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Preferred Plants \u3ci\u3eand\u3c/i\u3e Nectar Collecting Times \u3ci\u3efor\u3c/i\u3e Honey Production
Full text linkThis book addresses three important questions for South Carolina beekeepers – which plants are bees in South Carolina using for nectar forage, when bees collect nectar from those plants, and how can understanding nectar foraging habits inform beekeepers as they work to gather specific types of premium honey? In 2021, the South Carolina Beekeeper’s Association, led by David MacFawn, designed and implemented a statewide pollen study, the first in any state in over fifty years, to answer these questions. Informed by data gathered from 19 apiaries across the state, this book contains the results of that study, including large-scale melissopalynological analyses of collected pollens, weekly dynamics of seasonal nectar flows broken down by ecoregion, and recommendations for how beekeepers can implement this information into yearly honey production planning. As the preeminent reference work for beekeeping in South Carolina, this book will also prove valuable to beekeepers, those interested in becoming beekeepers, and non-beekeepers interested in growing bee-friendly plants alike.https://open.clemson.edu/extension_pubs/1000/thumbnail.jp
College Students and Families Navigate Recovery from Alcohol and Other Drugs
Full text linkRural universities provide unique opportunities for public health services. For some college students, the environment may threaten a person’s recovery from a substance use disorder, yet navigating college, relationships, and recovery is manageable through supportive initiatives funded by higher education. This qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews to gather a family system perspective on the recovery process from alcohol or other drugs. Recruited through a southern university-sponsored Collegiate Recovery Program, interviews were conducted with 5 individuals in recovery and 14 of their family members. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that families need support in different ways, including building a foundational knowledge of recovery for the family members. Collegiate Recovery Programs can be a mechanism to provide support to both the individual and the family system
Yeats, Tagore, and the Nobel Prize in Literature: Imprimaturs in Modernist Cultural Conversations
Full text linkInvestigating Appalachian Medical Students’ Perceived Supports and Inhibitors to Their Aspirations Using Habitus and Capital
Full text linkThis study examined Appalachian medical student aspiration facilitators and impediments. Using semi-structured interviews from ten medical students, findings were analyzed with habitus, and cultural and social capital, with an emphasis on Appalachia as place. Parents established postsecondary expectations early. Family circumstances were influential, including relatives in healthcare, or attending private school. Success with STEMM and haphazard healthcare interactions stoked further interest. However, families approached medical school from a risk narrative, reconsidering what was a part of their child’s imagined future. Physician interactions often provided mixed guidance and resulted in students questioning their career trajectory. Findings confirm and highlight the value of rural parental influence and add to the discussion ways parents actively influence aspiration across the socioeconomic spectrum. This research highlights the role of public goods and their influence while illustrating the complexity of supporting and inhibiting factors in the development of aspiration for medical education in a rural region
Performance of Inline Compression with Software Caching for Reducing the Memory Footprint in pySDC
Full text linkThe volume of data required for High Performance Computing (HPC) applications is growing faster than the memory storage available to store the required data, leading to performance bottlenecks in transferring data. Whether sending data from main memory to computation nodes or between parallel processes during runtime, the more data there is to send, the longer it will take to for that data to be sent from one location to the next. Hence the need for inline data compression, which reduces the amount of allocated memory needed by storing the largest data structures in a compressed format and decompressing/recompressing single variables as needed. We apply inline compression to HPC application pySDC, a framework that solves collocation problems iteratively using parallel-in-time methods. We introduce a new version of pySDC that has a compression manager to add inline compression functionality, along with a software cache that stores the decompressed state of the most frequently used variables. We use lossy compressor ZFP and test our model with varying software cache sizes. Results show that having no cache has the best compression ratio (CR) - with reducing the data up to one tenth of its original size- but having a maximum cache size reduces total execution time by 3X while also slightly improving the memory footprint. Our framework overall provides user versatility in the trade-off between execution time and memory savings
Sacred Grounds: A Risk Assessment Framework Developed for Historic African American Cemeteries Threatened by Sea Level Rise in Georgetown, SC
Full text linkABSTRACT
This study acknowledges historic African American cemeteries as vital cultural and historical landmarks that preserve the stories and traditions of often overlooked communities. However, coastal cemeteries, particularly in Georgetown, South Carolina, face increasing environmental threats. These burial sites risk severe damage or complete loss as climate change accelerates from sea level rise, flooding, storm surges, neglect, development pressure, and land development.
