Entire DC Network | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

Evaluating Tar Wars®And Tobacco Use Habits Among Adolescents In Two Rural Alabama Communities: A 7-Year Study, P Scott Berry, William Coleman, Kyle Siegrist, Caleb Lenox

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

2020 research poster

Go to article

Prevent Duplication To Have Better Test Utilization, Shivani Malhotra, Parekha Yedla, Shae Ferguson, Richard Ivey

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

2020 research poster

Go to article

Reinforcing Effective Diabetes Education In The Outpatient Setting, Kaaren Royster, Jacob Calahan, Emily Blaine, Mary Clinton, Miranda Andrus, Haley Phillippe, Meredith Lewis

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

2020 research poster

Go to article

A Real World Comparison Of Exactrac And Cone Beam Ct For Image Guided Radiosurgery, Roman Travis, Michael Taylor, John Gleason

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

2020 research poster

Go to article

Counter Narratives Of Black Female Educators In Exurban Schools, Monisha Douglas Moore

All ETDs from UAB

This study explored how three Black female educators characterized their personal narratives regarding their teaching experiences. Guided by a social justice framework, this study attempted to show how Black women’s identities have been co-created, how their perceptions of success have been formulated, and how perceptions of academic success have helped them frame their pedagogy for diverse students. Because limited research has examined how Black female educators in exurban areas situated their perceptions and pedagogy to facilitate the needs of diverse students, this study added to the limited knowledge. Purposeful sampling was conducted at the site and participant level. The research …

Go to article

Your Friendly Neighbhorhood Superkid: The Influence Of Superheroes On Children's Risk-Taking Behaviors, Casie Morgan

All ETDs from UAB

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of injury and death among children in the United States. A variety of behavioral factors place children at heightened risk for injury. Risky play is one of these factors. This study investigated factors that might lead to risky play. Specifically, some scholars argue that we are currently amidst the “Golden Age of Superhero Movies,” and multiple sources of evidence suggest children as young as four-years-old are exposed to superhero television shows and adult-themed movies with great frequency. The current study evaluated children’s exposure to risk behaviors present in superhero media and how those risk …

Go to article

Crystalline Structure And Phase Development In Tio2-Zro2 Ceramic Nanofibers From Electrospun Precursors, Lindsey Elizabeth Motlow

All ETDs from UAB

This study focuses on crystallization and phase relations for various molar ratios of the free-surface alternating current electrospun nanofibrous composite material, Zirconium Titanate. Both ZrO2 and TiO2 based ceramic nanomaterials have been of increasing interest in recent years for applications in pollutants abatement, water splitting, optical and memory devices, humidity sensors, high temperature pigments, and biomaterials. The mixed TiO2-ZrO2 system is a semiconducting oxide and photoactive system that has shown very promising properties in these applications, depending on structure and phase composition. Molar ratios of TiO2/ZrO2 from 0.1:0.9 to 0.8:0.2 were tested in this study. The precursor based fibrous materials …

Go to article

Structural And Biophysical Investigations Into The Mechanism Of Hiv-1 Envelope Incorporation, Richard Elliot Murphy

All ETDs from UAB

Recent advancements in drug therapies and patient care have drastically improved upon the mortality rates of HIV-1 infected individuals. Many of these therapies were developed or improved upon using structure-based techniques, which underscores the importance of obtaining atomic level structural data critical to the understanding of essential mechanisms in the replication cycle of HIV-1. One such process which remains poorly understood on the structural level is the incorporation of the envelope glycoprotein (Env) into budding virus particles. The Env protein mediates viral infection of host cells, and there is strong evidence suggesting that incorporation of Env is mediated by an …

Go to article

Bond Of Resin Cements Through Three Ceramics At Varying Thickness, Po-Hsu Chen

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this study was to determine the bond strength of a light cured resin when cured through 3 different types of dental ceramics (traditional zirconia with 3 mol% yttria, translucent zirconia with 5 mol% yttria, and lithium disilicate) at 2 different thicknesses. A total of 135 specimens were prepared from traditional zirconia (IPS e.max ZirCAD LT, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein), translucent zirconia (IPS e.max ZirCAD MT, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein), and lithium disilicate (IPS e.max CAD LT, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein) into a plate shape, but in different thicknesses (1mm and 1.5mm). Ceramic buttons were fabricated by pressed lithium disilicate (IPS …

