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Great Plains Research: A Journal Of Natural And Social Sciences Volume 19, Number 1 (Spring 2009): News And Notes

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

News and Notes

Conferences

Lecture Announcement

Call for Papers

Charles E. Bessey Award

Leslie Hewes Award

Book Review: The Arapaho Language By Andrew Cowell, With Alonzo Moss Sr., Neyooxet Greymorning

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The Arapaho Language is divided into five primary analytical areas on phonology, inflectional morphology, derivational morphology, usage, complex clauses, and syntax. Under these headings an additional 21 subfields and numerous grammatical rules are also provided. One feature that makes this book particularly beneficial is its extensive use of narrative texts, historical accounts, and life experiences of several individuals as examples for discussing how grammatical rules work within the language, which also provides helpful examples of the subtleties, complexity, and flexibility used by Arapaho speakers that differ from other Algonquian languages.

Although it is clear that this book is written primarily …

Book Review: Hard Road West: History And Geology Along The Gold Rush Trail By Keith Heyer Meldahl., Harmon D. Maher Jr.

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The dust jacket of Hard Road West promises familiar pleasures to John McPhee lovers, and so I picked the book up with great anticipation. McPhee’s works have greatly heightened the interest of writers and readers in the genre of creative nonfiction, and while for me, Keith Meldahl’s work does not quite reach McPhee’s stratospheric heights, for the right audience it is definitely a very good read.

The book is organized from east to west, forward in time, following in detail the wagon trail journey to the California gold fields. That human migration, driven by the search for geologic riches, provides …

Archeological Interpretation Of The Frontier Battle At Mud Springs, Nebraska, Peter Bleed, Douglas D. Scott

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Between February 4 and 7, 1865, Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho warriors engaged a force of U.S. Army soldiers at Mud Springs, Nebraska. Historical records from both sides indicate that this fight marked an early phase of the Indian Wars. Based on systematic metal detections, firearms identification, and terrain analysis, this paper adds archeological insights into the arms and tactics used by the opposing sides. Well-armed Native fighters used terrain to approach U.S. troops, who maintained a defensive posture. U.S. soldiers appear to have dug a rifle pit to see approaching attackers.

Utopian And Communal Societies: The Importance Of Institutionalized Awe Through Ideology, Matthew H. Brittingham

Nebraska Anthropologist

America s utopian and communal societies have a long history of using transcendence as a commitment mechanism for followers and converts. The most prevalent commitment mechanism is institutionalized awe through ideology. This principle is extremely important to utopian communities and societies in terms of longevity. Sometimes the ideologies need to be changed in order to help a community sustain awe, and, through the awe, membership. Some of the most successful utopian communities in American history utilized the flexibility of their ideologies to maintain awe and sustain the needs of their members, especially in tragic and difficult circumstances. The American communal …

"This Countries Ladies": Gender Negotiations At The Northwest Company, Grand Portage, Andrew E. Labounty

Nebraska Anthropologist

French interactions with Indians during the fur trade were characterized by intermarriage and cultural assimilation. Later, when Canadian traders took over, women were notably present at the Northwest Company s depot at Grand Portage, and participated in its affairs. Although the seasonal workings of Canadian fur trade depots are well-established, gender roles have been typically overlooked in the day-to-day recount of fur trade societies. This paper will thus investigate the aspect of gender at fur trade posts, and particularly at Grand Portage, as a study in cross-cultural negotiations for the fulfillment of gender roles.

Shipbuilding And The English International Timber Trade, 1300-1700: A Framework For Study Using Niche Construction Theory, Jillian R. Smith

Nebraska Anthropologist

Much scholarship has been undertaken with regards to the evolution of the European shipbuilding traditions and their physical changes, but few explanations for the changes are given. This paper seeks to identify the correlations between the expansion of the English timber trade in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries and the changes in shipbuilding at the time, thereby creating a framework for future study of this correlation and its possible relatedness using Niche Construction Theory as a framework. Directions the research can take and the data needed are the focus of this work.

Trends Of Pathogen Overload And The Influence On Social Behavior, Dylan Wall

Nebraska Anthropologist

A review of the literature has been undertaken showing that higher levels of pathogen stress have been positively correlated with multiple aspects of social structure: non-sororal polygyny (Ember et al. 2007; Low 1990), exogamy and bride capture (Low 1990), resource defense (Barber 2008; Hames 1996), and male-female body alteration (Singh and Bronstad 1997). Non-sororal polygyny is the most effective reproductive strategy to defend against pathogen stress, as it promotes much genetic variability within gene pools, allowing for more pathogenic resistance in individuals because of heterozygous al/eles. In order to secure mates while faced with ecological extremes, individuals will modify their …

