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Review Of Willa Cather And The American SouthwestEdited By John N. Swift And Jospeh R. Urgo, Guy Reynolds

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Cather criticism has come a long way since Sharon O'Brien's 1987 biography, Willa Cather: The Emerging Voice. O'Brien had a singular take on Cather's trip to the Southwest in 1912, viewing this journey as a moment of psychological transformation, a tipping point when Cather became a creative rather than a merely professional writer. O'Brien emerged from a distinctive 1970s literary feminism, which placed the life-story of neglected writers within a psychoanalytical context. This new collection is, in contrast, a kaleidoscopic array of varied approaches to "Cather's Southwest."

A number of the essays are close readings of specific episodes, motifs, …

Review Of Racial Frontiers: Africans, Chinese, And Mexicans In Western America, 1848-1890 By Arnoldo De Leon, Sucheng Chan

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Arnoldo De Leon wrote this book to fill a gap in the existing literature on the American West that either "overlooks or is mindless about the contributions of Africans, Chinese, and Mexicans to the frontier experience." In his view, the presence of these nonwhite groups made the region a racial as well as a psychological frontier. In a short text of only 107 pages, he argues, in chapter 1, that these groups came because the frontier offered them opportunities not available in their homelands (though "homeland" is not entirely applicable to American-born blacks). That is, their motive for migrating to …

Geography Of Population Change And Redistribution Within The Post-Frontier Great Plains, J. Clark Archer, Richard Lonsdale

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

The popular vision of the Great Plains as a region of ongoing population decline is only partly appropriate. In a fundamental transformation of the population geography previously set in the late 19th century, there is an emerging divide between growing metropolitan centers concentrated along the region's periphery and a vast interior struggling to hold its traditional rural population. The size and geographical distribution of population within the Great Plains region is examined over time with the aid of cartographic and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques. Intercensal net migration rates estimated using the vital statistics-based residual method are mapped by county …

Intercourse As Discourse: The Calculus Of Objectification And Desire In The Novel And Film Versions Of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Russell J. Ganim

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Faculty Publications

The calculus of objectifi cation and desire in both the novel and film versions of Choderlos de Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses is derived in two principal ways. The first derivation, that of the Sadean will to objectify the other for erotic and intellectual satisfaction, precedes the second, that of the overarching wish to produce a written object announcing the conquest of the human object. Limited by the medium, the film adaptations of the Liaisons dangereuses cannot place as great an emphasis on the composition of letters. Nevertheless, they make allusions to it in such a manner that underscores this type of …

Intellectual Engagement And Achievement At Unl: Report From The Blue Sky Committee

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

Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction and Guiding Framework

A Vision for UNL

The Datasets

The Undergraduate Experience

What We Learned

Quantitative Measures

Overall Student Satisfaction

Academic and Social Support

Academic Challenge

What Are the Implications?

Increased Focus on Academics during Orientation

A Reexamination of Course Offerings

Development of Graduate Teaching Assistant Skills

Expanded Involvement of Undergraduates in Research and Other Activities

Comments on the Undergraduate Data

The Politics Of Cather’S Regionalism: Margins, Centers And The Nebraskan Commonwealth, Guy Reynolds

Department of English: Presentations

Willa Cather remains a central figure in literary regionalism because she puts the central tenets of regionalism under intellectual pressure. One of the most familiar ways of thinking about American regions has been to think about an opposition between ‘section’ and ‘region’. Region tends to be used to define a geographical area, whereas a section denotes political or cultural identity. Cather is almost a sectionalist in her focus on the cultural and intellectual distinctiveness of the Nebraskan Commonwealth; but the very term itself links Nebraska to Virginia, rupturing a simple sense of section. Cather has a geographer’s sense of regional …

Pregnancy, Drug Testing, And The Fourth Amendment: Legal And Behavioral Implications, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In its efforts to protect the health of unborn children, the government is increasingly attempting to regulate pregnant women’s conduct. As with other policies affecting pregnant women’s autonomy, these policies have constitutional overtones. In Ferguson v. City of Charleston (2001), the Supreme Court struck down a South Carolina hospital’s policy of testing pregnant women for cocaine and turning positive results over to law enforcement for prosecution. This article discusses the basis of the decision and its legal and behavioral implications. Although the decision came down on the side of pregnant women’s rights, it left unresolved the issue of whether a …

Impact Of Nicotine Withdrawal On Novelty Reward And Related Behaviors, Joyce Besheer, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The authors tested the decreased reward function hypothesis of nicotine withdrawal using a novel-object place conditioning task. A conditioned place preference was evident in controls and in rats that had experienced 4 nicotine withdrawal days, but not in rats that had experienced 1–3 withdrawal days. This implies that the rewarding properties of interacting with novel objects were not readily associated with the environment in which they were paired. Follow-up experiments eliminated other explanations based on withdrawal-induced failures to process object or environment information. Also, expression of conditioning was not affected, indicating that withdrawal likely altered acquisition. Further investigation into the …

