Activist Modernisms: Human Rights and Anti-Totalitarianism in Mid-Twentieth Century Literature

The period after World War II saw the emergence of a new discourse of human rights, with the signing of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the postwar period and throughout the twentieth century, human rights would often be vieas a set of self-evident, monolithic, and timeless values that had merely reached their full realization after the horrors of the war. This study examines a body of literature from the 1930s and 40s, the wartime moment just before the foundation of the twentieth century universal rights ideology, to explore the process by which theories of human rights are formed from among a multiplicity of possible human rights philosophies. The texts in this study - from the work of wartime journalists Rebecca West and Martha Gellhorn, to the anti-fascist spy novels of Eric Ambler, and the writing of communist dissidents like Arthur Koestler – respond to the rise of fascism and totalitarianism and the mass displacements and genocide that occur as a consequence. These writers create narratives to understand and contend with the historical ruptures of their time. These narratives theorize human rights by providing differing answers to the underlying questions of those rights, including the ultimate authorities in which rights are grounded and the ideal kinds of community for nurturing rights. Using the strategies of narrative and fiction to create compelling visions of the proper shape of human society, these authors variously defend rights based in the nation-state or a universal worldview. Creating rather than inheriting human rights ideals, these texts from the dawn of the era of human rights reveal the ways in which human rights are always historically situated, always imagined and negotiated, rather than being eternal truths that need only to be revealed

The Impact of a Saturday Enrichment Program With a University Partnership in an Urban Elementary School

The Saturday Enrichment Program (SEP) was an idea conceived by the faculty at a large university in partnership with a surrounding school district that is characterized as urban. The idea of the SEP was to create a whole extra day of learning for students that was a departure from the regular routine of Monday through Friday class. The SEP was designed to be a more relaxed, hands-on, student driven program that followed a Project Based Learning (PBL) philosophy. The teachers were pre-service teachers (PSTs) from the university. This study sought to answer the research question; what are the perceptions of the participants (students, parents, administrators, university faculty, and pre-service teachers) regarding the impact of the SEP? The sub-questions that shaped the analysis were; what were the attitudes of learners toward learning? And how did learners participate in the SEP? Through a secondary analysis of case study research data previously collected by the researcher from 2005-2010, it was found that most participants considered the SEP a quality learning experience. This was shown through observations of regular attendance and participation, as well as, statements made in interviews. One key participant was of the opinion that the SEP could be more rigorous and structured, following the school district’s pacing guide. This researcher concluded that the SEP had gone through curriculum changes over the five years of the study and had lessened the PBL focus, but was still a worthy activity for students on a Saturday morning as the program maintained strong student engagement and the learning prepared students to some degree for Monday through Friday curriculum. Recommendations included strengthening the PBL guidelines, inviting the current principal to have more input, and adding rigor to the activities and experiments without losing the enjoyment factor that the students had come to expect

Re-Imagining America: Twenty-First Century Disaster And Salvation In Contemporary Fiction

This thesis explores four contemporary novels set in the American South and analyzes the understandings of American pasts, perceptions of current social and political crises, and projections of possible future paths they contain. Cormac McCarthy\u27s The Road and Jesmyn Ward\u27s Salvage the Bones tell stories of disasters the natures of which reflect prominent anxieties concerning the twenty-first century position of the United States as a global power. The total destruction leaving behind an unrecognizable nation that McCarthy imagines in his post-apocalyptic novel suggests the viewpoint that the degree to which the U.S. is indicted in the use of unethical practices and faulty ideologies must lead to an absolute dissolution of what the nation has stood for and a severing of community bonds. In Salvage the Bones, Ward portrays a less mysterious disaster in which recovery is possible, providing a conflicting perspective that the U.S. can and must rehabilitate a national identity from its troublesome past and problematic current circumstances. Dave Eggers\u27 nonfiction book Zeitoun, which follows the travails of a Syrian-American unjustly imprisoned in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, exposes some of the reasons behind the occurrence of human rights violations in contemporary America, suggesting particularly that only the rights of certain individuals conforming to a narrative of American identity are recognized as fully human within the American imaginary. Finally, DBC Pierre\u27s black comedy Vernon God Little traces the darkly humorous tale of a small Texas town\u27s wildly inappropriate response to a school shooting to explore the factors that allow both violent crime and brutal punishment to continue their ravages on American society

