Electronic Theses

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Amphibian Community Dynamics During Longleaf Pine Restoration
(2014-08-28) Wenzel, Ryan M.; Welch, Allison; DeGarady, Colette; Kilpatrick, Eran; Jones, Martin
A long term restoration plan developed by The Nature Conservancy is underway on the Bonnie Doone Tract in Colleton County, South Carolina. This restoration plan includes several activities designed to restore the native longleaf pine and wiregrass ecosystem, with goals to restore, possibly via reintroduction, the endangered flatwoods salamander to this portion of its historic range. Eleven wetland sites within four restoration treatments were sampled to compare the short-term ecological effects of longleaf pine restoration activities on the amphibian community, and determine how vegetative structure and water depth in wetlands affect amphibian diversity. I observed 20 amphibian species (six caudate, fourteen anuran) among the sampled wetlands. Total amphibian, anuran and caudate abundance, as well as water depth, were significantly higher in the three treatments that had been managed with clearcutting or thinning, burning, and under-planting with longleaf pine and wiregrass, as compared with the fourth treatment, which experienced no harvesting, no burning and no under-planting. Both caudate and anuran species were found more frequently in areas with greater water depth and abundant overstory hardwood composition in wetlands, but anurans were associated with less leaf litter while caudates were associated with less midstory cover and less midstory shrub cover.
Beautifully Ordered Balanced Incomplete Block Designs and Embedding of Complements
(2014-08-28) Shealy, Andrew K., Jr.; Sarvate, Dinesh; Cox, Ben; Mitchener, Garrett
A brief description of known definitions and necessary conditions are presented along with some existence results. Chapter 1 will focus on Beautifully Ordered Balanced Incomplete Block Designs. Beautifully Ordered Balanced Incomplete Block Designs, BOBIBD(v,k,lambda,k 1, lambda1), were introduced by Chan and Sarvate along with some existence results for block size 3 and 4. We have shown that necessary conditions are sufficient for the existence of BOBIBDs with k = 5 for k1 = 2 and 3 along with partial results for k1 = 4. We also claim the nonexistence of cyclic solutions for certain BOBIBDs. The existence of the previously unknown BOBIBD(v,4,2,3,1), v ≡ 1(mod 6), is demonstrated for all v ≥ 19. Chapter 2 focuses on the concept of embedding designs. In particular, embedding of a balanced incomplete block design have been studied extensively but an embedding of a BIBD(v,k,lambda) into its complement BIBD(v, v-k, b-2r+lambda), v ≥ 2k, is not widely known. Embedding theorems as well as some examples of BIBDs where the embedding is not possible are presented, leading to the more general open question of finding the necessary and sufficient conditions for such embeddings.
Civic Responsibility Through Environmental Education: How Earth Force's Service Learning Can Involve People of Multiple Socio-Economic Statuses
(2014-08-28) Donoghue, Elizabeth; Watson, Annette; Van Sickle, Meta; Stern, Michael; Rafalowski, Stacey
A goal of environmental education programs is to create environmental stewards who are active participants in solving environmental issues. Environmental education programs often focus on mainstream environmental agendas that tend to be exclusive and contain a view that nature is a separate place. EE programs often have issues with how people define and perceive nature, community, and environmental issues. Studies have shown cultural backgrounds, social factors, and education can influence these definitions and civic action (Quimby, Seyala, and Wolfson, 2007; Fisman, 2005). In this study, I surveyed students that participated in Earth Force's environmental program at schools located in Charleston County, South Carolina. The goal of the study was to measure the effectiveness of Earth Force's environmental and civic-based programming. I conducted a case study using a paper format questionnaire of students at four schools: two elementary, one secondary, and one high school. In this study, similar to previous work, students' perceived nature as a separate place often untouched by humans. However, the program was effective because the students felt place attachment or emotional connection to the environmental issues because the program focuses on community. EF's six-step model focusing on community environmental problems, rather than separate natural settings, proved effective in the engagement of students by their service learning projects. Social factors including socio-economics did not hinder the students learning objectives and civic participation. This study helps inform environmental educators about environmental education programming and why it is important to address the environmental concerns of the community in which the students live in order to create environmentally active citizens.
