Digital Commons Network^™

Utilizing Deep Learning Methods In The Identification And Synthesis Of Gene Regulations, Jiandong Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Gene expression is the fundamental differentiation and development process of life. Although all cells in an organism have essentially the same DNA, cell types and activities vary due to changes in gene expression. Gene expression can be influenced by many gene regulations. RNA editing contributes to the variety of RNA and proteins by allowing single nucleotide substitution. Reverse transcription can alter the expression status of genes by inducing genetic diversity and polymorphism via novel insertions, deletions, and recombination events. Gene regulation is critical to normal development because it enables cells to respond rapidly to environmental changes. However, identifying gene regulations …

Speckle Development And Application In Uav-Based Digital Image Correlation For Transportation Infrastructure Monitoring And Assessment, Taylor Wyatt

Theses and Dissertations

A critical aspect of civil infrastructure is structural health monitoring, of which digital image correlation (DIC) has been proven to be an effective and appropriate method. There is sufficient literature on the use of stationary DIC, but an unexplored aspect is DIC-equipped unmanned aircraft systems. It has been verified in University of South Carolina labs but has not been proved in a field environment. One of the challenges of field implementation is large scale speckle application. This work focusses on identifying and addressing challenges in bringing UAV-DIC technology from the lab to the field. This includes the development of optimized …

Exploring Trustworthiness Issues About Disaster-Related Information Generated By Artificial Intelligence, Xin Tao

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tested the degree of trustworthiness of disaster-related information generated by artificial intelligence among American people and Chinese people, and explored the causes of people's attitudes towards trust or distrust. The thesis used OpenAI's GPT-3 model to generate stories based on real disaster events by artificial intelligence, and tested the degree of trustworthiness in semi-structured interview. The study showed that it was promising to use AI technology to publicize disaster-related news to audience. To increase readers' trust in AI-generated disaster-related information, news organizations should maintain a high level of transparency about the identity of the AI author, use the …

Multidimensional Transport-Coupled Numerical Investigation Of Non-Premixed Low-Temperature Flame In Atmospheric And High-Pressure Systems, Sudipta Saha

Theses and Dissertations

Gas-phase chemical reactions coupled with multidimensional fluid flow and heat and mass transport are found in various applications, i.e., from conventional engine applications to novel combustion techniques. With the goal of understanding such complex coupling in reacting flow systems, this dissertation work focuses on developing multi-physics simulation frameworks to investigate the effect of multidimensional transport on flame dynamics. This study primarily focuses on the modeling and simulation of low temperature flame formation in i) a canonical experimental setting with counterflow burners and ii) a supercritical water medium (i.e., hydrothermal flame).

In the first part of the dissertation, simulations of the …

Development And The Use Of A New Kinetically Limited Linear Driving Force Model For Diffusion-Based Adsorptive Separations, Sulaimon Adedayo Adegunju

Theses and Dissertations

A new kinetically limited linear driving force (KLLDF) model, in terms of a modified extended Langmuir (EL) isotherm, was developed. This KLLDF model augments the equilibrium driving force in the linear driving force (LDF) model in such a way that the equilibrium loading of each component in the LDF model depends on the actual, kinetically limited, loading of the other components in a gas mixture, not their partial pressures. In contrast, the LDF model assumes the presence of a slower diffusing adsorbate in a gas mixture affects the equilibrium of a faster diffusing adsorbate in a pore structure via its …

Cashing The Check Of Democracy The American Revolution And Citizenship In The Black Freedom Struggle 1960-1970, Zachary Earle Clary

Theses and Dissertations

Separated into three interconnected parts, this thesis first proposes a reconfiguration of the vocabulary that historians use when classifying the memory and legacy of the American Revolution in the twentieth century. From there, I offer a comparative analysis of the Black Freedom Struggle’s relationship to the Declaration of Independence and other components of the American Revolution to demonstrate that the Revolution, while useful as a rhetorical tool or a conceptual model, functioned primarily as a counterpoint to the twentieth-century quest for Black citizenship. In other words, the American Revolution was a formidable example of radical protest in the American past, …

Design Of A Tvsa Cycle For Co2 Removal From Spacecraft Cabins Using A Structured Adsorbent, Pravin Bosco Charles Antony Amalraj

