Digital Commons Network^™

How E-Bicycle Policy And Infrastructure Challenge Sustainable Transportation: An Ethical Assessment, Shane Ray Epting

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

While new transportation technologies such as transportation network companies and electronic scooters showed promise for sustainable mobility, their initial impacts suggest otherwise in several instances. Electronic bicycles are no exception, resulting in an increasing number of injuries and deaths in many cities. Despite having environmental advantages, such outcomes challenge the view that they qualify as sustainable, bearing in mind that negative health impacts undermine sustainability's social pillar. While this issue is of paramount importance, it is only one factor among many that could impact several stakeholder groups, including many human groups, nonhuman animals, ecosystems, future people, and urban artifacts. In …

Vicarious Trauma: The Psychological Impact On Counsellors And Psychotherapists Working With Survivors Of Sexual Abuse., Deborah Down, Alison Bacon

School of Psychology

Background: Vicarious trauma (VT), the psychological distress that occurs from exposure to the trauma of others, is prevalent among therapists, but has not previously been explored in those working specifically with survivors of sexual trauma. This qualitative study explores counsellors‘ and psychotherapists‘ experiences of VT when working with survivors of sexual abuse. Method: Semi-structured interviews uncovered complex emotional and psychological impacts, highlighting how exposure to traumatic sexual abuse narratives can affect counsellors‘ and psychotherapists‘ wellbeing, and professional and personal identity. A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted. Results: Four key themes were identified. (1) The Impact of VT reveals the emotional …

Neural Symphony Of Flow Experience: Evidence For High-Dimensional Metastable Dynamics, Abdelrahman B.M. Eldaly, Kris Zhangguang Kang, Fiona Fui Hoon Nah, Leanne Lai Hang Chan, Keng Leng Siau, Xiao Fan Liu, Richard Huskey, Langtao Chen, Tejaswini Yelamanchili, René Weber

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

Flow, an optimal experience characterized by deep immersion and engagement in an activity, has been extensively studied in behavioral research. However, its neural dynamic mechanism remains poorly understood. In a within-subject video gaming experiment, we captured neural activity underlying flow, boredom, and anxiety using a 64-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) system. Compared to boredom and anxiety, flow exhibits the highest global functional connectivity, metastability, and dimensionality of dynamic functional connectivity patterns, suggesting that flow is a highly adaptable process that is supported by high-dimensional neural dynamics. Unlike previous studies that focused on identifying static or localized brain activity, we examine the neural …

Nurses' And Families' Experiences Of A Feasibility Trial Comparing Single‐Use And Multiple‐Use Endotracheal Suction Catheters In Mechanically Ventilated Patients: A Qualitative Study, Mohamed H. Eid, Kevin Hambridge, Patricia Schofield, Jos M. Latour

School of Nursing and Midwifery

BackgroundIn resource-limited Intensive Care Units (ICUs), reusing endotracheal suctioning catheters is often standard practice due to supply constraints or staffing pressures. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have explored the impact of these practices on patient outcomes. However, less is known about the experiences of nurses and family members involved in RCTs testing endotracheal suctioning interventions.AimTo explore the experiences of ICU nurses and family members participating in a feasibility RCT comparing single-use versus multiple-use endotracheal suction catheters flushed with chlorhexidine or normal saline in a resource-limited ICU setting.Study DesignA qualitative study was embedded within a feasibility RCT. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with …

Longstanding Mental Representations Of Familiar Faces, Sarah Laurence, A. Mike Burton, Camilla During, Jennifer Pink, Lucy Wilson, Mila Mileva

School of Psychology

As we recognise people we know over many years, their faces can change, sometimes profoundly, and yet we continue to recognise them with ease. How do we update our representations over time? We present four pre-registered experiments to examine this. In Experiment 1, using likeness ratings and speeded name verification, fans of a long-running TV soap opera demonstrated that their representations of the characters’ faces were weighted towards their most recent encounters – when the characters were oldest. While we initially hypothesised that this was due to recency, Experiment 2 showed this not to be the case. When new participants …

The Roddey Mcmillan Record - September 2026, Winthrop University

The RMR 2020-2029

The Roddey McMillan Record (RMR) is Winthrop’s monthly multicultural student publication. The RMR has been a significant voice of the minority population of the Winthrop community since its creation by Gail Harris in April 1986. It promotes awareness and understanding of issues concerning minorities for the prosperity of the entire Winthrop community. The purpose of the RMR is to shine light on the many diverse cultures at Winthrop, focusing on issues, concerns and happenings of those who represent the multicultural community on campus. The Roddey McMillan Record is named after Dr. Cynthia Roddey and Atty, Sheila McMillan. Cynthia Roddey was …

