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A developmental model for international students and multiple ecologies

AbstractTraditional ecological models are promising for making sense of international student experiences, but the assumed monolithic nature of the structuring systems is inadequate for explaining development that occurs across multiple systems. We present and expand a model called the Spanning Systems Model that recognizes multiple ecologies. The model organizes ecologies in terms of home and host countries, arguing the systems are in some ways independent and in others intertwined. Student experiences are thus structured by both the systems in which the school is located as well as the systems from which the student is coming. Conceptualizing ecologies in this manner shifts the goal of a successful transition into higher education away from acculturation and towards a more complex, case‐specific project of identifying areas of alignment and contradiction and tailoring experiences to each student's unique ecologies.Practical Takeaways This expanded ecological model is intended to theoretically explain development for students whose experiences cross multiple ecologies, for example, multiple countries. While originally designed for international students, the model is applicable to any student with formative experiences in different macrosystems, like study abroad, or some first‐generation students. Academic, faculty, and career advisors who regularly work with international students should make a concerted effort to understand the different ecologies of each student. Rather than presenting an ideal model for acculturation into US higher education, advisors can use this model to identify alignments and contradictions and plan accordingly. New student orientations for international students can use this model as an organizing device. For example, potential contradictions between ecologies, like academic integrity and intellectual property rights, can be presented to students in the context of a holistic discussion around the rights‐based justice system in the United States. The model can be given directly to students as a worksheet to help make sense of their experiences and frame their thinking. Students can fill in directly the different systems in which they are situated and can begin to make decisions about how they can make changes.

Do Home and Community Environments Explain Self-Rated Health Among Older Canadians? Evidence From the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey.

This study examined the associations between home and community environmental factors and self-rated health (SRH) among older Canadians and how these associations vary by gender and living arrangements. Background: In social gerontology research, the psychosocial determinants of SRH have been widely investigated. Based on the environmental gerontology framework, this study examined the home and community environmental correlates of SRH. The sample (aged 60 or older) was drawn from the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey (4,086 men living alone; 6,471 men living with others; 9,170 women living alone; 4,876 women living with others). Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between SRH and potential environmental correlates in a hierarchical model. Findings show that older men and women living alone reported lower levels of SRH than those living with others. Regression findings show common and unique home and community environmental predictors of SRH by group. Common predictors of higher SRH were private housing residence, larger living space, satisfaction with dwelling, volunteering, no perceived need for community services, and community safety. Home maintenance needs predicted lower SRH among older men and women living with others; uninhabitable conditions predicted poor SRH among older men living with others and older women living alone. Results support the important effects of place in terms of home and community environments for older adults' SRH, and associations differed by gender and living arrangements.

Fundamental changes in endogenous bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells during Type I Diabetes is a pre-neuropathy event

Deficiency of angiogenic and neurotrophic factors under long term diabetes is known to lead to Schwann cell degeneration, clinically manifested as Diabetic Neuropathy (DN). While the transplantation of exogenous allogenic Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) has shown amelioration of DN through paracrine action, it is not known what functional changes occur in endogenous bone-marrow MSCs under chronic diabetes in terms of homing, migration and/or paracrine signalling with reference to the end-point clinical manifestation of Diabetic Neuropathy. We thus aimed at determining the changes in BM-MSCs under Type 1 Diabetes with respect to survival, self-renewal, oxidative status, paracrine activity, intracellular Ca2+ response and migration in response to pathological cytokine/chemokine, in reference to the time-point of decline in Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) in a rat model. Within one week of diabetes induction, BM-MSCs underwent apoptosis, and compromised their self-renewal capacity, antioxidant defence mechanism and migration toward cytokine/chemokine; whereas epineurial blood vessel thickening and demyelination resulting in NCV decline were observed only after three weeks. By two- and three-weeks post diabetes induction, BM-MSC apoptosis reduced and proliferative ability was restored; however, their self-renewal, migration and intracellular Ca2+ response toward pathological cytokine/chemokine remained impaired. These results indicate that T1D induced intrinsic functional impairments in endogenous BM-MSCs occur before neuropathy onset. This timeline of functional alterations in BM-MSCs also suggest that treatment strategies that target the bone marrow niche early on may help to modulate BM-MSC functional impairments and thus slow down the progression of neuropathy.

