Digital Commons Network^™

The Significance Of Labels: From Shy And Lazy To Autistic And Adhd, Katrine K. Bechsgaard

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article examines the ways in which language and conceptions of neurodivergent conditions, autism and ADHD, are connected in a Danish context. As in other Western countries, there are significant increases in diagnoses, and particularly women are being diagnosed in adulthood. The article focuses on how these conditions are perceived and talked about, utilizing concepts such as othering, labeling, and performativity. The analysis suggests that when individuals feel othered and stigmatized by diagnostic labels, it has less to do with the labels themselves and more to do with the connotations and pathologization connected with the labels. Furthermore, the analysis shows …

Dangerous Disclosure: An Autoethnographic Account Of My Autism Diagnosis And The Social Work Profession, Alice Running

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

The disclosing of an autism diagnosis presents particular challenge for autistic mothers, especially for those autistic mothers who are additionally advocating for their autistic children within public service provision. Research into autism and parental blame demonstrates how autistic mothers are disproportionately exposed to aspects of mother-blame.

Disclosure of an autism diagnosis for autistic mothers can therefore be understood as a complex decision-making process whereby managing autistic identity and understanding autistic self are impacted by the additional need to manage the perceptions of others and associated stigma. The decision-making process is further influenced by the tangible consequences of mother-blame (child removal) …

Black And Autistic In Neo-Nationalist America, Timotheus Gordon Jr

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

In "Black and Autistic in a Neo-Nationalist America," Timotheus “T.J.” Gordon, Jr. explores the intersectional challenges faced by Black autistic individuals in a socio-political climate marked by rising neo-nationalism. Drawing on personal experiences and historical contexts, Gordon navigates the metaphorical tightrope of double consciousness, as articulated by W.E.B. DuBois, to highlight the precarious existence of those who do not conform to monolithic identities. The essay critiques the melting pot analogy of American culture, advocating instead for a pluralistic society that recognizes and values diverse identities. Through a blend of autobiographical narrative and scholarly analysis, Gordon underscores the systemic marginalization of …

Inside Out: Autistic Psychologists On The Power Structures Of Diagnosis, Audrey J. Scaer, Christopher R. Dabbs

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

How do relationships between medicalized diagnostic powers and training intersect with the complex social identity of autism? How does self-identification (self-diagnosis) challenge the diagnostic status quo, created and scaffolded by enormously powerful social systems? In this paper, we reflect on the historical and modern dynamics of these power relations. As autistic psychologists actively working with and diagnosing autistic clients, we end this paper with an autoethnographic interrogation of our own self-diagnostic journeys and ways in which we’ve integrated our identities across personal and professional spheres of functioning.

Memories 7, Mahlia Amatina

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

No abstract provided.

Session 3: Conference Spotlight- Politics In A World Of Ai Misinformation: Regulatory Approaches, Richard Painter, Mark Verstraete

SITIE Symposiums

Considering developments regarding AI-generated media, fake news, and impersonations, panelists discuss the challenges in regulating AI-generated media, particularly in the context of deepfakes and political misinformation. Panelists discuss the evolution of content from a text-based presentation to video-based manipulations, along with broader concerns, including the role of social media platforms, how platforms are becoming more focused, confirmation bias of individual voting publics, and the potential conflicts of interest in regulating AI-generated content. Panelists suggest solutions involving a proactive method to warn the public about AI-generated misinformation. Further, the panelists also call for greater inter-disciplinary collaboration to develop flexible and forward-thinking …

It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth [Book Review], Jessica D. Gilbert Redman

Disability in LIS (DisLIS)

It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth focuses on the author/artist’s battle with depression and anxiety—and the overwhelming urge to end her own life. Readers who are dealing with anxiety or depression will recognize themselves over and over again, as they read the graphic novel and identify the myriad of ways they themselves are trying to function and “make it” in a world that doesn’t seem to be built for them—or to understand them.

Litter-Acy, Justin Chung, Aster Li, Andrew Nguyen

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

This project for Santa Clara University School of Engineering’s annual Senior Design, Litter-acy, addresses the critical societal issue of improper waste management and the lack of public knowledge regarding proper sorting techniques. These contribute significantly to environmental pollution and deterioration. Through recognizing how traditional educational methods often fail to engage younger audiences and combat the ”adolescent dip” in sustainability interest, Litter-acy proposes an innovative solution: an iOS mobile application that gamifies waste management education.

