Digital Commons Network^™

In Re: Milton Thomas

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Comparative Analysis Of Leaflet Materials, Stent Materials, And Stent Cell Density For Bileaflet Transcatheter Mitral Valve Design, Joseph Chibuike Nwokeafor, Joshua D. Hofmeister, Breandan B. Yeats, Lakshmi Prasad Dasi, Charanjit S. Rihal, Juan A. Crestanello, Leigh Griffiths, Mohamad A. Alkhouli, Hoda Hatoum

Michigan Tech Publications

Background: The biomechanical performance of bileaflet transcatheter mitral valves (TMVs) depends on complex interactions between leaflet material behavior and stent design. However, the contributions of leaflet materials and constitutive models, stent materials, and stent geometry to valve function and durability remain poorly understood. Methods: A parametric finite element study was conducted using a CAD model of a bileaflet TMV subjected to physiological pressure loading. Five leaflet material models were evaluated: 3 glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues—bovine pericardium (BP; FBP1, FBP2) and porcine pericardium (PP; FPP)—and 2 unfixed tissues—bovine (UBP) and porcine pericardium (UPP). BP was modeled as a linear elastic (FBP1) and Ogden …

The Journey From Pell Recipient To Graduate Program Candidate: A Generic Qualitative Inquiry, Stephen Richard Tomkiel

Theses and Dissertations

At a time when most economic advantages are inherited from prior generations, higher education should offer pathways through which disadvantaged students can rise above their origins. Unfortunately, low-income students are underrepresented across academia. Challenges faced by low-income high school students applying to college have been widely studied, but there is a relative lack of research exploring the experiences of low-income graduate school applicants. Prior studies show that low-income students can increase their financial well-being through advanced education. However, interactions of cost, funding, and habiti complicate their pathways to graduate school. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore …

The Technology Of Tradition And Biology Of Narrative: New Analogies For The Study Of Homer And Epic, Eunice Kim

Open Access Fund Publications

In two separate, timely books Bozzone and Christensen draw from a wide range of scientific disciplines and modern parallels to consider how Homeric language and epic stories are in some ways living and alive. For Bozzone, who analyses the various formal features of Homer’s poetic technique by incorporating cognitive and linguistic frameworks, Homeric language is ‘living’ insofar as it operates on mechanisms analogous to those a speaker uses for natural languages and other kinds of speaking performances. Christensen, on the other hand, applies a series of biological analogies to epic poetry and imagines that the narrative of Homeric epic is …

English Language Learners’ Perceptions Of Challenges To Persisting To Graduation In Higher Education, Rania Alhajjar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

When School Culture Excludes: Deficit Discourse, Microaggressions, And The Mental Health Of Marginalized Students – A Conceptual Framework With Implications For School Psychology Practice And Equity Policy, Modupe Mercy Oyewunmi

Publications

Deficit-laden language like ‘behavior problem,’ ‘not college material,’ ‘won’t fit in’, ‘not a cultural fit’, operates as a systemic form of implicit bias and microaggression in school settings. Despite decades of research on school belonging and well-being, school psychology has yet to integrate these exclusionary discursive practices into a coherent health-determinant model that also accounts for the current anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy environment. This conceptual paper proposes a testable framework linking deficit discourse and school-based microaggressions to student identity suppression, academic impostor phenomenon, and educator moral injury, with downstream effects on school mental health outcomes. We situate these …

Teachers' Promoting Literacy Achievement For Middle School African American Male Students, Angelia Slavings

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

In Re: Chaka Kwanzaa

2026 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey

Willian Solis Godoy V. Attorney General United States Of America

2026 Decisions

Agency

Usa V. Kevin Neysmith

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Vamorolone Safety, Pharmacokinetics, And Exploratory Efficacy In Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Phase Ii, Nonrandomized, Multiple-Dose Study In 2–<4-Year-Old Boys, Jean K. Mah, Hernan D. Gonorazky, Elisa Nigro, Hanns Lochmüller, Alberto Alemán, Amanda Yaworski, Maryam Oskoui, Anne Marie Sbrocchi, Kathryn A. Selby, Ana De Vera, Rashmi Mathur, Ekaterina Gresko, Aki Linden, Catherine Dutreix, Eric P. Hoffman

