Digital Commons Network^™

Fundamentals In Nature, Andrea Quam

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores innovative methodologies for design education. It is an investigation of teaching design fundamentals in an outdoor classroom.

Mods: Collaboration And Play In Design, Margaret O'Saben

Theses and Dissertations

Located in Richmond, Virginia, MO Design is a small design/build company founded by Molly O’Saben. Ms. O’Saben received her bachelor’s degree in Craft & Material Studies and her master’s in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University. MO Design was founded in 2010 with a team of fellow alumni from VCU.

We make objects that inspire inventiveness. Our reconfigurable components offer our clients the unique ability to adapt their environments to life’s ever-changing needs.

We make MODs: Make your Own Designs.

Our products are for people who appreciate efficient spaces, are open to exploring possibilities, and like to play. Just as …

The Vine (2008-05)

The Vine, 1994-2008

The Vine was a successor to Reflections in Ink, published from 1994 to 2008. It transitioned from a mostly African American student perspective to a multi-cultural one.

Causative Factors Of Crashes Between A Motor Vehicle And The Amish And Old Order Mennonite Horse And Buggy, Cory Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Horse and buggy transportation is spreading as rapidly as its Amish and Old Order Mennonite users are, as are buggy crashes with motor vehicles. This study examines the primary causes of 76 reported horse and buggy crashes in Pennsylvania in 2006. The main crash types identified include a motorist rear-ending a forward-moving buggy, motorist failing to pass a buggy, buggy struck while crossing an intersection, and buggy struck while making a left turn. While causative factors varied for each crash type, major factors include the motorist or buggy driver incorrectly comprehending speed differentials, the motorist acting carelessly around the buggy, …

The Experience Of Volunteering For Hurricane Katrina Relief / Theoretical Explanations For Nurses’ Involvement As Volunteers In Global Disasters, Deborah Ulmer

Theses and Dissertations

This study is about the nature of nurses' decision making related to volunteering to provide humanitarian aid in a major national disaster. Additionally, it is about the lived experience of nurses who volunteered in that disaster. It is a transcendental phenomenological study using the approach of Clarke Moustakas and the purpose of the study was to describe the experiences of the nurses, their reasons for volunteering, and the impact of their experience on their lives several years later.

Healing, Learning And Play, Kangana Bhatnagar

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that the first five years of life are critical for building the foundation for children’s success throughout their schooling and life. Throughout these first years of life there are a number of essential windows of opportunity during which certain kinds of stimuli are needed to help the brain develop and maintain critical connections necessary for learning. This project is a unification of a Child Development Center and a therapeutic center. This center includes children who suffer from bereavement; a broken home, death of a parent or child abuse. These children are provided with therapy by a specialist, and …

Corporate Housing And Training, Cojo Gerardo Del

Theses and Dissertations

Corporate Housing & Training is a hybrid project that promotes the future use of living-and-working environments in the same site offering the amenities of a hotel, apartment and an office in one. The challenge of approaching this type of project is the way the program works and how it flows together with different users and different needs without even getting out of the building at the same time. This project helps the actual local and global needs because it would be a big impact for the traveling executives and companies by promoting business, exchange of ideas, and socializing; due to …

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-28

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Altered Superoxide Dismutase Expression On Age-Related Functional Declines And Survival In Drosophila, Ian Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Most organisms experience progressive declines in physiological function as they age. A number of studies in a variety of species support a strong link between oxidative damage, age-related functional declines and life span determination. Here, manipulating the expression levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) isoenzymes SOD1 and SOD2, resulted in altered functional senescence and survival characteristics in Drosophila. Overexpression of cytosolic Sod1 using the yeast GAL4/UAS system conferred a 30-34% increase in mean life span and resulted in an attenuated senescence of odor avoidance behavior in aging flies. Tissue-specific Sod1 overexpression selectively in the nervous system or muscle failed to reproduce …

Electrical Behavior Of Non-Aqueous Formulations: Role Of Electrostatic Interactions In Pressurized Metered Dose Inhalers (Pmdis), Reshma Kotian

Theses and Dissertations

Aerosol electrostatics is an important property of pharmaceutical aerosols. The electrostatic properties of pMDI aerosols have been shown to be a function of both formulation and packaging components. The modified ELPI enables measurement of aerosol charge as a function of particle size, and the simultaneous determination of the mass distribution using chemical analysis. However, in order to fully assess the cause and effects of aerosol electrostatics in terms of its biological and regulatory implications, it is necessary to understand the basic charging mechanisms inside the pMDI formulation.

Electrical resistivity and zeta potential measurements confirmed the presence of charged species within …

Inflammatory Regulation Of Cysteine Cathepsins, Blaine Creasy

Theses and Dissertations

Cysteine cathepsins B, L and S are endosomal/lysosomal proteases that participate in numerous physiological systems. Cathepsin expression and activity are altered during various inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. Early immune responses to microbial pathogens are mediated by pattern-recognition receptors, including Toll-like receptors (TLR). Signaling through TLR causes cell activation and release of inflammatory mediators, which can contribute to the severity of chronic inflammatory diseases. The impact of TLR cell activation on cathepsins B, L and S activities was investigated using live-cell enzymatic assays. Individual ligands of TLR4, TLR2 and TLR3 increased intracellular activities of the …

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-24

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

The Ecology Of Fear: Oviposition And Colonization In Aquatic Systems, Leeanna Pletcher