The app features multiple interactive mini-games focused on sustainable waste sorting, including Connections, Catcher, and Trivia, designed to make learning engaging and accessible. It incorporates key …

Continuous Monitoring Of Dynamic Levels Of Sepsis-Associated Biomarkers In Blood For Early Diagnosis, Aidan Burke, Jake Chansky, Anders Kouhia, Brian Mostofi

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Sepsis is a general diagnosis related to a dysregulated immune response to a source of infection that, if left untreated, will most likely result in organ failure and eventual death. Sepsis affects 49 million people annually, and is responsible for 11 million annual deaths, according to Jarczak 1. A recent study has shown that over 80% of sepsis deaths may be preventable with earlier diagnosis and treatment, and that the risk of mortality increases by 8% for every hour that sepsis goes untreated 5. Thus, our team identified that the timeliness of sepsis diagnosis is a paramount healthcare need.

We …

Dewey And Nkrumah On Education: A Comparative Study Of Their Philosophies And Impact On Ghana’S Development, Peter Kojo Kontoh

Center for Dewey Studies Essay Award

This study explores Ghana’s developmental challenges through the lens of its educational philosophy. Despite decades of effort, the country’s economic growth remains slow, partly due to an education system misaligned with national goals. Scholars debate whether an indigenous or global philosophy of education is best suited to drive progress. This work argues for a blended approach, drawing on John Dewey’s progressive ideas and Kwame Nkrumah’s vision of education for liberation. Through historical-comparative analysis, it proposes a hybrid framework that integrates global relevance with local realities to foster a more effective, development-oriented education system in Ghana.

Employee Speech V. Workplace Values: A Defense Of At-Will Employment And Private Employer Regulation Of Political Speech, Isaac Mamaysky

Duke Law Journal Online

The public policy underlying at-will employment—and particularly our collective interest in freedom of choice in the employment relationship—weighs in favor of allowing employers to regulate their employees' political activities and thus align personnel decisions with organizational values.

Beginning with an exploration of the laws that somewhat limit employers' ability to regulate their employees' political activities, this Essay considers the National Labor Relations Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, state anti-discrimination laws, state laws governing captive audience meetings, and state employment protections for political activity.

This Essay applies these laws to three increasingly prevalent employer practices: (1) prohibiting employees …

2025 Nsu Graduate Commencement Program, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Commencement Programs

• College of Psychology
• H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship
• Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice
• College of Computing and Engineering
• Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center

Tellings Of The Pacific Ocean: A Landscape-Based Approach For Multispecies Design And Hci, Maliheh Ghajargar

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Environmental disturbances induced by climate change have caused significant changes in our ecosystems and are threatening the health of our environments. As a response to this issue, a growing body of work has emerged in HCI and design, which seeks to foreground more-than-human stories in support of making more sustainable and just futures. This research contributes to this broad agenda by probing graphic novels as a multispecies storytelling method for design and HCI. Combining ideas from Anna Tsing’s adventures of landscape and from HCI and design’s use of sequential art (e.g., storyboards), we use landscape as the main protagonist of …

Study Shows Corals Can't Escape Warming Water But Urgent Action Could Protect Them, Robbin Ray

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

"I'M Guilty, But I'M Not A War Criminal!": Fixing Treaty Crimes, Dyllan M. Taxman

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy

This Article examines the Supreme Court's test for treaty crime constitutionality against the gauntlet of time and application. Treaty crimes are criminal behavior violating statutes penalizing private individuals for disobeying the terms of an international treaty obligation. The current treaty crime test from Bond v. United States has produced inconsistent results resting on shaky constitutional grounds. This Article proposes a new test relying on constitutional delegations of authority and treaty drafting history to determine when a treaty crime statute violates the Tenth Amendment. It measures the new test's effectiveness by applying the test to cases in which the Bond test …

Lee, Interview, 2025, Micah Bookout

Oral Histories

In this interview, Lee, a local journalist with Concentrate media, shares their experiences with Ypsi Pride, detailing that this is their third Ypsi Pride and they keep coming back because of the welcoming nature and positive energy. Lee also discusses queer joy as a positive resource, explaining that their wedding was a time they really experienced that joy, and shares the importance of community connections in this current political climate.

From Classroom To Community: Why Age-Friendly Initiatives Matter For The Next Generation, Sarah Cole

D.U.Quark

No abstract provided.

