Digital Commons Network^™

The Experiences And Perceptions Of African American Women Who Reside In Nursing Homes, Lakeisha De Lon Riley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the experiences and perceptions of African American women who reside in a nursing home and to understand African American women's decisions for admitting to the facility. Social Learning Theory was applied to answer the question of how African American women's experiences and perceptions toward long-term care influence healthcare decisions and admission to a nursing home. Eleven participants interviewed in the study were at least 60 years old, admitted into the facility within the past two years and who had not previously resided in a nursing home. Yin's five step approach …

Policy Implications Of News Media Coverage Of The Islamic State Of Iraq And Syria., Godfred A. Ababio

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) garnered global news media attention in Summer 2014 when it seized a significant section of land in Iraq and Syria. The group then mishandled and executed its captives. There is a lack of consensus among the international community, led by Russia and the United States, on how best to address the threat posed by ISIS. An understanding of the function of Russian and U.S. news media coverage of the ISIS threat is an appropriate research topic. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis study was to explore how the U.S, Russian, and …

Relationship Between Exposure To Phthalate And Obesity In The United States, Gladys Chidiebere Ezem

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity is a public health problem. The global obesity problem has been attributed to unhealthy diet, inactivity, and hereditary factors. However, phthalates may also contribute to the obesity epidemic. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine whether there was a relationship between exposure to phthalates and obesity among adults 18 years and older in the United States. The theoretical framework was based on the socioecological model. The quantitative, cross-sectional design, and data analysis were based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2012 database. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the association between …

Reading The Unreadable: Salò And Its Significance, Michael Ramsey

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

No abstract provided.

Ela For M/S: A Guidebook For Beginning Teachers, John Franklin

Open Educational Resources - English and Modern Languages

ELA for M/S: A Guidebook for Beginning Teachers (ELA for M/S is an acronym: English and Language Arts for Middle-and-Secondary schools) is designed to enable ENGL 478: Literature for Middle and Secondary Schools and ENGL 480: Internship students to develop competence in their field. The book also prepares ENGL 579: Professional Semester and Follow-up students to transition into professional life. The book's contents includes 13 chapters: 1. Eight Pedagogical Imperatives; 2. Four Theories: Bloom, Gardner, Piaget and UDL; 3. Three Teaching Approaches; 9. Constructing Tests; 10. Writing Templates; 11. Tragedy for non-English Majors; to name a few. ELA for M/S …

In Defense Of Penalizing (But Not Punishing) Civil Disobedience, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

While many contemporary political philosophers agree that citizens of a legitimate state enjoy a moral right to civil disobedience, they differ over both the grounds of that right and its content. This essay defends the view that the moral right to civil disobedience derives from (or is a facet of) a general right to political participation, and the characterization of that right as precluding the state from punishing, but not from penalizing, those who exercise it. The argument proceeds by way of rebuttals to criticisms of both claims recently advanced by Kimberley Brownlee. While in some cases those criticisms fail …

The Effect Of Infant Directed Lullaby On Maternal Attachment And Parenting Stress, Casie Esposito

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In this modified single-subject design study, the researcher sought to find whether eight parents who were taught to use lullaby evidenced a change in attachment and parenting stress regarding their infant’s hospitalization and into transition to home. Using repeated measures over a period of approximately two months, each parent was asked to use infant directed lullaby with their infants and keep track of its use with a calendar. The Maternal Attachment Inventory and the Parenting Stress Index provided measurement of self-reported attachment and stress. An adapted intervention rating profile was used to determine the parent’s perceived acceptance of infant directed …

From Pickled Peaches To Pink Poodle: What Do Community Cookbooks Tells Us About Foodways And Urbanization At The Turn-Of-The-Century In Sacramento And Stockton, California, Kate Helfrich

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Industrialization and rapid urbanization characterized the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in many aspects of domestic life. Scholars have used community cookbooks to document changes in domestic roles at the turn of the twentieth century. This study uses community cookbooks to look beyond domestic roles and to trace changing foodways during the period from 1870 to 1930 in the northern Central Valley of California. Nine cookbooks from Sacramento, California and five cookbooks from Stockton, California reveal changes in foodways during this time. Recipes, text, and advertisements in these cookbooks show changes in the manner of home food production; a …

