Death on a Whim: Jury Discretion and Especially Heinous Crimes - Maynard v. Cartwright

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MEETING AT THE THRESHOLD: SLAVERY’S INFLUENCE ON HOSPITALITY AND BLACK PERSONHOOD IN LATE-ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN LITERATURE

In my dissertation, I argue that both white and black authors of the late-1850s and early-1860s used scenes of race-centered hospitality in their narratives to combat the pervasive stereotypes of black inferiority that flourished under the influence of chattel slavery. The wide-spread scenes of hospitality in antebellum literature—including shared meals, entertaining overnight guests, and business meetings in personal homes—are too inextricably bound to contemporary discussions of blackness and whiteness to be ignored. In arguing for the humanizing effects of playing host or guest as a black person, my project joins the work of literary scholars from William L. Andrews to Keith Michael Green who argue for broader and more complex approaches to writers’ strategies for recognizing the full personhood of African Americans in the mid-nineteenth century. In the last fifteen to twenty years, hospitality theory has reshaped social science research, particularly around issues of race, immigration, and citizenship. In literary studies, scholars are only now beginning to mine the ways that theorists from diverse backgrounds—including continental philosophers such as Derrida and Levinas, womanist philosopher and theologian N. Lynne Westerfield, and post-colonial writers and scholars such as Tahar Ben Jelloun—can expand the reading of nineteenth century literature by examining the discourse and practice of hospitality. When host and guest meet at the threshold they must acknowledge the full personhood of the other; the relationship of hospitality is dependent on beginning in a state of equilibrium grounded in mutual respect. In this project I argue that because of the acknowledgement of mutual humanness required in acts of hospitality, hospitality functions as a humanizing narrative across the spectrum of antebellum black experience: slave and free, male and female, uneducated and highly educated. In chapter one, “Unmasking Southern Hospitality: Discursive Passing in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Dred,” I examine Stowe’s use of a black fugitive slave host who behaves like a southern gentleman to undermine the ethos of southern honor culture and to disrupt the ideology that supports chattel slavery. In chapter two, “Transformative Hospitality and Interracial Education in Webb’s The Garies and Their Friends,” I examine how the race-centered scenes of hospitality in Frank J. Webb’s 1857 novel The Garies and Their Friends creates educational opportunities where northern racist ideology can be uncovered and rejected by white men and women living close to, but still outside, the free black community of Philadelphia. In the final chapter, “Slavery’s Subversion of Hospitality in Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” I examine how Linda Brent’s engagement in acts of hospitality (both as guest and host) bring to light the warping influence of chattel slavery on hospitality in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In conclusion, my project reframes the practices of antebellum hospitality as yet another form of nonviolent everyday resistance to racist ideology rampant in both the North and the South. This project furthers the ways that American literature scholars understand active resistance to racial oppression in the nineteenth century, putting hospitality on an equal footing with other subversive practices, such as learning to read or racial passing

Quantitative analysis of epithelial cells in urine from men with and without urethritis: implications for studying epithelial: pathogen interactions in vivo

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epithelial cells in first catch urine (FCU) specimens from 87 men with and without urethritis were quantified. Epithelial cells were broadly categorised into transitional and squamous populations using morphological characteristics and immunostaining with anti-pan leukocyte and anti-cytokeratin monoclonal antibodies.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>The majority (77/87 = 89%) of samples contained both transitional (76/87 = 87%; range 1 × 10⁴– 6 × 10⁵, median 6 × 10⁴) and squamous (57/87 = 66%; range 1 × 10⁴– 8 × 10⁵, median 2 × 10⁴) epithelial cells. The number of transitional cells correlated with the number of squamous cells (Spearman's rho = 0.697 p < 0.001). Squamous, but not transitional, cell numbers correlated with leukocyte numbers (Spearman's rho = 0.216 p = 0.045 and rho = 0.171 and p = 0.113, respectively). However there was no significant difference in epithelial cell numbers between men with and without urethritis. Nevertheless, some men with urethritis had relatively high numbers of transitional cells in their FCU. Transitional cells were morphologically heterogeneous and appeared to display complex cytokeratin phenotypes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Further studies are required to explore the complexity of epithelial cell populations in urine. These would provide novel opportunities for studying cellular interactions of <it>C. trachomatis </it>in male urethral infections, about which little is currently known.</p

A Molecular Dynamics Study of Monomer Melt Properties of Cyanate Ester Monomer Melt Properties

The objective of this work was to computationally predict the melting temperature and melt properties of thermosetting monomers used in aerospace applications. In this study, we applied an existing voids method by Solca. to examine four cyanate ester monomers with a wide range of melting temperatures. Voids were introduced into some simulations by removal of molecules from lattice positions to lower the free-energy barrier to melting to directly simulate the transition from a stable crystal to amorphous solid and capture the melting temperature. We validated model predictions by comparing melting temperature against previously reported literature values. Additionally, the torsion and orientational order parameters were used to examine the monomers’ freedom of motion to investigate structure–property relationships. Ultimately, the voids method provided reasonable estimates of melting temperature while the torsion and order parameter analysis provided insight into sources of the differing melt properties between the thermosetting monomers. As a whole, the results shed light on how freedom of molecular motions in the monomer melt state may affect melting temperature and can be utilized to inspire the development of thermosetting monomers with optimal monomer melt properties for demanding applications

Methodology for reliable and reproducible cryopreservation of human cervical tissue

BACKGROUND: In order to conduct laboratory studies on donated cervical tissue at suitable times an effective and reliable cryopreservation protocol for cervical tissue is required. METHODS: An active freezing approach was devised utilising 10% dimethyl sulfoxide in foetal bovine serum as a cryoprotective agent with a cooling rate of 1 °C/min to -50 °C then 10 °C/min to -120 °C; a related thawing protocol was also optimised which would allow for the bio-banking of cervical tissue. Viability of freshly harvested cervical tissue was compared to frozen-thawed samples utilising colorimetric MTT assay. In parallel, fresh and freeze-thawed samples were cultured and tested on days 1, 7 and 14 to determine whether bio-banking had detrimental effects on tissue viability over time. RESULTS: Repeat testing revealed that tissue viability between fresh and freeze-thawed wasand freeze-thawed samples was comparable at all four time points (days 0, 1, 7 and 14) with no apparent reductions of viability, thus demonstrating this method of cryopreserving cervical tissue is reliable and reproducible, without detrimental effects on live tissue culture. We believe this methodology creates the opportunity for bio-banking donated cervical tissues, which aids improved experimental design and reduces time pressures and wastage

Bioresource of Cervical Tissue Explants from Healthy Women

The York Tissue Bank was established in 2013 at the University of York as a repository for cells and tissues to facilitate clinical and translational research at the university and with collaborative external tissue bank applicants. The bioresource described in this publication was initially established to conduct investigations into infection processes of sexually transmitted diseases in ex vivo organotypical models, specifically in uterine cervical tissue. Healthy human uterine cervical tissue is currently available to suitable applicants for ethically approved scientific research meeting the access criteria of the York tissue bank management committee

Evaluating the provision of school performance information for school choice

We develop and implement a framework for determining the optimal performance metrics to help parents choose a school. This approach combines the three major critiques of the usefulness of performance tables into a natural metric. We implement this for 500,000 students in England for a range of performance measures. Using performance tables is strongly better than choosing at random: a child who attends the highest ex ante performing school within their choice set will ex post do better than the average outcome in their choice set twice as often as they will do worse