Sensemaking in Clinical Qualitative Research

When therapists research clinical populations or situations from a qualitative research perspective, their task is different from when researchers conduct their own clinical qualitative studies. With researchers, the study at hand may be their first time in the field. For researchers in this situation it is easier to use qualitative methods such as grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) because there is a tabula rasa quality to this initial foray into the unknown as a theory from observations is constructed anew. In the case of the therapists-as-qualitative-researchers, clinicians already have made some sort of sense of the other by virtue of their previous experiences or exposures with the population or situation in question. Instead of constructing theories like their researcher colleagues, researching clinicians must face their previous constructions (i.e., sensemaking from experience), create methods which allow for deconstruction (i.e., sensemaking challenged), and then work towards building reconstructions (i.e., sensemaking remade) (Dervin, 1992; Duffy, 1995; Shields & Dervin, 1993; Weick, 1995). In this manner, the confidence that therapist-researchers have in their observations can be both rigorously challenged and bolstered. We present ways of undertaking this triadic approach to inquiry and sensemaking along with a conceptual tool from the presenters\u27 work, The Y of the How, will be offered as one way this approach to clinical research can be accomplished

Sex with Robots for Love Free Encounters

This paper considers sex with robots for love free encounters within the context of pornographic experiences. Leisure sex and pornography are briefly outlined, along with the potential of the market. Limited research on both the user experience of pornography and the physical functionality of sex robots is highlighted. The physical embodiment of sex robots is considered, questioning whether we need human-like robots or something else entirely. Technological advances for pornography and their relevance for sex robots are explored examining the potential offered through the integration of Virtual Reality, teledildonics, soft and wearable robots. The potential of categorising sex robots as fantasy hardware is considered seeking to provide a palatable terminology. This paper concludes that researchers need to engage with the Porn Sector in creating innovative sexual experiences with robots, aiming to create a new type of sexual experience, rather than replicating humans as seen in most science fiction

Tangible participation

This rapport consists of a seminar paper from a 2012 CERTEC seminar with Per Linde from MEDEA/MU as invited opponent. It presents an exploration into program-based constructive de-sign research elaborating on the dynamics between a programme at large and its design experiments. As such it suggests ways for a programme to connect designerly actions suitable for the field with a take on the world; i.e. not only visions for and views on a design space to be explored, but also a take on knowledge construction tightly coupled to a will and motivation to participate in the field; in casu a pedagogical practice. Furthermore, the text introduces key notions such as Digital animism / væsen, Tangible participation, and Extended materiality, as well as give early descriptions of design artefacts and interventions in the pedagogical practice of Snoezelen

“You have a few wordy spots”: Role-related Impacts of Working with an Intelligent Assistant

This study examines the role-related impacts of working with an intelligent assistant. Using collaborative autoethnography, we analyse the impact of working with an intelligent writing assistant (IWA) on our roles as teachers. Drawing on role theory, we find that working with the IWA had significant impacts on role enactment, role set, role multiplexity, role stress, and role self-concept. The social setting for role enactment changed as key dyadic relationships became triadic, and the IWA assumed a co-regulatory role, mediating our performance as coregulators of student learning. Collaborating with the IWA created a need to maintain control by switching between micro-identities (our role of teacher/mentor and our new role of mentee of the IWA). The study demonstrates that significant role-related impacts can arise from human-machine collaboration when AI aims to enhance human performance. It highlights the need for new adaptive capabilities as humans become involved in new triadic human-AI relationships

Relatedly: Scaffolding Literature Reviews with Existing Related Work Sections

Scholars who want to research a scientific topic must take time to read, extract meaning, and identify connections across many papers. As scientific literature grows, this becomes increasingly challenging. Meanwhile, authors summarize prior research in papers' related work sections, though this is scoped to support a single paper. A formative study found that while reading multiple related work paragraphs helps overview a topic, it is hard to navigate overlapping and diverging references and research foci. In this work, we design a system, Relatedly, that scaffolds exploring and reading multiple related work paragraphs on a topic, with features including dynamic re-ranking and highlighting to spotlight unexplored dissimilar information, auto-generated descriptive paragraph headings, and low-lighting of redundant information. From a within-subjects user study (n=15), we found that scholars generate more coherent, insightful, and comprehensive topic outlines using Relatedly compared to a baseline paper list

On and Off: Fluorescently Tagging DNA and Counting Protein Stoichiometry in the Cell

Protein interaction with DNA is vital to cellular function and genome stability; protein-mediated processes include gene regulation and DNA damage repair. These processes have been associated with conformational changes in DNA structures and recruitment of multiple proteins to a given site. Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool for measuring these interactions both in vitro and in vivo. In this thesis, I focus on two limitations of fluorescence microscopy: attachment of fluorescent dyes to oligonucleotides and analysis of fluorescence images in live cells. Oligonucleotides modified with fluorescent dyes are useful for techniques such as Förster resonance energy transmission (FRET) that measure conformational changes in DNA. When end-labeling is not an option, the dye must be placed internally through phosphoramidite backbone labeling or a modified thymine. Phosphoramidite dyes are sequence-independent, but incorporation may create a gap in the backbone. Cyanine dyes incorporated in this manner are anchored in two places, limiting the dipole orientation freedom and possibly affecting FRET values. When sequence specificity is necessary, a thymine in an appropriate location for FRET pairing may not exist. In this work, we characterize a new, cost-efficient method of sequence-independent labeling of the DNA backbone using the common phosphorothioate modification Stoichiometry of proteins in an interaction is a fundamental characteristic of biochemical functions, however it remains difficult to determine in the nucleus of a live cell in real time. Stochastic photobleaching of fluorescently labeled proteins provides a means of counting molecules, as the loss of fluorescence is quantized and proceeds in a stepwise manner. This powerful method for determining stoichiometry is limited by the high background associated with nuclear proteins in live cells. Here we describe the creation of software pipeline that processes microscope movies to identify cells, locate fluorescent foci, extract pixel intensity information, and quantify photobleaching steps for fluorescently labeled nuclear proteins.Doctor of Philosoph