Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Goal Persistence And Willing To Compete On Community College Student Success In Developmental Math Coursework, Kerri Mcguire

All Dissertations

Community college practitioners are seeking innovative approaches to improve student retention and completion rates while also demonstrating the value of a community college education for students, families, and communities. Developmental education for underprepared students is a focal point for institutional reform efforts to impact student success because developmental education programs receive criticism for being a hindrance to college completion. One such criticism is that colleges use ineffective course placement practices to place students into developmental course pathways that they are unlikely to complete. In response to this criticism, institutions have adopted course placement practices that utilize multiple measures to determine …

"Some Ovid Of The Films": W. B. Yeats, Mass Media, And The Future Of Poetry In The 1930s, Charles I. Armstrong

International Yeats Studies

This essay addresses Yeats’s negotiation of poetry’s relationship, during the 1930s, with the emerging mass culture. Rather than contextualizing Yeats’s view on the future with a traditional critical framework such as Romantic apocalyptical discourse, a closeness to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and dystopian novels is explored. The main focus is on an unfinished draft for A Vision, “Michael Robartes Foretells,” and the way it envisages the changing situation for literature at the end of an epoch. Yeats’s use of classical parallels and linking of poetry and cinema are given special attention. His suggestion that the poetry of the …

Science Education Trajectories: Charting The Course For Teachers, Educators, Researchers, And Policymakers, Julie Luft, Brooke A. Whitworth, Amanda Berry, Shannon Navy, Vanessa Kind

Publications

Science teacher professional development is complex. Phases in a teacher’s career necessitate different professional learning opportunities. Furthermore, knowledge bases, practices, and attributes need to be cultivated during these times. For science teachers, it is not always evident how to link professional learning opportunities progressively toward different outcomes, including being a department head, teacher leader, curriculum developer, or even master teacher. In order to spur a discussion about purposeful teacher learning, we use a theory of transformative learning to examine research pertaining to the professional learning of science teachers. The result is a conceptual framework that suggests that teachers should build …

Numerical Investigation Of Transition Between Free Surface Flow And Pressurized Flow For A Circular Pipe Flowing Full Upstream, Tanjina Afrin, Abdul A. Khan, Nigel B. Kaye

S.C. Water Resources Conference

The South Carolina Water Resources Conference (SCWRC) provides an integrated forum for discussion of water policies, research projects and water management in order to prepare for and meet the growing challenge of providing water resources to sustain and grow South Carolina’s economy, while preserving our natural resources.

A Mathematical Remodeling For Crop Portfolio Selection Under Limited Irrigation Resource, Li Zhang

S.C. Water Resources Conference

A mathematical model and optimization framework to aid farmers in selecting crop portfolios were proposed and discussed in (Bokhira et al. 2014; Chrispell et al. 2012). In this paper, we propose a refined mathematical model which reduces the number of constraints by nearly half while the number of decision variables is about the same. Also, the proposed model is easier to implement and maintain due to its generalized structure, and it provides more flexibility for us to expand the problem. Some key sensitive analysis is also provided.

Cooperative Planning For Source Water Protection: Targeting Sediment In The Upper Saluda River Watershed, Melanie Ruhlman, Angela Vandelay, Cindy Roper

S.C. Water Resources Conference

The South Carolina Water Resources Conference (SCWRC) provides an integrated forum for discussion of water policies, research projects and water management in order to prepare for and meet the growing challenge of providing water resources to sustain and grow South Carolina’s economy, while preserving our natural resources.

Supporting Coastal Resiliency By Investigating Tidal Reach And Inter-Connected Factors In Coastal Georgia, S. E. Rosenquist, C. J. Hintz

S.C. Water Resources Conference

The South Carolina Water Resources Conference (SCWRC) provides an integrated forum for discussion of water policies, research projects and water management in order to prepare for and meet the growing challenge of providing water resources to sustain and grow South Carolina’s economy, while preserving our natural resources.

A Better Way Of Farming, Stephanie Rains, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

No abstract provided.

