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Book Review: The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, And The Making Of The Modern World, Hal Brands

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Hal Brands

Reviewed by: John Erickson, senior engineer, Axiom Technologies, and Dr. John A. Nagl, General John J. Pershing Professor of Warfighting Studies, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College

In The Eurasian Century, Hal Brands explores how the geopolitical center of gravity has shifted to Eurasia, where autocratic powers challenge the liberal international order. Drawing on history, strategy, and geography, Brands argues that America must remain engaged to prevent a global descent into instability. This timely and provocative book reveals why the twenty-first century’s defining struggles will be fought across the world’s most …

Book Review: The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, And Warnings From History, Jadwiga Biskupska

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Odd Arne Westad

Reviewed by: Jadwiga Biskupska, Harold K. Johnson Chair of Military History, US Army War College

A historian’s warning on how great powers stumble into war, this study draws sharp lessons from the past for today’s fragile global order. As rival powers rise and tensions mount, it reveals how missteps and misperceptions can turn regional crises into global catastrophe—and how leaders might navigate a shifting balance of power without repeating the failures that once reshaped the world.

©2026 Jadwiga Biskupska

"Celts In The Valley", William Lindsey Mcdonald

Research Articles

The Tennessee Valley of North Alabama retains linguistic and cultural influences from the languages of its inhabitants. Scot Irish inhabitants of Celtic origin produced a dialect that McDonald claims as a "Celtic character" through tracing common regional expressions back to their roots in the original Gaelic.

Predictors Of Psychological Strain In College Students In The Context Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Randy M. Ludwig

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated the traditional challenges of being a college student. This study examined the factors associated with the mental health difficulties many college students faced during the pandemic. Factor analysis was used to uncover a latent variable called psychological strain, which was composed of mental instability, mental health strain, sadness, anxiety, and unhappiness. An exploratory path model was created to determine which factors most closely related to psychological strain. Of the 14 factors considered, 11 were significant predictors. Overall, the most important risk factor was found to be social isolation (total effects = .437), while …

Spartan Daily, September 16, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 167, Issue 11

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 …

Validation Of Next‑Generation Sequencing‑Derived Circulating Mrna Variants As Potential Diagnostic Tools In Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Cholangiocarcinoma, Daniel Zezulinski, Maarouf A. Hoteit, David E. Kaplan, Tingting Zhan, Cataldo Doria, Timothy M. Block, Aejaz Sayeed

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Liquid biopsy can transform oncology practice through early detection and real‑time monitoring of cancer progression and response to treatment. Circulating cell‑free tumor RNA offers promise as a novel and emerging alternative to circulating cell‑free tumor DNA for detecting the presence and understanding the biology of liver tumors. Both circulating DNA and RNA, which predominantly reside in extracellular vesicles, carry evidence of vital germline and somatic mutations. High impact single nucleotide changes, insertions and deletions in circulating RNA (ctRNA) serve a key role in cancer development and progression. Tumor cells exploit the RNA splicing machinery to induce structural and functional changes …

Interface Geometry Governs Probe Insertion Mechanics And Electrode Deviation In Layered Brain-Mimicking Phantoms For Deep Brain Stimulation, Siyu Chen, Chengyuan Wu, Ethan Anders, Rungun Nathan, Olivia M. Bailey, Qifu Wang, Curtis L. Johnson, Qianhong Wu

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder often treated with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgical procedure that involves implanting electrodes to improve motor function. Accurate electrode placement is critical for treatment efficacy but can be influenced by tissue deformation, insertion forces, and the mechanical properties of brain tissue. In this study, we investigated the role of layer interface angle as a controlled biomechanical factor affecting insertion forces and electrode deviation. A two-layer agar gel phantom was constructed to produce a prescribed stiffness transition between a lower-stiffness and a higher-stiffness gel layer, and its small-amplitude dynamic shear-stiffness contrast was …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis And Measurement Invariance Of The Sexual Orientation Concealment Scale Among Nonbinary Lgbtq+ Adults, Peter D. Goldie, Michael T. Bixter, Suzanne Mclaren

