Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities

Theses/Dissertations

2018

Master of Arts (MA) College of Arts and Sciences

Articles 1 - 21 of 21

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Photographs Of The Children’S March And Their Afterlives, Carmen Gonzalez Fraile Jan 2018

Photographs Of The Children’S March And Their Afterlives, Carmen Gonzalez Fraile

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT This thesis examines the photographs taken during “The Children´s March” on May 3, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. These images of dog attacks and people being sprayed down by water hoses are considered some of the most representative images of the Civil Rights struggle. They were published in national newspapers and magazines and made visible the social injustice suffered by African Americans in Birmingham. Civil Rights photographs have engendered different readings and interpretations over time, and their presence in American history has been a constant from the 1960s up to the present. This thesis analyzes the roles Civil Rights photographs …


Tutoring Video Compositions: A Model Of Adaptation, Teresa Mckinney Davis Jan 2018

Tutoring Video Compositions: A Model Of Adaptation, Teresa Mckinney Davis

All ETDs from UAB

With the availability and ease-of-use of recording software on mobile phones, video essays are more accessible for composition classrooms. As these assignments are increasingly used, writ-ing centers are addressing the need for the ability to tutor video compositions. This article and conference presentation explore the foundational practices of directive and non-directive tutor-ing, examining how they can be adapted to working with video. More specifically, I argue that tutors can adapt existing theory and training to maintain a collaborative method when working with digital writing, without the need for specialized technology or technical training.


Out Of America, William Ervin King Jan 2018

Out Of America, William Ervin King

All ETDs from UAB

OUT OF AMERICA WILLIAM ‘BO’ KING ENGLISH ABSTRACT Out of America is a creative nonfiction novella that tells the story of my life as an expatriate minor, living away from the United States where I was born. The story covers a number of themes including divorce, kidnapping, race, anti-American sentiment, death, rebirth, and figuring out my place in the middle of all of it. I wanted to write this piece to finally give voice to myself and my history. The story begins with my family’s flight from the United States. This came after legal recourse had been denied following allegations …


Kinship, Scot Pierrot Langland Jan 2018

Kinship, Scot Pierrot Langland

All ETDs from UAB

KINSHIP SCOT P. LANGLAND ENGLISH ABSTRACT The body of poems collected in this thesis encompasses the stages of loving and losing. As a whole, these poems fixate on themes of absence, grief, denial, dejection, love, and lust. The narrative within this body of work threads through the transformation between innocence and experience. As one aesthetic identity flows into another, the voice and form of each poem expand and contract. The formal nature of these poems offers a mold with which reactions and observations can be poured into and then broken. With the broken nature of traditional forms (the sonnet, Spensarian, …


Examining The Role Of Injustice Perception In A Multiethnic Sample Of Individuals With Chronic Low Back Pain, Terence Matthew Penn Jan 2018

Examining The Role Of Injustice Perception In A Multiethnic Sample Of Individuals With Chronic Low Back Pain, Terence Matthew Penn

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is among the most disabling, costly, and painful conditions worldwide. In the United States, there is consistent evidence that the burden of chronic pain and associated disability disproportionately affect non-Hispanic Blacks (“Blacks”) compared to non-Hispanic Whites (“Whites”), with Blacks reporting greater pain frequency, severity, and disability. Moreover, emerging evidence suggests that perceptions of injustice related to personal pain or injury is a crucial risk factor for poor outcomes in chronic pain, including persistent musculoskeletal pain disorders. Although racial differences have been reported for multiple chronic pain conditions, relatively minimal attention has been given to potential …


Disaster Medical Preparedness In The Birmingham Metropolitan Community, Angela Hollowell Jan 2018

Disaster Medical Preparedness In The Birmingham Metropolitan Community, Angela Hollowell

All ETDs from UAB

This research study aims to determine the presence of disaster medical preparedness in residents of the Birmingham metropolitan area. A concurrent collection of qualitative and quantitative data analysis was used to assess the perceived risk of a natural disaster, determine the socioeconomic status of residents, evaluate the health needs of residents, and examine the presence of disaster medical preparedness. Face-to-face interviews of research participants were conducted for six weeks at five churches: 6th Avenue Baptist Church, Avondale Church of Christ, Mountain Brook Community Church, Southside Church of God, and True Love Church of Ensley. In analyzing the results of the …


The Habitual Offenders, Beth Storr Jan 2018

The Habitual Offenders, Beth Storr

All ETDs from UAB

The Habitual Offenders is a work of literary journalism, written as a piece of first-person creative nonfiction. The collection of chapters explores a specific class of prison inmates in Alabama, sentenced to life without parole under a three strikes law. Major themes include fairness and disparity in the criminal justice system, politics, race and the community fallout from mass incarceration. This work reflects writing traditions from both investigative/narrative journalism and personal memoir.