Cerebellar Atrophy In Pediatric-Onset Opsoclonus-Myoclonus-Ataxia Syndrome: A Large International Cohort Study, Rebecca Macrae, Kierstin Hederstedt, Christopher Cortina, Kumaran Deiva, Andrea Klein, Ming Lim, Thomas Rossor, Elizabeth A Sokol, Yasmin Khakoo, Nikita Malani Shukla, Timothy E Lotze, Wendy G Mitchell, Sarah Hopkins, Bo Zhang, Mark P Gorman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background and objectives: Pediatric-onset opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome (POOMAS) is a rare, neuroinflammatory syndrome that targets the cerebellum and can cause irreversible cerebellar structural changes, namely cerebellar atrophy. We investigated the frequency of cerebellar atrophy, as well as associated risk factors and functional outcome measures, using the largest active POOMAS registry.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of participants with POOMAS with disease onset from 1995 to 2025 using data from the multinational, multicenter POOMAS registry. Variables were compared between the cerebellar atrophy subgroups using the Fisher exact test or Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

Results: Of participants with follow-up imaging, cerebellar atrophy …

Inaccurate Interpretation Of Hypoxia Signatures From Transcriptomic Analyses In Neuro-Oncology, Rebecca K Simmons, Pratima Raut, Subhi Talal Younes, Marco Gallo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We aim to highlight problems with the biological interpretation of computationally-derived hypoxia signatures for neuro-oncology research. By reviewing important experimental work in the field, we discuss common misinterpretations of the concepts of normoxia and hypoxia. In fact, the concentration of oxygen in the adult brain is in the range of 1-7%. Unfortunately, this oxygen concentration range is often mistakenly considered hypoxic in neuro-oncology experiments, although it should be considered physioxic. Further, given the lack of a universal hypoxic signature, we stress the importance of deriving cell type-specific hypoxic signatures using carefully-executed experiments.

Heroclix®: A Multiplayer Chess Game For Teaching The Fundamentals Of Human Capital Management, Chin Heng Low, Jiunwen Wang, Paul Lim, Bernie Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article describes the adaptation and use of the HeroClix® board game to teach critical real-world principles for effective human capital management within teams. In a HeroClix® game, players pit their team of miniature figurines against other players’ miniatures in combat. This is akin to organizations striving in the business environment today, with well-structured human capital within their teams as a key competitive advantage. In this article, we suggest how the game can be applied in the classroom for undergraduate students to experience, reflect on, and learn more about the prerequisite considerations in proficient people management, the dynamic nature of …

From Trees To Treewidth: Inventory Management In Complex Supply Chain Networks, Philippe Blaettchen, Andre Calmon, Georgina Hall, Mohit Tawarmalani

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose an exact linear programming (LP)-based solution approach to the Guaranteed Service Model (GSM), one of the most widely applied models for optimizing safety stock placement in supply chain networks. Our approach handles any directed acyclic network and any cost function that depends on a stage’s incoming and outgoing service times. It scales polynomially in the number of nodes n in the network, pseudo-polynomially with respect to the bit size of the maximum replenishment time M, and (for fixed M) exponentially in its treewidth, which quantifies how “tree-like” a network is and can be much smaller …

Disrupted Trajectories: Covid-19, Transnational Youth Mobility And Unequal Transitions To Adulthood, Simon Chambers, Anita Harris, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

While the impact of COVID-19 on youth development has been widely studied, less is known about its effects on transnationally mobile young adults. This longitudinal study of Australian outbound and inbound mobility examines how the pandemic disrupted this population's experiences abroad as they navigated transitions to adulthood. It draws on two waves of survey data collected using a convenience sample between July 2020 and September 2022. Our findings reveal that COVID-19 presented significant challenges to young adults living away from home, with disruptions to their future plans, social connections, and well-being. However, these impacts were not uniform. The pandemic magnified …

Killer Whales (Orcinus Orca) In The Indo-Pacific: A Review Of Their Distribution, Population Structure, And Ecology, Paola Lacetera, Paul Tixier, Isabella M. Reeves, Maeva Terrapon, Aaron Barnes, Christophe Guinet, Simon H. Elwen, John Totterdell, Jennah Tucker, Paul Cross, Georgia K. Bisset, John Dickie, John P.Y. Arnould

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: Killer whales, Orcinus orca, are cosmopolitan top predators showing highly variable ecology and behaviour across populations. In the Indo-Pacific, baseline knowledge in general remains scarce, limiting the assessment of their vulnerability to the accelerated environmental changes, including expanding fisheries this region is undergoing.