Twelve eyes see more than eight. Referee bias and the introduction of additional assistant referees in soccer.

This study is the first to investigate whether the introduction of additional assistant referees in the UEFA Europa League (2009–2010 season) and the UEFA Champions League (2010–2011 season) was associated with lower referee bias in terms of home and “big” team favouritism. To this end, we analyse a unique database with pre- and within-game characteristics of all games in seven recent seasons in these leagues by means of bivariate probit regression models. We find evidence for substantial referee bias before the introduction of additional referees, while no such evidence is found after the introduction. Furthermore, additional assistants go hand in hand with more yellow cards for both home and away teams. We show that these findings are robust to multiple operationalisations of referee bias and that they are not just picking up a general time evolution towards less referee bias or the effect of parallel reforms.

Differentiation potential and functional properties of a CD34‑CD133+ subpopulation of endothelial progenitor cells.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) promote angiogenesis and play an important role in myocardial and vascular repair after ischemia and infarction. EPCs consist of different subpopulations including CD34‑CD133+ EPCs, which are precursors of more mature CD34+CD133+ EPCs and functionally more active in terms of homing and endothelial regeneration. In the present study we analyzed the functional and differentiation abilities of CD34‑CD133+ EPCs. Isolation of EPC populations (CD34+CD133+, CD34‑CD133+) were performed by specific multi‑step magnetic depletion. After specific stimulation a significant higher adhesive and migrative capacity of CD34‑CD133+ cells could be detected compared to CD34+CD133+ cells (P<0.001, respectively). Next to this finding, not only significantly higher rates of proliferation (P<0.005) were detected among CD34‑CD133+ cells, but also a higher potential of cell‑differentiation capacity into other cell types. Next to a significant increase of CD34‑CD133+ EPCs differentiating into a fibroblast cell‑type (P<0.001), an enhancement into a hepatocytic cell‑type (P=0.033) and a neural cell‑type (P=0.016) could be measured in contrast to CD34+CD133+ cells. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in differentiation into a cardiomyocyte cell‑type between these EPC subpopulations (P=0.053). These results demonstrate that EPC subpopulations vary in their functional abilities and, to different degrees, have the capacity to transdifferentiate into unrelated cell‑types such as fibroblasts, hepatocytes, and neurocytes. This indicates that CD34‑CD133+ cells are more pluripotent compared to the CD34+CD133+ EPC subset, which may have important consequences for the therapy of vascular diseases.

Erken Okuryazarlık Üzerinde Paylaşımlı Kitap Okumanın Rolü: Okul ve Ev Ortamı Açısından Etkileri

Paylaşımlı kitap okuma, bir yetişkin ve bir çocuk ya da çocuk grubu arasında yetişkinin kitabı okuduğu ve tekniğine göre çocuktan farklı oranda katılımın beklendiği sosyal bir etkinlik olarak tanımlanmıştır. Kitap paylaşımı sırasında erken okuryazarlık adına büyük anlam ifade eden alıcı ve ifade edici dilin geliştiği, okuma tekniğine göre de sesbilgisel farkındalık ve yazı farkındalığı becerilerinin geliştiği literatürde desteklenmiştir. Kitap paylaşımına yönelik farklı tekniklerin ( (a) diyaloga dayalı kitap okuma/etkileşimli kitap okuma/dialogical reading, (b) paylaşımlı kitap okuma/shared book reading, (c) interaktif paylaşımlı kitap okuma/interactive shared book reading, (d) yazıyı referans gösterme/print referencing) erken müdahale kapsamında kullanıldığı araştırmalarla gösterilmiştir. Kitap paylaşımının kullanıldığı erken müdahale tekniklerinden en yararlı görülmüş teknikler olarak çocuğa en çok aktif rol veren diyaloga dayalı/etkileşimli kitap okuma ve interaktif paylaşımlı kitap okuma olmuştur.Kitap paylaşımı sırasında, paylaşımdan kazanılan verimi etkileyen belirli değişkenler mevcuttur. Buna bağlı olarak; yetişkinlerin benimsediği tutum ve davranışlar, etkileşime girilen çocuk sayısı, ev ve okul ortamı, çocukların ilgisini takip etme ve onların cevaplarını genişletme, açık uçlu sorular sorma ve çocukların etkin katılım oranı bu etkileşime etki eden faktörlerden kabul edilmektedir. Bazı araştırmacılar ebeveyn cinsiyetinin ve maternal/paternal konuşmanın da bu etkileşimde bir değişken olduğunu savunmaktadır. Bu araştırma ile paylaşımlı kitap okumanın farklı teknikleri, bu tekniklere bağlı faydaları ve kitap paylaşımı sürecini etkilediği düşünülen değişkenler ele alınmaktadır.

