55453 research outputs found
Sort by
Acute Effects Of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Liquid Nicotine Form and Sweetener Among People Who Use Inhaled Tobacco Products
Full text linkResearch on tobacco product standards to limit the abuse liability of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has primarily focused on nicotine concentration and flavor. Other liquid characteristics, such as protonated nicotine ratio and sweetener additives, are less understood but may serve as regulatory targets. This clinical laboratory study examined the effects of ENDS protonated nicotine ratio and sweetener presence on nicotine delivery, use behavior, and subjective effects.
Thirteen participants completed four sessions that varied by protonated nicotine ratio (0:100 vs. 40:60 freebase to monoprotonated nicotine) and sweetener status (sweetened with 3 mg/mL ethyl maltol vs. unsweetened). Each session included a 10-puff directed use period and a 30-minute ad libitum use period, followed by an own-brand challenge. Measures included heart rate, subjective effects, plasma nicotine concentration, and liquid consumption.
Results showed that nicotine form significantly influenced nicotine delivery, use behavior, and subjective effects. The 0:100 protonation ratio produced greater nicotine boost, longer puff duration, and larger puff volume compared to the 40:60 condition. Sweetener did not impact nicotine delivery but enhanced flavor perception and appeal when combined with the 0:100 ratio. Unsweetened liquids were associated with greater nausea, while 40:60 conditions were perceived as harsher and more irritating. The 0:100 liquids increased concentration ratings, whereas 40:60 liquids elicited greater immediate desire to use again.
These findings underscore the need for ENDS product standards to consider not only nicotine concentration but also nicotine form and sweetener presence to more effectively reduce abuse liability
S18, E16: The Comptroller of the Currency (Aired 4/25/2025)
Full text linkAughie and Nia learn about the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the many financial and banking boards that the Comptroller sits on or directs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/civil_discourse/1271/thumbnail.jp
Sealing the Deal: A Case Study of a Private, Southeastern, Regional College’s Student Onboarding Practices
Full text linkEach year, higher education institutions offer support to new, incoming students through an onboarding process that requires dedication and collaboration across multiple departments. Offering streamlined guidance and clear communication throughout the onboarding process is essential to ensure incoming students understand action steps without becoming overwhelmed with new terminology, processes, and environments. This explanatory case study is set to understand the current communication practices and technology use across onboarding departments at Brightside College – also referred to as Brightside or BC (pseudonym). The research team aimed to understand Brightside\u27s onboarding staff\u27s perspective of current processes and practices. With emphasis on the theoretical approaches of cognitive load theory (CLT) and loss-momentum framework (LMF), this study explores correlations on the impacts of students\u27 ability to move through the onboarding process based on the volume and content within onboarding processes and communications. Through focus groups, interviews, surveys, and document analysis, the capstone team gained a clear understanding of the current onboarding processes, communications, and loss points staff face at Brightside College. Common themes developed throughout data collection to indicate areas that could be improved upon to streamline and unify the onboarding process. Recommendations were offered in a timeline approach focusing on enhancing current technology practices, utilizing feedback from both staff and students, and exploring ways to improve communications to enhance the overall onboarding experience for both students and staff
Brute Gamification
Full text linkDigital platforms are surreptitious structures that gamify the ways in which we engage and exchange. They dictate every step of our journeys even as we navigate onward with a sense of absolute agency. The harder that we try to win, the more the platform will win!
In Brute Gamification, I employ image-based installation and performance to unravel the terms and conditions with which these platforms dictate our lives. A literal platform supports a series of image-games, all of which are about to end in a draw. Through prescribing the user to a designated path to focus on this non-ending as well as recalibrating traditional usage of business frameworks in the narratives of my lecture performances, what I propose is a mode of playing that tethers to the path itself
Subgingival Microbiomes of Healthy and Periodontitis Subjects
No full textBackground: Periodontitis is a common chronic inflammatory disease triggered by the dysbiosis of the subgingival microbiome. 16s rRNA sequencing has been used to profile the subgingival plaque samples in healthy and periodontitis subjects. Here, we have collected subgingival plaque samples from subjects and analyzed the microbiome profile from 16s rRNA sequencing. We hypothesized that periodontitis patients will have a different subgingival microbiome profile than that of healthy subjects.
Methods: Subgingival plaque samples were collected from periodontitis and healthy subjects who were indicated for periodontal surgeries (osseous resective and regenerative surgery for periodontitis patients or crown lengthening for healthy individuals). Fifty-five samples from 41 subjects were recruited for this study. Twenty-seven patients were included in the diseased group and 14 in the healthy group. In 14 subjects, samples were collected from two different pockets. DNA was extracted and 16S rRNA sequencing was performed. The microbial diversity and composition of bacterial samples were analyzed. Differential abundant microbes between healthy and periodontitis samples were also identified.
