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Trends In Vibriosis Transmission Among The Top Four Vibrio Species, United States, 1988-2012, Amanda Conrad

Public Health Theses

Background

Vibrio infection (vibriosis) results from consuming contaminated seafood or exposing skin directly to marine waters or raw seafood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 80,000 illnesses occur each year in the United States. Four species, V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus, V. alginolyticus, and V. cholerae (excluding toxigenic O1 and O139), are responsible for most cases. Understanding foodborne and non-foodborne transmission routes is important for describing epidemiological trends and for directing prevention efforts.

Methods

Demographic, clinical, and epidemiological data for cases reported between 1988 and 2012 were extracted from CDC’s Cholera and Other Vibrio …

An Evaluation Of Pregnancy-Associated Morbidity Among Georgia's Usda Designated Food Deserts, 2009-2010, Yonte Burnam, Dajun Dai, Lisa Casanova

Public Health Theses

Objective: To assess the affect of pregnant women residing in a USDA designated food desert on the development of pregnancy-associated morbidities

Results: Living in a USDA food desert is not significantly associated with the development of pregnancy-associated morbidity [OR=0.973; CI: 0.835-1.134; p-value=0.728]. Backward stepwise regression showed all proposed potential confounders were significantly associated with the development of pregnancy-associated morbidity. These potential confounders include maternal age, regular exercise routine or previous diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension (p-values < 0.02).

Conclusion: Residing in a USDA designated food desert is not associated with the development of pregnancy-related morbidity. This analysis suggests other sociodemographic risk factors, …

Designing The Primary Care Assessment Tool For Physician Performance Tracking In Indonesia; A Program Planning, Donni -. Hendrawan Don

Public Health Theses

Designing the Primary Care Assessment Tool for Physician Performance Tracking in Indonesia;

A Program Planning

Primary care within the Indonesia health care system is key to maintain health of Indonesians. To ensure its function, it is very important to know how Indonesian primary care providers are meeting minimal standards of performance based on key health indicators. This can be measured by using the transcultural adapted tool known as Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT). The focus of this capstone is to design a program plan to establish a culturally-sensitive PCAT tool for use in Indonesia. The program plan will include an …

Investigating The Health Profile And Quality Of Life Of Adult Marijuana Users In The United States: Analysis Of Self-Reported Nhanes 2007-2010 Data, Crystal A. Lane

Public Health Theses

Background: Marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in the United States. Public approval of marijuana has driven its legalization in twenty states and the District of Columbia for medical use; and, this year alone (2013), two states have legalized recreational use of the drug. Despite the nation’s growing trend towards marijuana acceptance, the evidence regarding the health effects of its use remains vague. This study was designed to evaluate the health profile of marijuana users by determining the association of marijuana use with quality of life, defined in terms of perceived overall health and as self-reported medical conditions. …

Hippocampal Volume And Its Association With Verbal Memory In Adult Survivors Of Pediatric Brain Tumor, Reema Jayakar

Psychology Theses

Verbal memory (VM) has been shown to be impacted in brain tumor (BT) survivors, but the nature of VM problems and underlying neuropathology are poorly understood and a long-term outlook is lacking. Our study examined hippocampus volume (HV) and VM in adult survivors of pediatric BT (n=32) and controls (n=48). Results indicate that disruption to a maturing brain in childhood is detectable 17 years (mean) after diagnosis, as HV is significantly lower in survivors compared to controls. Analysis of the VM scores shows that survivors have significantly lower overall immediate recall compared to controls, but learning slope, retention, and recognition …

“Fifty Years Of Our Whole Voice”: An Examination Of The History And Culture Leading To The Publication Of Fire!! Devoted To Younger Artists And Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology Of Asian American Writers, Joni Louise Johnson Williams

English Dissertations

According to African American literary theorist Henry Louis Gates, “the slave wrote not primarily to demonstrate humane letters, but to demonstrate his or her own membership in the human community” (128). Two efforts at this demonstration of community membership exist in the publication of the literary journal, Fire!!, written and published by African American artists and writers in 1926 and in the anthology AIIIEEEEE!, compiled and edited by Asian American writers and published in 1974. These compilations, published not quite fifty years apart, are direct responses and reactions to the efforts of the larger society to influence and/or …