Go to article

Brownfield Redevelopments In Birmingham, Alabama: An Evaluation Of The Role Of Citizen Participation Utilizing The Framework Of Arnstein's Ladder, Sandra Cutts

All ETDs from UAB

The primary research objective is investigating the extent of citizen participation decision-making in the brownfield redevelopments in Birmingham, Alabama’s downtown revitalization to develop best practices for brownfield redevelopment collaboration. The technical literature affirms the need for citizen participation in project decision-making processes. Limited literature exists on how to best evaluate and incorporate participatory activities in brownfield redevelopments. This research adds to the literature, filling this gap by utilizing Arnstein’s ladder as an evaluative framework to quantify public participation in practice. It is important to understand how the extent of public participation in project decision-making may promote or hinder brownfield redevelopment. …

Go to article

The Journey Journals, Alayziah Diana Torres

All ETDs from UAB

My love of travel started from a young age. My family and I would drive to New Mexico every summer to see extended family. I remember the eager anticipation of packing bags and grabbing my notebook for the long journey, playing the ABC game on the road, listening to my favorite CDs on repeat on my portable CD player, fighting with my older brother about which of us gets to stretch our legs in the backseat and for how long. But we never really went anywhere besides that annual trip to New Mexico and the occasional Panama City Beach weekend …

Go to article

Contribution Of Adaptive Immune Responses In Chronic Lung Diseases, Thi Kim Tran-Nguyen

All ETDs from UAB

Immune dysregulation is a hallmark of various chronic lung diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Previous studies in our lab have shown evidences of autoimmunity such as increases in autoantibodies, abnormal T cell profile, immune complex deposition and the presence of ectopic lymphoid structures in the lung of these patients. This thesis consolidates two separate projects about various aberrant immune responses in these diseases. The first project identified Glucose-Regulated-Protein 78 (GRP78) as the common autoantigen in COPD and characterized how GRP78 autoantibodies may increase COPD mortality via its atherogenic effects. I demonstrated that …

Go to article

Understanding Financial Hardship In Women With Breast Cancer, Courtney Williams

All ETDs from UAB

Individuals with cancer are at risk of material, psychological, and behavioral financial hardship due to costly new treatments, increasing time on treatment, and longer survival. Breast cancer is an ideal environment to study financial hardship. Treatment options for metastatic breast cancer are heterogeneous due to differences in patient characteristics, disease biology, and because it has the largest number of treatment options of any metastatic cancer. In early stage breast cancer, treatment options include multimodality treatments, including surgery, radiation, and medical therapy (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy), with the choice for each modality being dependent on the other modality decisions. Despite …

Go to article

Identifying Micro-Level Determinants That Influence The Transportation Network Companies (Tncs) Growth Through Analysis Of Transportation Users’ Preferences And Attitudes, Sahila Sarjana

All ETDs from UAB

In the recent years, the use of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) such as Uber/Lyft as a mode of travel has been growing at a significant pace. Despite the rapid growth of several TNC markets, analyses of potential and actual impacts of TNCs presence on preferences and travel patterns of TNC-aware users are still very limited. Such analyses require detailed trip data which are not easily available due to privacy concerns, as well as technical and financial feasibility issues. To address some of these issues, the objective of this study was to document the factors that influence transportation users in the …

Go to article

Comparative Analysis Of The Translocation Kinetics For Clpa’S Atpase Domains 1 & 2, Nathaniel Scull

All ETDs from UAB

ClpA, a Class I AAA+ (ATPases Associated with various cellular Activities) motor, as-sembles into a tiered hexamer containing two AAA+ nucleotide binding domains (NDBs), D1 and D2. These NBDs couple nucleotide triphosphate binding and hydrolysis to mechanical work that drives polypeptide unfolding and translocation. Here we study the kinetic mechanisms of polypeptide translocation at the two domains to elucidate their contributions to the overall wildtype activity of ClpA. We subjected Walker B variants of ClpA that lack ATPase activity in one of the two domains to single-turnover stopped-flow techniques using a new fluorescence anisotropy and total fluorescence method. We found …

Go to article

Assessment Of Emergency Department High Utilizer Program In Public Health System Setting, Michael Malaise

All ETDs from UAB

is study examined whether a case management model designed to reduce emergency department utilization among patients described as super-utilizers in a public health system could also reduce the per patient cost of those super-utilizers. The setting for this study was a large public health system in a major metropolitan area. The study focused on a low-income, urban population. Given the program’s stated desire to improve the self-efficacy of patients over time so that they could take more ownership of their own health status, this study reviewed the program within the framework of self-efficacy theory. This research predicted that the case …

