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2014

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The Effects Of Population Disbursement, Percentage Of Medicare Beneficiaries, And Per Capita Income On Medicare Fee Schedule Prices, Ann Marie Mercier Jan 2014

The Effects Of Population Disbursement, Percentage Of Medicare Beneficiaries, And Per Capita Income On Medicare Fee Schedule Prices, Ann Marie Mercier

Honors Theses

The thesis is an overview of the existing pay disparity in the fee-for-service billing amounts for professional medical services provided by physicians to Medicare patients in the United States. Will improvements in the per capita income, percentage of Medicare participants, or change in the population disbursement result in higher Medicare fee-for-service billing amounts for healthcare providers? Mississippi has one of the fewest primary care physicians per capita rates than any other state. One reason may be the Medicare fee-for-service prices paid to physicians. This paper will show Mississippi Medicare fee-for-service fee schedule prices for a sample of HCPCS codes compared …

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Raman Spectroscopic And Computational Analysis Of The Effects Of Noncovalent Interactions On Dmso, Ashton T. Nicholson Jan 2014

Raman Spectroscopic And Computational Analysis Of The Effects Of Noncovalent Interactions On Dmso, Ashton T. Nicholson

Honors Theses

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a widely used chemical in synthetic chemistry and also has unique and important biological applications. In the pure liquid, DMSO forms chain like structures of alternating sulfur and oxygen atoms due to its high self-association. However, it is known that DMSO/water mixtures form solutions with unique physical characteristics depending on the mole ratio. For instance, at a 1:2 ratio of DMSO/water a eutectic mixture forms with a freezing point of-70 C. Vibrational spectroscopy allows us to study the effects of noncovalent interactions when water and DMSO interact in solution. Spectral shifts can be analyzed in order …

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The Importance Of Formative Assessment In Science And Engineering Ethics Education: Some Evidence And Practical Advice, Matthew W. Keefer, Sara E. Wilson, Harry Dankowicz, Michael C. Loui Jan 2014

The Importance Of Formative Assessment In Science And Engineering Ethics Education: Some Evidence And Practical Advice, Matthew W. Keefer, Sara E. Wilson, Harry Dankowicz, Michael C. Loui

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Recent research in ethics education shows a potentially problematic variation in content, curricular materials, and instruction. While ethics instruction is now widespread, studies have identified significant variation in both the goals and methods of ethics education, leaving researchers to conclude that many approaches may be inappropriately paired with goals that are unachievable. This paper speaks to these concerns by demonstrating the importance of aligning classroom-based assessments to clear ethical learning objectives in order to help students and instructors track their progress toward meeting those objectives. Two studies at two different universities demonstrate the usefulness of classroom-based, formative assessments for improving …

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University Of Mississippi Prepharmacy And Early Entry Students' Professional Commitment And Perceptions Of The Professional Role Of Pharmacists, Blake A. Williams Jan 2014

University Of Mississippi Prepharmacy And Early Entry Students' Professional Commitment And Perceptions Of The Professional Role Of Pharmacists, Blake A. Williams

Honors Theses

Introduction: The profession of pharmacy is now largely focused on patient-centered care, rather than the drug-centered focus of the past. Schools of pharmacy have a vested interest in recruiting student pharmacists who are patient-focused. The purpose of this study is to assess University of Mississippi prepharmacy and Early Entry students' perceptions of the professional role of pharmacists, and to determine if these perceptions are related to student characteristics. Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study utilized an online, self-administered survey, administered to prepharmacy and Early Entry students enrolled at the University of Mississippi. The survey included constructs of the theory of planned …

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Perceptions Of Health Information On General And Medical Social Media Sites, Brea Hope Rich Jan 2014

Perceptions Of Health Information On General And Medical Social Media Sites, Brea Hope Rich

