Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Tourism Opportunities Through Homestay/Homeshare, Angela Galbreath

All Theses

The purpose of this research employing an emergent design is to explore the experiences of micro-hospitality entrepreneurs as hosts of Airbnb properties. Specifically, this study focuses on hosts in two communities- Port-au-Prince and Jacmel "“ and whether the phenomenon of homesharing through Airbnb is contributing to community development as other homestay programs traditionally attempt to do. As such this study asks the questions: RQ1: What is the experience of an Airbnb host in Haiti? RQ2: How do the experiences of Airbnb hosts differ between the locations of Jacmel and Port-au-Prince? RQ3: How does homesharing through Airbnb in Haiti contribute (if …

Evaluating Stem Cell Response To A Spider Silk Scaffold, Katherine Lee Hafner

All Theses

Micropatterning on a surface using fibers, channels, and troughs, can act as an effective means of inducing cell attachment and alignment. These morphological and pattern changes as a response to physical cues can impact the potential that a cell has to differentiate into a different cell line. This thesis evaluated the response of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), and other cell types, to spider dragline silk fibers, a potential scaffold material for tissue regeneration, and further observed the effects of morphology, orientation, and composition of silk on the adherence of cells. Several cell lines were studied in this thesis, …

Mechanical Behavior Of A Bio-Inspired Chondrichthyan Feeding Mechanism: Influence Of Dentition Patterns, Garrett Hall

All Theses

Despite the relative compliance of cartilage compared to bone, many chondrichthyans are capable of thriving at a variety of extremes, including: living in high-pressure environments, supporting massive body weights and muscular loads, or feeding on hard-bodied prey. Although there is extensive literature on shark feeding mechanics, cranial anatomy, and tooth structure and function, questions still surround the structural foundation of the chondrichthyan feeding mechanism in polydontic models. Consequently, the efficacy of shark jaws to withstand loads experienced during feeding is a topic of interest among biologists and engineers alike. Polydontic bio-inspired models were developed through additive manufacturing and tested in …

Dynamic Environmental Monitoring Using Intelligent Tendril Robots, Dixit Sohanraj Nahar

All Theses

Traditional robots are constructed from rigid links which facilitate both stiffness and accuracy. However, these systems operate best in open, highly structured spaces, and environments traversable by this technology are inherently restricted to scales and geometries which match the size and shape of the links. Conversely, continuous backbone continuum robots have enormous potential for adaptive exploration of unstructured environments. However, to date there has been very little research on algorithms for learning and adapting to changes in environmental conditions with continuum robots. In this research, we introduce new results in learning policies for novel long, thin, continuously bending continuum tendril …

A Journey Through Space: Creating Vibrant Nebulae Using Volumetrics, Christian Weeks

All Theses

This thesis presents a method for creating immersive, Hubble Space Telescope inspired space vistas using volumetric modeling and rendering techniques. Scenes of vibrant stars, space dust, and nebulous clouds are assembled using variations of implicit functions, pyroclastic displacement, and wisp algorithms. Scenes are then lit using volumetric light scattering and deep shadow maps. A production pipeline is used to efficiently distribute tasks, with pre-visualization in Houdini, scene creation in Python, rendering in C++, and compositing in Nuke. Camera movement is utilized to create a sense of depth and scope with the ultimate intent of taking the audience on a solemn …

Design And Testing Of A Biomimetic Pneumatic Actuated Seahorse Tail Inspired Robot, Justin Dakota Holt

All Theses

The purpose of this study is to build and test a pneumatically actuated robot based on the biomimetic design of a seahorse tail. McKibben muscles, a form of pneumatic actuator, have been previously used to create highly flexible robots. It has also been discovered that the seahorse tail serves as a highly flexible and prehensile, yet armored appendage. Combining these topics, this research aims to create a robot with the mechanical flexibility of a pneumatic actuator and the protection of a seahorse tail. First, the performance of a miniature McKibben muscle design is examined. Then, the artificial muscles are implemented …

A Bridge Over Troubled Water: Induction Teachers' Perspectives Regarding Their Efficacy Towards Meeting The Needs Of Diverse Populations Of Students, Lacresha R. Byrd

All Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore the perceptions of 13 first-year teachers as it relates to their readiness to meet the academic needs of their minority students. The findings provided information on their readiness, teacher preparation programs, and support needed from school leaders during their Induction year of teaching. The study was designed to explore the academic needs of the diverse population of students in a rural county school district in the Upstate of South Carolina. A triangulated study was conducted to include face-to-face interviews and an analysis of the transcripts to explore and examine the …

A Leishmania Secretion System For The Expression Of Major Ampullate Spidroin Mimics, Todd A. Lyda, Elizabeth L. Wagner, Andre X. Bourg, Congyue Peng, Golnaz Najaf Tomaraei, Delphine Dean, Marian S. Kennedy, William R. Marcotte Jr.

