Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Racial Inequality And Attitudes Toward The Criminal Justice System: Results From The 2022 General Social Survey, Elizabeth A. Hien

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

A Decolonial Reading Of The Dystopian Narratives About Feticide And Infanticide In Hindi Films, Argha Basu, Priyanka Tripathi

Kritika Kultura

The guiding principle concerning the question of bodily agency and the feminist discourse of

U.S News & World Report 2025 Graduate Program Rankings, Unlv & Unr, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet presents 2025 graduate program rankings for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and for the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) based on the data published in spring 2025 by U.S. News & World Report. The graduate program categories reported include business, education, engineering, fine arts, law, medicine and health care, sciences and mathematics, and social sciences and humanities.

Sac Newsletter 2025, South Asia Center

Newsletters from the South Asia Center

No abstract provided.

2025-2026 Ursinus College Course Catalogue, Office Of The Registrar

Ursinus College Catalogues, 1869-Present

A digital copy of the 2025-2026 Ursinus College Catalog. It contains details of the curriculum, departmental requirements and courses of instruction as well as the Open Questions core requirements, experiential learning and the Common Intellectual Experience (CIE). Academic policies, special opportunities and scholarships, off-campus programs and graduation requirements are also outlined.

Transformative Pedagogy: Going Beyond An Inclusive Curriculum, Heather Mcnamee

Feminist Pedagogy

This critical commentary argues that approaches toward inclusion in higher education, particularly within curriculum design, are insufficient for creating true systemic change. While efforts to include marginalized voices in humanities curricula indicate some progress, the foundational frameworks continue to center privileged perspectives, relegating marginalized voices to mere additions rather than centralizing them. Drawing on examples from history, social studies, and anti-violence work, this commentary contends that higher education must move beyond inclusion and toward a reimagining of curriculum that critically examines and dismantles the power structures underpinning knowledge production. The commentary emphasizes the need for a curriculum that not only …

An Examination Of The Purity Culture Beliefs Scale And The Interaction Of Religiosity, Purity Culture Beliefs, And Pornography Use In A Census-Matched United States Sample, Kaelyn R. Griffin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The impacts of purity culture have been documented in the prevalence of abstinence-only sex education, perception of personal value tied to virginity, and shame and guilt related to sexual behavior. Similarly, models of moral incongruence often examine religiosity as a contributor of distress related to sexual behavior and pornography use, likely tapping into the influence of purity culture without directly naming its presence. This distinction is crucial due to the variety of religious beliefs and practices, some including purity culture and those without sexually restrictive beliefs and practices. Despite this, standardized measures for researching purity culture are limited. Ortiz (2018) …

Housewerk: How Drag Performers Engage In Emotional Labor While Navigating Community Care, Steph O. Landeros

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines drag performance as a form of service labor shaped by emotional labor, community care, and identity-based inequality. Drawing on interviews with drag performers shows how drag labor blends artistic skill, emotional regulation, interpersonal care, and entrepreneurial labor. While these demands mirror service sector roles in other industries, drag remains underrecognized and undervalued, particularly for performers who do not conform to white, cisgender norms. The study introduces Housewerk—an adaptation of Marlon Bailey’s concept of housework (Bailey, 2013)—to describe the mix of paid and unpaid labor drag performers engage in. Housewerk captures how performers must balance self-preservation (branding, income, …

Understanding The Role Of Drug Offenses And The Death Penalty In Iran, Cyrus Zarganj

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been governed by Islamic laws devised by Shia Muslim clerics, significantly influencing the nation's legal framework in both criminal and civil contexts. The death penalty in Iran covers a broad spectrum of offenses, many of which would not be considered capital crimes or even crimes globally. This extensive application of the death penalty is an instrument of social control during periods of political tension, indicating a direct relationship between the regime's stability and the enforcement of extreme punitive measures. Despite some reduction in the visibility of executions due to international …

Stewardship, Generosity, And Percentage Giving Changing Attitudes On Financial Generosity Through Bible Study Concerning The Tithe For The New Testament Christians Of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church In Kingman, Az, Timothy A. Barkett

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

The Church today finds itself navigating a landscape shaped by economic uncertainty, generational shifts, and a growing sense of spiritual indifference. Within this context, generosity continues to serve as a profound expression of both faith and mission. The research presented in this project affirms that when generosity is taught with a spirit of grace, rooted in Scripture, and exemplified by leadership, it has the power to bring renewal—not only to individual believers but also to entire communities. In an era characterized by financial anxiety and spiritual consumerism, the biblical and theological foundations of stewardship and generosity provide both a necessary …