Immune Modulation Of Pain And Recovery Via Diet, Stacie Totsch

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic pain is the most common disability in the United States. Additionally, one out of three adults in America are obese and obesity and pain are often comorbid. Obesity is an inflammatory state due to the release of pro-inflammatory mediators from adipose tissue. Generally, obesity is a result of a poor-quality diet. Specific dietary components and patterns are independent activators of the immune system and can exacerbate the obesity-induced inflammatory state. It is known that immune system activation is a critical aspect in the development and progression of many chronic pain conditions. To address a general lack of preclinical investigations …

Combinatorial Withaferin A And Sulforaphane And Their Potential Roles In Breast Cancer Prevention And Therapy, Kendra Jeanine Royston

All ETDs from UAB

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and is a devastating disease. Breast cancer is of particular interest because it is a major cause of cancer-related fatality in women in the United States. To date, more than 40,000 women are expected to die due to breast cancer and more than 200,000 will be diagnosed every year. Despite numerous advancements in the field, breast cancer remedies can be harsh and while life may be prolonged, the quality of life may decrease. This being said, preventive measures and less harsh treatment options are needed to help eliminate breast cancer as a …

The Influence Of Child, Parent, And Context Factors On Children’S Traffic Injury Risk, Emma Sartin Goodman

All ETDs from UAB

Child restraint systems, like car seats and booster seats, are effective at preventing serious injury and death for children involved in motor vehicle collisions. Despite this, the majority of families in the United States either do not use, or incorrectly use, child restraint systems. Further, racial minorities are consistently reported to have higher rates of child restraint system non- and misuse than their White peers; research has yet to explain this relationship with previously hypothesized factors (e.g., caregiver education, sources of information). The overall objective of this project was to explain how child, caregiver, and context factors interacted to influence …

The Effects Of Glucose And Amino Acid Restriction On Protein Turnover And Micro-Rna Composition In The Muscle Of Rainbow Trout, Mary Neslund Latimer

All ETDs from UAB

Changes in nutritional status, through glucose and amino acid restriction, have the ability to augment both the protein turnover and micro-RNA (miR) composition in the skeletal muscle of rainbow trout in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the restriction of glucose in the media for a period of 24h was able to reduce protein synthesis by 41.2% compared to control conditions. In addition, 48h of glucose restriction affected the expression of both mstn2a and igfbp5, genes involved in muscle growth dynamics and synthesis. The restriction of amino acids, specifically the amino acid methionine, in vitro was able to reduce the …

Effect Of Dietary Compounds In Epigenetic Modulation And Microbial Alteration And Their Roles In Breast Tumor Inhibition, Bidisha Paul

All ETDs from UAB

Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Current methods of chemoprevention and therapy have cytotoxic effects and have several short-term and long-term side effects. Therefore, the use of natural dietary bioactive compounds has gained prominence as safe and effective agents of chemoprevention and therapy. Genistein (GE), an isoflavone found in soy products, has been shown to exhibit several anticancer properties, particularly as an epigenetic modifier. We have observed that GE has the ability to alter the gut microbiome of germ-free mice humanized with fecal transplants from breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. We …

Borscht, Bliny, And Burritos: The Benefits Of Peer-To-Peer Experiential Learning Through Food, Naomi Caffee, Colleen Lucey

Russian Language Journal

Like other disciplines in the humanities, Russian Studies faces an ongoing crisis of recruiting and retaining majors and minors for the longevity of undergraduate programs (Looney and Lusin 2018). Shrinking budgets and limited resources compound the problem as language and culture departments across the United States are asked to do more with fewer resources (Gerber 2015). In the context of an increasingly corporatized academy where language and cultural studies are marginalized, faculty in Russian Studies have a powerful means at their disposal to attract new students and build cross-campus alliances: the common language of food. Courses on foodways can reinvigorate …

