Digital Commons Network^™

Longleaf Pine Restoration In The South Carolina Sandhills Wiregrass Gap, Jacob W. Murray

All Theses

Longleaf pine restoration has been a topic of great concern and intrigue in the southeast and has taken on new fervor in recent decades as restoration methods continue to develop. Many landowners and forest managers are now pursuing ecological forestry and restoration ecology in great numbers as a new form of land management. However, niche regions can often be overlooked, as is the case with the Carolina Sandhills Wiregrass Gap, an area devoid of wiregrass and one that is on the outskirt regions of the historical longleaf pine range. Field studies were conducted pre- and post-harvest during two growing seasons …

Developing Design And Analysis Framework For Hybrid Mechanical-Digital Control Of Soft Robots: From Mechanics-Based Motion Sequencing To Physical Reservoir Computing, Priyanka B. Bhovad

All Dissertations

The recent advances in the field of soft robotics have made autonomous soft robots working in unstructured dynamic environments a close reality. These soft robots can potentially collaborate with humans without causing any harm, they can handle fragile objects safely, perform delicate surgeries inside body, etc. In our research we focus on origami based compliant mechanisms, that can be used as soft robotic skeleton. Origami mechanisms are inherently compliant, lightweight, compact, and possess unique mechanical properties such as– multi-stability, nonlinear dynamics, etc. Researchers have shown that multi-stable mechanisms have applications in motion-sequencing applications. Additionally, the nonlinear dynamic properties of origami …

Effects Of Food-Grade Nonionic Surfactants On The Iron-Catalyzed Oxidative Stability Of Lycopene In Oil-In-Water Emulsions, Jeffrey Allen Bowles

All Dissertations

In this research a novel method for the rapid, direct measurement of oxidative lycopene degradation in oil-in-water emulsions via colorimetric means was developed. This analytical method was used to conduct experiments monitoring the degradation of lycopene-containing oil-in-water emulsions of decane spontaneously formed in the presence of nonionic surfactants (Span and Tween) of different tail lengths and molar ratios. The structure and ratio of these nonionic surfactants was manipulated to probe the mechanism of lycopene stabilization when iron-catalyzed oxidation was the main pathway of degradation, as controlled by pH and oil phase selection. The effect of addition of chloride salts with …

Towards Understanding Protein Immobilization Rules Through Site-Specific Covalent Immobilization Of T4 Lysozyme, Maxwell Hilbert

All Dissertations

Soluble enzymes have the unique ability to assist the conversion of complex substrates in fewer steps compared to conventional chemical synthesis; however, when immobilized to a surface, the insoluble enzyme's activity and stability can suffer in its new environment. To improve upon future immobilized enzyme efficacy, a fundamental understanding of the interactions across the enzyme, linker, and surface during covalent, site-specific immobilization that can be detrimental to its activity is required. More specifically, using a well-characterized and model enzyme, T4 lysozyme (T4L), 28 different cysteine attachment points' effects on site-specifically immobilized activity are examined. Different combinations of heterobifunctional amine-to-sulfhydryl crosslinkers …

Time-Lapse Observation Of Sarcomeric Addition In Hypertrophic Models Based On A Tissue Like Cardiomyocyte Culture, Ailin Wei

All Dissertations

Cardiac hypertrophy is the response of the heart to increased mechanical stress exerted on the heart. In a hypertrophic heart, the muscles elongate or/and thicken with cardiomyocytes growing sizes. It is assumed that cardiomyocytes elongate by adding sarcomeres in series; the cardiomyocytes thicken with the addition of sarcomeres in the parallel position.

In this study, a tissue-like culture model was achieved with step-like ICDs. Uniaxial static stretch has been applied to our unique culture model for studying mechanical-load-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Hypertrophic responses of these cardiomyocytes have been confirmed on transcriptional and translational levels in our tissue-like model. The two-photon excitation …

Ecological Outcomes Of Movement Behavior In Brown Pelicans From The South Atlantic Bight, Bradley Wilkinson

All Dissertations

Vagile organisms are expected to display movement behaviors that respond to a wide variety of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Identifying drivers of movement is fundamental to understanding the ecology of species, as well as implementing effective conservation measures. Technological advancements have allowed for the collection of fine-scale positional data at rapid temporal scales, which can be a powerful tool for assessing the movement behavior of tracked species and for understanding the potential fitness implications resulting from variations in animal space use. The goal of this dissertation was to identify important drivers of movement behavior and to describe the ecological …

