Arts and Humanities | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

Piano Assassins And Bell Ringers: Itinerant Piano Tuners At The Turn-Of-The-Century, James Marten

History Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

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Human Rights And African Migration, Chima J. Korieh

History Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

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Stress And Myostatin In Salmoninae, Nicholas Galt

All ETDs from UAB

The relationship between the muscle growth inhibitor, myostatin, and the stress response has been extensively studied in mammals, and myostatin is now known to partially mediate the degradative effects of stress in skeletal muscle. In fish, this relationship has not yet been clearly described. Herein, the effects of two stress mimetics, cortisol treatment and crowding, on myostatin-1a, -1b, and -2a expression in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki), Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are described. In study I, no clear effects on myostatin mRNA expression were detected in rainbow trout …

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Exploring Novel System Biology Approaches To Understand The Molecular Mechanisms Of Immune Responses, Cassandra Camille Garbutt

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nesting behavior on sex ratios and survival of eggs and hatchlings. The results indicate

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An Evolutionary Study Of Dynamic Cognitive Game Captchas: Automated Attacks And Defenses, Song Gao

All ETDs from UAB

CAPTCHAs represent a primary defense mechanism against online attacks and resource abuse. However, existing CAPTCHA solutions (e.g., distorted static text-based CAPTCHAs) suffer from significant security problems. Recent research has demonstrated that many current forms of CAPTCHAs can be solved with a high accuracy using automated techniques. This vulnerability associated with traditional CAPTCHAs thus provides a sound motivation to explore CAPTCHA alternatives. In this dissertation, we study a broad class of game-based CAPTCHAs, called the Dynamic Cognitive Game (DCG) CAPTCHAs, which challenge the user to perform a game-like cognitive task interacting with a series of dynamic objects. Specifically, we focus on …

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Therapeutic Ck2 Inhibition Attenuates Diverse Prosurvival Signaling Cascades And Decreases Cell Viability In Human Breast Cancer Cells, Gary Kenneth Gray

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Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide, and it remains a major cause of mortality, thus necessitating further advancements in treatment. In breast cancer, numerous cell signaling pathways are aberrantly activated in order to produce the myriad phenotypes associated with malignancy; such pathways include the PI3K/Akt/mTOR, NF-κB and JAK/STAT cascades. These pathways are highly interconnected, but one prominent lateral enhancer of each is the remarkably promiscuous kinase CK2. CK2 expression has been shown to be elevated in human cancer, thus implicating it in tumorigenesis through its effects on known oncogenic signaling cascades. In this study, differential aberrant …

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Equation Of State And Electrical Resistivity Of Cerium Cobalt Pentaindium And The Dynamics Of Nucleation And Growth Of Metallic Domains In Vanadium Dioxide, Nathaniel Brady

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation covers two projects on materials with bulk electronic properties that result from strong electron-electron interactions. The first project focuses on the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5. To elucidate the electronic properties of CeCoIn5, we performed high-pressure electronic characterization and X-ray diffraction. The crystalline structure of CeCoIn5 is in the P4/mmm space group at pressures up to 51.2 GPa. Using a designer diamond anvil cell, we measured the pressure-dependent resistance up to 35 GPa at ambient temperature. To determine the resistivity, we numerically modeled the diamond anvil cell using a finite element analysis approach. The resistivity was obtained as a function …

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Physician-Parent Interactions In Pediatric End-Of-Life Care: Implications For Integrative Communication, Decision-Making And Ethics Training*, Lori Brand Bateman

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In this dissertation, I utilized a primarily qualitative mixed methods longitudinal process to explore physician-parent pediatric end-of-life communication. Between August 2011 and March 2012, participant pediatric physicians (N=21) from emergency medicine (PEM) and critical care (PCC) were presented with a standardized case of an 8 year-old child in respiratory distress who had a degenerative neurological disorder and was nearing the end-of-life. Participants were observed in a timed simulation experience and given a physician-parent participatory communication score. All simulations were followed by a post-simulation debriefing interview. Then, between March and October 2012, a total of 17 of the original 21 participants …

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Internet Use And Mental Health/Well-Being In Old Age: Exploring The Roles Of Social Integration And Social Support, Ronald William Berkowsky

