Digital Commons Network^™

The Alabama Ballet: A Master's Examination Report, Alison Heath

Arts Administration Master's Reports (1984-2016)

This report investigates the successes and shortcomings of an established and financially stable arts organization, and analyzes the position of the organization within the greater whole of the arts community. Alabama Ballet is a 501(c)(3) taxexempt non-profit organization located in Birmingham, Alabama. Alabama Ballet strives to offer high quality, professional dance in the state of Alabama through dance programming, education programs, and outreach efforts. The exploration and discovery took place during a 480-hour Internship while working as an Administrative Intern within the organization. This report explores the strengths, weaknesses, and suggestions for organizational improvement based on studies and knowledge gained …

Microrefugia And Species Persistence In The Galápagos Highlands: A 26,000-Year Paleoecological Perspective, Aaron F. Collins, Mark B. Bush, Julian P. Sachs

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Galápagos Islands are known to have experienced significant drought during the Quaternary. The loss of mesophytic upland habitats has been suggested to underlie the relatively lower endemism of upland compared with lowland plant assemblages. A fossil pollen record spanning the last 26,000 years from an upland bog on Santa Cruz Island, revealed the persistent presence of highland pollen and spore types during the last glacial maximum and a millennial-scale series of droughts in the mid Holocene. The absence of lowland taxa and presence of mesic taxa led to the conclusion that the highland flora of the Galápagos persisted during …

Corals On Acid: An Inquiry-Based Activity Leading Students To A Better Understanding Of Ocean Acidification Impacts, Casey L. Boleman, Philip M. Gravinese, Ellen N. Muse, Andrea E. Marston, John G. Windsor

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The objective of this inquiry-based lesson is for students to gain an understanding of how increasing ocean acidity can affect the calcification of marine organisms. During this activity, students: (1) design an experiment to quantify the CaCO3 concentration of two invertebrate skeletal samples, one that has been soaked in normal seawater and another in a low pH solution, and (2) use critical thinking and discussion to evaluate possible explanations for the difference in the skeletal CaCO3 compositions. Our lesson focuses on exploring the activity before ocean acidification is introduced to provide a common conceptual framework to engage students.

The Rhapsody/Concerto Of Robert C. Ehle, Chia-Hua Huang

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Toll-Like Receptors 2 And 9 Are Important For Innate Immune Cell Activation And Recruitment In Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis, Kelly J. Andrews

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an interstitial lung disease caused by repeated inhalation of environmental antigens. The disease is characterized by alveolitis and granuloma formation; however, some patients develop chronic HP (CHP), a restrictive lung disease characterized by fibrosis. Previous studies revealed that neutrophils are recruited into the lung via a MyD88- dependent pathway and regulate disease severity through cytokine production. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 and 9 recognize conserved molecular patterns present in bacteria, and signal through the adaptor molecule MyD88. The goal of my project is to investigate the role of TLRs 2 and 9 in the pathogenesis of HP …

Full-Gestational Exposure To Nicotine And Ethanol Results In Long-Term Dysregulation In The Ventral Tegmental Area, Emily Elizabeth Roguski

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Nicotine is considered a gateway drug for other drugs of abuse. The majority of smokers that begin smoking in adolescence, continue into adulthood. Multiple factors have been linked with smoking initiation, including maternal smoking. Drug exposure during pregnancy has long been suspected to exert deleterious effects on the fetal brain. Concurrent use of smoking and drinking alcohol throughout pregnancy is an all too frequent occurrence in the human population especially in disadvantaged and younger women.