Female Somatic Spirituality In Post-Tridentine Art: Rutilio Manetti's St. Catherine Of Siena Drinking From The Side Wound Of Christ, Kristen Jeannine Mcarthur Jan 2018

Female Somatic Spirituality In Post-Tridentine Art: Rutilio Manetti's St. Catherine Of Siena Drinking From The Side Wound Of Christ, Kristen Jeannine Mcarthur

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis presents a study of a newly discovered and previously unstudied painting of St. Catherine of Siena by Rutilio Manetti (1620s-1630s), which features a seemingly unique iconography. Based on the fifteenth-century hagiographic accounts, it identifies the subject matter and properly retitles the work, St. Catherine of Siena Drinking from the Side Wound of Christ. Contextualizing the work within its historical moment, this thesis shows that the artist navigates post-Tridentine rules of decorum in creating an image which celebrates women’s religious tradition and reasserts their spiritual authority during a time in which such traditions and authority were discouraged by the …


Lick My Battery, Sasha Mitchell Jan 2018

Lick My Battery, Sasha Mitchell

All ETDs from UAB

An insecure cyborg named Grit defects to a tech-atheist society. Her neuro-disorder-addicted sister, Siri, follows her with a licentious government drone, one officer Rah Tetra of the Austere Sapien Services (A.S.S. for short). Sex, anthropology, family dysfunction, and social rigidity are tackled beneath the influences of Radiohead, Billy Wilder, and Jonathan Swift.


The Association Between Perceived Discrimination And Depressive Symptomatology Among The Children Of Caribbean Immigrants, Fabrice Stanley Julien Jan 2018

The Association Between Perceived Discrimination And Depressive Symptomatology Among The Children Of Caribbean Immigrants, Fabrice Stanley Julien

All ETDs from UAB

Caribbean societies often speak to the in-between, acknowledging the race categories that exist between and within the “black” or “white” designations. But outside of this context and particularly in American society, individuals from the Caribbean pursue identity through a more categorical approach. What influences these decisions is often the occupied status of families. These occupied statuses offer different advantages and disadvantages, which can inform perceptions/experiences of daily stressors. Using a modified version of Pearlin’s stress process model, this research assesses how ethnic self-identification colors perceptions of stressors such as discrimination, and how this in turn influences one’s depressive symptomatology. Using …


Mobile Rhetorics: Laptop Stickers, Emplacement, And Circulation, Kathleen Kryger Jan 2018

Mobile Rhetorics: Laptop Stickers, Emplacement, And Circulation, Kathleen Kryger

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis proposes that a new materialist rhetorical investigation of stickers placed on mobile objects of personal use allows scholars to recognize a semiotic and rhetorical connection between human rhetors and the objects of their daily lives. To explore this connection, I analyze stickers situated on laptop computers through their materiality, their geosemiotic emplacement, and their potential rhetorical circulation patterns. Stickers placed on such mobile objects capitalize on their rhetorical consequentiality through their situatedness in the physical world and their connection to the human rhetors positioned in relation to the objects. This work hopes to shift the perception of objects …


Religiosity And Spirituality As Predictors Of Substance Use In Patients With Cystic Fibrosis, Benjamin Edwin Burgess Jan 2018

Religiosity And Spirituality As Predictors Of Substance Use In Patients With Cystic Fibrosis, Benjamin Edwin Burgess

All ETDs from UAB

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a degenerative chronic illness that results in pulmonary and gastrointestinal impairment. Because health-related behaviors, such as substance use, impact health outcomes in this population, it is important to understand factors that predict substance use in patients with CF. Thus, this study aimed to examine the unique roles of spirituality and religiosity in alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. Higher religiosity was expected to predict lower substance use directly, reflecting a direct regulation of health behavior. Higher spirituality was expected to predict less substance use through lower depression, reflecting an indirect regulation of health behavior through emotion regulation. …


Effectiveness Of A Robot Social Skills Therapy For Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jenna Brooke Lebersfeld Jan 2018

Effectiveness Of A Robot Social Skills Therapy For Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jenna Brooke Lebersfeld

All ETDs from UAB

This study examined the effectiveness of a robot-based social skills intervention for school-age children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) across a range of cognitive ability. Sixteen children were assigned to either the intervention group (n = 8), which received the robot intervention, or a control group (n = 8), which played non-emotion games with the robot. All participants reported high levels of enjoyment, motivation, and willingness to have future robot interaction sessions, indicating that the robot intervention is engaging and interesting for this population. However, there was no difference between groups on measures of emotion identification or generalized social skills. …


Not By That Of Heaven: The Influence Of Theatre Lighting On The Early Works Of Charles Dickens, Grant Martin Jan 2018

Not By That Of Heaven: The Influence Of Theatre Lighting On The Early Works Of Charles Dickens, Grant Martin

All ETDs from UAB

Changes in technology in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had a profound impact on the way lighting was manipulated in theatres. No longer a simple question of illuminating action, lighting became a dynamic and essential element of drama. As an enthusiast of theatre during this transition, a young Charles Dickens was influenced by the visual spectacle he saw in theatres, and that influence is evident in his early novels. Those narratives frequently employ specific descriptions of light and perspective, which are key components of Dickens’ unique and widely celebrated visual style. In the early novels explored here, we see how …