Superresolution Mapping Of Energy Landscape For Single Charge Carriers In Plastic Semiconductors, Yifei Jiang, Jason Mcneill

Publications

The performance of conjugated polymer devices is largely dictated by charge transport processes. However, it is difficult to obtain a clear relationship between conjugated polymer structures and charge transport properties, due to the complexity of the structure and the dispersive nature of charge transport in conjugated polymers. Here, we develop a method to map the energy landscape for charge transport in conjugated polymers based on simultaneous, correlated charge carrier tracking and single-particle fluorescence spectroscopy. In nanoparticles of the conjugated polymer poly[9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-1,4-benzo-{2,1′-3}-thiadiazole)], two dominant chain conformations were observed, a blue-emitting phase (λmax = 550 nm) and a …

Bacteria And Competing Herbivores Weaken Top–Down And Bottom–Up Aphid Suppression, Carmen K. Blubaugh, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, John P. Reganold, Robert N. Schaeffer, William E. Snyder

Publications

Herbivore suppression is mediated by both plant defenses and predators. In turn, plant defenses are impacted by soil fertility and interactions with soil bacteria. Measuring the relative importance of nutritional and microbial drivers of herbivore resistance has proven problematic, in part because it is difficult to manipulate soil-bacterial community composition. Here, we exploit variation in soil fertility and microbial biodiversity across 20 farms to untangle suppression of aphids (Brevicoryne brassicae) through bottom–up and top–down channels. We planted Brassica oleracea plants in soil from each farm, manipulated single and dual infestations of aphids alone or with caterpillars (Pieris …

E-Hooks Provide Guidance And A Soft Landing For The Microtubule Binding Domain Of Dynein, Nayere Tajielyato, Lin Li, Yunhui Peng, Joshua Alper, Emil Alexov

Publications

Macromolecular binding is a complex process that involves sensing and approaching the binding partner, adopting the proper orientation, and performing the physical binding. We computationally investigated the role of E-hooks, which are intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) at the C-terminus of tubulin, on dynein microtubule binding domain (MTBD) binding to the microtubule as a function of the distance between the MTBD and its binding site on the microtubule. Our results demonstrated that the contacts between E-hooks and the MTBD are dynamical; multiple negatively charted patches of amino acids on the E-hooks grab and release the same positively charged patches on the …

Identifying Weak Interdomain Interactions That Stabilize The Supertertiary Structure Of The N-Terminal Tandem Pdz Domains Of Psd-95, Inna S. Yanez Orozco, Frank A. Mindlin, Junyan Ma, Bo Wang, Brie Levesque, Matheu Spencer, Soheila Rezaei Adariani, George Hamilton, Feng Ding, Mark E. Bowen, Hugo Sanabria

Publications

Previous studies of the N-terminal PDZ tandem from PSD-95 produced divergent models and failed to identify interdomain contacts stabilizing the structure. We used ensemble and single-molecule FRET along with replica-exchange molecular dynamics to fully characterize the energy landscape. Simulations and experiments identified two conformations: an open-like conformation with a small contact interface stabilized by salt bridges, and a closed-like conformation with a larger contact interface stabilized by surface-exposed hydrophobic residues. Both interfaces were confirmed experimentally. Proximity of interdomain contacts to the binding pockets may explain the observed coupling between conformation and binding. The low-energy barrier between conformations allows submillisecond dynamics, …

Identifying Weak Interdomain Interactions That Stabilize The Supertertiary Structure Of The N-Terminal Tandem Pdz Domains Of Psd-95, Inna S. Yanez Orozco, Frank A. Mindlin, Junyan Ma, Bo Wang, Brie Levesque, Matheu Spencer, Soheila Rezaei Adariani, George Hamilton, Feng Ding, Mark E. Bowen, Hugo Sanabria

Publications

Previous studies of the N-terminal PDZ tandem from PSD-95 produced divergent models and failed to identify interdomain contacts stabilizing the structure. We used ensemble and single-molecule FRET along with replica-exchange molecular dynamics to fully characterize the energy landscape. Simulations and experiments identified two conformations: an open-like conformation with a small contact interface stabilized by salt bridges, and a closed-like conformation with a larger contact interface stabilized by surface-exposed hydrophobic residues. Both interfaces were confirmed experimentally. Proximity of interdomain contacts to the binding pockets may explain the observed coupling between conformation and binding. The low-energy barrier between conformations allows submillisecond dynamics, …

Construction Disputes In The United States And The United Kingdom: A Comparison, Anusree Saseendran, Ben F. Bigelow, Zofia Rybkowski, Dawn Jourdan

The Professional Constructor

Construction disputes are on the rise globally. They adversely affect the progress and quality of a construction project by resulting in cost overruns and delays. They are also time-consuming and expensive to resolve. Hence it is valuable to identify the most disputed topics in construction in the US and compare them to those in a different country. This helps better understand disputes, and the influence that culture and the difference in the nature of construction in the regions may have on disputes. This study was an attempt to identify and compare the most disputed topics in construction in the United …

The Tiger Orientation Issue 2018, Clemson University

Tiger Newspapers 2018

No abstract provided.

