwood, Southeastern Louisiana University

SCIENCE EDUCATION DIVISION

Division Director: Esperanza Zenon, River Parishes Community College

Higher Education Section Chair: Christie Landry, Nicholls State University

K-12 Education Section Chair: Chris Campbell, Louisiana Tech University

SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION Division Director: Riad Yehya, Southern University (Baton Rouge)

SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES DIVISION Division Director: John Doucet, Nicholls State University

Ballot Bylaws

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The Majesty of the Mississippi