Digital Commons Network^™

Stem-Inhabiting Fungal Communities Differ Between Intact And Snapped Trees After Hurricane Maria In A Puerto Rican Tropical Dry Forest, François Maillard, Erin Andrews, Molly Moran, Peter G. Kennedy, Skip Van Bloem, Jonathan S. Schilling

Publications

Hurricanes impact forests by damaging trees and altering multiple ecosystem functions. As such, predicting which individuals are likely to be most affected has crucial economic importance as well as conservation value. Tree stem-inhabiting fungal communities, notably rot-causing agents, have been mentioned as a potential factor of tree predisposition to hurricane damage, but this assumption remains poorly explored. To examine this relationship, we sampled the stem wood of intact and damaged trees shortly after Hurricane Maria in a Puerto Rican dry tropical forest in 2017. We categorized samples depending on two types: trees with intact stems and trees in which stems …

Fy2021 All Salaries $30-50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Fy2021 Faculty Salaries Over $50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Fy2021 All Salaries Over $50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Growing Collaborative Outreach Efforts To Support The Well-Being Of Communities, Jessica Kohout-Tailor, Lili Klar

Publications

Libraries of all types provide outreach efforts for their patrons to reduce stress and promote well-being. Public, school, and academic libraries often partner with external entities to provide yoga, therapy dogs, and other creative activities for their patrons. Although collaboration is expected in public, school, and academic libraries, how to collaborate and/or grow collaborative efforts is lacking in the library literature. A former public library employee and a former school librarian came together to pilot a de-stressing program for students at their academic library and each semester have continued to grow their collaborative efforts with partners on and off-campus. Strategies …

The Impact Of Volunteering: A Multi-State Study Of 4-H Youth Development Volunteers, Samantha Grant, Sarah Maass, Rachelle Vettern, Rebecca Harrington

Journal of Youth Development

Volunteers are vital to youth development programming as a key piece of the workforce. This evaluation measured the impact of volunteers in the 4-H youth development program and demonstrated the value volunteers bring to youth development environments. The North Central region 4-H volunteer impact study was conducted with volunteers in the 4-H Youth Development program across 12 states. The purpose of the study was to better understand the value of being a volunteer. Results showed that volunteers personally benefited from their involvement by becoming more experienced at working with youth and by learning skills that transferred to other settings. Volunteers …

Mindful Learning Experiences Through Structured Reflections During A Youth Travel-Abroad Program, Gary Ellis, Andrew Lacanienta, William Zanolini, Darlene Locke

Journal of Youth Development

Mindfulness is an actively engaged state of mind when an individual is attuned to their surrounding multi- sensory elements. Mindful learning experiences during youth programs may enhance learning and the overall quality of experiences. We developed, executed, and evaluated an end-of-day structured mindfulness experience during a 4-H travel camp. In this paper we summarize the program and its outcomes and share details we believe will assist other youth professionals who may want to build structured mindfulness experiences into their own programs. Through the 4-H Global Travelers program, 20 youth participated in a 7-day travel camp in Argentina. At the end …

Supporting Interests And Sharing Power: Insights From A Scottish Youth Program, Daniela Kruel Digiacomo

Journal of Youth Development

Light Up Learning (LUL) is a youth program in Scotland that supports young people in pursuing their curiosities and exploring their interests in a school-based informal learning setting. This article draws on interview and participant observation data to examine the social organization of teaching and learning activity within LUL. As a school-based program focused on supporting youth in pursuing their interests through the cultivation of a caring adult–youth relationship, LUL offers an empirical case that brings together insights from youth development and interest-driven learning research. Examination into the verbal and material interactions that shape adult–youth interactions yields insight into how …

Identification Of Priority Skill Areas For Volunteer Professional Development, Car Mun Kok, Dorina Espinoza, Steven Worker, Charles Go

Journal of Youth Development

Youth development programs often rely on volunteers to deliver programming to young people. Our study explored the skills and competencies volunteers self-identified as important for their roles. We analyzed qualitative responses to 2 open-ended questions asking University of California 4-H volunteers to identify priority skills to aid in their volunteer development. Using inductive thematic analysis, we developed a coding scheme to analyze 1,144 responses. Participants reported the need for professional development in content-specific areas, program management basics, and child development. Volunteers also reported desiring training in educational practices, organizational skills, specific volunteer roles, and communication skills. The modalities through which …