Influencing The Inflammatory Response Through Multi-Scale Geometry, Antibiotic Release, And Fluid Management In A Textile-Based Biomaterial Wound Dressing, Elizabeth Gianino

All Dissertations

The total population of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in the United states is expected to rise by 54% between the years of 2015 and 2030 contributing to $200 billion in health care expense. The exponential rise in common diabetic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, puts a large population at risk for complications such as infection, amputation, and even death. Peripheral neuropathy leading to late diagnoses, patient non-compliance, and lack of holistic treatment options all contribute to complications with the incidence of new ulcer formation after treatment reaching 50%. This work explores the design, development, and in vitro evaluation …

Exploring The Role Of Ampk In Nutrient Sensing And Signaling In The Human Parasite Trypanosoma Brucei, Jessica Jones

All Dissertations

African trypanosomes are protozoan parasites that cause the diseases African sleeping sickness and nagana, in humans and cattle respectively. These parasites have complex life cycles with infection of a mammalian host, ~5mM glucose, following transmission by an insect vector, essentially zero glucose. With these pathogens being exposed to rapidly changing glucose abundance in a host-dependent manner, the ability to sense and rapidly respond to changes in the availability of the hexose are critical. First, I provide a review of glucose metabolism in Trypanosoma brucei. Then, we explore the role of the catalytic α subunit of AMPK, a eukaryotic master …

Deep Learning Based Speech Enhancement And Its Application To Speech Recognition, Ju Lin

All Dissertations

Speech enhancement is the task that aims to improve the quality and the intelligibility of a speech signal that is degraded by ambient noise and room reverberation. Speech enhancement algorithms are used extensively in many audio- and communication systems, including mobile handsets, speech recognition, speaker verification systems and hearing aids. Recently, deep learning has achieved great success in many applications, such as computer vision, nature language processing and speech recognition. Speech enhancement methods have been introduced that use deep-learning techniques, as these techniques are capable of learning complex hierarchical functions using large-scale training data. This dissertation investigates the deep learning …

Development Of Tissue Engineered Scaffolds For Cardiovascular Repair And Replacement In Pediatric Patients, Dipasha Sinha

All Dissertations

Congenital Heart Diseases (CHD) are abnormalities present in the heart and great vessels at birth. It is one of the most frequently diagnosed congenital disorders, affecting approximately 40,000 live birth each year in the United States. The incidence of new CHD patients and the relative distribution of defects have not changed over time and remain a birth rate function. Out of the new patients found to have CHD each year, an estimated 2,500 patients have a defect that requires a substitute, non-native valve, or conduit artery to replace structures that are congenitally absent or hypoplastic. Materials in current use for …

Novel Peptide Biomaterials For Enhanced Delivery Of Sirna Cargo For Treatment Of Ovarian Cancer, Timothy Samec

All Dissertations

Ovarian cancer is the 7^th leading cause of cancer related death and the 5^th most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. Primarily diagnosed in stage III or stage IV, aggressive treatment is necessary and involves surgical debulking and administration of systemic chemotherapeutics. Unfortunately, these strategies fall short in effectively treating ovarian cancer and many patients experience local disease recurrence, development of multidrug resistant tumors, regional or distant metastatic events, or a combination of the three. As such, there is a significant need for additional treatment options and methods of delivery to improve therapeutic efficacy and disease survivability.

RNA interference …

3d Lidar Scanning Of Urban Forest Structure Using A Consumer Tablet, Gursel Y. Çakir, Christopher J. Post, Elena A. Mikhailova, Mark A. Schlautman

Open Access Publishing Fund

Forest measurements using conventional methods may not capture all the important information required to properly characterize forest structure. The objective of this study was to develop a low-cost alternative method for forest inventory measurements and characterization of forest structure using handheld LiDAR technology. Three-dimensional (3D) maps of trees were obtained using an iPad Pro with a LiDAR sensor. Freely-available software programs, including 3D Forest Software and CloudCompare software, were used to determine tree diameter at breast height (DBH) and distance between trees. The 3D point cloud data obtained from the iPad Pro LiDAR sensor was able to estimate tree DBH …