Nebraska Anthropologist Volume 24 : 2009 Table Of Contents

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Expansion of Class Concepts and the Colorado Coal Field War Project (David M. Amrine)

A Preliminary Survey of Lesser-Known Polyandrous Societies (Katie E. Starkweather)

"This Countries Ladies": Gender Negotiations at the Northwest Company, Grand Portage (Andrew E. LaBounty)

Utopian and Communal Societies: The Importance of Institutionalized Awe Through Ideology (Matthew H. Brittingham)

Domestication and Significance of Persea americana, the Avocado, in Mesoamerica (Amanda J. Landon)

Trends of Pathogen Overload and the Influence on Social Behavior (Dylan Wall)

Shipbuilding and the English International Timber Trade, 1300-1700: a framework for study using Niche Construction Theory (Jillian R. Smith)

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2009, 129th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Nineteenth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Earth Science

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Biological and Medical Sciences

Nebraska Wesleyan University Health and Sciences Graduate School Fair

Junior Academy: Senior High Competition

Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session

History and Philosophy of Science

Teaching of Science and Math

Maiben Memorial Lecture: Donald Frey, Department of Family Practice, Creighton University Medical Center

Anthropology

Chemistry and Physics

Junior Academy, Junior High Competition

Animal Helminths In Human Archaeological Remains: A Review Of Zoonoses In The Past, Luciana Sianto, Marcia Chame, Cassius S. P. Silva, Marcelo L. C. Gonçalves, Karl Reinhard, Martín Horacio Fugassa, Adauto Araújo

Karl Reinhard Publications

The authors present a review of records of intestinal parasitic helminths from animals in human archaeological remains, reported since the emergence of paleopathological studies. The objective was to relate paleoparasitological findings to geographic, biotic, and abiotic factors from the environment in which the prehistoric populations lived, and understand some aspects related to the process of human dispersion and biological and cultural evolution. Modification of eating habits and the incorporation of new cultural practices are analyzed from the perspective of zoonoses from prehistory to the present day, especially in Brazilian indigenous populations. Three tables identifying the helminths, their natural hosts, dates, …

The Archaeology Of The Donner Party Review, Douglas D. Scott

United States National Park Service: Publications

Don Hardesty and his contributors have given us a new perspective on the Donner Party tragedy of 1846-1847. The Archaeology of the Donner Party is a concise and well-written account of the history, archaeological investigations, and reinterpretation of the events. This slim volume is a model of multidisciplinary research and a team approach to producing a publicly oriented archaeological interpretation of interesting events of our recent past.

Footprints- In The Footprints Of Squier And Davis: Archeological Fieldwork In Ross County, Ohio, Mark J. Lynott, Jennifer Pederson-Weinberger, N'Omi B. Greber, Orrin C. Shane Iii, Bret J. Ruby, William H. Pickard, Jeffrey W. Weinberger, William S. Dancey, Jarrod Burks, Dawn Walter Gagliano, John Weymouth, Bruce Bevan, Rinita Dalan, Rolfe D. Mandel, Katherine A. Spielmann

United States National Park Service: Publications

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements....................................................................i
List of Tables...................................................................vii
List of Figures...................................................................ix
Contributors .........................................................................xiii

Chapter 1

In the Footprints of Squier and Davis : Archeological

Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio

Mark J. Lynott................................................................................1
Previous Studies in Ohio ...................................................1
Hopewell Studies Today ................................................................4
Recent Field Research ..........................................................................6
Goal of this Volume ................................................................................12

Chapter 2

In Non-mound Space at the Hopewell Mound Group

Jennifer Pederson Weinberger .........................................13
Geophysical Survey .......................................................15
Western Village Area.....................................................................16
Near the East Village .....................................................................18
Central Area ............................................................................19
Discussion .......................................................................................19

Chapter 3

Field Studies of the Octagon and Great Circle, High Bank Earthworks Ross County, Ohio

N’omi B. Greber and …

The Leading Object: October 2009, John C. Owens

Leading Object

Perspectives; IANR faculty helps develop forensic science in Lagos; Agronomy professor emeritus dies; Mazour works to produce food to feed world’s population; Food ingredient with soybeans, tallow shown to lower cholesterol; Baenziger receives 2009 Omtvedt Innovation Award; Cunningham steps down as ARD dean and director; Agribusiness club gives awards

Neon, Vol. 46 No. 2, Winter 2009

NEOPA Newsletters

No abstract provided.

