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Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Bulletin [2021], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Undergraduate bulletin for Virginia Commonwealth University for the academic year 2021-2022. It includes information on academic regulations, degree requirements, course offerings, faculty, academic calendar, and tuition and expenses for undergraduate programs.

Use Of A Climate And Culture Survey To Assess Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Initiatives At The Vcu School Of Social Work, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Joanna Bell, Chandra Bhati, Rucha Bond, Keara Chambers, David Edwards, Melissa Jamerson, Bryce Nelson

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

The project aimed to create a survey to assess the effectiveness of previously implemented diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, specifically racial equity at the VCU School of Social Work. The VCU School of Social Work has been actively working with their faculty and staff to address DEI at their school and encourage them to become active in DEI initiatives in other areas in the community. School of Social Work leadership was looking for a way to assess if those DEI initiatives met their intended purpose. This project researched ways to assess the effectiveness of DEI initiatives. The result was …

Value Of Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire In Referrals For Obstructive Sleep Apnea At Vcu Pediatric Dental Clinic, Elizabeth H. Hering

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the number of VCU pediatric dental patients screened for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) relative to the number of referrals made for a pediatric sleep study.

Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of children between the ages of 1-18 years seen at the VCU Pediatric Dental Clinic between 2016-2020. Patients with a completed sleep apnea screening questionnaire in the health history form or sleep apnea form/referral were identified. The data was used to determine how many referrals were made for a pediatric sleep study in patients screening positive for sleep apnea. …

Statistical Approaches For Estimation And Comparison Of Brain Functional Connectivity, Jifang Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Drug addiction can lead to many health-related problems and social concerns. Functional connectivity obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data promotes a variety of fundamental understandings in such association. Due to its complex correlation structure and large dimensionality, the modeling and analysis of the functional connectivity from neuroimage are challenging. By proposing a spatio-temporal model for multi-subject neuroimage data, we incorporate voxel-level spatio-temporal dependencies of whole-brain measurements to improve the accuracy of statistical inference. To tackle large-scale spatio-temporal neuroimage data, we develop a computationally efficient algorithm to estimate the parameters. Our method is used to identify functional connectivity and …

An Examination Of The Impacts Of Childhood Trauma On Healthy Intimate Relationships In College-Aged African Americans, Broquelynn D. Shepard

Theses and Dissertations

For African Americans, the dynamics of relationships are rooted in childhood experiences of unconditional love, restraint, and respect. These experiences help individuals form their understanding of how relationships function. Experiencing healthy relationships has an enduring impact on social development and interpersonal relationships. However, regarding studies on childhood trauma and intimate relationships, there is insufficient literature that includes African American samples as the primary foci of the research. Due to gaps in extant literature, the present study aims to explore whether experiences of healthy intimate relationship in African Americans are associated with childhood trauma (neglect, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse). Using …

Hand On The Net: Helping Land Job Candidates For Liaison Departments, John Glover

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Academic library liaisons can uniquely support job searches carried out by their liaison units. This support is a service to the liaison unit, as well as an opportunity to deepen relationships with faculty, staff, and students affiliated with those units. Interactions with candidates afford opportunity to communicate with candidates from many different institutions, providing valuable exchanges of information. Finally, this kind of support inevitably leads to new or strengthened internal communication at the liaison's library.

The Effect Of Self-Rated Health And Race/Ethnicity On The Relationship Between Feelings Of Content And Frequency Of Seeing Their Primary Care Provider, Alexandra Wynn, Kristina Beatrice Hood

Graduate Research Posters

Racial and ethnic minorities face significant health disparities as they are less likely to receive preventive health services, receive lower-quality care and have worse health outcomes for many chronic conditions than White people (Hostetter, Klein, 2018). Thus, it is important to analyze what psychological and social factors affect these populations and how they contribute to healthcare engagement. One psychological correlate that has not been focused on is self-rated health. Self-rated health has mainly been analyzed for its relationship with personality and physiological factors but little research has focused on how it influences seeking medical care. Fair/poor self-rated health was found …

An Examination Of Middle School Students’ Attitudes Toward Science, Michelle L. Schpakow, Jillian L. Wendt, Kelly Paynter

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

For more than 40 years, researchers have been studying the persistent underrepresentation of women in science. Today, the gender gap has narrowed in some, but not all, disciplines of science. To better understand the impetus of this continuing problem, the attitudes of middle school students toward science were examined using a causal-comparative design based on biological sex across four attitude constructs: attitudes toward school science, desire to become a scientist, value of science to society, and perceptions of scientists. A sample of 450 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade science students located in suburban, central New Jersey responded to Likert-type items on …

