Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Distracted Driving On The Conspicuity Of Pedestrians At Night, Ellen Campbell Szubski

All Theses

Between 2008 and 2018, pedestrian fatalities have increased 35 percent in the United States and nighttime fatalities are responsible for a substantial portion of this increase. There are two significant problems that limit drivers' ability to respond to pedestrians at night: the degradation of drivers' visual abilities due to low illumination and the low contrast of pedestrians against the background. Pedestrians can make themselves more visible to nighttime drivers by strategically placing retroreflective material on the major joints of the body to highlight their biological motion (biomotion). However, past research on pedestrian conspicuity has largely focused on drivers who are …

Inexpensive Custom Built 6-Axis Force/Torque Sensor For Suturing Simulator, James R. Bittner

All Theses

This paper details the design of a six degree-of-freedom low-cost force/torque sensing platform for use in a suturing simulator for surgical training. This platform is based on the Stewart Platform configuration in which the linear actuators are replaced with metal wire kept in tension by multiple elastically loaded support columns. Flexible wire legs are used in lieu of rigid connectors so as to reduce the platforms susceptibility to inter-component friction in measurements and to allow the platform to exhibit built-in stress relief for the cantilevers in directions of concern. The static structural elements of the platform are designed to be …

War And Peace: Possibilities For A New History, Daniel John Thrift

All Theses

By piggybacking on the critiques of the historical discipline provided by Leo Tolstoy in his momentous novel, War and Peace, I assert that history may undergo a reconstruction. By ridding the historical discipline of the self-interest that has atrophied its ability to make a significant, positive impact on the world, and installing a metaphysics devoted to equality, freedom, and universality, I believe that it may be revitalized as a profession. I call for a new history, one built in the Hegelian-Marxist tradition, which will lead humanity into a future defined by love and self-sacrifice. It is a history explicitly opposed …

Effect Of Paid Family Leave Policy On Labor Market Outcomes Of Mothers, Alexander William Goldsmith

All Theses

This study reproduces and extends the work of Tanya Byker (2016). Her findings on the positive effect of paid family leave on labor-force participation and employment as well as the negative effect on unemployment are reproduced and extended across a further range of time periods. The evidence presented in this paper supports her hypothesis that paid family leave indeed has the potential to increase the labor-force participation of women in the months surrounding childbirth, especially for women without college degrees. Testing robustness of estimates to weighting yields similar patterns of labor-market outcomes for both weighted and unweighted regressions.

Extension of …

Geometric Characterization Of Polygonal Hydraulic Jumps And The Role Of Weir Geometry, Taylor Edwin Nichols

All Theses

Hydraulic jumps are characterized by flows with an abrupt change in the fluid height, as seen in tidal basins, rivers, and dam spillways. They also occur on smaller scales and we have developed a small-scale table top experiment consisting of an impinging fluid jet impacting a horizontal plate to systematically study the geometry of the hydraulic jump. Striking polygonal shapes are observed which depend upon the flow of the impinging jet, fluid properties, weir geometry and the flow history. These steady shapes are reflective of a balance of inertial, pressure, and surface tension forces. The effect of weir height and …

Signatures Of Relic Quantum Nonequilibrium, Nicolas Graeme Underwood

All Dissertations

This thesis explores the possibility that quantum probabilities arose thermodynamically. It considers both what is required of a quantum theory for this to happen, and empirical consequences if it is the case. A chief concern is the detection of primordial 'quantum nonequilibrium', since this is by definition observably distinct from textbook quantum physics. The mode of operation is almost exclusively quantum field theoretic, due to the nature of quantum nonequilibrium. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5, are adaptations of references [1,2,3], and [4], respectively.

Chapter 2 proposes (information) entropy conservation as a minimal requirement for a theory to feature classical-style …

Modeling Electrostatics And Geometrical Quantities In Molecular Biophysics Using A Gaussian-Based Model Of Atoms, Arghya Chakravorty

All Dissertations

Electrostatic and geometric factors are critical to modeling the interactions and solvation effects of biomolecules in the aqueous environments of biological cells as they respectively influence the polar and non-polar components of the associated free energies. Conventional protocols use a hard-sphere model of atoms to devise and study the underlying thermodynamics. But this traditional model tends to overlook some of the important biophysical aspects at the cost of oversimplification of the representation of the solute-solvent environments. Here an alternative and physically appealing model of atoms – a Gaussian-based model, is presented which replaces the hard-sphere model with a smooth density-based …