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The escalating pressures put on the US healthcare system, due in part to the growing needs of the expanding older adult population, has motivated research dedicated to more fully understanding the mental health and mental well-being needs of this population and ways to address these needs and alleviate the pressure on the healthcare system. An increasing area of interest is in examining the role information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as Internet-connected computers and smartphones, in the health of older adults. Research has shown that ICTs can successfully be used to help treat, manage, and cope with mental health/well-being issues, …

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Ap2 Clock Mutant Mice: Baseline Characteristics And Novel Responses To A Lipopolysaccharide Challenge, Tana Birky

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Circadian rhythms are the daily biological changes present within most organisms that occur in a predictable, approximately 24 hour pattern, even in the absence of external stimuli. These rhythms occur both at a global and cellular level, and although the molecular mechanics are highly conserved, their functions may vary depending on the tissues in which they are expressed. These functions include various aspects of metabolic processes such as satiety signaling and cellular proliferation. In order to explore the specific functions of circadian rhythms within adipocytes, a mouse model with Clock disruption driven by the fatty acid-binding protein 2 (aP2) promoter …

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Examining Neuropsychological Sequelae Of Chronic Pain And The Effect Of Immediate-Release Opioid Analgesics, Cady Block

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Introduction: Patients commonly complain of subjective side effects of opioid use, including forgetfulness, slowed processing speed, confusion, and sedation - which have raised concerns about potential cognitive impairment. However, research on the effects of opioids on objective neuropsychological performance is thus far equivocal and, unfortunately, many of the studies cited as support for opioid-related impairment do not fully account for the neuropsychological effects of chronic pain, which has been shown to affect many of the same neuropsychological domains purported to be affected by opioids. To that end, we sought to examine whether: 1) chronic nociceptive pain itself results in objective …

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Effects Of Biological, Environmental, And Nutritional Factors On Fecal Pellet Size And Morphology In The Sea Urchin Lytechinus Variegatus, Lacey Nicole Dennis

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Sea urchins are an important economic resource for many international fisheries and are an important animal model in developmental biology. Currently, health of cultured sea urchins is evaluated by behavior or through invasive examination of internal tissues. Destructive sampling is not conducive to longitudinal studies and a non-invasive method of evaluating sea urchin health would have practical application. Evaluation of the egesta could provide a valuable predictor of physiological well-being. The size and morphology of fecal pellets produced by the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus under a variety of environmental and nutritional conditions were characterized in terms of 2-dimensional area, length, …

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Abnormalities Of Glutamate Neurotransmission Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Christopher Dorsett

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This project aims to investigate abnormalities in glutamate neurotransmission in the rat cortex following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The overarching hypothesis is that excessive glutamate release originating at the site of injury begins an excitotoxic cascade leading to increased intracellular calcium and cell death. Glutamate, the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, facilitates learning, memory, and other cognitive functions via activation of metabotropic and ionotropic glutamate receptors. A family of Na+- dependent excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) on the plasma membranes of neurons and glial cells facilitate the rapid removal of glutamate from the synaptic cleft, maintaining …

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Effect Of Upper-Extremity Rehabilitation On Effort Required To Use The More Affected Arm After Acquired Brain Injury, Brad Sokal

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Constraint-Induced Movement therapy, or CI therapy, is one of the few techniques that controlled, randomized studies show to substantially reduce the incapacitating motor deficit of the more-affected upper-extremity of patients with mild to moderately severe hemiparesis. The therapy for individuals with mild to moderate motor impairment of their more-affected arm involves a) training of more-affected arm for 3.5 hours per day for 10 consecutive weekdays, b) following shaping principles when conducting the training, c) restraining the less-affected arm for a target of 90% of waking hours, and d) administering a package of behavioral techniques designed to transfer gains to daily …

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Devitrification Of Iron Based Metallic Glasses At High Pressures And High Temperatures, Andrew Kevin Stemshorn

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High pressure high temperature devitrification of a Fe85Si10B5 and a Fe78B13Si9 metallic glass was conducted at constant pressures with simultaneous in situ energy dispersive x-ray powder diffraction measurement. After the application of pressure a constant heating rate was applied. Heating the sample in each case resulted in crystallization with two distinct stages. Pressure is found to strongly affect crystallization temperature. Each stage of crystallization is identified using crystallographic analysis. Complementary high pressure room temperature studies were conducted for each sample.

