Digital Commons Network^™

Commonwealth Times 2021-01-27

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2021-01-20

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Covid-19-Related Stressors On Bruxism And Temporomandibular Disorders, Hagir A. Saleh, Samantha Smith

Dental Hygiene Student Scholarship

Problem: COVID-19 has proven to be a major public health emergency, with an array of physical and emotional complications. While COVID-19 has its own effects on the human body, anxiety induced by the pandemic has shown to take a toll on the human oral cavity by means of causing individuals to grind and clench their teeth due to anxiety/stress, potentially leading to temporomandibular disorders and orofacial pain.

Methods: A thorough review of literature was conducted by consulting credible studies published on online databases such as PubMed, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, Google Scholar, and Academic Search Complete. The studies examined …

Ripple Effects: How Teacher Action Research On Culturally Relevant Education Can Promote Systemic Change, Hillary Parkhouse, Julie Gorlewski, Jesse Senechal, Chu Yi Lu Qiu

Teaching and Learning Publications

Teacher action research has been shown to both promote professional growth in teachers as well as produce gains for students. However, to date, little research has examined how action research might contribute to systemic changes in schools and school districts. This qualitative study of six teachers from various districts, subject areas, and grade levels, illustrates how action research can have simultaneous impacts on teachers, their students, and their schools and districts. The teacher action research projects all focused on culturally relevant education and the pursuit of equity. Impacts included teachers’ deepened understandings of equity and inclusivity; students’ diversity awareness, positive …

Disentangling Social-Genetic From Rearing-Environment Effects For Alcohol Use Disorder Using Swedish National Data, Aiman Hanif, Han Tran

VCU's Medical Journal Club: The Work of Future Health Professionals

The presentation introduces Dr. Jessica Salvatore and colleagues’ work, Disentangling Social-Genetic From Rearing-Environment Effects for Alcohol Use Disorder Using Swedish National Data, on the social-genetic effects of having a spouse whose parent(s) is/are affected by alcohol use disorder (AUD). After collecting personal data of over 300,000 Swedish opposite-sex couples, the study used actor-partner interdependence model and logistic regression model to examine the association between a spouse’s AUD predisposition and the proband’s risk of developing AUD. The results showed that the proband is at a high risk of developing AUD upon marrying an AUD-predisposed spouse. The authors concluded that this relationship …

The Resulting Mental Health Pandemic From Covid-19: Research And Resources For Social Workers, Ami Lynch

Social Work Student Works

The COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting mental health impacts on hundreds of millions more worldwide than the contagion itself. Social workers are seeing increases in depression, anxiety, suicidality, and post-traumatic stress disorder and other negative mental health impacts. Because of this, social workers in all environments and modalities of practice need to be well-trained, agile, and energized while facing the pandemic themselves. This report compiles the impacts and concerns for a variety of social workers and their clients into a single, digestible source, supplemented by the “COVID-19 Resource Compendium for Social Workers and Their Clients”. Social workers must practice self-care, …

On Wisdom, Gerontology, And Personal Aging: Through A Looking Glass, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

Personal discussion on the perspective of aging and teaching more interiority and self-reflection in the field of gerontology.

Lucy Corr Dental Clinic: Addressing Dental Needs Of Uninsured Older Adults, Patricia B. Bonwell

Case Studies from Age in Action

Educational Objectives

1. Discuss the critical importance of oral health and the oral-systemic relationship in older adults.

2. Describe how dental insurance determines receipt of dental treatment in older adults.

3. Share how the Lucy Corr Dental Clinic (LCDC) increases access to dental care for uninsured older adults.

4. Describe valuable collaborations with community foundations, the Virginia Dental Association, and Virginia Commonwealth University that enable the success of the LCDC.

Virginia Commonwealth University Courses [2021], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Listing of courses for the 2021-2022 year.

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

VCU Bulletins

Professional programs 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.

Bring The Jubilee: The Civil War And The Healing Power Of Its Music, Richard E. Martin

History Undergraduate Works

The Civil War was the defining event in American history in many ways, and it was just as traumatic to the individuals who lived through it as it was to the nation. One way in which soldiers and civilians were able to process their emotions and understand their wartime experiences was through music. Civilians and soldiers alike wrote, published, performed, and listened to popular songs as a means of healing. This paper explores the variety of ways in which Americans of the North and South were able to do that. It examines the lyrics and music written during the war. …

Servant Leadership As A Framework For Building University Community: The Intersecting Missions Of Faith Partners And Public Higher Education Institutions, Katie B. Gooch, Elizabeth Roderick, Meghan Z. Gough Ph.D., Lynn E. Pelco Ph.D.

