Digital Commons Network^™

Preliminary Characterization Of The Microbial Community In The Bonneville Salt Flats, Garner Lansing Boogaerts

All ETDs from UAB

Hypersaline environments (salt concentrations greater than two molar) are found on all continents and represent a woefully understudied ecosystem. To date, most of the hypersaline environments studied have been either lakes (e.g. The Great Salt Lake, Utah) or deep ocean/sea brine pools (e.g. Red Sea), both of which have an abundance of accessible water for the organisms living there. However, more extreme hypersaline environments have not been characterized as thoroughly. One of these environments is the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) in Western Utah. The BSF is 80 square miles in size and consists of a salt crust of varying thickness …

Predictive Modeling Of Ocular Surface Disease States Using Multiple Inflammatory Biomarkers, John L. Bradley

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT Purpose The aim of this study was to adapt conjunctival impression cytology (CIC) and RNA isolation and processing procedures for gene expression analysis of ocular surface inflammatory biomarkers. The RNA yield and quality should be sufficient to enable quantitative real-time PCR of no less than 12 key target genes, with the goal of differentiating among dry eye groups. This study used the optimized inflammatory biomarker gene expression assay in a patient study to identify differences between dry eye and control participants. Materials and Methods CIC was used to collect conjunctival surface cells from 53 qualifying dry eye and control …

Perceptions Of Elementary School Leaders In Supporting The Academic And Social Development Of African American Males In Torchbearer Schools, Tracy Brown

All ETDs from UAB

PERCEPTIONS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEADERS IN SUPPORTING THE ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN TORCHBEARER SCHOOLS TRACY HANDLEY BROWN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP ABSTRACT This qualitative multiple case study explored the perceptions of Alabama Torchbearer School leaders in supporting the academic and social development of their elementary African American male students. There is limited research to show how elementary school leaders support their African American male students. My study helped to provide insight into how elementary school leaders support their African American male student population. The study was conducted in 10 Torchbearer Schools in Alabama. The participants included 10 …

Informatyka W Społeczeństwie Informacyjnym, Witold Chmielarz, Jerzy Kisielnicki, Tomasz Parys

Monografie/Monographs

Społeczeństwo informacyjne określane jest mianem takiego, w którym zdecydowana większość działań ekonomicznych i społecznych jest wspomagana za pomocą technik informacyjnych. Oznacza to, że systemy komputerowe stają się nie tylko wszechobecne w gospodarce i życiu prywatnym, ale że są nam niezbędne do podejmowania wszelkich decyzji związanych z wykonywanym przez nas zawodem oraz decyzji życiowych. System informatyczny to już niewątpliwie pierwsze źródło, do którego sięgamy, gdy poszukujemy informacji na jakikolwiek temat. Źródło jeszcze głęboko niedoskonałe, pełne błędów i niedopowiedzeń, nierzadko nam narzucone przez monopolizujące rynek firmy informatyczne. Nie jest to jednak niewątpliwie powód do jego odrzucenia. Wręcz przeciwnie – powinniśmy starać się, …

Lab-On-A-Brane: A Novel Physiologically Relevant Planar Arterial Model To Study Transendothelial Transport, Karim I. Budhwani

All ETDs from UAB

The tremendous quality of life impact notwithstanding, cardiovascular diseases and Cancer add up to over US$ 700bn each year in financial costs alone. Aging and population growth are expected to further expand the problem space while drug research and development remain expensive. However, preclinical costs can be substantially mitigated by substituting animal models with in vitro devices that accurately model human cardiovascular transport. Here we present a novel physiologically relevant lab-on-a-brane that simulates in vivo pressure, flow, strain, and shear waveforms associated with normal and pathological conditions in large and small blood vessels for studying molecular transport across the endothelial …

Association Of Molecular Pathology V. Myriad Genetics, Inc.: Determining The Scope Of The Supreme Court's Holding For Patentable Subject Matter, Ashley Winkler

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Uniform Test Isn't Here Right Now, But Please Leave A Message: How Altering The Spence Symbolic Speech Test Can Better Meet The Needs Of An Expressive Society, Caitlin Housley

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

50,000 Voices Can't Be Wrong, But Courts Might Be: How Chevron's Existence Contributes To Retrenching The Higher Education Act, Twinette L. Johnson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Crowd Crush: How The Law Leaves American Crowds Unprotected, Tracy Hresko Pearl

