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Science is all around us. It fills our classrooms, our labs, the spaces we dine, and even the rooms where our nation’s policies are forged. For the scientific spark to become aflame, what’s required – at the most fundamental level – is a question and the imperishable curiosity to chase it. How does ligand X modulate the activity of transcription factor Y? How are the limitations of our nation’s justice system rooted in a history of structural inequality? How can we capture the emotional dimensions of a cancer diagnosis using film? Each of these questions is rooted in science and deserving of equal praise.

Author: Cynthia Sanchez

Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Psychology

In Fall 2022, I was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has made a great impact on my life. Dr. Kin, associate Dean of Jefferson State Community College at Pell City, reached out to me about the Bridges to Baccalaureate Research Training Program (BBRT). The NIH-funded program is the first of its kind that allows students to participate in biomedical science research at Jeff State and The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). At first, I was hesitant to participate because I knew nothing about research, but Dr. Kin believed I was a strong applicant and encouraged me to apply. Out of a highly competitive group of applicants, I was shocked to have been one of four students chosen.

Authors: Britney Le and Victoria Sutton

Department of Biology (Le) and Department of Computer Science (Sutton)

Film Synopsis: As students in the University Honors Program, we began this film as a project for our Ethnographic Film-making seminar, instructed by Michele Foreman. The diagnosis of cancer, especially in children, is a life-altering experience with long-lasting effects. Even after the cancer is no longer detectable, the medical, financial, and social challenges faced by survivors are functionally significant, yet often neglected. Addressing this gap, our film, entitled “A New Normal,” uses vignettes from survivors and retrospectives from healthcare professionals to explore the unique challenges faced by childhood cancer patients as they progress through different stages of treatment, offering insight into the changes of childhood cancer treatment over time and the challenges that still lie ahead (Le & Sutton, 2022). The film aims to uncover the underexplored emotional experiences of childhood cancer survivors, which are frequently unacknowledged by the public and their social networks. Although resources and support groups for cancer survivors exist, their focus tends to be directed toward survivors of adult cancers, resulting in a paucity of attention and resources for survivors of childhood. By bringing attention to the challenges encountered by childhood cancer survivors, our film seeks to raise awareness about the insufficient funding and resources for research in this area. “A New Normal” can be accessed publicly on Vimeo and the link to the film is included as reference for readers to watch.

Author: Noorullah Imran

Department of Biomedical Engineering

INTRODUCTION: There are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually, or 1,000 daily, in the United States with nearly 90% of them being fatal.¹ These statistics paint a grim image when discussing common disorders of the heart, especially given the fact that most who die from cardiac arrest hardly ever show any warning signs beforehand. On the contrary, unlike other cardiac disorders, those that suffer from a cardiac arrest can restore function in their heart via a device that consists of an electrical system that every paramedic is trained to operate: a defibrillator. The survival rate of cardiac arrest victims that receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is about 9% and this statistic jumps to almost 38% for patients treated with an automated external defibrillator (AED).²

Author: Stephen Knight

Departments of History and Anthropology

Even cultures that are vastly different one from another have long touted similar themes and rules around gender. Those in power have used the existence of gendered behavior to enforce a hierarchy that is accepted as natural because of these consistent themes. Researchers can, in a way, test the theory of whether this hierarchy is natural or constructed by juxtaposing patriarchy with matriarchy and examining the similarities in gender roles and the differences in gender hierarchy. The Mosuo of China are one matriarchal culture that can be used in this crosscultural study. By comparing the cultural norms of Mosuo people to those of patriarchal cultures and even the Han ethnic majority of China, a researcher can imagine the difference between gender roles and hierarchy.

Author: Christian D. Brown

Department of Political Science and Public Administration

ABSTRACT: Lustration is the method of using laws to restrict members of bygone repressive regimes from holding political positions. Lustration is put into place so that those who committed past human rights violations do not have the access or authority to cause more human rights abuses and place the state back under an abusive government. Opposers of lustration claim that such practices are incompatible with democratization by arguing that they deprive citizens of democratic rights, such as the right to pursue public office positions and other employment opportunities. Lustration is implemented to ensure past abuses are not repeated. Therefore, it is essential to understand whether political exclusion and regulation of certain rights violate one's rights. In this article, I investigate the legal, legislative, and judicial remedies for lustration (specifically political exclusion) that are put in place, discuss the implications of the arguments for lustration, and provide a framework that synthesizes prior legal arguments that justify lustration as a democratic way to prevent past human rights abusers from reentering official public positions.

Authors: Logan Burnett and Cheng-Chien Chen

Department of Physics

INTRODUCTION: Density functional theory (DFT) is a widely used method for calculating the electronic properties of materials. The method is based on the idea of approximating the many-electron wave function using the ground state electron density. While DFT is a very powerful tool, it has limitations, particularly when dealing with strongly correlated systems.¹ One way to address this issue and improve predictions is to introduce a correction term, known as the Hubbard U parameter, which accounts for the on-site Coulomb interactions among electrons in localized d or f orbitals.1 In this report, we will discuss the importance of the Hubbard U parameter in DFT calculations, and research involving the calculation of the Hubbard U parameter of rare-earth materials using first-principles software and linear response theory.

Author: Meagan A. Belflower

Department of Psychology

ABSTRACT: Believing in a benevolent world contributes to positive emotions like joy and contentment, but also more satisfaction with life. Old age is positively associated with benevolent worldviews. Young adults 18-24 have the most cynical worldviews. Since media is readily available to young adults, studies have attempted to use positive content like acts of kindness to examine if it improves benevolent beliefs. Previous research has found that exposure to positive media is associated with increased benevolent behavior among children. The goal of the present study was to see if the intentional moralistic media figure Mister Rogers would improve beliefs in benevolency within the adult population. Eighty-two students from psychology 101 classes participated in the study. Three separate groups watched 10-minute videos then took a benevolence survey at the conclusion of their video. Rocky and Bullwinkle, humorous clips from Marx Brothers movies, and clips of Fred Rogers content was shown in these videos. Those in the Fred Rogers group scored the highest on the benevolence survey with statistical significance compared to the other two media groups. World-based items and authority-based items revealed the largest gaps between the Fred Rogers group and the other two media groups.