River runners

This collection of stories attempts to explore obsessions with sport and how those obsessions change the lives of the characters involved

Crossing over: examining the challenges of a classically trained female performing music theater repertoire

I. Solo Recital: Friday, April 11, 2013, 7:30 p.m., Taylor Theatre. Cendrillon (Jules Massanet) Opera Role. II. Solo Recital: Saturday, February 8, 2014, 7:30 p.m., Recital Hall. "Warum betrübst du dich," "Wilst du dein Herz mir schenken" (Johann Sebastian Bach); Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 (Hector Villa-Lobos); "Kennst du das Land" (Hugo Wolf); "Kennst du das Land" (John Duke); "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" (Robert Schumann); "Net tolko tot kto znal;" (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky); "Aime-moi" (Pauline Viardot); "Vaga Luna" (Vincenzo Bellini); "Aragonese" (Gioacchino Rossini); "Befreit," "Ruhe Meine Seele," "Ständchen," "Amor" (Richard Strauss). III. Solo Recital: Thursday, March 5, 2015, 7:30pm., Recital Hall. "Youkali," "J'attends un navire," "Wie lange noch?," "Come up from the Fields, Father" (Kurt Weill); "Tom Sails Away" (Charles Ives); "Le disparu," "Bleuet," "C," "Fêtes galantes" (Francis Poulenc); Ariettes Oubliées (Claude Debussy); Cabaret Songs (Benjamin Britten); "Waldseligkeit," "Selige Nacht," "Hat dich die Liebe berührt" (Joseph Marx). IV. D.M.A. Research Project. CROSSING OVER: EXAMINING THE CHALLENGES OF A CLASSICALLY TRAINED FEMALE PERFORMING MUSIC THEATER REPERTOIRE. This document explores the pedagogy of a classically trained singer as well as that of a music theater performer exploring similarities and differences. Musical examples are referenced throughout. A discussion of style of the megamusical and the 21st century musical provides context. A final chapter on repertoire suitable for bridging the styles provides a reference for the teacher and singer

VCU Media Lab

We propose the establishment of a VCU Media Lab – a professional creative media technology unit whose mission is to support the development, design, production and delivery of innovative media, multimedia, computer-based instruction, publications and tools in support of VCU education, research and marketing initiatives. This centrally administered, budgeted and resourced facility will acknowledge, refine, focus and expand media services that are currently being provided at VCU in a decentralized manner

Thermal Transport in Micro- and Nanoscale Systems

Small-scale (micro-/nanoscale) heat transfer has broad and exciting range of applications. Heat transfer at small scale quite naturally is influenced – sometimes dramatically – with high surface area-to-volume ratios. This in effect means that heat transfer in small-scale devices and systems is influenced by surface treatment and surface morphology. Importantly, interfacial dynamic effects are at least non-negligible, and there is a strong potential to engineer the performance of such devices using the progress in micro- and nanomanufacturing technologies. With this motivation, the emphasis here is on heat conduction and convection. The chapter starts with a broad introduction to Boltzmann transport equation which captures the physics of small-scale heat transport, while also outlining the differences between small-scale transport and classical macroscale heat transport. Among applications, examples are thermoelectric and thermal interface materials where micro- and nanofabrication have led to impressive figure of merits and thermal management performance. Basic of phonon transport and its manipulation through nanostructuring materials are discussed in detail. Small-scale single-phase convection and the crucial role it has played in developing the thermal management solutions for the next generation of electronics and energy-harvesting devices are discussed as the next topic. Features of microcooling platforms and physics of optimized thermal transport using microchannel manifold heat sinks are discussed in detail along with a discussion of how such systems also facilitate use of low-grade, waste heat from data centers and photovoltaic modules. Phase change process and their control using surface micro-/nanostructure are discussed next. Among the feature considered, the first are microscale heat pipes where capillary effects play an important role. Next the role of nanostructures in controlling nucleation and mobility of the discrete phase in two-phase processes, such as boiling, condensation, and icing is explained in great detail. Special emphasis is placed on the limitations of current surface and device manufacture technologies while also outlining the potential ways to overcome them. Lastly, the chapter is concluded with a summary and perspective on future trends and, more importantly, the opportunities for new research and applications in this exciting field

The management of acute venous thromboembolism in clinical practice. Results from the European PREFER in VTE Registry