Go to article

Impact Of Ncqa Pcmh-Level On Low Income Diabetics In Louisiana, Michael G. Griffin

All ETDs from UAB

While past studies have examined the relationship between safety-net provider sites that are certified as Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) and quality health care outcomes, no previous studies have evaluated the relationship between NCQA PCMH certification levels at primary care sites and quality health care outcomes. NCQA is the largest national certification program for PCMH, and for 10 years was the only national program that offered a tiered level of certification based on provider level of patient engagement and deployed resources. The Donabedian Model, which focuses on structure, process, and outcomes, was used to develop the theoretical framework to address …

Go to article

Hospital Charge And Ricing Transparency, Kunal N. Patel

All ETDs from UAB

Hospital pricing is not uniformly disclosed to patients up-front before the delivery of healthcare. Moreover, pricing is not commonly understood by consumers and researchers, because the information was largely unavailable due to the lack of a federal policy mandate to make the information publicly available up until recently. The federal government instituted a series of regulations that initially began to take effect in 2019 in order to increase hospital pricing transparency with the aim of bending the healthcare cost curve. In this dissertation, hospital response, hospital standard charge variation, and healthcare management and policy expert opinion surrounding the implementation of …

Go to article

The Luckiest Girl In The World: A Texan Seeks Her Birth Parents, Ardell Taylor Fleeson

All ETDs from UAB

This creative nonfiction thesis combines memoir with documentary research to tell the story of the adoptive parents of the author, and the author’s successful search for her birth parents. The adoptive mother’s story starts and finishes the narrative, spanning fifty-five years of her life, from her rise from poverty to prosperity in mid-20th century Texas. The middle of the article is the author’s discovery of her birth parents, the key event for which is the Texas court’s unsealing the author’s adoption file. Names and dates empowered the author to find four half-siblings and speak with her birth mother on the …

Go to article

Grits And Giggles: A Graphic Memoir, Carlee Slay

All ETDs from UAB

When I was growing up, I was taught that the worst thing I could possibly do was date a black boy…by my peers, my community, and most of all my family. This moral teaching never did sit well with me, but soon I found myself giving in to their teachings and becoming a reflection of the environment I was raised in. However, as soon as I moved to college, I found that there were far more perspectives than that of those that I had been fed in the small town from which I came. And no longer was I a …

Go to article

Mislead: An Investigation Of Neuropsychological Mechanisms Underlying Deception Detection In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Julie A. Trapani

All ETDs from UAB

Despite extensive research on social cognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), investigations focused on the vulnerability of this population to deception have received rather limited attention. The role of executive function (EF) skills in detecting deception is even less understood in both typically developing (TD) and ASD populations. The dearth of current research on deception in ASD and the social implications of poor deception detection exemplify the need to understand the mechanisms that underlie this nuanced form of social interaction. The current study aims to investigate the neuropsychological mechanisms of detecting deception and the extent to which autism symptomatology impacts …

Go to article

There And Back Again: A Rhetorical Journey From Oppression To Exclusion, Sally Anne Perz

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis addresses parallels between the rhetoric of contemporary secessionists and the arguments surrounding the rise and fall of Jim Crow laws which maintained segregation for decades. Cities like Gardendale, Alabama and Baton Rouge, Louisiana make uncanny arguments in their attempts to break-away from county school systems, promoting new and improved propaganda, alluding to “separate but equal” in their attempts to separate for the good of their communities. Despite years of multicultural instruction, schools are fighting the same battle, on the same turf, generations later—some cities surrounding Birmingham and across the country add a new twist on the same white …

Go to article

The Impact Of Time-To-Collision Estimates On Transportation Safety For Young Drivers With Developmental Disabilities, Austin M. Svancara

All ETDs from UAB

Motor vehicle collisions (MVC) are the leading cause of death for young drivers. MVC risk is higher among drivers with developmental disabilities, particularly individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Difficulties in time perception may negatively impact driving, such as with time-to-collision (TTC) estimations (i.e., an estimation of how long it will take to collide with another vehicle). The goal of this study was to determine whether individuals with ADHD and ASD displayed decrements in TTC estimations and whether perception of time in a general context was related to TTC estimations in a driving-specific context. A total …

