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.

Cobalt ferrite nanoparticle intercalated carbon nanotubes for a nanomagnetic ultrasensitive sensor of Cr-VI in water

Abstract: Nanocomposites of cobalt ferrite (CFO) magnetic nanoparticle intercalated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are evaluated as a nanomagnetic ultrasensitive sensor for an environmental toxin, hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) Specifically, the structural and magnetic changes that accompany the infiltration of the CFO/CNT composite by Cr-VI are presented The extended x-ray absorption fine structure shows that the atomic spacing within the CFO structure changes in the presence of Cr, suggesting that the Cr is incorporated into the nanoparticles Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) reveals that the CFO/CNT composite infiltrated with Cr-VI has a 71% enhancement in saturation magnetization compared with the uninfiltrated CFO/CNTs, while small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) suggests that this magnetic enhancement is not associated with the nanoparticle length-scales, but may arise from longer-ranged clusters Both VSM and SANS clearly demonstrate that the Cr-doped CFO/CNTs are hysteretic with a net magnetization at remanence that is about 1/3 of saturation, while this hysteresis is absent in the undoped CFO/CNTs These magnetic differences in either remanence or saturation are promising for the magnetic detection of Cr-VI using CFO/CNT sensors

Subchronic lead feeding study in male rats and micropigs.

Abstract: This study compared the lead uptake from contaminated test soil of known lead concentration with a soluble lead acetate standard, which was considered to be 100% bioavailable. This study also compared the lead bioavailability from this lead-contaminated soil between rats and micropigs. Harlan Sprague–Dawley rats and Yucatan micropigs were fed lead-contaminated soil as a 5% (w/w) mixture with their diet. The lead-contaminated soil was either a specific test soil of known lead concentration (1000 μg/g) or basal low concentration lead soil (∼135 μg/g), which was spiked with lead acetate to match the lead content of the test soil. The effective diet lead concentration was 50 μg Pb/g diet. Results demonstrated that rats reached steady-state concentrations of blood lead by week 2, whereas micropigs did not reach steady state until week 4. In addition, final blood lead concentrations in micropigs were four-fold higher than those in rats. In the micropigs, the final blood lead levels in the test soil study group were significantly lower than those in the lead acetate study group, although there was no significant difference between study groups in the rats. Tissue lead concentrations were significantly higher in micropigs than those in the rats, although the diet lead concentrations in both sets of animals were the same. In summary, because of the greater sensitivity in demonstrating higher tissue lead incorporation in micropigs as compared to rats, the micropig is a better animal model for demonstrating the differences in relative lead bioavailability when testing different sources of lead-contaminated soils. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2009.

Web-based Training Method for Interpretation of Dental Images

Abstract: A ccording to the American Cancer Society’s Survey, 28,900 new cases of oral cancer emerged in 2000. The death rate associated with oral cancer is particularly high because in more than half of the cases, the cancer is discovered late in its development. In these instances, radiography plays a key role in the diagnosis. Dentists trained in radiographic interpretation can determine the presence of tumors or growths, and can even distinguish malignant tumors from benign tumors based on their radiographic presentation. Interpretation of lesions in the jaws, therefore, is a vital professional skill for dental practitioners. Dentists’ encounters with non-routine radiographic pathology are limited because of the small size of patient pools and the relatively low occurrence rate of certain disease processes. However, meaningful oral and maxillofacial radiographic pathology, including oral cancer cases, do exist and have been diagnosed and treated each year. Furthermore, dentists are less confident about their ability to interpret radiographic images accurately. This lack of confidence could potentially lead to a failure to recognize or misdiagnosis significant pathology including cancer. Dental faculty is faced with the challenge of finding teaching cases from various sources because they often do not have their own. There is a real need to enhance radiographic interpretation and diagnosis skills for both dental students and current practitioners. Interpretation of radiographic dental images is a process of decision making, which requires a broad knowledge and in-depth familiarity with the underlying pathology and consequent radiographic manifestations. It is a significant part of the radiology curriculum taught in every dental school. There are meaningful teaching cases that are not used to full potential because these cases are not properly annotated, archived, and shared. In the case of rare oral disease processes, these cases may occur so infrequently that the student’s sole exposure is the depiction in a textbook. Currently, teaching cases for the training of dentists are developed on an as-needed basis and generally created and maintained locally. This process necessarily limits the exposure of teaching cases to the population served by that dental health center and often to students who work with a particular instructor. Some areas are not sufficiently demographically diverse to account for differences between ethnic groups, population ages or other factors. Most radiology interpretation courses at the pre-doctoral level are given in large lecture format.

Learner-instructor similarity: a social attribution approach to learning

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test a model in which instructor’s attributes (i.e. personality, age) are specified as social stimuli. Drawing on a constructivist view of learning (Palincsar, 1998) and similarity-attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971), the authors hypothesize that instructor’s attributes influence learners’ reactions and dictate key attributions for learning: instructor’s competence and goodwill. The authors place these attributions as antecedents of learning results. Design/methodology/approach – In a quasi-experimental design, undergraduate business students (n=133) participated in a training program of managerial skills over a three-week period. Regression and path analyses were utilized in testing the hypothesized model. Findings – Results provide partial support to the hypothesized model and suggest that learning is a social event wherein learners’ attributions play a key role. Results also indicate that learner-instructor similarity in personality is an important antecedent of ...

Influence of water quality, local knowledge and river–floodplain connectivity on commercial wild crayfish harvesting in the Atchafalaya River Basin

Abstract: Water quality and river connectivity influence fisheries, but their role is not understood in wild crayfish harvest, or how water quality and river connectivity are incorporated into crayfish harvest strategies. In Louisiana, wild harvesting practices were evaluated with field observations and interviews with individual harvesters. Field observations included trap locations, water quality, water stable isotopes (2016) and habitat components over two seasons (2015 and 2016). Traps were set in less turbid water (NTU 40% respondents; a surrogate for turbidity and connectivity) in harvesting initiation and trap locations. Harvesters appeared to follow lateral water movements onto and within the floodplain, likely based on local environmental knowledge.