A Concept Paper for a VCU Social Sciences Initiative

This project proposes the development of a Social Sciences Initiative at the undergraduate and graduate levels that will provide educational, research and service opportunities for faculty and students. These opportunities are envisioned as interdisciplinary, with a focus on community issues and priorities, and with the potential to create new links among existing educational/research units within the University. The development of a Social Sciences Initiative provides a direct link to the Mission of VCU through several of the Mission’s intents: “activities that increase knowledge and understanding of the world and inspire and enrich teaching” The Social Sciences Initiative will expand current activities and promote innovative teaching in an interdisciplinary manner. “diverse educational programs” The Social Sciences Initiative increases the diversity of educational program offerings. “development of innovative approaches to meet the changing needs of our society” The Social Sciences Initiative will directly address the changing societal needs through support of interdisciplinary education, research, and service. Further, this initiative is consistent with the VCU Vision in that it will “advance a climate of scholarly inquiry…serve as a model of diversity in higher education…addressing urban issues in the nation and the world…build upon its substantial foundations in the…applied social sciences.” (VCU Strategic Plan for the Future of Virginia Commonwealth University, Phase II, 1998)

Identification and Correction of Mechanisms Underlying Inherited Blindness in Human iPSC-Derived Optic Cups

Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is an inherited retinal dystrophy that causes childhood blindness. Photoreceptors are especially sensitive to an intronic mutation in the cilia-related gene CEP290, which causes missplicing and premature termination, but the basis of this sensitivity is unclear. Here, we generated differentiated photoreceptors in three-dimensional optic cups and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from iPSCs with this common CEP290 mutation to investigate disease mechanisms and evaluate candidate therapies. iPSCs differentiated normally into RPE and optic cups, despite abnormal CEP290 splicing and cilia defects. The highest levels of aberrant splicing and cilia defects were observed in optic cups, explaining the retinal-specific manifestation of this CEP290 mutation. Treating optic cups with an antisense morpholino effectively blocked aberrant splicing and restored expression of full-length CEP290, restoring normal cilia-based protein trafficking. These results provide a mechanistic understanding of the retina-specific phenotypes in CEP290 LCA patients and potential strategies for therapeutic intervention

THE ROLE OF EMOTION IN VISUALIZATION

The popular notion that emotion and reason are incompatible is no longer defensi- ble. Recent research in psychology and cognitive science has established emotion as a key element in numerous aspects of perception and cognition, including attention, memory, decision-making, risk perception, and creativity. This dissertation centers around the observation that emotion influences many aspects of perception and cog- nition that are crucial for effective visualization. First, I demonstrate that emotion influences accuracy in fundamental visualiza- tion tasks by combining a classic graphical perception experiment (from Cleveland and McGill) with emotion induction procedures from psychology (chapter 3). Next, I expand on the experiments in the first chapter to explore additional techniques for studying emotion and visualization, resulting in an experiment that shows that performance differences between primed individuals persist even as task difficulty in- creases (chapter 4). In a separate experiment, I show how certain emotional states (i.e. frustration and engagement) can be inferred from visualization interaction logs using machine learning (chapter 5). I then discuss a model for individual cognitive dif- ferences in visualization, which situates emotion into existing individual differences research in visualization (chapter 6). Finally, I propose an preliminary model for emotion in visualization (chapter 7)

No one is hurt forever

Many events take place during a person's life that will always have a particular influence on him. Some of these are humorous, some tragic, others "disturbing." Some are never able to be completely defined by the person to whom they occur. It is a paradox that an outsider often formulates a clearer picture of a writer who attempts to put some of these events onto paper than the writer himself. All this is by way of saying that the following four stories are based on personal experiences. This, of course, may or may not be recognized by those who read them, but this admission will refute those who say, "What does he know about a monastery?" for I was in one. The other stories are also extremely personal

Identifying Multivariate Vulnerability Of Nursing Home Facilities Throughout The Southeastern United States

To identify nursing home vulnerability attributable to location using a triangulated approach that includes historic natural hazards, community vulnerability and nursing home attributes, we use an inductive-hierarchical vulnerability index construction model. Principal components analysis (PCA) is used for two inductive models of community (CLI) and natural hazard (HLI) vulnerability. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to determine weights, according to expert ranks, for a hierarchical model of nursing home facility level vulnerability (NHLI). These three sub-indices are combined using an equal weights hierarchical approach to create a multivariate nursing home vulnerability index (MNHVI). Hazard level vulnerability is predominantly attributable to storm surge, minor hurricanes, and inland flooding. Drivers of community level vulnerability were found to be poverty and minority population, age, income and housing, Hispanic population, family status, employment type and female gender, and nursing home population. Nursing home vulnerability is found to be higher for tracts and counties that house nursing home residents with decreased or limited mobility. The clusters throughout the study area that were identified as the most vulnerable for the MNHVI are predominantly attributable to their geographic location along the coastline. The mapped outputs can provide nursing homes with an easily distributable form of visual and quantitative information to share with emergency management agencies, family members or representatives of residents in nursing homes. This study can also assist administrators in risk assessment, development of policies and procedures, communication planning, and personnel training to comply with emergency preparedness regulations

The Dispositions in Action of Lateral Entry and Traditionally Certified Elementary Teachers in North Carolina.

