Digital Commons Network^™

Art And Medicine: A Collaborative Project Between Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar And Weill Cornell Medicine In Qatar, Amy J. Andres, Thomas R. Himsworth, Alan Weber, Stephen Scott

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Four faculty researchers, two from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and two from Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar developed a one semester workshop-based course in Qatar exploring the connections between art and medicine in a contemporary context. Students (6 art / 6 medicine) were enrolled in the course. The course included presentations by clinicians, medical engineers, artists, computing engineers, an art historian, a graphic designer, a painter, and other experts from the fields of art, design, and medicine. To measure the student experience of interdisciplinarity, the faculty researchers employed a mixed methods approach involving psychometric tests and observational ethnography. Data …

Methods For Evaluating Respondent Attrition In Web-Based Surveys, Camille J. Hochheimer, Roy T. Sabo, Alex H. Krist, Teresa Day, John Cyrus, Steven H. Woolf

Biostatistics Publications

Background: Electronic surveys are convenient, cost effective, and increasingly popular tools for collecting information. While the online platform allows researchers to recruit and enroll more participants, there is an increased risk of participant dropout in Web-based research. Often, these dropout trends are simply reported, adjusted for, or ignored altogether.

Objective: To propose a conceptual framework that analyzes respondent attrition and demonstrates the utility of these methods with existing survey data.

Methods: First, we suggest visualization of attrition trends using bar charts and survival curves. Next, we propose a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) to detect or confirm …

News Stories Of Intimate Partner Violence: An Experimental Examination Of Participant Sex, Perpetrator Sex, And Violence Severity On Seriousness, Sympathy, And Punishment Preferences, Matthew W. Savage, Jennifer A. Scarduzio, Kate Lockwood Harris, Kellie E. Carlyle, Sarah E. Sheff

Health Policy Publications

This study experimentally examines the effects of participant sex, perpetrator sex, and severity of violence on perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV) seriousness, sympathy toward the victim, and punishment preferences for the perpetrator. Participants (N = 449) were randomly assigned to a condition, exposed to a composite news story, and then completed a survey. Ratings of seriousness of IPV for stories with male perpetrators were significantly higher than ratings of seriousness for stories with female perpetrators. Men had significantly higher sympathy for female victims in any condition than for male victims in the weak or strong severity of violence …

School-Based Dental Sealant Programs Prevent Cavities And Are Cost-Effective, Susan Griffin, Shillpa Naavaal, Christina Scherrer, Paul M. Griffin, Kate Harris, Sajal Chattopadhyay

Dental Public Health and Policy Publications

Untreated cavities can have far-reaching negative consequences for people's ability to eat, speak, and learn. By adolescence, 27 percent of low-income children in the United States will have untreated cavities. School-based sealant programs typically provide dental sealants (a protective coating that adheres to the surface of molars) at little or no cost to students attending schools in areas with low socioeconomic status. These programs have been shown to increase the number of students receiving sealants and to prevent cavities. We analyzed the cost-effectiveness of school sealant programs using data (from school programs in fourteen states between 2013 and 2014) on …

Why Can’T They All Be Best In Class?, Malik Hall

The Scope

Researchers at VCU and the University of Florida are developing positive-reinforcement intervention techniques to address problem behavior that may be more prevalent among schoolchildren from low-income homes. The research has an appropriate name: Best in Class.

Effects Of Perceived Stigma From College Friends On Students Utilizing Mental Health Services, Shammah N. Okai

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

This paper explores the relationship between perceived stigma from friends and the use of mental health services. By reviewing six peer-reviewed articles it was hypothesized that there would be a negative correlation between the number of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Psychology 317 students who perceive that their friends had negative thoughts towards mental health services and the likelihood that those individuals would partake in mental health services. A convenience sample (N= 96) was taken from Dr. Cobb’s Psychology 317 class. A correlation was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 22. The results showed that there was a significant and weak positive correlation …