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2008-2009

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration: Reports, Papers, Publications, and Presentations

Fact Book Table of Contents

General Information

UNL Core Values ................................. 4

Role and Mission Statement ................................................................. 5

Institutional & Professional Accreditations ............................................................. 8

UNL Organizational Chart .................................................................. 10

Student Credit Hours

SCH by College and Student Level, Fall & Spring Semesters, 5 Year Trend ....................... 11

SCH by College and Student Level, Fall Semester, 5 Year Trend ......................................... 12

SCH by College and Student Level, Spring Semester, 5 Year Trend .................................... 13

Summer Sessions Student Credit Hours .................................................. 14

Retention, Degrees and Majors

Student Retention & Graduation Rate Analysis ............................................. 15

Total Degrees Conferred by UNL Fiscal Year, 10 …

Agreement Answer Scale Design For Multilingual Surveys: Effects Of Translation-Related Changes In Verbal Labels On Response Styles And Response Distributions, Ana Villar

Survey Research and Methodology Program: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Answer scales in survey instruments are widely used, but little is known about how to choose verbal descriptors as labels. In multilingual research, this matter is further complicated because answer scales must be appropriate for all languages and function comparatively. Comparing source questionnaires to translations of multinational projects (e.g., the World Values Survey, the European Social Survey), it was observed that certain verbal features differed across languages, countries, and modules. This dissertation empirically investigates the effect of such changes on response distributions. The verbal feature examined is the presence or absence of an intensity modifier in the second and fourth …

Annie Marion Maclean, Feminist Pragmatist And Methodologist, Mary Jo Deegan, Michael R. Hill, Susan L. Wortmann

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Annie Marion Maclean was a major Chicago sociologist and methodologist. She was profoundly influenced by the gendered division of labor in sociology during her era. Maclean combined her work with the men and women of the early Chicago school of sociology and the women of Hull-House, an early social settlement. As a feminist pragmatist, Maclean was both a theorist and practitioner who used qualitative and quantitative methods. She set precedents in the Chicago school of ethnography, participant observation, and critical methodology. Maclean, however, was not the “mother” of ethnography. Harriet Martineau holds a far stronger claim to be a founding …

The Expansion Of Class Concepts And The Colorado Coal Field War Project, David M. Amrine

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Colorado Coal Field War Project was an attempt by McGuire, Reckner, and others to develop a 'working-class' archaeology that served the public as well as the archaeologists performing excavations and research. The attempt was successful, promoting and supporting ideas that had been discussed in archaeology about gender, class, and the treatment of archaeology as a craft. Their example of using archaeology to benefit communities as well as academic interests can and should be tested in other regions of the United States as well as the rest of the world.

Sojourners In Mexico With U.S. School Experience: A New Taxonomy For Transnational Students, Víctor Zúñiga, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

There are many school-age children involved in the transnational movement of peoples between the United States and Mexico. Among those currently in Mexico (typically regarded as a sending country rather than a receiving country), most expect to return to the United States someday, although not necessarily permanently, and they variously identify as Mexican, Mexican American, or American. This suggests that the prospect of enduring geographic mobility affects the complicated work of identity formation and affiliation. Central to this negotiation are Mexican schools, which, like U.S. schools, are not deliberately designed to consider the needs, understandings, and wants of an increasingly …

The Literature Of Difference In Cultures Of Science, Scout Calvert

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Review of The Nature of Difference: Sciences of Race in the United States from Jefferson to Genomics, edited by Evelynn M. Hammonds and Rebecca M. Herzig.

The Nature of Difference is a timely addition to conversations about race and genomics, organized so as to allow readers to make new connections between contemporary discourses and the histories of science and race. The text’s selections and the organization of the selections with introductory material are especially helpful, serving as navigational aids to the sometimes astounding statements of racial fact that could otherwise be conversation stoppers. The book would be useful either as …

Ancient Leishmaniasis In A Highland Desert Of Northern Chile, Maria Antonietta Costa, Carney Matheson, Lucia Iachetta, Otto Appenzeller

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Background

Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease endemic today in many areas of South America.

Methodology

We discovered morphologic and molecular evidence of ancient infections in four female skulls in the archaeological cemetery of Coyo Oriente, in the desert of San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile. The boney facial lesions visible in the skulls could have been caused by a number of chronic infections including chronic Leishmaniasis. This diagnosis was confirmed using PCR-sequenced analyses of bone fragments from the skulls of the affected individuals. Leishmaniasis is not normally found in the high-altitude desert of northern Chile; where the harsh climate does …

Comparison Of Fuzzy Clustering Methods And Their Applications To Geophysics Data, David J. Miller, Carl A. Nelson, Molly Boeka Cannon, Kenneth P. Cannon

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Fuzzy clustering algorithms are helpful when there exists a dataset with subgroupings of points having indistinct boundaries and overlap between the clusters. Traditional methods have been extensively studied and used on real-world data, but require users to have some knowledge of the outcome a priori in order to determine howmany clusters to look for. Additionally, iterative algorithms choose the optimal number of clusters based on one of several performance measures. In this study, the authors compare the performance of three algorithms (fuzzy c-means, Gustafson-Kessel, and an iterative version of Gustafson-Kessel) when clustering a traditional data set as well as real-world …

