Episodes in the History of the French Language: An Examination of the Reciprocal Influences of the French Language and French Society

Episodes in the History of the French Language is a study of the most important events in the progression of French beginning with its parent language, Latin, and ending with the language of present-day France. It explores both the internal history and external history of the language; that is, the changes in linguistic mechanics, as well as the socio-political and cultural conditions which brought about those changes. The paper provides evidence for the connection between the French language and French culture and asserts that each of these elements has a direct influence upon the other. Excerpts from literary sources are provided in the original language as well as in translation to give the reader an idea of the progression of French from Latin to Old French to Modern French

The Economic Burdens of Life: Trade Secrecy and the Insulin Pricing Crisis in the United States

Approximately one in every ten Americans lives with diabetes, a condition that inhibits the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar. The majority of those with diabetes rely on insulin injections to control the condition and avoid the dire health consequences that can quickly result from insufficient insulin. The price of insulin has risen 700% in the past two decades, with burdensome if not disastrous consequences for individual patients and for public health more generally. Federal law provides a pathway for manufacturers of follow-on pharmaceuticals, including insulin, to obtain abbreviated approval from the FDA without repeating costly clinical trials by showing that the follow-on product is sufficiently similar to the name-brand product. Because of the complexity and expense of manufacturing insulin, such a showing is extremely difficult unless the manufacturer of the follow-on product has access to information about how the name-brand product was produced. Manufacturers of name-brand insulin and similar products rely on patent protection for the products themselves and on trade secrecy to protect their manufacturing processes. Because trade secret protection is not time-limited (i.e., protection lasts as long as the holder of the secret economically benefits from the information and takes reasonable steps to preserve secrecy), would-be manufacturers of cheaper follow-on insulins are deterred from entering the market. This note explains how a scaling back of trade secret protection for insulin manufacturing processes would enable more manufacturers to enter the insulin market, thus increasing competition and driving prices down. This note is timely because the insulin pricing crisis is ongoing, and intervention in the intellectual property space would likely have a significant ameliorating effect on a problem that causes substantial loss of life and productivity, as well as billions of dollars every yea

Identifying and Quantifying Hidden Hearing Loss

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify a so-called ‘Hidden Hearing Loss,’ which is defined as degraded speech perception in background noise with no hearing threshold elevation. We hypothesized that 1) the loss of auditory nerve fibers, or cochlear synaptopthy, causes hidden hearing loss, and 2) the level of medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) reflects cochlear synaptopathy, thus predicting hidden hearing loss. Design: Eighteen subjects were recruited for this study and complained of difficulty understanding speech in environments with high noise levels. All participants completed behavioral and MOCR testing, followed by a speech-in-noise understanding test. A modified Noise Exposure Questionnaire (NEQ) was also completed by each subject in order to account for their noise exposure history. Results: The level of MOCR did account for variance in SiN accuracy. Age and pure-tone audiometry also contributed significantly to SiN accuracy, but in a redundant manner. However, noise exposure history did not seem to have any correlation to SiN understanding within this present study

On the Ironic Effects of Being Empathic: Consequences for Attitude Polarization and Intergroup Conflict

Empathy is frequently presented as the solution to intolerance; indeed, President Obama has cited an ‘empathy deficit’ in the conversation surrounding civil rights for minorities, women, and the LGBTQ community (Obama, 2006 ). However, an emerging psychological literature offers a “darker side” of empathy, which accounts for the parochial forces influencing empathic-motivations. Across two studies, the present thesis aims to further understand the parochial nature of empathy in the context of ideologically-based attitudinal polarization. In the first experiment, participants read about a hypothetical instance of heterosexual date rape, and provided their opinions on the male and female targets. Results supported an empathy-driven polarization model, which shows that the tendency for participants who endorse rape myths to blame the female target and support the male was even more pronounced among those scoring high in dispositional empathy. The second study aimed to experimentally manipulate the salience of rape myth beliefs; however, this was accomplished to limited effect. Importantly, the results replicated the previous pattern of findings with respect to empathy-driven polarization. Implication of this model, and future directions are discussed

The Epistemological Significance of Reflective Access

This thesis is, in part, a defence of a broad-based approach to epistemology. We should be wary of taking too narrow a focus and thus neglecting important aspects of knowledge. If we are too focused on one methodology then we are likely to miss insights that can come about from a different perspective. With this in mind, I investigate two particular methodologies in detail: Kornblith’s naturalism and Craig’s ‘genealogical’ approach. Kornblith emphasises the importance of looking at knowledge in the context of the natural world, thus stressing the continuity between animal and human knowledge. Craig, on the other hand, focuses on a distinctly human aspect of knowledge: the importance of enquiry and the sharing of information. As such, the two theories of knowledge that are developed have different emphases. I argue that by bringing them together we can better understand what knowledge is. This leads us to the other main contribution of this thesis, which is a defence of the role of reflection in epistemology. This has often been neglected in contemporary epistemology, primarily because of the effectiveness of externalist theories of knowledge. The focus on externalism has lead to reflection being sidelined. I do not argue that reflection is necessary for knowledge, but rather want to bring back attention to the important role that it plays in human life. Reflectively accessible justification is necessary for our knowledge claims and therefore plays a vital role in enquiry. If we add reflectively accessible justification to knowledge then it is both more stable and more valuable. Even if it is not necessary for knowledge, reflection should not be neglected