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Neuroplastic Change In Adults With Hemiparetic Multiple Sclerosis Following Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy, Chelsey Sterling

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Constraint-Induced Movement (CI) therapy has been found to produce substantial improvements in upper-extremity functioning in both adults and children following damage to the central nervous system (CNS), including stroke, traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy. In addition, structural changes in the sensorimotor cortices and bilateral hippocampi have been observed in both adults and children following CI therapy treatment for upper extremity hemiparesis. Although most research has been conducted in patients with such static injuries as strokes and TBI, clinical efficacy of CI therapy has also been demonstrated in a small number of patients with the progressive autoimmune disorder, multiple sclerosis …

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"Duty For To-Day, Hope For The Morrow": Alexander Crummell's Communitarian Ideal, Jennifer E. Stitt

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A complicated thinker, full of paradoxes, Alexander Crummell (1819-1898) engaged deeply with the world around him. He established prominent public relationships with often deified figures such as Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington; he crossed transatlantic boundaries, impacting the lives of whites and blacks in America, England, and West Africa; and he continually searched for a community where blacks could freely exercise their rights and fulfill the duties of citizenship and self-governance. He championed black nationalism and racial pride, but, at the same time, he imagined and idealized a cohesive cosmopolitan community, a kind of …

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The Conservation Of The Western Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys Coriacea) At Bird's Head Peninsula, Papua Barat, Indonesia, Ricardo F. Tapilatu

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Leatherbacks declined significantly worldwide during the 20th century and continue to decline in the Pacific and Indian oceans. In the Pacific Ocean, nesting numbers on beaches in Malaysia and the Pacific coast of Mexico and Costa Rica have collapsed. The nesting beaches at Bird's Head Papua Barat, Indonesia, represent the last stronghold for leatherback nesting in the western Pacific. The studies in this dissertation provide basic information that is critical to our understanding of the biology, ecology, and conservation of the western Pacific leatherback. (1) Year-round nesting surveys were conducted from 2005 to 2011 at both Jamursba Medi and Wermon …

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My Life In Pop Culture: A Journey Through My Past In Essay Form, Mark Trammell

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A personalized look at my life as it has been affected by popular culture, in particular movies and music, with additional asides regarding my work as an entertainment critic and what led me to critique popular culture for a living. I also have included essays that delve into personal ancedotes regarding the various cars I have driven, the jobs I have had, the concerts I've attended, and my experiences with technology over the years. All of it is interspersed with various asides concerning my background, upbringing, and general experiences as they relate to the popular culture being discussed.

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Parent And Child Factors In Relation To Mealtime Problem Behavior Of Children With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorder, Eva Trinh

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environmental temperatures on TSD by again using the red-eared slider as a laboratory

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Post-Release Job Training And Enhanced Access To Employment Opportunities For Released Offenders: Incentives To Reducing Recidivism, Emmanuel Etim Umoh

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Researchers studying the effect of employment on recidivism have shown that offenders who are employed after serving time in prison are less likely to recidivate (Kyvsgaard, 1990). These scholars also indicated that employment for released offenders is positively related to a delay in re-offending. Such findings support the belief that job security increases the interval between release from prison and re-offending. In this study I expand on existing recidivism studies to investigate how post-release job training and greater access to employment opportunities for ex-prisoners affects recidivism. The effect of educational status is also measured to determine whether a high school …

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Phase Transitions And Anomalous Compressibility In 1-2-2 Fe-Based Superconductors, Walter O. Uhoya

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Interplay of pressure and chemistry play an important role in discovery of novel properties such as high temperature superconductivity (high-Tc). In 2008, Hosono et al discovered superconductivity at 26 K in iron-based layered LaFeAsO (1-x)Fx. This observation was a surprise since iron based compounds are generally known to be magnetic and non-superconducting. This was quickly followed by the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in a second class of Fe-based layered pnictides AFe2As2 (1-2-2) (A= Ba, Sr, Ca, Eu). The undoped (parent) 1-2-2 compounds are non-superconducting at ambient pressure but become superconducting when their structures are tuned by the application of …