The present study investigated the potential contributing factors for the enhanced nicotine selfadministration as seen in offspring with gestational exposure to nicotine and ethanol (Nic+EtOH).* …

Identification Of Novel Hif1a Target Genes That Regulate Tumor Progression And Metastasis, Danielle L. Peacock

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Hypoxia is a hallmark of most solid tumors. In response to hypoxic stress tumor cells adapt by regulating survival, metabolism and angiogenesis. The heterodimeric HypoxiaInducible Factor (HIF) transcription factors are the master regulators of this response. HIFs play key roles in many critical aspects of cancer biology including angiogenesis, stem cell maintenance, metabolic reprogramming, invasion, metastasis and resistance to radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Overexpression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α has been documented in multiple human cancers and HIF-1 protein is over-expressed in ~30% of primary breast tumors and ~70% of metastases, which independently correlates with poor prognosis and decreased survival in …

Natural Resource Management Newsletter, Dave Willis

NRM Newsletter

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Inhibitory Effects Of Antibiotic Combinations On Ribosome Biosynthesis In Staphylococcus Aureus, Justin Beach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bacteremia initiated by Staphylococcus aureus infections can be a serious medical problem. Although a number of different antibiotics are used to combat staphylococcal infections, resistance has continued to develop. Combination therapy for certain infections has been used to reduce the emergence of resistance when a single agent has become ineffective. We hypothesize that the use of rifampicin and ciprofloxacin in combination with azithromycin, known for its inhibitory effects on the bacterial ribosome, can create potential synergistic effects resulting from indirect effects on ribosomal subunit synthesis.

To determine this we measured the effects of single and multiple antibiotics on cell growth …

Methylphenidate Conditioned Place Preference In Juvenile And Adolescent Male And Female Rats, Elizabeth D. Freeman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This investigation was an analysis of the effects of methylphenidate (MPH; trade name: Ritalin) on drug reward using the conditioned place preference (CPP) behavioral paradigm in a rodent model and underlying mechanisms of this effect. Animals were conditioned in adolescence from postnatal day (P)33-39) or P44-49 with saline, 1 or 5 mg/kg MPH. Rats administered 5 mg/kg but not 1 mg/kg MPH, resulted in a significant preference that was more robust in younger male adolescent rats. The 5 mg/kg dose of MPH also resulted in a significant decrease of the dopamine transporter in both the nucleus accumbens and striatum, revealing …

Co2 Capture On Porous Adsorbents Containing Surface Amino Groups, Odette Amana Esam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The potential impact of carbon dioxide as a major source of global warming has led to extensive research in order to mitigate the greenhouse effect. In this work, four adsorbents were synthesized and studied. The adsorbents were obtained by grafting and sol-gel of amino-containing molecules such as bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]amine as monoamine and [3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyl]- trimethoxysilane as diamine on the surface of silica gel. CO2 passed through adsorbents at room temperature for its capture, then desorbed at moderate heating, and stored in the form of insoluble BaCO3. The adsorbent synthesized by sol-gel synthesis was found to be more efficient due to its high …

“Between The Dream And Reality”: Divination In The Novels Of Cormac Mccarthy, Robert A. Kottage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Divination is a trope Cormac McCarthy employs time and again in his work. Augury, haruspicy, cartomancy, voodoo, sortition and oneiromancy all take their places in the texts, overtly or otherwise, as well as divination by bloodshed (a practice so ubiquitous as to have no formal name). But mantic practices which aim at an understanding of the divine mind prove problematic in a universe that often appears godless—or worse.

My thesis uses divination as the starting point for a close reading of each of McCarthy’s novels. Research into Babylonian, Greek, Roman and African soothsaying practices is included, as well as the …