Publications

Spider major ampullate silk fibers have been shown to display a unique combination of relatively high fracture strength and toughness compared to other fibers and show potential for tissue engineering scaffolds. While it is not possible to mass produce native spider silks, the potential ability to produce fibers from recombinant spider silk fibers could allow for an increased innovation rate within tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In this pilot study, we improved upon a prior fabrication route by both changing the expression host and additives to the fiber pulling precursor solution to improve the performance of fibers. The new expression …

The Sculpture Garden, Pratham Karnik

All Theses

The Sculpture Garden illustrates the story of a rookie security guard and pilot named Riner Green who finds himself in an abandoned garden after searching for a robot with which he is entrusted. The work is inspired from the study of characters like Lightning McQueen from Cars (2006) and Bob Parr from The Incredibles (2004). The illustrations for The Sculpture Garden follow art style of the SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron (1993-1994).

Heat Transfer Mode For Flame And Burning Transmission Effects For Computer Graphics, Chi Chen Lee

All Theses

This thesis illustrates the domino reaction of burning matches caused by heat transfer, which was inspired by the domino effects happening in everyday life. This thesis incorporates both aesthetical and technical skills to model a Computer Graphic (CG) match, design match textures, adjust materials colors and control burning effects. The purpose of this thesis is to simulate the visual effects of a collection of matches burning sequentially. It provides a methodology to design and model the match texture, set up the heat values to move along the match geometry, simulate the flames which change according to the heat values at …

Plant Community Responses To Bison Reintroduction Within Montana's Northern Great Plains, Nicholas A. Mcmillan

All Theses

In western North America, the rapid loss of native grazers, abiotic disturbance processes (e.g., fire), and human-driven land conversion or degradation have resulted in steadily declining biodiversity and rangeland health. Keystone species restoration and their potential to increase rangeland health are common justifications for bison (Bison bison L.) reintroduction projects throughout North America's Great Plains. Similarly, many other conservation groups also justify the removal of livestock from traditionally cattle-grazed rangelands by citing potential increases in rangeland health or community dynamics following years of heavy use by cattle. Our objective was to assess how ten-years of bison reintroduction and livestock removal …

The Development, Design, And Testing Of A Remote Sensing System To Measure Cattle Hip Height, Reid Mckie Miller

All Theses

The development of a cattle hip height sensor arose from the need to increase the efficiency, accuracy, and precision with which hip height measurements are taken. Eight infrared sensors were used to measure the hip height of cattle in a commercially available chute system. Stationary testing was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of the technology without the variability animals naturally impose. A repetition test was conducted as a part of the stationary tests that indicated there was no significant difference found in measured height with movement of the target forward, backward, and center. However, there was a 0.16 inch average …

The Bee's Knees Or Spines Of A Spider: What Makes An 'Insect' Interesting?, Nathan James Shipley

All Theses

Insects and their kin (bugs) are among the most detested and despised creatures on earth. Irrational fears of these mostly harmless organisms often restrict and prevent opportunities for outdoor recreation and leisure. Alternatively, Shipley and Bixler (2016) theorize that direct and positive experiences with bugs during middle childhood may result in fascination with insects leading to comfort in wildland settings. The objective of this research was to examine and identify the novel and unfamiliar bug types that people are more likely to find interesting and visually attend to when spontaneously presented with their images. This research examined these questions through …

Post-Diagnosis: A Networked Framework For Narrative Reassemblage, Kristen Gay

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between diagnostic communication practices and deliberative rhetoric through the lens of Actor-Network theory and feminist theory. Specifically, I argue that Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT) provides a generative framework for tracing diagnostic networks as it accounts for uncertainty, dispersed agency, community stakeholders, and nonhumans. The chapters explore how a networked approach to diagnosis opens up opportunities to reform doctor-patient relationships, expands our conceptions of diagnostic actants, suggests ways to respond to patients living at risk for disease, and broadens our understanding of ethos in healthcare contexts. Furthermore, I also consider how a networked framework can …

