Digital Commons Network^™

How The Narrative Paradigm Affects Military Stories, Richard Irving Mcnamara

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This project defines how the narrative paradigm can be used with military storytelling to improve the credibility of the U.S. military. Furthermore, it outlines how the American Forces Network (AFN) can model its training with the narrative paradigm to become an innovative organization. The literature review examines the rules that the military has to follow with their stories, the narrative paradigm, transformational leadership and the path to innovation with the intent of creating a path for military Public Affairs leaders to follow while leading an AFN, or any story producing unit. The primary purpose of this project is a completed …

Mothers, Daughters, And The Intent To Breastfeed, Aquila Brooke Mendez-Valdez

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The decision to breastfeed is a deeply personal one for every woman. There are often factors such as family and medical support that are outside a new mother's control and can influence her in how she views the nourishment of her infant. Previous studies have documented the effect doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants have on breastfeeding success. Less popular, however, is investigating how familial support and interpersonal communication plays a role in encouraging or discouraging the practice. This study examines how mothers and daughters communicate about breastfeeding, and the role it plays in both Mexico and the United States in …

Media Communication & Professional Sports Stadium Subsidies, Damon Sgrignoli

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In the previous two decades, professional sports franchise owners secured nearly $20 billion in taxpayer paid subsidies for new stadiums, domes, and arenas. In the geographic area of study, Atlanta Georgia, two public-financed stadium debates occurred between 2012 and 2014. The following study examined sports franchise owners, politicians, and civic and business groups’ use of the mass media to communicate their public messages during the stadium approval process, as well as how the local mass media frames stadium subsidy debates through Agenda Setting and Framing theories. The textual analysis study used a sample of 10 Atlanta Journal-Constitution online newspaper articles …

Don't Have A Cow (Wo)Man!, Barbara Hamilla

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Sitcoms have been a part of the American experience since the dawn of the television. For generations, families have grown up identifying with characters they see every week, and can see themselves within the everyday life situations experienced by characters on their favorite shows. What happens then, when one of America’s favorite sitcoms isn’t really a sitcom? This study is a content analysis of 20 episodes of The Simpsons, from season two to season twenty. Using cultural studies and narrative paradigm, this study examined gender roles and representations in The Simpsons, how they evolved over the life of the program, …

Non Profit Organizations And Social Media: An Exploration Into How Non Profit Organizations Use And Misuse Social Media Outlets Utilizing Framing And Public Spheres, Alexandra Chiulli

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This thesis researched how well social media works with NPOs to effectively communicate with their supporters. Being in a technology age, NPOs have had to embrace social media as being the main form of communication; however, this does not mean that all like to use it. One of the main conflicts in NPOs using social media as the main communicative tool is the loss of personal interaction with their supporters. NPOs began with having to utilize interpersonal communication only and with the new age of technology, they are struggling with keeping up with the different sites as well as the …

"Preventive Leadership Program" At The Salesian University: An Exploratory Case Study, Alejandro Rodriguez

Doctoral Dissertations

Leadership is a key factor in the quality of personal life, organizational culture, and social projection of each member in any organization. Bringing out the best of each person involved in any decision is a must for a Preventive Leader. This kind of leadership opens the possibility to develop, adapt, change and modify the theoretical construct of the definition of a leader from the Preventive horizon, the practical implications of Preventive Leadership development, and the learning and practice of Preventive leadership in a contextualized environment, creating interactions and interdependencies in a net-like pattern of relationships situated in one specific context: …

The Effect Of Fluoxetine On Self-Control In Betta Splendens, Kathryn Gwen Lamp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The present study examined the effect of fluoxetine on self-control in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). The subjects included 17 male Betta splendens that were exposed to varying levels of fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that increases levels of serotonin, and instrumental choice trials were run. A subject began each trial in the start box and, when a guillotine divider door was lifted, entered one side of a divided goal box. The checkerboard side of the choice door represented either the smaller-sooner choice (SS) or the larger-later choice (LL). When the subject had entered one side of the goal …

Bombing For Justice: Urban Terrorism In New York City From The 1960s Through The 1980s, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

From the mid-1960s into the 1980s New York City experienced a wave of political violence and urban terrorism. Groups planted bombs, hijacked airliners, and engaged in assassination and attempted assassination to advance political, racial, or nationalist agendas. They included the Jewish Defense League, the Weathermen, the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, FALN and other advocates of Puerto Rican independence, the United Freedom Front, Omega 7 and other anti-Castro Cubans, and Croatian nationalists. Juries often failed to convict these individuals, and others received light sentences. Judges scrutinized police actions for abuses of constitutional rights, and attorneys like William Kunstler …

