Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing And Evaluating A Scenario Builder Tool For Pediatric Virtual Patients, Lauren Elizabeth Cairco Dukes

All Dissertations

Baccalaureate nursing students have few opportunities to practice patient interaction be-fore they reach their clinical experiences. Traditional practice opportunities include roleplay and interviews with paid actors (called standardized patients). Unfortunately, neither of these methods realistically simulates many of the patient interactions that nurses will encounter on a daily basis.

Virtual patients are computer simulations that behave in the same way that an actual patient would in a medical context. Since these characters are simulated, they can provide realistic yet repetitive practice in patient interaction since they can represent a wide range of patients and each scenario can be practiced until …

Essays On Incentive Mechanisms In Procurement Auctions, Meng Liu

All Dissertations

Highway construction projects serve as a good example where society can benefit from fast completion. A+B auctions, a type of innovative scoring auctions, address this concern by incentivizing timely completion through scores that combine price and time incentives. In the first part of the dissertation, I investigate in A+B auctions by building a theory of A+B bidding that incorporates incentives and production uncertainty, as well as structurally estimating bidding behaviors and auction performance using data from the California Department of Transportation (Caltran). I find that, in equilibrium, bidders skew the days bid below the true planned construction target days to …

A Statistical Distance Approach To Dissimilarities In Ecological Data, Dominique Jerrod Morgan

All Dissertations

Statistical distances allow us to quantify the closeness between two statistical objects. Many distances are important in statistical inference, but can also be used in a wide variety of applications through goodness-of-fit procedures. This dissertation aims to develop useful theory and applications for these types of procedures.

Extensive research has already been done for statistical distances in parameter estimation and hypothesis testing. Specifically, there are a large number of distances that can be chosen to minimize the difference between the data and the assumed model. This procedure is known as the minimum distance approach. It was not necessary that the …

Administrative Support Of Novice Science Teachers: A Multiple Case Study, Leann Iacuone

All Dissertations

Novice science teachers leave the confines of colleges and universities to embark on a new adventure in education where they aim to influence young minds, make a difference in the world, and share their love for their content. They have learned their pedagogical skills with the support and assistance of fellow classmates, a supporting professor, and a cooperating teacher. These teachers enter their new place of employment and are met with many unexpected challenges, such as a lack of resources, no one to ask questions of, and a busy staff with already established relationships, causing them to feel an overall …

Periocular Region-Based Biometric Identification, Philip Miller

All Dissertations

As biometrics become more prevalent in society, the research area is expected to address an ever widening field of problems and conditions. Traditional biometric modalities and approaches are reaching a state of maturity, and their limits are clearly defined. Since the needs of a biometric system administrator might extend beyond those limits, new modalities and techniques must address such concerns. The goal of the work presented here is to explore the periocular region, the region surrounding the eye, and evaluate its usability and limitations in addressing these concerns. First, a study of the periocular region was performed to examine its …

Decision Environments To Encourage More Sustainable Infrastructure Outcomes, Earl Shealy

All Dissertations

Physical infrastructure (i.e. roads, pipelines, airports, dams, landfills, and water treatment systems) contributes directly to sustainability outcomes such as energy and water use and climate changing emissions. The infrastructure built today will likely impact future generations for many years. Planning, design and development decisions about infrastructure are critical to the future performance of these systems. Such decisions about infrastructure are complex with multiple variables, alternative options, and design stages. To manage decisions that exceed cognitive capacity to consider all options, decision makers often create mental shortcuts (heuristics), and accompanied errors (biases). The potential cognitive biases when dealing with complex decisions …

Perceptions Of Career And Technology Education Among African American Students, Laura Smith

All Dissertations

Recent studies have found that Career and Technology Education can lower dropout rates among high school students (Stone and Lewis, 2012). Students that are enrolled in Career and Technical Education are exposed to a plethora of career opportunities that they may not be cognizant of without the learning environment found at Career and Technology Centers. African American students participate in Career and Technology Education more than any other racial or ethnic group (Silverberg, 2004). Because Career and Technology Education has been found to be an important aspect of increasing graduation rates and African American students participate more than any other …

Estimation Of Procurement Auctions With Secret Reserve Prices, Di Wu

All Dissertations

The first two chapters of my dissertation are essays on estimation of procurement auctions with secret reserve prices. In the last chapter, I develop a test on strong disposability versus weak disposability for non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) estimators. In auctions with secret reserve prices, the possibility that the item goes unsold in the first round generates a particular form of multi-round auction in which information on bids is revealed after each round. If bidders have an imperfect estimate of project costs, the information revealed by observing the bids of others in the previous round can mitigate the classic winner's …