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to identify and discuss the public's perception on health information found on general and medical social media sites. To discover this information, a survey was sent to employees of South Tippah School District. It was found that people are more likely to use general social media sites compared to medical social media sites. People are more likely to share medical information than receive information on either type of site. Most people doubt or are uncertain of the credibility of health information on social media sites. The benefit found most in reading or sharing medical …

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Synthesis Of An Unsymmetrical Ccc-Nhc Pincer Ligand Precursor, Brian Spurlock Jan 2014

Synthesis Of An Unsymmetrical Ccc-Nhc Pincer Ligand Precursor, Brian Spurlock

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to synthesize a 3-butyl-1-(3-(3-butyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium-1-yl)phenyl)-4,5-dichloro-1H-imidazol-3-ium salt using an Ullmann-type copper coupling reaction. This salt would subsequently be metallated and evaluated for C-H bond activation and luminescence. However, NMR and MS spectra did not show evidence of conversion to the desired product under standard conditions so a model reaction was designed making use of recent findings concerning the Ullmann-type coupling of imidazoles to aryl halides. Specifically, an activated aryl halide with a larger leaving group was used with a more soluble base and a ligand for the copper. The desired product appears by ESI-MS to have …

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The Acute Influence Of Occupational Footwear On Balance, Caroline Borland Jan 2014

The Acute Influence Of Occupational Footwear On Balance, Caroline Borland

Honors Theses

There is a great number of potential risks for falls and injuries because of problems in the workplace. In 2010, there were almost 3.1 million nonfatal and 646 fatal illnesses and injuries disclosed in the workplace (BLS, 2010). Fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries have decreased in the recent years but there is still much room to improve. Inappropriate footwear has been attributed to 45% of all falls (Menant et al. 2008). Past studies have shown that industrial footwear can have a detrimental effect on balance (Menant et al. 2008, Chander, Garner & Wade 2013). Occupational footwear have not been designed …

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An Analysis Of New Performance Metrics In The Nba And Their Effects On Win Production And Salary, Daniel Rust Jan 2014

An Analysis Of New Performance Metrics In The Nba And Their Effects On Win Production And Salary, Daniel Rust

Honors Theses

In this study I perform statistical analysis on new metrics in the NBA designed to expose information about the inputs of basketball production. These input data were collected manually for every NBA player in the 2012-13 season, along with common advanced statistics. With these new metrics regression analysis is used to separately determine their effects on existing win production metrics and salary. In this analysis I control for team and position effects. Once these effects were determined, I was able to compare them and look for specific skills or strategies that may be undervalued or overvalued by NBA teams relative …

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Dynamic Feature Extraction And User Classification Using Touchanalytics™, Clay Mcleod Jan 2014

Dynamic Feature Extraction And User Classification Using Touchanalytics™, Clay Mcleod

Honors Theses

Security systems for modern computing devices suffer from a multitude of weaknesses that can render users helpless against an attack on their system. Various attempts at incorporating human characteristics into security systems have achieved varying levels of success in improving security. In this paper, we study the usefulness of TouchAnalytics™ - a second-level security system that attempts to authenticate a user based on touch-data gathered from an interaction with the device. Through the use of machine learning algorithms, we developed a system that is successful at au- thenticating users, achieving under 0.05% False Authentication Rate (FAR). We conclude that the …

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#Livetweetmylecture: A Look At Note-Taking Consolidation, Retention, And Test Performance In Students Using Twitter Vs. Traditional Typed Notes, Samra B. Ward Jan 2014

#Livetweetmylecture: A Look At Note-Taking Consolidation, Retention, And Test Performance In Students Using Twitter Vs. Traditional Typed Notes, Samra B. Ward

Honors Theses

This study investigated how different types of note-taking affect college students' retention of classroom material. In particular, this study looked at whether live-tweeting lecture material would result in better retention of the material presented in a lecture than traditional note-taking on a laptop. It was hypothesized that students who took notes via live-tweeting would have comparable results to those who took notes in the traditional computer format. In addition, it was also hypothesized that a person's familiarity with Twitter would likely affect his or her ability to use Twitter as an educational tool. In order to test this hypothesis, participants …