Numerical Methods And Analysis For Continuous Data Assimilation In Fluid Models, Camille Zerfas

All Dissertations

Modeling fluid flow arises in many applications of science and engineering, including the design of aircrafts, prediction of weather, and oceanography. It is vital that these models are both computationally efficient and accurate. In order to obtain good results from these models, one must have accurate and complete initial and boundary conditions. In many real-world applications, these conditions may be unknown, only partially known, or contain error. In order to overcome the issue of unknown or incomplete initial conditions, mathematicians and scientists have been studying different ways to incorporate data into fluid flow models to improve accuracy and/or speed up …

Network Interdiction Under Uncertainty, Timothy Holzmann

All Dissertations

We consider variants to one of the most common network interdiction formulations: the shortest path interdiction problem. This problem involves leader and a follower playing a zero-sum game over a directed network. The leader interdicts a set of arcs, and arc costs increase each time they are interdicted. The follower observes the leader's actions and selects a shortest path in response. The leader's optimal interdiction strategy maximizes the follower's minimum-cost path.

Our first variant allows the follower to improve the network after the interdiction by lowering the costs of some arcs, and the leader is uncertain regarding the follower's cardinality …

Creativity And Information Systems: A Theoretical And Empirical Investigation Of Creativity In Is, Jackie Patrick London

All Dissertations

Be productive. Since the industrial revolution, managers have had an almost singular focus on equipping employees with productivity tools in productivity-supportive environments. Information technologies—systems designed to increase productivity—entered the marketplace in the 1980's and were initially credited with the subsequent boom. Eventually, innovation was shown to be the primary spark, and the managerial focus shifted. Increasingly, the imperative is: be creative. This dissertation investigates how a technology environment designed to be fast and mechanistic influences the slow and organic act of creativity. Creativity—the production of novel and useful solutions—can be an elusive subject and has a varied history within Information …

Performance Of Latent Dirichlet Allocation With Different Topic And Document Structures, Haotian Feng

All Dissertations

Topic modeling has been used widely to extract the structures (topics) in a collection (corpus) of documents. One popular method is the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). LDA assumes a Bayesian generative model with multinomial distributions of topics and vocabularies within the topics. The LDA model result (i.e., the number and types of topics in the corpus) depends on tuning parameters. Several methods, ad hoc or heuristic, have been proposed and analyzed for selecting these parameters. But all these methods have been developed using one or more real corpora. Unfortunately, with real corpora, the true number and types of topics are …

Cure Dependent Viscoelastic-Plastic Modeling Of Adhesives To Capture Cte Effects In Multi-Material Structures, Akshat Agha

All Dissertations

The effects of Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) mismatch in multi-material adhesive joints, induced during the manufacturing process, are expected to hinder the peak performance of the adhesive in the service life of the vehicle. With a goal to study and capture these effects, several innovative experimental techniques were performed to record and quantify the manufacturing process induced effects on an adhesive bonded multi-material joint. The tests to capture the effects of curing process on the structure were run at coupon level using a single lap shear geometry and at component level on a scaled-down automotive roof component. The other …

Learning To Design Student-Centered Equitable Science Instruction: A Case Study Of A Social Design Experiment, Nikeetha Maryann Farfan Dsouza

All Dissertations

Equitable science instruction has been interpreted as instruction that recognizes, values and integrates students' culture and identity within science learning spaces. This is especially important for students who belong to non-dominant communities who have been marginalized by the practices of school and science. By prioritizing students' cultural practices and experiences, students who are often marginalized in science classrooms are brought to the forefront. Instruction that prioritizes students' lived experiences are student-centered and therefore equitable because they engage students in science learning that is meaningful and relevant to them and their communities. Despite this need of student-centered science instruction, it is …

Essays On Pricing Mechanisms In Sport Economic Markets, Jeremy Mitchell Losak

All Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Advancing Molecular Simulations Of Crystal Nucleation: Applications To Clathrate Hydrates, Ryan Scott Defever

All Dissertations

Crystallization is a fundamental physical phenomenon with broad impacts in science and engineering. Nonetheless, mechanisms of crystallization in many systems remain incompletely understood. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a powerful computational technique that, in principle, are well-suited to offer insights into the mechanisms of crystallization. Unfortunately, the waiting time required to observe crystal nucleation in simulated systems often falls far beyond the limits of modern MD simulations. This rare-event problem is the primary barrier to simulation studies of crystallization in complex systems. This dissertation takes a combined approach to advance simulation studies of nucleation in complex systems. First, we apply …

