Digital Commons Network^™

Circumventing State Consumer Protection Laws: Tribal Immunity And Internet Payday Lending, Heather L. Petrovich

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mandatory E-Verification In North Carolina: The Adverse Consequences Of The System In The Absence Of Comprehensive Reform, Leann Gerlach

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Species Richness And Nest Dispersion Of Some Tropical Meliponine Bees (Apidae: Meliponinae) In Six Habitat Types In The Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya, Kiatoko Nkoba, Suresh Kumar Raina, Elluid Muli, Klaus Mithofer, Jones Mueke

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

A study to determine the species richness and spatial distribution of five meliponine bee species in three different habitats in the Kakamega forest was undertaken for the first time. Two forest (indigenous and mixed indigenous) and two grassland (with Eucalyptus spp. trees and indigenous trees) types, along with homesteads (in the vicinity of mixed indigenous forest and indigenous forest, respectively), were surveyed. Line transect methods were used in the nest survey in each habitat. The highest number of species was recorded in the indigenous forest, while no nest was discovered in the grassland with Eucalyptus spp. trees. The mean number …

Elucidation Of The Biosynthesis Of The Di-C-Glycosylflavone Isoschaftoside, An Allelopathic Component From Desmodium Spp. That Inhibits Striga Spp. Development, Mary L. Hamilton, Serge P. Kuate, Melissa Brazier-Hicks, John C. Caulfield, Ruth Rose, Robert Edwards, Baldwyn Torto, John A. Pickett, Antony M. Hooper

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Isoschaftoside, an allelopathic di-C-glycosylflavone from Desmodium spp. root exudates, is biosynthesised through sequential glucosylation and arabinosylation of 2-hydroxynaringenin with UDP-glucose and UDP-arabinose. Complete conversion to the flavone requires chemical dehydration implying a dehydratase enzyme has a role in vivo to complete the biosynthesis. The C-glucosyltransferase has been partially characterised and its activity demonstrated in highly purified fractions. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disentangling Dispersal, Vicariance And Adaptive Radiation Patterns: A Case Study Using Armyworms In The Pest Genus Spodoptera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Gael J. Kergoat, Dorothy P. Prowell, Bruno P. Le Ru, Andrew Mitchell, Pascaline Dumas, Anne Laure Clamens, Fabien L. Condamine, Jean François Silvain

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Thanks to the recent development of integrative approaches that combine dated phylogenies with models of biogeographic evolution, it is becoming more feasible to assess the roles of dispersal and vicariance in creating complex patterns of geographical distribution. However, the historical biogeography of taxa with good dispersal abilities, like birds or flying insects, still remains largely unknown because of the lack of complete phylogenies accompanied by robust estimates of divergence times. In this study, we investigate the evolution and historical biogeography of the globally distributed pest genus Spodoptera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) using complete taxon sampling and an extensive set of analyses. Through …

How Do The Elderly Fare In Medical Malpractice Litigation, Before And After Tort Reform? Evidence From Texas, Myungho Paik, Bernard S. Black, David A. Hyman, William M. Sage, Charles M. Silver

Faculty Scholarship

The elderly account for a disproportionate share of medical spending, but little is known about how they are treated by the medical malpractice system, or how tort reform affects elderly claimants. We compare paid medical malpractice claims brought by elderly plaintiffs in Texas during 1988–2009 to those brought by adult non-elderly plaintiffs. Controlling for healthcare utilization (based on inpatient days), elderly paid claims rose from about 20% to about 40% of the adult non-elderly rate by the early 2000s. Mean and median payouts per claim also converged, although the elderly were far less likely to receive large payouts. Tort reform …

Distinguishing The “Truly National” From The “Truly Local”: Customary Allocation, Commercial Activity, And Collective Action, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay makes two claims about different methods of defining the expanse and limits of the Commerce Clause.

My first claim is that approaches that privilege traditional subjects of state regulation are unworkable and undesirable. The approaches are unworkable in light of the frequency with which the states and the federal government regulate the same subject matter in our modern world of largely overlapping federal and state legislative jurisdiction. The approaches are undesirable because the question of customary allocation is unrelated to the principal reason why Congress possesses the power to regulate interstate commerce: solving collective action problems involving multiple …

Against Employer Dumpster-Diving For Email, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Recent attorney client-privilege cases ojfer a modern understanding of reasonable expectations of employee privacy in the digital age. Today employees are sending an increasing number of electronic mail communications to their attorneys via employer-provided computers or other digital devices with an expectation of privacy and confidentiality. Historically, courts summarily dispensed with these matters by finding that an employer policy establishing employer ownership of any communications made through employer-provided devices eliminated any employee expectation of privacy in the communications and waived any viable privacy challenges to employer review of those communications. Nevertheless, within the last couple of years, several cases involving …