Sasl Journal, Volume 3, Number 1

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Clemson Commencement Program, August 2020, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Covid-19, 5g Conspiracies And Infrastructural Futures, James Meese, Jordan Frith, Rowan Wilken

Publications

This article examines the emergence of conspiracy theories linking COVID-19 with 5G, with a focus on Australia, the United States and United Kingdom. The article is in two parts. The first details long-standing concerns around mobile technologies and infrastructures before showing how they translate to specific worries about 5G technology. The second shows how these fears have fuelled specific conspiracies connecting 5G with COVID-19, how they have animated protests and acts of vandalism that have occurred during the pandemic, and the ongoing engagement of conspiracists with official inquiries into 5G. Finally, we argue that a productive way to understand what …

Evolution Of Secondary Sexual Characters In Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), Laura Maria Vasquez-Velez

All Dissertations

Secondary sexual characters (SSC) are traits present only in one sex, commonly on males, and different from the reproductive organs. These characters have evolved mainly through the action of Sexual Selection, the differential mating success of organisms of the same species. Males use SSC to challenge other males for access to females, while females use these traits as signals to choose mates with overall good. SSC can manifest as horns, tusks, enlarged appendages, spines, coloration, and body size. Sexually dimorphic traits are present in all major groups of animals, including Insects. Sexual selection and secondary sexual traits have been proposed …

Spaces In-Between, Sara Mays

All Theses

In his book, The Poetics of Space, French philosopher Gaston Bachelard uses a phenomenological approach in which he explores and muses about objects such as the nest, the shell, and the corner. Through personal observation, his mode of examination is prolonged and generous to those things he observes. For him, those places he explores can be filled with our own thoughts and so, set them apart as spaces made anew. The inside of a shell becomes an entire house and a corner gives way to a whole room.

I create ceramic sculptures that capture an inner immensity and beauty found …

A Ph Sensor For Non-Invasive Detection And Monitoring Of Ph Changes During Implant-Associated Infection Using X-Ray Excited Luminescence Chemical Imaging, Unaiza Uzair

All Dissertations

Implant-associated infection is a leading cause of fixation failures and these infections are resistant to antibiotics especially after mature biofilms have been established on the implant surface. These infections can also be challenging to detect, especially at early stages or during antibiotic treatment, due to lack of symptoms and specific tests to detect localized infection. Low pH is believed to be associated with infection as bacteria and inflammatory responses can cause a pH drop in the affected area. Detecting changes in pH on the implant surface can provide a better understanding and help to detect, treat and monitor such infections …

Habitat Relationships Of Bat Species Of Conservation Concern In Coastal South Carolina, Kyle Edward Shute

All Theses

Loss of forest habitat used for roosting and nocturnal activity by bats is a conservation concern in the southeastern United States. The northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius), tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), and northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius) all occur within the Coastal Plain of South Carolina, where their greatest conservation threat is loss of critical roosting and foraging habitats. However, little research has been conducted on these species of conservation concern in this region, leaving gaps in information about habitat associations that would inform conservation and management as forest loss continues due to logging, agriculture, urban …

Sustainable Land Management In South Carolina: A Focus On Landowner Perceptions, Challenges, And The Implementation Of Forestry And Agriculture Best Management Practices, Lucas Clay

All Theses

This study provides a holistic overview of a variety of different methods for land management and a framework for implementations of these methods. Many of these management practices for agriculture and forestry are labor intensive, provide long term benefits, and require significant expertise for implementation. This thesis will detail a variety of alternative and environmentally sound methods and funding streams to aid in implementation of management practices for agriculture and forestry land. Not only are these practices aimed at protecting the environment, they also contribute to increased yields for agriculture lands and provide co-benefits to the environment (i.e. increased water …

Role Of Cyp2b6 In Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (Pfos)-Induced Toxicity And Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (Nafld), Matthew C. Hamilton

