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University of Alabama at Birmingham

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Articles 2551 - 2580 of 5836

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Immune Modulation Of Pain And Recovery Via Diet, Stacie Totsch Jan 2018

Immune Modulation Of Pain And Recovery Via Diet, Stacie Totsch

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic pain is the most common disability in the United States. Additionally, one out of three adults in America are obese and obesity and pain are often comorbid. Obesity is an inflammatory state due to the release of pro-inflammatory mediators from adipose tissue. Generally, obesity is a result of a poor-quality diet. Specific dietary components and patterns are independent activators of the immune system and can exacerbate the obesity-induced inflammatory state. It is known that immune system activation is a critical aspect in the development and progression of many chronic pain conditions. To address a general lack of preclinical investigations …

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The Computational Discovery Of Genetic Determinants Of Gene Regulatory Variation In Human Liver, Benjamin Todd Weaver Jan 2018

The Computational Discovery Of Genetic Determinants Of Gene Regulatory Variation In Human Liver, Benjamin Todd Weaver

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From its foundations, modern genetic science has focused on understanding the causal connections between genotypes and phenotypes. The emergence of tools and techniques for microarray-based genomic science has enabled hundreds of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to rapidly uncover thousands of previously unknown links between genetic variants and complex phenotypes, including human diseases (Li et al., 2011b). The output of genomic association research has yielded significant insights into basic biology and disease, including the identification of disease DNA variants that are possibly targetable by pharmaceuticals and gene therapeutics. Despite evident successes of the GWAS paradigm, opinion is divided on the overall …

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Relationship Between Parenting Styles, Parenting Behaviors, And Children's Socioemotional Development: A Longitudinal Study, Shannon Michelle Oram Wittig Jan 2018

Relationship Between Parenting Styles, Parenting Behaviors, And Children's Socioemotional Development: A Longitudinal Study, Shannon Michelle Oram Wittig

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The relationships between self-reported parenting styles and observed parenting behaviors with socioemotional behaviors in infants (temperament) and toddlers (behavior problems) were investigated in a longitudinal, cross-lagged design. Both mothers and fathers participated in a prospective longitudinal study, beginning prenatally followed by re-assessments when children were 6 months and 18 months of age. Parents provided self-reports of their parenting styles at all three time points; in the last two time points, parents engaged in an observed structured parent-child interaction and reported on their children’s temperament at 6 months and behavior problems at 18 months. Results suggest that parenting styles remain stable …

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Calcium Signaling And Regulation Of Ecdysteroid Molting Hormone Production In Y-Organs Of The Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus), Megan Elizabeth Roegner Jan 2018

Calcium Signaling And Regulation Of Ecdysteroid Molting Hormone Production In Y-Organs Of The Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus), Megan Elizabeth Roegner

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In the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), molting, and subsequent incremental growth, is triggered by the release of molting hormones, or ecdysteroids, from paired endocrine glands termed Y-organs. The method that triggers the increase in ecdysteroid release before molting is not fully resolved, but previous evidence suggests a calcium (Ca2+) signal may be involved. The goal of this research is to better understand the role Ca2+ signaling plays in blue crab molt hormone production. The first part of my dissertation focused on the Ca2+ regulatory protein sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA), which removes Ca2+ to the ER after a Ca2+ influx. …

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Combinatorial Withaferin A And Sulforaphane And Their Potential Roles In Breast Cancer Prevention And Therapy, Kendra Jeanine Royston Jan 2018

Combinatorial Withaferin A And Sulforaphane And Their Potential Roles In Breast Cancer Prevention And Therapy, Kendra Jeanine Royston

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Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and is a devastating disease. Breast cancer is of particular interest because it is a major cause of cancer-related fatality in women in the United States. To date, more than 40,000 women are expected to die due to breast cancer and more than 200,000 will be diagnosed every year. Despite numerous advancements in the field, breast cancer remedies can be harsh and while life may be prolonged, the quality of life may decrease. This being said, preventive measures and less harsh treatment options are needed to help eliminate breast cancer as a …

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Health Literacy And Quality Of Life In Patients With Epilepsy, Brittany Nichole Scrivner Jan 2018

Health Literacy And Quality Of Life In Patients With Epilepsy, Brittany Nichole Scrivner

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This exploratory study examined the impact of health literacy on quality of life (QoL) in persons with epilepsy (PWE). From the perspectives of cultural health capital and social disability theory, it was hypothesized that greater levels of health literacy would be associated with higher quality of life scores. The sample included patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Cannabidiol Program. Analyses included Pearson correlations, chi square, t-tests, and a nested linear regression model (alpha=0.1). The sample was composed of adult respondents (aged 19-63; n=79) and was 92% white with a mean age of 33; …