The Control Of Nitrogenous And Carbonaceous Disinfection Byproduct Precursors With Magnetic Ion Exchange, Xiaojie Gan

All Theses

The objective of this study was to examine the potential of the magnetic ion exchange (MIEX®) process to remove nitrogenous disinfection byproduct (N-DBP) precursors while minimizing carbonaceous DBP (C-DBP) precursors in different water matrices. In the first phase of the study, the MIEX® process was tested in raw dinking waters and waters impacted effluent from wastewater treatment plant. Samples were collected from several drinking water/wastewater treatment plants in South Carolina. The effluent impacted source waters were prepared by mixing treated wastewater effluents with a drinking water. For all samples, formation potential (FP) tests were conducted for regulated trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic …

Estimating Water Flux And Storage Using Displacement Measurements In Saprolite At Depth, Clay Freeman

All Theses

Water storage in the soil is important for many hydrologic problems, but measuring how the storage changes at an appropriate scale remains a challenge. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the feasibility of estimating change in water content in soil by measuring vertical displacement in underlying soils. This approach is appealing because the averaging volume of the displacement scales with the depth at which the measurements are taken. This should result in measurements of changes in soil moisture that are averaged over regions 10s to 100s of meters across, a measurement scale that is much larger than that …

Evaluating Best Practices For Interpretive Programs In The National Park Service, Emily Martin

All Theses

Since its inception, interpretation in parks and protected areas has been used to achieve a variety of desired visitor outcomes, including enhanced satisfaction, visitor experience, and behavioral change. A large body of literature has been developed regarding effective techniques and desirable styles for conducting interpretive programs. However, despite the amount of this literature, as interpretation progresses into the 21st century, a gap has been identified between empirical support for interpretation's “ best practices ” and their links to desired outcomes. This study aims to isolate those practices that are necessary for producing desired outcomes in national park visitors. National Park …

Call It Courage: The Effects Of Perspective, Humility, Locus Of Control, And Social Desirability On Perceptions Of Accolade Courage In Male Student And Military Populations, Chad Breeden

All Theses

Courage - despite millennia of contemplation - is only now seeing efforts at empirical study and definition. Recent studies have attempted to break down the component parts of courage, but do not address why courage appears to only be bestowed on others and rarely to oneself: a phenomenon known as courage blindness (Biswas-Deiner, 2012). This paper examines how individuals attribute courage to themselves and how they attribute it to others. Male military personnel (n =86) and male college students (n =106) read 14 scenarios of varying courage, rating the courageousness of themselves or another person based on the action. Multiple …

Motion Capture Study Of Human Movement Recognition, Nicholas Kinerd

All Theses

In this thesis, we address questions about recognition of human movement through motion
capture. We begin by capturing the martial arts movements of four actors as they each perform
three different techniques. We then conduct a survey to determine if participants in
the survey are able to distinguish the various martial arts techniques and differentiate the
actors that portray said techniques. A secondary consideration of our survey is to determine
if the participants can distinguish the sex of the actors as they perform the martial arts
techniques. Our hypothesis is that people are able to distinguish actors and sex; however, …

Double Paddle Oscillators For The Mechanical Spectroscopy Of Ion-Solid Interactions, Jason Puls

All Theses

We demonstrated using a double paddle oscillator to measure subsurface defect formation at room temperatures caused by ion implantation. This sensor has a low amount of noise based because of its high quality factors in certain modes. The double paddle oscillator was bombarded with Ar ions under ultra-high vacuum conditions while it was oscillating. The resultant resonant frequency changes were discussed as a method to determine defect formation inside the bulk substrate.

Novel Electron Shuttling Compounds, Ramasubramanian Neeraja

All Theses

Electron mediator's usage in remediation technologies might be an excellent alternative to increase the rate of transformation of various contaminants such as nitroamine, polyhalogenated compounds and many others. Employing electron shuttles open up different pathways for the contaminant transformation and the reaction goes to completion at a much faster rate. Anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) has been known to be a model electron shuttle with good shuttling capacity followed by humic acids. But the necessity for identifying electron shuttles suitable for field applications is important. As remediation technologies will command application of the shuttles on a large scale, tracing shuttles which are cheap, …

Connecting Architecture, Fitness, Optimizations And Performance Using An Anisotropic Diffusion Filter, Sumedh Naik