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Sexual orientation concealment is a prevalent minority stressor among LGBTQ+ people (including nonbinary people) and it is associated with a series of adverse mental health outcomes. The Sexual Orientation Concealment Scale (SOCS) is a widely used brief measure assessing sexual orientation concealment. Although the SOCS has been used with diverse cisgender populations, its validity for nonbinary people, including those of varied racial/ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations, remains unknown. Based on data from an international sample of 340 nonbinary LGBTQ+ individuals, the present study reports the findings of a confirmatory factor analysis to assess the one-factor structure and validity of the …

Otolith Morphological Variations Reveal Intraspecific Diversity In Two-Spot Barb, Pethia Ticto (Hamilton, 1822), Inhabiting The Riverine Ecosystem, Insha Hassan, Lubna Yasmeen, Mohd Sadiq, Ameer Hamza, Mohammad Afzal Khan

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The intraspecific variation in otolith wavelet coefficients, contours, and morphometric variables (six size and nine shape indices) was analyzed to discriminate stock variation in Pethia ticto collected from four selected sites along the River Ganga (Narora, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Bhagalpur). The wavelet coefficients extracted revealed symmetrical yet site-specific contour variations, particularly along the rostral, dorsal, and posterior margins, with the fourth-level wavelet explaining 98% of the cumulative accuracy and being selected for contour analysis. Permutational analysis of multivariate dispersion (PERMDISP) (F = 6.11, p = 0.002) and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) (F = 8.42, R2 = 0.179, p …

Dissecting The Dissection Laboratory: Elements For Designing A Human Anatomy Laboratory: The Human Anatomy And Physiology Society (Haps)-Anatomical Donor Stewardship (Ads) Committee, Lab Resources Subcommittee, Rhiannon E. Robinson, Abbey Breckling, Danielle N. Edwards, Nicole Geske, Burhan Gharaibeh, Bobbie J. Leeper, Molly Ostwald, Mary Schilling, Bridgett Severt, Kelsey Stevens, J.P. Swigart, Jonathan J. Wisco, Melissa Zolnierz, Jeremy J. Grachan

Faculty and Staff Publications

The human anatomy dissection laboratory is a critical component of anatomical and medical education. Development, maintenance, and stocking of these laboratory spaces have unique demands, with all of the challenges in running a laboratory with Biosafety Laboratory Level 2 (BSL-2) classification, housing a large volume of tissues saturated with volatile chemicals, and safeguarding human beings all within the same space. At times, educators or laboratory managers may be tasked with helping to design a new anatomy laboratory from scratch, to give input on the renovation of an existing laboratory space (which may or may not have been used with human …

Standardized Screening And Monitoring Of Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy In Women Ages 35–50, Amanda Ellen Hampton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In this quality improvement project, I evaluated a pilot implementation of a standardized bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) screening and monitoring tool embedded within the electronic health record (EHR) at an integrative medicine practice in the southeastern United States. Grounded in the Johns Hopkins evidence based practice (EBP) model, the project addressed a documented gap in consistent screening, initiation, and monitoring of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women ages 35 to 50 presenting with menopausal symptoms. The practice focused question examined whether a standardized, EHR embedded BHRT screening and monitoring tool could improve screening rate compliance, laboratory monitoring adherence, and …

Shared Redox Networks And Divergent Oral Tissue Outcomes: From Periodontal Destruction To Mucosal Inflammation And Fibrosis, I-Ta Lee

Articles in Press

No abstract provided.

