Over the Horizon of the Years : Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House Books

\u27Over the Horizon of the Years\u27: Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House Books consists of five essays, each of which focuses on an aspect of Wilder\u27s writing which has been overlooked in critical analyses of her writing. The title is taken from the ending of The First Four Years: \u27it is better farther on\u27 . . . over the horizon of the years ahead. Horizon is a key word in a study of the Little House series, for Wilder had to examine the horizon behind her to write the books, which are autobiographical fiction, while projecting the optimism contained in the horizon ahead. The first essay, Family Folklore in Little House in the Big Woods, explores family traditions in folklore and their relationship to the general structure of Little House in the Big Woods, which Wilder wrote to preserve the stories her father told her when she was a child. The second essay, \u27It Is Better Farther On\u27: The Westward Movement and the Little House Books, considers the Little House series as a unified account of the effects of the Homestead Act of 1862 on both the pioneer and the frontier: the lure of the West, the struggle to comply with the terms of the Homestead Act, and the building of a frontier society. The third essay, \u27I Have Always Lived in Little Houses\u27: Wilder\u27s Portraits of Frontier Women, discusses female social training on the American frontier as revealed in the Little House series. Most of the characters in the series are female and thus provide a valuable view of the women who settled in the West and their interpretations of their environment. The fourth essay, Expression of Growth in the Little House Books: Language and Experience, examines Wilder\u27s language--the dichotomous ordering of Laura\u27s environment, the changing image of the stars, and Laura\u27s perception of language--to discover how she portrays Laura\u27s growth to adulthood. The fifth essay, The Technique of the Little House Books, identifies particulars of Wilder\u27s technique (point of view, plot, theme, tone, imagery, personification, and character) and analyzes their contributions to the enduring success of the series

Lux et Lex: Volume 8, Number 1

This issue of Lux et Lex, a publication of the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota, was published in Spring 2002

Lux et Lex: Volume 6, Number 1

This issue of Lux et Lex, a publication of the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota, was published in Spring 1999

Lux et Lex: Volume 5, Number 1

This issue of Lux et Lex, a publication of the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota, was published in May 1998

Measuring Quality of Mental Health Care: An International Comparison

The International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) (www.iimhl.com) is a unique international collaborative that focuses on improving mental health and addiction services. IIMHL is a collaboration of eight countries including Australia, England, Canada, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and USA. The project, “Measuring Quality of Mental Health Care: An International Comparison”, was initiated by a group of clinical experts under the auspices of the IIMHL Clinical Leaders Group. Led by Prof. Harold Pincus from Columbia University in New York, the project aims to not only raise awareness among clinicians and policymakers regarding the quality of care of the mental health systems they are working in, but ultimately to be able to compare system performance across countries to inform initiatives for transformation of mental health services

Lux et Lex: Volume 4, Number 1

This issue of Lux et Lex, a publication of the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota, was published in May 1997

Longer sleep is associated with lower BMI and favorable metabolic profiles in UK adults: Findings from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey

Ever more evidence associates short sleep with increased risk of metabolic diseases such as obesity, which may be related to a predisposition to non-homeostatic eating. Few studies have concurrently determined associations between sleep duration and objective measures of metabolic health as well as sleep duration and diet, however. We therefore analyzed associations between sleep duration, diet and metabolic health markers in UK adults, assessing associations between sleep duration and 1) adiposity, 2) selected metabolic health markers and 3) diet, using National Diet and Nutrition Survey data. Adults (n = 1,615, age 19–65 years, 57.1% female) completed questions about sleep duration and 3 to 4 days of food diaries. Blood pressure and waist circumference were recorded. Fasting blood lipids, glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), thyroid hormones, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured in a subset of participants. We used regression analyses to explore associations between sleep duration and outcomes. After adjustment for age, ethnicity, sex, smoking, and socioeconomic status, sleep duration was negatively associated with body mass index (-0.46 kg/m2 per hour, 95% CI -0.69 to -0.24 kg/m2, p < 0.001) and waist circumference (-0.9 cm per hour, 95% CI -1.5 to -0.3cm, p = 0.004), and positively associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.03 mmol/L per hour, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.05, p = 0.03). Sleep duration tended to be positively associated with free thyroxine levels and negatively associated with HbA1c and CRP (p = 0.09 to 0.10). Contrary to our hypothesis, sleep duration was not associated with any dietary measures (p ≥ 0.14). Together, our findings show that short-sleeping UK adults are more likely to have obesity, a disease with many comorbidities

Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Disruption: Causes, Metabolic Consequences and Countermeasures.

Circadian (∼ 24 hour) timing systems pervade all kingdoms of life, and temporally optimize behaviour and physiology in humans. Relatively recent changes to our environments, such as the introduction of artificial lighting, can disorganize the circadian system, from the level of the molecular clocks that regulate the timing of cellular activities to the level of synchronization between our daily cycles of behaviour and the solar day. Sleep/wake cycles are intertwined with the circadian system, and global trends indicate that these too are increasingly subject to disruption. A large proportion of the world's population is at increased risk of environmentally-driven circadian rhythm and sleep disruption, and a minority of individuals are also genetically predisposed to circadian misalignment and sleep disorders. The consequences of disruption to the circadian system and sleep are profound and include myriad metabolic ramifications, some of which may be compounded by adverse effects on dietary choices. If not addressed, the deleterious effects of such disruption will continue to cause widespread health problems; therefore, implementation of the numerous behavioural and pharmaceutical interventions that can help restore circadian system alignment and enhance sleep will be important

Teaching Legal Ethics: Exploring the Continuum

Spaeth et al assert that the only reason to teach legal ethics, or professional responsibility, is to try to make the legal profession more worthy of its stated ideals. The University of Pennsylvania Law School Center on Professionalism\u27s efforts to achieve this are discussed