Matthew Lyon, The Sedition Act, and Freedom of Speech in Federalist America

Very little has been written about the political career of Matthew Lyon, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1796 to 1800. Only a few biographies of his life have been written, which has contributed to the general lack of knowledge concerning his political affairs. The purpose of this thesis, then, is to identify Matthew Lyon the man, as well as his time in history, the Federalist Era. Special attention will be dedicated to Lyon’s controversial presence in the U.S. House, his violation of the Sedition Act of 1798, and the status of freedom of speech during the latter part of the Federalist Era. Cluster Bloc analysis will be used in order to ascertain the level of opposition Lyon encountered during his expulsion proceedings, as well as the level of support achieved for the Sedition Act. Matthew Lyon arrived in America in the 18th Century as an indentured servant from Ireland. After being released from the requirements of his indentured servitude Lyon began a life-long struggle for status and recognition. He was viewed as an outsider who relentlessly fought to become an insider. He attempted to become an insider in Federalist America through business ventures and political exploits. Lyon would eventually own many businesses and factories throughout New England. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Revolutionary War, Lyon believed that he was ideally suited for politics, both local and national. Once in the U.S. House of Representatives he continued his quest for acceptance and recognition through actions largely negative in nature. Expulsion proceedings were put into motion on more than one occasion to oust him from Congress, with the most celebrated cause being a physical altercation with his Federalist enemy Roger Griswold on the House floor. Lyon believed himself to be a complete Republican. His Federalist enemies saw him as a Republican as well, but for different reasons. In short, the Federalists detested his presence in Congress, and this attitude towards Lyon was reflected in the passage of the Sedition Act, as well as his prosecution for violating the act. After his stormy four years in Congress and his jail sentence, Lyon moved west to Kentucky where he again took up his entrepreneurial and political activities. Through the use of Cluster Bloc and other primary and secondary sources, the analysis will show that the group of Congressmen who voted in favor of Matthew Lyon’s expulsion will be the same one that voted in support of the Sedition Act, and that the Federalist Era, although not the only period of American History to witness repressive legislation, was embarrassingly intolerant of the First Amendment rights of American citizens

Double Jeopardy in Inferring Cognitive Processes

Inferences we make about underlying cognitive processes can be jeopardized in two ways due to problematic forms of aggregation. First, averaging across individuals is typically considered a very useful tool for removing random variability. The threat is that averaging across subjects leads to averaging across different cognitive strategies, thus harming our inferences. The second threat comes from the construction of inadequate research designs possessing a low diagnostic accuracy of cognitive processes. For that reason we introduced the systems factorial technology (SFT), which has primarily been designed to make inferences about underlying processing order (serial, parallel, coactive), stopping rule (terminating, exhaustive), and process dependency. SFT proposes that the minimal research design complexity to learn about n number of cognitive processes should be equal to 2n. In addition, SFT proposes that (a) each cognitive process should be controlled by a separate experimental factor, and (b) The saliency levels of all factors should be combined in a full factorial design. In the current study, the author cross combined the levels of jeopardies in a 2 × 2 analysis, leading to four different analysis conditions. The results indicate a decline in the diagnostic accuracy of inferences made about cognitive processes due to the presence of each jeopardy in isolation and when combined. The results warrant the development of more individual subject analyses and the utilization of full-factorial (SFT) experimental designs

How does visual language affect crossmodal plasticity and cochlear implant success?

Cochlear implants (CI) are the most successful intervention for ameliorating hearing loss in severely or profoundly deaf children. Despite this, educational performance in children with CI continues to lag behind their hearing peers. From animal models and human neuroimaging studies it has been proposed the integrative functions of auditory cortex are compromised by crossmodal plasticity. This has been argued to result partly from the use of a visual language. Here we argue that 'cochlear implant sensitive periods' comprise both auditory and language sensitive periods, and thus cannot be fully described with animal models. Despite prevailing assumptions, there is no evidence to link the use of a visual language to poorer CI outcome. Crossmodal reorganisation of auditory cortex occurs regardless of compensatory strategies, such as sign language, used by the deaf person. In contrast, language deprivation during early sensitive periods has been repeatedly linked to poor language outcomes. Language sensitive periods have largely been ignored when considering variation in CI outcome, leading to ill-founded recommendations concerning visual language in CI habilitation

