The Real Vermonter: The Use Of Myth In Summer Home Promotion And Rural Reform In Vermont, 1890-1940

From the 1890s through the 1930s, the Board of Agriculture and Bureau of Publicity in the state of Vermont released many publications promoting the state as a summer home destination. The salability of native Vermonters, a unique and enticing feature of life in the Green Mountains, was an integral component of this promotional literature. The following thesis explores this myth of the Real Vermonter, defining the myth itself as described in promotional and popular literature, examining its historic precedence and the implications of its uses in the early twentieth-century by state agencies as a tool for improving rural communities through summer home development. In order to lay the groundwork for an understanding of the use of myth in state promotion, the study begins with an examination of the Vermont during the nineteenth century. The changes occurring with the state are highlighted, including the evolving agricultural industry and burgeoning tourism industry, the growth of immigrant populations, and the steady loss of native-born residents contributing to the decline of many rural communities. Upon this foundation, the myth of the Real Vermonter is explored through a study of primary documents, ranging from pamphlets to newspaper articles and political speeches. Real Vermonters are defined in a simplistic and romanticized way as independent, Protestant, Republican, hardworking and honest farmers in the old-line American tradition, an appealing portrayal for potential vacationers. Once the myth is defined, its role in rural reform movements is examined, largely through the literature of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont and the Vermont Commission on Country, two initiatives that sought to protect and improve the life of desirable native rural Vermonters while alienating many immigrant groups, particularly the French Canadian farmers. Summer residents, mainly middle-class professionals, artists, writers and teachers, were encouraged to move to Vermont and set up summer homes, clean up the landscape with their neatly kept farmhouses, patronize local businesses, and be good role models for downtrodden locals. An exploration of non-fiction novels and personal accounts by both native Vermonters and summer residents provides insight into the impacts part-time residents had on locals, how their presence helped support rural institutions and businesses while simultaneously fostering tenuous relationships between native and newcomer. Ultimately, the myth of the Real Vermonter is shown to be a major feature in promotion of summer homes and the growth of summer colonies and a powerful component in shaping the perception of Vermont for both natives and outsiders. The impact of its use yielded both positive and negative results in rural communities. On one hand, the social fabric of rural communities and a sense of personal ownership by locals over their land and homes may have been undermined, and ethnic tensions intensified, by the use of the myth. On the other hand, a sense of tradition and continuity was established, ensuring the protection of historic and scenic landscapes and agricultural pursuits in Vermont. The myth of the Real Vermonter was used as a tool to promote social change and preserve tradition in Vermont, and it has helped shape the nature of rural communities throughout the state for well over a century

The Ever-Shifting Internet Population

Presents findings from surveys conducted between March and May 2002. Takes a new look at Internet access and the digital divide. Explores factors of cost, lack of technology skills, and physical access (particularly for persons with disabilities)

The relation between working memory and language comprehension in signers and speakers

Available online 5 May 2017This study investigated the relation between linguistic and spatial working memory (WM) resources and language comprehension for signed compared to spoken language. Sign languages are both linguistic and visualspatial, and therefore provide a unique window on modality-specific versus modality-independent contributions of WM resources to language processing. Deaf users of American Sign Language (ASL), hearing monolingual English speakers, and hearing ASL-English bilinguals completed several spatial and linguistic serial recall tasks. Additionally, their comprehension of spatial and non-spatial information in ASL and spoken English narratives was assessed. Results from the linguistic serial recall tasks revealed that the often reported advantage for speakers on linguistic short-term memory tasks does not extend to complex WM tasks with a serial recall component. For English, linguistic WM predicted retention of non-spatial information, and both linguistic and spatial WM predicted retention of spatial information. For ASL, spatial WM predicted retention of spatial (but not non-spatial) information, and linguistic WM did not predict retention of either spatial or non-spatial information. Overall, our findings argue against strong assumptions of independent domain-specific subsystems for the storage and processing of linguistic and spatial information and furthermore suggest a less important role for serial encoding in signed than spoken language comprehension.This research was supported by The National Institutes of Health grants DC010997 and HD047736 to Karen Emmorey and San Diego State University

