Digital Commons Network^™

Mapping Information Flows That Support Adaptive Capacity In The Sterile Processing Department (Spd), Jacob Hionis

All Theses

The Sterile Processing Department (SPD) is the part of the hospital that is responsible for decontaminating, assembling, and sterilizing surgical trays for use in the Operating Rooms (ORs). Errors in the SPD can lead to delayed surgeries or patient harm. The SPD is a complex system, with multiple interconnected subdepartments and roles. Complex systems require coordination between stakeholders. This study aims to discover how an organization can adapt to scale, and how information flows support these adaptations. In this study, observations, semi-structured interviews, and on-the-job interviews were conducted with members across the SPD and OR to elicit pressures, adaptations, and …

Hibernating Tricolored Bats At A Southeastern Recreation Site: Microsite Use And Public Perceptions, Rebecca Brown

All Theses

High bat mortality from white-nose syndrome (WNS) has increased the need to manage hibernation sites. Management decisions should be based on science, and when sites are accessible to the public, also need to consider human dimensions. We used Stumphouse Tunnel, a recreation site and tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) hibernaculum in northwestern South Carolina, as a case study to understand potential conflicts between conservation and recreation. The population declined by 90% after the arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS), followed by stabilization and slight increases. Because the increase was associated with more bats roosting in the publicly accessible section, a potential …

Immediate Response Of Bats To Prescribed Fire And Impact Of Experiences On Women's Self-Image In Natural Resources Professions, Zebria Hicks

All Theses

To inform use of prescribed fire management practice in the southeastern US, we studied its impact on bats, which are important and at-risk species. We evaluated if prescribed fire had a positive, neutral, or negative effect on bat activity in the two weeks following the burns. We recorded bat activity after prescribed burns in February and March 2022 in northwestern South Carolina in select hardwood and pine stands and control sites ≥ 500 m from burn boundaries. We measured insect abundance, canopy cover, basal area, and understory density at each site. We recorded 687 passes during our 45-day study period. …

Universal Short-Circuit And Open-Circuit Fault Detection For An Inverter, Buck Brown

All Theses

Short-circuit and open-circuit faults of an inverter’s power device often lead to catastrophic failure of the entire system if not detected and acted upon within a few microseconds, particularly for emerging wide bandgap (WGB) power semiconductors. While a significant amount of research has been done on the fast and accurate protection and detection of short-circuit faults, there has been less success corresponding to the research on open-circuit faults. Common downfalls include protection and detection that are too application-specific, take longer than a couple of microseconds, and are not cost-efficient. This study proposes a new open-circuit fault protection and detection system …

The Effect Of Yearly Labor Earnings On Commute Time To Work In South Carolina, Peter Trela

All Theses

In this paper, I attempt to ascertain the effect of labor earnings on commute time to work for individuals in South Carolina by using ACS 1-year Public Use Microdata Sample Estimates. First, I use standard linear regression models with controls to determine the direction and magnitude of the association between yearly labor earnings and commute time to work. I later use standard linear regression models with limited controls to determine how the association between yearly labor earnings and commute time changes before and during the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. There exists a positive relationship between yearly labor earnings and …

Integrating Omim And Intact Data For The Analysis Of Gene-Phenotype Interactions In Complex Diseases: A Linux-Based Computational Tool For Network Analysis, Devin Keane

All Theses

The field of genetics is constantly evolving. New advances in bioinformatics and computational approaches are leading to exciting new developments in our ability to treat and prevent diseases. Computational genetics provides valuable insights into the complex mechanisms and layers of biological communication that shape an organism's phenotype. Understanding these mechanisms is critical to advancing human health.