Residential and neighborhood satisfaction in shantytowns of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia: levels and determinants

Shanty areas form due to population pressures jeopardizing jobs, income, and shelters. Such dwelling units are crowded, unhygienic, and have shortage of basic supplies, and unplanned road systems due mainly to the lack of legal approval. Consequently, it leads to discontent and unhappiness, as the residents struggle to meet the ends-unstable occupations, low salaries, poor infrastructures, ill health, unsafe living conditions etc. This paper attempts to examine the levels of satisfaction of residents in such shanty areas in terms of neighborhood and home environments, to model the variables that influence their satisfaction. This study selected 430 head of households obtained through a stratified sampling method from seven shantytowns in Riyadh city. Surprisingly, residents are more or less satisfied with the neighborhood and the home environments (mean satisfaction of 3.05 and 3.07 respectively, on a five-point scale). However, some shantytowns had the advantage either in terms of homes or in neighborhoods, leading to differences in satisfaction levels. Conditions such as birthplace, working status, high income, long duration of stay, intentions to continue living in the shantytown and having public water supply significantly explain satisfaction with the neighborhood, especially in Al-Mursalat, Al-Jibs and An-Nahdha. Likewise, Saudi nationality, long duration of stay, and intentions to continue staying in Shantytown were the favorable conditions of homes at Al-Mursalat and Al-Jibs localities. This shows that satisfaction with a neighborhood has many conditions in and around – personal, public facility as well as the attachment with the place. However, that of the home has only a set of personal and attachment variables. This paper points out the relevant intervention programs in order to improve the living conditions and life satisfaction of the shantytown residents.

Heideggerian Hospitality

This essay begins to investigate the possibility of a Heideggerian sense of hospitality. By drawing out the concern for home at the center of Heidegger’s analysis of uncanniness and attending carefully to its ethical resonances, I believe we find an opening to just such a possibility. Heidegger’s thinking of uncanniness, of an essential uncanniness that defines human-being as both unhomely and becoming homely, opens us to an ethicality understood in terms of home, an authentic being-with that finds its origin in the uncanny opening of human-being to Being, and thus, to beings.

Pattern of unintentional burns: A hospital based study from Pakistan

BackgroundBurns are major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Better understanding of the nature and extent of injury remains the major and only available way to halt the occurrence of the event. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of by self and by other unintentional burn, their comparison and the possible mode of acquisition by obtaining the history of exposure to known risk factors. MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted in Burns Centre of Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan and 324 hospitalized adult patients with unintentional burns were consecutively interviewed during August 2013 to February 2014. Information was collected on socio-demographic profile. The source of burn, affected body part and place of injury acquisition in terms of home, outside or work were also noted. Logistic regression model was conducted using SPSS software. ResultsOut of 324 patients, 295 (91%) had unintentional burn by self and 29 (9%) had unintentional burn by others. Male gender were 2.37 times and no schooling were 1.75 times more likely to have self-inflicted unintentional burn. Lower limb and head and neck were less likely to involve in unintentional burn by self. ConclusionThe burden of unintentional burn by self was considerably higher. Male gender and no schooling were found more at risk to have unintentional burn by self.