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Securing Authentication And Communications Amidst Humans-In-The-Loop, Maliheh Shirvanian Jan 2018

Securing Authentication And Communications Amidst Humans-In-The-Loop, Maliheh Shirvanian

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Authentication is one of the most crucial security aspects of almost any system that demands interaction between humans and machines, often serving as the pre-requisite for secure communications. Besides, authentication usually involves a human user in the loop (i.e., as a verifier, a verifiee, or a facilitator), which implies the significance of the usability of any authentication scheme. Numerous authentication schemes exist today, namely, “something you know” (e.g., passwords), “something you are” (e.g., voices), “something you have” (e.g., mobile phones), and combinations thereof. However, most of them suffer from various well-documented security and usability issues. In this dissertation work, we …

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Asylum Denied: Barriers To Protection For Mexican Asylum Seekers, Kara Hofheins Jan 2018

Asylum Denied: Barriers To Protection For Mexican Asylum Seekers, Kara Hofheins

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This thesis evaluates the United States’ adherence to international refugee law and the asylum process’s efficacy in relation Mexican asylum seekers fleeing persecution from drug trafficking organizations. It is found that constrictive domestic asylum laws, structural institutional deficiencies, inconsistent standards, and absence of accountability erode the democratic principle of due process and contribute to the debasement of rule of law in The United States. This aggregation of deficiencies constitutes the failure to protect persecuted people and the failure to adhere to international refugee law.

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The Influence Of Child, Parent, And Context Factors On Children’S Traffic Injury Risk, Emma Sartin Goodman Jan 2018

The Influence Of Child, Parent, And Context Factors On Children’S Traffic Injury Risk, Emma Sartin Goodman

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Child restraint systems, like car seats and booster seats, are effective at preventing serious injury and death for children involved in motor vehicle collisions. Despite this, the majority of families in the United States either do not use, or incorrectly use, child restraint systems. Further, racial minorities are consistently reported to have higher rates of child restraint system non- and misuse than their White peers; research has yet to explain this relationship with previously hypothesized factors (e.g., caregiver education, sources of information). The overall objective of this project was to explain how child, caregiver, and context factors interacted to influence …

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Trichomonas Vaginalis Virus (Tvv) And Its Role In Trichomoniasis Infection, Keonte Graves Jan 2018

Trichomonas Vaginalis Virus (Tvv) And Its Role In Trichomoniasis Infection, Keonte Graves

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Background: Trichomonas vaginalis virus (TVV) is a non-segmented, 4.5-5.5 kbp, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus infecting T. vaginalis (TV). The objectives of this study were to examine TVV prevalence in U.S. TV isolates and associations with patient demographics, clinical outcomes, and metronidazole (MTZ) resistance. Methods: Archived TV isolates from the enrollment visit of 355 women participating in a TV treatment trial in Birmingham, AL were thawed and grown in culture. Total RNA was extracted using Trizol reagent. Contaminating single-stranded RNA was precipitated using 4.0M LiCl and centrifugation. Samples were analyzed by gel electrophoresis to visualize a 4.5kbp band representative of TVV. …

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Effects Of Proanthocyanidins In Combination With Resveratrol And Sulforaphane Respectively On Human Breast Cancer Cells, Yifeng Gao Jan 2018

Effects Of Proanthocyanidins In Combination With Resveratrol And Sulforaphane Respectively On Human Breast Cancer Cells, Yifeng Gao

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Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of death from cancer among women in the United States. Cancer prevention and therapy through use of phytochemicals that have epigenetic properties has gained considerable popularity during the past few decades. Such dietary components include but are not limited to grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs), resveratrol (Res) and sulforaphane (SFN). Here we report for the first time that GSPs and Res in combination dose- and time-dependently inhibited cell viability and posttreatment colony forming ability synergistically in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, while GSPs and SFN in …

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Examining Factors That Contribute To Motives For Marijuana Use Among African American Adolescents, Vinetra Loette King Jan 2018

Examining Factors That Contribute To Motives For Marijuana Use Among African American Adolescents, Vinetra Loette King

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Marijuana is the most frequently used illicit substance by adolescents in the United States. African American adolescents tend to use marijuana at higher rates and suffer from more severe consequences compared to Caucasian adolescents. Additionally, African American adolescents may be more vulnerable to psychosocial factors, such as depression, post-traumatic stress, and associating with substance using peers that may cause them to use marijuana for specific reasons. These vulnerabilities may contribute to African American adolescents using marijuana at a higher rate than their Caucasian counterparts. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of mental health problems …