Hip Hop Videos And Black Identity In Virtual Space, Joel Rubin

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

In this paper, I present an understanding of music videos as useful representations of the dynamism of blackness and black identity and in fact indicative of a post-regional turn in Hip Hop. In order to illustrate, I first examine how blackness is expressed in physical space with the advent of New York City's block parties and the Bay Area's "hyphy" movement. I then situate the importance of the music video in a contemporary understanding of visualized culture in virtual space. Applying this understanding to the performance and perception of blackness, I use the example of Canadian Hip Hop artist Drake's …

Body Image Perception: Adolescent Boys And Avatar Depiction In Video Games, Usha Raman

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Research on mass media’s impact on body image has mostly been focused on females thus far. Of the little research that has been done on male body image, most of it has been focused on adult males, and therefore the effect of mass media on adolescent boys’ body image is still a relatively primitive field of knowledge. Through comparing the exposure of adolescent boys to muscular avatars in popular video games, a source of mass media that a majority of adolescent boys are exposed to, and relating it to research done on the effects of frequent ideal image exposure through …

Meditation On A Cat Picture And A Flamingo Statue, Lucas Alexander

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

I am a very visual person. As a student studying cinema, I’m interested in creating stories that can be woven together into a film. Even when something isn’t “supposed to” contain elements of narrative and fiction as defined by its medium, I do my very best to put them in there anyway. I want to make my own unique stories, in pictures and in words. Optimally, they end up being amusing.

When making anything, I tend to hack a jagged path through the whole mess as fast as possible, and have something technically defined as a finished product as soon …

Risk Factors Associated With First-Year College Dropout, Tiffany K. Ho, Divya Krishna

UROP Posters

Previous research has shown that a variety of factors can impact college student’s academic performance, including healthy nutrition, physical activity, substance use, smoking, early sexual activity, bullying, excessive television watching, internet use, and playing video games. The purpose of the current study was to explore possible predictors of dropout in students after their first year of college. Data came from the Spit for Science sample and were limited to individuals in the first three cohorts that answered the survey during the fall of their freshmen year (N=6105). Logistic regression was used to test a variety of risk factors, including mental/behavior …

Film Tourism And Expectation: Using The Hallyu Wave To Model How Governments And Media Exports Influence National Image, Aishat O. Bello

UROP Posters

Film tourism encompasses the interest, investment and influence that exported media products can contribute to cultural globalization, and subsequent visitation of a nation. The Korean Wave or Hallyu wave has been studied and commended for its rapid spread and growing popularity within Asia and more recently, on a more global scale. By comparing and contrasting the methods used by the Korean government to enhance Hallyu, with several trade deals made by the US government to support Hollywood, we can see how the effects of film tourism were directed towards modifying perspectives on Korean culture. A few consequences of making trade …

Forensic Signatures For Production Conditions Of Bacillus Thuringiensis (Str. Hd1) Spore Cultures, Dani Jabado, Cristina Stanciu, Christopher Ehrhardt

UROP Posters

Chemical signatures that can indicate growth medium recipes or other key aspects of the production conditions are an important goal for forensic and biodefense agencies. In this study, Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) profiles were analyzed from Bacillus thuringiensis spores grown five different published medium recipes. B. thuringiensis was chosen due to its biochemical, structural, and genetic similarity to B. anthracis, a Biosafety Level III select agent and the organisms used in the Amerithrax attacks in 2001. The relative abundance of 13 different fatty acid biomarkers, spanning four structure classes, was compared across all spore samples. Differences in the …

Of Shining Sea And Rising Sun: Cultural Storytelling In The Genre Of Horror In Video Games, Anna C. Webster

UROP Posters

In the modern era, video games are hardly the simple, mindless medium that they used to be. Rather, they are now being used as a vehicle for artistic expression and storytelling worldwide, creating a colorful and comprehensive new approach to the storytelling experience that was previously reserved for books or movies. The immersive nature of the medium provides for a richer and more stimulating experience, from which the genre of horror greatly benefits. Rather than the more passive experience the viewer gets from watching a movie or reading a book, video games allow for the player to be completely immersed, …

Rnaseq Analyses Identify Tumor Necrosis Factor-Mediated Inflammation As A Major Abnormality In Als Spinal Cord, David G. Brohawn, Laura C. O'Brien, James P. Bennett Jr.

