Digital Commons Network^™

Noise-Insensitive Prognostic Evaluation Of Historic Masonry Structures, Ashley Haydock

All Theses

In recent years, a significant amount of research has been directed towards the development of prognostic methodologies to forecast the future health state of an engineering system assisting condition based maintenance. These prognostic methods, having furthered the maintenance practices for mechanical systems, have yet to be applied to historic masonry structures, many of which stand in an aged and degraded state. Implementation of prognostic methodologies to historic masonry structures can advance the planning of successful conservation and restoration efforts, ultimately prolonging the life of these heritage structures. This thesis presents a review of prognostic concepts and techniques available in the …

Effects Of Late Planting Dates, Maturity Groups And Management Systems On Growth, Development And Yield Of Soybean In South Carolina, Mengxuan Hu

All Theses

Planting date plays a significant role in determining soybean growth, development and seed yield. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effects of late planting date, management system, and maturity group on the growth, development and seed yield of maturity group VII and VIII soybean under dry land conditions in the Southeastern coastal plain of the United States. Plant growth and development, seed yield, yield components, and seed oil and protein concentrations were evaluated throughout the season. These experiments were conducted in South Carolina at the Edisto Research and Education Center near Blackville and the Pee Dee Research …

Dynamic Transcriptional Response Of Escherichia Coli To Inclusion Body Formation, Faraz Baig

All Theses

Escherichia coli is used intensively for recombinant protein production due to its many unique advantages, but one key challenge with the use of E. coli is the tendency of recombinant proteins to misfold and aggregate into insoluble inclusion bodies (IBs). The presence of IBs stresses cells and can hinder overall growth. Additionally, IBs contain high concentrations of recombinant protein in an inactive form and thus require recovery steps to salvage functional recombinant protein. Currently, no universally effective method exists to prevent IB formation in recombinant E. coli. Further research into the gene expression response to insoluble recombinant protein may …

Evaluation Of Angular Velocity Data From Inertial Measurement Units For Use In Clinical Settings, Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie

All Theses

Evaluating the human gait cycle with inertial measurement units (IMU) may prove beneficial for applications such as diagnoses of musculoskeletal diseases and assessment of rehabilitation regimes. An IMU system is potentially applicable for diagnosing and assessing rehabilitation outcomes for a variety of neuromuscular diseases since it is small, portable, and less expensive than a camera system. IMUs directly measure angular velocity, whereas position data from a camera system must be processed twice to obtain this information. The purpose of this research is to determine repeatability of IMU angular velocity data, and agreement between angular velocity data from an IMU system …

Quantifying Visitor Impact And Material Degradation At George Washington's Mount Vernon, Laurel Lynne Bartlett

All Theses

Over one million visitors per year traverse the visitor path through George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. Increased visitation has tested the limits of the architectural materials and created the single most threatening source of degradation. While the history of Mount Vernon is dotted with attempts to mitigate damage caused by visitors, scientific analysis of the dynamic impacts to the historic fabric is needed to preserve the integrity of the preeminent national house museum. The following thesis presents a holistic analysis of visitor impact and material degradation occurring at Mount Vernon.
Visitor impact issues are acknowledged at historic sites around …

Organizational Communication And The Meanings Of Social Media As Cultural Mediums: A Case Study Of Intramural Sport Participants' Interpretations Of Online Presence, Madeline Blair

All Theses

This thesis analyzes the relationship between organizational communication and social media presence in organizational culture. Using a university intramural sport program (UIM) as a case study, this study addresses the role of organizational members' interpretations of the introduction of social media into organizational processes and culture. This study an attempt to reveal a disconnect between organizational communication techniques and social media as cultural mediums by offering an interpretive approach to analysis of the UIM culture using Craig and Tracy's (1995) grounded practical theory. Ten interviews with UIM student employees and sport players were conducted and data were analyzed qualitatively. Findings …

'Pulse For Pulse, Breath For Breath:' Reconsidering Embodiment Through The Phenomenology Of Respiration, Erica Britenburg

All Theses

A phenomenological examination of the respiratory process reveals that possessing the ability to breathe carries with it more significance than an action that solely supports life: capable of leaving the immediate confines of the body, the breath is an enigmatic extension of the self. This particular traversing capability of the active body challenges notions of what it means to be fully embodied by indicating the possibility of subjective expansion outside that which is tangible and fleshly. Due to the intertwining and exchanging characteristics implicit within respirational activity, the sensational boundaries of subject and object become conflated with one another; the …