Opioid System's Involvement In Ketamine's Antidepressant-Like Effects, Fan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is one of the most debilitating disorders in the world. The currently available medications typically have a 2-4 week delay in their therapeutic effects and are ineffective for about 40% of patients. In 2000, a subanesthetic dose (0.5 mg/kg i.e.) of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine was reported to have both rapid and robust antidepressant effects in in treatment-resistant depressed patients. However, the mechanisms responsible for ketamine’s antidepressant effects remain unclear. In 2018, a clinical study reported that pretreatment with the nonselective opioid antagonist naltrexone attenuated the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine in depressed patients. The current study investigated the …

Pro-Environmental Behaviors Among Black Environmentalists: A Critical Race Perspective, Kimberly S. Compton

Theses and Dissertations

Environmentalist narratives have left out the labor of Black environmentalists, mischaracterizing Black communities as disinterested in environmental problems or solutions. The purpose of this critical transformative exploratory qualitative study, guided by critical race theory, was to explore the meaning of pro-environmental behaviors among Black environmental advocates. Ten adult Black environmental advocates and organizers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews which were transcribed and analyzed using directed content analysis and thematic analysis. The findings demonstrated divergences between definitions of the environment and how that impacts what is considered pro-environmental behavior; the breadth of the pro-environmental behaviors in which Black environmentalists are engaged; …

Role Of P53 Deficient Clonogenic Endothelial Cells In The Pathogenesis Of Pulmonary Hypertension, Aneel Roy Bhagwani

Theses and Dissertations

Pulmonary Artery Hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disorder of the small vessels of the pulmonary vasculature. It is characterized by occlusive vascular remodeling leading to right heart failure and ultimately death. PAH pathogenesis involves a multifactorial etiology leading to formation of occlusive lesions in small (preacinary) pulmonary arteries. These lesions contain hyper-proliferative, apoptosis resistant endothelial cells (ECs), smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts. ECs play a major role in the development of PAH. These ECs in vascular lesions are primitive and express progenitor cell markers, including CD117 (c-kit).

We have isolated clonally expanded, c-kit+ ECs from the lungs of Green Fluorescent …

Leading In Crooked Rooms: Race, Gender, Culture And Black Women's Leadership Skills And Practices, Portia Newman

Theses and Dissertations

The literature on Black women leaders, where it exists, focuses on the barriers to Black women becoming leaders or being fully empowered when in leadership positions. However, to understand the leadership identity of Black women, and perhaps help to explain the absence of Black women in formal leadership spaces, means to examine the influence of race, gender, and culture on leadership behavior, as well as the setting in which leadership exists. This qualitative grounded theory study explored the leadership skills and practices of 15 senior-level cross sector Black women leaders. The data was collected in two phases: 1) a leadership …

Mathematical Modeling Of Lung Inflammation: Macrophage Polarization And Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury With Methods For Predicting Outcome, Sarah B. Minucci

Theses and Dissertations

Lung insults, such as respiratory infections and lung injuries, can damage the pulmonary epithelium, with the most severe cases needing mechanical ventilation for effective breathing and survival. Furthermore, despite the benefits of mechanical ventilators, prolonged or misuse of ventilators may lead to ventilation-associated/ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI). Damaged epithelial cells within the alveoli trigger a local immune response. A key immune cell is the macrophage, which can differentiate into a spectrum of phenotypes ranging from pro- to anti-inflammatory. To gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms of the immune response in the lungs and possible outcomes, we developed several mathematical models …

Influence Of Metal Sleeves In The Accuracy Of Dental Implant Placement Using Guided Implant Surgery, Coleman Adams

Theses and Dissertations

The fabrication of implant surgical guides through stereolithographic 3D printing has become a staple in dental implant guided surgery over the last couple decades. These surgical guides have typically utilized metal sleeves to assist in guidance of the drills during osteotome preparation. The metal sleeves can be costly and potentially cause deviations if improperly placed during post-processing of the guide. This research explored a novel method for the utilization of sleeve-free surgical guides by comparing the dimensional and angulational deviations between the implant guides with and without a metal sleeve. To achieve this goal, two separate aims were pursued. Our …

Phenotypic Characterization Of Table Mountain (Pinus Pungens) And Pitch Pine (Pinus Rigida) Hybrids Along An Elevational Gradient In The Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, Alexander L. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Hybridization has played a long-standing role in the evolution of both plant and animal species and allows for the sharing of genetic information between lineages. Here, potential hybridization of a species endemic to the Appalachian Mountains, Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens), and pitch pine (Pinus rigida) was investigated along an elevational gradient, through the use of phenotypic measurements: cone length, cone width, and needle length. Phenotypes were used to identify hybrids in a three-tiered elevational sampling method at two sites in Shenandoah National Park with the use of linear discriminant analysis. It was found that hybridization …

