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

Arts and Humanities Commons

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

Articles 1 - 30 of 70

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Substance-Dependent Tasc Offenders Taking Psychotropic Pharmacotherapy--Associated Factors, Substance Use Outcomes, And Criminal Diversion Outcomes, Dorothy Octavia Jackson Jan 2010

Substance-Dependent Tasc Offenders Taking Psychotropic Pharmacotherapy--Associated Factors, Substance Use Outcomes, And Criminal Diversion Outcomes, Dorothy Octavia Jackson

All ETDs from UAB

Current evidence suggests that persons with co-occurring disorders (COD) are at risk for poorer treatment outcomes in terms of substance use and recidivism. Studies have examined this trend in incarcerated individuals, but few have examined COD offenders under community supervision. The purpose of this study was to develop a predictive model to identify offenders under community corrections supervision with substance use diagnoses who were actively taking psychotropic medications (SUPM) as an index of COD and to compare demographics, social histories, and sexual risk behaviors for SUPM offenders to offenders with a substance use disorder (SUD) only and those who met …


The Influence Of Parent Attributional Style And Family Structure On Adolescent Adjustment To Chronic Illness, Kimberly Guion Jan 2010

The Influence Of Parent Attributional Style And Family Structure On Adolescent Adjustment To Chronic Illness, Kimberly Guion

All ETDs from UAB

Adolescents diagnosed with a variety of chronic diseases are at increased risk for developing internalizing and externalizing problems. Various family factors may play an important role in adolescent adjustment, particularly in the chronic illness population given the important role that family members play in medical care and coping. Previous literature has demonstrated the separate contributions of parental attributions and adolescent attributions to adolescent adjustment. However, it is unknown whether parental coping affects adolescent mental health outcomes directly or indirectly by influencing children’s attributional style. Further, there is a dearth of research examining the role of family structure in coping in …


Conditional Well-Posedness And Error Bounds For The Groundwater Inverse Problem, Mary Antoinette La Russa Jan 2010

Conditional Well-Posedness And Error Bounds For The Groundwater Inverse Problem, Mary Antoinette La Russa

All ETDs from UAB

Inverse problems involving elliptic partial differential equations have many physical applications. In 1993, Knowles & Wallace published a variational method of numerical differentiation involving minimization of an energy functional formed from the solution of an associated elliptic equation. This method has been successfully used to estimate the values of the parameters of the groundwater flow equation. The primary focus of this dissertation will be a proof of the stability of this inverse problem. Additionally, I will present theoretical error bounds on the data surface that is constructed for the parameter recovery and results of testing a new numerical algorithm.


Birmingham's Jewish Women And Social Reform 1880-1980, Kaye Cochran Nail Jan 2010

Birmingham's Jewish Women And Social Reform 1880-1980, Kaye Cochran Nail

All ETDs from UAB

Many historians and scholars have argued that Jewish women kept a low profile during periods of southern social reform since the late nineteenth century. This thesis reveals a little known pattern of activism among some Birmingham Jewish women, encompassing many trends of social change over one hundred years, from 1880 to 1980. Nineteenth century Jewish women immigrants and migrants brought to the South a social conscience rooted in the traditions of their Jewish faith. They mentored their daughters, sisters, and neighbors in the ways of community goodwill. During the Progressive Era, their numbers and voices grew in the public sphere, …


Drawing A Bath: Works By Robert Henri And George Bellows At The Birmingham Museum Of Art, Mary K. Russell Jan 2010

Drawing A Bath: Works By Robert Henri And George Bellows At The Birmingham Museum Of Art, Mary K. Russell

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis discussing bathing images by Robert Henri and George Bellows located at the Birmingham Museum of Art.


