Digital Commons Network^™

Spatial Analysis Of Hypertension Prevalence Using A Large Us Cohort, Matthew Loop

All ETDs from UAB

Stroke mortality rates are highest in the Southeast US, and the cause for this "Stroke Belt" is not well understood. We investigate the spatial distribution of hypertension, an important risk factor for stroke. This investigation explores statistical issues in performing spatial analysis in a large cohort (over 30,000 participants), relating to type 1 error rate control and geocoding error. Recommendations for handling these statistical issues are made. In an applied analysis, we find that hypertension prevalence varies across the continental US, and is highest in northeast Louisiana, southeast Arkansas, west Mississippi, and east Michigan. These areas are not concordant with …

The Mspa Nanopore As A Sensor For Dna Sequencing, Mikhail Pavlenok

All ETDs from UAB

Nanopore sequencing is a novel and promising DNA sequencing method. This single molecule technique is capable of long reads, retains epigenetic information, and is inexpensive and fast. In this method ionic current is measured while single-stranded DNA is electrophoretically translocated through a nanometer-scale pore. Each passing nucleotide blocks current with characteristic amplitude and duration which are used to identify DNA sequence. MspA is the primary porin of M. smegmatis and mediates the diffusion of small, hydrophilic nutrients across the outer membrane. MspA is an octameric, channel-forming protein and represents the founding member of a new class of mycobacterial outer membrane …

Kinect Movements For Navigating A Virtual Exercise Environment By People With Mobility Impairments, Sean Pool

All ETDs from UAB

People with physical disabilities exhibit decreased physical activity compared to able-bodied individuals. While physical activity plays an integral role in the health of any individual, people with disabilities have difficulty attaining the quality and quantity of recommended exercise. A recent technique for encouraging physical activity in able-bodied individuals is to combine exercise equipment with a virtual exercise environment; as the user exercises, a video screen portrays the user moving through a virtual recreation of a real-world location. However, little has been done to adapt this technology, specifically the interface between user and environment, for people with mobility impairments. This project …

Teacher And Student Perceptions Of What Motivates Reading In African American Males Enrolled In Developmental Reading Classes: A Qualitative Multiple Case Analysis, Dominique Prince

All ETDs from UAB

TEACHER AND STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT MOTIVATES READING IN AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES ENROLLED IN DEVELOPMENTAL READING CLASSES DOMINIQUE PRINCE EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP ABSTRACT Research has indicated that effective literacy skills are needed participate fully in society and become productive employees. Still, many high school graduates lack the essential literary skills needed. In spite of African American males continuing to value literacy, some are not performing to levels of proficiency. Understanding the impact teachers and educational leaders have on students’ reading achievement, attention has been placed on students’ motivation to read. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case analysis was to explore …

Perceptions Of Facial Attractiveness: Outcomes Of Orthognathic Surgery, Brittany Bross Reid

All ETDs from UAB

PERCEPTIONS OF FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS: OUTCOMES OF ORTHOGNATHIC SURGERY BRITTANY REID DEPARTMENT OF ORTHODONTICS ABSTRACT Perceptions of physical attractiveness contribute to generalized assumptions that can create significant bias in social decision-making. Because these biases exist, patients often seek ways to improve facial harmony and overall appearance. Orthodontics and orthognathic surgery are treatment modalities that may be considered as a means to achieve facial balance. Orthodontists and oral surgeons must have an understanding of facial beauty and how to properly carry out techniques in order to preserve or improve facial balance. More importantly, the treatment goals of the patient and clinician(s) must …

Geographic Access To Interventional Cardiology Services In Maine, James P. Rhudy

All ETDs from UAB

Introduction: Acute coronary syndrome is the most common cause of death in the U.S. and the world; ST segment elevated myocardial infarction is the most acute form. The preferred reperfusion therapy is immediate primary percutaneous coronary intervention at an interventional cardiology center. It is intuitive, but not known, whether delay in receipt of reperfusion therapy because of geographic distance is associated with increased coronary mortality. Even so, clinical practice guidelines recommend organizing coronary care in each community in regional systems. Hub-and-spoke has been proposed as a regionalized coronary care model. Article synthesis: The first article in this dissertation, titled Effectiveness …

