Digital Commons Network^™

One-Step Femtosecond Laser Ablation Synthesis Of Sub-3 Nm Gold Nanoparticles Stabilized By Silica, Mallory G. John, Katharine M. Tibbetts

Chemistry Publications

No abstract provided.

Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Bulletin [2019], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Undergraduate bulletin for Virginia Commonwealth University for the academic year 2019-2020. It includes information on academic regulations, degree requirements, course offerings, faculty, academic calendar, and tuition and expenses for undergraduate programs.

Virginia Commonwealth University Courses [2019], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Listing of courses for the 2019-2020 year.

Rapid, Single-Step Protein Encapsulation Via Flash Nanoprecipitation, Shani L. Levit, Rebecca C. Walker, Christina Tang

Chemical and Life Science Engineering Publications

Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP) is a rapid method for encapsulating hydrophobic materials in polymer nanoparticles with high loading capacity. Encapsulating biologics such as proteins remains a challenge due to their low hydrophobicity (logP < 6) and current methods require multiple processing steps. In this work, we report rapid, single-step protein encapsulation via FNP using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein. Nanoparticle formation involves complexation and precipitation of protein with tannic acid and stabilization with a cationic polyelectrolyte. Nanoparticle self-assembly is driven by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. Using this approach, high encapsulation efficiency (up to ~80%) of protein can be achieved. The resulting nanoparticles are stable at physiological pH and ionic strength. Overall, FNP is a rapid, efficient platform for encapsulating proteins for various applications.

“We're Rags To Riches”: Dual Consciousness Of The American Dream In Two Critical History Classrooms, Hillary Parkhouse, Bryan P. Arnold

Teaching and Learning Publications

Within the United States, wealth disparities are growing and upward social mobility is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. These trends call into question the American Dream ideology that anyone can succeed through hard work. This meritocratic ideal has traditionally been one of the unifying ideologies promoted through the public school curriculum. The topic of economic inequality, on the other hand, is largely absent from most social studies curricula. When teachers do address this issue, they tend to omit discussions of causes or potential policy solutions. Students are thus left with few resources with which to develop positions on policies related …

Pattern Research Project: An Investigation Of The Pattern And Printing Process - Mashrabiya, Izze Stadulis

Pattern Research Project

The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.

Izze Stadulis, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the ICA Elevator pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:

"This pattern is arranged in a hexagonal grid. Each repeat is placed side by side to …

Exploring Public Space: Interventionist Artworks And The Creative Disruption Of The Everyday, Jack Watson

High School Resources

1. Attempting to bridge a gap between artist and spectator while also challenging the elitism and preciousness associated with art, artists have long sought ways to blend the art experience into the everyday. From the ephemeral performances and “social sculptures” of 20th century conceptual art to the culture-jamming interventions of contemporary street art, there is a rich historical context for engaging directly with the spectator in public spaces. Taking artwork into public spaces in the form of actions rather than objects – actions which involve the participation of the spectator – bypasses the negotiations and mediations that take place when a …

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Jane Addams, Hull-House, And The “Danger” Of Women’S Work, Melanie L. Buffington, Courtnie N. Wolfgang, Pamela G. Taylor

The Melanie Buffington Papers

In this paper, we investigate the work of Jane Addams and Hull-House, through Cornel West’s (1999) ideas of prophetic pragmatism. In accordance with West’s writings, we consider the importance of investigating the historical underpinnings of what we believe to be true, while at the same time questioning existing practices, and considering where and from whose work these practices originate. Addams and Hull-House were revolutionary during their time and their work resulted in major neighborhood and community reform. Additionally, through the open forums and frequent visitors to Hull-House, the work there influenced many of Addams’ contemporaries, including John Dewey. Yet, historically, …

Prioritizing Urinary Incontinence For Current And Future Healthcare Professionals, Leighton N. Thumm