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Ncaa At The Crossroads: How O'Bannon V. Ncaa Could Change College Sports, Evan Brewster Jan 2014

Ncaa At The Crossroads: How O'Bannon V. Ncaa Could Change College Sports, Evan Brewster

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the current model of American college athletics and how football and basketball, specifically, have become extremely commercialized. This piece begins with an analysis of the current state of amateur college athletics and the changes that have taken place recently. O'Bannon v. NCAA signifies the one of the most recent challenges to NCAA power, attempting to change the unjust system that requires student-athletes to remain amateur while universities profit off the athletic contests. An evaluation of previous legal challenges to the NCAA help frame an assessment of the case itself thus far. To conclude, cases like O'Bannon and …

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Octocoral Physiology: Calcium Carbonate Composition And The Effect Of Thermal Stress On Enzyme Activity, Hadley Pearson Jan 2014

Octocoral Physiology: Calcium Carbonate Composition And The Effect Of Thermal Stress On Enzyme Activity, Hadley Pearson

Honors Theses

Octocorals are a diverse group of organisms, and within the Caribbean they contribute substantially to coral-reef cover. In this thesis, two different studies performed on these marine organisms are detailed. In Section I, the percent calcium carbonate composition of several species was analyzed. Octocorals produce sclerites: calcium carbonate crystals that serve as the skeletal elements of the coral. Determining the percent calcium carbonate composition of eight Caribbean octocoral species can give comparative insight into the form and function in these animals. This study also offers clues about potential evolutionary tradeoffs between rigidity and flexibility, as well as establishes some basic …

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“Ill-Informed Passions,” “Candor And Evenness” And “Superficial Writers”: Gilbert Burnet And The “Other” Historians Of The English Reformation, Lisa Clark Diller Jan 2014

“Ill-Informed Passions,” “Candor And Evenness” And “Superficial Writers”: Gilbert Burnet And The “Other” Historians Of The English Reformation, Lisa Clark Diller

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

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Gene Expression Signatures In Tree Shrew Retina, Rpe, And Choroid During Experimental Myopia And Recovery, Li He Jan 2014

Gene Expression Signatures In Tree Shrew Retina, Rpe, And Choroid During Experimental Myopia And Recovery, Li He

All ETDs from UAB

During the development of induced myopia and recovery, the emmetropization mechanism is stimulated to modulate ocular growth. Emmetropization signals originate in the retina, are transmitted and transformed by retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid, and reach sclera to induce tissue remodeling. Induced myopia occurs in response to myopiagenic stimuli - minus lens, form deprivation, and darkness - (three GO conditions) which increase ocular elongation; recovery from lens-induced myopia (STOP) occurs when minus-lens wear is discontinued after complete compensation, slowing ocular elongation. This dissertation examined gene expression signatures in the retina, RPE, and choroid under GO and STOP conditions to examine …

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Proteomic Analysis Of Rosenthal Fibers And The Development Of Software For Proteomics, Michael Raymond Heaven Jan 2014

Proteomic Analysis Of Rosenthal Fibers And The Development Of Software For Proteomics, Michael Raymond Heaven

All ETDs from UAB

The first aim of my thesis was to identify the protein composition of the protein aggregates, called Rosenthal fibers, which are the defining feature of Alexander disease (AxD). AxD is a rare neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the astrocyte specific protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). GFAP is a type III intermediate filament protein that is overexpressed in AxD. A guiding hypothesis of this project was that sequestration of vital cell proteins in the aggregates contributed to disease. The results of my research do not support this hypothesis, but do provide an in depth characterization of the protein composition …

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The Role Of Gene Fragmentation And Loss In Poxvirus Evolution, Eneida Hatcher Jan 2014

