CHRISTIAN CONTENT IN EXPRESSIONIST PAINTING (1905-1918) (GERMANY)

ALFORD, JOHN DAVID University of Georgia 1993 국내박사

Writing Together: A Study of Secondary ELA Preservice Teachers Participating in Peer Writing Communities

Alford, Katie ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Arizona State Univ 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

This mixed methods study explores the work of five small writing communities formed within a university-based preservice English language arts writing methods course. Fifteen preservice English language arts teachers took part in the study and participated across five peer writing groups. The study shares the instructional design of the course as well as the writing activities and practices that took place within the groups over the course of one 15-week semester. The study draws on Wenger's (1998, 2009) theory of communities of practice as well as activity theory (Engestrom,1999, 2001; Russell, 1997) to understand the social supports, practices, and learning activities that assisted these preservice teachers as writers and as teachers of writing. The qualitative data included writing surveys, writing samples, and participant interviews as well as pre and post writing self-efficacy surveys as quantitative data. This study documents the affordances and constraints of peer writing groups in methods courses for preservice English language arts teachers and how these groups may influence their identities and practices as writers and as teachers of writing. These findings provide insight into ways we might strengthen the preparation of English language arts preservice teachers as teachers of writing and build communities of practice within preservice training courses and programs.

Estimating extreme responses using a non-uniform phase distribution

Alford, Laura Kay University of Michigan 2008 해외박사(DDOD)

Random processes are often modeled as a summation of a finite number of sinusoidal components. Various individual time series are created through the randomly chosen phase angles associated with each component. A specific event of the random process is characterized by the time at which the event happens and the chosen set of phase angles. Together, the time and the phase angle constitute the phase of each component. If many samples of a given event are cataloged, a histogram of the phases can be generated to produce a phase probability density function (PDF) that relates the event to the spectrum of the random process and the number of components used in the simulation. Simulation of moderately rare events showed the component phase PDFs to be non-uniform and non-identically distributed. These PDFs were modeled using a single parameter, modified Gaussian distribution and used to generate design time series with a specific event at a specific time. To eliminate the need for Monte Carlo simulation, the single parameter of the phase distribution of each component was determined by comparing the PDF of the rare event as calculated using the non-uniform phase distributions to the PDF of the rare event as calculated using Extreme Value Theory. This approach is convenient and efficient as the phase parameters do not have to be estimated via Monte Carlo simulation; it is useful as the parameters can be generated for extremely rare events as easily as moderately rare events. In addition, the comparison to Extreme Value Theory helps to quantify the risk associated with rare events. An example application involving the springing of a Great Lakes bulk carrier shows how the method of nonuniform phases correctly predicts the build up of waves over several periods that produces a large bending moment.

Nucleophilic addition to electron deficient indoles and the synthesis of fused heterocyclic ring systems

Alford, Philip E Dartmouth College 2011 해외박사(DDOD)

The chemistry of indole can be reversed and redirected by the addition of powerful electron-withdrawing groups. Incorporation of a nitro group at C--2 or C--3 renders the adjacent carbon susceptible to nucleophilic attack. Nitro, cyano, and phenylsulfonyl indoles are each examined as potential Michael acceptors. Nucleophilic attack at C--3 has been demonstrated on 1,2-bis(phenylsulfonyl)indoles using organocuprates. Nucleophilic addition of hetaryllithium compounds to 3-nitro-1- (phenylsulfonyl)indole is described as a general method for the C-2 arylation of indoles. In addition to providing convenient access to 3-nitro-2-hetarylindoles, this investigation provides some insight into the nature and scope of the reaction. Electron-rich 3-aminoindoles are highly unstable intermediates that can be generated by reduction of the corresponding nitroindoles. Though the resulting 3-aminoindoles cannot be isolated, in situ acylation produces the amide. From these substrates, new tetracyclic delta-carbolines containing the previously unknown 10Hindolo[3,2-b]thieno[2,3- d]pyridine ring system have been synthesized. Furo[3,4-b]indoles are synthetic equivalents to indolo-2,3-quinodimethane. Furo[3,4- b]indoles are reactive dienophiles which can provide access to carbazoles and carbolines. This methodology is investigated as a route toward carazostatin and carbazoquinocin. The Fischer indole synthesis is used to effect a convenient synthesis of 2,3'-biindoles from 3-acyl-1-(phenylsulfonyl)indoles. Both symmetrical and unsymmetrical 2,3'-biindoles are efficiently synthesized in good to excellent yields. A variety of substituent effects are demonstrated by an assortment of para-substitued hydrazines and 3-acylindoles. Various routes have been investigated for the synthesis of the biindole marine alkaloid iheyamine A. Towards this end, electron-deficient indoles are particularly useful synthons and advanced intermediates are produced via nucleophilic attack on indole.