Health Sciences Education Symposium

Introduction: •Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common syndrome that often goes unreported and undiagnosed •As calls to action from the National Institute on Aging and American Geriatrics Society suggest, the healthcare workforce must work interprofessionally to meet the needs of people with UI •Understanding the challenges of and opportunities for improving continence care in Virginia is a first step •The primary goal of this study was to assess changes in awareness of and confidence in providing interprofessional UI care after participating in an interactive workshop

Engaging Ideas For Pathology Student Interest Group Meetings, Kimberley Sanford

Health Sciences Education Symposium

Pathology Student Interest Groups (PSIG) are a recruitment tool supported by VCU Department of Pathology to attract medical students into pathology residency. VCU PSIG wanted to increase student attendance and engagement by choosing an off-site venue and employing gamification to increase student interaction with pathology residents and faculty.

Shacklefords Commercial Development Analysis, Ursp 666 (Commercial Revitalization), Chloe Rote, Charlie Wilson, Will Wilson, Vegas Krane, Hunter Wood, Eric Mai

Urban and Regional Studies and Planning Reports

King and Queen County believes that economic development is crucial to ensuring a stable economy and high quality of life for residents of the county. With an out-commuting rate of 71% for the entire Middle Peninsula region, residents and businesses are spending their money outside of the region due to a lack of job opportunities and commercial development. However, the intersection of Route 33 and The Trail at Shacklefords within King and Queen County provides a major economic development opportunity for King and Queen County and the Middle Peninsula region.

Through a one-semester research project, students in a VCU Commercial …

Vcu Brew, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Denise Bullock, Lauren Dunn, Brian Fowlkes, Hermine Maes, Elizabeth Marlowe, Fernando Tenjo-Fernandez, Zakia Williams

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

VCU Brew is an innovative proposal to create a VCU branded signature beer. The Campus Connectors will present a rationale showing how this proposal will i) potentially generate revenue to benefit VCU scholarships and academic programs, ii) create opportunities for experiential learning by engaging VCU students in product development, branding, labeling, marketing, business, and awareness of responsible drinking, iii) and guide the process of partnering with local breweries to provide practical expertise and stimulate entrepreneurship initiatives that lead to distribution at VCU athletic, community and Alumni events, while increasing ties with the community and national prominence.

One Vcu Art, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Jeff Eastman, Soundarya Gowda, Elaine Reeder, India Sisler, Claudia Testa, Matt Wallin

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

Art and creativity are at the core of VCU’s identity and culture. ONE VCU Art envisions a vibrant and diverse public art landscape on the VCU campuses that equals VCU’s national reputation and enhances connections with our urban home of Richmond. VCU’s nationally ranked arts programs as well as its relationship with the city of Richmond allow for opportunity to revive efforts to enhance current and future public art on the two Richmond campuses. This is in conjunction with the goals and priorities set out by the VCU strategic plan, Quest 2025: Together We Transform.

Metabolic Modulation Predicts Heart Failure Tests Performance, Daniel Contaifer Jr., Leo F. Buckley, George Wohlford, Naren G. Kumar, Joshua M. Morriss, Asanga D. Ranasinghe, Salvatore Carbone, Justin M. Canada, Cory Trankle, Antonio Abbate, Benjamin W. Van Tassell, Dayanjan S. Wijesinghe

Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science Publications

The metabolic changes that accompany changes in Cardiopulmonary testing (CPET) and heart failure biomarkers (HFbio) are not well known. We undertook metabolomic and lipidomic phenotyping of a cohort of heart failure (HF) patients and utilized Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) to identify associations to CPET and HFBio test performance (peak oxygen consumption (Peak VO₂), oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES), exercise duration, and minute ventilation-carbon dioxide production slope (VE/VCO₂ slope), as well as the established HF biomarkers of inflammation C-reactive protein (CRP), beta-galactoside-binding protein (galectin-3), and N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)). A cohort of 49 patients with …

Virginia Commonwealth University Graduate Bulletin [2019], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Graduate bulletin for Virginia Commonwealth University for the academic year 2019-2020. It includes information on academic regulations, degree requirements, course offerings, faculty, academic calendar, and tuition and expenses for graduate programs.

