Digital Commons Network^™

Psychometric Evaluations Of An Acculturation Scale And An Acculturation Stress Scale With American Indian University Students, Michael Brian Trahan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Acculturation and acculturation stress are constructs studied with various minority groups. This study tests the factor loadings for both the Native American Acculturation Scale (N.A.A.S.) and the Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturation Stress Scale (S.A.F.E.), as well as the reliability of these measures with American Indian undergraduate and graduate students in a university setting. The first hypothesis was that the factor loadings of the N.A.A.S. with this sample would not resemble the original factor structure found by Garrett and Pichette (2000). It was also believed that the N.A.A.S. would exhibit robust reliability with this sample, based upon a previous, …

Horizontal Violence And The Quality And Safety Of Patient Care: A Conceptual Model, Christina Purpora, Mary A. Blegen

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

For many years, nurses in international clinical and academic settings have voiced concern about horizontal violence among nurses and its consequences. However, no known framework exists to guide research on the topic to explain these consequences. This paper presents a conceptual model that was developed from four theories to illustrate how the quality and safety of patient care could be affected by horizontal violence. Research is needed to validate the new model and to gather empirical evidence of the consequences of horizontal violence on which to base recommendations for future research, education, and practice.

Side Judges: The Case Of The Israeli Military Courts

Socio-Legal Review

This study aims to evaluate the changes in the independence and quality of the judicial process, in relation to judicial panels dealing with serious crimes in the military courts of Judea and Samaria (hereinafter, "the Region'). This evaluationfllows the 2002 transition from /udiialpanels, consisting of a lega/y trained fudge (the presiding judge) accompanied b two officers without a legal education, to expert panels consisting of three judges, all of whom are jurists.

The rationale for integrating side judges into the legal system is their close relationsh with the target community and an increasedpublic confidence in the system. At the same …

It Is Statutorily Required That The Buck Stops Here: Risk Retention Requirements In The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform And Consumer Protection Act, Andrew Bradford

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Modeling Collective Dynamics Of Social Systems: Incorporating Various Social Mechanisms Into Agent-Based Models, Dene L. Farrell

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

I present three original papers demonstrating complex behavior arising from collective dynamics in agent-based models (ABM) focusing on evolutionary and cognitive mechanisms. The first report demonstrates the coupled emergence of cooperation and selfish punishment behavior in groups of individuals playing an iterated public goods game. The second report demonstrates the effects of mental modeling within groups of decision makers. The third report demonstrates a synthesis of evolutionary and cognitive mechanisms.

Black American Intergenerational Perspectives On Education, Black Identity And Whiteness: A Socio-Cultural And Historical Analysis, Denise G. Yull

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The aims of this study are to explore the socio-cultural contexts and experiences of Black Americans and their perspectives on the quality and value of education in their lives and to better understand how the socio-historical idea that Blacks are inferior has influenced the perception and disenfranchisement of Black youth in the U.S. educational system. This dissertation presents a qualitative study, incorporating historical documents and oral history interviews to collect first person accounts of the educational experiences of 53 Black people reflecting 4 different generations. The study found differences in the salience of race/racism in schools for individuals based on …

Dialogue Magazine, Winter 2012

Dialogue, the magazine of the DePaul University College of Law

No abstract provided.

An Organizational Approach To The Design Of Patent Law, Liza Vertinsky

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Topological Minigap In Quasi-One-Dimensional Spin-Orbit-Coupled Semiconductor Majorana Wires, Sumanta Tewari, T. D. Stanescu, Jay D. Sau, S. Das Sarma

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Professional Learning Standards In Georgia Schools: An Examination Of The Current Reality, Mary M. Chandler, Tak Cheung Chan

Faculty Articles

Professional learning is considered important for improving teacher quality and for development of organizational capacity to boost school improvement for student learning. This mixed methodology study examines the implementation of the National Staff Development Council Standards (NSDC) in professional learning in Georgia schools through the NSDC Standards Assessment Instrument and six open-ended follow-up questions. The findings suggest that teachers in Georgia did not perceive that professional learning holds a high priority by their school leaders, state legislators, and key policy makers. However, they rated their effort toward context and content areas of professional learning to be above average.