Identifying Mechanisms of Regulation and Signal Integration of the Heat Shock Response

Alford, Brian ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Stanford Universit 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

The heat shock response (HSR) is the cell's primary response to cytosolic misfolded protein. It is conserved across eukaryotes and is essential for cell survival. How cells detect misfolded protein and modulate their HSR levels is a poorly understood process. Additionally, manipulation of HSR levels has shown significant promise in treating diseases including cancer and neurodegeneration. Many mechanisms have been proposed for how misfolded protein could alter HSR activity. However, these regulatory mechanisms often lack evidence for if or when they are ever employed. Thus, for most proteotoxic stress conditions, if one or more of these proposed mechanisms is used to activate the HSR or if HSR activation occurs through an entirely different mechanism remains unknown. In this dissertation, I describe our work to quantify the contributions of known HSR activation pathways and discover new pathways of activating the HSR. We developed a method to quantify the most prevalent model of HSR regulation: inhibition of the HSR by the Hsp90 chaperone. We found some stressors for which this model can explain much of the HSR activation, and others for which it contributed very little, suggesting alternative mechanisms of HSR activation. Additionally, I describe the development of ReporterSeq, a high throughput screen to identify genes which regulate a reporter gene's expression under multiple conditions in a time-resolved manner. Using ReporterSeq, we measured the effect of full genome knockdowns on HSR activation across 15 stress conditions. From these data, we identified new general and stress-specific genetic regulators of the HSR. Combined, these data give us a more complete idea of the regulatory mechanisms of the HSR and how they are integrated together.

The influence of fetal and early growth on adult mental distress: Evidence from the Johns Hopkins collaborative perinatal study birth cohort

Alford, Aaron A The Johns Hopkins University 2009 해외박사(DDOD)

Objectives. Early childhood physical growth may have an impact on the development of adult mental distress. The primary objectives were to (2) assess the association of early growth in weight adjusted for height with adult mental distress, and (2) determine if there are patterns of early growth that increase or decrease the likelihood of adult mental distress. Methods. Subjects were all Johns Hopkins Collaborative Perinatal Study cohort subjects with complete birth size information that successfully completed the Pathways to Adulthood follow-up in early adulthood. Variability in the timing of growth in weight adjusted for height from birth to age 7.5 years was taken into account using a nonhierarchical linear model. Two critical periods of growth were considered as tertiles of change in weight adjusted for height from birth to age seven and birth to age 1 year. Mental distress in adulthood (ages 29-32) was measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Results. Small for gestational age subjects were at increased risk of later mental distress, but not uniformly so. Those born with low weight and length for gestational age were a distinct subgroup of those born small for gestational age, and had unique patterns of risk for adult mental distress when early growth was considered. Conclusions. Acceleration and deceleration in weight for height change is associated with mental distress over multiple periods of early life and acts differentially between those periods. Furthermore, the association of early childhood growth on the likelihood of adult mental distress is dependent on prenatal growth.