Nature-Inspired Material Strategies Towards Functional Devices, Sayantan Pradhan

Theses and Dissertations

Naturally sourced, renewable biomaterials possess outstanding advantages for a multitude of biomedical applications owing to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and excellent mechanical properties. Of interest in this dissertation are silk (protein) and chitin (polysaccharide) biopolymers for the fabrication of functional biodevices. One of the major challenges restricting these materials beyond their traditional usage as passive substrate materials is the ability to combine them with high-resolution fabrication techniques. Initial research work is directed towards the fabrication of micropatterned, flexible 2D substrates of silk fibroin and chitin using bench-top photolithographic techniques. Research is focused on imparting electrochemical properties to silk proteins using conducting …

The Default: The Paradox Of Play And Productivity, Yeon Geong Hwang

Theses and Dissertations

Society takes a dim view of idleness, regarding downtime as wasted time, but what if society’s view is wrong? This thesis champions daydreaming; it advocates for quirky, playful experiences that improve quality-of-life by avoiding burnout and mitigating tedium. Borrowing language from the Theatre of the Absurd, The Default challenges society’s attitudes toward productivity, striking a new relationship between a cubicle worker and a set of seemingly-familiar but surprising objects. Reflecting on the absurdity of contemporary work-life imbalance, the objects and narratives depicted in The Default invite playful interactions, when objects that appear to be normal behave unexpectedly. The Default is …

Floating Home: An Imagined Community, Carrie Collier

Theses and Dissertations

Climate experts around the world agree that anthropogenic climate change threatens the long-term survival of the human species. Human activity has already contributed to an exponential spike in the rate of extinction among other Earthly species, beginning at the time of the industrial revolution.

The American home is a site of concentrated resource consumption, waste production, and greenhouse gas emission. It is also a site where gender-based expectations continue to burden women with a majority share of uncompensated, under-valued domestic labor. Collective or communal housing arrangements could reduce per capita carbon output while facilitating the equitable re-distribution of work that …

Haven: Support For Mothers, Sarah Kincaid

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how a nonmedical interior environment can provide support and care for mothers during the perinatal period in order to prevent maternal mental health (MMH) issues such as anxiety and postpartum depression.

Tya And Educational Outreach In Higher Education: An Asset To Undergraduates And Their Community, Emily J. Mattison

Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate students pursuing a career in theatre are at the beginning of their life-long training and understanding and appreciation for the art. Performing in a Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) touring production alongside the responsibility of crafting educational outreach opportunities provides the students with a unique chance to comprehend the art they have chosen to devote their lives to. This paper details the value of offering a course I crafted entitled “TYA Educational Outreach”, for both the undergraduates enrolled and the community they would be reaching. While undergraduates develop an understanding of the impact theatre can have on an individual …

Chains Of Stability: Building Financial And Cultural Community Sustainability For Latinas In Richmond & Chesterfield, Virginia, Gabriella C. Pino-Moreno, Gabriella Pino-Moreno

Theses and Dissertations

As the Latinx population in the US continues to grow, new Latin-centric ethnic enclaves are developing in urban areas, including those in US southern states. While there has been some discourse on the role of Latin immigrants in the US labor market generally, there is limited literature addressing the specific experiences of Latinas as inhabitants of urban spaces and the factors impacting their economic sustainability. Latinas, on average, earn $0.54 to every $1.00 a white male earns. Their economic position, combined with their cultural traditions and practices, raises questions about how they achieve economic security in the US. This research …

Trauma Prevention & Best Practices In Performance Classrooms, Laine D. Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This thesis has been constructed to create a trauma-informed teaching method to be used within performance classrooms at the college level. The first chapter starts by defining trauma and walking the reader through the neuroscience behind trauma. Next, the code of ethics created by the National Educational Association is examined and a definition for best practices within the classroom is outlined. Finally, this chapter concludes with a definition of emotional abuse that brings all the concepts together and explains how they are interlaced.