Heat Induced Momentum Flux In Brownian Motors And The Adiabatic Piston, Nathan Ryan Ridling

All ETDs from UAB

When a mesoscopic object (Brownian object) is inserted into a fluid, it is subject to frequent collisions with fluid molecules (environment). Through these collisions, energy is exchanged between the environment and the Brownian object. When the Brownian particle and its environment are in thermal equilibrium, the net energy exchange will be zero due to the detailed balance and fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and the Brownian object will diffuse without net drift. However, when the environment is in non-equilibrium, the detailed balance no longer holds and the Brownian object can undergo drift. The mechanism responsible for its drift is not well understood. In …

Characterization Of Directionally Solidified Gray Iron, Elis Annexy Rivera-Martinez

All ETDs from UAB

Even with decades of study, the complex development of solidification microstructures in cast iron is incompletely understood. Because Fe-C eutectic can produce different morphologies, and even different phases, depending on growth velocities and composition, understanding the conditions under which each forms are important. Directional solidification was used to observe the behavior of gray cast iron under carefully controlled solidification conditions. Specifically, alloys with industrially relevant amounts of silicon and manganese were studied, using a Bridgman furnace to investigate the effects of alloying additions and solidification velocity on graphite spacing and growth temperature of gray iron. An experimental technique for measuring …

Bioavailability Of Dietary Oxalate, Mary Catherine Robertson

All ETDs from UAB

Urolithiasis, or kidney stone disease, is a costly and painful health problem affecting about 8.8% of Americans with prevalence on the rise. Calcium oxalate stones account for about 80% of all stones. Increased urinary excretion of calcium and oxalate is a risk factor and central feature of such stones; dietary oxalate contributes up to 50% of urinary oxalate. The purpose of our research is to determine if physical manipulation such as chewing or blending prior to ingestion may render some oxalate more accessible for absorption in spinach, a high-oxalate food. In this crossover, controlled trial we enrolled six healthy, non-stone …

Infant Feeding Practices, Weight Gain, And Blood Pressure In Toddlers Born Very Preterm, Doris Rodriguez

All ETDs from UAB

Little is known about how weight gain in those born very preterm is associated with blood pressure and if cortisol, a stress biomarker, plays a mediating role. Also, the influence of infant feeding practices on weight gain has been only sporadically addressed. The purpose of this exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional study was to examine the relationships between infant feeding practices, weight gain, and blood pressure noting any mediating effect cortisol may have between weight gain and blood pressure in 18-to-24 month old corrected age toddlers born very preterm. A convenience sample of 36 18-to-24 month old corrected age toddlers were enrolled. …

Analysis Of Tetragonal To Monoclinic Phase Transformation Caused By Accelerated Artificial Aging And The Effects Of Microstructure In Stabilized Zirconia, Thomas J. Lucas

All ETDs from UAB

This investigation addresses the issue that yttria stabilized zirconia is being used as a dental biomaterial without substantial evidence of its long-term viability. Furthermore, stabilized zirconia (SZ) undergoes low temperature degradation (LTD), which can lead to roughening of the surface. A rougher exterior can lead to increased wear of the antagonist in the oral environment. Despite the LTD concerns, SZ is now widely used in restorative dentistry, including full contour crowns. A comparison of aging methods to determine the role of artificial aging on inducing the transformation has not been extensively studied. Therefore, simulations of the transformation process were investigated …

Assessment Of Antipsychotic Medication Effects On Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity In Patients With Schizophrenia, Kristin Lottman

All ETDs from UAB

Schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population, is often characterized as a disorder of dysconnectivity. Evaluation of the dysconnectivity hypothesis of schizophrenia has been extensively examined via functional neuroimaging studies in order to enhance insight into the disorder’s pathology. In particular, resting-state functional connectivity analyses have reported widespread aberrant network connectivity between brain regions in patients; however, consistencies in the directionality of abnormalities are often variable across studies. Recent investigations have begun to analyze functional connectivity dynamically as it is likely these inconsistencies may be a result of the static nature of traditional connectivity measures. In this …

