Digital Commons Network^™

Sexual Selection And Mixed Sex Expression: Adolescent Protandry, Phenotypic Tradeoffs And ‘Unconventional' Sex Allocation Estimates In A Protandric-Simultaneous Hermaphrodite, J. Antonio Baeza

Publications

In protandric-simultaneous (PS) hermaphrodites, individuals invariably reproduce as males first and later in life as simultaneous hermaphrodites. In this study, the shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni (Gibbes, 1850) was used as a model to (i) test for the role of sexual selection (male-male competition) in explaining the early male phase and size-dependent sex allocation (SDSA) in PS hermaphrodites, (ii) examine the tradeoff between the male and female function in hermaphrodites, and (iii) determine if SDSA also takes place in the form of sex-specific behaviors and anatomical structures. In L. wurdemanni, male mating ability was size- and sex-dependent; greater for small than …

The Role Of Social Environment And Genomic Plasticity In The Maintenance Of Alternative Mating Strategies In Sailfin Mollies, Mary Katharine Ramos-Negrete

All Theses

Sailfin molly fish, Poecilia latipinna, members of the family Poeciliidae, show extensive polymorphism in male body size, degree of ornamentation and mating behavior repertoires. They are a striking example of a species with alternative male mating strategies that result from an association between life history trait variation and developmental plasticity of mating behaviors. Sailfin molly male body size correlates to their lifelong mating strategy and male size at maturity is fixed and shows a continuous range of male sizes in natural populations. In this species, some phenotypes have ‘fixed’ mating strategies (either sneaking copulations by small males or courting females …

Does Light Trapping For Adult Trichoptera Improve Biomonitoring Of Stream Health In Appalachian River Systems?, Coleson Friedrich Wrege

All Theses

Rapid biomonitoring with aquatic macroinvertebrates (mostly immature life stages) is a common method to assess stream health. The use of terrestrial emerging adult aquatic insects for biomonitoring has been frequently suggested yet has not been adopted in most protocols. This study explores the addition of a light trapping protocol for adult caddisflies (Trichoptera) to complement existing rapid, multi-habitat benthic biomonitoring protocols that focus on the use of a Biotic Index. Four locations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of North and South Carolina were sampled quarterly for larvae and monthly from April through October for adults. Biotic Index values (both Mixed-Rank …

Design Of A Mobile Health Monitoring Virtual Human Application And Empirical Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Interactive Virtual Human On Presence, Healthcare Outcomes And Usability, Pratyush Singh

All Theses

No abstract provided.

Animal Co-Products As Novel Electron Donors For Biodegradation Of Trichlorethylene, Alexander Rogier

All Theses

The United States produces approximately 55 billion pounds of animal co-products in a year. These materials are what remains once cattle, chickens, and other animals are slaughtered and the food grade material is processed for consumption. Although a substantial amount of this waste is used in the pet food industry, it leaves thousands of pounds as true waste, without a market. Given the nature of co-products, these materials have high protein and lipid content, and these waste materials have the potential to be used as electron donors for microbial processes. Animal waste co-products used as electron donor for bioremediation could …

Wishes: Modeling Characters And Environments For A Visual Narrative, Erik John Reed

All Theses

Wishes showcases character and environmental models designed for an original short animation. The story begins when a wishing coin comes to life and tries to interfere with the wish of its owner. The narrative, a quintessential romance, derives a timeless appeal from its locale, Paris. The design is inspired by digital artists like Cecille Carre, directors like Pete Docter, and painters like Eugene J. Paproski. Overall concepts and production of the models spanned five months.

Hatch Success And Population Modeling For The Critically Endangered Bog Turtle In North Carolina, Michael Donald Knoerr

All Theses

Recent literature suggests that several North Carolina bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) populations are in decline, and many of these populations have few remaining individuals with low annual survival probability. Most populations appear dominated by older adults with few juveniles encountered; however, the proportion of juveniles encountered at two populations is dramatically higher. The reason for this variability is unknown. We conducted a nest monitoring study in 2016 and 2017 to test the hypothesis that nest survival patterns explain the observed population age structure. We collected the largest dataset yet compiled on the fate of naturally-incubated bog turtle eggs …

Florida Spotted Skunk Ecology In A Dry Prairie Ecosystem, Stephen Nicholas Harris

All Theses

The eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius) is a species of conservation concern in many portions of its range and has experienced a decline since the early to mid-1990s. However, little is known about the subspecies that inhabits peninsular Florida, the Florida spotted skunk (S. p. ambarvalis), which may still be abundant. To gather more information on this diminutive carnivore's ecology and to clarify its role as a predator of the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus), we conducted studies in 2016 and 2017 on the den site selection and diet of Florida spotted …

Construction Of Software To Directly Manipulate Character Controls, Walter Fulbright

All Theses

Rigging is the process of creating a skeletal system for an animated 3D character or object, allowing animators to manipulate the character with the use of NURBS controls. These controls often make it difficult for animators to see the silhouette of the character since the controls clutter the body. Direct selection controls offer a solution to this issue by eliminating the need for visible controls. This thesis covers the creation, use, and the process of direct selection controls. Explaining the issues of traditional rigging and how it can be solved with direct selection controls.