Theses and Dissertations

Amphibians and aquatic invertebrates have complex life histories that link aquatic and terrestrial food webs. It has been suggested that amphibian reproduction is an important source of carbon to some aquatic systems. This process of energy flow may be shaped by shifts in habitat selection in response to predators. We hypothesized that predators decrease colonization and oviposition of prey, reducing active inputs. Thus predation risk is expected to shift the relative amounts of active and passive subsidies. We manipulated the presence of fish predators in aquatic mesocosms. Results suggest hylid treefrog eggs and hydrophilid beetles were less abundant in predator …

Contamination Of Dental Waterlines: Efficacy Of Seven Waterline Treatments And Three In-Office Bacteria Test Kits, Adam Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared seven dental unit water line (DUWL) treatments and three in-office bacteria test kits. Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) 1:10 in tap water weekly; 3 drops of NaOCl in 1 liter of water; Dentapure® DP 40; ICX™ tablet; Sterilex® Ultra powder; Lines™; and Selective Micro® Dental-Clean. Traditional culture technique was compared to HPC Dental Sampler; Aquasafe™ Dental Unit Water Line Test Kit; and Bacteria in Water Test Kit. Eight dental units in the Virginia Commonwealth University Graduate Endodontic Clinic were randomly assigned treatment regimens. Samples were taken weekly initially and after flushing for 1 minute. In conclusion NaOCl hypochlorite 1:10 …

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-21

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Mechanistic Studies On The Electrochemistry Of Glutathione And Homocysteine, Olufemi Oyesanya

Theses and Dissertations

This research work has investigated the electrochemistry of glutathione (GSH)and homocysteine (HCSH) in order to develop sensors for these biological thiols.Ru(bpy)₃³⁺ and IrCl₆²⁻ have been used as mediators for the electrooxidation of GSH andHCSH because direct oxidation of these thiols is slow at most conventional electrodes.The electrochemical detection of GSH and HCSH has been pursued because of their biological roles.

Concerted proton electron transfer (CPET) and stepwise proton electron transfer(PT/ET) pathways have been observed in the electrooxidation of GSH and HCSH.Oxidation of GSH by Ru(bpy)₃³⁺ carried out in deuterated and undeuterated buffered (pH= pD …

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-17

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Predation Risk, Density And Disease On Energy Efficiency In A Larval Anuran, Sarah Crane

Theses and Dissertations

Predation, density and disease affect behavior, morphology and growth. There is a lack of information on how these changes relate to efficiency of energy transfer in anuran larvae, although previous studies suggest that predation should decrease and competition should increase efficiency. Using a 2 x 2 factorial design, we manipulated predation presence and larval density to test how predation risk and density affect energy efficiency. During the experiment, approximately half of the tadpoles were infected by an unknown disease. Neither predation risk nor density affected assimilation or growth efficiency, despite changes in growth and development. Disease, however, decreased gut length …

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-14

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Biological Functions Of The Novel Lysophosphatidic Acid (Lpa) Receptor, Lpa4/P2y9/Gpr23, Peilun Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a naturally occurring phospholipid present in serum and malignant effusions, elicits diverse biological functions through binding and activating specific cell surface G-protein coupled receptors. In addition to the conventional LPA1/Edg2, LPA2/Edg4 and LPA3/Edg7 receptors of the endothelial differentiation gene (Edg) family, LPA4/p2y9/GPR23 of the purinergic receptor family and the related LPA5/GPR92 and LPA6/p2y5 have been identified as novel LPA receptors. These newly identified LPA receptors are structurally distant from the Edg LPA1-3 receptors and couple to Gq, G12/13 and probably Gs subunits. However, the roles of the LPA4-6 receptors in LPA signal transduction and physiology are poorly …

Designing Non-Saccharide Heparin/Heparan Sulfate Mimics, Arjun Raghuraman

Theses and Dissertations

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are complex biopolymers that play important roles in inflammation, coagulation, angiogenesis, cell adhesion and viral invasion by interacting with several different proteins.1,2 Structurally, GAGs are built up of several different sulfated disaccharide units.3 Specific GAG sequences that uniquely recognize their cognate proteins exist. Such specificity typically arises from the binding of unique sulfation patterns on the linear GAG chain to highly electropositive protein domains. Thus, these highly charged, sulfated biopolymers potentially represent a new class of therapeutics. Yet, the major stumbling block to the development to these agents is their extremely complicated and tedious chemical synthesis. We hypothesized …

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-10

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-07

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2008-04-03

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2008-03-31

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2008-03-24

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2008-03-20

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Nucleoplasmic And Cytoplasmic Degradation Of Telomerase: Implications Toward Telomerase-Based Cancer Therapy, Binh Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein that is reactivated in cancer cells to allow for continuous cellular division and indefinite growth. With telomerase being expressed in more than 85% of all cancer, it is imperative that we understand how to selectively inactivate and degrade this unique DNA polymerase. In doing so, we can specifically target tumor cells to erode their telomeres so that they will undergo apoptosis or senescence. Through this research, we have learned that telomerase can be degraded in the nucleoplasm by Hsp90 chaperone inhibition and in the cytoplasm by the dominant negative mutant, D712A V713I. These findings should guide …

Commonwealth Times 2008-03-17

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

An Ontology Centric Architecture For Mediating Interactions In Semantic Web-Based E-Commerce Environments, Manoj Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Information freely generated, widely distributed and openly interpreted is a rich source of creative energy in the digital age that we live in. As we move further into this irrevocable relationship with self-growing and actively proliferating information spaces, we are also finding ourselves overwhelmed, disheartened and powerless in the presence of so much information. We are at a point where, without domain familiarity or expert guidance, sifting through the copious volumes of information to find relevance quickly turns into a mundane task often requiring enormous patience. The realization of accomplishment soon turns into a matter of extensive cognitive load, serendipity …