Service-Learning Faculty Assessment: Report Of Results, 2018, Lynn E. Pelco, Katie Elliott, Katie Schifano

Division of Community Engagement Resources

In Spring 2018, the VCU Service-Learning Office sponsored an evaluation process that gathered feedback from faculty members who teach service-learning classes. The goal was to deepen understanding of the barriers faced by VCU’s service-learning faculty instructors and to solicit feedback about key strategies for overcoming these barriers. An independent research consultant conducted the evaluation in two phases: an online anonymous survey and a 30-minute phone interview. Eighty service-learning instructors completed the online survey, and a stratified sample of 18 instructors completed the telephone interviews. Findings indicated that both the online survey respondents and phone interview participants experienced similar supports and …

Online Learning Through Libguides For English Language Learners: A Case Study And Best Practices, Megan Hodge

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Many of the international students in the U.S. first experience American education through English language programs, so the cultural norms taught by these programs are vital to the academic success of these students: without them, students struggle to recognize plagiarism in their writing, find reliable sources, and more, resulting in lower grades and honor code sanctions including expulsion. Librarians are uniquely equipped to meet this instructional need. This chapter introduces best practices for making the most of these opportunities for significant impact via Springshare's LibGuides platform.

Vcu In Motion, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Renee Adams, Tracey Dawson Cruz, John Glover, Brianne Jackson, Mark Marinello, Rashmi Pershad, James Wasilewski

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

VCU is an active, urban university that experiences challenges with pedestrian safety, cyclist safety, and anticipated electric scooter user safety. Pedestrian crashes occur at a high frequency across the VCU campus and steps need to be taken to make pedestrians more aware of the dangers they face in traveling on foot. From 2015 to 2018, there were 84 pedestrian accidents with one fatality within the boundaries of VCU. Set against the backdrop of the ONE VCU Master Plan VCU in Motion aims to increase pedestrian safety by developing educational initiatives and signage to help pedestrians understand current state and local …

Ramerican Political Science Review (Vol. 4, 2019)

Ramerican Political Science Review

Letter from the Department of Political Science -- The Effect of Violence on Social Movement Support / Anna Connor -- The Impact of Independence Movements in Spain on Violence and Terrorism / Corey Brocke -- Trends and Predictions of Midterm Elections / James Grubb -- The United Kingdom: A Case Study in Internet Censorship / Ella Bronaugh -- Latin and South American Immigration, Media Bias, and Policy Preference / Caitlyn Page -- Book Reviews: From Politics to the Pews / Carl Warf -- How Facism Works / Kathryn Rowe

The Effect Of Artificial Sweeteners In Chewing Gum, Helpful Or Harmful?, Taylor Rue, Emily Liebe

Dental Hygiene Student Scholarship

Objective/Aims: This review of literature was designed to analyze the effects of artificial sweeteners in chewing gum in the oral cavity. The intent was to recognize which formulations of artificial sweeteners in chewing gum lead to beneficial outcomes in the oral cavity and which formulations lead to harmful effects.

Methods: The review of literature analyzed the conclusions of primary and secondary resources accumulated from PubMed. Multiple scholarly studies were filtered based upon meta-analysis, cross-sectional, and cohort studies. The following key terms were used: artificial sweetener, chewing gum, plaque, saliva, microbes, and oral health. A summative report was created based upon …

“Calling Out” In Class: Degrees Of Candidness In Addressing Social Injustices In Racially Homogenous And Heterogeneous U.S. History Classrooms, Hillary Parkhouse, Virginia R. Massaro

Teaching and Learning Publications

Teaching for social justice requires an ability to address sensitive issues such as racism and sexism so that students can gain critical consciousness of these pervasive social realities. However, the empirical literature thus far provides minimal exploration of the factors teachers consider in deciding how to address these issues. This study explores this question through ethnographic case studies of two urban, 11th grade U.S. History classrooms. Differing classroom racial demographics and teacher instructional goals resulted in two distinct pedagogical approaches to social justice teaching. Despite differences in class makeup and teaching approach, students in both classrooms developed intellectual confidence and …

Identifying Attrition Phases In Survey Data: Applicability And Assessment Study, Camille J. Hochheimer, Roy T. Sabo, Robert A. Perera, Nitai Mukhopadhyay, Alex H. Krist

Biostatistics Publications

Background: Although Web-based questionnaires are an efficient, increasingly popular mode of data collection, their utility is often challenged by high participant dropout. Researchers can gain insight into potential causes of high participant dropout by analyzing the dropout patterns.