Functional Comparison Of Two Virus Innexins, Peng Zhang

All Theses

Some Parasitoid wasps rely on Polydnavirus to determine suitable hosts and complete their parasitization. Ichnoviruses (IV), one subfamily of Polydnavirus, are associated with Ichneumonids, have one highly conserved gene family named vinnexins. It has been demonstrated vinnexins are homologues of insect gap junction genes (innexins). However, their functions to the virus, parasitoid wasp and secondary host are not fully understood.

In my thesis, I have focused on two vinnexins, vnxG and vnxQ2, to investigate their effects on insect cell line and caterpillar using recombinant baculoviruses. I expressed vnxG or vnxQ2 in Sf9 cells and compared their influence on cell physiology. …

Variable Selection For Complex Data With Sparsity: An Application In Gwas, Tianhui Wei

All Dissertations

In this dissertation, we investigate the limitations of several methods that have been proposed for variable selection in recent decades, and in particular we explore how these limitations arise in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Three often discussed categories of methods include ordinary least squares, penalized regression, and Bayesian approaches, but while there have been efforts in the past to apply these techniques to GWAS, it remained unclear whether or not one approach was superior to the others, or if certain scenarios might favor a given method. In this research, our results from two real data sets reveal that the three …

Wetting Of Bio-Inspired Complexly-Shaped Fibers And Channels, Chengqi Zhang

All Dissertations

This Dissertation is centered on studying the wetting of complexly-shaped fibers and channels which is inspired by the Lepidopteran proboscis. From materials science and engineering standpoint, the Lepidopteran proboscis is a multifunctional microfluidic device. The unique materials organization, morphology, structure, and surface properties of the proboscis allows the Lepidopterans to feed on various food sources from highly viscous to very thin liquids while keeping its surface clean. Thus, the study on the proboscis wetting phenomena has drawn great interests of materials scientists and engineers. The shape of the Lepidopteran proboscis has a very special design combining complexly-shaped fibers and channels. …

Development Of Biomimetic Models Of Human Cardiac Tissue, Dylan Jack Richards

All Dissertations

The leading cause of death worldwide is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Myocardial infarction (MI) (i.e., heart attack) makes up ~8.5% of CVD and is a common cause of heart failure with a 40% five-year mortality after the first MI. This highlights a substantial patient population and an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies (e.g., regenerative cell therapies). Moreover, this also indicates that current models may not sufficiently recapitulate human cardiac tissue. To date, drug development strategies have largely depended on high throughput 2D cell models and pre-clinical testing in animal models of MI leading to minimal improvements in the heart …

Language And Literacy In A Head Start Preschool: Understanding Practice To Inform Theory And Improve Outcomes, M. Deanna Ramey

All Dissertations

Head Start is a federally funded program providing comprehensive social and early education services to children from low-income households and their families. Seeking to boost outcomes of Head Start students, in 1998 Congress amended Head Start's statement of purpose, specifying school readiness as the program's top priority. This mission change necessitated that Head Start, long-focused on promoting social competence, shift attention to a new concern—supporting children's development in cognitive domains such as math and literacy. Data suggest that though some progress has been made, Head Start preschoolers still lag behind their peer group in assessments of early math, language, and …

Applications Of Adaptive Decision Making Under Risk In Health Contexts, Drew Morgan Link

All Dissertations

Research in multi-attribute decision making and how people adapt strategy selection to changes in information suggest an influence of the task environment such as increases in task complexity, time pressure, or difficulty. Decisions made within a health context provide similar scenarios in which the environment can affect multi-attribute decision making strategies. This study sought to understand the influence of the seriousness and prevalence of a disease on decision outcomes and decision-making processes within the context of vaccination. Twenty-nine participants viewed eight hypothetical scenarios involving illnesses reported in the local area or associated with travel. In the scenarios, four illnesses were …

Modding The Apocalypse: (Re)Making Videogames As Post-Structuralist Free Play, Samuel Jackson Fuller