History Of Depression And Smoking Cessation Outcome: A Meta-Analysis, Brian Hitsman, Belinda Borrelli, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Bonnie Spring, Raymond Niaura

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of published studies to (a) evaluate the premise that a history of major depression is associated with failure to quit smoking and (b) identify factors that moderate the relationship between history of depression and cessation outcome. Fifteen studies met the selection requirements and were coded for various study methodology and treatment characteristics. DSTAT was used to calculate individual study effect sizes, determine the mean effect size across studies, and test for moderator effects. No differences in either short-term (≤ 3 months) or long-term abstinence rates (≥ 6 months) were observed between smokers positive versus negative …

Measuring Damages For Lost Enjoyment Of Life: The View From The Bench And The Jury Box, Susan Poser, Brian H. Bornstein, Erinn Kiernan Mcgorty

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Civil jury instructions are inconsistent in defining what constitutes noneconomic damages, which may include pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life (LEL), among other injury sequelae. This inconsistency has been manifested recently in court decisions that have considered whether LEL should be treated as a separate element of noneconomic damages, distinct from pain and suffering. This paper reviews the case law on this issue and also describes a jury simulation experiment. Mock jurors awarded damages after they received instructions on noneconomic damages in which LEL was (1) not identified as a distinct element of damages; (2) defined …

Extension Educators’ Supply Of Risk Management Training To Farmers, Oscar Vergara, Steve Martin, Keith H. Coble, George F. Patrick, Thomas O. Knight, Alan E. Baquet

Department of Agricultural Economics: Presentations, Working Papers, and Gray Literature

This paper primary objective is to analyze the supply of risk management education provided by extension educators to their clients. A survey of county/area extension educators from Mississippi, Texas, Indiana, and Nebraska was conducted during the fall of 2001. A Tobit econometric model was constructed to analyze the extension educators’ supply of risk management training to farmers. Results showed that the number of risk management education training programs held in the past 3 years by extension educators was positively related to the extension educators’ percent of time devoted to agricultural responsibilities, the value of all crops in the extension educator’s …

Reward Value Of Cigarette Smoking For Comparably Heavy Smoking Schizophrenic, Depressed, And Nonpatient Smokers, Bonnie Spring, Regina Pingitore, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: The study goal was to determine whether schizophrenic and depressed smokers perceive the reinforcement value of cigarette smoking differently from nonpsychiatric smokers who smoke as heavily.

Method: The authors assessed the preferences for smoking cigarettes versus engaging in other pleasant activities, the perceived advantages and disadvantages of smoking, and the amount of reinforcement that would be needed to attain smoking abstinence among 26 schizophrenic, 26 depressed, and 26 nonpsychiatric heavy smokers.

Results: Both schizophrenic and depressed participants chose smoking as their preferred activity more often than nonpsychiatric smokers, and they did not differ from each other. The patients also …

Sociocognitive And Behavioral Correlates Of A Measure Of Prosocial Tendencies For Adolescents , Gustavo Carlo, Anne Hausmann, Stacie Christiansen, Brandy A. Randall

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present study was designed to examine the psychometric properties of a multidimensional measure of prosocial behaviors to use with early adolescents and middle adolescents. One hundred thirty-eight students (X age = 15.8 years; 80 girls; 70% White, non-Hispanic) from a public middle school and high school completed measures of prosocial moral reasoning, sympathy, perspective taking, aggression, ascription of responsibility, social desirability, verbal skills, and a revised prosocial tendencies measure (PTM-R). The questionnaires were completed in two sessions each separated by a 2-week time span (to assess test-retest reliability of the PTM-R). Moreover, teacher ratings of adolescents’ generosity and helpfulness …

How People With Disabilities Communicatively Manage Assistance: Helping As Instrumental Social Support, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Nancy J. Eckstein

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

While social support is often conceptualized as a temporary need in crisis situations, people with visible physical disabilities face an ongoing challenge of balancing the need for instrumental social support against receiving unwanted help on a daily basis. Our goal was to study instrumental support interactions from the perspective of support recipients; in this case, people who are disabled, focusing on how physical assistance is communicatively managed with strangers and newer acquaintances. A qualitative/interpretive analysis was carried out on transcripts of in-depth interviews with 30 participants who had visible physical disabilities. Participants and interviewers discussed how help was communicated and …

Development Of A Web-Based Mass Transfer Processes Laboratory: System Development And Implementation, Yusong Li, Eugene J. Leboef, P. K. Basu, Louis Hampton Turnver Iv

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

A web-based environment is utilized as a means to introduce advanced mass transfer processes concepts in environmental engineering and science courses. System development and implementation is presented, including detailed descriptions of the techniques employed to link software written in high level computer languages such as C++ and FORTRAN to an internet-based, user-friendly graphical user interface for both program input and output.