Objective: This study proposed the application of and assessed the use of user-specified and existing hypothesis testing methods in a novel setting—survey dropout data—to identify phases of higher or lower survey dropout.

Methods: First, we proposed the application of user-specified thresholds to identify abrupt differences in the dropout rate. Second, we proposed the application of 2 existing hypothesis testing methods to detect …

Virginia Dental Journal (Vol. 96, No. 2, 2019)

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Pattern Research Project: An Investigation Of The Pattern And Printing Process - Diamond, Mariana Alcala-Ramos

Pattern Research Project

The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.

Mariana Alcala-Ramos, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the ICA Elevator pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:

"The design of this pattern says a lot of technology, it was created using vinyl (a …

Virginia Dental Journal (Vol. 96, No. 4, 2019)

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

I Spy: Patron Privacy Issues At Your Library, M. Teresa Doherty

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Using photo examples of situations that may expose patron information or compromise intellectual freedom ideals, this presentation will help library staff understand how to protect your patron's privacy and to advocate for privacy within your library. Examples include open holds shelving with patron name visible, self-check machine receipts that contain the patron name, print signup sheets that show patron name and contact info, and many more.

Pharmaceutical Industry's Effect On Socioeconomic Development In Sub-Saharan Africa In Relation To Family Planning Accessibility, Tessa Demarest

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

There is a large unmet need for family planning services in sub-Saharan Africa (Goodkind et al, 2018). Pharmaceutical companies contribute to the accessibility of medications in developing countries (Cottingham & Berer, 2011). If the pharmaceutical industry strongly affects access to contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa, then it is possible that adjustments made to the industry would increase access to contraceptives. I explored how contraceptives change the economic and social development of subSaharan Africa to determine if contraception benefits Africans enough for their shortage to be a serious injustice. This is followed by how the pharmaceutical industry affects access to and types …

Rubin Peacock: 50 Years Of Bronze Sculpture, Rubin Peacock

Books and Book Chapters

“Rubin Peacock: 50 Years of Bronze Sculpture” is an autobiographical account of Peacock’s career as a sculptor, tracing the enduring influences of his Native American ancestry, upbringing in the rural South, and educational experiences abroad.

Mind Your Meds: Safe Opioid Disposal Awareness, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Mary Ann Davies, Jenny Fox, Kenneth Johnson, Jennifer Papenfuse, Michelle Schmitt, Shijun Zhang, Lori Zoghby

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

Driven by the effects of the opioid epidemic on friends, family members, students, and patients, members of the 2019 GEHLI Team “Mission Possible” are dedicated to bolstering educational awareness of safe leftover opioid disposal methods to decrease the supply of opioids in our community. On average, over 2/3 of opioid prescription medications are leftover and lead to later misuse or abuse (JAMA Survey). Despite a decrease in prescription writing for pain medication over the years, the mortality rate from overdose, and the rate of infants born to mothers with opioid abuse continues to steadily increase in Virginia (VDH). Team Mission …

A Teacher’S Adoption Of Maker-Centered Learning: A Phenomenological Case Study, Michael L. Schad

Theses and Dissertations

The maker movement is a social movement which espouses the importance of artifact creation through physical and digital tools. As the maker movement moves into educational spaces, researchers and educators are exploring ways to integrate it alongside current classroom practices. A prevalent framework for maker integration is the maker-centered learning framework, which was used as part of the conceptual framework. Currently, more research is needed which justifies and analyzes maker-centered learning in an educational environment. This study aimed to use phenomenological methods to capture the lived experience of chemistry teacher as she integrated the maker-centered learning framework into her chemistry …