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Lindenwood Digest, September 16, 2026, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

• Event & Date: The Lindenwood University Employee Digest was published on September 16, 2026, announcing the President's Town Hall on September 16, 2026, and the Fall Business Ethics Panel on October 1, 2026.

• Geographic Grounding: Documented events take place at Scheidegger Theater and Dunseth Auditorium in Harmon Hall, Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri.

• Key Honorees/Awards: Director of Operations and Engineering of Mane Media Productions Brandon McKinney received Q2 recognition for broadcast engineering support; Senior Professor of Psychology Dr. Rebecca Foushee received Q2 recognition for providing independent research materials to biology students; Associate Professor of Art and Design Joe Weber received …

The Implementation Of Sel-Based Interactive E-Modules To Enhance Mental Health Literacy, Muhammad Arif Budiman Sucipto, Mulyani Mulyani

Jurnal Kajian Bimbingan dan Konseling

The mental health crisis among Generation Alpha students is concerning, marked by stagnating life purpose and digital academic pressure. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of an interactive SEL-based E-Module in enhancing students' mental health literacy, offering an innovative solution responsive to the digital era. Employing a Classroom Action Research design integrated with ADDIE. Thirty-two tenth-grade students with low initial literacy scores (mean pre-test = 42.3) participated through purposive sampling. The two-cycle intervention utilized a digital module featuring Private Mode (encrypted emotional journal) and Emergency Button (direct link to counselors). Data were collected through literacy scales, observations, interviews, and …

Ivory Towers Have Glass Ceilings: Institutional Responsibility In Promotion To Full Professor, Chardie L. Baird, Mangala Subramaniam

Navigating Careers in Higher Education Series

A must-read for higher education leaders committed to equity, Ivory Towers Have Glass Ceilings examines faculty members’ experiences in promotion to full professorship. This volume discusses how structures, practices, processes, and policies pertaining to promotion from associate professor to full professor both presume and reproduce racialized and gendered inequity.

Women’s teaching and service loads are often quantitatively and qualitatively different from white and some Asian men’s experiences, which only serves to reinforce the status quo. This also extends beyond teaching and service to the types of intellectual contributions that are considered important, which often excludes the hands-on, engaged work that …

Enhancing Housing Stability Among Homeless Lgbtq+ Youth, Chaunita Lotoya Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Studies on LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, specifically concerning causes, health outcomes, and barriers to access, have garnered increased attention from social scientists in human services. Applying Ecker’s work, this study addressed how intersectionality impacts homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, highlighting disparities related to race, poverty, and identified gender. This study also explored the question of whether family rejection is a significant cause of housing insecurity among LGBTQ+ youth. The methodology featured collaboration with service providers and generating recommendations informed by empirical research and professional practices. A semi-structured interview protocol was used to collect data for this study, ensuring comprehensive findings while providing …

Low-Income, Minority-Serving Public Schools In Southern California Have Disproportionately High Surface Temperatures, Joaquin Murillo, Gabriella R. Dauber, Joshua B. Fisher, Gregory R. Goldsmith

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Extensive evidence demonstrates that people from minority backgrounds often face unequal exposure to extreme heat and have less access to green space that can provide cooling relief. What is less clear is whether these inequities extend to students on school playgrounds, where high temperatures can affect physical health, social and emotional well-being, and learning. We paired high resolution, satellite remote sensing surface temperature data for all 615 of the public schools in Orange County, California (serving ca. 450,000 students) with data on neighborhood household income, race/ethnicity of school enrollment, distance from the coast, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as a …

Eliciting Information About Teacher Applicants Using Open-Ended Questions, Joseph Aguilar-Bohorquez, Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, Elton Mykerezi, Prayash Pathak, Aaron Sojourner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Employers commonly use open-ended questions in hiring, but usually responses aren’t recorded, and knowledge about the usefulness of such responses is limited. This study investigates properties of written responses to open-ended questions collected over many years via an application tracking platform that school districts use to hire teachers. We develop a scalable process to discover topics within the corpus of responses to each question and then to classify each response with respect to the topics while preserving interpretability and transparency. It adapts a traditional qualitative topic modeling approach, Inductive Thematic Analysis, to best combine the strengths of researcher judgment and …