Hands Like Chains, Garrett Lee Odom Jan 2018

Hands Like Chains, Garrett Lee Odom

All ETDs from UAB

The poems in this thesis attempt to reach the universal in the specific, to find the common in the uncommon, the ubiquitous in idiosyncrasies. These poems often confront the spiritual within the physical, hopefully revealing a mysticism specific to each subject. These poems, though not entirely evident in their subject matter, are influenced by Southern culture and life. Here, the Southern background of the writer becomes an undertone to the poems themselves, and whether the poem is set in the imagination of a painting or a back yard in Alabama, the language that brings these poems to life spawns from …


Investigating Driving Performance In Older Adults: A Continuum Of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Tyler Preston Bull Jan 2018

Investigating Driving Performance In Older Adults: A Continuum Of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Tyler Preston Bull

All ETDs from UAB

Driving is an important instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) that is crucial for mobility and independence of adults in the United States. Dementia and cognitive impairment are indicated as increasing risk for driving impairment and cessation, prompting the necessity for screeners in predicting impaired driving performance. The Trails Making Test (TMT) A and B, and the Useful Field of View (UFOV) are common measures used to predict driving performance across populations of older adults. Prior research has shown that Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which is theorized as an intermediary between normal aging and dementia, is associated with subtle declines …


Examination Of Communication Patterns And Satisfaction Between Systems Of Care Among Parents Of Concussed Youth, Sarah Terry Cable Jan 2018

Examination Of Communication Patterns And Satisfaction Between Systems Of Care Among Parents Of Concussed Youth, Sarah Terry Cable

All ETDs from UAB

When a child or adolescent sustains a concussion, several systems of care become involved (e.g., family, medical, school, sports/recreation). To effectively manage a concussion, all systems of care need to work together to maximize recovery for return-to-play (RTP) and return-to-learn (RTL). Thus, good communication and coordination of care is critical. The objectives of this study were to prospectively examine parent communication patterns (type, frequency, topic, and overall parent satisfaction with communication) with systems of care from the time of their child’s concussion up to 14 weeks past injury. Barriers to communication and parent satisfaction with overall concussion management by each …


Sleep Disturbances In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christian Clesi Jan 2018

Sleep Disturbances In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christian Clesi

All ETDs from UAB

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disability characterized by impairments in social communication and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Children with autism may also have associated symptoms; one of the most prevalent being sleep disorders, with estimated prevalence rates ranging from 40 to 80% (Goldman, McGrew, Johnson, Richdale, Clemons, & Malow, 2011). Measuring sleep disturbances in this population can be particularly challenging due to the symptoms of the disorder, including impairments in communication. Therefore, research in this field regularly relies on parent-report data to measure sleep disturbances in children with ASD. …


Health Literacy And Quality Of Life In Patients With Epilepsy, Brittany Nichole Scrivner Jan 2018

Health Literacy And Quality Of Life In Patients With Epilepsy, Brittany Nichole Scrivner

All ETDs from UAB

This exploratory study examined the impact of health literacy on quality of life (QoL) in persons with epilepsy (PWE). From the perspectives of cultural health capital and social disability theory, it was hypothesized that greater levels of health literacy would be associated with higher quality of life scores. The sample included patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Cannabidiol Program. Analyses included Pearson correlations, chi square, t-tests, and a nested linear regression model (alpha=0.1). The sample was composed of adult respondents (aged 19-63; n=79) and was 92% white with a mean age of 33; …


Understanding Associations Among Race, Socioeconomic Status, And The Experience Of Painful Knee Osteoarthritis: Clinical And Experimental Evidence, Kathryn Ann Thompson Jan 2018

Understanding Associations Among Race, Socioeconomic Status, And The Experience Of Painful Knee Osteoarthritis: Clinical And Experimental Evidence, Kathryn Ann Thompson

All ETDs from UAB

Knee OA is an active disease process involving cartilage destruction, subchondral bone thickening, and new bone formation affecting 22% of American adults (46.4 million) over age 18 years. Past literature suggests, a disproportionate number of racial/ethnic minorities, particularly non-Hispanic Blacks, are affected by knee OA. Furthermore, over one in four (28%) Blacks have an income below the national poverty level compared with 11% of Whites. Therefore, the overall aim of this study is to examine racial and SES differences in the experience of pain and physical functioning in adults with knee OA. 191 participants (62% female, 52% Black) were recruited …


Asylum Denied: Barriers To Protection For Mexican Asylum Seekers, Kara Hofheins Jan 2018

Asylum Denied: Barriers To Protection For Mexican Asylum Seekers, Kara Hofheins

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis evaluates the United States’ adherence to international refugee law and the asylum process’s efficacy in relation Mexican asylum seekers fleeing persecution from drug trafficking organizations. It is found that constrictive domestic asylum laws, structural institutional deficiencies, inconsistent standards, and absence of accountability erode the democratic principle of due process and contribute to the debasement of rule of law in The United States. This aggregation of deficiencies constitutes the failure to protect persecuted people and the failure to adhere to international refugee law.