[Review of] Fred McTaggart. Wolf That I Am: In Search of the Red Earth People

Fred McTaggart\u27s engaging narrative Wolf That I Am: In Search of the Red Earth People is as much a personalized story of self discovery as it is a discussion of surviving Mesquakie folklore. In the early 1970s, as a graduate student at the University of Iowa, McTaggart set out to gather and to analyze the folk stories told among Mesquakies, known historically to the non-Indian world as the combined Indian tribes of the Sac and Fox. Today the main body of this Native American group resides on a tribally-owned settlement (decidely [decidedly] not a government-controlled reservation as mentioned in the foreword) located along the Iowa River in east central Iowa

[Review of] Frederick J. Dockstader. The Kachina and the White Man: The Influences of White Culture on the Hopi Kachina Cult

To the delight of scholars of Native American studies and all other readers with even a passing interest in traditional Puebloan cultures of the American Southwest, Frederick Dockstader\u27 s classic study, The Kachina and the White Man, now has been published in a revised and expanded version. This historical narrative of Hopi life, using spirit beings known as kachinas as its central focus, traces the changes and adaptations the Hopi have made in response to pressures placed upon that Indian culture by the seemingly -- inevitable contact with white society. In addition, the author describes in infinite detail the ceremonialism, costuming, masks, and other paraphernalia associated with the colorful Kachina dance rituals, and also discusses the Kachina dolls -- so popular among non-Indian art collectors and museum curators -- and places these figurines in proper cultural perspective, explaining their use in both educating and constantly reminding Hopi children of the religious beings and the appropriate behavior they represent

Today’s Undergraduate Students … Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs?

It is often said that owning a small business is part of the American Dream. Collectively, U.S. small businesses represent an estimated 99 percent of all employers (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2002). Interest in creating and owning a small business has never been greater than it is today: new business formation in the U.S. has broken successive records for the last few years, growing at a rate of between two and nine percent and totaling over one-half million annually

Insuring the Healthy or Insuring the Sick? The Dilemma of Regulating the Individual Health Insurance Market -- Short Case Studies of Six States

Looks at a range of regulatory strategies used to make individual health insurance policies more accessible and affordable. Assesses the effectiveness of regulatory reforms in Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington

Near contact phenomena and transient effects in far infrared photoconductors

A combination of experimental and modeling work is summarized in two areas: first, the calculation of excess free carrier and space charge distributions near contacts and their effects on device resistivity, and second, the characterization of a slow transient response (tau approx. 1 sec) in Ge:Be detectors which is due to trapping associated with Be(+) formation. In both cases, analytical models, based on continuity and rate equations, have been developed to enable the application of these findings to a wide variety of photoconductor materials

Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Represses GnRH Gene Expression via cFOS during Inflammation in Male Mice.

BackgroundThe mechanisms whereby neuroinflammation negatively affects neuronal function in the hypothalamus are not clear. Our previous study determined that obesity-mediated chronic inflammation elicits sex-specific impairment in reproductive function via reduction in spine density in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. Neuroinflammation and subsequent decrease in GnRH neuron spine density was specific for male mice, while protection in females was independent of ovarian estrogens.MethodsTo examine if neuroinflammation-induced cytokines can directly regulate GnRH gene expression, herein we examined signaling pathways and mechanisms in males in vivo and in GnRH-expressing cell line, GT1-7.ResultsGnRH neurons express cytokine receptors, and chronic or acute neuroinflammation represses GnRH gene expression in vivo. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in particular represses GnRH expression in GT1-7 cells, while other cytokines do not. STAT3 and MAPK pathways are activated following LIF treatment, but only MAPK pathway, specifically p38α, is sufficient to repress the GnRH gene. LIF induces cFOS that represses the GnRH gene via the -1,793 site in the enhancer region. In vivo, following high-fat diet, cFOS is induced in GnRH neurons and neurons juxtaposed to the leaky blood brain barrier of the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, but not in the neurons further away.ConclusionOur results indicate that the increase in LIF due to neuroinflammation induces cFOS and represses the GnRH gene. Therefore, in addition to synaptic changes in GnRH neurons, neuroinflammatory cytokines directly regulate gene expression and reproductive function, and the specificity for neuronal targets may stem from the proximity to the fenestrated capillaries

Best Practices of Honor Societies

Academic honor societies are widely available within university communities. These student organizations can fill valuable roles within engineering departments. The inception of engineering-related honor societies followed the establishment of engineering education within American universities. Honor societies with their student focus grew as complementary organizations to the professional societies for engineering disciplines. The national or international structure of honor societies generally provides considerable resources for professional education, leadership training, and service activity. For departments, an honor society chapter can provide engagement with students, alumni, community, etc. However, the existence of an honor society chapter at an institution does not necessarily mean that the chapter is effectively serving the host department(s) and its engineering students. This paper describes commonalities among engineering honor societies, the possible roles of an honor society within an engineering department, and some best practices for effective honor society chapters. Specific examples from the operation of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN), the honor society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), are given.Cockrell School of Engineerin