Theses and Dissertations

Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) and Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA) are some of the most used cyclic adsorption technologies that is used for separating gas components from its mixture. Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) in the International Space Station (ISS) facilitates the continuous removal of CO2 by the cyclic adsorption process. The use of structured adsorbents has drawn attention due its several advantages over traditional beaded adsorbents. This work evaluates the role of different design variables on the effective thermal conductivity of a structured adsorbent bed for its possible application in a temperature swing adsorption (TVSA) process for space applications. The …

On The Algebraic And Geometric Multiplicity Of Zero As A Hypergraph Eigenvalue, Grant Ian Fickes

Theses and Dissertations

We consider the algebraic and geometric multiplicity of hypergraph eigenvalues, paying particular attention to nullities of hypertrees. Conjecture surrounds the relationship between these two multiplicites, but little work appears in the literature on this topic. Predominantly, we are interested in identifying the geometric structure of the nullvariety of certain hypergraph classes by listing the irreducible components and their accompanying dimensions. When applicable, we use this description to verify a conjecture relating the algebraic and geometric nullity. Furthermore, we refine these geometric structure tools to graph theoretic trees, defining a matroid on trees and relating skew zero forcing to the existence …

Detecting Spatially Varying Coefficient Effects With Conditional Autoregressive Models: A Simulation Study Using Social Determinants Of Health Screening Data, Reid J. Demass

Theses and Dissertations

Generalized linear models which include spatially varying coefficient terms allow researchers to determine if the association between predictor and outcome variables vary across geographic space. Such models are particularly applicable to research with public health data where interventions and limited health care resources must be allocated carefully. The integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) methodology available in the R INLA package is a popular tool to estimate spatially varying coefficients. To assess the performance of the estimation procedure, patient emergency department (ED) visits were simulated from data sourced from a pilot study at Prisma Health. The INLA technique was used to …

Is There A Relationship Between Direct Patient Care Registered Nurses Emotional Intelligence And Patient Satisfaction?, James J. Leach

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies have examined Emotional Intelligence (EI) ’s role in various groups of people. However, to date, there have not been any studies examining the role of EI in direct patient care given by ICU nurses and the relationship between the nurses’ EI and patient satisfaction. With the importance of patient satisfaction tied to hospital reimbursement and the many approaches that have been made to improve patient satisfaction, studying the people (nurses) who spend the most time with the patient seems right. The data used for this study was obtained from an EI inventory for the nurses and an ICU-specific …

Bayesian Dependence Structure Analysis For Ordinal Data, Yang He

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores different methods to study the dependence structure among many ordinal variables under the Bayesian framework.

Chapter 1 introduces ordinal data analysis methods, and the related literature works are briefly reviewed. An outline of the dissertation is put forward.

In Chapter 2, Gaussian copula graphical models with different priors of graphical Lasso, adaptive graphical Lasso, and spike-and-slab Lasso on the precision matrix are assessed and compared. The proposed models are well illustrated via simulations and a real ordinal survey data analysis.

In Chapter 3, adaptive spike-and-slab Lasso prior is proposed as an extension of Chapter 2. The developed …

Kurt Vonnegut, A Difficult Feminist: Investigating Female Characters In Bluebeard, Matthew Steven Medl

Theses and Dissertations

After a brief contextualization of Vonnegut’s work, this essay close-reads his 1987 novel, Bluebeard, and locates the feminism within. I argue that Vonnegut establishes women as agents of generative change, breakers of marital conventions, artistic sages, authors, expressionists, interlopers, and nonviolent activists. I primarily examine Circe Berman and Marilee Kemp, supplementing with evidence from Edith Taft and Dorothy, as well as wider scholarship.