A Place For Ancient Philosophy In Axial Age Historiography, John R. Shook

Comparative Philosophy

Long-standing debates over historiographical approaches to the Axial Age have distracted the history of philosophy from its own disciplined inquiry into the breadth and depth of ancient thought beyond the Greeks. The philosopher Karl Jaspers offered a vista for seeing commonalities among ancient innovations and discerning continuities along history to modern times. That dual agenda divided Axial historiography with the question of whether axiality reflects creativities of ancient systems or have modern reflections created images of axiality. A singular chronology for humanity encourages a mode of philosophical history open to providential designs, epochal turns, spiritual evolutions, psychological leaps, or cognitive …

The Conventional Emptiness Of Human Beings: Reviewing Archer’S Theory Of Agency Through Nagarjuna’S Looking Glass, Federico Podestà

Comparative Philosophy

Margaret Archer is probably the critical realist who has most significantly affected the debate around the relationship between social structure and agency. In the volume, Being Human: The Problem of Agency, she aims to better define what is meant by the properties and causal powers of agency itself, i.e., self-consciousness and reflexivity. In this paper, this theoretical attempt is reviewed through the critical standpoint of Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna’s philosophy appears to be a particularly compelling tool for criticizing Archer’s theory. Claiming the emptiness of everything, the founder of the Buddhist Madhyamaka school provides a critical perspective for revising the distinctiveness of …

Reassessing The Deontological Undercurrents In Mo Zi’S Ethical Thought, Nuno Miranda

Comparative Philosophy

This article reexamines Mo Zi’s ethical philosophy, challenging the dominant interpretation of Mohism as a purely consequentialist or proto-utilitarian system. While Mo Zi’s emphasis on social utility—such as material welfare, population growth, and aversion to warfare—aligns with outcome-oriented reasoning, I argue that his invocation of the will of Heaven introduces a deontological dimension. Heaven’s will serves not merely as a heuristic for maximizing benefits but as an absolute moral standard, demanding adherence to duties like universal love and non-aggression, irrespective of immediate practical gains. Through a close reading of the Mo-Zi corpus, this study reveals a hybrid ethical framework that …

Coolness, Leisure, And Power : The Development Of Mokanshan Summer Resort In Modern China, 1890–1937, Xuyan Pan

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

The concept of "coolness" (清涼) embodied fundamentally different bodily and cultural experiences in Chinese and Western traditions. With the introduction of Western-style summer resorts by foreign missionaries in the 1890s, these divergent understandings converged and clashed in new spatial forms. This study examines Mokanshan (莫干山), located in Zhejiang province and recognized as one of the Republican era’s “Four Great Summer Retreats” (民國四大避暑地), as a paradigmatic case of transnational leisure. Initially developed by missionaries as a health-oriented retreat, a transnationally managed enclave, and a nostalgic “overseas home” for expatriates, Mokanshan reflected a hybrid model of modern leisure shaped by foreign institutions. …

Visio Dei, Vision Pro: Beatific Vision And Technological Singularity, John Paul Arceno

Liberty Theological Review

This paper offers a retrieval of the classical Christian theology of beatific vision. The reason behind this is the challenges posed by the progress of digital technology, including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and robotics, which are prevalent today. This rapid progress somehow threatens the classical view of beatific vision with its version of technological singularity. Hence, the retrieval of the beatific vision, which is grounded in divine ontology, is much needed. The paper is divided into three parts: (1) Visio Dei, which discusses the doctrine of beatific vision, (2) Vision Pro, which discusses technological singularity, and (3) conclusion, which …

Healthy And Successful Aging Outside The Closet: How Outness And Social Support Relate To Health And Aging Concerns, Jessica Segal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to disclose an LGBTQ+ identity is a significant part of many queer lives. A person’s outness can often be tied into their social support whether through their network or available resources. This study investigated how outness, social network, and access to resources relate to older LGBTQ+ individuals’ concerns regarding their care and their aging. A secondary data analysis was conducted using survey data from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). The results showed that an increase in one’s social network indicated a decrease in aging-related care concerns; an increase in access to resources indicated a decrease in …

Interview With An Anthropology And Journalism Student., Jacey Terrill

What Happened Here

This is a transcript of an oral history with a student of anthropology and journalism. They have Jewish heritage and support the Palestinians, growing up familiar with Zionism and the conflict between Palestine and Israel. They explain how their whole life was greatly changed by the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, feeling a sense of dread for the worst to come. They made their school projects based on their heritage to process the intense emotions and events. They felt a sense of relief that a protest started, since it felt like there was finally some acknowledgment of Gaza, and …