Effect Of Increased Temperature And Decreased Food Quality On Metabolism And Growth Of An Algivorous Cichlid, Tropheus Duboisi And Effect Of Food Habit On The Field Metabolism Of African Cichlids., Lesley Yu-Jung Kim

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The metabolic rate of an organism is influenced by mass, temperature, and diet. Climate change is anticipated to increase ambient temperatures of aquatic systems and decrease the quality of food available to algivorous fish. We conducted a lab experiment and a field study to quantify the influence that temperature and diet have on standard and field metabolic rate of cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. The lab experiment demonstrated the effects of increased temperature and decreased food quality on the relative growth rate (RGR) and standard metabolic rate of an algivorous cichlid, Tropheus duboisi. We found that in all temperature treatments fish …

Chemosensitive Neurons Of The Locus Coeruleus And The Nucleus Tractus Solitarius: Three Dimensional Morphology And Association With The Vasculature, Cathy D. Graham

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

We studied the 3 dimensional structure of LC and cNTS neurons from neonatal rats. Neurons were identified as either chemosensitive or nonchemosensitive based on their firing rate response to hypercapnia, using whole-cell patch clamping and were passively loaded with Lucifer Yellow. The identified, loaded neurons were reconstructed and analyzed using Neurolucida Neuron Tracing Software. Chemosensitive LC neurons have less rounded soma than nonchemosensitive neurons, and they have dendrites arising from two poles to produce a fusiform appearance. The dendritic branches extend a greater distance from the soma of chemosensitive than nonchemosensitive neurons. Conversely, chemosensitive cNTS neurons were found to have …

Glut 4 And Insulin Resistance, Salmin Ali

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Five types of glucose transporters stimulate the transport of glucose from the bloodstream into cells such as muscle cells and adipocytes in response to insulin signaling or exercise. Skeletal muscle and adipose tissue are the main sites for glucose uptake and dispose in insulin action dependent pathway. In non-insulin stimulated condition, the GLUT4 storage vesicles stay away from the plasma membrane, so there is no GLUT4 translocation or GLUT4 mediated glucose uptake. However, in insulin stimulated state, insulin initiates insulin signaling cascade which results in rapid GLUT4 translocation and increased glucose uptake at the cell surface. Failure of the translocation …

Multi-Sensory Integration In Motion Perception: Do Moving Sounds Facilitate/Interfere With Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements?, Clayton D. Rothwell

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Previous experiments have attempted to measure smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) to acoustic targets with limited success. Some studies found no evidence for SPEM (Gauthier and Hofferer, 1967; Schaefer et al., 1981; Boucher et al., 2004; Berryhill et al., 2006) and other studies found only a sub-set of subjects could produce SPEM, which was poor in quality (Krukowski et al., 2001; Hashiba et al., 1996; Cloninger et al., 2013, 2014). These findings are despite evidence of auditory motion perception and an auditory motion aftereffect in the psychoacoustic literature (Carlile and Best, 2002; Dong et al., 2000). This thesis explored a …

A Review Of The Models Of Schizophrenia: And A Putative Novel, More Unified Model, Michael Vogel Bronstein

Modern Psychological Studies

Schizophrenia is a debilitating disease state which causes immense pain to sufferers and to their families. Although some proximate causes of symptoms of the disease have been identified, no ultimate cause has been uncovered which can explain all of the symptoms. This paper presents a novel theory of the ultimate cause of some forms of chronic schizophrenia with the potential to explain many (if not all) symptomologies associated with the disease. In addition to its explanatory power, this putative model may also give rise to new early diagnostic tools and treatments for schizophrenia. After the model is fully explained, suggestions …

The Cookie Jar Dilemma, Kelcy Dolan

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This article explores the possibilities in both men and women’s refusal to take responsibility in the war against rape as well as rape culture. Beginning with Zerlina Maxwell’s viral criticized appearance on the Sean Hannity’s talk show, the article questions not only why responsibility is not taken for rape throughout society, but who is responsible and how. It then moves through this question citing several specific articles, an interview and media sources. The article contemplates whether, patriarchy, masculinity, or even instinctual and primitive thought processes dictate the assumptions and responses to the responsibility in the war against rape.