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe. Data from real-world registries are necessary, as clinical trials do not represent the full spectrum of VTE patients seen in clinical practice. We aimed to document the epidemiology, management and outcomes of VTE using data from a large, observational database. PREFER in VTE was an international, non-interventional disease registry conducted between January 2013 and July 2015 in primary and secondary care across seven European countries. Consecutive patients with acute VTE were documented and followed up over 12 months. PREFER in VTE included 3,455 patients with a mean age of 60.8 ± 17.0 years. Overall, 53.0 % were male. The majority of patients were assessed in the hospital setting as inpatients or outpatients (78.5 %). The diagnosis was deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in 59.5 % and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 40.5 %. The most common comorbidities were the various types of cardiovascular disease (excluding hypertension; 45.5 %), hypertension (42.3 %) and dyslipidaemia (21.1 %). Following the index VTE, a large proportion of patients received initial therapy with heparin (73.2 %), almost half received a vitamin K antagonist (48.7 %) and nearly a quarter received a DOAC (24.5 %). Almost a quarter of all presentations were for recurrent VTE, with >80 % of previous episodes having occurred more than 12 months prior to baseline. In conclusion, PREFER in VTE has provided contemporary insights into VTE patients and their real-world management, including their baseline characteristics, risk factors, disease history, symptoms and signs, initial therapy and outcomes

Effects of alirocumab on types of myocardial infarction: insights from the ODYSSEY OUTCOMES trial

Aims  The third Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (MI) Task Force classified MIs into five types: Type 1, spontaneous; Type 2, related to oxygen supply/demand imbalance; Type 3, fatal without ascertainment of cardiac biomarkers; Type 4, related to percutaneous coronary intervention; and Type 5, related to coronary artery bypass surgery. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction with statins and proprotein convertase subtilisin–kexin Type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors reduces risk of MI, but less is known about effects on types of MI. ODYSSEY OUTCOMES compared the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab with placebo in 18 924 patients with recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and elevated LDL-C (≥1.8 mmol/L) despite intensive statin therapy. In a pre-specified analysis, we assessed the effects of alirocumab on types of MI. Methods and results  Median follow-up was 2.8 years. Myocardial infarction types were prospectively adjudicated and classified. Of 1860 total MIs, 1223 (65.8%) were adjudicated as Type 1, 386 (20.8%) as Type 2, and 244 (13.1%) as Type 4. Few events were Type 3 (n = 2) or Type 5 (n = 5). Alirocumab reduced first MIs [hazard ratio (HR) 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77–0.95; P = 0.003], with reductions in both Type 1 (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.77–0.99; P = 0.032) and Type 2 (0.77, 0.61–0.97; P = 0.025), but not Type 4 MI. Conclusion  After ACS, alirocumab added to intensive statin therapy favourably impacted on Type 1 and 2 MIs. The data indicate for the first time that a lipid-lowering therapy can attenuate the risk of Type 2 MI. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction below levels achievable with statins is an effective preventive strategy for both MI types.For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz299</p

The effectiveness of celebrities in conservation marketing

Celebrities are frequently used in conservation marketing as a tool to raise awareness, generate funding and effect behaviour change. The importance of evaluating effectiveness is widely recognised in both marketing and conservation but, to date, little research into the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement as a tool for conservation marketing has been published. Using a combination of interviews and an online choice survey instrument, we investigated the extent to which a sample of UK-based conservation organisations, and other charities, evaluate their own usage of celebrity endorsement, and then carried out an experimental evaluation of a hypothetical marketing campaign. This experiment compared participants' willingness-to-engage (WTE) with, and recall of, a conservation message presented in versions of an advert featuring one of three prominent UK celebrities (David Beckham, Chris Packham or HRH Prince William) or a non-celebrity control treatment (featuring Crawford Allan, a director of TRAFFIC USA). We find that the organisations we interviewed did not routinely evaluate their marketing campaigns featuring celebrities. Furthermore, our experiment provides evidence that celebrity endorsement can produce both positive and negative effects. Participants were more willing to engage when presented with an advert featuring one of the three celebrities than the non-celebrity control, and WTE varied according to the characteristics of the celebrity and the respondent. However, celebrities were less effective at generating campaign message recall than non-celebrities. These findings suggest that celebrity endorsement should be used carefully. Further work is required to fully understand the role celebrity endorsers can play in conservation but, drawing on best practice from the field of marketing, this study introduces an approach to evaluation which could be applied more widely to improve the effectiveness of conservation marketing