Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Trauma-Informed Conversational Agents For Mental Health: Understanding User Perspectives And Experiences, Xintong Lu, Shion Guha, Rachel Pfafman, Jessica Pater, Courtney L. Washington, Fayika Farhat Nova

Health Services and Informatics Research

Introduction:

Mental health conversational agents (MHCAs) offer scalable, accessible psychological support yet raise concerns about safety and appropriateness for trauma, exposed users. While trauma-informed care (TIC) principles, emphasizing safety, trust, empowerment, collaboration, peer support, and cultural sensitivity, are well-established in clinical practice, their application and user interpretation in chatbot contexts remain unexplored. This study aimed to explore (1) how users conceptualize trauma-informed care in the context of mental health chatbots and (2) what factors can help us predict whether users perceive their chatbot interaction as trauma-informed.

Methods:

A 59-item web-based survey (REDCap) assessed demographics, technology proficiency, adverse life experiences, chatbot …

The Invisible Disease Made Visible: A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Lived Experience Of Cold Agglutinin Disease Patients, Paul Mowry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of the phenomenological study was to better understand the lived experience of Cold-Agglutinin Disease (CAD) patients. Eleven white female participants who had moderate to severe symptoms of CAD were recruited via a CAD support group on Facebook and were prompted with a series of open-ended questions about their lived experience with CAD. Interview questions focused on how vital life domains (i.e., mental and physical health, family, community, and work) are impacted by CAD, how CAD patients experience the medical and mental health system, CAD patients’ perceptions of the medical healthcare they received, and their recommendations for how medical …

“Your ‘Magic Dick’ Won’T Fix Us”: The Lived Experience Of Women With Vaginismus, Alisun Fiona Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder, or what is commonly referred to as Vaginismus, is a pelvic floor dysfunction which causes penetration of the vagina to be painful or impossible. This qualitative study examines the lived experiences of women living with vaginismus, looking specifically at how they were socialized to perceive sex and how they navigate their condition. Grounded in theories such as Sexual Scripts Theory, Stigma Theory and Gender as Performance, this research analyzes how this condition is not just a biological trait, but also a socialized phenomenon that often causes a “spoiled identity”. Data was collected through an open-ended online survey …

Best Strategies To Teach Nutrition Courses In Graduate Programs: A Systematic Review, Zeina Hojeij, Suzan Haidar, Rana Rizk, Nadine Mahboub

All Works

Introduction – Graduate-level nutrition education requires innovative teaching strategies that foster advanced clinical competence, professional communication, cultural responsiveness, and self-directed learning. Methods – This systematic review synthesized evidence from fifteen peer-reviewed studies examining diverse teaching strategies in graduate nutrition programs. Results – Most interventions employed simulation-based learning, experiential placements, or flipped classrooms, often incorporating technology such as virtual simulations and online collaborative platforms. Simulation and experiential approaches improved clinical competence, communication skills, empathy, and self-efficacy by providing realistic, hands-on experiences that bridged theoretical knowledge with professional practice. Flipped classrooms, though less frequently implemented, promoted teamwork, problem-solving, and reflective learning, while …

Investigation Of Electrochemical Transport, Gate Leakage, And Transconductance Behavior In Pedot:Pss Organic Electrochemical Transistors, Vinay Bhudhraja, Bilal Khan, Abijeet Mehta

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Organic Electrochemical Transistors (OECTs) are promising candidates for low-voltage bioelectronic systems due to their high transconductance, mixed ionic–electronic transport, and compatibility with flexible substrates. In this work, we investigate the electrochemical transport, gate leakage, and transconductance behavior of screen-printed PEDOT:PSS OECTs, with emphasis on the relationship between ionic coupling and output characteristics. Key electrical and electrochemical parameters—including drain current modulation, transconductance evolution, gate current behavior, and capacitance–voltage response—were systematically analyzed to elucidate the mechanisms governing device operation. The results reveal clear trade-offs between parasitic resistance, volumetric electrochemical capacitance, and effective gate control, which in turn influence signal integrity and amplification …

Volunteers' Motivation And Better Volunteer Recruitment In Nonprofit Organizations, Ashley Denise Williams

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 …

How Do Us States Define Person-Centered And Family-Involved Care In Assisted Living Regulations, Paula Carder, Lindsey Smith, Jennifer N. Bunker, Cassandra L. Hua, Erh-Chi Hsu, Isabelle Boun, Olivia M. Ainsworth, Kali S. Thomas, Eric Jutkowitz

Institute on Aging Publications

Introduction: A large share of assisted living (AL) residents have a diagnosis of dementia or cognitive impairment, and these individuals can benefit from person-centered care and family-involved care. This study examines whether and how states’ AL licenses address these topics.MethodsThis research analyzed a national database of 249 unique licensing requirements that govern 35,602 ALs in all states and associated regulations, including those that govern memory care (MC) services. We reviewed each regulation for the presence of person-centered or family involved care and then used content analysis of license requirements with at least one relevant policy to identify key categories and …