Fy2022 All Salaries $30-$50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Fy2022 Faculty Salaries Over $50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Fy2022 All Salaries Over $50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Examining Effects Of A Multisite Youth Outreach Program: A Meta-Analysis Approach, Weiling Li, Martha Lindley Mcdavid, Sandra San Miguel, Loran Carleton Parker

Journal of Youth Development

This paper presents the application of a meta-analysis approach to the evaluation of youth-learning data from the nationally distributed This is How We “Role” program. The application of meta-analysis for examining the impact of other multisite youth programs encountering similar data analysis challenges is discussed. At each This is How We “Role” program site, university partners collected data to examine youth-participant learning. Data analysis from these unique sites was challenging as the approach had to accommodate the innate heterogeneity across sites due to differences in implementation, sample size, and learning context. The meta-analysis method revealed details of the underlying variation …

Gauging Informal Stem Youth Program Impact: A Conceptual Framework And A Measurement Instrument, Robert Tai, Ji Hoon Ryoo, Claire Mitchell, Xiaoqing Kong

Journal of Youth Development

STEM education programs are often formulated with a "hands-on activities" focus across a wide array of topics from robotics to rockets to ecology. Traditionally, the impact of these programs is based on surveys of youth on program-specific experiences or the youths’ interest and impressions of science in general. In this manuscript, we offer a new approach to analyzing science programming design and youth participant impact. The conceptual framework discussed here concentrates on the organization and analysis of common learning activities and instructional strategies. We establish instrument validity and reliability through an analysis of validity threats and pilot study results. We …

The Professional Constructor, Full Issue, Volume 46, Number 02

The Professional Constructor

No abstract provided.

Using The 4-H Essential Elements To Evaluate Teen Programming, Joy Lile, Elizabeth Weybright, Pam Watson

Journal of Youth Development

National and state trends indicate participation in 4-H programming declines throughout adolescence. Past research suggests factors that may influence recruitment and retention of teens into youth development programming. Washington State University undertook an evaluation to understand the needs and desires of teens in the 4-H program and make recommendations for improvements to recruitment and retention of teens in 4-H. The study sample was made up of 93 young people aged 12 to 19 years who participated in the online survey. Results included youth demographics, participation styles, communication preferences, youth outcomes, and feedback about program benefits and opportunities for growth. The …

Enhancing The International Study Of Positive Youth Development: Process, Specificity, And The Sample Case Of Character Virtues, Richard Lerner, Pamela Jervis, Marc Bornstein

Journal of Youth Development

This article focuses on the interplay of research and practice (researchpractice integration) in advancing international efforts to understand and enhance positive youth development (PYD). We discuss 3 facets of PYD research and application that have cross-cutting relevance to theory, to the use of theory for designing principles of PYD programs, and to evaluating whether specific instances of youth development programs have features that promote PYD. Using dynamic, relational developmental-systems-based concepts, we discuss the process of development involved in PYD, the use of the specificity principle to frame research and practice and, as a sample case illustrating how PYD research and …

Positive Youth Development In Senegal: A Case Study Of 4-H Senegal, Thomas Archibald, Bineta Guisse, Amadou Ndiaye, Fatimata Kane

Journal of Youth Development

African youth face great challenges and great opportunities. Positive youth development (PYD) programs have the potential to support youth in Africa to reach their full potential. Yet PYD approaches must be tailored if they are to be contextually and culturally responsive and relevant. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evidence-informed description of one such program, the 4-H Senegal PYD program. We first provide a conceptual background for the program, informed especially by the literature on global and cross-cultural PYD. We then share empirical results of a qualitative case study focused on the establishment, scale-up, and institutionalization of …

Alterations In The Leaf Lipidome Of Brassica Carinata Under High-Temperature Stress, Zolian Zoong Lwe, Saroj Sah, Leelawatti Persaud, Jiaxu Li, Wei Gao, K. Raja Reddy, Sruthi Narayanan

Open Access Publishing Fund

Background: Brassica carinata (A) Braun has recently gained increased attention across the world as a sustainable biofuel crop. B. carinata is grown as a summer crop in many regions where high temperature is a significant stress during the growing season. However, little research has been conducted to understand the mechanisms through which this crop responds to high temperatures. Understanding traits that improve the high-temperature adaption of this crop is essential for developing heat-tolerant varieties. This study investigated lipid remodeling in B. carinata in response to high-temperature stress. A commercial cultivar, Avanza 641, was grown under sunlit-controlled environmental conditions in Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Research …