The Impact Of A Social Emotional Learning Curriculum On The Social-Emotional Competence Of Elementary-Age Students, Michelle Dunn

All Dissertations

This study investigated the impact of a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum on the social-emotional competence skills of second grade students in the general education classroom. Twelve classrooms across three schools in a school district in the Southeastern United States participated; one school was considered low poverty and two schools were considered high poverty. Results indicated medium to large effect sizes in all dependent measures in the low poverty treatment condition (.83 to 10.69). All but one teacher rating were also medium to large (.53 to 1.49). The student ratings were inconsistent across conditions, with medium and large positive and negative …

Electrochemical Assessment Of Alumina-Tic Composite: A Potential Biomaterial, Hetal Umesh Maharaja

All Dissertations

Ceramic and ceramic composites are gaining popularity over their metallic counterparts for orthopedic applications. Metallic biomaterials, like titanium alloys and CoCrMo alloy, exhibit good performance under concentrated loads but there have been plenty cases of implant failure due to release of metallic debris causing osteolysis. The wear debris release is caused by mechanically assisted electrochemical degradation of contacting surfaces at the joint. Ceramic based biomaterials have shown to exhibit superior wear performance, but they are prone to brittle fracture. Hence modern ceramic materials are reinforced with oxides, nitride and carbides too improve fracture resistance. However, nitrides and carbides reinforcement impart …

Joint Management Of Biofuel Production And Food Production To Optimize Energy Return To Land Use In Thailand: A Regional Mathematical Programming Approach, Watcharapol Pumkaew

All Dissertations

This study approached the conflict between energy and food needs by balancing the allocation of land area devoted to food and feed with land area to grow biofuel feedstocks. The selected optimization model was a tool that included a regional approach to determine the optimum potential land area of Thailand to use in biofuel production without affecting the supply of food and feed. The selected crops were sugarcane, cassava, and palm oil with consideration of four geographic regions of Thailand, which were the Northern, Northeastern, Central and Southern regions. The optimum cropland area and crop types in each region were …

Evaluation Of The Potential For Ecological Treatment Technologies To Remediate Species Of Phytophthora From Irrigation Runoff, Natasha Lynn Bell

All Dissertations

Increased incidences and severity of drought have reduced reliable access to freshwater sources for irrigation purposes by nursery and greenhouse plant producers. Many plant producers are now considering onsite remediation and reuse of water captured from irrigation runoff. However, potential contamination of recycled water with plant pathogens, primarily species of Phytophthora, is the primary concern preventing many growers from reusing their water. Species of Phytophthora are capable of infecting thousands of host plants and cause some of the most economically important diseases of nursery and greenhouse crops worldwide. Phytophthora spp. produce motile, swimming zoospores that often serve as propagules …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Application Of Oleophobic Fluorinated Copolymers, Liying Wei

All Dissertations

For decades, water and oil repellency of engineering thermoplastics has been achieved with the introduction of long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances and moieties (CnF2n+1, n ≥ 7). However, their bioaccumulative and toxicological impact is now widely recognized and; consequently; the substances have been phased out of industrial production and applications. To this end, the key goal of this dissertation is to develop safe and effective replacements for the long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances.

Namely, we report here on synthesis, characterization, and application of perfluoropolyether-based copolymers as low surface energy oligomeric additives to engineering thermoplastics. First, perfluoropolyether-based triblock polyester copolymers with different end-groups were obtained …

Nonmigrating Tidal Impact On The Energy Budget Of The Lower Thermosphere, Nirmal Nischal

All Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the impact of nonmigrating tides on the energy budget of the thermosphere and its two major infrared (IR) emissions that govern the cooling of the region, nitric oxide (NO) at 5.3 µm and carbon dioxide (CO₂) at 15 µm using Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) observations and a photochemical modeling. The focus is on the DE2 and DE3, two important nonmigrating tides that originate near the Earth's surface. The overarching goal is to understand the coupling between the tropospheric weather system and the thermospheric IR budget. The results provide additional tidal …

Control Of Infectious Diseases In A Metapopulation, Ceyda Best

All Dissertations

With the motivation of the complex infectious disease control problem, we provide two different approaches to model the resource allocation problem to control an epidemic in a metapopulation. All of our models utilize a detailed stochastic simulation model that is validated with the data from the 2014 Ebola epidemic. This simulation model provides a tool for comparing the performance of different policies.