Gender Differences in Outcomes of Juvenile Court-Involved Youth Following Intensive In-Home Services

This article describes outcomes following intensive in-home services for youths (N = 5,000) with juvenile justice involvement, with a focus on gender. Individual, family, peer, and community risk factors are drawn from a baseline psychosocial assessment. A multinomial logistic regression predicts recidivism, problems at home and/or in school, or nonrecidivist status at 12-month post-discharge follow-up. Results of analyses with and without imputed data are presented. The recidivism rate of the study sample is relatively low (26% of the full sample). Female gender is associated with a lower risk of recidivism. Both the imputed data and the non-imputed data models show significant risk factors for recidivism such as theft and status offense. The program might be associated with lower rates of re-offending in girls, but both genders show approximately equal benefit in terms of home and school outcomes. This study underscores the value of examining gender differences in behavioral health services research.

Adjustment, Self-efficacy and Psychosocial Competencys of Drug Addicted Adolescents

The present study focuses on the impact of addictive behaviour of adolescents on their adjustment, self-efficacy and psychosocial competency. To explore this objective a sample of 40 drug addicted adolescents and 40 adolescents who were not addicted to drugs were selected from Mapusa and surrounding area of Goa state. The subjects were administered the Adjustment Inventory and the Psychosocial Competence Scale. The results revealed that drug addicted adolescents differed significantly from those who were not addicted to drugs in their adjustment, self-efficacy and psychosocial competence. More specifically drug addicted adolescents have shown significantly lower adjustment in terms of home, social, emotional and educational when compared to those adolescents who were not addicted to drugs. Similarly, drug addicted adolescents have shown significantly lower self-efficacy than their counterparts. Finally, drug addicted adolescents are also found to have lower psychosocial competency in terms of problem solving, decision- making, critical thinking, creative thinking , empathy, self- awareness, coping with emotions, coping with stress, interpersonal relationships, effective communication as well as overall compared to those adolescents who are not addicted to drugs.

Crowd and environmental management during mass gatherings

Crowds are a feature of large cities, occurring not only at mass gatherings but also at routine events such as the journey to work. To address extreme crowding, various computer models for crowd movement have been developed in the past decade, and we review these and show how they can be used to identify health and safety issues. State-of-the-art models that simulate the spread of epidemics operate on a population level, but the collection of fine-scale data might enable the development of models for epidemics that operate on a microscopic scale, similar to models for crowd movement. We provide an example of such simulations, showing how an individual-based crowd model can mirror aggregate susceptible-infected-recovered models that have been the main models for epidemics so far.

Theorizing e‐learning participation: a study of the HRD online communities in the USA

PurposeThis study sets out to investigate the e‐learning participation and completion phenomenon in the US corporate HRD online communities and to explore determinants of e‐learning completion.Design/methodology/approachBased on the HRD Learning Participation Theory (LPT), this study takes a two‐stage approach. Stage one adopts an interview approach to selected e‐learning managers and to bridge the LPT with empirical data for stage two; stage two develops a survey questionnaire for collecting e‐learning completion related data. Statistical techniques are used for data analysis.FindingsThe study finds that the e‐learning completion rate is significantly higher in the online HRD communities than those reported in the popular media. The results show that e‐learning completion is influenced by individual, organizational, and learning process factors and variables. Environmental factors also influence the completion rate to a certain degree.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were obtained from HRD online communities in the USA. Generalization of the results should be exercised with caution. The study offers implications to HRD research and theory building as an example covering the conceptualization, operationalization, and application phases.Practical implicationsOrganizational policies, workload during learning process, e‐learning location in terms of home vs workplace, among others, are significant determinants of the e‐learning completion rate. Organizations should consider these factors when implementing e‐learning interventions.Originality/valueThe study fills a gap in the HRD e‐learning literature. While most research on corporate e‐learning is focused on technology features or instructional design, little attention has been paid to whether learners can complete planned e‐learning. The study also contributes to HRD theory building.