The study of diseases in genetics requires a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between various biological processes, including gene expression, protein synthesis, RNA, metabolism, and cell-cell communication. To effectively address the root causes of such diseases, multi-disciplinary approaches that integrate information from different levels …

An Assessment Of Information And Education As A Factor Of Agricultural Development And Sustainability In South Carolina, George Strickland

All Theses

Across the Southeastern United States, producers in the agricultural industry wage a constant struggle between combating negative economic impacts and discovering economic opportunity. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) represent a crisis with wide-ranging economic impacts. The management of HABs presents a critical challenge for addressing the level of knowledge (LOK) and adaptability of Extension agents. Conversely, the emergence of markets for local and organic produce represents a burgeoning economic opportunity for producers. The growing trend of including more kale in the everyday American diet demands an assessment of those opportunities for local producers.

To identify the WTP for organic and local …

Using Immersive Technology To Improve Mechanical Design: Use Cases, A Review Of Current Technology, And An Experiment In Requirement Elicitation In Virtual Reality, William Hawthorne

All Theses

There has been a growing trend in the use of immersive technologies within engineering design. This research is focused on understanding how Virtual Reality (VR) technologies support design reviews. Modern tools including virtual reality hardware and software were tested for current capabilities and challenges. In a review of literature, two key gaps are identified: the rapid advancements of VR and AR technology and limited formal studies to determine the costs and benefits of immersive technology within engineering design reviews. This research has resulted in three key outcomes. First, use cases of immersive reality technologies are identified, through the lens of …

Using Visual Effects As A Means Of Establishing Or Reinforcing Scale In 3d Visual Works, Eric Dinicolantonio

All Theses

In 3D animation, visual effects help to establish and reinforce the scale of different characters and objects that are otherwise unclear. In the Fall of 2022, I taught a class about visual effects to several students. At the time, I had difficulty explaining the importance of properly scaling your 3D effects in order to add realism. With physically based effects, we must respect the laws of physics to create a visually realistic and understandable visual effect. Going through several of my previous projects, I found that I had made mistakes with scaling several of my effects. With this paper, I …

Laser Stabilization Through Optical Turbulence, Liam Vanderschaaf

All Theses

Laser jitter presents a significant issue in the fields of laser communication and sensing. There are two main categories of positional noise in regards to the instantaneous centroid of a laser propagating over long distances: jitter resulting from optical turbulence and jitter resulting from mechanical vibrations. Optical turbulence was generated using Clemson University’s Variable Turbulence Generator (VTG). The VTG is capable of creating a desired level of optical turbulence that is comparable to atmospheric conditions with fried parameters greater than 0.3 cm. A gaussian laser was transmitted through the VTG and a system of Fast Steering Mirrors and Position Sensing …

Fatigue Performance Of Flexural Retrofits For Precast Slab Bridges, Ian Stewart

All Theses

This thesis discusses flexural and cyclic load testing of two potential retrofits for pre-cast slab bridges. These slabs came from South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) decommissioned bridges as a part of an ongoing project with SCDOT. The first is a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plate (CFRP) retrofit where four CFRP plates were adhesively bonded to the bottom of a slab. The second is a steel plate that was mechanically attached to the bottom of a slab using bolted connections. The bolts were cast into grouted holes in the slab. To better understand the failure mode of these retrofits and their …

Photovoltaics, Batteries, And Silicon Carbide Power Electronics Based Infrastructure For Sustainable Power Networks, Prahaladh Paniyil

All Dissertations

The consequences of climate change have emphasized the need for a power network that is centered around clean, green, and renewable sources of energy. Currently, Photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines are the only two modes of technology that can convert renewable energy of the sun and wind respectively into large-scale power for the electricity network. This dissertation aims at providing a novel solution to implement these sources of power (majorly PV) coupled with Lithium-ion battery storage in an efficient and sustainable approach. Such a power network can enable efficiency, reliability, low-cost, and sustainability with minimum impact to the environment.

