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Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Bulletin [2010], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Undergraduate bulletin for Virginia Commonwealth University for the academic year 2010-2011. It includes information on academic regulations, degree requirements, course offerings, faculty, academic calendar, and tuition and expenses for undergraduate programs.

Strengthening Family Practices For Latino Families, Karen G. Chartier, Lirio K. Negroni, Michie N. Hesselbrock

Social Work Publications

The study examined the effectiveness of a culturally-adapted Strengthening Families Program (SFP) for Latinos to reduce risks for alcohol and drug use in children. Latino families, predominantly Puerto Rican, with a 9–12 year old child and a parent(s) with a substance abuse problem participated in the study. Pre- and post-tests were conducted with each family. Parental stress, parent-child dysfunctional relations, and child behavior problems were reduced in the families receiving the intervention; family hardiness and family attachment were improved. Findings contribute to the validation of the SFP with Latinos, and can be used to inform social work practice with Puerto …

Multiple Independent Loci At Chromosome 15q25.1 Affect Smoking Quantity: A Meta-Analysis And Comparison With Lung Cancer And Copd, Nancy L. Saccone, Robert C. Culverhouse, Tae-Hwi Schwantes-An, Dale S. Cannon, Xiangning Chen, Sven Cichon, Ina Giegling, Shizhong Han, Younghun Han, Kaisu Keskitalo-Vuokko, Xiangyang Kong, Maria T. Landi, Jennie Z. Ma, Susan E. Short, Sarah H. Stephens, Victoria L. Stevens, Lingwei Sun, Yufei Wang, Angela S. Wenzlaff, Steven H. Aggen, Naomi Breslau, Peter Broderick, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Jingchun Chen, Andrew C. Heath, Marku Heliovaara, Nicole R. Hoft, David J. Hunter, Majken K. Jensen, Nicholas G. Martin, Grant W. Montgomery, Tianhua Niu, Thomas J. Payne, Leena Peltonen, Michele L. Pergadia, John P. Rice, Richard Sherva, Margaret R. Spitz, Juzhong Sun, Jen C. Wang, Robert B. Weiss, William Wheeler, Stephanie H. Witt, Bao-Zhu Yang, Neil E. Caporaso, Marissa A. Ehringer, Tim Eisen, Susan M. Gapstur, Joel Gelemter, Richard Houlston, Jaakko Kaprio, Kenneth S. Kendler, Peter Kraft, Mark F. Leppert, Ming D. Li, Pamela A. F. Madden, Markus M. Nothen, Sreekumar Pillai, Marcella Rietschel, Dan Rujescu, Ann Schwartz, Christopher I. Amos, Laura J. Bierut

Psychiatry Publications

Recently, genetic association findings for nicotine dependence, smoking behavior, and smoking-related diseases converged to implicate the chromosome 15q25.1 region, which includes the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 cholinergic nicotinic receptor subunit genes. In particular, association with the nonsynonymous CHRNA5 SNP rs16969968 and correlates has been replicated in several independent studies. Extensive genotyping of this region has suggested additional statistically distinct signals for nicotine dependence, tagged by rs578776 and rs588765. One goal of the Consortium for the Genetic Analysis of Smoking Phenotypes (CGASP) is to elucidate the associations among these markers and dichotomous smoking quantity (heavy versus light smoking), lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary …

Menorah Review (No. 73, Summer/Fall, 2010)

Menorah Review

An Interpretation of the Valley of Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14) -- Books in Brief: New and Notable -- Hebrew: A World of Its Own -- How an Educated Elite May Have Shaped the Bible -- Moreshet: From the Classics -- Saul Bellow to Cynthia Ozick on the Holocaust -- Speaking Otherwise: Form and Meaning in the Book of Ruth -- Two Poems

Imaging South Africa: Collection Projects By Siemon Allen, Siemon Allen

Anderson Gallery Art Exhibition Catalogues

"This catalog was published in conjunction with the exhibition Imaging South Africa: Collection Projects by Siemon Allen, August 27-October 31, 2010, and made possible by generous support from the Office of the Dean, VCU School of the Arts."--p. 83.

Virginia Commonwealth University Graduate And Professional Programs Bulletin [2010], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Graduate and professional programs bulletin for Virginia Commonwealth University for the academic year 2010-2011. It includes information on academic regulations, degree requirements, course offerings, faculty, academic calendar, and tuition and expenses for graduate programs.

Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Bulletin Courses [2010], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Listing of undergraduate courses for 2010-2011.

The Chinese Government's Response To Drug Use And Hiv/Aids: A Review Of Policies And Programs, Jianhu Li, Toan H. Ha, Cunmin Zhang, Hongjie Liu

Family Medicine and Population Health Publications

Illicit drug use has become popular in China. Acknowledging the challenge of illicit drug use, China has adopted several new policies on the management of illicit drug use in recent years. This study reviews the current policies on drug use and assesses the harm reduction interventions among drug users in China. The review documents that the new policies on drug use provide a variety of choices of detoxification treatment for drug users. The methadone maintenance treatment and needle exchange programs have been adopted as harm reduction models in China. Most of the reviewed harm reduction programs have been successfully implemented …

Menorah Review (No. 72, Winter/Spring, 2010)

Menorah Review

A Philosopher Rediscovers His Jewish Roots -- An Extraordinary Rabbinic Life -- An Interpretation of Isiah 6.8-10 -- Books in Brief: New and Notable -- Moreshet: From the Classics -- The Noah Affair -- Who Owns and Who is Responsible for a Soul?

Development And Vulnerability Factors In Adolescent Alcohol Use, Karen G. Chartier, Michie N. Hesselbrock, Victor M. Hesselbrock

Social Work Publications

This article provides an overview of the characteristics of adolescent alcohol use, normative and subgroup variations in drinking behavior, and important factors associated with an increased risk for developing alcohol problems in later adolescence and young adulthood. A parental/family history of alcoholism, temperament traits, conduct problems, cognitive functioning, alcohol expectancies, and peer and other social relations are identified as influencing an adolescent’s susceptibility for initiating a variety of alcohol use behaviors. The Deviance Prone Model, proposed by Sher (1991), is presented as an important tool for testing possible relationships among the various risk factors and their sequencing that leads to …

Focused Attention, Open Monitoring And Automatic Self-Transcending: Categories To Organize Meditations From Vedic, Buddhist And Chinese Traditions, Fred Travis, Jonathan Shear

Philosophy Publications

This paper proposes a third meditation-category—automatic self-transcending— to extend the dichotomy of focused attention and open monitoring proposed by Lutz. Automatic self-transcending includes techniques designed to transcend their own activity. This contrasts with focused attention, which keeps attention focused on an object; and open monitoring, which keeps attention involved in the monitoring process. Each category was assigned EEG bands, based on reported brain patterns during mental tasks, and meditations were categorized based on their reported EEG. Focused attention, characterized by beta/gamma activity, included meditations from Tibetan Buddhist, Buddhist, and Chinese traditions. Open Monitoring, characterized by …

Traumatic Brain Injury And The Effects Of Diazepam, Diltiazem, And Mk-801 On Gaba-A Receptor Subunit Expression In Rat Hippocampus, Cynthia J. Gibson, Rebecca C. Meyer, Robert J. Hamm

Psychology Publications

Background

Excitatory amino acid release and subsequent biochemical cascades following traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been well documented, especially glutamate-related excitotoxicity. The effects of TBI on the essential functions of inhibitory GABA-A receptors, however, are poorly understood.

Methods

We used Western blot procedures to test whether in vivo TBI in rat altered the protein expression of hippocampal GABA-A receptor subunits α1, α2, α3, α5, β3, and γ2 at 3 h, 6 h, 24 h, and 7 days post-injuy. We then used pre-injury injections of MK-801 to block calcium influx through the NMDA receptor, diltiazem to block L-type voltage-gated calcium influx, …

Women Without A Voice: The Paradox Of Silence In The Works Of Sandra Cisneros, Shashi Deshpande And Azar Nafisi, Sharon K. Wilson, Pelgy Vaz

Ethnic Studies Review

Women of every culture face a similar problem: loss of voice. Their lives are permeated with silence. Whether their silence results from a patriarchal society that prohibits women from asserting their identity or from a social expectation of gender roles that confine women to an expressive domain-submissive, nurturing, passive, and domestic-rather than an instrumental role where men are dominant, affective and aggressive-women share the common bond of a debilitating silence. Maria Racine, in her analysis of Janie in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, reaffirms the pervasiveness of this bond: "For women, silence has crossed every racial and …

Immigration And Domestic Politics In South Africa: Contradictions Of The Rainbow Nation, Vernon D. Johnson

Ethnic Studies Review

The region of Southern Africa has been part of the global capitalist system since its inception in the late 15th century, when Portugal incorporated Angola and Mozambique into its empire. In 1652 the Dutch East India Company established a "refreshment station" at the Cape of Good Hope for ships travelling between Europe and the Far East.1 From that time the region has experienced several periods of deepening incorporation into the global system.