Engageme: The Design And Implementation Of A Reflective Tool For Evaluating Student Engagement, Shelby Solomon Darnell

All Dissertations

Recently, there has been a growing push to explore the potential of non-cognitive factors in helping students reach their fullest potential. Engagement, one predictor of student achievement, is such a factor. Because the conditions under which engagement is elicited may vary, EngageMe, a visualization tool, has been developed to assist instructors’ efforts to understand student engagement in the learning process. The application attempts to enhance traditional observation methods by utilizing electrodermal activity, a measure of physiological arousal, as a proximal indicator of engagement. An iterative, participatory design process was used to create prototypes of the EngageMe interface. The results of …

Separation And Identification Of Bioactive Compounds From Oplopanax Horridus, Christina Nicole Bailey

All Theses

For centuries, natural products, such as plants, have been used for the prevention and treatment of diseases and ailments. Modern science is now working to identify the beneficial compounds from these sources to implement into pharmaceutical drugs, vitamins or supplements in an area of study called nutraceuticals. The plant Oplopanax horridus, or Devil's Club is a member of the ginseng family and has over 30 documented uses for spiritual and medicinal purposes. The few studies that have been carried out on this plant are limited to the volatile chemicals present. Few studies have determined the plant possesses antifungal, antioxidant and …

Motivational Climate And Goal Orientation In Adolescent Male Football Players, Sarah Christman Mcpherson

All Theses

Achievement Goal theory and Self Determination theory suggest that the goal orientation of an individual does not develop in a closed room. Rather, it is suggested that an individual's goal orientation is altered through the different perceived motivational climates established in an achievement setting. Therefore, this study addressed two questions: (1) Does an athlete's goal orientation change over the course of a competitive youth football season? (2) Do coaches and parents establish a motivational climate that affects the athlete's goal orientation over the course of a competitive youth football season? A total of 149 male athletes, 8-13 years old completed …

Assessment Of Bore-Cone Taper Junctions In Explanted Modular Total Hip Replacements, Christine Margaret Stamer

All Theses

For people with chronic hip pain due to arthritis or other conditions, a total hip replacement (THR) is a common procedure used to eliminate the pain. Due to the natural variation in patient anatomy, THR prostheses are becoming increasingly more modular to allow for a more customized initial replacement and for an easier revision if needed in the future. Currently, THR prostheses routinely have modular femoral heads to provide surgeons with intraoperative flexibility. This modularity allows the surgeons to maintain the proper leg length and restore hip biomechanics for the patient and insert the components more easily and precisely. Modular …

A Method For The Characterization And Selection Of Compliant Joints, Ronald George Saleeby

All Theses

A compliant joint is a connection between two bodies that derives its movement from the deflection of flexible members rather than rigid connections, like traditional joints. Compliant joints have potential advantages that include longer part life, reduction of parts in assemblies, and reduced wear. Traditional compliant mechanism design methodologies have limitations involving the burden of necessary knowledge required to satisfactorily use them. The method presented in this thesis was developed to provide compliant joint design solutions independent of the traditional methods of compliant joint design by allowing the selection of compliant joints from a repository. The repository is populated by …

Comparison Of Analytical, Numerical And Semi-Analytical Methods For Modeling Matrix Diffusion Effects In Aquitards, Wenwen Wang

All Theses

The invasion of dissolved chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) into low permeability zones can cause contaminant persistence above maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in adjacent aquifers due to the phenomenon of matrix diffusion. Numerical studies have been conducted to simulate matrix diffusion effects between aquifers and aquitards. However, existing numerical approaches for simulating matrix diffusion of CVOCs require fine discretization of the aquifer and aquitard into tens of layers of grid blocks, resulting in large computational effort. Considering the inefficiency of numerical approaches, a semi-analytical method was developed to only discretize the aquifer and mathematically approximate the diffusive response in the …

Comparing Effects On Portland Cement Mortar Containing Micronized Rubber Powder (Mrp) And Fine Ground Waste Tire Rubber Intended For Freeze-Thaw Durability, Trent Houston Dellinger

All Theses

Research into using crumb rubber from waste tires in asphalt pavements has been extensively studied; however, crumb rubber use in concrete has been conducted with results that are varied and conflicting in many cases.