Some Contributions To Bayesian Regularization Methods With Applications To Genetics And Clinical Trials, Himel Mallick

All ETDs from UAB

Variable selection refers to the class of problems where one tries to find an optimal subset of relevant variables, which can be used to accurately predict the outcome of a certain response variable. Typically, a large number of variables are often collected; however, all but a few important variables are relevant for the prediction of the outcome, so the underlying representation is sparse. To this end, variable selection is fundamental in high-dimensional data analysis, playing a crucial role in important scientific discovery and decision-making, and has received enormous attention in the literature. Regularization method is one attractive approach that has …

Spectroscopic Characterization Of Iron-Doped Ii-Vi Compounds For Laser Applications, Alan David Martinez

All ETDs from UAB

The middle Infrared (mid-IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum between 2 and 15 μm has many features which are of interest to a variety of fields such as molecular spectroscopy, biomedical applications, industrial process control, oil prospecting, free-space communication and defense-related applications. Because of this, there is a demand for broadly tunable, laser sources operating over this spectral region which can be easily and inexpensively produced. II-VI semiconductor materials doped with transition metals (TM) such as Co2+, Cr2+, or Fe2+ exhibit highly favorable spectroscopic characteristics for mid-IR laser applications. Among these TM dopants, Fe2+ has absorption and emission which extend …

Emergency Department Wait Time Communication Strategies And Patient Throughput Efficiency, Tom R. Mcdougal

All ETDs from UAB

This study investigates hospital strategies used to inform patients of anticipated wait times in the Emergency Department (ED) and the association of such strategies with patient throughput efficiency. When hospitals are inefficient in ED patient throughput, conditions of overcrowding often occur. Overcrowding of the ED is a problem for many hospitals. When such conditions exist, there is evidence in the literature that it leads to lower patient satisfaction, care quality, and financial position of the hospital. Therefore, improving patient throughput efficiency is a priority for hospitals. To improve patient throughput efficiency, hospitals use a variety of strategies. This study focuses …

Malware Detection Through Disassembled Function Analysis, Ralph Frank Mcsweeney

All ETDs from UAB

Antivirus software vendors have been forced into an industry of reaction because an abundance of new malware is discovered daily. The antivirus industry, handicapped by a low ratio of malware analysts to malware and antiquated techniques, floods the market with products with regrettably low detection rates, often only marginally outperforming competitors. This thesis presents a new function-edge-based set detection and identification method which significantly outperforms traditional antivirus techniques. The technique used reduces a malware binary to its fundamental assembly code and performs functional analysis using a newly created function hashing technique. Function hash edges are created by combining calling and …

A Three Dimensional Microphysiologic Liver Model For Toxicity Testing, Lindsay Mckinney Miller

All ETDs from UAB

Drug development is an expensive and time consuming process, requiring an average of over $1 billion and up to fifteen years of work for each newly released product. Drug-induced liver toxicity is the leading cause of post-market drug withdrawals despite the fact that extensive animal testing and clinical trials are required prior to approval of a novel drug or therapy. Due to both the specificity and genetic variability of hepatic regulation and metabolism in humans, animal models and single-cell hepatocyte testing cannot fully predict the metabolic response of a novel compound. In vitro organ culture in a three dimensional (3D) …

The Impact Of Meal Timing On Cardiometabolic Syndrome Indicators In Shift Workers, Hylton Elisabeth Molzof

All ETDs from UAB

Shift workers exhibit a greater risk for several cardiovascular and metabolic diseases including heart disease, obesity, hypertension, and type II diabetes (Boivin, Tremblay, & James, 2007; Chen, Lin, & Hsiao, 2010; Knutsson, Jonsson, Akerstedt, & Orth-Gomer, 1986; Kroenke et al., 2007). Shift workers have been reported to consume more pro-inflammatory diets than day workers (Wirth, Burch, Shivappa, Steck, et al., 2014) and to redistribute their food intake to the night during work (Lennernas, Hambraeus, & Akerstedt, 1995; Pasqua & Moreno, 2004). Numerous studies in animal models and humans have shown that eating during the sleep or inactive period is associated …

