And So It Begins . . .

Postcard from Katy Shewmaker, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at James Cook University in Cairns, Australi

What Determines NFL Ticket Prices?

This paper studies the demand-side factors that determine NFL teams’ ticket prices from 2009 to 2012 using a panel model. Our model specifies NFL teams’ average ticket prices as a function of GDP per capita, number of competing professional sports teams, stadium renovation within the last two years, the average winning percentage from the previous three seasons, and Pro Bowl players each team had from the previous year. We find that a team’s winning percentage and having a stadium renovation has the largest impact on average ticket prices. We also find that the number of Pro Bowl players is an insignificant determinant of NFL teams’ ticket prices

Concern for protecting the American culture and wayof life is strongly associated with opposition toObamacare

President Obama’s signature health care reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, recently reached its five year-anniversary, with little end yet in sight to the controversy its implementation has caused, especially among conservatives. But how can we explain such widespread opposition to the ACA? In new research which looks at attitudes across the U.S., Benjamin Knoll and Jordan Shewmaker find that those who support the protection of American culture and way of life – ‘nativists’ – are much more likely to be against the ACA. For many Americans, they explain, reforms such as Obamacare are increasingly becoming associated with “foreign” political values and practices, especially for strong Republicans. They also comment that for those with stronger nativist attitudes, President Obama’s perceived foreignness likely played a role in shaping their opposition toward the ACA

When Students are Afraid of Learning

As teachers, how do we set up our classrooms and organizations in such a way that we help our students overcome fear, commit to change, experiment with new conditions of knowledge, and move into the growth to which learning calls them? How do we help our students move forward rather than run away

Aubade with Scripture

pp. 134-13

"Supernatural" beginnings in North American folklore : the vanishing hitchhiker and La Llorona

Through the use of motifs (such as the bridge, travel and vengeance) and character role reversals the creators of the pilot episode of [the television program] “Supernatural” build a narrative that cleanly combines the urban legends of La Llorona and the Vanishing Hitchhiker. By applying the La Llorona tale as a backstory for the ghost of the Vanishing Hitchhiker, the creators are able to produce motivation for the hostile actions inflicted upon unsuspecting drivers by the ghost. In this way, they are also able to give these two legends, neither with any tangible history of aggression, a new means of interacting with living characters within the fictional world of “Supernatural.

Amyloid prions in fungi

ABSTRACT Prions are infectious protein polymers that have been found to cause fatal diseases in mammals. Prions have also been identified in fungi (yeast and filamentous fungi), where they behave as cytoplasmic non-Mendelian genetic elements. Fungal prions correspond in most cases to fibrillary β-sheet-rich protein aggregates termed amyloids. Fungal prion models and, in particular, yeast prions were instrumental in the description of fundamental aspects of prion structure and propagation. These models established the “protein-only” nature of prions, the physical basis of strain variation, and the role of a variety of chaperones in prion propagation and amyloid aggregate handling. Yeast and fungal prions do not necessarily correspond to harmful entities but can have adaptive roles in these organisms.</jats:p