Methodology: This review synthesises 170 sources found between 2000–2025 to evaluate the current knowledge on distribution, population structure, and feeding ecology (including depredation) of killer whales in the Indo-Pacific, and to identify priorities for future research and management.

Results: Occurrence was highly variable, from sporadic sightings in most tropical sectors to seasonal and year-round presence at …

Sonographer Clinical Skills Training: What Can We Learn From International Education And Clinical Training Models To Address The Workforce Shortage?, Jennifer Alphonse, Gill Harrison, Christopher Edwards, Rebecca Perry, Afrooz Najafzadeh Abriz, Ignatius Pereira, Tara Chegwin, Pauline A. Mitchell, Adrienne J. Young, Shelley A. Park, Kate Russo, Michelle Fenech, Ann Quinton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: The sonographer workforce shortage is worldwide, with limited access to clinical training positions a major contributing factor to qualified sonographers entering the workforce. Our aim is to examine sonographer training models in English-speaking countries where sonographers are the primary providers of diagnostic ultrasound services and clinical training (work integrated learning/WIL) is embedded within accredited course curricula to troubleshoot the sonographer workforce shortage.

Methodology: An extensive search of Australian and international sonography course providers was performed. Accredited courses where WIL is a curriculum component and is assessable were included. Courses from Australia were compared to international courses and course elements …

Nf1 Loss In Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Induces Osteoclast Formation And Immunosuppression To Promote Bone Metastasis, Zifan Zhao, Ze-Yi Zheng, Jonathan T Lei, Matthew J Baik, Yi-Hsuan Wu, Lauren K Somes, Andres F Mosquera Paternina, Omar A Harb, Owen A Chang, Fengshuo Liu, Matthew V Holt, Junkai Wang, Igor Bado, Hai Wang, George Miles, Zbigniew Gugala, Meenakshi Anurag, Ahmed Elkhanany, Yi Li, Valentina Hoyos, Xiang H-F Zhang, Eric C Chang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer exhibits a marked propensity for skeletal metastasis; however, the molecular drivers of bone colonization remain incompletely defined. We investigated the tumor suppressor neurofibromin (NF1), a dual repressor for RAS and ER signaling, whose inactivation promotes endocrine therapy (ET) resistance and is associated with inferior relapse-free survival. NF1 copy number loss was detected in 62% of ER+ patients who subsequently developed metastases and was associated with an increased likelihood of bone metastases at initial diagnosis. In mouse xenograft models, NF1-depleted ER+ breast cancer cells demonstrated enhanced dissemination to skeletal sites following surgical resection of primary tumors. …

Nāgasvaram Ensemble Music In Contemporary South India: Perspectives Of Revival, Rajeswari Ranganathan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a study of nāgasvaram ensemble music in South India based on ethnographic research in Tamil Nadu conducted between 2022 and 2026. Drawing from observations of its various performance contexts and extensive interviews with contemporary practitioners, teachers, students, impresarios, and archivists, this study examines how the aesthetics, social contexts, and circulation of nāgasvaram ensemble music have evolved over the last four decades. Countering prevalent narratives of its decline and highlighting its endurance, I argue that this musical practice is undergoing a revival, both shaped by and contributing to ongoing social transformations.

Nāgasvaram ensembles featuring the double-reed woodwind instrument …

Bivip: A Competitive Neural Network For Bilateral Visuo-Haptic Processing, Eleonore Federica Di Rosa, Aaisha Sheth, Jeffrey Min-In Yau, Laura Astolfi, Cristiano Cuppini

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Visuo-haptic interactions are gaining interest in perception research because of their relevance to robotics and rehabilitation. While the benefits of integrating concurrent visuo-tactile cues are well-documented, the temporal dynamics of competitive interactions between vision and touch remain less understood. Building on extant empirical evidence of unilateral intersensory switching, we ask whether bilateral detection of visual and tactile stimuli can be explained by cross-sensory competition and explore the underlying sensorineural dynamics via a multi-level neural network model. Tested against results from a speeded reaction time task to unilateral and bilateral visual, tactile, and visuo-tactile targets, the network successfully predicts higher switch …

Towards Human-Centered Digital Health Interventions, Kristin M Kostick-Quenet, Eric A Storch

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

This article discusses the potential of digital health interventions (DHIs) in mental health care, emphasizing the importance of designing them to foster genuine humanistic care. It highlights current challenges in measuring engagement and outcomes, advocating for integrating human-centered endpoints such as dignity, autonomy, and therapeutic alliance into evaluation frameworks. The authors call for mechanistic research to identify effective engagement strategies and context-specific implementation approaches. Ultimately, successful DHIs should demonstrate both clinical efficacy and the preservation of humane, person-centered care, ensuring ethical and meaningful mental health support through technology.