All Dissertations

This dissertation is about seeing videogames, and videogame design, through the lens of Gregory Ulmer"™s electracy apparatus theory. Videogame modding is emphasized an electrate approach to intervening in existing media. Mods have the potential to make potent rhetorical arguments, but they are little-understood in the field of rhet-comp, and there are numerous obstacles to carving a space for them in academic curricula; nevertheless, they are an increasingly common form of participatory engagement that make use of a broad digital skillset. Modders fit into Gregory Ulmer"™s electracy apparatus as egents"”agents of change in the Internet age"”and their playful appropriation of objects …

Assessment Of Aboveground Net Primary Productivity And Carbon Pools, Detrital Biomass, Community Structure, And Species Composition Across A Floodplain Forest Of The Congaree River, Gavin D. Blosser

All Dissertations

Floodplain forests offer services to society in the form of species diversity, wood production, sequestration of carbon, and buffering capacity critical to water quality. These services are dependent upon maintenance of hydrological connections and sedimentation dynamics of these systems that determine site specific heterogeneous microsite distributions yielding specific community structure, species composition, and productivity rates. The study area was within South Carolina’s Congaree National Park (CONG), and consisted of a micro-topographic gradient across the Congaree River floodplain differing in sedimentation rates and inundation periodicity and intensity. The research was designed to take advantage of this gradient to help bridge information …

Cyanobacterial Toxins: Managing Human-Health And Ecological Risks From Microcystins In Surface And Drinking Waters, Ciera Marie Baird

All Dissertations

Cyanobacteria blooms that produce endotoxins (e.g. microcystins [MCs]) are increasing spatially and temporally in critical freshwater resources worldwide. Due to the potential for human-health and ecological risks from exposures to MCs, designated uses for freshwater resources are often inhibited by MC-producing cyanobacteria blooms. As evidence builds for the risks from MC exposures, as well as financial losses resulting from colonization of MC-producing cyanobacteria in freshwater resources, effective and efficient risk management strategies are urgently needed. The overall goal of this dissertation was to contribute information that supports progress in risk intervention for MC-producing cyanobacteria as well as MCs. To support …

Materials Science Of Blood Clot Formation In Insects: Experimental Methods For A Multiscale In-Situ Investigation, Patel Aprelev

All Dissertations

This dissertation is structured around the development of a micro and nano-rheological instrument capable of measuring mPa·s-level viscosity of nanoliter droplets and micron thick films in a 10-20 second timeframe and using it to study the kinetics of formation of a blood clot in insects. To understand the materials science behind this clot formation, we enrich the microrheological study with studies of extensional rheology of various maturity stages of clots as well as studies of the surface tension isotherms, dynamic surface tensions, and surface rheology. To study the rapidly changing structure of the clots, we employ high magnification microscopy and …

Investigating The Management Of Visitor Experiences In Recreational Boating, Geoffrey Koome Riungu

All Dissertations

Recreational boating is a popular activity on public waterways. Boaters enjoy a multitude of natural lakes and rivers, but these waterways are a limited natural resource. In some cases, crowding caused by high rates of boating participation has strained the capacity of this natural resource base, generating conflict between participants and environmental impacts. Therefore, waterway managers may develop regulations for the number or types of boats allowed at one time. This is often referred to as visitor capacity.

With many waterways in the U.S. located in protected areas (PAs), their management are guided by legal regulations or statutory frameworks such …

Investigation Of Molecular Mechanisms Involved In Retardation Of Immunosenescence In Caenorhabditis Elegans By Royal Jelly, Ojas Natarajan

All Dissertations

With recent advances in medicine, life expectancy has been steadily increasing. This increasing geriatric populous encounter various age-associated diseases including decline in immunity called immunosenescence, which renders them susceptible to an extended array of pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus. These nosocomial pathogens gain resistance to a variety of antibiotics, hence a strong innate immune system is important for host survival. Caenorhabditis elegans has no complex immune system. Hence, it is an excellent model to study the innate immune response.

Royal jelly, a nutraceutical has been previously shown to prolong the lifespan and UV, oxidative and heat shock resistance in C. …

Persuasive Intelligence: On The Construction Of Rhetor-Ethical Cognitive Machines, Nathan D. Riggs

All Dissertations

This work concerns the rhetorical and moral agency of machines, offering paths forward in machine ethics as well as problematizing the issue through the development and use of an interdisciplinary framework informed by rhetoric, philosophy of mind, media studies and historical narrative. I argue that cognitive machines of the past as well as those today, such as rapidly improving autonomous vehicles, are unable to make moral decisions themselves foremost because a moral agent must first be a rhetorical agent, capable of persuading and of being persuaded. I show that current machines, artificially intelligent or otherwise, and especially digital computers, are …