Thematic Shifts In Contemporary Vietnamese American Novels, Quan Manh Ha

Ethnic Studies Review

This article examines the thematic shifts in three contemporary Vietnamese American novels published since 2003: Monique Truong's The Book of Salt, Dao Strom's Grass Roof, Tin Roof, and Bich Minh Nguyen's Short Girls. I argue that by concentrating on the themes of inferiority and invisibility and issues related to ethnic and racial relationships in U.S. culture (instead of concentrating on the Vietnam War and the refugee experiences), some contemporary Vietnamese American authors are attempting to merge their voices into the corpus of ethnic American literature, which usually is thematically characterized by identity, displacement, alienation, and cultural conflict, etc. Each author …

Journal Of Mathematics And Science: Collaborative Explorations

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Transition Between High School And College Mathematics And Science, S. A. Culpepper, C. Basile, C. A. Ferguson, J. A. Lanning, M. A. Perkins

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

Mathematics and science education is gaining increasing recognition as key for the well-being of individuals and society. Accordingly, the transition from high school to college is particularly important to ensure that students are prepared for college mathematics and science. The goal of this study was to understand how high school mathematics and science course-taking related to performance in college. Specifically, the study employed a nonparametric regression method to examine the relationship between high school mathematics and science courses, and academic performance in college mathematics and science courses. The results provide some evidence pertaining to the positive benefits from high school …

Poictesme: A Student Anthology Of Literature And Art (2010)

Pwatem (Poictesme), 2006-

Poictesme (now Pwatem) is an anthology of literature and art from undergraduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University. It publishes poetry, prose and art of all kinds from talented undergraduate students of all majors.

Casino Capers: Exploring The Aesthetics Of Superfluidity, Mary Stokrocki, Bianne Castillo, Michael Delahunt, Laurie Eldridge, Martin Koreck

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Casinos are fast becoming sites for display of new Native American (NA) Arts. In such a context, casinos re-represent themselves and their communities through various visual forms and thus change their meanings. In her study of Wisconsin casinos, Stuhr (2004) challenged art educators to consider these visual culture displays as they accommodate new markets. Art in the casino phenomenon is worth investigating and how art educators can explore and/or make sense of this phenomenon is important. Casinos are using artworks as spectacles of pleasure. According to a casino gambling survey conducted by Harrah’s Entertainment, approximately 40 million Americans played slot …

How Are They Racialized? Racial Experiences Of Chinese Graduate Students, Ying Wang

Ethnic Studies Review

The present study explores the lived experiences of Chinese graduate students at a Southwestern University in order to find out how they experience race in daily life, what their interpretations of the racial experience are and how do racialized experiences shape their perceptions of life chances. The results indicate that the racialization process plays an important role in Chinese students' life through their lived experiences. Most Chinese students have noticed race and some of them have experienced racial discrimination. However, Chinese students still hold up the importance of education and believe that education will blunt the racial edge

First Impressions, "America's Paper" And Pre-Primary Black Presidential Candidates: The New York Times Coverage Of Rev. Jesse Jackson (1983), Rev. Ai Sharpton (2003), And Sen. Barack Obama (2007) Campaign Announcements And Initial Days, Ravi Perry

Ethnic Studies Review

Recent research documents how party rules, election reforms, and the growth of primaries and caucuses have greatly changed the presidential nomination process. Acknowledging that most Americans get their information about presidential candidates through the news and that mass media have played a significant role in introducing candidates to potential voters, I conduct an longitudinal content analysis of the New York Times articles to ethnographically explain how language, article placement and content in 'America's Paper' has significantly impacted the framing of black presidential candidates' pre-primary presidential campaigns. In particular, the data reveal how the newspaper's coverage of the candidates appears to …

Structuring Liminality: Theorizing The Creation And Maintenance Of The Cuban Exile Identity, Jaclyn Colona, Guillermo J. Grenier