The Guilty Breast: A Fleshy Semiotics, Mari Elena Ramler

All Dissertations

The Guilty Breast: A Fleshy Semiotics takes up the subject of the nude female breast, from St. Augustine's developing and a shifting semiotic theory of signs and the flesh in Christian doctrine through feminist theories and Foucault's analysis of the scientific “Gaze” to the protests of breastfeeding on social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, and in the public sphere. The dissertation argues that boobs teach us how to see by examining the breast's semiotic anatomy in five parts. “Chapter One: Nipple” asserts that breasts are both…and: maternal and sexual, subjective and objective, metaphoric and actual. “Chapter Two: Cleavage” juxtaposes …

Precarious Work, Invisible People, Unjust Livelihoods: A Social Ecological Model Of Migrant Farmworker Health In The Midwest, Athena K. Ramos

All Dissertations

With precarious work, invisible social status, and a livelihood that is unjust, migrant farmworkers in the United States continue to be the hands that pick the nation's fruits and vegetables, the feet that walk the fields, and the bodies that make modern U.S. production agriculture work. The 2016 Nebraska Migrant Farmworker Health Study described demographic, occupational, health, and social characteristics; assessed safety climate and personal protective equipment provision; tested the Social Ecological Model of Migrant Farmworker Health; and tested the Demand-Control paradigm. The study used a cross-sectional design, consisting of a convenience sample of 241 migrant farmworkers in Nebraska. Correlations …

An Exploratory Study Of Community Conservation Enterprises As A Model For Improving Community Livelihoods And Conservation Of Mountain Gorillas Across The Greater Virunga Transboundary Landscape, Edwin Sabuhoro

All Dissertations

Greater Virunga Transboundary Landscape (GVTL) is highly known for its abundance of wildlife resources and mostly flagship and endangered species such as Mountain Gorillas. Despite this importance, parks across GVTL continue to face enormous pressure from neighboring communities who harvest park resources illegally. This illegal harvest has sparked off intense park-community conflicts, community resentment and continuous poaching. To reduce them, community conservation enterprises (CCEs) were established across GVTL. The belief was that these CCEs provide and enhance socio-economic benefits to local communities which will in turn improve their household livelihoods. This will ensure that communities, in theory, will be less …

Evaluating The Impact Of The Physical Fidelity Of The Learning Environment On Skill Acquisition, Retention, And Application, Myrtede Alfred

All Dissertations

Simulations are believed to support learning outcomes by increasing student engagement and providing a more immersive and interactive learning environment. Research into the effectiveness of simulations as learning tools has found tangible benefits, including increased learner engagement and conceptual gains Simulations also offer the benefits of a safer and more accessible learning environment, where students can practice until the point of proficiency. While simulations have been used extensively in workforce education, there is a limited research that compares learning outcomes – affective, skill-based, and cognitive – when learning in the physical environment is substituted with learning in a simulated environment, …

Thermal Inactivation Of Desiccation-Adapted Salmonella Enterica In Physically Heat-Treated Poultry Litter Used As Biological Soil Amendments, Zhao Chen

All Dissertations

Poultry litter is usually recycled into the soil to improve the structure and fertility of agricultural land. As an important source of nutrients for crop production, poultry litter may possibly contain a variety of human pathogens that can threaten humans who consume the contaminated produce. The composting process can inactivate pathogens while creating a biological soil amendment beneficial for application to arable agricultural land. Some pathogens may have the potential to survive for long periods of time in raw poultry litter or its inadequately composted products after land application, and a small population of pathogenic cells may even regrow to …

Sophisticated Batteryless Sensing, Josiah D. Hester

All Dissertations

Wireless embedded sensing systems have revolutionized scientific, industrial, and consumer applications. Sensors have become a fixture in our daily lives, as well as the scientific and industrial communities by allowing continuous monitoring of people, wildlife, plants, buildings, roads and highways, pipelines, and countless other objects. Recently a new vision for sensing has emerged---known as the Internet-of-Things (IoT)---where trillions of devices invisibly sense, coordinate, and communicate to support our life and well being. However, the sheer scale of the IoT has presented serious problems for current sensing technologies---mainly, the unsustainable maintenance, ecological, and economic costs of recycling or disposing of trillions …

