Nicholls State University

About: Nicholls State University is a education organization based out in Thibodaux, Louisiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & The Internet. The organization has 456 authors who have published 795 publications receiving 20031 citations.

Maximizing Production Capacity from an Ultrafiltration Process at the Hanford Department of Energy Waste Treatment Facility

Abstract: The Department of Energy has contracted Bechtel National, Inc. to design, construct, and commission a Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) to treat radioactive slurry currently stored in underground waste storage tanks. A critical element of the waste treatment capacity for the WTP is the proper operation of an ultrafiltration process (UFP). The UFP separates supernate solution from radioactive solids. The solution and solid phases are separately immobilized. An oversight review of the UFP design and operation has identified several methods to improve the capacity of the ultrafiltration process, which will also improve the capacity of the WTP. Areas explored were the basis of design, an analysis of the WTP capacity, process chemistry within the UFP, and UFP process control. This article discusses some of the findings of this oversight review in terms of sodium and solid production, which supports the treatment of low activity waste (LAW) associated with the facility, and solid productio...

The Leak in the Academic Pipeline: on Black Women Sociologists

Abstract: There exists a “leak” in the academic pipeline centered on Black women sociologists. This leak exists in large part due to gatekeepers, who have attempted to protect the hidden curricula used to preserve predominantly male, White, old, conservative spaces (Romero 2017). Victim blaming, stigmatizing, exclusion, and tracking begin during the professionalization process in graduate school for many women of color and continue into their academic career (Margolis and Romero 1998). Mentoring in academia has been cited as a major contributing factor to professional success and career advancement; yet, access and quality of mentoring remain an issue for women of color (Pitt 2016). After moving from graduate school, salary differentials are cited as another contributor, leading to job dissatisfaction, decreased retention, higher rates of battle fatigue, and workplace stress (Pitt 2016). The state of Black women sociologists in the twenty-first century oddly has not changed much over the past century (Wilson 2012). This piece identifies structures of oppression that act as barriers to the incorporation of Black women sociologists in academic spaces, causing the leak. We then mitigate these entities by offering strategies to develop spaces of equity to combat the multiple jeopardies faced by Black women sociologists (Collins 2000).

Carbon ecology of termite gut and phenol degradation by a bacterium isolated from the gut of termite

Abstract: Metagenomics and transcriptomics have had some success analyzing community and functional ecology of the termite gut, but carbon utilization ecology and the effect of diet on the gut community are not well understood. This study was done to determine the effect of three hardwood tree types, oak (Quercus spp.), red maple (Acer rubrum), and tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) on the termite species, Reticulitermes flavipes in the family Rhinotermitidae. Termite abdomen homogenates were incubated on agar plates containing three common carbon sources in the termite gut, namely, acetate, cellobiose, and phenol under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Bacterial growth was higher on cellobiose than any other carbon source. Higher bacterial growth on cellobiose was observed from termite colonies feeding on oak than on phenol from the other two wood types. The difference between aerobic and anaerobic conditions was not significant. A bacterium, Acinetobacter tandoii isolated and identified from our previous study was subjected to high concentrations of phenol as the sole carbon source and this bacterium was able to degrade phenol concentration up to 600 mg/L.

A semiclassical dynamics study of the photoisomerization of methyl-substituted azobenzene

Abstract: A semiclassical dynamics simulation study is reported for a trans–cis photoisomerization cycle of four azo compounds, including azobenzene, 2-methylazobenzene, 2,6-dimethylazobenzene, and 2,2′-dimethylazobenzene. For both trans → cis and cis → trans isomerization processes, each compound is excited by a 50 fs (fwhm) laser pulse with a photon energy leading to a ππ* excitation. It is found that the compound in both cases follows a rotational path from reactant to product and that the isomerization dynamics is significantly affected by substitution. The relative times for completing a trans–cis isomerization cycle for four compounds, 2,6-dimethylazobenzene > 2,2-dimethylazobenzene and 2,6-dimethylazobenzene > 2-methylazobenzene> azobenzene, follow the same order as for the photoinduced formation of the surface relief grating of polymers based on these four compounds. The simulation results provide a basis for understanding the surface relief grating formation of azobenzene-based materials upon irradiation w...