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The Effects Of Glucose And Amino Acid Restriction On Protein Turnover And Micro-Rna Composition In The Muscle Of Rainbow Trout, Mary Neslund Latimer Jan 2018

The Effects Of Glucose And Amino Acid Restriction On Protein Turnover And Micro-Rna Composition In The Muscle Of Rainbow Trout, Mary Neslund Latimer

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Changes in nutritional status, through glucose and amino acid restriction, have the ability to augment both the protein turnover and micro-RNA (miR) composition in the skeletal muscle of rainbow trout in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the restriction of glucose in the media for a period of 24h was able to reduce protein synthesis by 41.2% compared to control conditions. In addition, 48h of glucose restriction affected the expression of both mstn2a and igfbp5, genes involved in muscle growth dynamics and synthesis. The restriction of amino acids, specifically the amino acid methionine, in vitro was able to reduce the …

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The Effects Of Growth Hormone In Human Melanoma Cell Lines, Ashiya Buckels Jan 2018

The Effects Of Growth Hormone In Human Melanoma Cell Lines, Ashiya Buckels

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Melanoma is less common than basal and squamous cell skin cancers, but is the most aggressive form of skin cancer. ~90% of melanomas carry a mutation in the RAS-RAF pathway, which promotes progression by constitutive activation of the extracellular sig-nal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling cascade. BRAF inhibition is an effective line of therapy for advance melanoma, but patients often progress due to the development of several forms of treatment resistance. Therapeutic resistance often results in increased invasion and migration of the cancer into proximal and distant tissues leading to the formation of metastasis. Examination of various cancer genomics data sets using …

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Investigating Driving Performance In Older Adults: A Continuum Of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Tyler Preston Bull Jan 2018

Investigating Driving Performance In Older Adults: A Continuum Of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Tyler Preston Bull

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Driving is an important instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) that is crucial for mobility and independence of adults in the United States. Dementia and cognitive impairment are indicated as increasing risk for driving impairment and cessation, prompting the necessity for screeners in predicting impaired driving performance. The Trails Making Test (TMT) A and B, and the Useful Field of View (UFOV) are common measures used to predict driving performance across populations of older adults. Prior research has shown that Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which is theorized as an intermediary between normal aging and dementia, is associated with subtle declines …

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Multimodal Imaging (Fmri Bold Task, Functional Connectivity & Spectroscopy) Longitudinal Analysis Of Antipsychotic Treatment Effects In Unmedicated Patients With Schizophrenia, Elyse Cadena Jan 2018

Multimodal Imaging (Fmri Bold Task, Functional Connectivity & Spectroscopy) Longitudinal Analysis Of Antipsychotic Treatment Effects In Unmedicated Patients With Schizophrenia, Elyse Cadena

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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects around 1% of the world’s population. Antipsychotic medication does not effectively treat all symptoms as around 1/3 of those diagnosed will remain unresponsive to treatment. Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) present dysfunction in cognitive control processes compared to healthy controls (HC). Neuroimaging SZ studies report abnormalities in brain function and neurochemistry, although the majority of these studies involve medicated patients. To better determine SZ brain abnormalities, it is vital to characterize brain function without the confounding effect of antipsychotic medication, determine the extent of medication’s effects on brain function, and the relationship with symptom …

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Examination Of Communication Patterns And Satisfaction Between Systems Of Care Among Parents Of Concussed Youth, Sarah Terry Cable Jan 2018

Examination Of Communication Patterns And Satisfaction Between Systems Of Care Among Parents Of Concussed Youth, Sarah Terry Cable

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When a child or adolescent sustains a concussion, several systems of care become involved (e.g., family, medical, school, sports/recreation). To effectively manage a concussion, all systems of care need to work together to maximize recovery for return-to-play (RTP) and return-to-learn (RTL). Thus, good communication and coordination of care is critical. The objectives of this study were to prospectively examine parent communication patterns (type, frequency, topic, and overall parent satisfaction with communication) with systems of care from the time of their child’s concussion up to 14 weeks past injury. Barriers to communication and parent satisfaction with overall concussion management by each …

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Racial Disparities In Oncology Clinical Trial Participation: A Qualitative Exploration, Soumya J. Niranjan Jan 2018

Racial Disparities In Oncology Clinical Trial Participation: A Qualitative Exploration, Soumya J. Niranjan

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Introduction: Current rates of participation for racial and ethnic minorities in cancer clinical trials are significantly lower when compared to non-Hispanic whites. The patients’ perspective on reasons for low participation is abundant. Yet, very little is known from the perspective of clinical and research professionals who are actively involved in patient recruitment. This study seeks to understand their perspective on how the external environment associated with the health care system contributes to limited participation of racial and ethnic minority groups in cancer clinical trials. To that effect, the health services utilization framework was utilized. Data/Methods: EMPaCT data with 91 qualitative …