Pharmacy Faculty Scholarship

Background and Objectives: Vamorolone is a dissociative corticosteroid (CS) approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023 for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). This study evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of vamorolone in young boys with DMD; exploratory objectives included efficacy and patient-reported outcomes. Methods: A 12-week, phase II, open-label, multiple-dose study (VBP15-006) enrolled CS-naive boys with DMD aged 2–< 4 years in Canada. Participants received 2 or 6 mg/kg/d oral vamorolone. An ongoing expanded access protocol (EAP) provided longer-term data. Primary end points were the occurrence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and changes from baseline to week 12 in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI); other end points included PK and effects of vamorolone on muscle function. Results: Twenty boys (mean age [SD] 3.4 [0.39] years) with similar baseline characteristics were enrolled; all completed VBP15-006 and 19 continued to receive vamorolone through EAP Canada. TEAEs were mostly mild, with no deaths, serious TEAEs, or TEAEs leading to drug discontinuation during VBP15-006. TEAEs were more frequent with 6 mg/kg/d vamorolone than with 2 mg/kg/d, with gastrointestinal disorders and infections/infestations, respectively, most reported. Vamorolone use was associated with morning serum cortisol reductions in all patients, more pronounced with 6 mg/kg/d. Stable growth trajectories were observed at both doses throughout VBP15-006 and the EAP Canada follow-up period, with a total median (Q1; Q3) exposure to vamorolone of 2 years (1.7; 2.3). By EAP Canada last visit, 8/19 patients had weight and BMI z-scores changes >0.5, suggestive of excessive weight gain over time. Vamorolone displayed a dose-dependent PK profile with rapid absorption and no accumulation. Dose-dependent improvements in motor function (measured by Bayley-III gross motor scaled score) were observed. Glucose metabolism …

Lyasia Ashley V. Eric Bradley

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Context-Sensitive Control-Flow Analysis For Non-Standard Language Semantics, Tim Whiting

Theses and Dissertations

Control-Flow Analysis (CFA) is a static technique for understanding the execution of higher-order programs without running the code. CFA aids in identifying bugs, assisting program comprehension, and exposing optimization opportunities. Constructing a CFA typically begins with an idealized evaluator--such as an abstract machine or interpreter--and proceeds by approximating components of evaluation to ensure that: (a) the analysis is sound (representing all possible behaviors), and (b) the analysis is guaranteed to terminate (finitely representable). These constraints necessitate a loss of precision, providing an approximation of the values that flow to program locations rather than exact execution traces. This imprecision causes the …

The Effect Of Social Entrepreneurship On Economic Development In Emerging Economies: A Review Of Existing Studies, Samuel Bangura, Princess Thulile Duma, Ntombifuthi Alexia Mthembu

Management Dynamics

Background: Social entrepreneurship (SE) has emerged as an innovative mechanism to tackle persistent societal challenges, such as poverty, unemployment, and inequality, by prioritising social impact alongside sustainable business models. This is particularly relevant in resource-constrained emerging economies like South Africa, where high unemployment (approximately 33%) and weaknesses in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (ranked 49th globally) hinder traditional economic development (ED) pathways.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to examine the relationship between SE and ED, exploring definitions of SE, its interconnections with ED, contextual applications (with a focus on South Africa), associated challenges, opportunities, enabling factors, and contributions to sustainable growth and …

Nature And Nurture In Appreciating Neurodivergent Lives, Peter Smagorinsky

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Review of Neurodivergent, by Nature: Why Biodiversity needs Neurodiversity by Joe Harkness (Bloomsbury Wildlife, 2025)

When Distress Is Misread: Autistic Credibility And The Politics Of Interpretation, Katrine Callander

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Misinformation about autism is often understood as a problem of inaccurate facts, stereotypes or public misunderstanding. This essay argues that misinformation also operates through dominant interpretive frameworks that shape how autistic experiences are recognised, understood and believed. Drawing on participatory narrative research with autistic women, the essay examines how institutions frequently reinterpret experiences of harm as personality dysfunction, emotional instability or individual deficit rather than recognising them as relational and socially produced. Autistic forms of communication and storytelling are often treated as signs of unreliability, shaping whose accounts are considered credible within clinical and institutional contexts. By reframing these patterns …

Techwork: Developing And Validating A Reflective Tool For Impact-Aware Design, Sihui Wu, Marirena Kladeftira, Kim Helmersen, Gudela Grote

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Most assessments of technology impact occur only after its deployment, limiting the ability to address unintended social, cultural, and organizational effects. This paper introduces TechWork, a prospective and reflective tool for evaluating emerging technologies within existing work systems. Grounded in reflective practice tradition, socio-technical systems theory, and contemporary work design research, TechWork guides interdisciplinary teams through structured prompts and impact mappings to examine how their own design choices influence autonomy, skills, collaboration, and job demands. The tool was tested through design-education workshops in an architectural studio, applied to vernacular construction practices where embodied expertise and cultural knowledge are central to …

Opening Portals To The Posthuman: A Pedagogical Framework For Materializing Philosophy, Carlos Henrique Araujo De Aguiar

