The formative period of religion in Guilford County

The first settlers in Guilford County were the German, Scotch-Irish, and English Immigrants who came to the Piedmont of North Carolina in search of economic and religious freedom. These people represented the Lutheran, German Reformed, Quaker, Presbyterian, Baptist, and, at a later date, the Methodist denominations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the actions of the people in relation to their religious beliefs during the early period of settlement. The period of time in study ranges from the arrival of the first German settlers in the early 1700's to the climax of the Great Revival in North Carolina in 1805. During the intervening years, there were many problems which these people had to solve. Shortly after their arrival they were faced with economic and religious problems which culminated in the Regulator War. Soon after that conflict, there followed the American Revolutionary War, with its local and national problems. How the people and their religious denominations were affected by this struggle is examined in this thesis. It is also the intent of this paper to answer some similar questions: How did the people, in accordance with their religious beliefs, choose which side to support during the struggle? Why did some remain loyal while others supported the Whigs

"Directing threds-- through the labyrinth" : the moral use of Platonic conventions and patterns of imagery in Sidney's Astrophil and Stella

Upon examination, the widely recognized stylistic discontinuity of Sidney's Astrophil and Stella resolves itself into a pattern. What some critics have seen as immaturity in many of the early sonnets proves to be conventionality, and many of the final sonnets exhibit the same trait. But while the conventionality of the early group (1-51) is enlivened by Sidney's wit and originality, that of the final group (87- 108) is often sterile and lifeless. Furthermore, the vigor of the middle sonnets (52-86) springs less from a break with convention than it does from a positive attack upon it; convention is constantly the measure. Actually there are two conventions—of literature and of love—and both are essentially Platonic. Although neither Platonism nor Neo-Platonism rejects the role of sexual love for purposes of procreation within the bounds of law or custom, Astrophil's love for a married woman can be morally and ethically justified only if it remains Platonic. As a Platonic lover, he must sublimate his passion and direct his own thoughts and those of his lady to the higher beauty. As a poet, his duty, as prescribed by Sidney in The Defence of Poesie, is similar. He must transform the "brasen world" of nature into the "golden world" of the Ideal

The comparison of attitudes of black and white high school students toward physical education

The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of Black and White ninth and tenth grade students in four high schools in Rockingham County, North Carolina, toward physical education. In order to measure and then compare these attitudes, the Edgington Attitude Scale was administered. The majority of all the 407 students tested had a favorable attitude toward physical education measured by the Edgington Attitude Scale. As a result of this study it was found: 1. There was a significant difference in the attitude of Black and White students toward physical education. White students' attitudes were significantly more positive than Black students' attitudes. 2. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black and White girls toward physical education with White girls scoring more positively. 3. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black and White boys, with White boys scoring more positively. 4. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black boys and White girls, with the White girls' attitudes more positive. 5. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of Black girls and White boys, with the White boys' attitude more positive

Ben Jonson's use of English folk ritual in the court masques

A chronological study of the court masques of Ben Jonson reveals that he began composing masques using the purely classical elements which were the accepted devices of the day but that about 1610 he began to import elements which appear to have their basis in English folk ritual such as the mummers' play, the sword dance, and the plough play. Further study suggests that by 1616 Jonson had realized the full possibilities of the use of native ludi and from that time on used English elements with increasing confidence, producing a well-integrated series of masques in which classical and native motifs are happily blended. Of the fourteen masques written after 1616, only five lack elements taken from the native ludi

POLYMER MEDIATED DELIVERY OF OLIGONUCLEOTIDE AND TRANS GENES TOWARD MORE EFFICIENT AND SPECIFIC THERAPIES FOR DYSTROPHINOPATHIES AND DYSTROGLYCANOPATHIES

Muscular dystrophies are genetic disorders caused by mutations in more than 30 genes, with no cure or effective treatment. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by frame-shift mutations in the dystrophin gene with little or no functional dystrophin protein in muscles. One of the most effective experimental therapies for DMD is antisense oligonucleotide (AON) therapy, which corrects the disrupted reading-frame by skipping the mutated exon(s) during pre-messenger RNA splicing resulting in truncated but functional dystrophin protein. Proof of principle has been obtained with the most effective phosphorodiamidate morpoholino (PMO) chemistries in animal models and clinical trials. However, low efficiency and non-specific delivery remain critical barriers for AON therapy to achieve long-term efficacy. My thesis has tested two hypothesis driven approaches to overcome these barriers: developing new polymers for effective delivery with low toxicity, and identifying ligands for tissue specific targeting. I have evaluated a new class of poly (ester-amine) (PEAs) primarily as vehicles for PMO delivery. The results demonstrate a significantly enhanced delivery and exon skipping efficiency in cell culture and in vivo with reduced toxicity compared with cationic polymer alone as delivery vehicles, providing a base to further optimize for clinical applications. Applying a novel approach of phage array in combination with powerful next generation sequencing (NGS), my study revealed obstacles to identification of peptide ligands and allowed me to design novel procedure with potential to rejuvenate the technique for ligand identification with phage array both in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, these experiments address the most challenging issues currently in translational research

Relationships among perceived stress, burnout, and physical activity in social workers

