“Before Midnight she had Miscarried” : Women, Men and Miscarriage in Early Modern England

Reproduction and Childbirth in the early modern era have sometimes been represented as a uniquely feminine experience. Similarly, studies of domestic medicine have in the past overlooked the role that men played in domestic health care practices. This article builds on recent work that resituates men within both of these discourses by considering the ways in which men understood, discussed and responded to the threat and occurrence of miscarriage in the women they knew. It considers a range of medical literature, spiritual diaries and letters to illustrate that men were a central feature of many women’s experiences of miscarriage.Peer reviewedSubmitted Versio

‘Blood made White’: the relationship between blood and breastmilk in Early Modern England

This article explores the idea that breastmilk was considered to be a form of blood in the humoral system

Binding an event to its source at encoding improves children\u27s source monitoring

Children learn information from a variety of sources and often remember the content but forget the source. While the majority of research has focused on retrieval mechanisms for such difficulties, the present investigation examines whether the way in which sources are encoded influences future source monitoring. In Study 1, 86 children aged 3 to 8 years participated in two photography sessions on different days. Children were randomly assigned to either the Difference condition (they were asked to pay attention to differences between the two events), the Memory control condition (asked to pay attention with no reference to differences), or the No-Instruction control (no special instructions were given). One week later, during a structured interview about the photography session, the 3-4 year-olds in the No-Instruction condition were less accurate and responded more often with \u27don\u27t know\u27 than the 7-8 year-olds. However, the older children in the Difference condition made more source confusions than the younger children suggesting improved memory for content but not source. In Study 2, the Difference condition was replaced by a Difference-Tag condition where details were pointed out along with their source (i.e., tagging source to content). Ninety-four children aged 3 to 8 years participated. Children in the Difference-Tag condition made fewer source-monitoring errors than children in the Control condition. The results of these two studies together suggest that binding processes at encoding can lead to better source discrimination of experienced events at retrieval and may underlie the rapid development of source monitoring in this age range

Perceptions of Domestic Abuse Among Mexican American and Anglo American Women

This paper examines the role of culture in shaping perceptions, definitions, and interpretations Mexican American and Anglo American women hold of domestic abuse. Two theoretical views concerning perceptions that Mexican Americans may hold of domestic abuse are discussed. The first view suggests that Mexican American women follow a pluralist model and therefore differ significantly in their perceptions of domestic abuse from Anglo American women. The second position holds that Mexican American women are quickly becoming assimilated into the American mainstream and consequently share attitudes toward domestic abuse similar to those of Anglo American women. Interviews were conducted with women living in shelters for battered women in 1986. The findings suggest that for Mexican American women, cultural pluralism, rather than assimilation, may be the norm in understanding their perceptions of domestic abuse

Bayesian regression analysis.

Regression analysis is a statistical method used to relate a variable of interest, typically y (the dependent variable), to a set of independent variables, usually, X1, X2,...,Xn . The goal is to build a model that assists statisticians in describing, controlling, and predicting the dependent variable based on the independent variable(s). There are many types of regression analysis: Simple and Multiple Linear Regression, Nonlinear Regression, and Bayesian Regression Analysis to name a few. Here we will explore simple and multiple linear regression and Bayesian linear regression. For years, the most widely used method of regression analysis has been the Frequentist methods, or simple and multiple regression. However, with the advancements of computers and computing tools such as WinBUGS, Bayesian methods have become more widely accepted. With the use of WinBUGS, we can utilize a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method called Gibbs Sampling to simplify the increasingly difficult calculations. Given that Bayesian regression analysis is a relatively new method, it is not without faults. Many in the statistical community find that the use of Bayesian techniques is not a satisfactory method since the choice of the prior distribution is purely a guessing game and varies from statistician to statistician. In this thesis, an example is presented using both Frequentist and Bayesian methods and a comparison is made between the two. As computers become more advanced, the use of Bayesian regression analysis may become more widely accepted as the method of choice for regression analyses as it allows for the interpretation of a probability as a measure of degree of belief concerning actual data observed

Cover, Copy, and Compare: An Effective Strategy for ASL Acquisition for Students with Dyslexia?

A single subject, multiple baseline study was designed to determine the benefits of Skinner’s Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) intervention for students with dyslexia who are learning American Sign Language. (ASL). The number of educational institutions offering ASL as a foreign language is on the rise; ASL has become the third most taught language in the U.S. (Mitchell, 2006). However, there is a misconception that it is an easier language to learn than orthographic languages. In fact, ASL is a complex language with its own grammatical rules including complex syntax and semantics. Learning a visual language may present a unique challenge to dyslexic learners; it requires constant visual attention, paired-associate learning and recall, which may be challenging for dyslexic learners. Cover Copy Compare (CCC) as an intervention for dyslexic learners has proven successful in learning other content (i.e., spelling words). CCC strategies were implemented to reinforce ASL vocabulary to four post-secondary students identified with dyslexia. By using CCC in a multimedia format, the need for receptive and expressive skills are addressed, therefore addressing both aspects of ASL acquisition. The major findings suggest participants improved recall of signs as an expressive skill. As they are able to recall signs with greater fluency, their ability to communicate with fluence can increase as well

Task Persistence: A Potential Mediator of the Income-Achievement Gap

Background: The pervasive gap in achievement among impoverished children has been investigated primarily in terms of parental investments, specifically parent to child speech and other forms of cognitive stimulation (e.g., toys, print materials). This research extends that literature by considering the role of a non-cognitive factor, namely task persistence, in the income-achievement gap. Using task persistence as the hypothesized mediator, duration of childhood in poverty is used to predict two educational variables - perceived academic competence and educational attainment. Although bivariate relationships between each of the variables have been demonstrated in past research, a full model linking task persistence with the income-achievement gap has not been investigated thus far. Methods: Using multiple waves of longitudinal data, duration of childhood poverty (ages 0-9) is used to predict both perceived academic competence (age 17) and educational attainment (age 23) with task persistence (average of ages 9, 13, 17) as a mediator. Results: With task persistence included in each model, the relationships between duration of childhood in poverty and both perceived academic competence and educational attainment are significantly reduced, confirming a mediational influence of task persistence. Conclusions: As hypothesized, task persistence statistically mediates the relationship between duration of childhood in poverty and educational outcomes. The implications of these findings on school success and intergenerational poverty are addressed, as well as suggestions for future research

Why campaigns that stigmatize smokers can make them want to quit even less

Recent years have seen the rise of anti-smoking campaigns. While these campaigns are often successful at getting people to quit, Sara Evans-Lacko writes that their negativity can lead to the opposite of their intended effect. She argues that the stigma that such approaches bring can lower smokers’ self-esteem, making it harder for them to quit, or make them angry and want to smoke more