"To Know the Words to the Music": Spatial Circulation, Queer Discourse and the Musical

Alford, Robert Garner ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Cali 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation historicizes and theorizes how musical cultures shaped queer identity in the US in the 20th Century. By examining a broad range of neglected texts (including cinematic musical shorts, sheet music, gay slang dictionaries and records of gay men's choruses), I argue that gay men and lesbians used popular song both to foster sociality in private spaces such as homes and clubs and to conceal subcultural practices in public spaces such as the street, the office, concert halls and department stores. While scholarship on the musical tends to focus on its generic features, my project instead emphasizes the relation of musical culture to daily life and public visibility in the 20th Century. To highlight how associations with music remained vital in shaping queer visibility across the 20 th century, my project tracks developments in the uses of musical culture by queers from the 1920s through the 2010s. By bringing histories and theories of sexuality to bear on media and vice versa, this project develops historiographic methods relevant to the study of difference in modern and contemporary society more broadly. The first half of my dissertation argues that consumption of popular music helped queers create networks that enabled them to circulate (undetected) to and through locations where overt homosexual identity would be punished, in the US (Chapter 1) and abroad during WWII (Chapter 2). Focusing on collections of sheet music, Vitaphone musical shorts, army musicals, home magazines, gay travel guides and diaries, these chapters show how popular song acted as an affective interface for queers that disguised subcultural practices across heteronormative settings (as varied as the church, the park and the wartime canteen), and enabled fantasies of social and spatial circulation. The second half of my dissertation demonstrates how the musical engendered queer systems of meaning from midcentury onward. Focusing on the period just before gay liberation, Chapter 3 argues that material musical culture in the form of pianos, sheet music, radios, phonographs and records fostered the development of coded, camp language in private spaces. I contend that these terms (from gay slang dictionaries) appeared innocuous to those who observed them, whether fellow consumers of music or police officers, but nonetheless contributed to popular stereotypes associating queers with musical entertainment. I go on to analyze the linguistic bind confronted by queers in the post-Stonewall 1970s and 1980s, during which they gained greater visibility by conforming to popular stereotypes about homosexual consumption and musicality. I explore this struggle in popular and academic discourse with case studies including the growth of gay men's choruses and the contradictory rhetoric of early gay ethnomusicology. In Chapter 5 I turn to the 2010s and the viral video "Telephone Remake" (a remake of Lady Gaga's "Telephone" by US soldiers in Afghanistan) to theorize the political potential of the musical now that digital media offer new paradigms for the production and circulation of sexual identity.

Endothelial cell migration in the presence of multiple stimuli: Measurement and systems analysis of sphingosine 1-phosphate stimulated cell migration

Alford, Shannon K Washington University in St. Louis 2008 해외박사(DDOD)

The vascular endothelium is a selectively permeable monolayer which regulates a variety of processes, including vessel tone, nutrient delivery, immune cell trafficking, and the physiology of the smooth muscle cell layer that supports it. Disruption of the physical barrier provided by the endothelium due to surgical intervention, such as vascular graft placement, can result in aberrant cell response and subsequent platelet activation. In turn, these processes may lead to vessel occlusion and prevention of blood flow. Therefore, the restoration of a confluent, functioning endothelium after injury is imperative. With this in mind, we studied the migration response of vascular endothelial cells to multiple signaling cues, including mechanical wounding, fluid shear stress, and growth factor stimulation, in the context of a bioactive lipid, sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). We found that synergism exists in the intracellular signaling networks activated by S1P in combination with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), flowing tissue culture medium or flowing human platelet poor plasma. The interactions between the signaling networks led to an increased rate of endothelial wound closure in vitro. To further dissect the protein signaling pathways important in S1P-mediated wound healing, a dataset containing approximately 1200 protein activation measurements was constructed across six time points, three network perturbations, and three cell stimulation paradigms. The dataset was analyzed using various techniques and insight was gained into the kinetics of activation of three important signaling proteins, Rac, Akt, and Src. The findings outlined in this thesis advance the understanding of S1P-mediated cell response, and have been important for the development of S1P-releasing biomaterials.

