Digital Commons Network^™

Ai At The Helm: Transforming Crisis Communication Through Theory And Advancing Technology, Timothy Whims

All Theses

This thesis investigates the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models, into crisis communication, focusing on how AI technologies can enhance response strategies and stakeholder engagement during crises. By leveraging established communication frameworks such as Image Repair Theory, Situational Crisis Communication Theory, and the Discourse of Renewal, this research explores the potential for AI to improve both the speed and precision of crisis responses. The study highlights how AI can assist in monitoring public sentiment, drafting tailored responses, and managing real-time information during crisis events. However, it also addresses the limitations of AI, such as its inability to …

Isolation And Upgrading Of Lignin From Agricultural Sources Using Phase Equilibria, Bronson Lynn

All Dissertations

In the emerging bioeconomy, agricultural residues from our nationwide crop harvests are positioned to be a cornerstone of renewable and sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials. However, to be economically viable, the basic constituents of this plant matter must be separated and funneled to the appropriate application to maximize value and overall usability.

This work focuses on the component that has, to this point, been largely left behind: lignin. Although it is the most abundant aromatic biopolymer on the planet, making up 15-40% of grasses, hardwoods, and softwoods, the processing involved to isolate usable lignins is too complex and expensive to …

A Phenomenographic Analysis Of Undergraduate Student Perceptions Of The Geosciences And Geoscience Careers, Leah M. Wiitablake

All Dissertations

The climate crisis is upon us, whether we like it or not, and its undeniable effects are evident. Take, for example, Hurricane Helene, which caused unimaginable devastation to what was once considered a “climate haven,” Asheville, NC (Andreoni, 2024; Medina & Fausset, 2024). Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4, jumping from a Category 1 in less than 24 hours (Andreoni, 2024), and is noted by the National Hurricane Center as a major hurricane (National Hurricane Center & Central Pacific Hurricane Center, 2024). With the Earth now unlikely to remain below 1.5°C of warming (IPCC, 2023b), perhaps we can …

Socio-Ecological Drivers Of Anthropogenic Marine Debris Effects On Coral Reef Communities In The Florida Keys, Usa, Tokea Payton

All Dissertations

The Florida Keys reef tract has rapidly shifted from a structurally complex, hard coral-dominated reef to a less rugose, soft coral-dominated reef. Persistent anthropogenic stressors facilitate ecological transitions by including recreational and commercial fishing and increased anthropogenic marine debris. These artificial structures are becoming habitats for small marine taxa known as cryptofauna. Cryptofauna are among the most essential yet understudied reef taxa where little is known about their fate considering degrading coral reefs and increasing anthropogenic disturbance. With increased anthropogenic stressors on the marine environment, the SCUBA diving community has initiated extensive marine debris removal efforts to assist in cleaning …

Enhancing Low-Resource Language Performance In Multilingual Large Language Models, Mingqi Li

All Dissertations

The large language models play an important role in many natural language tasks. However, training these models requires large amounts of data, which is not available for many languages. A noticeable performance gap exists between English and other languages, with low-resource languages showcasing this gap prominently. Therefore, it becomes imperative to improve large language models for low-resource languages. To address these challenges, we developed knowledge distillation and strategic prompt-learning, and attention alignment methods to improve the representation capabilities of large language models for low-resource language, and then enhanced their performance in downstream tasks.