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Integrated Functioning Of The Mirror Neuron System And Its Role In Imitation Deficits In Autism, Heather Wadsworth

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Deficits in imitation have been widely reported in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A proposed dysfunction of the mirror neuron system (MNS), the neural network underlying imitation, has been the subject of recent debate in ASD literature. However, while some research has found evidence of MNS abnormalities in ASD, recent studies have cast doubt onto the mirror neuron hypothesis of ASD as it is currently depicted. There is also behavioral evidence that the imitation deficit is not unitary, and therefore may not have one-to-ne correspondence with a malfunction of all aspects of MNS. Since functional imitation involves …

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

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

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

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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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The Direct Effects And Vertical Transfer Of Carbonaceous And Metal-Loaded Hydrochars In Aquatic Organisms, Katie Lauren Kohlenberg

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Industrial use of reactive micro- and nano-sized carbonaceous hydrochar (CH) is expanding rapidly. These carbonaceous particulates are synthesized by the pyrolysis of biomass in an industrial process called hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and have gained attention as a soil conditioner. Additionally, the HTC process is being expanded to coat heavy-metal nanoparticles, such as nano-copper and nano-iron, to prevent surface oxidation of these metals. These carbonaceous particles are likely to undergo secondary reactions with metals, toxicants, or other compounds. There is potential for these carbonaceous particulates to enter watersheds and have deleterious effects on aquatic food web dynamics. In this study, we …

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A Sinner In The City: Contextualizing The Magdalen Master Vita Panel C. 1280, Kristen Nicole Latulipe

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This thesis shows that the vita panel of Mary Magdalen, now exhibited in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, was originally commissioned for a convertite house, rather than a mendicant monastery, as had been hitherto suggested. Painted c. 1280 by the Florentine painter known as the Magdalen Master, the work features a hair-clad Magdalen flanked by eight scenes from her life and legend. There is no extant documentation regarding the panel's commission. This thesis offers the Florentine convertite house of Santa Maria Maddalena as the likeliest original location for the Accademia Magdalen. Founded c. 1257, this institution was among the first …

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Characterization Of Murine And Human Breast Cancer Stem Cells In Vitro And In Vivo, Carnella Lee

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Breast cancer stem cells (BCa-SC) are considered as a rare population of cells which cause resistance to chemotherapy in breast cancer (BCa). This population is characterized in humans and mice by CD24- CD44+ ALDH1+ phenotype and expresses mesenchymal properties that differ from the normal epithelial CD24+ CD44+ phenotype expressed in the majority of BCa cells. It has been widely accepted that tumor growth is sustained by BCa-SC that are similar to normal stem cells in which they have the ability to self-renew and differentiate. However, unlike their normal counterparts, BCa-SC are rare cells within tumors with the ability to self-renew …

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Poly(N-Vinylcaprolactam) Based Thermoresponsive Nanostructured Materials, Xing Liang

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Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) is a temperature-responsive polymer displaying a low critical solution temperature (LCST) around 30 to 40℃ in aqueous solutions that is close to the human physiological temperature. In addition, compared to other ther-moresponsive polymers, PVCL is nontoxic and biocompatible. In this thesis, we will fo-cus on the synthesis, fabrication and characterization of PVCL-based thermoresponsive nanostructured materials, such as films, hydrogels and block copolymers and their poten-tial applications in biomedical and medical areas. In chapter 2, we report on nanothin multilayer hydrogels of cross-linked PVCL that exhibited distinctive and reversible thermoresponsive behavior. The single-component PVCL hydrogels were produced by selective …

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Anatomical And Neurochemical Investigation Of The Brain In Autism, Lauren E. Libero

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with widespread behavioral symptoms and a strong neurobiological origin. Neuroimaging studies of ASD have uncovered evidence for widespread abnormalities in brain anatomy and functioning. Abnormalities reported by structural brain imaging, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) studies have aided in characterizing ASD as a complex, systems-wide disorder. The overarching goal of this project was to use multiple modalities of neuroimaging to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms of ASD. The following techniques were used to collect and analyze multimodal neuroimaging data from a relatively large number of participants …

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Piano Assassins And Bell Ringers: Itinerant Piano Tuners At The Turn-Of-The-Century, James Marten

