The Inter-State Oratorical Contest in the 1800s: The Beginning of Organized Collegiate Competitive Speaking

The purpose of this article is to explore the beginnings of the Inter-State Oratorical Contest (IOC) and the Inter-State Oratorical Association (IOA) and to examine the characteristics of the Inter-State Oratorical speeches from 1874 to 1899. Through an analysis of the top two speeches from each of these years in regard to topic, evidence, organization, style, and delivery, I identify trends and strategies which appeared in competitive collegiate persuasive speaking in the late 1800s

What Traits are Learned?: Determining the Levels of Argumentativeness and Verbal Aggressiveness in Competitive Parliamentary Debate

Competitive parliamentary debate is a popular and important form of debate in the United States. This study surveyed individuals who competed, and individuals who have never competed, in parliamentary debate were surveyed to understand if parliamentary debate increases argumentativeness and decreases verbal aggression in students who competed in the event. When it comes to verbal aggressiveness, competitive parliamentary debate participants did score lower in verbal aggressiveness then those who have not competed in parliamentary debate. However, there was not a significant difference in verbal aggressiveness with those who have more parliamentary debate experience and those with less experience. Additionally, competitive parliamentary debate participation did not predict the level of argumentativeness because competitive debaters did not significantly score higher on the argumentativeness scale compared to those who have not competed. However, when looking at those who did compete in parliamentary debate, it was found that the longer they competed, the higher their level of argumentativeness. These results lead to implications and conclusions about teaching and competing in parliamentary debate

GM Issues Investigated

It was important to investigate and tell this story as GM issues receive limited exposure in the news media, though the Steve Marsh case has gone some way towards remedying this. Marsh lost his organic farming licence in 2010 because of contamination from his neighbour’s crop. Primarily this investigation served to highlight the lack of hard data about whether GM and non-GM crops can coexist, in a way that had not previously been published. It was also important to investigate Monsanto’s intentions regarding potential future acquisition of a larger share of the WA Government wheat-breeding company InterGrain, as this could significantly impact on the choices available to all WA farmers, particularly those opposed to GM crops. This investigation revealed that the right of non-GM farmers to decide to use their preferred farming methods could be seriously compromised if the GM industry and the Government strongly endorse, fund and/or promote advancement of GM technology, to the detriment and/or neglect of non-GM crop varieties. Therefore, there is a valid Fourth Estate rationale for holding the Government to account for its actions on this issue, and for its intentions and policies to be questioned. Marsh’s situation puts these GM issues in context, and it was important to air his description about how the 2010 introduction of GM canola in WA affected him. The outcome of his situation will likely set a precedent for similar cases of GM contamination. Government advice, such as urging farmers to engage in “communicating with neighbours”, appears simple and logical advice to follow, but Marsh’s situation illustrates this simplification of coexistence is out of touch with the real and possible threat of contamination. This paper presents five from a series of ten articles about GM issues in Western Australia followed by an exegesis

Rationale for the Event, Teaching

Our paper intends to introduce a new limited preparation event called teaching to the forensics community. By combining traditional rhetoric with the modern art of teaching, our proposal seeks to shed light on a rhetorical vision of education. We want to move beyond conventional teaching styles to emphasize a greater understanding and comprehension between the teacher and the student. Now, more than ever, education needs rhetoric. Rather than learning a specific piece of knowledge, students should have access to a rhetoric-based education that involves critical thinking and productive arguing. The activity of forensics is rooted in rhetorical education, and consequently provides a forum to promote this nuanced style of teaching. Therefore, this paper will provide the basic rhetorical and educational background to justify the event teaching, offer an explanation of how the event will unfold, and describe how the forensics community will benefit from the proposed event. Rhetoric and education have long been intertwined. As, scholars, teachers, and students, it is important that we nurture this combination, so that our community may benefit

MBLWHOI Library’s institutional repository stewardship responsibility

The MBLWHOI Library’s Institutional Repository (IR) is a CoreTrustSeal certified repository. We chose to go through this process to demonstrate our commitment to quality stewardship and to be a trusted option for our researchers facing funder and publisher requirements that data be accessible, and more recently, also citable with a DOI. The Library always recommends that researchers deposit data in an appropriate subject or community repository, but there are many cases where the dataset needing a DOI does not fit that scenario. The ability to quickly and easily deposit data in a certified repository is a value added service for our users. Some funders now mandate the data must be deposited in a FAIR repository. Being a CoreTrustSeal certified repository ensures that the MBLWHOI Library’s Institutional Repository practices FAIR principles. This lighting talk will show the steps we went through to become certified, some of the hurdles and benefits, as well our current status as an application reviewer. This process enabled us to review our internal process and procedures and re-examine any outdated practices. It shined a light on places we could improve our documentation and more clearly state our policies. The importance of demonstrating our commitment to quality and the Library’s continued efforts with the repository to remain on the forefront of technology with linked open data, schema.org, etc

