Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Hexavalent Chromium In South Carolina Industries, Cole Andrew Roberts

All Theses

Hexavalent chromium is a commonly used industrial anti-corrosive that is carcinogenic and toxic to humans and the environment. Although there have been several studies published over the past two decades on the adverse effects of inhaling and ingesting Cr (VI), it is still readily used and emitted by various industries. This project set out to: 1) identify and analyze a possible pathway to significantly reduce the use and pollution of hexavalent chromium in South Carolina and 2) provide a risk assessment of specific emission sites in the Charleston metropolitan area. The first section of this study examined source reduction of …

Limb Bone Strains During Climbing In Green Iguanas: Testing Biomechanical Release As A Mechanism Promoting Morphological Transitions In Arboreal Vertebrates, Victor David Munteanu

All Theses

Across vertebrate diversity, limb bone morphology is typically expected to reflect differences in the habitats and functional tasks with which species contend. Arboreal vertebrates are often recognized to have longer limbs than terrestrial relatives, a feature thought to help extend the reach of limbs across gaps between branches. Among terrestrial vertebrates, longer limbs can experience greater bending moments that might expose bones to a greater risk of failure. However, changes in habitat or behavior can impose changes in the forces that bones experience. If locomotion imposed lower loads in trees than on the ground, such a release from loading demands …

Microbiological Safety Of Halal Beef In The United States, Omar Ahmed Al-Mahmood

All Dissertations

Halal foods, foods permissible per Islamic law, are a fast-growing segment of the global food industry. Most microbiological evidence about halal foods is from studies conducted in Muslim-majority countries not western (Muslim-minority) countries. We aimed to determine the microbiological quality of halal beef at both slaughter and retail in the southeastern United States as well as explore the role of Halal Certifying Bodies (HCBs) in overseeing implementation of food safety practices. The study was informed by two main hypotheses: (1) microbial load will be lower in the post-evisceration slaughter stage of beef carcass samples; (2) indicator organisms will be higher …

Let There Be Dragons! Towards Designing An Engaging Quest That Enhances Curiosity And Learning About Genetics, Karen Rebecca Clark

All Dissertations

This study implemented a convergent parallel mixed methods approach to investigate game-based learning within an educational game compared to a modified entertainment game. Participants (N=31) were recruited from public middle and high schools as well as home school groups. Comparative data of participants’ perceptions, preferences and learning outcomes were investigated to inform better educational game design. This study also considers player personality to determine how dispositional curiosity influences an individual’s approach, acceptance, and interaction with novel learning environments, specifically games. Findings show a statistically significant gain in genetics academic knowledge after the game-based learning intervention. The difference in knowledge gained …

Dissolution Of Neptunium Dioxide And Transport Of Aqueous And Colloidal Neptunium In The Vadose Zone, Kathryn Margaret Peruski

All Dissertations

Management of legacy nuclear waste, along with proposed geologic disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel, necessitates prediction of environmental fate and transport of actinide solid phases, which comprise a majority of long-lived waste products. Actinide dioxides are key for performance assessment due to their ubiquity throughout the nuclear fuel cycle. Neptunium-237, produced in burn-up of commercial nuclear fuel and various other nuclear processes, is often found as an oxide (NpO2(s)) and has the potential to become highly mobile in near-surface geochemical conditions due to oxidation processes. In this dissertation, the oxidation and dissolution of NpO2(s) was studied through both field …

Dramatistic User Experience Design: The Usability Testing Of An E-Government System In A Non-Western Setting, Octaviyanti Dwi Wahyurini

All Dissertations

This dissertation investigates rhetorical situatedness as a factor that culturally designates users’ motives in adopting a new technology. The application of Kenneth Burke’s dramatism extends the discussion about the situation where an interaction takes place to include acting and meaning-making in Non-Western settings as contextual and situated. This expansion is essential to reinforce the understanding of how cultural contexts impact users’ motives, specifically users from Non-Western settings, to adopt a technology. The traditional Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research stresses mechanical and technical aspects between a user (agent) and a technology device (agency) in order to reduce user errors. This approach isolates …

Advancing Spatiotemporal Research Of Visitor Travel Patterns Within Parks And Protected Areas, Brian Peterson

All Dissertations

Recent technological advances have made it possible to more accurately understand visitor travel patterns and their associated impacts. These advancements help to: accumulate voluminous data sets, collect alternative location data similar to GPS data, conduct spatiotemporal inferential statistics, and advance spatiotemporal visualizations. However, investigations of visitor travel patterns have not kept pace with recent technological advancements. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to advance spatiotemporal research of visitor travel patterns within parks and protected areas by leveraging new technologies. The studies reported in this dissertation were designed to begin filling this gap, and include results from research conducted at: …