Biochemical, Structural, And Immunological Characterization Of Selected Panallergens, Andrea Leigh O'Malley

Theses and Dissertations

Allergies throughout the world are increasing in prevalence and severity. Although the direct causes of the development of allergies are not confirmed, study of proteins that cause reactions will lead to a deeper understanding of allergy. This work focuses on three panallergen families, profilins, parvalbumins, and arginine kinases, to further elucidate the background of allergy from the point of view of the allergens themselves. In Chapter 1, we evaluate pollen, fruit, and mite profilins in the context of allergy, showing the relevance of conserved cysteine residues in stability and oligomerization as well as the first data on cross-reactivity between plant …

Measurement Of The Double-Differential Muon-Neutrino Charged-Current Inclusive Cross Section In The Nova Near Detector, M. A. Acero, P. Adamson, L. Aliaga, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, L. Asquith, A. Aurisano, A. Back, M. Baird, N. Balashov, P. Baldi, B. A. Bambah, S. Bashar, K. Bays, B. Behera, R. Bernstein, V. Bhatnagar, D. Bhattarai, B. Bhuyan, Roberto Petti, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

We report cross-section measurements of the final-state muon kinematics for ν_μ charged-current interactions in the NOvA near detector using an accumulated 8.09×10²⁰ protons on target in the NuMI beam. We present the results as a double-differential cross section in the observed outgoing muon energy and angle, as well as single-differential cross sections in the derived neutrino energy, E_ν, and square of the four-momentum transfer, Q². We compare the results to inclusive cross-section predictions from various neutrino event generators via χ² calculations using a covariance matrix that accounts for bin-to-bin correlations of systematic uncertainties. …

Off-Shell Effects In Bound Nucleons And Parton Distributions From 1H, 2H, 3H, And 3He Data, S. I. Alekhin, S. A. Kulagin, Roberto Petti

Faculty Publications

We report the results of a new global QCD analysis including deep-inelastic scattering data off ¹H, ²H, ³H, and ³He targets. Nuclear corrections are treated in terms of a nuclear convolution approach with off-shell bound nucleons. The off-shell (OS) corrections responsible for the modification of the structure functions (SFs) of bound nucleons are constrained in a global fit along with the proton parton distribution functions (PDFs) and the higher-twist (HT) terms. We investigate the proton-neutron difference for the OS correction and discuss our predictions for the SF ratio F ⁿ ₂ / F ^p ₂ and …

Capturing Children Food Exposure Using Wearable Cameras And Deep Learning, Shady Elbassuoni, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Jalila El Ati, Yorgo Zoughby, Aline Semaan, Christelle Akl, Tarek Trabelsi, Reem Talhouk, Houda Ben Gharbia, Zoulfikar Shmayssani, Aya Mourad

Faculty Publications

Children’s dietary habits are influenced by complex factors within their home, school and neighborhood environments. Identifying such influencers and assessing their effects is traditionally based on self-reported data which can be prone to recall bias. We developed a culturally acceptable machine-learning-based data-collection system to objectively capture school-children’s exposure to food (including food items, food advertisements, and food outlets) in two urban Arab centers: Greater Beirut, in Lebanon, and Greater Tunis, in Tunisia. Our machine-learning-based system consists of 1) a wearable camera that captures continuous footage of children’s environment during a typical school day, 2) a machine learning model that automatically …

Search For Heavy Neutral Leptons Using Tau Lepton Decays At Babar, J. P. Lees, V. Poireau, V. Tisserand, E. Grauges, A. Palano, G. Eigen, D. N. Brown, Yu. G. Kolomensky, M. Fritsch, H. Koch, R. Cheaib, C. Hearty, T. S. Mattison, J. A. Mckenna, R. Y. So, V. E. Blinov, A. R. Buzykaev, V. P. Druzhinin, E. A. Kravchenko, Milind Purohit, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

This article presents a model-independent search for an additional, mostly sterile, heavy neutral lepton (HNL), that is capable of mixing with the Standard Model τ neutrino with a mixing strength of |U_τ4| 2, corresponding to the absolute square of the extended Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix element. Data from the BABAR experiment, with a total integrated luminosity of 424 fb⁻¹, are analyzed using a kinematic approach that makes no assumptions on the model behind the origins of the HNL, its lifetime or decay modes. No significant signal is found. Upper limits on |U_τ4|² at the 95% …

Neural Mechanisms Of Language Development In Infancy, Scott Huberty, Christian O'Reilly, Virginia Carter Leno, Mandy Steiman, Sara J. Webb, Mayada Elsabbagh, The Basis Team