Black Americans’ Strategic Disengagement In Digital Protest: A Thematic Analysis Of Youtube Responses To Latino Deportation Appeals (2025), Professor Meya E. Hargett

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

This qualitative study, grounded in digital discourse theory, investigates Black Americans’ responses to the Latino community’s calls for protest support against federal deportation policies under the current U.S. administration. Twelve publicly available YouTube videos from Spring 2025 were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to identify key patterns in Black discourse, including themes of strategic withdrawal, political disillusionment, solidarity fatigue, and historical tension.

This study defines 'stand down' as a deliberate, non-antagonistic decision to refrain from participating in another group’s protest movement. Findings indicate that disengagement is not rooted in apathy but is shaped by long-standing racialized experiences, ideological misalignment, and …

Relational Design In Healthcare Innovation: Exploring A Multi-Site Context, Kathrina Dankl, Laura Aguado-González, Victoria Artigas, Canan Akoglu, Kasper Frank, Marie Kremer, Erika Renedo-Illarregi, Carlos Romero, Yeray Sañudo, Jorge Sierra-Pérez

Nordes Conference Series

Healthcare is a critical component of the infrastructure of a welfare state, with public services at its core. However, its challenges are more complex and intractable than those addressed by service design frameworks. The relational design approach, aligned with participatory design principles, could provide insights for service design that promotes a focus on relationships, networks and situated knowledge generation. This study explores situating tactics in the research process of a large EU project focusing on shared decision making in cancer care. By analysing how topic, timescale and methods are situated across two research sites, we discuss how relational sensitivity has …

Nrm-Critical Design As A Path Forward In The Relational Turn: Examples From A Norm-Critical Exploration Of The Hbsc Survey, Anna Isaksson, Karin Ehrnberger, Malin Björklund, Emma Börjesson

Nordes Conference Series

This article explores how norm-critical design can contribute to the relational turn in design, drawing on a previous study of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. While relational design emphasizes contextualization, interdependencies, and evolving relationships, norm-critical design provides tools to identify, visualize, and challenge embedded norms within these relationships. By transforming survey questions into design concepts, this study demonstrates how norm-critical design materializes implicit assumptions, making them visible for critique and reflection. The findings illustrate that surveys are not neutral data collection tools but performative instruments shaping relationships, self-perceptions, and societal norms. The article argues that norm-critical design expands …

Design For Longevity: A Relational And Systemic Perspective, Sheng-Hung Lee

Nordes Conference Series

As Relational Design (RD) grows in popularity, Casual Loop Diagrams (CLD) can complement RD in systemic analysis by visualizing relationships between variables. This study integrates CLD with RD within the context of longevity planning, which considers dimensions of financial, social and physical wellness. While RD maps static relationships, CLDs model dynamic interactions and feedback loops, enhancing innovation through a holistic and adaptive approach. By bridging relational and systemic perspectives, this preliminary study advances discourse in service design, system thinking, and research methodologies, demonstrating how RD and CLD contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of longevity planning. Findings emphasize the importance …

Exploring Haunted Spaces Of Participation Through Justice, Annunziata Albano, Azeem Hamid, Agathe Malbet

Nordes Conference Series

This paper discusses participation and its impact through the lenses of justice and, identifying burdens, questioning representation issues unwillingly created, prompting careful consideration of participatory methods and highlighting power tensions in relation to the participants. Specifically, it scrutinizes the dimensions of participation, addressing who participates, where, when, and how participation occurs. Furthermore, by investigating the ghosts of participation—the lingering effects and unintended consequences of participation—we investigate the broader implications of participatory processes on individuals and communities. This paper aims to contribute to the growing discourse of participation from a justice perspective, offering insights into how public participation can be reviewed …

Expanding Environmental Discourse Through Practice-Led Research: From An Experimental Pavilion To Mainstream Architecture, Maiju Suomi, Sofie Pelsmakers

Nordes Conference Series

This practice-led research paper explores how the making of a temporary architectural intervention with a transformative sustainability aim can expand environmental discourse in mainstream architecture. The paper explores the case of Alusta, a pavilion to enhance urban biodiversity and encourage multi-species encounters and environmental discussion in the context of Finland. Through the case, architecture emerges as a practical environmental act and a cultural representation of lower impact living. Findings show how an experimental pavilion can bypass some constraints of large-scale architecture and become an agile tool in discussing topical sustainability issues. Small-scale projects enable testing and showcasing experimental solutions, lessons …

Backwards Incidentality, Sheida Amiri Rigi

Nordes Conference Series

‘Backwards incidentality’ is a notion developed to trace the different pasts that have led each of us here; this place and moment that foregrounds relationality in design. This exhibit, which materializes backward incidentality, is concerned with critical differences within relationality that might get lost in an overconfidence that rushes to outline the implications it might have for design. It is in a way a challenge to any separation we might otherwise imagine between logical inquiry into relationality and all those things that have incidentally become—and continue to become—our relational inquiry.