History Faculty Research and Publications

Human Rights And African Migration, Chima J. Korieh

History Faculty Research and Publications

Stress And Myostatin In Salmoninae, Nicholas Galt

All ETDs from UAB

Exploring Novel System Biology Approaches To Understand The Molecular Mechanisms Of Immune Responses, Cassandra Camille Garbutt

All ETDs from UAB

An Evolutionary Study Of Dynamic Cognitive Game Captchas: Automated Attacks And Defenses, Song Gao

All ETDs from UAB

Therapeutic Ck2 Inhibition Attenuates Diverse Prosurvival Signaling Cascades And Decreases Cell Viability In Human Breast Cancer Cells, Gary Kenneth Gray

All ETDs from UAB

Equation Of State And Electrical Resistivity Of Cerium Cobalt Pentaindium And The Dynamics Of Nucleation And Growth Of Metallic Domains In Vanadium Dioxide, Nathaniel Brady

All ETDs from UAB

Physician-Parent Interactions In Pediatric End-Of-Life Care: Implications For Integrative Communication, Decision-Making And Ethics Training*, Lori Brand Bateman

All ETDs from UAB

Internet Use And Mental Health/Well-Being In Old Age: Exploring The Roles Of Social Integration And Social Support, Ronald William Berkowsky

All ETDs from UAB

Ap2 Clock Mutant Mice: Baseline Characteristics And Novel Responses To A Lipopolysaccharide Challenge, Tana Birky

All ETDs from UAB

Examining Neuropsychological Sequelae Of Chronic Pain And The Effect Of Immediate-Release Opioid Analgesics, Cady Block

All ETDs from UAB

Effects Of Biological, Environmental, And Nutritional Factors On Fecal Pellet Size And Morphology In The Sea Urchin Lytechinus Variegatus, Lacey Nicole Dennis

All ETDs from UAB

Abnormalities Of Glutamate Neurotransmission Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Christopher Dorsett

All ETDs from UAB

Effect Of Upper-Extremity Rehabilitation On Effort Required To Use The More Affected Arm After Acquired Brain Injury, Brad Sokal

All ETDs from UAB

Devitrification Of Iron Based Metallic Glasses At High Pressures And High Temperatures, Andrew Kevin Stemshorn

All ETDs from UAB

Neuroplastic Change In Adults With Hemiparetic Multiple Sclerosis Following Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy, Chelsey Sterling

All ETDs from UAB

"Duty For To-Day, Hope For The Morrow": Alexander Crummell's Communitarian Ideal, Jennifer E. Stitt

All ETDs from UAB

The Conservation Of The Western Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys Coriacea) At Bird's Head Peninsula, Papua Barat, Indonesia, Ricardo F. Tapilatu

All ETDs from UAB

My Life In Pop Culture: A Journey Through My Past In Essay Form, Mark Trammell

All ETDs from UAB

Parent And Child Factors In Relation To Mealtime Problem Behavior Of Children With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorder, Eva Trinh

All ETDs from UAB

Post-Release Job Training And Enhanced Access To Employment Opportunities For Released Offenders: Incentives To Reducing Recidivism, Emmanuel Etim Umoh

All ETDs from UAB

Phase Transitions And Anomalous Compressibility In 1-2-2 Fe-Based Superconductors, Walter O. Uhoya

All ETDs from UAB

Integrated Functioning Of The Mirror Neuron System And Its Role In Imitation Deficits In Autism, Heather Wadsworth

All ETDs from UAB

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

All ETDs from UAB

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

All ETDs from UAB

The Direct Effects And Vertical Transfer Of Carbonaceous And Metal-Loaded Hydrochars In Aquatic Organisms, Katie Lauren Kohlenberg

All ETDs from UAB

A Sinner In The City: Contextualizing The Magdalen Master Vita Panel C. 1280, Kristen Nicole Latulipe

All ETDs from UAB

Characterization Of Murine And Human Breast Cancer Stem Cells In Vitro And In Vivo, Carnella Lee

All ETDs from UAB

Poly(N-Vinylcaprolactam) Based Thermoresponsive Nanostructured Materials, Xing Liang

All ETDs from UAB

Anatomical And Neurochemical Investigation Of The Brain In Autism, Lauren E. Libero

All ETDs from UAB