The …

Probing The Structure Of Water On Surfaces: From Water Absorption To Ice Nucleation, Jiarun Zhou

All Dissertations

Water, essential for all life forms, is the most abundant, simple, yet mysterious molecule in the world. This molecule, consisting of only three atoms, behaves in unexpectedly different ways with the change of environment. In the past, studies of water under different conditions (temperature, pressure, on the surfaces, with confinement) have been conducted using experimental and computational methods. However, the influence of a given environment on water properties is yet to be fully understood. This dissertation studies water at complex interfaces (surfaces with various chemistry and physics properties) in both the liquid and crystalline states. Various heterogeneous systems used to …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Selected Women’S Career Pathways To State-Level Leadership In Agriculture, Timothy Keown

All Dissertations

In this study, I used a qualitative narrative inquiry to examine stories from three individually selected state-level agricultural sector women leaders as they described their career paths to leadership roles. This purpose of the study was to address the problem of a lack of practical understanding of women leaders’ experiences in pursuing, achieving, and keeping leadership roles within the agricultural industry. The existing literature shows that women are less likely to hold an agriculture leadership role in their career. To establish the research question, I used feminist educational theory. This theoretical framework and the associated epistemology of narrative inquiry served …

Structuring Ai Teammate Communication: An Exploration Of Ai's Communication Strategies In Human-Ai Teams, Rui Zhang

All Dissertations

In the past decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has been implemented in various domains to facilitate humans in their work, such as healthcare and the automotive industry. Such application of AI has led to increasing attention on human-AI teaming, where AI closely collaborates with humans as a teammate. AI as a teammate is expected to have the ability to coordinate with humans by sharing task-related information, predicting other teammates’ behaviors, and progressing team tasks accordingly. To complete these team activities effectively, AI teammates must communicate with humans, such as sharing updates and checking team progress. Even though communication is a core …

Mechanical Evaluation Of In Vitro Simulated Myocardial Infarction, Caroline Peak

Honors College Theses

The leading cause of death worldwide is cardiovascular disease, responsible for 32% of all global deaths and the leading cause of death for men and women across most racial and ethnic groups in the United States [1]. Between 2016 and 2017, cardiovascular disease cost the U.S. $363 billion in medical costs, research, and healthcare services [1].

Finding new therapies to treat heart disease is very slow and very expensive, which has driven many research companies to develop in vitro screening platforms for testing therapies in cultured cardiac tissue. In Clemson University’s Systems Mechanobiology Lab under the leadership of Dr. Will …

Polyadenylation Mediated By Line-1, Gillian E. Barnard, Miriam K. Konkel

Honors College Theses

Transposable elements (TEs) are sequences that change position within the genome and play an important role in genome expansion. TEs are grouped into two categories based on their transposition mechanism. Class 1 retrotransposons spread via target-primed reverse transcription (RNA to DNA) into different genomic locations. Long interspersed element 1 (L1) is a class 1 retrotransposon that is able to move autonomously, as they encode the protein machinery with an endonuclease and reverse transcriptase activity, to insert themselves back into the genome. L1s were the focus of this study, because they are implicated in creating alternate poly(A) sites in genes. We …

Student Barriers To Taking The Fundamentals Of Engineering Exam, Cornelius Walker

All Theses

The primary goal of the thesis was to identify barriers that hinder students from taking the Fundamental of Engineering (FE) exam. The secondary goals were to determine the most prevalent barriers and compare the difference in knowledge about the FE between senior and sophomore students. The FE exam is a computer-based exam with questions based on undergraduate-level courses and is an early step in the process of becoming a professional engineer. Data for the thesis came from interviews and surveys. Interviews were done by twenty seniors, while surveys were given to forty-one senior and eighty-six sophomore civil engineering students. Interviews …

Economic Impact Assessment Of Nature-Based Coastal Resilience Solutions In Charleston. Estimating Local Economic Effects With Algorithm-Based Supporting Tool., Oksana Veselkova

All Theses

Coastal cities are at the forefront of the risks induced by climate change. Local communities are adversely affected, but the essential cultural assets and economies are also at risk of damage or destruction. In the efforts to limit hazard risk exposure, local governments are increasingly planning for long-term flood protection. One prospective flood risk mitigation measure is living shorelines or nature-based adaptation. The coastal ecosystems, such as beaches, wetlands, barrier islands, oyster reefs, and salt marshes, deliver multiple benefits to communities, including recreation, natural resources, freshwater, and carbon sequestration. Moreover, when combined with structural solutions, they can effectively reduce water …

