War Crimes Against Southern Civilians

The Hatred that War Spawns Walter Brian Cisco\u27s latest book is a thorough catalog of the violence federal troops wreaked on parts of the southern homefront during the Civil War. Cisco is also the author of States Rights Gist: A South Carolina General of the Civil War, Taking a Stand: P...

You all must do the best you can : the Civil War widows of Brunswick County, Virginia, 1860-1920

This study focuses upon the life experiences of the 70 Civil War widows of Brunswick County, Virginia, a rural, predominantly agricultural community. The death of a husband, particularly in a male-oriented society such as the nineteenth century South, forced his widow to cope not only with her grief but also with new household, financial, and family responsibilities as well as a new identity as a lone woman, a social category defined by the loss of the central source of identity and financial support experienced during married life. Factors such as age, family situation, community of residence, sources of emotional and financial support, education, property ownership, occupation, the presence or absence of minor or adult children, and the prospect of remarriage all affected how a widow dealt with her widowhood and are considered in this analysis of the lives of Civil War widows in Brunswick County, Virginia

Examining Optimism and Caregiver Strain in Parents with Youth and Young Adults Diagnosed with Anxiety and Unipolar Mood Disorders

An anonymous online survey investigated optimism and caregiver strain in parents of youth and young adults diagnosed with anxiety and unipolar depression. Caregiver strain is a well-researched phenomenon where the experience of parenting youth with serious psychological disorders has a potentially negative impact on parents and caregivers. Optimism is a trait that confers resiliency and improved coping to the individual. The relationship between caregiver strain and optimism is not well understood. This inquiry utilized the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire (CGSQ) to measure caregiver strain and the Life Orientation Test, Revised (LOT-R) to measure optimism. Participants endorsed significantly higher scores on the CGSQ subscale Subjective Externalized Strain (SES) and Subjective Internalized Strain (SIS), scales that collect data on the internal and external psychological experience of parents. Parents of youth with more than one psychological diagnosis endorsed higher SIS scores and reduced LOT-R scores. LOT-R scores were negatively correlated across all three CGSQ subscales; parents who endorsed higher caregiver strain also endorsed lower optimism. This dissertation is available open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and Ohio Link ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu

Maternal Bodies: Redefining Motherhood in Early America

In Maternal Bodies, winner of the prestigious Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians, Nora Doyle explores the tension between women’s lived experiences of motherhood, both physical and emotional, and the cultural representations of motherhood that began to emerge in the second half of the eighteenth century. In terms of women’s experiences of motherhood, Doyle notes significant continuity. For example, despite the fact that the average number of children American women bore and reared did decrease during the period, “childbearing and childrearing continued to define most women’s lives” (2). Another example of continuity during the era was that most women delivered their babies at home in the presence of and with the assistance of other women, though the numbers of urban-dwelling women who delivered their children under the supervision of male physicians did begin to grow. In the chapters Doyle dedicates to the examination of women’s experiences and perceptions of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding, very little changed. Women continued to “count” their pregnancies and births much as their mothers and grandmothers before them had. Moreover, their writings continued to reflect an understanding that their bodies were at the center of their experiences

The First Amendment and Diet Industry Advertising: How Puffery in Weight-Loss Advertisements Has Gone Too Far

Stricter government regulations regarding commercial speech that promotes weight-loss or diet products should be considered for three reasons. First, studies have shown that diet industry advertising often makes weight loss claims that are scientifically impossible. Second, consumers have suffered adverse health effects as a result of trying weight-loss programs or diet products. Third, current FTC regulations are not curbing the problem. Part II of this note outlines the history of commercial speech and its protections under the First Amendment, along with the history of the rapidly expanding diet industry and its regulatory framework. Part II examines the three arguments in support of stricter governmental regulations on advertising in the diet industry. Part III looks at FTC studies that have shown dietary advertisements actually are blatantly false, not just misleading. Part III also outlines numerous cases where a consumer\u27s trust in diet advertisements led to adverse health problems for that consumer. Part III discusses why neither the FTC\u27s actions of filing suit against manufacturers, nor the possibility of media regulation, would be sufficient to solve the problem. Finally, this note offers an explanation as to why the current methods of addressing puffery and misleading advertising in the diet industry are not sufficient

Student perceptions of their postsecondary aspirations after facing long-term suspensions /

For decades, researchers have shed light on the injurious effect exclusionary discipline policies have on academic achievement and postsecondary aspirations. By providing personal narratives, these stories can enhance our understandings of how regressive policies transform students' lives. This case study is based on interviews with 16 former students of one Midwestern school district, all of whom received long-term suspensions while in high school. Findings include the parallels between the district and national trends, as well as the binary language students use to associate student behavior and perceived academic identity. The findings suggest that fear of the one's disciplinary record being revealed plays a cumbersome role in students' academic journeys.Field of study: Educational leadership and policy analysis.|Dr. Carole A. Edmonds, Dissertation Supervisor.|Includes vita.Includes bibliographical references

Are linguists better subjects?

Who are the best subjects for judgment tasks intended to test grammatical hypotheses? Michael Devitt ( [2006a] , [2006b] ) argues, on the basis of a hypothesis concerning the psychology of such judgments, that linguists themselves are. We present empirical evidence suggesting that the relevant divide is not between linguists and non-linguists, but between subjects with and without minimally sufficient task-specific knowledge. In particular, we show that subjects with at least some minimal exposure to or knowledge of such tasks tend to perform consistently with one another—greater knowledge of linguistics makes no further difference—while at the same time exhibiting markedly greater in-group consistency than those who have no previous exposure to or knowledge of such tasks and their goal

The working hour: A rhetorical analysis of the lyrics of Tears for Fears

Childhood friends Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal founded the band Tears for Fears, and were the two primary members from 1982-1990. Their songs describe the struggle of coping with childhood abuse. This thesis analyzes the rhetorical aspects of their lyrics, emphasizing how the words of their songs express the fundamental human response to abuse, and the painful process of recovery. It explores how the songwriters use the psychological theories of Arthur Janov and Carl Jung to scaffold their experience of working through emotional trauma; and how they combine those theories with astrological symbolism to explore the idea of destiny. This thesis uses a combined rhetorical and psychological approach to analyze the manner in which the ethos and pathos inherent in the lyrics generated recognition, understanding, and sympathy in the listener

Expert Information and Expert Evidence: A Preliminary Taxonomy

Federal Rule of Evidence 702 speaks in very general terms. It governs every situation in which scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact, and provides that, in that situation, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise . . . .\u27 In 2000, following a trio of Supreme Court cases interpreting Rule 702, the Rule was amended to include a third requirement, in addition to the helpfulness of the testimony and the qualifications of the witness: reliability. Under Rule 702 as amended, a qualified witness may only provide expert testimony if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.