The Map of Wilderland: Ecocritical Reflections on Tolkien’s Myth of Wilderness (2022) by Amber Lehning

Book review, by Andrew Higgins, of The Map of Wilderland: Ecocritical Reflections on Tolkien’s Myth of Wilderness (2022) by Amber Lehnin

Full Issue for TGLE Vol. 57 Nos 3 & 4

Full Issue for TGLE Vol. 57 Nos 3 &

Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the Quenta Silmarillion

Tolkien asserted on multiple occasions that death was a primary theme of his work, and there are over ninety deaths of named characters in the Quenta Silmarillion alone. In reading the Quenta Silmarillion as historiography, the universality and psychologically powerful experience of death, grief, and mourning allows the narrators of the Quenta Silmarillion to shape how readers perceive characters, events, and themes in the text. Assuming Pengolodh as the primary narrator, this paper investigates how Tolkien used a limited, flawed, and biased narrative point of view as a strategy to shape reader responses and theme. Characters who die in the Quenta Silmarillion vary in whether they are grieved and how they are mourned such that some characters are aggrandized and their negative deeds deemphasized, while others conspicuously lack any mention of grief or mourning, drawing attention to their negative actions and essentially dehumanizing them as people capable of being loved and grieved (or in some cases, capable of the normal human emotions of love and grief). The biased treatment of death by the Quenta Silmarillion narrator not only uses psychology to shape readers\u27 perceptions but stands as moral guideposts to the fictional audience of later ages in the legendarium and creates the sense of untold stories that Tolkien used to create the impression historical depth in his work

Steady And Unsteady State Of Boeing 737 Airfoil

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to model objects based on the principle of fluid mechanics, with governing equations built in to understand how the fluid moves in the object. This study seeks to understand the fluid motion (air) of a Boeing 737 airfoil, a commonly used aircraft by airline companies, under different conditions in different stages of flight: takeoff, cruising, and landing. The primary objective is to compare steady state versus unsteady state due to velocity and turbulence at various stages of flight. Causes of unsteady state flow are weather, jet stream, mountain waves, and interaction of the surrounding during takeoff and landing. From my CFD model, I expect to see turbulence depend more on the velocity and the pressure when the airfoil is taking off and landing, compared to cruising. With this, comparing the lift coefficient at each of the stages of flight, the lift coefficient had a greater impact on the airfoil during takeoff and landing than cruising

Social Isolation in Older Adults Transitioning to Assisted Living Facilities

Social Isolation in Older Adults Transitioning to Assisted Living Facilities Background: Social isolation describes the objective state of being lonely, whereas loneliness is a subjective feeling based on relationships (Rohr et al., 2022). In a meta-analysis, 33% of an elderly population experienced social isolation (Ran et al., 2024). Based on the framework of loneliness, social isolation, and associated health outcomes (Barnes et al., 2020), the purposes of this study were to describe experiences of social isolation, loneliness, and strategies that decreased these experiences in older adults following a move to assisted living. Methods: Using a qualitative approach, residents 65 and older (N=10), without cognitive deficits who moved to a facility within the past 3-12 months were interviewed. Participants completed the Mini-Cog© for inclusion prior to answering nine open-ended questions. After each interview, participants completed the UCLA loneliness scale. Constant comparison was used to identify major categories. Results: Participants 70-92 years (M=82.20, SD=7.64) were female (80%) and a widow/widower (60%). Three main categories emerged: (a) resolved to leave home, (b) trust in a safe system to meet needs, and (c) having to accept a new normal. UCLA scores demonstrated a moderate degree of loneliness (M=38.25, SD=15.56). Conclusions: Early detection of social isolation is essential to improve quality of life (Ran et al., 2024) and prevent illness in older adults (Jansson et al., 2021). While loneliness and the need to move impacted these older adults, their involvement in the choice and receiving a tailored experience improved their transition (Sun et al., 2021)

An Annotated List of the Checkered Beetles (Coleoptera: Cleridae) of Michigan

[Excerpt] The checkered beetles (Cleridae) have been included in local lists of Michigan Coleoptera by Andrews ( 1916, 192 1, 1929), Hatch (1924), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878). LeConte (1850), and Wolcott (1909). The present list is the first to include records from throughout the state, and is based on the collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), those of the Department of Entomology, Michigan State University (MSUC), and the private collections of E. F. Giesbert, D. K. Young, and the author. This list records 35 species of Cleridae from the state, and I believe it is essentially complete, although future collecting in the southern counties may well produce new records

Life Becomes Art: How Franz Schubert\u27s Music Reflects his Life

Composers use musical composition as a form of autobiographical writing, both intentionally and unintentionally. Musical works can reflect the lived experiences of their creators even when the works themselves are not intended as personal revelations. Especially when it comes to the life and works of Franz Schubert, scholars such as Susan Youens and Lorraine Byrne Bodley have researched Schubert’s songs through the lenses of memoirs and journals, discovering certain heightened emotional aspects in his choice of lyrics and deliberate harmonic structures that appear to reflect autobiographical experiences. By regarding his songs as a reflection of his inner struggles, such as at the end of his life during his battle with syphilis, we hear an artist’s private statement about his life and relationships that he could not otherwise utter publicly. Based on my findings, I have discovered these autobiographical experiences within Schubert’s music tell a linear narrative of his life, and when one listens to his scores in order of publication, they discern a unique tale. Through a musical analysis of Schubert’s intentional text painting, this study delves deeper into Schubert’s seemingly simple lieder and probes the depths of how his personal life experiences, such as the death of his mother or his personal relationships with Josef Spaun and Franz von Schober, affected his musical creation in such a profound way

Consumption of Insect Pests by the Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis) in Southeastern Michigan

Diet of a colony of evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis Rafinesque) in Lenawee County, Michigan, was studied during 2006–2007, using standard fecal analysis. Of the 594 fecal pellets examined, the spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber: Coleoptera), green stink bug (Chinavia hilaris Say: Hemiptera), and emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire: Coleoptera) were identified and occurred at a frequency of 15, 12, and 0.8%; respectively, over the two years combined. In some weeks, up to 64% of the pellets analyzed contained fragments of spotted cucumber beetles, and up to 43% contained green stink bugs—two of the most injurious pests to corn and soybean. Consumption of spotted cucumber beetle and green stink bug appeared to coincide with the life history of these species. Conservation and management of suitable bat habitat adjacent to agricultural lands would likely benefit farmers and bats alike

Representing Middle-earth: Tolkien, Form, and Ideology (2024), by Robert T. Tally, Jr.

Nook review, by Andrew Higgins, of Representing Middle-earth: Tolkien, Form, and Ideology (2024), by Robert T. Tally, Jr

Fatal Attraction: Testing the Efficacy of Bee Attractants

This study tested the behavior of Northern Indiana’s bee populations using two common bee attractants. The aim was to determine which attractant drew the most bees to the wood pollinator boxes (beehives). Three hives were used as the control groups (left untreated), three were treated with Mason Bee Attractant Spray (lemongrass oil as active ingredient), and three were treated with Lemongrass Oil diluted to a 10% oil-to-water ratio. The boxes were attached to six foot metal poles placed in the ground. The poles were spaced roughly three feet apart from each other. The boxes were observed for a one month period. During this period, observations were conducted twice daily, excluding weekends, to track the number of bees constructing combs within the hive boxes. The data tracked over the month-long period was then analyzed. An ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference in bee preference between the treatments (p-value=0.723912). These results show that the bee boxes are attractive on their own, and there is no benefit to buying commercial attractants. This research was cut short due to facilities management on campus completely negligently removing all of the foliage from the test site. Once the foliage was removed, there were no bees observed