Charleston, Sc Boarding Houses 1840-1880: Prevalence, Placement, And Character, Holly Adington

All Theses

While it is well known that boarding was a widely used practice in growing urban centers of the United States such as Boston and New York City during the nineteenth century. Boarding has not garnered the same level of attention in rapidly expanding Southern cities during this time. This is partially due to the delayed industrialization of the South. However, industrialization did occur in cities such as Charleston, South Carolina, and the increasing number of workers flooding into the city meant boarding became an attractive solution. The purpose of this thesis is to add to the basic understanding of the …

An In Vivo Biocompatibility Analysis Of A Novel Tissue Regeneration Matrix Using A Pig Model, Shamar Thomas

All Theses

The goal of this project is to develop an injectable bead scaffold to promote tissue regeneration in the void created by lumpectomy and to alleviate post lumpectomy problems by preventing local recurrence and minimizing surgical-related infections. Microbeads were synthesized from collagen type I and crosslinked with tannic acid to form the basis for this injectable therapeutic. Tannic acid acts as a therapeutic anticancer agent. The action mechanisms of tannins in breast cancer cells have been studied with studies showing tannins to be cytotoxic to cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Tannic acid induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells via caspase …

Perspective And Perception: How Reddit Trip Reports Convey And Offer Different Knowledges About Psychedelic Drugs, Kevin Lawson Nutt

All Theses

Psychedelics drugs are slowly gaining recognition for their potential medicinal value in therapeutic settings in Western science. However, there remains a great deal of hostility and hesitancy toward psychedelics, largely due to the psychedelics’ collective classification as Schedule I drugs in America, which resulted from a history of the drug class’ demonization. Nonetheless, several US states and cities having decriminalized psychedelic drugs in certain contexts, but the general population is relatively naïve to the potentialities psychedelics can offer. This thesis studies trip reports, which are firsthand accounts of individual psychedelic experiences, on Reddit to shed light on the different knowledges …

Improving Inference Speed Of Perception Systems In Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Bradley Selee

All Theses

Autonomous vehicle (AV) development has become one of the largest research challenges in businesses and research institutions. While much research has been done, autonomous driving still requires extensive amounts of research due to its immense, multi-factorial difficulty. Autonomous vehicles rely on many complex systems to function, make accurate decisions, and, above all, provide maximum safety. One of the most crucial components of autonomous driving is the perception system.

The perception system allows the vehicle to identify its surroundings and make accurate, but safe, decisions through the use of computer vision techniques like object detection, image segmentation, and path planning. Due …

Assessing Recreational User Impacts, Motivations, And Knowledge On The Spread Of Invasive Plant Species In A Managed, Multiple-Use Forest Ecosystem, Crystal Strickland

All Theses

The spread of invasive plants is ecologically and economically detrimental to native ecosystems, animals, and humans. Recreation is one factor that may influence plant dispersal. The impacts of recreation on invasive plant spread are multifaceted and include the physical act of spreading and transporting seeds and vegetation to new areas on clothes, pets, and equipment, as well as the social aspect of outreach and education. Therefore, I used a multifaceted approach to assess the impact of human trafficked areas where recreational activities frequently occur on four known invasive plant species in the Clemson Experimental Forest (CEF) in South Carolina: Microstegium …

Evaluating The Effect Of Palmitic Acid Concentration On Growth And Inhibition Of Syntrophomonas Sp., Clancy Kerr

All Theses

Various industries produce fats, oils, and greases (FOG). These hydrophobic compounds cause issues in municipal wastewater collection and treatment systems. Anaerobic co-digestion is an effective way to treat FOG and presents an opportunity to produce more significant quantities of biogas. However, many microorganisms are sensitive to the degradation products like long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). Palmitic acid is the most prevalent LCFA in anaerobic co-digestion of FOG and wastewater. Sytrophomonas is a β-oxidizer able to break down palmitic acid. Palmitic acid is known to feed and inhibit Syntrophomonas growth and methanogenesis. The objectives of this investigation are: To determine if Syntrophomonas …