God's Not Neutral: Narrative Tropes, Spiritual Warfare, And The Construction Of Evangelical Political Identity In American Christian Fiction, Evelyn L. Mccullough

Dissertations and Theses

Evangelical Christian fiction has reached tens of millions of readers and viewers during the most sustained period of evangelical political mobilization in American history, yet its narrative construction remains largely unexamined. This study asks how recurrent tropes in this genre build the attitudinal and emotional preconditions for political engagement. Combining systematic qualitative content analysis of eight texts spanning four decades (1986–2024) with Critical Discourse Analysis grounded in van Dijk's sociocognitive framework, it traces how storytelling devices connect theological belief to political behavior. The analysis reveals a single organizing logic: the corpus holds one regressive heroic disposition constant while making it …

Identification Of At-Risk Rail Network Segments And Development Of Fragility-Based Resilience Metrics, Haizhong Wang, Brian M. Staes, Benyamin Ghoreishi

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report presents a multi-hazard risk and resilience assessment of the U.S. rail network. The research identifies at-risk rail segments exposed to flash flooding, riverine flooding, extreme heat, and landslides using historical hazard records, federal accident and incident data, and meteorological datasets spanning 2000–2024. Flood exposure is mapped nationally by linking storm records to rail alignments and estimating the frequency and intensity of events at the segment level. For extreme heat, a fragility analysis of 153 documented thermal buckling derailments reveals that a significant share of failures occurred under relatively mild environmental conditions, pointing to infrastructure and maintenance factors rather …

Presentation – Research Experiences For Students At Njit & Nsf 2026, Cristo Leon

STEM for Success Resources

This 60-minute virtual seminar introduces NJIT students to research as an integral part of their academic and professional development. The presentation explains why undergraduate and graduate students should consider participating in research, how to identify appropriate research topics and faculty mentors, and how research experience can strengthen graduate-school and career preparation.

The seminar highlights research opportunities available through NJIT, including Undergraduate Research and Innovation (URI), summer research programs, research centers, internships, and interdisciplinary research environments across science, engineering, health, sustainability, data science, education, and the social and behavioral sciences. Participants are also introduced to federal opportunities supported by the National …

Benefits And Costs For Chattanooga Residents Of Incorporating Training Into Economic Development Strategies, Timothy J. Bartik, Iryna V. Lendel, Sevrin Williams

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

This report evaluates the benefit-cost tradeoffs of adding a workforce training component to Chattanooga's economic development incentive packages, using the Bartik Benefit-Cost Model of Business Incentives. Focusing on hypothetical projects across seven industries, the analysis compares the present value of training costs against resulting gains in residents' per capita income over a 20-year horizon. Findings show that training, layered onto existing PILOT-based tax incentives, delivers benefits more than 25 times its costs—driven by training's greater cost-effectiveness in inducing business location decisions and its stronger tendency to direct new jobs toward local residents. While training is not self-financing from a city …

“Perceived Usefulness And The Role Of Electronic Libraries In Supporting E-Learning (2010–2025): A Systematic Review Of Empirical Studies, Comfort Oluwapelumi Egunyemi (Cln), Ifeoluwa Adenike Ayoola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Electronic libraries have become essential tools in supporting e-learning by providing users with timely and flexible access to digital academic resources. This study examined the perceived usefulness and role of electronic libraries in supporting e-learning, particularly within Nigerian universities.