The Role Of Gene Fragmentation And Loss In Poxvirus Evolution, Eneida Hatcher

All ETDs from UAB

temperatures were near pivotal. The second chapter addresses the effects of fluctuating

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Using Neuroimaging To Predict Treatment Response In Patients With Schizophrenia, Nathan Lyle Hutcheson Jan 2014

Using Neuroimaging To Predict Treatment Response In Patients With Schizophrenia, Nathan Lyle Hutcheson

All ETDs from UAB

Schizophrenia is a severe debilitating mental illness that affects approximately 1% of people worldwide. Compared to healthy controls (HC), patients with schizophrenia (SZ) have memory deficits, specifically prominent disruptions in their episodic memory. These memory disruptions are thought to be caused by altered structure and function of areas within the memory network, specifically the prefrontal and temporal lobe including the hippocampus. Recently, identifying biomarkers of treatment response by using neuroimaging has become a prominent area of interest in schizophrenia. Biomarkers in schizophrenia could help by allowing for more efficient treatment using current method and also the development of novel treatments. …

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Thermoplastic Pultrusion Development And Characterization Of Residual In Pultruded Composites With Modeling And Experiments, Khongor Jamiyanaa Jan 2014

Thermoplastic Pultrusion Development And Characterization Of Residual In Pultruded Composites With Modeling And Experiments, Khongor Jamiyanaa

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT Pultrusion processing is a technique to make highly aligned fiber reinforced polymer composites. Thermoset pultrusion is a mature process and well established, while thermoplastic pultrusion in still in its infancy. Thermoplastic pultrusion has not been well established because thermoplastic resins are difficult to process due to their high viscosity. However, thermoplastic resins offer distinct advantages that make thermoplastic pultrusion worth exploring. The present work centers on developing a method to design and validate a die for a thermoplastic pultrusion system. Analytical models and various software tools were used to design a pultrusion die. Experimental measurements have been made to …

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New Niosh Headforms: Developing Novel Methods For Fabricating A More Realistic Physical Headform And Custom Facepieces And Evaluating Existing Commercially-Available Respirators, Paula Susanne Joe Jan 2014

New Niosh Headforms: Developing Novel Methods For Fabricating A More Realistic Physical Headform And Custom Facepieces And Evaluating Existing Commercially-Available Respirators, Paula Susanne Joe

All ETDs from UAB

For over 30 years, respirator sizing has been based on an anthropometric survey performed by LANL using the young and predominantly Caucasian US Air Force personnel. NIOSH, having observed the increase in diversity in the workplace, began a new survey in 2003 weighted to the US census. Finding that the LANL panel was no longer representative of the modern workforce, a new fit test panel recommending five sizing categories was created in 2007. Anthropometrically accurate headforms three-dimensional models for the average face in each size were designed in 2010. While these headforms are intended for use in respirator design, it …

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An Investigation Of Organizational Health And Student Achievement In Urban Title I Elementary Schools In Alabama, Lora Ann Johnson-Perry Jan 2014

An Investigation Of Organizational Health And Student Achievement In Urban Title I Elementary Schools In Alabama, Lora Ann Johnson-Perry

All ETDs from UAB

pattern similar to that of sea turtles. The results indicate that daily water treatments

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Examining Predictors Of The Longitudinal Trajectories Of Diabetes Distress And Depressive Symptoms In A Sample Of Older Adults With Diabetes, Larita Jones Jan 2014

Examining Predictors Of The Longitudinal Trajectories Of Diabetes Distress And Depressive Symptoms In A Sample Of Older Adults With Diabetes, Larita Jones

All ETDs from UAB

Objectives: The authors investigated the relationships between race, cognitive function, life-space mobility, comorbidity, and depressive symptoms over time; as well as the relationships between race, cognitive function, life-space mobility, comorbidity, and diabetes distress over time. Methods: The sample included 224 community-dwelling older adults (age 65<) previously diagnosed with diabetes. The current study utilized data from telephone interviews at three different time points (baseline, 1 year follow up, and 2 year follow up). Results: A number of significant correlations were found. Potentially most importantly, results from the final model indicated that those participants who were lowest in self-efficacy were the most at-risk for experiencing diabetes distress and/or depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing diabetes distress and/or depressive symptoms within this population should focus on social support and disease specific self-management education as two cost-effective and easily manipulated avenues to achieving this goal.

