Cultivating the Taste of the Nation: The National Council of Women of Canada and the Campaign against “Pernicious” Literature at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

This article analyzes the campaign against “pernicious” literature undertaken by the National Council of Women of Canada at the turn of the twentieth century. Concerned with the growing availability of dime novels, penny dreadfuls, and romances and their perceived influences on young readers, Council members sought to educate the Canadian public about the circulation of so-called “pernicious” literature. But they also sought to eradicate the popularity of “pernicious” literature by encouraging children, youth, and adults to read a “better class” of books, through the creation of the National Home Reading Union in 1895. This article argues that through these strategies, the Council’s campaign re-asserted the primacy of the family, with the mother as its moral guide, in providing the ultimate defence against the dangers of “pernicious” literature

Measurement of substrate thermal resistance using DNA denaturation temperature

Heat Transfer and Thermal Management have become important aspects of the developing field of uTAS systems particularly in the application of the the uTAS philosophy to thermally driven analysis techniques such as PCR. Due to the development of flowing PCR thermocyclers in the field of uTAS, the authors have previously developed a melting curve analysis technique that is compatible with these flowing PCR thermocyclers. In this approach a linear temperature gradient is induced along a sample carrying microchannel. Any flow passing through the microchannel is subject to linear heating. Fluorescent monitoring of DNA in the flow results in the generation of DNA melting curve plots. This works presents an experimental technique where DNA melting curve analysis is used to measure the thermal resistance of microchannel substrates. DNA in solution is tested at a number of different ramp rates and the di®erent apparent denaturation temperatures measured are used to infer the thermal resistance of the microchannel substrates. The apparent variation in denaturation temperature is found to be linearly proportional to flow ramp rate. Providing knowledge of the microchannel diameter and a non-varying cross-section in the direction of heat flux the thermal resistance measurement technique is independent of knowledge of substrate dimensions, contact surface quality and substrate composition/material properties. In this approach to microchannel DNA melting curve analysis the difference between the measured and actual denaturation temperatures is proportional to the substrate thermal resistance and the ramp-rate seen by the sample. Therefore quantitative knowledge of the substrate thermal resistance is required when using this technique to measure accurately DNA denaturation temperatur

Azerbaijan: Religious Freedom Survey, 2018

Azerbaijan restricts freedom of religion and belief with interlinked freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. Forum 18’s survey analyzes violations including prisoners of conscience who were jailed and tortured for exercising freedom of religion and belief, strict state literature censorship, and regime claims of its “tolerance.” Forum 18\u27s survey analysis documents Azerbaijan\u27s violations of freedom of religion and belief, with interlinked freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. Serious violations include but are not limited to: - a complex labyrinth of “legal” restrictions to prevent the exercise of freedom of religion, belief, and other fundamental freedoms; -total state control of the Islamic community; - a ban on all exercise of freedom of religion and belief by groups of people without state permission; - raids on people exercising freedom of religion and belief without state permission; - forcible closure of places of worship, especially Sunni mosques; - a ban on praying outside mosques; - jailing prisoners of conscience for exercising human rights, including freedom of religion and belief; - torture of people who exercise freedom of religion and belief; - prosecutions and punishments of conscientious objectors to the compulsory military service; - a highly restrictive censorship regime, including pre-publication, bookshop, photocopy shop and postal censorship; - and severe denials of human rights in the Nakhichevan exclave

Concentration of white blood cells from whole blood by dual centrifugo-pneumatic siphoning with density gradient medium

Due to the pervasiveness of HIV infections in developing countries there exists a need for a low-cost, user-friendly point-of-care device which can be used to monitor the concentration of T-lymphocytes in the patient’s blood expressing the CD4+ epitope. As a first step towards developing a microfluidic “lab-on-a-disc” platform with this aim we present the concentration of white blood cells from whole blood using a density medium in conjunction with centrifugo-pneumatic siphon valves [1]. Two such valves are actuated simultaneously, removing the bulk of plasma through the upper valve and the bulk of WBCs through the lower valve while leaving the vast majority of red blood cells in the centrifugal chamber

Be an advocate for others, unless you are a man: backlash against gender-atypical male job candidates

Previous research shows that gender vanguards (individuals who demonstrate genderatypical skills and behavior) suffer backlash in the form of social and economic penalties (Rudman & Phelan, 2008). This study examined backlash against female and male job applicants who were either gender-atypical or typical. Professionals (N = 149) evaluated female or male managerial applicants for internal promotion described in their performance review as showing either self-advocacy or advocacy on behalf of their team. Atypical, other-advocating men were judged to be low on agency and competence and penalized with job dismissal. Serial mediation analysis demonstrated that, compared with other-advocating women, other-advocating men were perceived to lack agency, which contributed to a perceived loss of competence that ultimately led to greater penalties. The implications of these findings for contemporary leadership theories and men’s and women’s professional success in the workplace are discussed

Disc-embedded grinding mill towards process integtrated hydro-mechanical cell lysis on centrifugal microfluidic platforms

For the first time we utilize the spindle motor intrinsic to centrifugal microfluidic systems to drive a grinding mill for cell lysis in a stator-rotor concept. This mechanical concept particularly enables the lysis of armored cells and, as a further benefit, avoids the addition of chemicals that potentially inhibit subsequent reactions. As a proof of concept we demonstrate the lysis of the silica-shelled algae Phaeodactylum Tricornutum

A 3d-printed optical reader for cost-efficient enumeration of cd4 cells for point-of-care diagnostics of hiv in resource-poor settings

Here we present a low cost, 3D printed optical reader which is compatible with a disposable, finger actuated chip which can be used for rapid CD4+ enumeration. This portable and widely autonomous device provides the next step in a workflow which can meet the WHO ASSURED requirements for assessment of HIV status in resource-poor settings. The reader is composed of 3D printed parts where the microfluidic chip can be moved along the optical axis of the objective lens for focusing using a screw adapted from a masonry bolt. Performance of the reader shows good agreement with measurements made using a conventional inverted microscope

CD4 cell isolation from blood using finger-actuated on-chip magnetophoresis for rapid HIV/AIDS diagnostics

With timely diagnosis and correct treatment, people living with HIV/AIDS can consider the disease as a chronic rather than a terminal illness. Still, in regions were HIV is endemic, rapid diagnosis is a challenge due to the complexity of the instrumentation required, the poor infrastructure in these countries, as well as the technical expertise required to carry out the diagnosis. This paper presents a microfluidic chip based approach allowing semi-quantitative CD4+ cell coun¬ting on a cheap, rapid, highly portable and instrumentation-free Point-of-Care HIV diagnostic device. Flow is driven by finger-pressing a flexible reservoir, and the target cells are immobilized through magnetophoresis. The fluidic test completes within ca. 30 seconds of sample application to the chip