All Theses

Over the past decade, computing architectures have continued to exploit multiple levels of parallelism in applications. This increased interest in parallel computing has not only fueled the growth of multi-core processors but has also lead to an emergence of several non-traditional computing architectures like General Purpose Graphical Processing Units (GP-GPUs), Cell Processors, and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Of these non-traditional computing architectures, GP-GPUs have gained widespread popularity due to their massively parallel computational abilities and relative ease of programmability.
Several software development ecosystems have emerged to harness the power of these parallel architectures. Although several threading libraries like POSIX …

Detecting Copper Residues In Sediments From Aquatic Copper-Based Pesticide Applications, Ben Willis

All Theses

Copper-based algaecides and herbicides are commonly used to mitigate risks of problematic algae and weeds, however there are concerns regarding copper accumulation from treatments. Modeling and laboratory experiments can be used to predict copper accumulation and measurement in sediments, as well as benthic invertebrate responses following treatments. Modeling was used to estimate copper residual concentrations in sediments from algaecide and herbicide treatments. Reported and measured method detection limits (MDLs; minimum concentration of an analyte of interest that can be measured with 99 percent confidence in a specific matrix using an analytical method) were compared to model estimated copper residual concentrations …

The Effects Of Low Dose Ionizing Radiation Exposure On The Metabolic And Mechanical Properties Of Articular Cartilage, Carl Lindburg

All Theses

Radiation therapy is necessary treatment for many cancer patients due to its non-surgical, yet aggressive and efficacious properties. In fact, over 50% of patients with cancer will undergo some form of radiotherapy during the course of their treatment. While the biological response to ionizing radiation has been examined over the years and many adverse effects have been identified, the effects of radiation on mature cartilage and musculoskeletal tissues are not well understood. Bone, once thought to be a tissue relatively resistant to radiation, has recently been shown to have osteoporosis-like bone atrophy after exposure to low doses (2 Gy) of …

Hydromechanical Well Testing Using A 3d Fiber Optic Extensometer, Glenn Skawski

All Theses

Some fractured rock formations hold important resources, such as water, hydrocarbons or heat, whereas others are good candidates for waste disposal. Hydromechanical well tests have been developed to improve characterization of formation properties and parameter distributions by measuring displacement along with pressure while stressing a well. The displacement that occurs during a well test depends on the geometry of fractures or other sources of permeability, as well as the distribution of compliance or elastic modulus. Current methods of hydromechanical well testing, measures axial displacements along a wellbore, which may cause ambiguity in interpretations when 3-D components of deformation are present. …

Predictors Of Motivation To Participate In Whitewater Kayaking, Jon Evans

All Theses

Whitewater kayaking has grown in popularity over the past two decades (NSRE, 1994; NSRE, 2000). Because of this growth a better understanding of participants motivations could assist vendors, programmers, and decision making bodies for the future of the sport. The intent of this study is to explore the differences between the demographic variables age, sex, and skill level on the motivations to participate in whitewater kayaking. A secondary purpose was to assess the differences between the basic psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and motivation to participate in the sport of whitewater kayaking.
Whitewater enthusiasts were recruited from across …

Study On Corrosion Activity Of Carbon Steel In Concrete Simulated Pore Solution Under Static Tensile And Compressive Stresses, Yujie Zhang

All Theses

Reinforced concrete is a structure material made up of concrete with relatively lower tensile strength containing reinforcements with higher tensile strength and better ductility, which are embedded into fresh concrete to resist tensile stress in certain regions of concrete. Steel reinforced concrete is most widely used around the world in civil engineering structures, water conservancy and highway construction due to its durability strength and reasonable cost.
However, reinforced concrete structures such as bridges and parking lots slabs inevitably experience variable loads and constant degradation from the aggressive environments, such as marine and deicing salts. Therefore, it is imperative to study …

Objective Bayesian Inference On The Common Mean Of Normal Distributions, Shiyi Tu

All Theses

One of the oldest problems in statistical area is to make inference on a common mean of several different normal populations with unknown and probably unequal variances. There are several different ways to make inference on the common mean. The most common methods are point estimation, hypothesis testing, and interval estimation. Point estimation uses sample data to calculate a single value serving as a best guess for the unknown population mean. Hypothesis testing assumes all populations have the same mean as the null hypothesis. Interval estimation is an interval of possible values of the unknown mean.
In this paper, we …