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Development Of An Axonal Outgrowth Assessment Methodology For Dorsal Root Ganglia Explants And Demonstration Of Method Efficacy On Electrospun Polymer Scaffolds, Sarah Margaret Kezar Jan 2014

Development Of An Axonal Outgrowth Assessment Methodology For Dorsal Root Ganglia Explants And Demonstration Of Method Efficacy On Electrospun Polymer Scaffolds, Sarah Margaret Kezar

All ETDs from UAB

In chronic spinal cord injury (SCI), a glial encapsulated cyst develops at the injury site and acts as a physical and biochemical barrier to regeneration. Discussion has suggested that filling the cyst with a growth promoting scaffold is a promising approach to cure chronic SCI, though the research to date lacks a systematic approach. Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) explants are an extremely common tissue culture model of neural regeneration employed in this field, however there is no uniform method for objectively quantifying substrate biocompatibility and neurite outgrowth. Therefore, we aimed to develop a novel DRG growth assessment methodology and to …

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Contribution Of Hyperactive Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 (Gsk3) To Impaired Neurogenesis And Cognition In Mice, Margaret Kimbrough King Jan 2014

Contribution Of Hyperactive Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 (Gsk3) To Impaired Neurogenesis And Cognition In Mice, Margaret Kimbrough King

All ETDs from UAB

The overall goals of this research were to examine the regulatory actions of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) in adult mouse hippocampal neurogenesis and in mouse cognitive functions in order to gain further insight regarding the function of GSK3 in the healthy and diseased central nervous system. Focusing on differences between male and female mice, we found that hippocampal neurogenesis was impaired by hyperactive GSK3 in both sexes, but was improved by environmental enrichment in male, but not female, mice. Chronic stress reduced neurogenesis in male mice, but not in female mice. Environmental enrichment and chronic stress inhibited, and activated, respectively, …

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Effect Of Abutment Position On Retention After Cyclic Loading Of Cantilevered Y-Tzp Fpds, Aikaterini Kostagianni Jan 2014

Effect Of Abutment Position On Retention After Cyclic Loading Of Cantilevered Y-Tzp Fpds, Aikaterini Kostagianni

All ETDs from UAB

Purpose: The influence of the vertical abutment positions on the retention of a three-unit implant supported cantilevered FPD restoration was measured and compared. Methods: The study included four groups (n=10) of cantilevered FPDs restorations, fabricated of monolithic zirconia. Prefabricated titanium implant abutments were used and connected to their analogs. The analogs were fixated on a split mold and their vertical position was adjusted on a 2 mm bases depending on the group, resulting also to an alteration of the occlusal thickness of the restorative material. The prosthesis were cemented to the abutments with Rely X Luting Plus resin modified glass …

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The Small Sample Inferences Of Cluster-Randomized Trials, Peng Li Jan 2014

The Small Sample Inferences Of Cluster-Randomized Trials, Peng Li

All ETDs from UAB

Generalized estimating equation (GEE) and generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) are two statistical modeling methods commonly used in the analyses of correlated outcomes from cluster-randomized trials (CRTs). The fact that most CRTs involve only a small number of clusters makes the small sample adjustment critical to preserve the type I error rates in testing the null hypothesis of intervention effects. To improve the small sample performance of GEE, some bias-corrected sandwich estimators have been proposed. To improve the small sample performance of GLMM, the approximated Wald F test is used to replace the asymptotic ÷^2 test and the denominator degrees …