Rhetorical Invention In A 21st Century Technoculture: A New Ludic Framework For Learning, Christopher Michael Stuart

All Dissertations

This dissertation proposes the ludic framework for learning as an innovative pedagogical model that privileges play, possibility, failure, and social affinity as states of being and positions for learning. The ludic framework works through rhetorics of play as a frame of reference; rhetorics of possibility and invention as a means of production; the acceptance of transformative failure; and engages with digital communities to further knowledge through social affinity while being grounded in constructionist learning theories. The principles that facilitate this are: curiosity, play, flexibility, metacognition, collaboration, invention, persistence, and creativity. To demonstrate this, the dissertation has two case studies: a …

Improving Swimming Performance And Flow Sensing By Incorporating Passive Mechanisms, Beau Pollard

All Dissertations

As water makes up approximately 70% of the Earth's surface, humans have expanded operations into aquatic environments out of both necessity and a desire to gain potential innate benefits. This expansion into aquatic environments has consequently developed a need for cost-effective and safe underwater monitoring, surveillance, and inspection, which are missions that autonomous underwater vehicles are particularly well suited for. Current autonomous underwater vehicles vastly underperform when compared to biological swimmers, which has prompted researchers to develop robots inspired by natural swimmers. One such robot is designed, built, tested, and numerically simulated in this thesis to gain insight into the …

An Exploration Of Student Reasoning About Undergraduate Computer Science Concepts: An Active Learning Technique To Address Misconceptions, Cazembe Kennedy

All Dissertations

Computer science (CS) is a popular but often challenging major for undergraduates. As the importance of computing in the US and world economies continues to grow, the demand for successful CS majors grows accordingly. However, retention rates are low, particularly for under-represented groups such as women and racial minorities. Computing education researchers have begun to investigate causes and explore interventions to improve the success of CS students, from K-12 through higher education. In the undergraduate CS context, for example; student difficulties with pointers, functions, loops, and control flow have been observed. We and others have utilized student responses to multiple …

Individual, Population, And Community-Level Drivers Of Cheetah (Acinonyx Jubatus) Population Dynamics, Laura Gigliotti

All Dissertations

Ecological processes can operate at different scales; individual characteristics can scale-up and affect individual performance, which in turn can influence population and community-level processes. Similarly, processes at the community or population level can affect individual characteristics. For mesopredators, the majority of prior research has focused on how top-down regulation by apex predators affects population dynamics. In contrast, less is known about how mesopredators can be affected by processes happening at the individual, population, and community-level simultaneously. I studied a population of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in the Mun-Ya-Wana Conservancy, South Africa to better understand how ecological processes across multiple …

Healthy Designed Environments For Pre-School Children: Investigating Ways To Optimize The Restoration Experience In Nature-Based Outdoor Play Environments, Xiaotong Liu

All Dissertations

Current research points out that a safe, healthy, and supportive built environment is one factor that supports lifelong health (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2017). Additionally, an individual’s early childhood experiences deeply affect his/her brain development, learning capabilities, and health throughout his/her lifespan (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). However, 21st century designs of children’s playgrounds are facing challenges in terms of their positive impact on children’s physical fitness, health, as well their cognitive development and well-being (Frost & Wortham). Attention Restoration Theory (ART) (1989) and related studies suggest that the nature or natural elements …

Interkingdom Communication: The Role Of Cyclic Di-Nucleotides, Specifically 3’,5’-Cyclic Diguanylate, In Attraction And Immunomodulation Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Joseph Angeloni

All Dissertations

Cyclic di-nucleotides are important secondary signaling molecules in bacteria that regulate a wide range of processes. Recently, the role of these molecules has expanded to the eukaryotic domain where they act in modulating the innate immune response. In this study, we have shown that Caenorhabditis elegans are able to detect and are attracted towards numerous signaling molecules produced by Vibrio cholerae, even though this bacterium kills the host at a high rate. Of these molecules, it seems that CDNs are playing an important role, specifically the 3’,5’-cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP), and the recently described hybrid molecule produced by V. cholerae, …

Patterns And Processes Of Speciation And Phenotypic Diversification In Palm-Pitvipers (Viperidae: Bothriechis), Andrew James Mason

All Dissertations

Diversification is primarily a function of two processes—speciation and adaptation—that shape the history and trajectory of evolutionary lineages. These processes are often interdependent and are shaped by biotic and abiotic factors including existing and evolvable genetic variation, selection, and genetic connectivity among lineages. Genomic datasets present a means of disentangling complex evolutionary signals by sampling hundreds or thousands of loci to interrogate lineage and/or trait diversification. Palm-pitvipers (Bothriechis) are well suited for testing evolutionary hypotheses related to speciation and adaption. This group of arboreal vipers is well-recognized as monophyletic with a contentious phylogeographic history. Moreover, these species’ venoms …