Challenge Difficulty And Cardiovascular Responses In Mild Cognitive Impairment, Christopher Conley Stewart Jan 2010

Challenge Difficulty And Cardiovascular Responses In Mild Cognitive Impairment, Christopher Conley Stewart

All ETDs from UAB

This study examined the effect of challenge difficulty on cardiovascular responses in patients with Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment. It extended from a model characterizing the determinants and cardiovascular consequences of effort in people confronted with performance challenges. One component of this model holds that ability has the potential to accentuate, attenuate, or have no effect on cardiovascular responses. Specifically, lower ability should accentuate cardiovascular responses so long as performers' view a challenge possible and worthwhile. However, lower ability should attenuate cardiovascular responses when it leads to the perception that a challenge is excessively difficult or impossible. The …


Representation, Analysis, And Refactoring Techniques To Support Code Clone Maintenance, Robert Ambrosius Tairas Jan 2010

Representation, Analysis, And Refactoring Techniques To Support Code Clone Maintenance, Robert Ambrosius Tairas

All ETDs from UAB

The existence of code cloning, which represents identical or near identical sections of code, has been documented to occur frequently in software systems. The main purpose of cloning is the reuse of a code fragment that performs some functionality by copying and pasting it to a new location in the source code. Code clones embody a unique form of coupling, because their similarity inadvertently connects their representative sections of code together. This inherent duplication requires attention to be given to all related duplicates, even if just one of these duplicates is being evaluated or changed. Failure to consider all related …


Thermodynamic And Hydrodynamic Properties Of Escherichia Coli Clpa Assembly And Correlation With Polypeptide Binding, Phillip Keith Veronese Jan 2010

Thermodynamic And Hydrodynamic Properties Of Escherichia Coli Clpa Assembly And Correlation With Polypeptide Binding, Phillip Keith Veronese

All ETDs from UAB

Escherichia coli ClpAP, akin to other energy dependent proteases, is constructed from two distinct enzymes, a protein unfoldase, ClpA, and a protease, ClpP. ClpA is responsible for enzyme catalyzed protein unfolding and polypeptide translocation, while ClpP accepts and proteolytically degrades the newly unfolded protein. ClpA is defined as a molecular chaperone since it has been shown to remodel protein complexes in the absence of ClpP. In order for ClpA to bind protein substrates targeted for removal or remodeling, ClpA requires nucleotide binding to assemble into an oligomeric form with protein binding activity. In addition to this nucleotide driven assembly activity, …


Studies Of Solid Carbon Dioxide In Interstellar Ice Analogs Subject To Thermal Processing, Douglas Wynne White Jan 2010

Studies Of Solid Carbon Dioxide In Interstellar Ice Analogs Subject To Thermal Processing, Douglas Wynne White

All ETDs from UAB

Solid CO2 has been detected in many lines of sight in the interstellar medium from infrared observatories. Spectral profiles from space-based observatories have suggested that CO2 on icy grain mantles is mixed with other common molecules such as H2O and CH3OH in interstellar regions and that thermal annealing has occurred. The vibrational mode at 658 cm-1 (15.2μ) is suspected to be a powerful diagnostic tool as to the composition of species on icy grain mantles as well as thermal histories. However, previous studies have not systematically investigated ice composition and temperature. Laboratory spectra of interstellar ice analogs have been created …


Sir Thomas Wyatt's Rondeaux: Early Modern Perception During And After The English Reformation, Anne Begin Myer Jan 2010

Sir Thomas Wyatt's Rondeaux: Early Modern Perception During And After The English Reformation, Anne Begin Myer

All ETDs from UAB

This paper examines the implications of Sir Thomas Wyatt's use of the rondeaux during the English Reformation and the reception and editorial emendations of that French poetic form in subsequent anti-Reformation publications. The first chapter, "Contemporary Publications and Controversy," explores the two texts by which Wyatt's works would have been disseminated to the public, namely, Tottel's Songes and Sonettes (or Miscellany) and The Court of Venus. In addition to these texts, I also consider the relationship between Wyatt and his deeply Protestant patrons, Sir Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn, and how these relationships would have influenced the public perception of …