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Expression Of The Influenza Protein M2 During Viral Infection Inhibits Cftr Activity, James David Londino Jan 2014

Expression Of The Influenza Protein M2 During Viral Infection Inhibits Cftr Activity, James David Londino

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of these dissertation studies was to 1) determine whether influenza infection alters CFTR activity in polarized epithelium; 2) measure CFTR expression and activity in cells co-expressing influenza M2 protein; and 3) examine the role of M2 on the alteration of CFTR during viral infection. We determined that infection of polarized primary epithelial cells with influenza decreases CFTR expression and activity. In addition, individual cells infected with influenza had decreased CFTR conductance as measured by whole-cell patch clamp. We also found that the influenza ion channel, matrix protein 2 (M2), alone reduced CFTR expression and activity. M2 is expressed …

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3-Dimensional Comparison Of Hard And Soft Tissue Asymmetry In, Philip H. Pan Jan 2014

3-Dimensional Comparison Of Hard And Soft Tissue Asymmetry In, Philip H. Pan

All ETDs from UAB

Class III malocclusions are particularly prevalent in the Asian population. Threedimensional imaging has improved the ability to portray the three-dimensional characteristics of soft tissue face and underlying skeletal hard tissue. While soft tissue reflects the underlying hard tissue structures, soft tissue may either provide a compensation for hard tissue asymmetry or potentially exacerbate the asymmetry. The current study is novel in that the hard tissue and soft tissue asymmetries are both analyzed relative to the same reference point, and using 3D imaging, we have attempted to elucidate a compensation tendency between the hard and soft tissues. The sample was comprised …

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Altered Dna Methylation Contributes To Temporal Lobe Epilepsy And Associated Memory Deficits, Robert Ryley Parrish Jan 2014

Altered Dna Methylation Contributes To Temporal Lobe Epilepsy And Associated Memory Deficits, Robert Ryley Parrish

All ETDs from UAB

Status epilepticus (SE) triggers molecular mechanisms that underlie the cellular and network changes that occur during the development of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Additionally, gene expression alterations occur during epileptogenesis and in the epileptic brain that contribute to the persistence of the phenotype. However, the underlying epigenetic mechanisms responsible for aberrant gene expression that occur with epilepsy require further investigation. This dissertation investigates how DNA methylation in the hippocampus affects epilepsy and contributes to the memory impairments associated with the disorder. We found that DNA methylation was altered in a hippocampal subregion specific manner in the epileptic brain, displaying altered …

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Freestanding Emergency Departments: Strategic And Policy Implications, Nitish Patidar Jan 2014

Freestanding Emergency Departments: Strategic And Policy Implications, Nitish Patidar

All ETDs from UAB

The dissertation examined the role of Freestanding Emergency Departments (FSEDs) in the current United State health care system. The study collected the primary data on FSEDs in the United States and analyzed the factors associated with the hospitals operating FSEDs and its effect on hospital financial performance. The relationship of presence of FSEDs in the market and Medicare expenditure per person was also studied. The Resource Dependency Theory was used to study the effect of market and organizational factors on the hospital decision to operate an FSED. Panel data from 2002 to 2011 was analyzed using logistic multivariate regression with …

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Power Issues And Internal Pilot Designs For Cluster-Randomized Trials With Unequal Cluster Sizes, Ashutosh Ranjan Jan 2014

Power Issues And Internal Pilot Designs For Cluster-Randomized Trials With Unequal Cluster Sizes, Ashutosh Ranjan

All ETDs from UAB

Cluster-randomized trials that randomize groups of individuals, instead of individuals themselves, run the risk of being underpowered when they are designed assuming equal cluster sizes but end up recruiting unequal clusters. The loss in power of the trial is directly related to the amount of variation present among the cluster sizes. To overcome the loss in power, researchers often employ a weighted analysis of the cluster means. Different weighting procedures have been developed that appear to maintain the power of the trial but there have been fewer attempts to describe the impact of different weights on the type I error …

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