Plasma Antibodies To Oral Bacteria And Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer In A Large European Prospective Cohort Study, Dominique S. Michaud, Jacques Izard, Charlotte S. Wilhelm-Benartzi, Doo-Ho You, Verena A. Grote, Anne Tjønneland, Christina C. Dahm, Kim Overvad, Mazda Jenab, Veronika Fedirko, Marie Christine Boutron-Ruault, Françoise Clavel- Chapelon, Antoine Racine, Rudolf Kaaks, Heiner Boeing, Jana Foerster, Antonia Trichopoulou, Pagona Lagiou, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Carlotta Sacerdote, Sabina Sieri, Domenico Palli, Rosario Tumino, Salvatore Panico, Peter Siersema, Petra Hm Peeters, Eiliv Lund, Aurelio Barricarte, José-María Huerta, Esther Molina-Montes, Miren Dorronsoro, J. Ramón Quirós, Eric J. Duell, Weimin Ye, Malin Sund, Björn Lindkvist, Dorthe Johansen, Kay-Tee Khaw, Nick Wareham, Ruth C. Travis, Paolo Vineis, H. Bas Bueno-De-Mesquita, Elio Riboli

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Examine the relationship between antibodies to 25 oral bacteria and pancreatic cancer risk in a prospective cohort study.

Design: We measured antibodies to oral bacteria in prediagnosis blood samples from 405 pancreatic cancer cases and 416 matched controls, nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC). Analyses were conducted using conditional logistic regression and additionally adjusted for smoking status and body mass index.

Results: Individuals with high levels of antibodies against Porphyromonas gingivalis ATTC 53978, a pathogenic periodontal bacteria, had a 2-fold higher risk of pancreatic cancer than individuals lower levels of …

The Mir-17/92 Cluster: A Comprehensive Update On Its Genomics, Genetics, Functions And Increasingly Important And Numerous Roles In Health And Disease., Elena Mogilyansky, Isidore Rigoutsos

Computational Medicine Center Faculty Papers

The miR-17/92 cluster is among the best-studied microRNA clusters. Interest in the cluster and its members has been increasing steadily and the number of publications has grown exponentially since its discovery with more than 1000 articles published in 2012 alone. Originally found to be involved in tumorigenesis, research work in recent years has uncovered unexpected roles for its members in a wide variety of settings that include normal development, immune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and aging. In light of its ever-increasing importance and ever-widening regulatory roles, we review here the latest body of knowledge on the cluster's involvement in …

Repeated Elevational Transitions In Hemoglobin Function During The Evolution Of Andean Hummingbirds, Joana Projecto-Garcia, Chandrasekhar Natarajan, Hideaki Moriyama, Roy E. Weber, Angela Fago, Zachary A. Cheviron, Robert Dudley, Jimmy A. Mcguire, Christopher C. Witt, Jay F. Storz

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Animals that sustain high levels of aerobic activity under hypoxic conditions (e.g., birds that fly at high altitude) face the physiological challenge of jointly optimizing blood-O₂ affinity for O₂ loading in the pulmonary circulation and O₂ unloading in the systemic circulation. At high altitude, this challenge is especially acute for small endotherms like hummingbirds that have exceedingly high mass-specific metabolic rates. Here we report an experimental analysis of hemoglobin (Hb) function in South American hummingbirds that revealed a positive correlation between Hb-O₂ affinity and native elevation. Protein engineering experiments and ancestral- state reconstructions revealed that this …

Making Advanced Trauma Life Support More Effective, Sanjay Meena, Amit Singla, Buddhadev Chowdhury

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Roselle On Arterial Pulse Pressure And Left Ventricular Hypertrophy In Hypertensive Patients, Ahmad I. Al-Shafei, Ola A. El-Gendy

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the effects of regular Roselle ingestion on blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with established moderate essential hypertension. METHODS: This non-randomized quasi-experimental study was conducted in Kafr El-Shaikh, Egypt, for 8 weeks, from September 2012 to November 2012. The effects of a 4-week period of regular Roselle ingestion followed by a 4-week recovery period on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and heart rates (HR) was studied in 2 equal, gender- and age-matched groups (n=50 each; average age - 50±5 years) of normotensive subjects, and patients with moderate essential …

Towards Operationalizing Complexity Leadership: How Generative, Administrative And Community-Building Leadership Practices Enact Organizational Outcomes, James K. Hazy, Mary Uhl-Bien