Using cosmic neutrinos to search for non-perturbative physics at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger (cosmic ray) Observatory provides a laboratory for studying fundamental physics at energies far beyond those available at colliders. The Observatory is sensitive not only to hadrons and photons, but can in principle detect ultrahigh energy neutrinos in the cosmic radiation. Interestingly, it may be possible to uncover new physics by analyzing characteristics of the neutrino flux at the Earth. By comparing the rate for quasi-horizontal, deeply penetrating air showers triggered by all types of neutrinos, with the rate for slightly upgoing showers generated by Earth-skimming tau neutrinos, we determine the ratio of events which would need to be detected in order to signal the existence of new non-perturbative interactions beyond the TeV-scale in which the final state energy is dominated by the hadronic component. We use detailed Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the effects of interactions in the Earth and in the atmosphere. We find that observation of 1 Earth-skimming and 10 quasi-horizontal events would exclude the standard model at the 99% confidence level. If new non-perturbative physics exists, a decade or so would be required to find it in the most optimistic case of a neutrino flux at the Waxman-Bahcall level and a neutrino-nucleon cross-section an order of magnitude above the standard model prediction.Comment: 8 pages revtex, 4 eps figure

JEM-EUSO Baseline Optical Design Lens and Frame Stress and Dynamics Analysis

No abstract availabl

Retrieval cues fail to influence contextualized evaluations.

Initial evaluations generalise to new contexts, whereas counter-attitudinal evaluations are context-specific. Counter-attitudinal information may not change evaluations in new contexts because perceivers fail to retrieve counter-attitudinal cue-evaluation associations from memory outside the counter-attitudinal learning context. The current work examines whether an additional, counter-attitudinal retrieval cue can enhance the generalizability of counter-attitudinal evaluations. In four experiments, participants learned positive information about a target person, Bob, in one context, and then learned negative information about Bob in a different context. While learning the negative information, participants wore a wristband as a retrieval cue for counter-attitudinal Bob-negative associations. Participants then made speeded as well as deliberate evaluations of Bob while wearing or not wearing the wristband. Internal meta-analysis failed to find a reliable effect of the counter-attitudinal retrieval cue on speeded or deliberate evaluations, whereas the context cues influenced speeded and deliberate evaluations. Counter to predictions, counter-attitudinal retrieval cues did not disrupt the generalisation of first-learned evaluations or the context-specificity of second-learned evaluations (Experiments 2-4), but the counter-attitudinal retrieval cue did influence evaluations in the absence of context cues (Experiment 1). The current work provides initial evidence that additional counter-attitudinal retrieval cues fail to disrupt the renewal and generalizability of first-learned evaluations

Attitudes Toward a Presumed Consent Organ Donation System

Purpose: Obtaining consent for post-mortem organ donation is a complicated process, and the current system for obtaining consent has not been very effective in procuring sufficient transplantable organs for the current demand. A streamlined method of organ procurement, such as presumed consent, is needed to simplify this process and increase the number of available organs for donation. The purpose of this descriptive study was to evaluate the public\u27s attitudes toward a presumed consent system of organ donation. Methods: A convenience sample of275 adults, aged 18 years or older, was recruited from public establishments in California. Subjects were required to understand, speak, read, and write English fluently. Data was obtained using a survey that consisted of statements regarding various aspects of presumed consent, in particular, and organ donation, in general, using a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 =Strongly Agree and 5=Strongly Disagree. The survey also included questions about the subject\u27s age, income level, gender, educational background, race/ethnicity, and religious and political affiliation. Results: We found significant differences regarding the opinions toward presumed consent and organ donation based on race, gender, religious affiliation, and political affiliation (p\u3c.05). Blacks/ African Americans were most likely to be against presumed consent (X2=17.4, p=.002) and organ donation (x_2=47.4, p\u3c.001) after death as compared to other races. Income level was also a contributing factor, though its effect on opinion was not statistically significant. Conclusion: These findings can help increase public awareness of the issues of presumed consent and organ donation, and indicate the need for public education on the subject of organ donation

A Qualitative Study Exploring Why Individuals Opt Out of Lung Cancer Screening

Background. Lung cancer screening with annual low-dose computed tomography is relatively new for long-term smokers in the USA supported by a US Preventive Services Task Force Grade B recommendation. As screening programs are more widely implemented nationally and providers engage patients about lung cancer screening, it is critical to understand behaviour among high-risk smokers who opt out to improve shared decision-making processes for lung cancer screening. Objective. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons for screening-eligible patients’ decisions to opt out of screening after receiving a provider recommendation. Methods. Semi-structured qualitative telephone interviews were performed with 18 participants who met lung cancer screening criteria for age, smoking and pack-year history in Washington State from November 2015 to January 2016. Two researchers with cancer screening and qualitative methodology expertise conducted data analysis using thematic content analytic procedures from audio-recorded interviews. Results. Five primary themes emerged for reasons of opting out of lung cancer screening: (i) Knowledge Avoidance; (ii) Perceived Low Value; (iii) False-Positive Worry; (iv) Practical Barriers; and (v) Patient Misunderstanding. Conclusion. The participants in our study provided insight into why some patients make the decision to opt out of low-dose computed tomography screening, which provides knowledge that can inform intervention development to enhance shared decision-making processes between long-term smokers and their providers and decrease decisional conflict about screening