“The Ugly Truth”: Examining War Trauma and Therapeutic Storytelling through the Works of Tim O’Brien

Within this work, a close study on the relationship between trauma and storytelling is examined through three of Tim O’Brien’s works: The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato, and In the Lake of the Woods. Through the application of psychoanalysis, specifically the work of Jacques Lacan, and modern trauma theory, the relationship between individual identity and the traumatizing encounter of the Real is examined through O’Brien’s concepts of Story Truth versus Happening Truth, as well as how those concepts work together to navigate one’s trauma story. Through weaving the aforementioned theory with each text, O’Brien is seen to intertwine the roles of author, narrator, and character in order to converse through his own trauma story along with the reader. As a result, O’Brien demonstrates the importance of the reader-listener relationship as well as how storytelling can provide a first step towards individual healing

Truth Telling: Testimony and Evidence in the Novels of Elizabeth Gaskell

This dissertation argues that Elizabeth Gaskell\u27s novels (Mary Barton, Ruth, North and South, Cranford, Sylvia\u27s Lovers, and Wives and Daughters) challenge nineteenth-century notions of what constitutes reliable, credible, and admissible truth claims. Gaskell challenges the protocols for judging truth that are emerging in the mid-nineteenth century in response to new epistemic conditions and protocols that threaten to silence female speakers, whether they are advocating on their own behalf (as defendants) or on behalf of others (as witnesses). By using the decidedly male legal system in the form of courtroom trials and interrogation-like scenarios for her female characters in their everyday lives, Gaskell shows her reading jury that judgments are too quickly dispensed and verdicts erroneously assumed, and she thus promotes sympathetic judgments of others, women specifically. In her fiction, she seeks temporal justice for her heroines, and, when that is unachievable, she has them seek divine justice instead. To establish the credibility of her heroines, Gaskell uses a rich array of narrative devices to critique women\u27s discursive abilities and to re-authorize their representations of reality. This dissertation focuses on examples of trials, evidence, and testimony as they play out via plot, character, and narration. In plot, she arranges events in order to provide her heroines with opportunities to speak and act. To establish character, she develops her heroines through description, actions, interiority, and dialogue, all of which prepare the reader to take as credible the speech of the heroine in her climactic utterance of a powerful truth. Through narrative voice, she advocates for credible judgments by incorporating moral discourse, personal disclosures, and intrusive narrators. Gaskell\u27s novels strive to promote sympathy, reasonable judgments, and more measured perceptions in her readers. In her fiction, she not only proclaims that women are credible truth-tellers but, by constructing her stories in ways that give female characters agency, she leads her readers to this same conclusion

Physical Activity and Mental Health of Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic has globally impacted children’s physical activity and mental health outcomes since the transition to remote learning (Štveráková, et al., 2021). Children and adults may encounter negative mental health related consequences, higher stress, and a significant lack of physical activity while in physical and social isolation (Clemente-Suárez, 2022). In particular, school-aged children have experienced a significant reduction in physical activity since transitioning to remote learning and do not have sufficient opportunities to make up for this loss while engaged in remote learning (Štveráková, et al., 2021). Increased physical activity has been consistently correlated with positive mental health outcomes and a reduction of perceived stress in the literature. The purpose of this study, focusing specifically on households participating in remote learning, was to understand the links among access to physical activity opportunities, parental stress, and parent and child mental health outcomes during the Pandemic. In addition, this study will examine how parental stress, mental health and physical activity opportunities may vary depending on the age and socioeconomic status (SES) of the child. Results indicated that most children achieved less than the recommended amount of physical activity and had an increase of at least one mental health concern during remote learning throughout the Pandemic. Parental stress levels were negatively associated with children’s time spent in physical activity, and positively associated with the severity of parents’ mental health concerns and the number of children’s mental health concerns. Implications for school personnel are discussed

Student Academic Performance Outcomes of a Classroom Physical Activity Intervention: A Pilot Study

A Physical activity is beneficial to children’s health, yet academic pressures limit opportunities forstudents throughout the school day. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of aclassroom PA intervention on student academic performance outcomes. Intervention participants(n=15) received daily PA breaks. Reading and mathematics fluency, PA, grades, and standardized testscores were collected. Effects of the intervention were examined using mixed-design ANOVAs.Intervention students had significantly higher reading fluency and mathematics scores postinterventionand higher means for standardized reading and mathematics scores as well as grades.Short bouts of PA are important for improving CBM math and reading fluency scores. Classroomteachers should be encouraged to devote time during academic learning to incorporate PA

Between Extermination and Child-Rearing: The Foreign Child-Care Facilities of Volkswagen and Velpke