All Theses

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is a persistent, toxic fluorosurfactant foam used in firefighting foams, textiles, and other industrial products. Human CYP2B6 is predominantly expressed in the liver and responsible for metabolizing xeno- and endobiotics. CYP2B is induced by PFOS and high-fat diets in rodents and therefore it was hypothesized that CYP2B contributed to PFOS-induced steatosis. Cyp2b-9/10/13-null (Cyp2b-null) and humanized CYP2B6-Tg (hCYP2B6-Tg) mice were treated with PFOS (0, 1, or 10 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage in mice fed either a typical chow diet (ND) or a high-fat diet (HFD). Our studies show human CYP2B6 is also inducible in vivo by PFOS. In …

Arsenic Exposure Decreases The Number And Signaling Of Distinct Intestinal Stromal Cells, Michael Kellett

All Theses

Arsenic is a natural toxicant commonly found in drinking water. Since its main route of exposure is oral, arsenic is continually in contact with the small intestine. While in vitro arsenic exposures of environmentally relevant concentrations can disrupt differentiation in cardiac and skeletal muscle, neurons, and keratinocytes, little is known of the impact of an in vivo arsenic exposure. Since the epithelium of the small intestine rapidly regenerates, we wanted to investigate whether arsenic alters the balance of renewal and differentiation. Small intestinal organoids (enteroids) were used to assess arsenic’s impact on intestinal homeostasis by exposure to 0, 1, and …

Rendering Co-Products As Electron Donors For Subsurface Remediation, John K. Houston

All Theses

Chlorinated solvents are a widespread groundwater contaminant across the United States and worldwide. Bioremediation strategies for chlorinated solvents in groundwater environments often involve electron donor amendments to stimulate reductive dechlorination.

Electron donor amendment technologies have evolved over time, utilizing varying lipid or carbohydrate based compounds. Several popular electron donor amendments contain soybean based emulsified vegetable oil (EVO), or low molecular mass organic acid compounds including acetate and formate. This project seeks to develop a group of novel electron donor amendments based on animal co-products to outperform conventional products. These co-products are comprised of waste generated in the animal rendering process …

Improving Hazard Perception And Tracking Through Part-Task Training, Nathan Dumessa

All Theses

Safe driving requires wisely allocating focal attention among multiple changing events and comprehending those events. Research suggests that attentional skills can be improved by training. This study uses a low-fidelity driving simulator to train participants using part-task training on two attentional subskills: identifying (comprehending) and tracking potential hazards; and detecting and avoiding imminent hazards. Following initial familiarization with the driving simulator, each participant received training in one of these two attentional subskills. Hazard tracking probes train (and measure) identifying and tracking potential hazards by having participants watch a moving driving scenario and then select the vehicle that behaved hazardously during …

The Microbiome Of Southwestern Rattlesnakes, Erin Stiers

All Theses

The gut microbiota encompasses the microbial life present in animal digestive tracts, collectively termed the microbiome. These microbial communities are highly adapted to their environment and host, providing beneficial functions not encoded by the host genome. However, there is a lack of gut microbiome studies on wild, non-model organisms; because of the importance of microbiomes in host evolution, it is critical to understand how environment and host alike shape indigenous microbes in wild animal populations. Rattlesnakes (Crotalus and Sistrurus) provide a useful system to study microbiota differences due to their unique digestive process and locally adapted venoms, which function in …

Novel Methods For Rgb Aerial Image Analysis, Brennan Teddy

All Theses

Multiple linear regression models were developed to predict sand and clay content along with soil organic matter content from RGB imagery from both commercially available satellite imagery as well as RGB UAV imagery. UAV Imagery was tested at two flight altitudes to determine if lower or higher altitude had an effect on prediction. In cases of sand, clay, and OM content, flight altitudes did not significantly differ in prediction abilities. Satellite imagery was evaluated using data from Planet Labs as well as Google Earth. Regression models were developed to predict sand, clay, and soil organic matter content from these satellite …

Yield And Nutritional Composition Of Conventional And Bmr Pearl Millet Under Different Management Conditions, Madeline A. Oskey