Designing With Drafts And Cross-Sections: Reflections On How Representations Of Woven Structure Shape Design Practice, Deanna Gelosi, Laura Devendorf

Textile Intersections Conference Series

The draft, a grid of black and white squares used to specify where a particular warp crosses over or under a weft in woven cloth, is a common representation used to design and describe woven structures. The squares in a draft directly, or with a few modifications, translate to manufacturing instructions, which makes the draft a common representation used in weaving design software. In this paper, we describe how using a different woven structure representation, a cross-section, in a design tool that foregrounds different concerns. Specifically, we describe and reflect on our motivation, design, and initial testing of an interactive …

Textile Digital Drape Definition - Td3: Comparing Digital To Physical Design Considerations, Alexandra Kuijpers, Troy Nachtigall, Maarten Van Bommel

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Fashion design is, by nature, a very hands-on activity in which the touch and feel of a textile are considered vital to the design of the garment. Yet when designers work with digital fashion design software, they rely on digital textile definitions that are visual instead of tangible textile swatches. In this research, we created a new Textile Digital Drape Definition (TD3) that is heavily informed by textile drape properties. We compared the TD3 to traditional tangible textile interaction, via an intense workshop examining eleven textile sample swatches. The digital drape of the TD3 follows standardized textile science drape methods, …

Design Decisions As Leverage Points Of Textile Production And Supply Chain Orientation: Case Textile Colouration, Helmiina Hirviniemi, Maarit Salolainen, Astrid Larsen

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Textile design decisions, from fibres to finished fabrics, are often seen as matters of aesthetics and product functionality. However, these decisions also shape, among other aspects, production systems, supply chain structures, and the environmental impact of textile manufacturing. Textiles are constructed in complex production chains that transform fibres into yarns and ultimately into finished fabrics. At each stage, design and production choices influence not only the visual and technical properties of the final textile but also its ecological footprint and production system. This paper argues that more sustainable textile supply chains are achievable within existing technological capabilities if design and …

Designing With Evolutive Colors: A Proof Of Concept For Bio-Based Dye Integration In Textile Design Digital Workflow, Clarisse Barbot, Camille Fuzier, Bertrand Loïc, De Visscher Emile, Panayotis Mavros

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Current industrial textile production relies on petrochemical dyes. This dependence has led to growing interest in bio-based alternatives, although their adoption remains constrained by technical and cultural factors. In particular, bio-based dyes do not meet typical industrial standards for stability, diversity of colour choices, and reproducibility. Textiles dyed with bio-based colourants tend to exhibit colour changes under light exposure. Current design software systems were built with the conventional expectation of stability of petrochemical dyes in mind, making them ill-adapted to bio-based dye behaviour and thus hampering their industrial adoption. To address this gap, we propose the prototype of a novel …

Hooked: Programmable, Capacitive Sensing Through Crochet As A Medium For Garments With Tactile Interaction, Juliette Hars, Josie Hughes

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Soft capacitive sensing in wearable textiles has many promising applications such as health monitoring, rehabilitation, or intelligent sports garments requiring sensitivity and sensory stability. Existing approaches either rely on rigid or semi-rigid components that compromise conformability, or on conductive yarn arrangements whose sensing geometry is fixed by the textile structure and difficult to adapt at design time. Crochet is an additive, stitch-by-stitch construction process which offers a largely unexplored route to programmable sensing surfaces, in which electrode geometry, baseline capacitance, and sensing range can be tuned directly through fabrication. We present a means of programmable capacitive sensing through crochet, enabling …

Colour Without Extraction: Towards Ethical Pigments, Tonya Meyrick, Jacinta Kay

Textile Intersections Conference Series

This paper investigates how recycled textile waste, reconstituted as particulate pigment, reshapes understandings of material intelligence in textile design, proposing a specifically chromatic account. Through iterative dyeing trials on cellulose substrates conducted within the Perpetual Pigments research initiative, the study examines what occurs when colour is treated as an active participant rather than a controllable output. Drawing on new materialist theory and circular economy frameworks, the paper argues that waste-derived pigments introduce relational dynamics that challenge industrial assumptions of chromatic stability and control. Despite growing interest in bio-colour, recycled pigment systems remain underexamined within design research. This paper responds to …

Developing An Industrial Microbial Colour System Through Textile Printing, Ruth Lloyd, Alice Taylor, James Ajioka, Carole Collet