The study adopted a systematic literature review methodology in which relevant empirical and scholarly studies were purposively selected and critically analysed. Findings revealed that students perceive electronic libraries as useful for accessing course materials, conducting research, completing assignments, and promoting independent learning. The review further showed that electronic libraries contribute significantly to knowledge organization, information accessibility, and flexible learning environments …

Digital Mindset Efficacy For Human-Ai Career Readiness, Frank Lin, Conrad Shayo

Communications of the IIMA

This article develops digital mindset efficacy as a key capability for human-AI career readiness. It argues that success in AI-shaped workplaces requires not only technical tool use but also the confidence and capacity to learn with, evaluate, collaborate with, and responsibly govern digital and AI systems. Drawing on digital mindset, digital intelligence, AI proficiency, self-efficacy, and life-skills literature, the article proposes a theory-based model linking digital mindset efficacy to AI proficiency and life skills through mastery experience, vicarious learning, social persuasion, and affective regulation. It illustrates the model through a General Education course, Leadership for Global Challenges: Exploring the Digital …

Growing, Connecting, And Reflecting: Interpersonal Communication In Relationships, Gordon Alley-Young

Open Educational Resources

"Growing, Connecting, and Reflecting: Interpersonal Communication in Relationships" by Gordon Alley-Young is an Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook exploring communication in interpersonal relationships. The text emphasizing that communication is a collaborative, co-creation of meaning across many contexts and channels. The text recognizes the pervasive influence of culture on communication to recognize how our diverse backgrounds shape relational dynamics and dialogue. Topics and themes explored in the text include: self-concept, perception, cultural awareness, effective listening, emotion, verbal and nonverbal communication, relational climates and conflict, and the formation and evolution of foundational interpersonal relationships. The text encourages individual reflection on the reader's …

Back And Forth: The Status Of Ict Resources And Facilities For Opac Use In University Libraries In Nigeria, Perpetua O. Ukwueze, Jacintha U. Eze Prof, Docas Nnedinso Ugwu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined the status of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources and facilities supporting Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) utilization in university libraries in Nigeria. The paper specifically investigated the availability of ICT resources that facilitate OPAC utilization and identified the challenges preventing effective use of OPAC among library patrons in university libraries. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population of the study was 28,897 registered library users. The sample size for the study was three hundred and ninety five (395) respondents who were selected using Yamen’s formula. These respondents comprises both undergraduate and postgraduate library users. Data …

College Library Websites In West Bengal: Analysis Of Information Visibility And Digital Infrastructure Through A Content Analysis Approach, Niti Mollah, Debabrata Barman, Samim Haidar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In an era of digital boom and growing internet connectivity, college websites have become vital platforms for disseminating information and establishing communication among students, faculty members, researchers, and the general public who intend to use the library. The present paper aims to study the library web pages of various degree colleges in West Bengal by examining their structure, content, user accessibility, and interactability.  It explores and evaluates the contents of 465 college websites based on certain key parameters such as availability, visibility, comprehensiveness, navigability, design, and user experience (users’ ease). The research finds a significant disparity in the quality of …

From Source And Summit To Parish Practice: A Qualitative Analysis Of Eucharist And Social Outreach, Erik Sorensen S.J.

Journal of Global Catholicism

A small-scale qualitative study in a Catholic parish situated in Ottawa, Canada, offers insights into the complex relationship between that community's worship and its commitment to social justice. This article brings the lived theology of this community into dialogue with the academic and magisterial perspectives on the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life. The dialogue is framed by the Theological Action Research Network's four voices of theology: operant, espoused, formal, and normative. This framework helps to center the marginalized theology of the faithful in the pews. In this case, the parish offered a dynamic theology of welcome …

Reimagining U.S. Industrial Mobilization, Alexis R. Johnson

Joint Force Quarterly

This paper identifies a critical vulnerability in U.S. defense sustainment strategy and proposes a solution: the Civil Reserve Sustainment Readiness Program (CRSRP). The CRSRP focuses on bolstering Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities. Given the intensifying great power competition and the increasing likelihood of a contested conflict in the Indo-Pacific, the current Organic Industrial Base (OIB) lacks the surge capacity and agility necessary for rapid, distributed sustainment. Drawing on historical lessons from World War II and contemporary analysis of OIB limitations, this study details how the CRSRP would leverage public-private partnerships, incentivize commercial sector participation, and utilize digital tools like …

Mission Over Bureaucracy: Special Operations Command’S Warrior-Driven Model For Defense Innovation, Robert D. Seader

Joint Force Quarterly

In an era of accelerating technological change, military organizations must rapidly develop and field new capabilities to maintain battlefield superiority. Traditional defense acquisition processes, optimized for peacetime oversight and risk avoidance, now take four times longer than in the 1950s, threatening to undermine military effectiveness against rapidly modernizing adversaries. This paper examines how the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has pioneered a fundamentally different acquisition approach that delivers new capabilities in months rather than the decades typical of conventional programs.