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

ALS is a rapidly progressive, devastating neurodegenerative illness of adults that produces disabling weakness and spasticity arising from death of lower and upper motor neurons. No meaningful therapies exist to slow ALS progression, and molecular insights into pathogenesis and progression are sorely needed. In that context, we used high-depth, next generation RNA sequencing (RNAseq, Illumina) to define gene network abnormalities in RNA samples depleted of rRNA and isolated from cervical spinal cord sections of 7 ALS and 8 CTL samples. We aligned >50 million 2X150 bp paired-end sequences/sample to the hg19 human genome and applied three different algorithms (Cuffdiff2, DEseq2, …

Connecting Best Practices In Public Relations To Social Media Strategies For Academic Libraries, Bettina Peacemaker, Sue Robinson, Emily Hurst

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Academic libraries worldwide use social media to inform and connect with users. VCU Libraries is no different and must keep up with rapidly evolving platforms and user expectations. When our presence stretched across 22 channels, we needed to ensure social media efforts were managed in the most effective and efficient manner possible. To develop a research-based, unified vision for communication for new media, we scanned the literature in the library and public relations fields and then surveyed librarians to address identified gaps. Based on results, we offer recommendations focused on best management practices and strong content strategies.

The Right Place At The Right Time: Creative Spaces In Libraries, Eric Johnson

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose

This essay explores the recent trend in libraries: that of the establishment of spaces specifically set aside for creative work. The rise of these dedicated creative spaces is owed to a confluence of factors that happen to be finding their expression together in recent years. This essay examines the history of these spaces and explores the factors that gave rise to them and will fuel them moving forward.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A viewpoint piece, this essay combines historical research and historical/comparative analyses to examine the ways by which libraries have supported creative work in the past and how they may continue …

Para, William Matheson

Theses and Dissertations

We are hosts, we are hosts and we’re deeply aware of it.

We are aware of the pollutants and particulates that exist in our air, aware of the

growing presence of UVB radiation that touches our skin, aware of the microbes,

bacteria and viruses that call our interiors home, more completely aware than we’ve

ever been that to have a body contemporarily is to acknowledge a multiplicity that

can be wholly uncomfortable and even alien: that we are hosts to so much seemingly

unwanted material, sensation and life.

Comfort Toys: Coping Tools For Children With An Epileptic Parent, Benjamin Evjen

Theses and Dissertations

When a caregiver suffers from epilepsy, a child can often feel frightened, vulnerable, and alone whenever a seizure occurs. In my thesis project I intend to help children negotiate this struggle with the use of therapeutic toys. Through play, children can navigate feelings that are often overlooked by adults. The visual appeal, simplicity, and materials used in their creation help facilitate comfort through sensory cues. By applying coping mechanisms to deal with stress caused by the passage of time, provide tactile comfort, and equip the child with tools to take action, their emotional needs are met. These toys address an …

If She Isn’T Working Miracles, What Is She Doing On The Battlefield?, Alex Matzke

Theses and Dissertations

The images included in my thesis work reflect my experience growing up with military propaganda—pictures of cheerful white women in pearls as part of my rural middle American landscape. I do not name the oppressor because I am not here to pick at the thorns, but to get to the root of the oppression. These are some of the servicewomen I’ve met. Their stories parallel but cannot encompass the private experiences of all service women. I am grateful for their generosity; without them there would be no pictures.

The battle for equality is much older than Rosie the Riveter but …

Pharmacological Inhibition Of Cyclophilin Ameliorates Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis, Zi L. Huang

Theses and Dissertations

A subset of cyclophilins have been implicated in mechanisms of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration that contributes to the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis. Mitochondrial dysfunction leading to mitochondrial permeability transition plays a pivotal role in axonal damage and disease progression in Multiple Sclerosis. Cyclophilin D (CypD) is a crucial regulatory component of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore and it was demonstrated that the cyclophilin D knockout animals showed reduced experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) clinical disease severity and axonal injury. We investigated the effect of N-methyl-4-isoleucine-cyclosporin (NIM811), a non-immunosuppressive and non-selective cyclophilin inhibitor, on the course and severity of EAE. EAE mice treated …