This study attempted to determine if the type of crumb rubber is relevant to its inclusion in cement mortar. For example, producers of cryogenically processed micronized rubber powder (MRP) has seen restrictions to its use in rubber modified asphalt binder; based on requiring increased particle surface area. The consensus of crumb rubber’s interfacial bond strength with cement paste is that it is minuscule compared the bond …

Creating Abstract Motion Sculptures Through Simulation, Jonathan M. Barry

All Theses

Inspired by artists of the late 19th-century and early 20th-century, such as Etienne-Jules Marey, Marcel Duchamp and Anton Bragaglia, this thesis describes the development of dynamic motion sculptures abstracted from motion capture data combined with simulation and procedural modeling techniques. The methods described in this thesis present a robust, simulation-driven, and artist friendly process for manipulating animated point data into concrete and controllable structures. SideFX Software's 3D development package, Houdini, was used for nearly all aspects of the production. The node-based workflow streamlined the process of building, testing, and integrating custom tools and provided a system for procedural modeling and …

Tigers In The Trenches: A Study Of Clemson In The Great War, Brock M. Lusk

All Theses

In April 1917, Clemson Agricultural College was a small, relatively-unknown land-grant college. The college had only been open for 23 years, 8 months with an average annual enrollment of 616 students when the United States declared war and entered World War I. By the end of the war, over 821 Clemson graduates and former students would serve in the U.S and Allied military services. James C. Littlejohn, the registrar from 1910 - 1925, attempted to catalog the service of these alumni during and after the war. In order to conduct this study, a cross reference of Clemson students from 1896 …

Determination Of Chaos In Different Dynamical Systems, Sherli Koshy-Chenthittayil

All Theses

It has been widely observed that most deterministic dynamical systems go into chaos for some values of their parameters. There are many ways to measure chaos. One popular way uses Lyapunov exponents. The objective of this thesis is to find the parameter values for a system that determines chaos via the Lyapunov exponents.The paper by Wolf et.al., proposed the frequently used choice of calculating such exponents using Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization process. The work in this thesis centered on coding and verifying their algorithm , as well as using the code to investigate three biological models to find parameters/initial conditions to give …

Inertial Focusing In Spiral Microchannels, Nilesh Sudhir Hasabnis

All Theses

The ability to control and manipulate the motion of particles or bio-cells from a complex mixture has been the center of attention since the beginning of microfluidics. The microfluidics community has always strived to develop miniaturized `lab on chip' devices to achieve fastest and most accurate size based separation of cells from given bio-sample. While in last few years, people have come up with different solutions like electrophoresis, magnetophoresis, etc.; but most of them rely on low Reynolds number operation and hence increase the overall processing time of the sample. The recent development in the field of inertial microfluidics can …

Investigation Of Distance To Break Using Compliant Nonlinear And Linear Materials In A Simulated Minimally Invasive Surgery Task, Leah Suzanne Hartman

All Theses

Accurate interpretation of the mediated haptic information in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is critical for applying appropriate force magnitudes into soft tissue with the aim of minimizing tissue trauma. Force perception in MIS is a dynamic process with surgeon's administration of force into tissue revealing information about the remote surgical site which will further inform the surgeon for additional haptic interaction. The relationship between applied force and material deformation rate has been shown to provide biomechanical information specifying the distance remaining until the tissue would fail, which has been termed distance-to-break (DTB). The current study continues the investigation of whether …

Sensations Recalibrated, Ayako Abe-Miller

All Theses

In my art, I work within a Taoist and Shinto-based context to provide opportunities for the individual to discover aspects of her/his pre-socialized self. The notion of the pre-socialized self, referred to as the innocent self in both Taoism and Shinto, is expressed through a vital force generated from one's total being. The vital force that emits from one’s entire body and soul is called Tamashii in Japanese.

I am interested in evoking my audience’s pure Tamashii that is hidden or dormant in their current lifestyle by providing an opportunity for the audience to become more aware of their mind, …

The Structural And Material Evolution Of Molana Abbey, Ballynatray Demesne, County Waterford, Ireland, Site Wa037-011: A Mortar Composition Study, Claire Alice Achtyl

All Theses

Molana Abbey, a ruin located in Ballynatray Demesne, County Waterford, Ireland, has religious roots in the sixth century but much of the structure dates to the eleventh-century. Molana became an important center of religion and education in southern Ireland. After Henry VIII dissolved Irish monasteries in 1546, the former abbey became a part of the land holdings of Sir Walter Raleigh. The abbey was then converted from a religious to a residential structure occupied briefly by English polymath Thomas Harriot. The structure fell into disrepair until the nineteenth-century when Grice Smyth, a new owner, transformed the ruin into a garden …

Investigating Students' Use Of Multiple Representations Of The Arrow-Pushing Formalism, Yu Shen