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs Publications

As community engagement approaches continue to expand in urban-identified public colleges and universities, so have innovative community-university partnerships that now span a wide range of public and private sector organizations. Partnerships between public universities and faith-based institutions, however, have sometimes lagged because public universities have yet to appreciate ways in which their public missions align with those of local faith-based organizations. This paper examines the partnership established between a large, urban-identified, public research university and one of its campus ministries to implement a servant leadership model and asset-based community development methodology designed to enable the university community to work collaboratively, …

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

VCU Bulletins

Graduate 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 graduate programs.

Virginia Dental Journal (Vol. 98, No. 3, 2021)

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Advanced Placement (Ap): Making The Nation's Most Prominent College Preparatory Program More Equitable, David Naff, Mitchell Parry, Tomika Ferguson, Virginia Palencia, Jenna Lenhardt, Elisa Tedona, Antionette Stroter, Theodore Stripling, Zoey Lu, Elizabeth Baber

MERC Publications

This report from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) explores research related to Advanced Placement (AP) courses through an equity lens. It answers five questions: 1) What are AP classes? 2) Who enrolls and succeeds in AP classes? 3) Why do disparities in AP matter? 4) What factors contribute to disparities in AP participation and performance? 5) What policies and practices help to address disparities in AP access, enrollment, and performance? The report comes from the MERC Equitable Access and Support for Advanced Coursework study.

The Relationship Between Psychiatric Symptomatology Types And Difficulties With Activity Caused By A Nervous System Or Sensory Organ Condition Among Latinx’S, Oswaldo Moreno

Psychology Publications

No abstract provided.

Literature Review: Covid-19'S Impact On Violence, Jean Cheek, Laura Ashworth

VCU Health Nursing

Violence has been exacerbated by the pandemic, resulting in a plethora of research that can be complementary and contradictory. A preliminary thematic literature search was performed using keywords such as human trafficking, IPV, sexual assault, pandemic, covid, and child abuse. This resulted in over 100 articles between 2019 and 2021. The literature review revealed common themes such as pandemics and natural disasters increase the risk for violence in women, children, and marginalized populations. Stay-at-home orders put vulnerable populations in closer proximity to the abuser. A low socioeconomic standing increases the propensity to abuse and be abused. Calls to human trafficking …

Mathematical Representations In A Synchronous Online Mathematics Specialist Preparation Program, Theresa Wills, Deborah Crawford, Kate Roscioli, Shruti Sanghavi

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

Universities are implementing more online courses (Yamagata-Lynch, 2014). However, instructors may feel a sense of trepidation in transitioning a mathematics class to a synchronous online platform because they do not want to compromise quality pedagogy (Herrington et al., 2001) for the convenience of an online environment (Wills, 2021). Some courses have successfully transitioned to a synchronous online environment while maintaining rich discussion and student collaboration (Baker & Hjalmarson, 2019); however, mathematics content courses include the additional challenge of incorporating problem solving with multiple representations. This paper focuses on how mathematical representations emerge in a synchronous online course for mathematics specialists.

Modeling Longitudinal Change In Cervical Length Across Pregnancy, Hope M. Wolf, Shawn J. Latendresse, Jerome F. Strauss Iii, Timothy P. York

Graduate Research Posters

Introduction: A short cervix (cervical length < 25 mm) in the mid-trimester (18 to 24 weeks) of pregnancy is a powerful predictor of spontaneous preterm delivery (gestational age at delivery < 37 weeks). Although the biological mechanisms of cervical remodeling have been the subject of extensive investigation, very little is known about the rate of change in cervical length over the course of a pregnancy, or the extent to which rapid cervical shortening increases maternal risk for spontaneous preterm delivery.

Methods: A cohort of 5,160 unique women carrying 5,971 singleton pregnancies provided two or more measurements of cervical length during pregnancy. Cervical length was measured in millimeters using a transvaginal 12-3 MHz ultrasound endocavity probe (SuperSonic Imagine). Maternal characteristics, including relevant medical history and birth outcome data, were collected for each participant. Gestational age at delivery was measured from the first day of each woman’s last menstrual period and confirmed by ultrasound. Repeated measurements of cervical length during pregnancy were modeled as a longitudinal, multilevel growth curve in MPlus. A three-level variance structure was …

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.