Results: About 550 taxa were identified from periodontal pockets, although most of them had low abundance. The microbiome in periodontitis subjects’ pockets showed a bigger richness and diversity than that in healthy samples (alpha diversity), however, healthy subgingival plaque had a larger variance among individuals (beta diversity). Differences can also be seen at different pockets from the same subjects. Microbes that are significantly present between healthy and periodontitis pockets were identified.
Conclusion: The microbiome of periodontitis pockets is significantly different from that in healthy pockets. These results suggest that future studies should focus on the microbial profile and dynamic interplay between the subgingival communities to help further understand the disease and aid in future treatments and diagnostics
Junior Recital, Heidi Marle, violin
Full text linkJunior recitalHeidi Marle, violinCharles Lindsey, pianoTuesday, April 29, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.Recital HallJames W. Black Music Center1015 Grove Avenue | Richmond, VirginiaThe presentation of this junior recital will fulfill in part the requirements of the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. Heidi Marle studies violin with Prof. Susanna Klein
Junior Recital, Heidi Marle, violin, video
Full text linkJunior recital, videoHeidi Marle, violinCharles Lindsey, pianoTuesday, April 29, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.Recital HallJames W. Black Music Center1015 Grove Avenue | Richmond, VirginiaThe presentation of this junior recital will fulfill in part the requirements of the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. Heidi Marle studies violin with Prof. Susanna Klein
Technointerventionism: External Sources of Influence Shaping Parental Attitudes and Practices in Early Childhood Media Use
No full textThis dissertation explores how external sources of advice influence parental decision-making regarding screen media use for preschool-aged children (aged 2 to 5). While the literature on child- screen media effects continues to expand, few studies have examined where parents turn when uncertain about screen-related decisions. Parents remain a critical, yet under-examined variable in the broader discourse around childhood media effects. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST), this study maps external sources of advice across four ecological dimensions: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. Through a large national survey of primary caregivers (N = 2,072), this study addresses three research questions: Which external sources of advice are parents most likely to rely on when making screen-related decisions? How are these sources associated with screen- related interventions? And, how is advice reliance linked to screen-related behavioral outcomes in children? Findings from this study suggest that parents most frequently rely on expert advice from within the mesosystem, such as a child’s doctor, teacher, or childcare provider. These sources are also associated with the most interventions and behavior issues. In contrast, microsystem reliance, particularly from co-parents, is associated with fewer behavior issues. Exosystem sources, such as universities and nonprofits, yield mixed results: while parents value their national credibility and evidence-based guidance, they often find the advice difficult to interpret and apply meaningfully to their child. Macrosystem sources, such as news, movies, and TV are the least relied upon, and reliance on these sources is associated with fewer interventions and more screen enablement. Parents who turn to mass media are more likely to permit increased screen use as a pacification tool, reflecting their own screen habits and contributing to notable behavior issues when screens are inconsistently managed. By adapting EST to center the parent in the model, this study provides a baseline for future research and a more nuanced understanding of how parental advice seeking may support or limit desired development outcomes in early childhood
Self-Threat and the Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
Full text linkSince its introduction in 1974, the anchoring and adjustment heuristic has been a topic of interest within the field of decision making. Although much work has examined factors that affect the process of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, very little has been studied about how self-processes that may influence adjustment from an anchor. More specifically, the role of self-threat as a possible motivating factor in the adjustment process had yet to be explored. In my previous research, I explored how anchors that are threatening or flattering to one’s ingroup influences how they adjust from said anchor. Participants adjusted to an estimate that most positively reflected their ingroup, so in Studies 1A and 1B, I used similar designs to explore the role of individual self-threat in the anchoring and adjustment process. I found evidence that suggested self-threat may play a role in how individuals adjust self-threatening anchor. To examine how self-threat influences this heuristic more closely, I exposed participants to self-affirmation (Study 2) and psychological awe (Study 3) inductions to attempt to buffer this effect as both self-affirmations and psychological awe have been found to mitigate self-threat. Neither self-affirmation nor psychological awe significantly buffered the effect of self-threat on adjustment behavior. Although I was not able to find evidence that adjustment from an anchor is motivated by whether the anchor is threatening to the self, exploratory analyses suggest that adjustment from an anchor may be affected by how threatened an individual feels
Bird\u27s Eye
No full textBird’s Eye is a collection of personal essays, and Vessels for Sounds of the Ocean is a novel excerpt. The YA novel-in-progress follows Avery Johnson, a nonbinary fourteen-year-old with rapidly progressing scoliosis, as they harness the power of their best friend’s pet sea monster to erase memories of their spine doctor’s ongoing sexual abuse. A queer coming-of-age story, this novel strives to bring a trans lens to narratives about disability, trauma, and grief—to define characters beyond their queerness and disability alone. In Bird’s Eye, personal essays consider the ways in which transness, disability, and chronic illness intersect in the body. Essays return to the concept of inversion—the ways in which others perceive the speaker’s gender as an absence of femininity, rather than a vibrant presence itself. Weaving in research—from peregrine falcons and tree leaf patterns to vampire stories and hotel ghosts—essays turn to the outside world to tell the story of a body in flux