Fabrication And Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticle /Gelatin Porous Scaffolds, Hicham K. Ghossein Jan 2010

Fabrication And Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticle /Gelatin Porous Scaffolds, Hicham K. Ghossein

All ETDs from UAB

The application of engineered biomaterial scaffolds for hard tissue repair critically depends on the scaffold's internal architecture at various length scales. The pore size, shape, surface morphology, and pore connectivity are among the most important factors that affect the scaffold's mechanical properties and biointegration. Reported in this thesis are the results of the investigation of porous constructs fabricated by a freeze-drying process from synthetic nanosized hydroxyapatite / gelatin (nanoHA/Gel) dispersions with different nanoHA/Gel ratios (nanoHA loading was varied from 0 to 50 % by weight). The fabricated scaffolds had porosity up to 90% with pore size in the range of …


H.D.'S Incantations: Reading Trilogy As An Occultist's Creed, Sarah Grace Harrell Jan 2010

H.D.'S Incantations: Reading Trilogy As An Occultist's Creed, Sarah Grace Harrell

All ETDs from UAB

The focus of this thesis is H.D.'s epic poem, Trilogy, composed during 1942-1944, while she was living in World War II London. This project's primary aim is to investigate how the poet's participation in occult spiritual practices impacts the work's language. This reading examines terms, concepts, and ritualistic language from a range of esoteric traditions. While H.D. was involved in a wide range of occult practices, the specific traditions with which this investigation is mainly concerned are: astrology, spiritualism, Kabbalism, and gnostic Christianity. Explicating Trilogy exclusively through this lens places significantly more importance on the poem's metaphysical, historical, and archeological …


Biophysical Studies On Human Telomeric G-Quadruplex Dna: Characterization Of Ligand And Protein Interactions, Jason Scott Hudson Jan 2010

Biophysical Studies On Human Telomeric G-Quadruplex Dna: Characterization Of Ligand And Protein Interactions, Jason Scott Hudson

All ETDs from UAB

G-quadruplex DNAs are higher order nucleic acid structures that have been implicated in the regulation of a number of vital biological processes, including gene transcription and telomeric extension. Guanine rich sequences that are capable of forming G-quadruplex structure are found in the telomeres of chromosomes. The presence of the G-quadruplex structure prevents the binding of telomerase and inhibits the telomeric extension that would result in the immortality of cancer cells. This dissertation describes research that is focused on the biophysical characterization of the G-quadruplex and interactions with a ligand and protein. The anticancer compound, actinomycin D, is demonstrated to bind …


An Investigation Of The Molecular Mechanisms Involved In The Generation Of Breast Cancer, Joseph Tyson De Angelis Jan 2010

An Investigation Of The Molecular Mechanisms Involved In The Generation Of Breast Cancer, Joseph Tyson De Angelis

All ETDs from UAB

Cell culture models of oncogenesis that use cellular reprogramming to generate a neoplastic cell from a normal cell provide one of the few opportunities to study the early stages of breast cancer development. Human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) were induced to undergo a neoplastic transformation using defined genetic elements to generate transformed HMECs (THMECs). We conducted proteomic and transcriptomic analysis of three points in the neoplastic progression of breast cancer. First we monitored alterations in the proteome that revealed a progressive trend towards a metastatic state. Next, we identified a set of genes from transcriptomic analysis that displayed this same …


Conformationally Restrained Metallacrown Ethers As Catalysts For The Hydroformylation Of Alkenes, Abha Kaisare Jan 2010

Conformationally Restrained Metallacrown Ethers As Catalysts For The Hydroformylation Of Alkenes, Abha Kaisare