In our first study, we developed a …

Collision Hazard Prevention And Notification For Construction Worker Safety Using Audio Surveillance, Kehinde Elelu

All Dissertations

The construction industry faces significant safety challenges, with collision hazards ranking as the second highest cause of annual fatalities and injuries in the United States, as reported by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Current collision detection methods predominantly rely on proximity technologies, which necessitate costly and complex installations on each construction equipment piece. Furthermore, auditory situational awareness declines among workers due to hearing loss and intricate construction noises, which further heightens collision risks. This research introduces an innovative, low-cost, audio-based collision prevention technology aimed at enhancing auditory situational awareness for construction workers exposed to high noise levels. The …

A Multiple Mixed-Method Analysis On Empathy In First Year Engineering Education, Libby Flanagan

All Dissertations

This multiple mixed method analysis focuses on exploring how teaching empathy to first year engineering students interacts with their engineering identity and their personal definition of the role of an engineer. The participants received a four-lesson series on empathy and engineering in the Fall of 2023. They completed a pre- and post-survey as well as wrote five written reflections over the course of this semester. Analysis of the survey results found that composite empathy and engineering identity scores increased significantly over the course of this semester and that the increase in female composite engineering identity scores was significantly larger than …

Disability, Sense Of Belonging, And Inclusive Classroom Climates In Undergraduate Engineering, Candice W. Bolding

All Dissertations

In higher education, there has been a growing interest in identifying and addressing the systemic factors that impact the educational experiences and outcomes of underrepresented students pursuing degrees in engineering. Students who identify as having one or more disabilities are an underrepresented population in postsecondary engineering, and although this population of students possess numerous strengths that make them well suited for the field, they often face barriers and challenges that hinder their success within engineering programs. There exists a robust collection of literature examining the experiences and factors that impact other underrepresented groups within postsecondary engineering (e.g., students of color …

Quantile Regression And Change Point Analysis Of Remote Patient Monitoring Data From Cardiomems Hf System, Shanshan Jia

All Dissertations

Quantile regression provides a sophisticated analytical approach for clinical data, offering deeper insights into patient variability and risk assessment than conventional regression techniques. This study delves into the mathematical underpinnings of quantile regression, highlighting its advantages over ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, particularly in the context of predicting diastolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). We explore how this method can be applied to guide clinical interventions more effectively. By leveraging quantile regression’s ability to model different parts of the outcome distribution, we demonstrate its potential to enhance patient care through improved identification of high-risk individuals and the development of more personalized …

Neural Operator And Physics-Informed Deep Learning Approaches For Inverse Design Of Composites And Manufacturing Processes, Minglei Lu

All Dissertations

In this dissertation, artificial intelligence (AI) models are designed and used to accelerate inverse design of composites and manufacturing processes. The critical bottlenecks in machine learning (ML) including data availability, data quality, model generalization and adaptation, interpretability, physical consistency, and the ’black box’ nature of models for the inverse design are addressed. And the proposed AI models are tested under different engineering scenarios. Firstly, a fast deep neural operator (DNO) structure was developed to significantly reduce training time. This model was tested in the context of additive manufacturing, a transformative industrial technology that allows for the creation of materials with …

Advancing Visual Geometric Perception: Camera-Based Depth, Reconstruction, And Active Vision, Ziyue Feng

All Dissertations

The advancement of autonomous driving technology and intelligent robotic applications has emerged as a focal point in the realm of autonomy. One of the driving forces behind this trend is the profound understanding of the environment, and at the core of this endeavor lies the three-dimensional geometric perception. This dissertation embarks on a comprehensive exploration of this domain, emphasizing the advances of depth prediction, 3D scene reconstruction, and active vision to enhance geometric perception and scene understanding capabilities in autonomous driving, embodied AI, and robotics. In the domain of depth prediction, this research addresses the challenges of accurately inferring three-dimensional …

Space Operations Education Research: Studying Undergraduate Experiences As Predictors Of Early Career Performance For Military Space Operations Officers, Keith Balts

All Dissertations

Undergraduate students who go on to operate space systems, e.g., satellites, launch systems, and ground-based systems, come from a diverse set of demographics and undergraduate experiences. The United States Space Force (USSF), and United States Air Force (USAF) before them, like many professions, have a demonstrated interest in who enters their ranks, but have had limited research available to them to inform their recruiting, selection, training, and early career development policies and processes.