Through extensive interviews with senior acquisition leaders, this analysis identifies three core elements of USSOCOM’s success: a mission-centric culture …

Building The Mental Golden Dome: Arming The Joint Force For Defensive Cognitive Warfare, James Davitch

Joint Force Quarterly

Modern conflict increasingly hinges on mental strength, yet current military thinking lacks a clear defense for the mind. This article introduces a vital new concept: protecting military personnel from an adversary's attempts to distort their perceptions, disorient their judgment, and degrade their decision-making. Building on established research into behavioral psychology, the essay integrates this defense into existing military functions, proposing practical steps. It offers a precise explanation of this protective strategy, suggests pre-deployment exercises for joint personnel, and outlines ways to measure effectiveness even under pressure. A detailed, multi-year plan describes how to update joint doctrine, create training programs, and …

Determining Operational Objectives, Milan Vego

Joint Force Quarterly

Full knowledge and understanding of the true meaning of operational objectives are the main prerequisites for sound planning and execution of major operations A major operations (on land, at sea, in the air) is aimed at accomplishing a single operational objective. They can be conducted predominantly by a single service or two or more services. A campaign in a high-intensity conventional war consists of a series of related major/joint operations (on land, in the air, at sea) plus numerous tactical actions aimed to achieve a single military- or theater-strategic objective. Yet despite their importance, relatively little attention is …

From Data To Victory: The Race For Analytic Superiority In Warfare, Robert Grossman, Emily Goldman

Joint Force Quarterly

Artificial intelligence technologies have reached a tipping point after decades of development. They are diffusing widely across defense and national security applications. Twenty-first century warfighters rely on analytic models in all systems, at all echelons, and in all domains. As more powerful models built on ever larger data sets become ubiquitous, militaries are in a new competition to deploy artificial intelligence. Operational art must embrace “analytic superiority.” This is the operational advantage from collecting and ingesting data, building robust models and computing infrastructure, deploying the models into operational systems, and denying adversaries' ability to do the same

This article explains …

Multimodal Solutions For The Detection Of Safety-Related Railroad Objects Under Adverse Weather: Architectures, Proof-Of-Concepts, And Performance Results, Hayder Radha

Mineta Transportation Institute

The emergence of high-resolution automotive grade lidar sensor technologies and the development of advanced deep- learning frameworks open the door for accurate and real-time perception of the surroundings of mobile trains for improved safety and operational efficiency. Under this project, we developed key components and proof-of-concepts of lidar-based multimodal solutions that rely on advanced deep- learning methods and utilize object detection approaches to demonstrate the feasibility of real-time detection of objects and events that could represent major safety issues for moving trains. The detected objects could be vehicles or people trespassing a railroad track, or they could be hazardous objects …

Kidfluencing: The Exploitation Of Children And Resulting Challenges, Mary Helen Pollard

Creating Change: The Online Journal of Zines about Social Movements

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Leadership Styles From Traditional Policing To Community Policing, Ryan Gates

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examines leadership in a community policing context. It addresses a long-standing problem: injustice, inequality, and unfair treatment. Specifically, it examines community policing and the impact of law enforcement leadership, particularly servant leadership, on policing outcomes. Greenleaf’s Theory of Servant Leadership guided this study. Participants included mid- to senior-level law enforcement officers with community policing experience, at least three years of leadership experience, and at least 18 years of age. Recruitment occurred through social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants. Thematic analysis produced six themes: community engagement and partnerships; …

Policy Discourse On A Three-Term Presidency Ahead Of The 2024 Elections: A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis, Ahmad Syukri, Ridho Al-Hamdi