High Pressure High Temperature Phase Diagrams Of Heavy Rare Earth Metals, Jeffrey M. Montgomery

All ETDs from UAB

Two new high-pressure apparatus are developed and used to explore the phase diagrams of rare earth metals gadolinium, thulium, and lutetium. The first device incorporates natural diamond anvils that have been surface modified with a homoepitaxially-grown chemical-vapor-deposited layer of conducting boron-doped diamond. This layer is used as a direct electrical heating element to heat the diamond anvils independently of the rest of the diamond anvil cell. This allows for comparatively rapid, but controlled, changes in temperature at high pressure, primarily while cooling of a sample without a large energy or time expenditure. The second device incorporates a homoepitaxially-grown micro-anvil on …

Self-Perceptions And Social Comparison With A Primary Focus On Racial Identity In African American, Hispanic And Caucasian Fifth-Grade Children, Jeffrey G. Moore

All ETDs from UAB

Understanding the significance of one’s ethnic group is pivotal to comprehending and defining one’s overall process of self-perception, its influence on academic achievement, and probability for future success as well as personal fulfillment, especially among adolescents (Hill, Mance, Anderson, & Smith, 2012). Consequently, an adolescent’s view of self is often directly associated with personal interactions with individuals closest in nature and proximity. To explore the effects of self-perception among fifth-grade adolescents, a quantitative study was conducted to examine physical appearance and self-worth disparities among pre-adolescent Black, Hispanic, and White youth. For this research, three racial identity developmental theories were applied, …

Vassiliev Invariants Of Virtual Legendrian Knots, Patricia Cahn, Asa Levi

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

We introduce a theory of virtual Legendrian knots. A virtual Legendrian knot is a cooriented wavefront on an oriented surface up to Legendrian isotopy of its lift to the unit cotangent bundle and stabilization and destabilization of the surface away from the wavefront. We show that the groups of Vassiliev invariants of virtual Legendrian knots and of virtual framed knots are isomorphic. In particular, Vassiliev invariants cannot be used to distinguish virtual Legendrian knots that are isotopic as virtual framed knots and have equal virtual Maslov numbers.

Innovative Dart™ Ms Applications For Rapid Opioid Detection In Ante- And Post-Mortem Specimens, Rachel Crocker Beck

All ETDs from UAB

The studies presented herein were born through the observations of the challenges that are faced by forensic toxicology laboratories. While these challenges were first observed in the forensic toxicology field, they are common across clinical, workplace drug testing, and pain management laboratories alike. The challenge is how to increase efficiency without sacrificing quality. Current drug screening protocols such as immunoassays (IA), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and liquid-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) are robust but inefficient and limited, with some analyses providing only class information. These analyses when coupled require up to four days to complete for a confirmed, …

Mechanisms Of Npy-Induced Phase Shifts And Gsk3 Modulation Of Rhythmic Molecular Clock Gene Expression, Neurophysiological Function, And Memory., Rachel Besing

All ETDs from UAB

The current set of studies addresses three main hypotheses. We first tested the hypothesis that NPY-induced phase advances are accompanied by persistent suppression of core circadian clock gene PER2 and are mediated by long-term depression of neuronal excitability in a phase-specific manner. We found that NPY induced phase advances in PER2::LUC cultures, as well as decreased neuronal firing in SCN slices, are largest when NPY is given in the early part of the day and PER2::LUC phase advances were blocked by depolarization with potassium chloride, suggesting that NPY-induced phase advances are mediated by long-term depression of neuronal excitability. The second …

Modulation Of The Unfolded Protein Response To Delay Apoptosis In An Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa Animal Model, Yogesh Bhootada