Foreign Banks: Trends, Impact and Financial Stability

Over the past two decades, foreign banks have become more important in domestic financial intermediation, heightening the need to understand the behavior of foreign banks better. Using a new, comprehensive database on bank ownership for 137 countries over the period 19952009, identifying also the home country of banks, we document substantial increases in foreign bank presence in many countries. We also show large heterogeneity in terms of home and host countries, bilateral patterns, and performance. In terms of impact, we find a negative relation between private credit and foreign bank presence, but only in countries with relatively distant foreign banks. Furthermore, leading up to the crisis, private credit grew faster when foreign bank presence was large, but not in countries with relatively distant foreign banks. In addition, foreign banks reduced credit more compared to domestic banks during the global crisis in countries where they have a small role in financial intermediation, but not so when they were dominant or funded through local deposits. Our results show that accounting for heterogeneity is crucial to better understand the implications of foreign bank ownership.

Measuring Antigen‐Specific Immune Responses, 2008 update

Overall, the last 10 years have seen an explosion in the field of antigen-specific immune response monitoring. As summarized in this issue of Cytometry and at the MASIR conferences, these technologies have provided new insights into the basic biology of the immune system and are beginning to provide useful clinical information. These papers highlight the areas that are being actively explored.

Learning and Unlearning in Terms of Homing and Becoming In Linda Hogan’s Power and Solar Storms

Learning and Unlearning in Terms of Homing and Becoming In Linda Hogan’s Power and Solar Storms

Late ancient Christianity

Late Ancient Christianity. Edited by Virginia Burrus. A People's History of Christianity, vol. 2. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005, Pp. xv, 318. $35.00.) The sweeping narrative of Christianity is a drama that historians have cast and recast repeatedly over two millennia. As in any theatrical production, the playwright wields considerable power in how the story is told, which characters deliver the great lines, and what events make up the plot. Where many historians have attempted to dramatize the story of Christianity by focusing on the literary evidence left by members of the institutional leadership, whether in the works of individual bishops, or in the collective statements of faith and discipline found in conciliar documents, or in decrees handed down by Christian emperors, the scholars who have contributed to this second volume of A People's History of Christianity have engaged in a significant retelling of the story of Christianity during the of the late Roman Empire. These authors have presented a depiction of Christian that significantly widens the cast of characters, giving speaking roles to many of those who might previously have been mere extras, if they appeared on stage at all. In a sense, the very idea of a people's history is a play written from the perspective not of the hero, but of the chorus. The underlying methodology guiding this collection of essays appeals to literary sources but asks different questions of them, or it looks to literary and material sources considered outside the bounds of traditional evidence, or employs some combination of both approaches. The prevailing effort is to discover and present Christianity as it was lived out by ordinary people who identified themselves as Christians. What emerges from these investigations is a considerable variety in practice from to place, whether place is defined in terms of geographic region, or in terms of home, shrine, or basilica. The reader gains insight into the experience of ordinary Christians, including children at play, pilgrims seeking the healing power of relics, and wealthy patrons extending hospitality to itinerant teachers. What also emerges is a high degree of complexity in relationships amongst Christians, between Christians and Jews or other non-Christians, and between Christians and their own pre-Christian identities. The following two examples will help to illustrate the kinds of questions and insights that run throughout the collection. In her essay entitled Fictional Narratives and Social Critique, Judith Perkins argues that the emergence of prose fiction as a new literary genre signaled and even facilitated a rethinking of prevailing assumptions about social structures, cultural identities, and interpersonal relationships. Through the crafting of fictional accounts of the apostles (known as the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles), Christians participated in this process. Where scholarship had neglected these texts, Perkins finds in them valuable testimony for the kinds of self-understandings, beliefs, and attitudes motivating Christians in an earlier period (47). Her chapter first compares the Christian Acts to Greek romances to draw out the ways in which Christians sought to challenge such social and cultural institutions as marriage and elite privilege. For example, the Greek romances tended to focus on the union or reunion of a young, elite couple, while the Acts often featured a disruption of marriage when a wife understood her conversion to Christianity to necessitate her rejection of sexual intercourse. …