Compound Capillary Rise, Mark M. Weislogel

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Irregular conduits, complex surfaces, and porous media often manifest more than one geometric wetting condition for spontaneous capillary flows. As a result, different regions of the flow exhibit different rates of flow, all the while sharing common dynamical capillary pressure boundary conditions. The classic problem of sudden capillary rise in tubes with interior corners is revisited from this perspective and solved numerically in the self-similar visco-capillary limit à laLucas–Washburn. Useful closed-form analytical solutions are obtained in asymptotic limits appropriate for many practical flows in conduits containing one or more interior corner. The critically wetted corners imbibe fluid away from …

The Influence Of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe On The Legacy Of The Bauhaus, Zachary Whiteaker Branson

Honors Theses

This paper addresses three color theorists of the Bauhaus and their connection to a single historical source, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It begins with an overview of the Bauhaus and a brief chronology of the school, and then moves into a description of Goethe’s work, primarily Theory of Color. I then discuss Wassily Kandinsky, his writings in Concerning the Spiritual in Art and From Point and Line to Plane, and his impact on the other teachers of the Bauhaus. The third chapter addresses Johannes Itten’s book. The Art of Color, and his influence on the Bauhaus and its students through …

Computational Investigation Of Drag Reduction With A Rear Flap On Trucks, Yangyang Hu

All ETDs from UAB

Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of the steady state Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations using the second order k — ω turbulence model were performed to investigate the Drag Coefficients (Cd) of the Class 8 trucks under different geometric configurations. The reduction rates of aerodynamic drag using several add-on devices such as base flap, boat tail, underbody skirt, and tractor-trailer gap are investigated through the CFD simulations. Moreover, simulations by using different lengths and angles of the base flap and boat tail were conducted; the comparison indicates that the base flap design is more effective for the drag reduction. The optimized …

Geometric Fitting In Error-In-Variables Model, Qizhuo Huang

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation is devoted to the study of a popular regression model: Error-In-Variable Model, which has been commonly recognized as one of the key components of computer vision research. In EIV model, a set of data points whose (x,y) coordinates are subject to random errors is fitted by some geometric shapes such as lines, circles and ellipses. The geometric fitting which minimizes the sum of orthogonal distances from points to geometric shapes is universally recognized as the most desirable solution of the fitting problem. However, there is no explicit form of the solution for nonlinear models (circles, ellipses etc). The …

Acoustical Analysis Of Trained And Untrained Singers Onsite Before And After Prolonged Voice Use, Christophe E. Jackson

All ETDs from UAB

Controlled acoustic environments are important in voice research. Recording environment affects the quality of voice recordings. While sound booths and anechoic chambers are examples of controlled acoustic environments widely used in research, they are both costly and not portable. The long-term goal of this project is to compare the voice usage and efficiency of trained and untrained singers onsite immediately before and after vocal performance. The specific goal of this project is the further of development a Portable Sound Booth (PSB) and standardization of onsite voice recording procedures under controlled conditions. We hypothesized that the simple and controlled acoustic environment …

Secondary School Administrators' Perception Of Leading And Implementing No Child Left Behind Mandates For Alabama Students With Disabilities, Janet Mcconis Jenkins

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT This qualitative study looked at the lived experiences of middle school and high school administrators when leading and implementing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and additional mandates of NCLB of 2004 for students with disabilities in their schools. An attempt was made through face-to-face interviews to explore and exam-ine what experiences and training these administrators had as the instructional leader for students with disabilities. NCLB mandates placed stipulations for school success in the hands of the school administrators. In an era of high stakes accountability, the traditional role of the school administrator as the disciplinarian …