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Emerging microbial colourants offer potential for more sustainable textile coloration, yet their integration into design and industrial production remains limited by the absence of systems that support their use. While existing biotechnology research has focused on colourant production and environmental performance, less attention has been given to how these materials can be applied within textile workflows. This paper demonstrates how microbial colour can be integrated into textile design through the development of reproducible protocols and a structured colour system. Drawing on practice-led doctoral research conducted in collaboration with the biotechnology company Colorifix, textile printing is used as a method to …

Mechanically Recycling Metallicized Fabrics, Maya Herron, Magdalena Kohler, Tommaso Nieri, Daniele Spinelli, Ilaria Canesi

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are a problematic technology when designing for sustainability as they combine two of the most polluting industries - textile and electronics. While ‘design for disassembly’ is frequently proposed as a sustainability strategy for the end-of-life of e-textile devices, what happens after components are separated and whether they can still function in new contexts has not been sufficiently addressed. Metallicized fabrics are commonly used in the e-textiles space when crafting/designing to provide conductivity for an array of applications, thus this study is focused on the post-disassembly potential and limitations of these materials. We apply recycling techniques from conventional …

Evolutive Textiles Design With The Variability Of Natural Dyes: A Color-Driven Approach Of Textile Design, Lou Ramage, Camille Fuzier

Textile Intersections Conference Series

In a context of over-standardized color production and stability-based evaluations of dyes, this article proposes a way to embrace and implement natural dyes’ temporal variabilities in evolutive textiles design and discusses how taking these into account modifies textile design practices. As a designer and a material scientist working with a dyer craftswoman, we present an adaptation of color characterisation methods and a chromo-chronological database, and how these tools result in a proof of concept of a tufted piece with pattern apparition, paving the way for a color-driven textile design.

Shaped Circular Knitting For Zero Waste Design: A Material-Driven Approach To Knitted Textile-Forms, Sem Janssen, Holly Mcquillan

Textile Intersections Conference Series

While 3D knitting is proposed as part of a solution to the fashion industry's waste problem, circular knitting is primarily used in wasteful cut-and-sew manufacturing processes and is rarely explored for its shaping potential. Using material-driven design, this research investigates the dimensional and material properties of knit stitch patterns within defined rectangular artworks, enabling the shaping of circular knitted textiles for zero-waste design. To exemplify this approach, we developed a design method that addresses several aspects of the shaping process, highlighting the possibilities for zero-waste shaping and exploring potential applications. Finally, we discuss the implications, limitations, and opportunities of shape-change …

Threading The Line: Switchboard Labor, Bodily Knowledge, And The Textile Traditions Of Telephone Operating, Yuhanxiao Ma

Textile Intersections Conference Series

This paper positions telephone switchboard operating as a textile tradition in the full disciplinary sense: a practice organized around embodied skill, the transmission of bodily knowledge through community, and the production of relational connection as material output. Drawing on feminist labor history, textile theory, and Daniela Rosner’s framework of critical fabulation, it argues that the systematic erasure of switchboard labor by electromechanical automation constitutes a form of textile loss: one structurally identical to the suppression of feminized craft work in computing history. The paper then presents the design logic of This Is Vera, Hold Please, a performance installation in development …

Empowering Generations: The Role Of Family And Consumer Sciences In Advancing Financial Literacy And Resilience, Stephen Molchan

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

In this article, I explore the critical role of family and consumer sciences (FCS) in advancing financial literacy and resilience across generations. By addressing systemic financial challenges and integrating financial education into its curriculum, FCS empowers individuals and families to make informed decisions and build secure futures. The article highlights strategies such as early intervention, culturally relevant programs, and community outreach, emphasizing how FCS equips individuals with practical skills in budgeting, saving, debt management, and risk assessment. I discuss the importance of advocacy for financial inclusion and consumer protection as a means to create equitable opportunities for financial well-being, underscoring …

