90 research outputs found
Respectable Drinkers, Sensible Drinking, Serious Leisure: Single-Malt Whisky Enthusiasts and the Moral Panic of Irresponsible Others
In the public discourse of policy-makers and journalists, drinkers of (excessive) alcohol are portrayed either as irresponsible, immoral deviants or as gullible victims. In other words, the public discourse engenders a moral panic about alcohol-crazed individuals, who become what Cohen [1972. Folk devil and moral panics. London: Routledge] identifies as folk devils: the Other, abusing alcohol to create anti-social disorder. However, alcohol-drinking was, is and continues to be an everyday practice in the leisure lives of the majority of people in the UK. In this research article, I want to explore the serious leisure of whisky-tasting to provide a counter to the myth of the alcohol-drinker as folk devil, to try to construct a new public discourse of sensible drinking. I will draw on ethnographic work at whisky-tastings alongside interviews and analysis of on-line discourses. I show that participation in whisky-tasting events creates a safe space in which excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed, yet the norms of the particular habitus ensure that such drinking never leads to misbehaviour. In doing so, however, I will note that the respectability of whisky-drinking is associated with its masculine, white, privileged habitus ā the folk devil becomes someone else, someone Other
Relationship between reproductive success and male plasma vitellogenin concentrations in cunner, Tautogolabrus adspersus
The gene for vitellogenin, an egg yolk protein precursor, is usually silent in male fish but can be induced by estrogen exposure. For this reason, vitellogenin production in male fish has become a widely used indicator of exposure to exogenous estrogens or estrogen mimics in the aquatic environment. The utility of this indicator to predict impacts on fish reproductive success is unclear because information on the relationship between male plasma vitellogenin and reproductive end points in male and female fish is limited. In the research reported in this article, we investigated whether the presence of male plasma vitellogenin is a reliable indicator of decreased reproductive success in mature fish. Adult and sexually mature male and female cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus) were exposed to 17Ī²-estradiol, ethynylestradiol, or estrone, three steroidal estrogens that elicit the vitellogenic response. Data were gathered and pooled on egg production, egg viability, egg fertility, sperm motility, and male plasma vitellogenin concentrations. All males, including two with plasma vitellogenin levels exceeding 300 mg/mL, produced motile sperm. Neither percent fertile eggs nor percent viable eggs produced by reproductively active fish demonstrated a significant correlation with male plasma vitellogenin concentrations. Male gonadosomatic index and average daily egg production by females showed significant, but weak, negative correlation with male plasma vitellogenin concentrations. Results suggest that male plasma vitellogenin expression is not a reliable indicator of male reproductive dysfunction in adult cunner exposed to estrogens for 2-8 weeks during their reproductive season, at least in relation to capacity to produce motile sperm or fertilize eggs. Male plasma vitellogenin expression may serve as an indicator of reduced female reproductive function caused by estrogen exposure
Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19thā20th Century
Book Review: Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th-20th century Edited by Janice Helland, Beverley Lemire and Alena Buis Ashgate, February 2014; 245pp. 46 b&w illustrations; hardback Ā£60.00 ISBN: 978-1-4094-6207-
Orexinergic Input to Dopaminergic Neurons of the Human Ventral Tegmental Area
The mesolimbic reward pathway arising from dopaminergic (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) has been
strongly implicated in reward processing and drug abuse. In rodents, behaviors associated with this projection are
profoundly influenced by an orexinergic input from the lateral hypothalamus to the VTA. Because the existence and
significance of an analogous orexigenic regulatory mechanism acting in the human VTA have been elusive, here we
addressed the possibility that orexinergic neurons provide direct input to DA neurons of the human VTA. Dual-label
immunohistochemistry was used and orexinergic projections to the VTA and to DA neurons of the neighboring substantia
nigra (SN) were analyzed comparatively in adult male humans and rats. Orexin B-immunoreactive (IR) axons apposed to
tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-IR DA and to non-DA neurons were scarce in the VTA and SN of both species. In the VTA,
15.062.8% of TH-IR perikarya in humans and 3.260.3% in rats received orexin B-IR afferent contacts. On average, 0.2460.05 and 0.0560.005 orexinergic appositions per TH-IR perikaryon were detected in humans and rats, respectively. The majority(86ā88%) of randomly encountered orexinergic contacts targeted the dendritic compartment of DA neurons. Finally, DA neurons of the SN also received orexinergic innervation in both species. Based on the observation of five times heavierorexinergic input to TH-IR neurons of the human, compared with the rat, VTA, we propose that orexinergic mechanism acting in the VTA may play just as important roles in reward processing and drug abuse in humans, as already established
well in rodents
Welshness in British Wales: Negotiating national identity at the margins
Popular interpretations of national identity often focus on the unifying qualities of nationhood. However, societies frequently draw hierarchical distinctions between the people and places who are āmost nationalā, and those who are āleast nationalā. Little attention is paid to these marginal places within the nation and the experiences of their inhabitants. This article helps to address this by analysing the āless Welshā British Wales region of Wales, a country that has traditionally possessed a hierarchical, regionally constituted nationhood. The article studies the British Wales region both āfrom aboveā ā considering how some areas develop as āless nationalā ā and āfrom belowā, introducing empirical ethnographic work into āeveryday Welshnessā in this area. Whilst previous work on hierarchical nationhood focuses on how hierarchies are institutionalized by the state, this article demonstrates how people at the margins of the nation actively negotiate their place in the nation. Whilst people in this area expressed a strong Welshness, they also struggled to place themselves in the nation because they had internalized their lowly place within the national hierarchy. The article demonstrates the importance of place and social class for national identity construction and draws attention to the role of power in the discursive construction of hierarchical nationhood
Manuel GuĆ rdia, Francisco Javier MonclĆŗs, and JosĆ© Luis OyĆ³n (eds), Atlas HistĆ³rico de Ciudades Europeas. Vol. I. Peninsula IbĆ©rica. Barcelona: Salvat, 1994. xv + 335pp. 372 plates. 96 figures. 274 maps. 12 bibliographies. No price stated.
Vivian Bickford-Smith, Ethnic Pride and Racial Prejudice in Victorian Cape Town. Group Identity and Social Practice, 1875ā1902. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. xxiii + 281pp. 12 plates. 3 maps. Bibliography. No price stated.
Bernd Roeck, Eine Stadt in Krieg und Frieden: Studien zur Geschichte der Reichsstadt Ausburg zwischen Kalendarstreit und ParitƤt. Schriftrenreihe der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 37. Gƶttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989. 2 vols. 1,128pp. 22 plates. 19 maps. 57 figures. 154 tables. Bibliography. DM 278.00. - Heinz Schilling, Religion, Political Culture and the Emergence of Early Modern Society: Essays in German and Dutch History. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought, 50. Leiden, New York and Cologne: E.J. Brill, 1992. xvi + 434pp. Ā£67.85. $109.00.
John Bale and Olof Moen (eds), The Stadium and the City. Keele: Keele University Press, 1995. 347pp. Ā£45.00 (hbk).
Alan Nelson, Early Cambridge Theatres: College, University and Town Stages, 1464ā1720. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. xiv + 194pp. 36 figures + frontispiece. Bibliography. Ā£35.00, $59.95.
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