This case study examined the dispositions in action of alternatively certified (lateral entry) and traditionally certified elementary teachers in North Carolina and how those dispositions manifest in the classroom as revealed through teacher and administrator interviews, teacher card sorts, analysis of student products, and prolonged classroom observations. Dispositional manifestation was measured using the Dispositions in Action Instrument (Thornton, 2006) which addressed three domains of teaching: classroom management, instruction, and assessment. Research questions focused on the dispositions that both alternatively certified and traditionally certified teachers' possess, how those dispositions manifest themselves in the classroom, and the factors that seem to mediate the development of those dispositions. Lateral entry and traditionally licensed elementary teachers in North Carolina did display different dispositions in terms of classroom management, instruction, and assessment. In regard to management, lateral entry teachers showed a greater amount of empathy towards their students while traditionally licensed teachers focused primarily on established procedures and routines. However, both were effective classroom managers. In terms of instruction, lateral entry teachers displayed a technical disposition in action focusing on worksheets and textbooks. On the other hand, the traditionally licensed teachers displayed more responsive dispositions in action where differentiation and integration were evident in the teaching. However, one lateral entry teacher with a year of experience substitute teaching displayed dispositions in action similar to the traditionally licensed teachers and one traditionally licensed teacher who obtained her degree over twenty years ago did display technical dispositions in action. Student assessment was a common weakness for both groups of teachers. The factors that seemed to mediate the development of dispositions in action of the participants were the presence of a strong instructional leader, experience within an educational setting, ILT meetings, and a profound sense of empathy among those participants who had their own children

Single vision

If there is ambivalence in the title poem of this thesis, "SINGLE VISION," then it is the result of inadequate empirical information provided by irrelevant measuring devices from a technology whose capability remains somewhere this side of infinity. By imposing empirical limits on things of this world such as poems and photographs, a potential other-world is precluded. Precluding those things outside of the empirical precludes "spherical vision" and limits seeing to the one perspective of "single vision." The two facts, that this thesis contains poems and photographs, and that it is sectioned into six general parts, is a reflection of my own interpretation of the material of this thesis, and my own interpretation is a function of "single vision." By preceding most of the poems with carefully selected, printed, manipulated photographs, I have imposed my own evaluation and decisions concerning the intrinsic, as well as superficial, aspects of the poems and photographs. Some "combinations" which work toward a mutually intrinsic level of expression may seem related only on the surface level. But in these pairings, it is hoped that a much stronger relationship may evolve expressing an intrinsic convergence of meaning. Other combinations of poems and photographs may seem to have little in common on the illustrative level. Usually several photographs precede a single poem, though in a few instances one photograph will precede and converge quintessentially with the essential meaning of several poems which follow it

Effects of skilled nursing facility structure and process factors on medication errors during nursing home admission

Background: Older adults are at greatest risk of medication errors during the transition period of the first 7 days after admission and readmission to a skilled nursing facility (SNF).Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate structure- and process-related factors that contribute to medication errors and harm during transition periods at a SNF.Methodology/Approach: Data for medication errors and potential medication errors during the 7-day transition period for residents entering North Carolina SNFs were from the Medication Error Quality InitiativeVIndividual Error database from October 2006 to September 2007. The impact of SNF structure and process measures on the number of reported medication errors and harm from errors were examined using bivariate and multivariate model methods. Findings: A total of 138 SNFs reported 581 transition period medication errors; 73 (12.6%) caused harm. Chain affiliation was associated with a reduction in the volume of errors during the transition period. One third of all reported transition errors occurred during the medication administration phase of the medication use process, where dose omissions were the most common type of error; however, dose omissions caused harm less often than wrong-dose errors did. Prescribing errors were much less common than administration errors but were much more likely to cause harm. Practice Implications: Both structure and process measures of quality were related to the volume of medication errors

Impact of Medication Aide Use on Skilled Nursing Facility Quality

Purpose of the Study: A number of states have begun to allow skilled nursing facilities to employ medication aides, who have less formal education than registered nurses (RNs) or licensed practical nurses (LPNs), to administer medications. If this results in fewer RNs or LPNs, quality degradation may occur. We evaluated the effect of regulations allowing for medication aides on subsequent medication aide use and the effect of changes in medication aide use on other nurse staffing, deficiencies, and Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI) health outcome measures. Design and Methods: Staffing levels and inspection deficiencies from the Online Survey and Certification and Reporting System and NHQI data from 2004 to 2010 for facilities from eight southeastern U.S. states are used in instrumental variables models with facility fixed effects. Results: Facilities in states allowing for medication aide use increased medication aide use with no statistically significant reduction in RN or LPN use. Medication aide use decreased the probability that a facility received a deficiency citation for unnecessary drug use or having a medication error rate greater than or equal to 5% and had no effect on deficiencies for significant or harmful medication errors. Increased medication aide use was associated with fewer pharmacy and total deficiency citations and decreased use of physical restraints; in contrast, more use of medication aides was associated with an increase in the percentage of residents needing help with activities of daily living and losing continence. Implications: This study provides support for state policies that allow skilled nursing facilities to use medication aides

Traditional martial arts and children with ADHD : self-perceptions of competence

"The overall purpose of this study was to explore the influences that traditional martial arts may have on the self-perceptions of children with ADHD. Specifically, two foci were examined. First, this research study explored and described the aspect of self-perceptions of competence that children with ADHD experience. Second, it explored and described the process of participation in a traditional martial arts program of training by children with ADHD and what influences the program had on the children and their feelings regarding ability and success. Using a case study design, seven students with ADHD from grades 3, 4, and 5 participated in the 15-week study. Through pre-intervention and post-intervention parent and student interviews, weekly verbal debriefings, weekly observational protocols, and bi-weekly parent phone contacts, insight was gained about the influences of traditional martial arts on the self-perceptions of competence of children with ADHD. While results indicated that many characteristics seemed to be present in most of the students that participated in the study, more specific themes linked all of the students with regard to their individual levels of self-perceptions of competence. Additional outcomes regarding students' personal feelings and increased skill development during the training were also demonstrated and observed."--Abstract from author supplied metadata