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Over five years ago, The Leadership Quarterly published a special issue on complexity to advance a new way of thinking about leadership. In shifting attention away from the individual to the organizing process itself, complexity added an important focus on process and context to leadership and management research. Yet, the complexity approach creates challenges for researchers who must combine or replace individual level constructs—like those built through surveys or factor analysis—with richer theories that investigate networked meso dynamics, multilevel phenomena, emergent processes, and organizational outcomes. To address this challenge, the present analysis draws on theoretical and empirical work over the …

Parody As Brand, Stacey Dogan, Mark Lemley

Faculty Scholarship

Courts have struggled with the evaluation of parody under trademark law. While many trademark courts have protected parodies, there are a surprising number of cases that hold obvious parodies illegal. The problem is particularly severe with respect to parodies that are used to brand products, a growing category. The doctrinal tools that generally protect expressive parodies often don't apply to brand parodies. Our goal in this paper is to think about what circumstances (if any) should lead courts to find parody illegal. We conclude that, despite courts’ increasing attention to speech interests in recent years, the law’s treatment of parody …

Rebalancing Us Military Power, Anna Simons

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of Public Outreach With Children And Educators Conducted By The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, Erica A. D’Elia

Masters Theses

Archaeological public outreach to children can be enhanced through collaboration with school educators. While archaeologists have begun to collaborate with local and descendant communities, they have been slow to engage in work with educators in the same manner. The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project provides the context for me to explore some of the current issues in public archaeology and the politics of education. My study was conducted to better understand the needs of both children and teachers. In my work with the archaeological summer camp for middle school students I seek to conceptualize how the camp enhances their educational …

Origin Of High Levels Of Ammonium In Groundwater, Ottawa County, Michigan, Derrick Lingle

Masters Theses

Groundwater from wells located in and around Hemlock Crossing Park in Ottawa County, Michigan has elevated levels of ammonium. High ammonium concentrations in potable water wells are a common indicator of anthropogenic impact, such as landfill leachate or agricultural activity. Ammonium can also occur in groundwater through the decay of natural organic material. Along with the retrieval of a complete glacial sediment core via rotasonic drilling, numerous chemical and isotopic parameters were used to determine the source of ammonium in the impacted aquifer.

Buried organic material, deposited during the Athens subepisode interglacial period, is in contact with groundwater containing elevated …

Roatan Honduras And Perceptions Of Divers’ Location Choices In The Caribbean, Juli Dawn Tripicchio

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the hierarchy of location choices that divers make for destinations in the Caribbean; to identify where Roatan, Honduras fits into this hierarchy; and to determine strategies to increase the volume of dive tourists to Roatan. This research may provide resorts on Roatan, along with other Caribbean dive destinations, with data to incorporate into their own planning and marketing processes so they can better accommodate dive customers and their families. In order to get a better understanding of dive customers, a survey was given to customers of a survey was conducted at a …

Seasonal And Diurnal Behavioral Patterns Of Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops Truncatus, That Exhibit High Site And Low Site Fidelity To Mississippi Sound, Shauna Marisa Mcbride

Master's Theses

This study examined whether bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) exhibit site fidelity to the Mississippi Sound and how the seasonal and diurnal behavioral patterns of dolphins that exhibit high site fidelity to the Mississippi Sound differ from those of dolphins with lower site fidelity. Opportunistic surveys conducted from July 2006 to April 2010 were analyzed. Statistical analyses consisted of nonparametric tests (Spearman's correlation, loglinear models, and Pearson's chi-square) to compare behavioral patterns of high site fidelity, mixed, and low site fidelity groups. Behavioral patterns significantly differed between site fidelity groups across seasons and diurnal periods. Feeding behavior was observed significantly more …

Sensitivity And Species Specificity Of Bisulfite Modification And Pyrosequencing Technology Used To Identify Tissue-Specific Dna Methylation Patterns In Common Biofluids Foudn In Crime Scenes, Sitara Christian Shirwani