Landscape Manipulatives: A Study Of Math Gardens And Learning Outcomes In Middle School Mathematics Education Research, Yang Song

All Dissertations

Human beings, especially children, need natural environments and outdoor play for their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being (Louv, 2008). Even though parents and teachers recognize the value of outdoor play, schoolchildren spend a diminishing amount of time engaging in outdoor activities (Clements, 2004). Furthermore, addressing strict state learning standards is the first priority for schools. Outdoor activities are often seen as extracurricular to those subjects typically emphasized and tested. As a result, outdoor landscapes such as science gardens, playgrounds, and experiential classrooms are often underutilized, discouraged since they can take away from more important, standard forms of pedagogy. Thus, traditional …

Secondary Land To Water Transitions: Turtles As Models For Understanding Morphological Evolution, Vanessa K. Hilliard Young

All Dissertations

Transitions between water and land have occurred multiple times in vertebrate evolutionary history. Secondary land-to-water transitions are often accompanied by characteristic evolutionary changes in morphology, including a shift from tubular limbs to flattened flippers. Differences in limb structure across taxa are often attributed to differences in skeletal loading. However, empirical data on loading differences between land and water are lacking, making it difficult to evaluate which mechanistic changes accompany morphological adaptations in lineages that shift from terrestrial to aquatic habitats. I used turtles as a model lineage for examining structural and functional implications of differences in limb bone loading between …

Landscape Manipulatives: A Study Of Math Gardens And Learning Outcomes In Middle School Mathematics Education Research, Yang Song

All Dissertations

Human beings, especially children, need natural environments and outdoor play for their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being (Louv, 2008). Even though parents and teachers recognize the value of outdoor play, schoolchildren spend a diminishing amount of time engaging in outdoor activities (Clements, 2004). Furthermore, addressing strict state learning standards is the first priority for schools. Outdoor activities are often seen as extracurricular to those subjects typically emphasized and tested. As a result, outdoor landscapes such as science gardens, playgrounds, and experiential classrooms are often underutilized, discouraged since they can take away from more important, standard forms of pedagogy. Thus, traditional …

Ecological Consequences Of Water Loss Under Climate Change In Small Ectotherms, Eric Alexander Riddell

All Dissertations

Warming climates threaten to reduce biodiversity across the planet, yet the capacity of organisms to minimize the effects of climate change are rarely considered in current ecological predictions of climate change. Organisms can minimize the effect of warming through behavioral, physiological, and morphological processes that limit exposure to lethal conditions or improve performance. Therefore, integrating these mechanisms into ecological models might improve predictions on the loss of biodiversity under climate change. For my dissertation, I focus on the physiological processes that influence habitat suitability in a group of terrestrial, lungless salamanders (Plethodon spp.) found in the core of the global …

Remembering Katharine Worth (1922-2015), Anthony Roche

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.

Yeats And The Modern School, Wit Pietrzak

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.

Yeats's Disappointments, Francis O'Gorman

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.

International Yeats Studies, Issue 2

International Yeats Studies

International Yeats Studies was conceived by the organizing board of the International Yeats Society as a means of bringing together national and other Yeats societies around the world. This journal is designed to complement the Yeats Annual, published under the general editorship of Warwick Gould. International Yeats Studies will be published twice a year and aims to include a variety of approaches to the study of Yeats. The editorial board draws together scholars from across the globe, and we hope that when it is possible, the journal will publish important essays translated into English from other languages. In addition …

12th Annual Focus On Creative Inquiry Poster Forum Program, Clemson University

Focus on Creative Inquiry

The 2017 Focus on Creative Inquiry Poster Forum displays a selection of the projects accomplished by Clemson University students in their Creative Inquiry teams.

What is Creative Inquiry? It is small-group learning for all students, in all disciplines. It is the imaginative combination of engaged learning and undergraduate research – and it is unique to Clemson University.

In Creative Inquiry, small teams of undergraduate students work with faculty mentors to take on problems that spring from their own curiosity, a professor’s challenge, or the pressing needs of the world around them. Students take ownership of their projects. They ask questions, …

The Tiger Vol. 111 Issue 11 2017-04-03, Clemson University

Tiger Newspapers 2017

No abstract provided.