Computer usage and the validity of self-assessed computer competence among first-year business students

This study evaluates the reliability of self-assessment as a measure of computer competence. This evaluation is carried out in response to recent research which has employed self-reported ratings as the sole indicator of students’ computer competence. To evaluate the reliability of self-assessed computer competence, the scores achieved by students in self-assessed computer competence tests are compared with scores achieved in objective tests. The results reveal a statistically significantly over-estimation of computer competence among the students surveyed. Furthermore, reported pre-university computer experience in terms of home and school use and formal IT education does not affect this result. The findings call into question the validity of using self-assessment as a measure of computer competence. More generally, the study also provides an up-to-date picture of self-reported computer usage and IT experience among pre-university students from New Zealand and South-east Asia and contrasts these findings with those from previous research.

At the Gentle Mercy of Plants by Hildegarde Flanner

Reviews 221 eloquently pleaded for compassion and understanding of all animals, includ­ ing those not deemed “useful” to humans. In a day when utilitarian conserva­ tionists like William T. Hornaday and Teddy Roosevelt praised game birds and domesticable species but condemned hawks,wolves, rattlesnakes and other “noxious” creatures, Muir defended predators for both ecological and ethical reasons. As the editor implies, reverence for life in all its dimensions was Muir’smaxim long before Albert Schweitzer made it famous. Designed for general readers, the book contains 20 essays, all but three previously published. Included is the last and shortest published version of Muir’s best known and most beloved animal story, Stickeen, the name given to an eskimo dog (not to be confused with the Muir family pet illustrated in the book) who followed Muir on a hazardous glacier excursion in 1880 (not 1879). Scholars long familiar with these published essays may question the editor’s decision not to include pertinent holograph selections recently pub­ lished in microform but not yet available in print. For example, Muir’sbiting draft satire on hunting (frame 10945, Reel 45 of The John Muir Papers. Microform edition published by Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., 1986) would have tellingly documented his disdain for blood sports. This and a number of other short commentaries from the unexpurgated Muir would have notably enhanced the research value of the book. Reading Muir is no less uplifting today than it was nearly a century ago. Whether he is bounding over deep glacial crevasses or strolling in a springtime sea of wildflowers, his descriptive power is fresh and invigorating. Readers young and old will enjoy this sampling of one of America’sbest nature writers. RON LIMBAUGH University of the Pacific At the Gentle Mercy of Plants. By Hildegarde Flanner. (Santa Barbara: John Daniel, 1986. 89 pages, $10.00.) Within a year of their move to California in 1922, Hildegarde Flanner and her mother discovered one of the hazards of living in the chaparral country when a grassfire swept out of the foothills above Berkeley and burned their home and possessions. Leaving the charred remains of their previous life behind, the pair moved to southern California where they eventually settled in what Flanner described as a “delightful slum” surrounded by a colorful and fragrant tangle of plants. It was here in this luxuriant Pasadena garden home that Flanner cultivated the sense of place that characterizes the essays and poems in this collection. 222 Western American Literature Some of the essays included in this slim volume are biographic and nos­ talgic in nature, while others express Flanner’s deep appreciation of the plants around her. In the first essays, Flanner remembers the disastrous Berkeley fire and the early years of her married life in what was once a secluded garden home in the Pasadena suburbs. Flanner looks out from the shelter of her garden in the third essay and examines the natural history and folklore of some of the many alien plants, such as eucalyptus and palm trees, that influ­ ence California’s landscapes. In the last essay, she reveals a particular passion for one such alien, bamboo, as she explores the significance of this plant in terms of home, inheritance and family life. The same gentle, often lighthearted style that pervades Flanner’s essays isalso seen in the collection of short poems included in this book. Some of these poems celebrate the beauty and mystery of individual plants, while others view nature on a larger scale, exploring themes related to the seasons, cycles of life and death and humankind’s place in nature. The extent of Flanner’s devotion to plants is perhaps best illustrated in a line from the poem “On Forgetting the Name of a Small Plant” when she asks, “Can I forget your name and still know mine?” Readers who enter Hildegarde Flanner’s world of plants may find it hard to leave. This is a book to be read and enjoyed more than once. NANCY WARNER Utah State University Clear Fork Cowboys: Contemporary Cowboys along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. By Lawrence Clayton and Sonja Irwin Clayton. (Abilene: The Cowboy Press [3126 Salinas, Abilene, Texas 79605], 1985. 59...