Go to article

The Viper Pit, Brett Hurst

All ETDs from UAB

he Viper Pit was born out of a writing prompt from Jim Braziel’s fiction writing class. We had to write a short story based on a photo from The American Photobooth. On page 174 of that book, a photo on the far right corner sparked my interest last year. It was the type of picture you see and automatically do a double-take. The man in the photo held the snake so close to his face like a newborn baby. The connection between the man and the snake ignited something in my imagination. On that day, I gave that man a …

Go to article

The Relationship Between Government Grants And Nonprofit Revenue Diversification, Samantha Jeanne Arceneaux

All ETDs from UAB

The financial health of nonprofits has been of interest to researchers for decades and continues to be of concern as the size United States nonprofit sector continues to grow both in the number of registered nonprofits and in finances, and third-party government increasingly uses partnerships with nonprofits to deliver services to the public. Empirical studies of revenue diversification and concentration indicate that they can both contribute to nonprofit financial health by assisting in developing a strategy of financial sustainability or financial capacity. However, empirical studies on the relationship between government funding and the nonprofit sector have been limited. This analysis …

Go to article

"Autism Friendly Alabama": Identifying Key Criteria To Support An Inclusive Environment, Caro C. Wolfner

All ETDs from UAB

The present study examined potential supports and barriers towards an inclusive or ‘autism friendly’ environment from the perspectives of family members of individuals with ASD (n=127) and adults with ASD (n=16). Groups did not differ on endorsement of importance for any of the criterion, except for crowds (p<0.05). The highest ranked quality by Caregivers/Family members were knowledgeable and helpful staff’ (32.5 percent) and attitudes (22.5 percent). The ASD group ranked knowledgeable and helpful staff (30 percent) and crowds (30 percent) as the most important quality. Qualitative data showed that modulated sensory environment, knowledgeable and trained staff’; access to supports, and awareness of locations & as emerging themes for ‘autism friendly’ environments. The present study represents an approach involving research, education and advocacy to provide evidence-based criteria that will be used as a standard for ASA’s Autism Friendly Alabama program. With criteria identified, stakeholders can move forward with completing subsequent goals for the initiative, such as program implementation and evaluation.

Go to article

Effect Of Patient-Level Characteristics On Fluoroquinolone Susceptibility, Jeffrey Alan Franks

All ETDs from UAB

Antimicrobial stewardship programs are becoming more widespread to combat antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of patient-level characteristics on fluoroquinolone susceptibly among five gram-negative isolates to help better their implementation. We performed a retrospective analysis of patients over the age of 18 for five gram-negative isolates (Acinetobacter species, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). We utilized Cox proportional hazards to determine the risk of patient-level characteristics, for both hospital and community-acquired infections, on fluoroquinolone resistance between 2016 and 2019. The population sample consisted of 8,285 patients receiving fluoroquinolones for at least one of the …

Go to article

Unicritical Laminations And D-Gons Of Single Critical Moment, Cameron Hale

All ETDs from UAB

Laminations are a topological and combinatorial way to represent connected Julia sets of polynomials. A lamination is the boundary of the closed unit disk with a closed collection of chords that do not intersect on the interior of the disk. The standard d to 1 covering map of the circle represents the application of a degree d polynomial to its Julia set. The laminations of interest here are those that contain a d-gon which first returns to itself under the standard covering map by the identity (other polygons in laminations may first return rotated). It is known that a polygon …

Go to article

Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner

All ETDs from UAB

Locus coeruleus (LC) degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and loss of noradrenergic (NA) innervation in hippocampus contributes to learning and memory deficits. Recently, a novel rat model (TgF344-AD) has been created that allows for a more thorough investigation into these mechanisms due to its similarity to human AD pathology. The McMahon lab has recently demonstrated heightened long-term potentiation (LTP) and a ‘supersensitivity’ of -adrenergic receptors (-ARs) at excitatory synapses in the dentate gyrus (DG) in TgF344-AD rats. These mechanisms could be responsible for maintaining learning and memory during buildup of AD pathology. The first goal of this Master’s thesis was …

Go to article

Impact Of Different Human Coronaviruses (Hcovs) On Pediatric Patients At A Tertiary Pediatric Hospital – Retrospective Study, Abdulsalam Alsulami

All ETDs from UAB

Background: Human Coronaviruses (HCoV) are important pathogens associated with respiratory disease in humans and animals. The majority of HCoVs are emerging human pathogens with 7 known types causing human disease and 5 being identified in the last 2 decades. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all encounters with known HCoV at a tertiary pediatric hospital from January 2015 until January 2018. Electronic medical records (EMRs) were reviewed for demographic data, HCoV type, viral copathogens, time to testing, admission, need for increased intensity of care (HLC), requirement for supplemental oxygen, radiographic findings suggestive lower respiratory tract disease (LRT) when available …

