More lives than a cat: a state and federal history of bank deposit insurance in the United States, 1829-1933

This dissertation traces the history of state and federal bank deposit insurance from the first state program enacted in 1829 to the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1933. I seek to correct a common misperception that federal deposit insurance was part of the legislative agenda of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Not only was Roosevelt not in favor of the measure, he actively opposed it. Behind this misperception is one hundred years of history of state bank insurance programs and forty years of advocacy at the federal level. This study argues that the call for government bank insurance was a recurring democratic impulse that emanated from the developing, rural economies in the periphery of an expanding nation. The advocates of this legislation sought to use the power of the state to stabilize banking and currency in an expanding market economy in order to better tie the rural periphery to its commercial and financial center. This study is both the history of a bank regulation and the history of a legislative idea whose champions and effects cut across geographic, economic, political, and social boundaries. The first state bank insurance program was formulated in the unique political economy of New York in 1829 at a time when the federal government guaranteed the credit of the United States, but only part of the money supply: specie, government-minted gold and silver coins, but neither bank notes nor bank deposits. State bank insurance programs then spread west to five more states before the Civil War. After the Civil War, bank insurance programs were called for at a time when the credit of the federal government had expanded to guarantee bank notes, but not bank deposits. After the Panic of 1907, eight more states enacted deposit insurance programs. The call for deposit insurance at the federal level began in 1886. The legislative idea was handed down through one hundred and fifty bills and three generations of progressive Democrats from the Middle West and South before FDIC was created in 1933. Government-managed bank insurance represented a renegotiation of the balance of power between the state and private banks to use the power of the state to distribute default risk across all banks, from the weakest to the most powerful. An underlying institutional argument of this study shows that state power was a precondition of government bank insurance and how the state’s credit ultimately became the source of the guaranty. The federal guaranty of bank deposits was not cut from whole cloth in 1933; it was a recurring democratic impulse from the periphery of American capitalism that can be traced to the beginning of the Republic

Effects of Whole-Body Heating on Chronic Low Back Pain

Low Back Pain (LBP) is a condition that may originate from an injury, disease, or stresses on different parts of the body that transfer as a feeling of pain in the bones, nerves, or muscles of the lower back. The prevalence of LBP at some point in one’s lifespan is estimated at 85%, and 2-10% of these individuals will live with chronic LBP (CLBP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 7 consecutive days of whole body heating on chronic low back pain in individuals between 30-65 years of age. A water-perfused suit, through which 50°C water was passed, was utilized to increase core body temperature (Tc) by 0.8°C for 7 consecutive days. Pain questionnaires were used to assess changes in CLBP during the 7 days of heating, and at 2-days and 2-week post-heating. The average McGill Pain Scores from heating day 1 (H1) to day 7 (H7) decreased 20.2%. The functional limitation scale decreased 12.5% from H1 to H7 and the symptom scale of frequency and intensity of pain symptoms both decreased 2.8% from baseline to 2-weeks post-heating. Varied results acutely following heating were observed between subjects, suggesting heating may provide relief for acute pain in some subjects. All three pain scales utilized in the present study (McGill Pain Questionnaire, the functional limitation scale, and the symptom scales) suggested improvements in CLBP with repeated whole body heating to a 0.8°C increase in Tc. Additionally, these therapeutic effects were still evident 2 weeks following the last day of heat therapy. These results suggest promising potential for whole body heating as a non-invasive, non-pharmacologic method of treating chronic low back with benefits lasting for days or weeks post-therapy

"This is no world in which to pity men" : a study of Thomas Heywood as a Jacobean social critic

The purpose of this study is to place Thomas Heywood and his works in the mainstream of Jacobean drama rather than in the ebb tide of the Elizabethan. Traditionally, beginning with Lamb in 1808 and continuing to the present, Heywood has been extolled by critic after critic as the kindly, genial spokesman for middle-class morality and ideals. To most critics, Heywood appears to be an optimistic Elizabethan playwright with a staunch faith in human nature as well as a view of the world in which good ultimately triumphs over evil. In opposition to these commonly-held and seldom-questioned assumptions, this study attempts to show that Heywood is actually an instructive and constructive social critic not only of middle-class morality and ideals but also of contemporary English life in general. Moreover, he is a pessimistic Jacobean dramatist with a realistic, and sometimes satiric or ironic, view of man and of evil in a world where evil, not good, generally dominates as a sinister, brooding, and pervasive force

The nineteenth century wasteland : the void in the works of Byron, Baudelaire, and Melville

The theme of the twentieth century "wasteland" began with T. S. Eliot's influential poem, and has reached its present culmination point in the literature of the Absurd. In a wasteland or an Absurd world, man is out of harmony with his universe, with his fellow man, and even with himself. There is Nothingness in the center of the universe, and Nothingness in the heart or center of man as well. "God Is Dead" in the wasteland and consequently it is an Iconoclastic world without religion, and without love; a world of aesthetic and spiritual aridity and sterility. Most writers, critics, and students of literature are familiar with the concept of the wasteland, but many do not realize that this is not a twentieth century thematic phenomenon. The contemporary wasteland has its parallel in the early and middle nineteenth century with the Romantics; with such writers as Byron, Baudelaire, and Melville

A study of Dilsey Gibson : Faulkner's tragic heroine in The sound and the fury

William Faulkner's avowed purpose, in writing, is to tell a story of the human heart in conflict with itself, with others, and with its environment. The primary job that any writer faces, according to Faulkner is to tell a story out of human experience, i.e., "universal, mutual experience, the anguishes and troubles and griefs of the human heart, which is universal, without regard to race or time or condition." He wishes to tell the reader "something which has seemed to him so true, 1 so moving, either comic or tragic, that it's worth repeating."1 Faulkner has chosen the novel as the form best suited to his purpose and his genius for writing about the experience of "man in his comic or tragic human condition."