Ethnic Studies Review

In this article, we examine the exilic experience of the Cuban-American community in South Florida through the dual concepts of structure and liminality. We postulate that in the case of this exilic diaspora, specific structures arose to render liminality a persistent element of the Cuban-American identity. The liminal, rather than being a temporal transitory stage, becomes an integral part of the group identity. This paper theorizes and recasts the Cuban-American exile experience in Miami as explicable not only as the story of successful economic and political incorporation, although the literature certainly emphasizes this interpretation, but one consisting of permanent liminality …

Jacob Riis And Double Consciousness: The Documentary/Ethnic "I" In How The Other Half Lives, Bill Hug

Ethnic Studies Review

"Contradictory" is the watchword in scholarship on Danish-American photojournalist Jacob Riis. "Wildly contradictory, morally schizophrenic": so Keith Gandal describes Riis' work (18). "A deeply contradictory figure [...] a conservative activist and a skillful entertainer who presented controversial ideas in a compelling but ultimately comforting manner": such is the assessment of Riis offered by Bonnie Yochelson and Daniel Czitrom (xv). "The typical Victorian moralist," but also the Progressive-so Tom Buk-Swienty proclaims him (239, XIII).

Ethnic Studies Review

Ethnic Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Obstructing The View: An Argument For The Use Of Obstructions In Art Education Pedagogy, Ryan Patton

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Through the use of obstructions we can see how a project-based curriculum can promote very different results. The obstructions that Sandy Skoglund gave the colloquium class at Ohio State were not presented as opportunities for play. Although Bickley-Green and Phillips allowed for play in their use of obstructions, the type of play described was prescriptive and limiting. Pitri’s use of play as a form of problem solving that also allows for personal expression advocated in this paper. Clearly identifying obstructions as game-like challenges for students, they can be used for growth and critical awareness.

Generation Y And Vocal Fry, Paul Michael Valley

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the author explores a vocal phenomenon called “vocal fry” and why this dysphonia has emerged as one of the primary means of communication for the population referred to as “Generation Y.” The first chapter defines what vocal fry is and why it is of modest value to the stage actor. The second chapter defines the physiological means by which the human body creates sound, what good sound is and how vocal fry is created. The third and fourth chapters define several generations as well as what defines Gen Y, and the communication physiologies associated with those generations. …

A Verbal Snapshot Of Visual Scrutiny Primarily In The Sphere Of Art, Matthew Alverson

Theses and Dissertations

Finding and extracting meaning from the world I encounter every day is the primary motivation behind my creativity. Filtering perception and separating the important bits of information by selection or elimination is the crux of this investigation. This process is one of finding rationale in futility and applying meaning to meaningless encounters. The significance of life is not fixed and it is our responsibility to make it up to best suit the desire to have purpose. Depending on the way something is looked at determines the meaning behind it. Anything can have content if it is seen and translated a …

Detect, Bite, Slam, Ali Miharbi

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the influences, ideas and motivations behind my MFA thesis exhibition. It primarily focuses on how I developed my work for the show in connection to my previous work as well as work created by other artists who explored the impacts of new media in the last decade. With the advancement of social media, digital technologies no longer have their infamous coldness. Our perceptions and the metaphors in language are all reflected onto the machines we create while in return they also shape and redefine our lives. It becomes increasingly difficult to talk about dialectics such as machine-human, …

Journeys Into The Unknown: A Series Of Science Architecture Tasks And Events, Space-Bound Explorations And Far-Travels, Discoveries And Misses (Near And Far), Imaginative Space-Gazing And Related Investigations, Observations, Orbits, And Other Repetitious Monitoring Tasks, Leah Beeferman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis expansively and inclusively puts forth the imaginings, research, processes and experiences behind my two thesis exhibitions, "Journeys into the unknown: a series of science architecture tasks and events, space-bound explorations and far-travels, discoveries and misses (near and far), imaginative space-gazing and related investigations, observations, orbits, and other repetitious monitoring tasks" and "Timed travel: asystematic accounts of regular and geometrical timekeeping, orbital flight, repetitive rotations and other journeys into actual time and slow space." It begins with an abstract interpretation of the dial: a tool not limited to scientific measurement but, instead, a gauge of an object’s overall position …

Amendment (2010)

Amendment, 2004-

Amendment is a VCU student-produced progressive literature and art journal that provides a platform for students to promote equality, tolerance, and social progression through artistic expression.