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Hands Like Chains, Garrett Lee Odom Jan 2018

Hands Like Chains, Garrett Lee Odom

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The poems in this thesis attempt to reach the universal in the specific, to find the common in the uncommon, the ubiquitous in idiosyncrasies. These poems often confront the spiritual within the physical, hopefully revealing a mysticism specific to each subject. These poems, though not entirely evident in their subject matter, are influenced by Southern culture and life. Here, the Southern background of the writer becomes an undertone to the poems themselves, and whether the poem is set in the imagination of a painting or a back yard in Alabama, the language that brings these poems to life spawns from …

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Neuropsychological Functioning And Return-To-Learn Among Adolescents With Concussion, Jilian Alyse O'Neill Jan 2018

Neuropsychological Functioning And Return-To-Learn Among Adolescents With Concussion, Jilian Alyse O'Neill

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Many children who experience concussions are faced with injury-related neurocognitive deficits. The reintegration of these children back into sports is controversial, yet little is known empirically about the effects concussions have on school re-entry and subsequent academic performance. Concussion symptom assessment instruments such as the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool – 3rd Edition (SCAT-3) are often used to guide decisions regarding the return to sports and re-integration to school; however, knowledge regarding the relationship between this tool and aspects of cognitive functioning is limited. Return to school, often termed “return to learn” in the literature, is a relatively new phenomenon that …

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Effect Of Dietary Compounds In Epigenetic Modulation And Microbial Alteration And Their Roles In Breast Tumor Inhibition, Bidisha Paul Jan 2018

Effect Of Dietary Compounds In Epigenetic Modulation And Microbial Alteration And Their Roles In Breast Tumor Inhibition, Bidisha Paul

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Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Current methods of chemoprevention and therapy have cytotoxic effects and have several short-term and long-term side effects. Therefore, the use of natural dietary bioactive compounds has gained prominence as safe and effective agents of chemoprevention and therapy. Genistein (GE), an isoflavone found in soy products, has been shown to exhibit several anticancer properties, particularly as an epigenetic modifier. We have observed that GE has the ability to alter the gut microbiome of germ-free mice humanized with fecal transplants from breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. We …

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The Habitual Offenders, Beth Shelburne Storr Jan 2018

The Habitual Offenders, Beth Shelburne Storr

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The Habitual Offenders is a work of literary journalism, written as a piece of first-person creative nonfiction. The collection of chapters explores a specific class of prison inmates in Alabama, sentenced to life without parole under a three strikes law. Major themes include fairness and disparity in the criminal justice system, politics, race and the community fallout from mass incarceration. This work reflects writing traditions from both investigative/narrative journalism and personal memoir.

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Growth And Analysis Of Transition-Metal-Doped Znse-Based Materials And Thin Film Structures For Mid-Infrared Optoelectronic Applications, Zachary R. Lindsey Jan 2018

Growth And Analysis Of Transition-Metal-Doped Znse-Based Materials And Thin Film Structures For Mid-Infrared Optoelectronic Applications, Zachary R. Lindsey

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Transition metal (TM)-doped II-VI semiconductor thin films have been shown to be attractive materials for mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser sources due to broad applicability in the sensing and detection of a wide range of organic molecules. Specifically, when ZnSe is doped with Cr2+ ions, the resulting broadband emission characteristics in the 2-3 µm spectral range create the potential for tunable lasing in the mid-IR. This dissertation research is motivated by the need for low cost, efficient, portable materials to be incorporated into multilayered mid-IR optoelectronic devices providing appropriate optical confinement, efficient quantum confinement of carriers, and optical emission in the mid-IR …

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Gender Differences In The Metabolism And Antidepressant Effects Of Ketamine, Emily Hugo Jan 2018

Gender Differences In The Metabolism And Antidepressant Effects Of Ketamine, Emily Hugo

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Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that interacts with the glutamatergic system, acting as an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. At higher doses, ketamine produces negative psychotomimetic side effects, including hallucinations and delirium, leading to its abuse in the 1980s and 90s. Recently, it has been determined that at sub-anesthetic doses, it is a fast-acting antidepressant. Because ketamine elicits fast and long-lasting antidepressant responses in patients, it is being studied as a possible treatment option for those with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Further, studies have shown that men and women respond to ketamine treatments differently, especially in long-term treatment, suggesting …

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Algorithmic Accountability And Individual Rights: A Case Study Analysis, Karina Jaimes Jan 2018