All ETDs from UAB

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of retinal degenerative diseases characterized by the loss of rod photoreceptor cells that can be followed by cone degeneration eventually culminating in total photoreceptor cell loss. This disease affects approximately 1.5 million people worldwide and can be transmitted in an autosomal dominant (ADRP) manner accounting for nearly 30% of all RP cases. Dominant rhodopsin mutations have been divided into class I and class II based on the folding of rhodopsin protein, thermal stability, and chromophore regeneration. A threonine-17-methionine (T17M) mutation in rhodopsin is a class II mutation, characterized by a thermal instability/folding defect and …

Transferring Virtual Reality Training To Real World Settings In Individuals With Low Vision And Dual-Sensory Impairments, Ellen Lambert Bowman

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TRANSFERRING VIRTUAL REALITY TRAINING TO REAL WORLD SETTINGS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW VISION AND DUAL-SENSORY IMPAIRMENTS ELLEN LAMBERT BOWMAN VISION SCIENCE GRADUATE PROGRAM ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to determine if individuals with low vision could learn useful visual skills in Virtual Reality and could transfer these skills to the real world. To achieve this goal, one set of Orientation & Mobility (O&M) skills, using the near lane parallel traffic surge to decide the safest timing to cross a signal controlled street, was selected. Twelve participants with vision too poor to use pedestrian signals were randomly assigned to …

Three-Dimensional Soft Tissue Analysis Of Facial Morphology Of A Colombian Population Compared To Adult Caucasians, Sonia Bravo-Hammett

All ETDs from UAB

Aim: The purpose of this study is to describe the facial morphology of a Colombian population with three-dimensional imaging; and comparing their facial morphology with the Caucasian to create a database for this ethnicity. Materials and Methods: The study included 170 subjects selected from the Valle University in Cali-Colombia; and 1346 Caucasian subjects selected from the Face-Base Data funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. All images were taken on Natural Head Position and captured using a stereo-photogrammetric camera system (3dMDfaceTM); to obtain a three dimensional image of each patient. The subjects were between 19 to 31 …

The Effect Of Applied Stress On Knowledge Retention In A Multiwall Virtual Environment, David Wayne Brown

All ETDs from UAB

While the science of medicine continues to grow as new discoveries in the treatment of disease are made, the education of existing procedures has not evolved with the growth of new technology. The training of doctors and nurses is still, primarily, one of classrooms and presentations. In addition, this training is predominately focused on treating the patient once they have reached the hospital, with limited thought given to out of hospital emergencies. Simulation labs are present at most schools, but these are limited in their ability to deliver identical scenarios across the entire student population due to variances in personnel …

Exploring The Relationship Between Study Abroad And Emotional Intelligence, Michael Joshua Carter

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EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDY ABROAD AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MICHAEL JOSHUA CARTER EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP ABSTRACT Given the increased interest in the academic and behavioral impact of university study abroad programs, the possible relationship between study abroad and emotional intelligence was evaluated. A paper-based survey packet consisting of a researcher-developed demographic questionnaire and the Bar-On EQ-i: 2.0 Emotional Intelligence Quotient Inventory (EQi) was administered to a convenience sample of 144 undergraduate students, ages 19-25, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The total sample consisted of two groups: (1) a sample group of undergraduate students who participated in the university study …

Crime And Punishment, A Global Concern: Who Does It Best And Does Isolation Really Work?, Melanie Reid

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Should Paris Hilton Receive A Lighter Prison Sentence Because She's Rich? An Experimental Study, Josef Montag, Tomáš Sobek

Kentucky Law Journal

The "equal punishment for the same crime" principle is generally agreed upon--yet its implementation differs radically depending on whether the punishment is measured purely in nominal terms or whether the subjective perspective of the punishee is accounted for. This is simply because different people may experience the same punishment with differing intensity.

Legal scholars have recently proposed that improvements in scientific knowledge and advancements in technologies (such as Functional magnetic resonance imaging), which allow us to measure subjective perceptions and feelings, need to be and should be incorporated in our penal systems. This would facilitate calibrating the punishment not only …