Negotiating The Faculty Journey: Technology, Teaching, And Tenure, Joseph Horne

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the lived experience of five (5) tenured university faculty members over a ten-year span of their professional lives. The purpose of this study was to better understand the lived experience of tenured university faculty, particularly how they negotiated experiences related to the combined influences of technology, tenure, and teaching. While some have suggested that university faculty do not have the necessary skills to transition to this emerging technological era (McKee & Tew, 2013), this study did not attempt to make judgments about whether or not college faculty were prepared to shift their approach to teaching, nor …

An Examination Of Effort: An Experimental Approach, Alexander P. Brumlik

Economics Dissertations

This dissertation studies issues associated with various topics related to a worker’s effort. For example, I explore how different wage incentives affect a worker’s productivity. I explore how exogenous shocks, what we often refer to as “luck,” can affect a worker’s motivation. In addition, I explore how different wage contracts destroy cooperation and can lead to destructive activities such as cheating and sabotage, as well as how these activates, in turn, affect productivity. Finally, in the last chapter, I analyze behavioral issues related to fairness and altruism in tournaments, and how these behaviors affect worker’s effort.

Study Of The Surface Morphology Of Thermally Annealed Copper Foils And Various Transfer Methods For Graphene, Olesya Sarajlic

Physics and Astronomy Theses

The surface morphology of thermally annealed copper foils utilized for graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been studied by Optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) as a function of heat treatment. This study reports on the surface roughness and relative grain size before and after thermal annealing. The main results are that (a) the graphene covered foil exhibits reduced surface roughness, and (b) the graphene film preserves an imprint of the Cu grain structure. In the second part of the work, the transfer of CVD graphene is experimentally investigated using Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), …

Practicing Work, Perfecting Play: League Of Legends And The Sentimental Education Of E-Sports, Neal C. Hinnant

Communication Theses

A growing force in the culture of digital games fandom, e-sports represents the profes-sionalization of digital games play. This thesis examines League of Legends, a prominent game in e-sports, to understand the relationship between e-sports and the ideology of neoliberal economics. Using Clifford Geertz’s descriptions of sentimental education as a model, the author argues that League of Legends and other e-sports texts create an environment where neoliberal economic values can be practiced and explored in a meaningful space. The game as text, the culture of e-sports fandom, and the e-sports broadcasting industry are all examined to reveal the ways …

Further Analysis Of The Interaction Of The Cellular Protein Tiar With The 3' Terminal Stem-Loop Of The West Nile Virus (Wnv) Minus-Strand Rna, Hsuan Liu

Biology Dissertations

Cellular T-cell intracellular antigen-1 related protein (TIAR) binds to the 3' terminal stem-loop of the West Nile virus minus-strand RNA [WNV 3'(-) SL RNA]. TIAR binding sites were previously mapped on loop 1 (L1) and loop 2 (L2) of the 3' (-) SL RNA and mutations of these sites in a WNV infectious clone inhibited virus replication. In the present study, data from in vitro binding assays suggested that multiple TIAR proteins bind to each WNV 3′ (-) SL RNA in a positively cooperative manner. The tertiary structure of WNV 3′ (-) SL RNA was predicted and it was …

Centrosomal Profile Status Of Bladder Carcinoma In African-Americans And Caucasians: A Comparative Analysis, Rutugandha Deepak Paranjpe

Biology Theses

Urothelial carcinoma of bladder (UCB) in African-Americans (AA) presents as more advanced disease at diagnosis and has lower 5-year survival rate, compared to Caucasians. The clinical diagnosis of higher grade and stage can be attributed to a more aggressive disease course in AA. Given the clear association between CA and aggressiveness, we hypothesized that AA have a higher incidence and severity of CA in bladder tumors as compared to Caucasians. To test this hypothesis, we developed an innovative method to quantitate the degree of CA (both numeric and structural) within tumor samples and defined a measurable index called the Centrosome …