Self-Study Report Of The Department Of Agricultural Leadership, Education And Communication

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Materials and History

Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication (AgLEC) is a department in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The department was established as a result of a 1992 merger between the departments of Agricultural Education and Agricultural Communication. The mission of the department is to foster human capacity in leadership, education and communication through innovative teaching, research, and outreach. The AgLEC faculty reports to a department head, and are accountable to the respective deans of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR), the Agricultural Research Division (ARD), and the Cooperative Extension Division (CED), depending …

Why Was My Major Professor So Busy? Establishing An Academic Career While Pursuing Applied Work, Lee M. Cohen, Robert D. Morgan, David Dilillo, Lisa Y. Flores

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

How do newly appointed academic psychologists with applied interests navigate the diverse and unique challenges of establishing themselves as academicians while pursuing clinical interests? Based on the experience of 4 new professionals. this article highlights the adjustments that must be made when making the transition from trainee to professional, the challenges encountered as a new faculty member, and the pursuit of applied interests as a junior faculty member. Strategies for avoiding the pitfalls that one may encounter when attempting to combine academic with applied interests are discussed.

The Realist Novel, Harriet Stevens Turner

Spanish Language and Literature Papers

When we think of realism in fiction, we think first of mimesis—the imitation of life—a concept that at once implies the existence of something outside the writer’s own mind which he or she is trying to imitate. The imitation of this supposedly external “thing” undergirds the term “realism,” whether applied to painting, philosophy, literature, or film. As Harry Levin reminds us, “Etymologically, realism is thing-ism. The adjective ‘real’ derives from the Latin res [meaning ‘thing’] and finds an appropriate context in ‘real estate’”—land, property, things. The realist novel in Spain places a special emphasis on this primary engagement with the …

Childhood Peer Relationships In Context, Susan M. Sheridan, Eric S. Buhs, Emily D. Warnes

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Gifford-Smith and Brownell (2003) have provided an extensive critical review of the current state of the art in peer relations research. Their thorough review of the basic research in these areas clearly illustrates the complexity of the task of understanding these aspects of children’s social development and how they navigate the interrelated relational ecologies. Our purpose is to extend the discussion by suggesting implications for intervention work and related research.

Effects Of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment On Physical Health Status In Patients With Panic Disorder, Norman B. Schmidt, Beth T. Mccreary, John J. Trakowski, Helen T. Santiago, Kelly Woolaway-Bickel, Nicholas Ialongo

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

The relationship between panic disorder and nonpsychiatric medical illness is complex, but some evidence suggests that panic disorder increases risk for a variety of nonpsychiatric medical conditions. Given the demonstrated efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for panic disorder, we were interested in evaluating the effects of CBT for panic disorder on nonpsychiatric medical symptoms among these patients. Patients were randomized to a 12-week group-administered CBT protocol (n = 22) or a delayedtreatment conlrol (n = 24). Treated patients showed marked improvement in both anxiety symptoms and physical health symptom ratings that were evident at midtreatment and were …

Reflections On The Field: Imagining The Future Of The Anthropology Of Education If We Take Laura Nader Seriously, Edmund T. Hamann

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

The large corpus of scholarship of cultural anthropologist Laura Nader is relevant to the contemporary practice of the anthropology of education. In particular, her work is relevant to contemporary debates about methodology and what constitutes “scientifically based” education research; to the prospect and need for more cross-fertilization within the discipline of anthropology; and for the proud assertion of anthropology’s distinctive suitability for understanding and responding to many contemporary educational challenges, including how to have anthropologically derived insights more favorably compete in the “marketplace of ideas” against less empirically grounded claims and strategies.

Young Children’S Close Relationships Outside The Family: Parental Ethnotheories In Four Communities In Norway, United States, Turkey, And Korea, Vibeke G. Aukrust, Carolyn Pope Edwards, Asiye Kumru, Lisa Knoche, Misuk Kim

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Parents, preschools, and schools in different cultures vary greatly in the extent to which children are encouraged to develop long-term relationships with people outside the family circle—peers and teachers. In contemporary societies, parents face complex choices as they bridge children’s transitions to a wider world. This exploratory cross-cultural study used a newly developed questionnaire, Parental Concerns for Preschool Children Survey, to assess parental beliefs, values, and judgments. The sample included 521 parents from four cities: Oslo, Norway; Lincoln (Nebraska), United States; Ankara, Turkey; Seoul, Korea. Strong cultural community differences were found in parental descriptions of their own child’s friendships and …

Research At Nebraska, 2002-2003 Report, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

This publication is a snapshot of the fiscal year’s activities. To read more stories about research and creativity at Nebraska, visit the online edition at http://research.unl.edu/news/03_ORGS_(AR_2.9.03)_Final.pdf. Additional multimedia are available for many stories.