Incorporating The Fifth Domain To The Danielson Framework To Support Charism In Catholic Education

Catholic school academic leaders need to work to not only increase student achievement and instructional outcomes for students but also to increase those through the lens of the Catholic school identity and the individual school’s charism (Belmonte & Cranston, 2009; Cook, 2015; Dygert, 1998). The research was driven by the central research question: How have Catholic school academic leaders utilized the Danielson Framework to improve definitions of good teaching within a Catholic school through the addition of a 5th domain to the Danielson Framework for Teaching? Catholic school academic leaders need to create a culture where these processes also support the development of the Catholic charism (Belmonte & Cranston, 2009; Cook, 2015; Cook & Simonds, 2011; Dygert,1998). The task of Catholic schools to develop appropriate processes and tools which would work to assess the Catholic identity, gather and analyze data which can be used to implement appropriate change and professional development is overwhelming, but essential to maintaining the integrity of the Catholic school identity (Belmonte & Cranston, 2009; Cook, 2015; Cook & Simonds, 2011). The researcher, through a single-case design, utilized an interpretive framework to guide the research process (Creswell and Poth, 2018). The researcher conducted an analysis of key observations, evaluations, and professional development documents specific to the identified school. The researcher conducted an online survey for the faculty to document their perceptions and implementation of the school’s Fifth Domain specific to the school’s charism. Finally, the researcher conducted individual interviews with key academic administrators responsible for faculty observations, evaluations and professional development to seek to understand how they utilize the data gathered from the Fifth Domain framework to impact school decisions and positively develop the charism of the school. The researcher learned that professional development for and by administrators was paramount in supporting the sponsoring orders charism. Faculty members felt supported in learning about the charism through school wide professional development, however there were limited opportunities for individual professional development related to charism. This study provides insights to administrators in religiously sponsored schools interested in increasing charism transmission in their schools

Emily Hanson Obear Correspondence

Entries include typed correspondence concerning President Johnson of Colby College, a handwritten letter on personal stationery, a printed tear sheet with the photographic image of Obear, three typed poems: Our Trees----Calais, Maine, To Edgar Allen Poe, and Home, and correspondence from the Maine State Library

On Staying Open While Seeing Red: Predicting Open-Mindedness and Affect in Politics

This dissertation examines whether people who claim to be dispositionally open-minded, do in fact, demonstrate such open-mindedness when they are actually presented with political opinions that run counter to their own. In Study 1, participants rated their partisan identity and dispositional open-mindedness prior to reacting to a series of fictional Facebook posts that varied in both their political ideology and political extremity. The results of this study demonstrated that the most consistent predictor of �open� reactions (operationalized in terms of both cognitive judgements and affective reactions) to each type of Facebook post was whether it was congruent with the participants� partisan identity. Importantly, this effect was never moderated by dispositional open-mindedness. Thus, the degree to which a participant was high (vs. low) in open-mindedness did not significantly attenuate partisan bias or act to increase the likelihood of �open� reactions to outgroup political views. Study 2 utilized a similar design, except in this case participants were asked to predict how open they thought they would be to the same set of political issues used in Study 1. The results of Study 2 demonstrated that participants predicted they would be most open to attitudinally consistent political views. As in Study 1, these predictions were not moderated by dispositional open-mindedness. This means that participants who rated themselves as highly open-minded were not any more likely to predict they would be open to outgroup political opinions than those participants who scored themselves low in open-mindedness. This research both builds upon and significantly extends prior work in both the psychological and political science literatures. The implications of these results and future directions are discussed

WISCO oil field special waste landfill : final design report ; for Williams County, North Dakota Section 26 T. 154 N.R. 104 W

The increasing amount of special waste generated from drilling activity in western North Dakota has created the need for a local special waste landfill for the region. A quarter section of land has been selected for landfill use 20 miles west of Williston on ND 2, (sec.26, T. 154 N, R. 104 W.), Williams County. WISCO Oil Co. recognized this site as an appropriate destination to deposit the special waste. ND 2 dividing the site into Northern and Southern divisions leaves the smaller Northern division to be used for processing waste and maintenance buildings, while the larger 7 4-acre Southern division will contain the special waste landfill. The following report includes site analysis of geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, topography, soil characteristics, geomorphology, tectonic framework, and geotechnical hazards. The site investigation concludes that the site is suitable for the proposed landfill. The WISCO Oil special waste landfill\u27s design will cover a footprint of 109,000 square yards. By increasing the height the landfill potential volumes range from 2. 7 million to 4.5 million cubic yards based upon demand. Assuming an average daily deposit of 500 to 800 cubic yards of waste per day the landfill is expected to be in operation for 15 to 20 years. The site analysis and final design specifications are in compliance with North Dakota Century Code 33-22-07.1, as well as standards set by the North Dakota Department of Health Division of Waste Management