Publications

Understanding the neural processes underpinning individual differences in early language development is of increasing interest, as it is known to vary in typical development and to be quite heterogeneous in neurodevelopmental conditions. However, few studies to date have tested whether early brain measures are indicative of the developmental trajectory of language, as opposed to language outcomes at specific ages. We combined recordings from two longitudinal studies, including typically developing infants without a family history of autism, and infants with increased likelihood of developing autism (infant-siblings) (N = 191). Electroencephalograms (EEG) were recorded at 6 months, and behavioral assessments at …

Practices And Perceptions Of Family-Centered Care: A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Secondary School Athletic Trainers, Zachary K. Winkelmann, Nancy A. Uriegas, James M. Mensch, Conner E. Montgomery, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

Family-centered care (FCC) includes collaboration between families and healthcare providers, the creation of flexible policies, and the family taking an active role in the delivery of care. Secondary school athletic trainers provide care for underage patients in school-based health systems, making them responsible for maintaining communication with parents, guardians, and/or caregivers. This cross-sectional survey investigated the extent to which athletic trainers (n = 205) include aspects of FCC in their daily secondary school clinical practice (current practices = CP) and whether they believe that aspect of care is necessary for FCC to be provided in athletic training (perceived necessary = …

March 1, 2023 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Maternal And Infant Outcomes Of Syrian And Palestinian Refugees, Lebanese And Migrant Women Giving Birth In A Tertiary Public Hospital In Lebanon: A Secondary Analysis Of An Obstetric Database, Stephen J. Mccall, Tanya C. El Khoury, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Shady Elbassuoni, Mhd Hussein Murtada, Zeina Jamaluddine, Christine Haddad, Aya Hussein, Amina Krounbi, Jocelyn Dejong, Janoub Khazaal, Rabih Chahine

Faculty Publications

Objectives This study aims to assess whether the characteristics, management and outcomes of women varied between Syrian and Palestinian refugees, migrant women of other nationalities and Lebanese women giving birth at a public tertiary centre in Beirut, Lebanon.

Methods This was a secondary data analysis of routinely collected data from the public Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) between January 2011 and July 2018. Data were extracted from medical notes using text mining machine learning methods. Nationality was categorised into Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian and migrant women of other nationalities. The main outcomes were diabetes, pre-eclampsia, placenta accreta spectrum, hysterectomy, uterine rupture, …

Search For Rare Decays B+→D (*)+SΗ, D (*)+ SK̅, D+ Η, And D+ K0, M. Kumar, V. Bhardwaj, K. Lalwani, I. Adachi

Faculty Publications

We present a study of rare decay modes B+→D⁺_Sh⁰, B+→D^*+_S h⁰, and B+→D+h⁰, where h⁰ denotes the neutral meson η or K⁰, using a data sample of (772±10)×10⁶   BB̅ events produced at the Υ(4S) resonance. The data were collected by the Belle detector operating at the asymmetric-energy KEKB collider. We find no evidence for these decays, so we set upper limits at the 90% confidence level on the branching fractions of B+→D⁺ _S h⁰, D^*+ _S h⁰, …

Three- And Four-Point Functions In Cpt -Even Lorentz-Violating Scalar Qed, Brett Altschul, L. C.T. Brito, J. C.C. Felipe, S. Karki, A. C. Lehum, A. Yu Petrov

Faculty Publications

The renormalization of quantum field theories usually assumes Lorentz and gauge symmetries, besides the general restrictions imposed by unitarity and causality. However, the set of renormalizable theories can be enlarged by relaxing some of these assumptions. In this work, we consider the particular case of a CPT-preserving but Lorentz-breaking extension of scalar QED. For this theory, we calculate the one-loop radiative corrections to the three- and four-point scalar-vector vertex functions, at the lowest order in the Lorentz-violation parameters, and we explicitly verify that the resulting low-energy effective action is compatible with the usual gauge invariance requirements. With these results, we …