Helping boys at-risk of criminal activity: qualitative results of a multi-component intervention

Abstract Background This qualitative study examines parent and child experiences of participation in a multi-component community-based program aimed at reducing offending behaviour, and increasing social competence in boys 6 to 11 years old in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The program builds on the concept of crime prevention through social development, and includes structured groups for the identified boy, parents, and siblings. Methods A sample of 35 families participating in the multi-component program took part in the qualitative study. Individual interviews with the boys, parents and siblings asked about changes in themselves, relationships with family and peers, and school after the group. Interviews were taped, transcribed and content analysis was used to code and interpret the data. Results Parents reported improvement in parenting skills and attainment of more effective communication skills, particularly with their children. Parents also found the relationships they formed with other parents in the program and the advice that they gained to be beneficial. Boys who participated in the program also benefited, with both parents and boys reporting improvements in boys' anger management skills, social skills, impulse control, and ability to recognize potentially volatile situations. Both parents and boys described overall improvement in family relationships and school-related success. Conclusions The qualitative data revealed that parents and boys participating in the multi-component program perceived improvements in a number of specific areas, including social competence of the boys. This has not been demonstrated as clearly in other evaluations of the program.</p

Differential Induction of Type I and Type III Interferons by Swine and Human Origin H1N1 Influenza A Viruses in Porcine Airway Epithelial Cells.

Interferons (IFNs) have been shown to inhibit influenza A virus (IAV) replication and play an essential role in controlling viral infection. Here we studied the kinetics and magnitude of induction of type I and type III IFN transcripts by primary porcine airway epithelial cells (pAECs) in response to swine and human origin IAV. We observed that swine influenza viruses (SIV) replicate more efficiently than the human pandemic influenza A/California/2009 (pH1N1 CA/09) in pAECs. Interestingly, we also found significant difference in kinetics of IFN-β, IFN-λ1 and IFN-λ3 gene expression by these viruses. While there was delay of up to 12 hours post infection (h p.i.) in induction of IFN genes in pAECs infected with swine IAV A/Sw/Illinois/2008 (H1N1 IL/08), human pH1N1 CA/09 rapidly induced IFN-β, IFN-λ1 and IFN-λ3 gene expression as early as 4 h p.i. However, the magnitude of IFN-β and IFN-λ3 induction at 24 h p.i. was not significantly different between the viral strains tested. Additionally, we found that swine H1N1 IL/08 was less sensitive to dsRNA induced antiviral response compared to human pH1N1 CA/09. Our data suggest that the human and swine IAVs differ in their ability to induce and respond to type I and type III interferons in swine cells. Swine origin IAV may have adapted to the pig host by subverting innate antiviral responses to viral infection

The Young Supernova Experiment Data Release 1 (YSE DR1) Light Curves

This is the official Zenodo data release of the Young Supernova Experiment Public Data Release 1 (YSE DR1) light curves associated with the paper, &quot;The Young Supernova Experiment Data Release 1 (YSE DR1): Light Curves and Photometric Classification of 1975 Supernovae&quot;. YSE DR1 is comprised of processed multi-color Pan-STARRS1 (PS1)-griz and Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF)-gr photometry lightcurve files in the SNANA data format of 1975 transients with host galaxy associations, redshifts, spectroscopic/photometric classifications, and additional data products from November 24th, 2019 to December 20, 2021. See Aleo et al. (2022) for details. &quot;yse_dr1_zenodo.tar.gz&quot; -- All lightcurve data with no cut on signal to noise (S/N). &quot;yse_dr1_zenodo_snr_geq_4.tar.gz&quot; -- All lightcurve data with S/N &amp;gt;= 4. This can be used to recreate the analysis in Aleo et al. (2022). &quot;parsnip_results_for_ysedr1_table_A1_full_for_online&quot; -- The full version of Table~C2 in Aleo et al. (2022). The full ParSNIP (tertiary classification) results for YSE DR1. NOTE: An example tutorial on how to download the YSE DR1 data (full sample, spec sample, phot sample), grab metadata, and recreate a plot from the paper can be found on Github.</span