“Lost In The Sauce”: How Early Childhood Educators Navigate The Process Of Reporting Child Sexual Abuse, Amaris Josephine Cordero

All Dissertations

According to ACF (2018) every 9 minutes, Child Protective Services (CPS) substantiates, or receives evidence of, a claim of child sexual abuse (CSA). Children who are sexually abused are likely to experience a variety of short- and long-term effects; including, but not limited to: (i) depression; (ii) anger and/or aggressive behaviors; (iii) trouble sleeping; (iv) behavior problems; and (v) anxiety (Bernier, Hébert, & Collin-Vézina, 2013; van der Kolk, 2003). Given that CSA is one of the seven identified ACEs (Filetti et al., 1998) CSA victims are also likely to experience effects lasting well into adolescence and adulthood; these effects include, …

Development Of Capillary-Channeled Polymer (C-Cp) Fiber As Stationary Phase For Biological Sample Application, Lei Wang

All Dissertations

Capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers as an alternative support/stationary phase for biomacromolecule separations on analytical and preparative scales have been developed by Marcus research group. The combination of the fiber micro- and macro-structures and in-column orientation allows operation at comparably high linear velocities (~100 mm s-1) without excessive system backpressure. The ability to move fluid efficiently through the structure is complemented by the fact that the fiber physical structure is effectively nonporous with respect to the size of proteins, therefor there is no significant intrafiber diffusion. Ultimately, these factors combine for protein separations that are devoid of appreciable van Deemter C-term …

Predictive Models For Pulmonary Artery Size In Fontan Patients, Akash Gupta, Chris Gillett, Patrick Gerard, Michael M.H. Cheung, Jonathan P. Mynard, Ethan Kung

Publications

We developed models of pulmonary artery (PA) size in Fontan patients as a function of age and body surface area (BSA) using linear regression and breakpoint analyses based on data from 43 Fontan patients divided into two groups: the extracardiac conduit (ECC) group (n = 24) and the non-ECC group (n = 19). Model predictions were compared against those of a non-Fontan control group (n = 18) and published literature. We observed strong positive correlations of the mean PA diameter with BSA (r = 0.9, p < 0.05) and age (r = 0.88, p < 0.05) in the ECC group. The absolute percentage differences between our BSA and age model predictions against published literature were less than 16% and 20%, respectively. Predicted PA size for Fontan patients was consistently smaller than the control group. These models may serve as useful references for clinicians and be utilized to construct 3D anatomic models that correspond to patient body size or age.

Clemson University Press Catalog Spring/Summer, 2020, Clemson University Press

Clemson University Press Catalog

No abstract provided.

Diasporic Communion And Textual Exchange In Beyoncé’S Lemonade And Julie Dash’S Daughters Of The Dust, Jamie Ann Rogers

Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Open Educational Resources To Empower Student Creators, Jessica Kohout-Tailor, Kelsey Sheaffer

Publications

As students are asked to complete multimodal assignments in their higher education courses, librarians can guide students to the use of open educational resources (OER), as many librarians are already teaching students about copyright and how to respect intellectual property rights. Two instructional librarians designed a one-shot lesson for first-year composition students around the use of open resources, where the goal of instruction was for students to be empowered with their creative rights and to use the open resources available to them as creators.

Gender Differences In Diet-Induced Steatotic Disease In Cyp2b-Null Mice, Melissa M. Heintz, Rebecca Mcree, Ramiya Kumar, William S. Baldwin

Publications

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease; however, progression to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with most adverse outcomes. CYP2B metabolizes multiple xeno- and endobiotics, and male Cyp2b-null mice are diet-induced obese (DIO) with increased NAFLD. However, the DIO study was not performed long enough to assess progression to NASH. Therefore, to assess the role of Cyp2b in fatty liver disease progression from NAFLD to NASH, we treated wildtype (WT) and Cyp2b-null mice with a normal diet (ND) or choline-deficient, L-amino acid-defined high fat diet (CDAHFD) for 8 weeks and determined metabolic and molecular changes. CDAHFD-fed …

Lionfish (Pterois Volitans) As Biomonitoring Species For Oil Pollution Effects In Coral Reef Ecosystems, Peter Van Den Hurk, Ian Edhlund, Ryan David, Jacob J. Hahn, Michel J. Mccomb, Elizabeth L. Rogers, Emily Pisarski, Katy Chung, Marie Delorenzo