Using Packrat Middens To Assess Grazing Effects On Vegetation Change, J. Fisher, Ken L. Cole, R.S. Anderson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Research on grazing effects usually compares the same sites through time or grazed and ungrazed sites over the same time period. Both approaches are complicated in arid environments where grazing can have a long undocumented history and landscapes can be spatially heterogenous. This work employs both approaches simultaneously by comparing grazed and ungrazed samples through both time and space using fossil plant macrofossils and pollen from packrat middens. A series of 27 middens, spanning from 995 yr BP to the present, were collected from Glen Canyon in southeastern Utah, USA. These middens detail vegetation change just prior to, and following, …

Impact Of Empire Expansion On Household Diet: The Inka In Northern Chile’S Atacama Desert, Sheila D. Vinton, Linda Perry, Karl J. Reinhard, Calogero M. Santoro, Isabel Teixeira-Santos

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The impact of expanding civilization on the health of American indigenous societies has long been studied. Most studies have focused on infections and malnutrition that occurred when less complex societies were incorporated into more complex civilizations. The details of dietary change, however, have rarely been explored. Using the analysis of starch residues recovered from coprolites, here we evaluate the dietary adaptations of indigenous farmers in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert during the time that the Inka Empire incorporated these communities into their economic system. This system has been described as ‘‘complementarity’’ because it involves interaction and trade in goods produced at …

Rational Decisions: The Adaptive Nature Of Context-Dependent Choice, Alexandra G. Rosati, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although classical economic theory hinges on the assumption that rational actors should seek to maximize gains, psychologists and behavioral economists have recently collected a wealth of evidence challenging this premise. In violation of the principles of rational choice, context appears to dramatically influence human decision making. Like humans, numerous nonhuman animals, ranging from honeybees to primates, are sensitive to context, suggesting deep evolutionary roots for seemingly irrational decision-making. Many psychologists have suggested that such choices may stem from cognitive biases that result in errors. We contend, however, that labeling context-dependent choices as errors obscures the real issue. Natural selection does …

Social Interaction Effects On Reward And Cognitive Abilities In Monkeys, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Marc D. Hauser

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

When given a choice between receiving $100 in 30 days and $110 in 31 days, most people wait for the larger, more delayed reward. However, when the choice is between $100 today and $110 tomorrow, many people shift their preferences to the smaller, immediate reward despite the same difference of $10 and one day. Reward properties—such as time to receipt—play a crucial role in our processing of rewards. However, reward processing does not only occur for individual decisions but also for social interactions; we must decide to either cooperate or compete with others for rewards. Humans stand out in the …

Paths To Knowledge As A Foundational Course In An Honors Program, Mark Vitha, Arthur Sanders, Colin Cairns, David Skidmore, Clive Elliot, William Lewis

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In this article we describe an honors course titled “Paths to Knowledge,” which was created to provide students with an understanding of the ways different disciplines create and evaluate knowledge. This is the only specific course within our honors curriculum that is required of all honors students. After seeing it evolve over several years, multiple instructors, and a variety of approaches to the theme, we believe that Paths to Knowledge may be a good model for a foundational course within an honors program.

Book Review: The Allen Site: A Paleoindian Camp In Southwestern Nebraska Edited By Douglas B. Bamforth, Daniel S. Amick

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Douglas Bamforth and his colleagues demonstrate in this edited volume the valuable role in modern archaeology for thoughtful reinvestigation of previously studied site locations and archaeological collections. Containing 14 chapters by 11 contributors, The Allen Site includes comprehensive paleoenvironmental research and detailed reanalysis of cultural materials recovered from renowned excavations conducted in the Medicine Creek Basin between 1947 and 1949, deposits that hold a series of human occupations ranging from 10,550 to 8,000 radiocarbon years in age. These new studies provide valuable improvements to our understanding of environmental change and early human adaptations during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene …

Review Of "The Choctaws In Oklahoma: From Tribe To Nation, 1855-1970." By Clara Sue Kidwell, Robert Keith Collins

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Scholars of anthropology (particularly historical anthropology), history, and Native American studies interested in Choctaw history, cultural changes, everyday life choices, and contributions to American culture should find The Choctaws in Oklahoma: From Tribe to Nation, 1855-1970 and How Choctaws Invented Civilization and Why Choctaws Will Conquer the World important new contributions to the historical literature articulated by strong Choctaw voices. And readers interested in the complexities of Choctaw life in the Southern Plains, how Choctaws interacted with the region's other Indigenous groups (e.g., Kiowas and Comanches), and the inconsistencies between federal policies and Choctaw lived realities over time will be …