The Interaction Between Atp13a2 And Alpha-Synuclein In Mice, Emily Ribak Dirr

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Abnormal accumulation of the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein (aSyn) is associated with both familial and sporadic forms of Parkinson's disease. ATP13A2 is a lysosomal protein involved in protein degradation, including aSyn. Mice with a loss of ATP13A2 function develop age-related sensorimotor impairments and, in the brain, enhanced lipofuscin and insoluble aSyn accumulation. To further examine the potential interaction between aSyn and ATP13A2, aSyn overexpressing mice (aSyn) were crossbred with Atp13a2-defeicient (13a2) mice. Wildtype (WT), 13a2, aSyn, and double mutant aSyn/13a2 mice were generated and tested behaviorally at 3 ages. Sensorimotor function and cognition were examined using a battery of behavioral tests. …

Ia Afferent Connectivity With Glycinergic Interneurons In Early Postnatal Mice, Brenna Colleen Gosky

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In animals proprioceptive Ia afferents enable the animal to sense the location, orientation and movement of its limbs in space. These Ia afferents make connections with many different types of neurons within the spinal cord such as; motor neurons, Ia Inhibitory interneurons, and other interneurons. Ia Afferents connect with IaINs that project to antagonist muscle MNs to ensure that contraction of the antagonist muscle group is inhibited. For example the quadriceps Ia afferents contact IaINs that contact PBST motor neurons to inhibit excitation and thus contraction. The way in which the connectivity of these Ia afferents is established is not …

Flexible Branding: An Explorative Case Study On The Effectiveness Of An Adaptable Visual Identity, Adam Scott Houghton

Graphic Communication

No abstract provided.

What Cornell Veterinary School Taught Me About Legal Education, Tina L. Stark

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

A Step In The Right Direction Or Side-Stepping The Issue: Is State Regulation For Factory Farming Appropriate?, Cynthia Furmanek

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Bovine Spermatozoal Transcriptome And Sire Fertility, Christopher James Card

Open Access Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation research was to characterize the spermatozoal transcript profile of bovine cryopreserved spermatozoa. The main goal was to sequence the complete transcript profile from a population of sires across a wide fertility range utilizing RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq). Sequencing was then conducted to compare the spermatozoal transcript profiles of higher and lower fertility sires in an effort to determine the presence or absence of spermatozoal transcripts that may aid in improving fertility testing in sires. In addition to RNA-Seq analysis, other semen parameters such as morphology, DNA fragmentation, and RNA amount were analyzed for relationships with fertility.

The …

Response To The Law Of The Body By Meredith M. Render, E. Richard Gold

Emory Law Journal Online

In her article, Professor Render does a great service by proposing to unify legal rules relating to the human body through the concept of the "law of the body."

Sak Yant: The Transition From Indic Yantras To Thai "Magical" Buddhist Tattoos, Angela May

All ETDs from UAB

Officially, Thailand is dominated by the state-sponsored Theravada Buddhist tradition, which has essentially been practiced in Thailand since 1902 when the sangha bureaucracy was established. However, within the last couple of decades a hybrid form of Thai Buddhism has emerged. The contemporary, hybridic Thai religion emphasizes Buddhism--placing it at the top of its hierarchal pyramid--even while it includes elements of Animism and Hinduism. This thesis explores the hybridization of popular religions in contemporary Thailand as reflected in the art form of Sak Yant. Thai Buddhist magical tattoos called Sak Yant are based on ancient Indic yantras that are considered powerful …

Illuminating The Physiology And Ecology Of The Wound-Induced Macroalgal Oxidative Burst, Ruth Ellen Mcdowell

All ETDs from UAB

The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the macroalgal wound response was investigated with emphasis on their occurrence, source, and ecological role. In a survey of Antarctic macroalgae, an oxidative response to wounding was common and ROS in seawater decreased the feeding rate of sympatric amphipod grazers. The macroalgal oxidative response was also sensitive to light. In contrast to the current understanding of the macroalgal oxidative burst, initial wound-induced ROS from the temperate kelp Saccharina latissima were light-dependent and arose from disrupted photosynthetic electron transport rather than from a defense-related enzyme such as an NADPH-oxidase. Furthermore, the light-dependence of …

Modeling Of Pollutant Transport In The Nile Delta, Egypt, Mohamed Khaled Elsayed Mostafa