When Students Use Ai Before They Learn To Think Clinically: Cognitive Offloading In Communication Sciences And Disorders Education, Salim Alani

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Generative artificial intelligence is becoming part of how students study, write, summarize, and prepare for coursework in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). Much of the current discussion in higher education has focused on plagiarism, academic integrity, and responsible technology use. Those concerns matter, but they do not fully address what may be a larger educational issue in professional preparation programs. Students can now generate polished explanations, study materials, treatment rationales, and clinical summaries quickly, sometimes before independently developing the reasoning skills those tasks are intended to build. This paper examines cognitive offloading in CSD education, defined here as the shifting …

From Detection To Segmentation: Adapting Yolo26 For Surface Crack Delineation, Mohammed Al-Mustafa, Israa H. Ali

Journal of Intelligent Informatics, Networking, and Cybersecurity

Surface crack delineation plays an important role in infrastructure inspection because accurate pixel-level mapping of cracks can support condition assessment, maintenance planning, and automated monitoring of roads and other civil surfaces. However, recent crack segmentation methods often depend on heavy network designs or prompt-based foundation models. It also remains unclear how a lightweight detection-oriented model behaves across different data organizations and unseen images. This study therefore investigates whether YOLO26m-seg, the medium segmentation variant of the recent YOLO26 family, can be adapted into an effective and practical pipeline for surface crack delineation. The proposed workflow has four main steps. First, binary …

Simotang Oral Liquid Alleviates Functional Dyspepsia-Related Motility Dysfunction Through Ca²⁺-Dependent Smooth Muscle Contraction And Nrf2/Nf-Κb Modulation, Guo Mao, Chunxiang He, Jiaqin Liu, Dahua Wu, Puhua Zeng, Ye Mao

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a disorder of gut-brain interaction involving heterogeneous motor, sensory, immune, and oxidative stress-related mechanisms. Simotang oral liquid (SMT), a traditional Chinese medicine formulation used for dyspeptic and gastrointestinal motility-related symptoms, has not been evaluated with an integrated clinical, functional, and molecular framework. This single-arm prospective pre-post study assessed gastric emptying by the 13C-octanoic acid breath test, gastric electrical activity by electrogastrography, postprandial tolerance by nutrient drink testing, symptom scores, serum biomarkers, and gastric antral tissue markers in patients with FD. FD-like mice were used for charcoal meal transit, smooth muscle strip tension, calcium channel blockade, and …

Local Ramp Metering Strategies: Recommendation For Implementation Ramp Metering In Baghdad, Iraq, Ali S. Saleh, Ali E. Jehad

Engineering and Technology Journal

Ramp metering is one of the most widely used traffic management practices to alleviate congestion on freeways. Although the use of such algorithms has proven effective in developed transportation systems, this adaptation and installation of suitable ramp metering algorithms can still be a problem in developing countries, especially when traffic characteristics, data availability and institutional capacity differ greatly from the developed ones. This paper is a systematic review of local responsive ramp metering strategies covering more than ninety publications from 1991-2026. The review identifies four categories of strategies: threshold-based, feedback-based (such as ALINEA and its variations), optimization-based and AI-based. The …

Predicting Student Performance In Introduction To Information Technology Using Regression-Based Learning Analytics And Instructional Intervention Data, Masyitah Abu, Nur Azlina Mohamed Mokmin, Ummu Salmah Mohamad Hussin, Hafirda Akma Musaddad

Al-Bahir

This study examines student performance across three instructional intervention strategies in an Introduction to Information Technology subject at a Malaysian private university in Perak. The dataset was obtained from the university system and involved a seven-week short-semester teaching period. A total of 308 diploma students were included and divided into three existing class groups: traditional lecture-based learning (n = 103), multimedia-assisted learning (n = 100), and blended learning (n = 105). Each group was exposed to a different instructional approach delivered by a different lecturer. Student performance was assessed through quizzes, assignments, midterm examination, and final examination. The study analyzed …