This Profession-Based Education Research study, a term introduced here in contrast to Discipline-Based Education Research, focused on the military space operations profession. This study analyzed newly commissioned …

Polymersomes As Chemotherapeutic Agents Towards Non-Invasive Treatment Of Glioblastoma, Molli Garifo

All Dissertations

Glioblastoma (GBM) accounts for over 66% of all malignant central nervous system and brain tumors with a 5-year survival rate below 5%, which has remained relatively unchanged over the last four decades. To bypass the most challenging barrier to treatment, the blood-brain barrier (BBB), one intracranial implant is clinically available for GBM treatment. However, this treatment produces severe adverse effects with no significant improvements in patient outcomes. Developing an improved delivery system with a more effective chemotherapy drug will provide more controlled and specific treatment through local delivery. In this dissertation, I evaluate a hyaluronic acid-b-polylactic acid (HA-PLA) polymersome system …

Cross-Interactions Of Amyloid Proteins: Implications For Aggregation Dynamics And Disease Pathology, Zhiyuan Song

All Dissertations

Amyloid aggregation is a pervasive form of protein misfolding implicated in the pathology of several prominent human diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D). These diseases are marked by the accumulation of amyloid fibrils and toxic oligomers, which are highly dynamic and heterogeneous, posing challenges for understanding their roles in disease progression. Despite significant advances in the diagnosis and management of these conditions, no definitive cure is available. We investigate amyloid aggregation and cross-seeding, with a focus on amyloid-beta (Aβ), tau, alpha-synuclein (αS), and human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) through discrete molecular dynamics (DMD) …

Low Carbon, High Cooling Potential Alcohol Fuels In A High Compression Ratio Spark Ignition Engine, John Gandolfo

All Dissertations

Even though most of the effort towards implementing low-carbon alternative fuels has been directed towards heavy-duty vehicles that are difficult to electrify, the high-autoignition resistance of these fuels make them challenging to combust in compression ignition engines. However, several fuel candidates, such as ethanol and methanol, are ideal fuels for spark ignition engines. With the demand for electric vehicles slowing down and increasing recognition of the merits of hybrid powertrains, there is a need to maximize the performance of these fuels for spark ignition engines, which are likely to remain the combustion strategy of choice for hybrids due to their …

Agricultural Water Use In South Carolina - A Series Of Investigations To Support Long-Term Planning, Charles Pellett

All Dissertations

Agricultural water use in South Carolina has been the subject of some public debate. While there are several sources of information available, the accuracy of the relevant data has been called into doubt. Self-reported estimates may be biased; survey sampling and extrapolation methods yield wide ranges of uncertainty; and reporting compliance or response rate can change over time.

Agricultural water users self-report that their estimates of water use volumes are less accurate than the other major sectors of water use. Center pivot irrigation is the largest and fastest growing kind of agricultural water use in SC. Since the year 2000, …

Investigating The Role Of Cd44 In Her2+ Breast Cancer Cells During Cancer Cell Redirection, Holly Caroline Jordan Campbell

All Dissertations

Despite a rise in survival rates of breast cancer patients due to advances in modern medicine, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Early detection and a more personalized treatment of breast cancer has slowly improved patient outcomes. Nevertheless, there are impediments to better patient outcomes due to the complexity of the disease physiology. Therefore, there is a demand for a comprehensive understanding of cancer development as well as a need to understand tumor progression for enhanced therapies for patients.

Previous in vivo …

Learning To Represent Temporal Dynamics And Generative Factors For Intelligent Visual Navigation, Sahand Khoshdel

All Theses

Visual navigation systems are crucial in various applications, including autonomous driving, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), and industrial automation. For these systems to operate efficiently in dynamic environments, they must not only interpret complex surroundings but also anticipate changes over time. Temporal prediction—forecasting environmental changes like moving obstacles or shifting lighting conditions—enables navigation systems to act proactively, enhancing both safety and performance. This dissertation investigates representation learning methods both as a backbone feature extractor for RL agents as well as a proxy for systems oriented for Explainable AI (XAI). Two main projects are presented as case studies to achieve the aforementioned …