Public Housing Relocation Of Older Adults In Atlanta: Challenging The Aging In Place Concept., Laquanda Jackson

Sociology Theses

In 2007 AHA demolished two senior high-rise buildings causing the forcible removal of older African American residents who may have wanted to age in place due to community attachment. Aging in place and community attachment are concepts that describe the strong social-psychological attraction to a specific location among older long-term residents (McAuley 1998). This thesis examines if community attachment differ for residents who were forced to relocate and those who were able to age in place. Using longitudinal data from the GSU Urban Health Initiative, I looked at relocated and non-relocating senior public housing residents' community attachment as it relates …

The Pathway From School To The Criminal Justice System: Predicting School Expulsion And Subsequent Adult Arrest Via A Longitudinal Model, Danielle Gentile

Criminal Justice and Criminology Theses

Exclusionary discipline policies (Casella, 2003; Christle, Jolivette & Nelson, 2005; Tuzzolo & Hewitt, 2007), academic failure and school dropout are some of the most salient factors in the school to prison pipeline (Christle, Jolivette & Nelson, 2005). While previous research has explored the variability in existing exclusionary discipline policies and identified numerous factors associated with expulsion or criminal justice outcomes among youth, there has been little effort to bring these individual and school level factors together into a single predictive model that is informed by existing criminological theories. In this context, the proposed study will use multiple waves of data …

Vicarious Victimization: Examining The Effects Of Witnessing Victimization While Incarcerated On Offender Reentry., Jane Christie Daquin

Criminal Justice and Criminology Theses

Witnessing victimization in prison is a relatively new area of research. Prison victimization research focuses on direct experiences of victimization and its attending consequences; however, studies have not focused on the vicarious victimization experiences of prisoners. Drawing from the prison victimization, witnessing/exposure to violence, and offender reentry literature, this study will investigate the link between witnessing victimization in prison and individual post-release outcomes. Using multivariate analyses, I examined the extent to which individuals witness victimization in prison and the effects of witnessing victimization on individual post-release outcomes using The Prison Experience and Reentry study, a longitudinal study of 1613 males …

Comparing Needed And Actual Knowledge Of Elder Abuse For Law Enforcement Officers, Aps Workers, And Students In Criminal Justice And Social Work, Susannah Tapp

Criminal Justice and Criminology Theses

A sample of APS workers, law enforcement officers, criminal justice and social work students were surveyed. Participants were asked how much knowledge they believed professionals working in their respective fields had about elder abuse and how much those same professionals needed to know. The differences between needed and possessed knowledge, also referred to as level of anomie, was compared across groups. Students in both groups believed those working in their fields had significantly less knowledge than they needed on all elements of responding to elder abuse. APS workers and law enforcement officers felt those in their fields had enough knowledge …

Synthesis Of Novel Heterocyclic N-Oxide Glycosides: Glycosylation Of Myxin Analogs, Jarin Joyner

Chemistry Theses

Phenazines and heterocyclic N-oxides have proven to be interesting classes of antitumoral as well as antibiotic agents . The natural product myxin (1-hydroxy-6-methoxyphenazine- N5, N10-dioxide) which belongs to both of these unique classes of molecules, has been found to cause bio-reductively activated, radical-mediated DNA strand cleavage via a de-oxygenative mechanism, making it a potential anti-tumoral as well as anti-bactierial candidate. In order to investigate as well as improve the bioactive properties of myxin, the following study was designed to synthesize glycosylated myxin analogs. A small catalog of these compounds were synthesized, some of them exhibiting comparable biological …

Diversity Within Discrimination: Does Victim Nativity And Discriminator Race Matter For The Mental Health Of Blacks?, Aja Simpson Zulfiqar

Sociology Theses

The current study focuses on the variations in mental health effects due to the race of discriminators and the heterogeneity of the Black racial group. Using NSAL data, this study seeks to determine whether skin color discrimination has differing mental health impacts if it originates from a Black perpetrator versus a White one. The study examines these effects on both foreign-born and native-born Blacks to determine similarities and differences in their experiences in distress. The findings can provide a unique insight into diversity within the discrimination experience and inform interventions and policies that seek to improve the mental health among …