Mentor perceptions of effective mentoring programs

After examining the literature surrounding the benefits and challenges, two program examples, and the professional development of mentor training programs, mentors receiving two different types of training in a mid-sized county in southeastern North Carolina are surveyed. Mentor perceptions of effective training are investigated. Then, the data is disaggregated by grade level including elementary school and middle/high school mentors. The literature trends and survey results are compared and contrasted. Recommendations are made for future training programs

Social sciences research in neglected tropical diseases 3: Investment in social science research in neglected diseases of poverty: a case study of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.BACKGROUND: The level of funding provides a good proxy for the level of commitment or prioritisation given to a particular issue. While the need for research relevant to social, economic, cultural and behavioural aspects of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) control has been acknowledged, there is limited data on the level of funding that supports NTD social science research. METHOD: A case study was carried out in which the spending of a major independent funder, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) - was analysed. A total of 67 projects funded between October 1998 and November 2008 were identified from the BMGF database. With the help of keywords within the titles of 67 grantees, they were categorised as social science or non-social science research based on available definition of social science. A descriptive analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Of 67 projects analysed, 26 projects (39%) were social science related while 41 projects (61%) were basic science or other translational research including drug development. A total of US$697 million was spent to fund the projects, of which 35$ 241 million) went to social science research. Although the level of funding for social science research has generally been lower than that for non-social science research over 10 year period, social science research attracted more funding in 2004 and 2008. CONCLUSION: The evidence presented in this case study indicates that funding on NTD social science research compared to basic and translational research is not as low as it is perceived to be. However, as there is the acute need for improved delivery and utilisation of current NTD drugs/technologies, informed by research from social science approaches, funding priorities need to reflect the need to invest significantly more in NTD social science research

Diffusion of e-health innovations in 'post-conflict' settings: a qualitative study on the personal experiences of health workers.

BACKGROUND: Technological innovations have the potential to strengthen human resources for health and improve access and quality of care in challenging 'post-conflict' contexts. However, analyses on the adoption of technology for health (that is, 'e-health') and whether and how e-health can strengthen a health workforce in these settings have been limited so far. This study explores the personal experiences of health workers using e-health innovations in selected post-conflict situations. METHODS: This study had a cross-sectional qualitative design. Telephone interviews were conducted with 12 health workers, from a variety of cadres and stages in their careers, from four post-conflict settings (Liberia, West Bank and Gaza, Sierra Leone and Somaliland) in 2012. Everett Roger's diffusion of innovation-decision model (that is, knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, contemplation) guided the thematic analysis. RESULTS: All health workers interviewed held positive perceptions of e-health, related to their beliefs that e-health can help them to access information and communicate with other health workers. However, understanding of the scope of e-health was generally limited, and often based on innovations that health workers have been introduced through by their international partners. Health workers reported a range of engagement with e-health innovations, mostly for communication (for example, email) and educational purposes (for example, online learning platforms). Poor, unreliable and unaffordable Internet was a commonly mentioned barrier to e-health use. Scaling-up existing e-health partnerships and innovations were suggested starting points to increase e-health innovation dissemination. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study showed ICT based e-health innovations can relieve information and communication needs of health workers in post-conflict settings. However, more efforts and investments, preferably driven by healthcare workers within the post-conflict context, are needed to make e-health more widespread and sustainable. Increased awareness is necessary among health professionals, even among current e-health users, and physical and financial access barriers need to be addressed. Future e-health initiatives are likely to increase their impact if based on perceived health information needs of intended users

The Origin of the Universe as Revealed Through the Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Modern cosmology has sharpened questions posed for millennia about the origin of our cosmic habitat. The age-old questions have been transformed into two pressing issues primed for attack in the coming decade: How did the Universe begin? and What physical laws govern the Universe at the highest energies? The clearest window onto these questions is the pattern of polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is uniquely sensitive to primordial gravity waves. A detection of the special pattern produced by gravity waves would be not only an unprecedented discovery, but also a direct probe of physics at the earliest observable instants of our Universe. Experiments which map CMB polarization over the coming decade will lead us on our first steps towards answering these age-old questions.Comment: Science White Paper submitted to the US Astro2010 Decadal Survey. Full list of 212 author available at http://cmbpol.uchicago.ed

The development of endomycorrhizal root systems VIII. Effects of soil phosphorus and fungal colonization on the concentration of soluble carbohydrates in roots

Concentrations of phosphorus in shoot and soluble carbohydrates (fructose, glucose, sucrose and fructans) in root were measured in non-mycorrhizal and vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal (Glomus mosseae) leek plants (Allium porrum) raised at six concentrations of soil phosphate. In conditions when an increased concentration of soil phosphate reduced VA mycorrhizal infection, the concentrations of soluble carbohydrates in the root were at a maximum. Therefore the hypothesis that greater concentrations of soluble carbohydrates in roots favour VA mycorrhizal infection is discounted. There was a specific effect of VA mycorrhizas, in that infected roots contained a larger concentration of sucrose than did uninfected roots, in plants with similar phosphorus concentrations in dry matter of shoots. We conclude, first, that increased phosphorus supply from either phosphate addition to soil or VA mycorrhizal infection increases concentration of soluble carbohydrates in leek roots and, secondly, that the VA mycorrhizal root behaves as a particularly strong physiological sink when there is an excess concentration of sucrose in the host