A Regenerative Medicine Approach To Improved Tendon Healing And Repair, Grace Margaret Dion

All Theses

Surgical repair of torn tendons is a common orthopaedic procedure in the United States, with nearly 400,000 repairs occurring annually. Despite improvements in surgical techniques used to re-attach the tendon to its boney insertion, clinically successful outcomes amongst patients are variable and re-tear rates can be exceedingly high. The use of stem cells as an adjunct to surgical repair to aid in improving tendon healing and repair strength has gained much interest amongst the clinical community. Accordingly, many investigators have begun examining the ability of stem cells to differentiate into tenocytes using various methodologies including the application of growth factors …

Influence Of Compost Particle Size On Pathogen Survival Under Greenhouse Condition, Junshu Diao

All Theses

The number of foodborne pathogen outbreaks related to fresh produce has increased significantly in recent decades. Animal waste directly applied to agricultural field is one of the possible contamination sources for fresh produce. Composting is one of the recommended means for waste treatments to eliminate or reduce pathogens in manure on farms. Although pathogens can be eliminated by proper composting process, pathogens are able to survive, recolonize and regrow on compost heap surfaces under certain conditions. Due to the outdoor nature of composting process, bioaerosols with different particle sizes can be generated on compost surfaces which can carry pathogens, travel …

Bacterial Recovery, Transfer To Hands And Survival On Restaurant Menus, Ibtehal Alsallaiy

All Theses

Some non-food contact surfaces such as restaurant menus are not routinely cleaned or evaluated for microbial contamination and thus may be a potential contamination risk. The main objectives of this study were to detect bacteria on restaurant menus, test the rate of bacteria transfer from menus to consumers and determine the survival rate of bacteria on the menu surface. Evaluation of samples can 'find' that menus harbored detectable levels of aerobic organisms and Staphylococcus spp. The average mean of Total Plate count (TPC) was 28 CFU/15cm2 per sampling area during busy periods and 15 CFU/15cm2 per sampling area during less …

Characterization Of Potential Wear Sources In Knee Arthroplasty Prostheses After In Vivo Function, Nicole Durig

All Theses

Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) is a common procedure generally performed in patients with osteoarthritis. While TJA continues to be a successful treatment for degenerative joint disease, there are many studies that demonstrate wear and its sequelae as the major limitation of joint replacement longevity. Previous studies have shown that wear debris originates from four main locations: articulating surfaces, modular component surfaces, surfaces of fixation, and adjuvant fixation devices. Each of these possible wear sources can initiate the cascade of failure associated with wear-induced osteolysis and lead to subsequent revision surgery. The objective of this thesis is to characterize the in …

Biohydrogen Production By Thermotoga Neapolitana In Agricultural Media, David Morris

All Theses

In this study the production of hydrogen gas by eubacteria Thermotoga neapolitana was investigated. The organism was grown using varying media of cull peach solids and soybean meal. Hydrogen, co-products, and sugar concentrations were observed and compared.
T. neapolitana grew in medium containing peaches and soybean meal as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, and produced hydrogen gas. A standard medium containing glucose and yeast extract produced the most hydrogen at 31.5 mmol H2/L-medium. Withholding the vitamins and minerals from the standard the media had a significant effect on hydrogen production reducing the amount of gas produced to 25.8 mmol H2/L-medium. …

Classification Of Biological Phenomena To Aid In Search And Retrieval For Biomimicry, Kevin Murray

All Theses

Biomimetic design offers an avenue for designers to expand the solution realm by offering surface dissimilar analogies. However, a significant challenge within biomimetic design has been offering a suitable method for discovery and retrieval of inspiring biological phenomena to aid in conceptual design. This research proposes an approach for classifying both biological systems and engineering products into the type of problem being addressed. This allows designers to search for inspirational phenomena based on the type of problem that they are trying to solve. Initially this classification is performed with product-phenomenon pairings that have already been attributed to biomimetic design from …

Evaluation Of Dormant-Season Herbicide Treatment Methods For Chinese Privet At Congaree National Park, Karen Vaughn