All Theses

Over decades, research in STEM education has been conducted to investigate how students translate from one representation to another. Based on dual coding theory, multiple external representations (MERs) can be effective when the verbal/linguistic representations are provided along with the corresponded diagrammatic/pictorial representations. However, little is known about the difficulties that undergraduate students encounter when translating between the verbal and diagrammatic representations in the context of the arrow-pushing formalism used in organic reaction descriptions. Chemists use the arrow-pushing formalism to represent the electron flow in organic mechanistic processes. Yet, far less is known about the meaning that undergraduate students attribute …

Establishing A Permanent Feeding Site: Reniform Nematode Manipulation Of Soybean Genes, Nathan Wayne Redding

All Theses

Reniform nematode, Rotelynchulus reniformis, is a semi-endoparasite capable of infecting more that 300 host plant species in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions. Female nematodes penetrate host roots and introduce effectors that lead to the formation of multinucleate feeding sites called syncytia. The objective of our study was to identify plant genes involved in the process of syncitium formation. We used a split-root system in which half of a plant’s roots were inoculated with R. reniformis while the rest of the root system remained uninfected. Illumina RNA-seq was used to quantify gene expression patterns in replicate samples of infected and …

10th Annual Focus On Creative Inquiry Poster Forum Program, Clemson University

Focus on Creative Inquiry

The 2015 Focus on Creative Inquiry Poster Forum displays a selection of the projects accomplished by Clemson University students in their Creative Inquiry teams.

What is Creative Inquiry? It is small-group learning for all students, in all disciplines. It is the imaginative combination of engaged learning and undergraduate research – and it is unique to Clemson University.

Optimal Design Of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems, Alphonse Hakizimana, Joseph Scott

Chemical and Biomolecular Graduate Research Symposium

Utilization of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar can overcome environmental threats associated with fossil fuels. But expensive power producing and storage components are required to harness and store renewable energy. In addition renewable sources are intermittent, thus unreliable when used independently.

Longitudinal Analysis Of Technical Debt For Strategic Platform Adoption, J. Yates Monteith, John D. Mcgregor, Mike Finney

Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Increasingly, software producing organizations utilize a common software platform, joining an ecosystem; however, little expertise exists on selecting which platform to use when presented a number of different platforms. While technical debt can be used to examine the quality of a software platform by the organization that produces the software, a single discrete data point does not provide sufficient context for analysis. In this paper, we seek to resolve this difficulty by applying linear regression analysis to technical debt data collected by the SonarQube static analyzer. We apply this method to a case study on Cytoscape network analysis platform to …

Johnson-Lindenstrauss Projection Of High Dimensional Data, Shuhong Gao, Fiona Knoll, Yue Mao

Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Johnson and Lindenstrauss (1984) proved that any finite set of data in a high dimensional space can be projected into a low dimensional space with the Euclidean metric information of the set being preserved within any desired accuracy. Such dimension reduction plays a critical role in many applications with massive data. There have been extensive effort in the literature on how to find explicit constructions of Johnson-Lindenstrauss projections. In this poster, we show how algebraic codes over finite fields can be used for fast Johnson-Lindenstrauss projections of data in high dimensional Euclidean spaces. This is joint work with Shuhong Gao …

Application Of The Reduced Basis Method To Hyperspectral Diffuse Optical Tomography, Rachel Grotheer, Taufiquar Khan

Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Diffuse optical tomography (DOT), which uses low-energy laser light in the visible to near infrared range, has become a popular alternative to traditional medical imaging techniques such as x-ray, because it is non-ionizing and cost effective. Since DOT is especially effective in reconstructing images of soft tissue, where light penetrates more easily, one of its main applications is in breast cancer detection. Hyperspectral DOT (hyDOT) uses hundreds of optical wavelengths in the imaging process in order to improve the resolution of the image by adding new information. We develop a reduced basis method approach to solve the forward problem in …

Evaluating The Nutritional Risk Of Older Adults Participating In The South Carolina Older Americans Act, Maciel Ugalde, Katherine L. Carson, Cheryl Dye, Vivian Haley-Zitlin

Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Older Americans Act (OAA) services are designed to help older adults maintain maximum independence in their homes and communities and to promote a continuum of care for the vulnerable elderly. Monitoring nutrition status of Area Agencies on Aging clients will help identify those at high nutritional risk for poor health outcomes and the factors contributing to that risk. This assessment will inform the development of strategies to enhance delivery of food and nutrition services to those with the greatest need. The purpose of this study is to determine population “hot spots” of high nutritional risk and their association with demographic …