Living With Giants: Human-Elephant Conflict And Poaching In Myanmar, Christie Lynn Sampson

All Dissertations

To address both the impacts of poaching on the wildlife and human populations and create effective conservation policy, conservation efforts must engage communities and include their views as stakeholders in the development of the policy. The involvement of local people has been shown to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of conservation efforts. However, to appropriately engage local people, the government and conservationists must understand their experiences with wildlife, and how local communities' experiences with human-wildlife conflict and poaching influence their willingness to support wildlife conservation programs. Using the Asian elephant as an example, we developed what we consider to be …

Targeted Delivery Of Drug Loaded Albumin Nanoparticles To Emphysematous Lungs To Preserve Elastin And Mitigate Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity, Vaideesh Parasaram

All Dissertations

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in U.S. following cancer and heart disease. COPD is an umbrella term for two chronic pathological conditions, namely chronic bronchitis and emphysema that are seen in patients. According to American Lung Association, 12.7 million Americans have been diagnosed with COPD, while 24 million people have impaired lung function, considered as underdiagnosed for the disease resulting in a huge cost to the nation of about $50 billion. Emphysema is an airway disease in which inflammation mediated elastin damage occurs over a long period. Owing to protease/ anti-protease imbalance because …

Rapid Screening Of Ellagitannins In Natural Sources Via Targeted Reporter Ion Triggered Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Jeremiah J. Bowers, Harsha P. Gunawardena, Anaëlle Cornu, Ashwini S. Narvekar, Antoine Richieu, Denis Deffieux, Stéphane Quideau, Nishanth Tharayil

Publications

Complex biomolecules present in their natural sources have been difficult to analyze using traditional analytical approaches. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-MS/MS) methods have the potential to enhance the discovery of a less well characterized and challenging class of biomolecules in plants, the ellagitannins. We present an approach that allows for the screening of ellagitannins by employing higher energy collision dissociation (HCD) to generate reporter ions for classification and collision-induced dissociation (CID) to generate unique fragmentation spectra for isomeric variants of previously unreported species. Ellagitannin anions efficiently form three characteristic reporter ions after HCD fragmentation that allows for the classification of unknown …

Cotton/Soybean Insect Newsletter, July 6, 2018, Jeremy K. Greene

Clemson University Cotton/Soybean Insect Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Plasticity Reveals Hidden Resistance To Extinction Under Climate Change In The Global Hotspot Of Salamander Diversity, Eric A. Riddell, Jonathan P. Odom, Jason D. Damm, Michael W. Sears

Publications

Extinction rates are predicted to rise exponentially under climate warming, but many of these predictions ignore physiological and behavioral plasticity that might buffer species from extinction. We evaluated the potential for physiological acclimatization and behavioral avoidance of poor climatic conditions to lower extinction risk under climate change in the global hotspot of salamander diversity, a region currently predicted to lose most of the salamander habitat due to warming. Our approach integrated experimental physiology and behavior into a mechanistic species distribution model to predict extinction risk based on an individual’s capacity to maintain energy balance with and without plasticity. We assessed …

Avian Tail Ontogeny, Pygostyle Formation, And Interpretation Of Juvenile Mesozoic Specimens, Dana J. Rashid, Kevin Surya, Luis M. Chiappe, Nathan Carroll, Kimball L. Garrett, Bino Varghese, Alida Bailleul, Jingmai K. O'Connor, Susan C. Chapman, John R. Horner

Publications

The avian tail played a critical role in the evolutionary transition from long- to short-tailed birds, yet its ontogeny in extant birds has largely been ignored. This deficit has hampered efforts to effectively identify intermediate species during the Mesozoic transition to short tails. Here we show that fusion of distal vertebrae into the pygostyle structure does not occur in extant birds until near skeletal maturity, and mineralization of vertebral processes also occurs long after hatching. Evidence for post-hatching pygostyle formation is also demonstrated in two Cretaceous specimens, a juvenile enantiornithine and a subadult basal ornithuromorph. These findings call for reinterpretations …

Full Issue

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Interpreting Between Modes: Navigating Between Signed And Spoken Language, Vicky Crawley

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article examines an interpreting challenge faced by interpreters working between spoken and signed languages: the difference in the amount of concreteness (which the author terms “specificity”) between the two languages. This paper outlines the necessity to edit specificity when interpreting from British Sign Language (BSL) to English in order to produce a natural-sounding language. Just as important is for specificity to be elaborated upon when interpreting from English to BSL. By examining this challenge, strategies often considered to be “innate” have been extracted from practice. This contribution to theory can then inform interpreter training. The author draws upon their …