All Theses

Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense Lour.) is a non-native invasive shrub that has become ubiquitous throughout the southeastern United States. There is a large infestation of privet at Congaree National Park in South Carolina, and the National Park Service is interested in controlling it with dormant-season foliar herbicide treatments. The primary objective of this study was to determine which combination of herbicide and applicator provides the most effective control of privet, while minimizing damage to non-target plants. Another objective was to document impacts of privet invasion on Congaree's plant communities.
Seven vegetation plots were installed in each of five large privet …

Laser-Assisted Printing Of Alginate And Cellular Tubes, Jingyuan Yan

All Theses

Laser-assisted printing such as laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) has found increasing biofabrication applications as an orifice-free cell/organ printing approach. Unfortunately, there have been very few studies on its efficacy of three-dimensional (3D) printing performance. In addition, the effects of printing parameters on jet/droplet formation during the printing of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids are lacking. Therefore, it is important to investigate its printing process and quality. The resulting knowledge will help to better control the resulting printing quality and feature resolution.
The objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of laser-assisted 3D printing process and its applicability in making …

The Second Choice, Yangchun Li

All Theses

This creative thesis strives to carve out the constitutional disappointments in our psychic experiences and the equally constitutional human effort to seek a temporal sense of contentment amid the disappointments, from the context of the increasing fluidity of the present world, where international mobility has ceased to be the privilege or misfortune of a few and become the norm of a growing globalized population. In this thesis, an inward-looking, self-exploring approach is employed to explore the pluralism in both disappointment and self-consoling. The limitations in the characters' perspectives are essential to both stories in this thesis, because a limited perspective …

Cultivating America's Working Lands: A Study Of The Sociocultural Value Of Family Farms, Katherine Lloyd

All Theses

Our ability to produce food in a sustainable, healthy and humane manner is threatened, both in the United States and on the global scale. This difficulty is exacerbated by expected population growth, creating a need for 60% more food worldwide by 2050 to feed a population of 9.3 billion (United Nations Chronicle, 2012). How we produce food affects local economies, the cultural vitality of communities, and the health of regional ecosystems. Industrial or conventional agriculture is damaging all three of these systems, by draining local economies through corporate business practices, isolating farmers and attributing to rural population losses, while depleting …

And Baby Makes Three: A Content Analysis Of Adolescent Romantic Relationships As Portrayed On Reality Television, Erin Shealy

All Theses

Although teenage pregnancy and birth rates have been on the decline, the United States still has rates higher than any industrialized country. With several negative consequences associated with teenage childbearing for teen mothers and their children as well as for society, teen pregnancy is a social problem. Much of the existing literature focuses on the deleterious effects of pregnancy on teen mothers, but very few studies consider the effect that the transition to parenthood has on adolescent romantic relationships. The present study seeks to fill this gap by analyzing the content of popular television series, namely 16 and Pregnant and …

Temporal Food Preference And Effectiveness Of Selected Bait Products Against Pachycondyla Chinensis (Emery) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Ying Mo

All Theses

Pachycondyla chinensis (Emery), commonly known as the Asian needle ant is a well-established invasive species in urban and woodland areas in South Carolina. Foraging ants are found around or under places such as sidewalks, flowerbeds, mulch, tree bases, stones, and logs where human outdoor activity takes place in urbanized area. It is not an aggressive ant, but it has a powerful sting that causes severe allergic reactions in some people. It also has a negative impact on native ant species in forest environments. Food preference was studied, followed by an evaluation of selected bait products against P. chinensis.
Protein, carbohydrate, …

Beyond Drawing The Line: A Study Of The Edge Structure Of Boston's Emerald Necklace, Priyanka Vankina

All Theses

Landscapes are mosaics of patches and corridors which are formed by hills, different soils types, vegetation patchiness, natural disturbances and human activities. As humans have developed, the patches and corridors have become fragmented and edges have been created. These edges become the critical points of interaction for wildlife with their surroundings. This is especially true in urban areas where development has created harsh edge environments.
This study investigates the edge structure of Olmsted's Emerald Necklace to understand how edges can be designed to create habitat for wildlife in urban areas. The Emerald Necklace is located in Boston, MA and was …

Parallex File System (Pxfs): Bridging The Gap Between Exascale Processing Capabilities And I/O Performance, Shane Snyder

All Theses

Due to processors reaching the maximum performance allowable by current technology, architectural trends for computer systems continue to increase the number of cores per processing chip to maximize system performance. Most estimates suggest massively parallel systems will be available within the decade, containing millions of cores and capable of exaFlops of performance. New models of execution are necessary to maximize processor utilization and minimize power costs for these exascale systems. ParalleX is one such execution model, which attempts to address inefficiencies of current execution models by exposing fine-grained parallelism, increasing system utilization using asynchronous workflow, and resolving resource contention through …

