Who is Laughing Now?: The Role of Humour in the Social Construction of Gender

The sociology of knowledge is employed as a synthesizing framework to organize application of conclusions, drawn from studies of humour in other contexts, to gender relations. Humour plays a significant but dual role in the accomplishment of gender as taken-for-granted reality. First of all, since humour generally affirms societal standards, its key function is ideological buttress of the patriarchal status quo. However, in addition to this conservative, social control function, there is a subversive, rebellious aspect of comedy which serves to challenge male hegemony.L'auteure utilise la sociologie de la connaissance comme cadre synthétisant pour organiser l'application des relations de sexe aux conclusions tirées dans d'autres études sur l'humour qui, elles, examinaient d'autres contextes. L'humour joue un rôle important, voire même double, dans la réalisation du genre comme étant une réalité que l'on prend pour acquis. D'abord, puisque l'humour affirme généralement les normes sociétales, sa fonction principale est le renforcement idéologique du status quo patriarcal. Cependant, en plus de cette fonction conservatrice visant le contrôle social, il existe un aspect de comédie subversive et rebelle qui sert à mettre l'hégémonie mâle au défi

Birth of a Live Cria After Transfer of a Vitrified-Warmed Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) Preimplantation Embryo

The alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is an important species for the production of fiber and food. Genetic improvement programs for alpacas have been hindered, however, by the lack of field-practical techniques for artificial insemination and embryo transfer. In particular, successful techniques for the cryopreservation of alpaca preimplantation embryos have not been reported previously. The objective of this study was to develop a field-practical and efficacious technique for cryopreservation of alpaca preimplantation embryos using a modification of a vitrification protocol originally devised for horses and adapted for dromedary camels. Four naturally cycling non-superovulated Huacaya females serving as embryo donors were mated to males of proven fertility. Donors received 30 μg of gonadorelin at the time of breeding, and embryos were non-surgically recovered 7 days after mating. Recovered embryos (n = 4) were placed individually through a series of three vitrification solutions at 20°C (VS1: 1.4 M glycerol; VS2: 1.4 M glycerol + 3.6 M ethylene glycol; VS3: 3.4 M glycerol + 4.6 M ethylene glycol) before loading into an open-pulled straw (OPS) and plunging directly into liquid nitrogen for storage. At warming, each individual embryo was sequentially placed through warming solutions (WS1: 0.5 M galactose at 37°C; WS2: 0.25 M galactose at 20°C), and warmed embryos were incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 in humidified air for 20–22 h in 1 ml Syngro® holding medium supplemented with 10% (v/v) alpaca serum to perform an initial in vitro assessment of post-warming viability. Embryos whose diameter increased during culture (n = 2) were transferred individually into synchronous recipients, whereas embryos that did not grow (n = 2) were transferred together into a single recipient to perform an in vivo assessment of post-warming viability. Initial pregnancy detection was performed ultrasonographically 29 days post-transfer when fetal heartbeat could be detected, and one of three recipients was pregnant (25% embryo survival rate). On November 13, 2019, the one pregnant recipient delivered what is believed to be the world\u27s first cria produced from a vitrified-warmed alpaca embryo

Half a Century of Wilson & Jungner: Reflections on the Governance of Population Screening.

Background: In their landmark report on the "Principles and Practice of Screening for Disease" (1968), Wilson and Jungner noted that the practice of screening is just as important for securing beneficial outcomes and avoiding harms as the formulation of principles. Many jurisdictions have since established various kinds of "screening governance organizations" to provide oversight of screening practice. Yet to date there has been relatively little reflection on the nature and organization of screening governance itself, or on how different governance arrangements affect the way screening is implemented and perceived and the balance of benefits and harms it delivers. Methods: An international expert policy workshop convened by Sturdy, Miller and Hogarth. Results: While effective governance is essential to promote beneficial screening practices and avoid attendant harms, screening governance organizations face enduring challenges. These challenges are social and ethical as much as technical. Evidence-based adjudication of the benefits and harms of population screening must take account of factors that inform the production and interpretation of evidence, including the divergent professional, financial and personal commitments of stakeholders. Similarly, when planning and overseeing organized screening programs, screening governance organizations must persuade or compel multiple stakeholders to work together to a common end. Screening governance organizations in different jurisdictions vary widely in how they are constituted, how they relate to other interested organizations and actors, and what powers and authority they wield. Yet we know little about how these differences affect the way screening is implemented, and with what consequences. Conclusions: Systematic research into how screening governance is organized in different jurisdictions would facilitate policy learning to address enduring challenges. Even without such research, informal exchange and sharing of experiences between screening governance organizations can deliver invaluable insights into the social as well as the technical aspects of governance

The Defector from the Hutterite colony: a pilot study

Bibliography: p. 140-150

Don Wright, 1931-1988 : A Retrospective

Creates documents the life and work of artist/illustrator/educator Wright (1931-1988), using testimony from his friends and family and focussing on his prints, drawings, watercolours and oils, and on his strong loyalty and ties to coastal Newfoundland. Mackie discusses Wright's career as a teacher. Biographical notes. Bibl. 5 p