Death Of The Emissary: Language, Metonymy, And European Complicity In Juan Diego Botto’S “La Carta”, Jeffrey K. Coleman

Spanish Languages and Literatures Research and Publications

Juan Diego Botto’s 2005 monologue “La carta” explores the real-life death of Yaguine Koita and Fodé Tounkara, two Guinean boys who in 1999 died attempting to reach Europe with a letter addressed to European officials. A close reading of Botto’s monologue illustrates how the letter by Yaguine and Fodé functions as an archive that explores and redefines the liminal spaces, and therefore the relationship, between Europe and Africa. The monologue and the letter elucidate the boys’ position as emissaries who seek to reconcile the European continent with its complicity in the state of Africa.

From Taquería To Medical School: Juan Carlos, Aristotle, Cognitive Enhancements, And A Good Life, Glenn "Boomer" Mac Trujillo

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This paper begins with a vignette of Juan Carlos, an immigrant to America who works to support his family, attends classes at a community college, and cares for his ill daughter. It argues that an Aristotelian virtue ethicist could condone a safe, legal, and virtuous use of cognitive enhancements in Juan Carlos’s case. The argument is that if an enhancement can lead him closer to eudaimonia (i.e., flourishing, or a good life), then it is morally permissible to use it. The paper closes by demonstrating how common objections to cognitive enhancement fail to undermine Juan Carlos’s justifiable use of the …

Declaration Of God's Power To The Nextgen, Padma P. Tadi Uppala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Baseline Osteological Analysis Of Prehistoric Human Skeletal Remains Recovered From The Terminal Archaic Morse Site (11-F-220), Fulton County, Illinois, Matthew Shawn Kinzer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the prehistoric human skeletal remains recovered from the Terminal Archaic Morse site that was excavated during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The project was led by Drs. Dan Morse and Georg Neumann, with assistance provided by Ms. Louise Robbins to oversee the recovery of the skeletal remains, as well as a host of various other workers and volunteers. Since the conclusion of fieldwork over fifty years ago, only a modest number of articles describing the findings from the site have been published.

In light of this circumstance, the focus of this study provides an overview of …

Women's Perceptions Of Malaria In The Western Rural Areas Of Sierra Leone, Marcella Davies

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Malaria is one of the leading causes of death for children and women in Sierra Leone. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and understand the lived experiences of women from the rural areas of Sierra Leone regarding malaria. A purposive sample of Krio women from the western rural area, aged 21-55 years, spoke English, and had taken care of someone with malaria described their perceptions and lived experiences with the disease in face-to-face interviews. The research questions were based on the health belief model and focused on knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions about malaria prevention and treatment. Interpretative …

Respecting Public Investment: The Problems With Democratic Endorsement As A Criterion For Legitimate Value Influence In Science, Rebecca Korf

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Criticism of the value-free ideal has motivated attempts to formulate a criterion for the legitimacy of non-epistemic value influence in science. I argue that this search aims to protect two main components of legitimacy, scientific integrity and justice. While integrity is primary, justice remains important, especially in setting scientific goals. One of the main proposals for setting legitimate goals is to rely on democratic endorsement (Intemann 2015). I critically assess four interpretations of this criterion, finding that all are problematic. I then propose and evaluate three alternative models that seek to better balance respect for the public with scientific expertise.

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. …

How School District Secession Impacts The District Left Behind, Christopher Tyler Burks

All ETDs from UAB

This is the first national analysis of school district secessions that predicts which kind of school districts are likely to have a secession attempt and measures the impact of secession on the per-pupil revenue of the district left behind. Data on school district secessions was limited prior to EdBuild’s 2017 report, Fractured. This thesis combines data from the National Center for Education Statistics with EdBuild’s data on secessions. Using a linear probability model, I find that larger districts in urban areas with more disadvantaged students receiving free and reduced-price lunch are more likely to experience a secession attempt. I then …

Metagenomic Analysis Of Microbial Community Compositions And Functions In Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Ecosystems In East Antarctica, Hyunmin Koo

