Digital Commons Network^™

Teaching Methods For A Holistic Computer Graphics Curriculum Incorporating Active Learning Techniques, Zachariah Inks

All Theses

This paper presents various concepts and techniques for creating an educational pipeline targeted at the field of computer graphics. This proposed pipeline focuses on the teaching of core concepts, core methodologies and finally core techniques employed within the field of computer graphics. Each component is then paired with an example of an active learning strategy used to enlighten and reinforce the abstract ideas behind these components. Throughout this document outlines the importance of supporting a holistic and platform agnostic approach, which sets the foundation for learning of all core computer graphics concepts, methodologies and techniques. The end result is a …

Grb 091024a And The Nature Of Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Bursts, F. J. Virgili, C. G. Mundell, V. Pal'shin, C. Guidorzi, R. Margutti, A. Melandri, R. Harrison, S. Kobayashi, R. Chornock, A Henden, A C. Updike, S B. Cenko, N R. Tanvir, I A. Steele, A Cucchiara, A Gomboc, A Levan, Z Cano, C J. Mottram, N R. Clay, D Bersier, D Kopac, J Japelj, A V. Filippenko, W Li, D Svinkin, S Golenetskii, Dieter H. Hartmann, P A. Milne, G Williams, P T. O'Brien, D B. Fox, E Berger

Publications

We present a broadband study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 091024A within the context of other ultra-long-duration GRBs. An unusually long burst detected by Konus–Wind (KW), Swift, and Fermi, GRB 091024A has prompt emission episodes covering ∼1300 s, accompanied by bright and highly structured optical emission captured by various rapid-response facilities, including the 2 m autonomous robotic Faulkes North and Liverpool Telescopes, KAIT, S-LOTIS, and the Sonoita Research Observatory. We also observed the burst with 8 and 10 m class telescopes and determine the redshift to be z = 1.0924 ± 0.0004. We find no correlation between the optical and γ-ray …

Physics Portfolios: A Picture Of Student Understanding, Brooke A. Whitworth, Randy L. Bell

Publications

Traditionally, teachers assess students' physics understanding through lab activities, responses to open-ended word problems, and tests. But there's another way to measure student understanding, one in which students apply their learning to the world around them. This article shows how to implement student portfolios, which allow students to set goals they can monitor throughout the year and actively participate in assessment. When students build portfolios, they can evaluate and reflect on their own work, promoting engagement with the course and content (Danielson and Abrutyn 1997), and teachers can better assess students' goal movement and see growth in students' conceptual understanding. …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Disease-Causing Missense Mutations, Shannon Stefl, Hafumi Nishi, Marharyta Petukh, Anna R. Panchenko, Emil Alexov

Publications

Genetic variations resulting in a change of amino acid sequence can have a dramatic effect on stability, hydrogen bond network, conformational dynamics, activity and many other physiologically important properties of proteins. The substitutions of only one residue in a protein sequence, so-called missense mutations, can be related to many pathological conditions, and may influence susceptibility to disease and drug treatment. The plausible effects of missense mutations range from affecting the macromolecular stability to perturbing macromolecular interactions and cellular localization. Here we review the individual cases and genome-wide studies which illustrate the association between missense mutations and diseases. In addition we …

Preferential Scattering By Interfacial Charged Defects For Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance In Few-Layered N-Type Bi2te3, Pooja Puneet, Ramakrishna Podila, Mehmet Karakaya, Song Zhu, Jian He, Terry M. Tritt, Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Apparao Rao

Publications

Over the past two decades several nano-structuring methods have helped improve the figure of merit (ZT) in the state-of-the art bulk thermoelectric materials. While these methods could enhance the thermoelectric performance of p-type Bi₂Te₃, it was frustrating to researchers that they proved ineffective for n-type Bi₂Te₃ due to the inevitable deterioration of its thermoelectric properties in the basal plane. Here, we describe a novel chemical-exfoliation spark-plasma-sintering (CE-SPS) nano-structuring process, which transforms the microstructure of n-type Bi₂Te₃ in an extraordinary manner without compromising its basal plane …