Kentucky Law Journal

Crowd-related injuries and deaths are startlingly common both in the United States and worldwide. They occur in a wide range of situations and at a vast array of venues: at music concerts, sporting events, retail holiday sales, in and around airports, subway plaorms, and parking lots, among other locations. These "crowd crush" incidents, however, are extremely underreported and rarely litigated, masking the seriousness of this issue and making it difficult for the few victims who pursue legal recourse to recover damages. Given that there is virtually no statutory law in the United States pertaining to crowd management and control, crowd …

Rectifying These Mean Streets: Percent-For-Art Ordinances, Street Furniture, And The New Streetscape, Asmara M. Tekle

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Persecution: How Much Is Enough?, Hillary R. Chambers

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Federal Reverse Preemption Of Uninsured And Underinsured Motorist Coverage Offering In The Digital Age: E-Sign And Ueta Have Not Had A Significant Impact On State Offering Or Rejection Requirements, Steven Plitt, Daniel Maldonado, John Wittwer

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

School-Wide Factors In New York State High School Counseling Program Readiness, Dianah Cantres

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While current accountability regimes in U.S. public education focus on the job performance of individual school professionals, research in industrial/organizational psychology has established the importance of system-wide factors for organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify school-wide factors that predict guidance program readiness in New York State high schools. This nonexperimental, quantitative study was based on a survey sample of 97 guidance counselors in New York State. Multivariariate analyses of variance showed that two school-wide independent variables-urbanization of school location and counselor-student ratio-predict scores on guidance program readiness, measured using the American School Counselor Association Readiness Survey. …

Impacts On Faculty Workload During A Learning Management System Transition, Karla Page Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Management professionals at many colleges are transitioning to new learning management systems (LMS), such as Moodle, for reasons such as lower costs, greater outreach, and student preference. Transitioning to a new LMS may result in faculty problems with learning a new technology platform in addition to teaching. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact that an LMS transition had on faculty attitudes, experiences, and workload. The conceptual framework of the study was the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and the diffusion of innovation theory. A phenomenological design was employed with a purposeful sample of …

Investigating The English Language Arts Placement Of Struggling High School Freshmen, Pamela Burke-Haug

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative case study addressed a suburban school district's placement of academically at-risk English language arts (ELA) 9th graders as the district transitions from the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) to use of the unfamiliar and controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Based on the theoretical frameworks of the zone of proximal development, cognitive apprenticeship, and Bandura's model of self-efficacy, the purpose was to understand the characteristics of struggling (labeled 'academic') ELA students, placement practices and perceptions of these practices, and placement improvements. A purposeful sample was recruited of 7 staff members …

Our Court Masters, Chad J. Pomeroy

Faculty Articles

In 1995, Utah became the first state to pass a bill prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states and nations. Thereafter, in 2004, Utah voters approved a ballot referendum on Utah Constitutional Amendment 3, which defined marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman and which restricted unmarried civil unions. This referendum was approved by 65.9% of those who voted on it. That is, 593,297 Utah citizens (of the approximately 900,000 who voted) voted to approve the amendment.

Then, in March of 2013, three couples filed suit in the United States District Court for …

A Multiple Case Study Exploring Factors Promoting Nursing Faculty Satisfaction With Teaching Online In Three Schools Of Nursing In The Southeastern United States, Nancy Pope Wingo

All ETDs from UAB

To address nursing shortages in the healthcare workforce and expand access to higher education, many schools of nursing are offering academic degrees that can be completed mostly online. Nursing schools that consider online programs to be a key part of their strategic plan need faculty who are comfortable and satisfied with teaching online. Yet nursing schools nationwide are facing a shortage of nursing faculty, due to the retirement of aging instructors, high workload, low salaries, and other factors. To foster faculty gratification and promote long-term retention of skilled instructors to teach online, nursing schools need to learn more about factors …

C-Reactive Protein, Autoimmunity, And Inflammation In The Central Nervous System, Tyler T. Wright