During World War Two, approximately 400 to 450 Ausländerkinder-Pflegestätten, or foreign child-care facilities, were established across the German Reich as collection centers for the infants born to Polish and Soviet civilian laborers employed in the German war economy. My thesis examines two such foreign child-care facilities, the Volkswagen and Velpke children’s homes, where over 450 Polish and Soviet infants perished. Three themes provide the framework for an analysis of these two facilities: the conflict between two of the main goals of the Third Reich—racial cleansing and the exploitation of forced labor; the question of whether the establishment of the facilities and treatment of the children depended on orders from upper-level or local-level authorities; and the issue of whether the children’s deaths stemmed from intent to cause their deaths or indifference toward their fate. This thesis addresses the following questions: In terms of racial ideology and economic pragmatism, was one factor more significant in the establishment and use of the Volkswagen and Velpke children’s homes? Who, among upper-level and lower-level Nazi officials, ordinary Germans, medical professionals, and factory executives, was responsible for the children’s deaths? Were the children’s deaths intentional? What do these two facilities tell us about the other foreign child-care facilities that existed across the Third Reich? The research for this thesis draws upon two British war crimes trials held in Braunschweig and Helmstedt, Germany in 1946, the “Velpke Baby Home Case” and the “Rühen Baby Farm Case,” as well as records from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives in Washington, DC, the National Archives at College Park in College Park, MD, and digital records from the International Tracing Service Archives. Ultimately, this thesis highlights the connections between the three conflicting—and often opposing—themes. First, the trial records revealed that both facilities were exclusively established, managed, and operated by local-level officials and personnel. Second, upper-level Nazi authorities deemed alleged racial enemies a threat to the German “master race,” and were intent on enforcing a racial hierarchy in the German Reich; however, the local-level officials and staff responsible for these two children’s homes were far more concerned with maintaining productivity from the Polish and Soviet workforce, remaining indifferent toward the fate of the children at the homes. Third, while both the need for economic efficiency from workers and the belief in Nazi racial ideology influenced the establishment, management, and operation of the Volkswagen and Velpke children’s homes, there is minimal evidence that local authorities and personnel prioritized racial ideology over economics. Since both facilities were controlled locally, this thesis reveals that rather than putting racial ideological into practice and intentionally killing the children, local officials prioritized economic production. This left the fate of the children somewhere between extermination and child-rearing—between being left to die, murdered, or raised

Identifying And Understanding Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among College Students

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior in college students at an urban university was studied. Relations between NSSI and poor quality relationships with their parents and peers, as well as deficient coping and help-seeking behavior were examined from an attachment perspective. Undergraduates were recruited via an online psychology subject pool and completed an online survey. T-tests were conducted to identify what variables differed between students who engaged in NSSI in contrast to students that did not. In addition, a discriminant function analysis was conducted. It was found that intrapersonal and interpersonal variables predicted group membership (i.e. social desirability, body protection, positive affect, comfort with touch, and emotional abuse). Findings are discussed and may help to better identify college students engaging in NSSI and help to inform treatment

Comparative American and Japanese tobacco smoke uptake parameters after overnight tobacco deprivation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109819/1/cptclpt2004281.pd

The Use of Bicycle Desks to Increase Physical Activity in Two Special Education Classrooms

BACKGROUND Although the literature has predominantly focused on elementary youth, preliminary findings indicate that attentional benefits may arise from adolescent physical activity as well. Limited research has examined the impact of classroom-based physical activity for secondary students, and no research to date has explored bicycle workstations as a means to improve physical activity within the special education classroom. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE Two special education resource classrooms within a high school took part in the research study. Students were given the option of riding on the bike or sitting on chairs in each classroom. Heart rate, calories, miles, time, and on-task behavior data were collected. In addition, student acceptability of bikes was explored. RESULTS The results indicated that the overall mean heart rate during bike riding was significantly higher than the overall mean heart rate when seated on a traditional chair. Also a significant main effect was found for time on calories expended while riding. No significant results were found for miles or on-task behavior. CONCLUSIONS Overall, students enjoyed the use of bicycles during class, found the bicycle workstations to be beneficial to their learning, and appeared to note as many benefits as limitations with the bicycle workstations. Limitations and future directions are discussed

Pre- and Post-settlement Processes of Northern Rock Sole (Lepidopsetta polyxystra) in Relation to Interannual Variability in Temperature and Productivity in the Gulf of Alaska

Understanding the effects of climate variability on growth dynamics and timing of early life history events in marine fishes can provide insights into survival, recruitment and productivity. Field collections (2005, 2007, 2009-2011) were combined with otolith microstructural analysis to examine interannual variation in larval and juvenile growth rates, size at hatch and metamorphosis, and the timing of metamorphosis of northern rock sole (Lepidopsetta polyxystra) collected in two nurseries at Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA. Variation in early life characteristics was quantified and related to phytoplankton production, temperature and juvenile densities in nursery grounds. In addition, monthly sampling of juvenile northern rock sole during the initial post-settlement period (July to August) was used to determine if carry-over effects of size and growth occurred across life history stages. Finally, individual growth trajectories of July and August fish were compared for evidence of selective mortality during the initial post-settlement period. Overall, timing of metamorphosis varied across years and was related to annual and interannual variation in water temperature. Conversely, fish size at metamorphosis was similar across years, suggesting that the competency to metamorphose is related to a minimum size and ontogenetic stage. Post-settlement growth was related to temperatures in coastal nurseries as well as temperatures during the larval period, indicating that thermal conditions experienced by larvae may carry over to influence growth in nurseries. Correlations between pre- and post-settlement traits demonstrate that size and growth advantages could persist across life history stages. Growth selective mortality was not evident during the initial post-settlement period; however, differences in hatch size and the timing of metamorphosis between July and August fish suggest a selective loss of individuals. The patterns of selection varied among years, indicating that variation in size acquired early in life and temperature influences on the phenology of metamorphosis may determine the direction of selection and directly influence survival of northern rock sole