For Alma Mater: Fighting for Change at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Alford, James E., Jr Columbia University 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

The contributions that Black Americans made towards advancing their own educational institutions have often been overlooked. These men and women were quite instrumental in developing, organizing and determining the future direction of their own schools. From 1920 to 1950, a shift in attitudes and culture began to take shape at Black colleges and universities concerning more student autonomy and more alumni involvement. This shift in attitude was primarily due to Black students and alumni who rebelled against the paternalistic White power structure that existed at their schools. At the core of this conflict, stood frustrated students and alumni petitioning their predominately White Boards of Trustees/administration to recognize their status as institutional stakeholders. This dissertation focuses on alumni and student activism at three HBCUs—Lincoln University, Fisk University, and Hampton Institute—between 1920 and 1950. What will be examined in this study is the role that Black alumni and Black students played in waging a campaign against White administrators to bring about institutional change at these three schools. Additional points of inquiry are 1) Who were the institutional stakeholders and what were their goals, 2) How did alumni and student activism influence administrative change, and 3) What compromises were made at these three schools to address students and alumni concerns?. There are no in-depth historical studies regarding student and alumni activism at HBCUs during this period in Black higher education. The absence in the literature is particularly unfortunate because the period between 1920 and 1950 was an important time in the development of historically Black colleges and universities. An examination of the protests on Lincoln's, Fisk's, and Hampton's campuses can help to illuminate some of the issues that HBCUs were wrestling with during the wave of campus unrest that swept the country between1920 and 1950.

Molecular epidemiology, racial/ethnic differences and chemoprevention of breast cancer: Population-based studies from metropolitan Detroit

Hensley Alford, Sharon M University of Michigan 2009 해외박사(DDOD)

Breast cancer affects more women than any other cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among this group. Despite progress in our understanding of breast cancer risks and treatment improvements, there remain considerable knowledge gaps. The studies contained herein address some of these gaps; specifically, this dissertation focuses on health disparities, markers of progression, and prevention of breast cancer. Arab-Americans are an understudied minority, particularly because US population-based statistics do not separate them from "Caucasian", resulting in lacking health statistics. In this dissertation, breast cancer characteristics at diagnosis are compared to European- and African-American women from the Detroit SEER tumor registry. Overall, Arab-American women have a distribution of breast cancer histology and overall survival similar to European-American women. Conversely, the stage, age, and hormone receptors at diagnosis among Arab-Americans were similar to African-American women. Molecular profiling of aggressive vs. non-aggressive early breast tumors is a strategy employed to investigate potential independent prognostic markers, RhoC and EZH2. RhoC, a Rho family GTPase, has been identified as a major phenotypic driver of inflammatory breast cancer, the most lethal form of breast cancer. EZH2 is a histonemethyltransferase polycomb group protein, which has been implicated in the process of cellular differentiation and cancer progression. Our results suggest that EZH2 is associated with hormonal receptor negativity, Her2 receptor positivity, cellular proliferation, family history, and being African-American. EZH2 positive tumors were significantly more likely to recur. However, the potential for RhoC to be a significant predictor of subsequent recurrence and/or distant metastasis for T1 breast cancers remains unresolved based on our study. Finally, we consider bisphosphonates, a class of drugs used primarily for osteoporosis, as breast cancer chemopreventive agents. Results reported here strongly support that bisphosphonates may be a potential chemopreventive agent. Indeed, our data suggest that exposure to bisphosphonates is associated with lowering breast cancer risk by half or more. This is comparable to the results of the trials involving tamoxifen, an approved breast cancer chemopreventive agent. In conclusion, this dissertation presents new knowledge about breast cancer characteristics in special populations, phenotypic markers, and support of a novel chemopreventive.