Education and Legislation: Affluent Women\u27s Political Engagement in the Consumers\u27 Leagues of the Progressive Era

This paper examines the extent to which the National Consumers’ League and similar localized leagues provided middle- and upper-class women with new opportunities for involvement in American politics during the early Progressive Era, or roughly the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. These organizations undertook various efforts – including “list” and “label” campaigns – to educate the consuming public about the poor working conditions suffered by retail employees and especially factory workers in the garment industry, with a focus on employed women and child laborers. Later on, the leagues provided their female members with important opportunities for extensive political involvement as a more direct means of achieving their goals, including lobbying state legislators and preparing amicus curiae briefs for state courts and even the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case known as Muller v. Oregon (1908). Through these efforts, the leagues earned a significant amount of attention from other Progressive reform-minded organizations, including the Russell Sage Foundation

Aromatic components in cometary materials

The Raman spectra of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected in the stratosphere show that two bands at about 1350 and 1600 delta/cm and a broader feature between 2200 and 3300 delta/cm that are characteristic of aromatic molecular units with ordered domains smaller than 25 A in diameter. This suggests that the carbonaceous material in IDPs may be similar to the polymeric component seen in meteorites, where this material is thought to consist of aromatic molecular units that are randomly interlinked by short aliphatic bridges. The features in the Raman spectra of IDPs are similar in position, and relative strength to interstellar infrared emission features that have been attributed to vibrational transitions in free molecular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Taken together, these observations suggest that some fraction of the carbonaceous materials in IDPs may have been produced in circumstellar dust shells and only slightly modified in interstellar space

Topological geodesics and virtual rigidity

We introduce the notion of a topological geodesic in a 3-manifold. Under suitable hypotheses on the fundamental group, for instance word-hyperbolicity, topological geodesics are shown to have the useful properties of, and play the same role in several applications as, geodesics in negatively curved spaces. This permits us to obtain virtual rigidity results for 3-manifolds.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol1/agt-1-18.abs.htm

A “Self-Made Town”: Semi-Annual Furniture Expositions and the Development of Civic Identity in Grand Rapids, 1878–1965

In the later decades of the nineteenth century, prominent business figures in the city of Grand Rapids had reason to be both ambitious and optimistic. Striving to pull every last cent of profit out of available resources, they rationalized production workflows and integrated the latest technologies into their factories. They also perceptively discerned that a maturing railroad network connecting Grand Rapids to an emerging Victorian consumer economy would empower the city to achieve new levels of prosperity and fame through an industry on the verge of unprecedented growth: domestic furniture production. These entrepreneurs acted upon their hopes for the community’s future through the establishment of the semi-annual Grand Rapids Furniture Expositions, beginning in December 1878. At first glance, these expositions might seem to have been a mere manifestation of the community’s recognition as America’s “Furniture City.” However, they actually constituted a fundamental cause behind the construction of this civic identity by local citizens: business leaders and supportive community members who collaborated in making the Grand Rapids name synonymous with excellent household furniture on an international scale. These citizens also resolved to prevent similar efforts in rival cities—including the powerhouses of New York and especially Chicago—from eclipsing their own. The astonishing extent of their success provided the city with a greater profile in the national consciousness and transformed the physical and economic landscape of Grand Rapids itself. Given that Grand Rapids fits comfortably into Midwestern historian Timothy Mahoney’s description of small cities, this article also responds to his call for scholarly examinations of these urban spaces and their relationship to the broader regional and national economic forces that influence—and are influenced by—the fate of such cities. By arguing for the importance of the semi-annual furniture expositions to the development of Grand Rapids, this research sheds light on the place of a small Midwestern city in the growth of a national consumer culture during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Data Literacy for Librarians: A Free Online Professional Development Program from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

This lightning talk will provide a brief overview of the Data Literacy for Librarians badging and micro-credential program launched by the Research Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The lightning talk will include basic aspects of the instructional design, metrics illustrating program success to date, and a quick glance at the seven badges comprising the micro-credential: Acting on Data, Identifying Data Sources and Frequencies, Saving Graphs and Organizing Data, Visualizing Data, Storytelling with Data, Understanding Data Types and Units, and Using Data Ethically. The seven individual badges comprising the micro-credential are aligned with specific dimensions of the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework. Instructions for how librarians can easily register for this free program will also be included at the end of the lightning talk