All ETDs from UAB

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase reactant whose blood concentration rises in response all types of inflammation. And while CRP is widely used as a clinical marker of inflammation, it has several biological functions, e.g. activation of the classical complement cascade and binding Fcγ receptors in order to mediate multiple immune processes. The full extent of CRP’s physiological activities has not yet been fully elucidated, but there is significant evidence to establish that CRP plays an important role in the onset and progression of autoimmune disease. Seminal work from our lab showed that human CRP, hepatically expressed in transgenic …

Exploring The Effects Of Direct Contact Compression On Osteogenesis, Shannel Wright

All ETDs from UAB

Clinically, the concept of bone building being the result of mechanical adaptation in healthy individuals has been accepted since Wollf’s Law in 1892. Despite many attempts to understand this mechanism, very little is known about the role mechanical forces play on bone molecularly. Current biomechanical theory supports the concept of osteocytes and bone lining cells creating a three-dimensional network that provides biochemical signaling as a result of mechanical loading. With pressure gradient and interstitial fluid flow models being used as methods of mechanical loading, yet there are still unanswered questions about the validity of both models. The suggested solution lies …

Fiber Metal Laminate With Thickness Reinforcement, Pritesh S. Yeole

All ETDs from UAB

In this study, a new hybrid fiber metal laminate (FML) material is developed in which fiber composites (both thermoset and thermoplastic matrix composites) and metal are bonded together mechanically using the hooks integrated on the metal. The hooks function as through thickness reinforcement and are used to enhance the bonding strength between the fiber composites and the metal. Process optimization is performed for the VARTM process used in manufacturing the thermoset composite FML in order to gain full benefit of the through thickness reinforcement. Extra pressure in addition to the vacuum is applied to push fiber tows inside the hooks …

Orientalism Redux: Inci Eviner’S Harem, Pinar Zararsiz

All ETDs from UAB

ORIENTALISM REDUX: INCI EVINER’S HAREM PINAR ZARARSIZ (ART HISTORY) ABSTRACT This thesis examines the 2009 video Harem by Turkish artist Inci Eviner (b. 1956). Eviner’s work centralizes issues of gender in Turkish culture, the history of colonialism, and how historical location informs society at large. Eviner lives and works in Turkey, but exhibits internationally. Harem has been exhibited in Turkey, France, and England. Harem is based on a series of nineteenth-century Orientalist engravings by Antoine Ignace Melling, entitled Intérieur d'une partie du Harem du Grand-Seigneur (Interior of Part of the Harem of the Grand Signor) (1803-1819). Melling’s Harem du Grand-Seigneur …

Protumorigenic Role Of Cathelicidin-Related Antimicrobial Peptide In Chemotaxis And Differentiation Of Myeloid Lineage During Prostate Cancer Progression, Ha-Ram Cha

All ETDs from UAB

A growing body of evidence indicates a positive correlation between the expression of human antimicrobial peptide leucine leucine 37 (LL-37) and the progression of epithelial cancers, including carcinomas of the breast, lung, ovary, and prostate. Although the molecular mechanisms for this correlation have not yet been clearly elucidated, the primary function of LL-37 as a chemotactic molecule for innate immune effector cells suggests its possible association in coordinating protumorigenic mechanisms mediated by tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Using a mouse model of epithelial prostate cancer (PCa), the present study identified a unique role for cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP), a murine orthologue of …

The Impact Of Student Loans On Homeownership, Matthew Eric Click

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis examines the relationship between student loan debt and homeownership. I hypothesize that a negative relationship exists, and control for a respondent’s age, household income, household size, race, gender, marital status, and level of education. Using a binary logistic regression model to examine data from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) and the 2014 Survey of Household Economic Decisions (SHED), I model the odds-ratios and predicted probabilities of homeownership for respondents with and without student loans. I find a decrease in the predicted probability of homeownership by 8.4% and 9.3% in the NFCS and SHED datasets, respectively. While …

Women Manufacturing Methamphetamine: Gender In The Context Of Shake And Bake Cooking In Alabama, Jessica Rae Deitzer

All ETDs from UAB

Researchers of women in the drug economy have been divided, with some portraying women involved in drug manufacturing, dealing, and trafficking as limited participants, and others acknowledging women’s use of agency and gender to successfully accomplish higher roles in drug economies. Additionally, some suggest that the context of the local community and drug market has a strong influence on the roles women occupy within the drug economy. In this study, I examine women’s roles within a particular style of meth cooking (shake and bake) to determine the various opportunities and constraints they face as women meth cooks. To do so, …