The first model defines a dynamic allocation problem, which is modeled by a Markov Decision Process, and aims to find feasible and effective quarantine policies to control an epidemic with limited resources. We assume that the populations share …

Integration Of A High Speed Megawatt Class Induction Motor And High Frequency Variable Speed Drive System Through Modeling And Simulation, Dean Reuben Nuque Millare

All Theses

With the prominence of high speed, MW class motor usage in various industries such as the petrochemical and natural gas sectors, advancements in related technologies allow for achievable benefits such as increased energy efficiency, compressed power density, and cost savings. A novel high frequency variable speed drive (VSD) and motor system is being developed by Clemson University and TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company through a Department of Energy (DOE) project. In order to test this prototype, a dynamometer setup is required, involving another induction motor, another motor drive, and a gearbox. The system is modeled and simulated through MATLAB/Simulink in order to …

Do My Students Know I Don't Like Writing? Shifting Attitudes And Instruction, Anna H. Hall

Publications

The authors focus on how teachers’ attitudes toward writing can affect their instructional decisions. The authors give tips for teachers to self-reflect, explore avenues for mentoring and support, and develop and share with students their individual journey as a writer.

Development And Evaluation Of Recurrent Neural Network-Based Models For Hourly Traffic Volume And Annual Average Daily Traffic Prediction, Zadid Khan, Sakib Mahmud Khan, Kakan Dey, Mashrur Chowdhury

Publications

The prediction of high-resolution hourly traffic volumes of a given roadway is essential for transportation planning. Traditionally, automatic traffic recorders (ATR) are used to collect these hourly volume data. These large datasets are time-series data characterized by long-term temporal dependencies and missing values. Regarding the temporal dependencies, all roadways are characterized by seasonal variations that can be weekly, monthly or yearly, depending on the cause of the variation. Traditional time-series forecasting models perform poorly when they encounter missing data in the dataset. To address this limitation, robust, recurrent neural network (RNN)-based, multi-step-ahead forecasting models are developed for time-series in this …

Multi-Scale, Multi-Criteria Design Of Meta-Materials With Offset Periodicity, Rushabh Rajesh Sadiwala

All Theses

Meta-materials are a class of artificial materials with a wide range of bulk properties, completely different from the base material they are made of. Some notable examples include negative Poisson's ratio materials, materials designed for specific electromagnetic, acoustic, or thermal properties. The term meta-material in the context of this research refers to a continuous, heterogeneous structure with prescribed elastic properties. Such meta-materials are designed using Topology Optimization (TO). Tools like SIMP interpolation, mesh filtering and continuation methods are used to address the numerical issues with Topology Optimization.

The most popular tool to design such materials is Asymptotic Homogenization. However, it …

Gallium Nitride Microcantilever Heater Based Voc Sensors And Monitoring System Development, Sean Sterling Gorman

All Theses

No abstract provided.

Foster Care And Child Welfare, Kelsey V. Roberts

All Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three essays on the well-being of children who experience foster care. Foster care provides temporary, out-of-home placements for children, away from the perpetrators of abuse or neglect. Despite extensive discussion of the poor life outcomes foster children experience, our knowledge of the causal effects of a foster care placement is limited. I use unique data from South Carolina to estimate the causal impact of placement into foster care on children's educational outcomes, delinquency, and Medicaid enrollment. To address the endogeneity of the decision to remove a child from their home, I use the idiosyncratic propensity …

Clemson Commencement Program, May 2019, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Retention Of Girls At Primary School In The Busolwe Sub-County Butaleja District, Eastern Uganda, Hadoto Ida Josephine Mikisa

All Dissertations

Globally, many professionals are concerned about primary school dropouts. Especially alarming is that girls drop out at higher rates in comparison with boys. Although this problem affects many girls, girls in specific areas are at a greater risk of not completing primary school education. Additionally, although researchers identified various micro- and macro-level factors that relate to school dropout, research is lacking on local conditions that shape education trajectory among girls in specific areas. Given the unique context and the lack of research assessing factors associated with dropout in separate districts in Uganda, the primary objective of this exploratory investigation was …