Brain Reward Function In Young People With Cannabis Use Disorder: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, Martine Skumlien, Lisa‐Marie Greenwood, Arush Honnedevasthana Arun, Isabella Goodwin, Anastasia Paloubis, Tribikram Thapa Rana, Marianna Quinones Valera, Eugene Mctavish, Gabrielle Abbott, Suraya Dunsford, Antonio Verdejo‐Garcia, Jessica Ramamurthy, Mark M. Schira, Nadia Solowij, Chao Suo, Valentina Lorenzetti

School of Psychology

Background and Aims: Cannabis use disorder (CUD) affects ~50 million people globally. Neuroscientific theories suggest that a blunted neural response to non-drug rewards is a hallmark of substance use disorders; however, this remains untested in CUD. The current study tested whether brain reward system responses to the anticipation and feedback of monetary rewards differed in people with CUD and controls. Design: Observational study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Setting: Participants were recruited from universities and the community in Wollongong, Australia. Participants: Sixty-four individuals with CUD (20 female) and 28 controls (9 female), aged 18–32 years. Measurements: Participants completed a …

Right Ventricular–Pulmonary Artery Coupling Predicts Early Myocardial Strain Improvement In Sglt2 Inhibitor-Treated Hfref, Mohammad Ali Hammad, Ramy Magdy Elgamal, Arwa Mohsen Abouelkhir, Osama Abouelfetouh Elshaer, Mohamed Shokry Fahmy, Reda Nabil Dawoud, Reda Biomy, Mohamed Kamal Salama

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Background: While sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors clearly benefit left ventricular recovery in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), their rapid effects on right ventricular (RV) function remain poorly characterized. This prospective observational study investigated the timeline and markers of biventricular changes shortly after SGLT2 inhibitor initiation.

Methods:In this prospective observational study, 50 adults with HFrEF (LVEF

Results:After 3 months, NT-proBNP levels decreased significantly (1116.5 vs 913.5 pg/mL, P

Conclusions: In this prospective observational study without a control group, SGLT2 inhibitor initiation was associated with coordinated biventricular improvements within three months in HFrEF patients. The baseline TAPSE/PASP ratio …

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 …

Diagnosis Of Covid-19 Impact On The Construction Employment: Decline And Recovery, Anil Baral, Abdullah Alnuaimi, Yunping Liang, Baabak Ashuri, Mohsen S. Shahandashti

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) had an unprecedented impact on U.S. construction employment. The assessment of employment declines and recoveries across various construction sectors, workforce demographics, and geographic regions helps develop inclusive long-term plans to overcome the setbacks of natural hazards, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing methods for quantifying the employment decline from sudden shocks do not consider trends and seasonality of construction employment under normal conditions. Hence, it is not clear whether the employment declines are due to the impact of a disaster or associated with trends and seasonal patterns of employment. The objective of this research is …

Psychogastroenterology: An Introduction For Behavioral Health And Healthcare Professionals, Jerrod Brown Ph.D., M.A., M.S., M.S., M.S., M.S., M.S., Jeremiah B. Schimp Phd, Ma, Lpcc, Leanne Skehan Dcn, Msacn, Mph, Mba, Cns, Ches, Shelley Mydra Dmft, Lmft, Jonathan Ward Dc, Phd(C), Ms, Dibcn, Tiffany Flaten Cns, Ldn

Nutritional Neurocriminology Today

Although often difficult to discuss with clients, gastrointestinal (GI) issues affect an estimated 60 to 70 million Americans (American Gastroenterological Association, 2022). Yet only about 25% of those experiencing these conditions receive treatment. This is troubling because GI issues frequently co-occur with clinically significant consequences for physical health, psychological well-being, daily functioning, and overall quality of life. Designed for behavioral health and healthcare professionals, this brief article introduces the field of psychogastroenterology, with emphasis on symptoms, stigma, diagnosis, and treatment. Key topics include the gut-brain axis, common digestive health conditions, and the mental health implications associated with gastrointestinal disorders.

Acute And Inpatient Occupational Therapy Practice For People With Chronic Conditions Who Are Experiencing Homelessness, Emily K. Simpson, Anne K. Mokate, Elizabeth A. Gibbs, Nina K. Duric

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Despite having high rates of chronic illness, people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the United States face barriers to healthcare access that result in unmet health needs and poor health outcomes.  The objective of the study was to identify the barriers to service experienced by occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) in acute and inpatient settings in providing services to PEH and to describe education strategies to reduce those barriers. Methods: Researchers employed a cross-sectional design with OTPs (n=292) with experience treating PEH. Results: Barriers to treatment for OTP included lack of education, need to prioritize acute concerns, and inadequate institutional resources. …

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)

Living Through Misinformation: An Autoethnography Of Autism In Chinese Communities, Joy Lu

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This critical autoethnographic essay examines how misconception, misinformation, and disinformation shape understandings of autism within Chinese communities and produce tangible harm for autistic individuals and their families. Drawing on lived experience, advocacy work, digital observation, and cross-cultural analysis, it explores how language, medical practices, social media, and professional authority sustain persistent misrepresentation.