All ETDs from UAB

The perennially ice-covered lakes of the Antarctic continent are considered to be the ideal extreme ecosystems to study growth, sustenance, and evolution of microbial mats without any direct influence by higher organisms and other external environmental factors. This dissertation research utilized Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology and bioinformatics tools to study the microbial composition and metabolic potential of the microbial mats in permanently ice-covered freshwater Lake Untersee, Lake Obersee and their surrounding ecosystems in East Antarctica. Overall, the microbial communities in the microbial mats of Lake Untersee were distinct in regard to their compositions, shared taxa and metabolic potential as …

Apoe E4 Carrier Status And Prestroke Cognitive Function In A Case/Cohort Sample Of Incident Stroke From The Reasons For Geographic And Racial Differences In Stroke (Regards) Study, Caroline Lassen-Greene

All ETDs from UAB

This study explores the role of ApoE e4 in cognitive function and incident stroke to better understand the risk of cognitive decline associated with both normal aging and dementia. ApoE e4 is a genetic risk factor for mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and may have detrimental effects on cerebrovascular integrity by increasing the risk of acquiring cerebrovascular abnormalities such as white matter lesions (WMLs), infarcts, and cerebral microbleeds. Subtle cognitive impairments may reflect these clinically undetected brain vascular pathologies that also are associated with increased likelihood of incident stroke. Results of the study revealed that ApoE e4 was associated with …

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 Influence Of Treatment Expectation On Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs)-Induced Suppression Of Craving And Eating, Mary Katherine Osborn Ray

All ETDs from UAB

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique with promise to improve numerous diseases, but results are inconsistent. Possible explanations for the conflicting evidence include: 1) expectation effects arising from discernable real vs. sham tDCS conditions, and 2) uncontrolled individual differences related to the outcome variables. Therefore, we conducted a study that systematically assessed the putative action of tDCS to suppress food craving and eating while controlling for expectation effects and baseline individual differences. N=74 adults were randomized to one of four groups: Told Fake/Got Fake (participants were told they were receiving fake and received fake tDCS), Told Fake/Got …

Evaluation Of The Factors Influencing Feed Intake And Satiety Of The Variegated Sea Urchin, Lytechinus Variegatus, Marlee Hayes

All ETDs from UAB

Feed intake is the primary determinant of nutrient and energy acquisition for most metazoans. Satiety regulates feed intake and may have cascading effects on nutrient acquisition and health. Satiety of many higher organisms involves complex processes and a variety of signaling molecules that are responsive to many factors associated with nutrient intake. However, the ability to sate is observed in many simpler animals with less complex physiological processes. Sea urchins, with relatively simple digestive and nervous systems, provide an ideal model for the study of fundamental drivers of feed intake. Understanding the process of satiety in this primitive deuterostome can …

Assessing Racial Differences In U.S. Prenatal Care, Gestational Weight Gain, And Low Birthweight, Tiffany James

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The benefits of prenatal care (PNC) are extensively documented; however, controversy surrounds the extent to which benefits are experienced among different racial groups. Determining whether PNC influences positive birth outcomes and if advantages differ by race is pertinent to attaining positive health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between gestational weight gain (GWG), low birthweight (LBW), and PNC while weighing racial differences. The theoretical foundation was the motivation-facilitation theory of PNC access. Research questions were designed to (a) determine if there was a significant association between GWG and LBW, (b) determine if PNC had a …

Constructing Citizenship: Americanization Efforts In The Southwest U.S. (1910-1931), Gerardo Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Constructing Citizenship: Americanization Efforts in the Southwest U.S. (1910-1931)

Congregational Health Promotion By African American Female Pastors In The Christian Faith, Arlene Obazee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health disparities have mostly affected African Americans who are poor, uninsured, under insured and unemployed. This population of African Americans seek spiritual solace and social counseling from their pastors, and church-based health promotion (CBHP) offers the opportunity to reach millions of the U. S. Black population. The lack of studies on female African American pastors implementing congregational health promotion activities influenced this study. This qualitative study helped in understanding the experiences, perspectives, and influences of 13 female African American Christian pastors on health-related issues within their congregation. Feminist theory and CBHP model guided this qualitative case study. Open-ended interview questions, …