Forensic Facial Reconstruction Using Computational Approach, Wenzhen Jia

All ETDs from UAB

Forensic facial reconstruction is an application of forensic anthropology. It is a process of recreating the face of a human being based on skull remains. The process of recreating faces can be used to identify otherwise unknown individuals or to reconstruct faces of historical figures, such as the famous effort of reconstructing King Tut in 2005. There are many approaches to perform facial reconstruction in both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D). In 2-D cases, an artist works from photos of the skull and sketches the facial features based on his or her scientific training and artistic intuition. In 3-D cases, …

Academic Realignment: An Investigation Of Change Within A New Academic Unit At A Research University, Abbygail Tull Langham

All ETDs from UAB

Even in normal times, limited resources require U.S. universities to be more open to change. In late 2007, however, a global recession, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, intensified constraints on higher education. To achieve intended outcomes, leaders at colleges and universities often reorganize or realign their organizations during challenging times. Indeed, one public doctorate-granting research university with very high research activity in the southeastern United States has responded to the economic crisis by realigning four academic schools into one large college. Scholarly inquiry was needed to understand the impact of this realignment. The purpose of this …

An Information Theoretical Modeling And Analysis Of Systems, Bunyamin Ozaydin

All ETDs from UAB

The growth of the service industry also comes with problems and complications because of its inherent error proneness. As the complexity of systems increases, whether the system of interest is a service product or a natural phenomenon, it only proves that there is always a need for improved modeling approaches. In this study, we approach systems from an information theoretical perspective. More specifically, we model systems by noisy communication channels and analyze them by a structure of relationships whose elements are commonly used analysis tools in science and engineering. We call this modeling approach and the structure of relationships it …

Evaluating The Reproductive Ecology Of The Diamondback Terrapin In Alabama Salt Marshes: Implications For The Recovery Of A Depleted Species, Taylor Matthew Roberge

All ETDs from UAB

The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) was once an abundant and economically important species in the salt marshes of Alabama. A variety of threats have impacted this species over the past century, resulting in a drastic decline in the population. Diamondback terrapins are currently considered a "priority one species (highest conservation concern)" in Alabama. The largest nesting aggregation documented to date in Alabama is on the 1.8 km long shell-hash nesting beach bordering the western edge of Cedar Point Marsh (CPM). The current studies address several aspects of the reproductive ecology of the diamondback terrapin in Alabama. Nesting beach surveys were …

Modeling And Multi-Objective Optimization For Energy-Based Target Localization Using Wireless Sensor Networks, Zhenxing Luo

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation focuses on energy-based target localization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A WSN consists of a fusion center and a large number of sensors. The fusion center localizes a target using a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method based on decisions received from sensors whose positions are known. However, several factors may degrade localization performance, including imperfect communication channels, sensor faults, sensor position uncertainty, and sensor sleep. Localization performance may be improved if these factors are accounted for in the MLE framework. In this dissertation, models were developed that describe how localization performance is affected by imperfect communication channels, multi-hop …

Geometric Fitting Of Quadratic Curves And Surfaces, Hui Ma

All ETDs from UAB

Fitting quadratic curves and surfaces to observed images is one of the basic tasks in pattern recognition and computer vision. The most accurate and robust fit is obtained by minimizing geometric (orthogonal) distances, but this problem has no closed form solution. All known algorithms are heuristic and either computationally costly or have drawbacks in accuracy and convergence. We develop a mathematically rigorous approach to the study of the geometric fitting problem. We begin with a thorough investigation of relevant theoretical aspects of the problem and then move on to its practical solution. We focus on image processing applications, where data …

Permutation Notations For The Exceptional Weyl Group F4, Patricia Cahn, Ruth Haas, Aloysius G. Helminck, Juan Li, Jeremy Schwartz

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper describes a permutation notation for the Weyl groups of type F4 and G2. The image in the permutation group is presented as well as an analysis of the structure of the group. This description enables faster computations in these Weyl groups which will prove useful for a variety of applications.