Untying The Knot: All Of Us Strangers And The Transgressive Encounter, Luka Romney

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Trauma is a perennial human problem that has only recently received sustained attention from the academic community. Within the interdisciplinary field of memory studies, there has been a significant push to not only identify and theorize trauma but also map out and propose ways to move through and beyond the constraints of trauma. This article will use Andrew Haigh’s 2023 film All of Us Strangers to theorize an experience that forms a redemptive foil to trauma that I term encounter. These redemptive encounters are sticky and unwieldy, and they require a variety of critical frames to draw out their ultimate …

Female Religiosity In The United Farm Workers Movement, Keylla Ortega

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines female religiosity in the United Farm Workers movement. Using primarily a collection of essays written by UFW volunteers, this thesis highlights key moments in UFW history when women added to the religious direction of the UFW through innovative ideas and their personal faith. This thesis adds to recent scholarship dedicated to highlighting the stories of rank-and-file members of the UFW. It also adds to the Chicana scholarship that has recognized the consistent leadership of women in the UFW by demonstrating women’s religious and spiritual leadership in the UFW.

The Captive Audience Doctrine Today, R. George Wright

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Inhibitory Control: A Mediator Between Sensory Responsivity And Externalizing Behaviors In Children On The Autism Spectrum, Kaitlyn M. Drafton

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Sensory differences are among the most commonly reported symptoms in children on the autism spectrum and have been linked to both externalizing behaviors and executive functioning challenges. However, few studies have explored the potential mechanisms that underlie these relationships. The present study examined whether inhibitory control mediates the relationship between sensory responsivity and externalizing behaviors in young autistic children, each rated via caregiver-report measures. Participants included 107 caregivers of autistic children between the ages of 5-10 years old. It was hypothesized that higher levels of sensory responsivity would predict greater difficulty with inhibition, which in turn would be associated with …

The Mechanisms Of Heterogenic Necrotic And Apoptotic Cell Death Fates In Human Epidermal Keratinocytes Following Uvb Exposure, Madeline Zoe Tara

Master's Theses

UVB radiation is a carcinogen that triggers inflammation and contributes to skin carcinogenesis. Although UVB exposure can induce apoptosis, this form of cell death is non-inflammatory and thus cannot explain the inflammatory response observed following UVB. Necrotic regulated cell death (RCD) pathways, namely necroptosis, pyroptosis, and PANoptosis, are inherently pro-inflammatory, and thus this study focused on characterizing these in irradiated human epidermal keratinocytes. Keratinocytes were irradiated, treated with cell death inhibitors, and analyzed for apoptotic and necrotic RCD markers using immunofluorescence (IF). Despite uniform UVB exposure, keratinocytes displayed heterogeneous cell death responses, and these findings were validated in ex vivo …

Assessing Older Adult Behavioral Health Diagnoses In Oregon By Geographical Area, Physical Disability Status, And Age., N F. Parsons, Allyson Stodola, Ellis Hews, Nirmala Dhar, Sheryl Elliott, Sarah Dys, Walter D. Dawson

Institute on Aging Publications

This repeated cross-sectional study aims to assess potential differences among behavioral health (BH) diagnoses for older adults. Differences in services across urban versus rural/remote areas may contribute to deeply entrenched barriers to improved BH for this population.

The Development Of The Disclosed Reasons Of Partners' Premature Discontinuation In Couple Therapy Questionnaire (Dropped-Ct), Luca Codeca'

Theses and Dissertations

Premature discontinuation from couple therapy presents a substantial challenge for clients, therapists, and society. Inconsistent data on the frequency and reasons for premature discontinuation may be attributed to a lack of methodological rigor in assessing the phenomenon. This study addresses this gap by developing the Disclosed Reasons Of PrEmature Discontinuation in Couple Therapy Questionnaire (DROPPED-CT), a comprehensive instrument designed to assess the reasons why couples prematurely discontinue therapy. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, the DROPPED-CT was developed through the integration of qualitative and quantitative data. The questionnaire demonstrates strong potential for enhancing the consistency of construct operationalization and improving the comparability …

Deprivation And Family-Level Determinants For Paediatric Dental Extractions Under General Anaesthetic: An Ecological Study, Joelle Booth, Martha Paisi, Robert Witton, Robert Nelder, G J Melendez-Torres