Rehabilitation In Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence For Within- And Between-Language Generalization

Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine if there was a principled way to understand the nature of rehabilitation in bilingual aphasia such that patterns of acquisition and generalization are predictable and logical. Method: Seventeen Spanish-English bilingual individuals with aphasia participated in the experiment. For each participant, three sets of stimuli were developed for each language: (a) English Set 1, (b) English Set 2 (semantically related to each item in English Set 1), (c) English Set 3 (unrelated control items), (d) Spanish Set 1 (translations of English Set 1), (e) Spanish Set 2 (translations of English Set 2; semantically related to each item in Spanish Set 1), and (f) Spanish Set 3 (translations of English Set 3; unrelated control items). A single-subject experimental multiple baseline design across participants was implemented. Treatment was conducted in 1 language, but generalization to within- and between-language untrained items was examined. Results: Treatment for naming on Set 1 items resulted in significant improvement (i.e., effect size >4.0) on the trained items in 14/17 participants. Of the 14 participants who showed improvement, within-language generalization to semantically related items was observed in 10 participants. Between-language generalization to the translations of trained items was observed in 5 participants, and between-language generalization to the translations of the untrained semantically related items was observed in 6 participants. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated within- and between-language patterns that were variable across participants. These differences are indicative of the interplay between facilitation (generalization) and inhibition.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Patterns of seed production in Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens)

The lack of regeneration in stands of Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens Lamb.) in the Southern Appalachian Mountains is of concern, particularly to federal land managers. Efforts to regenerate Table Mountain pine stands with prescribed burning have been less successful than expected. Several factors that may play a key role in successful regeneration are currently being investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine if Table Mountain pine seed viability and availability varied with tree age, cone age, and season. Seeds were collected in four seasons from 2-5 year old cones of 5-76+ year old trees. Results indicate that for trees 11 years and older, cones collected in the winter had the highest number of seeds and that those seeds were most viable. Young stands of trees less than 10 years old had many seed, but viability was poor. The results of this study can used to identify stands with an adequate number of viable seed. Information from this study and corollary studies funded by the Joint Fire Sciences Program will be used to ensure successful regeneration of Table Mountain pine

Observations on the Conservation of the Chesapeake Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun

It is a matter of common knowledge among conservationists that the blue crab supply of the Chesapeake is rapidly declining, being reduced from a level of about 17 millions in 1931 to that of about 10 million crabs in 1937. (Md. Rept. 1937). Numerous explanations have been advanced to account for this decline. One outstanding reason is the taking of such large numbers of sponge (berried) crabs and mated female crabs, a practice which undoubtedly reduces the potential supply of young crabs for the ensuing year. Another menace to the survival of the blue crab lies in the way in which soft crabs are handled in the industry. The current methods of transporting and holding crabs on shedding floats are responsible for the loss of a very significant percentage of the total numbers taken. From a standpoint of practical conservation, no single one of our Chesapeake commercial fisheries merits more immediate attention than the blue crab fishery. This paper embodies the results of observations made on the current practices followed by the industry in handling crabs, and the effect of these practices on survival rate from a conservation viewpoint

California Water Myths

Presents eight common myths about water supply, ecosystems, and the legal and political aspects of governing California's water system and explains how each myth drives the debate, the reality, and alternatives for better informed policy discussions

Effectiveness of an Evidenced-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Intervention for Adolescents in a School Setting

Abstract The adolescent years are a formative time when rapid hormonal and physical changes stimulate the developing mind. Exposure to poverty, abuse, violence, and lack of peer and social support causes an increase in vulnerability to the development of mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated symptoms of depression and anxiety. Regardless of the risk factors, anxiety and depression continue to be significant health problems, affecting thousands of adolescents yearly in the United States. The first-line treatment recommendation for managing anxiety and depression symptoms is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). However, access to a provider for CBT treatment is not always an option for many reasons. This pilot evidenced-based practice project aims to increase access to skills acquired through CBT and improve adolescents’ mental health by implementing a brief and evidenced-based CBT program in a school setting. The CBT program for this project is the Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment (COPE) for Teens program consisting of seven 50-55-minute sessions. The COPE program was delivered to 22 students in a 7th grade health class. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Modified for Adolescents (PHQ-A) measured anxiety and depression scores at baseline, post-intervention, and two-month follow-up. Results indicate clinically significant improvements in anxiety and depression scores and showed participant satisfaction