Clemson Commencement Program, August 2018, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Some Data Collection And Analysis Of The Distribution Of Champion Primes For Non-Cm Elliptic Curves, Alan R. Hahn

All Theses

For a fixed non-singular elliptic curve E given by y² + axy + cy = x³ + bx² + dx + e, the frequency of extremal primes for E up to a given X value is of interest, where an extremal prime p is a prime for which the order of E defined over F_p is a maximum or minimum with respect to Hasse’s Theorem. For CM elliptic curves this distribution is known to not be curve dependent, and in this paper some preliminary work on determining the distribution of such primes for the non -CM …

Impact Of Pouch Dimensions On Relationship Between Burst Pressure And Seal Peel Strength In Flexible Pouches, Franklin Harmon Cheeks

All Theses

A known model relating seal peel strength to burst pressure was studied to determine if altering pouch size had an impact on the model. The model tested was S=(D/2)P, where the seal peel strength is equal to the burst pressure multiplied by half of the plate gap. Past researchers, such as Yam (1993), have tested this model with varying results (Yam, Rossen, & Wu, 1993). It was hypothesized that data from a pouch with a higher length to width ratio would fit the model better given a more cylindrical geometry when inflated. Two pouches of different length to width ratios …

Optimization Methods In Electric Power Systems: Global Solutions For Optimal Power Flow And Algorithms For Resilient Design Under Geomagnetic Disturbances, Mowen Lu

All Dissertations

An electric power system is a network of various components that generates and delivers power to end users. Since 1881, U.S. electric utilities have supplied power to billions of industrial, commercial, public, and residential customers continuously. Given the rapid growth of power utilities, power system optimization has evolved with developments in computing and optimization theory. In this dissertation, we focus on two optimization problems associated with power system planning: the AC optimal power flow (ACOPF) problem and the optimal transmission line switching (OTS) problem under geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). The former problem is formulated as a nonlinear, non-convex network optimization problem, …

Microworld Writing: Making Spaces For Collaboration, Construction, Creativity, And Community In The Composition Classroom, Daniel Frank

All Dissertations

In order to create a 21st century pedagogy of learning experiences that inspire the engaged, constructive, dynamic, and empowering modes of work we see in online creative communities, we need to focus on the platforms, the environments, the microworlds that host, hold, and constitute the work. A good platform can build connections between users, allowing for the creation of a community, giving creative work an engaged and active audience. These platforms will work together to build networks of rhetorical/creative possibilities, wherein students can learn to cultivate their voices, skills, and knowledge bases as they engage across platforms and genres. I …

Understanding 1d Convolutional Neural Networks Using Multiclass Time-Varying Signals, Ravisutha Sakrepatna Srinivasamurthy

All Theses

In recent times, we have seen a surge in usage of Convolutional Neural Networks to solve all kinds of problems - from handwriting recognition to object recognition and from natural language processing to detecting exoplanets. Though the technology has been around for quite some time, there is still a lot of scope to do research on what’s really happening ’under the hood’ in a CNN model.

CNNs are considered to be black boxes which learn something from complex data and provides desired results. In this thesis, an effort has been made to explain what exactly CNNs are learning by training …

Improving Security And Reliability Of Physical Unclonable Functions Using Machine Learning, Yuejiang Wen

All Theses

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are promising security primitives for device authenti-cation and key generation. Due to the noise influence, reliability is an important performance metric of PUF-based authentication. In the literature, lots of efforts have been devoted to enhancing PUF reliability by using error correction methods such as error-correcting codes and fuzzy extractor. Ho-wever, one property that most of these prior works overlooked is the non-uniform distribution of PUF response across different bits.