The next chapter is dedicated to learning more about the percentage of actors who have experienced …

A Multilevel Mixed Methods Examination Of Treatment Nonadherence Among Rural Cancer Survivors, Bonny Morris

Theses and Dissertations

While mortality rates have been decreasing over the last 40 years, cancer remains a leading cause of death in the United States. Over 1.7 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2019, and there were more than 600,000 cancer deaths. Of the 15 million cancer survivors in the US, nearly 3 million reside in rural areas and experience 3% higher cancer incidence and 10% higher cancer mortality compared to their nonrural counterparts. During 2006-2015, the annual age-adjusted mortality rates for all cancer sites combined decreased at a slower pace in rural areas versus nonrural areas (-1.0% vs -1.6% per year, …

Pase Perdido Missing Pass, Larissa M. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

This paper contains the following terms: colonialism, ghost populations, natural occurrences, global positioning, poetic relation, confrontation/vengeance, mapping, graphs, models, warfare, bio warfare, magic, mystery, migration, memory, mutation, ghosts, and esoteric systems

Medical Expenditures And Health Care Utilization: A Comparison Among U.S. Adult Tobacco Consumers (I.E. Never Tobacco Users, Cigarette Smokers And Smokeless Tobacco Users), Raheema S. Muhammad

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction

Cigarette smoking poses a great economic cost on the U.S. health care system by incurring high health care expenditure and health care utilization in the adult population. Although there is a sufficient amount of information on the health care cost associated with cigarette smoking there is a gap in how other forms of tobacco use may impact healthcare expenditures and utilization in comparison to cigarette smoking. The main objectives of this study were: 1) to estimate and compare health care expenditure and health care utilization across different tobacco use groups using nationally representative data 2) to estimate and compare …

A Novel Review Of Heat Shock Protein 110 Kda: A Basis For Research And Continued Experimentation Through Biochemical Analysis, Crist W. Cuffee

Theses and Dissertations

Heat shock protein 110 kDa, Hsp110, is a distinct cellular protector, different in form and function from Hsp70, a close relative of Hsp110. Functioning primarily as a holdase or in tandem with other molecular chaperones, a review of current accomplishments elucidates the uniqueness of this protein and the continued mysteries that surrounds it. Found only in eukaryotes, Hsp110 has been linked to many diseases, ranging from parasitic infection to neurodegenerative disorders. While still lacking, studies of this protein have provided much in the realm of speculation on the mechanisms behind Hsp110s’ contribution to different pathologies. This review will serve as …

Evolution And Clinical Relevance Of Vaginal Bifidobacterium Breve In The Vaginal Environment, Nicole R. Jimenez

Theses and Dissertations

The vaginal microbiome is important in reproductive health and disease and is often dominated by lactobacilli. However, there are many other community state types dominated by single species that are still not well characterized. Bifidobacterium species such as Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum have been observed to dominate vaginal profiles. Bifidobacteria are important in infant gut development, but little is known about their role in vaginal health. Thus, we sought to use a multisystem approach to better characterize Bifidobacterium species present in the vaginal microbiome with an emphasis on B. breve. Eight strains of B. breve were isolated from vaginal …

Reward-Related Effects Of Amphetamines Administered By Electronic Cigarette, Lucas Wohler

Theses and Dissertations

While e-cigarette vaporizers are primarily used for the delivery of nicotine, they can also be used to administer a wide range of other substances of abuse including stimulants such as d-amphetamine and methamphetamine. Methamphetamine and prescription amphetamines are widely abused throughout the United States and across the world leading us to believe there may be abuse potential with vaping methamphetamine as vaping becomes increasingly popular. In the present study, methamphetamine and amphetamine vapor were assessed using vapor capture methods. The vapor samples were then analyzed using liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy (LC-MS). Three experiments were carried out to examine the abuse …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Interventions Targeting Hard-To-Reach Populations Living With Hiv In Eastern And Southern Africa, Deo Mujwara

Theses and Dissertations

In Eastern and Southern Africa, hard-to-reach populations (e.g., long distance truck drivers and female sex workers), defined as populations that are difficult to interact or engage with due to their unique behaviors and characteristics, are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic and are at high-risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV. Further, these populations have substantially low uptake of HIV testing services, and those that have been diagnosed with HIV and on antiretroviral therapy experience high loss-to-follow-up from treatment programs.

Hard-to-reach populations face unique barriers in accessing and utilizing routine HIV care such as provider stigmatization towards sex workers and highly …

A Novel Immunostimulatory Platform For Amplifying The Abscopal Response Rates Of Radiation Therapy, Patrick A. Paez

Theses and Dissertations

Radiation therapy (RT) is one of the primary treatment modalities for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). At the time of diagnosis two-thirds of HNSCC patients have local-advanced disease and 50-60% of these patients will experience a local-regional or metastatic relapse within three years. Improving the immunogenic response of RT may help address this clinical problem. However, current RT regimens have failed to reliably generate robust antitumor immunity as evidenced by the rarity of clinical abscopal responses. Recently we engineered a chimeric fusion molecule called Flagrp170, a novel immunostimulatory agent highly capable of promoting antigen presentation and T-cell activation. …