Sacrificial Acts: Martyrdom and Nationhood in Seventeenth-Century Drama

Sacrificial Acts: Martyrdom and Nationhood in Seventeenth-Century Drama posits that the importance of sixteenth-century martyrologies in defining England\u27s national identity extends to the seventeenth century through popular representations of martyrdom on the page and stage. I argue that drama functions as a gateway between religious and secular conceptions of martyrdom; thus, this dissertation charts the transformation of martyrological narratives from early modern editions of John Foxe\u27s Acts and Monuments to the execution of the Royal Martyr, Charles I. Specifically, I contend that seventeenth-century plays shaped the secularization of martyrdom in profound ways by staging the sacrificial suffering and deaths of female heroines in a variety of new contexts. In addition to illustrating how the expansion of martyrological rhetoric and imagery revealed numerous channels for female influence, this dissertation asserts that narratives of suffering generated national models for reclaiming the stability and unity that Foxe\u27s martyrs had seemed to inspire. I first analyze John Webster\u27s The Duchess of Malfi and Thomas Drue\u27s The Duchess of Suffolk, which overlap the vocabularies of martyrdom and motherhood to valorize women\u27s roles in the creation and continuation of the religious and political states. By studying their dramatizations of virgin martyr legends, I consider how playwrights like Thomas Dekker and Phillip Massinger highlight the expediency of narratives of passivity in defining the subject-ruler relationship. In chapter 3, I focus on Caroline debates about anatomical and metaphysical inwardness to argue that martyrologies provide a script for accessing the conscience through interpretations of the material body. My final chapter argues that the self-presentations of Eleanor Davies and Henrietta Maria establish a necessary link between Foxean models of passive suffering and the militant language of sacrifice used during the Civil War period. These narratives make visible the diffusion of martyrological language and imagery into the multiplicity of spheres--domestic, popular, religious, and political--that comprises communal identity. Moreover, this exploration reveals that popular discourse profoundly engaged and influenced the secularization of that rhetoric and significantly shaped how England continued to define itself in relation to its martyrological past

Social support and mental health outcomes in battered women

This study examined the relationship between perceived social support and negative mental health outcomes in battered women. Correlations between perceived social support and depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder were analyzed. Perceived social support, particularly from family members, was found to be significantly related to mental health outcomes. Results indicate that agencies that work with battered women should include social support in the assessment and intervention processes. The study utilized a quantitative survey design with a sample of 120 battered women from four domestic violence agencies throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Quantitative data analysis procedures, such as multivariate analysis and logistic regression, were used to further examine variables. Samples of the instruments used in the study are included

Examining How Superintendents Understand, Leverage, and Balance Social Justice and Accountability: Case Studies in Leadership

By almost every measure, American schools have not educated poor, minority, and disadvantaged children to the same level as their White, some Asian, non-poor and non-disabled counterparts (American Institutes for Research, 2013; Gándara, 2010; NCES, 2014; Rojas-Lebouef & Slate, 2011; Thurlow, Bremer, & Albus, 2011) despite increased accountability expectations for all student subgroup performance outcomes (DeNisco, 2013; Payne, 2008). Students who do not achieve academically are potentially forced to contend with negative health and social difficulties, as well as unemployment, underemployment and a cycle of marginal, low paying and often part-time jobs (Buddin, 2012; Darling-Hammond, 2009/2010; Holmes & Zajacova, 2014). Aside from the moral and social costs of these disparities, the economic loss of underperforming students could range into trillions of dollars in lifetime earnings (Hanushek, 2010; Hanushek and Woessmann 2012). High-stakes accountability systems, based primarily on standardized test data, have become the cornerstone of federal education policies designed to close those achievement gaps among student subgroups (Supovitz, 2010). The shift from comparing educational inputs such as reduced class size and increased per-pupil expenditures to an emphasis on achievement outcomes offers a highly public measure for determining comparative school and student success. Financial and nonmonetary rewards and a range of sanctions and interventions for schools and districts considered underperforming are outlined in Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s summary of A Blueprint for Reform (2010). From an outcomes-based achievement perspective, current policy supports equitable results for all students, with more flexibility around means to achieve those outcomes. This challenges superintendents to prioritize among many programs, responsibilities, and reform efforts that promote demonstrable student achievement gains, equitable outcomes, and responsive learning experiences. Social justice in education involves the persistent pursuit of equitable educational experiences and results across social identity groups in schools, a much broader mission than the focus of today’s accountability policies. Questions arise as to how the current accountability context and social justice leadership intersect. While some argue that today’s accountability provides a great opportunity to advance goals of social justice and equity (Skrla & Scheurich, 2004), others contend that accountability policies per se are “flawed as equity-producing initiative[s], lacking adequate consideration of power relations, democratic participation, and rich, diverse philosophies of education” (Gunzenhauser & Hyde, 2007, p. 490). How superintendents understand, leverage, and balance accountability conditions with their perceptions of social justice impacts their leadership. In the end, this study examines how three superintendents in districts recognized for closing achievement gaps among student subgroups understand the relationship between social justice and accountability, how the concepts intersect in their practice, and what the actions are that superintendents take in their attempt to satisfy accountability conditions while addressing various causes of social injustice in their districts. This research is guided by a conceptual framework shaped by McKenzie et al.’s (2008) tasks of social justice leadership: increasing student achievement, raising critical consciousness among staff and students, and doing this work in inclusive communities. It is also guided by Lashway’s (2002) description of role shifts superintendents face as a result of high-stakes accountability: tensions between accountability and authority, heightened expectations for instructional leadership, and the impact of public and transparent evaluation criteria on superintendent effectiveness. Framed by these researchers and the findings from the superintendents studied here, this work offers a set of strategies, understandings, and observations for current and aspiring superintendents who wish to improve educational outcomes for all children as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is currently being revised and implemented