This research develops and considers a risk assessment framework to address the risks of cemeteries proximity to water, elevation, flood risk, and cultural significance. The research employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping, historical records, and site analysis to determine which cemeteries in Georgetown, SC face the highest threats as a test case of the risk framework.
The findings reveal that the most significant threats were flooding and storm surges. Cemeteries located near bodies of water and at low elevations exhibit the highest vulnerability. The findings also reveal proximity to water was not always the deciding factor for cemeteries that scored high. Many of these cemeteries exist on historic plantations in low-lying areas, making them especially vulnerable. In contrast, cemeteries situated on higher ground, particularly those affiliated with churches, show greater resilience to environmental threats.
This research emphasizes the urgent need for improved preservation planning, and stronger legal protection, to safeguard these sacred sites. This study provides a model for assessing the risk of vulnerable cemeteries in Georgetown, SC and other coastal communities by developing a risk assessment framework that integrates environmental data with cultural heritage considerations
Exploring Antimicrobial Performance and Compostability of a Pectin-Based Film
Full text linkPackaging is considered one of the most important parts of the food supply chain. Packaging affects many aspects of the food product, such as acceptability, safety, nutritional quality, and it also provides a means of communication with the consumer. Although many people are aware of the great benefits packaging provides to the food sector, fewer think about the repercussions that occur from the waste that is generated from packaging, or the waste from the food inside the package. There is little research done on the development of compostable and antimicrobial packaging, which could reduce plastic and improve food safety. In this research project, we developed packaging films using pectin, lactic acid, distilled water, glycerol, and calcium chloride. This packaging film was intended to act as an active packaging component in chicken tray packaging, providing antimicrobial affects through direct contact with the raw chicken. Three different treatments of the film were developed, with the lactic acid level varying at 2%, 4%, and 8% w/w. The film was tested for antimicrobial properties using the spot on lawn and the film on lawn antimicrobial assays. In both tests, the film showed antimicrobial resistance against Salmonella enterica; however, in its dried film form, the lactic acid had a threshold at 8% for inhibition against Salmonella enterica. In the second half of this study, the films were tested according to ASTM D6400 and D5338 in a respirometry system to measure compostability. The 2% lactic acid pectin-based film reached 88.91% biodegradation in 49 days in the respirometer, following ASTM D5338. The 4% lactic acid pectin-based film reached 94.70% biodegradation in 49 days. Finally, the 8% lactic acid film reached 113.70%. This is a unique study on the combination of compostable and antimicrobial packaging films. This study aims to bridge the gap between compostable and active packaging
Application of Remote Sensing in Mapping Callery Pear Distribution and Biomass Estimation in the Southeastern United States
No full textCallery pear (Pyrus calleryana Decne. Rosaceae) is a rapidly spreading invasive species in the southeast United States (US) that hampers the function of native tree species and the forest ecosystem. Native to Southeast Asia, the species has encroached on the natural and secondary vegetation habitats of the Southern US in recent years. This study attempted to 1) map the Callery pear across the southeast US and 2) model the aboveground biomass (AGB) of individual Callery pear trees.
We used Callery pear locations and winter imageries of Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1, L-band radar, and terrain imagery for mapping purposes. In addition, we also derived features such as vegetation indices, texture, slope, and aspect in Google Earth Engine (GEE). We used random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers with four scenarios to determine the usefulness of remote sensing data in classifying Callery pear. Radar images and derived indices were more important than multispectral images for discriminating Callery pear. The scenario with all the imageries and their derived indices was most accurate for RF (Accuracy = 92.6%) and SVM (89.6%). The final model detected Callery pear spread in the northeastern part of the Southeast US.
Similarly, we collected discrete laser points from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in South Carolina. We calculated the point cloud metrics, such as height, intensity, and crown diameter, to model the AGB of Callery trees. The individual Callery tree AGB ranged from 17.41 kg to 1098.48 kg ( = 184.99 kg), where point clouds overestimated tree height (%bias = -0.19, RMSE = 2.25 meters) and crown diameter (%bias = -1.56, RMSE = 3.81 meters) from field measurements. On average, point clouds overestimated the AGB by 411.34 kg (%bias = -5.71, RMSE = 897 kg). Our RF model identified tree height as the best predictor for estimating AGB from point clouds, while crown diameter was also one of the best predictors. Overall, this work demonstrates the positive role of satellite imagery in monitoring Callery pear. At the same time, the AGB findings contribute to the existing literature on point cloud-based AGB estimation for invasive species