Development of New Technology for the Improvement of a Citizen Science Project: Clean Marine Smartphone App
(2014-08-28) Murphy, Dylan McNabb; Conley, Mary; Vance, Jason; Bakanic, Von; Joyner, Curtis
Marine debris can present a series of detrimental outcomes to South Carolina's coastal waters habitats, and species. Marine debris are manmade objects that have been discarded into the marine environment and can pose navigational hazards, increase water pollution by leaking fuel or other pollutants, trap coastal and estuarine species, and impair the aesthetics of a tidal marsh or estuary. One of the challenges to managing marine debris is timely, accurate, reporting. In 2011, the South Carolina Marine Debris Initiative was created. Led by various federal, state, and local regulatory agencies, the purpose of this initiative was to coordinate efforts to manage marine debris removal and to raise public awareness about the problem. As part of the Marine Debris Initiative, the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Marine Debris awarded funding to state and local agencies which led to the creation of the Clean Marine Program. This program instructs volunteers in how to document the location of marine debris, properly complete a paper form while boating, and then digitally submit the data to a web form when back on land. The hypothesis of this thesis was that the current submission method could be simplified by developing an application for smartphones that performs all the functions of the paper/web form. The application developed allows users to immediately report the debris sighting using a quick and convenient electronic medium. The application was programmed for use on the Android operating system for smartphone handsets & tablet computers. Once the application was developed and tested, it was promoted via nationwide nautical groups alongside the Clean Marine Program. Questionnaires collected from willing anonymous participants were used to improve the application's usefulness. Based on questionnaire responses, debris submissions, and the app's market performance, it was successful in being more efficient and appealing way to submit debris.
Diffuse Coevolutionary Arms Race Among Herbivorous Sea Urchins and Chemically-Rich Seaweeds
(2014-08-28) Craft, Jonathan Douglas; Sotka, Erik; DeLorenzo, Marie; Podolsky, Robert; Byrum, Christine
A diffuse coevolutionary arms-race between seaweeds and their herbivores is hypothesized to have operated on tropical reefs. Herbivorous sea urchins strongly structure seaweed communities on temperate and tropical reefs, and the diversity and concentrations of lipophilic secondary metabolites found in seaweeds from tropical floras are higher than those from temperate floras. However, the coevolutionary prediction that tropical herbivores have evolved stronger feeding resistance toward these seaweed metabolites has received little attention. I assessed the feeding responses of seven lineages of tropical and temperate sea urchin species toward lipophilic extracts from tropical seaweeds using a series of laboratory-based feeding preference assays. Consistent with a coevolutionary expectation, tropical urchins in the genera Diadema, Echinometra, and Arbacia were more willing to consume lipophilic chemical defenses from tropical seaweeds than were temperate urchins in the genera Strongylocentrotus and Arbacia. Although little is known about the mechanisms that underlie differences among herbivore species in their feeding resistance to seaweed secondary metabolites, one candidate protein family is glutathione S-transferase (GST). These detoxification enzymes are known to facilitate metabolic resistance to plant chemical defenses in terrestrial herbivores. I surveyed constitutive GST levels in the digestive tract of six urchin species and found that the most omnivorous of these urchins (Arbacia punctulata) had significantly higher constitutive levels of GST. I tested the inducibility of GST in A. punctulata after offering urchins foods with or without seaweed secondary metabolites and at multiple water temperatures. These induction experiments suggested that GST is not induced by lipophilic secondary metabolites from tropical seaweeds; however, when Arbacia punctulata were exposed to colder temperatures than typically experienced in nature, the individuals exhibited higher GST levels, suggesting oxidative stress. When cold-stressed these urchins reduced their feeding rate on and preference toward a lipophilic extract from Dictyota pulchella. Thus, cold-stress can compromise feeding resistance to seaweed chemical defenses. This finding has broad implications for seaweed-herbivore dynamics during cold exposure caused by upwellings, seasonality, and climate change.
Minimum Violations Ranking Using Evolutionary Optimization and Binary Integer Linear Program Approaches
(2014-08-28) Pedings, Kathyrn E.; Langville, Amy; Jones, Martin; Lafortune, Stephane
Ranking items is very natural to our society. We rank the top 100 movies of the century, book lists, and of course, we always care about whether or not our sports team is in the number one position. The field of ranking is one of great interest to many both in and out of the field of mathematics. There is often a structure to data that mathematicians can exploit to obtain a ranking. This thesis presents two new ways to rank sets of objects. This work mainly focuses on ranking sports teams, but each of these methods can be applied to many other types of data. The first method uses evolutionary optimization, a method that follows Darwinian ideas of mating, mutating, fitness, and survival of the fittest in a mathematical setting to determine which ranking is best. The second method is a binary integer linear program that works with the same theory as the evolutionary optimization algorithm, but guarantees optimal results. This thesis will explain, in detail, these two algorithms with examples of their applications in the field of ranking sports teams.