Relatively few studies have examined the extent to which participation in physical activity can address burnout in social workers. Research conducted with other human service professionals consistently suggests routine exercise can be a viable, cost-effective intervention for aiding in stress management and in effectively addressing burnout. The objective in this study was to explore relationships among perceived stress, burnout, and physical activity participation in social workers. Additionally, this study identified the specific types of physical activities primarily used to cope with job stress by social workers. The study also explored sources of stress in the social work profession, social workers’ use of exercise in their broader approach to coping, and identified other coping strategies that social workers use to manage job stress and burnout. The sample comprised 220 social workers from diverse practice areas who completed a single online survey on perceived stress, burnout, and physical activity behaviors. Data analysis results showed that greater physical activity participation correlated with both lower perceived stress and lower burnout levels. Social workers who regularly used exercise reported lower perceived stress than social workers who were less physically active. Frequency of physical activity (r = - .306) and total physical activity levels (r = -.262) both had moderate, negative relationships with perceived stress. Moderate (r = -.239) and strenuous (r = -.151) physical activity levels both had negative statistically significant correlations with perceived stress levels, but the relationships were weaker than that of mild physical activity with perceived stress (r = -.241). Routine exercise was associated with lower perceived burnout, particularly emotional exhaustion and feelings of accomplishment. Both frequency (r = -.285) and total physical activity (r = -.263) were inversely related with emotional exhaustion. As social workers’ frequency and overall physical activity levels increased, their perceived emotional exhaustion decreased. In terms of feelings of accomplishment, as social workers’ total physical activity levels increased, their perceived feelings of personal accomplishment also increased (r = .240). There was no statistically significant relationship between physical activity and depersonalization in this study. Data from open-ended exploratory questions were thematically analyzed to identify common coping strategies that social workers deemed as particularly effective for managing burnout. The results suggest exercise plays a key role in social workers’ self-care plan to mitigate job stress and burnout. Social workers generally use a variety of coping strategies to manage work-related stress, including a combination of exercise, positive interactions with natural and workplace supports, mindfulness-based activities, and calming, stress-relieving activities. The workplace environment was a major issue. Social workers reported conflicting values with leadership work demands, heavy workloads, lack of resources, and staff shortages as the primary sources of stress. This study extends the research on burnout prevention and intervention in other populations and suggests that a comprehensive approach with a physical activity component is a particularly effective coping strategy for helping social workers deal with perceived stress and burnout

Family functioning and social isolation as moderators between stress and child abuse potential

Previous literature has implicated stress as a significant contributor to child physical maltreatment risk. Studied to a lesser extent, family dysfunction and inadequate social support have also been associated with physical child abuse potential. To date, little empirical support clarifies how such identified risk variables converge to influence physical abuse risk. The current study sought to explore whether the relation between stress and physical abuse risk was moderated by family functioning and social isolation. Questionnaires assessing parental subjective appraisal of stress, family functioning, adequacy of social support, and abuse risk (as measured by the CAPI Abuse Scale and AAPI-2 Total) were administered to 92 mother-child dyads from the community. Stress was hypothesized to strongly predict abuse risk. Further, mothers reporting stress and either family dysfunction or social isolation were expected to evidence greater abuse risk. As expected, stress contributed to the prediction of abuse risk, as measured by both the CAPI and AAPI Total scores. In terms of potential moderators, the current findings indicated that social support moderated the relation between stress and CAPI Abuse Scale scores, but family functioning did not (the interaction term trended toward significance). For AAPI Total scores, neither family functioning nor social isolation was a significant moderator. Overall, these findings validate stress and social isolation as important independent predictors of abuse risk

Connotations of color names among Negroes and Causasians : a replication and an extension

The primary purpose of this study was to replicate the work of Williams (1964) to determine if the connotation of color names, particularly Black and White, had changed since 1964 among Negro and Caucasian college students. The predicted changes in White-Black color connotation for the Negro subjects were hypothesized as being related to the black separatist movement and its reinforcement of subcultural conditioning toward racial awareness. Semantic differential rating scales on three factors (Evaluation, Activity, and Potency) for five "race-related" and five control colors were administered in a non-racial context to 208 Negro college students and compared with new data already collected on a population of 99 Caucasian college students. Data related to Ideological Commitment to Black Separatism also were collected from the Negro Ss and were compared with the color meaning scale values

A survey of weekday programs for preschool children in Southern Baptist Churches in North Carolina

The study was requested by the administrator of the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina, Incorporated. There were three main objectives: (l) To locate services offered for preschool children in Southern Baptist Churches in North Carolina; (2) To obtain reasonably accurate knowledge of programs in the planning stages in the area of preschool services; (3) To gain insight into the need and demand for consulting services which might be offered to the churches by the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina, Incorporated. Subjects were the pastors of all Southern Baptist churches in die State of North Carolina whose resident memberships numbered 500 or more. Of the 289 churches in this category, information was received from 234. This afforded an 81% return

Personal and couple level risk factors: maternal vs paternal physical child abuse risk

Previous maltreatment literature examining child physical abuse potential relied heavily upon maternal only samples, limiting our understanding of paternal risk factors. Moreover, the extent to which relationship and individual factors interact to impact abuse risk is not well known. The current study examined whether couple level functioning (i.e., relationship quality and coparenting) moderated the relation between stress and measures of physical abuse risk for parents (i.e., spillover) and their partners (i.e., crossover). Questionnaires assessing parental subjective appraisal of stress, relationship quality, perceptions of a parenting team, and abuse risk were administered to 81 parents from the community. As expected, for both parents, higher stress strongly predicted elevated abuse potential (BCAPI) and more reactive parenting discipline styles (PS) and, for fathers only, negative parenting beliefs (AAPI), and more physically aggressive discipline strategies (CTSPC). More functional couple relationships (e.g., more satisfying and supportive coparenting) directly predicted elevated parental abuse potential. Maternal AAPI and CTSPC scores were predicted by demographic factors, while a novel analog measure of parental response to noncompliance (ReACCT) was not predicted by any factors considered in the present study. Overall, the findings partially supported the hypotheses and indicated that the extent to which strong and supportive relationships buffer stress in the prediction of abuse risk is inconsistent, if not limited. Future work discussed the need for disentangling distress from abuse risk measures and to identify the potential contribution of couple functioning, apart from reduced distress