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 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 …

Humanizing Architecture: A Polymorphic Space, Nada Abbara

Theses and Dissertations

The built environments in which our communities thrive constitute an integral part of human experience and evolution. Yet, many places are detached from the way we experience them due to mass-production, which often produces standardized environments, and due to the tendency of modern architecture to delineate spaces as static objects rather than dynamic interactions. Thus, there is an emerging need to humanize architecture through an interdisciplinary approach that engages nature’s behavioral patterns. The project proposes a transformable polyhedral structure that interacts with human emotion through a three-dimensional morphing space that contracts and expands. This spatial interaction is achieved through a …

Anywhere I Stand, Hanaa Safwat

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I will trace the effects of colonialism and the nationalism, conceptions of deserts as empty spaces form a sense of place and create a subjecthood and orientation that is unable to freely move through the landscape. I relate these structures to the thesis installation titled Anywhere I Stand I Block the Flow of the Wind that was installed at theVCU Anderson Gallery on April 9 2021.

Teachers' Views On The Intersectionality Between Culture And Student Behaviors, And Experience Using Culturally-Responsive Behavior Interventions, Toshna Pandey

Theses and Dissertations

Students belonging to racially minoritized groups experience more frequent and intense disciplinary consequences for similar rule violations as their White peers. Factors such as deficit-oriented perceptions and implicit biases among teachers have contributed to the disproportionate exclusion of racially minoritized students, thus negatively affecting their social, emotional, behavioral, and school success. Using semi-structured interviews, this study sought to explore elementary school teachers’ views on the intersectionality between race/culture and student behaviors. Additionally, it also examined their experiences using behavior interventions effective for racially minoritized students. Findings suggest that participants often attributed challenging behaviors to student-level factors such as family and …

Effect Of Task-Irrelevant Emotional Faces On Attention To A Letter Search Task At High And Low Perceptual Loads, Nina Plotnikov

Theses and Dissertations

The attentional processing of emotional faces has interested researchers over the past thirty years. However, differing methodology has led to inconsistent findings. It has been suggested that using emotional faces as task-irrelevant distractors and varying perceptual load of the primary task can create an experimental framework that will allow attentional capture by emotional face processing to be better identified and differentiated from other processes. Furthermore, the effects of time on-task on attentional processing of emotional faces are currently not well understood, in part because traditional statistical analyses, such as the ANOVA, are insufficient for finding longitudinal trends in the data. …

Augmented Reality In Sport Broadcasting, Chad Goebert

Theses and Dissertations

For a large portion of its history, sport broadcasting has been stagnant when it comes to incorporating new and innovative technologies. However, due to declining viewership and consumer desire for customizable content, augmented reality graphics have begun to be incorporated into multiple sport broadcast products. In fact, the UEFA Champions League, NBA, NFL, and NHL have all used or indicated their intention to utilize AR graphics in future broadcasts. Considering that media rights revenue is the main source of revenue to sport properties and organizations, it is important to carefully consider how the core product (the broadcast) is presented. The …

Immersive Virtual Reality As A Tool To Make In K-12 Environments, Matthew X. Caratachea

Theses and Dissertations

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) is beginning to be implemented into K-12 contexts. As this technology makes its way into more learning environments there is a need to not only understand how to address curricular goals with this technology, but which frameworks for learning best inform the use of this tool. In addition, previous research has called for a need to begin to explore how immersive VR can be used as a tool for creation in K-12 classrooms (Maas & Hughes, 2020). This multiple-case study aimed to address these needs by examining the use of VR as a tool to create …

Relationships Between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Inflammation And Pain In Youth And Emerging Adults With Sickle Cell Disease, Angela Pascale

Theses and Dissertations

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a prevalent genetic disorder involving red blood cells. SCD is a multisystem disease and is connected to various severe medical complications, including debilitating pain. Though pain and inflammation have been connected to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in other populations, no prior work has investigated ACEs within a SCD population. The current study examined the prevalence of ACEs as well as the association of ACEs, inflammation, and pain in a sample of youth and young adults with SCD. Utilizing the biopsychosocial model of pain, I examined individual and cumulative ACEs as possible factors relating to inflammation, …

Leveling The Opportunity For Achievement: White Teachers' Critical Consciousness Development As An Entry Point, Alexandra Merritt

Theses and Dissertations

Although formal education is often lauded as the great equalizer in the U.S., schools often mirror and replicate the deep-seated inequalities of society. In a recent report, the U.S. Congress noted that race, gender, and socioeconomic status are the primary axes of inequality in educational achievement (Hussar et al., 2020). Scholars have long known the existence of this disparity in achievement outcomes, but efforts to close the gap have often been from a deficit lens aimed at changing the effort and motivation of students. This framing has problematized ethnic-racial minority students’ abilities and behaviors from an ahistorical lens that fails …