On the Conserved Quantities of the Vortex Filament Equation
(2014-08-28) Fenici, Elena Cristina; Calini, Annalisa; Lafortune, Stephane; Cox, Ben; Ivey, Thomas
In this Master Thesis, we take a closer look at the family of conserved quantities of the Vortex Filament Equation (VFE), a model of vortex filament dynamics in an ideal fluid and a well-known example of completely integrable partial differential equation (PDE). We use a recursion scheme proposed by Joel Langer to generate the VFE conserved quantities, and to compare them with the conserved quantities for the Nonlinear Schrodinger equation, an equivalent completely integrable PDE for a complex function of the curvature k and torsion tau of the filament. Next, we study the Brylinski Beta Function, a quantity that associates a meromorphic function to any knot, which generalizes the idea of the well-known knot energy functional. We show that the integrands of its residues are linear combinations of monomials in k, tau and their derivatives, all of the same weight, matching the monomials that appear in expression of the even-numbered conserved densities of the VFE. In searching for a Brylinski-type function whose residues coincide with the VFE conserved quantities (i.e. a generating functional for the conserved quantities), we propose a new meromorphic function that generalizes the self-linking number of a knot. We show that the integrands of its residues are linear combinations of differential monomials in k and tau, all of the same weight, matching the monomials in the expression of the odd-numbered conserved quantities of the VFE.
People of the Book: Perceptions of Religion during the Arab Conquest of Syria
(2014-08-28) Smith, Nicholas F.; Wright, Christopher; Bishop, Jane; Piccione, Peter
During the seventh century A.D. what is now known as the Arab Conquests took place in Syria and other regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Invading Muslims encountered other peoples and cultures, much different than their own. In Syria, the Muslims came into contact with the Byzantine Empire. Within this region of the Empire was a population weary of war from previous conflicts, and engulfed in their own social conflicts. This atmosphere helped create he conditions for victory that the Arabs needed to expand the borders of the Caliphate. The following work examines the role of inter-faith perceptions that both Muslims and Byzantine Christians had toward each other during the conquest, and how it aided or hindered the eventual Arabization and Islamization of this region once it became part of a growing Arab empire.
Proliferating Sustainable Initiatives in the Local Hotel Industry Through Communication Networks: A Case Study
(2014-08-28) Thal, Karen Irene; Burkett, Tracy L.; Nesbit, Todd M.; Pan, Bing; Smith, Wayne W.
A proposed eco-hospitality program by the City of Charleston served as the catalyst for this study which considered the most effective means by which the City might proliferate sustainable initiatives within the local hotel industry. An initial literature review traced growing awareness of environmental impacts as well as subsequent efforts to incorporate sustainable initiatives within the hospitality and tourism industry internationally. Disincentives and hurdles to the adoption of sustainable initiatives from an industry perspective, with respect to hotel general managers' points of view, and finally as a matter of local public policy were also considered. The subsequent study used a mixed methods approach that included in-depth interviews with local City representatives and affiliates, as well as an area study of hotel managers' communication networks. The interviews served to assess the City's capacity to implement an eco-hospitality program. Results suggested that given noted constraints including, for example, limited support from within City hall and little direct control over utility providers, a public-private collaborative approach is best suited to such an area initiative. A communication network study and subsequent analysis further suggested that the Charleston Area Visitor and Convention Bureau (CVB) may be a particularly influential within the hotel industry. Although not included in the initial network survey, the study nonetheless concluded that the CVB, a quasi-government organization with existing ties to the City, may hold particular promise as a communication broker to encourage the adoption of sustainable initiatives locally.
Social Evil in the Holy City: Prostitution in Charleston, SC, 1900-1920
(2014-08-28) Kline, Krystle; Poole, W. Scott; Slater, Sandra; Mushal, Amanda; Coy, Jason
At the turn of the century, moral reformers in America targeted prostitution as the "Great Social Evil." Some portrayed prostitutes as sympathetic young victims of white slavery, while others viewed them as diseased bodies that infected America's soldiers and young men. In Charleston, SC, however, the middle and upper classes voiced little concern over the city's red light district, which was located near the central business district. When the federal government launched a nationwide investigation into forced prostitution in 1912, they sent agents to Charleston. Although the federal agents made their findings public, Charlestonians made no effective efforts to reform or shut down the vice district. The local citizenry, police and politicians quietly tolerated prostitution while police collected fines from madams in the vice district. Most of Charleston's prostitutes fit the typical profile of an American prostitution, a young woman far from home who became a prostitute for economic reasons. Without much oversight, some madams gained a large degree of autonomy and control over their own lives. In 1918 the federal government closed Charleston's vice district, and prostitutes' lives became materially worse. Madams shut down their brothels, and prostitutes began to work on the streets. A 1920 federal public health investigation reveals prostitutes' increased dependence on pimps and male taxicab drivers, and prostitution began to emerge in its modern form.

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