High-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Of Hd 100546. Ii. Analysis Of Variable Rovibrational Co Emission Lines, Sean D. Brittain, Joan Najita, John S. Carr, Joseph Liskowsky, Matthew R. Troutman, Greg W. Doppmann

Publications

We present observations of rovibrational CO in HD 100546 from four epochs spanning 2003 January through 2010 December. We show that the equivalent widths of the CO lines vary during this time period with the v = 1–0 CO lines brightening more than the UV fluoresced lines from the higher vibrational states.While the spectroastrometric signal of the hot band lines remains constant during this period, the spectroastrometric signal of the v = 1–0 lines varies substantially. At all epochs, the spectroastrometric signals of the UV fluoresced lines are consistent with the signal one would expect from gas in an axisymmetric …

High-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Of Hd 100546. I. Analysis Of Asymmetric Ro-Vibrational Oh Emission Lines, Joseph Liskowsky, Sean D. Brittain, Joan R. Najita, John S. Carr, Greg W. Doppman, Matthew R. Troutman

Publications

We present observations of ro-vibrational OH and CO emission from the Herbig Be star HD 100546. The emission from both molecules arises from the inner region of the disk extending from approximately 13 AU from the central star. The velocity profiles of the OH lines are narrower than the velocity profile of the [O i] λ6300 line, indicating that the OH in the disk is not cospatial with the Oi. This suggests that the inner optically thin region of the disk is largely devoid of molecular gas. Unlike the ro-vibrational CO emission lines, the OH lines are highly asymmetric. We …

Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Under White Noise, Qifan He

All Theses

While purposeful introduction of stiffness nonlinearities into the dynamics of energy harvesters is aimed at enhancing performance under non-stationary and random excitations, most of the conclusions reported in the current literature are based on the steady-state response which assumes a harmonic fixed-frequency excitation. As a result, we still do not have a clear understanding of how the nature of the excitation influences the output power, or what role stiffness nonlinearities play in the transduction of energy harvesters under random excitations. To fill this gap in the current knowledge, this thesis investigates the response of nonlinear mono- and bi-stable energy harvesters …

Broadband Monitoring Tracing The Evolution Of The Jet And Disk In The Black Hole Candidate X-Ray Binary Maxi J1659-152, A. J. Horst, P. A. Curran, J. C. A. Miller-Jones, J. D. Linford, J. Gorosabel, D. M. Russell, A. De Ugarte Postigo, A. A. Lundgren, G. B. Taylor, D Maitra, S Guziy, T M. Belloni, C Kouveliotou, P G. Jonker, A Kamble, Z Paragi, J Homan, E Kuulkers, J Granot, D Altamirano, M M. Buxton, A Castro-Tirado, R P. Fender, M A. Garrett, N Gehrels, Dieter H. Hartmann, J A. Kennea, H A. Krimm, V Mangano, E Ramirez-Ruiz, P Romano, R.A.M.J. Wijers, R Wijnands, Y J. Yang

Publications

MAXI J1659−152 was discovered on 2010 September 25 as a new X-ray transient, initially identified as a gamma-ray burst, but was later shown to be a new X-ray binary with a blackhole as the most likely compact object. Dips in the X-ray light curves have revealed that MAXI J1659−152 is the shortest period black hole candidate identified to date. Here we present the results of a large observing campaign at radio, submillimetre, near-infrared (nIR), optical and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. We have combined this very rich data set with the available X-ray observations to compile a broad-band picture of the evolution …

Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study Of V1647 Ori, Sean D. Brittain, T W. Rettig, Theodore Simon, Erika L. Gibb, Joseph Liskowsky

Publications

We present new high-resolution infrared echelle spectra of V1647 Ori, the young star that illuminates McNeil's nebula. From the start, V1647 Ori has been an enigmatic source that has defied classification, in some ways resembling eruptive stars of the FUor class and in other respects the EXor variables. V1647 Ori underwent an outburst in 2003 before fading back to its pre-outburst brightness in 2006. In 2008, it underwent a new outburst. In this paper we present high-resolution K-band and M-band spectra from the W. M. Keck Observatory that were acquired during the 2008 outburst. We compare the spectra to spectra …