Publications

With oil spills, and other sources of aromatic hydrocarbons, being a continuous threat to coral reef systems, and most reef fish species being protected or difficult to collect, the use of the invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans) might be a good model species to monitor biomarkers in potentially exposed fish in the Caribbean and western Atlantic. The rapid expansion of lionfish in the Caribbean and western Atlantic, and the unregulated fishing for this species, would make the lionfish a suitable candidate as biomonitoring species for oil pollution effects. However, to date little has been published about the responses of …

Comics In The Classroom - What's At The Center Of The Solar System?, Amee Jeanette Hennig, Allison Huff Macpherson, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

Teaching in today’s classroom looks vastly different from 20 years ago. Today, many teachers have access to projectors, computers, smartboards, laptops and tablets, and have vast amounts of information and programs available at the click of a button. However, having access to all of these resources is not always beneficial, especially if we are not equipped to incorporate it into instruction. The 2015 Project Tomorrow Survey findings showed a number of aspects that support technology use in the classroom. Highlights of this data, related to the Center for Integrated Access Network’s (CIAN) digital comic book, include the following results ( …

Evaluating Artificial Shelter Arrays As A Minimally Invasive Monitoring Tool For The Hellbender Cryptobranchus Alleganiensis, Catherine M. Bodinof Jachowski, Beth E. Ross, William A. Hopkins

Publications

Hellbenders Cryptobranchus alleganiensis are critically imperiled amphibians throughout the eastern USA. Rock-lifting is widely used to monitor hellbenders but can severely disturb habitat. We asked whether artificial shelter occupancy (the proportion of occupied shelters in an array) would function as a proxy for hellbender abundance and thereby serve as a viable alternative to rock-lifting. We hypothesized that shelter occupancy would vary spatially in response to hellbender density, natural shelter density, or both, and would vary temporally with hellbender seasonal activity patterns and time since shelter deployment. We established shelter arrays (n = 30 shelters each) in 6 stream reaches and …

Trait Differentiation And Modular Toxin Expression In Palm-Pitvipers, Andrew J. Mason, Mark J. Margres, Jason L. Strickland, Darin R. Rokyta, Mahmood Sasa, Christopher L. Parkinson

Publications

Background

Modularity is the tendency for systems to organize into semi-independent units and can be a key to the evolution and diversification of complex biological systems. Snake venoms are highly variable modular systems that exhibit extreme diversification even across very short time scales. One well-studied venom phenotype dichotomy is a trade-off between neurotoxicity versus hemotoxicity that occurs through the high expression of a heterodimeric neurotoxic phospholipase A2 (PLA2) or snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs). We tested whether the variation in these venom phenotypes could occur via variation in regulatory sub-modules through comparative venom gland transcriptomics of representative Black-Speckled Palm-Pitvipers (Bothriechis …

Advances In Plant-Derived Scaffold Proteins, Congyue Annie Peng, Lukasz Kozubowski, William R. Marcotte Jr.

Publications

Scaffold proteins form critical biomatrices that support cell adhesion and proliferation for regenerative medicine and drug screening. The increasing demand for such applications urges solutions for cost effective and sustainable supplies of hypoallergenic and biocompatible scaffold proteins. Here, we summarize recent efforts in obtaining plant-derived biosynthetic spider silk analogue and the extracellular matrix protein, collagen. Both proteins are composed of a large number of tandem block repeats, which makes production in bacterial hosts challenging. Furthermore, post-translational modification of collagen is essential for its function which requires co-transformation of multiple copies of human prolyl 4-hydroxylase. We discuss our perspectives on how …

A Review Of Yeats's Legacies: Yeats Annual No. 21, Alexander Bubb

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.

"Dragon-Ridden" Days: Yeats, Apocalypse, And The Anthropocene, Malcolm Sen

International Yeats Studies

Dragons, being imaginary creatures, escape the umbra of extinction shadowing multiple species on earth today. We can trace their lineage from Homer (at least in the European tradition) to the personal mount of of Daenerys Targaryen, Drogon, in Game of Thrones; or, from Beowulf to J. R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Because they are textual creatures, dragons display a re-silience and capacity to mutate that makes them eloquent ontological signifiers in mythic narratives, as motifs of epistemological uncertainty in folklore and cultural memory, and as embodiments of extra-human/pre-modern intrusions in the workings of history. Whereas Chinese dragons are often …

Vanishing Presences: Women And Violence In "Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen", Claire Bracken

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.

Presence Of An Absence: Yeats's Solitary Swan, Kelly Sullivan

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.