Creating A Culture Of Co-Learners With Problem-Based Learning, Kristi L. Arndt

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Problem-based learning requires a significant shift in the roles and responsibilities traditionally assigned to teachers and students. This essay examines the challenge of truly empowering students as self-directed learners.

The Interface Of Employment, Health, Family Support, And Human Services For People With Disabilities In Nebraska, Linda E. Jensen, Jeffery Willett

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Twenty in-depth interviews were held with persons who had a diverse range of disabilities and had been or were currently engaged in competitive employment. The qualitative data was analyzed to gain information about current supports and barriers and to identify recommendations to make it more feasible for persons with disabilities to engage in competitive employment. The sample included 10 men and 10 women with ages ranging from 24 to 60 years including both rural and urban residents of Nebraska. Disabilities represented included various paralysis and/or physical illnesses, sensory disabilities such as loss of vision and/or hearing, psychiatric disabilities such as …

A Bdnf Coding Variant Is Associated With The Neo Personality Inventory Domain Neuroticism, A Risk Factor For Depression, Srijan Sen, Randolph M. Nesse, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Sheng Li, Lillian Gleiberman, Aravinda Chakravarti, Alan B. Weber, Margit Burmeister

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Genetic factors influence vulnerability to depression (Sullivan et al, 2000), but no specific genes have been definitively implicated. One promising approach is to determine whether variations in specific (candidate) genes are associated not with disease per se, but with traits, such as personality factors, that are themselves associated with risk for the disorder (Lander and Schork, 1994; Stoltenberg and Burmeister, 2000). Often such traits have a higher heritability than the disease status (Almasy and Blangero, 2001). Neuroticism, as measured by the NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI) (Costa and McCrae, 1997), a psychometrically sound and widely used instrument, is one such trait. …

Visual Marking: A Convergence Of Goal- And Stimulus-Driven Processes During Visual Search, Paul Atchley, Sybil E. Jones, Lesa Hoffman

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Watson and Humphreys (1997) proposed that visual marking is a goal-directed process that enhances visual search through the inhibition of old objects. In addition to the standard marking case with targets at new locations, included in Experiment 1 was a set of trials with targets always at old locations, as well as a set of trials with targets varying between new and old locations. The participants’ performance when detecting the target at old locations was equivalent to their performance in the full-baseline condition when they knew the target would be at old locations, and was worse when the target appeared …

The Ethics Of Research And The Cccc Ethical Guidelines: An Electronic Interview With Ellen Cushman And Peter Mortensen, Robert Brooke, Amy M. Goodburn, Ellen Cushman, Peter Mortensen

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Presents an e-interview in which two leading scholars on research ethics discuss the current state of ethical research in relation to the 2001 Conference on College Composition and Communication "Guidelines for the Ethical Treatment of Students and Student Writing in Composition Studies."

Modernist Space: Willa Cather’S Environmental Imagination In Context, Guy J. Reynolds

Department of English: Faculty Publications

One of the things that Cather’s writing teaches us is that space, especially “natural” space, is always mediated, always shaped. Cather’s own framing of nature was informed by some very specific, historically particular ideas. The modernity of Cather’s environmental imagination is illustrated by a comparison between her fictionalization of American spaces and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural formation of space. An “environmental imagination” is at once an imagination of the environment and an imagination formed or created by the environment. Cather worked repeatedly toward this doubled state, finding a heightened, mystical state-of-being when we are both formed by and in mastery …

Toward A Symbiosis Of Ecology And Justice: Water And Land Conflicts In Frank Waters, Johns Nichols, And Jimmy Santiago Baca, Thomas Lynch

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The literary form that dominates writing, and thinking, in the American West is what has become known, definitively, as "the Western." The all-too-familiar narrative describes the advance of Anglo-Saxon pioneers into a primitive and untamed West, spreading the forces of civilization in their wake. A countertradition, however, is prevalent in the Southwest. What we might suitably call "the Southwestern" describes the incursion of an aggressive foreign culture into an already settled region. In this narrative, the conflict is not over how to impose culture and tame and settle the land, but how to protect the culture that already exists and …