Averting Hiv Infections In New York City: A Modeling Approach Estimating The Future Impact Of Additional Behavioral And Biomedical Hiv Prevention Strategies, Jason Kessler, Julie E. Myers, Kimberly A. Nucifora, Nana Mensah, Alexis Kowalski, Monica Sweeney, Christopher Toohey, Amin Khademi, Colin Shepard, Blayne Cutler, R. Scott Braithwaite

Publications

Background: New York City (NYC) remains an epicenter of the HIV epidemic in the United States. Given the variety of evidence-based HIV prevention strategies available and the significant resources required to implement each of them, comparative studies are needed to identify how to maximize the number of HIV cases prevented most economically.

Methods: A new model of HIV disease transmission was developed integrating information from a previously validated micro-simulation HIV disease progression model. Specification and parameterization of the model and its inputs, including the intervention portfolio, intervention effects and costs were conducted through a collaborative process between the academic modeling …

Nitrogen Abundances And The Distance Moduli Of The Pleiades And Hyades, Blake Miller, Jeremy R. King, Yu Chen, Ann Merchant Boesgaard

Publications

Recent reanalyses of HIPPARCOS parallax data confirm a previously noted discrepancy with the Pleiades distance modulus estimated from main-sequence fitting in the color-magnitude diagram. One proposed explanation of this distance modulus discrepancy is a Pleiades He abundance that is significantly larger than the Hyades value. We suggest that, based on our theoretical and observational understanding of Galactic chemical evolution, nitrogen abundances may serve as a proxy for helium abundances of disk stars. Utilizing high-resolution near-UV Keck/HIRES spectroscopy, we determine N abundances in the Pleiades and Hyades dwarfs from NH features in the λ3330 region. While our Hyades N abundances show …

2013 Annual Accountability Report, Clemson University

Accountability Reports

Clemson University's 2012-2013 Annual Accountability Report submitted to the South Carolina Budget and Control Board.

Jummp: Job Uninterrupted Maneuverable Mapreduce Platform, William Clay Moody, Linh B. Ngo, Edward Duffy, Amy Apon

Presentations

In this paper, we present JUMMP, the Job Uninterrupted

Maneuverable MapReduce Platform, an automated

scheduling platform that provides a customized Hadoop environment

within a batch-scheduled cluster environment. JUMMP

enables an interactive pseudo-persistent MapReduce platform

within the existing administrative structure of an academic high

performance computing center by “jumping” between nodes with

minimal administrative effort. Jumping is implemented by the

synchronization of stopping and starting daemon processes on

different nodes in the cluster. Our experimental evaluation shows

that JUMMP can be as efficient as a persistent Hadoop cluster

on dedicated computing resources, depending on the jump time.

Additionally, we show that …

Gas Lines From The 5-Myr Old Optically Thin Disk Around Hd141569a, W F. Thi, C Pinte, E Pantin, J C. Augereau, G Meeus, F Menard, C Martin-Zaidi, P Woitke, P Riviere-Marichalar, I Kamp, A Carmona, G Sandell, C Eiroa, W Dent, B Montesinos, G Aresu, R Meijerink, M Spaans, G White, D Ardila, J Lebreton, I Mendigutia, Sean D. Brittain

Publications

At the distance of 99-116 pc, HD141569A is one of the nearest HerbigAe stars that is surrounded by a tenuous disk, probably in transition between a massive primordial disk and a debris disk. We observed the fine-structure lines of OI at 63 and 145 micron and the CII line at 157 micron with the PACS instrument onboard the Herschel Space Telescope as part of the open-time large programme GASPS. We complemented the atomic line observations with archival Spitzer spectroscopic and photometric continuum data, a ground-based VLT-VISIR image at 8.6 micron, and 12CO fundamental ro-vibrational and pure rotational J=3-2 observations. We …

Acrl Scholarly Communications Roadshow, Susanna Bossenga

NASIG Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Tiger Orientation Issue 2013-08-23, Clemson University

Tiger Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Clemson Commencement Program, August 2013, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2013 Summary Report On Institutional Effectiveness, Clemson University

Institutional Effectiveness Reports

No abstract provided.