The Freshman, vol. 8, May 1938

The Freshman was a weekly, student newsletter issued on Mondays throughout the academic year. The newsletter included calendar notices, coverage of campus social events, lectures, and athletic teams. The intent of the publication was to create unity, a sense of community, and class spirit among first year students

Viewers base estimates of face matching accuracy on their own familiarity: Explaining the photo-ID paradox

Matching two different images of a face is a very easy task for familiar viewers, but much harder for unfamiliar viewers. Despite this, use of photo-ID is widespread, and people appear not to know how unreliable it is. We present a series of experiments investigating bias both when performing a matching task and when predicting other people’s performance. Participants saw pairs of faces and were asked to make a same/different judgement, after which they were asked to predict how well other people, unfamiliar with these faces, would perform. In four experiments we show different groups of participants familiar and unfamiliar faces, manipulating this in different ways: celebrities in experiments 1 to 3 and personally familiar faces in experiment 4. The results consistently show that people match images of familiar faces more accurately than unfamiliar faces. However, people also reliably predict that the faces they themselves know will be more accurately matched by different viewers. This bias is discussed in the context of current theoretical debates about face recognition, and we suggest that it may underlie the continued use of photo-ID, despite the availability of evidence about its unreliability

The Freshman, vol. 5, no. 16

The Freshman was a weekly, student newsletter issued on Mondays throughout the academic year. The newsletter included calendar notices, coverage of campus social events, lectures, and athletic teams. The intent of the publication was to create unity, a sense of community, and class spirit among first year students

Across-arc geochemical variations in the Southern Volcanic Zone, Chile (34.5- 38.0°S): Constraints on Mantle Wedge and Input Compositions

Crustal assimilation (e.g. Hildreth and Moorbath, 1988) and/or subduction erosion (e.g. Stern, 1991; Kay et al., 2005) are believed to control the geochemical variations along the northern portion of the Chilean Southern Volcanic Zone. In order to evaluate these hypotheses, we present a comprehensive geochemical data set (major and trace elements and O-Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopes) from Holocene primarily olivine-bearing volcanic rocks across the arc between 34.5-38.0°S, including volcanic front centers from Tinguiririca to Callaqui, the rear arc centers of Infernillo Volcanic Field, Laguna del Maule and Copahue, and extending 300 km into the backarc. We also present an equivalent data set for Chile Trench sediments outboard of this profile. The volcanic arc (including volcanic front and rear arc) samples primarily range from basalt to andesite/trachyandesite, whereas the backarc rocks are low-silica alkali basalts and trachybasalts. All samples show some characteristic subduction zone trace element enrichments and depletions, but the backarc samples show the least. Backarc basalts have higher Ce/Pb, Nb/U, Nb/Zr, and Ta/Hf, and lower Ba/Nb and Ba/La, consistent with less of a slab-derived component in the backarc and, consequently, lower degrees of mantle melting. The mantle-like δ18O in olivine and plagioclase phenocrysts (volcanic arc = 4.9-5.6 and backarc = 5.0-5.4 per mil) and lack of correlation between δ18O and indices of differentiation and other isotope ratios, argue against significant crustal assimilation. Volcanic arc and backarc samples almost completely overlap in Sr and Nd isotopic composition. High precision (double-spike) Pb isotope ratios are tightly correlated, precluding significant assimilation of older sialic crust but indicating mixing between a South Atlantic Mid Ocean-Ridge Basalt (MORB) source and a slab component derived from subducted sediments and altered oceanic crust. Hf-Nd isotope ratios define separate linear arrays for the volcanic arc and backarc, neither of which trend toward subducting sediment, possibly reflecting a primarily asthenospheric mantle array for the volcanic arc and involvement of enriched Proterozoic lithospheric mantle in the backarc. We propose a quantitative mixing model between a mixed-source, slab-derived melt and a heterogeneous mantle beneath the volcanic arc. The model is consistent with local geodynamic parameters, assuming water-saturated conditions within the slab

Intraspecific variation in M1 enamel development in modern humans: implications for human evolution

The timing and sequence of enamel development, as well as enamel thickness, was documented for individual cusps (protoconid, hypoconid,metaconid, entoconid) in 15 unworn permanent lower first molars (M1s) from a sample of modern human juveniles. These data were compared with previously published data for modern and fossil species reported in the literature. Crown formation in all teeth was initiated in the protoconid and completed in the hypoconid. These cusps had significantly longer formation times (2.91 and 2.96 yrs, respectively) than the metaconid and entoconid (2.52 and 2.38 yrs, respectively), as well as thicker enamel, and each represented between 92e95% of the total crown formation time. Rates of enamel secretion in all cusps increased significantly from 2.97 mm in the inner enamel to 4.47 mm in the outer enamel. Two cusps of one individual were studied in more detail and did not follow this typical trajectory. Rather, there was a sharp decrease in the middle of enamel formation and then a slow recovery of secretion rates from the mid to outer enamel. This anomalous trajectory of enamel formation is discussed in the context of other nondental tissue responses to illness. Neither secretion rates nor periodicity differed significantly when compared between the cusps of each molar. Differences in cusp formation times, initiation, and completion suggest a relationship between the rates of enamel formation and enamel thickness. This fits with expectations about the mechanics of the chewing cycle and general lower molar morphology. A comparison with similar data for some nonhuman primates and fossil hominoids suggests this relationship may hold true across several primate taxa. Other aspects of enamel growth differed between this human sample and certain fossil species. The lower molars formed slowly over a longer period of time, which may reflect the extended growth period of modern humans. The methodological approach adopted in this study is discussed in the context of that used in other studies