The Clemson Class Of 1939, Lawrence Korth

All Theses

Abstract
The Clemson graduating class of 1939 entered college in 1935, during the Great Depression. By the time they enrolled, even as teenagers, many of them had encountered the economic hardships and family disruption of the times. When they got to Clemson, they discovered a military school with strong discipline and regimentation. Shortly after graduation these same men were engaged in World War ll. These three experiences, - the Depression, military training and World War ll combat - combined to form a bond among these men that has carried forward for over 70 years.
Circumstance played a role in helping …

Finding Upstate South Carolina's Consumers' Willingness To Pay For Local Food With A Price Premium Donation To Local Food Banks, Emily Young

All Theses

The objective of this study is to evaluate Upstate South Carolina consumers' willingness to pay for a system in which local food banks and local farms support one another. The proposed system will be based on local food consumers paying a price premium for locally grown agricultural products, and this premium is then donated to local food banks. The food banks would act as intermediaries to improve sustainability of local farms and in the long term, this system is expected to provide external benefits to local economic development. The study uses a consumer demand mail survey to record opinions about, …

Development Of A Two-Dimensional Model Of A Pneumatic Tire, Timothy Lewis

All Theses

The pneumatic tire has been studied extensively since its invention in 1888. With the advent of high-powered computers and the use of the finite element method, the understanding of the tire's complex non-linear behavior has grown tremendously. However, one weakness of finite element models is that parameter studies are difficult and time consuming to perform. In contrast, an analytical model can quickly and easily perform extensive parameter studies. To the knowledge of the author, all existing analytical models of the tire make assumptions concerning the tire's behavior and construction that while useful for obtaining some of the first-order characteristics, are …

Examining The Short-Run Price Elasticity Of Gasoline Demand In The United States, Michael Brannan

All Theses

Estimating the consumer demand response to changes in the price of gasoline has important implications regarding fuel tax policies and environmental concerns. There are reasons to believe that the short-run price elasticity of gasoline demand fluctuates due to changing structural and behavioral factors. In this paper I estimate the short-run price elasticity of gasoline demand in two time periods, from 2001 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2010. This study utilizes data at both the national and state levels to produce estimates. The short-run price elasticities range from -0.034 to -0.047 during 2001 to 2006, compared to -0.058 to -0.077 …

Treatment Thresholds For Bollworm (Helicoverpa Zea) In Dual-Gene Bt Cotton, Kristen Carter

All Theses

Dual-gene Bt cotton has reduced the need for insecticide treatments for bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), compared with original single-gene Bt technology. Bollgard II¨ (Monsanto, St. Louis, MO) and WideStrike¨ (Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN), both produce the Cry1Ac protein and a second protein, Cry2Ab or Cry1F, respectively. These dual-gene Bt cottons provide enhanced control of lepidopteran pests, but remain less than 100% effective against bollworm, particularly when population pressure is high. Current recommended treatment thresholds for bollworm on cotton in South Carolina are as follows: treat with insecticides when three or more large larvae are found per 100 plants or when …

Convex Hull Characterization Of Special Polytopes In N-Ary Variables, Ruobing Shen

All Theses

This paper characterizes the convex hull of the set of n-ary vectors that are lexicographically less than or equal to a given such vector. A polynomial number of facets is shown to be sufficient to describe the convex hull. These facets generalize the family of cover inequalities for the binary case. They allow for advances relative to both the modeling of integer variables using base-n expansions, and the solving of n-ary knapsack problems with weakly super-decreasing coefficients.

An Efficient Image Segmentation Algorithm Using Bidirectional Mahalanobis Distance, Rahul Suresh

All Theses

In this thesis, we present an efficient graph-based image-segmentation algorithm that improves upon the drawbacks of the minimum spanning tree based segmentation algorithm, namely leaks that occur due to the criterion used to merge regions, and the sensitivity of the output to the parameter k. To address these problems, we propose the use of bidirectional Mahalanobis distance, along with a Gaussian model for each region, and an intuitive normalized parameter τ that replaces k and works for all images without having to be changed. Furthermore, we propose an approximation to the algorithm that enables it to run efficiently in O(NlogN) …

Study Of Cell Viability During Laser Direct Writing Of Cell-Alginate Suspension, Hemanth Gudapati

All Theses

Laser-assisted cell printing, developed based on Matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation direct-write (MAPLE DW), a typical LIFT (laser-induced forward transfer) practice, has been emerging as one of the most promising biofabrication techniques. Alginate, particularly sodium alginate, is extensively used as the constituent of bioink in laser-assisted cell printing. However, thus far, studies investigating the effect of alginate gelation on cell viability in laser-assisted cell printing are lacking. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of gelation, gelation time, sodium alginate concentration, and the effect of operating conditions such as the laser fluence on post-transfer cell viability during laser-assisted cell …