A darker shade of blue: From public servant to professional deviant; Law enforcement\u27s special operations culture

Abstract The culture of law enforcement is an all or nothing proposition with no gray area where membership into this society is concerned. You are either “on the job” or you are not. Even references among officers to “the job” indicate there is only one job. Likened to a secret handshake, that initial phrase if answered correctly opens the door to instant fraternal acceptance, get out of violation passes, and the many other assumed privileges of brotherhood. Manning (1980) describes the powerful mystification of policing as the “sacred canopy”. He further asserts that “the police role conveys a sense of sacredness or awesome power that lies at the root of political order, and authority, the claims a state makes upon its people for deference to rules, laws and norms” (Manning, 1980, p. 21). These elements make policing unique to all other American occupations. The sacredness of the profession creates social autonomy protected by the officers’ code of silence. Operating in this vacuum apart from public accountability fosters an environment for behavior outside of laws the institution is charged with enforcing. My research shows the process of occupational socialization ushers officers into a state of becoming blue, or the enculturation of expectant behavior and actions. I confirm that assignments into the Special Operations Group (SOG) facilitate a subculture separate and apart from the institutional ideals (Librett, 2006) and encourage a darkening of the shade of blue identifying officers with a labeling of deviance. While previous research identifies the code of silence as a by-product of the policing culture, my research identifies it as fundamental for maintaining the covenant of the dark blue fraternity

Preservice teachers\u27 understanding of *evolution, the nature of science, and situations of chance

The learning and teaching of biological evolution, the nature of science and situations of chance is conceptually challenging. Attempts to increase understanding in these domains has resulted in limited occurrences of success, and the identification of many related misconceptions. The alternative conceptions have been detected in teachers as well as students, which reflects the complexity of learning the content. Teachers\u27 understanding of these concepts is critical to assuring they do not perpetuate misconceptions by teaching them to their students. The consistent detection of misconceptions in teachers suggests that new approaches to increasing understanding of these concepts need to be explored. In this project it was hypothesized that misconceptions of biological evolution were the result of a lack of understanding about the stochastic processes associated with evolution. The preservice teachers participating in this project were from a state university in an urban setting in a city in the southwest United States. This project began with the measurement of the preservice teachers understanding of biological evolution, situations of uncertainty, and the nature of science. Demographic data was collected to determine the relationship between personal attributes and the understanding and acceptance in the three domains of study. The instructional intervention for the experimental group involved a combination of web based tutorials focused on misconceptions of biological evolution, and related concepts of nature of science and situations of uncertainty which were presented in the context of evolution. The control group received the same web based evolution and nature of science instruction without the situations of uncertainty instruction. To assure similar time on task the control group received an instructional model describing Darwin\u27s voyage on the Beagle. A delayed post test and the development of a lesson idea provided the quantitative and qualitative data necessary for the determination of the instructional impact on conceptual change and the development of content knowledge. The analysis indicates that the inclusion of situations of uncertainty content with biological evolution instruction increases understanding of the process and initiates the process of conceptual change leading to a greater comprehension of concepts. The lesson idea analysis indicates that the interventions increased teachers\u27 knowledge and ideas about teaching the concepts in the domains of the study. Analyses of personal characteristics provide evidence for detectable relationships between understanding and acceptance of concepts and individual attributes. The results of this study support the need for further investigation into the impact of combined curricula on promoting conceptual change, addressing learner and teacher misconceptions, and developing content knowledge

Effectively Using Presentation Technology in the History Classroom

In spite of increased use of technology in the history classroom, the impact of technology remains low on student retention and comprehension of historical information. This project study examined the manner in which PowerPoint slides in history classes are formatted and the elements they contain for effective use. The literature related to best methods was reviewed to reveal practices that lead to the highest levels of comprehension and retention and how those practices could be implemented in PowerPoint presentations. This grounded theory study in the field of cognition and instruction centered on a high school that successfully implements technology in the history classroom. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with 4 history teachers who used presentation technology on a regular basis and surveys that asked for both qualitative data and some limited quantitative data for demographic and background purposes of students and other teachers. Data from the study were viewed through the lens of schema theory. Findings indicated that bullets promoted memorization, and, as a result, information was placed in a narrative format. Findings also suggested the effectiveness of visual images and interactive activities and they were incorporated extensively. The project study\u27s impact and the resulting implications for social change include increased retention and comprehension of history for students