This wok proposes a two-step methodology to improve the reliability of PUF under noisy conditions. The first step involves acquiring the parameters of PUF models by using …

Computational Modeling Of Nonlinear Behavior In Orthopaedics, Kyle Snethen

All Dissertations

Total knee replacement (TKR) is one of the most common orthopaedic procedures performed in the USA and is projected to exceed 4.3 million by 2030. Although TKR surgery has a success rate of 95% at 10 years for most TKR designs, revision surgery still occurs approximately once for every ten primary TKR surgeries. Failure modes in TKR involve the interplay between implant mechanical performance and surrounding biological tissues. The orthopaedic community has turned to computational modeling as an effective tool to analyze these complex interactions and improve patient outcomes. The objective of these studies was to utilize a combined computational …

Animal Co-Products As Novel Electron Donors For Biodegradation Of Trichlorethylene, Alexander Rogier

All Theses

The United States produces approximately 55 billion pounds of animal co-products in a year. These materials are what remains once cattle, chickens, and other animals are slaughtered and the food grade material is processed for consumption. Although a substantial amount of this waste is used in the pet food industry, it leaves thousands of pounds as true waste, without a market. Given the nature of co-products, these materials have high protein and lipid content, and these waste materials have the potential to be used as electron donors for microbial processes. Animal waste co-products used as electron donor for bioremediation could …

Modeling Dynamics Of Gel-Based Composites Under Ferromagnetic Resonance Heating, Oksana Savchak

All Theses

Designing soft, active materials that change their shape and properties depending on external stimuli is a rapidly developing area of research. Using theoretical and computational modeling, we focus on the dynamics of gel filled with uniformly distributed ferromagnetic nanoparticles exposed to electromagnetic (EM) waves in the GHz frequency range. For the polymer matrix, we choose Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) gels, which have a lower critical solution temperature and shrinks upon heating. When these composites are irradiated with EM waves that have frequency close to that of the Ferro-Magnetic Resonance (FMR) frequency, the heating rate increases dramatically. The magnetically induced heating inside the …

Comparison Of Neural Networks And Least Mean Squared Algorithms For Active Noise Canceling, Samuel Kyung Won Park

All Theses

Active Noise Canceling (ANC) is the idea of using superposition to achieve cancellation of unwanted noise and is implemented for many applications such as attempting to reduce noise in a commercial airplane cabin. One of the main traditional techniques for noise cancellation is the adaptive least mean squares (LMS) algorithm that produces the anti-noise signal, or the 180 degree out-of-phase signal to cancel the noise via superposition. This work attempts to compare several neural network approaches against the traditional LMS algorithms. The noise signals that are used for the training of the network are from the Signal Processing Information Base …

On Quasi-Stationary Distributions Of Stochastic Sis Epidemic Models, Boyoung Hur

All Theses

We study a stochastic SIS (Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible) epidemic model, in which individu-als in a population are divided into two classes: “Susceptible” to the infection of a disease, and “Infected” by the disease. We assume the population size N is fixed. The state process, which measures the num-ber of infected individuals, is modeled as a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC). The CTMC has an absorbing state 0, and it will eventually die out by reaching the absorbing state. However, it appears to be persistent over a long time period before extinction. Such behavior can be understood by the study of quasi-stationary distributions. …

Hannah Arendt And Postwar Interpretations Of National Socialism, Kacie Harris

All Theses

This thesis is about postwar interpretations of National Socialism. Its central aim is to contextualize Hannah Arendt as a major thinker and historian of Nazism. This thesis examines the Sonderweg or "special path" interpretation, as well as the critique of modernity, or what I refer to as the “dark modernity” thesis. It ultimately situates Arendt within the dark modernity thesis and notes her affinity to other scholarship within this interpretation of German history.

School District Expenditures And Student Achievement, Emily Lynn Hanson

All Theses

Many studies argue that adding more money to schools has little effect on student achievement. However, there is a growing belief that the allocation of the funds in school districts matters. To test the importance of allocating extra funds to specific spending categories, I use a fractional logit model to estimate the proportions of students who pass the English and Mathematics MCAS exams in Massachusetts school districts. I first use a one-year lag of total in-district expenditures per-pupil as the variable of interest, then I break down the total into lagged teacher and non-teacher expenditures per-pupil. The results of my …

School Leaders' Levels Of Political Engagement With The Policy Environments Surrounding Their Professional Roles, Seth D. Young

All Dissertations

Policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels rely upon school and district leaders to implement educational policies with fidelity. However, such policies are not often implemented as intended due to a variety of potential factors, including school leaders' lack of engagement in policy development. This study addresses the critical, yet understudied, role of school leaders and their levels of political engagement in a state located in the southeastern United States. Specifically, this quantitative study of 358 public school leaders in this specific state examined the extent to which school leaders are, in fact, engaged with the policy environments that …