Uncommon Approaches To Commons Problems: Nested Governance And Climate Change, Blake Hudson, Jonathan Rosenbloom

UC Law Journal

The national debate over marriage discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans is playing out in state legislatures, at the ballot, and in the federal courts under the conventional notion that liberal rhetoric, the liberal political philosophy indebted to John Rawls, and the unencumbered self at their cores are the bases for the most effective arguments for the gay rights movement. Pro-gay groups talk often about rights, liberty, and the freedom to choose whom to love. Even in court, gay rights groups repeat the Supreme Court’s statements about a fundamental right to make the choice to marry. But the conventional wisdom …

You Probably Think This Is Gross (And I Do Too), Audrey Schroeder

Arrow Rock

No abstract provided.

Arrow Rock, 2012-2013, Full Issue

Arrow Rock

No abstract provided.

Performance Assessment For Quality Teaching: Three Critical Variables For Measuring And Improving Teaching And Learning, Kathleen L. Gallagher Phd

Dissertations

While outstanding teachers are any school system's most important investment, assessing the quality of instructional practice has proven to be an ongoing challenge for the profession. Despite assertions that effective teachers are the single most important school-related factor responsible for increased learning, no teacher's employment is dependent on their performance in the classroom or the quality of instruction that they provide. This problem has fueled a growing mistrust in school districts nationwide, specifically in the area of teacher evaluation. One possible explanation is that the profession lacks the scaled level of expertise needed to evaluate instruction consistently and in a …

Exploring The Paradoxical Role And Experience Of Fallback In Developmental Theory, Valerie Townsend Livesay Phd

Dissertations

Constructive-development and stage development theory, which posits that individuals move through different stages or action logics throughout life, has been the foundation for several models of human transformation. The literature on the leading stage theories indicates that research has focused on exploring stages and their behavioral correlates, but little work has been done on how individuals move between stages. Stage theory has primarily been conceived of as a linear and unidirectional transition from one stage to the next, which encompasses earlier stages, however emerging research has revealed that stage transition may be more fluid and bi-directional than originally thought and …

Nutritional Status Of Patients With End Stage Liver Disease: An Outpatient Assessment, Anna Marie Cumming-Browne Hefner Phd, Msn, Cpnp, Rn

Dissertations

Cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States. It is well documented end stage liver disease drives a patient to a catabolic state thus depleting them of essential nutrients. Malnutrition is often unrecognized and untreated in outpatients. Though BMI, nutritional intake, anthropometric measurements have been used in clinical trials, there still remains no standard nutritional assessment. The purpose of this dissertation was to (1) identify the incidence of malnutrition in patients with compensated and decompensated liver disease utilizing defined nutritional parameters (Subjective Global Assessment, anthropometric measurements, hand grip strength, and laboratory values) and (2) correlate with …

Risk-Appropriate Maternal Care: Identifying Risk Factors That Effect Maternal Outcome, Lucy R. Van Otterloo Phd, Msn, Rnc, Cns

Dissertations

Although maternal deaths are the most tragic of obstetric events it continues to be a rare event. Maternal morbidity, on the other hand, is increasing and poses a greater impact on the economic, psychological, and physical health of the woman and her family, yet it has not been the focus of measurement or research since there is no systematic collection of data available. As complications increase, the likelihood of adverse maternal outcomes such as longer postpartum stays due to the need for more extensive care will also increase. Nurses are being challenged to use their knowledge and skills to identify …

How To Kill Copyright: A Brute-Force Approach To Content Creation, Kirk Sigmon

Cornell Law Library Cantwell Prize for Exemplary Student Research Papers

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The Addition Of Community Based Truancy Intervention Panels On The Reduction Of Student Absences, Lenora Jane Nyeste

Dissertations

In 2008, a large southeastern school district was awarded an $8.5 million Safe School/Healthy Students (1999) federal grant. The grant, titled Success for All Students (SFAS) (2008) was a collaborative effort between the school district and county commissioners with the shared goal of increasing student achievement and healthy development by providing and sustaining family, school and community prevention and intervention programs. One of the services provided by the SFAS program was the addition of a truancy intervention panel (TIP) in the 35 district schools receiving services.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a TIP on …