All ETDs from UAB

CONFORMATIONALLY RESTRAINED METALLACROWN ETHERS AS CATALYSTS FOR THE HYDROFORMYLATION OF ALKENES Abha A. Kaisare CHEMISTRY ABSTRACT Chapter1 of this dissertation explores, the monodentatephosphite/ether ligand, (2,2'-C12H8O2)POCH2CH2OCH3 for the in situ hydroformylation of styrene in the presence and absence of alkali metal salts. The catalytic studies with this ligand demonstrate that both the activity and regioselectivity of the catalyst are sensitive to the ligand:Rh molar ratio and to the presence of salts such as LiBPh4*3dme, NaBPh4 and HgCl2. Model complexes for various steps in the catalytic cycle, cis-Mo(CO)4(2,2'-C12H8O2)POCH2CH2OCH3)2, cis-PtCl2(2,2'-C12H8O2)POCH2CH2OCH3)2, and PdCl2(2,2'-C12H8O2)POCH2CH2OCH3)2, have been synthesized and characterized to provide insight into the factors …


Specialization And Integration Of Brain Responses To Object Recognition And Location Detection, Mark Ryan Pennick Jan 2010

Specialization And Integration Of Brain Responses To Object Recognition And Location Detection, Mark Ryan Pennick

All ETDs from UAB

Visual information in the brain is processed by two distinct pathways, the dorsal and the ventral visual streams, which operate in a parallel and distributed manner. While the dorsal stream, associated with locating objects in space, extends from the occipital towards the parietal lobe, the ventral stream, associated with recognizing objects, projects from occipital to the temporal lobes (Ungerleider & Mishkin, 1982). This division of labor evidenced from lesion studies in monkeys may be rather reductionistic in the context of humans where the experience-driven knowledge base is rich and may prompt neural integration (Mesalum, 2008). The present fMRI study investigated …


The Social Network: An Analysis Of The Use Of Facebook By Nonprofit Organizations In The South, Meghan Ann Hauswirth Jan 2010

The Social Network: An Analysis Of The Use Of Facebook By Nonprofit Organizations In The South, Meghan Ann Hauswirth

All ETDs from UAB

Facebook has become a social networking phenomenon. Investigation into the specific features that Facebook offers nonprofits is vital to determining whether the benefits of having a Facebook presence outweigh the costs. Given the current economic climate and the fact that nonprofits are always looking for ways to expand their client base in the most efficient and cost effective ways possible, alternate ways to interact with constituents and reach new ones should be considered This descriptive analysis seeks to build upon the total body of work by examining nonprofit organizations knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding Facebook. A sam-ple of 400 nonprofit …


The Imperial Face Of China At Turn Of The Twentieth Century--An Analysis Of Empress Dowager Cixi's Portraits, Qi Tie Jan 2010

The Imperial Face Of China At Turn Of The Twentieth Century--An Analysis Of Empress Dowager Cixi's Portraits, Qi Tie

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis focuses on the late Qing imperial portraits. Examining representative photographic portraits of the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) taken by Yu Xunling (ca.1880s-1943), this thesis explores different concepts associated with portraiture, including representing the ruler's authority, individual identity and self-fashioning, and the function of the monarch's image. I discuss how Cixi's exploited photographs to convey her authority and to establish her identity as a merciful and transcendent ruler by fashioning herself as Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. In addition, I analyze the political function Cixi's photographic portraits served when they were made into multiple copies and more widely circulated. …


Clustering Spam Domains And Hosts: Anti-Spam Forensics With Data Mining, Chun Wei Jan 2010

Clustering Spam Domains And Hosts: Anti-Spam Forensics With Data Mining, Chun Wei

All ETDs from UAB

Spam related cyber crimes, including phishing, malware and online fraud, are a serious threat to society. Spam filtering has been the major weapon against spam for many years but failed to reduce the number of spam emails. To hinder spammers' capability of sending spam, their supporting infrastructure needs to be disrupted. Terminating spam hosts will greatly reduce spammers' profit and thwart their ability to commit spam-related cyber crimes. This research proposes an algorithm for clustering spam domains based on the hosting IP addresses and related email subjects. The algorithm can also detect significant hosts over a period of time. Experimental …