Jackknife Empirical Likelihood-Based Confidence Intervals For Low Income Proportions With Missing Data, Yanan Yin

Mathematics Theses

The estimation of low income proportions plays an important role in comparisons of poverty in different countries. In most countries, the stability of the society and the development of economics depend on the estimation of low income proportions. An accurate estimation of a low income proportion has a crucial role for the development of the natural economy and the improvement of people's living standards. In this thesis, the Jackknife empirical likelihood method is employed to construct confidence intervals for a low income proportion when the observed data had missing values. Comprehensive simulation studies are conducted to compare the relative performances …

Generalized Confidence Intervals For Partial Youden Index And Its Corresponding Optimal Cut-Off Point, Chenxue Li

Mathematics Theses

In the field of diagnostic test studies, the accuracy of a diagnostic test is essential in evaluating the performance of the test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC) are widely used in such evaluation procedures. Meanwhile, the Youden index is also introduced into practice to measure the accuracy of the diagnostic test from another aspect. The Youden index maximizes the sum of sensitivity and specificity, assuring decent true positive and negative rates. It draws one's attention due to its merit of finding the optimal cut-off points of biomarkers. Similar to Partial ROC, a …

Rotavirus Vaccination Rate Disparities Seen Among Infants With Acute Gastroenteritis (Age), Trisha Chan

Public Health Theses

Background: Rotavirus is one of the most common diarrheal diseases in children less than 5 years of age. Rotavirus vaccines have greatly reduced this burden in the United States. An examination was conducted to determine possible disparities in RV vaccination rates compared to DTaP.

Methods: Children were actively enrolled during two rotavirus seasons from January-June of 2010 and 2011 in the Emergency Departments (ED) and inpatient floors from all Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) sites (Scottish Rite, Egleston, and Hughes Spalding) with acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Data and a stool sample were collected from enrolled children and samples were tested for …

Evaluation Of The Risk Factors For Antibiotic Resistance In Streptococcus Pneumoniae Cases In Georgia, Bethany Laclair

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Streptococcus pneumoniae is the main bacterial cause of pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis. Incidence rates have decreased since the initiation of pneumococcal vaccines, but antibiotic resistant strains continue to emerge and place a heavy burden on healthcare systems to treat such serious resistant infections. This study looks at risk factors that increase a patients probability of contracting a drug resistant strain of S. pneumo.

Methods: Confirmed cases of S. pneumo were acquired through the Active Bacterial Core Surveillance program from 2009-2012 for the state of Georgia. Cumulative incidence rates, odds ratios and Pearson’s chi square were calculated to test …

Eating Behaviors And Supplement Use Of College Upperclassmen Athletes Versus Lowerclassmen Athletes, Marissa F. Wertheimer

Nutrition Theses

Background: Past studies have shown that optimal nutrition can enhance physical activity, athletic performance, and recovery from exercise. It is important for college athletes to incorporate positive eating behaviors into their daily lives, such as consuming breakfast, eating frequently throughout the day, and not skipping meals in order to maintain energy levels and reach their sports performance potential.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the eating behaviors and dietary supplement use of underclassmen and upperclassmen student athletes at Georgia State University.

Methods: Underclassmen (freshmen, sophomores) and upperclassmen (juniors, seniors, fifth-year seniors) athletes (n=255) completed …

Heterojunction Structures For Photon Detector Applications, Don Duleepa P. Pitigala Kankanakage

Physics and Astronomy Dissertations

The work presented here report findings in (1) infrared detectors based on p-GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunctions, (2) J and H aggregate sensitized heterojunctions for solar cell and photon detection applications, (3) heterojunctions sensitized with quantum dots as low cost solar energy conversion devices and near infrared photodetectors.