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper critiques dominant design pedagogies for their alignment with positivist and modernist paradigms, which limit design’s capacity for serious philosophical inquiry. It argues that Speculative and Critical Design (SCD) pedagogy offers an alternative philosophy, functioning as a powerful method for fomenting critical engagement by enabling students to materialize abstract concepts. Drawing on a case study from an undergraduate course on human-robot-cyborg relations, the paper employs the metaphor of 'portals' to analyse three thematic case studies. Each portal opens onto a distinct philosophical debate: the nature of reality and the self, the biopolitics of the body, and the networked subject. …

Learning From Inexperienced Users’ Early Engagement With Food Tracking, Isil Oygur, Saadet Tikac Andic

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Current food tracking applications are largely designed to support behaviour change among users who track their food intake to meet predefined goals. As a result, individuals who are curious about food tracking but do not have specific goals remain underserved, limiting the potential of these tools for preventive care. To address this gap, we conducted a three-phase interview study using an existing food journaling application as a probe to reimagine food tracking experiences for inexperienced users. Thirty-one participants used the app for 14 days and discussed their views on healthy eating, food practices, and their tracking experiences. Our analysis identified …

A Researcher And A Guide Talk Into A Paper: A Dialogue On Being Many Things At Once, Ranjani Balasubramanian, Shweta Srivastav

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper argues that the positionality of the practitioner-researcher often remains centered in the self-reflective question “Who am I?”, fixing identity at the core of a relational web. We propose shifting this inquiry toward “Who can I be?” and “Who can I be in relation?”, recognising identity as fluid, contextual, and co-constituted through relationships. The paper unfolds through a conversational method that unpacks the ongoing PhD research of the first author. The authors navigate this landscape of lived research and practice in dialogue with two simultaneously held identities - the Practitioner-Researcher and the Scholar-Provocateur. Drawing from decolonial praxis, we conceptualise …

Ddenso: An Evaluation-Driven Methodology For Information Visualisations, Michele Mauri, Elena Aversa, Anna Cattaneo, María De Los Ángeles Briones Rojas

DRS Biennial Conference Series

When designing Information Visualisations for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) initiatives, a significant challenge lies in ensuring that they effectively transmit and consolidate knowledge, particularly when the Information Visualisation literacy of the audience is unknown. Applying a Research through Design approach, this article describes a meta-process: the reflective and iterative path that led to the definition of DDENSO, a replicable design methodology for creating and evaluating Information Visualisations that allow for knowledge retention. Grounded in prior theoretical and practical experience in Information Design, DDENSO emerged through the development of the artefacts for a MIL exhibition exploring the social implications of …

Exploring Common Understandings And Bodily Experiences Of Vulnerability In Design Researchers In Sensitive Contexts, Bhakti Moghe, Roberta Antognini, Sofie Dideriksen, Zhuochao Peng, Francesca Toso, Maarten Houben

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design researchers are increasingly being exposed to stressors while empathizing with their participants such as feeling emotionally charged, leading them to feeling vulnerable. Currently, there is a lack of clear consensus on how this vulnerability arises and manifests, hindering both individual and collective awareness and support. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical investigation into the vulnerability of design researchers. We conducted exploratory workshops with PhD students working in the field of design research in sensitive settings. The workshops consisted of three approaches to understand researcher vulnerability: (1) Reflecting on individual and collective vulnerability, (2) Exploring embodied experiences, and …

The Memory Loom: Reweaving Curatorial Power Relations With Source Communities In Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Exhibitions, Ning Zhao, Ziqiang He, Shijie Ming, Haopeng Yuan, Furui Sun, Ke Jiang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines how to redistribute curatorial power in VR heritage exhibitions by designing actionable governance mechanisms. We conceptualize VR heritage exhibitions as political curatorial infrastructures rather than neutral storytelling media. We employ a two-stage RtD framework: first building a baseline VR stage, then embedding two mechanisms: Parallel Weave (narrative authorship) and Asynchronous Governance Lock (publishing/veto rights). With N=32 participants, analysis reveals four tensions: (1) community narratives increased affective engagement and epistemic recognition, yet (2) parallel inclusion also risked narrative segregation; (3) a visible veto established accountable workflows, but (4) this power redistribution also transferred sociopolitical risk onto community representatives, …