Place-Based Approaches To Rural Economic Revitalization: A Public Funding Analysis And Implications For The Alabama Black Belt, David Sheldon Williams Jan 2010

Place-Based Approaches To Rural Economic Revitalization: A Public Funding Analysis And Implications For The Alabama Black Belt, David Sheldon Williams

All ETDs from UAB

Many rural areas in Alabama are underdeveloped and economically depressed. The Black Belt Counties are a subset within Alabama that tend to lag behind other counties and nationwide indicators for social and economic well-being. Targeted place-based policies for economic development and community improvement have resurfaced on the federal policy agenda under the Obama Administration. Place-based policies have the potential to change the condition of places like the Black Belt by adding the place-based approaches to rural development policy. The purpose of this research is to analyze the specific rural needs and policies utilized in the state of Alabama by understanding …


On Inverse Problem For Left-Definite Discrete Sturm-Liouville Equations, Rami Al Ahmad Jan 2010

On Inverse Problem For Left-Definite Discrete Sturm-Liouville Equations, Rami Al Ahmad

All ETDs from UAB

ON INVERSE PROBLEMS FOR LEFT-DEFINITE DISCRETE STURM-LIOUVILLE EQUATIONS RAMI ALAHMAD APPLIED MATHEMATICS ABSTRACT We are interested in studying a class of discrete Sturm-Liouville problems called left-de nite problems corresponding to a positive definite quadratic form associated with the left side of the Sturm-Liouville equations. Important tools for studying Sturm-Liouville equations are the eigenfunction expansions and the corresponding Fourier transforms. Here, we introduce the generalized Fourier transform associated with the left-definite problems. Also, we extend the discussion to inverse problems for discrete Sturm-Liouville equations. In inverse spectral problems, the task is to find a coefficient in the equation using the spectral …


Fraspa: A Framework For Synthesizing Parallel Applications, Ritu Arora Jan 2010

Fraspa: A Framework For Synthesizing Parallel Applications, Ritu Arora

All ETDs from UAB

Scientists, engineers and other domain-experts have computational problems that are growing in size and complexity, thereby, increasing the demand for High Performance Computing (HPC). The demand for reduced time-to-solution is also increasing and simulations on high performance computers are being preferred over physical prototype development. Though HPC is gradually becoming indispensible for business growth, the programming challenges associated with HPC application development are a key bottleneck to embracing it on a massive scale. Current high-level approaches for generating HPC applications are either domain-dependent or do not leverage from existing applications. Message Passing Interface (MPI) is the most popular standard for …


Teaching Literature Online In The 21st Century, Virginia Beale Jan 2010

Teaching Literature Online In The 21st Century, Virginia Beale

All ETDs from UAB

Online learning is expanding rapidly in higher education, a development which has led many scholars and educators to examine the benefits and weaknesses of instructional technology. While many scholars have written about the use of technology in teaching composition and English studies in general, there is a lack of scholarly research addressing the specific concerns of college-level literature teachers. In contrast to prevalent practice in the field of literary studies, my thesis addresses both pedagogical and technological questions. I believe that thinking critically about teaching practices in the field of literary studies is particularly important in the 21st century, when …


Effects Of Caregiving Strain On All-Cause Mortality, Martinique Perkins Jan 2010

Effects Of Caregiving Strain On All-Cause Mortality, Martinique Perkins

All ETDs from UAB

Purpose. This study examined how perceived caregiving strain is related to quality of life, mental and emotional health, and mortality in a large, national sample. Methods. We used 3,714 caregivers from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. Participants had to complete baseline, in-home visit, and follow-up interviews to be included. Results. Approximately 12% of the REGARDS sample reported that they provided on-going care to a family member with chronic illness or a disability. Highly strained caregivers had the worst mental, physical, and emotional health but there was evidence of increased social support lessening the relationships …


Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention To Enhance Communication Skills For Cancer Patients, Heather Prayor-Patterson Jan 2010

Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention To Enhance Communication Skills For Cancer Patients, Heather Prayor-Patterson

All ETDs from UAB

Introduction: With nearly 12 million Americans living with or having a history of cancer, the patient-doctor communication process is especially important for this population. Cancer patients are often dissatisfied with the quality of the information they receive regarding their treatment, side effects, symptom control, and the quality of the relationship with their healthcare provider. A patient's self-efficacy during patient-doctor interactions influences the level of trust in his/her doctor, satisfaction with care, and the type of information exchanged. Studies have focused on intervening in patient communication, but there are limitations in the literature, including a focus on improving self-efficacy, addressing communication …


Pain In Palliative And Supportive Care Outpatients: A Longitudinal Exploration, Jessica Erin Pullins Jan 2010

Pain In Palliative And Supportive Care Outpatients: A Longitudinal Exploration, Jessica Erin Pullins

All ETDs from UAB

This longitudinal observational study examined the pain experience of palliative care outpatients during their first four appointments. To illustrate the longitudinal methods used, the author first provides a general overview of the multilevel model for change and then applies it to the outpatients' pain data. Younger age and an existing or new opioid prescription at the first appointment were linked to higher pain intensity and interference scores. Pain intensity and interference trajectories were widely varied across appointments, with the overall effect of a gradual reduction in pain over time. The clinical and research implications of these results are discussed.


Exploring The Effects Of Limited English Language Proficiency On Disability: A Pilot Study Of Adult Chinese-, Japanese-, And Korean-Language Speakers In The United States, Xiaofei Qiao Jan 2010

Exploring The Effects Of Limited English Language Proficiency On Disability: A Pilot Study Of Adult Chinese-, Japanese-, And Korean-Language Speakers In The United States, Xiaofei Qiao

All ETDs from UAB

This is a pilot study contending that limited language proficiency is associated with disability outcomes for Chinese-, Japanese-, and Korean-speaking Americans in the United States, as determined by application of the Disablement Process model. Using the 5 percent public-use micro-data samples (PUMS) from the United States Census 2000, this study explores the relationship by employing a Poisson regression on these three language groups from a comparative perspective. The findings shed light on the significant effects of limited language proficiency as a predisposing risk factor on disability outcomes and also demonstrate the importance of individual, family, and community characteristics as either …


A Highly Reliable Gpu-Based Raid System, Matthew L. Curry Jan 2010

A Highly Reliable Gpu-Based Raid System, Matthew L. Curry

All ETDs from UAB

In this work, I have shown that current parity-based RAID levels are nearing the end of their usefulness. Further, the widely used parity-based hierarchical RAID levels are not capable of significantly improving reliability over their component parity-based levels without requiring massively increased hardware investment. In response, I have proposed k + m RAID, a family of RAID levels that allow m, the number of parity blocks per stripe, to vary based on the desired reliability of the volume. I have compared its failure rates to those of RAIDs 5 and 6, and RAIDs 1+0, 5+0, and 6+0 with varying numbers …


Parental Well-Being And Child Outcomes Among School-Aged, Prematurely-Born Children., Desiree Maria De Jong Jan 2010

Parental Well-Being And Child Outcomes Among School-Aged, Prematurely-Born Children., Desiree Maria De Jong

All ETDs from UAB

Children born prematurely are at a significantly higher risk than their full-term peers for developing cognitive, behavioral, attention, and executive functioning difficulties by the time they reach school-age. Parents of children born prematurely are also at greater risk for developing symptoms of depression and stress compared to parents of full-term children. However, the literature is conflicting with respect to whether or not parental well-being remains compromised by the time the preterm child reaches school-age. Additionally, much of the research examining this relationship is conducted prior to school-age, with little research beyond these years. A primary purpose of the current study …


The Lebanese In Birmingham, Alabama, Joshua Baucom Jan 2010

The Lebanese In Birmingham, Alabama, Joshua Baucom

Vulcan Historical Review

pp. 17-27