The essay argues that this misinformation is not merely the result of ignorance, but a socially reinforced and institutionally supported system of knowledge. By situating personal encounters within broader cultural and structural contexts, it highlights the interconnected roles of language, power, and exclusion in shaping autistic lives. It …

Misinformation, Misattunement, And Autistic Theatre: Representation, Access, And Cultural Harm, Sarah J. Nuttall, Jessica Telling

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores how autistic people experience theatre, showing that exclusion often comes not from individuals but from the way theatre spaces are designed and understood. Using audience feedback from Chameleon (Telling, 2025), an autistic-led production, we look at how common ideas about autism shape both what audiences expect to see on stage and how autistic people are treated in the theatre. Misinformation sets expectations about how autistic people should look, behave, and communicate, and these expectations influence how autistic presence is interpreted. We show how casting autistic performers, designing sensory‑aware environments, and inviting ongoing audience feedback can challenge these …

Pretty Much From Scratch: A Braided Essay On Autistic Diagnosis, Creativity, Identity, And Community, Jenée Stanfield

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This braided essay uses memoir and research to explore autistic diagnosis, creativity, identity, and community. It examines how the misinformation around these topics harm and “other” autistics: the fallacy of diagnostic objectivity/neutrality, the dual myths of autistic hyper- and hypo-creativity, and autism as an identity defined solely by medical professionals. The memoir sections play with point of view and genre.

Jenée is a late-realized autistic with ADHD and OCD, who identifies as neurodivergent and neuroqueer. She lives in Washington state with her spouse and dog. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and is currently a Master …

The Unexpected Gift: Using Hip-Hop And Autoethnographic Methods To Challenge The “Symbolic Death” Discourse Of A Child’S Autism Diagnosis, Adam Ellis

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores the social construction of autism through an autoethnographic account of parenting an autistic child in Canada. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model, neurodiversity scholarship, and post-traumatic growth theory, the paper examines how parents may experience grief, uncertainty, and the collapse of imagined futures following an autism diagnosis, while also arguing that much of this distress is produced by ableist and deficit-oriented social systems rather than autism itself. Using arts-based research, including a rap song and music video, the article explores: (1) what it is like to receive an autism diagnosis as a parent; (2) the grieving process …

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 …

Misinformation Machine, Jan A. Wozniak

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

No abstract provided.

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. …

Løp Gård: Revitalyzing History Through Food And Performance, Marija Griniuk, Barbro Laxaa, Magnus Sivertsen Sørvig

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The current research explores the intersection of archives, history, food, and performance. Based on a case study from Løp Gård, a museum site within Nordlandsmuseet in Norway, the museum performance director (museumsregissør in Norwegian) Barbro Laxaa has developed a book that presents historical recipes created by former generations of Løp Gård’s owners. Laxaa explores methods of performing memory and the spirituality of place, positioning food as a catalyst that unites the lived experience of audiences with archival material and historical recipes rooted in the site. The method of this study is artistic research, which has led to the development of …

User-Centered Dread: A Lovecraftian Critique Of Design, Lewis Urquhart, Emma Lawrie

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper offers a speculative critique of contemporary design practice through the lens of Lovecraftian horror by critically interrogating assumptions embedded in user-centered design theory. Drawing on the oeuvre of 'weird fiction' author H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmically pessimistic mythologies, this paper explores three thematic dimensions - control, user unknowability, alien materiality - to reveal the limitations of human-centred design paradigms. Utlising examples from literature, film, and everyday experience, this critique demonstrates how design’s aspirational narratives, centered on mastery, empathy, and progress, are increasingly inadequate in addressing the complexities of a more-than-human world. The concept of 'user-centered dread' emerges as a central …

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 …

Designing Safer School Routes In Busan, South Korea: Living Lab Approach To Child-Centered Traffic Safety, Yong-Ki Lee

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Urban traffic environments in Busan, South Korea, often remain poorly adapted to the needs of children, despite infrastructure-based safety measures. This paper reports on a Living Lab project for co-creating safer school commuting environments through participatory service design. Researchers, elementary school students, parents, residents, and local authorities collaboratively identified critical issues, generated design ideas, and evaluated context-specific interventions. This paper synthesizes the Living Lab as both a methodological framework and a civic learning ecosystem by tracing how stakeholders’ perceptions, roles, and capacities evolved through iterative co-design, mapping, and prototyping activities. The findings highlight the potential of Living Labs to bridge …

Value Co-Creation, Co-Displacement, And Co-Destruction In Design: Bridging Value And Values In Human-Data Interaction, Boyeun Lee, Ella Tallyn, Ramprabu Thangaraj, Chris Elsden, Chris Speed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Data has emerged as a fundamental driver of value creation within design processes, shaping economic, ethical, and environmental outcomes across societies and socio-technical systems. Existing scholarship often frames value in binary terms of co-creation and co-destruction, overlooking the systemic complexities introduced by interconnected, data-intensive systems. This paper introduces the novel concept of value co-displacement to capture how alternative forms of value emerge and displace others within human–data interaction. Drawing on four design research case studies, we investigate how value and values are co-created, co-displaced, and co-destroyed across interconnected, data-intensive systems. We develop a framework that conceptualises the dynamic interplay of …