A New Qcd Effect: The Shrinking Radius Of Hadrons, Tamar Friedmann

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

We propose an extended schematic model for hadrons in which quarks as well as diquarks serve as building blocks. The outcome is a reclassification of the hadron spectrum in which there are no radially excited hadrons: all mesons and baryons previously believed to be radial excitations are orbitally excited states involving diquarks. Also, there are no exotic hadrons: all hadrons previously believed to be exotic are states involving diquarks and are an integral part of the model. We discuss the implications of this result for a new understanding of confinement and its relation to asymptotic freedom, as well as its …

The Influence Of Growth Factors Applied During Socket Conversion, On The Incidence Of Spontaneous Early Dental Implant Exposure, Michael Anh Minh Nguyen

All ETDs from UAB

Spontaneous early exposure of a dental implant's cover screw can result in a nidus for plaque accumulation, which may result in inflammation, damage to the peri-implant mucosa, and possible peri-implant bone loss. This study aims to investigate the effect of the addition of growth factors, specifically recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor, and platelet-rich plasma, at the time of socket conversion, on the incidence of early implant exposures. This retrospective study utilized data from a study involving a total of 80 implants that were placed in 4 different types of sites (Groups 1,2,3, and 4). Group 1 sites were extraction sites …

Identification, Molecular Cloning And Characterization Of Transmitted/Founder Hiv-1 Subtype A, D And Ad Viruses And Envelope Glycoproteins, Joshua Baalwa

All ETDs from UAB

A precise molecular identification of transmitted/founder (T/F) HIV-1 genomes responsible for productive infection in humans can be an enabling strategy for elucidating mechanisms of virus transmission, immunopathogenesis and prevention. Previously, we reported a single genome sequencing approach, which when combined with a mathematical model of early random virus diversification, allowed for an unambiguous identification of T/F HIV-1 subtype B and C envelope (env) genes. Here, we apply this method to the identification and molecular cloning of full-length HIV-1 genomes and env genes of the less well-studied, but nonetheless important, HIV-1 subtypes A and D. Twelve subtype A (n=5), D (n=5) …

The Influence Of Microscale Heterogeneity Of The Collagen Network Of Healthy Rabbit Ventricular Subepicardium On Action Potential Propagation And Interstitial Potential Distributions, Claire Elizabeth Bourgeois

All ETDs from UAB

The goal of the present study was to identify the microstructural variability in myocyte orientation and in the arrangement of the collagen network to explore the interstitial compartment's contribution to discontinuous propagation. Microstructural data was obtained from healthy rabbit ventricular subepicardium through a sequence of image processing steps. Collagen quantity was measured in successive serial sections using established histological techniques. Binary 2D maps of collagen quantity were obtained from each section as a difference of images acquired under (i) brightfield illumination with a rhodamine filter and (ii) polarized illumination. Images were then registered by x-y translation and rotation to align …

Reconsidering State Parole Board Membership Requirements In Light Of Model Penal Code Sentencing Revisions, Stefan J. Bing

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Charting Kentucky's Path: How The Commonwealth Can Innovate Its Public Schools With Charter Legislation, Tyler Roberts

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Thermosensitive Magnetic Nanoparticles For Self-Controlled Hyperthermia Cancer Treatment, Karen S. Martirosyan

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Magnetic nanoparticles show remarkable phenomena such as superparamagnetism, high field irreversibility and high saturation magnetization [1]. The study of magnetic nanoparticles has been a very active research field due to many important applications such as drug delivery, imaging and hyperthermia cancer treatment [2]. Hyperthermia has been used for many years to treat a wide variety of tumors in patients and used as well as an adjunct to cancer radiotherapy or chemotherapy [3,4]. Its use is based on the fact that tumor cells are more sensitive to temperature in the range of 42–45°C (which yields necrosis, coagulation, or carbonization) than normal …