Master's Theses

In order to convict the guilty or exonerate the innocent in criminal cases, it is crucial to reconstruct the crime scene and/or determine the nature of the crime. Identifying the different biofluids found at a crime scene can help shed light on these aspects of forensic casework. Recently, DNA methylation has been used as a means of identifying biological materials, as opposed to conventional protein/enzyme based methods. DNA methylation is the addition of a methyl group to the 5' carbon on a cytosine base (C), which is directly followed by a guanine base (G) and are called CpG sites. The …

Narratives By Six Year Old And Nine Year Old Boys: Brute: Institutional, And Non-Institutional Mental Facts, Adam Craig Whipple

Master's Theses

Brute facts, institutional facts, and non-institutional mental facts were studied. The philosophy of constructionism and the theory of intent provided a framework for this research. Intentionality provided the basis for social facts. Brute, institutional, and noninstitutional mental facts were operationally defined. This study analyzed the use of these facts in the narratives of 6-year-old boys and 9-year-old boys. There were a total of 19 participants in this research. This research established brute, institutional, and non-institutional mental facts as appropriate operational categories for studying children's narratives. The 6-year-old boys produced more brute facts than the 9-year-old boys. The 9-year-old boys produced …

Augmented Sound, Berio Molina

Theses

A Computer Vision System for doing Interactive Installations

This thesis is a computer vision system for doing interactive-creative musical installations: A portable computer vision system based on video projection and a green laser, that allows the interaction with the projection itself, with the physical space where it is projected and with multiple users.

By using a green laser as a physical user interface, people create projections of sound balls that are projected on top of objects. These balls interact with the physical characteristics of the object where they are projected, as well as with other balls that where previously created …

Designing The Tangible Experience Of Interactive Memories, Miguel Angel Cardona Jr

Theses

The process for memory keeping in the digital age has become easier, immediate, and more efficient thanks to the advent of sophisticated pocket-sized toolsets that can capture everyday experiences.

Consumer-level photo and video recording products are introduced regularly and boast more fidelity, faster speeds, and greater control than their predecessors. More often than not, these expanding feature sets do not properly serve all of their users' needs.

While the technology exists to allow for a near-complete record of one's life to be made through the use of sensors and storage media, problems involve how best to meaningfully learn from and …

Mechanisms Of Hemolysis-Associated Platelet Activation, Christine C. Helms, M. Marvel, W. Zhao, M. Stahle, R. Vest, G. J. Kato, J. S. Lee, G. Christ, M. T. Gladwin, R. R. Hantgan, D. B. Kim-Shapiro

Physics Faculty Publications

Background

Intravascular hemolysis occurs after blood transfusion, in hemolytic anemias, and in other conditions, and is associated with hypercoagulable states. Hemolysis has been shown to potently activate platelets in vitro and in vivo, and several mechanisms have been suggested to account for this, including: (i) direct activation by hemoglobin (Hb); (ii) increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS); (iii) scavenging of nitric oxide (NO) by released Hb; and (iv) release of intraerythrocytic ADP.

Objective

To elucidate the mechanism of hemolysis-mediated platelet activation.

Methods

We used flow cytometry to detect PAC-1 binding to activated platelets for in vitro experiments, and a …

Will A Confederate's Initial Decline Of Assistance Influence People's Willingness To Help Others?, Israel Vela

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Observational study testing the effect a confederate has on social influence. The study examined whether overhearing a prior refusal to assist from a confederate had an influence on a subsequent person’s willingness to help in time of need. Similarity characteristics between model and participant were also examined to determine if they contributed to an increased likelihood of helping. Observation was held at the University of Texas-Pan American and consisted of 60 male participants. Participants were approached, and asked for assistance, in two separate conditions: Experimental (confederate) condition (n=30) and Control (non-confederate) condition (n=30). Assistance was determined by a participant’s willingness …