All ETDs from UAB

Poor water quality is one of the biggest problems faced by most countries and especially by developing countries such as Egypt. The mismanagement of potable water resources constitutes one of the main reasons for the depletion of water. This research was carried out in the Nile River delta, a region in which toxic dumping and water quality degradation exist. The Nile delta receives pollution loads from industrial, agricultural, and domestic activities located along its path leading to the spread of water-related diseases such as hepatitis, typhoid, cholera, and kidney failure [Safe Drinking Water Foundation, 2009]. The main objective of this …

Quantum Computation Approach To Information Theoretic Modeling And Analysis Of Systems, Luai Najim

All ETDs from UAB

The modeling of systems has been addressed in the physical sciences from the perspective of Energy and matter. The 3rd original idea of Communication as a means of modeling systems has been established and applied. In this study, we apply the 3rd original idea of communication to systems on a quantum level. By marrying Shannon's noisy communication channel to Feynman QED and Quantum Computing, we realize a visual model for the representation of the entropy of a noisy communication channel on a quantum scale. We also use that visual representation concept to define a geometric view into the superposition of …

Regulatory Control Of Palatogenesis And Odontogenesis By Specificity Protein 7, John Christopher Clarke

All ETDs from UAB

Runx2 and its downstream target Specificity Protein 7 (Sp7) are essential for skeletogenesis. In humans, mutations in Sp7 gene are associated with osteogenesis imperfecta. Unlike Runx2, the role of Sp7 in palatogenesis, tooth development or differentiation of ameloblasts and odontoblasts remains unknown. The main goal of this research was to identify the functional requirement of Sp7 transcription factor during tooth development and palatogenesis. Molecular, biochemical, and histological approaches were employed to answer this question. We established Sp7-null mice that are completely void of mineralized tissue, exhibit craniofacial dysmorphogenesis and die shortly after birth. Surprisingly, Sp7 homozygous mutants exhibited normal tooth …

Actions Of Grape Seed Extract In Rodent Brain And Differences In Metabolism Of Its Polyphenols In A Rodent Model Of Menopause, John Kenneth Cutts

All ETDs from UAB

Grape seed extract (GSE), a dietary supplement, has potential in the treatment and prevention of human chronic age-related diseases including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. GSE and adult hippocampal neurogenesis, independently, have enhanced learning and memory in rodents. We hypothesized that GSE enhances learning and memory, at least partially, by enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis. However, adult mice given GSE did not exhibit increased number of progenitor cells or new neurons, established markers of neurogenesis, in the dentate gyrus (DG). Also, 26-day-old pups whose mother was given GSE only while nursing had fewer new neurons in the DG compared to control …

Utilization Of Dual Energy Computed Tomography Based Metal Artifact Reduction To Improve Radiation Treatment Planning In Patients With Implanted High-Z Materials, Evan Thomas

All ETDs from UAB

High quality computed tomography (CT) scans are integral to the successful cancer radiation therapy treatment plan. Metal streak artifact in the CT image originates when a high density medical implant (dental, orthopedic, etc.) disproportionally attenuates the imaging beam and corrupts the imaging data. This impairs the physician's task of identifying important boundaries between tumor and healthy issue. The ability of treatment planning software to accurately compute vital radiation dosimetry metrics is also compromised. Many methods have been explored to mitigate the complications of streak artifact; however, none have been found effective and efficient for routine clinical use. This work explores …

Targeting Tau-Mediated Nmdar Hypofunction Reverses Deficits In A Mouse Model Of Frontotemporal Dementia, Brian Andrew Warmus

All ETDs from UAB

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a rapidly progressive and lethal disease, with no disease-modifying treatments. It is known that tau mutations cause FTD, but the underlying neurobiology is undefined. We sought to identify how tau affects the neurobiology in order to find potential treatment targets. Here, we address this question using a new mouse model expressing human tau with an FTD-associated mutation. We studied behavior, physiology, biochemistry, and neuropathology in several cohorts of mice at different ages. These mutant tau mice had abnormal repetitive behavior characteristic of FTD and synaptic deficits selectively in regions associated with FTD (ventral striatum and insula). …

Print Vs. Pulpit: Representations Of Religion In The Harlem Renaissance, Sondra Bickham Washington

All ETDs from UAB

At the turn of the twentieth century, African American race leaders believed that literature and other creative works could strengthen the fight against the social, economic, and political oppression facing members of their race across the country. However, when younger writers began explicitly focusing their narratives and poems on the more taboo and less religious elements of African American life such as heavy drinking, sensual dancing at jazz and blues clubs, and unmarried sexual relationships, black religious leaders often expressed opposition to their creative work. This sometimes harsh disapproval only served to create a larger gap between the religious and …