Clear Fork Cowboys: Contemporary Cowboys along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River by Lawrence Clayton and Sonja Irwin Clayton

222 Western American Literature Some of the essays included in this slim volume are biographic and nos­ talgic in nature, while others express Flanner’s deep appreciation of the plants around her. In the first essays, Flanner remembers the disastrous Berkeley fire and the early years of her married life in what was once a secluded garden home in the Pasadena suburbs. Flanner looks out from the shelter of her garden in the third essay and examines the natural history and folklore of some of the many alien plants, such as eucalyptus and palm trees, that influ­ ence California’s landscapes. In the last essay, she reveals a particular passion for one such alien, bamboo, as she explores the significance of this plant in terms of home, inheritance and family life. The same gentle, often lighthearted style that pervades Flanner’s essays isalso seen in the collection of short poems included in this book. Some of these poems celebrate the beauty and mystery of individual plants, while others view nature on a larger scale, exploring themes related to the seasons, cycles of life and death and humankind’s place in nature. The extent of Flanner’s devotion to plants is perhaps best illustrated in a line from the poem “On Forgetting the Name of a Small Plant” when she asks, “Can I forget your name and still know mine?” Readers who enter Hildegarde Flanner’s world of plants may find it hard to leave. This is a book to be read and enjoyed more than once. NANCY WARNER Utah State University Clear Fork Cowboys: Contemporary Cowboys along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. By Lawrence Clayton and Sonja Irwin Clayton. (Abilene: The Cowboy Press [3126 Salinas, Abilene, Texas 79605], 1985. 59 pages, $6.95.) This privately published chapbook contains six extensively illustrated chapters which survey the men who work at “cowboying” on the various ranches along the Clear Fork of the Brazos in north-central Texas. Because it is ecologically unsuited for anything else, this region of Texas has been ranch country since it was first settled in the mid-nineteenth century. The unbroken continuity of the ranching experience has produced at least three generations of cowboys, all of whom maintain the traditional lifestyle of this most distinc­ tive American occupational folk group. The only difference in their work from that of a century ago is the introduction of such innovations as helicopters and pickup trucks to support work on horseback; nevertheless, as a tribute to their past heritage, many of the ranchers keep small herds of buffalo, antelope, and longhorns on their land. Reviews, 223 Clear Fork Cowboys is not an exercise in nostalgia or romanticism, but instead carefully describes these men and the work they do and recreations they enjoy in a matter-of-fact tone. Lawrence Clayton, the author, has “cowboyed ” for daily wages with the men he writes about, so he is able to describe their lives and their work firsthand. His wife, Sonja, is the daughter of a pio­ neer ranching family, and her photographs throughout the book reveal a life­ long familiarity with and sensitivity to the subject matter. The individual portraits of the cowboys are one of the high points of the book. As the intro­ duction states, the authors’ purpose is “to counter the misconception that cowboySino longer exist.” In the process of countering this misconception, the book avoids the glitter and mystique of so many contemporary movies and novels. In spite of its deliberate lack of romanticism, the book nevertheless is a paean to a way of life that many Americans are totally committed to. As Richard Ballard, one of the Clear Fork cowboys, says “Cowboying is my life. Because of the way I love it, I don’t ever intend to do anything other than be a cowboy.” Reading this book gives one an insight into why he feels that way. SYLVIA ANN GRIDER Texas A&M University The Backslider. By Levi S. Peterson. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986.. 361 pages, $12.95.) Readers who are familiar with Levi Peterson’s short stories in Canyons of Grace and Greening Wheat will welcome this first novel. Set in 1956-57 southcentral...