Designing Motion Identity: Exploring The Aesthetic Expression Of Brand Style Through System Motion, Xinyi Xie, Yinman Guo, Zican Chen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study investigates how system motion enhances aesthetic experience and shapes users’ interpretation of brand style. Using Windows 11, macOS, and HarmonyOS as representative cases, the study analyses four categories of system animations through a motor-level framework comprising temporal, spatial, and transformational attributes. Twelve motion samples were coded, and participants evaluated each sample using perceptual adjectives. The results show that consistent attribute patterns across functional categories lead to stable aesthetic tendencies, while differences emerge from how each system repeatedly applies these attributes. These attribute biases create distinct perceptual profiles, indicating that motion can function as a subtle medium for expressing …

No One Knew. They Came. Exploring Photo-Elicitation In Societal Development, Jennie Schaeffer, Mira Karlsson, Andreea Strineholm, Erika Andersson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Citizen dialogues strive for inclusivity but often exclude marginalized groups. New participatory and creativity-based approaches are needed to be evaluated and become a part of the skillset repertoire for public officials to foster an inclusive dialogue. This paper reflects on photo-based conversations as a dialogic method for societal development and inclusion. The results show that the method provides possibilities to creatively involve participants, strengthen relationships and open a space for diverse narratives between different actors in society. However, the challenges of internal exclusion, lack of strategies for impact, and the need to build competence in handling conflicting stories, without depoliticizing …

Enframing Creativity: Speculations On Design Education's Transformations In The Age Of Generative Ai, Alireza Sharifi, Michael Hohl, Fredrik Skatar

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The rapid advancement of AI technologies necessitates a shift from reactive adoption to speculative inquiry into long-term consequences for educational systems. Grounded in Martin Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology," this research examines the epistemology of AI in design education. Methodologically, it employs speculative futurology, integrating speculative design, critical design, and scenario planning to explore possible futures, culminating in a philosophical mapping framework based on Heidegger's critical stance. The findings reveal a critical temporal mismatch between rapid AI capability growth and slower educational adaptation, creating urgency for human-centered frameworks. The research concludes that design education's future depends on consciously cultivating Critical …

Reframing Practice: Architectural Design Research And The Expanding Role Of The Architect, Manuela Triggianese, Juan Sádaba, Lee Moreau, Paolo Ciuccarelli, Kees Kaan, Georg Vrachliotis, María Risueño

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Architecture extends far beyond the design of buildings and cities, engaging with environmental, technological, and societal challenges. As practice evolves, so must the research that supports it. This theme track examines architecture’s expanding role in collaboration, communication, and service, positioning it as a research-driven discipline and a tool for inquiry, innovation, and responsiveness to communities and stakeholders. Operating across systems, social processes, and technological infrastructures, architecture is increasingly understood as an interdisciplinary practice. The track strengthens Architectural Design Research by addressing its evolving methodologies and its role in knowledge production. Contributions explore co-creation, artificial intelligence, data as design material, and …

Playing With Possibility: Exploring Materiality, Affordances And Forms Of Participation Through Construction Play, Jesper Falck Legaard

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Material exploration is central to both play and design, where imagination unfolds through tactile and social engagement. This study examines how materials participate as agents in creative exploration through three video-recorded construction-play sessions involving children aged five to six. Using reflexive thematic analysis, the study identifies three key findings: (1) expressive form elements augment material agency; (2) affordances are encountered through two distinct relational mechanisms — Affordance Emergence and Affordance Orientation — which mediate between imaginative states and material properties; and (3) participation shifts dynamically between contributing, cooperating, and collaborating. By clarifying how affordances bridge psychological engagement and material structure, …

Weaving Relational Dynamics: Civil Servant Agency In Service Design Collaboration, Annukka Svanda, Martina Čaić, Tuuli Mattelmäki

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines relational dynamics within a programmatic service design collaboration shaping public service development in Espoo, Finland. Over two years, a service design researcher collaborated with civil servants to co-create more inclusive employment practices. Drawing on iterative design interventions, observations, interviews, and informal everyday communications, reflexive analysis identifies three conditions that enabled collaborative design agency: relational alignment, infrastructuring coherence, and reflexive reconfiguration. These relational conditions highlight how civil servants actively advance design work and institutional learning. By bringing forward the concept of collaborative design agency, the study highlights how design in public services is an emergent capacity calling for …

Default Bodies: Challenging Gendered Norms In Fighting Games Through Participatory Design, Shalom Taiwo, Laura Pruszko

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The over-sexualisation of female characters in video games peaked in the 1990s and 2000s and fighting games have been slow to move away from it. Their reliance on visual exaggeration to convey identity and fighting style makes this harder to change. With 48% of players today being women, this raises questions about how these portrayals persist. This paper examines how participatory approaches can be used to explore how women players respond to these designs through a survey, a within-subject evaluation task, and a co-design workshop. Participants recognised exaggeration as part of the genre’s identity but criticised its association with sexualisation. …