Explaining Spatio-Temporal Evolution Of Extreme Hydro-Climatic Events Using A Complex Network Framework, Somnath Mondal

All Dissertations

Severe hydroclimatic extreme events, such as droughts, heatwaves, and heavy rainfall, are occurring with increasing frequency and causing significant impacts on both people and the environment. These events also compound in space and time, leading to even more significant consequences. Therefore, it is essential to comprehend these phenomena' concurrent and time-delayed progression across different temporal and spatial scales to address adaptation and mitigation effectively. To accurately understand and map the co-evolution of extreme events, it's necessary to have a thorough grasp of their spatiotemporal patterns, how they propagate and interact with one another, and the underlying mechanisms driving their occurrence. …

Studying Pedestrian’S Unmarked Midblock Crossing Behavior On A Multilane Road When Interacting With Autonomous Vehicles Using Virtual Reality, Fengjiao Zou

All Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the challenge of pedestrian interaction with autonomous vehicles (AVs) at unmarked midblock locations where the right-of-way is unspecified. A virtual reality (VR) simulation was developed to replicate an urban unmarked midblock environment where pedestrians cross a four-lane arterial roadway and interact with AVs. One research goal is to investigate the impact of roadway centerline features (undivided, two-way left-turn lane, and median) and AV operational schemes portrayed through on-vehicle signals (no signal, yellow negotiating indication, and yellow/blue negotiating/no-yield indications) on pedestrian crossing behavior. Results demonstrate that both roadway centerline design features and AV operations and signaling show …

Explainable Physics-Informed Deep Learning For Rainfall-Runoff Modeling And Uncertainty Assessment Across The Continental United States, Sadegh Sadeghi Tabas

All Dissertations

Hydrologic models provide a comprehensive tool to calibrate streamflow response to environmental variables. Various hydrologic modeling approaches, ranging from physically based to conceptual to entirely data-driven models, have been widely used for hydrologic simulation. During the recent years, however, Deep Learning (DL), a new generation of Machine Learning (ML), has transformed hydrologic simulation research to a new direction. DL methods have recently proposed for rainfall-runoff modeling that complement both distributed and conceptual hydrologic models, particularly in a catchment where data to support a process-based model is scared and limited.

This dissertation investigated the applicability of two advanced probabilistic physics-informed DL …

Studies Of The Ionosphere-Thermosphere Responses To Multi-Scale Energy Deposition Processes, Haonan Wu

All Dissertations

The Ionosphere-Thermosphere (I-T) system is greatly affected by the magnetospheric energy deposition from above and subjected to forcing from the lower atmosphere simultaneously. A central problem in studying the coupled I-T system is to analyze the multi-scale processes naturally embedded in both ways. Magnetospheric energy input such as auroral precipitation and electric field demonstrates multi-scale structures during magnetic storms, resulting in multi-scale I-T responses when deposited into the I-T system. To better quantify the multi-scale aurora and electric field, we developed a new data assimilation model based on a multi-resolution Gaussian process model to synthesize empirical models and observational data …

Supramolecular Pi-Donor/Acceptor Arrays Based On Redox-Active Metal-Organic Coordination Assemblies, Paola Benavides

All Dissertations

Coordination-driven self-assembly is an attractive strategy for constructing thermodynamically stable supramolecular coordination complexes, ranging from discrete metallacycles and cages to infinite coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks for a variety of applications.

Chapter 1 discusses strategies for preparing supramolecular charge-transfer π-donor/acceptor assemblies and their potential applications.

Chapter 2 demonstrates that tricomponent self-assembly method, which was believed to yield 3D-cages, based on tetrapyridyl porphyrin (M’TPP, M’ = Zn or H₂), dicarboxylate ligands (XDC), and caped cis-Pt(II) corners, actually yields 2D-bowties featuring an M’TPP core and two parallel XDC linkers held together by four heteroligated PtII(N,O) corners. The 2D-bowties showed …