Measurement Of The VE- Nucleus Charged-Current Double-Differential Cross Section At 〈EV⟩ = 2.4 Gev Using Nova, M. A. Acero, P. Adamson, L. Aliaga, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, L. Asquith, A. Aurisano, A. Back, M. Biard, N. Balashov, P. Baldi, B. A. Bambah, S. Bashar, K. Bays, R. Bernstein, V. Bhatnagar, D. Bhattarai, B. Bhuyan, J. Bian, Roberto Petti, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The inclusive electron neutrino charged-current cross section is measured in the NOvA near detector using 8.02×10²⁰ protons-on-target in the NuMI beam. The sample of GeV electron neutrino interactions is the largest analyzed to date and is limited by ≃17% systematic rather than the ≃7.4% statistical uncertainties. The double-differential cross section in final-state electron energy and angle is presented for the first time, together with the single-differential dependence on Q² (squared four-momentum transfer) and energy, in the range 1  GeV≤E_νGENIE, GiBUU, NEUT, and NuWro neutrino event generators. The data do not strongly favor a model over the …

February 1, 2023 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Soil Organic Matter Diagenetic State Informs Boreal Forest Ecosystem Feedbacks To Climate Change, Allison N. Myers-Pigg, Karl Kaiser, Ronald Benner, Susan E. Ziegler

Faculty Publications

The fate of soil organic carbon (SOC) in boreal forests is dependent on the integrative ecosystem response to climate change. For example, boreal forest productivity is often nitrogen (N) limited, and climate warming can enhance N cycling and primary productivity. However, the net effect of this feedback on the SOC reservoir and its longevity with climate change remain unclear due to difficulty in detecting small differences between large and variable carbon (C) fluxes needed to determine net changes in soil reservoirs. The diagenetic state of SOC – resulting from the physicochemical and biological transformations that alter the original biomolecular composition …

On The Legal Life-History Of Beaches, Josh Eagle

Faculty Publications

Climate change is, among other things, making it more and more difficult to get to the beach. Recent studies show that rising sea levels have been shrinking America’s beaches through erosion and inundation. This trend is unlikely to slow down anytime soon, and some scientists predict that we will see feet of additional sea-level rise within our lifetimes. While beaches are shrinking, reducing the availability of recreational opportunities for locals and tourists alike, the number of people who want to visit the beach has grown dramatically. The growth in demand is due to a variety of factors, including the very …

Effects Of Positive Social Comparative Feedback On Motor Sequence Learning And Performance Expectancies, Allison F. Lewis, Rachel Bohnenkamp, Lynn Johnson, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Sarah Wilcox Phd, Stacy L. Fritz, Jill Campbell Stewart Pt,Phd

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Positive social comparative feedback indicates to the learner that they are performing better than others. While this type feedback supports motor skill learning in some tasks, the effect of social comparative feedback on implicit motor sequence learning remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of positive social comparative feedback on the learning of and expectancies for a motor sequence task. Methods: Forty-eight individuals practiced a joystick-based sequence task and were divided into three feedback groups: CONTROL (no performance feedback), RT ONLY (response time only feedback), and RT+POS (response time plus positive social comparison). Participants …

Reducing Tracheal Complications In Endotracheal Intubation Patients Using Automated Cuff Pressure Modulation, Shrihan G. Babu

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Endotracheal tube intubation is the third most frequent procedure, performed approximately 13-20 million times yearly in the United States (Mosier et al., 2020). Despite the regularity of the procedure, intubation-related complications such as tracheal injuries, laryngeal injuries, and ventilator-associated pneumonia are ubiquitous due to improper cuff pressure management methods (Ganti et al., 2018). Current techniques, such as the pilot balloon and minimal leak technique, have proven ineffective and inconsistent in managing pressure. As a result, over 71.6% of intubation patients have abnormally high cuff pressures (Ramírez, 2014). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to design an endotracheal tube with …

Putting All My Eggs Into The App': Self, Relational And Systemic Surveillance Of Mothers' Use Of Digital Technologies During The Transition To Parenting, Jodi Hall, Bradley Hiebert, Danica Facca, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan

Publications

This paper builds on thematic findings from a larger study that explored how digital technologies (e.g. smartphones, apps, search engines) shape expectant and new mothers' early parenting practices. An overarching theme that arose across these mothers' experiences which deserved deeper exploration was relational digital surveillance. In the context of this paper, relational digital surveillance describes how mothers evaluate their sense of preparedness, goodness or suitability for motherhood as they transition into parenting in relation to: their own use of digital technologies when caring for their pregnant bodies (self-surveillance), partners' and family members' commentary and/or judgement regarding their use of digital …