Loss Of Function Dnmt3a Mutation Leads To Aberrant Neutrophil Migration, Frieda Zimmer, Daniel E Kennedy, Spencer L Redding, Ruoqiong Cao, Sarah M Waldvogel, Apoorva Thatavarty, Bryan Bahoua, Brandon T Tran, Arushana A Maknojia, Margaret A Goodell, Antony Rodriguez, Katie A Matatall, Katherine Y King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH), an age-related expansion of somatically mutated hematopoietic clones, is associated with increased risk of severe infections including coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated the impact of Dnmt3a deficiency in a murine model of influenza A virus (IAV) pneumonia. Dnmt3a-deficient mice exhibited increased pulmonary viral burden and reduced neutrophil accumulation in IAV-infected lungs despite comparable circulating neutrophil numbers. Functional analyses of neutrophils showed impaired chemotactic migration in vitro, whereas maturation, antimicrobial enzyme content, and metabolic capacity were unchanged. Transcriptomic profiling revealed downregulation of pathways involved in chemotaxis, cytokine signaling, and cellular activation, …

Catalytic Synthesis Of Protoberberine Alkaloids And Their Evaluation As Selective Dopamine Receptor Ligands, Ashok Reddy Gudipally

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dopamine regulates motor control, cognition, reward, motivation, and neuroendocrine signaling. Disruption of dopaminergic neurotransmission is closely linked to central nervous system disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, addiction, and related neuropsychiatric conditions. Because these functions are mediated by multiple dopamine receptor subtypes with distinct roles in physiology and disease, the discovery of subtype-selective ligands remains an important goal in neuropharmacology. Within this context, protoberberine alkaloids, particularly tetrahydroprotoberberines (THPBs), are attractive molecular frameworks because they combine structural complexity with broad biological relevance, including measurable activity in CNS-related diseases. Prior work from our laboratory and others established (–)-stepholidine (1.60) as an important lead …

The Impact Of Gun Control Policies On Firearm-Related Deaths: A Two Decade State-By-Year Analysis, Rabana Tajrin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This report analyzed firearm-related deaths rates in the United States at the state level over a two decade period between 2000 to 2019. The study used a state-by-year analytical framework created from the U.S. Gun Deaths by County, 1999–2019 dataset (Eltom, 2019) in order to examine national trends, state-level differences, changes over time, geographic concentration, and regional variation. The analysis focused on firearm-related deaths by adjusting for population size differences (i.e., the crude firearm-related death rate) across U.S. states from 2000 to 2019. These analyses indicated that firearm-related deaths increased nationally during the study period. Total firearm-related deaths rose from …

Allyship And Affect: Qualitative Investigations Into Social Transformation, Michael Lucinda Jane Greer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Allies have faced several critiques in feminist philosophy. Some have argued that they lack the requisite political interests to be motivated to dismantle the social structures from which they stand to benefit. Others have argued that the epistemic limitations resulting from their social privilege are insurmountable. Yet others have argued that allyship is too individualistic a concept, preferring a more collectivist concept like solidarity. However, there remain privileged individuals who understand themselves as complicit in perpetuating oppressive forms of life, and who wish to transform themselves and work in coalition across difference to dismantle structural oppression. How ought these individuals …

Bridging Data Gaps In Retinal Imaging: From Structural Domain Adaptation To Topology-Aware Synthesis, Gözde Merve Demirci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Comprehensive visualization of the retina is essential for diagnosing and monitoring blinding diseases such as Diabetic Retinopathy and Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), where pathological changes often extend beyond a single field of view. Despite significant advances in automated retinal image analysis, clinical deployment remains limited by two fundamental data gaps: a structural learning gap, arising from scarce expert annotations and poor generalization across imaging domains, and a spatial coverage gap, caused by the difficulty of acquiring multi-view retinal images in fragile populations. Although these challenges are often addressed independently, this dissertation argues that they are tightly coupled: accurate, …

Authoritarianism, Hostility And Threat: An Analysis Of American Political Podcasts Surrounding The 2024 Presidential Election, Noah D. Cohen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Political rhetoric surrounding key events has seen sharp increases in emotionally affective speech, intergroup sentiment, and rhetoric unbecoming of democratic societies in recent years. Similarly, semi-democratic and ideologically driven speech has become increasingly normalized within an era of political polarization and hardline beliefs in modern media. Within this economy of outrage, sensational and largely unmoderated media formats, particularly podcasts, have become a mainstay of political information and discourse. This raises an important question: how does rhetoric surrounding political events construct intergroup sentiment and authoritarian rhetoric within political media, particularly American political podcasts? Further, given political podcasts’ growing social influence in …