Jurnal Politik

This study examines competing narratives surrounding the proposal to extend the presidential term limit to three terms in the period leading up to the 2024 General Election, using the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). The study employed a qualitative case study design based on 136 news articles published by five national online media outlets between January 2022 and April 2024. The unit of analysis was direct quotations from policy actors that addressed the three-term presidential discourse. Data were analyzed using NVivo 12 Plus through deductive and inductive coding based on four NPF elements: setting, characters, plot, and the moral of the …

Beyond Alternative Finance: A Multi-Case Study Of Relational Validation In The Moroccan Crowdfunding Ecosystem Through Signaling And Social Capital Theories, Lamya Bouziani, Jalal Azegagh

Arab Economic and Business Journal

This study examines how Moroccan entrepreneurs use crowdfunding as an alternative source of finance in a context characterized by limited access to traditional funding. Based on a qualitative multi-case design, the research draws on semi-structured interviews with ten entrepreneurs from different sectors and regions in Morocco. The study mobilizes Signaling Theory and Social Capital Theory to explore how entrepreneurs build trust and legitimacy throughout the crowdfunding process. The findings show that crowdfunding is perceived not only as a financing mechanism, but also as a way to overcome banking constraints and institutional limitations. Entrepreneurs rely on personal networks, storytelling, transparency, and …

More Than Just Blocks: Supporting Development Through Block Play In Early Childhood, Stephanie Szanter, Carrie L. Ota

Spark! Innovations in Early Childhood Education: A Research-to-Practice Journal for Educators

Block play is much more than a classroom center; it is a place where children explore ideas, solve problems, communicate, and work together in meaningful ways. This article examines how block play supports children’s social-emotional, cognitive, physical, and language development through hands-on experiences that feel natural and engaging. Using classroom examples and current research, the article highlights how block play changes over time, how teachers can thoughtfully support and extend children’s thinking, and how simple adjustments to materials and setup can deepen learning. Rather than requiring elaborate activities, strong block play environments grow from careful observation, responsiveness, and an understanding …

From Disaster To Resilience: Developing Smart Settlements In The Himalayas, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal’s catastrophic 26 August 2026 Bhote Koshi–Trishuli flood should be understood not only as a humanitarian tragedy but also as a potentially major turning point in updating national settlement and reconstruction policy. Engineers and scientists have described the floods as a glacier–bedrock collapse that triggered an ice-rock avalanche and debris flow. As per the live updates on September 7, 2026, the total death toll was 1,355, and 4,996 people were missing (The Hindu, 2026). Indian and Nepali rescuers worked urgently to locate and rescue people buried under hydropower tunnels, buildings, mud, and landslide debris.

UN News reported on September 3, …

Is Artificial Intelligence Intelligent? Trust, Verification, And The Responsible Use Of Al In Libraries, Norman Desmarais, Janice Schuster

Library Faculty and Staff papers

We live in an age of alternate realities. If we do not like the current situation, we can pick or rearrange facts to suit our worldview. It appears our information systems follow suit, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI). Developers in the Al industry generally want friendly Al that does what the human user wants (as long as it is not too naughty). They do not want Al that says "I do not know," so they design models to be fluent, not factual. Consequently, the engines confidently invent citations, titles, or people if not constrained or verified, a phenomenon called AI …

From Himalayan Catastrophe To National Resilience: Lessons From The 2026 Bhote Koshi And Trishuli River Floods In Nepal, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

On the morning of 26 August 2026, the mountains above Nepal’s northern frontier delivered a disaster of almost unimaginable speed and scale. A massive mass of ice, rock, and sediment detached in the high Himalayan terrain near the Nepal–Tibet border, descended roughly 1,200 metres, interacted with the Lhende Khola system, and generated a debris-rich flood that surged through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors, destroying settlements, markets, roads, bridges, hydropower facilities, and an international border crossing and transforming them into fields of mud, boulders, and wreckage within minutes (ICIMOD, 2026b; Reuters, 2026a). Satellite analysis indicates that a substantial section …