Law and Order in Buffalo Bill\u27s Country: Legal Culture and Community on the Great Plains 1867–1910

Review of: "Law and Order in Buffalo Bill\u27s Country: Legal Culture and Community on the Great Plains, 1867–1910," by Mark R. Ellis

A Holy Tug of War: US Christians Against the Contras (1970-1990)

After the Sandinista revolution of 1979 ousted the longstanding Somoza dynasty of Nicaragua, the small Central American nation became an obsession of US foreign policy as the Reagan administration committed its efforts to deposing the leftist revolutionary government through the funding and training of the Contras, a counter-revolutionary guerrilla group. With the Cold War at a boiling point, continued control and influence over Central America became a pillar of US anticommunist agenda. Uniquely, many of the most ardent critics of the Reagan administration during this period of violent intervention were Christian missionaries. The Sandinistas were able to defeat the Somoza regime in large part due to the support of Nicaraguan clergy who adhered to a socially conscious current of Catholicism known as Liberation Theology. US missionaries found themselves similarly radicalized by Liberation Theology in a unique instance of ideology moving from South to North, and they chose to make Central America a pivotal point of their political activism as they opposed US intervention in the region. Though this activism faded with the turn of the 1990s, the Christian anti-Contra movement presented a unique challenge to the binaries of Cold War politics on a scale previously unseen

Kelsey Smith Act: An Analysis of the Warrantless Seizure of Cell Phone Locational Information in Emergency Situations

The Kelsey Smith Act mandates cell phone carriers to release locational information of their subscribers to law enforcement officials in emergency situations in the absence of a warrant. Further, the Act releases said carriers from liability when the aforementioned requests are made. Currently, nine states have enacted the Kelsey Smith Act. Prior to the existence of the Act, the carriers were required to make a good faith assessment of the emergency as well as the subsequent request by law enforcement officials. The Kelsey Smith Act is an attempt to create a more efficient means of accommodating the operational needs of law enforcement in times of emergency without improperly infringing on individuals’ privacy rights. This Comment aims to analyze the implications associated with the enacted legislation of the states that have adopted versions of the Kelsey Smith Act. More specifically, this Comment will examine whether privacy concerns are proper in light of the Act or whether they are without merit. In doing so, this Comment will provide relevant historical and background information associated with electronic communication; an examination of the most recent arguments disfavoring the Act; and a discussion of whether the operational needs of law enforcement have been properly balanced with cell phone service subscribers’ individual privacy rights as provided by the United States Constitution

"The things I do for sport": Associations with mental health in student-athletes.

Literature concerning university sport suggests that student-athletes make a myriad of behavioural sacrifices (e.g. pain, academics, sleep) to support their participation. While willingness to sacrifice has been linked with a host of positive outcomes (e.g., cohesion), whether athlete behavioural sacrifice is linked to mental health is currently unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between behavioural sacrifice and mental health in university student-athletes. Using a non-experimental design, university student-athletes (N = 45; Mage = 20.02) completed a multi-item questionnaire tapping behavioural sacrifice, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, and the Perceived Stress Scale. Participants did report making sacrifices for their sport, with sacrifice of leisure activities and sleep being most common. Results of bivariate correlations between behavioural sacrifice and mental health were in directions hypothesized, yet none reached conventional levels of significance (p > .05). Further, behavioural sacrifice did not significantly predict mental health. Results of the study showcase that student-athletes do make a variety of sacrifices to accommodate the demands of university sport. Additionally, findings surrounding mental health support the need for further investigation into sacrifices made within sport to develop a better understanding of associated outcomes

Origin and neurochemical properties of bulbospinal neurons projecting to the rat lumbar spinal cord via the medial longitudinal fasciculus and caudal ventrolateral medulla

Bulbospinal systems (BS) originate from various regions of the brainstem and influence spinal neurons by classical synaptic and modulatory mechanisms. Our aim was to determine the brainstem locations of cells of origin of BS pathways passing through the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) and the caudal ventrolateral medulla (CVLM). We also examined the transmitter content of spinal terminations of the CVLM pathway. Six adult rats received Fluorogold (FG) injections to the right intermediate gray matter of the lumbar cord (L1–L2) and the b-subunit of cholera toxin (CTb) was injected either into the MLF or the right CVLM (3 animals each). Double-labeled cells were identified within brainstem structures with confocal microscopy and mapped onto brainstem diagrams. An additional 3 rats were injected with CTb in the CVLM to label axon terminals in the lumbar spinal cord. Double-labeled cells projecting via the MLF or CVLM were found principally in reticular regions of the medulla and pons but small numbers of cells were also located within the midbrain. CVLM projections to the lumbar cord were almost exclusively ipsilateral and concentrated within the intermediate gray matter. Most (62%) of terminals were immunoreactive for the vesicular glutamate transporter 2 while 23% contained the vesicular GABA transporter. The inhibitory subpopulation was glycinergic, GABAergic or contained both transmitters. The proportions of excitatory and inhibitory axons projecting via the CVLM to the lumbar cord are similar to those projecting via the MLF. Unlike the MLF pathway, CVLM projections are predominantly ipsilateral and concentrated within intermediate gray but do not extend into motor nuclei or laminia VIII. Terminations of the CVLM pathway are located in a region of the gray matter that is rich in premotor interneurons; thus its primary function may be to coordinate activity of premotor networks

Bat Use, Human Visitation, and Environmental Attributes of Cave Hibernacula in Montana

Across the eastern United States, caves historically supported large aggregations of overwintering bats. In contrast, few large aggregations have been observed within caves in Montana. To collect comprehensive information on cave use by bats and inform White Nose Syndrome surveillance, we inventoried caves to estimate numbers of hibernating bats, assessed the microclimate within hibernacula, monitored activity of bats using acoustic detectors, and quantified visitation by people using trail cameras. In collaboration with recreational cavers, state, and federal biologists we conducted over 300 structured and incidental surveys at 99 caves.  Only 6 caves had counts exceeding 100 individuals, and our largest hibernacula had approximately 1,700 bats. The mean annual temperature and humidity across 16 caves averaged 5.0°C and 100% RH. At the 6 largest hibernacula, we established year round baselines of bat acoustic activity and quantify visitation by people. We found that both the number of people entering caves and bat activity within caves peaked in summer. During the winter, visitation appears largely dependent on accessibility of the cave and all monitored caves had low levels of bat activity. Caves in Montana appear to support relatively few aggregations of overwintering bats. Although we have visited most known caves in the state, the number of hibernating individuals we observed is likely orders of magnitude less than the total number we presume overwinter in-state. Future projects should explore the use of cracks, crevices, talus, and badlands to identify other important hibernacula