Auditory and cognitive training for cognition in adults with hearing loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the efficacy of auditory training and cognitive training to improve cognitive function in adults with hearing loss. A literature search of academic databases (e.g., MEDLINE, Scopus) and gray literature (e.g., OpenGrey) identified relevant articles published up to January 25, 2018. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or repeated measures designs were included. Outcome effects were computed as Hedge’s g and pooled using random-effects meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42017076680). Nine studies, five auditory training, and four cognitive training met the inclusion criteria. Following auditory training, the pooled effect was small and statistically significant for both working memory (g = 0.21; 95% CI [0.05, 0.36]) and overall cognition (g = 0.19; 95% CI [0.07, 0.31]). Following cognitive training, the pooled effect for working memory was small and statistically significant (g = 0.34; 95% CI [0.16, 0.53]), and the pooled effect for overall cognition was large and significant (g = 1.03; 95% CI [0.41, 1.66]). However, this was dependent on the classification of training approach. Sensitivity analyses revealed no statistical difference between the effectiveness of auditory and cognitive training for improving cognition upon removal of a study that used a combined auditory–cognitive approach, which showed a very large effect. Overall certainty in the estimation of effect was “low” for auditory training and “very low” for cognitive training. High-quality RCTs are needed to determine which training stimuli will provide optimal conditions to improve cognition in adults with hearing loss

Housing and Aging in Place: City of North St Paul

Report and presentation completed by student enrolled in PA 5261: Housing Policy, taught by Dr. Edward Goetz in spring 2014.This project was completed as part of the 2013-2014 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of North St. Paul. Hoping to make North St. Paul a “community for a lifetime,” city staff were looking to develop policies and programs to promote aging in place. Project lead Jon Fure worked with a student in PA 5261: Housing Policy, taught by Dr. Ed Goetz. The student researched program case studies and developed a set of recommendations, including: create a remodel example for the community; create incentives for home remodels; increase walkability and connectivity of the city; and assist seniors with home maintenance. The final report and presentation are available.This project was supported by the Resilient Communities Project (RCP), a program at the University of Minnesota whose mission is to connect communities in Minnesota with U of MN faculty and students to advance community resilience through collaborative, course-based projects. RCP is a program of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA). More information at http://www.rcp.umn.edu

Teal Wagon Pin Tray

Ceramic covered wagon design pin trays/ash tray. Created beginning in the 1930\u27s to sell in an effort to raise money for UND\u27s Ceramics Department. Teal green color with blue horse and wagon. Damaged - cracked and re-glued.https://commons.und.edu/pottery/3115/thumbnail.jp

A decisional component of holistic encoding

human faces are used in cognition as undifferentiated wholes. General recognition theory (GRT; F. G. Ashby & J. T. Townsend, 1986) is used to represent hypotheses regarding the possible sources for the behavioral evidence supporting holistic representation. Specifically, it is suggested that holism can be understood in terms of violations of informational independence, informational separability, or decisional separability, as these constructs are defined in GRT. Stimuli were presented upright, inverted, and in an encoding task that emphasized the meaningful nature of the stimuli. Patterns of performance (recognition hit rates) were consistent with prior studies. However, there were only a handful of violations of informational separability. Instead, consistent violations of decisional separability suggested a decisional basis for holistic effects. One of the most compellingly unitary visual experiences is that of the sight of a human face. A single glimpse of a single face can leave an observer with a myriad of associations, inferences, and judgments. Small wonder, then, that the visual experience of the human face has become the focus of extensive empirical (e.g., Bruce, 1991) and theoretical (e.g., Wenger & Townsend, 2001a

Perception-production relationships for /r-l/ by native Japanese speakers

We examined the possible relationship between perception and production of /r–l/ by native Japanese speakers. Little evidence of a relationship between the cues used for perception and those for production was found for native Japanese and native English speakers. However, we found evidence of a shift from a reliance on conjunctive cues to single cues as listeners progressed from relatively naïve to fully native English speakers</p