Algorithmic Accountability And Individual Rights: A Case Study Analysis, Karina Jaimes

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ABSTRACT Algorithms are becoming widespread and their use is set to expand, but it must be emphasized that, although constructive and transformative, they can also be destructive and counterproductive. Various types of organizations utilize algorithms, including government. The consequences of poorly constructed algorithms could lead to the infringement of citi-zens’ individual rights. Exploring two algorithms as case studies allows us to understand government use of algorithms and the ethics associated with them, especially in relation to the potential for the violation of rights. The application of privacy and anti-discrimination as lenses through which algorithms can be analyzed allows government officials …

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A Dissection Of Vibration Side Channels: Privacy Attacks, Countermeasures, And Defensive Applications, S Abhishek Anand Jan 2018

A Dissection Of Vibration Side Channels: Privacy Attacks, Countermeasures, And Defensive Applications, S Abhishek Anand

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The ubiquitous nature of consumer devices like smartphones, laptops, smartwatches and other smart devices in the current era has led to increased privacy concerns from side-channel attacks that tend to exploit the seemingly benign components of these devices to eavesdrop on confidential data. In particular, many of these devices host increasingly complex hardware sensors for delivering a rich and personalized user experience by consuming a significant amount of personalized information but overlook the possible privacy leakage introduced due to lack of secure implementation of these sensors. The side-channel attacks targeting such privacy leakage are low-cost in nature, using off-the-shelf equipment …

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Examination Of The Dynamic Assembly Mechanism Of E. Coli Clpa, Elizabeth C. Duran Jan 2018

Examination Of The Dynamic Assembly Mechanism Of E. Coli Clpa, Elizabeth C. Duran

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E. coli ClpA is an AAA+ (ATPase Associated with diverse cellular Activities) chaperone that catalyzes the ATP-dependent unfolding and translocation of substrate proteins targeted for degradation into a protease, ClpP. ClpA, like many other AAA+ proteins, assembles into a hexameric ring competent for binding polypeptide substrate clients in the presence of ATP. Each ClpA protomer contains two nucleotide binding domains, NBD1 and NBD2. Recently, our lab applied hydrodynamic techniques to quantify the self-assembly mechanism of a closely related AAA+ chaperone, E. coli ClpB. Here we apply the techniques and analysis from that work to investigate the nucleotide-linked self-assembly mechanism of …

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Comparison And Spectral Theory For Ordinary Differential Equations With Distributional Coefficients, Ahmed Ghatasheh Jan 2018

Comparison And Spectral Theory For Ordinary Differential Equations With Distributional Coefficients, Ahmed Ghatasheh

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In this dissertation we cover two main topics in Sturm-Liouville theory, namely comparison theory and spectral theory. First we give a brief introduction to the classical Sturm-Liouville equations, the development of comparison theorems, and the classical first order system of differential equations. Second we provide a flexible comparison theorem for two Sturm-Liouville equations with distributional coefficients, and we provide some applications of our result. Finally, we investigate spectral theory of first order system of differential equations whose coefficients are distributions of order zero. We define maximal and minimal relations and classify boundary conditions that produce self-adjoint restrictions of the maximal …

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Photographs Of The Children’S March And Their Afterlives, Carmen González Fraile Jan 2018

Photographs Of The Children’S March And Their Afterlives, Carmen González Fraile

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ABSTRACT This thesis examines the photographs taken during “The Children´s March” on May 3, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. These images of dog attacks and people being sprayed down by water hoses are considered some of the most representative images of the Civil Rights struggle. They were published in national newspapers and magazines and made visible the social injustice suffered by African Americans in Birmingham. Civil Rights photographs have engendered different readings and interpretations over time, and their presence in American history has been a constant from the 1960s up to the present. This thesis analyzes the roles Civil Rights photographs …

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Religiosity And Spirituality As Predictors Of Substance Use In Patients With Cystic Fibrosis, Benjamin Edwin Burgess Jan 2018

Religiosity And Spirituality As Predictors Of Substance Use In Patients With Cystic Fibrosis, Benjamin Edwin Burgess

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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a degenerative chronic illness that results in pulmonary and gastrointestinal impairment. Because health-related behaviors, such as substance use, impact health outcomes in this population, it is important to understand factors that predict substance use in patients with CF. Thus, this study aimed to examine the unique roles of spirituality and religiosity in alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. Higher religiosity was expected to predict lower substance use directly, reflecting a direct regulation of health behavior. Higher spirituality was expected to predict less substance use through lower depression, reflecting an indirect regulation of health behavior through emotion regulation. …

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