The Impact Of In Ovo Administration Of Probiotic Lactobacilli On The Gut Health And Immune Competence Of Broiler Chickens, Shreeya Sharma

All Theses

Due to the incomplete development of their immune system, newly hatched chicks are vulnerable to a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms, including enteric bacterial pathogens during the early stage of life. To boost their immune system during this critical period, numerous studies suggest early feeding, either in ovo or immediately post-hatch, of nutrients and immunomodulators such as prebiotics, probiotics, phytobiotics, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) ligands, vitamins and minerals. Probiotics, defined as live, non-pathogenic microorganisms that confer beneficial effects on the host, have been extensively studied for their effects on poultry health. Supplementation of probiotics to chickens has demonstrated a broad spectrum …

Beyond Engineering: Unleashing The Universal Benefits Of Makerspaces For All Disciplines, Cath Bruhnke

Presentations

The Adobe Studio & Makerspace at Clemson serves students from over fifty-six programs in addition to our engineering program. We collected data from the logs students fill out when logging their equipment use and found that during the '23-’24 academic year, over half of the visitors were from non-engineering programs. We have learned from our discussions with students that word of mouth is a significant factor in bringing new students to our space. With consistent outreach to faculty and staff, we hope to get more non-engineering classes for Adobe Studio & Makerspace tours.

Perceptions Of Texas Small-Scale Producers On Success, Challenges, And The Future Of Agriculture, Katie Tritsch, Ken Mix, Michelle L. Edwards, Manuel Piña Jr.

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The roles and survival of small farms are much debated, and their operators are not well understood. This exploratory study examines the perceptions of Texas small producers using a sample of mostly first- generation farmers who consider agriculture their primary occupation and who use sustainable practices. Semistructured interviews revealed six prominent themes related to small-farmers’ success, challenges, and visions for the future. Of these, personal fulfillment, importance of community, and adaptability and versatility were the prominent themes regarding success. In terms of challenges, small producers felt they were at a disadvantage compared to larger farms. Participants expressed a desire for …

Volume 7, Issue 1, Full Issue

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Inclusion Of American Sign Language In Science And Engineering, Alejandro Mejia-Tejada

Society for American Sign Language Journal

For the general public, deaf people are typically known for their signing skills and living as signers, not speakers. However, there is more to this picture. Specifically, one area of consideration and investigation relates to how American Sign Language (ASL) is used as a language in the domains of science and engineering. The other area of investigation relates to how deaf people contribute to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. It will be demonstrated that deaf community members are making inroads into STEM through working as scientists and engineers, including one deaf person known for participating in training …

Hereditary Deafness And Society: The Quest For Ethical Awareness, Danielle Lavigne

Society for American Sign Language Journal

An excellent study of genetics and deafness is Martha’s Vineyard, a small island off the Massachusetts coast that was once known to have a sizable deaf population. This community that prevailed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries relates many genetic concepts, giving insight as to why the deaf population was larger in proportion than that on the mainland. The paper will cover hereditary deafness in more depth than what has been discussed in the American Sign Language/Deaf Studies literature. This includes understanding the significance of population genetics. The paper also takes into consideration that many hearing residents of Martha’s Vineyard …

Special Issue On What To Learn From Undergraduate Research In Asl/Deaf Studies, Jody Cripps

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Volume 7, Issue 1

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Clemson University Board Of Trustees, Compensation Committee, 2024 October 18, Clemson University Board Of Trustees

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Clemson University Board Of Trustees, Full Board Minutes, 2024 October 18, Clemson University Board Of Trustees

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Clemson University Board Of Trustees, Research And Economic Development Committee, 2024 October 17, Clemson University Board Of Trustees

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Clemson University Board Of Trustees, Educational Policy Committee, 2024 October 17, Clemson University Board Of Trustees

Minutes

No abstract provided.