Accretion Variability Of Herbig Ae/Be Stars Observed By X-Shooter Hd 31648 And Hd 163296, I Mendigutia, Sean D. Brittain, C Eiroa, G Meeus, B Montesinos, A Mora, J Muzerolle, R D. Oudmaijer, E Rigliaco

Publications

This work presents X-Shooter/Very Large Telescope spectra of the prototypical, isolated Herbig Ae stars HD 31648 (MWC 480) and HD 163296 over five epochs separated by timescales ranging from days to months. Each spectrum spans over a wide wavelength range covering from 310 to 2475 nm. We have monitored the continuum excess in the Balmer region of the spectra and the luminosity of 12 ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared spectral lines that are commonly used as accretion tracers for T Tauri stars. The observed strengths of the Balmer excesses have been reproduced from a magnetospheric accretion shock model, providing a mean …

Environmental Agency In Read-Alouds, Alandeom W. Oliveira, Patterson Rogers, Cassie F. Quigley, Denis Samburskiy, Kimberly Barss, Seema Rivera

Publications

Despite growing interest in helping students become agents of environmental change who can, through informed decision-making and action-taking, transform environmentally detrimental forms of human activity, science educators have reduced agency to rationality by overlooking sociocultural influences such as norms and values. We tackle this issue by examining how elementary teachers and students negotiate and attribute responsibility, credit, or blame for environmental events during three environmental read-alouds. Our verbal analysis and visual representation of meta-agentive discourse revealed varied patterns of agential attribution. First, humans were simultaneously attributed negative agentive roles (agents of endangerment and imbalance) and positive agentive roles (agents of …

Multitemporal Floristic And Phenological (Flowering) Analysis Of The Shores Of Lake Issaqueena, South Carolina, Ryerson Pamplin

All Theses

The floristic and phenological (flowering) study of Lake Issaqueena in Pickens
County, SC, conducted by William Pamplin in 1970-1971 was reinvestigated in 2011-
2012 using the Carolina Vegetative Survey (CVS) natural community sampling methods
and photo documentation using a GPS-enabled camera to determine floristic and
phenological changes for this site during the forty years separating these two studies.
Phenological events (flowering) were recorded via photographs taken by a GPS-enabled
camera on a monthly basis. Photographs were downloaded and organized by sampling
date in Picasa 3 web albums and stored in a project Google website. Plants were
identified using expert knowledge, …

Experimental Development And Analysis Of A Novel Setup For Insulated Dielectrophoresis, Johnie Hodge

All Theses

Dielectrophoresis has long been studied and utilized for the manipulation of microscale particles in solution. This phenomenon is due to the induced polarization of dielectric particles subjected to an electric field. When the field is also inhomogeneous in terms of the distribution of its strength through space, the polarized particles move and come to rest in certain areas due to the relationship between their and the solvent's relative permittivities. If the electric field is homogenous, such as within a parallel plate capacitor, the particles are polarized according to their permittivity and the field's frequency, but they will not move.
These …

Iron Abundances And Atmospheric Parameters Of Red Giants In The Open Cluster Ic 4756, Julie Djordjevic

All Theses

Three red giants were investigated within the open cluster IC 4756 using observations taken from the McDonald Observatory's 2.1m Otto Struve Telescope and the Sandiford Cassegrain Echelle Spectrometer (SES). Iron abundances were calculated for each star based on the equivalent widths of Fe I and Fe II lines measured using the line lists of Bubar and King (2010) and Schuler et al. (2005). Also derived were the basic atmospheric parameters: effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, and microturbulence. Her 35, Her 85, and Her 249 were found to have corresponding [Fe I/H] of 0.06 ± 0.04, -0.16 ± 0.03, and -0.16 …