Intimate Partner Violence And Emotion Regulation Among Emerging Adults: Investigating The Roles Of Dispositional Mindfulness And Executive Function In The Context Of A Laboratory-Induced Stress Paradigm, Mikell Bursky

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a major public health concern that impacts an estimated 10 million men and women in the United States annually. IPV refers to a range of physical, sexual or psychological forms of aggression committed against a current or former romantic partner in the context of a relationship. The highest rates of IPV are observed in emerging adulthood, a developmental period between the ages of 18 to 25 that is significant for the transition from adolescence into adulthood, and the establishment of first meaningful intimate relationships. Although distal risk factors for IPV such as violence in the …

The Cranial Nerves And Electrical Stimulation, Devin K. P. Adair

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cranial nerves provide afferent pathways that enable bottom-up modulation of central autonomic and cognitive neural pathways. Because these pathways project to brainstem nuclei such as the nucleus tractus solitarius and engage neuromodulatory systems, including the locus coeruleus, electrical stimulation offers a mechanistically grounded approach to influencing brain function. This thesis tested whether active transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) produces physiological responses indicative of parasympathetic engagement, defined as decreases in heart rate, increases in heart rate variability, and decreases in respiration relative to a dose-matched earlobe control condition. Using cardiac and respiratory measures as physiological markers, taVNS at the tragus …

Teaching Third Graders To Read Multisyllable Words: Segmentation Versus Whole Word Reading, Jolie D. Heath

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the early years of elementary school when children are still learning to read, they are presented with words of increased syllable length, and orthographic and morphological complexity in the texts they read.  Although multisyllabic words comprise 90% of words in the English lexicon and carry important linguistic information for expanding vocabularies and comprehension of content, few studies have focused on teaching middle elementary children to read multisyllabic words.  Many children lack strategies to identify these longer more complex words accurately and easily, leading to reading difficulties that place weaker readers at higher risk for school related problems and limit …

Shifting To Using Desmos Or Geogebra Graphing Calculators In High School Mathematics Classrooms, Nancy Lin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Most high school math classrooms in Long Island use the Texas Instruments TI-84+ CE graphing calculator in the three Regents math courses. Texas Instruments holds approximately 80% of the market share of the international graphing calculator market. At a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $150 per TI-84+ CE, an inequitable situation exists for math learning, as underfunded schools and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds cannot afford to purchase one for home use. Such students have less experience using the handheld graphing calculator when they take high-stakes math exams. Through case studies of four suburban school districts in New York that …

Social And Structural Factors In The Development Of Baltimore's Low Back Vowels, Aidan J. Malanoski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is concerned with the low back vowels of Baltimore English: what low back systems occur, and how these systems have changed among Black and white Baltimoreans. I draw on two sources of data: 48 interviews that I conducted with natives of Baltimore and its inner suburbs, and 18 oral history interviews that were conducted from 1978 to 1981. In Chapter 3, I argue for the inclusion of the pre-rhotic sets START and NORTH in typologies of English low back vowels. With these sets included, several previously unattested low back systems are found in Baltimore. These are united by …

Vibe Diggers: The Sampling Of Brazilian Music In Hip-Hop, Romulo De Carvalho Moraes Barbosa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the trend of musical borrowings of 1970s MPB (música popular brasileira) by contemporary American hip-hop producers, especially in terms of what they have called a “Brazilian vibe.” A lot has been said about sampling already from legal, sociological, and historical points of view, but less has been said about its aesthetic procedures, and even less about the wider implications of a tendency for using transnational sources. In the case of MPB, hip-hop artists seem to understand the music they sample through an often vague, intuitive representation, which fuses qualities of those recordings with an intersubjective mood, a …

Sec-Saxs And Sans Analyses Of The Talin•Vinculin Complex, Gilbert Reyes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Focal adhesions (FA) are integrin-based cell-matrix adhesion sites composed of adaptor proteins that facilitate the generation of traction forces important for biological functions such as cell migration, embryo development, wound healing, tissue organization and stability, and immune responses. Mature FA are observed when both autoinhibited multi-domain scaffolding protein talin and membrane-cytoskeletal protein vinculin are activated and interact thus promoting the assembly and function of FA. While research has resolved truncated sections of autoinhibited talin and recruitment of vinculin due to mechanotransduction that exposes cryptic vinculin binding sites (VBS), little is known about the global modifications of full length talin in …