Exploring The Entanglement Of Relational Design, Spatiality And Places, Thomas Binder, Jörn Christiansson, Gabriela Quintana Vigiola

Nordes Conference Series

Over the last two decades, we have witnessed a relational turn in design research, embracing the entanglements of human and non-human elements in socio-material arrangements. Despite the foregrounding of relations in these entanglements, little attention has been given to what role spatiality and places may have in relational design. This workshop explores the entanglement of relational design, spatiality and places based on design case studies from participants. Using a design charette methodology, participants will collaboratively (1) map how relational entanglements shape and are shaped by design research and practice; (2) identify and unpack cross-disciplinary tensions and opportunities; and (3) co-create …

Design Briefs After Progress, Li Jönsson, Maria Göransdotter, Åsa Ståhl, Kristina Lindström, Thomas Laurien

Nordes Conference Series

Design briefs can be expressions of needs expressed not only by educators but also by external actors and society more broadly. They are where societal needs, expectations, wishes and desires meet the internal, local and situated logic of design and design education. In this workshop, we aim to make an inventory of past and current design briefs and start to re-imagine them by moving beyond the taken-for-granted starting point of continued growth. We are led by the overarching question: what could a design brief become when it is actively intended to shift away from notions of design as formulated in …

Lighting A Public Thing? Organizing Design Things In Public Bureaucracy, Christina Vildinge, Elena Raviola

Nordes Conference Series

This study takes an interdisciplinary approach to the design of the night city, by exploring how, through complex scripting processes, the relational aesthetics of light is translated in processes of urban planning. This exploration is based on our study of lighting design in the city of Gothenburg and highlights the multiplicities of designing light through dimensions of aesthetics, sustainability, safety, environment, biodiversity, work and more. The question we ask is how the relational materiality of light as a design material is translated in the organizational process of urban planning and how light in this process is made a matter of …

Affect In More-Than-Human Design Practice: An Anecdote-Based Exploration Through Dialogue, Daphné Hamilton-Jones, Anna M. Schröder

Nordes Conference Series

In an effort to respond to the contemporary environmental crises, Design strives to continuously define and develop more-than-human design practices. In response, this exploratory piece puts in dialogue two “affective anecdotes”: we discuss affective encounters with the ocean and the soil, foregrounding how these experiences have impacted our perspectives on the Design discipline and practice, exploring how, through a reflective dialogue, a relational understanding of these events emerges, while also allowing us to grasp the implicit nature of our more-than-human design practice better. This paper foregrounds the difficulty in expressing affective experiences through words, as well as the value of …

The Relational Designer, Michaela Honauer

Nordes Conference Series

Despite the growing recognition of relational design, limited attention has been given to the designer as a relational individual. Why is a designer relational (i.e. relationship-oriented)? How can they reflect and make their individual relationality transparent? This exploratory paper sheds light on these questions and stimulates reflection of designers as relational entities. A designer can take on many roles –practitioner, researcher, manager, collaborator, provider, politician, etc.– but always remains an individual with personal feelings and connections. Like every other individual, a designer experiences their being and doing uniquely. This constructivist understanding of the designer likewise suggests that every designer approaches …

Designing With Rural Mobilities: Attempts At Relational Design, Sofie Holst, Morten Krogh Petersen, Mathias Poulsen, Alexandra Lindek, Maximilian Schmidauer

Nordes Conference Series

This exploratory paper contributes to the development of relational design as a methodology by examining how relational design unfolds – or fails to unfold – within the context of the development and research project X. Mobilities both create and disrupt relations, making our engagement in the X project particularly suitable for investigating where and how relational design operates, as well as the effects it can achieve. Specifically, we analyze how relational design, when developed through fieldwork, within the particular project constellation of X, and through engagements with mobilities studies, is nurtured, constrained, and problematized. We emphasize that designing relationally is …