Pushed Without Direction: Privileged Problems And The Configuration Of Class And Race. How Latent Class Differences, Supported Through Racial Inequities, Maintain The Achievement Gap For Upper Class Black Students, Jullian Harrison

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars for decades have studied the achievement gap and attempted to explain it in regards to race and class. Throughout the existing literature regarding the achievement gap between black and white students, however, there is a dearth of research exploring why the gap exists for upper-class black students; this population is largely ignored. This research seeks to explain why an achievement gap exists between white and black students who come from households of similar incomes. Ten students (five white and five black gradates) of a private, non-parochial school in Washington DC are interviewed about high school and post-high school experiences. …

In Pursuit Of Women Scientists: Using Science Plays To Promote Women Entering Stem Disciplines, Danielle Hartman

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education currently seeks to increase female enrollment in STEM. Women face many challenges attempting to breach this male dominated arena with misconceptions, gender stereotypes, and few female role models. With the recent trend in higher education to encourage more women to enter the STEM disciplines and K-12 schools cutting funding for arts programs, theatre may be losing its value in the education system. The value of interdisciplinary studies is beginning to be forgotten during the grade school years as school boards battle budget cuts, but we can remind society of it through science plays. Theatre artists use other disciplines …

Fuck 2016 (2016)

Amendment, 2004-

A zine companion to the Amendment.

Art Integration: A Turning Point In Becoming, R. Darden Bradshaw

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

This article uses personal narrative to articulate one art educator’s journey through the first year of teaching middle school. Highlighting the tensions that accompany navigating the liminal spaces between pre-service teaching and in-service teaching, the author articulates the potential of visual culture art integration as a site for meaningful student engagement and teacher empowerment. The article concludes with a call for the intentional inclusion of art integration pedagogy within pre-service art educator preparation programs.

Modeling Fluid Interactions With Granular And Fibrous Surfaces, Mana Mokhtabad Amrei

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the interactions between a body of liquid and a curvy surface is important for many applications such as underwater drag force reduction, droplet filtration, self-cleaning, and fog harvesting, among many others. This study investigates ways to predict the performance of granular and fibrous surfaces for some of the above applications. More specifically, our study is focused on 1) modeling the mechanical stability of the air-water interface over submerged superhydrophobic (SHP) surfaces and their expected drag reduction benefits, and 2) predicting the mechanical stability of a droplet on a fiber in the presence of an external body force. For the …

Keytag It: An Exploration Of A Creative And Customizable Research Guide Promotion, Martha Roseberry, Bettina Peacemaker

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The research guide is a common tool librarians use to communicate with and instruct their audiences. Despite their prevalence and value to users, research guides remain underused. There are many examples of efforts encouraging guide use, but few studies have measured the effectiveness of that promotion. Academic Outreach librarians at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) promote research guides through inexpensive and small keytags--similar to retail customer loyalty keychain tags. Findings of a quantitative analysis suggest the keytags have positively influenced guide use and support anecdotal reports of increased interaction with intended audiences.

Annual Higher Ground Women's Leadership Conference 2016, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University

GEHLI - 2026 VCUL Team Project Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding Teacher Morale, Jesse Senechal, Tamara Sober, Samantha Hope, Teri Johnson, Felicia Burkhalter, Teri Castelow, Debbie Gilfillan, Kenya Jackson, Autumn Nabors, Patrick Neuman, Rodney Robinson, Rob Sargeant, Stacy Stanford, Deanna Varljen

MERC Publications

This study emerged from discussions within the Policy and Planning Council of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC), a research alliance between Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education and seven surrounding school divisions.

The project has two goals. The first goal is to develop an understanding of the factors that impact teachers’ experience of their work in the current PK12 public school context. Although this topic could be, and has been, investigated through a number of lenses (e.g., burnout, trust, motivation), this project focuses on the idea of teacher morale, a choice that will be discussed in detail in the …

Mass Effect: Art And The Internet In The Twenty-First Century, Elizabeth Sutton

Art Inquiries

Book review of Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Lauren Cornell and Ed Halter.

Journal Of Hip Hop Studies

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

No abstract provided.