(1)A GaAs/AlGaAs based structure with a graded AlGaAs barrier is found to demonstrate a photovoltaic responsivity of ~ 30mA/W (~ 450mV/W) at the wavelength of 1.8 mm at 300K. Additionally the graded barrier has enhanced the photoconductive response at 78 K, showing a responsivity of ~ 80mA/W with a D*=1.4×10⁸ Jones under 1V bias …

Correlation Studies Of Cosmic Ray Flux And Atmospheric And Space Weather, Mathes A. Dayananda

Physics and Astronomy Dissertations

Since 1950's there has been a growing interest of understanding the effects of cosmic ray radiation on the increase in average global temperature. Recent studies showed that galactic cosmic rays play a significant role in the formation of low cloud coverage and its consequent impact on the global temperature variation of the earth. A long-term measurement of the cosmic ray flux distribution at the surface of the earth has been established at Georgia State University. The current effort is focused on understanding the correlations between the cosmic ray particle flux distribution and the atmospheric and space weather measurements.

In order …

Mixed Methods Analysis Of Undergraduate Quantum Mechanics: An Exploratory Case Study, Christopher A. Oakley

Physics and Astronomy Dissertations

One key goal of Physics Education Research is providing research-based instructional techniques and tools to help assess the complex learning goals associated with a mature understanding of physics. Characterizing faculty expectations is important to produce a comprehensive understanding of knowledge students should acquire before and during a quantum mechanics course (QMC). Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with faculty members and students entering a QMC in the Physics Program at a Large Public Research University (LPRU) in the Southeast. The interviews examine perspectives of different evaluation techniques, ideal preparation, course content, and expected conceptual models of students. A post-course survey was …

The Role Of Spontaneous Retrieval, Monitoring And Sustained Attention In Prospective Memory, Natasha B. Schultz

Psychology Dissertations

According to the Multiprocess Theory (Einstein and McDaniel, 1990), prospective memory is supported by two separate cognitive processes: monitoring and spontaneous retrieval. Successful monitoring during prospective memory tasks requires attention to be divided between separate stimuli and the attention needs to be sustained throughout the course of the task. However, this theoretical account also allows for prospective memory in the absence of monitoring, as in cases where memory is retrieved spontaneously in response to some cue. In the course of this study, support for the Multiprocess Theory has been found. Using a dual-task paradigm, prospective memory targets were displayed during …

The Intersection Of Working Memory And Emotion Recognition In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sharlet Anderson

Psychology Dissertations

The present study investigates the intersection of working memory and emotion recognition in young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurotypical controls. The executive functioning theory of autism grounds key impairments within the cognitive realm, whereas social-cognitive theories view social functioning impairments as primary. Executive functioning theory of ASD has been criticized because executive functioning is too broad and is composed of separable, component skills. In the current study, the focus is narrowed to one of those components, working memory. It has been suggested that executive functioning may play a role in effective social interactions. Emotion recognition is an …

An Evaluation Of The Delivery Of Sexuality Education In A Youth Development Context, Jessica Thomason

Psychology Dissertations

The present study is a mixed-method evaluation of the delivery of sexuality education in the context of a youth development program called Cool Girls, Inc. Part one was a quasi-experimental, pre and post-test design for which 216 program participants and 92 demographically matched comparisons were surveyed on variables associated with healthy sexual decision-making. It was hypothesized that participation in the program would be associated with increases in these variables, increases in helping resources for questions about sex, and that helping resources would mediate the relationship between participation and study outcomes. Participation predicted one of the sexual efficacy items: at the …

The Good, The Bad, And The Funny: A Neurocognitive Study Of Laughter As A Meaningful Socioemotional Cue, Richard Amoss

Psychology Dissertations

Laughter is a socioemotional cue that is characteristically positive and historically served to facilitate social bonding. Like other communicative gestures (e.g., facial expressions, groans, sighs), however, the interpretation of laughter is no longer bound to a particular affective state. Thus, an important question is how basic psychological mechanisms, such as early sensory arousal, emotion evaluation, and meaning representation, contribute to the interpretation of laughter in different contexts. A related question is how brain dynamic processes reflect these different aspects of laughter comprehension.

The present study addressed these questions using event-related potentials (ERP) to examine laughter comprehension within a cross-modal priming …