Peninsula Dental School

Introduction Extraction of carious teeth is one of the most common reasons children in England are admitted to hospital.Aims To identify whether the Index Of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and family-level determinants are associated with the number of children requiring dental extractions under general anaesthetic (DGA) and the number of teeth extracted. A secondary aim was to determine whether family-level associations provide additional insight into DGA beyond the IMD alone.Methods An ecological analysis was conducted using service provider data (made available by Plymouth City Council) on the number of children (aged 0-16 years) who had a DGA and the number of …

The ‘Un-Doing’ And ‘Re-Doing’ Of Nurses’ Derealisation: Exploring The Effects Of The Heroic Keyworker Discourses During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Anna Conolly, Emma Rowland, Ruth Abrams, Ruth Harris, Daniel Kelly, Bridie Kent, Keith Couper, Jill Maben

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Using, and extending, Butler’s theory of recognition and censorship, this article examines the way in which nurses’ subject positions were regulated in the transformative liminality of the COVID-19 pandemic, where normal matrices of power were ‘undone’ and new ones formed. During the pandemic, societal discourses regarding nurses shifted from treating them as less-than-human and their care-work invisible and unrecognised (derealised), to an elevated position where they became appreciated and treated as heroes, then reverting to a derealised state. As part of the building of subjectivities in this liminal period, nurses constructed boundaries against ‘unmoral’ others, either members of the public, …

Rewired M6a Of Promoter Antisense Rnas In Alzheimer’S Disease Regulates Neuronal Genes In 3d Nucleome, Benxia Hu, Yuqiang Shi, Feng Xiong, Yi-Ting Chen, Xiaoyu Zhu, Elisa Carrillo, Xingzhao Wen, Nathan Drolet, Chetan Singh Rajpurohit, Xiangmin Xu, Dung-Fang Lee, Claudio Soto, Sheng Zhong, Vasanthi Jayaraman, Hui Zheng, Wenbo Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is an abundant internal RNA modification that can impact gene expression at both post-transcriptional and transcriptional levels. However, the landscapes and functions of m6A in human brains and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), are under-explored. Here, we examined RNA m6A methylome using total RNA-seq and meRIP-seq in middle frontal cortex of post-mortem brains from individuals with or without AD, which revealed m6A alteration on both mRNAs and various noncoding RNAs. Notably, many promoter-antisense RNAs (paRNAs) displayed cell-type-specific expression and changes in AD, including one produced adjacent to MAPT that encodes the Tau protein. MAPT-paRNA is highly expressed …

From Lockdown To Learning: Understanding Motivation Shifts In High School Students Due To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kelly Lindberg

University Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic induced profound disruptions to the educational landscape, significantly impacting high school students' motivation to learn. This thesis explores how these disruptions affected students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations through the lenses of three motivational theories: Self-Determination Theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and Expectancy-Value Theory. By examining changes in the learning environment, social connections, and mental health before, during, and after the pandemic, this study identifies key factors that shaped changes in students' academic engagement. The shift to online learning during the pandemic, combined with social isolation and increased mental health challenges, diminished students' intrinsic motivation and weakened their …

Codifying Capital: Legal Power, Racial Hierarchy, And The Gendered Dynamics Of Law, Tavia Andrew

University Honors Theses

This paper analyzes how law operates as a structuring force within racial capitalism by applying Austin Turk's "law as power" framework. It explores how legal institutions not only reflect but actively reproduce racial and gender hierarchies through their functions. Drawing from foundational work by Cedric Robinson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Angela Harris, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and others, this paper defines racial capitalism as a system in which economic exploitation is inseparable from racial and gender domination. The first section contextualizes the emergence of racial capitalism and its intersection with gender, emphasizing how bodies are commodified and governed through legal regimes. The core …

Exploring Muslim American Attitudes Toward Genetic Testing: Perceptions, Barriers, And Ethical Considerations, Hannah Mahmoud

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores perceptions and attitudes toward genetic testing within the Muslim American community, a group often underrepresented in genomic research and public health discourse. Using a community-distributed digital survey, data was collected from 50 self-identified Muslim Americans on their familiarity with genetic testing, reproductive and ethical considerations, and the influence of religious factors. While only 18% had undergone genetic testing themselves, many were familiar through family or friends, and most expressed cautious interest—especially when results could influence future family planning. Education level, age, and religious values shaped both comfort and understanding.

A key theme was the desire for culturally …