Go to article

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Evaluating Tar Wars®And Tobacco Use Habits Among Adolescents In Two Rural Alabama Communities: A 7-Year Study, P Scott Berry, William Coleman, Kyle Siegrist, Caleb Lenox

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

Prevent Duplication To Have Better Test Utilization, Shivani Malhotra, Parekha Yedla, Shae Ferguson, Richard Ivey

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

Reinforcing Effective Diabetes Education In The Outpatient Setting, Kaaren Royster, Jacob Calahan, Emily Blaine, Mary Clinton, Miranda Andrus, Haley Phillippe, Meredith Lewis

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

A Real World Comparison Of Exactrac And Cone Beam Ct For Image Guided Radiosurgery, Roman Travis, Michael Taylor, John Gleason

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

Counter Narratives Of Black Female Educators In Exurban Schools, Monisha Douglas Moore

All ETDs from UAB

Your Friendly Neighbhorhood Superkid: The Influence Of Superheroes On Children's Risk-Taking Behaviors, Casie Morgan

All ETDs from UAB

Crystalline Structure And Phase Development In Tio2-Zro2 Ceramic Nanofibers From Electrospun Precursors, Lindsey Elizabeth Motlow

All ETDs from UAB

Structural And Biophysical Investigations Into The Mechanism Of Hiv-1 Envelope Incorporation, Richard Elliot Murphy

All ETDs from UAB

Bond Of Resin Cements Through Three Ceramics At Varying Thickness, Po-Hsu Chen

All ETDs from UAB

Brownfield Redevelopments In Birmingham, Alabama: An Evaluation Of The Role Of Citizen Participation Utilizing The Framework Of Arnstein's Ladder, Sandra Cutts

All ETDs from UAB

The Journey Journals, Alayziah Diana Torres

All ETDs from UAB

Contribution Of Adaptive Immune Responses In Chronic Lung Diseases, Thi Kim Tran-Nguyen

All ETDs from UAB

Understanding Financial Hardship In Women With Breast Cancer, Courtney Williams

All ETDs from UAB

Identifying Micro-Level Determinants That Influence The Transportation Network Companies (Tncs) Growth Through Analysis Of Transportation Users’ Preferences And Attitudes, Sahila Sarjana

All ETDs from UAB

Comparative Analysis Of The Translocation Kinetics For Clpa’S Atpase Domains 1 & 2, Nathaniel Scull

All ETDs from UAB

Assessment Of Emergency Department High Utilizer Program In Public Health System Setting, Michael Malaise

All ETDs from UAB

Impact Of Ncqa Pcmh-Level On Low Income Diabetics In Louisiana, Michael G. Griffin

All ETDs from UAB

Hospital Charge And Ricing Transparency, Kunal N. Patel

All ETDs from UAB

The Luckiest Girl In The World: A Texan Seeks Her Birth Parents, Ardell Taylor Fleeson

All ETDs from UAB

Grits And Giggles: A Graphic Memoir, Carlee Slay

All ETDs from UAB

Mislead: An Investigation Of Neuropsychological Mechanisms Underlying Deception Detection In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Julie A. Trapani

All ETDs from UAB

There And Back Again: A Rhetorical Journey From Oppression To Exclusion, Sally Anne Perz

All ETDs from UAB

The Impact Of Time-To-Collision Estimates On Transportation Safety For Young Drivers With Developmental Disabilities, Austin M. Svancara

All ETDs from UAB

The Viper Pit, Brett Hurst

All ETDs from UAB

The Relationship Between Government Grants And Nonprofit Revenue Diversification, Samantha Jeanne Arceneaux

All ETDs from UAB

"Autism Friendly Alabama": Identifying Key Criteria To Support An Inclusive Environment, Caro C. Wolfner

All ETDs from UAB

Effect Of Patient-Level Characteristics On Fluoroquinolone Susceptibility, Jeffrey Alan Franks

All ETDs from UAB

Unicritical Laminations And D-Gons Of Single Critical Moment, Cameron Hale

All ETDs from UAB

Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner

All ETDs from UAB

Impact Of Different Human Coronaviruses (Hcovs) On Pediatric Patients At A Tertiary Pediatric Hospital – Retrospective Study, Abdulsalam Alsulami

All ETDs from UAB