Metabolic And Oxidative Regulation Of Neuronal Autophagy And Survival, Matthew Dodson

All ETDs from UAB

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease are all characterized by metabolic dysfunction, increased oxidative damage to proteins and organelles, formation of proteinaceous inclusions, decreased autophagic and proteasomal function, and eventual neuronal and glial cell death. While our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie many of these pathologies is constantly growing, their exact cause, onset, interplay and progression still remain unclear. The gap between the description of disease pathologies and understanding the fundamental mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, progression and potential therapeutics to mitigate disease progression is still large. Based on the observation that altered glucose utilization, …

Robust Production Of Mature Ribosomal Rna Is Directly Influenced By Multiple Steps Within The Transcription Cycle, Krysta Engel

All ETDs from UAB

Cellular growth depends on the capacity for protein synthesis, and likewise ribosome biogenesis. Therefore, robust rRNA synthesis by RNA Polymerase I (Pol I) is a critical component of cell growth. The work reported in this dissertation highlights the contribution of polymerase domains and trans-acting proteins during rRNA synthesis and ribosome biogenesis. Eukaryotes utilize three homologous nuclear RNA polymerases (RNAPs) to express their genomes. The trigger loop (TL) is a well conserved region within the active site of multi-subunit RNAPs that plays a direct role during the nucleotide addition cycle. Analysis of Pol II TL mutants has suggested that catalysis is …

Assessment Of Student-Created Videos As An Alternate Laboratory Assignment And Design And Implementation Of Classroom Activities Designed To Improve Student Retention And Learning, Mitzy Ann Erdmann

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation presents three educationally based research projects and describes how they are related. The first portion of this manuscript describes the development of an alternate assessment for the general chemistry laboratory that harnessed both the availability of and interest in using smart phone technology in an educational setting. Student-created technique videos were implemented into the general chemistry laboratory curriculum in order to asynchronously monitor student use of standard laboratory equipment. A feasibility study was performed first, which showed that students were able to create videos that showed themselves performing standard laboratory techniques. Teaching assistants reported being able to easily …

The Role Of Ribosome Biogenesis In Exercise-Induced Skeletal Muscle Anabolism In Aging, Michael Stec

All ETDs from UAB

Numerous chronic medical conditions, as well as normal aging result in a significant loss of skeletal muscle mass. This has profound effects on quality of life and can increase the risk of all-cause mortality. Currently, the most potent treatment for reversing the loss of muscle mass is resistance exercise training (RT); however, the human muscle fiber growth (hypertrophy) response to this treatment is quite variable, and older adults do not respond as favorably to this treatment as younger adults. The focus of this dissertation is to elucidate the role that ribosome biogenesis plays in regulating the RT-induced hypertrophic response. We …

Individual, Family, And Social Factors Associated With Adolescent Obesity: A Policy Relevant Focus, Janice Marguerite Utley

All ETDs from UAB

INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY, AND SOCIAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ADOLESCENT OBESITY: A POLICY RELEVANT FOCUS JANICE M. UTLEY PUBLIC HEALTH ABSTRACT This dissertation is comprised of three papers that examined individual, family, and social factors associated with adolescent overweight and obesity with the aim of generating data that could inform the design of policy interventions to prevent or reverse rising prevalence. The first investigation was a type of literature review called a scoping study that examined the extent, range, and type of research activity on adolescent obesity that used a multilevel or hierarchical design to look at two or more contextual areas …

The Effects Of The Initially Transcribed Sequence On Reiterative Transcription In Escherichia Coli, Jeffery Michael Vahrenkamp

All ETDs from UAB

Transcription, the synthesis of a ribonucleic acid transcript using a nucleic acid template, is the first step in gene expression for all life. In most organisms, high fidelity transcription is achieved through the formation of an RNA:DNA hybrid which allows the RNA polymerase to maintain the correct register. Slippage, which would lead to improper base pairing, is prevented by the heterogeneous sequence of the DNA template. However, when homogenous tracts of bases are present in the template, slippage can occur, allowing a single base in the template to encode multiple bases in the transcript in a process called reiterative transcription. …