No Bones About Art, Lydia Lytal, Brooke A. Whitworth, Gail Morton

Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of In-Cab Air Quality For Nonroad Diesel Construction Equipment, Phil Lewis, Sherif El Khouly, Adam Mayer, Jeremy Johnson

The Professional Constructor

Previous research indicates that air quality near the cabs of nonroad diesel equipment may exceed recommended exposure limits for certain pollutants. The objective of this case study was to collect and analyze air pollutant data near the cabs of nonroad diesel equipment while performing real world activities. Using state-of-the-art instrumentation, the research team conducted 24 tests on nine different items of nonroad equipment. The team collected data related to pollutant concentrations of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and black carbon. Average concentrations of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide did not exceed published exposure limits on …

A Multi-Reservoir Study Of The Impact Of Uncertainty In Pool Evaporation Estimates On Water-Availability Models, R. C. Phillips, Nigel Kaye, John Saylor

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

Quantifying evaporative loss from reservoirs plays a critical role in sound water-availability management plans and in reservoir management. Various methods are used to quantify reservoir evaporation; however, each method carries a degree of uncertainty that propagates to model predictions of available water within a reservoir or a reservoir network. Herein, we explore the impact of uncertainty in reservoir evaporation on model outputs of historical and future water availability throughout the five major reservoirs in the Savannah River Basin in South Carolina, USA, using four different evaporation methods. Variability in the total available water is evaluated using the United States Army …

Clemson Commencement Program, August 2021, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Exploring Student Perspectives On Informal And Formal Learning In University Makerspaces, Abigail Holcombe Baker

All Dissertations

Informal Learning Spaces (ILSs) are increasing in popularity in many educational and community settings (Berman, 2020). One such ILS is a makerspace, where people participate in general activities of creating, building, designing, and tinkering (Oxman Ryan, Clapp, Ross, & Tishman, 2016). Makerspaces have been touted as spaces that provide students with opportunities to build fundamental knowledge, hone communication and social networking skills, offer intergenerational learning opportunities, fabricate artifacts for personal interests, and take an active and situated role when learning design skills (see: Barniskis, 2016; Blikstein, 2013; Cohen et al., 2017; Curry, 2016; Kajamaa & Kumpulainen, 2019; Lakind et al., …

Evaluation Of Plant Hormones On Herbicide Safety In Sweetpotato (Ipomoea Batatas L.), Giovanni Caputo

All Theses

Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas L. (Lam)] growers need new technologies to manage weeds as current strategies rely on combinations of pre-emergent (PRE) or cultivation, which do not provide season long weed control. A label expansion of postemergence (POST) herbicides would be extremely beneficial to farmers and could improve weed management in sweetpotato.

Three studies were conducted at the Clemson University Coastal Research and Education Center from January 2019 to November 2020 to investigate the ability of plant hormones and ascorbic acid (AsA) to improve sweetpotato tolerance to applications of POST herbicides. An in vitro study tested bentazon injury on three …

Bovine Intervertebral Disc Organ Culture For Assessing Regenerative Therapeutics For Herniation Repair, Mario Josef Krussig

All Theses

Annually over 3 million people suffer from intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation (IVDH)¹ and approximately 500,000 discectomies are performed in the United States alone. Within one-year post-operation, up to 15% of patients must undergo a second discectomy or spinal reconstruction due to re-herniation². One potential method to overcome limitations associated with discectomies is to develop tissue engineered constructs to augment the surgical procedure. Previously two novel scaffolds have been created by our lab: an annulus fibrosus repair patch (AFRP) and acellular bovine nucleus pulposus (ABNP); however, these constructs require extensive testing before implementation in humans. Therefore, the purpose …

Rapid Isolation And Quantification Of Exosome And Lentivirus By Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography On A Polyester Capillary-Channeled Polymer Fiber Stationary Phase, Sisi Huang

All Dissertations

Exosomes are vesicles secreted by cells having a size range from 30-150 nm and carrying genetic materials that are important for intercellular functions. Besides, mounting evidence suggests that tumor cells secrete more exosomes than normal cells making it important to quantify exosomes as well. Thus, it is important to be able to efficiently isolate and quantify exosomes for potential use in clinical diagnostics, as well as to develop a deeper understanding of their role in intercellular processes. Apart from exosomes, Lentivirus is another bioparticle that has drawn great attention from researchers. Lentivirus is a genus of retroviruses with a size …