All Theses

The main objectives of these studies were to evaluate the yield, composition and digestibility of conventional and BMR pearl millet (PM, Pennisetum glaucum) with different establishment dates or harvested at different maturity stages. A second objective was to evaluate the impact of mixing PM with cowpea on measured variables. Two trials were conducted in field plots (1.5 m x 6.1 m) as randomized complete block designs with a split plot arrangement of treatments. In trial 1, two varieties of PM (conventional and BMR) were planted at two different dates (14d apart) and harvested at early heading stage. In trial …

Enzymatic Targets For Improvement Of Malting Sorghum, Andrew Disharoon

All Theses

Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench is a climate resilient grain cereal crop originating from Africa that has traditionally been used to make a variety of fermented beverages such as pito and baijiu. In western markets, the use of sorghum to produce beers and beverages has recently risen in part due to the visibility of a gluten sensitive/intolerant market and a growing interest in unique inputs for beverage production. As such, there is a developing body of research on sorghum as a malted input into beverages. A major limitation to the wider adoption of sorghum as a substrate in mashing is its …

Assessing The Value Of South Carolina’S Coastal And Timber Resources, Andrew Davis Purcell

All Theses

South Carolina is blessed with abundant natural resources that span from the southern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, across the Piedmont, and into the coastal plain that borders the Atlantic Ocean. These resources are known to hold tremendous value to the state but are often understudied, leaving little documentation to support the claim of their value. The purpose of this thesis is to identify South Carolina’s coastal natural resources, estimate the economic value of these coastal resources by individual habitat components, and to estimate the effect of timber tax on property inheritance in South Carolina. By doing so, these …

Investigation Of Consumer Acceptability Of Beverages Through Automated Facial Expression Analysis And Overall Liking, Funan Jiang

All Theses

This research aims to understand consumer’s preference by self-reported overall liking (hedonic scores) and facial expressions elicited by beverages measured by automated facial analysis software (AFEA). Two independent studies were included:

In study 1-Observing and comparing emotions measured through AFEA and hedonic response on basic tastes (N=32), consumers’ facial expressions evoked by bitter and sweet taste solution at high concentrations (1.08g/L and 48.0g/L respectively) (ISO 8586- 1:1993) and water were studied. It concluded that the overall liking of water was significantly higher than bitter and sweet (p

In study 2- The influence of labeling on consumer emotion and hedonic liking …

Diagnosis, Rupture Risk Evaluation And Therapeutic Intervention Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Using Targeted Nanoparticles, Xiaoying Wang

All Dissertations

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease causes dilation of the aorta that can lead to aortic rupture and death if not treated early. It is the 14th leading cause of death in the U.S. and is cited as the 10th leading cause of death in men over age 55, affecting thousands of patients and their families. To date, AAA patients have minimal access to safe and efficient imaging modalities for diagnosis as well as pharmacotherapies. AAA is usually detected and monitored with ultrasonography or contrast-enhanced computed tomography (C.T.), which doesn’t provide biomechanical information of the AAAs that are essential for predicting …

Development Of Solid Sampling Modalities For The Liquid-Sampling Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge Microplasma, Htoo Paing

All Dissertations

Fast pretreatment of samples, low resource consumption, and high analytical throughput makes direct solid sampling techniques an attractive choice for a wide range of applications. Currently there are a plethora of analytical techniques capable of solid sampling. However, no commercial technique is available that is capable of taking advantage of the key concepts of solid samplings. General disadvantages amongst the current solid sampling instrumentation are high cost of operation, limited analyte choice, and reduced analytical performance. In that regard, it is important to develop a source that has low operation cost as well as the capability to analyze a diversity …

Detecting Periods Of Eating In Everyday Life By Tracking Wrist Motion — What Is A Meal?, Surya Sharma

All Dissertations

Eating is one of the most basic activities observed in sentient animals, a behavior so natural that humans often eating without giving the activity a second thought. Unfortunately, this often leads to consuming more calories than expended, which can cause weight gain - a leading cause of diseases and death. This proposal describes research in methods to automatically detect periods of eating by tracking wrist motion so that calorie consumption can be tracked. We first briefly discuss how obesity is caused due to an imbalance in calorie intake and expenditure. Calorie consumption and expenditure can be tracked manually using tools …