Newtonian Semiclassical Gravity In Three Ontological Quantum Theories That Solve The Measurement Problem: Formalisms And Empirical Predictions, Maaneli Derakhshani

All Theses

In this thesis, we consider the implications of solving the quantum measurement problem for the Newtonian description of semiclassical gravity. First we review the formalism of the Newtonian description of semiclassical gravity based on standard quantum mechanics - the Schroedinger-Newton theory - and two well-established predictions that come out of it, namely, gravitational 'cat states' and gravitationally-induced wavepacket collapse. Then we review three quantum theories with 'primitive ontologies' that are well-known known to solve the measurement problem - Schroedinger's many worlds theory, the GRW collapse theory with matter density ontology, and Nelson's stochas- tic mechanics. We extend the formalisms of …

Topology Optimization Using A Level Set Penalization With Constrained Topology Features, Luis Fernandez

All Theses

Topology optimization techniques have been applied to structural design problems in order to determine the best material distribution in a given domain. The topology optimization problem is ill-posed because optimal designs tend to have infinite number of holes. In order to regularize this problem, a geometrical constraint, for instance the perimeter of the design (i.e., the measure of the boundary of the solid region, length in 2D problems or the surface area in 3D problems) is usually imposed. In this thesis, a novel methodology to solve the topology optimization problem with a constraint on the number of holes is proposed. …

Improved Photolithography Scheduling In Semiconductor Manufacturing, Sreenath Chalil Madathil

All Theses

Photolithography is typically the bottleneck process in semiconductor manufacturing. In this thesis, we present a model for optimizing photolithography job scheduling in the presence of both individual and cluster tools. The combination of individual and cluster tools that process various layers or stages of the semiconductor manufacturing process flow is a special type of flexible flowshop. We seek separately to minimize total weighted completion time and maximize on-time delivery performance. Experimental results suggest that our mathematical- and heuristic-based solution approaches show promise for real world implementation as they can help to improve resource utilization, reduce job completion times, and decrease …

Ilsn : An Inexpensive, Long-Lived, Sensor Network Solution, Navin Soni

All Theses

In the recent past, there has been a phenomenal increase in monitoring the physical world using wireless sensor networks comprising tiny computing devices with integrated sensors. These devices are deployed in large numbers, often across large spaces and within hostile environments.
Wireless sensor networks are used to gather meaningful data and to enable important applications. They must satisfy some basic requirements. Specifially, they must be maintenance free, inexpensive, reliable, and scalable. The devices used in these networks are deployed in the hundreds to thousands and rely on battery power. It is expensive to change these batteries in such large networks, …

Improvement Of Onsite Wastewater Treatment By Use Of Electrically Conductive Carbon Cloth, Christopher Weber

All Theses

The purpose of this research is primarily focused on carbon oxidation in domestic septic systems. Small-scale septic waste reactors utilizing electrically conductive carbon cloth were assessed for improving carbon oxidation and therefore the overall efficiency of on-site wastewater treatment systems.
A bioelectrochemical system was developed to enhance carbon oxidation in septic systems using electrically conductive carbon cloth as an anode/cathode bridge to transfer electrons from strictly anoxic septic wastewater to an oxic system outside of the septic reactor. This 'septic snorkel' (so named since the system 'breathes' via the carbon cloth extends into an aerobic zone) was designed to lower …

Occlusion-Aware Multi-View Reconstruction Of Articulated Objects For Manipulation, Xiaoxia Huang

All Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop algorithms using multiple views to automatically recover complete 3D models of articulated objects in unstructured environments and thereby enable a robotic system to facilitate further manipulation of those objects. First, an algorithm called Procrustes-Lo-RANSAC (PLR) is presented. Structure-from-motion techniques are used to capture 3D point cloud models of an articulated object in two different configurations. Procrustes analysis, combined with a locally optimized RANSAC sampling strategy, facilitates a straightforward geometric approach to recovering the joint axes, as well as classifying them automatically as either revolute or prismatic. The algorithm does not require prior …